A good day

spent watching 'Haven' (several episodes--I think we're at the last episode of season 3 next) and playing the game, which was fun because we started a new mission set in Montana that's threatening to send us to our doom in the Pliocene Era. :) We stopped playing at 8 and I got home around 9 pm. After Brenda went on home, YKWIA and I decided we were too tired to watch 'Witches of East End' tonight. And he just isn't enjoying the new Doctor on 'Doctor Who/, so I'll probably start recording those and watch them on my own. He doesn't care for him and has a hard time understanding him. Meanwhile, A got back from his convention. Somewhere with all I did today, I never got around to doing my laundry, so I left it over there and will do it tomorrow. I must admit, though, for now I'm pretty tired--it was a very full weekend. Even though it's not even 10 pm yet, I think it's time to go to bed. I'm going to try to get up around 6 am. So I'm going to sign off for now. Hope you had a nice weekend. Good night.

A happy thing

So, I'm looking at my calendar on my phone and am struck by the fact that for the first time in weeks--perhaps months--neither I nor a friend of mind whom I drive to commitments have any sort of appointments at all this week. Yay!

Today was good; A and I cleaned house in preparation for the game, then Brenda came over and we played Call of Cthulhu and visited. I normally stay for 'Witches of East End', but I didn't really sleep that well last night and I was pretty tired, so I came on home. YKWIA is recording it on his DVR, so hopefully I can watch it later. So now I'm comfy and listening to some music (Bastille's 'Icarus') and thinking about going on to bed even though it's not yet 10 pm.

Tomorrow I plan on:

1. Getting some things accomplished at work
2. Paying some bills
3. Calling several doctor's offices that owe me co-pays because I met my out-of-pocket max months ago
4. Working on the house
5. Watching the season 8 premiere of 'The Big Bang Theory'
6. Celebrating the autumnal equinox (10:29 PM local time (EDT))

I'm not sure yet if I'll go over to my friends' house or not tomorrow. I really need to work on the house some more. I'd like to get it in order before dark of the moon, which is in a couple of days. I didn't do my monthly libation last time, and I'd like to do so at dark of the moon (which is traditional) and purify the house, which should be clean first.

If I do go over there, I have the ingredients for more squash and couscous, and I'm going to alter the original recipe by adding garlic (it was a little bland as it was written--YKWIA, an excellent cook, suggested the garlic). Also, I managed to find some fresh basil, so I can use that instead of dried, which should help the flavour. But if not, I think everything will still be okay Tuesday, which may be better because A has a meeting on Monday nights, so we'd be eating fairly late if I do it then.

I really pigged out at the game today, eating quite a bit of cheese and some fruit, and a few crackers, plus a sandwich. But as of this morning I was 18 lbs down from my maximum weight, so that's good. Hopefully today won't reverse that trend. I tend to graze on Sundays rather than eating meals.

Okay, I really think I'm going to go on to bed. Good night.

It has been a busy, busy day

And I am quite glad to be able to prop my feet up and relax to Bastille's album, Bad Blood. Today I have:

1. Brushed a very fluffy dog who's throwing her coat.
2. Taken a friend to the pharmacy.
3. Taken a friend to the grocery.
4. Helped a couple of friends clean out and organise their shed.
5. Got bitten by mosquitoes and short of breath from dust and mildew.
6. Gone to get a take-out dinner with a friend.
7. Watched an episode of 'Haven' with a friend.
8. Watched an episode of 'Warehouse 13' with a friend.
9. Choked on a bit of ice and soda that went down the wrong way.
10. Watched the newest 'Doctor Who' episode with a friend.
11. Charged my laptop for tomorrow (but the notes are finished!)

Tomorrow there's:

1. Going to get stuff to gnosh on during the game.
2. Game prep/housework
3. Call of Cthulhu game.
4. Dose the dogs with flea medicine.
5. Change some indoor floodlights.
6. Watch 'Witches of East End'.

So yeah, I'm a bit pooped. It's nearly midnight; I think I'll head on to bed. Goodnight.

On Saturday

I really felt like I wasted much of my day. I just couldn't get going. I ached everywhere, even in my hands. I don't know if it was the weather (it's much cooler than it has been of late, and it was very cloudy until about 3 pm, which is when I finally ventured out and stopped hurting, once the sun came out) or what. I really needed to work on the house. Instead I stayed in bed most of the morning and early afternoon. I finally got up and took a shower, printed out some things for a friend, and then went to down to the Central Library to pick up a couple of books for him as well. I went on over there and we watched some 'Haven' and eventually 'Doctor Who'. I was prepared for Doctor Who day--I had a shirt on that has a Dalek version of the 'Soft Kitty' song from 'The Big Bang Theory', my licence plate holder on the car says 'My other car is a TARDIS', and my phone case at the moment has a picture of the TARDIS on it. I am such a geek. (I also have a hat and scarf with the 'police call box' design from the TARDIS on it.)

