Pretty damned cool.

This has been another fine week. I started the week celebrating my two-year anniversary with LilDomino by snuggling with HotaruGirl and her. Since we got back to Indy I’ve gotten to see IceSpark and Pandara, as well as having a night to myself. My cancer doc checkup went well, and Laat came to visit me Thursday during her work furlough. Now I’m in Chicago, spending the weekend with Lemur_Lady. Woot!
( the possibly boring details )

Happy Independence Day, Friends-list Americans!

I MAY NOT AGREE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY, BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.

–VOLTAIRE Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Last week was extremely enjoyable, even if it seemed to zoom by far too quickly. I started the week with a visit to Ona_Tangent and ScottAK, got to hang out with IceSpark and Pandara during the week, had lunch with StephanieBCL, and then spent the weekend celebrating my three-year anniversary with LilDomino by driving down with her to Evansville to spend time with HotaruGirl. Woot!

Last Sunday morning when I got up Ona_Tangent was already awake. I joined her in the living room and we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When ScottAK woke up he made us breakfast before they left to see Ona_Tangent’s dad for Father’s Day. I hung out in their apartment and read HPOP until they got back. We took a micro-nap and then went to ScottAK’s family’s house. They were extremely nice, and man, they can cook – I may have to invite myself up there every Father’s Day! I had a great time with them all.

Last Monday morning I drove back to Indianapolis to go to work. The phones were insane all day and I was relieved when things finally calmed down in the evening before I escaped. That night I went over to IceSpark’s to roleplay on the MUX. IceSpark hadn’t been feeling well so she was treating herself to the five-hour version of Pride and Prejudice – apparently Colin Firth is a panacea. I ate quickly and jumped online. Since the event that was supposed to happen that night failed to get off the ground, I hung out for a while and then logged off. IceSpark and I watched G.I. Joe: Resolute before calling it a night and snuggling up to sleep.

Last Tuesday night I took some time to myself to catch up on my huge backlog of email, journaling, and laundry. I still have a ton to do at home, but some time for just me was very good. I pleasantly wasted a lot of time trying to read everything on the Internet, and then buckled down and got some productivity done before bed. I stayed up late but was still able to sleep until I woke up on my own, fifteen minutes before my alarm.

Last Wednesday night I went back over to IceSpark’s after work. She was passed out asleep, exhausted after derby practice. I let her sleep while I talked to Ona_Tangent on the phone and then carefully woke her up to see if she wanted to hang out or go back to sleep for the night. We moved to the couch to hang out and chat, but IceSpark was still really sleepy, so before long we decided to give up and just go back to bed.

Thursday I had lunch with StephanieBCL before work, and after work picked up Pandara and brought her back to my apartment. Pandara wanted to help me with my latest attempt at healthier living, so she offered to work out with me in my building’s exercise room. I only spent about 20 minutes on the elliptical machine, but it was a start if nothing else. I steamed some pasta and veggies for dinner and then we called it a night.

Friday morning I brought Pandara to check out a car, which she bought (yay self-mobility!). We had lunch with LilDomino, and then LilDomino brought Pandara home so I could go into work. After work I went to LilDomino’s, who managed to stay awake about 10 more minutes after I got there before passing out completely. I stayed up for a while reading more HPOP before turning off the light and joining her in slumber.

Saturday and Sunday LilDomino and I were celebrating our three-year anniversary, so we went down to Evansville to spend all weekend snuggled in bed with HotaruGirl. We picked up my sister on the way down to Bloomington, and hung out with my mom for about an hour before heading over to HotaruGirl's. HotaruGirl cooked dinner Saturday night and made breakfast Sunday morning so we never had to leave her apartment! We got in plenty of lazy cuddles as well as spending time with her roommate while he played Final Fantasy X and worked on his chainmail. It was a wonderful escape and HotaruGirl made sure we both had an excellent time (without spending any money besides gasoline). Happy anniversary, LilDomino! Thanks for being so amazing! Thanks as well to HotaruGirl for a fantastic time during our visit! B)

"Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."

