A Babblative

I decided to be bold and daring tonight, and snagged a 6-pack of the Shiner Commemorative beer thingy instead of the regular one that I normally get, despite the fact that I haven't really enjoyed any of their other beers.

Apparently that trend is not going to change, because this particular beer tastes like ass. Maybe I'll enjoy it more after another couple. Next time, though, I'll just stick with my staple.

Also, I had fun reading Caves of Steel the other day and am finding The Naked Sun to be quite diverting. Something about Isaac Asimov just... sets off warm and fuzzy fangirly feelings in me. *sighs blissfully*

Also also, 24, 24, why do you do this to me?

( Warning! Warning! Spoilers ahead! Warning! Warning! Spoilers ahead! )

I just had a Honey BBQ sandwich from KFC for lunch, and it startled me by being worth what I paid for it. And potato wedges, to boot! *rrrrmns contentedly*

I have time off now. I could be working, I could be doing stuff around the house, but I don't want to. Instead, I've decided to just chill and do... well, whatever I want to.

But I'm discovering that I have no idea what I want to do. Or rather, I've got several things, but all of them call to me, and I'm not sure which call to answer. War in Heaven has the strongest pull, but I've been giving in to Mr. Zindell rather a bit lately, and I don't get much opportunity of late to do silly, pointless things... so part of me is tempted to disregard him and do something mindless.

On a different note, I find it extremely irksome that the kids across the street have begun playing basket ball RIGHT BEHIND MY PARKING SPACE only when the office is closed and I can't call to have the matter addressed. They used to keep it in a couple of uncovered parking spaces that were several down from my car, and I was less worried about it then, but now that they're in the thoroughfare and playing where a simple missed catch could result in damage to my car... well, I occasionally hear car alarms go off around them and almost wish that I had one on mine to let me know if/when they hit it.

"We have identified the problem and are working as quickly as possible to relove."

*giggles quietly to herself, day thoroughly made*

Makes me feel a bit old to strain with such memories, though it's been years since I've been able to recall.

It was a book I read in middle school. I always try to think that the title was "House of Cards," but I can't recall who wrote it, and I'm not sure that it's the title at all. Toward the end, a character has to fake her own death, and in a public ceremony, she does so, using these (I think, approximately, though part of me wants to say there's a fourth section that I'm not remembering properly) as her last words:

"'twas brillig and the slithy toths
cast in the fires of spring.
Double, double toil and trouble,
ask not for whom bells ring.

"For If I forget Jerusalem -
upon my silent stalk -
let my tongue cleft, my cunning hand
forget now how to walk.

"If I should die before I wake -
ashes to ashes, dust to dust -
I pray the lord my soul to take.
Let all robots come to rust."

ZOMG *SQUEEEEEEEEEEE*

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVxsBGs7scxZSkcCE1cL2B4BlECAD974D8800

Come on, NASA. DO IT! None of this sissy toilet stuff. :-D

( http://www.space.com/entertainment/090324-colbert-space-toilet.html )

Heh. I actually almost forgot... Perhaps it was an omen this morning, but part of me is still pleased about it.

Before all of... TODAY... started, I went to let Almeda in before we left for work, and discovered that I apparently own a mystical magical climbing bunny. 'cause he was out of his cage, running around the living room.

I used food to bribe him back into his cage, put a phone book on top of the swinging section of his cage on the assumption that he managed to climb up and flip it up to escape, and closed the door to his room just to be on the safe side. 

I have horrible images of him getting his head stuck in the space between the swingy thing and the side of his cage and breaking his neck or overheating with the poor circulation in the apartment, but I've decided to trust his hardiness and resourcefulness. Since, y'know, I sortakinda have to.

Still, it was awesome to see him rise above the challenge of escape. Inconvenient and slightly worrisome, but awesome. :-D

Wow, it's been a while since I've had a Monday that so truly lives up to Monday's traditional reputation.

1. I forgot my allergy meds this morning so had to run home and cut my work time down by an hour.
2. In the process, it turned out that I forgot I had someone set up this morning that I needed to have people start meeting with, and as I was trying to get that pulled together...
3. ...I had *another* issue arise that actually did have to be taken care of right then.Once that was resolved...
4. ...I had about three people stop by to tell me that our timeclock system isn't working, and told them to email me their punches (which I still haven't had time to go fix - did I mention that I pull time cards for payroll tomorrow?...
5. ...and headed out to get meetings scheduled throughout the day. Yay!
6. Except that by that point, it was time to go pick up drinks and food for our weekly accounting meeting. Doh! A kindly fellow customer assisted me with the third drink carrier, and I made it back barely in time to give Aaron the keys to my car so that he and Almeda could go to lunch, and slip into the meeting room for the meeting.
7. Back at my seat after a successful (and smooth!) meeting, I called our timeclock system people to find out when the system would be usable again for my pre-payroll review. They said sometime tonight, but probably not before I get off. Meaning I'll be spending tonight at home working so that everyone is taken care of.
8. I have the niggling feeling that there's something important that I'm forgetting, on top of everything else I've actually remembered. I hope and pray it doesn't come back and bite me on the ass. )-:
9. Oh, and the radio station I listen to during the day? Yeah, going up and down like a cheap prostitute, and when it's up the DJs seem to be playing slow songs when I could really stand to have a faster pace for energy.

And I've got two hours left! One task is almost complete, and I get to sort through nearly 50 emails today to cull the timecard ones from the regular ones. Oy. Today must end sometime... right?

*squees at teh awesomeness*

Wow, how slow I am. This season of 24 is absolutely kick-ass. I really worried about them bringing Tony back, but they've played it such that, while it is the single most unbelievable moment in the entire series, I can conveniently set it aside and get back to enjoying my Kiefer in all his glory.

*sighs happily* Oh, my Kiefer is so pretty.

I have to admit, this season is losing a little bit of what made Jack such an awesome character, though. He does horrific things when circumstances call for it, and it has slowly cost him bits of his humanity. Always before he has conveyed, at the very least, some internal conflict about it, but this season it seems as though he's finally lost the bit of himself that regretted the necessity. We'll see what happens with this next episode, though. *bounces giddily*

I do <3 the new president. While her most recent decision (to give in to the terrorists after staunchly insisting that she wouldn't negotiate with them) was, perhaps, not the best decision politically, it would have done horrible things to her character if she were the sort of person to have made any other choice. Also would have taken the show in a direction I don't know that I could have followed.

Renee... Walker? Anyhoo, the new mini-Jack Bauer FBI agent. She's swinging a bit too quickly, too far, and without enough actual thought for me here and there. For the most part, I like her, but she's had several moments that prompted the thought, "Um... Honey? You've demonstrated that you have a brain. USE IT. kthxbai."

