No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on November 20, 2017

Yes, I know it is less than a week to Thanksgiving. Hyper aware of that but I think I will be carrying this through until next Monday so that will be a week.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. It is always good to take a little time this part of the year and look back on it and reflect.

The big one of course is getting the IRS off our backs thanks to family, friends and fans. That just floored me. We are loved by many more people than we thought we were. As Peter put it, “We are out of debt to the IRS for the first time in our marriage.” That was a stress point that kept in the back of our heads for years. So thank you everyone who helped us with this problem.

Caroline goes from middle school to high school and continues to excel. We got her report card for the first marking period and she has straight As. I am thankful that my daughter has good study habits and the work ethic to do the work without me having to be on top of her to do the work. The conversation usual is “Do you have any homework?” Caroline then lists the homework and the due dates for the homework and tells me her plan for completing the homework. I nod and she executes her plan.

I am thankful that Peter finished the third book in the Hidden Earth trilogy. He’s been working on it for a while but it is done. And all the other work he has done this year as a writer. There are projects we can’t talk about. In fact there are some that we will never talk about. He has been able to continue to make his living by writing, which not many people can say, and we are both thankful that he can.

I am thankful to the various conventions that have had us to their conventions as guests. We had a lot of fun and made new friends along with some amazing adventures. I got to spent time with online friends in real life and more time with old friends who I haven’t seen in a while. I think one of my favorite comments I received was that I was exactly in person like I was online and they found that refreshing.

I am grateful for all these things to be thankful for this year.

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Posted By Kathleen David on November 14, 2017

Back in the day when my brothers, sister and I went to conventions together as a group, we would get together with our friends and just talk about everything and anything. On occasion the topic of parents would come up and boy did my friends have some issues with their parents. They would come to us expecting us to join in and we would say, “Nope, no issues. I get along well with my parents.” and we would be looked at if we were unicorns or had two heads.

And I have. Not that we haven’t butted heads at times. That’s part of growing up and being human. There were times that my father and I were at loggerheads on a topic or opinion and neither of us were going to back down on it. Frankly I can’t remember what any of the issues were but at the time they were important to me.

Overall, my father and I get long really well. I know that I am loved even when we don’t understand each other. And as a teenager I could be a real pain in the ášš. Obnoxious more than rebellious.

I still take pride in telling people what my father did for a living. He is a scientist who works with lasers (which made him automatically cool in the 60s and 70s) and lens design. He may be retired from teaching but he is still writing about the subject.

He encourage me to become the best at whatever I was going to do. He helped me with my homework and taught me how to research a paper correctly and sorted out footnotes for me so I knew what all the shorthand stood for. He made sure that if we used a word, we knew what it meant. Language has meaning to him and it is important to be able to speak well and knowledgably. We were not allowed to pick up the local accent of where ever we were living. To this day people are amazed that I grew up in Atlanta and I haven’t a trace of a southern accent. Unless I get into a conversation with someone from Arkansas, the all bets are off. I was taught that how you present yourself to the world is important.

I think he takes pride in that fact that he raised four very different and very smart children. He enjoys hearing about his grandchildren’s accomplishment as well.

My love and knowledge of art came from him. He would talk about the art we would see. I have always been grateful that my parents took us to as many museums as they did. I saw a lot of things in person that most people just see as a postcard or an image on the web. At the time I didn’t understand why but now I do. I am glad that I can share what I learned from him with Caroline who loves going to museums and looking at art.

My father is smart, funny, clever, and loving. I couldn’t ask for a better Dad.

I love him very much.

Happy Birthday Da. Hope that the day brings you lovely things.

I am so very grateful that my father is my father.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 31, 2017

Last night I went to the Marvel Family and Friends screening of Thor: Ragnarok.

Short review, it was awesomely good popcorn fun with a wicked sense of humor.

It is not a weighty film with lots to think about as one watches it and it never makes the pretense that it is that kind of film. It is a turn off your brain and let the world vanish while you are mightily entertained kind of film and it succeeds at that in spades.

There is an assumption that you have seen the other films so very little introduction for characters you should know by now. The new ones are given theirs and then the story moves on to the next part.

If you are a Thor fan, especially of the comics, this film is a treasure trove of Easter eggs that are just there for you smile as you acknowledged the cleverness of the creators to get ‘that’ in so you can share almost a private joke.

It had the right amount of Loki, which can be a real balancing act, and Hiddleston is as delightful as ever. His reactions to some of the things going on around him are wonderful especially in the Thor vs. Hulk area battle.

