Passing For Normal

Wow, I feel like I haven't been much of a presence here for most of this year. Or more? Huh.

My friend Carol stayed with me for almost two months while her new house (a double-wide on a permanent foundation, with four decks and a hot tub, how awesome is that?) was being delivered, installed, hooked up, decked out (heh), and ever so eventually permitted for residency. We used to be very close friends, back in the 80s/90s, but then she moved out to the back of beyond, largely off the grid, and she and her husband listened to right-wing political talk radio almost every waking hour. The only way we can be around each other now is to agree never to talk about politics. At all. Not ever. Which is very, very hard for her since she got wacko bugfuck crazycakes obsessed with it and thinks Fox News is the most balanced and objective source of information currently available. *headdesk* It was uneasy, sometimes downright uncomfortable, with considerable eggshell dancing and some strategic avoidance and, when necessary, swift exits on my part, but we managed to emerge from it more comfortable with each other than we've been in a long time.

Carol had only been gone three or four days when my friend D arrived for a ten-day visit. This is a very long time, given that she has a personality roughly comparable in size and energy to a hurricane or a tsunami, if generally more benign. I love her power and her passion and her courage -- and her politics, thank all things merciful -- but it can be exhausting. She brought her two Rotties, Isabella (aka Izzles or Izzling) and Titus (aka TyTy), who are both delightful company. A good time was had by all, but holy crap, my social reserves were at minus infinity by the time she left.

D had no sooner left than I developed first internet connectivity problems -- which my less than beloved provider eventually managed to resolve, with considerable help from friend Dan the Man -- and then hardware problems. I'd been saving all my pennies for many months so that Dan could upgrade my desktop system, and this pushed that project into overdrive. I'll have to finish paying him off over the next several months, but hey, he knows where I live. *g*

Anyway, as of today, I am at last back up and running. VAST RELIEF. I am deeply not okay with being offline. Twitchy Mal has been seriously twitchy.

However, I am now forced to accept and adapt to CHANGE. Bye-bye, Windows XP. I will miss you. Hello, new beta version of Firefox; wow, you look different, and I do not approve. *glower*

TL;DR: I was socially overwhelmed and now I'm not. I was offline and now I'm back up and running. Yayz.

I have vast amounts of catching up to do, starting with e-mail and various backlogged communications. If I have neglected you, please accept my apologies and my good intentions to address everyone and everything that's been left hanging.

As for the whole lot of you: I've missed you! I glomp you! I hug the stuffing out of you! I beam brightly in your general direction! I shower you with shiny hearts!