Yeah. Morning. It's a good thing; overall. It's just really hard to appreciate with a distinct lack of caffeine in the bloodstream sometimes.

No Valley neighbor today, but Jill was there. She's teaching a class today & was feeling nervy. She had a leak, too. Called the same guy to fix it, so she got good work. She still has to clean up the mess in her crawl space. She had boxes down there. They did not fare well. Neither did the insulation under her townhouse. That will be expensive.

books: Started re-reading Dawn in Eclipse Bay last night. Brought it for my commute read today. I've been reading the 4th edition Shadowrun book recently. At least, the character creation info.

tatting: Almost through one column of the Workbaskets, at least enough to list them. I have at least 2 that Anitra doesn't.

Writing: Since I can't actually remember any of the runs we did when we played Shadowrun, I'm going to create one & run Short Fix 4.0 through one w/ some of the archetype characters. John suggested that I start the story with a run, to introduce what kind of person SF is. Even if I don't use it for the prologue, I need at least one run, with some details, in the story.

tv: More Knight's Tale, a repeat episode of Bones, more Ninja Warrior (that ballet dancer is a kick, he always wears a thong) and then a small dose of professional football before bed.

Chris cooked some of the chicken he bought at BJ's last night. The other half of the package went into the freezer. Tonight it will be spaghetti as I finish cleaning up enough room for Mike to sleep.

clothes: ~slippers & slacks, white woven texture check, all black jewelry - stone ring, hematite band, glass bead bracelet, tatted necklace & earrings & hairstick (with a diamond of 4 rhinestones) & hair in a ponytail/bun.

Weather: Still hot & humid; so much so the air has a peculiarly soft quality that I associate with summer just before thunderstorms. The air feels like hot, damp flannel wrapped around you. You don't so much walk, as swim through the air. It's pretty much overcast, to the point that I saw streetlights on at 9 am. We need the rain so badly, that I welcome the storms, although a long soaking rain would be better.

I finally called the OPT OUT service to get my name removed from most credit card & insurance offers for 5 years. There are some that will still have my name & some that get my name from other sources that will still mail me but this should at least reduce the landfill/recycling load. The 1st R in the trifecta: Reduce.

books: I'm continuing to read Complete Scoundrel and I'm still working on sketches from Manga Madness. I was going to treat myself & buy a book today, but then I looked at how much money I had left after putting aside enough for food for the next 2 weeks, paying the dentist & other bills & realized that I had better not.

TV: They showed the last of the Kunoichi that they had and then started with the 2nd season of Ninja Warrior again. Incredibly, a full 1/3 of the 100 contests (34) made it past the 1st stage. Of course, several of them were eliminated in stage 2 but that's typical. We also watched Burn Notice & a CSI rerun that we'd missed when it originally aired.

Gaming: I checked & realized that I hadn't tracked data for the last few of Edana's ARs (Living Greyhawk character) on the Nyrond site. I started to fix that last night. I also heard that Wizards has announced the release of D&D 4.0. This is really looking like the end of my Living Greyhawk play. It's a pity, I've really enjoyed it.

tatting: I'm starting to get low on thread, I can glimpse the bobbin spindle, on one of my shuttles. It's the one I use for the large rings. So I've been using the shoe-lace trick to eke it out. I have started up the bottom leg of the cross. It's a chain, 2 short chains, 2 large rings & 1 small ring before I start considering that end almost done. That will leave the right arm of the cross & the other half of the top to do. The end is in sight (sort of).

clothes: 'pirate-y outfit' as Chris calls it; black ~slippers, navy & blue printed cotton gauze skirt, navy cotton/linen short sleeved jacket with a horizontally striped blue/navy & white tank visible in the vee of the neckline, 3 women pendant, blue thehungersite silicon bracelet, lapis flower ring, fem/dancer ring, lapis lazuli chandelier earrings, hematite band & my (wet) hair pulled back into a ponytail; held by ponytail holder with 2 translucent plastic squares.

Weather: Oy, it's hot. We only tied the 54-year-old record; just like yesterday. It was 99F/37.2C and today it hit 100F/37.7C. This morning started out in the high 70's (~25C) though, and that makes such a difference. The AC on the bus was cranked up enough that my glasses fogged up when I disembarked.

