And then, there's a bearded fetus.

Almost to the weekend!

My back/butt is still pissed off at me, so I'll be babying that for the next couple of days. It's really annoying. I had been sleeping on a wedge pillow for my shoulder, but my back was throwing a total fit, so I had to slide off of it. The butt is a little better, but now the shoulder is peeved. Being 50 is overrated.

Speaking of the shoulder, I'm currently debating pushing my shoulder back to November. Pros: It won't be 8 million degrees when I'm stuck in a sling. Traveling for CONfab should be easier. Con: It's three more months of being uncomfortable. I'll be in the sling for my birthday and might not be able to drive to get cupcakes from the good cupcakery. I haven't made a decision yet, it's just something I'm mulling over.

Yesterday was another busy day at work, where I took 60+ calls. Today will hopefully be a little less busy. By the end of the day, my throat was dry and I felt a little hoarse. I need my voice to be good for this weekend's four games.

The rain that came through yesterday pushed a hell of a high pressure system through, and I had the kind of headache that just radiates down into your neck. I ended up cancelling on a game, which got rescheduled, thankfully.

Of course, as I'm laying in bed in the dark trying to relax, the dog went off for a good 5 minutes. Apparently in the pre-storm wind, our big tree in the back yard dropped an enormous branch on our neighbor's fence. Homeowner's insurance will take care of it, but we'll have a hefty deductible and we'll be paying for the tree to be seen to, so that's annoying.

Apparently Spain introduced a Digital Nomad visa that has a path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship, so I'm looking into that. Even if the US pulls its head out of it's ass, I'm not sure we can afford it here when Dad passes. Rent would eat up fully half my monthly take home pay, and when you add food, car payment, insurance, cell, cable and wifi, we'd be right on the edge.

Whereas I could get a two bedroom apartment in Valencia for about $900, and live comfortably at around $1750 a month, even including insurance. It would be a challenge, but maybe one that would be worth it? Time will tell!

But for now, it's time to go forth and get myself ready for work. Everyone have an excellent Thursday!

Buenos Dias! It's Tuesday! We survived Monday! Had a long night. Couldn't get to sleep, and then I did some half-sleep, and then when I finally got some good sleep, the cat came to visit repeatedly. I'm definitely going to go to bed early tonight.

Then, to top off my restless night, the coffee machine isn't working. We have a back up, but I don't know where it is, so I just ordered a box of joe from Dunkin which should be here soon, but why you gotta treat me like this, coffee? To be fair, the Keurig was acting up yesterday and I should have pulled out the spare then, when the person who knew where it is was awake, but I was slow. I think it's just a clog in the Keurig that can probably be fixed, but I need to get a pipecleaner or something to get in the needle.

Yesterday was busy as hell. I did nearly 60 calls, and in one hour did 11 of them.

After my shift, I did my self eval, which was mostly garbage. I've been there 5 months, so my self eval was mostly "I am learning.(but I kick ass)"

I had another month of meeting all my KPIs in June, so I'll get an hour lunch at some point. Maybe this time I'll actually remember to take it.

Ah, coffee is here!

We're still in process of planning our potential exit strategy from the US if it is needed. Thanks to my fully remote job, we can go pretty much anywhere. Mexico was tops on my list, but they raised the amount you need to make to get a temporary/permanent residence visa, and I don't currently qualify. So, we're back to looking in Europe. Spain is looking like a possibility, as is Malta. Spain is my first choice--it's a hell of a lot easier to learn Spanish than Maltese. Hopefully, it won't be needed, but just in case, it's good to have a plan.

Okay, time to get myself together for work. Everyone have an excellent Tuesday!

It's Sunday! A whole day where the only thing I have to do is ferry my sister to the laundromat and help take care of dad. So, a normal day, minus going to work. I'm getting a late start today, because our game went until midnight last night.

Yesterday was a bit tiring, but worked out really well. I got up at 6 and went to work for four hours. I took a grand total of 10 calls in 4 hours. In between, I worked on my D&D games and maybe scheduled a new one for today. It wasn't bad at all. A little boring towards the end, when I'd worked out my games for the week, and was just kinda fucking around on my cell, but that's okay.

I finished work and we went to grab Chinese food and run some errands. It was hot and I did not like it. By the time I got home, I had a vicious headache, so it was time for a nap.

