My rheumatism/fibromyalgia/whatever has been flaring up for the last three days, which makes things like, oh, sitting up straight kind of painful. And of course no painkillers I take really help, which means I either have to just suck it up and hope it goes away soon, or go to the doctor and hope they prescribe something stronger. I've had doctors give me muscle relaxants for it, and I think they worked, so maybe I'll try and over the counter one or something first. I guess that doctor who told me that I would just have to learn to live with it was right. Although what kind of fucking quack tells a 15 year old kid something like that? I guess I'll be spending the evening on the couch today, in the company of a magic bag heated up in the microwave, or maybe I'll buy some odor-free muscle rub stuff and use that, since I don't want to stink anything up with Rub A535 or anything like that. Hopefully the weather fluctuations will stop soon and I'll be pain-free.

I'm looking for another long-term project to knit, and I'm falling in love with the Hemlock Ring Blanket. There's a knit along, too, if anyone's interested. I just have to get some yarn for it, which could very well happen next week, and then (after waiting impatiently for it to get here), I could get started. For now, it's back home to the stupid garter stitch scarf, which is proving to be more trouble than I expected, because how the heck was I supposed to know I'd run out of yarn and have to rip back three stripes? Yeah, yeah, I know, gauge is important, blah blah, but who the heck does gauge for a garter stitch scarf anyway? I learned my lesson, though, so I'll know better in the future.

And now, Greek food for dinner! Mmm, tzatziki-laden burger…

So, the OpenID plugin has been replaced by another OpenID plugin, and works fine now. At least it does for me. So yay for fiddling with things I don't really  understand how to fix!

Last night as I was at work, I was waiting for the lunar eclipse (which I didn't really see because the clouds rolled in and blocked the view), I tried to take some pictures of the full moon above a thick bank of clouds rolling in. Alas, the "starry sky" mode on my camera (wherein the shutter is opened for 15/30/60 seconds, depending on the setting) requires either a robot-steady hand, which I don't have, or a tripod, which I had left at home. So I have some pictures, but they're all blurry, and I'm not sure if I'm going to share them with anyone. Lesson learned, though: I should carry the camera bag with me all the time, no matter where I go. The tripod is actually really small and portable, although by the same virtue, not all that fabulous, but for a small point and shoot camera, it's pretty much ideal.

I'm going to stop by the tattoo studio today, to find out how much time they think it would take to add the details I want to my tattoo. Their standard rate is $150/hour, so I need to figure out my budget first. But by the end of the summer, I should have my tattoo nicely rounded off if not finished entirely. I just need to find a picture of a shield that I like so I can take it in. *googles for pictures* Then all I have to do is pick a nice font for the text, and I'm all set.

For now, I think I'm going to head back out and see if I can get a massage booked for tomorrow. My back and shoulders are getting stiffer and stiffer, and I need some help to get rid of this feeling.

I keep having ideas for these profound, deep, and thinky posts that I want to make, but whenever I actually sit down at a computer, the best I can manage is pointing off-screen, yelling "Look! Boobies!" and running away really quickly. But I think I might be on the verge of ending my writer's block, since I'm getting cracked out fic ideas. Maybe if I can motivate myself somehow, I can actually write them.

Working night audit, I have a lot of free time at work, so I've been reading my way through J.D. Robb's In Death series. I've got five left till the end (well, until the next one comes out), and I think after twenty-something novels, I need to take a break. Not only because I'm actually starting to get bored with murder mysteries, but also because they're starting to get a little… stale, I guess. The minor characters are awesome, and they're actually getting things like, you know, character development and stuff like that, and yet the main character is still rather wooden and stiff. Surely, in a year and a half (book time), the woman would change as the people around her change, wouldn't she? I'm finding myself paging past the sex scenes, because they're starting to get repetitive, and really, when even the sex scenes are bad, it's time to move on.

On the other hand, they're making me more and more determined to actually work on my own novel. I don't know if I should follow the "this is what you shouldn't do" impulse, since I might actually be shooting myself in the foot with that, given how popular these novels are, but there are just some things that I can't ignore.

I've discovered that I can actually knit and read (off the computer screen, anyway) at the same time, but only if the knitting isn't too complicated. Which makes the garter stitch scarf I'm currently working on just perfect. The simpler the better, at least until I load up the iPod with some audiobooks (I'm thinking I'm going to try George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series again).

