No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on February 10, 2012

A Vacation (or as some call it Holiday) is, in terms of human history, a pretty new concept. Taking time off from work use was an odd concept that really could only be implemented after the Industrial Revolution and the changes that this brought to society.

When I was a child, there was summer vacation from school and our family vacation where we took a week and, once we lived in Atlanta, went down to St. Augustine for a family vacation. My parents still do this trek once a year and invite us to join them for the week. For the longest time vacation to me was either visiting my grandparents and other relatives or the beach.

My father went to Disneyland when he was a young man and brought back a souvenir program that I flipped through and looked at the pictures when I was young and read when I was older. Eventually I got to go to Disneyland with my family on a family trip to California. Disney World happened about the time that Epcot opened up.

For Peter and me, the Disney parks are a touchstone for us. It is really one of the few places that we go and vacation. We may go lot of interesting places, but that is connected to a convention or some other obligations that we have and I am grateful for all those experiences. However, our experience at Disney are of our own time and making. It is our vacation spot.

At the end of last year, Peter and Ariel went down to Florida to go to see Shana’s movie Theater (Hey Jacksonville, you have a really cool movie theater in your city. Go visit it) and they made a visit to DisneyWorld. They caught up with friends, saw old sites, and new sites. Just a short vacation from all that had been going on.

Next week I am off to DisneyWorld to spend sometime with friends that I don’t get to see enough. We have a couple of things planned out but we are down there to vacation. To just take a pause and not worry about the world outside the gates of the Mouse. Caroline will be staying here with Peter since she has school and they are doing pre-testing for the state test she is taking in a couple of months.

This will give me a week’s vacation where I don’t have to worry about all the stuff I have to worry about when I am at home. It won’t be that I won’t think about my home or what is going on but I really can’t do much from Florida so it will be a little more academic. Caroline and I are going to talk and do face-time. She understands why I am going down there without her but she measures that against the time that she spent in California with Daddy which was her vacation to her. She is a pretty pragmatic little girl.

So this weekend is about getting ready for Vacation, Farpoint, and other things that need to happen once I return home.

We have learned that some down time does wonderful things for our brains. I know that I come back feeling better than when I left but I did have to learn to pace myself. So next week may be a little light on the blogging but I do plan to tweet my Disney experience along with my facebook page updates and probably take those and make an entry out of it.

I am grateful for the ability to take a vacation.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 8, 2012

This is going to be kind of a ramble based on some different things that have been happening in different places. So how this is written down is how it is coming to my brain.

Those who know me well can tell you that how I present myself on the Internet is pretty much how I am in real life. There are people out there who I “met” on the Internet and eventually met in real life and the consistent comment is you are just like you are on the Internet. The way I present myself on the Internet is pretty much me. I don’t say anything here that I wouldn’t say in public or to someone’s face. I don’t hide behind my handle or create another reality of what my life is.

I am of the mind that what I say reflects me as a person and why would I put something out there that I don’t believe and won’t back up. If someone is checking out my web log to see if I am a good prospect for a job, they will find that I am in print like I am in person. Although I am getting a little tired of my resume being used for the purpose of proving that they can hire from within. I am a good worker and would be an asset to whatever company would hire me. Just putting that out there.

If I say I have met someone, then I have met them. If I say I know someone then we know each other well enough to be waving acquaintances at the convention and we know each other’s name without too much searching of memories. I have friends, I have close friends, and I have extended family. Friends are people that I would be happy to break bread with and spend some time with.

Close friends are those people I have known for a while and I trust them enough to not have to be so guarded when I talk to them. They have the same problems and situations that I have to deal with. They are comfortable venting to me because they know that is as far as it will go and I will keep their confidence. I apparently have that kind of face that allows people to trust me because I have heard a lot in my time from many different people. But those things are private and remain so.

