November 23, 2004
north conway
I had a really great long weekend with Kara in Boston and New Hampshire. North Conway is a great little tourist town with some pretty neat shops. I could've spent a few grand there with very little difficulty; there was a ton of neat stuff. Crafts, food, regular outlet shopping items. Good times.
And the people were all a lot of fun. We played cards, ate tons of Chex mix, drank beer, hung out. Really enjoyed myself, and Kara did too.
I could write volumes about the weekend, but I'm cranky today. I overslept, and I'm trying to finish up some last stuff to check in my part of the project before the holiday. It's also gray outside, and...you know, I'm missing Kara.
A lot of the weekend was just, us spending time together, not really doing anything specific, just enjoying each other's company. Thursday night, she was doing work in her room after I finished cooking dinner, and I just laid on the bed and watched TV. She was doing her thing, and I was doing mine, but we were together, and that was nice. That's something I miss with having the long-distance thing...you don't always just get to be together, without planning to do anything specific.
And that's what a relationship is supposed to be about. You don't always have to plan stuff to do. Sometimes you're both just in the same room.
Anyway, I made extra large chicken tenders for dinner Thursday, and filled a whole paper grocery bag with Chex mix for the weekend, and both seemed to go over pretty well. I also gave Kara a set of three of the first candles I made, and a whale Christmas ornament. I stained the little wooden whale cutout I bought her in Vermont, and added a hook, a little hanging loop of ribbon, a smiley-face, and a little waterspout made of some cotton hot-glued to the top. I have to admit, it does look pretty cool. On Sunday, we were thinking of going out, but I figured that we had enough leftover chicken to throw together a chicken-parm-type thing with some pasta, so I cooked for the house.
"I like this whole stay-at-home thing, cooking and cleaning," I told her.
"Don't get used to it," she said.
What else...I got some ideas for Christmas gifts while we were out shopping, and that was good. It was just a really good relaxing general weekend. Oh, and the green candles I made aren't working too well. I think I might have added too much coloring or scent, and the wax isn't burning well. I'm going to re-melt the candles and add some extra plain paraffin to the mix, try to lighten the mix a little.
I have to say, I am missing Kara extra right now. Not having her around makes life feel...watered down.
Posted by Mark at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
candles, lemurs, and recreational equipment
I did another batch of candles last night. That's been pretty much the highlight of the last several days. Michael's had a sale on wax, so I bought an 11-pound slab, some rainforest scent, and did a trio of votives. They have some bubbling on the sides, which might be the fault of using crayon for the coloring, but I'll burn one of them tonight and see how it goes. It's a fun winter hobby.
Reading Matt's blog made me start thinking about things I want for Christmas. I'll have to start a list myself.
Work is moving, but I'm waiting on some stuff, as usual, and thinking about heading up to Boston later this week. It feels like forever since I've seen Kara, which is probably due to us spending so much time together in October.
Oh, I forgot that I actually did do something fun on Sunday, but didn't write about it. So, I had forgotten that getting exercise doesn't mean that you have to go out and run or lift weights or do situps or whatever. There's this thing called "going for a walk," and it's quite the pastime. So I headed up into the Zoo, which I am blessed to live about a block away from, to see what animals were out and about.
I finally saw the lemurs! I swear this is the first time since I moved into the District that I've seen them out and about. I also saw the tigers and lions, and had a little walk through the reptile house and the small mammal house. I definitely need a digital camera; my cell phone just doesn't cut it. That's definitely the top item on my list right now. The thing I can't decide upon is whether I want to buy one myself before Christmas so I'll have it for Florida.
In other news, I am thinking of getting a second job. It's a combination of reasons: one, it would be nice to have some extra money. Right now, things are very very tight. I'm paying my bills down, true, but I'm also very short on loose change to do anything fun in my spare time. And with it being winter, there's not too much you can do that is fun and free, what with the sun going down around 3 in the afternoon.
