This is for "Flash Fiction Friday," which I'm doing because it looks fun and for no other reason. I'm not usually into writing with a prompt, but the picture grabbed me; I'm not sure how good I'll be at keeping it short, or keeping it fiction and not poetry, but I'll just see what comes out. I'm not sure this will be totally what she had in mind but she told me to do what I wanted, so I will. So there. ;)
Crooked
I stand and gaze at the ancient stones, worn and moss-covered. The building leans, its foundation weakened because it was built on a soft spot and constructed slightly out of true.
Like me, I think.
If the builders had known then how it would look now, would they have picked a different spot to build on? Would they have been more careful in their measurements, in choosing their stones? Or did they not care? Did they only mean the building to be temporary, to be left behind and replaced when they were through and moved on?
I hadn't cared, although I hadn't known what the final damage would be at the time. Sheryl had cared, but she didn't notice the way I leaned or the bogginess of my soul until it was too late.
I bend to tighten my bootlace, then move on.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The Last Kiss: story for Save Hiatus Fanfic Contest
If you haven't heard about it already, check out the Save Hiatus page that Chris Bridges has created. Loyal Hiatians, unite!
On to the story: this story is set during an interlude during one of everyone's favorite episodes, "But Where Was the Other Shoe?" (near the end of Season 1.) It follows the scene when the beautiful Sergeant Lanya Peters has kissed the geeky but adorable Dr. Langdon Ciafalo after a huge fight, then stormed out on him. We look a little deeper into Dr. Ciafalo's back story than we have before, and learn of why he always has that adorable sad longing in his eyes. In the spirit of fanficishness, I will not be editing once I finish the story. Enjoy!
The Last Kiss
The spaceship Venture made its way across the void, traveling through Warp Space as the colors of the twisted space-time continuum swirled outside the windows.
Dr. Ciafalo stood gazing out at the colors that were nothing and yet everything to him, to his life, as he thought about Sergeant Peters' last words to him before she stormed out.
"That's the last kiss you'll be getting for a while once I tell all the girls on this ship what a kreff you are-- and probably the first you've ever had, now that I think of it!"
Ah, Lanya, how little she understood.
Langdon wasn't pursuing any of the women onboard the Venture. He wasn't pursuing women, period. (And no, he wasn't into Rllrians or anything like that. Get your mind out of the gutter!)
It wasn't his fault that he was handsome in his geeky way and so totally sweet to everyone that women onboard and off fell for him right and left. That's just the way he was. And the reason nothing had ever come of their advances wasn't because he wasn't so inclined, or because he was too sweetly naive to know what they were getting at (as some of them supposed.)
Similarly, he hadn't meant that remark about Lanya's butt in a sexual way. He had just been making an observation! It wasn't his fault she had unresolved issues stemming from her teenage years in a military boarding school on Vontius Prime.
Langdon wasn't interested in a relationship because the love of his life had been kidnapped by Rllrians seven years previously.
"Alas, Sarveh!" he thought with a mournful sigh.
Sarveh had been the beautiful daughter of the largest manufacturer of snack foods on his home planet of Sindur. She was far above his station, but she noticed the up-and-coming scientist's work at the university her father was on the board of, anyway.
They fell in love and, despite her father's hostility, were married just 8 years ago. They moved to an outlying world where they hoped to make a life for themselves, he taking a job at the chemical plant, she working at a nursery school.
Alas, only three days after she cooked him a special dinner and told him that she was pregnant with their first child, he heard the sirens warning of an incoming Rllrian raid. He was told later that Sarveh had acted heroically, hunting for a lost child and tossing him to safety in the arms of one of the other workers just seconds before the Rllrian beams swept through to take prisoners. She didn't make it to the underground shelter in time and they had to close the door without her.
Knowing that his wife died a hero didn't ease the pain of knowing that she had been captured. The ones that were captured suffered torture beyond imagining; the Rllrians fed off of fear and pain, and humans were their favorite dish.
And so Dr. Langdon Ciaflo joined the Intergalactic Star Command, vowing to use his scientific prowess to help rid the galaxy of the Rllrians, not because he was brave, not for glory or for kicks, but for his one love-- Sarveh.
He shook his head again, remembering the sweetness of her lips the last time she kissed him goodbye, as they parted on their separate ways to work. "No, Lanya, that was not my first kiss. But you're right about one thing-- it may well have been my last."
Dr. Langdon Ciaflo moved away from the window and put his cup in the recycler, then headed back to his duties.
The spaceship Venture made its way across the void, traveling through Warp Space as the colors of the twisted space-time continuum swirled outside the windows.
