Aha! I have returned from the Giant Pacific Ocean unscathed-at least
physically. Actually, I've been home for about two months now. Adjusting
takes a while. I am on duty today; without really getting into details,
suffice to say that I have zero access to photos, links, or basically
anything of any interest besides a pure outwash of words. Mah'pologies.
Also, deal with it. I may or may not supplement photos and links later,
we'll see. I might just move on. I'd like to get back into this whole
'writing' and 'blogging' business... ironic bunny quotes. I've put it
off quite a bit. Here's a crash course on my current... stuffs, so that
I can feel some closure [or whatever?] before I start updating regularly
again. Just so no one is lost. Without further ado or explanation,
consider this to be your 'Previously, on...' before the regular season
starts back up.
Yarn Stuffs: Well, all the girls at home seem to have stopped doing any
yarn things. True, they are all quite busy and don't have as much wasted
time to kill as I do, where I NEED to be entertained by something
analog. However, I do have three whole USPS Flat-Rate boxes full of
squares to sort out. I am going to take a picture of total squares that
were done before I left, the total squares I did on deployment, and then
the whole pile of them together. After that, I will sort out which and
how many I am donating to the others. The running gag is that I've
probably finished everyone else's quilts for them-but seriously, there
might be enough squares to start putting things together! I finished
half of the twisty 'Mermaid' scarfs, and two of the gals LOVE them. Have been
putting off picking up yarn to finish the last two. Because you know,
you cant buy just one... or two... or four...
Critter Stuffs: Sigh. They didn't forget me. They still love me. They
have every bit of personality that I remember, and even more so. Miss Z
has realized what 'sea-bags' are... I had to cart so much stuff home
from work that it took me about three different duty days. Every time I
would pack up a sea-bag and sit it by the door, she would get mopey and
cranky and disappear. The sea-bags are hiding in the closet now, and she
likes to come sit on my lap and make muffins. Team Orange is no longer a
united front-civil war? Something like that. Grr and Z spoon and have
conversations-no joke, the other day he bopped her on the head, said
'mrowwww,' and made room for her to cuddle. The Princess licked me on
the forehead the other night. They really do pay attention to our
behavior.
Plant Stuffs: Soooooo... yes, of course, EVERYthing died while I was
gone. Well! Not entirely everything. The Mystery Plant, although now
without flowers, is still hanging in there. Since I've been home it has
almost doubled in size. My ALOE died. Seriously. My lovely pink stripey
aloe... I don't know how they did it, but they did. I was so sad that I
bought a regular boring aloe to replace it. BUT! Luckily I saved two
pups from the rosy aloe, despite their already-dead appearance, and at
least one of them seems to be sprouting a bright green thing. Sir
William the Pepper Whisperer also gave me a baby sunflower in
condolences for my lost garden. I almost killed that too. Shame on me.
It's doing alright now, except something decided to feast on one of the
leaves a couple days ago. We are going to hold off on the gardening for
this year since I came home so late, but I think I am going to snag a
potted bamboo plant soon. Sir William and Ms. Hellzinger have the most
enormous and amazing garden, so I will just kind of live [er plant, er
harvest?] vicariously through them.
Work Stuffs: Have been transferred to a 'team' instead of my 'division.'
At first I was pretty upset by this, thinking that maybe I wasn't 'good
enough' at my job or that they were trying to 'get rid' of me. Now, I'm
not supposed to brag, so I'll just be brief. It's a MUCH better
situation for me logistically... and it's actually a lot of fun and a
bit of a light work out. Lots more perks. Essentially I'm responsible
for demo & construction of living spaces on the ship. So, I spend the
day drilling out rivets, unbolting-er, bolts-and then dragging every
possible piece we can rip up-out-or-off, off of the ship. The
contractors are pretty cool; one of them is in a band I vaguely remember
and another one keeps asking if I've 'considered making a career out of
this?'
Kitchen Stuffs: Handy with power tools, and not bad behind a stove,
either! Yes, I washed my hands first. Nothing particularly new in the
kitchen department; I haven't lost my touch, and that's about all I can
say. Discovered Manhattan Clam Chowder [vs. New England style] a little
while ago, must find more or learn to make it. We had a curry party
recently, where I tried my hand at a lentil-chickpea crockpot version,
and apparently it was awesome. I do have a giant stack of recipes in a
folder that we are supposed to be trying... but time and effort.
