I am feeling very brain dead.

I had great fun at the fair yesterday but I am very tired today. I was on the fairground by 8:40 am (it would have been earlier but I turned the wrong way to reach parking). I left about 10 pm. I would have been home by 10:40 but they had closed I40 westbound down to the shoulder 2 miles before my exit. Wheee! 12 minutes to drive 2 miles.

I spent lots of money. I bought food like hot dogs, honey cotton candy, maple cotton candy, fudge, deep-fried oreos (not so great), sodas to drink; presents for friends & co-workers; and some stuff for myself, like lip balm, beeswax & a plush bush baby. Although I may give the wax & the bushbaby to someone as a present.

I saw the pajamas that beat my booties for 1st place. The volunteer had to look for it. It is in a different cabinet (with the stuff on hangers). It is nice looking & very well-made, from what I could see.

I ran into people I know, like Mitzi & Stephanie. We sat & talked for awhile. Saw one of the guys who'd been working on this construction next to my office. I showed him & his wife the booties that I had made & made a tatted flower for her, to demonstrate tatting. My friend, Bill E. was working at the vegetables/fruit competition table of course. He was parked in front of the 1st place watermelon. I heard his spiel so many times I could repeat it word for word. Of course, I stopped & talked to a lot of people in the Village.

I took my time through the exhibition buildings. I saw the NC Wildlife's exhibit and the Agriculture tent and the Science tent (a lot of people from NC State). One little girl, a 9-year-old, demonstrated her Berry Banana smoothy, a way to get more fruit in one's diet & why that's a good thing. She gave out samples & the recipe. I'd like to try it with something substituted for the maraschino cherries.

I won a teddy bear & a butterfly from the Guessers. One of them did get my weight right, though that scale had better be wrong. One of them was close enough on my age. They all guessed that I'm in my 30's though. I need to wear a t-shirt & not a close-fitting turtleneck next time.

I did a couple errands on the Midway for people in the Village. Well, Beth's plumeria was in the Exhibit hall but Anne's flashing thingy was on the Midway. She wanted it for her magic wand. It's very, um, appropriate. She does a lovely, um Glenda the Good witch style fairy godmother thing. It's hard to describe unless you've seen her do it.

I missed the folk music (no watch), the blacksmith shop, NC State's milk/ice cream/shake & the Garden entries.

This morning is really cold. There was a light frost on my car. I wore a sweater & a jacket & I was still cold. I am still cold, even with a sweater over my blouse.

I listened saw Pink's new single Trouble. I like it. Here's a link to it
http://www.hyfntrak.com/pink/AFF708/
Click to launch player & then click on the video tab
The only problem is that the video is very good so it distracts me from the song. So I'm listening to the audio to catch all the words instead of most of them.

Okay it's noon. Where's Ashley? I want my lunch.

Missed the meeting on Employee Excellence Wednesday, between Ashely not showing up until 3:50 (meeting supposed to end at 4pm) & Mike remembering our meeting at 3:40, there was no way I could get away. I admit to being disappointed. But Mike & I did hammer out what to do about the new closet & some ideas about re-arranging the hall. Plus I talked to Ashley about what I wanted her to work on while I was out yesterday.

I found one of my Ren shirts (the one with the yard long sleeves) and my bodice. My bodice now meets easily in the back, that whole 20# less thing. I also discovered a huge grease spot on the front of my back-up Ren shirt. Luckily my raw silk one worked instead, under the bodice at least. The bodice hid the blouse's buttons.

While Chris worked night call Friday night, I packed my bags; one for clothes, a small tote for tatting & my fanny pack holding purse-type stuff like checkbook, driver's license, money, cell phone & lip balm. I also packed 2 of the books that I bought at the Bullshead, thanks to the 25% off for staff sale. I read a little of Monstrous Regiment in between a little tv. I headed for bed a little after 10:30. Anitra called me to let me know to show up early at their house because they planned to leave for the fair by 8:30 am due to parking issues. The Village of Yesteryear doesn't open until 10 am & they don't have to be in place until about 9:45 am.

I stuffed Ruis, the plush raccoon I won at the fair last year, to sleep with at Steve & Anitra's house in my bag at the last minute. I woke up at 5:44 am. Why? I don't know. But that did mean that I had plenty of time to shower, get dressed, read a little & still leave the house at 7:40 am. I was still half asleep so I took Wade Ave to 440 to Capitol instead of taking 540 to Capitol. Oh well, I still made it to their house in just over 40 minutes. I would have been faster but I stopped at a stop & rob for a diet vanilla pepsi & some banana nut bread for breakfast.

