h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Found myself thinking of you some time ago (following a conversation with a RL friend), and came by to see what's up, and saw that I'm no longer on your Friends' List.
Now, I guess this may be related to the general sparseness (and, umm, journal-less-ness, but that sounds odd) of your PS now, which is a kinda curious thing on its own right, but also I just got worried that maybe I've done something to offend you. I haven't been around for a long time, and the last conversation I remember having with you was something about food and vegetarianism/veganism, which I know can be a sensitive issue for some so I figure maybe I put my foot in my mouth (no pun intended) and said something stupid without meaning to. And if that's the case, then I profusely apologise for whatever idiocy I might have spouted unknowingly. Or if it isn't the case, then, well, hi again, how've you been? Did you end up buying a house? What happened to your PS?
So, y'know, just wondering if everything's okay, and if we're okay, and stuff.


...I'm so bad at this.

Hey Lady P

No, you haven't offended me. At one time I cleaned up my friends list and removed lots of people I didn't really talk to, and either fat-fingered or there was some weird glitch, and a mess of people I do talk to disappeared. You must've too. Had you annoyed or upset me I would certainly speak with you and not just arbitrarily ignore you without even saying anything!

I need to finish getting ready for work or I'll miss my train, but I'll respond to the rest of your post (and fix the friends list sitch) when I get into the office and settled at my desk.

Good grief... my train was late on account of delays, and I got busy as soon as I walked in, so I never actually got on to hootoo from work today.

Anyway. I really only ever get annoyed about veggie related stuff when people seem to be willfully disseminating disinformation. Otherwise, I don't argue, I don't get angry, and when misinformation is there I "correct" it. But I have yet to end a friendship over it. Hell, K eats meat from time to time, and a fair bit of cheese. I keep him around!

With regard to sparseness of my personal space, well, I got bored with the old intro and can't think of anything else. I do unsub from convos to keep things easier to follow, as I don't get as much hootoo time as I'd like all the time, and it's easier to keep up with threads I'm actively playing in that way. The journal-less-ness is more a result of Facebooking- I don't always have a lot to say about myself or current things, and I haven't had much work journal-ing about. Then again, no news is good news.

We haven't yet bought a house. I haven't ruled out buying my uncle (formerly my grandma's) house, though I would prefer to stay out of the suburbs, the deal might be too good to pass up. Still looking, but not finding a lot in the price range we're happy with that isn't utter crap. Still working at the same place. K started a new job last year after a brief layoff period. Oh, and my mom died in June after a short illness (diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last April). Not much else happening.

What's new with you? And of COURSE we are OK!! How's Muclear Confusion (did I remember that right?)

...And of course, right after you answer me I disappear. Jeez. I've actually been ghosting, and meaning to post replies to stuff, but procrastinated. With, umm, work. Wait, that's the wrong way around, isn't it?



Anyway, good to hear from you. Some time after you answered, I actually thought back a bit and realised that we talked pretty recently on Ivan's V-Day thread, so really, the whole worrying thing was ridiculous. But I can get insecure sometimes. So thanks for letting me know nothing's wrong.

Glad to hear you're doing well - and condolences about your mother. I think you weren't very close, if I correctly remember some things you wrote, but I imagine it's still not an easy experience. As for the house situation, well, I can't say I know how it is (what with still living with my parents at 28) but I hear it's a problem in many cities. I'm sure we've discussed this before, but are the 'burbs that bad, in terms of access to the city? I mean, sure, there's probably less variety and stuff, you can't just go down the block and have restaurants from five different nations to choose from... it's always more fun to be downtown. But if transport to downtown is not too bad, I guess that can make up for it in a way.
I don't really know what I'm talking about, though.

Hey, is K still in a band? How are they doing?
I'm going to see the Buzzcocks play in Tel Aviv in a bit over a week - assuming they don't cancel at the last moment - and suddenly remembered you two were into punk.

