Back to Work

I went back to work on Monday. I took transit (bus). I was a little worried because they're only accepting 10 riders at a time. So far, the most people on 1 ride have been 5, including the driver.

I'm adjusting to wearing a mask most of the day and I now have a spare mask in a desk drawer, just in case.

I finished Tonya's fingerless mitts and almost finished Alisa's. It's a very quick pattern in bulky yarn. They're not fancy but warm and cute.

This discussion about knitting kind of baffles me. I can see about being a little unsure about yarn substitutions, especially when just starting out and reluctant to spend lots of money on supplies. I've had some bloopers when trying out yarns different than called for (see my dice bag nee sock), but I've also had some great success (see my sorbet shawl).

I got four letters (replies) in the mail this week. I've written responses to 2 of them and put 1 in the mail. I used some old note cards I found in the thrift shop. They're one-piece cardstock that fold over and closed with a matching seal/sticker.

I downloaded an app for my phone (I have a phone that can handle apps! Wow!) called Seek. It identifies plants, animals, and insects. You take a picture and it tries to get to species. Some plants have stalled at dicots. But I did spot an eastern cottontail and a muscadine vine. It's a little slow to process (no instant gratification, sadly) but I've been looking for something like this for years. Literally.

The Goulet pen I ordered is nice but I need to use it more to really get a feel for it.

But I did write a poem. I originally wrote the poem back in December but I like how I wrote this out in ink. The title is "I'm Not Poor" & I wrote it out on blank pages from a pocket calendar.

Students come back starting tomorrow. Hopefully, this week the plexiglass for over my counter will be installed. It's a measure of safety for me, as a barrier between me and visitors.

I pinned out the coronavirus doily and I think I'm ready to start round 5. I just need to load my shuttles. I think I'll use Elderberry Jam for the next round.

And in case it's not clear, BLACK LIVES MATTER
Support LGTBQ+
Close ICE
Defund police (leave them with the crime fighting, not social services, etc).

Post Time Change malaise

Not to mention post-election malaise. I didn't support Trump (want to know why, check Politifact.com and Snopes.com) and now, thanks to the Electoral College mess, we're stuck with him for 4 years. Unless of course, he gets impeached because he's found guilty in one of the fraud cases he's involved in (I don't know how the civil case involving the accusation of rape of a 13-year old would affect him). Then we're stuck with Pence. A man who accepted being Trump's running mate, which says volumes about him.

My only consolation is that he didn't win the popular vote, so most voters opposed him. But when I check my social media on Wednesday and one friend is working on a 'safety plan' because she fears for her life (because she's one of the demonized marginalized groups) and another asks her husband not to wear the symbol of their membership of another marginalized group, well, I turned off my social media. I just kept crying and it's hard to do my job. As it is, I had an absolutely lovely migraine last night.

Oh, and the gubernatorial race is so close we don't know who won yet. And while HB2 nailed the coffin on McRory for me, I made my decision not to vote for him when he broke a post-election promise. The one promise that made me go 'okay, I'll give him a chance and see how he does.' I remember the days when not-my-candidate-wins meant a sigh and a 'well, the things I think are important aren't going to get attention for the next 4 years,' not fear. If McRory wins, I'll grit my teeth and gripe, but at least he (and his adherents) don't make me literally afraid.

Add to that, one of my beloved friends died on Monday and I found out on Tuesday. The funeral's on Friday and I won't be able to make it. And one of my student's is going to his grandmother's funeral on Friday. I've been using my coloring book stress relief hard.

I made a quick trip to see Mom on Sunday. I brought her a few things she's been wanting (emery boards, etc). It was a very short visit, but still.

I also stopped by to check on Carry's sheep. She was out of town and her usual sheep checkers were also out of town. I just gave them their supplemented feed and topped their water.

I wrote and mailed letters to the usual suspects (aunts, uncle, etc). Plus, I did some editing for a friend and wrote a couple short game entries. 

I would have included a couple pictures, but haven't managed to download them from my iPad.

Poncho and Tat Days Prep

Shockingly, I recently ran out of notecards. Or at least, if I have more notecards, I cannot find them, which amounts to the same thing. Luckily, I am prepared. I have a pad of decent quality watercolor paper, 6"x9", and washi tape and rubber stamps and bits of tatting. Between these elements, I can make my own notepaper. The drawback is a lack of envelopes. However, as per this blog, there's a solution for that. I often use old calendars and maps.

