Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

It's two weeks and two days until I move, and... I'm done. Everything is packed except last minute stuff that I'm still using. I've done nearly all the move-out cleaning that I can do with boxes in the way and me still living there. I'm all done, yet I still have two weeks to wait and do nothing.

On one hand, I should enjoy this time. I have AC, and I'm moving into a place without it. I'm in a pretty, nice complex, and I'm moving into a place that's more than 50% smaller and a whole lot less nice, so I should just enjoy the last of my time here. But I can't. Because I'm moving in two weeks.

It's actually better to have stuff to do because I feel like I'm accomplishing things and getting stuff done when I pack. Now I'm just sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, and stressing/worrying about all the what-ifs. I just want to get on with life -- get moved, get unpacked and settled, iron the bugs out of my new place.

The first day there is going to be interesting. All of the apartments are being moved in to at the same time. (They were all being renovated, the whole building.) I don't know how all the moving trucks are going to handle it -- there's so little parking, and people are going to be moving in all day. Hopefully it will be a little easier for my people, since I'm taking Thursday the 1st off for the move. Maybe more people will move in on Friday the 2nd or the weekend.

Ellie New Cat update: Her nonstop meowing begging for food is 90% corrected in the evenings, yet somehow only 20% corrected in the morning. (How do kittybrains work that she can't connect the two?) Whenever she meows, I run at her hissing and waving my hands over my head (just plain running at her stopped working after a while). It's a good thing I live alone, as I'm sure that would be amusing to watch. However, since she's improved so much in the evenings, I have hope that eventually the mornings will get corrected as well.

I no longer make her talk for a treat, as I think that would send mixed signals. Maybe not, maybe meowing on command might register differently in kittybrains, but I don't need to risk it.

- In the endless tangle of worries that is my brain, a new BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT WORRY EVER has come to the forefront of the others: The new apartment complex I'm moving into comes with wifi, so I'm going to cancel my personal service and use the complex's (saving almost $100/month), but now I can't stop wondering if it'll be good enough. If I'm sharing wifi with an apartment complex, probably 50 other apartments, what are the chances I'll get the speed/bandwidth that I'm used to? Good enough to play online games (MMOs) and steam video without lag? Is that a pipe dream or might it be good enough that I won't need to return to a personal account?

- In other apparently worry-related news, last night I had a dream I was at work. Working. So when I woke up, I felt like I had been at work all night... just in time to go to work this morning. Thanks, brain.

- I'm watching the new Voltron series from Netflix/Dreamworks. I had loved the original Voltron when I was a kid, so I had hoped I'd like the new series, but right now (halfway point of the first season), I'm pretty meh on it. I don't hate it, I don't love it. It's watchable.

- Ellie New Cat is the oddest cat. She doesn't like to climb things. I used to have a floor-to-ceiling post for her, but she never used it so I got rid of it. Now I have boxes stacked halfway to the ceiling, formed in "steps" that would be easy as pie for her to jump up, and she hasn't checked it out once. She never wants to go higher than the back of a chair or desktop. I never met a cat like that before.

- Packing for my move is going well. I said it before and I'll say it again: It rocks to start really early. I have three weeks and change left, and I'm nearly done packing -- too done! I packed stuff I now wish I hadn't packed, bowls and such.

- I have a ton of non-packing, move-related stuff left to do. I've been dragging my feet on it for some reason, things like change of address through the post office, scheduling power to turn on in the new place, etc. Much of it can be easily done online, though some of it (like canceling Comcast) will need a phone call and an office visit to return hardware.

- Though I said I was done with Freecycle, I decided to list one more thing. I had three very nice plush toys (picture of them), very good condition (kept on shelves, never played/slept with). I thought they would get lots of interest and snapped right up, but nope. Only one single request, and that person wanted just one of the three. (I ended up saying no to that person, since I'd have to take the other two to Goodwill to donate, splitting the group would just double my work.) I know this area has very few families/kids, but I still thought there would be interest in them. Oh well.

As if I needed more reason not to vote for him...

