November 01 - 04
November 05 - 11
November 12 - 18
November 19 - 25
November 26 - 30
| November 1
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| November 2
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| November 3 That Mortal Moment Five weeks before my 30th birthday, I had an epiphany. It was a rather startling and disturbing discovery. I know I have complained about feeling old before. I've even been angsty about it. Yesterday, while I was walking (hobbling really) from my room to the kitchen, I had to stop and rest. Seems I've been relying so much on my right leg that I've been over stressing it. It felt like I had shin splints in my right shin. I grimaced as I waited for the pain and throbbing to subside, thinking to myself that I needed to remember that I wasn't as young as I once was. That I couldn't just bounce back from things as quickly as I have in the past. Suddenly, it hit me. A deep, knowing, instinctive knowledge that felt like someone had just punched me in gut. I really was getting older. Someday, I would die. I cannot express in words the feeling I had right then as my world seemed to come crushing down on me. I was mortal. Truly mortal. I had never actually felt that feeling before and frankly, it terrified me. Suddenly, I understood why people turned to God more and more later in life. In that mortal moment, many things, ideas and realizations snarled up in my mind. I realized that I really did need to take better care of myself. Yes, I have deal with a weight problem all my life but, in general, I have been a healthy woman - only having to deal with colds mostly. I never had to take medicine on a regular basis. I never had a chronic disease. I didn't even have to worry about high blood pressure. Now. Now, my body was slowing down. Now, things weren't working as well as they once were. Now, when Donna talks to me about needing a hysterectomy ... and a 'nip and tuck' down under... because the muscles just aren't strong enough anymore... I suddenly realize, that someday, that could be me. I also realized that my commute fantasies have slowly taken an interesting turn. Yes, I still fantasize about sex but more and more now, I fantasize about immortality. Or about being younger, prettier, sexier, but not necessarily about having sex. I have this particular fantasy that is current favorite that I see a falling star on my birthday - the first star I see that night - and I make a wish. And because everything is aligned just so: My birthday, first star, falling star; I get my wish - "I wish that I was in the best possible physical and mental shape I can be in and always stay that way." The fantasy goes on where I have this amazing physical transformation over a 3 day period. I become incredibly fit and slender. I don't look any younger because 30 is a good age to look. You can dress/act younger or older believably. Of course, I don't realize that I'm not aging until a couple years later when I notice that my friends are all looking older. I do this mental exercise/fantasy about how long before I have to change identies, how I think I would do it, what other professions I would have, how I would deal with the death of my friends. I've even figured out that after a while, I would go to a weekly, and finally, monthly journal that I bind together in 10 year increments. Just for laughs, I even created a timeline for the immortal me. Don't laugh too hard. This is my fantasy and it does get rather fantastic: Everything from a Parapsychology group to Marrying rich men to ESP to Aliens.
The Immortal Me I have to admit, while I'm still having a hard time dealing with my realization of mortality, my immortality fantasy makes me smile and feel better. I realize that this fear shall pass in time as I come to accept that I am mortal.
