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Journal Entry: The Rest of September

I hate getting this far behind, because it means most days I don’t have time to write a catch-up post, but then that just means the next day I have even more stuff that needs to be caught up on.

Basically, I’ve got to cover the XBox party at church, and then last Saturday’s wedding in Wichita, but me being me, I’ll make twenty-five pages out of it. If you don’t want to read all that, then let me sum up: On Saturday the 6th, I went to an XBox party at church and played Halo and Rock Band with D–, K–, Jeff, and a bunch of church people. On Friday the 12th, K– and N– and D– came over to play Rock Band, and we broke the bass drum pedal, so I’m not drumming anymore. On Saturday the 13th, I drove up to Wichita and spent the evening at T–‘s oldest brother’s wedding, and then came home last night in time to have dinner with K– and N– and D– and watch Tron, bringing us within a Ladyhawke of finishing round two of our 80’s movies thing.

And…y’know what? Screw it. There’s my update. T–‘s dad came into town to watch AB on Thursday, and we learned that the Goldie’s in Edmond is just an empty lot now, and that’s really it. I actually would have made 25 pages out of it, but that’s everything that happened.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: September 5, 2008

Okay, imagine if the Trans Siberian Orchestra got a lead singer who was really angry.

That’s Coheed and Cambria, in case you’ve never listened to them. The drum part of “Welcome Home” is amazingly fun.

So, yeah, as you can see, more of the same. Wednesday night was a lot of fun. We got together with K– and N– and D– at Jersey Mike’s for dinner, then went back home because T– wasn’t feeling well. D– came over, too, and we played with AB for a while, then pulled out Rock Band. As soon as AB went to bed, T– joined us, and we tore up. D– and I stayed up until 11:30 playing.

Then yesterday D– got sick, so he couldn’t join us. T– and AB met me for lunch at BWW yesterday, for the first time, and that was cool. Kind of the high point of my day, because work got pretty frustrating yesterday afternoon. So by the time I got home, I was in no mood to go work out, and T– was still feeling pretty down with her allergy attack (or whatever it is), so we stayed home. I played with AB for a couple hours, trying to teach her how to drum on her little turtle drum. She just bangs. Whatever.

I also dug out the old “How to Drum” book that I’d gotten way back when I was taking lessons in college, but by the time I thought of that it was AB’s bedtime so I just played the game instead of reading.

As I said, T– wasn’t feeling too well last night, so I just played the Solo Tour. I kind of like doing that because if I have trouble with a song I can try it two or three times until I get it right. D– and T– are usually more in it for the entertainment value, and prefer to skip the brutal songs and go on to something we can handle.

Anyway, I’d cleared 10 songs on Solo sometime last week, and last night I did 19 more. Then the 20th kicked my butt. My goal for the Solo games is to get through them all with 4 stars on Medium (there’s 93 total), then go to Hard and do the same thing. I figure by Expert I’ll just be trying to complete them, but who knows. I’ve been making some impressive progress.

So, yeah, since they’re arranged in increasing difficulty (specifically for the drum part), and since patterns you learn in one song tend to show up in harder songs (only faster, or with minor variations, or whatever), I can generally just burn right through the Solo songs. Almost every one I get 4 stars on the first try. Out of those 19, I had to retry 2 of them, because I’d only gotten 3 stars on the first try (and I got 4 on the second). Then there were 4 or 5 that I got 5 stars right off the bat, so you can see how awesome I am.

Then I got to that 20th song (30th overall), and it was 10:15, and I told myself, “I’ll complete this one, see what the next 5 songs are [because it reveals them 5 at a time], and then go to bed.” I knew that to be a lie, but that was my plan.

Then I started the song, and the intro was a nightmare. 30 seconds into the song, I almost got booed off the stage, but it transitioned into the verse and then I was fine. Then about six minutes into the song (SIX minutes into ONE song), it goes back to the fast drum solo, and it lasts for two solid minutes, and I just didn’t stand a chance. I got booed off the stage. First time that’s happened to me on the solo.

