(no subject)
This is a long one:
It’s been a while since my last update, I know, but I assure you, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. A lot has been going on since I left Oregon, and I honestly haven’t had the time to sit down and let you all in on where I am, how things are, and where I intend to go from here.
PAX was awesome, as always. It really paled in comparison to the first only because the trip was thrown together haphazardly at the last minute. I went ahead and ran the same D&D game I’ve been running for Jordan, Alex, Ben, and Chelsea from square one, with different characters encountering the same events. It was fucking disastrous. The guy that took the role Jeridan had turned into a lich. Most fun I’ve had with D&D in a while.
Seeing my grandmother was nice as well. Justin and I stayed at her place over the weekend, and ended up spending the better part of Saturday in her company. We went to Rhonda’s (now open) pottery shop to help stock shelves and set up her computer equipment. It’s always nice to get back in touch with family, especially when they’re doing as well as Rhonda and Maggie seem to be.
The week after PAX, and before my move, was eventful; arduous even. The list of people to see and say goodbye to was daunting to say the least. I took it day by day and did my best to make sure everyone was seen at least once.
Justin and I were pretty much inseparable for the first leg of my journey, but as soon as he was back in range of his little luv-bird he was gone. I’m pretty sure he just wanted my body anyway. That guy…
Jenny was a priority to spend time with. She always is. I went over in the early afternoon, just in time for her to teach me how to make pasta noodles from scratch. Her family is doing well. I’m always excited to spend time with them, because honestly, they’re a model of what I want out of life. Everything functions over there. Someone’s making dinner, someone’s riding bikes with friends, Sam is always coming or going (but always with his dopey grin), Cindy’s hovering over it all like some itchy swarm of maternal bees, and it’s all I can do not to die, giggling to myself about how at home I feel. That is, when Rachel isn’t hitting on me. She is twelve. That disturbs me.
Max seems to be doing well, despite the criminal charges. He and Katy are getting on splendidly, and look to be as happy a couple as I could hope them to be. We spent a lot of time together, Max and I. We really hadn’t spoken to one another since my move to Klamath in November, so it was good to catch up with all that’s happened. It was nowhere near enough, nor could it ever have been, but we make do with what we can, eh?
While staying at Max’s place, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Alison and Katelyn. Not concurrently, mind; only one at a time. As always, talk of people and relationships dominated. We’re such girls together, I know.
I saw Guy E. McGuyerson too. Not for long, though, because he’s a fucker and likes to sleep. Fucker. He came in to give me a hug goodbye, so I went ahead and barnacled in a passive-aggressive attempt to make him stay. He was caught in my inescapable grip of love with his straight-gland running full force. I’m pretty sure his body physically warped away from me to avoid any crotch-contact. The look on his face was something akin to a “deer-in headlights” meets “really surprised guy”.
Tom built muscle. I know! What the fuck?! He seemed to be the same ol’ Tom though. He’s kookie as all hell, and still loves him his guro. Max and I promised to update our LJs with tidbits of extra guro to tide him over during his stay at Jobschwitz. He was pretty shaken up over the whole militant thing, though. He demanded to smoke marijuana the instant we were back in town. I suppose I can’t blame him, the place looked about as inviting as a hooker with throat-gonorrhea singing Ave Maria.
I’ve only ever smoked weed once, and it wasn’t exactly with a stand-up crowd, so I figured that my take on the substance may have been somewhat inaccurate, especially with so many people I love singing its praises. I smoked with Tom and Max. For better or worse, my take on drugs remains steadfastly as it always has been: smoking marijuana is one of the most incredibly boring things a person can do. Everything anyone ever said was very… epic. They would point to a sheet of paper that was facing the wrong way, and make plans to turn it; their tones of voice implying that an army lay in wait, ready to thwart them at every turn. Even while loaded with enough mind altering substances to shrink my short term memory to that of a goldfish, I was able to comprehend exactly how annoying that was. Unfortunately, though, THC makes you very amiable. I was able to point out what Max and Tom were doing, but was unable to bring myself to tell them how horribly lame it was. Pot is an experience I don’t intend on repeating.
