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 June 27th

Last week was extremely enjoyable, even if it seemed to zoom by far too quickly. I started the week with a visit to Ra and Sckl, got to hang out with Jero and Nivagi during the week, had lunch with Stsm, and then spent the weekend celebrating my three-year anniversary with Ke by driving down with her to Evansville to spend time with Mira. Woot!

Last Sunday morning when I got up Ra was already awake. I joined her in the living room and we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When Sckl woke up he made us breakfast before they left to see Ra’s dad for Father’s Day. I hung out in their apartment and read HPOP until they got back. We took a micro-nap and then went to Sckl’s family’s house. They were extremely nice, and man, they can cook – I may have to invite myself up there every Father’s Day! I had a great time with them all.

Last Monday morning I drove back to Indianapolis to go to work. The phones were insane all day and I was relieved when things finally calmed down in the evening before I escaped. That night I went over to Jero’s to roleplay on the MUX. Jero hadn’t been feeling well so she was treating herself to the five-hour version of Pride and Prejudice – apparently Colin Firth is a panacea. I ate quickly and jumped online. Since the event that was supposed to happen that night failed to get off the ground, I hung out for a while and then logged off. Jero and I watched G.I. Joe: Resolute before calling it a night and snuggling up to sleep.

Last Tuesday night I took some time to myself to catch up on my huge backlog of email, journaling, and laundry. I still have a ton to do at home, but some time for just me was very good. I pleasantly wasted a lot of time trying to read everything on the Internet, and then buckled down and got some productivity done before bed. I stayed up late but was still able to sleep until I woke up on my own, fifteen minutes before my alarm.

Last Wednesday night I went back over to Jero’s after work. She was passed out asleep, exhausted after derby practice. I let her sleep while I talked to Ra on the phone and then carefully woke her up to see if she wanted to hang out or go back to sleep for the night. We moved to the couch to hang out and chat, but Jero was still really sleepy, so before long we decided to give up and just go back to bed.

Thursday I had lunch with Stsm before work, and after work picked up Nivagi and brought her back to my apartment. Nivagi wanted to help me with my latest attempt at healthier living, so she offered to work out with me in my building’s exercise room. I only spent about 20 minutes on the elliptical machine, but it was a start if nothing else. I steamed some pasta and veggies for dinner and then we called it a night.

Friday morning I brought Nivagi to check out a car, which she bought (yay self-mobility!). We had lunch with Ke, and then Ke brought Nivagi home so I could go into work. After work I went to Ke’s, who managed to stay awake about 10 more minutes after I got there before passing out completely. I stayed up for a while reading more HPOP before turning off the light and joining her in slumber.

Saturday and Sunday Ke and I were celebrating our three-year anniversary, so we went down to Evansville to spend all weekend snuggled in bed with Mira. We picked up my sister on the way down to Bloomington, and hung out with my mom for about an hour before heading over to Mira's. Mira cooked dinner Saturday night and made breakfast Sunday morning so we never had to leave her apartment! We got in plenty of lazy cuddles as well as spending time with her roommate while he played Final Fantasy X and worked on his chainmail. It was a wonderful escape and Mira made sure we both had an excellent time (without spending any money besides gasoline). Happy anniversary, Ke! Thanks for being so amazing! Thanks as well to Mira for a fantastic time during our visit! B)

“Momma told me never to do the dance of joy alone, or I would go blind.”

-- Balki Bartokomous, Perfect Strangers

Health - June 18th

I seriously need to work on improving my health. For a while my blood pressure was in the “keep an eye on it zone,” but lately when I’m stressed I’ve been feeling dizzy, flushed, and lightheaded – not good signs. I’ve been told I *look* flushed when I’m upset, which might be normal, but not when my doc keeps pointing to my steadily-above-normal BP reading. I’ve been using my rotating work schedule as an excuse not to exercise, but really, I get stuck with one of three schedules, and I really need to just find time on each of them to eat, exercize, and sleep, and stick to it whichever schedule I’m on.

