Happy birthday to one f the best friends anyone could ever have...

My favorite Moo.

*hugs much*

Raen.

I just got back in from watching Neil Gaiman give a reading from his newest book, The Graveyard Book.

It was a great deal of fun.

Neil is a wonderful storyteller. He came out on stage wearing exactly what all of us are used to seeing him in: black on black with a black leather biker's jacket. His reading was very energetic, his discussion with the audience very engaging... and there was a lot of laughing going on.

last_bastion may have pictures...

Highlights include...

*Hearing that the book was inspired by taking his son across the street to the graveyard where he could ride his tricycle and pondering how perfectly natural he looked in the graveyard.

*How he had heard for the first time how he could make a whole room collectively gasp, "No!" when he discovered that he was only going to be able to read half of chapter seven... I haven't looked yet, but he did say that you can hear it at the end of the recording that they did in LA.

*Hearing him talk about his experience with 'creepy fans'... specifically, the one about the guy in the business suit who wanted him to sign his copy of Aleister Crowley's autobiography. To which Mr. Gaiman said, "Its not my book," and the guy in the suit replied, "But, as we both know, this is as close as I'll get to having it signed by the Master." Evidently, he signed it, "I didn't write this book - Neil Gaiman."

There was a lot more, but this is what really sticks out in my head.

Oh, and we got a sneak peak at the Coraline movie. *smiles* Which looks fantastic. I may have to pick up the book.

I am, however, very tired. And still a little hungry. So, while I ponder whether or not I'm going to feed myself before bed, I'm going to sign off.

Night, all!

Raen.

Every once in a while, work yields strange moments.

Like this one...

Did you know that your hair has no specific gravity? Or close to none? This comes from one of my coworkers as he asks me for a piece of my hair so he can make a rig for measuring specific gravity.

What's funnier... I ended up making it myself. My eyes are better than his.

*smiles* Made me laugh, really...

"So, honey, how was work?"

"It was interesting. I made a specific gravity rig out of my hair. How was your day?"

*shakes her head*

The above brought to you by the word 'surreal' and the letters H and J.

Raen.

A movie theater near us showed a recorded live version of theatrical production of Rent.

Wow.

I fell in love with the story because of the movie... and I'm amazed at the number of ways the movie is exactly like or very different from the play. And... it still managed to make me cry.

last_bastion and I had an interesting discussion of who we liked in the movie compared to the stage performance on the way home.

Ultimately... it was great. And I can't wait to see it live on stage.

*smiles* Evidently, its coming to Denver next year. Going to have to make sure we make it out to see it in person.

Raen.

This one has come 'round again from ste_mairet... *smiles*

If you wanna do it, feel free. But you don't have to. ;)

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
6. Tag five other people to do the same.

"Folkvang the ninth, where Freya chooses
who seats shall have in her hall:
half the slain are hers each day,
and half are Othin's own.

Glitnir the tenth, which with gold is propped
and is shingled with shining silver;
there Forseti unflagging sits,
the god that stills all strife.

Noatun the eleventh, where Njorth hath him
reared his bright abode;
the sinless god his seat there has
and rules in high-timered hall.

Greenwoods grow, and grasses tall,
in Vithi, Vithar's land:
from horseback leaps the hero, eager
to avenge his father's fall.

By Andhrimnir in Eldhrimnir
Saehrimnir, the boar, is boiled
the best of bacon; though 'tis barely known
what the einherjar eat.

Valfather feeds Freki and Geri
on the flesh of the fallen;
but weapon-glad Othin on wine only
lives forever and ay.

The whole earth over, every day,
hover Hugin and Munin;
I dread lest Hugin droop in his flight,
yet I fear me still mroe for Munin."

And I'm betting there are a few people on my flist who know exactly what this is from. ;)

Edit: I read the rules again and discovered I'd done this wrong... so... revised version. *smiles* Much longer.

Raen.

After waxing philosiphical, I have to take a moment and pout.

I had this absolutely fantastic weekend!

