past 2 weeks in brief
Notes from before the lake:
For you fans of Christopher Guest et al.: For Your Consideration
I recieved my Betty Hoop! I wanted to get Jack to take a picture of me hooping, but keep forgetting to ask him when the time is right.
I had crab legs at Captain Jerry's in Laurel. They were delicious. I crave them again even now. I hope we plan another trip.
The lake trip, as mentioned and documented photographically, was awesome. I think I had prepared myself for a trip perfectly - by not really thinking about it at all. I was thusly completely in a zen zone when we got on the road. It also helped that Jen and Pam let me play the ipod all the way in the car, for which I am very grateful to them. The drive up was supposed to be 4 hours, after all - it was more like 6.5 with traffic. I couldn't have cared less, I was just enjoying.
Notable moments... singing camp songs (found a peanut and on top of spaghetti, no lie!), the darkness in which you could discern many a star, something I haven't experienced much since living in Blacksburg, my first kayaking experience - on a lake it's certainly easy and I wish I hadn't been so scared of losing my glasses, swimming in natural water that was not gucky, dinner in Trace's dad's gorgeously restored home, and sumtuous breakfasts the likes of which I never see, not being a cook and all. I was blessed to have friends willing to cook for someone so utterly lazy.
Even sleeping without air conditioning was pleasant. I mean, really, it was good for the soul, the whole trip. I still feel better.
After I got back from the lake, I had a really good week. Not just at work, where lots of things looked up and felt good, but outside. Had dinner with midwinter wherein she had sushi and I had not-sushi which is something I love to have a sushi restaurants. She let me get all my L-word thoughts off my chest and I was generally nervous so babbled.
I got alot of new WoW gear over the past few weeks, including the Wildheart Vest and Hammer of the Grand Crusader. My priorities are now on repeatedly killing Hydrospawn for the Waterspout Boots and Baron Rivendare for the Wildheart Kilt. I mean, I'm not gonna go out of my way, but it would be nice to move up from green items in those slots. Getting the Vest was a piece of sheer luck; it was my first time in UBRS and there were other druids on the raid. It was and remains my only WH set piece yet so I guess I should not feel too guilty.
Now, another thing happening in the time since the lake, for some reason I started the project of tagging all my old LJ entries. I have to say, for those of you who have been with me from the very beginning, I am so incredibly sorry for all those endless, interminable entries about my shitty job. I realized how bad it was when I was tagging 2002 and thought, "Oh my god... there are two years of this shitty job left to tag entries about." I can't believe that's the job I spent the most time at in my adult life. Forget the interminable blogging about Chris (who, by the way, I'm seeing this weekend, which should actually be nice) the job was so much worse. Or at least way more boring. At any rate, I've probably only tagged about 400 entries, if that. Daunting.
This past weekend a friend's post about curbing one's natural enthusiasm and emotion for things resurfaced in my mind. I really do stifle alot of my genuine excitement out of habit from wanting to be "cool" about things. It's not something I want to lose touch with!
This past weekend I also attended an african drum class. Talk about your enthusiasm - what a wonderful experience. The teacher of the class gave high compliments to my doumbek (although he was teaching a class mostly about djembe). I have to admit I had a bias about the class - I really thought it would be mostly women. I was a little surprised to find mostly men when I walked in - but things basically evened out by the time class started. koira came too and I hope she had a good time... and I hope we both get a chance to do it again soon. My brain is crunching on how to force myself to make time to just spend with the drum.
Saturday was the toddler birthday party. There was a moon bounce. Speaking of curbing my natural enthusiasm... what the hell! I never did get on the moon bounce. I am a fool. It was a fun time even with the stifling heat, I loved it, and met some very nice people, including the couple that holds the Baltimore Rock n Romp (keg tubs lined with juice boxes! kids and rocking!) for which I'll have to borrow a kid sometime. It is also at this event that E&B gifted me with something very special:
In honor of my first drum lesson tomorrow night, I reckon. That was incredibly nice of them. And makes me giggle. For some reason the Phil Collins drumsticks are extra short...?? Either way I will treasure them always. Even though I am probably a terrible drummer and will soon find out about it. As we were on our way home from the party, we got a call to come out for BBQ. We oblliged, and enjoyed that plus a late night playing Gauntlet.
Sunday I had a 12 hour WoW marathon. I think that's all I need to say about that.
Which brings me to today, which I spent partially working from home, due to bizarre virusy thing taking over my bod. Monday night I knew it was going to hit me and my premonition was right. I rested alot and hopefully will be right as rain by tomorrow. Because I have alot of work to do, actually.
I napped and watched all three of my netflix offerings, as well as a DVD bootleg I got which feature live BBC performances of Cat Stevens and Neil Young. Frankly I think Neil's performance of "A Man Needs a Maid" was incredibly powerful. Moving on I really enjoyed Buster for reasons I'm sure you can gather. Actually Phil's performance was pretty good and I think if he wanted to always play a wisecracking ne'er do well he'd have a long and lucrative career - oh what's that you say? He already has a berjillion dollars? Oh right. Well anyways I liked it, terrible pop songs and all. Also viewed Abandon which showed more of Katie Holmes', er, range. Actually I kid but she did a really good job and it was a pretty good script. As psychological thrillers go, I've certainly seen worse, but I was predisposed to like this. I mean c'mon! Benjamin Bratt as a cop! That's what he does! Plus bonus Fred Ward!!
Also I made a "for the yard sale" pile. tzel and I are having a yard sale saturday. Cheers to getting rid of stuff!
And for a totally unrelated linky doodad: Library gives up books. Honestly, I'm not so much worried about books as I am about nice quiet spaces. If my college experience was at all typical, finding a place to study was actually pretty hard. Plus, wah, books!!!