My final note regarding my visit to Salem: my little brother rocks. I could ooh and aah at you till I’m blue in the face, but I don’t think that would be quite enough to get the point across succinctly. Here it is in once sentence: When you close your eyes to avoid looking at them, and they are not currently vomiting, babies are the most heartwarming thing in the world.
Somewhere in there I got to meet Jana. Finally. She’s every bit as witty and intelligent as Summer makes her out to be, which was a refreshing fact to learn. Aside from the generally disconcerting pretense of Summer being caught between our respective hearts and genitals, we got on splendidly.
Eventually it was time to leave. I drove to Robin and Hailey’s house in Portland with Max. We had a fun little dinner-party that Hailey had wanted to do for eons. I assure you, her cooking will never fail to impress. We visited the Uijimaya… or however it’s spelled… and purchased assorted Asian goodies. I ran a game of spy-craft that turned out to really underscore the strength of the game’s non-combatant classes by focusing on RP, with no real story-line or character-foundation. The result was a very unique game, not unlike high school drama games, with plenty of hilarious subtleties.
They drove me to the airport the morning of the seventh, and I began my trek to the east coast.
There was a quick layover in San Fransisco that let me grab some lunch. There’s a little sushi bar in that airport where a man served me a roll of eel and avocado. The man was little more than four feet tall, and made his sushi from a little stool that he moved around with a broom-handle. He was old, perhaps sixty or so, and absolutely adorable. I wanted to take him home with me. If I had a home at that point that is…
My first big setback came after lunch. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, and my hand slipped. The toothbrush fell into a large puddle of water and urine. I thought to myself “Damn… I don’t know where that’s been.” The irony of the thought didn’t strike me immediately. Later, somewhere over Wyoming, the woman sitting next to me heard all about it. I’m pretty sure I am more enthusiastic about irony than she is.
I stepped off the plane in Maryland just in time for bed in the home of a family I’ve only ever met once in my life. It was strange adjusting to an environment that foreign, especially one so far from home. No choice though, so I just hunkered down and hoped to god the dust layering their house would be kind enough to keep off the lungs.
No such luck. I woke up dieing.
Good thing I flew in two days early, though. I spent the early morning (read: all fuggin day,) ridding the house of any disgusting things that could have inflamed my illness, and spent the rest in bed.
The following morning I drove to the CLVS seminar in Virginia. The whole thing was pretty uneventful. Mostly a bunch of old guys touting the wave of the future: MPEG-1! It wasn’t terrible or anything. If anything I had a lot of fun meeting people. The amount of information I received wasn’t worth a dime though. I suppose I was whelmed by the experience.
The result of the seminar was significantly more noteworthy than the seminar itself. I’ve landed a job as a legal videographer for with Legalink, a company owned by Brian Clune, a guy I met at the seminar. Brian is one of the greediest men I’ve ever met. In this line of work, I can look up to that. Nothing like taking horrible financial advantage of lawyers!
I’ve taken up residence here in Maryland with my cousin Cassandra and her husband Joe. I’ve been working construction with Joe on my off-days to make extra money and earn my keep around here.
I’m making quite a bit of money working these two jobs, so hopefully I can earn enough in the next few years to fund school. It’d be really wonderful to get back on track with my neuro work. There’s a community college just down the road from where I’m living, so I can register for night and online classes while I’m working. I don’t know how much I can commit to without burning myself out, but I’ll have a few weeks to work before I have to register, which will give me time to test the waters.
So… phew. That’s life in a nutshell. I’d originally intended the preceding paragraphs as an outline. I’ve much more to say on each of the topics I’ve written. I’m already on three pages though, so I’ll spare you any further babble. Never let me tell you that my life is uneventful.
