Jamie Lackey

Don't Panic

2011-06-08T08:51:00.002-05:00

This is all just a test. Move along.

A post

2011-06-06T14:03:00.001-05:00

I do in fact still remember how to use blogger. It's easy. *facepalm*

A much better movie.

2009-07-11T23:12:00.002-05:00

Just got home from seeing Moon. I'm very glad that I got to see it. The movie is an awesome example of what science fiction can be at its best. The acting is great, the effects are awesome, and the story itself is stellar. Go see this movie.

Tranformers 2- just as bad as everyone said.

2009-06-29T12:47:00.004-05:00

It was awful. And this is going to be full of spoilers. Full. So stop reading if you don't want to read them.

It wasn't that it was hard to follow the plot, it's just that it was leading to somewhere that no sane person would want to go. Some of this might not be in the order it happened in the movie because, really, it doesn't matter and I'm not going to bother trying to get the timeline exactly right.

The movie opens in like 7 gazillion B.C. Transformers were here a long time ago! Really! And this guy with the neck frill is important!

And back to modern day! Sam's mom is crying and his dad is hurridly packing. Sam wants to go to college and leave his super hot girlfriend and awesome transforming car behind. Sam's an idiot. He and Mikaela haven't said "I love you" yet. That's her main conflict in the movie. It shouldn't be because they've been together for two years and are going to try to make a cross continental long distance relationship work. If neither of them can manage three simple words then they are totally boned and should just give up.

Oh, and the government has been working with the autobots to hunt down decepticons except this random weiner with the president's ear wants to shut them down and he brilliantly broadcasts the locations of Megatron and the shard of All Spark that the government is "protecting." The quotes are there becaue the decepticons can break in to any government facility anytime and take whatever they want, so why did they wait till the information was broadcasted? Why not go in and steal the info? No reason. We just wanted another officious weiner to mock in the movie. Isn't mocking officious weiners fun?

And there are like six autobots and two of them are twins, and they're stupid and annoying and the less said about them the better. These six autobots are Earth's only reliable defence against all eight million decepticons.

Sam finds a piece of the All Spark in his hoodie while he's packing. It imprints some shit in his mind then burns through the floor and brings the household appliances to life. Bumblebee takes care of them, then gets yelled at for messing up the house like a large unruly puppy. Sam gives Mikaela the shard without bothering to tell her what it is. Then he leaves the state. One of the baby decepticons escaped the destruction, tells the space decepticon he's tracking the shard, and follows. How can the baby automatically contact their space relay guy? Who knows!

The decepticons steal the All Spark bit and bring Megatron back to life with it. But didn't shoving the All Spark into his chest kill him in the first place? Well....

Anyway! Sam gets to college and his mom eats a pot brownie and his roomates arranged for all the hot girls to be in their dorm and all of this is a waste of time in very bloated movie. Sam has weird seizures where he has to write down weird symbols and he remembers that he left the shard with Mikaela and warns her and she captures the baby decepticon and decides to fly to Sam's side with the decipticon IN HER LUGGAGE. A terminator decepticon shows up and tries to seduce Sam and he can't manage to tell her off for following him around even though she's pushy and creepy and really has no personality. Except she likes cars because of course all hot chicks like cars. Mikaela walks in on them kissing and gets mad and leaves, but comes back when Sam starts screaming like a little girl. Anyway, when did decepticons become terminators? But it doesn't matter because they escape and she never shows up again.

Sam's idiot roommate who shouldn't be in the damn movie at all gets pulled along with them. Megatron captures them and tortures Sam all Matrix style with wierd little bug decepticons that crawl around in Sam's body. Then they escape and there's a big fight and Optimus Prime gets killed.

Yeah. That's what I said.

Anyway, they can't bring him back using the shard because... well... acutally, it seems like no one thought of it. So Sam's roommate takes them to some other guy who runs an alien conspiracy website who turns out to be the officious idiot from the first movie! Hey, we love officious idiots. He kind of helps. Maybe. Anyway, he's around for the rest of the movie. Since the autobots are illiterate, they ask the baby decepticon what the symbols mean, but he can't read either, so they find this reformed decepticon who's been living on Earth forever.

He's in a museum and getting to him involves a truly stupid plan that should not work. They use the All Spark shard to wake him up. Apparantly the decepticons want to turn the sun into fuel so they can have babies. Actually, Neck Frill is called "The Fallen" because he wanted to blow up the sun when they showed up a million years ago, but they wouldn't let him because they're not supposed to blow up suns with life floating around them. But he hated people so much that he was going to ignore that rule. Wait, why does he hate people? Becuse he's EVIL!

The old reformed decepticon helps them find this tomb where Optimus's ancestors sacrificed themselves to fight neck frill guy. He didn't manage to find it before because he's an idiot. (But he has a cane! He's OLD! Isn't that funny?) Really, at this point we should be grateful that he can read. He teleports them all to Egypt. Yeah. I should mention that he transforms into a plane. But teleporting is just... cooler? I guess.

The symbols are a clue that Sam figures out because at the beginning of the movie he read an entire astronomy book while having a seizure. They have to get through customs to get to the temple. Why not teleport? Well, because then we couldn't do this midget joke and show how much everyone in the world loves New York. They love it so much that they'll let you into their country without a passport.

Sam got some magic leadership dust from the tomb they found, and the army defies orders to bring him Optimus' body. On the way they trick the officious weiner to pull his parachute and get sucked out of the plane! He ends up in the middle of nowhere! Isn't that funny? And he never shows up again.

The 11 billion decepticon are between our heroes and the army, so Sam and Mikaela have to run on foot for two miles through the fight. His parents show up because the devious decepticons kidnapped them! How clever! And his dad is the one who doesn't want to let him go on and save everything! Reversal! Crazy!

The roommate and last movie's weiner along with the annoying twins fight the biggest deception ever! But then weiner guy calls in a rail gun strike and one shots it.

Sam gets almost to Optimus and then dies. Except Mikaela "I love you"s him back to live and he has a dream with autobot ghosts about how he's earned leadership. Optimus comes back to life, the old robot dies and gives Optimus his skin, and Optimus kicks everyone's ass.

So, that's essentially the movie. I left a few things out, I'm sure, but you get the general idea.

More good news

2009-04-19T13:37:00.003-05:00

Someone found my wallet and put it in a mailbox. I got a postage due slip on Wednesday, and Paul and I went to the post office and got it back after waiting in the tax line. They even left the money inside. There are good people all around, after all.

We went to see Rent on Friday night. It was awesome. I got a signed poster and a T-shirt. The show was amazing. Neither of us had seen Rent live before, and I got us good seats.

Paul is gearing up to get us registered for Gen Con events.

Good and bad stuff happens

2009-04-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

I lost my wallet this weekend. I am sad. I called to get my credit cards canceled and all that fun stuff. The zoo and the museum are both sending me new cards for no charge. It's very nice of them.

Good news--I sold a story. More details on my writing blog.

Taxes, the finale

2009-03-31T12:09:00.003-05:00

The district manager called me today, just as he said he would. He had someone look over my taxes again, and he looked over the bill. He is mailing me a check for $150 because he found something that they really only needed to charge me for once.

I'm glad to be getting something back. It makes the whole frustrating experience of calling to complain feel like it was worth my time. He told me that he really wanted our business in the future, and that I could call him to recommend an experienced tax professional next year. I hate to disappoint him, especially after he was the only person that I talked to who didn't treat me like crap, but I have a feeling we're going to be doing our own taxes in the future.

Tax Update

2009-03-27T15:35:00.003-05:00

I got a call from H&R Block today. The woman on the phone said that my story didn't match the one she got from the office where they did my taxes, and insinuated that I was lying. Since my taxes looked okay, there was nothing she could do. She did give me the numbers for the district managers.

Apparently, we could have just left without paying after they told us how much they were charging. I did not get that impression at all. I talked to the district manager, told him my story, got pretty damn upset, and he told me he'd look into it and get back to me by next Tuesday.

The whole thing makes me want to scream, cry, and hit things. I like being called a liar even less than I like being pushed around and taken advantage of.

The Taxes

2009-03-25T12:17:00.003-05:00

I just got off the phone from filing my first official complaint about anything ever.

Paul and I made an appointment at H&R Block last night. The woman we requested had over 30 years experience and looked like she'd be able to handle the complications of me being an independent contractor and the stuff from the trust.

When we got there, they told us that she didn't even work there anymore. The guy we ended up with was painfully incompetent. He seemed nice enough, which is probably why we didn't complain last night. We spent more time helping him find the right places to enter things than he spent entering things. Eventually he called his supervisor over, and while she was better, I still had to point various mistakes out multiple times to get her to fix them. Then, she preformed their much advertised "second look" in about 90 seconds. (Can it even count as a second look if she'd filled out half of the forms?)

Eventually we were done.

And then they told us we owed them $500.

The supervisor must have seen the shocked looks on our faces, so she offered us a $15 coupon. I'd like to mention here that they didn't warn us that our return was going to cost us almost more than our taxes until they pulled up the total. We were totally blindsided. I almost wanted to cry.

Still in shock, we paid them and went home.

Today, I called to complain. Their website doesn't have anything remotely like a feedback area, so I had to phone their customer service line, which also didn't have an option for feedback. I had to wait after the computer voice asked me where I wanted to make my appointment four times before I was put on hold to talk to someone. Then, when I said I'd like to file a complaint, they hung up on me. I tried again, and this time actually talked to someone and got a reference number to track my grievance.

I did actually use the phrase "I felt like we were serviced by two incompetents, then charged $500 for the privilege."

My biggest issue is that they didn't give us any indication of how expensive it would be. If they'd told us, we would have walked out right then and figured out the taxes ourselves, and I'd be fine with that. Watching them do it made me pretty confident that we could have done them since we practically WERE doing them.

