Love In The Asylum

I have lived in this apartment for six months. It took me about two months to get the majority of my stuff unpacked and put away, rather than just living out a box pile in the middle of my bedroom. Another two months after that to get hold of enough shelf space that I could put all my books away. Today, I invited my mother and her hammer over for a hanging things party, and finally got my Giant Stack of Art onto my walls instead of in a pile on my armchair.

I think we can safely say that any attempts to domesticate me have not been particularly successful.

(except for my kitchen. That is both well-organized and consistently clean, even if I do have a large crop of bags of trail mix and dried fruit sprouting on my counter)

Also unrelated, but, Arkham Horror may just be the most complicated board game I have ever played. Not sure if any board game really needs a 25-page rule book and 10 sets of action/object/monsters-eat-your-brain cards (along with five or six kinds of tokens and 10 dice). My RPG group did a special session for Halloween, and I ended up not getting home until almost 1 am - and the first hour of that was just us fumbling around trying to figure out stats and combat mechanics. Totally worth it though. We managed to work together pretty well - W and his Sword of Glory swooped around clearing all the monsters off the board, while A and I evaded our asses off so we could collect tokens and make it through the portals. And I loved my character, the crotchety old history professor with the mutton chops and the giant axe, running around town fighting off cultists and saving the world with all the magic spells and mysterious artifacts he's picked up on his research. After they defeat Azathoth, he is going to write a paper about all of it. I'm sure Miskatonic U has a journal just for that sort of thing.

Things I Did This Weekend:

1) Filled out my tax return

2) Made Italian bread and 3 lbs of napa kimchi

3) Washed three sinkfuls of dishes and scrubbed down the kitchen (now that we got our running water back)

4) Went shopping and to my grandmother's to get things for my apartment, mostly kitchenware (I now have a toaster oven to replace the one Apartment Roomie set on fire, as well as an electric wok, a cheap rice cooker, and all the serving dishes I will ever need)

5) Played Star Wars: The Old Republic for 16 hours straight

...this adulthood thing is a work in progress, okay?

(Seriously, though, TOR is kind of completely awesome and I am seriously contemplating getting a subscription, either next month when I get a raise or at the end of the year, after I've had time to save up for a desktop for gaming because apparently that is a thing I do now. Except if I have a TOR subscription I might never sleep again. DILEMMA.)

No coherence for this entry, I'm afraid, work this week has killed my brain. Not necessarily in a bad way, just...omg, so tired.

I talked to an actualfax client for the first time today, which was pretty terrifying. I'm still not remotely ready for customer service type calls (hell, I still only know the names of half our products, and we haven't even done call structure training yet!), but my manager has started letting me and the other new hire start processing copy (off a limited list of things that are either very hands-off or very low-pressure), and one of the editorial rules we have is that you can't change things on your own. Some clients have an ed-note that our staff can make minor changes, but for the most part, we call and confirm everything. So today I got to call a woman at the Mobile Congress in Spain and tell her she had accidentally a comma and completely bollocksed up her hyperlinks. Most exciting job ever, y/y?

Seriously, though, I'm just glad I'm finally getting to be useful, and not just sitting around all day watching webinars and being bored out of my skull. And my manager said she thought I did great on the phone and she was really happy with how much I was stepping up and trying to do more, so that was great.

I'm going to start apartment hunting this weekend, I think. Not, like, actually talking to anyone or anything, just going into town with my mom and my cousin to start trying to narrow down the area I want to look at, and maybe scope out some buildings to see if we can find anything likely looking (ie something in a non-sketchy area close to a grocery store and within reasonable busing distance of my job). It's difficult to make myself want to move out - I get along with my dad pretty well, and it's been nice staying with him. I like having someone to buy the groceries and pay the bills and fix broken things and give me a ride when I need to be somewhere. I might consider staying, if he didn't live so far out of town. But as much as I like this arrangement I'm still sick of feeling so isolated, not being able to get anywhere interesting on my own, and not being able to have my own social life. So apartment hunting it is.

