July 30, 2014

This morning when I woke up for the second time it was to the sound of my alarm clock. The radio setting, not the alarm setting, because that would be an awful way to start the day. The first time I woke up it was too early so I just rolled over. Sometime after that I guess I ended up on my back with my arms above my head because when I woke up for the second time, both of my arms were asleep from the shoulder down. I got them down to my side but I could really lift them. And my radio was blaring. I was finally able to get my left arm flopped up against a pillow and kind of threw my right arm on top of my left hand so it could hold up my arm while I tried to reach for the radio. The first thing I reached were my glasses, which I promptly knocked on the ground. Several seconds later I managed to reach the radio and turn it off. When my arms made it to the tingly stage I started searching for my glasses and eventually found them next to cords and my heating pad. I need a secondary pair of glasses to find my primary pair of glasses when they fall on a pile of black cords. Being able to only see a foot before things go blurry is a definite handicap when trying to find dropped things.

My mom, sister, and I went roadtripping to look at carpet. We left early enough to eat lunch when we got there and ended up going to a Mexican restaurant. I opened the menu and immediately realized I wasn't in the mood for Mexican food. The only straight-up veggie options they had were a burrito and something else filled with mushrooms and spinach. Mushrooms are pretty gross so that didn't sound appealing. I ended up getting a burrito and substituting the meat for beans. They didn't even have a plain bean burrito, which was weird. Anyway, it was good but I wasn't really into it.

We had plenty of time to kill after lunch so we made stops at Lowe's and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Lowe's was to look at area rugs and the triple-B (if people call it that) was to look at drapes. Nothing really came of either visit but it was fun to walk around and look at things.

The carpet store was a success and my mom picked out carpet for the bedrooms and downstairs, and a different carpet for the stairs. Apparently it was different carpet than had originally been picked out by the builder, so it is good that my mom got in early enough to change it.

There was still a little bit of time to get half-priced drinks at Sonic so we headed over there but it was completely packed so I suggested going to Michaels. I wanted to look for long crochet hooks and cotton yarn. I found both and had my mom and sister pick out colors for future washcloths. The pattern I worked on yesterday was with random acrylic yarn, something not really suited for a washcloth. Cotton is where it's at, and the first row after the chain is a bit of a bitch, but it goes well after that. I practiced on the way home to see about sizing and started work on my sister's when I got home. I also think I might make my friend coasters for her new abode.

We also went back over to Sonic before heading home. My mom kind of hyped it up before we found out the line was ridiculous, so half-price drinks be damned.

I spent the rest of my night watching YouTube videos and crocheting. I also watched Super Troopers because that has been on my mind for awhile now. I can't even remember the last time I watched it but it has been more than a handful of years. It is still a very funny movie and now I kind of want to watch the other movies by those guys. That might have to happen. Near the end of the DVD the sound would cut out for one second every five seconds. It was strange and annoying. I would look into it but hopefully it won't happen again so I won't have to worry about it.

The new work schedule came out and I don't work at all next week. Money would be nice but I could use the time off to start getting ready for the move. It is a month off but I've got a lot of crap. And in a couple of weeks I'll be back working at the school and soon after that I will be starting grad school. Things are going to start moving pretty fast soon so it would probably be smart to get a start on things when life is a little less hectic. We'll see how smart I end up being.

July 29, 2014

Today I was supposed to work from two o'clock to eight o'clock. Around one o'clock they decided they only needed me from four o'clock to six o'clock. An hour later it was decided that I wasn't needed. So there went my plans for the day. The manager said he would probably be getting rid of projection shifts for a little while and wondered if I wanted some door shifts. I told him to give them to people who needed the money for rent. I know that if I were depending on the theater to pay rent and all my shifts were getting cut I would be getting a little nervous. School starts in two weeks and I should have enough money saved up to see me through until I start getting that paycheck again. My shift on Thursday got cut back to just going in and making sure everything was ready for Friday. We'll see if that gets cut, too.

While at work I was going to work on a new crochet pattern, instead I did that at home, unpaid unfortunately. A friend posted a Tunisian (or Afghan) crochet stitch and it looked cool so I clicked on it. I now know what long crochet hooks are used for. I got one years ago with my grandma's collection of knitting needles and didn't have a clue what its purpose was. It turns out, there are stitches, or at least one stitch, where you keep the stitch on the hook as you work your way to the left, and then pull it off as you work back to the right, without ever turning the work. It is pretty cool. The Tunisian stitch results in a very curled piece so anything made with it needs to be blocked, something that I have never actually done but have always been interested in trying.

So instead of working today, my day consisted of watching YouTube videos and crocheting. I've had worse days. I've also had more productive days but summer is almost over so I don't mind having some lazy days.

I also tried a bit of Firefall tonight. I free-to-play sci-fi MMO. I've been following it for quite awhile and it was recently released. I signed up for the beta a long time ago, and may have been invited at one point but never actually played it. It is kind of fun but it really just made me want to play Tera. Tera looks better and the world seemed more evolved. Granted, I didn't make it very far in the Firefall world, so maybe the enemies become more diverse the further you make it in the game. I don't see myself playing much of Firefall, possibly never again, but I would be interested in reading novels or graphic novels about the world because that did interest me more than Tera, which is a game where I almost immediately lost track of the lore.

Tomorrow my mom, sister, and I are going on a mini-roadtrip to see a man about carpet for the new house. We're not exactly sure why we need to go out of town for this because there are carpet places in town, but I think the realtor recommended the guy so we're making the trip. We're going to go early and have lunch and go shopping before meeting with the carpet guy. Make a day of it.

July 28, 2014

This morning I was supposed to have breakfast/lunch with one of my friends but something came up so that didn't happen. Instead, I met my sister over at my grandma's earlier than we had originally planned. We ended up putting pretty much everything back where we originally found it. For the most part. My dad said to leave the stuff and make a list but the only reason we had pulled stuff out in the first place was because we thought my aunt and grandma had already taken everything they were going to take and that whatever was left was in jeopardy of being sold. Learning otherwise, we put stuff back. My sister was still upset about getting into with my dad yesterday so she wasn't even the least bit interested in making a list. So I put some of her stuff on my list just to be safe. I am still in the mindset of wanting to protect the things my grandparents made from being sold and keeping them in the family. I don't know how likely the selling situation actually is but since it was mentioned once, I feel justified in being slightly afraid of the possibility. After putting everything back we sat around and talked for awhile, mostly about childhood memories, before parting ways.

I pretty much spent the rest of the day editing the scans I made of my grandma's book. It took forever but I eventually managed to finish it. I think it looks good. The whole process was extended longer than it should have been when I tried adding a plugin to Gimp so I could save a multi-page PDF. I messed with it for a really long time and in the end only ended up getting an error. This left me adding each page into a Word document and saving it as a PDF. I had to do this a few different times because I kept noticing bits I needed to erase from the pictures. I'm finished now, though.

While working on that I watched YouTube videos and eventually stuff on Netflix. I started by watching the movie Equilibrium with Christian Bale and Taye Diggs. Not a great movie but it was a fun movie. The jackets and the fighting reminded me of The Matrix but it wasn't nearly as good in terms of plot or quality. After that I marathoned the first season of Archer. Such a funny show. I'm a fan.

With my schedule cut back at the theater my days are all screwed up. Tomorrow is apparently Tuesday and I work two o'clock to eight o'clock. That is a normal shift in the other positions at the theater but not projection. It has been years since I've had to work that shift and I hate it. Mostly because it interferes with dinner. I like eating around six o'clock, not sometime after eight o'clock. Oh well.

July 27, 2014

I started editing the pages I scanned yesterday from the book my grandma filled out answering questions about her life. I am increasing the saturation so the colors look closer to they do in the actual book and I am increasing the contrast so the page is actually white. It is a spiral-bound book and I am also erasing the spiral binding so it just looks like a page. I got about halfway done with that today.

