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[WTS]
The Escape Artist %}
See Desi Arnaz
(his last film) as a bad guy.
The magic is real!
Holiday
Light Show to Trans Siberian Orchestra (Wizards in Winter)
Drawing of
a Woman from the Inside Out
"We love FLUXX! My mom has always played lots of games,
a gift that I pass on to the FUTURE GAMERS now that I am 25.
Our friend, Isaac, is 11 and a veritable Fluxx master, not that
you can ever totally master the fluxuations! Most recently, we
have enjoyed even more deliciously fluxatious Fluxx with our
friends Erin and Chad, so much fun with more than four players!
Erin has been ordering up the special cards (part of my Christmas
gift this year ~ new cards that our five year old deck with battered
box has never seen!). I played Fluxx on the Caribbean island
of Grenada...and on top of a massive fallen redwood tree at a
wedding! From an extended family of Fluxx players numbering near
30, Thanks for Creating Fluxx!" -- Katie
C of Arcata, CA
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A Visit From Nessa the Doggie |
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This
week I did something for the first time in my life which millions
of people do every single day: I walked a dog.
You may wonder how it is that a guy like me could spend 43
years on this planet without ever once walking a dog. But it's
actually not too difficult to avoid taking any responsibility
for a dog if you don't like dogs and have never lived with one
before.
And it's not like I've never walked alongside a walking dog...
I've certainly gone along with someone else while they walked
their dog... but until now I've never had the full experience
of putting on the leash and going out with the dog, just the
animal and me, for a walk.
You see, I
have never really liked dogs. I'm a cat
person. Dogs have always struck me as being not just annoying
(barking, slobbering, hyperactive, needing to go outside all
the time, etc) but also dangerous. When I was a kid, my friends
in the house across the street had a huge dog, a big scary Doberman
I believe, and I lived in fear of it. I think there may have
even been an incident when I was tiny in which I was knocked
down or otherwise terrorized by this or some similar dog. I've
had very few positive dog experiences, and generally have always
said that I hated dogs.
However, I'm changing my tune. I'm learning to like dogs.
A couple of famous people have also been helping me with this
attitude adjustment. One is Cesar Millan, whose TV show The Dog
Whisperer has given me a much better understanding of how dogs
think and what they need than I've ever had. Whereas I've always
just feared and shunned dogs, I'm now learning how to understand
and properly interact with canines! I actually found it exciting
to see how well this guy Cesar can speak the secret language
of dogs... it's amazing to see how quickly he can become friends
with the "bad" dogs that people call him in to help
them deal with. It gives me the feeling that I too can learn
to communicate with these beasts.
Less specifically helpful -- but I think even more inspirational
-- was an article I read a couple of years ago, by Ben Stein,
called "Christmas
Peace." In this essay, Ben talks about the various things
he's grateful for, and about the accomplishments and joys in
life which make him happy... and he comes to the conclusion that
nothing, for him, beats the love of a good dog. "There is
a magical connection between dog and human that offers a glimpse
of heaven," he wrote. This is a guy who's done it all, having
had successful careers in both politics and show business, a
man who has experienced love and fatherhood as well as fame and
fortune... and he says that knowing the "warm, unconditional,
devoted, peaceful love" of a dog is the very best thing
that life has to offer. "You have not fully taken advantage
of God's gifts if you don't," wrote Ben.
I was
really struck by that, since I have never known this joy.
And then there's Nessa. She's the Shetland Sheepdog (often
called a "Sheltie") I've been out walking with all
this week. Nessa is the dog of the boyfriend of Luisa,
and since they've gone to Mexico for the holidays, we are currently
in the middle of a 3-week in-home experiment in living-with-a-dog.
And it's going well! Nessa is a totally sweetie of a dog, so
she's making it easy. And I'm finding that I actually enjoy going
out with her for little walks around the block, much more so
than I ever expected I would.
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But
what about the cats? How are they coping with this canine invasion?
As well as can be expected, I suppose... actually, I like to
think that it's helping LittleCat and Shiro
bond. Here's a photo of the two of them sitting amazingly close
together on the bed in a room where Nessa cannot go... so maybe
there's some validity to what I've been saying about the cats
becoming united by a common enemy.
At the end of the day, my biggest reason for wanting to learn
to like dogs is Alison. She's been living with us for almost
8 years now, and she's been wanting a dog the whole time. Since
Kristin and I love Alison and she wants a dog in her life, we've
both been trying for a long time now to get our brains around
the idea of letting a dog into our house. I think Kristin's been
ready a lot longer than me... but at last, I'm ready, too. We're
going to get a dog!
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Thanks
for reading, and Happy New Year! (This site won't be updaed again
until Jan 4th.) |
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I wondered recently
why Peter Jackson isn't working on a movie of the Hobbit... turns
out he was, but got fired! According to what I read in Newsweek,
the studio is apparently moving forward on the film without him!
I hope they don't mess it up! |
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"I've been doing some research on the internet, and
I've decided that the place for us to move
is Pittsburgh." -- Shane, during the season
2 finale of Weeds [Also sticking in my mind is that fact that
in episode 7, characters were playing & talking about the
German board game Carcassonne... I wish they were playing Fluxx
or Stoner
Fluxx instead!] |
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"Moreover, if even a small fraction of the money we
now spend on trying to enforce drug prohibition were devoted
to treatment and rehabilitation, in an atmosphere of compassion
not punishment, the reduction in drug usage and in the harm done
to the users could be dramatic. This plea comes from the bottom
of my heart. Every friend of freedom, and I know you are one,
must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United
States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with
casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade
the liberty of citizens on slight evidence."
-- Milton Friedman, "An Open Letter to Bill Bennett,"
April 1990 (seen quoted in "The
Futility Of Drug Prohibition," by Kevin Zeese) |
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