Last night, I felt stupid and ashamed of myself about the whole thing. Today, I feel angry. I'm hoping that they follow through, call me back, and refund at least a portion of the money we paid them. But who knows what will happen.

Going to Gen Con!

2009-03-24T12:53:00.002-05:00

Paul and I have been really worried about paying for a Gen Con hotel. I couldn't find a good deal, and we're really poor right now.

But William Shatner has proven once again that he is a god among men. Priceline finally came through for us, and I got us a hotel about a mile away from the convention center for $56.00 a night.

I'm super excited. I wasn't letting myself get excited before because I really didn't think we'd be able to go... but now we can! The hotel will end up costing us less than $200 because our friend Ben is coming with us and helping pay toward the room.

We're running games at the convention again, so we don't have to pay for badges. I need to start planning my games. I'm running two games of Best Friends, a GURPS game inspired by John Wayne westerns, and I don't even remember the fourth game because I wasn't letting myself think about it. Paul will have to remind me so I can plan for it. I'm not sure what all he's running either. He's doing mostly super hero games, I think.

So excited!

My eyes hurt.

2009-03-02T21:30:00.002-05:00

Because the movie My Girl makes me cry. It's a very well done movie. I haven't seen it in a long time, and Paul and I just watched in from our instant Netflix queue.

My brother Matt came to visit yesterday. We had a nice time. Went out for Thai food and played some xbox. Drank tea.

Today, it was freezing at work, so I got my blanket. I've had it there for a few weeks now. I was worried that someone might say something at first, but everyone seemed okay with it, till this morning. My boss came over to me to tell me that my blanket was unprofessional and if I was cold I should wear long johns.

I think they should turn the fucking heat up. But I didn't tell him that. I just smiled and nodded and folded my blanket up. And froze my fucking ass off for the rest of the day. I was really pissed. I'm still pretty pissed about it. I can see where he's coming from--like I said, I was worried about it at first. But the way he went about it wasn't cool. He was smiling in my face and pretending to be nice while actually treating me like shit and saying some pretty mean things. Ugh. Then, later, he wanted me to come to his office to "meet his sister-in-law." That's code for "come give my sister-in-law a massage, bitch," but overlaid with all kinds of fake nice. He always asks me if I have time to do a massage. I feel like it's some sort of test or trap every time he does that. I'm paid to be there to do massage. It's WHY I'M FUCKING THERE. I never don't have time. It's not an inconvenience. It's my fucking job.

While I'm ranting, I want to mention that there's exactly one person that I work with there who treats me like an actual human being. I do appreciate that at least one person does. I'm trying to get to the point where I'm okay with the fact that none of the people I work with are going to become actual friends. It's sort of a relief to stop caring about it--to just treat them like they treat me and not give a fuck what they think.

Also, it pisses me off when people ask if I had training. Of course I had fucking training. There's a fucking diploma on the fucking wall. I have over 1000 hours of training. Some days, I'd like to print out a little list of things for people to read so I don't have to answer the same stupid questions. "Yes, I went to school." "Yes, I can feel how tight your shoulders are." (How could I not?? My sense of touch works. My hands are not numb. Ugh.) "No, you're not the most tense person I've ever worked on." "Actually, most people are pretty stressed." "No, no one has actually fallen asleep in the chair." "Yes, massage is relaxing."

O_o

I know, I know. There's a lot of great things about my job. I'm done at 12:30 (but that good is, I feel, more than balanced out by bad of having to be there at 7:30) and I can sit and read if there's no one to massage. I usually get to watch Ellen. Some of the clients are nice. Sometimes people tip. I'm not quitting anytime soon. But sometimes the place drives me nuts.

Also, note to self--never give out blog info to coworkers. Don't know how the temptation would ever come up, but just in case.

Using the crap out of my museum membership

2009-02-28T20:55:00.002-05:00

Paul and I got a chance to go to a preview of the new exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It's called "The Horse." It's very cool, and anyone who likes horses and is interested in them or in their shared history with humanity should check it out.

We also got to attend a lecture by author Susan Williams. She did a lot of research on the domestication of horses for her book, Wind Rider. The lecture was cool, and after I bought her book and she signed it. She was great--she chatted with everyone getting a book signed, and even did drawings. My little horse is AWESOME.

We walked to the museum, and on the way we stopped at Giant Eagle and I tried their Aztec hot cocoa. It's awesome. I've been wanting to try it out for a long time, and I'm glad I finally did.

Triangulation editing was canceled today because Pete's sick, so Paul and I had some time to unwind before we met his parents and brother for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We had a nice time. Paul and I both had steaks. His was teriyaki marinated, and mine was covered in a lobster mushroom sauce. Then we stopped by Goodwill to look for clothes for Paul. We left with jeans for me and a pile of books.

My first xbox live experience!

2009-02-26T22:18:00.002-05:00

Savannah and I played DDR! It was awesome! Rob helped us get it set up, then the two of us played. Lots of fun! I can't wait to do it again!

Bla Thursday!

2009-02-26T16:24:00.003-05:00

Thursdays are my least favorite day of the week because I've been through four days of getting up at six am, but I still have one left to go. At least today I'm not grumpy--I'm just tired. I had a very busy day at work, so I took a nap when I got home. I don't feel too much better, but at least I tried and it was nice to just let myself not worry about stuff I should be doing.

Paul and I went out for National Pancake Day on Tuesday. That was fun. We failed to find the IHOP--Paul looked at the directions enough to figure out it was at Robinson, and from there he figured we'd wing it. We winged our way to Denny's. I've still never been to IHOP. But Denny's is nice. I approve of their Nannerpuss commercial, and a grand slam for $5.99 is pretty awesome. I ate half of it and had the rest for lunch on Wednesday.

I've been pretty good about working out. I'm just playing DDR, but it's at least getting me moving for a while every day. Today Bill and I are getting back to jogging because it's finally not freezing. I'm both looking forward to it, and NOT. It's been too long since we last went and I'm back out of the habit of running. It doesn't take long. I don't want to go too fast today.

Yesterday I got to go get a NMT massage at the school. That was pretty cool. It was a long massage, and the student who worked on me was very nice and gave me an excellent massage. I missed the first half of Lost, but Paul filled me in when I got home. ^_^ I was supposed to get my normal massage from Marie tomorrow, but her grandmother is having health problems so she has to go back to State College tomorrow. I hope everything works out okay.

Paul has a job interview next week! Exciting!

Fuckin' RIGHT!

2009-02-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

I just unlocked not one, but two songs on DDR for the xbox 360! I had been failing to manage it a lot. And now I've done it.

Awesome.

I also have orange guava juice.

I win.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T21:37:00.002-05:00

Paul and I went to the Carnegie Science Center for Valentine's Day. It was actually pretty busy. We spent a lot of time just tooling around the exhibits, learning about bat wings and fluid dynamics and fish, but we also saw the omnimax movie "Under the Sea," which was awesome. It had sea dragons. It got a little preachy with the "stop global warming" message at the end, but it was still an enjoyable experience. Then we went to see "The Stars Over Pittsburgh," which was actually pretty informative. I might be able to add a couple new constellations to the few I can already spot. The last show we watched was at their science kitchen. It was about brains. We ended by eating jello brains. Yum.

For lunch, we ate at the cafe at the science center. The place was packed, so we retreated to the only open tables--out on the balcony overlooking the river. It was snowing, so we had the outside to ourselves. The metal chair was really damn cold, but it was nice to eat and look out over the water and watch the snow fall. Really romantic, actually.

For dinner, we walked to The People's Indian, which is always a good choice. It's a great place to eat. Then, we had fondue for dessert. Warm chocolate, with pound cake, bannanas, strawberries, blueberries, and caramel vanilla marshmallows. We watched Young at Heart with Dorris Day and Frank Sinatra.

Overall, it was a very good day.

Oscar nominated original songs

2009-01-31T11:21:00.001-05:00

So, I downloaded the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack because I really enjoyed the music, and between that and the Wall-E soundtrack (which I downloaded for the same reason) I have all of the songs nominated for best original song in 2008 on my computer.

That's pretty cool.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-30T22:10:00.002-05:00

Paul and I went out for a date tonight. We went to Applebees and then went to go see Slumdog Millionaire.

The movie was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. And the way they did the credits is just about the best thing ever.

Go see it.

Nazi Zombies

2009-01-29T16:58:00.003-05:00

I saw a story about this on the news, and Savannah emailed me another story. Check out this video.

Anyone who doesn't think this is funny and is seriously worried about public safety issues because of it needs to remove the stick from their ass. Seriously. It made my day. I will be very sad if they catch and punish the people that did it.

Check it!

2009-01-17T09:05:00.000-05:00

My Nemu Nemu Christmas art!

NEW TV!!

2008-12-26T19:18:00.001-05:00

We just bought us a new 32" LCD Samsung TV. Is pretty.

My Aerogardens

2008-12-26T14:03:00.002-05:00

I got an Aerogarden from each side of my family (Paul's and mine) and I set up the one from Paul's parents right after I got it on the 19th. The seed pods from my herb kit are already starting to sprout. It's very exciting. I haven't started the other one because I don't need two gardens full of the same herbs at the same time. I just ordered a kit with cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers and another with salad greens. I'll have to decide which to plant when they arrive. I'm pretty excited.

What I really can't wait for is for them to release the strawberry seed pods. They are expected out in the spring. I love strawberries.

So far, my Aerogardens are everything I dreamed they'd be. I'll post some pictures of my baby plants once I have them on my computer.

More presents!

2008-12-22T22:21:00.003-05:00

Linda got me The Encyclopedia Shatnerica, the Millennium Edition. It's awesome.

I also got a Steampunk anthology from Paul, and Kass got me a whole box full of Pepsi points to use to get more music.