So, ugh, I started it over (because that’s what I do), and I did the first fast solo pretty well, but I got to the second one and it trashed me again. But, as I said, I had just played over six minutes of perfect drums before suddenly getting booed off the stage.

Then, on the “You Failed” screen, I noticed that it also showed the amount of the song that I’d completed before failing — 65%! The song is damn nine minutes long! And I have to beat it to go on with the game.

So I switched to practice mode and spent a while just practicing those two solos, trying to get the rhythm down, and I could do the first one but the second one is tough, and it goes on forever. I tried and tried and tried, and figured I had it down well enough to at least finish the song (even if it wasn’t graceful), so I tried again. Seven minutes later, I failed. Then I tried again, and by that time it was 11:30. I spent over an hour trying to just complete this song, and never did. Never even got close. I could have played an entire “Blitzkrieg Bop” in the time left between the farthest I got and the end of the song.

Bah! And I didn’t want to end on that note, so I switched to the “Bonus Set” and unlocked four songs before I went to bed. Two of them were 4-stars and the other two 5-stars on my first attempts, so that gave me some of my confidence back.

Yeah, yeah, that’s a lot of drum talk, but it’s what’s been going on. In spite of the frustration, I’m having a good time, and I now have all of the songs from the game on my mp3 player, so I can practice even when I’m not home. Awesome.

I’m listening to that song right now, by the way. “Green Grass and High Tides” by the Outlaws. I like the lyrics, but I kinda hate the song, in case you were curious.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: September 3, 2008

I had been planning to write up a post about how I first got started writing for today’s journal entry, just to preserve it for posterity (by which I mean my own, given my flaky memory), but I don’t feel up to it. Remind me to get to that sometime, though.

T– and I are sick. I would not be at all surprised if AB is too, because she’s been wicked cranky for three or four days now. We had just put that down to the 18 hours in the car, though.

Anyway, it’s mostly just stuffy nose and scratchy throat, but it’s enough to wear a person down. Sometimes I feel feverish, but that could just be the hypochondria talking. It has never been bad enough for me to check a thermometer on it.

Lame, though. I was just sick! Ugh. Anyway, T– and I are both on zinc, and with any luck it will pass quickly.

Last night on the drive home T– asked me to pick up some stuff for dinner, so I ran to Crest and got some soda, potato soup (and some new potatoes because the potato soup is always too thin), and some bananas for AB. D– called after work and asked if I wanted him to bring over a snowcone or grab something for us for dinner, but I missed the call. Alas.

Soup was good, though, and afterward we went ahead and bought a bunch of the songs we’d picked for Rock Band (and by “we” I mean D–), and then a little bit before AB’s bedtime (which was probably a mistake) we broke out the instruments and started rocking. I’m definitely seeing major progress, but I have a hell of a time with off-beat bass drum. One of the songs we were doing last night had tons. That, and bass drum/snare, snare, bass drum, rest, all at a rapid tempo. Every time I try I just make a big noisy mess. T– and D– managed to save my performance most of the time, though, and I’d get into the chorus and then I’d be back up to a full Crowd Meter.

I bet nobody will understand all of that last paragraph, but that’s okay. The short of it is: drumming is hard. For me, anyway.

I got to talk with B– last night, and that was fun, and then (as I said) we rocked out starting around 8:00 and, in spite of our best intentions, we didn’t get done until 11:30. Fun, though. Quite fun.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: Labor Day in Houston

Last Thursday night, after I got home from work, T– and I spent a while talking, and I played with the baby, and I wrestled with my inner demons and finally settled on watching the entirely insignificant final Cowboys preseason game instead of playing Rock Band. Then, after the game, I played Rock Band.

Friday morning we woke up at 7:00, loaded up the car, and headed out of town. We were in Dallas by 11:00, and we met Grandma and my aunt Darlene for lunch at El Fenix — a family favorite in the area. Then Grandma, who had taken the afternoon off, watched AB for us so T– and I could go to the museum just the two of us.

