Trivial

Worked late last night, then Justin and I went out for dinner. I still haven't finished the rank up quest for Assault. I did do BCG and beat it, but didn't want to wait for the next game day right then. I'll get that tonight. I also was paid 20k for tractoring someone up to the cavernous maw in Sauromogue. Apparently noone else wants to walk through garlaige either.

WIR: Finished Page, moved on to Squire, which has to be my favorite book in the world. Only had a few minutes before work to read it. Great book, though.

Tuesday? It's Tuesday already?!

I'm terrible, I know! No posts since Friday. I'm already slacking on the blog, and I've only made 17 posts! In my defence, I was busy playing Ratchet and Clank whenever I was home this weekend.

Saturday I had planned to explore the new areas of WotG, but instead we ended up going to a car show at the Moscone Center with my in-laws. The most interesting display was the one about alternative fuels, which we looked at for about 10 minutes. That place was HUGE! We were all tired afterward. After our trip to San Francisco, we had dinner with them. We ate at Buffalo Bills. Definitely not my favorite. I happened to have Mastermind in the car still, so I taught my 6yo brother in law to play. He got the hang of the rules after the first game, but didn't really start to get the hang of the strategy until the 4th or 5th game. My father-in-law bought the game after we left, apparently. I bet that kid will know the strategies thoroughly before I see him again.

After dinner, Justin decided we'd stay there overnight - without asking my opinion. It's not that I dislike staying at their house, but I don't like having such things sprung on me at the last minute. I don't like sleeping in my clothes. I don't like being on my period in someone else's house. I don't like having dog nose in my clean hair. I don't like staying up late. I don't like movies... in other words, I was in a VERY bad mood by Sunday morning. I think I fought with all of my friends that day, including Justin. Sunday was just a bad day. If you were one of the people I yelled at, my apologies.

I did manage to beat Ratchet and Clank at about 1 on Sunday. The ending left a lot to be desired. One character is abducted by robots to learn his "purpose in life" and the others are left stranded on a planet with no idea where they are. Also, one of the characters who was told that he would learn his "purpose in life" (wtf are they talking about, "pupose in life?" It's a video game!) ends up killing the alien who claimed to be able to explain it to him. The whole ending screamed "We blocked ourselves with our storyline! Watch for the sequel because we can't end the story!" I was extremely disappointed. I doubt that helped my mood along, either.

Later, Dragon and I started in on the WotG expansion stuff. We got about 3/4 of the way to Sandy in the past and I died twice in a row in Jugner (S)! A pixie raised me, which was kinda cute. Dragon somehow ended up on the wrong side of the river in Jugner (S), which sucked as much as dying twice. We also went to Limbus, though I almost didn't make it in. My computer is "all broked together" and was trying to d/c me before I could get in.

Monday was a busy day at work. I got lots of phone calls and emails about a project that is bidding on Thursday. We also had a new project to start. Got it all done, though.

After work I managed to run some errands. Then Dragon and Elhaym and I went and did some exploring of the new areas. I registered 5 of the cavernous maws, completed the first three WotG missions, and allied myself with Sandy for Campaign. For some reason, Justin is not interested in coming with us to explore or do missions. I think he's too busy soloing his dnc, which is now level 17.

WIR: Still Page, which got left at home when we went out for the day on Saturday. I really need to start reading my study materials for the CSE soon. I'm thinking that maybe I should study on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. That seems like a schedule I can keep up while still doing Limbus, even when acting classes start back up again in January. I plan to start that schedule December 1.

Shopping

Happy late Thanksgiving!

