And then, there's a bearded fetus.

It's a good thing that there's not a ton of calls on Saturday, because I am very sleepy.



After not sleeping well on Thursday night, yesterday we had a full day of 54 calls, and then had game at 7pm. Finally went to bed around 11:30, but suffered from drinking two and a half bottles of water during game. Then it was up at 6 for work this morning. The missile is eepy.

Fortunately, I don't have much scheduled past 12 today, so I can take a bit of a nap before game time tonight.

My sister is going off on an overnight trip tonight, so I'll also be sleeping in her bed tonight to keep the Yoda happy, so probably not great sleep tonight, either. Ah well.

At least tomorrow I have nothing to do, so I can just be a sloth. Unless the "should I run a one shot" bug bites. I'll admit, I'm tempted to run a Call of Cthulhu game just to get in the rhythm of it. I will consider it.

I've started packing for CONfab, and figuring out what I need. I've got a little order started at Walmart and Ulta for toiletries.

Okay, time to get myself together for work. Everyone have a wonderful Saturday!!

When I get stuck for a subject line, I always go to Leonard Cohen. And Hallelujah is a classic for a reason. The last two verses are the ones that resonated with me more than the ones normally sung. I'm not particularly religious these days, but to me there is something sacred in those words. I wish more artists would cover those verses. Not in a God way, unless it's Bo Burnham's version? "Not going to give you love just because you want me to. If you want love than that love's gotta come from you." And that's what I try to do with my life. Do I feel fondly towards everyone in the world? Fuck no. I'm cynical and tired. But when I interact with someone, I try to extend them the grace I would want.

Like at work. People don't call in because things are awesome. They call in because something is wrong and they need a scan to see what it is. And that's horrible. But the call itself doesn't have to be. They can talk to someone who is kind and personable, and who will try to help. It doesn't matter how I feel, I'm going to be cheerful and and offer them the chance to interact with someone who will be kind.

This musing brought to you by my interview yesterday where one of the questions was a point blank "Why should it be you?" I'll admit, that one threw me for a moment. I recovered and gave a pretty good answer, but for a moment, I had to think. Why me?

I think the interview went pretty well. I gave the best answers I could, and got a few "I really like that."

There was one answer, about what did I feel was important about interacting with my team. And I said compassion and kindness, but surety. You need to speak with a confidence so they will have faith in your answers. And interestingly, the three women nodded vehemently, but the lone guy was like "It's okay to say you're not sure." And I could see all three women thinking "Sure, if you have male privilege, you can do that and not get eaten alive."

Later, he called me to check in to see how we were doing post dad because I had a couple of badly scored calls around that time. He said he wanted me to know that I did a great job in the interview.

Of course, I spent the rest of the night picking apart the whole interview and trying to decide what exactly he meant by that. "You changed people's opinions?" Or "You're still not getting moved forward, but you did a good job, and I don't want you to be discouraged?"

poisontaster told me that I was overthinking it. So I'm going to try to chill and just wait for an answer. If I get moved forward, the next step is shadowing. I should know in a couple of days.

Nothing major going on today or tomorrow. Just work and maybe starting to prepare for trip next week. Tomorrow night, we have game which I'm looking forward to.

And on that note, time to get myself together for work. Everyone have an excellent Thursday!!

I had my first PT for the shoulder last night and holy shit I'm sore today. Theoretically, I knew my shoulder was fucked up, but damn. It's not like they had me weight lifting. These were gental stretches and careful movements, but holy crap, my entire shoulder and upper arm is one big ache, even with icing afterwards.

I'm supposed to go back tomorrow, but depending on how I feel this afternoon, it may be cancelled, and let me have a week of doing it myself, gently.

I slept a little roughly, kept waking up. And at 4:00am the cat began doing laps across me. I was less than enthused. It's going to be an early night for me.