We all met over at my dad's this afternoon to listen to the voicemail my grandma left him and discuss the conversation they had. It got a little tense in the beginning between my dad and sister, with my dad snapping back at my sister a bit, which was super awkward, but then my step-mom cut in and actually defended my sister and went after my dad. Not in a shouting, aggressive sort of way but it was still strange because my step-mom is usually not a fan of my sister. At the end of the discussion nothing really changed. We are still good to take books but for everything else my dad wants us to make a list that way there is a record of it. My aunt and grandma will be up here on Tuesday and my dad plans to sit down with both of them and explicitly plan out what needs to happen and get everyone on the same page. A major issue at present is a lack of communication and different information being told to different people. My dad wants to get everyone on the same page to clear up the confusion and make my grandma feel better and less out of control. My dad said when he talked to her, one of her major concerns was all the stuff her and my grandpa made. He said that stuff really meant a lot to her and she was worried that it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else. I think he explained to her that the crafty stuff was really the only thing we were concerned about. So, my sister, brother, and I are going to make our lists, and my dad, aunt, and grandma, are going to come up with a game plan that everyone is comfortable with. Hopefully a positive step forward.

Tonight I was fully caught up on YouTube videos so while I worked on editing scanned pages I marathoned the season eight of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It has been a little while since I've seen that show and it is funny every time.

I need to start another cross stitch. And continue to read more books. I have lost track of the number I have read so far this summer but I have fallen far short of my goal to read a book a week. There are no real excuses for that other than being distracted by the internet and other things. If I weren't starting graduate school next month, and going back to a job that requires computers and the internet, it would be really tempting to give all that stuff up for awhile. So tempting. Maybe not give up my phone at the same time so I am still slightly on the radar, but still free up so much of my wasted time by not sitting in front of a computer all the time.

I think the following quote might be a future quote. It comes from one of the sponsors in one of my grandma's old yearbooks:

“I started my business April 19, 1885. Have been pleased and displeased, cussed and discussed, talked about, lied to, robbed, etc. Am staying in business to see what in the ---- is going to happen next.”

I can't even imagine seeing that in a yearbook now but I think it is pretty great.

Tomorrow I am supposed to have breakfast/lunch with a friend so I have to wake up sometime before noon. I can't remember the last time I slept until noon so that shouldn't be a problem. I slept like crap last night so hopefully I can make up for that tonight. Tomorrow afternoon my sister are going to go over to my grandma's so we can make our lists. Other than that, who knows what the day will hold. I'm going to try and go to bed now and see how that goes.

July 26, 2014

My mom and I met my sister over at my grandma's house this morning so my mom could look at stuff. I figured she might recognize stuff that my sister and I wouldn't. We looked at stuff for awhile, talking about memories attached to different things, family history stuff, and all that. My sister found the weights for the grandfather clock and I put them back inside the base of the clock while my sister called my dad to tell him.

While on the phone with him he told her that he had heard from my grandma and there have been more developments in the taking of her stuff. I guess she is feeling out of the loop and that things will spin out of control and people will get upset. I feel safe in saying this is my aunt's fault. We were taking her at her word when she said we should take anything we wanted (assuming everything we don't take is going to be sold), figuring that her and grandma had come to that decision because they live together now. I guess not. Going with what my aunt said, it didn't seem like anyone was going to get upset. My uncle already said he wasn't interested in anything and my aunt has been up several times in the process of moving my grandma down to her house and they took stuff with them. The family here (mainly my dad, brother, sister, and myself) weren't going to fight each other for anything, we just wanted to make sure all the things that hold sentimental value were safe.

The only thing we were getting upset about was the chance that things were going to be sold or that things that should rightfully go to someone weren't going to go to that person. My dad already kind of got screwed years ago when my uncle got a player piano (which he is now thinking of getting rid of) and a phonograph (which my dad was in the middle of refinishing with the understanding that he could have it when he was done). There was the scare about the grandfather clock and now I guess my grandma mentioned that my aunt implied some interest in an old hall tree. A piece of furniture that my dad helped my grandma salvage years ago, fixing it up and refinishing it together, and it has been common knowledge and a bit of a family joke for over three decades that it was going to my dad. My aunt was supposed to get the silver and my dad the clock and the hall tree. My grandma said years ago that my aunt hasn't liked my dad since they brought him home from the hospital. This is becoming more and more evident. The family here are going to meet again tomorrow afternoon to discuss what my grandma has said and figure out the next plan of action. I just want this to be over. I want all the stuff my grandparents made over the years to be safe and I want everyone to have what they rightfully should have, and I want to be done with it.

So today I took a few more books (because those are the only things I was expressly told by my grandma that I could have) but we left everything else, until we can actually figure out what is supposed to be happening. After we left there we stopped by the new house so we could measure the windows for blinds and curtains. On the way we saw a mom turkey followed by several baby turkeys. Super cute.

When I got home I scanned the book my grandma filled out answering questions about her life. Just in case. I also figured this way I could make it a PDF and multiple people could have it. I scanned in all the pages but I still need to play with the images a little bit and make them look better before I make the PDF.

I also looked through the woodworking books I brought home from my grandma's. They each contained at least one thing that my grandpa made over the years. The one with toys and things really made me want to borrow the scroll saw from my dad and attempt some of the patterns. Maybe that bug will stick and I'll actually give it a shot.

The scanning and the reading took quite awhile and I didn't really do much with the rest of my afternoon and night. I caught up on YouTube videos, so that's something. For some reason it is already one o'clock in the morning and I probably should have gone to sleep awhile ago. I'm going to go do that now.

July 25, 2014

This morning I finally got to see the inside of the new house and I like it. It has a lot of room but it isn't big, has nice views, and I like the layout. I am getting two rooms in the basement. I think the smaller one will be my bedroom, so I'll just have my bed and dresser in there. And probably a bookcase. In the larger room I'll have my computer, the rest of my books, and my musical instruments. I also think I might be getting the writing desk, a couch, the loveseat, and maybe a chair from my grandma's. The chair could go in my bedroom, the writing desk and loveseat or couch in the bigger room. Of the couch and loveseat, the one not going in the bigger room and go in the family room. I like both of them because I think they're comfortable and more importantly, they remind me of my grandparents. While we were at the house I noticed that the bigger room downstairs didn't have a air vent or the outlet for cable and internet. The realtor thought that the vent had possibly been put in but they had forgotten to cut the opening out of the drywall. The cable and internet were possibly forgotten as well or it might have been to save some money. Either way, he made a note of both and was going to talk to the builder. I'm just glad I noticed.

After the house visit, I ate lunch and then met my sister, dad, and brother over at my grandma's. My brother got some of my grandma's paintings and turtles, but there wasn't a lot of looking around. My sister showed my dad the photo album she found and we spent most of the time just talking. When my brother and sister were off looking at stuff I talked with my dad for quite awhile and learned a lot about his younger days in college. The eclectic friends he hung out with, the spur of the moment roadtrips around the country, the day he was elected to be a church elder. It was an enlightening discussion. His life has been way more interesting than mine.

We were all still a little uncertain about what was “up for grabs” so to speak because my aunt and grandma had said everything but we didn't know if that meant they had already taken everything they wanted or if we were just deciding what we would like and then if someone else wanted it as well then we would have to talk about it. So we didn't really take much today. I grabbed a book, I think my brother took some paintings, and my dad took a billy club. My grandpa brought it back from WWII and never talked about it but when one of his friends was visiting, when my dad was a kid, he mentioned to my dad that one night they had been out and there was an altercation where the MPs got involved and somehow at the end of it my grandpa ended up with the billy club, which belonged to one of the MPs. It is a solid little piece of walnut and could definitely do some damage.

Anyway, my sister texted my aunt just to get a final clarification and when she eventually responded, she said we could take anything. So we are taking that to me everything is available, no ifs, ands, or buts. My dad really wants the grandfather clock because he helped build it with my grandpa. We looked around today for the weights for it but couldn't find them anywhere. They were normally stored in the clock but they weren't there so that was strange. One theory is that they somehow ended up going with my aunt and uncle, which doesn't make any sense but it is a possibility. Either way, my dad is getting the clock. It is rightfully his.

At first I thought it would be nice to get the loveseat for my new room but after seeing how big the bigger room is downstairs it also seemed like the couch in the basement of my grandma's house was an option. It is the one that was in the family room of my grandparents old house, and it is an old couch, but they were really strict about it so it is still in really good shape. It and the loveseat don't match with anything and some might say they're ugly, but I think they're awesome.

