A refuge from the mendacious & cynical; a domain for the civilized. Visitors:1 night free boarding.

I had a very strange experience whilst watching tv the other day, one of those rare occurances which makes on doubt one's own senses: was watching a documentary on the History Channel about Roman Engineering (so far, so good).  You know how they interperse talking heads throughout the whole show (John Doe, Harvard University, for instance). Well, halfway through the show Peter Weller pops us, & it said Peter Weller, Syracuse University. Yes.  Robocop himself.  Or as I prefer to remember him, Buckeroo Banzai.  At the next commercial break, I googled him.  Apparently, he really is a professor at Syracuse & an expert on Roman society.  And his classes are extremely popular there.  Talked with a friend of mine--a PhD candidate in history,  expert in the Civil War--that it would be nice if someone like Jennifer Aniston took an interest in his field, & kind of sexed it up, too.

Haven’t blogged or really kept up with my email over the last month due to illness: I got something that knocked me down more than anything else has been able to in years, & I was just to tired to do much writing or reading. I’m back to about 90% of full strength now, but I’m just starting to get around to a lot of things I’ve been neglecting.

First off, RCIA is all over, & most of the class is now in the Church.  One of the girls, Marguerite, will be going to upstate New York for the next year where she will be working with school children (& occasionally some collegians) at a retreat-camp setting. She leaves in September, & returns late summer next year. She is scared about going, as she’s never been this far from home for so long, but she said the vibes were just right. She’ll be around the City for a few months more, so hopefully we can get together & keep in touch. The Novitiate has been dragging his legs regarding his romantic interest in her, & finally asked her out on a date during Holy Week. Unfortunately for him, there’s not much time to work on the relationship, & he’ll be moving out of the City in about a fortnight (although he plans to come back & visit).

I’ve gotten this idea about organizing a group to go to the next World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. Have been in communication with a women in Minnesota who has expertise in this area, having taken a group to the Paris WYD back in the ‘90s.  It’s not been an easy sell, although most of the adults who work with kids think it’s a great idea.

Moving on to other things: not everyone has a bank account. For whatever reason, there are scores of people who don’t have formal accounts or credit cards out there, & in our little corner of the world, the Fat Man helps them with their dilemma.  He personally cashes their cheques for them.  The Fat Man’s not a banker, but rather runs a pub.  He’s discriminating about who he does this service for, & generally there’s no problem.  Well, he’s been dealing with Big Al for decades now; Al’s an “artist,” & therefore doesn’t have a bank account, a credit card, a phone, & sometimes even lacks a fixed address.  Al’s just an old hippie, who started trekking around the world some 3+ decades ago, & wound up here.  He’s from small town Midwestern America, volunteered for Vietnam, blew out his knee, & was declared 4-F.  That’s his version.  He’s been around here much longer than I have.  Well, a few weeks ago, Al took over some cashier’s cheques to the Fat Man, who cashed them.  Not a novel occurrence. However, these particular cheques turned out to be worthless, & the Fat Man is quite upset: he’s been putting out his feelers, looking for Al, who apparently has relocated to a very nearby area (he doesn’t own a car, either).  Al’s totally avoiding his old haunts, which seems quite suspicious.  I’ve got a feeling this won’t end prettily.  Al, if you’re reading this (& you know I read your blog) get in touch with the Fat Man now or leave & never, ever come back.

My Girl is leaving.  She put in her 2- (or3- or 4-) week notice…she’s a little vague on her last day, exactly.  She wants to come back & help me out again, but she’s got to go now.  For at least the summer.  Looks like a long, hot, lonely summer.

Rusty finally got a computer up & running for my mom, so we made the Luxembourg run to deliver & set up everything for her. Now I’ll be able to send her things over the Internet just like I do with everyone else. Plus, since my brother & his wife finally got around to procreating, she can receive updates & pictures from them (they live in England, & as Mom’s had some health problems lately, she hasn’t been able to go over & visit them). Mom may have been dragged kicking & screaming into the 21st Century, but she’s finally arrived. Rusty designed something simple so that Mom--not a computer geek by any means--could understand & be able to use it. I wanted him to work on it rather than letting her get one from some salesman somewhere, as he could specifically put it what she wanted & not have to deal with those things she didn’t care for—or couldn’t work. He didn’t install a dvd drive, because if Momma wants to watch a movie, she’s got a dvd player already. Same with streaming video—she has a name for that already: television. She basically just wanted internet &, as she put it, the ability “to look stuff up.” We threw in some Adobe, about a hundred books or so on pdf format & Microsoft reader, MS Office, & Windows 2000. She was very excited, & very appreciative to Rusty (who managed to get through an entire day without swearing, out of respect for Mom it seems). Artemis & Achilles tagged along, too: Artemis helped Mom with the set up of the computer, then turned her attention to her new music player & various tv programs. Achilles roamed around the estate; Mom lives in the country, in an old manor house. Achilles has always been more self-absorbed that way, & as he gets older he seems to need to be away from the family more. The woods around Mom’s are safe enough, & the few predators that are around there, he knows how to deal with. He used to take the dogs with him when he was younger, but now he doesn’t even want them around when he goes on his long walks. Luckily for the dogs, Artemis takes them everywhere she goes—even, sometimes, to the latrine.