Christmas Haul Thus Far

2008-12-19T20:33:00.002-05:00

Paul and I have exchanged most if not all of our gifts because I hate waiting to give people presents, and Paul hates waiting to get them.

Paul got me a Nemu Nemu shirt, book, and a piece of commissioned original art (it's Anpan and Nemu and Kana and Ani all gathered around the Christmas tree exchanging presents). I'm pretty sure he also got me something else but I can't think of it right now. I'm apparently a horrible gift receiver. I got him Johnny Dangerously, An Evening with Kevin Smith, The Orange Box, a Sister Hazel cd, and a Questionable Content shirt. I feel like I'm forgetting something from that list, too.

Justin got us an xbox 360 for a combined wedding/Christmas gift. It's awesome. It came with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda. Lance got me Mass Effect, which is a straight up awesome game. I also picked up used copies of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire.

We just had the gift exchange with Paul's family. His brother Rob got me Prince Caspian, his Aunt Cathy and his parents got me the newest live action Peter Pan movie, a Patricia McKillip novel, the Hunter core rulebook, Young at Heart with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra, The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen: Legendary Science Ficiton Series, Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection, Dido's new cd, and Spaced Out: The Very Best of Leonard Nemoy and William Shatner. They also got me an aerogarden, which is awesome and I'm really looking forward to having fresh herbs and things from it.

Check

2008-10-24T13:33:00.002-05:00

Dishes--Done
Trash--Done
Clarkesworld Submissions--Queue emptied
WorD stories--Read through once(I still have to print them out and make comments)
Tidying--Did a bit
Inn on Negly--Called and left message

Eeeeep

2008-10-24T09:13:00.002-05:00

I have so much shit to do and no motivation at all. I just updated my writing blog with stuff that I'm behind on in that area, and I mentioned a few of these things, but I'm making myself a list, here. I like lists.

1. Read Clarkesworld submissions
2. Read WorD stories
3. Tidy apartment so I can give massages here.
4. Do the dishes.
5. Take out trash.
6. Take crap in hall to goodwill.
7. Get pile of boxes in hall to Grandma's to burn.
8. Call Inn on Negly.
9. Study for NCBTMB.
10. Get to parents' house to get checks.
11. Get to bank.
12. Figure out how to get name legally changed.
13. Change name on all forms of ID, credit cards, bank accounts, etc.
14. Find nail polish remover so my nails no longer look like I just crawled out of a grave.
15. Write thank you cards.
16. Organize wedding/honeymoon pictures.
17. Listen to podcasts.
18. Read Realms of Fantasy.
19. Work off the MOUNTAINS of food I ate at Disney.
20. Try out some new recipes from Disney cookbook. (I totally did try a new recipe last night, I don't remember where I saw the idea, but I made quesadillas with roasted garlic and apples, and they were really good.) (Also, we did catch up on Eli Stone and Heroes.) (And I've got most of our new Disney swag put away, and we did put away the clean laundry last night.)
21. That reminds me. LAUNDRY. We have so much of it to do.
22. Submit stories.
23. Write.

And that's probably not all, but it'll work for now. Now I just have to do all of those things and check then off one by one.

Started a facebook.

2008-10-09T09:26:00.001-05:00

Mostly because Savannah wanted me to, but also just for kicks. The system is glitchy as shit.

Savannah's here!!

2008-10-06T15:33:00.003-05:00

We picked her up on Saturday night. Yesterday we went to the zoo, today we worked out my make up for the wedding, tomorrow we're finalizing the dress and the flowers, Wednesday we're hoping to get up the incline and be tourists for a bit, then Thursday is the bachellorette party. Then the rehearsal dinner, then the wedding!

^_^ Having her here is awesome.

First day off

2008-10-01T12:15:00.002-05:00

Well, it's weird to not have to get up and go to work. So far this morning I've work on cleaning and reading Clarkesworld submissions. The dishes are done, the kitchen floor strip is mopped, and I've done a bit of tidying in the living room, but there's still a lot to do.

I still don't even know how I feel about this. I keep switching from being happy to be out of there to horrified and worried about how I'm going to pay our bills.

Fuck.

2008-09-24T17:28:00.003-05:00

Got laid off today.

As of next Wednesday, I'll be officially unemployed.

Wrapping up the loose ends

2008-09-15T07:06:00.002-05:00

Paul and I applied for our marriage license on Friday, then we went and picked out tuxes for the guys to wear. Paul's got an ivory vest to match me, Justin and Rob will be in brown vests to match the bridesmaids.

Yesterday, I got my hairstyle for the wedding practiced, and Betsy came out from Toledo to give her approval, which she did.

Everything is pretty much ready.

Zoo Trip!!

2008-09-07T16:27:00.008-05:00

We went to the zoo today! It was great fun. I love the zoo. I got us a family memberships, so Paul and I can go all we want.

Today, we got to watch them feed the African painted dogs. It was awesome. They make this really cool noise, like a squeak. They don't bark.

I took a few really awesome pictures, too. I'm really happy with my camera.

Hours of Entertainment.

2008-09-03T20:42:00.001-05:00

http://accent.gmu.edu/

Seriously, this is fun.

More wedding stuff, also some stuff that isn't wedding related!

2008-08-27T17:33:00.003-05:00

Paul and I got wedding bands on Sunday. Mine is white gold to match my engagement ring, his is made of tungsten, which is used to make saw teeth. It's very tough.

I also just ordered a wedding cake topper.

We played Best Friends at Pete and Linda's last night. Joseph came over and we all had a good time. It was awesome, really.

Unity Candle!!!

2008-08-20T17:11:00.003-05:00

I know, it could be a better quality photo. But here it is!! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?!?!?

Gen Con!

2008-08-18T17:21:00.004-05:00

This year was my best Gen Con so far. Every game that we played in was a lot of fun, and we didn't have to deal with anyone more annoying or creepy than Rob (Paul's brother, who came along with us and stayed with us in our room). On our way out we listened to William Shatner's autobiography on audio book. It was AWESOME. I want to pick it up in paperback when it comes out.

Paul and I were in a Mutants and Masterminds game set in Freedom City. It was the best con game I've ever played in. The GM made us character packets with background info on the city and on our character, including a run down of what we each thought of the other characters. He had pictures of the bad guys we were fighting so we could better imagine what was going on. My character was a batman-style hero with gadgets.

Next we had a Fantasy Craft game with Rob. It was also great. The game had somehow overbooked and they'd sold twice as many tickets as there were seats at the table, so we ended up getting a back up DM who'd never read the adventure before, but he was really cool and the adventure and characters were cool, so we had a fantastic time. I was an elven mage and we fought fast like freak zombies and a huge animated tree. Paul played a goblin priest and Rob was a giantess sage.

Next was the first round of the Hunter tournament, which we didn't actually want to advance in. The game was good, but it didn't showcase the new game well enough for me to need to buy it at the con. We fought guys with chest tentacles.

Then Paul, Justin, Rob, and I were in an RPGA Star Wars Saga Edition game. RPGA also sold more tickets than they had DM's, but I think that was poor planning on their part. I played a soldier who didn't like Jedi. Rob and Justin played the Jedi. The game went on a little long, but it did a nice job of showing off the new system. We even got a little starship combat in.

Our last game was a Star of the Guardians game using the Cortex rules system. It was a cross between Star Wars and Firefly. Paul's character was very much like Mal, Justin was Jayne, and I was a cross between Inara and Saffron. We were blackmailed into taking a job to kidnap a scientist who'd invented this crazy new energy making technology. We decided not to turn the weird little crab symbiont alien over to our gun running employer, but he ended up getting him anyway because of the book plot.

I know, my descriptions are pretty bare bone, but how long do you really want this post to be?

The time really flew by this year. I swear, I'd look at the time and it'd be 10:00 am, and then the next thing I knew it was after midnight.

We had lunch a couple times at this great gumbo place called J. Gumbo's. It was fantastic, and totally a place to eat at if you're ever in Indianapolis.

I also attended two workshops--one on Irish dance, and another on making chain mail. Both were lots of fun.

Paul bought lots and lots of things. You can check out his list on his blog. I bought many fewer things, but he got things on crazy sale and most of mine were full cost.

My swag!
Centimeters Per Second, an anime by Makoto Shinkai.
War and XPs, the new Order of the Stick book.
Elan Magnet, free with my OTS purchase!
Best Friends, a fun little game book by Gregor Hutton.
Fantastical Visions III, and anthology put out by Fantasist Enterprises.
Red Dragon Inn II, which is compatible with the first RDI that we bought at Origins.
A T-shirt with the rough translation of the word "Nerd" spelled out in traditional Chinese characters.
Caught, a beautiful piece of original artwork by A. L. Ashbaugh.
A chainmail dice bag that I made myself.
A few pretty dice.

The invitations are DONE

2008-08-09T21:03:00.001-05:00

I'm going to mail them on Monday.

Postage is expensive.

They do look nice, though if I do say so myself.

More wedding stuff!

2008-08-09T07:14:00.002-05:00

I ordered a unity candle yesterday. It should come in the mail in 2-3 weeks. It will be in this style, and it will have a chocolate band as an accent to match the brown throughout the rest of the wedding.

Invitations should be ready to send out by Monday. Announcements will probably have to wait till after Gen Con.

Also, when I picked out flowers, I also finalized the menu and picked out linen colors. The table cloths will be chocolate brown, and we'll have terra cotta napkins, except on the bridal party table, where the colors will be reversed.

Our menu consists of:
Veggie trays, fruit trays, and cookie trays to start.
Then the buffet of field green salad, fruit salad, pasta with a choice of red sauce, white sauce, or olive oil garlic sauce, baked chicken, green beans almondine, whipped potatoes, and rolls.
Then cake.
Then after a while a cheese tray if people get munchy, and the cookies will be out all night.

