Dusty's Journal

It feels like Monday, but it's already Wednesday. Whee!

For the most part, Christmas was a quiet affair. My aunt had me take my Wii over to her house, and the family played it a bit.

I gave Mom a Sears giftcard, Granny got a snowman votive candle holder and a Cracker Barrel giftcard. Aunt Sue got a martini shaker for her bar in her house, and my uncle Wendell got a sweater from Target. Fredrick got a custom commission christmas card from t_shirt1x2, and I gave Kat and Ben two tickets to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo.

I got a sweatshirt, some pajama pants, Voltron DVD volume 4, some iTunes cards and cash for the savings account which will be used to pay the co-pay on my insulin pump. ^__^ I'm also going to visit Fredrick next month (actually less than a month from now! Eeee!)... and finally meet his parents. *flailpaniczomg!!*

Work is understandably slow. Gives me more time to get organized.

I'm going to Ohayocon this year. I'll be working as Security under C. Michael as a dispatcher, so my free time at the con may be limited. Nonetheless I'd love to meet up with as many people as possible. I MIGHT be able to sneak onto IJ during my dispatch shifts to update you all on my plans for that weekend. Should be arriving into Columbus around 5pm Thursday, leaving about 8pm Sunday.

Still trying to catch up on Gundam 00 backlog. I'm only catching 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Maybe on New Year's I'll have some time to marathon it so it might actually make sense ^^;;

That's about everything to report for now. Hope everyone is recovering from the weather in the Midwest and the shopping and the relatives and the food. ^^;;

Another year has passed, and it's been very much a year of changes... and some goodbyes.

I said goodbye to Dillard's and retail, and hello to a much better job at Ampac. Despite only receiving about 25% of the usual required training, I feel I'm doing well there, and my co-workers like me. More importantly, they care about me as a person as well as a co-workers. That is invaluable, and that's really what makes going to work tolerable, and in many cases, enjoyable.

Online... Of course, fandom has had their run-ins with Six Apart and things have changed online because of that. A lot, for the better. My eyes were certainly opened to issues that I either had ignored previously or wasn't aware of. This is still something that is changing with LiveJournal's acquisition by SUP. Only time will tell where that is concerned.

Socially, things changed, and in my opinion for the better. I was able to travel a little more than usual. I met some friends at Tekkoshocon, made new friends at Ikasucon, and many many new friends at Ohayocon. I also said goodbye to the fantastic Tomorrow People/GW fusion LiveJournal RPG "Flying Blind," but also made new, real friends from that experience.

I discovered Facebook and began to connect with people from my past and from my present. It's so wonderful to know that people that you haven't talked to in years can just suddenly reappear like that.

Collectively, we said goodbye to so many beloved people in the entertainment world. Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers, Joe Nuxhall... and we wished long-time entertainers Bob Barker and Gary Burbank happy retirements. All of these people made me laugh and brightened my days.

Personally, I also said goodbye to a very close childhood friend... my dog, Charlie. The death hit me harder than any other death that I've experienced. I learned how to deal with that heavy heart and honor the memory of the departed without turning myself into an emotional wreck.

I've grown closer with a lot of my friends, and especially closer to Fredrick. I've been with him for three years, and I feel so comfortable around him. I've been able to share so much of my life with him, and I hope I can continue to be a part of his life and have him be a part of mine. I love him so much. <3

What does 2008 hold? My goals for the year are to completely control my own health conditions and lead a richer social life -- in other words, get out more. :)

I hope your dreams and goals for 2008 come true, and thank all of you for being a part of my life. I love you all.

So last Sunday, I rented Super Paper Mario for the Wii. In less than a week I'm already up to chapter 7, and I'm having a BLAST. It's well-written, the controls are intuitive and pretty nostalgic too. (You hold the Wii Remote like you would an old NES controller.) The humor was sometimes a little dark for a Mario game, but still I laughed out loud a couple of times. In the end, about the only thing that pulled me away was the fact the batteries in my Wii remote died. ^_^;;; It's been a VERY VERY long time since a video game has managed to grab hold of me like that. It's one I will probably end up buying. It's got good replay value as you revisit old worlds with new heroes and assistants.

More about life in general sometime this weekend... I'm at anime club right now ^^;;;

I really have to roll my eyes at EVERYONE around here. The news started covering this "major weather event" (700 WLW) on SUNDAY NIGHT. We're supposed to get all of 2 freaking inches of snow! Now, if we were getting larger amounts of snow like what people in the Midwest and Northeast got, then I might see justification for hitting the panic button. But seriously, 2 inches? And even the National Weather Service is playing this up! I had a severe weather alert pop up in ForecastFox this morning. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE. I'd hate to see what happens when we actually get some REAL snowfall.

