Both shows are up and running or over and done...back down to just my regular gig at the park and the once-a-week bit at the movie theater.  Going to a friend's party tonight...it will be nice to get there and not have some nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "You should really be at home working on the show..."

SHOW'S DONE!!!  I'm gonna have some fun!

Just finished running one of the statistical analyses on Hubby's dissertation data and two of his hypotheses are supported by statistically significant results!  That's ambiguous academic talk that means two of the things he thought he would find, he found.  While he would get his doctorate whether he found anything or not, it's always nicer when your final work is supported by the data.  :)

And in case anyone's curious, he has found that people who are usually GMs have higher levels of self-efficacy than those who equally GMs and players and much higher than those who are typically just players.

Woo-HOO!

I am now one of the 1337 members of RPoL.

More RPoL stuff:

http://i42.tinypic.com/ezpxjo.jpg

...Okay, so it's not a REAL milestone in that it's not exactly 7.5 mil, but odds are i won't be online at the time that happens, given it can only be witnessed by raw chance.

Either way, congrats on 7.4 mil :P
This message was last edited by the user at 01:51, Mon 08 July 2013.

I finally have my own vehicle ^_^

Going back to my old tabletop group,  I'm kind nervous its been so long since i've seen them and I've changed so much in more ways than I can count.  I'm nervous but terribly excited to get back around the table.

My book is finally done!

Started out as vent and turned into a good stuff...

Took my wife and 12 year old boys to see Despicable me 2 (good movie if you're into that kind).  Son had surgery two weeks ago and is in full leg casts and uses a wheelchair to get around.  We need handicap parking or space to park.  No handicapped parking, so we put up our handicapped placard and took up two spots.

Left the movie to find some jerk had parked in one of the spots (leaving us 3" on the driver's) side and someone had legally parked on the other side, pretty much blocking us from getting in our car.  To make matters worse, they put a sign in our window "Teach you to take two parking spots."  Wife takes note to manager of movie theater and comes out crying.  End Vent.

Begin good stuff.  Manager calls local sheriff's deputy on duty at movie theater.  Deputy sees situation and is PISSED.  (His mom is disabled.)  He takes pictures, and calls a tow truck.  Jerk's car is towed.  Cop looks to see if there are any outstanding warrants or a revoked license (did I mention cop was pissed).  Cop is on duty at theater for several hours and is looking forward to meeting the person who will claim that their junker was stolen.  Theater manager gives us 4 comp tickets for next time at the theater.

Moral of the story - don't kick the idiots doors in when you are frustrated with them.  Let the local authorities do their job - they do a much better job of it than I ever could.

This could easily have been a rant, but, hey...I'll take the good slant on it...

So, the Powers That Be at work decided that our drummer isn't up high enough for the audience to see him.  I already had to build a small platform to extend that level of the stage, so there'd be room for the drum set--and I almost had to fight with my boss to get him to agree to have me build it.  He kept telling me to draw up plans and give them to the carpenters and have them build it (at a time of the season when we couldn't even get them to show up and install a door they'd already been booked to install for several months).  I finally just said, "Look, there is NO reason to give this to the carpenters...I can build this.  It's not that big, it's not that hard, and they're already overbooked as it is."

I must've done the job well, because when HIS boss decided another riser was needed for the drum set, there was apparently no talk about having the carpenters do it.  My boss called me and told me that we needed another 6" riser and I needed to figure out what supplies I needed to make it happen ASAP.  Got him the supplies list Tuesday night, he expedited the paperwork, we had the lumber arrive yesterday, and I started cutting stuff for it this afternoon.  If all goes well, I'll be painting it by tomorrow night.

Yeah, I know, it seems like a simple thing...but for several years, my biggest obstacle at work was getting the higher ups to realize that Wardrobe Manager was just a job I did, and there was a LOT more there to be taken into account.  The more diverse the variety of jobs they want me to tackle, the better my job security gets (I've had several people comment that, if they ever decided to get rid of me, they'd have to hire three people to cover all the different things I do for them...)  *grin*

This also follows on the heels of my successfully arguing with my boss about needing shelves in our new instrument storage area (he wanted to just have the musicians hang their instruments on wall hooks, because that's what he does with his) and having the band pretty much universally rave about how fast I put them in and how useful they are...and our tech supervisor and I also won the argument (sort of) about whether or not the instrument room should have AC overnight...couldn't get the boss to agree to leaving THAT particular AC unit running, but he did agree to the notion of propping the door open so the AC from the rest of the building could help keep that space climate-controlled.