If they brought Aaron back just to kill him, I'm going to be royally pissed. He had a happy ending, dammit! *sniffles* <3 my Aaron. Hope he's still chilling with Martha Logan - they were so cute together. I totally squeed when he came onscreen again, though very shortly thereafter I started warning the show that it had better not kill off my Aaron. *glowers determinedly at the 24 writing staff*

Chloe is finally beginning to feel like Chloe again, after the mess they made of her last season. She's *supposed* to be awkward and lumpy - that's who she is, who she has been through numerous events, and she was just... OFF last season somehow. She feels much more like the Chloe I knew and loved, and I hope she manages to humiliate and knock that Janice character off of her high horse into the gutter. I had the thought that I might like Janice in the beginning, but she quickly became too... whiny and - jittery isn't the right word, really, but I just don't like her. Career-obsessed when much more important things are going on, at the very least. 

Overall, this season has been fantastic. I've loved having Halfwit Genius along to watch the show with me, and it's really been my touchstone to relaxation while everything else has been crazy. So, yay for 24! Twelve episodes have simply flown by, but they have been well worth the ride, and I hope the rest of the season lives up to the great start thus far. (-:

So, I discovered last weekend why I've been feeling vaguely sick and what the smell in my room is. Unfortunately, I discovered it in the form of a slow leak finally working its way to the top of my bed *after* it had saturated and begun mildewing the mattress frame and box springs beneath it.

So, my bed is gone. It has lived a long, full (king!) life, and served three generations of my family over the last 20-ish years.

I discovered today that I have never bought a bed. I have always just... well, *had* a bed. I took my bed from high school with me to college, and my grandparents gave me this bed after I got married and had room for it. I think we were using Guy's bed before that. At any rate, I went bed-hunting. So, yay, Thursday I shall have a new sleeping surface, and can leave A's couch unmolested in a mere two nights hence. I've got a futon, but zomg it was bad for my back to sleep on. May end up using it anyway, 'cause the couch isn't actually mine, but... well, we'll see.

I actually had fun talking with the salesperson I gave my sale to tonight. I went in with a pretty good idea of what I wanted, and ended up with it. Still shocks me how much a bed can cost, but it wasn't a breaker, so I guess it works.

Amusingly, the mattress is supposed to withstand up to 30 minutes of open flame. I don't say this because I actively care about it, but she did have to add the disclaimer that in the case of a fire, the outside world is a much safer place to end up rather than at the bed and to please not make my way to the bed for safety. We had a brief discussion of the relative value of using the mattress top as a fire-shield versus jumping out a second-story window. Apparently if there's a fire and the mattress doesn't last the 30 minutes, it would be covered under warranty. *hmmms* I never thought to ask whether removing the mattress top would negate that, though. (For what a mattress-warranty is worth, anyhoo. *eyeroll*)

So, two more days and I will be a little less punch-drunk and sleep-depped. I do have to admit, it's surprised me how much of a difference not sleeping on a bed is having in regard to my energy level and general state of consciousness. I wonder how much sleep dep I've withstood because of my formerly kickass bed? I imagine that I shall find out before too long...

Life goes well. Work is busy, con went well, friends are friends - though I owe several people some huge apologies, which I'll get to as soon as I see them again.

My apartment is almost back to being clean, or at least presentable. I started rereading Prelude to Foundation, and may end up reading through all of those books again. *sighs happily about Isaac Asimov* Halfwit finally hit the climax point of Fool's Fate, so I could finally squee over it with her.

I just finished watching Moulin Rouge while I cleaned, and moved on to Rent. I was going for Chicago, but couldn't find it - of course, while I was cleaning, it turned up. :-D As it stands, i have a huge pile of trash sitting out on my balcony that I really need to get to the dumpster.

It still amuses me that Dumpster was once a trademark. Actually, don't know if it still is. Strange thing to become the general word for.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

As I was typing, Rent froze like it was going to die in the middle of Roger & Mimi's second song. *whew* Okay, the 360 reloaded itself or sommat and figured it out. Must not lose my Rent. (-:

Before too long here I'll finish putting together my 2008 retrospective. It was a huge learning year, in several ways, and there's much to be said. Until then...

<3

How, exactly, do I always manage to say just the wrong thing? *sigh*

And why do I come out of mutual situations where I feel like it's all my fault? Reasonably - logically - it's just not possible or realistic that I am the only person to blame. Why do I always feel like I'm the one who fucked up, and why do I never feel like my concerns are valid and being addressed? It's so easy to fall into traps that equate logical with reasonable, and often so difficult to take a step back and address the underlying argument. So easy to be distracted by what's being said rather than focusing on what it means. *sighs again*

Wow, haven't heard this song in a while.

"What hurts the most is being so close,
And having so much to say...
And watching you walk away.

And never knowing what could have been...
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was tryin' to do."

And another...

"There's only us, there's only this:
forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
No other choice, no other way...
no day but today."

• 8-Ball, my uber-spiffy if spirited young bunny.
• Lego Indiana Jones on Aaron's Xbox 360.
• The blue glow over the northwest sky on cloud-covered evenings.
• ICE!!! And the need for my electric blanket! !! <3
• Kingdom of Loathing, though oh how I'm sad to have missed the last week or so of Crimbo.
• President-Elect Obama!
• My new futon - a third couch for a living room that badly needed one. :-D
• My shiny Christmas tree, complete with new ornaments for 2008.
• The prospect of retiring old ornaments next year... or getting a bigger tree... or both.

Of the big states, I was counting on you to be the first.  I had real hopes, but you fell through.

Still, hopefully we can end up with a Supreme Court that will handle things well when it gets there, and settle it nation-wide. It has to, eventually. It just has to.

Just. One. Word:

Halle-fucking-lujah!

More words:

It makes me ZOMG glad that we have a President-Elect Obama instead of McCain. McCain's concession speech and Obama's acceptance speech were both awesome, and it leaves me hopeful about American politics for the first time in a long, long while. Maybe now we can start rebuilding some of the bridges Bush has destroyed in the last eight years.

Also, I was extremely pleased that my Stephen found an in-character way to officially endorse Obama last night. *squees happily overall and runs around giddily until she passes out from sheer exhaustion*

I think I'm going to be in fine spirits for our V for Vendetta party tomorrow night. (-:

Heh, I'm not even going to try to summarize the last two months right now. I will say:

• I finally have my two-month-long project for work down to the final editing stages.
• Something's biting me at night, and I can't figure out what. Ants are my current prime suspect , but I think I would see them if there were enough to be an issue in my actual bedroom; have to figure out what to do about it at some point.
• My boss wants to expand my tasks to cover other things that will be awesome to know how to do.
• I registered for MFM, reserved my hotel room, and have a schedule for driving there and back.
• I talked with my apartment complex manager, and she's finally bringing in a plumber to look at the leak in my bathroom. If anybody's been following or talking with me, yes, I mean the ceiling vagina leak drama that started back in March.
• I also talked with my academic advisor, and have shifted my next course so that I have a week off to look into con-related stuff (so very, very tired of trying to find information on non-profit and not-for-profit organizations) AND so that my final projects for my next course aren't due the day I'm driving back from MFM. *g*
• I am almost finished rereading Hokkaido Highway Blues, which is yay. Though I still need to read Blood Noir. Silly life and the not-enough-time-for-all-of-the-books-I-need-to-read. d-:
• I went hunting for bookshelves, but settled on a media entertainment thing and pulled my videos and games off of the overstuffed shelves in the wall. The extra bookshelf will come around moving time, methinks. *sighs happily at the thought*
• I am actually taking next Saturday *and* Sunday off. As of this Friday, I will have worked 19 days straight - while the projects and considerations involved were worth it, I am in bad, bad need of the time off.
• I'm starting to get excited about moving. New apartment is going to be so awesome! (And yay for no more ceiling vagina toxic death mold.)
• Hellboy was awesome fun, and drunk is totally the best way to watch it. (-:

Basically, life is full and interesting. Occasionally I wonder if I'm going to actually make it through to the next day with everything, but at the very least, I can say with certainty that I'm not wasting my life. Or at least that I'm being active in my efforts to not do so. :-D

These are my people.
This is where I come from.
We're giving this life everything we've got - and then some.

