If you know anyone interested, let me know and we can work something out.

ANN: “Toni Morrison isn’t dead?!?”

2) I spent Friday afternoon playing Gears of War 2 with dodgeball buddy Dave for a few hours. Good times there, and a good game to boot.

3) Seeing the parents for dinner. Seeing the brother too. Good to be home, even for a little bit.

4) Seeing Michelle and Josh. Ann & I hadn’t been down to see them since the spring, and I only got to see them at the AMC pub night, so that was great.

5) My old high school put in a wind turbine. It’s huge. And random.

6) D&D - best session yet. I nearly died again, but that was by choice as opposed to me being stupid! We beat up on some crazy, crazy, CRAZY stuff. It was awesome!

I’m confident right now.

1) So, unemployment is fun. Again. I hit up the temp agency yesterday, and that’s looking promising, I have one job interview next week and hopefully a few more down the pike. Things that are crappy in no particular order:

a) The uselessness. I forgot how much I do generally like working.

b) The health insurance. Ann may work for the least worthwhile benefit package in existence.

c) The sleeping patterns. Mine are shot all to hell.

2) This past weekend wasn’t shabby, though - movies and an extremely fun D&D session, I got to bail from work early, drinking with friends, etc. I really can’t complain.

3) Things that have taken up too much of my time: Fallen Sword, a web-based MMORPG of sorts. A fun way to kill 30 minutes, and if you sign up under me, I benefit. So yeah.

4) More fun: Photoshopped fantasy novels.

I have a ton to say, but I’m antsy.

01. What’s the last DVD you watched?

Ann & I watched Rocket Science last night. Good flick.

02. What are you wearing at the moment?

Jeans, my Elizabeth Elmore guitar pedal t-shirt, socks and black Chucks.

03. Who is/was your favorite cartoon character?

I was always partial to Danger Mouse.

04. What is your favorite scent?

Thoughts that passed through my mind for this: a burning clove cigarette, burning wood, barbecue, vanilla.

05. What do you drink the most?

Probably water.

06. Is there a useless thing that you cannot brace yourself to throw out?

I can see roughly a half dozen things from where I’m sitting.

07. Who was your first big crush?

his girl I went to school/danced with. I was six. It would have never worked out.

08. What did you want to be when you grew up?

In order: a crayon maker, President, meteorologist, actor, music teacher, politician, director, librarian. Still don’t know for sure.

09. What mythological figure are you?

Zeus, because I’m that awesome. Or something.

10. What characters are overrated?

Thoughts that passed through my mind for this: Starbuck and Roslin from the new BSG, Jack Bauer, Tony Clark.

11. What 3 people would you invite to dinner?

There’s no way I can narrow this down. None at all. I’d love to dine with Jefferson, Kroger Babb, Thomas Sowell, Sarah Vowell, Peter Buck, my best friend from kindergarten, my uncle Tom, and roughly half the people reading this, but there’s no way I could get them all interested in each other.

12.What is your current desktop?

A Diesel Sweeties-style turnip landscape.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

A fun, if enigmatic, friend. Meant entirely complimentary.

14. What are you afraid of?

Failure.

15. What’s your favorite item of clothing?

I hate clothes. I suppose my red Chucks are well loved, though.

16. What are you into right now?

In no particular order: dodgeball, Jenny Lewis, movies, fantasy books, Mad Men, and my wife.

17. What did you do today?

Ate breakfast, went food shopping, watched the Pats game, played some video games, applied to three jobs.

18. What do you want?

One of the jobs I applied to last week to call me back and hire me.

19. What should you be doing right now?

Cleaning, applying for more jobs.

20. What’s the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?

I am Jeff, and Badly Drawn Boy is a musician I love, but not as much as I probably used to. But the name sort of fits in a lot of ways, so it stays.

Five from Adam:

1) Barack Obama - Where will he rank among the worst presidents ever?

I can’t imagine Obama or McCain doing better than Bush, and I would probably place Bush somewhere in the bottom ten ever on a good day. Neither of them have the answers to solve the problems we’re looking at. So my prediction would probably be somewhere in the bottom 10.

2) Bill Ayers - is that REALLY a legitimate thing for the McCain/Palin campaign to bring up?

Yup.

3) McCain/Palin - What happened? Who’s to blame?

I think the campaign management is the biggest problem. They never seized the narrative, they never went after Obama in a clear, focused way, and they squandered a great opportunity with Palin. It was a hard enough year for a Republican as is, and Obama was like a gift. Kind of pathetic.

4) Palin - You sort of touched on this above, but, really, what is it about her that really does it for you? Just her policies, or her life story and situation too? What do you think about her numbers now?

It really is her policies. That she comes from a pretty middle class background doesn’t hurt, but I don’t respond well to populist angles. Her numbers, well, I’m not sure she ever had a really good shot to do anything about that.

