And then, there's a bearded fetus.

Somehow, it's already Sunday. Yesterday seemed to be gone in a flash, but we did a lot, so that was good. Today will be a slower day, thankfully. Though I will try to get some things done. I do need to decide whether I'm going to go to the farmer's market this morning before game. I'm very tempted, but also a wee bit tired from all the running around we did yesterday. I will see how I feel after coffee. Then, we shall hve game, then I will take my sister to her in-laws for Greek Easter in the hopes that when BIL brings her back there will be treats. After that, there should be time for some relaxation, some studying and maybe to do a little bit of chores.

I think part of the reason yesterday went so fast is that I was low key stressed out the entire day. I have been dreading Yoda's first visit to doggy day care. The last one went so disastrously that I have been having anxiety for the last week. (For those who don't remember, he flunked out of traditional dog day care for being "aggressive," and barking at other dogs. Then, the person we were going to have dogsit declined because he was "too wild." So, with the trip coming uo quickly, we decided too try Best Friends Furever.

He had to be there early between 7-8am, and he needed to stay until 6, so a long day for the buddy.

We took him in at 7:30, and he went off with the worker, and we walked out to stress until 6pm. At about 11am, we got some pictures and a mini report card that said he was being good, but was shy.

Jess and I went out to lunch and came back to no dog, which was weird. Then we did some cleaning, and that was good. I pulled out my suitcase and started packing. I had gotten together some cold-weather stuff, so I started packing that and some of my fancy dress stuff. I may bave gotten too big of a suitcase. I'm halfway done packing, but the suitcase isn't even half full. Oh well, plenty of room for souvenirs. One thing I did not do was to take the phones to Tmobile for trade in. I'm going to lie and say I put them int he UPS box so that they'll take them back, because I have no shame.

Then, we decided that since we had no dog, we should all three go out to dinner, which was actually very nice. We had delicious food at the Gourmet at Kennilworth which was amazing. We'd been for lunch before, but their dinner menu is top notch. They specialize in seafood, so we all ended up getting fish. I got a grilled halibut with lemon and butter. It was really good. My first time trying halibut and I am sad that it is not more easily available around here. None of my fish places have it, sadly. We also had some very excellent French onion soup and I had a raspberry ammaretto cake.

Then, we rolled ourselves out to the car and went to get Yoda. He was super excited to see us and barked and gave us the business for leaving him all day. But, the important thing! The staff said he did great. He really blossomed in the afternoon, and let them all pet on him and tell him how good he was. He got his official collar, and has his next few stays booked! I swear, when she said "he did great," my shoulders finally dropped from around my ears with a wave of relief so strong it nearly made me sit down. My dog did not flunk daycare, and his stay for the vacation is booked and a deposit paid. I'm so happy. All the way home and honestly most of the evening, he was made over and told what a good boy he was. So he'll go back on Friday for two nights, since Jess and I are going to NYC on Saturday. We'll pick him up early on Sunday and doubtless get the business again.

I feel so much better about vacation knowing that he's in good hands. I mean, we still have the overnight hurdle to handle, but I'm feeling much more confident about that. He will have people who will care for him and a good environment where he can grow and get more social. It's a win-win.

I'm debating on dropping him in for a weekday this week, so he doesn't lose momentum. We'll see what we decide.

After that, everyone, including Yoda, was exhausted, and we came home and relaxed until it was time for bed.

Today will be less busy, though I still want to get some shit done. But I'd also like to spend some quality time with Jess. I've got seven episodes of the Amazing Digital Circus to watch before we go to see the final two episodes in the theater in June, so maybe we can get one in today. I've got laundry to do, owing to cleaning up the space beside my bed. I have SO many clothes to donate. Just an enormous bag of them. I may take them to the donation box today. There's some nice shit in there.

Tomorrow will be back to work, and a busy day. I have a lunchtime virtual doctors appt at which I'll ask for an increased dose on the Mounjaro. Tuesday, I get my pre-trip haircut. and at some point next weekend, I need to dye my hair. I suppose I could do that today, though. I do need a shower so that might be good. I've decided to do purple on top and leave the sides grey. Last haircut, they ended up cutting out most of the color on the sides, and I've gotta admit, I kind of like the grey at the temples contrasted with the purple on top. It looks super cool. Also makes my head look a little bit thinner, I think.

The rest of the week is quiet until we get to Saturday and going to see the Lost Boys Musical in NYC, which should be super fun. I feel bad that we're leaving my sister completely alone, with no dog to keep her company, but he needs overnight time in the daycare and I need not to be worrying about her trying to walk him.

Okay, time to do a bit of studying for my morning. I need to make up my mind on the farmer's market in the next 20 minutes, so I will ponder that. I really do want to go see what they have, but I'm not sure I can stir myself to get ready and go. We shall see how I feel in 10 minutes. I have a feeling that the lure of game snacks might win out, but we shall see. Everyone have a fantastic Sunday!

Sometimes I hate the length of the subject line in Dreamwidth. There's another short line to that lyric, and it annoys me that it won't fit. Oh well.

Today I have a little planned. At work, I'll be doing my thing and then we'll have the manager bitchfest meeting and then the rest of the day. Afterwards, we need to take Yoda to the vet to get his flu and Cytopoint shots. Hopefully, he's feeling up to going to doggie day care tomorrow. If not, I'll move it to Tuesday. Then, tonight, we have Blades in the Dark, which should be a lot of fun. Still deciding if I want to get game snacks, since we won't have any other games that qualify.

Yesterday was also busy. I took a few calls, moved a few patients and then it was my time to watch the help queue and provide answers to questions. They were pretty easy, so it wasn't a bad time. Then after lunch I had the training for our new VOIP phone system. That is two hours that I won't get back. It was dull, self explanatory and could have been an email or a training. It was just brutal. My managers were also in the class, and they were back in the Rad Leaders chat just roasting the class. "Cringe" was the big accusation leveled against it. All in all, I'm glad it's over.

After work, I headed up to see my tattoo artist. She had a very cool drawing of what the tattoo would look like. I arrived at 4:45, did paperwork and Ronie got set up. I figure we started at about 5:15pm. I was done and in the car at 6:05. It was super fast. Then again, I tend to sit like a rock, so I'm an easy person to tatoo. She had set up her tablet with a picture of Boodle, that she superimposed her drawing on, so I have Boodles actual fur pattern on her chest. I absolutely love it. It's very her.