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| November 4 Professional Writer It's official. I am now a professional writer. Yesterday, I received my first check as a writer from Black Gate, along with the first issue of Black Gate magazine. NICE looking magazine. It was really neat for me to see my article (on pages 138-139), with my name, in print. Of course, I have no plans of actually cashing this first check. I'm planning to cut out my article and frame it with the check, along with the front cover of the magazine. I hope it doesn't mess up their books too badly. I wonder if I should email them and mention I'm not going to cash the check... Of course, this has reminded me that I -really- need to finish my review of Clan Book Gangrel. I will do that this weekend and send it in. Now that I'm on the team, I don't need to flake out on my third assignment. That would be bad. Besides, knocking out 500 words on a game review is nothing. Now... if I can only catch up on my poetry. Speaking of checks. I got a smaller paycheck than normal this week. Yep. I've run out of sick leave now and any sick time I take off from now to the end of the year is unpaid leave. That bites but there isn't much I can do about it. I would not have had this problem if I had not broken my leg. I'm not worried at all, though. I have a nice savings account. Still, it is kind of a bummer. Also, now that I've worked here at Da Company for a year, I can vest my first year's stock. Woo-hoo! I like this stock thing. It's like a savings account. Sorta. Assuming your stocks do good and mine are right now. However, speaking of stocks... I got my paperwork from Broadcom. The cheapskates are gypping me by four shares! That make seem like nothing, but those four shares are worth between $800-$1000 dollars. So, I'm grumpy about it. (Of course, I can hear my friends crying me a river.. :)) Oh! The Great Gamer Migration might be on again! I was talking with Rich, Cil and Greg last night. We all got to talking about moving out of the Bay Area again because it is so damned expensive. Poor Rich and Cil, the rent for that crappy 2 bedroom apartment of theirs just got raised again by another $300/month! The two main areas we are looking at are the Seattle area and the Chicago area. Either place would be fine for me. I have friends in Seattle and both friends and family in Chicago. Rich is from the Chicago area. Cil has friends in Seattle. We all agreed that moving would be a lot easier if we could take some of our friends with us. Our little group is so eclectic and strange, it's just really hard for us to find like-minded people. So, who knows what will come of this. I've already accepted that I will have to deal with snow where ever I end up and while that would suck, if my quality of living is that much better, so be it. I've just about finished all my downtime writing for Kayley for the Aragon LARP. Surprisingly and rather happily, I don't have as much to do as I had previously. While I love attention, it's nice to be OUT of the spotlight, too. Those lights get pretty hot sometimes. Reading Johanna's journal, I'm not surprised to hear people complaining about "Favorites" in Aragon. At the beginning, the main plotline dealt with the Tremere and there were mutterings about favorites against me and James. Now, it looks like it is dealing with a couple of other players in a more political and mundane fashion. To me, this is expected and liked. Not everyone can be the star all the time. (And in this game, you don't want to be the star all the time. That means the GMs are having a ball, fucking with your character - both a good and bad thing. Best in short doses.) I think the biggest reason certain characters get the spotlight is because the players give the GMs enough of a back history to play with. It can be really hard to think up things for characters when they don't give you any ideas to think about and screw with. It's even harder to think up something that all involved would enjoy. Me? I'm happily taking the breather and figuring out my own little plotlines. At least, until the GMs suddenly remember I'm there again. A friend of Johanna's sent her a few pictures and leaves from back East of the Autumn leaves. Wow. They were stunning. I forgot how beautiful the East Coast was in the fall. *sigh* It actually made me wish I was back there now.
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| November 5
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| November 6
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| November 7 Iridium Flares
Dreamlines... Tom - At a party hosted at my house, I discover that my anonymous BDSM partner from a few weeks ago is not all that anonymous... much to my pleasure. Also, I realized that I didn't let you all know about a dream I had back in October. It definitely was a very surreal dream. Running of the Deer - After graduating from a magic military school, I find out that I am targeted for elimination. However, my friend Dave just isn't having any of that. Things get more than a bit hairy.
The Written Word... Also, I finally got my review of Clanbook Gangrel done. It was a decent, well-written clanbook. However, I had a really hard time turning out 500 words of a good review. I'm not sure why. But, I got it done. Just waiting to hear back from the editor on what he thinks of both pieces I've turned in. Finally, I knocked out another "Dear Jane" letter for my Kayley site. This was a lot easier to do. I just had to figure out what to put in there and what to skip over. Some stuff is just a wee bit too interesting in an IC sense and I'd rather leave that under my hat for the moment.
The Stars Above... I was heading home last night when I saw 5 of my co-workers staring up at the twilight sky around 5:25pm. Pavel and David, two of the principle architects, quickly explained what they were doing, why and gave me a brief history on the Iridium satellite system. Then, we all watched the sky. Suddenly, there it was! A brief 5-10 second flare in the sky. It was so neat! I could even make out the solar panels of the satellite. It was very cool. (And I'll admit, if I hadn't known what it was, I might have thought ET was going home or something silly like that.) The web has several interesting sites about the Iridium flares, when to see that and if you missed, a site of videos of Iridium flares. Neato-keen!
