I've felt like it's tomorrow all week.

I don't mean that it's felt like Thursday, but rather, Monday it felt like Tuesday, Tuesday it felt like Wednesday, and today felt like Thursday. Weird. I've had that happen a day at a time, but never for three days straight. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was in all day Sunday for that photo shoot.

This week hasn't been super exciting, so I hope you're not looking for me to post anything outlandish here. Lots of work -- that I've done a very good job of keeping on top of for the most part, and I've been hitting the gym regularly. Plus, I've been really good about what I'm eating. Let's hope I see some progress soon.

For some reason, my traffic this month has been usually high. I don't think I posted anything amazing, but people are visiting for some reason.

Two people here at work started dating. That will be interesting to watch. It was a lot of fun to see them dance around it for a while. I think they're a good match. Both kinda young, though, so anything could happen.

I have to go and buy a flourescent lightbulb, have some dinner, and go to the gym now. Talk to you soon.

Bye.

Due to a bad, bad, BAD waiter at the restaurant I won't be getting to the gym until 9:00 when I thought I'd be getting there at 8:00. Grrr.

This does, however, allow me to point out that it it's not raining or cloudy, apparently the sun doesn't go down until 8:30 now. Wow.

Night.

I have a speedy Sunday update before I head to meet some of the sculptors for a movie. And I gotta say, there are a lot of really good movies out right now. I badly want to see both Confidence and Identity.

Friday night I played Magic and then went to the gym -- I had a pretty good workout, but I really have to get serious. I've officially rededicated myself. No more cheating or screwing around.

Saturday I went to the gym and had a great workout. Afterwards I went home and did exciting things like take out the garbage, clean up the apartment and put away all the clothes that have been gathering on my bedroom floor for months. I also put away a bunch of books that were cluttering up my living space. Very cool. My room and apartment look much better for it. In the evening I went to dinner with Matt (recently returned from London) and a couple others from work.

Oh, I finished watching Dark City Saturday night and then started watching one of the commentary tracks. Cool stuff.

Sunday I had to be at work by 9:30 to let some people in who are working on a "how-to" video for one of my new products. I mostly sat around and did my own things on the computer. I worked on some Mutants & Masterminds characters and did a litt work, but that's about all. Now I'm going to the movie.

Bye.

I'm updating just after midnight on Wednesday evening. Don't worry, I didn't stay at work this late; I had to stop back after going to the gym to drop some things off and pick up something I printed out and forgot. I'm not going to go on for very long, but I wanted to post something quickly.

First and funniest; remember the party I mentioned in my last post? The one on Saturday evening that the woman I'd gone on some dates with a couple of months ago? Man, this is funny. She complained to our mutual acquaintance that she felt like I ignored her all night while we were at the party. Isn't that great? I had a good chuckle about that. So did some of the people who were around when I heard about it -- they'd been at the party, too. I think that...opinion is very odd. Why would I talk to her? She did a pretty good job of blowing me off. I didn't even purposely ignore her, I just really didn't have anything to say to her. Weird. I'm still puzzling that out. Part of me thinks, "She's psycho. That's a really weird thing of someone who did what she did to say." And another part of me thinks, "Maybe she feels that way because she didn't blow you off. Maybe she's really that busy. You've certainly been that busy before. Remember when you were so busy you didn't have time to even maintain longterm relationships, let alone new ones?" Anyway, that sort of thing is going on in my head from time to time. Regardless, I don't have much of a reason to say anything to her and I don't plan to.

Here's an exciting work update: I finished the game I was working on and had to immediately jump into another one. Luckily this one is mostly a reprint of something we already have, so I didn't have to write up everything from scratch. Even so, I've had a heck of a busy week wrapping up the last project and mostly finishing this one. I've been here every night this week until at least midnight -- wait, no, that's not right. I went home early (10:30 is early, right?) on Monday and was in bed by midnight.

I only made it to the gym this evening so far this week. I know I talk about the gym a lot here, but I gotta say: I'm really frustrated with it. On top of that, I'm really angry with myself for being so lax about going to the gym and about the food I've been eating. Those two things combined have allowed me to put on a couple of pounds more than my normal fluctuation and it's not a happy thing. I have to get dedicated to this again and really be good about going to the gym, eating well, and adding to my effort. I will not put more wieght on.

