abracanabra: (park)

It feels like this week has been full of socializing, although that's partly because any week where I see friends more than once feels crazy-busy!

It also feels like this week has been horrible for productivity, and that is true for a couple of reasons. Primary among them is that I have been a bit stuck in the two novels that I'm writing in parallel. Not stuck as in I-don't-know-what-to-do-next, but stuck as in I-need-to-plot-the-next-bit (side project Codename Dragon Succubus) and I-need-to-do-lots-of-research-first-and-I-don't-wanna (main project Real Name Scorpion Dance). And I've been feeling somewhat stressed and responding to it in my usual unhelpful avoidance way. Grr.

Speaking of which, notice how I'm writing a journal entry now instead of writing? Sure, my goal is to write a journal entry every week and it's been over a month since my last one, but that doesn't mean it isn't avoidance. It just means I am super-well-supplied with other things to do. Like sort through the thousand-plus emails in my inbox, which is next on my avoidance plan for the day. Oops, sorry, this is my Mother's Day Away. Make that my "Relaxation Plan." There, that sounds better.

I've started using my gym membership to the YMCA, which is going pretty well. During the week, when Cassius is in preschool, timing doesn't work out so well for me being able to go and take a full class and use whatever's left of the 2 hours of free babysitting to write, so I usually just hit the machines for a while, shower, and then edit for a half-hour before I have to pick up the kids and get on a bus to take Cassius to preschool (his preschool is in the afternoon). I do like the working out part, though, even if I wish I could make my time usage there more efficient to take advantage.

Also, annoyingly, even though we won a month of "Whole Family" membership, that doesn't mean I can get the member rate for Cassius' swim lessons. You have to register about a month in advance for that, and you have to have the child be a full member both IN ADVANCE when you register, and AT the time of the lessons. Grr. Ripoff. Still getting him lessons, though. Just not sure if family membership is going to be worth anything more than my individual membership, because it doesn't really get us anything extra.

Our poor girl kitty is slowly improving. We found out a couple of months ago that she had kidney failure, which led to near-lethal high blood pressure, which led to lethargy, refusal to eat, and one of her eyes having blood vessels rupture inside of it. She already had cataracts and so was mostly blind, but with that, she became completely blind on that side. I don't know if her sight will come back (even slightly) once the blood has all left the eye. It was totally black, filled with blood. Now I can see the rim of her iris again and there's a pale pink cloud in the center of her eye where the blood is slowly being reabsorbed. Her blood pressure is under control with 2x daily medication. And apparently cats can live with kidney failure for several years, although it's best if they eat a special diet for animals with kidney failure, and she's picky.

Lots of fun with socializing lately.

A pack of Phil's female relatives came up from Wisconsin to visit. We drove through downtown looking at all the lights that turned purple in memory of Prince. We went bra shopping at the Mall of America (so much not fun, but necessary). We ate at IKEA and they went shopping while I lounged on a couch and fiddled with edits. We went to Surly Brewery, where they were sad that they could not purchase growlers and I learned why they have so many glasses from drinking establishments they've visited on "girls weekends." Then we went to Betty Danger's Country Club (by the owner of Psycho Suzi's), enjoyed the ferris wheel tremendously, ate the delicious foods, and utterly failed in our attempt to visit her other two establishments, partly because the designated driver doesn't parallel park ... and this is the city.

Dave had a biking pub crawl birthday party where he asked the guests to be made up as "subtle" clowns. I was able to make it to the Eastlake portion of the night. Our whole family went to the Sabathani Prince block party earlier in the afternoon, where we mostly watched the kids go down bouncy house slides and bounce around in the bouncy maze. Total madhouse. Cassius also asked for a snowplow balloon animal, which was a real challenge for the balloon clown. I asked for a snake with pop eyes, which I gave to the birthday boy later. Also managed to get face paint done for the clown birthday party at the prince block party. Multitasking!

The rest of the week(ish) in brief:

May in Minneapolis means the May Day Parade. Thanks to Drew's friend Anna for letting us join the house-and-lawn party that she throws during the parade. I took many pictures.

Cassius brought home baby chicks from preschool, and we successfully kept the cats from eating them during their overnight visit. Cassius is good and gentle with chicks. Theia not so much.

