I lost her four years ago and it still hurts like hell. Life is still darker because my sister isn't a part of it.

I miss you so much, Cat.

Yeah, I'm still alive. It's been a hellish few months, but I'm still alive.

I lost my job. I nearly lost my life to depression, but I made it.

It will probably be a while before I'm really back as far as this blog is concerned, but I haven't given it up.

I'll be at the pentaparty. Other than that, I really don't know.

I haven't been keeping up with my friendslist, so email me if there is anything I need to know.

Check this out.

Watch the video. You are not going to believe this kid's work. I wish I was half as good an artist. Seriously.

Okay, you may have to live here to understand how insane this was, but, take it from a local leadfoot, you DON'T DO THIS.

HOW FAST WHERE?!? HOW did they even manage that?! That road is a farking roller coaster at speed limit!

Once again, I have donated a necklace to be auctioned off as a part of Shadesong's annual blogathon for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. You can find the auction for it here.

And check out the rest of the auctions in blogforbarcc! I wish I had the money to bid on some of this stuff myself. The gavel falls on the 27th, so get your bids in!

Who is going to Dragon*Con this year?

I'm kind of on the fence. It depends a lot on who else is going to be there.

I had two memorable customers today.

All right, the first one was actually a customer being helped by a coworker. He asked my coworker what she was planning to do on the holiday and she told him that she was planning on baking a peach pie.

He thought this was a wonderful idea and started talking about how he used to make them when he owned a restaurant, and, by the way, do you know the best thing to put on the pie before serving it? She certainly did!

Hollandaise sauce.

He said it was the most popular thing on the menu.

We're fairly sure he thought she had said quiche pie. We hope very much that he thought she said quiche.

I won't go into much detail about the second customer, mainly because I don't think any of you would have the patience to read that long an entry.

She was nice enough. But after she left I had a major headache and a desperate need to leave the bookstore for my meal break. Quite honestly, I don't think I have had that scatter-brained a customer in years.

She wanted to return several items purchased in February, divide her purchases into five separate transactions, a volume discount on the thirty-one bags she was buying that were already on clearance, and to use multiple methods of payment per transaction. She got all but the volume discount, and she did grumble about that a bit. Before making any payment, she had to consult a chart she had made of all fifteen credit cards and how much she could spend on them before going over the maximum, and is what led to her wishing to use more than one method of payment per transaction (forty-one dollars on one card, fifteen on the next, etc.). She always waited for me to ring everything up (while giving her a running tally of how much each item cost and what the running total was) before figuring out how much she could pay with each card.

And that was about half of the whole dance. I can't even begin to describe how long I had to wait for her to put each item on the counter as she rooted through the baskets of books at her feet, trying to figure out which item would go in which purchase. I think I spent more time looking at her rear end than at her face because she spent so much time bent over. It took more than forty minutes ringing her up. I am so very grateful that my chain hasn't started timing cashiers, and that my dinner was just a few minutes after she left.

At least she was polite.

I know this guy!!! Some of you guys know him, too!



He really is a great guy, and both he and his wife *waves at Jenn* are wonderful parents and wonderful people, and I really don't know how they do it.

There's a little bit more here.

As I write this, I am watching repeat coverage of the forum on CSPAN, and the camera keeps catching John, right behind the president.

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

This is why I can't stand Bill O'Reilly and others who follow the same path.

It isn't just the politics (although I'm sure you know how much I disagree with his politics). It's the way he is helping to corrode political thought and discussion in this country.

My theory of politics is this: two people of equal intelligence and education can disagree, and it is possible for both of them to be right and for both of them to be wrong. Furthermore, it is not a sign of weakness of conviction to change your mind in the face of new information or a point of view you had not previously considered; it is, in fact, a sign of strength to be able to do so and admit that you were wrong.

• 01:27 Hey! What the hell happened to Fark? #

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Wow, that was wonderful.

We all gathered at a campsite outside of Blacksburg, where many guests had camped the night before. It was informal, with many of us on renfaire garb (yeah, a lot of us have spent a lot of time at the Maryland RenFaire!) and others in informal clothing and a few more in, well, what people normally wear to a wedding. I was in garb (although the bodice was dumped soon after the ceremony). The weather was perfect - sunny and warm, but not hot. Mind you, the sun cost a few of us some, especially those who forgot sunscreen.

Yeah, I forgot the sunscreen, but I got away with just a bit of pink, thanks to finding shade pretty quickly. Just enough burn to get a few comments at work. I know of at least one other who wasn't so lucky...

The ceremony was beautiful. I can't have been the only one fighting tears.

The reception brought us much food and drink and just the best company. As I mentioned before, I met a couple of online friends for the first time. I also saw many old friends and had a ball. Everyone else was having fun, too. All of the adults followed the shade around the edge of the field, and the kids walloped each other with foam swords, or ran around with fairy wings, or a happy combination of both. I think all of the shoes were tracked down eventually.

By late afternoon, just about all of us were in the shade of one oak in the corner of the field, happily talking, taking pictures, dozing, watching or dancing in a spiral dance (okay, the dance was in the sun), and just enjoying the company. I managed to stay awake until I made it to the car (no, I wasn't driving) and successfully pretended to be social for several hours, all told. I'm rather proud of myself for that.

