Oooh, shiny!

Hello, internet. It's been a while since we talked, you know?

Trust me, it's not you. It's all on me, and the fact that I've been slacking on the blogging front. Between the lack of home internet, a data cap on my phone, and the fact that my brain kind of goes THPPPPPPPP (the "raspberry" sound, if we're not on the same wavelength) after work and on my days off... it's completely on me.

I have been having some fun, though! It's not all work and work and work and wo -- you get the point. Once a week, most weeks, I've still been having D&D sessions with Steev and Megan (and Beau and old-friend-also-new-recruit Daniel), which are going awesome. There'll be a post on that soon, but let's just say... my character is awesome. And he might smite you.

This past few days have been the best in a while. I took my vacation time and got a pair of Greyhound tickets to come and visit Jynni, which was amazing after a long time apart. So amazing, in fact, that I took the opportunity to do something that I've been thinking about -- I'll let her explain it with this picture from Facebook:

Yeah, it's official: I found her. The one that makes every day better, even from a few hundred miles away. As the saying has gone for a very long time, I liked it, so I put a ring on it. Her family has welcomed me with open arms, pretty similarly to how the other side of her family (Jim and Wendy) has treated me. That's not the best picture of the ring, though... here's another one:

She thinks diamonds are lifeless, and sapphires are her favorite gemstone. She doesn't like how yellow gold looks against her skin, and loves sterling silver. Between this and the decorative false stargazer lilies (her favorite) I brought her... she was a happy camper. With the distance, it's not every day that I get to spoil her, so I wanted to make the visit special.

So that's how this last few days have been: Proposing on Thursday, date night on Friday to see Star Trek Into Darkness and grab some grub at Sonic, I cooked dinner for her and her family (daughter, mom, stepdad, sister, brother-in-law) on Saturday, and then we went to a wedding on Sunday.

Now, it's time to call it a night. I'm going to try and suck at this blogging thing less, especially while I have Hens McCluckin with me. But, you know, more on him later.

Goodbye, 2012! Hellooooo, 2013!

2012 was a much better year than I expected it to be, when it started! Most years, I've felt pretty "meh" at the end, and describing it as a crap year, hoping for better from the upcoming year. This year, sticking with the whole "hope for better", but... 2012 was a good year for me!

Buckle in, because this post might get a bit long. Here's a breakdown of 2012 in my corner of the world:

I took part in Karaoke Ring of Death for the first (and, so far, only) time!

That same month, I decided to review an album, 

because I kind of missed writing review posts. 

Then, at the beginning of February, I decided that I wanted to blog every day

for an entire year. It only took about two months to fail....

For a little while, burritos were king. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

I was the burrito king, making a few dozen at a time, then freezing/reheating.

Gay marriage was legalized in Washington -- by lawmakers, and later by voters!

I still stand by my offer to officiate ceremonies whenever needed, too -- for all couples,

gay, straight, and anything else that Washington state allows.

I started working on Project: SAMSON, which got shelved a little while ago.

Still plan on putting it out, but I'm working on other things soon. It had an artist, and

then I lost touch with that artist. Someone else took an interest, and I haven't

really heard from her since. So, you know... shelving it made sense.

The ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE STARTED... or not. The tastebud apocalypse

definitely happened, though -- the idea for the 5-Alarm Fire Burger was born!

The Wall of Geek started small in March(left),
and has gotten much bigger now (right)!

Now, it's got one of my autographed HEROES pictures, two Doctor Who posters,

the box from my Kindle, a framed panel of Parallax beating Superman from DC's

Zero Hour (I think), a dreamcatcher that I've had for years, and 

the koi that Jynni drew for my birthday, just before we started dating.

I took a blog meme from The Tsaritsa Sez, one of my favorite People From The Internet!

Some random artist on the bus to Olympia sketched me.

We talked for a bit, he let me take a picture of the sketch

because I liked it, and I told him that I was looking for

an artist. Unfortunately, I didn't have a card, and he didn't

reach out, here on the site.

Also, I might have made a Thing. But, you know, probably not.

I did find out that wrong numbers can be fun, and had a 

bad experience with some plumbers.