Seth has returned from his trip to England and is safely ensconced in his apartment, or more likely, work. Anyway, glad you made it back, Seth.

Okay, I'm tired. I have to go to bed. Talk to you later.

I watched Spirited Away over the weekend and it was very, very good. I think everyone would enjoy the movie. It has some spots that will seem weird, but the adventure aspect is fantastic, plus is has very little violence. No swords or guns, just a scary monster or two that eat people, and wounded people, but very little on-screen fighting. It has a different message than a lot of movies too, it's not so much about defeating your problems, but rather, seeing them through and dealing with them. Again, not typical, but very cool. Anyone with an imagination should enjoy the movie.

I had a busy weekend. Friday night I joined a couple of people from work for dinner to "celebrate" a friend's divorce being finalized. It's a little weird because it's hard to get a sense of whether or not the divorce was a good thing. I guess that's how it is in a lot of cases, but it was really hard to congratulate her on making it through the divorce process without also wanting to make it sound like an apology. No one should have to go through things like that. Anyway, we had a good time and then headed home.

I stopped by work for a minute and got sucked into one thing or another, so about half and hour later one of the sculptors called and asked if I wanted to go out with he and one of the new women at work and some of her friends. Sure, what the heck, so we headed down to the Red Onion in the Madison Park area of Seattle. If you'd seen the place, you really wouldn't be surprised that they don't have a website. Yow. It was a cool, old bar with wood stained with smoke and age. It had a very small-town, neighborhood bar feel to it and, despite the fact that is was Friday night, there were only about 18 people in the bar -- my group being 8 of that number. We talked, had some beer (the choices were beer or wine, no liquor. Interesting.), and listened to the girls talk about their college days. Ah, 23-year-olds reminiscing. Still, it was fun.

I had agreed to go walking with a group of people from work on Saturday morning, so I was up fairly early to make it to Green Lake. I was a little late, but mostly because I had to find a parking spot. One semi-Spring-like day and all the people come out of hiding. I met up with them and we walked about the lake. It's a nice place right in the center of town, so there's just enough of a park around it to make it qualify as a park -- they wouldn't want to use up any valuable land for a real park. (Check out the map if you don't believe me.) It was funny to be walking on a path around the lake and have cars driving by not 20 feet away in some cases. Like I said, it barely qualified as a park in my book. The walk was nice. It replaced my regular gym visit, but wasn't as intense or lengthy an excersize session as I needed to have. I think I'd have to walk for quite a while to get the same benefit as my regular workouts. After the walk we had some lunch and parted ways.

Back to the apartment to start some laundry, read a bit, and get in touch with Will to plan to see a movie that afternoon. After I talked with him I got the oil changed in my old car. It needed it and it'll, hopefully, make it look better to a potential buyer if the oil's been changed. Still, I hate to spend 45 mintues and $45 dollars on a car I'm trying to get rid off. Poor thing, I drove it for years, it served me well, and now I treat it like a disease.

Will and I were supposed to meet up with my boss for the movie, but that didn't happen, so we hooked up and went to see Bulletproof Monk. The ideas in the movie are better than their execution. Like many movies. It was fun, but nowhere near as fun as it should have been. After the movie, we grabbed some dinner and treated ourselves to some ice cream. It was a nice to catch up with him again. He's been very wrapped up with his impending nuptuals, but with his fiancee out of the country for a week or so, he's able to spend time with his friends more often.

Gotta go faster, I have to get to bed soon.

Saturday evening I went with two of the sculptors to a party one of the other sculptors was having for her roommates; one of whom may be leaving to go back to school in Boston, and the other is moving to France to become an ex-patriot. She's very upset with our President and his foreign policy decisions (like that little war we had. You may have seen something in the news about it a coupld of weeks ago before they found that pregnant woman's body.). Anyway, she's apparently very liberal and has decided that, instead of speaking up and trying to make a difference, that it's better if she just leaves the country. Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. But I digress. That party was fun. When I first got there, one of the guys was watching the Jackass movie. Wow. That's an odd thing. It's like reality T.V. for sadistic people with short attention spans. Still, you've got to admire then for their...um, hmmm, willingness to take advantage of their stupidity? Aggressive marketing of their fearlessness? Ability to turn "their's a sucker born every minute" into a saying that goes both ways? I dunno, all of them, I think.

