I am home. Trying to wind down enough to get to sleep. Long, long, long weekend; we did funeral/wake/assorted mourning stuff from 7-11 Friday, then from 9-9 Saturday, and I was up at 5 this morning to drive/fly back. But I'm home, and I'm glad.

I've made it safely to South Dakota--me, my 22-year-old twin cousins, my 9-year-old cousin and my almost 8-year-old cousin, and my (I kid you not) cousin twice removed and her husband.

We got here and my two sisters and three uncles were waiting for us.

And then tonight at the wake I expect...conservatively, maybe 40 or 50 MORE people I'm related to to be there, plus, you know, everyone else.

...I think I wish I'd taken a nap. :)

Being around my family is like any other endurance event--get protein, stay hydrated, and don't think too hard about when it'll be over. *g*

(from this article on diagramming Sarah Palin's sentences--fluffy, partisan, and not particularly revealing, but fun just for the flashbacks to junior high English.)

We're actually trying to talk a lot about politics at work today. It's safer than discussing what's REALLY on everyone's mind: baseball.

***

I'm leaving in a couple of hours to go back home for my aunt's funeral. I have to fly part of the way and then drive the rest of the way tomorrow with some extended family I'm pretty sure I've never met. My dad says they're awesome, though.

People are so sweet--whenever I have to tell someone about leaving town, they're all, "Have a good tri--uh. Fly safe!" (<3)

See you in a few days. Um. Eljay safe? :)

I don't know how the universe knew, but today was in fact the best POSSIBLE day I could get my 10th Anniversary Sports Night DVDs in the mail.

*clutches them*

People, the gag reel--the first season gag reel ALONE is worth the price of admission. All eleven minutes and forty-eight seconds of hilarity. And the retrospective has almost all the original actors (except Sabrina) and reminds me why I respected the hell out of Aaron Sorkin in the first place! And the universe loves us and JoshC and Peter do a commentary together (with Sabrina and the director that isn't Tommy). JoshC does THREE commentaries, including one with Malina, and the actors playing Elliot, Kim, Chris and Will get their own commentary.

Dear show: I LOVE YOOOOOU. Kisses, Celli

Signs it's going to be a long day: when your morning pep talk from your uberboss includes the phrase "rain of toads."

Send caffeine porn money for the Federal Reserve attractive people making out help.

INTERNETS.

Do I have to haul out the butthead flowchart again? DO I?

It does not make you cool to point out all the reasons why someone else's object of squee is unworthy. There is a time and a place for Serious Discussion, and there's a time and a place for letting someone else have fun. You know, that thing we do sometimes in fandom?

Poking holes in someone else's squee doesn't make you smarter than them, it doesn't prove you have better taste, it doesn't mean you see a deeper level of meaning than the people whose joy you're trying to reduce.

It just makes you a butthead.

You guys are kind of awesome. :)

Tales of the saints from the early days of the Catholic Church--esp. saints like St. Catherine, whose stories are almost entirely made up of legends told and retold--the turn-of-the-millennium equivalent of fanfic? I mean, she's kind of a 4th-century Mary Sue.

(no, I really don't know where my brain gets these things.)

Bereavement flights are AT LEAST the sixth circle of hell.

My aunt passed away a couple of hours ago. It was very peaceful. Her family was with her. My dad is out of town, and it's hitting him pretty hard, but he assures me that he has people with him.

I could give you a whole song and dance, but it would make me cry and I'm content with being numb at the moment, so I'll just say: she was an amazing woman, very much loved, and will be very much missed.

Bad idea of the day: Celli, why don't you distract yourself from family stuff by reading the financial news! Or factcheck.org!

*slowly loses will to live*

So let's do a meme instead. (I would do a Sing Along Song Poll, but the only song stuck in my head at the moment is hugely embarrassing, and, no.) Swiped from fiercelydreamed: give me a first line in the fandom of your choice and I'll write the next little bit.

My aunt's condition has fluctuated wildly over the past week. Yesterday I called her and she sounded good; today is a really bad day.

From what people tell me, I don't think she's been alone at all since she was admitted to the hospital this weekend. At any given moment, there's probably four or five people in her room--her husband, her kids, her brothers and sisters, her parents. I wish I were closer, but I am staying in touch as much as possible.

To state the blindingly obvious: this hurts. I hurt a lot. And this has to be like 1/1000000th of what my dad and grandma and cousins are going through right now.

Okay, the results of the Hypothetical AU Meme are in, and we have:

for wyoluvr, ( the Supernatural Barista AU )

for ladydey, ( the Eureka Carter/Stark Egyptian Explorers AU )

for carta, ( the due South in SPAAAAAACE AU )

for medie, ( the Heroes Accounting AU )

for sparky77, ( the Heroes boy band AU )

for mireille719, ( the Sports Night superheroes AU )

for inmyriadbits, ( the Eureka western AU )

and for shihadchick, ( the SGA soap opera AU )

Okay, the woke up married story (current working title: Elvis's Chapel O' Love and Rainbows) just hit 1850 words...at the end of the first scene.

I don't think I've ever written a scene that long before. I have a substantial number of FICS that aren't that long.

*peers at it* What have I gotten myself into?

"It's the best-kept secret since sliced bread!"

0.o

McCain and the POW Cover-Up

This imposing body of evidence suggests that a large number—the documents indicate probably hundreds—of the US prisoners held by Vietnam were not returned when the peace treaty was signed in January 1973 and Hanoi released 591 men, among them Navy combat pilot John S. McCain.

Regardless of freaking politics, I'm going to say this: I hope this article is wrong. I hope someone can tell me it's untrue. It damns not only McCain but John Kerry and every presidential administration from Nixon on. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about it.

Timestamp meme people, I have not forgotten you, I swear. But you all asked me stuff I'm going to have to write actual fic for, so it's taking a while.

This...will hopefully not eat my brain. *nervous* Ganked from misspamela:

The Hypothetical AU Meme: Take any one of the fandoms you know I write in (or think I should), and give me a type of AU (space opera AU, pirate AU, superhero AU, Ancient Rome, etc). I will then explain what story from your chosen fandom I would write for your chosen type of AU.

Okay, so, to recap, this weekend:

* I drove was driven to Michigan
* stayed in a motel with character
* met the Davids
* slept in a mall
* saw Ghost Town (<3)
* went to Canada
* read a book to Slod across two states
* laughed until I cried countless times
* cried a couple of extra times
* spent a lot of time on various trains
* threw a surprise party

...I'm TIRED. Can it be the workweek now? I need a break!