November 26, 2004

  • The Nest.  To which I have returned for a family visit.  Last year this time, I was travelling with Dr. Rogish through Wales, after seeing York and Amsterdam for the first time.  We had Indian food for our Thanksgiving meal in Llangollen, and the next day, went and saw the Dr. Who museum.  We'd driven as far as we could from Caernarfon, a beautiful old castle on the Menai Strait.  We stayed in the Victoria Inn, on the river Ee.  Beautiful place.  You can see the pictures at my Yahoo! Photos site.


    Gainesville remains mostly the same, although I'm seeing WAAAAY more Bush '04 stickers than I did the first time around.  Lots more conservatives around, even though the county actually tilted towards Kerry.  Also, lots of Bible Belt billboards for Anti-Choice and god.


    That was something of a lemon and salt in a wound, as I'd just found out that an acquaintance of mine -- a great guy, happily married, successful, just a great fellow -- unfortunately too late found out that he and his wife both carried a recessive trait for this incredibly rare congenital condition that causes their first-born child, a child very much wanted and welcome, to not be able to process food correctly, such that the child will likely be stunted and experience mental retardation.  Life expectancy: late 20's.  There is no cure currently.


    The couple has a 1 in 4 chance of conceiving a child with this condition.  The good news is that this can be tested for and detected in the womb.  The bad news, obviously, was that it wasn't, owing to the rarity and the dormancy in the parents, who exhibited no sign of the illness and thus had no reason to suspect anything.


    And they want a family.  They deserve a family.  But now . . . this.


    So to those who can't see beyond the rhetoric:  when confronted with the choice of bringing a child into a life of suffering and early death, what would you choose? Regardless of your answer, isn't that the point?


    Anyway, apart from that sobering news, Thanksgiving has gone very well.  I had a mircaulously flawless day in the kitchen yesterday.  The eggplant monreale I made for myself and a side for the carnivores came out . . . just perfect.  The Mississippi Mud Cake with glaze (a recepie I've not used for a cake I've made before) came out of the bundt pan in a perfect rippled torus.  And tasted fantastic.  Really, really fantastic.  And the glaze is brilliant -- my first attempt at making one, and the recepie was a good one.  Both cake and glaze are bourbon-esspresso combinations (with lots, and lots of butter, but oh well).


    And everyone was in a positive, upbeat mood.  This, above all else, was the best part.  Plus, my Aunt moved up here this year from Miami, so we all got to share a nice evening.  I tuckered out early, after a long day after a long night. 


    The night before, I went to the University Club (abbreviated to "UC" and pronounced by us "old-timers" to the city "Uck") and saw my incredibly talented friend, Charlie.  He had this fantastic, home-made "box set" of an anthology of music that he'd done since 1987 and on.  He'd recently acquired some old tracks from former bandmates.  Sadly, our old effort, Visitor, yielded fewer viable tracks for his album.  I think he could have stuck on a great cover we did of "Ashes to Ashes" by Bowie (despite one little missed cue of the vocals), but he already had a Bowie cover on there that he did with his last band, Cracked Actor ("DJ" was the song).


    But he also had a couple of songs on there that I'd never heard from a group he was in called Penguin that I'd never heard.  And the old proto-version to a song he later did in an a cappella effort, a song called "Sunbeam."  And, most poignantly, the song "Gethsemene," from a live show that several local artists did a few years back of Jesus Christ, Superstar.  That one made me cry.  I was in that show only peripherally, helping out with the lashing of Jesus (I have, and can crack, a bullwhip) and some improvised keyboard during the crucifixion, as the keyboardist was also Mary Magdalen and had to weep at his feet.  Anyway, I'm nowhere on this compilation, but that's pretty irrelevant, as it was Charlie's anthology and just a fantastic and well-packaged effort.  He really is quite an artist, in every sense of the word.


    Well, I've got lots more blather about the week, but it's really been mostly lowkey.  Which I think I really needed.  Work has just been . . . brutally taxing lately.  This week has been a mild reprieve reminding me that some things, like family, are much, much worse.


    Just kidding, ma.  Heh.


    I return Sunday, so wish me safe and speedy journey home.  It's going to be ugly, I'm sure.  But I'll be glad to go home.  I miss my cat and Mr. Fresh, among others.  And two weeks from now, Jennconspiracy's birthday night at Teatro ZinZanni! That, I'm looking forward to lots!