Red Tag Sale

Since I've been a horrible friend to my fellow bloggers and only recently noticed I'd been tagged by both Lucy-fur and Be-eth-a-bub, I really should get to it! Apologies if some of the questions have lost their timely status. It's not you. It's me.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Hot chocolate with a shot of Scotch or dark rum. And whipped cream or marshmallows - I ain't picky on that part.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
I don't know. Haven't asked him recently. He usually wrapped presents when I was a kid, but I think he's gotten lazy in his old age.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White/clear. Tree is pre-lit, and all the strings I have now are white/clear. Looks better on the house, looks better in the snow. And NO BLINKING. Just all around classier.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Occasionally. From my belt buckle.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Day/weekend after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Growing up, I couldn't get enough turkey/mashed potatoes/cranberry sauce (the whole berry kind). But I gotta say, sitting down to a nice dinner with my (complete) family unit made ham/potatoes/broccoli/stuffing a real winner.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
The time we got a 15ft Christmas tree into our house in Aptos, and had to decorate the top third from the loft railing. Also the Christmas when I got an Action Jackson and his "remote controlled" motorcycle (which was really just a long wire running from a battery pack to the motorcycle). I think I was 4.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
"No clue. Probably walked in on him banging the Tooth Fairy."
> Beth's answer is SO good, I'm stealing it.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes. Usually it's something practical like slippers or PJs.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
The sucker comes pre-lit in three pieces, goes up and fluffs out (yes, you have to fluff the tree) in about half an hour. Then we hang a bazillion ornaments dating back 40+ years.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I love to look at it and play in it, but I don't like to drive in it or be trapped in my home because of it.

12. Can you ice skate?
Used to. Don't wanna risk all 6'4" 250lbs of angry Scotsman crashing to a cold, hard surface.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Aside from that Action Jackson figure and maybe a Steve Austin from the mid-'70s, two come to mind: 1) favorite gift received, on our first Christmas together, 1984, Samantha gave me an RC Corvette Stingray. They only had them in yellow, so she'd hand-painted the thing in gunmetal blue, my favorite car color. 2) favorite gift given, December 13th, 2008, the ring I put on Raechelle's finger when I asked her to marry me. Sappy? Maybe. But true.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
It's all about the family of spirit. And spirits. Heh. He just referenced alcohol in a moderately clever and amusing way.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
A good pumpkin pie where you can actually taste the spices, with plenty of whipped cream.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Just being with my family and friends.

17. What tops your tree?
Used to be a couple small calico teddy bears tied together with silk ribbon. Now nothing. The tree goes all the way to the ceiling.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
You receive by giving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I think it's a toss-up between Barenaked Ladies w/Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings, and Sinéad O'Connor w/Peter Gabriel - Silent Night (makes me mist up every time).

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Not to eat, but they can be honed to a deadly point for self defense.

21. What do you want for Christmas?
Already have it. :)

I'm gonna tag Kayleigh, Dan & Trish. Eat my Christmas!

Post Ho Ho

So here we are, looking at the aftermath of another Christmas. The relatively warm rains came in yesterday and cleared away most of the snow, which by that point was looking like a sad, poop-flavored sno-cone.

Christmas Day was spent snowed in (since we couldn't get the cars out of the driveway before Friday). Doug, Ann, Gavin & Michelle came over for breakfast, prezzies and family time. Then our family visitors took off to other locales before the new snow came in. We just hung out at home, then Raechelle and I prepared a nice sit-down Christmas dinner for the four of us. Ham, broccoli and mashed potatoes. Yummy.

By Friday, being snowed in had lost much of its romance, and it felt more like being shackled to one spot with manacles of ice and snow (which would actually be pretty easy to break, when you think about it, but I'm not being literal). Fortunately, with some digging and some gumption (gotta love the word gumption), I managed to get Sportacus up the hill and onto the skating rink of our street. Once out onto the main roads, things were okay. I met Ron at Elliott Bay Brewery for lunch - it was just the ticket to be able to stir a bit less crazily.

I got back to find that Rae had been able to get Ruby up to the street as well, and she took off for a few hours for some dinner and Jamie time while the kids and I did an old-skool pizza-movie Friday night, just the three of us.