Other than that stupidity, life is pretty good. ^___^ I have a social life again after work ate it during October and November. For that I'm quite happy. I sent out round one of my holiday cards, and will be writing the rest of them probably today or tomorrow.

But for now, time for work!

1. It's not as plot-heavy in episode 1 as I thought it would be. It's still mainly plot/setting up, but there were some good action sequences in there to keep things moving.
   
2. Allelujah is mmmyes.
   
3. Setsuna, Allelujah, and Lockon all seem to be at least on friendly terms with each other -- the latter two a little more so. I want to know more about Tieria, though -- mainly his/her gender. ^^;;;;;
   
4. I'll probably watch this episode again, back-to-back with #2. Hopefully I'll be all caught up sometime this week... ^^;;;;;;;

Sorry for the spamming today. >_>;; I really fell off the bandwagon as far as crossposting. I'm back up to date now, and backdated most of the entries, except for ones that might be relevant even though they might be a month+ old. ^^;;;

Thanks for your patience! ^^

Got up about 10:30 and talked to Fred. Went out and ran errands, noticing that the crowds thinned out a lot earlier this year. Rented Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Tails in undeniably cute in this game. X3

Came back, took a nap, and then finally started to watch Gundam 00. Then I look at the clock and notice I'm about 2 hours late for anime club/Ikasucon meeting. O_O;; I grumble and stop the show just as the opening sequence to episode 1 finishes up (>_<) to go and watch some other interesting shows, and end the night at IHOP with an epic convention meeting where a lot was planned, and now a lot has to be accomplished in a short period of time.

Buuut... as it's nearing 4am and I have a scheduled phone call for tomorrow morning/afternoon, I guess I'd better get some sleep ^^;;

The dinner came and went, except for the grocery bag full of leftovers in the fridge. ^^; The family behaved kind of weirdly this time...

I have to rant on this though - Mom and Aunt Sue were in the kitchen making dinner, and smoking while doing so. I just... ew. Ew ew ew ew. The thought of them smoking and then handling food that I was about to eat squicked me out big time. And then my GRANDMOTHER, who hasn't picked up a cigarette in 20 years, then lights up and BRAGS about it afterwards. What in the hell?! Meanwhile, I'm hiding from them in the living room, pretending to care about the Lions and Packers. (It turns out that Green Bay injured reservist DeShawn Wynn was a classmate of mine for all of one year. He was a freshman; I was a senior. ^^; )

Dinner went by for the most part smoothly. I managed to handle the smoking issue with tact, thankfully. But, as I was getting up to get a roll, the ankle I sprained while working at Dillard's decided to act up REALLY badly. I ended up taking some Tylenol and crashing on Mom's couch for about an hour as it took effect so I could drive home. (My right ankle is the one in question; it's also the foot I use to work the pedals on the car.)

Came home, messed around on the Wii for a bit and got a bunch of medals on Wii Play, which leads us to about now. ^^; It's been a slow day, but a very welcome slow day.

A meme, of sorts - What am I thankful for?

• The absolute best bunch of friends a guy could ask for - new and old.
  
• Increasing stability in my life.
  
• I have a room to myself, in a sturdy house. I have a reliable car to get me places.
  
• I have the means to communicate with friends near and far.
  
• I have a fantastic boyfriend, that I love more and more every day, and this is true even after three years of being together.
  
• And the timeliest thing to be thankful for - I don't have to be up at ass-thirty for Black Friday. XDDDDDDD

Good night, all. See you around noon or so. ^_~

Back from my weekend. Didn't get to GABP, but I did send an email to the local talk station, sharing my thoughts about Joe. The con was pretty fun; I'll post details later this evening when I have more time. Just wanted to post and and wish everyone a good Monday, and a happy week -- hopefully it's a short one for you like it is for me. ^^;;

Today is going to be a good day.

I'm going to go to Sugoicon, cosplay Quatre, and hang out with people, and generally have fun.

I'm going to go to Great American Ball Park, stand near the statue of Joe Nuxhall at the entrance, and reflect for a while.

I'm going to come home and say goodbye to the week, hoping one like it doesn't happen for a long time.

It's going to be a good day. Any day that begins with Hugh Jackman singing about Rio de Janeiro must be a good day.

Joe Nuxhall, Reds broadcast legend, champion of several causes, has died at age 79.

He touched people that weren't even baseball fans. I never was a huge fan, but back in the summer of 2001, when just about everything in life was so turbulent - family, friends, and even the whole country with terrorism - Joe and Marty was one of very few anchors in that storm of emotions and melodrama.

