Updating While Snowed In

There's about two feet of snow on the ground outside, so I figured now would be a good time to update.

I've been working at my new job for exactly four weeks, and I find that I actually kind of like it better than any of the other jobs I've ever had. Over the years, I've figured out that I prefer jobs where I can be "behind the scenes," and don't have to deal with disgruntled customers.

At my new job, that's basically the idea. I'm in the stockroom, pulling parts for the various jobs everyone in the production area does, and management talks to any customers who actually come to the building.

The dress code is good too. I can wear jeans and sneakers, but I also have to wear a static jacket and heel straps to ground me so that electrostatic discharges don't damage the electronic components. So the clothes are comfortable, and the static jacket is actually warmer than it looks, so I can just wear a tee-shirt underneath it and be comfortable, temperature-wise.

My first paycheck was only half of what I'd usually be getting, since I came in at the middle of the pay period. I was really worried at the time, because that meant I'd still be about half-a-month behind on paying my bills. Luckily, around that time, all three of my W-2s from last year's jobs came in, and I was able to file my taxes in the last week of January. I got the state return back ($618) on Friday, January 30th, and my federal return ($655) came early this past week.

I got caught up on the bills that were overdue, and then held the rest for when I got my first full paycheck (plus 2½ hours of overtime, since they'd asked me to stay late last Friday to help finish a project) yesterday.

I wasn't able to completely pay off what's left of my car loan, but going off of the payoff amount posted online, I was able to get about half of what's left paid. I also helped with this month's rent (though I couldn't afford the whole rent, what with knowing I'd have to pay my whole portion in two weeks again), paid my portion of the utilities, and paid all the bills that are due before my next paycheck. I now have about $70 in the bank, and $15.16 in cash (for snacks while I'm at the Haven) until February 19th.

I'm only going to use what's in the bank to fill up my gas tank when I start to run out--I've got half-a-tank still--and then save the rest to go toward bills with my next paycheck. It'll also be used for emergencies, if there are any between now and then.

Tomorrow, Anna and Tim have been planning to have people over for a Superbowl party, but we're not sure if they're actually going to be able to get here, what with the snow and all. Whether they do come or not, it's all good to me. I'm not even going to watch the game (I don't like football), but the three of us are already starting to go a little stir crazy from being stuck inside, so it'll be nice to have some visitors.

I've joined another RPG at the Haven. It's a game called Nobilis. It's totally dice-less, and looks/sounds really interesting. I already created my character, who is completely different from any character I've ever played before.

I usually play characters who are a lot like me (female, relatively good, interested in a lot of the same things I am . . . makes it easier to stay in character that way), but since I know the GM-ing style of the person running the game (I'd been in his Vampire: The Masquerade game for a little while a couple years ago) I decided to try something different. For one thing, my Nobilis character is a guy. For another, he's not all goody-two-shoes at all, but rather devious. It'll be a challenge to play this character, and I'm looking forward to it.

The game itself will have about 30 or so players, but we're not all going to be playing at once. The way the GM is running it, there will be set gaming sessions, and there will also be random, "Okay, who's here from the Nobilis game? Anyone up for a one-off?" sessions. We players just have to participate in only one session every two months, at the least, to be allowed to stay in the game.

Not bad, considering that the weekly Serenity game is pretty much the most regular gaming I can handle. It cuts into my sleep time on Thursday nights, so Fridays are a bit rough, but it's worth it, since the game is so frickin' awesome.

The New House

I moved in with Anna and Tim last month, and finally got around to taking some pictures!

All Monetarily Contributed Projects Currently on Hold

Thursday evening at the Haven was the first session of Brian's Serenity RPG game (played using the system from the Buffy and Angel RPGs, instead of the Cortex system, because Cortex system sucks). It's looking like it'll be a really fun game, and I can't wait until next week's session.

So, Tim got a new job. He now works for Chase in their collections department. That said, we've all decided not to try an buy a house, but instead to look for places to rent. We've been looking at ads the last two days, but Anna was only able to get in touch with the people who own two of the houses (she left messages with the rest). We've looked at two duplexes so far, and they both were nice, but the first one we looked at was nicer.

