Jun. 1st, 2003
Productive away from guy groups
Jun. 1st, 2003 12:01 pmI'd come under a little bit of pressure to join most of the adult males at my church on a weekend retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains this weekend. But I think I've done better by staying at home this weekend, even by their standard... enough good works. At the risk of sounding self-congratulatory... Thursday and Friday I tracked down information about EA's mom, who lives in a senior care home in San Jose, after she had fallen and been admitted to the hospital (finding her son in Hayward, who was unaware). Even Kevin P. can't argue with that ;-). Friday night we watched Allegra after a sweetie's mom's death pulled ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dawnd out of town unexpectedly... no problems there. That was worthwhile, even if the favor will undoubtedly be returned at some point. (Besides, Kevin G. now has had a lesson in gender roles ;-). And then yesterday afternoon I helped the House Dreamland folks with their move.
So instead of talking about sports, fart jokes, doing warpaint and drums in the woods (or whatever else 60 guys do on their own, together) I like to think I've been more productive staying here. Nyah. And saved the $240 retreat cost.
Underlying all of this is that I'm really not comfortable in same-sex groupings of my gender, and will avoid them whenever possible. I much prefer coed or even female-majority gatherings... probably because I was routinely harrassed and even physically beaten by gangs or groups of boys in late childhood and early adolescence. So groups of men, however innocuous, tend to trigger a threat-assessment and wariness on my part. The presence of women make a given gathering somehow seem "safer" and I can relax. This is true in both social settings and in the workplace.
Anyway, on to more productive things at home... probably repairing the shower faucet valves this afternoon, maybe some electrical fixture prep work in the kitchen. And feeding the kids lunch and dinner, and putting away the pieces of Japan-trip-clutter scattered around my bedroom.
Random note:patgreene and I found an excellent Chinese restaurant last night, the best (I think) in the area (better than Castro St., let alone PF Chang's). It is (ironically) withing walking distance of Dreamland Beta... called Mei Long's, on El Camino Real. Excellent food, superb service (equal last night to three-figure restaurants!).
dawnd out of town unexpectedly... no problems there. That was worthwhile, even if the favor will undoubtedly be returned at some point. (Besides, Kevin G. now has had a lesson in gender roles ;-). And then yesterday afternoon I helped the House Dreamland folks with their move.So instead of talking about sports, fart jokes, doing warpaint and drums in the woods (or whatever else 60 guys do on their own, together) I like to think I've been more productive staying here. Nyah. And saved the $240 retreat cost.
Underlying all of this is that I'm really not comfortable in same-sex groupings of my gender, and will avoid them whenever possible. I much prefer coed or even female-majority gatherings... probably because I was routinely harrassed and even physically beaten by gangs or groups of boys in late childhood and early adolescence. So groups of men, however innocuous, tend to trigger a threat-assessment and wariness on my part. The presence of women make a given gathering somehow seem "safer" and I can relax. This is true in both social settings and in the workplace.
Anyway, on to more productive things at home... probably repairing the shower faucet valves this afternoon, maybe some electrical fixture prep work in the kitchen. And feeding the kids lunch and dinner, and putting away the pieces of Japan-trip-clutter scattered around my bedroom.
Random note:
patgreene and I found an excellent Chinese restaurant last night, the best (I think) in the area (better than Castro St., let alone PF Chang's). It is (ironically) withing walking distance of Dreamland Beta... called Mei Long's, on El Camino Real. Excellent food, superb service (equal last night to three-figure restaurants!).
*splutter*
Jun. 1st, 2003 01:43 pmThere's a Japanese TV program about a US family that moves to Japan to live -- and all of the Americans are portayed with mannequins. See http://www.fuccon.com/cast.html (link stolen from Neil Gaiman's blog ;-).
This looks *really* amusing... (grin).
This looks *really* amusing... (grin).
Travel this week
Jun. 1st, 2003 09:24 pmI'm back on the road again Tuesday through Friday of this week... going to Washington, DC on business. I'll be going through Minneapolis on my way out and Houston on my return. I could set up a few hours layover in the former, but as Nancy's away on vacation I won't (unless kitchenwitch or femakita want to get together for lunch).
I'll be in the DC area three nights, and plan on doing air traffic meetings during the day, and spending time with the adorablegeekchick whenever I can otherwise. (big grin)
kitchenwitch or femakita want to get together for lunch).I'll be in the DC area three nights, and plan on doing air traffic meetings during the day, and spending time with the adorable
geekchick whenever I can otherwise. (big grin)