yeah, yeah, that's [not] the ticket!

The last three times (or possibly four) that I've interacted with the police, I've wound up NOT receiving citations. I don't know if it's a super power I have developed, or I've got a guardian angel looking over me (the patron saint of tickets??) or if it's just all a big coincidence, but I'm not looking this gift horse in the mouth (and I'm certainly not going to push it, in an attempt to find out how often I can get pulled over and not get cited).

But, the first time was back in 2007 when we were on our trip to one of the unschooling conferences, and we got pulled over for speeding while in Tonopah. The officer simply let us go with a warning.

Then, about 3 years ago, in the middle of winter right after we had moved into this house, I had gone out to the grocery store early in the morning pre-work, and I ran a stop sign. It was freezing outside, I KNEW that the intersection was clear [well, except for the cop car sitting off to the side that I didn't see], and I just wanted to get home because our heater also wasn't working, so coming to a complete stop seemed a waste of my time.
I was completely in the wrong on this, and I probably WOULD have gotten a ticket - the officer had already taken my license and registration back to his car and was therefore going to cite me...but as he was talking to me, a car SPED by, probably doing 60 - when the speed limit on that road is 35. Another police car (his partner??) quickly followed with it's sirens blaring, and the officer that had pulled me over hastily said, "Be more careful in the future.", then ran to his own vehicle, turned on the siren, and joined the pursuit of the other speeder.

The 3rd time sorta doesn't count, since we weren't exactly pulled over. It was when we had the accident back on 2/29... but still. Interacted with the cops, and WE didn't get cited.

And, today. I was out and about, and turned right at an intersection that (apparently) has a sign above it that says "NO RIGHT ON RED". The officer told me about it, I expressed (genuine) shock and apologized, and then he simply drove off. So. Again...not sure if it's a superpower I have or what, but I am extremely thankful that I did not end up with the extra burden of having to go to court and/or pay a fine. We most certainly do NOT need that in our lives right now.

in honor of National Poetry Month (that was April), here's a poem for ya'll:

what do clouds worship

is it the sun

no it is not

as that is only some star

how about the moon

no not a loveless rock

and it is not

music

death

a breeze

the blue sky

or earth

what they worship

are our dreams

And, just for old times sake, here's April's wordle word cloud (including this post):

a real cut up

Was randomly searching thru TVTropes.org in an attempt to find something to blog about, and discovered the following video, which is certainly not for the squeamish.

It's a collection of "cut slices" from various movies. The 'diagonal cut' trope is when someone is cut by a wire or a sword or a laser beam or whatever, but don't fall apart right away.  (Trust me, when you start to see them, you'll recognize the trope)

The video itself is nearly four minutes long. And, oddly, makes we want to track down some of these movies to figure out where they came from. (But, then, I am a sucker for stuff that is kinda bad)

Anyway. Here be the video:

Cut Slide Movie Montage - Watch More Funny Videos

today did have good moments.

Free hot dogs (woooo!)
Playing Coin Battle with Harper
discussing story ideas and writing with Harper
walking down to the corner market and getting a pepsi
reading more of my book (Nocturnal by Scott Sigler)
watching Puss in Boots, and having popcorn

however, I have had a headache for the past 6 hours, and I have been a less than ideal father to the littlest ones, in particular, plus, I'm just not happy with the writing sitch and I just got an email from work about missing commercials for Monday (3 of which I KNOW should be there, but will have to wait until I get in to take care of - unless I actually go down to the station and fix it on Sunday)...  my point is that I hope tomorrow is, overall, a better day than today was, and really, the only person in charge of that is myself.

not Death Eaterist

Was a reason ever given in the Harry Potter universe as to why wizards keep their society a secret from muggles?

If the world at large knew about magic...then it would probably end up regulated and watched over (as much as it could be, at any rate. I mean, the wizarding world attempted to do so, with varying degrees of success). But, it would probably be helpful to have EVERYONE on the lookout for someone like Voldemort, rather than just the Order of the Phoenix, no?

On the other hand, Voldy could've very easily taken Harry Potter out of the equation if he had simply gone to the United States Army (or the UK's equivalent, I suppose) and said, "This Harry Potter person is a very powerful terrorist. He lives right here at Number Four Privet Drive." Maybe brought along a video showing him performing some spells as proof.

Just sayin', that if the secret society wasn't so secret, it may have solved a few problems. (Same could be said of any story that has a 'hidden secret society'. Exposing it to the world at large opens up a whole other can of worms, and I guess ultimately makes it a different story.

worka worka work

Today was pretty typical, so it was nice that Harper and Irina got a chance to witness a taste of what I go thru 5 days a week.

Oddly, even though I didn't even work a full day (we went in at 8, took an hour lunch, and left at 330) I am WAY more tired than normal. Of course, I did do a lot more driving than I typically do, because after we got home, we drove out to Henderson (and back home) but I was feeling the exhaustion before then.

Harper helped with some of the filing and putting together of the logs, and I did do some explaining of the actual aspects of my job, so I think she has a better grasp on what it is I do each day (and probably has a little more sympathy for when I come home completely drained). That being said, I'd be kinda surprised if she decided to attend TYCTWD next year.I think she probably feels that she "gets" it enough. Although maybe she'd want to because she'd get a chance to spend more time with me.
It really was cool to have her there, even if she was bored for at least a portion of the day. If I could plan it out better, to make sure that she had tasks for the entire day...