Wedding Flowers!

2008-08-01T22:40:00.001-05:00

The main flower in my bouquet is the Leonidas Rose. Here are a few pictures.

http://www.growquest.com/rose%20section/2533.jpg
http://www.jessicasteward.com/archives/64LeonidasLg.jpg
http://www.sheridangardens.com/Roses/Roses%202003/Leonidas.jpg

Out tonight!

2008-08-01T22:03:00.002-05:00

Paul picked me up from work today and we went to Station Square. We ate at The Melting Pot, which is a lovely fondue restaurant. A little pricey, but worth it. We started out with a swiss cheese fondue, then we had salad, then we had our main entree, which consisted of shrimp, tuna, chicken, and two kinds of beef, as well as broccoli, potatoes, and mushrooms to cook in the boiling broth. We finished up with a Turtle flambe.

Then we went out to listen to the free concert that was going on outside. We caught the end of the second act, The Delaneys, which I enjoyed, then Sister Hazel took the stage. They were just getting started when lightening started arcing across the sky. It was very cool--the lightening was actually behind the clouds, you could see it through gaps. Then it started to rain.

It was amazing. The people who were there to drink got out of the rain, but the people who were there for the music all moved up and we sang and danced and jumped up and down and clapped and got completely soaked.

I had a great night.

I'd forgotten how much being sick sucks.

2008-07-20T09:49:00.002-05:00

This morning I've eaten two saltines and sipped down about half of a glass of water to see if I can keep anything down. I woke up last night and threw up. Then I had some water and Paul made me some tea and I threw up again. My stomach hurts, my throat hurts, and my head hurts.

I'm gonna try another saltine. Wish me luck.

Wedding stuff.

2008-07-14T22:30:00.001-05:00

Made an appointment with the seamstress today. Also hoping to get the catering stuff done soon. I know, I'm probably behind. I have no idea what type of flowers I want. I don't even know what types of flowers you can get. *sigh* I feel a little overwhelmed.

When I say that William Shatner is my hero, I fucking mean it.

2008-07-10T19:40:00.002-05:00

Lance sent me William Shatner's cd Has Been. It's awesome. I'm sitting here listening to him and drinking a cocktail. I opened a bottle of champagne last night because of writing news.

I'm also very much in love with my recorking thingie that my parents got me in my stocking one Christmas. It's keeping my bubbly bubbly!

Writing blog!

2008-07-08T16:46:00.001-05:00

I started a writing blog. It's going to be home for all of my writing dramaz. This blog will continue to be about the rest of my life. ^_^

Wall-E

2008-06-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

Most. Adorable. Movie. Ever.

I've been a bad blogger.

2008-06-27T06:52:00.002-05:00

Paul and I have been going to see a lot of movies this summer. Iron Man, Speed Racer, Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda, The Hulk... I've enjoyed all of them, though Indiana Jones and Speed Racer are a little less awesome than the rest. Also looking forward to Wall-E, Hancock, The Dark Knight, the new X-Files movie, and probably other things I can't remember right now.

Things are good, overall. My job is going well, and my coworkers are all very nice. Some days I'm busy, and some days I'm not, and both are good. I've been listening to podcasts or reading in my down time.

Paul's been writing. I've given him an assignment to try to write one article a week. Or story, but he seems to mostly get ideas for articles, and they sell, so woot.

My writing also continues as normal. A few new stories, a slew of rejections.

Making grown up decisions is hard, especially if you're plural.

2008-05-06T17:39:00.002-05:00

Paul and I decided not to move in with Pete. I'm disappointed. If it were up to me, we'd do it. I want a massage studio and a full sized kitchen and a garden and many other things that moving would get me. But Paul just wasn't sure if he'd be able to feel at home living in someone else's house. And I have to respect that. Which sucks. But hey, at least I can still walk to work. That's something. Pete did say we could go over and use his HUGE FUCKING washer and dryer anytime we want, so that rocks, too.

Also, Iron Man = FANTASTIC. If you haven't seen it, go see it. I mean it. Right now.

I picked up the first volume of Absolute Boyfriend at Borders last Friday. It's a silly girly manga. I like it a lot, and I ordered the other five volumes from amazon. It should be shipping very soon. Yay manga! Yay silly!

Paul and I went out to eat at the Pittsburgh Mills mall on Sunday because I was sad about deciding not to move and I decided that food would cheer me up. We went to Abate Seafood. It was also fantastic. The prices were reasonable, the service fast, the seating comfortable, and the food was delicious. It was remarkably dead. If you like food, you'll like this place. Try it out. Go there after you see Iron Man. Or before. Whatever.

Birthday! Also writing retreat!

2008-04-28T13:10:00.002-05:00

Paul's parents took us out to dinner on Friday night at a Japanese steakhouse in Greensburg. It was a good time. We went to their house afterwards for cake, and Rob gave Paul and I our presents. Paul got a White Wolf book, I got a musical dvd set including The Music Man, Meet me in St. Lois, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We also got cards with checks inside from Paul's parents.

After dinner, we went to Keystone State Park for the WorD writing retreat. I edited two stories that I'd put through the group, and finished two new stories. I feel like I did pretty well. We had a cabin to ourselves, which was nice. On Saturday night Paul ran a Savage Worlds game, and that was a lot of fun for everyone involved, I think. Mom, Dad, Ian, Betsy, and Lance called to wish me a Happy Birthday. Matt called on Sunday.

Tomorrow is my first day at my new job. I'm a little nervous.

It's Paul's Birthday!!

2008-04-23T08:19:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday, honey!

In other news, I learned a new massage modality this weekend. Lomi Lomi is very cool. I also ordered some Hawaiian music to play while I work.

I'm going to be Betsy's maid of honor! I tried to wait for her to post about the getting married, but I got impatient.

Trail of Indiscretion #8 is out! And it features me! Check it out! Their website is new and a work in progress, but at least you can see the cover. They're going to be at the Pittsburgh Comicon this weekend selling copies. If you are in the area and don't have any other plans, you should check it out. It's out in Monroeville.

Paul and I watched Juno last night. It's very cute, and the soundtrack is cool. I bought it in mp3 format from amazon. Yay instant gratification! We also picked up Cloverfield at Borders, along with the first season of This American Life and Maverick.

My wallet is missing. I'm pretty sure I lost it and it might turn up when I stop looking. It's very frustrating.

But hey, it's Paul's birthday! We're meeting my grandma for dinner tonight at Smokey Bones and we're meeting Paul's parents on Friday night at a Japanese steak house in Greensburg on our way to the writing retreat.

Eli Stone

2008-04-18T07:43:00.002-05:00

The last episode of the first season of Eli Stone aired last night. I don't know if the show has been picked up for another season or not, so it might be the last episode ever. You can watch the whole season on abc.com.

I think everyone should do that. I mean it. I love this show, and if your taste is anything like mine, you'll love it too. There are only thirteen episodes, and the end is pretty damn amazing. It is satisfying as a final note to the show, but it leaves the possibility for more to come.

Eli Stone is a lawyer with a brain aneurysm. He has visions. They often come in the form of a musical number. I love musical numbers. This show makes me laugh and cry and want to sing along. They cast George Michael as God. What more do you want? Go watch it.

New job!!!!!!

2008-04-15T10:30:00.004-05:00

Anxiety disorder signs?? WTF? The wedding link made sense. This one is mildly insulting. =P

Anyway... I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!

I have to go in tomorrow morning and fill out paperwork for my new job at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association. Here are the awesome things about it. 1. Hourly wage, even if I'm not doing massage. 2. Additional money as commission if I am doing massage. 3. Tips if they're given. 4. BENEFITS 5. 40 hours a week, and time and a half if I work overtime (I think, anyway). 6. Two meals a day provided free. 7. Free access to all of their facilities. They have a pool, a hot tub, and a weight room. 8. Did I mention the hot tub? 9. They provide the cream and the linens. 10. I don't have to answer phones or do laundry. 11. I'll be a member of the union they have there. 12. If I'm not doing massage they won't have busy work for me, so I'll be free to read or take my laptop and write. And get paid for it. 13. Everyone there seems really nice. 14. They won't book me more than 5.5 hours of massage per day, and I will get at least a fifteen minute break between appointments. 15. They are flexible with their scheduling, so getting time off for workshops, GenCon, or my honeymoon won't be a problem.

There is one bad thing--parking in Oakland. The meter will cost me about $4.00 a day, but that's more than balanced out by the free food. And hopefully I'll be starting early enough that finding a spot won't be a hideous nightmare. Anyone with experience parking in Oakland? Advise? I'd be happy to hear it.

Overall, I'm excited.

Presents!!

2008-04-10T20:09:00.002-05:00

Paul and I went to the game store in Squirrel Hill today after I got home from school, and he got me some early birthday presents. The big gift he ordered and it should be coming in the mail soon. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness--the core book will soon be mine. I also got the Game Shield and Mutants of the Yucatan.

My final present is a Changeling:the Dreaming supplement called Isle of the Mighty. Yay, old game books!

Hindu baby goddess!

2008-04-09T12:17:00.001-05:00

She has two faces.

Ad things.

2008-04-07T12:07:00.002-05:00

Blogger was all like "Try this out!" so I figured I would. I hope having the word "fuck" in my page title doesn't count as excess profanity. I wasn't sure I wanted to finish signing up for it, but I saw I had a little ad thing on my page already so I figured what the heck. At worst they can reject my application thing, and at best I could make a little money. Probably very little to none at all since there's like three people who read this, but what the heck. The first thing even looked somewhat interesting, but I'm not allowed to click on them.

We'll see what happens. I can always make them go away if I decide I hateses them.

Killer squirrels!

2008-04-07T11:46:00.001-05:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4489792.stm

First Day at Massage Envy

2008-04-06T20:01:00.002-05:00

It went pretty well, but it was exhausting. I figure once every two weeks sounds about right for the job.

