Week in Review – Week of 2010.04.11 – 04.17

This week has been stressful in terms of work, but fun in terms of derby. I’m still excited to be playing in scrimmage-like drills, as anyone around me can easily tell since I won’t shut up about it. I’m taking full advantage of my early work schedule to go to as many practices as possible. There are other things I’d like to be doing with this time as well, but right now I’m making derby a priority because I want to get my skills up to speed, and hope to be able to skate in the upcoming Rookie Rumble. Wish me luck!

Sunday’s endurance practice was surprisingly a lot of fun. I normally *hate* endurance practices, but since there was a bout last Saturday, very few people showed up for practice one and therefore it was ran at a slower, more personal pace. I actually got to work on technique instead of just racing pell-mell for two hours. It was nice. After practice I picked up Nivagi and we brought Ke dinner before Ke went into work. Nivagi and I snuggled and watched Angel, enjoying a pleasant, low-key night.

Monday I had off work so I enjoyed some quiet time while Ke slept and Jero and Nivagi were at work. When Jero got home I walked over to her house and we went out for a yummy dinner before I got on the MUX. I was able to get on early for a change, so I got to role-play with Cawh, Chdr, Desm, Hemy, Nightfall, Scourge, and Semcca in several different scenes. I didn’t advance the plot as far as I’d hoped to, but I had a lot of fun, which is ultimately more important. Jero and I then looked over Gen Con stuff before bed.

Tuesday night’s derby practice was a lot of fun. Again, my legs were tired in the beginning but fine once we started doing scrimmage-type drills. I got to be knocked around the track by Faye Stunaway, which was rather cool. I felt guilty “hogging” the track (even though I shouldn’t have because it was a men’s practice), but I wanted to block every jam. I still suck, but I’m having fun playing. After practice I tore Stsm away from my other girlfriends at the poly meetup to come hang out with me before bed. We talked and she brought me cool books to read and we had a lovely night.

Wednesday was a shitty day – it started with scheduling stress and went downhill from there. After I escaped work I didn’t want to go to derby practice, but I went anyway, since I usually enjoy it once I get there. Luckily, this was the case again that night – after skating around for two hours and getting pummeled by Uzi Q (who hits like the steel telephone pole), I felt a lot better. I grabbed some food with Jero and then Ke, and after a long shower I felt a lot better. Unfortunately since I’m working an earlier shift I couldn’t stay up too late, but I did get to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report with her before she put me to bed. B)


Thursday was a better day at work than Wednesday, especially since I got to have lunch with Adshru. After work I went with Jero to practice where I had a great time getting my ass kicked by members of the Circle City Socialites during scrimmage-like drills. After two hours I was sore and incredibly tired, but I had a lot of fun. Jero and I grabbed quick food and then went back to her house so I could do my taxes (yes, at the very last minute, as always). Exhaustion and technology fail made it a much more difficult process than it had to be, but I finally got them filled out and submitted at 12:10 AM Friday morning (doh!).

Friday was busy and tiring, with the phones ringing off the hook all damned day. I did have a pleasant break when Jero visited me for lunch, but then the day dragged for the next 4 hours. I had to deal with a host of Friday-stress problems (every company in the Midwest seems to want to wait ‘til Friday to run everything), and I barely escaped on time at the end of my shift. I ran to Ke’s house to grab Nivagi, and then Nivagi and I went to see Neil Gaiman, who was awesome. After the lecture we went to Some Guys Pizza and ordered a ton of food, some of which we brought back to Ke before she went into work.

Thankfully today has been much quieter at work. We have very few people here, so I’m doing a combination of east and Midwest work, but I don’t mind. Tonight I’m going to go see the Naptown Roller Girls play the Ohio Roller Girls in a double-header at the Pepsi Coliseum. The Naptown Roller Girls got to hang out with Neil Gaiman last night after his lecture, so I’m a little envious. Jero is picking me up, and Stsm should be there as well. Should be fun!

