Last night, after a mentally trying work day, I was a bit down.

I tried to figure out what would make me feel better, was it food? Chocolate? Video games? Socializing? None of those options really appealed to me. I was in a funk, heading towards deep funk.

So instead of just listlessly moping, or running out to the store to buy things I shouldn’t eat, I put in that Method Pilates DVD that I’ve been doing on and off the last month. The DVD is really a nice mix of Pilates, Yoga and Dance moves. The stretching portion always seems to make me feel better, though usually that’s all I have time or endurance for.

And you know what? It did! and after the stretching portion(15min), I did the cross-training section(35min), and about 15 min of the Centering section (abs and breathing). That’s quite a bit of exercise to pop-up spur of the moment. I used soup cans for weights, because who knows where my 8pounders are anyway. But they worked for everything except the exercise where you need to put both weights in one hand. And by the end of it all, I felt much much better.

Sometime within the middle of actually enjoying the cross-training, I had the strangest thought.

Would I ever be able to run a marathon? My father once ran in the Boston Marathon. My brother never liked long distance running, though he really enjoyed the short races. I’m curious if somewhere within my genetic and emotional makeup there are the abilities to run like my father used to. He used to really love running.

I don’t think these thoughts will create any immediate action, but as I continue to reshape my body and eat better, it’s an interesting thing to keep in mind. And perhaps, if not long distance races, some dancing lessons could be in order.

Memorial Day weekend was nice and relaxing, I got some time to play .hack on our PS2, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I also got a lot of time to spend on Phantasy Star Online, and then we had a great DnD 3rd edition game Sunday Afternoon. Funny though, after the game, which ended at 12:40(playing so late is so indulgent!), my husband and I stayed up till 4:30am. I was keeping him company while he tallied experience and rolled for the super huge treasure cache we had discovered.

I got up Memorial day about 10am, and played PSO and did a load of laundry until we had to head over to Mom’s for a cookout. And OH! What great food. I just about snacked myself to death. And then had half a brat/ half an Italian sausage, and two yummy grilled hot-dogs. We’ve been eating so much Boca products lately, it was almost funny to have so much real meat. We also shredded a bunch of old documents and mail (some of them 3+ years old) and scanned the picture of Khaira I drew on Sunday.

Tuesday night, my husband and I went over to Tammy’s to work on her character for our new girly-gaming game, which will start next Tuesday, and incorporate my tiefling Mohna, with Tammy’s Rashamen Wizard, and a halfling fighter for Tammy’s friend Liz (who has never played before). I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun. My last girly-gaming group kinda lost the other women, due things like boot-camp, moving , lack of interest. The game continued though, and is our current Sunday afternoon game with Vole. So that’s neat, I’ve been playing with my Gnomish Rogue for about a year now.

Anyway, Tammy made these awesome enchiladas, and salad, and we had yummy strawberries and angel food for desert. She has this kick butt loft apartment too, with a super high ceiling and tall windows in the front area. She showed off her Xena game cards, and picked some music out she thought I’d like. It was sweet of her to drop by my web page to see what I’m into. Very cool.

I had a good time at the movie last night. We bought tix online and went to Eastgate, with my coworker, Eric.

It entertained me, there were lots of pretty moments, and some kick butt moments.
To me it felt like a lot of little stories all pulled together. Some parts were more polished than others, some were likely unnecessary, any which way, I enjoyed it.

I liked it better than the last star wars movie, but not nearly as much as X2.

But one thing I’m realizing, and I was never a fanatic of the first movie… is that I’m really starting to dig the whole franchise. I really like the bits of animatrix I’ve seen, the backstory, ect, and I’m going to give that Enter the Matrix game a shot, because we rented it, and I can play a woman.

I don’t feel like I wasted my 8 bucks, I didn’t go home unhappy, but then, I didn’t go in with many preconceived ideas either. I’m sure I could sit down and pick at a lot of things, but I wont do that, for now, I enjoyed the show.

There was a Tae-Kwon-Do troup at our showing, doing a little demo, which made waiting for the movie to start pretty easy. Very cool.

