Thanks, all, for the encouragements about my own personal growth and my marriage. It’s a challenge — the marriage, that is — and honestly, it’s better at 6-1/2 months than I probably could have even expected. Maybe we’re just stacking the getting-to-know-one-another with the horrific-first-year?

I’m heading out of town for a bit to grab a bite of sushi. In Japan.

Well, really, Mike has business that takes him first to the small town of Misawa, then later to Tokyo. It’s 10:11pm, and in order to get to the airport in time to check my baggage for a 6:05am flight, I have to leave here no later than 3:30am. Ah, joy. I plan to keep myself up for a good while now, and then tank out on the long flight from Houston to Tokyo.

Oddly, this trip might (but I’m not promising) give me more of an opportunity to write. Mike’s working, but my agenda is semi-empty, at least the first week, since I haven’t found much to do in Misawa yet. I’ve been reading Parenting Beyond Belief as I’ve had time and hit the mood for deeper thoughts, and really do plan to scribble some of said thoughts down some day. Otherwise, I have a couple Jodi Picoult novels (thanks, Joy, for the loan!), some mystery/thriller brain candy, and the recent release of Carl Sagan essays.

Have a great couple of days, everyone, and I’ll be in touch!

I’ve imported posts from Oh, for the love of God… to here — so there’s a little disarray that I expect to continue for a time as I remove/rename categories and whatnot.

Thanks to Fred for the link to the Wordpress-to-Wordpress import/export plugin. Once I deleted the *thousands* of akismet comment spam, my file size was small enough to import old posts, categories, and comments quickly! Woo-hoo!

In case you hadn’t noticed…there’s a new page up above. From time to time, as I continue to settle into the new digs, I’ll be adding pages, so keep your eyes open.

My photos don’t seem to display properly in a post. *sigh* I went through this when I first used K2 on FTLOG, and fixed it — but can’t remember for the life of me what I changed!

***ah-ha! it’s a firefox issue — they show in IE. now what?***

I’d like to eventually export all of the posts from FTLOG and move them here, with their own category. While I can find all kinds of info about *importing* into wordpress, I’m not finding much about exporting — or importing from WP to WP, for that matter.

Any hints or suggestions?

I hate this theme. Guess I’ll be doing another K2 redesign soon. *sigh*

Okay, looking at it again, it’s redeemable. But damn, it’s going to take a lot of work.

Hmmm…this feels a little more warm and cozy. We’ll stay here for a bit (as temporary housing) while I build a permanent residence.

Alrighty then…on to K2. Pardon the dust again; it’ll take a while to find all of the parts that don’t “go.”

If you’re here, it’s likely (at this point, at least) that you’ve wandered over from Oh, for the love of God… — my blog home until just recently (today, in fact). Give me time, and I’ll have some real content up here. If nothing else, I have all kinds of thoughts bubbling up about how it feels to be newly-married at the ripe old (read: set in my ways) age of 35.
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What I expect this blog to be: As with FTLOG, IIWII (nice, eh?) will be my space for thinking aloud. Especially since I’m married to an introvert, I find that I often need to bounce things around for a while before even *I* know what I’m thinking. I expect my topics of conversation to be as eclectic as before, with perhaps an emphasis on current events, psychology/mental wellness, life as a parent, and life within a couple.
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What I *don’t* expect this blog to be: Even though I am newly “out” as an ex-Christian, I’m not planning rants and complaint sessions about my former faith. What I might discuss, however, is the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) mind shift that I’m noticing as I view the world through a different paradigm. Let’s just say that the Christmas season has been eye-opening to me this year in many ways.
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Another change: It’s possible — likely, even — that my husband will take up keyboard and contribute here and there. He takes no credit (or blame) for my writings, nor do I for his. We may be married, but we’re still most assuredly individuals!
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However you’ve arrived, welcome! Have a seat — the sofa’s soft and warm. Enjoy a cup of cocoa…or a dark beer…or a glass of fine red…or whatever you prefer. After all, this is the virtual living room; the sky’s the limit for your virtual bar tab!
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Finally, pardon the dust. Right now, I’m working with a chilly winter theme “out of the box,” which feels mightily appropriate, considering the 2 feet of snow that recently blanketed Santa Fe. Eventually, I’ll have something that looks and feels a little more like home.

hi·a·tus /haɪˈeɪtəs
–noun, plural -tus·es, -tus.

1. a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.
2. a missing part; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus in the medieval manuscript.
3. any gap or opening.
4. Grammar, Prosody. the coming together, with or without break or slight pause, and without contraction, of two vowels in successive words or syllables, as in see easily.
5. Anatomy. a natural fissure, cleft, or foramen in a bone or other structure.

6. What I’m on for the time being.

I anticipate resuming blogging (for real y’all) sometime in January, after the honeymoon. Expect a little remodeling around here at that time.

To those who actually know me and call me — I have a new cell phone number. If you need/want it, drop me a line via email: meanderwithme (at) gmail (dot) com.

Spotted today: vanity license plate “SMPLIFY”

On a BMW X5. Whaaaa? Um, okay.

~~~~~

driving along a country-ish road in Arizona

Mike: Oh! That burns me up Did you see that church?

Me: No. What did it say?

Mike: “No Jesus. No Peace. Know Jesus. Know Peace.”

Me: (mildly confused) Right, and?

Mike: It’s an ultimatum, a threat. Join our particular brand of religion, or else we’ll kill you all.

Me: I don’t think it’s meant to come across that way. They’re talking about peace in your heart, peace in your life — not a threat for world domination. So, you’ve always thought it was a threat of “our way or we’ll wage war?”

Mike: Well, yeah.

Me: Hmmm. Guess I’d better blog that one. I’ve never thought of it that way before.

~~~~~

Public Service Announcement

The Mike whom I’m marrying next month wishes for me to clarify that he’s not the same person as the Mike who comments here on a regular basis. Just so ya know…

He reads (yes, he’s even read my early on gushing), but has yet to delurk.