We drove up to my aunt's house to visit with my family yesterday. I love going up there. Once we've crossed the central valley and really get into the mountains, the scenery is beautiful. It was such a nice autumn day yesterday: cold, clear and crisp. Justin went with me for Thanksgiving for the first time ever. When we were living so far away, Thanksgiving at my aunt's was always a 3-4 day trip. Since Justin works retail, he ALWAYS has to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, and couldn't go. I was glad of his company on the drive, even though he slept most of the way there and back. The food was wonderful, my family was there, and the weather was nice. I was disappointed that I still can't convince anyone to walk to the creek with me. It's a pretty nice walk. Next time I should just go alone ;;. I enjoyed the day, even though I was bone tired from staying up so late Wednesday night.

Wednesday, after Limbus, Dragon and I went to help an old friend, Epic, with ToAU mission 35. It only took us 2 tries! The first time we failed miserably; a couple of the party members were just STUPID! ("Look, I'm kiting," the pup says as the mobs kill someone else. Yeah... even I can kite better than that!) The second time, Dragon came as drk/sam, kitted out with his homam haste gear. I was brd to cast march x2. We both 2-houred at about 55%, and he smacked Gessho with souleater from here to kingdom come. We beat the record for our server at something like 6 minutes, even though the sam and the (dumb) pup died 2 minutes into the fight without reraise. It was totally awesome. A fully hasted drk is an amazing sight indeed. I went to bed so pepped up over it that it took me almost 30 minutes to fall asleep, even though it was 11:30 by then. That's why I was so tired on Thanksgiving.

After driving home (2:30 hours each way, and I did both drives) yesterday, I went straight to bed. It was only 8:30, but I still fell asleep almost immediately. I woke up at 3:15 am today to go shopping with my mom and my sis. I spent way too much money, but ended up with most of what I went there for. New work shirts for me, new jeans for Justin, 2 copies of WoTG for PS2 (yay torrent!) and a hair straightener. The straighteners were 2 for 1, so I have my xmas gift for my sister. After I got home, I realized I forgot Dragon's birthday gift, so I went back out again for a third copy of WoTG. After all that, I took a nap.

I need to clean the house sometime today, but I'm pretty tired still. Tomorrow my in-laws are bringing their 6yo son and we are all going to go to the car museum. Justin may or may not be planning to cook them a full Thanksgiving dinner. I can't really tell at this point. We still have half a pie, at least. MMM... my pumpkin pie turned out GREAT! (even though I was cooking it during the ToAU mission =P)

WIR: Finished First Test this morning. Moved on to Page. Anyone want to join me for a book discussion? Anyone?

Nothing to see here, move along

I have SUCH a boring life. I do nothing but work, read and play video games, apparently. Yesterday I did all three.

At the moment I'm working on getting an addendum out, which means coordinating the efforts of the consultants and getting my changes drafted up. It's taking 100% of my time, though for some reason, my department head thinks I could do it in "the two hours from 5pm to 7pm, after you've worked your regular 8 hours." I don't know what he thinks I will work on in those 8 hours, since my direct supervisor seems not to understand my job. At least he's got my job title right now. That's right, he's no longer offering me a promotion to my own job. At least the addendum is something I already know how to do, and can take the reigns on without requesting any help from my boss. However, it's taken me 17 hours so far this week to get it to the point where it can be issued today. It needs to be ready by 8:30. I still have to work in the structural changes, so I'm going in to work at 7 this morning. I guess they are even further behind than I am.

After work, I gave a coworker a ride home, then played FFXI. Dragon and I farmed mistletoe for 3 hours. We made about 170k gil, and split it evenly. That more the doubles the amount of gil I had, although I think I'm probably still short for leveling sch and getting more gobbiebags. I wonder if I can squeeze in more farming in addition to baking a pumpkin pie tonight.

Our family has a potluck tradition at all major gatherings. For Thanksgiving, my personal contribution since graduation has been a can of cranberry sauce and turning my mother's can of Libby's into a pie. This year, I bought my own can of Libby's and plan to make my own crust, too. The last crust turned out pretty good, even if the filling wasn't.

WIR: First Test ... and I am thinking about rereading Terrier after, instead of Golden Compass. I'm bad, I know. I bet I'm probably avoiding that book for a reason. If only I could remember what it is.

