Friday, April 14, 2006
Ohio! (It's Japanese, man, look it up.)
J(5) got a letter from her apartment managers saying they needed to come in and do some stuff with the smoke alarms. So I, being the conciencious house-sitter I am, and working, as I do, so close to her home, took a long lunch to keep Tigger calm while the guys came in and did their thing. I was hanging out in the apartment, just sort of waiting around on my extended lunch and, yes, I’ll admit, napping. I was wondering when they were going to show up when I heard some guys speaking Spanish back and forth outside. I was pretty much ignoring it, until I heard a ‘cinco’. Which, as you know, because you’ve been studying up on your ‘espanol’, means five! Which is the apartment I was in. So I went outside, and saw the guys checking stuff out and they saw me and got all excited and came on in.
I had put Tigger in the bathroom with a bowl of food, cause I know he loves the food, and was planning to just leave him in there until I realized that this was less of a smoke detector ‘inspection’ and more of a smoke detector ‘replacement’. Evidently they wanted to replace the smoke detectors in both the bedrooms with the wall-powered versions that exist in the hallway. To do that, they had to grab power from the light switch. Well this involved a lot of banging and hammering and loud noises that were putting the Tigger kitty on edge. Well I opened the door and he bolted out of the bathroom, but I eventually caught up to him and calmed him down, then took him back into the bathroom and hung out in there with him. For a while he was a pretty nervous kitty, staring at the spots where the noises were coming from and occasionally letting out a slightly-forlorn meow. But eventually I got my hands on him and started petting, and he just melted. He would lay there and let me pet him, occasionally picking up his head to rub his face on me, something he seems to love to do. After that, smooth sailing. I’m planning to spend the night over there tonight, give the Tigger some love.
Also, Red belt! The forms test didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked. I monkeyed up one of the moves (out of all eight forms, though) and they made me re-do the form. And I had a little trouble with one of the board breaks. It happens sometimes, but I am a big, burly, huge guy and it’s just a freakin’ plank of wood. Got through it eventually, but I’m thinking I need to fine-tune my form on some of my kicks. They still don’t look powerful, I think, which makes me believe they may need some work.
I ordered a bunch of Geomags and Geomag Pannels. A bunch. No, a serious bunch. A 186 pack of the pieces, and a 206 pack of some pieces and panels. Toys, man, I love toys. Plus, I think they’re getting in today.
In order to convince myself that I am justified in spending money on toys, though, I decided it’s time to sell off some old video games. I’ll start by using local things, asking friends and posting on Raytheon message boards that exist for this very sort of thing. After that, I’ll try listing them on Half.com. Except for the crazy-cheap ones. I might as well just sell those back to EBGames. No need to go to all that effort to sell a game online for $3.00. I’ve got a few $20 ones, though, that I’d just get ripped off on if I sold them at EB.
Upcoming: Flights! It’s looking like I’m going to be up in the air on the 20th, 22nd, 24th, and 26th. And there’s a good chance that the 26th will end up landing in Vegas, which means I might be able to grab some face time with a certain aunt of mine. Excitement, there.
Still miss my girl terribly, but every day that passes is another day closer to getting her back, so I'm keeping busy and the days really are zipping by at quite a rapid clip. I've taken to hugging pillows, though, in exchange for my girl, so I think I may be loosing it. And J(5)'s hugs aren't nearly as...fluffy.
Book Recommendations: Like Sci-fi? Read anything by Timothy Zahn.
Music Recommendations: Don't listen to 'The Luckiest' by Ben Folds while you miss your girl. It's been stuck in my head for the last several days.
Video Game Reccomendations: Kingdom Hearts 2 is a really long game, and therefore a great way to burn up time untill your girlfriend comes back home!
That's all for now. Ta!