Today was a little more productive. I got up early and finished the game notes, went over to my friends' house and did laundry and worked on their house, and then, since Brenda was at a Society for Creative Anachronism event, we watched several episodes of 'Haven'. I'm finally up to season 3 with the next episode. I did some scanning for YKWIA and then we watched a very good episode of 'Witches of East End'. Now I'm home. Tomorrow I don't have any official plans for after work yet, and I'm hoping to work on the house then. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I'm taking someone to various appointments. So it'll be a busy week. But at least I don't have to worry about the game notes--I'm caught up with them. :)

For now, though, I'm listening to some music and winding down for the night. I think I'm going to have some hot cocoa with marshmallows and then head on to bed. I'd like to get a good night's sleep tonight, as I didn't sleep particularly well today and it's taken a lot of soda to get the caffeine I needed to keep going. I really need to learn to like coffee or tea. Good night.

I feel sad and weary

Not tired. It's not that. It's more like an emotional weariness and sadness combined. I'm not sure why. I just feel that way. It could be hormonal, I suppose. But I actually had a pretty decent weekend. Today I got over to my friends' house not just on time but early, with everything I'm supposed to have with me, properly fed and medicated ahead of time. It was a good visit. I cleaned the house with a little help from A. I was going to fix some squash and couscous, but YKWIA wasn't in the mood; we'll try for tomorrow. Instead, YKWIA and I watched an episode of 'Haven'. We played the game once Brenda arrived, for about five-and-a-half hours, and then YKWIA and I watched 'Witches of East End'. But I feel kind of like I was just going through the motions. My heart wasn't really in it. I did enjoy myself, but not fully. So tonight I'm home, it's late (of course), and while I normally don't write on game nights, I have to admit, I'm a little troubled. I've got some Loreena McKennitt on and I think I'm going to do some introspection to see where the unhappy mood is coming from. It may just be that I haven't had a night to myself in almost two weeks. Or a little stress where money and job hunting are concerned. It may be completely hormonal. I'm just not sure. So I'm going to sit and think for a bit, something I do far too rarely when it comes to figuring out my psyche. Usually YKWIA is a good sounding board/therapist, but this one I think I need to work on myself.

I got up very early this morning

and took my car over to Tire Discounters at 8 am to get an oil change and the brakes looked at. I waited there while they did the oil change and the inspection. Unfortunately, I need pretty much all new rear brakes (the front ones had the shoes and rotors replaced in February, so they're fine--but the back even the drums are terribly rusty (they showed them to me), and even if they machined them, it would be outside specifications). So I'm getting those replaced after we haggled a bit on price. They found that my battery is at 50% and needs replacing, but I can't do that today--I'll try to before cold weather sets in. I love having a car, but maintenance, gas, and insurance make it much more expensive than the $30 I paid a month for a bus pass. On the other hand, I do a lot of running around that wouldn't be possible on the bus, and take friends who don't drive pretty much all over Lexington, too. So, it's worth it.

They brought me on home and are working on the car, which should take a couple of hours. They're going to come pick me up when it's ready. So I've finally eaten breakfast (veggie burger, let's call it brunch), and I'm contemplating working on the house. I haven't been home much, which tends to mean I destroy any sense of tidiness in the house, and I come in, put things down on the kitchen table or the loveseat and they just sit there. I really need to clean the bathroom, wash dishes, take out the trash--and more importantly, the recyclables, which are threatening to escape their container, straighten up in general, put some things away, sweep, vacuum, and mop. I can't do all that in two hours. Hopefully I can get started on it, though.

Sorry I didn't blog last night. I'd taken a friend to an appointment after work, watched an episode of 'Haven', and then headed home, where I ate something and kind of putzed around for a bit, listened to some music, and went on to bed early since I knew I couldn't sleep in today. On the other hand, I don't have game notes to do today, as they are already finished, woo-hoo! So there's the grocery run, 'Doctor Who', and as far as I know, that's about it, unless YKWIA and A have something else planned. Tomorrow is the game, and 'Witches of East End'. Then we'll go back into the work week, and start everything over again. This week was particularly busy because there was a lot going on at work, no less than four appointments I had to be at, and bills to pay. Also, it seems to me that whenever we have a 'short week' after a holiday, we try to scrunch everything from a normal week into less days. Next week there's not quite as much going on, thankfully. I think the last time I came directly home from work was Monday before last, and then I just pretty much crashed. I'll try to take this Monday and work on anything I don't get finished today, until I'm happy living in my apartment again. :)

A busy, satisfying long weekend

Friday:
1. Was let out of work early and spent some time with a friend on his birthday
2. Watched a couple of episodes of 'Haven' with YKWIA