That was fun. We had to drive an hour across town to get from Dallas proper to the museum in Fort Worth, but on the way we passed the new Cowboys stadium, and it was amazing. Worth the drive just for that.

Then the museum itself was beautiful. It was part of Fort Worth’s cultural district, with a massive park our front and quiet fountains all along the front walk. We went to the Impressionists Exhibit first. On loan from the Chicago Museum of Art, that exhibit was the only reason we’d gone to the museum. After looking through all the Monets and Manets and Van Goghs, T– went to look through the gift shop while I sat down on a bench and did my PT stretches, because my back was killing me.

While T– was shopping she discovered that the museum had, in its permanent collection, one of her favorite paintings by Caravaggio, so we went ahead and strolled through the museum’s permanent collection, and there were some amazing paintings there, too. After spending forty-five minutes in the Impressionists, the stark colors and sharp lines of the older realist paintings really stood out.

Anyway, we were there for a little over an hour, then headed back to Dallas and discovered along the way that the charger for our GPS had exploded inside the cigarette lighter, so we were without GPS for the rest of the trip. That was a bummer.

After we got back, Grandma and I ran out to pick up some barbecue and Darla and Jason came over for dinner. We ended up watching the last ten minutes of Ella Enchanted and then the last fifteen minutes of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, and I finally decided enough was enough and went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up early and left by 8:00 toward Houston. T– had been smart enough to print out directions everywhere we were going (I’d have just relied on the GPS) so we weren’t completely helpless. Saturday morning AB was a little fussier about being stuck in her car seat than she had been Friday, but it wasn’t too bad, and we made it in to Perry’s place a little bit before noon. He gave us the tour of the house, we chased AB off the stairs, and followed her around while she chased the cats from room to room. Then my sister showed up with her family, and Mom and Dad showed up with Granddad, and we all had sandwiches for lunch.

Dad and I ran up to the grocery store to pick up some supplies, and that became a longer ordeal than it needed to be (but it gave me a time to provide some advice on his book, for which he was grateful). Then I got back to find T– and AB in the pool. It was so hot that I didn’t hesitate to change into my swimsuit and join them. I was only out there about half an hour before my uncle announced dinner was almost ready, and we all headed in to get cleaned up.

Dinner was steaks, and was fantastic. After that, Jeff and I spent the evening getting Civ set up on his laptop and Dad’s, and the three of us played until late into the night. There was a Sooners game on — first of the season! — but it was pay-per-view and Dad couldn’t talk us into chipping in to order it. Civ was sufficient to entertain us.

We were up too late, so church at 10:00 the next morning came way too early. We made it, though. They attend a pretty progressive church, with a five piece rock band for the praise team, so I spent most of the service watching the drummer and about half of it tapping along on my knees. It was quite educational.

Actually, even though I had to leave Rock Band behind in OKC, I spent the whole weekend practicing. I did most of the driving, and whatever music I could find on the radio, I would try to pick out the drum rhythm and follow it — at least the way it would be presented in Rock Band. There’s a particular combination of high hat, snare, and bass drum that is incredibly consistent in the Rock Band songs (at least at the easier difficulties), and which I’d had a lot of trouble with all of last week. While I was driving, I spent hours at a time practicing that specific pattern, until the independent movements of left hand, right hand, and right foot all made sense to me. I didn’t know how much of it would be useful, and how much I was just being silly, but I did get much better at recognizing and picking out the drum part of songs just over the course of that first drive from OKC to Dallas.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon after church we left my uncle and his family and headed toward Galveston for a day at the beach. We stopped at a Mexican place there in Tomball (the little town outside Houston where my uncle lives), then drove the hour-and-a-half out to Galveston. Granddad rode with T– and AB and me, and he entertained us on the drive with stories of trips to the beach, from throughout his life. A surprising number of them involved hurricanes, too, which was topical. All weekend the TV stayed on the Weather Channel, tracking Hurricane Gustav.

