Changing the Pretty

I was getting tired of the other color scheme - I needed to return to my blue roots. Something a bit more soothing, a bit less busy. :)

So 'ere we go.

I still need to add my little mini-intro, my blogroll, and my links back up - I'll get that done in the next couple days.

A couple changes - I'm finally ditching Haloscan, and will start using the Blogger comments. Definitely drop me a line on this entry and let me know if things are working okay.

But yes... everything will be working again shortly. I'm just in the middle of changing... *ahem*

Webring cleaning

Back on Diary-X, I'd maintained a little webring called "A Glimpse of Time." It's happily still going, although I'd forgotten to update some things with my new template (and with the demise of Diary-X).

So if anyone's interested in joining or rejoining, all of the links are now fixed, and the new homepage is here.

- Mel.

The orange just wasn't doing it...

And I was rather envious of Melinda's spiffy little template, so I popped over to the same designer.

I'm not really a pink girl-- but it is a cute template. :) AND... it actually loads correctly on my work Mac (unlike the orange), so... yeah.

Testing...

Ignore post... testing uplink of site due to FYI on problems...

Links updated

I've updated and realigned all of my read links. All of the former DXers have been updated to their current locations. The only person I couldn't find a new link for was Georgie. If anyone can update where she's gone to, please let me know.

:)

Overhaul Week FYI

In order to clean up my links (due to DX death) and just give everything a good scrubbing around here, I'm putting this FYI up.

Parts of Measi (dot) Net will be a bit wonky over the next week or so. I'm going to be moving a LOT of stuff around as I update pages, clean out some dead files, and get things a bit better organized.

This WILL NOT affect Minarae's journal, which is in its own subfolder. My journal, however, will most likely be offline for a good portion of Saturday as I get it set up in WordPress. If you see this page switch to something autumn-like, then I'm done. :)


My basic plan for the next week or so....

Saturday, Mar. 4th: Update all Stitching pages.

Sunday, Mar. 5th- Friday, Mar. 10th: Copy and paste all Blogger-centric entries in to WordPress, & categorize them. Continue to archive 2001 from Diaryland archive if time permits.

Saturday, Mar. 11th: WordPress version of journal goes live.



Whee.... intarweb work....

Webbage

It's been all over my friends' pages for the past couple days... but Diary-X is no more. For various reasons, both explained and not, it's not coming back. Everything's lost. Apparently some of the more devoted DX'ers are going to try to put together a replacement... and I wish them the best of luck.

Yeah, I'm a bit sad. Mostly due to the connections I'd made there. I mean, hell-- in just over a month, I'm going to the wedding of two people I met through DX... and who met each other through DX, for that matter. Until the end of 2004, my entire relationship with Erich was written about as it developed.

Erich lost everything he'd written there. I've done an archive search for some of his stuff... and did find a few writings, which I saved to my computer for him. But for the most part, everything's gone beyond what I had the sense to cross-post to diaryland or LJ. At some point, I know he'll set himself back up. I've (of course) offered whatever he wants on measi.net.

Le sigh....

But it's time to move on, as many others are doing. In my case, that's getting around to finally making my journal how I want it. I've found a WordPress template that I like, and it's uploaded and live. I just need to get the entries transferred over there, and then move everything into the blog folder. It'll take some time, but it's stuff I want to do.

As I work on that, though-- I need updates for webpages so I can update my links. I've found some on the DX form that was set up on the old site. But if you haven't added your info there and are reading... drop me a line and let me know where you've moved to so I can find you again.

~ Mel.

Now that I've spent a couple days trying to get this thing to work... :)

I'm going for a serious triple-header of gaming this weekend. First down to play Sideport in Randolph for the afternoon, and then Erich and I are driving up to Nashua to spend the weekend with Tan and JT. We'll play our traditional Innburners game this evening (which Erich and I will be late for), crash out for the night, and then tomorrow play the new campaign, Legacy. It should be a lot of fun, even though most of the Boston crew have decided to be pissants and not come up to NH for whatever reason.

So I'm off until tomorrow night... take care!