Saturday:
1. Food at Masala at Beaumont's lunch buffet; lovely Indian food
2. Dessert at Baskin Robbins'
3. A trip to Barnes & Noble; I got a book with a pull-out chart on the key events in various world religions and a book for Brenda's birthday (which isn't till October, but it's nice to have things together early)
4. Grocery run
5. More episodes of 'Haven' with YKWIA

Sunday:
1. Game preparation
2. Game notes
3. An episode of 'Haven' with YKWIA
4. The Call of Cthulhu game with Brenda and YKWIA

Today (Monday)
1. Lots of sleep, finally getting going about 1 pm
2. Found what I was looking for last week, yay!
3. Watched two episodes of 'Witches of East End' with friends
4. Watched an episode and a bit of 'Rizzoli & Isles' with them
5. Watched the new episode of 'The Awesomes' with YKWIA
6. Visited and looked things up on the Internet together

Now I'm home and it looks like it's going to storm for the second time today. I am listening to Bastille's album Bad Blood and thinking about reading some on my Kindle before heading to bed. So it was a lot of rest, good time spent with friends, and catching up on TV shows. We didn't watch 'Doctor Who' on Saturday because we barely got back from the store and YKWIA and I were just plain pooped from a busy day, but both of us recorded it, anyway, so there's that to watch, too. The coming week I have four appointments after work, one for each weekday, one of my own and three of a friend's where I'm giving him a ride. Anyway, it was fun and restful this weekend, and I feel better prepared for what will no doubt be a very busy 'short' week. I hope you had a restful time as well.

I am off work today, yay!

So far I have:
1. Slept in till 9:30, a full hour after I'm normally at my desk, yay!
2. Paid two bills that were actually due yesterday but since it was Sunday, they wouldn't credit them anyway till today.
3. Escalated a case with eBay where a seller never sent me the item and has not responded to my attempts to contact them (and got a refund!)
4. Eaten breakfast (Veggie sausage, egg, and cheese on an English muffin.)
5. Charged my glucometer (I had it charging last night and it didn't work for some reason, so I had t do it again,)
6. Checked out Facebook and taken three quizzes (I am supposedly supposed to live in Los Angeles--which I went to in the 1970s and didn't care for--and I came out as Captain Jack Harkness for 'Doctor Who' companion. Can't remember the other one, as I am writing the commentaries later in the day.)
7. Checked my e-mail (Mostly the normal stuff. I love that on my computer I have the ninjas theme for Gmail, though. It's very cheery.)
8. Checked the news (Lots of violence, see later post on gun violence.)

So now it's on to other things. What I'd like to do today:

• Get my hair cut. (I did, but she didn't really take off as much as I asked her too; it's been barely trimmed.)
• Get into the pool. (See later post on that.)
• Maybe go to Lane Bryant. (Decided to go to Meijer and check out sandals instead, to no avail.)
• Go to the library and return a couple of books. (Did that.)
• Listen to music. (Of Monsters and Men's My Head is an Animal.)
• Watch some of those things on the DVR and DVDs that I haven't yet. (Thinking about 'Sherlock', but haven't yet).

In other words, do what in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy they used to call 'pleasurable adult activities' and relax. :) Oh, and maybe get a jump on the game notes. We had a good game, then watched 'Witches of East End' and 'Salem'. But I was tired and a little hormonal last night when I got home, so I went straight to bed.

Okay, off the computer and time to do something fun. Enjoy your day!

(PS: I also napped on and off throughout the day, keeping off my knee, which hurts, but not as bad as it usually does. Oddly enough, the left knee is really hurting, a sharp pain when I move it. Perhaps I hurt it at the same time, only not as badly, and it's starting to act up, or, perhaps it's just working harder since I'm putting most of my weight on to it instead of the right knee. Hurts either way.)

There was no game yesterday

as I was in a lot of pain and wasn't feeling well in general, and pretty much stayed in bed except for a brief foray or two for food and water and then finally the season finale of 'Witches of East End'. The only good thing about yesterday is that I got to read for a bit and actually finished a book I'd borrowed from a co-worker, a light mystery.