We all left around five o'clock and I headed home to eat dinner before going to work. For two hours. It felt kind of pointless to get dress and go in for such a short period of time. Two hours can seem to drag on forever but it goes pretty fast when it is six o'clock to eight o'clock on a Friday night. I don't think I finished the trailer report until almost seven o'clock so that was an hour gone. And then for the next hour there were movies starting every five or ten minutes so I was constantly getting up to go make sure everything started alright. I did have enough time to finally beat the first level of the last movie in LEGO: Pirates Of The Caribbean. Third time's the charm. It almost bugged out on me again at the very end when I had the “bad guy” down to one heart and they were stuck in the back wall so even though we were fighting I couldn't actually get a hit in to trip the next cutscene. I was eventually able to bump into them enough and pushed them to a point where I could get a hit in. Thank god. I don't know if I had it in me to once again be foiled by a glitch. I sincerely hope the other LEGO games aren't this buggy.

I clocked out at eight o'clock, went home and changed, and then went to Target. I've had things I wanted to get at Target for a week or two now but kept putting it off. Tonight I used the excuse that I needed to get a coaxial cable for the TV in the living room. The old one broke when Tanner bumped into it one too many times trying to get to the window. He did the same thing with an old TV except in that case the cable connection broke off the TV. Fortunately this time around it was the cable that broke, not the wall connection. The TV stopped working sometime yesterday and restarting the DVR didn't help. I didn't think to check the other TVs because I don't really watch much TV. Today it was learned that the other TVs in the house were perfectly fine so it was obviously a isolated incident. The first place I happened to look was at the wall connection and immediately noticed the broken cable. My mom went and got a cable today but it was too short so I went and got longer one tonight. Along with connectors for joining two cables together, in case something comes up in the future and we're short again. I also got all the other things I have been meaning to get.

I spent the rest of my night watching YouTube videos and looking at Ikea furniture. So much fun. I kind of would have preferred to be at work because I would have been getting paid to read or play video games, but we had midnight shows tonight. It is just now 2:00AM and I would have still been at the theater. And then up for another hour or more after getting home. Now, however, I can finish this and go to bed, because I'm tired and not at work.

July 24, 2014

Last night I came across a tiny spider in my room. It ran out in the middle of the floor and we both kind of froze. I was furiously looking around for a cup and I was cupless. The spider just kind of hung out, seemingly waiting for my next move. I eventually spotted a DVD spindle and grabbed the top off of it to use as a capturing device. When I turned around the spider had vanished but after moving some shoes around it came back out into the middle of the floor and I was able to trap it. Then I had to look around for something to slide under it that was slim enough to slide under but also sturdy enough that I would end up losing the spider or having it come out and crawl on me. I eventually settled on the manila folder I used to hold my resume and stuff for my grad school interview. After taking quite awhile to get everything in place while not losing or crushing the spider, I picked it up. Normally I take insects outside, because that is where they belong, but I didn't want to make the dogs go nuts with the sound of an outside door opening. Instead, I went out to the garage and let it out near the garage door. I trusted it to find its own way out. Or at least not back to my room. Or bathroom. Spiders seem to have a thing for me lately.

This morning I got to climb through a window to get into projection again. It's a good thing I'm limber. Yesterday the upstairs didn't get the memo that it wasn't over a hundred degrees outside and it was incredibly hot upstairs. I ended up having the backdoor open most of the day to at least get a breeze going. Today it was much better. I only got to enjoy it for about four hours, however, because I was sent home around one o'clock. I didn't even get to finish the first level of the last movie in LEGO: Pirates Of The Caribbean. I should have finished it but in my first attempt I couldn't get out of the first room because I pushed something that I needed to use to jump on, too far and couldn't get to where I needed to be, and I couldn't reset it. And then the second time I very nearly beat the level, at least I think. A common thing in the game is too have mini boss fights, where the character has four or five hearts. Each time you hit them they lose a heart but then move to a different area of the map. I was on the third hit I think but had to clock out. I could have rushed through it but I gotta collect all those studs. As I have mentioned before there is no save function outside of the auto-save at the end of a level, so I paused it and closed my laptop and crossed my fingers. I checked when I got home and the game had crashed. So I will need to play that level for a third time. Yay. Tonight I downloaded LEGO Lord Of The Rings and LEGO Batman 2, so I will play one of those next. Although I should probably start with LEGO Harry Potter because I played the first one years ago. I'm just hoping at some point they allow the player to save whenever they want.

I was sent home early from work because patron attendance has sucked recently and work scheduling has been even worse. The managers apparently got a strongly worded email from the district manager about staffing issues. Today they sent almost everyone home early and next week the schedule has been significantly slimmed. Tomorrow they asked if I could work two o'clock to eight o'clock, instead of six o'clock to close, but I can't, so it looks like I'll just be working six o'clock to eight o'clock. Kind of ridiculous. Then next week, instead of opening Monday through Thursday, I work two o'clock to eight o'clock on Tuesday and Thursday. Which won't work on Thursday because I might have a visit with the new volunteer kid. So yeah, thankfully summer is almost over and I can get back to my job at the school.

Speaking of the new volunteer kid, I didn't have a visit with him tonight because I couldn't get ahold of him. This ended up working out because I met my sister over at my grandma's house around four o'clock to look through the house and we were there until after eight o'clock. My grandma has moved down with my aunt and uncle. I believe they have taken everything that my grandma wants / will fit in their house. I guess the plan is to come up sometime soon and put price tags on everything and have a walkthrough estate sale. I'm not a fan of that idea, but we have until whenever that is to take what we want. It is weird going through everything but there is also a lot of meaningful stuff that we don't want to see disappear.

My grandma and grandpa made a really good craft team. My grandpa would make patterns for animals and people and whatever and then my grandma would paint them. All high quality stuff, and there are little things all over the place. Stuff that other people would certainly appreciate for their craftsmanship, but they hold way more value for us, at least the family living here. There are also regular framed paintings that my grandma painted. I separated a lot of that stuff and my sister went through a lot of old photo albums. We saw pictures neither of us had seen before, including a few that look like my grandpa took them when he was in the Army. It was pretty much treated like that part of his life never happened, I think because most of his friends died, so it was kind of weird seeing proof that it did happen. I also found a lot of books, including some that my grandpa used to make patterns for wooden toys we played with as kids. And the train set that I used to love.

The main thing that I wanted was a stick that my grandpa had found in the yard and my grandma turned into a Santa by painting it. I just thought it was awesome and thankfully I remembered where I had packed away all the Santas the last time I took down the cabinet-top display I made over there. I also ended up grabbing all of the Santas my grandpa had cut out of wood and my grandma painted. There were ones actually shaped like a person but several that were in the shape of hearts and triangles. I don't plan on keeping all of them for myself but I wanted to get them out of the house before they disappear.

In my mom's new house there will be room for one of my grandma's chairs and maybe the loveseat which would be nice to have because those also make me feel very nostalgic for my grandparents' old house. I also saw a table, that I always assumed was a sewing table, but today I found out it opens up to a writing desk with a little pull out table. Another thing I wouldn't mind having if no one else wants it. It would be perfect as a laptop desk or an actual writing desk because do still write with a pen and pencil.

It is all really weird going through everything but it is also cool bringing up memories of the past and seeing my grandparents as they were when they were young, completely unaware of the family they would one day create. It is one of the times I wish I was super rich and had multiple houses that I could fill with all this stuff that holds sentimental value. Tomorrow morning I am going with my mom to meet the realtor over at her new house and I will finally get to see the inside, for real, not just looking through the windows. Then I am going to meet my sister, brother, and dad over at my grandma's. My sister set a few things aside today but the only thing I ended up taking were all of the Santas she painted. I think with my dad and brother there we can get a better idea of what everyone wants and figure out how we're going to get it all out of the house.

When I got home tonight I ate a late dinner consisting of the second have of my Chipotle burrito, which I found to be delicious, most likely due to the fact that I was really hungry. Then I downloaded some LEGO games, watched some YouTube videos, and started writing this. Almost two pages later I think I am going to call it a night. I slept a little better last night and right now I am feeling super tired so hopefully that is a good sign. I would like to sleep well tonight.