So I do lots of surveys, right? It's good side-money, I make a $10 Amazon gift card once a week or so. Today I got offered one from "Great America PAC" -- I rarely get political ones, so I looked it up before starting. It's Trump's...

How are these for unbiased questions?

Do you believe Barack Obama accomplished a radical liberal agenda the past 8 years?
Do you agree that President Obama’s weak foreign policy leadership has made our allies nervous and our enemies emboldened?
Should the Obama Administration have done more to stop the Benghazi attacks, which a bipartisan report has now determined were preventable?

Not only that, when I reached the end of the survey (99% completed), it then told me I was disqualified. Rarely companies do that underhanded thing -- they collect all your info, then at the very end tell you you're disqualified, so they don't have to pay for the results.

How surprised are we that Trump robbed me of the 60 cents I would have made for this survey?

So much to do. My in box is full of emails, I'll be replying to comments and trying to catch up on my friends list over the next couple days. It's so good to have net access again!

There was a "famous" person on my flight home. Joanne Weir was in the check-in line right in front of me (and didn't even fly first class). I wouldn't have realized it was her at all, but she was recording her voice mail and quietly said into it 'Hi this is Joanne Weir, I can't take your call...' and I was close enough to hear her. Even from behind, I was sure it was her (she had the same unique hair), and when I edged around the front to see her face, I was sure. I didn't say anything to her though, partially because I hate her cooking show/how she acts/her voice and always switched the channel when she was on.

I was so happy to get home and see my cat. Unfortunately she seems to have forgotten who I am. Instead of running to me when I came home (as she does after work), she sat at a distance and eyed me in a 'Who the hell are you?' sort of way. When I approached her, she backed off, still eyeing me like she was scared. Silly kitty, I was only gone a week!

Both times through the TSA line at the airport I got pulled out of line for a pat-down. The first time was okay -- interesting since I never had one before and she mostly just went through the motions. Coming home was a different story and she actually felt my crotch (with the back of her hand), and fully between my thighs, across my butt, etc. That was odd and rather disturbing.

More tomorrow!

I realized this morning that I haven't yet had any stress dreams/nightmares about my upcoming vacation. That's especially odd, as I'm flying off instead of having my mother fly in. I guess it almost feels like it's not real? Even though it's less than a month away? (New readers: I'm a complete and utter stressball, and as I remember multiple dreams a night, it tends to really come out in my dreams. Any changes in my life, even things like vacations, tend to stress me out.)

I don't know if part of it is that I'm distracted by my eventual-move (two stressful things canceling each other out instead of feeding each other?). Once I'm back from my vacation, I need to make more progress on that. My lease is up early in September, so it's not pressing yet, but it will be before long. (And boy am I happy I was able to save most of my boxes from the last time I moved -- I knew I would be!)

I made the mistake of starting a new farm in Stardew Valley. That game is such a perfect trap for me -- I can accomplish things in it, which makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing things in real life, which means I feel okay just sitting there and playing instead of actually accomplishing things real life. (But boy, is this second play-through going amazingly well. By Spring 10 Year 1 I had both backpack upgrades. By Spring 15 I had my first house upgrade and three tool upgrades done. While it feels evil of me, I'm going to back Walmart JoJa Corp instead of the community center -- I'm swimming in money, so it should be faster and easier. I'm going to totally avoid the moneysink of farm buildings, since I don't like interacting with animals anyway. Except a slime hutch. I seem to like slimes a lot and miss the feral one from my first save.)

I think/hope my toe has finally actually healed up. I've been off antibiotics a couple weeks now, and it seems to be mostly the same. Now and then I get a twinge of pain from it, which worries me a lot, but it's not reopening nor is it getting hot. (It's especially a worry now, because if it does get bad again, that means IV antibiotics... and my vacation in less than a month.)

Sadly, yet not unexpectedly, my weight has gone up a little. SIGH! Not surprising, since somehow I went down almost five pounds last week (and I'm 98% sure I'm in PMS). Only three pounds as of this morning, but it still depresses me.

