Silver Journey

Update: wedding and APARTMENT

2009-04-08T14:51:29Z

The wedding plans are in full swing and we're making progress ... I hope. Anyone interested in dropping us a line or whatnot can go to http://joshandjengetmarried.com and sign the guestbook there. It's feeling rather lonely anyway. ;)

You can also see any updates Jen or I post there, if you're interested, along with pics as we get them up.

In other news, Jen and I are moving into an apartment and out of her parents' basement on April 25th! We found a great apartment for a good price (more expensive than we feel completely comfortable with, but for what we're getting, it's a good price) and will be moving in to our first home together. Jen was shocked and beyond excited when I got the phone call and told her our application was accepted.

And it was a fast turn-around, too; we'd only applied the day before!

If interested in seeing what the apartments look like, go here: http://www.singhweb.com/apartments/communities.asp?locID=6 The floorplan we're getting is the Braeburn.

That's all for now!

Joshua

Bad, bad news

2009-02-18T16:34:31Z

Well, we had an ultrasound today. The last one we had was a couple weeks ago and was too early to really see anything, and they bumped Jen back to about 5 weeks along instead of about 7. So today we had another one, along with an Ob-Gyn appt.

We're now in mourning.

The ultrasound showed no heartbeat, plus the baby stopped growing about 1.5 weeks ago. Jen started spotting yesterday, along with feelings like she was having a period come on. The doctors are going to let her body flush things out on its own, but if it's not done by two weeks from now, they may need to go in and suction it out.

The good news in all this is that she was doing everything right and if she continues on the diet and insulin for the next couple months, when we try again, she'll be much healthier and the baby will have a much better chance.

Any good vibes or prayer would be much appreciated right now. We're both pretty badly shaken by this.

Joshua

It's officially official - V-Day update

2009-02-16T04:27:29Z

Just a short update from my iPhone, but here's the gist of it. Her mom gave Jen her engagement ring, and it had to go to the jeweler to be resized before she could wear it. That worked out well for making an official proposal during dinner at Buca di Beppo. ;-)

We were out at Hallmark Friday for her mom's birthday and we saw "Purrcy" the loveable lion. Valentine's Day themed stuffed lion who purrs and giggles when you press his paw. Jen said she'd been wanting the monkey, but that she'd never leave the lion alone. So Saturday on our way to Macy's for wedding registry stuff, I stopped at Hallmark and got that for her.

At the restaurant, we exchanged cards and I brought the lion out as she was reading the card I gave her. After dinner and before dessert, I set up my camera to record the moment, then said I had a question for her.

"Why is the sky blue?" she asks. The setting up kinda gave the game away. ;-)

I asked, she said yes, I put the ring on her finger and all is well with the world. :-D

We went to see Last Chance Harvey after that, which is a very good movie, btw. Starts out a bit sad and depressing, but ends on a strong hopeful note.

That's it for now. How'd your Valentine's Day go?

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Revised call for HELP

2009-01-28T15:11:00Z

Jen already got her dress, and it's arriving today, according to the website she ordered it from. So the only help needed would be for the kilts. And because we're going on Sunday to visit the kilt rental place, the sooner anyone with the ability to do garb responds, the better. If you reply too late, it'll be, well, too late. Because at the rental place, we have to act now; our wedding date is already filling up with other weddings, etc.

So. Once again, I forget who is good at doing garb of my LJ friends, but if it's you and you'd like to help out, please let me know. Either in the comments or by IMing me or emailing me (if you have my email). I would like to save money on this, as the kilts are going to be about $120 apiece, I'm told. That includes the kilt itself, a sporran, the jacket, the hose holding thing, and a couple other items.

Joshua

PS. Thanks for your help, should you choose to. ;)

Call for help

2009-01-27T13:56:24Z

I forget who of my friends here are good at making garb, so I'm making this a public plea. Jen and I are doing a Celtic theme for the wedding and thus the guys are wearing kilts. In an effort to save money, we're asking someone at church if he'd be willing to loan out kilts from his collection, but I seem to remember hearing something about his are all rentals or something like that. Also, Jen is looking at a couple gowns and realizing she can't afford them.