It still has the bandage on it, but I'll be taking that off tonight when I can submerge my arm in water. It usually hurts more than the tattoo did to peel off the second skin. Tomorrow, I'l have a clearer picture of it. Then it was home to eat and sniff the BPAL smellies that came in. I liked a lot of them, which was nice. Some I'm not sure about, but I'll give them second chances. I may try wearing some for Blades, though I have absolutely no idea what. I'd been wearing Scheherazade, because storyteller, but I feel like Blades needs something with an iron note. I'll save Scheherazade for the first Marchen game next Sunday.

Tomorrow, I have a pretty quiet day. I've got a game at 11am, Too Many Draculas. After that, I may drag Jess out for a late lunch for something tasty. 11am is too early for dumplings, so I will forgo our game snacks meal. I don't think next week, we have any games that we could do game snacks for, but we'll see. I might do them for Marchen and just take a little break early in the game when they arrive.

Sunday brings an early moring (9am) game. We might finish the Life's a Beach oneshot! (So far it's been almost 10 sessions. To be fair, it was supposed to be a quick combat, but we (okay, I) messed that up by blinding a dragon and bringing the big bad who we were supposed to end up chasing, down to the ground. DM's make the most chaotic energy as players. If there is away to completely upend your plan, it's going to be the player who DMs.

To be fair, for early games, I'm also fully on my ADHD meds, so all of my chaos is on purpose. I didn't zone and have to come up with something to do on the fly. That can lead to uncontrolled chaos.

Usually, I inflict that as DM on my nighttime games.

We're down to 27 days til cruise. I'm going to pull out my suitcase this weekend and start packing some things. Nothing that I'm still using, but I do want to see how much space everything will take up. But things like my slippers and nice shoes can go in the suitcase, as well as the fleecy leggings. I may pack a few pairs of regular leggings, but we'll see. Right now I'm focusing on the long sleeve shirts, fleece leggings and shoes as well as cosmetic stuff that will go into the carry on.

Oh, speaking of vacation! Last night, one of the packages that came in was my sister's Bento Bag. She really liked mine, so we ordred her one. Since I was placing the order because I had a 20% off coupon code, I saw that they had a bundle that included their fanny pack and got one of those, too.

I'm always worried when I order fanny packs, because I never know if the strap will be long enough to fit my fat ass. I opened with more than a bit of trepidation. I shouldn't have worried. The strap was fully extended, and it nearly fell to the ground when I put it on. I had to adjust the strap by about 16" for it to stay put. I loved it. I didn't feel fat for a few minutes. lol. It's also really pretty, a dark blue that will clash with the bento bag I got (which is pink).

I think we have all the stuff we need at this point. I've got my Doctor's appt on Monday, where she can order my Mounjaro, which will last for the trip. I've got one more vial of the lower dose, but I definitely want to try the higher. This just isn't doing enough.

Maybe tomorrow, I'll also cook another batch of food for Yoda. I think the next one is pork, so that'll be good. I can cut up the tenderloins I got yesterday, and maybe some oats and sweet potatoes. I found a dog-friendly pork broth that I can stew it all in. Maybe Sunday, I'll make him some goat and rice and veggies. I still have a few trays of ground goat that I can cook up to make him happy. I need to get another order of groceries from them, so that I can continue to make food for him. He won't need it at the kennel tomorrow, but next weekend when he has his long weekend stay, I'll need to provide him food.

I also have to find time to clean up in our room a bit. I have a large pile of clothes that I need to go through, so I will work on that some. The apartments want to come replace our balcony railing, sometime between today and May 19th. I'm hoping for somewhere around May 7-17th. That would be helpful. OF course, this is going to require cleaning up the living room, so that will be fun.

But for now, I need to do some studying. These articles aren't going to read themselves. Everyone have an excellent Friday!

It's Wednesday and I am tired. I woke up at about 3am, so I'm a wee bit sleepy. But on the other hand, I had delicious Greek Koulaourakia cookies for with my coffee, so it's not all bad. With Greek Easter coming up on Sunday, the BIL's Mom made her annual cookie batch, and we always get a small baggie. It's much easier now to get a taste of them. Dad tended to eat them very quickly. We would usually remember to pull a couple out of the bag for us, but he would wolf down the rest.

Today will be a busy day. I will have work, then off to the pharmacy for my pils. I may do that at lunchtime, we shall see. I need to make Yoda more food if I can get the energy up. He's only got one more packet of it, so it's time to cook some more. I really don't mind cooking for him. He's a sweet bud, and I want him to be happy and healthy.

Then, tonight we have Brindlewood Bay. I'm looking forward to getting out of my own brain for a few hours. Though possibly, playing a character who has a Jenga pile of cat ashes is not as comforting as it should be?

Yesterday was quiet. I spent a lot of times taking calls, and a bit trying to fill in some open spots. Got a few people in, filled some cardiac spots, and generally just worked and tried not to think too much. Still welled up a few times, but thankfully did not cry on patients. I spent the day lowkey anxious about the potential for WWIII. Thankfully, it did not happen. After work, I fried up some scallops and baked some King Crab Legs. The Crab legs were okay. I don't think I'd buy them again. They don't hold a candle to the Dungeness crabs we get from Alaska.

The scallops however, were delicious, even receiving a "these are really good" from the BIL who was over visiting. Next time I know he'll be over, I'll go to Sam's Club and get some of their really good lobster tails. I'll show him what lobster is supposed to taste like. Although, he and my sister have gone to Maine, so mayhe not. I need to look in the freezer to see what meats we have that I could cook tonight. Maybe another pork tenderloin. If I go to the pharmacy, I'll cut it up and make Gochujang honey chicken. If not, Jess can bake it. Either way, it'll be tasty.

After we took the dog out, we retired to our room to relax, but we left the door open so the puppers could come in. Previously, due to Yoda's tendency to be an asshole and get poky with her, we had the door latched so Boodle could get out, but Yoda couldn't get in. He came in very tentatively, but within 10 minutes, he was snuggled up begween Jess and me, living his best life. It was very sweet, and I enjoyed having his warm little body pressed against my back. He's a good boy.

I also let the petsitter know that Boodle had passed, and that we woudn't need their services for the week we're away. I may still get someone to come in and check on the apartment and pick up packages and mail once a day. I think that might be a good thing. Maybe start the car one day so the battery will be happy. I could stop the mail, but I don't know if we'll have packages coming while we're away, so I want someone to take care of that.

Tomorrow, my classes start. Here goes nothing. At some point, I still need to upload my diploma. I don't have to do it this unit, since they're foundation courses and don't count towards the degree, but once I start the degree program, I need to have it in. I also have an appointment on Thursday evening so that I can get a tattoo of a cat's paw print. I'm having it filled with tortiseshell colors, Black gold and a little white. I think it's going on my forearm. That way Boodle will always be with me. She can come to Alaska and Hawaii with us. I like that idea.