And his efforts for the community are unparalleled. There isn't enough that can be said about what he did for the kids in his hometown of Hamilton, OH. Wherever he went, he was a true gentleman. I think Joe Nuxhall might be one person who would make even sweet Quatre Winner look like a jerk.

And I, along with countless other people in Cincinnati and across the country, are mourning that loss. When you click the link above, audio tribute #3 opened up the floodgates for me... it's audio from Joe's retirement from full-time broadcasting in 2004.

Sorry I didn't make it down to Sugoicon. It's been a very weird and not very happy week. I'll be glad to head to the con tomorrow to try and get a break.

ETA: I'd like to add a plea... if you have a couple of extra minutes, help Joe get into the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame by voting for him here. You can vote up to once per 24 hour time period.

Today wasn't the best. :-\

Crappy thing the first: I overdrew my account by $0.19. The bank holiday on Monday, plus me paying my car insurance bill too early in the month tripped me up. *sighs* I guess the upside is I've been doing well up until this point; I hadn't overdrawn in about a year and a half. At most, this is going to cost me $36. I visited the bank on my lunch and explained my situation to the teller; she seemed to think that I would not incur any fees since my direct deposit was credited to the account at 12:05am today. We'll see after tonight's postings. It won't kill me if I do get dinged -- but I need to be more vigilant in checking the account and making sure everything's accounted for. :-\

Crappy thing the second: Since I haven't been with Ampac for at least a year, I'm under a "pre-existing condition" clause, which means the insulin pump is not covered by insurance at all until February 19, 2008. After that date, insurance will pick up 90% of the initial costs. Looks like I'll be on shots for another three months, because I don't have the money or the credit to pay $6k for the pump outright.

Other than that, things have been good. Work's a little bit busier, but manageable. I'm only putting in 42-44 hours a week now instead of 50. ^^;;;

I'll probably show up at Sugoicon on Saturday at the very least. Perhaps after work on Friday as well, depending on how energetic I feel. I've been a bit run down the past couple of days. I also have tickets to the Festival of Lights at the zoo. I haven't been there in a while, but it's always more fun with friends... :-\

One of my customers has changed the freight carrier that they use to get bags from us to them. If the shipment's over a certain number of pounds, I have to call GW Transportation. XD

More later, probably.

I'm back to normal emotionally. Although I'm quite disenchanted with the Bengals for the rest of the season... and with Chad Johnson out until who-knows-when with an injury that made me recoil in horror... I'm officially signing off of the NFL for the rest of the season. I've been told that I need to reduce the amount of stress in my life, anyway...

Sorry for the unexplained absence the past few days. I put myself through a lot of BS that I should've seen coming, and should've been able to avoid.

As for what it exactly is, I'll reveal it when I feel ready -- not a moment sooner. You're more than welcome to ask, but if I say, "I'd rather not discuss it right now," please take it for face value. I'm not trying to blow you off, I promise.

Right now I'm still a little bit overwhelmed and in need of some time alone. Please bear with me. I'll probably be back to my normal self later tonight or tomorrow. *Hugs* to all.

Found it... it was sitting behind my opened laptop. I am quite relieved that I don't have to take a day off work dealing with the bureaucracy of preventing identity theft. On the other hand, I'm proverbially kicking my own ass because I "lost" it in a very stupid place.

So yeah, I'm in kind of a weird mood because of it.

Already -- got up way too late to make it into work on time... plus I can't find my wallet. I've already lost my cool and I'm shaking as I type. All my bankcards, my driver's license, andm y health insurance card are in my wallet. Plus my SSN is on my license (mine was one of the last to have it on there before OH got rid of it).

I KNOW it's in my room somewhere... I had to have it to pay for dinner last night... I didn't need it again after that... and I didn't put it where I normally do.

I'm late for work, I look like a mess cause I've been crying... I have to go now.

This convention started out a bit slow, but by Sunday I was quite sad that I had to leave sunny San Francisco and return to work and crap in Cincinnati.

( the sordid details )

( pictures! )

Yaoi-con was so much fun. I am most definitely coming back, and I hope Fred is too. A very warm and happy hello to all of my new friends! Between befriending folks at Y-con and hosts from Flying Blind over at LiveJournal, I think I've added about 15 people over the past week or so. Hopefully you guys like what you see. <3

Yaoi-con got off to a slow start, but it's going quite well now. Heading off to some panels now. If you see Quatre walking around, it's me! :D

I'll cosplay him tomorrow to, so I can say hi to as many GW fans as I can before I have to leave.

I'm here! Here as in at the hotel here! The room won't be ready until 3:00, but Fred just arrived and I'm riding out on the shuttle to pick him up. :)

Wheeeeeeee!!