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We survived Monday! It actually wasn't that bad! It went relatively quickly, I got a few people in for appointments. Had one really obnoxious one who asked me like five times if I'd done it correctly. I flipped off the screen a lot with them, and took a little five minute break when I hung up. That's pretty rare, but she was on my last nerve.

I also got some more news about the promotion. So A. had said that she had never got the application, so she went back to HR and was like, wtf? And it turned out that the job I applied for initally had me shortlisted for the job, and it paused my application. So they figured that out, and A got the application, and has sent it over to Talent to write up my offer letter. I teased her about not needing an interview, and she said "1. Who has time for that. 2. Why would I bother? The job was literally created for you." So that made me feel good.

I did have a blip in the morning, where Jess was a little sad about all the games that were ending and that I'm only doing a game a day on the weekend from here on out because of school. I felt like they were giving me pushback, and was a little bit upset about it. And in retrospect, it wasn't even about Jess. One of my players took it upon themselves to nudge to schedule some of the games that are in limbo. But they did it with somewhat passive agressive-feeling sad faces in a bunch of my campaigns. And at the time, I was like Okay, lets schedule. But it really bothered me. I'm not a fucking D&D vending machine. This shit takes actual time and effort to prep, and there's only so much time. This isn't like a Goshapan machine. You put in an emoji, and the D&D falls out. So I could have responded better to Jess. We settled down and talked it out during lunch and we're all good. I'm just going to need to be better about laying down boundaries while I'm in school. Or alternately, just boundaries, full stop.

Sadly when my sister got home, she brought news that they're firing her employee, effective on the 27th. They don't feel like she needs an extra person, since they took the records away and sent it to NY. My sister is devastated. She adores the employee, and she feels like her company is being a bunch of liars. They had assured everyone that the shakeup was done, and then two weeks later, shut down more sites, and now they laid off her employee.

She's started applying to other companies, but probably won't start until after our cruise in May. She's looking at fully remote and hybrid jobs, or jobs that are much closer to home, since she currently has a 45min-60min commute on the shitty Baltimore Beltway. Work from home could be a challenge for all of us, but we'll figure it out.

Today will surely be another busy day. Hopefully we'll get some cancellations, so I can get in more patients, but we'll see what the day brings. It would be nice if it brought an offer letter. I don't know how long that normally takes. I know when I got this job, I applied and got an offer letter the very next day, so I have hopes for soon. I also have hopes for a decent pay bump. Ideally in the $3-$4 range. I don't know how Hopkins works promotions. I know at IKEA, your pay bump was limited a percentage of your salary, and it wasn't much, like ten percent every level you jumped.

Had I gotten any of the team lead jobs I applied for, it would have been a double jump, so I probably would have gotten a decent bump, but otherwise, it was like $2.

It's not like I even need it to live off of. It just would be nice. Though if my sister takes a lower paying job, it would be helpful. I mean, she'll have less gas money and less frequent oil changes, which will save some money, but still. It's not like the company paid that well anyway. I make more managing only myself than she makes managing a multiple sites, and like 8 people, which is fucked up.

Tonight, I shall make some pork tenderloin and try out this hawaiian sea salt blend I got. It's got 3 kinds of salt--one of which is smoked--and some mild chili. It tasted really good when I sampled it, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it tastes on meat.

As per my usual, I'm sitting here with a shortbread, nibbling on that. I may have to order again from them. There were a bunch of other flavors that looked really tasty. And I'll probably get more of the white chocolate coconut macadamia. Or the butter macadamia. That is also really tasty and excellent with coffee.

The macademia nuts are slowly being eaten. I need to get Jess another bag of the chilli, so they won't feel bad about eating the rest of the bag. They really liked them.

I'm mostly a fan of the plain sea salt ones. Though the lilikoi ones as well. It's a sweet and tart Hawaiian flavor from the yellow passionfruit. They're really quite tasty.

Okay, time to do some more orientation. I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Hopefully, today or tomorrow, I get my offer letter to sign, and it'll be good. Everyone have a terrific Tuesday!!

And somehow we're back to Monday. I had my obligatory macadamia butter cookie with my coffee and am now trying to wake up. Maybe if I go back for one of the white chocolate coconut it'll help with that goal?

(Again, that's from the Honolulu Cookie Company, and it is baller. Best flavors, amazing slightly moist shortbread.). I need to try maybe warming them up ad see how that is.

Today shall be a busy day at work. There shall be a lot of calls, and a lot of appts made. I'm trying to wake up enough to face it.

As usual, the time change is fucking with me. I went to bed at normal time, but I feel very sleepy and out of sorts today. It'll be fine. I'll drink my coffee and wake the fuck up.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I got up and once it opened, I went to the pharmacy, and then came back and immediately took my bra off. So much more comfy.

At 11, I began cleaning off the table and assembling the implements for a crab feast. Closer to the time, the crabs went into the oven and warmed up (thankfully they're precooked). By the time the BIL got there, each place setting had two crab halves on it, with another tray in the oven.

The crabs, as usual, were amazing. I ate my two halves and was satiated, but the BIL and sister ate another half each. Then, we all were full.

Oh, in the morning, Yoda's new kibble came. He seems to really enjoy it. It's super expensive, but if he'll eat it, that's something. I was looking at his collar last night, and noticing that it's a bit loose from him not eating well while he wasn't feeling good and his sudden dislike of his old food. He barked ferociously at the delivery man, who must have lofted the box from the stairs, judging by the noise it made when it landed. Fortunately, the contents were pretty well packed, so nothing burst open.

Then we took the dog out for his second walk. Jess had taken him around 9:30, but by 1pm he was agitating for one. He did need to go, so good on him. I hadn't realized how bad he must have been feeling, because now he's perked up so much on is Cytopoint injection. I feel bad that I didn't notice.

The rest of the day was resting and watching videos of Hawaii and San Francisco. I think we've narrowed down our focus for theS San Fran part of the trip. I think we're going to go see Muir Woods for the redwoods, and then the Japanese tea garden. One day, we will possibly take a tuktuk ride around San Fran, and see the rest of the sights. That just seemed like a fun and easy way to see the city. Alcatraz is looking unlikely, though we'll see. I'll probably get tickets for it, just in case.

poisontaster has warned me that those are not something you can get day of, so we''ll do that. We might have time after the tuktuk ride, possibly, but it depends on if we do Muir Woods and the Tea Garden on the same day. A lot of what I know of San Francisco is from Seanan McGuire's Toby Day series. So I'm looking forward to all of that. Maybe a little stop at Borderlands Book Store.

I don't need to cross the golden gate bridge, just admire it. Definitely want to ride a cable car, though.

I was also reading about the trip, and found a hilarious one about San Francisco's Chinatown. "This one's food is amazing and cheap, but the servers are notedly surly, and they're not the cleanest. They've had some clashes with the healht dept." That was the review for a lot of the places, so this should be fun. I do want to do dim sum in Chinatown, so we'll look for the cleanest we can find.

We're probably going to stay at Staypineapple Union Square It seems centrally located, and nice enough. It's got good ratings at least.

Sadly, most hotels, experiences, etc are not booking yet. It looks like I'll be booking in late April, early May for the rest of the stuff. Only the Hawaii hotel books over a year in advance.

I shall have it planned out fully by the end of May, and then we shall begin amassing PTO, for both that and for CONfab in October. I'm so looking forward to getting to settle into full planning mode.

I need to decide for Hawaii whether we want to do a day or half day tour, or if we want to rent a car and go driving. I'm a little nervous about driving in unfamiliar roads, but the tour limits the things you can do. I'd like to see the North Shore and also possibly Ko'Alina. Maybe Visit Aulani which is the Disney Resort and have lunch. Their restaurants look amazing.

Getting to pick what we do does sound more fun, but we'll see.

Other places in Waikiki that I know I want to visit: Steak Shack, a little place that does a box lunch steak platter on the beach. The portion looks enormous, more than enough to feed both Jess and I. Leonard's bakery for Malasada donuts. The Breadshop, another bakery. Kan Sushi for their all you can eat sushi and some non sushi items like LA Galbi ribs. Maybe Hy's Steakhouse or another nice restaurant. One of the Luaus, though I haven't decided which one.

It looks like we've got five campaigns that are going to be finishing up by the end of the year, depending on schedules. That's a lot. But we started a lot of games in 2021 and 2022, and it's time. With our schedule, a lot of them might last til the end of the year, we'll see. I was going to finish one, but the players aren't ready to let it go, so we're going to move it from Wednesday to Friday night after a bit of a break for me to get my feet wet in college.

That's not including the one that finished on Saturday. So a total of 6 in 2026. Yeesh. I probably will not start any new ones. It's hard enough to schedule what we have.

My sister is looking for new jobs. Her company is screwing them over, and closing sites, and she's afraid she'll be next. She's already lost a few people that she manages to site closure. And they just moved one of her major duties from them up to NY, thus why she was there last week. She's looking at hybrid or local jobs, as she's tired of dealing with the beltway at rush hour. I sent her a Hopkins job that's work on site for 90 days, then work from home. She might drive us crazy working from home, but it would be better for her, so we'll see.

Okay, time to get myself together and do another bit of orientation. Everyone have the very best Monday you can Monday!

It's Sunday, and I seem to have lost an hour somewhere around here. I forgot about daylight savings, so I was all proud of myself for sleeping in. Then

dine reminded me in her post, and I was like "Well fuck." I did not sleep in, not really.

Yesterday was a busy, but fun day. I worked in the morning, which was boring as shit. I was on admin, which means doing the faxes and emails, but we hardly ever get any on the weekend. I think I did maybe 10? They take about three minutes each, so I had plenty of free time. In between, I filled some cardiac slots and generally putzed around. Finally, it was noon and I was free!

Half an hour later, it was time to play Arvandor. The players took on the Lord of Blood, and defeated him after some dicey moments. It was a good battle. I dropped that last little secret, and it was wonderful. And then, the campaign was over. I did my epilogue, which turned really well. It felt like a fitting send off to three years of my life. Now, I need to buckle down and finish writing the next campaign, and source maps, and make character sheets. It's a lot, but I think we'll probably do a few one shots, and then we'll probably start after we get back from vacation. Sooner if I can do it, but that's quite a bit to do in one or two months. I was very emotional about the game ending, both elated that it had gone well and sad to say good bye to these characters. I think I'm going to have to sit with it a while for it to really hit home. Right now, I'm at the stage where I'm just so grateful that my friends put their trust in me and allowed themselves to be vulnerable and to really buy into this little world that we created. They made me excited to DM for them each and every game, and they helped me breathe life into a world that existed until then in my head. That's such a gift.

It might seem like D&D is a kind of silly frivolous game. People talking, sometimes in silly voices, rolling dice and talking about casting spells on beings with names like Ragnar, Lord of Blood. And yeah, it is. But when you look a little bit deeper, at it's core, it's people making connections and telling a shared story, letting your characters have agency, in a world with solveable problems. And that's powerful.

