*clutching spoons*

[jedibuttercup]

I seem to have a tendency to underestimate how badly disruptions to other family members' lives tend to impact mine. (In summary: Mom has three four long-term houseguests at the moment, plus their 150-pound dog. It's been weeks; and it'll be several more before they move out again.)

And then, of course, there's that extra $700 of car-related expenses I had to charge in connection with my recent vacation. (In part: a week spent driving long days through Death Valley, Yosemite, California Highway 49, and Crater Lake? Very, very bad for one's brakes.)

So I've been conserving energy the last couple of weeks; apologies. I have been making progress, though! Part of that involved rewatching the back half of Season 2 Person of Interest and the first half of Season 3 for an older story, so I've added that fandom back to my 2017 prompt list. (Where are all of you guys, by the way? I still have only 15 prompts; there's room for 9 more! PROMPT ME.)

I have also recently managed to see the new Murder on the Orient Express (a lot of fun, particularly as I didn't remember until halfway through how the plot resolves) and bought advance tickets for The Last Jedi, but didn't manage to get to Justice League yet. Despite already picking up tickets for next April's Portland ComicCon because Jason Momoa and Nichelle Nichols. I keep being surprised how many people don't recognize Jason Momoa's name, but then, I suppose the subset of scifi fans who remember him from Seasons 2-5 of Stargate Atlantis is not that large, alas. I'm already planning peacock hair for that con; should be fun. :)

Anyway, Happy upcoming Thanksgiving to everyone else in the States, and hope things are going well for you!

Comments

[sulien]

Yep, hills and mountains do not do good things for any vehicle. If you've got an automatic transmission, the wear goes on the breaks and if you've got a standard transmission, the wear goes on the clutch, transmission and breaks. :-p Makes me glad I live in relatively flat territory (that I drive regularly, at least).

Sorry to hear that your Mom has the Houseguests From Hell. I hope they get their rears in gear and get going soon, that sort of thing gets old after only one week, let alone a month and more! If it gets too bad, you can always make arrangements with a local pest control company to drop by and remind your Mom about a non-existant spraying that's due so she can give the 'guests' the heave ho and skip off to stay with you for a couple of days to put a good look on things.

*blushes* I haven't prompted you because I still owe you (and 4 other people, for crying out loud) a story from the 2012 Wishlist. It really bugs me that I just can't get my brain to find the characters at all, let alone long enough to come up with anything remotely resembling a plot, not even for the Tolkien, Stargate and Buffy prompts. *hangs head in shame*

Seriously? Jason Momoa has been in all sorts of things that have been popular for the past 10 years and more, plus he's drop dead, wear a drool bib when you watch him onscreen stunning!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, I hope the stress lessens considerably and that the Holidays are enjoyable.

[jedibuttercup]

Hard agree on Jason Momoa. The most reaction I tend to get is when I say, "...Also, he was that Dothraki warlord on Season 1 Game of Thrones?" - "Oh! Him!" LOL.

The beauty of the trip was worth it, it was just really stressful when the shuddering started half-way through, and then the faint whine, which suddenly became a scraping sound on the way down from Crater Lake... I was shifting to lower gear as much as I could the whole trip, and it's a good thing I did, because they told me in Roseburg that if I'd gone any farther before hitting a Les Schwab, I'd have had to get the rotors replaced too. (The brakes were a little under $300; the rest of the cost was an engine sensor thing that had to be replaced after the check engine light came on.)

The houseguests thing would be less of an issue if it didn't keep dragging on and on; it's my Aunt from Missouri and her family, moving back to Oregon after their place on the James River was flooded out for the second time, so alas the bug thing wouldn't work! They were supposed to move right back into their old place here after a few weeks once the long-time renters moved out of their house, there was just supposed to be the traditional notice period to wait out. Except of course there'd been more wear and tear than they expected, including mold, so they have a lot of work to do first .... and Mom being an introvert, she escapes to my place as much as she can to decompress.

And finally, GO AHEAD AND PROMPT ANYWAY, seriously. No guilt! This is a fun hobby, it's not meant to be a punishment. :)

[sulien]

Oh damn, I'm sorry to hear that your Aunt's family not only lost their home, but that their property up here has problems with mold. :( I definitely don't blame them for not wanting to rebuild in a flood plane, even if it only rarely happens. I hope the work goes much quicker than expected for everyone's sake.