5) Recession - Any thoughts?

We’ll see.

Now from Lee Anne:

1. How would you vote on Massachusetts Question One and what’s your reasoning behind it?

For those unaware, Question 1 would eliminate the Massachusetts state income tax over a two year period. I voted yes on this in 2002, and I’d vote yes today if only to send a message to the legislature. They’re just going to overturn it later anyway, after all.

2. What’s your junk food of choice?

I’m really not much of a junk food guy. I’ll have some cookies with my lunch, I like tortilla chips. If I have a significant junk food vice, it’s probably milkshakes.

3. You and Ann have exposed each other to a lot of new stuff. What are you proudest of getting her into?

Man, I don’t know. This may sound like a copout answer, but she likes so much that I do that the fact that she trusts me enough to not steer her into something she’ll loathe is probably the best part. That I can take her to a bizarre concert and she’ll enjoy it, that she’ll roll dice with me or explore a historic island. It’s the ability to share anything that’s probably the best, and I’m proud because it means that I’ve shown myself to be a good judge of those things.

4. On a different note, what has she introduced you to that you really like?

This is a tough question, since I’m considered the “entertainment coordinator” of this household. The first things to pop into my brain were black olives and red grapes, but that sounds trite. So I asked her:

Jeff: “What have you introduced me to?”
Ann: “Nothing. Seriously, nothing. Foods. Quesadillas, maybe? Tacos. Ooh, I know - non-tapered pants.”

See?

5. If you had a million bucks to donate to the charity of your choice,

Alzheimer’s research. Start a nonprofit to give interest free loans to people who want to open small businesses. Make some sort of fund for rural libraries to be able to get newer, lesser known books for their children’s collections.

Now from the wife:

1. It’s Groundhog day, you’re Bill Murray, but at least you can control what happens that day. What’s your day’s agenda?

Lots of illicit sexual escapades I’d probably try more new things over and over and over just to see what happens.

2. What would Pigeon be saying if she could talk?

Food? Food food fo– hey, what’s that shadow?

3. Alright, the condo is on fire! Pij and I are okay, what do you have in your two hands? (Yes, yes, I know you wouldn’t have time to go digging in the closet or whatever, but suspend reality for a minute, okay?)

It’s funny, because I don’t have a lot of stuff with sentimental value. Or any non-financial value. Sure, the CDs are there, but, well, that’s a lost cause. The Rickenbacker has no personal value, the “big ticket” items can be replaced. Honestly? I’d probably grab all the Kroger Babb stuff, because that’s the only irreplaceable stuff I have.

4. What do you like most about ManchVegas? Is this the city where you picture us raising our children?

It feels like what I wanted Worcester to be. I still think our future is further north, but I’d be happy with here, too.

5. You have known me five years now(!) In what ways have I changed the most? How do you think you have changed?

You’re more confident and self-aware. You care more about everything. I’d like to think I’m similar, but I don’t know.

1. Are you having kids any time soon?

In the clearest possible terms, no. For one, we’re simply not ready in any way shape or form - we don’t have a second bedroom, I don’t have a job in 7 days, and we’re enjoying our life as it is anyway. Beyond that, the adoption process is, bare minimum, a two year process. We’ve put off buying a place until the economic stuff sorts out a bit more, so we’re at least 3 years away at this point, I think.

What’s your thoughts on being a parent? What kind of dad do you picture yourself being?

I’m scared. It’s the single scariest thing on my future horizon. I fear being a poor parent, about not doing right for my kids, for not being able to provide what they deserve, for not bringing them up the way I think they should be. I fear my genetics. I fear my own insecurities.

Ann thinks this might make me a better parent, since I’m so aware of all these things. I’m not convinced yet, but, again, 3 years down the line.

2. You’re a literary nerd. Why aren’t lyrics important to you?

It’s probably because I’m even more of a music nerd. I’m drawn to a song’s structure - whether it be a catchy melody, a great hook, or an interesting arrangement - long before I even hear the words being sung.

Even as a “literary nerd,” there’s very little in literature that sticks with me. I just finished Anathem today, which is probably my favorite book in 12 months, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you the details of a passage that really caught me, even though there were plenty. Maybe I just don’t have that sort of mind, not that I know what sort of mind it is.

3. How in the world do you find the time to read as many books, watch as many movies, listen to as much music, and do as much stuff in a 168 hour week?

Okay. First, a typical “adult” book is 250-400 pages long. A typical “adult” book, as it is, I can read at a clip of 55-70 pages in a 30 minute sitting. I’ve always been a fast reader, so it’s pretty natural for me. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t fit in at least 30 minutes of reading, and it’s usually closer to an hour when it gets to the points in time I can get 10 minutes in here or there. The 30 uninterrupted minutes over lunch alone make up for that easily. Now, that’s close to a book a week on lunch breaks alone. A book like Anathem or A Game of Thrones, both 900 page tomes with a ton of detail, move slower but get more attention than normal. Meanwhile, I’ll read a young adult novel with larger print and smaller book sizes at a clip of maybe 100 pages in a 30 minute time span. I can polish two or three of those off in a week. Or perhaps a graphic novel, which is 100 pages on a good day and can often be finished in one or two sittings. Add them all together, and it’s not so strange to have read 115 books as of this point in time.

