Sean's Journal

Sean is a family friend for decades. He recently celebrated his 50th birthday, and my brother and I came up with a journal together.  I wrapped it in some wallpaper:

 Here's the book that I painted and then went over with gold. Those are Tim Holtz book corners, along with a Tim Holtz hitch post and a hair band for the closure:

Tim Holtz safety pin thingie with an "S" for Sean, as well as a little vintagey looking key:

Down below I put an "11" because there were no "50" numbers in the Tim Holtz collection:

Inside, pocket on left holds the birthday card, first insert on right:

Inside of card; pix taken at Sean's b-day party which was costumey. Friend Chris on the left didn't dress all LOR, so I added a crown & a medallion:

I think this is my favourite page. This insert opens up to the center. The original photo is of Sean juggling, and I added a chainsaw--and then of course, had to add a little NDT! (Neil DeGrasse Tyson).

I added some digital "stamping" of Star Trek thingies:

Here's a Lord of The Rings page:

Inside of Star Trek themed insert:

This is the meme that started it all! Atlasta sent it to me and said he wanted to make sure it was in the journal. So I did a lot of Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.

The book is an old encyclopedia with cool, retro paper:

And here's a flip-thru:

Sherlock Star Trek . . .

I have a Sherlock board on Pinterest. This is a picture floating around that I labeled as a Sherlock Holmes / Star Trek mash up:

 I was mistaken. Not Star Trek. I have been waiting til Mum saw The Empty Hearse before I could post this!  :-)

The Chair

It was the first time I used my new Blackberry for something other than a phone. I'm standing in a thrift store with XM Radio Guy & he's eying 2 original-retro office chairs. "I dunno," he says. "I don't really have room for both. I just need the one. What do you think?"

"I think they're awesome," I say. I look underneath & google the name of the manufacturer. It turns out they are circa 1962 & they're selling on line for $350. Each. "They really are great chairs," he says. "Would you keep one for me?"

After loading up the chairs into our respective cars, we say our goodbyes and he pulls out of the parking lot. I'm watching traffic and a man crosses in front of my car. Traffic is clear & I pull out. The man who crossed ahead of me was in the middle of the road. I jammed on the breaks & tapped into him. He turns around and starts screaming obscenities at me. We're in the middle of a 4-lane road. He walks across to the side and I pull over. He's still screaming and I'm shaken. "OMG!!! I just hit someone!" I'm scared to get out of the car with Screaming Man, but I can't just drive away! So I got out. I looked at him and said, "I am so sorry! I didn't see you. Are you all right?"

And then. This man who had been spewing filth, stopped. He took a breath and turned into a different person. He said, "That's all right. It's just a natural reaction. I'm just having a bad day." At which point I crumpled into Laura Petri and started crying. "Me tooooo!" Later, as I composed myself and was driving down the freeway, I thought, "Natural reaction? Really? Patterned reaction." Back to the story:

He assured me he was OK, and told me to go ahead down the road. If I'd had some presence of mind I would have gotten his name & number. Anyway, I got on my way, still shaken. I called XM Radio Guy and tried to be brave. "OMG! Is the guy all right?" he says. "Yeah, he says he is. He told me he wasn't hurt. I mean, I just tapped into him."

[pause . . . wait for it] "Is my chair OK?"

Classic. Bill Hutton at his best.

I took the chair and left it at Mum's because I didn't have room to take it back to the river house. She was away on one of her trips, can't remember which one. Anyway, when I picked her up from the airport and we got to her house, we walk in and she says, "What's that chair?" And there it stayed. I was webcamming with XM Radio Guy from Mum's one day and he says, "Oh, hey! There's my chair!"

Of course it wasn't there for long. Mum went into one of her cleaning-rearranging binges & she put it out in the barn. The next time I was at Mum's webcamming it, he says, "Where's my chair?" And Mum said, "Oh, did you want me to keep that for you? I got rid of it . . . just kidding! I'm storing it in the barn for you." Hahahaha

I tell this rambling Chair Story today because it's Bill Hutton's birthday. He's one of the FUNniest people I know, and one of my dearest friends. HAPPY B-day. Make a wish!

And may The Force be with you. :-)

Star Trek Awesomeness

From Star Trek Inspirational Posters. Go see.

I went to the new Star Trek movie last night. Wow. I can see why they're already talking franchise. It was fantabulously AWESOME. Really. AND you don't really even have to be a Star Trek fan to appreciate it. Altho, if you are, then it makes it doubley funner. You'll get all the inside jokes as you identify who's who when they first appear on the screen.

It's the story of Captain K. & the Gang as they're just finishing up Starfleet Academy. It was so cute last night in the movie theatre. There were a few families there and there was a point in the movie when Spock does the signature "Live long and prosper" hand gesture, and through the audience, you could see various hands up in the familiar V. BTW, that is how Brother D's kids all say good-bye to my brother. "Bye, Daddy! Live long and prosper!" Hand-in-V. Ah, milestones.

Speaking of Brother D, XM Radio Guy tweeted:

Go see the new Star Trek movie and may the force be with you.

Hahahaha Whenever he used to cross-reference Star Trek/Wars on his radio show, he'd get the indignant emails from all the geeks. Why is he giving away Star Trek pez dispensers on a Star Wars Anniversary show? Doesn't he know the difference? Why don't they check their facts before they allow this to go on the air? Hahahahaha Seriously, go see the movie. And of course, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER.

For All My Trekkie Friends

Somewhere in Georgia

It was early this a.m. and my brother said hey. I said, "Morning has broken." He said...yes, that's right...Quick, better go fix it. Hahaha Back tomorrow with the start of more consistent posts.