I've started a second play-through of Dragon Age, this time with a female dwarf commoner rogue. She is bitter and jaded and sticky-fingered and angry at everyone all the time and I LOVE HER SO FUCKING MUCH I DON'T EVEN. It is tough though because I realized pretty quickly that she wouldn't be able to stand Alistair - she just has no patience for someone that guilelessly dim. But I...I can't bring myself to say mean things to Alistair, I just can't. I tried, once, just for keeping in character's sake, but his face made me so sad I reloaded and undid an hour's worth of gameplay just to take it back. I'm weak, okay?

I also got Awakening last week, and ported my elf warden over to play that. So far it's pretty fun, even though I miss Zevran (and in general the ability to romance anyone. Or talk to my party. The dialogue options are my favorite part of the game!). But...Anders. Aaaaaaaanders. Why do I like him so much, he is so obnoxious! And he hates me! And his feathery coat is so stupid-looking! And yet...Aaaaaaaanders.

Three Things (The OMG Is It Seriously Wednesday? Edition)

1. I am settling into the new job all right so far. I am drowning in training materials. I've lost track of how many webinars I have to watch, along with training videos, quizzes, handouts, wiki articles, conferences with HR - and it will be days yet before I start actually working with the editorial/CS software. People keep reassuring me that everyone is totally overwhelmed at first, and I'm sure I must be walking around all day with that startled-rabbit new-hire look on my face. But it helps that everyone in the office has been super nice and supportive so far. I like my supervisor a lot (and I see her all the time, since we are in pods of shoulder-height cubicles), people have been patient in explaining things when I'm shadowing in editorial, and I'm getting used to the culture on the intra-office chat program. And there are some nice small perks, like the snack desk and the free sodas and TV in the break room (I'm easy to please, apparently). Also, there is a cute butch lesbian with a mohawk in the cubicle block next to me. :)

2. I got my first alumni call from Stanford tonight! Which, you know, is probably not something that warrants excitement, but it was interesting to see what it's like from the other side (much more fun and much less stressful, unsurprisingly). I had planned for a long time to mess with my student caller a little - nothing mean or unreasonable, just making them work for their gift a little and making sure they were following procedure (since I know how the call script is supposed to go). But I couldn't bring myself to do it, I just chatted with my student a little and told her she was really lucky, because I wouldn't have been able to give if I hadn't started work this week. And then at the end she put me on the phone with Awesome Boss R (who was my boss when I was working there last year, and is, as you can guess, pretty awesome) and I got to thank him for acting as a reference and saying nice things about me, and let him know I got the job. All in all, a very happy-making phone call.

3. I have been reading a book on the trial of the Templars this week - an academic text on the actual history, not anything about the wacky conspiracy theories. It is pretty interesting in itself (I am a massive medievalist nerd, and really fascinated by monastic orders), and giving me a lot of ideas for stories I'd like to write. Some of them are more serious/original, like the one about the knight who survived the trials and got sent off to another order with massive PTSD, and is constantly being pestered by people who think the Templars survived (to which his response is an emphatic OMG FUCK YOU NO). But those ideas keep getting replaced by far far sillier ones. Like the Barcelona RPF historical AU where the Nou Camp is a Templar castle and all the boys are knights. (Sensible in that the order was big in Catalonia, not so sensible in that how do you explain the existence of Leo Messi, Dani Alves, and the rest of the SA players?). Or the Dragon Age story that introduces the Cathar heresy into the Maker/Andraste/Chant cosmology, possibly combining it with elements of elven liberation ideology, because why not? Hey, we've already got elven-centric apocrypha and existence of apostates and heretic sects, I think I could find a way to make it work.

Holy mother of fuck the Deep Roads quest is terrifying. I didn't actually have that much trouble beating the Broodmother, but her origin and Hespith's little song were enough to give me nightmares. WAY TO NOT PULL ANY PUNCHES ON THE BODY HORROR BIOWARE.

