Been very busy at ye olde work tymey job. What a world! 

I've requested a few days off next month to travel to Indianapolis. I will get burgers and tiki drinks and visit my friends Bianca and Coby. Fun will be had.

Oh dang I got to order me a fez. 

Finally taking a break today. Been busy, very busy. Matters of minor importance pile up like snowdrifts, swirl around me, and give the air that stillness of a winter evening.

It's been a lovely monsoon season, with more rain in the past week than we had during all of 2020. The house is covered in muddy puppy paw prints. I sleep well when it rains, and I've enjoyed it.

Humid though. In Arizona, we mock those who cannot handle the heat and then we fall apart when the humidity is greater than 2 percent. Our doors stick and our hair doesn't dry and we stomp and thrash and wail and cry.

I need a curtain rod, I think. Yes. That's exactly what I need.

It was a dark and stormy night. Last night my work office alarm went off and I had to come in and check it out. I arrived before the cops and I was afraid they would think I was the perpetrator. Luckily it was just the storm setting off the alarm. Still, I had concerns that I would be shot by the police. It was dark and stormy, after all.

But I'm fine.

Suit up.

Had a great time at the wedding. Got to spend a lot of time with Ryan and Trina, which is nigh unheard-of before a wedding. For the bachelor party, we went up to Big Bear Lake, California. Lovely little place. We didn't get particularly wild. Had some drinks, played some board game, and took in the local sights.

The wedding itself was lovely. The ceremony was pleasant, and the dinner and dancing was divine. The dancing went on relatively late into the evening, with everyone being kicked off the dance floor at 11:30 pm. We helped pack up and were in bed by 2 am to catch our flight out at 7 the next morning.

I was very happy in my tux and tails. I may have to explore obtaining my own...it is the 20's again, after all.

Woo hoo! I go to California tonight to enjoy a week of wedding activities. I am excited. Strange to have a whole week off...it's been a while. 

Note to self: Take lots of pictures. Maybe a few videos. Write a lot of stuff while I'm on the plane. Journal Idea: Non-stop writing for an hour and a half. I guess I could record a video of myself talking. 

Now I have to frantically wrap up everything I can here at work before I leave. And away we go.

Fascinating times. More DDoS attacks yesterday. I spent a goodly amount of time trying to play. Met some neat people through the Twitch chat. The frustration of not being able to play the game is mitigated by the excitement of meeting new friends.

I've been keeping to my workout schedule also, despite the gaming interruptions. I don't want a repeat of last November where I kept quitting halfway through. I like being under 210 pounds. I'm not going to diet of course, but I may employ strategies to make sure I am less inclined to gorge myself on all the sweet sweet foods. By not letting myself get too hungry, firstly. 

I had a dream about my friend. She had a home high in the mountains, and I was employed as a monster hunter. I roamed the wilderness keeping the area clear of threats. Mixed feelings, of course. We are building in the environment of the monsters, and it's not their fault they go after stuff that enters their territory. Also I tangled with other monster hunters in the area who just wanted to wipe out everything. 

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if my friend (in the dream) was even aware of the monsters, or knew what I was doing to try to keep her safe. Dreams rarely let you have a frank conversation about the best way to handle the situation.

I've got a bit of pain in my left hand, just the outermost two fingers. Mostly around the knuckle. I haven't been punching anything. I note it here in case it gets worse. Might just be from video gaming. 

We'll see. 

It was a normal day in the old internet world yesterday. My game was working and I was happy. I walked at 15% incline and hit a blazing walking speed of 3.8 miles per hour. Didn't even have to take a break. I'm feeling pretty good. 

I think that I'm finally over the hump, so to speak, of this exercise thing. I've found a sustainable daily exercise routine that I look forward to doing, and even enjoy. I'm also at the point where the pain is quite low overall. Which is great because I assumed getting older meant everything would just hurt more and more forever.

This week off will likely have quite an impact on me, but it doesn't have to. It can be good to take a break. Some actual muscle recovery, you say? Could be cool...

I've been having interesting conversations on the Twitch stream sessions. I've was called "wholesome", which I found very amusing. I prefer to think of myself as sort of half-Zen. I try to be aware of my own thoughts, state of mind, and even strive for a certain level of emotional self-control. I also get fussy and grumpy and righteous and yell about things. The difference now is that I have a context for what I used to consider "negative" emotions. I don't feel bad for having them, or even acting on them, as long as I don't rely on them as the primary source. I want to be able to do what I want to do, as well as feel however I feel. I'd say balance but they're not opposites; more like different propellers on a boat. You can some pretty cool stuff with two independent propellers.