Tom, Stephanie, and Skylar’s Blog

Here are the floor plans for our loft in Brussels and the design of the kitchen that will be put in soon. I am using a cool new service called iPaper from Scribd to display these pdf files.

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On Friday night, I bar-tended for the first time at the 3-Star Lounge at the USAG Brussels.  They were having an event, and the bartender quit suddenly on Wednesday, so they asked me to fill in.  It was lots of fun and I got bunches of tips, and I could completely see how someone would do that for a living.  I wouldn’t want that as a permanent job, but once in a while is fun.  I was so tired and sore after the night was over, but I had a great time.  I’m guessing I’ll fill in a few more times before they get around to hiring a new person.  Anyway, turns out I’m a pretty good bartender, and according to my customers make a great Sex on the Beach…

I’m filling in at the gym today, so I’m not doing much of anything other than folding towels, answering the phone, and watching AFN.  The movie that’s playing right now is Secondhand Lions, which is a really great film.  Thought I’d try to catch up on Tom’s blog, since he never does it anymore.  I’m thinking about getting rid of the blog entirely, and just using Facebook.  Nearly everyone who follows us has a Facebook account, anyway.  Something to think about, anyway. 

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Skylar came home yesterday!  :)  We are very happy to have him back with us.  Tom’s mother is also visiting- she flew with Skylar and will stay with us for a little over a week, then go to Stuttgart to visit her other son Jim for a while.  Unfortunately, I’ve just started a new job and won’t be able to spend much time with her while she’s here.  But Tom is planning on taking her to see some neat things over the next couple of days.  Skylar is going to summer camp next week on base, so he’ll have something fun to do.  These are the kids he’s going to go to school with in the fall, so hopefully he’ll make some new friends before school starts.  After much consideration, we decided to put Skylar in the American school on base.  NOT because we think it’s better, but because of the logistical issues of the school day and where we work, and how long it takes to get back home at the end of the day.  We could never make it on time to pick him up.  So, American school it is, and we’ll probably look at getting a language tutor so he can brush up on German and learn French.

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My parents introduced me to Star Trek.  It came out in 1966, ran through 1969, and was already in syndication by the time I was old enough to watch TV.  My parents watched the reruns, and I watched with them.  I could never have known as a child what a huge impact Star Trek would have on the world.  I guess no one really knew back then what was beginning, the genesis of science fiction as we know it today. 

Which brings us to today.  Tom is still out of town.  He’s returning tonight from his conference in Garmisch, and will probably get in pretty late, sometime in the early morning.  I need to stay up until he gets home, since he doesn’t have a key and I’ll have to open the door for him.  So, I did some dishes, got the garbage together, and then decided that was more than enough housework for one day.  Rather than housework, I decided to watch a movie- The Wrath of Khan- probably the best Star Trek movie ever made.  Tom bought me all the movies for Christmas not too long ago, and I find that I don’t get tired of watching them, especially this one.  I first remember watching it at 17 (although I probably saw it before then), when all my friends were at the prom (I didn’t get asked).  I loved it then, as I do now, and all the times in between.  I won’t recap the movie here.  Fans already know what happened, and non fans don’t care to hear about Khan, Genesis project, Kobayashi Maru, or Spock’s ultimate sacrifice.  But there’s so much to take away from the film- it’s hard not to expound.  And it’s all still relevant. 

Several characters from the Original Series are already gone- Scotty, Bones, and of course Gene Roddenberry.  I realized today that I will probably never make it to a Star Trek convention while Kirk and Spock are still alive and appearing, and the thought made me sad.  Maybe I can convince Tom to go to a Star Trek convention for our next vacation.  Skylar would absolutely love it.  The family can always come over here to visit us.

Star Trek 11 comes out next May!!!

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Lately I’ve been trying to convince Tom that we should have a Star Trek theme party for Halloween.  We’d serve Klingon qagh and blood pie, Trill soup, Bajoran spring wine, and a few others.  (Not real qagh of course, no one would eat live worms at a party.)  I could dress up like Uhura from the original series.  I’ve always loved that red uniform, and she was a communications officer, after all.  Tom could pick any character from any of the shows- preferably not a Ferengi.  He thinks I’m nuts, and has essentially refused to support my idea.  Maybe next year I’ll convince him.  Meanwhile, if we can’t do Star Trek for Halloween, I’ll need to find another costume, since I’ll save the Star Trek idea until later.

Here are my other thoughts:

• Princess Leia as a slave girl with Jabba the Hut
• Schoolgirl in pigtails (Tom’s personal favorite, but a bit over done, I think)
• Xena, warrior princess
• Marilyn Monroe- maybe in The Seven Year Itch
• Britney Spears in that diamond outfit from the Toxic video (need to work out a little more for this one)
• Any other ideas?

