Fröliche Walpurgisnacht!

Happy Beltaine ... Vapunaatto ... May Day Eve ... whatever you'd like to call it. I'd really love to attend a bonfire all-nighter sometime, but this year I'll be celebrating with a bonus Changeling session. That works for me, since I really shouldn't stay up until dawn if I have to come into work. Grr. I would so take the day off if it wasn't my assistant's last day with us.

This week has been full of weirdness, both good and bad. The bad: temper flares and spots of petty possessiveness, having the bus driver look right at me walking up to the door and then drive away, hearing the hateful messages left for my boss because some rightwing nutjobs feel the need to spew their venom about the President's impending visit, and oh, the big-ass prop-plane banner that's been circling campus for the last few days (an anti-abortion ad that's basically a ginormous picture of a 10-week fetus).

Also, I had to submit a proposal to "justify" hiring a student assistant to replace the one who's graduating. I was polite. But oh, the fury.

The good: the campus flowers are in full bloom, and they're loving the pleasant, drizzly rain we're having today. (So am I. It's a little chilly out, maybe, but it finally smells like spring.) Lilies of the Valley will be up soon. :) Oddly, I've been in an Otep mood the last few days. Not that I'm particularly angry anymore ... okay, maybe a little (I'm glaring at you, work. Yeah, you heard me.) ... but there's something a bit wild and terrifying and fierce in a Kali-Ma kind of way in all that power and fury. Some days, I just need a little of that fire.

Also good. No, scratch that. Also excellent: my brilliant and amazing friends. I'm riding one hell of a creative buzz today from all the insanely good stuff they've been writing.

It never ceases to amaze me how infectious your friends can be, for good or for ill. If you surround yourself with petty, high-maintenance, selfish people, it just tears your soul away, bite by bite. If you surround yourself with creative, cooperative, encouraging people, you just can't help but laugh and wonder why it took you so long to figure out the big secret.

Follow the breadcrumbs...

Spring? Hello?

Deadline week, now with added arbitrary deadlines! Argh.

We're halfway through April and it feels like we're still peeking around the corner at March. The weather has been cold and dreary, with few exceptions, and I'm caught between equal bouts of cabin fever and just wanting to snuggle up on the couch and write. Or play that horrible Animal Crossing game. Normally by this point I'd be dying for a good drive, but other than this Sunday, the weather just hasn't been very conducive so far this year.

Speaking of Sunday, Easter/Ostara/Bunny Day was pretty laid back and nice this year. Mom went to a banquet with Middle Brother and his girlfriend, so I accompanied Will to his parents' for the first steak cookout of the season. It was the first time I've spent any real time around his family (other than meeting his parents for five minutes or so when he first moved in) and they're pretty funny. Also, there was Jolly Rancher wine, and his brother spoke actual words! Overall, I'd call it a win.

What else...

I'm waiting patiently to begin more Changeling game-related writing with Cher Mere. Are you jealous? Yes, of course you are. She's a lot of fun, and I enjoy our characters immensely. (And I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to her Passover dinner this year ... hopefully next. I've never been to one before!) Will and I are tentatively working on something for the same game as well, but we'll see where that ends up.

I have discovered MJK of Tool and A Perfect Circle fame has yet another musical effort out: Puscifer. And damned if I'm not addicted to a couple of the songs already. (I'm looking at you, "Momma Sed" and "Queen B"...) Now, I like Tool, but since Opiate and Undertow, they've been a bit too overwrought for my taste. I recognize the talent, like the sound ... but my brain relegates it to the realm of really good background music, and by the time I've reached the end of the CD, it's all bled together into some strange musical miasma. APC is a different story altogether; that was, and is, instant love. The music's much more accessible and insidious in that brain-burrowing way that keeps it in the braintape loop for days after hearing it. I've only heard a few Puscifer songs, so far, and of the ones I was able to pay attention to, one I actively despise, and three have landed squarely in the loop. And soon, very soon, I will give in and buy some MP3s to assist with the burrowing process.

Speaking of adding to the loops, I managed to infect Edige with the Serj Tankian bug. Win.

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