And, yeah, I caught the bouquet. Oh, dear. I can't say that there are any prospects, but one can always hope. I'm told that I was the only one trying to catch the flowers, but, well, someone had to. And, just maybe, I can end up supporting everyone's favorite wedding myth. It could happen.

Anyway, I'm still exhausted and kinda wishing we could have such a gathering every week.

I have news! Especially for those who missed the Lehnens at the wedding.

John is out of the hospital! He is very tired but doing much better. I'm afraid that those are the only details I know right now. Hopefully he is listening to his body and getting some rest.

At this time, I would like to officially add my voice to those stating that the Lehnen family HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH ALREADY!

Home from the wedding, sunburned and exhausted and the owner of a bouquet thrown by the bride (eep!).

I got to spend the day with old friends and meet a couple of online friends for the first time (yay for meeting thewronghands and sibylla!). The ceremony was beautiful, and the day was wonderful. You would almost think I was social or something!

Now, I collapse in bed for the night. I am completely wiped out.

Time for bed. In a few hours, I'll be heading to Blacksburg, where I'll be seeing a lot of you and attending a wedding. I can't wait.

I'll see you on the flip side.

Now, let's see if I can get some sleep!

Yeah, the computer crap was maddening. Computer crap always is.

I saw Dad in the hospital today.

First I had to find him. The guy behind me on the road was amazingly impatient for someone driving past the largest hospital in hundreds of miles. I'm lost! Forgive me! Lay off the fucking horn when I finally find the turn I need to take! Then, when I walked into the right building, I was greeted by two old family friends, who showed me how to check in and where Dad's room was. Thank you, R and E!!!!

Dad is doing as well as can be expected. But he's weak, in pain, and, well, in the freaking hospital for a few more days. He had developed a bit of a fever and even coughed a few times while I was there.

Those coughs really hurt him. I could tell and it freaked me out. Now I'm worried that he has MRSA or something. Dad's mainly worried that he will have to stay in the hospital for another few days. We watched Countdown and The Rachel Maddow Show and I just quietly freaked out.

I couldn't even hug him properly. It felt like a fake Hollywood air hug. I know it's just a little thing, but it left me feeling unsettled.

That and the fact that his sternum has been wired shut because it had to be sawed open and his heart and lungs were shut down for what the doctors insist on calling a "routine procedure".

This isn't so easy to deal with. And I'm not even the one spending another night in the hospital right now.

I'll talk about Prop8's continued blight later. Right now, I'm dealing with more personal crap.

Flickr has still not finished processing the picture, but the language lesson was amusing. You see, Flickr greets members in various languages, then says "Now you know how to greet people in ____"

I was just greeted with:

"O HAI this_daydreamer!
Now you know how to greet people in Lolspeak!"

Very cute. Now post my damn picture!

ETA: STILL processing. But I uploaded it to my scrapbook. WTF, Flickr?

sf_drama has an entry today for posting desktops for showing off how cool your computer looks. Yay, why not, I asked myself. I have a cool picture for my desktop. All I have to do is figure out how to use printscreen. Hey look, there are simple instructions right there in the entry.

The instructions were too simple. They left out that the image is actually on your clipboard, not a file that I can access directly from Gimp. That's okay. I could just copy-paste. I did just that, and saved the picture in my general pictures file.

The I went to post it on Flickr. But wait, my pro account had expired. Fine. I use Flickr a lot, so I pushed the button for renewing. I was then informed that it would be paid through PayPal.

Wait a minute. I don't have any funds in PayPal. Where is the money coming from, exactly? PayPal informs me that the money is coming either from my PayPal funds or, you know, some other account with your name on it. Nothing to worry about. I tell PayPal to go straight to my bank account.

Fantastic! PayPal will cheerfully charge your CanceledCreditCard!

I go back. Bank Account, please.

CanceledCreditCard it is! Great choice!

Bank Account.

Fine, we'll just charge your OtherCreditCard! Not a problem.

B.A.N.K. A.C.C.O.U.N.T.

Whatever. Bank account it is. If you insist.

Having paid from my bank account (I hope), I go back to Flickr. And can't find the image. I do, however, discover that my definition of putting pictures in order by when they are taken is nothing even close to what Windows Vista thinks it should be. Pictures Taken in the Future?! Huh?!

I finally find the picture, and upload it.

Oops. I found the wrong picture. I try four times to delete it before Flickr acknowledges that it has even been uploaded yet.

After another search of half the picture folders on my computer, I find the right one. And Flickr says it can't upload an image with that format.

I slam the computer shut and walk away for a few minutes. I consider joining the Amish.

I come back to the computer and start another Gimp file, re-save the picture in JPG format, and upload it to Flickr.

Five minutes after Flickr told me that the image was being processed, I started this entry.

It's still processing.

BRB, indulging in primal scream therapy.

• 04:06 Yay! Dad is out of the ICU! And, in celebration, the fireflies are out. #
• 04:07 I should mention that Dad just had bypass surgery. I am so glad that he is doing well and has started healing. #

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Earlier tonight, I switched my default icon to "fireflies", figuring that they would be out soon.

Just a couple of minutes ago, I saw the first firefly of the season.

How is that for timing?