^{Part of the problem is that I’m “busy” all of the time, and I don’t want to take already-limited time away from loved ones. However, when I think about it, I don’t begrudge Jero her derby practice or Nivagi her belly-dance class, and I can’t really imagine anyone I love having a problem if I want to delay plans an hour once a week so I can exercise. I will definitely need my lovers’ buy-in if I’m going to stick to plans to improve my financial and physical help, but they are all wonderful people and I know they will help if I can work out a realistic plan and try to stick to it.}

^{Ponder ponder ponder. Any suggestions?}

Week in Review – Week Ending May 9

This past week I was back on my usual late shift. It made sleeping easier for me; although of course now I’m back to keeping other people up to all hours when sometimes they have to work in the morning. Oops. The next three weeks will have me working during the day or back on the 2 AM shift, so I guess my friends and lovers can stand one week of late nights this month. B)

Sunday morning Jero and I stayed up near dawn around the bonfire, partially to enjoy the revelry, and partially because we didn’t want to return to our tent and freeze to death like we had the night before. When we did return to our tent we came up with a new sleeping bag arrangement that was much warmer and so we slept better than we had on Saturday.

When Jero and I woke up we had some sandwiches, showered and then broke down the tent. We said our goodbyes and headed to Bloomington for Jero’s derby practice. I got to hang out with Jalyru, which was fun, and afterward Jero and I dragged Jalyru out to dinner. After eating, Jero and I headed back to Jero’s where we unloaded her car and then promptly passed out. It was a good weekend. B)

Monday morning Jero headed to work early and by the time I got up I realized I’d left my keys and wallet in Jero’s glove compartment. *facepalm* Luckily Jero got off work just a couple hours into my shift, so I was able to take a minimum of unpaid personal time and hustle into the office as soon as Jero got home. Unfortunately as soon as I got there I got yelled at since one of the managers is a jerk, but c'est la vie.

After work Monday I went back to Jero’s to eat and pick up my laptop and then went over to Ke to hang out and give her some snuggles. She’s been feeling cranky and since I’d just spent the weekend with Jero she was OK with me canceling our usual Monday plans so I could go cuddle Ke until she felt better. Ke and I talked a bit about what was bothering her and she was decidedly less cranky by the time we slept.

Tuesday morning Ke cooked me breakfast (yummy Canadian bacon, cheese and egg English muffin sandwiches) and then I showered and headed over to Jero’s with lunch. Jero and I got in a little bit of snuggles before I had to head into work. At work I talked to Mars about joining Ke and me for Star Trek this weekend, but since we were going to the 10 PM show near Speedway it was too late for him. B! and he went to an earlier IMAX showing instead, so I’ll have to talk to Mars about it Monday.

Tuesday after work I went to Chpa and Nivagi’s to meet up with Nivagi. We ran by Jimmy Johns to pick up sammiches and then headed back to my apartment to eat. I ran downstairs to pay my rent and hang a derby poster and then came back up with the intention of snuggling Nivagi and watching Dexter. However, the more Nivagi and I cuddled and talked, the less we wanted to watch DVDs, so we eventually snuggled and slept instead.

Wednesday morning I dropped Nivagi off at work and then went home from some alone time. I got to talk to Mira on the phone and accomplished a little journaling and laundry. I tried to grab some caffeine on the way to work but after sitting in the drive-thru for 20 minutes I had to give up and just go into work, which left me cranky. I napped during my break to re-set my mood, and felt better by the end of my shift.

Wednesday night I escaped from work and ran home to put in some more laundry before Gwde arrived. Gwde grabbed food on the way to Indy so we’d have time to hot tub before it got too late. After hot-tubbing we showered and then lay down to listen to music, relax and snuggle. It was definitely nice to hang out with her twice in one year. We’ll have to get together again before another year passes!

Thursday Gwde didn’t have to work so we slept in before going out to the Bonjour Café for breakfast. I tried some new spiced-chicken pita that was pretty good and then headed to work early enough to get some caffeine this time. At work I found out we might be getting dual flat-screen monitors soon which will definitely make me feel more like a super-villain. Muhuhuhuhahahah!

Work was busy in the morning and then quieter later in the evening. After work I went to Jero’s to hang out, since we’d cut out usual Monday date short. Unfortunately Jero’s laptop is dead, so she spent some time fighting with it while we ate and hung out. She was eventually defeated by laptop gremlins so we gave up and went to bed so she could get some sleep before work.

