Life Without Larium

Dream: Baking Anxiety and... Dogs?
Wednesday, 18 Nov 2009:

My mom's friend Pat ran an informal cooking class in her kitchen. I went to the grocery store before class, and I brought my bulk raisins and 20-pound sack of flour. I arrived early, so I made a little raisin-filled Stollen, just a simple version of what my Dad makes every Christmas. Pat smiled when she saw it and decided she teach a recipe for that tomorrow.
( As Usual, Sinister_Dr_X Runs an Odd Game )

Tuesday
I spent about two hours at work yesterday believing that I had (personally) invalidated all of our data for the last three years.

I did not care for the experience.

Dream: Mathematics and Felines
Monday, 9 Nov 2009

A college math professor posed a question to his students, and they gathered into small groups to work on it.

"There is a book in my office whose contents can be grouped into four sections in these ratios," he said, writing a few figures on the board. "These can be logically grouped into two sets."

"Given that I was in a wry mood when I last shelved the book," he continued, "in which direction does the surface normal of the book's front cover currently point?"
( Things That Pounce, Questionable Medical Procedures )

Current Mood: I overslept

"I spoke a language only lonely girls have heard."
Work has been extremely busy this week, sometimes so much that I can't really think or talk to anyone. I'm scrambling to do things we can barely do until the software improves, and there is a bunch of anxiety in everyone involved (except the exec & sales staff, who, if anything, ooze confidence).

This is a cyclical condition in my workplace, but it seems particularly acute at the moment.

It has been a very quite week at home, because my honey has jury duty, so she's been working late afterward and not home until 8 or 9.

I sort of stop thinking about anything when I'm alone, so I didn't do anything for a couple days.

I think I have eaten nothing but egg noodles, apples, and Halloween candy all week (except last night, when we had Maverick's--YUM).

She's almost done, though.

Also, my cracker recipe took a recent leap toward satisfactory, and that was most pleasing! No more cursing and scraping dough-cement off my cookie sheets.

Current Mood: threadbare
Current Music: That song by Mike Doughty

MN0PQ7 Griping Redux; More Than You Want To Know
(Because

cuthalion asked a question, and my reply swelled to dwarf the original post.)

Half my problems weren't the puzzles themselves, but ancillary parts of the experience. In summary:

+ 5 out of 5 to the authors for the ambition of their endeavor.

+ Also in its favor, none of the puzzles required "hints" in order to be solved. (Well, maybe #6, but I'm not sure.)

- Much of the theme-related color for the event obscured the requirements for victory in the race, denigrated the players, or both.

- About half the puzzles had a feature, either by design or by accident, which clever players could exploit to shortcut one or more of its parts. (I have no reason to think this ever happened; I didn't compare notes with other teams.) I like clever things like this, and I don't mind it when other teams figure it out and I don't, but the minipuzzle-avoiding shortcuts were, I thought, too prevalent for a game which sounds as if it is about solving puzzles. They were so prevalent that I frequently worried I was doing something dumb by trying to solve the puzzle.

( Furthermore: )

MN0PQ7
At the invitation of

discoflamingo, Alyssa and I joined him and

ytinas yesterday for a puzzle quest, which neither of us had done before.

We had a great time hanging out with our teammates, who we like very much and never see anymore.

Also, we endured a day of puzzle-shaped hazing, which is always good for fostering camaraderie.

And puzzle #5 was great fun, which, by that point, was quite a surprise! We played a game of minesweeper on paper, and all four of us were able to contribute continuously, working on different parts of the grid; it was by far the most cooperation-friendly puzzle.

I also liked the last puzzle, despite the crowding and some spelling errors. Like #5, it had enough pieces, that, for a while, we could all contribute usefully. I think, given twice as much time and space, it would have been great, but that wasn't the puzzle's fault.

Afterward, we had dinner at Big Marina Grill & Deli, which was delicious.

Dream: Like A Veterinarian, But For Rocks
Friday, Oct 2nd, 2009:

Alison was on good terms with her old undergrad adviser from Carleton. He was a respected polymath close to retirement, and she was trying to convince him to name her as his replacement for one of his jobs at the university. (He was a senior staff doctor, he chaired the Geology department, he taught the occasional biology seminar....) Everything seemed to be going well.
( Until... )

Second Tree Planted
We chose a Haralson for our second apple tree. Everything went more smoothly this time, since I'd learned what to expect from the first one.

I hope he's all snug in his mulch, because there is a frost warning for tonight.