So, the party was good. There were a number of people from work there. It was particularly nice to talk with two of the graphic desingers. They're a couple and I have a great time with them in the office, so it was nice to get out with them as well. The woman I went on a couple of date with a couple of months ago was there (she works with one of the housemates who was throwing the party). I didn't talk to her other than one time when we were crossing paths; she, out of the kitchen, me, into. Nothing major, hi, how have you been, sort of things. I figure if she wants to talk she'll say something. She certainly hasn't given me a reason to want to talk to her.

When she first showed up I joked with my friends that I should rush into the kitchen and scream at her about what a bitch she was and that she really hurt me and just go on and on about it. God, I would have loved to, but I don't think I could have made it through the first three sentences without bursting into laughter. Everyone thought it was a hysterical idea, but agreed it wasn't a good one. Anyway, it was funny to talk about.

Sunday I got up at 11:30 (I didn't get to bed until about 3:30) and woke up with a headache from sleeping so long -- or so late -- I'm not sure which. (No, it wasn't a hangover, I didn't drink Saturday.) I went to the gym for the first time in a week and I definitely paid for my slacking by gaining a couple of pounds. Ugh. I haven't been this heavy in two years. I really have to get serious about this again. Very stupid of me. I will do better. Mostly I have to stop eating pizza at 2:30 in the morning before I go to bed. Bad, bad, bad idea.

I came to work around 4:00 and have been here since, although I took a break for dinner with some friends whose parents are in town for the weekend. It was a nice break from working on the new game. I finished the pieces for the game, but now I have to go back through and make adjustments with the whole set taken into account.

Um, that's about it. Now I'm doing the Sunday night ritual: updating this, buying groceries, and going to bed. Happy Easter!

I have a lot of ground to cover. After my post late on Sunday night I haven't had much of a break.

I think I went to the gym on Monday night, but I forget. I may have worked. Oh, I did, that's right. We had another focus group for the new game I'm working on. We wanted to see how kids liked it. The test went well and we got a very good sense of the game's appeal. I think it'll be a big hit with the 6 to 11 year-old crowd. I had a good talk with my boss on the way over about how things were going at work and suggested we move some of us designers around to take better advantage of the levels of experience we all have. Apparently he took me seriously, because he had a talk with the owner that night and told me on the way home that we were going to make the changes I suggested.

That caused quite a stir in the department on Tuesday, but I think it will be for the best. What this means for me is that now I have to learn our most complex and deep game, because the designer of that has been moved to a new, super-secret project. I have lots of reading to do.

Tuesday I left work early with everyone else from the department to go to the Mariners vs. the Oakland A's. It was a very good time. The stadium is beautiful. Even when you're walking around under the upper decks it feels very open and you can always see clear across the field. The place also has some of the best food I've ever seen at a ballpark, including Dippin' Dots. I love that stuff. Oh, and they have garlic fries that are amazing, too. Besides the food, we all had a good time, although a couple of the people had to leave early for one reason or another. One of the guys took a number of pictures, as soon as I can I'll get a shot of the group of us posted here. It's pretty funny. Anyway, the Mariners won.

I gotta say, I'm not a big sports fan, but I have a good time with the people I work with, so it was a good night out. Nice to have a break in the routine.

After the game I came back to work with one of the other designers to finish up the formulas on a new game before he took off the next day for GenCon Europe. We finally wrapped up at about 1:30 and I went to bed. I think he stayed for a while longer to wrap up some things.

Wednesday was more work. There seems to be no shortage of that for some reason. The evening was spent playing a game at a friend's. Again, it was nice to have a break, but it meant I missed the gym again.

