Birthday The First:

Say hello and a belated happy birthday to Dawn, who turned a year older on Tuesday. I wasn’t able to attend her birthday celebrations, so I can’t tell you how they went.

Birthday The Second:

Say hello and a belated happy birthday to Lilith, who turned a year older on Wednesday. I was able to attend her birthday dinner last night, the write-up of which is available at Mari’s thingie.

Should it worry me that they’re both into Neopets and purple things? Perhaps…

(Update: Argh. It’s just my luck that I link to their websites and Diary-X is down. Double-argh, since both of them are on D-X. Hey, another coincidence?)

(Update II, Electric Boogaloo: And what was up with that waitress, eh? The one who insisted I looked like her co-worker, John? And had to invite other waitstaff to stare at me in amazement? Not to mention her determination to fill me with liquor. Wow. I mean, she was nice and cute and all, but still. Weird stuff.)

(Update III, The Search For Spork: There, are you happy now, Your Imperial Highness? *smirk*)

(Update IV, Humpbacks R Us: Diary-X is back. Go forth and leave them happy birthday comments. Yes, that is a direct order, damn you!)

I joined first, then Wendi joined shortly after. The Portland Bloggers group on Yahoo, that is. Turns out they (or is that “we” now?) meet on the first Friday of each month, and have done so for over a year now.

This was our first opportunity to do so. Great timing, wot?

We had a good time, drank some Henry’s (root beer, good stuff) and chatted merrily with other local folk who feel inclined to pour their lives and loves onto the Web for all to see.

It’s a fairly good bet nobody there had read either of our sites before the meeting, which is a Good Thing since nobody was compelled to ask awkward questions. We all had fun, and that’s what matters.

At any rate, I’m now a member of yet another group. Socializing is a good thing.

How am I doing, people ask. I’m getting along, I reply.

It’s not easy. Of course it’s not. Dismantling a relationship that’s been a dozen years in the building isn’t something you do or take lightly.

On the plus side, I am doing the right thing. I very rarely doubt that. Also, Wendi and I are being very cooperative with one another, very supportive, and are communicating well. The children are taking things fairly well, but we’re still going to get them some counseling as soon as we can.

On the downside, between the (gradual, impending) divorce and the KWJJ/KOTK situation (and other things I’m not yet willing to talk about here) I feel like my entire soul is in a vice. My heart aches constantly, and that knot in my belly comes and goes in an almost whimsical fashion. Nevermind that rampant self-doubt and depressed introspection aren’t really contributing to a healthy worldview.

I’ll be okay. Eventually. I have to be, or none of this was worth it. Between now and “eventually,” however, I don’t expect to be happy much. That’s the way it works, folks.

Gee, I wonder what I’ll do for the PPF this week…

I’ll try to keep this brief.

As of today, Wendi and I are no longer a married couple, for all intents and purposes. (The legalities will take a while, as legalities tend to do.) The parting is amicable, if tearful and saddening. The reasons and details may or may not follow at some later date. I may decide it’s nobody’s business. Then again, I’m also a shameless exhibitionist in some ways. Only time will tell, and right now it’s too damned soon.

I may take a couple of days off from posting, or I may not. Right now I’m not sure of very many things except that I have to get up in the morning and go to work, pretending that all is right with the world.

Good night, everyone. Sleep well, and cherish those you love.

At the end of a long, long, long work week — make that month — I was more than happy to take Wendi up on her offer of dinner and a movie Friday night. A chance to talk as well as just “be” together is always a good thing, especially lately. We have much to discuss, after all.

Dinner was at Red Robin, home of several varieties of burger-like gutbombs. The ambience, such as it was, involved birthday chanting from the waitstaff as well as general loudness among the patrons. We weren’t bothered, since it gave us the covering noise so our private conversation wouldn’t be overheard even by the folks sitting right next to us. (I joked about not wanting to be the person shouting at the top of my lungs if the room suddenly went quiet, “… and then she offered to give me a blowjob!” Great mental image, wot?)

After dinner comes the movie, at least on nearly every date we’ve had in our nearly twelve years together. (June 22nd, folks.) This time we picked the new Matrix thing. We bought the tickets, then strolled through the Fortress Of Chaos And Evil to kill time. We picked up some bug spray, mouse traps and moss killer. Presumably none of this is to be used on Yours Truly.

What can I say about “The Matrix Reloaded” that hasn’t already been said? My capsule review reads something like this: An uneven collection of set pieces is punctuated by weird talky bits. A few really cool things happen, but mostly the movie is painful to watch. We waited through the credits for the trailer, after which I thought, “So what?” At this point I’m disinclined to see the last movie in a theater, unless a lot of people I admire tell me it’s worthwhile.

Oh yeah, and the sex/rave/orgy scene was silly. While I have less against the blatant display of human flesh as my wife, she and I are in complete agreement this time: Any movie that requires that much pointless gratuitous sex can’t have a lot going on for it in the plot department.

(Wait, was this thing supposed to have a plot? Maybe not, but I had high expectations of the people behind a couple other movies I rather liked. Go ahead and laugh if you must.)

Wendi’s review, by the way, is right here. I’m not bothering with a full write-up.

After dragging ourselves home (by way of the Albertson’s in whose parking lot we, ah, parked all evening) (and wasn’t that a surreal experience, what with the asian couple carting a dozen large bundles of tee-pee and paper towels through the express lane at nearly midnight) we paid off the sitter and Wendi drove him home. End, Friday night.

Begin the morning, late. Like, almost noon late. In bed. I don’t think I need to go into details, here, but suffice to say it was a nice morning. Er, twice.

Wendi ran off to get her tires replaced (one flat, one with nail) and then we gathered the kids (one gleeful, one reluctant) for our first visit to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in ages. (Pictures will appear in the Gallery shortly after I complete this posting, mostly in the Natural Beauty section.) Afterward we went to Bi-Mart for squirt guns and a water slide, to Baskin Robbins for a sampling of the 31 flavors, to WinCo for groceries, and finally we landed at home.

All in all, I can think of worse ways to kill half a weekend. My goodness yes. Tonight, we dine on party pizzas and play silly games until bedtime!

(Update, 9pm: A new segment of the Gallery titled The Fam contains images of my wife and rugrats enjoying the rhodie gardens and the waterfowl therein. For regular “flowers and ducks” material, check out the vastly-expanded Natural Beauty area. Thank you.)