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in which Drave still does not type up his Vegas entries
So, yeah, I don't have any lamps or lights for my bedroom yet. When I get home from work, it's too dark to see the hand-written pages of my journal. This means I might not get a chance to finish updating everything until Saturday. *sigh* Either that, or I need to buy a lamp. Anyway, in spite of my journalistic delay, it is grand to be back in my own bed. I don't feel like I got nearly enough sleep last night to make up for how little I got over the past few days. Sleep is so close I can almost taste it right now. *yawn*

Getting through work today was much more difficult than I was expecting, even though none of my calls were particularly difficult. What was difficult, though, was dealing with the vending machines no longer being free. Granted, they are still fairly cheap, but we were all pretty used to getting everything for free. Oh well. At least we still have a free soda fountain, and at least the cafeteria is still relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it looks like Bagel Wednesday has gone the way of the dodo as well.

I felt fine, if tired, until the end of the day. I'm not sure if feeling sick was brought on by lack of sleep, or if somebody at work gave me the call center plague. Either way, I need to get to bed very soon, if I am to have any hope of feeling decent enough to work tomorrow. I hate calling in sick; I hate it even more when I have just returned from vacation. I guess I will have to see how I feel in the morning. I ate the most noxious food I could find, so that should help. Even when my illness feels like a flu, spicy and/or greasy food has always made me feel better, or at least heal quicker.

Okay, it's bedtime.

Current Mood: sick

back from Vegas
Just got back from Vegas. Would like to have been back a couple hours ago, but the taxi was being difficult. I'm too tired to type up the rest of the entries from the trip, though, so this entry might be a little bit jarring until I type up the others tomorrow night. Sorry,

darthtad, the picture you requested is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I am just too tired to deal right now.

I ended up crashing pretty hard last night, even though I wanted to do some more blackjack. I then slept until the luxurious hour of 10am, after which I checked out on

darthtad's behalf using the nifty television checkout system. Yes, there is a channel on the TV for checking out of your hotel room. Maybe that's a common thing, but it was new to me, and I enjoyed it. Anyway, the real downside to being on my own today was that I had to lug both of my bags around all the time.

I was in the mood to do some more gambling, and I still had my last day's budget to blow, but it was too hot for me to get very far from Luxor. I stumbling my way over to Tropicana to check out their $5 blackjack tables, but I got a really unpleasant vibe from the place, so I crawled back to Luxor. I kept passing through Excalibur, where they have a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort. I think this is the place where the waiters are deliberately rude to you, but I could be remembering wrong. Anyway, by this time I was pretty hungry and a bit dehydrated, so I stopped in to use my comp for Luxor's buffet. (It's called "More") Their buffet was better than the one we had at Plaza, but not nearly as good as Rio or Wynn. Really good Crème brûlée, though! With a raspberry on top. (He wore a raspberry brûlée?)

For today's gambling, I decided to try and repeat my past success with the Wizard of Oz slot, but braving the nickel machines at Luxor instead of the penny ones I was doing last night. Success was not to be had, and I was left with several hours to kill before I had to be at the airport. I decided to head up the strip a little ways and see if I could find some new player's club sign-up bonuses. Since I have moved to a different state, whether or not the casinos remember me seems to be very hit-and-miss. I ended up spending the bulk of the afternoon at Planet Hollywood, mainly because I was able to earn some free slot play there, and I also had an entry in a slot tournament. Didn't really have any success there either, but I am still up $300 for the whole trip, so I've got nothing to complain about.

The flight home was just as mellow as the previous one, except they had little TVs in the ceiling to give the safety speech instead of letting the stewardess do it. It was too dark to read, but the seat was too uncomfortable to sleep in, so the time passed pretty slowly. I eventually made it home, met at the airport by the Phonetician, so that was nice. I had a bitch of a time getting a cab home from Sunset Transit Center, though. All in all, it was one of the more fun and successful Vegas trips I have had. This is definitely the first time I have returned carrying more money than I brought to Vegas. I guess my money didn't happen in Vegas for once! I'm already scheming for my next trip. I'm expecting some fun things in the mail in the near future from a couple of the places I played at this trip. For now, though, it is time for sleep.

Current Mood: exhausted

sleepless knight
I can't get the movie out of my head. It's burrowing into the back of my brain, and unfolding its many layers, as my memories of what I saw grow richer and richer. Really, it is Heath Ledger's performance that I keep coming back to. All throughout the day, I kept getting these flashes of little pieces of scenes. Things that I might not have even thought about at the time come back to me, keeping the character fresh in my mind. The Joker sticking his head out of a car window. The way he says "I'm not crazy." The almost animal-like flicking of his tongue during conversations. Utterly riveting. ♥

Today moved pretty slowly, although nowhere near as slowly as yesterday. The last hour did drag a bit, though. On the bright side, it was dragging because they took me off the phones to help answer questions for the newbs. It was an odd change of pace, but not an unwelcome one. I spent a lot of that last hour furtively playing with the blackjack trainer from Wizard of Odds. I think I am pretty close to full trained with it now. I'll still do a bit more in the morning, I think, and I may print out a copy of the strategy card anyway.

