A General Update!
Oct. 29th, 2006 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthWell, it's been a while. I wasn't going to do this now, either, but I woke up earlier than I thought (I completely forgot about day light savings time, just like every year... ;) ) and I just checked my syllabi and I was wrong about how much work I have due this week (one less paper than expected!) so I feel like, what the hey!!
Mom came up for a week, as I'm sure I've already said. We did a bunch of fun stuff. Highlights included:
-the T.C. Steele House: a historical site dedicated to an American impressionist who I hadn't even heard of, this site was recommend by one of my coworkers. It was really, really nice! I highly recommend it! His workshop is there, filled with nice paintings, and part of his home is also available for tour. All of the furniture and belongings were originally his, so the whole thing really feels significant...like, real, in way that Wiley house (which we also visited) didn't quite pull off because the things in it were less related to the actual family. I was also very impressed by his art; mom was so impressed that she bought a book of his paintings. He was very talented.
-the Lilly Library: Of course, I wanted to show my mom where I worked all summer. She very much enjoyed the exhibits, especially getting a look at the puzzles with a "tour" by someone in-the-know. It was rather enjoyable, really. It was fun to show off a little bit, too, though somehow saying, (smugly) "Oh, and that mount? I made that mount." is less rewarding than you'd think. ;)
-Longhorn Steakhouse Dinner: Dinner proved very nice. Thank you very much to those who came! A big apology to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mindstalk - I didn't get your message until about a week later, silly phone!! Anyway, it was a nice dinner and afforded a good chance for mom to meet a bunch of people.
-the Ram: We drove up to Indy early for the plane so that we could go to St. Elmo's Steakhouse, where I've wanted to go for something like 5 years (ever since the first year Gencon was in Indy...), only to discover that they weren't open yet at the time that we got there. So instead we went across the street to the Ram, where I convinced mom to get the kobe beef...yesterday she mentioned on the phone that it was the best burger that she had ever eaten. Ah, how I love the Ram! :)
-Yummy eating out: We went to every high-quality restaurant I could think of that I hadn't already eaten out. Restaurant Talent was delicious; I felt like I'd really accomplished something, too, because I went into a really fancy restaurant and managed to order something without having to do lots of substitutions (venison with sweet potato pierogies and this strange mashed potato lobster thing that was yummy). We went to a bunch of other places too, but I can't seem to think of them right now...Dulce Vita was one, it was yummy though what I had had way too much garlic...one was an Italian restaurant across the street from Tutto Bene, which was really yummy, though the portions were huge!...anyway, it was gooood eatin'.
-the Art Museum: the art museum was really nice! I hadn't been there before, and though it wasn't the largest collection, it had some nice pieces. The ancient stuff was particularly impressive, at least to me; while, as always, I was completely unimpressed by the modern art, but that wasn't really the museum's fault, I refuse to think that a toilet seat is a work of art.
-walking: We went for hikes in Brown County State Park and at Griffy Lake. They were very nice walks, though I wish I'd brought Jonie with me, she would have had fun.
-er...I'm sure we did other stuff, but I can't think of it right now
-generally hung out - we spent a fiar amount of time chilling out in mom's hotel room, sitting on my deck, or just generally having a good time. And of course, we spent a ton of time talking and chatting.
-The Pinter Play: We didn't actually end up seeing the Pinter Play. It turned out to be very long, and we didn't get to eat dinner before hand, and the combination was enough that we just ditched the idea. :)
-And of course, we went to Lotus and such, but I spoke about that already.
