We spent Friday evening with D-- and his mom.
They came over shortly after I got home from work. We placed a take-out order at Abuelo's, then D-- and I ran up to a liquor store for a box of Chardonnay, grabbed a bag of ice so we could play MythBusters, and then picked up the food.
Dinner, of course, was delicious. As far as the MythBusters thing went, we took the plastic inner bag out of the wine box (which contains the actual wine) and soaked it in a bath of ice-cold saltwater. That's supposed to be the fastest way to bring a liquid beverage down to chilly temperatures without access to a chemistry lab.
It worked...pretty well. Ten minutes in or so, it was about as cold as several hours in the fridge could have achieved. D-- and I had several large glasses, and his mom had more than one.
We talked a lot, listened to some music, and then ended up playing Karaoke Revolution for several hours. It was nearly one in the morning by the time they left.
Saturday morning I woke up late (of course), and went with T-- to [somewhere] to shop for [something] for [s--'s] birthday. It's all terribly hush-hush, so I can't tell you any more than that.
Then I spent the afternoon working on the house. I replaced the tub faucet (which had a faulty shower diverter), I rewired the light-switch in our master bath so that the light doesn't have to be on to provide power to the switch, and while I was at it I replaced the regular outlet there with a GFCI outlet, just because.
I also discovered that I'd lost my drill, and spent most of the next 24-hours in mourning, and then learned all of a sudden that K-- has been borrowing my drill for a couple weeks now. So that's all taken care of.
Saturday evening T-- had a crop to attend, and we'd discussed doing a guys' night at County Line BBQ, but K-- ended up working most of the weekend, and B-- was out in San Francisco all of Friday and most of Saturday, so when he got in he wasn't really up to doing much. So it ended up being just D-- and me.
We went to see Wanted which would have been a pretty cool movie (albeit cheesy in a Fantasy Action flick kind of way) except that the main character is a total dumbass and the character playing him is a major loser -- you end up hating every moment that he's on screen. And, him being the main character, that was something of a problem.
After the movie, we grabbed some Freddy's for dinner, then went to D--'s apartment and watched another awful movie: The Covenant. This one was somewhat intentional -- it struck me as the same basic story, except with warlocks instead of assassins. A better description, now that I've seen it, would be The Craft with dudes. It was not good.
To make up for all the terrible movieage, we went up to Henry Hudsons for a few drinks, and that was pretty fun. I get home a little bit before one in the morning.
Yesterday morning, quite unintentionally, I slept through church. T-- came home right after and called out to ask if I was awake, and I discovered then, at 11:40, that the answer was no. She also mentioned that K-- and N-- were coming over for lunch, so I jumped up and grabbed a really quick shower.
We went to Jersey Mike's for lunch, which I had just told D-- I didn't like, but once we got there I discovered I'd been thinking of Winston McDougals, and Jersey Mike's is quite all right. So there's a little story for you.
After lunch, K-- and N-- went home to take naps, and I went home and should have, but instead I watched a ton of Boston Legal with T--, and then suddenly it was 6:00 and D-- showed up for dinner and a few minutes later K-- and N-- showed. T-- made some great sloppy joes, and I made salsa, and after dinner we watched an 80's movie, because we were all gathered together.
This time it was one of K--'s picks, and we chose Bladerunner over Tron in a split decision. Mostly, it made me want to read the book. The premise was great, but I felt like they left out most of the action inherent in the story so that they could focus more directly on the malaise and inner turmoil -- two things that don't translate well to the TV screen, even if they were central to the written work.
It was fun, though. Our guests cleared out right around nine, and T-- and I watched three more episodes of Boston Legal before we finally gave up and went to bed. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep, though, and it was probably around one in the morning before I finally drifted off.
Then I slept late again this morning. Very late. I think it may be a side effect of some painkillers I'm taking for my lower back, but it's more likely the result of all those ones in the morning. Either way, it's a nuisance. Hopefully I'll be back on schedule tomorrow morning.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Journal Entry: June 27, 2008
I probably mentioned that K-- and N-- got home from their Vegas trip on Tuesday night. I knew they both had the day off Wednesday, so I invited them to join me for lunch. Alas, I do work a long way from their home, so that didn't work out, but T-- came anyway, so we had lunch at Schlotzky's, and it was good.
I also learned that the Schlotzky's Original was first inspired by a muffuletta. Never knew that. Actually, I've seen muffulettas on menus before, and always thought they looked gross. Who knew?
After work, on my drive home, I had a handful of movies that needed returning to Redbox. There's a McDonalds not far from my house that has one, so I stopped in to dump the movies. Then when I got back in my car, it wouldn't start. Joy. D-- came by fifteen minutes later and gave me a ride home.
We did get together with K-- and N-- (and D-- and Shannon's family, actually) for dinner at Johnny's Charcoal Broiler. So that was good. We had a fun time of it, and afterward D-- and I went home to meet Toby, who had come up from Norman to learn how to play Heroscape.
Heroscape is the tabletop game D-- taught me a couple weeks ago, and which Toby and I are thinking about programming. It's fun. After setting up the game board and selecting our armies, we got about fifteen minutes into the actual game before church ended and K-- came by to help me fix my car.
We ran up to McDonalds and jump-started it, let it run for a while, and then I tried it again without the cables. Nothing. Turned out, the battery was completely dead. It wouldn't hold a charge at all. No bid deal -- battery is one of the cheapest things to fix on a car. We jump-started it again, and I went home. I'd already called my boss to let him know I wouldn't be in Thursday morning.
So, Thursday morning I woke up bright and early, and we jump-started the car again, and took it in to Wal-Mart. I asked for an oil change, rotate and balance the tires, and a new battery. Then T-- drove me back home in the Saturn, I watched AB for an hour while she had a business meeting, and then after a lunch of Taco Bell, I drove the Saturn in to work for the afternoon.
After work, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pay, and I learned that they hadn't rotated the tires because there was tread damage and they needed to be replaced. Of course, it would have been nice if they'd called me with that information, because now I'm going to have to find another opportunity to drop off the car to get new tires. And, of course, now I have to get new tires. That's not Wal-Mart's fault, but it irritates me just the same.
I paid up the bill, anyway, and then we went to the gym, where I was unable to do my jogging for the day because of back pain. I did my four-minute warm up walk, then cranked up the speed and took three or four jogging steps (calling out "Ow!" at every one, which is embarrassing in a crowded gym), and then turned the speed back down and settled for a twenty-minute brisk walk.
We had dinner with K-- and N-- at the Arby's right by the gym, and then came home and watched a Boston Legal. Pretty busy day, all told.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
I also learned that the Schlotzky's Original was first inspired by a muffuletta. Never knew that. Actually, I've seen muffulettas on menus before, and always thought they looked gross. Who knew?
After work, on my drive home, I had a handful of movies that needed returning to Redbox. There's a McDonalds not far from my house that has one, so I stopped in to dump the movies. Then when I got back in my car, it wouldn't start. Joy. D-- came by fifteen minutes later and gave me a ride home.
We did get together with K-- and N-- (and D-- and Shannon's family, actually) for dinner at Johnny's Charcoal Broiler. So that was good. We had a fun time of it, and afterward D-- and I went home to meet Toby, who had come up from Norman to learn how to play Heroscape.
Heroscape is the tabletop game D-- taught me a couple weeks ago, and which Toby and I are thinking about programming. It's fun. After setting up the game board and selecting our armies, we got about fifteen minutes into the actual game before church ended and K-- came by to help me fix my car.
We ran up to McDonalds and jump-started it, let it run for a while, and then I tried it again without the cables. Nothing. Turned out, the battery was completely dead. It wouldn't hold a charge at all. No bid deal -- battery is one of the cheapest things to fix on a car. We jump-started it again, and I went home. I'd already called my boss to let him know I wouldn't be in Thursday morning.
So, Thursday morning I woke up bright and early, and we jump-started the car again, and took it in to Wal-Mart. I asked for an oil change, rotate and balance the tires, and a new battery. Then T-- drove me back home in the Saturn, I watched AB for an hour while she had a business meeting, and then after a lunch of Taco Bell, I drove the Saturn in to work for the afternoon.
After work, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pay, and I learned that they hadn't rotated the tires because there was tread damage and they needed to be replaced. Of course, it would have been nice if they'd called me with that information, because now I'm going to have to find another opportunity to drop off the car to get new tires. And, of course, now I have to get new tires. That's not Wal-Mart's fault, but it irritates me just the same.
I paid up the bill, anyway, and then we went to the gym, where I was unable to do my jogging for the day because of back pain. I did my four-minute warm up walk, then cranked up the speed and took three or four jogging steps (calling out "Ow!" at every one, which is embarrassing in a crowded gym), and then turned the speed back down and settled for a twenty-minute brisk walk.
We had dinner with K-- and N-- at the Arby's right by the gym, and then came home and watched a Boston Legal. Pretty busy day, all told.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Journal Entry: June 25, 2008
Yesterday, again, T-- watched my niece Sophy as a favor for my sister. She had planned to just take both of the girls back to the gym (since we're already paying a flat monthly fee for childcare anyway), but she decided at the last minute that she had enough patience to watch them herself.
More power to her. I got home from work, and locked myself in the office.
Actually, I'd made plans with D-- to take care of some stuff in AoC, back when I thought she was going to the gym, and she said she figured she could get by without my help. So I spent a couple hours killing werewolves while they played in the kiddie pool out back and then came in and fought over who got to play with the toy telephone.
T-- made up some delicious chicken quesadillas for dinner, and then I retreated back to my office again. I finally came out around 8:15, and played with AB for an hour while we waited for my brother-in-law to show up to pick up Sophy.
Once he got there, we watched an episode of Boston Legal, and then went to bed. I couldn't sleep, though (second night in a row), and ended up sleeping late this morning. That's frustrating.
Oh, I did make a phone call and got some reassuring news concerning my insurance problems, briefly mentioned yesterday. So that's not as stressful, and I might make it through the month. Good news, all around.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
More power to her. I got home from work, and locked myself in the office.
Actually, I'd made plans with D-- to take care of some stuff in AoC, back when I thought she was going to the gym, and she said she figured she could get by without my help. So I spent a couple hours killing werewolves while they played in the kiddie pool out back and then came in and fought over who got to play with the toy telephone.
T-- made up some delicious chicken quesadillas for dinner, and then I retreated back to my office again. I finally came out around 8:15, and played with AB for an hour while we waited for my brother-in-law to show up to pick up Sophy.
Once he got there, we watched an episode of Boston Legal, and then went to bed. I couldn't sleep, though (second night in a row), and ended up sleeping late this morning. That's frustrating.
Oh, I did make a phone call and got some reassuring news concerning my insurance problems, briefly mentioned yesterday. So that's not as stressful, and I might make it through the month. Good news, all around.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Journal Entry: June 24, 2008
I have been suffering some pretty bad backache for about a week now, and I used that as an excuse to take the week off going to the gym last week.
Well, that and the busyness of having my parents visiting for the second half of the week....
Anyway, yesterday after work I was still hurting, but I figured I had used up my excused absences. I got home and picked up T-- and AB, and then we headed over to the Family Expectations building to pick up my niece Sophy (since my sister and her husband were teaching a class), and we took the two girls to daycare at the gym.
Once again, I found that after a week off I could jump right back into my routine, which is encouraging. I also found, again, a pound of weight loss in spite of a week off. That's pretty good news.
After our workout, we grabbed some McDonald's for dinner, dropped Sophy off at home, and then went home to crash on the couch. We watched four episodes of Boston Legal and then went to bed. That was my night.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Well, that and the busyness of having my parents visiting for the second half of the week....
Anyway, yesterday after work I was still hurting, but I figured I had used up my excused absences. I got home and picked up T-- and AB, and then we headed over to the Family Expectations building to pick up my niece Sophy (since my sister and her husband were teaching a class), and we took the two girls to daycare at the gym.
Once again, I found that after a week off I could jump right back into my routine, which is encouraging. I also found, again, a pound of weight loss in spite of a week off. That's pretty good news.
