Happily Ever How?

Since announcing the engagement, I've noticed a few questions that I get asked a lot:

1. How did you guys meet?
2. When is the wedding?
3. How did you propose? Did she see it coming?

Well, today, I've got internet access while I'm doing my laundry, and this is as good a time and place as any to put answers to those questions all in one post! Sure, it could be that I want to post something and am drawing a blank on anything else to post, but... I doubt that.... =D

How did you guys meet?

      Actually, it's all Jim and Wendy's fault. Jim and I used to work together out at The Hotel, and formed a pretty solid friendship. When he moved away to live with Wendy, we maintained our friendship by hanging out at least once every few months -- whenever I could get up to their area for a day or three.

      Some time during all of this, Jim and Jynni started talking again, after a long time apart. In May of last year, one of my visits coincided with one of her visits, and I got to meet her and her then-roommate. We exchanged Facebook info and numbers since we got along, and then Jynni and I proceeded to talk as often as possible for almost two months. I fell hard, that's for sure. We were talking before we went to sleep, with me calling to wake her up for her graveyard shift job before I went to sleep, and her calling to wake me up for my swing shift job before she went to sleep.

      Then, I took the plunge. We arranged to both take a vacation and spend the week with Jim and Wendy (her dad and his wife), and began dating at the end of July. After an awesome week together, we both went to our separate homes, knowing we were committing to a long-term, long-distance relationship.

When is the wedding?

      July 19, 2014. When we started planning, she asked if I wanted a July wedding or a December wedding. I said December, and she promptly told me I was wrong. After a logical explanation on her part, we agreed to a Saturday in July, and due to family birthdays/occasions on my side, we decided that the 19th was the best Saturday to have it.

How did you propose? Did she see it coming?

      She didn't see it coming, and I proposed in a wholly nerdy way. I bought the ring almost a month before I went over there, and spent the whole time trying to think of a clever way to do it. We'd both talked about wanting to get married and have a life together before, so I knew that this trip over there would be the perfect time to do it.

      I was hanging out with her while she was smoking (and her daughter was asleep in the house), and she was talking about ideas she had for when we "eventually get married". I excused myself, went back in the house, and got the ring out of my laptop bag before coming back outside to join her. She raised an eyebrow at my quick trip in to the house, and I sat down on the couch (in the carport) in front of her.

      "Jynni, I've been trying to think of how and when to do this for weeks. I want to make it memorable and didn't know how, and realized today that there was no time like the present." Following that line, I got off the couch, got down on one knee in front of her, and pulled the ring out of my pocket. "I can't imagine my life without you and your daughter, and I would love for you to be my companion as we travel through time and space. Will you marry me?"

      Like I said -- pretty nerdy, right? She came close to tearing up and was completely surprised by it, and said yes. I know I'm a spaz for referencing Doctor Who in my proposal, but I got her addicted to the show, and for us... it made sense. Now, we're planning a Doctor Who-influenced wedding, complete with TARDIS blue as our main color.

All of time and space is ours, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather explore it with than her. I love you, Jynni. :)

Thoughts on Father's Day

This morning, I woke up to a Facebook notification from my future mother-in-law, wishing me a happy Father's Day, and telling me I'll be great at being a dad.

I hadn't thought about it until yesterday, but by the act of proposing to Jynni and really making her and her daughter the start of my own family, Father's Day now applies to me.

This holiday has always been a bit weird for me, as has it's counterpart last month. I was raised by my grandparents (on mom's side), and for whatever reasons, my parents weren't always active. They had split up when I was very young, and while I don't fault them for it now, they weren't always the most reliable when I was growing up. Sure, my sister and I would go spend a couple weeks in the summer with my dad, and there was one summer we went to Missouri to meet the rest of the Barlow side. But, for the most part, my grandparents were the only parents I needed. Sometimes it hurt when mom or dad made plans to visit and then flaked, but I had grandma and grandpa to get me through. All was well.