And speaking of books, I picked up Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch, Day Watch, and Twilight Watch today. I started in on the first book again, and I'm running into the same obstacle as the first time I tried reading it - the translation is a little bit clumsy. It seems like in some spots, the translation is literal rather than idiomatic, which makes the language kind of clunky and jarring. I'm going to try and force myself to ignore it and just read it for the story. I absolutely loved the Night Watch movie, and I really want to read these books, so I'm going to do my damnedest. One of these days, I'll manage to sit in front of a computer long enough to watch the Day Watch movie (yes, it's a pirated copy, but I can't very well buy a movie that's not out on DVD yet, can I, and Cthulhu only knows when it'll be out - in theaters or on DVD).

Well, I tried installing the OpenID plugin, to make commenting easier, but I don't think it worked. So I will fiddle with it more tomorrow (or possibly Tuesday, as I'm working both jobs tomorrow and Monday) and hopefully will manage to fix it. Those of you with WordPress blogs and OpenID plugins, which one do you use?

ETA: Okay, what the heck? There's an OpenID box in the sidebar, but not in the comments. I guess that will require some work.

On an unrelated note, one of my characters stood up last night and announced "but I don't like girls!" So now he's getting his best friend that used to be in an earlier version of the partial draft, and the best friend is also becoming his boyfriend. Or possibly friend with benefits, as there's someone back home who's pining for him.

*pokes internet connection* Come on, gimme my cheesy scifi show… I'm so far behind on TV viewing that I'm limiting myself to one show, and trying to keep up with the episodes. As the only show that fits that category is the new Flash Gordon, cheesy scifi it is…

I was going to title this post with some lyrics from the song that was currently playing on my iPod, but I decided that Portishead's "Sour Times" was a bit too emo ("nobody looooooooves me"). So I skipped ahead, but alas, instead of something suitably random, Blue Oyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" came up instead, so there went that plan.

This Sunday will be the first day the new bookstore is open for sales. I'm working the closing shift, so hopefully the crowds (if there are any) will be dissipated by then and it'll be a nicely brisk but not OMG busy evening. I absolutely love the store, having been there from before the books even came out of the boxes to the way things are looking now, which is AWESOME. And yes, it's a chain store (Indigo Spirit, which is the small format version of the store), but you know what? All the people who are complaining that chain stores take away from the "character of the town" need to look at, oh, say, the Bay, the Gap, Roots, Louis Fricking Vuitton, etc. that we already have in town and think twice before opening their bit fat yaps. I guess maybe the store isn't tacky enough and filled with enough kitch to satisfy the "character" requirements for the town or something. Don't get me wrong, I love the other bookstore we have here in town, but their selection isn't nearly enough for someone who is even slightly picky about what they read (which I am), and the Indigo is an awesome solution to that problem. Plus, you know, the employee discount doesn't hurt. All of which I guess is my way of saying "yay new bookstore!" and "yay new job!" and things like that. So, yay!

Something's been happening to my stomach lately in that I get a sensation that is somewhat like heartburn, only it usually happens when my stomach is empty and I haven't eaten for hours. I don't think I'm getting an ulcer or anything, but it's still annoying and somewhat worrying. So I bought some Rolaids Chewables and ate a couple and for now it seems to have gone away. Eating also helps to make it go away, but I'm thinking the salad with lemon juice in the dressing wasn't the best choice for a meal when my stomach was already overly acidic (if that's in fact what is happening, the salad making it worse would point to that, though, I think).

I was going to post about the creepy bike ride home I had today, complete with soundtrack, but I forgot to bring my camera to the internet cafe, so maybe tomorrow.

Ahahaha. I'm sure everybody knows the expression "sloths to a Flames game".

I wonder if you can choose which posts to crosspost, or if it automatically copies them all… Ah! Options page lets you pick tag/category which makes it crosspost. Excellent.

ETA: Excellent, indeed. Everything works.

I was going to post this on LiveJournal, and perhaps posting it here is chickening out, but I've seen way too much freaking out on this topic to pour yet more fuel on this particular fire. I do, however, want to get this out there, because, hey, if I can't use the internet to talk about things, what else is it for (other than, you know, porn…)?

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42 (forty-two) is the natural number following 41 and preceding 43.

Thanks, Wikipedia! I would have never figured that out myself!

If anyone is wondering, the first category I've created in this blog is "forty-two," which is my random category, and which is so named because "forty-two" takes less time to type than "life, the universe, and everything."

Oxford comma, yay or nay?

In other news, I am very excited about the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. There's a promo at YahooTV, and my main reaction to it is a lot of flailing about and asking "is it September yet?" I can only hope that history will repeat itself and Canada gets the show early, although with only a few weeks to go, I think I can manage to restrain myself.

This is only a test. If this was an actual post, there would be some content here. As it is, have a cat: