Panic of the day: My alarm clock reset for the time change & I didn't realize it. So I woke up at '7:45 am' & absolutely freaked. I realized that I couldn't catch any bus earlier than 8:30 & I'd be an hour late for work. Then, as I rushed downstairs to call my boss, I saw the clock on the stove: 6:56 am. Whew. What a relief. I still forgot to pack my leftovers for my lunch, though.

Sad news of the day: Tsunami in the Solomons

YouTube of the day: chicken-fried bacon strips

sight of the day: bracelet made from pop tops. It's a double row of overlapping pop tops on elastic cord.

Last night it was the sight of the 'snow' underneath our Bradford pear. The rain had caused the tree to shed a literal carpet of white petals.

gaming: We've finished the 1st two parts of Red Hand of Doom. Started about 10 am on Saturday, played 'til late. Started again by about noon on Sunday & stopped about 8 pm. We have 3 clerics & that's a good thing. One is a healing cleric, one is a buffing cleric & one is a damage dealing cleric. That's kept my barbarian, the only front-line fighter, alive. As it is, one of the clerics died.

The rogue bought a deep hound (large mount/fighter) to help for the 2nd part. That's been a big help. Even if the hound never actually does damage (which he does), just having another body there to take the hits makes a huge difference. It's a very well-written mod overall but the last encounter that we had predicates a certain pattern of behavior that seems, well, foolish. I can't go into detail, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who plans to play it themselves.

Tonight we're playing Freak of Nature; another zero round.

books: I read The Woman at Belguardo, one of the books from the sale last week. With all the gaming, I haven't had time to read anything else. I only finished that today. Next I'm starting An Old Faithful Murder. There were several books by this author at the sale so I hope that they're good. After that, I'll probably read All Hallows' Evil, the next book.

Radio show: I finally finished listening to episode 17 of The Scarlet Queen. I only needed about another 5 minutes, but first I had to listen to the 1st 20 or so, again.

tatting: I just made more butterflies. As soon as I've emptied this shuttle, I'll start on the next brooch.

clothes: This weekend it was t-shirts & jeans. It was remarkably warmer than I thought it was going to be, so I never needed my jacket. Today it's black slacks, socks & loafers, green/black Harrington Steading polo, black belt (w/ silver tone buckle), quartz feather pendant, feather & quartz chip earrings, flower band ring & loose hair. I still have it in a side part, too.

Living Greyhawk game: Played City of Malice (core adventure). Whoof. I now see why Mike made Rosemary take an oath, vowing NOT to play up (for non-gamers that means the adventure difficulty is set by the average level of the characters at the table & your character is below that average level - the average party level, or APL, of 3 1st level characters & 3 3rd level characters is 3 because the formula is (1+1+1+3+3+3/6) +1 [for a full table], which yields 3 so they could choose to play APL 2 or APL 4. Unless they're very stupid they'd choose APL 2). I played Reed, my CatTail, while Chris & Rosemary played her cousins, Grawl & Araby. We also had a halfling wizard/arcane trickster, a human bard/sublime chord & a human cleric. And this time, Grawl proved that Wall of Thorns is a wonderful, nasty spell to throw at someone (especially when you're a druid & can ignore it). Reed proved it last time.

The only problem was that Chris & I didn't leave until 12:30. That's very late for me, especially considering my late night on Wednesday, too. I was so tired, that from one eyeblink to the next I was asleep & didn't wake until the last stoplight before home. Waking up this morning was veeeery difficult.

More Living Greyhawk: Tomorrow we start Red Hand of Doom! We'll be playing most of Saturday and then Sunday afternoon. We hope that will take us halfway through it.

Heh, I forgot that I have a Frappr map. I wonder when I signed up for that.

Weather: There was actually %#$*&^%* frost on the ground this morning. Wednesday it was in the 80'sF. Today there's frost. Okay, it did rain yesterday which was almost a transition but still!

books: I'm still reading Rapture in Death. Next I'll start Held Accountable, it's one of the books that I picked up on Wednesday from the used book sale. It's a mystery set at a mental health center. The setting alone sets it apart.

tatting: I got very little done; just a couple shuttle-clearing butterflies.

clothes: black loafers (I have all the mud off from yesterday I think), black socks, black jeans, black belt (gold-tone & black buckle), black shirt (Origins), and same jewelry. I braided my hair today because it got into such a rats' nest yesterday from the ponytail.