Cassius lost Theia and I in the library, freaked out, and ran out of the building, only to be caught a block later. So scary. Spouse yelled at me a lot. Full story from Fb: We were at the library in Uptown. I took Theia into the bathroom to change her, and when I came back out, Cassius was GONE. Not in the kids' play area, not among the book shelves, not in the sitting area. Turns out, he didn't hear me tell him where we were going, freaked out when he didn't see us, and RAN OUT OF THE LIBRARY (after us, he thought). Thank God for the concerned stranger who came back to find me, the ones who pointed which direction he'd gone, and the ones who stopped him and helped. He made it about a block away, in the direction of his preschool (also in Uptown). Most of us have that "I lost my parents" (in the grocery store, etc.) memory. I think this is going to be the one that sticks for him.

CenterPoint repair guy actually had the part required to make our dishwasher mostly functional again. Amazing.

Thursday, I made it to Electra's graduating senior art reception, admired the art (hers was sealife-themed), and took lots of pictures that I now need to edit and watermark. Then we went to the Riverview Cafe and chatted over yummy brownies.

Friday, I went to my old friend Jason's birthday party, tasted kava for the first time, and saw it prepared ... burlesque-style. More pictures were taken. The stuff looks like off-colored, watery milk, smells like dirt with an acrid undertone, and tastes like nothing much although the aftertaste is pretty awful. The first effect is a tingling tongue. The effect it had on me seemed to be a sharpening and clarity of sight and sensation. No idea if that's how most people feel, as I had to leave then. Silly buses and their schedules.

Saturday, I was peopled out. Morning, went to the gym. Took a weightlifting/body pump group class. Afternoon, went to coffee shop, plotted/adjusted the plot for the rest of the side project (Dragon Succubus), and wrote some. Spent the night fighting with trying to figure out watermarks and custom brushes and why it wasn't working damn it. Figured it out, eventually, but still need to manage batch watermarks for things I don't edit before uploading (like May Day photos).

Today is Mother's Day. I slept in a lot. Made myself French toast. Left to go to a coffee shop until dinner, which is where I currently am. Cassius being in two preschool classes meant I got two Mother's Day presents from him! I got a shiny bead-and-button bracelet that has a whole lot of gold buttons and some red and green flower beads, and a bar of soap that he felted with sheep's wool during their field trip to Gale Woods (which he loved--he says he likes spinach now).

Oh, and also the car died in the middle of the highway and Phil had to get it fixed. So that happened.

abracanabra: (Default)
* Spam I don't want to be true: "McCain Sex Tape Surfaces" 11:28 PM July 24, 2008 from Ping.fm
* Phil reset the alarm for yesterday morning after I was gone and didn't reset it for today. Woke up 1 hr late. Luckily, not a problem. 11:15 AM July 25, 2008 from web
* Six-point plan for helping water crisis (SciAm). Tags: science, water wars. http://ping.fm/yzEfN 11:25 AM July 25, 2008 from Ping.fm
* Feel better about bachlrtte plan now that am waiting on 2 callbacks & have a backup venue. 02:55 PM July 25, 2008 from Ping.fm
* Trying to reserve space. My eye is twitching. 04:30 PM July 25, 2008 from Ping.fm
* My eye won't stop twitching. 07:08 PM July 25, 2008 from Ping.fm
* Violent heroines are the new Mary Sue. about 23 hours ago from web
* Malcubed is melting in the heat. In Minnesota. Is funny. (Also, quite warm.) about 22 hours ago from web
* Free Obama button: https://political.moveon.or... about 21 hours ago from web

LoudTwitter workaround worked briefly, but it works no more. Alas. Fix now, damn it!
abracanabra: (Default)
In Cahoots with [livejournal.com profile] chesh, [livejournal.com profile] malcubed, [livejournal.com profile] discoflamingo, & [livejournal.com profile] bitwise. Later, Red Dragon.

Today will be all about happy and socializing with peoples. For the win.

