Weekend!
There are a handful of things that you have to do to get the final prep done when one’s significant other is returning shortly. The chores that had been allowed to pile up for a week got done in a frenzy of running upstairs and down and back up empty handed past stuff I had to take to a different floor because I had forgotten something from a different floor that would help me check an item off my list entirely.
So the dishes got done. The bedding got changed (a day later than when I normally would have done it, so that she could return home to an un-slept-on bed). The garbage got taken out (including the weird little baskets in the rooms that people rarely visit and rarely use but collect used Kleenex anyway). The recycling (somehow full of pre-packaged frozen dinner boxes) gets dumped into the bin. The laundry got sorted and washed and basketed and carried upstairs so that she could command the washer/dryer without anything else being in her way.
Yes, the Guns and Roses cds go back on the rack.
And it is so very good to pick her up at the airport.
One doesn’t even mind that her luggage is still in Chicago.
And after a week of sinking slowly back into the new routine of summer being over and school being back in session, it’s good to look ahead and see a weekend full of recognizable mile markers. Chores, errands, laundry, a Friday night spent alone playing Pool of Radiance, a Sunday full of friends, and everything being back to normal.
Oh, yeah. We’re going to have a houseguest starting Sunday. Maybe wait a couple of weeks for “back to normal”? But then, seriously. Right before I get sent back to Qatar again.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is “Footrace finish line, 1925” from the Seattle Municipal Archives, used under a creative commons license)
What a great partner you are! These weeks and it/or weekends married people get to step back in to singlehood again make the commitment-phobe in me take a break. I like it! I’ll get married again… If he has a job where he can travel occasionally ;).
As per the usual, I’m working weekends now with the new job, but this weekend Junior is with his father. 🙁 I’ll miss the little guy, but it sure does save on day care expenses and Junior loves it. So after work I’m doing girl’s night! And at least one night making dinner for my bestie to thank him for the occasional babysitting he does. I have THE BEST friends. 🙂Report
The happier she is, the more likely she is to let me play my game.Report
Dude you have to go back to Qatar? Didn’t sound like you enjoyed it much the first time.Report
They were going to send someone else but I made the mistake of being honest about how much work needed to be done.
So they’re sending someone else and me.Report
Kid’s birthday party tomorrow.
On my quest to be six months behind everyone else, I hope to catch up on some Daredevil (watched the first two, pretty darn good – and that hallway fight is DEFINITELY an Oldboy homage; maybe The Raid also) and Mr. Robot.Report
Happy birthday to the kid.
And I hope you like Mr. Robot.Report
My colleagues keep telling me I should watch Mr. Robot. I hope you like it!Report
My parents are coming next weekend, so I’m going to spend this weekend frantically cleaning, as my mother has mild (once quite severe) OCD, and if I don’t clean my home to within an inch of its life, she will. If anyone would like to come over and scrub, feel free.Report
My week of batching it has now turned into a month, which is just god-awful. A week is fun, a week is nice. A month is just lonely. Then again, I have a friend who is an officer in the Merchant Marine. Insanely good money (bought a house in SF when he was single) but two months at sea, followed by one month at home. I don’t know how his wife (also my friend) does it.Report
A week is just a hair too long. It’s just too long enough.
A month totally sucks.Report
Oh man, @aarondavid . That sucks.
The longest I can have the house to myself and have it be fun is a weekend. After that, it all just feels empty.Report
Frantically rustling about trying to get everything sorted post-trip pre-just-found-out-this-week-about-our-houseguest.
Looking forward to houseguest, also to gaming on saturday and spending time with friends on Sunday.Report
Wait, we’re gaming on Saturday?Report
Did you game last saturday? I thought it was just wrasslin’….Report
Gaming Saturday, Summerslam Sunday.Report
Playing Shadowrun: Hong Kong and getting my treadmill fixed. (Which, incidentally, was just completed! Drive belt was lose. Easy and quick fix, and I can get back to my program).
Shadowrun has basically doubled down on plot and interactions. Seems like the enemies are a bit harder to fight, but there are even more options for avoiding it. Still not 100% sure on the new Matrix gameplay.
Oh, and fixing my father’s new computer (Windows 8) so that it’s more like Windows 7 which he’s familiar with. He’s not sold on upgrading to Windows 10 (free) but I keep trying to tell him that nothing can be worse than Windows 8.Report
Is anyone else excited about this?
https://instagram.com/p/65PhxOs_RH/
My boys are indescribably excited. Well…..and me too.Report
Yeah, that broadsword-style lightsaber pommel-guard looks pretty damn cool. Seems like it would be pretty practical, too — since as we know from previous movies, a good tactic for winning a lightsaber duel is to cut your opponent’s hand off (literally dis-arming him), having something to catch an opponent’s lightsaber on the way down would be a big help for those looking to not Become One With The Force just yet.Report
Yes, that’s certainly part of it.
The part that has my boys so excited is that Finn is holding a lightsaber at the end. We think that he has Luke’s lightsaber that Vader cut off in Bespin. Actually, we’re pretty convinced.
How did that happen?Report
Adding:
Has any lightsaber passed through so many hands?
Anakin->Obi Wan->Luke->Finn
And, how did he find it on a gas planet? It must have stayed within the cloud city, and not fallen into the atmosphere (like Luke almost does).
We also think (based on the footage) that Finn is woefully unprepared to use it. He’s not a Jedi, nor a padawan. Thought there are hints that Finn and Rey are both Force sensitive. Added to that is the fact that Kylo Ren created his lightsaber (assumed without the help of a Jedi or Sith).Report
Rewatching that scene just now on youtube to make sure my memory was right, the series of tubes only open up under Luke’s weight. Perhaps the saber didn’t have enough weight to activate the foreign object flushing mechanism in the ventilation(?) tubes.
