The Dangerous Existence of Madame Lee

Oh, look, someone just booked a room for InConJunction and now has to go. Experts speculate that this tack will work for Ikasucon as well.

In unrelated news (related in the broader sense of "going to events"), I went to the Rendezvous at Vincennes today. I had gone in 2010 and wanted to go last year, but other and more important events prevented me, so it was nice to go this year.

Pictures of Eighteenth Century Big Battel (my favorite part of the event) coming tomorrow, but right now I have a recurring pounding headache and think I may have inhaled Pollen From Across The Wabash in Vincennes (which is on the Wabash River, which constitutes the Illinois state line), because when I went to work after the Rendezvous (yes, I almost always do volunteer for overtime), I was sneezy and sniffly and hadn't been earlier.

Night!

I spent ~23 hours at work this weekend, by which I mean I did 8 hours on Saturday, 9 on Sunday, and 6 today. But! My quota for the weekend is made, and I am done. At least until tomorrow.

Cosi Fan Tutte tix go on sale to the general public tomorrow. Why yes, I will be going to the opera this year. I haven't gone in years mainly due to lack of money, and dude that is changing. I'd like to take lolmom to see Carmen in Louisville, but the dates are problematic, viz.:
23 September is the day I'm having my wisdom teeth out, and I definitely won't be up to much of anything.
25 September is doable, but just; we're probably going to have to leave right after lolmom gets back from Religious Ed. (For those of you just joining us, lolmom teaches the confirmation class at her church.) I don't know how long mandatory overtime is going to continue, so I might need to have a day free, or else a lot of wangling.
30 September is doable for me, but it means not bringing lolmom because she has to work, and now I don't feel like I can do that

Randomly: I admit that this is my fault for using such a vague search term, but while punching "samurai" into Amazon will bring up some hugely entertaining stuff, it also brings up a lot of crap. Including some lolarious romance novels, which I may need to purchase for future snarking...

+ I guess it still hasn't really hit me that my grandmother is dead, because last night lolmom and I were talking about gravy (she made the best gravy you ever had, seriously, no mean feat for someone who hated to cook), and lolmom was saying that she had no idea what my grandmother did because there were no measurements involved. I thought, Next time she calls, I'll ask her, and--oh. wait. She was alive not that long ago; I just talked to her on Mother's Day. It's strange to know that that was the last time, ever.

+ I need to get my act in gear and decide if I'm going to InConJunction, because if I don't buy my pass soon the rates will go up. Also I need to book a hotel room.

+ Dentist's appointment on Thursday. Do not want. Do not want anything to rot out even more, so I guess I'd better go. I am not looking forward to the eternal tussle over my wisdom teeth, though I rather suspect one of them (the broken one) will need to come out.

( Some things that kind of need to get done today )

FUCK YOU UPS
FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU DIE IN A FIRE
WHERE IS MY FUCKING PACKAGE YOU LYING BASTARDS SAID YOU DELIVERED
I WANT MY GODDAMN PACKAGE NOW NOT WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE IT
I AM NOT GOING TO EAT $132
IS THIS ANOTHER DELIVERY ERROR
THIS HAD BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER DELIVERY ERROR
FUCK YOU EVEN THE FUCKING POST OFFICE CAN GET MY FUCKING ADDRESS RIGHT
I WILL GRIND YOUR LAZY, STUPID DELIVERYMAN'S FACE INTO THE PLACE IN THE BACKYARD WHERE THE FERAL CATS LIKE TO SHIT
I BET HE WILL REMEMBER WHICH HOUSE IS CORRECT THEN
WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES YOU WILL NOT BE SPARED

(TL;DR: I ordered some stuff online. The seller only uses UPS. UPS says they delivered a package to our back door yesterday. There is no package there, at the front door, or at the porch door we never use. Lolmom did not find a package when she left for work, and according to UPS' delivery confirmation, it should have been there by the time she left. I was at work when the package was delivered. It wasn't something that needed to be signed for. It's possible that it was stolen, but unlikely; we don't exactly live in a high-crime neighborhood, and the contents of the package aren't something that normal people would want to steal. I think it was delivered to another address in error, which wouldn't be the first time this has happened in our neighborhood, speaking as someone who was once given a package meant for THREE STREETS OVER. I hate to drag the seller into this, because it's not their fault at all, but UPS won't advise the receiver of claim status, so I pretty much have to ask the seller to plz file a claim. GOD FUCKING DAMN IT I AM SO MAD SOME OF MY OUTFIT FOR EVILLECON WAS IN THERE I JUST WANT MY FUCKING STUFF.)