Gym Stuffs: Yeahhhhhh no. Sorry. I am epic fail in this department.
Haven't been working out for quite some time now. Unfortunately for me,
we are home this time and WILL hands down have to run the 1.5 mile.
Yikes. I need to get on this. I've only been to yoga twice since I've
been home, and that bums me out. I keep meaning to just throw something
new on the tv or grab my ipod and go to the porch... but there's so much
going on that I never remember it until it's totally the wrong time.
Music Stuffs: Hrm, where to start. Well, Corson Swift has learned about
four new songs, and has two or three shows booked this month. I have
also been working on keys/synth for Zero Love, who also has two shows
booked this month. It's a lot different. I can't get both my hands going
at once, but apparently I do kind of have an ear for 80s new wave. In
addition to that, Dreams Jaded is starting to practice again in
preparation for the 2013 NW TOUR WITH DOGS from JAPAN. OMG. The reason
this is exciting is a) their last bassist now lives in Ohio, soooo,
yeah, who is already familiar with the songs and can learn the rest of
them quickly, is adorable, and a better roadie anyways? This girl. Also
b) Since DOGS is from Japan and only one of them really speaks passable
English, 'this girl' is also more or less Tour Manager and Booking
Contact. Double excitement. Hubs always has some various metal studio
project on the back burner; unfortunately he is mixing some older stuff
with some newer stuff, so some lyrics I wrote for certain songs might be
resurfacing... except Sir William is already playing bass. But
apparently no worries, with my new-found ability to mash buttons and
pitch-bend, there is room for me on keys if it starts to take off. So,
that puts me in roughly 3.5 bands for the time being.
Geek Stuffs: Ooooh, also a dense topic! A lot of these topics will
probably resurface in the near future as I am still incredible excited
about all of them. First of all, Borderlands 2. Need I say more? Not
really. Oh, except I do: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. UM, YES.
Seriously. It's a super hot month, because in a couple days Brave New
World [Civ V's next expansion] will launch as well, including playable
civs such as Brazil and Poland. Teehee, Poland. Not to mention the new
[or at least new to me] Steam Workshop-where you can grab tons of free
mods and apps that make wonderful games even better. Then there's
Torchlight 2. Seriously, my list of games to play is so long right now-I
still haven't even finished Portal 2 single player. So there's that.
While I was gone, hubs took the liberty of throwing together a new
laptop and a new desktop for me, so that I can keep up with him on
gaming. They both run like a dream, and we even got a neat clear case
for like $30 on Craigslist... with LED fans! My old laptop is being
requisitioned for use as a midi multi-controller. Unfortunately, now
that myself and my hard drives are home, combined with Hubs' hard
drives, I now have the unfortunate task-unless you're OCD like me, in
which case it is actually somewhere between insanely fun and insanely
irritating-of organizing, compiling, and cleaning out roughly 7 tb of
data. The rotten thing is that I am so scared of losing data, that I
have managed to duplicate a LOT of folders. We have also successfully
made a 1-watt guitar amp, almost done with the 1-watt bass version, and
have a working prototype [on a test board] of Hubs' Stutter Pedal. He
wants to adjust one of the resistors to get a slower stutter, but
honestly, I can't believe how easy some of this stuff is. The physical
skill of soldering something tiny and delicate is the hardest part. If
you're looking for bulk components for similar projects, check out
Jameco. They also have a lot of cool starter kits.
In Other News: without getting too personal here, and partly because I'm
already covering a lot of topics [such is my life, never a dull
moment-so much to do, so little free time], I've recently been seeing a
counselor and a psychologist. Long story. But anyways, the story behind
it is unimportant for now. Just know that although I'm certainly no
expert, I may be adding some mental health posts, particularly on the
topics of Bipolar and Borderline personalities. This may off-shoot into
an entirely different blog, as there is likely an adventure in my near
future. But for example, Trent Reznor of NIN is diagnosed BP2, and turns
out he actually wrote The Fragile about it. Some other songs from
Downward Spiral also seem to fit. But that's a rant for later.
physically. Actually, I've been home for about two months now. Adjusting
takes a while. I am on duty today; without really getting into details,
suffice to say that I have zero access to photos, links, or basically
anything of any interest besides a pure outwash of words. Mah'pologies.