As for movies, baseball season and the advent of the DVR has cut back on that tremendously, but if I can find time to watch two episodes of Mad Men in an evening, what’s a 90 minute movie? I could, in theory, probably watch a movie a day if I didn’t give it my full attention. I just enjoy movies too much.

Music? Wicked easy - satellite radio plus having a CD going whenever the TV is off and I’m near a computer.

And why isn’t working on The Most Important Book In The World included more often? Seriously. Get back to work on that thing.

I know, I know. The Drama is nearly over, and the creative juices feel like they’re coming back again, which is a good sign for that. Hopefully the prodigal grandchild will understand…

4. What happened to all the Palin love in your blog as of late? Are you still as enthralled with her?

The love went the way of most other writing as of late. I just haven’t been enthralled with anything, the election included. As it stands, if my excitement in late August was an 11, it’s probably around a 9.75 right now - I’m still a huge fan, and I just don’t know how much to blame that rough Couric patch on her or the inept McCain campaign.

5. Stubbornness: a boon or bane? Explain. (Bonus points for a tie-in to your recent job situation.)

Depends on the context. It’s a boon in some ways because it keeps me grounded - my stubbornness goes a long way when I know I’m not completely off-kilter. I know I’m not insane when it comes to recent troubles, and it keeps me from going completely nuts in my head. It’s a bane in the same way, however, where if I wasn’t so stubborn, I could have saved myself a ton of mental anguish.

The whole library thing isn’t unique to my typical stubbornness. It’s probably the number one cause of my inaction on many areas of my personal life, and probably gets mistaken for apathy in a lot of areas. I need to overcome it.

6. WHY SO SERIOUS?

All that time in the asylum…

1) I went to a children’s library conference on Thursday, and I’m amazingly glad I did:

a) It was held in Bethlehem/Littleton, NH, which is about 2 hours north of Manchester, through the White Mountains. I’m not a “ooh, nature” guy, but holy crap was it gorgeous. It was a pretty crappy day, but as I got to the mountains, you could see the clouds and fog rolling off the hills and mountains, and the foliage was pretty, and I could honestly pick up shop and move up that way for good if things were different in my life right now. Just such a perfect, gorgeous, beautiful area.

b) The conference was enlightening, both personally and professionally. I’ve gotten a bit of a reputation from other librarians with the authors and events I’ve been able to get, apparently, which was a very surprising and nice thing to hear, but each panel was just as interesting as well - one on autism and dealing with autistic kids in the library was great, but my favorite was the Native American materials presentation, which really spoke to my personal vendetta against bad nonfiction in children’s collections. The whole day was really great in that regard.

The whole thing was a very uplifting experience for me.

2) Dodgeball didn’t go so well in week two, but I did nail someone in the babymaker, so that’s worth something.

3) I took Friday off, and went to meet the wonderful, amazing Jon Scieszka on Saturday:

It’s always wonderful when a guy you’ve admired for 20 years ends up being even more awesome than you could have thought. In the picture is fellow librarian friend Jackie, who joined us on the excursion. We got to talk to Scieszka for a good 5 minutes before he spoke, and he signed a couple things for me and posed for a picture. Wicked down to earth, amazingly funny - he has a Norm MacDonald-style delivery which is just hysterical - and really someone I’m happy is cool, and makes me appreciate his work that much more. Really wonderful stuff.

4) Yesterday was D&D, first time in a month. Wow, did I miss it - a really crazy battle with some undead dragon newborns, some crazy challenges, and the afternoon really flew by. Every session becomes more and more fascinating, which is great. Two more weeks? Really?

5) Currently obsessed with the following:

a) 30 Rock. We’re all caught up, finally. Talk about a wickedly funny show. Anything that can make Al Gore fun is fine by me.

b) Anathem by Neal Stephenson. A less talented author wouldn’t be able to make me care about monks who study math and philosophy, but there you have it. Rick has been trying to get me to read Snow Crash essentially since the day I met him, and I may have to bump that up considerably.

c) Mega Man 9. No video game hates you quite the way MM9 does. Yet I can’t stop torturing myself.

d) Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis. The CD isn’t anything special, except that every song feels as if it’s better than the song before it, and you’re disappointed when it’s over. That means something, right?

e) E. L. Fudge cookies. The double stuff variety. Yeah. Cookies shaped like elves are my anti-drug.

This weekend, too my knowledge, we have nothing planned. I’m looking forward to a late-night High School Musical 3 and a lot of sleeping.

