Cross-posting to LJ. LJ readers, I'm really on corrvin.dreamwidth.org now.

Huge storm hit OKC area. So far, two confirmed fatalities in El Reno (to the west of OKC). Our house totally missed it other than some teeny hail, pea-sized.

Very grateful. Trouble getting cats into safe places, working on that plan for next time.

Going back to bed.

Posted to my DW at http://corrvin.dreamwidth.org/425977.html and you can comment there or here.

Also, this will be my final crossposted entry. I won't be posting at LJ anymore, just here on DW. For those who only use LJ, you can go to corrvindw.livejournal.com and add that to your friends list; it pulls from my DW account when I post. For those already doing that AND reading my LJ, this is the last entry you'll see two of.

I won't be renewing my LJ paid account in February, so I have a month or so to save all my pictures elsewhere and move icons where I want them to go.

( blathering and more list )

I was having a perfectly nice time stargazing on the deck of the house I grew up in.

Then I woke up and I was 100 miles away, 20 years in the future, and it was daytime. I have brain whiplash.

Comments are screened!

I'm about to go out and buy holiday cards again this year.

If you want a card, post a comment with:
a) name(s) to whom I should address it
b) Address
c) If you need a non-religious card, or have any objections to rubber stamps, markers, or anything else I feel like tarting the cards up with before I send them.

Our address will be in the next post. :D

I'm at work, polishing off the last bit of Rocky Road ice cream that I brought earlier this week.

To be non-specific about work, all the absolutely vital things got done and progress was made on the not-so-vital things, and things that only I could do got done also.

Two days off sounds SO good. There might be some room-cleaning, too.

I'm thankful to live in a time and place that has clean water, warm houses, plenty to eat for humans and kitties alike; I'm thankful that we have comfortable clothes, and things to play with, and more electronics than any sane person can use at once. I'm thankful for modern medicine and over-the-counter remedies, too.

I'm thankful for living in a big city, in a place convenient to all the shopping I could ever want to do. I'm thankful to have the money to do that shopping, and a job that provides me with a steady income.

So I'm thankful even while I'm pissed that I have to go to work, in the freezing cold, on the holiday, with a sore throat, and then struggle home through the worst traffic of the year in the shopping district that surrounds my house.

To all the Americans on my f-list, have a good Thanksgiving! And to everyone else: so, how do you know when Christmas starts?

Spending the day taking Raven to buy a funeral suit for his grandfather's funeral Saturday. We could go Friday, but I'm not going to the maul on Black Friday.

Nothing else really fun planned. Sigh.

It's 75 outside, which means it's 80+ and sweltering in my bedroom. At least the sun goes down by 6pm, and it starts to cool off, which means I can sleep then.

But right now I'm cranky, exhausted, and way too hot. I hate this weather. It makes me sleepless and miserable.

There's two kinds of chicken in the crockpot and bananas drying in the dehydrator, but I'm so hot I'm sick at my stomach, so that isn't even appeasing me.

"But *why* would anyone object to being patted down all over by a TSA employee of the same sex?"

The whole TSA discussion just annoys the crap out of me. It's a matter of personal privacy for everyone-- but if you ever see a woman taken aside to be searched by two men? Then you'll understand what "forcible outing" is.

Today, November 20th, is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. It's a day set aside to remember people who have been killed on account of being transgendered.

In other news, the United Nations condemns countries who execute people for non-criminal reasons, as a violation of human rights; two days ago, the UN narrowly voted to remove sexual orientation from the list of unacceptable reasons to execute people. In other words, the UN voted that it's no longer a human rights violation for a country to execute people for their sexual orientation. (Source here, thanks to a friend who linked this in a locked entry.)

Note to self:

While you don't like feeling deprived of food, you're just as happy with 3 bites of something yummy as 10-- or 30.

---

So I made little snack things for work with rice cakes (rosemary and garlic. SO GOOD) and cheddar bunny crackers and a couple of gingerbread marshmallows (not as good as expected but still worth eating two or three) and bites of dried pineapple. And tonight I'll pick up yogurt at the store and take a half-dozen of those yellow cherry tomatoes and FEAST all night.

Kiz was right, I do some terrible eating when I have the chance to. I need to work on doing better about that.

So, I had a rousing vacation consisting of 60% sleep and good food (at least) plus some online gaming and a little bit of actually going out and doing things.

I got home and promptly overextended by going out again.

And today? The schedule includes taking the kid out shopping for glasses and new sneakers.

Yeah, I apparently don't learn very well.

Sleeping in my own bed was nice, but I really need to clean up in here. At least Geeg is glad to see me home (and purring madly).

And? OH MY GOSH. IT'S RAINING! Hooray!

In this post linked here, a mother of a 5 year old boy posts about his choosing a Daphne costume for Halloween, and some people's ignorant responses to that.

I read the post as saying this: her son wanted to dress in a girl costume. Some people think that boys who prefer girl things often turn out to be gay. And her response is that it’s okay if her son is gay and it’s okay if he’s not gay.

This is a wonderfully supportive statement in regards to gay and non-gay kids. And I love the post for this. She wants the world to be a safer place for boys like her boy-- all of them, not just her boy.

What is quietly bothering me about this, though, is that when a kid consistently and frequently shows a preference for the other gender’s behavior and clothing and so on, it might be a better idea to consider supportive statements related to gender identity instead of sexual/romantic orientation. “It’s okay to be a boy who likes boys” and "you can be any kind of boy you want" are awesome statements-- unless you’re pretty sure you’re not a boy.