--Mel.

Ah! NOW it's working. Coolness. Publish button is good. Really. It's our friend.

For some reason none of my posts want to come up on the template. I'm wondering what's wrong. *sigh*

Ah well... sooner or later I'll figure this thing out. Then we can actually start doing some rambling from time to time. So here's another test....

Okay... severe lag time I take it with blogspot? Yikes... nothing's showing up.

So... how's this thing working? This is a very odd system. I think I'm getting all confused.

Ongoing Cast of Characters and Common Terminology

The Players

Measi: That would be me. I have a bio file on another page... you can also press the "about" button to the left of this text block. :)

Erich: My boyfriend since late May. It's frightening how well we get along together. He's 27, a born-and live-long Massachusetts guy (no accent, I might add), and is interested in just about all of the geekiness that I am. I love him a lot. I'm just having to get over all of the crap from past relationships to open up to him more, so our relationship is going very slowly. Erich currently lives in one of the South Shore suburbs of Boston... and has a car. (oooh.... ahhhhh).

Little Gray Man (LGM): Male, 25, born in NJ, grew up in Florida, now lives in the suburban wilds of NYC. Also is an adoptee. He is the person who has helped me develop my most dysfunctional friendship... in both good and bad ways. Ex-lover, ex-pseudo-boyfriend, ex-roommate (reverse that in the order that they happened). We're in the middle of repairing six years of shit right now. Not sure where it's leading, but hoping to regain the trust and get rid of some of the fear that I have toward him. He is an extremely passionate, sensitive person who kinda lost his way the past couple years, and now (hopefully) is starting to dig under the crap to get back to the gem that's underneath it all.

Wildcard: Male, born 1976 in Columbia, adopted and raised in New York. Lives in Boston. Wildcard is, well... probably the title he holds is You Lucky Fucking Bastard. Both in and out of our roleplaying sessions. Wildcard has tons of energy, tons of curiosity, and is completely spontaneous. If you've ever read the DragonLance novels, Wildcard is Tasslehoff incarnate.

Avatar: Male, born 1976, raised in upper New York State. Lives in Boston. Avatar's also an ex-roomate who moved into Egremont with LGM and I for the last year that we lived there. Avatar's a guy's guy... and until the last year or so was in more of an annoying college guy mode. He's really come into his own in the last few months, and as he's grown, I've liked him more and respected him more. Avatar is infamous for extremely amusing melodrama (purposely created melodrama for the sake of joking around, I might add).

Ogre: Isn't one. :) But I don't have a better name for him at the moment, so I'll use part of his email-name. Ogre is 30, born and raised in Mass. I met him through one of my college friends, Ivy. He's a hockey fan, a fun guy to be around, and happens to be into the BSDM scene. Someone I was interested in for a while, but the night I was going to ask him, he told me about his entrance into the "scene." I'm a curious outsider and knew I wouldn't be relationship material for him. I never talked to him about it, and we've developed a good strong friendship. Ogre is one of the rare people who actually provides comfort to people who are hurting at the same time as *gently* pointing out issues/signs that might have been missed.

JT: Male, early-forties, born and raised in Mass, currently is engaged to and lives in New Hampshire with Tan below. Has three kids from previous marriage. JT is the DM--that's Dungeon Master, which is different than Game Master only in the sense that we're talking Dungeons and Dragons rather than Heroes--of an extremely large (15 people total) gaming group nicknamed the Innburners that includes LGM, Wildcard, Avatar, Tan, myself, and many others who will be probably be added to the list. JT's a very cool guy who helped me out a lot, and hopefully without too much "ick... twenties angst stupidity!" thoughts during the most recent drama round of LGM and me. He also has written some 2nd Edition D&D material and is currently doing a couple freelance projects for Wizards of the Coast and their upcoming RPG titles.

Tan: Female, 35 (she pointed this out to me after finding my journal. *cough* consider me whacked). Engaged to and lives with JT above. Has one daughter that lives with the two of them. Tan's the level-headed female of our gaming group, lots of fun, and a damn-good player. Over the past few months, JT and Tan have become very close friends of mine. If anything, I think I've started pulling away from the "Boston Crew" and find myself enjoying my time with them far more.