Here's an analysis someone has done, attempting to use Spotify to identify timeless music. It's interesting and it might be possible, due to modern technology. The only other way to measure how popular an older song is (to my knowledge) is it still being purchased? If I'm wrong, please let me know. I'm curious about this.

CD, my SO, made another chocolate chess pie. This one was ever better. It was lighter and the crust was softer. I don't like hard pie crust. He used grated frozen butter and frozen vanilla vodka and colder dough means softer crust.

My boss turns 50 this week, so the office got together to celebrate. Monday evening, three of us decorated his office with balloons, caution tape, etc. At lunch, the people who share an office with him added more. We had cake, ice cream, nuts, chips, and CD's pie. We were supposed to have punch but the woman making it dropped her punch bowl and it broke. Luckily, it wasn't an antique or anything like that.

picture from iPad game, Neko Atsume

And this arrived this week

Pretty

Remember the cape from last year? My...additions are complete. Bwahahahaha.

And coincidentally, Michael's had Aunt Lydia's Mexicana thread in size 10 on sale, $2.93 each if purchasing 3 or more, compared to the usual $3.49. No connection. At all. Really. I mean that.

I've been trying to write in my journal again. This blog , with daily journal prompts, is inspiring.

Someone save me. My eye was caught by a small Dr. Who sampler, I now want to do a larger sampler with the transcript from Blink. There are some obstacles; one, what fabric would I use; two, do I do the entire transcript or just the Dr's lines; and the hardest one to overcome, time.

British Library published public domain pictures. Much fun.

I Am Teary-Eyed

Sir Terry Pratchett died today. We lost Leonard Nimoy and that was a blow. But I've read most of Pratchett's books, over and over. He spoke to me and he was a part of my life in a way no actor, no matter how gifted an individual, can be. We lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's and years later she died. I read a book on Alzheimer's and it was a good book, just hard to read sometimes. That creates an extra resonance to his death.

My cold pretty much wiped out my productivity. I haven't done anything with the baby booties since the tatting meetings. I tried to make a cross for a friend's sick mother. Here's a tip, if you are making alterations to a pattern, note those changes on a copy of the pattern. This tip brought to you by the fact that three-armed crosses are not a thing.

I thought I was caught up on my correspondence yesterday. Then I found two more letters which need replies. I feel bad because based on where I found them, I had planned to reply to them before the others I wrote early this week.

My copy of Night Witches arrived this week. I will be taking it to gaming tonight. DR and SR (no relation) both want to see it. And funny enough, I'll be having lunch with the designer tomorrow. We work really close to each other, it turns out.

It's a short wall of text this week. Sorry.

Snow Day

Work isn't opening until 10 am today, due to dangerously icy roads. It started snowing at 6 am yesterday morning, so roads were slick. Some people worked from home as a result. By the time I headed home in the afternoon, roads were wet and slushy. I headed home early because I knew, once the temperatures dropped, I did not want to be out.

I'm working on the baby booties but I have to open a ring. Here's a picture (before things went wrong).

 Last Friday was very cold, so this was the outer wear I wore. From left to right, my really long scarf, hat and earband, fleece mittens, gloves, and then my really warm coat.

I had three things in the mailbox on Monday. I got a letter back...ripped in half. I need to print out what I wrote and send it out again. A friend in New York sent me some of her basil oversupply. I also got Night Time drops from Smith Brothers.

I went looking last week and no one could find it to order it for me. I checked the Smith Brothers website and finally contacted customer service. She broke the news to me they had changed the formula, no more melatonin. I expressed my disappointment and she offered to look for any leftover samples. Guess what arrived! She found four packages from a display in the warehouse and sent them to me. Great customer service from Smith Brothers.

Dad got a letter from his sister, she had a box from one of Grandmother's sister. Inside were some letters from Grandma, one of which concerned a visit to us and mentioned me as a little girl. I think he plans to send me a copies.

Due to weather, our GM has cancelled our game tomorrow. Plans are still on for R's birthday supper. We tried to meet last week, but the weather and roads were too bad. We had our game on Sunday and it went pretty well. We got started late but had fun.

From C (after watching a crime procedural): 'It's blunt force trauma, maybe, I'm your CI, so call me, baby.'

Month of Letters, and other matters

From the title, you may have guessed this but..