As for me (besides what I just told you about the show which is pretty exciting), I'm alright, and so is Dan (I'm assuming 'Muclear' instead of 'Nuclear' is a typo/joke? 'Dan' is fine, anyway) and I will do the lazy thing and just send you over to my journal, where I think I covered pretty much everything: F1134023?thread=8020754

You are correct in assuming that "Muclear" was a typo. I've been making a lot of them lately. I've been under the weather for over six weeks and intermittently loopy. From the last Thursday in January through the 4th of March, I actually missed work because I had a 40°C fever, horrible bronchitis, sinus congestion, upset stomach, loss of appetite and couldn't sleep a wink for all the coughing. Still had the cough till just a couple days ago (when my SIL prescribed some herbs for me) and the sinus stuff came back this week. Ugh.

No, my mother and I weren't close. It's actually been quite painful for me, on and off, to learn just how badly she thought of me. I am not comfortable discussing publicly but am not averse to confiding privately and would at this point be glad to get it off my chest...

Anyway. K's bands don't play or practice much these days. The singer from Tuffy UK had a baby a year ago last Halloween and one of the guitarists from the Geezers had his third last year as well. So certain people are a little busy and they don't get together much. K was trying to get with another guy he knows, but they went with another drummer at the last minute. I've been trying to nag him into getting the two or three friends of his who *do* want to play, to form their own little group, if only for fun and/or practice. I even promised if we find a house, we can make some practice space in our basement. I'm cool with that- I want a DJ table anyway so we could stick it all in one spot.

Will definitely read your journal to see what you are up to- after all, that is what they are for. Don't know if you use facebook at all but if you do, I would love to have you as a friend there, too. If not hootoo and email are great too!

Part of my issue with the 'burbs is the transit, yes. My uncle's house is close to a commuter rail station, reasonably, anyway. It'd take a little longer to get to and from downtown, and a little further from the office than now, but not prohibitively. But getting everywhere *else*- museums, grocery shopping, etc- would require using the car, which we don't always do now. The crime rate is a bit higher there than where I am now, but the property taxes and prices are lower so it comes out in the wash. I'm about 6 miles from downtown now, and would be about 11-12 miles away then. A lot fewer ethnic eateries, that's for sure! It's all Italian and Polish out that way. Here we have all that and Thai, Indian, Mexican and more. I do know there is a decent Chinese place out there because I grew up there and ordered from them all through high school. But I would miss the city libraries, the park district, the farmer's markets... though we could drive to the farmer's market, we would be unable to use the city libraries (the suburban system is not quite as extensive) or enroll in park district programs.

I think part of my issue is I really love my current neighborhood!!

Buzzcocks...

Oh dear - I hope you're feeling better!


You could email me about your mother, if you want. I'm actually on Facebook, too, but it's mostly a way to keep in touch with RL friends, and I have this weird thing about keeping h2g2 a separate sphere. Kinda hard to explain... anyway, email, if you want I think you have my email, right?). Don't know if I'll have any advice or feedback or anything, but I can listen.

Too bad about the bands, but understandable. Very few people manage to keep doing their hobbies together (not to diss the bands, of course - I'm just assuming that like a lot of artistic stuff, it doesn't work as a 'day job' for most people) after all the grown-up stuff starts taking a bigger part of their lives. But would be cool if they managed to get some other group going! And I didn't know you DJed, too! Have you two ever made music together (not euphemistically )?
Speaking of music, don't be envious about the Buzzcocks yet; we've already had a few artists who caved to the boycott demands and canceled at the last moment (in retrospect I was glad I didn't buy tickets to see Elvis Costello), so who knows. I hope they will come, but those boycott folks can be fairly vicious.

