Okay, tonight is going to be character setup for at least some of the characters in my coming Pathfinder campaign. I've done a little bit of cleaning, and I'll be making chicken-spaghetti for the meal, with good crusty bread. Woo!

In other news, I've gotten all my windows covered over with cardboard, so my room is now DARK. I'm hoping that this, plus the cleaning of the bedding and a few other things will finally get my sleeping back on schedule. The only bit I can't control is allergies- that seems to be the bugaboo that caused all the problems, and its something from outside. So, that bit I have to live with.

Other than that, my check will come today with some overtime on it, and my NEXT check will have more overtime and holiday pay to boot- this ought to finish any and all catchup that I need to do. Yay!

Okay, so my weekend actually is Friday and Saturday nights, but still. On Thursday I had a CEU class for work instead of my normal shift, so I was up all day at that instead of asleep. I crashed when I got home, getting up about four hours later. I ended up crashing early again that night (for me), around 4 AM or so. Friday was quiet, til the evening when I, joshuwain, foeclan and feezlekahn all did a little shopping run to two of the Half Price Books stores, Best Buy and a little used DVD place. I struck out on what I was after (the True Blood first two seasons sets), but I did get 'Cronkite Remembers', which is a autobiographical series by Unka Walt himself. It was ten bucks, so hey. I already have my folks wanting to borrow it! Oh- I DID find what I wanted online after, for the price I was limiting myself to- woot.

Also that night we ate at a little hole in the wall called 'Jimbos'. Its an ancient little dive restaurant off highway 10 in Blaine, that I always saw while I grew up. Never ate there before now, but I liked it- good, if not five-star food. The marinera was too sweet for me, but it was cheap and filling.

After all that, groceries were purchased and people headed for home. I once again crashed early, forgetting to make the Swedish meatballs for the game on Saturday. Fortunately, I woke with plenty of time to get 'em done. three pounds of meatballs went over well and were gone save for two!

The game, a Dresden Files short (test?) run, was a blast, It was the last run of the limited run, so the Saturday group is now going back to the Skylands campaign, which I'm not in.

Sunday was for the most part quiet, save that whilst I was holding Spaz, he freaked out for some reason and ripped my face pretty nastily. Its not actually that bad, but it looks like I was in a fight. I think he's gonna go to the vet to see about kitty-Ritalin or something else- he's WAY too strung, all the time, and I'm tired of his chasing Lady.

And now, I'm off to work. Bleah.

This was both an eventful and uneventful period. I probably should have posted a few times in there, but one of the things I'll mention here really ruined my desire to do so. The 21st was a Monday, and marked the start of a bit of drama with a friend. That's been totally worked out to my knowledge, and the matter is settled. However, Monday the 21st was ALSO the start of my latest bout of insomnia. It was one of my longer bouts, and it finally 'broke' yesterday. 14 days of getting 2 to 4 hours of fitful sleep really, really sucks.

The 27th was supposed to be the next Sunday Group meeting, but one of the players was sick so we elected to skip rather than spread the plague.

On the 1st, my dad went into the hospital. He had an intestinal blockage, and was having some pretty severe pain. They checked him out thoroughly, and he went into surgery on the third. It went very well, and while it had been scheduled to last three to four hours he was out in less than one. As it turns out, the blockage was a sort-of skin flap- damage left from when he had a burst appendix as a little kid. So this problem has been around for more than sixty years, and just finally became dangerous.

However, despite the surgery itself going well, the recovery was NOT so good. He had a fairly severe reaction to some of the drugs used, and was disoriented and hallucinating to the point of violence. Now my dad is in his late seventies, but he's STILL a big guy- it took multiple orderlies to restrain him. To make it worse, he couldn't wear his C-Pap machine, so he basically wasn't sleeping for days on end. Fortunately, by Saturday the 5th he was fine, though wobbly. He actually looks better than he has for some time. I expect he'll be released in the next few days.

Saturday was the second run of the Dresden game, and that went well. I think it'll be a fun game, even though I have to agree that the rules at times are overwritten and are badly organized. His comment was that 'they read like stereo instructions!' For the food, I made from-scratch pancakes which were actually pretty good, other than the fact that I made easily twice as much batter as I needed. I think I still have one meal's worth left.

Sunday I saw Dad again in the morning, and other than getting REAL sick of the hospital he was fine. The insomnia finally broke, and I slept pretty well after I got home. Of course, it was also the anniversary of my losing Luna; never a good day for me.

I've got a bunch of writing for the various games to do- two Old West runs and the Horror run for the Sunday Group, and I'm going to try and turn my notes from the Dresden game into something readable as well. On top of that I've started a new series of short stories called 'The Believers'. They're urban fantasy effectively, and I think I might have something publishable in these. :)

That's about it for recent events.

