its strong and its sudden, it can be cruel sometimes

Despite my eldest sister's objections, I'm going to continue the trend of making posts from work. C'mon, Kate, its a Friday afternoon, its not like I'm going to get any actual work done anyway!

So let's see... when I last made a livejournal post, I was bemoaning my lack of housing for the upcoming half year or so. Let me assure you that I have resolved that problem. I found a nice little studio within my price range, with a parking space even. Now some of you may recall how frequently and vehemently I have criticized the B-line, insisting that I couldn't move off it too soon. Well, surprise! I'm not moving off it after all, I'm just moving further down towards the city. C'est la vie. Come September 1st I'll be living at Packard's Corner on the Allston/Brookline border.

Last Saturday during the day I trucked out to Springfield. Ostensibly I was going to the annual Gem & Mineral show at the Big E, but the true purpose of my visit was to meet up with Dave A. He was, for a time, worried that I was going to leave the time zone with all of his precious books and CDs, and I wanted to mollify him and assure him this was not in fact the case. I didn't actually go to the Gem & Mineral show in the end, but I did meet Dave and several other CT friends for dinner at a German place in Springfield, so that was good. I had pig's knuckle, which I haven't had since I was in Deutschland, and it was every bit as wonderful as I remembered.

As a token of good faith, I returned to Dave A his copy of the Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, and let me tell you I was sorry to see it go. When I last mentioned these books, I had just finished A Bridge of Birds, the first volume in the trilogy, and though I had enjoyed it thoroughly I was hesistant about pressing on through the other two (Story of the Stone and The Eight Skilled Gentlemen.) Since then I have finished the series (such as it is) and also lent the three-volume compilation to sleetfall, who read it as well. Apparently the author originally intended to write several more volumes but was unable to find a market for them, which is totally incomprehensible to me because they're so freakin' good. I am definitely going to make acquiring copies of my own a high priority, although apparently laying hands on anything other than ABoB is difficult (it alone among the three completed books was reprinted.)

Speaking of books, I am currently in the middle of the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a book sleetfall encouraged me to pick up on the recommendation of Rachael Abed. Its really quite good. Its sort of a more well-researched Da Vinci Code in which the historical role of Jesus is instead played by Vlad the Impaler. The narrative is also fused with very HP Lovecraft elements, which is always a plus. Its told in three interwoven parts, two of which are essentially epistulary, and thus far has pulled off being a modern gothic thriller fairly well. I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, back to the week in review. Saturday night I hung out with thablueguy for the first time since he returned to this continent. I met up with him and a couple of his friends and went to their place in Newton. We watched the Galactica miniseries and talked about stuff. It was really nice to see the kid. He makes me laugh. I was perhaps a little goofy and over-enthusiastic, as I am wont to be, but what can I say. And it sounds like there's a chance I'll be involved in some Prophet's Fall stuff before I move back to Chicago, to the dismay of my family members and to my great delight.

And speaking of roleplaying (man, I am Mr. Segue in this entry or what?), the Tuesday night crew got together in a big way this week. We ran late, more like 9 to midnight as opposed to 8 to 11, but as we were playing at sleetfall's apartment the trip home was a lot easier on me. For the first time in that game's short existence all of the characters came together in the same place and tried to shake out just what the Hell is going on. It was a delight to watch, and reminded me just how much I miss gaming regularly.

To offset that success Tuesday, Wednesday night I came home, napped, got up long enough to eat something, and then crashed and didn't get up 'till the next morning. I am still adjusting to the rhythm of a working person, and I suppose little hiccups like that are to be expected. Anyway, it sounds like there's a strong chance of poker tonight, which is good as I have decided not to try and get down to the Cape this weekend. I'll have to try and make the most of my remaining weekend time in Boston, y'know?

EDIT: I totally forgot to mention the baseball game that wouldn't die on Sunday! Um, summary version: I went to this Red Sox game with my mother and father and youngest sister. And they played a little bit, and then there was a rain delay, and the game would not die. We waited many hours and then gave up. So all in all a fun day, except for the part where I was hoping for live baseball and there was not much of that. Instead I got to see the ballet that is the placement and removal of the tarp at Fenway, repeated several times. Hooray!