With help from the Hogabooms, I even got to peer into space

and take pictures of Saturn through a telescope. Even now,

looking back at the blurry pictures of a planet that is an

unimaginable distance away, it's humbling. The universe is amazing.

I've become part of a regular D&D group, too! We've been meeting at least once

or twice a month since this summer, and have a pretty good storyline going!

I came in to my own as a pretty great cook this year, too.

With recipes and without, I made some excellent stuff -- even

baking, which is something I thought I was incapable of doing well.

Behold, the collage of deliciousness!

1) Two-cheese baked chicken

2) Steak breakfast burritos

3) Sweet and sour steak

4) Banana bread

5) Sun Chip chicken

6) Sweet chili & garlic steak cuts

7) Coconut chicken curry tacos

Not pictured: Pepperoni pizza

And I got my writing out there, too! I started writing the occasional post for 

Grays Harbor Down back in May, applied for a job as a reporter, and got some articles

about realty in a local free monthly newspaper, working with a realtor friend.

I wrote a "memorial" for an online community that abruptly disappeared, and started

WHO KILLED HERMES?, a novel that I'm always excited to write about

Lastly, I joined the world of comic book blogging with a Blue Devil blog!

The most important thing that happened this year, though, was that I fell in love. I met Jynni in May after having known her dad for years. We started dating at the end of July, and even though it's long-distance, we're closer every day. Four days in, her 8 year old brother asked if Jynni was going to get me an engagement ring.

It's been nine months since we started talking daily, and seven months since we started dating. Some people might consider it a bit early to be as confident as I am, but I can see this relationship lasting for a while. Her daughter adores me, and we want so many of the same things out of life. Considering everything this relationship has going for it, I can overlook the fact that she thinks Michelangelo is a more awesome Ninja Turtle than Donatello.

THAT was my 2012. I'm excited for 2013! There are already plans in the works, like being the minister for Jim and Wendy's wedding in a few days!

What do you have planned for 2013?

To the Danger Room, my X-Men!

"I can't decide what's worse: having a forum but nothing to say
or having something to say but no forum."

-Lorraine from Late to the Party

This is really the only quote that fits. I've had internet for about a week and a half, and also haven't blogged in almost that long. I've just had little to nothing to say, so here's the low-down on what's happened lately:

• I'm currently in Olympia to see Jim & Wendy, and to make a short stop at Danger Room Comics, one of the best comic shops I've dealt with
• Speaking of Danger Room Comics, I've started the Sympathy for the Devil blog! If you haven't checked it out, it's for the DC Comics character Blue Devil, because I think he's awesome, and previously had next to no representation online!
• WORKING MY ASS OFF (figuratively)
• Exercising by HIKING MY ASS OFF (not quite literally yet)
• Reading because I just started a free trial of Amazon Prime
• Writing and researching articles for a local free monthly paper, to get some exposure
• World-building and writing Who Killed Hermes?

There's probably more stuff to mention, but it's midnight while I'm typing this up, and I've been up since 6am -- after having only gotten 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Really, I'm surprised that I can words together string to coherent make sentences.

Oh, yeah, I should probably mention the whole "having internet now" thing.

A week or two ago, my roommate had a friend with some issues where he was staying. She offered him our couch to crash on for a few days, and he decided to have his internet and TV service moved to our place so he didn't have to be without. When he left, he decided to leave it as long as we keep the bill paid, which my roommate is doing since she's working again. Essentially, I have internet again without having to pay the bill for it -- huzzah! Feels good, man.

Meep meep

(Source)

THIS is what I've felt like lately. I've been running my ass off lately, and finally ran out of road.

The good thing, though, is that I've got the next two days free from work. With no plans tomorrow, that might even mean a blog! ... but given my track record lately, holding your breath on that isn't a good idea. Plus, holding your breath until some time tomorrow? What kind of super-powered lungs do you HAVE?!

