JCCC3: Gettin' my flippy-floppies ready

The first thing that popped into my head today was this: I cannot wait to go on vacation. In February. on JCCC3. Nerds rejoice!

We will be sailing on the Freedom of the Seas to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  

Last year's cruise was phenomenal and we met the greatest people.  So excited to see them on JCCC3!! Table for 6, anyone??

Our shipboard activities include the following:

• Q&A session with Jonathan and the other performers
• Dedicated, 24-hour tabletop gaming space and info center for competing, scrabbling, delving, magicking and gathering, Analog Tweeting, and a central hub for information/planning (with wipeboards and pens and stuff!) What’s more, this year’s shipboard Conference Center is more than twice as large as last year’s!
• The return of JoCo Karaoke and NoCo Karaoke (a.k.a. Karaoke Regular)
• Movie Night Strikes Back: Movie Harder
• 3rd Annual Paul F. Tompkins Memorial Moustache Formal and Fezstravaganza: an evening of formal wear (optional but recommended), fezzes (optional but recommended) and moustaches (optional; provided)
• A Dance with Daquiris: A Song of Ice and Alcohol shove-off complimentary cocktail hour for EVERYONE
• Trilogies Always End Poorly farewell complimentary cocktail hour for EVERYONE

The entertainment that has been booked so far includes:

Jonathan Coulton

The Doubleclicks

John Hodgman

Zoë Keating

Randall Munroe

Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (from Rifftrax)

Paul and Storm

Mike Phirman

David Rees

Wil Wheaton 

Personally, I can't wait till we get to the Bahamas and I can get off the boat, get handed a towel, and relax on the beach. :o) 

I'd also like to at least get on one excursion this trip.  I've picked this one:

Castaway Shipwreck and Snorkel

If this looks interesting to you, you should come! It's really the best time, especially for the Geek- Adjacent Wife.  Maybe I'll get to fist bump Wil Wheaton again! 

That reminds me: I've got to get to work on my fez....

 

 

Shoes make me happy. I'm superficial. Whatever

What's one of my biggest vices? Shoes.  

I <3 shoes.  

I don't discriminate either.  I love heels and flip flops and sandals and platforms.  It is hard for me to walk out of DSW with fewer than 2 pair.  I've always had a collection of shoes under my desk at work, in my car, and then the pile at home.  For quite sometime now we've had a rule in our house that if I bring a pair of shoes into the house, I have to get rid of a pair.  If I don't choose said garbage pair before I wear the new ones, Paul gets to decide what pair get's trashed.  Slightly ridiculous if you ask me.....I just find other places to hide them hehe

This is only part of the collection :o) I figure what else do I have to spend my money on?  They make me happy, I get compliments when I where them...so yea, whatever :o) If you are going to be my friend, you have to like shoes.

I've also got some of my dream shoes below...someday, when I make my first million- I will buy these and they will be mine. The avenger shoes I will get before the cruise...mark my words!

My 30th

I'm 30.  I turned the BIG 3-0 at home with my husband....it was just what I wanted.  He got me beautiful hydrogen atom earrings (as seen in the Watchmen) and made a delicious strawberry cake with butter cream frosting, from scratch! It was perfect!

I also wanted to celebrate turning 30 surrounded by my Marist friends and family. So a party was thrown!  I spent the night talking with people I hadn't seen in months and it was lovely.  I <3 my Maristers+.

I haven't had a birthday party since I turned 16 as I dislike the attention and also, something always seems to go wrong.  I thought, however, I needed some *celebration* in my life.  I needed laughter and smiles and good friends.  That's exactly what I got.

Caption:

"Joey: Okay, buddy-boy. Here it is: You hide my clothes, I'm wearing everything you own.
Chandler: Oh my God! That is so not the opposite of taking somebody's underwear!
Joey: Look at me - I'm Chandler! Could I *be* wearing any more clothes? Maybe if I wasn't going commando!
Chandler: Ugh UGH!
Joey: Phew! I tell you, it's hot with all this stuff on. I better not do any - you know - lunges!"

 I also got a great surprise: my sister, my brother-in-law, my niece and nephew all surprised me by making an appearance.  They weren't supposed to be back from their vacation from Florida, but they came back and surprised the crap out of me.  It was amazing!

and of course there were shenanigans!

So, a HUGE thanks to my Mom & Dad for throwing the bash!! A HUGE thank you to the friends and family there!

Now to plan the next celebration with my work and law school crew!

We Are Going To Make It Through This Year If It Kills Us

Yep.  We are.  You know I'm talking about you.  We're in this together and we'll get out together.  We've worked too hard and come too far to be stuck here, in this rut.  We are better than this.  We are worth more than this. We will survive this.

I'm reminded of a story I heard in law school:

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.

It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. 

Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its richness and savored its aroma.

The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity – boiling water. Each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

 
Change: this is my daily mantra.  It gets me up out of bed in the morning and keeps me moving through the day.  I try to change the place I'm at, though most times it's futile. I'm not really sure when I switched into survival mode, but, here I am; here we are.  I am thankful for the amazing girls I have around me, for their support, and their help.  I know, without a doubt, we will all be alright in the end. 

If you'd ever like to hear the real story, just ask me...I will surely tell you.  You prolly know most of it, it's just not something I'm ready to give away to the web as I'm not truly out of the situation yet.  Trust me, you'll know the minute it happens, though.

We are coffee beans, ladies! Let's make a change for ourselves! xoxo