Amaranthian

Doing OK. A bit frustrated with the contractor on the kitchen remodel. Gina and I moved into a new place a few weeks ago. Water heater died. Had to get a door built into the crawl space before we could replace it, since the old access was remodeled smaller after the water heater was moved in. Getting the kitchen sink in working order hasn't been easy, it's still leaking and they keep sending their plumbing flunkie to do things and take all day to install one thing, and not even well. Otherwise the new place is nice, walkable and a quiet neighborhood.

I'm still unemployed although I can't say it's a bad thing at the moment honestly. I've been on unemployment since Jan. and it doesn't run out until next March. I basically go to the beach, ride my bike, play video games and hang out with my other unemployed friends. Other summer time activities include learning Maya, urban photography, and napping. The heat has been brutal the past two weeks though, thankfully I leave tomorrow for a two week long vacation to Nantucket where I'll pretty much be doing the same things except in a much prettier place.

ILikeItnTheButt works too!
Also: D2? Sounds fun!

Wow, awesome. Thanks for the responses!

I've been working on a lot of contract web software UI design and some iPhone app stuff. Pretty much the same old as far as that stuff goes. I've also been taking drum lessons since February. It's something I've always wanted to do, and our new (as of January) place has a basement, so it's perfect. Drums are totally 4tw, but I still spend some time with my guitar and piano too. Overall, music is probably the main reason I haven't slipped back into "casually" playing WoW. I'm happy with that deal.

I just got back from the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York where my brother Neil had an absolutely gorgeous wedding. Maudie and I made a little side trip to Ithaca to visit the old stomping grounds. It was pretty neat, and it totally made me miss the northeast in a way I haven't felt since moving to California over three and a half years ago.

Fap, what happened? I'm really sorry to hear you're injured! Also, are you a full-time student now?

George, where is the new place? Sorry about the contractor woes.

Brambles, ear aches suck. Spiders also suck (I know you disagree). Jury's out on which is worse.

Nate, that sounds rather nice.

Janet, when did you move to California? Where do you live? Seattle is awesome, but I only visited for a week last summer when it wasn't raining.

Chris, eating better and exercising are activities I've been trying to pursue too. That shit is hard.

Gotta cook yourself and eat less meat, Chris! (cu does if you do!) Then again, eating meat slows down the metabolism, and with out it I'm always hungry... the jury is out for...lunch, I think, on this.

Also: Hey, Sumul, good luck with those iPhone apps! I'll be sure to find and enjoy their usage if I ever get to that tier of technology.

Best of wishes to everyone else too. Hopefully things stay interesting and have more pleasantness in the future!

I've found that while actually eating healthier is pretty difficult, especially since I haven't started cooking for myself any more than I used to (I like cooking but hate planning, prep and cleanup), eating what you would ordinarily eat but in moderation isn't too difficult.

The last four years of eating out a lot and spending most of my home time on my ass in front of the computer WoWing made me gain almost 20lbs, none of which was extra muscle. And at this point I've lost all of that again mostly via eating a bit better, in smaller portions, and less sitting around on my ass.

From a lot of the accounts I've read, the most important part of eating healthier is just portion size - so it's not necessarily bad to eat that steak, just don't go back for seconds. I've found that after a little while I'll start to feel full after eating a lot less food than before.

Obviously it's still important to make sure you have fruits/vegetables/etc., but it's something that people tend to eat anyway, I think - eating just meat by itself is sort of boring(IMO, anyway).

EDIT: Damn you brambles!

That just means you were eating Japanese food. I ALWAYS have that happen with Japanese food. Oh, and pho. No idea why.

@.@
EDIT: Well, at least it is a good time to go back to college! Low interestrates now too!

bump for pho

Hmmm. Not quite tired enough to sleep so I think I'll contribute a bit to the thread.

I flew out to DC to visit some friends for a week in April. I intended to look for a job for the week with my parents in Oregon suggesting that I give it a "real shot" so I pretty much just skipped my return flight to oregon and spent the next month applying for stuff like crazy. I had about half a dozen real interviews and another 2-3 "informational interviews" before I flew back to Oregon to work for the parents once more.

While I was home working I got an offer for a paid internship (go go minimum wage after college!) and I have been working there all summer. The internship was pure data entry and I've done a lot to kind of expand the duties that my position has so my boss loves me. She asked me to stay on until June of 2010 and I told her as much as I'd love to, it wouldn't be possible on min. wage so she offered me a livable wage and I committed for the fall 'semester.'