We made it to the fairgrounds in good time. And some nice soul had brought home-made bread to the break room. I ate a partial slice of the banana nut, half a slice of the pumpkin & the orange. They were delicious. The weather was gorgeous & the fair was packed. I started on some little pieces in the bright yellow. I made one for Linda B, a tiny cross. I'm planning to try & give all the Village 'kids' a little tatted item. So far I've made a 6-pointed star w/ gold beads, a pair of candles, a lopsided cross (no one will be getting that, I believe), a bell, a gingerbread man in yellow & orange & an angel. I got so sick of yellow by Sunday.

Steve & Anitra fed me (they usually do on Fair weekends) & we all crashed when we got to their house Saturday night. Since her layoff in March & only finding part-time work since, Anitra has been under a lot of stress. As a result, she was tired starting Friday. Plus, since she's part-time she's at the fair on leave without pay. Sales have not been abysmal (last year was simply horrid) but they haven't been outstanding either. We demonstrated a lot & gave away a lot of those 4 picot flowers.

We use multi-color knit-cro-sheen to demo and it makes pretty flowers. People really appreciate it them, too, especially the kids.

One couple, Asian perhaps Chinese, whose son watched Anitra & I for quite awhile a couple years ago (we remembered his face), had their picture taken with us. I'm not certain why their son wantd a picture of his parents w/ Anitra & I, but we didn't mind posing for it. I always kind of wonder about these people who are visiting from other countries who come to the State Fair. Why did they come? What do they think of it? Anitra said that a lot of them have relatives in the area & they time their visit to coincide with the fair. I still wonder though. Anitra learned the Swedish word for tatting from one of those foreign visitors.

I filled in for Carrie Croghan last night so she could leave her booth & go eat supper. She makes these lovely knitted caps, shawls, and gloves. I wish I could afford one of those shawls. Last night she was making (for the 2nd time, the 1st one had been Saturday) a dog's sweater. This one was for a chihuahua; the owner brought him by the booth for measurements so that Carrie could knit the sweater allowing for his 'anatomy.' Carrie wasn't back from fetching her supper when I checked for her in the break room but she showed up soon afterward. Much to my relief. He was a cute dog but still. Carrie had started the sweater & she checked for fit over the little dog's head. It was perfect & it looked good on him. He was a pale dog with 'cow spots' and the black yarn with the multi-color/fawn threads contrasted/complemented him nicely. He was okay with the strands of pink in the yarn, according to his owner, because 'he's secure in his masculinity.'

This is already a really long post. I'll add more either later today or tomorrow, depending on my energy level. Oh, this weekend I wrote a letter to my mom, finally replying to her letter from late September & wrote another entry in the journal for Leela.

I still can't find my two Ren shirts (the ones I've been looking to wear this weekend). So I'll need to work on my back up shirt tonight. I have one more place to look for the bodice that I made. If I can't find it, then oh well, my loss. My friend Metra may have a bodice to loan me. She's going to try & locate it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I finished March Upcountry last night & started March to the Sea. I'll pick up Monstrous Regiment after work or on a break. I would get it at lunch but we (Angela, Linda, Cheryl & maybe Paula) are going to McAllister's for lunch today.

Chris connected his Xbox last night & played Halo for awhile. He seems to like it. He's threatened that he'll make me play it. He's going to look for more games at Edward McKay's this weekend, specifically Mech Assault.

I had trouble getting up this morning. As a result I have not had breakfast. I need to go get some cash & buy something.

My but paint fumes are certainly pungent. I have the office door opens & that helps, but it still is trying to give me a headache. There was a right nip to the air this morning. Even the light jacket wasn't quite enough. I declined to get a heavier jacket because I suspect that the light jacket will be more than I need this afternoon.

I finished Ashes of Victory last night, although I skimmed quite a bit. Now I've started March Upcountry by Weber & Ringo. Next I'll read March to the Sea. I'm ordering March to the Stars from the Bullshead Bookshop. I'll hopefully get it in time for the staff & faculty sale on Wednesday.

No storage trip today. Linda will be going without me next week (I have the day off & I'm going to the Fair). Then sometime the week after that we'll be taking the last year's boxes out there. Have I mentioned 'whee' yet?

I did in fact look for my clothes last night, the ones that I'll need to wear this weekend. I found the skirt (not hard, I wear that one a lot). I found my back-up shirt, and a possible last ditch blouse. I did not find my bodice (it's too short but it's better than nothing) or my other 2 blouses. I put the last load of clothes in the dryer, so that's only 3 tasks I did not work on last night. I do have an excuse. I still was not feeling 100%.

Note to self: do not start the day with 4 glasses of juice. My system has been upset all day today as a result. Mind, the paint fumes from next door probably aren't helping.