I'm on Frapper

Website of the day: want to know a little about Keeshonds? They are a rockin' cool dog breed.

2nd website of the day: work with wood? How about some info before you buy or decide to work.

Dental app't: I screwed up and John didn't give me a ride. So I came into work late. I rescheduled for next month. Maybe by then I'll have my car fixed and I won't need a ride.

Gaming: Looks like we're playing Freaks of Nature tonight at Rosemary's. I'm catching a ride with the gm so there's no way I'll be late. Chris has my gaming stuff.

books: I finished The Cove last night. I stayed up too late doing so, too. Ah well, it was a good suspense/romance. Frankly, the only reason I knew the heroine wasn't nuts was that it was a romance & the genre predicates happy endings. This morning I started re-reading Rapture in Death. It's been a while but I'm starting to remember whodunit.

clothes: black: loafers, socks, jeans & polo (w/ purple embroidery [ 2001 Ren Festival]), black glass bead bracelet, silver hashmark ring, fem-power ring, onyx earrings & pendant on long silver chain. My hair is up in a ponytail for lack of anything better.

Today's Excitement: There was a fire alarm in my building this afternoon. That gave me the opportunity to go the library students used book sale. I bought some books while I waited for the alarm to be over. Never did find out what caused it. I started reading one of the books I bought at the sale.

gaming: Looking at playing a slot zero game (pre-con games that get enough gm's to run games at the convention). It depends on whether one guy is sick tomorrow that determines which game we play & where. After all, if he's sick then 1)he won't be up to gaming & 2) he might be contagious.

weather: I'd like to find out if the weather set a record today or just tied it. The record high for today is 86F, set in 1945. If it didn't get that hot today it was gosh-awful close.

books: I also read the 3rd volume of R.O.D.: Read Or Dream. I forgot to pack Creeps Suzette this morning so I didn't read this morning. On the bus home I started The Cove by Coulter.

clothes: white, notched mock-turtleneck shirt, crepe skirt in black, cream & tan, triple hoop silver earrings, ring with circles, fem-power ring, flower fairy pendant & hair up in the ponytail/bun affixed with two black & tan chopsticks.

Gaming: Chris's game was last night & we (our characters) learned some things. 1) Mimics are nasty beasties, 2) don't hit them with electrical attacks (they spawn) & 3) grappling a dire lioness is bad for mimics.

website of the day: What's that actor's Bacon number? Ask the Bacon Oracle! And funny website of the day: stick figures used to make science jokes (& literature, etc).

Lunch today is leftovers from Sunday. I'll be having a crabcake, glazed carrots, and mashed potatoes. We ate at Red Rock Canyon Grill with Mike. The food was yummy.

books: I read Innocent in Death last night & learned that I'd missed an ..In Death book. So I'll be looking for that today. I brought Creeps Suzette with me to work but I'm very early into it.

clothes: black loafers, black socks & jeans, burgundy tank/plaid blouse set (tank is burgundy embroidered with a band of leaves along the neck, & over/attached to it is a plaid shirt in burgundy, grey, tan and light variants, with the same leaves embroidered randomly in green), feather charm/quartz chip earrings, quartz point feather pendant on long silver chain, ~rope band, silver dome ring, & my hair is loose for lack of anything better to do with it.

Raptorcon! It was fun. I played two core LG games & the rest were Geoff mods. Unfortunately, the first mod of Sunday (core) I (& the rest of the table) had to deal with the notorious JC. Gah. And the people at Trinic-con can blame me if he comes. I wore my 2006 shirt & he saw it. *sigh* He may be a very nice man but he's, how should I say this, less than accurate in some of his statements. And he ignores what other people say, interrupts, etc (ie Rosemary said, 'even with the web spell there, can I step to get the cleave?' and JC said, as she stepped into the web that he cast in her way, 'if you had cleave, you could just hit that guy.'). Just a very rude guy.

Zavin, my first level Geoff druid, finally made 2nd level. It took 2 more intro mods to do it. I 'met' Eric's new 1st level PC. His old character is currently plugging some portal, so he got a cert to play a fey. He's playing an ice fey warleader, female. She's been informed that she should go scout (to get her out of the tribe/clan's way).