Games, Games, and More Games

I'm not done with Ratchet and Clank 5 yet. I think I played all day Sunday, except when I was in Limbus. I woke up early yesterday, around 5:30, when Justin got up, and couldn't go back to sleep. I eventually went and played for another hour. I set a timer so I wouldn't be late for work. I've made myself late for work reading before, but never from playing a video game.

RC5 is way better than RC3 or 4. It's back to the style they used in RC1 and 2. The only thing it's missing is the skateboarding. Instead, there's flying, but not on a track. I miss the skateboarding, even though it was hard for me. I like collecting things. I'm enjoying how easy it is to level up weapons and upgrade them. One of my biggest complaints about RC4 is that they made you repeat levels to level your weapons up. This game, you still have to level your weapons up, but if you are collecting bolts and raritanium seriously, you don't have to worry. Also, it's pretty easy to level weapons. You just have to use the same one for several levels. That's a big improvement!

I also love the new graphics. The levels remind me of the early RC games, but with stronger colors and a more realistic feel to the landscape. Also, they put thought into which colors to use, so the levels are fun to look at. My only complaint is that there isn't enough light when you go through shadows. The shadows are really deep; it's often hard to tell where the edge is or where mobs are. I did like one level in which you are in a VERY dark tunnel and everything was lighted on the edges in green. It really did look like things glowed in the dark, including the mob's green eyes. Once I got used to not being able to see anything but the lights, I found I enjoyed playing in the dark.

The controls are pretty good, though I had to switch them around to manipulate the camera. Three years of using the FFXI camera has made me want to turn the camera backward. I remember how much I hated that when I started FFXI. However, when I reversed the camera controls, I apparently also reversed the sixaxis controls that control clank's laser beam. I have a hard time using it to open peep walls. I'm also having a hard time with the sixaxis controls in other ways, though. They're not as intuitive as the wiimote. Flying, free falling and the marble tilt are all a lot harder than they should be, simply because the sixaxis controls are taking my fingers a long time to learn.

Besides enjoying RC5, I xp'd with Dragon and Justin yesterday. WHM 75 finally! It only took me three years...

A new whm spell "repose" came out in the update. It seemed to only stick about 1/3 the time for me. I really need to level divine, which is at 181. I haven't looked it up, but if whm has A+ divine skill, I'm about 90 under cap. I'll have to go to besieged several times and cast flash until the buttons wear out. I really ought to do this with my enfeebling and healing skills too. None of my magic skills are capped on whm except elemental, from leveling blm 45 levels.

I'm looking forward to WoTG, hopefully later this week. We didn't reserve it anywhere, so we'll just have to look around until we find it. I'm going to level scholar, although Justin's been doing his best to talk me out of it. He seems to think it will be a worthless job. At the very least, from what he's been telling me, I'm not sure it's subbable. No matter. We can't all be dancers anyway. Even if I were the only one of our group leveling dnc, I wouldn't want to. It's definitely not a back line mage job.

WIR: I ought to finish reading Silver on the Tree and start my reread of The Golden Compass. Instead, I went and picked up First Test, because I want to reread Squire and Lady Knight. Now I'll have to reread the entire series before I go back to my other list. Otoh, at least I'm enjoying what I read!

Can't talk now, I'm gaming

This is going to be a short post, because I am very busy doing nothing useful. (I say that every time, don't I? It's not true this time, either.) I missed several posts now, so here's an abbreviated version of what I've been doing:

Thursday: short day at work. Boss acted weird by shaking my hand when I left. No clue what that was about. Girl Scouts after work. We did some planning, voted on our next few try-its, and made invitations to the investiture ceremony. We have a new girl, and my coleader didn't show. I was actually lucky about the new girl; we're always supposed to have 2 adults at any meeting. Her mom wanted to sit in on the meeting. Whew! I would have held the meeting anyway, though. Don't tell the girl scout council!