It ain't always pretty, but it's real...
That's the way we were made,
wouldn't have it any other way:
these are my people.

I just realized that almost all of my last posts here have been complaints, and that I haven't been expressing the joy I've been taking in life lately.

I've been in accounting for a week or two now - it's a series of challenges, but it's using my mind and I'm gaining experience in a real job. I really hope I continue to do well enough to earn the right to keep my place, but I seem to be doing okay so far. (-:

My group of friends is awesome - Aaron and Almeda and I hang out on Tuesdays, and we usually have our D&D game on Friday night. This week we moved to Saturday, but I'm having fun with the story and I think I'm also doing a fair job with Carapym, who is seriously growing on me. I still don't have quite as much attachment to her as I had to Volen, but she's a spunky little thing, and I'm having a blast watching our DM have NPCs react to her and our party's unique brand of diplomacy.

I start classes again on Tuesday, which is teh awesome. I've been itching to get back in, so it's good to see it happen finally. *bounces eagerly*

I also have the Burning Crusade on the way, and I'm really looking forward to working on Yaani (my Draenei shaman) more, and possibly to getting back to Avna. Oooooh, WoW, how do I love thee?

Things are proceeding apace with DRAMA and the con. We have forums, but we're still waiting on the website to go live. We have a logo for said website, which was the focus of the last few days, and we have permission to advertise it since the person running the other potential Furry Fiesta said his isn't going to happen. We're just waiting on the technical side to finalize, and then we're set! I'm working on our tax exempt forms, but should have those ready for the budget meeting next weekend, so should be able to have that submitted in the next couple of weeks. Then the waiting game begins, but we'll be ready and on our way. *beams*

Other than that, life is good. I'm taking my car in on Monday to get one side (from the accident I caused *sigh*) repaired, and should have word from AllState so that I can get the other side (from the first accident, the one I had no way to avoid) fixed, too. Medical stuff is all sorted out, though this week at work was fairly drama-laden. Almeda, Aaron, and I have all sorted out the timing with moving, and Aaron and I are looking into apartments to room at.

Tomorrow is the monthly fur meet at Genghis Grill, which will be much yumminess and furry good times. :-D

So things proceed apace, and overall, life is happy. (-:

I've spent the last few months nearly driving myself nuts working toward certain things. I've been organizing DRAMA for our convention; I've been working way the hell too much so that I can have a car since Sylphie up and died on me; I've also been working way the hell too much so that I can move into accounting; I've been on hiatus from school for nearly two months while I work way the hell too much toward those goals; I've been running through options in my head for what I'm going to do when Pat and Almeda get married and I need to find a place to live; I've been working with my doctor to make sure that I can get my reproductive stuff working right and have children when I hit that point. This has included nearly two months of cramping because the birth control we're trying right now is fucking with my hormones in not-good ways. I've been re-evaluating my concepts of home and Dallas and where I want to BE in my life and what I want in love and life and everything.

Basically, I've been in full focus mode for months now while I try to get everything put together. But I've handled it. I've kept it mostly together, and only had a few major bitch moments along the way - and most (not all, sorry guys) of those I've kept to myse lf, I think.

Last Monday, I hit the end of my ability to do so. I finally had a day where I just couldn't wake up, couldn't *get* up, and just didn't make it in to work. It turned out to be a bad time for it - I think they were trying to give me some good news that day, and I just wasn't there to give it to...

I got the job I was working toward. I go back into school in a little over a week, and will be cutting back (minorly) on my actual work when I do so. We're just about done with DRAMA stuff on my end, though the final bit will have to wait until after our staff meeting April 19. With this job, keeping my new car will be doable. I just went to the doctor and they decided to try something new that hopefully will balance my hormones out. I realized I actually have slightly more in the bank than I thought I had, and could make it until I get paid on Friday... after which the new job makes such concerns nearly insignificant - I'm actually looking at not living paycheck-to-paycheck for the first time in my life. I finally finished sorting through moving options and talked with Aaron about his roommate proposal, and started looking into apartment complexes for October. I technically had everything in line that I need to have together, and my life plans for the next year or so were sorted out and together. I was idly contemplating a drive up to Denton for ice cream this weekend, even. Mmmmm, ice cream.

Last Wednesday, an otherwise fairly nice guy randomly decided that he didn't want to be stopped at the stop sign any longer - while I was turning in front of him - and hit my shiny new real $10,000 investment of a car. I'm probably going to miss another few hours from my NEW JOB on Monday so that I can take it in to get it appraised or fixed. I was taking a crack at maintaining a positive view by thinking that the trek back through Mesquite until I hit Garland and DART stops would be an adventure, but more of me has been wailing at my new car not being pretty any longer and my nice streak of NO ACCIDENTS having been broken by such a stupid, random event. I don't want to know what it's going to do to my insurance rates, which have already gone up because of my new car.

Last night, I double-checked with Almeda about when the wedding is going to happen, and she gave a date but seemed less than certain about it. I'm hoping it was just tiredness, and I can work with things either way, but the last few months of thinking and resolving and internal debate have abruptly re-emerged and been running through my head in complete chaos until I find out for sure what the hell my life is going to be like in six months. We'll be sorting out a lot of that when she gets home later today, but for now it's just a whirlwind of obsessive worry and mental readjustments.

Two days ago I developed a bit of a sore spot on my upper leg. Yesterday, it hit the point where walking and sitting were both extremely unhappy events. Today I went in to the doctor - wrote a check I know I don't have money in the bank to cover for the first time in years and years for the copay - because I need to be able to walk *and* sit tomorrow. They told me I have an infected gland and cut into me to get at it so that they could treat it. I was at Wal-Mart getting the antibiotics and longer-term painkiller filled when the localised anasthetic they used wore off, and zomg I'm living on fire. The Vicodin is helping, but I pray to whatever gods may be that the pain settles out before I have to spend the day actually sitting or standing and putting pressure on it. I don't want to walk through work like I've been walking so far today, because it's the sort of walk that people definitely wonder about. The doctor also wants me to come back on Tuesday, because this type of infection has a nasty tendency to come back if you're not really really careful. So in the last three hours, I had about $90 in medical bills (two copays plus prescriptions) pop up that I can't really cover right now, and if they get word that the check bounced before I go back in, I seriously doubt they're going to let me write another one.

