Man, what a good day.

Breakfast with windbourne and then lazing about and napping in the afternoon; an impromptu gathering of however-many-people-we-can-reach-by-phone to go see Snakes on a Plane (which was entirely entertaining, even if retcon and capnexposition decided they were too cool to come along. Suck it, haters. :P).

Our time at the movie was made that much more entertaining by Arthur and his friend Patrick, who had thoughtfully brought along rubber snakes for everyone.

Then it was off to the Mercury for saffyre_dragon's birthday party, which was also greatly entertaining -- it seemed like practically everyone I knew was there, and there was much banter, drinking, and shirtlessness.

Also, Ahna was wearing an astonishingly cute (by which I mean hot) outfit, involving a cute li'l flippy black skirt (with crinoline!) and this shirt, which is truth in advertising exemplified. Couldn't keep my eyes off her.

Notice I never mentioned dinner. We kinda forgot. So now it's 3:30 in the morning, and we're having ridiculously cheap microwave dinners. Yaaay! Life is so good.

What have you got going on that's fun and exciting tonight, me droogies?


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edited to add: What I meant was, what have you got going on that I could do, too? (I'm occasionally astonished at how dreadfully literal I have to be with you people.)

Off to Portland for the weekend. Should hopefully be back soon enough to be at Allyson's party, assuming it goes on late enough. (Wait, did that make any sense?) So, yeah. Cheers!

.... And then the roller-coaster swings around, and my life goes back from suck to awesome. In no particular order:

• I've been doing a few days work here and there for Trace again, the same person I was working for last year, and he thinks he's going to have a lot more hours for me in the not-too-distant future, which is excellent.
• Had much fun at endorphan's birthday.
• Also had a very pleasant evening on bhaiku's birthday.
• The new car, a 1995 Subaru Impreza, is entirely awesome. I'm sure I'll miss my truck, but my new love is helping me get over it in a big, big hurry. It has such amazing luxury features as:
  
  • A driver's side door that closes all the way
  • A driver's side window that's not constantly slipping out of its track
  • A working interior dome light
  • Working A/C
  • A passenger's side seatbelt that works consistently
  • A tape player!
  • Reverse gear!
  It's also mad sexy.
  
• I should have a day job soon, to keep me eating between bouts of working for Trace, thanks to saheeb138. I have a second interview tomorrow at the copy center of the Office Max he works at, and that practically guarantees I have the job.
• Someone I don't even know emailed me out of the blue and asked if I'd do some freelance CGI work for them. I said yes, of course.
• imsosquare gave me the low-down on how to get cheap dental work. Thanks, sweetie!
• windbourne continues to be unimaginably awesome.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Olympia?"

I've been asked that a lot lately ....

Last week, I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning, so I came up to Seattle the night before. I wanted to see windbourne while I was in Seattle, natch, but I knew she was spending the day with briara, so I went up to Capitol Hill to kill some time.

While I was wandering around, I ran into Lars, and then devilpuppy and Richard, and then ran into helix90 and artvixn. These last two were on their way to dinner at the Noodle Studio, and asked me to join them, which I cheerfully did. After dinner, we went to a used music/video store, where Martin bought be four Doctor Who videos, just on a whim. I'm still boggling at that. Thanks, Martin!

Then we ran into retcon, and he and I wandered off to have coffee.

Later I met up with Ahna and Ri, and we went to Ahna's apartment to watch the new Doctor Who. ("Dalek," an episode I'd desperately been looking forward to. It was so good.)

The next day I got up way earlier than I wanted to, went to my appointment, and came home and crashed for a while. I had intended to pick up a prescription refill while I was in Seattle, but there they needed to reconfirm the prescription with my doctor or somesuch, and I knew from past experience that that would take a couple of days, so I made plans to come back to Seattle that weekend. I spent some more time with Ahna, and then headed back to Olympia, way later than I should have. That's a long drive when you're sleepy.

So I decided to come back into town on Saturday, so I could get my prescription and go to balzac's birthday dinner/Mercury outing. (There was also some talk of going to Rocky Horror, but we ended up just staying at the club.) I had a good time, even though I missed Ahna, who was in California on business.

Sunday morning, I head down to Des Moines to see my parents for Mother's Day, since it's on my way and all, and then back to Cheryl's house again. Ahna calls me Sunday night -- would I mind if she came over and stayed the night with me in Olympia? (Would I mind, she says.) Her ride back from California lives in Olympia, and it's getting late, so .... Not a problem, I tell her.

This means we were able to go to Chopsticks, my favorite restaurant in Olympia, and then go to the Danger Room, which Ahna agrees is pretty damn nifty. (And since it's a small world, one of her classmates from high school works there.) Then I took her home, and was able to catch up on Doctor Who again, and crashed on her couch. The next day was treebyleaf's birthday, so I picked her up and we went for a walk, and stopped by a new thrift store where I bought her some sandals she liked. Then I came back to Olympia once more.

So that's, let's see, three round trips -- that's an additional 438 miles on my poor aging truck, within the space of a week. Yikes.

Today company came to me, for a change. My old friends gwyneira and George, from Early Entrance Program days, live not terribly far away, and came to take me to lunch, along with their very-nearly-three-year-old son, Liam. Cute kid, perfectly charming and well-behaved for his age. He surprised me several times by actually paying attention to the conversation and remembering things that had been said earlier. (Which reminds me -- sorry, you two, once again, for inadvertantly teaching him to say "monkeyfucker." Thanks for coming by! *waves*)

That's a lot of company. Some sabbatical this has turned out to be. But even with all this jetsetting -- well, trucksetting -- I've still managed to get done everything on my sister's gardening/landscaping list, including the stuff she was sure I wouldn't get to. This is because I am the Captain of Team Awesome. I'll take pictures of the little wall I built, and post them when I get back.

Who needs a ride to my potluck? Who can give rides to my potluck? I know Max needs a ride from his place in Greenwood, and Ahna will need a ride from her work .... Who else?

After some debate, retcon and I have decided that the best relief for election-day jitters is going to see Team America: World Police tonight.

We're going to the Meridian 16 for their 9:20 pm showing. Won't you join us?

Sorry to the people who said they preferred Wednesday, but it looks like I'm going to Monday's show. (Mainly 'cause that's when retcon can make it, and he's one of the people I've really wanted to watch this with.) I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it.

(Now, who do I have to blow to get them to show Citizen Kane?)

Tonight is Voodoo Child: Mardi Gras at the Mercury. I'm planning on being there; you should, too.