I'm typing this entire entry with my thumb. Mobile tech shouldn't amaze me anymore, but it does. I'm kind of glad our vacation starts so soon after the girls are gone. If nothing else, they've made it clear what a joy it is to have a house more full. and not just full of people... Full of people like -them-. People who are strong and brave and unafraid to love fiercely.

Man, it feels like so much has happened in a rush lately. Really, thought, it's all wrapped up in the singular fact that we moved rather suddenly. We're in a little two-bedroom house now, on the other side of town and closer to Portland proper. It's a little further to work, but it's nice to have some space that feels like ours. The how and the why are complex and boring, but I'm pretty content with the whole situation. I came home tonight and put Pandora on as loud as my poor little speakers would go while I unpacked a load of boxes and whatnot from the Jeep. The simple fact that I can make as much noise as I want and not have to worry about whether or not I'm bothering anyone is worth the move, to me.

The trip(s) we were planning got pushed back a bit. We're now aiming for the last week of February, but it turns out tickets are even cheaper then than in January, heh. We're (I'm) thinking about spending the money we saved on staying at one of the casinos while we're in Vegas.

I seriously can't wait for a vacation.

The down side to finally understanding what you want is that it doesn't necessarily align with what you have.

Merry Christmas. Hehe. I hope ya'll are enjoying yours. Whether that's hanging with the family around the tree or miser-ing away your evenings in peace... here's hoping you enjoy your holiday.

-love-

This week has been an interesting one.
We live on the upper part of a rather steep hill whose twisty roads turn particularly treacherous in winter weather. The Sunday before last we started getting some light snow and some ice. It was scary driving to work, but that's only because I'm somewhat neurotic about driving on ice. The drive was actually fine. Running around a few days on white roads did help boots my confidence tremendously in the Jeep's four wheel drive. By the time my days off came on Friday and Saturday, I wasn't afraid at all.

Still, I didn't want to be driving around Friday and Saturday, cause the weather said we were getting more snow over the weekend. So I stocked up on a few days' worth of food and spent my days off doing absolutely nothing.

And then it snowed.
I haven't been anywhere but this house since it started. We had to have gotten at least a foot and a half, total, because at several different points there was a solid foot's worth of snow on the ground in the low places. Even with the Jeep, driving was an impossibility because I have no chains. AJ's dad has chains for his big truck, and has made two treks down the hill during the snow-in, but both times he's had to fight fishtailing and drive part of the way in the ditch to keep control. I've never used so many sick days at any one job in my life, but that's just a little beyond scary to me. And even if we got down the hill fine, that's often easier than getting back up.

So, because we were waiting for that last paycheck before Christmas to buy presents with (I know, I know. Go us.), we haven't bought a single Christmas present. Not one.

I'm thinking that this all has been kind of fortuitous, though. The fact that the traditional holiday hasn't happened at all for us this year has made it kind of easy to not get too worked up over the fact that this is the first time in my life I haven't been with my family at Christmas. Sorta. It's weird, but it's kinda workin for me.

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come."

Lot of static upstairs today. I want to close my eyes and shake my head and distract myself, and believe it'll be gone when I come back here. ( Read more... )
Odd and random, I know. Never mind me.

Had inventory this morning, which meant I had to be there super early. I was worried because it was supposed to freeze overnight, and I'm terrified of driving on ice. It was cold this morning, but I was pleased to find that the roads were perfectly normal. Worst part about the morning was having to scrape ice off the windshield of the Jeep, but it wasn't even that much.

A few hours later, this is what our vigilant staff was doing to pass the time:
(quicktime) http://phinneas.net/1214080922.3g2

Another couple of hours, and everything is now fully blanketed in snow. The roads were horrible on the drive home. I've decided that I can never get rid of the Jeep now. As nasty as the roads were, the drive was uneventful and easy despite how nervous I was. Good news is, it means a short work day. Bad news is, it also means no Christmas party tonight. I have a feeling it'll be a cancellation instead of a postponement, just because of the schedule coming up. I would've enjoyed the party, but I'm feeling surprisingly zen about the preparations going to waste.

Maybe that's just because I know dinner is gonna be fabulous tonight, though. heh.

- The Christmas party is tomorrow night. I was just getting to the point where I was kinda sorta more looking forward to it than I was nervous about it yesterday. Of course, then AJ mentions that it's supposed to snow tomorrow. For the record, I'm not amused.

- The gwoon's Christmas party was this afternoon. I don't get to see that group of people very often these days, as AJ's tests continually grow fewer and less frequent. Every time I spend time with them, though, I realize again what genuinely good people they are. I would really be proud and honored to consider any one of them a friend. I'm glad AJ has them around. I'm glad he's part of them. Makes me kinda proud.

- Someone mentioned today how their Christmas tradition for their family involves little more than PJs, movies at home, and a good dinner. That's incredibly appealing to me. I love AJ's family, but I'm sorely tempted to try and branch off into our own, new little "tradition" of a strikingly similar means.

- This is absolutely fascinating to me: http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/ . With further development, they think that being able to see other peoples' thoughts and dreams isn't out of the question. It will never cease to amaze me, the things people can do, when given time and resources to explore.

I'm not really as bitter as the last post probably sounded. It was just a really rough day, and the last thing I wanted was to be pulled onto the floor to deal with customers while my head was full of other things. Most of the time I enjoy interfacing with people. Today just wasn't one of those days.

Someone asked me yesterday what piece of literature has impacted my life the most. It took me far too long to answer. A day later, this is still bothering me. I'm wasting my brain.

- Thanksgiving was really hard for me this year. I always get a little homesick, but I usually have the Christmas trip to look forward to. We're not going to be able to go until January this year, so I'll miss Christmas at home. The family here is nice, but it's not the same.

