parumpumpumpum

Lucy got a pretty awesome set of drums for Christmas, and has just started drum lessons. Tonight, I am making her practice and she is so annoyed with me. She is in the "music room" (which now has 2 acoustic guitars, an electric guitar with amp, an electric keyboard, and a drum set -- can you say "living vicariously?"), muttering and stomping. I have heard that playing the drums is a good way to get rid of frustration, though. I'll let you know how that all works out.

it's been awhile

It has been almost a month since I last posted, and lots of stuff has happened, some good, some bad. Here's a recap.

The Christmas holiday was really fun this year. Started out with what I am calling "The LGBTQ Bar Crawl" with Margit, Marianne, Andrew, Brian, Michelle, Grant, Scott, Caitlin (Camp Tockwogh, represent!), and our new friend, karaoke-bartender Tinh. So much fun. Then had a fantastic time at the Trigg-Lowry-Lebbern Christmas Eve happening, with an incredible "fresh ham" (which it turns out is just a gigantic pork roast, amazing), and convivial good cheer with my favorite family that I am not actually related to. And then Christmas Day with the actual family was really low-key and relaxing (we did miss Mia though, who was stuck in California). In spite of scheduling a bunch of vacation days over the holiday, I ended up working a lot, but I didn't really mind for some reason.

2008 got off to a rocky start. My aunt died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving behind quite a mess to deal with. It sounds trite, but I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Aunt Jud, remembering the good times we had, and all of the nice things she did for people. When Lucy was a baby, just diagnosed with her heart defect, Aunt Jud took charge of a paper crane "drive" on her behalf, ultimately folding 1,000 origami paper cranes (along with my cousins and their friends), all to bring health and good fortune to Lucy. Then, when Lucy was in the hospital having a surgery when she was one, Aunt Jud came to stay at our house to help take care of the dog, and to be nearby to offer support. When Lucy got spaghetti sauce all over her special blankie, Aunt Jud spent hours using different tricks to get the stains out (the blanket turned from lavender to pink, but, no spaghetti sauce!). It is all very sad the way things turned out, and I will miss her a lot. We are having her funeral this weekend, with a "prayer card" featuring the Dalai Lama, and lots of paper cranes. I think she would have approved.

I turned 37 on Tuesday. That sounds old, doesn't it? (I just hope all of my 25-ish year old friends will still hang out with me when I turn 40. Some of them will be in their 30s by then though, so that will be ok.) But, because I am actually old, I celebrated my birthday by working late, then having a delicious dinner of pork chops and arugula salad, with a yummy cake from the Acme. I topped it off by watching the Democratic debates. Crazy fun.