Yesterday's task list:
Laundry: 1+ load in dryer, last load in washer (Most of the load in-between went to line dry instead of in the dryer)
Clothes: not looked for
Adventure: started writing it
Supplement: did not
Tatting: did not

But I finished In Enemy Hands. And I spent so much time in the bathroom today that I finished Echoes of Honor.

This week I am (to misquote the Bard) 'eating well but not wisely'. I'm eating whatever I feel like this week. I may gain a pound or two but right now, I just don't care. I will care when I weigh myself on Monday. Next week I'm going to the State Fair so I'll be lucky not to gain a pound or two that week as well. C'est la vie. I'll worry about it after the Fair.

Since the activities for the Students for the Advancement of Race Relations week in the Pit were rained out, the assorted a cappella groups performed in Lenoir instead. They sang just upstairs from the Ram Cafe. Since I ate lunch 11:40 to 12:40 I got to hear about 4 groups. Very nice but some of them need to either learn for the back up to sing quieter or the front singer to sing louder.

I'm finished with FBMO 90's for another month (yeah!). Actually, I'm finished for more than a month. Someone else is learning to do them next month so I don't have to do them.

I got a lot done at work today. It just feels like I didn't. I only have to look at my reminder page to know that I accomplished quite a bit. My reminder page is a sheet of scrap paper that I use to do things like take phone messages, until I'm ready to copy them neatly onto phone message slips; write reminders of tasks; write out thoughts about the tasks I need to do; & so on. If nothing else, it's a good use of faxed spam.

OneCard IT brought me Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I don't know where they got them but now there is only 1 left out of the 10 that they brought this morning. I love Krispy Kreme, but I'm glad that other people came & ate them too. I do not need to eat 10 doughnuts all by myself.

I had sushi again for lunch today. I just wasn't in the mood for the frozen dinner that I brought. It's rainy/misty/drizzly & I'm going to head home.

My stomach has finally recovered from Sunday night's abuse. I left work early, went home, drank lots of soda & sat & nibbled. It's amazing how much that helped. I also ran the dishwasher, started laundry & took out the trash. Instead of cooking meat for burritos, we had Pizza Inn pizza. Chris picked it up on his way home.

I finished Flag in Exile duh. Plus I watched a couple episodes of Battlestar Galactica, ones that I'd seen before & even remembered. They had the 2 part Count Iblis story. Sheba was played by Amelia Flockhart, now I'm wondering if she's Callista Flockhart's mom. There is a resemblance.

We were supposed to playtest the adventure that Diana wrote last night. Joe & Rosemary didn't make it so we watched Josie & the Pussycats and played Munchkin. Diana had never seen 'the greatest movie ever'. Afterwards we loaned it to her so she could show Colt, her SO. John came in late in the movie so he saw the end. We had Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure running in the background while we played Munchkin. I won, btw. It was close though. It took effort to prevent Chris from winning, he was one monster kill away. That's a fun little game.

I stayed up too late again. I have got to get to bed on time tonight. I need my rest. I also need to start taking my vitamin C. I'm going to be exposed to how many thousands of people this weekend?

Tasks:
Finish laundry (1 load out of dryer, 1 into it & 1 into washer)
Find clothes for this weekend (costume: US colonial era)
Tat more to get my fingers in condition
Work on game supplement
Work on game adventure (writing it)

And I've lost another pound. I'm down to 169.5#. I'm wearing a skirt I put away as too small. Yeah! Soon I'll be down to a healthy weight again (~130#).

Chris & Rosemary enjoyed the R.E.M. Concert (anyone know what those letters stand for?) Friday night. Or so Chris told me on Saturday.

I bought Chris's Xbox at Electronic Boutique in Southpoint mall on Friday night, a manufacturer's refurbished one, & a year's warranty for it. Then I stopped by home to put on warmer clothes (change to skirt, slip, leggings & thigh-high boots) & went to PNO. I took a bottle of soda, the remains of the snack food from the Dining Board meeting (there are only so many rice krispy squares I can & should eat), and a tarot deck.

Some good friends whom I haven't seen in a while were there. Garrett showed, Chris H. was there, ditto Don. Of course, Anitra & Steve were there. I met Laura & Scott, newcomers who brought an absolutely faboo vegetable pot pie made with filo dough. There were a couple other newcomers, but I can't remember their names, or if I ever heard them. Mitzi was there for a short time and one girl I know, whose name I cannot remember. Ben & his wife...whose name also escapes me...came by. We stood around on the porch, ate & talked. It was lighter outside, streetlights you know, than inside, plus it was cooler without being cold. Although, that may simply be my impression since I kept fairly warm thanks to my layers. I headed home at 10 pm but read until about 1 am.