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Ah, the life.  I’m sitting here, as I have been all weekend, watching hours of Star Trek.  Tom is gone out of town for several days, and I picked up the first season of Star Trek (the original series) from the library to keep me company while he’s gone.  Naturally, I’ve seen all these episodes before.  Some as a child, watching with my parents, some as reruns on the Sci-Fi channel.  But watching them in order gives one a new perspective and appreciation for the show, the character development, the storylines.  So, the special effects are a little silly, but the stories themselves are really great.  My favorite character has always been Mr. Spock, but I also find Captain Kirk to be an interesting figure.  I think I would like Captain Kirk better if it weren’t for the recent Priceline commercials that made him look like a washed-up has been.  Back in the day he was pretty sexy, had lots of command presence, and got all the girls- even the green ones.  What’s not to love?  Still, Spock remains my favorite character.  The first season does a great job at developing his character, highlighting his struggle between Vulcan logic and human emotion, his leadership challenges when cold logic is not enough to inspire the crew, and defining his unwavering honesty and loyalty to his captain.  I particularly like the episode (This Side of Paradise) where the entire crew lands on the planet Omicron Ceti III and breathes in spores that allow them to lead a happy, idyllic life, and Spock is finally able to express his emotions and experience love.  Of course, it cannot last, and at the end of the episode Spock reverts to his former Vulcan self, along with the rest of the crew and settlers.  The end of the episode is bittersweet, when Spock’s last line relates that for the first time in his life, he was happy.  Season 1 also introduces us to Khan, a dictator from the time of Earth’s Eugenics war, a product of genetic engineering.  He and his fellows had lain in stasis for 200 years on the the sleeper ship Botany Bay, and were awakened by the crew of the Enterprise.  I remember the first time that I encountered Khan.  Oh, I’m sure I saw this episode as a kid, but it didn’t stay with me.  But when I was a junior in high school, and no one invited me to the prom, I stayed home alone that night and watched the Wrath of Khan.  (I went to my prom the next year and it turns out I had more fun watching Star Trek, but that’s another story.)  In any case, he was so evil and twisted in the movie, but I was struck by how appealing and compelling a character he was in that first season.  He was still young, in good health, before he was beaten down by years of harsh living on Ceti Alpha V, and eaten up with bitterness and resentment at Kirk for leaving him there.  I can see the appeal of his character- a bad guy you can relate to, at least in that episode.  The kind of man who would take whatever he wanted, and leave you feeling happy you were there to give it to him. 

Well, bedtime for me- I’ll dream about pointy ears and a cool, logical mind.  To close with “live long and prosper” would just be too cliche, so I’ll resist the temptation.  More to come later on my thoughts about the influences of the German culture on the evil roles played in Sci-Fi and Fantasy fiction.

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Tom has been bugging me to update the blog for some time now, so I’ve finally decided to do it.  He’s out of town, and I find that I can multitask- watch Star Trek and blog at the same time.  Naturally, he could do it, but he will never get around to it.  He’s too busy playing with his new iPhone to do anything else (except maybe write a post about how much he loves his new iPhone).

Our Move

Tom, Skylar, and I have moved to Brussels, and we are working to get our lives in order.  Tom moved here in January, and Skylar and I followed several months later.  We purchased a loft about 3km from the center of Brussels.  Our loft is still unfinished, and I expect it shall take some months to complete the work (even though the contractors were to have finished the majority of the works by the end of March).  It’s live-able- marginally- and getting better each day. 

Work

Tom is working at NATO, and seems to be enjoying his job.  People joke that NATO stands for No Action Talk Only, nevertheless, Tom works long hours and seems to be making progress in his duties there.  His field, knowledge management, is relatively new at NATO, so Tom’s work is somewhat challenging.  I have also started a new job, not nearly as exciting (or well paid) as my last job, but better than being a housewife.  I’m working as a computer lab technician for the Child and Youth Services on base.  It gives me something to do and gets me in the government employment system.

School

Skylar will start to school in September at a local Belgian school- assuming we got all the paperwork done properly.  The school is French speaking, so he’ll be learning French by immersion.  I’m sure it will be tough for him, but I’m confident he’ll do fine.  He’s only six, and he’s still able to pick up things quickly.  Tom is taking a break from graduate school right now, although I believe he’s going to take another class sometime soon, and he’s considering a possible change to a new program.  I have my final two classes for my Master’s degree, including student teaching, starting in August.  If all goes well, I should have completed my Master’s degree in secondary ed, and have a teaching certificate by Christmas.  We shall see…

Travel

Even in the midst of all these changes and moves, we’ve still managed to travel a bit.  Not long before our move, I went to Israel for three weeks in March, compliments of the US Army.  We had a little downtime there, and I was able to go to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, along with some other sites.  It was an amazing trip that would require an entire post to discuss fully.  I took Skylar to the States for most of the month of June, and managed to visit most of my family and Tom’s family, and some friends, all throughout the Southeast.  When I returned to Belgium, Skylar remained in the States with his grandmother.  He will return soon.  Tom and I have taken a couple of short trips- one weekend in Brugge (Bruges), Belgium, and a long weekend in Paris.  Tom is currently away in Garmisch, Germany, at a conference.  I was not able to go with him because I started back to work.  I won’t have any leave to travel for quite a while.

 Well, I think that does it for the obligatory update.  I’ll attempt to write something more interesting in my next post.

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This weekend, Skylar told me that when he grew up he wanted to marry me. (How sweet!) I explained to him that I was already married, and he would have to find his own wife, a nice girl who was not already married. He thought about it for a little while, then started to tell me about the girl he would one day marry and the family they would have. His future wife is going to be shorter than he is with brown hair, and be a policewoman. He is going to be a doctor. (Last week it was a robotics engineer, so I think he may still be up in the air on this aspect of his future plans.) They are going to have four children, three girls and a boy, and live in America. He also added that his wife would be an American, not German or Belgian. I didn’t think to ask him about pets- I’ll be sure to do that next time we talk about it.