|
Thursday, June 16, 2005
|
3 nights of poker in the last 7. I guess you could call that a good week, right?
Friday night I headed out to the Albany area. The trip had several purposes, the first of which being Jaclyn's wedding shower. But it also gave me a chance to visit with Helen, drive Jamie to see her mom and pick up Jamie's microwave at her mom's house. So lots of things in a 27 hour trip that put 500 miles on my car. Poker night #1 was with Helen and her one friend in Albany, who I think is John (though I could be wrong). That was pretty cool - I never expected Helen to get into poker. The shower was fun, too. I was a little uneasy at first, because other than Jaclyn, her mom and her maid of honor, Jenn, I didn't know anyone there (I thought maybe some of her other high school and/or her college friends would be there, but no). But it actually was a lot of fun, and it was great to see Jaclyn - I hadn't seen her since graduation - yikes! We got to chat some, and she's going to help me with the tax stuff for the fraternity - yay! :-) It's nice to know lawyery people.
Poker night #2 was Monday night. Ian and Eric were in town, so they, along with Karen and Herb, came over to play. They all got to see my beautiful apartment, though of course Herb, who is the only person who thinks I have a poor sense of direction, was the only person I haven't been able to successfully direct here. That just figures. That was fun, though. We played HORSE, which basically meant we played (in rounds) Hold'em, Omaha, Razz, Seven-card stud and Eights or better. It was a nice variety. Later we played "crazy" games, and I ended up a dollar overall. I don't mind walking away with only a little bit of winnings, it was fun just to play, especially since the majority of them (Eric, Ian and it's looking more and more like Karen) are moving to California. It'll be harder to get a game together then.
And finally, poker night #3. Herb has taken on this second job (apparently 1 isn't enough) hosting these Texas Hold'em nights at a local bar. It's free to play, and there are prizes for the winner, so I convinced Susan to come out (she likes poker, but doesn't like to play for money). It turned out to be a lot of fun - half the people there had Irish accents! Anyhow, everyone was really nice and fun to play with, and I finished 3rd, which I think is a good start, given I haven't played a tournament in forever (not really, but it sure feels that way). Apparently, 3rd was EXACTLY where Herb predicted I'd finish. Something about how tight I play and people being able to figure it out within 2o minutes. Whatever. He was impressed to hear that I bluffed a 2-7 offsuit and was sad that he'd missed seeing that hand. And that made the guy who won the tournament intimidated by me. :-P So I feel accomplished, even though the bluff didn't work the way I wanted it to and I ended up losing a lot of chips on that hand. Ahh well, maybe I'll go back another time.
In other news, one of my favorite skirts ripped, and I didn't realize it (or maybe it didn't happen) until I was already at work, making Tuesday a not fun day of work, but I got through it. Also, the desk is going well. The drawers are done (I might have already said that) and the rest of it is completely stained. Now it just needs to be sanded, coated with polyeurethane, sanded, polyeurethane, sanded. And then it's done. :-) I'm definitely getting a coat of polyeurethane in tomorrow, and maybe both of them. Then Saturday evening I can just do the last sanding and it'll be done! Woohoo! The endtables are next, but I haven't decided if I'm going to start next week or give myself some rest. Rest might be good, but I'm eager to get the project entirely done. I'm afraid if I stop I'll never start again, and it's easier to just keep going. At least I feel that finishing furniture is a legitimate hobby to have taken up, and it makes me feel accomplished. Plus, doing things with your hands like that gives you something to take aggression out on and just some alone time to think. That's always a good thing.
I'm a big fan of the written journal. In fact, I wish I had MORE time to write in it, because I'm starting to get into the mentality of wanting to write in it. Tonight I only got through one of the three topics I wanted to, so the rest will have to wait for another night (tomorrow perhaps). I'm glad I started it, though of course life will never be perfect and continues to have its ups and downs.
One more day of work and then a busy weekend with a whole list of things to accomplish.
- Lizzardie, at 10:25 PM
|
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
|
I want to go home, because I don't want to do anything, but I feel like it's too soon to do so. So a post here at work is what I'm doing.
To answer a question posed due to my last post: I'm fine, and no one needs to be killed/hurt/maimed. In fact, I feel like I'm going to be making a little more progress these days. Sometimes I guess we all just need some common sense knocked into us.