This weekend, by skimming, I have read The Honor of the Queen, The Short, Victorious War, Field of Dishonor, 1633, & part of On a Wicked Dawn. Plus I read a little of Call of the 1st Rider.

Saturday errands:
Find character for Richard's game
Adjust character for Rosemary's game (add 5 points of skills)
Wrap Chris's present
Buy paper to wrap Chris's present
Buy supplies to make display for baby booties
Make display
Enter tatted baby booties at State Fairgrounds

I found my character for Richard's game, which we play 2nd Saturday of the month in Morrisville usually at 1pm. He's running a Kalamar, AD&D 3.0 campaign. I just looked in my Kalamar book & there it was. I put the character sheet in a top loading sheet protector & put it in my home games notebook. Easier to find that way.

I figured out that there was one errand I did not have to do. I needed paper to wrap Chris's present, however when I checked the wrapping paper, etc supplies I found a gift bag that was just the right size.

I went to Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores (they asked me to change it to the longer name) to get the supplies to properly display my State Fair entry, tatted baby booties. I bought felt, a circle of plastic canvas, invisible thread & ribbon. Turns out the white ribbon made the booties look dingy so I checked my supplies & found some pastel lavender ribbon that worked fine. I sewed circles of black felt over the plastic canvas using the invisible thread. That was a bigger pain that I expected. I cut one circle the exact size of the canvas & then realized that it would work better if the felt was a little larger than the canvas. I cut the next circle a little larger but went ahead & used the smaller circle. It worked out. I stuffed the booties with scraps of felt, sewed them to the circle with the invisible thread. They can be lifted to be examined but they won't fall off. Then I threaded the ribbon & tied little bows. Chris came home a little late, so we didn't leave home until 12:30.

Guess what! There was a State Game Saturday (fyi if you are not from NC & don't know, the State Fairgrounds are just down the road from the NC State campus). Fortunately we were early enough that the cops were out but the traffic signals were still applicable. Here's another funny thing. There was one other person submitting entries, bears that she had made, in the entire building at the time that I entered. There were at least a half-dozen volunteers, each one handles different categories. What are the odds that the only other person there to submit needs the same volunteer? Pretty good apparently. Our entries are in neighboring categories, so I had to wait for her to be done for the volunteer to take my entry.

Chris & I made it to the game at 1:30. All told, not bad. I did call Kathy, Richard's wife, to tell her that we were going to be late. We played until 4:30, then broke off before the next stage in the game.

Chris had to show Rosemary something at work so we drove to Misys. I waited in the car while they went up to her computer. I sat & duh, read. Then it was off to home, where I took a nap. Chris cooked spaghetti. We watched tv, I read & then cleaned up the dining room table so that we could play there Sunday. I stayed up too late reading, again.

Sunday: Chris & I went grocery shopping then went to eat lunch at Firebird Grill at Southpoint. We almost went to Rockfish but I persuaded Chris that what I wanted was a cheeseburger & I'd get that at Firebird. Home in time to pick up the living room a little. I was wearing a skirt over leggings & my thigh boots. That was a little warm, so I took off the boots & skirt while gaming.

Rosemary is starting a Forgotten Realms, AD&D 3.5, campaign. Sunday was the 1st game session. One theme: Rejanon the aasimar cleric of Torm vouches for the Drow (my character) fighter, again. The players are: Chris (Darvin Museviney human 'priest' of Mystra), Richard (Rejanon), Mike (Dratsab Ykaens, tiefling rogue), Joe (Phaedral, elf ranger) & me (Amber Nightblade, 1/2 Drow). We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot & killed a few goblins. For the jokes in the game: Chris's character is a monk but he prays for spells every morning. Won't he be surprised if he actually gets some. Museviney,or however it's spelled, is an Andromeda joke. He's going to name his son 'Drago', even though he's not Nitzchian. Another one, look at Mike's character's name backwards. Very apropos.

Joe let slip about supper at Rockfish, so that wasn't a surprise. David, from our Monday D&D game & high school bud of Rosemary's, showed & we ended the game at that point. I left with Richard & Mike to go to the restaurant & check on our table. Rosemary, David & Chris left later. That was lucky because I'd forgotten that John expected to meet us at Firebird at 6:30 pm. So they met him when he didn't see us & went to the house. Richard found Kathy at the Barnes & Noble and rejoined us at Rockfish. We sat down about 7:30. Joe couldn't come with us, he had to go have supper with his brother who's leaving town today. Chris opened his presents while we waited for our table. Despite the fact that his presents from Rosemary, Richard, Kathy & I were not on his list, he claims that he is not disappointed. Apparently the Xbox, extra controller, Halo game & Buffy game (the 1st one) make satisfactory gifts. John's present was in his car; back at the house. John bought him Disney's Sleeping Beauty DVD, which was on Chris's list.