Grace: Female, mid-twenties. Raised in New York state, lives in Boston. Until recently was LGM's girlfriend. Major drama queen, and has a fit if her ass isn't kissed. That's about all I have to say about her. And now that LGM has broken up with her, I doubt I'll have much more to say about her. She's included only because of her inclusion in entries in Spring 2001.

Colley: Also known by his full name, "Colorado Kat." The big fuzzy love of my life. =) Colley's a Norwegian Forest Cat, which normally is compared to a Maine Coon. He weighs around 13 pounds, and when he stretches out next to me, his head is next to my knee, and the tips of his toes neary hit my shoulder. He's a lovebug, and definitely thinks he's a human toddler. He's also a wonderful older brother and protector of Fizzy.

Fizzy: Also known by his full name, "Mephisto." He's the little fizzy love of my life. :) Fizzy is a mixed-breed kitten born in June 2001. He's a lovebug, a strong purrbaby, and hyper as hell. He also likes to climb up my back and perch on my shoulders. One of his nicknames by my gaming group is Fizzylactus, which is a tie in with The Finn's description of Lich Kittens, and a lich we fought in one of our Dungeons & Dragons sessions. He's my little vicious kitty.

Dad and Anne: Live in Montana. They're happy. I love them both. Dad is an OB-GYN. Anne, my step-mom, trains special-ed kids with horseback riding and does some other part-time work. They've been married since 1999.

Mom and Jim: Live in Pennsylvania. They're planning to get married by the end of the year, but haven't actually set a date. Mom is a real-estate agent. Jim works his ass off for the electric company.

Scott: My pain in the ass 23-year old brother. Currently living in Arizona after getting his associates in virtual-reality design. I talk to him around the holidays, and otherwise don't really concern myself too much with him, because we have personalities that just don't mesh. Of course my mom still insists that we'll be the best of friends someday.

Em and John: My step-sibs on Anne's side. John's the same age as Scott. Em's a couple years younger. I've only seen them a few times each over holidays. John is currently in the army, and undoubtedly was called to action with everything going on in the world, but I haven't heard much from my dad about it.

Brett: My soon-to-be step-bro on Jim's side. Lives in Pennsylvania, and was working on his degree last I heard. I haven't seen him much in the last couple years.

---

Terminology

swapping: another term for penpalling. One of my nearly life-long hobbies. I trade letters and these addictive little things called friendship books--fb's for short--with pals all over the world. I don't even check to see how much money I give to the postal service. I'd probably cry. Let's just say that I'm probably putting someone's kid through college right now.

Gaming: anything to do with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), Heroes, or computer games. Unless it's computer related, it involves funky dice with four, six, eight, ten, twelve, or twenty sides. I keep a journal of our adventure recaps here.

The Great Reset: A final battle to our Heroes campaign in late April 2001. It was a disappointment. That's about all there is to say.

the T: Short for the MBTA, which is short for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, which is the subway, bus, and commuter train system for metro Boston. My standard mode of transportation for anything other than walking distance. Cars are an annoyance in Boston, so unless you have a deathwish between the insurance costs and trying to find a parking space, you take the T, which can get you just about anywhere--including Providence, Rhode Island.

Egremont: Name for the apartment that LGM, Avatar, and I... along with a couple others at times... shared for three years in Brighton. Egremont was actually the street name, but like everyone else who has an apartment that winds up being the group's hangout spot, it usually winds up pretending like there was only ONE apartment in existence on the street.


More will be added to this list as needed... so check back if you're confused. =)

A Glimpse of Time Blog Webring

The Glimpse of Time webring is a long-standing ring of online journals, blogs, and similarly themed websites from around the world. We believe that our entries capture moments of life among many individuals- allowing the reader a quick view of a moment of someone else's experience... hence, a Glimpse of Time.

