Tycho Talk

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary.

Hooray for us!

Apparently it's the anniversary of iron, candy, or wood. I am trying to think of a subtle joke but coming up with nothin'. But being married is really cool, and being married to Eric is the best. I love Eric.

Holy crap, this is the most perfect weather ever. If I get to set it when we live on domes on the Moon, it'll be this. Clear, dry, and a deep blue sky that goes on forever (I already know that part will be tough to replicate on the Moon, so don't tell me). Nature seems... relieved. Like, oh gods now I can finally rest. Last night I saw the most beautiful sight- Antares in the subtle rainbow of twilight, with the crescent Moon on one side and brilliant Venus shining bright enough to cast shadows (it seemed) on the other. It was amazing.

Yoga occurred, though my attitude was a little crappy. DH and I had a fight, and I left before it resolved, but we hammered it all out when I got home. I am constantly impressed by his willingness and ability to communicate- like in that two-way, he listens and talks kind of way. That's something I'm still getting used to, even after all these years.

I went to see River to work out some stuff with the web page. We both seemed to be on the same page with what we want to do, and I think people will be surprised and pleased at the result. It will be so much different and frankly so much less sucky than what we have now. I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, I took a D&D test because I am a dork that way. The results were something I've never heard of before, but they sure make sense. Check out that combative rating. Despite my ability to argue like a pro, I'm a lover not a fighter, apparently.( Read more... )

Yesterday was excellent.

Hub and I poked through the fridge and scrounged breakfast, and got ready for George (aka Saint Tiki) and Katherine's handfasting. We showered together and plotted what we were going to wear. I asked him to be my trophy husband; someone else was invited who I suspect dislikes me and hasn't seen me for years, and I was feeling sort of petty, I guess. He was really amused by this, and agreed to wear his black Utilikilt. He looked hot (IMHO, of course). It was all for naught, because said person didn't show up but their ex-spouse did, and they are on friendly terms so maybe word will get back. Heh.

We arrived at 2 and checked out George's place. It was a nice big house with a beautiful huge back yard, an in-ground pool and a hot tub, and a scattering of lovely live oaks. There were only a handful of people there, including Natalie- my former High Priestess and best friend.

Anyway, she was co-officiating the ritual with Hersh and I chatted with her as she set up. The ceremony was supposed to start at 3, but between Pagan standard time and Burner standard time, it was more like 5. It was a beautiful ceremony, a handfasting 'for as long as love lasts', which is not an official marriage. G&K both seemed really happy; but they are both just generally cheerful, happy people and the wording was definitely towards continuing the adventure of their lives together which suited them quite well. People were in various states of casual up to vaguely formal-ish; I think the most normal-looking people were George's parents who are fundamentalist Christians, but I'm told they said the ceremony was more beautiful than any wedding. There was one other guy in a Utilikilt; I joked with Eric that they should have a fight to the death. Champa, Rocky, and other Austin Burner icons were there too, and the alcohol flowed. I took several pictures, which I would otherwise like to share but the camera seems to have eaten them; we'll try to figure that out later.

Hub got tipsy. He has said how he doesn't like the way alcohol makes him feel, but that's when he's really shitfaced (which usually happened when he was depressed) but a few glasses of wine just made him giggly and goofy. You never know if someone who's quiet and intense won't turn into one of those angry drunks that flips tables over, but hub just gets touchy-feely and wants to have sex. ( Perhaps TMI )

When I was Initiated into my former coven, there were no classes or anything. I picked up all the new information as we went along, piecemeal. And when I had my first Initiate I did him the same way. He complained about it, and I've found that there are a lot of reasons why it would be better all around not to do things that way, so I am writing up classes for our second Initiate (and the first one too, really). They both came over and I had Class 0, which will be given to all future Initiates before the ceremony. I'd gone over a lot of the stuff with this fellow before (again piecemeal) but it was really good to do this in an organized class setting. It tied in probably at least a half-dozen conversations in person and via email, phone and instant messenger. And since all 3 of us were there we were able to talk a lot about past examples, incidences, and clarify things and so on. I think all three of us really connected and I felt pretty pleased with how it went.