After girl scouts, Justin, Dragon, Elhaym and I went out to get some xp. We partied in the mire as a 73-75 party. It wasn't terribly slow xp, but it was frustrating due to the lack of mobs and the yucky nature of the flies. At some point, we had massacred everything but the flies and had to start killing them. Highest chain was 24, iirc. I got whm level 74, so it all worked out. There was a really nice static pair that joined us. An awesome rdm and a drg who kept forgetting to call his pet.

Friday: No work! As planned, I got up at a decent hour (I wanted to sleep in, but Justin can't ever find the alarm's off button ;;) and went to play Spyro. Turned on the ps2... disk read error. Tried a PS2 game... disk read error... banged on it a bit... PS2 game worked... Spyro still didn't. ARG! Justin could see how disappointed I was, so he gave me his credit card to buy a PS3. I was worried about using the card , because although I'm an authorized signer, my name isn't printed on the card. It worked out though. Target never even checked my ID, which I'm not really sure is a good thing. Came home, hooked it up, and spent most of the morning and afternoon playing Spyro 1. The machine itself is pretty sexy looking, although the original PS1 games look rather pixelated, especially when you get up close to the TV. The cord to charge the PS3 controller is about 3.5 feet long, so I was up close to the TV for a good 3 hours. I love the PS3s on/off and eject sensors. Way cooler than buttons!

When I got tired of Spyro, I went to tele-taxi for about 1.5 hours. I only made about 22k, all in the first hour. There was too much competition after that for my slow fingers. Then Justin, Elhaym, Dragon and I went out to xp again. I didn't get 75, although Justin's war finally did. Dragon got pld 74, too. We cut the party short about 2 hours so we could go assault. Noone ranked up, but it was fun.

My computer's been having problems lately. Some kind of glitch or bug or something is causing it to seize up and not let me do anything, on a regular basis. It annoyed me constantly all evening, eventually leading to Dragon's death. It also has been loading the game very slowly, causing various people to believe I've already zoned into an area, without me being able to actually do anything. This seems dangerous to me, but it hasn't led to anything but frustration yet.

Today: Spyro is almost done now, but I've stopped playing it. Justin came home for lunch about 20 minutes ago with a new game for each of us. I'm trying to keep this short (per day?) so I can go play Ratchet and Clank 5: Tools of Destruction. I am not sure about this game. I'm really excited about it, but RC3 and RC4 weren't that great; there was too much emphasis on the weapons. I don't think I even finished RC4. I got tired of "leveling up" the weapons. If I want to level something up, I'll go play FFXI! At least that way I can talk to other people while I'm "working" at a video game. Justin got himself Folklore, which he'll presumably play while I'm off babysitting his 6yo brother this evening. I'll be there all evening, so I'll have to play more rc5 tomorrow. After that, it'll be Friday before I can really play it again.

WIR: Finished The Grey King finally. I liked the ending way more than the beginning. I can't remember now which day I finished Devil in the White City but I did that, too. I've now moved on to Silver on the Tree, the last of the Dark is Rising sequence. I still need to finish Birth House, and then I will reread Golden Compass before going to see the movie.

Gotta run and go collect some bolts!

Work

I'm doing nothing but work this week, it seems. The big project that I wrote about on Monday didn't go out yesterday as planned. I worked 14 hours on Monday, but by Tuesday afternoon it was clear that it wouldn't be perfect. My department head, the one who caused this by holding the project on his desk for 3 weeks, said he'll call in a favor and get us a postponement until today. I wish he'd said that before I worked last Sunday. On the other hand, I asked him if everyone from my level and down in the department could take Friday off. That's just 3 of us, but we only have a department of 7. He agreed, saying that we'd earned a day off.