Then it was off to dinner with L, who was my lone friend from 911. We went to Michael's Steak and Lobster house, and I had my usual steak with imperial crab. It was SO good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was nice to see L again. She had the stomach bug recently, and this was kind of her first big meal, so I hope it settled.

I've been looking at San Francisco and it looks like there's plenty of things that we can do while we're there. We're going to get in way early for check in, so we're probably going to leave our bags at the hotel and explore. Maybe start with Alcatraz and go from there. I know I want to see Muir Woods and the redwoods and I definitely want to eat in Chinatown. I need to reasearch some of the Chinese restaurants around there and see where we want to go. We'll have most of Friday and all of Saturday, then on Sunday, we'll be winging our way off to Oahu.

We have so many things to look forward to! We're going to have so much fun. Next up, in April, I start school, and then after that, we go to NYC for the Lost Boys musical. Then, May is Alaska, then back to NYC in June for the Rocky Horror, and then to Hershey to see Weird Al in July.

I'm looking forward to all of them, and I think we're going to have an amazing summer.

Today, I need to go to the pharmacy for all my medication, and then the rest of the day is for resting, and eating a pile of Dungeness crabs. I'm looking forward to that.

I was talking with my sister last night, and they're looking at going on vacation in August of next year, up to Maine. They've been before and loved it, so I hope they have an amazing time again.

I'm not quite ready to repeat my vacations, though I would like to take Jess up to Boston and Salem at some point. Who knows, maybe that'll change. I might fall in love with Alaska or Hawaii, and want to go back, but right now, I'm doing a Jack Sparrow. "Now bring me that horizon."

Tomorrow, it's back to work, with a borked sleep schedule. That should be fun. I always hate springing forward and falling back. The cat does not understand this bullshit, and it's weeks before she stops trying to get me up at random times. Tomorrow, we will also be back to our normal schedule, of having an hour or so to relax in the morning and write my little journal before my sister gets up and talks to me.

Okay, time to go forth and get myself moving. If I'm going to the pharmacy, I'm definitely going to need pants. Everyone have a stupendous Sunday!

It's Saturday, and for once I almost slept til my alarm at 5am. It was lovely. The cat jumped up and started pawing at about 4:50 and began patting my head. I guess she was afraid I'd forgotten about her while I was sleeping in with Yoda? I got up and fed her and now am relaxing before I go to work.

It's actually a busy day today. I have work til noon, then at 12:30pm we have Arvandor. Then at 4::45, I'm meeting my friend for dinner. Tomorrow, I'm doing nothing, I swear.

Yesterday was okay. Work was psycho, so I was mostly on the phones taking calls, though towards the end of the day, I got a few emails of people to call back. One was really sweet and excited when I called to offer them an appt, which was nice. I also had one who was a bit of a tool, but they were facing a health crisis and were finding out the realities of their insurance, so I understood. It's not fun to be yelled at, but they settled down as the call went on and did apologize.

I discovered that I did not get the first job I applied for, which I didn't want anyway, so no real issue there. I mentioned to my boss that I had the interview yesterday, and she asked me if I'd applied for the departmental position, because the list they sent over did not have my name on it. I assured her that I applied on 2/11, so she's going to go back to HR and ask what the fuck. So hopefully there will be some actual movement on that.

OMG, you all are fired! Why did no one tell me how fucking good poke bowls are? They keep coming up on the Hawaiian food channels, and they look so good that I tried one. Holy shit that was the best thing I've eaten all week, maybe all month. I wasn't quite brave enough to get the raw tuna, so I got a kani salad over sushi rice with pickled radish, edamame, furikake, green onions and masago. It was amazing. I ate almost the whole thing, which is rare for me. It just was so sweet and salty with that hit of vinegar from the pickled radish and sushi rice. I loved it so much that I ordered another to have for breakfast this morning! Next time, I may try the tuna and see how it is.

After work, I mostly relaxed. Jess had a migraine, so they went and napped, so it was just the dog and I. Mostly, I chatted with a few people and just took it easy. Part of that was deciding on where to go for dinner tonight. We came up with a bunch of ideas, but narrowing it took some time. We decided on an old favorite, and are going to Michael's Steak and Lobster, so I can get a steak bigger than my head, piled with lump crab meat. We've gone there at least three times, but they're so good. Just one of those restaurants that's been around since the 70's and it shows. Wood paneling, dark pleather booths and a Maryland staple, waitresses who have been there since the start and call you "hon."

We got another package from Hawaii, this one from the Honolulu Cookie Company. We got the macadamia butter shortbread, and the white chocolate coconut cookies. Good lord, they're delicious. I have one of each that I'm nibbling with my coffee. They're amazingly flavorful and not too hard. Definitely do recommend. The day spoiled me with good food.

After that, I just sat and surfed social media waiting for my sister to get home. She was late, as she had trouble getting her luggage, and missed her stop and had to get off at the next one. Fortunately the BIL follwed the train and picked her up at the new stop. Apparently some asshole had wedged their bag on top of hers, and she couldn't get it out. Once she did, she got to the doors as they closed.

I had a poke bowl ready for her when she got home, but it's in the fridge, since after all that she was more tired than hungry. It didn't stop her from monologuing at me for about an hour after she came home, but I begged off after a while and went to bed. It was a bit later than my normal, so I'm not horribly surprised that I slept til my alarm.

I'm starting to actually get a bit of an itinerary for Hawaii. It looks like the second half of the week is going to be the busy part. The swap meet/maker's market is on Wednesday, the night market is on Thursday and there's fireworks near our hotel on Friday and those are all things I want to do. The Luau that we're looking at is open Wed-Sunday. For that, our choices are Wed night, or Thurs or Friday afternoon. I'm thinking Wed night, just because I feel like the fire dances would lose some impact during the day. Plus, from a food perspective. I don't want to be full when we got to the night market. We're there Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning, which sadly means that we'll miss the all you can eat brunches, but I'm okay with that.

Jess wholeheartedly agreed with the plan to visit San Francisco for a day or two on the ride out and back. It'll mean it's a 10 day trip instead of 7, but it'll be so much less stressful. I'm debating on hotels for San Francisco now. Do we want to stay waterfront? Near Chinatown? At the resort near the Golden Gate Bridge? I just don't know enough yet to decide. More research! My hyperfixation knows no bounds!

It is exactly two months til we leave for Alaska. That seems unreal. It's so soon! I've got most things ready, but I feel like there's so much left to do! I need to watch the weather forecasts in Alaska when we get close, so I know what to pack. I have SO much packing to do. I need to be ready. I need to figure out Yoda's boarding and Boodle's pet sitter. I was just waiting for Yoda to feel a little bit better, but he's perking up nicely, so next week, I'll call them and make an appt for him to spend a night or two to see how he does.

He might need to get vaccines before then. He's up to date on most, but the boarding place wants him to have canine influenza as well. I didn't even know there was a canine influenza vaccine. So, I'll also make him an appointment for that and double check his bordatella. Rabies is good til 2027, so we're good there.

I hope he does well at this place. I really don't want to board him at the vet, but if it comes to that, we will.

And now, I shall go forth and do some Orientation, and get ready for my day. My poke bowl is calling. Everyone have a super Saturday!

It's Friday! I have completed my last night in my sister's bed! Whoohoo! Tonight, I get to snuggle Jess for the first time in 5 days. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I actually slept pretty well most of the nights, but I miss spouse. Jess is up, getting ready to go to Sibley for their post op. They're not coming til 5:45am, but this way we get to see each other for a few minutes before they go. I was not able to take the day off, so I got my sedan company to take them. They were really good when we saw Ghost, dropping us off at the door and picking us up right there too. Once I get off work, we've got one more night of peace, since my sister won't be home til 8-8:30pm. Of course, once she gets home, there will be a blast of sound as she tries to tell us everything about her week at once.

Today, I shall work and then relax. Tomorrow morning I work, then game (Arvandor). I believe the party will reach the Lord of Blood's castle. We'll see how that goes for them. I'm excited to drop one more little character secret before the end of the game. I wrote the epilogue the other day. As I said to Jess, I for epilogues, I always think back to my first D&D podcast, the Adventure Zone. After a long campaign the party was victorious, and they settled in for the epilogue. And the DM, Griffin went through the other characters, and it was good. But then he got to the lone human character in the party. (The other two were long lived races. Elf and Dwarf.). And he simply said "Travis, tell me how Magnus dies." And they ripped my heart out. That's what I want it to be like, without the death. I don't know if I've approached that or not. I know I wibbled while I was writing it, so maybe that's a good thing? We'll see how it goes. I don't know if we'll get there tomorrow. It depends on how much monologuing the players allow the bad guy. If they jump to a straight fight, then it may be needed tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon, after game, I'm going out with my friend from 911. It's been a while since we got together, and I have a ton to talk about, so that'll be nice.

Sunday is gloriously empty, so I'm going to relax and eat the crabs that came via UPS last night. I had ordered some crab legs from Costco and was very excited to have a little crab feast, only to find that they were rancid. After that I gave up and went back to the source, ordering from Sitka Seafood. They arrived last night, and were immediately transferred to the kitchen. They ship them very well frozen, with plenty of dry ice. They were still frozen and look delicious. They can thaw in the fridge and will be ready for a Sunday feast.

In my continuing digging about being a respectful Hawaiian tourist, I have discovered a few things. First of all, the freaking Mormon church is everywhere. They own so much shit in Hawaii, most of which masquerades as a local experience. It's made things more challenging, like a game of whack a mole. Two, it's really difficult to find a locally owned Luau that I want to do. I think Toa Luau is going to be the place. They tick the local box and they're located in the Waimea valley, which I wanted to see anyway. Three, food truck rallys are a thing. There's a weekly Farmers/Night Market, where you can go forth and get a variety of good food. This sounds amazing to me. Also there's a swap meet/maker's market that you can go to get inexpensive souvenirs. I'm a sucker for that as well.

So that's basically two days that we have things to do. Add in maybe a full or half day tour, and the Luau and our week is looking pretty full!

After talking to Jess, we decided to fly into San Francisco, and spend a day or two. I've always wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge and visit their Chinatown. Then, we shall fly to Hawaii. On the way back, we'll spend a single day, and be home 10 days later. I think spacing it will help us out immensely. Now I just need to decide whether to take United the whole way, or switch airlines and fly from San Fran to Honolulu with Hawaiian Airlines. We'll see who has the best price. Though I'll admit, it amuses me to think about flying in on Hawaiian, since we're going to the cruise on Alaska Airlines. But you know what that means: More vacation to plan! Whoohoo! More hyperfocus time!

Well, that's annoying. The car service did not show, and the owner can't reach the driver. This is a problem. So, Jess will be taking a Lyft to Sibley, and he swears that he'll have someone to pick them up. This makes me nervous about the cruise, since we need pickup so early. If worst comes to worst, I guess we take two ubers to the airport. Just a little adrenaline to start the day. I feel bad for Jess, since instead of riding in comfort, they're stuck in a Lyft. Hopefully the drive home will go well.

Okay, I suppose that means I should wrap this up and get ready for work. Everyone have a fantastic Friday!

