Jeff’s Journal

1) The Manchester City Library held a book sale today. Needless to say, I wish I could have spent a little more time there - fill a paper bag for $5? I wish I could have dug out some eBay fodder. Alas, I still came out with quite a haul:

Among the really good grabs:

* Stranger in a Strange Land hardcover, which replaces the copy I gave away many years ago. I’ve been meaning to reread this as well as have Ann read it.

* My Grandfather’s Son, Clarence Thomas. In a donation pile. At the library. If I didn’t know that the Manchester Library had a copy of this, I’d be pissed.

* Two Barry Goldwater-penned books: Conscience of a Majority and Where I Stand.

* The Story of Scientology, a coffee table book about Scientology. I did it for the lulz, or something.

* French Furniture Under Louis XIV. Because it was there.

A bunch of theatre books and some quirky US history tomes filled out the bag. Total haul was over 20 for $5 - I would have paid $20 for the Clarence Thomas and Robert Heinlein alone. Not too bad.

And Pigeon approves

2) Ann & I are fairly well addicted to the John Adams miniseries on HBO. It’s fun to engage in historical geekery with her - she’s become quite enamored with Ben Franklin.

3) Hung out with Steph, Mandy, and her husband, Bill, for a bit on Saturday. Dinner at the Outback, good times had. I’ve been friendly with Mandy through Steph for a couple years now, and this was the first time we’ve actually hung out in the real world, and she’s quite charming. With the dissolution of my D&D group, it looks like I’ll be joining them (and Mike, I understand?) in June for some Sunday gaming once the Fourth Edition Players Guide comes out. I’m pretty stoked.

4) Flag football started this weekend. I played fairly crappy, all things being equal, but I did have a couple receptions and got outleaped on an out pattern because I’m short. It’s a different feel than dodgeball (obviously) and I’m not sure I love it, but it’s still good to be active and I generally like my teammates, so good stuff.

Back to the Sox game…

1) I feel like a whiny little brat because of this head cold, but my goodness is it kicking my behind. I somehow survived the winter without as much as a sniffle - a few exhausted days, but nothing legitimately sickly, so yeah. Crappy, but what can you do?

2) Saturday night was fun - Lee Anne and Steve came up and came to a hockey game with us and then we did a little drinkin’. It’s always good to see them, and the hockey game was good as well.

3) Dodgeball is done for the time being - my team ended up with the 8 seed and nearly ousted the top team in the first round of the playoffs. Final record? 1-7, but a really fun season. I’m doing flag football starting this week, which should be…interesting. I’m short and my hands are too small to grip a football, so…

4) You’ll recall an entry a while back about the old friend I treated rather badly and recently got back in contact with. I met her for dinner this week, and it was a really great experience - aired out a lot of stuff, worked the awkwardness out a bit, and it was a good thing overall. Glad we’re making progress.

5) A belated and general thank you for the birthday well-wishes and gifts and whatnot. My 27th was a pleasant one, in no small part due to everyone in my life, so thanks!

6) Upcoming stuff in no particular order - R.E.M., Tiff’s wedding…life in general. For how crazy busy I tend to get, there’s really not a whole lot happening yet a ton happening all at once.

Ah well…

When you’ve had second row seats for your favorite band, nothing will ever reach that again, so I should consider myself blessed that I’ve been in the front ten rows twice when I’ve seen R.E.M.. But getting bounced out for a server error during the fan club presale when you had second row seats ready is annoying as hell, and when Ticketmaster blasts you out now when you’re reloading to find out when tickets go on sale is just wrong.

So, needless to say, I have a spare pair of tickets for the R.E.M. show in June. Face value for the two (ticket + service charges) is $140 for Row H in section 4 - not terrible seats by any stretch, although a bit further in the corner than I’d like compared to the ones I got that are further back but closer to the center.

So if anyone reading this wants them, let me know. Grr.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to discuss this publically. Ann & I had been waiting until we could sit my parents down and discuss it with them first - some of you know this through various inklings or because we’ve spoken to you since Easter, but we weren’t holding back for any other reason than wanting our parents to know before we talked about it to everyone else.