Speaking of the bus, I met one of my neighbors this morning. I wondered, as she was exiting her home as I passed, if she were on her way to the bus, too. When I saw her walking a bit behind me, I thought that I was correct. Of course, when she actually came to the bus stop, asking if the bus would be going to campus, I knew that I was correct. She had orientation today & I was able to tell her where the building that she sought was located. She grew up in Virginia (& is named after the famous valley) but has been out of the South for a long time. She doesn't even have a Southern accent anymore. Most recently, she's from Wyoming and is having to adjust to the high humidity.

She seems nice but I probably talked her ear off. I did warn her about that, after a few minutes. And she could have chosen to sit, well not far away, but not next to me on the bus. So if I hurt her ears, it's her own fault.

tatting: I've begun to turn the corner on that bottom staff of the cross. I'm about 2 chains, 1 small ring & one large ring from being half-done.

Video of the day: What teachers make

Books: Finished Complete Champion, read a bit in Complete Scoundrel, got a bit farther in re-reading Simply Unforgettable & another page or so into Manga Madness (drawing as I go).

tv: More Women of Ninja Warrior. Everything else was ignorable, as a repeat.

Mom: Mom called me last night, a good thing as when I tried to call her, I found that my cell phone battery was dead (yes, it was at the hotel; Chris picked it up on the way home last night). I'll be going to see her this weekend. That means Friday night I'll be going to look for her birthday present (her birthday was yesterday). I know what I want to get her; I want to hit the thrift shops first, looking for old movie DVDs. If they don't have any, I'll check at Target & the like for any cheap ones that they have. I could buy expensive ones for mom but 1) she'd prefer that I didn't & 2) she likes old movies. She's really enjoying that DVD player that I bought for her. She's been checking things out from the library.

clothes: black ~slippers, brightly colored floral skirt, white polo, green bead bracelet, lapis lazuli flower ring, flower band, hematite ring, flower fairy pendant, ~filigree earrings & hair up in a ponytail/bun affixed with a ~bone curvy hairstick.

Bus Pass: I had to stand in line for a bit, but I got my new bus pass yesterday. That's vital as it started today. Deborah retired so she's not there in the parking office anymore. I'm happy for her but I miss seeing her there.

cellphone: still haven't found it and maybe today I'll remember to call the hotel while the lost & found is open.

tv: More Kunoichi last night. I've missed one session, 3rd run through, because I watched #4.

books: Finished Falling Awake & almost finished reading/skimming Complete Champion. There were a few things from CC that I might be able to use for my characters. But not much. I brought Complete Scoundrel & Manga Madness for today.

tatting: I've started the bottom leg of the cross this morning while watching the weather on tv. I got another ring done on the bus but the usual humidity problem stopped me, no big surprise.

Food: Since my dental insurance ran out (just as I was getting a root canal), I'm really short of funds this week. Plus a hefty chunk of my next paycheck is also going to my dentist. Leftovers are looking really good. Today it's leftover pork steak & mixed vegetables (identical to supper last night, alas).

weather: another hot one, it will possibly break a 50-year-old record (99F set in 1953). It was surprisingly (& comfortably) cool this morning.

clothes: black & white print cotton gauze skirt, black rib knit blouse (that unfortunately does not quite conceal the straps of my bra, but luckily that's black, too), hematite ring, flower band, ~rope band, black ~slippers, black etc bead bracelet, harp pendant, onyx & silver earrings & hair in a ponytail/bun affixed with a black hairstick with a brown bead.

More Women of Ninja Warrior last night. It was the 4th competition & someone finally won. Unsurprisingly, she's a dancer/acrobat. I keep meaning to have my laptop up & online while watching that show to do a search on some of the contestants. A couple of them look really tall, but the winner looked like she was only about 5'.

books: I read (re-read?) more of Simply Unforgettable & I almost finished Falling Awake. I brought Complete Champion to work with me for my commute & lunch reading.