-N
J(5) got a letter from her apartment managers saying they needed to come in and do some stuff with the smoke alarms. So I, being the conciencious house-sitter I am, and working, as I do, so close to her home, took a long lunch to keep Tigger calm while the guys came in and did their thing. I was hanging out in the apartment, just sort of waiting around on my extended lunch and, yes, I’ll admit, napping. I was wondering when they were going to show up when I heard some guys speaking Spanish back and forth outside. I was pretty much ignoring it, until I heard a ‘cinco’. Which, as you know, because you’ve been studying up on your ‘espanol’, means five! Which is the apartment I was in. So I went outside, and saw the guys checking stuff out and they saw me and got all excited and came on in.
I had put Tigger in the bathroom with a bowl of food, cause I know he loves the food, and was planning to just leave him in there until I realized that this was less of a smoke detector ‘inspection’ and more of a smoke detector ‘replacement’. Evidently they wanted to replace the smoke detectors in both the bedrooms with the wall-powered versions that exist in the hallway. To do that, they had to grab power from the light switch. Well this involved a lot of banging and hammering and loud noises that were putting the Tigger kitty on edge. Well I opened the door and he bolted out of the bathroom, but I eventually caught up to him and calmed him down, then took him back into the bathroom and hung out in there with him. For a while he was a pretty nervous kitty, staring at the spots where the noises were coming from and occasionally letting out a slightly-forlorn meow. But eventually I got my hands on him and started petting, and he just melted. He would lay there and let me pet him, occasionally picking up his head to rub his face on me, something he seems to love to do. After that, smooth sailing. I’m planning to spend the night over there tonight, give the Tigger some love.
Also, Red belt! The forms test didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked. I monkeyed up one of the moves (out of all eight forms, though) and they made me re-do the form. And I had a little trouble with one of the board breaks. It happens sometimes, but I am a big, burly, huge guy and it’s just a freakin’ plank of wood. Got through it eventually, but I’m thinking I need to fine-tune my form on some of my kicks. They still don’t look powerful, I think, which makes me believe they may need some work.
I ordered a bunch of Geomags and Geomag Pannels. A bunch. No, a serious bunch. A 186 pack of the pieces, and a 206 pack of some pieces and panels. Toys, man, I love toys. Plus, I think they’re getting in today.
In order to convince myself that I am justified in spending money on toys, though, I decided it’s time to sell off some old video games. I’ll start by using local things, asking friends and posting on Raytheon message boards that exist for this very sort of thing. After that, I’ll try listing them on Half.com. Except for the crazy-cheap ones. I might as well just sell those back to EBGames. No need to go to all that effort to sell a game online for $3.00. I’ve got a few $20 ones, though, that I’d just get ripped off on if I sold them at EB.
Upcoming: Flights! It’s looking like I’m going to be up in the air on the 20th, 22nd, 24th, and 26th. And there’s a good chance that the 26th will end up landing in Vegas, which means I might be able to grab some face time with a certain aunt of mine. Excitement, there.
Still miss my girl terribly, but every day that passes is another day closer to getting her back, so I'm keeping busy and the days really are zipping by at quite a rapid clip. I've taken to hugging pillows, though, in exchange for my girl, so I think I may be loosing it. And J(5)'s hugs aren't nearly as...fluffy.
Book Recommendations: Like Sci-fi? Read anything by Timothy Zahn.
Music Recommendations: Don't listen to 'The Luckiest' by Ben Folds while you miss your girl. It's been stuck in my head for the last several days.
Video Game Reccomendations: Kingdom Hearts 2 is a really long game, and therefore a great way to burn up time untill your girlfriend comes back home!
That's all for now. Ta!
-N
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Um...I MISS MY GIRL!
J(5) took off for south america last week. She actually ended up leaving a day early because the flight she was supposed to go out on got canceled. She actually heard about this *two* days before she was supposed to leave, and so we had to do a little bit of scrambling to get some last-minute details together (J(5) had already assembled everything she was brining, pretty much) and update her work schedule and get her to the plane. I got to feel all manly and useful, though, because (and this confuses the heck out of me) she got all wound up and I was the one that had to calm her down. I thought I was supposed to be the worry-wart here! Anyway, it all went according to plan, she got off on her flight and...um...I really miss her! I miss cuddling and hugging and back scratches and going over to see her after work and...well...all sorts of stuff.
