Movie! TCM showed After the Thin Man last night, and then My Man Godfrey. It was almost painful to switch to Veronica Mars (but I do know how Godfrey ends & it was a new episode of Veronica).

I stayed up way too late last night. I saw a commercial for Dead Silence as I was about to head to bed & that did it. I couldn't go to bed until the images had had a chance to fade; too nightmare-worthy.

I burned a little too much incense last night. I don't know if that or lack of caffeine gave me a headache last night.

I got a little more writing done on the Duchess story. I should check to see how many pages I've done (5? 6?). I also listened to 2 of Carry's podcasts; gradually I'm approaching the current ones.

books: I finally finished Buso Renkin & I read the 10th volume of Musashi #9. I dipped into re-reading Lord Harry but only bits & pieces. I've also started re-reading Dragon's Kin. I'd forgotten that I'd already read it.

clothes: black jeans, loafers, & socks; white mini-cape blouse (collar goes out to my shoulders), plaited hair & dragon jewelry (pendant, earrings, & 3 rings).

Blog: I've gotten farther in adding tags/labels for old entries.

books: I finished Let It Be Love & read Claymore, vol 1. I have the next issue of Musashi #9 to read, vol 10, on the way home.

radio show: I'm still listening to episode 5 of Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, Lily in the Chomopo Bar.

clothes: black suede shoes, black cotton slacks (faded to charcoal, truthfully), grey 2002 Carolina Ren Festival polo, fem-power ring, Celtic knot ring, ~rope band, Celtic knot posts, & Celtic knot tree/star/moon pendant; braided hair.

Cleaning: Knowing that we had an activity-packed weekend, Friday night we started taking everything off the kitchen counters and putting it on the dining room table. We sorted some things as we removed them (old grocery receipt - recycle) and washed the things that had to be washed by hand. Saturday morning, we only had enough time to get our things together before leaving for the game. Sunday morning, we vacuumed the dryer hose (improving dryer time immensely). That left last night to put away everything that had been on the counters. Some things we just got rid of (how many travel mugs do two people need?), others were stowed in shelves (we do need _some_), and a few went back onto the counters but more organized.

The area to the left of the sink now has the knife block, tea & other drink things. The area to the right of the stove is the messiest, with appliances, the cookbooks, etc. The area between the stove & sink though only has the dirty dishes, to go into the dishwasher, & the things that are drying. All in all, it's much better. Maybe we can cook again now that we have counter space to work with.

Fingernails: Note this day. I have 9 fingernails of decent length (decent being defined as beyond the tip of my finger). That pinkie nail that broke the other day is the only one that's short.

radio shows: I've started listening to the Voyage of the Scarlet Queen again. I listened to the first episode on my way to work & the second on the walk to get a new bus pass.

- I'm up to episode 5 due to a long wait for the bus (I just missed the 5 pm one) and the commute home

gaming: Tonight's game didn't have any combat. We did some investigating; not sure that we found anything useful but we did have some funny moments. Everyone thought it was really funny when Kelis (my druid) got stuck, in the form of a small viper, under a door. Hey, I flubbed my escape artist check & small vipers only have Str 6 & that's hard to wiggle out (yeah, yeah I know, snakes are all one muscle with an itty bitty spine to hold it together, so Str 6 is less than realistic). We have 4 days until Vertum's (David) trial left. We found one of the underground bunkers, the one under the library, with signs that someone had trapped the door so it's the first promising lead that we've had.

books: Since I bought a lot of manga yesterday, I'm working my way through that. I read Faerie's Landing vol 1 & Buso Renkin, vol 4 (last night & this morning). I'm in the middle of re-reading Let It Be Love, too.

clothes: red turtleneck, black jeans, black socks & loafers, onyx pendant on silver rope chain, onyx earrings, black stone ring, Celtic knot ring, flower band & braided hair (black elastic to hold it).

Gaming: Rosemary's game: We finally finished one module but not the storyline. So we'll get experience & maybe I'll get another level.

