Passion

Things I'm grateful for today:

1. This winter being really, really mild.
I know this is a bad thing overall. Climate change = bad. But on a selfish, personal level, I am so, so grateful that this winter has been warm and easy to endure. It's the first winter in several years I haven't sunk into depression, and it's really nice to be in early February and not feel like I want to drive into a tree.

2. My job.
I have a really flexible job. Some days are difficult and challenging and hectic. Some days are quiet and I have a lot of free time. I almost always have a lot of choice in what I'm doing minute-to-minute, and I feel very lucky for that.

3. This beer.
Today was one of the longer, more hectic days, and came with a lot of frustration. I'm grateful for the financial stability that lets us keep beer on hand and that I don't have Celiac disease and I can enjoy this beer at my leisure in my own home.

I looked in the mirror this morning and felt like I've lost a pound or two around the stomach. I don't know if that's true or not, but I have been walking a lot lately, so maybe. I look forward to living somewhere that I can/have to walk everywhere.

I finally sent my resume to my coworker's friend at Google. She gave me the contact info in December and I spent about four weeks actively freaking out over the sad state of said resume. I finally got it into decent shape and then spent several more weeks just sitting on it, lamely, petrified with fear. Fear of what? Rejection, probably, though it's a lot harder for them to say "yes" instead of "no" if you never send them your resume... So, anyway, today I finally sent it in. And then I looked up a 3D printing company in San Francisco and made first contact with them, too. Yay! Go me. Job Hunt 2012: California has officially kicked off.

 I just realized I haven't even really posted text in a while.  Man, I'm such a blog slacker.

The last few weekends have been so much fun.  Three weeks ago Jim and I went to a beer festival with two of our good friends.  Jim doesn't drink, but the rest of us sampled all sorts of different beers from microbreweries all over Michigan.  The best one I tasted was actually from a brewery about two miles from where Jim's parents live, so we've resolved to go back there so I can buy a warehouse full of their beer.  Jim drove us all to our weekly Friday night tabletop gaming group after the beer festival, which was quite amusing.  The group is up to about 10 people now, which is absurd for a tabletop adventuring group, but somehow it is usually still fun.

The following weekend the same friend who hosts the tabletop game threw a huge party for his Warcraft guild.  They are on the same server Jim and I play on, and we knew a bunch of the members (including one of the people who went to the beer festival with us, and who only comes to this part of the state on rare occasions), so we were invited as well.  It took up most of a Saturday night and lasted well into the small hours of Sunday morning and was just a fantastic get together.  I got to meet a couple of really awesome new people, too.  Afterwards I moved one of my characters into their guild so I could hang out with them online.

Last weekend we finally started back up with another tabletop gaming session that had been suspended for most of the summer while one of our group members bought a house and moved.  We finally met up in his basement, along with two new people, and even though we ended up spending literally half the time we were there helping the new guys create characters, we had a really fun evening.  The four of us who were playing ended up killing off a really scary level 6 bear of some sort, but Jim (who is the dungeon master) had rolled a 100 on his percentile dice (he rolls them to see how awful our random encounter is going to be, and 100 is the worst possible) decided that our victory over it had been too easy and that with a 100 we probably should have died.  So he sent a level 11 elite dire bear after us.  We were level 3 and 4.

We killed it.

It was pretty much the best D&D moment ever.

This week I decided I needed to make some knitting friends, so I used the location search on Ravelry to find a group in this area.  I finally found one that had active threads in their forum, so I introduced myself.  They get together on Wednesday nights about three miles from my apartment, so Wednesday I headed over there and met up with 3 of them.  We sat outside (it was a beeeeaaauuuutiful evening) and knitted for about 3 hours.  I was by far the youngest, but they were very nice women and it was fun to be able to talk knitting.  Also, they told me about the Michigan Fiber Festival, which is this weekend on the other side of the state, and when I expressed interest, one of them offered me a ride!!  So I am meeting her at her house tomorrow morning at 6 am and we're going to drive across the state so I can fondle pretty pretty yarns.

Also this week, Jim and I decided we needed a break from Warcraft, so we're going Tuesday to Tuesday without logging in at all.  The funny thing is, what I miss is not playing my max-level characters.  What I really want to do is log in and level some of my level 20-something characters on different servers.  I think the time for an extended break from Warcraft is imminent, though.  Just not really enjoying the experience anymore.

Also also this week, my boss told me I can start working full time.  He got me a new computer, so I don't have to shuffle around where I'm working depending on what day it is, what time of day it is, and who else is in the office (Thursdays were the worst; I had to use 3 different computers on Thursdays based on who was in the office and what times they worked).  So I now have a Real Job(tm).  Still poor though!  Cross your fingers he gives me a raise to go with the new full-time status.

Lastly, one of my friends from the tabletop gaming groups decided he wants a Dr. Who scarf.  It is a foot-wide, 14-foot-long monstrosity in 8 colors.  I originally estimated it would take me 12 weeks to knit it.  But I am getting paid!  Also it is taking a fraction of the time I predicted.  I'm a quarter through after only about 2.5 weeks of knitting (which I guess means it will still take 10 weeks, but hey, 5/6 is still a fraction.......).
I would post current pictures of my progress, but apparently Jim has my camera at his parents' house, where he is documenting the process of putting a new engine in his car (the old one blew up last week)(no one was hurt).

( Aaaaand I post more pictures. )


Also, I'm pretty sure this entry in itself proves that I never was, nor ever will be, cool.  
tabletop games + Warcraft + knitting + crazy cat lady = completely uncool
Maybe the bit about the beer festival helped?