But I had to go back to to work today...

Now... for the shout.

apotropaic!

I have a new cookbook.

It has a healthy section of vegetarian main dishes...

When you coming over for dinner again? :)

Raen.

This has been building in my head over the last couple of years. Its been building, slowly, and as we approach the Holiday Season, its in the front of my mind again. So... I thought I'd share. *smiles* Just to let y'all know what's in my mind before the season of disagreement begins again.

Its a topic that some find a little touchy, I know... so read with patience, and please don't go flame on at the end of it...

( I'm going to start in an odd place. )

Anyway... I'm spent now. *smiles*

Love to you all... and here's to a Holiday season full of fun.

(I so can't wait for Halloween!)

Raen.

I would like to take a moment and say thank you for all of the various and wonderful birthday wishes I've gotten. From the card that I got in the mail from wqalice and black_king to the various 'net and phone messages I've gotten, and to the wonderful weekend I had, thank you much. Its great appreciated. *smiles*

Raen.

So, as part of my birthday, last_bastion made arrangements for us to do something that I'd been wanting to do for a long time. Visit the wolf sanctuary past Lakewood (I think I have the right city...) in the mountains. We went with mentalgremlin (who was kind enough to drive) and his wife.

And I had such a good time.

I'd known about this place for a few years. last_bastion had found it while randomly searching around about our interests and left a brochure for them sitting on my desk in Texas. I'd been all over the website, and I had had ever intention of helping to support them with donations.

The group, you see, focuses on educating the public about wolves, about clearing up the misinformation about them, and helping people to understand that _owning_ wolves as pets is a _bad plan_. While there are certainly any number of charities I could support, this one is very near and dear to my heart. *smiles* There are days I think I should have gone into conservation rather than where I am now...

... who knows. *smiles* My life is far from over. Maybe I'll get there some day.

Anyway... we got up into the mountains, where the temperature dropped a lovely 20 degrees from the 80 that it had been in the lower lands of Colorado Springs. I saw aspens changing colors from green to gold, had someone explain how aspens grow in groves, took pictures of the mountains with dark clouds hanging over them, and then we made our way to the actual refuge. From the top of the hill, we could see a number of wolves in enclosers and last_bastion started taking pictures. Another tour was on its way through the area, and we were in time to hear them coax the wolves in a chorus of social howling.

Let me tell you, there is no substituting standing near wolves when they howl.

Our tour was fun, and I definitely learned a few things that I didn't know. Most of it related to industry problems regarding animals (the refuge also has a couple of coyotes and a two different breeds of fox); fur industry, film industry, breeding industry, photography industry. Some stories made you want to cry, but, all the same, all of the animals there had happy endings. None of them are going into the wild, but they all have a safe, comfortable place to live out the rest of their days. And that is a comforting thought, at least.

Now, I mentioned above getting to hear the previous tour coax a social howl out of the wolves. The tour ends with the refuge worker leading the tour group in a round of howling in order to convince the animals to answer. So... if standing on the _edge_ of the refuge and hearing them howl was something else, standing in the _middle_ of all of their enclosures and hearing them do so was amazing. Everything from low, mournful wolf howls to the high pitched yipping of coyotes.

Evidently, they're more vocal during the winter. last_bastion and I are considering going just to hear that. Getting up the mountain with all of the snow could be entertaining, though. So we'll see. *smiles*

As an odd note, they have a wolf there that reminds me very strongly of the picture that I use on a regular basis when I'm feeling 'packish'. *smiles* I think I've seen pics of her before and thought she was the wolf in the picture. When I got home and had a look, though, I reaffirmed again that it wasn't.

After the main tour, we got the bigger treat. last_bastion had arranged for the better tour option that allowed us to go into the encloser with the wolves, to touch them, and get licked on by them. We have pictures... at some point, he or I will post a number of them.