In Galveston, we drove along the beach for a bit then stopped at a Wendy’s to change into our swimsuits. While I was changing, I put my cheap Wal-Mart sunglasses on top of a hand dryer, and some dude ended up snatching them and walking out the front door with them before I had a chance to go back and grab them. Whatever. I walked over to the Surf Shop next door and bought a new pair for $7.

Then we finally got out into the ocean. In spite of all my grousing about having to spend a whole hour outdoors, I really had a good time. At water parks, my favorite spot is always the wave pool. This time we got to take AB out into the waves, and she loved it. Jeff had little Sophie, too, and she stayed with us even when we went out deep. It was fun.

Fourth wave that hit me, though, ripped my new sunglasses off my face and hid them somewhere in the bottom of the ocean. I spent about five minutes trying to find them, but after about ten seconds they were already lost to me. Argh.

I had just as much fun anyway, though, and I was disappointed when Mom and Dad called us back to the beach and said it was time to go. We drove up to a gas station that turned out to have only one bathroom, got changed back into dry clothes, and then headed back for Tomball, this time with Mom riding in the back with AB.

Just as we were getting into Houston, AB’s stomach rebelled at the cereal Mom was giving her (and, much more likely, all the saltwater and sand she’d swallowed while playing in the waves). She made a huge mess in her car seat, and I was trying to follow Dad through dense traffic, at high speeds, in an unfamiliar town (and without directions or a GPS). That was no fun. Mom and T– between them got her cleaned up, but the whole car smelled like vomit and I have a sensitivity to that. It was not a fun ninety minutes….

We finally got home, though, and Perry had some fantastic fajitas ready for us for dinner. We were all exhausted after the day’s events, too, so after dinner we fell to talking and Dad and Jeff and I played some Civ and it was all very low key. Around midnight we gave up on our game, and headed to bed.

Then we got up fairly early Monday morning, but with all the chatting and saying goodbye, it was nearly 10:00 before we got out of town. We made good time, though, and got to Dallas right at 1:00 where Grandma and Darla and Jason met us at Chik Fil’A for a quick lunch, then an hour later we were back on the road.

We got home at about 5:45, unpacked the car, looked around the house to make sure the cats hadn’t made any messes (and silently blessed B– and E– for taking care of the litterbox over the weekend, which was the reason they hadn’t), and then set the table for our dinner guests.

K– and N– showed up at 6:30 with some P F Chang’s, and D– got in about fifteen minutes later with soda. We had a delicious dinner, then watched An American Tail (as part of our 80s Movies thing), and then rocked out for an hour or so before bedtime.

Y’know, I wasn’t too excited about spending my holiday weekend on the road, but I had a lot more fun than I thought I would. I always forget just how cool Perry and his family are, especially the kids, and then it was a much quieter weekend (in terms of schedule) than most such family get-togethers are. Maybe it’s because Labor Day doesn’t have the same traditional demands associated with it as a Thanksgiving or a Christmas.

But, yeah, it was awesome. And then while I was playing Rock Band last night, that particular drum pattern that I had been practicing in the car on Friday kept showing up, in song after song, and every time it came up I nailed it. Bah-DAH! So that’s awesome. I also learned that the intro to “Enter Sandman” can kick my ass, well and truly, but I’m working on that next.

Now I’m home, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be home until October. I’m grateful for that.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 28, 2008

I still sometimes type 19- at the beginning of the date before remembering we’re in the 2000s. Three times this week, in fact. Oops.

Anyway, last night we went to Taco Cabana for dinner, and K– and N– met us there. D– and I had to skip out early so I could get him to the airport for a business trip. He’s spending today and tomorrow in Denver, learning how to Microsoft a Microsoft in the Microsofting Microsoft. I dunno. I don’t pay attention when he talks.

