Birthday Wish List

For once, I don't have any books or CDs or games on my birthday wish list. In fact, I think this list is the shortest it's been in years.

• Summer-y clothes:
• a sundress or two--light blue is a nice color (I'm not sure what size, but the dress I wore to Anna's wedding--although a lot more formal than what I'm asking for--was size 14)
  
• some nice button-up shirts (no frills, please) in light colors and short sleeves
• some shorts (my jean size is 10, if that helps)
  
• new t-shirts, etc.
  
  
• Supplies for my projects:
• 60 feet of 2” X 10” pine, cut into 5-foot planks
  
• Three 8” X 8” sheets of ¼” thick plastic
• Six 4” X 4” sheets of ¼” thick plastic
• 2 ½ feet of ¼” diameter plastic rod
• 20” of clear, hard plastic tubing with an inside diameter of ¼”
• 3 ft X 2 ft. of plywood
• Three 1-inch long black drywall screws
• High-strength plastic adhesive
• Red spray paint

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.

Twenty-Five

Okay, so this post is two days late . . . so what?

I am now officially a quarter-century old. *cue the confetti* Had a pretty quiet birthday, all told, which is good. I meant to go to the Haven that day, but before I could leave the house (read: camper) I had to 1) pay my bills and figure my finances, 2) do my laundry, and 3) take a shower. I also wanted to go put gas in the bug and buy a new umbrella (my old black one is finally broken beyond the ability to work around), but I didn't get that far either.

It was nearly five in the evening before I got out of the shower, and it rained off and on, so I didn't feel like going anywhere after that. Not to mention, most of the Haven people I'd hang out with would have been too busy preparing for Pennsic War (they left today, and the shop won't be open for a couple weeks while they're there) for me to be much interested in going after all.

So I stayed home and had a lazy day. It helped, because last Saturday I stayed up until 7 a.m. Sunday, and had yet to catch up on the missed sleep at the time, despite getting regular amounts of sleep on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. But when I went back to work yesterday, I felt refreshed.

Last Saturday, I saw Hancock with Kayla--it was funny, and I liked the story a lot. Great special effects and fight scenes as well. We were originally going to see the new Batman movie, but the show we wanted to see was sold out and we didn't want to have to leave and come back for another show, so we saw Hancock instead.

Tomorrow, we're seeing Batman, so it's all good.

For my birthday, I got a new purse, a wallet, a new watch, and an electronic Sudoku game. I'd never cared much about having a wallet or not, 'cause I just kept my cash in my pocket (or on the cup on my nightstand) and my most-used cards in my checkbook, but it's nice to have it all in one place and not need the pocket or the cup.

I was kind of leery about using a new watch while the old one still works just fine, but the new one is just so pretty (the old one was gold finish, and I prefer silver, which the new one is) that I couldn't resist. So I stopped the old watch (pulled out the knob) so the battery wouldn't die, and buckled it to my old purse.

Brother B. also sent me a telegram for my birthday--he's a ham radio operator, so he sent the message through that to another operator, who called my cell phone and left it on my voice mail. That was pretty cool. He also called to follow up a little while later.

I was going to say something about the last day or two or something, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was now. Oh well, if I remember, I can always make another entry.

Ahhhhhh

Yesterday, I got my birthday present to myself--an hour-long full-body massage from the FMH Wellness Center in the FSK mall. Oh man, was that a great idea!

I'd've gotten it on my birthday (since I've taken off work that day), but the massage therapist I usually go to isn't working that day. She's all booked up for the Saturday after, and isn't working the Saturday before either, so I went yesterday instead. I should've done it months ago--the tension headaches were coming more frequently, and it sucked. Today, there's a little tension, but not so much that I feel a headache anywhere near coming on. I feel sooooo much better.

I need to go to my storage unit today and search for my bundle of index cards. I've looked through all of the bins in the camper here, but I can't find them, so I think I packed them with the stuff I don't need from day to day. Maybe I'll grab MacGyver season one while I'm there, so that Jason can watch the whole thing from the beginning--he's been watching season two, since that was the season I was on when I moved--I'd already packed up season one.

The day of my birthday, I'm going to wake up late (I'm thinking 9 or 9:30 will be good, 10 or so, if I can stay comfortably asleep that long), then go to the Haven until about 4-ish before I come home and have dinner with my family. Which reminds me, I have to choose my birthday dinner food!

The group of people playing in my Serenity game has decided that we'll be playing the day before my birthday, instead of the day after, since one of them (the guy playing the captain of the ship) won't be there on the 24th. I'm hoping Heather can come with me that evening and see the coolness that is the Haven. Or at least that she can come with me on one of the few evenings she's here before that, since she'll be leaving the day of my birthday and might be too tired the night before to come hang out. Either way, it'll be good to see Heather again. (Hi, chica!)

Anyway, I'm going to read some more before I head over to the storage facility for those index cards (the gate to access the units is open until 10pm, 7 days a week)--I need them to prepare for the Serenity game, since I'm so disorganized and didn't even know how much until I ran the first session (the very first session of the very first RPG I'd ever run, and I hadn't even played this particular system before either) and had to stop frequently just to check rules or find my place in the story line again.

I got a tip from Brian (the guy playing the captain) about using index cards for NPC stuff, and I might also use index cards to take notes on the storyline itself, instead of just reading straight from the story, since I accidentally printed four PDF pages per each 8-1/2 x 11-inch sheet of paper, and the print is tiny. I can read it, but it takes a minute to find where I am again. I don't want to waste more ink and paper though, so I'm not going to re-print it. Index card notes should work just as well.