I am so tired right now, but I am trying to think of something interesting to say, because my journal entries from the trip probably won't be typed up until after I get back. The only things I can think about are Vegas things and Batman things. Oh, speaking of Vegas things, I did get one more outsourced gambling order from a coworker. One guy wants me to put $20 on the Pass Line in craps, and then let it ride for two hands. If I win both, I am supposed to put half of the money back in my pocket, the repeat the process with the other half.

Okay, I can't keep my eyes open at all, so it must be time to sleep.

Current Mood: enthralled

let me show you a magic trick
Okay, first of all, if Heath Ledger does not win the Oscar this year, it will be downright criminal. That was, without a doubt, the single most astounding performance I have seen this decade. It is both over-the-top and nuanced, gleeful and terrifying. I can see why this role gave Ledger nightmares. I'm still thinking about the ways in which his Joker creeped me out, and I will definitely not rest easy. Finally, justice has been done to the true Joker from the best of the Batman comics. He is just about the scariest son of a bitch I can think of in the movies. ♥

Yeah, I'm sure some other things happened today, but this is all going to be about The Dark Knight, so you might as well wait to read it until you have seen it. Let's just say that Cloverfield has finally been surpassed as my favorite movie of the year. I went into this movie more excited for any movie ever, with the possible exception of Star Wars Episode One and Lord of the Rings, and I still came out blown away. This movie is truly an event. It's the one we Batman geeks have been waiting for. When I saw Batman Begins, I thought Nolan knocked it out of the park. That movie was an appetizer. The Dark Knight reaches depths never attempted by superhero movies, and the comparisons I have seen to Godfather II and Empire Strikes Back are not unwarranted.

I'm so amazed at so many aspects of the film, I don't even know what to talk about next. It doesn't help that it's pushing four in the morning, and it was a LONG day. I even had to wake up extra early to do laundry, because I have no idea when else I will be able to do it. Getting into the movie was pretty stressful as well. Usually, we can arrive at a midnight show at around 11:20, and there are maybe four or five people ahead of us, and the theater is usually only one half to two thirds full by the start of the film. This time, they sold out eight midnight screenings. Ours was the first one sold, and in the biggest theater, but the previous movie in ours ran the longest, so we were seated last. None of us were happy about that, nor about the obnoxious radio "personalities" doing annoying activities beforehand. All worth it in the end, though.

Gah, I am so out of it. I have no idea what else to see right now. Just go see this movie.

Current Mood: enthralled

he rides across the nation, a thoroughbred of sin
For those of you who might not be aware of it, Joss Whedon is doing a web-only miniseries this week. It is being broadcast in three parts spread out over five days. The first two parts are already up. The third part, I believe, goes up on Friday at midnight. It's called Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, and it makes me very, very happy. It stars Neil Patrick Harris as a mad scientist trying to impress his way into the Evil League of Evil and/or win the heart of his laundromat crush. Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal of Firefly) plays his arch nemesis, Captain Hammer. And yes, the whole thing is a musical. It's only going to be online this week, so catch it while you can. I think it will still be available on iTunes afterward, though. I think

katiuska gave me the best possible summary of the show. "Starring Neil Patrick Harris, written and directed by Joss Whedon? Who found a genie, and what were their other two wishes?"

I went to the rental office before work today, to sign the form that was missing my signature. Of course, the landlady had stepped out for a break, and the person filling in couldn't find the paperwork. I was late for my bus. Fortunately, the bus I usually catch gets me to work around 45 minutes early, so there is a lot of wiggle room. Unfortunately, the MAX train ended up breaking down, which wiggled out of all the wiggle room, and I barely made it to work on time. A few stops before the train broke down, a creepy guy carrying a shoe box got on and sat right next to me, even though half the train was empty. We all had to get off when the train broke down. When we got back on the train, the guy waited for me to get back on, and then sat back down next to me again. It gave me the jibblies. Thankfully, he got off two stops later. *shiver*

Work was pretty slow-moving and uneventful today. After work, Bear took me on a domestic errand. We went to Fred Meyer to fill out some of the gaps in my kitchen equipment. I added a silverware tray for my drawer, a colander, a ten dollar toaster, a dish drain rack, and a trash bin. Also, another batch of breakfast items. I think I am going to attempt to counter the Phonetician's breakfast with my own attempt on Friday morning, since I'm sure she will get stuck here after The Dark Knight. Speaking of which, the time dilation effect of this week is getting ridiculous. Between waiting for new parts of Dr. Horrible, waiting for the new Batman movie, and waiting for my trip to Las Vegas, I don't know if this week will ever end!