I miss you, Grandpa David. And to my biological dad, I forgive whatever grudges I might have from my youth. You both did the best you could. Happy Father's Day.

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.

Free Comic Book Day!

(... was last week. And I wrote this then, but this is the first chance I've gotten to put it up. So, enjoy!)

This was the first year since I started reading comics that I went out for FCBD! My friends Megan and Steev were planning a morning trip to Olympia for Free Comic Book Day and invited me along. On top of that, it was a gorgeous 80° day... so I spent most of it inside like a good nerd should.

We went to the two comic book stores in Oly: Danger Room and Olympic Cards and Comics. Danger Room is my preferred shop, I have a file there full of Image titles, and they have been a HUUUGE help with my Blue Devil blog, but Olympic Cards and Comics is a gigantic store by comparison -- I couldn't not go there, too.

They were having three events in one: FCBD, storewide sale, and a signing with four big names in comics. Since there were so many things at 20% off, I picked up the 13-issue hardcover of Invincible (vol. 1) for almost $5 off the price, after taxes and everything. We had to be back in town by a certain time, or we'd have stayed for the signing and gotten Greg Rucka to sign something. Oh, well. Another time -- maybe when I actually own some of Rucka's work. That'd probably be a good idea for a signing.

All in all, it was a great day. We got a ton of free comics, and then Steev and I came back and laughed our asses off to some Brian Posehn stand-up. Did any of you got out for FCBD? Let's hear some stories!

Megan: "I wanted to give the nerds something to look at!"
Steev: "There will be so many awkward boners at the comic book shop."

"I shut up that part of my brain and just started writing it."

It's been a while since I talked about Who Killed Hermes?, my Greek mythology novel. That's not just because I haven't been blogging, it's also because I had a little bit of a block.
The downside of spending over a month researching and another month world-building with all of the little details, and my plotting wall with string and post-it notes, is this: There is so much stuff. For a little while, it was a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how I wanted it all to connect together -- things with the Greek gods themselves, things with the mortals and how the world developed with the pantheon being the real deal.
I broke out of my block a few days ago, and that quote is from a post that I made in /r/writing whem someone was having a similar problem to mine. Just shut up that part of your brain and start writing. I'd forgotten how it felt to write that way, having tried outlining and planning everything first with WKH?, and that was where my block came from. My writing has never really been the whole "outline everything, write to the outline". For me, it's a discovery.
So, now I'm going to go write some more. Over the last few days, I've written 1000+ words. It's a start!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

You guys, I have a confession to make.

I'm a smoothie addict.

Lately, my freezer has been filled with those bags of frozen mixed berries, and my fridge full of juices, bananas, and carrots. I've been trying to eat healthier, but carrots are so boring. My solution? Toss them into a smoothie with stronger-flavored things, and get that Vitamin A the delicious way.

Today is something new. Today is the day my smoothies are enhanced by my new favorite source of non-coffee caffeine: V8 V-FUSION +ENERGY drinks! 8 glorious ounces of peach and mango flavored awesome, with 50% juice and almost as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Allow me to present my newest smoothie, jam-packed with awesome stuff:

Justin's Get-Up-and-Mango Smoothie

--7 oz. V8 V-Fusion +Energy peach mango
--1 medium carrot, broken into pieces
--1 medium banana, cut into slices
--5 strawberries, frozen
--2 handfuls of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
--2 spoonfuls honey-flavored Greek yogurt (I used Oikos brand)

I have one of those Magic Bullet single-serve blenders, so adjust accordingly if you're using a bigger blender. Just toss it all in and blend until it's all smoothified, and enjoy the hell out of the awesome flavor. There is a lot of good stuff in here to boost it: Vitamin A from the carrot, potassium from the banana, protein from the Greek yogurt, lots of B vitamins, and a lot more.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go whisper sweet nothings to my smoothie until I devour it. I would expect you all to do the same.