Supper with Dad: I arrived at the Cracker Barrel very close to on-time. Dad had been there for 3 hours, he said. He had stopped by the shop, between where he lives & where we met, where his moto guzzi is getting repaired. He had the day off and had the time to spend. We had a nice supper, conversation, etc. He showed me the bottle stoppers that he'd made. One of them had a corkscrew in it, very clever.
I had to take my leave just after 9 pm; I was really tired. I stopped for gas and a soda (caffeine to help keep me awake) & got home just after 10 pm. I stopped to talk to Chris a bit & then went to bed. I vaguely woke up around 5 am but dozed & slept until my alarm went off.
Website of the day: Need a laugh? Watch long enough for the mike to be placed in front of the guy in the middle.
gaming: Tonight's it Mutants & Masterminds again.
books: Finished Diamond Throne, book 1 of Elenium & started The Ruby Knight, book 2.
clothes: black jeans, grey suede boots, ~watered cotton purple/blue blouse, paui shell pendant on long silver chain, paui shell ring, fem-power ring & I forgot to put in earrings. I gathered the hair from my crown into a braid with the rest of my hair loose.
Labels: Dad, Elenium, Mutants and Masterminds, The Ruby Knight, website
Mutants & Mastermind Game: the last two villains (Phantasia & Hive) went down surprising fast. It took one round for Totem (my character) to smell out the villainess, another to strike her..and get fascinated. Another round for other heroes, Lady Celtic (Rosemary) & Momenta Mori (Nathan) to target the area where they had seen Totem swing and stun her enough to break the fascination. Which freed Totem enough to finish her off. Hive was pretty easy for Wraith (Chris) to take out with his Wraith Bolts. After we transported the rest of the Thulians to our temporary cells in the Freedom Hall, we entertained ourselves by helping the Feds arrest/capture some white supremacists. Wraith pretty much intimidated them with his fearsome presence so David only devoted about 5 minutes to it.
We took a look at the diary that was causing such a fuss. The contents were not anything special, although there was a mention of a meeting with Goring regarding the super-soldier program. However, while scanning the diary, Momenta Mori got a glimpse of the meeting & Goring's words, which indicated the Iron Cross, a Nazi super-villain, had not been created by the Nazis (he had supposedly been the first success of their super-soldier program). So we went looking for that bunker, which had not been found after WWII to look for clues. We had just gotten into the suite of rooms when Iron Cross showed up & started pounding his way through the ground to reach it. It was 10 pm so we'll do that fight in 2 weeks.
Diana missed the game because she got bitten at work & had to go get shots. I need to email her & find out how she's doing.
Fire: On the way to David's, I got worried. I heard about a fire and it sounded like it wasn't far from Rosemary's. I couldn't call because I was already on the road & had to wait. Rosemary hadn't called David, and she has a cell phone, so I was hopeful that everything was okay. It turned out that the fire was alarmingly close but not at her house. It made for a crummy afternoon for her, but not as bad as it could have been.
books: I finished Single in Surburbia on the way home. It was pretty good. Last night & this morning, I finished the third book in Dangerous. I read some more of the Pillow Book on the way into work. For lunch reading (if I don't feel like writing a letter or working on Totem's high priest), I packed Marriage Most Scandalous.
clothes: black jeans, grey turtleneck (concealed when I wear the tan, brown & black Girbaud sweater), black suede shoes, onyx pendant & earrings, black stone ring, fem-power ring, Celtic knot ring, & my hair up high in a bun/ponytail affixed with two chopsticks, themselves black decorated with tan, Chinese-styel plum & pheasant scene.
Labels: Dangerous, dog bite, fire, Marriage Most Scandalous, Mutants and Masterminds, Single in Suburbia, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon
Mutants & Masterminds game: Just when we've almost beat those superpowered neo-nazis into the ground, who shows up?! Thulish superpowered folks. Wraith was busy creating duplicates, which were getting in a couple shots & then getting destroyed. Luckily, with his teleportation he could take villains to holding cells in Freedom Hall once we'd knocked them unconscious. That kept any that regained consciousness from rejoining the fight (like Rebel who kept popping back up like a jack-in-the-box). Troll & Lady Celtic joined the fight (Diana was back in town & Rosemary didn't have nightcall - poor Diana was so tired, they'd changed her schedule so that she worked on Thursday & it had been a looong day).
