a chapter ending - kinda ranty

Two years ago and some change, my mother died. My mother was fairly prominent in the local pagan/wiccan scene and was either well-loved or well-hated, depending on to whom you were speaking and what day it was.

My brother and sister and aunt came into town when mom went into the hospital. My sister stayed only that weekend, my aunt a week or two and my brother two weeks. After that, it was all me, all the time, and it sucked.

Perhaps because she was so well-known and her "fans" were so vocal, I expected to have help other than family to sort through her house and her garage and her shed and her ex-husband's garage. There were naturally things that only family could or should have sorted. I was disappointed when none of those we-love-your-mom-so-much people came forward to offer their services in any capacity. I should just get over that already. :) I would have welcomed company, a bottle of Barq's, a package of Rolo's, useful boxes from the liquor store, or anything, really. I did have help, from some unexpected quarters, from people in the pagan community who knew me and wanted to do something to help me, regardless of whether or not my mother liked them. 'Cause, you know, my mother could hold a grudge like nobody's business. lol

You know who you are, and two years later, Thank You Very Much.

Now, at the end of two years and some change, I've done another sort-through, with the help of my aunt and a friend/former student of my mother's and a couple of people I consider "family," and there is a whole lot more that we're willing to let go now that we have the benefit of more hindsight. I gave the people on the two e-lists dedicated to my mother's memory/dream/whatever first dibs on what's there, free. Just come to the storage unit, go through the stuff yourself, and take what you want. Three weekends in a row, and offers to meet by appointment during the week if necessary.

Do any of those we-love-your-mom-so-much people so much as bother to respond to my posts? No. Does anybody show up? Two, out of hundreds of people claiming to be a friend of mom. One of those who showed up didn't even find out about my mom's death until just a few months ago because she'd been off-line for over a year, and I could see she was still grieving. She was able to find several things that she could use, and that would remind her of mom. Happy trails to some stuff.

I moved on to freecycle, which I've come to love for its ability to get things gone quickly. Not much luck there, either, despite offering a fridge, a stove and nearly half a dozen boxes of new office supplies, among other things. The fridge did go, after a couple of communication mix-ups.

Now, I'm left with a storage unit half-full of stuff that is perfectly useful, some holding memories of my mother, which will go to Goodwill or something similar because people just can't be bothered to get up off their tushes and come look.

If you're reading this and have been putting off coming out, don't wait any more. That stuff is gone this weekend. I'm sweeping out an empty storage unit by close of business on Monday. If you aren't sure whether to come look, just because you were on the s*** list, don't worry about it. I want this stuff to go to people who will use it. I want it to NOT go in the landfill. I don't want to have to figure out how to move a stove and a coffee table by myself (a little selfishness, there). And if you didn't know my mom, but you're in the Dallas area, let me know! I'm an equal opportunity giver-awayer.

The biggest night of SciFi ever...

For some reason, this didn't post the first time. I'll fix it if it posts twice.

*******
Uh-huh. Talk about false advertising. All season long. Obviously, YMMV.

May be some minor spoilers.

I've been giving Battlestar Galactica a chance. I liked it as a kid,
thought the mini last year was OK, and hey, it's on Friday with SG-1
and SGA, so what the heck, right?

I'm still not into it. I like the actors, I even like a few of the
smaller sideline storylines, but the A stories? Not so much. Dr.
Gaius and that blonde chick? Could go away and I'd never miss them.
The whole Cylon-occupied Caprica? Who cares? the President mumbles
or something and if I didn't watch TV with the captions on all the
time I would have a hard time catching some of her dialogue. The only
thing I got curious about during this last show is what if Dr. Gaius
himself is one of those Cylons that don't know they are? I'd like to
see more of the interaction with Starbuck, Apollo and Adama, because
really, that's the only thing I care about.

SGA - So far this season, I've been a bit disappointed. The
resolution to "The Storm" was much too easy and somewhat
anti-climactic. Last Friday's ep was just boring. The most exciting
thing was finally finding out what those five gate addresses were, and
that happened in the last 5 minutes. Perhaps this episode did not
appeal to me because the new person they have playing Dr. Weir does
not appeal to me (and by new I mean different from the person who
played Dr. Weir in the setup episodes of SG-1). I just don't like the
way she plays the character, and she is unappealing to me in general.
There is not enough Major Sheppard, and bit too much Rodney McKay. I
want some world-visiting, some interaction with the Athosians, some
something.

SG-1 - I really like SG-1. I want to have fun watching it. This
season, my fun moments have been few and far between. I truly enjoyed
the episode with Claudia Black, even though the majority of the
interaction was Vala and Daniel, with a bit of other people thrown in
at the end for good measure. I might have enjoyed this one more
because I caught a couple of Farscapeish moments. Could have been all
in my head. :) "Citizen Joe?" It took me about 12 minutes to wonder
why there was no SG-1 action. It was all flashbacks, and not new
flashbacks like they'll have to do when BB comes on. It got old for
me quickly, and seeing Jack O'Neill in his blues at the end mitigated
my disappointment only slightly. There were moments when I felt like
they had picked my brain to write the dialogue, but even those were
not exactly what I watch SG-1 for and weren't really funny to me. I
wasn't in the offended camp, either, just "Can we have a good new
episode now, please?"

Both of last week's eps left me feeling like I had wasted my time
watching them. What a bummer. I am looking forward with great
anticipation to the additions of Lou Gossett, Jr., Beau Bridges and
Ben Browder, in hopes that some new blood will stir things up.

If you saw something I didn't, please, clue me in. I'd love to lose
this nasty feeling of two-hours-wasted.