12/20/2009:
Chris and I saw Avatar today. The film was, simply put, amazing. There was a great amount of action, and not a small amount of sheer beauty. The world of Pandora is a beautiful and dangerous place; its indigenous People are no less so.

The film invoked in me a longing, such as I have not felt during a film in quite some time. A longing for that which was, for me, in another life, a way of life. A longing for that which is only a small part of my life now; it makes me want to embrace that part more fully, but often it is so difficult to do so. I wish I could be stronger alone...but that sense of central community is what I crave; people who feel like I do, heart and soul. People that know certain truths; because they feel it so strongly it transcends faith and moves into the realm of knowledge. I do consider myself lucky to know people who feel as I do...I only wish they were located as close to me physically as they are astrally.

There was more...but my mind pen seems to have run dry.


12/4/2009:
My vacation was very relaxing, but it's back to the grind this week. I did get all the writing done that I had planned on during vacation, and I plan to do some more soon. I also organized the bathroom closet. I haven't tackled the library closet yet, but soon I will. Those pictures never got hung, either...but the relaxing was the most important for me. I did make it up to VT for a short while. Joanna was not feeling well, so she did not join me. I drove up Thanksgiving morning and returned home during the evening the next day. It was short but nice; I got to see a lot of family, many of whom I only see on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am going to make an effort to see some of them more often; I do enjoy the company.

This week so far has been decent. I felt pretty good in the early week, though I think I may have picked up a bit of a sickness, because I am feeling a little icky today. That is OK though; I work from home today, which is less stressful, and then I'll have the weekend to rest. Not much for plans this weekend, other than a trip to the mall to get a few things. I need to get started on my Christmas shopping, but that is not planned for this weekend. Maybe next weekend...


11/23/2009:
On vacation for a week. It's been nice so far :) We're not going anywhere, other than up to VT for a few days for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to spending most of my vacation time here at home. I plan to get some writing done, clean some closets, hang some pictures, and do a lot of relaxing. I got a lot of writing done today, and definitely some relaxing. Tomorrow I think I'll start on the closets. I am currently reveling in not having a ton of things to do.


11/10/2009:
Had a busy but productive weekend. The weather was beautiful, which really helped a lot. On Saturday, I helped Steph move from West Springfield to Windsor Locks. It was a fairly quick move; I got there at 10 and was home by 1. I was glad to assist her. Plus, I got some free computer parts, since she got a new machine and some of the old hardware is too big for the new case.

After moving on Saturday and much of Sunday was spent cleaning up the leaves in our yard. At the end, 16 bags and 2 barrels were full of leaves. My neighbors helped out, which was great; both Scott and Eric (neighbors on either side) have lawnmowers with bags attached. Scott came over Saturday to help me with the front yard. I borrowed Eric's mower on Sunday to help with the back yard. It looks pretty good, now. Whatever is left, I am going to let the wind and weather take care of. If I need to clean up a little in the spring, so be it :)

I have contracted a sickness of some sort, mostly affecting my stomach. It isn't severe, but it is uncomfortable. I've been subsisting mostly on toast and water today, and have still felt icky at times. I may attempt some soup later (we have several tasty varieties). Hopefully I feel better soon.


11/05/2009:
We got a letter from Immigration! Joanna's conditions have been removed! She is now a LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT OF THE U.S.! Words cannot describe our happiness or relief over this. There were some tears. There may be some more later. Happiness! Yay! And for good measure, some more !: !!!!


10/30/2009:
We lost two of our precious little ones this week. Silk, one of our black girl rats, passed away Sunday night. She was happy and energetic right up to the end; she had a good life, and she is missed every day. Then, on Tuesday night, Jazzman, our hamster, passed. Needless to say, it has been a sad week, but we press onward..

The rest of the week has been ok. My back is feeling better; though I still have some pain, the application of heat helps take care of it, and I rarely need to take any pain medication. Last weekend was good; I had a really great time at the Halloween party on Long Island. This weekend should be more laid-back. I'm hoping for some decent weather, so I can clean up some of the leaves that are covering our lawn.


10/22/2009:
My back is feeling better this morning. It is still sore, but not as stiff as it has been the last few mornings. I feel a little more rested, too. Since I'm working from home today, I allowed myself to sleep an extra hour, because I have been very short on sleep for the last week. Also, I only woke once in the night, and it was cat-related instead of pain-related, so that is definitely an improvement. I have a Halloween party to attend this weekend, and I am hoping to feel well enough to go...


