Just Catching Up

Not too much interesting stuff has happened since my last post, but I figured it would be a good idea so that I don't forget the few things that really are interesting.

Last Friday marked the last session of the Changeling game I was playing in. Gene tried to stretch it as long as he could, but it got to the point where our characters would just be "bean counting" after last week's session. That day was also Steve's birthday. I have no idea how old he is, but we had cake. David's D&D 2.0 game was cancelled that night, due to the fact that I was the only player other than Steve who was actually there.

We're having Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house this year, since Mom had surgery last week. We planned the menu, and I'm making brussels sprouts. I've got to stop at the grocery store tonight and get them, plus the ingredients to make them "less boring." I found a recipe on the Food Network website for Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Red Cabbage. Yum.

Due to Mom's health issues, she's lost a lot of weight. In fact, she's lost so much that we now both wear the same size jeans! No lie; I actually had her put on the pair I was wearing yesterday, and she fit them better than I do!

This morning, I packed two sandwiches to take to work for lunch--one was pastrami and the other was salami. I then went upstairs to eat my breakfast before I had to leave for work, and when I came downstairs, I found Tabby (Tim's cat) "chasing" one of the sandwiches off the dining room table! I found the other one on the kitchen floor. Grrrr.

I didn't have time to pack more sandwiches before I had to leave, so I got Five Guys for lunch today.

A Dream or Two

I had a couple of interesting dreams last night.

The first part I remember is, I was living in this town, in this neighborhood that looked kind of like down near the McCain Drive/Orchard Way area, like when my family lived on Danielle Drive.

Each "morning," in my dream, I would get up and go to this one house, where--get this--Bob Saget had a local morning-type thing. Whether it was a show or not, I have no idea; all I know was that he had this little picture-drawing contest for the few people who found their way there and explained the inspiration for their drawings and had really good "reasons" for wanting to win the contest. I don't even remember what the prize was for winning.

Then, there was a bit of a segue that I don't remember, and all of a sudden, I was at the Phoenix airport, getting ready to go home from my vacation again.

Somehow, I'd gotten on the plane before the previous passengers had disembarked, and I had to get off before I could re-board. So I got off, and then when they called boarding again I went through the tunnel thing, and there was this van there. I got in the van (the inside of which looked like the plane, but without the bathrooms or cockpit--instead just a driver's seat and windshield), and we went on the highway.

Apparently, it was a shuttle to take us to another airport somewhere nearby for our flight. Don't ask me about the logic of that, 'cause I don't know. Anyway, just as the other airport was coming into view, my alarm clock rang and I woke up.

Man, I feel really dumb right now . . .

Last night, Kimba, Kayla, Anna and I went to Chris H's house (Kayla and Anna call him "Tooth") to play SingStar. That went pretty well, and nothing really eventful happened with the singing--except we all discovered that Chris is a bit tone deaf, but that's okay.

Anna left early, and before that I went outside to put antifreeze in my bug. Pretty easy task, right? Just open the hood, open the radiator cap, and pour.

Well, when Kayla and I left Chris's house around 11:30 last night, the bug's temperature light was still screaming at me! I couldn't figure out what the problem was, so I just left it.

This morning, as I was on my way to work, I figured out why my car keeps saying it doesn't have any coolant--in the dark and the late hour last night, I mistook one symbol for another, and accidentally put antifreeze into the windshield wiper fluid reservoir! Man, I feel dumb.

Luckily, I still have some untainted antifreeze left, so I can put that into the radiator today during my lunch break (gotta wait for the engine to cool down first), but I have no idea how I'm going to clear out the wiper fluid reservoir. I'll have to ask my dad when I get home if he has any ideas.

I forgot to mention . . .

Either Wednesday or Thursday, Kayla went with Anna to get things for Brian at the Humane Society. While they were there, Kayla saw this really cute grey tabby kitten (with brown highlights). It was the only kitten that came up to the outside edge of the cage and played with her, so Kayla bought the kitten, despite her allergy.