-- Surpreme Court Justice Scalia

In the last 24 hours:

• 11:10 at CarX, getting my car's oil changed and coolant flushed. #
• 12:52 Car maintenance complete. Now for human maintenance: at the lab for blood work. #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 22:24 made it back safely after a great weekend in Evansville. my sister, alas, is still stranded there last I heard. #
• 22:50 Update from CMhusted: "Everything OK" :-) #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 18:19 Oy, my job makes me hate Fridays! #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 16:01 heh. just got kudos frm my new MGR for being one of the top 3 ppl taking calls in our center. glad SOMEONE is noticing... #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 13:44 returned safely from St. Louis after a lovely visit with @StL_Rachel and @SAKluesner. :-) #
• 18:21 i hate how completely my job can annihilate my good mood. #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 00:47 yay! congrats, @CCSocialites! #
• 14:20 RT "100+ protesters missing, 24 cops killed, 20K people march to protest, govt disperses w/ teargas. Iran? No, Peru. is.gd/18u2Y #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 18:27 heading to St. Louis! have a good weekend, all! #
• 22:50 arrived safely in St. Louis. :-) #

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This has been a pretty nice week, although concerns about my long-term
health have preoccupied my mind (that, and a strong desire to
role-play since my post-birthday game night). I had a rare week where
I got off work before 10 PM, so I took advantage of that fact the best
I could with no money whatsoever. I got to MUX, visit Laat, attend a
hafla, and spent time with friends and lovers, so I’ll chalk this week
up as a win.

Sunday IceSpark and I called for a late check-out and then headed to
my mother’s to have brunch with her and my sister CMHusted. After
we ate, CMHusted and Mom asked me if I could help them change the tire on Mom’s Malibu – something I was glad to do, until I found out
when we arrived at a junkyard that they didn’t actually have a tire
yet. We spent two hours baking in 100+ degrees sun until IceSpark found something that might work.

Escaping at last, IceSpark and I stopped in Terre Haute to grab dinner, and then finally made it back to Indy. I went over to
LilDomino’s, where she was spending the weekend with Pandara. We
snuggled Pandara on the couch before driving her home. We returned to
LilDomino’s and hid in her bedroom to watch The Colbert Report and NCIS until late in to the early morning.

Monday I went over to IceSpark’s to MUX. Two of our admin returned
recently from hiatus, and it is wonderful to have them back. The MUX
has undergone a mini-revival, and I’m trying to get online as often as
possible (which still isn’t that often, alas) to take advantage of
that fact. We have a new Megatron, so I got a
chance to role-play with him as both as my shy data-analyst character Floodlight and my brave warrior Valour.

I also got to carry on some RP I’d started Friday with Spike, continuing Buster’s birthday celebration with his brother. I followed up on Friday’s RP as Ace as well, role-playing out his guilt and recovery with Mara after his disastrous run-in with the Baroness and Vypra in Australia. I
had a lot of fun with everyone and look forward to the next event scheduled Monday.

Tuesday I felt internal pressure to find time to hang out with people
not available during my normal until-10:15-PM schedule, since this week I left work at 6:15. However, none of the most-hard-to-schedule
people got back to me, and I was really feeling peopled-out, so I
decided to be selfish and took the night alone. I stayed up way too
late and got caught up on a tiny fraction of my email, journaling, and laundry.

Wednesday after work I headed down to Louisville to visit Laat. She
took me out to dinner since I’m poor, and I had a Hot Brown since I
was in Louisville and hadn’t had one as far as I could recall. It
wasn’t quite as good as it sounded, but it was still quite yummy.

After dinner we relaxed and hung out until Laat’s waitress friend came
in to work. After hellos and hanging out with her a bit Laat and I
went back to Laat’s apartment.

Since Laat was sleepy and her DVD player wasn’t working, we elected to
just go to bed and snuggle and talk until we fell asleep. She
apologized for being a “bad host” but really I’m very happy that we’ve
gotten to the point were we can just hang out without having to be “on.” We used to only see each other once a year or less, so we had
to cram a lot of visiting until each get-together. Now that she lives
so close we can just get together and relax, which is a lot less
stressful for me.