It's frustrating to have to fight for every improvement that needs to be made, right out of the chute...but it's gratifying to have them start piling up to the point that, when the improvements come down from 'on high', I'm the first person they call to get it done.  (Now, I've just gotta live up to it...that's the tricky part...)

In arvel: Avengers Allience a bug in PvP season 9 gave me all the rewards, even the hero, Angel! And that was the season they nerfed my main combo, by makeig Rescue nowhere near as good as she'd used to be, and I hadn't even gotten into the place for the 2nd reward, let alone all. Yay glitches! And the company said we get to keep the stuff!

I've been thinking for years, "Man, I should take some pictures of some of the cool stuff that happens in these shows..."  And for the last several years, by the time things settle down enough for me to start worrying about bringing a camera to work and taking pictures, I'm sick of the show and don't want to sit through it long enough to take pictures.

FINALLY, this year, we have a show that doesn't have me bored to tears, with a cast that doesn't make me want to place-kick small mammals in frustration.  These guys are awesome...talented, fun to work with, (mostly) down to earth...dug out my camera (got it second-hand, with no manual, so every time I pull it out to start shooting something, there's a LOT of guesswork on my part), and started shooting some pics a few nights ago.

And I'll admit it...I've got some really good stuff.  Granted, there's a LOT of garbage between the really good shots, but I managed to sift through what I'd shot over the course of two or three nights and pick out thirty or so images that I didn't mind showing the general public...good clear focus, a relatively good spread of who's in the pics (even with a group like this, some are more photogenic than others and some of them just don't capture in a still image very well but are fascinating to watch in motion), visually interesting, and I feel like they capture a lot of the fun of the show.

I feel pretty pleased with myself...looks like I haven't quite forgotten everything I ever learned about photography just yet...

Just got around to replacing the window that got busted in my car back during the Thanksgiving Holiday (I've been driving all winter, spring, and thus far into summer with a homemade lamination job of clear shipping tape holding what was left of the window together).  Nice to find a place that was not only close to home and easy to find, but it was also affordable (my biggest consideration, right now) and the guys were extremely competent.  And nice.  I mean, I've been at places that had a 'you MUST wait in the waiting area' policy...but I was curious.  I wanted to see how it was done.  They let me watch.  And when I didn't ask questions or try and keep a line of small talk going or make noises like I wasn't sure if they knew what they were doing, they started talking to me, telling me what they were doing, asking me how long I'd had my car, etc etc...

Here's hoping I don't have to replace another window anytime soon...but if I do, I know where I'm going.

After a rather disturbing lying on the couch followed by a scared pee on my rug, my wonderful Louisiana mutt bolted out the door , completely disappearing into the night. My dog, Taylor, has been my constant and loyal companion, getting me through various jobs, bad relationships and doing wonderful clean-up on the floors whenever I cook.

I combed the neighborhood after she activated her cloaking device, driving up streets and usual haunts that she had. I even called the police and the next day I called and went to shelters, hearing the line that if there is only a collar, someone could have picked her up and there would be only the click of that collar standing between she being my dog and someone else's. At the pet shelter (if you sympathize with animals I suggest you DO NOT go to a shelter, puppies and great great dogs all behind chain link. Worst was a wheelbarrow of puppies which made me think of sick dead-baby jokes. Best advice I heard was to put the dog's bed, bowl, or toy on the front porch, they could smell that from very far away. This I did I put up posters, I talked to people. I decided that whether or not I found my dog, I could probably run for mayor.

I drove around one last time before the sun went down. When it did I plopped on my sofa and just looked out my porch window, turning at ever movement of leaf, bug or passerby. Then I saw her back, gone for almost 24 hours and just started eating- voraciously. I opened the door and she came in, drinking more water than I have ever seen her.

Behold my puppy came home, all on her own.

<Thank you>
Drop the chaff. Stop looking back and get on with the now.

Sound advice and perfect common sense.

Nice to have found someone I was able to confide in. It means a lot :)
</Thank you>
This message was last edited by the user at 00:15, Sat 27 July 2013.

Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning with the family for a fun filled camping trip.  Everything is all done and ready, just waiting for the new day to start.

See y'all in August ^_^

This could be a rant about being almost famous, but I'll take the more positive slant...

