And then, there's a bearded fetus.

I did not want to get up this morning. The alarm went off and I just laid there for a minute like "Really? It's that time again?" And indeed it was. I slept okay, though I had some trouble getting to sleep. I love my body, which is prone to throw random bits of anxiety at me at bedtime. It's obnoxious. Not usually anything bad, or anything I can put my finger on, I'm just anxious.

I continue t work my hyperfixation on the cruise. I'm currently making lists of what I need to get for packing and shore excursions. Fortunately, there's about 10million videos on youtube, so I'lve been watching some of them.

I'm having serious debate between taking a plane from Seattle to Vancouver. It's only 3 hours away, so I'm quite sure it'll be up and down. I just haven't decided. There's a tram that goes from the airport to the waterfront that would be convenient. But on the other hand, it might be nice to see some scenery from the train. I don't know, I'm still debating.

On one hand, it would save us 3 hours on a train and it's conciderably cheaper. On the other, it would mean more time in the airport. Probably about 50/50. I'll think on it and talk to Jess.

Jess had their final preop yesterday. They are cleared for surgery! Today marks under 2 weeks! 13 days and counting! They're very excited, and more than ready.

We were somewhat busy yesterday. Lots of phone calls, lots of people to work in. It was a lot. Hopefully a little quieter today.

We have a pile of games this weekend. Frostmaiden tonight, Arvandor tomorrow and then Strixhaven (which I just play in) on Sunday. It should be a fun weekend. I also have to make sure to get down to Silver Spring to get our second meat pack, which is mostly for poisontaster.

I'm going to I need to look at my maps, and see which ones I need to upload for tonight. Tomorrow's is pretty well set up, so that doesn't require much in the way of prep.

Okay, time to go forth and put on pants and get ready for the day. Everyone have an excellent Friday!

And sometimes, Ghost's music boils down to Tobias being a naughty boy. "And then, we fucked, in the church on the altar, hehehe." But goddamn, it's catchy.

How are you all this Wednesday? I am in pain. I was slicing a tomato and caught the tip of my thumb. It's still in the throbbing stage. It didn't need stitches, but it was a nice little cut. The new Wusthof steak kinves are really, really fucking sharp. Fortunately, I don't really use the tip of my finger for anything, but it's still a bit painful. That'll learn me to be more careful with those knives. Jess sliced their hand on one almost immediately after we got it, cutting a bagel, so I'm not in bad company.

Yesterday was a busy day, but not horrible. Plus, we were looking for vacations, and we settled on one, so I'm excited.

We've been talking about doing a short cruise to see if we like it before we jump into things. But there's really no short cruises. They used to do a 2-3 night "Cruise to nowhere," where the idea was to enjoy the amenities and just get your feet wet, but they seem to have done away with them. The shortest one I found was a 5 day to Bermuda or a 6 day to the Bahamas.

The problem is that I hate hot weather, I don't really like beaches and as a queer couple, I'm leery of going to places that don't have protections.

So, we decided to bite the bullet and do a 7 day cruise, this one to Alaska, where Jess has always wanted to see.

In May of next year (Which is super early in the season, so it'll still be a little chilly) we're going to head out to Vancouver to get on the Holland America Konigsdam for a 7 day round trip to Ketchikan,Skagway and Juneau. I'm really excited about it, and have begun doing research.

We're staying in the Pinnacle Suite, which is kind of the owner's suite and is way more than we actually need, but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and we're going to have fun.

I got our hotel room for the night before the cruise, so now I need to figure out after and then the dreaded flights.

This is a big week of games, starting tonight, then Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday! We've been so bereft of games lately that it's very exciting.

Work should be a little bit quieter, though the whole insurance thing is driving our calls up. We'll see!

And on that note, I'm going to hop off and start getting myself together. I got up a bit early today because I was awake at five, and if I drifted off for half an hour, I'd just feel extra tired. Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday!

What an seriously awesome weekend! Yesterday, I went an got without question, the best massage of my life. My therapist, Bill was amazing. It never edged into full on pain, but I feel like it actually did some good, and it was SO relaxing. I've never had a massage where I didn't spend the whole thing bracing for the next stroke, because they were going way too hard despite my asking for lighter pressure, but I just totally floated away and was thinking of other things most of the time, then coming back and going "Huh, this hour massage is long." (I had accidentally booked 90min.) But it was good. It helped my sore back, and relaxed me a lot.

After that, we went and had an excellent lunch at a cafe right by the Baltimore Harbor, and just relaxed. They were crazy busy, and I stood in line for at least half an hour to put the order in, but the food was very good and the view was excellent.

