So...Friday, I got home from work near the depths of despair, because a project I was working on had gone all sorts of wrong...I'm not an experienced carpenter, by any means, but I've done enough construction and set work to feel competent, at least...but several little things all compounded on each other and things were all out of kilter, and I felt totally defeated by it all.

Went home, vegged out in front of a few episodes of Doctor Who...and things started clicking together in my head...understanding where the problems had happened, how things had gotten so far off.  And understanding that it was just little stuff...a missed detail here, trying the wrong thing to correct for it there...I felt better.

I went to bed that night, still feeling a bit down, but at least not feeling like I'd totally failed.  And, sometime during the night, my brain kept chewing on those little errors.  I woke up knowing how to fix almost all of them.  Spent Monday correcting those errors...and all those little fixes that came to mind while I was sleeping did the trick.  There were still a few more errors that I couldn't bring myself to worry about when the rest of things were so out of whack, but with the big stuff straightened out, I went back to work yesterday, and spent a few more hours making a series of little fixes here and there.

And today, I painted.  And it works.  Works even better than I'd expected.  This was a project I wanted to do last year at this time (well...around this time. We didn't realize, a year ago, that we'd need this done.)  Our purchasing department kept bungling the purchase requests...they didn't order the lumber for months, and then they didn't order the hardware to go with it...it took them months longer to order the hardware, and by then all the lumber they'd ordered had been used on other projects, so we had to order it again.  Seriously, I started drawing up plans for this right around the end of April last year.

But it's a year later.  And the project is done.  And it's even better than I thought it would be.  And part of me just wants to bust a gut with pride over getting it done at all.

It's been a good week.

My daughters got to spend the last five days in Washington DC on vacation with their grandmother and cousins, visiting their uncle and his daughter.  I was talking to my mother this morning about their vacation and how everything was going.

My brother took all 5 kids out sight seeing on Saturday, and they had a blast.  They went shopping and were licking national monuments but had fun doing it, lol.  They'll be home tomorrow night and I cant wait to see the pictures of their trip and to hear their stories. ^_^

NOTE: NOT A POLITICAL COMMENTARY! CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! TALKING POLITICS WILL GET YOU BOOTED, THIS IS JUST AN OFFICE PRANK!

A co-worker of mine is very much a supporter of Hillary Clinton. He's with Her. He is also on vacation for a week.

In that week's time I have collected pledges from other co-workers to Make His Cubicle Great Again! I am decorating it with Trump swag, Trump posters, Trump hats, Trump books. And the pièce de résistance: A lifesized cardboard cut out of Donald Trump (with his red hat) to stand in his cubicle.

I've also created a giant 3' x 5' poster parody of the campaign slogan to Make His Cubicle Great Again

I may also use a bunch of left over balloons and streamers from a recent party, it will be a spectacle to behold!

In reply to praguepride (msg # 673):

You're my kind of practical joker =)

Regardless of persuasion/politics/whatever - this is the kind of stuff that makes me laugh.

My father, who can't stand any music made after 2006, despises Justin Bieber.

His previous office made it a game to try to hide Justin Bieber headshots around his office; under his computer, mini ones under the keyboard, etc.

*chuckle*

My old co-workers did that with Miley Cyrus...

Way back when, during the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, I was part of the wardrobe crew for the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.  My boss had a HUGE crush on Justin Timberlake (he was absolutely breathless about the prospect of maybe seeing N'Sync perform at the Medals Plaza during the Olympics).  So, one day, he brought in an N'Sync poster...and a calendar...and a couple of other pieces of memorabilia.

So, I had a little fun, with a magic marker and the sticky section of some post-it notes, and drew up little moustaches for all of them, that stuck flat to the poster, so it looked like they'd been drawn on until you got right up close.  Oh, you could feel the disturbance in the Force when he initially saw the poster...

And then he got a closer look and realized what it was and laughed.  A lot.

And made us promise, under threat of intense physical pain, to never do anything like that to his poster again.  *grin*

hiii.... anyone out there? I'm so bored. Someone tell me a story ;)

I got paid to spend four hours in a Mandalorian costume yesterday...just walk around at a couple of events and take pictures with people.  It was awesome...*grin*

I went to many different schools prior to graduating high school (16, not including the couple I sampled for only a day or two). Needless to say, academic programs didn't always mesh perfectly.

