Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to wcg and adamselzer!!!!!! Have a great one!!!

Still somewhat out of it

Still feeling vaguely depressed and out of it, in spite of a reasonably productive day.

Walked around the Rose Garden in the morning, and went out shopping in the afternoon. Two new Panasonic DECT handsets at Fry's: neither exactly matches our base unit and existing phones, but since they're compatible it doesn't matter. One's for Colleen's desk in the bedroom, and one for her chairside table in the Living Room. That one is white, which matches the table. Four bags of coffee at Barefoot: half for us, and half for the Wolfling to take up with her as gifts. A pair of 2-person emergency kits at Bed, Bath, and Beyond: they're probably a little cheaper this month, and I had thoughtfully provisioned my bag with 20%-off coupons because I knew that the store is next to Barefoot.

The air outside is foul with smoke. Worse this afternoon.

Not sure about the vague depression. It could just be related to the flower_cat's arthritis and muscle cramps -- having a wife apt to burst into tears from pain at odd moments isn't really conducive to happiness. Could be return to "normal" after the New Song Energy of Quiet Victories. Could be financial worries; that's always good for a nice spot of depression.

Could be the size of my to-do list, or something else that's unresolved. Damned if I know. I probably shouldn't worry about it too much; positive feedback (in the negative direction) is the last thing I need at this point. I seem to have it anyway. Bleah.

Curmudgeons

This was originally going to be a post about "friendly families". Friendly families do things together as families -- they visit, go places together, do things together, sometimes celebrate together; they keep in touch when they're apart. The kids play together, if they're of similar ages; otherwise the older ones may babysit the younger ones. They go to one anothers' parties. They usually have a network of mutual friends.

You find them a lot in fandom and the SCA. The House of the Anonymous Bosh was a huge, sprawling household with a couple of families at the core and a several more orbiting closely; many of us haven't been in the SCA in years, but we're still fairly close. Still friendly. Still going to one anothers' parties and inviting one another to our kids' weddings. Still meeting at conventions. Comment on one anothers' LJs...

But family outings are rare, now that the kids are old enough to have their own social lives, and they're not really all that interesting. It turns out that the interesting phenomenon is the curmudgeons. There are usually one or two in every family gathering; I've often been one of them. At SCA events I'd spend most of my time reading. On Wednesday nights at the Starport I could usually be found in the office, especially when the conversation in the living room got dull or excessively loud. Sometimes some of the other geeks will join me there -- there's always plenty of Linux and Perl to talk about. Sometimes it's the musicians who end up geeking in a corner. Or the cooks in the kitchen, or the costumers in the sewing room.

M is one of Colleen's best friends, and one of her daughters is my Younger Daughter's best friend; the Y.D. used to babysit her younger sister, and still loves playing with her. Her husband, D? I rarely see him except when he comes to collect one of the kids from our house. He feels out of place at our parties. That's OK.

There are people who do come over on Wednesday nights, and attend every single one of our parties, but aren't social at all. They'll sit in a corner and read a book from our fanishly-extensive library, or hide behind their laptop, or use one of our computers. That's OK, too.

I'm trying to be less curmudgeonly these days; at least now I'm usually one of the ones who hides behind a laptop, with a guitar within reach for the occasional request. But at the same time I'm less concerned about it. I'm not all that sociable, and sometimes it's a strain. And even when I am feeling sociable there are times when I'll pull someone aside for a private conversation, if only to avoid subjecting the rest of the party to one more run-through of "Quiet Victories" or "The River".

I think that recognizing this phenomenon makes me more comfortable with it, in others as well as in myself. There's no reason to feel like a bad host if someone is only there on Wednesday for the beer, the books, and the bandwidth. Grand Central Starport is a very comfortable place, even for curmudgeons.

A moderately productive day

So far today I have:

1. Bought and installed two Panasonic DECT 6 phone handsets, for Colleen's bedroom desk and livingroom chair.
2. Booked the chaoswolf's flight home from Vancouver on 09-20.
3. Given her 10 copies of Coffee, Computers, and Song! to sell on consignment. (Plus enough cash to make change.)
4. Posted about curmudgeons -- this one's been kicking around in my drafts directory for a couple of weeks.