After our workout, we grabbed some McDonald's for dinner, dropped Sophy off at home, and then went home to crash on the couch. We watched four episodes of Boston Legal and then went to bed. That was my night.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Journal Entry: June 23, 2008
I have some pretty ugly business going on with the Tulsa house, involving insurance stuff and roof problems, but I don't want to go into detail on that, because it's horribly depressing. If you're curious about it, ask me sometime when I'm in a good enough mood to handle it.
Anyway, Thursday afternoon my mom and dad came in for a visit. They had to take care of the van (as mentioned previously), and had dinner plans with an old family friend at 5:00 downtown. T-- drove down and we all met up near the airport at 4:30, then we dropped the van off in hourly parking and headed to the Zio's downtown for dinner.
It was nice getting to see Theresa again, and dinner was excellent. D-- joined us so he could take AB home with him (he'd offered to babysit while we went to an exhibit at the museum), but he ended up coming with us.
The exhibit is a collection of ancient Roman art from the basement of the Louvre. It's mostly sculpture and jewelry, but they've also crafted a walking tour through it that's themed and presents all kinds of fascinating historical information. It was very cool. AB's favorite part was the relief of a cow, sheep, and pig being led to sacrifice, but that's just because she likes animals and doesn't quite get context yet.
Afterward, Dad and I stopped at Byron's to pick up some dessert (as it were), and we all stayed up late watching SNL and talking. It was fun.
Friday, Dad and I had made plans to spend most of the day writing together, but I ended up sleeping in until 10-ish, and then we had lunch with Mom and T-- at Pizza Hut, and then I had a dentist appointment at 1:00 (small filling), so it was 2:30 or so before we really got started, and Mom and T-- got home from their thing (painting pottery at the mall) around 4:00. We did make some good progress on a story idea Dad had come up with, but I didn't accomplish much of anything.
Friday evening we went to dinner with D-- and his mom, and my little sister brought her family including the in-laws, so we had quite a crowd. We went to this barbecue place called County Line, down by the Cowboy Museum (yes, we have one of those), and it was fantastic. The food, not the museum. Fan-freakin'-tastic.
Then we ran by the Family Fun Night at OC, and AB got to ride one of the ponies. T-- has pictures on her blog. Unlike Thursday, Friday was a pretty early night.
Saturday morning, T-- went to a tea room for brunch with Mom and my sister. I took Dad to the Texas Roadhouse, and we brought our writing stuff (he his laptop, and me my scribblebook), but we ended up spending the whole time talking.
Mom and Dad headed home around 2:00, and D-- came over with a new tabletop came called Heroscape, and taught T-- and me how to play while AB was taking her afternoon nap. We played for most of the afternoon, and then he went home and I went over to B-- and E--'s to watch some mixed martial arts.
Mostly, though, we talked. I was there for four or five hours, and it was a lot of fun. I need to spend more time with them. But, then, I think that every time I spend any time with them.
Sunday morning we skipped church because we had plans to celebrate Mrs. Huddleston's birthday with her. She's...umm...D--'s childhood friend's mom. It's a little bit of a distant connection for us, but she's also D--'s mom's longtime friend, and the two of them both fell in love with AB pretty much from the start, so we're invited to family stuff, now.
Anyway, that was at the zoo. We got there around 11:00, and it was already hot. All the girls went on the merry-go-round to start with, and rode this silly little train that goes in a short circle, and then we had a picnic lunch, and talked for a while, and then it was 3:00 and we went home.
Umm...I'm sure T-- will make it sound like a lot more fun. Watch her blog for updates.
Both before and after that trip to the zoo, I spent several hours working on a markup of my sister Heather's first novel. It's fascinating working on Fantasy again. Her book is a good one, too, so it's fun to have a hand in that.
After I finished that, around 5:00, I invited D-- over for dinner and called in a take-out order to Ole. We ate, and then spent the rest of the evening watching Boston Legal. We're ten episodes in. It's...fascinating.
I also had a couple truly bizarre dreams this weekend, but I won't try to explain them here. Suffice to say, they have me thoroughly weirded out.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Anyway, Thursday afternoon my mom and dad came in for a visit. They had to take care of the van (as mentioned previously), and had dinner plans with an old family friend at 5:00 downtown. T-- drove down and we all met up near the airport at 4:30, then we dropped the van off in hourly parking and headed to the Zio's downtown for dinner.
It was nice getting to see Theresa again, and dinner was excellent. D-- joined us so he could take AB home with him (he'd offered to babysit while we went to an exhibit at the museum), but he ended up coming with us.
The exhibit is a collection of ancient Roman art from the basement of the Louvre. It's mostly sculpture and jewelry, but they've also crafted a walking tour through it that's themed and presents all kinds of fascinating historical information. It was very cool. AB's favorite part was the relief of a cow, sheep, and pig being led to sacrifice, but that's just because she likes animals and doesn't quite get context yet.
Afterward, Dad and I stopped at Byron's to pick up some dessert (as it were), and we all stayed up late watching SNL and talking. It was fun.
Friday, Dad and I had made plans to spend most of the day writing together, but I ended up sleeping in until 10-ish, and then we had lunch with Mom and T-- at Pizza Hut, and then I had a dentist appointment at 1:00 (small filling), so it was 2:30 or so before we really got started, and Mom and T-- got home from their thing (painting pottery at the mall) around 4:00. We did make some good progress on a story idea Dad had come up with, but I didn't accomplish much of anything.
Friday evening we went to dinner with D-- and his mom, and my little sister brought her family including the in-laws, so we had quite a crowd. We went to this barbecue place called County Line, down by the Cowboy Museum (yes, we have one of those), and it was fantastic. The food, not the museum. Fan-freakin'-tastic.
Then we ran by the Family Fun Night at OC, and AB got to ride one of the ponies. T-- has pictures on her blog. Unlike Thursday, Friday was a pretty early night.
Saturday morning, T-- went to a tea room for brunch with Mom and my sister. I took Dad to the Texas Roadhouse, and we brought our writing stuff (he his laptop, and me my scribblebook), but we ended up spending the whole time talking.
Mom and Dad headed home around 2:00, and D-- came over with a new tabletop came called Heroscape, and taught T-- and me how to play while AB was taking her afternoon nap. We played for most of the afternoon, and then he went home and I went over to B-- and E--'s to watch some mixed martial arts.
Mostly, though, we talked. I was there for four or five hours, and it was a lot of fun. I need to spend more time with them. But, then, I think that every time I spend any time with them.
Sunday morning we skipped church because we had plans to celebrate Mrs. Huddleston's birthday with her. She's...umm...D--'s childhood friend's mom. It's a little bit of a distant connection for us, but she's also D--'s mom's longtime friend, and the two of them both fell in love with AB pretty much from the start, so we're invited to family stuff, now.
Anyway, that was at the zoo. We got there around 11:00, and it was already hot. All the girls went on the merry-go-round to start with, and rode this silly little train that goes in a short circle, and then we had a picnic lunch, and talked for a while, and then it was 3:00 and we went home.
Umm...I'm sure T-- will make it sound like a lot more fun. Watch her blog for updates.
Both before and after that trip to the zoo, I spent several hours working on a markup of my sister Heather's first novel. It's fascinating working on Fantasy again. Her book is a good one, too, so it's fun to have a hand in that.
After I finished that, around 5:00, I invited D-- over for dinner and called in a take-out order to Ole. We ate, and then spent the rest of the evening watching Boston Legal. We're ten episodes in. It's...fascinating.
I also had a couple truly bizarre dreams this weekend, but I won't try to explain them here. Suffice to say, they have me thoroughly weirded out.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Journal Entry: June 19, 2008
We didn't really have a Wednesday night dinner last night -- at least, not one of the social ones I've talked about before here.
Instead, we went to a fundraising dinner at church, intended to raise some money for the missionaries. K-- and N-- went, too, but we showed up fifteen minutes before they did, and sat with several women I don't know at all (but, of course, who all know and love T-- and AB), so it was mostly a matter of trying to avoid being talked to.
That was stressful enough for me, and T-- attends a ladies-only class anyway, so after dinner I hitched a ride home with K-- and left T-- to attend classes and then meet me at home. I spent the hour or so playing AoC. When she got home, she mowed the lawn (so she wouldn't have to do it in the heat of the day today), and I played some more. Then we watched some TV, and went to bed. Altogether, it was a pretty quiet night.
I did get a call from B--, which is always delightful. I need to spend more time with him. But, then, I think that every time I spend any time with him.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Instead, we went to a fundraising dinner at church, intended to raise some money for the missionaries. K-- and N-- went, too, but we showed up fifteen minutes before they did, and sat with several women I don't know at all (but, of course, who all know and love T-- and AB), so it was mostly a matter of trying to avoid being talked to.
That was stressful enough for me, and T-- attends a ladies-only class anyway, so after dinner I hitched a ride home with K-- and left T-- to attend classes and then meet me at home. I spent the hour or so playing AoC. When she got home, she mowed the lawn (so she wouldn't have to do it in the heat of the day today), and I played some more. Then we watched some TV, and went to bed. Altogether, it was a pretty quiet night.
I did get a call from B--, which is always delightful. I need to spend more time with him. But, then, I think that every time I spend any time with him.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Sleeping Kings update
I've posted periodically about my plans and work on the series, since I finished Josh's story last July (including, of course, obnoxiously thorough coverage of my work on Sarah's story during National Novel Writing Month). But I just put together a single post on the old SleepingKings blog describing the current state of things, in case anyone is curious.
You can find it here, in case you don't have the site bookmarked anymore.
You can find it here, in case you don't have the site bookmarked anymore.
Journal Entry: June 18, 2008
I stayed home again last night, feeling much as I had the night before. I spent some time considering and evaluation my symptoms, and I diagnosed myself with a condition doctors refer to as a "brain cloud."
Of course, you have to get a second opinion for something as silly-sounding as "brain cloud," so I did. T-- is confident what I actually have is "the mean reds."
Whatever it is, it's rough. Keep me in your prayers.
We had sandwiches for dinner, and watched a lot of Lost. I didn't mention, but Monday night we watched the first two episodes of Boston Legal. T--'s parents are big fans of the show, and the episode or two that we watched with them were surprisingly clever, so T-- asked me to track down the rest.
So far I've only gotten the two. They were good, and we spent last night watching Lost and wishing there were Boston Legal to watch instead.
We're nearly done with the most recent season of Lost, too. Last night we watched "The Tempest." I tried to play AoC while we watched, but my laptop was giving me trouble with the updater. I just copied the full contents of my PC's installation over the one on the laptop, but that took four or five hours, so I never got a chance to take advantage of it.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Of course, you have to get a second opinion for something as silly-sounding as "brain cloud," so I did. T-- is confident what I actually have is "the mean reds."
Whatever it is, it's rough. Keep me in your prayers.
We had sandwiches for dinner, and watched a lot of Lost. I didn't mention, but Monday night we watched the first two episodes of Boston Legal. T--'s parents are big fans of the show, and the episode or two that we watched with them were surprisingly clever, so T-- asked me to track down the rest.
So far I've only gotten the two. They were good, and we spent last night watching Lost and wishing there were Boston Legal to watch instead.
We're nearly done with the most recent season of Lost, too. Last night we watched "The Tempest." I tried to play AoC while we watched, but my laptop was giving me trouble with the updater. I just copied the full contents of my PC's installation over the one on the laptop, but that took four or five hours, so I never got a chance to take advantage of it.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Journal Entry: June 17, 2008
Not a lot to report. Yesterday, I spent the whole day feeling tired (a condition which has persisted throughout today), and by the time I got home from work my back was killing me, so I decided not to go to the gym.
T-- and I ordered dinner from Ole, to see how their take-out service was, and it was quite satisfying. They provided free chips and salsa and queso (which is most of the reason I like to go), and in sufficient quantity that I was satisfied.
We watched an episode of Lost while we ate, and we're into season four now, so it's odd seeing compact the whole storyline really is. Season three made a major plot transition within the space of about three episodes, mid-season.
After that, I went back to the office to play some AoC. D-- helped me out with some quests I couldn't have completed on my own, and that took about twice as long as I really expected, so by the time we finished it was already past my bedtime.