(The girl & me at Bamboo Garden, Seattle)

Yesterday was kind of a trial by fire of sorts. Up to SCCA in the morning so that Rae could show Dan around the shoot location for a PSA project we're working on. The shoot I will have to miss because I'm flying to WV to meet the future in-laws -- but more on that later). Then back home for a Goodwill run and grocery shopping for dinner. Then back downtown to Bamboo Garden for a holiday dinner with my stepmom, brother & SIL, siste, neice, and our four troops. Then Kayleigh stayed with the others for a production of Wizard of Oz at the Seattle Children's Theater while Tyler, Rae & I came back home to clean up and prep for company.

Is your head spinning yet? If not, it will be...

So at 6PM we welcomed Steve (Rae's ex) and Stephanie (his girlfriend) over for a nice dinner of pesto, salad, garlic bread and wine (and finished off with Jamie's cookie donations to our household - thanks Jamie!). We laughed, we chatted, and we all got along really well - they are both fantastic people and I'm happy to know them. How crazy is that?

At about 8PM, Stephanie left for home and Steve left to go pick up Heather from the airport. Rae was hoping to have had more time to visit, but Heather's flight from Tucson had been delayed. Meanwhile, Gavin dropped Kayleigh back at home. At about 9:30PM Steve showed back up with Ms. H. herself, and there was much rejoicing. The kids were really social too. It was good to finally meet after blogrolling each other and being Facebook acquaintances for so long.

At about 11:15, We packed Rae's bags into Sportacus, dropped Heather and Ruby off at Stephanie's (where H is staying), and I drove Rae to the airport for her red-eye to Houston. She texted me shortly after 5AM Seattle time to let me know she'd landed safely and had actually been bumped to First Class (no upgrade necessary).

After sharing my home and bed with my now-fiancée for the last 2 months straight, it was odd sleeping alone last night, but I will re-adapt to the state of temporary single-parenthood once again and have a nice holiday week. Already the calendar is filling up, so very likely the next six days will fly by, and by Friday evening I will be in Pittsburgh being retrieved by said fiancée for the three-hour drive into West Virginia. There I will spend another six days, meeting my future in-laws, helping unpack from their move, and likely having more snowy fun.

And that's just the opening salvo for our already-packed January calendar. It's not even here yet, and already 2009 promises to be a very active year.

Happy Holidays

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, or some other midwinter festival, I wish you all the best fortune in this cold season and for the Gregorian New Year.

Dearie me, did we all just learn something? On Christmas?? That's crazy.

Quick Update

It's actually above freezing for once. There is a very slooooooow melt underway, with more snow promised in the wee hours of the morning. We may actually have a white Christmas.

We tried to get Ruby out of the driveway this morning - a driveway packed with 6" of snow and ice in various strata. Shoveling was out, due to my bum shoulder from the wipeout yesterday. I tried blazing a trail with Sportacus, to no avail. And shoveling the expanse of graded driveway was out of the question if we were to have any energy left. Raechelle finally got a ride to work and said it was a veritable white-knuckle ballet.

The kids sledded some more, then we walked to Taco Del Mar and grabbed some lunch. Kayleigh and I watched A Prairie Home Companion, which was cute. I used to listen to the radio show growing up, but I didn't find the film particularly compelling (despite an amazing cast). It wasn't bad, it was just... meh.

I did a bunch of bookkeeping and (computer) housekeeping, and then took a second trip to Westwood, to the (God help me) post office and grocery store. Everywhere was packed with human sardines clearing the shelves of every last provision. The QFC was (get this) out of eggs.

Out.
Of.
Eggs.

I grabbed some soup and grilled cheese sandwich makings. Raechelle finally made it home after another white-knuckle trip, and we're gonna hole up tonight. Being snowed in is good for something, right?

Whoopsie Daisy.

The hell was I thinking? I mean, really. A 40 year-old, 250-pound man on a little plastic disc. Which incidentally reminds me of the Spartan shields in 300. But I digress.

This!
Is!
WEST SEATTLE!

We went down to Big 5 this morning and purchased some of these plastic human serving trays and proceeded to make our offerings to the Snow Gods. And by cracky, it was fun to begin with. As the video below (taken yesterday by Raechelle as I rode a borrowed disc) will prove.



