rickvs

Sixteen years, two weeks and one day ago, Rachal and I started dating. This shall henceforth be known as the Bread Stick Anniversary.

That is all.

My store's lead salesman turned in his notice today -- he got tired of being whipsawed with missed deliveries, and they'd recently reduced his commission rate, so he went lookin' for a better deal, and found one. We'll see how this affects my store over the next few weeks.

I think I've finally put my finger on something -- it relates to more than the recent marriage issue, but that's what I'll use as my jumping-off point.

If my family was in danger of starving unless some union could be negotiated between mine and another, I could be convinced that it was my duty to enter into an arranged marriage. I wouldn't like it, but I could follow the reasoning.

If the last lifeboat escaped from a dying Earth, and the only fertile humans on it were homosexuals, I'd ask them nicely to take one for the team and try to procreate.

I don't think either of the above situations has any bearing on North America in the 21st century.

We're not resource-poor. We humans are not in danger of extinction.

We build wheelchair ramps and life-support systems and retirement homes because we can afford to.

We should all be able to marry for love because as a society, we can afford to. More to the point, I think we can't afford not to.

Got an odd question: anybody know of any programs to help offset the drug costs for insulin-dependent diabetics? Preferably in the Dallas area -- Rachal's Lantus is running her a couple hundred a month, and we're looking for alternatives.

Questions courtesy of kightp:

1. Are you making any art these days (outside of work)?

Well, me and twfarlan are making baby steps towards an online comic, and I've been drawing the occasional thing to take to Rachal in the hospital. Otherwise, not much.

2. During the period when you and Rachal were apart, what kinds of things did you do to keep the marriage strong?

Talked on the phone (a lot) and online (more). In some ways, it made our relationship stronger, because when we *did* see each other, we paid more attention. It was like being on dates again.

3. OK, spill: Tell me a story from your college days that I can use if I ever need to blackmail Reed. (-:

Rachal had to remind me of both of these:

First, the time she and Reed were walking and talking across campus, and the bookbag she was carrying in one hand caught him on the backswing. Right in the jewels. Put him on the ground for at least ten minutes, she sez.

Second, when Reed and I were two of the occupants in a three-person dorm, we were trying to figure out how to run off the third mystery roomate if we didn't like him on arrival. We'd pretty much decided we were gonna pretend to be lovers and hope he was homophobic ... when he showed up, and was already gay.

4. If a genie gives you three wishes, is it cheating to make the last one "three more wishes"? Explicate.

I doubt it. Because the genie would probably just rewind your life to a time previous to your first wish, and leave you in a time-loop till you caught a clue.

5. What do we have to do to get you to visit Oregon again?

A new job would be nice, one with enough money to travel and vacation days to do so. But I'm already keeping my eye out on this end :>

For those who haven't been following along, the rules:

1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

Anybody remember those handheld electronic games called "Merlin"? Looked like a big red phone, last sold perhaps fifteen years ago. Anybody know where I can lay my hands on one in the Dallas area?

01:16 pm - The 5-question interview meme
THE RULES!
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

Interview questions for me courtesy of fair_witness

1. Do you happen to remember who adopted the rest of Theo's littermates?

I do not, and neither does rachalvs. See question four...

2. How did you discover Callahan's?

I followed byersr there, although we never really overlapped. I stuck a toe in a couple of years before I started participating frequently in either the IRC or the newsgroup ...and initially stayed out of it because it was too syrupy-touchy-feely for my tastes.

3. You've had to deal with being in a long-distance marriage. What advice would you give someone in a similar situation?

Keep the lines of communication open!

4. Did you know Tribble would become Phaed's cat when Reed brought him in?

Not that I recall, but then I had forgotten how Tribble dropped into our lives. I know Phaed found Rat in the middle of the road... and now he resides on our mantle in a little ceramic cat statue. Glad Tribble's still kicking...

5. Do you want to stay a commercial artist, or would you someday like to go into full-time freelance mode, painting not so much for a client and a paycheck but for yourself?

I think my ideal situation would be to pay my bills with about 20 hours a week of commercial artwork, and fill the remaining time with whatever struck my fancy. I think if I actually had to squeeze enough creative juice out of myself to come up with a full work-week of art projects, I'd run myself dry in less than a year.

I'm feeling somewhat better, and so is Rachal last time I checked. We're driving back to Dallas today, and should finish our recuperation on Sunday.

Saw _Calendar Girls_ last night with the in-laws ...while predictable, it's quite good, due mostly to the quality of the acting. Afterward, we all had lots of soup at a Chinese buffet, then took many drugs before going to bed. I'm still not sure if I'll try to frisbee golf in the morning; it's probably not a good idea.

For the last thirty-six hours or so, I've had the ability to produce on demand a moss-colored wad of phlegm the size of a small mouse. No production limits in sight so far; the only restriction has been my willingness to dedicate the time required for each of these personally crafted souvenirs. Perhaps I should varnish them and sell them from a roadside stand.

At least my lungs don't constantly hurt, as do Rachal's, and unless I'm being foolishly optimistic, I'm on the back-end of this bout of sickness.

In addition to the Ford Focus, I also got a hot pink mini RC car. It's quite a useful cat torture device :>

The food was excellent; the company was good -- and I've seen a couple of movies, _Something's Gotta Give_ and _Return of the King_. I recommend them both pretty highly, although I still think _The Fellowship of the Ring_ is my favorite of the three LOTR flicks.

I like the new car quite a bit (I'm speaking of the 1:1-sized one). Given that we were pressed for time, we weren't able to customize the model we got -- so we were forced to take the one with the six-CD changer (*sob*). I'll need to wait till I get home to see if it also reads MP3s ... I believe it does, which would make for a metric trainload of recordings, but either way I'll be able to collect enough tunes for my daily commute :>