But! On the plus side, lolmom and I went to the Edgewater Grille on Sunday and I STILL have some delicious grilled veggie pizza left over. (I fell off the wagon pretty hard today, though. Nothing for it but to get back on.) Also: the MEGAHeart is coming to Evansville this Saturday and I am way more excited than I should be about walking through a GIANT INFLATABLE HEART (assuming I can get there early and walk through the heart before lunch, since I have another obligation at 11:30). It kind of reminds me of being 6 or 7 when we lived in Chicago and my father would take us to the Museum of Science and Industry all the time; there was a giant heart that you could walk through, though it wasn't inflatable. (The new Giant Heart is pretty cool, but I'm kind of saddened that the old one isn't there anymore.)

I must, alas, stop my wacky Facebook hijinks with pixelation and get some sleep. PERHAPS I CAN GET THE UPS ISSUES SORTED TOMORROW.

[Edit: Holy crap, my incoherent RAEG caused me to break my font tags. I win the Golden Derp Award!]

+ Still no working computer at home. God DAMN it. I have asked the lolmom to call several times (I would do it myself, but that's when I'm at work), but she falls asleep and I feel bad about bugging her.

+ I now have a phone at work, which means I may be getting calls. This is all very exciting.

+ Have more or less decided to go to EvilleCon, but think I'll pay at the door as I don't think the site is trustworthy as far as security issues go. (Actually the site looks a total hatchet job, but hey, a local con. w00t.)

+ Apparently, I have rogue wisdom teeth on my left side. I am pretty sure that this is not tooth decay, which I think would be gradual pain that got worse over time. Usually I've had more trouble on my left side. This is being-perfectly-fine until BAM my wisdom teeth decided to bother me on Friday night, and I could not sleep thanks to the pain so I had to go out and buy Tylenol. (And yes, for me, it does have to be acetaminophen. I don't even know why they're allowed to market ibuprofen as a pain reliever. It doesn't do dick even at prescription levels. I might as well leave my teeth alone and suffer loudly and bitchily.) I am okay right now (the last time I had any was 10:30 last night before I went to bed), but if this doesn't abate in a week I guess I'm going to the dentist. I hope to God this isn't a case of teeth-impacted-in-bone, because that is the last thing I want to dick with.

+ Watched The Wind and the Lion with lolmom last night; also, made muffins with coconut milk and dried cranberries. Another nutritionally complete meal turned out by yours truly!

+ Where is all this snot coming from? I was fine and then I began sneezing at work (in conjunction with Stomach Issues, so I was trying desperately to keep my bodily wastes in my body whilst sneezing), and now I'm clogged up. I realize the seasons are changing but seriously what the hell, I don't have time for this sneezy-ass bullshit. And I have a 7-hour shift in about 12 and a half hours. I am tempted to look into those pots that let you flush out your sinuses or whatever but the last thing I want to do is stick something up my nose.

+ I am about halfway through The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham, the final installment in the Long Price Quartet, and I am in love. Seriously, the entire series is damn fine and you need to go out and read that (I AM LOOKING AT YOU IN PARTICULAR galhea). I would be happy if I could produce something half as good.

+ I really, really, really hate the piece I'm working on. This is par for the course for me, and usually things pick up, but the whole thing just rings entirely false and it's not at all something I want to be working on. (I am working on it anyway in the hope that I will a.) warm to my theme and b.) get a quick buck and a publication credit out of it.) Seriously: one of the heroines acts entirely out of character for most of the 20+ pages I have so far. The villain's motives are unclear. I have a completely unintentional romance B-plot on my hands. The plot is a clusterfuck. (On the plus side, the other heroine has turned out to be pretty fun to write, which is nice since I initially had no idea what to do with her and was afraid she'd turn into an unlikable simp in my hands, given that I am poorly adapted to writing women who are not badasses and/or not like men. Given that nineteenth-century rural Ireland was not a place where badasses had a lot of opportunity to flourish, I'm pretty much stuck with her as she now is.) I have to make myself work on this shit, y'all.