On to the story: this story is set during an interlude during one of everyone's favorite episodes, "But Where Was the Other Shoe?" (near the end of Season 1.) It follows the scene when the beautiful Sergeant Lanya Peters has kissed the geeky but adorable Dr. Langdon Ciafalo after a huge fight, then stormed out on him. We look a little deeper into Dr. Ciafalo's back story than we have before, and learn of why he always has that adorable sad longing in his eyes. In the spirit of fanficishness, I will not be editing once I finish the story. Enjoy!
The Last Kiss
The spaceship Venture made its way across the void, traveling through Warp Space as the colors of the twisted space-time continuum swirled outside the windows.
Dr. Ciafalo stood gazing out at the colors that were nothing and yet everything to him, to his life, as he thought about Sergeant Peters' last words to him before she stormed out.
"That's the last kiss you'll be getting for a while once I tell all the girls on this ship what a kreff you are-- and probably the first you've ever had, now that I think of it!"
Ah, Lanya, how little she understood.
Langdon wasn't pursuing any of the women onboard the Venture. He wasn't pursuing women, period. (And no, he wasn't into Rllrians or anything like that. Get your mind out of the gutter!)
It wasn't his fault that he was handsome in his geeky way and so totally sweet to everyone that women onboard and off fell for him right and left. That's just the way he was. And the reason nothing had ever come of their advances wasn't because he wasn't so inclined, or because he was too sweetly naive to know what they were getting at (as some of them supposed.)
Similarly, he hadn't meant that remark about Lanya's butt in a sexual way. He had just been making an observation! It wasn't his fault she had unresolved issues stemming from her teenage years in a military boarding school on Vontius Prime.
Langdon wasn't interested in a relationship because the love of his life had been kidnapped by Rllrians seven years previously.
"Alas, Sarveh!" he thought with a mournful sigh.
Sarveh had been the beautiful daughter of the largest manufacturer of snack foods on his home planet of Sindur. She was far above his station, but she noticed the up-and-coming scientist's work at the university her father was on the board of, anyway.
They fell in love and, despite her father's hostility, were married just 8 years ago. They moved to an outlying world where they hoped to make a life for themselves, he taking a job at the chemical plant, she working at a nursery school.
Alas, only three days after she cooked him a special dinner and told him that she was pregnant with their first child, he heard the sirens warning of an incoming Rllrian raid. He was told later that Sarveh had acted heroically, hunting for a lost child and tossing him to safety in the arms of one of the other workers just seconds before the Rllrian beams swept through to take prisoners. She didn't make it to the underground shelter in time and they had to close the door without her.
Knowing that his wife died a hero didn't ease the pain of knowing that she had been captured. The ones that were captured suffered torture beyond imagining; the Rllrians fed off of fear and pain, and humans were their favorite dish.
And so Dr. Langdon Ciaflo joined the Intergalactic Star Command, vowing to use his scientific prowess to help rid the galaxy of the Rllrians, not because he was brave, not for glory or for kicks, but for his one love-- Sarveh.
He shook his head again, remembering the sweetness of her lips the last time she kissed him goodbye, as they parted on their separate ways to work. "No, Lanya, that was not my first kiss. But you're right about one thing-- it may well have been my last."
Dr. Langdon Ciaflo moved away from the window and put his cup in the recycler, then headed back to his duties.
The spaceship Venture made its way across the void, traveling through Warp Space as the colors of the twisted space-time continuum swirled outside the windows.
Monday, August 28, 2006
More personal info
The new IUD is in (huge sigh of relief that I'm not pregnant!)
I'm having a little cramping but nothing too horrible. Apparently my cervix is very much tilted, so my doctor prepared me for the possibility that this one will come out, too. Fingers crossed that it won't, though.
I'm having a little cramping but nothing too horrible. Apparently my cervix is very much tilted, so my doctor prepared me for the possibility that this one will come out, too. Fingers crossed that it won't, though.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Awww!
Husband mine was holding Bridget when I walked out, and she smiled and held her arms out to me! So cute!
I've got lots to post, but haven't been feeling up to it. I hope I will soon. :)
I've got lots to post, but haven't been feeling up to it. I hope I will soon. :)
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Portraits of Bridget
We got some portraits done at Sears a few weeks back. Emma was supposed to be in them, too, but didn't cooperate, so it ended up being just Bridey. I thought they turned out pretty nice, so I decided to share. :) (That's the dress she was blessed in, btw.)
Friday, August 11, 2006
Well... (Possible TMI warning)
The IUD is out.
