First-off, thank you to all who kept the secret surprise for shimmeringjemmy that kaote was visiting this weekend.


Wednesday: 02003.04.30; Accelerated busyness
I have taken to going in for a manicure and pedicure on every other Wednesday for lunch. This week was especially convenient because our servers went down just before lunch. I like this outing. It’s relaxing and zen like. I like the pampering, I can understand why people enjoy it. It also gives me time to mull over any work I may be doing in my head. The treatment has also done wonders for the calluses on my big toes and the dryness of my feet. From time to time I wonder if I am a horrible person because I am enjoying the ‘scenery’ so to speak in my strangely attuned brain.

My replacement camera came in and due to some clever manipulation and help from the mailroom and w3woody I was able to obtain it without much need to deal with my team.

The highlight of the day, of course, was the arrival of shimmeringjemmy for her final visit to L.A. before her move at the end of the month. Yes the beginning of the L.A. relocation by out of town Thelemites has begun. tygeressdenacht, reddragon93, and if we can pull it off as many more as we can claim will come down soon.

The airport is always entertaining in the name of safety and security (Note: Post pending on this rant) I keep my camping material from SCA in the trunk of my car. Very few places to fit it otherwise. The Burbank airport must now search your trunk in order to let you park in the airport parking structure. Since they don’t want to pull out my camping supplies, I get to park outside the garage right at the checkout booth. It wasn’t always like this. It started the last day Commandant Ridge moved us from Yellow to Orange. Oddly, since returning to Yellow, they haven’t stopped this practice.

Pictures and greetings, Heather is in the car and we are off to our next stop. Drive to Orange County to pickup my Priestly Vestments for my impending first mass as Priest on Sunday the 4th. My robe and cap of maintenance were made by phosteres and this wouldn’t have happened if elqahar hadn’t seen the killer fabric hanging from the ceiling on a trip to the garment district a few months earlier. So we got there. We made a quick run thru Quizno’s for subs. Unfortunately, due to some quirks of the fabric, the cap didn’t quite sit correctly. So, Heather and I watched Angel (I am so bored of Jasmine) and entertained ourselves while Cyn, pinned together a new cap. It sat nicely in its pinned fashion and she’d deliver it on Friday evening.

The other highlight was seeing the crown and robe pin that Heather had fashioned. I will post pictures of those at soonest convenience. They are absolutely stunning and will merit their own post. Suffice it to say… They are unbelievable.

Thursday: 02003.05.01; Debug, dentistry, and dread doom looming.
I was back at the office. I hoped to get in early because I had a shudder dentist appointment over lunch. I hate dentists. I hate them!!!! Yes, I admit that my dental hygiene leaves something to be desired. Even with daily brushing, I suffer from damage that was done by my orthodontist when I was young, a horrible case of grinding and other issues. Also, as I am being evaluated for sleep apnea (which I really need to follow up call on) I have a lot of stuff packed in at the back of my throat. I hate x-rays and cleanings. The former because no matter how much I tell them that it hurts and I gag, they always treat me with an air of, “Oh, everyone says that, sit back this won’t hurt or cause you to gag.” This time around, I learned that in fact it should hurt because of the shape of my jaw. Something about my curved mandibular something-or-other.

Actually, this was the first trip I really enjoyed. Well, I don’t know if enjoyed is the word… I told them in advance that I really am a bit of a denta-phobe. They were incredibly nice without being too condescending. Geeze, while filling out the initial paperwork, they brought me tea. The entire office is done in a modernistic interpretation of Japanese stylings. It looks like a sushi restaurant and a doctor’s office had a warped love child. X-rays went better than usual. The dentist herself assisted, she explained that she had a very similar mouth and was incredibly understanding of gagging and the pain. The tech also stayed in the room during the x-rays. They now use a digital flim. The bite plate has a wire on it and the x-ray comes up on a monitor as soon as it is shot. They also used a mini-video camera on my teeth. The end result.. well, it’s good news and bad news. My teeth are in ragged shape, but this is from the night grinding which may partially be the result of the apnea. A bite plate will be fashioned and my teeth will be reconstructed under my insurance because this wasn’t voluntary damage. The gum condition is actually a periodontal problem that seems to be caused by the horrendous job done by my orthodontist several decades ago, and this too can be fixed. The teeth that are there and the support bones are both strong and fairly healthy looking.

Within a year, i should have a good strong, healthy looking adult smile for the first time in my life.

Last stop on Thursday was Mass rehearsal. Mass is ticking closer. Most of my team was there to help me rehearse. Soror L. as my teacher and Priestess, Frater S. as my Deacon, and Soror R. as the child of water. Heather stood in for the child of Fire. I’d explained to her that one of the out of towners coming in for the weekend was going to cover and I asked if she’d be a stand in for rehearsal. We didn’t explain to her that it was kaote.

Rehearsal went very well. We did a standard B.H. mass rehearsal first. This defies explanation. Not because the words can’t be found, but because describing it would never do it the justice that one can only get from experiencing a B.H. mass rehearsal. The second rehearsal was for me to get a better feel for pacing and props. Normally, we don’t get quite that detailed. It wasn’t the full mass, though. I’d requested that we not run in entirety. I wanted my first full mass to be just that. We like to refer to the process as batteries out – batteries in.

Okay, I seem to know my lines and what I’m trying to convey…maybe… at this point, ironically there are 69 hrs until Mass.

Next chapter: Lissa arrives, Heather finds Karmic acceleration, Andrei delivers the virtues to the brethren.

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