My Lady of the Lantern

..as normal is normal these days. I have an off today from work and so far I am just riding it out. In fact, as I am typing this I realized I left something on the stove that I have not stirred in the last 30 minutes... ... stir stir stir... There was a workshop these past three days, and I took care to stay comfortable. For afternoon sessions, I used to intentionally sit in the last few rows so that I could rest my legs on an adjoining chair. And oy, on Sunday (day 2 of the workshop), a colleague (*sniff sniff, yes*) asked me if ' my baby was a test tube baby or normal' . It was a little deja vu of what Mel had covered in a post not too long ago. Well, I just replied that I had conceived the baby naturally. Normal is an idiotic term to use really. I am sixteen weeks, two days today, and hopefully will meet Dr. BS tomorrow night. ^WiseGuy^

Mel proposed an informal online festschrift. Think of this as the most interesting delurking project that one could participate in. You can understand the project in full by clicking here , but in brief, the Celebratory Society is a way for you to tell me what my blog or actions mean to you. But this isn't about me--this is about you too. And I would love it if you returned to your own blog, started your own Celebratory Society post, added it to the main project list, and gave me the opportunity to tell you about... you . I have been blogging my IF journey since 2008, and in all this while I have met many bloggers who have deeply impacted me. I sometimes wonder, how I would have coped up without the empathy of my online friends. It is obvious, that I would have developed some survival tactics, but being online and amongst you has really added valuable buoyancy to me. I feel understood, and cared for. I would really like to also call upon my lurkers....I know you visit me often. I ...

I chanced to cruise my TV sometime in the afternoon when I got stuck on a movie titled Ghost Town . To be fair, the movie was to start in a few minutes, and a loyal ticker told me in no uncertain tones about the impending. Mix my penchant for horror with the opportunity to an unrestricted power over the remote control, and I was done. I expected scary stuff, screams and zombies. Instead the movie revolved around a dentist who had unexpectedly earned the ability to see ghosts, and how he deals with it. No screaming, no running, no hiding at all. I cannot say that I loved the movie. But there was a moment of serendipity. That scene is of the dentist and a dead man's wife talking about their past romances, and the dentist admitting that his previous relationships have been boring. This is what the widow says: We just get the one life, you know. Just one. You can't live someone else's or think it's more important just because it's more dramatic. What happens matters. Ma...

Please Please Pretty Please do you remember the post where I told you my mother's plan to meet a bigshot doc in a big-ho city? And I pre-empted the responses I was planning to expect? Well the Grand Union happened today, and the doc pulled out Card #4 in a mutated form. He phoned me up, and told me that he had been through the papers, and he would like to please meet me personally ( I am so shocked not ) and preferably bring along with me the fellow who plans to father the brood ( that will be tough, doctor ). The doctor apparently discovered that nothing major seemed to be wrong and also said something like: "...I want to treat you, not the papers..." ( clapping and lewd noises... ) And it appeared that my mother had managed to tell him how stuckheaded I would be at the idea of me making the pilgrimage to his shrine. I just told him that I would consider it, of course and yes, as of now, I have had a very hard time reconciling with the results of my oh-that-cycle in 2008...

There was once a man who lived life through his simple means. His prize possession was his horse – a strong, dark steed that he loved like a son. Once a nobleman passed the area and saw the steed. He offered the man any sum in exchange for the steed, to which the man did not acquiesce. The nobleman upped the price, cajoled and persuaded but the man refused to give up. Now, this man used to travel every week to the nearby town on his horse for supplies. On one such occasion, he was travelling through the woods when he came upon a beggar – haggard looking and apparently exhausted. Upon enquiry, the beggar told that he had been walking towards the town and was too tired to continue. The man immediately offered to help the beggar and asked him to mount the horse. The beggar mounted the horse and started laughing… it was the nobleman in disguise! The nobleman taunted that he could have offered any price for the horse and now thanks to the man’s foolishness, he would take away the horse for...