A month ago I got an IUD put in (ParaGard); being uninsured, I paid $450 for this ($350 for the IUD, $100 for the insertion.) I can't have hormonal bc of any type, so we were really excited about this option (Bridget, much as we love her, was conceived when a condom failed.) I was really worried about the insertion, having had previous problems with heavy cramping and bleeding, so I got a blessing before I went. In it, my husband blessed me that all would go well with the procedure (he was kinda vague as our home teacher was over helping with the blessing; I didn't want to get into our reproductive history with a young man our age, even though he also has two kids, so we just told him I was having a "minor procedure" done the next day and I just wanted a blessing because I was worried about complications; I know, I'm fine sharing with internet strangers but not a member of our ward, go figure), that my body would be healthy, that I would have minimal pain, and that the procedure would be effective. And the insertion went great! I did indeed have all the "some people may experience" immediate aftereffects-- dizziness, weakness, and blackouts-- but there was minimal cramping, and after lying on the table for five or so minutes, I was good again. I had a tiny bit of cramping, not as bad as with my period, and a little spotting the next day or two, but by the day after I was fine going to Disneyland, with no ill effects other than some PMS-like emotional symptoms. So I was thinking what a great thing this IUD was, and that it was really going to work out.
So I went in yesterday for a one-month check, just to make sure it was still positioned right (my doctor is really good and very experienced and I trust him when he says it was positioned correctly when it went in.) With the usual "Ow!" and wincing as he got ready to check it, I was as relaxed as is possible in that situation as he said, "So, we'll check this, and then it should be fine and you won't need to come in again for it, just call us if you have any problems." Then, as he actually got a look, I heard the words you don't want to hear: "Oh, my. This is unusual."
Apparently, the IUD had come half out and stuck. He said he's only seen that two or three times in all his years of practice; usually if it's going to be expelled, it gets all the way expelled. "So we're going to give you a pregnancy test today, just in case, and then come back in a week or two and we'll do another and replace the IUD. The company stands behind their product, I'll call them and they'll replace it and pay for the insertion so you don't have to pay again." So I peed in a cup before I left; they usually give the results of pregnancy tests right away but they were about to go to lunch so the doctor said they'd call with the results.
They didn't call. I don't know if he forgot to tell them or they forgot to call or what, but they didn't call. By the time I called this afternoon, they were closed for the weekend; I forgot that they close at 1 on Fridays. I can't deal with the nerve-wracking-ness, so I went to the dollar store to pick up a home test. No luck, they usually have them but were out. So we went to a late lunch at Bronco, where they have good Mexican food and also horchata to drink. (Ems and I are both horchata lovers, and it was a hot day.) Their ATM was broken, and they're cash-only. Grrr. Not my day. So I went down the street to Bank of America, where they charge more than the pay-for-ATM that Bronco has, and used theirs. Whatever. By the time we got back to Bronco, I was really ready for it. We shared a chicken burrito and each had a cup of horchata and some chips. Mmmm. So I came back home, and having given up, called and left a voicemail for Ketchup Prince Consort saying that I needed him to pick up a pregnancy test or two on the way home; he's as nervous as I am about this, even though, as my mom says, the chances are very small that I'd actually be pregnant.
But at least I got a laugh out of it; husband mine knows just what to say. I called him at work yesterday to tell him what was going on and when he heard, he said, "If you're pregnant, I want my money back!" Just the right thing to make me laugh and break the tension. I love that man.
A month ago I got an IUD put in (ParaGard); being uninsured, I paid $450 for this ($350 for the IUD, $100 for the insertion.) I can't have hormonal bc of any type, so we were really excited about this option (Bridget, much as we love her, was conceived when a condom failed.) I was really worried about the insertion, having had previous problems with heavy cramping and bleeding, so I got a blessing before I went. In it, my husband blessed me that all would go well with the procedure (he was kinda vague as our home teacher was over helping with the blessing; I didn't want to get into our reproductive history with a young man our age, even though he also has two kids, so we just told him I was having a "minor procedure" done the next day and I just wanted a blessing because I was worried about complications; I know, I'm fine sharing with internet strangers but not a member of our ward, go figure), that my body would be healthy, that I would have minimal pain, and that the procedure would be effective. And the insertion went great! I did indeed have all the "some people may experience" immediate aftereffects-- dizziness, weakness, and blackouts-- but there was minimal cramping, and after lying on the table for five or so minutes, I was good again. I had a tiny bit of cramping, not as bad as with my period, and a little spotting the next day or two, but by the day after I was fine going to Disneyland, with no ill effects other than some PMS-like emotional symptoms. So I was thinking what a great thing this IUD was, and that it was really going to work out.
