Well, now that the funds fully cleared into my bank account I've made the monster payment to Discover, which was just under a grand. Ouch. Regardless, I needed to do it. I've indulged myself with some books and such as well, and I've got a goodly chunk of cash set aside for my trip to MFF in November- part of that gets here in August I think, with the property tax return. I'm still waiting on whether or not I have the right stop for Amtrak or not- if they don't get back to me tonight I'll send a couple more emails out and recheck the site. I vaguely recall last year they had the info posted.

This Friday is payday, and of course more bills. The mortgage payment goes out then, as well as the electric bill and cable- I'm essentially all caught up. Woot!

Thursday, in other news, I'm doing required training for work- as a security guard I have to get at least 6 hours of training every year (Oh so onerous, I know!) I just wish it wouldn't fark up my schedule. Training is dayside, of course, and they won't let me work the night before anymore- which is stupid, cos I'll be up anyway to try and keep my sleep schedule at least partly straight. I hate stupid people.

Saturday will likely be the last run of the temporary Dresden game. Whether it is or not things are set up that if joshuwain wants to continue he can, as can any other player that decides to run the city we came up with. I really hope the world continues on either way- its a blast. :)

Today and the next few days I plan to try and get caught up on the damned game writeups. First up will be the two Dresden runs, then the most recent Buffy Horror for the Sunday Group (even though the next run is a month from now- Easter intervenes), and finally the two Western Campaign runs. Somewhere in there I'll also finish the stories I wrote for the Dresden game and also try to work on the other short stories I've started. Agh!

And that's about it, I think. Now all I need is a lottery win!

FINALLY I got this done. I hope to get #37 done today as well. Anyway, enjoy. Ignore the tense-switches in the text- I wanted to get it down, and wasn't as worried about perfection. :)

( Horror 36- Dark Awakenings )

Not a lot happened today. However, at work last night I started another short story- its about my character in the Old West campaign, Jenny Pagan, and is sort of meant to be her 'origin' in a way. I've a few other shorts in progress as well- one as a background bit for the universe that Ranah is part of, and another that is just a bit of fluff currently named Hellride.

I work tonight and tomorrow night, and then its my weekend. My New Years plans are still not quite fixed, but it'll prolly include at least watching the ball drop on TV at joshuwain's place.

Bleah. I got about 2 hours and woke up. Oh well. In any case, all my orders have started showing up, and I kinda feel sorry for the mailman, who is gonna have a TON of books to get to me this coming week. My brother FINALLY got me a thin-and-pathetic list, but it'll help me with him and Sam- she wants a tea strainer for loose tea, so I'm gonna get her that, and a teapot, and a selection of loose teas. Hah! For Maggie I'll get the one thing he listed for her, and bug the hell out of him til he gives me more so I can keep the gifts even- they're sisters after all.

With those three dealt with, I have four left. One is a stop tomorrow and quick, and the other three... Yeesh. I've no idea really. I'll figure it out though. I hope.

As I think I mentioned before, the Xmas party is going to be on the 7th of January. I'm currently thinking some sub sandwiches from Cousins as the food- prolly a beef, italian combo and turkey for the selection. I may bother someone to bring soup, and I may also make chili to round things out. Of course the usual snackage will be available, and firecatmn has offered cookies. Who am I to refuse? ;)

In other matters, I've seriously started on the editing process of the novel. Simply put, this is gonna be a pain, and I'm going to have to do some pride-swallowing (like sword-swallowing, but it hurts more), to get things right. I have a final target of 100,000 words or more, and I'm currently at 67,400. A ways to go, I know. Especially since there's one entire chapter that has to be rewritten.

I've already got about 3 or 4 new paragraphs for the first chapter, so woot there. Later today I have gaming, and as far as I know its the Desert World AD&D game- Of course, given that what I got done for the writeups was for the Western game, and even THAT isn't done. It'll be a fun night either way.

I've hit a wall. I know it'll break tonight, but I'm not getting anywhere with my NaNo writing right now. Basically, I've hit a slow point in the story and I'm vaguely directionless as to where I should go with the section next. Feh. So far today I've done maybe 30-40 words, which sucks. I'm going to try to get Chapter 7 done before work, and Chapter 8 AT work. I'll still be a touch behind, but I'm still ahead of the curve for completion.

In other things, we started a new game last night in the Sunday Group. Its an Old West campaign, taking place in 1867. All of our characters were on the Union side of the Civil War, and were invited to visit the Colonel we'd served under at his ranch out west after the war. Well, our characters all took up the invitation in 1867, and discovered on the way that the Colonel had died in action some time after we'd been scattered to other postings.

When we got to Belmont, Nevada, the town nearest the ranch we started learning that there was trouble. A speculator was after the property, as well as that of the other ranchers in the area. Naturally, we intervened and started to try and put things right. That's about as far as we got, but it was a lot of fun.

My character is Jenny Pagan, a half-Choctaw woman from New Orleans and full-time wanderer. She served as a Scout in the war, and is very much in the mold (though prettier) of Calamity Jane and other tomboy heroines of the West. Scotty's character is Corporal Kit Burnham, a Cavalry officer and teller of tall tales, while Amy's character is another Scout, named Jamie Danvers. Jamie, like Jenny, has a secret- While Jenny is hiding the truth of her Choctaw heritage, Jamie has gone one further and is concealing the fact that 'he' is a she! Both secrets remain hidden from the others in the little group.

Wow. I started with just barely more than four pages of notes; it's become this monster of just over fourteen pages! Anyway, enjoy. :)

( Horror 33- Inconstant Memory )

Was up and down as previously mentioned. I go back to work tonight, and I'm still sick. I'm fairly sure I can go in, but I'm NOT gonna like it. The game on Sunday went well- I brought hamburger and buns and Our Gracious Hosts cooked it up for us all. Yay, I didn't have to cook! Anyway, I had a good time, but it would have been better if I'd not had such hellish drainage. :P

I slept from about 5 am til noon kinda fitfully, and if I need it I'll go back to bed. ataramos, if you see this, call home- you got a letter that might be important concerning healthcare! And that's about it. Back to work tonight, but at least its only three days this week. Oh- All the stuff I ordered has shipped, so with luck I should have the books by Wednesday, and the trackballs by Friday.

Last night I started work once again on the story wherein the nasty scene with the charnel pit takes place. I've gotten a few pages down, and I'm looking for opinions- I know where some problems are, specifically its damn near all dialogue with very little description or exposition. Take a look and tell me what you think. Right now its just titled 'Santa Carla', being as the inspiration for Bill and his background was the movie 'Lost Boys'.

( Santa Carla fragment )

And here it is again, with a fair bit of editing. :)

( The Chamber, Edited )

And here's the most recent Horror Run, a 'bonus' that doesn't count against the GM's 5 run usual total.

( Horror 29- Interlude With Spirits )