Focha Ricks

Focha Ricks, my paternal grandmother, died last night. She died in her sleep and she was surrounded by loved ones. She had slowly lost a bit of her memory, I am told, in her latter years. I was happy to be able to help my family (my Father and his children) make a video to remind her about who were are and tell her that we love her at our last family reunion. It had been about 6 years since I last saw her.

I think that the first lesson she taught me was the importance of record keeping. Grandma used to maintain the family circle letters like clock work. Some memories are worth keeping. Half the blogs I keep, I keep for my own records, not necessarily because anyone reads them. These family circle letters also taught me the importance of family gatherings and family rituals. I was raised to believe family’s are eternal and are one of the only things that last in the world. I still hold family to be of paramount importance.

Her letters always talked about the meals that she ate in great detail. This taught me a lot of things. It taught me the importance of putting details into the writing I do, finding little anecdotes and latches that help people connect with it. It also, ironically, helped me understand the importance of enjoying a good movie. Despite the speed at which I eat my meals, I do enjoy their taste and do what I can to relish the experience as an experience itself. Its part of enjoying life for what it is.

Grandma Ricks put great stock in the importance of her pioneer ancestors. She was a direct descendant of Edward Partidge, one of the founding leaders of the Mormon church. At many family reunions we were told tales about the great things our ancestors did. This taught me about the importance of passing on traditions and oral family lore. It also taught me to respect those who have come before us and to recognize the great sacrifices that they have made. This in turn has helped me to understand the importance of history. Even now, when I study a thing, I first study its history. Knowing about the history of a person or organization helps you put it in the proper context of everything else it does.

Grandma was a powerful woman, but also a quiet one. She was, beyond doubt, a stoic. This taught me that sometimes finding the diplomatic solution to solve a problem will get more results than a more belligerent approach. I might not always remember this lesson, but it is nevertheless an important one to me. Grandma also taught me the importance of equity and dependability with her Christmas gifts. I was rather surprised to learn that they didn’t always receive Thank You’s when they sent them, but I was glad that I had been able to do so.

Most important of all, I am glad that I got to know her, both as a youth and in my second awakening of Adulthood. All of my many selves have respected her and the role that she has been able to play in her life and in family affairs. She is worthy of respect and will be missed.

Last Weekend

This weekend we had a lot of fun in North Georgia . We had planned the cast party for “Other People’s Musicals” on Sunday night, so we decided to make a weekend of it in North Georgia . Once I dropped Thunder off at Wag A Lots Saturday, Jennifer carefully looked for a hotel for us to stay in. This proved no easy task since almost all of them were full. She managed to find a really good one for around $70 a night, when most of them were going for at a minimum $150 a night. When we got there we took the evening pretty light. Just enjoying a chance of pace. We went out to eat at Schlotskies, which we both liked a lot. Then we read and then slept. Right now Jennifer is reading “Celtic Blood” about Gaelic vampires. Bram Stoker and a lot of the original vampire writers were all heavily influenced in Ireland , and apparently the earliest legends of vampires occur in Ireland . Sounds like an interesting book. I’m reading “Conversations with God” which was lent to me by Rita Moore (one of the two people that helped us meet) and “The Reluctant King” by L. Spring Decamp. When I’m done I’ll post a review on the review blog.

Sunday we had a continental breakfast. I was really tired because I’d been fighting evil things in my dreams…note…this was not a nightmare. I was kicking their imaginary…asterisks…and took a nap later to finish the job. We had lunch in Helen Georgia at the Troll Tavern, which is awesome. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs and Jennifer had the sampler which was authentic German cuisine. We wandered around the town which is both beautiful and awesome. We skipped the Live Tarantula museum. I’m really mixed on that. I mean, on the one hand, it’s a live tarantula museum. How often do you get a chance to see one of those? At the same time …FRACKING SPIDERS….so….maybe next year. Then we got Funnel Cake with ice cream at Grandma’s Funnel Cakes. They were quite delicious. We ended up buying a tiny glass dragon figuring for only around $15, which made me feel better for not being able to get any art at Dragoncon this year due to budgetary concerns. It had a little light up stand, though when we took it home we declined to use it because apparently it highlights the phallic imagery in the castle the dragon is wrapped around that isn’t quite as apparent when it is just in normal daylight. It does look awesome though. We drove around and looked at the beautiful mountains and beautiful leaves.

Later that night, we went to the Singer’s house. Janie, Patrick, Rita, Jennifer, myself and the Singers were able to make it. They had an amazing log cabin house, modified off a template on the internet. It’s the kind of place you always imagine living in some day, and they actually did it. The food was amazing, a combo of barbeque and Philipino food. We then wrapped up the evening by singing from “Professional Karioke X”. The secret was staying on key at the end and volume. As you might imagine….I did rather well. Jennifer’s first song didn’t go so well but her second “Puff the Magic Dragon” got an excellent score.

Other things: We’re watching Heroes….moderately interesting. The Carnival of Doom might be cool or it might be stupid. But we’re hanging in there to see where it goes. We have TWO Netflix disks for supernatural right now because I shut down my movie queue (in part because I have a job now) and shifted the disk to the TV show queue. Supernatural is *AWESOME* as a show.

I have a job

Albeit a very short one. The contract is only for 4-6 weeks, and by the tone of the interview, I suspect that it will only be four weeks, but it is work and will help make Christmas a little more enjoyable this year. I am supposed to start this Thursday. The really good news is that it is at the best place I've ever worked before and I'll be quite busy. I always enjoy an assignment when I'm up to my eyeballs in stuff to do and can really push myself to the limit.

We saw Zombieland this last Friday and enjoyed it quite a bit. While the world is not perfect, it could be worse. Jennifer is enjoying her job quite a bit, and I'm taking time to enjoy the little things in life.