Umm, what else... well, the house - umm, not sure what to say. On one hand, it really doesn't sound all that bad, but on the other hand, I can understand how you feel about moving away from downtown. When I finally manage to have some resources and move out of my parents' place, I'll probably be looking for a place closer to downtown as well (this neighbourhood is lovely, and close to the university which is definitely a plus, but otherwise it's mostly quiet and residential, and you need to drive or take the bus to other parts of town if you want to actually do something). And I guess it's pretty much the same for Dan, too - he lives about a 1-hour ferry-rise from Seattle, his town has some things of interest (not much), and for anything else, from big shopping to movies to museums to music shows, you need to travel elsewhere.
But I think I'm rambling. And it's getting late. Talk to you later!

I thought I had your email (you've mailed me CDs so I had to have emailed you before!) but I can't find you in my contacts. Which doesn't surprise me as Hotmail not long ago ate emails *and* contacts. Would you shoot me an email at your earliest convenience so I can reply to it? wyrdsister 23 AT hotmail DOT com.

Totally understand about FB- I have a limited number of people there, and though a few of them are h2g2 friends, I don't accept requests from any old hootooer because I like to keep my RL identity reasonably private. Already had one person on here, one of those "mutual friends", who in a fit of spite toward me posted my RL name more than once. Thankfully people yikesed that. Plus there was that stalker. So I do try to keep the two sorta separate, too, and totally get that. Email is fine for stuff not suitable for h2g2.

I haven't DJ-ed since my college radio days, but I miss it, and thought it'd be fun to do once in a while. Hence wanting a table at home to practice on. But I doubt we could make space for it here.

Off to work- once I get some stuff I *have* to have done today finished, I'll peruse some more of your journal to see what you've been up to in more detail.

Hey again,

Once again I take ages to answer. But I've been kinda on-and-off h2g2 a lot the last few days - probably because I got into a really good swing of working on my thesis (finished the draft of the translation, sent some questions to a more knowledgeable friend, now need to do other more peripheral stuff) - and personal messages always end up getting delayed, because they take longer to compose.

Anyway, I will be leaving for Tel Aviv shortly (I am so glad Buzzcocks didn't cancel! I'm really really really excited), so I'll try and keep it short. First off, before I forget, my email is basically my username @ gmail (with the two words separated by a dot, but I don't think that actually matters). So you can write me there. I will still probably procrastinate replies, because I'm terrible like that, but at least the only lurkers should be the Gmail bots.

Okay, off to shoot some more quick replies, then I better get going. Talk to you later!

Sorry I missed this, thought I'd replied. I've been a bit distracted, I lost my job on March 16th and have had a lot of loose ends to tie up, new positions to apply for, and a fair amount of moping to do.

Gmail address noted, and I'll drop a line there any time I want to mention something I'd like to keep more "private". I do trust most of my friends here with that kind of stuff, but prefer not to air it in public.

How was the trip to Tel Aviv and the Buzzcocks gig?

Pfff, aplogies schmapologies. Look how long _I_ have taken to answer!

Saw the journal about losing your job, and my sympathies to you. I hope you manage to find something new and good soon (and enjoy your relative idleness in the meanwhile). And hey, perhaps whatever new position you end up in might help you make a decision about that house, either by being closer to it or farther away...


As for the Buzzcocks gig, HOLY WOW SO AWESOME.
I should update that in the journal thread, actually.
Well, I'll get to it.
Anyway, it was really really great. Mostly just a really good atmosphere - I was right next to the stage, which meant I couldn't really hear the lyrics very well (some of my friends moved back at some point because of that), and I was being bumped and sweated on and squashed against the stage until I felt like I'm going to have a bruise across my ribs, but it was worth it. My side of the stage was where Steve Diggle was playing, and he was being all rock-starry, jumping around and reaching to touch hands with the audience (in fact, I touched Steve Diggle _and_ Pete Shelley, but for the latter I had to wait until after the show), and generally making this a lot more fun.
I think this might look like I'm trying to rub it in, what with you saying you were jealous earlier, but really I'm just that excited. Even now, more than a month after, I feel excited thinking about the show. I'm sure you've been to shows like that, too; I haven't been to that many (and I usually don't stand by the stage), so it was very special for me.

