Nerdy Thoughts

My reading goal for this year is 60 books, a lower than the 100 I usually strive for because I wanted to make an effort to read some longer books and give myself more time to enjoy what I was reading. So far my read list is:

1. Bridgeton Collection Volume 1 (Includes The Duke and I, The Viscount Who Loved Me, and An Offer From a Gentleman.)
2. Romancing Mister Bridgeton (Book #4 in the series)

Why yes, I did watch the Netflix series. How did you ever guess? 😜

3. Buy yourself the F*cking Lilies.

The latter I finished late last night, in a little bit of a rush because it was due back at the library. I enjoyed it despite being absolutely horrified by the actions of the authors' parents, especially the Mom who I hope has read the book and felt terrible when she realized what a complete psycho she was to her child. Sadly, I doubt that would happen even if she did read the book. Psychotic narcissistic people are hardly known for self-reflection and awareness.

Anyway, I've been contemplating this book all morning and ...(  cue rambling )

It's Victoria day in Canada, also known as May 2-4...called that even if it's not on the 24th. In Newfoundland it's pretty much a holiday centered around camping. Even the weather is usually terrible. For reasons I've never understood, a lot of the camping takes place in gravel pits. Hell, there's even a song about it, if you like hokey folksy comedy music that can be grating on the ears. I mean, I'm from Newfoundland and Buddy Wasisname & the other fellers band is a local institution so I've grown to like them but ...yeah. Let's just say they're not indicative of my usual musical tastes.

...I'm getting off track though. The point I was trying to make is that it's Victoria day which is a federal holiday so I had the day off work.

Which is great because I had a D&D game Sunday night that went past midnight so I was happy I got to sleep in. It was a pretty decent game last night, I and a couple of others got to introduce new characters as our last characters were killed off trying to steal magical healing pears from a evil wizard/possible necromancer. My new character's a female Triton (think aquaman / namor types if you're not familiar) who's from a family of fighters but secretly she wants to earn gold so adventuring so she can open a tavern/restaurant. Unfortunately she was a little more violet in game than I meant to be but she survived her first night so, success!

Today was mostly a day of lazing around with my partner before I went to have coffee with my best friend. It was really nice because even though we're in the same D&D group, we haven't had a chance to hang one on one for the past month. Hard to fully catch up with a group around, can't really talk about private stuff or have a bitch session about annoying things when every one else wants to rp.

This week hasn’t been as stressful as I feel like it has been but knowing that hasn’t stopped me from feeling so on edge and scatterbrained the past three days. I’ve been trying to update but every time I do I feel incoherent so if this is incoherent I apologize :P

On Monday I booked the plane tickets I need for a trip I’m taking in January 2016. My friend is getting married on a cruise so I need to fly down and back from Florida which luckily I have enough air miles to do. Unfortunately I was stupid and put off booking my flight last month so I had only one choice for the departure flight which I can work with but wasn’t as good as the options I had in July so I was kicking myself pretty hard Monday. Kicking myself was unnecessary because I still have lots of time and I just need to book a hotel that will allow a later check in, which the one I’m most interested in will allow. I just have a tendency to do that when I make mistakes.

Once again I realize I really have to crack down on my spending. I know, I know. Make a budget, stick to it, stop buying shit you don’t need. Easy in theory but surprisingly hard in practice, especially since I’m still adjusting and recovering from having to make a sudden move in March this year. Since I wasn’t updating back then and have added a bunch of people since then, I’ll explain. Back in 2012 I moved into my own basement apartment where I lived alone and this year in February there was water seeping in from the exterior of my landlord’s house. My landlords checked it out, realized it had been going on for some time and that they had to do a lot of repairs so I had to move. It was really too bad because my landlords were awesome, the best landlords I’ve ever had, and I loved my little apartment. One upside was that my partner John and I decided that since I had to move it was a good time to find a place together. I had to move back with my parents for a couple of weeks but after a lot searching & viewing we lucked out. We moved into our current apartment in April, which is in a great location and came with great landlords, so it all worked out but it was a blow to my budget. I’m still trying to adjust to living with a partner and manage my finances’ accordingly. You’d think it’d be easier with someone else helping with the rent but the rent is higher than my last place so it’s not that much cheaper plus there were added expenses. Having this trip coming up is exciting but financially a bit stressful.

...that’s probably the big reason I’ve been so scatterbrained on edge this week, now that I think on it. I know it will work out and I’ve even started working on ways to make some extra money outside my job like flea markets & craft fairs but I do have to be more mindful of where my money goes.

On the upside though, yesterday John joined the gym at my work place which I’m already a member so we’ll be able to work out together. Which is good because I’ve been terribly slack with exercising this year so I’m hoping this will motivate the both of us.

Also, I finally got a chance to borrow Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley from the public library (not the university library where I work) which was great. I've been itching to buy it and resisting the urge because I was hoping one of the libraries I use would get it. It's a good read, in some ways I like better than Scott Pilgrim but I wouldn't call it better. Perhaps just as good but in a slightly different way? It's less video game based and more folklore based which was interesting. If you're a comic reader and if you liked Scott Pilgrim I'd recommend checking it out.

BTW, is anyone here is on goodreads and would like a friend? My profile is here, feel free to add me if you'd like and I'll add back.