...and I'll keep my cell with me at all times on the off-chance that one of the places I contacted re bachelorette will ever call me back
abracanabra: (Default)
  • 06:33 Woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off. Only do that when I'm stressed about getting things done.
  • 06:34 Today: NgithOwl, fix bachelorette, acquire exoskeleton, arrange CSA, cook and eat dinner, free movie screening.
  • 09:07 Oh, dear, my CSA is giving me more fennel. Ulp.
  • 13:42 Kieran's to the rescue of the bachelorette party!
  • 13:58 NOOOOOOO! I spoke too soon. Kieran's is *not* available after all, or at least, only right next to the band.
  • 14:16 That's it. For her bachelorette party, I'll just deposit Chesh in a liquor store.
  • 14:31 Phil says I should give up and order a case of beer. I hates him.
  • 14:32 Was it only yesterday I got an email saying, "There are some issues [about planning bachelorette]. Call me"?
  • 23:06 Wondering when the urge to strangle somebody until all is right with the world will pass.

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  • 07:58 So if refinancing is so hard, why the Sam hell am I getting mortgage cold calls?
  • 09:27 The hotness (SFW): tinyurl.com/5fe3v6
  • 11:48 Have started reading ShadowUnit re-runs. Currently circling the rabbit hole and wondering when I'll fall in. www.shadowunit.org/
  • 11:50 ++ Won free screening tix to see Ghost Town.
  • 13:23 Interesting editorial re productivity & info-overload (Lifehacker): tinyurl.com/67eqvm
  • 14:24 Why is the default gender of supporting characters male, unless they're a romantic interest? ::gnashes teeth::
  • 16:48 Bachelorette reservations = fail.
  • 17:35 I really wish I was allowed to spar etc. already. I could really use somebody to destroy right now.

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  • 23:38 Why is it that good political and other discussions seem to always necessitate not enough sleep & too much alcohol?
  • 08:31 Sounds like the NgithOwl elevators tried to eat people again yesterday.
  • 10:09 Awright, who pushed the 'economic panic' button? 'Fess up!
  • 10:34 Listening to the news today is like watching a car crash--strangely fascinating.
  • 13:44 Postal experiments--what do you think the USPS will deliver? Charming and funny. tinyurl.com/yvslzc
  • 13:50 Listen to "The Osteomancer's Son." Powerful, dark but uplifting, a story as carefully constructed as an ossuary. tinyurl.com/5l4bw9

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  • 08:01 They finally cleaned the NgithOwl fridge, blocking the emergence of the Ancient Ones for another decade.
  • 10:51 "You don't say everything. You leave a space in the poem for the reader to enter and fill in." - Ondaatje.
  • 11:30 From doc title: "Combustible Gas Channel." Brilliant! All explosions, all the time!
  • 13:52 Rather annoyed that Twitter has stopped emailing me friends' updates. Now I get nothing at all.
  • 13:55 Postman to 2 tall pretty girls mailing a (wedding?) dress to Russia: "It's a totally different postal system. A totally different mindset."
  • 13:57 Fellow postal patron handed me his business card as he left. Tattoo artist. Do I appear new-tattoo-probable?
  • 15:52 Writing, I keep realizing that something will work differently in zero-g and having to go back and fix it. Today, sponge-baths.
  • 23:38 Why is it that good political and other discussions seem to always necessitate not enough sleep & too much alcohol?

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  • 23:41 Survived Day 2 of convention. Feels like it's been a week instead of a day an a half--in a good way. #
  • 08:26 Happy today's the last day of convention. It's been great, but "Agh! Strangers!" #
  • 08:26 Even if they're my kind of strangers. #
  • 08:26 Or my kind of strange. #
  • 23:08 That was a weekend convention? It felt like about a week. And my brain is *still* fizzing! #
  • 23:08 Can I have my weekend to catch up now? Wait, no--work. *&^#$(*@*&! #
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At Cahoots, doing general writing-type stuff. Some people are here, which is nice. Tonight, there will be deserted island party for [livejournal.com profile] gunn.

Also, I made the commitment today to test for half-black belt next week. I'm comfortable in all my material except for the high spin, low spin kicks in my basics. Practice needed. But I've made the jump, and I actually managed to get to sparring class today, so...that's good. I figure an hour a day should get everything nicely polished.
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The Very Mean Mad Scientist declared that if I went to Tae Soo Do Saturday sparring class, it would be so late (1:45) before we were ready to go anywhere that I couldn't go to Cahoots to work on writing and work stuff that requires high-speed internet access. Very Mean. Also, meaning that I earn no money today. Of course, he redeemed himself by giving me a ride to/from class. What with the fucked up circulation issues, I'm basically not allowed to be outside at all when people start talking about how many minutes outside will give you frostbite. Frostbite's really painful. I had it last year. Don't want it again this year.