Not much past, though, and I didn't really sleep poorly, but I still felt completely exhausted when my alarm went off this morning. I got up, showered, and half finished getting ready for work before I sank down onto the bed for a minute. Half an hour later, I pulled the covers over me.
I didn't end up getting out of bed until after 10:00, and I still felt tired. I still do. Ugh.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
T-- and I ordered dinner from Ole, to see how their take-out service was, and it was quite satisfying. They provided free chips and salsa and queso (which is most of the reason I like to go), and in sufficient quantity that I was satisfied.
We watched an episode of Lost while we ate, and we're into season four now, so it's odd seeing compact the whole storyline really is. Season three made a major plot transition within the space of about three episodes, mid-season.
After that, I went back to the office to play some AoC. D-- helped me out with some quests I couldn't have completed on my own, and that took about twice as long as I really expected, so by the time we finished it was already past my bedtime.
Not much past, though, and I didn't really sleep poorly, but I still felt completely exhausted when my alarm went off this morning. I got up, showered, and half finished getting ready for work before I sank down onto the bed for a minute. Half an hour later, I pulled the covers over me.
I didn't end up getting out of bed until after 10:00, and I still felt tired. I still do. Ugh.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Journal Entry: Father's Day
This was Father's Day weekend, and we treated it with the respect and gravity such a significant holiday deserves.
On Friday, T-- and I went to dinner at Ole (temporarily my favorite Mexican restaurant, for set-up anyway), and then went back home to wait for her parents to show up. They got in around 7:30, and we talked for a while. We had made tentative plans to go out for a movie Friday night (and let her parents act as babysitters), but T-- was concerned they would get bored, showing up so close to AB's bedtime.
Well, first thing after they came in the door, T-- suggested we go ahead and do Father's Day, so she gave John and I our cards, and handed out presents. John got the first three seasons of Hill Street Blues on DVD, and I got a wireless mouse I wanted and a 3 pound bag of super Twizzlers. The bag is almost as long as AB is tall. Seriously.
Anyway, after that we discussed the movie situation (we had a coupon for free movie, drink, and popcorn that was set to expire that day), and T--'s parents told her she was being silly. So they stayed home and watched Hill Street Blues while we went to watch Kung-Fu Panda.
Fantastic movie. Probably my favorite Pixar movie. Hilarious, with a strongly developed storyline (even for some of the secondary and tertiary characters), good action and great dialogue. And Jack Black, of course, is awesome. There is no charge for awesomeness.
Even though we picked the 90-minute movie, though, it was after midnight when we got home, so naturally I slept in on Saturday. Still, I had to get to the gym before going over to K-- and N--'s for lunch, and it was set to be an early lunch, so I was up by 8:00, and as I was heading for the door, T-- brought up several complications that delayed my leaving by another 15 minutes. I also ended up tasked with getting a coolerful of foods to K-- and N--'s place, when we didn't really have enough ice to keep it cold.
So I called them both but, it being so early, got no answer. I went ahead and went to the gym (which is right by their place), and about 30 minutes in, just as I finished my strength training, K-- called me back and said, sure, I could come by early and dump some food in their fridge.
I went ahead and left then, took the food over and dropped it off, and then decided to try running in their neighborhood instead of going back to the gym. I had been wondering for a while how well my training would translate into real-world running, and it seemed like a good chance to try it out.
There are a few things I hadn't considered, like the fact that the outdoors isn't at all air conditioned, and that everyone in the neighborhood was out mowing that morning (which meant a nasty allergy attack). Worst of all, though, I'd never realized their house had been built in the midst of a damn mountain range. What's a man to do?
No, really, I haven't been using any incline when I've been doing my running on the treadmill, and even the slight elevation of their neighborhood was enough to knock me back a couple weeks in my training. No problem. I'll go back to the gym tonight, get back in where I'm supposed to be (week 5, day 2), and finish up my training in the gym. At week 9, I should be running 25-30 minutes at a time, and then I can start fancying it up, gradually adding things like incline and increasing my speed. That's really been my plan all along.
Anyway, lunch was delicious, burgers and dogs, and we had a fun crowd. Afterward we took AB home for a nap and sat around talking for a while, then headed out to do some shopping (Wal-Mart and Michaels, oh joy), and then out to a kitschy Americana restaurant called Pops! for dinner.
It was good. We had an hour wait which was brutal, but the food was good and the place had a fun feel to it. It was far enough out there, though, that it was easily AB's bedtime by the time we got home. I spent a couple hours played AoC while we watched some more Hill Street Blues, and then got to bed around 1:00.
Sunday morning we went to church, and then T-- grilled up some steaks for us for lunch. They were fantastic. After that, I spent pretty much the entire afternoon playing AoC. Her parents headed home around 2 or 3, and we ordered pizza for dinner sometime around 6 (and it was delicious), but pretty much the whole time I was on the couch playing AoC.
Overall, definitely a relaxing Father's Day. A great weekend all around, really. Thanks to those who made it so.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
On Friday, T-- and I went to dinner at Ole (temporarily my favorite Mexican restaurant, for set-up anyway), and then went back home to wait for her parents to show up. They got in around 7:30, and we talked for a while. We had made tentative plans to go out for a movie Friday night (and let her parents act as babysitters), but T-- was concerned they would get bored, showing up so close to AB's bedtime.
Well, first thing after they came in the door, T-- suggested we go ahead and do Father's Day, so she gave John and I our cards, and handed out presents. John got the first three seasons of Hill Street Blues on DVD, and I got a wireless mouse I wanted and a 3 pound bag of super Twizzlers. The bag is almost as long as AB is tall. Seriously.
Anyway, after that we discussed the movie situation (we had a coupon for free movie, drink, and popcorn that was set to expire that day), and T--'s parents told her she was being silly. So they stayed home and watched Hill Street Blues while we went to watch Kung-Fu Panda.
Fantastic movie. Probably my favorite Pixar movie. Hilarious, with a strongly developed storyline (even for some of the secondary and tertiary characters), good action and great dialogue. And Jack Black, of course, is awesome. There is no charge for awesomeness.
Even though we picked the 90-minute movie, though, it was after midnight when we got home, so naturally I slept in on Saturday. Still, I had to get to the gym before going over to K-- and N--'s for lunch, and it was set to be an early lunch, so I was up by 8:00, and as I was heading for the door, T-- brought up several complications that delayed my leaving by another 15 minutes. I also ended up tasked with getting a coolerful of foods to K-- and N--'s place, when we didn't really have enough ice to keep it cold.
So I called them both but, it being so early, got no answer. I went ahead and went to the gym (which is right by their place), and about 30 minutes in, just as I finished my strength training, K-- called me back and said, sure, I could come by early and dump some food in their fridge.
I went ahead and left then, took the food over and dropped it off, and then decided to try running in their neighborhood instead of going back to the gym. I had been wondering for a while how well my training would translate into real-world running, and it seemed like a good chance to try it out.
There are a few things I hadn't considered, like the fact that the outdoors isn't at all air conditioned, and that everyone in the neighborhood was out mowing that morning (which meant a nasty allergy attack). Worst of all, though, I'd never realized their house had been built in the midst of a damn mountain range. What's a man to do?
No, really, I haven't been using any incline when I've been doing my running on the treadmill, and even the slight elevation of their neighborhood was enough to knock me back a couple weeks in my training. No problem. I'll go back to the gym tonight, get back in where I'm supposed to be (week 5, day 2), and finish up my training in the gym. At week 9, I should be running 25-30 minutes at a time, and then I can start fancying it up, gradually adding things like incline and increasing my speed. That's really been my plan all along.
Anyway, lunch was delicious, burgers and dogs, and we had a fun crowd. Afterward we took AB home for a nap and sat around talking for a while, then headed out to do some shopping (Wal-Mart and Michaels, oh joy), and then out to a kitschy Americana restaurant called Pops! for dinner.
It was good. We had an hour wait which was brutal, but the food was good and the place had a fun feel to it. It was far enough out there, though, that it was easily AB's bedtime by the time we got home. I spent a couple hours played AoC while we watched some more Hill Street Blues, and then got to bed around 1:00.
Sunday morning we went to church, and then T-- grilled up some steaks for us for lunch. They were fantastic. After that, I spent pretty much the entire afternoon playing AoC. Her parents headed home around 2 or 3, and we ordered pizza for dinner sometime around 6 (and it was delicious), but pretty much the whole time I was on the couch playing AoC.
Overall, definitely a relaxing Father's Day. A great weekend all around, really. Thanks to those who made it so.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Journal Entry: 80's Movies Spectacular
Yesterday for lunch, as has become my ritual, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for some cheap boneless wings and some AoC on the laptop. Unfortunately, they didn't have the wireless network on. I'll give them another week to see if they fix that nonsense, and then I just may cancel my ritual. Jerks.
I'd had the presence of mind to bring a book, though, so it wasn't a bad lunch. And the chicken, of course, was delicious.
Then after work I took AB to the gym, and T-- stayed home to get some work done (she's been in a frenzy all week, getting ready for her parents to come visit). After strength training, I did the first day of week 5 in my running program, and it went really well. The second day is going to be tough, and the third is going to be a nightmare, but I'm anxious to see if I can manage it (this is the first week that the various days involve different requirements).
Anyway, after the gym, I got home to find K-- and N-- already there, and D-- showed up shortly with a big batch of boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. (Yes, I did know that we'd be having the same thing for dinner, and no, I didn't mind at all.) I suggested that we watch the next movie in our 80's marathon, and we settled on Flight of the Navigator, one of N--'s picks.
Okay, here's the thing with that. D-- suggested over dinner a couple months ago that we should spend the summer watching our favorite movies from the 80's.
The idea evolved gradually. We started out with a pretty simple rule: our "favorites" should be movies that we liked during the 80's, not just movies made in the 80's that we like now. The reason being, movies that we like now (with the availability of DVDs and whatnot), we watch pretty frequently. Not a season goes by that I don't watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and usually some subset of this group of friends is forced to sit through it with me. Same goes for The Three Amigos and any of the Fletch movies.
So, 80's movies that we liked back in the 80's. When we started throwing out names, there were way too many, so we decided on 3 movies apiece. Some negotiations were made whenever more than one of us wanted to pick the same movie, so that those with longer lists wouldn't have as much difficulty narrowing it down.
And then, as we got further into the selection process, it became more of an evangelistic endeavor. When K-- said, "Well, there's Tron," and I said, "Never seen it," and he said, "You've never seen it?!?!" like that, well, he had to pick Tron because, come on, everyone should see Tron.
So that pretty much became the next major rule: out of our lists of childhood favorites, we narrowed it down by polling everyone to find out how many people had never seen each film. We're not required to pick the least viewed films, but we're using that as one of our selection criteria.
Anyway, T-- hasn't settled definitely on her 3 yet, but she's hoping her parents' visit this weekend will help spark her memory. Once that's done, we're going to go through a voting process to determine the viewing order, but so far I've just been using the right of imminent domain (we've watched all the movies at my house) to pick the ones I thought we should see.
The list we have so far (not including T--'s) goes, in no particular order:
The Abyss (N--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Adventures in Babysitting (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
An American Tale (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it)
Bladerunner (K--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Field of Dreams (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it -- me)
Flight of the Navigator (N--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Goonies (D--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Ladyhawke (My pick. 2 or 3 people have never seen it)
The Last Starfighter (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
The Lost Boys (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Real Genius (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Running Man (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Tron (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Young Guns (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
There's an extra movie in there for me (Ladyhawke) and N-- (An American Tale). We haven't fully narrowed down our lists to three yet. I toyed with suggesting that we expand our selections to our favorite four movies, but then I looked at a calendar, and realized that would stretch our summer to the end of October.
We're sort of watching a movie every Saturday night that we're all in town (T-- and I being the ones most often missing). I like Thursdays, too, but it can be tough to talk K-- and N-- into staying out too late on a school night. Luckily, 80's movies tend to be in the 75-90 minute range, instead of the 2 hour plus stuff we're making today.
