Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[Jarulf]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[[wcip]Angel]

I hope all is well with our fellow loungers and their families. Enjoy hearty turkey dinners, my rogue brothers and sisters! Revel in mountains of pressies! But don't forget what Christmas is all about... that guy in the place.. with the thing.

Happy holidays from XXV!;)(shameless plug:P)


edit: Oh, and a happy festivus for the rest of us!:)

[Munkay]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Jarulf! And a big Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone else at the Lounge.

Here comes 2008!

Cheers,

Munk

[--Pete]

Hi,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And good cheer to all:)

--Pete

PS And a resounding "Bah! Humbug!" for Sabra -- with hugs:)

[Sabra]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

To All and Sundry, near and far, best wishes for Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year.

[DeeBye]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!

Santa brought me one of these bad boys and I'm enjoying a mug of it right now:)

[kandrathe]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to all.

And... for you unbelievers...



:lol::lol:

[Taem]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank-you! And a Merry Xmas to you too Jarulf, and everyone on the lounge for that matter.

[Quark]

*grumbles something about timezone advantage and Jarulf always being fir ...*

Oh, ahem.

Merry Christmas;)

[Occhidiangela]

It's just before eight o'clock on Christmas Morning. I am awake, with coffee in hand (natch) and a misty, moisty dawn has grown into a soft white daylight, the sun's rays muted in its efferts to burn off the low lying clound.

The house is quiet. My dog is lying in his usual spot, the blue comfy chair just across from me, looking at me with his soulful brown eyes, content that I am here with him for a while. He's been growing very affectionate, almost clingy of late, in parallel with the seizures he has had, seizures for which medication only partly compensates.

Above the whir of my computer's fan, I hear voices in my head: our congregation singing "Joy To The World" as we walked out of Midnight Mass last night. I got a laugh near the end of the service, just before the last song. Our priest looked at us all with his quiet smile and pointed out that Christmas Day had come, and it was Jesus' birthday. He asked us to join him in singing Happy Birthday.

We did. Happy Birthday to you . . .

When we were done, he said the usual "the mass is ended, go in peace" and we closed with Joy to the World.

The clear notes of my daughter singing next to me brought tears to my eyes. I rarely get to hear her sing anymore, since she is off to college. There is an oddly empty space in our life, in a house that no longer fills up with the trill of her voice as she practices. Absent are the quiet experiments with phrasing on the piano as she works on a new song. It cannot be replaced. I only have the memory, the voice in my head, most days. It's a gift she did not consciously give me, but one that I hold very dear.

This Christmas is somewhat different than all others for me. My daughter just came back from her first semester at UT, but she is coming back as much to see her boyfriend as to see the family. My son is learning how to drive. I am teaching him the glory of the stick shift, stalls, and generally how not to die on the roads of twenty first centuy America. Mrs Occhi is well into her second year as a dental hygenist, part time, working with a doctor who gave her a raise last month. Her quality shows in yet another aspect.

Me, I'm out of a job.

Our company let a bunch of people go, the letters went out last week. Most of us saw it coming. I have an offer with another company, which I will probably take. This last few months has been rather weird, but has provided me a rare gift of experience.

We learned how to deal with the worry of "will prime bread winner have a job," without going nuts. What that meant for me was a different imperative, to confront my future, a future without the daily joys and head smashing into the wall of two kids, the planning for marrying off a daughter (it's a matter of when, not if, in the next few years) and getting my son prepared for college. If his grades stay up, flying lessons next summer are back on the table, should I take the job offer.

That's the easy part.

I am going to go on another journey, this time an inner meandering along paths currently unknown, with the risk that I end up remaking myself in my rogue image and likeness. ;) Or another one. I don't know how that will end. Something has got to give, but what will give first -- be it my back, my comfort zone, my role in life, or what else I can't see at the moment.

What I am sure of is that to date, I've been pretty darned lucky. While I can't count on that in the future, I am immensely thankful. I was raised by a man and a woman who will be married fifty five years this September. They put family first, and held us to high standards. I met a good woman who married me, warts and all, and gave me two fantastic children. I had a good run in the Navy, for better and worse, and my kids have both developed into decent people. (The driving skills need work in my daughter's case, and my son is slowly developing social graces.)

I have been blessed with friends.

Some of these friends, most of whom I never got to meet in the flesh, came into my life thanks to Bolty, Gris, and the Lounge, the old DSF, and the wake of an Endless September. It's been about eight years since I first nosed about the Lounge. In that time I've learned a great deal, laughed an immense amount, developed a few new ideas, and learned new ways to express myself. I've had a friendly audience for my stories, and some great times in games, as well as in just batting the breeze or tossing off poems.

Thanks.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, one and all, for the precious gift of friendship you have given me. I've been scarce of late, but that's to do with me, not any of you all, and me trying to find my sense of humor again. Some of my RB friends -- ShadowHM, Thenryb, KoP, a few other of the usual suspects -- have helped me recapture the old madness as we undertake another crazed variant (or is that varient, Bolty? ) called the Low Rent Legion. Before it's all over, I hope to make a story out of it. But mostly, at the moment, the laughter suffices to lift my spirits.

My promise to you for the new year, my Lurking friends, is to laugh more, and to find reasons to do so more often. There should be ample opportunity, given the state of the world, and Sturgeon's Law.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a future bright.

Occhidiangela
Once known as
The Rogue with a Heart

[Archon_Wing]

Nothing really to add. Better luck to all! :)

[Munkay]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!

Santa brought me one of these bad boys and I'm enjoying a mug of it right now:)

I :wub: the Heineken Keg. Congrats DeeBye!

Cheers,

Munk

[Lissa]

I am going to go on another journey, this time an inner meandering along paths currently unknown, with the risk that I end up remaking myself in my rogue image and likeness. ;)

You're getting a sex change?! :blink: :huh: :wub:

Happy Holidays (can't say Merry Christmas or Sabra will kill me... ;))

[Occhidiangela]

You're getting a sex change?! :blink: :huh: :wub:

No.

Happy Holidays (can't say Merry Christmas or Sabra will kill me... ;))

Merry Christmas. Sabra is welcome to be offended by it.

Occhi