Class was very good--a little warm-up, a little vigorous sparring drills, and a whole lotta sparring with people mostly better/higher ranked than I am. My stamina is awful--a lot of it's breathing control issues, I think. My shoulder twinged during jumping-jacks and leaping backfists. Because of the damn back-kick drill, I got to be grateful a couple of times (in a still-pained way) that my reproductive organs are on the inside. But it was a good class. And if I keep doing double classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with regular class + the boxing/full-contact class, and throw in Saturday classes, and start doing beginner classes as well once I've got all the material straight in my mind and my notebooks...well, either my stamina will get a lot better or I'll die of exhaustion.

Now, I kick back and do nothing in particular. And then go to a fondue party. Yay, fondue! Fondue parties should be encouraged.
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Which is [livejournal.com profile] elfdope, BTW.

Quote direct:
Death Movie Night: Yakuza
So on Saturday January 27th, I will be having a death movie night. For those not of the "old school" variety death movie nights entail the watching of 2 violent films in a single night. The two films are specifically chosen by your host (me) for the greater edification of you all. The movies chosen to change your world's are:

The Yakuza starring Robert Mitchum, and Ken Takakura.
One of the finest East meets West movies ever made that has moments that are jaw droppingly awesome. It was released this week on DVD after years of being in release limbo. It is one of my favorite movies. This movie is part of a larger movement in Yakuza films wherein matters of Honor and Loyalty are shown as positive traits in the Yakuza and redeeming traits in our heroes.

The Yakuza Papers Vol. 1. Battles without Honor or Humanity
This is the movie that broke the back of the above type of films. Not that there are not honorable characters in this movie. More that the Yakuza are shown as the criminals they are. This movie is arguably the most important Yakuza movie ever made, and its badness of ass cannot be questioned. It was directed by Fukasaku at the height of his powers and was followed by 4 sequels.

The movies will begin at 8:00 and continue until completed. Please RSVP so we will know if you plan on coming.

Oh as there is an Asian theme this is a fine excuse to drink Asian liquors and Asian beers.
abracanabra: (Mafia)
Martial Arts
Tae Soo Do class on Thursday was pretty good. Inst. Sirny looked to not be feeling so well (I heard rumors of wisdom tooth extraction), so one of the higher-ranking sashes taught the class. I don't think she's done much full class instruction before; usually one of the higher ranks leads us through the warm-ups and then Inst. Sirny teaches the class. She's a generally nonplussed sort of person with a very dry sense of humor, so her teaching style is entirely different. We spent the class reviewing our long form, our self-defense techniques, and then grappling. My shoulder was fine except when I tried to do cartwheels. I did a lot better in grappling this time around, winning pretty much everything, but I can't feel very good about that as it was mostly because I could throw my weight around and muscle through techniques that I should have finessed more. I out-massed my partners enough that they couldn't force me to find the leverage/technique/angle because it would be the only one that worked, and I'm certainly not good enough to know when I've got it and when I don't. Especially not when I'm rolling around on the ground with another girl, trying to pin her. I also got a catfight-type scratch on my face, which I find humorous.

Uriah & Jumana's Going-Away Potluck
Last night, we went to Uriah and Jumana's going-away party, hosted by friends of theirs that we hadn't met before, which was a little awkward but not too bad as most everybody there was of the old Macalester College crowd, so I knew them all. Also, tasty food (which there most certainly was) would make up for even greater levels of awkwardness. And there was tasty food: cucumber and guacamole sushi rolls; a milk sauce with chicken and pine nuts, on rice; baba ganoush with pita bread; a tangy and overpoweringly delicious savory spread whose name I cannot pronounce and whose main ingredients were olive oil, walnuts, and pomegranate molasses; deep-fried yeast bread drenched in slightly sweet syrup; and various other sweet offerings that I was too full to pay proper attention to. I got to talk a lot with old friends that I've seen too rarely lately (again with the crazy-making schedule) and a little with new acquaintances. I found out that Max and Drew are engaged! They're planning on marrying in September, an announcement I apparently missed because I didn't make it to the last poker tournament. I also got to meet [livejournal.com profile] xcorvis's little one, who was a very quiet, polite baby.

