Great Weekend
On Saturday, I was driving down to see Felicia *wave hi* and I was about 15 minutes away when I got hit by rain. Not just any rain; this was a frog strangler.

Ever been in a summer Southern (US) storm? People do pull off to the side of the road to wait for it to weaken or pass. Some just slow down and turn on their hazard lights.

If you've never been in one, you may think, 'how silly, it's just a little rain.' Which just goes to show, you've never experienced one.

The road is a 65mph highway, 4 lanes on my side at the point where I got hit by the rain. Of course, that means that many people drive 75 mph, although you could occasionally find some doing 60 mph in the slow lane.

The sky darkened as the clouds rolled in. You could see the haze of the rain as it advanced toward us.

Then it hit. Soon, I had my wipers going full speed and I had slowed down to 30 mph; felt like I was speeding. I was profoundly thankful for the car in front of me. By following its hazard lights, I was probably still on the road, and in my lane. The sheets of rain on my windshield kept the lights blurry, despite my wipers whipping back and forth.

Sometimes the rain would let up, just a bit, enough to see the highway signs or for the wipers to actually clear my windshield. Then another wall of rain would hit and I'd be hoping that the car in front of me wasn't going to take an exit ramp any time soon. Luckily, those downpours don't last for long. It only seemed like forever.

Visit: Felicia & I had a nice time, talking over lunch. I certainly hope it's not another 23 years before we do it again. I'd forgotten how much I like her.

In the evening, Chris, Rosemary & I went to meet with Irene, et al. She lives on the West Coast, too. She emailed a bunch of people, whom she'd met at different times in her life (1st grade friend to me whom she met in college), to all get together for supper. We ended up going to an Ethiopian restaurant. It's been years since I've been to one. The food was great, although much of it was too spicy for my palate. Of course, that's why the injera (sourdough flatbread - kind of like a cross between a pancake & bread) is so important. You need it to ease the burn of the capsaicin.

Gaming: Sunday was Rosemary's game. We didn't have the technical difficulties this time; that made things a lot smoother. She also felt better about challenging us. She made the arcane in the patrols a warmage, instead of a wizard. That made the fire shields (spell that hurts the attacker who lands a blow on whomever it is cast upon) really, really dangerous for our characters. A wizard's version does X amount of damage, call it an average of 8 pts of damage (vs characters who can take 60 - 100 points). The warmage's version was doing a minimum of 23.

Thursday I'll be in an LFR game. I know which character I'll be playing & where I'll be playing & that's it.

Family: I'm going to see Mom this weekend. The local tatters are getting together on Sunday, so I'll do the Friday/Saturday thing. My dad leaves tomorrow, with his closest cousin, to go 'home' to visit graveyards. I finally found grandmother(his mother)'s grandmother's grave, Henrietta Marshall Sentiff. She's not buried with her husband so she was a little hard to find. I would like to thank the Illinois Genealogy Society for the material that they have posted. I would not have found her without them.

I'm trying to write my letters (to aunts, et al). I've only done 2.5. I just need to sit down & do it.

Weather, health & stuff...
I was originally scheduled to go see my mom this weekend. Chris got some bad (but not dire) health news & wanted me to stick around. An old high school friend (at our age, it's getting to the 'old' friend stage) is in town (60 miles away counts, right) from California & I wanted to see her, too.

Mom forgot that I was coming & was planning to go visit her sister. She went on and we rescheduled our visit.

Aaand I got Chris's cold that he had Tuesday. It wasn't horrid, just tired, felt lousy & mild fever. But, oh the joy, I had a migraine on top of it. Needless to say, the only thing that got done this weekend was napping. And some tv watching. I wonder if all the weather fronts moving through had anything to do with it?

On the bright side, I won some Julia Quinn (who looks younger than I thought) books from a contest & they arrived on Friday. Whee! Much happiness! I've already read 2 of them. Yeah, I've read them before, but I enjoyed them anyway.

And we had a real frog-drowner of a t-storm yesterday. It just pounded the windows. I was glad to be indoors.

Gaming: I'm still reading Starblazers Adventures but it has a group character creation format, which I can't do alone. I borrowed Chris's copy of Victoriana (2nd ed) to read. I'm still in the setting section. It's alternate history Great Britain in 1867. There are elves, dwarves, etc as well as magic and science. The US Civil War has not started and the Crimean War continues.

Thursday is our Mutants & Masterminds game, per usual; and Sunday is Rosemary's game, Forgotten Realms setting of D&D 3.5e.

I hope this is not menopause
It's a little early, but not too early for me to be starting menopause. But frankly, I feel like I am having PMS 28 days a month. I expect menopause may be *ahem* less than fun; but if this is a preview, then it will be hell. For me & for everyone around me.

Tatting: I've been working on my edging, from Big Book of Tatting. I'm only on the 2nd side, with the 1st side being incomplete. At least, with Carol's help, I managed that [expletive deleted] corner. It's the green & white edging on p 10. Except I'm doing it in variegated brown to go with my handkerchief.

I've been hoping & wishing but it's official. I won't be going to Palmetto Tat Days this year. Maybe next year. I even had a potential ride lined up.

Gaming: Sunday's game was delayed due to internet problems. Actually, it was due to laptop problems. Richard got them straightened out enough for Mike to tele-game as usual. We managed to get through one fight & dropped straight into the next one, overlapping a little. Ooops.

Thursday's Mutants & Masterminds went pretty well. We were a little miffed, cause we were defending the mob from an evil, okay amoral, super. I think that we did get some evidence to prosecute the mob guys, at least.

Tonight I'll be playing LFR at Sci Fi Genre. I had almost forgotten that I had signed up. It's my 3rd time playing this adventure. It's okay, I have at least one, maybe 2 characters of the right level who haven't played it.

I bought a new game book on Sunday, Starblazers Adventures. It has no connection to the anime, originally called Battleship Yamato. It's actually based on a British comic. The game book is huge, think biology textbook-sized.

I'm hoping that my copy of Victoriana & Shadowrun 20th anniversary edition both come in soon. Yes, I'm antsy, why do you ask?

Weather was so hot Monday & Tuesday that I wore a skirt. Yes, that is unusual for me.

Temperamental Me
Ever had a day, or a span of time (a second, a minute, an hour, a week, whatever), when what you really wanted to do was throw a full-blown, screaming hissy fit? Or is that just me? Maybe you're asking, 'Arlene, what has put you in such a foul mood?'

To which the answer is, 'I have very little idea.' There have been the usual picayune annoyances (oh, the reports are ready today? Already? Do I have enough of the right kind of paper to print them?/too many late nights/stomach just a little unsettled/etc, etc). However, there has been nothing so major as to bring on that reaction. So, I stifle it. Because I'm an adult and there are certain social expectations regarding 'adult behavior' as well as cultural expectations of appropriate behavior. Ugh.

And I am left with the unfilled urge to scream, stomp my foot and in other ways act like a brat. I am looking for suggestions on what I can do to sublimate this. I'm afraid to pick up my tatting in this mood. I might throw it across the room in frustration, risking a broken shuttle; or at least a dented wall.