Day Off #2 has been spent mostly in bed. I got out of my PJs at around 12:30, went out to go do errands, and then came home and immediately put my PJs back on.

Yeeaaaah, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. We do have bowling night planned tonight, so yay for interacting with people instead of playing hermit like I've been doing for the past two days.

The Good: Simply Delicious, the restaurant that took the place of the Longleaf Cafe, has excellent, if not better, chicken salad sandwiches than the Longleaf. My tastebuds did a happy dance at lunchtime. Their lemonade is also quite tasty too.

The Bad: Quiet Neighbor Guy from Upstairs is moving out. :( Seriously, I never know when he's home because he's that quiet. He's been moving things out all day yesterday and today, but even then, the only times that I know he's up there is when he's moving the heavy stuff and when he steps over that one creaky floorboard right over my living room. Sad to see him go; with it was the Yelling Neighbors Across the Hall that were leaving instead. Mr. Anger Management took back his girlfriend/wife/whoever and they had an interesting conversation outside, followed by her wanting to go in and him shoving her out the door with a "You're a liar, you're a f*cking liar, happy birthday. *slam door in face*"

At least they're entertaining? I guess? *shrug*

The Redundant: I tried to play a new game + with my Kira, but playing using mostly renegade options with her felt weird since she's been the Queen of the Girl Scouts for three games solid. So I quit and started up a new ME1 playthrough. Noah Shepard is going to be my playthrough where I respond with whatever feels right in each given situation, which is why he's almost even in Paragon and Renegade points. He also looks like this:( Commander Dreamy reporting for Duty )

And now to finish the rest of the Chicken Salad Sandwich that is Made of Win and Awesome and Tastiness.

I just finished it.

Guys, I have feelings about this game but I can't properly express them right now. This is probably because it's after midnight and I need to wake up in less than six hours, but mostly because I'm a mess of incoherent gibberish at the moment.

I will say ( does this count as a spoiler? )

Non-spoilery reaction to the ending: I'm not a frothing mad mess of "OMGWTF, YOU MESSED WITH MY GAME RAAAAAAAAGE" like the dude at Gamestop said he was. Actually, I think I'm okay with the ending. It felt like something my Shepard would do. Other future playthroughs? Probably not. For Kira, yeah, it worked for the most part.

So yeah. Going to get some sleep because now that I've played all three games blind, I'm going to be looking up game guides like crazypants.

Found out that the reason that my friend wanted to go to Dallas by herself (her sister was going, so three guests would have been a crowd) didn't pan out. You know, I completely would have understood if you just went "Hey, I want to spend the weekend alone with my cousin. Let's do something else later." instead of blowing me off entirely. I kind of feel like ditching on Comicpalooza right now, but at the same time, I'd feel guilty about doing so just to be petty.

And besides, she'd probably just go without me anyway, so why waste the opportunity for a free car ride?

I have the May monthly meeting to go to tomorrow. The Past President, President Elect and Vice President may or may not be there, so it'll just be the Current President and myself running the show. Yikes. So far I've gotten about twenty-four out-of-towners RSVPing and I need to pick up the sign-up sheets for our utilities departments. Hopefully we'll have a good turn-out.

Still need to brush up on my public speaking skills though.

I'm finding it really hard to finish up this first playthrough of ME3. I think part of me wants to hurry up and get it over so we can start up a new ME1 playthrough, but at the same time, I've really enjoyed this game and it's sad to see it come to a close. ( almost but not quite at The End )

While sewing my bag yesterday, I had a Marathon of Hotness via Real Steel (liked it for the Hugh Jackman/whoever that lady was cuddle scenes, really didn't pay much attention because I was measuring out fabric) LotR: Two Towers Extended Edition (great googly moogly, so much hot) Tron: Legacy (JEFF BRIDGES, need I say more?) and Jane Eyre with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.

Um, Michael Fassbender. Where have I been that I've completely missed him? Need to look up past movies and watch STAT. I loved him as Mr. Rochester, which was a lot for me because I've never truly been fond of the character. If we go on a scale of brooding, I'm more of a Mr. Darcy girl. At least he didn't have a wife hidden away in some attic at Pemberly.