Anyway, that's our 80's movie thing. Now you know what's going on. We watched Flight of the Navigator last night, and it was pretty good. I can definitely see why kids would have loved it back then. I was pretty critical of it during the movie, but that was the Crown Royal talking.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
I'd had the presence of mind to bring a book, though, so it wasn't a bad lunch. And the chicken, of course, was delicious.
Then after work I took AB to the gym, and T-- stayed home to get some work done (she's been in a frenzy all week, getting ready for her parents to come visit). After strength training, I did the first day of week 5 in my running program, and it went really well. The second day is going to be tough, and the third is going to be a nightmare, but I'm anxious to see if I can manage it (this is the first week that the various days involve different requirements).
Anyway, after the gym, I got home to find K-- and N-- already there, and D-- showed up shortly with a big batch of boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. (Yes, I did know that we'd be having the same thing for dinner, and no, I didn't mind at all.) I suggested that we watch the next movie in our 80's marathon, and we settled on Flight of the Navigator, one of N--'s picks.
Okay, here's the thing with that. D-- suggested over dinner a couple months ago that we should spend the summer watching our favorite movies from the 80's.
The idea evolved gradually. We started out with a pretty simple rule: our "favorites" should be movies that we liked during the 80's, not just movies made in the 80's that we like now. The reason being, movies that we like now (with the availability of DVDs and whatnot), we watch pretty frequently. Not a season goes by that I don't watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and usually some subset of this group of friends is forced to sit through it with me. Same goes for The Three Amigos and any of the Fletch movies.
So, 80's movies that we liked back in the 80's. When we started throwing out names, there were way too many, so we decided on 3 movies apiece. Some negotiations were made whenever more than one of us wanted to pick the same movie, so that those with longer lists wouldn't have as much difficulty narrowing it down.
And then, as we got further into the selection process, it became more of an evangelistic endeavor. When K-- said, "Well, there's Tron," and I said, "Never seen it," and he said, "You've never seen it?!?!" like that, well, he had to pick Tron because, come on, everyone should see Tron.
So that pretty much became the next major rule: out of our lists of childhood favorites, we narrowed it down by polling everyone to find out how many people had never seen each film. We're not required to pick the least viewed films, but we're using that as one of our selection criteria.
Anyway, T-- hasn't settled definitely on her 3 yet, but she's hoping her parents' visit this weekend will help spark her memory. Once that's done, we're going to go through a voting process to determine the viewing order, but so far I've just been using the right of imminent domain (we've watched all the movies at my house) to pick the ones I thought we should see.
The list we have so far (not including T--'s) goes, in no particular order:
The Abyss (N--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Adventures in Babysitting (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
An American Tale (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it)
Bladerunner (K--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Field of Dreams (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it -- me)
Flight of the Navigator (N--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Goonies (D--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Ladyhawke (My pick. 2 or 3 people have never seen it)
The Last Starfighter (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
The Lost Boys (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Real Genius (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Running Man (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Tron (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Young Guns (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
There's an extra movie in there for me (Ladyhawke) and N-- (An American Tale). We haven't fully narrowed down our lists to three yet. I toyed with suggesting that we expand our selections to our favorite four movies, but then I looked at a calendar, and realized that would stretch our summer to the end of October.
We're sort of watching a movie every Saturday night that we're all in town (T-- and I being the ones most often missing). I like Thursdays, too, but it can be tough to talk K-- and N-- into staying out too late on a school night. Luckily, 80's movies tend to be in the 75-90 minute range, instead of the 2 hour plus stuff we're making today.
Anyway, that's our 80's movie thing. Now you know what's going on. We watched Flight of the Navigator last night, and it was pretty good. I can definitely see why kids would have loved it back then. I was pretty critical of it during the movie, but that was the Crown Royal talking.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Journal Entry: June 12, 2008
Yesterday after work I headed south. I had plans in place to meet Toby for an evening of programming. We've pursued projects together -- primarily video games, and particularly a single one, an MMO called Remnant -- ever since he taught me to program.
Most recently, we'd started talking about building a Python client for a tabletop game, when we started looking over our old documentation and decided we'd really rather work on Remnant again. My oldest notes for that project date to 1999. So, yeah, we're not making great progress.
Still, it's an interesting pursuit, and Toby has a 3d game engine working (built primarily in C++, but callable from Python scripts), and it's really not too great a leap to get started.
Anyway, since I work so far south of our house, I went straight there from work, and Gwyn was kind enough to make me dinner. She made some fantastic chicken and rice, and the kids were fun company at dinner.
Afterward, Toby and I went immediately back to the office to work. He showed me what he had working (a flat plain of a world, with a tree in the center, and an avatar that could be made to run around, using standard RPG controls. While I was there, we added an enemy creature, and implemented a very basic form of combat. That was pretty cool.
Game development will be pretty evenly divided into the C++ stuff and the Python stuff, Toby building up the game engine, and me building up the game environment, writing in character interactions and story events, stuff like that.
We wrapped things up around 7:30 and I headed home. I spent the whole drive thinking about the things I would need to do to get the game part up and running, and they were all things I'd done recently for that cheesy single player game I was working on. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the majority of that code can be copied and pasted right into the new project. I have yet to try it out, but I should be able to dramatically improve the game's functionality with a tiny bit of work. I'm anxious to get started.
Still, when I got in I decided to play some AoC instead. I wasn't sure how long I would have, and I hate having to stop a programming project in the middle of a change, so AoC seemed safer. I got several levels and finished off the starter area, which was my goal.
T-- got home late from church, last night being the final night of VBS, and then she and I watched a couple episodes of Lost, so it was pretty late by the time I got to bed. I had some fascinating dreams, too, but I didn't write them down, so they're lost to me now. I remember it was in England, and there was something about a bomb, and it would be a perfect movie for the guy from Napoleon Dynamite. I can't even imagine how those pieces fit together....
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Most recently, we'd started talking about building a Python client for a tabletop game, when we started looking over our old documentation and decided we'd really rather work on Remnant again. My oldest notes for that project date to 1999. So, yeah, we're not making great progress.
Still, it's an interesting pursuit, and Toby has a 3d game engine working (built primarily in C++, but callable from Python scripts), and it's really not too great a leap to get started.
Anyway, since I work so far south of our house, I went straight there from work, and Gwyn was kind enough to make me dinner. She made some fantastic chicken and rice, and the kids were fun company at dinner.
Afterward, Toby and I went immediately back to the office to work. He showed me what he had working (a flat plain of a world, with a tree in the center, and an avatar that could be made to run around, using standard RPG controls. While I was there, we added an enemy creature, and implemented a very basic form of combat. That was pretty cool.
Game development will be pretty evenly divided into the C++ stuff and the Python stuff, Toby building up the game engine, and me building up the game environment, writing in character interactions and story events, stuff like that.
We wrapped things up around 7:30 and I headed home. I spent the whole drive thinking about the things I would need to do to get the game part up and running, and they were all things I'd done recently for that cheesy single player game I was working on. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the majority of that code can be copied and pasted right into the new project. I have yet to try it out, but I should be able to dramatically improve the game's functionality with a tiny bit of work. I'm anxious to get started.
Still, when I got in I decided to play some AoC instead. I wasn't sure how long I would have, and I hate having to stop a programming project in the middle of a change, so AoC seemed safer. I got several levels and finished off the starter area, which was my goal.
T-- got home late from church, last night being the final night of VBS, and then she and I watched a couple episodes of Lost, so it was pretty late by the time I got to bed. I had some fascinating dreams, too, but I didn't write them down, so they're lost to me now. I remember it was in England, and there was something about a bomb, and it would be a perfect movie for the guy from Napoleon Dynamite. I can't even imagine how those pieces fit together....
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Journal Entry: June 11, 2008
So, I did go to the gym last night.
As I said, it was the first time in a week. I'd had a pretty active day last Thursday, working on the house in Tulsa, but that was it for the week. Anyway, I've been tracking my weight, as I've made quite clear on here, and last Tuesday I was at 232. I started the year at 244, so that was a 12 pound loss on the year. Then I took a week off from going to the gym, and I had more than one high-calorie day during that week from indulging in sweets. Thursday was one of them (and I'm pretty sure I made up for it with the 9-hour workout), but it wasn't the only 0ne.
Anyway, on Sunday I weighed at home, and was surprised (for the reasons just given) to find I'd lost a pound during the course of the week. I weight in at 231. Then, last night, I got on the scale at the gym expecting that 131 to be one of those "minor fluctuations," but the gym scale put me at 230. So, nice. That's the lowest I've been in at least three years.
Buoyed a bit by that, I did my strength training and then, once again without K-- for support, I got on the treadmill to try my third day of week 4 for the third time. I finished it this time, and the week off probably helped more than it hurt, because I'd been having persistent pain in my calves for the last week that I'd spent running, and it wasn't really there last night.
So, yeah, that's a lot of detail you're probably not interested in, but I went to the gym last night and I finally finished a jogging segment that had been giving me difficulty for a while. That's encouraging. I'll start on week 5 tomorrow night if I'm not in Norman (and Saturday if I am).
After the gym, D-- picked up a mega-burger for the three of us for dinner, and we watched and eveningful of Lost while I played AoC and D-- messed around with Linux on his laptop. It was a fun night.
As I said, it was the first time in a week. I'd had a pretty active day last Thursday, working on the house in Tulsa, but that was it for the week. Anyway, I've been tracking my weight, as I've made quite clear on here, and last Tuesday I was at 232. I started the year at 244, so that was a 12 pound loss on the year. Then I took a week off from going to the gym, and I had more than one high-calorie day during that week from indulging in sweets. Thursday was one of them (and I'm pretty sure I made up for it with the 9-hour workout), but it wasn't the only 0ne.
Anyway, on Sunday I weighed at home, and was surprised (for the reasons just given) to find I'd lost a pound during the course of the week. I weight in at 231. Then, last night, I got on the scale at the gym expecting that 131 to be one of those "minor fluctuations," but the gym scale put me at 230. So, nice. That's the lowest I've been in at least three years.
Buoyed a bit by that, I did my strength training and then, once again without K-- for support, I got on the treadmill to try my third day of week 4 for the third time. I finished it this time, and the week off probably helped more than it hurt, because I'd been having persistent pain in my calves for the last week that I'd spent running, and it wasn't really there last night.
So, yeah, that's a lot of detail you're probably not interested in, but I went to the gym last night and I finally finished a jogging segment that had been giving me difficulty for a while. That's encouraging. I'll start on week 5 tomorrow night if I'm not in Norman (and Saturday if I am).
After the gym, D-- picked up a mega-burger for the three of us for dinner, and we watched and eveningful of Lost while I played AoC and D-- messed around with Linux on his laptop. It was a fun night.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Journal Entry: June 10, 2008
Friday afternoon, I left work early and dropped by the mall to pick up some new t-shirts, then went to get a haircut (always a pleasant experience). When all that was done, I still got home around 4:00.
T-- took AB to a church Ladies' Night Out sort of a thing at the mall, after meeting N-- for dinner. Meanwhile, D-- and I went to Ole, and I enjoyed their free queso once again. I recommend the place highly, if only for their setup.
Afterward, D-- and I grabbed snowcones, and then played AoC until T-- got home. At that point he went home (tired of trying to play a high-end game on a laptop), and I moved out to the living room to watch some Lost with T--. While we were doing that, I played a high-end game on a laptop.
Saturday morning I'd offered to watch AB for T-- while she went to a big sale with my little sister. It was easy enough, because she was kind enough to schedule her shopping to overlap AB's nap. As a result, I got to spend most of the time she was gone playing games.
Of course, as soon as T-- got home, that was over. She had a big playdate scheduled for the afternoon, with E-- and the Nances and several of the young moms from church invited over for a "pool party." It took place entirely in the back yard, so she and I spent the morning and afternoon getting it ready.
As part of that, we were moving a lot of the less-attractive elements from our back porch (things like the lawnmower) into the garage. We also still needed to get the quadrillion-pound air conditioner that we'd brought from Tulsa out of the van and stored somewhere semi-permanent, and the only reasonable place for it was occupied with a massive pile of junk that had accumulated over the course of our last five or six trips to work on the house in Tulsa.