The roleplay interactive on Saturday night was lots of fun. There were games, mini-missions & some good roleplay. I played one game; smash the candy man. I need to find a copy, maybe 2 or 3. It's a Candyland variant where when you pass the other players you can 'hit' them. When they take 6 hits in one area, (head, limb or torso), they lose that area. If you use gingerbread men & frosting tube to score; you can eat your opponent's limb when you finish it off. Delicious.

As usual, I didn't get enough sleep and napped on the way home. I got to sleep late this morning, too. Unfortunately, the hotel didn't manage to get the number of towels right at any point past the first day. Luckily, I learned that I can dry off with just a hand towel.

tatting: I finally picked up my shuttles this weekend. I made the two apology brooches (all I had was white thread), now I need to work on the primary ones. Here's what I made:
I managed to get them done, starting Friday night and finished Sunday morning. I started another one with more beads but I screwed up on the first round of chains & just put it away. I'm not even going to bother posting a picture of it as it's only going to be cut up.
I started to make a silver/white choker with clear seed beads:
It's from Lyn Morton's book (as is the brooch above). That thread is really pretty but it's a pain to work with; eventually I screwed it up & gave up on it. Can you see what I did?

So I used the rest of the thread on the shuttles to make a couple butterflies & some simple flowers.


books: I finished both books that I took with me. Quelle surprise. My Fair Temptation I finished today on the trip back. So I read more of The Pillow Book.

clothes: Obviously it was jeans & t-shirts this weekend. I wore white tennis shoes all week because my left loafer sole tried to come off. It was half-off by the time I got halfway to Maryland. I couldn't wear those shoes. That left the black tennis shoes that I packed, both left ones. Or the white ones. I wore them with black jeans (red Meepa Con tee), blue jeans (Geoff 'Against the Giants' tee & 2006 trinic-con tee). I finally wore my 'strawberry' with dangles earrings on Saturday.

Today it's blue jeans, black 2003 NF conference Panthers champs, feather charm & quartz chip earrings, quartz point/feather pendant on long chain, ~rope band & fem-power band.

3 websites with green (ecologically preservative) focus & 3 cleaners that are cheaper & less toxic than storebought:

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/

http://lesstoxicguide.ca/index.asp?fetch=household

http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/03/bestecosites

Discount Cleansers There are several ways to cut the expense of manufactured cleaners. Not only are they cheaper, they are also environmentally friendly and child-safe.

For Glass cleaner, mix 2 tbsp alcohol to 16 oz of water.

To clean hardwood floors, mix 1 cup vinegar per gallon of water.

To make furniture polish mix 2 tbsp olive oil, 16oz water and 1 tsp of lemon oil.

As Iraq Casualties Mount, So Do the Stories We Must Tell

Four years ago we invaded Iraq and today the occupation continues. A new project is working to tell the stories of the service members whose lives have been lost -- in the words of the people who loved them. A growing, living memorial by those who knew those who fell.



read more | digg story

First day of spring, my Aunt Fanny! While a pretty day, I would not call it spring-like weather yesterday. I did pick a daffodil to put in a vase in my office, though. I love those flowers. They smell nice, they're bright & cheerful after the grey days of winter, and they appear early, like the forsythia; heralding spring's arrival.

books: I read Vampire Doll, #2 and sort of re-read part of Devil's Bride. I haven't gotten very far because I have not been taking lunch; since I'm off Friday & Monday for RaptorCon (in Gaithersburg, MD). That will cut down on the vacation time that I'll be taking.

Interesting book of the day: The author is coming soon to speak at my alma mater, so I looked up her book. It sounds fascinating. The book is Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel & the War on Terror. She grew up in Cairo; the daughter of man who died after leading raids on Israel. She was considered the daughter of a martyr of the jihad & thus was honored.

Con: I finished my laundry last night & packed. Then we packed the car, since Chris will be picking me up from work & we're leaving for Maryland then. We're not going back home, so if I haven't packed it, I'm not taking it. That did mean that I brought my laptop to work with me. It's a heavy sucker, this morning.

Music: I loaded Try This & I'm Not Dead (P!nk) into my iTunes the last couple days. I've sync'ed my iPod & put some of the songs onto playlists. I also loaded a couple more episodes of The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. I checked the dates on the episodes last night & I'm missing (or rather Radiolovers.com is missing) at least half-a-dozen episodes by #20. Bummer.

clothes: yesterday it was grey 2002 Carolina Ren Festival polo, black slacks, black socks, black half-boots (that really need to have the heels replaced), black belt (gold-tone buckle), & moonstone jewelry. Braided hair yesterday & today.