Blast from the Past: Reminder of from where Obama’s “new” deficit originated :
Bush's tax cuts overwhelmingly favored the wealthy. The top 1% will saved more than $30,000 per year while the bottom 31% saved nothing at all.
Source: Citizens for Tax Justice and AFL/CIO

Week in Review – 2010 January 31st to February 6th

Last week I had an early work schedule, and so even though work itself was sucky, the rest of my week was great. I got to spend time with my girlfriends while they were actually awake, and was able to get onto the MUX while people were still logged on. One of the weekday derby practices was cancelled, but the other one was very cool, even if I personally sucked. I got to spend an entire weekend with Stsm for the first time, which was a birthday celebration for her and a great time for me.

Last Sunday afternoon Jero made omelets for breakfast and then she and I had a very good derby practice. It was an endurance practice, so we were worked to death but felt excellent the next day with positively achy muscles. Unfortunately after Sunday practice I wasn’t feeling well, so we didn’t get much more done besides a late dinner and skate maintenance before I left to go spend the night with Ke and Nivagi. Ke was tired, so the three of us didn’t stay up very late, and mostly just snuggled talking until bed.

This month I’m the go-to guy for ISDN problems at work, which kept me busy most of the day. Last Monday Jero made us dinner and then we got on the MUX. The Old One opened a portal between Wheeljack's lab and the Shattered Glass universe, and on the other side General Flint sent Snake-Eyes to investigate, which was wacky fun. Goldbug revealed himself in the SG-Pit and shot his way out while Ebony was powerless to stop him (which she took out on the Witwicky brothers). Geeky good times. B)

Last Tuesday after work I went over to Ke’s to have dinner with Nivagi and her. We went to Ruby Tuesday and when we got back to Ke’s, Nivagi went to her boyfriend’s while Ke and I settled in on the couch. Ke watched American Idol and Kitchen Nightmares while I MUXed. I got to RP with Spike and get a few other things done, although I idled on Kadjem, which I’ll have to make up next time. When it got late Ke turned off the TV and lured me to bed, where we snuggled under the blankets to get warm.

Last Wednesday night when I got off work I went back over to Ke and Nivagi’s to hang out with them again. Ke was HUNGRY and ready to eat, but Nivagi was asleep. We finally roused Nivagi enough for her to decide on food, and then we let her nap while Ke and I went to pick it up. Nivagi and I’d planned to watch Angel (to Ke’s chagrin), but I’d left the disc at home, so we watched Chuck and The Colbert Report instead. Ke helped Nivagi file her taxes, and then we all snuggled up to sleep, roasting and squishing Ke in the middle.

Last Thursday’s derby practice was awesome in that the Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls came up to help out, and bad for me because all practice I was just suck on wheels. Bunnie showed me just how low I’m supposed to be in proper skater stance, and in retrospect my thighs should have been screaming since the appropriately-named Thigh Scream Social. After practice I got back on the MUX, but it was quiet, so I got mostly admin stuff done, although I did get to role-play with Turborat and Stormwind.

Friday night Stsm and I had plans with her friend Jest. We met up at my apartment and then ventured out into the Snowpocalypse for dinner. We went to Some Guys Pizza, and I was surprised to discover they have *insanely yummy* vegetarian pizzas. I definitely need to go back with Ke and Nivagi. After eating we picked up a bottle of wine for Jest and Stsm, and then hung out at my apartment until Jest had to get home because it was late and snowy. Stsm was sleepy but I wasn’t, so I watched some Mad Men while Stsm napped until I was ready to join her in slumber-land.

Saturday night I had dinner with Jero and Stsm and then the three of us headed to the Pepsi Coliseum for the Naptown Roller Girls bout. After the game I went to the Beer Seller with Stsm and her friends for an after-bout birthday celebration for Stsm. When we returned late to my apartment my heat still wasn’t working, so we cuddled up under the covers and watched YouTube videos until my space-heater warmed up my room. I gave Stsm her birthday spankings and read her a story before we cuddled up to sleep. It was a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

"It's devastating. It's got to be doubly devastating on the ground." -- All President Bush could muster about the Katrina damage, according to his press secretary. His first view of the floods came, pitifully, theatrically, from the window of a low-flying Air Force One

Last Week and Half of This One – March.15 – March.25

My emotional state continues to be up and down. I’m surrounded by wonderful people, but a ton of crap is going on in others’ lives that I have no control over and for which I can provide little help. Things have settled in my relationships, but not exactly where I’d like them to, so the process of acceptance is a depressing one. I’m trying to be there for people when I can, and to enjoy the good times, but whenever I get a chance to think too much my mood crashes.

