Huh...

Thurs

We watched a particularly brutal Survivor. James has gone nuts and Russell and Boston Rob are up to their old tricks... And as for Vana'diel, sadly, I don't remember doing anything significant.

-=-=-=-

Fri

Wound up staying in. Ape bought a new desk so she could move me out of the dining room and to a more suitable location. She made a good pick - it matches our other furniture very nicely. While assembling it, I finally broached the subject of what I really wanted for all the recent gift-days: My cosplay gear. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of my longtime readers but it occurred to me that going for it might involve collateral damage from friends and family.

So we talked rather frankly about that, about my new self-expression and about our differing attitudes on things that could affect the direction of "The Talk". I honestly expected a more severe grilling but she was quite relaxed about it all. I've decided that was because (hopefully) she's accepted things.

From there, we watched some TV, bouncing between "Baby Boom" and random stuff. She fell out earlyish because she's coming down with a cold. I took advantage of the situation to turn off the TV and pop open my laptop and finally finish Cardcaptors. It was a pretty good movie and I enjoyed the different characters. As expected, I also liked the focus on Love as a powerful ally.

At close to midnight, I migrated to the living room where my new setup is located. I fired up AIM and LK and I had a nice chat. I also thanked Deej, Momma and Kush for their contributions to Aerin's Musical Memories project. See separate post for more details if you want to be included!

LK was working out some details of a con he's trying to get to. A bunkmate bailed on him and he had nonrefundable plane tickets. While we chatted, he was working on another room and found one, so he's off! He also made an incredible offer to me with regard to my con plans in September. I'm not going to say anything yet, but if things line up right, I'll be filling in all the sweet details!

-=-=-=-

Sat

Today's been slow so far. We got up, headed to see our nephew's final flag football game, then did a little shopping at Lane Bryant (Ape had a coupon), then we tried to pick up the boys and head home. I tossed a football with my uncle (down from TN) and the neighbor (whose son plays on the same team as my nephew). And I lost another nail... But I didn't embarrass myself with the pigskin at least! The boys weren't ready so we left them and headed home to clean up. Ape's friend was lending us their young son for a bit so they could eat and see a movie.

Random note: After venting more frustration that I'm breaking out a bit despite fanatical use of body wash, Ape clued me in. Body wash + face = that does not go there. I need to find some good face wash it seems.

Our friends eventually met us at our house, with plans to do dinner and a movie. We figured we had the wee one for about 5 hours. After quite a bit of playing (we have an extensive Little People collection from when ours were little people) we planned to go to church. However, we suffered a 30-minute-plus delay because Ape lost track of her camera charger. I found it behind a cabinet, where there was no plug. Nobody knows how it got there.

So, we were quite late. But the lil' guy was very well-behaved, being distracted by my rings and my keys. He got a number of complimentary looks, especially as people filed out of the sanctuary. I forgot how much fun it is to tote a cute kid around :3

From there, was a brief park trip for pics, then dinner at a nearby Bob Evans. Have I said how nuts I am for breakfast food at any hour? After we ate, it was off to the mall. I took all three boys while Ape, her mom and her visiting uncle went their way.

Then, just as we're heading home, my dad calls: he's locked himself out of his car. He and my mom were at their dance class which wasn't too far away, but we /also/ got a call from our young charge's parents, who were headed to pick him up.

I rushed to my dad, grabbed him, then all of us made it home in time. He and I left to get his spare keys while Ape and all the boys hung out. We didn't return until nearly an hour later, but our friends stuck around. This would be good for three reasons: It's nice to see them, of course; the wife got a new Droid and let me play with it; and, I showed her the basics of what I'm planning for my cosplay outfit.

Much later, I had a couple of nice chats. LK, who is always fun to chat with, and Momma. She and I don't usually have in-depth chats, but tonight just worked out. She was playing BioShock 2 and I wasn't doing much else. [highlights here, re: Love]

PLed Soho, who was on quite late with Incrediblepanda. Their BST-duo party began in Saruta and made its way to Tahrongi, where I met up with them. And 15 minutes later, Soho DCed. I stayed with Pands for maybe 10 minutes then left.

-=-=-=-

Sun

Spent nearly three hours fighting my father in law's transmission. The filter is not exposed once the pan is removed. And nobody here seems to have a tech manual. Had to abandon the job partway in. Then I cleaned up and met the crew for dinner and a quick shopping trip, then the Amazing Race. I logged in then and puttered around. I flagged up for nearly an hour (really juicy DH) then PLed Raki's group during B&S (also pretty good).

Still have not heard from Kush or Kep. Did chat with LK in-game for a bit, and Soho came back. Said he fell asleep fighting a lost connection.

In /other/ news, now that I've crossed the final hurdle with Ape on the cosplaying, it's now on me. Do I have what it takes and am I prepared for the potential consequences of going forward?

Hopefully, my intended seamstress' daughter going to be able to start the introductions with her mom soon. I need to either find my PC version of XI or -urk- buy it yet again. I need to start pulling the gear shots together. And if I take LK up on his kind offer, I'll need a second set of shots for the dolfie. I wonder what her name is...

I haven't seriously thought about what I want her to wear yet. I guess it'd help if I knew how big she was so I could get an idea of what level of detail is feasible. I was intrigued that LK offered to pay for the mats if I returned her to him fully dressed out. Maybe I'll hit him up once I get the bill!

I really did enjoy my lengthy chat with Momma. It started with the cosplay/Talk rundown and went in a few directions from there. But by the end, I felt really nice and I think she did too. It was easily our longest chat to date.

Back to LK - I had a little time to peruse his site, the Happy House of Hentai. I pulled down a podcast while looking at some of the pics. I wonder how Hello Kitty is connected to LK. I wasn't able to listen to the podcast remotely and for some reason, the file share was giving me grief. The next time I remote in I need to fix that and give it a listen. It'll mark the first time hearing one of my friends' voices.