Friday morning I slept late at Jero’s after she went to work (cruelly teasing her about it over Twitter). When I woke up I played on my computer until Jero got home and then hung out with her. Ke called to tell me she was free after her last final and work for the week, so I went over to Ke’s and we napped until it was time to get up and go to meet Chwi and Melawi to go see the new Star Trek movie.

I loved Star Trek. I’m a long-time fan and I’m impressed how they captured the essences of the classic characters, while giving themselves room for a fresh start and a new continuity. I’m fan enough to get most of the little references without screaming about how they had the wrong number of pips on X character’s cuff and therefore the movie was crap. After the movie Chwi, Ke, Melawi and I retired to Denny’s to dissect and discuss.

Saturday morning Ke woke me up with breakfast and exuberant post-finals energy since she’d finally caught up on sleep at last. She ran around her house getting things accomplished while I tried to sneak five-minute naps where I could. Finally I left to head to Bloomington to meet up with Chhu since Chhu and I were driving down to see Mom today for Mother’s Day.

I drove Ke’s car to Chhu’s since Ke was taking mine up to have my brake pads changed by her mechanically-inclined brother (thanks, Ke!). Chhu drove us the rest of the way to Evansville, where we met Mom at her sister Jamcde’s. We drove Mom home and ordered pizza, and then all hung out until Chhu and Mom were ready to head to bed. I got to see Mira briefly when she dropped by to pick something up, so that was a pleasant bonus.

Today Chhu and I are hanging out with Mom and plan to take her out to dinner tonight. Happy Mother’s Day, all!

Shredder: “You fight well... in the old style. But you've caused me enough trouble. Now you face...The Shredder!”
Don: “’The Shredder’?”
Mike: “Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw.”

-- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Week in Review – January 24th

This week started off wonderfully! After a fun game night Saturday Ke, Mira and I spent all day in bed Sunday. I took advantage of the unstructured day to relax and take advantage of vast swaths of sleep and snuggles. Ke and Mira even made frozen pizzas so we wouldn’t have to leave my apartment until the wee hours Monday morning, when we finally headed into the cold in search of more Denny’s.

Monday I was supposed to go out of town, but my plans got rescheduled, so I spent the morning with Ke and Mira before meeting Jero for lunch. Monday is usually my MUX night, but since I thought I was going to be gone, I went on vacation on the MUX. So, I decided to just enjoy the night off. It was sad not to see Ra this week, but I hope she and I will be able to reschedule soon.

Tuesday I had off work so I got to hang out with Jero during her telework day. We watched the inauguration and were very happy with the swearing in of a new, intelligent President. When Jero’s workday ended we went out to eat to celebrate, and then we went back to her house to relax and play Kingdom of Loathing. We were going to play SingStar as well, but it got too late, so we went to bed.

Wednesday after work I drove to Illinois to see Amsc. When I arrived I gave her a belated New Year’s kiss and then we retired to her bedroom. We chatted and caught up a bit, and then got out my laptop to watch BSG Webisodes and The Other Boleyn Girl. I’d have loved to follow with the Elizabeth movies, but alas I had to go to sleep since I needed to get up super-early to drive back to Indy for work.

My plans Thursday with Mika were cancelled since she got sick, so I stayed home to try to catch up on journaling and laundry. I wound up having an extensive conversation with Amsc about whether or not we should continue dating, since the distance is putting a heavy strain on our relationship. When it got too late to talk about it further, we tabled the discussion for now and worked out possible plans for this weekend.

Friday night I hung out with Ke. She bought us Fazoli’s and we hung out at her house on her laptops. Ke helped me a bit with working out my financial troubles, and I mulled over a response to a critical email I’d gotten from Ra concerning my dating practices and how they lead to my “relationship stress on multiple fronts” as Ra put it. I’ll need more time to ponder her points and think about how to resolve them.

Today I had a pleasant lunch with Jero. After work Amsc is coming into town and then the two of us are going down to Bloomington to meet up with Jalyru and my sister. Jalyru invited me up to play on her Wii and ‘do some karaoke,’ so it should be fun. Tomorrow Amsc and I have all day to sleep in and snuggle, so I look forward to the quiet downtime.

“’Sin?’ ‘Sin’ like ‘love’ was a word hard to define. It came in two bitter but vastly different flavors. The first lay in violating the taboos of your tribe.”
-- Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love