So, it was moderately satisfying to have my mother admit, when I was in my 30s, that she should have backed me up back in 4th grade, when the change to a new school resulted in being held back in English/reading.

Now, four times a year, I find it immensely satisfying to know I'm getting a little bit even for what the educational status quo did to me back then: I'm the editor of the quarterly newsletter for the high school at which I work. This means I get to edit grammar and punctuation for everyone, from the principals on down.

Considering I nearly flunked out of English in high school (that 4th grade incident adversely skewed my attitude toward school), this circumstance amuses the hell out of me. }:>
This message was last edited by the user at 17:06, Thu 12 May 2016.

The new Deadpool DVD commercial!

It's barely PG rated... and it's just a commercial!  ^_^

Finally sold our house.  And the buyers didn't want us to fix a thing.

Finally have an accepted offer in on another house (#3 in this year-long process, the other two sold out from under us).  We gave them a list of things to fix (mostly electrical things, GFCIs, getting outlets grounded, along with some venting) figuring we could bargain down to a couple things.  Instead they're fixing everything.

We're going to be moving into a house where the only things that need to be done are cosmetic, a house with the spaces, kitchen, bedrooms, and basement we've been wanting for a long time.

It's finally happening.

A new donut shop opened in town -- a little mom-and-pop place, not Kruddy Kreme -- and they have maple-bacon donuts!!  ^_^

In reply to Evil Empryss (msg # 682):

Im jealous.

I have not had really good donuts since Peanut Butter Angels were discontinued. ;-;

In reply to Evil Empryss (msg # 682):

I certainly agree with the Kruddy Kreme name. That's the worst donut chain I've ever tasted. On the other paw, bacon?? I know that savory donuts can be quite good - I used to have tuna & cheddar filled ones at work - but I just do not get this bacon fad going on.

And on the gripping paw, maple sounds delicious. The real thing, or artificial?
This message was last edited by the user at 15:01, Fri 13 May 2016.

Our local donut shop is also a gaming store (Dungeons and Donuts). They do 40k and other gaming-themed donuts. http://www.dungeonsanddonuts.net/

In reply to adrasteia1 (msg # 685):

I don't like donuts, but I'd go to that shop. It looks adorable and I bet it smells heavenly.

Sometimes it smells like gamers but yes, coffee and donuts. :) Mostly it just has a really great atmosphere. It can get super-packed, but when it's not, it's just relaxed. They have lots of board games, and card games and things to play there too.

So I added a new treasure to my "Retro" Video Game Museum this past week. It's weird to think of it as "Retro" since all the systems in my current collection are ones I grew up with, but I digress.

After taking the system completely apart, cleaning, refurbishing, repairing, all that good stuff, I plugged it in and it works BEAUTIFULLY considering that it's spent the last thirty-some years in an outdoor storage shed. One small problem, though (naturally). The two action buttons on the only controller don't work and online searching reveals that finding a replacement, sight unseen, will be modestly expensive. I paid $65 for the system as-is and a used controller is $50 easy, plus shipping. I started calling around to places in my local area and found ONE(!) place an hour away that has a controller for $15, plus a good size collection of games.

Looks like there'll be a minor road trip in my future. (On the bright side, the store that sells the controller ALSO has another treasure for sale that I've been hunting for since time immemorial).

My first 3D printer.

My cosplay game just stepped up a notch.  ^_^

So, a guy commissioned me to build a costume for him, for a Star Wars-themed corporate event (Max Rebo).  He'd been looking to hire someone else, because she does some really awesome work, but she told him she just didn't have time...and a friend of mine that was doing some other work for him threw my name out there...

Seeing as this was unlike anything else I've done before, I really had no idea how much to charge...so I poked around some of the local fabric stores (wanted to make sure I could find materials do even attempt it, before I said yes), figured out how much materials would be, roughly (at full retail...one place was going out of business and had everything marked down, and I had a 50% coupon for the other), and then doubled that...told him I'd need half, up front, for materials, and the other half when he got the costume...