New members are welcome from anywhere, of any age. We do not require any sort of content editing-- sensitive readers should view at their own discretion. All we ask is that potential members be writing their blogs for themselves. Blogs that discuss services, newsfeeds-only, etc. are not permitted here. We are about people, their passions, their experiences, and their expression.

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

All sites must have some sort of personal blog (aka journal, diary, etc.). Corporate advertising blogs, newsfeed blogs, and other blogs not related to some aspect of the life of the writer are not permitted.

Potential members should consider this an adult-level ring. We do not moderate our members for content-- we celebrate freedom of expression, and hope you do, too.

Blogs locked down (entirely) in "friends only" or private mode are not permitted-- it wouldn't make sense to be part of a webring if the public can't view your writings!


RING PLACEMENT RULES

The ring code must be placed upon the site before being approved to the ring. It must be placed on the blog template or on a page of webrings which is linked clearly from the entries template.

You may alter the ring text to match the style of other rings on your website. The only required links are previous, next, and the ring homepage.

Livejournal (and similar platform) users should place the ring code in their personal info page description text.

If you are unfamiliar with HTML and need some help, please email measiwitch@gmail.net, and I'll be happy to assist you in getting it on your pages.

Interested in joining us? Head over to NetRing and get started!

Cast and Crew

This is an ever-changing list, of course, but these are some of the people you'll most likely find mentioned around here, other than me.


Household

Erich: My boyfriend and better half. We've been together since May 2001 (and this journal has essentially seen our entire relationship to date). It's frightening how well we get along together. He's 30, a life long resident of Massachusetts (barely an accent, I might add), and is interested in just about all of the geekiness that I am (and then some). I love him a lot. We moved in together in September 02 (many journal entries have been written about said move). He also has his journal (talonscar.dx)

Jason: a.k.a. Little Gray Man (LGM) in prior entries. Male, 29. Also is an adoptee. Ex-lover, ex-pseudo-boyfriend, ex-roommate (reverse that in the order that they happened), re-roommate, and now-coworker. This is the epitome of dysfunctional relationships at its finest, folks... sit back and watch the show. :)

Colley: a.k.a "Colorado Kat." The big fuzzy love of my life. =) Colley's a Norwegian Forest Cat, which normally is compared to a Maine Coon. He weighs around 13 pounds, and when he stretches out next to me, his head is next to my knee, and the tips of his toes neary hit my shoulder. He's a lovebug, and definitely thinks he's a human toddler. He's also a wonderful older brother and protector of Fizzy.

Fizzy: a.k.a. "Mephista." She's the little fizzy love of my life. :) Fizzy is a mixed-breed kitten born in June 2001. She's a lovebug, a strong purrbaby, and hyper as hell. She gave us quite a surprise when we took her in for neutering-- we thought Fizz was a boy for the first six months of her life, and they dropped the bombshell on us that day in January '02.

Gus: a.k.a. "Augustus." In August of 2003, Erich came running up to the apartment one morning with the tiniest little black fuzzy kitten in his hand (emphasis singular). The four week-old, one pound kitten has now turned into a holy terror who takes down Christmas Trees and anything on side tables at will. He's the king of purring... loudly. He's also adorable and sweet-- at least when he's asleep.



Family

Mom and Jim: Live in Pennsylvania. They talk about marriage, and have an on-again-off-again relationship that I never quite know the status of. Mom is a real-estate agent. Jim works his ass off for the electric company.

Dad and Anne: Live in Montana. Dad is an OB-GYN. Anne, my adult-onset stepmother, trains special-ed kids with horseback riding and does some other part-time work. They've been married since 1999. I had a fall-out with my dad just after Christmas in 2002, and we really haven't spoken much since then. We're at that terse-but-rebuilding stage.

Scott: My pain in the ass 27-year old brother (also an adoptee). He lives in Arizona, and we don't really mesh that well. Of course my mom still insists that we'll be the best of friends someday. He's starting to grow up, but he still drives me crazy due to his bipolar disorder-- I never quite know how to react to him.