Also, deal with it. I may or may not supplement photos and links later,
we'll see. I might just move on. I'd like to get back into this whole
'writing' and 'blogging' business... ironic bunny quotes. I've put it
off quite a bit. Here's a crash course on my current... stuffs, so that
I can feel some closure [or whatever?] before I start updating regularly
again. Just so no one is lost. Without further ado or explanation,
consider this to be your 'Previously, on...' before the regular season
starts back up.
Yarn Stuffs: Well, all the girls at home seem to have stopped doing any
yarn things. True, they are all quite busy and don't have as much wasted
time to kill as I do, where I NEED to be entertained by something
analog. However, I do have three whole USPS Flat-Rate boxes full of
squares to sort out. I am going to take a picture of total squares that
were done before I left, the total squares I did on deployment, and then
the whole pile of them together. After that, I will sort out which and
how many I am donating to the others. The running gag is that I've
probably finished everyone else's quilts for them-but seriously, there
might be enough squares to start putting things together! I finished
half of the twisty 'Mermaid' scarfs, and two of the gals LOVE them. Have been
putting off picking up yarn to finish the last two. Because you know,
you cant buy just one... or two... or four...
Critter Stuffs: Sigh. They didn't forget me. They still love me. They
have every bit of personality that I remember, and even more so. Miss Z
has realized what 'sea-bags' are... I had to cart so much stuff home
from work that it took me about three different duty days. Every time I
would pack up a sea-bag and sit it by the door, she would get mopey and
cranky and disappear. The sea-bags are hiding in the closet now, and she
likes to come sit on my lap and make muffins. Team Orange is no longer a
united front-civil war? Something like that. Grr and Z spoon and have
conversations-no joke, the other day he bopped her on the head, said
'mrowwww,' and made room for her to cuddle. The Princess licked me on
the forehead the other night. They really do pay attention to our
behavior.
Plant Stuffs: Soooooo... yes, of course, EVERYthing died while I was
gone. Well! Not entirely everything. The Mystery Plant, although now
without flowers, is still hanging in there. Since I've been home it has
almost doubled in size. My ALOE died. Seriously. My lovely pink stripey
aloe... I don't know how they did it, but they did. I was so sad that I
bought a regular boring aloe to replace it. BUT! Luckily I saved two
pups from the rosy aloe, despite their already-dead appearance, and at
least one of them seems to be sprouting a bright green thing. Sir
William the Pepper Whisperer also gave me a baby sunflower in
condolences for my lost garden. I almost killed that too. Shame on me.
It's doing alright now, except something decided to feast on one of the
leaves a couple days ago. We are going to hold off on the gardening for
this year since I came home so late, but I think I am going to snag a
potted bamboo plant soon. Sir William and Ms. Hellzinger have the most
enormous and amazing garden, so I will just kind of live [er plant, er
harvest?] vicariously through them.
Work Stuffs: Have been transferred to a 'team' instead of my 'division.'
At first I was pretty upset by this, thinking that maybe I wasn't 'good
enough' at my job or that they were trying to 'get rid' of me. Now, I'm
not supposed to brag, so I'll just be brief. It's a MUCH better
situation for me logistically... and it's actually a lot of fun and a
bit of a light work out. Lots more perks. Essentially I'm responsible
for demo & construction of living spaces on the ship. So, I spend the
day drilling out rivets, unbolting-er, bolts-and then dragging every
possible piece we can rip up-out-or-off, off of the ship. The
contractors are pretty cool; one of them is in a band I vaguely remember
and another one keeps asking if I've 'considered making a career out of
this?'
Kitchen Stuffs: Handy with power tools, and not bad behind a stove,
either! Yes, I washed my hands first. Nothing particularly new in the
kitchen department; I haven't lost my touch, and that's about all I can
say. Discovered Manhattan Clam Chowder [vs. New England style] a little
while ago, must find more or learn to make it. We had a curry party
recently, where I tried my hand at a lentil-chickpea crockpot version,
and apparently it was awesome. I do have a giant stack of recipes in a
folder that we are supposed to be trying... but time and effort.
