F12 Around

Had a great holiday weekend! Because things were temporarily on hold at work, I got to take last Friday off. Meant I had time to tool about and relax... and finally did a new art piece!

Bryan had taken a GQ selfie, and I couldn't help but see the lines! It had to be done :)

That evening, Hunter, Bradd and Sara, Trae and Rae (Traechel), Brock, and Casey all came over! We played Kittens in a Blender, One Night Werewolf, and just hung out :) Was an awesome time! I also made oatmeal cookies.

Saturday was the normal run of errands with Hunter, and I convinced him to do some geocaching with me :) One was simple and was found. Another was a 3.5/5 difficulty, but it felt like so much worse... couldn't find it :( The third... you see the tiny dot sticking off of the left of the pole about 13' up in the photo? Yeah... couldn't reach that. Need to acquire a tool!

Unfortunately, I don't think Hunter's a big fan :/ He gets bored super quickly, so if it can't be found within a few minutes, it's "gone." I need to go back and find that one where Hollywood Video used to be...

Sunday, Hunter and I had dinner with his Mom, sister, and Grandmother. Home-grilled burgers and hotdogs, with plenty of delicious sides to boot!

Monday, I got the day off from work again (woo!) but I did not do any art. I got all set up with school stuff though, since I start next Monday (eek!) I'm excited and nervous. Wondering how many babies are going to be in the class :o I'm going to feel so old! That evening, Hunter and I went over to Cullyn's for a cookout and gaming. Ended up not playing any Pathfinder, despite Cullyn coming up with a pretty cool deity vestige showdown idea. Instead, we played One Night Werewolf and Red Dragon Inn. Damon was there, so Hunter was pretty excited to have someone around who was significantly younger than he to make fun of.

Tuesday night, Hunter and I had a little semi-date night. Went to Fazzoli's (at my request- since it's been years), and then saw Mad Max. I hadn't seen any trailers (or really knew it was out besides hearing others talk about it), so I wasn't sure what to expect. Turned out to be really great, tho! I'm glad we went to see it :) Hunter had also bought me a purple orchid! He knows I'm a fan of receiving flowers, but he's not big on flowers that will last for a handful of days and get thrown away. Instead, he bought me one he'll help me take care of :) I haven't named it yet, but once I do, I'll share a photo!

Wednesday night, Hunter, Balo (back from vacation!), Sara, and Traechel came over for game night. We actually ended up all just hanging out talking: Pathfinder, new campaigns, old campaigns, trading stories. Eventually played a game of Hearts with Balo, Sara, and Rae. I hadn't played in forever, and Sara and Rae never had. Was definitely fun tho! :)

Going to be house-hunting soon... :o

I downloaded DOTA 2. Why must I subject myself to these MOBAs at which I am terrible??

Bryan and I picked up a quick game of Risk Of Rain last night... or so we thought. Ended up playing for an hour and a half, one playthrough... and we beat the game!! Neither of us had done that before (especially me, since it was only maybe my 6th time playing.) I guess we got super lucky throughout with our items. Lots of health and regen. Went swimmingly!

Starting to pick up some Ruby and Rails for a new work project. Should be interesting. I've done some Python before, and I believe Ruby is also a similar scripting language, so it won't be too bad /knock on wood!

Dargonboat race practice for the company is tonight! Then the races are tomorrow! We won't win, but it'll be tons of fun :) First time anyone from work will actually be meeting Hunter, too... I wonder if Bonnie will call him Mike XD

"You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel."

Acceptable Cat Status

Finished-up dog/house sitting last week. Really glad I was able to help them out :) I was happy to hear that Tracey did not get sick on the boat, which means they'll be able to go on a European cruise next year! I want to go on a nice vacation :/ I didn't take my winter one this past year...

