Random Babble-0-tron

Thing 2 survived her tonsilectomy, the surgeon removing "extremely inflamed and enlarged tonsils", plus her adenoids. Her voice has changed, deeper, it's cute. Surprised at just how well this kid is doing. She was talking the same day, with only a little scratchiness. Next day she was playing as hard as ever. Only had to take the prescription pain meds three times, and only once was a crying session for pain. She's been sticking with regular ole kids Motrin since then, and doesn't need it often at all. Either she's amazingly resilient beyond what we already knew, or the procedure has come DAMN far in the last few years.

Finally saw "Batman Begins". There is approval, even if I missed half the movie because of Thing 2 babbling at me and squirming around. She loses points, she was bored. Oddly enough, I'm still unsure about Bale in the cowl, though he pulled all of it off well. A few minor "Huh?" episodes, but pleased for the most part. The script was highly refreshing after Revenge of the Sith, lemme tell ya, caught the appropriate dark humour of the comic well. No overdone CGI, the acting was solid enough, no camp, no Bat-nipples.

I'd been looking forward to "Land of the Dead," but now I'm unsure if it's going to be worth it. REALLY looking forward to "Undead" hitting the country, though. That has some serious promise. Read up on that one, and I wish it would hurry and hit the states. Grr.

Preview for "Sky High" looked utterly hysterical. Live action version of "The Incredibles", mixed with "PS 238." Probably going to have to see "Fantastic Four" as well, despite misgivings on that one.

Blackberry season is over, with two baggies full in the fridge awaiting a cobbler. Next year's harvest should be amazing. Black-eyed susans growing randomly wild in the yard are doing quite well. Bloody HOT, and the water situation is critical. August is going to be Hell at this rate.

Amusement -- hearing Thing 1 plunking out Rossini's "Overture from The Barber of Seville" on the keyboard earlier.

Stealing Back Tomorrow

Or stealing them back, anyway.

Ten years. A lot can happen in that time. Lots of close calls, not just the "almost" meetings that never happened, but life-threatening incidents that nearly took the tomorrows away. And I'm so very tired of losing chances and kissing tomorrows goodbye.

Ten years. That's how long he and I have been playing together, writing together, working together. It's how long we've been friends, and yet, we'd never met face to face.

Today, I stole one of those tomorrows back.

Pooka and the landshark, in the same place, at the same time. My partner at Deviation: Android, the brain behind Dax Knight, and Alex the Hunter, and Tarin. My partner in crime, the inspiration behind half the images I've created.

Surreal, how the moment drifts away already. Surreal while we were there, how perfectly normal it seemed. Ten years is a long time to get to know someone, and despite it being the first physical meeting, it was ... familiar, and thus quite surreal. Quite a few moments where neither of us had to say anything while Thing 2 and DG were going off on each other, just a Look that said everything. "You SEE what I have to live with?" Easy. Surreal.

Of course, surreal is also realizing just how tall 6'7" really is. I felt like a tiny little china doll sitting beside him. His hands are easily twice the size of mine if not more.

This time, I didn't lose "Tomorrow". I made it a Today instead.

Here's to another ten years, partner.

No dying, m'kay?

Numb

It's a human conceit, I guess, to go through life as if we have all the time in the world. "I'll do it tomorrow, we can do that next week, we'll always get another chance."

The thing is, tomorrow doesn't always come. Sometimes, that one chance is the only one we ever get. And all too often, we let tomorrows slip away from us, only to discover that we wake up one morning, and it's too late.

That's how I woke up today. With a phone call, telling me that time had escaped, tomorrow is gone, the chance is lost. That I had lost another friend. Sonya is gone.

Oh, Sonya. I remember us being pregnant together, sharing stories. Remember how Coryisms and Rabbit Tracks walked hand in hand for a while as our girls grew up. We were talking all the time when you were pregnant with Lukey. I remember sending you out of work and to sleep a few times during it when you were stressing and needed to walk away, me the eternal big sister. The absolute joy when we started playing with paint programs, and you discovered your penguins.

I still have the cyberpunk penguin icon you made for me. It's going into a permanent place in my list.

We always talked about tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Finally sitting together on the porch, the kids playing in the backyard. We were so -close-, so nearby, and yet that distance got in the way so many times, and we let it happen, because everyone has more tomorrows, right?

Right?

I want my tomorrows back. I want to do them over again, I want to push and us be able to do what now we never can. It's selfish, and I know it. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO SAY GOODBYE, DAMMIT!

I'm sorry for not being better, for not trying harder, for not making that physical meeting we always talked about happen.

Cory, Lukey ... your Mama was very special. She was a wonderful, intelligent, bubbly woman that I utterly adored. She could make anyone smile, even if they didn't feel like smiling. She wrote about you two all the time, you were her absolute pride and joy.

The words are gone now, numb is starting to sink in.

I just wish numb could banish the ache.

I miss you, Sonya.