So, in addition to helping T-- with yard work, I ran up to Wal-Mart to buy some new storage shelving, then committed a big chunk of my Saturday to setting it up and coordinating a lot of the mess. By the time I finished, our cluttered garage was a lot more organized. D-- came over to help me unload the air conditioner and we tucked it into the newly-emptied corner, and had room for everything else besides.
T-- had asked me to make an appearance at the playdate, but it being all-girls, she didn't require me to spend much time on it. Which is a good thing, because it was outdoors...and I'm not a fan. Toby came, too, bringing his family, so he and I spent the two hours in my office, working on a programming project. Primarily, he was trying to get my computer installed with all the software necessary to collaborate on a big project we're starting. I'm looking forward to it.
After they left, I'd intended to spend much of the evening playing AoC, but I got a call from K-- asking if we wanted to carry on our 80's movies review, and that sounded just capital. K-- and N-- picked up some P F Chang's for us, and D-- came over, and we watched The Goonies, which neither of the girls had seen before. It was a fun evening.
Sunday after church, we five met up again for lunch at Friday's, then split up again. I did some more house work, patching up the open ceiling of the creepy closet on the back of our house, and cleaning up all the loose insulation that had fallen down into it. Afterward, T-- went shopping while I watched AB and played some more AoC. Later in the evening, we watched some more TV and retired early.
Last night was much the same. When I first got home from work, I spent half an hour playing with AB, practicing her dragon roar and quizzing her on face parts (she definitely knows where her hair and nose are, but she's pretty hazy on ears and eyes). Then I think I played AoC while she took a nap.
This week is VBS at church, evenings, and for the first time they're not offering adult classes, so after T-- dropped AB off, she found herself with an hour of unexpected free time. We spent most of it in the Customer Service Desk waiting line at Wal-Mart, after watching a pretty funny half of an episode of King of the Hill. Then we went up to the church for the end of VBS, and watched N-- and K-- on-stage for the evening's sketch, which involved the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Afterward we compared notes, and learned that we'd been present for all of N--'s collegiate and post-collegiate stage performances. Apparently she did something in high school that -- she being many thousands of miles away and, at the time, completely unknown to us -- we didn't bother to attend. That's the only one we've missed. And she has that on video. Yay.
Anyway, we got home from church and it was already 9:15, so we watched an episode of Lost and bemoaned the fact that it was too late for another, and then went to bed.
There's no gym in any of that, as you may have noticed. Last time I went was one week ago. I don't really mind, but I may by the time I try to do my run. K-- will be there to make me finish it, too. Ugh. Anyway, I'm doing that right after work tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
T-- took AB to a church Ladies' Night Out sort of a thing at the mall, after meeting N-- for dinner. Meanwhile, D-- and I went to Ole, and I enjoyed their free queso once again. I recommend the place highly, if only for their setup.
Afterward, D-- and I grabbed snowcones, and then played AoC until T-- got home. At that point he went home (tired of trying to play a high-end game on a laptop), and I moved out to the living room to watch some Lost with T--. While we were doing that, I played a high-end game on a laptop.
Saturday morning I'd offered to watch AB for T-- while she went to a big sale with my little sister. It was easy enough, because she was kind enough to schedule her shopping to overlap AB's nap. As a result, I got to spend most of the time she was gone playing games.
Of course, as soon as T-- got home, that was over. She had a big playdate scheduled for the afternoon, with E-- and the Nances and several of the young moms from church invited over for a "pool party." It took place entirely in the back yard, so she and I spent the morning and afternoon getting it ready.
As part of that, we were moving a lot of the less-attractive elements from our back porch (things like the lawnmower) into the garage. We also still needed to get the quadrillion-pound air conditioner that we'd brought from Tulsa out of the van and stored somewhere semi-permanent, and the only reasonable place for it was occupied with a massive pile of junk that had accumulated over the course of our last five or six trips to work on the house in Tulsa.
So, in addition to helping T-- with yard work, I ran up to Wal-Mart to buy some new storage shelving, then committed a big chunk of my Saturday to setting it up and coordinating a lot of the mess. By the time I finished, our cluttered garage was a lot more organized. D-- came over to help me unload the air conditioner and we tucked it into the newly-emptied corner, and had room for everything else besides.
T-- had asked me to make an appearance at the playdate, but it being all-girls, she didn't require me to spend much time on it. Which is a good thing, because it was outdoors...and I'm not a fan. Toby came, too, bringing his family, so he and I spent the two hours in my office, working on a programming project. Primarily, he was trying to get my computer installed with all the software necessary to collaborate on a big project we're starting. I'm looking forward to it.
After they left, I'd intended to spend much of the evening playing AoC, but I got a call from K-- asking if we wanted to carry on our 80's movies review, and that sounded just capital. K-- and N-- picked up some P F Chang's for us, and D-- came over, and we watched The Goonies, which neither of the girls had seen before. It was a fun evening.
Sunday after church, we five met up again for lunch at Friday's, then split up again. I did some more house work, patching up the open ceiling of the creepy closet on the back of our house, and cleaning up all the loose insulation that had fallen down into it. Afterward, T-- went shopping while I watched AB and played some more AoC. Later in the evening, we watched some more TV and retired early.
Last night was much the same. When I first got home from work, I spent half an hour playing with AB, practicing her dragon roar and quizzing her on face parts (she definitely knows where her hair and nose are, but she's pretty hazy on ears and eyes). Then I think I played AoC while she took a nap.
This week is VBS at church, evenings, and for the first time they're not offering adult classes, so after T-- dropped AB off, she found herself with an hour of unexpected free time. We spent most of it in the Customer Service Desk waiting line at Wal-Mart, after watching a pretty funny half of an episode of King of the Hill. Then we went up to the church for the end of VBS, and watched N-- and K-- on-stage for the evening's sketch, which involved the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Afterward we compared notes, and learned that we'd been present for all of N--'s collegiate and post-collegiate stage performances. Apparently she did something in high school that -- she being many thousands of miles away and, at the time, completely unknown to us -- we didn't bother to attend. That's the only one we've missed. And she has that on video. Yay.
Anyway, we got home from church and it was already 9:15, so we watched an episode of Lost and bemoaned the fact that it was too late for another, and then went to bed.
There's no gym in any of that, as you may have noticed. Last time I went was one week ago. I don't really mind, but I may by the time I try to do my run. K-- will be there to make me finish it, too. Ugh. Anyway, I'm doing that right after work tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Journal Entry: June 6, 2008
Yesterday was ass.
On an unrelated note: I recently discussed a Cabrel song called "Je t'Aimais, Je t'Aime et Je t'Aimerais" at length. Since then, I've been working on learning the song. I can sing along with all but the first verse at this point, but I do get a little confused when I try to sing it entirely on my own.
For one thing, I keep trying to remember how "CACTUS!" fits into it (or possibly it's "CACTUSES!" -- there's no way to tell in French). Also, I end every other line with, "les acrobats...avec leur COSTUMES et les PApiers!" He really knows how to make that "pa" pop. I'm just saying. And, damn, I've never heard anyone get so excited about cactuses.
Also, for everyone who isn't B-- or E--, ignore those last two paragraphs. They'll only be funny to them.
Okay, Wednesday night we talked about meeting at Moe's Southwest Grill, but later switched that to Taco Cabana. Tragically, B-- and E-- didn't get the message that we were switching locales, and as a result they were both at Moe's when it was infiltrated by terrorists and they were shot dead. I spent the whole evening feeling guilty about it.
Anyway, K-- and N-- met us at Taco Cabana (D-- was in South Carolina or some nonsense for work), and dinner was delicious. As long as I never try anything new, I always have a great dinner when we got to Taco Cabana. In fact, I may have just talked myself into going to the one by my work for lunch. Yum.
After dinner, I went home to play AoC while everyone else went to church. I got a lot accomplished in an hour and a half, and then when T-- got home I was planning to chill out and watch some Lost, but then she pointed out that we should probably go ahead and get our stuff in the car for our trip to Tulsa on Thursday.
And then, while I was mentally inventorying everything we would need, it occurred to me that K--'s badass gas-powered weedeater would probably do a much better job for what I needed to do than our puny electric one. So I gave him a call around 8:30, and headed over there to pick it up. It's a twenty minute drive to get there, and then I helped him with a little bit of car repair (which mostly consisted of me just keeping him company, because I'm never all that helpful), and then I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way home to pick up some needed supplies, and by the time I got back to the house, it was 10:30 and we hadn't even started loading the car.
In the end, we didn't load the car. Remember the van we drove back from Little Rock on Sunday, as a favor to my sister's in-laws? Well, we got permission to use that, and I'm so glad we did. We took the lawnmower, K--'s weedeater, gas cans for both, several tools, two rakes, a cooler full of water and soda, and I had a bag with a change of clothes. Then, we brought all that home plus a million-pound air conditioner that had been in the kitchen window. There's no way we could have gotten that all in the car. We barely could have managed the lawnmower and the air conditioner, and those were the two most important bits!
Anyway, we loaded up the van Wednesday night, and then yesterday woke up way too early (6:30, so forty-five minutes later than I usually get up, but still!), dropped AB off at the baby-sitter's, and then headed for Tulsa. When we got in, T-- dropped me off at the house, then she headed out to several of her accounts to do some work (the actual reason for the trip in the first place -- I just tagged along to accomplish some extra stuff at the house, and save us the gas money of making the trip some weekend).
I started working around 9:30, and around 10:30 called T-- and asked her to pick me up some sun screen when she came by with lunch. By that point, I was already burned.
I mowed the front yard first, which was probably knee-high in places. If you'll recall, when I went up to Tulsa with Toby three or four weeks ago, I borrowed his lawnmower and cut the front yard. At the time, the back yard was too high to cut in a reasonable amount of time, so I just left.
Well, it's been three or four weeks since then (and rainy weeks, too). The front yard had gotten up to knee-high. The back yard, I do not exaggerate, was shoulder-high in places. Most of the back yard was at least four feet tall.
It only stood a couple feet tall, though, because the strong wind had folded the grass over. If any of you has ever had to mow tall grass, you can imagine how bad that is. The lawnmower just rolls right over the long stems (longer than the width of the chopping area), and at best it cuts off the last three or four inches of the blade. It's awful.
That's what I brought the weedeater for. My goal was to cut the grass down to a reasonable length (maybe a 12-18 inches tall), then rake off the tall stems and bag them, then mow the lawn with the mower on its highest deck setting, then mow it again with the mower on a more reasonable height.
If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. Also, we have a huge back yard in Tulsa, especially now that the deck and that row of bushes is gone. Oy.
So, I did the two-pass mow on the front yard, then called T-- to ask for sunscreen (so that was about an hour), then headed to the back yard to get started.
It was awful. I spent the first half hour trying to deal with this vine plant thing that we had chopped down back in April, but it came back. In a wicked way. It used to be this big ugly ball of vines and flowers over by the fence, but since we chopped it down, it sent out dozens of vines in all directions, hiding under the grass. Whenever the weedeater would catch the edge of one of those vines, it would twist all around the spinny part, and almost drag the weedeater out of my hand (because the vines were too thick for it to easily cut).
I ended up clearing to the stump of the vine, and then chasing down every single one of the vines that shot off in all directions. Some of them were eighteen, twenty feet long, snaking through the long grass in all directions. I pulled them all up, gathered them in one hand like I was holding up some infidel by his greasy braids, and then use the saw to chop them all loose.
Yeah, I've been playing a lot of AoC.
Anyway, that was extremely frustrating. After I got that cleaned up, I'd still only finished weedeating a patch about ten feet by five along the entrance to the yard. I went ahead and mowed that so I could feel like I'd accomplished something.
Bah. I'm not going into all the details, but the whole day was like that. I would run the weedeater for about hour, clearing a swath from east to west about five or six feet wide. Then I would rake it and run the lawnmower up and down (and maybe back up again) and then it was back to the weedeater.
T-- finished up with her accounts around 3:30 and came to help me out. She did the short cut on the front yard while I finished weedeating the last section. Then she mowed in the back while I did some edging work in the front, and in the end we got everything cut, but not everything raked and bagged the way I'd wanted. I'm hoping none of the hay we left is thick enough to kill off the grass underneath.