Thursday (today) we had a passel of kids in the office because it's spring break for the schools around here. It was pretty crazy, but it went well and everyone seemed to deal with it with a smile. I forgot to mention this earlier, but a while ago we hired a marketing guy who's apparently a big yo-yo guy. He worked for Duncan and he even invented the "clutch" yo-yo (that's the one that only comes back up the string when it slows to a certain point). Pretty cool. Besides the kids, I spent a little time turning some of my files and notes over to the guy taking over my lines and the rest of the day working on dials for my new game. Those are going much more slowly than I would have thought. Bummer. I think I'll get them done tomorrow, though.

Tonight worked some more on a movie idea that one of the guys at work came up with. We've had a blast coming up with ideas for it and we may sit down and try to write it up. It's too fun and is way too fertile an idea for us not to do something with. Plus, with the movie contacts we have from work we may actually be able to do something with it. Yeah, I know; dream on.

Now I'm taking a break from work to write here. Then it's bed time -- though I may read a bit first. Oh, and I picked up some DVDs tonight. I can't tell you how long it's been since I actually purchased a new DVD. I think it was before Christmas. Anyway, tonight I picked up both Dark City and Spirited Away. I'm pretty excited to check them out.

That's all! See you soon.

Okay, so; the weekend was good. I have to type quickly because I spent far too much time playing Magic with Matt this evening and I'd still like to get some writing done before tomorrow when it will become nearly impossible to do.

I forget if it was Thursday or Friday, but my boss came over, called everyone together, and told us that he was going to take us all to a Mariners baseball game (I throw in the 'baseball' part, because I know some of my readers won't know what the Mariners are) on Tuesday evening. I'm about excited as if he'd said he was going to take us to a stock car race. No, I'm a little more excited than that. Anyway, I'm not a big sports fan, but I know it'll be a lot of fun to get out for an evening with all the people from work. We have a good time together and hopefully this will get us excited about working on some of our upcoming games. It's a nice break and I think most of the people are glad to have the night of fun lined up.

I also found out Thursday that I won't be receiving a big bonus check this quarter. We met our sales goals, but didn't exceed them by enough to net much for that fund. Bummer. Many people at work are ticked about it, they rely on the bonus money. And, really, we make less pay because the bonuses are supposed to be good. I guess that doesn't always seem like the way to go. Like I said, people are ticked about it and I'm sure if this and the perception that management is "screwing us over" continues for a while, that people will begin leaving. I tried to explain to many of them that the first quater is always bad in this market, but all they see are their empty wallets and cry. I was disappointed, not surprised, to hear that some of the senior staff didn't think the bonus situation was a big deal. I guess already being a millionaire kind of takes the pressure off that whole bonus thing.

Friday after work I went with a group to the Taphouse in the mall nearby. It's a neat little place that seems to be the trendy place for people in Bellevue to hang out. They have decent food and lots of beers (blech), but it's designed well and looks very cool. We had a good time there, but I took off after a bit to go to the gym. When I was done I got a call from some of the guys from work and we went back to the Taphouse for drinks. Apparently none of us were much in the mood to socialize because we pretty much sat around and talked about how lame it was that there were tons of frat guys in the bar. They were very annoying to even be around. I even saw one guy do the pointing-finger-gun-wink thing. I wanted to hurt him. We all did.

Saturday, I have no clue. Oh, I went to check out a new comic store (new, as in, I hadn't been there before) in Lynnwood. The Comic Stop, I think. Pretty sure, actually. Great store. Very well organized and they had a lot of good stuff. Clean, too, which is always a good thing for a comic store. While I was there, some of the customers started playing the super hero game that I work on. It was fun to see them play and talk about things that relate to what I do everyday.

When I returned from the store I went to the gym. Then I got ready to go downtown to meet some people at a bar in the Pike Place Market. I'd been there before on a date. It's a nice restaurant called Il Bistro, you may remember it. There were about eight of us there and I met someone new, a friend of one of the women at work. He was a nice guy. We talked for quite a while, had some very good appetizers and then left to go to The Alibi Room, which was right around the corner. It's a very cool bar and I know I've mentioned it here before. There I happened to sit next to a friend of a friend. A very cute, very nice, and very smart woman whose in her residency as a psychiatrist. I've met her before, but I never really had the chance to talk to her. It was nice to finally get that chance. She was a lot of fun to talk with. I remember noticing how clear her eyes were. Isn't that weird? You know when you look at someone and you can tell there's something going on inside their head? That's how she was. I'm sure she's more aware of what's going on around her than anyone else. I like that.