If it had happened one week later - if the stupid accident had happened one week later - if I had talked with Almeda about the apartment thing one week earlier - everything would be okay. I've managed to keep my finances in something resembling order for two years now - even fit in room for a new laptop and a trip to Sweden - and I'm finally failing despite my best efforts. My new pretty car is dented and not pretty, and I'm going to be without it while they fix it once I know I can take it in. Right this second, I'm worried and uncertain about my living situation in the next six months. All of my plans for this weekend are gone in a ball of fire centered around my leg - I have laundry I'm in the middle of, and things I need to do around the apartment, and I really, really wanted ice cream...

I finally have everything in my life together - why does it feel like it's all falling apart on me again? It shouldn't BE like this - things are good, I can make things happen, life WILL work out, and I usually have complete faith in my ability to take care of myself... but all I can think of right now is that I have no idea HOW I'm going to take care of myself or what my future involves. I feel weak and useless - it just seems like no matter what I make happen or how much I actually get to be REAL in my life, one thing after another just hits and hits and keeps hitting, and that all of these goals that I actually am achieving are pointless because just when I have them together life throws something else at me.

Why can't I have peace and stability? Why have I lost so much of my ability to be calm and at peace regardless? Why is life LIKE this? It shouldn't be - I've worked so hard to make it as much not this way as possible - but it is right now, and I have no idea how to deal with it. I'm at the end of my coping ability, and I'm just so tired of trying to be in charge and in control of myself and my life. I'm just tired, and all I want is for everything else to go away for a week or two. That's all. Just... all I want is nothingness, oblivion for a time. Why should that be so hard? Why why why why why why why why why??? *sobs and curls up into a ball for a bit*

Well, okay, Assistant Accountant, pending completion of my degree to become a full-fledged Accountant. I start tomorrow.

I want to run dancing and singing through the cubicles, and rush home to celebrate with my friends and loved ones. I want to call every single person I have ever known and share this huge, huge step forward for me. In three and a half hours, I will not be customer service for the first time in over seven years.

I'm also terrified - there are so many ways I could screw this up, and I am determined to avoid as many of them as I possibly can. I know I'll find some, but if I keep them to a minimum and never make the same one more than once, I should be able to... I just hope I can convince them that this is the right move, and do the best job humanly possible, and that I do it well and right and ZOMG I'm in accounting!!! *trails off into incoherent babbling as her thoughts break apart in a fresh wave of giddiness and panic*

Okay, back to my current job for another few hours. Must work, must think, must do well. Must... must... must... *trails off again*

OMG will this week EVER end??? I want to go home! I is has Draenei shaman waiting on me, and only 10 days to play her! Friends and GURPS tonight, and friends and hentai tomorrow night, and work tomorrow but with accounting so yay, and nothing but nothing but nothing but WoW on Sunday, but the people won't stop being stupid... *sob*

ARGLEGARGLEBLARGLEDARGLEMARGLEGRARGLE RAWR

I has a Draenai shaman just aching to be played at home... and plans to go to the movies to see Vantage Point tonight. *pouts* 5:00 has *got* to come sometime...

The last month or so has been pretty constant obsession over two things - how to incorporate a nonprofit corporation in the state of Texas and how to gain tax exempt status from the IRS.
 
Last week, we got confirmation that the Dallas Regional Anthropomorphic Meeting Association is official with the state of Texas. We had our first Board meeting on Saturday, and hit the bank on Monday to get things rolling. And yesterday... yesterday our newly elected President signed the contract with the hotel.

I'm still working on the IRS side of things, and installing WoW on my computer last night was *such* a bad idea, but I've got most of it worked out until we get some numbers back from staff members. Still, I'm on track to have our paperwork filled out and ready by our next staff meeting, and after that it's just a waiting game.

So we've got a name, we've got a weekend picked, we've got a corporation to organize it, we've got a hotel, and... wow, that's really it. Everything else is details.

We're gonna have a co-on, we're gonna have a co-on... *sings and twirls merrily a bit*

*whimpers a bit* Pat and Almeda have been talking about Wow again lately. It makes me miss my characters. I mean, Blizzard is talking about the next expansion - and I still haven't played the Burning Crusade. I don't really miss Loris that much, though I would like to get her to level 70 just 'cause... but I do miss Avna quite a bit. And Trudat, and Jo, and All... I wouldn't be able to make it my life like I did before, but... I miss it sometimes.

On a semi-sidenote - http://www.blizzard.com/us/jobopp/cd-librarian.html. *squees a bit at the thought of being a librarian for Blizzard and desperately wishes she weren't still working toward her Bachelor's*

I thought traffic was pretty bad on the way to work, and several others were also late, but wow. What a morning. /-:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031308dnmetjump.4879fa8d.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031208dnmetwreck.47fded2e.html

( Details... /-: )

Yeah, not so much. Bleh. Mondays suck. Stupid phones started at 7:45, and just haven't stopped. Doesn't help being short half of our people for laryngitis and the flu. )-:

*stares numbly at the non-blinky light*

Wow, I can breathe. First time in... two weeks? No calls in queue. My inbox is down to two issues that I need to keep there, and my pending box is down to twelve messages I need to follow up on tomorrow. I could actually do the general customer service emails, or catch up on my additional CJ task.

I also took half an hour at lunch to take care of some tasks I've been needing to accomplish for accounting for the last two weeks. It's amazing how much easier it is to get ahold of businesses during business hours intead of in the 4:30-5:00 slot I normally have for it. o-8 'course, now I get to use the 4:30 to 5:00 slot to sort out the other big one I'm working on, so we'll see how that goes...

Spotting issues from new birth control (yay for knowing things are still working!) seem to be winding down, as well, so I have strong hopes for getting laid this coming weekend. While last wekeend was fun playtime, it was still limited - I get the feeling that I may have found a good dom, depending on how things develop and how much of a sub I really am. (-: I've never really considered what it would be like to have a dom I could just hang out with, so I'm not sure how balancing the two will work. I'm excited to learn, though!

Also looking forward to game tomorrow. Hopefully we'll actually be able to fit it in this week. *g*

 ...I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Wow, this is rambly. Twelve-hour days at work and general tiredness do not a great pondering post make. Oh, well.

I've been trying to figure out what it says about me that I can do (and have done) casual sex, but not casual cuddling/snuggling. I'm not the sort for random hugs unless I'm romantically interested in someone, and when I am, the urge to touch/cuddle/hug is pretty much constant. But if that's not there, I just... don't. I do hugs for the occasional hello/goodbye, or when someone looks like they really need it, but - as much as I love physical contact - I just don't *do* it.

Casual sex, on the other hand, is easy. Relaxing, even. A nice rush of hormones and adrenaline that helps unknot the twist of thoughts that usually occupy my brain.