The week after mom left was a disaster. I hadn't really gotten any work at all done while she was here. I had reading to do for my classes, a major data entry job for one of our grants that had to be done immediately because other people couldn't do their jobs without the data, a paper worth a high percentage of my grade due Thurdsay morning, and the costume to make for the Changeling game. I rather despaired of getting it all done; I almost didn't - there were some pretty side things I had very much wanted to do for my Changeling costume that just didn't get done (I was going to do embroidery the bodice, primarily) - but all in all I made it through the week. Thank god! It was no fun at all. :)
The last Changeling game was a lot of fun. I had a bunch of concerns going in, but they proved to be unfounded so they really aren't worth going into. It was a lot of fun, truly. I had spent the entire month since the last game looking forward to my tearful reunion, and the scene, though sadly cut short slightly, still wa worth the wait, I was very happy! Everyone was really awesome, too, I think everyone did a great job on their ideal costumes, on acting like more perfect versions of themselves, and all that jazz. I had great scenes with pretty much everyone I talked to, and particular had fun withkniedzw, kitty_bitch, drake_rocket, tooth_and_claw, ancientwisdom, sapphohestia...okay, I should stop listing people individual, I'm realizing that I'll end up listing like everyone on my list who I talked to... ;)
fter the game on Sunday, we went to see the Prestige. It was an interesting movie. I thought it was a very good movie, but I didn't like it all that much anyway. I really like having someone appealing to root for; while all of the characters were appealing (and I rooted for Hugh Jackman) by the end I felt a little dirty for having liked any of them at any point because they were all bad and unpleasant people. Even Tesla. Who was the man. :)
On Sunday I made dire predictions about the amount that I had to do this past week, but as it turns out it wasn't all that bad at all. I mean, I didn't get full nights of sleep as it was, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the week previous to that. I got a chunk of my reading done, though not all of it (and I'm still behind, sigh, I think I need to just accept that I've reached that part of the semester where I don't get the reading done; this happens every year). I finished my halloween costume much faster than I had thought I would, too, which was very nice - I've gotten quicker over all, loads of experience I suppose. Too much sewing! :)
In the last two weeks, I've gone though about 30 movies, maybe more, as the TV has been on in the background of like everything I've done. It's been a bit funny to just cycle through my collection; I'm a good chunk of my way through the "watch every thing I own" project (about 2/3rds of the way) - I've even watched a bunch of the ones that I've never seen. I haven't found much to get rid of, but I didn't really think I would. I'm going to need another rack any time now, though I haven't been getting many DVD's of late...
Of course, the big thing this week has been making the decision about my degrees. I started thinking seriously about that during the week of hell, but I wasn't in any shape to make important decisions then, so I put it off til I was a little more sane, but I realized that it was imperative that I register for classes before everything filled up, so I bit the bullet and made the decision. Thanks again for all of the advice that people gave me; it really was sooo helpful to get a lot of different perspectives and some thoughts on what to do. I think I've made the right choice; I spent a chunk of time yesterday looking at the different choices for schools to go to next, and I'm getting closer to making up my mind. It looks like the next step is 2 to 3 years, and will cost a lot of money. I have to decide if I should apply to them all; I have to decide if I would be willing to live in Alabama; I have to decide how much money I'm willing to spend, and how much time I'm willing to spend...I have to decide if it's worth applying to multiple places when in truth I know which one I'd most like to go too...though, having read more about them all, some of the others sound very interesting also....so yeah. Still deciding stuff. :)
The party went well. I had a lot of fun baking lots of different things, picking out which recipes to make and the like, and I think the different foods went over well; the left overs will be appearing today at the party (though a surprisingly large quantity of them got munched on yesterday by visitors to the house. ;) ) People had spiffy costumes, too! :)
Yesterday, meanwhile, was wonderful. I slept until I didn't feel like sleeping any more. I got out of bed, putzed around the computer, sat around in pajama's until like 5 in the afternoon, at which point I got sleepy and went back to bed for almost 2 hours, woke up, went to the theater withschenker28 to see Manon, which wasn't very good, so we left after three acts (there were 5 acts total....) and two and a half hours, came back, played taboo with the folks in my house, read some vampire smut, and then went to bed, only to once again sleep as late as I wanted, get up, realize that it was an hour earlier than I thought it was ....I was a bit down yesterday, in truth, as the last of the tiredness and stress battled to make my life suck somewhat, but today I feel largely refreshed (as I had hoped I would yesterday) so it's all been worth it. I spent a lot of yesterday berating myself for not doing work; but in the end I think it was better that I just had a day of doing whatever I felt like doing, and fuck the consequences, because I've just been pushing myself far too hard.
