Reborn?!

AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

Please excuse me while I flail around a little bit. While others certainly are not as thrilled as me, I have recently found out that Heroes is coming back. If you've known me for a while, you probably get why I am reacting like this! :D


That's the only part that I'm a little down about, to be honest. I found out about this while I was on break at work, didn't see the video's length, and spent a couple hours building up anticipation. So, a 15-second video with some space-y shots and then "HEROES REBORN Coming 2015" emblazoned on? Not nearly a match for the mental build-up, which is probably mostly my fault.
Still, I've been hearing a bit behind-the-scenes, because this was always the one fandom where I knew someone with an in. It's a very SMALL bit behind-the-scenes, pretty much with what Tim Kring hopes can be done with it, but it still has me excited.
New Doctor this fall, possible Flash series this year, and Heroes comes back next year?
Oh, 2014, I take back at least half most all of the bad things I said to/about you.

Avoidance

I'm taking a day off from the internet. Today (RIGHT NOW!) is the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. And I don't get to watch it until after work (at the soonest).

So, no Twitter, Facebook or Reddit until I've watched it. Possibly no rss feeds, because I don't know who will post about it before I've seen it. Aaaargh!

For now, I leave you with a picture of David Tennant wearing a fez. Perhaps geeking out on here will happen afterwards. Allons-y!

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!

Attack of the Laundry!

This is my day today.

Well, this and a mountain of laundry. Yes, folks, as has become the norm, I am blogging from the laundromat! And, since I'm working on there being less clutter and junk in my personal environment, these notebooks came with me today. I've ripped out the pages that have things written on them, and today is all about putting them in to my laptop.

Did I mention that I have a new one? Probably not, since I haven't written on this blog since getting it. It's another Acer, and because I'm affectionately continuing my trend of naming computers after fictional technology, I'm naming it the "Holly-Hop-Drive". Now, the question is if any of you will get the reference!

Things finally came to the point with my old netbook where I could no longer tolerate how badly it was falling apart. When the wrong button-press bluescreens it, and tilting the display wrong renders it gray until a restart, you can only do so much -- and there was the unreliable WLAN, which would sometimes stay connected for two hours, and other times for two minutes. So when I saw a good deal on a better one on Amazon, I couldn't pass it up.

Now it's time to swap out to the dryer, and get to work on typing up all this crap. Hopefully I'll put up more uselessness soon! I've got a few post ideas that I'm working on, so the next post might suck less than this one does!

Be awesome

I think I've started close to a dozen different posts in the just-over-a-month since I posted last. There's always been an issue, whether it just feels wrong, or I'm trying to blog from my phone and lose my train of thought, things like that. There's been a theme popping through a few different things I've watched/listened to/read lately, and that is this: Do what you want to do. Or, to put it how the 'book' I read yesterday said, "if you want to be awesome, do awesome shit".

Maybe not an exact quote, but it'll be pretty close. You can thank my soon-to-be brother-in-law for that one, as he's been telling everyone on his Facebook to read the free 15-page book, The Universe Doesn't Give A Flying Fuck About You. The author likens existence in the universe to the existence of a beetle in Times Square. Nobody is out to get that beetle, but nobody is out to help it out either -- because the universe doesn't care, and if you want to do something, just do it.

It kind of kicked me in to "why the fuck am I putting off my writing" overdrive, so last night I started re-plotting Project: SAMSON. Heck, I even brought it to the laundromat with me today, so I have no excuse to work on it when my laptop's dwindling battery reaches 1% and I still have time left on the dryer.

Speaking of my rapidly dying craptop, I decided to give Linux a shot, and I think I might switch over entirely. I'm enjoying the feel of Linux Mint, and the whole command-line aspect isn't nearly as frightening as I thought it would be.

Time to switch out the laundry now. I'll try to not take another freaking month to put a too-long spiel of uselessness up again. :)

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.

The Elephant In The Room

Maybe it's because I work at a convenience store with firearm keychains, and also because of some of the people in my life (both digital and real), but the gun issue still hasn't really gotten dropped from my sphere of influence. Now, I figure I might as well put my attitude about artillery out there for the world to see -- address the gun-shaped elephant in the room, I guess.

A quick browse shows that this probably isn't a site I'd be interested in,
but here is the source anyway....

I don't want a gun. As far as I'm concerned, the only purpose for a gun is to hurt or kill something, and I have no desire to own one.

That being said, I also don't give a shit if you want to own one. More power to you, own a hunting rifle or handgun. My attitude, though, is that there is no need for a civilian to own a semi-automatic or fully-automatic weapon. People will bring up the Second Amendment, but the gun-crazy folks don't think about part of the problem with that: the Constitution was written in the time of muskets, bayonets, hunting knives and the like. By all means, I support your right to a musket.

When the Second Amendment was written, our war for independence was still fresh in the minds of lawmakers who had either experienced it, or had family who did. The Second Amendment was written when the weapons with which we killed each other were far less efficient.

Really, I just wanted to get that off of my chest. The rare customers that agree with me and thinks our keychains are ridiculous makes me feel a little bit better.

