Good morning, C&G!!

Voting for the Gathering of Chaos 2012 has concluded (surprisingly, I only received one vote yesterday!).

We will be in the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City area over Memorial Day Weekend in 2012.

I realize that there are a few people who simply cannot be there because of location and/or date.  Unfortunately, this would have been true no matter what the end result was. 

Just as an aside, 46 people voted!  Of those 46 votes, 24 of them had CR/IC as their first choice, and 20 of them had Memorial Day as their first choice. 

With point totals potentially ranging from 46 - 184 for locations, and from 46 - 138 for dates (lower points winning), Las Vegas & July 4th clearly came in last place, with 144 and 115 points, respectively. 

Denver had a strong showing, with 11 of the remaining first-place votes and only 20 points between Denver & CR/IC. 

The difference between Memorial Day & Labor Day was almost a coin toss, with Labor Day holding 17 of the remaining first-place votes, and only 7 points separating the dates. 

Because the vote came out this way, I'd like to suggest a pattern for future Gatherings.  In regards to location:  Denver, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids.  In regards to date, alternating between Memorial Day & Labor Day.  Doing this would give us the following pattern:

2014     Denver, Labor Day
2016     Minneapolis, Memorial Day
2018     CR/IC, Labor Day
2020     Denver, Memorial Day
2022     Minneapolis, Labor Day

2024     CR/IC, Memorial Day 
 

Thoughts?? 

Hello, C&Gers! 

The GoC 2010 has wrapped up (with a few of us still working on getting home), and we are looking at the next one. 

This email is going out to the Yahoo! alum list, the LJ list, everyone who was invited via FB to the 2010 GoC, and everyone I have contact information for.  That means that many of you wil get duplicate copies.  But, as DuJour and I were discussing this weekend, there are many people who still aren't getting the GoC information for a variety of reasons.  (Not checking filters among them!)  *Please,* if you are in contact with - or have contact information for - any C&Gers, talk to them.  Ask them if they've heard of the GoC.  If they haven't been getting details, let's get them in the loop!  I've created a Cornell C&G Alum group on FB, so that will give us another mailing list.  While I'd love to see the next event be even larger than this one, my biggest concern is that there are people out there who don't even know about it.  (And I know there are some, because I talked to one on Friday!)

Please, direct people to the Yahoo! list, the Live Journal list, or the Facebook page, or give them my contact information.  Any of those will get them the information as it is disseminated.

Hello, C&Gers! 

The GoC 2010 has wrapped up (with a few of us still working onn getting home), and we are looking at the next one. 

This email is going out to the Yahoo! alum list, the LJ list, everyone who was invited via FB to the 2010 GoC, and everyone I have contact information for.  That means that many of you wil get duplicate copies.  But, as DuJour and I were discussing this weekend, there are many people who still aren't getting the GoC information for a variety of reasons.  (Not checking filters among them!)  *Please,* if you are in contact with - or have contact information for - any C&Gers, talk to them.  Ask them if they've heard of the GoC.  If they haven't been getting details, let's get them in the loop!  I've created a Cornell C&G Alum group on FB, so that will give us another mailing list.  While I'd love to see the next event be even larger than this one, my biggest concern is that there are people out there who don't even know about it.  (And I know there are some, because I talked to one on Friday!)

Please, direct people to the Yahoo! list, the Live Journal list, or the Facebook page, or give them my contact information.  Any of those will get them the information as it is disseminated.
 

-Karon (Tenney) Halama
Scribe '91-'92. '92-93, '93-'94. 

I know there's not many people left who read LJ exclusively, but I think there are a few.  Or at least a few who check LJ more reliably than FB.

Anyway, THE GATHERING OF CHAOS APPROACHES!!!!!!

Memorial Day weekend, Minneapolis, hotel information provided upon request (I don't feel like huntiing down the email so I can cut & paste right this second). 

If you're not aware of it, or know someone who might not be aware of it, PLEASE spread the word!!  Comment here, send info to the perosn in question, give me contact info - whatever. But the more the merrier!!

I know many of you will have seen this in at least one if not two other places, but here it comes again:

If you are at all interested in attending the Gathering of Chaos 2010, regardless of ability to attend, please comment here if you have not informed me through other avenues.  I am starting the list!

