I am taking a break from writing today, owing to how much of a mess I am.

Lately my left wrist, hand, and fingers have been bothering me -- not quite painful, but hovering on the threshold between discomfort and outright pain. I've made efforts to adjust my posture to deter further injury, but these efforts in turn have been absolute murder on my back and neck. Particularly my neck. Constant work leaves it tight and sore to a headache-inducing extreme, which is where it is right now. Ow.

Beyond that, I worked 7p Tuesday to 7a Wednesday. Tomorrow I will work 11a-7p, and Friday I work 7a to 7p. Needless to say, this has an effect on my sleep schedule not unlike banging very large dents into it with a sledgehammer. I rob myself of sleep to make myself sleep early... I won't get a full night's worth till the weekend. I can't possibly express how much I'm looking forward to it.

It looks like Turkey Day is going to be pretty sparse here. *I'm* bringing a pie, but it seems the majority of people working tomorrow are bitching about how they have no money, or no time, or can't cook. Barring some dramatic and unforeseen event, I probably will be eating turkey... sandwiches, brought from home. Oh well. I will get holiday pay and all that good stuff for this. My plan to heal my finances is tentatively on-track.

I'm tired. Overworked and tired. Oh well; next week I have only four hours of overtime, which means two 8 hour shifts, two 12 hours, and a four. Now if only I wasn't doing overnights next weekend...

Hmm. I forgot it was Labor Day today.

I mean, it doesn't actually affect me. I still have to go to work and everything, it's a normal day for me. Why should I remember?

Oh well. Gives me a good thing to hit the credit card company with. "Glad your day off is more important to you than my money and fixing your mistake."

I can't even cancel Christmas this year. Dammit.

I can't do a retrospective of the past year, really.

All I can do is an introspective of me.

I'm thinking.

(Don't let me slack on this one.)

Christmas Haul:

A three-shoot bamboo plant.
A toolkit full of tools. And heavy.
A box full of junk food.
$25.
The four "Enchanted Forest Chronicles" books, and a journal.
NeoValkyrie.

Merry Christmas.

I went to bed at 1:30, woke up at 9:30. Eight hours of sleep, right? But my body was still saying, "Tired, sleep more, fool!" so I rolled over and went back to sleep, figuring that'd go for one more hour or so.

Well, here I am. I should have dragged my butt out of bed when I first woke up, because that was three hours I'd like to have back. It's not like I have to go anywhere or do anything today -- no work, no social plans (as usual!), just a few hours of killing time before I have to go to bed to get up for work tomorrow.

My parents insist on coming up to help me buy a new car, but don't know when they're gonna get up here. Go figure. I HOPE it's soon, because I really can't take much of this.

I'm going to have a Turkey Day dinner at some point in November. I've already got an RSVP from cyfis - anyone else want to come? I'll actually be using a precooked ham to avoid last year's turkey fiasco...

Ever think you can't get through a day without having everything reminding you of what a failure you are and continue to be? Ugh.

I and tigephoenix are still alive. More updates soon I swear.

Happy New Year.

My family -- my mother, my stepfather, and my sister -- came into town today. They brought a lot of stuff, both mine -- all my 2nd edition D&D stuff! -- and new -- Christmas decorations like mad! I'm getting all my packages for out-of-town family taken care of, so that's cool.

We went to Sam's Club (they do have a card, tigerphoenix, but we need to go back anyway. ;) ), and Red Lobster. I'm so full of shrimp it's not funny.

It's cool to see them and all, but yet... stressful. I'm so accustomed to being on my own that when I have to deal with people like my family, it's just rough on me.

I miss my tigerphoenix desperately, and I'm so looking forward to her visit. Similarly, I miss cyfis and siliconrose. And to all of you who I've never met... well, I miss you too. I hope someday we all have the opportunity to see each other in person.

My other Christmas wish, of course, is that my upstairs neighbor is noisy all night -- so I can get that bitch booted out.

Sentimental dragon.

My boss called around 12:30 to try to get me to come in to work today! Nuh-uh, I said; I've got people coming over and a turkey in the oven. Both were slight exaggerations, but I've been looking forward to this dinner for weeks; it ain't getting taken away now.

And I do have a turkey in the oven. Mmmmmmm. Another hour, admittedly, before it's done... then stuffing, veggies, and so forth to be made. Well, yum, I say. I'm so hungry. I'm looking forward to this.

Happy Turkey Day. ^.^

I'm working today (not that I'll actually be doing much!), so my Turkey Day food is tomorrow. In keeping with that fact, and owing to a large degree of inherent perverseness, I'll be celebrating it tomorrow.

But happy Thanksgiving to all the rest of you.

I'm having a hard time writing this.

Right now I don't have too much to be thankful for. My finances are in the hole, and I may lose my job at housing soon if my boss quits. The bottom fell out of the job market just as I was going to enter it -- and I don't have that many marketable skills anyway. I need a place to live, a car -- a lot of stuff that just doesn't seem to be materializing.

The future is dark. Every day it draws closer, and I don't know if I can face it.

But I do have things to be thankful for.

I have the most wonderful girlfriend in the world. I love you, dear, and I hope you have a good Turkey Day. I'll be thinking of you.

I have the two greatest friends any dragon could ask for. You two have a good break, too! We'll watch Shrek when I get back. (I have the Utena theme stuck in my head. I hate you. :D )

I have a lot of other people out there, too, who I like and who I'm thankful for. If you're reading this, you're probably one of them!

Dragon's going home for break. Wish me luck -- I have to meet my mother's new boyfriend, pump my mother for cash, and write half a movie. On the upside my old high school friends'll be there. We'll get together. It'll be fun.

Take care, and happy Turkey Day.

The bus trip home was fairly benign. I astound myself, the way I'm so antisocial. I rode a bus and walked over ten blocks next to someone going to the Greyhound terminal, same as I was, and didn't say a word to 'em. And here I sit, wondering why I have so few friends.

I arrive home to discover that my family was actually there on time to pick me up -- miracle! It seems my mother has finally decided to give up smoking. This is something we children have pestered her about for years.

Of course, she isn't doing it for us. She's doing it so it won't screw up her cosmetic surgery in a couple months. Aaaaaaaargh.

Most of the vacation, however, consisted of ROLE-PLAYING! ROLE-PLAYING! ROLE-PLAYING! YAAAAAAAY!

The Alternity Game:
The Alternity game starred me and Pete; I was the genius Academy dropout with a knack for technology; he was the alien diplomat, famous and adored. By the end of the game we had captured a military vehicle and a ship that had tried to take the vehicle from us. Good stuff, but it was quickly lost to...

NATE'S 3rd Edition D&D GAME!

Our first 3rd Edition experience! Quite frankly, I was skeptical about 3rd Edition, but I have to give it credit -- fun and simple! I played Vargas, a larger-than-life rogue with a deafening laugh and a swagger. The other players, both idiots, insisted constantly he was gay. Gah.

DRAGON'S ILL-PLANNED, CURRENTLY-DENIED GAME

Oh, god. ::cries::

DRAGON'S THIRD EDITION GAME

After I swore I would never run another game again, they made me run this one. Within thirty minutes, the paladin pushed the wizard to his death. I renewed my vow to never run a game for these people again.

Christmas was really kind of blah. I got more clothes than anything else. My grandfather sent my sister $50, and me nothing... My father sent nothing. Lucky I had absolutely no expectations of anything better.

New Year's consisted solely of me demonstrating how well I could use Pikachu in Super Smash Brothers. Pikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

And here I am. :D

Any questions?

I'm gone for winter break, folks.

Don't expect much in the way of posts or comments from me. :D

Happy holidays, everybody!