Dream: Fear the Invisible Koalas
Tuesday, September 8th 2009:

I ran into a couple guys I thought I recognized [from other dreams?]; they looked like Paul & Storm, but [NotPaul] was thinner than Paul and [NotStorm] was heavier than Storm. About 20 of us were tromping down a wide metal staircase outside a large building (like the entrance to the Macalester Heating & Cooling plant, but three stories above ground). We noticed each other in the crowd and exchanged glances.
( Obama, my mechanical arm, return to Lake Placid? )

Current Mood: eager

Dream: The Plum-Faced Barbarian
Monday, Aug 10th 2009:

I had signed up for a one-night seminar at the college, and I was going to be late. I found the building on campus and walked through the closest door. I stood in one corner of a huge atrium, open from the top floor to the basement. The upper floors had balconies on the left side, and the first floor balcony went all the way around. The stairs were on the far side and my seminar was on the fourth floor. In the near corner, where the stairs would have been, a trio of elaborate art installations covered the space between the floors, each a few meters on a side. Small appendices jutted closer from each balcony, their wooden benches and elephant ears demarking zones of academic contemplation.
( Girls Prefer Eyelids, Covert Tourists )

Dream: Plausible (Except for My Heat Vision)
Thursday (?), Aug 6th 2009:

I walked backed from something with Alison in the open space between pines and buildings across a carpet of brown needles. Her steps bounced a little as we talked, and her hair—brown with a black cherry sheen—hung to her chin (like it did when we first met), swinging with her every glance. She pulled her keys from her pocket as we approached her house; her brown coat flapped and her keys jangled as she gestured the completion of her story.
( Cartoon Physics )

Current Mood: busy?

Dream: Hallucinogenic Boysenberries?
Wednesday, July 8th:

We stood between a low, empty barracks and the log palisade that surrounded the complex. I had the sense that all the soldiers were farther away (maybe in the mess hall?) and would not return, but were close enough we might stumble across them if we weren't careful. The walls ached with the rituals to Azathoth the soldiers had performed the night before. We looked for evidence of other outre beings they may have courted.
( Pursuit )

Pond
It turns out that the check valve in our pond has been "broken" for more than a year, but has been held together by ignorance and good intentions.

It is now held together by good intentions and packing tape. (A new valve is $80-$150.)

A couple weeks from now, if we have some dry weather, we'll empty the pond for several days. This will let us clean it, which is even more unpleasant than it sounds.

At the same time, we hope to discover whether or not the pond has been contributing to the dampness in one corner of our basement.

Current Mood: work gets in the way of chores

Dream: Silica Civilians
Thursday, July 2nd:

I left Alison's room to find her sister Cassy in the den. Another girl, one of Cassy's friends, was spending the night. I sat on the arm of a couch while the three of us talked.
( This is a handy skill )

I Hurt Less
I pulled a muscle in my neck yesterday morning. That wasn't so bad until I yanked it or something a couple hours later; then it was spasming and painful anytime I looked left.

I've done a lot of icing and hot water and stretching since then, and it is getting much better, but it has been an unexpectedly quiet weekend.

Fortunately, I have Alyssa to look after me.
Plus, she planted vegetables!

Success!
The weekend was good:
( Guests, Work, Poetry )

Dream: The Moth Menace
Tuesday, May 19th:

I raced into my friend's house in the middle of the night. I ran to the balcony and latched the double doors only seconds before the giant moth pressed against their windows, pale green eyes the size of grapefruits bathing me in their malefic glow. A pair of golden eyes appeared reflected in the window as

xcorvis's little black cat jingled up behind me, holding it at bay.
( Automotive Dentists, But Not Like Twin Peaks )

House Update
While Alyssa's family was in town, they fixed our garden shed. Now the doors open and shut!

Also, they helped us build a new raised bed and plant our raspberry bushes. Huzzah!

In the process, I (apparently) got sun poisoning or something. I got an awful headache the next day, went home exhausted, and wanted to go to bed at four in the afternoon, but I maturely waited until nine.
I feel much better now.

Home is Good
We love being able to cook tasty food for our guests. It feels awesome.

Dream: Not What Is Meant By "Iron Chef"
Monday, May 18th:

Everything unfolded like a teledrama, scenes changing before anything could be resolved. When a scene ended, though, its characters walked off the "set," and they felt gray, sometimes wandering ghostlike into the next scene. Some people could see them and some couldn't... some of the actors "on stage" got very confused. It kept happening over and over. Some of them were supposed to be in other countries, some were dead, but they all wandered past the buffet table and chatted about (or with) the actors in other scenes. It was fascinating, but I couldn't tell what was happening.
( Trained Lions )

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