I brought Spicy Baked Potato Wedges )

Now and Next Week
Today I went to Cahoots and got a good bit of work on writing stuff done, despite The Mad Scientist hogging my laptop for several hours while I had nothing to do, which made me exceedingly cranky. Then came home and he wanted to watch basketball game, so I'm working on updating my market lists, looking at pretty Christmas photos, and writing this lj post. Tomorrow I'm working a full day at Job #1, then Monday and Tuesday at Job #2, and probably the rest of the week at Job #1. Then, a blessed vacation. They can't stop me! *knock on wood*
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Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] chadvalentine and [livejournal.com profile] opheliac_9 for having us over for Thanksgiving dinner. Very tasty. I took a very traditional green bean casserole to Thanksgiving as my offering. All that changed was me doubling the recipe, adding in about a cup and a half of shredded cheddar cheese with the French's Fried Onions, and using uncooked frozen green beans--boiled them for about five minutes before adding to casserole. [livejournal.com profile] opheliac_9, I do need the recipe for that cranberry sauce. Thank you both for the kind hospitality! It was nice to chat with folks. I also got to play with their Wii. With wrist weights, I could see seriously building up a sweat playing that thing. Most entertaining. Of course, I had also been dragged out to the bars way too much the last few days, to the point that the thought of being trapped in a bar without an escape route (the Mad Scientist refused to guarantee me a ride home in a couple of hours) made me quail. So I apparently missed seeing a ton of cool people. Drat.

The Mad Scientist lived up to his nickname (the "mad" part of it, anyway) by staying awake all night so that he could attend the Black Friday sales early, early in the morning. As a result, I now have a nice LCD 17" monitor--a bit smaller than my old, monstrous monitor, but I am adjusting to it--I like that it takes so much less energy and so much less space. I moved my office plant (yes, it's even an office plant "type" of plant) from the very top of my desk (where it got direct light maybe 1/2 hour of the day, but also indirect light) down to sit behind the monitor (where it's basking in the sunlight now). I think it's in shock. The Mad Scientist also purchased us a 27" LCD HD TV (say that ten times fast!). He'd hoped to get the mad-crazy-insane deal of a 32" for the same price, but ended up getting just a very good deal because they were sold out of the insane-deal ones. It is fantastic! Now we're suddenly seeing channels we've never gotten before and the reception on the HD channels is freaking amazing. We'll have to have people over soon for movie watching and popcorn. The Mad Scientist is currently lying on the couch "watching football with his eyes closed" on his amazing new TV.

I got Spec the Halls launched. A couple of submissions and subscriptions to the weekly newsletter have trickled in. I'm still metaphorically biting my nails a bit, but not too badly. Those of you who might want to follow along should send an email to specthehalls@gmail.com with "Subscription" in the subject line, if you haven't already.

And right now, I'm feeling very thankful that we didn't get in the threatened coding project on Friday, so I have a nice long weekend of relaxing ahead of me. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
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Between the most recent Project From Hell, socializing late at night, and trying to Get Stuff Done (note: lack of sleep may lead to Gratuitous Capitalization), I haven't felt fully rested for more than a week...until this morning. Ah, there is little that is better in this world than that wonderful feeling of waking up naturally in a warm bed beside a purring cat, stretching, and knowing that you can just lie there for a bit, waiting for your mind to wake up and thinking about what you'll be doing this day.

Yesterday I was so tired during work that I actually crawled underneath my cubicle desk and curled up into a little ball for a few minutes. Yes, one of my stress/exhaustion/fatigue reactions is to hide under things, preferably desks. This is something I have done for most of my life. I find it oddly comforting. The Mad Scientist has had to talk me out from under my desk on more than one occasion.

