My 2009 Predictions 
Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 11:50 AM
Indigo Incarnates

Well, I don't actually have precognition, but then, neither do the cable TV psychics. But I'll give you *my* 2009 predictions without even charging you $1.99/minute! What a deal!

For 2009, this is what I see happening:
-- The economy will keep deteriorating until we reach Great Depression conditions. Barak Obama will have to institute some kind of "New Deal" legislation that may get the country working again in 2010 or 2011.

-- We'll still be in Iraq for 2009 and possibly even 2010.

-- Obama will betray the gay/lesbian community (as every president has).

-- Ford may restabilize. GM will do another beg-a-thon. Chrysler will either get liquidated or do Chapter 11 reorganization.

-- The Honda Insight-II will be a real hit and will outsell the Prius.

-- Red State fools will suddenly go back to buying guzzler-hulk SUVs since gasoline is cheap again, and these same people will wail/gnash their teeth when gas restabilizes at $3/gallon.

-- The Religious Right will make another attempt at amending the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against gays.

-- The Far Right (and Rush Limbaugh) will demonize Obama if the recession lasts beyond April.

-- Windows-7 will be better than Vista, but won't be as good as WinXP. The life cycle of WinXP will be extended an additional year due to the increased use of inexpensive "netbooks".

-- Ford will still refuse to sell the 62 MPG version of the Focus in the USA. (Yes, Ford does make super-efficient compact cars, but you can only get them in Europe).



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Computer Stuff 
Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 05:57 PM
Indigo Incarnates

It was very interesting today. I tackled getting Doris and Clint's aging desktop back into a more streamlined condition. It's sort of a hobby of mine, hee hee. So it turns out that Shane and Corey had installed a vast amount of what I call "junkware". What's junkware you ask? Those are video games with no uninstall utility, shareware applications that chug the system, duplicate spyware utilities that might actually be malware apps themselves. I was particularly perturbed that the game "Oblivion" has no uninstall utility but takes up 4.1 Gb of hard drive space. Since Shane and Corey moved out two weeks ago, we can delete their junkware apps.

The long and short of it is that the hard drive has about 20% of the hard drive space has been freed and there are a lot fewer popups popping up. I'm guessing that the computer is not on the original processor since it's got an odd configuration. It has a smokin' hot processor (3.1 GHz) but only has an 80 Gb hard drive and 512 Mb RAM. Weird, eh?

Joe got another driving lesson this morning. His confidence behind the wheel is a lot better than yesterday and he executed a 3-point turn with less difficulty. He's also getting better at judging distances when approaching stop signs. I think he's making good progress.

I also got in some good exercise today. Joe and I did a 2-mile power walk at the nearby state park. It was sunny too, and Thistle and I will take whatever sun we can get, since it's so rare at this time of year.

I'm having a really good time this week, but I miss Doug too. It's a real shame our vacations didn't line up this year. Fortunately, that won't be a problem for next year since I'm turning in my vacation slip next Monday, hee hee.


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The Dreaded MVA 
Monday, December 29, 2008, 05:15 PM
Indigo Incarnates

I drove Doris's son Joe over to the MVA so he could get his learner's permit for driving. I'm happy to say he passed! The MVA in South Carolina is no more fast or efficient than in Maryland, I'm sad to say. It took Joe a whopping five minutes to pass the written test but we were there for an hour and a half. But now Joe can legally drive a car as long as there's a licensed driver in the passenger seat. Too cool!

We got lunch at Waffle House afterward. We don't have one near Baltimore, so it's a real treat. And it's cheap too -- $8.40 for two people!

I got to walk around Lander University today with Doris. It was sunny and breezy and warm. Thistle and I sure did need the sunlight. It's good to get sunlight, especially after it being overcast in Baltimore for three weeks straight.

Joe got to drive a little bit this afternoon. He actually did okay. He didn't hit any pedestrians and he didn't drive the car into a ditch. Kewl. He did two three-point turns and was also able to park the car with no problem. Basically, we drove around the neighborhood at about 20 MPH for ten minutes or so. It was pretty cool. :)


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Made it in one piece 
Sunday, December 28, 2008, 08:21 AM
Indigo Incarnates

The 10-hour drive is about as much of a drive as I can take. But I made it here in one piece. Yay!

