And a weekend recap (with some extra!)

It's gotten to the point where I really don't post nearly as often as I should. So that's why you get big recaps. :)

Friday night was the Abney Park show, which was a blast as always. We didn't stay there as late as I might have been inclined to do if we hadn't had early Saturday morning plans. But the merch booth ceased to be a zoo, so it seemed like a good time to escape. Now Jeremy has seen the madness that is working merch for Abney Park. I think we'll do it again. :)

Saturday kicked off with walking around Green Lake, which I had not done previously, despite living probably close enough to walk TO Green Lake. :) Headed to Beth's Cafe after that, which probably negated any benefits from walking around the lake. But it was tasty. :) Then it was off to run a handful of errands, including dropping off my bottle cap belts with Marlo so that they can go to Happy Delusions. Then we headed over to The Dreaming, which is Jeremy's comic shop of choice.

However, the owner was running late, which meant we ended up in a record store where I mostly behaved myself (only bought a 2-CD set of old NIN and a CD of Cure covers), and also got to check out the tattoo shop that one of Jeremy's friends recommended to me a while back. It seems like the sort of place I could deal with being tattooed at (read: not pretentious and the people there will speak to me as though I'm a human being even though I have no visible mods), and at least two of the artists seem to do work that I like.

Since we had gotten all of about 4 hours of sleep previous to walking, we decided to take a nap before going out for the evening. Someone was misinformed about when the Rat City Roller Girls bout was, but getting there early meant we got good seats. And holy crap, am I a fan of roller derby! I got a new, limited edition Krysztof shirt, and have learned how to make some sense of what's going on while they play. I'm still a little fuzzy on scoring, but it seems that's not entirely unusual, as it usually takes a bit before the score is updated. :)

Sunday would have been a lovely day for sleeping, but oh no. We'll sleep when we're dead. :) Instead, we headed to Denny's for breakfast with Jeremy's friend Darrin, who is a player in the big LARP that I briefly played. He gave me hope that I might be able to go back to the Changeling game, at least when I want something to do on the nights Jeremy has D&D. After breakfast was my turn to run One Hit Wonders, where I ran Star Wars after forgetting to really read the rules and not quite finishing my plot. :) Nonetheless, it was fun.

I spent yesterday at home, recovering both from lack of sleep and the edges of a migraine, which may, in fact, have been related. So I slept late, worked on some crochet, and did thrilling things like cancel my old cell phone and do my taxes. I also got some quality Rock Band time in before heading downtown for dinner and Coraline with Jeremy. I'll talk more about Coraline another day, but for now, I was mostly pleased with the movie. Mostly.

Where did everyone go?!

So Jerome and I have been calling back and forth today, as we're trying to track some people down and failing. He called the shop where our tattoo artist works, and was told she's on maternity leave. This is super awesome and exciting, and I'd love to make her a baby afghan, but we had no way of getting in contact with her other than through the shop she works at. So I went to see if I could track down her husband (who is also a tattoo artist), and I found that he's still at the shop he apprenticed at, but our piercer, who worked there also, is not!

And I still don't know when she's due or when she'll be back at work, which makes me a sad monkey. I totally want to make her an afghan, and we were planning on getting stuff worked on in October and at Christmas...

Guess this means we have to actually find an artist in Seattle now... Jerome found a shop he wants to check out, and I've seen a few that I think would be good. But then we have to hope that they have an artist we like, and that said artist is taking appointments from new people. *sigh*

In other news, the planned outfit for Friday night just ain't gonna happen. The shoes WERE out to get me, but mostly just in the "we're really uncomfortable to wear while standing" sort of way. Standing on the bus on the way home convinced me to pick an outfit that doesn't involve uncomfortable shoes, so now it's all figured out except for what shirt to wear. And the stuff from Brown Button will have to wait for another occasion.

What a change!

Overnight, that oppressive heat seems to have vanished into the clouds that are now blanketing Seattle. Silly me went out with no jacket this morning, expecting another scorcher. Instead, it was downright brisk! But I didn't mind--I don't like roasting while waiting for the bus!

In other news, I think a pair of crows (or ravens... I can't tell the difference) have taken up residence in the tree outside my office window. They aren't there today, but I've seen them twice in recent weeks, just hanging out. Now, granted, I have no way of knowing if they're the same pair as I saw before, because they're all just BIG black birds. But I swear they're watching me. They must know about the guys who have got my back. And though the pair on my back don't have official names, I'm naming the two outside my window Huginn and Muninn. :) [Edit: And they're back, about 2:45. I can't see a nest, but I think they live here now.]

And in other other news, discovering halfway through your bus ride that your applesauce container is leaking onto your khakis is not a nice feeling. Every time I wear these pants, they end up with more stains. I think I know why they were at Value Village now... :(

Whee! :)

Popping in quickly to say Merry Christmas (for those who celebrate it and those who don't). I'm in St. Louis at my mom's house still, but we should be flying back early tomorrow. You know, assuming they don't close O'Hare again.

Next year, I'm not buying any plane tickets that involve going through Chicago. Especially not on Christmas Day.