Current Events... (Waits for the gasps of the patriotic self-righteous voters to die down.) Did I vote? Yes. Absentee ballot, baby! I voted last month. *hehehehe* In all seriousness, I didn't want to deal with the polls with my crutches.
Going Meta... Today, I was lucky. I hit on an amazing journal of a woman in Utah. Her name is Sari (rhymes with Mary). Her journal is Phoenix Rising. Go read it. You'll be glad you did.
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| November 8
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| November 9
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| November 10
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| November 11
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| November 12
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| November 13 Fat Silicon Valley I know. It's been a while since I wrote. But I've been busy. Sorta. You know. Playing Marrach and working lots. Last week Thursday, my boss took our department out to lunch as a "You've been doing a great job, let's keep it up" reward. We went to Scott's Seafood and Grill in Palo Alto. This restaurant is a perfect example of how 'fat' Silicon Valley has gotten on the technological market. It was a nice enough place. Busy, too. But what had me hyperventilating where the prices of a meal. I wasn't paying for this meal and I utterly freaked out over how expensive this nice-but-not-THAT-nice restaurant was. The -cheapest- menu item was the hamburger at $12. There was only one choice there. Most of the meals where $22 or $28 entrees of steak or seafood. This doesn't include the $6 salad/soup if you order it. Nor does it include the $2 soda or $5 glass of wine. Nor does it include the $6 dessert. So, let's say your average person gets a $28 entree, a $2 soda and a $6 appetizer OR dessert. That's a $36 meal that doesn't include tax or tip. So, we are looking at a MINIMUM of a $40 meal. For lunch... and this place was -packed-! That's outrageous! My inner miser was dying. Don't get me started on the $50 steak and lobster entree. I had to make sure that it was actually going to be my company paying for this meal instead of my boss before I could force myself to order. I mean, $40 per person for 9 people? I just couldn't bring myself to do it if it was going to be personal expense. Fortunately, my boss was going to expense it. So, I had a fairly tasty meal (the steak was bland) and amused my co-workers with my reactions. On the gaming front, life is good. In Marrach, I was going to start helping out Lisa with building items and acting sort of as an unpaid assistant but we had to put that on hold for the moment because of the huge class action lawsuit going on about volunteer cyber guides - you know, those people who act as moderators of newsgroups and chatrooms for AOL or Guides for Diablo and EverQuest? The result of this lawsuit could turn the cyber world on its collective ear. Since neither Lisa nor I wanted to get muddled into legal stuff, I'm going to have to wait until either her CEO can think of a legal way to let me help out or until the lawsuit verdict is passed. In Aragon, things are starting to heat up again. Kayley has finally hooked up with Corianna (JenB's character) and the two women have started hatching a plot to subtly take control of the domain - without inciting a riot or a rebellion. Discretion is the name of the game. On the other (more amusing) hand, after that long discussion with Corianna, Kayley has decided that she needs to go research BDSM and pornography. She thinks she's jaded, commenting to herself "If it's kinky sex the Prince wants... if he turns towards me, kinky sex is what he'll get." Unfortunately for Kayley... she's not nearly as jaded as she thinks. And in the muse this month... another new poem based on something that happened in Marrach. It's called: Metal On Metal.