Having those two helped. Lady Celtic used tk to grab the point of contention, a diary, before she got grabbed. She managed to create a pocket dimension to drop the diary into so that no one could grab it from her. Not bad considering she was blind & deaf as well as grappled. Once more Wraith scared somebody (in this case the three pilots of the Thule flying saucer/device/thingy). When that works, it works very well.
His dice turned bad, though. Against one bad guy, he had trouble rolling above a 7. On a d20. *shakes head in sympathy*
We had to call time on the fight. All of us have to go to work in the morning so we only play until 10 pm. We'll continue the fight next time. That makes it a 3 game session fight. Whew.
books: I finished Trickster's Queen this morning. I'm getting toward the end of Odds Against.
clothes: cold day today so I dressed warmly. It's the suede boots again (it feels so odd to wear something with any kind of heel, even this low bootheel), black jeans, black knit shirt (embroidered with Bugs Bunny & Tasmanian Devil playing baseball) completely concealed under a red cotton sweater with ribbed turtleneck. For jewelry, I'm wearing a pendant that Richard gave me years ago, a quartz point carved with a feather; on that silver, twisted rope chain. That's the nice thing about winter, I wear turtlenecks, etc so it's a good time to pull out my long chains. My earrings today are silver feather charms & quartz chips. I'm wearing both the red stone ring & the black stone one on the same finger & the opposite hand I'm wearing the ~rope band.
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Labels: Mutants and Masterminds, Odd Against, Trickster's Queen
No raptor this morning. There was a dark clump in that tree, but I think that it was squirrel nest.
Fingernails: The number shorter than yesterday due to chipping, clipping or ripping is 7. I only clipped 2 really, the others either ripped or I chipped & then clipped. Only the middle finger on my right hand has a fingernail of anything resembling length. My left thumbnail is the shortest; showing only a thin line of white nail beyond the nail bed.
Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds last night. Only three of us showed (Diana's out of town & Rosemary had night call) but we continued along the plotline anyway. Dave sent us 'news items' from Freedom City yesterday to help prepare us for the events of the evening. Supervillains that we'd captured had been released thanks to the unconstitutional treatment by the previous prison warden. So we had to fight them again. We got lucky and took two of the hardest out quickly. The others were giving us problems. But while my character is beaten & bloody, so is one of the three remaining on their side (they started with 5, we had 3). And Wraith is creating more duplicates & that always helps.
Books: I finished NtFbF, finally. It was okay. Maybe if I'd read straight through it would have been better. I like the protagonist pretty well so I don't know what my problem with the book was. I've started Shakespeare's Champion. I took the department car to be inspected so I had extra time to read morning (waiting for transport back to office).
It's really the 2nd book in the series so I don't know why it wasn't listed in the ealier books, ie Shakespeare's Trollop. They're a mystery series set in Shakespeare, Arkansas. The protagonist is Lily Bard, a rape survivor who cleans houses and works out. Due to her experiences, she's definitely different. I kind of like her.
clothes It's cool but not as cold today but I still decided to wear a turtleneck & vest. The turtleneck is Carolina blue and the vest is navy corduroy embroidered with flowers, vines & leaves in tan, cream, sage, pale blue & lilac (the flower petals are filled in with the lilac, cream & blue). It goes well with the navy slacks and dark brown loafers. The navy trouser socks are barely visible. I went with the Celtic anthromorph pendant on one of my longer silver chains, plus Celtic knot ring & ~celtic knot earrings. On the other hand I'm wearing a braided silver ring. Since I washe d my hair this morning my bangs actually look good. I braided my hair to keep it out of the way. It won't dry but at least it won't be making my back cold.
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Labels: fingernails, Mutants and Masterminds, Shakespeare's Champion
High school burned I cried about it today. To a certain extent, I'm not sure why. It's been 20 years. Okay, so it was a main component of my life for 4 years and I have a lot of memories. Still, while I was never tormented, at least not to the extent of actuall bullying, those were not my 'glory days.' For 2 of those years I had glasses & braces. I was not one of the popular or 'in' kids. I was too weird & too different for that to happen. I wasn't a complete outcast either; I'm too nice & friendly (it sounds egotistical but it's true, mostly) for that to happen.
work: I finally finished the org chart, complete with temporaries, students & vacant positions. Whee. That's done for at least a week.
Tatting I gave up and continued the snowflake/wreath from Lyn Morton's 6th book of Easy Tatting. You can barely tell that I made a mistake.