July 23, 2014

Where the hell has the day gone. It is already midnight and I have to wake up in the morning.

Last night I didn't sleep well. Once again. I fear tonight will be the same. Yay.

At work today I played through the third movie in LEGO: Pirates Of The Caribbean. The game makes more sense when you remember the movie. I only remember bits and pieces of all of them except the first one. I am enjoying the game but the worst part is the auto-save feature. It auto-saves at the end of a level. That is all. Depending on the level size and number of puzzles, a level can maybe take more than half an hour. That is a number I'm pulling out of thin air because I haven't kept track, but whatever length of time, it is a serious commitment. If you have to go on with your real life in the middle of a level, you lose all your progress unless you just pause the game and come back later. Also, I have found the game to be a be glitchy (the real kind, not when a kid says it when referring to a feature in the game). Twice today I got within a few minutes of finishing a level when a glitch happened and I had to restart the whole level. It was frustrating. As frustrating as a game for kids that I am playing while on the clock at work can be. Speaking of, I also played some Minecraft today. And read a book. For adults, thank you. But also one for kids.

Tonight, Chipotle was just okay. The ability to wrap a burrito is apparently a dying art. I am not judging the okay taste of my burrito on the presentation but it didn't help.

After dinner we went to see my mom's new house. At least the outside of it because it isn't quite finished yet, not until the end of August. It looks good from the outside and in through the windows though. The whole thing has been quite the ordeal. After spending the last couple months looking at too many houses to actually count (which I missed out on because of work but my sister had the pleasure) my mom finally found the house she wanted. She put in an offer, the contractor's realtor countered, she countered, the contractor's realtor left my mom's realtor a cryptic email saying he had a better offer. This after my mom, her realtor, one of the builders, and the contractor's realtor all met at the house to discuss changing a few small things around the house. This realtor is a “good Christian” but willing to engage in seemingly shady business practices. Nice guy. After he avoided my mom's realtor for a day or so after each offer, he sent an email this morning about the other offer. My mom's realtor finally got ahold of him and kind of called him out on stuff and this guy came back with another offer, which my mom took because she wants the house and is tired of all the stress. The new offer basically added the price of sod and a fence into the overall price, instead of it being taken off the price (sort of). Before her realtor added it into her counter, she was already planning on having to pay for those things, so it wasn't a big loss, and now all of it can be coordinated and will be finished and she won't have to worry about it. And, most importantly, she finally found a house that she really likes and hopefully won't be living in constant annoyance at the neighbors, and the dogs' reactions to the neighbors. At the moment, only the house next to it has been sold, all the others in the cul-de-sac are still being built. That's one way to avoid the nuisance of neighbors.

Now, I'm going to “go to bed”. I have very little confidence in my ability to actually fall asleep, despite my level of tiredness. Sometime this weekend I am going to take a nap or three and I can't wait.

July 22, 2014

Another less than spectacular night of sleep. I slept for about twenty or thirty minutes and then I was wide awake. Around two o'clock I read a book for awhile. I then spent the rest of the night sleeping off and on. Mostly off. It sucked. And it was really hot. I like sleeping in a cold room and that really isn't a thing when the AC is not on after it was over 100 degrees outside.

Getting to work this morning was actually a bit of a reprieve. Until the building started to bake under the hot sun. It was another day spent with the novelty of my new laptop. I played through the second movie in LEGO: Pirates Of The Caribbean. Collecting all the little LEGOs, or studs, is definitely my favorite part of the game. My second favorite thing is the humor. If I finish the game and I'm still into the laptop I'll need to pick another LEGO game. I started playing the first Harry Potter game years ago but I don't think I made it too far.

I also continued playing Minecraft. I dug out half of the first room in my mountain house before switching to creative so I could fast forward a little bit. I like non-cheat digging because it gives me time to think about what to do next, but once I have an idea I want to speed things up so I can try it out before I forget. After getting everything dug out I put in some log pillars around the edge and put in a wood floor. I really like the fake windows I put in. I dug them out and hid torches behind them and instead of glass I used the pale blue stained glass so they are lit up and it always looks like daylight. I got off work early but before leaving I finished building stained glass lights on the ceiling and got a start on putting in floor lighting. It's not looking too bad.

I got the good news while I was at work that the AC guy had a cancellation and was able to come fix the AC this afternoon. I arrived home to a slightly warm house but there was cold air coming out of the vents. It will be another night with my second fan on but it feels far better than it did last night.

Tonight I did nothing of significance. Just watched YouTube videos and looked at Ikea furniture. For the last week or so I've been really into small mechanical keyboards. I think they are called 60% keyboards or something. Now I'm into Ikea furniture. What will tomorrow bring?

July 21, 2014

Well, I jinxed myself and slept like crap last night. I fell asleep for about twenty minutes and woke up completely refreshed and not tired in the least. I hate when that happens. Around sometime I gave up and read a book for about an hour. I probably got to sleep around three o'clock and then woke up a few times after that. Not cool.

Despite that I woke up early and got my haircut before going to work. My workday was very unproductive in terms of work. Everything was working so there wasn't anything for me to do. I spent a good chunk of my day playing LEGO: Pirates Of The Caribbean. I bought it a long time ago but my installation was messed up and the game would crash when I first got to the beach, which is really early in the game. I ended up deleted the game, and maybe re-downloading it, but never got around to playing it again. So, I downloaded it on my laptop last night and hoped for the best. It felt like it was advancing a bit fast but it turns out all the movies are in the game, not just the first. That was a surprise that probably could have been avoided had I ever read anything about the game. I decided to call it good after I played through the first movie and I might go for number two tomorrow.

I spent the rest of my time at work playing Minecraft. I spawned in a badass spot, maybe the best I've ever had, and I decided to build my house in a mountain because it had a natural opening about halfway up. I built stairs up to it and have a small exterior part coming out of the mountain. I then started digging out a big space in the mountain. I haven't quite decided how I want to layout the inside, if I'm going to go for big rooms or break up the big spaces with smaller rooms. I do know that I want to do different levels and have hallways going to various parts of the mountain. It almost looks badass in my mind.

I started reading another Book Fair book but that was only while I was waiting for movies to start. I was too tired to read for too long and it was too hot upstairs. It was over 100 degrees outside today which meant it was close to that on the hot side and in the mid-90s on the cool side.

When I got home the air conditioning was making a weird clicking noise, kind of like a sparking sound. Just to be safe, it has been a night without AC. My room was somewhat cool to begin with so I kicked my ceiling fan on all the way and I will probably turn my floor fan on when I go to bed. It is getting warmer and sleeping in any sort of heat tends to suck. Hopefully my current state of near-exhaustion will be enough to help me ignore the heat.

Tonight I watched some YouTube videos and a livestream while looking at Ikea furniture. It was a fun night. Now I am trying to hold off until ten o'clock before I go to bed. I'm super tired but I am trying to avoid another night of feeling super tired but being unable to commit to a full night of sleep. At least tomorrow I have the opportunity to sleep an extra hour. I'm looking forward to sleep.

July 20, 2014

The Muppet Babies. I forgot all about watching several episodes of that yesterday. That was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I would say it holds up pretty well. It makes me nostalgic for not only my childhood but also a time when my imagination was wildly adept and creating anything I wanted. Good times. In one of the episodes I watched it was the nanny's birthday and the Muppets were trying to guess how old she was. I think it was Gonzo that came up with an age somewhere over 100 and when one of the other Muppets asked how he knew that he replied that he had counted the rings on her socks. Hilarious.

This morning I finished watching The Brass Teapot and it is a movie I would watch again. It starred Michael Angarano (who I'm a fan of) and Juno Temple (who was also in Mr. Nobody). The movie is about a young married couple who find a brass teapot that will give them money whenever they experience pain. It starts with very minor injuries and quickly escalates. I guess it could be considered a bit of a dark comedy but I would say it was mostly comedy. I enjoyed it.