The enclosure we were allowed into had one particularly older wolf, and several younger wolves. The older wolf alpha stood at the gate as they opened the door and inspected each of us as we came in. He sniffed our legs, and our shoes, and licked our hands. We found a sunny place in the enclosure, and then the 'welcome to my pack' licking began.

Wolves... have big tongues. They say hello in party by 'tasting' your breath. My face got covered in wolf kisses, and I am now very well aware what wolf tongue tastes like. *smiles* Not at all horrid or like 'dog breath' as we are aware of it.

There was a great deal of petting, and coaxing with treats for good pictures. These were taken by the woman who owns and runs the sanctuary... I also got my hair tugged on by one of the wolves. *smiles* That in and of itself is a cute story, as the owner was starting to snap off pictures and caught that one at the first tug. 'Course, in the next second, she was on her feet with a loud 'No!', and I was pulling my braid back over my shoulder to protect it from further investigatory teeth.

Last but not least, we got to meet the refuge's 'swift fox' population. There were four or five of them... I'm not sure the exact number. They were busy running... very quickly... about their encloser. They were about the size of large rabbits, and I got my hands a little bloody feeding them stew meat. I even think, in that encloser, I got some good pictures of last_bastion smiling.

*smiles* There's something very soothing about walking among animals like that. I'm looking forward to doing so again at some point.

So, yeah... I came away from that glowing. And with a number of souvenirs.

Last but not least, we drove back into Colorado Springs and tied up the evening by having dinner with mentalgremlin and his family. *smiles* It was a lot of fun... and we ate too much. But such is life.

My birthday has been good even though its not until tomorrow.

One last thing before I go... if you're interested in the refuge I've been talking about...

http://www.wolfeducation.org/

*smiles* Go, explore, feel connected, learn, and remember that wolves aren't pets.

Raen.

*beams a smile*

Back from the wolf sanctuary.

I had _so_ much fun.

More to come...

Raen.

Tonight begins a four day weekend. Yay! Many moons ago, I looked at last_bastion and said, "I'm not working on my birthday. How 'bout we make it a long weekend?" The long weekend mutated into four days... and I'm going to absorb every piece of it.

But... we're planning on doing stuff.

Movie. Rocky Mountain National Park. Wolf preserve. *smiles* My honey loves to spoil me, and after my last birthday tanked in the middle when I got sick, it'll be nice to have the extended weekend and the good time.

For chapel_of_words, we watched No Country for Old Men finally. And... I really enjoyed it. It had similar qualities of nonsequitor to There Will Be Blood, but without the jarring lack of cohesion. *smiles* last_bastion and I have spent a good deal of time _quoting_ There Will Be Blood, though, so I guess we didn't dislike it that much.

And, for more in the realm of the strange and random, last_bastion and I had an interesting encounter while walking the other day. Its strange how election season grabs hold of people... we had a random little old lady carrying signs for a local Democrat stop us to ask which way we were voting. The conversation looped in many directions. She was nothing but polite, and friendly, and we walked away from it smiling. Given our recent life, it was a strangely adult conversation that didn't include a computer as an interface.

I love my many friends... but I miss seeing all of you face to face. *smiles* I miss talking, and sharing food, and laughing, and seeing all of your expressions while doing it. Computers are great, but they're no replacement for being in the same space and experiencing the energy radiating from another human being.

Anyway... much love to everyone. *hugs around*

Since I'm not seeing myself doing the picture one, here's a Buffy one stolen from sara_halfelven.

When you see this, post another Buffy quote in your own Livejournal. Let's see how long we can make it.

Tea is soothing. I wish to be tense.
-Giles

Raen.

November 8th, I will get to sit in a theater and listen to Henry Rollins at another one of his spoken word events. The last one was fabulous... there is nothing so gratifying as seeing one of the country's best angry men stand on a stage and rail against everything of conservative stupidity to cultural stupidity... but the best part here?

The 8th... is right before the elections, right?

You know... my brain for voting dates is horrid up until right before the voting begins, but...

_That_ should be one hell of a show. :)

Raen.

I'm looking for a recommendation for measurements when it comes to making a smaller pot of coffee.

