Friday, July 24, 2015

And towels!

Wow! Am I ever behind! :o Work has been crazy busy and stressful, so I haven't felt much like posting lately. Although, I've been having lots of fun and relaxing times outside of work (for the most part!)

Have been coming down to the wire with two work projects. Thankfully, I'm on an awesome team, so we've been chugging along mostly. Been stuck on this Ruby/Rails app for a few days, but Daniel and I made a break-through last night, so I think we'll end up being okay. I've destroyed my testing virtual machine tho, and I have no idea how to fix it (ugh.) We've got a new guy working on the other project (new site), and he's been doing okay-ish. We'll see how that ends up!

I made the mistake of going to Petsmart to pick up food for the kittens on a Saturday T.T Met this adorable mini Aussie shep who reminded me of an inversely-coloured Terra :( Would have to call her Luna ;)



Of course, I had to befriend all of the other puppies and kittens :) They're all so adorable! Maybe one day I'll have a dog again :D Just need a yard... /cough

Had a werewolf night at my house one weekend. Hunter, Bradd, Sara, Balo, and Brock all made it over :) Good times! We're having fun with the Daybreak expansion. I'm a fan of the curator, although it absolutely gives away someone as soon as we wake. If there's no curator token in play, then the curator is in the middle (and vice versa.) Sounds like something a werewolf could take advantage of, if there are other roles that switch cards around. Need to play more with more people! We still haven't played with all of the new roles yet, although we did mess with some funky combinations. Just keep switching out roles! :)

Last weekend, I dog/house/cat/lizard sat for Darrin and Tracey while they were on vacation in New York. There were tentative plans to have the small friend group over to play Red Dragon Inn. We've actually all been discussing making all of the drinks that appear in the game; we even have a list! :D Of course, you wouldn't drink a full serving- just a shot. Some of them are going to be pretty gross, and I have a feeling I'll throw-up fairly quickly :o

Unfortunately, Temple was on last Saturday, so Bradd and Sara were unable to attend, so the rest of us decided to postpone until we could all play together. Additionally... Brock was in the hospital! :( He was all the way up in Johnson City spending his weekend in a hospital bed, so Hunter, Balo, and I decided to go pay him a visit! This hotel hospital was gorgeous. Brand-new everything, a huge rock garden, herb garden, patios, etc.!


Despite our driving nearly 2 hours to see him, none of us actually knew what had happened to Brock, and as we walked to his room, we all became increasingly worried for him as we passed signs for the ICU... :( He seemed to perk up when he saw us, although he certainly didn't look his best. Apparently, he had been suffering from DKA, combined with an infection at his pump site. Luckily tho, he was doing better, and the worst had passed. We were only able to stay for a few hours, but we all had a good time hanging out, talking, and even got in a few hands of werewolf :) Brock is back to work this week, so he's thankfully doing better!

After dropping Balo off at home, Hunter and I rushed over to meet up with his friends Colin and Nicole at their house for dinner. They made us pad Thai, and it was pretty good! Was nice to meet them, and spend a bit of time hanging out :) Unfortunately, we were unable to stay too long, since we'd left Darrin's house early in the morning to complete normal Saturday errands before leaving for Johnson City. I knew I needed to get back to take care of the animals. I invited the two of them to come along with us to spend some time playing board/card games at Darrin's, and they agreed! :) We also let Balo know, and he was able to meet up with us as well.

The night started off really well! Played some Munchkin, started getting our "drank on", and then hopped in the pool.


Colin ended up having a bit too much to drink however, and got a little rowdy. Made him eat some eggs and bacon, and put him to bed. In the morning, Hunter, Balo, and I dropped him off before heading to Perkins for some much needed protein! :D Was soooooooo delicious (but it was probably more so due to how hungry we all were.)

I made a quick core Cleric for the table the three of us would be at later that afternoon, and we met up again at PFS. It had been ages since Hunter and I had been around; was nice to see everyone again! :) Our table was comprised of the three of us (Cleric, Fighter, and Bard), and one new guy (Rogue), and Donald GMed for us. I'd never played core before, but things went pretty well. They got kind of grim near the end of the scenario, with a crazy negative energy channeling Cleric, but we made it through! This is the first of a four-part group of scenarios, so it should end up being pretty interesting story-wise :D

I've been doing a little nontraditional arting. One of the bridal shower gifts Kristin received back in March were two mason jars with painted popsicle sticks with dates written upon them. There were 52 in total (I believe), 26 in each jar, one was coloured for Joe, the other for Kristin. The idea is to trade-off removing a stick each week, and having a date night based upon the selected activity. I thought that was an adorable idea, so I proposed it to Hunter and he thought it was brilliant. We both made a list of date activities, and I started crafting. So far, the jars are mostly decorated, and the sticks are painted. Just need to write down the date ideas! Probably add something more to the jars, too...