After I dropped him off, T– and AB were still at church, so I busted out the Rock Band and started working on my form. I read through a couple articles yesterday with advice either from real drummers on how to play Rock Band, or advice on how to become a real drummer (or at least start the process) using Rock Band. Either way, I learned how to stand on the bass drum pedal without killing my foot, and that was important.

I also went ahead and started playing through the solo game on Medium difficulty. I had gotten “good enough” at the Easy difficulty, and I figured moving up sooner would just make me learn faster. Then I spent some time regretting that decision, and then before the end of the night I was actually keeping up with some of the complicated mixture of high hat, bass drum, and tempo snare stuff that they were throwing at me.

And actually by “end of the night” there, I really mean, “by the time T– and AB got home, and K– and N– dropped by with them,” which was only about 40 minutes later. So that’s pretty good. Of course, AB crawled up into my lap in the middle of some song by The Clash and just wrecked my score and got me booed offstage, but she was adorable doing it, so what’s there to complain about? After she went to bed I got four stars on it.

T– and I played for a while, but she called it quits a little before ten so I went ahead and played through the rest of the second tier of songs (the Amsterdam set, I think it was), and I’ve got 4 stars on all of the 12-16 songs I’ve played so far on Medium. I think that’s pretty good. By the end of the night I was doing way better than I had at the beginning, too. So that’s awesome.

Also, that’s my whole night. I went to bed around 11, and then woke up and came to work.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 27, 2008

Big news, I guess, is the car. I talked with my dad last night about his experiences with such problems, and he recommended I take it in to a tire shop. He said if it was an alignment problem or a damaged strut (which it turned out to be), tire shops due those jobs in such high volume that normal mechanics can’t compete. And if it was something more serious, the tire shop would readily refer me.

As I said, though, it turned out to be a bent strut — as well as severe alignment problems from the impact. It’s going to run me about $300, which is a kick in the pants, but it’s about as good as I could have hoped for as of the moment I felt the lady slam into the passenger side of my car. So I’m considering myself fortunate, paying the bill, and going on with my life.

After work yesterday I went for a haircut, then Dad called me on my drive home from there. I got off the phone with him right around the time AB showed up in the living room dressed as a dragon (as you may have read about elsewhere), which was pretty damn adorable.

Then D– came over and we spent an hour or so scrolling through the songs in Rock Band‘s Music Store. The vast majority of them run $2 a song, and once you’ve got them downloaded you can play them in the game — not just in free play type things, but also in the Set Lists you set up to progress through the game, so it makes a pleasant break from the game’s initial set of songs, which you find yourself playing over and over and over again.

I found “Still Alive” with GlaDOS available as a free download, and that just made my night (although I think K– is the only one I know who would understand why, and that fact saddens me deeply). Then, as I said, D– and T– and I went through all the songs in the list, and picked out the Must Haves and the Pretty Goods and passed on all the That Sounds Exactly Like Twisted Sister But Not Quite As Goods.

The Must Haves alone came out to about $60 worth. I’d sent D– an email yesterday saying, “This game is going to get expensive.” That was in reference to the drum throne (stool) and drum pad silencers that I had found, not to mention the $300 replacement drum kit. Adding in downloadable content just makes it worse.

We’ll probably grab a bunch of those pretty soon, though. Because, as I said, the core songs get old pretty quick, and it turns out there’s some pretty nice material available for purchase. D– sent me the setlist for Rock Band 2, though, and it just blows the first one away. It’s got a heavy Classic Rock bent, whereas the first is much more Punk and Metal.

Anyway, the plan was to do our music selection while AB was awake, then break out the instruments once she went down, but the first part of that ended up taking nearly an hour longer than we’d intended. That was okay, though — we just added an hour to our evening. We ended up playing until 11:00, but we got our band a private jet and a sound guy, so that’s pretty cool. T– also finally tried playing guitar, and in spite of a rocky start she improved rapidly, and actually had a lot more fun than she thought she would.