It's Thursday! And as per my usual, I'm up at 4am. The dog is not particularly amused. My sister sleeps in til about 5:30am and doesn't come out to the living room until 6, so this is an adjustment for him. I got such side eye when I sat up and turned on the light. Now he's resting on the couch next to me under a blanket. We turn the heat down at night, so it's a touch chilly, but we all like to be cool to sleep. He seems to be perking up, but he's still very itchy, so hopefully the shot kicks in soon.

Today, I have work til 2:30pm, and then an interview at 3:00pm, so I'll be moving when I get off work. I may actually see if I can head out at 2, and just come in half an hour early tomorrow. The interview is almost directly next to a really tasty restaurant, so I'll probably order from there and bring it home for dinner. I'll cook tomorrow, as I got out think sliced chicken breasts, and I have a big box of stovetop stuffing to make rollups.

I was having a headache and some nausea last night, so I bowed out of Brindlewood for the night. Wednesday night games are really difficult for me, because I get up so early. And with college starting on 4/9, it's not going to get any better. University of the people runs their courses in weekly intervals, from Thursday-Wednesday. Which means if I am struggling on an assignment, it's due on Wednesday and I'm going to have to figure that out. Instead I went to bed early and slept pretty well.

Work was pretty quiet. I took about 20 calls, and the rest of the time was off the phone. I'm getting a little bit annoyed with my bosses. That means that I'm spending half my time doing what the new job will entail, yet I'm not yet getting paid for it. It's starting to piss me off. I like doing it, but I'd like to move into it fully. I don't really know how to drop a hint, so I might just have to come clean and ask about the timeline. It's been nearly a month since I put in my application, so it would be nice to see something beyond "Your application is being reviewed.

I've got a package coming today and one coming tomorrow. Todays is more crab. Since the crab I ordered from Costco was rancid, I went ahead and ordered another box from Sitka Seafood. Crab feast time!

They'll be the normal Dungeness crabs, which are sweet and delicious.

I had a thought late last night about our trip. I was talking to

poisontaster about the plane ride being so long, and it occurred to me that I'm going to have probably around 19 days of PTO stocked by that time. Why not leave Friday and fly in wherever our connnecting flight is out of (probably LAX). Then, we'll have Saturday to relax, maybe take a hop on hop off around LA, and then fly to Hawaii the next day. Coming back, we'll do the same. Hawaii to LAX on Saturday, then LAX to Baltimore on Monday. It'll give us a little cushion and let us walk around between 6-7 hour flights. I haven't run this past Jess yet, but we'll see what they think. I've never seen LA, so that might be fun. The alternative would be to fly into San Francisco, though that would probably require two different airlines.

That would only use 7 days of my PTO, and it might be a little easier on our middle aged bodies? Okay, lets be real, on my middle aged body. Jess is 10 years younger and in much better shape than me.

It would still give us 6 nights in paradise, which is all I want. There's not a direct flight from BWI, so we'd have to either break it into segments or fly out of DC, NYC or Philly. I'm not sure I could handle a 14 hour flight, anyway if I did.

Fortunately, I can't make our flights right now anyway, so I have time to consider. And also see how our 5 hour flight goes to Seattle in 2 months.

As I said yesterday, now that I've upgraded to an ocean front room, with the view of Diamond Head, I'm very happy. Hawaii is super expensive, but I've got 403 days to save up.

To start getting ready, I went on Torrid and ordered some more bike shorts. I also did some hype buying for the trip. Soon, we shall have a variety pack of macadamia nuts plus some coconut shortbread. Also, I got a lovely flowy top for any dress up occasions.

I've been mostly looking at cheap eats so far, but I'm going to have to look at what restaurant we'd like to splurge for. I'd still like it to be locally owned, but I'm aware that that could be tough. But we'll see.

Alaska is now 63 days away. Even though it might not seem it with all the Hawaii talk, I am so looking forward to going. I can't wait to see everything. From Seattle to the ship, everything is brand new. I've never gone west of Texas, so it'll be exciting.

It should be interesting, spending 10 days with the sister and brother in law. I don't really know how that's going to go. I love them both, but sometimes they also drive me crazy. I guess with the ship, I can always find something to do away from them. There's plenty of game shows and trivia and enrichment programs I can go do. Or, I can go out on the balcony and get in the hot tub and relax. Or go to the thermal spa and get in their therapy pool or steam room, or lounge on the warm lounge chairs.

So far, I'm loving my new Macbook Air. It's doing what I want, at a good speed and with a much bigger screen. We'll see how I love it once I start school, but I think it'll be good. It's a little harder to type in the morning, since it's much bigger, and sits differently on my lap, but we're working it out.

The job today is for our concierge program. So basically, I'd be making appointments for spoiled executives and rich people. Which is fine. I already do that, since I get all the VIP patients to deal with. And it pays more than Radiology. If I get it, I might have to think on it. It'll depend how much they offer for, I guess. Radiology, I'll probably cap out around $30-$31 per hour. Concierge, I might get as high as $34 if they really want me. I'll have to decide if that $3-$4 is enough to leave Radiology. I guess I can try to negotiate and see if I can bring Radiology's offer up, if they ever get going on the application that is.

Tomorrow, we have a blissfully relaxing night, and my sister will be back around 7pm and I can sleep in my own bed. To be fair, it'll probably involve videos about food in Hawaii.

It's sad, one of the biggest attractions, the Polynesian Cultural Center is actually owned by the Mormon church, so I'm not sure we want to go there. Apparently it's a fairly good depiction of Polynesian culture, and provides jobs for locals, but LDS just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and feels exploitative.

I think there's probably enough other things to do that we won't miss it, though. We'll just go to a local owned Luau and get some of the same culture. I definitely want to do the Kualoa Ranch and do the movie set tour. Jurrasic Park was one of my formative movies, afterall. They have a UTV tour that goes around the ranch and shows the sets from Jurrasic Park, and Hawaii 50. It sounds like a cool and fun thing to do.

Okay, time to do more of my orientation. It's multiple units, so I'm going to do them one a day, so as not to fry my brain. I've got til 4/4 to finish. Everyone have a terrific Thursday!

Good morning and happy hump day!

Yesterday was a trial. I spent most of the day trying to fill in slots, and dealing with unhappy patients. I still have one slot to be filled. The pissed off patients, I can't help. Then, it was off to Yoda's vet appt. He was pretty good, aside from screaming when they lifted him up onto the table. Verdict, allergies and a possible skin infection. So he got his cytopoint shot and some antibiotics which will hopefully help him.

He had a real bit of trouble getting his pills down. We're out of cream cheese, so I ordered some fudge, but it's apparently too sticky, and just gets stuck on his teeth. Then, he bites the pill and is unhappy. So, I'll be buying some cream cheese for him. He won't take them without bribery. Then, we were sitting on the couch and he started just crying and whimpering. We were about to grab the keys and head to the emergency vet, but he settled down. I think he might have been laying where he had the cytopoint injection and moved wrong. He seems fine this morning. I did not sleep well, worrying about him.

Today, I shall work on getting my slots filled, and take a few calls. We've got Brindlewood, and I'm going to be struggling to stay awake for the game, but I'll manage.

Tomorrow, it's off for my interview. I'm a little nervous, but not much. Having a back up job even if it's slow moving, kid of takes of the pressure. This job pays higher, but if I don't get it, it's not going to change my life.

And bonus, the interview is right by a really good restaurant, so I can pick up dinner for Jess and I afterwards! Win win.

Yesterday, after having watched some videos on our hotel, I made the executive decision to see how much more the ocean front would be over our ocean view. Ocean view would mean we'd have to go out on our balcony to see a side view of the ocean, where as Ocean front is right there.

Shockingly to upgrade to a Club room that overlooks Diamond Head and the beach, it was only $600 more for the whole trip. So, of course I took that deal. We're going to have the prettiest view in Waikiki.

And we still get access to the club lounge for breakfast, and dinner snacks (which can make a meal--god knows we did it at Disney.)

I figure that pretty much pays for itself over six days, just not having to pay $20-40 a day for breakfast. We'll probably share a plate for lunch, because the lunch plates look enjormous, usually for around $15-20. Dinner will probably be a little more expensive, except for the nights we go looking for food trucks. There's one that has a prime rib plate lunch that looks amazing.

I got my orientation log in, so I'm going to do that next. I know I also need to find and scan my GED before I start my program. The first semester is kind of onboarding courses so you can try it out and see how it goes. My first program runs from 4/9 to July. That gives me a good stretch to see whether this is something that I think I can do.

So far, the sister being away has been kind of nice. We're able to sit in the living room without being peppered by what she sees on her social media. On most of my social media sites, I can block names and words. I can't do that with her. I love her very much, and I do miss her, but I can't deny that it's lovely to have the quiet. Sleeping with Yoda less so, but I can deal for two more nights. She'll be back on Friday, and I can have my bed.

Today, the vet will probably be calling about Yoda's liver enzymes. We retested them as the non specifc number has been high. This may mean Cushing's Disease. If it's up, then he'll have to do another test, an all day one where they measure his cortisol over 8 hours.

I think he probably does. He has the excessive thirst, the pot belly and possibly the lethargy. Either that, or he's the laziest little overstuffed sausage to ever live. That's the only labs that are out of whack, so it's not diabetes, probably not cancer. Cushing's would probably mean that he has another few years on medicine. But he's alreay 10 years old, so that's probably his natural life expectancy anyhow.

The dog sitter declined to come back for a second try with him, so boarding it is. Once we get him feeling better from this, we'll take him for a one or two night stay and see how he does. There's a very nice place near us that has a special program for older or special needs dogs, so we'll try that. Once he's been there for a few nights and done okay, we'll do 4-5 nights. Just so he sees that we'll always come back.

Then, it'll be time for the cruise. It means that I'm going to have to find someone to come in a few times a day for Boodle as well, but that's okay. I can do that. She'll probably enjoy the peace and quiet while he's out.

Okay, time to go forth and look at orientation. Everyone have an awesomely amazing Wednesday!

We survived Monday! It wasn't a bad day for me. It was busy, but around 9am, UPS showed up with my brand new Macbook Air! It's so shiny and so big! I love it. I set it up while I was working, and copied my other computer to it, so that it has all my apps and documents. It even has my password vault, which was lovely. It auto logged me in everywhere, so all I had to do was turn it on. The keyboard is a bit larger than I'm used to, so please excuse any typos. I'm readjusting. It's going to be great for school in a month, I think.

Work was very busy, but not terrible. I ended up at 40 calls exactly, even though I had some people to call back. Apparently the new nurse who's doing the calls for the Cardiac CTAs is going to be sending us lists of people who want sooner appts so we can try to fit them in. Amanda forwarded the first email to me. So, being myself, I made a spreadsheet about it with all the information I need to keep track of it.

I added my managers to it, I should probably add the other team leads to it as well. I'll do that this morning.

Then I had my psych appt, which was a big nothing as usual. 15 minutes and it was done and my prescriptions were at the pharmacy. I'll probably pick them up tomorrow. I just put in an order for my blood pressure medicine, so once that's gone through, I'll head over.