I love having a week day off work. There's something about being off work when I ought to be there that makes the day automatically pleasant. It doesn't matter what I am doing, at that point, just as long as I'm doing it while everyone else has to go in to the office. In this case, I plan to play some Spyro for a while and then finish leveling my whm. I want to get whm to 75 this weekend. The WoTG expansion comes out next Tuesday, and I would like to be free to level sch. Also, I have this theory that whm will become even less desirable once people start getting dnc and sch to the 70s. It's hard enough to get a party for whm as it is, but it'll be harder when there are more mage options to choose from. I'd just as soon finish up before it's impossible to get a party. I figure everyone will be out meritting like mad this weekend, so it should be a good weekend to /inv. The camps will all be packed, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Not caring about overcrowding has nothing to do with the fact that I won't be bard and therefore not pulling. Of course not!

WIR: Still reading The White City. I'm on the part now where the fair has just ended and their finally thinking about catching the serial killer. I'll finish that, The Grey King, and Birth House this weekend, I hope. It depends how long I spend playing Spyro and FFXI.

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Unfortunately, I've been at work for 3 and a half hours, and it's only 10:30am.

Fortunately, my department head praised the work I did yesterday. Woot, I don't have to do it over!

Unfortunately, I'm currently redoing the work we did Friday.

Fortunately, our main (only) drafter in the department worked 0n his laptop over the weekend, so we actually have a good starting point.

Unfortunately, when he works without supervision, he generally doesn't do a good job. So I spent a good hour redmarking his drawings. Let's see if he'll listen this time.

Fortunately, based on the comments from the department head, I was able to develop a checklist for work that still needs to be completed.

Unfortunately, the list is 12 items long.

Fortunately, I like checklists.

Unfortunately, this is still due tomorrow morning by 10am, including coloring in photoshop.

Fortunately, I don't have any plans tonight that I'll have to cancel.

Unfortunately, I still haven't finished the story of my trip to Portland.

Fortunately, noone reads this blog, so I'm not disappointing anyone!



WIR: Still The White City. I'm a little more than halfway. I keep stopping to read bits of The Grey King. I will finish both these books before starting another. I will!

Feeling better

I slept badly last night, but still woke up feeling way better than I have in a few days. Short post (no, really.) this time, because I need to run and shower before going to that birthday party. I decided I will be going in to work tomorrow, even though I told them I wouldn't be there. I'll come up with a cover story.

Quote of the Day: "But I'm the Lord of the Night!"
(Gotta love a parasomniac.... they say such cute things)

Still reading The White City. Really ought to start reading my study material.

I'm having trouble caring...

I'm having one of those days where every little thing seems to annoy me. It's the end of a very loooooong week. Even though I had Monday off, I'm extremely tired and cross. It's probably because of the time change, or possibly getting up at 6am to be at work for 10 hour days. The weird thing is that the project we are working on seems to be going reasonably smoothly. We're behind, but we're always behind on these things, so I'm having trouble caring.

I'm also having trouble caring because I'm feeling down. Yesterday, I got in a fight with my best ffxi friend. We both said some mean things, and I get impression that our friendship is over, especially since I've been blocked on gchat. I've also got money troubles again. For the first time in my life, I bounced a rent check. The sad thing is that I didn't notice for 8 days, what with the trip and then not looking at my account when I got back. You'd think that since I haven't spent any money for 2 weeks, I couldn't bounce anything. Well, it turns out that someone held one of my checks for 3 weeks before depositing it. It wasn't a large check, but it was enough to take me under for the rent. I really should start keeping a check register, as I have no idea who the check was written out to, so I can't go ask them not to do that to me again.

Tonight Justin is going to dogsit for his dad. I haven't decided if I am going yet, what with everything I have to do tomorrow. First I'm going to visit my mother and sister, then there is a family party for my cousin's son. Luckily, my sister and I did the shopping and wrapping for that 2 weeks ago. One less thing to do in the morning! Which reminds me. I really ought to look up what time I'm supposed to be there, but for some reason, I'm having trouble caring.

Senior Exit Exam: Good or Bad?

