☆paging doctor gorgeous☆

Man. Every time I write my to-do list and then cross some things off, I've got to re-write it with more items than were on it originally.

But! I have reserved a spot with a good moving company for my moving day. I've scheduled the appointment to get my IUD removed. I've got a second job offer, so now I get to choose between the two. I've got all my bills paid for the month, and I've canceled and put on hold several subscriptions (Netflix, Coursera). I visited Duke today! He's doing very, very well.

I have a lot to do but I feel productive all the same. I wish I had time for creative stuff. I barely have time to do any reading (mostly in the bath) or for watching things. I can't wait until this move is over, but at the same time I need time to slow down a little, because I still have so much I need to do.

Hope everyone's doing well.

Good: I found a dollar on the ground today.

Better: My final Disneyland day was yesterday, and honestly it was a really good day. It was very hot, but I managed to get on tons of rides, all my faves more than once. I wandered around, enjoyed the vibes, took a bunch of nice photos, did some things I don't normally do often simply because it was my last chance to do so, and just. I don't know. It was a really nice day. A good final visit.

Best: Last week I had sent an email to the owner of a massage clinic in Wisconsin, where I'll be moving to, and we connected over the phone. I wasn't expecting an actual interview, I was just going to ask a couple of questions, but he ended up giving me a full rundown and talking to me for over twenty minutes, and by the end of the call he said that he would be willing to take a chance on me without meeting me in person and that he would like to offer me a job. I was shocked, but elated. Holy shit, look at me go! I just need to make sure I can get my California license switched over (there are a ton of hoops for me to jump through) but he said that even if I can't get it done in time, I can apply for a six-month temporary license through the city, and that he will help me.

I finished my submission for seasonsofdrabbles a whole two days early. Who am I?

Watched Freaky Tales (mostly for Pedro Pascal, I'll be honest), Another Simple Favor, and now am starting Conclave, though I don't know how far I'll get tonight since it's nearly 2AM.

I popped into Trader Joe's after work to load up on goodies to lift my spirits. Man, I'm gonna miss Trader Joe's.

I'm going through a phase where I'm not sure if I'm tired, lazy, or depressed. There's a lot I want to do, but I drag my feet. I am tentatively making plans to catch the train to LA on Saturday to go see a Yellowstone wolf photography exhibit by a wildlife photographer called Ronan Donovan, who I am quite the fan of, which will only be shown through mid-June. I want to visit Little Tokyo also, and load up on snacks I won't have access to in a few months so that I can ship a big ol' box of them to Blair's place and fetch them when I arrive in Wisconsin. I want to eat at some of my favorite restaurants; the best curry is in Little Tokyo, mm-mm. But then I just think. Wouldn't it be way nicer if I slept all afternoon curled up comfortably in my bed and did nothing for a whole day?

Maybe it would. But that's neither here nor there. I have a funk to clamber out of.

• Duke is in his new home. It was very hard.

My cousin's sister followed me outside and, with her very limited English, expressed to me that she does not know why her sister is sending Duke away to someone we don't know. She kept saying "I am sad. I am very sad. My heart hurts. I will miss him." This sweet seventy-something woman, on the other side of a language barrier, was expressing her grief to me as I took this family pet away. I tried to communicate that I was also very sad, and that I would miss him, too, and that I made sure that Duke would be going to a very good home where he would be safe and happy.

To those who missed it: I moved in here a little over a month ago. My cousins had inherited this dog from their deceased mother, and did not wish to keep him for very much longer. Cousin #2 told me that she was going to call the local animal shelter and "give him back" (this is the shelter he was initially adopted from eight years ago) and I said no, please don't do that, let me find a good home for him. Cousin #2 is the Filipino wife of Cousin #1, my blood relative. Cousin #2's sister and brother-in-law also live with us; these two do not have much English, and while they are very kind, they are difficult for me to communicate with.

I don't know how much she understood, but I hope she doesn't blame me, and that she understands that I also regretted the necessity of rehoming him.

It is the best possible home, I am certain of it. When I went to take him today, I learned that his new mom had already invested in new bowls, a chest full of a variety of brand new toys, new bedding, handsome new leash and collar, and more. She is patient and soft and kind. She re-arranged her entire schedule to be home with Duke for a solid week, because as she says, "I don't want him to be lonely or scared in a new house." When I left, she handed me an envelope containing a card she had prepared for me. Inside was a lovely message thanking me for letting her be Duke's new mom, and promising me that she would take good care of him and make sure he never wants for love and attention. She also included a $50 gift card to Olive Garden. What? She is a wonderful woman and I am very happy with my choice. I do miss him already, though. She said I can visit periodically, at least until I move to Wisconsin.




• Blair will be here in four days! I am SO excited to see her, and to get up to some fun things around SoCal. It's a relatively short trip; she arrives Wednesday and goes home Sunday, but that's enough time to have a nice experience. We're going to Star Wars Nite on Thursday night, Disneyland on Friday, and then on Saturday I'm taking her to La Brea Tar Pits, they Greystone Mansion, and Santa Monica Pier, then the beach. Hell, maybe we'll go on a nice date to the Olive Garden at some point, courtesy of Duke's new mom.

