Seven Memories

1.

"Hey Holly, I have something to tell you."

I paused in mid-step, unconsciously reaching out with my right hand and grabbing the railing on the stairs. Turning, I looked out the window at the fall leaves covering the ground, phone cradled against my ear. I was surprised that Will had happened to call while I was back in town to see The Tempest, but I considered it a happy coincidence.

"Oh? What's up?" I asked, trying to sound casual. He seemed far too excited for it to be bad news, but I'm naturally paranoid.

"Kim's pregnant! We're expecting a baby next summer! We haven't told hardly anyone yet, so I don't necessarily want to you tell everybody, but I had to talk to you and let you know that..."

I grinned and continued to stand in that stairwell for thirty minutes as Will's joy flooded out of the cell phone.


2.

"What did you think of it?" Will asked as I threw his script down on the desk in front of him.

"I've beta'ed better fanfic," I noted dryly, looking at the bent top page of Car Wars. It really wasn't that bad of writing, but for the past several months it seemed like everyone had done nothing but stroke his ego about his writing, his acting, his singing... really, just about anything he'd done. And, for his age, he was good at those things. But somebody needed to keep him from getting too big a head.

Good thing I was around.

"I understand it's supposed to be a parody, but the characters..."


3.

With practiced ease I slipped around and between tables, taking pictures of all our friends currently at Fazoli's.

"Make sure to get all the cousins!" Kim teased.

"That's what I'm doing," I replied with a grin.

Alumni and current students were all crammed together at the long table, around twenty of us eating and catching up with one another. We had completed a reading for Hero Squad earlier that afternoon and were celebrating with laughter and cheap pasta.

Finally I made my way back over to where Will, Kim, and Sherri were. Will grinned and poked Sherri in the side.

"You know, when I told you to get as many people together as you could, this was the last thing I expected. Thank you."


4.

We hurried along the sidewalk, trying to get back to the theater in good time. "...and then there's option c: chicken nuggets," Will said.

Big T and I had gone several steps before we realized that Will had completely stopped walking. Big T and I exchanged puzzled looks before turning back towards him. Will had taken off his orange hat and looked as bemused as we felt.

"You know... I think that may be the most random thing I've ever said."


5.

A horrible trombone noise filled the apartment, and I awoke with a start. I shot upright on the couch in an instant, looking around a bit in panic.

Sherri and Will started laughing at me and told me to go back to sleep. "It's just the music they play when Godzilla..."

"Wait!" I said, my tired eyes fixing on the television screen. "Is Godzilla using a breath attack and flying?"

They just kept laughing at me.

Grumbling about stupid Japanese monsters, I rolled over and went back to sleep.


6.

"Sorry I don't call as much any more. It feels weird to call a married woman at night."

Will was on his way to Kroger and had needed someone to talk to. It made me happy as we rarely got the chance to talk much on the phone any more.

"I understand. I'm always paranoid I'm going to wake your family up if I call at night, and I hate to interrupt you during the day," I replied.

We kept chatting, catching the other person up on everything new going on in life. After a bit, Will explained, "I was really nervous to send that manuscript to you, you know. All I could think of was you walking into that classroom, slamming my script on the desk and telling me how it was utter crap."

I blinked a few times. That wasn't how I remembered it. Then again, it had happened over ten years ago.

"Well, we both know I wasn't the nicest person in high school..."


7.

I was collecting the last of my things on my desk, making sure I had everything I needed for the upcoming weekend. It was going to be my last state tournament for Forensics. In less than a month I would finally graduate from high school, and in the fall I would be starting college.

Now is no time to get sentimental.

It was a little weird not having Will going with us. We would of course be stopping at the Japanese steak house again (how Mr. and Mrs. H were going to manage nearly thirty high school kids on a weekend trip...). In the past it had always served as a birthday celebration for him.

"Hey Holly, miss me?"

My ears registered who it was before my eyes fully pinpointed where Will was standing. As soon as they had a lock, however, I took off running and nearly tackled him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Will laughed, barely managing to keep his balance. "Mr. H was needing another chaperon for the trip, and asked if I'd like to go with...." He laughed again, and I let go of him. "I can't believe I finally succeeded in surprising you."

