where did alice go? this is where she went
Overall, this has been a good weekend! Good things are beginning to happen; here's hoping they continue and don't, in the nature of most upturns in my life in re: finances, living situation, etc&etc, turn right around into a ditch. For instance:
- we've got two places that seem like really good possibilities for a new house - one in Haverford, one in Conshohocken, both with two bedrooms and fenced yards (!!!!); the Conshie one is a lot cheaper, but the Haverford one has bay windows. Both are conveniently located for me (Haverford is two minutes to work, no lie, and Conshie is probably not more than twenty minutes in traffic); Justin's going to have a bit more of a commute, although the Conshohocken place is right off the highway, so he'll have no trouble getting to work at the times he works. There's little traffic on 202 at 1:30pm or 10:00pm.
- and we've actually finally succeeded in our money-saving scheme in the short term! Slight amount of disposable income, finally, yay! It's a tiny mile marker, but it feels really significant to me, given that a month or two ago I was fairly convinced we could not actually live on the income we make, and were going to have to do Something Drastic (tm).
- I have finally, mostly, reclaimed my life from Dragon Age 2, which I was playing obsessively over the course of about two weeks. The reasons why are complicated. It's not that DA2 is the best game ever (it isn't) or actually, even, a game without some serious flaws (because it has them--flaws in design, copious bugs, designer laziness, even, which is the part that makes me saddest). I just find the characters compelling; I like that the plot is at many points very character-driven. Big problems don't happen, as in many epic fantasies and as in DA:O, because Evil Demons and Dragons Are Doing Evil Things, but because humans (/elves/dwarves/you get the picture) have human failings and tragic flaws. DA:O explored that a little, yes, but many times the confrontation between Good and Evil was privileged over the confrontations between viewpoints or the consequences of mistakes. (DA:O's best storytelling, I felt, came when the Good/Evil took a backseat. DA2 tries to shove Good/Evil out of the way for the most part, although it still creeps in, as it is wont to do.)
The fact that it's got a really clearly marked three act structure and a framing device, this is bait for my English-major soul. (Although, really, it should have been a five act -- they seemed to have tried to shoehorn a five-act tragedy into three acts, and sometimes the pacing gets screwed. If you want me to explain why it's a tragedy, I'll do so, but it'll be ~spoiler filled.)
- Guess what I did with my life after getting it back from Dragon Age? Oh, that's right, you guessed it, started playing ME2 again so that I can play the newest DLC, The Arrival. Thoughts on that when I get to it (because I have to play things in the proper sequence don't you understand.)
- We're going to clean the house today, and get food at Trader Joe's. And thus there was much rejoicing in the House of Us.
- we've got two places that seem like really good possibilities for a new house - one in Haverford, one in Conshohocken, both with two bedrooms and fenced yards (!!!!); the Conshie one is a lot cheaper, but the Haverford one has bay windows. Both are conveniently located for me (Haverford is two minutes to work, no lie, and Conshie is probably not more than twenty minutes in traffic); Justin's going to have a bit more of a commute, although the Conshohocken place is right off the highway, so he'll have no trouble getting to work at the times he works. There's little traffic on 202 at 1:30pm or 10:00pm.
- and we've actually finally succeeded in our money-saving scheme in the short term! Slight amount of disposable income, finally, yay! It's a tiny mile marker, but it feels really significant to me, given that a month or two ago I was fairly convinced we could not actually live on the income we make, and were going to have to do Something Drastic (tm).
- I have finally, mostly, reclaimed my life from Dragon Age 2, which I was playing obsessively over the course of about two weeks. The reasons why are complicated. It's not that DA2 is the best game ever (it isn't) or actually, even, a game without some serious flaws (because it has them--flaws in design, copious bugs, designer laziness, even, which is the part that makes me saddest). I just find the characters compelling; I like that the plot is at many points very character-driven. Big problems don't happen, as in many epic fantasies and as in DA:O, because Evil Demons and Dragons Are Doing Evil Things, but because humans (/elves/dwarves/you get the picture) have human failings and tragic flaws. DA:O explored that a little, yes, but many times the confrontation between Good and Evil was privileged over the confrontations between viewpoints or the consequences of mistakes. (DA:O's best storytelling, I felt, came when the Good/Evil took a backseat. DA2 tries to shove Good/Evil out of the way for the most part, although it still creeps in, as it is wont to do.)
The fact that it's got a really clearly marked three act structure and a framing device, this is bait for my English-major soul. (Although, really, it should have been a five act -- they seemed to have tried to shoehorn a five-act tragedy into three acts, and sometimes the pacing gets screwed. If you want me to explain why it's a tragedy, I'll do so, but it'll be ~spoiler filled.)
- Guess what I did with my life after getting it back from Dragon Age? Oh, that's right, you guessed it, started playing ME2 again so that I can play the newest DLC, The Arrival. Thoughts on that when I get to it (because I have to play things in the proper sequence don't you understand.)
- We're going to clean the house today, and get food at Trader Joe's. And thus there was much rejoicing in the House of Us.