Wednesday night board gaming happened. We've attempted Masquerade a handful of times now, and I don't think any of us are big fans. Need to learn Mansions of Madness so we can give that some play-throughs! I bought plastic cases to hold all of the pieces for it and Arkham Horror (huzzah OCD organization!) Looking forward to having my magnetic map pieces, too, then I'll see if I can convince people to play Iron Kingdoms :)

Brock wasn't able to join us, since he's moved to Johnson City for his new job (sadness), and I was under the impression we wouldn't be playing Trae's home game that night. Eventually, everyone except Rae and myself went outside, and they all started playing. It was really nice to spend time talking with Rae, since we haven't done that nearly enough, but I definitely felt really left out of the game :/

Decided for the first time ever to give blood on Thursday. I was feeling pretty down from the previous night, so I figured I'd do something good. I was super nervous, as I'm really not a fan of needles, and I'm sure Kevin and Bryan were about ready to just strap me to the table in the blood bus themselves to get me to stop messaging them about my anxiety XD Ended up not being so bad after all! I was pretty lightheaded afterward, and felt a bit sick, but I made it through :) Hopefully, my blood will help someone out! Also went with Hunter to the blood bank after work so he could donate as well.

This Saturday I threw a board game + pool party at my apartment. Hunter, Brock, Balo, Bradd, Trae, and Rae all came over for some Betrayal and then tons of One Night Werewolf. There were a multitude of really great plays made throughout (including some by Hunter, oddly enough!) It's so much easier to lie to your friends when you only have to do it for a max of 5 minutes XD Plus, having the Tanner card in the deck can make things kind of crazy. Never know if someone's a werewolf, or playing being a werewolf to get lynched! I was happy we got Trae to join us, since he is usually the one to sit by and watch.

Bradd had to leave to go to Sara's workplace for a party, which Balo wanted to crash so badly. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so the rest of us decided to pick up some booze for the pool! Balo left to retrieve his swimsuit, while Hunter, Brock, and myself headed over to McScrooge's. I picked up Killian's for Trae and myself (in case he felt like drinking some more) and a 1.75L bottle of Svedka (since Balo is in love with this stuff!) Brock picked up a single airplane bottle shot, and a giant bottle of rum (but that's for his home, not for the pool party, as he intended to stay only a short while before going to Temple.)

Returned to the apartment, where there was much pre-pool drinking was going on XD Headed down to the pool, where the drinking continued (of course), and we all just swam about. Good times!.. until this pair of older dudes came into the pool area with a 6-pack, and sat down at a table opposite ours. They just creeped on us whilst drinking the rest of the time we were out there... o.O

Other than those creepy guys and Rae getting sick :( I think it was a fantastic time, and it seemed like everyone had fun! Everyone except Hunter and Balo left around 11. We put on Hot Fuzz, but it wasn't long before Balo and I were both passed out. I'm glad that we didn't let Balo leave until the next morning, he was all the drunk!

Been playing a bunch of Guild Wars 2 when I have the opportunity (like almost the entirety of Sunday.) I've got a Thief character I've been playing by myself, and an Engineer I've been tooling around with Hunter's Fighter. Definitely want to make a caster class, and a Guardian to play with Brock. Maybe one day he won't be so busy!

Almost finished cleaning up the mess my former coworker left for the last time. Happy days!

I don't normally do quizzes or the like, but Courtney had this up on her Facebook, and I thought the result I got was adorable. Especially considering I love this movie, and had named two of my most well-known UO and WoW characters after her :D

I haven't been taking enough pictures lately :/ I also haven't done any art in awhile. Been feeling kind of down, actually. Wasting time being a sad panda!

Your best friend always sticking up for you... even when I know you're wrong.

Perfect Spoons

This weekend was crazy busy... but very productive! Friday after work, I headed over to Darrin and Tracey's to take care of their animals until after dinner, then over to my apartment to meet up with Hunter, Balo, Brock, Trae, and Rae. We started off the night with a round of Chez Geek that Brock won (retconned), then I won (retconned), and finally ended with Rae as the ultimate winner :D Took a break, and then decided to start back up on Trae's game, despite Sara not being able to join us :/ I almost made a death-defying, Brandon Stark move, but decided against it. We're progressing well, although pretty much everything is still a mystery to us. Lost one of the NPCs to a giant spider, aaah!