Em and Jon: My step-sibs on Anne's side. John's the same age as Scott. Em's a couple years younger. I've only seen them a few times each over holidays. Jon's a ranger and currently stationed in Kentucky after spending quite a bit of time over in Afghanistan.

Brett: Jim's son. Lives in Pennsylvania, and was working on his degree last I heard. I see him a couple times a year, usually around the holidays that I happen to be in Pennsylvania to celebrate. He's engaged to a sweet girl named Andrea. He's a nice guy, but since I live up here, I've never really gotten to know him beyond the "our parents are dating-- hey, how are ya?" sort of thing.


Friends & Others

Minarae and Petrouchka: Live in San Diego and are a very happy couple with cats. I met both of them through journals on Diary-X, but have had the pleasure of meeting both in person. Minarae and I are disturbingly similar. No, really. :) Beware-- we come as a pair in the journaling world. :)

Wildcard (Frank): Male, born 1976 in Columbia, adopted and raised in New York. Lives in Boston. Wildcard is, well... probably the title he holds is You Lucky Fucking Bastard. Both in and out of our roleplaying sessions. Wildcard has tons of energy, tons of curiosity, and is completely spontaneous. If you've ever read the DragonLance novels, Wildcard is Tasslehoff incarnate. He is in a serious relationship with Teresa (below).

Teresa: Wildcard's girlfriend. I don't know her very well, but she seems to be a nice person, and a good match to keep Wildcard grounded. They share an apartment together in The Fenway section of Boston.

Avatar: Male, born 1976, raised in upper New York State. Lives in Boston. Avatar's also an ex-roomate who moved into Egremont with LGM and I for the last year that we lived there. Avatar's a guy's guy... and until the last year or so was in more of an annoying college guy mode. He's really come into his own in the last few months, and as he's grown, I've liked him more and respected him more. Avatar is infamous for extremely amusing melodrama (purposely created melodrama for the sake of joking around, I might add).

Tone: One of Erich's ex-roommates and close friends since high school. Different person than Ogre above, although they share the same name. :)Tone's in his mid-twenties and shares an apartment with his girlfriend, Robin, and one of his co-workers, Dennis, in the apartment Erich moved out of to move in with me. Tone's active in community theater, loves video games, and has one of those strong personalities that can be both fantastic and frustrating to be around at times.

Kevin: A friend of Erich's from high school that I met when we first started dating. Kevin is a good friend both in and outside of gaming, and when we're off to do something like LAN's, premier nights at movies, etc., generally Kevin is with us.

Ivanna: a.k.a. Ivy. My best friend from college, who I met through my sorority (Tau Beta Sigma). Ivy and I were inseperable in college, but lost touch for a while during some of my mid-twenties bruisings. We're still good friends, and keep in touch when we can.

Andi: My oldest friend (since age 2). We have one of those friendships where we might not talk together for a year or two, but as soon as we're on the phone, it's like yesterday. Andi lives with her husband and daughter in the suburbs of Seattle.

Sisters: If capitalized, I'm referring to two or more of the collective membership of the Eta Gamma chapter of Tau Beta Sigma (Boston University). :)

Ogre (Tony): Isn't one. :) But I don't have a better name for him at the moment, so I'll use part of his email handle. Ogre is in his 30's, born and raised in Mass. I met him through one of my college friends, Ivy. He's a hockey fan, a fun guy to be around, and happens to be into the BSDM scene. Someone I was interested in for a while, but the night I was going to ask him, he told me about his entrance into the "scene." I'm a curious outsider and knew I wouldn't be relationship material for him. I never talked to him about it, and we've developed a good strong friendship. Ogre is one of the rare people who actually provides comfort to people who are hurting at the same time as *gently* pointing out issues/signs that might have been missed.