I finally got around to watching Her today and I liked it. Joaquin Phoenix is really good at playing strange and awkward. But he was also endearing. I could also see Will Ferrell playing the role. I also really liked the phone in the movie. It kind of reminded me of one of those old double picture frames that fold in the middle. It would suck for texting but in that future everything can be dictated to the phone so texting with a keyboard really isn't an issue. I also liked the look of the operating system in the movie, how it was kind of 3D and had depth and you could move around in that environment. Windows kind of has that feel when you use the Windows Key + TAB to cycle through open windows but I imagine there is some version of Linux out there that can mimic it much better. My favorite part of the movie was how Joaquin Phoenix's character and Amy Adams' character were actually just friends. Yes, they had dated briefly in the past, but there wasn't an underlying sexual tension in the present. It is a thing that exists in the real world but it is so rare to see in movies. This was also probably my favorite movie with Scarlett Johansson, I would say mostly because she wasn't physically in the movie.

I again played a couple rounds of BF4 and despite being on a crappy team once again, I would say I did marginally better than yesterday. My deaths outnumbered my kills in both games but I got a lot of assists. In general I suck at killing people but at least tonight I was getting hit markers on the guys I was shooting at. I also had one epic moment where I killed four guys in quick succession. For about five seconds there I felt like a badass.

I took a nap this afternoon but now I am going to try and go to bed so I can wake up way too early for my haircut in the morning. Fingers crossed that I actually fall asleep because work is going to be long enough without being super tired.

July 19, 2014

Today was an entirely uneventful day and it is now very late at night so I don't really have much to write about. This morning and this afternoon I caught up on YouTube videos and copied new music to the USB thumb drive for my car. There might have been some other stuff in there but I can't remember.

Later this afternoon I went and got a Powerball ticket. Spoiler alert, I'm still not a millionaire, but I did win four dollars. After getting the ticket I drove around town for a little bit listening to the new music I added to my car. I stopped by Sonic on my way home to get a limeade and I need to start asking for less ice. Around three-fourths of my drink was ice which meant my 32oz drink only had a little over 12oz of liquid. That is an expensive cup of ice. To make up for it they gave me more than a full lime which would have great if limes were actually edible outside of flavoring things.

I played a little bit of BF4 today. I was on a team that repeatedly got obliterated so that didn't help but I certainly didn't help things. I managed to win more than a few gunfights but I definitely lost a lot more. It was fun to get back into it for awhile but eventually I got tired of getting crapped on.

Tonight I got more music for my car and watched Netflix. I started with an episode of The Secret Circle, a television show about a teenage girl who doesn't know she's a witch. I couldn't bring myself to waste my time with more than one episode. It's just a show with a bunch of pretty twenty-sometimes playing pretty teenage witches. I might have given it another episode or two but right in the beginning one of the adult witches kills the girl's mother. And that dude is the father of one of her “friends” when she moves in with her aunt. I could probably do a better job with my description, maybe so it makes sense, but it's really not that important.

Next I watched Mr. Nobody starring Jared Leto. He is apparently the last living mortal in a world of immortals and when he is on his deathbed he starts looking back on his life. All of his lives. There are several different timelines, one for each major decision he makes or doesn't make in his life. It was a very confusing movie. I couldn't tell if it was really deep or if it just wanted to be deep. The ending was interesting but in all the movie was just strange.

I just finished watching Upside Down starring Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess. Star-crossed lovers and all that. I really liked it, though. Two planets orbiting right next to each other, each with their own gravity, so the sky for each planet is the other planet. The girl is from the prosperous upper world, the boy from the impoverished lower world. It was a very interesting twist on love from different sides of the tracks. If that is a thing. I think it is. Anyway, I would watch it again, unlike Mr. Nobody and The Secret Circle.

While finishing this up, because it took longer to write than I thought, I started watching The Brass Teapot. I am intrigued but I will have to pause it because it is way too late to be watching another movie.

July 18, 2014

Today while I was in the bathroom, I turned my head just in time to see out of the corner of my eye, a spider alighting on my shoulder. This was quickly followed by the feeling of it touching my bare arm before I swiped it away with my cat-like reflexes. It wasn't quite a 'holy shit' moment, more of a 'what the crap, dude?' moment. A short time later I managed to find it again and got it in a cup so I could deposit him safely outside. Or her. I'm not good at identify the gender of spiders.

Despite that minor terror, I managed to achieve all of my goals for the day. I called to cancel my XM radio and ended up renewing for another five months because I got the same $20 deal. Last time it took several different offers before they got down to five months for $20. This time it was her second offer. Much like last time, I called with every intention of not renewing but I was pretty sure if they offered me a good deal I would take it. I'm not in my car long enough to get my money's worth out of the normal subscription price, other than once a week when I got see the new volunteer kid. On top of that I will be adding the trips down to grad school which is a bit of a drive, so I figured if they offered me the deal I would take it. Although if they hadn't, I planned on getting into audiobooks and listening to them on the drive down and back. I still might do that. I really like NPR and podcasts and that seems like it might bode well for my possible feelings toward audiobooks. I think I already have some downloaded, somewhere, that I never got around to listening to. I also need to get back into podcasts because I haven't done that consistently in awhile.

I texted the lady who cuts my hair and managed to move my Monday appointment to 8:30AM. I'm not exactly thrilled about having to get up an hour earlier just for a haircut but I would have to do the same thing if I had moved it to a different day so I might as well get it over with.

After that I went down and got my oil changed. At some point I want to go out to the dealership and get a full inspection because I keep getting coupons, but I keep forgetting about setting up an appointment, so I just went to the place I always go. It is pretty quick, which the dealership is not.

When that was finished, I went to see about renting some movies. For awhile now I have wanted to watch the two Matrix sequels because I want to see how they have held up. I remember liking the special effects but not really caring for the story. I believe that was the consensus of most people. I also wanted to rent The Thirteenth Floor, which came out around the same time of The Matrix and had a similar theme I guess. I ended up not finding any of them. Hastings had the The Matrix but nothing else. I could have gone to the local video rental place but I didn't feel like spending the money, because I planned on using my credit at Hastings, so I just headed home.

I took a short nap and then spent the next hour or so tracking down the Minecraft mods I like and relearning how to install them. Every few updates I get into Minecraft again and then have to re-download all of my mods so I can play the updated version of Minecraft. This time it was because I wanted to play on my new laptop. Adding mods has definitely gotten easier over the years but I always need a refresher on the latest way to go about it. I eventually got it figured out and got all of the mods I wanted installed except for two which haven't been updated yet. I replaced the mini-map one with a different mod but I didn't have time to check on a replacement for the other biome mod. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe never. It also took me longer than I would like to admit to allow Minecraft to use more RAM. I did this on my desktop and it worked wonders for the performance of the game. I knew where I needed to put the little line of text but I was forgetting the crucial first step of installing the 64-bit version of Java. Once I got that figured out, everything went smoothly. And now I can play Minecraft on my laptop. I haven't tried it with all the mods installed yet but when I checked it after I got a few installed everything was working well. Hopefully it will hold up but if not I can always lose a couple of the mods. I'm going to try it out after I catch up to the present with this.

Tonight at work I got a headache shortly after walking in the door and it stayed with me the rest of the night. That was pretty sweet. We had a special showing of Korengal that had a fairly disappointing turnout. I had to be there to pause the movie after the trailers so one of the managers could give some sort of speech. Then after the movie there was a Q&A, I'm assuming with soldiers who had fought over in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would have been interesting to sit in on but I was trapped upstairs babysitting projectors. And the LMS, which is the big server. At one point it froze and when I tried to restart it, it froze. And then wanted a login that I did have, and the manager had never seen that screen before. He tried turning the power off and back on but it got stuck on a whole different screen. He tried calling technical support but got put on hold and ended up hanging up. Later on I went back and turned it off for about thirty seconds and took out the thumb drive that was plugged in, before turning it back on. This ended up working out and I was able to transfer new trailers to one of the movies, which had all Scope trailers, instead of Flat, so they looked weird on the screen.

Coming back to Minecraft, because it has now been a few hours since last I wrote, I played it for awhile and it ran beautifully with all the mods installed. I also spawned in a pretty awesome world and got a start on a house before moving on to other things.