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

get a move on
This week is crawling by at a snail's pace. Well, the parts between noon and nine are. Time passes much too quickly once the work day is over. I have shopping to do, household things to buy, and laundry to do, but I can never seem to find time for any of these activities once I get home. I think I need to start getting up earlier or something. I'm definitely going to have to get up early on Thursday to do laundry before my trip, because there's no way I will have time to do it Thursday night, and I'll be too tired Friday morning. I suppose laundry on Saturday morning is a possibility, since my flight isn't until the afternoon.

My landlord damned near gave me a heart attack at work today. In the middle of my shift, she called me three times in rapid succession. She left a voice mail the first time, but it was a while before I could check it. I was having horrible images of the place burning down, or some screw-up by the construction guys who were working on the roof when I left this morning. I eventually had to take a bathroom break just to check my voicemail. False alarm. It turns out I just missed one of the signature spaces on that mountain of forms I filled out last week. I just have to get up early tomorrow and fill it out. While I'm down there, I guess I can find out if the mail room closes at night or not. Also, locating our laundry facilities might be useful.

I've already received some small outsourced gambling orders at work. A couple of roulette bets, one $5 slot machine, and one sports bet, with a few more people expressing interest.

In related news, I have been rediscovering one of the most interesting gambling-related sites; The Wizard of Odds. This guy is a great resource. He is like the w3schools of gambling. Plus, he has added a Blackjack Trainer program to his site! I can practice basic strategy, risk-free, for as long as I want, and the program yells at me if I make the wrong choice. ♥ I think I'll be back up to speed before the trip. Not that I expect to play that much blackjack, but it's important that I don't let my skill deteriorate.

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: Manau - Panique Celtique

It's unacceptable that chocolate makes you fat
I really need to get the hang of getting up early enough to make breakfast. Now that I have a kitchen and breakfast things, I think eating breakfast at home would be a good idea. As cheap as the cafeteria at work is, I'd really rather eat my own food. If I eat breakfast at home, I probably won't quite be hungry enough to eat again until the cafeteria has already closed. Since my lunch break isn't really long enough to get food, I'll have to wait until I get home to eat again. So, really, eating breakfast at home is the key to drastic dietary adjustment. ♥ It's also going to help that the vending machines are no longer going to be 100% subsidized after this week. (The increased cost of the cafeteria is probably to blame for this.) The vending machines are still going to be super cheap, but I will still think twice about every snack I grab now that they will no longer be free.

In other news, I finally got around to reading John Green's first book, Looking for Alaska. I've been meaning to read both of his books ever since I discovered Brotherhood 2.0, but I keep forgetting to look for them when I go to Powell's. I picked up the first one the other night when Bear and I were killing time before whatever movie we saw last. Hellboy II, I think. Anyway, it's really freaking good. There is a lot of great literature hidden under the Young Adult umbrella, I think. Not enough people my age realize this, because we are all vaguely embarrassed to walk into the section where all this treasure is hidden. Not me, though. I have no shame. And I am really looking forward to picking up his next book, An Abundance of Katherines.

Two of my most anticipated events of this year are rapidly approaching! In fact, they are both coming up within the week! The first, naturally, is the release of The Dark Knight, which could quite possibly be the most awesome comic book movie ever made. It's the first movie I have actually bothered to Fandango the tickets for in over a year, I think. ♥ The other even, naturally, is my trip to Las Vegas with

darthtad and company! I keep trying to explain to the Phonetician why I love Vegas so much, and I keep failing to get the point across. It's getting to the point where I am deeply curious about what she will think of the place if she ever does go. I keep thinking she will hate it, but then I showed her a bunch of pictures of my first trip, and some of them entertained her greatly, so who knows.

What should I do while I am in Vegas? Anybody have any crazy ideas? Suggest them in comments! I am already planning to eat at the Wynn buffet, see The Dark Knight on an Imax screen, and see a Cirque du Soleil show. What else? I am open to all ideas, including strange food adventures, random mischief, and especially esoteric gambling projects! As usual, the offer of outsourced gambling is open, but since I no longer have access to most of you in person, any money will have to be sent via PayPal to dravejunkmail at yahoo dot com. Include detailed instructions and parameters to cover all potential winning situations. ♥

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Manau - Panique Celtique

in which a lot of relaxing is done
The Phonetician came over today, and she helped me inaugurate my new kitchen. We made an actual breakfast, with eggs and sausages and toast and fruit juice and fresh strawberries and everything. It was pretty great, but it reminded me how much I need to pick up some spices and sauces. It really makes a difference having my own kitchen, with my own dishes, pots, and pans. Most of the time, I join a kitchen already in progress. This time, I am building it from the drawers up, to my precise specifications. I have often told myself that I would like to learn to cook, but I never seem to find the time or the motivation. Time is still a factor, but the motivation has increased exponentially since I moved in here. ♥