It's freed up a lot of time for me, and so I'm doing my best to keep busy so that the days just *fly* by and before I know it, she's back home! I wrote an e-mail update to J(5), in fact, because she has no phone and no real solid location, but she can still check her e-mail (yay for technology!). I've included it here because it makes a darned good update on what I've been doing!
=========================================================
Anyway, Tigger's doing great. I spent the night on friday and he was a complete sweetie the whole time. He let me pet him all over and he never bit me hard. I can tell he's figured out that biting me is bad because whenever he does it, he immediately tears off and runs away. He also slept on me on friday morning, and I could tell he wanted me to get up, but eventually he just got to lazy and ended up falling asleep on my chest. He was so pet-full! He loved getting his ears scratched. I think he's feeling itchy cause the hair there is finally growing back. Heh.
I picked up a video game to play around with while you're gone, (the better to help the time pass until you get back). It's a sequel to the 'kingdom hearts' game that you started playing a while ago. The story, in totally expected 'Role Playing Games From Japan' style, is really interesting, but COMPLETELY convoluted. I kind of like it, though.
Returned my four books from last week and picked up another four. Well, three, cause i didn't finish that last 'Years Best Fantasy' anthology. One of them I'm reading now, over the weekend, becuase It's not the kind of book one wants to be caught reading at lunch at work...It's Jenna Jameson's (probably the worlds most famous porn star) autobiography. Good reading, but plenty of pictures...if you catch my drift. Nothing they wouldn't print in playboy, and most of the pictures are of family and younger years, but every once in a while you come across a picture that might get you fired if the wrong boss came along. Course, it might get you promoted if the right boss came along, but I think I'll play that one a bit safer. Picked up another random fantasy book that looked intriguing, and a travel book to japan. I'm thinking, perhaps, that a Japan trip might make a good birthday present to myself. We'll see how things pan out, though.
Started on chapter 12, but for whatever reason, my gas tank for writing seems to be pretty small. I'll get into it for a couple of pages, and then just get distracted. It's coming along, though, slow and steady.
Really sore from TKD. I went three days in a row because Mr. Jones, the 5th-degree-black-belt Master Instructor you met, wanted to check out my forms and see if he thinks I'm ready to test. And I got the thumbs up! I could, potentially, test next week, but I think I'm going to give myself an extra week just to shore up my confidence in my forms.
FISH FISH FISH! Oh, man, I love fish. I picked up a couple of salmon steaks Cook's market by your place, marinated them in the BBQ sauce from the ribs, and cooked them under the broiler. Delish! I even figured out that next time I don't even have to use steaks for this particular recipie. You *can* get clever with fish recipies, but my personal favorites are really simple. Yum...fish. Good for me, too! I need the protien after all that TKD work.
Oh, and speaking of shopping, picked up batteries for your smoke alarms and food for Tigger, so all is well.
Hmm...long enough for you? I think I'll even use all this as my blog post for this week. Grandparents love this sort of stuff!
I miss you so very very much! I've been having dreams about cuddling up with you, so make sure you have plenty of fun down there and come home to me safe and sound. I'll be waiting, patiently but expectantly.
Love,
-N
=========================================================
One thing I did neglect to mention (I'll put it in the next e-mail, or she'll just read it here) is that my little sister, K, came down to LA for a youth conference, and got to see both *me* and *Disneyland* in the bargain. I took her out shopping, cause cool shops are in quite short supply in Juneau, and cause I like hanging out in malls every once in a while too! Anyway, it was great to see her, and I'll just get to see her again for the wedding and then again when she moves down to Sonoma. Yay for family gatherings!
Also, Geomags. They're awesome, and I want some.