Thursday morning I got up early to drive back to Indy in time for my
shift, and since I avoided bad weather and traffic I actually arrived early to the office and got to talk with IceSpark and Ona_Tangent on
the way. At work they sent a lot of people home early on e-time, so
once again it seemed that our little group was stuck taking all the
calls. This stressed me out quite a bit, and I could *feel* my blood
pressure rising call after call.

This got me thinking about my health and what I need to do more specifically than just “eat better and exercise more.” I solicited
ideas online, and since I had some time before Pandara got off work,
started thinking about how and when I could put better lifestyle choices into effect. I picked up Pandara from work and we had dinner
before returning to my apartment so I could massage her sore muscles
before we snuggled and slept.

Friday work was insanely busy and I barely made it through the day,
especially since I was trying not to gorge myself with caffeine (limiting stimulants sucks!). When I got home I had some time before
Pandara got off work, so I turned on my laptop to check blogs and
email before dinner. I lay down “just for a minute” while my computer
booted up, and wound up sleeping until LilDomino called to say she was
nearly here.

I stumbled downstairs to meet LilDomino and together we went to pick
up Pandara from work. We brought Pandara home to change into belly-dancing gear and then the three of us drove to Zionsville for
dinner at Zorba’s Greek restaurant. il Troubadore was playing entertaining music that Pandara and her friends danced to as a
pleasant compliment to the yummy food. After dinner we went back to
Salamander42 and Pandara’s so she could tend to her pets before going
away for the weekend, and then LilDomino, Pandara and I returned to my
apartment to swim, hot lukewarm tub, and sleep.

Today when I get off work I’m driving to St. Louis to see Ona_Tangent and Scottak. I wanted to go to the Circle City Socialites bout with
IceSpark, but I haven’t seen Ona_Tangent in ages, so I decided to skip
it this time so I don’t arrive in Missouri too late.
Unfortunately I
work Monday so it will have to be a lightning visit, but I always enjoy time with Ona_Tangent and Scottak so I’m sure the trip will be
well worth it.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

“when your love lets you go you only want love more
even when love wasn't what you were looking for”
-- Tegan & Sara, “Speak Slow”

In the last 24 hours:

• 12:01 sleepy, but work nap time is over. back into the dial-tone mines #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 06:04 I just woke from a dream in which I was visiting a Korean family and a little girl offered me baklava. #
• 06:13 In the dream I was disappointed that all I could remember offhand in Korean is 'hello'. Awake, same disappointment. #
• 11:03 any moment now Iran's president is going to look at his Twitter feed and go, "Ack! Green squares! I resign immediately!" :-P #
• 11:14 I'm all for awareness and solidarity. I just worry sometimes about the potentially dangerous complacency of slacktivism. #
• 12:26 Well, if I ever get near a computer where Twitter isn't blocked, I may chg my time zone to Tehran to help local Twitterers there. #
• 15:45 I'm guessing this flushed, headachy dizzy feeling I get when stressed at work is that whole high blood pressure thing. bleh. #
• 17:46 all joking aside, I need to seriously look into what I can do to lower my blood pressure besides just taking meds (which, yes, I will do). #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 14:15 ha! so completely me: xkcd.com/597/ #
• 17:32 accidently setting your phone on Silent so you don't hear your alarm is an excellent way to get longer break naps at work. d'oh! #
• 21:39 Indigo Girls and Tiffany are playing at Pridefest in Louisville this weekend for $5. #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 00:38 Had a great time on @tfumux tonight. Now, time for sleeps. #
• 10:08 Ugh. I so hate when ALL my bills fall within one pay period. :-( i wish I got paid the same time every month. :-( #
• 15:20 wonder what other keyword-based autospammers I could lure... pie! sex! zombies! abe vigoda! #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 01:17 at a Denny's in Evansville where JoJo's used to be. #
• 13:43 having a nice time in Evansville. about to go meet my Mom and sister for lunch... #
• 19:32 after two hours in the sun looking for a tire for my mom, now in terra haute Terre Haute grabbing food before heading back to Indy. #

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This has been a great week. My birthday weekend was wonderful (besides some drama flare-ups that seem to have been mostly resolved), and since then I have had a pretty quiet week to recover. I’ve had some excellent quality time with my lovers, and even got in some time alone on Thursday. I didn’t get a lot of journaling time, but everything else was fantastic.