I’ve generally always known that I picked a good one, but it’s always fun to get a new reminder about how damn cute she is, too.

1) So remember that short film I was in? It made its debut at Lumen Eclipse last weekend, and apparently to pretty good acclaim. I have a copy of it, there was one on DailyMotion that doesn’t exist anymore, and when I am able to share it with you all, I will, because I think it’s worth seeing - it’s offbeat, it’s a fun Nancy Drew homage, and if you hate it, well, it’s only 60 seconds out of your time. It’s worth noting that I’m on screen for roughly .75 seconds, which is a new record for any sort of film presentation, and thus makes my role as “The Pianist” of similar substance to Dame Judi Dench’s Oscar-winning turn in Shakespeare in Love. Just sayin’.

2) A couple weeks ago, Rick and Mark came up for a long weekend. It was essentially like old college times all over again, which was exactly what was needed and a good time. We hit the Anna Maria alumni weekend pub night - it’s my 5 year reunion this year, which is scary in so many ways. Saw a lot of people I didn’t expect, a few I did, and I’m honestly glad I went. The rest of the weekend went smoothly except for the amount of money I spent on food and the fact that my 360 hates EA games.

3) Dodgeball started up this week. A solid W for The Ocho, and I didn’t play half bad, either. I forgot how much I missed it, too - good competition is fun, and the team’s a pretty solid good time, too. I wish I could be one of those people who can hit the gym 4 times a week or whatever, but I can’t even blog regularly. But I feel great tonight, even if the tops of my thighs are absolutely on fire from the running around.

4) With my time at the library coming to a close, I’ve been trying to get myself set up better at the Manchester Library, which means navigating through their new system and getting used to the kinks, especially from a patron side as opposed to the librarian side. Instead of getting into the nitty gritty details without knowing the specifics, I’ll say this much - every so often, I’ll tell Ann how sad it makes me that I simply will never get to read all the books I want to. I’ve read over 100 this year alone, so it’s not as if I’m a reading slacker - it’s just that a) I know my list at Manchester is about 60 titles deep right now, b) it could be doubled if I wanted to take an hour and play around with it, and c) that doesn’t even start getting into the books that the library doesn’t have and, scarier, probably can’t get.

My literary holy grail at the moment is Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires. I’m not paying $44 for a used book on Amazon, and even weirder is that no library shows as having it on WorldCat. I may never even see this book in the, uh, paper flesh in my lifetime, never mind get to read it. It has apparently been optioned as a film (yeah, that’s right - not that anyone’s ever seen the book or anything), which bodes well, but still, this book is essentially the story of my life when it comes to books. Not that I won’t have hundreds of others to read instead, of course, but still.

5) Related to the above, I’ve tried LibraryThing and couldn’t really get into it. I tried the iRead application on Facebook and found it difficult. I did GoodReads and got annoyed. Finally, I’ve found a web-based book program I actually like - Shelfari! I know it doesn’t do much new with certain things as perhaps the others I’ve tried have, but I love the interface and this just feels easier. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with it - after all, I’ve read over 400 books in the last 3 years, and I can’t normally remember what I read last week without keeping it written down somewhere - but if you’re unhappy with your other ones or whatever, friend me over there and check it out.

6) I feel like the only human being in the world who doesn’t understand Twitter.

7) At this point, I think the best move is to NOT talk about the Red Sox in fear that it might, like, bring Mike Timlin into a close game or something.

8) Finally, I can’t decide which one of these videos is more awesome, so enjoy them both:

Yes, it was a good move for me. Yes, I’m going to miss being a librarian, but I was missing my basic sanity even more at this point. Details as I can provide them, but a) it’s the right thing to do, and b) if you’re hiring, let me know.

* Friday night we finally got to see fellow Manch-Vegans Jackie and Mattieu, who we haven’t seen in AGES. Spend a couple hours at Murphy’s Taproom catching up on life and getting $2 drafts and getting a much needed escape from the stresses of life in general. Considering the drama surrounding me lately, I felt a million times better afterward. Excellent stuff.

* The majority of the weekend was spent in Massachusetts. First stop was to see my old high school friend Kim and her newish fiancé who we hadn’t met yet. It was so good to see her, since I never see her anymore and it’s good to see she’s found a good, solid guy. Plus, we had 4 meals at Finder’s Pub for $21. How sweet is that?

* Following that was a cookout at Julia’s. Certain things brought the mood down a bit, but it was still good to see who we got to see, and there was good food and good times and a nice chance to catch up again. Very nice.

* We left the cookout around 9, and crashed at my parent’s. Both were up, and then my brother swung by, which was nice. We probably just sat around the table for 2 hours just catching up and joking around, which was just what I needed at that point. My dad made breakfast the next morning, I got to see my Memere, and it was like yet another added bonus to an already pretty busy weekend.