The closest I can figure at this point is the concept of emotional connection. Snuggling and sex are both physical forms of intimacy, but for me, snuggling involves more emotional intimacy. And while I am a very open, outgoing person when it comes to my thoughts and analyses of my feelings/concerns, I don't let people into my emotional barriers easily. It takes time, and a lot of trust. I can think of maybe three, four people in the last 15 years whom I would have felt comfortable crying around. I just don't cry around other people, because it's scary and all vulnerable. I love my friends, and those I consider close friends, I trust with my emotions... but there's a hangup there somewhere, and I can't pinpoint it.

To complicate matters, of course, I have enjoyed snuggling after casual sex. And snuggling generally evokes feelings that would eventually lead toward sex.

In an ideal relationship, I would have emotional intimacy that leads to snuggling and sex. Outside of that, sex can simulate some of the feelings of emotional intimacy simply because of how physically vulnerable you are. It's a form of surrender, and after that, it's easy to fall into the comfort of snuggling. Even when I am fully conscious that it is an illusion and not expecting anything further from it? Hrmn. Does that mean that, in the end, joy in sex really is mostly an attempt to simulate emotional intimacy?

No, I think that's a little too black and white. I'm sure there's at least an element of that to casual sex, but I think that there's also a joy in the physical sensations of sex, and a mental boost from being looked upon as desirable and worth the energy that goes into it. As well as a mental boost from being reminded that I can put that energy into someone else if they're worth it. Also just a joy in feeling sore the next day, realizing those muscles are there for a reason. :-D

The end conclusion to that train of thought is simply that I need to get laid. Soon, soon...

On the snuggling side, though, I go back to the thought: why does it feel more emotionally intimate than sex to me? When I care about someone, I would rather curl up beside them and rest in each others' warmth than fool around... though fooling around is definitely part of those feelings eventually. (-:

It's normal to not snuggle with friends. I'm pretty sure. I think it's meant to be romantic, because it is also a form of surrender, and of trust. Other than that... my mind, starts going in circles.

So what is friendship? What is snuggling, emotionally? What is sex, emotionally? There are people I would be willing to cry around who I don't snuggle with (and find the idea a little odd) and certainly don't think about having sex with. I've had sex with people I wouldn't cry around *or* snuggle with. I've only snuggled with... *ponders* four, maybe five people in my life? All of them were people I would have sex with, but only one was one of the three or four I would have cried around.

I've always thought of my home group as the people who define my home, who I don't get tired of being around. I'm realizing that it was a simplistic definition, though. I do get tired of my home group, but they still define my sense of home and belonging, and I work to make as much time and room for them in my life as possible because of it. I'm wondering if it's time to reconsider how emotionally open I want to be - I don't want to let people in easily or lightly, but I would like to always have someone in my life I feel comfortable running to and asking to be held while I break down.

Of course now I'm trying to decide if this post should be public. I'm not exactly worried about random people stumbling across it, and there are a couple of people I wouldn't mind having thoughts from who can't see it if I post it protected, but... ah, well. Public it is. I can always change it later if I decide I need to. (-:

Cary Elwes is so hot. Even just his voice, character or no. *fans herself*

Even better, the Baron is pretty damn hot, too - so the mix is brilliant. *sighs happily*

I decided that the ability to breathe is really important, and ended up giving Sable back to the DFW Pug Rescue. Few weeks back. Created a giant hole in my life, but it also cleared up some space in my lungs, so I suppose it'll be a fair trade eventually...

The transmission on my car died - in the middle of Preston over I-635. Almeda valiantly steered as I got out and pushed the car across two lanes of rush-hour, through the Preston/635 actual intersection, and into a parking lot to have it towed somewhere. The SUV behind us was sort of edging over to stop traffic to make a path for us... As we rolled into the actual parking lot, the driver rolled down her passenger's side window and hollered out "You GO, girl!" It was awesome, though the determination that I had $1400 in repairs to consider was less so. Still, Almeda has been awesome in driving us to work for the last week and a half and helping out with other transportation concerns. (-:

It also looks like I'm going to be secretary to help organize a furry con here in Dallas! I'm really excited about the chance - both to delve further into fandom and the sheer resume possibilities of helping incorporate and handle the accounting for a non-profit organization. Also, I fit 13 people into my apartment for our first meeting. With only a few of them being uncomfortable. How awesome is that? :-D

I spent an hour or so talking to Aaron on Valentine's Day. It wasn't as yummy as I had been hoping, and the pasta salad and cheesecake I had hopes of sharing went unused, but sick is sick. Ah, well, at least I had someone to talk to that evening. Sable was my original fallback - I set her birthday to February 14 so that I would always have *something* to celebrate. The timing on giving her up was a little particularly saddening. *lesigh*

My company finally announced and completed its acquisition of another company, which has created some HR and accounting work that I've been taking the opportunity to work overtime on, and I have vague hopes of a more permanent position if I show myself truly useful. At the very least, last paycheck I worked 20 hours of overtime with accounting.

The D&D game is getting interesting. We seem to be dealing with some sort of mind-controlling time travelers or illusions six months ahead of reality or illusions being used by forces with the ability to alter memories. We also managed to challenge the GM by not staying in the town we were supposed to and prompting him to develop a new part of the story for the town we actually went to. I'm also apparently doing at least okay with the role-playing side of things, or at least not offending the actual RPers in the group, so yay...

Today I went to Southwest Kia and picked up a new car. Well, first I sold Sylphie for cash toward a down-payment, and yay for Craigslist on that! I ended up with a 2006 Kia Rio, about 37,000 miles on it. Ended up with $235 car payments, but a spiffy car that my friends can actually fit in. Even in the back seat. The inside is extremely... beige, but I'm thinking seats covers will help with that in a couple of months. I'm having trouble settling on a name because all of the names I think of seem to involve the word "Beige." I had the notion of Skye, because it's this awesome gray that looks blue in the right light, and it matched the sky nearly perfectly while I was driving home from the car lot. Pretty well settled on the idea that it's a female car, though Skye could in theory also be a name for a male car. We'll see - I'm taking a road trip up to Denton tomorrow with Pat and Almeda for ice cream and to get a better feel for her.

Also, tonight Aaron and I settled out that we're not dating any longer. )-: I can handle the multi-person-dating thing, but he can't handle that it would take the relationship out of the long-term column for me, and I can't handle a multi-person relationship in the long-run. So, ah well. We never got too far beyond the friends stage, so shouldn't be too hard to settle back into it. Makes me sad, though. It was nice to have a snugglebunny, especially one I care about this much. Still, it's nice to know that I can click with someone else like that - haven't had it happen since Guy. So, good to be reassured of - it was one of the things I really worried about in watching things fall apart back then.

I had the thought that the timing is just about right to make it to Fourth Friday, but the D&D game is on Friday nights. So I'll have to hunt down when the DFWBound group meets. I think it's the third Wednesday, or something like that. Ah, well, I'll figure it out before too long, once I sort out the car and school thing.