Last Sunday I slept until 3 and then woke up to breakfast with Ke and Mira. We had a lazy day of hanging out playing on our laptops and then Ke and Mira made a yummy dinner of chicken and asparagus. Ke worked on a memorial website for her grandmother while I caught up with friends and lovers about their weekend. Ke and I were feeling a little down by the end of the night, and Mira wasn’t exactly feeling very amorous either, but the three of us managed to pull each other out of our respective funks and have a good evening nonetheless.

Last Monday morning Ke, Mira, and I went out for breakfast and then Ke went into to work and Mira headed back to Evansville. I went to Jero’s and took a nap with her before driving up to meet Mika for dinner. Dinner with Mika was pleasant, and although we still have no idea when we’ll hang out while I’m on the night schedule, I’m hoping we’ll figure something out. After dinner I went back to Jero’s and we snuggled and watched Castle (a new guilty pleasure) and Dollhouse (which I love already).

Last Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day, so I was worried about being late for work because of the damned parade (I work downtown). I left myself extra time, but besides having to run over some revelers, I managed to get in early. I waited 15 minutes to clock in at 1:45, only to realize later that they moved me back to the 1:30 shift this week (*facepalm*). Luckily I’d mentioned to my boss when I got there that I was “early” so she knew I was actually there. After work I had no plans so I went home to MUX.

Last Wednesday morning I went to bed way too late, so when one of my managers called and offered e-time I accepted it and went into work a little late but much more rested. After work I met Ke at Brbe and Erro’s where they were hosting a game night. Ke and I hung out there, playing Apples to Apples and watching YouTube videos and Onion News. When it got late Ke and I left, picking up food and heading back to my apartment for The Daily Show and sleep.

Thursday morning Ke and I got up and had Le Peep for breakfast before she went to class and I went into work. At work they were giving away E-time like candy, so I had the rare opportunity to leave work early. I picked up Nivagi and drove her to her apartment so she could see her boyfriend and pack for her Friday night date. After that Nivagi and I then went to Denny’s for a late-night dinner. By the time we got back to my apartment it was late enough though that we were OK with just going to bed.

Friday night after work I hurried home so I could watch the third-to-last episode of BSG before going over to Jero’s to watch the two-hour finale. I got off too late to watch the finale the first time it played, but luckily Sci Fi played it again later in the evening so I still got to watch it that night. They decided to focus a lot of the ending on character instead of action, so I can see how some people might find it a little slow, but I’m generally satisfied with how they wrapped everything up.

Saturday night Jero and I went to a roller derby bout between Indianapolis and St. Louis. The Naptown Roller Girls played the Arch Rivals Roller Girls and it was a pretty exciting game to watch. The ARRG were ahead 12 points by half-time, and were able to win 93 to 60. After the bout Jero and I went back to my apartment to clean, and wound up arranging my living room and organizing things in such a way that with luck I’ll be able to someday make some order out of the chaos.

Sunday morning Jero and I didn’t get to bed until almost dawn, so Jero slept until 2 PM and I slept until four. When I woke up Jero was going through paperwork in my living room, helping me organize and get rid of things I no longer need. I joined in to help her clean, until finally we got hungry and went out to Olive Garden. We’d intended to go back to her house after dinner, but wound up back at my place for more cleaning.

Monday was Jero’s birthday, so we went out for breakfast before I had to go into work. At work I was depressed – too much going on in my life and in the lives of people important to be that I can’t control. After work I went back to Jero’s, where she’d made us yummy chicken burgers. We were going to play SingStar, but I’d left my PlayStation controller at home, so we wound up cuddling and watching Bones instead.

Tuesday night I was allowed to leave work a little early again so I grabbed some food for Ke and me and went to her house to MUX while she did homework and studied for a test Friday. On the MUX I was able to get in on the end of a Decepticon raid TP run my Hemy. Since Jero had Snoop on, I logged on Browning, and we had a fun time being unhelpful non-combatants on the sidelines while Nighthawk and Skywarp beat each other to paint.