I'd hate for Jen to have to settle for a gown she won't be happy with, so I thought I'd see if my garb-making friends would be willing and able to help out. It would only be done with her approval, of course, and we would pay you.

Also, Jen has been wanting me to have a kilt anyway, so that's another request. I don't know what clan I'm a member of for sure, but I think it might be McNutt. I know they're in my family tree anyway.

Again, payment would be made.

If you make garb and would be willing to help, please feel free to reply or message me. Thanks!

Joshua

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Important update! Baby! Wedding! OMGWTFBBQ!!!!11!!1!1ONEONE

2009-01-25T13:38:28Z

Quickie version of the update, since we've gotta get to church soon so we can sing in the choir. *Deep breath*

I gave Jen a promise ring for Christmas. A couple weeks later, there was a positive pregnancy test. Then about 8 more (funny story there, but a bit too long to tell right now). Then confirmation via blood test. There's a wedding in May now that we're planning (no, not shotgun; we both wanted to get married). Jen's on major diet changes due to being diabetic and pregnant and needing her blood sugar to be down to safe levels for the baby.

Congrats, kudos, etc. accepted. Condolences will be laughed at. ;)

Joshua

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that good stuff (longish)

2009-01-01T22:26:19Z

Well, I hope you all had a great Christmas season and got what you wanted--at least one thing you wanted, anyway. Jen and I had a good Christmas here, with me surprising her with something that made her very happy. More on that later. ;)

(Yes, that's a blatant teaser to keep you reading. Is it working?)

Our CrossWords (the praise band) Christmas concert went well, despite sound problems. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I'm not sure. Only one side of the stage had working speakers, and because *everything* was miked, there was a bit of feedback that kept showing up. One of the guitars was redlining on the soundboard, despite just sitting on its stand, not being used!

I recorded some of the concert with my iPhone and finally got it onto my computer so I can upload it. The bad news is, in addition to the feedback, because of where I placed the phone to record (first row, center stage; I wanted to be able to keep an eye on it), it didn't get the best recording. Just slightly too far from the working speakers.

That just means you'll be able to hear the instruments and occasionally have to strain to hear the voices.

Right before the *choir*'s concert (yes, I was effectively in two concerts ... three, counting Christmas Eve), I came down with a cold. And so did Jen. My voice was bad enough that it was very, very, very, very, very good I didn't have a solo. Jen managed to do well, though, despite having a cold. By the end, though, both of us were either croaking or almost croaking.

That was rather painful. Especially since the concert was approximately 1.5 hours long, and we did two services. So three hours of singing total. The second service, I mostly mouthed the words and only came in to sing when absolutely needed.

Christmas Eve, I had to attend two services, but only officially performed in one. And that one, I recorded ... from the perspective of being *in* the choir. I had the phone on my hip and recorded from there. Good thing I did, because some people mentioned they had trouble hearing the choir over the instruments out in the audience.

Finally Christmas Day arrives. ;) Jen made coffee cake for me, using my mom's recipe (the Bisquick recipe, only doubled and modified slightly so as to be more moist and to have a layer of the streusel in the middle as well as on the top), which was wonderful of her to do. Coffee cake is the traditional Christmas breakfast at my parents'. We didn't get around to opening presents till about noonish. Maybe a little later.

That took a little longer than it usually does for me because they do it here so everyone goes in turn. Youngest person opens a present, then the next youngest, then the next, then the next ... Then it starts again. How it usually gets done for me is we do something like that for a round or two, then it's a free for all. Several presents being opened at the same time goes faster than only one being opened at a time. ;)

What really made it take a while is how many people were there: Jen, me, her sister, her parents, her brother, her brother's two kids ... eight people total. I'm used to only six people. ;)

I got everything I needed for the bass I got earlier from Jen; now all I need is practice. I also got a cordless trackball, which I've been wanting but not finding (at a price I was willing to pay, at least), and a webcam from Microsoft. The webcam promptly got lost for a couple days and I only just now found it again and installed it.