Tomorrow, I have my interview, so that'll be fun. I picked up a new interview shirt, which is currently out being laundered. It should be back this afternoon, and I'll hang it right up so it'll be wrinkle free. I'm a little anxious about the interview, but I'll be fine. It's just a job that I'm actually interested in. If I don't get it, I'll be fine. But I sure would like to.

The rest of the week is pretty quiet, leading into games at Friday and Saturday night. I do have to work on Saturday for my sweet, sweet overtime.

I spoke with the main people who did Dad's investment portfolio yesterday. They're getting the papers together for us to sign, which will be nice. I really want to take some money out and pay off my car and a few other bills. Most a little diddly amounts, but when you add in monthly payments, they get to be a fair amount.

Okay, going to hop off now and start slowly getting a shirt on. This may be a challenge today. Everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!

Why is it that grocery delivery either come at the end of the window, or 15 minutes before the window, and there's no in between? I had put in an order at Walmart for some veggies and general stuff. And I chose the 7-9, hoping it would be here around 8-9. Fuck no. Started getting texts at 6:30, letting me know it was on it's way. (it's five minutes down the road, so that wasn't going to take very long. Also, they were out of two of the things I really wanted, so I'll be putting in another order somewhere. Yoda will not eat his bougie food without a topping of deli sliced turkey afterall.

So, I'm awake, whoo. For once it wasn't the cat. It was the knowledge that I had frozen food to bring in. Now my back is all kinds of ticked off, because I lifted the heavy bags and also the case of water. In retrospect, I probably should have left that on the doorstep so my butch as hell spouse could take care of it, because they are considerably stronger than I am.

Today, we're going to the movies (postponed from Friday) and then we have a Monster of the Week game. Which I am looking forward to getting back into. I actually figured out the plot on Friday, which is hella early for me. Normally, I'm typing shit up the day of.

Okay, to be fair, I'm typing up some shit day of. And getting the background pictures perfect.

Yesterday ended up being a busy day. I took my sister down to Norris Ford, so she could see the car that she was interested in. She fell in love, and she walked out with a shiny orange Kia Soul that is the mirror image of mine, except in Mars Orange. Which is a very cool color.

Once we came home, my sister decided that we needed to do a celebratory lunch, and we decided on the melting pot. They didn't open til 2, so I did a quick run over to Torrid to pick up my bras and jeans. While I was there, I did a little bit of looking for a top for my interview. I found a supersoft muted forest green shirt that will be perfect.

Then it was off to the Melting pot for the infinitely superior Octoberfest menu. SO much food. D&D got cancelled on account of two players feeling a little icky, and r/s for a later time.

And now I am freshlly showered and ready to...well, possibly nap. Everyone have an excellent Sunday!

Good morning from Maryland, where last night Mother Nature blessed us with the Aurora Borealis, even down here in the semi-South. (Hey, we're below the Mason Dixon line!)



I had read that the Aurora might be visible in the dead of the night, when I would be sleeping, but I've been fooled before, where I got up and looked and saw bupkis. So imagine my surprise when I was downstairs scrolling on my phone around 7:30pm, and saw a picture of an aurora that said it was near us. So we got up, and trooped outside, and lo and behold, there it was.

I've always wanted to see the Aurora, to watch the sky light up with shifting fire. But given the unpredictable nature of the lights, I never really thought I would. Even if I go to Alaska or Scandinavia, there's no guarantee.

We didn't have the full spectrum of colors, just the pink and a touch of green, but that was enough. We stood outside for a while, just looking at the sky and feeling overwhelmed by what Nature had decided to share. I felt overwhelmed and just profoundly grateful to have been able to see it.

I forgot to mention that one of the patients who I was working to get in for an MRI went to the front desk at the site and just raved about me. She needed a quick MRI for pain, but was struggling with the Jewish High Holy days. But I had a cancellation, and she picked up the phone, so we were able to get her in ASAP, and she was grateful. So I got a shout out for going the extra mile and showing sensitivity for diversity. So that was kind of nice.