* D&D followed breakfast - one of the best sessions yet, in my opinion. Some kobold ass-kicking gave way to a diplomatic truce and some D&D-style race war/genocide discussion. I love D&D, I really do. And it’s only getting better, which is awesome. The cracks are starting to show, and there are significant choices and consequences which just make things more crazy. I didn’t know it could improve more, but there you have it.

* So this week is a short work week for me workwise - Rick and Mark are coming up for the weekend. It’s the first time I’ve seen Rick since the wedding, and the first time the three of us have gotten together since then. We’ll be hitting Anna Maria’s pub night for alumni weekend Friday, and then just hanging in Manchester the rest of the time. AMC folks, let me know if you’ll be there.

It’s been 5 years since I graduated college? Wow.

* Oh, Friday was Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Ann noted to many that it was 5 years to the day she fell for me. Why? I did a Tatnuck shift report entirely in pirate-speak. If that’s not further evidence I found the perfect person for me, I don’t know what else to tell you.

Once again, Barack Obama foils me, holding a rally with Biden down the street. Sigh.

2) Tonight we had Red Sox tickets. Earlier this week, Matsuzaka was the starter to be ready for. Then, two days ago, it was David Pauley, he of the 10.XX ERA. Today? Michael Bowden, pitching prospect, making his major league debut. Awesome - awesome game, awesome experience, and $6 parking.

3) Tomorrow, we’re surprising my Uncle Jeff, who I haven’t seen in about 5 years. He’s one of those close family friends who you end up calling uncle even though they’re not actually related, and we’ve swung in and out of contact with him over the years, and it turns out he’s staying about an hour away and my parents are visiting him right now and invited us up tomorrow. So that’ll be awesome. Very awesome.

Talk about a sea change in attitude.

Fun times, really.

Thank you lady downstairs for burning your porkchops!

1) Summer reading = over. A good summer, but also glad it’s over and I can somewhat relax again. I’m always amazed at how much I end up running on adrenaline rushes for a lot of stuff, and then I’m shocked when I’m exhausted at the end. I took Friday off, slept in, and pretty much stayed on the couch all day playing games.

2) Life doesn’t seem to want to slow down, either - we have a Red Sox game coming up, another weekend in Massachusetts, we still have to figure out when to see people we haven’t seen in a while, still house hunting. Why is life insane?

3) D&D was awesome on Sunday. We went Wyvern hunting, and did it well. Ann played her first week as a Dwarven Fighter, and was pulling action movie stunts almost immediately, and it was pretty awesome. Best battle I’ve been in since I’ve started playing, hands down.

4) Someone want to explain why Pac-Man: Championship Edition is so addicting? Anyone?

1) Another busy weekend. August is poo!

I shouldn’t say that - it was busy, but another generally fun weekend. We hit a movie on Friday, did an Irace family gathering in Maine followed by a stop at the Great Lost Bear and home on Saturday, and a Sox game on Sunday followed by dinner in Watertown with the D&D crew minus Billy.

1a) At the Sox game, I sat next to one of the crazier people I’ve ever encountered at a Sox game. He’s convinced there’s a massive conspiracy to oust all the nonwhite players a la the Yawkeys of old, that the games are fixed by the pitching coaches, etc. Stunning, really.

2) Downsides to the weekend? I’m probably more sunburnt right now than I’ve been in a very long time. I tried to be proactive, too, but my face is all bright red as well as the tops of my hands. Ah well. It’ll be a sore day or two I suppose, but the switch to a long-sleeve shirt paid some serious dividends.

3) This week’s the last week of summer reading. I don’t know if this has been more harrowing because of drama or just because, but I’ll be glad when it’s done nonetheless.

Enough for now.

1) Saturday morning, we went up to Hillsboro to look at this house. Interestingly, I think Ann ended up liking it less than I did - the floor plan was great, and there was a lot to love, but there was also more we didn’t - for instance, the interesting choices the former owners made with things as simple as doors and flooring to more questionable issues like the converted shed-like structure in the back that was tilted at a 20 degree angle. Whether it would realistically pass inspection was another concern, but by the time we got around to thinking about that, I think our minds were made up. The location was pleasant if we were 10-15 years older, and it just wasn’t for us.

House hunting sucks.

2) We hit a small party with a former dodgeball teammate in Haverhill later that day - a ton of fun. Good group of people, good conversation, great food, and a really solid chance to reconnect with a couple people we lost track of. After the disappointment of the morning, that was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

3) We then hit my friend Mel’s place for dinner and games with her boyfriend before crashing there. Always good to see her, nice to spend the morning in Worcester getting breakfast and again seeing how things change in such a crazy short time between visits. A good, relaxing evening, even if I did have a crappy game of Carcassonne.