I also got the usual socks and clothing items. And some gift cards.

I gave Jen a set of tea light holders she'd been looking for; Kosta Boda "snowball" set. It's got a large clear crystal snowball-shaped holder and two smaller ones. I also gave her another box that had two rings in it from Kohl's, and told her they were promise rings. Either one, or interchangeable, but promise rings.

That really made her happy. ;)

She's been talking about having to wait before engagement or marriage until I have a good enough income to let us be in a place of our own, pay our bills, etc. She's definitely confident that I'm the one, and I'm feeling the same about her. It's only been eight months since we started dating, but we're both happy with each other and only getting closer.

Jen also made out like a bandit with gifts from my family; they sent a box of "for Josh and Jen" and it turned out to be mostly "for Jen."

All in all, a very good Christmas, and we've got a bit of a break from choir and such until next week. Well, until Friday for CrossWords, but that's just rehearsal/deciding what to work on next.

The only downside to all this is ... I'm out of a job again. The Macy's job ended last week, so it's time to get another job to replace it. If I can. ;)

Joshua

PS. We went to a party last night for New Year's Eve, then stayed up all the rest of the night--just about; went to bed around 5 am--playing Rockband 2. Neither of us are doing official resolutions; they tend not to work when done traditionally, and we're trying other methods.

Job hunting and RenFest update (long)

2008-09-24T22:46:53Z

First off, let's start this on a positive note. Jen and I and her sister had a great time at the RenFest on Saturday. We didn't get to do everything we wanted to do, but do you ever?

We saw the Ded Bob Sho, which was good, though not very well miked, so I couldn't hear much of it. Jen had been raving about it, while telling me earnestly to pay attention all the time or I'd end up as a "volunteer" on the show, which is a bad thing. Good thing we were in the very back, because with the mic problems, I couldn't hear enough to do all the responses and such.

Her sister and I drooled over the swords, and Jen drooled over the kilts (she'd love to see me in one, but neither she nor I can afford one right now). Jen bought me a really cool amber and silver necklace featuring the trinity knot (the celtic knot that's also on my tattoo, for those that have seen that), rather than the cross she'd originally been thinking about. I bought horns to wear, along with a jester cap (now I really *am* a Fool!).

To cap off the long day of walking and shopping and show-catching, we ate at a Chinese place, then basically crashed when we got home.

Now, about the job hunting ... I need prayers, good vibes, etc. on that front. It's causing both Jen and me stress that I don't have an income yet. Partly because her parents are falling into the same trap my parents did (deadline giving, "make it a full time thing," "go door to door," etc.), while adding another step of annoyance.

They're doing all that through her.

They can't tell me directly they need this or that done. They can't tell me directly what they feel about the job situation. No, they need to tell Jen so she can tell me. And they don't see how that's not a good idea. Not only is it less efficient than telling me directly, but it just puts more stress on Jen, because she's hearing all this stuff that they're not telling me. She's being forced to be the one that delivers the bad news to the guy she loves.

Anyway, I've had a couple interviews and near-hires, but that's not enough. Her mom was just telling her today that I need to make it a full-time job to look for a full-time job. And that led to me getting upset and trying to hide in the room downstairs to be mad and do the job searching, which led to Jen being hurt and feeling I was mad at *her*.

And that, my friends, is not good. But I don't think her parents fully realize the stress they're causing to their own daughter. And that, frankly, pisses me off.

So long story short, I need to get something soon, even if it's just working through the local temp agency. And then I'll need prayer to keep from going insane. Ugh.

Josh

PS. Alternatively, you can pray/send good vibes that I get the hypnosis practice up and running soon and making money with it. That would work as well.

PPS. Jen and I made up, in case you were wondering there. It's just more stressful than either of us really need right now.

RenFest at long last!!

2008-09-16T03:32:34Z

All right. Those of you in the right area to attend the Michigan RenFest, my girlfriend and I are going this weekend. Saturday, in fact. So if you'd like to meet up with us, now's your chance. ;)

Oh, and Jami? Just let me know when you're in the area and we can meet at the Beaners. I can walk to it in about 15 minutes.