The food at Rockfish is incredible. We had calamari (yum!) & barbecue shrimp (I didn't have any myself) for appetizers. Chris had a drink. a peach Rockarita; he wasn't driving so he could. I had talipia (sp?), Chris had catfish, Rosemary had scallops, John had trout, Richard had salmon, & I can't remember what Kathy, Mike, & David had. But it was all good. Then we ordered key lime pie & bread pudding. They use croissants for their bread pudding. Oh wow, that key lime pie & that bread pudding are absolutely fantastic. Too bad I overate. We tried to split the check but Adam, our waiter had made a mistake & as a result it took him like half-an hour to split our checks. We left the restaurant at 10 pm. Later than I'd like the day before I have to go to work.

Rosemary's contacts were bothering her so she took them out. She knew that might happen so she had brought her glasses with her. Which she left at the house. So I drover her car back to our place. When we got there I ran to the bathroom. I will not go into details on what I did there but I left at close to midnight. That's how/why I managed to finish 1633, even with skimming.

Third night in a row, I have not have had enough sleep. I may take this afternoon off just to go home, recover from my over-eating (my stomach is still bothering me) and sleep.

I brought Flag in Exile to work with me. We'll see if I get very far reading it.

I ran into an old colleague as I disembarked the bus this morning. Ginny & I used to work at Peace Goods together. Now she works in Bynum Hall in Graduate Admissions. I told her that we should have lunch together this week & gave her directions to my office.

Wow, this is a long post.

I finished re-reading On Basilisk Station at lunch. Then I worked on the Ala Shan stuff (the supplement I'm writing for Sanguine). After a few false starts it finally started flowing smoothly. Now I just have to type it into the computer (3 guesses why I'm still at work?).

I think I'll stop with what I have so far & work on it some more at home. Bye now.

*insert expletive of choice* I tried to buy my SO's b'day present yesterday. Steve told me that he saw Xboxes on sale for $99 at Wally world. Not at the one off Chapel Hill/Durham Blvd. They didn't even have any in the store. So I went to Best Buy across the parking lot. They don't accept starter checks. *insert range of expletives*

I let my fingers do the walking when I got home. At least one Wally world (aka Wal-mart) has Xboxes in stock, the one in Garner. But they're $179. I think I'll go to Southpoint tonight & talk to the guys at the computer game store. They claim to sell re-furbished ones for $149. I need to see what exactly is the difference. Regardless, I'll pick up the game there (& go to a dollar store to buy some wrapping paper) before going to PNO tonight.

John will not be going with me. He called last night. He's buying Chris's present tonight (a copy of the Sleeping Beauty DVD). I also talked to Kathy, Richard's wife, they are buying Chris a copy of Halo. Richard has it for PC & he's addicted. Hmmm, I should recommend that he also buy a 2nd controller. Then he & Chris can play the game together. You know, just a suggestion.

My arms ache. Gee, who knew that moving, stacking, re-stacking & maneuvering 100 some cardboard boxes full of paper would be a strain. Then there's the box I carried back to the office. I knew it was heavy; I put it on my shoulder to keep from straining my arms. Then I opened it. It has 3 flat rocks in it & one paperweight rock. That's right, I hauled rocks around. I just have to laugh.

They're almost finished with the creation of the office next to me. The guys doing the work are nice but I'm looking forward to their departure. No more drills, no more hammers, no more chemical smell (well, no more than normal) & no more sheetrock dust.

I'm still listening to those world music cd's. I'm rotating the three of them. I wonder what people think I'm listening to when they stop by.

One of my old instructors stopped by. I run the lost & found for this building & she's lost her keys. She vaguely recognized me. I didn't realize why I recognized her until I saw her name. She's in the Communication Dept. I took the class when it was Speech. Looooong time ago.

I ate at TOL for lunch today. Wow, I needed that. I even got a table near a window. And now it's 5 pm & time for me to go home. After I run my little errands.

Okay, neat website of the day
http://tomatonation.com/finddon.shtml

I made it to gaming last night (it's a Chivalry & Sorcery/AD&D 3.5 hybrid) on time, exactly. My SO arrived later. He had a meeting for work, after work in N. Raleigh. I'm embarrassed to admit, I fell asleep during gaming. To be fair, my character was not present while the others were talking to dwarves in the bar.