4) In the morning, we grabbed breakfast at Culpepper’s and then headed off to D&D. One of our regulars in the group couldn’t attend, and Ann decided to give it a shot for the day. First, she did quite well - only dropping once (which was to be expected with the copious amounts of marking she was doing) and killing a few big baddies. She struggled a bit with the roleplaying aspect, but given that she discounts that as not really having an interest in the storyline at that point, it was a good day for her.

Not to speak for her, but I think she really liked it. Either that or her reading my Unicorn Slaying Handbook until 10:45 last night was simply a coincedence. That and she doesn’t think Bill’s table is big enough for a 7th player.

So we’ll see.

As for me, I didn’t die! Yay! I came close, but I was smarter and it worked. And now I have leather armor. Fear me.

Hopefully I can catch up more with life tonight.

Ann: “The words in italics kind of confuse me, but they’re the only way I know what I’m doing.”
Jeff: “You can mostly ignore those, it’s just flavor text - roleplaying stuff.”
Ann: “You mean the text - is has a flavor?”

Later, she was reading over the paladin powers and tripped over Astral Speech:

Astral Speech
You speak with such compelling conviction that others find it difficult to refute your beliefs and claims.
Effect: You gain a +4 power bonus to Diplomacy checks until the end of the encounter.

Ann immediately turns to me and says “Hey, that’s what Obama has!”

A busy weekend coming up…

…and it’s not a foreclosure.

…and it’s in a nice place.

…and it’s ridiculously priced for what it is.

Keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

Ann: “So what’s her character?”
Jeff: “A minotaur.”
Ann: “A minotaur?! That’s, like, a horn away from unicorn!”

Ann: “So her minotaur, does she do anything?”
Jeff: “I think she might be playing a cleric” (note: the minotaur is a paladin)
Ann: “A clerk? Really? Do I get to process things?”

Note: She really thought I said “clerk.”

Jeff: “So yeah, you’re playing Jenny’s character, and she’s Mike’s wife.”
Ann: “Oh no! I only know him from pictures on the internet! Worlds colliding!”
Jeff: “He’s fine, you’ll like him.”
Ann: “Wait - if I’m playing his wife’s character, does that mean I have to sleep with him?”

In all seriousness, while Ann never pictured the day she’d be rolling dice for fun, she’s pretty excited to see how this goes down.

2) I also surprised her with Breaking Dawn today, since the waitlist at the library is crazy long. We ended up at Barnes and Noble at the same time this morning, and I was doing my best James Bond to stay out of her sight.

3) The Nashua Pride ballpark is really gorgeous. Just sayin’.

4) I’m so obsessed with 3oh!3 it’s not even funny:

Holla ’til you pass out.

1) After work on Friday, I picked up Ann and we went to Old Orchard Beach in Maine. My parents rent a place up there for a week every year, and they invited us up, and we took them up on it.

I had never been to OOB. Ann spent time there as a kid, only living about 15-30 minutes from the area, but my treks north rarely left New Hampshire. It was entirely different than what I expected - more of a shoretown-type atmosphere with a random carnival in the middle than the spectacle that Hampton Beach or Wildwood provide - and that was kind of nice. It does have a bit of an older flair to it, though, which was different. The crowd may have been influenced by the people we were with - namely my parents - but it was more an interesting, unexpected thing than anything else.

I’ll say this much, though: bar-hopping with your parents is something everyone should try once. We ended up at this one bar (my mother insisted it was Irish, I’m convinced she thinks all bars are) that was essentially a fortysomething bar with the worst of the 80s and 90s pumping on the stereo. Patently absurd, Ann & I were the youngest people there by at least 15 years, and yet, in the end, it was totally awesome. If they had a better beer selection, it would have been even better. We hit a second beachside bar afterwards with a crappy cover band and a crappier drink selection before getting a slice of pizza at midnight and calling it an evening.

Apparently, it was correctional officer week at OOB, though - my father must have known about 30 people at the various places we ended up. Completely weird.

2) Saturday, we went from OOB to Little Sebago Lake to see Ann’s mother’s family. My parents came, since they were only 40 minutes out as it were, and it was a good time as usual. It’s always interesting to see them because we don’t see them much, so it’s hard for me to keep track, but year. We were there 6 hours or so and then came home, caught a late movie, and yeah.

3) Sunday was D&D day. After the rough grind of the session prior, I know I was looking forward to better results this go ’round. So, naturally, I end up the target of two hobgoblin archers and nearly get myself killed. Again. Never mind that I had cover and threw a shield up, I just got absolutely pummelled. I know there’s an aspect of “Wizard: You’re Doing It Wrong” if I keep dying like this, but this felt like total dumb luck.

Regardless, a VERY fun session yesterday for no specific reason, except that I feel it was fun and that’s what matters. We left things on a very interesting note, which is great, and yeah. I’m really excited about the upcoming game. As long as I don’t keep dragging everyone else down what with the dying and stuff…

Why did I wait until I was 27 to pick this up?