I had another good night's sleep, though I'm still feeling sort of unhappy at work. I'll be off a bunch next month, so maybe that will help.

Yesterday was the wonderful 6 year anniversary of our first date.

(children voices) Tell us what the first date was like!

(holds up ear trumpet) Eh? Okay, it was a cold November night...

( the rest of the story )

Being home equals goodness.

I slaved away getting the class ready (it was a brand-new class with totally new materials) and Mabon written. It was very productive, and on Friday the class went really well. Some of us went to Taco Cabana for chow afterwards, and sat around gabbing for a good while after we finished our meal. I started to get nervous when a big crowd of young raver twerps poured in, and suggested we leave when some of them got into a shouting match with an old drunk bum. Unfortunately, they took it out to the parking lot where Homer was parked. I was getting into the car when I heard a loud *smack*, and one of the punks had KO'd the bum with one swing. I had already started the car, but the bum was not moving at all and the punks had bolted. So I ran inside and told the manager. They appeared to be helping him up as I left. That's a relief, at least. I see plenty of violence on TV and whatnot, but being that close to it in real life was very odd, and not in the good way.

Anyway, Mabon went well. It was scheduled for Gordon's backyard, and there was a bit of panic because it rained all day. But Gordon used his Tetris skills to pack all his furniture into his kitchen which made the living room in an otherwise tiny duplex into a decent ritual space. I got a lot of positive feedback, which was gratifying. The last couple of rituals seemed to go by without much feedback, and it was getting frustrating. Feasting and comradeship was had by most if not all. Happy Mabon. :)

I came home and was typically buzzed and couldn't get to sleep, so I dug what ended up being a small shard of glass out of my foot... so that's what hurt so much! Damnit.

Without meaning to crow too much, hub and I have done a lot of shagging the last few days. And it's been really good shagging too. And snuggling and talking and smooching. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person around. In November, I will have known him for six years- which doesn't seem long compared to some couples (I want to grow up to be like Lady G and her hubby, or Lady B and her wife) it's the longest relationship I've ever been in, and it just gets better and better. I've got it good, and I'm grateful. Thanks, universe. *kiss noise*

Me: We'll have to plant the spearmint in a container.
Hub: Why?
Me: Because it's one of those plants that will take over your yard.
Hub: (eloquent look that says 'and that's bad why? It would be less stuff to have to mow')
Me: If it stayed in our yard that'd be fine, but our neighbors might not appreciate it...
Hub: Take that, Yappy Dog Man! [neighbor in back of us that always turns on his floodlight and lets out his 2 noisy little dogs when we get in the hot tub] Your dogs are minty now!

I really love my husband. I feel very fortunate to have him in my life.

Nothing special prompted this, I just remember falling asleep curled up with him last night and it occurred to me that I really appreciate having that.

It was our second anniversary yesterday. The traditional gifts are: cotton, china and calico. Huh? That's boring and weird, and what do you get a guy from that category? Last year was easier, paper, you can do books or tickets or anything. But I had A Plan.

I asked my boss, who has her faults but is generally a very nice person, if I could take off early to celebrate and she said yes. So I went first to get me some lunch. I was near Grandy's, and don't often get a chance to get some fried okra and sweet tea (aka 'crack' or 'hummingbird food'). So, I do this and head over to ye local mall. There, I purchase a few 'lucky' bamboo sprouts in a ceramic jar at a kiosk that sells Oriental stuff. This falls sort of under 'china', and hub likes bamboo but I won't let him plant it in the yard. I hear it takes over everything, and besides he wants to build a tiger pit and I think that's against zoning laws or something.

I also was sucked into the candy shop, and picked up a little bag and filled it mostly with Jelly Bellies. The majority of those were buttered popcorn flavored. Yes, it sounds weird, and it is weird, but that is exactly what they taste like, to me. A friend of mine told me they tasted like breast milk. The rest were DrPepper flavor. And that's just what those taste like, too. Then I grabbed a few chocolate-covered orange gummi bears. I like chocolate, and I like orange, and I usually like the 2 together, so I thought I'd give it a try. No dice, Chicago. First, they used crappy chocolate. It was worse that year-old cheap generic imitation of Hershey bar chocolate. Even if they had used good chocolate, there was the issue of texture. Chocolate over gummi was just wrong. It didn't go. The meltyness of the chocolate somehow accentuated the alien rubberiness of the gummi, a texture which I had never previously minded. Bleh. Well, live and learn.