The second thing is that I have an awful lot of free time. I'm not doing any hobbies on any kind of a regular basis right now, not like when I was doing kung-fu. Sure, I'm playing video games, doing the candlemaking thing, and I'd like to get into microbrewing, but, you know, there are a lot of nights when I manage to get out of work at a decent hour, and I find myself without anything to do. Normally I'd go out, hit a bar, whatever, but, again, trying to save money, so I'm not doing that very much these days...if at all.
A former coworker of mine left to go back to school, and before the semester starts, he is working at a new REI that is opening up in Rockville. I'm thinking of applying for a part-time job. The money would be nice, there's a huge employee discount on outdoors stuff, and it'd be pretty cool to work with other people who are into camping and hiking and stuff. Plus, if they sell it at REI, I've probably done it...hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, you name it. So it's the type of job I know something about.
If nothing else, it would be helpful to have some extra gift money for Christmas.
Posted by Mark at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2004
hibernation mode
I spent the vast majority of yesterday sleeping. I don't know why. I just had a strong desire to hibernate. And, this being the time of the year for it, I think that's fine. It was cold outside, I didn't feel like reading or playing video games or cleaning or working or whatever, I just wanted to do nothing. Sleeping is doing nothing in its purest form.
Aside from that, I made up a box of Rice-a-Roni pasta. It was good, but, from a purely economic perspective, it's a bit of a ripoff. It comes in this fairly large box, but upon inspection of the contents, you see about three-quarters of an inch of vermicelli and a small packet of seasoning. All told, you could probably fit it all into a Jello box.
So, you know, it's convenient. You just throw the stuff into a pot, boil, and you're done. No measuring, no dirtying multiple pots, just dump and cook. And the end result is pretty tasty. But if you really wanted to be cheap, you could do much better by buying the component ingredients separately. Which defeats the convenience.
I'm not really complaining. It was good, it was convenient. It was just that opening up the box and seeing it filled mostly with air...you know.
Ignore me. I'm rambling.
Chuck's comment about Metroid reminded me of something I think I wrote about a year or two ago, about how I didn't like to watch movies that I wasn't enjoying immediately. That was back when I had Netflix, of course, and so that affects things somewhat. I guess if I actually have bought and own a game, I feel an obligation to play it and beat it. I really could go for a game like Super Mario World right about now, though. Just a good, classic, old-school 2D platformer. I'm so tired of every new game basically being an FPS.
Switching gears: I went through my box o' business cards today and found enough California Tortilla cards to warrant a free burrito, so guess what I'm having for lunch today? Oh yeah. Spicy Sunset Salsa Chicken, you're mine.
Posted by Mark at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2004
stupid boss
I did not sleep very well last night. The air in my room felt really dry for some reason. I am going to try putting a pan of water on the radiator, which is what I think I did last year at some point to try and keep the air a little more moist.
Amusing bit from the radio this morning: So Mike Moss of WTOP says to weatherman Doug Hill, "Boy, it sure feels like a rainy fall day, doesn't it Doug?"
"Uh. Yeah. It is raining outside, and it's fall."
I do enjoy news radio.
I gave Yoni a ride up the hill to the Metro station this morning, as it was raining and we were both leaving at about the same time. I have some concrete plans for what I want to get done, work-wise, and I'm moving pretty solidly towards achieving those goals. You can achieve your goals, I'm living proof. Beefcake!
I'm annoyed at Metroid Prime because the final boss battle is ridiculous. It goes on for like 10 minutes, through upteen iterations of the Metroid Prime for which the game is named.
As an aside, I can't remember words today. I'm thinking of a word that means, having the same name as something...like, the boss of the game Metroid Prime is called Metriod Prime. There's a word for that. I had the same problem in a meeting this morning, trying to remember the word "composite."
Anyway, I want to beat the game so I can say, you know, I beat the game. On the other hand, I hate wasting my time getting annoyed by something that is supposed to be an enjoyable diversion.
I have no real plans for tonight. I might go up to The Raven for a beer, but we'll see. The weather isn't making me want to go out and do much. On the other hand, I've been getting stir crazy from not doing anything. It's a no-win situation.
Posted by Mark at 12:45 PM | Comments (1)