If you ever lose your teeth when you're out to dine, borrow mine!

So last night I said I was bored and wanted people to talk to me online. And people did! Isn't it great to have friends? I love you guys. I love the internet as well. Living in Chicago would suck large without all of you to keep in touch with from day to day. I haven't made any friends out here. I need to do better in Champaign. Of course at Knox, I didn't really make any good friends till well into my second year, when I started LARPing, interestingly enough. Maybe I just need to find some gamers here. Of course, it's pretty much already too late, we're moving in three months. Thank God!

Our oven is working again, the superintendant came over on Friday and fixed our leaking toilet and relit the oven pilot. I made chocolate chip cookies last night and wrapped up a dozen for him. Hope he likes them! The house is still pretty clean, but I should probably try and do more with it. It would be nice to get some of our cleaning deposit back when we leave, after all.

Last night I also got to do a lot of downtime, which was awfully fun. Downtime at the gallery is cool because Mike and I get to share the computer and double-team whoever's on the other end. Of course, that often leads to hilarious results, especially when Mike types something he never intends to send, and I sneak in and push the Enter key. (There's a second enter key on the far end of the 10-key pad; learn it, live it, love it!) That's how Anne got sent to HELL FOR CRAPPY HISTORIANS, anyhow, and how I got a severe case of the hiccups. The winner is, obviously, me. I want to do more downtime now. Looks like a lot of people are doing a lot of downtime, which is really cool. The best part of LARP, IMHO, is not the actual game, but all the possibilities for downtime character interaction it offers. And hey, the Gallery is always open. Everyone should come visit!

They say it's criminal, what women'll do...

I've been productive today, go me! I have a pot roast in the crock pot that's making the whole apartment smell wonderful. Mike is gone today, at the library again, but when he comes back tonight, there will be a wonderful supper with plenty of leftovers. I didn't have quite as many baby carrots to add as I'd have liked because some strange and peckish spirit appears to be stealing into our refrigerator and eating them. Hmmmm....

Anyhow, with the pot roast cooking, I went into the study and actually cleaned the birdcage, which needed it incredibly badly. The birds are much happier now, talking and singing. I need to get them some new toys soon, I think. And a bigger cage when we get to Champaign, as soon as I can afford it. I also got my vacuuim cleaner unclogged and working again, which is a big relief. I think the nightmare of pine needles is finally behind us. Next year: artificial tree, definitely. Or maybe just remembering to water the tree, and taking it down before February. Oops. No lasting harm done, I guess.

Now I'm bored again, and starting to feel the edge of nervousness creeping up about the interview tomorrow. I do not like not having a job, as much as I do like being lazy around the house. We don't move for three months, and yet I feel like I should be doing more, getting packed, something. I do need to do my FAFSA, and quickly, maybe I should work on that. But my dad's got all my tax information at his house. Eeep.

Callaloo, strange Callaloo, mysterious curious roux....

I am not entirely certain, but I think my pot roast may have exploded. There is a strange pot-roasty residue over the inside lid of the crockpot, and over all the potatoes. I turned down the crock-put to low, since it should theoretically be cooking for three more hours. The carrots taste fantastic already, so I'm not too worried. Still, I haven't seen that particular phenomenon before.

If it is truly the case that my dinner has exploded, then it's by far the most interesting thing that's happened to me today. I really wish that I'd gone to church this morning, if only because it would've been a few hours of actually doing something. But I was tired this morning. Now I am awake, thanks to iced coffee and chocolate chip cookies. I've filled out part of my FAFSA online, searched the web for the makeup Reid should be buying for the LARP, and read some of the Orpheus novel Mike and I bought yesterday.

The Orpheus book, Haunting the Dead, is really quite good, but terribly depressing. I really like Orpheus as a gaming system, but I can't stand the meta-plot. I know some people are playing through it, so I won't give anything away, but there are parts of it, especially in Crusade of Ashes, that I find very disturbing on a level that's a little too personal to make for good gaming. But this novel is good. It will just take awhile to finish, since I can only stand to read it in chunks.

Which brings me to the fact that this is another terribly boring day in Coriland. I miss Mike so much when he won't get online, but I know he has to concentrate on his work, and he doesn't multitask well enough to get it done when he's online. It's very sad. I want this year to be over with. I want to get down to Champaign. I want to be around people again, doing something productive, doing more than just marking time.