Then finally, it was time for game. We started a little bit later, and then the game went til midnight, which was a lot. I slept til 9 this morning!

I got to use a red dragon for the first time in game. It was just a young adult, but still super fun. There's something entirely thrilling to be able to drop that giant token on the map and hear players responses.

I got my plane ticket confirmation for CONfab, so it looks like I'm going to Chicago. I spent way too many minutes trying to figure out how to add the tickets to my app, but finally figured it out. Hotel is booked and paid for as well. Now the only thing to do is show up at the airport.

I think we're going to do a TTRPG server lunch on the Thursday before the con starts officially. poisontaster and I were talking about high tea at the Drake, but it appears that they no longer do that on weekdays, sadly. But there's a Russian Restaurant that does Russian High Tea. So we're looking at that. Though to be honest, I may go for dinner the night before, too and get the regular menu, too. I love Russian food and we don't really have any restaurants in Baltimore.

Okay, time to get myself together. I believe I need a shower first off. Everyone have an excellent Sunday!

Good morning all! The 4th was a nice little break, but today it's back to work. I actually had an amazing day yesterday, even though we didn't do a whole lot.

On Wednesday, I was bitching that the Vyvanse was so expensive ($65/mo) that for me to keep taking it, it would have to be fucking life changing. I mean, it's only been one day, but if yesterday is any indication, it might be worth it.

At 7am, I was grumpy and overstimulated and generally ready to smother my father and sister. I took the Vyvanse at 8. It took a couple of hours to kick in, but once it did, everything just...smoothed out. I didn't feel jacked up or anything, just alert and weirdly at peace with the universe? The first couple hours, I had a niggling anxiety that something would go wrong, and it would jack my blood pressure or make my heart race, but after a few hours and checking my blood pressure, it abated. And then it was just me, but a me who was able to block out background noise and read for three hours straight the way I did when I was younger. A me who didn't feel like they were wasting time by sitting. (not that I ever felt like doing anything with my urge to do, it was just uncomfortable and made me want to claw my skin off.

We went to the Indian Buffet for lunch and had a lovely time. The food was amazing, and I enjoyed a little time out with Jess. They had my favorite, Saag Paneer, so I was happy. But I tried a bunch of other stuff. Aloo zuchinni (no shit, that's how they listed it), mushroom korma, halabi masala, tandoori mixed grill and of course, chicken tikka masala. They had a big thermos of milky hot masala chai that I hit liberally. They had the normal appetizers, samosas and vegetable fritters, but they also had bhatura, big puffy fried dough pieces that may outrank naan as my favorite bread.

Then we came home and chilled, and I read a book. It was nice, being able to focus.

I will admit, I had a little trouble getting to sleep, but I think that was mostly anxiety about having trouble getting to sleep? I think it'll go better tonight.

And now, it is time to get ready for work! Everyone have an excellent Friday!

Halfway there! Two more work days to the week for me! I have tomorrow off for the 4th of July, then I work Friday, then a couple glorious days off. Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, it'll depend on the weather and wether our neighbors are complete assholes with the fireworks. Our dog is deathly afraid of fireworks AND thunder, so unless we have a heavy soaking rain without thunder, he's not going to be happy.

I was such an idiot last night. I wanted to go out and get a treat, so we went and had appetizers and desserts at our favorite thai restaurant. Which was awesome, the food is so good. We had chicken satay, edamame and these little dumplings made of chives and glutenous rice flouw, made into cubes and deep fried. They were so fucking good. Then, we ordered the mango sticky rice to go, and then I reached into my purse to pay, and realized that I'd left my wallet in my office. I'd needed my credit card to pay a bill, so I took it in there and forgot to put it back. I was mortified. I ran home while Jess waited, and grabbed it and came back. Apparently right after I left, the waiter was like "you could have gone home and called! We trust you!"

It was another night of disrupted sleep, thanks to Boodle and her extra curricular mouse activiites. first, she knocked a bottle of PAM off the counter, and woke me up around midnight. Then, at about 2:30, she began playing with a mouse downtown. That lasted about an hour. No clue if the mouse got away or not.

As a result, I am so tired and unmotivated tonight. I just want to take a nap. But alas, work.