Sunday morning LilDomino, HotaruGirl, Pandara and I slept in before venturing out to Perkins for breakfast. We stopped by LilDomino’s to grab something and then headed back to my apartment for a birthday game night. We had a full house for gaming, and played Apples to Apples, Flux, and Killer Bunnies. It was great to see everyone, and it was a fun, chaotic end to my birthday week.

Monday morning LilDomino, HotaruGirl, and I went to get the washer and dryer LilDomino had gotten me a few months ago that until now had been sitting in her garage. When we got the appliances here, Salamander42 and Pandara came over to help, taking my old washer and dryer for their use since my appliances still work pretty well. After work I hung out with IceSpark and enjoyed some quiet time alone with her before we went to bed.

Tuesday I slept ten hours and still woke up tired. After some snuggles with IceSpark, I finally tore myself out of bed and headed to work. After work I headed to LilDomino’s, and we cuddled, hung out, and talked about the weekend. We’d all had some fun times this past weekend, but there was some stress as well, most of which worked out OK.

Wednesday morning LilDomino and I slept almost twelve hours before finally bumbling up towards wakefulness. After work I went to Pandara’s apartment. She’d made me dinner, which was simple but very yummy. After dinner we went back to my apartment, but by that time it was very late and she was very sleepy, so we decided to skip entertainment and just cuddle and talk before sleeping.

Thursday night I had plans with Lima, but her basement flooded and she was exhausted from clean-up so we decided to reschedule for another night. That gave me an evening alone, which was nice because by that point I was severely peopled out. I set up my new washer and dryer (thanks again, LilDomino!) and got some laundry done while I checked my two million birthday messages. Thanks, everyone!

Friday after work I went to IceSpark’s house to MUX and sleep. My MUX night was very productive – I had a great time roleplaying with Spike as first his dad Sparkplug and then his brother Buster, and then on the Joe/Cobra side I wrapped up a plot with Ace and Mara v. The Baroness and Vypra. Both of my characters got their asses kicked in a very entertaining fashion. IceSpark said she’d probably pass out early, but wound up staying up with me until I was ready to go to bed.

Saturday morning IceSpark and I got up and headed down to Evansville for a derby bout. Her league, the Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls, was playing one of Evansville’s leagues, the Rollergirls of Southern Indiana. While IceSpark was getting ready I went out to dinner with HotaruGirl, and then HotaruGirl and I joined IceSpark, Jalyru, and my sister at Swonder Ice Rink for the bout.

The BHRG Flatliners beat the first ROSI squad, but ROSI’s second squad managed to beat Jalyru and IceSpark’s team, the Code Blue Assassins. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining bout, and afterward we all went to an afterparty at Bullock’s and then wound up at Denny’s late into the night. All in all it was an excellent weekend.

"The fact that the United States can spend $300 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but cannot find a relative pittance to rescue the human condition in Africa -- there is something profoundly out of whack about that." -- Stephen Lewis, the secretary-general's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa

In the last 24 hours:

• 15:24 arrived in Evansville for the bout, and checked into Le Merigot. as snazzy as I remember. :-) #
• 20:43 first period score: ROSI 29 Flatliners 35 #
• 21:19 Final score, first teamup - ROSI 78 Flatliners 81 #
• 22:03 Second match-up, first period score: ROSI 43 CBA 29 #
• 22:38 Final score, second match: ROSI 89 CBA 43 #

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In the last 24 hours:

• 13:52 RT "Be sure to be at Swonder this Saturday to see ROSI take on the rollergirls from Bloomington! Doors open at 6 and action starts at 7!" #

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