I forgot to mention that last Saturday I went to a housewarming/birthday party at the house of some friends. It was a lot of fun and I was able to be social with some people from work as well as lots of people unknown to me. It was a particularly good time because some of the people there are a lot of fun and getting to be actual friends. Right now they're sort of at the half-way point of close acquaintances and sort-of-friends.

Oddly enough, this Saturday I had another birthday party to go to. I wasn't in a super-partying mood so I was pretty subdued. The party was for Elizabeth, who starts working here again tomorrow morning. She left here just over a year ago and has decided to come back. I think she'll do fine, but she may have some...challenges to face with some of her co-workers. I won't go into it here, partially because I don't think it will be bad, but mostly because it will take to damn long to write.

Aside from Step Into Liquid, which I mentioned in my last post, I also saw American Splendor last week, and Matchstick Men tonight. I enjoyed them, but for very different reasons. American Splendor was a strange mix of drama and documentary, but it was very cool and different -- plus it's a comic movie, so I have to like it. (Okay, I don't have to like it, but I did.) Matchstick Men was good, but I saw the twist coming early and that made me lose some interest. I really like Nicholas Cage, though. He gave a very good performance.

Here's the deal; I'm having a heck of a time getting to the gym and being motivated to both work out and eat well. I don't know if I've hit the wall on this whole thing or if I'm just fed up with seeing negative results or if I've just been away for so long that going to the gym is no longer part of my routine. Regardless, I have to figure something out. I'm not giving up on getting into shape, but I'm really floundering. Maybe this is one of those times that I just have to keep going until I get "it" back.

Hmm, I wonder what it's like to actually be really healthy? To not be overweight at all. To be able to look at a mountain and decide to climb it and not have any doubt about your ability to do it. Not that I want to climb a mountain, but to be interested in doing something physically demanding and just be able to go do it. I'd like to know what that's like.

It looks like Chris will be leaving tomorrow or Tuesday to head back to Madison. Oh, and big surprise tonight; he went out earlier tonight and bought a new digital camera, then when he showed up here to go to the movie, he gave me his old digital camera! How cool is that? So now I have this thing and I can start taking some pictures. Cool, I've been wanting a camera for a while now.

Yesterday, I and some friends went down to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Um, I don't tend to swear much here, but Tacoma, well, it smells like @ss. Dear lord what a horrible smelling place. It really does smell like a rotting carcass -- of a really smelly thing. I can't imagine having to live with that all the time. Anyway, the museum was interesting. Right now they're showing statues, paintings and other object d'art inspired by anime (Japanese animation -- and, yes, I remember when it was called Japanimation). We didn't have a long time to check the place out because they were closing early for a fundraiser, but it was still a good trip.

Okay, now it's time to go. I have to do some grocery shopping and then get to bed.