Today it's forest Geoff polo, black slacks, same belt, black trouser socks, black loafers (I finally found the smaller pair), emerald earrings & necklace, & fem-power ring.

Bruises: Remember that fall on Friday? I do; I have a nice collection of bruises to remind me. There's one about hand-sized on my left hip; it's big & ugly. There's another, about the size of a quarter, on the inside of my right arm & a small, only nickel-sized, one on my right thigh. That's probably from hitting myself with my umbrella.

TV: The Riches was on last night but it started about the time that I needed to be heading to bed, so I didn't watch it.

website of the day: boing boing, a directory of wonderful things

guilty food(s) of the day: milk chocolate covered mint Oreo cookies, Reese's Brownie & Hershey's Brownie (very rich, almost too much so).

books: I finished Hana Kimi #16 & Chibi Vampire #2. I started New Moon by Rebecca York & Punch #3 but just wasn't in the mood.

radio show: I finished listening to episode 15, The Huntsman's Quarry & the Dead Chinese, of the Voyage of the Scarlet Queen this morning. I'm really enjoying that show. Funny thing, according to Old Radio, that's episode 21.

clothes: white turtleneck, black poly-suede shirt, purple slacks, black trouser socks, black sequin/beaded flats, Celtic knot jewelry & ~rope band. My hair is loose because it was falling out of the braid & I forgot my hairbrush.

Friday night: I made it to the Books-A-Million just fine on Friday. At about 7:30, there was a fire at a substation (found that out later) & the power went out in the entire strip mall. So I left the store. And the power came back on. And went off again. And came back on again. It was still on when Chris found me & we left for the restaurant. There was a delay before we got seated (had to wait for the people ahead of us to leave) but it was a great evening. The conversation (between the 7 of us, Colt, Diana, David R, David C, Chris, Rosemary & me) ranged from children (only David C has offspring but most of us have nieces/nephews); to car accidents; to animals; to movies, 300 & Ghostrider; professional wrestling; Star Wars, is Obi Wan an Orthodox or Reform Jedi; Christianity, Bible as literal or guiding truth; concerts; & theater. We gathered at the restaurant starting at 8 pm & didn't leave until about 11 pm.

TV: Watched the pilot for The Riches on Saturday. Eddie Izzard is a lot shorter than I thought he was. And he looks really good with facial hair. The pilot description isn't quite as the actual show unfolded. It's more interesting than that.

Last night we watched Christopher Titus's 5th Annual End of the World Tour. He is a really good comedian and some of his stories made me leak tears. Because he doesn't always talk about funny stuff. Heck, a lot of his subject matter is decidedly unfunny (9/11/01, anybody?) but he finds the humor.

Radio shows: It was a long bus ride on Friday and I had to watch where I was going, so I listened to Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. I got all the way through episodes 13, Kang's Treasure & the Ghost of Tangolan Bay, & 14, The Beautiful Girl in the Bargain Basement.

Music: I've almost listened to & rated all the purchased music on my iTunes (lots of Free Music Tuesdays). Once I've finished that, I'll burn them onto a cd as back-up. I also bought Pink's CD; Try This while we were at Best Buy yesterday. The new one near us opened up last month but we were waiting for a flyer announcing it (which never came).

books: I finally finished Shelters of Stone. It's historical fiction set in pre-history; about the time Neanderthals & Cro-Magnon men were both extant.

Books-A-Million had a table of buy 2 get a 3rd book free, so I picked up a few. I read A Babe in Ghostland on Friday. It's a paranormal romance. She's an inexperienced psychic who helps the male lead get rid of the ghosts in his house. I finally read Outrageous by Christina Dodd, a medieval romance set just after Richard the 3rd's reign. I don't know how long I've had it. I also read Penelope & Prince Charming (Regency era but at least half the action takes place in Nvengaria) and Just Desserts on Sunday. The latter is a contemporary mystery.

clothes: I forgot to put on green clothes on Saturday (purple turtleneck & jeans), so I wore an emerald necklace & earrings instead. Sunday I wore another turtleneck with jeans, this time with the feather quartz point & feather charm & quartz chip earrings.

Today it's green turtleneck, black slacks, black belt (silver buckle), black suede shoes, silver flower band, black stone ring, silver feather charm & quartz chip earrings, braided hair & quartz point pendant with a carved feather.