Hi there.

Well, I am waiting for a "formal" email, but it would appear that I've found a contract-to-hire position starting Monday. was, of course, looking mainly downtown, because I'm reliant on the CTA to get me there, and other areas often require too many transfers. I'm guessing there would be quite a bit more work (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as my workload wasn't overwhelming before) and probably 25-30% less pay. But it's a job, right?

All that said... I haven't had a formal offer yet, as we're waiting for the results of a background check. As I have no criminal record, I'm not too worried about that, but I wasn't planning to make any big announcements till I'm positive- just so I don't have to run any retractions. There is also some chance that the contract position would not lead to a permanent offer, in which case I'd need to keep looking, but it's easier to find work while you are working (and obviously both the company and the staffing agency would expect me to be looking if they knew the work had an end date).

As for enjoying my time off... it's been seven weeks today, that's quite a vacation, eh? I should have three more weeks of severance pay coming, as I received vacation pay for the first week (I had three weeks unused; one from this year and two rolled over from prior years for which I received a separate payment). So if this works out, the timing will be good!

Other than that... no, I don't think you're rubbing it in about the Buzzcocks! I've been to a few good shows. I don't typically stand at the front- that's where the mosh breaks out and I'm too old and out of shape for that these days. But I totally get the excitement and the thrill that comes from a chance to interact with an artist you love, whether terribly famous or not. I'm glad you had such a great time! I haven't been to a rock show in ages- I'm not avoiding them or anything, but just haven't had the get-up-and-go or anything like that. K and I were going to see Stan Ridgeway (Wall Of Voodoo) at the Abbey Pub (a couple blocks from home) a while back, but I fell asleep that night and he went by himself for a bit. I really need to go to a rock show with him soon!

I may have another announcement of sorts soon, but I'm not giving any spoilers. Watch this space!

Anything else new and exciting with you?

Should've been an "I" at the beginning of that second sentence. Oops! Also, to make that sentence make more sense, I should mention that the potential employer is located about a half mile northeast, if that, of the old place, and I'd be getting off at the same train station, just walking in the opposite direction. As long as I work downtown, wherever we live, logistics wouldn't be an issue. The primary factor now will be salary (how much is actually available for housing expenses).

Oh my, that took a while...

Well, by now, I already know your work and house news (and glad that the job's going well, even if the house thing didn't work out). Actually, got to thinking about you the other day, when I saw this lovely tribute to Chicago by one of my favourite webcomic artists, Lucy Knisley: http://comics.lucyknisley.com/2011/06/i-love-you-chicago-page-1http://comics.lucyknisley.com/2011/06/i-love-you-chicago-page-2 - I've never been to the city, besides some short layovers in O'Hare which really don't count, but it was still very relatable.

In punk news, I'm now trying to make up my mind about Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, who will be playing here next week. Dan says I should go, but I'm a wuss so I'm a bit worried of the 'hardcore' crowd. Will definitely not be standing at the front for this one, anyway!
I actually really appreciate Jello's behaviour about this show. The boycott pushers might scream that he sold his principles for money, and disappointed them, and so on, but from the messages he released it appears that they actually spent a lot of time thinking about this issue, talked to people, and then made their decision. Sure, the fact that it's a decision I agree with helps... but nevertheless, I appreciate how seriously they've taken this. I wish all artists did.

Hey no worries about how long it takes... I don't get to check h2g2 during the days any more (just too busy- which isn't a bad thing) so I don't always reply quickly, either.

That's a neat comic. As a lifelong resident, I enjoy reading that kind of thing, if only for the different perspective. Thanks for thinking of me!

In other news, K and I got hitched last Saturday. Nothing at all elaborate, as at this point it was more a legal formality than anything else. Our friend is a Universal Life minister of some sort, and can do these things, so he and his wife came over, along with another friend of mine so we'd have witnesses who could testify in court if needed. He just signed the thing and handed it back.