The kitten is female, about three weeks old, and Kayla named her Church, after the character in Red vs. Blue. She has to stay in Kayla's room for 10 days after she first got here, since she might spread kennel cough to the other animals in the house if she's not quarantined.

The total number of animals in this household is now seven:

Cali (female)--Kimba's dog, who stays with us since the house Kimba is staying at has a koi pond she doesn't want Cali getting into.

Mandy (female)--Anna's dog.

Brian (also female)--Tim's dog, who stays with us because there's not enough room at his place, and he's going to be marrying Anna in three months and all their pets will have to get along anyway.

James (male)--Anna's only surviving orange tabby cat. (R.I.P. O'Malley)

Tabby (male)--Tim's grey tabby cat, who stays with us for the same reason Brian does.

Church (female)--Kayla's new kitten.

Oreo (female)--Jason's panda hamster.

I've been thinking I might get a dog (I'd get a kitten, but have no desire to be responsible for a single litter box), but that won't be until after the holidays, at least. I also will have to get my room into some semblance of organization before I even think about getting an animal of my own--it's nowhere near dog- or puppy-proof.

Of course, the chances of me finding a dog that I actually like and would want to take home are probably less than one in however many dogs are at the Humane Society off of Patrick Street, and however many are at the shelter off of Rosemont Avenue.

Heck, if I really like it, I might get something other than a dog or a cat--no hamsters, guinea pigs, or anything else really smelly like that though. Maybe a bird or two, though I have no idea how to take care of them, or a snake (if I could get over the "handling live crickets and/or mice" thing).

Fun, fun, fun

Halloween was pretty busy, all told. I went to work in my RennFest garb, and we had the annual party there. Then I went to the Haven for their Halloween party. Anna, Kayla and Jason came in and talked for a few minutes, then later on, Anna and Kayla came back and I went home around 10:30 or 11.

The next day, Jason and I decided to go back to the Haven, and I taught him to play Khet (laser chess), and we played Settlers of Catan and a couple of other games before we went home--four hours later.

Monday evening, I went to the Walkersville chapel to help set up for the election, and Tuesday was the election itself. It went pretty smoothly, except that once all the machines were put away, the chief judges kept us there for another hour and a half because their counts were off. We finally got to leave the chapel at around ten though.

We have a new president--Barack (sp?) Obama. I'm okay with that outcome, even though I voted for Nader. When Heather and I were looking online at the candidates' solutions to various issues, Nader's and Obama's solutions were all pretty good, but to me it seemed that Nader's ideas had more of a chance of getting implemented in a four-year time period than Obama's did. So, despite having voted for someone else, I'm perfectly okay with Obama as president.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were work as usual, and then after work Friday I went to the Haven for the "big" Changeling game--the session that could either end the whole campaign, continue with the villain known, or end the whole campaign.

The campaign almost ended, but the villain (Carl's character, H.P. Lovemore) was revived, so we were able to continue. Now, all of us will be playing on Friday's, instead of in individual sessions during the week. I also got my own copy of the Changeling manual, so that's pretty neat.

David's D&D 2.0 game went okay, except for the fact that most of the party members kept arguing about the stupidest little things and wouldn't get their acts together long enough to actually play. The three people rescuing my half of the party had one encounter, then they rescued us in a second encounter. By the time we got to a place where we could have an encounter as a full party, it was already ten o'clock, and time to stop. Grr.

Ah well, there's always next Friday.

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day, but around 4 or so, I paid my bills and stuff before going to run errands around 6. I went to Bath & Body Works for shower gel and more body cream (plus other stuff); CVS for shampoo, conditioner and Blistex; Rosa Pizza for dinner; Advance Auto for antifreeze; WaWa for gas and a lighter (for the oil fragrance warmer I'd bought at Bath & Body Works); and the storage facility for some of my music and writing stuff. I still have yet to put the antifreeze in the bug, but I'm going to do that either later this evening or tomorrow before I head out to work--it's been screaming at me about the temperature for at least a week now.