Weather: Yesterday it was 81F & sunny. Today, it's 47F and raining. Just to add the loveliness, the sudden change in pressure gave me a massive headache (woke up at 2 am to take meds).

dream: I was a vampire (how that happened I don't remember) and as I was out stalking my prey, I found a gang of youths that looked perfect. Except that they were zombies & they were hunting me, not knowing that I was a vampire. The only living creature was someone who made Quasimodo look like a GQ posterboy. So we went looking for meals (blood for me, brains? for the zombies & flesh for the ghouls). We ended up at a high school & things went fine as we munched down on football jocks & cheerleaders (after school, it was night, duh). Then we found some elementary school kids on one of the rooms (age 8ish); they were watching some film or other as a kind of sleepover thing - school related. I couldn't let the zombies & ghouls eat kids, so I fought them off & barricaded the door. I took steps to prevent them from getting in (painting warding symbols on the doors, windows, walls, ceiling & floor). Somehow there were kittens involved but that may simply have been imagery symbolizing the innocence of youth. By that time I had thoroughly infuriated the lead zombie (& the one that I almost ate) and he was determined to munch on those kids. About that time my headache woke me up & I took some heavy painkillers.

After that, I dreamed that I was at some boarding school; one that was very odd. It turned out that it was for 'talented' kids (magic?). There was an incident involving a ghost or spirit of some sort and we ended up accidentally burning down part of the school. Me & the two kids with me (we may have been siblings) were being sent to another school; one that was also set up to handle people with our talents.

Stuff: To add to my fun, as I was disembarking the bus (& wishing the driver a good & safe day), I slipped. I slid/slipped down the bus steps until I was seated on the last one, with my feet out the door. My backside is bruised but everything else seems to have escaped injury.

This evening I'm not going home, I'm meeting Chris, Rosemary & others for David's birthday supper. Since I don't have a car, I'm taking the bus to that part of town & waiting for someone to get me from there.

book: Finished the book I brought with me yesterday and started The Service of the Sword (Worlds of Honor #4). I also brought along another book, A Fine Passion (one of the Bastion Club series) because I have a long bus ride this afternoon.

clothes: tall, black boots, brown velour broomstick skirt, navy turtleneck, navy cord vest embroidered with flowers, paui shell pendant & ring, flower band, fem-power band, and blue bead & silver heart dangly earrings. My hair is up in a ponytail & braided because it got so very tangled yesterday in the ponytail, I decided not to go through that today.

cold: Thanks to the fact that I'm sick again, I've had to cancel my platelet donation on Friday. That really bums me out. Yesterday I started coughing, too, a wet, hacking one.

dream: One of the things I dreamed about, I was in bed but I could see a road. The road was very wet, with standing water. I saw two police cars headed towards me & a small car away from me. For some reason, the departing car, with 3 young men in it, was going over the line, in a zig-zag. I remember thinking that they must be doing it to avoid the standing water, and just as they passed the 1st police car they hydroplaned right into the 2nd police car, almost a 't'. It went out of control and hit the 1st one, pretty much destroying it. The small car came to a stop on the side of the road, maybe after rolling. The policemen were not happy with the three young men. I came forward, a little reluctantly I admit, and told them what I saw.

One of the other dreams, involved Rosemary explaining to David R about a recent Living Greyhawk game that we'd played. It was part of a larger storyline and the recent adventure involved saving the lives of the leaders of X (I don't remember what). We didn't like the leader but we did like his 2nd in command (& successor). Unfortunately, we couldn't save one without the other. Chris was adding that there was a whole...mythology (he meant backstory) to it. Rosemary was trying to explain without going into so many details that it would bore David. She ended by saying the game was so exciting & tense that she was wound up like Mike (M, in MD).

books: I've tried reading Bridge to Yesterday before. Yesterday I finished it. I don't remember why I stopped reading it the last time. It's a pretty good book. Then I bought & read The Trouble with Witches. It's the 3rd Abby & Ophelia mystery. I'm continuing to read Shelters of Stone but for the commute (& lunch) read I brought Paid Companion to re-read.

clothes: Green/black Harrington steading polo, black slacks, black belt (with silver buckle, I'm finally small enough to wear it again), black knee-highs, black sequin/bead flats, malachite & silver bracelet & ring (which is a little large on me now), black stone ring, quartz point 'feather' pendant on long silver chain, & feather & quartz chip earrings. Hair's in a ponytail for lack of anything better.