Books: I've finished the 6th Grantville Gazette, with the usual caveat about the fact articles. I've also read most of Sinful, a romance anthology. I had read one of the stories before & I haven't finished one of them (thus the mostly read). I re-read Mystique by Amanda Quick. Right now, I'm re-reading Damsel in this Dress by Marianne Stillings.
Clothes: black slack, black polo, black knee highs, black sequined flats, black stone ring, Celtic knot ring, dragon band, Celtic knot posts (found the earring back, yay!), & andromorph pendant on long silver chain. Once again, I've French braided my hair, using the metal Celtic knot on black elastic to hold it.
Gaming: I completely forgot that tonight is Mutants & Masterminds. Luckily, Diana is giving me a ride so I can stop by home to pick up my books & stuff.
Labels: 6th book of Easy Tatting, Damsel in this Dress, EGHS fire, Mutants and Masterminds, Mystique, Sinful, tatting
Confession time: I'm depressed. I have been for about a month. It's not a 'danger to myself' or even a 'just give up & die' sort. It's closer to a funk. I can still get to work, it's just a little harder. It's harder to do the things that I know are good for me; exercise & proper diet. It's hard even to do some of the things that I love to do; on-line roleplaying & typing notes for my home rpg's.
I even have episodes of happiness; but sooner or later, the funk comes back. There are signs that I have learned to recognize: I want to sleep more, I get more obsessive about reading, and I want more sugar & chocolate for chemical reasons & not my sweet tooth.
All I can do is keep looking for the good in things; life, friends and so on. Although maybe if I had a good cathartic cry that would help, too.
today's outfit: soft, black polo I got on sale from Sear's; black slacks I found at GCI (need to be hemmed but today I made do with double-sided tape - & I swear these fit me bettern when I bought them, today I think I need a belt); black loafers that are going into the trash when I get home (I can see the big toe on my right foot); small Celtic earrings, Celtic knot ring, rope band ring, Celtic andromorph pendant on long silver chain & ponytail.
Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds last night. Good game, my character Totem has a new move, thanks to Cybernaught. She stands between two assailants & get them to shoot each other. We rescued the Mayor & other dignitaries of the city & caught Warden.
Wanna go curl up & cry now.
Labels: emotions, Mutants and Masterminds
Apex Chemical Fire
Okay, so my only connection (that I know of) to Apex is that it's where one of my family reunions is held. Still, it's not that far from the family farm. Luckily, only 18 people (at last report) have suffered ill effects, unless you include being evacuated.
Platelet donation: went smoothly yesterday. Since I've had time crunch issues in the past, they went ahead & did the faster version, that you apparently cannot do if you've given whole blood within the past 8 weeks. Sure enough, with the yogurt two hours before donation, I didn't even need the Tums. Yay! The movie,
Dreamer, had started when I sat down but I didn't feel like watching it. Instead, I meditated, watched it without the earphones, a little. I was proud of myself. I recognized
Oded Fehr, even if I couldn't remember his name.
Mutants & Masterminds: The game got started a little late. Between my late arrival and Diana's late, her new job lasts until 8 pm & the game starts at 7 pm. It was her first day on the job & maybe it won't always be until 8 pm. Maybe.
Anyway, we did a little clean up from the last session; raided the villain's secret identity apartment with the police. Of course, it was really a cover & not her home or hide out so only some stolen artwork was found. Although the magic formula letting Green Ronin find Totem's valley & getting her past the valley defenses was a good find. Those went into the Freedom League vaults.
Then we started the next story. It appears that the former warden of the Blackstone prison (supervillains only) has gone a little nuts & has taken Freedom City's mayor, deputy mayor & the senior Federal Judges hostage. Now it appears that maybe it's him & maybe it's not. We had to stop in the middle of the fight; that whole 'have to work the next day' thing.
Today's outfit: I decided to dress up a little; basically because I don't really like the last pair of clean slacks. Anyway, I'm wearing the bead & sequin black flats; navy knee-hi's (which just look dark); black, ribbed, short-sleeved sweater; ankle/floor-length crepe skirt, more-or-less vertically striped, printed to look sort of like zig-zag strips of different fabrics in brown, olive, tan, black, tan, dark teal & burgundy; silver cobra-link bracelet; female figure ring; silver band of flowers ring; silver fairy & flower pendant on silver chain; silver 3-hoop earrings; & my hair is in a bun/ponytail held by a carved, almost purple, wooden hairstick.
