Gonzai Gallery

OK, so, anyone besides me can't get LJ to cooperate this week? I've been able to manage just one comment and one post this week, and those only came from switching to Chrome. And that was a really marginal improvement. I've had a lot of trouble with the compie this week, it's fully updated, turned it on and off a few times, cleared the cache, Norton says all clear, but it's still cranky. Eesh.

I passed on Menygwacon, I'm exhausted, the weather is lousy and I'm just not up to driving a distance in 'mixed precipitation' and then dealing with their crazy neighbors and certain unpleasant gamers. So instead I took down and put away all the Christmas decorations (before you say it's early, Mom wanted them down on Christmas), and then sat down to mainline 'Homeland'. I have all of that and Dexter recorded and waiting for marathons, and today I watched six straight eps. I'd like to finish it tomorrow except football will likely get in the way, but I should be able to finish all of both shows by the time I go back to work Wednesday. Meanwhile, 

it takes some balls to waltz in and blow away an FBI task force. Meeps.

Well, Friday was as good as Thursday was bad. I picked up an assortment of wins, including one in a Settlers tournament heat, and a bunch of seconds. At one point I was third in the wild card tournament. Saturday...was back to my usual form, a few seconds but several lasts and I lost the Settlers semi-final on a dumb mistake, failing to note what my opponent was up to. Then again, I did beat my friend Eugene, who is generally acknowledged as one of the best gamers in Maryland, in consecutive games of Stone Age and Settlers.  I treated myself to a new game, Castles of Burgundy, because the things I needed weren't available.Today was also pretty half-arsed, I didn't win a thing, not even a cooperative game. At least it only lasted half the day and I was able to come home and watch the Ravens win. Now I have a lot of internet and a stuffed DVR to contend with, before going back to work tomorrow.

After being out of the office most of the last couple days, now I'm going to be out the next few. And after looking forward to Euroquest...I'm probably too tired and stressed out to enjoy it. My gut has been distressed the last few days, usually in the middle of the night, and the one night it didn't bug me was Monday. That night I stayed in the basement, trying unsuccessfully to sleep on a sofa-bed. It's been over a year since I slept in a bed other than mine and the body objected to the change of scenery. So, haven't slept in 4 days, plus the storm, and the usual life stresses. Should be a real interesting weekend. I probably won't be posting much if at all, since I'll be doing 15 hour days at EQ.

So 2 people backed out of coming and let me know ahead of time, but my neighbor no-showed and one of the other two people didn't make it until 5pm. On the other hand, she didn't have to watch the game. Mom, our one guest and I bailed on the game at halftime. The Ravens' defense - what's left of it - just crumpled, and the offense didn't give them a break or any support. Pretty horrific. We did get in a few games, and we have a lot of food left over.

Things didn't improve after Friday. Turns out Hectic Red played their 25th anniversary gig Saturday. I didn't find out until that day...and I was too worn out and too broke to go. CJ did well in training Saturday, but I can't take her to either of the following classes, and she did more damage to her crate Sunday - in fact, there is a piece of crate she broke off and I can't even figure out where it came from. Went to Alphabet Soup with Dave on Sunday, but we arrived to find our fellow gamers on the sidewalk listening to the security alarm squawk. No idea how long it had been going off, but well before any of us got there. The person with the key was late and unreachable, but finally showed up. Missed part of the Ravens game as a result, and then my fave Raves both went down for the season. (I was also 2-11 at fantasy football.) My back and neck are killing me, I haven't been able to eat and I'm pretty sure I have both an ulcer and an infection. And then there was Mom. She flatly refused to go back to the day center and my brother and his wife backed her on it. She lost her wallet; she threw out a lot of the paperwork I had for her. I still have to take her to the doctor and the lawyer this week, and babysit the nephews. I don't see this week being any better than the weekend.

At least, off from the internet, for the most part. I had today off of work (Happy Rosh Hashanah, as applicable) so I took Mom to a Senior Day Center to see what she thought. We were greeted by a dog named Buttercup. I consider that a good sign. Mom thinks it's too expensive, but my brother doesn't, so I'll let him convince her she can afford it. Then lunch at a new sandwich shop, Potbelly's. I think it's a chain. Decent sandwich though, and Mom was happy with hers.

Rest of the day was TV and computer games, as I caught up with nearly everything on the DVR and finally watched last year's 'Whitechapel'. I put that off because series 2 did nothing for me; turns out series 3 was much, much better. I'm taking '2001: A Space Odyssey' a chunk at a time, because I've tried and failed to watch it a few times already. I liked the 'trio' episode of Leverage much more than the rest of this season, and Mom actually liked it, first time in years she's liked the show. Maybe we have our new direction - just let Elliott, Hardison and Parker be the show. Fine with me. I enjoyed Doctor Who, esp. the conversations with the horse. Big surprise, right? We also watched Bill Maher, who I think properly summed up recent events thusly: "Some crazy Christians pretending to be crazy Jews riled up a bunch of crazy Muslims, so Mitt Romney could prove Mormons are even crazier."

Sunday, I was a party host. Can't remember the last time I tried that. But 4 of my gaming friends came over for the 'game', that being Ravens/Eagles, of course. We had an Eagles fan. I seated him near the door and we took turns reminding him we could easily toss him out of it. But he had the last laugh, dammit. But we had a grand time other than the final score, and a couple people stayed after and we played board games until late. I had to let CJ out eventually, but she was nice to the strangers! Total relief, that. The whole thing must have gone well, because the last folks out said we should do this again. My back isn't so sure about that, I'm a hurting pup today (presumably from moving around the furniture) but otherwise, yeah, gamers at the game, why not?

Surprisingly not bad at all, considering it's July and raining pretty much nonstop. The rain stopped this morning, and while it threatened to resume most of the day, it didn't. We were on a pavilion and the light was a bit dim under cover, but otherwise very nice. Because it was so cloudy, it didn't get hot until late in the day when the sun finally peeked out. So except for pink on the back of my neck, it wasn't summery at all. Got in a few games, mostly with folk I know but at one point I invited two strangers to play with us...only to discover the strangers were actually the son and daughter-in-law of a couple I'm friends with! Meanwhile I successfully avoided the people I don't like, commiserated with a friend who lost her job this week, ate too much, played with Dexter and while I only won one game, I finished a strong second in all of the others. A good day. I needed one. I have few hopes for tomorrow.

I am only partly kidding. CJ jumped on me and raked me with her claws twice today, back of the left calf and just over the left knee. The resulting marks are nasty enough that people commented at gaming. While at gaming, the hosts' dog Dexter ran into me at full speed - his skull and my right kneecap. Owie. Later I got down on the floor with him for tummy rubs - something startled him and he leapt to his feet without warning. My right knee was under his foot. Another owie.

Sheesh dogs, I'm on your side!