Cold: my cold is moving faster this time. I started coughing yesterday. Ah, the joys of mucus. Blech.

I used the facial scrub that I bought a week ago. My skin feels really soft this morning. I'll use it a couple more times before I make a final judgment on it, but so far, so good.

books: Kind of reading Shelters of Stone. It's hardback, so I'm reading it before going to sleep, that sort of thing. Used my frequent customer card to buy a couple books yesterday, Charmed to Death & Lover Revealed. I really like the characters in Charmed to Death. Abby is a sweetheart. JR did a good job in Lover Revealed. She developed plots that she hinted at, or alluded to, in past books of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Yep, I read them both yesterday. I only stopped to eat supper.

clothes: yesterday it was a black polo, with Carolina Renaissance Festival embroidered in purple, black slacks, same black belt, black socks & loafers, with the paui shell pendant on a long chain, paui shell ring & ~rope band. Most of the time I left my hair in a ponytail.

Today it's dark green Geoff polo, black slacks, same black belt, black knee-highs, black sequined & beaded flats, emerald pendant & earrings, black stone ring & a ponytail.

MOVIE: Went to see Ghostrider last night. It will never qualify as one of the greatest movies of all time but it was entertaining & did have some good moments; both humor & action.

Afterwards, we went to eat at Bonefish Grill. It was a little more expensive than I was expecting but the food is very good. I had the tilapia with the pan Asian sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and the seasonal vegetable: spaghetti squash. I don't care for spaghetti squash but they seasoned it well & I ate a couple of bites anyway. Besides, even if you're not certain that you'll like the food, you should try a couple bites to find out. Unless you're allergic of course.

Saw part of Thunderbirds on tv, the live action movie. I think I'll look for it to watch it from the beginning some time.

sick: My cold from January is back. Saturday I woke up with that stupid sore throat. So I've been sucking on zinc lozenges, taking some echinacea & taking cold & sinus medicine. Oh. Whee.

books: Re-read all three books of the Tamuli by Eddings. I read Domes of Fire & The Shining Ones Saturday & Sunday & finished Hidden City while I had insomnia this morning. This morning I started re-reading A Loving Scoundrel.

I listened to a few more of Autumn Breeze's podcasts; she really is a good storyteller.

clothes: Saturday it was another Miami Parks & Rec pool staff t- with blue jeans. I never really went anywhere so it didn't matter. Yesterday it was black loafers, socks, jean & "I survived the Big Bad Wolf (Busch Gardens)" t-. I forgot to put on jewelry, completely.

Today it's black sequined & beaded flats (I'm sick of my 'now too large loafers'), 'sand' knee-highs, black slacks, black belt, lilac Carolina Ren Festival polo, Celtic knot earrings, ring & pendant (same as last time), fem-power ring & magnet bracelet. My hair is pulled up into a ponytail with a lilac elastic.

Car: I made good time getting home last night & was headed to meet Chris for supper before gaming. Less than a mile from home, the car started squealing. It sounded almost like the brake pads about to wear out noise but I wasn't applying the brakes. I called Chris while I was stopped at the red light and he couldn't id the noise (over the phone? no surprise there). Then it stopped as I accelerated away from the light. And it started again, so I pulled into the nearest parking lot (an apartment complex). By that time, I also saw smoke & smelled something burning! I put up the hood, carefully but no fire. I also couldn't see the source of the noise or smoke. Radiator fluid was dripping from under my car, in 2 places so I waited until the car cooled. I called Chris to tell him that I wasn't driving to Raleigh & called David. No gaming, I wasn't the only canceller. After my car cooled for 20 minutes, I started it, intending to drive home. I pulled out of the parking space & pulled right back in again. The squeal & the smoke had started up immediately.

I called AAA & got my car towed back to the house. Chris arrived not long before the tow truck did. We almost had a 'America's funniest home video' moment as the driver was putting the towing apparatus in place. My car, once I'd backed out of the space again, was on a slope, thus the parking brake had to remain engaged until the last minute. Otherwise, down the slope, probably into other cars, it would have gone. With the way the tires were turned though, it was remotely possible that it would have rolled into the one empty parking space.

It's probably a belt problem & probably need to have many of my belts & hoses replaced. It's been awhile since I've done anything with them & even as infrequently as I drive, stuff needs to be maintained. At least belts & hoses are cheaper than a new engine.

