So Morgan's GChat message said "I will invent the indestructible kitten."

me: What? How can you build an indestructible kitten? Aren't they already?

morphine482: Not entirely.
I want bulletproof kittens. I wanna be able to cover my vest in D'aww and have semi trailers bounce off of it.

me: LMAO!
that's an amazing idea.

morphine482: I swear I'll do it in Mage. :P
Life magic.

me: snrk creative and indestructible on so many levels.
Sent at 10:10 AM on Friday

morphine482: cackle
SCIENCE!!

So Robyn and I were having a discussion about prints of animal art and that inevitably led to animal t-shirts.

( An overused cliche - the quintessential wolf t-shirt )

Dear Jacob,

I know you're out there. In Flint, I suspect, but I could be wrong.

I wonder about you. I wonder if you've grown up happy, or if you're morose and troubled (For the record, I can be morose and troubled, too, but I might be in a more stable situation). I hope you're happy, but I doubt it. Considering some of the mindgames you've been subjected to, I doubt it. Remember, I know the family too.

It's the family I never see, the father I never talk about. He's incredibly smart, well-spoken, and amazingly artistic. But he's got demons. I know it, and you must know it by now as well. I can only wonder how you deal with it.

The last time I saw you, you were around six months old. You were a happy baby, and so beautiful.

I'm sure this letter, should you ever read it, will make you angry. Ah well, be that as it may, it won't shut me up. Why should it? We don't really know each other. I won't lie and pretend things ended up all wine and roses. I won't mince words. What I do speculate could be way off, but I'm imagining that you don't have any reason to have a fond reaction towards me - the older sister, a stranger, who just up and disappeared from everyone's lives. I have my reasons.

No, my mother did not coerce me not to contact him, or you, or your mother. I am 37 years old, Jacob. I have made up my own mind. Perhaps your situation can work for you, but it can never work for me, and I admitted that to myself years old. Painful? A little, but not nearly as painful as it would have been if I'd kept in contact. Ultimately, we're all responsible for our own lives and sanity.

But enough about that. I'm almost positive that you're exceptionally intelligent and creative, just like your father. I'm sure you have a lot of passion, and that's good, if you can balance it out. I know you will graduate from high school next spring, and I wonder what your plans are.

I saw that you are on Facebook, but I didn't try to friend you. What would I say? Dear Jacob, I'm your sister, sorry about the seventeen years? Yeah, I don't think so. Or maybe Dear Jacob, I'm your sister and wonder if you've got a drug habit beyond marijuana yet? Tasteful, don't you think? I thought so. Or perhaps the bare bones of it is: Dear Jacob, I'm your sister. Who are you?

Regardless, I don't think you'd welcome any of those messages, so why send them? If you want to find me, you will. If you don't, then you don't. It's as simple as that.

So I write to you here, spilling out my thoughts to no one involved for my own edification. I doubt I'll ever stop wondering about you. Whatever happens, I wish you luck and the courage to do that which is best for you.

Emily.

P.S. Please do not write me defending our father, should the idea occur. There is no point to it.

P.P.S. I would like to know you, I think, someday.

A patron just brought back her library card, because she thought she had to return it. I said "No, it's yours forever and ever."

"Oh," she said, "So what was I supposed to return in three weeks?"

"Your BOOKS, ma'am. You have to return the books to us. Not the card."

"Oh," she said, and walked away.

Em.

(12:56:52 PM) Em: I have something very important to tell you.

(12:57:03 PM) Robyn: what is that?

( Very Important! )

When I was a little kid, my psychotic father once screamed at me and upset me so much that later, in the social worker's office, I told them what happened and then I never had to see him again. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened now, either, because I don't remember. I just remember feeling destroyed and an impotent rage.

I don't think that it's that I never forgave him. I don't actually think of him all that much anymore. I don't feel much either way for him. But perhaps it is the incident itself I never forgave. Like any other strong experience, it shaped me. Then again, maybe I didn't forgive him...I tend to second guess my own motives often.

Good old Nietzsche had it right in some ways. But while it might make one stronger, don't traumatic patterns sometimes also lead you into the same situations and thoughts that you strive to break free of?

I am not a believer that a person can change the fundamental nature of his or her own being, formed in childhood and earlier. I do not believe you can change your soul. It can be shaped throughout one's life, but I feel like the core being is always a constant.

So, then, am I damned to fall prey to wrath time and again? I try to let it go, but if that ever happens, it takes years to get over whatever I was so enraged about in the first place. I'm not kidding. YEARS. As in, double digits.

Meditation doesn't help. Listening to people tell me that it's a choice doesn't help. Intellectually, I see the sense in these words of wisdom, but at the same time, how does one convince one's deepest being of something like that? Or perhaps on some level, I don't want to change my nature, which would make it my nature not to change. You see the circular rhetoric?

A mass email between myself, Steve, Robyn, Justin, and Amy.