Remember that whole "writing WHO KILLED HERMES? during NaNoWriMo" thing I mentioned a few weeks ago? Yeah... I gave up on that before it even started -- with good reason, though! And by good things, I mean the pile of "TO DO" things that I've set up for myself. Here's a few things from that pile:

• Talking to Jynni
• Work on my articles for a (free) local paper to try and gain exposure as a serious writer
• Regular ol' work at Murphy's
• Writing WKH? when I'm not doing either of those
• D&D night with Steev and Megan (and others)
• Trying to not be a complete and total hermit

It's an exhausting list, and that's not even all of it. I'm trying not to neglect you, blog... but sometimes it happens. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off work, and I'm going to go home and work on figuring out... WHO KILLED HERMES?!

(Okay... that was a pretty weak ending. Feel free to flog me for it)

Who Killed Hermes?, and more tales of excitement

It's been a while since my last post, but there are reasons. Aside from working 36-40+ hours a week at Murphy's, and trying to find other work, there has been a lot of research and a bit of writing going on. I mentioned in my "Ketchup" post that I'm working on a novel, and now that I'm starting to write it, I've put a page up, here on the blog.

Lastly, I've been having a bit of stress, which is the main reason I didn't make almost any effort to post in the time that I could have. My mother has been having heart problems, and went up today for a cardiac catheterization in Seattle. She was a bit terrified, because of an obituary she read recently where a woman almost 20 years older than her died after the same procedure, but I'm happy to say that she came out of it fine -- as I'd assured her she would.

I ponder many things, often.
This picture portrays my ponderousness, yes?

Really, the only people that I've not really been a bit antisocial towards are Steev, Megan, and Jynni. I talk to Jynni every day still, and have been meeting up weekly with Steev and Megan for game nights -- D&D, Cards Against Humanity, and We Didn't Playtest This, mostly. A couple of times, we played Settlers of Catan, which I'd love to play more if I thought I could find more people to play with.

Going back to writing for a few, I would like to say that it feels good to be writing something that I feel strongly about. As such, I plan to rewrite the prologue into something a bit more extended, and have it up on this blog by the end of the month... just in time for NaNoWriMo! Barring anything currently unknown, I shouldn't have any issues taking part in it this year, and WHK? will be something fun to work on during November. If I can get to 50k, then who knows, maybe I'll bump that time-frame a little closer! :D

Now, it's time to be done with this post. It is that most necessary of days... LAUNDRY DAY. Keep an eye on this blog, though, because the layout should be changing in the upcoming days... mostly because I have too many issues with this one and not enough time to learn how to fix them all.

"Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas!"

KETCHUP! (Get it?)

JURY DUTY IS OVER!

 If you don't follow me on Twitter, or aren't my friend on Facebook, you should remedy that. 

Well, that, and you probably didn't know that I got a jury summons in Monday's mail. And we're going to pretend that's the reason that I didn't have time to write any posts other than yesterday's "Fifty on Friday". I've been ranting about it a bit on both Twitter and Facebook, to the limited extent that I was legally allowed. Aaaand that post is still to come. This one is a "my world lately" post, so be prepared to be assaulted with mediocrity!

 I've been writing, and more than that, researching. Specifically, I'm researching everything I can about Ancient Greece -- Greek mythology, Greek society and laws, and just about everything else I can find. My latest idea is going to involve a world where the Greek gods not only existed, but were present in the development of the modern world, and Greek society was the main society influencing the world as it got to this point. And the gods are still very present in this world, with the book actually starting with one of their deaths. Tentatively, it's to be titled "Who Killed Hermes?", but that's subject to change.

 Work has been... well, it's been. That's about all I can say for sure. today was better than some days, partially because the aforementioned jury duty had me unsure if I'd be able to work. Like I said, you'll get the story on that later. My coworkers were both people that I enjoy working with, so it was an uncomfortably-91-degrees-outside, filled-with-snark-and-sarcasm good time, all things comsidered. And towards the end of my shift, something funny and unexpected happened! I was answering Customer #2's questions, but because I was grabbing Customer #1 some food out of the hot food case, C#2 couldn't see me well. Imagine my surprise when I got back to the register where she could see me, and she said "Holy crap, you're handsome!"... That's always nice to hear!

 Finally, and most importantly, you might have been wondering how things have been going with the Long Distance Relationship. To answer that, I'll just say this: Great! It's still a bit hard to be so far away, but we're coping with it. Some time soon, we'll be having a Skype date. Thank you, The Internet! Bringing distant people that much closer. :)