No time for a real post now, but here's a thought for you. I heard on the way home on NPR that the drop-out rate from California high schools has increased 4% in 2007 over 2006, largely due to the students' inability to pass the exit exam. This past year was the first it was required for students to graduate. It's been administered for several years, but it has not, in the past, been a graduation requirement.

I almost feel that it's a good thing. If these 4% of students won't stick it out an extra year to study for and pass their exams, are they really the people we want to have a diploma? I've felt for years now that there are FAR too many students going to college who don't deserve to be there. I don't mean monetarily; I mean that they don't have the basic skills required for college education and are not willing to study (ie. a classmate who asked for a calculator to figure out 6x9). I feel the same way about a high school diploma. Where will our nation be in 50 years, if the value of a diploma drops the way the dollar is?

On the other hand, I'm saddened to hear that 4% more students have dropped out due to a test. I hate to think about who these kids are. For some reason, I don't think it is the kids who had a good school and a decent home life. Are we failing out the impoverished people just because they are poor? I know that basic algebra is required on that test. I also knew plenty of my classmates in high school graduated with only a barely passing grade in pre-algebra.

Now we're back to the test is good, though. If the test had forced some of my classmates to buck up and study 2 years of math in high school instead of the obligatory "Pre-algebra," wouldn't that have been a good thing? Also, if the kids who are poor don't pass the first time, shouldn't they study harder and try again instead of dropping out?

Yes, their lives are way harder than mine ever was. We're back to "the test is bad" again. Now I'm worrying that I'm starting to sound like a republican. ARGH! I ask you... is the test good or bad? Consider that for me while I run off to improv class.

What I'm reading: Still haven't finished The Grey King or Birth House. Instead of reading either, I started Devil in the White City. So far, it's pretty good, but I can't figure out why they listed Central Park as being worked on from 1856 to 1868. I'm reasonably sure it was 1811. I must research this, but another time.

PS: I'm terribly bad at the short posts, aren't I?

Midday Feminist Work Rant

What is it about some men that gives them the power to make me doubt myself? I don't get it. In general, I'm a pretty confident person, who strongly believes in herself. Sometimes, though, I present an idea, expecting them to follow my lead, and walk away doubting myself . Just now, for example, I went to discuss an issue with a subconsultant, who should answer to me, as an architect. His response was that what I was saying couldn't possibly be true, and he argued with me for 10 minutes. Even though I had gotten the information from a trusted source, his response, his insistence that he was right, was enough to make me wonder if I was wrong. I recently got in a bit of trouble for arguing with this man, so I just walked away from the argument, but I knew I was right; I have back-up research to prove it. I hate, hate, HATE having to ask my boss or department head to solve this kind of issue for me! Why can't I just be confident enough to insist on my answer being correct?

Road Trip!

I'm back! Actually, I've been back since late on Sunday, but we had guests in the house yesterday. I couldn't find either the energy or the time to start my post on the trip. Overall, we had a great time on the trip. I doubt I have time to tell everything that happened in this post, since I have to leave for work in 45 minutes.

Wednesday:
I took the car to the dealership. They confirmed the transmission issue and fixed the slippage. Unfortunately, I believe their "fix" took the variable part out of the CVT. Now it's just a continuous transmission. It is nice not to have it slip every time I accelerate, but it doesn't really help my hybrid engine any. I really wish I bought a Prius in the first place. Any bets on when I will learn patience?

At least getting the car to the dealership and picking it up went all right. It wasn't as smooth as Tuesday's pick-up, though. Both Justin and I were late for work because of traffic. Who knew there was traffic in town? Then the pick up had to be scheduled in the middle of the day. That meant I had to drop what I was doing at work and disappear for an hour. I did like the pick-up process they have, though. They gave me a flower in a tube and washed the car! Of course, it's dirty again now, but it's cleaner than it would have been.