This does play havoc with my schedule for next week. I need to make a few phone calls to figure out how to re-arrange things.

Sports: My alma mater plays Fla State in the ACC basketball championships today. I hope that they do well.

books: finished The Ruby Knight & started The Sapphire Rose this morning. It's book 3 of the Elenium.

clothes: black suede shoes, black twill slacks, pink raw silk blouse (& black faux-suede shirt over it for warmth when needed), Celtic knot earrings & ring, knotwork moon/tree/star pendant & silver ~rope band. Hair is loose because the waves below my shoulders are pretty & I don't feel like doing anything else with it.

Supper with Dad: I arrived at the Cracker Barrel very close to on-time. Dad had been there for 3 hours, he said. He had stopped by the shop, between where he lives & where we met, where his moto guzzi is getting repaired. He had the day off and had the time to spend. We had a nice supper, conversation, etc. He showed me the bottle stoppers that he'd made. One of them had a corkscrew in it, very clever.

I had to take my leave just after 9 pm; I was really tired. I stopped for gas and a soda (caffeine to help keep me awake) & got home just after 10 pm. I stopped to talk to Chris a bit & then went to bed. I vaguely woke up around 5 am but dozed & slept until my alarm went off.

Website of the day: Need a laugh? Watch long enough for the mike to be placed in front of the guy in the middle.

gaming: Tonight's it Mutants & Masterminds again.

books: Finished Diamond Throne, book 1 of Elenium & started The Ruby Knight, book 2.

clothes: black jeans, grey suede boots, ~watered cotton purple/blue blouse, paui shell pendant on long silver chain, paui shell ring, fem-power ring & I forgot to put in earrings. I gathered the hair from my crown into a braid with the rest of my hair loose.

bus: I went to the central bus depot but my hat isn't in the lost & found yet. That was a wasted trip. I'll call on Friday & if it's there, I'll get it on Saturday.

books: I finished To Distraction on the way home & started re-reading Diamond Throne.

Tonight I'm meeting my Dad for supper. We're going to a Cracker Barrel on the highway between us. Too bad I'll need gas to get there. Gas is around $2.39 in my neighborhood (at the cheapest). On Friday, I have to be there to supervise the company moving my stuff from storage to the new location. Next Wednesday is my dental appointment & the Friday after that, unless there's a problem, I'll be donating platelets.

clothes: green/black Harrington steading polo, black jeans, black belt (w/ gold tone buckle..again), black socks that won't stay up (they're driving me nuts), black loafers (that are mite too big since I've lost weight, they flop), emerald & gold heart necklace, emerald & gold posts, & black stone ring. I've got my hair loose until I have to go outside. It's too windy not to braid but even in the braid the wind pulls strands loose & it looks messy.

Biography Channel: We watched the biography of Billy Pratt, aka Boris Karloff. Really, for a man who gained fame as a monster, he was a good-looking and versatile actor.

books: I finished Wintersmith & decided to re-read something I know that I'll like; To Distraction.

clothes: black loafers, sock & jeans with the same black belt & a black polo (2002 Carolina Ren Fest), with amethyst & silver ring, amethyst pendant on a short silver chain, purple Czech bead earrings, ~rope band, fem-power ring & magnet bracelet (black magnets) with clear, blue & silver beads.

Radio Shows: I'm up to episode 13 of the Scarlet Queen. But I've listening to music recently because I've been talking instead of listening to the radio show.

movie: Half-watched Bourne Supremacy last night. I was going through my iTunes library of purchased songs. I'm way behind on listening & sorting them.

@#$% left my hat on the bus this morning. Gotta go by the central bus depot to pick it up, maybe I can go after work tomorrow.

gaming: I picked up the 2nd endition of Lace & Steel at the recent sale at FE. However, it requires the combat deck to play properly (which I admit, I may never get to do). I have found a source for them at rpgnow.com

books: Finished Blame It on Cupid and picked up Wintersmith again.

website: Making seafood choices for a healthy ocean

clothes: today it's black jeans, black suede shoes, black socks, black belt (w/ gold-tone buckle), brown/black Vorkosigan polo, gold emerald heart necklace, gold & emerald posts & braided hair. It was going to wear it loose, but it's much too windy for that.

car: I (with Chris's help) finally got the milk can stool from my dad out of my car. It was too heavy for me to get by myself. While I was at it, I got out a box and a couple bags. I can even see the floor behind the passenger seat again.

