Oops, a month went by. My bad. You can guess that my life has either been really busy, or really entertaining. Truth is that it has been both.
September was our last month in the old apartment. Sean came up to visit us and on the weekend of the first, we moved into the new apartment!
With just the three of us it was a little hard, but luckily we weren't taking everything. Mostly just a bunch of things in boxes, bagged groceries, and a couple of pieces of furniture to get us by until we buy new furniture.
Basically we rented a truck, loaded it, then drove over everything we planned on keeping to our new place. Then we went back, loaded the truck, and dropped off all of the stuff we weren't keeping. It took all day, but we got it done with plenty of time for booze and pizza afterward.
The new place is in a better, safer location right by the college Aaron goes to, so he can bike to class. Within walking distance there is also a grocery store, a Target, a Walgreens, a Home Depot, and an In 'n Out. Delicious In 'n Out burgers, mmm... Those of you not on the West coast have no idea how good those things are.
We also found a used book store right around the corner with an awesome selection of really, really old books in really good condition. We bought King's, The Shining first edition in hardcover and a neat hardcover edition of Russian history from the 1950's. I foresee many hours and many dollars being spent there. To make it even better, they've got a shop cat named Sugar. An old, portly white cat without a tail. Super friendly. I may wind up visiting the book store just to visit her on occasion (though I'd undoubtedly leave with a book anyhow).
As if the old book store wasn't rad enough, we also found a comic shop. Scratch that. A huge comic shop. So big in fact its got its own building. Not like usually, where the comic shop is in one of those little strip malls in some tiny neglected section beside a laundry mat or whatever. Wall-to-wall nerd, just like I like it.
We picked up some snazzy new dice, Apples to Apples, and later ordered Arkam Horror. A Lovecraftian boardgame which we've found ourselves playing daily since it arrived. Yesterday Cthulu got out. Aaron was like, "Welp, game over." And I was all, "Lets try to fight him!" But neither of us had dice pools anywhere near big enough to even do damage. So the game was indeed over. Haha.
Basically you randomly select an investigator and an Ancient One. Then you go around the ''city'' as random, usually dangerous, events take place -- fighting monsters and closing portals to other dimensions along the way. If you manage to close all of the rifts, you win. If too many open, or any of several other situations are allowed to transpire, the Ancient One you selected at the beginning of the game is unleashed and you lose.
Well, you may not lose automatically, depending on the Ancient One you wound up with. For example, Yig has a combat modifier of -3, which is doable albeit challenging whereas Azathoth has a combat modifier of -infinity. Which basically means you instantly lose, with no hope of fighting him.
Aside from fighting great beasts from beyond, we've been playing Civilization 5, watching House, Stargate: Atlantis, Dead Like Me, Madmen, The Office, and reading A Feast For Crows together.
If anyone hasn't seen Howl's Moving Castle, you should do that right away.
We're as settled in as we can be until we get all of our furniture. Which, should be soon. We've got the funds, we just haven't actually gone out and made the purchases yet. We even found two furniture stores nearby. One which we've been to (and made note of items we liked) and another which we'll have to visit soon.
I think it would be amusing to buy furniture from both of them and have it delivered on the same day. So they run into each other on the way up.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Library Adventures
Yesterday I went to college with Aaron. He needed to make use of the campus library and I just like to go places with him. He gave me a tour of the grounds, showed me where a few of his classes are, pointed out the nerd section in the cafeteria, and then we made our way to the library.
Unfortunately the book he needed was checked out, so we decided to head to a nearby bookstore to buy other books he needed for other courses. En route we decided to check out some of the apartment complexes nearby since we are in the market for a new place and we've had our eye on a particular place in that area.
We found a particularly nice one and will likely wind up there once we've got all of our plans panned out and everyone's schedules worked in. Best part is that it's a big place, perfect for the two of us and Neelix the giant. Second best part is that there is a creek nearby, so there is a cool place for me to go chill by the water and play with frogs.
The second place we stopped to check out was endlessly confusing, though they had brilliantly tended palm trees lining the walk ways. We wandered around for so long trying to find the manager's office that there were hawks circling over head waiting for us to die so they could bag a free meal.
The third place was even less welcoming, if that's possible. We found the manager's office easy enough, however the manager was some crotchety old woman who made fiberglass socks seem pleasant. She answered the door with a, "Yeah?" and when we informed her that we were in the market for a new apartment her reply was, "What do you want?"