Anyway.  For now, I am going to wrap this up and see if everyone is ready for bed. (Most likely no, since everyone [but me and Steph] had naps in the van during the drive. But, holy majolie, am I tired.)
All in all, an enjoyable day.

8 months til Xmas

Just sayin'.

I have absolutely nothing to blog about, but I'm blogging anyway. Because that always ends so well.

Earlier, there was a kernel of an idea of a story bubbling around in my head (since, yeah, I need ANOTHER story idea to focus on), but it didn't pop. It was something about aliens landing, and offering to trade something we have a lot of for something else, that we don't have at all. For example, they would take the world's population of kittens, and exchange them for unicorns.

I do want to do some fiction writing this month, because, as I stated, that was the whole point of blogging daily, so hopefully this weekend I'll get motivated enough to do so. I also need to figure out which story I'm gonna go with. Which means I should wrangle up a random number generator. (Or, if any readers out there wanna throw out a number between one and ten, that'll work just as well, I suppose)

At least I [should] have something to blog about for tomorrow. It's Take Your Child To Work Day, and the plan is for Harper and Irina to attend the day at the office with me. I should ste...borrow Steph's camera for the day so I could take photos to accompany the blog entry. Hmm.

ache, head variety

Yeah, I ve got a pretty bad headache right now, and I suspect that a lot of it is stress related, and I feel like I should just ....stp bitching, try to relax, and enjoy my time with my family.

And maybe if I did that, I'd relax enough that my headache might disappear (or dissipate, somewhat) but...

This month has been simultaenously way too long, and way too short. How's that possible?? I think blogging every day has [ugh, i can't think of the word i want to use. accredited? accrewed? submitted? accomplished? participated? anticipated? helped? ...for the love of Bon Jovi, it is none of those words, but it's like i'm dancing right around it] to that.

I was going to end this entry with a youtube video, but, amazingly the song I was going to link to does not have a video. So, I just recommend you go to grooveshark.com (or whatever music listening to website you prefer) and load up "Political Statement" by Barnes and Barnes.

did you ever have to make up your mind

oh, goody. the van woes continue!!

Evidently, the van IS a "total loss", based on the estimating powers of the Jim Marsh auto body shop, and the American Family dude.

However, they've given us two choices:

Choice 1) Give up the van, and receive the 80% [grrr!!] of the Blue Book Value (which was five-thousand somethingish), resulting in us getting approximately $4105.

Choice 2) We keep the van, and it becomes labeled "salvage", and we get a reduced amount of money for this - approximately $2800.

If we go with choice 2, we have to get the van repaired, have it pass an inspection from the DMV, and reregister it with them. Apparaently the "salvage" label then gets stuck on the van's title, and it would significantly reduce the value of the vehicle. (Not that it was worth all that much money to begin with...)

Choice 1 would mean we'd have the 4 thousand to shop around for a new (old) vehicle, but the hunting we've done so far has not resulted in a lot of positive leads. If we could guarantee that we could get a vehicle for >2000ish, and that it would not have a buttload of problems...that would be ideal. But, then, life has no guarantees.

And while the van does have ....quirks that bug me, if we were able to get it repaired and back on the road for 1900 or so, then going with choice 2 would be a good way to go, because we know our van does run...

Baaaah. Steph told the dealer to give us a day to think it over, but at this point I still don't know which way I'm leaning. Maybe we'll just flip a coin.

ups & downs

man, today has been freaking crazy. ups and downs galore. and it hasn't really been that busy of a day, just a very emotional one, I suppose.

High (and low!) lights:

Got a little further in Lego Harry Potter (years 1 -4).

Had a date with Stephanie! We went to the bookstore (just like olden times!!), and they had some sort of Star Wars ...thing going on. There were several people dressed in storm trooper costumes, and jedi outfits, and there was even a R2-D2 robot there, which made very loud R2-D2 noises. Silas would have loved it. (or been freaked out)

On our date, we talked about the insurance fiasco, and I have to say, I'm feeling extremely anxiety-filled about how tomorrow is going to shake out. I suppose that my brain is thinking that the absolute worst case scenario is going to happen. And that is pretty much this: That the van is undrivable AND that we don't get any money from the insurance company.

We'll see.

Remember The Project? (No? Yeah, well, that's because the last time I was working on it was 5 years ago.) But today Harper helped me work on it some more!! I'm all (re)excited about it again! So cool.

Went for a drive with Irina in the rental car, and saw two rabbits and a hummingbird. Sometimes our neighborhood is pretty nifty.

One of our turtle peeps died. Irina and Silas discovered it's body in the backyard this evening. It was upside down, near a bush. We're not sure how it got flipped onto it's back - unless a cat somehow flipped it over? - because there was nothng nearby that it could have been crawling onto and fallen. I feel so horrible. Poor turtle peep. The larger one is still alive (as far as we know, we were unable to locate it, but are assuming it was in it's burrow), though, so that's good.

I can't believe it's Sunday night already. Freaking weekends don't last long enough at all.