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| November 14
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| November 15
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| November 16 Guilty GM Feeling I am feeling mildly guilty right now. In Marrach, I play a couple of characters: Elea, Sara and Duvessa. Duvessa was born to die. The whole point of me playing this character was for her to become well known and then to die during a magic ritual that all potential apprentice mages must go through. It's part of the whole "Magic is dangerous" lesson that I've been helping Serista/Lisa with. Since the chances of dying during this ritual are actually very slight we really did not want to kill off a PC. So, Duvessa was born. Now, I'm afraid my plan to make Duvessa well known and liked (or hated... seems to be one or the other with this bold, brash, brazen character) has worked perhaps a bit TOO well. She's involved in a romance. She's become good friends with some key players and she is generally looked to as a good lass. Saturday, she dies a rather horrible, gruesome death of her soul as it is ripped asunder by the painful, dangerous and difficult Binding ritual. We're rigging it so that -everyone- who is awake in the Castle at the time feels Duvessa's death. They won't understand what happened but they will know that whatever it was... it was a BADTHING. Granted, I've already tossed in the plotline that one of those newly awakened that day will get a piece of Duvessa's soul in them... which promises to make for some interesting role playing in the future... Still. Duvessa will be no more. I'm wondering just how badly this is going to affect the playership. *Evil GM chuckle* Ah, well. This should make for some fine role playing. Too bad I'm going to miss most of it while I'm in NC for Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm already starting to wonder what's going to happen. I recently had a conversation with my mom that did not bode well. Basically, I found out that she voted for Bush (figures) and she found out that I voted for Gore. Yes, time to brush up on my family rules:
1. Do not discuss politics. Really, I don't think it will be bad at all if I stick to the above rules. Besides, I'll be meeting my niece Mandy for the first time and re-meeting my niece Emily. Those two little girls should be a joy. Though, I think Mandy will spend most of her time sleeping and eating. You know, what little babies do. Emily, who is now three, sounds rather rambuntcious. I can't wait! I picked up some Blue's Clues for her. And, because people have been asking me due to my impending 30th birthday, followed by Christmas... I've updated my Amazon Wishlist. Usually, I keep that around just to remind me of the DVDs I want, but I've gone back and added books and music, too. Which reminds me. I desperately need a DVD rack to hold all of my DVDs. My den is such a mess. This weekend, I'll be revising my 7th Sea Die Kreuzritter and Clanbook Gangrel articles for Don for Black Gate magazine, issue 2. Because I've done so well in it, I've now introduced Johanna and Dave to Don via email because I think both of them could do some kick ass gaming reviews, too. Oh, in other news, Donna finally raised my rent after 3 1/2 years of living here. A whole 20%. Now, if I had a normal CA rent, I would be gasping and pouting and dying. But, as I have told you before, I'm spoiled rotten here and that 20% is fair. Donna just wanted a little more to cover inflation. It's a good thing we like living together so much. We suit each other well.
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| November 17
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| November 18
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| November 19
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| November 20
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| November 21 Once More into the Breach Tuesday morning, 7:44am and I'm running around packing. I'm almost done as I knew I would be. I deliberately left myself a couple of things to do this morning. I'm not sure why. Maybe to keep myself from thinking dark thoughts about a supposedly good time of the year. Too late. Ah, well. Seems I've trained myself too well in the fine art of multitasking. Can't stop myself from thinking as I fold clothing and pack my bag. I'm sure I'll fine some serenity while balancing my checkbook.... Is that pathetic or what? I'm almost 30 and I'm dreading going 'home' for Thanksgiving. I was the good sister and bought my brother a plane ticket so we could fly in and out together. It's much easier on my parents that way... and, all things considered, me as well with the crutches and all. I supposed that's one good bit of karma. Now, if I can just get over the fear of my brother jabbering at me non-stop for the 6 hours of the flight, I might not feel like I'm about to go to war. Don't get my wrong. I really do love my family. A lot. (If I didn't, I wouldn't be making the effort now.) I guess I'm still burned on that Thanksgiving we had 2 years ago that desolved into a screaming match between my father and my brother and left me crying hysterically. I actually do have a lot to look forward to. Namely, Emily and Amanda. My nieces are 6 months and 3 years old. Both adorable. Both of whom I'm excited about seeing either for the first time (Mandy) or for the third time (Emmy). Also, my parents and I have gotten closer as we've gotten older. Particularly me and my mom. Definitely a good thing. So, I do have good things to counteract the bad (PMS, nervous about fly, my brother, etc...) for the holiday. So, I hope everyone - including me - has a good one! See you in a week or so.