It did make it easy to decide between Branka and Caridin, though. Even if my City Elf Warden weren't categorically opposed to any kind of slavery, how could I possibly take Branka's side knowing she did that to her own people? Fucking hell.

In retrospect, buying myself a copy of Dragon Age in the middle of Yuletide season was not the best idea ever. I've stayed on top of the chores and the cooking, but other than that all my time this week has been devoted to killing darkspawn. I've almost mastered the complex art of walking without running into things, a skill that has often eluded me in my previous attempts to become a gamer. And I want Alistair to be my hapless dorky sword-swinging BFF. *hearts*

We are gearing up for epic amounts of Yule-related cooking here. Next week is the traditional (three years counts as a tradition, right?) week for baking ALL THE COOKIES, which will then be boxed up to give away to all and sundry. I have also been informed today that, since my aunt is having a bunch of dental work done and my other aunt hurt her arm - and since we apparently did such a good job on Thanksgiving - my dad and I are now In Charge Of Tamale-Making. A weighty obligation indeed, since we not only have to meet the very high expectations of my grandma, but all the far-flung relatives who expect to be gifted with frozen tamales to enjoy the rest of the year. But no pressure! At least my mom only wants me to help her make jambalaya.

So, I am pretty sure that our next-door neighbors are drug-dealers.

I've been kind of suspicious for a while, honestly. It wouldn't be that out of the ordinary for our neighborhood, which is a little on the sketchy side (our town is a little on the sketchy side). And they seem to have a lot of people coming and going all the time, including in the middle of the night - I've been woken up by cars pulling out at 3 in the morning more than once. Tonight was kind of a clincher though. L and A drove me home after gaming group, and while I was walking across the yard, two of the guys from next door came out, whistled them down before they could turn out of our side street, and demanded to know what they were doing there. This is at least the third time someone dropping me off has been interrogated, although I think it was the most aggressive I've seen. And yeah, I don't think anyone's that suspicious about other people being around unless they are up to something unsavory.

Honestly, I don't really give a fuck what they do on their property - as long as nobody's getting shot and nothing's blowing up, it's none of my business what they are selling. But I am pissed off that they're bothering people coming here. I know it's a hassle for people to come all the way out here to pick me up, and having the neighbors be nasty just makes me feel even more guilty about it. Also, I am really really glad that our yard is totally fenced off. And that we've started locking the gate. And that my dad has a spear in the closet.

At least gaming group was fun. We've finally started actually playing the game! For the next couple of weeks our party is going to be on a scumbarge traveling to Mars, and since it's a big place we're all doing different things. S is meeting up with a mysterious stranger, L is investigating odd goings-on among the underworld, A is playing in a low-grav tennis tournament, and C is engineering a drug deal. And me? I'm in the red light district rescuing a prostitute. Of course.

Three Things (The Pie-Making Thursday Edition)

1. Yay, fall TV season has started. Hawaii 5-0 continues to have plots that are too stupid to even bother paying attention to, but that's fine because following the plot would distract me from gazing lovingly at Daniel Dae Kim's exquisite cheekbones. He was so pretty in this episode! And Kono was so ass-kickingly awesome, and Steve and Danny were so totally gay for each other. I approve strongly of all of these things. And of the general existence of Max the Adorable Dorky ME. Meanwhile, NCIS has realized that the main reason I watch this show is for delicious Tony!angst and whumpage, and has provided accordingly. Good job, show.

2. Fun with role-playing group this week! We spent the whole session making character sheets - I don't know if they are all like this or Eclipse Phase is just unusually complicated, but damn. I need to re-do mine this weekend, since I'm pretty sure I screwed up the math on all my character stats. But I like my character! I'm playing a woman who ran away from life in an ultra bioconservative cult in the outer planets to become a cynical gun-slinging mercenary. Her hobbies are gambling, not trusting people, and bouncy hypercorps pop music. Anyway, it seems like we've got an interesting range of characters, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things work out once we start actually playing.