It’s been a while since my last update, I know, but I assure you, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. A lot has been going on since I left Oregon, and I honestly haven’t had the time to sit down and let you all in on where I am, how things are, and where I intend to go from here.
PAX was awesome, as always. It really paled in comparison to the first only because the trip was thrown together haphazardly at the last minute. I went ahead and ran the same D&D game I’ve been running for Jordan, Alex, Ben, and Chelsea from square one, with different characters encountering the same events. It was fucking disastrous. The guy that took the role Jeridan had turned into a lich. Most fun I’ve had with D&D in a while.
Seeing my grandmother was nice as well. Justin and I stayed at her place over the weekend, and ended up spending the better part of Saturday in her company. We went to Rhonda’s (now open) pottery shop to help stock shelves and set up her computer equipment. It’s always nice to get back in touch with family, especially when they’re doing as well as Rhonda and Maggie seem to be.
The week after PAX, and before my move, was eventful; arduous even. The list of people to see and say goodbye to was daunting to say the least. I took it day by day and did my best to make sure everyone was seen at least once.
Justin and I were pretty much inseparable for the first leg of my journey, but as soon as he was back in range of his little luv-bird he was gone. I’m pretty sure he just wanted my body anyway. That guy…
Jenny was a priority to spend time with. She always is. I went over in the early afternoon, just in time for her to teach me how to make pasta noodles from scratch. Her family is doing well. I’m always excited to spend time with them, because honestly, they’re a model of what I want out of life. Everything functions over there. Someone’s making dinner, someone’s riding bikes with friends, Sam is always coming or going (but always with his dopey grin), Cindy’s hovering over it all like some itchy swarm of maternal bees, and it’s all I can do not to die, giggling to myself about how at home I feel. That is, when Rachel isn’t hitting on me. She is twelve. That disturbs me.
Max seems to be doing well, despite the criminal charges. He and Katy are getting on splendidly, and look to be as happy a couple as I could hope them to be. We spent a lot of time together, Max and I. We really hadn’t spoken to one another since my move to Klamath in November, so it was good to catch up with all that’s happened. It was nowhere near enough, nor could it ever have been, but we make do with what we can, eh?
While staying at Max’s place, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Alison and Katelyn. Not concurrently, mind; only one at a time. As always, talk of people and relationships dominated. We’re such girls together, I know.
I saw Guy E. McGuyerson too. Not for long, though, because he’s a fucker and likes to sleep. Fucker. He came in to give me a hug goodbye, so I went ahead and barnacled in a passive-aggressive attempt to make him stay. He was caught in my inescapable grip of love with his straight-gland running full force. I’m pretty sure his body physically warped away from me to avoid any crotch-contact. The look on his face was something akin to a “deer-in headlights” meets “really surprised guy”.
Tom built muscle. I know! What the fuck?! He seemed to be the same ol’ Tom though. He’s kookie as all hell, and still loves him his guro. Max and I promised to update our LJs with tidbits of extra guro to tide him over during his stay at Jobschwitz. He was pretty shaken up over the whole militant thing, though. He demanded to smoke marijuana the instant we were back in town. I suppose I can’t blame him, the place looked about as inviting as a hooker with throat-gonorrhea singing Ave Maria.
I’ve only ever smoked weed once, and it wasn’t exactly with a stand-up crowd, so I figured that my take on the substance may have been somewhat inaccurate, especially with so many people I love singing its praises. I smoked with Tom and Max. For better or worse, my take on drugs remains steadfastly as it always has been: smoking marijuana is one of the most incredibly boring things a person can do. Everything anyone ever said was very… epic. They would point to a sheet of paper that was facing the wrong way, and make plans to turn it; their tones of voice implying that an army lay in wait, ready to thwart them at every turn. Even while loaded with enough mind altering substances to shrink my short term memory to that of a goldfish, I was able to comprehend exactly how annoying that was. Unfortunately, though, THC makes you very amiable. I was able to point out what Max and Tom were doing, but was unable to bring myself to tell them how horribly lame it was. Pot is an experience I don’t intend on repeating.
