The mango smoothie I am drinking tastes exactly like the L&M's version of Sex on the Beach but without alcohol! It is delightful.

Anyway, this weekend is off to a good, but exhausting, start so far. Friday was my last day of work until January 2010; I spent it having a very positive performance review and actually being productive instead of just staring at the clock waiting for 5 like I was afraid I would do. Then my dad picked me up and took me to Eau Claire, where on Saturday morning I saw arcticangel graduate from UWEC. Congratulations, sis - I'm proud of you! Following that, dayzdark drove up, as did my mom's side of the family for family Christmas #1 of 4. That was enjoyable as always and we got some white elephant gifts that must be seen to be believed - seriously, askdayzdark to show you the angel statue sometime.

We drove back and then headed to freeimprov's family's Yule party, which was a great time full of friends and music and conversation. Unfortunately, I became extremely exhausted very early in the party and had to leave shortly after the chocolate ritual. I suspect my exhaustion has something to do with the fact that I just recently realized that the last day off I had (that is, a day where I had neither work nor any obligation related to friends, church, gaming, music, family, household tasks, etc.) was the first Monday in May. So yeah, it's been almost 8 months since I had a genuine vacation day, and I think that is finally catching up to me. I came home and slept 10.5 hours after which I feel much better, though I suspect it's going to take a few more nights sleeping like that until I am back to 100%.

Just so you all know, I will probably not be around much in the near future, at least on LJ. Today, dayzdark and I are going out for dinner before my church's Solstice ritual (possibly with mendeia and kyrryn as well since they are attending the ritual too), then coming back to watch the end of Torchwood season 3 and possibly some other stuff as well if I feel up to it. Tomorrow is A DAY OF NOTHING. No work, no obligations, no nothing. If I feel REALLY productive, maybe I will do my laundry. But that's it. I intend to spend it in front of the TV eating chocolate, drinking wine, and petting cats, and I would greatly appreciate if everybody out there does everything in their power not to interrupt this unless my house is actively burning down at that exact moment or something.

On Tuesday I head back to Wisconsin again for Christmas with my immediate family and my dad's side of the family. I will be back in Minnesota on either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon depending upon roads. On Monday morning, eustacio, Jake, Noel, and I leave for Indiana for dayzdark's family New Year's party. We return late on New Year's Day. During all of these events, I will have internet access, but phone is probably a better way of reaching me in an extreme circumstance.

Before that begins, I have some serious relaxation to get to, though, so I won't interrupt that

Well it's a comfort to know that it is just fanfic being idiotic and not entirely my readers neglecting to review. I went to my review page and found that I did have a couple (ie 2) reviews on chapter 18 of my story and a couple more on earlier chapters that had come in since the last time I'd checked but for some reason the site has not managed to get the email alerts to me that I usually get for reviews. Still 740+ hits translating to two very short reviews was a little disappointing. Ah well.

Title: Weasley Christmases
Author: princessteradia
Rating: G
Characters: The Weasley family
Summary: A series of drabble-ish snapshots showing Weasley Christmases.
Disclaimer: I don't own it, I just like to play.
Author's Note: December was Yule month on OWL, and this series is dedicated to my Slytherin housemates, who taught me the fine art of drabbling. For the OWL people on my flist, Weasley Christmases is posted on the archive, but I'm also including it here for my non-OWL buddies.

( Molly and Arthur )

( Bill )

( Charlie )

( Percy )

( Fred and George )

( Ron )

( Ginny )

It's been quite a weekend here at casa de Beth. Primarily, I am pleased to report that the Firefly game that I ran for almost exactly three years (began in January 2007), Black Cat Blues, concluded successfully on Sunday night. I am grateful for a variety of things regarding that:

First, that I was completely happy in every way with the game's outcome. I have felt for a long time that as a GM, I do unbelievably good beginnings, decent to great middles, and recurrently fall down on the endings of things. It's something that I have gotten progressively better at ever since I started running games, but even as recently as Buffy I felt that the conclusion of the game wasn't everything it could have been. Not so this time - I wrapped up all the major dangling plot threads, gave the PCs a genuine challenge that was still fair and achievable, and let every character have a chance to shine. And it all made sense too! I have always felt that in my game-ending sessions, one or more of those elements has always been missing before. It felt good to get it all done.

Second, that I had such wonderful players and a great co-GM who contributed so much to the success of this game. From Noel's willingness to step up as the group leader to peloria's moral-compass-ness and great sense of humor to dayzdark's deep understanding of genre and drama to eustacio's patience and cooperative nature combined with occasional outbursts of homicide to kyrryn's dry sarcasm and wit to mendeia's commitment to the game and the group in all things and at all times to tankmancr's "sniper in a clock tower" self to ilyeana's reminders that we should always laugh at ourselves to humbleminion's great ideas and unwavering commitment to a frequently thankless and unappreciated job, I can see that it was really my players and my collaborator who made this game what it was, more so than anything I did or didn't do. To all of you, thank you. I look forward to continue telling stories with you for a long time to come. (c:

Third, that I NEVER HAVE TO USE THE CORTEX SYSTEM FOR ANYTHING EVER AGAIN. But I will spare you that rant because I have to go watch Farscape Looney Tunes now.

Yay!

Does anybody who isn't in this game even still read these things anymore? Oh well, if you don't, there's not many left to put up with! ;p

( Firefly: Black Cat Blues - 7.13 Mortality, Part 1 )

Having recently run out of reading material (the printed kind), I stopped by Barnes & Noble last night, hoping to pick up another book by one of my favorite authors: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. Alas, they had two copies of The Blue Sword, which I acquired in my last foray to the bookstore, but not the book I was seeking. Rather than leave empty-handed, though, I perused the shelves briefly in search of something that wouldn't require a small fortune in new book purchases. I'm not entirely sure I was successful, because the two books I snagged were part of a series (I'm leery of starting new series, I have no patience to wait for the next book), but I'm halfway through Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner and have decided it's totally worth getting hooked on.

The tagline under the title reads 'Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom', and at the very top of the cover is a quote from a review (I'm assuming, anyway, it's in that format) by Charlaine Harris that says "Shows you what would happen if Buffy got married and kept her past a secret. It's a hoot." She's right, it is. The main character is a full-time stay-at-home mom with a teenager and a toddler, and it's written in a way that anyone who's been in that position can relate to (I did, for four years). What I like best about her is that she's not a 'perfect' mom: she makes mistakes, she admits they're probably mistakes (plunking the toddler in front of a Wiggles video as a temporary babysitting tool while wrangling dinner, for example), but it's those little details that ring true to me (guilty of using the Disney channel as a babysitter on occasion). I'm definitely glad I got the first two in the series, and I'll probably end up acquiring the others.

On a completely unrelated note, the company has apparently decided to cut corners by turning the heat off at night. In addition to the thermal undergarments I've taken to wearing now that the weather is really freaking cold (I live a mile away from work, and I walk to and from), I spent tonight bundled up with an extra sweater and a fleece blanket that I've kept with my desk stuff since last winter, as well as my scarf. TGIF. Seriously.