Oh, speaking of work, I had the most frustrating patient last night. They were old and convinced that they knew exactly what they needed. (they didn't) I went through the MRI safety chekclist, and they informed me that they had a spinal fusion and double hip replacements for a l-spine mri. So I let them know that we could definitely do it, but we'd need to put them on the lower resolution magnet. You'd have thought I told them that we were going to shoot them out of a cannon. They have never been told that they couldn't do something on any magnet. This turned into a 25 minute discussion where I tried to explain mri artifacts, and how it wouldn't hurt them, but it would make shit images if we did if on the 3t machine. I was so frustrated by the end. I usually do well with older patients, but goddamn.

Okay, time to consider getting my clothes on. 8am will be here before I know it. Everyone have a super awesome Wednesday!

A little Music Monday for you. This one is by Barns Courtney, also known for Glitter and Gold.



Yesterday was disgustingly hot. I mean seriously. Jess and went out to get a couple of groceries, and it was just miserable. I gotta say, not a huge fan of summer. It's got heat, storms, pollen and is generally bullshit. After grocery shopping, I ran my sister up for laundry, and came back to prep games. I was very productive, and prepped three separate campaigns. Sadly, not all of them were the ones I was playing next, but I got there. Next week, I'll probably spend Sunday prepping my games for the next week.

Oh, it just occurred to me that it's a 4 day week! Excite! I have no plans for July 4th aside from sleeping in, though I suppose Jess and I could grab lunch somewhere.

After my sister got back from Laundry, it was game time! I threw everything but the kitchen sink at my players. I gave them enemies who were a higher (in the case of the big boss, a much higher level) then them, and had a couple of my players down to 11 and 6 HP. Storm giants are super fun to play, but when they keep rolling 5 & 6 on their recharge rolls... I was doing serious damage. But the party held strong and defeated the evil storm giant.

Next game I'm especially looking forward to is next Saturday. The module that was supposed to last two sessions just didn't. So I looked and found a new module that looks like fun, and prepped that instead.

Beyond that, not a whole ton of things going on. Almost time for me to go to work. Everyone have an amazing day!

I'm so tired this morning y'all. I woke up with a headache, and my shoulder is pissed, and I just want to go back to bed. Alas, the doggo has an appointment at 9 for grooming, so that's not going to happen.

I really don't feel like doing the dog's grooming. We're poor and not going to be able to give the groomer as much of a tip as normal, which is stressing me out. But that's okay. I will suck it up, and do the things I need to do, and then come back and take a nap.

Yesterday we had Frostmaiden, which was a lovely time. It was about 70% roleplay, 25% friends bullshitting, and 5% combat. That turned out to be a good mix, and I think everyone had fun. I feel a little bad for poisontaster, who rejoined last session after having to drop early in the campaign. There's 3 1/2 years of history that we're all disjointedly trying to catch her up on. Thank god, one of my players is a prolific note taker. She chronicles everything, and puts her notes up on google drive for reference. It has saved my ass more than once. So, when she has time, PT can read an enormous book of 71 sessions worth of plot. It's definitely the size of a Stephen King book, at least. (Though I feel there are probably more memes in the notes than King uses).

Tonight, we have a two shot, Lich Showdown, which looks like fun. I'm looking forward to playing it. Tomorrow, we have Mine Finders, which I need to do a bit of work for. I've got time--it's not til 5:30pm.

Seems like it's going to be a fussy day with dad. Joy. I've already been short with him this morning once for demanding shit while I'm busy holding his goddamn urinal. I'm trying to impress upon him that pleasantries are helpful. Instead of "get me a wet rag," maybe try "when you are finished, could I please have a warm wet rag for my eyes?"

I feel a little guilty, but I'm so tired of him. He's my father and I love him, but I also resent the fuck out of him. I literally broke myself caretaking him, and my body will never fully recover from that. Even with surgery, I'm never going to be the same. I'm so angry about it. Actually, I'm angry about the whole situation. I hear his whiny call for Jess while I'm working and I just want to scream. I hate that they're stuck dealing with my family's mess, and I'm terrified they're going to damage themselves. It's a constant swing between anxiety and anger and I'm sick of it.

Okay, done venting. Sorry. He just started before I got a sip of coffee, and we all know that makes me doubly cranky. Okay, I should go get myself together to take Yoda for his day of beauty. Everyone have a perfectly lovely Saturday!