How's things with you? Did you make it to see Jello Biafra? K and I go to hardcore shows all the time, and it's not too hard to avoid being caught in a mosh if you stay on the outer fringes of the crowd. I still get bumped from time to time, but my biggest problem is when some 6'6" dude stands in front of me so all I can see is denim-clad ass. Not always a picturesque scene.

Dropping by again.

Jello ended up cancelling at the last moment (I got a refund for the ticket, at least). Which was disappointing, but the post he made about it, explaining why it was _not_ to be seen as support for BDS, and his general opinions on the matter was written so well - and felt so even-handed and reasonable - that I couldn't really feel mad at him for that. https://www.facebook.com/notes/jello-biafra-and-the-guantanamo-school-of-medicine/statement-from-jello-biafra-wednesday-june-29-2011/10150239402126435 (Just avoid the comments. I no longer even bother; these things get real ugly real fast.)


And congrats about the wedding. Sounds like it was a very nice event. Tailor-made, so to speak.
It's cool that you can do that; in Israel, despite a growing civil struggle in recent years, it's still not possible - Weddings can only be done through the religious authority (which means that anyone that doesn't fit the criteria, or who just doesn't want to concede to the religious institutions, has to go out of the country to marry; Cyprus especially has become a fairly popular destination). It's very annoying, and I'm not just talking about the impact on my own situation (even if Dan does decide to convert, there is no way that I'll let him do it through the Orthodox, which is the only Jewish sect recognised by the Rabbinical Court for these matters, so so as far as they're concerned we can't marry; although, since he has family in the US it'll only make sense to have a wedding there as well, which I guess kinda solves the problem on that level). It bugs me to no end that the _state_ concedes these things to the religious institutions. But I'm ranting. Enough with that.

Yes, I know what you mean. Several years ago I had a friend (USAian, Jewish and divorced) who was getting married to a lovely Israeli lady and they had to marry in Crete because of his divorce. She then had issues with her visa here (had a student visa about to expire and leaving the country messed it all up) so they couldn't even live together for the first five years of their marriage... though he visited her often.

Don't get me started about the state conceding things to religious institutions... we're seeming to go that route here!

You know, that sounds odd - usually being divorced is not a problem (except for the specific case of a Cohen man, who is not supposed to marry a divorced woman, which seems like the opposite of what happened here). Then again, I don't know the details of that story, and the rabbinical courts have many ways of being jerks to people, so I can't say I'm surprised. *sigh*

With Dan and me, the way I've been thinking about it (and yeah, I have been thinking about it... if it weren't for the technical problems, we'd have married some years ago), well, hopefully he ends up converting - it's important to my family, and besides, as long as Israel has an ethnocentric law which gives automatic citizenship plus a number of monetary benefits to Jewish immigrants, I'd like to at least be able to take advantage of that - but through someone like the Reform folks, not the Orthodox, which means that a wedding through the rabbinical court is still out; so, we'll do two small weddings, the first in the States, with his family, and I guess maybe some of the US branch of my family, if they want to come (I've even toyed with the idea of posting a half-open invitation for the h2g2 folks, but eh, we'll figure it out when we get there) and the second in Israel, with my family (and whoever else might want to travel all the way to Israel for it). I want a Jewish ceremony, since it's a heritage thing for me, but I wouldn't mind doing it the Reform way, which is a bit more equal (the traditional ceremony is basically a fancied-up version of signing a contract, in which the woman is the commodity transferred). Don't really mind about the US ceremony - Jewish, Christian, civil, whichever ends up being more convenient at that time. Have considered just giving up the whole ceremony thing, like you guys did, but I think it'll be nice for the family to have something like that, and besides, it's a good excuse to get together with old friends. And that's all I got, for now.
Which I guess is still kind of a lot of planning for something that I don't even have a time frame for, but like I said, it's been on my mind. Sorry to dump all that detail on you. But I promise I won't try consulting with you about flower arrangements or colour coordination, if only because I don't give a damn about that...