10/21/2009:
My shoulder pain turned into upper back pain, and it is still ongoing. I have been going to the chiropractor every two days since last Wednesday, trying to get straighted out. Today, we tried some ultrasound to relax the muscles. Hopefully that will do some good. Driving makes it hurt worse. Being in the office for work isn't so good, either, as I do not have a high-backed chair and cannot apply heat very effectively. Thankfully, I am now set up to work from home, so I have been doing that (worked from home Friday, Monday, and am doing so today, as well). I asked the chiropractor if there is anything else I can be doing other than applying heat often and taking pain medication if it gets too bad. At this stage, he said (unfortunately) no; it will just take time to heal. We are still not sure how it came about... at this point, though, I'd be happy with it gone. It keeps me from doing things I want to do, and it is affecting my sleep. I get to sleep easily enough, in a comfortable position, but I keep waking up two or three times a night, twisted up uncomfortably and inevitably in pain. So I keep applying heat, trying to sit in a good position, and hoping it feels better...


10/15/2009:
I am experiencing severe shoulder pain today. I don't know what brought it on, and that is almost as frustrating as the pain (almost). I was fine when I got up this morning. I felt well rested and comfortable. About 1/2 way through my drive to work, I had some sort of back spasm and my whole upper back, shoulder to shoulder, lit up with pain. It has calmed a bit since then, but my right shoulder, around the blade, is still very sore. The soreness is connected to my neck, too; I can only turn my head about 1/4 of the way to the left before it starts to hurt my shoulder. I can turn to the right much more easily.

I had a chiropractic adjustment yesterday; that's the only thing I can think of that might be related, but I was fine until this morning. Now I'm just trying to stick it out through the workday and not move too much. Tonight, I think it'll be icepack-and-movie night. I will see how I feel in the morning, and go see the chiropractor again if it is not better, to see what he can see. *sigh*


10/14/2009:
I'm going to have to change the name of this section to "monthly grind"...
One of our biggest stresses this past month was sent out in the mail this morning: Immigration papers. I gathered forms and papers, had friends and family write affidavits, made copies of everything, and sent it out. I included a letter from us, offering further explanation of the information included. And now we wait some more. The current submission has a minimum processing time of 14 days, maximum time of 60 days, so at least we have a time period to work with now, instead of having to wait an unspecified time... Here's to hoping the petition is approved.


09/21/2009:
The last month has had its ups and downs:

Up: had a good weekend in NYC, for Mark's bachelor party weekend. Although I did suffer an extreme combination motion sickness / anxiety attack on the subway, I still consider this weekend more good than bad.

Down: One of our boy rats, Dip, passed away. He had been sick for awhile (brain tumor, we think), but that doesn't make his passing any easier. He was my little Fiver, Joanna's little D-student, and he is missed dearly.

Up: Mark and Michelle got married! It was an awesome, beautiful wedding, and I was so glad Joanna and I could both make it down for the celebration.

Down: We received notification from the immigration folks that we have provided "insufficient information" to enable Joanna to become a permanent resident. Complete bullshit, in my opinion. Now I get to go through our papers and send them anything I may have missed the first time we sent stuff in. I am also gathering additional affidavits from friends and family to further our cause, and will compose a letter myself, as well, to include in the next pile of papers we will be sending.

Up: the roofers came today to put a new roof on our house. They are mostly done, and will be finishing up tomorrow. What has been done so far looks great. I'll have an estimate on new gutters and downspouts by the middle of next week, and then we'll have those put up, as well. It will make me much more confident about the coming winter; the roof was just getting too old not to spawn extra anxiety about leaks and such. To further prepare, my parents are going to come down sometime in the next few weeks, and Dad and I are going to add some more insulation to the attic, to help keep in our precious heat (and that precious cool during the warmer months).

The tally seems to show more ups than downs. Yay :)


08/21/2009:
Not feeling as lost, though I haven't taken any time to do that stuff I talked about in my last update... I am very tired, though. Work has been very busy and very stressful this week. And the weather has been crappy: hot and very humid. I've been feeling pretty drained because of it. It's raining now, so I'm hoping that will bring down the humidity some and make it more pleasant.

Trying to think of current news...
I got my car paid off; that's pretty exciting. I now actually own my car! Yay! Now, to focus on other debt (*glares at credit cards* -- "you're next!"). Hmm. News. News. This is why I need to post more frequent updates. I'm sure exciting things have happened. I do get to see my sister this weekend. She is visiting from Utah. I'll be headed up to VT tomorrow to spend time with her and my family. She is having a class reunion, held at my parent's house, tomorrow, so I'll get to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in probably 10 years or so. Should be interesting!

