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

Week in Review – Week Ending April 18

Last week was very nice. I got to start the week spending time with Caro in Minneapolis, and after I got back to Indy I had a pleasantly quiet week with Jero, Ke, and Nivagi. I ended the week going to see a roller derby bout with Jero, and hanging out with not only Ke but also Asca, whom I’ve actually gotten to see almost once a month this year (after a long stretch of about once a year, tops). I’ve gotten to talk with Mira a lot on the phone and over text, and she’ll be coming to visit this coming weekend, which will be great. Unfortunately Mika got sick this weekend, so I didn’t get to hang out with her, but I’m hoping she’ll feel better soon so we can reschedule.

Last Sunday was Caro’s birthday, so I was up for whatever Caro wanted to do while I was there. Her first request was for me to go with her to IKEA, so we ventured out to the land of oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen so Caro could size up new storage space for her ever-growing yarn stash. Sunday night we had a yummy sushi dinner with Caro’s local boyfriend and his wife, both of whom seemed very cool. Caro seems to have a preference for long-haired geeky guys – who knew? B) That night we snuggled on the couch and watched Futurama while she spun yarn, before going to bed to cuddle and sleep.

Last Monday Caro and I had breakfast and then went to the bank so she could open an IRA -- she figured since she was 30 now she should do something responsible. We went to a bookstore so Caro could sell some used books and so she and I could conform to our traditional “sushi and bookstore” weekend. >B) We went back to Caro’s for a shower and a nap, and then had to leave so she could bring me to the airport. The trip back was a little sad but uneventful. Jero picked me up when I got back to Indy, and made me dinner before we snuggled in bed to watch Dollhouse. Caro was actually in Bloomington this past weekend, but she was busy with her family so I didn’t get to see her again. We might meet in Chicago in July.

Tuesday I went to Ke’s after work, bringing food from the crowned ruler of burgers. Ke and I watched The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, mystified at why, if NASA wasn’t going to name a node after Colbert because they "… typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people,” they named it Tranquility instead of Serenity, which I believe had won the online poll. Why have a poll and then ignore the results, aside from publicity? I thought we’d wind up staying up late playing on our laptops as we usually do, but Ke suddenly announced she was going to bed, so I shut down and followed.

Wednesday night after work I ran home to grab a shower and then went over to Chpa and Nivagi’s to pick up Nivagi. I’d expected another quiet night in like last week, but when I got there Nivagi suggested we could go to the club, which we’d been planning for a while but hadn’t done yet. I was still a little stressed from work, but I told Nivagi if she wanted to go the club I would be up for it. Nivagi and I headed to the Red Eye for a late dinner. While eating and enjoying Nivagi’s company my nerves gradually settled, and by the time we were done eating I was more calm and ready for a social outing, so we went to the club at last and had a good time.

Thursday morning Nivagi and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed early enough to have Le Peep before I had to drop her off at work. Work for me was busy at first since they’d sent everyone else home with e-time and left no one else to answer the phones, but in the evening it quieted down, which was more pleasant. Thursday evening I avoided siren songs of snuggles with Ke to have a night to myself to catch up on journaling and laundry, and just to recharge my social batteries. I watched a little Family Guy on Hulu, and went back through some of my old journals, reminiscing on the past. I stayed up way too late, but it was worth it just to have some rare downtime alone in my apartment.

Friday work was another crazy-busy day for the first four hours and then quiet the rest of my shift. When I got off work I met Ke at the Chinese buffet. She had just gotten a surprise scholarship, so she bought me dinner since I’m saving money in case we still strike. After we ate we went back to Ke’s and played on our laptops until Ke was sleepy, which wasn’t long. Unfortunately, although the food at the buffet was very yummy, it wound up making me feel a little sick for the rest of the night. I thought about watching The Colbert Report on Hulu before bed, but ultimately I wound up just joining Ke in sleep.

Saturday morning Ke and I stayed in bed as long as possible, until Ke’s hunger nearly caused her to resort to cannibalism. I grabbed a shower and then ran out to Denny’s, dropping food off at Jero’s on the way. Back at Ke’s, Ke and I ate, watched Bones, and played in the Internet before I headed back over to Jero’s. Jero and I went out to dinner and then to the Circle City Socialites bout. Jero was extremely cute in how excited she was about seeing CCS play again, and indeed they have improved tremendously since we saw them last in Evansville just a month ago. After the bout Jero and I went back to her house and stayed up way too late figuring out what events we wanted to sign up for the next day when Gen Con registration opened.

Sunday I registered for Gen Con and then went home to meet Asca. We went out to eat, and then hung out at my apartment talking about music, role-playing, and how cute Jero is. Usually when I hang out with Asca it’s just a quick hello before she has to head home before her kid gets off school, so it was good to have more time to talk and relax. Tonight I’m staying home for MUX night, and hope to get a chance to meet up online with Hemy and maybe work something out for next week, when I’ll actually be able to get online when other people are awake, since I’ll be working from two to ten-thirty AM, and be a free (if zombie-like) the rest of the day.

"...President Bush gave a speech to the American society of newspaper editors. Not surprisingly the speech was entitled `Thank you for Marmaduke.'"
--Conan O'Brien

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