I started running, but as I just barely started it (last week), I can't do all that much yet. Other than yesterday, I've been enjoying it. (This whole week I've felt tired and down, and just didn't want to do it yesterday. For the same reason, I've skipped doing pushups twice in a row now.

This whole week I've just felt physically down. Blah. Tired nonstop even though I'm sleeping the same amount of house. Super duper extra hungry, too. Really, all this goes with the PMS thing, I think. (Edit: You know, it's amazing that, at this point in my life, I still have to add "I think" onto that. I'm approaching the point of not having to deal with it anymore, and yet still I don't know for sure. Bodies...)

All my life, I've wanted to be able to run. As a very heavy person, running even a couple steps was a bad idea. But gonzostar does lots of running now, and instead of just admiring her for it, why can't I try it too? I still haven't gotten the app issue worked out yet, but I figured I could just try it some and see how it goes.

Odd thing #1: It doesn't hurt my knees. It doesn't hurt anything. It doesn't feel at all like running when I was 130+ pounds heavier. :P Duh on me!

Odd thing #2: And, unlike #1, this one really is odd. I don't seem to know how to run. You'd think we could just... run. It must be in our genes. I had to run a couple times for gym class in high school (decades ago), but I haven't run at all since then. I'm 100% sure I'm doing it wrong, as I only land on the balls of my feet and never put the rest of my foot down. Also, perhaps related to that issue, I seem to... bounce? too much. Like I'm not running smoothly, I think I must be going up and down more than other people when they run...

I watched some videos on Youtube, but unsurprisingly there are no "how to run" videos out there. I did learn it's rare to land on the balls of your feet instead of your heels, and that it's safer/better for you to land that way, so go me?

I didn't run for long though, because it just felt so wrong. I have no idea how to force my heels to drop down and touch the ground too, it feels natural to stay up on the balls of my feet if I'm running. I didn't run for long outside, because I worry I look like I'm running oddly, so I ran back and forth in my apartment (I have one long hallway that goes from one end of it to the other).

I have no idea how to figure out how to run right though...

Stardew Valley: I haven't been posting about it much. I'm back into winter again, which is just the worst season of them all. So boring. I'm trying to max out my mining and adventuring ratings (both 9 now), which means I have to keep going into the Skull Dungeon (which I really dislike, it's stressful to me for some reason, I guess maybe because the mobs are so much harder). I wonder if I could max out in the mines or if the XP there is just too low?

Finally, after having a baby for like three weeks, it woke up. I think we can all agree that Haken should not be permitted babies and/or needs some better way to paint the ceiling.


Stop throwing so hard! D:

And lastly, the perfect food for the next time you go to the strip club. Sexy snackfoods? (Work safe on that link? I think?)

I've found an effective distraction from my worries over my upcoming trip: Dealing with pre-moving stuff. :P

Once my lease expires, I'm going to be moving. (I really, really need to look up when that will be. I believe I have a few months left, but I need to know so I can better plan.) I'm hoping to move somewhere where I'll be paying $1,000 less per month, which will mean I'll no longer be eating into my savings each month. However, with that much cheaper of an apartment, I'm going to lose some "must have" feature. Either AC, an in-unit washer/dryer, or it will not be in the local area. I'm really sad about that.

I'm also falling out of love with this area. I just cannot afford to live here anymore. Even if I get a promotion at work (which might not even happen this year), it doesn't come with hardly any additional money.

Anyway. That's not what I wanted to write about. While moving is stressful, I'm in the "fun" stage of it now. (Or maybe that should be "satisfying".) I'm going through everything I own, seeing what I can throw away or donate. (I thought about eBaying what I could, since I need money, but I think that would be more trouble than it's worth.)

I think sadly I need to get rid of most of my physical books. When I had moved to my current apartment, I donated 90% of my books (three car trunks full) to the library. I have less than one bookcase of them left, all ones not currently available in ebook format, but being honest I'll never read physical books again. There's no use lugging them around. Plus I have a lot of big hardcovers that I was keeping for the art, yet I haven't looked at in 20 years...