After breakfast, we sprawled out in my mostly-empty living room, and watched Lilo & Stitch. I am such a sap for that movie. We spent a lot of the day just relaxing, talking, and trying not to get broiled by the heat. (Butterscotch Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen helped a lot with that. Those things are the devil.) I would have liked to have done some more household shopping, but I'm not in any real hurry. Especially considering I don't spend that much time at home during the week, and I am going to Vegas next weekend. (We've got plans to see The Dark Knight on one of the city's gigantic Imax screens!) The weekend after that, I think my helper from last week is going to bring her truck and go hunting for furniture with me. ♥

For dinner, we had Chinese takeout from a nearby place with the dubious name of China Rim. Not too shabby. I think it might be one of those places that use no MSG, although it was not advertised as such. I haven't had a lot of Chinese food since I moved up here. Chinese delivery seems to be a little bit more rare up here than I am used to. The waitress told us her theory, which hadn't even occurred to be until now, but which seems pretty believable; increasing gas costs are the reason so few restaurants deliver now. Can you bay area people check your local Chinese restaurants and report on whether the availability of delivery seems to have decreased?

In my search for exciting lighting and other household objects online, I've seriously beefed up my ThinkGeek Wishlist. It's grown to over two thousand dollars worth of items. I feel like I should be ashamed, but I'm not.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Avalon Rising - Storming Heaven

I can has groceries!
Today was a day in which not much was accomplished, but I think that might have been the kind of day I needed to have. It's really nice to be lacking that low-grade aura of stress that was lying under all of my daily adventures. ♥ I was thinking about this the other week; even though I'm 30, and even though I have been living away from home since I turned 18, this is the first time I have ever moved into a place all on my own. I have always joined a group of people already living somewhere, or moved in with a group of friends, or even lived with a girlfriend, but I have never just gone out and got a place by myself. Even though I will only be living alone for a few months, I still feel more like a grown-up than usual. Also, I am finally having to buy dishes and things, which I don't usually do, because I always move in with people who have their own dishes. Unfortunately, this can cause problems like tonight, when I bought two cartons of juice and forgot that I don't have cups yet. Whoops!

I've got a bug up my butt to light my house. I have super-awesome lighting in the halls, bathroom, dining room, and kitchen, but the bedrooms are utterly lacking in light. The first lights that popped into my head were from ThinkGeek, so I spent a good chunk of time digging around for exciting products. I've now got a couple hundred dollars worth of things in my shopping cart. Mainly because I was too tired to figure out where the wish list is, or even what my login was. I placed an order from there back in 2001 or 2002, and haven't purchased anything since. Anyway, I really want some of the solar charging sun and moon jars, and these faucet lights, and this LED paper lantern, and maybe one of these electric candles. ♥ I am a lighting junkie. I admit it.

I went downtown today for the first time in quite a while. I think I've been going through Voodoo withdrawals, so I grabbed a McMinnville and a simple raspberry-filled powdered donut. Then I meandered around looking for somewhere that might have kitchenware, like silverware trays and dish racks and things, but I couldn't find anything. All that junk is out in the suburbs, I guess. I had a rather unsatisfying Thai lunch from a hole-in-the-wall place, and then hit the heat wall. The heat wall is my version of that thing that marathon runners get. I am out in the heat for a certain amount of time, and it's not actually getting hotter, but I hit this point where I go "No, day. I am done!" and I go home and take a nap. Fortunately, I boarded the wrong bus, and then I had to get off a few stops early, which placed me in serendipitous proximity to an ice cream shop. My day improved drastically after that.

I did my first actual grocery shopping for this place tonight. It mostly involved breakfast things. And some juice, as I implied earlier. Breakfast is very easy to cook, so I thought it would be a good thing to begin with, as I try to get back in the practice of cooking. I intend for a LOT of cooking to happen in this home.

There was a drunk person on every single bus I took today. The first one was particularly obnoxious. I sat down, and he slurred "Is it warm out there?" at me. I said it was extremely warm. He then said "Thass why I soak my hat in water before I leave!" When I didn't respond to that, he grumbled angrily to himself, and, as I was leaving, he shouted "Screw you, you fluffy bastard!"

Current Mood: hot

survived another move
Much to my surprise, while I was packing, I discovered my copy of Anansi Boys, which I purchased several months ago and then completely forgot about. I was trying to buy it for a long time, but it was always sold out, so when I finally did buy it, I totally forgot to read it. Whoops. Anyway, I am reading it now, but it is taking a while, due to my new and improved bus route. I got to work early enough to consider taking a nap in the sleeping room, but I decided it would be too hard to wake up again.