I know it’s a tremendous reach from “my kid wants a Daphne costume” to “maybe my kid is questioning their gender identity in a serious way” but I think it’s a much more logical stretch than “maybe my kid might be gay.” It certainly doesn’t apply to all the little boy Daphnes out there-- but for the one or two where it does, I really wish those kids could hear what they need to hear from their parents too.

It's 24 hours and a few minutes until my vacation starts. (One more shift at work, including the screw-you-night-shift hour.)

I have knitting progress on my Elvish. I'm about 3" into the body, with 3" more to go plus the crown decreases. (Note to self: Size 6 needles give you a gauge of 5.5st/1" so CO 150 next time instead of 138.)

I've been having a really good time with my local guy and his not-local guy; have been figuring out some stuff in my head, and generally getting as many cuddles as I could stand, plus three. Introverts cuddling is a funny thing! And while I'm not always completely happy, I at least have a good understanding of what I need.

I haven't had a bed completely empty of cats ever since I moved my bed to allow for window-basking. I'm sure they're thrilled by it all, really; I'll have to remember to leave the curtains open a bit when I go on vacation.

So, I've survived the weekend from heck; I'm still sad but doing a little better. Survived a little rockiness in my personal life, things are doing better there too.

This week's schedule is going to eat me alive. I have cleaning to do today (Wednesday) and my dad coming tomorrow for us to work on wiring or... something! I don't know what. In the kitchen.

I'm having sleeping problems, as usual, with the 2pm wakeup and inability to sleep again. I'm sure it's stress, it should go away soonish.

I am still unsure how I ever find time to date. I'm just glad I do. I've been having a spectacular time with the folks I've been seeing. I need to make more time for just hanging out with people I care about. Good thing work is giving us 2 weeks of vacation starting next year!

On the knitting needles this week:

1) Charcoal gray pocket hat, needing 2 rows + ribbing + pocket to be complete, hat 1 of 3 for the Tulsa crew (my ex's family)

2) Striped pink and brown hat waiting to be frogged for re-use... I wanted a pointy elf kind of hat, but I should've double increased every 4th row instead of single every 2. Also, reverse stockinette 2-row stripes are PERFECTLY straight and I kind of would rather have those almost than stockinette ones.

3) a fair number of scraps of yarn sitting by for....something. I'm not sure what yet. And a ball of sock yarn.

I really want to knit a vest, and I have the yarn put aside for it (Silky Wool in green/blue) but I need time to pick out a pattern and start work. I have the duct-taped pieces for at least the measurements from waist to underarm.

I still need to do laundry and pack for my trip Sunday. OH MY GOSH IT'S THIS SUNDAY. HOLY CRAP. I have a lot of stuff to find! (I'm only going for 4 days, so I'm taking two changes of clothes at most. This sounds easy, but I also need my laptop, iPod, chargers for those and my cell phone, knitting stuff, and whatever else I can fit in a teeny tiny bag. Also, I'd like a messenger/laptop bag. I'll go look for one in the morning.)

( final news for kitten )

Hug 'em if you got 'em, folks.

I can't sleep. New bed position is nice, but sheets are refusing to dry so I don't have all my comfy flannel stuff. I mean REFUSING like two hours of drying kind of stupidness.

I picked up one of my long-lost knitting projects, a triangle shawl on reclaimed wool, only to discover that way up near the top is a hole where the yarn fragmented. DAMN IT.

And Boots the kitten is missing, somewhere in the house. Surely he'll come out for food-- unless, of course, he's hurt. Or sick. Which is what we're concerned about.

I had a perfectly lovely three-night weekend with certain local people, who have other plans for the weekend.

I managed to commit a neatness in my bedroom and moved the bed so that I can still sleep in the dark by shutting the curtains, but can open the curtains for the cats to bask on the bed. It was so successful I haven't been able to make the bed yet:



That's Engineer Cat on the left, Rosie in the back, Grim in the front, and Geeg on the right. I'll probably make the bed after I wash the sheets in a bit.

Brilliant move: I put my rocking chair at the foot of the bed, which means I can put my feet up on the bed. My problem with footstools is that when I stretch my legs out, I feel like I'm sliding out of the chair unless the footstool is higher than my behind.

I found one of my knitting projects when I moved the bed. I might actually finish it now with the yarn I bought last time I was at Kiz's! ...I wonder where that yarn is?

Anyways, rearranging the room seems to have located a couple of extra spoons, metaphorically. I don't feel so completely overwhelmed now by all the stuff. I might even make it down to do laundry in an hour or so.

So, within 24 hours of my getting a new laptop, Raven's computer fried its motherboard. This has been an expensive day. (Though I am grateful to have the money to replace things when they break, and not have to wait two weeks.)

Speaking of expensive, it's time to take Dim to the vet to get tutored-- hoping we can get him in later this week. We have three to get done, but with the other two being girls, it's crucial to get him fixed first. Sure, there are low-cost spay-neuter places, but again, I have the money to support a relationship with our local vet, who is six blocks away, and avoid a long trip with a miserable cat. Dim might turn out to be a car rider, but he might not be, and I'd rather not have him squall miserably and be trusted to strangers if I can help it.

And the kid needs her eyes examined again. It's like I'm made of money, some months. I'll call Monday and get that appointment for her.

So, Raven and I are playing LOTRO (when his computer works, he's playing) on Silverlode server. They've got a free-to-play deal going on, if anybody happens to have a computer that'll run it. My character is Huldis if you'd like to find me. I'll likely be on Saturday and Sunday mornings both...

The happiest and best thing in the whole world, in all this world and the next, in this universe and in those like it and unlike it?

It's the realization that you don't have to be partnered with someone to be family.