Tatting: I managed to fix my error from the other day. It only required completely unwinding one shuttle & one thread winder...twice. Once to unthread the misplaced ring, then again to re-thread it once the missed tatting was completed. Whee!
Mild Rant: Stupid pedometer! It's reset itself. I just don't believe that it only took 85 steps to get from home to the work. Now it's at 60 steps. Grrrr!
Labels: Apex chemical fire, blood donation, Mutants and Masterminds, news, tatting
Car Free Day and as usual for me, I took the bus to work. I managed to catch it this morning. Good for me, right?
Tatting News I'm 3/4 through that Konior cross. I would be farther but I had to retro-tat an entire chain last night. And I've just noticed that I've tatted about 2 rings & a chain too far. *sigh*
today's outfit: light grey Dendarii Mercenaries covert ops polo, black jeans, black ~trouser socks (these are only ankle-high, thicker & have flowers woven into the texture), black tassel loafers (the brown ones are the ones that disintegrated), moonstone earrings & ring, trimoon moonstone pendant, fem-power ring (female figure) & my hair was braided but I unbraided it after lunch.
Today has been a good day considering it started out as a morning after. What's really sad is that I didn't have a night before. We just played Mutants & Masterminds (rescued my character's homeland from an unscrupulous archealogist). I had no alcohol, just water & diet soda.
Since I get 10 minutes of walking, before & after work all I have to do is get an extra 10 minutes somewhere during the day to get 30 minutes. I managed to do that at lunch today. Yay me.
Books: I just finished Kick @$$, an anthology. Speaking of which, what happened to my ability to underline? I really enjoyed all 4 stories. I wasn't certain about Jacey Ford but her story grew on me & I'm glad that I read it.
Now I've started Death Waxed Over, a mystery by Tim Myers. It's the 3rd in the Candle Shop mysteries. I rather like them.
Labels: bus, Death Waxed Over, Kick A$$, Mutants and Masterminds, tatting
iPod Disaster
My iPod mini remains blank. It charged not at all in 24 hours. I weep, I moan, I wail. I may be about to spend $60 to get the battery replaced.
Car Update:
They have ordered the parts to fix the AC in Chris's car. They can get 6 of the 10. The other 4 are on back order. Guess who's renting a minivan to go to Tallahassee. Time to make phone calls & double check websites.
New Taste Sensation (for me):
Nestle Crunch Dark Stixx; I bought a package last night on the way to my Mutants & Masterminds game at David's house. I finally ate it for my morning snack. They're small but tasty. I love dark chocolate, that makes a difference.
Today's Outfit:
Burgundy slit/keyhole neck tank with a double row of single seed beads lining the neck under (indoors where it's cool enough) a v-necked, black, crochet sweater with diamonds of 4-petal flowers on the torso & closely crocheted rows on the sleeves, over lightweight black, cotton slacks and the leather sandals again. The sandals don't really match, they're buff & tan but until my heels heal.... Right now, my hair is loose but I will braid it again later. I'm wearing the silver Celtic knot earrings (the dangles, not posts) with the smaller Celtic knot ring (4 loops), silver flattened, ~rope band, and the silver pendant with Celtic knot, tree, moon & star tangled up together on a short silver chain; so the pendant rests just at my clavicle.
Tatting
I did some tatting last night. I started the tea cup from Contemporary Tatting by Judith Connors. I made the saucer from variegated blue (the same blue that I used for Dad's cross for Father's day). I didn't have enough thread on the shuttles to start the cup so I made some flowers instead.
I worked on it again at lunch (after reading a little of Oath of Swords by David Weber). I've wound thread onto the shuttles & done 3 of the 6 rings that go up one side. That leaves the top, the other side & as a separate stage, the handle.
CC, a gentleman who works for facilities, came by while I was working. So I showed him what I was doing. He had never heard or seen of it before. I also gave him a little 6 picot/7 knot flower.
Mugged?
The squirrels & sparrows around here are quite bold, almost tame. A squirrel came up to my table while I was eating lunch. He was about a chair-length away and kept watching me, to see if I was going to drop anything. Then another diner started throwing bits of the tortilla from her wrap and the birds went wild. I was busy tatting so I don't know if the squirrels manage to grab any.
Labels: animals, Chris's car, Food, iPod, Mutants and Masterminds, Oath of Swords, tatting, tatting book