This was all in preparation for hiring a guy to come take care of the lawn for us. The charge for that initial job would have been astronomical. As it is, we'll be paying about $100 a month to keep the lawn in good shape which is a tough hit, but it's one we should have been paying for the last two months (and we knew that all along).
The place does look a lot better now, though. At the end of the day, both of us exhausted and ready to leave, we remembered we still had to rip the bajillion-pound air conditioner out of the window. You may remember the last time I tried to do that. Well, this time wasn't so bad. We'd learned from our experience, and got it out of the window in about half an hour. T-- and I, against my expectations, were able to carry it the five feet to the waiting van, and get it loaded in the back.
Then we were both just dead tired, but we still had a two-hour drive ahead of us. It was seven o'clock when we left town, after grabbing some Long John Silvers for dinner (which we didn't finish).
I did finish my first read-through of Heather's book on my drive up there, and I'm excited about it. I had some problems with the last scene (I'm going to recommend she remove them entirely, and save them for the sequel). I spent most of the day working through how she might rearrange all the pieces of the ending, actually. Sometime around four I remembered that I'd brought an mp3 player, but whatever. I kept my mind busy.
On the way home we had to stop by K-- and N--'s to pick up AB, because they'd gotten her from the babysitter for us. We crashed on the couches, "just for a minute" and I almost didn't have the energy to get back up when T-- said it was time to go on home. When we got home, I couldn't believe it was only nine.
We put AB to bed, I got some stuff ready for work this morning (and about half unloaded the van), and then I went to bed and just crashed.
Then, at 5:45 this morning, my alarm went off and I jumped out of bed to go turn it off...and almost crashed head-first into the closet door on my side of the bed. My back was stiff, my legs were sore, my neck and shoulders were on fire from the sunburn. Even my fingers hurt (they still do, surprisingly bad) from operating that weedeater for four or five hours. I turned off the alarm, crawled back into bed, and gave up several precious hours of leave time to recuperate.
I finally did get up around 8 and came in to work. Now, it's time for lunch.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
On an unrelated note: I recently discussed a Cabrel song called "Je t'Aimais, Je t'Aime et Je t'Aimerais" at length. Since then, I've been working on learning the song. I can sing along with all but the first verse at this point, but I do get a little confused when I try to sing it entirely on my own.
For one thing, I keep trying to remember how "CACTUS!" fits into it (or possibly it's "CACTUSES!" -- there's no way to tell in French). Also, I end every other line with, "les acrobats...avec leur COSTUMES et les PApiers!" He really knows how to make that "pa" pop. I'm just saying. And, damn, I've never heard anyone get so excited about cactuses.
Also, for everyone who isn't B-- or E--, ignore those last two paragraphs. They'll only be funny to them.
Okay, Wednesday night we talked about meeting at Moe's Southwest Grill, but later switched that to Taco Cabana. Tragically, B-- and E-- didn't get the message that we were switching locales, and as a result they were both at Moe's when it was infiltrated by terrorists and they were shot dead. I spent the whole evening feeling guilty about it.
Anyway, K-- and N-- met us at Taco Cabana (D-- was in South Carolina or some nonsense for work), and dinner was delicious. As long as I never try anything new, I always have a great dinner when we got to Taco Cabana. In fact, I may have just talked myself into going to the one by my work for lunch. Yum.
After dinner, I went home to play AoC while everyone else went to church. I got a lot accomplished in an hour and a half, and then when T-- got home I was planning to chill out and watch some Lost, but then she pointed out that we should probably go ahead and get our stuff in the car for our trip to Tulsa on Thursday.
And then, while I was mentally inventorying everything we would need, it occurred to me that K--'s badass gas-powered weedeater would probably do a much better job for what I needed to do than our puny electric one. So I gave him a call around 8:30, and headed over there to pick it up. It's a twenty minute drive to get there, and then I helped him with a little bit of car repair (which mostly consisted of me just keeping him company, because I'm never all that helpful), and then I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way home to pick up some needed supplies, and by the time I got back to the house, it was 10:30 and we hadn't even started loading the car.
In the end, we didn't load the car. Remember the van we drove back from Little Rock on Sunday, as a favor to my sister's in-laws? Well, we got permission to use that, and I'm so glad we did. We took the lawnmower, K--'s weedeater, gas cans for both, several tools, two rakes, a cooler full of water and soda, and I had a bag with a change of clothes. Then, we brought all that home plus a million-pound air conditioner that had been in the kitchen window. There's no way we could have gotten that all in the car. We barely could have managed the lawnmower and the air conditioner, and those were the two most important bits!
Anyway, we loaded up the van Wednesday night, and then yesterday woke up way too early (6:30, so forty-five minutes later than I usually get up, but still!), dropped AB off at the baby-sitter's, and then headed for Tulsa. When we got in, T-- dropped me off at the house, then she headed out to several of her accounts to do some work (the actual reason for the trip in the first place -- I just tagged along to accomplish some extra stuff at the house, and save us the gas money of making the trip some weekend).
I started working around 9:30, and around 10:30 called T-- and asked her to pick me up some sun screen when she came by with lunch. By that point, I was already burned.
I mowed the front yard first, which was probably knee-high in places. If you'll recall, when I went up to Tulsa with Toby three or four weeks ago, I borrowed his lawnmower and cut the front yard. At the time, the back yard was too high to cut in a reasonable amount of time, so I just left.
Well, it's been three or four weeks since then (and rainy weeks, too). The front yard had gotten up to knee-high. The back yard, I do not exaggerate, was shoulder-high in places. Most of the back yard was at least four feet tall.
It only stood a couple feet tall, though, because the strong wind had folded the grass over. If any of you has ever had to mow tall grass, you can imagine how bad that is. The lawnmower just rolls right over the long stems (longer than the width of the chopping area), and at best it cuts off the last three or four inches of the blade. It's awful.
That's what I brought the weedeater for. My goal was to cut the grass down to a reasonable length (maybe a 12-18 inches tall), then rake off the tall stems and bag them, then mow the lawn with the mower on its highest deck setting, then mow it again with the mower on a more reasonable height.
If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. Also, we have a huge back yard in Tulsa, especially now that the deck and that row of bushes is gone. Oy.
So, I did the two-pass mow on the front yard, then called T-- to ask for sunscreen (so that was about an hour), then headed to the back yard to get started.
It was awful. I spent the first half hour trying to deal with this vine plant thing that we had chopped down back in April, but it came back. In a wicked way. It used to be this big ugly ball of vines and flowers over by the fence, but since we chopped it down, it sent out dozens of vines in all directions, hiding under the grass. Whenever the weedeater would catch the edge of one of those vines, it would twist all around the spinny part, and almost drag the weedeater out of my hand (because the vines were too thick for it to easily cut).
I ended up clearing to the stump of the vine, and then chasing down every single one of the vines that shot off in all directions. Some of them were eighteen, twenty feet long, snaking through the long grass in all directions. I pulled them all up, gathered them in one hand like I was holding up some infidel by his greasy braids, and then use the saw to chop them all loose.
Yeah, I've been playing a lot of AoC.
Anyway, that was extremely frustrating. After I got that cleaned up, I'd still only finished weedeating a patch about ten feet by five along the entrance to the yard. I went ahead and mowed that so I could feel like I'd accomplished something.
Bah. I'm not going into all the details, but the whole day was like that. I would run the weedeater for about hour, clearing a swath from east to west about five or six feet wide. Then I would rake it and run the lawnmower up and down (and maybe back up again) and then it was back to the weedeater.
T-- finished up with her accounts around 3:30 and came to help me out. She did the short cut on the front yard while I finished weedeating the last section. Then she mowed in the back while I did some edging work in the front, and in the end we got everything cut, but not everything raked and bagged the way I'd wanted. I'm hoping none of the hay we left is thick enough to kill off the grass underneath.
This was all in preparation for hiring a guy to come take care of the lawn for us. The charge for that initial job would have been astronomical. As it is, we'll be paying about $100 a month to keep the lawn in good shape which is a tough hit, but it's one we should have been paying for the last two months (and we knew that all along).
The place does look a lot better now, though. At the end of the day, both of us exhausted and ready to leave, we remembered we still had to rip the bajillion-pound air conditioner out of the window. You may remember the last time I tried to do that. Well, this time wasn't so bad. We'd learned from our experience, and got it out of the window in about half an hour. T-- and I, against my expectations, were able to carry it the five feet to the waiting van, and get it loaded in the back.
Then we were both just dead tired, but we still had a two-hour drive ahead of us. It was seven o'clock when we left town, after grabbing some Long John Silvers for dinner (which we didn't finish).
I did finish my first read-through of Heather's book on my drive up there, and I'm excited about it. I had some problems with the last scene (I'm going to recommend she remove them entirely, and save them for the sequel). I spent most of the day working through how she might rearrange all the pieces of the ending, actually. Sometime around four I remembered that I'd brought an mp3 player, but whatever. I kept my mind busy.
On the way home we had to stop by K-- and N--'s to pick up AB, because they'd gotten her from the babysitter for us. We crashed on the couches, "just for a minute" and I almost didn't have the energy to get back up when T-- said it was time to go on home. When we got home, I couldn't believe it was only nine.
We put AB to bed, I got some stuff ready for work this morning (and about half unloaded the van), and then I went to bed and just crashed.
Then, at 5:45 this morning, my alarm went off and I jumped out of bed to go turn it off...and almost crashed head-first into the closet door on my side of the bed. My back was stiff, my legs were sore, my neck and shoulders were on fire from the sunburn. Even my fingers hurt (they still do, surprisingly bad) from operating that weedeater for four or five hours. I turned off the alarm, crawled back into bed, and gave up several precious hours of leave time to recuperate.
I finally did get up around 8 and came in to work. Now, it's time for lunch.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Journal Entry: June 4, 2008
Yesterday I started work on a review and markup of my sister Heather's novel, Light in the Darkness. It reminds me of the stuff I wrote when I was younger -- not in quality, because she's made a really good manuscript, but in...I dunno. Message.
It's fantasy, driven by the Christian myth. It's not exactly or preachy (or, rather, it is in places, but only in a first draft sort of way -- it'll be easy enough to clean that up, and she's wanting to clean it up). The book isn't evangelical, not even as much as Lewis's, stuff, but it's still heavy with the fundamental ideas of a god active within the world and pursuing a highly localized agenda.
In fact, that specifically describes the plot of my first novel, The Scorekeeper. The plot is much different, but the feel of it, and the underlying theology of it, is remarkably similar. It's...well, I've just recently read through all my old posts about the world as our dirty human sandbox, and I don't personally believe in a god interfering in the world that way anymore, so it's even more bizarre for me to deal with it in a novel form (and recognize so much of my own old agenda there).
Which is all to say, the experience has been a weird one. The book is good, though, and I'm excited at the opportunity to help her make it better. Dad ended up facing almost exactly the sorts of problems I'm stumped by, so apart from cleaning up his verb forms (which is boring work), I didn't have a lot to offer him. Heather's issues are an entirely different set, and one I've successfully dealt with in the years of my rewrites of Taming Fire, and it's not a hard problem to fix. It's always nice to feel useful, and I can definitely be useful here.
Anyway, I started on that yesterday. I also ate some delicious lasagna, dropped off a movie at Red Box, picked up some McDonalds desserts for us, did the dishes, and played with AB. That pretty much describes my evening. After AB went to bed we watched a couple episodes of Lost and I played AoC for an hour longer than I should have, but it was a good time.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
It's fantasy, driven by the Christian myth. It's not exactly or preachy (or, rather, it is in places, but only in a first draft sort of way -- it'll be easy enough to clean that up, and she's wanting to clean it up). The book isn't evangelical, not even as much as Lewis's, stuff, but it's still heavy with the fundamental ideas of a god active within the world and pursuing a highly localized agenda.
In fact, that specifically describes the plot of my first novel, The Scorekeeper. The plot is much different, but the feel of it, and the underlying theology of it, is remarkably similar. It's...well, I've just recently read through all my old posts about the world as our dirty human sandbox, and I don't personally believe in a god interfering in the world that way anymore, so it's even more bizarre for me to deal with it in a novel form (and recognize so much of my own old agenda there).