I was getting to the irrational-tired stage, which is one of the more dangerous states for the Abra to be in (Kansas is another). So, because I knew that I'd have to be going out to see the awesome [livejournal.com profile] brent_woodfill, briefly in the States for the holidays, I ended up taking a much-needed nap instead of going to Tae Soo Do. I can't even successfully beat myself up about this choice (and trust me, usually I'm pretty good about beating myself up for what I consider to be failures), so I'm pretty sure it was the right one.

It ended up being [livejournal.com profile] malcubed, [livejournal.com profile] brent_woodfill, the Mad Scientist ([livejournal.com profile] elfdope) and myself. It sounds like the opening to a joke: "A neuroscientist, an archaeologist, a chemist, and a writer walk into a bar...." Really, though, it just led to good conversations. I'm so glad I know interesting people.

Tomorrow, the Spec the Halls: A Winter Celebration of the Weird and the Fantastic opens for submissions. I'm all a-flutter! What if nobody submits? What if so many people submit that I can't keep up? Anyway, the guidelines are here, and if you're interested in getting the weekly email, which will contain contest news and links to featured submissions, you should send an email to specthehalls@gmail.com with "Subscription" in the subject line.

A couple of days ago, I also made some very delicious Peanutty Chicken. Which I think could also be easily adapted to a vegetarian/vegan version with firm tofu.
Peanutty Chicken Recipe )

Yes, I'm trying to post about my Actual Life more often. The posts may be rather disjointed, as that's what my life frequently feels like.
abracanabra: (self-improving software)
Yup. That there's one of my goals for the next year, and why wait 'til then? I live in a city, and I like living in a city, but it's about time I learned to take advantage of it properly. As is, I feel rather backwards. Oh, I take advantage of a lot of the wonderful things about the Twin Cities--ethnic foods, the Mississippi River, citywide events, free or next-to-nothing lectures and classes--but usually it's by default rather than because I'm seeking out the wonder. My photograph safaris (when it's warm enough out) have helped me to find the unique, the random, the irreplaceable in my neighborhood, and I want to extend that to all of the Twin Cities.

Change starts now. To begin with, I'm going to seek out Christmassy celebrations in the Twin Cities--the Ice Palace, the Macy's display, the biggest gingerbread house ever in the MoA, Holidazzle.... This may be a horrible thing for the Mad Scientist, who's quite a Grinch; every year I have to fight him tooth and nail just to get a Christmas tree in the door. I haven't quite won the battle yet this year, as we will probably have to take the tree down before Christmas unless we can find someone to housesit the beginning of our Christmas break or to swing by and water the damn thing 2-3 times a day, reliably. Heaven help me when he figures out that I plan on actually decorating the entire house for Christmas. Anybody else got any tips about Christmassy-type celebrations that I should seek out in the Twin Cities?

More generally, though--I'm quite seriously contemplating getting a tourist guide to the Twin Cities so that I can fully appreciate it. In the meantime, however, I'm planning on taking exploring (at a leisurely pace of perhaps one or two a month) the museums and centers and zoos and interesting restaurants and whatnot. Many of these places have free days (irksomely, many on Thursdays, when I have Tae Soo Do classes), I can go to a limited number of restaurants for free as part of the mystery shop program I'm in, and the public library system has a great new system, the Museum Adventure Pass (duration unknown, funded by Macy's) allowing people to "check out" free passes for four to a certain number of events. Today we got to go to the Science Museum, which was a lot of fun, though we didn't go to the BodyWorlds exhibit, because Holy Exorbitant Pricing, Batman! I think next I'll be going to the Minnesota Zoo.

I'm entirely willing to share the free tickets obtained from the library, or to have company on my "free day" adventures.

The List of Library-Sponsored Free Locations )
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I had a lot of fun with the Hwa Rang Do ladies last night...and hanging out with other people afterwards.

So much fun, in fact, that my hangover woke me up this morning. Still tipsy, I staggered to the bathroom and acquired a glass of water and several painkillers before trying to go back to sleep and succeeding when the painkiller finally kicked in.

The entire day has felt off-kilter, not least because I also had to work today.

I did have fun, though!
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Instead of going to Cahoots, am staying at home to decompress, try to catch up on email, and get some minimum maintenance stuff done around the house, as this is my one day off a week. That's right, my one day off that I wouldn't even have if I hadn't stood extra-firm and insisted that I needed a day off. Really, I need more like two weeks off, but having an unexpected couple of days off in the middle of the week really helped to restore my sanity. More on that later, I suppose....

