Because I'm still here and so are you, and April is poetry month, as Celli's post reminded me.

You Thought I Was That Type

You thought I was that type:
That you could forget me,
And that I'd plead and weep
And throw myself under the hooves of a bay mare,

Or that I'd ask the sorcerers
For some magic potion made from roots and send you a terrible gift:
My precious perfumed handkerchief.

Damn you! I will not grant your cursed soul
Vicarious tears or a single glance.

And I swear to you by the garden of the angels,
I swear by the miracle-working icon,
And by the fire and smoke of our nights:
I will never come back to you.

- Anna Akhmatova (1921, translated from Russian)

Endgame spoilers ahoy. Are we still under interdiction for that?... well, just in case.

( Two Avengers fics: one for Steve, one for Clint, both for Natasha. )

She is doing fine - came through surgery with no problems, and was recovering so well that she got to go home early yesterday. She's resting at home for the next week and a half, with her friend Jenn looking after her. She said to let you guys know she was okay, and she'll be in touch when she's less sleepy. :D

And I finally friended or subscribed or whatever to many of you, and stalked some others (I SEE YOU POSTING THERE, HI) so hi! I figured I should post and tell you if anything is up with me.

(Not really all that much)

1. Saw the Eclipse 2017 from Glendo State Park, it was awesome. Great weather for it. Shortest cool thing or coolest short thing I ever got to be present for. Driving 7 hours home on a route that should've been an hour and a half was still worth it.

2. I am compulsively watching Hurricanes Irma and Jose, after compulsively watching Harvey. Everyone even near Florida, stay safe, guys.

3. Working at State of Wy. Retirement, answering phones, filing/indexing/scanning. Low-level but low-stress (now that I got the hang of the system). Permanent temp, pretty much; they don't have the budget to actually hire anyone.

4. Still teaching, just on break for another week, then I have a course from Kaplan again.

5. My car got trashed by hail at the beginning of June. I really need to get the worst parts fixed....

6. There is no six.

So yiss. Should be more in contact, now that I set little electronic bells on all of y'all who made the move over here to Dreamhost.

{{{{{hugs her memory, and everyone that knew her}}}}}}

Remember, you can ectoplasmically crash at my place any time you want.

*stares outside*

*stares at Weather Channel, which declares that more snow is incoming until 6pm MDT!*

*points at Weiss's judgment, which is true if not literally so*

(What, you say? You didn't know I was gone? ... well, not surprising, it's been ages.)

But yes! Back. I had a lovely time-- got to visit the Phoenix Thursday night art walk, and see works by Dave McGary, amazing stuff. I would *love* to own any version of "Stargazers", it's a gorgeous piece. They all were, but that one sticks with me. Also went to the Scottsdale Art Festival and wandered around for most of Friday morning, saw so many great things, glass works, jewelry, leather, wood working, some really gorgeous, envy-worthy pencil works. On top of this, two baseball games (USA vs. the Rockies, Cubs vs. White Sox) on Wednesday and Thursday... unfortunately neither team we were rooting for won. Bah. But! Did get to see the older Cubs complex, as well as the brand-new-shiny Rockies training complex. I think I like the older one better-- smaller, but much easier to see the players, the other fans, to hear what was going on, and much less of a hike. A shame this is the last year they'll be at that stadium. Also got to swim in the parentals' pool at their condo; first time I've been swimming in ages, but it all came back really fast. I've got to get into the water more often.

The plane ride back was... interesting. I sat next to 2-year-old Adeline and her mother. Adeline was amusing and cute for 90% of the ride. The last 20 minutes, however, it was obvious that (a) she had missed her nap, and (b) SHE WANTED TO GO POTTY. NOW. NOW. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. (Which her mom did not respond to by taking her to the restroom, because we were on final approach, and yeah, I get it. But oh man I am glad I don't have children. Again.)

If I didn't have so much grading to catch up on tomorrow, I'd go to the Frozen Dead Guy Days up in Nederland again. That was hilarious the couple times I visited while living in Colorado. The weather sucked enough today that they put it all off 'til tomorrow. Possibly no coffin racing. So sad.

I got to see Celli in Denver when she was down here last week (*WAVING!*). Those CPAs. Always with the drinking and the arcade games. Partiers. Go ask her about 1-UP.

So, what have you all been up to while I hibernated away? :>

Or maybe I mean bitchiness? Either/or.

( Cut if weight or anxiety stuff is a trigger. )