It kind of sucks because she wants to hire me outright (bennies, vacay, etc) but the project we work on isn't on the foundation director's list of things that will be 'expanding' any time soon. So with that in mind I've been doing everythign I can to get involved in other peoples' projects trying to make myself pretty indispensable. The net result has been quite a few very long days at work with little to show for it (immediately anyway).

I've been living with four friends in a group house and we gave notice earlier this month. I'm flying back to Oregon on the 24th (monday) and will be there for two weeks because my parents are opening a new restaurant and want me there to help/enjoy it with them.

I had lined up a room here in DC in another group house (we have to be out by Sep. 1st, and I'm leaving on Aug 24th, so I have to be moved out this weekend basically) but the guy changed his mind on me, effectively giving me this past week + the next two days to find somewhere to leave all my shit and to live when I get back on the 5th. Needless to say, I've been pretty panicked trying to figure something out. I've been looking at rooms and housing every night this week for the most part, with not a whole lot of luck. I found a place tonight for $700/mo in a house with two other people but it's out in SE DC (Potomac Ave for those of you familiar with the area) while I work in Dupont.

I may or may not have an incredible break though, because one of the senior staff at sunlight will be going on vacation from sep 10-oct.6 and has potentially offered to let me house sit for them, which would be absolutely fantastic and would mean I only need to couch surf from the 5th when I get back to the 10th when he goes on vacation.

As far as health stuff is concerned, I got sick for 3 weeks when I got to DC, which prompted me to lose about 10-15 pounds from eating about 600 calories a day. Not the most healthy way to do it, but it was a good start to what is now about a total of 40-45 lbs lost. Walking everywhere (to and from work every day...not to any more, way too fucking hot in the moring) and I started taking a spinning class after getting another gym membership which has been totally kicking my ass.

I guess all of that activity plus eating pretty much nothing but ground turkey wheat pasta for dinner / lunch like every day and turkey sausage with eggs in the morning. I still have the frat/beer gut from college but I'm on a pretty solid track to maybe ditching it hopefully by the end of this year. Yay for getting healthy! Also vas, I've only got 10-15 lbs on you now dog...even if you are like yao ming up in this!

Whoa Josh, you've been busy.

What exactly is a group house? Is that connected to your frat somehow or just a house you rent with roommates?

I've been thinking about a gym membership myself, the problem is I hate gyms.

strangely enough ive also been losing weight as well...im not really eating healthier tho im just eating less...that seems to really be the key...and im also walking a lot more...not having a job means not having throw away money on things like snacks i suppose...

ive been in california for about six months...i live in san dimas which is meh...i prefer northern california above all else...if i had the money i would live in san fransisco hands down...everything is expensive here and i cant find a job to save my life...last i heard california had the highest unemployment rate in the country...i cant even get a job in food service/retail...so yea...

seems like everybody is doing the music thing...i made a decision when i was about 18 that i would not pursue music and focus on art...that was obviously the wrong decision so hopefully this time around it wont suck so bad...if the courses at cc work out i might actually transfer to UW or something and study music for film...but thats if i have any talent and/or enjoy it...in the program outline it looks like i have an option to study a specific instrument...my favorite instrument is the cello but ive never actually played a string instrument before...theres also the piano which i used to take and the guitar which i also know...i dont really count the guitar as a string instrument...nothing else really interests me...ill probably end up taking the piano again because i can make all parts of a song with that instrument more easily than the others...

Haha, it wasn't really a joke. Just that it sort of looked like lower intestine. And then I swore a lot.

Hey, Bram, guess what?

A group house could be a lot of things I guess. Some are houses where an owner rents out each room of a house on an individual lease, Others are just houses where you pay whatever % of rent for your room with other people.

Good news! I'm officially house sitting for a full month (YA FREE RENT) when I come back to DC in September. I'm totally stoked.

Trumbar, the restaurant is going to be like a kind of bistro/bar I guess. A lot of single roast dinners with random salads and mad crostini sides.

Dude, you all been chatty since my last weekly check in.

Still in Seattle, it's been a really busy summer though. I've gone down to LA and Portland to visit college friends, and there's just been a lot of stuff going on this summer it seems. Trip to San Juans, BBQs, people visiting from out of town, I don't even know what's been going on, just a lot of things. I've been shopping at the farmer's market a lot, eating delicious fruits and veggies and fresh eggs.