Gym Stuffs: Yeahhhhhh no. Sorry. I am epic fail in this department.
Haven't been working out for quite some time now. Unfortunately for me,
we are home this time and WILL hands down have to run the 1.5 mile.
Yikes. I need to get on this. I've only been to yoga twice since I've
been home, and that bums me out. I keep meaning to just throw something
new on the tv or grab my ipod and go to the porch... but there's so much
going on that I never remember it until it's totally the wrong time.
Music Stuffs: Hrm, where to start. Well, Corson Swift has learned about
four new songs, and has two or three shows booked this month. I have
also been working on keys/synth for Zero Love, who also has two shows
booked this month. It's a lot different. I can't get both my hands going
at once, but apparently I do kind of have an ear for 80s new wave. In
addition to that, Dreams Jaded is starting to practice again in
preparation for the 2013 NW TOUR WITH DOGS from JAPAN. OMG. The reason
this is exciting is a) their last bassist now lives in Ohio, soooo,
yeah, who is already familiar with the songs and can learn the rest of
them quickly, is adorable, and a better roadie anyways? This girl. Also
b) Since DOGS is from Japan and only one of them really speaks passable
English, 'this girl' is also more or less Tour Manager and Booking
Contact. Double excitement. Hubs always has some various metal studio
project on the back burner; unfortunately he is mixing some older stuff
with some newer stuff, so some lyrics I wrote for certain songs might be
resurfacing... except Sir William is already playing bass. But
apparently no worries, with my new-found ability to mash buttons and
pitch-bend, there is room for me on keys if it starts to take off. So,
that puts me in roughly 3.5 bands for the time being.
Geek Stuffs: Ooooh, also a dense topic! A lot of these topics will
probably resurface in the near future as I am still incredible excited
about all of them. First of all, Borderlands 2. Need I say more? Not
really. Oh, except I do: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. UM, YES.
Seriously. It's a super hot month, because in a couple days Brave New
World [Civ V's next expansion] will launch as well, including playable
civs such as Brazil and Poland. Teehee, Poland. Not to mention the new
[or at least new to me] Steam Workshop-where you can grab tons of free
mods and apps that make wonderful games even better. Then there's
Torchlight 2. Seriously, my list of games to play is so long right now-I
still haven't even finished Portal 2 single player. So there's that.
While I was gone, hubs took the liberty of throwing together a new
laptop and a new desktop for me, so that I can keep up with him on
gaming. They both run like a dream, and we even got a neat clear case
for like $30 on Craigslist... with LED fans! My old laptop is being
requisitioned for use as a midi multi-controller. Unfortunately, now
that myself and my hard drives are home, combined with Hubs' hard
drives, I now have the unfortunate task-unless you're OCD like me, in
which case it is actually somewhere between insanely fun and insanely
irritating-of organizing, compiling, and cleaning out roughly 7 tb of
data. The rotten thing is that I am so scared of losing data, that I
have managed to duplicate a LOT of folders. We have also successfully
made a 1-watt guitar amp, almost done with the 1-watt bass version, and
have a working prototype [on a test board] of Hubs' Stutter Pedal. He
wants to adjust one of the resistors to get a slower stutter, but
honestly, I can't believe how easy some of this stuff is. The physical
skill of soldering something tiny and delicate is the hardest part. If
you're looking for bulk components for similar projects, check out
Jameco. They also have a lot of cool starter kits.
In Other News: without getting too personal here, and partly because I'm
already covering a lot of topics [such is my life, never a dull
moment-so much to do, so little free time], I've recently been seeing a
counselor and a psychologist. Long story. But anyways, the story behind
it is unimportant for now. Just know that although I'm certainly no
expert, I may be adding some mental health posts, particularly on the
topics of Bipolar and Borderline personalities. This may off-shoot into
an entirely different blog, as there is likely an adventure in my near
future. But for example, Trent Reznor of NIN is diagnosed BP2, and turns
out he actually wrote The Fragile about it. Some other songs from
Downward Spiral also seem to fit. But that's a rant for later.
No comments:
Post a Comment