I got off work and came home, and immediately went and dug us out with the show blower. Migod- done in 45 minutes! When that stupid thing decides to work, it really works! iatro finished up by shoveling off the front steps, as I was fried by that point. Right now I'm doing laundry, and as soon as this first load is in the dryer and the second is in the washer, I'm going to bed.

I'm sore now, and I'm gonna be more sore later. Oh well- I made a good breakfast at least. French toast and sausage links with orange juice.

I got one of the remaining gifts in the mail today, and it's wrapped and under the tree. 1 1/2 to go, and I'm done. I also started picking stuff up in my room a little, and I may start organizing the books soonish. Also, I think I'm gonna find a La-Z-Boy dealership and get that damned chair fixed finally- I've found that I can sleep in the chair in the living room if its not too light... Which when I usually sleep, it is. In my room though it's generally plenty dark, so if the chair was fixed that'd be an option.

Tonight I've decided to make meatballs for dinner. Prolly with mushroom-soup gravy and mashed potatoes. Why? I dunno. Just decided to. I've not made 'em for a while, so I figured it was time. Besides, when cooking for myself they'll provide meals for days!

On Sunday we game once again, and I'm really looking forward- I'll be happy just being able to game, but I'm REALLY in the mood for the Western game!

We got a LOT of white stuff as you who follow the weather may have noticed. However, it is NOT snow as is commonly believed. This is slushie mix. Thick, heavy, WET slushy mix. All it needs is flavorings and we could open a franchise. :P

I just got the front dug out, and I'm about to make dinner. I'm going to try to get some writing done before work, but given my asthma decided to hire linebackers to kick my ass, I'm not sure if I will. I might fall asleep after I eat for a while.

In any event, the roof is still not fixed, and while I think it'll be okay, that paranoia is lurking in the background. It might have been done by now, but I talked to my dad and he was going to contact the fella that did HIS roof, who would deal with the insurance and all that crap for me as part of the deal. However... Dad forgot and went hunting. He's now in a cabin up north and there's no way to contact him. Feh.

Beyond that, I'll get groceries after work in the morning, and I've only three days til I'm on vacation!

Cleaning the microwave. (This morning)

Cleaning the back room, vacuuming it and steam-cleaning the traffic areas. (This morning)

Get candles for the pumpkins and maybe some cheap paper tablecloths. (When I get up)

Making the brine for the turkey. (When I get up today)

Pick up the pumpkins, Ham and Cheeses from foeclan (Around 4:30 or so)

Clearing cobwebs and dusthangers from the stucco'd ceiling areas. (This evening, likely)

Reassembling the front room. (This evening, after moving stuff around to make sure the carpet dries)

Cleaning the bathroom. (This evening)

Cleaning my room (When I get to it, maybe starting tonight- the delay comes from the need for a TOTAL reorganization starting with the closet)

Setting up the long table and dining room tables for the food and snack areas (This evening and Sunday before the party)

Prepping snackfoods (cheeses and veggies) and carving some of the pumpkins. (This evening)

Everything else is Sunday. Ugh.

This looks like a lot... But honestly the worst of it I already have done.

Its been a while since I posted anything, so I decided to slap something up today. The last week and a half or so saw the return of my insomnia- it seems to finally be over, and I'm sleeping normally once again. I still don't know what triggers it, but I can deal with it. At work, I'm daring to have the laptop out again, so I have tunes- this started just a couple days ago... And this corresponds to my starting to sleep better again as well- connection? Maybe.

My reading has continued to be voracious, and over the last week I think I've gone through something like a book and a half every night- I've about... Five? New ones left, with several more en route in the mail. I plan to either go out today or tomorrow to get a few more. Mostly its 'supernatural fiction', which is to say contemporary fantasy leaning towards horror. No, I'm not reading Twilight, and I'll prolly go to work with the eye-spoons before I EVER read that tripe. :P

I did a little cooking the other day that came out nicely too. It was simple, but good: T-Bone steaks done medium with sauteed mushrooms and red and green peppers. Migod, I had a steak WITHOUT a potato! Who'd a thunk. I'll definitely be doing it again. In other food news I've started getting Bellatoria Sausage Italia extra-thin crust frozen pizzas- these are impressively good, nearing pizzaria quality for the flavor. They're kinda spicy (which I like) and perfect to have with a cold beer.

The Sunday Gaming Group is vaguely on hiatus due to the busy-ness of summer for several of the participants, so my gaming fix is being (barely) sated by playing Dungeons & Dragons Online. Its pretty damn good, and while I have a paid account for the added goodies you can play a lot of the content for free, earning DDO points to purchase the added content bit by bit. However, it doesn't make up for the lack of tabletop role-play, and I'm looking forward with little patience to the reinstatement of gaming.