Joshua

Still alive - an update

2008-09-02T21:58:03Z

All right. It's now been three weeks since my move, and I'm settling in finally. No job yet, and that's creating some strife with my girlfriend's parents (they're choosing to lack patience), and I don't have an office lined up yet to do hypnosis from. Outside of those two things, things are going great.

My girlfriend and I are getting along famously, as it were, and I'm joining her in the main choir and the special choir at her church, along with helping her study for her classes at the university (well, community college). I'm writing this with her at Beaners (now Biggby's) about a mile away from the house. She's doing planning for the senior high youth group at the church and I'm writing this post and looking for work/office space.

For those of you in or near the area, we're planning to go to the RenFest next weekend (Romance Theme) if we can, but it may have to be postponed till the weekend after. I'll keep you posted so you can swing by and say 'hi' if you have the time.

And before I go, I checked out a massage school here: Irene's Myomassology Institute. Evidently, the best school to be trained by, since spas and such have a separate pile for students from there. Unfortunately, it costs almost $10,000 and I can't get a grant from financial aid because it's not *continuing* my Linguistics degree. So that's out. I thought it would have been fun and interesting to do, and would have worked well with my hypnosis business.

Oh well.

That's all for now. Have fun!

Writer's Block: Sarah Palin?

2008-09-02T21:46:28Z

Is Sarah Palin a shrewd choice for the Republican Party, or is she a liability?

View 500 Answers

I think Sarah Palin is probably a good choice for the Republican Party. Aside from the obvious and much-harped upon fact that she's female, she's got a background of doing what's right and going against the trend of being corrupt and not succumbing to peer pressure. And in my opinion, that's what we need in a politician.

Not to mention that she has much more appeal to the conservative base than McCain does, given his history and how he's estranged conservatives in the past. ;)

I've arrived!

2008-08-12T16:25:54Z

And I've arrived. Got picked up at the airport by Jennifer and her parents, was taken to the Olive Garden for dinner, then set up for sleeping.

Now today I get to use my B&N cards to get a book or two. :D

More later, after shower, eating, and B&N. ;)

Joshua

Yes, I'm alive!

2008-08-04T04:22:27Z

That's all.

Okay, not really. Those of you who check Facebook from time to time might have an idea of what's going on with me, as I do use the status update thing there. Irregularly, but I do use it.

Here's the thing. I apologize to all my FM friends for ignoring you for so long. I'm blaming Mystical for that. ;) She got me back into SecondLife, which I'd tried briefly back in September and gave up on because of an issue with upgrading it. Haven't quite gotten to the point of making significant real money with it, but I did get a "job" in there and building up cash so I can start integrating it with my hypnotherapy business.

And something else happened, too.

Nothing bad.

Really.

I ... met someone. Again, those of you on Facebook are probably aware of it, as I changed my status there to "being in a relationship". She's in Michigan, and is everything I'd been looking for. Yes, we met in SecondLife, which is potentially dodgy, but also went out of our way to see if the various dating sites we were on would match us up ... and they did.

Let me put it this way. I'm very, very glad I have Skype. If it weren't for that, I'd have racked up a huuuuge phone bill. I'm talking hours of talking with her via Skype, several times a week. And this from a guy who's normally in a hurry to get off the phone.

And due partially to the situation with my family (not going into it here), I made a decision near the beginning of last month that I was moving out her way.

Yes, you heard me.

I'm moving to Michigan. The flight is on the 11th and is one way. I'm spending all this week going through everything I have in storage, winnowing it down to the bare minimum, etc. and making sure I'm absolutely ready.

I'm hoping this works out for us, and I'm told the area I'll be in is good for hypnotherapy, so I should be good that way, too.

Also, I took over managing a website of Wendi Friesen's, and as soon as everything's set up to go there, I'll have some relatively passive income from that. I'll post the URL, etc., when it's ready to go.