Today, I have my virtual GYN appt, in order to be approved for the Teal Wand, so I can do an at home PAP smear. The last time I did one, I was in agony with cramps and stabbing pains every time I moved for three days. It sucked. I'm hoping that if I do it myself, it'll be a little bit gentler and less likely to piss of my cervix/uterus. I really wish I could just yeet both, but since I'm in menopause, it would be a little like closing the barn door after the horse has left.

I am trying to catch up on healthcare shit this year. I've been a bit lax. Hopefully, my doctor doesn't cancel the appt I have with her this month, so I can get my A1c checked and also request the seasickness patch for the cruise.

I continue to plan for our Hawaiian trip. Right now, I'm learning about local food and what hole in the wall restaurants/food trucks I should plan for. My plan is to patronize local businesses as much as possible. I don't want to be one of the ugly mainlanders who comes over and eats pizza. I want to be adventurous and try new things. Same for Alaska, but I've already figured out dining for the cruise.

So now I work on Hawaii. I found a youtube channel set in Oahu, two locals show you all the local places you can go in Honolulu. Some might require an Uber to get to, but I'm okay with that. And a lot of them are in Waikiki where we're staying. The hotel does vow renewal ceremonies on the beach, and I'm trying to convince Jess that we should do a vow renewal on each vacation. I'm not sure they're buying what I'm laying down. I got a flowy shirt, just in case so I'll look pretty. Hopefully it fits. If we don't do the vow renewal, we'll probably go for a fancy dinner or luau one night, so I'll still get to wear it.

I continue to research Hawaiian owned businesses, so I know where to go. It seems like our hotel is pretty centrally located, so we should be able to walk to a lot of them, and if not, there's Uber. I expect that we'll be using that a lot. We're going to stay from Sunday afternoon, leaving on Saturday and arriving home on Sunday thanks to time zones. It's a long flight, but we'll manage. We're going to do our layover in LA, so there'll be a break between legs. I don't think I could handle a 13 hour flight direct. I need to get off and walk around a bit. I think LA is about 5 hours, and then Honolulu will be about 7, which is a lot, but that's the only way to get there shy of a long cruise. One day, maybe I'll take the 17day cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii and Tahiti, but for now, a plane is far more efficient.

The cruise is down to 65 days, which feels momentous. in just 6 days, we'll be at exactly two months til we leave. The cruise is technically 67 days, because we're leaving two days early, but I'm counting til we hop on that plane.

Weirdly, aside from a generalized overview of Vancouver, I've left that mostly unplanned. I know what I want to see, and how we're getting around (the Hop on Hop Off Bus), but as far as planning out things, not so much. I do know that if we're not exhausted, we may go see Mortal Kombat II the night before we get on the boat. I'm really looking forward to it, because I love me some stupid video game movies. And I love me some Karl Urban. They pushed the movie from the slums of October to May, so I'm thinking it might be better than it needs to be. Even if not, I'll enjoy it.

Seattle should also be fun, but I don't have as much that I want to see there. Pike's Place Market is my choice. The brother in law has a boner for the Space Needle, so we'll do that, too. If there's something else I come up with, we'll do that. We've got four hours to play, so I'm not thinking we'll be able to do a ton. If there's something else, we'll have half a day on the way back. I don't know how much I'll be doing that day. I may just curl up in the hotel room and eat complimentary icecream and relax before the flight the next day. We'll see.

I'm still a touch concerned about my PTO bank, but I think it'll be okay. I should have the time by the second week of April, which should be plenty of time. I just need things to be calm until then.

I was saying to Jess that it's funny. Because of the Rybelsus, I don't eat a lot, but I am all in when it comes to food. 80% of my planning for vacations is food-related. I mean, on the Alaska trip, it'll be more difficult, since the brother in law is a whitebread eater, so the places we go together will need to be tailored to a pickier palate. Hawaii will be a free for all, since Jess and I will try anything once.

Yoda has his vet visit today, which is good. Poor boy is SO itchy. We'll get him his cytopoint injection and maybe antibiotics, which should make him feel better.

He slept like a log last night. It was nice, because then I got some sleep. He's currently laying on the couch next to me, dozing like he didn't sleep all night.

Hopefully, work is a little quieter today. I dislike looking at the call queue and seeing 21 calls holding. It's just annoying.

Tomorrow, work, then Brindlewood Bay! It's been a long time since we played that particular game, so I'm looking forward to it.

And on that note, it is about time for me to go forth and start pulling myself together. Everyone have an outstanding Tuesday!

And somehow, after what seemed like a very short weekend, we're back to Monday.

I don't have a ton planned today, just a visit to the psych doctor at 5pm to get my meds. It'll be a quick appointment, but I definitely need my meds. I'll pick them all up tomorrow after Yoda's appointment with the vet. Tuesday is definitely the busy day. I'll have work, Yoda's appointment, then pharmacy. It's a lot, but we'll get it done. Wednesday is a mostly quiet day, though we have our Brindlewood Bay game. Then, unless movement happens with the radiology job, I'll be off for my interview on Thursday, as well as Jess having their 6 month post op. Friday is wide open, Saturday, we have Arvandor. We're getting to the end of that game.

Yesterday was quiet, but nice. We were going to go to the pancake breakfast, but my knee was a little bit peeved--not terrible just twinges of discomfort. The grounds around the nature center it was being held at are a little hilly and a bit of a walk so we decided to just go get breakfast somewhere that we could park close. We decided on the Original Pancake House which was...okay. The Dutch Baby pancake was all wrong. Instead of a thin, somewhat crispy pancake, it was an inch thick and very eggy. It was tasty, but not a dutch baby. I will have to make one soon. Maybe Sunday.

Then, we came home and had our Arvandor game. It was awesome as usual, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards, I told my players to start thinking about what their epilogue will be. I'm figuring we have maybe 2 games left, and then we'll be done. I've got one more big reveal, and then I will be done except for the final battle and the epilogue.

It's funny, the game has been going for a while. We played Dragon Heist, then Mad Mage with these characters, so it's been going since at October of 2022, so heading on three and a half years, but I feel like the characters and game really came alive with this last arc. It was fun before, don't get me wrong. I loved everything we did before. But, with Arvandor, I asked for backstories, and I pulled them in, and let the characters get closure for their pasts, and homebrewed an entire world. I'm looking forward to doing that for the next campaign, Marchen.

It's set in a fairy tale land, where the briars around sleeping beauty's kingdom has begun to fail, and the sleeping sickness is poised to return and take over the land. A ragtag bunch of "heroes" (some recruited from the prison) will go to find the problem and solve it. Along the way, they're going to interact with some fairy tale narratives and help those people to finish or avert their stories. It should be a lot of fun, because most fairy tales are fucked up..

My players have started making awesome characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they play out. I'm nervous about it, because it's again all homebrew, which means if it doesn't work well, it's on me. On the other hand, if it does, it's a fucking amazing feeling.

By the time the game was done, my sister had left for her NY trip, so the evening was very quiet. We relaxed in the living room. I watched YouTube Videos about eating like the locals in Waikiki. I want to find the good local places, so that I'm not giving chains or non-Hawaiian businesses my money while we're there. I found a pair of locals who have a food channel and watched that for a while. Later, when we're closer to the trip, I'll go in and compile the restaurants/food trucks that looked good into a list, which we can use while we're there.

The Alaska trip is only 67 days away, but I've got that planned. I know pretty much everything there is to do on the ship and in port. Our excursions are booked, we're checked in with all our passport info, our transportation is booked and paid for, so we're ready to go.

I'm only 38 days out from college starting, which should be interesting. I'm going to start with one class, especially since we're going on the cruise during the first term. It'll probably be mostly an onboarding class, which is good. I need refreshers on AP style and all that.

Today is sure to be an annoyingly busy day, probably mostly on the phone. I will be tired when I'm done. I seem to have a bit of a cough the last few days, so hopefully that has settled down so I can talk.

Time for me to get myself together. Maybe grab a shower to get ready to start the day, or I may wait til tomorrow. During the winter, I have to be careful how frequently I shower, because my skin gets super dry, even with moisturizer. I definitely can't do it every day, so I aim for every 3rd day. Today would be two, but I'm feeling a little grungy. Both restaurants we went to were kind of warm, so I guess there was some minor sweating. Anyhow, everyone have a wonderful Monday!

Ugh. I love my cat, but she nearly died this morning. 4am, she started bugging me. I got up and fed her, and went back to sleep, and at 4:30, she was back. I shooed her off and tried to sleep, but I couldn't, because I was annoyed and knew she'd be back. Sure enough at 5 she returned and I finally gave up. I was so annoyed. It's my last night in my bed for 5 fucking days, and I didn't even get to sleep in. I love her so much, but goddamn.

So, I'm up. I'm going to check my prep for todays game session, and wait for Jess to get up and see if they want to do the pancake breakfast at Oregon Ridge Nature center, so I can get some maple candy. I'm a sucker for all things maple, I've gotta admit.

Aside from possible pancakes and game, I don't think we're doing a whole lot else. By the time we finish game, my sister will be on her way to NYC, so we'll probably just enjoy the quiet, maybe watch TV or something that we don't normally do when my sister is home. It's very difficult to enjoy a show that she's not into, because she talks so much during it. With the Pitt, I need to pay attention to the rapid fire dialogue, so I need her not in the vicinity. I suppose I could have watched Heated Rivalry, but I didn't think of it.

Yesterday was nice. Jess had some tummy cramps, so we cancelled their fitting for their suit and moved it to next weekend.

I worked in the morning and had a lot of calls, though my favorite was an older couple. They needed to move an appt that they had made through the portal. In the "special needs and accommodations" section, they had written something incredibly unflattering about our doofus in chief, which I found hilarious. I got them a good appointment.

Then, we relaxed for a few minutes while my sister got her hair cut. Then, it was off to the restaurant.

OMG, the robot server was cute as hell. The head and screen are shaped like a kitty, and it has this very young, very cute voice. It trundles up going "Hello, I'm here!" and then tells you what tray your food is on. Just so adorable! The food was also good, though next time, I swear, I'm getting all appetizers. The entrees were good, but the appetizers were phenomenal.

We got cheese wontons, which were my favorite. They were little purses of a white gooey cheese, in an amazing sauce that I could have put on anything. When we finished the meal, I put in another order for them, and overstuffed myself. No regrets. The other appetizer was gyoza, which came in a circle with a thin crispy covering over them, like they put a bit of lacy batter in the pan and then added the steamed gyoza. It was just the right amount of crunch.

I had the skewers, which were very tasty. I dipped them in the sauce from the wontons. Jess had Pork katsu curry, which had a very nice flavor. But they weren't as good as the appetizers.

Next time, I will also get the pork Shumai, and some other appetizers. It'll be great. Then, we waddled out to the car and came home and laid on the couch, just stuffed.