Um, what else? At one point, one of the women spoke up and said that she thought one of the guys at a nearby table was cute, so another person in our group got up and had he and his friend join us. She was a little mortified (can you be a little mortified?), but she loves attention, so it all worked out. He seemed like a nice guy, very young, but nice.

We were joined very late in the evening by the new boyfriend-type guy of one of the other women. I probably shouldn't say the b-word, since they've only been on a few dates, but there you go. Anyway, he showed up with a very drunk friend. I didn't interact with them much, but they seemed nice enough.

Today I went to the gym and had a very good workout. So much so that my legs were shaking afterwards. I ran into a trainer that I'd met with last year. He's bulked up in order to compete in bodybuilding competitions. What is it with short guys?

All right. I'm done. I'm going to do a little more writing, then head the the grocery store, then bed. Bye.

Okay, this is funny: They just installed a new firewall on the network here at work, and it won't allow me to access my own blog!

I can go to blogger and post to it, but I can't look at it otherwise. I'm going to have to talk to someone about that tomorrow.

I ran over to pick up comics tonight and realized that I was going to go see Spirited Away. By the time I was able to get back and check the movie times, it had already begun. Curses! I'll have to find time this weekend to check it out. I've been wanting to see that for a long time.

I'm not in much of a mood to write tonight since there's not much going on around here. I really wish I'd remembered that movie sooner.

I'll chime in later if I have anything more to say.

Bye.

I ran my Mutants & Masterminds game last night. It was a big combat, so the players and I could learn the combat system a bit better, but it also tied into the plot and I managed to introduce a couple of interesting new elements for the players to have in the back of their minds. Combats can get a little boring, but we had to go slow since it's a new system to all of us. Overall it went well and everyone had a good time, I think.

I brought my "logbook" that I keep on my visits to the gym. Because Monday was my 500th time working out I thought I'd post an update on what I did when I first started, compared to what I do now. I want to preface this by saying that received an email from one of my dear readers back in Wisconsin. He said that he really admires my dedication and then goes on to say that he's just not the type of person that goes the the gym that regularly. Well, I got new; I, like you, am not the type of person to go to the gym regularly.

Seriously, I'm not. Yes, I've gone to the gym 500 times in, um, 34 months, but I'm not like that. Growing up, I was less active than most people. I watched more than my share of television, played more than my share of games that allow you to sit on your butt and do nothing, and eaten waaaaaaaaay more than my fair share of food. When I was in my late 20's/early 30's I said, "If I continue like this I'm going to get diabetes, develop serious heart disease, have a sucky quality of life, and die long before I want to. I guess I better do something about this. I think eating better and getting some exercise is the best thing to do." And, there you go. I started going to the gym, kept going until it became part of my routine, and now it feels wrong not to go -- and I've gone 500 times. That's my advice to anyone who wants to start; make it part of your routine. Walk (or go to the gym, whatever) every other day for a month. Commit to that. Then, at the end of the month it'll feel wrong not to go for a walk every other day.

Anyway, here's where I started when I first went to the gym:

Made the following list:
1. Eat less.
2. Eat better -- no soda, no red meat, more veggies & such.
3. Lose weight.
4. Work out 3-4 times per week.
5. Drink more water.

"Rode" the stationary bike for 25 minutes at about 70 rpms.
Walked for 15 minutes.

That's it. That's where I started and I remember thinking that that was pretty good. It took about 45 minutes round trip from my house and back.