I got there and had three massages before my orientation. O_o A little shaky of a start, but everyone was nice and helpful and I had five massages that all went well. Really, as first days go, this one was pretty painless.

Of course I forgot my lunch at home and didn't eat anything all day and when I did finally get dinner I ate too much and now feel dreadful. Two nights in a row. I need to learn a lesson, here. -_- Stupid hunger making me eat too much and then feel sick.

Communication gaps

2008-04-06T07:57:00.002-05:00

I got home last night and wanted to fire off an angry blog post. I didn't, and I'm glad of it. I went to bed and I woke up feeling pretty damn good. At least a quarter of my grar last night was probably caused by going from not having eaten any real food for 12 hours to eating too much food and feeling pretty physically crappy both ways.

Even though I'm past being pissed of, though, I still wanted to talk something out.

I have no idea how to politely tell people when they've crossed a line and stopped being funny and started being offensive. I tried last night, and obviously I failed because I came home feeling very hurt, offended, and angry. And I know that my friends didn't mean to make me feel that way.

Maybe I'm too thin skinned. Maybe I my sense of humor is lacking. I don't know. What I do know is that I don't appreciate sex jokes about massage. Maybe it's because my friends know me more as a writer and don't know how important massage is to me.

Well, it's important. I've spent more than 1000 hours in class over the past year and a half studying massage. And I think it is a very sacred, very wonderful thing. It's not sexual, and implying it is plays into a horrible stereotype that massage therapists have been working for years to counter. Between masseuse being a synonym for prostitute in the phone book to terms like erotic massage, body shampooing, and happy endings, it's hard to get respect as a massage therapist. In my work I make people's lives better. If you want a list of all of the positive medical benefits of massage, google it.

If you think I'm pretentious for wanting respect for a career that I have worked my ass off for... well, you can fuck off. Last night I tried to stop people from crossing lines, and it didn't work. When the lines were crossed, I backed down. I was too tired to shout or defend myself and I didn't know how to say "You're offending me now," without it sounding pretentious and defensive. Maybe I should have just said it. I might have gotten honest apologies. But then, I might not have, too, and I don't know if I could have dealt with that last night. So maybe I did the right thing after all.

I'm not sure if posting this is the right thing to do, but I do feel better with that off my chest.

Tax panic update

2008-04-04T09:33:00.003-05:00

When my mother faxed my W2s and missed one, at first I thought that was a pretty bad thing. However, it is in fact a fucking tax miracle. I don't know how well it's going to work out, but I just emailed the tax people the business expenses that I incurred in 2007 and have ready receipts saved in my email that I can send them if necessary. If they even manage to deduct half of the stuff I sent them it cuts my taxes in half. If they deduct all of it, the government might actually owe me a little bit. Even if it doesn't work, at least I feel better because I did SOMETHING about it. Helpless and impotent isn't a happy way to be.

Also, yesterday in class my teacher noticed how terrible I looked and excused me from working on anyone. So I got to watch the side lying techniques and then get a very much needed massage from Nicole, who is awesome. Julia, the teacher, is awesome as well.

In more cheerful news (at least for me)

2008-04-03T22:08:00.002-05:00

Paul's workplace has been invaded by geese. Nothing can be done to remove the feathered menaces because they're protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Just in case anyone out there needs to know, here are the tips they gave him should he be confronted by an aggressive goose.

1. Maintain direct eye contact with the animal and face toward it.

2. If the goose acts aggressively, calmly and slowly back away.

3. Maintain a neutral demeanor, do not act hostile or show fear.

4. Never turn your back on an aggressive goose.

5. If a goose flies toward your face duck and move at a right angle to the direction of flight while maintaining your front toward the goose.

It made me laugh, which was a bit of a feat considering how I was feeling for most of today. Eli Stone was on tonight, that helped too.

Damn, damn, damn.

2008-04-03T09:22:00.002-05:00

I really don't feel like being alone right now. I'm upset about my taxes. I owe more than I make in a month. Between the trust and the fact that I'm "self-employed" as an independent contractor and Veronica not taking taxes out of my paycheck, it just fucking sucks. I mean, I was expecting it to be bad. But not this bad. And it's going to end up being even worse because my mom missed one of my W2s when she was faxing stuff to the tax people so they have to redo them with me earning almost $5,000 more over the course of the year which will probably drive my amount due up even higher.

I really don't know what I'm going to do.

I need a hug.

PodCastle!

2008-04-01T14:53:00.002-05:00

PodCastle had their debut today. The first story is by Peter S. Beagle. I love him. I mean, he wrote The Last Unicorn. He wins. It's an older story, but I hadn't read it and listening it to it was quite nice.

Subscribe! It's easy and you can find it on iTunes. Speculative fiction podcasts are awesome.

Even more wedding stuff!

2008-03-30T13:51:00.002-05:00

So, this morning I opened my invitation kit that I bought yesterday at Pat Catan's and printed out 50 invitations to our wedding. They look absolutely fantastic. I'm not allowed to mail them yet--Paul and my mom agree that six months ahead is way too early. O_o I hate waiting. But I guess that they're probably right. I'm just really glad that I got the kits and that they're working out so well. I even got wax seals to use on the invitations. They're going to be very swanky. If you think you should be invited, look forward to getting one in the mail somewhere between 12 and 8 weeks before October 11. Also, email me your address. And the correct spelling of your name, just in case.

Tiara!

2008-03-29T21:16:00.000-05:00

I also got a tiara. I am a pretty princess with many shiny things.

Wedding dress!!

2008-03-29T19:04:00.003-05:00

Went shopping today. Got me a wedding dress. It's beautiful. We picked out dresses for Betsy, Savannah, and Elizabeth today, too. Elizabeth is going to be my flower girl, and the other two are my bridesmaids. Really, Elizabeth is more of a junior bridesmaid since she's fourteen years old and taller than me. I'll post pictures of things after the wedding. ^_^ If I have to wait to wear it, everyone else has to wait to see it.

I did get a cute pic of my mom with her squishable rooster.

Woot!

2008-03-26T09:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I got an email from Douglas Cohen to let me know that he's passing my story "Fox-Woman" up the chain of command at Realms of Fantasy. I have to admit, that made me do a bit of happy dancing around the apartment. I know it isn't anything close to actually getting the story printed, but it's a pretty big step up from the form rejection that I got the last time I sent them a story. I mean, they didn't even bother writing the title of my story on it.

I'm off from school this week, which means free time! So I spent the day reading links from Joseph's website and one of the articles quoted Douglas Cohen. I got an email from him, and he's quoted in actual articles! On the internet! About writing! I do really feel like I'm at least on the ladder.

Also, I googled myself and found this... http://www.abroad.pitt.edu/appsandforms/roadlesstraveledfall2005.pdf which I do vaguely remember sending stuff to, but I don't remember them telling me that they were going to use it. It's fun to find how many other Jamie Lackeys there are on the internet. Most of them seem to be dead, though.

Rejections!

2008-03-18T12:45:00.002-05:00

I find that I sort of like when editors screw up. It makes them seem more like actual human beings and not just entities that exist to squish my dreams. I've been doing quite well with keeping up with my submissions in the past month, so I've been getting a pretty high number of rejection slips.

Strangely, most of them have been nice. Even the normally scathing Clarkesworld rejection was pleasant. I like nice rejections even more than I like when editors typo my name. True, they're not all that useful for future editing, but I have a writing group for that. I really like when I get a rejection, read it, and then think, "Yeah, I do really want to submit to them again." I especially love when I really feel like they would honestly LIKE to see more of my work. It makes me feel like I might actually be getting somewhere.

In more happy news, I wrote two stories this week. Yes, that's right. Two. One of them I finished in a single day. Paul says I'm prolific. I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'm sure as hell kicking his slow ass.

I wrote bio for Trail of Indiscretion a while ago. I don't know if it was any good at all, but they asked for one. They're putting the magazine that my story is going to be in together! I think I'll actually be excited about it when the copies that are my payment come. I don't think it'll really sink in until I see it in print.

Which is strange, since my very first acceptance type thing filled me with such a huge wave of overpowering joy that I had to go outside for fifteen minutes and jump up and down and call everyone I could think of to call. I guess I did win $100 for that and I'm not seeing any money for "Boy Meets Girl," but at the same time, my PARSEC story didn't get printed anywhere. Though at that point I sort of thought that it would. Communication wasn't the clearest ever. But anyway. I did enter the contest again this year. I'd love to win. Winning is awesome.

Adorable!!

2008-03-05T08:33:00.003-05:00

Check this out. http://www.squishable.com

Sad.

2008-03-04T22:45:00.003-05:00

Gary Gygax died today. If you don't know who he was, I'll just say he had a pretty big role in the creation of D&D. Two of the webcomics I read put up tributes. Check them out if you're so inclined.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/04

Honeymoon Registry!

2008-03-04T17:38:00.005-05:00

Paul and I are going to Disney for our honeymoon, and we've registered our trip online. Since we have all of the stuff that we need, or at least all of the stuff that will fit in our apartment, we're asking that people who want to give us wedding gifts consider taking a look at our registry at www.disneyhoneymoonregistry.com. You can search for me or for Paul. We're getting married in October 2008. All you have to do is find something on our list there that you think looks cool and put some money toward it. Gifts range from helping to pay for our hotel and park tickets to money for snacks to massages.

We really appreciate anyone who's interested taking a look!

UGH!!

2008-02-29T17:34:00.002-05:00

My car wouldn't start, so I had to cancel my appointment. Luckily, I've written my clients phone number down eleven million times, so I remembered it so I could call her. I left my boss a message and figured I was done. I'd worked out the problem, my client was cool with not going out on this miserable day, and the only one losing anything was me.

