(waves hello)

Dang, it's been a while since I posted around here. Things have been going well, although busy with work and depressing with politics. I am now a fully-fledged project manager at work, and am having a grand (if time-consuming and occasionally brain-eating) time of it.

The two cats (Finn and Eddie) are doing well, although it's a bit like rooming with Greta Garbo and Jabba the Hutt. Finn is a nervous mess and Eddie cannot be trusted around unattended food.

In terms of fun time, I've been spending a fair amount of time oil panting, and have recently gotten back into knitting.

Anyhow, I have missed you all and I am sorry to have been so quiet for so long.

Anne! Good to see your update. I generally picture you with knitting needles in your hands after the F2F. Now I will have to picture you with a painter's palette.

'Hi, Anne! You've been missed here!

Yay Anne! Good to see your pixels.

I'm doing okay: basically just working and playing with the dog, and going mountain-biking on the weekends. Lots of family time. Wish I was writing, though...

Hi Anne!

Until last weekend I would've said same old same old, new roommate since last year but that's about it. But I broke my leg last weekend, so that's going to be a serious crimp in the rest of my year, including having to move in with a friend because my townhouse has too many stairs

Hi Anne! Good to see you here!

Hi Anne! We've missed you! Good to hear Finn and Eddie are well, if annoying.

Hi Anne!

But...what do you do about the odd cat hair getting on the wet canvas? Is there a special tool for removing it? *g* Give the guys a skritch from me. Is your writing on hiatus? Working on anything right now?

Hello back! I am still knitting, but doing more of the art stuff too. When it comes to cat hair in the paint, resigned acceptance seems to be the way to go. (Also, cat hair in the paint is easier to deal with paint in the cat hair.)

Project-wise, I have a couple of fanfics in the works, but am also noodling with an original idea (post-apocalyptic comedy).

I find myself getting lurkier and lurkier. My darlings, as we watch the world wobble on its axis, let us cling together. Let us sing like sirens and valkyries, let us gird oursleves with fierce gentleness, let us become weary and take rest, let us nourish and strengthen ourselves together for what will come. I have said this before, but it bears repeating:

I say we celebrate. We celebrate every joyful moment that we can bear to. We celebrate each other. We celebrate victories miniscule and galactic. We celebrate our own worth and we celebrate the worth of every member of the human race. We celebrate the effort that somehow came to naught, and we celebrate the moments when everything simply comes together in a constellation of perfection and there is victory. We celebrate, because to give in to despair will leave us no strength to fight. We celebrate in grey dresses and monotone voices. We celebrate in jeweltones and arias. We will celebrate because this might be the Apocalypse and we have learned from Buffy that when we've done fighting this one, there will be another. We will celebrate because this might be Ragnaroc or it might be Armageddon but we will not go down without a fight. We will celebrate because joy only lives intermingled with grief. We will celebrate because every breath is a giant "Fuck you!" to the mundanity of evil.