Then there was Aerosmith, but we will not talk of it.

This morning I had PT at 8:00, and T– took the car up to the tire place while I was there, and then I picked her up afterward and dropped her at home before I headed to work. That’s my day.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 26, 2008

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I can’t promise to get all the details right on this….

Still, Friday night D– and I went over to K– and N–‘s to watch the Cowboys game. The third preseason game is often called the dress rehearsal for the season, so most teams put in their starting line for most of the game, to see how they work together. It’s also the first time in preseason that the team actually watches any tape of the opponents in preparation, and that they cater their plays directly to the opposing team. So we knew going in that it was going to be a good one.

And it was. With the exception of a Romo-thrown interception into the endzone that led to a strong drive by the Texans, the Cowboys starters dominated throughout the first half, on both offense and defense. When Romo et al. came off the field, the Cowboys were up 20-10, and those 10 came off an opening kickoff return that put them in range for the field goal, and then the interception and ensuing drive.

Anyway, if you don’t care about football, sorry about all that. It was an exciting game, though. This weekend they’ll be sitting all the starters to guarantee they’re fresh for the season opener, so that one won’t even be worth watching. On the other hand, the Sooners have their opening game this weekend, so there will definitely be some football on.

After the game Friday night, ’round about 10:30, I suggested we go catch a late showing of Tropic Thunder and D– was down, so we ended up at AMC in the mall until two in the morning. So worth it. Fantastic movie. It’s like a modernization of Three Amigos. Hilarious — wildly inappropriate, but hilarious.

I got home at 2:30 and found T– still awake, chatting with Julie, who was in town for a wedding shower. We stayed up and talked for a while, mostly about the movie. I finally went to bed and just crashed.

Saturday I didn’t get up until lunch time. We took Julie to our bagel place, which is becoming a Saturday tradition (lunch at the bagel place, that is — not taking Julie there). Afterward, T– and Julie headed to the shower, and I went over to B– and E–‘s to hang out with B– while I had a few hours free. We watched Three Amigos and talked, and before I knew it four hours were gone.

We met my little sister and her family for dinner at Friday’s, then met D– at the house around 8:00, and he and I played Civ while we watched the Vikings’ preseason game. I promise not to do a play-by-play on that one, but it was almost as much fun as the Cowboys game.

We got kinda caught up in the Civ game. Last time we’d played, before D– headed out of town for work all last week, we’d won that game, so we started a new one Saturday evening. After 8:00. By the time we quit, we had tanks — just to give you an idea how long we played. Ugh.

Fun, though. I got to bed late and did not feel like waking up for church, but I did anyway. T– and I stopped at a garage sale on the way there, then sat through a sermon about running in such a way as to win, and I worked on a short story set in the SK universe.

Afterward we went over to K– and N–‘s place for lunch. Her parents were there, and among them they made up steaks and hamburgers and we brought hotdogs that K– threw on the grill, and there were all manner of sides and cheesecake and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a fantastic lunch. Everyone was pleased.

D– was there, too, but he was running a little late because he’d stopped on the way there to pick up Guitar Hero, so we had our afternoon’s entertainment provided. After lunch we guys got to work setting up the equipment for the game, got all the instruments put together and went to play it, and discovered that there was no game disc in the box. Ugh. So D– had to drive all the way back across town to the store where he’d gotten it to pick up a game disc (luckily they didn’t make us break the instruments back down), but when he got back (around 2:00) we set up a band and started rocking.

T– hung around to see what the game was like, but after our first song she took AB home, because the baby was badly in need of a nap. D– offered to drive me home, so we could play a couple more songs. Three hours later, T– called to ask me what time I planned to be home. It’s an addictive game, and easily the best of the rhythm games I’ve seen so far. The cooperative aspect of it, working together as a group toward a goal, is just awesome. Powerful, and fun.