An apartment... we just said that, didn't we? I was speechless, it was profound how ill suited she was to her job. Like she wanted nothing to do with us or the paperwork that would be involved in taking copious amounts of our cash. Her loss.
She made the guy at the first place who had sat down to have a chat with us and then took us on a tour of the community seem like some housing market saint. I kind of wanted to go back and offer him a drink or a cookie or something for being good at his job (and not an ass).
It was an entertaining day. Once we got back to the library, the book Aaron had needed was back and he could get his work underway. I busied myself with sketching beside him and bore witness to the most painfully awkward/hopeless flirting ever -- making the day even greater.
At the next table some odd social fail was happening. This dude casually "wanders" past the girl sitting there, does an actual double take and coyly proclaims how he almost walked right by her without seeing her there. Despite clearly having no business in the library, let alone the inner most library courtyard aside from "nonchalantly" bumping into her. As in: no books, no back pack, no notebook, no writing utensils. He then helped himself to the seat beside her.
At first I thought it was going to be a really weird case of unrequited affections, but no, it ended up being weirder because she totally wanted him as much as he wanted her. Just somehow neither of them were aware of the other's interest. While he had come there just in the hope of running into her, she flirted with him mercilessly the second he sat down.
And yet she remained oblivious to his motives and he remained just as ignorant to hers. I was tempted to go over to the both of them and set things straight just so I could stop being witness to all of the sad, but eventually she left and he just sat around for twenty or so minutes (doing nothing) until I guess it finally became clear she had left for good, and then he left as well.
It was really funny.
Once Aaron finished his work, we packed up our things and journeyed home, stopping for tasty Mexican food at this new little place on the way we had been curious about. Om nom nom. We spent the rest of the night in with Stargate and Civilization 4. Spain declaring war on me kept us up way past bed time.
In other news, it was brought to my attention that Neelix was very sick recently but is on the road to recovery now. Everyone keep his big giant head in your thoughts and send him all your well wishes if you happen to be his ultra cool Facebook friend.
Unfortunately the book he needed was checked out, so we decided to head to a nearby bookstore to buy other books he needed for other courses. En route we decided to check out some of the apartment complexes nearby since we are in the market for a new place and we've had our eye on a particular place in that area.
We found a particularly nice one and will likely wind up there once we've got all of our plans panned out and everyone's schedules worked in. Best part is that it's a big place, perfect for the two of us and Neelix the giant. Second best part is that there is a creek nearby, so there is a cool place for me to go chill by the water and play with frogs.
The second place we stopped to check out was endlessly confusing, though they had brilliantly tended palm trees lining the walk ways. We wandered around for so long trying to find the manager's office that there were hawks circling over head waiting for us to die so they could bag a free meal.
The third place was even less welcoming, if that's possible. We found the manager's office easy enough, however the manager was some crotchety old woman who made fiberglass socks seem pleasant. She answered the door with a, "Yeah?" and when we informed her that we were in the market for a new apartment her reply was, "What do you want?"
An apartment... we just said that, didn't we? I was speechless, it was profound how ill suited she was to her job. Like she wanted nothing to do with us or the paperwork that would be involved in taking copious amounts of our cash. Her loss.
She made the guy at the first place who had sat down to have a chat with us and then took us on a tour of the community seem like some housing market saint. I kind of wanted to go back and offer him a drink or a cookie or something for being good at his job (and not an ass).
It was an entertaining day. Once we got back to the library, the book Aaron had needed was back and he could get his work underway. I busied myself with sketching beside him and bore witness to the most painfully awkward/hopeless flirting ever -- making the day even greater.
At the next table some odd social fail was happening. This dude casually "wanders" past the girl sitting there, does an actual double take and coyly proclaims how he almost walked right by her without seeing her there. Despite clearly having no business in the library, let alone the inner most library courtyard aside from "nonchalantly" bumping into her. As in: no books, no back pack, no notebook, no writing utensils. He then helped himself to the seat beside her.
At first I thought it was going to be a really weird case of unrequited affections, but no, it ended up being weirder because she totally wanted him as much as he wanted her. Just somehow neither of them were aware of the other's interest. While he had come there just in the hope of running into her, she flirted with him mercilessly the second he sat down.
And yet she remained oblivious to his motives and he remained just as ignorant to hers. I was tempted to go over to the both of them and set things straight just so I could stop being witness to all of the sad, but eventually she left and he just sat around for twenty or so minutes (doing nothing) until I guess it finally became clear she had left for good, and then he left as well.