Ok, so there's likely not many of you who know this (having not seen me since before July of 2006, or at least not with bare legs), but I have a tattoo that I spent better than 10 years designing.  Having gotten that one, and realizing when I did that I was putting WAY too much concern into the details of something that will be changed by the artist so that it translates well to skin anyway, I have been working on the basics for my second ink since then. 

Without going into too much detail regarding the tattoo itself (so as not to bore you with details that likely don't interest), I need a bit of help.  After the recent loss of Katchuka, I have recognized that I want to put something either into that piece or as an entirely separate piece that honors those I love who are on the other side of the veil.  I don't want to have it be something that is specific to a particular soul, but rather something that is reflective of the fact that they are no longer with me.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a symbol to use?

We lost Katchuka sometime after I went to work this morning.  Whatever it was that took her, she still had energy to play last night, and clearly was extremely fatigued but not in pain.

We will miss her random biting of anything near her, the hoarding of anything soft, and her rather superior "how dare you!" look when anyone (human or fuzzy) moved her belongings from where she put them.

 

( Pictures ) 

How many of these best-picture Oscar nominated movies have you seen? Bold the ones you've seen, regardless of whether you saw them in the cinema, on TV/video, or on a plane years after they came out.

1980. Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess
1981. Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982. Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict
1983. Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies
1984. Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier's Story
1985. Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor, Witness
1986. Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View
1987. The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck
1988. Rain Man, The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl
1989. Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot
1990. Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III
1991. The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides
1992. Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman
1993. Schindler's List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day
1994. Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption
1995. Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility
1996. The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine
1997. Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential
1998. Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
1999. American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense
2000. Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic
2001. A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge
2002. Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist
2003. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit
2004. Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways
2005. Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
2006. The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
2007. No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood
2008. Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader


I will say that there seems to be a pattern emerging on some of the older movies: much of what I've seen has greater social meaning to it.  There are multiple of these that I have seen that I wish I hadn't (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Titanic, and The Coal Miner's Daughter top that list), and I will admit to OWNING Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but having never sat down to watch it.

I also note that my movie-watching frequency has not dropped; rather, my taste has strayed significantly from the kinds of movies that tend to be nominated.  I do intend to watch Slumdog Millionaire at some point, because it is heavy in music and something that has caught my interest as a result of all the publicity following the awards it received.

I put my children to bed tonight after a reasonably good evening.  (This was a very good thing, because yesterday was HELLACIOUS.)

A few minutes later, Tim was calling me because he said he was thirsty.  I said no, made him stop doing the drama cry, and walked back out of the room.

About 5 minutes after that, I decided to see if they were really thirsty (Leo was coughing quite a bit, for the first time all winter.  I'm dreading the possibility that his winter cough has waited until now to start.).  They both said yes, so I got them each a small glass and went to give it to them.

Here comes the self-discipline part.  I'm watching Leo drink in the near-dark (lights don't get turned on for a drink in my house), and wondering why the entire area around his mouth looks really dark, like it's in shadow.  I decide to turn the light on to check it out, dreading the possibility that he coughed himself into a vomit and that's what's on his mouth.

It's NOT vomit.  It's marker.  That's right, grey marker all around his mouth, up his right cheek and a circle around his right eye.

Leo has no clue that he has marker on his face.  Tim is denying doing it.  I get Leo cleaned up (as best as I can, it wasn't washable markers), and after a LOT of being very, very mad, Tim finally fesses up.  He got a HUGE lecture on respect, and understanding what his actions do to other people (in this case, the embarassment he would have caused Leo at school tomorrow, the fact that we would have been late getting out tomorrow morning because we would have had to take time to clean Leo's face, etc.), and lying.  He lost some things that were very important to him, including a fun outing we had planned for Monday.

But, marker?  All over your brother's face?  And NOT waking him up??????

Oh, man, the giggles won later.

Your 7 year-old child puts on a pair of pants that are too short.  You don't notice, but when your ex says something, you get indignant because if you get rid of all the pants in that size, you won't have much of anything left because you think that all the clothes your parents have purchased for the child have ended up at her house.

Excuse me, do you pick up the children NAKED?  Do you think that children DON'T grow?  Do you seriously think that the children are sent to your house in clothes that are too small so that you can send them home in clothes that fit, and she can therefore avoid having to purchase clothes for them????????

Pfeh.