Today I managed to go to work and also did a bit of errand-running afterwards. I won't say I was incredibly productive, but I got things accomplished that needed to be done, even though I was a bit out of it and just not doing well. I don't really have the money to go to the doctor, and the last time I had this problem, they weren't particularly helpful anyway, either the specialist or physical therapy I was sent to. It just had to resolve on its own. I had a friend suggest and Ace wrap, which wasn't a bad idea but in reality I couldn't stand to have anything on my elbow for more than a few minutes. I did put some heat on it, and that helped. But I got to thinking, and it occurred to me that even though it had been diagnosed as tendonitis before, and that there was certainly some of that, it really felt like nerve pain, like when I had sciatica, just in my shoulder and elbow area. So I looked at my pharmacoepia of various prescriptions and found just a few gabapentin (Neurontin) left, which had be prescribed for neuropathy, but I'd felt my feet weren't really giving me problems and never went back to refill them. But it had gotten me through the sciatica. Gabapentin helps with nerve pain. So I took some ibuprofen to help with the anti-inflammatory aspect, took a gabapentin, and propped my arm up so it was in a position that was mostly comfortable, and went to sleep. That was about 9 pm. I woke up just a little while ago, and while my shoulder and elbow hurt somewhat, it's not nearly as sharp a pain as it was before. I think I found the answer. It seems like my nerves in that area were irritated somehow. I have enough to get me through a few days as prescribed. So we'll try that.

Speaking of medicine, I went to get a couple of crucial meds today (one if I go off of it, I have to ease back up to therapeutic levels slowly, or risk having my skin slough off; I try not to go off it), both for my bipolar disorder. I didn't have the money for anything else. I'm good on my insulin, but I was out of nearly everything else, including the two diabetes meds that are helping so much. People ask me why I use an independent pharmacy that is literally on the other side of town from where I live. They wonder why I don't just use a big chain, which would be more convenient. Well, there are two women in that pharmacy that I see regularly, I know by name, and they provide a personal level of service that chains can't. We were talking about the tendonitis and not going to the doctor because of the expense. I don't get paid until after Christmas, and I was about to give them most of the money I did have for those two meds, leaving me about $7 to last till the 26th for gas, etc. I signed for my meds and then the tech gave me my prescriptions and my cash, and told me she could put them on hold so that I could pay after Christmas. At that point the pharmacist asked if I were out of anything else. I told her, and the tech said she had them ready, and the pharmacist told her just to give me the rest and have me pay later. I felt very blessed. Now I have a little money for food and gas and might actually make it down to Danville around Christmas.

One other bit of good news. I weighed myself and I've dropped from 306 to 289 lbs since I changed CPAP machines. That's been in about a month and a half. Yay! Also, I finished breaking in the shoes and orthoses I got at the doctor's office the other day and they are definitely more comfortable than the ones I had. I think I could actually enjoy walking in these. Maybe I'll try to go to the Y sometime this week. They're doing some remodelling, so I'll have to work around that. But that could help me lose some more weight. I'd probably just walk on the treadmill and maybe go into the water--nothing to really do with my arms at the moment. I don't want to make the whole arm thing worse, especially as it is my dominant arm.

Okay, I should probably go back to bed. Good night.

I wish I'd recorded 'The Big Bang Theory' tonight

Not only did it have Bob Newhart and Bill Nye the Science Guy, it had some utterly great lines that I'd like to hear again. Here's hoping they get posted to YouTube on the show's channel.

So, that's over now. I need to decide what to do now. It's only 9 pm. Here are my options:

• Watch the DVD of Coraline, which I received from Netflix today
• Listen to Pandora, specifically some Loreena McKennitt, which I'm doing now
• Listen to the radio or some CDs
• Watch an episode of 'Downton Abbey'--I'm on the second season, and the fourth is starting in a couple of months
• Watch some 'Grimm' off the DVR--I have all but the pilot on there, and I should catch up
• Work on the game notes in anticipation of playing Sunday
• Read (I'm currently working on Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Argrim, which has been quite good)
• Go to bed (but it's only 9 pm, although I'm a bit tired--I haven't been getting the normal amount of sleep of late (although it's been very good sleep with the new CPAP), and I didn't have enough insulin with me today so my blood sugar went up, which always makes me tired)

Which would you do, out of curiosity?

One of the reasons I didn't get enough sleep last night was because of watching 'American Horror Story: Coven'. I didn't get home till midnight, and it usually takes awhile to wind down after that show, which is both disturbing and excellent storytelling. Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates are particularly great. I've gone from watching the occasional run of 'Doctor Who' to several shows, mostly with YKWIA. There's:

1. Sunday: 'Witches of East End' [I have really bonded with the character of Ingrid Beauchamp, who is a librarian, among other things]
2. Tuesday: 'The Originals' and 'Supernatural' [of the latter, the Dog Dean Afternoon this week was much better than I thought it would be, I must admit]
3. Wednesday: 'The Tomorrow People' and 'American Horror Story: Coven' [the first I'm trying to give a chance, having loved the British series of that name as a child; the second is hand's down the best drama I'm watching at the moment]
4. Thursday: 'The Big Bang Theory' {I'm really not much into sitcoms, but this makes me laugh so much I'm surprised I don't pee myself] (that I usually watch on my own; I think YKWIA records 'The Vampire Diaries', which I've seen some of, but not a lot]
5. Friday: 'Grimm' [which I like, but haven't seen many of, yet]