Joshua

PS. Those of you in that area, feel free to come visit me sometime. :)

PPS. Wish me luck, pray for me, send good vibes, etc. All those things are welcomed!

Firegold.net-renew or not?

2008-02-23T00:51:36Z

This is just a quick question for you all. As you may remember, my URL used to be firegold.net, then Jatol disappeared off the face of the earth last Fall. Since the domain was registered in their name, not mine, I had no real recourse to get it back without going through a lot of hassle.

Well, today it expires.

Should I purchase it tomorrow when it's back on the market or not? My http://firegoldhypnosis.com site is doing just fine with that name, I think, and I'm not sure I'd really have the energy to manage a personal site as well as the business site. However, that was the domain I was using for a long time and I'm sure some places still have links that point there.

Hence the question. So what do you think? Should I purchase firegold.net again or not? I'm not going to make my decision solely on the responses here, of course (I'll be surprised to get many comments on it to begin with :p), but any input or comments helps.

Joshua

Walkabout Trance event

2008-02-14T00:42:13Z

Hi, everyone. I'm back from Hermosa Beach, where I spent a fun weekend practicing speed trance techniques and then going out and using them on the unsuspecting public. Well, on the consenting public.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any videos of my successes with the public, but I did take some of the practice with other hypnotists. I just uploaded one to YouTube, as a matter of fact; this is part of a group creativity exercise, making an instant or rapid induction based on called-out prompts. In this video, I was given the word "flower" and the pencil drop induction. Strangely enough, the guy had flowers on his shirt ... could that be where the prompt came from? ;)

I like the induction I came up with, actually. And the guy came up afterward and thanked me for it, saying he hadn't actually been expecting the pen to drop. :D

The very first night I was there, I spent some time in the club my hostel was directly over. Yes, the entrance to my hostel was nestled between two clubs, and my room was directly above one of them. I had a good time there, too. :D Met a small group of people celebrating one lady's new job, and they decided to include me in their group, lol.

Anyway, I'll upload some more videos later, probably. For now, be in awe of my leet hypnosis skilz. :p

Joshua

Addendum

2008-02-07T05:27:43Z

One more tidbit of information and a request for opinions. Wendi Friesen, one of the people who will be at the walkabout trance thing in LA, wants to do a pilot/audition/pitch video for a reality TV show about a hypnotist (her, obviously), and I told her I'd be glad to help her with that while I'm down there. She asked me for script/activity ideas, and I'm drawing a blank.

Even if I don't get to go down there this weekend, I'd still like to be able to help her out. What do you think might make for a good pitch video for a reality show involving a hypnotist?

Throw in as many ideas as you get; I'll take 'em all. :D With credit, of course. ;)

Joshua

Fun times at Hypnoticon ... plus bad news, too

2008-02-07T03:47:25Z

Good news first. I'm back from Hypnoticon (the hypnosis convention I went to in Atlanta this past weekend) and had a blast. Met a lot of interesting people that I'd never normally get to meet, and learned a lot of new and useful techniques.

The bad news. As you may remember, I'm also registered for a "Walkabout Trance" event in LA this weekend, put on by the same people who did Hypnoticon. Because of my being laid off and such, I didn't get the airfare in advance, and had to wait until after I got back from Hypnoticon to decide if the airfare was still reasonable or not. I also waited because my mom wanted to talk to me about it and i haven't had a chance yet.

It's not reasonable.

Granted, had I actually checked on Monday, maybe it would have been, but I didn't and it's not now. Now the cheapest I can get is around $430. I could drive down for less than that, most likely. If my calculations are right, I could probably drive down for about $220 (including food, and assuming no hotel/motel stay).

Flying, however, is much more convenient, as the lady I babysit for needs someone to be at her house for Qwest to install the internet for them. I told her I would do it if I could. Plus flying means I don't have to worry about being an unsafe driver because of lack of sleep.

So here are my choices: 1) Stay home and go to the other hypnosis thingie up here (not as fun and not as useful for my business purposes), 2) drive down, 3) fly down.

If I fly down, I'll have to, between now and tomorrow when I get the tickets, make at least $200 in my PayPal account so I can afford the tickets.