-N
J(5) took off for south america last week. She actually ended up leaving a day early because the flight she was supposed to go out on got canceled. She actually heard about this *two* days before she was supposed to leave, and so we had to do a little bit of scrambling to get some last-minute details together (J(5) had already assembled everything she was brining, pretty much) and update her work schedule and get her to the plane. I got to feel all manly and useful, though, because (and this confuses the heck out of me) she got all wound up and I was the one that had to calm her down. I thought I was supposed to be the worry-wart here! Anyway, it all went according to plan, she got off on her flight and...um...I really miss her! I miss cuddling and hugging and back scratches and going over to see her after work and...well...all sorts of stuff.
It's freed up a lot of time for me, and so I'm doing my best to keep busy so that the days just *fly* by and before I know it, she's back home! I wrote an e-mail update to J(5), in fact, because she has no phone and no real solid location, but she can still check her e-mail (yay for technology!). I've included it here because it makes a darned good update on what I've been doing!
=========================================================
Anyway, Tigger's doing great. I spent the night on friday and he was a complete sweetie the whole time. He let me pet him all over and he never bit me hard. I can tell he's figured out that biting me is bad because whenever he does it, he immediately tears off and runs away. He also slept on me on friday morning, and I could tell he wanted me to get up, but eventually he just got to lazy and ended up falling asleep on my chest. He was so pet-full! He loved getting his ears scratched. I think he's feeling itchy cause the hair there is finally growing back. Heh.
I picked up a video game to play around with while you're gone, (the better to help the time pass until you get back). It's a sequel to the 'kingdom hearts' game that you started playing a while ago. The story, in totally expected 'Role Playing Games From Japan' style, is really interesting, but COMPLETELY convoluted. I kind of like it, though.
Returned my four books from last week and picked up another four. Well, three, cause i didn't finish that last 'Years Best Fantasy' anthology. One of them I'm reading now, over the weekend, becuase It's not the kind of book one wants to be caught reading at lunch at work...It's Jenna Jameson's (probably the worlds most famous porn star) autobiography. Good reading, but plenty of pictures...if you catch my drift. Nothing they wouldn't print in playboy, and most of the pictures are of family and younger years, but every once in a while you come across a picture that might get you fired if the wrong boss came along. Course, it might get you promoted if the right boss came along, but I think I'll play that one a bit safer. Picked up another random fantasy book that looked intriguing, and a travel book to japan. I'm thinking, perhaps, that a Japan trip might make a good birthday present to myself. We'll see how things pan out, though.
Started on chapter 12, but for whatever reason, my gas tank for writing seems to be pretty small. I'll get into it for a couple of pages, and then just get distracted. It's coming along, though, slow and steady.
Really sore from TKD. I went three days in a row because Mr. Jones, the 5th-degree-black-belt Master Instructor you met, wanted to check out my forms and see if he thinks I'm ready to test. And I got the thumbs up! I could, potentially, test next week, but I think I'm going to give myself an extra week just to shore up my confidence in my forms.
FISH FISH FISH! Oh, man, I love fish. I picked up a couple of salmon steaks Cook's market by your place, marinated them in the BBQ sauce from the ribs, and cooked them under the broiler. Delish! I even figured out that next time I don't even have to use steaks for this particular recipie. You *can* get clever with fish recipies, but my personal favorites are really simple. Yum...fish. Good for me, too! I need the protien after all that TKD work.
Oh, and speaking of shopping, picked up batteries for your smoke alarms and food for Tigger, so all is well.
Hmm...long enough for you? I think I'll even use all this as my blog post for this week. Grandparents love this sort of stuff!
I miss you so very very much! I've been having dreams about cuddling up with you, so make sure you have plenty of fun down there and come home to me safe and sound. I'll be waiting, patiently but expectantly.
Love,
-N
=========================================================
One thing I did neglect to mention (I'll put it in the next e-mail, or she'll just read it here) is that my little sister, K, came down to LA for a youth conference, and got to see both *me* and *Disneyland* in the bargain. I took her out shopping, cause cool shops are in quite short supply in Juneau, and cause I like hanging out in malls every once in a while too! Anyway, it was great to see her, and I'll just get to see her again for the wedding and then again when she moves down to Sonoma. Yay for family gatherings!
Also, Geomags. They're awesome, and I want some.
-N