You all probably know that I get upset rather easily and tend to overreact. Well, I don't know what to do about that, other than rant and rave. And then I feel better, but I know that some people get tired of hearing that and others feel that they can't be completely upfront with me, for fear of upsetting me (please don't feel that way, by the way - it's for my own good). Anyhow, the "quick fix" solution is a journal. No, not one of these. A real, live paper journal.... anyone actually remember those? I'm going to rant and rave to the journal, rather than my friends. And my resolution is to LET THINGS GO after I write them down. I can't promise a miracle, but I know that I'll at least try. And after writing 4 pages (front and back) Monday night, I do feel a lot better about some things. Only time will tell, but I want to make this work.
I've settled on another resolution, too. That one is to go into work earlier. I have this super-flexible work schedule that just requires getting my work done and trying to be in by 9:30am. Lately, that's on the early side of when I get in. So I'm striving to get in by 9:00am, and I'm hoping to eventually pare that down to 8:30am. I don't know how well it will work, but I think it will be nice for the summer months, and make me more responsible/motivated. I suppose writing in this journal does not support that, but hey, it's the end of the day.
Now I'm going home. Jamie's cooking dinner tonight and my endtables came! Whee! :-P
- Lizzardie, at 5:34 PM
|
Sunday, June 05, 2005
|
Despite it being the last thing I want to do right now (okay, not entirely true, but you get the point), here's the "move" story: I moved. :-P
Uhh, more details... last Friday, Jamie and I finally (it seems like it took forever but I guess not) got the keys to our new apartment. And it's beautiful. Of course not perfect (some ripped screens, a broken pane of glass, the faucet in the kitchen not working right) but I love it. :-) So Friday night we cleaned, Saturday we both moved boxes of stuff via car, and Sunday we moved the big stuff (furniture) and the rest of it all. The one big hassle was that there was a parade (!) on Sunday right down Highland Ave.... this might not seem to make a difference to most of you who don't live here, but let me add in the context that you have to either cross or turn onto Highland Ave to get anywhere via car from my aparment... and that it is directly in the path of the two apartments. So yeah, due to this, we were 40 minutes late returning the U-Haul, but since their computers were down at that time, it doesn't really matter. :-) Monday and Tuesday were mass amounts of unpacking, and then Wednesday back to work.
Moving is very expensive, by the way. I have spent so much money on this apartment, and I've only lived here a week (6 nights sleeping here, that's it). Tuesday consisting of me buying furniture - a TV stand and a desk - that are unfinished, so today (when the pieces were delivered 8 days early, wow) I had to go out and buy stain and all the materials. I'm hoping to get the desk done tomorrow. Or at least most of the way done. Plus there are the little things like contact paper (if you'd seen our drawers, you'd understand) and towels and rugs... you get the idea. Of course, I got cable/internet hooked up right away, even though I've pretty much cut out TV viewing (necessity, given how much it had taken over my life in the previous weeks). And I ordered end tables on Thursday, also unfinished. The end tables and TV stand will be finished in red mahogany, to match Jamie's bookshelf, and the desk will be finished in cherry, to match my diploma frames.
Other than that, so it goes. I got my security deposit back today, which was exciting. Today was the first beautiful spring/summer day for my enjoyment, actually. It was the first weekend day where it's been warm and no rain this year - I can't believe it's taken so long. I headed to Back Bay, to try and find a shower gift for Jaclyn.... I ended up instead buying a dress for the wedding (but I ordered a shower gift when I got home). I also bought all of the necessary staining stuff - what a fun project this will be (I'm actually scared to death that I'm going to screw it up, but there's always painting if it doesn't work!). And then I spent 3 1/2 hours dealing with a friend. Okay, the last part was definitely not part of the day's plan, but it had to be done.
And now I have a lot on my mind, including something that others see as essential to who I am... and it's not a good thing. It really really hurt to hear it all, though I know it wasn't intended that way and actually comes from someone who cares about me. I'm trying to figure out where to go from here.
Where to go from here starts with sleep (because that's how my "process-oriented" brain is going to choose how to do things).
- Lizzardie, at 1:24 AM
|
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
|
I know you all probably want to hear all about the move (soon, soon) but I'm at work, and you know (maybe) about how I feel regarding posting at work (I don't know why, though - I do practically everything else here).
In the meantime, here's my brand new blog, just for ranting! But not about personal stuff; just my experiences with crappy customers. I'm trying to make the writing style extremely bitter and sarcastic, so hopefully you'll find it entertaining: http://ihatecustserv.blogspot.com. Enjoy!
- Lizzardie, at 11:54 AM
|
|