I actually slept last night, and I feel a little better. However, I'm super anxious and grumpy this morning. Thanks to trying to do too much with my check, I find myself out of money, so I took out a small loan, but the money, which should have been there yesterday has yet to materialize. I gave it an extra day to see if it would appear, but nothing. So now I'm freaked out and annoyed and I can't do a goddamn thing about it til lunch because neither the loan office, nor my bank open until 8, which is when I have to start work. Fucking annoying. I really need it to show up today, because we are almost out of coffee creamer and I cannot live without that.

Last night, we had an excellent game run by weyrlady Without going into spoilers, because she's running another session of it (there were enough takers that she had to run two groups) it was a lot of fun with plenty of surprises. The final battle was a lot of fun, and reminded me why high level casters are so much fun to play. I used my spells creatively, and [redacted] definitely didn't see us coming. Also, I love Raylothim's Psychic Lance. When it goes off well, it's a game changer. The baddie got first action, and I was worried, because he was doing a TON of damage. Then we went, and his AC was impressive. But in the end, it all worked out!

Work was relatively quiet yesterday, not sure why, but I only did 48 calls. My norm has been 55ish. It seemed like there was a lot of downtime between calls. I was able to make my character for the Strixhaven game poisontaster is running. She kindly let me use all the bullshit that I wanted to try, so I have the most emo of emo goths. I borrowed liberally from the Toby Day books, and made her magic powered by her own blood. I'm still working on a way to balance that, since it could be a little over powered without some checks on it.

Tomorrow, we have the first session of Frostmaiden since a god stole one of our party members and took her off to hell. The first half will be roleplay of what the party is going to do having returned to their mansion without their companion. After that, I sort of need to come up with what the next step is going to be. I mean, I basically know, I just need to pin down the macguffin that they'll need to find.

And now, I am going to get myself together and prepare to start the day. Everyone have an excellent Thursday!

We survived Monday! Whoo! As far as Monday's go, it wasn't bad. I worked, gave dad a bath and then picked up some groceries. Nothing exciting, really. By the time I finished work, I had a hell of a headache, and by the time I finished bathing dad, my shoulder was screaming, so soon after getting back from groceries, I went to bed. As time has gone on, I'm finding that the shoulder is more sensitive to touch, which is annoying.

This morning, I need to get dad a fresh pad and diaper, and slap a shirt on him before work.

Hopefully, work will be like yesterday, relatively quiet. I'm still trying to think of things That I can suggest for my friend's son to introduce him to D&D. I'm thinking about printing out a PDF of a module, so he can look at it. I pulled a set of dice from the pile that I bought for CONfab to give him. I'm a little bit nervous--I've never taught anyone D&D from scratch. I sent over a copy of the player's handbook that I happened to have lying around on my hard drive, so he's got the basic rules. We'll see how it goes.

My sister is very chatty this morning and I would like her to be quiet.

I realized last night that I forgot the next two weekends when I went on my scheduling bonanza. So now I have to decide whether I want to do two short one shots, or one two session game. I'm debating at the moment.

Okay, short one today! Everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!

My sister was up before me due to Dad and dog, so my morning has been kinda loud. It's making it a little difficult to concentrate on typing.

I slept like a log last night. Two games wiped me out. By the end of the second one, I was ready to use the sleep. I didn't get up til nearly 7:45, which for me is a bit late. Now I'm sitting here drinking my coffee and nibbling on a peanut butter Tandycake for the breakfast of champions.

Yesterday was a good day, though the dog was a pain in the ass during game time. I ended up pausing both games because the dog was either outside barking and my sister can't make it dowm the stairs to reach his leash and get him to come in, or because he was out and dad needed something. But still, both games were a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The first game, which is off the main server with some of Jess' friends and poisontaster was back after a long hiatus, and was so much fun. I got to chase them around with a warlock lich. They took a bold move at the end of the game, and I'm going to be interested in how it's going to play out.

The second game was just a fun little one shot, which I nearly killed two players in. The big bad wasn't the problem, her henchmen were. I had poisontaster down to 11 hit points! And these things were averaging 10-14 on each shot. summerstorm was at 14, I believe. So all in all, it's good that combat ended quickly.

Today we shall go out to lunch and have fun and come back for D&D in the evening! It's going to be a fun day!

And now I shall go forth and get it going by putting on pants. Everyone have an excellent Sunday!