"All the small things - True care, truth brings..."

[hermionesviolin]

[Advent day 12] Matthew 1:18-21

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the LORD saves.] because he will save his people from their sins."

I dunno if the air was different or if *I* was different or what, but my nerve endings didn't really register the cold this morning.  Like, I knew it was cold but didn't really feel it.  Coming home was more of the "omg I'm so cold -- okay, now I've been walking for 5-10 minutes and am fine."

I called Eric and then realized I'd forgotten to ask him something so I called again.  (Please note: our phones have Caller ID, and though it only gives you the # you quickly learn to recognize the numbers of people who call you frequently.)  "Whadda you want this time?" Eric nearly yelled at me.

Oh, and when I called the first time I misdialed (4 instead of 7) and after like 2 rings got, "ITS, this is Barbara; how can I help you?"  I never get a real person that fast.

Eric called me later, so of course I answered with "Whadda you want this time" -- only not as loud/angry-sounding as he had done.  "Touché" he responded :)

I saw Laura, and she was heading out and had a black coat on over a white blouse and black pants and shoes.  "Hey Laura, you look nice," I said.  (Or "all dressed-up" or something.)
"I hate looking nice" -- that really is legit almost exactly what she said.
I explained that it was 'cause of the black/white and that up close I could tell it was just a regular coat.  She f'r serious took it off and put on a grey cardigan instead.
"Does this look more casual?"
"Yes, it does.  Note to self, never tell Laura she looks nice."
"You're so cute," she laughed.

Those of you who read officialgaiman?  Check this out.
Everyone else: read this and then go here.

The Boston weather forecast this afternoon predicted 4-7 inches of snow for tomorrow.  Nancy said she heard 8-12.  (My town, incidentally, is predicting 1-3; and for both here and Boston they're now saying a snow/rain mix -- blech -- with highs above freezing.) 

Winter Storm Warning from the National Weather Service:

/O.CON.KBOX.WS.W.0002.051209T1200Z-051209T2200Z/ CENTRAL MIDDLESEX MA-WESTERN ESSEX MA-WESTERN NORFOLK MA- SOUTHEAST MIDDLESEX MA-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX MA- EASTERN HILLSBOROUGH NH-WESTERN AND CENTRAL HILLSBOROUGH NH- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FRAMINGHAM...LOWELL...LAWRENCE... FOXBORO...NORWOOD...CAMBRIDGE...AYER...MANCHESTER...NASHUA... PETERBOROUGH...WEARE 527 PM EST THU DEC 8 2005

...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM TO 5 PM EST FRIDAY...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM TO 5 PM EST FRIDAY.

SNOW WILL BEGIN JUST AFTER SUNRISE FRIDAY AND WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES FROM LATE MORNING INTO EARLY AFTERNOON WITH SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR. EXPECT DIFFICULT TRAVEL THROUGH THE MORNING AND INTO THE AFTERNOON.

TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY THE TIME THE SNOW ENDS LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON...EXCEPT UP TO 10 INCHES IN NORTHWEST MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES...AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.

Nancy is darling, if I haven't mentioned that already.  She almost went to Smith for their international business program, and it was down to Smith and Cornell, but she'd gone to a small all-girls Catholic high school, so she chose Cornell, where she met her husband, so I guess.  Telling me about the predicted snow, she was talking about taking her daughter sledding -- "If I can ever get home.  Maybe I'll just call in sick tomorrow."

I went to Emmanuel Lutheran Prayer Service again tonight.  Almost exactly the same as last week.  I was realizing that one can't necessarily get a sense of tradition from a single service because one doesn't necessarily know which bits remain the same all the time.  The Gospel reading was Mark 1:1-8, which was interesting because last night's lecture (yeah, still working on that writeup) talked a lot about John the Baptist so that was so in my head.  And of course Ed singled me out when he talked about Elizabeth in John's lineage in his post-Word reflection (title: "Why seek this one called John?").  He talked about how John probably grew up in a life of privilege, servants and all, which was interesting because I don't think of any of Jesus' cohorts or family (John was a second cousin) as being like that.  I got to talk to the pastor a bit afterward (though he couldn't stay too long 'cause he had choir rehearsal) which was good.  He thanked me for coming and he says he's getting used to my being there and is gonna be sad if/when I'm not -- though we're very clear on my Sunday church-hopping plans.

lunabee34 totally gave me a new way into thinking of how queer!Dawn fits into canon.  Yay discussion!  People praising my work and reading stuff they wouldn't normally is also yay.  And I'm getting to have that "what happens after the end of this fic?" discussion, which is neat, 'cause I'd thought about it vaguely but not thoroughly so I'm thinking about canon implications and such, and okay I so don't need more plot bunnies, but I'm still loving this.

memeage:

I enjoy the Dear Cthulhu way better than the Dear Santa. 

Oh Great Cthulhu!

I have been an extremely sedulous devotee this year.

In February, I legally changed my name to Randolph Carter (-40 points). In June, I stopped antheia from defiling Lovecraft's grave (-20 points). When the stars were right, I recruited rilkeanheart as a new cultist (30 points). In September, I rescued lone_wandering from being sacrificed (-200 points). In March, I defiled the grave of that traitor, Lovecraft (90 points). In November, I sacrificed moxiemuse to Cthulhu (500 points).

In short, I have been very good (360 points) and deserve to get hooked up with one of those cute Innsmouthers.

Your humble and obedient servant,
hermionesviolin

Submit your own plea to Cthulhu!

Name some friends or leave them blank and let me look them up myself:

Other timewasters:

from here (image hosted on my photobucket 'cause their ImageShack was being a pest)