Because of the immediacy of the housing situation--Anna wants to be moved out of Mom & Dad's by the end of July--we've all got to save up as much as we can for the first month's rent and security deposit on any house we end up renting. Which means I won't be able to even start finishing that set of viking chairs until August or September at the earliest.

I also won't be able to get that correspondence course about piano tuning, or to make a Tri-D Chess board, like from Star Trek yet either. *Le sigh.*

I got the Star Trek DVD set last week from Amazon. It was actually the second set I'd gotten of it--the first set was missing season 1, disc 2, so I had to send it back. I'm on the fourth or fifth episode of season 2, and as soon as I finish this entry, I'm going to watch it.

Mom's birthday is coming up on Tuesday. I got her Highlander season 1 on DVD. I was looking for Kung Fu season 3, but they didn't have it at Record and Tape Traders, which is the only store I've been to since I got paid yesterday.

Next week, if I remember, I'll post a list of things I might like for my own birthday.

Okay, I want to sleep now . . .

After work (which was extremely frustrating, but in the end fruitful), I had Dad look at the job I'd done on my closet as soon as I got home. I'd put the bar back up on Saturday after six months of having no closet (plus the two months in the camper, where there wasn't a closet anyway). When I finished, it was level and seemed sturdy, but I wanted to be certain before I hung my clothes on it so I asked Dad to have a look.

It was fine, so I hung up my stuff and put my spare blankets on the rack. Then I arranged my shoes, toolbox, kite, luggage and laptop case on the floor.

From there, it was just a matter of getting things organized. I started by getting the trash (various papers I'd originally wanted to save but really had no use for in the long run, books which could go under the bed with the rest, things like that) out of the middle of the floor. Then I cleaned the Sterilite plastic storage . . . thing that Jason left when he moved rooms so that I could put stuff in it.

I got a lot of stuff off of my floor, and what wouldn't fit well into the storage thing, I just organized as neatly as possible, as close to the wall as I could get it. For instance, I've got the candles I bought for the large brass candlesticks in a basket in front of my ergonomic keyboard, which is sitting propped up against the wall. And the DVDs and scratch tape which I've been working my way through watching and/or re-watching (i.e. MacGyver, Firefly, Serenity, etc.) are all stacked neatly in front of the storage bin on top of which I've got my TV and VCR/DVD-R sitting.

I've run out of storage things and/or flat, elevated surfaces, so I'm leaving everything else as-is for now. Maybe I'll buy a small coffee table or something. I know my desk won't fit in here, and even if it would, that doesn't help me to organize the stuff I've got in here already--the desk is full as it sits in my storage unit. So I think I should probably get some sort of cabinet or dresser. That could help with the "gotta find a pair of socks in the next five minutes" thing I've got going every morning, what with living out of the laundry basket (which is where I've been keeping my clean clothes; the dirty ones are all in the hamper) and all.

And then there's all the other stuff that still needs organizing if I'm ever going to be able to consolidate these bins. But that's a project for another month--I've got to buy groceries after I get paid this weekend, and also need to save some for Anna's bachelorette and wedding gifts.

After I finished with the room, I took a shower and watched a movie (G. I. Jane), took a shower, and then was too awake to get to sleep. If I'd tried to go to sleep before the shower (when I was actually inclined and sleepy enough to do so), I'd have been wide awake by four in the morning or so, and been dragging my eyelids long before class is over tomorrow. Trying before the movie would have also resulted in a too early awakening. Going to sleep after the movie would've been ideal, but I was still too awake, so I got online and checked my e-mail, among other things.

Now, I'm pretty much just rambling, and I think I'm actually sleepy again, so I'm going to pop While You Were Sleeping (or maybe Sydney White) into the DVD player and set the sleep timer on the TV with the volume down way low.

Hopefully, I'll fall asleep before the opening credits are finished. Last night, I got to at least "Pick a Little, Talk a Little"--possibly further--in The Music Man before I was out.

What the huh?

Anna says I "have to" get a date for her wedding (something about screwing up seating arrangements at the head table or something).