[jedibuttercup]

The first time they got flooded out, three years ago, they said, "Damn, 100 year flood; just our bad luck." They got the most precious items of furniture out in a truck, then stripped and redid the drywall when the waters receded, replaced the furnishings, and tightened their belts. Then two years later, it happened again ... and this time, they said 'screw it', just stripped the drywall, and let the realtor do whatever they could to find a buyer who'd pay basically anything for still-stable walls and a riverfront property. Not exactly a profit, but it funded their return home, so at least they got to live the dream for a few years?

[pronker]

Ew, car expenses, ew. Best of luck to that. I am pleased you saw Death Valley in its glory; I went on a retreat there in about '78 and loved it in February. There were wild burros and ravens and great long days filled with sunshine, meditation and nearly fasting. Yosemite is a wonder, too. :0

Well, longterm guests may be a blessing and I hope the mom is enjoying company without the rush to 'oh I've got to show you local Attractions! Right this minute before you scamper away!! vibe. The dog I hope is an affable sort, like a St. Bernard.

I can boost the signal about your lovely generosity re ficcage. :) It's a treat for me to pronk to different sites and gossip spread the good word.

[jedibuttercup]

The guests thing is complicated in this case by the fact that it's her younger sister (my aunt) with husband and just-college-grad daughter (plus giant friendly bloodhound), moving back from Missouri. They're currently cleaning, floor-sanding, repainting, etc. the house elsewhere in town they had long-term renters in, preparatory to moving back into it. It's just taking forever, and mom's an introvert, so not having any downtime availability, not being able to laundry when she needs to, etc., is really weighing her down. And her 40-pound dog keeps getting exhausted and accidentally injured trying to keep up with the friendly giant, so there's that, too. But otherwise: we are all glad they're back in Oregon! It would just be really nice if they were in their own house already.

The vacation WAS glorious; I'm really looking forward to printing my pictures. And you can boost the signal, sure. Just make sure people know to read the rules. :)

[graycardinal]

I'd been thinking of a signal-boost post myself (though my range may not be all that wide). Off to do that, then.

And I was thinking that 150 lbs. of dog had to be pretty substantial, There are a lot of dogs in my new neighborhood; most of them are small, but I've seen a couple of big ones -- including one that I *think* I remember the owner describing as 90/10 wolfhound/poodle. Now that was a BIG friendly dog....

[jedibuttercup]

:) Thanks!

And yeah, Moses weighs as much as my aunt does. It's fortunate he's overall pretty well behaved. He even waits to have his mouth wiped off after drinking from a bowl, so as to minimize drool. Still, that is a hell of a lot of dog disrupting my mom's pets' routines, and getting mud all over everything on a regular basis.

[grundyscribbling]

The trip sounds awesome even if the car expense from it weren't!

Sorry your mom is stuck with long-term guests. Even when you're fond of them, it's hard to feel like your own space isn't the retreat you're used to. Hopefully there's an end in sight?

There are people who don't recognize Jason Momoa? o_O I mean, ok, he hasn't been in Tolkien or Star Wars, but SG Atlantis, GoT, Conan, and Justice League ain't nothing... (Wasn't he also on Baywatch back in the day?)

[jedibuttercup]

They're working on it; my uncle was sanding the hardwood floors this week, and planning on painting this weekend. Crossing fingers they can start moving stuff out of my mom's garage and into their place next week.

And, yep; nobody at work knew who the heck I was talking about, even the other scifi fan (she's a Disney/Star Wars nerd). I'd believe Baywatch; Jason Momoa's been pretty more or less since day one! And now that I google him: yep, 30 episodes, dating back to 2001.

I have the same issue recommending Karl Urban to people, though; he's even bigger, and has been in basically everything, but then again, basically the entire list of his credits qualifies as 'genre movie' in one way or another. The only one people recognize for him is "the new Bones", even though I will forever and always knee-jerk recognize him as Eomer.

[flingslass]

I just had a service cost me $500 🙃 and I wasn’t driving through Death Valley (I did go to Broadmeadows! 😳