*    *    *    *    * 

Happy birthday, Will!

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, George Takei should be Spider-man...

Yesterday I had planned to write this very touching post about Sherri's visit on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, my main hard drive had a catastrophic failure and put the kabosh on that.

And I do still want to get back to that touching Sherri post. Right now, however, I am unable to do so because my parents should be here in about an hour, hour-and-a-half, and I still need to get things done around the house.

So, instead, I present you with this absolutely wonderful video which involves Broadway, Spider-Man, and George Takei.

Will, Sherri, you're welcome.

Blessings Continued

Thirty-nine days after the death of Frank, we welcomed a new, fully functioning computer into the family. This resulted in much rejoicing in our home, and I'm now actually capable of having three different windows open at once.

Plus I have my music back.

And my Photoshop.

*sighs happily*

We have not yet officially named the new computer. It takes a little bit to discover a computer's personality, after all.

Last weekend, Rapier Wit and Literary Cat came down for four days. The first day, Literary Cat, Adorable Nurse, and I walked down memory lane (literally as well as figuratively), made food for the guys, and then had a fun night just hanging out.

The next day I was considerably ill, but it could have been worse, so I'm still grateful.

Saturday all of us got back together to play D&D, and something that I've been planning for months finally occurred to my character.

(My almost-teenage cleric is going to be angsty for a little bit. Lord have mercy.)

Also, Literary Cat loaned me The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, which is the sequel to the book she gave me for Christmas, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. So far I've managed to keep from disappearing inside of it, but I have a feeling that after I'm done catching up around the house today and tomorrow, I'm going to disappear Wednesday and devour it.

It's good to have friends who feed your addiction.

Sherri made it safely back from her visit with will and family, which I'm very glad for. I've missed my sister terribly.

Overall, there's a lot of happiness in my life right now, and I felt like sharing. I hope things are going equally well for you!

Italian Spiderman

This is truly... indescribable. So much so, I just have to post it and share it with you, in hopes one of you might be able to explain it. I think my brain my have melted a little.

The only coherent thought I could formulate when I saw it was that it was totally something will would have suggested for Manly Movie Night.

Unintentional Themes

So, it would appear that this is my video game week, even though that was not my intention starting out.

Life's funny that way sometimes.

Anyway, today's random bit of entertainment comes courtesy of will, who left me this link in my post about Civilization 4.

I laughed for at least ten minutes after watching it, though I do have to warn there is a little bit of language in it. Later that evening I showed it to Sam, and we started looking at some of the other videos that Brental Floss had done of "What if             had lyrics?"

They were suitably hilarious, but I will warn that some of those videos (particularly the one for Zelda II: Link's Awakening) are Not Safe For Work.

However, there was one in particular that I wanted to share. It's in a different vein from the other videos that we looked at, and I find it strangely beautiful.

Enjoy!

How was the trip?

*bat* *bat* *bat* *bat*

Opening one eye, I see Nala's nose a mere inches from mine. With a sigh I reach up and scratch her ears, then close my eye and try to go back to sleep.

*bat* *bat* *bat* *bat*

Nala's decided I've been lazy enough for one morning, it's nine o'clock, and by golly she's going to bat at my face until I get up and get dressed.

For a brief moment I consider opening a Chinese restaurant, but decide she's too cute and I love her.

After stumbling out of my bed to brush my teeth and get dressed, I proceed to continue stumbling to the coffee pot before sitting in front of the computer.

I wonder what everyone's up to today? I think to myself as I open up Facebook.

Oh look, the local university has closed down for the third day in a row. They never did that while I was in school there. Kids these days... Hey, my friend posted pics of her wedding dress! She's so pretty. I hope I can make it down to Houston for the big day... Wow, I wish I was going back to London soon, lucky dog...

Having caught up on all the little updates that Facebook provides, I then move over to my blog reading, starting with people I actually know.

will's kid is so gosh darn cute. Makes me want a little one of my own. Literary Cat has posted new list of books for me to check out, awesome! Ah man, she's got a cold too. Can't blame Sam for this one--he hid away while Rapier Wit was in town. Aww, thanks Sherri! I now know exactly how much snow fell 'round these parts...