My sister has decided to take out her retirement, as it was enough to pay her $160/mo if she retired, but enough to do appreciable good now. So she is paying off some bills and is looking at getting a new used car. She wants a Kia Soul like mine. So on Saturday, we're going to look at a potential car.

And now, I shall get ready for my Friday! Tonight, Jess and I shall go to the movies, and that will be fun.

I survived the team meeting and the ten hour day, but my lord I was tired at the end of it. It was not thrillilng. The meeting was at least had some information that was probably better done in meeting format than as an email. For instance, we've long known that our Columbia site is moving, but no info on if the whole place was moving, or just certain modalities, like CT and MRI. We finally got an update on the name, place and what's there. Oh, and when the go-live is for it. It's next Thursday, the 17th. So, thanks for the week warning?

And apparently my bitching yesterday morning was heard by the universe. My interview will be on next Wednesday, 10/16. I'm a little excited and a little nervous. What I understand of the job sounds like it would be ideal. They have multiple functions, ranging from monitoring the inbox from the techs, and alerting people that they've made a error in scheduling (not enough time, radiologist wants it scanned on a different machine). Others help to maintain and work the urgent patient list. Watching for openings, and getting patient's scheduled when they need to be. Others work in our team chat, answering questions for our teammates. All of those are things that I would enjoy doing. I'm trying not to get too obsessive about it, because I still don't really think I'm going to get it, since at the time of my interview, I'll be 3 days shy of my 8 month anniversary with the company.

But on the other hand, I kinda kick ass, and I think I've shown that I could do any of those things. And that salary would be lovely. Even if I don't get the higher range, if I got a few dollaars, it would be enough to kick my salary over 60k. On the other hand, I am at the higher salary range for my current job, so I might get more than that.

Today should just be a normal, relaxing day. Only 8 hours, which will be lovely.

It's funny, when Jess convinced me that I should go to CONfab solo, it was months and months away. Now it's exactly two weeks til I get on a flight, and I am anxious. I know it'll be a lot of fun, but I hate flying.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get my ass in gear. Everyone have an excellent hump day!

I will eat my hat if anyone but Jess can get todays lyric. To be fair, I don't have a hat, but if I did, I'd eat it.

I woke up super sore and achy today, so I immediately downed some ibuprofen with my Vyvanse. We'll see how that does. Right now, it's just a bit of a headache and neck pain, but hopefully, we can stomp it down.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. We played a one shot that is not a one shot. It has three seperate parts, each with three acts. I'm not sure what crack the module was on to say that it was a one shot. It's super fun, just not a one shot.

I think I'm going to try to do some physical therapy on my shoulder. After hurting like a bitch for a while, it seems to have settled down. It's definitely not 100%, but it's up to about 75%. If therapy could get it into the 90's, I might consider not having surgery. The main reason I was going to do surgery was because it was so painful, but that has subsided. As long as I don't overreach, it doesn't hurt at all, and I'm wondering if therapy could expand that. It's possible that it won't, in which case, surgery it is, but if I can avoid it, I'd rather do that. If I'm not happy with the PT or it starts to hurt more, I can always stop, whereas the surgery is not reversible if my not happy.

So, we'll give PT a shot.

Going to drink more coffee and try to work up a semblance of consciousness. Everyone have the very best Monday!

Morning hit kinda early today. I was thinking it was maybe 5:15am, so I got up to hit the bathroom, expecting another 45 min in bed, but as I was coming back, my alarm began blasting and I realized that it was indeed 6. Boo. I had laid there thinking about the dream I'd woken up from. I was visiting two guys who had an animal rescue and wa petting an overly friendly orange cat, who was attempting to break my nose and collarbone by ramming his head into them full speed, and then. just sort of collapsing against for attention. When I woke all the way up, I was very sad that this cat was not real, because I wanted to give it more scritches.

