It's bedtime.

Actually, it's 53 minutes past the alarm for me to turn in, and my body has been screaming at me to stop categorizing my KCI work orders and go to sleep already. But hell, a midnight bedtime on a weekend travelling away from home compared to a usual 23:00 hours bedtime doesn't even move the needle on the usual scale of my rationalize-o-meter.

StarScape started 3 hours ago in Baltimore which means that Dale is either having the worst or best time of his life right now. Wish I could have been there, but I'll settle for pictures, Dale and Sara being in a good mood and this whole party over with.

Got up this morning around 9:15, just in time to have a nice breakfast with the local ham radio guys at the old Knotty Pine Diner. It's called something new now, and has all new tables and chairs, but the same staff and pretty much the same crew as usual. I could have warned them not to try to fight it. South Plainfield belies enthalpy of any sort. Don't try to usurp it, it's a force of nature.

Spent the rest of the day travelling, first to see Kelly Seidel's daughter's one year birthday. That was fun. Then down the Parkway to Toms River and Chuck Freund's post-wedding BBQ and reception. I am not making this up. It was a really nice waterfront location with about 10 people I knew in a sea of 50, and only about three I actually wanted to talk to. Oh well, it was nice to make an appearance and see how everyone's been making out lately.

Mostly my mother managed to embarass me with marriage references. Maybe it's my soon-to-be foray into home ownership that has her convinced that she's allowed to change the "if" into a "when." She's not. I don't think I razzed her nearly enough for that this evening. Good thing I'll be here all day tomorrow to finish the job. Sheesh, I guess you're only immune so long.

I do actually enjoy the company of people who I've grown up with in a church setting, but the social standards are so different than what I'm used to that if another person comes up behind me and touches me without being in eye contact, I may snap.

Maybe it's just an INTJ trait, but if you don't put yourself into full view and offer your hand to me before you touch me, you're a threat. I've kept from throwing anyone against the floor in cuffs so far this weekend, but I have taken to keeping my back to the wall at these church-related social events to avoid being ambushed. If you haven't seen me in six months, you're not entitled to enter the last six inches of my personal space. Period.

Anyway, enough kvetching. Nobody I'm talking about will read this page anyway, and if they do they'll have no idea I'm talking about them.

Tomorrow we'll be down at the Trenton congregation for a belated birthday service for my father. He's 50 years old now, and if you don't know that within the first five minutes of a conversation, you aren't paying any attention to him. I'll be taking pictures for the New Jersey District web page. Of course they'll go up on vees.net as an example of my work. Should make for an interesting combination in the random shots against some of the Playa del Fuego galleries. We'll see how long it takes for someone to object.

Really missing my love, who I believe is off getting one of the many sites for Chicago burner events ready for general consumption. It's probably not fair to wish I could be with her so much, but I do anyway. I'm really looking forward to spending another solstice with her and Alex in less than two weeks from now.

The house is asleep and it's probably time for me to put in a few hours before a long and stressful day of sitting in the car, sitting in a pew, sitting at a lunch table, sitting in the car, sitting at my desk, sitting in the car and missing Suz. Travel used to be bad enough when I had a gal and a home in Baltimore, but now when I travel, I have two "pang vectors." Onedue south to where most of my life is now, and one due Northwest to where the most important part of it is right now.

Reporting from 3 feet north, 2 feet west and 7 feet below where I've spent most of my nights asleep in South Plainfield, NJ now in the "Guest Room". . . G'night!

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