The cool thing is that Doris and Clint waited the extra two days to have Christmas dinner -- so I could be there for it. I don't eat meat, but I had some really good stuffing, bean casserole, home-made crescent rolls, cranberry jelly, mashed yams with nuts, and pumpkin pie. Yum! Her oldest daughter was visiting from college too, so that was nice. Joe liked the 7-inch miniature laptop that he will use when he starts college next year. It's not a power machine, but it sure is portable! I crafted to protection amulets -- one for Timmy and one for Angel. They liked them.

Doris and Clint bought Willow two little toys. That was really nice. Willow doesn't own a lot of stuff. I got a candle that smells like hazelnut coffee, so that's pretty cool :)


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606 Miles 
Saturday, December 27, 2008, 07:41 AM
Indigo Incarnates

I'm really happy that I get to visit my friends Doris and Clint for a week. They're sort of quasi-parental entities to me and they're both really, really nice people.

They sure do live far away from me. It's a 606 mile drive. I have to say that it tests the upper limit of my endurance. But I made it last summer so I'm sure I can do it today. I left the house at 6:30 AM in the hopes of arriving by sunset.

Well... I only drive this far for people I really love :)

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Christmas Visit 
Friday, December 26, 2008, 09:09 AM
Indigo Incarnates

I got to visit mom yesterday on Christmas and that was pretty nice. We had a nice dinner together. It was nice to see mom in good spirits and generally happy.

Her health is very bad. She's dying from heart failure and lung disease. She's become very frail and thin. But she is eating properly and taking her medicines. She isn't awake a whole lot anymore because her stamina is basically shot. But she made it through dinner, so that was nice.

My useless sister was also visiting. She's a real piece of work. She's anorexic (for the attention, of course) and now let herself get nearly as skinny as mom. She's also a big fan of tanning salons, so she looks like a dried-up piece of beef jerky (but thinks she looks sexy). She doesn't seem to have a problem with adultery either. Her latest thing is dabbling in the Occult. So she had the strange notion that I am some sort of magician/wizard because I am a Wiccan. I had to instruct her about how Wicca is an actual religion and has little to do with Harry Potter, Ghost Hunter, or Buffy. The occult crap she's messing around with can only get her in trouble and won't advance her spiritual path one single bit. Basically, I'm studying Wicca because I am seeking a closer relationship with Deity (that being the Goddess and God, in the case of Wicca). Jenny is involved with the occult in order to enhance her personal power and to be able to command spirits to do her bidding.

I misplaced my cell phone on the way up. I guess I was tired and didn't notice it fall out of my pocket when I stopped for coffee halfway up to visit. I have insurance on the phone, but it's a drag to have to jump through the hoops to file a claim. I guess some junkie-bum will probably earn a few heroin gel caps off pawning my misplaced phone. :(

I missed Doug for Christmas. Our vacations didn't match this year because of a change at my workplace. At least we'll have our cruise together in November 2009.

So, other than the missing phone, the visit was cool. I got to eat dinner with mom. Then mom and I got to talk trash about Jenny after Jenny went home. Then mom and I got some milkshakes at Sheetz. I had a nice time.


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A chill to freeze one's soul 
Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 05:10 PM
Indigo Incarnates

Man! I just totally hate cold weather. Maybe I'm a wussn heh heh. The past few days has been really windy and really cold. So that's had the effect of making the house cold all the time even with the heat on. That's because this house is really old and kinda drafty.

My office is really cold too. It's in the basement and it had once been a bomb shelter. So... There is a whole lot of concrete, steel, and visible pipes. What it doesn't have a lot of is heat.

So I've been kinda cold for three days straight :(

Aiiieeee!!!!

On the bright side, I get to visit mom on Christmas since the dreaded Jimmy won't show his face until the 28th. Then I get to visit my friends Doris and Clint (who are heroes to me and also are sort of quasi-parental entities).

I ordered a few "Mystery Science Theater 3000" movies for my visit with Doris and Clint next week. They're big fans of that series too. Gotta love a series that makes fun of bad movies hee hee.

I also survived a week of double-duty at work. I mostly have drug offenders, but the agent that handles domestic violence was on vacation since last Wednesday, so I've been monitoring her cases too. But I kept up with the double workload. Yay!