Then my boss called. Not just to let me know she got my message. Not to commiserate about my car troubles. No. She called to bitch at me because I only left one message, and apparently I should have left two.

The pretty much cements my suspicion that she doesn't like me. I don't know why, but I've felt that way for a while and just pinned it down to me being paranoid. Everyone else who knows her talks about how wonderful she is and how great she would be to work for. But she's not wonderful or great to work for. She's not overtly mean, but she's not even a little nice to me. She only talks to me to tell me I'm not doing enough of the laundry that she's not paying me to do or to inform me of things that if she really wanted me to know she should have fucking told me before. I always feel like she's talking down to me. I fucking hate when people talk down to me.

In short, I need to talk to her about it. If I've done something, or if I don't seem like I'm fucking enthusiastic enough about working for her, I'd like to know. If she doesn't have a problem with me, she should know that she is giving me that VERY SOLID impression. I hate confrontation. But I need this job and I'm sick of this bullshit.

Week of DOOM

2008-02-28T18:41:00.002-05:00

Our furnace died on Monday night. I went to see the landlord on Tuesday and he called the furnace guy. The furnace guy got to us on Wednesday. None of this was that big of an issue. It got cold in the apartment but we had lots of blankets and the heat is fixed now. At least it's mostly fixed--it works but the furnace guy is trying to get us new parts instead of the old ones that he managed to coerce into working again.

Paul took my car to work on both Tuesday and Wednesday because his brakes were making some worrying sounds. He took the car in on Tuesday, and they called on Wednesday to let us know that all four of the brakes needed serious work and the cost would run somewhere around $700. Since Paul's cell phone was dead, I couldn't let him know that they needed a deposit to start work till he got home. So they didn't start work till this morning. (Today is Thursday.) They finished working around 4:30 today and he got his car back.

And on top of that, my car didn't start this morning. It hates the cold and it's been not wanting to start for a while, but it always managed to get over it for me. Not today. It did start when we went out to get Paul's car, so hopefully it'll start for me tomorrow to go to work. I haven't managed to get to school for the past two days because of the car and the furnace stuff, and Paul missed work today. But he has his car back and can get in tomorrow, and hopefully mine will be sun-warmed by the time I have to go to work. I really need to get my car looked at. I hope it's cheaper than Paul's car trouble.

Also, I have a huge crack in my windshield. It's fantastic. But I do have glass coverage, so it could be a lot worse.

Just.. Ugh.

On the positive side... Paul and I booked our flights and our vacation package for our honeymoon. We're officially getting married at McKeever on October 11, 2008. Yes, 2008. This year. We're honeymooning at Disney World.

If anyone is into downloading free legal music, check out the mp3 section at amazon. They have some nice deals on full album downloads, too.

I'm going to start running an Angel game for Paul and Linda on Wednesdays. We got together yesterday to get some character ideas for me to start brainstorming on. It's the Buffy-verse--I need to know my characters before I know how to best EMOTIONALLY CASTRATE them. I have no illusions about getting to Joss Whedon level of evil, but I'll at least make it interesting.

Go Red Lobster!

2008-02-17T14:25:00.002-05:00

Paul and I went out for dinner last night to celebrate Valentine's day. We had a really long wait, and while we were waiting, two guys came to get lobsters to cook. A while later, a woman came and got a lobster out of the tank just for the kids who were all gathered around the tank. I got to pet a lobster! And so did a bunch of kids. It was really nice of the restaurant, I think. Also, dinner was awesome.

After dinner, we went to Borders. I got two Pat Benatar cds for two bucks each! Yay clearance! I got some massage music, too. 75% off cds rock.

I will have real internet soon!!

2008-01-26T14:20:00.000-05:00

At least I damn well should.

End of an Era

2008-01-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

Grant and Wendy officially moved out yesterday. They're off for adventure and travel and nursing about the country. We will miss them.

We'll see them again at GenCon this year, if not before. I found hotel rooms for Paul and me and Justin on priceline. We got an incredible deal. We're going to be staying in the Westin in downtown Indy (the closest hotel to the actual convention center) for $110 a night. I knew that William Shatner wouldn't steer us wrong. He's my hero.

Speaking of Star Trek, Paul and I finished watching Deep Space Nine yesterday. I really enjoyed the whole show, and the end was very moving. I'm sort of sad that we're done, though. But then again, Paul got the first season of The X Files for Christmas, and we're also working our way through season three of The 4400. And I would love to start re-watching Fishigi Yugi. I don't know if Paul will go for it, though, since he's not big into silly anime.

I'm hoping to get my GURPS game started up, but no one is answering my emails about it. Grrr. I know Linda still wants to play, but I haven't heard from anyone else.

Since we have no more Grant and Wendy, we also don't have internet at home. I asked Paul to take care of it, and it just hasn't happened yet. I'm at work now, and I will be here distressingly late tonight (I'll probably get out of here around 8:30) so Paul will probably take my laptop to Panera or someplace like that for the free internet.

However, even as we lost the internet, we gained a fridge! Wendy bought a new fridge for their apartment, and I figured why should we use our old crappy one with the nice new one just sitting there? It's bigger than our old fridge, and white instead of that weird olive color, and more fuel efficient, and did I mention that it's bigger?? It's pretty exciting.

We also got Paul's car back yesterday. We met Matt, Mom, and Ian at the Applebees in Cranberry and I bought them lunch to thank them for meeting us halfway. Ian did a great job on the bodywork.

Other than that, things are normal. I got my swan painting and my tiny Turkish rug hung up today, along with my shelf that I made in wood shop. I also did a load of laundry, took out the trash, worked out for about an hour, started a new story, and filled my car with gas. Now I'm waiting for my first client of the day, and she's looking like she is going to be late. I hate it when people are late. Grar.

The New Year

2008-01-05T18:42:00.001-05:00

So, yeah. It's the new year. 2008.

Started my neuromuscular classes. Paul and I are almost done with Deep Space 9. I've started writing again, finally. Mainly working on editing stuff, but I'm happy with that for now.

Doing well with my resolutions--working out, playing my sax, writing.

Helping with Triangulation!

2007-12-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

Our friend Pete is the editor of a pretty cool local anthology called Triangulation. I submitted to it last year, and that's how Paul and I got into contact with our writing group in the first place. Last year's theme was "The End of Time" this years is "Taking Flight." This year, I get to help!!! I'm very excited. I haven't worked on a magazine since Baily's Beads, and believe it or not I miss it. And this year I'm A. not in charge! and B. only working with people I like! No Dara or Brittany or that pompous asshole guy whose name I can't remember, no Nancy... the list could easily go on.

The whole thing makes me very happy.

Trying to get healthy! And other stuff.

2007-12-13T22:57:00.000-05:00

Today is day four of my new workout regime. Essentially, my goal is do to something physical every day. So far I've been focusing on my belly dance workout video and DDR. I threw a few push ups and sit ups the other day, too. My grandmother is bringing me a ski machine that we're going to set up in the basement, so hopefully I'll have enough cardio things to keep me going without getting bored. I'm also doing really well keeping hydrated, and I really think that is a big reason why I'm not getting my normal winter cold. Two and a half liters a day. Go me.

Today was my first day of feng shui class, and it really got me motivated to clean the apartment. I was really into feng shui in high school, and I'm happy to be learning more about it. It's really cool. I even vainly tried to sort of feng shui my college dorm rooms, but that didn't work out too well. Hopefully I'll be able to manage it here, because Paul and I are probably going to be staying in this apartment for a while.

I also signed up for a bunch of cool new workshops. I am going to be super therapist. Seriously, I think I'll have half again more credit hours than most other therapists I know. But then, it's paid for, and I'm getting the most out of that that I can.

We finished Full Metal Alchemist with Grant. I really enjoyed it. I'm not quite sure what I think of the ending, with the movie. It does wrap a lot of things up, but I don't know what I think of Ed and Al being where they are. And poor Winry... If you haven't seen it, I'm not going to spoil it. You should watch it.

In other cool news, I got my Christmas present from Lance, and it's absolutely fabulous. He got me a collection of holiday movies, including Frosty, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and my very favorite, Rudolph, plus a few others that I haven't seen before. I'm excited to have a Christmas movie marathon!

The Golden Compass

2007-12-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

Justin, Paul, and I went to see it last night. Justin and I have both read the books. Paul has not.

It was okay. Not as good as I was hoping, but not terrible. Not anywhere near The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

My biggest complaint is the ending. I guess they wanted to end on a high note instead of the terribly low note that the first book ends on. Things I liked were the cool effects and Lyra not being as annoying as she was in the first book. I am looking forward to the second movie, mostly because the second book was when I started caring about what was going on.

After the movie, Justin took us out for Indian food and we gave him his Christmas present. Yay present!

Blurry Engagement Ring Photo

2007-12-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

I really need manual focus to get a nice picture of it, I think, and I can't be bothered to figure out how it works right now. I'll do it eventually, maybe when it's sunny outside so I can get some pics of it in the sunlight, because sunlight makes it even prettier.

Beowulf!

2007-11-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

Just got in from seeing Beowulf with Grant, his little brother (Scott, I think), Ben, one of Ben's friends (Kurt?) and Paul. I liked the movie, overall.

My favorite things were A. Hey, 3D! Sweet! It was effing awesome. B. Hey, Princess Buttercup! Where've you been? C. DRAGON! D. Hey, naked people! Only not quite. Curse you conveniently placed props!

My least favorite moment--Beowulf tries to stab the dragon's heart. He can't reach with his dagger, so he cuts off his arm to get more reach. It was getting in the way, anyway. Then, he drops the dagger. After that, he just reaches in with his hand and rips its heart out. But he lost 1.5 feet of reach when he dropped the dagger. Grar! I'll accept magic and the fact that Anthony Hopkins + Angelina Jolie evil water demon = creepy strong but still pretty pathetic Grendel and Beowulf + Angelina Jolie evil water demon = DRAGON, but if he couldn't reach it with the dagger he couldn't reach in and rip the heart out.

