Well, hello everyone! I thought I'd better do this again and try to get it right. I'll keep up the gaming posts but it's going to be difficult if we don't get together and GAME...ya know? So I'll use this one as a way to keep those interested up-to-date on what madness Wayne and I are getting into. As I sit here drinking spiked eggnog and looking out at melting snow and scarfing birds, I can't say that we're up to much at all. Wayne is in his dungeon, studying his little heart out for finals next week. I'm searching for a needle to sew up a pocket on his scrubs, typing this, playing with the cats, and wondering what the coming year will hold for us. I ought to break out the tarot cards and do a reading, but I seem to be able to read a spread for anyone but myself. Too close to the subject, too aware of what I want to occur versus what will occur...whatever the problem is, I don't seem to be able to get it right. I hope that Laura (our jeweler/goldsmith) will be able to find a doughnut for Wayne's pendulum. No luck so far in finding the same stone so he may have to go with snowflake obsidian or onyx. Labradorite seems to be rare. Recd an email from Krista, Ed's wife...was surprised. He's in the DC area, doing some work. If I get a phone # or an address I'll pass it on to Shanna - she might want to see an old friend again. Give him something to do after work besides sit in a hotel room or frequent bars! We'll be leaving for Mississippi on the 21st, taking the scenic route on Hwy 61, which follows the river down into LA. I want to stop in St. Francisville and see the Myrtles, an antebellum house with lots of ghosts. I don't know why they're called 'antebellum' since they were all built pre-bellum when the economy was thriving. The houses in Natchez were really impressive, and lovely, and Wayne would love to live in something like that! Too big, really, for me. But I guess if you can afford the house you can afford the help. Seeing my family this year, then next year we'll go to Boston and see Wayne's. I'd like to take a couple months off after Wayne completes this course and before he signs on with a hospital to journey around and see all our friends in the lower 48...scattered as they are from one end of the country to the other, it's difficult to get to them all in less time than that. Of course, then Katie will be in Germany and we'll have to catch a hop to see her (oh, twist our arms!) and Shanna will be yearning towards Canada, and who knows where Lisa will be...will you people sit still for awhile!!! I'm thinking about taking the final degree and becoming a Reiki master...not sure why it's nagging at me to do it since I haven't really had much of a chance to practice except on a few people, and I would think that I'd need more to really make use of the Reiki III stuff. Perhaps I can get a job at the same hospital as Wayne, giving reiki treatments! Ho ho - that's a good one. Micha has her doula certificate and will be working in that field now, having switched dreams and abandoned the herbal one. It's good to find something that you can be enthusiastic about, and this doula business has her attention. I wonder if Airen will be using her doula skills back in CA? She and Mike will be returning there as soon as he gets out, Mike says. They look good in their crowns and garb. I have to figure out how to get the comments section in this now...Shanna says it's easy; just follow instructions...kinda like giving directions - when they say you can't miss it, you will. Well...here goes.