I guess that's about all for now. It's a lot! :) It's been a while since I've taken the time to actually write something up. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a nice weekend; I'm pleased to say that I am. :)
Mom came up for a week, as I'm sure I've already said. We did a bunch of fun stuff. Highlights included:
-the T.C. Steele House: a historical site dedicated to an American impressionist who I hadn't even heard of, this site was recommend by one of my coworkers. It was really, really nice! I highly recommend it! His workshop is there, filled with nice paintings, and part of his home is also available for tour. All of the furniture and belongings were originally his, so the whole thing really feels significant...like, real, in way that Wiley house (which we also visited) didn't quite pull off because the things in it were less related to the actual family. I was also very impressed by his art; mom was so impressed that she bought a book of his paintings. He was very talented.
-the Lilly Library: Of course, I wanted to show my mom where I worked all summer. She very much enjoyed the exhibits, especially getting a look at the puzzles with a "tour" by someone in-the-know. It was rather enjoyable, really. It was fun to show off a little bit, too, though somehow saying, (smugly) "Oh, and that mount? I made that mount." is less rewarding than you'd think. ;)
-Longhorn Steakhouse Dinner: Dinner proved very nice. Thank you very much to those who came! A big apology to
mindstalk - I didn't get your message until about a week later, silly phone!! Anyway, it was a nice dinner and afforded a good chance for mom to meet a bunch of people.-the Ram: We drove up to Indy early for the plane so that we could go to St. Elmo's Steakhouse, where I've wanted to go for something like 5 years (ever since the first year Gencon was in Indy...), only to discover that they weren't open yet at the time that we got there. So instead we went across the street to the Ram, where I convinced mom to get the kobe beef...yesterday she mentioned on the phone that it was the best burger that she had ever eaten. Ah, how I love the Ram! :)
-Yummy eating out: We went to every high-quality restaurant I could think of that I hadn't already eaten out. Restaurant Talent was delicious; I felt like I'd really accomplished something, too, because I went into a really fancy restaurant and managed to order something without having to do lots of substitutions (venison with sweet potato pierogies and this strange mashed potato lobster thing that was yummy). We went to a bunch of other places too, but I can't seem to think of them right now...Dulce Vita was one, it was yummy though what I had had way too much garlic...one was an Italian restaurant across the street from Tutto Bene, which was really yummy, though the portions were huge!...anyway, it was gooood eatin'.
-the Art Museum: the art museum was really nice! I hadn't been there before, and though it wasn't the largest collection, it had some nice pieces. The ancient stuff was particularly impressive, at least to me; while, as always, I was completely unimpressed by the modern art, but that wasn't really the museum's fault, I refuse to think that a toilet seat is a work of art.
-walking: We went for hikes in Brown County State Park and at Griffy Lake. They were very nice walks, though I wish I'd brought Jonie with me, she would have had fun.
-er...I'm sure we did other stuff, but I can't think of it right now
-generally hung out - we spent a fiar amount of time chilling out in mom's hotel room, sitting on my deck, or just generally having a good time. And of course, we spent a ton of time talking and chatting.
-The Pinter Play: We didn't actually end up seeing the Pinter Play. It turned out to be very long, and we didn't get to eat dinner before hand, and the combination was enough that we just ditched the idea. :)
-And of course, we went to Lotus and such, but I spoke about that already.