Today was a really long day at work. Still, with the judicious application of caffeinated beverages, I survived it. Oh, and the shrimp calzone I had from the cafeteria helped a bit. It's weird how completely different the speed of the day can seem depending on what kinds of calls you get. Sometimes a dozen small calls can feel like four hours, and sometimes they can feel like five minutes. On the other hand, sometimes a really long call can make the time fly by, and sometimes it can slow the day down to a crawl. Somebody needs to do a scientific study on time dilation effects caused by working in call centers.

I'm really unsure of what I want to do this weekend. I'm not really feeling social at all, but there is an event I want to attend with the Phonetician. I want to stay home and unpack, but I also want to spend some time downtown, since I haven't in quite a while. I also want to go out and buy household things I need, but I don't have anybody to do that with at the moment. Also, it's been way too long since I did a day of indie movie catch-up. Also, I am way too tired to even think straight. Hopefully the weekend will start to take shape after a long night of sleep.

Current Mood: hot

the pain is migrating
I woke up this morning to a friendly little call from the Phonetician, alerting me that she was on her way with some sort of surprise. I was pleased, and fell back asleep. Some time later, I woke up to a text message saying that her car had broken down on a hill, and that she would be trying to move again in 10 minutes or so. An hour later, I woke up to a call letting me know that her car went boom, the surprise had been donuts, and that I would not have her company today. Hopefully I can hit a bazillion dollar jackpot in Vegas next weekend and buy her a new car.

The Comcast guy showed up around when he said he would, so that was nice. He fiddled a bit with cables and boxes and phones and things, and now I have shiny new internets, along with a digital phone line and some basic cable. I don't care about the cable at all, but having a DVR box is worth the cost. Especially since they ran out of the non-HD ones, so I got a free upgrade. Not that I have an HDTV yet, but I will soon, and then I will be all set to record some gloriously detailed copies of Lost and Pushing Daisies and Chuck this fall. ♥ It amuses me that, of the three services I got today, I only have the equipment to use one of them.

Tonight, Bear and I went to see the long-awaited Hellboy II. He isn't sure how he feels about it yet, but I really dug the heck out of it. Same sort of chaotic and fun feel as the first one, but without the faint stench of studio interference that permeated the original. Gone is the pointless human character with no powers. Hellboy and Abe take center stage throughout, although Liz and the newcomer, Johann Strauss, are given plenty to do. The world feels a lot richer this time, and completely permeated with a fairy tale aesthetic that the original eschewed in favor of a more Lovecraftian tone. The plot revolves around a pissed-off elf prince bent on exterminating humanity for lacking magic and generally being douches. I am a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro's artistic style, and his creatures are truly a wonder to behold. Special attention is deserved by the Troll Market, which deserves to go down in history as one of the most mind-blowing special effects creations in the history of film. As for the movie as a whole, I'm not really sure whether to recommend it to everyone. I think I'll just go with my first instinct, and say that if you dug the first one you will definitely dig this one.

Current Mood: home

You know what sucks? Standing up. Sitting down is not much fun either.
Oddly enough, I had no trouble waking up this morning. It was sitting up that gave me the trouble. *wince* Still, it felt pretty great to wake up in my new place, even if it isn't exactly cozy yet. I spent a good half hour just wandering around the apartment, thinking of all the things I am going to do to make it my own. I keep forgetting to ask if I am allowed to paint the walls. I'm inclined to think they should allow me to as long as I paint it back before I move out, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I spent the rest of the morning updating my address everywhere I could think of. I did my dental plan, health care, transit reimbursement, PayPal, USBank, and even updated the mailing address for my Penny Arcade Expo badge. I updated my Yahoo! information as soon as I got to work.

Amusingly enough, there is a bus that comes right by my house at exactly the time I used to catch the 89 at my last place. Of course, it's a much shorter ride to the transit center now, so catching the bus at the same time gets me to work almost half an hour earlier than I'm used to. Unfortunately, I was still stuffed from last night, so I didn't get anything from the cafeteria. The work day didn't go too badly. As an added bonus, the higher-ups bought us ice cream as a thank you for how hard we have been working. Not just the Ben & Jerry's pints that we had last time. They actually had people going around with an ice cream cart, dispensing scoops with toppings. It was pretty cute. It made the day pass a little more quickly, too. I still needed to pass out in one of our nap rooms during my lunch break, though.

After work, Bear and I went out to dinner. I just felt like eating another real meal, and he wanted company, so that worked out well. We went to Applebee's, where we landed smack dab in the middle of one of the worst dinner rushes I have ever seen. Our poor waiter was running around like crazy for the whole time we were sitting there. We tipped him pretty well, because he still did a great job, despite obviously being run ragged all night. After dinner, Bear took me back to my old place, where I dropped off the keys before going home. I was going to stay and clean up the bathroom, but I couldn't even bend over to untie my shoes, so I didn't think my back would survive scrubbing a bathtub. I'm sure the roomies weren't too keen on my disappearance, but there wasn't really anything I could do.