While I have made over $400 in one weekend, I haven't yet made $200 in one day.

*sigh*

You guys know how much I hate doing this, but if you can help me get that money by tomorrow, I'd greatly appreciate it. You know I have the one product on my site already: http://firegoldhypnosis.com/dream. I will put another one up ASAP, or link to various affiliate programs I'm involved in. If you see anything you like or want, or anything someone you know might like or want, please feel free to purchase it so I can go. Or feel free to pass it on to that interested person.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Joshua

Snow!

2008-01-29T06:02:33Z

Yes, that's right, my friends. There be snow in them thar hills today. Them thar hills being my parents' driveway and at least half of the streets I drive on every day, to be precise.

At my parents' house, the snow was 1.5 inches deep, while at the babysitting place, the snow was only 1 inch deep. Yes, I drove over there. School was only 2 hours delayed, so the lady had to go into work (she's a bus driver), and both her kids were staying home.

Which, on a side note, is probably a good idea, as the mom was diagnosed with scabies on Friday. Neither of the two young kids are showing signs, but the one in kindergarten/first grade had a stomachache, so she decided to keep her home today just in case.

So I got there around 9 and proceeded to wait for only a bit before the older sister (20 and in college and working) informed me her school had decided to cancel after all.

Now, keep in mind that I hadn't made it all the way up their driveway due to the snow and driving too slowly to make it up. They live in a little awkward place with three houses off an extended driveway from the main street. The driveway splits into two paths: the one that goes up to their house and the one that goes to the lower house. I ended up parking between those two paths, about halfway up the hill.

So I figured I could make it safe by shoveling a path to back out, but all they had was a regular shovel.

I did the best I could with that and cleared enough to be able to safely do a two-point turn and get back on the road and come home. Where I promptly parked on the street and spent the next hour or so shoveling my *parents'* driveway. Also a steep hill.

I think I got my workout today, lol.

I have some pics below the cut of what it looked like at my parents's house. The third one shows the driveway after I spent about 20 minutes on it with the rusty and bent snow shovel.

The Comments Meme--just because

2008-01-20T02:46:31Z

I feel so unpopular now, compared to everyone else! :( Okay, just kidding. Bring on the comments, people!

Total comments: 22

1	celebinar	7
2	catrinp	5
3	empath_1111	3
4	pickledherring	2
5	suelder	1
6	barlidoc	1
7	vg_ford	1
8	mikaela_l	1
9	marsh_dragon	1

Generated by LJ Comment Stats.

My first product has launched!

2008-01-20T02:29:30Z

Yay me. Now all I need to do is sell a few of these this weekend. ;)

Go to You Have a Dream for details. Also, I'd appreciate a few people taking a look at what might be going on with the page in Firefox. In IE 7, everything displays fine, but in Firefox (on my computer, at least), all the content is pushed all the way down to the bottom of the page. I'm guessing something in the YouTube embed code isn't playing nice with the WordPress Theme I've got for my site.

As you may have guessed from the name, this is inspired by this weekend being Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Not too many people had a dream more well-defined than his, and look at what happened as a result. No, not the assassination part. The fact that his dream came about.

It happened.

I got to thinking about how a lot of people nowadays don't *know* what their dream is. They used to have a vision for their life, but they've since forgotten it, left it by the wayside, and now they don't know how to get it back.

I believe that if you know what your dream is and can really *see* it again--and even those of us who know what our dreams are could use a little reminder, don't you think?--it can completely change your life. It can give you direction, or remind you of your direction. It can give you purpose even when you're feeling down and out.

I just got back from watching In the Name of the King and it wasn't a good movie. Wasn't *bad*, really; just not terribly well-made. Despite that, there is a message in it. A message that's in every movie of this sort.

The main character, Farmer, had a totally clear understanding of his dream. His dream, his vision, throughout the entire movie, was family. Protecting and being with his wife. Although almost all the rest of the characters are concerned with something else (saving the kingdom, mainly), Farmer cared only about saving his wife. That was his dream, his passion.

