Freak Out!

This is going to freak.

you.

out.

Well, it did me.

Okay, so Neil Gaiman had an apocalypse party when he reached 666,666 followers on Twitter. That was clever. And he made it fun for everyone who follows him by making this page, the Apocalypse Party Page. Here you can post a picture of yourself (with a balloon was the idea but a lot of people didn't). So anyways, I saw this and clicked through a couple pictures, but it wasn't until my buddy e-mailed me and told me what she saw that I freaked out.


Everyone knows what a doppelganger is, right? A person's double or lookalike.

Well, here is a picture of me taken Christmas 2008.

And here is the picture of some gal on Neil Gaiman's page.

Kinda freaky, huh? The glasses, the hair color, the shirt! The way she hunches her shoulders...

Okay, obviously not the same person. I've got about twenty years and forty pounds on her. I won't go into her flawless skin and white teeth. Oh, and she's not holding a beagle. But, damn.

At first I was wanting to find her. I thought, man, we can be friends, exchange Christmas cards, compare baby pictures. But then I re-remembered what a doppelganger is -- you know, all the harbinger of doom and stuff. And then I read the Wikipedia page and now I'm just plain terrified.

I can't help wondering, though, if she likes dark chocolate, good books, and Adrien Brody's nose.

I'm in Love!

I'm in love!

Yeah, he's 72-years old. Yeah, he lives on a mountain and has these far out wild-man vibes that make it impossible to imagine him under a roof or sitting in a chair or even eating with a fork and knife. But, damnit, I don't care. He's got this Alpha Male energy that's way cool.

Meet my rock carving teacher.

I have to drive an hour into the mountains on these thready thin roads to get to where he teaches. I invariable get lost. But he's always happy when I show up. One time it took me two hours to get there because I made a wrong turn and ended up three mountains away. He applauded me and said only normal people would take the usual route.

He tells the most amazing stories and has had the most amazing life. He's also quite famous in Japan (and various museums overseas) for his sculptures. He has no wrists.

I had to take two months off because I went back to America and then someone here was sick or something and I couldn't make a class so when I went this past Saturday we were like all giddy and goofy to see each other.

And then the bugs showed up.

First, a couple of suzume bachis came -- a kind of hornet, that's much too big for its own good and would much rather take you out than build a hive or protect some queen or something.

Yes, I screamed like a little girl and s-l-o-w-l-y ran away. Not to be outdone, the old gentlemen that were beside me carving their statues did some pretty impressive squealing and backing away as well.

But my teacher caught the buggers!

About an hour later I heard another gasp and a cry of "Grab the tongs!"

It was a centipede. But not the cute, sweet, little things I'm used to back home. This mother was huge! Looked like this:

But my teacher got him, too. *swoon*

Then he took out his bottles. (Note: Look at that forearm! He's 72-years old and built like

a brick $#%house.)

(These are from my cell phone, so not too good.)

There's a bottle for for many-legged creatures.

And a bottle for flying, stinging creatures.

I asked what he did with them and he said he uses them as medicine. I was duly impressed. And then someone asked, Can you drink them? And he said, Sure, you can drink them. Let me tell you, it took every bit of my reserve not to blurt out, But do YOU drink them?

And speaking of love, look what Jaimey gave me!