What with the car dying and needing to work as much as possible to be able to pay bills and work toward a new one, I'm taking a few weeks off from school to be able to do so. The downside to it is that I'm going to have to come up with money for courses due to financial aid limits, which are going to be a pain to pay. But I just didn't have the energy (or time) to put into getting passing grades, so it had to happen. And now I have a spiffy new car! And a ton of debt, but a way to keep working and keep the greatest love in my life - driving. (-:

Finally, Porco Rosso is awesome. I so very much want some of whatever Studio Ghibli is on. This is kick ass, and I totally want to be Theo. Or Kaylee, or any mix of the two. *g*

*whimpers* Hate my body. Hate my OB/GYN. Hate the world.

On the upside, things are apparently still working.

Dammit. *whimpers again and cuddles her cup of hot chocolate*

So, I finally made it into an OB/GYN and an allergy specialist Friday. The lady-doctor is concerned about my lack of a reproductive cycle, and is starting me on some stuff to get that sorted out. I go back in a few weeks and we'll be talking about genetic testing for... well, for breast cancer genes, basically. I plan on doing some reading beforehand, but with my family history it's something I'm actually pretty concerned about, and in the next few years, at that. We'll see how that goes. For now, I'm mainly concerned about finding out for sure whether I can still have kids or not.

I also decided to opt in for the HPV vaccination. I'm generally careful when it comes to such things, but one can never be too safe. Burned like a mother, though. Needle burned going in, vaccine burned going in, and my arm burned for a good couple of hours after. Still a little sore, but I'm not sure how much of that was vaccine and how much was allergy tests.

Which was the other half of my Friday afternoon. Made it to the allergist, on time no less, and they ran some tests. At first I sort of got the impression they weren't sure why I was there. (I was there because I've had a pretty persistent cough for most of a year and a half and miss being able to breathe deeply without it.) The initial breathing test they did came back fairly solid, but they tossed an inhaler at me and did a post-test to see if my numbers improved much. Which it did - yay, breathing.

They also did a skin test. That was an interesting experience. I've never lain in one place and let myself experience an itch or burn like that before. On the one hand, so very glad I'm something of a masochist. And it was certainly an interesting sensation. On the other hand, boo having little needle holes all over my back that I can't see to make sure they heal properly.

They did have to redo four of them, and used my upper arm for it. The same one that got the vaccine (and had blood drawn from it) earlier, because if there will be pain, why not center it on my non-main arm so that I can drive my awesome but power-steering-less car home. This time I got to actually see what they did, though the 15 minute wait was moderately more of a struggle because I could have scratched the itching oh so very easily. Ruin the whole point of the test, though, so managed to avoid it.

Anyhoo, they drew numbers on my arm and then took different needles and injected little bits of allergen-type-stuff just under the skin by each number. I watched over the next 15 minutes as the skin around the injection sites turned bright red and little white bumps formed and grew. The testing lady came back in to measure them, and I asked what the white bumps meant.

Her: "They mean you're allergic."
Me: "Oh? What to?"
Her: "Well... pretty much everything."

The first bump she was looking at meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the spring. The second one meant I'm allergic to trees that are big in the autumn. The third meant I was allergic to trees that are big in the winter. And the fourth meant ragweed. When I got the final list back from the whole test, I was impressed. I'm apparently allergic to all trees, grasses, pollens and molds. Basically, the outside world is not my friend. :-D

It did confirm that I'm allergic to cat dander, which was reassuring because I knew it to be true.

The biggest concern I had was somewhat alleviated - I'm not allergic to dog dander. I am, however, EXTREMELY allergic to dust mites, and I have a breed of dog that sheds like mad as opposed to one that, say, doesn't shed much at all. And dust mites live off of stuff living beings shed. She is also low on the ground (with high monkey-grass around my apartment complex) and likely to trail pollen and other outdoorsy type things back inside with her when we go on walks, which doesn't help with those allergies, either. So while I'm not allergic to my dog *huggles the pug curled up on her lap*, she is exacerbating my other allergies. *sigh* Then again, so is the air quality in Dallas, so that's an internal debate for another day. Love my Sable, but love breathing, too. /-:

In the meantime, they tossed a couple of drugs at me. They also want me to come back in a month to see if it's helping enough, and said that, depending on my insurance policy, I might consider getting allergy shots to help with the outdoors and environmental allergy concerns before we move into the spring allergy season, since I tend to get bronchitis in the spring as it is.

Between the two doctors, I was expecting over $100 in prescription costs, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised to discover that the total came to a little over half that. Yay for generic drugs!

So the only thing left to figure out are these stupid little cuts that won't completely heal. Aaron says that if my body's been struggling with allergies, maybe settling out some of that will help, and I'm hoping he's right. The doctor I went to a couple of weeks ago while I had the flu had a couple of suggestions that I vaguely remember, so I'ma be giving that a go, too. I worry about the holes on my back because of them, but we shall see. Here's hoping.

Learning whether I'll be able to have kids when I'm ready, figuring out how to breathe normally again. I is happy with this. Working toward being healthy again. Really should start focusing on losing weight again. Just too much going on right now - yes, I know, eventually that excuse will wear thin, but I just don't have the energy to make it a long-term priority. And yes, I know that fixing it might change the energy thing, but the initial energy investment is beyond me just yet.

Hee, Sable is trying to crawl on my keyboard now, so I think it's time to kick her off of the lap and get to work on school stuff. Latahs, yo. (-:

...sucks ass.

So, Friday I was feeling kind of icky, as in my head and chest didn't feel like a head and chest, and breathing was not happening. I called in sick to work, and spent the next couple of days sleeping and doing little else. Sunday we went to a furmeet, which was good fun, but I was feeling fairly tired when I got home. Made it through Monday at work tired and a little warm, and by the time I got home was alternating between the hot and cold phases of fever chills. I had homework I had to have done, though, so instead of going home and sleeping like my body would have preferred, I stopped at Taco Bell and picked up a giant thing of Mountain Dew. I did manage to get my homework done by 1 am, the very last minute I could have turned it in, and hopefully managed to save myself the cost of paying for failing it. *crosses her fingers and waits for grades*

Went on to bed, but the Mountain Dew was in full effect, and the fever chills were doing a lot to me, too - I could not get warm, no matter how many layers I was bundled in. I had this trippy dream ongoing dream involving Kingdom of Loathing and bunnies and an in-game economy based on heat, where all of my friends were donating their energy/money to keep me alive. I was waking up at least once every hour, though I know I looked at the clock at 4:15 and 4:45. At around 6, I dragged myself out of bed, feeling miserably hot for once, and staggered to the bathroom to grab my thermometer, 'cause I knew I wasn't feeling right.

First reading came back 101.9. I blinked at it and thought, That can't be right. I don't feel that bad. So I retook it. This time, came back with 102.9. That's even further off. I waited a bit, and re-retook it, and came up with 103.3. Staggered up, out of my bedroom and into the living room, and messaged Aaron to ask if he knew around when you're supposed to go to the hospital for a fever. He basically told me that now would be a good time. Though he did suggest I wait half an hour or so to see if my warm, snuggly bed was affecting the reading. So I waited... freezing... and waited... longing for my warm, snuggly bed. I also messaged work to let them know I wasn't going to be in, though I just gave them the 101.9 temperature because I didn't really trust the other two. I retook my temperature - 103.6. Not reassuring at all.

