Holy Hell November

So, I know I skipped Saturday. Friday I went to haunt the zoo with Tina, her kids, her brother, his son, and her dad. The kids were an adorable Team Umizoomi, and I went as an ex-library assistant. I spent the whole night with Caius in his sling slung across my chest. It was crazy, but a lot of fun and I was sore. Saturday, I went with Tina to help with her photo shoot and hung out with her in her office while she edited the photos. (By hung out, I mean I read and took a nap.) By the time we got back to her house, it was 4pm, and I was exhausted. When the kids where finally asleep at 7pm, all I wanted to do was watch Game of Thrones (which is freaking awesome) and go to sleep.

We have had some excellent conversations that have helped me figure out how to proceed with my drafting so I will actually get it done. Some day soon I might even write all of that down. Those are far more serious and deep than I want to write about today.

So, I am stoked about November. I am going into it with 1.4k unique visitors. The Bloggess used something I sent her on the “strange things people have sent me this month” list. I was number nine, and I don’t suggest clicking it unless you have my kind of sense of humor. Saturday is my 30th birthday, and I am excited about going into that decade being what I always wanted to be when I grew up. I am going to have my book ready for my beta readers. November 17th is the one year anniversary of the site. November is going to be big. I am going to be pissed if I get sick.

I thought I would share some tidbits of awesome from my life lately.

Two Super Nerdy Things I have said:

Tina and her father are both photographers, so when we were at her parents house Sunday they both pulled out a bunch of camera lenses and as Tina was sorting through them trying to identify hers, she said, “lenses, lenses everywhere.”

I responded, “Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink.” It takes a true nerd to bring in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Tina and I were discussing something, and she said “I think…” and got distracted by her daughter. After her daughter was no longer a distraction, I prompted her with “you think..?” After a second of letting her trying to remember, I said, “therefore, you are.” Yep, I went to Descartes. Everyone knows the cool kids make Nietzsche jokes.

Odd Inside Joke

This takes a bit of explanation.  Back in the day when Tina and Dave were just friends, Dave had an assignment for his Science Fiction class. He decided to do an interpretive dance to a story about someone making homunculi by putting his man juice into a jar and letting it ferment then pour it on clay figures. The clay figures would come to life.

Tina wasn’t in the class but decided to go to watch him. When he asked for a volunteer, no one in the class volunteered, and Tina decided to volunteer to help her friend out. He told her to lay down on the floor and get up when he signaled. She laid down on the floor, and he went into the hallway and came back in with a pink Tu-tu over his Bermuda shorts and a CD player. When he hit play Rob Zombie’s  Living Dead Girl played and he started jumping around Tina and making lewd gestures. When he signaled her to get up, she hopped up and ran out of the room. It was several years before she was able to make eye contact with the professor. Years later the professor’s response was, “You are still friends with him?”

I have a brother. He stopped talking to us about a decade ago, and I am pretty sure he is dead. It makes me sad. He stays in my heart, but I am not in a state of mourning about it. It is a strange thing for me, and the only person I really talk about it with is my dad. About two years ago, when I was still with my last ex-boyfriend, I realized I hadn’t told him about it, and he probably should know about it. I called Tina and had a conversation that I found funny in this strange, twisted way. How does one start this conversation? “Oh, by the way, I have a brother and we are pretty sure he is dead. I am sad about it, but it is nothing we need to discuss in depth. I just wanted you to know in case it came up.” The idea of wedging that in between World of Warcraft discussions was funny to both me and Tina.

So, now when we have a strange, funny story to tell each other we ask the other, “Is it Living Dead Girl funny or dead brother funny?” We get it, and that is all that matters.