If you plan to see it, I hope I haven't ruined anything for you with my opinion, and I'm not going to spoil the ending. I'm sure you can figure out at least part of the ending, though. ;)

We as humans need our dreams--both the nightly dreams while we sleep and the bigger dreams that govern our lives. And that's why I made this audio.

I'm not going to ask you guys to go and buy it. You can if you want, of course, and can afford it. All I'm asking is 1) go take a look and give me feedback on the sales page, video, etc., and 2) share it with a friend, if you know someone who needs it or would be interested in it.

You Have a Dream.

Thanks.

Joshua

YouTube Oddness

2008-01-20T02:12:17Z

Enough said, I think.

A little game for you

2008-01-15T18:23:02Z

If you weren't in chat last night, you missed something fun. One chatter had a question regarding "syntax" which really ultimately turned out to be about voice and style. In answering the question, we started rewriting each other's snippets in our own style. Tambo and mooseythehut both posted snippets for us to rewrite, and it turned out to be both fun and enlightening to see the differences in how we all approached the same scene.

If you'd like an example, I got permission from Tambo to post her snippet and my rewrite. Note that because of the length, I've got the rest of this post behind a cut. Moosey left before I could ask permission from her, so all I've got is Tambo's.

Tambo's original:

Head pounding from his fitful night of nightmare-and-summer-storm-laced insomnia, Sean Casey plucked a fax from the mirror and skimmed it as he pulled on his jeans. Black Pawn's art director had sent rough content and graphic specs for Ghoulie's October issue. Murphy's script was early for once and editorial changes should arrive this afternoon. Cool.

"Mare?" he called out, dragging a t-shirt over his head as he left the bedroom with the fax. She always stuck important notes in the mirror so he wouldn't miss them. "You still home?"

No answer. He sighed and padded barefooted to the kitchen. Fax set aside, he popped a couple of Excederin and stood at the sink, filling the pot for morning coffee and planning his day: prelim sketches by noon, a couple of rounds of changes with Murph and editorial, and maybe get started on pencil work for the finals tonight.

Movement outside caught his eye and, gawking out the window, Sean barely noticed cold water overflowing onto his hand. Two women and a man walked into his yard. None wore a stitch of clothes, not even shoes. The man stopped and considered the shed while one woman looked mindlessly to the sky and walked through the peonies. The other woman broke into an awkward run and made straight for Sean's back door.

His headache and sketches forgotten, Sean dropped the coffee pot in the sink and hurried across the kitchen to let her in. Or stop her. Or something. He wasn't quite sure what. He felt as confused as the three nude people looked.

He opened the inner door and shoved the screen wide, sweat beading quickly on his skin. At not quite seven in the morning, it was already hot and sticky outside. "What happened?" he asked, stepping aside and motioning for the running woman to come in. "Was there an accident? You and your friends okay?"

"I don't know who they are," the woman said as she came close, awkwardly bouncing as she covered herself with her hands. Vaguely familiar, she was in her mid twenties, a bit on the plump side, and had wildly curly dark hair. She also blushed as far down as Sean dared to look. "Do you have a towel? A blanket? Something?"

"Um, sure," he said, wincing as the older woman fell against the old brick barbecue. "There's a quilt over the couch in the living room, straight through, and sheets are in the linen closet by the bathroom door. Help yourself."

My rewrite (note for those who were in chat last night; this is a different rewrite than I posted in chat):

Sean Casey woke up with a splitting headache and vaguely remembered nightmares. He remembered a pack of rabid penguins at some point. He groaned and cursed the summer storm that had made things worse--all hot and sticky, sheets adhering to his skin like some sort of seaweed. He rubbed his eyes and pulled on his pants, noticing the fax stuck neatly to his mirror.

That would be Mare, he thought, always making sure he didn't forget things. He grabbed at the fax as he stumbled toward the kitchen, quickly skimming it. Until he had his coffee, skimming was all he could do.

"Mare? You there?" No answer. He shrugged and continued into the kitchen. According to the fax, everything was going well, for once. Murphy's script was early, the editorial rewrites would be done this afternoon, there were new content and graphics specs for Ghoulie's October issue. Life was good.

