Really, it wasn’t that much

So, we got robbed. In that brief window of time on Thursdays when I leave for therapy but David is still at work, they got in. The nice thing about developing severe agoraphobia is that I’m always home to keep things safe.
Except when I’m not!
The dogs were here but unhurt. Their behavior today is overly alert and defensive so I am pretty sure that whoever it was that came in probably scared them pretty bad. That makes me sad, but again, they are safe and unhurt and that is truly the thing that is important.
The thieves got my laptop, the PS2 (dammit! i finally broke down and bought a video game system for the first time ever and we only had it for 12 weeks!), David’s electric guitar, our meds and a pearl and coral necklace my grandfather made for me (this makes me sad). It sucks that I lost my laptop, it really sucks. Luckily the drive had been backed up in January so I haven’t lost too much.
I had a goodly long cry and felt sorry for myself for a bit. It all just seems so unfair, why can’t unfair things happen in my favor.
But that’s the thing, they DO! Unfair things happen in my favor all the time. I’m an insanely lucky person. For as much as i complain about my financial situation or my crappy insurance, my tenuous grasp on mental health or the painful corn I developed on my toe, there are a million things that are absolute blessings in my life.
I watched a documentary last weekend about orphans in Uganda. As I watched it i realized that my dogs, my DOGS had better access to nutritious food, clean water and healthcare than most people in the world had. My dogs live better than many people. If i can provide, and I mean provide, this sort of life to my dogs when so many others are starving, then I’m not really in a position to cry ‘UNFAIR’ for losing stuff that exists only to entertain me. I want my stuff back, yes, and i wish they hadn’t taken it, but I recognize also that I’m going to be just fine. I just ate dinner, my belly is full, I made a grocery list for tomorrow because I can afford to buy food, I might take a bubble bath later because I have SO MUCH clean water that I can fill a tub with it and use it for fun not critical hydration.
I am sad and upset that someone came into my home and took things that were important to me, this is true. But also I am grateful that I was in a position to have those things and that most things can be replaced. I cannot replace the necklace from my grandfather, and that does hurt my heart a little. I did not wear it often, but it meant a lot to me that he made it for me.
So, we will move on, David, the dogs and I. We will find replacements and continue on through this life and it will become a small footnote in this chapter.
On an unrelated note, the Ben and Jerry’s flavor ‘Bonnaroo Buzz’ sucks Bonnaroo balls! The only way I can describe it is a sticky, sweet, one-note mess. Terrible, bad-day comfort ice cream! (and there, again, it’s hard to complain too seriously about losing anything when I can buy $3.50 ice cream and complain about it!).
Go, back up your hard drives! Copy your email address books! Hug your loved ones! And be safe.

Ten years…TEN!!

Today is the 10 year anniversary of The Velvet Cerebellum. Ten entire years. Ten years ago I was in my office at MCAD and I made my first test post. It didn’t mean anything, just testing out the posting function by throwing out whatever was in my head at the moment (a habit that has stuck with me and served me well). Sadly, I don’t have a screenshot of the site from those early days. I wanted something bright and colorful, it was a monsterpiece of fuchsia and purple. Later we did a redesign and came up with a softer and more subtle color scheme. Sometime around ’05 or ’06 I switched from the custom ASP app that had been built for the site to Movable Type and with that came the pepto pink.
I like the pink. Sometimes I consider redesigning the site, but I do really like the pink.
Also, I am absolutely terrible at designing anything at all, so it’s best to stick with what is working.
Ten years, 1400+ posts. The thousandth post was made not long after the 5th anniversary. Not a terribly even distribution of posts, but my life…it’s not all that terribly evenly distributed. I always make a promise to myself that I will post more…and in my head there are a million posts bubbling at any given time, all the things I think about and want to vomit out into these little, neatly ordered boxes. I have opinions and I want to share them. Then I get distracted.
It’s funny to think about all that has changed in that time. The person who I was at 27 versus the person I am now at 37. Cats to dogs, girlfriend to boyfriend, relatively sane to…whatever it is that I am right now.
I’m going to do it again, make that promise. I’m going to promise to write more, because what this world needs is more digital blather and drivel, the world needs to know my opinions on health care and vodka and centipedes and shoes. The world needs more noise encompassing the signal.
The world needs me and my family.

click to embiggen
click to embiggen

xoh

Sometimes there are times

If you are reading this at facebook, please follow this link to see the entire post.

I’ve posted this before, but always it makes me happy. I spend most of my time flipping out and being crazy, but when I am not doing that I am doing things like playing video games where overly-tattooed, giant green men dance around a bar in their underpants.

Also, the Pope of Spongebob Village makes the occasional appearance.