I will doubtless cry when I see it, but that's okay. Honestly as often as I tear up, it's amazing that I'm not dehydrated. Loosing Boodle is harder than losing Dad, if I'm being honest. I think I've cried once for him, and so many times for her. A lot of that probably has to do with what an asshole Dad was during the last few years and how hard it was on us. When he went, we were somewhat relieved. With Boodle, I'm relieved that we caught the cancer before she was in pain, but we very much wanted to have her with us for another 15 years.

Tomorrow is also Package Day. I have so many things coming tomorrow, it's kind of absurd. I got some new makeup, my sister's bag, Jess' top from Torrid, Jess' sleep mask, some underwear two sets of bed sheets and an emergency antibiotic kit that will be going on vacation with me, just in case we need them. I think that's about everything. IT's coming via three separate delivery companies, so it'll at least be a staggered arrival.

I ordered Jess a pair of Woxer boxer briefs. We'll see how they like them. I have a pair coming as well, but not til next week. They never have the extra at people clothes in easy stock. I'll be chasing after them going "try them on!" as soon as they come, of course.

We have a lot of games scheduled this weekend. We'll see if any need to be rescheduled on account of classwork. I don't think they will as it's only 1 game per day, which is only 3 hours a day, but if I do, we'll figure it out.

My Marchen game starts in less than two weeks. It's not all written, but I've got enough to start with. We did the little role play introducing two of the characters to each other, since they're both in the same prison, and that was a delight. I'm really looking forward to the first session. It'll be a lot of talking, but I'll manage it. With Crooked Moon, I did individual introductions of each character as the Ghostlight Express train came to pick them up. I'm doing a similar thing wiht this game, zooming in on each character and seeing what they're doing when we meet them, letting them role play out their character introduction. I felt like it was more organic, and less like "Who are you playing today?" or "You start in a bustling tavern." Though to be fair, one of the intros does start in a tavern.

My very sweet players told me if I needed to move it back, I could. They know we're grieving Boodle, but I'd rather play, honestly. And being that it's homebrew, I get to create new worlds for them to inhabit, and that's my favorite.

Okay, I suppose I should hop off and take a nice hot shower. I don't want to be stinky for the tattoo tomorrow. Or maybe I'll take it tomorrow. I'll see how I feel. Either way, everyone have such a good Wednesday.

It feels like a good day for some Panic! at the Disco. How is everyone doing? I woke up from a sound sleep and I'm still not fully awake, but so far I feel okay. I've been so tired the last couple of weeks, and I'm wondering if it could be the statin med that the doctor put me on. I looked it up and apparently, it's a fairly common issue for women on this med. I see my doc for a virtual appointment next week, so I'm going to stay off them as they're not vital. And if there's a difference off them then I'll talk to her about a different pill, maybe.

This is week three of Mounjaro, It's helped the sugar some, but I think I need the higher dose.

Yesterday was a quiet day. We did nothing. I ordred pastries for breakfast from Roggenart Bakery and some pastries. The quiche was very good, but I skipped the pastry. I may have a bit of the strawberry custard croissant today, but we shall see.

After that, we sat and watched a few videos. My stomach was a bit iffy yesterday, so I just stayed close to the bathroom. In the afternoon, Jess went to lay down with a headache, so chilled and surfed the internet and ate the leftover Peking Duck. It was excellent. I pulled some of the fleece legging and long sleeved shirts out of the closet and folded and rolled them for placement in the suitcase in the near future. Then I napped next to Jess for a couple of hours.

Then, I got up and watched a few more videos until dinner arrived. We got the HUNTR/X meal from McDonalds. The sweet thai chili sauce that came with the nuggets was pretty good, and not horribly spicy. The Rameyon fries were okay, but need a light had with the seasoning.

Afterwards, I got super nauseous. I tried to lay down, but it wasn't any better like that. We watched another couple of videos until it was time to sleep. I'm glad that today I have my customary two hours of peace and quiet. Getting up at the same time as my sister threw me off for the whole day. I just couldn't quite get into sink. I really rely on these two hours to center myself and for my ADHD med to kick in and make me presentable.

I'm debating switching some of my money over to Chase bank. They were super nice and pleasant when I dropped off the check, and I rather liked them. I may move my paycheck over there and put a small amount a pay into Cap One. Just enough to pay my CapOne credit cards.

Oh, I did, at Credit Karma's suggestion, get two new credit cards. They're both small amouts, but It's something. So now I have two credit cards from CapOne, and one from Full Beauty. I was ordering a couple cute tops, and there was a pop up for 30% off my order if I applied, and shock, I got it.

Today, I will probably mostly be on the phones. The kids are out of school this week, so the calls will be lighter on adults, but heavier on people who are hoping we can get their kids in while they're out of school. Next Monday will be bugfuck.

I have a less than quiet week, as on Thursday, I'll be taking on the trainees, and having them sit wiht me, while I take calls and talk about them in between. It should be interesting. Then on Friday, I have training for the new VOIP phone system we're getting. Plus of course the weekly bitchfest managers meeting. We cancelled on Friday because half the team was out.

I do know at the next one, I'm going to bring up the idea of getting CT orders before we schedule. We've had a rash of problems with orders being wrong, sometimes very very wrong. We'd talked about it before, but I think we might need to implement it. It'll slow things down, but it would be less errors. Technically the people who scan the docs in are supposed to verify them, but they're not doing a great job of it. And then patients get scheduled at the wrong time and it's just a mess.

Tomorrow, it will be 30 days to the trip. It's amazing and terrifying and I can't wait. There's still 31 days, but the weather in Alaska has been very cold and somewhat snowy the last few weeks. There was a great photo from the Juneau chamber of commerce showing the snow on the ground, saying "only 26 days til cruise season starts!" I'm waiting til a little bit closer to figure out what coat I'm taking. We'll see if they get into fleece weather, or if they're still in heavy clothes weather. I have a coat coming that has a removable fleece lining. I'm thinking that might be good. I had. a rain coat, but it had no lining, and my arms got sweaty, even if I was freezing. It was weird. Hopefully, it gets here in time. Full Beauty can be a bit slow.

I need to make Yoda more food today. Chicken this time. He'll be less than enthused, but he needs variety. My pocket book needs cheaper meat now and then. It's $3.99/lb vs $7.99 for the goat and more for hte lamb. His calcium powder has arrived, so now I will be adding that, and the salmon oil to the mix. Then, he should have all the nutrients he needs to be happy and heathy. I'll try to make some goat tomorrow. I want to use up the butternut squash before it goes bad, since he really likes that. I may add some peas and carrots or just some green beans to it as well. Then, I'll sit there with my vacuum sealer and food scale portioning out his food for freezing. I'm trying to get a bit ahead so I have a week or so without making his food. I should have done it during the weekend, but see again, overly tired an unmotivated.