+ I really just want to write samurai. Samurai pr0n seems to do well enough at Torquere and similar fine publishing houses, thus proving that I am not the only person who is a sucker for it. Also, judging by some of the excerpts I have read, I have the singular advantage of actually knowing something about samurai. duokinneas, will you be my beta?

+ I also want to go back to writing badass women. I'm just not good at the regular kind. Unfortunately if I exercise my particular hobbyhorse too much, everything starts to read the same.

+ Unrelated to the above, this is what makes my hometown the best. :D I found the link via the Consumerist, which referred to him as the Taco Avenger.

+ I'm so glad it's cool enough to enjoy tea comfortably. ♥

+ 7 more days until Chautauqua Weekend. I offered to bring the lolmom along, but pointed out that I mean to leave pretty early (so it would probably be something like "oh hi you're home change your clothes and get in the car we're leaving"); she was game at first but then was informed that she has to work that Saturday, and she has to be at work before I do that day. I'm still going, but it's always more fun when you've got company.

+ I started on this thing almost 2 hours ago and there is still snot despite DayQuil and tea. I CERTAINLY HOPE THIS IS NOT INDICATIVE OF HOW MUCH FUN I AM GOING TO HAVE AT WORK TONIGHT~

The weather outside has taken a turn for the better--it's less oppressively hot during the daytime, and it's nice and cool at night--but due to barometric pressure and fronts and other things I have little interest in so don't fully understand, this is doing a number on my allergies and my sinuses are full of snot and throbbing pain. On my goddamn day off no less.

Unfortunately, I have to be back at work at 6 in the morning tomorrow, so I don't even have the consolation of sleeping late. Angst!

Also: I really, really want to go to Chautauqua Weekend, because I haven't been in like 3 years and this is not okay. Who's with me, once my sinuses have been adequately drained? :D

Here are some other things that happened while I had no Int0rbuttz:

( All beings shall know the bounty of my produce, and also some stuff about samurai! )

I have given some serious thought to changing my name to Sanjuro and becoming a wandering samurai. It can't possibly pay less than Lol-Mart. On the other hand, I'm not Japanese and would also rather quickly betray the fact that I don't know how to use my swords. It is always something. I guess I could be an Internet badass, but everybody's a tough guy on the Internets.

Good things:
+ I didn't work a full shift today. I also won't work a full shift tomorrow, but I will get out of work when it's still light out.
+ I'm off Monday.
+ The lolmom brought me a danish from the Donut Bank.
+ Delicious peach kefir, I has it.
+ I should have Sanjuro for Monday. When I'm off. YESSSSSS.
+ I am wearing rainbow-striped socks, which are awesome.
+ For Liberty and for Glory, fully 50% of my Amazon order, came today. (Apparently it takes them a little longer to get the assorted volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo so I have to wait. Ain't no thing.)
+ 15 days until my weekend trip. :DDDDD
+ The lolmom is back to working nights! They've had her working split shifts for about the past month or so and this completely sucked ass.
+ Hyacinths and croci are up in the yard. :DDDDDD
+ I have plenty to read, omg.
+ Also, I have old-school hip-hop on repeat, which is proof that I am probably going to Hell but like I really care at this point. It has a good beat and is easy to "dance" to.

[EDIT: samanosukesgirl, and anybody else who's interested of course, you may wish to check out phony_boyfriend. Takeshi has appeared before, but I'm sure nobody would mind seeing him again.]

1.) I made a lemon pound cake last night. It is totally radical, dude, though not radical like teenaged ninja.

2.) Got a message today from the doctor's office. Turns out they got the lipids-and-hormones bloodwork back before they got the insulin bloodwork back. They want me to come back in 3 months to have follow-up bloodwork done and see how I'm responding to the metformin, which has never happened before, but other than that, nothing to worry about.

3.) I can't tell whether my abdominal discomfort is impending Crimson Tide or whether it's from doing sit-ups yesterday. Yeah, I'm trying to get back on the wagon because I'm as heavy as I ever want to be, thanks. I'm sure the lemon cake isn't helping there, but dammit, I wanted some delicious lemon cake.

4.) I only have to work 4 hours tomorrow and then I'm off for two days and I think I might go to Salem on Friday, because a.) close proximity to the Waffle House (I am craving breakfast for some reason) and b.) I haven't been to Salem in a couple of years (has it really been that long?) and would like to poke around in the records and also visit their awesome used bookstore, which magically contains whatever I feel like reading (trufax).

5.) Yeah. I think that's it.