So far, so good. I've mailed out a letter every day. I've also earned some achievements; first letter, week of letters, Girls Love Mail (send a card to a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer through the organization Girls Love Mail), and parcel post (I sent the late Christmas present for my niece, must remember to email my brother for confirmation that it arrived).

I've tatted one of Anne B's dragons. I have a picture of it, but it's completely untrimmed. I'm going to trim the loose threads, take another picture, and post that.

I need to locate my baby booties pattern and the appropriate thread. One of my friends is expecting a baby in July.

I have a cold that just won't quit. I've been coughing since Jan 8. I went to the doctor on the 9th and he said it was a cold; nothing to do but palliatives. He quite literally prescribed rest, push fluids, no sudafed, steam, and no whispering. The sinus drainage was giving me voice issues and the sudafed and whispering are both bad for that.

Still playing Pathfinder. R is running Dragon's Demand and we're playing about once a month. It looks like we'll be finished around June.

I did go to a local con, met Mary Robinette Kowal and found out one of my friends went to high school with her. I've been reading her Glamour series and quite enjoying them. The first one is Shades of Milk and Honey. If you like Jane Austen, I recommend them.Got interested in Month of Letters and found out she's behind it.

I've been watching Sherlock and Elementary and Marvel: Agents of Shield and Foyle's War and The Big Bang Theory and The Crazy Ones and Castle and CSI and um, I forget. Thank goodness for DVR.

We watched the movie, Warm Bodies, the other night. It's a little lame, perhaps. But it's funny, and sweet, and even a little romantic. Psst, spoiler: it's Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending.

Mom is recovering pretty well from her broken elbow but she's been having trouble seeing very far since she had her eye surgery (was it cataract? Or something else? I don't remember). At first, her eyesight was better than ever. Now she's having trouble reading road signs.

We had snow a couple weeks ago. That was interesting. It's been a few years since real snow, as opposed to a powder sugar snow, fell around where I live. Thanks to public transport I made it work just fine. I did leave early, to get home before the slush started freezing. It was...interesting enough walking on the road when a car went by on snow. I didn't want to repeat the experience in the dark, on possible ice. They're predicting more snow on Wednesday. We'll see if it amounts to anything.

Month of Letters and other matters

Heh, found this and out of curiosity, filled it out. There is one that I shouldn't have on there, I only dipped into that state while traveling. There's a couple more I've been to but I don't remember so I didn't count them.

visited 22 states (44%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Caerfai Chemical Simulation

Someone decided that February is a month of letters. Every postal day, mail something; a letter,  a card, a package. In February, there are 24 mailing days (no Sundays & 1 Federal Holiday). Some friends on a forum decided to have a list of people who wanted to receive (&/or send) letters. So far, I have written 5 letters to them and two letters to family. I have received one letter, a reply from my first one.

I still haven't set up my Etsy page. I'm stressing a little about my store policy and stuff like that. Plus, I want 2-3 really good pictures of my bracelets.

I finished a scarf and sent it off (part of a Pay It Forward challenge). The recipient likes it and said it's quite timely considering the current weather. I have 4 more things to make. One person wants a face scrub. I've been waiting until we've had colder weather to make & send it. I'll see if I can over night it. I may send the ingredients separately, for her to mix, to avoid expiration problems.

My sock is progressing. The heel looks good and I'm working on the ankle. I went ahead and took off the scrap thread used to start the toe. Thank you, tiny, sharp, Gingher scissors. That's the heel, there.

I don't have a picture (because it's not blocked) but I finished my tatted chicken. Here it is, close to finished.

And just because, here's a sky picture.

The timing chain on my car had slipped, although not broken, so I got it replaced last week. Yikes, that's expensive. I also got some other, needed, work done. Now it's showing signs of wanting a new battery. Greedy thing.

We played Pathfinder all weekend. We played one of those sanctioned modules on Saturday and it was hard. We had 2 paladins, an inquisitor and an oracle. Did you see arcane? Healer? Rogue? No? We went through some cure light wound wand charges. Lucky for one thing, we were dealing with fatigue but one of the paladins had the 'gets rid of fatigue' mercy so he dealt with it.

Our Sunday 3.5 got cancelled so we played Pathfinder instead. It ran a little late and we missed the 1st half of the Superbowl. I didn't really care, since, as they say, 'I don't have a dog in that fight.' Although I am going to have to go see what commercials I missed.

