in which "these are the times that try men's souls."

ok... that was pretty nifty.

i thought Dianne Feinstein did a bang-up job holding down the fort, the invocation was a great deal more inclusive than i'd feared, Aretha was great, and the quartet (especially Itzak Perlman, who could probaly pluck one string and make me cry) was sublime.

i admit i found the speech a tad redundant, but it was undeniably evocative, especially the images in phrases like "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist", and "know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy." you'd also have to possess a heart of stone not to have been moved by his reference to his father perhaps being refused service in a local restaurant a mere sixty years before his son took the "sacred oath of office."

however, dare i admit i appreciated the quote he copped from Thomas Paine best?

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

in which there is a baptism (finally), a wedding (not!!), and a funeral (of sorts).

it is incredibly weird to me that i can finally fully name a character i adore playing, not two months before i will have to stop playing her. wtf?

~~* *~~

You are cordially invited to attend the nuptials of:

Lady Samarra Tomasi Dellwater
&
Baron Davan Lightfoot

~~* *~~

heh. SO incredibly kidding, btw. :D

--

a little voice (ok, not so little) spoke to me while i was on the treadmill earlier, and suggested a way to deal with liars in the future that frankly astounded me:

"Feel sorry for them, and forget them."

gonna try it. even though i have to think it can't be that easy.

--

EDIT:

It seemed to Frodo then that he heard, quite plainly but far off, voices out of the past:

What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature, when he had a chance!

Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need.

I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.

Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.

"Very well," he answered aloud, lowering his sword. "But still I am afraid. And yet, as you see, I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him."