Good Friday always makes me think back to the First House of Clocks. One of the more notorious parties we had there was the Be Bad on Good Friday Party. We crucified Ian and played Pin the Nail of Jesus. I remember someone shouting "the beer's on fire!" and rushing to put out the flames. You know it's a real party when you have a beer fire.

We had music in the old tinfoil covered playroom. The old playroom was crazy. I mean, really crazy. Tinfoil walls, strange paintings along with random items screwed into the ceiling. I had written on the walls and the floors. Blissfully hopeful things and abysmally awful things. The pictures on the walls didn't match up spatially with their frames. A Twister mat was the table cloth. It was me. Me then. Strange, cluttered, mismatched, bright, stark, broken, glowing, and scary. I'm different now. I am no longer that room. I am breaking out of a chrysalis, not sure yet of what I have become.

purpleglitter and I went to Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square on our way to Haveli (in Inman Square) last night. purpleglitter had a lucky cupcake (a cupcake with a fortune) and I had a very rummy mojito. All I can say is: delicious! Paddington gobbled up the catnip and cheese cupcake we got for her when we got home — and promptly passed out in a drugged haze. She hopes to find more of those magic cupcakes lying about.

Paddington's cupcake even had an unsearchable goldfish cracker on top of hers.

From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Things to try. — Try popcorn for nausea.    Try cranberries for malaria.    Try a sun-bath for rheumatism.    Try ginger ale for stomach cramps.    Try clam broth for a weak stomach.    Try cranberry poultice for erysipelas.    Try a wet towel to the back of the neck when sleepless.    Try swallowing saliva when troubled with sour stomach.    Try eating fresh radishes and yellow turnips for gravel.    Try eating onions and horseradish to relieve dropsical swellings.    Try buttermilk for removal of freckles, tan, and butternut stains.    Try taking your cod liver oil in tomato catsup, if you want to make it palatable.    Try hard cider -- a wine-glass three times a day -- for ague and rheumatism.    Try taking a nap in the afternoon if you are going to be out late in the evening.    Try breathing the fumes of turpentine or carbolic acid to remove whooping cough.    Try a cloth wrung out from cold water put about the neck at night for sore throat.    Try snuffing powdered borax up the nostrils for catarrhal "cold in the head."    Try walking with your hands behind you if you find yourself becoming bent forward.    Try a silk handkerchief over the face when obliged to go against a cold piercing wind.    Try planting sunflowers in your garden if compelled to live in a malarial district.

I had a swell time at the x_bluerose_x's party last night. I very much liked the banana chocolate goodness of Sex in the TARDIS as well as the strange Liqor 43 brontosproximo brought. I got a little more sloshed than I intended, and while I was not falling down drunk (which I haven't been in many years), I still managed to achieve stupid drunk (which I haven't been in quite a while either).

The crowd was jolly, and the floor show at the end was... well... interesting.

ganked from gryffyn:

I'm back in Boston. I had a great deal of fun with My sister, niece, brother-in-law, and mom. Maddie is a little ball of energy. Well, not little, she's quite big for a 7 year old. Smart and creative, but I just can't keep up with her.

The day I arrived, Thursday, we pretty much stayed around the house and relaxed. My mom had already been there for several days and was already settled in.

Friday, Christian stayed home while Maddie, Bridgette, my mom, and I went down to Georgetown. We hit Lush and Godiva and went to Dean & Deluca for lunch. While I've seen central meter machines in parking lots, I'd never seen a central machine for street parking before. I guess it is more efficient than having a separate parking meter for each spot, I'm just not used to it. The biggest disadvantage I see with the central machine system is that if it breaks down it disrupts the use of a number of parking spots at once.

Saturday we drove into Virginia through wine country and went to Linden Vineyards (nothing to do with Second Live). That was my favorite part of the trip down. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe the place. Surrounded by rows of grapes and vine watching the clouds shadow-dance on the Blue Ridge Mountains. The cigar Christian gave me to smoke at the vineyard not only went perfectly with the cheese and wine, but also with the surrounding tranquility.

Sunday, I got up later than I had planned, but not so late that it caused any hassle in catching my flight. Upon leaving, Christian gave me some cigars, along with a 15-pack of Rocky Patel vintage 1992s, one of my favorites. My mom gave me a wonderful dragon cane when I arrived at the house and I was a bit worried about getting on the flight with 2 canes, but I didn't have any hassle and the return trip from Reagan National to Logan went smoothly.

I had hoped to get some good bird pictures, but unfortunately my birding camera is not working. I noticed it my first day there. It seems to be a connection problem with the battery prongs, which should be repairable. But, I was glad to see that Maddie loved birds and birdwatching despite her father's hatred of them.

I made it through a day without caffeine. I've been cutting back more and more each day. Finally, I've cut it down to none, and I seem to be doing alright. My goal is not to give up caffeine completely, just to move it in line with my general drug philosophy: while using a mind altering drug is not decisional a bad thing, it is best to avoid living on mind altering drugs. As I've said before that includes everything from alcohol and tobacco to cannabis to prozac to cocaine to seroquel. And it includes caffeine.

At the very least, sometimes FOX News provides quality entertainment...

In just over 13 years, we'll be celebrating the beginning of the 20's. From that point on, people will not be referring to flappers and prohibition when they say the 20's – they will be referring to something new. This is a fairly obvious turn of events – it is the natural progression of things. But, it still feels strange. The 20th century is becoming less and less directly tangible and more and more a distant relic. The future is now the present and history is history.

I was just about to take a shower in purpleglitter's apartment, and noticed there had been a minor back-up issue. Mostly dried, and not to bad. Nevertheless, a crust had formed over the drain, essentially sealing it. Not wanting to use anything that might pose a danger to the birds, I decided to use the remainder of the pseudomoonshine I purchased over the summer to clean the tub and unplug the drain. It worked like a charm, however now the house smells like I've just thrown a heavily alcohol-laden party. Ah, well - it will dissipate.

Yesterday was wonderful. I couldn't wait until evening, so I took the bus out to Burlington to meet up with purpleglitter for lunch during her break. If it weren't for the infrequentness of the buses, I would meet her for lunch more regularly.

When she arrived home after work, purpleglitter brought me a dozen roses, one for each year we've been together. She took me out to Vinny T's for dinner, which was the perfect choice. Back at her house, we had champagne and chatted away the night. We had planned to watch Tipping the Velvet, but never got around to playing the movie.

Quiet, romantic, happy. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States.

Happy Thursday to everyone else.

I'm having a good visit. Maddie is a ball of energy, literally bouncing off the walls. She knocked on my door and got me up around 7:30am this morning showing me a clock that had been set to 9:30. Tricky, but I'm glad I'm up. I don't really like to sleep too late these days.

Dinner last night was good and I loved the port later in the evening. Christian is intelligent and charismatic, making conversation with him generally a pleasure. And, of course, it's always great to see Bridgette. She's made quite the life for herself and has not ceased to amaze me. I'm proud to call her sister.

For each of the following, indicate which one you option you like more (or dislike less) by selecting a number on that side of the scale. The closer to -5 or 5 indicates the degree to which you prefer that option.

Poll #867616
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

beer (-5) vs. wine (5)

benevolent monarchy (-5) vs. corrupt democracy (5)

boston red sox (-5) vs. new york yankees (5)

cats (-5) vs. dogs (5)

chocolate (-5) vs. sex (5)

Dick Cheney (-5) vs. Karl Rove (5)

France (-5) vs. Italy (5)