4) Upcoming plans: househunting tonight, gatherings galore in the next few weeks, work, life, etc.

1) Seeing Lee Anne. We were trying to figure something out all week, and finally she just decided to come up to Manchester and hang, which was great. We hit the local bar/food joint of choice where I had fried pickles for the first time - they were AMAZING. We also wandered around Manchester proper a bit and hit an Arena Football game, which was all sorts of weird and awesome all at once. Even without all the fun stuff on the side, spending an afternoon with Lee Anne is always a good thing. Adding fried pickles to the mix just makes it that much better.

2) Nerd Alert #1: Civilization Revolution came out this week. I love the PC series, and they made a console version which is pretty great, if not a little flawed in places. But I did pick it up and was able to save $20 on it with some skillful eBaying, so that’s good.

3) D&D yesterday. I’d say that the rounds we had yesterday were probably my first experience with some significant grinding - a couple tough battles combined with some difficult preparation for a confusing magical item. It was the first time my relative newbieness really reared its head, as I was both trying to do things that didn’t work, made things a little more complicated than they needed to be in some places, and didn’t quite catch onto another idea Mike had in one battle where we were getting more than a little punished until it was almost too late. Still a fun afternoon, but yikes. Still, the whole episode opened up a few cans of worms, and has completely opened up a new idea for my character I hadn’t thought of. So that’s something.

Ironically, the punishment debacle in the second battle? My character didn’t take any damage. Granted, I’m playing a wizard controller-type, which means I’m not supposed to get into the melee, but there was something annoyingly amusing about that - annoying for everyone who nearly died, amusing to me. Then again, if any of my dice rolls decided to work properly in that battle…

Things to Do Before Sunday:

* Finish updating all D&D stuff before Sunday gaming. Tonight is a good night to do that, with no Red Sox and no wife. This includes, but is not limited to, adding information to the group wiki as not to put Bill at a disadvantage, and getting my level 2 character sheet finished up for quick transition when I theoretically level up on Sunday.

* Reply to e-mails. Three in particular that I’ve put off more than 7 days, which is unacceptable in every way.

* Clean my desk. I don’t normally get bothered by the desk situation at home, but I’m at critical mass and can’t operate.

Things to Accomplish Before the End of July:

* Consistency: For every political blog I put up, write a non-political one. I’ve meant to do this anyway, but I haven’t been, and keeping myself on a tighter schedule is important, and it’ll annoy fewer people as well.

* Actually visit some houses and get paperwork rolling. Less looking online, more looking in person, stat! We’ve seen two houses(!) we like, and one condo which is still on the market from the last discussion, so why lollygag?

Things to Improve as Time Rolls Along:

* Contact. I’ve gotten better, but not great - it dawned on me this week, for instance, that the last time I saw Georgy was last August. That’s a bit ridiculous, and there’s no excuse for that. I’m guilty across the board - Lee Anne and I haven’t seen each other since hockey season, I don’t make it to Worcester as often as I should, etc. I know I keep saying I need to change that, but I need to change that. If I can find time twice a month to get into a game, I can find a couple hours to meet up with people for drinks after work or something, bare minimum.

* Get to work! The book has fallen by the wayside and that’s bad. I’m capable of spending 15 minutes a night compiling research and sending e-mails right now, which is where I need to be, so I just have to DO IT. Enough nonsense.

1) I came down with…something last week. Your typical cold, runny nose, hacking up a lung thing with a little digestive irritation to boot. There was some minor fear that Liz infected half the universe with whatever she has/had, given that I know at least a half dozen other people who had a similar thing, but my throat stopped being sore and now I just cough and poop a lot. I’ll be better, for sure, but I’ve gone through so many tissues lately it’s ridiculous.

2) The 4th was fun - Ann & I ended up in a parade in Amherst, NH, for the summer reading program. The Amherst librarians did a book cart drill team, which was fun, and we got to lead the charge and make sure no one ran into the shriners. We then spent most of the day with Jackie and her husband and their friends, playing Guitar Hero and French bocce ball and just having a good time. We pretty much bonded instantly with their friends, which was a great feeling and made the day that much better. I knew things would rock once we met people up here.

3) Sunday, I headed down to Somerville to help out Chelsea with her entry for a short film competition. The initial plan was to hit Somerville, run my shots, and head to Worcester, but the Worcester plans fell through (which is why I didn’t get ahold of you, Georgy - I was right down the street, too), so I ended up hanging a bit and lending a hand where I could. Chelsea needed me to play a Tom Lehrer-type, which was both wicked fun and rekindled my joy for Lehrer. I did have to lose the beard, so I’m facially nude for the next week, but it was totally worth it - Chelsea totally knows what she’s doing and what she wants, and she pulled together a great group, and now I’m all creatively inspired and stuff again. So awesome. So thanks for the opportunity, I can’t wait to see the final result.

