General Updates

I have a lot of friends having babies, and most of them are lamenting having to go back to work, and how hard it is to leave their babies. I understand this, but if it is so hard find a way to stay home permanently. I think it is a horrible tragedy that women, or men, or whoever, have to work, and can't be home with their children. If children are what you want from life, then I think you should be able to fully enjoy, raise, etc. your child, but it isn't possible when today, to live comfortably, you must have two incomes. In some cases to live at all you have to have two incomes.

I consider myself a very progressive woman, but I think a lot of issues with the world today stem from the fact that one parent cannot stay home with the child throughout its young life. This "luxury," which I feel is a basic function of life, is reserved for only the rich, or the very lucky. The rich, who in turn have money to stay home or hire a nanny, and whose children then get the attention, cognitive development, and so forth that makes them successful later in life. One more way the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. Now, I'm not saying a poor child won't become successful, I'm just saying that there is an unfair advantage for the rich because their parents have the ability to not need two incomes. It's just a shame, because the world really would be a better place.

In other news, I've been so busy with work I haven't posted here much. I am taking a break early this morning to post an update. I took some pictures of the new place and I will post them later if I have time. Last night I got so excited about finishing all the decorating that I went on a spree, and hung a few things, and sewed a few things. Two things precipitated this burst of domestic energy. One is that the mat for John's degrees came in, and I was so excited to re-use one of our old frames, and put his degrees up with their beautiful new navy mat. In the pictures the mat looks black, but it is a very dark, marbled navy blue. It looks very chic. We also had a custom mat made for an old Keith Parkinson poster I managed to acquire (see dragon art to the left). I had an emerald green mat made for it, and it is such an unusual sized poster that I am happy I found a way to mat it, and frame it without making it look silly. It was 21 3/4" x 31", odd size, no? It now hangs at the top of the stairs and stares down at you as you walk up. Yeah, I'm a dork, what of it? The second thing that precipitated decorating is that we have company on Friday, and I am so excited. Board games, booze, and good conversation. Plus, I'll be making a full Indian meal, fresh naan and all. Mmm, I can already taste it.

Tonight we might head to Bryan and watch Rocky Horror. It's been so long since I went to a live performance of Rocky Horror, and this one is in the gay bar, which should make it all the more awesome. Who would have thought there would be a good gay bar in Bryan...not me, that is for sure, but I am happy for it. It's been since 2006, I think, since I last saw Rocky Horror, which is far too long.

Skyrim is coming out on 11.11.11, and I am so excited. I have been playing Oblivion every night, because I need a fix until mid-November. Goddess help me when Skyrim comes out. John and I will be vying for the Xbox, but it shouldn't be too much of an epic battle as he does have to study sometime, and I don't. 

In not so benign news, my mother's health is quickly deteriorating, and I am having to intervene and take her to doctors. My mother can't get insurance because she has Type II diabetes, and lots of other issues. She has never seen a specialist for her diabetes, which is just crazy. I know it is expensive without insurance, hell it is expensive with insurance, but diabetes is serious.  So, I asked around, and luckily one of our friends knew a premier endocrinologist in Austin, which I am going to take her to see in a few weeks. I'm just happy I have the ability to take time off for such things. In any case, I hope the doctor can help her, because she is in so much pain all the time, and it's getting really hard for her to do almost anything. She has been seeing a doctor in Houston, but he isn't a specialist, and I really don't think he is a good doctor at all. In fact, I think he is an awful doctor.

On other family news, my brother's baby is due any day now. Kaylin will be her name. She is named for the character in Terry Goodkind's novel series the Sword of Truth. Except somewhere, lamely, along the line, her name got spelled in a more modern way, which I think butchers the name, but that is my nerdy side talking. It should be spelled Kahlan, which is a much better spelling. :)  Plus, I might have gone one nerdy step further and used the book character's first and last name as a first and middle name respectively, Kahlan Amnell. Again, I'm a dork, though her initials would have been KAB, hehe.

Well, off to work, enough playing. I will post pictures soon.