Friday, I went to see Red Tails with a friend (John J). It was a good movie, although if you don't enjoy war movies you won't enjoy this one. I found out the next evening that another friend had worked with a Tuskegee airman. Apparently there had been a show about them about the time the two were working together and this fellow would provide commentary. "This guy? Oh, he was pretty nice. That one? Complete womanizer. The other one? What an @$$hole." and so on. Red Tails is more fictionalized.

This weekend, I'm going to see my mother. It means I miss a great sale at the local game store. But c'est la vie.

Do you play, or have you ever played, tabletop RPGs?

Or if you know someone who does or did; then here's a blog about a survey: http://www.mediafire.com/?dvrtdmco8l55hq6. It's long, about 125 questions. But fill it out and email it to the guy, by the end of February. He wants a snapshot of gamers before D&D 5e comes out.

I'm trying out Mythic GM Emulator. I'm reading through it and figuring out how/what applies to my Blue Rose character. I'll let you know the results once I've actually played through it a little.

I finished tatting a chicken. Yes, a chicken. I need to block it before I photograph it, though. I still haven't set up my Etsy shop. I need to figure out what my policies are going to be and take some really good pictures of my bracelets, first.

My sock continues. I'm well past the heel now and working on the ankle. I'm halfway to the absolute minimum ankle length.

I'm taking part in a Month of Letters. I'm sending letters or cards to 24 people; one for every postal day in the month of February. I've mailed off 4 of them (I was little early on the 4th one so I wouldn't miss it). I've already gotten word that my 1st one has arrived. I've written two more (plus one I've lost), so I'm maintaining well.

Me Love AC
Yesterday's game got cut short when Rosemary's AC froze up. It was still cool, but it was dripping water into her closet. Those who could, stuck around 'til it got repaired. Luckily, it was under warranty so she didn't have a huge bill.

It's really good that she got it fixed. It's supposed to hit mid-90's again today.

Unfortunately, it took long enough that it meant that supper was at 9 pm and we did not get back until almost 11 pm. No stop off at B&N to pick up my ordered book. Ah well, these things happen.

The game was going okay. We stopped right before another fight started. It's going to be an ugly fight. They know that we are coming and they include a very ugly looking undead.

Saturday night I went to Quail Ridge Books. Jaye Wells was there, giving a talk on being published. I had mentioned it to Toni on Thursday so she & Rick were there, too. It was a good talk, very interesting. It was also nice to meet Jaye and I got her to sign a copy of her book for me.

Afterwards, Chris & tried a new restaurant, The Flying Biscuit. If Jaye was still in Raleigh, I would have recommended that she try it (assuming that she had not already).

I've gotten the letters written to my aunts, niece & namesake. Now to get them mailed. I used a pack of notecards with quilts on them.

I picked up two new manga on Sunday (before gaming). Since they're doing all that roadwork in front of FE (the road was completely blocked one day), Rick (different one) has had a a bad week. The one doesn't have anything to do with other but it made me glad that I paid for everything in my bag.

Plans are underway for the weekend. LFR and cook-out at Rosemary's on Saturday. I'm running so I need to finish reading the mod. It's low-level and D&D 4e is really easy to run, so I'm not really stressing about it.

Poor Snead's Ferry (small Onslow Co town at the coast). They don't have enough money in their budget to pay for a fireworks show this Independence Day.

Gaming: We did not reach the elf city Monday night. Instead, we ran into the previous diplomatic group. Sort of. Two were undead & the other four were somehow broken, via magic, etc. Since they had very similar abilities; a warmage, a cleric, etc plus a bard, it was not easy. We did try to capture one but that was a failure. They were too far gone. At least we know what happened to them, although unless we find some clues we won't know who did it.

This weekend is Mace. I'll be playing the last Living Greyhawk, with my bard Nadia; some Living Forgotten Realms & some Witch Hunter again (finally). I have to be packed tonight because I'll be leaving from work tomorrow.

Politics: The election is OVER! Finally, the campaign ads will be gone. You have no idea how happy that makes me. It got to the point where I had the urge to do laundry twice a day, just from the splash caused by all the mudslinging. Blyech.

I voted in October, but on Monday, November 3rd I saw an ad that made me almost made me wish that I could vote again. I saw an ad for a Judge on the appeals court that only talked about her qualifications & what she wants to do. It said absolutely nothing about her opponent. I am so glad that I had already voted for Linda Stephens. Unless she changes, I will vote for her again.

