cbtreks

I met Ed when he was 31, I was 27, and my friend Shar was nearly 29. We spent a lot of time hamging out together, listening to a local band till 3 in the morning, going to Star Trek conventions, talking about everything from Star Trek to Neul Young to the best thing to order at Redamak's to our religious similarities and differences (all Christian, different denominations). When Shar and I weren't close for a couple years, Ed filled that space and when he moved out of state, we'd talk on the phone for hours. Eventually I met Irish and Ed faded into the background. I wish he hadn't, but he was little old fashioned and probably believed it was the appropriate thing to do.

Today Ed turned 60. How is he 60? How are Ed, Shar, and I middle aged people who would probably all prefer to listen to music at home - or at least not close out the bar anymore? Instead, it's our nieces and nephews - around the ages we were then - who do these things and we've become the aunts and uncles who enjoy listening to their stories when we see them every so often. It's the natural order of things but today it made me a little sad.

Happy birthday, old friend. Love you and miss you.

Several folks on my friends list are doing this meme right now. This is in response to vanillafluffy.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- What I create will be just for you.
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- You will receive your item before the end of the year (or sooner).
- You will have no clue what the item is going to be. It could be a story or poetry. It could be a piece of handmade jewelry or an art doll. I may draw, paint, collage or crochet something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost this meme and make and send out five surprises of your own.

Courtesy of kadymae

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and whom you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Gakked from moderngypsy

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want—good or bad—BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you.

Listening to Neil Young at work - old stuff, "Harvest". I will never be able to hear Neil Young without thinking about you, hoping you're happy and have love in your life, wishing you hadn't faded so quietly away when I got married - you didn't have to, you know. I'm sitting here remembering all those weekends sitting in one bar or another, listening to the guys sing, writing you letters on napkins so you could experience vicariously what you were missing by living in New England at the time, remembering all those late-night phone calls to and from New England - never had a $200 phone bill till I met you! So many things run through my mind, but when I see them on paper they don't seem like anything special, so I erase them and keep them in my mind.

I wouldn't tell M, but I never doubt that at the end of my life (decades from now, I hope) I'll look back and still think of you as the best friend I ever had. Do you even know what an impact you've had on my life, the decisions I've made, the directions I've taken? The music I listen to! I don't think there's an area of my life that wasn't touched by you. That's not to say the M doesn't have an influence on my life - but I suspect you probably had more.

Would you believe me if I told you that now I'm glad we never had a romance, never went from friendship to dating? (Funny how so many people thought we were.) It's true - several years of hindsight tells me we wouldn't have gotten along well in that kind of relationship. I'm glad you were wise enough to see that when I wasn't, and I'm glad I met and married M. I'm happier with him than I think I would've been, in the long run, with you.

But I miss you sometimes, and I hope you're happy, I hope you found the love you were looking for, and I hope we meet again some day.

"How I wish you were here."

What a great week!

Sunday I got together with a few local friends to watch Magnificent 7 eps and talk about fannish things. I'd never seen Mag7 but my fannish friends are always eager to pimp new fandoms, so there I was watching the "pretty, scruffy cowboys". Wow, were they ever pretty! Especially Eric Close - it should just be a law that he has to have long hair and stubble. Clean-cut, he's very nice looking in a bland and generic way. But scruffy - wow. "Wow! Oh my gosh!" was my first oh-so-articulate response upon seeing him in the credits.

I also got to see the pilot for Veritas: The Quest, which I'd also never seen. I'm eager to see more of it. Too bad that show was canceled; it was interesting and fun and made me want more, which not too many tv shows do.

I so do not need anymore fandoms. None, nada, zilch. Don't need 'em!

*help*

This week, I've set up my fanfiction.net account (user name cbtreks) and begun to upload stories. I've also begun responding to drabble challenges on a Pirates of the Caribbean list I joined, which has been a lot of fun and gets me writing. It's a non-slash list, so that adds another challenge for me, since I tend to see PotC as a rather slashy movie. They're only short little things - 100 words each - but it's been fun and it feels good to be writing something. (Getting them to come out to exactly 100 words is part of both the fun and the challenge.)

One of my friends mentioned talking with killabeez at a recent convention; we haven't been in contact for quite awhile so I e-mailed her to see how she's doing. She wrote back - it was so good to here from her. She sort of introduced me to slash, so I owe her. (I don't think her's was the first slash story I ever read, but it was one of the first, and it was the first one that grabbed me and made me think, "Of course! That's the way it's supposed to be!" It was "Ghost in the Machine", and that led to the first slashfic I ever wrote.)

Tomorrow - Deppfest at another fan friend's house. This is a day dedicated to watching movies with Johnny Depp in them and observing how skilled he is at his craft. Oh yeah, and how lovely he looks, too.

I always feel a little shallow when I make statements like that. But he is lovely to look at! Why deny it?