Speaking of date night, tonight is date night! Hunter's got to work rather late, I believe, but we'll probably go out to eat and hit up a movie :) Something simple and nice to take away this work stress!

This week, Hunter officially moved into my apartment. We had been discussing it previously, and our only reservations were his ability to provide some sort of financial assistance. He finally told me over the weekend that he felt comfortable with the plan we made, and so I suggested he bring over his computer (since really, that's the only thing that matters! ;) .) It's been going swimmingly, and it's wonderful having him next to me every night when we go to sleep :) Maybe sometime this weekend we'll be able to bring over the remaining items in his room; the only reason we didn't is because of how large/heavy the furniture is. We'll require assistance from some of our fantastic friends! ^^

I had contacted Rob, the realtor, awhile ago, but we had yet to go out looking at houses. Actually, he hadn't even sent me any listings to look at, even after asking me about what I was interested in :/ I asked him earlier in the week if he'd have any time this week or weekend. He's on vacation, so he suggested I speak with one of his friends, Carrie. She got in contact with me, and next day sent me listings to review. I got back to her with the ones that I'd like to see (although nothing was crazy awesome), so hopefully this weekend she can take me around to see some of them. I'd like to get a clearer idea of what I really would like in a house, what I don't like in a house, and if I'd need to spend more to get what I want.

So far, there aren't too many things I'm jonesing for (said every house hunter ever):
  • 2+ bedrooms (4 is pushing it... I don't need that much space)
  • 1.5 or 2 bathrooms (cats need to have their own... err I mean guests)
  • Single family home (no condos, I want a yard! I also am not a fan of reselling condos.)
  • Garage (even if it's only motorcycle-sized...)
  • 2 levels (not necessarily 1st and 2nd floor, but 1st floor and basement works. The basement need not be finished.)
  • A room that can house my 8'x4' dining table with relative comfort/space (like a basement!)
  • North or West Knoxville (or a combination of the two)
  • Preferably younger than I am...
  • Between 100k$-150k$
There are a few on the list I'm excited to see, but nothing that really jumped out at me. Hopefully that will change upon visiting them :)

Laugh whenever you can. Keeps you from killing yourself when things are bad. That and vodka.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Unicorn Semen

Decided to go down to Florida for the fourth. Had Friday off of work, and was able to take Monday off. I've got too much vacation time and not much time to take it off from. Hunter was able to join me :D Makes the drive so much better! (And the trip, of course!) We headed out Thursday, even tho that was more than likely when everyone else would be traveling as well. We actually didn't hit too bad of traffic until Atlanta, which wasn't much worse than usual. Stopped at a sit-down Chick-fil-A, and it was delicious! They offer different sides and whatnot even!

We were about 20 minutes from my parents' house, when we hit standstill traffic from road construction where 3 highway lanes were being reduced to 1 :( Unfortunately, there were no exits between the beginning and end of the traffic :/ You would think that they would have recommended people take the exit just prior as a detour. Instead, 5 miles took 2 hours to travel. We were dead tired once we finally collapsed at the house

Friday, I took Hunter down to the Devil's Millhopper for a taste of the "real Florida." He accidentally knocked my water bottle into the sinkhole, so he had to go retrieve it :d

Of course, we had to stop in our favorite Gainesville Tabletop game shop, too. I picked up the One Night Werewolf expansion Daylight. Super excited to play! :D

 
Had dinner with the family, and then went out to The Hipp to watch When Marnie Was There. Cute anime film all about the feels! Went traversing through a few bars downtown afterward; including Loosey's for their amazing truffle fries ^^ Apparently, Gainesville has its own barcade now as well, across from House of Beer downtown. We couldn't not pop in there! Was pretty cool. I'm a big pinball machine fan and they had several. Not the best selection of games, but still very cool to exist at all.


Saturday was family day. Picked up my godmother, Pat, and Mike and Donna joined us as well. Mom cooked out on the grill, deliciously burnt hot dogs! :D Then it was gaming time! Played several rounds of One Night, which they all loved! And also one game of Munchkin :)
Mom's got herself a little gray kitten she likes to take care of now. She won't go get it immunized to bring it inside, although that's all it really wants.