It's a good thing my Serenity GM screen came in the mail this weekend, or else I'd have to look for rules such as weapon damage and armor stuff during game play again. And since my rulebook is a first-printing, it doesn't have an index, so I pretty much have to remember which chapter and/or section the rule is in, or be screwed (in which case, I just make up a new rule based on my somewhat spotty memory of the actual rule, which is bad).

Holy, Frickin' Heck, It's Been a While . . .

Let's see if I can remember even just a fraction of what's happened since June 12. I reckon I can probably pick out the highlights, at least.

The day after my last entry, I was asked to help out in the mailroom/printshop at work. Larry (one of my bosses) asked me (with promise of a nice raise come review time) to see how they do things, and see if I could help them be more efficient. So far, the only thing I can think of that will help them to even stay afloat, much less be caught up and stay that way, is if there are two more people hired. One more for the print shop, and the other new person would sort of float between the print shop and the mailroom, sorting out the orders, boxing up the larger ones to go UPS, and then putting the smaller ones on the table to go via USPS Media Mail.

I have to say though, that working in the mailroom has been kind of fun. There's always something to do, so it's not boring, and I actually like doing Judy's job (the Media Mail stuff). Heck, I might ask to be put over there permanently, if they can find someone else (or more than one someone else) to do my current job(s).

Yesterday, I went to the Red Cross to make a blood donation, but I didn't have enough iron in my blood (low by one percent) to donate yesterday, so they had to differ me. That's okay, I'll just drink lots of orange juice (there's iron in there) and wait until the next time I get a call from them.

After the Red Cross, I went to the pool house and finally got my pool pass. One of the Jens has the Guest Pass though. I don't really want to go swimming alone, so I was thinking of getting Anna in with the Guest Pass every now and then, so before I can do that, I have to figure out which Jen has the pass. I'll probably ask them sometime in the next week or two, or after my birthday (I've asked for a gift card so that I can buy a bathing suit that fits).

Despite not being allowed to give blood yesterday, I did manage to accomplish something besides just getting my pool pass. I managed to wash, fold, and put away all of my laundry (including my set of black sheets) in the same afternoon. While I waited for the machines, I watched three movies: Yours, Mine and Ours, Two Weeks' Notice, and The Wedding Planner. I also started a fourth movie while I put away my jeans, but most of that movie I only watched--it didn't take that long to put the jeans away. The fourth movie was Zoom Academy for Super Heroes. I also watched that movie again this afternoon (it was still in the player when I went to sleep, so when I got up I decided to watch it while I ate my breakfast/lunch).

Today, Kayla and I went to Mom & Dad's for dinner (as usual for me). We had sauté with green beans, rice, and peanut sauce. YUM!

After dinner, we sat around for a while, then Anna left to go hang out with some guy, and Dad, Kayla, Jason and I watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on the projector screen. Kayla and I just got back about a half an hour ago.

Wednesday, I have off of work for the 4th of July, and then Thursday is my 2-year review at work. I hope I get a really good raise. I've managed to survive five months here on my own--now I want to start really living here.

I'm also taking paid vacation on Friday the 13th so that I can see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I don't know whether or not Dad is going to take us all (minus Kimba) to see the movie, like he's done for the last four, but it would be pretty cool to follow that tradition. If he doesn't though, then Kayla, Jason O. and his brother Nathan are planning on going to a midnight showing, and I might just join them. I still haven't gotten to see the two movies I wanted to see last month yet: Ocean's 13 and Nancy Drew. Maybe I'll be able to catch them on TV-Links.

My birthday this year falls on a Monday, so I figured I could use another three-day weekend this month and asked for that day off as well. So that'll be three out of almost five weeks this month that I will only have to work for four days instead of five. Sweet!

I haven't figured out what I want to do for my birthday yet though. I put on the list that I gave to my family that I wanted them to come here to my place for dinner on the 29th instead of me going there, and I was originally thinking about making lasagna . . . but it's been so hot lately, I don't think that would be a good idea--tasty, but not a good idea.

There aren't any good movies coming out on the weekend before or after my birthday, but The Bourne Ultimatum gets released to theaters on August 4.

2 down, 48 to go . . .

I finally finished Anna Karenina yesterday, around 3pm. WHEW!

The reason it took me so long to read it (two months, the longest it's ever taken me to read anything except The Book of Mormon--including the 2 weeks it took for Little Women) is because I sort of had to psyche myself up to read it every time I wanted to sit down and do it.

See, the whole book is set in 19th century Russia, and is about people in the Russian aristocracy. The customs, clothing, cities, and even the characters' thoughts were all strange to me, so to understand even a little bit of it, I had to concentrate really hard on what I was reading. So, I couldn't really read before bed or anything like that--I had to be mentally awake. That severely cut down the amount of time I could read, and I couldn't read more than 9 or 10 chapters at a time for the same reason--it all just started to run together after a while.

I posted a review of the book at LibraryThing which is more of a rant than a real review, but read it if you like.

I've got 48 books left now, to reach the 50-book challenge posted a couple months ago on the Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Board. So, yesterday I decided that for the next book, I was going to choose one that was shorter, and more modern. That way, it wouldn't require too much concentration and I could read it faster. Not to mention, my brain needs a rest from all that cerebral-ness.

Around midnight last night, I realized that I hadn't yet chosen a book, and since it was so late and I just wanted to go to sleep, I didn't go down to the computer to use LibraryThing to figure out what I had. I just chose a book that I could see just by looking at the shelves upstairs.

I decided I was going to re-read my Harry Potter books. That way, I'll have books 3-8 out of 50 in the bag, and I'll be prepared when book 7 comes out on July 21 (two days before my brithday, yay!).