It's Been A Long Time...

If the evidence laid out before me is any indication, it's not been nearly as long as I thought it had, though. Sure, I haven't blogged in a month and a half, but it feels like it's been faaaaar longer than that. To be honest, I expected something a bit more like this when I came back:

(Source)

Imagine the surprise when I see that I had visited more recently, and hey.... I still haven't died in Dungeons and Dragons! Avoiding death in the real world, the D&D world, and the internet world? Hot damn, I am doing way better than I thought! So, want the short, short version of the last almost-two-months? Here they be:

• I'm going to be seeing Jynni and her daughter in the days before Thanksgiving!
• We have a TARDIS in our D&D campaign... sort of.
• Money stuff still sucks. No surprise when you're a wage slave.
• I'm still alive, despite my body's attempts to drown in illness!

Starting with the least awesome: Money sucks. Well, no, the lack of money sucks because people want money, for some strange reason. And I've had minor medical issues since blogging last, including a trip to the hospital to have an infection taken care of... again. Argh.

Now, for the good stuff: we have a PYRAMID that can travel through space and time! I didn't get the significance of what Steev was doing at first, until Daniel put it in words that I care about, and have wanted to hear for so very, very long -- "We have a TARDIS". Our time-space machine can't fly, but it can otherwise travel through space and time, so I'm actually okay with us not getting out of the pyramid. It looks like we'll be traveling back in time to try and save Bahamut from being killed as a baby dragon... which is sort of confusing in retrospect, since the dragon who gave us her eggs to protect called herself a wife of Bahamut. Timey-wimey?

What beats a way to travel through time and space in this fictional world? What could possibly be better than that?

Well, it might not be as cool to some of you, but Tony and I are going to be road-tripping to see Jynni, as part of my attempts to find (more?) lucrative employment over in her part of the state. We'll be there the three days before Thanksgiving, which means that I get to have a mini-Thanksgiving with my future wife and future in-laws, and that I'll hopefully come back from this trip to put in my two weeks' notice at my current job.

As much as I'd love to type more, and regale you with detailed stories of my adventures over the last month+, it will have to wait, dear friends. It's 2am, and my typos are getting more and more frequent as I get more and more tired. Additionally, there's that whole "work" thing tomorrow. You know, the one where I have to put on a stupid work uniform and pretend to like people for 8-ish hours. Bah humbug!

See you soon, internet!

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?

Did I make a 'Thing'?!

No, 'Thing' is not a comic book reference this time. Or a penis reference. :P

We've all heard the phrase "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades", right? Even if it's bullshit because our friends sucked and said it didn't count. But, whatever. Horseshoes was a shitty game anyway. Ladder Golf is a lot more fun.

Back to the point I was making... sorry, got off on a tangent there. Because fuck horseshoes. Since high school, I've had my own slight add-on to that well-known (and half-bullshit) phrase. MY version was "Almost only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and atomic bombs", with my justification being that even if you missed your target with an atomic bomb, "almost" is still going to get the job done. 17-year-old Justin thought that was just the cleverest thing. I haven't said it in a few years, but at work, a customer said it to their friend at the register.

It wasn't someone that I've ever seen before, so I have to ask... did I make a Thing? My own little slice of slang? Is the "and atomic bombs" bit my creation, or have other people been saying it, and I'm not nearly as clever as I thought? Either way, it made me pretty happy to hear it. And fuck the facts, I'm going to stick with it being mine. :P

Now, time to get home and get ready for a couple of good days off!

I'm not dead!

Although I can see why you'd think that, since I've been really inactive on here, with no real excuse for it. I'll be sure to submit myself for a public flogging soon, but for now, let me go over the last month -- (MONTH?! Nobody told me it'd been a MONTH since I blogged last!) -- and update you all. :)

It's October! One of my favorite months, because it's the start of that magical time of year when you can say that you want pumpkin pie or other magical pumpkin-flavored things, and people don't look at you funny. Seriously, are there many things in this world better than a good pumpkin pie?

Another good thing about October: 

creative pumpkin carvers

Image from whatthesooke.com

Other than enjoying the occasional bit of pumpkin-related awesome, I've been working a lot, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's great because I like that whole "money" thing, and being able to do grown-up things like "pay bills" and "pay bills" and... is there anything else I do with my money? Come to think of it, not really that much. I do get myself the occasional fun thing, like a CD or a book. The most recent CD purchase? Textures' "Dualism" album, which is AWESOME.

TEXTURES!!! MOTHERFUCKING TEXTURES!!!!!

You guys, I've been enjoying this CD far more than I should be. I've even taken it to work so that I can use the CD player at work instead of listening to the crappy radio stations we have in this area. So far, nobody has complained, so I'll probably keep doing it until I get tired of it. Or until I get a new CD, whichever comes first -- and I've been looking at the latest album from 3, so that might be soon.

So, that's the long and short of things lately. Lots of work (still working the graveyard shift at 7-11), lots of jamming out to Textures. All in all, I can't really complain too much.

I've also been prepping for NaNoWriMo -- my third attempt, and I'm determined to succeed and not let Real Life stop me from finishing again. I've got an idea that I really like, and I'm already eager to start writing on it. This is my year, and I'm going to have a novel by the end of November... or at least part of one, since I think 50,000 words might be a little short. Depends on how much story I can tell with this idea. :)

Random Ramblings TV!

THE FIRST RRTV VIDEO IS UP!

The editing work was quick, so it's not much of a video this first time around, but I was a little pressed for time (and much later than planned!). But, now that it's up, you can expect more! Nate and Em are both tweeting me about videos that they are wanting to film RIGHT NOW, and I've got sooooo many ideas.

It'll probably be a few weeks before I have a video up with lots of editing work on there, but I think I might try a "Riverside Vlog" soon. Maybe even tomorrow, since I have the day off because one of my long-time friends is getting married.

Anyway, my battery is dying, so we'll see if I can get any more ideas rolling around after I get home, plug in, and cool down. :)