However, all it takes is a single spill, and suddenly my uninsured ass was in bed, unable to move my left arm above my chest or turn my head more than a 45-degree left-right axis. I'm sure I didn't break anything - just some pulled muscles and sore spots. I'll be right as rain in a bit, especially since Ibuprofen, ice packs and TBFE2 take such good care of me.

It's just a bit embarrassing, being on the receiving end of care when I've usually been the one to dish it out. But I'm letting her do it, and I'm thankful for it. And for her.

The kids have had an awesome day, and with the temps in the mid 30s, the snow has begun to melt. We'll see what the rest of the week holds, what with more foul weather predicted and my grandmother in the hospital. May have to postpone our Bellingham Christmas gathering until after Raechelle gets back from WV.

RIP: Majel Barrett Roddenberry

The word is given, Majel. Warp speed.

Have a Holly Throbbing Christmas...

Courtesy of Engrish.com.

Snow Day

Welcome to Seattle's SNOWPOCALYPSE '08!

Perfect!

Project Greenlight
Dec 11- Dec 20

This is it -- the perfect time to make those changes. No matter what they are, or what department of your life you're hoping to fix, it's all good. There. Now get busy and just do it. You can't hope for any better than this.

I did not make that up. First of all, let me say that on our first official date as a couple, Raechelle walked up to me at the Harvard Exit theater, kissed me, and said "green light". The term has become a catch phrase with us. Secondly, could that horoscope be more apropos considering the whole engagement thing?

This last weekend was all about being mushy, calling friends and family, and holing up with the kids while it proceeded to snow. Yesterday we found ourselves iced in. In fact, this morning is no better, but I have to get down to the Junction and get the kids to school (on the 2-hour late schedule). And I need to do it before Empire gets here with Tyler's new carpet! That's right, we broke down the loft bed and totally evacuated Tyler's bedroom. He spent last night on the pull-out sofa upstairs (with Elvis kitty for company).

Our street is still a skating rink. Raechelle got a ride in to work with another local (she wasn't about to miss another day of showing off the ring work). Now I get to see if I can find the snow chains for Ruby.

Yay.

Stay warm out there.

She Said Yes

It was friggin' cold down at Alki yesterday morning. Waves were breaking over the wall. I stood to block the wind for Raechelle and the scene went something like this:

TODD
I have something for you, and it
comes with a question.

RAECHELLE
Okay...

TODD
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

RAECHELLE
(chuckle, sigh)

TODD
Nah, just kidding. If a train leaves St. Louis
traveling west at 75 miles per hour...

RAECHELLE
(beats her fists against Todd's chest)
Don't make me do math!

TODD
Raechelle, will you marry me?

RAECHELLE
Yes.

There was hugging and kissing as the arctic wind buffeted us, I put the ring on her finger and we got the heck indoors, to have breakfast at the Alki Cafe.

I traveled a long road to get to this point, and there's another long road ahead of me. But instead of walking alone, I now have someone to take the journey with.

And yes, the kids knew ahead of time, and are 100% in support.

Last night we had a beautiful blanket of snow descend on us, and we've spent the day watching football (yay, Hawks! Finally!) and doing our Christmas cards. Looks like our holiday open house will have yet another cause for celebration.

Back Out

Well, it's not out out. It's just that... well, let me start from the beginning...

Yesterday started with lots of driving around. More driving around than usual. Two round trips to WSHS, loads of errands, 'tis the season and all that. I dropped off a big box of stuff at Goodwill. Then I went to the local branch of a certain credit union and opened a checking/savings/line-o-credit combo. So by lunchtime I had twice as many bank accounts as I woke up having.

Then I headed to a certain local everything store and picked up a certain couple items for a certain couple children. And one of those items was stupidly heavy. And by stupidly heavy, I mean I was stupid to try to lift it into my rig, and then muscle it into the house by myself.

Stupidy, stupidy, stupidy.