After lunch, we were discussing the possible Hawaiian hotels, and Jess admitted that they didn't like the one I was looking at, because they had a captive dolphin pool and a swim with them package, and that bothered them. So, back to looking for hotels. I did some more reasearch, looking specifically into LGBT+ friendly hotels. We settled on the Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort.

It seems very nice, with plenty to do, but a little bit away from the main area. It's down near the reef that borders Waikiki Beach. It has a small beach, as the water comes up very close to the hotel, but it's enough for us. I got a club Oceanview room, so we'll have a great view of the Pacific, and we get access to the club lounge for breakfast and also dinner snacks, and drinks, which you could totally make a meal of if you so desired. There are some local restaurants nearby, and the rest are a quick cab ride away. Best of all, we're close to a trolley loop, so we can use that to get around during the day. Tours will also pick up there for the most part.

We'll have to see if we want to do any big tours. I've been looking on Viator, and there's plenty of fun things to do, but a lot of really long tours with multiple stops. I'm not sure I need a chocolate, wine and rum tasting. That seems like it might be excessive. I definitely want to go to the Dole Plantation and maybe a macademia nut farm. I'm very food motivated, don't you know.

I can't book most of it, but I'm looking. I did book the hotel, but the rest's calendars don't go that far out. I'm definitely getting a hotel transport that gives you a lei on arrival. That just seems fun, and a good memory to have.

The next week is kind of busy. I've got an appt Monday after work with my psych doctor, on Tuesday I have a virtual with a gyn. The FDA approved an at home pap smear, and since I had a really bad and painful experience with my last one, I figured I'd try it. You meet with the GYN, and then they send your the kit. It looks simple enough. You take the sample, send it off, and get results. And then, no pap smear for the next few years. It costs about $99 with insurance, which is totally fair, and was FSA approved.

After that on Tuesday, Yoda has an appt for his Cytopoint shot and to see if he needs antibiotics, because he's been licking his skin, and chewing on his leg a lot. Wednesday is quiet except for game, and then Thursday, I have the interview. Friday is again quiet, except that the sister will return, and that will be a bit of chaos.

I'm not worried about the interview, it'll be what it'll be. I'll do my best, and after that, whatever will be will be.

Oh, and on Tuesday, my new Macbook Air will show up! So I'll spend some time transferring files, and downloading all my apps. I've got about 7 that I need to download and remember my password to. Not my favorite thing, but it'll be worth it when I have it all set up, and I've got a faster computer with a bigger screen that presumably will hold it's charge way better. I'll have this one for travel, which is good.

And now, I'm just going to do some prep for Arvandor today, and drink my coffee and wake up. Everyone have a restful Sunday!

It's Saturday, but we're working, so we're up early. After a late night with Frostmaiden, I would certainly have enjoyed more sleep, but here we are. It's a moderately busy day, as we have a few things to be done. First work, then lunch, then we have an appointment to get Jess' suit fitted. (So far, it's not great.) Needs some work, since the pants don't even zip. I think they mis-measured their hips. What that's going to mean, I'm not sure. They might be able to let them out, but realistically, I think they're going to have to make new pants. If that's the case, they might not be back in time for the cruise (68 days and counting). That wouldn't be disasterous, since we do have other pants that would work just fine.

Yesterday was a busy, but slightly less hectic day. I did get an email for the other non radiology job that I'd applied for way back. They'd like to interview me as well. Meanwhile, absolutely no movement in the radiology job. I'm getting a bit annoyed as it's been two weeks since I applied, and at that time they were rather hot to keep me. I know things have been busy, but they're always busy.

I decided that I'm going to do the interview. This job is with our medical concierge, and thus pays a bit more than Radiology advertises, by about $3 per hour. Rad goes up to $33, but concierge goes as high as $36. Which would put me at $79k. I would not sneeze at that. The interview is on Thursday, so that'll be fun.

While I was getting ready for work, I was thinking about college, and looking at my little Macbook. It's not holding a charge as well as it used to, and I started wondering if I should look into something with a little better processing power. Some of my apps take upwards of 10 seconds to open, especially Word and Excel. I was looking at a Macbook Pro, but I did a little more research and decided that I did not need that much machine, as I'm not doing any heavy duty video editing.

So, instead, I went in and looked at the Apple Certified Refurbished items. I ended up finding a nice 15" Macbook Air. It's got the latest chip, and 16GB of memory and a 1T hard drive. It was released in mid 2025, so it's pretty up to date. The Pro would have run $2499, and it wouldn't have been exactly what I wanted, only a 512Mb hard drive. This ran me $1400, which is still a ridiculous amount, but it should serve for another 5-10 years no problem. I decided to keep this one, and possibly take it to Alaska rather than the new one. I'll see how it goes.

I was worried about the sturdiness of the Air, but I watched some videos, and it seems like they bulked it up slightly so it doesn't feel quite as thin. I'm looking forward to the bigger screen. The one I have now is 13", so 15" will feel like an upgrade I'm sure. I also figured if I'm going to be reading on it a lot, it might be good to have the bigger screen for my old eyes. Progressives can only do so much.

After work, Jess and I discussed next year's vacation. I've been watching flights, and it seems like the they may price us out of the Iceland cruise. We could afford a Mediterranean cruise, since there we'd be flying into and out of major European cities like Barcelona or Athens. Or we could go to Hawaii.

We both were a little hesitant about Hawaii, because I remember some people were saying they didn't want tourists coming. We did some further reasearch, and there definitely are still some people who hate tourists. But it seems like the majority want respectful tourists, because it's a large part of their economy. So, we decided to do it. We're aiming to go in mid April for a week, Sunday to Saturday. It's the shoulder season, so it shouldn't be blisteringly hot, and the prices are better. It's too early to book flights, but I've started looking at resorts. It's still going to be pricey, but the airfare should be about $2000/person vs $5000 to go to Europe.

The resorts all look lovely, so I'm going to have a hard time choosing. Do we do Waikiki beach and be in the middle of the action, or do we do one of the other islands where things are a bit quieter. I'm leaning towards Waikiki for ease of hotel transfer. It's terribly commercial, but I'm sure we can find some locally run places to give our money to. I don't know if we're going to be able to do that with the hotel. There's only a few locally owned places, and they don't really have the amenities that I want. I'm still researching, so maybe I can find something.

Then we had frostmaiden, which was lovely. It was a rare day off for our characters, and we had some really lovely role play. Next time, they get to fight the Forgotten Prince, a low level god who has something they need. I pulled in one of the character's backstories, so that's always good.

We're into the last arc of of the game, with just the Forgotten Prince and the big battle with Tiamat to go. I'm going to be sorry to leave these characters, but after 5 years, I have no more things for them to do. It was my first D&D campaign, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, but all good things must come to an end, and it's time. I've got a really vicious stat block for Tiamat, so the final battle should be a kick. I do need to put the stats into the game, and create the stats for her handmaidens, so I have a bit of work to do before we get into it.

I got a sticker from the apartments that my car registration is out of date, which it's not. I just have been lazy about putting the new sticker on it. So I'll do that today when we go out. I'm annoyed at the sticker, since I'm going to need alcohol wipes to get the sticky off. Just put it under my wiper like civilized people, dammit. Generally, I can't even be mad, since this was 100% on me, since I've been procrastinating for months.

Next month, I need to go get my emissions done. I suck at that, too. But I should be able to go up one evening and get it done, or on a Saturday morning.

Tomorrow, we have game, and then I will probably be ferrying my sister to the train station for her NYC trip.

Okay, time for me to consider getting myself together. Everyone have a stellar Saturday!

Good morning and happy Friday! We made it through the week! (Almost, I still have work tomorrow morning.).

I'm trying to wake up this morning and it's not easy. A large chunk of me wants to just go lay down and go back to sleep. Mind you, if I tried, I'd not sleep, I'd just be an anxious panda until I gave up and got back up, so I'll just skip that.

Yesterday, work was bugfuck. Not with calls, but it seemed like the big boss, Peg, was on a tear. A, the radiology call center manager and J, who is the assistant manager were both fried. J was ready to lose his shit at her. As is ever usual, the shit flowed down to their favorite underpaid Fixer.

Early in the day, I made a mistake. I didn't know it was a mistake, because no one told us that the site didn't want same day cardiac appts filled in. It would have been great to tell me, since that's literally a good chunk of my job. Of course, in the meantime, once I had scheduled them, I backfilled their slot, so I had nowhere to move them back to. Desperate, I reached out to Columbia to see if they'd be willing to do it. My tech there looked at the paper and said the way it was written, he wasn't sure what she actually wanted, because the diagnosis didn't match a cardiac MRI. And Cardiac protcol wouldn't get the body part she asked us to look at, nor was it the tumor protocol she seemed to be asking for.

I called the providers office to get clarification, and explained that they'd need to be two seperate orders. One for the tumor, and one for the cardiac, and that the cardiac needed a different diagnosis, one cardiac-related.

Two hours later the provider called me back to ask further questions. Fortunately, they were ones I could answer, but I was left with this overwhelming feeling of "you should not need a lowly scheduler to tell you this." Now I'm just waiting for the new orders to come over because, surprise, they didn't need a cardiac mri at all.

Later, I got a ping from A saying, "I need you to do some detective work. This person was told that they couldn't come to White Marsh for their CT. Can you find out why, Peg is pissed." I open the chart, and think that the pt's name is familiar. And I do a little research. And I have an email from about a week and a half ago, asking me to move the pt's appt from White Marsh down to the main hospital, because they have a anaphylactic reaction to CT contrast. It's also in the chart that he has the allergy. But Peg was just fussing to fuss without any research. And poor A was besiged and didn't have time to do any research, she just punted to me, so I could go "Hey, wait." Hopefully Peg settled down a bit after that, but I doubt it.

I think I ended up taking 17 calls, because I was constantly following up on shit Peg needed, and filling in some cardiac slots that they actually wanted filled. I've got three more to fill in, today, so I won't be taking many calls then, either.

After work, we had bratwurst and old bay sausage. I just had bratwurst, because the old bay is spicy. That's okay, because I really like Aldi's Beer bratwurst with sauerkraut. I don't even bother putting it on a roll, I just slice it into rounds and east it with a fork. It was excellent.

Then we walked the dog, and came back and I, being a little overstimulated, went to the bedroom. Jess came in a little later and gave me their arm to lay my head on, and I conked out. Slept until they woke me to get my pills, and then I slept more. Probably not surprising that I'm a little bit woofled this morning.

I'm curious what today is going to bring. Will it be another crazy day, or will it be reasonable?

After work, we have Frostmaiden, which I had apparently already prepped most of. I had to import a few characters to the game, but that only took a few minutes. I hope the day is a little calmer so that I don't sail into the game exhausted and overstimulated. We'll see what happens. I think A had her weekly meeting with Peg yesterday afternoon, so I'm sure that was fun.

Tomorrow, I shall work, then lunch. I have so many things on Izakaya 68's menu that I want to eat. Do I want ramen or little skewers of meat or sushi? It's a difficult decision.