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| November 22 The Trip, part 1 & 2 - Arrival & Meeting My Nieces
Tuesday, the 21st On the airplane, for the most part, we both slept. We talked a little about him and church and what he's going to do with his life after he finishes Electrician's school. Most likely, he is going to become an inspector. He has pondered going into missionary work. I support him in his decision. If nothing else, church has given my brother a sense of self-worth he has never had before. In a way, this surprised me. It seems that much of his arrogance and need to be right stemmed from a sense of inadequacy. Another 'interesting' revelation came when I asked Scott about Chris, my ex-boyfriend and mentioned the email I had gotten back in August or September. I can't remember when. The email that I was so amazed at. The one telling me how much he loved being married, how well Tristan was doing and wanted to know about me - and did I have anyone special now. I asked Scott how Chris was doing and how annoyed I was to have him write to me, have me respond and then have him not write me after that. Scott was surprised and suspicious because Chris and his wife were/are NOT doing well. Especially during that time period and was particularly suspicious of the way the email was signed. It is his opinion that that email did not come from Chris but actually came from Chris' wife. Who knows why. Maybe she is still thinking that Chris and I are having an affair even though I have seen him only ONCE since they have been married. I will be sending my brother a copy of the email and my response. Scott is going to ask Chris if he's emailed me in the last couple of months. At this point, I want to know for two reasons: First, to know if it was or was not Chris who wrote me and second, if it wasn't him, to let Chris know his wife is using his email account like that... if it was him, why the heck he bothered to email me in the first place and not respond again. The RDU airport is small but nice. My father was there to pick me and my brother up. I hate to admit this, but Dad has gained so much weight (combined with shaving his beard) that I did not even recognize him until he smiled at me from 5 feet away. My mom, on the other hand, has lost 36 pounds in the last months. She said she has two sets of weight routines: one called Emmy and one called Mandy. The one thing I will say about this place is while it is REALLY, REALLY pretty... it is SO FREAKIN' COLD! It was something like 28 degrees when we got off the plane. So cold that there was black ice on the pavement. (For those of you who don't know what black ice is... it looks wet like water but is frozen ice.) If it wasn't for the nice Captain standing there, warning me of the black ice... I would have been face down on the pavement. Not a pretty sight. In any case. I'm here. I'm safe. My parent's house is stunning. They have the BIGGEST backyard! Something like 1/3 of acre. It's just amazing to see so much space in-between these lovely brick ranch houses. It's really a lovely place. Wednesday, the 22nd I met my niece Amanda today. Oh. My. Gosh. That little girl is going to be one heck of a heartbreaker! She is the sweetest, most good natured baby I have seen in a long time. Mandy got a little confused by me at first because I had glasses like Grammy and a voice like Mom. She was OK when Mom would give her to me but would get confused when Grammy would give her to me. Finally, she got used to Auntie Jenn and we had a grand time. However, she did christen me -good- by barfing all over my new sweater. Ah, well. What's a baby without drool and spit up. Emily is growing like a little weed! She's so cute and talkative. I can't believe she's only 3. She's such a big kid. Shannon makes sure she is one well behaved girl, too. She minds her manners... most of the time and obeys on the first command... most of the time. Hyperactive, too. She wore out Scott, playing in the back yard. As much as I like this place, location-wise, I couldn't live here. I just couldn't. It is very religious. Shannon went to see the financial guy, too. She liked him a lot and called her husband about him. One of the things I heard her comment on the phone was, "... oh, yes. He's a Christian..." That is a comment I've heard from my parents several times. "He's a Christian" so we'll do business with him. It smacks too much of "She's not a Christian... burn her!" *shudder* No thanks. Their idea of "freedom of religion" seems to be "freedom of religion as long as it is some brand of Xitianity." I'm also in the heart of a Bush/Cheney area. My family have been nattering on about what an evil man Gore is and how horrible it would be to have him in the Washington, how he's a murdering baby killer, etc... Very not nice things. Throughout these discussions, I remain quiet for the most part, only commenting on the non-partisan issues. Still, this whole political thing has my family acting pretty rabid. On an amusing note, my brother-in-law had a creative way to express his displeasure at the Gore Liebermann ticket. That was to create a sign to post in his car that said: Sore Losermann 2000. I know he didn't and still doesn't realize I voted for Gore but I find it amusing none-the-less.