We all took turns on all the instruments, although I don’t think D– tried the drums. The drums were easily the most popular instrument, though. They’re addictive, and nowhere near as difficult to use as everyone assumes they will be.

Anyway, after T– called we played one more song, then packed everything up and headed home. We had pizza for supper, then when AB went down D– and I brought in the instruments to rock out with T– some. We set up a new band on my XBox, and this time we took the time to go through character creation and customize our characters. D– had read that that was one of the big features of the game, and it really was a fun process. When T– complained that she didn’t like her outfit, we decided to play some gigs, make some money, and then let her check out the in-game store to find something better to wear. Once she started looking through the options, D– and I had to check out ours, too, and we spent the rest of the evening alternating between playing gigs and shopping for clothes. Heh. We played until about 10:30, when pragmatism forced us to call it quits.

Yesterday morning I went back to the physical therapist, and she said she was seeing real progress. I could tell, too. I haven’t taken any of my back medication for four days, and while it’s pretty painful at times, it’s manageable, and getting a little better every day. On Friday she gave me my stretches to do at home, and I find them helpful every time I do them.

Then over lunch on Monday I was in a minor car accident. I was turning into a parking lot, through a line of cars waiting at a red light, when the lady waiting in line decided to pull forward into the gap and slammed into my right tire. It sounded horrible, but to all appearances there was no damage other than scraped paint on my car or hers (and basically all of the paint was on my tire, scraped off of her bumper). Once I was on my way back to work, I called T– to let her know about it and I was in the middle of saying, “There’s no real damage done,” when I noticed my steering wheel was at a 15 degree angle to the left, while I was driving straight. Ugh. So, at the very least, I’d destroyed my alignment, though it’s quite possible I’ve done real damage to the axle. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Anyway, I tried not to let it bother me, and the car is driving fine. Just…bah. I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to get it in to a mechanic, but we were supposed to drive to Houston this weekend, and all the time I’m spending not thinking about it is just making matters worse and worse.

When I got home from work I was feeling pretty worn out after a long day, so we scrapped our plans to go to the gym. Instead I lazed on the couch for a while, then T– made supper and we went for a walk in the neighborhood. We got home right at AB’s bedtime, and while T– put her to bed, I got the instruments back out and T– sang for me while I drummed. The plan was to play through a song or two, then she was going to go paint while I continued practicing the drums.

The game’s addictive, though! Did I mention that? We played until 10:30, when once again pragmatism forced us to quit.

That’s my weekend (and the start of this week). It’s been a fun one. I’m looking forward to getting better at the drums. They say this is one of the few rhythm games that can really teach you real-life skills, as the game version of drumming is pretty close to the real world equivalent (as opposed to, say, guitar playing, or even the quality-insensitive singing). So yay.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 22, 2008

Last night was a bit of a strange one.

Yesterday, during the day, we cooked up a plan for a Pogue Family Writer’s Convention, which will be taking place in Branson in October. So, first thing after I got home, I got to explain to T– that I was going off to Missouri for a weekend and she wasn’t invited. Fun.

Then I spent half an hour or so playing with AB, before T– took her along and went to the monthly church picnic. As I really hate having anxiety attacks on schoolnights, I elected to skip it.

I tried to get in touch with D–, and it turned out he did get in at a reasonable hour, but he already had dinner plans. I tried contacting B–, since I knew he was stuck at home with a baby and might want some company, but I got no answer and he never called me back. So, when I finally gave up on all of them, I went out to get myself a sandwich around 7:30. I went to Subway first, but they proved incompetent, so after a ten minute wait (behind one other customer), and no sign they’d be getting to me anytime soon, I walked out and went to Jersey Mike’s. Their club is awesome.

Around the time I finished eating, T– got home with the baby, and we said goodnight to her, then T– watched me play a demo I’d downloaded of a new game called Too Human. I read good reviews of it earlier in the week and passed those along to K– and D– in the hopes of getting some multiplayer going. Anyway, it seemed prudent to check out the demo before dropping $50 for it, so I did, and I absolutely enjoyed it. It’s easily a game that can keep me interested until Spore comes out.