I have a lot to do. I have to do laundry, pack my bags, bring down all our cosplay stuff so I can make repairs on a few items and wash others. Clean out my car. Take a trip to my storage unit to store some things I've lazily just kept in the trunk.Gas up the car. Re-do the pins in my Ita bag for SW Nite. Back up and delete a bunch of photos and videos from my phone to make as much space as possible; my poor phone is consistently at like 97% capacity. T.T

We've got DnD tomorrow and I work Monday, so it'll all pretty much need to get done Tuesday.




• I've gotten back into this cute, silly little browser game called Furry Paws, where you raise, train, breed, and compete your dogs. Goals are to level up, gain fame, breed the most genetically sound pups possible, and help improve the gene pools of the game world at large through selective breeding and caring for your litters. I used to play it years and years ago. The game is over 20 years old now. Back in the day I was a top player, not to brag, so starting over completely has been really hard. Still, it's just as fun as I remember. Anyone know what this game is? Anyone play? Anyone want to? If so, let me know: I've got referral codes.

I decided to pack a bag and come spend the day at the local library, and honestly, best decision I could have made in terms of spending my day off.

For one, it feels much nicer than my hot, stuffy room. 3/4 of my roommates are from the Philippines, which means they're used to very warm weather and they get cold easily. It also means I am running my ceiling fan every minute I'm at home and even then am sometimes laying in bed sweating.

For two, it's so comfortable! The seats are great for sitting in long term. It's quiet here, it's calm, my feet touch the floor unlike the chairs at Starbucks, which eventually start cutting off the circulation to my legs and hurting my butt. Plus here, I don't have to buy anything in order to be allowed to sit and use their internet as long as I want (though I am allowed drinks and snacks, should I feel like packing some to bring).

There's nothing to sit on in my room except my bed, but you can imagine how that's not very comfortable long term while trying to work on a laptop. The only desk in the house belongs to my cousins and is in their private office and covered in their things. The kitchen table is not only small, but it's in the center of the bustling downstairs, where people are talking loudly, moving around, cooking, watching tv with the volume turned up, ect, and I absolutely cannot get anything done there. I've been waiting until night time when everyone goes to bed, to sneak quietly downstairs to occupy the couch, but honestly that's not very comfortable either, and I always have to fret about waking the whole house when I head back upstairs. This house is creaky. As. Fuck.

It's been a wonderful time. I've been here about five hours so far, and I have accomplished several chapters of reading for my IT course, watched half a dozen module videos, completed two quizzes and took a test. I feel like I am actually learning because I'm comfortable and I can concentrate. I've also split up the studying by watching a handful of episodes of The Bad Batch, paying a bill I had due, and playing some Pokemon Go (there are three, count 'em three gyms right here at the library, hell yeah).

My laptop can go for about eight hours on a full charge, but there are plenty of outlets around here, which unfortunately can't be said for every public study space, but I lucked out. I think I will be spending a lot of my days off here going forward, especially as the weather starts to get warmer.

There is a sort of fast-food Italian place near here called Fazoli's - you heard of it? Anyone eaten there? The food looks pretty tasty and their prices are very reasonable, so once I've decided I've had enough of the library I think I'll try them out for dinner.

I am so sick. Monday I was starting to feel it, yesterday I woke up feeling like death. I went to urgent care, was told I had an ear infection, and received a three-medicine cocktail meant to knock it out quick. I called in sick to work today and am glad I did because there is no way I could have survived. I have been sleeping on and off since I got home from the pharmacy yesterday, and even getting up for short periods of time to use the bathroom, get more water, and move my body a little absolutely exhaust me. I took a bath at one point and fell asleep in the tub. Geez.

Had to cancel my Disneyland reservation for tomorrow, obviously, which is a shame because I had to cancel it last week; on account of WonderCon, I postponed it to this week. I only have a couple more months until my pass blacks out for the summer, but then I'll be moving to Wisconsin in July anyway, and won't get to use it for the rest of the year.

I'm glad I'm sick now instead of later this month when Blair visits for Star Wars Nite. There is my silver lining for the day.

Still behind on everything. Still very sorry if you're waiting on a response from me.

Last night, since I knew I needed to be up early today, I decided to try a new kind of melatonin that I'd recently acquired. It's melatonin that comes infused in tasty little chocolates! I was careful to make sure I took the correct dosage, as one must when trying something new. One chocolate = one mg of melatonin, which is my standard dosage. Cool.

Not cool. Oh man. It wiped me out fast, but every time I closed my eyes I would get really dizzy, and then I would feel really nauseous. It got so bad that I was sure I was going to be sick, so I crept downstairs to hole up in the spare bathroom as not to wake up everybody if I started throwing up. I didn't, luckily, but it was close. As long as I remained upright with my eyes open, it was fine, but it was difficult on account of the melatonin doing its job and making me really, really want to fall asleep.