My friends' band is performing in Miami, tonight, at the wrap party for Burn Notice.  One of them posted something about it on FB, and I half-jokingly told him if he got a chance, to give Gabrielle Anwar a kiss for me.

He just let me know he did it.

I've got some awesome friends...*grin*

I passed my Oracle MySQL exams. Despite deciding otherwise, I'm thinking of giving the DBA exams a go.

I'm not going to let it overwhelm my time completely, so that might decrease my odds, but I need some time for me and other things I want to do. It's nice to have the choice.

Congratulations.  :)

I was nervous with this upcoming Halloween season...I've lost a third of my makeup crew (one moved to California, the other is moving to Indiana to go to grad school), and I'm always nervous about looking for new makeup artists, because what we do is actually fairly uncommon in this area, especially for Halloween time (people are used to haunted house makeup, which is often done quick-and-dirty and designed to be seen for a few seconds in a darkened room...we're doing makeup for people who are going to be on a well-lit stage and/or standing just a few inches away from people for photo ops, etc...but we still have a fairly stringent timetable for getting this detailed makeup done, and most of the people who are used to working fast aren't used to doing detail work, and vice versa...)

Found out one of the makeup artists that we used years ago wants to come back and work with us again.  Also found out that one of the friends of the artist moving to Indiana is interested in working for us.  So my problem may be solved.  Even with one of the remaining artists having auditioned (and done fairly well, from what I've heard), I'm still not worried about it...I've got a couple of alternates that I should be able to sweet-talk without too much trouble, if I have to.

(Man, it would be nice to have SOMETHING I'm responsible for happen the easy way, this year...)

Just spent the last week and a half camping with my family.  We head home tomorrow.  My bed has missed me terribly ^_^

Hubby's dissertation is written, passed his committee review, and is on its way to the final departmental review!  Holy cow... in another month I'll be married to a DOCTOR!

I'll be Mrs Dr Evil Overlord!  :-D

What would be more scary is if your name is Clara (You will never tell us!) or your husband is named either Leonard, Sheldon or Rajesh (Mind you, you're pretty scary...)

Moving on

Good Thing: This thread has restored my faith in humanity, thank you very much.

Okay, so that was just funny...

Went out to watch the last few numbers of the last show tonight, was helping close up the gates and stuff when a group of mildly drunk guys came in (as everyone was going out, which was guaranteed to catch the attention of those of us waiting for everyone to leave so we could pack up to go home...)  They had that slightly furtive look about them, the one taken on by people who think they're about to get away with something...

So one of them started to get up on the stage...surprisingly enough, he immediately got down when I started walking toward the stage shaking my head and giving him the 'come here' gesture with my hand.  And that's when things got REALLY funny...

First, they tried to tell me that they were going to get up on the stage and have a quick jam session because they were the backup players for the band (they're not...I was at the call-back auditions, these guys weren't even in the running.  I don't even know if they auditioned...)  Then they tried to talk me into jamming with them (wouldn't have been tempting, even if I played any of the instruments up there, because I know and like the guys who own all those instruments and I wasn't going to let these guys monkey with them).  They tried about five or six different approaches, and I didn't know whether to yell at them in frustration or burst out laughing at the ludicrous lengths they were trying to go to...

They finally realized it wasn't going to happen, and turned around to walk out...and, surprisingly enough, thanked me for being so tolerant of them screwing around.  (That was actually almost more surprising to me than the thought that they believed we would just somehow turn a blind eye and let total strangers horse around with a few thousand dollars worth of musical equipment...)

Fourteen summers working there...plus the two Halloween seasons I worked before I got on the regular staff...and I've never had anything even remotely similar to that happen.  And people think I'm just echoing empty platitudes when I tell them that working in entertainment provides a never-ending supply of new and unexpected experiences...

Just finished building the mechanics of my Survival RPG System Hypothermia and have started to test it, feels good.

So, just a couple of weeks ago, I was on the verge of going back to looking through the W:P list to add a couple of games, as I'd dwindled down to two active and one semi-active games that I'm involved in.  Everything else had kinda wasted away...didn't ask to get dumped from the games, just took them off my sticky list and figured if something happened, they'd pop back up.

Since then, I got invited to join a new game (that sounds very intriguing to me), and the GM of another game that I'd really been enjoying before it folded up decided to try and revive it.  Which will put me right back at about the max number of games I like to be in, once they're all up and running.