Happy birthday

Happy birthday to buttonlass and maribou!

Death of Margaret Howes - Funeral today

David Lenander let me know of the death of Margaret Howes, a longtime Minneapolis fan and attendee at Minicon and one of the co-founders of the Rivendell Group of the Mythopoeic Society here in Minneapolis. Margaret was 80. There was an obituary in the Star-Tribune yesterday, and the funeral is being held today:

Margaret J. Howes
Howes, Margaret J. Age 80, of Mpls, passed away April 15, 2008. Survived by son, Bruce (Joyce); daughter, Denise; 7 grandchildren; sister, Dorothy (James) and brother, Douglas (LaVern). Funeral Mass Friday, April 18, 2 PM, with visitation 1-2 PM at Annunciation Catholic Church, 509 W. 54th St., Mpls. Cremation Society of MN Mpls 612-825-2435
Published in the Star Tribune on 4/17/2008.

David Lenander writes:

Margaret was one of the original group that gathered together at the invitation of Todd Zuhlsdorf to form the Rivendell discussion group of the Mythopoeic Society. She and Ruth Berman and I were the only ones from that original gathering, in 1973 or 74 who were still regularly attending. Margaret had been a member of the Society over the years, off and on, and had attended a Mythcon or three. She was our guest of honor at Bree Moot 5, after the publication of her novel, The Wrong World, and I have a web-page up for her fan activities here.

If you cannot attend her funeral service, you might want to post a memory or condolence to the Guest Book on the StarTribune Obituaries web-site, or if you'd like to send any comments to me for posting on my Margaret Howes page, I'd be happy to do that. Perhaps we can take a few minutes at the [Rivendell] meeting on Saturday to remember her.

Delia's second black belt pre-screening tonight

Delia will be attending the second black belt pre-screening tonight. This one is the reallllllly tough one (this is the one that Fiona did not pass on her first go-around through screening), with a strong emphasis on endurance. Basically, they put them through the wringer. I must admit being quite nervous for her. There are a number of other kids from her class who are going through this screening for the second and third time.

Wish her luck, strength and endurance. She's gonna need it.

Karate last night

Still dancing on the line. I weighed in at 149.5 yesterday (hurray!) and then 150.5 today (argh).

I had a REALLY TOUGH karate class last night. I was also stupid enough to go without having dinner first. I honestly thought I didn't need to, though--I'd overeaten a bit at lunch and thought I'd had enough calories for the day. Since the double black stripes are doing the second prescreening for black belt tonight (including Delia), pazlazuli made the class a real endurance test. My legs were so shaky when I left that it was difficult to operate the clutch in my car on the drive home.

While I was in the middle of it, I remember looking around at all those sweaty exhausted people, and thinking of the people I work with during the day and reflecting, boy, you people (at work) have NO IDEA what I do at night, just to keep in shape. But it also made me painfully aware of how far I really have to go before I'll be in shape good enough to test for black belt myself. I need to start working out more aggressively, I know--I should start attending the kickboxing classes on Saturdays (I've just been reluctant to do so since it's after the sparring class, and two and a half hours of hard exercise just seems like too much. I know I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start doing it, though.)

New Rubber Chicken Riddle!

Judith over at MacPhail has posted a new riddle in the window:

Where does the RUBBER CHICKEN BAND like to play?

Help us think of a good answer! (Besides "MacPhail," obviously.)

Well, she lived through it. Barely.

I honestly don't know whether she passed or not. I saw things she was doing well; I saw mistakes. I saw her face turn a mixture of pasty white and red and her hands shake, but she kept on going. Lordy, I don't know how she did it, but she kept on going. At times I couldn't even bring myself to watch; her effort was so tremendous, but the demands were even higher, and I was so afraid I'd see her make a mistake that would kill all our hopes. How could she bear it, after all this, if she had to go through this again? (and there's still the third screening to come.) I saw tears dripping down her face when they took the pad away from her that she was holding for her partner and gave it to a sensei to hold instead because the partner was knocking the stuffing out of her with his kicks. She stoically wiped them away, went to the corner, and put on her sparring gear. And then, I think, as best as I can tell, she thoroughly whupped her sparring partner.

Thank heavens I had the brilliant idea of bringing bottled orange juice as well as water. I don't think she would have made it through without those periodic jolts of juice.

I guess we'll find out next week.

Weekend plans

I'm going to the Peter Mayer concert at the Cedar Cultural Center tomorrow night. Anyone else planning on being there?

On Sunday, we're going to a fundraising benefit at Whiskey Junction (901 Cedar Avenue) for Tom Vinje, the (very good) neighbor on our block who has just been diagnosed as having a malignant brain tumor. Sunday from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m., live music, $5 ticket enters you in the grand prize raffle, silent auction, raffles throughout the event, etc.