The lady who does the meat share had a few left over, so I ordered a second box of meat. I'm sharing this one with poisontaster , who was interested when I was talking about the very good meat we had gotten.

I'm very tired today. I feel like I could use another day off to do nothing. Instead, I shall deal with it and just have extra coffee.

I'm debating what we should have for dinner tonight. IT's a toss up between salmon vs steak. I'm not a huge salmon fan, though if I cook it right it should be fine. But on the other hand, we've had a lot of beef lately, so maybe I should go with that.

There's also some "Krab" legs, which are so much better than then name suggests. They're really good cooked in butter with some Old Bay.

I will think on it.

For now, it's time to get myself together and consider pants. Everyone have a wonderful Monday!

It's Strahd Meet up day!!! Whooohoo! I'm so excited to see everyone! My day will start roughly at 9am, when I will go to pick up the van that will be our chariot for the day. Until then, I have time to relax, and maybe put on fresh nail polish and some makeup. I will have to remember to put a little cortisone on when I take it off, so that maybe tomorrow my face won't be thoroughly broken out.

I'm debating between driving over to get the car vs ubering. We'll see what I decide.

Depending on track issues, people may be getting in super early, so I want to get down to the pickup point early, so they can sit in the cool car while we wait for everyone to show.

Work yesterday was busy. I called a lot of people and took a lot of calls, but I got everyone in the way they were supposed to be. Towards the end of the day, my boss messaged me because they were in a meeting with the head of Johns Hopkins Medical Imaging, who I met a couple of weeks ago at the orientation. Apparently she was impressed, and is going to be sending me a Kudo sheet. Not sure what I did to deserve it, but I'll take it.

I also caught an error before we scheduled it, so that was good. My coworker sent it as if it was a random MRI, but it was actually a presurgical Wand MRI. That's the kind where they place little stickers on the forehead and then use the MRI and the stickers to line up where to cut and where the tumor is exactly. It needs to be done right before surgery, or the stickers tend to fall off. The appointment I was told to offer was two days before surgery, which isn't going to fly, so I did some digging and found them a spot the day before. I was very proud of myself, and annoyed at my coworker.

I did make friends with another of my coworkers. She's another one who's higher up than me--I believe a specialist III to my II. I helped her out with the PET queue the day before, and I work it slightly differently, so we talked about that, and then we segued into other things, so that was cool. I'm slowly amassing a set of my leadership. lol

It's nice, gives me someone else to chat with during quiet days.

Tomorrow, we have massages, which should be fun. I'm looking forward to letting someone give me a good backrub. Hopefully the table isn't a problem like it was for my back scritches. My back has been pretty good, so probably not.

Okay, time to go get pretty nails! Everyone have an amazing Saturday!

It's creeping ever closer to the weekend! Yesterday was a little bit frustrating. My sister was off for her birthday, so the dog was a little riled up and barky, plus she was talky, plus the brother in law came over and was talking, too. It was a lot. It settled down in the afternoon, but the morning, I was a little bit overstimulated.

I had door dash coming all through the day-first groceries, then we had baloons, then fancy chocolates, then finally gourmet cupcakes. It was a lot. I couldn't think of anything to get my sister, because we usually get anything we need. So, chocolate and balloons. The balloons are enormous. It's a bunch of them, all the mylar kind. Some smaller round ones clustered around one huge one. (Seriously, it's like 3 feet across.)

The chocolate was from Kilwins, a place we discovered a year or so ago. They're super expensive, so we don't order often, but good lord they are good. Yesterday, I got some truffles, some vanilla buttercreams (SO good) a few buckeyes, a chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallow and some fudge.

Last was the cupcakes from a bakery I'd never heard of, Midnite Confections and Cupcakery. Holy shit, those were some good cupcakes. I had the plain old vanilla, and it was amazing. Jess had a lemon with lime frosting that they really liked, and my sister had a black bottom, which was very god. We got a 6 pack, so we have some left for today. I'm excited to try the birthday cake, which is an almond cake and icing. I took a taste of the icing, and it's delicious.

After dinner, which my sister requested hamburgers for, I relaxed for a while, and then went to bed, where I stayed up way late reading and finishing T. Kingfisher's Hemlock and Silver.

T. Kingfisher writes both horror and fantasy. This was the later, but even in those, you usually get something kind of horrifying. Not necessarily scary, just kind of wrong. In her last one, it was the goblin market with the tooth vendor. The heroine had a bad tooth, and was willing to trade it. So the stall proprietor had the tooth dance out ouf her mouth. It was just so vividly written that it gave me the proper heebs.

I'm not going to spoil this one, but I will say there were a few things that made me mouth "what the fuck" silently. Still when it was done, I clutched it to my bosom and made a happy little squeak. I really enjoyed it. As always, it featured a practical heroine who I loved, the animals all lived, and there was even a bit of romance. All in all, very satisfying.