On Sunday, the local park near us is doing a pancake breakfast with their home made maple syrup, so I might do that and buy some maple candy while I'm at it. I'm a sucker for maple. We don't really need more syrup, but I'll probably be weak. Then, we have Arvandor. It's a two game weekend with two of my favorite games, so I'm happy.

Then, my sister will be off to NYC for work, and we'll be manning the fort alone. I'm both looking forward to the quiet, and annoyed that I won't be able to snuggle Jess for 5 whole nights. Instead I'll be sharing the bed with a farting bedhog of a dog.

We're taking him to the vet on Tuesday. His allergies are acting up, so it's time for his Cytopoint shot and maybe some antibiotics if they think he needs them.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together for work. Everyone have a most excellent Friday!

It's Thursday! And I just realized that I have a game tomorrow that I need to prep for. So I'm going to be dong that when I finish posting. It's Frostmaiden, so it shouldn't be too bad. I can run that with my eyes closed. I'll upload a few maps and some characters, it'll be great.

Work yesterday was boring. It seemed to drag a lot. Hopefully today will be better. To speed things up, or more likely to add to the boring, I cleaned my inbox out a bit. In the process, I found the compliment from months ago that sort of started my path. She was so nice, and I can't even remember her name. I hope she's doing well.

Once I was finally free at 4;30, I made dinner. We had Fajitas with homemade tortillas. The tortillas turned out pretty well, They're dirt simple to make. I use this recipe to make mine. Except instead of butter, I use lard. They never look quite like hers, but they're very tasty anyway. (It's the lard, 100%.)

Once we were done with the tortillas, I threw in the peppers and onions. In retrospect, the peppers should have gone first--by the time they were done, the onions were pretty jammy. Still tasted good, though. The meat, which was purported to be stirfry meat, was very tough. I was not pleased with that. Next time, I'll make sure to get some NY Strip and cut it thin. That usually works better. It still tasted amazing, and I liked it a great deal.

I forgot how much I like making tortillas. It's kind of fun, especially when Jess helps me. I make the dough and get it ready, and then they will use the Mexican tortilla press and press the dough while I cook them in the cast iron pan. They come out really nice and tender.

Today, barring train wrecks, work should be pretty quiet. Of course, now that I've said that...

I need to put in an hour off on Tuesday, so I can take the dog to the vet for his monthly Cytopoint shot and maybe to get an antibiotic. He's been chewing on his legs a lot, and I'm worried that they're getting infected.

Three more days in my own bed til the Sister goes to NYC. I'm hoping things go well. She just identified a gap in the plan, so we'll see what that does to it. The company is stubbornly bulling this change through, so I assume they'll find a way. Though my sister's company is cheap, so it could be rough. The records are stored in Baltimore, and my sister's employee was in charge of searching for the insurance policies they needed on microfilm, and printing them, then they'd order more films, and the company would take them back. Moving to NYC, there's no way to send them back aside from FexEx and that's going to be expensive. We'll see how things go.

I'm looking forward to Saturday. I work in the morning, but not a ton else going on, so we're going to go to a Japanese place where a robot brings you your food, Izakaya68. It looked fun, and tasty.

Sunday, we have Arvandor. It's amazing how much easier it is to schedule when it's only 4 people. We were able to get a game within 2 weeks. It's lovely, because I forget less. Right now, the party is entrenched in Family Drama, so I'm looking forward to playing that out. Then, I have some more quests for them before they get to the big bad of this arc. Since this is the last one, I want to have some punch, and a good ending. I'm a little worried that I won't stick the epilogue, but I'm going to do my best. Archfey are kind of bonkers, so I'm going to have a lot to juggle. Plus there's definitely going to be some other enemies, just to make it tougher. They're basically invading this fey's home, so he may not be thinking too kindly of them. Though there's one more secret to be dropped that could change that.

I seem to have wrenched my back in a most unpleasant way. It's very sore and it kind of hurts to stand and walk. It's not unusual, I do this every so oftern. It's not fully thrown out, just hurts, and I'm moving a little slow, but it's not debilitating. Just requires some ibuprofen, and maybe a pain gummy after work.

We've been waiting two weeks for the final check of Dad's estate to come in. I'm not sure where in Timbuk2 they sent it, but two weeks seems excessive. This is the company that lost the account, so everything has been difficult with them--not just this. Hopefully, it'll come soon. That would be nice. It's $48k, and who can't use another $24k in their account?

I need to decide where to deposit it. If I do Wells Fargo, it's easy and I can go on my lunch break. If I want to put it in Cap One, I'll have to wait for the weekend. Chase is my other option, which I can probably also do on my lunch break. I need to look and see what my charging limits are on each. I'll put it in the account that has the best. I'm planning to transfer some funds into each anyway. I want a minimum of $5000 in each, just in case of emergencies while on vacation.

Next week, Jess goes for their 6 month follow up for their top surgery. I couldn't take the day off, so I hired my limo guy to take them down and back. I feel bad, but I just don't have the PTO to waste.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get my ass in gear. Everyone have an easy Thursday. Let's glide into that weekend!

Tuesday was a long day. Busy, but not terrible, but I had forgotten that we had our team meeting last night. As a result, my day spanned from 8am-6:30pm. It was a lot.

I did learn that the head of Outpatient Radiology has a high opinion of me. We had a patient that needed to be called, a VIP who was a close personal friend of our largest donor. And Peg specifically asked our manager, A to have me call them. So of course I did. And I was at my most sweet and courteous and informative. And the pt apparently called them back to tell the administration that I was just so kind and professional, and I made it so easy to make the appt, and answered all her questions and gave her tips on where to park and all. She also mentioned that at first, she thought the machine was calling her, because I have a voice that should be used for that kind of thing. So, Peg sent me a lovely note thanking me for it. It was very much a nothingburger, but slightly stressful with the donor hanging over my head. I'm not sure how I feel about being volunteered for tribute, but whatever.

The meeting was long and painful. Mostly just reminding people to do what they're supposed to be doing. You know, don't go into the status to send an email, sit there for 20 minutes and then send one sentence. They did debut a look at our new phone system, which is a VOIP. Thanks, I hate it. It's clunky and I don't think it's going to do what we need it to. Worse, it incorporates Copilot to transcribe the conversation as you're talking. And, eventually, that'll be how they score all the calls--with AI. This is going to be a clusterfuck. We've got about a month and a half til that all comes down.

I just have to mention how proud I am of my spouse. Jess has been working on a queer sword and sorcery book for about a year. They had stalled, but now they're back to writing furiously (3000+ words yesterday!) and I'm just really proud of how much work they've done. The end is in sight! Another few days, and they should have a rough draft done. We talked about the blocking for the climatic scene, and how to make it cinematic, and I think it's going to be excellent. I sent them Youtub videos of the Highlander the Series sword fights, so that they could see how a longsword battle can look. (What a chore, it made me look at Methos videos...) They were excellent at blocking things to make them look really good. I hope it's helpful when they start writing the final duel today.

Today, thankfully, I do not have any meetings, I can get off at 4:30 and take a nap. I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner. Last night, since I had to work late, Jess cooked pork chops. I've got stir fry strips out for dinner, but I need to decide if I'm doing Korean BBQ or if want to go all out and cook fajitas with homemade tortillas. Either could be good. I just have to make up my mind. I cleaned and oiled the cast iron pan if I go for the fajitas. I kind of need to decide, so I can marinate the beef strips for most of the day. I do love making tortillas, so I may go with that, even though it's a lot of work. But we'll see. I also love Korean BBQ. I'm just trying to decide which I want more. Either way, I'll be chopping up a bit of onions. If I do the tortillas, I'll need to order some guac, cheese and sour cream. I think I have everything for the BBQ.

I think I really want to do the fajitas, so I'll probably go with that.

Still no movement on the job front. I was busy enough that I didn't get a moment to ask Amanda about my pre-offer priorities. I'll try to do that today, if she has a few minutes between meetings.

Oh! They 100% called me out during our meetings. One of the things they mentioned again was using the template for emails to make it easier to just copy and paste. And they showed where the template was, and then reminded everyone that I had unlocked the mystic arts of the email signature, and had me send out the document I had made showing how to do it. Yet again, I felt like Prometheus, bringing fire to the mortals.

I worry sometimes that people are going to think I've got a swelled head, or that they'll resent me. On paper, I'm the same as them, but it's pretty obvious that I do way more than the standard. I get called on to call their patients back, and to fill in cardiacs, and I spend as much time in unavailable status as I do on the phone. I just don't want anyone to feel resentful or feel that I think I'm better than them. (I patently am, but I don't want anyone to not like me because of it--the joy of rejection sensitive ADHD!)

At Jess' suggestion, I have made a new google calendar for my schoolwork, so I can add in my deadlines. It seems like they're pretty limited-we get the assignments for the week on Thursday, and they're due on the next Wednesday night. Each class is 9 weeks, with a final exam at the end. I'm hoping I haven't lost my touch with testing. I used to be very good at taking tests. Since my semester starts in April, it means I am going to have to do some work on the cruise. But I get up early, so I should have time to knock out both my morning post and some studying before we start the day. I can sit on the balcony with my coffee and pastry and do my assigned reading and write my paper while the whales go by. I'm only taking one class, so it shouldn't be that bad. I know I'll have time on Sunday, since that's a sea day. Maybe I'll do some work on the plane on the way there, if the assignments are out when we leave. That'll be a few weeks into the class, so I'll know how best to manage it, and how much time I'll need to devote.

I also registered for the Johns Hopkins Tuition Reimbursement site, so I'll be ready to submit everything when April rolls around.

Okay, time for me to do my thing. Everyone have an amazing Hump Day!

We survived Monday! Whoohoo, go us!

Work was purely chaotic. We had an immense call volume, and I was getting emails every few minutes asking me to do something else. I don't know if they have forgotten that I haven't gotten the new job and new pay yet, but goddamn, I felt like I was going in 10 directions at once. I got it all done, but it was a lot. I need someone to tell me which I should prioritize, because I feel like I'm letting my team down by not helping on the phones as much (Though I took 33 calls), but I've got to get these patients in, too. I just need a little clarification.

Today will probably be psycho too, but we'll see. Usually Monday and Tuesday are the worst, and then it dwindles a little through the week, though it's never light. I may clarify with Amanda what my primary focus should be.

Tomorrow is payday and that'll be nice. I have bills to pay this week. There's rent and phone and various little things that come at the beginning of the month. So I'll take care of that on Wednesday, when I get paid.

I purchased Office 365 in preparation for college yesterday and downloaded it. I like googledocs, and I'll still probably use it for most of my stuff, but I learned on Word, so I have a fondness. My term starts on 4/9, so I've got a little time to prepare. Between now and then, I'm going to start working on my math skills. Youtube is a helpful resource that I didn't have in high school as is Khan University. I think I'll be okay? I don't ever expect to be a math savant. I don't expect to be able to figure out the secret language of numbers, but if I can manipulate them and solve for X that's all that matters. I just need a C in the class.