That will mean I can get rid of a couple bookcases, and I suspect my outside table as well (at $2,000/month rent, there's no way in hell I'll get a porch/personal outside area, so I'll no longer have need of it).

I'm continuing to struggle with my weight. I decided that having oatmeal for breakfast every day might be part of my issue. Since I try not to eat bread, what am I doing eating some carb-heavy food for breakfast every day? Even if I was adding greek yogurt and a few nut to it for protein. While protein bars are expensive enough to make me sad, I've gone back to having one for breakfast instead.

So, while things aren't all that great right now, once I'm able to move, things should get better money-wise (if not living conditions-wise). And it's good to know that my vacation will be very inexpensive ("free" airline tickets, staying with my mother, and she'll feed me).

Last year I made sure not to go shopping today (or November 1st). The day after Easter. The day after Halloween. Half-off candy day.

To be honest, I actually forgot about it this year. Thus I walked right face-first into displays of it when I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Sigh. All my favorite candies, 50% off. Easter baskets. Hallow chocolate bunnies! I almost lost it. I almost grabbed a basket and filled it up and to hell with any later issues. (I've not had a chocolate or sweet in 19 months, not a single bite, yet this reaction was so strong I stopped walking and stared at it all.)

Luckily I only had to be strong enough to get out of the store. I told myself that, even though I'm supposed to not spend money, and even though I've not lost weight in more than a month and thus have to eat good, that I'd stop for lunch if I just left without buying candy. Surprisingly, once I was driving away from the store, I found I really didn't want the chocolate anymore. I was hungry, yes, but I wanted food, not chocolate. I miss... the feeling of it. Of being able to buy a whole entire shopping basket of chocolate because it's my money and I'm an adult and I can buy a whole shopping basket of chocolate if I damn well want to. Of owning that much "good" food. Of it being MINE. Of having a pile of it at home, that I could look at and eat whenever I want and as much as I wanted. That I do miss. But I don't miss the chocolate itself.

Brains are odd.

---

Because teaandfailure was too kind and totally did not listen to me when I told her not to get it for me, I now have Stardew Valley to play. It's sort of a cross between Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon -- you make a farm, tend it, and if you like, get married to someone once you've built up enough of a relationship with them.

The graphics are very simple, but the colors and music are very attractive. I love the colors of the grass and land, so soothing somehow.



I'm on my 12th day now, though multiple times I was tempted to start over because I made some mistakes. A couple minor mistakes, but also two big ones, and one I thought was going to be a deal-breaker...

( More images and game info back here. )

All in all, it's a very satisfying game! It gives me that 'accomplished' feeling to get all my game-tasks done for the day.

Now I have an egg festival to attend in-game. :)

Edit: BOOO the game glitched somehow. I woke up at 1 AM gametime, left my house, and the game said I was exhausted and sent me back home, charged me 150 game-dollars (ARG) and I missed the egg fest. ;; Hopefully it wasn't too important... I suppose there's always next game-year. :(

Edit 2: Got a fishing quest, noticed my fishing pole is gone. Guess I lost it when the slime monsters killed me. I had been wondering what else was missing from my bag after I died...

I'm falling down on posting again. Sigh. Hopefully when work settles down I can post on a more regular basis again. I've been working 12+ days for two weeks straight now, plus the occasional weekend/holiday work day. Blah.

Somehow, even though I no longer even have a nail on it, my toe got infected again. My doctor calls it a mystery, which is not a good thing in when it comes to medical stuff. It's been getting infected every couple months for more than a year now, and I've seen a few specialists about it already.

Next up: A MRI to see if an infection is hiding in my bone. I already had an X-ray to check for that, but it might have missed something, so we're going to go with the more detailed MRI.

As I've not met my deductible yet for the year, it's going to be out of pocket, which makes me want to cry. It's probably going to be a couple thousand dollars.* Plus I'm still waiting on all of my tax paperwork for the year, and if it's like last year I'll be paying a couple thousand for that, too.

