Now what?

I am a little sad today. Not in a depressed sort of way, but forlorn. I finished three things recently and am at a loss on what is next and how to proceed. (Not really, but it makes for thrilling blogging, doesn't it?) The things I finished were - the Sixth Season of Bones - that is all that Netflix currently has streaming - they have disks for the Seventh Season, but I haven't taken that plunge yet - the last published book of the Wheel of Time Series - goodness, a lot happened in that book - and it was left with a few major cliff hangers. I had thought I had timed it really well, to be finished with the series again just as the last book was released. Only to find out recently (as I think I mentioned in the past) that the book had been delayed until January 2013! I should live so long! I think it is some sort of anniversary thing - poop, though. The third thing I finished, finally, was the Knights of Amular - Reckoning. Eh. I liked Skyrim better.

Doors close, doors open. So far, nothing has wandered in on the book/Audio book front and I am open to suggestions and thoughts. I do like Science Fiction and Fantasy best, but will try to read most anything suggested. So, suggest away!

As for gaming, I have started LA Noire - a 40s period game which, so far, has been interesting (I played about half an hour last night). I am liking it so far - built by the people who do Grand Theft Auto. I still have a few others that are sitting on my shelf waiting to be played, but I think this one will be entertaining.

As for watch to watch on Netflix next, I am taking this opportunity to watch Jekyll. Saw the first episode last night. Interesting.

Ooh, made some more candy last night. Sesame candy. Not something I can eat lots of, like the Almond Butter crunch - but good anyway! And pizza. Sigh. One day I will make a nice, round, happy pizza. This one was a smidge over done, but still tasty.

Pretty on the way to the reading on Thursday night

Pre cut candy

Post cut candy

Not so round, yet tasty, pizza

Welcome 44!

Maybe this will be the year that I achieve 50 followers! That would be great! Not that 44 is bad. But come on, I live in America and more is better, right? Yay more!

I had a minor writing epiphany Thursday morning. Another potential title for my Self Help book - A Little Help from a Friend - since it will be a little book - and I am friendly. We shall see. I need to get back to my writing-writing. I have just been absorbed in the computer programming. Balance and moderation. Moderation and balance. Baleration! Modance! Moderance! Baleration!

Thursday was my rockin' night out. It started with a reading by a poet at HWS. I guess poetry readings are like concerts - we held our applause until the end of the performance - not applauding at the end of each poem. I would have liked to acknowledge them each individually - perhaps like the did in the 50s - with finger snapping. But no, nothing like that. It was surprisingly well attended. The father of a grade school friend sat near me which was nice! The poet has been writing since the 70s, has a great voice both in terms of his literary voice and his speaking/performing voice. Glad I went.

Next, off to Leaf Kitchen to drink the new-to-my-Geneva-beers-list beers there. Since last week was a bust at the Leaf Kitchen, I decided to try again. This week it was a lot less busy at the bar, so I got to sit in my favorite seat. Yay! Emily, as usual, was the lovely bartender. I ended up having three beers - Two IPAs and a Wheat Beer. Yakima Black IPA was very tasty - not quite enough malt for me to be thrilled, but still good. Firestone Union Jack IPA which was really high alcohol content - closer in taste to a double than a regular IPA. Lastly Troegs Dream Weaver Wheat - it was ok at best - mostly because I am not generally a wheat beer fan...I also had nice bar-mates to chat with. That always makes the time pass more pleasantly.

Posted a new writing blog post - nothing scintillating - but better than nothing, I guess.

Hedda Gabler

Last night mom and I went to the HWS production of Hedda Gabler. It was a dress rehearsal and the cast did admirably. And the translation and adaptation was much better than the one that I was in 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago - same weekend in fact. Weird. I played George Tessman in that production - back then I was envious of the person who played Eilert Lovborg without realizing that I had the larger part. God, looking back, I did so poorly. I coasted through it and did it on guts and passion and not on hard work. Sigh. Oh well. It is over (except for the replays in my mind...). Anyway, last night's production was enjoyable, overall. I dragged mom to it. The half a block walk got her all upset - I really think she might be becoming agoraphobic. Sad and weird. But I think she enjoyed it too.

Stopped in quickly at Rite-Aid to get some medicine for mom and my favorite pharmacist helped me out. Sigh.

We also went to Ling Ling for takeout. My plan was to stuff two containers full of food and thus have enough for a couple of meals for each of us. Sadly, mom snarfed all of her food - despite me asking three times if she wanted to save some for another meal. I don't begrudge her the food. I really don't. She is 81 and still has a healthy, though slightly obsessive, appetite. And that is better than the alternative. Oh well, plans are just that and nothing more. Nothing to be attached to. And it turns out that Kelly (American Name) is moving to NYC. Good for her. For those of you who don't know, Kelly was the woman who asked me to help her with her English and never followed up after our first get together. Her loss.