I'm having a little pie in the sky about finishing my bachelors and maybe considering a master's degree. Not saying I can't. Hopkins would pay for it, and I feel like I'm smart enough to do it. I just don't know that I need it. I guess we'll see how much I like academia.

I need to curate a playlist of instrumental music that I can have on while studying. I've already found a bunch of orchestral covers of Ghost songs, which sound like a strong start. After all, I can trace a line from their concerts to my current list of upcoming things. Getting to go to the concert (Ritual) was really empowering.

It's funny, for a band who's music is supposedly Satanic, their music is very hopeful. There's a song of theirs called The Future is a Foreign Land that is about the future being better. And even songs like He Is which is a song about Satan, is at it's core about community and belonging. And Peacefield is possibly one of the most hopeful songs I know. It's a "yes, right now things suck, but hold out, it'll get better." And right now, we all need that.

When I'm stressed out, I put on my earphones and have some emotional support Ghost and Hazbin Hotel and it relaxes me and makes me feel better, and I can't really ask for more than that.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be 50 degrees, so I'm hoping that I won't have to clean off my car when I go out again. I'm going to have to request a refill on my clindamycin. It's working, but slowly. Each day, it's a bit better, and the swelling goes down a bit, but it's not quite there yet. The yeast infection is going to be epic (It already is.)

Next week, my sister is going up to NYC for work for the whole week. This means that I'll be sleeping with the dog for the week, which is sad. I love my puppers, but I miss snuggling Jess. On the other hand, that's a bunch of nights where we can watch TV in the evenings and have quality time during the day. It also probably means we're not going to be able to get away on the weekend of the 7th, but we'll figure out another time. Maybe the weekend of the 28th. We don't seem to have any games planned then.

This is apparently going to be a thing that happens now and then, so I might as well get used to it. It's really not a big deal, just means that I'm going to be sleep deprived for a couple of days until I get used to her bed and a dog kicking me.

So I might as well enjoy this week in my own bed. I don't spend enough time there. Maybe we can watch some more of The Pitt in it. I want to watch more of that.

I might as well work on The Pitt and Heated Rivalry, since there's not a whole lot of movies coming out in the near future that I'm wildly interested in. I might do Project Hail Mary and the rerelease of the Mummy, but the first one I'm really excited for is Mortal Kombat on May 8th.

Of course, we'll be in Vancouver when that releases. I'm seriously considering going to an evening showing the night before we board the ship. We'll see how tired I am from the day of sightseeing. Knowing us, we'll do that til about 3, and then go back to the hotel to rest. So we might be good for a movie. Stupid action movies are better with a first weekend crowd.

I had an Advocate magazine add pop up about the least expensive cities with good gay enclaves. One of them was Old Chinatown in Portland, which seemed really cool. Maybe in a few years, when the BIL's mother has passed, we'd consider moving. And the Pacific Northwest has always seemed like a good place to go. They have strong protections for LGBTQ+ people and the weather is nice. I also thought about Seattle, but good lord, it's so expensive.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have a stupendous Tuesday!

And we're back to Monday. It's snowy out, but thankfully we seemed to miss most of the snowpocalypse. It looks like maybe 3" if I'm being generous. It'll keep the kids out of school, but not much else. I'm really happy that it's not going to fuck up our routine for days, but that tiny part of me that's still a 5 year old is like "That's not real snow." Mostly, I'm happy that the dog won't be upset by it. He won't like the bit that there is, but he'll probably still do his business.

I forgot to mention that on Saturday night, we watched the first episode of The Pitt. I keep getting clips from it on TikTok, so I finally decided to take the plunge. One show, and I'm already hooked. Really excellent. I think that'll be a new thing for us, settling in and watching an episode now and then. I know season 2 just came out, so that'll give us plenty of episodes to watch.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I got up relatively late and then relaxed until gametime. We did get breakfast/brunch sushi, which was very good, or so I'm told. The antibiotics are messing with my tastes, so sometimes things just don't taste right. So really, anything I say about food can be taken with a grain of salt for the moment. It tasted okay, just not quite what I was expecting. We found a place that does not fuck around with the tobiko. When you ask for fish eggs on your California roll they put great heaping spoonfuls. It was glorious. Despite not being quite right, I'll probably have some of the leftover rolls for breakfast.

Then, it was onto game, which was super fun. My character got to showcase her temper a bit, punching a classmate for being a racist twat. It didn't matter that said character had also tried to trip my character. They're long standing rivals, and that's a matter of course. But get racist with her tiefling and firbolg friends, and she's going to forget that she has magic and throw hands.

It lost our team 10 class points, but fortunately, the racist's friend came up and shoved my character, who oversold that shit like Shawn Michaels against Hulk Hogan, so they lost points too.

It probably escalated things with our rivals, but sometimes, you just gotta punch someone.

After that, I piddled around for a while before I realized that the beef I took out for dinner was not anywhere near defrosted, so I ordered pasta. It was very good, and the stuffed shells tasted perfectly correct.

After dinner, as I was perusing the internet, I found an add for an online college. I've been thinking lately that this promotion I'm about to get will probably be my last, because I don't have a college degree, and considering going back to school. The thing that made me hesitate is the money. But we have some money now, and I have tuition reimbursement, so I could 100% do it.

I just don't know if I can. I'm not strong in math--I may need remedial classes to get me ready for algebra, but we'll see.

Anyway, I looked at this college, wondered if it was too good to be true and dug further. Turns out they're fully accredited, and legit. Probably not the most prestigious, but I don't have the time for prestigious, I just need a degree. So, I signed up.

It's called University of the People, and it's a tuitionless college. You pay an application fee, and you pay for your assessments at the end of the classes. The complete BA will cost me $6600. The degree transfers, and should I want to, my last semester, I could go to Edinburgh or Canada to study. (I won't, but it's cool.) So, come Summer, I'll be a part time student. I'm nervous, but excited. It's kinda weird to think that in a few short months, I'll be writing papers and doing tests. I'm probably going to start with one class, just to get my feet wet. and then from there if I feel like I can take more, I will. It might take me til 60 to get my degree, but I was planning to work til I'm at least 65, maybe later. We'll see.

There's one dude online who has a serious hate boner for the college, but PBS and other outlets have covered it and acknowleged that it's a real college with real degrees. I'll be sharing classrooms with people from around the world, including a 10% refugee enrollment, and some women studying at home secretly under the Taliban's restrictions about higher education for women. Most people seem very happy about their schooling, though they agree that it's what you make of it. Online can be tough, so I'm' going to need to be at the top of my game.

Who knows, maybe I'll like it so much that I'll go for my masters. We'll see. I'd probably switch my masters to Health Administration. I don't really want to be in charge of anything clinical, I want to be in charge of people. But the nice thing is that I do have tuition reimbursement if I'm doing something that will benefit my career with Hopkins, so in the end, the only thing that I'll pay is the application fee (and of course if I fail a course, I'm going to be paying for the test I failed.).

I'm a little confused, since my materials say the semester starts in April, but my orientation is in May/June. So we'll see how that works. If classes start in April, I'll be doing some work on the cruise, but that's okay. We have a good internet package, and I get up early anyway. I'll sit with my computer on the balcony and do my reading and writing.

Today, work will be bugfuck, as people will be calling to reschedule appts, even though there's very little snow. We're opening at 8am for the sites, so that's a handful of people we're reschedule (since we start some tests at 6am.) And of course, a ton of "are you open" calls. People, we're Johns Hopkins. We don't close shy of blizzards.

Hopefully, there's some movement on the job application this week. Good lord, they're slow.

Okay, on that note, time for me to go forth and get myself ready for the day. Everyone have a wonderful Monday!

It's Sunday! I have a game at noon, and then I'll settle down for Snowpocalypse 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Saturday was good. I slept late, had a good game where my players rollplayed a lot, which is always awesome. I'm currently torturing the paladin, played by Jess with a ton of backstory. This group is very much a "just fuck me up," set of players when it comes to trauma, which is a lot of fun for me. I've got many more reveals to come that I'm looking forward to in this arc. One was twisty enough that I actually asked

poisontaster if it was okay to do to her character, though. (She also was like "Do it!"

Yoda did not do well with the pet sitter. He barked non stop, though he would take treats from her. We're going to try twice more to see if he'll get used to her, and if not, he's going to the doggy boarding, where he'll be off his turf. I don't like that idea, but if we have to, we'll give it a go.

We also discovered that the Crab was bad. It smelled horrible, and we did not eat it. I put in a claim with Instacart/Costco, but now they're asking for a picture. Jess already put them in the dumpster so that's not happening, so we'll see how they reply. In the meantime, I'm going to put in another order for some from Sitka Seafood, since we've gotten twice from them, and they were awesome. So maybe some next weekend.

With crab off the table for dinner, we ordered from Wonder by Jose Andres. It was a mixed bag. The entree's were good, but the sides were not to our liking.

I've been craving sushi, but I saw Jose Andres, and got excited. I was unsatisfied, and still want sushi. I may order some for game, since I don't think we're getting out afterwards. Last I looked the snow is supposed to start around 2, and game won't be done til 3.

Weather.com says 2-4", but they just issued a winter storm warning that says 4-10" with totals locally up to 14". As usual, I'll believe it when the snow is on the ground. It's been a while since we had big snows, so I can't even bitch...much.

With the snow, I'm definitely cooking tonight. I'm going to look at the freezer and see what I want to make. I'm leaning towards the ribs with a dry rub.

My mouth continues to be slightly puffy. It's usually worse in the morning, I guess because when I lay down the bloodflow can pool in the head? I don't know. I just know it's better than it was yesterday, so I'm happy.

Now that we've started dealing with the practicalities, with Yoda, I'm getting more excited about Alaska. It's really happening and that is super cool. We're down to 74 days. In another two weeks, it'll be two months away! I'm both excited and nervous, but mostly excited.

But first, that's 53 work days to get through. Work will probably continue to be busy, and at some point, presumably, they'll move me into the new position. This week, we have our quarterly staff meeting. It's two hours long and it's on camera, so fun fun. That's on Tuesday so that's a bit of OT. Then I work next Saturday, so the check will look good in two weeks. Actually, I'll have two Saturdays, so that'll be a doubly nice check.

Okay, time for me to go forth and consider what I want to do today before game. Everyone have a stupendous Sunday!

Yet another subject line from Hazbin Hotel. This is the grand villain's origin story in song form. It's Saturday, and I got to sleep in for a change! Til nearly 7am! Now I'm sitting here feeling a little naughty and daring for getting up so late. The downside is that someone will surely be stirring soon, so my peace will be short lived. It's good if it's Jess, they're soothing. My sister is not.

Oh, Jess is up! I summoned them with my thoughts. I'm a goddamned Jedi.

My mouth is still a little swollen, but has gone down quite a bit. There's barely any swelling in my lip, and just a bit of a swollen area in my gum. I think in another day or so, it'll be gone.