It took all my strength just to plug in my computer tonight, in preparation for the ComCast guy who is showing up early tomorrow morning.

Current Mood: the pain
Current Music: 2 SKinnee J's - Sexy Karate

I've lived here 17 hours and I've already got leftovers in the fridge!
So, I called in sick to work today. Partially because I was actually feeling sick when I woke up, but mostly because I realized that I really needed one more full day to finish packing. I went to the deli and chugged one of those terrifying "5 Hour Energy" drinks. It didn't taste too wretched, and it sure woke me the hell up. It also apparently slaughtered whatever bug was messing with my immune system earlier, because I felt fine by the middle of the afternoon. And thus, freshly caffeinated, and with Korpiklaani blaring out of my computer, I packed the living daylights out of my old apartment.

Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I went to the new apartment to get my keys and do the walk-through. Mostly, the place is in great shape. There is one kitchen drawer that sticks, and a couple of nicks in the countertops, but other than that, all is well. I took a ton of pictures, which I have already posted, and one video, which I haven't. I called

sailstosea to get his reaction to our new place, and he was pretty freaking excited about it. Especially the kitchen part of it. ♥ Anyway, after this came the aforementioned packing. Twice, I got so exhausted, I had to walk down to Subway and get a five dollar foot-long sandwich. Eventually, I finished everything around 8:30, just in time for a miracle to happen.

The miracle was named... well, I guess I should give her a nickname. I think I am going to call her Xena for now, because she is a WARRIOR! The Phonetician sent her to me. She showed up at 8:30 with a small pickup truck, and we moved everything. It took us four trips. Four progressively slower trips, as we both grew more and more exhausted. Moving from a 3rd floor apartment to a 2nd floor apartment is no picnic. My me is killing me. We finished up at almost two in the morning, and I ran out of steam long before she did. The woman is a machine! She carried my TV all by herself. And she probably weighs half of what I do, and is significantly older. She impressed me so much that I paid her twice the agreed amount for helping me. She is like a female

darthtad! We have tentative plans to take her truck and go Craigslisting for furniture in a couple weeks.

After finishing the move, we went to Sheri's for dinner. After such a workout, I was craving all the carbs ever, so I ordered loaded French fries, stuffed hash browns, and cheese sticks. The hash browns were stuffed with cheese and sour cream. The loaded fries were basically a bowl of nachos with criss-cut fries instead of tortilla chips. They were pretty amazing. Unfortunately, or so I thought, the waitress accidentally hit the button for the fries a second time instead of hitting the one for the hash browns. She didn't catch the error until both orders were almost done. She was a good sport about her mistake, though, and she gave me the second order in a to-go box for no extra charge. (This is why I now have leftovers.) She spent the rest of the meal busting her butt to make up for the simple screw-up. We tipped her generously. Now I and my 2000 aching parts are going to try and go to sleep and still manage to work tomorrow.

Current Mood: oh god my spleen
Current Music: my bones creaking

*wheeze*
I am finishing off moving tonight. I won't have internet access until Thursday morning. I will either post my entries from work, or just type them on the computer and back date them once I have internets again. Meanwhile, take a look at my new home:

( Under the cut! )

I not feel so hot
I am so annoyed at my new apartment, and I haven't even moved in yet. This does not bode well for the future. I suppose I will just have to hope that

sailstosea gets a job very quickly after he moves up here, so I can move out after only a few months. Anyway, I was told to show up today at 11:30 in the morning to receive my keys, and to do a walk-through of the apartment. I showed up at 11:30, and was told it still isn't ready for inspection. I was originally told that I could start moving in on the 6th. Now I have to wait one more day before I can even start moving things. *sigh* Considering I have to have all of my stuff out of here by Wednesday night, things are not looking good.

I've been trying people on Craigslist and asking at work, trying to find help with the actual moving. I have exhausted most of the cheaper options, and now it looks like I am going to have to call one of those places that specializes in last minute emergency moving. It will probably run me at least $200 for something that I would normally be able to get for $50 on Craigslist. Whatever it takes to get the job done, I guess. Speaking of which, I bought a tiny bottle of one of those terrifying 5 Hour Energy drinks. I've got it cooling on my window sill, and I am hoping that I am coherent enough to chug it when my first alarm goes off, because I have a lot more packing to do in the morning before I make my next attempt to get my key.

In keeping with the start of the morning, today was one of the rare work days where everything goes wrong, and I feel wrung out by the end of the shift. I think my last call of the day lasted for the entire final leg of my shift. (As in, from the end of my last break up until time to punch out.) Also, there was an interesting new snack in the vending machine, but they stacked it badly, and it caused a jam. People kept trying to knock a bag of it off the rack by selecting the heaviest item directly above it. None of these attempts worked, and the end result was a layer of trail mix packets littering the bottom of the machine. As a public service, I took home all the poor, abused trail mixes. They were delicious.