Tonight is the last choir rehearsal before we have to do it for real. Of course Yule and Christmas have similar imagery. Infant sun god / mother goddess --> infant jesus / mother mary. Actually, I think Christianity could get by with Jesus and Mary and jettisonning the angry desert god YHVH. That's unlikely to happen, heh heh.

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alone 
Sunday, December 21, 2008, 08:00 PM - halo's thoughts
halo incarnates

is hard to be alone. indigo-partner is away. am alone here. hard to be alone. sad. have friends, but are far away. am really alone.

sometimes get worried. soon wicca seeker year will be up. then angry desert god can't hurt us. goddess is good. doesn't hurt people on purpose. not like angry desert god. will be glad when seeker year is finished. am glad to feel loved when we pray to the goddess. not afraid of halo. not afraid of dark things. not saying "halo is no good". am glad for that. glad to not be hated. glad wicca goddess loves us.

just feel alone now. no indigo-partner. little dog is gone too. think indigo-partner doesn't understand halo, but tries to understand halo. trying is good. trying is enough. trying is okay. can love doug. just not in same way as indigo can. just can't do that. am different. is ok.

feel sad tonight. am alone. not afraid of the dark. but is cold out. cold is hard. house just never gets warm enough. old house. is tired old house. am sad. too alone. sad to be so alone.


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misaligned vacations 
Saturday, December 20, 2008, 09:55 AM
Indigo Incarnates

The bright side this year is that I got promoted and then was transferred to a different courthouse with free parking. The down side is that I had to re-submit my vacation request and I couldn't get the same week off that Doug has off. So... I won't see Doug for two weeks. Oy! It is good for him to see his mom and his sister. I can never visit his family because his sister is violent and hits people (and has hit me in the past). So I don't go. But now that Doug's sister is very ill with cancer, it's very important for Doug to visit while he still can.

So, that leaves me alone here for a week. Bummer. On the bright side, I got a lot of housekeeping done yesterday and will do some more today. I figure that it will be nice for Doug to come home to a clean house. :)

I also made his Christmas present. He wanted a portable external hard drive for his laptop so he can store all of his TV shows and movies. Given that our finances are pretty tight, I couldn't afford a portable hard drive. But... I did the next best thing. For the low, low price of $39, I bought a hard drive conversion kit that turns an internal hard drive into an external hard drive. I took the 100 Gb SATA drive from my dead computer upstairs and mounted it into the external kit. And after a mere ten minutes of assembly, Doug will now be the happy recipient of a USB 2.0 external HD for his movie-storing pleasure.

I talked to skinny-mom last night and learned that the dreaded Uncle Jimmy changed his plans and now won't visit until Dec-28, which means I can visit mom on Christmas Day. Yay! I had originally planned on visiting on the 27th because I didn't want the risk of being at the same place and same time as Jimmy. If we are ever to meet in person, he would run the risk of being kicked in the groin and punched in the throat (via Ashen). So, since I've actually seen how bad Central Booking is, I don't plan on picking up an assault charge.

Next Saturday I get to visit a really special friend for a week. I call her my "quasi-parental entity" since she's sort of a maternal influence in my life and I love her a whole bunch. She's also the only friend I've ever had who was willing to drive 606 miles to visit me. So I don't mind driving that same distance to visit her. She and her husband are real heroes to me. They adopted two little kids, they have two other natural-born children, and they helped raise two other "strays" who were booted from their homes when they were teenagers because their parents were fundamentalist bigots (the evicted kids are gay, and the fundamentalist parents decided to stop being parents to them).

Tonight I get to attend the Yule Rite over at Cedar Light Grove. That's always fun. Pagan/Wiccan celebrations are always a blast. :)


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Tired of coughing fits 
Friday, December 19, 2008, 08:46 AM
Indigo Incarnates

One of the things that irritates the crap out of me is how long I have a cough that persists after I otherwise feel okay. Like, I don't have any cold/flu symptoms except for the coughing part. Man, I'm getting really tired of being woken up every 30-45 minutes or so all night long.

I'm really tired.

I usually get over the main part of a cold/flu in just 1-2 days, but the coughing part just lingers for weeks sometimes. I'd like to get some actual uninterrupted sleep. I'm just so freakin' tired.

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