Which is all to say, the experience has been a weird one. The book is good, though, and I'm excited at the opportunity to help her make it better. Dad ended up facing almost exactly the sorts of problems I'm stumped by, so apart from cleaning up his verb forms (which is boring work), I didn't have a lot to offer him. Heather's issues are an entirely different set, and one I've successfully dealt with in the years of my rewrites of Taming Fire, and it's not a hard problem to fix. It's always nice to feel useful, and I can definitely be useful here.
Anyway, I started on that yesterday. I also ate some delicious lasagna, dropped off a movie at Red Box, picked up some McDonalds desserts for us, did the dishes, and played with AB. That pretty much describes my evening. After AB went to bed we watched a couple episodes of Lost and I played AoC for an hour longer than I should have, but it was a good time.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Writing Workshop: Verily. Verily
An easy rule in good writing (or, specifically, rewriting) is this:
Steadfastly avoid using the word "very."
Furthermore, when you go to cut it out, try to resist replacing it with a more specific adjective ("vastly," "immensely," "extraordinarily"). Any of those is better than "very," but they don't dodge the problem. It's much, much better to say "She moved at a jog" or "She moved at a sprint" (see how much control over the visualization that gives me?) than to say "She moved at a very fast pace."
There is a perfectly explicable reason behind the rule. When you are narrating a story to someone, your goal is to make them believe it. When you say, "The castle was big," as the narrator, your goal is to make the reader think of a big castle. And, helpfully, the reader's fist instinct is to believe you, and imagine a big castle. You can say it was "enormous" or "monstrous" or "ponderously large" and all of those evoke slightly different variations on the mental image. However, when you say, "The castle was very big," it doesn't actually make the image any bigger. "Big" already told the reader what to imagine. When you say "very big," the reader's first reaction is "How big?" And, immediately on the heels of that comes the thought, "Wait, how big was it really?"
In other words, the effect of adding "very" to any description in text actually serves to make the reader question the authenticity of the narrative. Your goal as a writer is to make the reader believe you (except in rare and artsy-fartsy circumstances), and by instinct the reader does, right up until you toss in "very."
You can get into even more trouble using words designed solely to convey authenticity, throwing in "honestly" and "truly." It's natural for writers to do this -- it's exactly how someone would convey intensity when telling a story around a campfire -- but there is a vast and inescapable difference between a campfire story and a novel.
It's not just a matter of style or voice, either. It's a matter of psychology. When your audience is reading a story, they process the information provided to them in a fundamentally different manner than they use when someone is telling them a story in person. Good speakers often have the same problem as good storytellers when they try to write down a story, because the rhetorical tricks that people use in speech, even employed flawlessly in book, just don't work the same way in print. In fact, effect is often the opposite of what you intended.
Because, just like with "very," when your narrator says, "honestly she was relieved that he had fainted," the reader's immediate reaction is to think, "Wait, how honest is that really?" And that's the opposite of the effect you want. That's the reader questioning your narrator, which means for a while he won't believe anything the narrator tells him.
Exception!
Whenever I give rules on the construction of sentences (and, just, generally the way you say things in a book), there is a major exception in place for dialog. In dialog, your only goal is to realistically represent the way people sound when talking. You can do characterization by having a character use weak verb forms. You can cast doubt on the credibility of a character by having him say "honestly" and "truly" every other sentence. You can use mixed metaphors and sentence fragments all you want in dialog, because it's supposed to sound how that person sounds, and most of our bad writing habits come from perfectly acceptable speech.
So you don't have to go through your book and delete every single "very," because some of them will be in dialog, and people say "very" all the time in speech. Actually, that's an important point. The reason we don't bother teaching people (other than writers) to avoid "very" is because you don't have the time to pick the precisely accurate noun and verb for every sentence when you're rattling off ideas one after the other in a conversation. That's also why I clarified at the top of this post that avoiding "very" is a rule for rewriting. It is perfectly fine to use in a rough draft narrative, but needs to be cleaned out in the rewrite, when you do have time now to pick the right words.
Steadfastly avoid using the word "very."
Furthermore, when you go to cut it out, try to resist replacing it with a more specific adjective ("vastly," "immensely," "extraordinarily"). Any of those is better than "very," but they don't dodge the problem. It's much, much better to say "She moved at a jog" or "She moved at a sprint" (see how much control over the visualization that gives me?) than to say "She moved at a very fast pace."
There is a perfectly explicable reason behind the rule. When you are narrating a story to someone, your goal is to make them believe it. When you say, "The castle was big," as the narrator, your goal is to make the reader think of a big castle. And, helpfully, the reader's fist instinct is to believe you, and imagine a big castle. You can say it was "enormous" or "monstrous" or "ponderously large" and all of those evoke slightly different variations on the mental image. However, when you say, "The castle was very big," it doesn't actually make the image any bigger. "Big" already told the reader what to imagine. When you say "very big," the reader's first reaction is "How big?" And, immediately on the heels of that comes the thought, "Wait, how big was it really?"
In other words, the effect of adding "very" to any description in text actually serves to make the reader question the authenticity of the narrative. Your goal as a writer is to make the reader believe you (except in rare and artsy-fartsy circumstances), and by instinct the reader does, right up until you toss in "very."
You can get into even more trouble using words designed solely to convey authenticity, throwing in "honestly" and "truly." It's natural for writers to do this -- it's exactly how someone would convey intensity when telling a story around a campfire -- but there is a vast and inescapable difference between a campfire story and a novel.
It's not just a matter of style or voice, either. It's a matter of psychology. When your audience is reading a story, they process the information provided to them in a fundamentally different manner than they use when someone is telling them a story in person. Good speakers often have the same problem as good storytellers when they try to write down a story, because the rhetorical tricks that people use in speech, even employed flawlessly in book, just don't work the same way in print. In fact, effect is often the opposite of what you intended.
Because, just like with "very," when your narrator says, "honestly she was relieved that he had fainted," the reader's immediate reaction is to think, "Wait, how honest is that really?" And that's the opposite of the effect you want. That's the reader questioning your narrator, which means for a while he won't believe anything the narrator tells him.
Exception!
Whenever I give rules on the construction of sentences (and, just, generally the way you say things in a book), there is a major exception in place for dialog. In dialog, your only goal is to realistically represent the way people sound when talking. You can do characterization by having a character use weak verb forms. You can cast doubt on the credibility of a character by having him say "honestly" and "truly" every other sentence. You can use mixed metaphors and sentence fragments all you want in dialog, because it's supposed to sound how that person sounds, and most of our bad writing habits come from perfectly acceptable speech.
So you don't have to go through your book and delete every single "very," because some of them will be in dialog, and people say "very" all the time in speech. Actually, that's an important point. The reason we don't bother teaching people (other than writers) to avoid "very" is because you don't have the time to pick the precisely accurate noun and verb for every sentence when you're rattling off ideas one after the other in a conversation. That's also why I clarified at the top of this post that avoiding "very" is a rule for rewriting. It is perfectly fine to use in a rough draft narrative, but needs to be cleaned out in the rewrite, when you do have time now to pick the right words.
Journal Entry: June 3, 2008
After work yesterday I stopped by the mall to pick up a new batch of protein shake mix, because that's one of the things I've been doing for the last four months in my never-ending quest for fitness (ahem). Anyway. K-- donated some old protein shake mix back when I first started (Champion brand, Cookies 'n' Cream flavor), and since then I've tried several brands and Champion is the only one I like.
I've also tried several other flavors, but never by choice. Everywhere I've gone to buy so far has had a severely limited selection. I checked the Champion site online, and they sell the mix for $10 more than I can get it in stores, even before shipping, so that wasn't a great idea.
Anyway, I was at the mall a couple weeks ago getting new running shoes, and while I was there I spotted a store that sold Champion Whey and happened to have a selection of flavors. The last jug I'd gotten was Chocolate (like I said, the only flavor in the store), and not as good as the stuff K-- had given me.
This place in the mall had both of those, plus Vanilla, Strawberry, Tropical Punch, and Banana. I almost got Cookies 'n' Cream again, because I'd liked it so much, but I figured I should try something new. Strawberry sounded pretty good, but K-- had said that his favorite (and he'd tried them all) was Banana. Even though I'm not a fan of RL bananas, I decided to give it a go.
With some amount of trepidation, I tried my first new shake this morning. You know what it tastes like? Moon Pies. That is damn fine! Damn fine indeed.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Oh, wait, no. I did do more than buy shake mix last night. After I dropped it off at home, T-- and I went up to the gym, although neither of us was terribly enthusiastic. I weighed in at 232 (which is the lowest I've done so far, and a 12 pound loss on the year), then did all my weight training, and then tried to do my third day of week 4, but it just wasn't in me. I didn't have K-- there to shame me into finishing, either, so I gave up halfway through, walked an extra five minutes just to get in some cardio for the day, and then told T-- I was ready to go home.
We picked up pizza for dinner (Mazzios' Monday night special), and met D-- at the house for dinner. Then we rewatched last Thursday's Lost finale at T--'s suggestion. That took up pretty much the whole night.
Oh! I also ran by Wal-Mart during the day to get a new battery for my watch, which I've gone without for over a year just because I didn't take the time to go get a new battery. Lazy. Anyway, got the new one yesterday and I'm loving having a watch again. I also picked up a new battery for our bathroom scale while I was there, and I tested it yesterday and got the same weight on it as the one at the gym. So...that's a thing.
After Lost, though, D-- went home to pack for his business trip, and I went to bed. It was a short evening.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff (for real this time).
I've also tried several other flavors, but never by choice. Everywhere I've gone to buy so far has had a severely limited selection. I checked the Champion site online, and they sell the mix for $10 more than I can get it in stores, even before shipping, so that wasn't a great idea.
Anyway, I was at the mall a couple weeks ago getting new running shoes, and while I was there I spotted a store that sold Champion Whey and happened to have a selection of flavors. The last jug I'd gotten was Chocolate (like I said, the only flavor in the store), and not as good as the stuff K-- had given me.
This place in the mall had both of those, plus Vanilla, Strawberry, Tropical Punch, and Banana. I almost got Cookies 'n' Cream again, because I'd liked it so much, but I figured I should try something new. Strawberry sounded pretty good, but K-- had said that his favorite (and he'd tried them all) was Banana. Even though I'm not a fan of RL bananas, I decided to give it a go.
With some amount of trepidation, I tried my first new shake this morning. You know what it tastes like? Moon Pies. That is damn fine! Damn fine indeed.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Oh, wait, no. I did do more than buy shake mix last night. After I dropped it off at home, T-- and I went up to the gym, although neither of us was terribly enthusiastic. I weighed in at 232 (which is the lowest I've done so far, and a 12 pound loss on the year), then did all my weight training, and then tried to do my third day of week 4, but it just wasn't in me. I didn't have K-- there to shame me into finishing, either, so I gave up halfway through, walked an extra five minutes just to get in some cardio for the day, and then told T-- I was ready to go home.
We picked up pizza for dinner (Mazzios' Monday night special), and met D-- at the house for dinner. Then we rewatched last Thursday's Lost finale at T--'s suggestion. That took up pretty much the whole night.
Oh! I also ran by Wal-Mart during the day to get a new battery for my watch, which I've gone without for over a year just because I didn't take the time to go get a new battery. Lazy. Anyway, got the new one yesterday and I'm loving having a watch again. I also picked up a new battery for our bathroom scale while I was there, and I tested it yesterday and got the same weight on it as the one at the gym. So...that's a thing.
After Lost, though, D-- went home to pack for his business trip, and I went to bed. It was a short evening.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff (for real this time).
Monday, June 2, 2008
Journal Entry: June 2, 2008
Thursday afternoon, on my way home from work, I stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up a new garage door opener remote for T-- (one of our old ones just stopped working, and new batteries didn't fix it). It was cheaper than I'd expected, and I'd figured I would have to order it online, so all in all, it was a pleasant surprise. Worked right away, too.
Anyway, I got home about 5:00 and found T-- working in the yard. I set up the new remote, then took AB to the gym so T-- could finish up her work.