I have to decide wether I want to try to make two chicken meals today. I could easily make the broth for the main meal, then use it to boil some livers and gizzards to make a third type of meal. We'll see how it goes and what kind of energy I can work up. If I do that, he's getting mostly chicken this week, and we'll stockpile the goat to tempt him while we're on vacation.

The cat goes to the vet today, and I am anxious. I can't get off to take her, so Jess will be taking her via uber. I'll pick up afterwards, since I get off at 4:30. I love the little terrorist so much, and I just want her to be okay.

Yoda goes to the vet on Thursday for his flu and Cytopoint injections, so he may feel a little punky on Friday. Hopefully, he perks up by Saturday when he has his daycare try out. We went for the "play your way" package, where he'll have 1 on 1 playtime. I hope it works. God, I want it to work. We have two more options if this fails, but this is definitely the first choice. Well, second. The first would have been someone staying here, which the little asshole torpedoed.

He's not a bad dog, just wildly unsocialized, and spoiled. He likes to get his own way. And this will not be his own way. If that doesn't work, then he'll be going to the kennel attached to a vet. If that isn't a good fit then the rescue. And if not, then the vet. We'll see which one works for him. I feel bad to leave the animals. But we deserve this vacation, amd others as well. So he's going to have to expand his horizons.

I can't believe that in 31 days at this time, we'll be at the airport, probably sitting in the lounge drinking a coffee, and relaxing before our flight. Soon. I can't wait to see Seattle and Vancouver, and Alaska.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have the very best Monday!

It's Saturday! Boodle let me sleep til almost 6 am! Since I bumped my wakeup time back to 4 in preparation for school, I it feels a little bit decadent to sleep til six. And now I'm up and I'll be the only one for a while, so it is definitely time to work on some games when I'm done here.

I'm still waffling about college. If I deferred my entrance til July, it would only push me one semester out. But on the other hand, that's still going to be a pain. I don't know, I'll think about it some more. I don't have to pay til the final exam, so if I drop early, I can retake with no problem. I would drop one class, but I'm not sure which one I'd drop. Probably the health sciences intro. I don't think it would let me cancel the introduction to online learning. I dunno. I'll give it a couple of weeks and see where I am.

Plus, I'll have a 5+ hour flight to do some schoolwork during the trip. In both directions. We'll see how it goes. Dropping a class is permissible up til 5/6. I think I'll rely on that.

Yesterday was very phone call light, but still pretty busy. I got at least six patients in, held a couple of more slots and shifted people into other slots to come in a bit sooner. I love when slots open that I can get breast MRIs in. A lot of the ones on the stat list are newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, and I feel for them. They need these for surgical planning, so I keep a close eye out fo openings. That and our Liver and kidney donors. I try to get them in super fast. I got no less than three new cancer patients in yesterday, so I feel pretty good about myself. The sad thing is that there's probably going to be another two or three by the time I get in on Monday. Still the ones I can help make me happy.

Today, we have a fairly busy day. The current plan is for me to run over Chase bank and deposit the last check from Dad's retirement account. They only have a %5000 mobie deposit, so I need to hit the bank. It's honestly right down the street, so it's not a huge deal. I had my sister write four checks for me. Two are for $10,000, one is for $5000 and one is for $1600, and they will be split between my three accounts (the $last two were broken up because Cap one also has a $5000 mobile limit, and I really don't want to drive to either of their locations as they are in less than awesome areas of town. That will be my Alaska money. I won't use all of it, but there's a few things that still aren't paid. One is the ride back from Vancouver to Seattle, the others are the two hotel stays. Everything else is paid in full. I need to start withdrawing money for tips soon. I need at least $3000 in various bills for tips. Also maybe to play a quick game in the casino. I've always wanted to play blackjack once and the tables are ony $15 for a buy in, so that could be fun.

I called the kennel, and they agreed to give Yoda a tryout nest Saturday. He'll be there from 8am-5:30PM, and we'll see how it goes. If not, there are still two other options. He won't be happy about either, but he'll deal. If all goes well, he'll spend the two weekends after being boarded for 3 and 5 days respectively. Then, it'll be time for the big stay while we're in Alaska. I need to find out who we're putting down as the emergency contact for the trip.

Then, last night, we played Vecna: Eve of Ruin. IT was mostly a combat night, as the party fought multiple creatures that hit hard. But no one died! Not even a little bit. So that was good. I had a lot of fun, and discovered that I had forgotten to give a vital bit of knowlegde to the players about a game mechanic. So I corrected that, and we had a good game.

Today, we'll see what we want to do. Do we go to the Asian in a Bite festival and deal with parking, or do I satisfy my dumpling craving another way. I'm planning on getting snacks, which will probably include dumplings from Lao Sze Chuang or <href="https://www.nihaobaltimore.com/menu/">NiHao, so it might be a bit of overkill if we also do the food festival. Then again, can you ever really have too many dumplings?

At some point in there, I also need to get my pills. Then, it's time for Yoda's grooming. Once we get back, I shall make some chicken for his food. He won't like it as much as the lamb, but that's okay. He needs a variety of foods to be healthy. The lamb shank with butternut squash and rice has been a big hit. Definitely one of his favorites. I do still want to get some calcium powder to add still. I should add that to the Amazon cart now if they have it...which they do. Between that and the salmon oil for his omega3's, he should be well supported.

He's been a bit perkier in addition to his digestive tract being a bit more regular, so that's nice to see. And I think he's lost a pound or so. the reality is that while we haven't tested, he probably has Cushing's Disease. He just has too many symptoms of it, plus the out of whack labs. That means we probably have another 2-3 years with him. I can cook for him for that long. I wish I had a kitchen that meant I could cook more than 3-5 days of food at a time, but we'll get there.

I may ask the person who's coming to check on Boodle if for an extra fee, she would take more food up to the kennels, as I don't know, even with the vacuum sealer if they'll be able to store 10 days worth of food. I'll ask when we take him next week. If not, I'm sure someone else will.

Tonight is Monster of the Week, which will definitely call for something special both food and drink wise, as it's the end of an era. Unless the mystery runs 2 sessions. That is possible. Maybe while we're out, I'll pick up a bottle of Asti and put it in the fridge til gametime. I was going to try to also run up the local shelter and pick up the stuff I won, but I don't know if we'll have time with everything else packed in there. Depends on how long energy holds out. It's possible we could go to the Tapas place in that area instead of the dumpling festival. That runs every month this summer, so we could still get down there for it in June if we don't do it today.

