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

Words of wisdom:
"Aim for the sides, and don't get under it."
Sounds like that old man knew some stuff.

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~Isadora James

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. ~Clara Ortega


Your sister loves you. You're a lucky man.

Drat. You just logged off.

Well, yeah, I guess. I'd even say I love her back. Having dinner with her tonight. We do that each Tuesday.

...sucks about your brother, but at least he's got you.

Lots of lucky guys around.

Well, I'll probably just miss you being on line this time...

Be careful of building walls. They are desperately needed sometimes, but if you're not careful, you'll find that you have walled everyone out of your life completely. Just take care of your relationship with your sister. She sounds great.

<<...sucks about your brother, but at least he's got you.>>

Well, guess you mean my uncle, my brother's fine.
When I was 10, my dad died, and while he was sick and in the hospital, I spent alot of time with this uncle and aunt and family. He's a good man, and has been very special to me ever since those days...

My brother John is my only sibling. He is 7 years older than me. As kids, we were not real close because of the age difference, but as we've gotten older we have more in common, and now we are very close. It's nice.

So family means a lot to me. Maybe it's because both of my parents are gone now. Anyway, family sort of grounds me...makes me feel like I have a history...makes me feel like I always have a safety net. Does that make sense? Maybe it's just me...whatever. How dull!

Anyway...

Maybe I'll be able to catch you online later. You always seem to log on just as I'm going on my lunch break...I'm 2 hours ahead. If not, I'll talk to you later.

My older sister is two years ahead of me. Then my brother is 8, and the rest go down from there, so I'm basically more like an uncle to them then a brother.

Crazy Uncle Dan.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v407/Nukewaste/dadandkids.jpg

Thats most of us.
Geez, I look fat in that picture. Not that I've ever cared. Just remarking.
I'm the one that looks like he doesn't belong. The big green toad, if you will. Oh wait, we decided the toad would stay. Hey now!

******

I usually get to the library when it opens, at 10, so yeah, have seen you a few times around then.

So I thought I'd mix it up a bit.

Nice looking family...I assume that's your dad in the center...you look like him. Is that after the birth of a new brother/sister? Wow. Crazy Uncle Dan, huh?

So why do you feel like the big green toad in the....
ooooh, almost asked a question that I don't already know the answer to. I've heard you should never do that. And some other good stuff.

yeah, but I know that look.

oh, and woo hoo! Might have a hurricane this weekend!

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/101146.shtml

Yeah that's him. He's actually holding the new one, Haakon. Actually, they're using the Norweigian spelling, so it's H then an A with one of those little circles over it - an 'angstrom', K-O-N.

You think I look like him?

Eh. Big Green Toad might not quite fit, but I have worked quite hard to be the blacksheep of the family. They are mostly outgoing and nice and stuff. I can be, but prefer to just get by with not saying anything. It's easier to listen that way.

Anyhoo, better batten down the hatches. You ever been in a hurricane before?

I've always kinda wanted to, just to sorta see what it's like. Kinda the same way you hope to run into a bear when you're out in the woods. Hope to meet one almost as much as you hope you don't meet one.

I've heard they kick up some good lightning. I'm a big fan of lightning. We don't get any up here, for whatever reason, so I always love driving through New Mexico and Arizona. It's like being in the middle of a battlefield.

Very humbling experience. Good for the perspective.

Time's up! Talk to you later!

No lightning? Bummer!

Gosh, I love a good thunderstorm! And yes, been through plenty of hurricanes...living near the Gulf Coast, we have them regularly...they predict 9 or 10 this year. Not all (if any) will hit close enough for me to feel it, but maybe...

I don't think this one will be much though. Probably will just stay a tropical storm and hit somewhere around the Mississippi/Alabama coast. Last year, Ivan looked like it would hit around the mouth of the Mississippi River around New Orleans, but it veered off at the last minute. That was a real big one, and yeah, kinda like the bear in the woods, on the one hand you hoped it would hit close, but on the other hand you hoped just as hard that it wouldn't.

Anyway, hurricane or not, we get lots of good thunderstorms during the summer. Lots of wind and lightning. I love it!

Not much time...

Yeah, not much, anyway. There's a pretty famous picture, a time-lapse, of the Space Needle (local landmark/sundial) getting hit by about 20 bolts of lightning over the course of a storm.

But not enough for me.

One of the things I find the neatest is that lightning is caused by tiny charged particles we can't even see. Little bits of dust floating up into the air. They could never make a difference. But you get so many of them together, and they buold up such a charge difference that the tiniest little insignificant things can generate more power than all the efforts of man.

Humbling.

Anyway, I need another break. ...well, not really, but I have stuff coming up that's gonna be occupying my mind, so I'll see you in a few days.

Huh, just like lightning. All my little preoblems have built up a charge, and I can reel the thunderclap coming...

Later!

Dammit, I’m sorry I missed you...

Go take care of the things that need your attention right now. This thread will always be open, and I’ll be hanging around waiting to hear from you.

Oh, and Dan, those little insignificant bits of dust...they do make a difference...they make big, spectacular things happen...take them out of the equation, and you have nothing but rain.

Humbling. Yeah, I'll say.

Hope to talk to you soon,
I’m thinking about you,
Judy

"Aim for the sides, and don't get under it"
-VSOM (Very Smart Old Man)

Hanging around waiting to hear from me... geez, Jay, no lie.

Howya doin'?

I think I'm good.

Storm front is dissipating...

Hey!

Knew you'd come back when you're ready...sucker!

Well, not necessarily waiting around ***here***, but yeah, waiting for things to get better for you!

And I'm assuming things are??

...oh, and just read your journal entry for today...you didn't really sing the Model Major General song, did you? Geez, Dan...

*shakes head*

So, things have been really racked at work, I wish I could just say f*** off and quit, but what the hey, I'll feel better in the morning...besides I don't think I could actually say the words f*** off to them! I'm too much of a good southern girl for that kind of language! What a wimp...

Anyway, enough of my belly aching, glad you're back, and that things are good...talk to you soon.

Awesome AWESOME lightning last night just about dusk. The rain stayed mostly to the west of us, but we got a great lightning show...the kind that flashes across the sky as if it were trying to connect the two horizons...it was great!

Of course I sang it. Have to prove I'm crazy to them... I've found that reciting song lyrics in answer to their questions keeps them off guard.

Whenever possible, I use "If you love somebody, set them on fire"
by the Dead Milkmen.

I'm pretty sure they're convinced I'm an arsonist.

Way it goes.

Anyhoo, it rained here. Alot. So hearing about your lightning storm really cheered me up, in the not cheering me up way.

Jerkface.

Eh, whatever. Yael thinks I should write for a travel magazine. Might just see if anyone needs a piece about the Big Easy...

I hear those southern girls don't like saying F*** off. My kinda place...

Buy me a few beers, and I'll say anything!

Noted!