The Doctor Strange post credit sequence did play into the film and didn’t feel like it was forced. It also had one of my favorite Loki lines in the whole thing.

Overall the acting was top notch. Costumes were lovely and I expect to be dodging more Hela horns at conventions now.

And a bonus is rather than having to squint to see what was going on in the dark (looking at you DC), this was bright and colorful. You can see what is going on. All the fights I was able to follow who was who and what they were doing. It was a nice experience rather than having to figure it out like the first two Thor films.

I have been waiting for the Thor films to use Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song since I heard that there was going to be a Thor film. Seemed the perfect song to me. Probably because of an early Internet video that someone created with Viking cats sailing a boat to conquer all. This movie makes use of the song to enhance your viewing pleasure rather than distract from it.

In my opinion it does need to be seen on a big screen. There are some shots that just need that kind of scope so you can see what is going on and appreciate the amount of work that went into it. Some of the battles are going to lose a lot on the smaller screen.

As to the PG-13 rating, it is a rather intense film with people dying left and right at points. No blood really except from injury. Language is fine with some mild swearing and there is no sex or sexual situations so if you and your child is fine with over the top comic book style violence, it’s a fine film.

We do get our gratuitous Chris Helmsworth shirtless scene and he has been working out.

So go and enjoy.

I am grateful to George and his crew that make these things possible.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 20, 2017

My parents have now been married 55 years. In that time they have both become Professors, raised four kids, bought a house, and traveled the world.

But that is such a simplification of just a few of the things they have done in that time.

They are excellent gardeners. The grounds have been the site of more than one tour over the years. They managed to take an overgrown ivy forest and create (re-create) more formal gardens. They work hard to maintain it and expand on what they have done.

Want to know where I got my smarts from? Them. They encouraged us to use our brains. To not take things at face value. I knew how to use the scientific method from about the age of 5. Both of my parents are very intelligent individuals. They taught us to be proud of the fact that we could out think most people on the planet if we put our minds to it.

My crafty inclinations come from both of them. My mother made us clothing and lots of other items. I can remember as a kid she made me paper wings and a vest so I could be a flying monkey from the Wizard of Oz which was my favorite character in that film. She was very clever in recycling things for us to play with. I remember when Star Wars came out, my father made a set of LED eyes and put them on a headband. My mother made the rest of the outfit and my brother was a Jawa that Halloween. My father makes cloisonné pins. I still have a number that he made me over the years. My father and I share a love of photography. His nickname is Grandpaparazzie.

My love of reading has it beginnings with my parents. They read to me when I couldn’t. And once I could, they encouraged me to read. They introduced me to authors that they liked. I get my love of literature from them. I have very fond memories of my father reading “Wind in the Willows” and “the Hobbit” to me.

My parents taught me my moral compass by example. I saw what they did and how they treat people and mimicked what they did. They taught me that everyone is worthy of common respect. That being polite to everyone was the way to live. I knew my parents were liberal Democrats before I knew what the term was. They believe in fairness to all and that no one was above anyone else.

All that I am I owe to my parents. And I don’t think I can ever thank them enough.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Enjoy your meal at Le Grotta.

I am so very grateful that my parents are my parents.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 16, 2017

Hi there. Remember me?

The reasons for my silence are myriad. It boiled down to that I needed a break to sort some stuff out. Not everything sorted but I am going to start posting again but probably not every day.

Since I last wrote a lot of things both good and bad have happened. I will have less of a record to look back on than I usual do. I haven’t even been writing in my paper journal and that’s highly unusual for me.

I have a couple of things on that creatively I need to get done both writing and building. I have to get knitting on a puppet sized Dr. Who scarf too.

We have adopted a new cat named Mewlan. She is black with yellow eyes. She has not had an easy life so far and we are trying to correct it. She is starting to warm up to us but still makes it hard to pet her. Jumpy is an understatement. Inky looks positively social as compared to Mewlan’s behavior. We are giving her space and some time to adjust. There are pockets of time that she is very social but then goes back to scaredy cat.

Caroline is adjusting to high school and sorting out how to make her way around there. She has joined the robotics team along with a number of clubs including debate. She hasn’t been struggling but it hasn’t been easy either.

Peter has been writing both on his Patreon account and for various clients. He has a series of conventions lined up this fall but nothing as insane as May/June/July was.

So there you have it. A short summery of our lives.

I am grateful for the quiet spaces.

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