Overall, it was worth seeing. I'd recommend it. It was more fun than reading it, hands down.

As to the ending, the big question is, does he sleep with her, too? Or not? My vote is no--he was secretly in love with Beowulf and therefore able to resist the watery hotness.

Sharks win at evolution.

2007-11-19T23:37:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I went to see the Bodies Exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center with my Reflexology class. It was really cool. A little strange to be looking at corpses, but it was definitely neat to see how the things in the anatomy textbooks look in real people. The displays were pretty tasteful, too. I of course, being somewhere deep inside a 10-year-old boy, had to forcibly keep myself from giggling at the first preserved penis I saw, but after that my adult brain took the fore and I didn't have to keep that effort up. I know it sounds terrible, but my favorite part was the fetus room. It's hard to explain, but it was beautiful. I know that they were real babies who died before birth, and that's sad, but the display was incredible. The bones were treated, and so you could see them through the transparent flesh... okay this is just sounding awful. Just go see it if you want to know what I'm talking about.

While I was at the science center, I saw a poster for one of the omnimax shows, and so I drug Paul along on Sunday to see it. It was about Sea Monsters. It was pretty awesome. I haven't been to an omnimax in a while, and this show was sweet. It's about ancient reptiles. Big ones. You should check that out, too, if you're around the Pittsburgh area. It was entertaining and educational and full of Sea Monsters. Sea Monsters rock. And sharks win at evolution.

Today, Paul and I went out to Mike's for our biweekly D&D game. We took cake! Yay cake! Tonight's session was pretty hardcore. We stormed a ship. Our level three party took on a level 5 fighter, a few more level 3 fighters, a level 3 spell caster of some variety, and a healthy handful of mooks. And my cleric had two spells going into it. The wizard, Pete, wasn't much better off. Paul ended up falling unconscious when his barbarian's rage wore off, Bill's fighter went down twice, and when I got on deck I got put down in two rounds by a horde of guys attacking the cleric instead of the fighter and the barbarian. By the end of the fight, the wizard's rat companion had more hit points than the rest of the party combined. Especially since our tanks were both still down. Pete's rat managed to give me the potion of cure light wounds I was trying to take when I got attack of opportunity'd to -3, which brought me up to one, which was where Pete and I both were at the end of combat. Steve's ranger fared better. He had 3. It was scary! We almost died! ^_^ But it was a good time. I am really liking this game, and the guys are all a lot of fun to hang out with.

My ring still isn't in yet! Not that it's due or anything. I'm just impatient. I want my shiny!! I still haven't broken the news to my parents--I'm going to wait and do it in person on Thanksgiving. I hope they take it well. I keep daydreaming about them being happy for me and my mom hugging me and offering to let me use her dress (which I don't know would fit, or if it's even in wearable shape after 24 years in the attic) and my father actually offering to pay (or at least help pay) for the wedding and then more hugs and then there's champagne from somewhere. But yeah. I know, keep dreaming, Jamie. I'll be lucky to get, "Well, if you're happy I suppose we're happy for you. Are you sure this is what you want?" and I'm afraid I'll get "No! What are you thinking? You're not old enough! What do you two even have in common? You're not even supposed to date until you're thirty. You're making a huge mistake." And then I'll make with the crying and stuff. Which I don't want to do in front of them. I really HOPE they react well. I mean, they can't be too surprised. Paul and I have been together for over two years, and we've been living together for more than half of that time. It would be so nice if they were just... honestly happy for me. *sigh*

Wow, this post started out really happy and got sort of down. Sorry about that. Happy Thanksgiving. ^_^

Announcement

2007-11-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

Paul and I are officially engaged. We picked out a ring today, and it's getting resized and I should have it within the next ten days. We're thinking about a date in October 2009 for the wedding. ^_^ The ring is so beautiful. I'll post pictures when I get it. *happy happy happy*

Christmas is coming!

2007-11-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

Really! And I'm excited! I like presents! Everything about them--getting them, giving them, everything! Yay presents!

On a more somber note, I have pretty much given up on nanowrimo. Maybe I'll do better next year. But it just came at a bad time. Work picked up like crazy, classes are full of the studying and brain filling, and I just got 4 rejection slips in the past 2 weeks and I'm giving myself a writing break to wallow in self disgust.

I do this, I find. I'm utterly unmotivated to write or edit or resubmit or anything for a couple of weeks every few months. I feel like these weeks of down time are actually a good thing, though. I'm not being negative, I'm just giving the whole thing a break. And I know I'll get motivated again soon enough.

Grandma Linda and Aunt Sis came down on Sunday for massages. They both seemed happy with them. It made me happy. And Melissa came over for a massage on Friday night, so I had my first official paying client from the writing group! My plan is inching its way to reality! Bwahahaha. Someday I'll have my own business and work from home and makes lots of moneys and I'll be a successful writer, too. What the hell. If I'm going to dream, I want them all to come true.

I've been putting together an idea for a GURPS campaign. I haven't been this excited to run a game in a while. The PC's will be super powered high schoolers who have been charged with fighting an ancient evil that has allied itself with an insidious alien threat. I think it sounds cool. I'm working on a setting and everything. ^_^ I'm looking for players. Paul is in, as is Linda, a really cool girl I met at school. I'm hoping for five.

Urk!

2007-11-01T21:32:00.000-05:00

So, Paul and I are doing National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo. I have to write 50,000 words before the end of the month. Wish me luck.

On Sunday, Paul, Grandma Linda, and I went to Fallingwater. It is beautiful and I got some really pretty pictures of the house and the leaves. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a really lovely time.

Classes are still good. I have eaten too much Halloween candy. Grar, my belly is not happy with me.

Game! And also more crap.

2007-10-24T20:30:00.000-05:00

Paul and I play D&D with a few guys from our writing group every other Monday. This week's session was pretty damn fun. My cleric was actually in the combats since we were in a dungeon and her 15 feet move speed didn't keep her too far behind the encounters. She actually hit someone. And she disintegrated six skeletons in a single turn attempt. I was very pleased. And my healing was also very necessary. It was nice. Also, I took some bitchin' pictures of the game mat with my new camera. I'll post them!

In other news, getting my car to pass inspection cost me $400, which sucked really hard, I aced my sports massage final, and I got an honorable mention in the Writer's of the Future contest, but I'm pretty sure that that doesn't really mean anything. I think it's just a nicer rejection slip. But hey, I like nice. My scheme to start working toward my own business isn't taking off very fast--no one in my writing group has responded to the crazy deal I'm offering them. Well, Pete told me it was brilliant. Which I do really appreciate, but he's the only one of them who was already a client, so while good, it's sort of a step sideways.

I've been hit by a few shitty things lately. Most of them are money things. I'm not working enough at my job. Add to that my unexpected car cost and the fact that I'm not going to be able to get a mortgage, I'm feeling pretty bitter about money. But everything else in my life is going really well, and I need to focus on that. I have friends in the city. I have regular engagements to hang out with people that I like every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and every other Monday and Tuesday. Paul amazingly good to me. I own the Transformers movie. School is going really well. I'm getting a story printed. And honorable mention in the Writer's of the Future is better than a kick in the face. So, I need to stop my fucking whining and get happy. And if anyone notices me being all down, tell me that.

Also, happy birthday, Matt.

2007-10-22T14:38:00.000-05:00

He doesn't read this. But happy birthday to him anyway. He needs one; he seems pretty down about his LSAT scores not being where he wanted them to be. And he's stressed from all of the senior year crap that he's got to do, too, I think. So, if anyone anywhere ever reads this, send him some positive energy.

Cooking from the Interweb!

2007-10-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

I wanted to try cooking Indian food. The urge hit me suddenly on Friday night, so Saturday I looked up a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala, which is my favorite, and Paul and I hit the Giant Eagle for the necessary supplies. Click on my title to get the recipe we used! It was extremely delicious. Not quite up to Indian restaurant standards, and we didn't have an Naan, but we managed. We did pick up some jasmine rice at the store, and that was an excellent side.

I went to visit my family on Friday. My grandmother had another fall last week, adding another broken wrist and a broken pelvis to her list of problems. But she's doing surprisingly well. She seems more cheerful than I've seen her since her first fall on July 4th. That made me happy to see. I did some reflexolgy on her feet, which she seemed to like, and when I told her she was important to me she looked like she got choked up and told me I was important to her, too. It was, I think, the most honest exchange of love that has ever passed between us. I'm really glad I went. I visited Grandpa, too. He was his normal cantankerous self. I made him laugh. I think that's really good for him. I had lunch with my mom, dad, and Ian. It was nice. Then I came home, got a horrible headache, sat through a work meeting, hung out with Eric, Sheri, and Opal, and then went to bed and couldn't sleep and Paul accidentally elbowed me in the head and all in all that night blew.

My friend Michelle from school is in Pittsburgh, I'm hoping to get to hang out with her some and maybe coerce her into attending WorD meetings. I think she'd fit in really well.

Speaking of my writing!! I got a rewrite request on my story "Boy Meets Girl" from Trail of Indiscretion. They want to print it in either the next issue or the one after that. Woot! Publication! And for a story that I thought was a lost cause after Heroes came out. I am very happy. Payment is two copies of the magazine, but that's enough. And I really like their magazine format. I met the guys who put it out at Confluence this year. Their website is totally out of date, though, which is pretty crappy.