So the rest of the afternoon was spent laying on an icepack on my bed. The upside was that I got to start reading John Steakley's Vampire$ again. It's probably my most favorite horror-adventure novel, because it's so easily accessible. Steakley knows how to write action and he plops the reader right in the middle of it. I rarely read a novel more than once. I think I've read Vampire$ a half dozen times. And this particular copy of Vampire$ is very special to me. It was a gift from my friend Dave Alpern (friend of Steakley and formerly a columnist for Gamer Dad), who sent it to me after the fire, when I'd lost all three copies of Vampire$ I'd had on my bookshelves. It's one of the original trade paperbacks, and inside Steakley inscribed:

For Todd -

Hear you've had one of those years.
I know I've had 'em.
But these times do end and Alpern, whose opinions I respect, says you have more than enough MAN to come back.

God Bless

Rock & Roll!

John Steakley

Now I've owned autographed books before, including a first edition hardcover of If Chins Could Kill, the Bruce Campbell autobiography (which said, "Todd - Stay groovy"). But this is so much more personal and has everything to do with my Year of Pain (April '05 - February '06). So it was a really nice experience to crack this particular copy of V$ and re-read.

Raechelle got home at the usual time and we got ready to attend the West Seattle Art Walk. We took the kids to Elliott Bay for dinner (loves me some seasonal Noale), then poked around for a few minutes before calling it a night.

It appears I will get far less done today than I'd hoped, given that the left side of my back feels like one of the tension cables holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. I wanted to string the rest of the Christmas lights on the front of the house before the arctic front moves in (we're supposed to get snow this weekend). But if that doesn't happen, I will have to be satisfied with the company of friends and some fine holiday movies and pizza. Drat.

At least I'll get some more reading done. ;-)

R.I.P. Bettie Page

1950s pin-up model Bettie Page died yesterday at the age of 85. Although she's gone physically, she's been immortalized in her sensual and often daring work (especially for its day). Fair winds and following seas, Bettie.

I Predict... Short Back and Sides.

So this little retail space on California Avenue SW has been giving us a lot of mirth as we go past. Because the neon is in the same font, the same size, and at the same level in the adjacent front windows, it kinda looks like an all-in-one service. Especially at night.

Not sure what your hair's future holds? Visit the Psychic Barber! He'll tell you your folicular future while trimming up those sideburns.

Oh, and maybe tell you where you left that spare set of car keys.

Mo' Pimpin'

Christopher Clement (aka Analog Kid), whose original music graces Ordinary Angels, has composed a new ambient electronic piece called "Ambient Light".

The track, and the accompanying video (also by Chris) is here.

Pimpin' the Homeys

John Portonova was hired on the Ordinary Angels shoot as a production assistant, and was soon given a battlefield promotion to assistant camera. He's since worked on some cool local projects, including Blank (with Darlene Sellers, co-producer of OA).

[tangent]

Raechelle often refers to her old crowd of friends as "the incestuous ball of goo" (hereafter, iBoG). It's a very apt description of the Seattle indie film scene as well.

[/tangent]

Anyway, John has a production company and an entertaining web series called Adler & Zenith that is so worth checking out. He's really honing his craft as a writer and director (and, I might add, a pretty natural actor - there are some moments in Chocolate's Big Bash where I really found I was able to lose myself in the characters).

Nice work, John. Keep 'em coming.

Adler & Zenith, Episode 1: Bad Day from 47 North Productions on Vimeo.

Reason #4,557 Why I Rule.

And no, it's not my staggering level of modesty.

I've always hated leaving projects unfinished. And for (I believe) two weeks, there's been the nagging gap in the master closet, just waiting to be addressed. So today, I consciously pulled myself away from the OA script and fixed the fallen curtain rod. A few bullets about said project:

• I followed Ryan's advice and screwed two 3-foot lengths of 1x4 to the studs, one above the other.
• I love having a large level.
• I love my Dust Buster.
• I really REALLY miss my circular saw.
• I don't know where my drill recharger is - that needs to be addressed soon.

Anyway, closet is "go", and Rae's clothes are all back where they belong. Huzzah.

While I'm thinking of it, why was I wide-friggin'-awake at 4:30AM this morning? It was weird. And I haven't crashed at all today. Am I gearing up for our impending old fogey bedtime? Or is this that stupid Mars thing passing and leaving me with an abundance of creative energy?

Ah well. We canceled some less-fun plans tonight to get out of the house and do some Southcenter browsing/shopping. I've got a slight case of cabin fever and want to get out of here for awhile.