Then there is my extended family. These are the people that I consider family even though they may not be related to me by blood. A good example for this are the Ellisons. The girls call Harlan Uncle Harlan. They care about our family and we care about them. Another example are my friends Jeff & Angelo or as some know them Jeffangelo. I have known them for quite a while now. We met at a Science Fiction convention when I helped them by having a bottle of spirit gum in my kit. We have gone stretches of time not seeing each other but when we get together it is like we just saw each other the other day. We just pick up where we left off. Mary Aileen and I have known each other for over 40 years. That’s a long time to keep a friendship going but we are still friends. She joins us for parties and conventions. We get together on occasion and LunaCon is the convention that we go to to spend some time as friends. Caroline thinks of her as an Aunt really. Caroline knows that Mary Aileen is not related to her by blood but by choice.

My parents raised me to be an honest person. If you ask me my opinion on something make sure you really want it because I will give you my honest opinion. I don’t really sugar coat it. Some of the authors I have worked with have found that refreshing and other have not liked it as much but they respect my opinion. When I was stage managing in Atlanta I found out from an actor that my reputation was “firm but fair”. Which I was perfectly fine with. If that’s what they put on my tombstone, then I think I did something right.

So what you see here is what you get if you meet me in person. Although I have heard that my voice is lower than they thought it was going to be. Also apparently I am taller in person (5 10 ½). That’s fine. I am who I am and that’s what I am. Take me or leave me. What you see is what you get.

I am grateful for my friends and family.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 7, 2012

OK here is what I have been doing for swaps this past month. It is very picture heavy. (more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 6, 2012

Yes, the end of that game was so interesting, even Peter was paying attention to it rather than writing. His running commentary is a lot of fun. It is at his site here. Also Darkness of the Light is now available for the Kindle at Amazon if you didn’t get the Nook version. Book 2 will be out shortly.

Caroline watched the Puppy Bowl and loved it. If fact she watched it twice while doing other things like reading and drawing. She set up a bunch of her toy dogs in front of the TV so they could enjoy Puppy Bowl with her. The Kitty Half Time show was fun as always and got Figgy’s attention.

Speaking of Halftime shows, Madonna’s opening to her show was over the top. I turned to Peter and said, “She is reminding people that she did this kind of stuff before Gaga.” Vogue was great but Peter pointed out that fewer people probably know the movie stars she is talking about or even the Magazine. Over all it was a nice mix of old and new and I think she did a good job reminding everyone why she is still relevant to the music scene.

Today I plan to start making a Griffin for Caroline. I am drafting a new pattern for some animal ideas that I have that I will be making this year. If it works out, I plan to have one or two of them at Farpoint. However, I don’t have much time to do this since next week is when I will be down in Florida and I have to pack all the stuff I need taken up to Farpoint before I leave in a week.

I have a bunch of things I need to do to get ready to get out of town. Things that will make Peter’s life easier and less stressful. And both are good.

Apparently I should have been putting a copyright line on all my web logs.

I embarrassed Caroline this morning by wearing a hat to the bus stop.

(For the Visually Impaired: This is a knitted hat of the character Yoda from Star Wars, with the floppy ears on either side of his head, wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears like you get at the Disney Parks.)

I don’t know what she is talking about. The other kids loved the hat.

Well I can feel the coffee energy surging through my brain and I am chatting with Ariel who needs my full attention right now so I am signing off.

I am grateful for things that make this week that much easier.

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Posted By Kathleen David on February 5, 2012

From all the predictions I am hearing, I have serious concerns for the Giants. Remember 4 years ago that everyone had the Pats winning and the Giants emerge victorious. This year everyone seems to be saying Giants so I am guessing that the Pats will win.

Yeah, I vanished for a week. Just had a lot to do and not a lot of spare time to do other things in. I have pictures of projects for Tuesday and if I get the next project done, there will be pictures of that too.

So got stuff done and didn’t get enough done. Pretty typical week. Peter is back from his business trip and the house is settling back in order. But a week from Monday, I am off to Orlando to spend some time with friends and visit the House of the Mouse.

Off to stock the larder for the Super Bowl munching. Peter will be live blogging the commercials this evening on his website. It will be amusing.

I am grateful for things that make it possible to share events with others.

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