- I bought my very first Christmas tree ever. I haven't trimmed it yet, but just having it in the house has blown away the funk pretty quickly. Despite how much I'll miss the family, I'm super excited about the holiday this year.

- I kinda wanna see Twilight again. I kinda feel guilty about this, though.

- For some reason, I decided it would be a good idea to host a Christmas party this year. I'm now utterly terrified and will work myself into a nervous wreck over the next two weeks. But then the party will happen and I'll have a blast. It'll be okay.

Oh, and happy birthday to gracegiver! Thank you so much for sharing your life here. From trains to dancing and everywhere in between - you're amazing. Hope your day kicks ass. :)

I started to post a comment to reply to twizmo's post about Twilight, but figured I'd put my thoughts here instead of clogging up her LJ, heh. Turns out we came away with alot of the same thoughts anyway.

( Maybe spoilers. Dunno yet. )

Just got back tonight from spending the weekend in San Fran with Christina and Mark. It's always good to see them, and it was a nice break from all the work, lately.

Christina treated me to a movie at an Indian theater, and Indian food to boot as a belated birthday present. I thoroughly enjoyed both (except for the dessert, hehe). The more I see of the Indian culture, the more fascinated/infatuated I am with it. It seems so rich and deep and beautiful. And the cinema and music is just fun. 'm gonna see if I can find some similar places here.

This week, I need to get my camera fixed, and I need to book an optometrist appointment. I need new glasses like whoa. I hate picking out new frames!

- Not amused by my schedule this week. Off Saturday, worked Sunday. Off Monday, working Tuesday. Off Wednesday,then working straight through til next Wednesday. Not my idea of balanced. *le sigh*

- Abigail and Malcom have been kicking around in my head the past couple of days. Not strongly enough to produce any writing yet - they keep getting drowned out by another, unrelated character. Maybe I'll stay off of AIM and out of the rooms on Wednesday, and try to make myself write. Maybe.

- I never used to give oatmeal the time of day. Now I love the instant stuff for breakfast. Brown sugar & Cinnamon = yum.

- My new remote for the camera came in the other day. Wireless shutter release still isn't working. I fear it's something amiss inside the camera itself instead of the remote. Even considering the possibility that my camera is broken makes me sick to my stomach.

- AJ may have steady, profitable work again very soon. This pleases me.

-Fairly sure I didn't sleep enough last night. Wish me luck today.

Hehe. I love my online peoples. -smooshesandhugs-

I think the roleplay-style writing I've done for years has ruined my ability to write normally. I want to write more for Malcom and Abigail, but I'm struggling with building a timeline. I'm not used to sitting down to write something and needing to have a definite beginning, middle, and end. I'm used to intentionally crafting settings and stories that are open-ended, to allow for random things to come up so that the play can continue indefinitely.

And in writing that, I'm realizing that there are several people on my f-list that aren't familiar with this little vice of mine. When someone mentions roleplaying, lotsa people get lotsa different images in their heads. To clarifying, the sort that I enjoy is more like interactive storytelling. I think up a character. A friend thinks up a character. We take turns writing little blurbs from our own character's perspective while the two characters interact. It started, for me, as an interesting in a series of dice-rolling games put out by a company called White Wolf. The setting is known as the "World of Darkness" and is supposed to center around the lives of Vampires, Werewolves, Wizards, and the like. The setting is modern, but a darker, grittier version of today's world. Over the years I've moved away from the character stats/dice rolling end of things and now don't bother with the game at all. I just enjoy the writing and the story.

Nicole has been kind enough to permit me to repost part of a game she and I played, in case any of you are still curious. In the snippet that follows, I play Wes Shelton, an American goof-off living in London. Nicole plays Serena Chase, a woman with magical abilities who's on the run and living as Sarah Middleton, hiding from the anti-magic bad guys.

( Read more... )

I remember a time when the entire month of October used to be about Halloween, for me. I still love the holiday, but I don't get nearly the fun out of it that I used to. I can't remember the last time I actually put a costume together. I got invited to a party tonight, but it was short notice so I declined because I didn't want to try and half-ass a costume. I'm self-conscious enough, thank you. If I'm going to be going out in costume, it's going to be a kick-ass one.

Next year, I think, I'll plan a little better. I miss the theatrics of it all.

I really need a new job. Don't get me wrong, I love the store I've been moved to. But it's time to get out of retail. I'd like to stay with the company, but I'd like to get as far away from Sales as I possibly can. Time to dust off the resume and start sprucing it up, I suppose.

Happy Halloween, LJers. And happy Friday!

I spent entirely too much money yesterday. It's been a while since I've bought new things, though, so I'm trying to be okay with it. My work shoes needed to be replaced like WHOA, and finding outfits in the morning will be easier with more than two pairs of acceptable slacks.

It's always two, though. No matter how many pairs of pants I buy, I always seem to settle on two pairs of slacks and one pair of jeans that I wear regularly. Haven't figured that one out yet.

Re-dyed the hair yesterday, too. Went more burgundy than red. I like the dark, but wish there was more purple in the burgundy. More than that, I wish I could just have purple hair. I need a job that's okay with that. Suggestions? ;)

Speaking of job, time to go kiss the boy and don the cape and tights.

I've been playing around with other blog sites lately. I always come back to LJ to read, though, cause there are a few of you (like twizmo) who just light my day up. When I made up a new blog, I thought I'd close this one down, eventually. Since I haven't, and don't seem motivated to do so, I'll likely just start writing here again. You know. Cause I write so often, hehe.

Oh, and I had to post just so I could show off my new mood theme to Nicole. ;)