tracker7 | Entries tagged with birthday

As it tends to, Armada took it out of me. Got in two matches, then we called it a day. I went home, intending to unload the Mariner and then head to the grocery. I managed half of that. Got home, put things away ... and that was it. Sleep crept up on me, and by 9PM, I was under the covers and heading to sleep.

A couple of friends gave me 3D-printed game accessories! Ken made me a nifty multi-piece token holder for X-Wing, and Garrett had a Armada ship tray designed to hold and display alt-art cards, which are usually printed either oversized or in landscape format or both. Very cool gifts, and I feel fortunate to have such friends.

In other birthday gift related news: got even more gaming stuff. Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk from Mom&Dad, and an Interdictor-class and the Chimaera. The Interdictor wasn't really ever on my list of ships to buy, but Amazon had 'em for $13, and I couldn't resist that price. Facing a couple of them on Saturday convinced me that it's a more capable ship than I had thought. I don't know that I'll pick up another one, but I'm thinking about ways to use it with a Victory or two or three as a slow-moving gunline. SotB is a heck of a good cyberpunk setting guide, built around FFG's board- and card game property. Gorgeous book, and I want to run a couple of sessions of it sometime soon.

I'm on a days-long vacation, as is my custom for some time around my birthday. Instead of being comfortably ensconced in my grandfather's old-but-ridiculously-comfortable recliner in my parents' living room, I'm in a comfortable bed in a hotel in Charleston, West Virginia. For, and stop me if you've heard this already, a funeral.

What I'm going to write isn't all that pleasant. I'm not here to honor the dead, or offer comfort to the immediate family. I'm here solely so shore up my father. The deceased is or was an aunt, and almost definitely the most broken and unpleasant person I've ever known. I've never seen her without at least one cigarette in hand, and often double-fisting the things, ash dropping into whatever lies below, her cognitive functions burned down by an industrial-grade cocktail of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. To be honest, the only consistent emotion I've ever felt for this woman has been pity. Even as a child, and before I could put this into words, she never was anything I could call a complete person. She's always been, in my universe, this pear-shaped lump of flesh, watery-eyed and with a voice that was either a hoarse and entreating whisper or a demanding gravelly bellow in either setting existing only to call out for a drink or food or a cigarette, reeking of tobacco smoke and uncleanliness.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I was able to download the files that I'll be expanding and rewriting for the Spycraft 2.0 closeout book. There's a lot to review, and this work is going to be take up most of my time away from the office. This was the plan, by the way, and a huge part of my reason to spend my vacation time in a familiar-but-not-my-place environment. Once we get back to Liberty, tomorrow evening, I'll have the better part of four days to do nothing but work on this project. Dad's going to be on the road, and Mom will be at work for about 10 hours a day, and I'll have nothing to do but review the precursor work, peruse the notes and other material, and crank out wordcount. This is going to be good for me. Healthy

Current Mood: determined

I don't often make a big deal about my birthday, outside of taking a few days off from work and either relaxing or hitting the road. It's just how I'm wired. My ACS team at work is pretty cool about it. Yesterday, though, my new teams did something that, in the great big scheme of things, is small, but it really made me happy. Cake, ice cream, and a little celebration in the afternoon. Completely unexpected, but very kind.

Today, of course, is Valentine's Day. I've railed against it, hated it, been ambivalent towards it. I sent Amy flowers way back when, and a few dinners and cards and other things with someone else, but Kathryn wasn't into Valentine's Day at all, and that godawful mess with Sasha had so many complications that even if I'd wanted to make note of February 14, I couldn't have without making things even worse than they were. 2009 sees me going down a path with #1 Crush - we're not together today, and probably won't see each other until I get back from Alabama, but I'm happy as the day is long that we've got places in each others' lives.

So, here's to Valentine's Day. Here's to romance and to love and to butterflies in the stomach and your heart racing when that particular name shows on your cell and to conversations that go into the wee hours of the night. Here's to what-if and promises and a boast that she's willing to call you on. Here's to having an ache from missing someone, and not wanting that ache to go away because even it feels so good. Here's to gentle touches and whispers and private looks and things that no one knows but you and her. Here's to knowing what you want, and knowing that any risk is worth it. Here's to trust and to someone placing the whole of their existence into your hands.

Here's to my crush.

Current Mood: cheerful

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