Do any of you want to own guns? I've got no problem with it, I'm just curious to hear other peoples' reasons why they do or don't want to own one (or more). :)

Would you change things?

I know it's been a while since I was able to blog, and I'll get in to that in another post. Today's post is about the dream I woke from this morning, which is still pretty clear in my mind. It's sort of a dream with time travel -- big surprise there, right?

One of the things that I don't remember is how I time-traveled. It was some wholly ridiculous thing, I'm sure, and I don't remember the TARDIS being involved. I guess dream-Justin isn't Gallifreyan?

This was not involved. Sadface.
(source)

What I do remember is that, somehow, I time-traveled to the early 2000s. Or my mind traveled. Something like that. It was kind of like getting a "Game Over" screen and starting from a way-earlier point. You know what's going to happen, but you're otherwise the same as you were then. I was the physically-awkward teenager that didn't weigh nearly as much as I do now, and was still of the mind that I was too big. The only thing that was different was my mind.

Some parts of the dream were a lot harder than the others. I still feel the emotion that dream-me felt on seeing my Grandpa alive again, and my mom and step-dad happy again. The determination to change some things, but keep some things the same. In the dream, I had resolved to still work at the hotel, so I could meet Jim and eventually Jynni, but I also decided that I wanted to try and get my grandpa and step-dad to quit smoking in hopes of preventing their deaths.

I also remember wanting to fix my education fuck-ups, and actually graduate with my class instead of getting my diploma a year later. Some of the stuff that I wanted to do in the dream is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and some of it could possibly change my life so much.

The part that really got me thinking was dream-Justin's insistence on working at the hotel so that I could befriend Jim, and eventually meet Jynni. I'm very happy being with her, and even if I could go back and change these things, unimportant and important both, I don't know if things would have worked the same way. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten hired at the hotel, and would've ended up never meeting Jynni, but still having the knowledge of how happy I am with her.

I guess the point of this post is a question: if you could go back and relive your life with knowledge of how events had gone, would you change things? Or would you suffer through the same issues that made you want to change things in the first place?

As for me, I think I'm good with how things are. Sure, I'd love for Jynni and her daughter to be able to meet my grandpa, and for my mom and step-dad to have been able to be together still. But the potential cost is too much. It's not worth maybe sacrificing the love I have now, even if the life I have now isn't my ideal life.

#firstworldproblems

I think that my foot should start paying rent to my mouth. Sometimes, I make such an ass out of myself that I think my attempts to learn languages will just mean I can do it with more people, more often. On another note, though....

It's been over a month since I blogged, either here or at Sympathy For The Devil, but that's not entirely for lack of effort. 2013 has not been a good year for my devices. Just in the seven weeks that it's been around, this year has killed (or tried to kill) most of the technology I own. Let's go for a rundown:

While taking pictures at Jim and Wendy's wedding last month, the screen on my camera decided to shit on itself. The camera itself still works and takes pictures, but because I don't have a working screen, I can't preview the images or switch it to video capture. The only good thing is that, if I keep using it, it might improve my "eye for pictures". Sure, it's stuck on the current settings from the last time I changed them, but being unable to rely on the screen to check the picture before taking it means relying on myself.

Then, my laptop decided that it has taken enough abuse. It's been my primary computer for... three years now? Sounds right. It's an Acer netbook with a 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB of RAM (1 GB that I bought and was shown how to install by Ralph). When I tell people that an Acer netbook has been my mostly-reliable primary computer for that long, they're usually surprised. Nowadays, the zero key is missing and both Shift keys are unreliable. Moving it too abruptly sometimes causes the screen to go ass-up, and the WLAN is going out -- sometimes it'll lose connection after an hour or two, other times after five minutes. Restarting it fixes it, but only temporarily.

Lastly, the Kindle. It got knocked out of my hand (by accident) because someone on the bus bumped into me while I was reading it. Half of the screen doesn't work anymore, but because it was only barely out of warranty, the customer support guy gave me a discount toward my next one. All in all, it cost me half of what I paid for my first Kindle to replace it.

The only regularly-used piece of tech that hasn't really had issues is my phone. So, that's why you're getting a 3AM blog from the phone. And if it has shitty formatting, I'll fix it when I can get on a real computer. :-)

Every movie would be better with dancing Goombas!

With that title alone, this final post of 2012 makes me proud! It comes from the thread on 20SB for "so-bad-they're-good" movies, and it is part of my defense of Super Mario Bros. as awesome. Call it horrible all you like, but I will always love that movie.

You know what? Now that I'm talking about it, and thinking about it, I need to figure out what box it is in. The VCR is hooked up, the universal remote is programmed for it, now I just need to find this, so I can have fun with dancing Goombas and an ensemble of overacting celebrities that have done much more impressive work since.

Right now, though, I don't think finding this movie should be my priority. I'm working on my first pizza dough, and by "working on" I mean "finding something to do online while I wait and see if the dough will rise and I didn't fuck it all up". Maybe I should do some sort of year in review post like other, better bloggers....Nah. I'll stick with trying to not-fuck-up pizza dough, and having a back-up plan of breadsticks or crackers or something if it didn't turn out right.

