It's a quarter to five on Monday morning, and I'm awake. I don't know how long that will last... hopefully, not too.

Friday, hamner, lysander_cat, and I got together in the evening. The rest of the Usual Suspects had decided to take the week off of our D&D game, so the three of us worked on characters for hamner's Serenity game, and my upcoming Champions game. We went over to the Broadway Diner, and had some pretty good burgers.

I got up early on Saturday with the intention of recovering from my gumption trap, and finishing the tunic. Except that I discovered that it wasn't just a gumption trap, there actually was something wrong with my sewing machine. So I climbed into the red kilt, and the blue doublet, and headed for Phoenix, for Brymstone's Chocolate Revel.

childofsnow met me there, and I introduced her to my friends, and that was nice, as was seeing some of the folks from St. Vlad again. It was sort of odd... when I was actually there, and immersed in that culture, people half my age seemed normal. But now that I've been away, and dealing with a broader segment of society, they seem so... young.

I had to leave early, as my ride was uncomfortable leaving her dog alone for more than about 8 hours. I would have liked to have hung around a little longer, but....

I woke up late on Sunday morning. About 11, which worked for me pretty well. Back was still sore, though not the band of agony it had been. Read Terry Pratchet's Equal Rites. Floated in the pool for a couple of hours.

Watched the season finale of Eureka which was interesting, because it felt like a series finale, but I know that the show's been picked up for another season. Also watched last week's episode of Warehouse 13, which is not the season finale. That'll be this week, and I'll probably watch it on tape delay again, because I mean to get out to the park to fighter practice, even if it's just to demonstrate my skill at hobbling around with a sore back.

It's already the last week of September... where does the time go?

So, in accordance with prophecy, I spent most of Saturday at raventhourne and posadnik_ivan's house, learning to make mead, which, in its basics at least, turns out to be dead simple. The Brewer was there, along with weavedancer, and myself, which made it a very pleasant day in the presence of very pleasant people. ( Stuff about making mead, mostly so I remember it, later )

It turns out that posadnik_ivan and I share a love for wooden boxes. I sat on the floor and looked through his copy of Treasure Chests: The Legacy of Extraordinary Boxes while my liver processed the mead I'd sampled out of my blood, then thanked everyone, went out to lysander_cat's car, which I had borrowed for the day, and went home.

We watched the final episodes of Torchwood season two, and I chatted with childofsnow for a brief time, and played a little World of Warcraft and finally went to bed.

I woke the next day about 11:00 to discover that lysander_cat and his lovely wife were still asleep, which struck me as rather unusual... normally, lysander_cat is up before the rest of us, and agitating for us to get up and be about the day. hamner called about 11:30, wondering if we were still planning to come over and join him in some vid, and was similarly surprised at the news that T&T were still asleep.

He called again about 12:40, and I went and asked them if they'd like to get up and go have breakfast, the which they agreed to, and we joined hamner, roxietiel, and darth_riley at The Good Egg. darth_riley read The Pigeon Who Wanted a Puppy for us, which was very amusing, and we ate breakfast (all except for roxietiel who had to be an individual, and eat lunch) and there was agreement that it was good food and a good time.

Thence lysander_cat and I moseyed on over to Chateau Hamner, where the three of us proceeded to play Marvel Ultimate Alliance for a while. We've been working on the story line campaign for a couple of years now, getting a chance to sit down together for a few hours a couple times per year. I'm sort of hoping that we'll get the chance again next month, in honor of my natal day, and that might finish the campaign at long last.

Also over the weekend, I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which sundry friends of mine had enthused very highly over. I also enjoyed it, but not so much as others. I found it to be entertaining and well written, but lacking some spark of joy which other Regency era fantasy I've read had. So I'm on to Sharpe's Revenge, and realizing I shall soon come to the end of the Sharpe's series.

And now, it is Monday morning. In a little while, I shall bestir myself to take the recycling out to the can, I shall perhaps do some little bit of writing for one of my coöperative writing projects, and no doubt, I shall play some World of Warcraft.

It's life, Jim. Just as we know it.

lysander_cat, hamner, satharn, have a gander at this. And the rest of you, if you're interested, can, you know, maybe have a peek as well.

ETA: Oh, damn it, they're not doing a Mac client. Never mind.

I woke up unreasonably early this morning, and sat down to play a little World of Warcraft. I got my Draenai hunter to 48^th level, and, because of the recent patch, had to redo talent tree selection for the character and her pet. I'm still waiting on hamner to level up his Dwarf, so I can run Eisenhienie around the block. Re-downloaded my User Interface Modifications (UI Mods) and installed them.