Went by my favorite game/comic shop and it's their bi-annual sale this weekend. I spent about a 1/5 to 1/4 of their target sales today. I bought some old AnimAmericas, a couple (old) games, a couple new game books, and some manga. Actually, a lot of manga. Some of the ones that I have on order arrived & I picked a couple new titles to try them.

Website of the day: yoga stuff
Took the ayurvedic quiz & my dosha is overall vata. My body is vata 3, pitta 5, kapha 4; while my mind is vata 7, pitta 3, & kapha 2.
This is from this quiz.

books: I read Last Scene Alive and then Tail of the Moon, vol 3. That's today.

clothes: blue jeans, black socks & loafers, brown belt, grey Geoff "Cleansing of the Oytwood" tee under a grey, ribbed shirt. Flower band ring, paui shell ring & pendant, black bead & ~silver chandelier earrings.

Gaming today: It's Living Greyhawk, Dominion Over Bright Sands (delayed from an earlier planned game). I'm playing Kelis; she is my Bright Sands character, after all.

Doug & his wife have lovely cats. One is a lovely long-haired orange, named Simba. The other one matches the house colors & is named Misty. They really resemble a bobcat & a lynx in color.

Cleaning Last night I worked on clearing the kitchen counter. I washed stuff & I put things on the dining room table. Tomorrow morning we'll work on putting things back. I have learned that we have an amazing number of travel mugs.

clothes: burgundy arrowhead tee, blue jeans, brown belt, black tennis shoes & socks, knapped flint crescent moon pendant (on cream silk cord & with moonstone chips above the crescent moon), feather charm earring, fem-power ring, red-stone ring, silver & white fiber optic bead earcuff, and ponytail with navy elastic.

books: I re-read Slightly Married.

fingernail: I don't know how or exactly when I did it. But just after noon, I noticed the nail on my left pinkie was ragged. Apparently, I tore/broke clean off. If it hadn't been ragged, I wouldn't have noticed because there's still a little bit of nail past the nail bed.

weather was surprisingly warm today. I only need the sweater, etc. I took off my jacket. Although, the wind was a little sharp.

Lunch activities: I finished one letter to an aunt, started another, read a little, decided getting past/around the people doing inventory was too much trouble to find a gel pen of the right sort, and flipped through a copy of Shojo Beat.

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.

Knitting: I pulled out one of the larger round knitting looms & started the headband/earwarmer to match the scarf that Mom crocheted. I knitted a length, then pulled up the edge & put on the pegs as the 'new round.' Then I did another row. That doubled it & made a sort of ribbed edging (not obviously so because it's boucle yarn). Then I took it off the loom. Just to learn that the usual ending (quasi-crochet) doesn't work so well because it doesn't stretch. So I ~forcibly stretched it until it fit my head. It's not as spiffy (fit-wise) as I'd hoped but it does look & feel pretty good. I just finished it last night but I packed it today. I didn't need it this morning but it's gaming tonight and we'll be getting home kinda late. It's going to be colder & windier to tonight, hopefully not enough for my hat but definitely enough for my headband thingie. Since the projected low is in the 30's, it will probably be in 40's as we head home.

TV: Watched Whoopi Goldberg's biography on the biography channel last night. In some ways, calling her a welfare mom is not accurate. Factually, yes, it's true. But the nuances and subtexts in that statement aren't. She didn't go into show business & become a comedian to get off welfare. She went into show business & on stage and then went on welfare because the other jobs she was doing around that were not enough to support herself & her daughter. Yes, she was brave, incredibly so. However, she did have a high school diploma. She could have made other choices. Of course, from the viewpoint of today & what she has given us, it's a good thing that she made the choices that she did.

books: Finished Best Served Cold & re-read a bit of Love is Blind by Lynsay Sands. Also re-read a bit of Dangerous, a 3-novel anthology by Nora Robers. I've finished the 1st two stories & started the third one. For today's reading I started Single in Suburbia, by Wendy Wax. It's a little close to chick lit but it's still a good romance. I'm also reading more of The Pillow Book, off & on.

clothes: black jeans, black loafers (tassels), black knee-hi's (texture stripes), forest green Geoff polo, emerald necklace & earring set, black stone ring & plaited hair (w/ lime green elastic).

