Amaryllis sillyramA

I don’t have the words to say properly how sad I am that Majel Barrett has passed away. Just these few disjointed thoughts will have to do.

Tonight I am watching a mini marathon of Majel. First was Half a Life, in which she and David Ogden Stiers are guest stars. She has several memorable lines in this episode. There’s one that flits through my brain on a regular basis. It’s when Timicin says he doesn’t think that children should have to repay their parents for their love and care by caring for them when they get old. Her response, delivered just perfectly: “Well, why the hell not?!” Heh. Also during this episode she describes a certain kind of elaborate headdress or wig that the women of Betazed once wore, which I would like to attempt to make a drawing of. Perhaps tomorrow. More on that below.

Second was The Cage, in which she plays Star Trek’s first First Officer. Unfortunately the network didn’t think the public would accept a female first officer, so her part as Number One didn’t make the jump from the pilot to the show. She was cast instead as Nurse Chapel, and appeared in tons of episodes. Later she became the voice of the Enterprise computer, and became the only performer to be in all of the series — plus several movies. I hope to not cry during the new movie when I hear her voice.

And right now I am watching The Forsaken. I’m just at the place where she and Odo are talking in the broken turbolift, and he is starting to open up a little about his past:

Odo: What was it like — well, I guess you could say I was the life of the party.

Lwaxana: I don’t think I understand.

Odo: My way of trying to fit in. I found I could be entertaining. ‘Odo, be a chair,’ I’m a chair. ‘Odo, be a razor cat,’ I’m a razor cat. Life of the party.
I hate parties.

Lwaxana: Perhaps you’ve been going to the wrong ones. Come to one of mine, Odo. I’ll make sure that all the guests are there to entertain you.

I just love that part. And sure, it’s good writing, sure. But going by everything I’ve read or heard about her, these are lines that suited her very well.

Next up: The Muse. And maybe after that, the one where she gets Worf to take a mud bath. Ha!

I’ll get to sleep eventually maybe.

Last, one of the best lines ever:

When it comes to picnics, the only thing that really matters is the company.

Oh yes! I changed the palindrome in her honor. It’s the only space-related one I could think of off the top of my head. (Not that I made the palindrome — I just found it a while ago out there in the cyber net thing.)

Also, it is part of the reason I want to try to draw a picture of the fancy Betazoid headdress.

So here is the palindrome for the rest of December, and also for January, because I love Majel just that much:

Space caps!

Rest in peace, Majel.

Wil Wheaton wrote a great little piece about this video some weeks ago, and I’ve had it open in a tab ever since. It is surprisingly happy-making. So I am putting it here, mostly for my own entertainment. Maybe you will be entertained too!

Sometimes I go by the name A.S. — for instance, if I am leaving a comment on another blog, that’s the name I usually use. And so I am hastening to clarify that I am NOT the A.S. of a recent Vine question. I would never cause a cat to be declawed. Never ever ever.

That is all.

This poor little once-wordless post got bumped — twice! — by matters more pressing. Sorry about any confusion which may have resulted from my poor planning.

Yesterday I woke up earlier than usual, filled with anticipation and excitement. Then proceeded to avoid any person or place that might give me any hints about what was happening in the election — wanted to keep myself in suspense as long as possible. It wasn’t too hard since we had a busy day.

On the first of our errands — but I can’t really call it an errand! it was more a very tiny vacation! — I brought little M. with me to the polls to turn in my ballot. I’ve always mailed my ballot since we moved to this neighborhood, so visiting the polling place here was a first for me. And I love going to the polls. I used to vote in a large church when I lived in the U District, and believe me, this atheist-raised-as-a-Presbyterian always got a huge kick out of that.

So we went, and even though it wasn’t in a church, it was great. The place was swarming with happy volunteers. There were like two hundred decorated cupcakes by the door (damn, wish I’d thought to take a picture, they were quite a sight). There was no line for people just turning in their envelopes. I put mine in the slot, then made my way back through the crowd, thanking the volunteers for being there. After we left the building I told the little one about why it was such an important day, and found myself getting all choked up. Which, mind you, I am definitely a cryer, but I wasn’t expecting to be crying just then.

It wasn’t until hours later that I realized I should have invited little M. to help me put the envelope into the slot. At 23 months, putting things in other things is her specialty. Ah well, at least she was there with me, even if I was too hopped up on hope to think of doing that at the time. I did mention to big M. that I wished I’d thought of it in time, and later he sent me a link to this great little story.

So I stayed in suspense until fairly late in the day, and when I finally checked google news around 6:00 PST, I got all choked up again.

Then. I’m standing at the kitchen sink washing some toddler forks we picked up at the store today, and big M. turns on the radio so we can hear McCain’s concession speech. Some of it was surprisingly gracious. Later we went upstairs to watch Obama’s speech on the big TV.

Other highlights: hearing Chris Gregoire’s victory speech; I’d been worried about that one. And reading about the spectacular failure of Tim Eyman’s latest spunkwad was Totally Fucking Awesome.

At this point, the only results that really suck — that come to mind right now — are the passing of Prop 8 and the defeat of Al Franken. I do heart Al Franken.

Happy sigh. Seriously, better than Christmas.