While I’d imagine I’m one of the few human beings who can boil down a pretty major life choice into a lolcat, there you have it - Ann & I plan on internationally adopting our first child.

Let’s get a few things out of the way - first, there’s no fertility issues that we’re aware of. The stereotype appears to be that this becomes an option only when you can’t biologically have your own children, and that’s not at issue here. In fact, we’d like to have “our own” kids at some point in the future. Just not now, and not before doing this.

Second, we’re not against domestic adoption, it’s just not really something we’re interested in. For one, domestic adoption costs make international adoption look cheap in comparison (and it’s not), and for another, the benefits for the child coming from China or Korea or Russia or someplace with similar upheaval and uncertainty is miles ahead of a child who may have a rough go of it domestically as a foster child, but still gets the benefits of growing up in the States.

Third, seriously, Angelina and Madonna have nothing to do with it. If they did, it would be the first trendy thing I’ve done in years. But yeah - the comments have come out before, and no. Just no.

This isn’t necessarily going to be easy for us. The costs are high, the requirements weird, but it’s something we’re really into. Right now, we’re leaning toward South Korea, although China is high on the list but is likely impossible. We thought about Russia as well, but that’s kind of difficult, and our religious situation (read: lack thereof) forces us out of places like the Philippines and (I think) Ethiopia from the start.

Granted, this is ultimately going to be years down the line - many places expect you to be at least 30 or married 3-5 years, but this also means that Ann & I need to start thinking about it now. It’ll be an interesting ride, for sure, but we’re very excited about the end result, and, amazingly, so are my parents, who are behind us 110%. My mother let me know today that she wants to be “Nanny Joan,” so I think we have people safely on board.

We’re doing this because we feel like we’re the right type of people to make some child’s life better. It’s a way we can give back to the world in a way that matches up with our values and beliefs, and it just feels like the right thing to do. I read stories like this and my heart breaks a little bit, and to think we might be able to do our own part for someone else in a way that others might not is a really neat thought.

We’re both excited. We’ll keep things updated as we learn and do more - Ann’s got her Big Book of International Adoption all tabbed out, I’ve been talking with parents at my library - we’re really all in. How scary. And fun. And amazing.

A highlight reel of our busiest weekend since the holidays:

1) Friday night dinner with Tiff, Rob, Steph, and Julia. In a scary-ish thing to think about, my 10 year reunion from high school is coming up. While Steph didn’t graduate with us, it’s still really great to know that, even as we grow older and marry and move away and all that jazz, you’ve still got the old standbys who you may not see or speak to on a regular basis, but you fall right into place with once you’re all there. Just a really great, happy, pleasant evening with them, and another reminder that I need to make it a point to get down there more often.

2) That, for all the crap I’ve given them and all the slack I refused to cut them over the years, that my parents are really great people and that I’m really glad I have the parents I do. I’ll go more into detail on this another day, but I’ll just say that they impressed me a lot this weekend.

3) My cousin Nick just started college this year. It’s kind of funny - he’s 9 years younger than me, I remember going to the hospital when he was born, and now we can all sit around and have a normal human being conversation with him. Maybe it’s kind of nerdy and overly sentimental, but that’s pretty cool in my book.

4) Michelle and Josh are two great friends to have. I can’t say enough good things, and I’m glad they’ll be getting married. Finally.

5) Hanging with Dave in Boston for brunch on Sunday. To say that the way he’s presented himself in his journal over the last 4 years has no direct bearing on how much energy this man has (while partially hung over, mind you) is an understatement - a really cool and fun guy, and considering I was concerned we wouldn’t get to meet up with him at all, both Ann & I were glad we took the detour to get some time in. You’re good people, sir, and welcome at Chez Raymond anytime. His friends were awesome, as well, and a great plus to what ended up being a great cap to a great weekend.

This week is looking fun, but busy, as well - Friday night I have a dodgeball thing, Saturday we see Lee Anne and Steve (which will be a blast), and Sunday is Elf Power. Plus, I took Monday off to recharge, something I’ve rarely been able to do and something I’m doing sans guilt. That’s always awesome.

I’m seriously loving life right now.