Current Mood: sick

a logic-defying shopping adventure
No, I don't really know what prompted me to go out hunting for a bunch of kitchen stuff when I am in the process of packing up everything for a move, but here we are. I think it was Bear's mentioning a few days ago that he would like to go to IKEA. Or maybe it was caused by me freaking out and realizing I don't actually own any dishes of my own anymore. I've lived for so long in places where others have had a multitude of dishes; I haven't had to maintain any of my own, and I never had that many to begin with. Anyway, starting with a clean slate is pretty nice, because it's much easier to choose things that will go well together.

Originally, the trip was just going to be to IKEA, but it sort of grew from there. We started with a tasty lunch of Swedish meatballs. I had a piece of blueberry torte that was quite nice. I was looking for two main things in IKEA; a set of dishes, and a set of pots and pans. I didn't find any cookware sets I liked. All the ones I could find either had way too many things, or not enough. I did find some lovely and affordable dishes, though. And a really neat pair of cheese graters with their own bowls. And some ice cube trays I couldn't resist. Now my ice comes in star and puzzle piece shapes. ♥ Oh, and I got some silverware as well.

Since we were pretty close to the river, Bear decided to show me the Wal*Mart super store in Washington. (After a quick detour in Best Buy!) I'm a little disturbed that my first foray into a new state involved a Wal*Mart trip. They didn't even have any pots I liked, and I found the size of the building terrifying. It reminded me too much of the possible future of WALL-E. Anyway, our next stop was a Target, and we had better luck there. I found a cheap pot set, and a cheap set of cutlery and other kitchen essentials. We spent the rest of the day zooming around trying to achieve a goal of Bear's; to find a replacement copy of Ultraviolet. Unfortunately, everybody in the world seems to be sold out of it this weekend.

Now I am trying to get up the energy to get back to packing. I think I am going to have to finish it tomorrow night. It doesn't really matter that I didn't finish it today, considering I can't even start moving until Tuesday morning. I'm probably just going to pay one of those movers who advertises on Craigslist to do it. It might run me about fifty bucks, but at least it will be done quickly.

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: Loreena McKennitt - The Visit

sign here on the dotted everything
Today was a day of peripheral moving-related errands, most of which I did with the Phonetician. The first one was removing my rent and security deposit from the bank and turning them into money orders to give my new landlady. Having rent and a security deposit in your wallet is simultaneously exciting and demoralizing. It's exciting to have four digits of money in my wallet at once, but it's demoralizing because I know it is all about to vanish very quickly.

The next errand was a quick one. I needed to swing by Public Storage to grab a small stack of extra moving boxes. I still have quite a few in storage, but I decided it was better to be safe than sorry. The next errand was delivering the rent to my landlady, and then filling out all of the move-in paperwork. I can't believe how many forms you have to fill out to rent an apartment up here. I think I must have signed my name thirty different times on thirty different pieces of paperwork. At least it's all finished now. I just need to show up Monday morning to get my key and do a walk-through on the apartment. Unfortunately, this means I can't start moving tomorrow like I though I was going to be able to.

I'd been feeling pretty crappy all day, so I decided a big, heart comfort-food lunch was needed. I managed to talk the Phonetician into going with me to the one good Chinese buffet I have discovered here so far. Apparently, it was her first time in a Chinese buffet, so that was kind of exciting. They have raised their prices since the last time I was there, sadly. Still plenty of amazing food, though. I am particularly fond of their egg tarts. They're basically a sweetened omelet inside a cup made out of the same kind of material that the outer layer of an egg roll is made of. Anyway, the buffet did improve my day pretty drastically, although I still felt a bit migraine-y. I was going to help the roomies clean, but I ended up just passing out for a good chunk of the evening.

Current Mood: bitchy
Current Music: Korpiklaani - Tales Along This Road

Theseus is MEAN
Today was pretty much the best day ever at work, even though I totally forgot that the bus was on a holiday schedule, and this caused me to almost be late for work. The cafeteria was closed, but a ton of people brought interesting food. Somebody brought two boxes of donuts from Voodoo. Somebody made miniature key lime pies. Somebody brought a seven layer bean dip. There were chips and vegetables and melons and grapes. There was pasta and chicken salad and potato salad and a couple of cases of cupcakes. Oh, and somebody brought their barbecue for the purpose of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers; the quintessential Fourth of July foods. Of course, some of them were veggie dogs and garden burgers, which seemed pleasantly subversive to me. Oh, and the manager left at some point, and came back with enough pints of Ben & Jerry's to fill our entire freezer. Naturally, I went with the Americone Dream flavor. ♥

Normally, I am answering calls for every minute I am on the clock. Today, however, people had better things to do than work on their websites, because I think I took maybe seven calls during the entire day. It was pretty much a gigantic goof-off day today. People would punch in the phone code for Special Project, and then get up and grab a burger. The managers encouraged this. I spent most of the day fiddling around with HTML lessons on w3schools.com, and the rest of it chatting with friends in Gmail. Oh, and we got sent home an hour and a half early. I considered trying to find somewhere to watch fireworks, but I was too tired, and I knew I needed to be rested for tomorrow.