Those things were another cross stitch pattern. I seem to have the same problem with cross stitch patterns that I have with books. I have still only finished making one cross stitch but I have made several patterns this summer. And now I'm making another one rather than starting another cross stitch based on one of my patterns. So kind of like finishing one book and buying three more. I'm never going to catch up.

We had a midnight showing of Purge: Anarchy tonight and I ended up watching most of it because my head hurt and I needed a distraction. I watched a little bit earlier in the night so I probably ended up see all but ten minutes maybe. I can't remember how much of the first one I saw but I think I saw the majority. I liked this one better. The first one sets up the world but the whole movie takes place in a single house. In the new movie they are out playing in that crazy world and all the different characters made for a more dynamic story. It still isn't a great movie but it is an interesting concept. In a world where a Purge exists in the United States, I would not live in the United States. Or I would be traveling out of the country during the Purge. I don't hold grudges and even if I did I don't think they would ever get to the point of wanting to kill someone. I think a Purge would be the exact opposite of cathartic. In the movies there are the homeless people who are screwed, the people who just try and hide in their homes and hope for the best, people able to afford a security system for their home, people who actually go out and kill people, and really rich people who either pay people to let them kill them or pay to have people brought in that they can kill. None of those appeals to me. I would think the anxiety and terror one night of that could cause would lead to mental and physical health concerns. And now I'm just kind of rambling because it is three o'clock in the morning and I should probably go to bed.

I'm going to go to bed now.

July 17, 2014

Yesterday the manager wasn't at the theater when I got there, and he hadn't unlocked projection yet, so for the second time this summer I had to go into one of the theaters and climb through the window leading up to projection. Last time I had to check two theaters to find a window that wasn't latched so I could slide it open. After that I made sure not to close the window all the way so yesterday I was able to go straight to that theater and get right in. I also left my stuff on the stairs leading up to projection which made it a lot easier to climb through the window. Today, the door was open so I did not need to enter my place of work like a cat burglar.

The kid show this morning was The LEGO Movie and it was the most popular show of the summer so far. Normally we just show it in one theater. I think the only time we have opened up a second theater was for people who had arrived a little late. Today I ended up showing in in three theaters. The first two weren't completely full and the third probably wasn't even half full, but that is still more than a decent turnout. I also saw a couple kids from school who were there with Boys & Girls Club. They remembered me.

Today I finished reading Fish by Gregory Mone. It is one of my Book Fair books and I really enjoyed it. I seem to be on a mini-seafaring kick because I also recently finished S, which also involves sailing the oceans in a ship. Fish is about a young Irish boy who is sent from the farm to work as a messenger for his uncle in the city because his family needs money. He has one of his deliveries stolen and he swims after and eventually climbs onto a pirate ship in order to get the package back. Long story short, he ends up becoming part of the crew, reluctantly at first, and goes on a grand adventure in search of treasure. Thoroughly enjoyable. I also continued reading The Best Of McSweeney's and I practiced my left-handed writing.

Tonight I didn't have a visit with the new volunteer kid because he said he was going to be with his grandpa. This ended up working out because after eating the second half of my delicious Chipotle burrito for dinner, I went with my mom to look at the house she is thinking about buying. The place was locked up but were were able to walk around and look in the windows. It is still being built, along with all the houses around it, but it is supposed to be done by September. It looked like a nice house, at least externally and peering through the windows, and my mom really likes it. There is also a Home Owner's Associate that would prevent a lot of the stuff that my mom currently dislikes about the neighbors. I think the plan is to present an offer tomorrow so fingers crossed.

In other news, my laptop arrived today. Today at work I made a list of the programs I wanted to install. I got about halfway through those when I got a pop-up about the computer needing to restart to install a driver. But then I couldn't move the mouse or use the keyboard. I manually shutdown the computer several times but shortly after getting to the desktop the pop-up would appear and the computer would freeze. I did some searching and it seemed to be related to the hotkey driver. I found a driver and put it on the desktop while in Safe Mode but had to log in normally to install it. And I could get it done before the computer froze. I got tired of messing with it so I just decided to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Which I did and was then able to reinstall all the drivers and install all the programs I wanted to without incident. At the very end I got the pop-up again but it didn't freeze my computer and I was able to click out of it. Part of me thinks it might have been do to the Comodo firewall I installed. When the pop-up happened after reinstalling Windows the Comodo pop-up appeared asking what I wanted to do about the program and I was able to click Allow. So fingers crossed that will do the trick.

Other than that minor hiccup, I am liking the laptop. It has a 13” screen and it is just the right size. I didn't want a tiny screen but I also didn't need a huge one. I already have a beast of a desktop with three monitors so the idea of a big laptop designed to be a desktop replacement wasn't appealing. I wanted something easily portable that I could take with on the weekends when my grad classes meet. I also thought it would be good to take it to school when I want to work on a project that I would normally have to work on at home when I was off the clock. I can also take it to the theater with me to work on stuff. Or just play games. I think I'll end up taking it tomorrow and maybe try to edit more of my old journal entries. All around it is just a good looking laptop, and as long as that pop-up thing is resolved, I will be entirely satisfied with my purchase. At least as long as the honeymoon period lasts. Now I just need to get a laptop cooler. It would be nice to get something that could work as a stand for a desk as well as when I want to have it on my lap. I looked at few a little while ago but now I will be a bit more serious about my search.

Somehow it is already one o'clock in the morning. I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow before work I would like to figure out my haircut conflict next week, cancel my XM radio so I don't have to pay full price (actually getting rid of it this time unless they offer me another good deal), and get my oil changed. We'll see how all that goes.

July 16, 2014

Today I finally finished the book cross stitch. For real. No smudges to be covered up. At one point I thought I had finished but then realized I had messed up part of my design so I had to cut out a bunch of stitches and redo it. But I am finally done. I'm still not fully sold on the random design and think it would look better if I hadn't had to cover up a smudge. I want to make another one. I need to make another one.

I spent a whole bunch of time cross stitching and only spent a little time reading. Other than that, it was a fairly typical day.

Chipotle was a bit of a bitch tonight. I don't know what was going on but it was busy like college was back in session or it was a discounted burrito night. During the school year I go right after school because I don't want to deal with the mess that is parking. During the summer it generally isn't that bad because all the college kids are gone so I can go when I get off work and it usually isn't a big deal. Tonight, however, I drove around for over twenty minutes trying to find a spot. I circled a couple times and then drove around before coming back, over and over again. I kept getting there right as a spot was being filled. Super annoying. When I finally did manage to find a spot behind the building the line to order was up to the door. Ten or so minutes later I had my food and was finally on my way home. It took me nearly an hour. That is kind of ridiculous. Thankfully, my burrito was really good, if poorly wrapped, so that made up for it. It could have also been more of my hunger being sated than the burrito being better than normal. Who's to say.

Tonight I thought about trying to play BF4 again but after dinner and showing videos it was already whatever time it was and I just wasn't in the mood to get my ass handed to me in a video game. Maybe tomorrow night. I've heard that before.

Tomorrow we have the kid show so I have to be at work early. Early this week is only thirty minutes earlier than normal so that shouldn't be too bad. Thanks to the earlier show times I'm going to have to move my haircut that I am supposed to have on Monday. I scheduled it earlier than last time because last time I was cutting it a little close (pun intentional) but I did not anticipate a 10:30AM showtime. I could probably get away with showing up as we open instead of ten minutes early to turn everything on but I don't really want to do that. Going back to tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm going to do all day. Probably read. Maybe write with my left hand or draw.

July 15, 2014

No seizures this morning, so I got to work on time. That was nice.

I am one step closer to finishing my book cross stitch. At this point I feel like I could have almost made an entirely new one in the same time it has taken me to cover up the smudge. I finished the design covering the smudge and it looks kind of alright. I am hoping that when I finish the matching design on the other side of the cross stitch that it will look better. I still don't think I will like it as much as my original design but we'll see. I've also thought about adding in more randomness but I'm already afraid of it looking too cluttered. I wanted to give it to the librarian at school but I might end up keeping it and making another one, hopefully without a smudge.