(edit- which then Lando’s people eventually come across, but why didn’t they just give it back to Luke via Lando? Bureaucracy?)Report
Maybe the lightsaber passes on to one of Lando’s sons? We’ve been laughing about that one, but it’s not so far fetched.
It is obvious that he (Lando) is a philanderer, not too dissimilar from Han, except maybe skin color (which apparently doesn’t seem to be much of an issue when there are aliens to think of as Others). A noble scoundrel, like Han.
Maybe BB-8 gets the lightsaber to Finn? We’ve seen Rey and BB-8 together, and we’ve seen Finn and Rey together.
(Stop thinking politics, like bureaucracy. This is Hollywood, right? There aren’t going to be slams against bureaucracy. Only certain targets are allowed, amirite?)Report
There are some moves across lines that would make me nervous if I were trying them with a cross-guard that could cut my hand(s) off. I’m not pinning my hopes on getting more than we did with Darth Maul’s two-ended light staff, which people loved at first glimpse — one fight sequence and that’s it. Given the apparent properties of the light blades — very little mass, highly selective inertia, ability to cut through anything but another light blade — I wouldn’t opt for a weapon styled on either a Japanese katana or a northern European long sword. Give me a Renaissance rapier and dagger combination.Report
Isn’t Kylo Ren’s lightsaber a representation of a northern (or Germanic, at least) longsword? That’s what the guards are supposed to give the impression of, right?
I’ve always wondered what a second lightblade (in off hand, not ala Maul’s) would do to the fights.
But,it’s all samurai’s, right? That’s the fighting style, with some poetic flourishes from other styles. Lightsabers are intended to be katanas, the ultimate or uber-katana, in a sense.
It will be interesting to see how they bring a helmeted, longsword-bearing Kylo Ren into that strongly Eastern style without it really looking wrong or jarring. The expectations are strong with this one.Report
One of the interesting things is that before the contemporary ninja/Highlander sorts of myths, both the katana and the longsword were heavy infantry weapons: stand here, armored and shielded, shoulder to shoulder, and hold this piece of land; alternatively, go take that piece of land from similarly-equipped men. Individual combat with both weapons was an afterthought.
The only place where steel got cheap enough for civilians was in Western Europe. The rapier and later the small sword were the weapons of choice when it was one-on-one sans armor. Thrusting weapons that were small, light, fast, capable of attack from odd angles. Weapons suited for an urban setting, largely worthless to the military. The kings in both France and England worked hard to stop the use of those, as they were too damned lethal and both countries were losing too many of the nobility.
Because theatrical needs are different, all of these fights are unrealistic in two ways. Trivially, the footwork sucks — I don’t think there are any martial arts where coaches don’t complain about the students’ footwork. The more important is that the distance is far too short to be realistic. Exercise for the student — go find clips of Chuck Norris fighting full contact in competition; compare the distance between Chuck and his opponent there to the distance between fighters in Chuck’s movies and TV shows.Report
Looking at possibly adding another dog to the family. The downside is that it’s in Maine. Not sure if we want another dog at this point, but if we do I’ve found one that seems right. Except Maine, and that it’s younger and bigger than we would prefer.
My house tried to kill me again. Chair leg snapped, leaving me a big scrape and thankful that my daughter did not repeat the F-word that I uttered as I fell backwards.
Another mouse killed! Not discovered for a couple of days, though. I’d stopped checking since it had been so long.Report
Maine’s pretty nice this time of year.
The weather just broke, it smells like pine forest again.
ETA: You’d see a lot of Foresters on the roads.Report
It’s also 11 hours away, unfortunately. Otherwise, I might enjoy the trip!Report
“Hey Bill, you think it’s OK to go in The Drawer again?”
“I dunno, Hank. I dunno. I don’t think I’m ever going into The Drawer again. Not after what I saw the last time I was there.”
[Flashback to Hank discovering the body of his lover, Susan, in the drawer, a look of fear, anger, and disgust on his face.]
“But it’s The Drawer, man! The Drawer! How can you not go back to the drawer? The Drawer is irresistible. All mice go to The Drawer.”
“It’s just… I can’t get that sight out of my head, man. I… [breaks down; sobbing] I’m never… going.. back… to The Drawer!”
“Well, I’m going, damn it. I’m not going to let anything keep me from The Drawer!.”
[Scurries.]Report
Also! I forgot the biggest news in the Himmelreich-Truman household, which is that Lain is enrolled in pre-school. We’ve been dithering trying to figure out what we want and all of that, only to discover that there is only one option available in town. The good news for me is that it’s an Episcopal school! (No religion.)
I’ve been reading too many parenting articles, though. Setting aside what eliminated most of our options (that she’s not three yet, not toilet trained), not a single school we talked to was filled up. The school we selected was happy to have her. Another was willing to try to accommodate the toilet training thing but there was only so much they could do. No waiting lists!Report
Moving to Ottawa on Monday, and parents are visiting next week, which should be nice. I start my new job after Labour Day.Report
Ottowa! I’ve always wanted to visit there. Moving for work, or just for change of pace?Report
Moving for work. I went to grad school there too, and liked it, so I’m happy to be going back; of the places I’ve lived before in Canada, it’s my second-favourite location after Vancouver (and more affordable).
Definitely worth visiting if you get the chance.Report
High school football season starts this weekend, which means I’m starting my 24th as an official. Lots of talk about rough play this year.Report
No political intent, just an observation from this AM’s bicycle ride: there are Bernie! yard signs out.Report
Sadly, I have a ton of work to do during a weekend where I could especially use some down time.
All summer long, I keep waiting for that eventual winning down to happen — that moment where I can finally come up for air. And it keeps not happening. It’s good to be busy, I know. I just wish I weren’t so busy, just for a little while.Report