Bear and I did go to one of his favorite restaurants for dinner. It's called the Black Bear Diner, appropriately enough. The menus are really cute. They are printed on the inside of a fake old-timey newspaper. Our waitress was majestic. Extremely warm and friendly, with a Georgia accent, and she called everybody baby, sugar, or darlin'. Total comfort food, and a waitress to match. Bear had a steak, and I had a hunk of grilled salmon. Bear had seemed a little down, so I'm glad I got to do something fun with him. Now I am trying to fall asleep, but having a hard time because I am waiting for the last episode of this season of Doctor Who to appear on YouTube.

Current Mood: exhausted

bada big boom
Okay, first of all, this new Hellboy ad campaign is making me stupidly happy. The James Lipton one from before was pretty great, but I think this latest one beats it.

I can't wait to see what else they are going to do.

In other news, tomorrow is the Fourth of July! Well, technically, it's already the Fourth of July, but I don't think it counts until you go to sleep. Up here, it is very different from the bay area. I'm seeing firework stands on every major street, and near every major supermarket. I haven't seen honest-to-goodness firework stands since I was in high school. There is a corruption that is slowly sucking the fun out of all the best holidays. It's just about drained California dry, but it hasn't taken hold up here. Pretty much the only places around here where fireworks don't seem to be allowed are inside apartment complexes like mine, where there are many levels of roof, and where a stray spark could cause some hard-to-extinguish flames. I'm comfortable with that. I still haven't figured out where I am going to go to watch things blow up tomorrow night, but I bet I can find somewhere fun.

I have no idea what the call volume is going to be like tomorrow. On the one hand, it's a holiday, so more people will be at home. On the other hand, who the heck works on their website on the Fourth of July? I'm expecting a pretty mellow day. As an added bonus, one of my coworkers instigated a last-minute potluck, so we should have all kinds of free food tomorrow. ♥ I may have to get to work early just to make sure I can get the good stuff. One of my coworkers who is an amazing cook is making key lime pies, so I have instructed her to stash a piece in my desk drawer if it looks like it's going to be gone by noon.

This week has gone by pretty quickly. I pretty much have only this weekend to get completely packed and move everything down the road. Technically, I don't have to be out until the 10th, but there is a limit to how much moving I can do before noon on a work day. I'm probably going to go the Craigslist route to find someone with a truck to help me move. I would have started packing already, except all of my boxes are in our garage, and the roomies seem to have lost the key, which means I need to get the spare key from the rental office. Since I can't keep the key overnight, that means I have to wait until the weekend to borrow it. *sigh* At least I don't have that much stuff to pack. The main issue is going to be moving my furniture.

Current Mood: sore
Current Music: Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing

It's not just about me and my dream of doing nothing...
Today was a weird day at work. It was the phone equivalent of driving in stop and go traffic. I kept alternating between super speedy and productive calls, and long, drawn out calls with unsatisfying conclusions. At least there was some delicious beef lo mein in the cafeteria this afternoon. ♥ I think I may have inadvertently done something to piss off my little back row gang today. They were saying mean things about me in the chat, but they may have just been referencing something that I totally missed. I just don't have enough brain RAM to chat with people and still do my job effectively.

As always happens when the Phonetician tries to meet me at my place after work, my last call ran way long. At least my boss took pity on me and offered me a ride home, so that helped a bit. We were both really out of it, and really hungry, so it took us way too long to decide on something for dinner. We ended up just going for fast food. The weird thing about fast food lately is how fancy all of it is trying to be. Actually, that's not weird. What's weird is that the fancier the food at each restaurant gets, the more identical it all tastes. It makes me wonder if there is some kind of quality plateau that all fast food is moving toward, and that none will surpass until there is a drastic increase in fast food technology.

We watched Office Space this evening. I've discovered that Office Space, like 10 Things I Hate About You is a movie that I can't ignore. I was trying to write my journal for the whole movie, but I kept getting distracted. There are plenty of amazing movies that I am capable of writing in the same room as, but this is not one of them. I feel like I should do some scientific research to determine which qualities prevent me from being able to use a movie as background noise. I suspect I will find similar results with music, although with music, I think it may vary more greatly along with my mood. I don't know. I'm just rambling because there isn't anything left to talk about from today, other than how excited I am for Hellboy II, The Dark Knight, and going to Las Vegas with

darthtad!

Current Mood: silly