I met K-- and N-- there, and N-- suggested a new ab workout that might not leave me quite so exhausted as the hanging leg raises (and she was right), but it works muscles I haven't really been working before and, yeah, I spent all day Friday cursing her name.
After weight training, though, K-- and I did the second day of week 4 from my jogging program, and I saw a definite improvement. On day 1 I'd extended the last walking break by 30 seconds just to get through the final jogging bit. We didn't do that Wednesday, and it was still overall easier. That was rewarding. Now I've taken a four day break, and the strain in ankle seems to be all better, so I'm hoping I can finish out the week strong, today.
After the gym K-- and N-- went home to grab some dinner, and I picked up some Bueno for us, then I grabbed a quick shower before I ate. Right around the time I finished, D-- and K-- and N-- showed up, and we all watched the season finale of Lost. Good stuff. It ran until 10:30, though, since we were watching it DVRed, so I headed to bed as soon as everyone left.
Friday, I came in to work for the morning, then left at 11:00 to pick up T-- and the baby and head for Little Rock. Mom hadn't been able to make it to town the last couple times Dad came, so she hadn't seen the baby in over a month (and, as a result, was starting to get panicky). We had actually promised to go up to Little Rock for Memorial Day, thinking it was this weekend, and had to cancel on that for K--'s birthday party (among other things).
Anyway, we made good this weekend. We made it to Mom and Dad's place around 5:30, and sat and talked for a while while Dad heated up the grill, then Mom and I ran up to a liquor store to pick up some wine for dinner while Dad grilled the steaks. Sirloins and filets mignonnes, my favorites.
Dinner was awesome. Getting to see my parents was cool. I ended up spending most of the evening downstairs with Dad, him playing WoW and me playing AoC. Finally gave up about 11:00 to head to bed.
Saturday morning, Mom took T-- and AB to the Little Rock zoo. I slept in. Around 10:00, I finally got up and stumbled downstairs, and Dad offered to take me out to breakfast. We went to IHOP, and took along his laptop so we could discuss my markup of his novel. It was fun. We were also leisurely about it, so when Mom and T-- called us around 11:30 asking about lunch plans, we had to admit that we were only halfway done with our breakfasts. They settled for Wendy's, and we went out for an early dinner later in the afternoon.
Meantime, though, we went back to the house and watched Stranger than Fiction, which I had lent them because Mom had never seen it. She finally got around to it on Saturday, and we all watched with her. Such a good movie.
Then we went out to dinner. The plan was to visit a dive of a pizza joint that Mom and Dad had heard much about, but when we got there found it "Closed for Marcus's Graduation! Congrats, Marcus!" or something to that effect.
So we went way out of town to some other pizza place that Mom and Dad like, but they weren't offering the buffet because it was Saturday, so we tried the nearby barbecue place, and found it closed (with chains across the entry drive), and by that time there was much talk of a dinnertime curse. Josh mentioned another barbecue place Dad had twice tried to take him to (on Mother's Day and Memorial Day) and it had been closed both times. I'd been there before, and it's some fantastic barbecue, so I petitioned for that, and eventually we drove the twenty minutes back into town -- probably nearly an hour of driving around trying to find places, total -- and ended up at Whole Hog less than a mile from my parents' house. It was good, though. So good.
Then Josh and Dad and I spent the rest of the evening downstairs, playing games and working on Josh's laptop (which is having some weird problems). I played Mom's WoW account for a couple hours and it was a strange experience. It hasn't been that long since I've played, but playing another game with only-slightly-different-controls since then made the whole thing a bizarre experience.
Sunday morning we went to church, and in class we talked about raising children (and how much different it was in the good old day), and I objected to nearly every point the guy was making through the first half of the lesson, but I didn't feel like derailing the discussion just to bring up my objections. Besides, he had the whole class on his side, so it would have been a hard-fought debate and I wouldn't have won.
Then the sermon was on the passage in Matthew where Jesus suggests cutting off your arm if it causes you to sin...and I gained a flash of insight (entirely unrelated to the preacher's take on that passage) that made good sense of the passage for the first time, to me. I'll probably write up a little sermon of my own on the topic to post up here, today or sometime this week.
Then Mom and Dad took me to lunch at P F Chang's, because they finally got one in Little Rock and they know it's one of my favs. It was delicious, too. Then it was already 2:00 by the time we got home, and a storm was rolling in, and we had a five to six hour drive ahead of us, and it was time to go. We packed our stuff, said goodbyes, waited out a major downpour, and got out the door at 3:00.
As part of a complicated favor for my sister's in-laws (who are good friends of my parents'), we'd agreed to drive the in-laws' minivan from my parents' house to OKC. So T-- took the minivan (and AB, thankfully), and I drove the Honda back home. As a result, I got a long stretch of alone time, and nothing to do but think.
I listened to all three of my French CDs (Patricia Kaas's Tour de Charme, George Brassens's Les Copains d'Abord (1 de 2), and Francis Cabrel's Samedi Soir Sur la Terre). I haven't listened to them in at least a year -- it's generally only on long drives like this that I do. I love songs on each of them.
Actually, Cabrel has a song, Je t'Aimais, Je t'Aime, et Je t'Aimerais (which means "I loved you, I love you, and I will go on loving you") that is one of the best songs I've ever heard. It may be my favorite song. Right now it is, anyway.
But I got home and looked up the lyrics, because I can only translate so much of that at high speeds, and one of the lines that I'd thought was "nous se regardait" meaning "we watched it all happening" (which, I now realize, would have to be conjugated "nous se regardions"), instead appears to be "nu sur les galets" which, close as I can tell, means "naked on wheels."
That's not quite the same romantic imagery as the rest of the song. Maybe there's some prettier way to translate it.
Anyway, "naked on wheels" or not, it's a beautiful song.
Also, I noticed that dude uses the word "tellement" ("too much") in every single song on the CD. Odd.
But, yeah, we made good time despite the storm and got in around 8:30. We had some dinner, I got some stuff ready for work this morning, and then it was already time for bed. That's a weekend come and gone.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Anyway, I got home about 5:00 and found T-- working in the yard. I set up the new remote, then took AB to the gym so T-- could finish up her work.
I met K-- and N-- there, and N-- suggested a new ab workout that might not leave me quite so exhausted as the hanging leg raises (and she was right), but it works muscles I haven't really been working before and, yeah, I spent all day Friday cursing her name.
After weight training, though, K-- and I did the second day of week 4 from my jogging program, and I saw a definite improvement. On day 1 I'd extended the last walking break by 30 seconds just to get through the final jogging bit. We didn't do that Wednesday, and it was still overall easier. That was rewarding. Now I've taken a four day break, and the strain in ankle seems to be all better, so I'm hoping I can finish out the week strong, today.
After the gym K-- and N-- went home to grab some dinner, and I picked up some Bueno for us, then I grabbed a quick shower before I ate. Right around the time I finished, D-- and K-- and N-- showed up, and we all watched the season finale of Lost. Good stuff. It ran until 10:30, though, since we were watching it DVRed, so I headed to bed as soon as everyone left.
Friday, I came in to work for the morning, then left at 11:00 to pick up T-- and the baby and head for Little Rock. Mom hadn't been able to make it to town the last couple times Dad came, so she hadn't seen the baby in over a month (and, as a result, was starting to get panicky). We had actually promised to go up to Little Rock for Memorial Day, thinking it was this weekend, and had to cancel on that for K--'s birthday party (among other things).
Anyway, we made good this weekend. We made it to Mom and Dad's place around 5:30, and sat and talked for a while while Dad heated up the grill, then Mom and I ran up to a liquor store to pick up some wine for dinner while Dad grilled the steaks. Sirloins and filets mignonnes, my favorites.
Dinner was awesome. Getting to see my parents was cool. I ended up spending most of the evening downstairs with Dad, him playing WoW and me playing AoC. Finally gave up about 11:00 to head to bed.
Saturday morning, Mom took T-- and AB to the Little Rock zoo. I slept in. Around 10:00, I finally got up and stumbled downstairs, and Dad offered to take me out to breakfast. We went to IHOP, and took along his laptop so we could discuss my markup of his novel. It was fun. We were also leisurely about it, so when Mom and T-- called us around 11:30 asking about lunch plans, we had to admit that we were only halfway done with our breakfasts. They settled for Wendy's, and we went out for an early dinner later in the afternoon.
Meantime, though, we went back to the house and watched Stranger than Fiction, which I had lent them because Mom had never seen it. She finally got around to it on Saturday, and we all watched with her. Such a good movie.
Then we went out to dinner. The plan was to visit a dive of a pizza joint that Mom and Dad had heard much about, but when we got there found it "Closed for Marcus's Graduation! Congrats, Marcus!" or something to that effect.
So we went way out of town to some other pizza place that Mom and Dad like, but they weren't offering the buffet because it was Saturday, so we tried the nearby barbecue place, and found it closed (with chains across the entry drive), and by that time there was much talk of a dinnertime curse. Josh mentioned another barbecue place Dad had twice tried to take him to (on Mother's Day and Memorial Day) and it had been closed both times. I'd been there before, and it's some fantastic barbecue, so I petitioned for that, and eventually we drove the twenty minutes back into town -- probably nearly an hour of driving around trying to find places, total -- and ended up at Whole Hog less than a mile from my parents' house. It was good, though. So good.
Then Josh and Dad and I spent the rest of the evening downstairs, playing games and working on Josh's laptop (which is having some weird problems). I played Mom's WoW account for a couple hours and it was a strange experience. It hasn't been that long since I've played, but playing another game with only-slightly-different-controls since then made the whole thing a bizarre experience.
Sunday morning we went to church, and in class we talked about raising children (and how much different it was in the good old day), and I objected to nearly every point the guy was making through the first half of the lesson, but I didn't feel like derailing the discussion just to bring up my objections. Besides, he had the whole class on his side, so it would have been a hard-fought debate and I wouldn't have won.
Then the sermon was on the passage in Matthew where Jesus suggests cutting off your arm if it causes you to sin...and I gained a flash of insight (entirely unrelated to the preacher's take on that passage) that made good sense of the passage for the first time, to me. I'll probably write up a little sermon of my own on the topic to post up here, today or sometime this week.
Then Mom and Dad took me to lunch at P F Chang's, because they finally got one in Little Rock and they know it's one of my favs. It was delicious, too. Then it was already 2:00 by the time we got home, and a storm was rolling in, and we had a five to six hour drive ahead of us, and it was time to go. We packed our stuff, said goodbyes, waited out a major downpour, and got out the door at 3:00.
As part of a complicated favor for my sister's in-laws (who are good friends of my parents'), we'd agreed to drive the in-laws' minivan from my parents' house to OKC. So T-- took the minivan (and AB, thankfully), and I drove the Honda back home. As a result, I got a long stretch of alone time, and nothing to do but think.
I listened to all three of my French CDs (Patricia Kaas's Tour de Charme, George Brassens's Les Copains d'Abord (1 de 2), and Francis Cabrel's Samedi Soir Sur la Terre). I haven't listened to them in at least a year -- it's generally only on long drives like this that I do. I love songs on each of them.
Actually, Cabrel has a song, Je t'Aimais, Je t'Aime, et Je t'Aimerais (which means "I loved you, I love you, and I will go on loving you") that is one of the best songs I've ever heard. It may be my favorite song. Right now it is, anyway.
But I got home and looked up the lyrics, because I can only translate so much of that at high speeds, and one of the lines that I'd thought was "nous se regardait" meaning "we watched it all happening" (which, I now realize, would have to be conjugated "nous se regardions"), instead appears to be "nu sur les galets" which, close as I can tell, means "naked on wheels."
That's not quite the same romantic imagery as the rest of the song. Maybe there's some prettier way to translate it.
Anyway, "naked on wheels" or not, it's a beautiful song.
Also, I noticed that dude uses the word "tellement" ("too much") in every single song on the CD. Odd.
But, yeah, we made good time despite the storm and got in around 8:30. We had some dinner, I got some stuff ready for work this morning, and then it was already time for bed. That's a weekend come and gone.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
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