Same ol' same ol' I'm still feeling like I'm digging out from under a hole. It's been really hard for me to feel positive for very long.

website of interest: Let the World Listen Right, documenting contemporary music in the Delta.

Info of interest: plants that clean the air

books: re-read a few, read Thrones, Dominations by Sayer & Walsh. Then read the one after that, A Presumption of Death. The first was based on an unfinished manuscript; the second had its foundation in a series of published 'letters' among the Whimsey family about their war-time activities. New manga, American this time, Pantheon High. It's the high school for Greek, Egyptian, Norse & Japanese demi-gods (children who have one divine parent). The coach is Hercules and the security is handled by Heimdall. Now I'm reading Best Served Cold by Jimmie Ruth Evans.

clothes: Saturday was orange fairy t- & blue jeans. Sunday, I dressed up a little for Rosemary's birthday supper. I wored banded collar, undyed linen blouse, blue jeans, boots, and emerald jewelry (heart pendant & square earrings). I should have worn my scarf & hat, too. It was cold & windy. But the hat wouldn't have fit over the cream colored hair sticks in my bun/ponytail

Monday, I wore blue turtleneck, which was completely concealed by the tan, brown & black turtleneck sweater, with black jeans, black suede shoes, hair up with the same sticks (after I got to work), and flower fairy pendant, feather earrings & fem-power ring.

Yesterday was warmer, so I wore a burgundy silk blouse, with fringe across the chest, black jeans, black suede shoes, quartz pendants & moonstone/celtic knotwork pendant necklace, quartz chip & feather earrings, fem-power ring & flower band. Mostly I wore my hair loose.

Today it's blue 2005 NCAA basketball champs polo, navy blue slacks, navy socks, navy loafers, & moonstone jewelry. The ring, the simple cabochon rainbow pendant& rainbow moonstone earrings. My hair's up in a ponytail with a navy elastic.

Tooth saga the painkillers help but the drowsiness is a killer. I settled down for a nap yesterday evening & slept for 2.5 hours, approximately. I had something to eat and then back to bed. I guess I finally got enough sleep because I woke up at 5:30 am. Needless to say, I got diddly-squat done yesterday evening.

books: I read Black Cat, vol 3 & started re-reading All About Love by Laurens.

clothes: grey/green/navy tweed a-line skirt, teal blouse, grey suede boots, quilted paisley vest & emerald earring & necklace set (last year's Christmas present from Chris) plus black stone ring. My hair is braided but once I come back from my errand I'll put it up with light teal hair sticks.

Tooth well, that molar's gone. It went surprising well. The dentist was very good at making sure that everything was numb and he would take his hands out to give my jaw a rest every so often. Only the last little bit was painful, as he jerked the last bit of the root out. He had to essentially carve up what remained of the tooth to get it out. Ick. Finally got done at 3:30 and then I got John (who had kindly offered to drive to & from the appointment - people on painkillers should not drive) to take me to Foundation's Edge to get Chris's present. After that, it was off to the drugstore to get my post-op painkillers. Got home at almost 5 pm. Why is it, when your jaw hurts & it's painful to talk that you suddenly get a dozen phone calls?

I had to wait for the clot to form before I could eat. I had to eat before I could take the pain pill. Meanwhile the anesthetics were wearing off. Luckily I had my own form of meditation to take me away.

Yesterday I took my pain pill as I was leaving the house and a couple hours later I was throwing up. I finally gave up & left work at 10:30 or so, napped & caught the 11:30 bus. I spent the rest of the day napping & reading. I'm still sticking with soft foods for now; let's avoid dry socket, shall we?

books: while waiting for my prescription, I bought All Night Long, Krentz's latest. I read that to get away from the pain. I also read Black Cat, vol 2, it finally arrived & Tail of the Moon, vol 2. I re-read Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts.

clothes: yesterday it was black slacks, grey ribbed sweater (with button placket to my waist), black socks & loafers, paui shell pendant, fem power ring & feather (without quartz chips) charm earrings that I haven't worn in years because I thought that I'd lost one.