Here are the problems with that pronouncement, in no particular order (except maybe my own head-logic):

• Most, if not all, of my current guy friends already have girlfriends. (If they don't, I don't know it; nor do I know how to find out if the ones whose girlfriends I don't already know or know about are single or not without seeming nosy. I refuse to ruin someone's relationship out of ignorance.)
• Even if they don't have girlfriends already, I haven't known any of them long enough to even consider dating them even just casually.
• I'm going to be meeting new people in my class this semester (which starts--belatedly--tomorrow, provided school doesn't get cancelled due to snow again), but the wedding is only two weeks away, and I won't have known anybody in that class nearly long enough to even consider them friends, much less as possible romantic partners.
• Asking someone to be a date to a wedding is a big deal, and in my opinion, should only be done between couples who have an established relationship. It's simply not a "casual date"-type event, and even if it were, I will never go on a blind date, no matter who is trying to set me up.
• Two weeks does not an established relationship make.
• Finally, and most importantly, all of these reasons add up to: I would not be comfortable so much as asking a guy to come to Anna's wedding as my date, and it's kind of presumptuous of Anna to try and dictate my love life all for the sake of filling a chair. Granted, it is her wedding, but even so, requiring that people bring dates, no matter their current relationship status, is going too far.

I shall now say no more on the matter. On to a different topic:

Last Monday, I had an appointment with the allergist (as opposed to just getting shots), and he gave me some Nasonex and an order for a limited sinus CT scan.

The Nasonex was to help with the stuffiness due to allergies. Even though I thought I had a cold as well, I think it might've just been extremely, severely severe allergic rhinitis, because I've actually been taking the Nasonex as directed every day for a week now, and early this morning, I found myself breathing through my nose as I drifted in and out of sleep!

Dr. M (the allergist) is out of the office this week, but I'll call him next week to get the results of the CT scan. He had me get it because I've had problems with my sense of smell for years now--in other words, I don't smell much of anything. The most common cause of a lack of smell (and by connection, a dulled sense of taste) is an inflamation of the sinuses in the forhead area pinching the olfactory nerve.

So, since I've had this problem for years, and he hasn't had much luck treating it so far, he told me to get the CT scan to make sure it really is a sinus infection, and not some other thing pinching the olfactory nerve.

Last Tuesday, my first class was cancelled due to snow. I was supposed to have Intro. to Business on Wednesday evenings, but that class got cut due to insufficient enrollment. I couldn't choose another section of the same class, since they all clashed with my work schedule, so my only choices were: a) don't go to school this semester, or b) choose a different 3-credit class that I can go to.

I looked in the course catalogue for all the subjects that seemed interesting and also had sections after 5:30 pm on weeknights (none of the courses I looked at had Saturday courses, I think, and I've never had school on Saturdays before so I'm not intending to start now), and came up with an English course and an Art course that looked promising.

The English course (or at least the section I was looking at) was full, but I was lucky enough to get the last seat in the Art class (Drawing I). It meets Tuesday nights from 6-10pm. Sadly, that means that I won't be able to play in the Paranoia game that Matt from the Haven was planning to start, but c'est la vie.

You win some, you lose some, I guess.

I think I have a new show. Yesterday, I hung out in Mom's room for hours, and she was watching The Closer. The 4-6 episodes I saw (they were having a marathon) were pretty good, and I like the characters and stories so far--even though Kyra Sedgewick always looks like she's going to cry for some reason. Maybe once I finish watching my MacGyver DVDs (and have some extra money) I'll get caught up on the series or something.

I have a plan to save money faster so I can get a new computer. I'm going to stop buying lunch at Beans & Bagels (except for on payday, to treat myself) and pack all my lunches from now on.

In order to do this, I have to make sure that there is always bread, lunch meat/cheese, other stuff to put in my lunches, and cereal and milk for breakfast in the house. So I bought myself a mini-fridge from Sears (it's going to be delivered sometime this week) and a bunch of storage drawers from Wal-Mart (also to be delivered this week) so that I can keep my own food and drinks in them.