Tonight I’m getting together with Nivagi, and it should be fun as long as I can stay awake – my alarm went off at 7 AM and I had a hard time getting back to sleep. This weekend I’m going down to Evansville to see Mira, and my mom for her birthday. With luck Ke will get to come with me so the two of us can hang out with Mira and her friends. My mom is also depressed and doesn’t really want company, but I’m hoping if I’m right there in town I’ll be able to persuade her to at least venture out for dinner.

"The future will be better tomorrow."
- former Vice-President Dan Quayle

Week in Review – February 14th

Last week was good, even though I started feeling sickly around Thursday. I got to spend some much-needed time with Ra and Amsc, and spent the weekend hanging out with Jero, Ke, and Mira. I didn’t get to see Mika at all for the second week in a row, which bothered me a lot more than I realized it would. I could have gone to her anti-Valentine party, but I didn’t want to deal with the smoke and the social anxiety.

Last Sunday I woke up early to drive to St. Louis to see Ra and Sckl. When I arrived we went out for lunch and watched Coraline, which was awesome. After the movie they ordered pizza and we watched The Big Bang Theory, which Ra had gotten me as a present. TBBT was good choice – some of the geek jokes strike very close to home. I’ve already started quoting it, to Ra’s amused annoyance.

Last Monday Sckl had to depart super-early to leave town for work, so he was gone by the time I woke up. I ran to the credit union to give my mom money, and then Ra and I went out for lunch and a visit to the comic store. We spent the afternoon discussing our relationship, and then at 7 I got onto the MUX for a meeting. That night I had to head back to Indy, after a long and very pleasant good-bye from Ra.

Last Tuesday I took a half-day off work to recover from the late drive back to Indy. It was very worth it for the extra Ra time, and I made up for it by converting my day off Friday to another half-day. After work I went over to see Ke, who seemed just as tired as I. We tried to stay up and be productive, but eventually we threw in the towel and just went to bed to snuggle and catch up on sleep.

At the MUX meeting Monday we realized that a lot of our players and admin were free on Wednesday, so Hemy put together a TinyPlot event. Cobra attacked Chicago, both to damage Boeing headquarters and to damage the message of hope set forth by President Dunham (our stand-in for Obama). The event was a lot of fun, and we got it started early enough that General Hawk could join us, which was a nice bonus.

Last Thursday after work I drove to Illinois to see Amsc. We ordered Jimmy Johns and snuggled on her couch to watch the two most recent episodes of BSG. Amsc played some on her fancy new laptop, but this time didn’t let tech focus completely distract her during our visit. Unfortunately, I was starting to get sick, so by the time we went to bed I was too miserable to fully enjoy her company, which was a crying shame.

Friday I got to sleep in a little with Amsc since I’d taken a half-day off work. After my four hours at the job, I picked up Ke and we went to shopping for flowers for Mira, who came to visit this past weekend. We were hoping to go to Panera for dinner, but it got too late so we hit the Chinese buffet instead. I had to work the next day, so when we got back to Ke’s house we soon headed to bed.

Saturday after work Jero picked me up and we went to see the Naptown Roller Girls Warning Belles debut bout. I was still feeling anti-social and crappy, but I had a great time nonetheless. The Warning Belles kicked ass, beating the NE Ohio Rock n Rollers 63 to 41. They also raised $ 5025 for breast cancer research during their half-time auction, which was even cooler.

I had a good time seeing Ra and Amsc last week, and I’m glad I was able to work out the time to drive out to see them. Besides being sick, I had a great time this weekend hanging out with Jero, Ke, and Mira. Unfortunately this week has been hellaciously crappy so far, due to feeling sickly and fighting with Mika. I’m hoping I’ll at least be able to work things out with Mika when I see her today after work.

Oil Drilling In Alaska
"This can't be true. Bush described himself as an environmental guardian last fall, and I've seen photos of him standing in front of trees."
—Cecelia Mayo, Systems Analyst, theonion.com