Already too-long story short, my temperature hit 104.0 before I got into the doctor. Took a while to figure out where I could go and how to get there. Almeda dropped me off and headed on to work, and I collapsed in the waiting room. They poked and prodded me, and I moved as little as possible while answering their questions. They came back and told me I have a flu, and told me to stay away from work for a few days, sleep lots, and drink a ton of water. Aaron was spiffy enough to come pick me up and take me home, where I promptly collapsed. The rest of the day was kind of a blur of sleep and heat and more sleep and coldness and interesting dreams. 

As of today, I'm done feeling fever-chilled, and I only napped around 6 or 7 hours instead of the 9 or 10 that I have previous days. I'm still dragging, but I'm pretty close to normal. If I'm doing as much better tomorrow compared to today as I have been today as compared to yesterday, I should be down to my normal constant cough. If so, I'ma call and see if I can come in over the weekend to pick up some hours, 'cause my next paycheck is going to suck so very, very much ass it's not even funny. Between last Friday and this week since Tuesday, I've missed a week of work, and missed a chance to work overtime with accounting last weekend.

Still, I'm excited to feel vaguely human again, and the enforced doing-nothing has been nice, if not the feeling achy, exhausted, grouchy, freezing, and burning up bits.

So, bleh for the flu. I think next year I'll spring for the stupid vaccination. I've never been really susceptible to the flu before. *shakes head* I've never had that high a temperature before, I don't think, and I never want to go there again. Here's hoping tomorrow is a feeling-even-better day.

So, yay, I think we're starting to get the hang of our characters, finally. and having a mage seems to be helping a lot. Being able to boost the wizard's armor class 2 is also helping, but I think there was relatively little else we could do at the time to get him out of melee.

Uber-cute DM Aaron seemed to be happier with our performance this time 'round, and I think we did okay with the whole Commune spell dealybop. We're figuring out flanking and working on that whole "tactics" thing. I haven't played a healer since my WoW days, either, and it's really awesome to play one who can actually do damage here and there. :-D

And DM Aaron is teh awesome. Overall, I'm enjoying this game immensely. *sighs happily*

...your couch has an event horizon.

You know you're a geek when your roommate informs you of this fact and it sends you into giggling fits because of how very, very sadly true it is.

And welcome to 2008, everyone! :-D

I can't decide if it's good, or just sad, that this has been the best year in a while for me.

• I started 2007 off with the resolution that it would be the last year I spend in a retail store.
• I spent two weeks in Chicago, one in January and one in April. I had, and gave, a Valentine's
• I found my Sable, who is currently curled up on one of my legs while we watch Legally Blonde, through the DFW Pug Rescue in April/May.
• In June I turned 25, and had friends and family over for the first big birthday party I've had in years.
• In July I got back in touch with my Swede, which closed off a huge chapter from seven years ago... and motivated me for the job hunt.
• In August I got my new job, and a regular schedule. Monday through Friday, weekends *and* national holidays off.
• In September, I finished my associate's degree in accounting, and started working toward my bachelor's. Seven years later, but back on track... and something to show for it!
• Also in September/October, I quit Sears... for the first time also in seven years, I'm not in a retail store.
• In November, I traveled to Sweden. I may be a boring traveler, but it was perfect for what I needed at the time. On top of the meeting Magnus thing - huge beyond belief - *and* the whole traveling to Sweden thing, I also took two weeks off from work and had a real vacation for the first time in years, and the first time ever without in-laws along.
• This month, I started working with the accounting department at work, and our CFO is talking about trying to actually move me over into the department.
• And last night I had an awesome party for New Year's Eve. Adam and Chelsea - with Pete sleeping in Almeda's room - Pat and Almeda, Nathan and Jerry and Preston, myself, and Aaron joined us for the first part of the evening. More on the awesome parties later - though I will share that you have never *lived* until you've driven down McCallum in reverse on New Year's eve. Another year with no kiss at the new year, but... I think I can live with that. (-:

All in all, a good year. There have been some notable down points, but I've accomplished a lot, at least on the mechanics-of-life side. Added a couple of new friends on the social side, too, and I look forward to seeing how our group develops over the next year. :-D

I'm moving toward getting out of Dallas. I've lived here for nearly seven years, and it's time to move on. My resolution for 2008 is that I'm going to finally do Dallas. Or at least the things that I don't know I'll be able to do once I leave. I'll have a definite list in the next week or two, after I figure out what should be included. And who knows, maybe 2009 will be my last year in Texas. (-:

At any rate, it's been a good run. You are all made of awesome, and best of luck to all of us!

Okay, and anybody else with a high school sense of humor. (-;

I got an email today from... Don Phallus.

Spam - I'm assuming you can guess what kind from the originating name - but it made me think of you, and brought a smile to an otherwise... well, Friday at work. :-D

Had my first day of work in two weeks today. I was in a really good mood, and stayed positive pretty much all day. Customers were still customers, and therefore morons, but all in all it was a fair day. I'm really exhausted, though. Just want to sleep, so very much. It doesn't actually feel like it's 4am or anything, but I do just want to sleep and not wake up for a long while.

Picked up Sable from the PetSmart she was staying at, and oh, she is hyper. And fractious, too - she's fighting me on her walks, which I'm not used to. I figure with some exercise and practice, I'll be able to weed that out of her at least a bit this weekend.

The apartment still feels really empty somehow. Hopefully that'll shift.

Anyhoo, I'ma give in to my need for sleep for now. I don't think I've gone to sleep this early in a while, but I think it's a good idea. I have homework I need to be doing, but it's not going to get done even if I do stay up, soooooooooo... yeah. Sleepy time.

Well, yesterday was an adventure, full of reroutings and mad dashes through at least one airport. Well, okay, just the one mad dash, but still.  Poor Magnus was stuck at the airport for three or four hours waiting on the flight they ended up putting me on, and then another while I talked to the airport people about my luggage. Fortunately for me, he is made of awesome like that, and yesterday was good fun in the end. (-:

There is snow on the ground, the temperature is awesome, the city is beautiful, and I will have clothes and a coat to enjoy them with sometime today or early tomorrow. In the meantime, I think breakfast is soon, so I will wander off and poke around some more. Will write more later, of course, probably after I get home. *bounces off happily*

I spent about six hours at the mall today. I don't think I've *ever* spent that long at a mall and not been working there.

I discovered that, for the first time in over six years... I don't have my retail legs. I can stand relatively still for hours at a time, but my feet are very not happy with me about it. Walking has never been a problem for my feet - the biggest pain in retail is actually just the standing; if a job involves moving around, it was always less painful, at least until you get those retail legs.