Today, I'm going to try to find time to dye my hair. the grey is showing a lot, and I'd like to correct that before the Strahd players get together on Saturday.

I suppose I could do my hair now. I'd be done by about 7, and would have time to hop in the shower.

Maybe I'll do that. Everyone have a perfect Thursday!

It's Tuesday and whew, Monday is over! It was super busy for me, as I did a lot of callbacks, and trying to fit people in. I got a lot of people in, but it was a very hectic day.

After work, I settled in to make steak fajitas. I had minute steaks from the farm haul, so I sliced them up with peppers and onions in the cast iron. It turned out really well, as did the tortillas I made first. Everyone was very happy and full. Today, we shall have Salmon with honey garlic sauce. Hopefully, it will be good. And rice. Tomorrow shall be spaghetti with meatballs.

That's pretty much my thing for the week, is figuring out what to cook for each night. Adulthood can be boring.

Yoda and Boodle touched noses yesterday though the door. We have a plastic fish shaped latch thing on it that leaves it open wide enough for the cat, but blocks the dog from getting in. He was just sitting there and she came over and stuck her head through the door at him. It was very sweet.

Wednesday, I believe Jess has a game, and Friday we're starting a new chapter for my Strahd people, heading into Eve of Ruin. I'm hoping that being a Vecna game, it will be good for my little goth disasters.

I need to finish reading the module, but on the other hand, Ursula Vernon/T.Kingfisher put out a new book today. Which is likewise tempting. I will be good and work on the game, though.

And on that note, I better get into it. Everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!

Sunday is for rest. Good lord, I need some. I have no plans today. Just going to lounge about, and eventually make somre dinner.

Yesterday, we went down to the Silver Spring farmer's market to pick up our meat. I had made plans to meet coyotegestalt there. (I completely forgot to tell my lovely spouse about this part, so we got there and they were like "Buzwhuh?" It was a lovely time, getting way more food than we'd planned. It all looked so good, though. I got corn, and basil and shrimp and vegetable empanadas (SO GOOD) plus a variety of cheeses (ALSO SO GOOD). We walked around for a little over an hour an shopped, before we went back to the stall and picked up SO much meat. (22lbs of prime aged beef.)

Our haul ended up being about three lbs of short ribs, two small filets, a chuck roast, a shoulder roast, some sandwichh steaks, 6lbs of ground beef, and two enormous ribeye steaks. It ended up being about $11/lb, which isn't half bad. If they have any leftovers, I may be going back down to Silver Spring again soon to pick up more. We need to work on eating all of this first. lol

Then, we came back, stopping for a quick lunch and trusting the cooler to keep everything good to go. (It did an amazing job--those steaks hadn't thawed even a bit.

Once I got home, we dragged everything in and I played Jenga with the freezer to get 23lbs of meat into our fridge. It took a lot of work, but I was finally able to close the door and have it stay shut. We're going to be eating a lot of beef for the next few weeks. But honestly, since Jess is prepping for their top surgery, a little extra iron would hurt no one.

Then, we had game which was a lot of fun. We're playing an old module called the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga. It's seriously fucked up, and I'm looking forward to them getting further into the game.

They dunked on a couple of the lower level monsters, but it gets harder as you go, so it could be fun.

Today, I shall rest up from all our travels in the last two days, and relax and eat cheese and crackers. Maybe I'll even fry up the other dumplings. I had an excellent chocolate croissant for breakfast.

And now I shall relax and maybe read somemore of the Vecna module we're starting on Friday. Everyone have a restful and lovely Sunday!

It's Friday! We've made it through the week! Whoohoo!

Yesterday, I had a bunch of packages coming. Some socks, nail polish and a cooler to pick up our meat share with. Of course, the first one, the nice, expensive cooler, was sent to the wrong address. I had a pretty good idea where they dropped it, so I went and got it. Mistake! My back was so utterly pissed last night. Still not thrilled today. Everything else came just fine. Today my tennis shoes should come.

Tonight, since we have no game and it's a Friday, we're going to go for a fancy dinner. I'm very excited. We're going to try out Ammoora, which is a Levantine restaurant--very fancy. I'm definitely getting all dressed up and looking nice. The hard part is deciding what I want to eat because everything looks amazing. It's a bit expensive, but I got the bonus for bringing on my coworker, so I'm putting a couple hundred of that towards it.

I've wanted to eat here since I found out about it, so it's very exciting to me. They have Valet parking, which is awesome, since it's downtown.