When I cut and pasted it into a Word document, for whatever reason, it split up sentences like poetry -- so I left it that way. I kind of like it like that.

( If I Could Relate to Human Beings, What Kind of Person Would I Be? )

Katie: I HAVEN'T SEEN LOST YET
SHHHHHHH

(9:58am) Emily: ah. well, it'll make you mad

(9:58am) Katie: figures

(10:00am) Emily: an explosive cliffhanger, for sure!! it's two hours

(10:01:28 AM) Katie: i wouldn't expect anything else!

(10:01:38 AM) Em: next season is the last one!

(10:02:08 AM) Katie: shoot really?!

(10:02:16 AM) Katie: i guess we can all move on with our lives then

(10:04:39 AM) Em: I know. It makes me sad.

(10:29:04 AM) Katie: me too actually haha

He's a beautiful boy. He's 18 years old (Amazons can live up to 80 years), and I love him. He likes other birds, so Guapo will have someone his size to play with.

And to think, some bird owners can't even handle one bird. Heh. Now I have three wonderful boys.

(10:20:36 AM) Em: you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. you make me happy when skies are grey. you'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.

(10:22:15 AM) Robyn: i counter with: Good morning, starshine, the earth says hello, you twinkle above us, we twinkle below.

(10:23:17 AM) Em: Damn you, Bond! I never suspected you held such a powerful weapon in reserve!

( Dum dum DUUMMMMMMMM! )

Ok, so there's basically one happening to report. And yeah, I took notes:

Prince Doyle called open court to begin, with Isaac Delacroix at his side, and announced that Christoff, the Daeva Priscus, was now to be banned from the city because he was trying to instigate fighting between Covenants (Carthian and Invictus)through the destruction of property, etc, etc...

( Let the drama begin )

'There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!' - Act 1, Scene 4 -- The Crucible, by Arthur Miller


Lucy Strychnine
Prisci Harpy
Mekhet/Carthian

In Reference to this post: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenstripes/3274531831/in/pool-craft/

(and THIS one, later on: http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/03/peta-presidents-crazy-will-and.html)

( Ooooh, let's make a squid and then make our feet into ashtrays! )

*wacknoodle: One of the best words EVER.

UPDATED. Here's the final, IC version. Ba-Dow!


Alright, so I have some things to report about the last gather in Mt. Pleasant.

Some of them aren't very nice, but dammit, people, I've just about had it with nice. You might get angry, but that's ok. Maybe you'll do stupid things more privately next time.


And the Dumb-Ass award goes to:

The ones who planned and executed the burning of Isaac DelaCroix's Carthian estate. Seriously, what the HELL were you thinking? Oh wait, I know. You weren't. Or perhaps you thought we were all idiots too? Maybe.

It was suggested that an outside force brought this all down in an ingenious plan to cause dissension. I would be impressed, but I don't believe it. No, I think I rather believe that someone decided that it would be a great idea to burn down the estate and blame it on Ray Maycomb.

Now, let's discuss why this was so ill-conceived.

1. Although Ray can be sneaky, I would hope he would be sneakier than to set all the signs pointing at himself.

2. You picked the wrong people to work with, namely Quincey for one. Yeah, Quincey can be charming and conniving, but he also tends to repeat the same plans over and over and, oh, by the way, he's the king of selling out his co-conspirators when threatened. God, how did you not realize this?

3. If the plan was to disrupt the Carthians, it didn't succeed. Yeah, I am aware that most of the Carthians have something against me (perhaps I'm not Carthian ENOUGH?), but regardless of what they think, I will do anything, as will all but one of them to help a brother and sister out, and when we're attacked, we close ranks. Also, we're not going to start violence, though some of you think we might. We're not damn Anarchs, we're CARTHIANS, and despite what some believe, anarchy is not generally our game.

4. It was just not up to Machiavelli' s standards. Or the Prisci Council's standards, who I am pretty sure have Machiavelli study sessions. Some of them might even have signed copies.

5. Did you think there would be no fallout? That you could just deny and everyone would be like, "Oh, my bad?" Did you think that we wouldn't pursue the proof?

6. WHAT. WERE. YOU. THINKING. I'm baffled.

Ok, and now the We Didn't Want to See That Award goes to:

The Lancae Sanctum. WTF, guys? I do love you all, but could you just go ahead and close that overcoat revealing your naughty bits please? I know you've got problems; hell, EVERYONE knows you have problems, but seriously, can't we all go back to pretending that we don't know that you have problems? And when your mission is to take down a "renegade" Carthian, that is not double-speak for "Hey, let's insult and attack each other in front of Longinus and the world." Just a suggestion.

And in other LS naughtiness, to ignore a much higher status covenant member's order, despite the fact that you might or might not think she's crazy, is in bad form. Again, just a suggestion.

And BTW, Isabella, killer dress. Just an aside.

On to other things:

Isaac's outfit rocked. I swear he's the best dressed male Kindred ever.