It was really funny.
Once Aaron finished his work, we packed up our things and journeyed home, stopping for tasty Mexican food at this new little place on the way we had been curious about. Om nom nom. We spent the rest of the night in with Stargate and Civilization 4. Spain declaring war on me kept us up way past bed time.
In other news, it was brought to my attention that Neelix was very sick recently but is on the road to recovery now. Everyone keep his big giant head in your thoughts and send him all your well wishes if you happen to be his ultra cool Facebook friend.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Cheesecake and College
Aaron started classes today so I'm sitting here all by my lonesome thinking on how weird it feels that the seat beside me is empty. Or more accurately: isn't occupied by him. Maybe I will construct a make-shift Aaron out of blankets and talk to it while I play video games until real Aaron gets home. Maybe.
Last Saturday he took me to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (and cheesecake). I had never been there before, so it was twice as amazing. Being that Aaron took me there made it thrice as amazing. The fact that they had pages and pages of cheesecake to choose from boosted the amazing factor even higher. The food was magnificent from appetizer to dessert and the environment was especially pleasant. Were I a restaurant critic I'd be giving my Cheesecake Factory experience a 5 out of 5 stars.
It was also the first time I've ever had asparagus. Little did I know, I like asparagus! I've tried more new things since my arrival here than I have in the last ten years of my life. It was a wonderful way to spend my evening. We even brought some cheesecake home so that we could have more cheesecake later. And we did.
Right now I'm musing over dinner. Aaron's schedule means I'm alone for dinner tonight, and everyone knows of the two of us, he is the chef. I settled in with Dragon Age and a bowl of rainbow sprinkles a bit ago but at some point I'm going to need actual food. At least, that is what my adult senses are telling me.
Last Saturday he took me to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (and cheesecake). I had never been there before, so it was twice as amazing. Being that Aaron took me there made it thrice as amazing. The fact that they had pages and pages of cheesecake to choose from boosted the amazing factor even higher. The food was magnificent from appetizer to dessert and the environment was especially pleasant. Were I a restaurant critic I'd be giving my Cheesecake Factory experience a 5 out of 5 stars.
It was also the first time I've ever had asparagus. Little did I know, I like asparagus! I've tried more new things since my arrival here than I have in the last ten years of my life. It was a wonderful way to spend my evening. We even brought some cheesecake home so that we could have more cheesecake later. And we did.
Right now I'm musing over dinner. Aaron's schedule means I'm alone for dinner tonight, and everyone knows of the two of us, he is the chef. I settled in with Dragon Age and a bowl of rainbow sprinkles a bit ago but at some point I'm going to need actual food. At least, that is what my adult senses are telling me.
 |
| Not dinner? |
Monday, July 5, 2010
Almost Home
I'm back in Ohio now safe and sound but only until Saturday. Then I fly home, to California! I shall pass the time with this here kitten on my knee.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Michigan, This Weekend!
This will be my last appearance before I take the Oregon trail West. It may be quite some time before you see me again, since I'm no longer dividing my time between both coasts but moving there full time. I'll be bringing kittens, so if you would like one or know someone who would, let me know ahead of time and I'll bring extras! I'll be in the 313 area, specifics available upon request. I hope to see you all there!
Monday, June 21, 2010
June
So this month hasn't been all doom and gloom (read: waiting impatiently). Though it's been quite a while since an update took place. Take that however you will.
I drew the crap out of the first part of this month. Like ink and paper were going to go out of style. Now I haven't drawn anything for a week or more. It feels weird. As if I'm obligated to not allow that to happen or something. Though not in a bad way or anything like that. Just in an odd way.
I went to another party a few weekends past and had a great time. Someone else going away. I think it's the summer trend. People leaving. We dominated a game of beer pong and a game of Family Feud on the Wii. Well, Lena and I dominated the beer pong. Lindsey and I got thrashed playing Family Feud. I think those boys should play game shows for a living. Or at least Family Feud. They knew more about what goes into a woman's purse than two women did!
I've played much Portal and stand now at the end of the proverbial road. The only thing preventing its completion being a lack of ginger and a fondness for not wanting it to be over. Some friends and I have been passing the time in Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2, too. Meanwhile Aaron and I beat Dawn of War II then proceeded on to the expansion Chaos Rising and beat that as well. The traitor in our chapter was quite a surprise! Then of course, Dragon Age. Lots of gaming goodness.