Saturday, after taking care of the animals, Hunter and I met up with Balo at my apartment. My complex was having a community garage sale, so we perused but the only thing I wanted (an end table) was being sold as a complete couch, coffee, and end tables set. Oh well! Picked up some free grilled lunch at the pool, and then took our cars over to the church across the street for a free wash! We were having quite the day! :)

Did our normal trash and recycling errands, and stopped by Lowe's to pick up a few things. Also began brainstorming for what to do with my outside patio space. Everyone seems to love hanging out back there, so why not make it more enjoyable? Decided that a gazebo should be purchased! Now, to just find the right one... :) Something like this! Also spent time cleaning up the patio area, so it wasn't covered in leaves and the like.

Balo picked up some RAM for his laptop at Best Buy, and I assisted him in installing and checking it out. Turns out, his laptop chipset is so outdated/old, he can't support any more RAM than he already has :( Also, assisted Hunter in copying any important files from his computer so that we can reformat it. Probably take care of that today!

The Overstock's repair company finally had a guy come by to look at the chair Balo broke on day 1. He was in my apartment for maybe 90 seconds. "Yep, that's broken. I could fix that in my shop, but not here. I'll let my company know." Ugh, that's what I was telling people over the phone! ~_~;; Eventually, I'll receive either a new chair, or a new back for the chair. Guess we'll have to wait and see some more!

Drove up to Oak Ridge before Werewolf to take care of the animals. Balo was super impressed with the beautiful house, and all the booze! He and Hunter partook until they were both pre-game smashed. It was hilarious :D I soberly drove the three of us down to Alcoa for game, which was a blast! I was never on team werewolf all night, but I did moderate the first game :) Only temporarily forgot who the werewolves killed one night, but it was all good! Hunter was Cupid, and linked 2 werewolves together (Felix and Dan), so that was quite awesome to see them both go out epically together XD

We had quite the turnout!

Sunday, I made waffles for Hunter and myself :)

Called my mom to wish her a happy mother's day, since she's the best ever! Then headed over to Hunter's place to see what his mom wanted to do today. While we were waiting for her, he started picking up his room, I casually asked if he would like some help, and he said yes. That determined what we were doing the next 4 hours, something I'd wanted to do forever... clean the hell out of his room. I should've taken a before picture, and I probably have one hidden about somewhere, but it was atrocious. It looked like he'd just gotten lazy over time, things just piled up, and then it became too overwhelming to deal with. But we certainly did deal with it, and now it's beautiful. Clean, organized, wonderful. I can only hope he can keep it this way...

Met up with Hunter's mom, grandmother, aunt, and uncle at his grandmother's house for dinner. His uncle had cooked salmon, and it was amazing! Gobbled that right up. Was nice to relax and hang out with them for a couple of hours. My back was killing me, though :/ Headed back up to Oak Ridge for the night and just melded into bed.

Woke up to an intruder this morning. Drowned the fuck out of him!

However... also had Chick-fil-a breakfast this morning. I'd forgotten how delicious their chicken minis are :D

Apparently, Constantine got cancelled. WTF NBC? Been watching Better Off Ted after a recommendation from Bryan- super hilarious show!

With all due respect, I am gonna completely ignore everything you just said.

Four Day Feistiness

Been doing my best to get Hunter into geocaching. We went hunting for 2 whilst downtown one evening. I think one had been taken, but we managed to find the other :)

Ate at notWatsons, pretty good little burger bar!

This past Monday night, Cullyn's home game was cancelled due to him working once again. So instead, had Hunter, Balo, Sara, Brock, Trae, and Rae over to start Trae's home game. It's kind of like a What Would Happen If... since we're all playing ourselves, and (thus far) have no super powers or curses on us of any kind (that we're aware of.) Started off being invited to a super LARP in the UK with about 2500 (?) people, and since the first night at camp, crazy stuff has been going down. Including our cabins burning to the ground! (I swear, not my fault.) It's been pretty fun so far. I have a theory regarding what's going on, but I don't think anyone else believes in it really XD I guess we'll see! :)

Wednesday,I attended Hunter's Grandfather's funeral with him :( He was a great guy, despite me only having met him a handful of times. I know he meant a lot to Hunter, and the rest of the family. I'm glad I was able to be there with them during this time.