Weekend Update, Illustrated

After the psycho-emotional hell of the past week, it was nice to get back into the groove over the weekend. Unfortunately, we suck at remembering to take pictures, so we have to rely on my professional illustration capabilities to show you what happened. I can see Mike and Hans chuckling even now (yes, guys, it's a joke - my drawing abilities have not declined THAT much).

Saturday was beautiful and sunny (and not even that cold), so we decided to hang the exterior Christmas lights. I was set to climb up on the moist moss farm I like to call my roof, but Raechelle persuaded me that the lighter, better insured person was a better candidate. We got the front porch lit, and will add another long string to the front gutters and carport when we next get a clear day (har har!). Here is Rae on the roof, stringing lights, with a shining sun and fluffy clouds in the sky...


We finished just before Rae's friends Kim & Tim came over for dinner. Here we all are...


Rae made the most delicious vegetarian enchiladas, Mexican rice and black beans. There was beer. There was wine. The guys bonded. The girls bonded. Then all four of us played Apples to Apples until the wee hours of the early evening, before Kim-n-Tim had to return to their little Milo (who apparently was sick during their absence, or that was what I gathered from Tim's side of the phone conversation). Here is us playing Apples to Apples...


Sunday we watched the Hawks play better than they have all season and STILL lose to New England. We also were able to drop by my friend Sharon's holiday open house, where I had the most surreal experience, of which I will just give the basics:

Linda is a former neighbor on our street, and she still owns her home here, which she rents out. She knew Sam, her daughter used to go to the same bus stop as Tyler. The usual neighbor stuff. But she moved from the block in about 2001 or 2002, just before Sam was diagnosed. She had no idea Sam was dead. She had no idea Sam had even been sick.

And there she was, at Sharon's party. And when Raechelle had gone to get some refreshments from the kitchen, Linda came over and sat down and asked, "So, are you still together with Samantha?"

Ugh.

I've been at this for almost four years, and I STILL don't know how to handle a situation like that. The hard part is not the delivery of the news. It's easy enough to say, "Sam died in 2005 - cancer - came out of nowhere." The hard part is watching their eyes get wide and their hearts sink and the disbelief flash across their faces. And you kind of have to hold their hands and guide them through the surface grief they experience, knowing that an old friend and neighbor has died.

Then there's the added elements to the story. My dad. The sewer flood. The fire. It's easy for me to talk about it now (in fact, I almost cringe when I have to tell it, because it's so incredibly unbelievable for most people).

So whenever that happens, it puts a really surreal spin on the day. Because I'm not sad. I'm not still actively grieving. I have a great home and two great kids and great friends and my health. And I can happily introduce my girlfriend Raechelle and tell these old friends how happy I am.

Then it was french bread pizza and Buffy, and everyone to bed. This week is jam-packed, and I really hope Raechelle and I can each find some "me" time during this insane schedule.

Yikes.

The Butterfly Effect was probably not the right movie to watch today.

No Wonder.

By Mark Lerner for Astrology.com

Hold everything! Emotional thunderstorms are rife as a stress-producing First Quarter Sun-Moon Phase (activating 15 degrees of Sagittarius and Pisces at 1:27PM PST) occurs close in time to the first Sun-Mars union in over two years (2:05PM PST). Volatility, inflammatory behavior and impulsive decision-making are more prevalent when the red planet has this once-every-two-years encounter with the Sun. Watch out for mental burnout and taking action without thinking carefully about the consequences.

* * *

There's more, but that pretty much sums up the past two days. And note the time stamp on this post. Grrr-factor 9.

A Day of That Variety...

Enjoy the weirdness (weirditude? weirdiocity?) of TBGE over at (My New) Life Out Here. Her first post this morning put me in a really surreal frame of mind. Now, I've seen some pretty weird Google searches that get folks to my blog, and we've kind of had an unofficial contest going to see whose readers were weirder.

She wins.

(Present company excluded.)

Anyway, yesterday started out a bummer and kind of descended from there. All the stress (augmented by my caffeine intake) finally caught up with me, and by about 5PM, I was useless. I did walk to the store with Rae for dinner fixings. Made some grilled cheese sandwiches while she heated up the soup. Then I retreated to the quiet of the bedroom for awhile to watch some classic holiday television programming while Rae supervised Tyler's cake baking and Kayleigh worked on a story she's writing.