Tatting: it's so hot & humid that I get to one large ring & it refuses to close; thus calling my efforts to a halt. I closed one large ring (last ring of the 1st clover of the pattern), short chain, small ring, short chain & then the large ring refused to completely close. Back into my bag it went.

dream: Richard T (of Lost Goblin) asked a bunch of us to find certain plants/trees for him. I think that it was gaming related. He gave each of us a plastic bag with a sample of the plant & a short description of its growing conditions. I think that I had sassafras; at any rate it had somewhat long, narrow leaves with unusual vein pattern & black berries. I ended up at my family reunion (either granddaddy's or grandmother's side, I don't know which, but grandmother was there - odd considering that she's been dead a few years) looking for the plant. I thought that I found it once, but it had the wrong kind of berries; I concluded that it was a relative of the plant that I was seeking. While I was checking the edge of the yard, one of my younger cousins latched onto my wrist and toddled along with me. Her dad managed to move the (photo?) album on the table right before she ran into it. I felt bad because I hadn't even noticed that she was about to hit it with her head.

clothes: Since I was busy reading, I ran late and just grabbed clothes. Black slacks & slippers, purple Bookwyrm polo (green dragon wearing spectacles reading a large book embroidered on the left breast with 'Bookwyrm' embroidered in yellow above it), moss agate bead bracelet, flower band, flower fairy pendant, hematite band, tri-hoop silver earrings, clip watch & my hair is down for the moment but I may put it up as soon as I locate my hairstick.

Root canal this morning. It was not nearly as painful as I've heard others complain about. My headache on Monday felt worse than this. The worst part was my jaw cramping, which the jaw chock helped but did not solve.

I did not see the cardinal with male pattern baldness this time. I think that the bird feeder was empty. I only saw one bird go up to it the entire time I could see it (out the dentist's window).

read: Never Deceive a Duke by Liz Carlyle. It's a fairly decent Historical Romance. The hero Gabriel/Gareth learns that he has inherited a dukedom. He knew that he was related but never expected, or even wanted, to inherit. To add to the mix, the previous duke hated him and Gabriel's mother was Jewish (and in those days that was a major obstacle). The heroine is the late Duke's 4th wife & widow. She has some issues of her own to deal with regarding her first husband, her own family, and her past. Both of them are very much wounded souls but finding each other really helps them. I set it down thinking 'that was a good book.'

I went back to The Four Forges on the way to work.

weather: It's still inordinately hot. Yesterday did set a record & today likely will again. It's already 102F and may climb another degree or two. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if it would just drop into the 60'sF at night. The difference between a 100F day after a 60F degree night & one that barely dipped below 80F is perceptible.

TV: We watched GPhoria last night. Gears of War pretty much swept the awards. I think that it won in every category it entered. Personally, I've never played it and likely may not ever. I went to bed early so I missed the episode of Women of Ninja Warrior that Chris watched.

tatting: I made about 30 of the little single ring flowers while getting my root canal. I can do them without looking, there are no joins, and if I screw it up, it's no big deal. And tatting calms my nerves; not as much as Valium, but I can drive later.

clothes: black shoes, pink skirt, white blouse embroidered with flowers, flower fairy pendant, ~rope band, flower band, pink & blue ~stained glass earrings & hair in a ponytail held by scrunchie that matches my skirt.

Still have the migraine.

sight of the day: tiny little black ants, very busy. The actual ant hill (I think) was about 20" long, along a crack in the sidewalk. But the trail of lots of busy little ants was another 9 feet, all along the same crack in the sidewalk. And when I say lots, I don't mean a half dozen or so; I mean a nigh unto solid trail of ants & the hilltop was so active it looked like it was moving. Tres bizarre.

And bright yellow bird with black wings, frightened from the planter at work.

tv: Women of Ninja Warrior 2 (3 women made it past stage 1 this time & 2 even made it to stage 3); X-Play, and Pop-up Video.

read: It's Witch Fire not Witch Hunt, and the question mark was The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. I also read the 2nd volume of Canon. Last night I read The Quantum Connection and part of Four Forges. This morning I'm re-reading Born in Death.

clothes: black & white skirt, black shoes, white polo, moonstone jewelry

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.