I also meed to make dinner, as the dumplings will be strictly snackies. I've got some lovely t-bone steaks and waffle fries to make. I'm definitely using the Hawaiian smoked salt for those. It just has the best flavor.

Tomorrow, my sister is going to the BIL's family's easter party so we'll be home with the doggo all day. Then next Sunday is Greek Easter, so she'll be coming back from that with some treats, I hope.

We added another potential outing to our list. Jess has gotten into a new show, the Amazing Digital Circus, and there's a possibility that they're going to play the last two episodes in the theater sometime in early June in limited theaters. If that is the case, we'll be going to that. If we need to go to DC or Philly for that, we shall. Chances are, if it's DC, it'll be at some of the surrounding areas like Silver Spring or Bethesda, and we can definitely do that.

We're down to thirty three days til we leave. It's utterly bonkers. I want to run around in cirlces and start packing now. And once Yoda has a successful stay, I may well do that. I just want to progress to the vacation. The last 15 days are going to be difficult to sit quietly through. And I figure that last few days of work are going to be interminable. Especially the Wednesday before we leave. I'm going to be useless that day. We're going to go to bed around 6pm to get absolutely any sleep before the 3am pickup time. It was going to be 4:30, but then all the airport shenanigans started, and I got nervous. I bought tickets to the BWI lounge, so that'll give us somewhere to relax while we wait the 3.5 hours til our flight. Then, it's off to Seattle. I'm going to buy tickets to the Space Needle, since I figure we'll do that first. Then Pike's Place Market for lunch, then out of the city and to Vancouver in time for our reservation at Hy's Steakhouse.

I'm really excited about seeing the Pacific NW and Vancouver. First up, Rocky Mountains! I'm looking forward to flying over them. Then the Pacific Ocean!

I ordered another headset for work. Since we're playing a game on the ship, I'll need a headset, but I don't want to risk not having one when I come home, so I'm getting a backup.

I have downloaded a bunch of books onto my kindle, which I need to remember to take. I may just charge it up and then pack it now, since the battery holds a charge forever. I may also be able to pack Jess' Switch, so they have something to play if they so desire. I think I can consolidate some more cords into the tech bag, so that'll free up more space in my already not full carryon. My sister's bag is shipping as I type, so she can also enjoy the joy of organization. This bag is an ADHD person's dream, I swear. Everything has a place, and it's awesome. My hard shell case for my Mounjaro fits right in one of the pockets for Liquids or tech. Tech may be relegated to the inside of the suitcase, which would be fine. I don't expect to have many liquids. I'm just going to take up my CC cream and concealer. I'll probably add eyeliner and maybe eyeshadow and lipgloss to it, but those won't go in the liquid bag. Maybe some combination blush/lip cream. I don't put on makeup often, but for the vow renewal, I'd like to look presentable. I need to also redye my hair. I'm kind of digging the grey on the sides, and purple on top look, so I may stick with that. I will need to make an appt to get things trimmed up between now and then, just to get the undercut freshened up. I also eed to make an appt for Jess. I did not do a great job with their last cut, plus it's already getting longer again. I'd like to have a professional tidy it up so that I can maintain it easier.

Okay, time for me to go forth and maybe take a shower, so I don't stink the people at Chase out. Everyone have a lovely Saturday!

It's Thursday, and a long slide towards the weekend!

This morning, I didn't really want to get up with my alarm. I was up a little bit later than normal and I can tell. I was fucking around on YouTube and it threw up a video of Jeremy Jordan (Lucifer in Hazbin Hotel) singing Let it Go. And that just took me down the rabbit hole. Here he is belting out some Celine Dion.



I really enjoy his voice. He also has a band called Age of Madness, who does and excellet version of Seven Nation Army.



So anyway, I was up late, and this morning came way too early. I'm getting up at 4am now in preparation for school which starts in 1 week! God, that came up quickly. We'll see how it goes!

Hopefully I'm able to keep up.

I've got a lot of stuff scheduled for April and May, so that could be a challenge. I thought about delaying my classes until the next semester, but honestly, that's probably no better, as that would be in June, right before we go to the Rocky Horror. Though I suppose that's and end of July with Weird Al are the only things I'd have, as opposed to a giant 10 day trip to Alaska. I don't know, I will think on it. On one hand, that might make more sense. On the other, I really hate to push it back.

When I look out at the sheer number of things we have coming up, I'm so happy and excited. First up, on 4/18, we have the Lost Boys musical. Then, Alaska, leaving in early-mid May. Then we get back and in June we have the Rocky Horror. July brings a Weird Al concert. Then we have a break until October, when we have CONfab, and in November the Undertale symphony.

I got my new bag yesterday. I had planned for it to be my personal item on the plane, but it may well be my carryon. I got a Bento Bag from Nomad Lane. It cost as much as I make in two days of overtime, but it's so nice. Plus with all the aforementioned travel, I think it'll be worth the high price point. It's got pockets galore, and it just feels quality. It's got some structure, and I think it's going to easily fit everything I need it to. Best of all, it fits in the seat in front of me for easy access. I got it in Sangria, which is a very pretty pink. At some point, I'm going to try packing it, just to see what I can get in there, and if I need anything else. It can fit a 16" laptop, so I may have to reconsider taking the big laptop with us.


A very pretty abd efficient bag.

I think of all the things I had coming, this is what I was most excited about. It makes up for the somewhat disappointing backpack I had gotten previously. It was rather small, and not well set up.

So I think I'll be taking this and either my Beis purse or possibly my old black one. The Beis is bright orange, so that will clash with the pink. But on the other hand, it's small, comfortable, and will hold everything I need for walking around on the ship or in Alaska. I don't want to be hauling my normal enormous purse with me. This is just big enough for wallet, pill case, phone, inhaler and epi pens. The black one is a little bit bigger, but is very unobtrusive. I will think upon it.

I did find a company that lets you buy antibiotics for travel, just in case, so I ordered that. It should cover us if anyone needs something while on the ship. I'd like to avoid the expensie Med Bay if possible.

I also got my long-awaited Derpy cat Squishmallow yesterday.



It wasn't supposed to ship til May, but it came early! It's so cute and soft, and I love it.

I went an picked up a ton of meat yesterday. SO much goat for Yoda plus some tasty Masala marinated chicken legs. We've had them before, and they are amazing. I might have gone overboard on what I got, but he eats two 7oz packets of food a day. We'll probably go through it pretty quickly. Today I'm going to be cooking a lamb shank. I think I'll add in some butternut squash as well. And of course some brown rice to keep him regular. I got a whole lamb shank, which is 4lbs, so hopefully that will render enough meat to make at least a few days worth of his food. He really likes the goat, so I'm hoping the lamb will go over well, too. I need to get a pork shank or something to make him, as he's a big fan of pork. I'd use a butt, but they're way too fatty for his little tummy.