For you fans of Christopher Guest et al.: For Your Consideration
I recieved my Betty Hoop! I wanted to get Jack to take a picture of me hooping, but keep forgetting to ask him when the time is right.
I had crab legs at Captain Jerry's in Laurel. They were delicious. I crave them again even now. I hope we plan another trip.
The lake trip, as mentioned and documented photographically, was awesome. I think I had prepared myself for a trip perfectly - by not really thinking about it at all. I was thusly completely in a zen zone when we got on the road. It also helped that Jen and Pam let me play the ipod all the way in the car, for which I am very grateful to them. The drive up was supposed to be 4 hours, after all - it was more like 6.5 with traffic. I couldn't have cared less, I was just enjoying.
Notable moments... singing camp songs (found a peanut and on top of spaghetti, no lie!), the darkness in which you could discern many a star, something I haven't experienced much since living in Blacksburg, my first kayaking experience - on a lake it's certainly easy and I wish I hadn't been so scared of losing my glasses, swimming in natural water that was not gucky, dinner in Trace's dad's gorgeously restored home, and sumtuous breakfasts the likes of which I never see, not being a cook and all. I was blessed to have friends willing to cook for someone so utterly lazy.
Even sleeping without air conditioning was pleasant. I mean, really, it was good for the soul, the whole trip. I still feel better.
After I got back from the lake, I had a really good week. Not just at work, where lots of things looked up and felt good, but outside. Had dinner with midwinter wherein she had sushi and I had not-sushi which is something I love to have a sushi restaurants. She let me get all my L-word thoughts off my chest and I was generally nervous so babbled.
I got alot of new WoW gear over the past few weeks, including the Wildheart Vest and Hammer of the Grand Crusader. My priorities are now on repeatedly killing Hydrospawn for the Waterspout Boots and Baron Rivendare for the Wildheart Kilt. I mean, I'm not gonna go out of my way, but it would be nice to move up from green items in those slots. Getting the Vest was a piece of sheer luck; it was my first time in UBRS and there were other druids on the raid. It was and remains my only WH set piece yet so I guess I should not feel too guilty.
Now, another thing happening in the time since the lake, for some reason I started the project of tagging all my old LJ entries. I have to say, for those of you who have been with me from the very beginning, I am so incredibly sorry for all those endless, interminable entries about my shitty job. I realized how bad it was when I was tagging 2002 and thought, "Oh my god... there are two years of this shitty job left to tag entries about." I can't believe that's the job I spent the most time at in my adult life. Forget the interminable blogging about Chris (who, by the way, I'm seeing this weekend, which should actually be nice) the job was so much worse. Or at least way more boring. At any rate, I've probably only tagged about 400 entries, if that. Daunting.
This past weekend a friend's post about curbing one's natural enthusiasm and emotion for things resurfaced in my mind. I really do stifle alot of my genuine excitement out of habit from wanting to be "cool" about things. It's not something I want to lose touch with!
This past weekend I also attended an african drum class. Talk about your enthusiasm - what a wonderful experience. The teacher of the class gave high compliments to my doumbek (although he was teaching a class mostly about djembe). I have to admit I had a bias about the class - I really thought it would be mostly women. I was a little surprised to find mostly men when I walked in - but things basically evened out by the time class started. koira came too and I hope she had a good time... and I hope we both get a chance to do it again soon. My brain is crunching on how to force myself to make time to just spend with the drum.
Saturday was the toddler birthday party. There was a moon bounce. Speaking of curbing my natural enthusiasm... what the hell! I never did get on the moon bounce. I am a fool. It was a fun time even with the stifling heat, I loved it, and met some very nice people, including the couple that holds the Baltimore Rock n Romp (keg tubs lined with juice boxes! kids and rocking!) for which I'll have to borrow a kid sometime. It is also at this event that E&B gifted me with something very special:
In honor of my first drum lesson tomorrow night, I reckon. That was incredibly nice of them. And makes me giggle. For some reason the Phil Collins drumsticks are extra short...?? Either way I will treasure them always. Even though I am probably a terrible drummer and will soon find out about it. As we were on our way home from the party, we got a call to come out for BBQ. We oblliged, and enjoyed that plus a late night playing Gauntlet.
Sunday I had a 12 hour WoW marathon. I think that's all I need to say about that.
Which brings me to today, which I spent partially working from home, due to bizarre virusy thing taking over my bod. Monday night I knew it was going to hit me and my premonition was right. I rested alot and hopefully will be right as rain by tomorrow. Because I have alot of work to do, actually.
I napped and watched all three of my netflix offerings, as well as a DVD bootleg I got which feature live BBC performances of Cat Stevens and Neil Young. Frankly I think Neil's performance of "A Man Needs a Maid" was incredibly powerful. Moving on I really enjoyed Buster for reasons I'm sure you can gather. Actually Phil's performance was pretty good and I think if he wanted to always play a wisecracking ne'er do well he'd have a long and lucrative career - oh what's that you say? He already has a berjillion dollars? Oh right. Well anyways I liked it, terrible pop songs and all. Also viewed Abandon which showed more of Katie Holmes', er, range. Actually I kid but she did a really good job and it was a pretty good script. As psychological thrillers go, I've certainly seen worse, but I was predisposed to like this. I mean c'mon! Benjamin Bratt as a cop! That's what he does! Plus bonus Fred Ward!!
Also I made a "for the yard sale" pile. tzel and I are having a yard sale saturday. Cheers to getting rid of stuff!
And for a totally unrelated linky doodad: Library gives up books. Honestly, I'm not so much worried about books as I am about nice quiet spaces. If my college experience was at all typical, finding a place to study was actually pretty hard. Plus, wah, books!!!