Work today for 4 hours, which is why I'm up so early. I don't mind Saturdays, really. It usually not terribly busy, and patients are usually pretty nice. Immediately after I finish, I make more coffee and have a game. Then a 4 hour break, and then another game. It'll be a fun day! Assuming that all parties are up to playing. A couple players were not feeling great last night, so hopefully they're up to playing today. But we'll see.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Tough, because I had a lot of new patients, and a lot of ESL speakers. I always feel a little bad when I have to ask the spelling of a name that is probably equivalent to Smith in other cultures. And then I frequently have to go back and say "is that P for Peter? No, it's T for Thomas. Okay, thank you, and there's the chart, sorry about that."

We have an in house translating service that I could call, but none of them wanted a translator. One even said "Normally I do, but you're doing so well, that I think we're okay." Which made me feel good.

After work, I went out to meet up with my friend L from 911. It was a nice visit, but I got the feeling that she's a little deppressed about her job. It's not challenging her at all. She's bored, and just kind of overall Meh about it. She was very excited for me that I enjoy my job, and look so good and happy. (I wore one of my sister's shirts that combined with my favorite bra was a little boobilicious, so I guess I looked especially nice. I felt kind of hot, so that was nice. Jess seemed to approve.

It really gave me a reminder of how good my life is right now. I like my job, I like the people I work with, I like my bosses. I'm a little frustrated waiting for an interview for the position, but I know they're working on it, and I have faith that I'll get a fair shake.

Tomorrow, we have one mid-day game, and that's about it. It should be a good day.

But for now, time to get ready for work. Everyone have the absolute best Saturday!!

L'Shana Tova to all my friends who celebrate! Hoping for the new year to bring sweetness into your lives.

We're past the halfway point of the week. Well, I'm not because I'm working on Saturday, but collectively we are there. Yesterday was mildly busy, I did 50 calls. I was able to get a breast cancer survivor with a new lump in for a same day mammogram and ultrasound, so it was a good day.

We pushed our meeting to talk about our panel to Monday. I'm going to start a google doc and note the stuff I'd like to cover, so that on Monday it'll be a short meeting.

I made 4 of 12 characters for my game, so that's moving forward. I should be ready in time for the con, I just have to remember to pack all my shit. I still can't believe that in 3 weeks, I'll be flying to Chicago. It's a lot to imagine. I haven't flown since we went to New Orleans for Jess' 30th birthday. (They're 42 now.)

Tomorrow, Jess has their Strixhaven game, so I am at loose ends. I'm going to go out for dinner with the other paraiah from 911. She was fired before I was, and we've kept in touch, and have gotten together for lunch or dinner once in a while. It'll be nice to see her.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together for work. Everyone have an amazing Thursday!

It's no longer Monday! It was definintely the most Monday it's been in a while. I didn't feel awesome when I woke up, had a bit of a headache and just felt blah, but I took some ibuprofen and got ready for work.

The headache kept getting worse as the morning went on, until around 9:30, I broke down and took one of my nicely hoarded Tramadol. By 10:20, it wasn't doing shit, and I was starting to have photosensitivity, and I knew I was getting a migraine, and this wasn't going to work, so I took the rest of the day off.

The rest of my day involved laying down with the dog and hoping that it would improve. It kind of waxed and waned through the day. Sometimes I would think "Oh, I could have worked through this." Other times I sensibly realized that there was no way. It seems a little better today, thankfully.

My meeting got moved off today, so no extra OT this week for me. On the plus side, no 10.5 hour day!

It occurred to me that the 29th was 1 month since Dad died. It feels like much longer. SO much has happened since then. It's just bizarre.

And as of today, there's only 90 days until we get the keys to the new apartment. I'm both excited and anxious. So much to get done!

Today is the start of Spooky Season! Yay! Happy October!

And now, I shall go forth and get ready for the day. Have an amazing Tuesday!