Darrin and his wife Tracey had Hunter and me over for dinner (coworker who had me over for Thanksgiving dinner with his family the first year I moved to TN.) They had asked if I would take care of their animals (2 dogs and 4 cats) while they were gone this weekend on a cruise. Of course, I was more than happy to do that for them :)

Yesterday was the first day for me to take care of them, and their big dog (Jem) was a bit nervous having me over without his parents, but he warmed up to me quickly :) They have a gorgeous home in Oak Ridge, and it definitely is going to be a great weekend!

 

Calling you a tool would be an insult to hardware.

I'm glad we've agreed to do nothing

Happy Cinco de Mayo! And Happy post May the Fourth Be With You!

One thing that hasn't been happening: sleep. And not due to insomnia, due to having so many things going on! Probably doesn't help that I was jetlagged for awhile. Oh well!

Last week, my place was the bomb. Or wait, that doesn't work. If you knew there was a bomb somewhere, why would you be there?

Monday, Cullyn's game night was cancelled, so I invited everyone over for an impromptu board game night! It was much like normal Wednesday game nights, as was Wednesday! All the board games! Finally started playing Super Dungeon Explore, which seems imbalanced depending on how many hero characters there are. Balo recently purchased One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and it has been a ton of fun. I think I'm a bit better at One Night rather than normal Werewolf, since I only have to bluff for 5 minutes instead of a possible 20-30 :d Friday night, Hunter, Balo, Felix, and Christina also came over to play some Betrayal :) Christina is hilarious, since she's not really a gamer. Always fun getting nongamers to game :D

Speaking of Werewolf... I finally get to go play this upcoming weekend! Feels like it's been forever :(

Saturday, Hunter's grandfather was admitted to the hospital due to kidney failure :/ In the morning and afternoon, Brock had asked if we could help him move some of his things to Johnson City. His new place is super nice! Gonna miss that asshole at Wednesday game night.

Later in the day, we watched Hunter's kid cousin, Alex, for a few hours that day before going to see the new Avengers movie with the nerd group. Played some magic, and made a new friend!

Murdered Soul Suspect is unfortunately turning out to be quite the silly game. I'm glad I didn't spend a great deal of money on it. If anyone is considering purchasing it, I would recommend LA Noire instead. If you're played that game, then you'll get as much out of Murdered Soul Suspect as you will giving your money to me. So, why not just do that instead? ;)

Just picked up Guild Wars 2. Brock suggested Hunter and I play with him, and I agreed. Sounds like it will be fun, once Hunter clears his account's name. Apparently, he had been hacked at one point, and his account had been locked down. Le sigh!

Wrote a dry-run Iron Kingdoms game for Hunter and me to test out. Played half of it the other night, and noticed there is a bit of vagueness throughout the rulebook. It's definitely fun though, and I'm looking forward to running the campaign I've come up with. At the very least, there's a pre-written scenario I can also run through with a part of 4. Any volunteers? ;)

On the immensely bright side of things, my officemate was fired! I no longer will have to finish his incomplete work, or deal with his incomprehensible arrogance! However, I had been stuck with finishing the last project he was on, and over the past 2 working days I've been horribly stressed about it. It's building an API, which is something I've never done, and they need it completed in the next week or so (since he had originally promised the end of February...) However, after today I can say I think I have a handle on it, and should be able to accomplish the feat!

I always made this joke that Hunter was going to attempt to slowly move into my apartment without me knowing by inconspicuously bringing in his things over time. The one determining factor being his desktop computer. He has since asked me to assist him in reformatting it, and today what shows up in my apartment but his tower! I know we joke about him moving in with me, but jokes are half truths, amirite? /ponder

If you get anything out of this post, it's that I need to more often, because I'm sure stuff was left out. Oh well! /beer!

It's so simple to be a nice person, why can't everyone do it?