I wrote letters to my Mom's sisters on Tuesday. Since they are all at Aunt Shirley's, I just put them in one envelope & sent them together. Hopefully, they have them by now.

I was so tired yesterday that I laid down for a nap before Chris got home. He woke me at 9:30 and an hour later he woke me up enough to eat supper. We ordered Domino's and half an hour later, I went back to bed. I got about 10 hours of sleep and was still sleepy this afternoon. I have no explanation. The weather is sunny & gorgeous. I had two cups of tea.

Here's a heart from Martha Ess's book of holiday tatting. I really need to work on my block tatting. I have all these gaps.

I finally sent the letters that I wrote to my family. I included the picture in the local picture of me in the walking group. I also sent a copy of one of the letters to my mom (she doesn't care, as long as she gets something).

I made another Viking wire tatting piece today. I did this one in silver and made a necklace.
Here's a detail:

It got almost 2.5 times as long once I pulled it through the drawplate. It went from about big enough to fit over my pinky, to small enough to fit into a mechanical pencil.

Gaming: Today was the LFR (living forgotten realms). We only have time to play the 1st two of three parts.

Gaming: Looking back, I realized that I never posted what happened in last week's Mutants & Masterminds. We had a nice little fight in the vaults of Astro Labs with the Bestiary (4 ~myth-themed villains) and then met the superthief for hire, Magpie, as he was stealing something from the Freedom League vaults. Turns out, Lady Celtic's son, from a previous life, has stolen her powers, at least partially. He's a little obsessed with his mom's legacy. We ended with Freedom League trying to find proof that he was behind the theft by Magpie.

Saturday I'm in a zero-round of a game for the Living Forgotten Realms weekend. Basically, I'm rounding out the table. Sunday, I'm in another LFR game. How did this happen? I could have sworn that I had a free weekend somewhere.

Met up with some old friends in Raleigh last night. It was nice seeing some old friends, and some new faces. Anitra wasn't there, she's still occupied with family matters.

As I was leaving, I managed to drop my Palm. Luckily, I had sync'ed it night before last, so I only lost was I had entered yesterday & I think that I remembered it all.

I finally found some stamps so that I could mail my letters. I sent one to Mom, too. That reminds me, I think that I need to write Mitra again.

Weather Another rainy day. I hear that, if you measure rainfall, the drought is over. Although, if you look at that state of the ground water, I don’t think that’s the case. This is probably from Ike’s bands, I think.

letters I lost the stamps that I bought last week, so I bought more today & finally mailed my letters. I wanted to get them out over the weekend; oh well.

Gaming This weekend, it’s more Living Forgotten Realms. One of the players can’t make Rosemary’s home game, so we’ve scheduled an LFR adventure instead. Rosemary will be running Inheritance, the one that I ran a couple weeks ago.

Thursday, it’s our regular Mutants & Masterminds game. I missed the last session, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Since I’m the one who takes the notes; there’s no one to fill me in either, not in any detail. Maybe they only had an Annual (a short story that is not part of the current continuity).

work We had another fire alarm today. Everyone stood outside in the rain, or went to the nearest store, and waited for it to be over. It takes 15-20 minutes before they clear the building (ie report that it’s safe to go back inside). I had left my umbrella under my desk to dry, from when I went out at lunch. Luckily, I was able to share the umbrella of the woman who works just outside my office. I dropped my change purse & saw it when I started back inside, thank goodness. That coin purse was a gift, from Guatemala, yet.

The walking group has restarted. I went to the kick off at lunch. Since it was so wet, we walked around indoors. My hip may be in the local paper (the photographer took a picture of my pedometer). We only walked for about 15 or so minutes, but that’s better than nothing, right?

TV We watched more of Diners, Drive-ins & Dives last night; as well as the Closer. I really like those two shows. Some of those dishes that Guy tries, though, I would not touch. It’s not that I think that they’re bad or anything, I just have a very low spicy threshold. Last night’s Closer was the EE episode. It was really funny watching Brenda being carried down the stairs; twice.

At 30 minutes before the end of my work day, the fire alarm goes off. I was so tempted to just go home. But no, I waited and sure enough the alarm was shut down with 10 minutes yet to go. I stopped by the little store to get some stamps as I left work and when I stepped out, it was raining.