*Okay, I finally called to find out exactly what my deductible is and what I've paid so far. Turns out I "only" have to pay $1,000 more to meet my deductible for the year. That's going to hurt, but at least it's one thousand and not multiple thousands.

The other "bug" in my subject line is of the insect kind. I found a BIG black fast-moving bug in my bathroom yesterday morning. At first I thought it was a roach (especially since it squeezed out from under the cup I trapped it under), but looking at pictures online, I think/hope it wasn't. Maybe some kind of odd beetle got into my house. (And I'm not sure why a roach would be in my bathroom instead of my kitchen.) Still, I'm highly worried and grossed out by this. My apartment complex has a silverfish problem (which is horrible and gross), but roaches would be a worse and unacceptable level of gross.

To end on a positive note: After being stalled for more than two months, I finally, finally started losing weight again. I'm hoping to have good news to post about that soon.

irreparable had a fun idea: Post the first sentence of the first post for each month in 2015.

January: Happy New Year, everyone!
February: The Jurassic World Lego Game Trailer is really cute:
March: When I reviewed the first Seraphina book, I loved it so much I couldn't decide which reason for loving it to write about first.
April: Remember today is April Fool's (AKA: The worst idea ever).
May: Back in the early days of reading Flower's Fang by the same author, I had been enjoying the book enough that I went in search of other things by her, and stumbled upon this free short story.
June: It's no secret that I like reality TV (of the cooking contest variety, not the stupid people behaving badly kind), but American reality TV is just getting nastier and nastier.
July: While this book didn't work for me, I didn't hate it while reading it.
August: I was offered a book for review, so I read the blurb.
September: A fandomsecrets secret used the word outercourse, and I wasn't sure if it was a real word or not, so I decided to google it.
October: I'm this close to knocking this series' score down from a Liked to an Okay, just because of how darned short these books are.
November: There are horror stories about how hard it is to cancel your Comcast service, so I was dreading having to call in and cancel my TV service.
December: On my last post, elfy had the good suggestion to record my eating -- to use an app to count calories and track my intake.

I was worried it would be 12/12 book review posts, so that list actually ended up better than I expected. In 2016 I have to try posting about more things.

My company shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Year's, and this year that includes two weekends, so it's been a nice little vacation. I've done nothing at all during it, and it was quite wonderful, even though it passed too quickly. On Monday I had to take my car in for an oil change (which turned out to be a 4 hour, $300 thing...) but other than that, I haven't even left the house in a week. I know lots of people wouldn't like that, but for me it was wonderful!

Somehow I fell behind on LJ reading, so I have a whole lot to catch up on today. I'm up to yesterday's posts, so I'm doing well with that. (Had this post window open for hours while doing other things. Caught up now!)

I know lots of the country is having a warm winter, but it's horribly cold here. I used to enjoy winter, but not anymore. I'm endlessly freezing, even dressed in multiple layers (including a big robe).

I haven't set New Year's resolutions since high school, just ongoing goals from whatever time of the year I decide to make them. This year's will be unsurprising: Weight. Getting under 200 pounds is the "easy" goal and will happen soonish (under two months, I'd guess). I'm not sure if I can make my final weight goal by the end of the year or not, but if not then just keep working towards it.

My toe is finally, FINALLY healing. After almost exactly two months (two days short of two months), the scab finally fell off. While it's not fully finished healing yet, Monday I'm going to try to go back to walking. (The skin still looks odd, but everything is closed up now, so hopefully that will be fine.) It was quite a troublesome toe, I had to do three rounds (six weeks) of antibiotics to heal up the infection. Fun times!

And lastly, my New Year's Eve was quiet. As usual, I was asleep at midnight (don't want to mess my sleep schedule up when work is around the corner). Around 2:45 AM someone was yelling right outside my bedroom window. I woke up with a start, thinking it was someone inside my apartment. Got up, walked around, checked all my windows and doors, and finding they were still locked went back to sleep.