3. It is David Bowie Week at Casa de Midget. I don't know why it's David Bowie week, but it is. So much glitter! And somehow, even though it's glitzy 70s glam rock, so many songs that make me cry. I cannot stop listening to this cover of Space Oddity, or this one of Ashes to Ashes. And I just discovered Bring Me The Disco King, which is amazing.

So, the last week and a half has been a clusterfuck of tremendous proportions, and I don't even want to complain about it, because it's all just stupid and stressful (and completely my fault). Instead, here is a list of things that have nothing to do with each other except being awesome and making me happy recently. :)

1. The fact that I am home for spring break. OMG NO ROOMMATE. A CLEAN KITCHEN. MY OWN WONDERFUL BED. SOMEONE ELSE TO DO ALL THE COOKING. And, you know, spending time with my family blah blah blah whatever, I'm just enjoying the quiet and the extra sleep. Tomorrow I am off to my mom's for a haircut and chocolate-covered strawberries and kitty-snuggles.

2. Lucia di Lammermoor. My grandma and I went to see it at the movie theater today, simulcast from the Met Opera. Not quite the same as actually being there, but still pretty fun. And Natalie Dessay and Joseph Calleja were unbelievably brilliant as Lucia and Edgardo. I realized afterward that I saw Natalie perform in Santa Fe last year in La Traviata, and she was so incredible then, too. I really love her style. The whole last act was just...gah. *shivers* Like Romeo and Juliet, but with 10x adolescent stupidity and 10x more Gothic horror and spousal murder.

3. JENS LEHMANN IS OUR NEW BACK-UP KEEPER WHAT. I mean, on the one hand, it is really depressing that our goalie situation has gotten so dire that we are trawling our lists of ex-players to come up with someone to stick into the net. It feels like an entire season's worth of injuries have fallen on us in just a few weeks (the keeper thing is bad, but our midfield and defense aren't in much better shape, honestly). But on the other hand...Crazy Jens! Back at Arsenal! It's so ridiculous you have to appreciate it. And I've been retroactively sad that I got into football after he'd already left the team, so I am happy I get to enjoy his sexy still. Every time I started to get pissed off this morning the camera cut to him on the bench and I felt so much better.

4. The Night Watch books. No, not the Terry Pratchett one. Or the one with British lesbians. The Russian series by Sergei Lukyanenko. colourofsaying recommended these to me a while back, and I finally got around to reading the copy of the first book I got from the library, and naaargh I love them so much. Apparently I only care about vampire books when they are actually mostly about vodka and Russian bureaucracy and reluctantly heroic programmers. Annnntooooon I love you. Although I would also read a book that was all about the adventures of Ignat, Semyon, and Tiger Cub.

5. Dragonfable. Other rpgs may come and go, but I'll always have a soft spot for this silly, dorky little browser game. But honestly, what other game will give you chicken-cow armor and a leprechaun gun? *hearts*

One of the Greater Rules of the Internet states that when you are home for a long weekend with no plans and bad weather and nothing to do but sit on your ass and screw around, the internet will be the most boring place imaginable: none of your friends will be posting, you won't be able to think of a fandom you feel like reading fic for, you won't be in the mood for watching any videos, none of your comms will be exploding in wank, etc, so that you end up doing nothing but idly clicking around facebook for three hours waiting for something to happen. Conversely, when it's 2 am and you have work the next morning and a huge project due and you need to be asleep RIGHT NOW, you will find yourself pathologically unable to stop yourself from starting a 50,000 word story, watching half a dozen episodes of a show you haven't seen since you were six, or playing mindless flash games until your eyes fall out.

Guess who was watching the first season - the real first season, the one with the trippy music and the 60s interior decorating and William Hartnell staring into your soul - of Doctor Who last night at 3am?

Guess who just discovered Echo Bazaar?

Sleep? Sleep is for chumps.