The week after mom left was a disaster. I hadn't really gotten any work at all done while she was here. I had reading to do for my classes, a major data entry job for one of our grants that had to be done immediately because other people couldn't do their jobs without the data, a paper worth a high percentage of my grade due Thurdsay morning, and the costume to make for the Changeling game. I rather despaired of getting it all done; I almost didn't - there were some pretty side things I had very much wanted to do for my Changeling costume that just didn't get done (I was going to do embroidery the bodice, primarily) - but all in all I made it through the week. Thank god! It was no fun at all. :)
The last Changeling game was a lot of fun. I had a bunch of concerns going in, but they proved to be unfounded so they really aren't worth going into. It was a lot of fun, truly. I had spent the entire month since the last game looking forward to my tearful reunion, and the scene, though sadly cut short slightly, still wa worth the wait, I was very happy! Everyone was really awesome, too, I think everyone did a great job on their ideal costumes, on acting like more perfect versions of themselves, and all that jazz. I had great scenes with pretty much everyone I talked to, and particular had fun with
kniedzw, kitty_bitch, drake_rocket, tooth_and_claw, ancientwisdom, sapphohestia...okay, I should stop listing people individual, I'm realizing that I'll end up listing like everyone on my list who I talked to... ;)fter the game on Sunday, we went to see the Prestige. It was an interesting movie. I thought it was a very good movie, but I didn't like it all that much anyway. I really like having someone appealing to root for; while all of the characters were appealing (and I rooted for Hugh Jackman) by the end I felt a little dirty for having liked any of them at any point because they were all bad and unpleasant people. Even Tesla. Who was the man. :)
On Sunday I made dire predictions about the amount that I had to do this past week, but as it turns out it wasn't all that bad at all. I mean, I didn't get full nights of sleep as it was, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the week previous to that. I got a chunk of my reading done, though not all of it (and I'm still behind, sigh, I think I need to just accept that I've reached that part of the semester where I don't get the reading done; this happens every year). I finished my halloween costume much faster than I had thought I would, too, which was very nice - I've gotten quicker over all, loads of experience I suppose. Too much sewing! :)
In the last two weeks, I've gone though about 30 movies, maybe more, as the TV has been on in the background of like everything I've done. It's been a bit funny to just cycle through my collection; I'm a good chunk of my way through the "watch every thing I own" project (about 2/3rds of the way) - I've even watched a bunch of the ones that I've never seen. I haven't found much to get rid of, but I didn't really think I would. I'm going to need another rack any time now, though I haven't been getting many DVD's of late...
Of course, the big thing this week has been making the decision about my degrees. I started thinking seriously about that during the week of hell, but I wasn't in any shape to make important decisions then, so I put it off til I was a little more sane, but I realized that it was imperative that I register for classes before everything filled up, so I bit the bullet and made the decision. Thanks again for all of the advice that people gave me; it really was sooo helpful to get a lot of different perspectives and some thoughts on what to do. I think I've made the right choice; I spent a chunk of time yesterday looking at the different choices for schools to go to next, and I'm getting closer to making up my mind. It looks like the next step is 2 to 3 years, and will cost a lot of money. I have to decide if I should apply to them all; I have to decide if I would be willing to live in Alabama; I have to decide how much money I'm willing to spend, and how much time I'm willing to spend...I have to decide if it's worth applying to multiple places when in truth I know which one I'd most like to go too...though, having read more about them all, some of the others sound very interesting also....so yeah. Still deciding stuff. :)
The party went well. I had a lot of fun baking lots of different things, picking out which recipes to make and the like, and I think the different foods went over well; the left overs will be appearing today at the party (though a surprisingly large quantity of them got munched on yesterday by visitors to the house. ;) ) People had spiffy costumes, too! :)
Yesterday, meanwhile, was wonderful. I slept until I didn't feel like sleeping any more. I got out of bed, putzed around the computer, sat around in pajama's until like 5 in the afternoon, at which point I got sleepy and went back to bed for almost 2 hours, woke up, went to the theater with
schenker28 to see Manon, which wasn't very good, so we left after three acts (there were 5 acts total....) and two and a half hours, came back, played taboo with the folks in my house, read some vampire smut, and then went to bed, only to once again sleep as late as I wanted, get up, realize that it was an hour earlier than I thought it was ....I was a bit down yesterday, in truth, as the last of the tiredness and stress battled to make my life suck somewhat, but today I feel largely refreshed (as I had hoped I would yesterday) so it's all been worth it. I spent a lot of yesterday berating myself for not doing work; but in the end I think it was better that I just had a day of doing whatever I felt like doing, and fuck the consequences, because I've just been pushing myself far too hard.I guess that's about all for now. It's a lot! :) It's been a while since I've taken the time to actually write something up. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a nice weekend; I'm pleased to say that I am. :)