JT and Tan: Were (I thought) good friends of mine until a fall-out in March of 2003, where everything crumbled apart with honestly no desire to return. I spent a large portion of my weekends between September 2000 and March 2003 at their home, playing Dungeons and Dragons. Since the fallout, haven't mentioned them because... well, no reason to. *shrug*

Ade: JT's eldest. I miss her, but the situation with her dad was pretty much a silencer in our friendship as well-- there's no ill-will between either of us. I'm just a bit wary about hanging out with a teenager when I'm not on good terms with her dad. She also has a online journal (that is locked)

Grace: Female, mid-twenties. Raised in New York state, lives in Boston. LGM's ex-girlfriend, and a royal pain in my ass for the better part of late 2000 and much of 2001. Major drama queen, and has a fit if her ass isn't kissed. That's about all I have to say about her, other than my hopes that the karmic backlash on her is more than threefold.

About Me...

My name is Melissa Kathryn. I'm 30 years old, born and raised in Montana, and currently reside in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, trying to figure out how the hell I became so domestic so quickly. I share an apartment with my boyfriend, Erich, and our three cats, Colley, Fizzy and Gus (less commonly known as Colorado, Mephista, and Augustus... used when they're being brats).

I am the elder of two children. Both my brother, Scott (born 1978) and I are adopted in closed adoptions. I have knowledge of, but no contact with, my biological parents. My brother does not have any idea about his. We are not biologically related, and because of events during our childhoods, I do not feel close to him. My parents divorced on relatively good terms when I was 14. My father remarried in 1999, and he and my step-mother, Anne, live in Billings, Montana. My mother lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with her boyfriend, Jim. They are planning to get married in the near future, but have not set a date. From my parents' remarriages, I've gained three new sibs... Jonathan (three years younger than me) and Emily (six years younger), who are Anne's children, and Brett (four years younger), who is Jim's son.

I consider myself to be an eccentric person, and relatively private. Most of my life, I've been a loner, and even today I don't consider myself as having many friends... just several acquaintences. I enjoy the time I spend with the friends that I have, but struggle with social anxiety. Mine happens to come into effect mostly when I'm in larger groups of people. So while I want to spend the time with people, I'm also struggling to keep my anxiety under control all the time. It's a frustrating condition, but I deal with it as best as I can-- and I have a boyfriend who is both understanding and helpful in preventing me from being a hermit.

During the day, I work as an administrative assistant for the design department at one of the large publishing houses in the USA. My company creates and publishes textbooks for 6th through 12th grade. My educational background is in journalism, but I've found that my strengths are more in editing than writing. Unfortunately, since I've been out of school for four years, the technology behind desktop publishing has moved past what I learned, so I had to find a back-door into the publishing industry. I'm hoping to brush up on my skills and eventually get into editing or designing of some sort. For now, though, I'm very happy where I'm at because the environment is the best I've come across since college. I'm still recovering from my old job that had more of an effect on my psyche than I ever could imagine one job could have.

When I have free time, I love to read, listen to music (U2, Billy Joel, Sting, etc.), go out for ethnic food, goof around on my computer, and watch TV. My lifelong hobby is penpalling-- I swear I support at least a couple of postal workers' salaries on my own. I write to other women all over the world, and at last count (although I generally don't keep a count since it fluxuates), I was writing to approximately 90 people. For some reason, though, I can't get into correspondance via email with anyone other than people I know in person. For letters, I still have to write them longhand!

I welcome anyone who wants to write... just drop me an email and we can exchange addresses.

(and if anyone trades fb's, slams, etc... I do those, too.)


I am a religious person, but other than a pendant around my neck, I generally keep my beliefs and opinions about faith to myself, unless specifically asked. I am a practicing eclectic Pagan, believing in both the Goddess and God and their ongoing cycle of balance and counter-balance through the cycles of Nature. I started my path as a Wiccan, but have found my beliefs drifting to a bit less defined as of late. Like Wiccans, I try to uphold the Rede, which states "An' it harm none, do as thou will." A simple eight word phrase to say, but hard to follow, lemme tell ya! As with most other Wiccans, and several other Pagans, I also believe that all faiths are simply individual interpretation of an undefined Truth that's out there. I don't agree with the statement that there is only "one true faith," nor that everyone must follow the one I follow. In fact, I'd rather than more people think for themselves and follow their hearts to find their own individual paths to happiness.