Went to my company holiday outing last night. It was fun, but so goddamn loud. We went to Miss Toya's Creole House which was pretty good? Not like OMG awesome, but not bad. I started out with fried deviled eggs with crabmeat which were very tasty. I ate three, and probably could have called that my meal. But no, I had two crabcakes with cheesy grits and spinach coming. Most of that is currently residing in my refrigerator. The grits were excellent, the spinach was good, the crabcakes were a little overspiced. I love me some Old Bay, but damn. But overall, it was just a smallish room and nearly 30 people, and no sound deadening material. My boss, A, and I were both going "I am way too old for this." Still, it was nice to see people. I, being fat and a lefty claimed my seat immediately, and just as fas the two top bosses claimed seats on either side of me. I talked to them off an on all night, which was nice, since I get along well with both of them. But definitely had a "My milkshake brings all the managers to the yard" vibe.

Today, I will finish prepping for our 12pm game and then we shall see. Our local farm store has a jam tasting today at 11, so I'm wondering if I could sneak over there, buy some jam and then come back. I may try it.

Then, at 4, the dogsitter comes over to meet Yoda. Fingers crossed for a smooth introduction. If all goes well, I'm going to have her start coming a couple of times a week to walk him, so he'll continue to consider her a friend.

On Thursday, I discovered an exciting thing. Sometimes, Costco has Dungeness crabs! I got two big packs and we're going to have a crab feast this evening. I'm looking forward to it! They might not be as good as the stuff we had overnighted from Alaska, but I'm sure they'll be tasty. I can't wait.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to have a game, dependent on how the DM and players are feeling. That's not til 12, so I have plans to sleep in again and take it easy. The game will finish around 3, so maybe I'll actually cook something. I'll have to look and see what we have (so many things).

The tricky part is that I'm still sore, so it can't be something I have to bite. I'm thinking about the baby back ribs, since they should cook down to fall off the bone if I do it right. Otherwise, I'll just be cutting microscopic pieces to make it easy for myself. Or maybe by tomorrow, it'll be even better and I can make steak. We'll see.

But for today, it is prep time and then we shall have game! I have many traumatizing things planned for them. Fingers crossed that everyone is up to playing. Everyone have an amazing Saturday!

Day one on Clindamycin. Not that different from Augmentin. My lip is swollen and my mouth is sore, and I desperately want these medications to work. I'm tired AF of this. I know it's only been a couple of doses of the new med, and I'm not despairing yet, but good lord, this is stubborn.

I had my Mid year review yesterday, which went fine. I had to tell my manager all the shit the higher bosses have me doing so that it would be accurate, and we bitched about the various shit that Hopkins is doing (new phone system, which may or may not do what we want. New HR platform that isn't working at all the way it's supposed to. And an upcoming total system overhaul next year.)

I could stand to bring my call quality up some, but I'm not good at hitting lines. I tend to be more focused on the patient and what they're telling me than saying their name 3 times, or saying exactly what I see on the screen as far as insurance. It's Blue Cross Blue Sheild FEP Standard PPO, but I'm probably going to say "Blue Cross Federal Standard," and that's a ding. I get caught on little things like that, because I'm talking to the patient like a human and not a robot.

One of my old bosses called my phone style "folksy," which let me tell you, I hated. Still do. I like to think of it more as warm and conversational and maybe a bit of stand up in there. I try to put the patient at ease and offer comfort or maybe a chuckle. "And are you claustrophobic?" "No." "Oooh, you're better than me!" If I can make the patient laugh, that's my goal. They're calling for what can be some seriously scary shit. It's my job to make them feel like I care about that, and by extension, so does Johns Hopkins. That we're there for their body, but also to care for them as people. I've done a lot of research to know what each test entails, so I can soothe fears and give them hope that they can get through an MRI, even though they're claustrophobic. But I probably am not going to chant their name like I'm calling for Beetlejuice.

Tonight, we have our big work party. I haven't decided what I want to eat yet. I'm kind of torn between Jambalaya and Shrimp and grits, both of which are pretty easy to eat. I just have to get through the day and I can go out with work friends and have quality time. I'll probably still be a little puffy, but I'm going to do it anyway, barring severe pain.

We're down to 76 days til Alaska. But I'm also excited about so many other things. The most recent is the news that the West End production of Much Ado About Nothing is coming over to Broadway this fall. It's got Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell as Benedict and Beatrice, and I cannot wait for tickets to go on sale. We've already got a party of four, we'll see how many end up going as I may ask a few more people if they're interested. We won't be able to rent the party bus, but it'll be good anyway. I'm on the list to be notified when we have updated information, since right now the word is "Fall," and I'm going to need them to firm that up a bit. We've got CONfab this fall, so we'll have to push it a little out from that. It's listed for a 10 week run, so I'm assuming like Sept-early November. That way they're maximizing the people who will want to stay over night and can't afford NYC in Christmas prices.

I'll probably aim for early-mid September if that's the case. CONFab is at the end of October, so that gives us a little time between. Of course, early in October will be New York Comic Con, which one of our people goes to, so I'll be watching for that as well.

This makes four plays in less than a year. Who am I turning into? We saw Phantom in Baltimore, now we're doing three in NYC: Lost Boys the Musical, The Rocky Horror Show, and now Much Ado About Nothing.

I guess I'm evolving? I don't even like NYC! It's too crowded. Though I'm excited to spend money in Mamdani's city. I want him to be able to afford to enact all the good socialist plans he has.

Okay, time to go forth and consider the day. Everyone have a most excellent Friday!

It's Thursday, which means that it's my 2 year work anniversary with Hopkins! It doesn't feel like that long, but then I look back and see what has happened in the last two years and wow, it's been a packed couple of years.

I started in 2024, when Dad was still alive. I worked for the first 7 months while cringing every time I heard him yell "I gotta pee!" and hoped it didn't come down the line. It didn't thankfully. Then there was the month of Dad being sick and dying. Then, after two quiet months, we moved to the apartment at the beginning of 2024. After that, Jess' dad died, Jess got top surgery. It was pretty busy. Today, I hit two years at the start of a busy year. The only thing I really dislike is the time off structure. I hate having my sick and my PTO in the same bank. It stresses me out. I do miss the 5 weeks of vacation that IKEA offered. It was much easier to plan vacations. But aside from that, not a damn thing that I miss.

Patients can be tough some times. You don't have any appt soon, and it is their health. And sometimes they're upset, but they don't come in with the level of entitlement of an IKEA customer. I have never been called a "fucking bitch," which as I said last night, was basically any day ending in Y at IKEA.

So yeah, a good, albeit stressful, two years.

Today, I have my mid-year review, which will be thrilling. It'll be fine, but I still dislike it. It's always so boring. They can normally dig out one or two actionable things, but that's about it.

Depending on how the day goes, I may try cooking dinner--nothing fancy, just put something in a pan and bake it level of cooking. We have a very pretty rack of baby back ribs, so I might try them. Or, there's chcken. We'll see.

Tomorrow, I have work, and then we have our holiday party. I think I'm going to wear the black and gold dress for it. If I wear it with fun tights and cute shoes it should be fine for an evening out.

Then Saturday, we shall have game, and that will be fun. Then, the dreaded introduction of Yoda to the Pet Sitter. I am manifesting that it's going to go well. If I'm nervous holding the leash, he will be too, so I'm going to go in as calm as humanly possible. We're also going to give him some anti-anxiety meds. And maybe some for me.

Sunday, we have a mid-day game, and that'll be fun. It's my Strixhaven game, as DMed by

poisontaster

I wasn't sure how I'd like a college based TTRPG, seeing as my schooling was shitty and tumultuous, but it's been fun. I like my character, Bryony, a little goth bard who can use her blood to fuel her spells thanks to her absent mother's magical lineage. Her father is a little embarrassed by her magical abilities, but has used them to his benefit while trying to mold her into the perfect political prop of a daughter. Now she's at school, with her father's PA trying to helicopter parent her, and she's just found this tribe of weirdos to hang out with, and done crime (sneaking out after curfew) with them. She's got a job, and an equally goth girlfriend and is having the time of her life.

The weekend is full, but it's of fun things, which makes it good. At some point, early on Saturday, I do need to go get my car emission testing done, since that's due on the 25th. Maybe I'll stop at the Waffle House and bring home breakfast for everyone. We'll see how awake I am.

I was thinking of showering today, but I may wait til tomorrow when I'm going out. That sounds like a good plan. Okay, time to go forth and get myself together for work. Everyone have a wonderful Thursday!

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March 2026

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Page Summary

More than anything, I'll shelter and adore you more than anything.
I wish someone would have to told me that this life is ours to choose
You love, bright as the starlight, oh child, still we can see a black moon over the peacefield
A candle casting a faint glow, you and I see eye to eye. Can you hear the thunder?
They won't believe their eyes as I bring them to their knees-to worship me. (brighter)
I got a ringing in my ears getting ready to burst singing hallelujah motherfucker, take me to church
Lend your breath, join the choir, let this music span o'er this broken land
Can you hear me say your name forever, can you feel me longing for you forever
In perfect harmony (not what we planned) We'll change our destiny
Where there's a will, there's a way. You've just got to slit a throat or two to make the weak obey.
The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls In tenement halls.
I would not reward a snake like you. You'll watch them die unless you do!
And even if we die striving to find the peace we lost, at least we'll know we tried...
Take my hand, never let go. Even one soft sound can shake the hardest ground.
And I can not compete with you, Jolene
i'm done hiding now i'm shining like i'm born to be
Called a problem child, 'cause I got too wild But now that's how I'm gettin' paid,
Finally, I'll show them what I'm meant to be (brighter)
He will tremble the nations, Kingdoms to fall one by one, Victim to fall for temptations
Mama said, "Burn your biopgraphies, rewrite your history, light up your wildest dreams."

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Page generated Mar. 10th, 2026 11:33 am

And then, there's a bearded fetus.

Which is an awesome name for a punk band, if you think about it.

Recent Entries

More than anything, I'll shelter and adore you more than anything.

I wish someone would have to told me that this life is ours to choose

You love, bright as the starlight, oh child, still we can see a black moon over the peacefield

A candle casting a faint glow, you and I see eye to eye. Can you hear the thunder?

They won't believe their eyes as I bring them to their knees-to worship me. (brighter)

I got a ringing in my ears getting ready to burst singing hallelujah motherfucker, take me to church

Lend your breath, join the choir, let this music span o'er this broken land

Can you hear me say your name forever, can you feel me longing for you forever

In perfect harmony (not what we planned) We'll change our destiny

Where there's a will, there's a way. You've just got to slit a throat or two to make the weak obey.

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls In tenement halls.

I would not reward a snake like you. You'll watch them die unless you do!

And even if we die striving to find the peace we lost, at least we'll know we tried...

Take my hand, never let go. Even one soft sound can shake the hardest ground.

And I can not compete with you, Jolene

i'm done hiding now i'm shining like i'm born to be

Called a problem child, 'cause I got too wild But now that's how I'm gettin' paid,

Finally, I'll show them what I'm meant to be (brighter)

He will tremble the nations, Kingdoms to fall one by one, Victim to fall for temptations

Mama said, "Burn your biopgraphies, rewrite your history, light up your wildest dreams."