[livejournal.com profile] chesh, thanks for the invite to your housewarming party, and your spiced rum is awesome. I like it way too much. I need the recipe. ...Wait, no! I should not have that recipe....

On the other hand, [livejournal.com profile] mischief03, I do need the recipe for the hot rum toddies that you had [livejournal.com profile] chesh make, because they were deliciously tasty.

And I should remember that some people do actually like my backrubs, and I should maybe think about volunteering them more often (assuming that isn't the reason that [livejournal.com profile] chesh's back is not feeling so good today).

Also, I was un-hung-over this morning, though I could very much tell that I was drinking yesterday by the shaky need-food-now feeling in my belly. So I fed myself bacon and scrambled eggs and wheat toast with butter and a huge glass of orange juice. I watched PBS cooking shows. Then I napped. And now I'm feeling entirely myself again, reading email and listening to Fatboy Slim. It is raining outside, so the plan to walk around the Very Steep Roof is out for the day.

Tonight, will be going to [livejournal.com profile] chadvalentine's birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant that I've never been. Then there will be an early-to-bed for me, since I am back to working tomorrow.

In other news, I have been playing around with Google Calendars and enjoying it muchly. More on that later, as well.
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...and I plan on living here during the heat of summer. I've got a laptop, I'm allowed to bring my water bottle inside (and even coffee, should I feel inclined to purchase it from the coffee shop on the ground floor level). They have wi-fi. What else do I need?

Wait. Better hours.

To be fair, the Central Library has better hours than most of the other ones, but it still closes tonight at 5 p.m., and it isn't open tomorrow (tragedy!). I would like to be able to stay here until the need for food drives me out to hunt the hot streets of downtown Minneapolis, but no. They will kick me out at a "civilized" hour, and then I will melt.

Also, what shall I do with myself tomorrow? I guess if all else fails I'll hunker down in the basement with my laptop and my writing, but--basically, I'm pretty much fair game for *any* inexpensive plan that will keep me out of the heat this weekend. I don't much feel like going to a bar, but that might end up being the thing tonight, I guess....

Yesterday, I ended up hanging out with a fair number of people in the air-conditioned comfort of [livejournal.com profile] malcubed and [livejournal.com profile] chesh's apartment, playing with my laptop, chatting to people, and playing a little bit of penta-go, a game that I am horrible at. That was nice. And air-conditioned.
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Watching a squirrel sunbathe is remarkably restful, even though I did start to wonder whether he was actually dead.

Though I love clouds and gray days, they lasted for too long. The sight of blue sky gladdens my heart. I suppose that makes me fickle.

The cat's are all like, "Sun? What the hell's that?" Nameless has taken to prowling windowsills, and Foundling flops down on the hardwood floor in the middle of patches of sun.

Huh. Just called 911 on "some dude just climbed in through the window of that house across the alley."

And as quickly as it came, the blue sky seems to be going away.

Writing a scene involving blueberry pancakes makes me really want to make blueberry pancakes. Unfortunately, I have no blueberries. Curse you, grocery-shopping man!

Curry's even better the second day. Tasty redcurrymushroomsbeefpeasbambooshootscrushedtomatos. Mmm.

And after lunch.... )

Kittens

Nov. 8th, 2005 12:51 pm
abracanabra: (Default)



Went out last night to the Saloon and saw many folks, which was good. The people-watching was good. I don't get out of the house for social things as much as I'd like, but I understand that that is a sacrifice that I've chosen to make to pursue other goals. *sniff* Still, it came out (with drink and coatcheck) to about the cost of a movie ticket, and I really enjoyed dancing hard and hanging out with people including [livejournal.com profile] malcubed, [livejournal.com profile] chesh, [livejournal.com profile] fayde, [livejournal.com profile] molly_grrl, [livejournal.com profile] raoulthegoatboy, [livejournal.com profile] chad_valentine, and [livejournal.com profile] gunn and all her (human) kittens. She has many, many kittens, but the one in the photograph is mine.
More photos of Miz Gunn )

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Abra Staffin-Wiebe

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