And we got to do a scantron survey about the movie, I like taking survey’s being part of the system. I’m not sure how professional these independent pollers were though, they did a headcount by hand, with pencil and paper, instead of a little clicker or some other digital device. I’m sure it works, but it’s not very sophisticated. OTOH it makes it more obvious that they are, indeed, independent.

In our showing no-one dressed up… perhaps you have to be really athletic to wear vinyl to a showing…

Oh, and on the way home we caught the lunar eclipse. I called my parents to make sure they were watchin it. They have binoculars, I remembered this morning, and wished I had some or a telescope, or even a tripod for my camera. But, I got to see it, and didn’t forget or sleep through it. very cool.

Last night was art night over at the Kim and Maciek’s with Jess and later on Ray.

We had a most excellent warm up sketch session, hindered slightly by cats.

Then we all had such a productive night, Jess cross-stitching an amazing pattern, and the other three working on some DVD menus, or writing, or drawing.

Kim and I have decided to do a short shojo manga. She’s writing and directing and I’m drawing. Hah! It’s so funny, between the character design and the first panels, I’m already drawing poses I’m not used to and more menfolk than tend to show up in my sketchbook. I call it shock shojo, because, in a way, it’s the only way to do it, jumping right in is the only way to start. She’s laid out some ideas for the first three pages, and I’m off, trying to get characters to remain true to themselves, and struggling with poses and emotions.

But it’s really interesting, and very nice to learn from the DnT crew, they went through these initial steps not too long ago with Death and Transfiguration.

I’m excited to see how this will all end up. No doubt there will be improvements. We will all have to wait and see.

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Weekend Recap:
Last weekend I had a poor Friday missed Buffy and the Leo Crew, crossed wires and such, compounded by forgetting my tyme card pin and driving for an hour downtown, without knowing where I was going.

But Saturday was very productive, I went back over to Mom’s and with her help, finished refinishing my 7$ grill!! I completely scraped all the burnt gunk off the front window that lets you see the food, and sanded a variety of areas. Then we spray-painted the whole thing with black high temperature paint, it looks really great.

That night I went downtown, and tried to catch Julia (the owner of the Full Circle Galleria) who was supposed to be playing at the catacombs, but I came too late, and had to pay 5 bucks for lots of music I did not like, I kept waiting to ‘get’ the music, but blah, just not my thing. There were a couple artists from the Kill Rock Stars label, if you are in touch with the ’scene’. Some parts were better than others, but I was down there alone, and left pretty much right before the sirens went off.

The Tornado warnings… Then I got my jeep out of the parking garage and drove right where the news radio was warning people to go down to their basements. It was raining in sheets, and I white-knuckled it all the way home. There was a moment where it was so dark I turned my lights off and on because I couldn’t tell if they were on. And then, just as I was about 5 min from home, they announced on the radio that there were clouds touching the ground a C and Happy Valley Road, which is not too far from my parents place, and not too far from our place. But, thank God, I made it home safely, and saw my husband and Doug waiting in the basement. I was shaking a bit, and a little worked up, but it was nice to be home, and safe, and, what an adventure. squee, bad storms are no fun.

Sunday was Mother’s day, I went off to church with my parents and grandparents, sat in my Dad’s Sunday school, which was brief for a Mother’s day appreciation Muffins. Then after church we all went out to Rex’s(where we had our reception for the wedding almost 2 years ago) Carlo came and we had a nice meal. Then he and I left to do some birthday shopping for his Dad’s birthday which was Saturday, but we were doing dinner with him Saturday night.

Dinner was nice, grilled steak and Cajun chicken, beans and rice, quesadillas, shrimp, and a funny story about how they got locked out of their house Saturday night after their big shopping trip in Chicago. I got to meet Talia’s brother, whom we were told to call Fito, or Feeto, he seemed very sweet. We also talked about a potential trip to Mexico in August. Apparently one of my husband’s cousins is getting married. It would be nice to meet his family down there.

Then we swung over to try to catch my Mother in Law for the end of Mother’s day, but she was in Eau Claire, we did manage to drop off her card and such, and called Eau Claire to wish her and her mother both Happy Mother’s days. Whew!

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Also, finally, on Tuesday, we had my parents and brother over for more of a Mother’s day dinner. We used our new grill (yah!!), and it worked great. We have a deli nearby and picked up a whole bunch of delicious($$) things, and I made a huge salad with 3 colors of bell peppers, romaine lettuce, and some celery and cucumbers too. Success!

