Hey! Last update (not counting drinking game surveys or wine progress or bitching about cold sores or solving the mysteries of glass in my salads or the Phelps protest) was July 24th, almost 3 weeks ago! Had a few noteworthy things happen since then. There's a lot, though, so this will probably end up long.
The social pages: Wow, let's see. Went running with the Hash House Harriers, then went to see ex-band members at the Unicorn Pub in their new band "Vox United". I actually drank a fair bit that night, and hung out with Krist for "breakfast" at a Golden Griddle until 4am when I was ready to drive home.
There was a BBQ at Harbin and Fuzzybunny's, was a good time. Alex met me there, Pup and Jaf came too, we BBQ'd and listened to music and drank a bit, chatted about all sorts of stuff, and so on. Good times.
What else? This is why I have to write stuff down, because I forget almost immediately!
Partied with Alex and Dralen and Fuzzmonster this past weekend, including going out to see "The Pastor Phelps Project: A Fundamentalist Cabaret" - the play that the Westboro Baptist Church was supposed to be protesting - and it was pretty awesome! It was a difficult play to put on in such a small space, but they did a fine job. The acting and dancing was generally pretty good, the singing was really good for the most part, but it was the writing that was really awesome, there were some real genius bits - particularly "God Hates Figs" (riffing on "God Hates Fags" by citing scripture to prove that God hates figs); "God Hates the World" (filk/parody of "We Are the World"); "Ann Coulter performs the dance of seven veils" which was SO great, each veil had a (typically offensive) Ann Coulter quote on it, OMFG; and the recreation of the episode of the Tyra Banks show (with Tyra played impressively and hilariously by a man in drag) where her guests were members of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Health / Exercise: Took/taking a rather long hiatus from working out - I think I worked out on Sat. July 26th, completing my 3rd week of the 8-week program I'm on, ran with the Hash that night, and then stopped exercising, what with visits and preparing for / attending / recovering from
FA:United and dealing with house things. So, gotta get back on that wagon. I don't know if I'll be able to before Feral! though - so much to do!
Being at a con, especially in the land of large portions, mucho calories and high fructose corn syrup, was also not particularly good for my diet. I'm not the only weak one, though - it sounds like our "Biggest Loser" contest at work might be extended, since everyone has been slacking and it'll be hard to declare a winner if no one has lost anything! Sad.
House: Well, as previously mentioned, Breve (aka Tora) is moving out August 15 (like, this Friday - time goes so fast!) and Khaki will be moving in on October 1. We're taking the period in between as a time to really focus on making improvements to the house, while there is one less person living here - it'll be much easier to shuffle stuff and people around to paint rooms, refinish floors, do a thorough cleaning, etc. We're also planning on putting together a scheduled list of chores, which was never sort of established here - but all the remaining occupants of the house think it needs to be done in order to keep this place clean and looking good.
We'd also not found anywhere really inspiring to consider moving to, so we decided to stay where we are. Our current place is really not bad, but the main floor layout is really tough to work with in terms of functional furniture layout, due to a couple of weird design elements (notably the as-far-as-I-see-it unnecessary pillars, and the angled fireplace, and the one-entire-wall-of-windows, which is a curse as well as a blessing). The floors need to be resurfaced, and there are a couple other maintenance items that will be a bitch to have fixed while still living there; but I'm gonna pursue having it all done up right, and probably paint some of the walls, too.
I really want to get on with some serious home decoration, make my house someplace I can be proud to invite guests to, someplace that actually looks really nice, at least the main living areas. Cleaning out my commission list before Feral! is the first major project, and then home improvement/decoration is next. I have a pile of art and art pieces to put up, I have curtains to make, walls to paint, and materials/designs to make some other wall-hangings, plus I have a stack of old couch cushions which will be re-upholstered to be used as floor cushions. I also have material to re-upholster the papasan chair, a huge commissioned painting on the way, and another planned. Then I have a major project to organize my work area and materials, which will involve getting a bunch more shelving. I also want a buffet for the dining room to move some dishes out of the kitchen, which is sadly lacking in storage space. In the end the basement room will become a music room and studio.
The property management has decided to rip out all the carpet downstairs, as half of it is ruined from being wet too often, and they're replacing it with tile - we had to move everything into one room on short notice, which SUCKED! They offered to tile in two stages if we didn't have enough space to move stuff TO, but we didn't need to - though they got interrupted halfway through tiling anyways, realizing that the basement leak wasn't properly fixed. However, the main room downstairs is tiled and ready for us to move stuff into it, and their willingness to accomodate a two-stage tile installation might indicate that they'd be willing to refinish the wood floors in stages as well, so that gives me hope. I'm glad to be rid of that carpet, too.
Whew! Lots of work in the near future.
Music: Did a lot of singing and playing at FA:United, and it all went fairly well! More to come in an FA:U-specific post. Also, on my way back on the subway, met a local guy who teaches guitar and plays in a band and wants to write and such - I should email him and see what comes of it. Which reminds me that, chatting with Krist after the Vox United show on the 25th, he wants to write again, which would also be cool.
Let's see, what else?
Wine: I have been neglecting my wine in favour of FA:United, house renovations, and socializing - but I need to look at my wine closely tonight, see where it all is in terms of fermentation progress. I didn't do much more than peek at it it before FA:U, so the saskatoon needs to have the bag of fruit mash removed, the strawberry may be finished fermenting and be in need of a racking into the secondary fermentor, and the apple my be ready or even past ready for me to try to kill the fermentation by racking.
Augh!
B.