In other news, I got my report back from the doctor for my blood work last week, and I get to cut down on fats and sugars in my diet, and come back in three months for another test. Yay! Also, I got a raise at work, in addition to the cost-of-living increase, so that’s welcome news.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 21, 2008

I just finished reading my little sister’s novel. It, like my older sister’s and Dad’s, was much better than I ever expected. I feel a little bit less special every day….

I forgot to post yesterday, so I need to go back to Tuesday night, when T– was in Tulsa for work. She stayed the night, so I was on my own for an evening. D– was (and still is) out of town on business. Luckily, after spending all day watching my baby, N– invited me over for dinner, so I didn’t have to find a way to take care of myself.

We had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, and watermelon for dessert. It was delicious, and N– sent the leftovers home with me for a delicious lunch on Wednesday, too. Afterward I hung out for a little while, but eventually had to rush AB home because she was in need of a diaper change and I’d left her bag at home.

After she went to bed, I watched Old School and worked on my markup of my sister’s novel. B– called, too — a situation I’d arranged beforehand, when I learned he, too, was stuck at home watching a baby, so we couldn’t really get together. Anyway, we talked for half an hour or so, and it was good to catch up. I hope to get over there sometime soon.

Wednesday morning I stayed home to watch AB until T– got back from Tulsa, right around lunch time. As soon as she got in, I had my leftovers, and then headed up to work. Afterward, we met K– and N– (along with N–‘s parents) at Jason’s Deli for dinner. Then T– dropped me off at home while the rest of them went to church.

I spent an hour and a half working on my stricken computer, but I gained almost nothing. Alas. It needs money, and I’m not in a spending mood. I only have nineteen days before it needs to be operational, though, so I had better get in gear.

Anyway, when T– got home I gave up on the computer repair, kissed AB goodnight, and then got back to work on my sister’s novel. It’s a powerful story with engaging characters. I’m impressed.

That took me to bedtime and, as I said, I finished it up over lunch today. I also finished reading The Cat Who Went Bananas, which puts me quite near the end of that series.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: August 19, 2008

My life feels…weird when I’m not addictively playing a video game.

I suppose I should get to that point with my writing, where I’m sitting up all evening at home working on Sleeping Kings while I watch CSI with T–, or whatever, but that takes a lot more focus. For me, video games are about winding down, after a day spent dealing with people at work.

Anyway, that’s all old discussion. Yesterday I went to the gym after work, and spent 45 minutes on the treadmill. My physical therapist said I could do anything that wasn’t directly painful, so I may go ahead and start working on strength training again, sooner than I’d intended. I don’t want to do anything to slow my recovery (because it’s already been a ridiculous percent of forever), but 45 minutes on the treadmill is dull. I’m not jogging, even. I get up to a 4 mph walk, but that’s just enough to make my feet hurt without really feeling challenging.

So, yeah. I’ll go back to arm and chest workouts, anyway. I might do them sitting instead of standing, but at least I’m doing something.

And that’s probably way more than you wanted to know about my infrequent workouts, but it’s what’s on my mind. After the gym last night, we played with AB for a while, and T– made some fantastic quesadillas, and then we watched The Wedding Singer. Neither of us had seen it in a while, and my computer’s recent demise rather limited our options, so there ya go.

It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it, although I can probably go another eight years before watching it again. No big deal.

After that I turned on an episode of New Adventures of Old Christine, because it was the only thing new on the TiVo (and, as it happened, a rerun we both remembered), and did some chores while we chuckled at the jokes. Then I went to bed early, but couldn’t sleep because I’d had a nap right after work. I stayed in bed, though, because what else was there to do? I’m sure I drifted off well before midnight.

And then I came into work on time today, and T– went to Tulsa for work, and N– is watching my baby even as we speak. Thank the Lord for good friends. I mean that.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.