But work could wait until after the coffee. He swallowed some Excedrin, then turned on the water for the coffee pot. Despite his good intentions, he started thinking about what needed to be done the rest of the day. Sketches floating through his head, he glanced outside.

Time froze.

What on Earth? Two women and a man were in his yard, walking through the garden, the hot sun glinting off their sweat-slicked bodies. Which were entirely naked. Not even a flip-flop.

The coffee pot began overflowing, but he barely noticed, attention fixated on the women--er, the group of naked strangers in his yard. The man was staring at the shed, a thoughtful expression on his face, while the older woman gazed blankly at the sky and trampled the peonies. _Mare will be upset about that._

When the younger woman started running for the back door, awkwardly trying to cover herself as she ran, Sean dropped the coffee pot and ran to the door himself. Distantly, he registered the shattering glass sound as the pot landed.

He felt as confused as the three naked people looked. Was he letting her in or trying to keep her out?

He opened the door just as she got there and found himself motioning for her to come in. _That answers that question,_ he thought. "Are you and your friends okay?" Wiping the sweat off his brow, he glanced at the others and winced as the older woman fell against the brick barbecue. "What happened? Was there an accident?"

"I don't know who they are." Up close, she looked to be in the low twenties, pleasantly plump. And blushing all the way down to--he forced his gaze back to her face. "Do you have a blanket or towel? Something? Please?"

"Uh, yes. Right down the hall by the bathroom, there's some sheets. And there's a quilt on the couch. Feel free to help yourself."

So what do you think? Might this make for a fun game? Post a short snippet or scene of yours and have others rewrite it in their own style and voice. Put the link to the rewrite in the comments of the post with the original, maybe?

Because it's that time of year

2008-01-09T18:55:02Z

Figured I'd post my results from the Candidate Quiz since I've seen a few others doing it. :D Tell me if you're surprised or not. ;) I know I'm a bit dubious about McCain being on top, but oh well.

88% John McCain
81% Mike Huckabee
78% Mitt Romney
74% Fred Thompson
65% Tom Tancredo
62% Ron Paul
60% Rudy Giuliani
50% Bill Richardson
38% Hillary Clinton
37% Barack Obama
37% Chris Dodd
35% John Edwards
28% Joe Biden
20% Mike Gravel
16% Dennis Kucinich

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

I needz ur halpz

2008-01-06T22:41:49Z

Well, kinda. I posted a Craigslist ad for my sister's table and chairs three days ago and got a resounding *zero* responses. I reposted it today, to keep it somewhat in the front section. The problem is that there's a *ton* of furniture ads, so hers is getting buried.

If you live in the Tacoma area (or anywhere in Washington, for that matter, that's got people willing to drive to Tacoma) and know someone who might be interested in this, please feel free to pass the link on to them: http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/fur/530413550.html

It's a very reasonable price for the set, imo. The only reason my sister wants to get rid of it is because The Sister brought her own table and chairs, which are nicer. And they want to use that set instead.

Also, if you want to help me out at all, if you know anyone in Washington that might be interested in hypnosis, feel free to point them to my site (http://firegoldhypnosis.com). Heck, even if they're *not* in Washington--I plan on getting mp3s/CDs for sale on my site this week.

Also, later today, I'll post that story I was writing for my mom. Comments will be welcome, as I've been not-writing for a while.

Joshua

Links to the pics

2007-12-28T23:36:47Z

Here you go, as promised. I uploaded the pictures to my Picasa Gallery and the video was too large for that, even after I cut about 2/3 out of it (I recorded on the high quality setting), so it's hosted on my website instead.

Word of warning. The images are large, as the default settings on the camera are to save in full 7 megapixel mode. I did reduce them by 50%, but didn't want to shrink them any further than that; too much shrinkage makes it hard to tell if it's unsharp or just shrunk down/compressed too much.

Let me know if they look like decent pictures to you. And the video, too--comment on its quality, as well. Thanks!