*(&%&^$ I tried donated platelets today. Few things make you feel quite as worthless as failing to donate blood. They just could not get a good stick in my arm or hand. Their two most experienced phlebotomists tried.

As I was heading there I had a run-in with a jerk. It was mild but it did irritate me. As I'm pulling into the right turn lane, the right arrow goes amber. So I slow down & sure enough it's red by the time I get there. No problem. I stop, I check to see what traffic's doing & then I start my turn. As I'm checking on traffic bozo in the pick up truck behind me beeps at me. "Dude (not that he can hear me, but I talk to him anyway), red means stop, not slow down!"

Back to work & lots of doings. It was only one morning but one guy came in with a stack of HR stuff to do, both on-line & copies to make. Whee! Yeah, not so much. Then it's lunch time & my stomach is still not entirely happy from the Tums. They just don't sit right with me.

tatting: I finally turned the corner on the bookmark. It looks interesting. I'm not entirely confident about it, though.

books: I started going through some books to go to the used bookstore & set more aside for Bookcrossing. I finished reading Desire & started Shadow Fires. Once I've read it, it's going to the UBS. I'm also re-reading, because I thought that I hadn't read it, Caught Dead in Philadelphia.

clothes: black ~slippers (despite the heavy rain), knee-highs, black jeans, black belt with silver Celtic knot buckle, Celtic knot ring, earrings & triskele pendant, flower band ring, black stone band & hematite band (on left & right ring fingers respectively), braided hair & waffle weave white polo. Right now, I also have a blue bandage on over the attempted needle sites.

Greyhawk Ruins: Now that that documentation is out, I finally, really, started working on my wood elf ranger. The actual character creation is easy. However, I'm also looking at planned advancement (taking a level of fighter at 4th level, that sort of thing), instead of catch as catch can. That involves looking through books for feat options, deciding what stats to bump at 4th & 8th (I'll worry about 12th when she's higher level than pre-1st).

For some things I'm going to use options. For example; at 3rd level, take Power Attack OR take Improved Weapon Familiarity (so all her racial weapons qualify under her martial weapon proficiency). I want to see how the adventures go before I make a final decision. So far, she has a strength of 16 and a dexterity of 14. But, I may change that to reduce her strength & increase her dexterity, or reduce her dexterity to 12 & increase her constitution to 14.

tv: Ninja Warrior & a rerun of Criminal Minds while I was reading & working on my character.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds tonight, which I remembered this morning. Lacking a gas cap, I don't want to drive to Raleigh. So I'll be taking the bus & asking Chris to stop by & pick me up. I've sent an email to Diana to see if she can give me a ride but I doubt that she'll be getting off work early enough for that work.

sight of the day: ferns growing from a vertical surface (they have roots, where are they?).

books: I finished Caught Dead in Philadelphia last night. It was a short book but not a bad mystery. This morning I started We're Just Like You; Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark.

tatting: I finished the size 12 ecru by tatting two butterflies, one much smaller butterfly & one single ring flower. It was really too humid to do more.

clothes: black ~slippers, black slacks & belt, magenta & black check shirt, paui shell ring & pendant, silver hashmark band, hematite bang, lilac AnimalRescuesite silicon bracelet, black hair elastic (ponytail), & chain mail earrings.

Tatting! I did it! I finished the edging & finished sewing it last night. All that's left is to trim about 4 stray threads. I started sewing it on & realized that it would look better if I took out the gathering at the front, sewing the edging on & then regathered it. However, that meant that I was about 6 inches short. So, with the entire apron hanging off my tatting, I tatted another half-dozen or so repeats. And I ran out of thread two or three repeats short. So I had to reload the shuttle, join the threads & then keep tatting. I stayed up a little late to get it done, but it is done! And it looks good. I got a little worried that it was a little dark for the apron but it matches remarkably well. It also shows up very nicely against at least one of the dresses.

I still have thread on the shuttle so I'll probably make ecru butterflies & flowers until it runs out. I might make one of Rebecca's (Tatmom) crosses with the size 80 that I accidentally loaded. I have the pattern & everything else ready to go.

tv: while I tatted last night I watched the taped episodes of Burn Notice & the Closer. They were pretty good. When those ran out, I watched an episode of Pop Up Video that I'd seen before. I really don't like the song Waiting on a Friend, but they also had Touch of Grey, so that was good.

books: Finished Curse of Chalion on the way home yesterday. I pulled out Caught Dead in Philadelphia, one of the books I picked up at the thrift shop to read today. Although I also need to read the Living Greyhawk Greyhawk Ruins information & finished reading Currents. The good thing about Currents, is unless the players radically change, I will be running APL 2 or 4, maybe 6, but 4 is the most likely.

clothes: black ~slippers & slacks (forgot the belt today), burgundy knit shirt, 3 women pendant, ponytail/bun with the same hairstick, silver bracelet, hematite ring, fem/dancer ring, circles ring & silver filigree earrings.