I may use chicken broth and cook a pork loin. I wish they sold that with a bone so I could make pork broth for flavor. I need to go to a butcher, since obviously, the Halal butcher does not do pork.

When I went to pick up the groceries, this sweet older man insisted on carrying my groceries to the car and told me to make my husband bring them in. Jess was kind enough to bring in the bags, so I guess he was half right?

I carried the bag with dinner in it from a place I used to get from when I worked at IKEA. The food was pretty good. I wasn't horribly hungry thanks to Mounjaro. I ate too much at lunch and was paying for it. I'm looking forward to eating it today though.

Today should be a bit quieter at work. It wasn't bad yesterday, I was mostly off the phone making switches happen and calling patients back. And, I found out that the friend I had referred to our dept is getting the job, so that's cool. Another $1000 that should hit right around the holidays. I will share it with her, of course. She, after all, is the reason I'm getting it.

On Monday, I'm going to be on the phone most of the day, as I will be modeling good behavior for the two trainees. That should be just thrilling. Then, on Thursday, I have my training for the new phone system. Which I still believe is going to be a disaster. We're changing over at the end or April, so I need to figure out how I'm going to run the ethernet cord that they swear we're going to need.

Okay, time for me to hop off and maybe work on Marchen for a bit. Everyone have an astounding Thursday!

Thankfully, Monday is done, and now it's Tuesday. Sure to be very busy, but we'll deal.

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time on the phones, trying to keep the call volume down some, with little breaks to do shit. The emails to the add on box were fast and furious, and I struggled to be on the phones and keep up. Since I have holds on some days, that was semi important, so I could tell people where we had slots for patients. Right now, I don't have a ton of holds, but we'll see.

Unfortunately, towards the end of my day, I was trying to fill in a cardiac MRI slot for our Columbia office because they had a cancellation for Monday, and with their restrictions, they can be tough to find patients for. And as I was working on it, one of my coworkers filled it with a patient they absolutely could not see. So, I was curious, and started looking through a few appointments, and since they opened up their schedule for regular scheduling, it looks like there's quite a few that have been scheduled incorrectly.

So that's my job this morning. I get to comb through the next two months plus of their schedule and see how fucked up things are. I am of course, going to make a spreadsheet about it.

It turned out that they already have a document with some common responses, so my grand idea was moot. I may still make up some for my benefit, but we'll see. Depends on what kind of time I have.

After dinner, we had a pork loin with a Hawaiian smoked seasoning. It was really tasty, but had a little kick to it. The Kailua Seasoning Company has some amazing blends. So far my favorite is the Aloha Smoke Spice, but the others are really tasty as well. Tonight will be the lemon pepper blend on some halibut, which should be tasty. I may make a lemon cream sauce to compliment it, but we'll see how I feel after a busy day of work.

We've got an appointment to take Boodle to the vet for a check up. She's lost a bit of weight, and I'm a little concerned. Okay, a lot concerned. That's how our last two cats passed. She's still eating, drinking and doing her business perfectly normally, but I worry. She's about 15 years old, and she's my baby. I had a little meltdown about it last night, but today I am very firmly not thinking about it.

Tomorrow, another fun day of work. Wednesdays are usually when the call volume slows down a touch, and I can get more administrative work done. Still no word on when I'm going to be shadowing the trash fire, so it may not be this week. It doesn't matter much when it is. I'm going to do it and I'm going to make notes, and then, I will present them honestly.

I've been watching the videos of the curtain call for the Rocky Horror Preview shows. We're going to be seeing it in June. I'm glad we're in the last row of the mezzanine, so I don't have to see Luke Evan's junk in detail. Lets just say that he was very happy to see the crowd. It was a wee bit distracting. It looks like a cool show. I'm looking forward to seeing it.



It's down to 37 days til the Alaska cruise. I've hired a cat watcher, but we still can't get Yoda acclimated to the kennels. He needs his second flu shot, which is scheduled on April 9th. Then another two weeks for it to take effect, and then we can send him to the kennel on the 23rd. Which we're going to do. He'll stay for four days. Then, he'll have another couple of days their on that Thurs and Friday 4/30-5/1, and then on Wednesday the 6th, he goes for 11 days. God I'm nervous about this. The vet is our backup plan, but I'd feel horrible about that. I already feel bad that for 11 nights there will be no one for him to snuggle up to. But we deserve a vacation.

Pet care is costing me more than renting a chauffeured van to take us on a tour of Seattle, and up to Vancouver, which will probably be a 6-7 hour service.

We were watching a video for ideas of where to eat in Vancouver (so many places) and the hosts were complaining over things being expensive. Their version of expensive was $8 CAD. Which is like $5.74 in USD. I was rolling my eyes so hard. They had a couple of good suggestions, but mostly I spent it annoyed. The next video was much better, and it gave me ideas for our night out when we go see Mortal Kombat II. Our choices are very limited with the Brother in Law. He's very much a meat and potatoes kind of guy. But he and my sister aren't coming to the movies with us, so we can go wherever we want. Currently leaning towards hitting Chinatown for some dumplings and dim sum.

Either Baltimore is very expensive (likely) or Vancouver isn't that expensive (also possible).

There's a Hy's steakhouse in Vancouver, which I only know about because of Hawaii videos. It's kind of the big steakhouse in Waikiki, and when I looked it up, it had a franchise in Vancouver. I'm tempted, though it's super pricey. I did say that I wanted this trip to be first class all the way, so I think I might do it.

Hopefully the Vancouver uber scene is up to snuff so we can get to places. We're going to use the hop on hop off trolley for the daytime, but I think they stop running in the evening, so Uber or taxi it shall be. With four of us, we'll need a bigger vehicle, or for someone to sit in the front of the car and cram the rest of us in the back. But a mini van would be better, because none of us are small people.

Okay, time for me to get myself together and maybe write a bit on Marchen. I keep going back and adding things to the ealier parts, so I haven't made a ton of headway in the last couple of days. Everyone have a stellar Tuesday!

It's Sunday and I actually managed to stay in bed until 6:45! For me that's a lazy morning!