He gave me the half, I built the costume, I dropped it off to him...since I was already working the same event (hired as a costumed character by someone he'd subcontracted for roaming characters), I just told him he could pay me after the event was over.  When we got done, I was ready to leave while he was still just starting to get all of his stuff loaded out, so I told him I'd give him my address and he could just mail me a check.  He said he wanted to pay me more than what we'd agreed on...I told him I wasn't expecting more, but if he wanted to, I wasn't going to argue...

And, so, when I got the final check for the project...

I basically got a 75% tip for doing the job and getting it done in a timely manner.  When the initial price tag is a few hundred dollars, and you're getting 75% ON TOP of that?

If he calls again, you better believe I'm gonna say, "Sure!  What do you need?"

I am sitting in an auditorium, listening to speeches, waiting for my firstborn to walk across the stage and receive her high school diploma.

Parenting Achievement 1 unlocked!

Now on to college and military service!  ^_^

Finally got our move done.  Figured out problems with our internet and AC and resolved them.  Still waiting on our contractor to take out some paneling and paint some rooms, but everything we can move in has been moved in.  Also, I have my basement game room set up, something I've been wanting to do for about as long as I knew my dad played D&D.  I have made a Magic Tavern in my basement, and nearly all of my fantasy art and medieval-esque game props are on display.  I went to Goodwill and found some tankards, wooden bowls, pottery platters, and a metal coat of arms for cheap.  I put up my oversized Faerun map on the walls, and put LED candles in all of my glass lanterns I've been collecting.  I even found printer block cases to put on my wall that will hold a good portion of my minis.

I have a dedicated game room.  DM ultimate physical achievement: Unlocked!

Hooray, it's moving day!.

And soon, I get my own basement to do the same as the prior poster.

This one could have gone either way...but I'm gonna call it a good thing...(if I wasn't on salary, it would definitely be a bad thing...)

Somebody managed to fry our sound board today, after the first show of the day.  And I mean, FRY...it will power up...but NONE of the functions work, we can't get the control screen to even light up, much less display any information, no sound through it...it's pretty thoroughly shot.  So, the rest of the shows for the day were cancelled.  Makes me happy, we were all hoping for another day off...the only people upset by this news were our managers, the park management, and a few of the patrons who'd come specifically to see the shows (I hope they went back to the Guest Services office to ask for refunds, like they were threatening to do...top management doesn't seem to accept the fact that people actually do come to the park just to see the entertainment, having someone demand their money back because there was no entertainment would kind of underscore the principle...)

In calling around, we learned that NOBODY in our area has this model of sound board available...nor do they even have something that has the same capabilities, apparently, because the earliest a replacement could get shipped in would be Wednesday.  Because it died on a Friday, nobody could send anyone to look at it and see if it can be repaired...so the best-case scenario on that is Monday.  And since a large group of my friends were getting together for a big party all day tomorrow (Saturday), and I'd been telling them I would have to miss it because of work...

Turns out, I won't be missing it, after all.  And I'll even have some downtime to spare to do some repairs and touch-ups on the set, before we get back to someone performing on it every day of the week.  I should probably feel a little bad that I don't feel at all bad about this happening...but I don't.

for years I've written my own material for my sci-fi campaigns.ships guns, locations. etc...I got serious about trying to put together some stuff to submit and evidently it was good enough to catch the eye of a publisher when I submitted it.

last year while i was working on a project I had trouble relating to the artist what I wanted a few things t look like. So I decided to set down and learn to do 3d Modeling, and CG renders of my ideas.

well then things went south for a bit, the publisher overloaded their plate with projects and canceled my project releasing my material back to me. but then suggested I self-publish it using a community content agreement.

For a while my art was not up to snuff, I mean some of it looks lame even to me. but I think I am getting the hang of it. Or at least close enough for people to take a liking to it...don't ask me I think most of it still looks lame.

But in the last week or so things have sort of happened at once. I have received some decent support and advice, and encouragement to go ahead and publish, on top of that I am now selling some of my art for that funny green stuff that everyone is so excited about. Enough to take my lady out to dinner with at least.

And now A local Gaming Shop has given me shelf space and is definitely behind selling my prints in the shop...for cash...

On top of that's I have an opportunity as an artist providing illustrations ( two opportunities actually)for a pretty successful product line... nothing major not like I'll ever be getting rich or famous..but it's kind of cool to know at least a few people think am able to do professional quality work.