Recap when I get back, but for now, I will say that getting a tattoo for 2 hours begins to get a bit painful. I sat for 2 hours and Jerome sat for more like 2 1/2. But they both look super good. :) (Pictures later)

Things and stuff...

I'm really flip-flopping on the whole idea of me getting a tattoo before Christmas. I know that I want one, but I have decided that I really can't get the small one where I want it, and I can't decide on colors for the big one. Both of these things make me think that I'm better off just really working on the one that I'm going to get at Christmas, and then starting to prioritize everything else that I want. Anyway, I'm sure there's a ton of other stuff I could think of that I could spend that money on... :)

Hey, I could get that long postponed sewing machine... oooh, now that is tempting...

Blah. The reality of the whole thing is that I know that I should be saving money, not spending it. Of course, saving tends to be boring, while buying stuff is very "ooh, shiny!" And then, like so much other stuff, it just gets put on a shelf to collect dust, or tossed into the closet to get worn on rare occasions. A tattoo doesn't fall into either of those categories, but since I'm still keeping all of my tattoos easily concealable, I would basically be getting something else that is "put away" pretty much all of the time.

Yeah, I'm exceptionally bored at the moment. Not a lot going on at work today, except for the phones going crazy while the office manager is running errands. Whee! :)

Not my idea of a weekend

I love my weekends, so I always really hate it when I have a cruddy weekend. It started out Saturday with me being grumpy, so I went shopping for a while to improve my mood. That worked, but then that evening, at game, I started feeling really ill, so we had to leave early. By Sunday, I felt physically better, but was very tired and pretty much in a funk all day. I tried to make the most of it by getting a bunch of crochet done, and that seemed to work. Today, I'm feeling fine physically and emotionally, so I seem to have shaken whatever this ickiness was.

I suppose, in the end, it's better when this stuff hits me on the weekends, cuz it doesn't do so well when I'm at work and either feeling ill or out of sorts.

This week, I need to get a lot done. I'm hoping that my bottle caps will arrive in the mail in the next day or two, and I'm picking the other ones up from Julie hopefully on Wednesday. I have five more belts that I'd like to get done before Saturday, along with a few more hats. And there's a couple more articles to write. So yeah, true to form, I'm overloading myself with stuff to do. Oddly, that will probably slightly improve my mood, because I'll be busy. I'm sure that having a project to work on at work today has been helping me stay happy this morning.

I also need to make a decision on which of two tattoos I want to get next... Jerome told me that I should get one before Christmas, which wasn't necessarily part of the plan. So I've got two ideas in mind. One is definitely much cheaper than the other, but the location where I want to get it may be a problem for healing. The other idea is bigger and thus more expensive, but it will be an easier location to heal... except that it's on the side that I normally sleep on.

There are all of these little things about tattoos and healing and such that you really don't think about until you've gotten one or five. :)

The land of no internet now extends to my apartment as well, at least temporarily. It sometimes pops back on briefly, but mostly, it's not on. This makes Dawn a sad monkey. :(

But I had a good week last week, and just forgot to post. :) And then I had a good weekend. :)

My tattoo has healed up nicely, and while it might need a tiny bit of retouching, I think it's mostly good. My thumb is getting somewhat better, though it looks hideous at the moment. Hurrah for the skin reknitting itself... I know it would be a whole lot better if I could keep it from getting wet for a few days, but I like showering, and sometimes the dishes have to get done.

I'm to the point now of getting really excited about Ozzfest. Due to my extreme paleness, I'm making plans to cover up as much of my skin as possible, so as to avoid being horribly burnt. So I have a long tulle skirt that will basically keep my legs out of the sun, while still allowing any breeze there is to keep me cool. I'm working on altering a silk shirt now, to make it more comfortable and cuter. And again, with that whole covering my arms, but still being cool.

Of course, I need to get the shirt done tonight, because tomorrow after work, I'm heading out to Marion, and will stay there until we leave for St. Louis on Friday. Whee! :) I like mini-vacations! :)

I like real vacations more, and, well, if things pan out, I may be getting one of those this summer too... but I'm still waiting to hear for sure about that... :)
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Gotta post this one before I forget it. End of the Work Week Wisdom.

"I want to cut my hair, because it's getting kinda emo, but then I kinda hope that it will just cut itself."
--Jesi

I <3 my roommate. :)

In my lack of posting this week, I neglected to mention that I got my 2nd tattoo on Tuesday. This one is on the right hand side of my lower back, though it goes about halfway up my back, and is the Chinese characters for "serenity" in a reddish color. It looks very spiffy already, and will look even better when it finishes healing. Which I really wish it would do already, because I hate that whole feeling of dead skin just kinda sitting on my back, and then hurting every time I move. :(

But it's so worth it. :) And this one didn't even hurt as bad as the last one, despite being probably twice as big, and far more detailed. Still deciding if I'm going to get wings next, or just go with smaller things on my shoulders... :)
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No End of the Work Week Wisdom, as I didn't work today.

Instead, here's a scan of what I just got tattooed on my back. Does it not rock?



Yeah, that's what I thought... :)