*   *   *   *   *


You may be wondering why I just posted a snippet of my morning routine--it's setup for this fascinating op-ed over at Mashable about how social media is making us more like our grandparents' generation.

Here's the core of Josh Rose's argument:

Our grandparents talked with their parents. Family dinners were an essential part of life, not to mention ball games, religious discussions, family outings and just plain hanging out on the porch. But the culture of our parents’ generation became somewhat more escapist; James Dean, punk rock, The Outsiders, TV dinners, video games, and yes, even the Internet.

But, a good portion of our grandparents’ sensibilities are back today, thanks to social media.

Kids aren’t blocking their parents from their Facebook profiles — well, OK, some are, but not all of them. Teens are texting their parents about their comings and goings. And although it looks a whole lot different than the Cleavers’ family dinner, in a strange way the book is wider open today than it has been in 100 years. Because of blogging, tweeting, checking in and status updating, the lock is off the diary.

Additionally, emotions are more accepted. Pain more vocalized. I know someone on Facebook who is dealing with cancer and posts regularly about that for all her friends and family to see. We are rediscovering what we once knew inherently; community makes us less lonely.

And in many ways I see that reflected in my own life, as shown in the snippet up above. Even though I live in a completely different state from a large swath of my friends and family, I still know when people are going on trips, what the weather is like there, and how everyone's kids are doing in school. Having grown up in a small town, that doesn't seem very strange to me, as I typically knew that information about the people in the community. But I can see how it's easier now than it was when I was a kid, and I can also see why this is such a novelty for many people who did not grow up in a town of 10,000 people.

What do you guys think?

SNES theatre...

This is freaking awesome, and totally made my day look better.

So, one last thing before I disappear.

Some geeky and web happiness

I have three things I wish to share with you, my faithful readers.

(Especially my Russian friends. I had nearly as many hits from ya'll this past week as I did from Americans. I suppose that tells you just how few people look at this site. To be fair, though, I had a large contingent of Swedes as well.

Hey will, are you still trying to find me hockey players? I'm kinda taken now, you know. I found a nice redhead all my own.)

Any way, where was I? Oh yes--some fun geeky items I've come across today.

Firstly, if you haven't seen it, you totally need to go check out this poster showing the history and development of the bat-mobile over the years. It's absolutely fantastic, and would have made an excellent Christmas present for a certain gal I know who loves masked men....

Secondly, some excellent news coming out concerning Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. We'll be seeing Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Elijah Wood again. Maybe we'll be seeing this film after all...

Lastly, as most of you know I'm a bit of a fan of lolcats. Well, this week icanhascheezburger.com turns 4-years-old! Today they posted a brief video showing people's most favorite lolcats from the past four years.

Enjoy!

200 Pounds of Awesome!

This is put up especially for my dear friends Will and Sherri.

The rest of you might enjoy this as well, but, really, I saw this and just had to put it up here for those two. It was apparently made for the Georgia Aquarium.

Isn't that absolutely epic?

New Digs

Consistency and I, well, we've always had an off-again, on-again relationship. Sometimes, consistency and I are like that couple who are constantly talking to and touching one another. Codependent, if you will. Other times, however, we're like that couple who are "in a long-distance relationship but still like to see other people."

Thankfully(?), the addition of J.J. has led to my, personally, having to stay consistent and follow a schedule; this aids in my desire to blog. Why it works, I don't know, but it does!

Now, as I've mentioned numerous times, Sherri also has a blog now. So I was checking out her page, and loved the way it looked. Personality, life, joy... so pretty to look at. Plus, I follow several other blogs through Google Reader, and after looking at Sherri's I went to check out their pages. Will's is simple and clean, with a gorgeous lighthouse, which I think is perfect because I think of Will and I think of beaches and curiosity. And sharks. But not jellyfish.

I peeked at Kelly's, and hers at least is laid out the way I remember--all those lovely books! Not to mention more "professional" sites such as Whatever, WWdN: In Exile, Boing Boing, and Pioneer Woman....

All of this to say that I became dissatisfied with they way my blog looked. So, I changed it! My home is brimming with life these days between family, friends, cats, and a dog, and I wanted to share that feeling with all of you.

I hope you enjoy it.

Also, because I felt the need to share.....





Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up.
--Tate Linden