I clipped my nails yesterday after that pinkie nail broke again. One thumbnail is till long enough to see over the end of the thumb, but the rest are just long enough to have white beyond the quick.

clothes: t-shirt & jean, navy loafers. The tee is a white one that my aunt gave me; it's Miami parks & rec staff shirt & not something that she wanted to give anyone who actually lives in Miami.

books: I'm trying to read Mind Pool by Charles Sheffield but I'm having a hard time getting into it. So I turned to Blame It on Cupid by Crusie.

car my car is now legal again; I got it inspected this morning. It needed a couple side lights but that was an inexpensive fix; thank goodness.

Chris's car is being serviced so we're a one (workable) car household today. We went by the mall; Chris wanted gloves to match his coat (blue & black) & I'm almost out of moisturizer with spf (did you know that it's really hard to find one with higher than 15, I've failed so far). Plus, Chris had a gift cert for Williams & Sonoma. We hit Wilson's first but they didn't have the gloves that he wanted. They did have the jacket, for him & for me. And the new back-friendly bag (it says it can hold a laptop but not mine), and the new camera bag. It was a good sale. My jacket was only $40 after the assorted discounts. Sweet.

I bought two tubes/containers of vitamin E moisturizer with spf 15 from The Body Shop. Since they had a buy 2 get 1 free (face products), I also bought a container of face scrub.

At W&S, we shopped around. They have lots of neato stuff. No appliances today or knives, just kitchen knick-knack & tools (tea ball, tea egg [make a pot o' tea], etc).

books: I finished Not Another New Year's & Howling Moon. I read a little farther in Pillow Book.

clothes: Trinic-con 2006 shirt, blue jeans, brown belt, blue loafers, grey ribbed shirt (it's warm but that wind is pretty sharp), flower fairy necklace, ~rope band, fem-power ring & feather (real feathers) earrings.

supper: I fixed House Autry oven-fried chicken last night (House Autry breading, baked in the oven). That plus mixed veggies was the entirety of supper. Then I had some chocolate for dessert.

Work is kicking Chris to pieces right now. He's so tired all the time. None of our usual shows were on so we watched 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?' and Dharma & Greg re-runs.

Weather: It's warmer than I expected this morning. I should have checked more closely but all I checked on was the status of the thunderstorms & tornado watches.

books: I finished A Little Bit Wicked, Lord Harry & Dragon's Kin. Someone, mentioning no names, stayed up a little late last night.

clothes: navy loafers, socks, slacks & belt with white blouse (3/4 length sleeves & texture plaid, band collar), light blue silicon 'cultivate peace' hungersite bracelet, moonstone ring, ~rope band, moonstone earrings & tri-moon moonstone pendant on short silver chain. My hair is up in the ponytail/bun affixed with a single white chopstick printed with a blue dragon.

Signs of Spring: buttercups blooming, a fat toad leaping for shelter, flocks of robins, and thunderstorms

Missed the bus tonight & ended up home a good half-hour later, right as the rain started. That wind is something fierce, too. Whoofties.

It's been more than 2 months since I touched my tatting. Am I finally ready?

Check out my Dark Ages profile!" HREF="http://aetn.waidev5.com/dark_ages/index2.html?link=,Drifa%20The%20Water%20Goddess,1,female1,0,1,2,1,0,6,2,1,1,1,6,6,false,">Check out my Dark Ages profile!

Happy St. David's Day (UK): Presumably, he's an Anglican saint; I can't say that I've ever heard of him. And Happy Samil Independence Day (S. Korea).

Pout: I finished the last of my Jungle chocolate (w/ pineapple) today. It's sooo good.

website/article: 10 influential women you've never heard of

web slideshow: old cars

tv: I watched the first two episodes of Dresden Files, only 3 more and I'm caught up. Until tomorrow night when the 6th one airs. We also watched Criminal Minds, which had a female serial killer.

books: I finished re-readed Sex, Lies & Online Dating and I read volume 1 of Kitchen Princess manga. I've also started A Little Bit Wicked.

Radio shows: I'm up to episode 9 of the Voyage of the Scarlet Queen & we've finally met Kang, the guy who hired Capt Phil Carney.

clothes: dark teal blouse, black jeans (& belt), knee-highs & loafers with silver Celtic knot jewerly, plus ~rope band & fem-power band. Hair up in ponytail/bun & affixed with lighter teal hairsticks.

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.