Contrary to what one might think from reading this here blog the past couple of weeks (months?), I do have a life. An active life even, with actual stuff going on. Like... Easter weekend, and then the Pope dying, and my friend's dad committing suicide, and going home for that funeral. Tons of thoughts on all of those subjects which I may or may not ever actually get down. I got a raise at work, which is enabling me to bump my car payment from $300 to $450, as well as sock away money for a vacation to Tybee next winter, as well as emergency financial crises that have come up. Joe and I went to the dentist for the first time in years. We both had cavities. Professor Joe got a job teaching a course this summer and fall at Trocaire College. I went to Kohl's grand opening and bought a new shirt for free. Our new Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) was elected, much to the joy of faithful Catholics everywhere. Joe saw the white smoke and the announcement live, but I was at work and missed the whole thing (and was very disappointed). That same day was the end of this year's RCIA, the special Mass for just candidates and team and their families. This year we had our seminarian Jeff play the guitar and lead us in music, and it's up there among the most emotion-filled Masses I've ever attended. On Saturday I stayed up all night and turned on the TV at 4AM Sunday morning to watch Pope Benedict's Inauguration Mass. Then of course I fell asleep and missed the entire thing. My microwave died, making it very inconvenient to cook any of the food I have lying around. Joe and I ate about 2 pounds of cookies in two days, and in the past week I have gained 5 pounds. I bought star stickers to put on my calendar to encourage myself to do stuff. It seems to be working, the calendar is covered in stickers now. A kid I used to babysit for got kicked out of college, but after hearing about the crazy girl he was seeing I think this might be a good thing for him. Joe and I have done lots of fun stuff, including a walk downtown and ice cream sundaes near Shea's, an Amerks hockey game, Chiavetta's chicken at church, walks around Hamburg, bowling with Sean and Emily, board game with Sean and Christina, Ultima VII (part 2!), random trips to Wal-Mart, watching 24 on Monday nights, and much general vegging, conversation, and enjoyment of one another's company. (And much making fun of The Hub, Rochester, and Erie County government.) Also, don't forget the day that I stopped by Bob Evans to leave a note on Joe's car, and he happened to be outside, so we got to spend an hour chatting about our honeymoon while he swept the dead leaves off the parking lot. I actually really enjoyed that day. Oh, and it should be specified that the aforementioned board game was Risk, which I played for the very first time yesterday, and I actually did reasonably well. Joe would have beat me if we played till the end, but we quit after 3 1/2 hours, and the other two people in the game had been pretty well crushed by the two of us. So I was pretty impressed with myself, although I found out what it's like to be playing against "General Joe" and I didn't really like that feeling much. You definitely want him on your side. ;)
As to reasons why I haven't been updating the blog lately:
1. I used to blog while I was at work, when I worked at BuffNET. At my new job (which really isn't that new anymore) I don't feel right about doing that. Maybe something to do with the fact that I actually have work to do. Maybe also something to do with the fact that they log all your web activity.
2. I spent a couple of weekends working on these:
They took probably 8 hours each and were for an avatar contest on my board (we were supposed to make avatars for the board admins and mods). Until today I was the only entrant, not that I particularly care if I win but it might be neat.
3. My remaining weekend hours are of course wasted on The Sims 2 (now that Lent is over and I can play again!). Last week I discovered the testing cheats, which allowed me to snag an NPC teen, grow him into an adult, and marry him off to my sister. They now have a baby. Molly and Grant have two kids and one on the way. Unfortunately for them, they were the first Sims I created in the game, meaning I went nuts with all the face-shaping features in Create-a-Sim, and while they came out looking decent, their kids, unfortunately, are rather malformed. Apparently the "sim-DNA" doesn't always translate well into graphics. (Obviously this is a game and does not mirror real life, people. Anyone who has seen their gorgeous baby knows that!) Joe and I, of course, live in a lovely 5-bedroom, 3-bath, custom-designed house with our sim-children (all of whom are clones with identical personalities, not sure what's up with that). So far we've had 7 children, although tragically the eldest one died while out on a date (apparently they eat at school, and they eat at work, but they don't eat on dates). She's buried in the backyard and is now haunting us, stealing food from the fridge and scaring the rest of the family such that they keep wetting themselves. We're left with 6 living in the house: a teen girl, teen boy, child boy, toddler boy, and twin newborn girls (my first time getting twins in the game!). Can you tell I have way too much fun with this... why would I be blogging? :P
4. My non-working, non-Joe-working hours are naturally spent enjoying my sweet and wonderful boyfriend, whom I love, and who loves me, and from whom I have recently received such tokens of appreciation as: a flower from Bob Evans, and my very own budding spring tree branch. :)
I love my life.