#365Gratitude: A School Day on Mars

On Monday, I was lucky enough to get to work from home (because snowstorm).  Missy, who does a medical-type-job in a medical-type-place (a hospital) wasn't so lucky.  She's what's known as essential personnel.  (This is not a surprise, she's always been essential to me.)

Anyhow, my car was the only one dug out, and I decided I'd "take her to school".  Getting out of the development wasn't so bad, but driving around the neighborhood, dropping her off, getting gas, and trying to find breakfast was just weird.  There were mountains of snow everywhere. 

If you look really carefully, you can see my Wawa Grammaw in the window.

I tried to go to our local grocery store but it had a line of shopping carts blocking the entrance, a giant, weird sort of NOPE THANKS FOR COMING GO HOME sign.  I eventually wound up at a Wawa convenience store for gas and breakfast supplies.

On my way in, there was this guy by the door, and we just struck up a nice conversation.  He said, "hey, be careful out there." and I wished him the same.

I thanked the checkout clerk profusely, who was this very nice lady who looked like she was someone's Nana.  She told me, "You stay safe, honey."

I made sure to.

#365Gratitude: Unbusted keister and carster

Sunday morning I got out of North Carolina early, intending to get home to northern Virginia without incident.  It was a dicey thing, because even though North Carolina didn't have the INSANE amount of snow DC did, there was still plenty.

Enough that driving out the side neighborhoods by Michael & Maya's was... adventuresome.

I found my way to a gas station, and proceeded to hang onto my car while I filled it, so as to not fall on the ice and bust my keister.

Once I hit the main roads, they were remarkably clear.  I was great until I got about 15 miles away from my house, and hit a traffic snarl caused by an accident.

A truck swerved on the icy road and jumped up on the shoulder, stranding itself.  

So we sat.  And sat.  And sat.

Eventually I got past it, and made my way home, reasonably none the worse for wear.

Whew.

#365Gratitude: A question of violins in the media

Saturday I went to a BlackViolin concert with my friends Maya and Michael.

These guys are amazing.  They're a "Violin Fusion" band.  Their music is intense, energetic, beautiful.  They're all about breaking stereotypes.  It was funny, the venue was at this sort of redneck'ish school, deep in North Carolina.  When we got there, the announcements made sure to tell us, "Sit down, and stay seated.  Don't use your phone during the performance.  DO WHAT WE SAY CITIZENS.  (okay that last part I made up.)"

As soon as the guys took the stage, Kev Marcus said, "Hey all, please get up when you want, dance if you feel like it, take pics and videos of us and post them all over the place!  WHO'S GOING TO STOP YOU?"

Awesome.

They particularly wanted us to record them "going freestyle" - just improvising. So I did.

See for yourself.

#365Gratitude: A distinct slack of friends

Not that long ago, Spacey and I started biglittlepodcast.slack.com, a private sort of chatroom system for the podcast.   

It's neat.  You can chat there from your phone, your tablet, or your computer.  (I suppose you could also chat there from someone else's phone, tablet, or computer, if you asked them nicely, first.) 

It was sort of an experiment, really.  How's it going, you ask?   

It's going awesome! 

Lots of folks have signed up.  (You do have to do that - send an email to slack.please at biglittlepodcast.com to ask for access.). I woke up this morning to over 255 messages worth of overnight conversation there.  People are hanging out, making friends, talking, being silly, being serious.  It's really knitting together into a little intentional community.

I couldn't be more pleased. 

#365Gratitude: Now, Voyager!

For a while now, I've been binge-watching Star Trek: Voyager on Netflix.  I can't believe the series is 20 years old!  That's insane to me.  Way back when it first started, I watched about the first season and a half or so, and then just kinda lost it.

Missy and I began watching it together a few months back, and I keep going on my own in fits and starts.  It really, really gets good after Season 3, when Seven of Nine comes on the show.​

Sometimes, I'll admit, the show is like a breaded mozzarella stick, just stuffed with cheese.  ​

But more often than not, it's amazing.  There's great storytelling, characters you invest in, complex feelings, and tearful situations.  I'm a sucker for tearful situations.​

I especially love Neelix, and lately I've come to really love this little space girl he is responsible for, Naomi Wildman. 

Naomi's mom, Samantha Wildman, was pregnant with her when Voyager first got lost.  She asked Neelix to be Naomi's godfather.  (Mako-kun says it was a great personal favor she was asking for.  He loves that joke.) 

Anyhow, in the episode I saw that prompted this post, Once Upon A Time, you really get to see Neelix feel the weight of that responsibility.  He cares for Naomi while her mom is away, and possibly in a deadly situation.  It's both heartwarming and heartbreaking, at the same time.  

I'm really glad I started binge-watching the series.  It's really amazing.