.com-ing!

“TIRFCMF!” BT

Not only will I be graduating on May 23rd I “have been selected to be the graduate” commencement speaker.” Whoa! Who? Wha? How could this be? on April 25th I sent a 3 min speech, in all its draft glory, and thought “There are so many holes in this speech. There is no way this will be selected.”

I’m still thinking “No way?! No way. No way!”

I don’t consider myself a writer and will continue not considering myself a writer. That’s not my thing. I have other people in my life that do that - emma, BT, Marty, etc.

So. Instead of relaxing and reading two books - one nearing completion and the other completed - I’ll be working on a speech and doing my best to memorize it. HFCIT!? Holy uber unexpected. Truly a speechless moment. Nearly everyone says “You’ll be so comfortable up there!” to which I find myself saying “I’m terrified. This is completely different than acting. Completely different.”

While my experience on stage will help me public speaking is a game of its own. For those in attendance close enough to see me or those of you with binoculars I may sound and look calm, cool, and collected but know that I’ve been tense in my neck, shoulders, and have likely had a headache for a few days.

I can say all this even though commencement isn’t for 10 days. Why? The moment I read “congratulations” I felt my muscles tighten. What does that mean? It tells me I have an abundant amount of energy and emotion at the ready.

If Ed Sherin were here he’d ask me “How do you feel?” I’d say “Terrified.” (with a smile). He’d ask “How does that feel?” “Good. No. Great. I feel great!” My feelings won’t control me but I’m not going to attempt a burial. Why would I do that?! Jimminy!

Ganbarimasu! (I’ll do my best!)

acronym assistance help time:
hfcit - how freakin cool is that
tirfcmf - that is really freakin cool my friend

The genetics of my family, scratch that. The genetics of my family members are a bit, well, no, they aren’t exactly the same. My mom has a number of sisters and brothers and yet none share the same genetic code. My gram isn’t actually my (blood) grandmother.

All this and more filled the room at Gram’s place yesterday (Mother’s Day). I learned about her night time adentures bacck in the day when it wasn’t commen for women to be out late driving around (aka home). She told me/us (mudda - Gary S and Joseph were there too but were napping) that she made a fake ‘man’ passenger because she had been followed a number of times. She cut the lights and turned down her driveway to lose the shadow driver.

The fake passenger inccluded a fedora hat. HFCIT!

She (Gram) said she did things that weren’t common. She was a ground breaker. I punctuated the sentiment by asking/saying something along the line of ’so all of my ground breaking different approaches were to be expected then… yea?’ It’s in the blood would have been the best answer except, as noted, there isn’t any shared blood.

My (close) extended family and I share a close nit bond but only a handful of us actually share genetics. It’s entirely peculiar. Brothers and sisters with different fathers and/or mothers and small percentage with the same moma and dad.

Then there was me - the only child. In a family best described as a mixed tape I somehow found myself the only single purchased from iTunes. My world upbringing was so different and yet shared so many simliar people and things.

Shifting gears, emma is the only grand child that is remotely interested in having a child. Such a strange turn of events. Off to the day. To be noted — There are only 5 days left in the semester… My last semester in my MFA.

How did that happen!? All of a sudden — Poof! I’m single. The ring (displayed to the right) is gone. And it didn’t even cost me anything! No heartache. None of those money things. None. Nada. Zip.

OK I did lose something. My ring finger is lighter. Less with the weight. Pullin me down. Oh so low. Down, down, down.

The good news. Yes! There is good news in all this. Stay with me here.

It’ll all be over in six week. That’s all this process will take. Whoa! Strike that. Five weeks. Wow! That first week flew by like a rocket. Good stuff. Ho-lee! Right. By the 23rd of May things will be… Gosh, how do I say this.

Well, they’ll be back to the way things were back on Jan 7, 2006. My ring will be just like new thanks to the supreme customer service kindness of Kazutoshi (he’s the main man in the NY location) and Machiko (formerly of Niwaka now with Kiteya in Soho). Niwaka provides a free cleaning service within two years of the purchase. Well, due to the Soho store closing and the timing of the Grand Opening (Dec 2007) I wasn’t able to take advantage of this fantastic service.

An email or two later things were organized for the service. I just needed to find time to get to the store. Last week emma and I zoomed into the city, dropped off the ring and then zipped east to Candle Cafe for dinner. Yum. Yum. And yum. I think I could eat their food daily.

With the ring in Kazu’s hands the ring has be sent back to Kyoto, Japan for the fixin up’in. When they do things they do em all the way. It was made there. It’ll be fixed up there. And that’s just the way it is. Squee!

So, by the time I walk at commencement my rockin ring will be back from Kyoto uber fixed up and ready for the camera. Six Four!

A long time ago in a series of tubes far, far away…

I signed into a website called: Geezeo

Today, I’m featured on their blog as a “Super User”! (insert super hero music here) Dun dun dun!!!

I’m posting the interview after the jump for historical purposed but you can click on over to their site to read the full on details by way of this happy go lucky link: we heart Gary Ploski

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Last night while going through my ‘relax, relax, relax it’s time to go to sleep’ ritual I had a thought about the word - family.

It may have been because emma and I have been speaking about the future a tad lately and the thought stuck somehow. Within a few minutes I heard my idea fill the darkened bedroom. I hadn’t fallen asleep and succumbed to to sleep talking. No, no, no. My voice was silent but my brain juices flowed on.

The ritual was put on the side burner and I had enjoyed a short laugh chuckle within my skull. Family. Why had I thought - I have a family of my own now - emma, Cthulhu, and Magneto. They’re not able to communicate and I don’t feel for them in any way like any other family member but they are a part of the fam. Baffling.

Sure, sure it’s simple to most people that have had animals in their lives but for me they are the first two animals I helped raise. It’s been over 1.5 years that they’ve lived here with us. At night, they sleep by my side, leaning against a foot or a leg. It’s, well, it’s wonderful.

It will be a number of years before another human is a part of the 11o1 crew so I’m going to enjoy the family as it is. </sentimental>

On a different family related note - BT relayed some boom to the moon news about Remembering Hypatia earlier this eve. Omedeto tomodachi. Omdedeto! I can’t wait to see what the papers have to say in 24 hours. Hoo-ha! HFCIT!