They woke me (Ckasha) up in time to roll a spot check...oooh, griffins. Since my character's base spot is 23 (25 vs. humans), she usually sees stuff. It's nice having an observant character for once.

Since it was 9:30 the gm stopped the game right before the combat. Combat is guaranteed to take more than a half-hour. So even after talking to Alyssa (one of the other players & the gm's wife) I made it home at 10pm. I was in bed & headed for sleep in less than 15 minutes. I'm not sure I moved even once during the night. When my alarm went off I was in the same position I remember being in when I went to sleep.

I did manage to finish Light in Shadows, don't ask how. So this morning I started More than Honor.

Back to work I go...today is the trip to the storage. Wheeeee.

Well, I had a chance to finish Light in Shadow but I had a meeting at lunch that I had forgotten about (thank goodness for pop up reminders). So instead I learned about zip cars & local transit. At least they fed me lunch.

Weird site of the day
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,484153-1,00.html

I finished Remember When last night. Then I started & finished Paladin of Souls. Hey, I made it to bed by 1 am. The irony is, I got in to work earlier today than I have all week. I actually made it to work on time (or 15 minutes early, take your pick).

I liked Paladin but I'm going to have to reread it to actually 'taste the flavors'. I, um, kind of inhaled it last night. That's the problem with being a speed reading biblioholic. I have a book a day habit; it can get expensive. Luckily, there are these things called 'libraries' that let you take books without paying for them, as long as you return them within a certain specified time.

I have now started Light in Shadow by Krentz. Wonder if I'll finish it before gaming tonight? Probably.

It's been a loooong day. But even though I was 15 minutes late to work I managed to take a short lunch & deposit my friend's check (her half of another friend's b'day present).

And my friend John's mother also likes Nora Roberts & she loaned me the hardcopy book Remember When. It's by Nora Roberts & J.D. Robb. There is a picture of them on the back of the jacket w/ the blurb saying "..share a house in Maryland, a husband & a website..". For those who don't know, J.D. Robb is a nom de plume for Nora Roberts.

I've been reading that at lunch (while walking) & on the bus & so on & so forth...

They've been working next door today & the chemicals (or something) are making my head hurt. I'm going home now, curl up around some caffeinaed beverage & maybe some chocolate.

Weird website of the day
http://www.delphion.com/gallery

okay the books that I bought: A Gentleman's Honor by Laurens, To Sir Phillip, with Love by Quinn, More than Honor anthology edited by Weber, Light & Shadow by Krentz & Blood Trail by Huff. All of them are paperback.

Today I bought Paladin of Souls by Bujold & First Rider's Call by Britain. Both of them are in hardback, spent more than I should but at least I had a discount. I still want Monstrous Regiment by Pratchett.

It's been a busy day. Found out this morning that Facilities was coming to change the nook to an office & a closet today..not the 26th. So we had to clear out the boxes, the desk & assorted equipment today so that they could start work tomorrow. It's done. It took a lot of time & other people but it's done. Most of the stuff has now been stored in a few different offices until we locate permanent 'residences' for it all.

I've listened to my Worlds of Music cd's today. Definitely a wide range of music, from Zuni lullaby to African to East European to Cash's Folsom Prison Blues.

My weekend: stay up a little late Friday night (don't even remember why). Tried to get going early, I had errands to run. But I got caught up in a discussion about which characters I could play at Hochcon. My primay RPGA Living Greyhawk character, Corporal Sr. Obedient Master Nadia Xianalannae, veteran of the Cleansing of the Oytwood & the Siege of Gorna (wow, what a string of titles), is down to 2 time units (vacation). Between her training as a junior squire, staying with the Fey king & then having a daughter, plus actually playing games, her time units have been eaten up. She's 7th level, almost 8th.

Then there's what started as my tertiary character but she's now my 2ndary: Combat Specialist Reed of the CatTails. She has 4 time units left. I've just played her a lot, and spent some time units with her clan as part of her qualifying as a clan protector (rank w/in the clan).

The other two characters are Edana Tiernan & Isolde. Edana is in the scouts; she's a 2nd level halfling rogue & has about 38 military & 11 vacation time units left, maybe more. Isolde is a human sorceress & has 39 military units left. I've only played her once.

Nadia is a half-elf bard/ranger who's a senior squire with the Knights of the Watch & Dispatch. Reed was a human cleric/fighter. Then she died & was reincarnated as a wood elf. She's still a cleric/fighter, though. All of my characters are in the Gran March military. Frankly, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Back to what I was saying, since my two primary characters are so short of time units that meant I was probably going to play Edana. Since she's 2nd level I had to check because not all the games had APL's low enough for me to play her. So I canceled one game (Rites of Spring, a double rounder - I want to play Nadia in that one because she played in the 1st one in that series) & signed up to play one of the core modules with Edana.