Oh yeah, I celebrated my birthday last weekend! Celebration of me! It was really quite nice. A group of us got together online Friday night and played DotA for a few hours. Most of us had not played in over a year. It was a lot of fun! We're hoping to do it again sometime in the next few weeks.

Joanna and I devoted most of Saturday to playing games. I played a lot of Requiem -- I ground Dundell 12.3% to get him to 65. He now has his new wand and shield equipped, and he upgraded Bloodlust -- it's a party buff that grants +26 physical attack damage and +52 fire property damage. With all this new stuff, he is dishing out significantly more damage now. Now, the long grind to 66... maybe Season 2 will come around soon, and present me with a few quests to help it along.. I can hope!

Sunday, I treated myself to an hour-long massage at the Abundant Wellness center nearby. I used to go once a month for a massage there, but I hadn't been recently, as I always had other things I needed to spend the money on. I got a nice bonus at the beginning of the month, so I put some of it towards that. It was well worth it. I am hoping to be able to go more often in the future. After my massage and a nice shower, Joanna and I went to see District 9 at the movie theater. We both really enjoyed the film. It had more gore than I expected, but I spent a lot of time wrapped up in the story, so it didn't make me too squeamish. I recommend the movie to any sci-fi fan.

My Mom bought me Fallout 3 as a gift. I have it installed and have started playing it, but I'm not too far in yet. I want to finish up Bioshock before I dig into Fallout too deeply, as I know Fallout is probably going to take me quite awhile to complete, and I want to devote all of my single-player-game time to it (separate from my MMO-game-time and my other multiplayer-game-time ;) ).


07/30/2009:
I feel more lost than usual this week. My mind keeps wandering, often to places I have asked it not to, but there it goes, anyway. I have had trouble concentrating, sometimes even during conversation, which is strange for me. I feel set adrift, ungrounded. I have meditated some; I think I need to do more. My connection to the astral and the living magic in the world still feels strong, but I have been having trouble being comfortable in it. I want to learn more, do more, know more. I wish for a companion in these things, someone who really understands and is interested like I am. I keep telling myself I am going to seek them out; I know they are close. Some I already know, but they are far from me physically. Someone closer would be welcome. I must take the time to do this. I must, for the sake of my well-being in all things.


07/17/2009:
We had a good, long trip out to Wisconsin. It was pretty uneventful, which was a good thing. 12 hours of travel on Thursday, 9 hours of travel on Friday. I drove Jesse's monstrous rental truck for most of the trip. I am much more comfortable driving than riding. Sean drove the truck for a couple of hours, and then I took over. After an hour or so with the truck, I was pretty comfortable with it, so I figured I'd just stick with it all the way out. And it was big: 12 1/2' tall, 24' long. "No kill like overkill", said Rob. That sums it up perfectly. He probably could have fit all his stuff in a 17' truck, but I guess I can understand, with that big of a move, wanting to be absolutely sure there was enough room. Also, since pretty much everything could fit on the floor of the truck, there was little danger of anything being damaged by falling over.

So we traveled Thursday and Friday, unloaded and unpacked and organized some stuff on Saturday, then flew home Sunday. It was a long 4 days, but it still seemed to be over very quickly. Being with friends the whole time definitely helped immensely.

And then I had to work this week, and Eric was out the whole week, so it was pretty hellish. I won't complain much here; it was hellish, and I'm glad it's over, end of that story. I'm glad it's the weekend, and I'm looking forward to de-stressing during it :)

Page Updates:
- updated dragon-rider.us main page (Happenings section).


07/07/2009:
This past week has been one of reflection for me. On the outside, it has mostly been quiet reflection, but inside it has not been so. I have come to face some things about myself that I do not like. I believe it is necessary for us to do this at times, to embrace (though not necessarily accept) those things about ourselves that may be less than good. I have found things in me that I want to change, and so I will. These reflections have caused some inner turmoil, which has not helped me feel any healthier; in fact, I have felt worse lately than I have in a long time (lots of upset stomach, mostly). But these thoughts had to come, these things had to be figured out. I have gotten some things worked out in my head; other things are still being worked on, but for now, I am going to put my worries on a shelf as best I can, leave the bad where it is, and try to relax. It is my weekend, now, a long weekend.

Tomorrow, I plan to spend time with Joanna. On Thursday morning, myself, Rob, Sean, and Jesse head out across the country, to help Jesse move himself and all his belongings to Wisconsin, where he is going back to school. I am very happy for him; he needed a change, and now he will have a big change. I hope it treats him well.

Also, in news, another 'rider has approached me, who found me through this site. This makes me very glad; I am looking forward to learning more about this new person, and helping them out as best I can.