What I do today:

5 minutes on the stationary bike to warm up.
Stretch for about 10 minutes.
Do 60 lunges on the track. These are long strides in which you drop slightly and pick yourself up at the end, all with your legs. They really work your legs.
Lat Pulldown: 30 reps of 60 lbs.
Leg Curl: 35 reps of 80 lbs.
Chest Press: 30 reps of 60 lbs.
Leg Extension: 30 reps of 60 lbs.
Shouldner Press: 30 reps of 35 lbs.
Bike or walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes to keep my heart rate at about 150.
Then I go back and do all the exercises again, but add 10 bls. to the weight.

That's a pretty typical workout for me now. I have a couple I swap between, but that's the easiest to decribe and fairly representative. It takes about an hour and half plus travel time.

Seriously, if I can do this. You can.

Now, I'm going to get some dinner and...go to the gym. G'night.

I was correct. Today will be day #500 at the gym -- that is, if I manage to make it there. I have to prepare for tomorrow night's game and have some dinner. I'm also supposed to write a letter to send to some of the people we license some properties from, but that may have to wait until tomorrow morning.

Phil and Jen both wrote today to tell me that it was snowing back in Wisconsin. Ahhhh, snow. I think about it longingly, but I bet everyone in Wisconsin hates it. I remember how annoying snow in April can be. It's Spring, dammit! Rain, not snow!

Today was insanely busy with meetings and cleaning up things from last week. Hopefully tomorrow I'll actually get some work done.

Time for dinner! Later.

I slept in Saturday and then went to play Settlers of the Stone Age with a couple of people. It was interesting to see how they'd changed the game, but I managed to win it in about an hour and then one of the other guys said he really wasn't interested in continuing to play because it didn't seem very balanced and wasn't a lot of fun. So, we called it a day and left. I did some laundry, played some Magic with some friends, then ran into Seattle to take care of my friends' cats.

Sunday I slept in until Phil called (no you didn't wake me, it was very good timing, though). Had a good talk with him, but when we finished and I closed my phone, I noticed that the time said it was an hour later than my clock. Hmm, was last night Daylight Savings? I figured it must have been, but I hadn't heard anything about it. I came to work to check on some things, found them in my in-box and worked on them all afternoon -- minus a short break for some games of Magic -- and poked around on the Web for a couple of minutes until I found out that last night was indeed the converstion date for Daylight Savings Time. I also found out some interesting things about Daylight Savings; such as that it was instituted for a while in the early 1900's, but everyone hated it, so it went away. Then it started again and was enforced during WWII. The date that it begins has been changed a number of times (most notably during the energy crisis of the '70's), but the end date hasn't ever changed.

I'm headed out in a few minutesto go and take care of the cats. Somewhere along the way I'm going to grab something to eat, then go to the gym.

I've been pretty bad about the gym lately, but I think now that my major project at work is done, I can really get back into the swing of it.

I've been meaning to mention that there have been a handful of trees in bloom around my apartment for over a month and a half now. And now most of the other trees, bushes and flowers (especially tulips) are, pretty much, in full bloom. It's funny to see how early things wake up from winter around here -- not that we get much of a winter, we didn't even get snow this year. Bummer. The tree right by my bolcony is nearly covered in leaves already and the tree outside my bedroom window is filling in nicely. Oddly enough, the trees next to both of those are completely bare still. They must have a shorter growing season. Or they're dead. I'll have to watch them.

Okay, gotta motor if I'm going to make it to the gym tonight. Bye.

As if I need to say it: it's been a busy week.

I was here until 1:10 Thursday night/Friday morning finishing up the formulas for the new game I'm working on. I was mostly helping the guy who does all the programming because he's been sick for the last week. He was finally feeling a bit better yesterday, so we managed to get everything worked out. Today I turned most of it over to art and it looks like everything is great.

After a full day of work I went out to dinner with one of the women from work. That was a nice break, but I'm really tired and I have to run into Seattle to take care of the cats of some friends. It's a couple from work and her grandmother just died. Very sad and a while in coming. They'll be back late on Sunday, so I'm watching their cats for them. When I return I'm pretty sure I'm going to watch the end of Bladerunner and then going to bed. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in, then at 11:30 I'm going to my old boss' place to play a game with him and some other people.