Squonk Stories

2007-10-15T09:27:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of time on Mondays to sit around. I don't work till 5:00 today, and till a few minutes ago, it wasn't until 6:30. I get up with Paul around 8:00, so I have a pretty sizable chunk of time to kill in the middle of the day. Today, I decided to listen to back episodes of Escape Pod, specifically two stories by Pete Butler, a cool guy in my writing group. The first one, Squonk the Dragon, #70, and its sequel, Squonk the Apprentice, #109, were both very enjoyable. If you click on the title of this post, it'll take you to the first one. Go on. Check it out. You know you want to.

A note.

2007-10-08T12:46:00.001-05:00

Banks are closed on Columbus Day. *sigh*

A few things

2007-10-08T07:58:00.000-05:00

First off, I've started listening to both Escape Pod and Pseudopod. You can get them for free from iTunes, and I recommend trying them out if you like science fiction or horror. They are going to be launching a fantasy podcast soon, as well. The stories are pretty fantastic. I enjoy being able to just listen, and the stories are the type that stay with you and keep you thinking. If I had money, I'd give them some.

Also, Paul and I went to the symphony yesterday. They were doing Broadway hits. They had two very good vocalists accompanying them, but I have to admit that I liked the parts without words better. Symphony. You know? But the really cool thing was the fact that the conductor would pause every once in a while to let the audience know the score of the Steeler game. Because we live in Pittsburgh and he understands that. I love this city.

I'm continuing to love my camera and I'm taking lots of pictures with it. It makes me happy. And I'm getting a massage on Tuesday! Woot!

Yesterday morning, I got up at 6am to go and do volunteer chair massage at a 5K race. It sucked. My coworker Zach and I got there at 7:30, and we didn't do a single massage until almost 10. Then, everyone we did work on was sweaty and gross. And we only worked on 6 people total. Zach got one tip, which he generously split with me because he's a nice guy. It was, overall, a huge waste of my time.

We're going out to Mike's to play D&D tonight. Everyone else is getting started early, but we can't make it early because my one massage today is at 4:30. Is annoying.

SQUIRRELLLL!

2007-10-04T19:41:00.000-05:00

Taken with my new camera in Highland Park 10/4/07.

Don't steal my picture.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Camera!!

2007-10-04T19:35:00.000-05:00

Squeeeeee!

I love my new Canon PowerShot S3 1S with 6 megapixels and a 12x optical zoom! *happy dance*

Writing stuffs

2007-10-02T12:07:00.000-05:00

I wrote two stories in the past two days. They're both really short. I have a longer piece that I finished about a week ago. They all need editing, but I'm happy with myself for writing them. Writing makes me really happy. ^_^

Massage makes me happy, too, but I'm a little worried about my hands. They hurt. I need a massage. *sigh* I'm thinking about getting a 90 minute deep tissue massage with a focus on my neck, shoulders, and hands at work. I think I get half off, but I'm not really sure. I really need to check. I didn't work today, no appointments booked, which is really quite bad, but it was nice to be off. I worked on Justin, though, so no real break for my hands. Though I did use my elbows a lot. I need to start doing that more often.

Alison and I start jogging tomorrow! I'm excited. And reflexology class all day tomorrow, then lymphatic drainage and clinical applications on Thursday. Good classes, all around.

Paul and I are going to the symphony on Sunday, and we got tickets to go to Fallingwater on the 28th with my grandma.

Paul and I went to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to going again next year. I got Paul samples of honey from a bunch of different flowers and he got me a woven scarf. It's really pretty, and I'm excited to wear it more as it gets cooler.

Last weekend, we walked to the 40th street bridge so I could take pictures, something I have been wanting to do since we moved in. It was wonderful. I love bridges. And walking with Paul. ^_^ I think I got a few good pictures, too. Paul ordered me an AWESOME digital camera for our 2 year anniversary, which is coming up on October 27th. I got him Star Trek:Deep Space Nine. We're both going to have our gifts crazy early. But I like it. I can't wait to give people presents once I have them.

Adam called me a few weeks ago. That made me really happy. And my friend Jayson from high school is home from Africa, and I'll hopefully get to hang out with him sometime soon.

I'm debating preordering The Transformers movie. It's so good!!

Yay Paul!

2007-09-30T14:24:00.000-05:00

He got four articles accepted for publication in Steve Jackson Games' online magazine, Pyramid. And a rewrite request for a fifth. I'm so proud of my honey!

One more semester down

2007-09-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

So, as of Tuesday I only have 3 more months of the Asian program at PSMT. I'm glad to be done with anatomy, but we still have our sports practical final hanging over our heads and I really just wish it was over. My new classes should be fun, though.

We're still gaming at Justin's on Sunday nights, and now we're also gaming with Mike, Pete, Steve, and Bill, who are all in our writing group. And Paul and I are doing a one on one Dragonlance game, which is a lot of fun, though it does make me miss the Mage game we were doing last year. I'm also running Changeling for my friend Eric from school and his wife, Sheri, and daughter, Opal.

Wendy's starting her new travel nurse job in Baltimore next week, so she won't be across the hall anymore. Grant will still be there for a while longer--he's got to finish school yet.

My new job is going pretty well. I wish I was getting more massages, but I'm still new and hopefully things will pick up like crazy soon. Paul and I are thinking about looking for a house, and for that I need to be making more money than I am right now. But I want a house anyway. I'm tired of not having space to really cook or have the ski machine that my grandmother said I could have or my piano or space to do massage in my home.

Gen Con, new job, new laptop, etc.

2007-09-02T14:56:00.000-05:00

Paul and I went to Gen Con again this year. Justin, Wendy, Grant, and Rob all came with us this time. We had a really good time and all came home with some cool loot. I bought the Changeling: The Lost core rulebook and the storytellers screen for it after Paul and I played in the tournament. It's a really neat game. I also picked up Fae Noir, which is also pretty sweet. For a full list of purchases that Paul and I made, check his blog. It's got cool links and everything. Justin picked up a new minis game from France, Grant got a hat, and Wendy got a corset. I'm not sure what all Rob got for himself.

After we got home, I had an interview for a new job at a massage studio here in Pittsburgh. It's a really beautiful place, and I'm happy to say that I got the job. I start next Saturday. I also ordered a new laptop, and season one of Heroes finally came on dvd. Mmm, tasty materialism.

We're still playing D&D at Justin's house on Sundays, Ben got a job so he's not going to be leaving for military service, I've started running Changeling for Paul, Eric (a friend from school), and Sheri (his wife). It should be fun.

Wendy is thinking about doing travel nursing, which will be really cool for her and allow her to move around the country and live in all kinds of cool places. I'm thinking about looking for a house. To buy. So that I can start my massage business.

School is going really well. I'll be glad to be done with this semester. Stupid anatomy being all boring.

I met Betsy's new boyfriend. He seems nice. Betsy and I were both at our parents' houses this weekend. I don't think either of us bothered going to the fair. I went to the dentist and learned that I am indeed good at taking care of my teeth. Go me.

Vita came over last night. I was happy to see him. I've missed my friends from school. Which is probably pretty pathetic since I'm sure most of them never give me a thought. *sigh* Oh well, that's the way life goes sometimes. Justin came over, too, and the four of us went out to Eat'N'Park. It was a good night.

Today, Paul and I watched the unaired pilot episode of Heroes and finished the first disk of season two of Deep Space Nine. We're heading out to Justin's soon.

My weekend was awesome.

2007-08-07T14:11:00.001-05:00

Paul and I drove up to my parents' house on Saturday. We went over to Lake Wilhelm, rented bikes, and biked the 12 mile trail around the lake. Then we out to Meadville for dinner at Red Lobster, then we went to go see Hairspray, which was pretty awesome. On Sunday, we went out to the lake with Matt, Ian, and Ian's girlfriend Ashley. We I got to water ski, and I got up on slalom 3 times. I didn't stay up very well, but I successfully got out of the water. My friend Marie from work and her boyfriend Chip drove up and met us at the lake and had their first time ever water skiing experience, too. Chip was a natural, and Marie was getting it, but she was pretty exhausted. I did a bit of swimming, too, and now my body is really not happy with me for overusing it all of a sudden. But I don't mind too much. It was worth it.

We went straight from my parents' to Justin's house, where we played D&D. It was a lot of fun. Then, yesterday night, Paul and I went and played some more D&D with a few people from our writing group. That was a lot of fun, too. My new character is a cleric.

Today, I skipped class for a job interview, but the interview got bumped to tomorrow at the last second. I'm a little annoyed by this, but I'll deal. Now I'm waiting for Paul to get home so we can have dinner and then I have a massage at the school, then it'll be time to go to our writer's meeting. I have a story up for review. And I should be hearing back about one of the stories I submitted soon. Like any minute now, soon. I'm compulsively checking my email. It's probably not healthy.

But yeah, the last few days have been really good.

Massaging the Steelers!

2007-08-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

I drove out to Latrobe before work yesterday and massaged a few of the Steelers at training camp yesterday. I didn't work on anyone famous, and I honestly don't remember any of their names, even, because I'm terrible with names, but it was fun and they were all very nice. Then I went to work, then I came home to an empty house because Paul was out playing Magic at the game store.

Grandma Linda came out on Wednesday and helped us build a new bookshelf. It's very nice. I'm happy to have it. ^_^

I should also mention..

2007-08-01T08:06:00.000-05:00

Justin drove all the way to the city to meet Paul to get me my homework, too. He's also awesome. And his dad is in the hospital for severe blood loss, so my thoughts are with him. *hugs* for Justin. We love you.

My boyfriend is the best. Ever.

2007-07-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

I forgot my homework at Justin's, and he just went to meet Justin to get it and left me here because I'm not feeling great. My tummy hurts. He's so good to me. I love him so much.

Today was a good day, overall. Paul and I went to Confluence, PARSEC's convention, and I was on a panel and read my story to a small but still intimidating audience. I had a good time. I'm glad we went. But now I'm tired, so I'm going to go to bed and wait for my wonderful man to come back home to me.

Have I mentioned how much I love him?