Yesterday, I knew we were going out for lunch, but we were planning on Mexican. Instead, as frequently happens, my ADHD brain derailed that. Inevitably on the day of, I'm like "But wait, what if this instead?" It drives Jess insane. I was idly flipping through social media and one of my acquaintances on facebook was somewhere overseas, having High Tea at a hotel. Her pictures of the food were amazing and I was like "I wonder if there's any new teahouses near us?" And it turns out there's a very highly rated one just over the state line, called the Tea Trolley in Delta, PA. Not more than a 45 minute drive. I mentioned this to Jess in my best "I'm sorry I'm a pain in the ass" way, and they were intrigued. So we went for a drive.

It was a pretty pleasant drive and didn't tweak my carsickness like the trip to the winery did, so that was good. We had a little bit of trouble finding it, mostly owing to google not being the most clear, but we figured it out, and pulled in behind an enormous Victorian mansion. They had a ramp at the back, but we went in the front way, and came up the front stairs. As per usual, we'd gotten there super early, so we had a little while to wait, browsing the gift shop. Before too long, our adorable waiter took us to our seats. We were upstairs, which was fine, since the downstairs rooms were packed. The room was wallpapered in burgundy, and the seats were pretty but sturdy, which I as a fat girl very much appreciated. The table set up was very delicate, with fine china, and a dainty floral tablecloth.

I ended up getting the Almond Cookie tea, which is almond, cinnamon and black tea. They brought up this enormous pot of it--had to be at least 1.5 quarts. I know I had five (admittedly dainty) cups of tea, and it still had more to give. The taste was amazing. I plopped a sugar cube in and it tasted so good. I ended up buying a bag of it to take home.

We orded the Full Tea and added soup and salad for $3 each. This brought our total up to a reasonable $31/pp, which still seems a bit on the cheap side. I kind of expect that it's going to be closer to $50. While we were sitting, we saw a couple of the salads go past, and then the soup was cream of crab, so we figured why not?

The salad came first. It was a spinach salad with strawberries, bacon dressign and topped with feta cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Simple, but very tasty. Next up was the soup, which was amazing. Probably some of hte best cream of crab I've ever had. It had just enough Old Bay to give a little burn, and the broth was so creamy with chunks of crab in it.

Then, the tower came. The bottom tier had the savories, which included a cucumber sandwich, a curried chicken salad with radish and mango (Jess ate both of those due to mango allergy.), and a phyllo cup with spinach dip, and then leek bacon mini quiche. (I ate both of those due to Jess' egg squick.) They were amazing. I could have eaten many, many more of them. Then it was up to the sweets, which were a lemon bar, which was okay, but I don't like lemon in my desserts. Jess gave it a thumbs up. There was a tiny pineapple upside down cake which was very tasty. And then there was a peanut butter chocolate cookie dunked in white chocolate and peanut butter, with a sweet peanut butter drizzle. SO good. Rich as hell, so I only ate half, not because I didn't want to. I just also wanted to try the scone.

The scone was a raspberry white chocolate, and was very good. Crispy on the outside, tender on the in, lightly dusted with powdered sugar and with the appropriate accompaniments of clotted cream, lemon curd and a lovely strawberry compote.

All in all, it was a wonderful time, totally worth the 45 minute drive.

Later, I went to the weed store for my sleepy pills. I'm hating the idea that I can't take them to Alaska. There's going to be some tough sleep nights, I think.

After that, I was starting with a migraine, so I went to bed early and napped. It wasnt' a great nap, as I had some nightmares, where I was rude and kind of an asshole to Jess, so I woke up feeling guilty about stuff I did in a dream.

I was wide awake at bedtime, but I put on a video on youtube about Hawaii and soon settled down for a long winter's nap.

Today, I shall write a little set up for our little RP today. I'm looking forward to meeting the new characters, and as long as roll20 behaves while we set up the other players character sheet, we'll have a lot of fun.

I'm going to offer to the other two players that if they want to roleplay anything prior to the game as far as set up, we can definitely do that. We have no games on Sunday next week, so I could sneak in a couple of quick sessions.

After that, I'm going to figure out what to do for dinner, and maybe make the puppy more food. The goat meat and butternut squash was a resounding success, so I'd like to make him more of that. I might also make another chicken, since all either of them need to do is simmer for a couple of hours. I also have ground goat meat that I could fry up with vegetables and make a less wet food. Not sure what starch to put in there. maybe a little bit of quinoa.

Tomorrow, it's back to work for another busy day. I should get more info on when I'm shadowing the dumpster fire after they talk to her. I'm assuming it'll be later in the week, as they need me on the phones on Monday and Tuesday.

At some point this week, I need to do my cologuard screening and maybe my at home pap smear. The joys of aging.

Okay, time to go forth and finish writing the intro for todays session. Everyone have a wonderful Sunday!

It's finally Friday! I'm so glad, both because I'm looking forward to the weekend, and because that means it's not Thursday anymore. Yesterday was a day, y'all.

So, as previously mentioned, yesterday started early. I wrote 1200+ words on Marchen (go me) and have the introductions sorted out as well as two lands worth of quests. Feeling good about that, I got ready for work, pausing to wash my dutch oven and put on a pot filled with chicken legs and gizzards to do their thing and make a broth for Yoda's food.

Then it was off to work. The morning was pretty standard. Scheduled some patients, did some work, took some calls. Average day. I'd just gotten back from lunch when my direct manager hit me up. Earlier in the day she'd had questions about a patient, which was fine. It turned out that the pt had cancelled, because the doctor wanted to do something different. This time, she started with "I'm afraid to ask you this." Internally, I was like "oh, did I fuck up?" No, it was one of my coworkers, the very same one who has us checking her appointments every day to see if she fucked up. She had done fucked up on a massive scale.

So, Johns Hopkins is one of a few hospitals in the area that can do MRIs on patients with pacemakers or internal defibrillators. This is not a decision that a doctor makes lightly, because the device has to be turned off to do the MRI. Thus, it's only done in a hospital setting where there's doctors around if the pt gets an arrhythmia or crashes. We take this seriously. It's done in the main hospital building next to the ORs and with a fully stocked cardiac response room and team. We can only do a few a day, and are currently booked out to 2027. As a result, we limit the scan to patients whose order came from a JH provider.

So, when you open the patient chart, in some cases you'll find Care Alerts along the margin. You ALWAYS look at the care alert. She did not. Then, she didn't hear them or wasn't paying attention when they mentioned their cardiac device. Or they assumed that the other device they had (that is MRI Safe) was what they were talking about? So, she scheduled them. in the Outpatient Center (which has a 3 month waiting list of it's own) on a 3T machine. That's our most powerful magnet, and it would probably rip the defibrillator out of their chest. Worse, she fucked up with a patient who's also an employee.

The coworker had tried to reach them, and had sent a message through the chart to explain the issue and asking them to call in.