Work has been up and down. Things have been really slow for most of the year, so I was on partial unemployment, I guess technically I still am in case things get shitty again. We've been really busy lately, for better or for worse. Better, because getting paid is nice, worse because the current project keeping us busy involves being away from home a lot and in Ellensburg, working long days in the hot ass shrub-steppe desert. They haven't been treating us too well, and tensions are running high at work. Fucked thing is, with the economy like this, it's not like you can go get another job really. I've toyed with the idea of going back to grad school, but it would likely involve me having to leave here. My co-worker and I have been drinking a lot of beer at the local microbrewery to drown our sorrows, but this has resulted in a few extra pounds I don't need.

With my increased free time since kicking the WoW, I've mostly thrown my hobby time into knitting. I suck at finishing projects, but I really enjoy drinking and knitting with my crew of knitting friends, and I like the process of knitting a lot.

Matthew's good, the Google is treating him well, and I go eat lunch there once a month cause their cafeteria is damned tasty and free. I love food. We've been playing a lot of D&D 4th ed., however now he seems obsessed with White Wolf again, which makes me QQ because I like playing D&D.

Next month is PAX, Matthew's family comes for a visit, and then in November one of my best friends growing up is getting married in Mexico, I'm quite excited. I just got my first ever passport!

you guys should play witchcraft. it's like white wolf, but way better. you can get the core book for free by clicking here, and the rest you can probably download through torrents. That's how I got my copies.

Either that, or you can play GURPS! That's what I've been playing lately. 1000 pt supers in GURPS is pretty gratifying. I also made a zero point character who is awesome, Walter the Dwarf, a TL3 midget who is a traveling mystic/healer/overeater. No one will run him in a game though because they think I'm retarded for making a zero point character lol.

Hi

D:
Well...if anyone needs me to run something I'll try to help within the time I have left.

Since I'm trying to avoid work this morning , I decided I might as well add to this ongoing forum about status updates.

As of late I've been playing Megaman 9, Wii Resort, and the free MMORPG Spellborn. I'm actually pretty impressed by Spellborns fighting system.

Outside of games, I've been still working as an IT Manager for a local health care provider. It's no my ideal job by any means, but at least it helps pay the bills until I get back on my feet. There are current talks of having me take over my boss's position as an IT Director once he takes off in December. Though It's an promotion, I'm not really sure I want to deal with the stress it brings.

I've recently opened up my own side business re-purposing items as unique furniture. Though I really need to get some pictures uploaded I've made so far a desk made out of bats, a coffee table from an old door, a chandelier out of drinking straws, and etc. I'm happy to say that I made my first sale over the weekend from an antique chair that I re-upholstered with a green chenille fabric with a stained cherry finish for the wood.

I'm still working on getting a website up for promotion as all my stuff is selling at a local art deco store here in Dallas (artisan collective)

So you're still playing Spellborn, eh?

i have no idea where all my old decks are, or i would give them to you. i thought i had like 6 or 7, some cracked, some blanks with a friend's art on them, but who knows where they are.

being his sub, kinky!

I went to PAX this weekend. I had more fun this year because I was more accustomed to lines, which hadn't existed in 2007 but were out the wazzoo last year. I played a lot more board games this year. We are currently really enjoying Dominion, which is a really fun card-building game (but not of the collectible sort).

I went to the Old Republic Demo, but there wasn't anything really new they showed that wasn't shown in the link Trumby posted, except they showed the Trooper class.

Blizzard was there in full force, with SC II, Diablo II, and the new WoW expansion. I actually thought the new WoW expansion looked really cool, because I found I missed Azeroth a lot in Burning Crusade. Some of the class/race stuff is kind of weird, but I just like that they're bringing it back to Azeroth.

I played a little Aion, which was fun. Lots of lines for other things. MS had a booth for their indie game development for the 360, with a bunch of their indie games on display, which reminded me I should totally check all that out from time to time. We totally downloaded I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N IT!!!1, which is like Crimson Land but playable with 4 peeps on your TV!

Also we played Beatles Rock Band, which I would be playing now if I wasn't stuck in Ellensburg for work, QQ

YES THAT IS IT! And yes, that is the actual soundtrack for the game!!!

AND IT ONLY COST A DOLLAR (as the song says)