All told, that took about 2 hours, including email. So I ended up driving through part of the early game day traffic at Carolina on my way to Pittsboro to pay the rent on my storage unit.

I made it to Southpoint, bought the stuff at Victoria's Secret (yeah coupons). Then I passed by The Body Shop. But I had spent more than I had planned at VS so I didn't buy anything there. After that it was into Barnes & Noble to spend my $25 gift certificate. Ran into 2 people I knew. I managed to resist Monstrous Regiment by Pratchett. It's still in hardback.

Chris & I picked up Rosemary (yeah it was out of our way but she's having brake issues) and we all went to see T3 at Blueridge. In some ways, a predictable movie but it did have 1 or 2 surprises & it was well-done. Definitely worth matinee prices so we got a real bargain. We still plan to see The Medallion & Matris Reloaded, both of which are also playing at Blue Ridge. After the movie it was Ten Ten Diner for the buffet. Yum, great buffet. But I did not like their crab rangoons. I loved their sesame balls (with red bean jelly inside).

I finished one book I'd bought that day & started another one.

Woke up Sunday with a headache. We went to Pizza Hut for their buffet & I dosed my headache with food, caffeine & an ibuprofen. They never did have a chocolate chip pizzert, much to my sorrow. I had some salad, apple pizzert & blueberry pizzert, though.

Then we went to Southpoint. Chris wanted to see how much Sears was charging for ovens. Ours took 30 minutes to heat Friday night, averaging about 10 degrees per minute. He wants (& I agree) a double oven. We looked at Maytag's Gemini but the Sears' Kenmore with the tri-use drawer (storage, warming & baking) was $200 cheaper and had a half-removable rack for cooking tall items, say a roasting pan with a lid. It had 2 double burners on the range top. It has one of those flat top ranges instead of the burners we have now but that's a common feature.

While there we also checked out dishwashers (ours is probably as old as the oven so could go any day) & small fridges for when we have the game room aka the basement done. We decided that the 4+ cu. foot was bigger than we needed. And that there are a lot of dishwasher features that we just don't like.

Then it was home to finish working on our characters for Rosemary's Forgotten Realms campaign. I had lost my character sheet & the part of my notes that had the stats I'd rolled up so I had to start over. I remembered what sword I wanted; I need to make 2 notes on my character sheet though, -1 damage on the sword & that my character reacts less-than-well to sudden bright light (part of the whole 1/2 Drow, Darkvision thing). Chris had his stats & notes, he just had to fill out his character sheet, equip & name his character.

I picked up the living room a little. Disposed of the box (recycling) from Wizards of the Coast. I kept most of the stuff they sent, other parts of it ended up in recycling too. I finished another book that I'd bought Saturday (that's 3 read plus 1 additional book: A Gentleman's Honor, to Sir Phillip, with Love, Blood Price, and Blood Trail). Was up until almost 11 between finishing that book & picking up around the living room & kitchen.

Kept waking up with nightmares all night long. Most of them were different, too. Apparently I turned off the alarm clock at some point 'cause I woke up at 6:45. Only about 45 minutes late, & I needed to weigh myself, pick out clothes & pack my lunch. It was a little close this morning & I was 10 minutes late to work. On the bright side, I've lost 2 more pounds.

Ran into Shaw again, on the bus. He lives in Cary & parks at the same P&R lot. I saw him on the bus home Friday, too. He was late for an exam in his African-American History class.

Wow, this is a long post. I'm reading one of the stories in Changer of Worlds, again. It's the 3rd of the Honor Harrington anthologies. I picked up the 1st one on Saturday. I bought 5 or 6 books. If I actually stop & think about it, I'll remember how many & what their titles were.

Now I have work to do (I've been working - I started this post at 9 am & finished at 10:15 plus 10 minutes for editing)

I did a very scary thing at lunch. I opened a new checking account. At a brand new bank. I have to close my old one anyway...long story. At since I haven't been truly happy with them since they screwed up some stuff (long time ago) I'm taking this opportunity to jump ship, so to speak.

And despite being mightily tempted, I did not buy anything at the half-price book sale today. Part of it was lack of time. It's a good 10 minute walk to my new bank and I wasn't certain how much time it would take to set up an account. It took less time than I thought but I had to wait a little, there was a line. Gee, lunchtime on a payday...& there's a line at the bank. Wonder if there's a connection (insert wry grin)

I love these thigh-high boots but they aren't made for striding/trekking across campus. I need either new insoles or thicker socks if I'm going to do that again.