See... I love coffee. However, last_bastion isn't a coffee drinker. And I _won't_ drink a full 12 cup pot off coffee each day. So... my question is... what kind of measurement should I be using from coffee grounds into the filter for a four cup pot?

I can't see to get this one figured out well... my coffee always tastes too strong or too bitter.

Websites on making coffee are also welcome. :)

This post brought to you by the fact that I am both sleepy _and_ cold... the perfect cure for which _is_ coffee...

Raen.

I've always loved autumn. To the point that if you go back through my journal, you can kind of tell when autumn is starting where ever I've lived. Because I've always commented on it. For the past two years, though, I was denied something that I hadn't really realized _had_ been denied me.

_True_ autumn.

Today, I stepped outside to take the trash out. I made it out of the breezeway and half way across the parking lot to the dumpster when it suddenly struck me... the cool breeze weaving between the leaves, the light smell of dampness to the air, the dark sky whispering down to me. I had to stop... and smile... and think... Wow... its autumn...

Its amazing how much you realize you've missed a thing when suddenly its surrounding you again.

I love autumn. *smiles* And I'm living in it again.

Raen.

I just finished watching There Will Be Blood.

... I don't get it.

No... seriously... this is my confused face.

Raen.

The abortion issue.

It heats people up, and gets them screaming.

For me, its always been a matter that even though I don't know that _I_ would ever get an abortion, I believe that I should not _ever_ help put into legislation anything that hinders another person's ability to live by their own beliefs.

Way too many Americans don't understand that concept.

And then... there's the issue of being a woman, being a free woman, and a free human being. Which brings me to the below.

( A letter regarding equal rights of a fetus from conception as human being. )

Made a false start at a walk today, last_bastion and I. We've been dealing with various hurdles to getting up and running full blown, but last week we accomplished a full two weeks of five days working out.

Today... was just a walk day.

And then we ran into the animal.

One of the nice things about where we live is that our street dead ends into a park. The general area is very green. If you're careful, you can see deer down in the watershed. If you're observant, you can see rabbits just about everywhere. The problem with this, of course, is their proximity to man.

Today, we saw a fox. It made me jump, how close we were to the animal. Then I understood why. The whole back of one of its back legs was bloody and it wasn't loping so much as it was doing its best to pull itself forward. You could see that it was trying so very hard to get out of sight, but there just wasn't any place for it to get to... and the watershed it appeared to be heading for was still another mile off.

We asked nearby walkers if they had cell phones... a car stopped, and called emergency services. I jogged up to the fire department while last_bastion kept the animal in sight. I hit the doorbell twice, hoping to at least get them to call animal services for me; no reseponse. I jogged back to the apartment and called animal services myself... with last_bastion still standing on the road. The girl who answered wasn't trained to deal with the situation, so she couldn't come out the help. I called the emergency vet clinic, and they gave me another numbers... where I had to leave a message.

As an animal lover, and one who feels a kinship to the animals I share the world with, this sort of thing is frustrating beyond words. I know the creature was hurting. I know the creature was scared. But I couldn't do _anything_ to facilitate a quicker end to its suffering. Save make phone calls that went nowhere.

In the end, I kept my distance, looked it in the eye, and wished it as much well as I could in finding its way to a place to rest in peace.

They have a way of looking back at you, you know? Like they're looking into your soul and responding to you. If I could give voice to that expression, I would say she was saying she understood, and thank you for trying.

Just wish I could have done more.

Raen.

Just because I thought this was _hilarious_...

I mean, come on guys... we, as a demographic, have finally made it! We're worth being categorized in a negative fashion by a politically motivated group in a _presidential mudslinging article_!

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

If only they realized that the person they're eating lunch next to may well have enjoyed D&D as a kid... or how many guys in the military play.

For the whole article, see the below...

http://www.johnmccain.com/McCainReport/Read.aspx?guid=181471d0-5456-4434-9f78-2f30ffc39459

Raen.