They did not. Instead, they sent a reply calling her incompetent and being very angry. So, my manager asked if I could call the pt. While the coworker dealt with the order. The pt has a JH cardiologist, so she was planning to call them and see if they'd write it. I offered to do that, and my manager agreed that she liked that plan better.

Short version, they wouldn't. Because of the risk involved, they didn't want their name associated with it. So, I had to reach out to the patient and let him know. I did it via a message in the chart, and I can't wait to see the nastygram I have in my inbox right now. I have a feeling that they're going to get someone involved to yell at us, but that will most firmly be Not My Problem. By the end of the shitshow, I was sending my manager gifs of dumpster fires. It seemed appropriate.

Then, the steaks I had bought like 2-3 days ago had already gone off, so I had to order dinner. The one good thing is that Yoda's food turned out well. IT had brown rice, chicken and gizzards and green beans, and he seemed to like it when I gave him a little leftover as a treat.

The food was okay, but not the best thing ever. We took the dog out for his walkies, and I hit bed. I had enough of the day when I dropped Yoda's dinner on the floor. The last of the goat and butternut squash, I think.

Now I am semi ready for the day. My reward for dealing with the coworkers fuckup is that this morning, I get to check all the appts that she made yesterday. After this mess, I will be going through them with a fine toothed comb. Thank god she only makes like 15 appointments a day.

Then I shall have the managers meeting Managers Bitchfest at noon. It's a weekly hour long meeting that is to share information and discuss possible changes to protocol, in theory at least. In practice, it's a bitch session that can run up to 2 hours. It's very interesting to hear the stuff behind the curtain, but some of the stuff is about people I don't know well yet from other depts, so that can be a lot.

Oh and I forgot to add, in two weeks, I'm going to have trainees for a day. The main trainer is off, and the managers have a training, so I'm the next in line for the throne. lol.

My training is in 3 weeks, so it's not like I get out of it.

The job has been a little frustrating. It doesn't seem like much has changed, and my role is still pretty ephemeris. I watch the schedules, and try to fill slots, but mostly, I'm kind of on my own to figure out what to do in any given moment. They also haven't announced it yet, so I'm still in limbo with the other coworkers. The management team knows, but when I'm dealing with my coworkers it's a gray area.

After work, I'm going to get my RSV and MMR shots. The RSV recommendations shifted to include pts with lung disease, so my asthmatic ass is going to go get one. And I'm way overdue for the MMR. But with cases of both measles and mumps out there, and us going to shows and on a cruise, I want to be as fully protected as possible.

Then, Frostmaiden! I've got a glorious fight lined up tonight, that will hopefully prove a challenge for our group. It's the last battle before the big one, so I am going to make it as difficult for them as possible.

Jess is advocating for trying to kill them in the final battle. They're going to be fighting the goddess of dragons, who is a five headed dragon, so it should be tough. First they have to fight their way through her handmaidens and possibly the aspect of her that they faced before.

Tomorrow, we shall have a quiet day, maybe go out for lunch. I'm not sure if I want to see Project Hail Mary. Some yes, some no, but it could be a possibility. Mostly, though, I'm going to take it easy and recharge. Sunday we're helping one of the Marchen players to set up their character sheet, and then doing a little bit of RP with her and Jess' characters, since they're starting the game knowing each other.

But first, I get to see what kind of a hash my coworker made of her appointments.

And on that note, time to go forth and get ready. Everyone have a fantabulous Friday!

It's hump day! We're almost at the halfway point! Work has been kind of draggy this week. I've been spending a lot of time on the phone, and it is not making me happy. There are other things to do, and it's been difficult to get any of them done. I could have made some moves and gotten a couple more patients in, but there just hasn't been time. I've had to release a bunch of holds I have because I haven't had time to look to see if any of them are movable. I can't wait til we have this batch of new people and the next trained, so maybe it takes some pressure off the phones coworkers, and I can do more actual work.

I did get some time to do other things in the am, and some of the m worked out, So that was good. And a couple during. I got to deal with the pt who had been bounced around because people don't necessarily understand that there are documents as they relate to combo MRIs and MRAS. Especially MRAs. Theres's a handy document about Cardiac MRIS and then MRAs. Because some MRAs have toe be done together. Like the Loey Diets Protocol. It's five separate MRAs that should be like 3hours total. But when you add them, they become a protocol that cane be done in 60 minutes. (Tbf, even our other PAS3s don't always get this one. I know it because I've spent plenty of time with the Cardiac document, but People schedule it all over the place. So I fixed that, spicy patient and all.

Yesterday morning, after I finished my journal, I went and wrote a bit on the new campaign, Marchen. By the time I had to go get ready for work, I had 929 words out. The number annoyed me, so at lunch I wrote more, topping out for the day at 1229. I was much more pleased with that number. It's moved them through two countries, so I am pleased. I feel like I'm set up well to have the campaign writen or at least the majority fleshed out. I certainly have worked on the fly in the past if they break the campaign, or if some random villian will prompt their ire, leading to a new chapter about going to deal with them.

Even if I didn't write anything more until after we started playing, I'd be fine.

I offered the musical introduction for the player characters in Marchen, and the players jumped on it. I've got two out of the four already, plus the music I'm using in my lead in. I'm about to upload the player's intro. The two I've gotten already are very interesting. Totally different feels to them. One is the Dishonored soundtrack, which is cool, in a dark, moody sort of way.



And then Jess sent me a band I've not heard of, with a track that was wistful and maybe a little regretful.



I on the other hand was not so original, and picked May it Be from Lord of the Rings (So cliche!) as performed by the 2Cellos.



I honestly cannot wait for this campaign to start. I'm hoping it's a lot of fun and that the small clues I'm dropping will make it a fulfilling mystery.

In other news, the vacation is now 43 days away. It's very exciting! I'm still nervous about Yoda, but I'm going to be positive, and believe that this is going to go well. I've started looking at the app more closely, looking at the deck plans, so I will know where I'm going when the time comes. I feel like I need to know the most about everything, so I can make the vacation smooth for us.

As usual, I want this to be the best vacation possible. I want it to be perfect for the people I'm draging along in my wake, my Travel Prince(ss). They have an itinerary that I printed out and nothing else. I may let them carry their boarding pass, but that's about it. They can have their boarding pass for the flight once we go to the airport and print them all out from my phone, where they live. Our car service's info? In my phone. The hotels? In my phone. Our Excursions are all in my phone as well.

Mind you, while we're in Vancouver? That free day is entirely up to them. They can tag along with Jess and I, or they can do there own thing. And once we're on the boat, they can do whatever they would like.

Okay, time for me to work on Marchen and maybe take a nice shower. Everyone have a most wonderful Wednesday!