And it's a beautiful Friday morning. It's crisp & sunny & cold & guess who forgot to find gloves this morning? So my fingers are finally warming up, after being at work for awhile.

Washed my hair last night (hey, nothing on tv until 8pm & I'd already eaten supper). I braided it before I went to bed; it was merely damp by that point. It's still damp this morning; I haven't taken it out of the braid yet.

Yesterday I wrote to my Aunt Lillian. Technically she's my great-aunt but she's close in age to my mother. She's married to my grandfather's youngest brother, who's 20 years younger than my grandfather. I wrote her asking for some family info. I mean, I don't even know the names of all my grandfather's siblings. In my defense, there were 11 of them. I can clearly recall meeting about only 4 or 5 of them. And I don't know the names of my paternal grandmother's sibling (6 sibs plus grandmother). My paternal grandfather only had the one brother, that makes it easy. I don't know any of the names of my maternal grandmother's siblings. I should, she didn't have that many.

Last night I did some on-line genealogy stuff. Found 3 of my great-great-grandparents in the 1880 census (& possibly one sibling of a great-grandparent). That was really cool. So now I know that gg-grandpa Veesart was a laborer. Whatever that means. I thought his wife was from Belgium but she's listed as being born in Illinois, not that the census gauranteed accurate. Her parents are listed as being born in Lorraine. I think that's Alsace-Lorraine. It did confirm that he was from Holland, as my Dad remembered.

Hmm, can you tell that genealogy fascinates me? I also found where someone has done a lot of research on my maternal's paternal line. If it's accurate (her email bounced so I can't ask her), then her family has been in NC 250 years. Wow. Of course, they used to be farther east back then, Cumberland Co.

Took another aleve. Wanna go home, head hurts! Throbbing.

On the bright side, my dad just called. He wanted to know how the reunion on Sunday went & to tell me, 'cause he didn't think that he had, that his grandfather Felix Sentiff used to play the fiddle. He played at square dances & such-like. His daughter, my grandmother, played the violin & loved classical music & opera. He also wanted to let me know that I will be getting her violin, which is currently displayed in a shadow box. That would be lovely. I have a couple of the fans from her collection & that's nice but having that violin really means a lot to me. She died of cancer when I was 12. I wish I'd known her better.

Ah crap, now I'm all teary-eyed. Gonna go do some crosswords. Or some typing, anything without emotion attached.

Lunch was pretty good (leftover oven fried chicken, corn & mixed veggies) but I'm still hungry. Wonder if low blood sugar is contributing to my headache (which I still have btw).

Read Mom's letter. She totally misunderstood a question I asked. She also threatened my health if I buy jeans that cost $55-$75. My health is safe, I'm reluctant to pay $20 for jeans. Color me 'I'd rather buy books', not cheap.

If I'm spending that much on clothes it will 1) involve leather, 2) involve gussets or lacing, 3) made of silk or 4) all of the above. I like old-fashioned clothes, like 200 years out of fashion. Though I admit that I don't care for panniers & I'm too inhibited to wear Regency fashions, in public at least.

I have such a headache! I don't know why I have it but I'm trying a 2-part cure 1) caffeine, 2) an Aleve tablet. Hopefully 1 or the other (or maybe both) will stop the pain.

I slacked this morning. I needed to read a little before going to sleep last night (& wanted to wait & say goodnight to my SO when he came home - night call, ran late) & started re-reading _Night Watch_ by Pratchett. Bedded down for sleep about 11:15. That's fine. I manage to drag myself awake this morning & made a bad decision. I picked up _Night Watch_ again. And finished it before getting ready for work. Well, I made it on time, barely, but I made it.

How boring am I? Last night, I just wrote up 3 Buffy the Vampire Slayer the Roleplaying Game (BtVS,tRPG) characters last night while I watched tv. I should have been tatting or writing, but I just wasn't in the mood. I did figure out Jake 2.0 at least 5 minutes before they revealed it.

Today I'm finishing a note to my mom. She was supposed to go to the family reunion with me but bailed to recover from an allergic reaction.

Favorite site of the day: http://www.hungersite.com
click it every day

Hmm, mental note: look into listening to & maybe buying ZZ Top's Mescalero & Dressy Bessy's Dressy Bessy. Just read a review in the Daily Tarheel (old edition).

My posts aren't publishing, but then I'll just continue writing them for my own enjoyment.

FYI: watching Birdcage right before bed does odd things to your dreams. That plus reading about a book with elements of Sleeping Beauty. The state fairgrounds were involved, plus fairie-style magic (sleep spell, I think) & drag queens & gay men.