So, gift in hand, I made a quick trip up to the chiropractor. My neck and shoulders have been bugging me forever, and I also have problems with what I think may be known as a 'floating rib'. I always heard the term in reference to the bottom ribs that don't go all the way around, but it can also mean when a rib slips out of the cartilage that attaches it to your spine. This makes you have a sharp ache every time you inhale, which means essentially constant pain. So I went up, and she popped everything more or less back in place. She ranted about Andrea Yates, but she's always been a very talkative doctor, and I don't mind.

I got home maybe 15 minutes before Eric did, so I went upstairs and hid his prezzie under a bathrobe with a dragon embroidered on it. He had bought me red carnations, which sounds cheap, but it has hidden significance- on our very first date, he gave me a red carnation. It was perfect, because it set him apart from all the other first dates where I hadn't gotten squat, and a rose would have been a little too heavy for a first date. So, even though I am not a date that demands 'stuff', it was a really sweet gesture and jut sort of set the tone for a very wonderful date full of odd mishaps that neither of us minded since we liked being with each other. I pointed out his prezzie, and he seemed delighted by it.

We talked about how even though we had been married 2 years, we've spent almost all of our time together since we started dating, almost 5 years ago. We mooned at each other a little more and then decided to go to Piccolo's for dinner. It seems to storm when I go eat there, and tonight it did also, but we still enjoyed a good meal (and I like it when it storms anyway). I feel it made up for the wretchedly bad Italian food I had in San Marcos last week. We talked a bit about Amsterdam and various other chatty things. Then I asked if he wouldn't mind taking me to Dr.Chocolate, since (in a continuing effort to erase crappy food memories) having crappy chocolate earlier made me want to have some yummy quality chocolate. So we went, and got ice cream cones of their fabulously intense ice cream and a small bag of chocolate covered popcorn for later. Dr.Chocolate is in a posh shopping center so we walked up and down and looked at all the pretty stuff. There was a clothing store that had what looked like some really nice stuff; dyed with super-bright colors and painted with flowers or lizards or other similarly tropical motifs that I may decide to check out if I need to buy something for my wardrobe outside of the sweats-and-t-shits genre.

The storm was in full swing by now, so we spent some time just standing and watching the rain pour down by the light of the street lamps. It was mesmerizing. Then I noticed a tree that was just barely starting to bud new leaves, all black but covered with the tiniest droplets of rain all lit up by these lights- it looked like it was covered with millions of shimmering diamonds. Beautiful.

We finished our ice cream and rode home, them spent some quality time in the hot tub listening to rain and doing those things mommies and daddies who love each other do. Happy Anniversary to us.

Notwithstanding, I think just about any relationship problem could be fixed with one thing: communication. We had a big, stoopid fight yesterday because I'd asked Eric to get the air checked in my tires on my bike. He didn't do it. He thought I was just asking him to do this because it would be convenient for me. I was actually asking him to do it because it's too heavy for me to get on the center stand, and I thought he knew I wasn't able to do it. I didn't specifically mention it for that reason, and also because I'm somewhat embarrassed by that fact- it's hard for me to admit I can't do something, and since I figured he knew anyway, no point in rubbing my nose in it.

He, on the other hand, didn't do it because he did not feel comfortable riding the bike. It's a very tall bike and his proportions are such that his legs are a little shorter than mine. But by the time I got home, he'd told me that he didn't want to because it was raining, then he was cleaning the house, then Bob was visiting... it seemed that even though he said it would 'just take a second' that there was always something else he would rather do, so I thought he was just being lazy.

Stacy: The tires on my bike need to be aired up, but I can't get it on the center stand; could you do it for me?

Eric: I don't feel comfortable riding your bike, can I follow you to the gas station in my car and we'll both get it up?

Stacy: No problem.

But no, instead we got all pissy with each other. We worked it out, but it just drives the point home: don't assume you know what he's thinking, and don't assume he knows what you're thinking. Ask and tell. Jesus. I feel like a colossal idiot.