One of my sisters Stan Marshed me into one of those damn facebook games and is trying to lure me back to Warcraft. I can think of several hundred reasons not to. However good of an idea it may seem when direly bored. Which actually isn't that often right now, but happens every great once in a while. I can only think of one legit reason I'd consider playing again and well, it's not my sister, though I love her dearly.
I took my mom to the movies and dinner for her birthday. We saw the new Karate Kid, in which the martial art being used is actually kung fu, but it's still the same premise. Which is why it bears the name. Too many people are willing to waste all their time getting hung up about the technicalities rather than actually experience something for themselves and forming a real opinion. It was actually pretty good. A very nostalgic movie choice, and Jackie Chan is always a bonus to any movie. My only real complaint is the camera work. It had that whole "free range" thing going on with lots of spinning and shaking and bouncing and what have you. All of which makes me dreadfully dizzy.
I should have stashed some ginger in my purse.
Speaking of things for watching. Another show to keep us busy until The Office comes back had to be found. We ended up speeding through all the available episodes of Caprica (whoops) and had to find another other show! So we got a hold of Jericho, which had a very promising first season before being canceled and picked up for a seven episode second season. Even so, it's still worthwhile to watch. I recommend it. Now that True Blood has returned all is well again in my scheduled weekly viewing department. Though you can never have too many good things to watch.
This weekend for Father's day we took my brother's kids so that he could have a nice quiet day with his wife. I played a game of golf with Jaiden, who was far too excited about golf for any one person that size. Then we caught a toad and, "took it home," saw a daddy longlegs also going home, and ended the day with a game of T ball. Mind you all the sports equipment being used was brightly colored plastic and made to scale to a 5 year old's height. So I did a lot of crawling around on my knees.
Yes, there's a joke there.
I've got several appointments on the horizon, including my obscenely long Sleep Study on Wednesday and the follow up to that, provided we can get a date for it before I'm gone. I wonder if the doctors are going to make me breakfast again? This time without the radiation of course. Speaking of being gone: bumped up the moving plans from the end of July to the beginning of July. Ideally by the tenth I'll be living across the land full time! But most of you already knew that.
Before that I have many things to do. Including a trip to Michigan. Which will have to be planned soon. So if you're one of my Ohio or Michigan friends, better get me while you can. It's going to be a hectic few weeks and you know I would hate to miss out on seeing any of you before I'm out of here!
In other news: Gobi is doing fantastic, Neelix is spectacular (as ever), and all of my brother's kittens are healthy and almost ready to be adopted. Hint hint. All in all things are rad. Except this bug bite. It is opposite of rad and itches fiercely.
I covered all sorts of things in this I hadn't planned to. I originally meant to just sort of sum up the last couple of weeks in a paragraph, but as this cat lay here in my lap forbade me to move to go do anything else, all manner of words happened. Oh well, consider it compensation for the epic lack of updates since June 1st.
I drew the crap out of the first part of this month. Like ink and paper were going to go out of style. Now I haven't drawn anything for a week or more. It feels weird. As if I'm obligated to not allow that to happen or something. Though not in a bad way or anything like that. Just in an odd way.
I went to another party a few weekends past and had a great time. Someone else going away. I think it's the summer trend. People leaving. We dominated a game of beer pong and a game of Family Feud on the Wii. Well, Lena and I dominated the beer pong. Lindsey and I got thrashed playing Family Feud. I think those boys should play game shows for a living. Or at least Family Feud. They knew more about what goes into a woman's purse than two women did!
I've played much Portal and stand now at the end of the proverbial road. The only thing preventing its completion being a lack of ginger and a fondness for not wanting it to be over. Some friends and I have been passing the time in Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2, too. Meanwhile Aaron and I beat Dawn of War II then proceeded on to the expansion Chaos Rising and beat that as well. The traitor in our chapter was quite a surprise! Then of course, Dragon Age. Lots of gaming goodness.
One of my sisters Stan Marshed me into one of those damn facebook games and is trying to lure me back to Warcraft. I can think of several hundred reasons not to. However good of an idea it may seem when direly bored. Which actually isn't that often right now, but happens every great once in a while. I can only think of one legit reason I'd consider playing again and well, it's not my sister, though I love her dearly.
I took my mom to the movies and dinner for her birthday. We saw the new Karate Kid, in which the martial art being used is actually kung fu, but it's still the same premise. Which is why it bears the name. Too many people are willing to waste all their time getting hung up about the technicalities rather than actually experience something for themselves and forming a real opinion. It was actually pretty good. A very nostalgic movie choice, and Jackie Chan is always a bonus to any movie. My only real complaint is the camera work. It had that whole "free range" thing going on with lots of spinning and shaking and bouncing and what have you. All of which makes me dreadfully dizzy.
