(no subject)

Weekend off to a mushy start. Got out of bed at 10, felt a painful cramp in right side that quickly turned into nausea, so I went back into bed, and it went away. Hour later, got up, started taking shower, bad stuff came back, and I went back to bed again. Hour later, got up again and moved very slowly. Eventually had coffee & juice & a berry scone and feel better now.

The cramp worried me because it felt to deep to be a muscular cramp, and uh oh, I have internal organs there. But that it moved around in my gut, and eventually went away, leaves me to believe it was just some gas that had missed its exit ramp off the intestinal expressway (ew). Still, it reminds me that, shamefully, I still haven't followed through with my half-a-doctor's-appointment from two months ago! While I certainly feel healthy, my true medical condition is in fact completely unknown to me and the world. OK: I start fixing this next week, with a visit to the ol' blood lab. Next Monday, in fact. How's that. Good.

This shakiness meant I had to beg out of lunch with daerr, who is in town for an anime convention. Maybe tomorrow.

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I have discovered over the last 15 months or so that, most of the time, I don't feel like having people in my home, even if I like them, and even if they also live here. I quietly scuttle off to my room when N and friend T come home, though we all had a nice time hanging out and talking late last night after I got home from seeing Bowling for Columbine with cthulhia. Some people think it's strange that I'm willing to pay a premium -- several hundred additional dollars per month, in fact -- to live in a smaller space by myself. I have to question this sometimes, too, but I'm really sure it's all the better for me. I think that, once I finish this upcoming move, I succeed in remembering that I have lots of friends living outside my walls, and inviting them in every now and again, I will stay happy and balanced.

The challenge here lies in that I'll have to keep the place tidy, or I'll continually put off having people over; this was among the problems with my first apartment here. Since I don't trust myself that much yet, it's likely that I'll end up hiring help for this.

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T is moving to Waterville! Which strikes me as so strange, because that city has fallen pretty low in my esteem, and T seems way too "cool" for it. But there she goes, to join two other members of circle N that have already moved into the area. It's not entirely arbitrary, since half the members of this circle (including N himself) have roots in the area. N reacts to my bemusement by insisting that the area isn't as lame as I make it out to be. It is all subjective, of course. Hum de dum. All very interesting.

My first duh LJ welcome post

Hi, xach. The MINT-flavored LJ collective continues to grow. (And this one's not even my fault.)

Actually

It pleases me that my relationship with Maine -- the Kennebec valley region, specifically -- continues to stay strong. Despite all my badmouthing, my interest in the Waterville area is maintained by interesting people continuing to move into and through it, making it more socially (and technologically) dynamic that it may seem at first. More than two years after I left, it keeps giving me reasons to come back from time to time. I suppose I'll adopt a new policy of not complaining about it anymore.

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A few days ago I gave official notice of my intention to move, and today the first looker-throughs came, herded by a fellow from the realtor we originally got this place from last year. I have not called them about my own needs yet; I'll give them a drop-by on Monday.

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Bought an inexpensive (< $100) surround-sound speaker+subwoofer system from Micro Center this afternoon. You know it's working when the first horse hoof hitting the road during Ico's intro cinematics goes WHOMP and makes you jump. And then you hear birds behind you while the leaves rustle all around. Big deal, yeah, nothing new, but I've never enjoyed video games in my own home like this before. Excellent