My final note regarding my visit to Salem: my little brother rocks. I could ooh and aah at you till I’m blue in the face, but I don’t think that would be quite enough to get the point across succinctly. Here it is in once sentence: When you close your eyes to avoid looking at them, and they are not currently vomiting, babies are the most heartwarming thing in the world.
Somewhere in there I got to meet Jana. Finally. She’s every bit as witty and intelligent as Summer makes her out to be, which was a refreshing fact to learn. Aside from the generally disconcerting pretense of Summer being caught between our respective hearts and genitals, we got on splendidly.
Eventually it was time to leave. I drove to Robin and Hailey’s house in Portland with Max. We had a fun little dinner-party that Hailey had wanted to do for eons. I assure you, her cooking will never fail to impress. We visited the Uijimaya… or however it’s spelled… and purchased assorted Asian goodies. I ran a game of spy-craft that turned out to really underscore the strength of the game’s non-combatant classes by focusing on RP, with no real story-line or character-foundation. The result was a very unique game, not unlike high school drama games, with plenty of hilarious subtleties.
They drove me to the airport the morning of the seventh, and I began my trek to the east coast.
There was a quick layover in San Fransisco that let me grab some lunch. There’s a little sushi bar in that airport where a man served me a roll of eel and avocado. The man was little more than four feet tall, and made his sushi from a little stool that he moved around with a broom-handle. He was old, perhaps sixty or so, and absolutely adorable. I wanted to take him home with me. If I had a home at that point that is…
My first big setback came after lunch. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, and my hand slipped. The toothbrush fell into a large puddle of water and urine. I thought to myself “Damn… I don’t know where that’s been.” The irony of the thought didn’t strike me immediately. Later, somewhere over Wyoming, the woman sitting next to me heard all about it. I’m pretty sure I am more enthusiastic about irony than she is.
I stepped off the plane in Maryland just in time for bed in the home of a family I’ve only ever met once in my life. It was strange adjusting to an environment that foreign, especially one so far from home. No choice though, so I just hunkered down and hoped to god the dust layering their house would be kind enough to keep off the lungs.
No such luck. I woke up dieing.
Good thing I flew in two days early, though. I spent the early morning (read: all fuggin day,) ridding the house of any disgusting things that could have inflamed my illness, and spent the rest in bed.
The following morning I drove to the CLVS seminar in Virginia. The whole thing was pretty uneventful. Mostly a bunch of old guys touting the wave of the future: MPEG-1! It wasn’t terrible or anything. If anything I had a lot of fun meeting people. The amount of information I received wasn’t worth a dime though. I suppose I was whelmed by the experience.
The result of the seminar was significantly more noteworthy than the seminar itself. I’ve landed a job as a legal videographer for with Legalink, a company owned by Brian Clune, a guy I met at the seminar. Brian is one of the greediest men I’ve ever met. In this line of work, I can look up to that. Nothing like taking horrible financial advantage of lawyers!
I’ve taken up residence here in Maryland with my cousin Cassandra and her husband Joe. I’ve been working construction with Joe on my off-days to make extra money and earn my keep around here.
I’m making quite a bit of money working these two jobs, so hopefully I can earn enough in the next few years to fund school. It’d be really wonderful to get back on track with my neuro work. There’s a community college just down the road from where I’m living, so I can register for night and online classes while I’m working. I don’t know how much I can commit to without burning myself out, but I’ll have a few weeks to work before I have to register, which will give me time to test the waters.
So… phew. That’s life in a nutshell. I’d originally intended the preceding paragraphs as an outline. I’ve much more to say on each of the topics I’ve written. I’m already on three pages though, so I’ll spare you any further babble. Never let me tell you that my life is uneventful.