So I went in yesterday for a one-month check, just to make sure it was still positioned right (my doctor is really good and very experienced and I trust him when he says it was positioned correctly when it went in.) With the usual "Ow!" and wincing as he got ready to check it, I was as relaxed as is possible in that situation as he said, "So, we'll check this, and then it should be fine and you won't need to come in again for it, just call us if you have any problems." Then, as he actually got a look, I heard the words you don't want to hear: "Oh, my. This is unusual."
Apparently, the IUD had come half out and stuck. He said he's only seen that two or three times in all his years of practice; usually if it's going to be expelled, it gets all the way expelled. "So we're going to give you a pregnancy test today, just in case, and then come back in a week or two and we'll do another and replace the IUD. The company stands behind their product, I'll call them and they'll replace it and pay for the insertion so you don't have to pay again." So I peed in a cup before I left; they usually give the results of pregnancy tests right away but they were about to go to lunch so the doctor said they'd call with the results.
They didn't call. I don't know if he forgot to tell them or they forgot to call or what, but they didn't call. By the time I called this afternoon, they were closed for the weekend; I forgot that they close at 1 on Fridays. I can't deal with the nerve-wracking-ness, so I went to the dollar store to pick up a home test. No luck, they usually have them but were out. So we went to a late lunch at Bronco, where they have good Mexican food and also horchata to drink. (Ems and I are both horchata lovers, and it was a hot day.) Their ATM was broken, and they're cash-only. Grrr. Not my day. So I went down the street to Bank of America, where they charge more than the pay-for-ATM that Bronco has, and used theirs. Whatever. By the time we got back to Bronco, I was really ready for it. We shared a chicken burrito and each had a cup of horchata and some chips. Mmmm. So I came back home, and having given up, called and left a voicemail for Ketchup Prince Consort saying that I needed him to pick up a pregnancy test or two on the way home; he's as nervous as I am about this, even though, as my mom says, the chances are very small that I'd actually be pregnant.
But at least I got a laugh out of it; husband mine knows just what to say. I called him at work yesterday to tell him what was going on and when he heard, he said, "If you're pregnant, I want my money back!" Just the right thing to make me laugh and break the tension. I love that man.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Mountain Lion!
Right by my apartment-- okay, not right by, but pretty close, and only a block or so from the park I walked the girls to today.
I wasn't too worried; I heard about it from a neighbor as I was leaving (that's why those helicopters were circling incessantly for two hours!), but I figured if there was danger they would clear out the park or stop me from entering. And there wasn't, and they didn't. It did create a traffic snarl, though. My husband had to detour when he got off the freeway coming home. They still had the area roped off (for the prints, I suppose) when we got home after our errands tonight, about 10:20.
Of course, when a boy and girl, about 9 and 12, playing on the equipment overheard from somebody else in the park that they had brought in an Animal Control truck with a cage, they ran past me and the woman sitting next to me on the bench (who was their mother), yelling, "Bye, mom! We're going to go see the mountain lion! They've got a cage to catch it with!" Whereupon she jumped up and started vehemently (in Spanish) forbidding them to do anything of the sort. It was quite amusing; I remember the days when the chance to see a mountain lion would have seemed a grand adventure to me, too.
I wasn't too worried; I heard about it from a neighbor as I was leaving (that's why those helicopters were circling incessantly for two hours!), but I figured if there was danger they would clear out the park or stop me from entering. And there wasn't, and they didn't. It did create a traffic snarl, though. My husband had to detour when he got off the freeway coming home. They still had the area roped off (for the prints, I suppose) when we got home after our errands tonight, about 10:20.
Of course, when a boy and girl, about 9 and 12, playing on the equipment overheard from somebody else in the park that they had brought in an Animal Control truck with a cage, they ran past me and the woman sitting next to me on the bench (who was their mother), yelling, "Bye, mom! We're going to go see the mountain lion! They've got a cage to catch it with!" Whereupon she jumped up and started vehemently (in Spanish) forbidding them to do anything of the sort. It was quite amusing; I remember the days when the chance to see a mountain lion would have seemed a grand adventure to me, too.
Pics of the famous cake-cutting
The famous cake itself-- it was delicious. How could it not be? It was from Porto's.
That's Meg, looking somehow like Mom but also very beautiful.
That's a great goofy shot of Megan and Reggie!
The actual cutting...
...and immediately after, before the frosting-slinging began. ;)
Those are among the first pics I've received, if I get any more I may post them, too. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)