Wednesday was a horrible day at work, which is why you had no posts from me. I actually did write one, but it was so whiny and so full of personal information about other people that I shall never publish it. Let's just leave it with this: the boss I had to evaluate, well, I had to evaluate him for a reason. On top of being generally incapable, he's also a very mean man!

Luckily, the evening went a lot better. We got about 10 trick-or-treaters before we shut up shop. That's more than all the other years put together! Then we ran errands and drove off into the sunset. Err... ok, it was more like driving off into the dark. The drive was REALLY long, especially for Justin, who wouldn't consent to pulling over and letting me drive. I'm not sure whether I'm happy about that or not.

Thursday:
We got to Portland around 7:15, and startled my stepmother, who was still in her pajamas. Apparently she hadn't heard me say what time we would be there. After a good 4 hour nap, we went for a long walk and did soduko puzzles. My stepsister brought her new baby over for dinner. My nephew is the cutest thing ever! Yes, it was a boring day. I think we were too tired from the drive to be interesting.

Friday:
Justin slept 13 hours. This beats all my "well" records by a long shot. I only managed 10, but I think you get the idea that we were tired! We went to the Japanese Gardens with my dad. I don't remember if I have ever been there before in the fall. I think that I won't go back this late in the fall again. Most of the trees had already dropped their leaves, so it wasn't as colorful as I was expecting. Also, they seemed to be doing repair work on some of the ponds and streams, which involved having the streams run dry. This made the overall feeling in the garden somewhat less pleasant than my previous summer trips. I did like seeing the garden again, though.

After our trip to the gardens, we ate lunch on NW 23rd at a cute little restaurant called Rose's. I liked the food; Justin didn't. Then we parked downtown and went on a quest to find Justin's sister, who works at one of the Starbucks. We walked through much of Southwest Portland. It was a beautiful day for a walk; clear and cool with no rain. Portland is undergoing a LOT of construction right now. Whole city blocks were closed off to pedestrians and vehicles right in the middle of downtown.

While I didn't care for the construction, I did get to see a lot of Portland that I had never noticed before. The only building that I can remember by name at the moment is the Micheal Graves Building, which isn't even one that I like! I don't have any particular affinity for high rises anyway, but I dislike the use of color and random shapes stuck to the outside. What amuses me about the building is the fact that Justin knows which one it is. Maybe he was listening after all! My dad also pointed out the statue of the sea goddess on the old city hall building. That statue is HUGE. I want to know how they attached it at the back. What kind of bolt is big enough, and what kind of backing? I'm assuming she's hollow, but even so, she must be pretty heavy! I also love the performing theater with the glass at street level, looking into the lobby. Several years back, my dad and I gave ourselves a walking tour of the inside. I still cannot remember which theater it is. Downtown Portland seems to have theaters everywhere I look!

Later Friday evening, we met up with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend to go see the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. It was a good movie; I had never seen it before. In general, I don't like movies. I think Justin is finally getting used to the idea that I hate not knowing how they end. He roughly sketched the plot out for me on the way over to his sister's house. Instead of worrying about the plot, I got to listen to the music. That's better than the way I usually (don't) watch movies.

Well, I'm now officially late for work. I'd better run, I still haven't brushed my hair. I'll tell you about the rest of the trip later!

What I'm reading:
I accidentally left my copy of The Grey King at work on Wednesday. Instead I read a book I am supposed to lend to my sister on Saturday: The Birth House. I haven't finished it yet; there was too much going on. I can't decide if I like it or not. I do know that I am hearing WAY too much about what makes a midwife better than a doctor. I'd best stop reading books like these if I even want to consider having a baby in a hospital someday! I couldn't find my copy of The Birth House this morning when I got up. I probably left it in the car. Instead, I started reading The White City over breakfast. So far, I like that better than The Birth House. I might have to finish reading it before going back to the last book. ARG! 3 books started. I really need to get my reading straight! (Also spotted 2 books at a bookstore on Sunday that I would love to get for Christmas, but I'll tell you that when I'm not REALLY late for work.)