We've also got brunch scheduled there on 9/21 if Jess feels up to it post surgery. They only do brunch 1 Sunday/mo, so it's semi exclusive. If it's good, we're going to take poisontaster there in November.

Then, if the cow share people ever email me back, tomorrow morning, we'll run down to the Silver Spring Farmers Market and pick up our beef. See also, got a bigass cooler to hold it and keep it cold for the hour long drive home.

Then we shall have game, and it'll be awesome. I have to finish uploading maps for it, but I only have a handful left to go, so I can do that after I finish this entry. Then shower for tonight, and get ready for work.

Okay, time for me to go forth and do my thing. Everyone have an outstanding Friday!

It's Wednesday! We've got a game tonight, and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully, the coffee kicks in before then. lol. I slept hard, and have a little headache this morning, but I'm sure the Tylenol will take care of it. It's not bad, just a small one.

Yesterday was busy and a bit chaotic. I have a bunch of patients who need appointments, and I spent a lot of time calling them and jumping off and on the phone between making calls. I got a lot of people in for appointments and I'm very pleased with myself. When I see high-value openings, I get very excited. My competitive side rears up, and I jump on it and block it off, and report it to the higher ups, so they can look at the list of STAT appointments and use them. The other day, I found a golden egg in the form of a Pacemaker slot. It was very exciting.

I love storytelling, and I love the collaborative story telling of D&D. I was thinking about our game on Saturday, and how much I've come to love this campaign. This is Arvandor, the one I homebrewed for my high level characters. It was less combat and more court intrigue and weaving in backstories of characters. The module we played previously was Mad Mage, which was fun, but that I sometimes found frustrating. It was a standard dungeon crawl with lots of combat. And I love combat, but sometimes, it gets in the way of telling the stories I wanted to tell. I find that with modules now and then. But this is just my story, and the players reactions and stories they want to tell, and it's been glorious. They've made the story I started out with sing.

I was saying to poisontaster that I don't know if I'll ever have that Brennan Lee Mulligan moment. I may not have a "In the same way your heart feels and your mind thinks, you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. If you choose to care, then the universe cares. If you don't, then it doesn't," but I feel like with this campaign, I've come closest. The characters have had development, and we've explored backstories and it's been amazing. And the players have been outstanding. They've been brave and vulnerable and really put themselves out there with their role playing. It's been really good, and I've really enjoyed it.

I love all my games, and I've been able to do some of this with Frostmaiden, but that's a bigger group, and it's more difficult to work the backstories in, but we've managed.

After tonight, I don't have another game til Saturday, which is Baba Yaga. This is only the second session of it, so we'll see how it goes.

Next week, I'm starting a new module for the Curse of Strahd players. We're doing Vecna: Eve of Ruin. I need to finish reading the module before next Friday. I've been working on it. It's an official Wizards of the Coast module, and so far, it's a bit blah. Going to take some work to make it more interesting. Not sure how you take one of the big villains of the brand and make it kind of boring, but sometimes they manage.

We'll figure it out and make it fun. There's some expanded stuff that I'm going to look at that seems a little more my speed.

Okay, on that note, it's time for me to get my ass in gear. Everyone have an super Wednesday!

And somehow, way too quickly, we're back to Monday. I did not want to answer the alarm's call. I did, because it's fucking annoying, but I wanted to go back to sleep for a few minutes.

I didn't really sleep great. I was excited after game and I had a hard time settling down, so I was a little late dozing off. We listened to Shmanners (which is a podcast--my favorite) and that didn't do it, so then I listened to Ghost--what I've termed my "emotional support Papa"

Speaking of Ghost, Jess sent me the best TikTok where the lead singer had the best quote about why his music is the way it is. "I want to try to let people who might be lost for hope tap into my sometimes, maybe, quite over-optimistic outlook on the future.” I think it hits on why I enjoy Ghost so much. Yes, the songs are about the darkness, but overall, it's about surviving the darkness and maybe even finding beauty in it. And they have one banger after another. They've really worked their way into my brain. I'm really grateful that last year Jess said "If Ghost tours again, would you go to a concert with me? And then they got excited when their Mocumentary/concert video Rite Here, Rite Now came out, so I downloaded it, watched it with them. That started it, but the concert definitely solidified it. There were people wandering around and trading bracelets and just such a sense of community, like I hadn't felt the likes of since Season One of Supernatural. It was nice.

Today is sure to be very busy, and then I actually have to cook this fucking chicken. I put it off one more night, but tonight's gotta be the night. I will probably cook the chicken separate from the stuffing, so I can get the chicken in first. Hopefully, I'll have that all done in time to eat at a reasonable time.

For now, I shall hop off and maybe grab a nice shower. Everyone have an outstanding Monday!