Grounded

I find myself staring at the computer screen this afternoon in some small confusion and perturbation. You see, I… a fully functioning and capable adult, find myself grounded. Yup. Grounded. Took me bargaining away my small portion of freedom left to me to be allowed to write this posting at all. A two hour enforced nap will be occurring shortly after this blog.

I hate naps. I hate being made to sit still. Anyone who knows me even peripherally knows that I can’t sit still for periods longer than 45 minutes. Movies have passed me by over the last year as sitting that long doing nothing makes me crazy. So the fact my well-meaning but aggravating spouse has dictated on high that today I cannot-

Write – hence the sad bargaining for blog privileges,
Sew,
Clean,
Cook,
Or in general get any USE out of the whole day. Naps, baths, mindless tv, and more naps are all I’m allowed.

Why? Well, first take a fubar’d ankle. Toss in the probability of it being a hyper-extended ligament (thankfully not a break, we hope/think), add in a good mix of less sleep than even normal for me… I might have been found at 4 in the morning in my parents basement knitting on Saturday. To this brew steep in a few prescription pain meds (yes…. Given properly, thank you) that only AFTER ingesting does the possible side effects of shakes, double vision, cramping, and… my personal favorite the tendency of the meds to make you forget to breathe come up. That was fun. Have you any idea how creepy it is to realize that the reason the room is swimming around you and your vision is fading is the simple fact you haven’t drawn a breath in the last minute? And that you have to consciously… during a time consciousness is not really available… draw that breath? Rather quickly? Not fun. Also, only after much searching, ones spouse finally finds in small print on a hidden website “not recommended for anyone who has ever experienced an allergic reaction to any painkillers.” From Tylenol to Oxy, if you’ve had a bad reaction… don’t swallow one. Especially don’t swallow 3 in the four hours recommended… without food, and exhausted.

Gee. That would have been nice to know those four hours previous.

So, after worrying the Prime Geek far more than is good for him, he has taken the route of grounding me. Can’t do jack today, have to rest tomorrow, and he is now danged and determined that I have to…

1) Get in shape
2) Take care of myself properly (or run the risk of HIM taking on the job)
3) See several doctors to deal with an abundance of “issues”
4) And learn how to shut off my brain and relax. Something might have been muttered along the lines of “You’ll d*&% well get Zen if it kills us both."

Grounded. At 27. Crap. Natural Nerds will be up to its usual foray into the wild world of Natural Living tomorrow.


(Huh. He only THINKS he won this one. He hasn’t found the 6 articles I worked on over the week in my notebook. Try and tell ME I’m grounded.)

Labor Day

As today is Labor Day... and all this Natural Nerd DID over the weekend was labor, I do believe today is going to be spent in blissful non-movement. Back tomorrow.







Okay, we also partied for a grand total of 20 hours in three days. I'm getting older and that IS work. We also cleaned the entire nest to a level that even my mother would be impressed. I swear, you could eat off my floors.

Thank God, It’s (Mostly) Over

After YEARS of hearing the raves and the rants, after it becoming a squabble between the extreme right and extreme left – often leaving those in the middle ground highly confused about what all the shouting is about…. Its over. Mostly.

After 7 ponderous tomes gave us the wonderful sight of small children flung willy-nilly about onto any flat surface they could find, clutching books as large as they were… the madness is finished. Harry Potter is over.

I know, I know, as a natural nerd I should be all about Potter-mania. I should own scarves in my preferred house colors. I should be found relentlessly arguing the merits of a freed society of house elves. I should, to put it bluntly, be sitting desolate and alone wondering what I will now have to look forward to? Its over, I should, like the rest of the known nerd world… be in high mourning. Or at least excessively searching the web for rumors regarding a new series set in Harry’s twenties. Right?

Sorry. Not this nerd. Now, don’t get me wrong. Anything that motivated young kids to step away from the game boy and get involved in reading is great. As a writer, I can applaud Rowlings ability to not only turn a phrase… but, let’s face it, turn a buck. Writing for the sake of writing is fine and dandy, but following a passion to a billion dollar lifestyle? Call me materialistic, but that is an achievement to be applauded. I even like the books. Not the movies so much… never been one for watching English school-house cruelty, be it muggle or magic based. But the books? Well written, it’s a hard job to plot out a characters life over almost of decade, and slowly advancing the material for the maturing of the original crowd? Brilliant.

But please, can we just please agree that J. Rowlings is NOT the mother of fantasy? Pretty please with a hobbit on top? Because if I hear one more youth decree the death of fantasy with the end of the series, or one more person claim there will never be (and never has) been a fantasy series so good… I might just have to beat them to death with my hardbound C. S. Lewis collection. She didn’t start it, she can’t end it. Fantasy has been around since people clustered around the fire telling stories to keep the dark at bay. It is in our blood, our very DNA is coded with a love of “what if’s” and “maybe’s”.

So please… take off the mourning shrouds, shuffle your sniffling butts to the library – this nifty place where you don’t have to give money or wait in line wearing a, let’s be honest, frankly embarrassing set of robes… - and they will loan you other books of fantasy and magic. Tolkien, Pratchett, Anthony, Beagle, & Lisle, just to name a few. If you really want proof your land of enchantment isn’t dead? Try http://www.sff.net/people/Amy.Sheldon/listcont.htm where folks with WAY more time then me have listed out just a few hundred of the authors who can fill your dreams. So, say goodbye to Harry… he’ll still be there when you want to visit. But its time to move on.


Okay… Yes. We ordered the last one. Yes, I read it. Yes, it was good. Okay? Happy? I have all the books and one Hufflepuff scarf. It is entirely possible there is a wand in my back closet. My point is still valid!

....

Due to a death in the family, the followup blog to Green Light - Red Light? will be postponed until Sunday evening. Have a good weekend... and tell those around you love them. Time slips by faster than you can imagine.