4) Outside of all this business, life feels rushed, but sane. I finally feel like a routine is coming back again, the finances are finally normal and the only downer is that the Tampa Bay Rays are for real.

That’s not a bad shake, all things considered.

1) A great time Saturday night with old friends I hadn’t seen in 8+ years. In a lot of ways, it was like we hadn’t missed a beat, except that there was a baby in the mix. Excellent times.

2) First session of the new D&D campaign. My character (hey, Mike, should I upload information about him on the Wiki?) nearly died due to a band of orcs, and we were cavalier with innocent life, and it was awesome. Waiting two weeks for the next session kinda sucks. Stupid holidays.

Also, I rewrote my character sheet so I could fit it in a binder with all the other stuff I need. Ann got ahold of my old sheet, and decided to mess with it a bit, not realizing that I had redone it. Thus, my Eladrin Wizard’s personality traits include “compulsive masturbator,” “armpit fetish,” and “speaks in five letter words only.” Then again, she calls my player’s handbook my “Unicorn Slaying Guide.” Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be convincing her to come along to a game anytime soon, heh.

Grr.

EDIT: OH MY GOD YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO POP TARTS.

I won’t go into my rant about funerals and death and the complete insanity that seems to go along with it right now. Ann & I essentially made a pact to not be like that when we eventually have to bury each other. But yikes.

2) Saturday night was a lot more fun than I anticipated. We met up with Liz for her thirtieth birthday in Boston at one of the weirder restaurants in town, Eastern Standard, with a menu full of raw foods and livestock brains. Very weird. Along for the ride was Sarah, a pleasant surprise, and a number of Liz’s friends including Deb and a Beth who’s LJ I don’t know and Courtney. The place was quite nice, the conversation great, and we probably would have stayed longer if we could have. I didn’t even gag when I saw the brains! I win!

3) Sunday, my father came up for a father’s day/birthday thing - we got great seats for the Sea Dogs/Fisher Cats game. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and it ended up being rained out. We went out for barbecue at a local place afterwards, my father napped on the couch for an hour, and then went home. It was a good afternoon, all things considered.

4) Ann was also able to get Red Sox tickets for last night. Needless to say, I was getting tired from the weekend already, and with summer reading kicking off this week, I told her to bring her friend Christina. So they went, had a good time, I caught up on stuff here. Not a bad night, actually, although I did stay up waaaaaay too late.

5) This weekend is a blast from my past - we’re having a big ol’ get together with the old friends I fell out of touch with from high school. All my fault, and we’re having a mini-reunion of sorts. I’m ridiculously excited about the whole thing. A long time coming.

6) Barring any natural disasters, we start the major D&D campaign this weekend. I’m actually ridiculously excited about this, too - I’ve been spending a pretty sad amount of time poring over the Player’s Handbook and seeing what works, tweaking my character, etc. Since (I think) everyone in the campaign reads this in some form, I’m not sure how much is reasonable to divulge, but I think my character is going to be pretty fun. I bought a big bag of dice and everything!

Okay. That’s it for now.

I got a big bag o’ dice, which is a fun little addition. eBay is funny like that, I suppose. If you need any miniature 6 sided dice, let me know.

2) Funeral is on Friday. We’ll probably head down tomorrow night. Not sure yet.

3) Because I should, a meme:

a) First Name: Jeff

b) Age: 27

c) Location: Fabulous Manch-Vegas. Manchester, NH

d) Occupation: Children’s librarian! 18 months and running!

e) Partner?: Ann. 15 months and running! And I still kinda like her! d;-)

f) Kids: I sure hope not.

g) Brothers/Sisters: My brother Kyle is 24 now, has his own place in Millbury, my old hometown. We exchange lolcats on MySpace a lot, but he seems to be doing well when we do talk.

h) Pets: Pigeon, the kitty. She’s been extra cute the last few days, too. She also wanted to play with the minature 6 sided dice.

i) List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:

- Work. Because work is work, and it’s hard, but it’s great. And summer reading. Yeah.
- The book. Because I keep stalling on it, and then life happens, and then I remember it and get angry that I’m putting things off.
- Life. It’s a copout answer, but life is very big for me right now.

j) Where and for what did you go to school for?:

Anna Maria College, Paxton MA, class of 2003. Went in as a music major, went out a history/political science major, using little of it.

k) Parents?

Two, still. Heh. My father is coming toward the end of his tenure at the prison - one of the good guys, not the guy behind bars. We continue to have a better relationship than we ever did during my more formative years, and that’s a good thing.

My mother is doing well. It’s hard to judge properly being away, but “is doing well” feels right.

l) Who are some of your closest friends?

At this point, we’ve finally become close to a local couple, also a librarian. We’re still quite close with Michelle and Josh and we’re long overdue in seeing them, and it’s just like old times whenever we catch up with Julia and Tiff and the like. So it’s been decent, all things considered.