No big deal; I had my emergency umbrella and it wasn't raining hard. When I got to the bus stop the benches were still dry; sheltered by the trees. I sat down and waited. I had missed the bus but it was only 10 minutes or so until the next one. Then the rain came down harder, and harder, and harder. The gutter in front of my overflowed into a low spot in the sidewalk. And I huddled under my umbrella.

The rain tapered off. After a bit, I brought my umbrella down, hoping to drip some of the water off of it. The sun was shining of course, and the light reflected off the puddles to the west was absolutely blinding. A bus stopped in front of me and I idly watched people get on board, my eyes drifting to the back of the bus, where it was raining. Not three feet to my west, it was raining lightly. In front of me, nothing. And the sun was shining brightly. I put my umbrella up as a parasol to give me shade. And it rained to my west.

My bus came, about 20-some minutes late. But it came. That's when I learned that the ends of my hair had gotten wet from the rain, not quite covered by the umbrella. Welcome to summer rain in NC.

Family: I finished the letters but I can't find what I did with the stamps after I bought them. I looked where I thought I put them & they are not there. Each letter has a little tatted heart in it.

Gaming: Today we played another 2 Greyhawk Ruins adventures. One was a mystery; it started in an earlier adventure. We found one, maybe 2, more clues but did not find out who killed the two people or what the connection is. It was still fun and the way the second one ended was just too funny. The final big bad was finished off by a summoned giant celestial bee. And it turns out that we were able to do a favor for the god of bees, etc.

We would have gone to supper afterward but with gas prices (thanks price gougers & the panicky reacting to Hurricane Ike hitting Galveston) we just didn't dare risk it. As it is, we gave Diana a ride so that it reduced how much she'd have to pay.

I was really tired last night. I slept just over 9 hours and even then had trouble really waking and dozed for a few more minutes.

Tatting: I finished the Valentine Heart by Martha Ess. I did mine in variegated red (red to almost black- garnet) for the block-tatted heart & green for the lacy edging. It turned out pretty good & I only drew blood once trying to get the hook through a lockjoin.

I was so tired last night, partially because I went to bed late after gaming on Monday & partially because incoming storm fronts sometimes do that to me (I practically slept through a hurricane due to that). I went to sleep about an hour early. tv: I watched another episode of Lois & Clark and not much else. books: I finished Touch of a Highlander last night & finished Baroque & Desperate on my way into work. letters: sent Valentine Day notes to the usual suspects, plus my dad & step-mom. Dad got out of his 2nd knee surgery yesterday. Kathy said that the surgeon said that it looked good. tatting: one more chain & ring; that's it. If it's not too damp or cold, I'll get more done on the way home. clothes: black shoes, black jeans, burgundy turtleneck, grey cord vest, labradorite bracelet, triangle triskele pendant, Celtic knot earrings & ring, ~rope band, hematite band, braided hair & elastic with Celtic knot on it.

Gaming: Mutants & Masterminds: Rosemary's character, Lady Celtic, met her predecessor's son (who's old enough to be the current Lady Celtic's father or perhaps grandfather but only looks old enough to be her older brother). That was...mildly awkward. He's wondering how much of his mother's memory she has & she doesn't want to blurt out 'all of them'. I managed to out-crude the entire table with just one remark (regarding the likelihood of Lady Celtic having an affair with her previous self's son). We did some investigation & research stuff, no combat. We didn't have enough time.

Rosemary & Chris were late & then David showed off the scrapbook his Weightwatcher person made for him. David made his lifetime goal, so he's less than half the man he used to be (from >400, to <200). style="font-style: italic;">

books: finished re-reading Lost & Found and Terrier. Read Accidental Vampire. Lynsay Sands's series is pretty funny. It's book 7 in the Argeneau series. The next one is due out next month, I think.

Wrote to all my relatives. Just need to get the envelopes ready to mail. Ran into Barb (fellow gamer, plays Katherine in Witch Hunt) at lunch. I didn't know that she worked on campus.

clothes: the same (appearance-wise) yesterday & today on the black jeans, black belt, black shoes, hematite band, and braided hair. Differences: black turtleneck & black shirt, circle jewelry (silver band with circles, 3 silver gradated hoops hanging from a French wire, round quartz pebble pendants & round silver Celtic knot & moonstone pendant) & red elastic on the hair vs. black shirt & purple sweater, amethyst ring & pendant, purple Czech bead earrings, silver twist ~rope band, & purple elastic on hair.