That's pretty much it for life right now, other than I got some overtime the other night, and will get some holiday pay from the Fourth- right now the plan is to get a 16-gig Ipod Nano, but that may change if I find or am recommended a good 16 gig (or bigger; especially bigger!) MP3 player. I'm mainly looking at the Ipod as all of my music is on the Macbook and I'm looking at ease-of-transfer. Recommendations will definitely be considered, especially if there's something bigger than 16 gigs available for a similar or lower price. I don't want a Classic- I want no-moving-part reliability- hard drives are more likely to get trashed by klutz-me.

I'm on a four day weekend, mostly because I wanted it and because it means I won't have to rush to work right after the game on Sunday. This is a good thing. And because I had a little extra cash after paying the bills and getting groceries I decided to get some books. This was done in two halves- some ordered from Barnes & Noble online, the rest gotten CHEAP from Half Price Books.

From Barnes & Noble I got:

My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (A collection of supernatural wedding tales including one from the Dresden Files)

My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (Companion to the above)

Strange Brew (An anthology centered around alcohol, with a Dresden Story)

Mean Streets (YET ANOTHER Anthology, this one of gritty city supernatural tales. Another Dresden tale in this one as well)

Armageddon 2419 AD (The ORIGINAL Buck Rogers story! Beware the Yellow Peril! Despite that, its a good read.)

The above have all shipped, and will probably get here by Wednesday.

From Half Price Books, the haul was bigger and smaller- bigger, in that there were more books bought, smaller, as it'd take three or more of them to match ONE of the anthologies in size! feezlekahn accompanied me- we went to the one near Northtown Mall, north of us.

Han Solo's Revenge by Brian Daley (A Star Wars novel, one of three from Daley. Guilty pleasure from long ago)

Ambulance Ship by James White (A tale of the Hospital Station series)

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle (The third book from the Wrinkle In Time series)

The Moon Maid by Edgar Rice Burroughs (A true pulp, I saw it and at a dollar I HAD to get it!)

Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson (The classic, I've never read it!)

The Mummy, or Ramses The Damned by Anne Rice (From her Vampire Chronicles series, tho he ain't a vamp!)

The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice (More Vampire Chronicles and Lestat)

The Fortress in the Eye of Time by C. J. Cherryh (I've no idea, but its a fantasy and its Cherryh!)

And that's the haul. Most of the stuff from Half Price were a buck or two each. I may order one or two books further on Barnes & Noble, but that'll hinge on their actually HAVING what I'm after. I've gotten a taste for some of the older and more obscure stuff I remember reading long ago. :)

Also on Friday, I made chili. I, feezlekahn partook, though I did offer to mirrdae and zxizaraxii. They'd already eaten, however. khirsahdrgn had a guest over so I didn't ask him. The chili was a good batch, and I REALLY ought to write the damned recipe down- I make it from memory every time and I know there are a few who'd like to know what goes in. joshuwain brought over some odd hamburgers made of ground sirloin and a couple of different mushrooms ground together too... They weren't to my taste, and the Oniony kaiser rolls weren't something I like. However, I'm a fussy bitch and it's prolly just me. ;)

And now we get to the 'bad' and the 'it f*cking figures' part. I couldn't sleep today. I tried, and it just didn't happen. So I ended up staying up playing 'UFO Alien Attack', and OLD Microprose game for about six hours, til I headed out to the book store. The fatigue finally started taking me down after dinner, so I kinda slumped unconscious after my dinner companions went off to see a movie. I think it was 'Kick Ass' but I was pretty muzzy by then. And now I know WHY I was screwed up- I've apparently gotten a cold or something, and I set to kicking my butt with a vengeance. I took ibuprofin and sudafed, and slept like the dead through fever-sweats. I THINK the fever broke, but I hope like hell I can get over this before Sunday. I REALLY wanna game! Thus, It F*CKING FIGURES that I'd get sick on a long weekend!

Feh. And that's it. Right now I'm up, feeling better and drinking tea. My throat feels like its been sanded and there's drainage, but other than that I seem okay... But we'll see. Thus today will be me trying to make sure its GONE.

Well, I got the new card. Its a PNY Nvidia GeForce GTX 250 Core 216 896 MB card. It BARELY fits in the case after moving the hard drive. HOWEVER... My old power supply is insufficient, and the serial ATA connector is in the way. So, tomorrow I get to pick up a new powersupply and a 90-degree serial ATA connector so that we can get it set up. O well, I guess I knew it'd never be as simple as I'd imagined.

The new power supply will likely be and OCZ Technologies 700 Watt StealthXtream ATX. I'll pick that up in the morning before I crash for the day. Thus I will have my suddenly-beefy beast fully upgraded tomorrow. :)

Later tonight I'll be making the meatballs and sauce for tomorrow- I've discovered that the sauce is always better the next day, so making it tonight is the best route. You know, I should really organize all my recipes...