I'm now almost all set to go to San Francisco.

I'm nervous. Or excited. Probably both. I'm taking fairly little in the way of clothes, although it's in the low sixties there (chilly by Florida standards). But what I am taking can be layered. I'm still trying to figure out which jacket or coat to bring-- something to keep the wind off, but nothing as heavy as the leather duster, and preferably something which won't scream "Terrorist" at the Tampa airport. And which bits of tech do I absolutely need to bring?

Fret, fret. I handed over my key to Jeff today. Got him to hire Selkie. Good good. I hope that works out well.

Gods, too much change, too much flux, need a little stability; I wish my Rew were here.

robot protest pics! I was in a hurry; please ignore terrible page layout.

So the robot protest came off excellently; we even had some spontaneous counter-protesters. There were a few assholes, but the way I see it, we were there for fun, and to help them have fun, and if some of them wanted to have fun by making fun of us, it's no silver body-paint off my nose. Bobq should probably not have gone off by himself as a few people assumed they had license to kick him, but fortunately not hard. Pictures soon.

Off to the robot protest soon. I'm all silver, wearing silver pleather pants, a black fishnet shirt, and a black t-shirt with silver circuitry, a glowy-looking power button on the front, and on the back "Snowcrash Inside" logo and "Attention: No User Serviceable Parts" with some random 'Sumerian' beneath that. My favorite sign so far says "Robots Don't Kill People: People Do." I love it so much! Squeeee!

Attempted on July 15th:

I sent amarna on her way yesterday with much tearful farewell. It was so good to be able to spend some time with her. Universe willing, I'll see her and omega in the spring, when they move back to the sunny flaccid state south of Georgia, and shortly before I depart the aforementioned for San Francisco.

Speaking of which, I have packing to do. I now have all the information I'll need to change my residence next week. Or at least, so it would seem. Next week, and from now on, I will be a resident of California. It should be obvious to all by now that I am relatively excited. I still have to come back to the vaguely penis-shaped state to finish my last year at New College, and I'll keep my Florida residency for tuition purposes until I graduate, so that won't be a problem. And I won't like to vanish away from all my friends, so I hope those living here will keep in touch with me through the miracle that is teh Interweb.

Tomorrow is the I Robot movie protest, courtesy of the Dark God Ti Na's strange and twisted mind. I'm working on my robot costume now. Absurdism is great!

Legospidey. Worth the download.

Got back from Gainesville with amarnakemet yesterday; exhaustion set in soon after but I think I'm recovered now. Today had group meeting early in the day and it went well; I even made myself talk for once. Amarna just bought me a ton of groceries. My opinion of Gainesville is changing rapidly. My prior associations with the city were pretty much limited to hospitals and cemetaries, either mourning for or awaiting the deaths of relatives. Amarna and I spent two days seeing UF and about nine or ten apartments, and I realized the city is getting fairly cool around the college. I should probably stop thinking of it as a giant hog farm.

Anyway, we must now go do... things.

My grandmother's had a stroke. She's in hospital. She's doing pretty well-- some paralysis in the left side, trouble talking, but her mind's the same. They'll likely be releasing her in a couple of days, but they may send her someplace to have rehab or I guess they might do that at her home. I would feel better, I think, if she were somewhere they could watch her 24/7. She lives in a nice community and has an alarm system, but it still takes us half an hour to get there and the alarm system can't call an ambulance until after we've checked on her. Not very efficient. Must see her today and also see how my dad is doing.

Later-- Now I've been to see her and I'm really impressed how well she's doing. She had physical therapy today and could lift her arm, and she's been eating by herself although she has to eat pureed food and has trouble swallowing. They're giving her thickened liquids so she doesn't aspirate, and needless to say she is NOT keen on the coffee sludge. She's in better spirits than I've seen her in a month; she makes jokes, laughs at ours, and seems more alert and with it than most times I've seen her lately. The physical therapist said tomorrow she'll walk down the hallway. Her reply: "Wear your dancing shoes." I'm so proud of her.

The CDC Will Kill Kids...
...unless you tell them they're bad bad people.

Tell the CDC not to enforce an abstinence-only education program in schools. Tell them if they do they will be responsible for more deaths from AIDS and abortion. Explain to them that kids will have sex whether the Christian Right likes it or not. Please.

Oh, and find out why the comment submission form seems to be down. Smacks of conspiracy. If you can't get them through the comment form, please don't flood their office with calls. No, I mean it. Really. Wouldn't it just be a shame if they had to deal with hundreds of angry calls about this?

Public Inquiries
(404) 639-3534
(800) 311-3435

Oh, look, there's a toll-free number. How'd that get there?