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| November 23 The Trip, part 3 - Thanksgiving Thanksgiving was awesome for me. I was over at my sister's house and experienced a new level of jealousy concerning owning a house. My sister has a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 3 level (first, second and full attic), 2 car garage house on about a 1/2 acre lot. She bought this house about 2 years ago for ... $153,000. *faint* *thud* She is scandalized that they are selling the other comparable houses in the neighborhood for $173K now. *Stop myself from throttling someone* *sigh* I actually started pondering living here and working at Research Park. Then, I came reluctantly back to my senses. There are a lot of reasons I couldn't live here... In any case, Shannon is slowly, but surely redoing each room of her house to her specifications - painting, furniture, etc. She's only done three rooms so far due to working, her two children and getting sick. Her latest illness - Vertigo. It's a real illness. I was surprised. It's a viral infection in the ear that throws off her balance, makes her dizzy and occasionally violently ill. This is what she got instead of the flu. Anyway. Thanksgiving was great. We are at Shannon's house with Mom, Dad, Scott, Shannon, John, Emily, Amanda, Mark and Carol. Mark and Carol, my sister's husband's parents brought homemade pies, while Shannon baked a peanut butter-chocolate cake from scratch that was heaven sent. The cake was supposed to be a surprise for Scott, Carol and I because all of our birthdays are within 2 weeks of Thanksgiving. However, there are no secrets with a three year old in the house. Emmy blurted it out to me several times to make sure I heard. We spent the day eating goodies, talking, playing with babies and watching football. Dinner was an incredible spread of ham, barbequed turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, home made gravy and fresh baked rolls. Desert (much, much later) included a glass of champagne, fresh homemade blueberry pie, fresh homemade apple pie, fresh homemade pumpkin pie, fresh homemade cake and/or spumoni ice-cream. Since I ate conservatively most of the day and at dinner, I tried both Shannon's cake and Carol's apple pie. *mmmMMMmmm-mmmm!* We rounded out the evening by waddling home to my parents place (less than 10 minutes from Shannon's place) to sit in the living room, listening to music and talking. It was an amazingly good, almost "Beaver-Cleaver" holiday. I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to similar holidays in the future.
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| November 24
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| November 25 The Trip part 4 & 5 - Family Pictures & Coming Home
Friday, the 24th The family pictures took a bit longer than normal because Emily was being self conscious. She is very sensitive about her looks and prone to bouts of 'mean face' - which she did at the studio. Of course, it did not help that the girl taking the pictures had "never done a family this big before." So, everyone was tired and a bit crabby. Once we got out of there, I crashed hard for a couple of hours, having weird dreams about helicopters and my friend Howard. Mom got me up when Shannon, John, Carol, Mark and the kids arrived to watch the "Left Behind" movie. They brought all of the desserts from the previous day, too. And, of course, no Thanksgiving is complete without SOMETHING going haywire. Dad wanted Scott to fix something under the sink, which turned into one heck of an annoying project that was making both Dad and Scott pissy. They worked on it during and after the movie. It wasn't done by the time we were supposed to go to dinner - which made Shannon a bit uptight since she was tired and not feeling well. Dinner at Ten Ten wasn't too bad. I got to sit next to my Angel Baby, Mandy and got to sing to her when Momma got herself something to eat. After dinner, we all said our good-byes. Shannon was upset that our visit had been so short. I gave her a hug and told her I would talk to her soon. Scott tackled the rest of the project and swore to mom he would get it done before we left the next day - which is exactly what he did, once Dad sat down to snooze and chat in his chair. Mom was a little upset about us leaving so soon but had to admit, we didn't wear out our welcome ... which is exactly what I planned.
