enGAYged!

Romancing her in the desert (Nipton,CA)

She said YES! (Mojave National Preserve)

The happy enGAYged couple.

Obits

Here are the obituaries for Grandpa Sam, Aunt Mim & Seth:

From Today's Washington Post, a nice article -
Samuel Snyder, 96; Broke Codes And Designed Early Computers

NY Times -
Miriam Borko

NY Times -
Seth Palmer

They always come in 3's

I'm leaving one shiva house for another. Today my grandfather died. Granpa Sam. My last remaining grandparent. First Miriam Borko, then Seth Palmer and now Sam Snyder. These deaths always come in 3's. My sister said to me yesterday that it must seem to me like I leave the East Coast and then something awful happens to a loved one. It doesn't just seem that way, it actually happens that way, unfortunately. Not to jinx my whole L.A. existence, but it IS an eerie pattern; one which I'd like to stop repeating immediately, please.

I picked up the flute because of my Grandpa Sam. And thought computers were cool because of him. And watched him surf the tsunami that was my Grandma Pat's personality. But that's just a fraction of my memories and love. 96 years of amazing gone.

There's just a lot of ache where Mim & Seth & Sam used to be. Sucky sucky week.

Red Eye

I took the red eye. I'm back East in the worst way possible. On Dec. 22 both my Great Aunt Mim and my good friend Seth died. Mim was just one day shy of her 92nd birthday and Seth was way too young fighting leukemia. Both their funerals are this morning, Xmas Eve. I wish I could attend both. I can't do either of them justice here; just to say I am heartbroken at the loss and grateful for the laughs, love and wisdom we shared. I hate the Mourner's Kaddish.

A Working Writer

telling it from the gut...

This is my small contribution to the AWorkingWriter.com project. Much better if you check it out on the actual website. Watch Michael Seitzman, Jack Kenny, Dawn DeKeyser, Jessica Bendinger, and Eva Saks, too. (And some press from the Huffington Post, too...) And, although picketing is on hold through the holidays, don't forget to support, in whatever way you can, the striking WGA members and all the below-the-line folks who have been effected by the strike.

Happy Holidays, folks.

Walking the Walk

Today we walked, danced and cheered our way through 7 miles of Burbank/Toluca Lake studios. It's the most exercise I've had in a year! Our fearless leader Josh Singer kept the 70's tunes flowing, the supportive traffic kept on honking, and we kept putting one foot in front of another, making our way from one WGA-picketed gate to another. It was great to see my Team Jaguar peeps @ Universal Gate One! When my sweetie & I made it back to the car sweaty and spent, we could barely move. Thanks to all the folks along the way with water and treats. (And thanks to Drew Carey for picking up the breakfast tab this morning @ Bob's Big Boy!)

Today was a very visible and vocal show of support, but yesterday I participated in a film project spearheaded by Maria Maggenti and Michael Seitzman called AWorkingWriter.com, that, while more understated, is no less critical to the fight for visibility of writers. Check it out in the coming days to see me and several others talk about what it means to be a working writer. Hey, that's what I moved all the way across the country to do, right? Write.

Jodie, Jodie, Jodie...

Jodie Foster Comes Out - sort of...

*yawn*

She thanked her life partner, co-parent to her children. That's what you're supposed to do at awards shows. I'm supposed to yawn. This shouldn't be a news story. Am I post-gay, yet? Too bad the rest of the world isn't.