Tick. Tick. Tick.
So. Mom's car did not get done today. So tomorrow morning, if it is not ready EARLY, we have to take my car to Kerrville.
I am still torn about this jaunt. On the one hand, YES I want to see and hang out with Noel again, and chat and stuff. I'm actually now even looking forward to the fact that Ali and other Sul Ross peeps will be there for waving to and chatting at. I'd called a few of them today about BBAC things, and Ali in particular was totally sweet (which is no surprise, because she's ALWAYS totally sweet) and sounded enthusiastic both about BBAC things, and about just seeing me again. She even wants to try and watch a movie or something together some evening while there. So hey, we'll see how it all turns out.
On the other hand. I have no love of long hours in any car. I am not overly excited about the craft fair itself, or the folk life festival. Actually, better wording would be, "I am not at ALL excited about the craft fair or folk life festival". I am a bit frustrated about how much this trip and hotel is going to cost, as I now have New Priorities, such as a decent digital camcorder, and I lost a lot of money with my car expenses. And then late today, we lost a little more money because a toy mouse got sucked up into the vacuum motor and it needed repair as a result.
Lastly, I still have So Damn Much To Do on my studio site and the BBAC site, and for that matter, I haven't done ANY more work on Sims objects since I got into the whole BBAC thing. I could be sending e-mails or making calls or checking out more modules or adding more content or... well... any number of more useful things than being paranoid and nervous in a big crowd and feeling slightly envious or annoyed that I lost out on my chance to try showing and selling MY work.
In response to having so damn much to do, I basically quit working on my real projects, and submitted my first possible article to Nerd Girl Army, a fangirlish review of MC Frontalot's albums. Well two out of three of his albums, because I still don't actually have Secrets from the Future in my posession, but also decided I felt like trying to write a review now, so I wrote it anyways, instead of waiting to have all the secrets in my grasp. It took me forever to write so that I was happy with it, and was a glorious time-waster, even if it never sees the light of site publication.
Plans for the trip to MI are being discussed more as the time goes by, with alterations. We have no good house sitter who could actually STAY here and keep our critters company if we're both gone for long, and we are not going to leave the poor guys with no human companionship other than brief feedings once a day for more than a weekend. So it seems like: I will be either flying or taking the train up to MI first. I will stay there a week or a bit over, Mishy can kidnap me for a while, I'll set up times to see Rick and Chan and various others who are interested in getting together- separately and/or perhaps we can have some sort of general get-together over sushi and shabu shabu or something. Then I will be transferred into more familial hands, and get together with a few cousins and aunts and uncles- and mom will then come up, and we'll do visiting together for a day or three, then I will come back down via train so that I don't need much of a ride, and mom will stay with family and friends in MI for a week herself.
The overlap of days may not actually happen, it is possible that I will have to hop on a train even before mom arrives in MI, so as to be at home base within a day or so of her leaving- it all depends on who is available for pet care. But in general, I'll be up there about a week and a half or two weeks, and then mom will be up there about a week or a week and a half, however much she can sneak away from work, considering she's taking this weekend off, and then a day or two off has been approved for her to actually be able to go to my friend Caleb's wedding in New Braunfels in June. Of course, if I am going both ways by train, I will, in fact, be gone pretty much the ENTIRE MONTH of August, because US passenger trains are not exactly fast or known for being on schedule.
The reason I may have to take the train up, and probably will have to return via train, is that yes, there is an Amtrak station right here in Alpine, so mom wouldn't need to haul me to El Paso or Odessa, and when I return, mom won't even BE here to haul me anywhere, but I can probably get a local acquaintance to help me from train to house, or, barring that, walk the grueling mile or so.
...These further upcoming trips also are not helping make Kerrville appeal, honestly. Thinking about them, while I look forward greatly to seeing people, makes me want to just put down roots here in Alpine and only head out at the last possible minute for those particular trips, instead of having this other one happening. It's probably just as well my plans for FL in June were decided against early, because I think if I were to be out THAT much this summer, I'd break down into a complete gibbering mess.
In further newsish items, a guy who's watched my DevArt stuff for a year or so, who was from Alpine, has in fact, returned to Alpine, and amusingly, did not fully realize that yep, I am *currently* in Alpine until my last DevArt update. So, we're going to have a face to face meeting on the 27th at a little restaurant that was opened this spring by a woman who makes the best tamales I have ever tasted. This of course, could end in disaster, but I'm going to be optimistic.