I have a box I'm going to keep apples, oranges or other whole fruits (not grapes, cherries or strawberries--those are strictly fridge-bound) in, plus a set of plastic drawers for bread, bagels and lunch-size chip bags, and a crate-like-thing for cereal boxes. My new fridge has a place for soda cans to dispense vertically out the bottom, which I think is pretty darn cool. I would've gotten the 6 cu. ft. model, but that was way too expensive.

I don't have any money to put anything in it yet, so I'll just have to set it all up and wait to get paid again. I don't think I'd get a tax return before my next paycheck, even if I filed them today, so I won't hope for that to come first.

Happy Birthday, Heather! (And various wedding-like details.)

Today is Heather's birthday! Yay, Heather!

Now, on to our not-so-regularly scheduled blog entry:

Sunday, Anna, Kimba and I went to David's Bridal so that Kimba and I (and Liz F.) could try on bridesmaid dresses. We decided on this dress, with a bolero jacket, in apple for me and Liz and black for Kimba (since she's the maid of honor, and Anna wanted different colors--her bridal colors are black and apple). The jacket only comes in white, since that style's technically a bridal style, but we liked it, since it's an outdoor winter wedding anyway.

Luckily, we were able to pay for and order the dresses in our sizes on Sunday, because the lady who helped us said that delivery time was looking like the end of January. Considering the wedding is February 16th, we'd've been cutting it kinda close if we hadn't bought them there and then. We'll have to go back for first and second fittings--one to have the alterations lady pin them and such, and one to make sure the altered gowns actually fit right.

As an aside, I never really understood the need for more than one bridesmaid--I mean, all the extra ones do is just stand there in their dresses and look pretty, right? The maid of honor at least has some sort of "job" to do during the ceremony. I can understand wanting to appease certain female family members and/or friends, but it's not their wedding anyway.

If/when I ever get married, I'm going to have one bridesmaid, my groom will have one best man, and we will invite our immediate family, specific family members who we are closest to, and our bestest best friends. Everyone else will get announcements only, and possibly invitations to the reception. I'm talking super-duper-small wedding.

Anyway, back on course.

We also got to see Anna in her wedding dress while we were in the shop, since she had just made her final payment on it and had to get the alterations pinned. I'm not going to link to a picture of the dress today, since there's no telling who actually reads this blog, and it's "bad" for certain people to see the dress before the wedding, after all.

Pay day (and the company Christmas party) is tomorrow. Yay! I can finish my Christmas shopping! And start paying off my Discover card (which is how I paid for that gown).

I'm too old to be single.

So Kimba's got a boyfriend. That's nothing new--she's had pretty steady relationships for the last 3-5 years at least. In fact, she's only had two different boyfriends in all that time. Her current boyfriend's name is Jason. On the extremely rare occasions that he and my brother are in the same room, it gets a little confusing.

Anna started seeing this one guy from her forensic biology class by the name of Tim. Kayla and I call him Twigg, or Twiggler (his last name, or a play on it), since we know too many Tims already.

Then there's me. I haven't had a date that was anything more than platonic in so long a time that it can be measured in years. The last date I had that was even remotely romance-based (read: there was actual kissing and stuff, not just friendly chat) was . . . I don't remember exactly how long ago, but it was with Patrick W, before he went to Vermont on that trip with his local YSA group.

Given this information, imagine my surprise when Anna, the youngest of my two younger sisters, came into the camper this evening waving the black diamond solitaire on her hand. It's interesting, I never knew black diamonds weren't actually black. Anna's is actually a dark purple color. But the ring really suits her.

Yes, my friends, my twenty-year-old sister is getting married--in February. Don't get me wrong, I like Twiggler--he's funny, and makes Anna happy. I was just surprised that Kimba wasn't the one to get engaged first (since I'm nowhere near that stage with any guy I know and Kimba's the next oldest, at twenty-three--twenty-four in September), since she's been with her boyfriend longer. Then again, I know I've heard her say stuff about not getting married while she's in school or something, which seems kinda stupid to me, but that's just my opinion.

Anyway, that's the news. My sister's getting married, which is awesome, and I think I'm too old to be single--not that I can do anything about it right now, since I don't know any guys well enough to even consider not being single with them anyway.