Before we came down, was talking with Jordan back at the ranch: she had a real whirlwind romance, lasting about a week. Literally. Last Friday she had introduced me to this guy, Matt, & she described him as her “mySpace guy.” Apparently, she met him there. They were all smiles then. Now, he’s too “clingy,” doesn’t respect her feelings. & last night when she was hugging him to say goodnight, he grabbed her butt before he left. That seemed to be the final straw for her. Although she does sort of set herself up for failure (IMHO) by setting impossibly high standards for guys. She confided in me that her real feelings are for this guy named Eddie (I met him—briefly) who is on an extended bicycle trip around the world, is about 30, & has (apparently) no fixed residence & no job. He just bikes. Eddie does write her lovely letters & sends her well, interesting, presents (sacred incense to Our Lady from Tijuana). So on the one hand, she’s got a guy crazy for her just across the street that she “doesn’t connect with,” & she’s got a potential soulmate that she connects with “on a spiritual level” who’s currently in Idaho & will be somewhere else as soon as he gets on his bike. For most, this is not a real dilemma, but for her it is. At least she’s a little self-conscious of this tendency she has, & knows it may be a way to self-destruct any real potential by staking your happiness on an illusionary outcome. Self-awareness doesn’t mean she’ll make the right choice, though.

Rusty’s developed another safe house that the Czech & the Decorator can use. He’s swept it clean of all [whatever] so that they can do whatever they do without fear of spying (they are a little paranoid, but just because you are doesn’t mean that they’re NOT not out to get you). The one thing the house lacked was electricity. He was using a generator to power their state of the art electronics while fighting the setting of the sun by using flashlights & cigarette lighters for illumination (for some reason, they couldn’t hook up the lights to the generator…one would think that would be elementary for these geniuses). They were almost like farmers, trying to wrap up everything before “can’t see.” They seem to be under some restrictive time frame; when it comes to Rusty & his projects, I don’t ask. He’s always been good about telling me just what I need to know & sparing me the details of what I’d rather not know. They can perform all their operations right in front of me, as I don’t really understand what they’re doing. They speak in their own sort of jargon, so at least they can communicate with each other. The house itself is a nice old pre-WWII model, with hardwood floors & high ceilings. They always seem to choose older places as a base. Not sure how long they will have use of it. I’m assuming that the Czech & the Decorator will actually stay there, as that seems to be the pattern. Perhaps the Cowboy will join them, although I hear he’s otherwise employed currently.

Artemis, after exhausting the possibilities of the music & tv, turned eventually to the boy next door—an earnest, smiling little urchin named Newt. Newt lives in an area where there are not many of his own age or grade, so it’s always a treat for him when Artemis visits. Newt resides just outside Mom’s grounds, & his father sometimes helps Mom out around the place (he’s very good with motors & mechanical gadgets). A few years ago when especially heavy snowfall cut off Mom from the rest of the world, Newt’s family was very good about checking up on Mom & making sure she was okay. Newt has an older brother, but perhaps he’s getting too old to play with children, as I haven’t seen him on recent visits.

Artemis went out with the one dog we had brought down & she returned with both dog & Newt in tow. He has a perpetually smiling moon-shaped face & a perpetually empty belly. Artemis fixed them both sausages, & they happily noshed on them as they played with the dog & then with various board games as it got colder.

Mom & I discussed the Maltese cottage some. With Spring coming up soon, we were talking about heading there sometime soon, but it looks like it will be after Easter before we, or one of us, gets down. The cottage is still winterized. I’ve always found the place useful for relaxing & retooling & recharging my batteries. Sometimes it’s better to be there with others; other times, alone is best. In the end though, just being there, whether with yourself or with a bunch, is great fun. Guess it’s been years since I’ve been there by myself…my brother used to go there alone a lot, before he got married, but he hasn’t returned to the place since he moved to England. Actually, I’m not sure if he’s been there since he got married there.

Made it back to the ranch without incident. This looks like it will be a busy week.

Treated Rusty to supper tonight: he returned the favor by loading literally 100s of e-books onto my jump drive including the complete works of Alfred Bester, some George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, some PG Wodehouse, & even Dante's Divine Comedy. I suppose that should last me at least a few months.