I love pictures of clouds...

Ling Ling in all its glory!

Tragedy Tomorrow

I take that back, Tragedy tonight, hopefully Comedy tomorrow...yet, somehow, I feel I have missed something. Oh yes, it was beer day yesterday! Yay!

And a nice beer day it was too. Lorraine and I commiserated over our moms. And she gave me a present to give to my mom for her birthday. More on that when we get to mom's birthday in May. May 10. It is coming up soon. I know more helium filled balloons are called for. And a stuffed animal. And some marzipan - I bought some in a tube and have to get around to making some objects out of it. One day...Anywho, Christie came in to work and she once again had to bartend and serve. I bet she is really looking forward to leaving Geneva and heading to Denmark. I think it will be soon - maybe end of May.

I had three beers - Negro Modelo - one of my favorite Mexican beers, Otter Creek Copper Ale - a very good amber - and Fuller's London Pride which was tasty but not awesome. Yippee! A couple of ex-employees where there, hanging out and picking up their last paychecks. It was nice to see them, too.

My errands also got accomplished: returned the last library book (for now) (sigh) and mailed a book back to Publisher's Clearing House. I ordered the book because I thought they were giving it to us for free. Turns out they weren't. The stuff they offer is not inexpensive! No wonder they can give away so much money!

Tonight, I am hoping to get mom out of the house to see a Preview performance of Hedda Gabler at Hobart and William Smith. Wish me luck!

Beer Day!

Happy Beer Day! Oh, wait, that is just something that I celebrate. Weekly. I know that others celebrate it more frequently - and if I lived alone, near a Saucer, I would to. But I don't and I don't. So, once a week it is. Better than nonce a week. I can hardly wait. But as I type this, it is only 10 in the morning my time, so I have about 6 hours to go. And when I do go, I get to head to the library and the post office as well! Yay! And later, I get to go back to the pharmacy for more stuff for mom. I am the luckiest person! Now, if only that luck will somehow bring me more money...

I think the thing that will make my games somewhat appealing is their quirky, Augustus sense of humor. And I really want to make them flexible. Not necessarily tweakable by the user, but lots of random things that appear in the application. Though I also don't want this application take three years to get out. Sigh.

As for continuing to learn about programming, I think I am going to see if I can get anything from the free Stanford online course. Yippee! I like free. And goodness knows I still need to learn. I may actually go back to some of the books that I have already gone through, now that my understanding is a little better. Probably not, as I don't like going backwards, but anything is possible. Have I mentioned how happy and excited I am when I figure out how to do something that I think I would like to do? My most recent discovery, how to have different directories in my project - so now I can have one directory of images for each theme! And a directory for backgrounds. Etc. I am so excited!

Sausage, peas and corn!

Another One Down

If I keep going like this, having birthday after birthday, I will live forever! :)

Ok, I know that isn't true - as usual, it just seemed like an interesting or humorous thing to say. Yippee!

Thank you everyone who sent me happy thoughts on my birthday! The cocklets of my heart are all warm and toasted now! Yum, sounds like dinner will be good tonight! Seriously, some 100+ people took the time to communicate through Facebook with a birthday wish. Yay FB. I got a birthday card from my wonderful sister (who also wants to treat me and mom to dinner (thank you Juliet!!)). We will do that sometime this week. Figuring out where to go is the hard issue. I also got a card from Eric and Nancy! And a birthday poem from the fertile, creative brain that is Ernst. I am the luckiest!

People expressed a desire for me to do something fun, do something for me yesterday on my birthday. Though I did both of those things, sadly, it was not too much different from many other days. Mom did go out of her way to put together a birthday tray for me. She had me help her find a red round lacquered tray and then took the time to rummage through her things to come up with a pile of loot to gift me. I found the tray on the top of the toilet seat, waiting for me when I crawled out of bed Sunday. Very thoughtful. She did lament to me (and others I think) that she would have done more but didn't because of her lack of independence (can't drive and buy things on her own). Oh well.

I have decided to ignore the three issues I am having with my project right now - the tiles not flipping sometimes - the persistent views that I wish weren't there - and some weird delays that I haven't figured out. Plowing ahead with other things - I am going to add a level indicator, a scoring mechanism and score indicator and a way to grab images randomly for the different levels. I did a lot yesterday, getting levels working, adding some labels, changing some fonts, doing away with the status bar, etc. Busy programming day in fact. Yippee! (Level indicator is linked in...)

And I still had time to make dinner. We had chicken fingers. Not awesome, but edible. Edible is, apparently, a good thing.

Homemade Chicken Tenders, spinach and pasta!

The surprising birthday tray my mom made

Du du du du du du du du

You say it's your birthday...du du du du du du du du Well it's my birthday too, yeah. And what am I going to do about it? Who the heck knows? Something. Breathe a little, I am sure. Maybe eat something. Post a blog.

First corn of the season for dinner last night