Packed: I am, mostly. I still need to pack my jewelry & I'm missing some game stuff. I need to find that, really. A lot.

Joe came over & all three of us went to Rockfish to eat. I spent too much money but the food was very good. I had the grilled tilapia with the maple glaze, creamed corn & whipped potatoes. We talked about Witch Hunter, the new Living Forgotten Realms campaign coming next year, the end of LG, and Blackmoor. Yes, it was a lot of gaming conversation.

Morning commute soundtrack: Mr Brightside, Time Warp, Along Came Jones, Pass It Around, Pep Vim & Verve, & Ya-ya by Lee Dorsey.

tatting: I finished the 2nd attempt at the pendant. It's too big. So I've loaded the beads for a 3rd try.

I spent most of yesterday, off & on, feeling like I still had something in my eye. It wasn't painful enough to actually be anything, so I thought it was kind of like a ghost of the pain from Tuesday night. This morning I noticed that I have a sty on my eyelid. I blame my father. I inherited a tendency towards sties from him.

I got my bus pass replaced yesterday. This one has an intact magnetic strip. We'll see how long it lasts. If it turns out to be a problem with the fare boxes, this one should start to peel in about a month.

letters: I only have the letter to my namesake left to write. I need to see if I have any stamps to mail the letters. If not, then I need to run to the post office to get some.

books: I finished Risky Business, the 1st book in the Dangerous anthology. Then I figured out that I wasn't really in the mood to read the other 2 books. Oh well. I need to write & tat, anyway.

clothes: navy loafers & slacks; navy, short-sleeved, shawl collar linen jacket over horizontally striped tank in navy, country blue, light blue & white; brown belt (hidden by the jacket), lapis lazuli bead earrings; lapis lazuli flower ring; hematite band; silver cuff bracelet; the blue barrel bead necklace from Dad; & my hair is loose; at least until I feel like putting it up.

I made it to the craft store last night. I spent too much time & a little too much money (yeah, I know, you're shocked). At least, I spent most of it on either 'need it to finish my entry' or stuff that was on sale or only $1. I was too tired to cook & didn't have enough time for a restaurant (& wasn't really in the mood either, not even take out), so I stopped by the grocery store & bought a frozen dinner. They were on sale so I bought 3 of them & I'm having one for lunch today; using my new lunch bag I got from the charity fair on Monday (kick off of the SECC campaign).

It's a fairly big deal; the State government decided a few years ago to consolidate the charity giving of its employees & to reduce/stop solicitations at work. So employees can make payroll deduction contributions to any of about 550 charities. Anybody can contribute, but only state employees can do payroll deduction. The charities range from local, city-based to international, from children, to disabled, to seniors, to health-based, to environmental & everything in-between. About 86 cents of every dollar goes to the charities, with no further overhead. The charities have to guarantee that no more than 25% of their income goes to overhead. If they go over that, after being approved, they go on probation for a year. If they continue, they go off the approved list. Since the money is payroll deducted, the state collects the money in interest-bearing accounts and distributes it on a quarterly basis. The interest also goes to the charities, based on % of the money sent (so if 10% of contributions go to the United Way, then 10% of the interest does, too). Since the money is guaranteed, per quarter, the charities can budget based on that income.

site of the day: find out about the eco-labels on your food, how accurate & truthful are they? Is that milk really organic?

Morning Commute Soundtrack: The Cry of the Wild Goose, Walk Away, Hazy Shade of Winter (Bangles), Losing Grip, In the Jailhouse Now (Gene Autry), Where Do We Go From Here, Rest in Peace, You're A Star, Vacation, & finally, I heard most of Bat Out of Hell before I got into my office.

While the washing machine & dryer did their work, I watched Bones, Cold Case, & Reaper and worked on a mini-memory book and my necklace. I did about 3 pages of the memory book & really hated the 3rd page that I did. So I stopped. I turned to my tatting.

tatting: I found some large beads that might do as the center of the bauble as well as a bag of glass globs & small marbles. The bag included some small black marbles which what I decided to use ($1 for bag versus $2 & $4 for the large bead packages, *sigh*). I loaded the thread with copper & black seed beads (1 copper, 4 black & 3 copper) and did the 1st ring for the bauble. And it's too small. The size 12 perle is quite a bit smaller than the Olympic that I used before. So I started loading the thread again (using my brand new big eye beading needle - boy is it easy to use), without taking the old one apart. I'll wait to do that until I'm completely done.