Today it's black jeans, loafers, socks, burgundy turtleneck, burgundy sweater w/ purple, black, burgundy & 2 shades of teal abstract along the hem, the emerald pendant that Chris gave me (yesterday for Valetine's day), emerald posts my bro & sis-in-law gave me and the black stone ring.

Gaming: Chris's game last night. We learned a few things, did some investigating. Found some suspicious stuff (like all the law & government for city in military hands over the past year or so..since Vertum's old commander & Kelis's old commander showed up). All the temples to gods of justice have not just been abandoned but have been desecrated, again in the last 5-12 months.
dental appointment is today, this afternoon. I'm dreading it.

books: Read What Price Love by Stephanie Laurens. Continued reading in Pillow Book. I also have 2 Shojo Beat issues to read & Dragonsblood. That's in addition to some books that I borrowed from Steve.

clothes: black from head to toe; loafers, socks, slacks, turtleneck. Then a very colorful open crocheted sweater over the turtleneck; fuschia, teal, orange, purple, kelly & red (with concentric circles of beads to accentuate a few of the crocheted circles). I went ahead & wore 2 hair elastics, black & pink entwined at the end of my braid. For jewelry I'm wearing the same as I did yesterday with the addition of the black stone ring.

Game: The Living Greyhawk game went well. I had them quite scared for a couple combats (as to be expected with only 4 players, barely at APL). I've finally reported both games that I ran, so that's done. For now.

books: I finished re-reading Star Prince. It's in the science fiction sub-genre of romance. It's not very good science fiction (salt is rare in the universe? Rare enough to usable as currency in some places? I know that was the case some places on earth but I have difficulty believing NaCl is that difficult to come by) but it's a decent story.

clothes: black slacks, loafers, trouser socks & sweater. The sweater is acrylic with black guimpe sewn in a flower & vine from left shoulder to right hip. My hair's loose because otherwise I'd be wearing a chartreuse hair elastic on my braid. Celtic knot earrings & ring, Celtic knot star, moon & tree pendant & silver fem-power ring.

Gaming: finished reading the mod & the only thing that's left is the cards with the stat blocks.

It should be an interesting adventure; there's only 4 players but one is a Bright Sands druid with a desert tortoise animal companion. He's named Tortellini because he's a big, round shell full of cheesy goodness.

clothes: jeans, burgundy "NC Archeological Society" tee (w/ arrowhead timeline on the back), white socks & tennis shoes, feather charm earrings, quartz 'feather' pendant, red stone ring & fem power ring.

Saturday Plans: well, mine got cancelled, so I'm reading up on the mod that I'm running tomorrow. I was supposed to run this Living Greyhawk adventure earlier, but getting sick kinda put the kibosh.

Music: watched VH1's 100 top one-hit wonders. About 85% were non-US artists, and they were only one-hit wonders here. Makes me want to get some non-US albums (like Big Country). I think I might buy some of those songs from iTunes, if they're available. I'd like a cd-set of those songs as I liked most of them. Only two or three were of the 'please let me never hear them ever again' variety. Not bad out of 100 songs. There were some of the 'I could stand if I didn't hear this again any time soon', though.

books: finished reading Murder Over Easy (2nd in the Wanda Nell Culpepper mysteries) by Jimmie Ruth Evans.
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clothes: sweatpants & sweatshirt, slippers and braid; just relaxing at home wear.

cold I'm still suffering but I've not needed to take any meds since Wednesday (yay Alavert). I'm just tired and my ears hurt from the pressure (& not popping).