I didn't make it to the gym tonight because I'm so tired, and I probably won't tomorrow either because I'll be sleeping or busy, but sometime in the next couple of days will be my 500th time working out. Crazy. Who woulda' thought?

Liana called to let me know that she'd fallen for my story from April Fool's Day, too. I've edited the entry to include her.

I'm taking off to run my errands and get some sleep. Talk to you soon.

It did my heart good to see how many people I suckered in with my tale of woe.

I'd like to thank:

Greg
Matt
Jefe
Seth
Phil
Liana
Mom & Dad

For letting me know that they fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

My mom and dad were particularly nasty about it. Going so far as to call me and tell me that Dad had to go to the hospital after reading only part of the post because he was so upset that his chest started to hurt. I think that qualifies as an April Fool's Day foul, doesn't it? I mean, everyone else just swore at me and called me bad names. Mom and Dad just got mean!

I forgive them, the big meanies.

Things are going well, although the big project I have to finish in the next few days has been put on hold because the guy who's doing the work on the math portion of it has been out sick for a couple of days. Bummer. It sucks to be late, but I can't blame the guy for getting sick.

Saturday I'm going to play a new boardgame -- Settlers of the Stone Age -- with some of the people from work. It's a variant of Settlers of Cataan. It'll be interesting to see what they've done with it to make it different but still interesting.

I may start a gaming group on Sunday nights, or every other Sunday night here at work. Jefe and Matt, let me know if you're interested. One of the guys has voiced interest in a Mutants & Masterminds game, but we may be able to sway him. I'm in the mood for that or a straight fantasy game.

Oh, my friend Stephanie from Madison has decided it's time to leave there and she's thinking of moving out here. I'm going to try to help her find some work, but it'll be hard. I'll keep you updated.

I'm headed out now to have some dinner, then go to the gym. Talk to you later.

Well, that was a hellish day.

Really, I don't even know where to begin.

Wait, here's a good thing to start with: 24 years ago last night (Monday, that is) my family was visiting my Uncle Bob, Aunt Betty, and cousin Jamie at their home in East Troy. My parents were playing cards with my aunt and uncle and us kids were listening to music -- I distinctly remember listening to YMCA by the Village People. On vinyl. Probably on a Sean Cassidy record player. When we left, it was very late in the evening and it was snowing. We piled in Grandma's car that we'd borrowed for the evening, backed out of the driveway and started down the road. Just as we pulled away, my mom and dad leaned over to give each other a kiss and the car spun wildly out of control and slammed into a lightpole. We couldn't have been going more than 30 miles an hour, but the accident managed to break my ankle (hairline fracture, actually). Dad stopped the car, pulled back into the driveway and checked the damage. The front of the car had a perfect semi-circle in it, the exact size of the lightpole. We decided not to go home that night, but the next day we woke up to me with a swollen ankle, a still-busted-up car, and a phone call to Grandma telling her we'd gotten in an accident in her car. Wheeee! Fun!

That's what today was like.

My boss came back from Japan after a week away and apparently he'd been having some conversation over email with the owner of the company who's apparently less than pleased with my performance. Really, a lot less than pleased. So, my boss calls me in this morning, berates me for coming in late and then tells me that the owner has decided that I don't really fit in at the company and he has to let me go.

I don't even know what more to say.

I was stunned. Still am. I haven't even been able to talk to anyone today. I have no clue what I'm going to do, if I can even find work out here, if I should just move home, and if I do, how I can possibly afford to do it. I just bought a new car. I still have big loan repayments. I still have credit card bills and other bills to pay. And I have enough money to last...oh, about 'til the end of the month. God, I am so screwed.

Anyway, I've spent most of the day just walking around town and trying to figure out what to do. I still have no clue.

AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH! Damn it!

Forget it. I don't know what else to say. I've been staring at the screen for 20 mintues and I can't think of the next thing to write. I'm going to see if I can make myself eat something, then go to bed.

I'll update when I can.

Oh, most people do things like this at the start of the day, but I figure it's still the 1st until midnight, so: april fool's! I hope you weren't too put out by my little tale. Things are good. I'll update for real sometime on Wednesday. Time for dinner.

Bye.