Friday:

I took a wonderful half day.

Our tax return came in, so, in addition to paying a ton of bills, we had a little shopping spree,

Losta stuff for me :
• Amelie DVD
• 3 chobits manga
• 3 rayearth manga in a little boxset
• .hack ps2 game
• Silent Hill 2 for Xbox (platinum hit)
• 2 packs of animal crossing cards(series 3)
• 1 Gamecube to GBA link cable
• Harem and some other book about a girl in china, from Borders.(off the clearance tables outside)
• Some Chai teabags.

We got my husband some things too
• Apex Xbox game
• Rallisport Xbox game(platinum hit)
• Coffee table car book(our third borders clearance book, buy 2 get one free)
• 2 chunky sketch/notepads.
• Reserved a copy of Return to Castle Wolfenstien Xbox.
• Arms and Equipment (D&D)
• (we might have picked up some other stuff I’ve forgotten.)

Money, I like to spend it!

Then, headed over for the Leo-reading group, and we had a great time reading parts out of a play called Arcadia, which Smuga-Otto’s had handed out. We only got about half-way through, but it was a blast to have so many people involved.

And we watched the new Buffy. I’m going to miss that series. Only 3 left. So funny how it’s become a part of my transitional life. From student to graduate to working young professional.

Maciek showed me some picks he printed off from his digital camera on Ray’s printer. Most were pictures from the last weekend. They looked incredible, he took one of me in black and white that looked like a real print, not a printout, and not from a digital camera. Most Excellent.

Saturday:
Got up early enough and headed over to Mom’s, we picked up Grandma, and did a little garage sale-ing. I ended up with a Grill for 7 bucks, it needs some scrubbing, but seems solid, and actually works.(the igniter button too) We left it at the place to pick up later.

We tried to go to the Humane Society, but they weren’t open until noon.

Then the three of us headed out to East Johnson for the Opening of the new Full Circle Galleria. My mom knows one owner’s mother, and wanted to drop in, and introduce me to her as well. Julia is really awesome; she seems very creative and fun. Their art galleria is focusing on art made with re-cycled materials. Julia does some beading and sews these awesome clothes made from bits and parts of other clothes. My Grandma bought a ring with purple crystals, and I got a red suede necklace with a red stone carved like a rose.

Then I introduced my Mom and Grandmother to Sophia’s wonderful food. They both really loved the atmosphere and the food. props to Smuga-Otto’s for introducing me to one of the best places for breakfast in town.

Then we wandered into a couple of the stores nearby, beads, and Victorian antiques.

Then we went down to State Street to get beanie baby cheeseheads for dogs…(My grandparents promised some wiener dogs the hats, dogs of friends I guess), and caught a little bit of the Farmer’s Market. Mom really liked the Pan Flute music. They were set up at the top of State Street near where the artisans tend to put their booths.

Then we went back to the Humane Society to look at cats for my grandparents. We got to visit with a cat named Mouser who has food allergies, and had been at the shelter since November, and 2 bonded cats named Brat and Brother. B&B shed a whole lot, Mouser not so much. Mouser was a sweetie, and seemed to take to me, as did Brat. Brother was more aloof. But cats are like that.

Then, off to get some high temp paint for the grill, and off to get the grill to leave at my parents place, where I’ll fix it up before taking it home.

I left my family and went out to see X-Men 2 with my husband. I think I liked it better than the first one, and was surprised how much better Storm was. ‘Hello, my name is Halle, and I decided to act for the sequel’ . Heh. I liked it a lot.

Sunday: I did much of nothing, played some games, read some manga, and eventually made it over to Mom’s again to sand the wood bits of the grill and start cleaning it. I also picked up a new gas canister for it (cost twice as much as the grill) and we tested to make sure it worked. (yah!) So, I hit the wood bits with some new paint, and left it to dry.

Ack, sure packed a lot into last weekend, makes me tired just writing it all up. Still, I think it’s better than letting the weekend slip by without doing anything to mark it. I learned yesterday too that my Grandparents actually adopted Mouser, saving him from certain death. Yah.