Saturday, the 25th Unfortunately, this one was a little more crowded than the last one, but, as before, I spent most of the trip blissfully sleeping. The only snag in the flight was the 15 minute delay, sitting on the tarmac, waiting for a terminal to open up so we could debark. San Jose was a mess. Some fog delayed a number of planes from taking off or landing. It was SO packed that people refused to make way for me and my crutches. I was forced to stand on the side lines for a while so I could get enough room to maneuver. Then... there was the 45 minute wait for a taxi. But, I made it home safe and sound and I'm really happy about that. Tonight is an Aragon game. I am going to go to it. I just don't know how intelligent I'm going to be.
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| November 26
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| November 27
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| November 28 Scattered All Over the Place Man, getting back into the swing of things is hard. Especially on a Monday morning. Traffic wasn't too bad this morning but it was enough to remind me why I hate commuting. Much of my commute time was spent in a daydream of either working in Fremont or not working at all. Well, not working a 9-5 type job. More working on my writing - Creating my own world to write in and such. Actually, now that I think about it, my mind was all over the place, scattered between my writing, my LARPing and my gaming. Thoughts on making sure I finish my Clanbook Gangrel article for Black Gate. Thoughts on the magic system in Marrach and how I need to email Lisa about what's happened in the last week and what's supposed to happen in the upcoming weeks. And all sorts of thoughts for Aragon. Saturday was a good game. I think I was a little punch drunk by the end of it because I had been up for over 24 hours. The theme of "Games of Chance" and betting anything BUT money was an interesting one. However, the fact is, I did no betting at all. I was too busy running my tail off advising the primogen, dodging the Monsignor, eavesdropping, watching the new people and verbally sparring with members of the court. However, this is not to say that I did not play any games. I played a few card games with a new Brujah - no bets though, played a bit of a game with the Prince... for every private question I asked him - he would answer honestly, but the cost was one evening out with him, my choice of venue. Not a bad gamble... I think. I now have seven dates to plan and some very -interesting- information about our dear Prince. Then, there was that intriguing game of "High Card Truth" - each got a card. High card got to ask a question of each in the game that must be answered truthfully. Talk about balancing your political career on the luck of the draw! I also gained some interesting things as payment for my services. From a Gangrel, he promised me a new discipline as payment for researching something for him. From a Brujah, I have "an interesting occult artifact" coming in exchange for testing some blood for him. From a Ventrue, I have a major boon as payment for some very interesting information I discovered about him. From another Brujah, I have either information on the Monsignor or a boon coming for the information I've discovered about him. I will admit that I'm walking a fine line between the leadership of the court and the rest of the courtiers. I am too useful to get rid of but too dangerous to really trust. It's rather like tap dancing on thin ice. Very dangerous and very intriguing. I think I like it. *grin* Fear can be thrilling. I have to decide what to do about Pryia. She called to start up car pooling again. I gave her a lame excuse about having to work some strange hours this week, so I couldn't carpool. I'm not sure what to do. A carpool would be useful, but I hate her schedule and I hate the way she drives. But, do I have the right to tell her if we carpool, we go on my schedule and I drive? Shoot. Decisions, decisions. Saw the doctor about my knee today. Good news! Woo-hoo! He is very, very pleased with my progress. So much so that I am now supposed to 'ween' myself off my crutches over the next week or so and be walking completely on my own within 2 weeks! YEAH! What a great birthday present. Doc has prescribed something for the swelling in my ankles and knees and has told me to walk but not exercise until I see him next, after the new year. Mostly because I now have arthritis in both knees and he didn't want me to over stress my healing knee Ah, well. A perfect time to start working out again.
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| November 29
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| November 30
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Continue on to: December 2000
(Created by JLB)