Yesterday, I was determined to finally get my Crash Man tattoo done, so set up an appointment for the afternoon, and hung out with Hunter playing games until then. I've started working on my first Skylines map: a derpy, semi-to-scale Florida Keys :) Might turn out okay! 

Tattoo was quick and awesome! Done by Kenny, who I think found Hunter and I amusing :)

Out for some sushi dinner at the original Chopstix after. Mmmmm fried Godzilla roll is always the way to go. Hunter had his first black and white, and loved it! Eel really is the best ^^ We admired a little gator in the water outside while we ate. Headed back to the house to hang out with Mom and Jay. Set a fire! and made some smores :) Good times!


Returned home to Tennessee today. Wish we had more time to stay. Could've gone to the beach or springs or something :) Hopefully we'll make it back in October or November for the food and wine festival at Epcot :D

Stopped at Varsity on Atlanta to give their burgers a shot. I think we'll stick with Chick-fil-A!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Functional Insomniac

All the drama had been going on. It was a bit shocking at first, but I've gotten past that and moved beyond to the "actually, I really don't need to worry about this at all" conclusion :D

After a very emotional and needlessly offensive post, Felix decided to remove himself from the Monday night game. /shrugs. Not everyone can be helped, I suppose! Regardless, Hunter, Balo, Sara, Cullyn and I had a fun time finishing the campaign. One game night, Cullyn had each of us select a messenger of the gods to battle it out in the war that our in-game characters had left. Hunter and I ended up on the evil gods' side, with Balo and Sara on the good gods' team. We won ;) but the tide didn't turn the overall war for long. In other RP-heavy sessions with our actual characters, we defeated Mephistophales and his minions even without a healer! (Although Steve did his best, and Hunter used a wish at one point.) it was pretty epic :D The starstone tasted like vanilla Chai, which made it even better! First campaign I've ever been through to the end on (although I wasn't there for the first few sessions), and it was pretty awesome :)

Just after Felix's diva moment, Trae blew up at me (personally) during a Munchkin discrepancy. He stole Rae away and tromped off. Apparently this had been brewing awhile, unbeknownst to the rest of us. Sara stayed, and we continued to play some One Night regardless. Still good times :) Because of that development and Balo's change in work schedule, there's no more Wednesday night gaming for the time being.

Did host a get-together with Hunter, Balo, and Brock Saturday night tho. We made jello shots, watched crazy YouTube videos (including Kung Fury), and hooked up the Wii for some serious Super Smash and Fortune Street :D It was a blast! Despite Hunter and I being terrible at SSBM XD Unfortunately, Brad couldn't make it due to car problems. He was missed :(




Been kicking around some League with Bryan and Hunter. Ended up not buying too much during the Steam sale. Did pick up Long Live the Queen and Cities: Skylines. It's been super addicting for sure o.o

Had a rather normal Werewolf night that unfortunately Hunter missed due to family stuff. Everyone had a jab at him regardless,  and joked that he was visiting his real girlfriend in Charlotte instead :P Balo and I carpooled since we <3 the environment!



Ran into Courtney (Casey's girlfriend) while she was working at Chick-fil-A. Poor girl works like crazy!

Lily the Orchid, at last! Isn't she beautiful :)



Passed my first UTK class with an A! Already registered for one class next semester (Calc 1) and waiting to be allowed to register for the next. Unfortunately, because I'm a non-degree student, I don't have a major, so I don't get to register for computer science courses without permission.  Means I just wait until it opens for everyone :/ Hopefully, it won't be full!

We finally hired another developer in my office. He's just started, and he's quite green. Hopefully he'll be able to help us out :)

Hunter and I went over to the Gatlinburg area to do a little bit of hiking/sightseeing. Was way too hot to ride, but was still beautiful scenery, and fun to get out of the house! Stopped at the Blue Moose on the way home for delicious food! Too bad we had some driving to do after and the fact we were dehydrated, because it looked like they had some great beer options.





Actually, Hunter and I went downtown to the Brewery Wednesday night for the first time in ages. Still really good food and beer! :D

I want this game on Android, right meow!


They finally built trenches for my backyard patio area to add real drainage piping! Now when it rains, it no longer floods :) /stalkerphoto



I made a delicious Nutella pie :)

You talk, I die. You smile, you laugh, I cry.