Has anybody out there made pizza from scratch before? Any tips for me?

Or, on the other hand, any people aside from me love Super Mario Bros., the movie? I can't be the only one!

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.

A Death In The Family (Farewell, 9thWonders...)

Before anyone worries, it's not a literal death. I will be honest, though... it kind of feels like it.

9thWonders Boards: 2007-2012

Some of you probably never heard of 9thWonders, but for almost the entirety of the run of Heroes, a show I'm sure you've heard of, this was THE place for fans. More than that, however, a fairly large community was developed on this silly little message board. It was the "official/unofficial" NBC-sponsored site, message board, and landing space for all of the Alternate Reality Game stuff that NBC had going on.

When I say community, I'm not just talking about the thousands of registered members, or even just the few that were still posting within the last week. Personally, I've found so many parts of my life through 9thWonders -- the friends I made got me through a lot. I'd had a horrible relationship end, a boring job that I was not happy doing, and so much more. Something really wild? Almost every person that I got close to on that site, I still talk with, whether it's on Facebook, Twitter, or even by phone/text with some of them. A couple of them, I've met in person!

Maybe it's a little silly to feel sad about the death of this forum, but it became more than that to me and some of the others. It was like a sort of "home" online -- like your parents' house. Sure, it might not be your place anymore, and you might not go very often... but it was still there. Now, it's like it's been repossessed by the bank and torched to the ground. At least from this side of the NBC/consumer fence, there's not even "ashes" (archives) to see.

So, here's to everything -- the Skype calls, the crazy evsdropr clues, the strange-as-hell AIM chats, and to all the relationships we formed on 9th. We will miss you, 9thWonders Boards. As Jordan said on Twitter, it's officially the end of an era.

"Nothing gold can stay." - Mabes 

"My heart just broke a little." - Lauren 

"Aww." - @ebrown2112 

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)

I want to blog...

I really do. But a lot of the things that have been weighing me down lately, I can't talk about on here. A lot of it involves my roommate, who has asked me not to talk about her on here.

It's kind of stressful. My tagline when this was just called "This Is A Blog" was that it was cheaper than therapy. When I can't use it as that venting space because of the concerns of those in my life, it becomes less so. I withdraw from it a bit, and I don't like that. To ease off that stress a bit, I went and hung out with Steev yesterday. Things with my roommate hit a high point of Very Very Bad, and thankfully some time spent with a good friend helped a lot.

But there is still good stuff going on. Jynni and I are still great, and I've got the extended prologue of Who Killed Hermes? hand-written and ready to be typed up. Going to try and get it put up today or tomorrow, so I can be true to my word when I said "this month".

Hopefully, bloggery will resume soon. :)

MEDIC!

This might be a sign that I've been a bit too active lately.

I like being active, and don't spend nearly as much time being boring and lazy as I used to. But I'm starting to think that, until all this activity starts showing in my attempts to get more fit, the occasional wrapped ankle is a price I'll have to pay. Then again, maybe it wasn't a good idea to go for a jog, then run errands, then a mile-and-a-half walk.

The sprain? Result of errands on Monday. Underestimated how close to the curb the bus was, stepped down wrong, and rolled the shit out of the ankle. Let me tell you... that makes for a fun half-mile walk home from the bus stop. I forgot to wrap it last night, and then worked 8-ish hours on my feet today, so it is staying wrapped tonight.

Other than that, the last couple days have been great. When I posted on Monday, it was while doing laundry, after paying the power bill, another bill, and visiting my sister at her work. She's a Radio Shack employee, so she's strongly suggested to give her the money if I want to get something, so she can use her discount for me. Awesome, right? We didn't get along very well growing up, but that's a story for another post.

For now, I'm going to lay down and get some rest. More work tomorrow, and then games with Steev and Megan! It's Steev's birthday! Go wish him well on Twitter, tell him I sent you!

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. :)

Hello!

 

Know what it’s like when you keep meaning to do something, and kind of forget? And by “forget”, I mean “just don’t do it”? Yeah, that’s been what’s going on. Well, that and…

 

It has been HOT AS HELL the last couple of days.

 

This wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I sleep during the day. Really, the sun should’ve taken shit like that into account when it said “Hey, I’ll make the thermometer read ‘HOLY FUCK’ in Grays Harbor!”, because that’s inconvenient as all hell. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like waking up sweaty and gross because of how warm it’s been.

 

 

So, to update you guys on the last few weeks…

 

My friend’s wedding went well! There were a lot of people in the wedding party, including my friend’s daughter as the flower girl, and another friend’s kid as ring-bearer. It was good to see so many of my friends again – I’ve been friends with the groom and all of the groomsmen since junior high!

 

 

Beyond that, I’ve just been working a lot, and writing as much as possible. I’m almost halfway done with the first issue of my comic book pitch, and am prepping for NaNoWriMo again! I’m also brainstorming an interesting project with James Riot, one of the RRTV contributors!

 

Also, there’s been a couple videos for that, so go check them out! One’s from Emily, and the other is from me. Here’s the links:

 

Em’s video: Canadian Stereotypes!

 

Mine: SPACE IS AWESOME!