He would have been 34, I think.
Did you know, dear Damien, that I’ve had your old Manila log sitting as a text file on my laptop’s desktop for … quite some time now? I’m always meaning to make an MT log to which I can import all these to… and then make it your original log’s colors, so we always have a bit of you to look back on, but I can’t quite get around to it for whatever reason.
But today, since it was your birthday, I popped it open to read a little. You don’t mind if I share one of your old entries with everyone else, do you? Dumb question, I know… you never hesitated to share yourself if it would bring smiles to people’s faces.
So here’s an entry, with … some formatting preserved. Damien’s log used to sport a navy blue background and white text… and he was inexplicably fond of font tags to change colors and sizes. Well, not that inexplicable, I guess… he’d go to any length to express himself.
The tidbit at the end after the hr is not part of the same entry, but I included it anyway, because … … well, because. ;x
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Sunday, Middle of the Weekend!! :-D
(10:20)
All weekends should be three days. I never seem fully recharged after only two. And four is too long because Monday tends to hit harder after an extended period of off-goofing. Three tends to feel JUSSST right. Of course, to do that and maintain some sort of economic momentum, maybe an eight-day week is in order… I have some serious thinking to do for when I take over the world, it seems.
So today I to go to Kasstro Valley to hang out with perhaps the single most generous family I’ve ever had the honor of knowing. And supposedly, I’ll have the honor of meeting the one they call Vishnu, the Running Shadow, the Free Radical. Maybe I’ll get to meet Quack Dosho too. We shall see.
(Shoot…gotta finish soon…they’re all logging on, and if they get me chatting, there’s no WAY I’ll leave on time….wait…kill AIM. BRILLIANT.)
Well, I should probably get ready. I will most likely not be updating this until I get back in the evening. Until then!
So THAT’S the Man Behind the Mystery….
(ashitano 0:15)
Wow.
It was really an honor to get a chance to shake the hand of the man to whom everyone who is reading this looks up. (Probably, if he’s not too blinded by a silly desire to remain humble, even the man himself.)
He’s got this aura about him and a quiet way of expression that makes it so that one can respect him EASILY. And he’s got that disarming smile so that despite your admiration you don’t feel required to take one knee and bow your head when you speak to him.
He’s also quite good at Taboo. We didn’t actually PLAY the game, but each of us took turns giving descriptions so that the others could guess. (“Others” includes, but is not necessarily limited to, Spark, Quad, me, and sometimes Kasspa.)
So what happened today? I got to Kassland on TIME for a change…warmed up on the piano, and was still warming up when Kass and her mom returned with Lloyd. Since I was already in place, I guess it was natural for the first event of the afternoon to be my entertainment of them. Nah. After lunch.
I’ve said enough of the kitchen wizardry of Kassmom. I don’t understand how she decides what to cook or how to cook it, because when you’re Kassmom, you simply have SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS of doing things right!! (With the possible exception of the way you might choose to honor the words “no, I’m full.”)
Lunch was great, after which I serenaded the lot of them with what piano skills I could muster. Then, using that Tool-o’-the-Devil Clavinova, we listened to some of the many MIDIs in Kass’s collection. (I call it the tool of the devil, because I know that if I had one I’d NEVER GET OFF it….) Then it was the aforementioned informal Taboo session, then DDR. Then dinner. Then cards. Ah yes, cards.
We played a game called Entrelevant. Actually the game doesn’t have a name, so that’s why I’m calling it that, so that when someone asks, I can quickly say “The name is Entrelevant.” Fun, fun game. Even a little chaotic. Kass, the Mastermind, won…but I put up a valiant fight and came in second. Kasspa is brutal…my my my. How is he brutal? See, the idea of the game is to get EXACTLY a certain number of tricks. Taking too many is bad; taking too few is worse. If you miscalculate and accidentally take that extra trick, well each trick you take thereafter really doesn’t hurt! And every trick you take is one less that is available for the other players! So Kasspa, upon winning that unwanted trick, would just eat up all the tricks he could, making the lives of the other players miserable. It’s a good strategy, but oh so ruthless. Spark had to bid us farewell before the game was over, but Kassmom took over for him and did quite well.
Then we played blackjack. I was dealer. Kasspa is, again, very good at the game. He was helping to coach the other people. Kassmom seemed to default to “hit” unless she had, like, 19. And she sure was a King magnet!! :-)
So, the day was fun, and it was good to get a chance to meet Lloyd. We spoke some over the meals, and at a few other opportunities when the mayhem of the afternoon’s activities subsided somewhat. It was also good to see Spark again. I regret not having the chance to meet Quad. But hey, life trudges on.
And thanks again to the whole family of Kass for their continued hospitality. And to think, all I can do in return is allow them to keep my camera and music books until the next time I see them. (Voops.)
At least I made no wrong turns on the ride home this time. :-| So then….time to turn in. I think tomorrow will be more sightseeing, and I’m expecting a phone call in the morning. So gooooooodnight.
Countdown to Damien’s return to New Jersey: 7 days
Trev is a nut. Because he ruthlessly oppresses my people, the shopping carts. Kidnaps them from their homes and hurls them from high places…and why? So he can revel in the mangling of their steel frames. One of these days, I will liberate all the shopping carts of the world and we will march.