It was rough, but the effects faded after about an hour or so, and I was finally able to go to sleep. Had an insanely wild, vivid dream, too.

But I was able to get up early with no real issue, and I made it to Riverside for The (Inland) Empire Strikes Back just before it opened.

What a fun time! It wasn't huge, but it was big enough: around fifty or sixty vendors, half a dozen food trucks, and tons of photo ops. They even had the landspeeder that all the actors on the set of Ahsoka liked to right around in, autographed by everybody, and I got to sit in it and take pictures and stuff.

Some droid builders brought their fully functional remote controlled droids, so there was an R2D2 and a Rex roaming around. The cast of Skeleton Crew was there, they had raffles for cool stuff, and there were lightsaber demonstrations. Plus, there was lots of great cosplay. I'm very glad I heard about this event at the last second and was able to go!

It was HOT out today though, and the event was held outdoors in a fenced off park that was closed to non-event people for today. Unfortunately when I thought I had packed two water bottles, I had only packed one, so when I was done with it I started to get very thirsty. I could have patronized one of the food trucks but drinks were hella expensive and the lines were oppressively long. So I just stuck it out.

Then when I left, I made a bee line for the nearby gas station, bought two Gatorades, and pounded them both right there in my car. Ya girl sure enough got her electrolytes back in order, and those cold blue Gatorades were sublime.

Now I'm sleepy.

Man. I am still not fully moved. It's been raining really hard a lot this past week, making repeated trips to the old house and the storage unit a real bear. I managed to get nearly all of it done yesterday - and blissfully my old roommates were out, so I had the place to myself to listen to music and use his wifi to download some things - but I've still got maybe two carloads left.

I'm currently posted up at the local Starbucks near the new place, because I needed to pay some bills and do a few things online, and I wanted to watch some stuff other than just youtube videos. I'm tellin' you, 5 gigs of data just does not get a person very far. y.y

I'm way behind on things here, and everywhere, really. I look forward to finally having wifi so I can play catch up and then settle back into normal, every day living. Tomorrow I work, then Tuesday I gotta finish moving my stuff. When I quit Starbucks for the evening, I'll have to go home and finish hauling the stuff I've already brought over upstairs, which I've been putting off because carrying heavy stuff upstairs is just not the most fun a girl can have.

Can't say I've got anything interesting to talk about, sadly.

I feel like a broken record when I keep saying this, but I am so tired. I worked a full shift at my actual job and then came home and worked for four and a half more hours, until past midnight, continuing to pull and pack things. My big dresser is completely empty now and so is half my closet. I was able to do a load of laundry and dump a bunch of trash but I still have so much stuff to pack and I'm running out of boxes, yo.

My roommates have offered to use their car to help me haul twice as much stuff to my storage unit tomorrow, which was very nice of them. Once I do that I'll have to come home and, yeah, continue working. My feet hurt. My fingers have got all these scrapes and abrasions on them from dealing with boxes. I keep getting distracted by side quests.

I have to remember to clean the bathroom. At least I remembered to buy supplies for that when I stopped at the store on the way home. I just have so many books, man. And this after downsizing several times (I've moved about four times in the past decade). I'm keeping an eye on the weather, hoping the movers won't cancel if it rains, though the jury appears to still be out on whether or not it will.

I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot. Am I? It's all blending together. Half the time I don't even know what day it is.

In my scant downtime, I've started watching The Terror on a friend's recommendation. Enjoying it so far.

I got a haircut today, and it feels really good. My hair was getting very long and very shaggy, getting in the way, and getting too warm. I'm going to dye it again... tomorrow? If I have the time? At some point! Probably should do it before I clean the bathroom rather than after.

Yeah I don't know, that's it I guess. I'm looking forward to being able to talk about something else.

Today has been long.

I took a car load of stuff to my cousin's house and made seven trips up and down the stairs on my own (my cousins are elderly, I'm not asking them to help carry my stuff, much less upstairs!), then went by the city animal shelter to donate Kara's old things (had some bowls, leashes, and inflatable recovery cones).

Next, I went to the storage facility I decided on to take a tour of the different sized units and choose one. I think I got a great deal for what I ended up with - the last available unit of the size I needed, even! So she reserved it for me, and on Saturday I'll go and fill out the paperwork to open my account and take my first car load of stuff. It's *very* clean, seems really secure, and the employees are great. I think I made a good choice.

Stopped by Smart & Final because I remembered they have a bulk section, and I'm still looking for candied pineapple. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but ever since I had a drink at Oga's Cantina that contained candied pineapple, I have been hooked on it, except nobody sells it. I've checked into every store I can think of that might have it, tried a few farmer's markets. I'll have to end up ordering it online, but gosh.

Finally eating my first - and probably only - meal of the day. Way dehydrated haha. But at least I have had a shower and I am clean and cooled down (it was almost NINETY DEGREES today). Time to finally rest.