I decided to take a break after finishing the one design so I switched over to finishing the note I started writing my friend awhile ago when I got tired of writing “the quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog” over and over again with my left hand. The note itself is legible but I need to keep practicing my left-handed writing. You can tell by looking at it, at least with the style based on Courier New, that I am going slow and don't have complete confidence in my abilities. At times I try the “fake it 'til you make it” philosophy but then it starts to get sloppy. I'll get there eventually. Or move onto something else.

Speaking of, after finishing the note I practiced drawing flowers. Some of them were better than others but they weren't terrible. It would be nice to get away from trying to draw realistically, because I want it to be perfect and it never will be. I need to try getting the general idea of something, so you can tell what it is based on, but not get too specific. Like a cartoonish kind of thing. It would also probably be good practice trying to get the general idea of stuff before I launch into a bunch of detail. I also need to work on drawing stuff in steps. I've seen plenty of pictures and videos depicting the drawing process and they almost always start with rough guidelines and then build up from there. I need to figure that out.

I also read while I was at work and learned that Henry Hudson, the dude the river is named after, might still be alive, in a Schrodinger's cat kind of way. On his last voyage he wanted to explore further but his crew had other ideas so they mutinied and put him and his son and some other people in a small boat and sailed off. None of them, the small boat party, were ever seen again. So, the mystery that is his whereabouts is kind of a like a box. Maybe. If we ignore the average lifespan of human beings. I really need to read a book about him and see what some of the hypotheses are in regard to his goings-on after the mutiny.

Tonight my goal was to play BF4 because the new DLC came out today. I don't think I ever got around to playing the last DLC. I think when I played a few weeks ago, and completely sucked, I tried getting into one of the latest maps but it had already changed when I got in. So, my goal was to actually play this DLC, even just a little bit. And I failed. I blame the game. When I first opened Origin I checked for updates and there was a short download. It should have been a long download but whatever, I opened up the website, found a suitable server, and tried to log on. It said I needed the DLC. I went back to Origin, checked for updates, and it said my game was up to date. So I tried repairing the game. That took awhile and after restarting Origin and logging back into the website, I tried to join a server. Once again, I was lacking the DLC. After thirty minutes of trying all the various things I could think of I got Origin to start downloading the DLC. In the end I don't think I did anything that I hadn't already tried several times but technology sucks sometimes. An hour and a half later, the DLC was done and I was ready to play, but I didn't end up playing because it was already ten o'clock. I didn't want to get into a big game that late at night. At least when I have to get up in the morning. I'm too old for that shit. While the DLC was downloading I did jump into Minecraft for a little bit so I at least got to play a video game tonight.

During all of that, I watched YouTube videos, because that is what I do. I need to do a better job at doing something worthwhile with my evenings. Even if it is just a little something. I could do better.

In a last little bit of news, my laptop should be here on Thursday. It shipped yesterday and I am waiting with great anticipation. Or at least slightly greater than mild anticipation. I might be downplaying it slightly with that last sentence.

July 14, 2014

This morning I was nearly late for work because Tanner decided to have one hell of seizure right before I started making my lunch. Beau and Alfie started going nuts and when that happens without Tanner joining in, it means he's having a seizure. I let the other two outside and then went and sat with Tanner on the couch. Normally he runs down to the basement or back by my room but today it caught him on the couch, which was nice because I didn't have to cram into a small space to sit with him. It seemed fairly mild but at one point he had a spastic moment that left me with a giant scratch right below my neck. I would say the seizures usually last about ten or fifteen minutes. Around the fifteen minute mark he seemed to come out of it and was just hanging out on the couch so I went into the kitchen to make lunch. A short time later Tanner joined me and started randomly scratching at the oven and the counters. Then a second round hit him and we were on the ground in the corner of the kitchen. Not nearly as comfortable of the couch. This second round also lasted fifteen minutes. He's never had one so long or broken up into two parts. It was very strange.

Despite all of that, I made it to work on time. In terms of work, I ingested and built a movie. That was my day. With the rest of my time I started and finished the second set of books on my cross stitch. This one seemed to go at least slightly faster than the first one and I think it looks better, especially the gray border. I got a start on the random design to cover up the stain and my hopes are high that it will come out looking good. I'll find out tomorrow. I also read a little bit but spent more time cross stitching.

Tonight I didn't have a lot going on. I watched YouTube videos, including a bunch from the Nerdist channel. They do something called Set List where they have comedians come on stage and make up jokes based on a random prompt that comes up on a screen. It is pretty funny. And impressive.

That was about it. I felt like I should be doing other stuff but in the end noting came of it. Now I'm just waiting to go to bed so I can wake up and do it all over again tomorrow.

July 13, 2014

Yesterday I inadvertently learned that a player from the United States is credited with scoring the first hat trick in the World Cup, way back in 1930. Apparently there was some controversy over the second goal but FIFA has officially given him the goal, so go USA.

Also, last Thursday I somehow forgot to mention the minivan at Sonic. It was parked next to us and we alerted to its exit when a loud robotic voice started endlessly saying something along the lines of “Attention, this vehicle is backing up.” This was repeated until the car was shifted into drive. I looked over and saw an old lady behind the wheel. My first thought was to wonder how many people she backed into before the court ordered her to have that device installed on her car. I don't know if that is a thing but I hope it is. I can't see her voluntarily putting something that obnoxious on her minivan.

Today I didn't have a lot going on but I did accomplish several small things. I accepted my graduate school scholarship, paid a bill, and finally printed off the letter I wrote to my friend last week. All three of those things can be mailed tomorrow. I also started to draw. Just a little bit but it is a start. I drew four different eyes. Not two pairs, just individual eyes. Drawing a pair of eyes is kind of a bitch because one always looks wonky. Maybe I could just draw cyclopes. (Also, it is weird that the plural of a word ending in 's', cyclops, is made plural by putting an 'e' in front of that 's'. Just learned that). A couple of the eyes didn't look half bad from a distance but there is a lot of room for improvement. Eventually I would like to be able to capture someone's likeness in a drawing. I've never stuck with drawing long enough to accomplish that. Maybe this is that time.  And, I did a little left-handed writing, continuing the letter I started to my friend several days ago. I think it's been over a week now and thankfully it was a bit like riding a bike and my handwriting doesn't look too awful. At least relative to my previous writing.

I finished watching my Watch Later list on YouTube so I moved over to Netflix. I started with Lilo & Stitch because I saw a couple cross stitch patterns and pictures with quotes from the movie and that made me want to watch it. I am fairly certain I haven't actually seen the movie since I previewed it in the middle of the night the day before it came out way back in 2002. I have been at the theater far too long. The movie was funnier than I remember and it made me think that maybe I shouldn't wait another twelve years before watching it again.

After that I watched Secrets Of The Tower Of London. It appears that Netflix was recently mildly inundated with PBS stuff and I am okay with that. I learned a lot about the Tower that I didn't know before. Considering my previous knowledge was miniscule, this increase in knowledge was to be expected.

Next was Tesla: Master Of Lightning. Tesla was a fascinating dude. He was very similar to all those artists of years gone by who's genius wasn't fully appreciated until after they were gone. I'm sure a lot of people were aware of Tesla's genius in his lifetime but he was constantly getting screwed over. Edison was a huge jerk to him, he got screwed out of trillions of dollars by Westinghouse when Tesla apparently tore up his rights to a percentage of money based on watts produced with his technology in order to save the Westinghouse company, and Marconi not only beat him to a transatlantic radio transmission (using 17 of Tesla's patents but claiming it was his idea) he also got a Nobel prize, also on the back of Tesla's efforts. There are numerous other instances of Tesla getting screwed and it was kind of sad to see it happening over and over again. The show was interesting and at some point I'd like to read a book or two about Tesla.

The last thing I watched was Mile... Mile & A Half, a documentary about a group of people hiking the John Muir Trail in California while recording their experience with video, still photography, and sound. It made me feel very nostalgic for Philmont. And Colorado. It would be really nice to go back to my Boy Scout roots and get out in the wilderness more often. I like the individual motivation to get out there but hopefully someday I'll fall in with some people who are more motivated to camp and hike and are willing to put up with whatever it takes to get me back out there. Nature is pretty much the best thing and I miss it.