I should have stashed some ginger in my purse.
Speaking of things for watching. Another show to keep us busy until The Office comes back had to be found. We ended up speeding through all the available episodes of Caprica (whoops) and had to find another other show! So we got a hold of Jericho, which had a very promising first season before being canceled and picked up for a seven episode second season. Even so, it's still worthwhile to watch. I recommend it. Now that True Blood has returned all is well again in my scheduled weekly viewing department. Though you can never have too many good things to watch.
This weekend for Father's day we took my brother's kids so that he could have a nice quiet day with his wife. I played a game of golf with Jaiden, who was far too excited about golf for any one person that size. Then we caught a toad and, "took it home," saw a daddy longlegs also going home, and ended the day with a game of T ball. Mind you all the sports equipment being used was brightly colored plastic and made to scale to a 5 year old's height. So I did a lot of crawling around on my knees.
Yes, there's a joke there.
I've got several appointments on the horizon, including my obscenely long Sleep Study on Wednesday and the follow up to that, provided we can get a date for it before I'm gone. I wonder if the doctors are going to make me breakfast again? This time without the radiation of course. Speaking of being gone: bumped up the moving plans from the end of July to the beginning of July. Ideally by the tenth I'll be living across the land full time! But most of you already knew that.
Before that I have many things to do. Including a trip to Michigan. Which will have to be planned soon. So if you're one of my Ohio or Michigan friends, better get me while you can. It's going to be a hectic few weeks and you know I would hate to miss out on seeing any of you before I'm out of here!
In other news: Gobi is doing fantastic, Neelix is spectacular (as ever), and all of my brother's kittens are healthy and almost ready to be adopted. Hint hint. All in all things are rad. Except this bug bite. It is opposite of rad and itches fiercely.
I covered all sorts of things in this I hadn't planned to. I originally meant to just sort of sum up the last couple of weeks in a paragraph, but as this cat lay here in my lap forbade me to move to go do anything else, all manner of words happened. Oh well, consider it compensation for the epic lack of updates since June 1st.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Memorial Day
Sunday was the dedication for Jason Hernandez, it was a really moving event. A clear blue sky and a field bathed in warm light really set the mood. The speeches given moved the crowd to tears, even those who didn't know him were crying when John, Jason's Father, read a letter written by Jason before he died.
I made a post about it way back when, but as a refresher, Jason was a soldier serving in Iraq when a improvised explosive device killed him in 2007. On his 21st birthday no less. More than that he was a son, brother, husband, and a friend to all who knew him. A kid we all grew up with.
He had such an impact on everyone's lives that the primary road in our city, Route 43, has been renamed after him so that he will always be remembered.
I ran into a bunch of old friends from school after the ceremony. People I had not seen in a face-to-face sort of way in far too many years, though we've always kept in touch. Like Makenzie, Mel's beautiful daughter. The last time I saw her was when I held her the day she was born, at the hospital. Now she's a kid grown, full of opinions and that faux independence we all flaunted as children. No amount of shared pictures could have done that justice. I look forward to seeing them all some more before I move permanently.
As an aside, I hope you all had a pleasant Memorial Day. I did! There was an array of tasty BBQ food, hard lemonade, and plenty of good company. Never forget what the day off of work is for though.
I made a post about it way back when, but as a refresher, Jason was a soldier serving in Iraq when a improvised explosive device killed him in 2007. On his 21st birthday no less. More than that he was a son, brother, husband, and a friend to all who knew him. A kid we all grew up with.
He had such an impact on everyone's lives that the primary road in our city, Route 43, has been renamed after him so that he will always be remembered.
I ran into a bunch of old friends from school after the ceremony. People I had not seen in a face-to-face sort of way in far too many years, though we've always kept in touch. Like Makenzie, Mel's beautiful daughter. The last time I saw her was when I held her the day she was born, at the hospital. Now she's a kid grown, full of opinions and that faux independence we all flaunted as children. No amount of shared pictures could have done that justice. I look forward to seeing them all some more before I move permanently.
As an aside, I hope you all had a pleasant Memorial Day. I did! There was an array of tasty BBQ food, hard lemonade, and plenty of good company. Never forget what the day off of work is for though.
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