For my second try, I'm using 2 copper, 5 black & 4 copper beads and 10 ds instead of 6. We'll see if that works. I started loading the beads this morning but I had to get ready for work & did not finish.

letter: I've finished writing to my Mom's sisters now. I've started Aunt Lillian's letter but have not finished it yet. I'm going to try to mail my aunts' letters today. I still have Aunt Evelyn's, my niece's & my namesake's letters to write. I want to have them all done before I leave town.

books: I'm still reading Witch Hunter and I've sent them some errata. I haven't bothered with the typo's or anywhere in which the intent is obvious. I've only included things like the example contradicts the rule or the rule needs some expansion. In one case, I sent in a question that specifically relates to the shared world campaign, Dark Providence. I've also dipped into 1633 though and I brought a Nora Roberts anthology to work with me.

clothes: Since I'll be packing tonight, I'm keeping all my jeans for the trip. I've set out the slacks to wear to work. Today though, I'm wearing a dress. It's the blue one (like I have more than one) with the cream flowers that I wear under the navy, batiste kimono blouse. I rather think that the navy loafers detract but 'oh well.' I was going to wear my 'new' (mom gave them to me, they belonged to her but she never wears them) navy enameled earrings but they just didn't suit. Instead, it's the textured navy metal with the textured, brass cut-out over it earrings, flower fairy pendant, lapis lazuli flower ring, flower band, hematite band & my hair up in a ponytail/bun held by 2 cream curvy hairsticks. No clip watch today, I don't have anything to clip it to.

Not much has happened since last night. I watched some M*A*S*H*, tried out the cd of games that my Aunt gave me & went to bed. I did get a little writing done, so I did something productive. This morning I finished loading the dish washer & set it to run as I left for work.

letter: I wrote to my Aunt Dot while checking the weather on tv. I've finished the letters to my Dad's sisters & really need to go ahead & send them. I still have my Mom's other 3 sisters plus my two great-aunts.

I missed the family reunion. That's what happens when you stay up until 2 am and your body insists on getting up about sunrise. You need a nap in the middle of the day. At least I was awake & alert for the drive home. That's of at least moderate importance (assuming that not falling asleep at the wheel is important).

tatting: I have one more chain with bead & then another 10 rings & 'bald' chains to do & the necklace will be close to finished. After that, I need to either find/buy or tat a pendant.

Morning commute soundtrack: All the Things She Said, Vacation, Me & Bobby McGee (Joplin), You're A Star (Josie), The Wolfrider: The Hunt, Silent Running, Wrap It Up, She's a Low Down Momma, & then into but not through Shady Grove.

clothes: black ~slippers, black rayon shirt (worn open), black slacks, bright rose pink sleeveless sweater tank with round neckline with pink ombre ribbon threaded through it & tied in a bow to one side, black tatted necklace & earrings, black stone ring, hematite ring, fem/dancer ring, silver clip watch & (it's cool enough this morning - I'm not sure about this afternoon) black texture striped trouser socks.

Hallucinations? For some unknown reason, I woke up & thought I saw light outside my window. I checked my clock, thinking that I had somehow slept through the alarm & was thus running late. Very late. I was more than a bit surprised when I saw that it read something after 4 am. I check the window again, it was dark. So I mentally shrugged, rolled over & went back to sleep. Then when my alarm clock radio did wake me up, I swear it sounded like the weather forecast was for a high of 58F. Since yesterday's high hit about 94F, that seemed unlikely. So I stumbled down to see the tv & check the weather news. The real high was supposed to be near 90F (actually it only hit mid-80's). Odd, huh?

books: I finished Fortune's Stroke. Now I need to find the next book. I read the prologue to Scion: Demigod.

tatting: I loaded the black/brass color Czech faceted beads onto the black size 12 perle. Now I need to decide what pattern to use. I only have 49 beads, I lost one.

writing: I've now written cards to both of my father's sisters. That just leaves 7 more to write.

Chris's game is tonight. I need to clear off the table first. It has the most recent mail and Chris's cds (he's looking for one that's gone missing) all over it.

clothes: black ~slippers (I saw a student wearing an identical pair at lunch), black jeans, lilac polo, almost matching animalrescue site silicon bracelet, fem/dancer ring, flower band, mostly hidden flower fairy pendant, hematite band, butterfly earrings & plaited hair.