The World Cup final was today between Argentina and Germany. I wanted Argentina to win and several times throughout the game it looked like it might happen but none of the Argentinian players could find the back of the net. Germany was having the same problem, even getting two shots to bounce off the goalpost. This went on for the entire 90-minute match and it looked to be the case for the 30-minutes of of extra time but then in the last few minutes Germany scored. Those bastards. It hurts me to say that the better team probably won. And I am being hyperbolic there because I am not hurt in the least, I just find it unfortunate that Germany won, even if they did play really well throughout the World Cup when their players weren't diving.

Last night I went to bed before midnight and work up this morning around 7:30AM. And I didn't take a nap so that made for a long day. But I think I did alright with all that time. I could have done more but I feel like I did enough. All this week we have a early-ish show at the theater (10:30AM) so I have to be at the theater around 9:45AM. Not too much earlier than normal, and later than when we have kid shows, but I like when are first show is at noon. Less money but more sleep. It's also weird because during the school year when I'm used to getting up when a '6' is still the first number on a clock, even the earliest theater times feel really late. Perspective. Anyway, despite waking up fairly early this morning I'm not that tired yet so I think I'm going to hang out for awhile longer and see what happens.

Tomorrow at work I would like to continue working on my book cross stitch and continue reading my books. Books books books. I also might turn my phone back on. I turned it off because I wasn't hearing from anyone and I was tired of the urge to check my phone. Life is so much nicer without a phone. At least being voluntarily without a phone. I'll probably turn it on sometime tomorrow just to see what I haven't missed but then it'll go back off. I don't think it will get to the extent that it was last time I turned it off but I need to squash the urge to constantly check my phone for texts and phone calls that I'm not missing.

July 12, 2014

Thanks to being up until almost four o'clock in the morning I ended up sleeping until sometime. It was either ten or eleven o'clock. I can't remember but I woke up feeling like I had missed half the day. Not that I would have really done anything worthwhile with those few extra hours. Today wasn't really a waste though. Things were done.

After exercising (something I need to get back to doing on a more regular basis) I left the house. I went and got a Powerball ticket and then went across town to get more needles for cross stitching. I have several different sizes but only one of the size that I like. At one point I lost it so I couldn't cross stitch for a few days. So, I figured I would get some more before I lost the one I had for good. I found the right thickness but they only had longer ones that are more pointy. The one I use is short and slightly blunt so I don't have to worry about drawing blood when I poke myself. I ended up getting the longer ones for backup but I'll keep my eyes open for blunt ones. I also got a sketchpad because who knows, I might start drawing.

I also stopped by Staples because I wanted to get 0.3mm pencil lead and they didn't have it at Hobby Lobby. They also didn't have it at Staples but I got a couple 0.9mm pencils and a ruler. When I use a mechanical pencil I generally use 0.5mm because I write really small and lead that is any bigger makes my writing even harder to read. I got the 0.9mm pencils to draw with. I'm going to have to keep looking for the 0.3mm lead. I'm thinking maybe one of the university bookstores because I would think engineering students probably need small lead. Also, Staples has at some point in the recent past rearranged their store. Awhile ago they made the store smaller, which is something I think was being done at most Staples stores. I was never a big fan of the layout, before or after the downsize, but the new layout feels a lot better. It is hard to describe but I think it works a lot better.

I caught up on all of my YouTube videos today and that is pretty exciting because I've been battling my Watch Later list for awhile now. I can now take a break and watch something on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon or other things. Maybe even a kick it old school and go with a DVD. While I was watching all of those videos I made a few cross stitch patterns for different hearts. I didn't actually create the patterns, I found pictures online, and I made them into patterns that are easier to use than the pictures. I'm not sure when I'll get around to those but I think they'd be a lot of fun to actually stitch.

Today as the World Cup game between the Netherlands and Brazil to determine third place. It was a good game for the Netherlands but Brazil couldn't make anything happen. It didn't help that the referee kept making strange calls, even when they were in Brazil's favor. The Netherlands went up a goal in the first two minutes after one of the Brazil defenders (their team captain who missed the last match because he had accumulated two yellow cards in previous games) pulled Robben down right on the edge of the box. The defender more than likely prevented a goal scoring opportunity, which means he should have gotten a red card but instead he got a yellow card. Maybe the referee didn't want to make Brazil play the whole match with ten players. It also should have been a free kick on the edge of the box but it was pretty close so it ended up being a penalty kick, which went in the goal. Not too much later the Netherlands scored again. But not before Robben got a yellow card, maybe for diving, but for once he was actually fouled and shouldn't have gotten a yellow card. It seemed like the referee was maybe trying to prevent him from falling all over the place during the rest of the game. He still did but it has been worse. In the second half he did give a yellow card to a Brazilian player for diving but it was another suspect call. The Dutch defender stuck is leg out and the Brazilian player fell over his leg, maybe literally diving to try and avoid full impact with the leg, but contact was still made and the defender ended up having to leave the game with an injured leg. Diving is going down when you shouldn't. In this case, contact was obviously made so it obviously wasn't a dive. I can't imagine this game happened earlier in the World Cup that we would see this referee again. They shouldn't really make themselves a part of the game and this one definitely made his presence known. The Netherlands ended up scoring one more time near the end of the game, beating Brazil 3 to 0. Brazil completely imploded in their last two games. Kind of sad to watch. They shouldn't have made it as far as they did and that just made their complete unraveling that much harder to watch.

Lastly, I got a letter yesterday informing me that I had been selected for the new graduate student scholarship I applied for. The director told me she thought everyone who applied most likely got it as long as there was money left, so I don't think the bar was set too high, but I still got it. It is for $500 which isn't a whole lot of money when it comes to tuition but it is $500 more than I had to start with. I'm not complaining.

July 11, 2014

I forgot to mention yesterday that my sister made scones for the first time. I had one. It was really freaking good. She needs to bake delicious food for a living. I don't know why she's not.

Today was entirely uneventful. Quite similar to most of my summer days. Most of my day was spent watching YouTube videos, reading stuff on the internet, and coming up with a design to cover up the mark on my book cross stitch. That actually took me quite awhile. At this point I would still prefer the look of the cross stitch without the added design but hopefully my mind will change when I finish it. I just hope it doesn't look strange and out of place, which is definitely a possibility. An unfortunate possibility.

Tonight at work it was once again hot as hell upstairs. Largely helped by the fact that it was close to 100 degrees outside today. The cool side of projection was almost 90 degrees and the warm side was well over 90 degrees, closer to 100 degrees the farther you walked. It isn't the oppressive heat of an attic that is hard to breathe in but it is stagnant and uncomfortable. Even on the cool side tonight I had to sit under one of the air conditioning vents and have a desk fan blowing on me. As soon as I stepped outside of that small space of moving air I almost immediately started to sweat. Emotionally I have often felt like crap when I have come to work at the theater (less so since I got the job at the elementary school or more recently since getting accepted to graduate school) but now I physically feel like crap when I come upstairs and have to endure the heat. I realize conditions are worse in other jobs but I have made the argument before, this isn't a road construction job or working in a boiler room or whatever else. I'm not wearing clothes that I want to be sweating through every day. And I'm not downstairs too often but I still need to look presentable. I guess it is a little better now that we're wearing t-shirts and not dress shirts with vests, but it is uncomfortable nonetheless. Boo hoo, for me.

Rather than cross stitch tonight, I read books. My left hand needs a cross stitching break. It is feeling weak. And I have a stack of books that I want to read. I started going back through S, reading the marginalia story, and I didn't make it that far but I got a start. Along with the other books I'm reading I also started reading Fish by Gregory Mone, another book I got at the last Book Fair. It will take the place of the last Book Fair book and will hopefully be replaced in the not too distant future by another Book Fair book. I think I only have one left after Fish but I also have some from previous Book Fairs that I also want to read.

We had midnight shows and unfortunately people showed up this time. Only four or five people but even one is enough to keep me at the theater until the middle of the night. I am writing this at the theater right now, closing in on two o'clock, and I probably won't get home until three o'clock. I just want to get out of this heat. Sleep would also be nice but it always takes me awhile to wind down after I get home before I am able to go to sleep. So hopefully I can be in bed around four o'clock. I hate closing on nights with midnight shows.