It's a happy thing. (-:

And two days! *dances a happy dance*

I've been working on this assignment for a couple of days now. So of course I finish it and go to post it after staying up until 2 am because the instructor said that if I got it in by tonight he wouldn't count it as late, and discover that the school forums are actually down. Gorram son of a fileted bag of mice on a pogo stick. God, I need sleep.

So, for the second day in three months, I called in sick to work today. Apparently so did someone else, for a similar-sounding issue. With a third person having just quit and a fourth taking a PTO day, I feel really, really bad for missing the day and leaving them all with the mess I'm sure it turned into.

But I spent almost all of last night (and most of today) in and out of my bathroom. I've never watched body fluids change color over time before, and I desperately hope I don't have another night like that. I have successfully (and hesitantly) eaten two slices of bread today, and tried to not offend a cute guy online after he sent me a link to some really interesting food-related stuff that hit my queasy stomach in a very not-yummy way.

I'm missing the RP tonight, too, which leaves me sad. I was looking forward to making Timothy Garrotte live again... *pouts a bit* Hate being sick. )-:

Still, I've spent most of the evening curled up on my couch with my Sable and my laptop, being as mindless and relaxed as I can manage. Read Sherrilyn Kenyon's new book, though it was more... meh... than most of her other books. She did announce that Ash's book will be coming out next year, though, so I'm extremely excited about that prospect.

The moon was huge and golden last night, like a celestial butterscotch lollipop. Which meant I was craving butterscotch and lollipops, but didn't think enough to realize that we actually still have some Buttershots in the cabinet.

Having people over was awesome. I always enjoy having guests, and I've really missed our D&D game. I was sad because Volen died, and spent the last couple of rounds in a battle as an ashen heap, but our resident cleric rescued her from the happy hunting grounds with his awesome powers of raising the dead. It was a very distracted session, with lots of tangential discussions taking place around - and between - game-based events. I imagine we could have accomplished a lot more than we did, but it was fun, and we got to see Dave and Amy.

And I just found the memory card reader on Lunesby! Now I have to go actually get a memory card for my camera, or figure out where the USB memory card reader I had on my computer once upon a time disappeared to with the memory card in it. I also discovered that it has a video out dealy, so I can play Dexter on it and hook it up to the TV! Though I *will* have to hunt down an S-Video cable - I'm pretty sure this purple thing I used to have hooked up to the computer will convert it into the standard A/V my receiver will take. (-:

All-in-all, Sable and I are both happy with the current setup, as she can curl up next to me on the couch and get cuddles while I'm doing stuff on my computer. I'm also pretty sure that the power supply will handle things in Sweden, so my main goal of being able to do school-stuff while I'm out and about seems to be in shape. Speaking of, I really need to start interacting with this class a little more. Not sure how I'm going to handle the teamwork requirements in this program, honestly, but I'm determined to at least give it my best.

It saddened me to realize that Heroes has become a TWoP show for me - all last season, I kept up with it on TWoP, but only after I watched the episodes. Now I'm just reading them. It looks like House will be a mix - I'll probably end up downloading and watching the episodes after I read the recaps... but Dexter, I am determined to keep up with, because Dexter is my happy place for now.

I'm just about done getting things set up on this computer. I'd been hunting for some links, but finally went back and forwarded some older emails to myself so I can try to get my email set up properly again. I've actually got Thunderbird working, so I won't have to deal with the whole Seamonkey/links-opening-in-Seamonkey-instead-of-Firefox hassle, so yay.

Anyhoo, I probably have some homework I should be doing. I always do seem to, nowadays. :-D

Yay for not being tethered to my bedroom if I want to attempt homework, and yay for being able to keep up when I head out of town next month!

I have a new laptop, which I have lovingly dubbed "Lunesby" after much discussion with Almeda. The name might change as I become more familiar with how things work and so on, but for now, I am happy. (-: I've spent most of tonight going through and taking off all of the extra stuff Dell installed, though I was careful enough when telling them to build it that Pat, at least, was surprised at how clean it was. Not perfect, of course, but it didn't take too long to clear most of it off. The rest of the evening has been spent fiddling with avast!, Spybot, Adaware, Firefox, Thunderbird, and Miranda... Now to hunt down a media player and start the process of getting silly PGP stuff set up here.

Tomorrow will be spent getting it set up to handle school stuff, and helping Sable adjust to the idea of being able to curl up beside me while I do homework. :-D

Yes, they're hopelessly Christian and occasionally do still drive me nuts, but they're still happy nostalgia and the occasional song that really just makes my day. I just took a brief break from a pain-in-the-ass homework assignment to listen to, "Evolution...Redefined," "Life Together," and "Colored People." Combined with a cheesy potato for dinner, and the last few days reading over old book forum threads, I am in the perfect place to write pointless papers without regret again. (-:

I love you all. 01 Bastard 0 notwithstanding.

And I swear by the Light and my hope in something something that I will *never* get that drunk again.

On the one hand, I *so* don't feel like staying inside alone tonight. On the other hand, I have a group project to get started on, and individual assignments I really need to hop to. People besides me counting on my grades this time round, darnit. And I've spent the week planning on getting out and about *tomorrow*. Admittedly, I'm going to be looking for a sports bar, not something I would have expected to be planning on a Saturday, butchaknow. It's something out of the house.

So, yeah. Time to buckle down and do this whole school thing. *lesigh*

Yeah, got a bit tired of having that last post be the top one on my blog. I moved through that phase earlier in the week, and back into my normal happy phase. (-: Admittedly, work has been driving me nuts lately, but that's what work is for. And I'm holding out hope for a new CS Rep soon! *bounces happily*

As to things in my life... well, I have a good life. I'm finally working a job I can actually support myself with, and will have health insurance in another month or so. I have an awesome dog, and am finally over halfway to my degree. I'm picking up a new hobby, learning a new language, and... enjoying life in general. Saturday I'm going to go hunting for a sports bar that shows European football games. And get caught back up in my class, of course. (-: I've been eating healthier, and I've taken two three-mile walks in the last week. Admittedly, I was going to tonight, as well, and managed to get derailed by a random internet distraction, but I *will* go tomorrow. (I almost talked myself into going tonight anyway, but I don't quite trust my neighborhood *that* much.)

I have awesome friends, who make life fun and interesting. Crazy-ass, intelligent, fun, caring, deep, quirky, patient, impulsive, open and generally awesome are descriptions that can be generously scattered amonst them - us. I have people I love, who love me, and several long-standing relationships that add stability and constancy to my life.

I'm going to travel to Sweden, to finally meet my first big crush, and no matter how it goes, it won't be futile. Those memories are worth revisiting and exploring, and at the very least, I intend to have a satisfying resolution to that chapter of my life in a bear hug eight years in the making. Above all, I have regained a friend I thought long-lost, always a worthwhile thing. And... c'mon... I'm going to Sweden! That's special in and of itself, but I also haven't been out of the country in 13 years... it's about time. And Sanderland next spring! *bounces happily*

So, yeah, life is good. Time to get my silly emo-moment off of the top of my blog. (-: And time for sleep! Mmm... Sleep.