I gathered a bit of strength later, enough to help put the kids to bed. But I was out pretty quickly afterward.

Today I started with a cup of Scottish Breakfast Tea, and am steering clear of the bean for a few days. I took Tyler (and his cake) into the Teen Health Center at the high school, and his counselor exclaimed, "Oh, look how handsome you both are!" There I was, un-showered, in my worn jeans and baggy gray hoodie, half-awake and car keys in hand. I'm not used to being called "handsome" all that often, and usually only by my partner. It was nice, of course, but kind of a surreal addition to an already surreal morning.

I guess it's a day of the "WTF?" variety.

I do have a massage today, which should help my outlook dramatically.

Come On Get Higher

Just want to share a really good song from fellow Bay Area guy, singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson. Enjoy.

Hump Day Bullets

• I need to cut back on the morning coffee. Sure, it gets me out of bed and moving, but it also makes me jumpy and just a tad irritable. And when you're already irritable a lot of the time (see Successfully Parenting Teenagers While Maintaining Your Sanity (fiction), page 478*), more irritable ain't exactly a Good Thing (TM).
• * The above-mentioned book does not, to my knowledge, exist. But if it did, I'd buy it.
• Finally got a call from Tyler's old school psychiatrist, and the IEP is rolling. The psych evaluation is next week.
• Got the family photo printed for the Xmas card list.
• Xmas is actually a legitimate abbreviation stemming from the Greek Orthodox "Χριστος" ("Christos").
• December's calendar is already packed a-plenty, and I'm trying to reserve time for the girl and/or just me. But that in turn fills the calendar even more.
• Psyched to be working on Dan & Jessie's Fred Hutch PSA project. We shoot in January when Raechelle is gone in WV.
• I'm looking at flights to WV so that I can meet Rae's family and help unpack for a few days.
• Airfare is expensive, even with plummeting oil prices.
• I've scheduled holiday themed films for the next two Pizza-Movie Fridays.
• I wrote another two scenes for the OA series pilot yesterday, and have been an errand-running admin dynamo today.
• Now I'm gonna go back to the family room sofa and ice my back again.

Music Makes It All Better

If you're my Facebook friend, you would have seen my status yesterday as Todd is facing Monday, without his spear and magic helmet. And thanks to my old theater buddy, actor & teacher Jon Burnett, for posting the entire libretto to What's Opera Doc? in comment form. You rock.

So yeah. Starting with getting the kids out the door, I felt very much like a Gaul going into battle skyclad. Yes, very confident in my abilities, thankyouverymuch (maybe a bit overconfident, even), but still, very... under-dressed.

Best quote of the morning:

TYLER
It's not messy. It's just disorganized.

Anyway, things improved when I picked up TBGE at work and we joined my mom, stepdad, brother, SIL, and some friends of my folks for lunch at Siam on Lake Union. Loves me some Phad Thai. It was good to see my parental type units and I got a bag of homemade pumpkin muffins and English toffee out of the deal (TD for the win!). Then I got back home and was immediately hit with more drama of the variety which had consumed my morning. Urg.

So I was in almost full-on "grrr" mode when Raechelle got home from work. I had just returned from retrieving Tyler from my brother's home, and was anxious to get online with Hans & Ron and virtually kick some virtual ass in City of Heroes (something which hasn't happened in quite some time - I saw some of my toons haven't been played in almost a year).

I got online long enough to complete a couple missions while Raechelle changed clothes, unwound and got caught up on email and home stuff, then I set about heating up some leftovers for dinner. I was still semi-"grrr", so Raechelle kicked me out of the kitchen so she could supervise Kayleigh's cookie project, and I retreated to the office.

I don't know why I retreat to the office. It's where I spend most of my day anyway, so it's not really a retreat. But it has my music library and the Interwebs handy, so I guess it's more of a multi-purpose zone.

Soon enough, Raechelle came in, sat down at her desk, picked up her guitar and started playing. I joined in on mine. Next thing I knew, we were practicing. We assembled lyrics and began to piece together the basics of a set. The entire premise for meeting in the first place - playing music together - is finally happening.

And that makes me happy.