Although in this case the ends (in most respects) justify the means, it MIGHT not be a good idea to use your superhuman powers of persuasion on poor lil Quincey in Elysium. I mean, I don't deny what you did was a great idea, but the whole in Elysium thing is going to have to be dealt with. Just letting you know.

Creepiest Kindred goes to: Cecil (that's pronounced SEH-sill). I suspect he might like it that way, though.

The What Did You Think This Would Accomplish? Award Goes to:

The individual(s) who decided to kill-stake-whatever Isaac.
SRSLY, I have a very strong believe your intel was...er...WRONG. I talked to quite a few people, and the Carthians did NOT march into Elysium with Isaac to take praxis. But then again, perhaps MY intel is wrong and this isn't why you did this. Please correct me if this is the case.

In any case, I certainly was not there for this (Hence, not all Carthians were there for the rumored praxis seizure). And everything I had heard previous to this indicated that this would not have been the case.

Finally, you didn't actually think trying to take down Mr. Congeniality would succeed, did you? Silly rabbit.

The Hey, We're Not Up To Anything Award goes to:

The Ordo Dracul. Way to go, I didn't hear anything (well, not much) about anything you are up to or any internal strife.

The Wow There's a Lot of You Award goes to:

The Unaligned. What next, a Primogen?

The It Had to Be a Conspiracy Because it Wasn't MY Fault award goes to:

All of you who are called to account for your actions, then blame someone else. Enough said.

And other things: Grog the Lost creature hung out in Elysium, and insulted everyone. I rather like him. I wonder if he'll be back. He also yelled a lot about us breaking the Pact of Ages.

Jet was busy kicking ass and taking names as usual, as were Fiona, Micah, and some of the newer Kindred to the city. I'd like to mention here how much I hate #$@&#*@!!! Hell hounds. I'm pleased to learn that Micah is having the head of one taxidermied and mounted on a plaque for posterity, which I think is a bang-up idea.

Mr. Wesson waxed poetic about government and city issues.

Mr. Gray wasn't drunk for a change.

Mr. VandenBurg was nowhere in sight for much of the night.

Lady Mara Ortega seemed a little angry much of the evening. I think her eyes shot flames a couple of times.

Christoff was a fount of enigmatic advice, and I think Brother Abraham was always slightly amused at something, although I am not sure what it was.

I didn't see Spiral. Which of course doesn't mean he wasn't there.

Miss O'Brien was understandably extremely annoyed at the news that she might be replaced as the Seneschal. I don't know if that has happened yet, but suspect that it has not. If it does, it seems the new Seneschal will be Mr. Wesson.

Ray didn't seem as annoyed as I probably would have been if I'd been him.

Isaac was charismatic and preached non-violence, despite what any of you might think.

A visiting Carthian had a physical obstacle course/game/ challenge thing that was enjoyed by those who participated.

And finally, let's talk about Quincey for a minute. Damn, man, if I could pariah you, I probably would. What is wrong with you? WHY must you embark on these stupid, STUPID plans? Why must you brag about them? No, sirrah, you are not as sneaky as you think you are. I am fairly sure that you are the lovechild of Dr. Evil and Snidely Whiplash (or perhaps you just took their telecourses? ). I feel sorry for you, actually. Does your family ADMIT to being related to you, or do they try to sort of slink away from you at parties and pretend they have no idea who you are? Do they make you wear protective head-gear? Maybe they should.

So, how many eyes are you going to pluck out to atone for THIS shit? I don't think you have enough. Sorry, sugar, but the excuse of "just following orders" isn't going to absolve you of any guilt. I'm only sorry that you thought for a second that you might not get caught.

There is one more traitorous Kindred involved in the debacle of the Carthian estate who I will mention by NOT mentioning by name. Let's call it defamation by omission. That's all you get from me, you liar. You better have a damn good reason for what you did. Not that you will ever read this.

I'm sorry if I missed anyone. You'll have to do something amazing (or ridiculous) next time, and I'll be sure to write about you.

Regards,

Lucy Strychnine
Prisci's Harpy
Carthian/Mekhet

So I was having a conversation about a minor character in Lost with a friend.

( I STILL don't understand! )

Could someone explain this?

Em.

This is a long conversation filled with discussions of unicorn meat, Native American helicopters, Da Vinci, Unicorn Horn ingestion, diet pills, nasty side-effects, and Ghandi. They all tie in together. Really.



( If it was good enough for Ghandi... )

That's all for now.

Em.

live_brave, these are especially for you.

(  Apparently the Hustle theme song makes Guapo boogie. )

That is all.

Em.

( It's been chilly, so I drapped Guapo's fleece cage cover over his cage )

That's all.

Em.

I drew this for live_brave's going away/x-mas gift.

It's a church in England.



I'll miss you, Steph.

Em.

...And I left it at work. When I came in the next morning, Maintenance had ated it. They left the fortune, however.