I am still torn about this jaunt. On the one hand, YES I want to see and hang out with Noel again, and chat and stuff. I'm actually now even looking forward to the fact that Ali and other Sul Ross peeps will be there for waving to and chatting at. I'd called a few of them today about BBAC things, and Ali in particular was totally sweet (which is no surprise, because she's ALWAYS totally sweet) and sounded enthusiastic both about BBAC things, and about just seeing me again. She even wants to try and watch a movie or something together some evening while there. So hey, we'll see how it all turns out.
On the other hand. I have no love of long hours in any car. I am not overly excited about the craft fair itself, or the folk life festival. Actually, better wording would be, "I am not at ALL excited about the craft fair or folk life festival". I am a bit frustrated about how much this trip and hotel is going to cost, as I now have New Priorities, such as a decent digital camcorder, and I lost a lot of money with my car expenses. And then late today, we lost a little more money because a toy mouse got sucked up into the vacuum motor and it needed repair as a result.
Lastly, I still have So Damn Much To Do on my studio site and the BBAC site, and for that matter, I haven't done ANY more work on Sims objects since I got into the whole BBAC thing. I could be sending e-mails or making calls or checking out more modules or adding more content or... well... any number of more useful things than being paranoid and nervous in a big crowd and feeling slightly envious or annoyed that I lost out on my chance to try showing and selling MY work.
In response to having so damn much to do, I basically quit working on my real projects, and submitted my first possible article to Nerd Girl Army, a fangirlish review of MC Frontalot's albums. Well two out of three of his albums, because I still don't actually have Secrets from the Future in my posession, but also decided I felt like trying to write a review now, so I wrote it anyways, instead of waiting to have all the secrets in my grasp. It took me forever to write so that I was happy with it, and was a glorious time-waster, even if it never sees the light of site publication.
Plans for the trip to MI are being discussed more as the time goes by, with alterations. We have no good house sitter who could actually STAY here and keep our critters company if we're both gone for long, and we are not going to leave the poor guys with no human companionship other than brief feedings once a day for more than a weekend. So it seems like: I will be either flying or taking the train up to MI first. I will stay there a week or a bit over, Mishy can kidnap me for a while, I'll set up times to see Rick and Chan and various others who are interested in getting together- separately and/or perhaps we can have some sort of general get-together over sushi and shabu shabu or something. Then I will be transferred into more familial hands, and get together with a few cousins and aunts and uncles- and mom will then come up, and we'll do visiting together for a day or three, then I will come back down via train so that I don't need much of a ride, and mom will stay with family and friends in MI for a week herself.
The overlap of days may not actually happen, it is possible that I will have to hop on a train even before mom arrives in MI, so as to be at home base within a day or so of her leaving- it all depends on who is available for pet care. But in general, I'll be up there about a week and a half or two weeks, and then mom will be up there about a week or a week and a half, however much she can sneak away from work, considering she's taking this weekend off, and then a day or two off has been approved for her to actually be able to go to my friend Caleb's wedding in New Braunfels in June. Of course, if I am going both ways by train, I will, in fact, be gone pretty much the ENTIRE MONTH of August, because US passenger trains are not exactly fast or known for being on schedule.
The reason I may have to take the train up, and probably will have to return via train, is that yes, there is an Amtrak station right here in Alpine, so mom wouldn't need to haul me to El Paso or Odessa, and when I return, mom won't even BE here to haul me anywhere, but I can probably get a local acquaintance to help me from train to house, or, barring that, walk the grueling mile or so.
...These further upcoming trips also are not helping make Kerrville appeal, honestly. Thinking about them, while I look forward greatly to seeing people, makes me want to just put down roots here in Alpine and only head out at the last possible minute for those particular trips, instead of having this other one happening. It's probably just as well my plans for FL in June were decided against early, because I think if I were to be out THAT much this summer, I'd break down into a complete gibbering mess.
In further newsish items, a guy who's watched my DevArt stuff for a year or so, who was from Alpine, has in fact, returned to Alpine, and amusingly, did not fully realize that yep, I am *currently* in Alpine until my last DevArt update. So, we're going to have a face to face meeting on the 27th at a little restaurant that was opened this spring by a woman who makes the best tamales I have ever tasted. This of course, could end in disaster, but I'm going to be optimistic.