Neat website: It's a click to donate site called Poverty Fighters. It provides funds for microloans, mostly in 3rd world countries, but not entirely. By helping people help themselves, it provides long term poverty relief. They also have a bunch of the success stories. Most of the organizations have a 99% loan repayment rate. Isn't that spiff. Starting Monday, if you read this & decide to visit, click on the UNC-CH button. It's part of a contest between colleges; winner gets a speaker or a benefit concert.

books: read Lynsay Sands latest, Bite Me If You Can & Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd. Now I'm reading further in The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon.

almost a nightmare: I had one dream that started to go nightmarish, luckily I woke myself up before that happened. The other dream I mostly remember. It was very horror-movie-esque. As some very posh or elite school, the science teacher said that sharks won't eat rubber tires, or maybe the tires kill the sharks; either way he assigned his students to find out why or to find a solution. One of his prize students somehow developed a shark that could 'swim' through land (it was very ghostly). It detected weight & was smart enough to tell when you got up on something (it got heavier). It could also smell blood that dropped on the ground. What really attracted it was love (hey, it's a dream). The girl who developed it was the first known victim (there may have been another, earlier victim), so no one knew how to stop it. The rest of the dream was one of her classmates trying to stop it, without anyone else dying. Unfortunately, there was an explosion on the school lab which destroyed more information (& killed 2 more classmates). In the end, the shark was stopped when he ate another classmate, who had a bag full of jewels on her.

clothes: black slacks, black suede shoes, black turtleneck, dark teal ~silky blouse, paui shell pendant on long silver rope chain, black stone ring, silver dome ring, 3-layer texture metal & elephant earrings (keep trying to lose the right one), & loose hair (for the first time in weeks).

Sick! That stupid cold. I couldn't take it anymore. I'm staying home today. I'm wrapped up. I have drinks next to me (I'll brew some tea later). I'm mildly hungry but no food interests me. Yep. I'm sick. Looks like I'm canceling my trip to Mom's. I may even end up canceling my Sunday plans (helping Steve). We'll see how a day of rest helps.

books: Finished Bewitched. Re-read most of Dark Desire. I have no idea what next.

clothes: sloppin' around the house 'I'm sick & don' wanna bother' clothes. So it's slippers, sweatpants, & shirt (& shawl & blanket).

update: weather turned to rain. Even with sudafed 24 hour my sinus are stuffed & draining. I drank lots & lots of hot tea.

snow! In the 10 minutes from when I walked in the building door to when my supervisor came back from an errand (getting breakfast, I think), it started snowing. Not just started, but every non-paved (ie non-brine covered) surface has a distinct layer of snow. IN 10 MINUTES! From nada to wow!

cold: my cold is worse. My nose is so stopped up that the drainage is hitting my gag reflex. Luckily I only had some water in my stomach. Yay for early morning, right? I've taken some sudafed but either it hasn't kicked in or it has, to the best of its ability (scary thought).

I brought my new tea maker (filter & brewer in one, present from Dad & step-mom) to work & made myself a cuppa 1st thing. It's rooibos and I'm waiting for it to cool enough to drink. I just put one packet of splenda in it to sweeten & if it starts to cool, I also brought out a cup hot plate/warmer. It's the one either Richard & Kathy or my mom gave me.

bus woes: There was a basketball game in town last night so traffic was hellacious. I missed the 1st bus but theoretically, only had a 20 minute wait for the next one. It was 20 minutes late (wait time now 40 minutes). That's when I learned that I'd lost my bus pass (badge holder slipped off). Retraced my steps & found it where I'd had lunch (thank goodness!). The next bus was due in less than 10 minutes. It was 30 minutes late (total wait time: 1 hour 20 minutes). I was soooo cold. I was not dressed for a wait that long. On top of my cold, & the knowledge I could have been on the previous bus = Cranky me!

books: I've started reading about 3 or 4 books. I'm having trouble settling on one. It's due to the cold I think. My energy is odd. I brought Bewitched with me to work & read it on the way in. It's a romance anthology, not a recent one.

clothes: black ~ugg boots (w/ 2 pairs of socks, it helps a little), black jeans, red turtleneck, Celtic knot jewelry & braided hair. I also have a sweater to add a layer when needed. It's multi-color and hard to describe. Quasi-tweed checks doesn't do it justice.