Exchanged text messages with Park Ranger Girl and PreMed Girl. Neither seems all that jazzed about going to the Baronial game night tonight, so I'm wondering if that's a reflection of the general populace. Eh. If it ends up being just myself and the Baronial officers, that's okay, too.

Went to Shakespeare class. Discovered, once I reached the student union, that I'd left my wallet at home, so I didn't have lunch. Went and sat outside the classroom, and read Act One of Othello. Had an interesting discussion of Desdemona's gender issues in Act One, and then wandered out of the Liberal Arts building.

Caught the bus, which was surprisingly packed. It was one of the ones that doesn't have full headroom all the way from wall to wall, so I spent about fifteen minutes sort of uncomfortably hunched over while holding a hand rail. Got home, checked my email. I'm debating between playing some more World of Warcraft or going to get some lunch. I'm suspecting WoW may win, as if I go out now, I'll be at loose ends for a while, until I go to games with the Barony; if I wait 'til five-thirty or so, it'll work out much more smoothly.

Oh, and, something that probably amuses only me... I'm the Herald of the College of Sankt Vladimir. The college is named for Vladimir the First of Kiev, who converted the Rus to Christianity. His name was spelled in different ways by different contemporary groups... including Valdamarr by the Norse. So, uh... I'm a Herald of Valdamar. Maybe I should make some white garb.

I got up late this morning, which was okay, because the only class I had today was Shakespeare. If I haven't mentioned it before, my Shakespeare class has become something of a source of stress for me. I have an A in it, currently, but I feel a great deal of hostility from the other members of the class. Which wouldn't bother me, but for the fact that the vast majority of them are SYTs, and one never wishes to gain the hostility of SYTs.*

I ran into Beautiful Asian Girl in the hallway on my way from class, and we chatted for a moment. Appaloosa is opening on Friday, and she's interested in seeing it. I fished around for others to go with us, but it seems that this is NAU's Homecoming / Family Weekend, and most of my friendlies are busy. And, since I kind of promised Park Ranger Girl I wouldn't watch Appaloosa without her, I'm going to see if Beautiful Asian Girl has any interest in watching Igor instead. Plus, I don't know what Korean standards are on people being at movies together, alone, and I don't want to put her in an uncomfortable position.

I've been corresponding with Seattle Girl, who is now in South Korea, teaching English. A while back, she asked me:

Have you ever considered how your gaming may affect your mood? It sounds like a way to relax and unwind, but you may want to think about how it programs your mind to think in certain ways. That probably sounds paranoid to you. Anyway, it's just something to consider...

meig

Saturday. Yay.

I spent last night and some of this morning playing Final Fantasy XII, after several months hiatus. Not because the game isn't good, but because it eats time like nobody's business. Of course, with World of Warcraft not functioning on my computer (and their tech support still having not gotten back to me) I have a little time. I tried playing Armored Core: Last Raven, but it was kicking my butt from the very first scenario. I love the series and the concept, but this one is tough.

I'm going to go over to my old lab partner's house, in a little bit, and clean litter boxes and feed cats. Yay. I'm pondering lunch, but I don't really know what I want. Maybe I'll just hit the golden arches supper club, and grab some macage. Or maybe I won't. Who knows?

Oh, yes... I have pocky. Neener.

In a few minutes, I'm going to put on shoes, and walk over to the School of Nursing, to meet with the executive director. If all goes well, I'll be readmitted to the SoN; if all goes poorly, I'll be out an avenue to have that happen, and will be down to my grade appeal, and my AA/EEOC complaint.

I got an email this morning which said that, as I didn't take 9 credits over the summer, I'm on Sufficient Academic Progress hold from the financial aid office. Gosh, it would've been nice if they'd told me that, I dunno... at the beginning of the summer? (They sort of did, but not as explicitly as that).

I'm going to appeal that, too... more to do. Yay.

The people who have taken over development of the Star Trek MMORPG have released a trailer for the game, which they say is completely from game engine footage. Of course, they probably won't have a Mac client for the game.

lapis_lazuli

mactavish

1. Oh, sorry, did I spoil your dramatic moment? I forgot, everything's supposed to be about you, right?
   
   
2. It's not about me. Well, sort of, but not really. From my point of view, it's about you. It's about the fact that for months, I've felt like I've been walking on egg shells, trying not to offend you. It's about the fact that regardless of whether what you said was about me or not, I've gotten so accustomed to the thought that I've pissed you off that I perceived it as being about me.
   
   And you know what? I'm tired. I'm tired of walking on egg shells. I'm tired of constantly feeling guilty for offending / pissing you off. If the only way this can be resolved is for one of us to leave, well, then, it might as well be me.

Push me in the shallow water,
before I get too deep
what I am is what I am,
are you what you are, or what?

--"What I Am" Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars, Eddie Brickell

sundaygames

kiarrh