I was having one of those "Ahhhhhh!" type of days (hell, several months), but when I came home there was 1) an update to a story I've been following, 2) the makings of an awesome grilled cheese sandwich in the fridge, and 3) a package with my steampunk outfit on my doorstep. The universe DOES know when to give people a few positives every now and again.

Now I just need to find my hot glue gun so I can put together a hair clip and then get out my sewing machine and brush off my rusty newbie seamstress skills to make a bag to put my wallet and such in. I've got a week to do this, but I'm thinking about making this a crafty weekend.

Well, it looks like we're not going to Comic Con after all. The person I was going to go with had some things come up. I was kinda looking forward to getting out of Dodge for the weekend, but what the hell. We're still looking to go to Comicpalooza next weekend instead, so it's all good. And my steampunk outfit might be in by then (my luck, it'll come in the mail the week after, but I'm staying optimistic) so I'll have something neat to wear. Plus, the one in Houston has more opportunities to catch cosplayers in gaming outfits too. Last year I found the lone Isabela who was psyched beyond thrilled that I recognized who she was. I have a feeling that there's going to be a LOT of Commander Shepards roaming the place.

And Chewbacca is going to be there, so it's all good. I just feel bad that my friend felt bad about telling me that we weren't going to make it to the Stan Lee shindig.

On the work front, if I have to see another spreadsheet about finances, I'm going to pull my hair out. I think I finally untangled that big huge knot though; we have a board meeting tomorrow during lunch, so I have to give a presentation on my new accounting style (not really new, just more detailed oriented and in line with what the bank actually has)

On the gaming front, ( cut for blah blah Mass Effect 3 blah blah )

Payday Friday means that my personal checkbook is balanced. A balanced checkbook means I know I have spare money for Comic Con in Dallas AND Comicpalooza in Houston if we decide to do both as well as a shopping trip in Salado on the way up to Dallas next Friday. Putting aside $20 each payday for the Issa Needs Fun or She Goes Crazy fund has been paying off.

Was a grown-up this week and went to the bank to get online banking options opened for the Water Association. Now THAT checkbook is balanced as well, but we have more money in the bank than what the past treasurer's report said we did. I am stumped. Quick! TO THE SPREADSHEETS!

Organizing other people's money should not be as entertaining to me as this is proving to be. I don't think it's the actual "hey, this is X amount of money" either. It's more like someone put a huge tangled ball of yarn in front of me and told me to pick out the knots. Putting an unorganized account into order is strangely satisfying.

Now to make out a list of groceries. The fridge has started to echo and I don't think I can stretch the cereal and milk for dinner routine out for very long. Gotta get back to cooking and storing dinners for an entire week like I had been doing. That was helping out a lot and I think slacking off and eating nothing but cereal or just snacking on something for dinner is a reason the weight has started to plateau (luckily not slide back up, yet) like it's doing. That and I need to start eating breakfasts again. Having just one meal per day and then light snacks probably isn't helping matters any either.

So I've been playing ME3. Slight spoilers under cut?

( warning, squee meter is on high )

Yeah, if you couldn't tell, I really like this game.

So I just finished Mass Effect 2.

( late to the fandom party! )

And why didn't I just buy ME3 when I got the first game? I have things to do after work and I'm not going to be able to make it to the store. *pouts* Oh well, I guess I'll have to start up my next playthrough. M!Shepard is going to be the middle of the road decision guy. It's weird, but I play most of my Hawkes and Wardens that way. First playthough is always super nice, the next is mostly neutral or sarcastic, and then the last is the more direct and/or aggressive character, just so I can see the different outcomes with each.

Just got back from the Avengers. Spoiler free reaction:

Scene: Darkened theater. ISSA sits next to MARCHELLE, popcorn in hand

(INTERESTING THINGS happen on screen)

ISSA: (hops up and down in seat)

(MORE INTERESTING THINGS happen on screen)

ISSA: (grins like crazy)

(VERY BIG INTERESTING PIECE OF SCENERY is introduced)

ISSA: (nearly inhales popcorn and lets out a loud "OMG *SQUEE*" in a silent theater)
MARCHELLE: (laughs at ISSA while whacking friend on back to dislodge popcorn caught in ISSA's throat)

Yeah, that was pretty much the whole movie, except the popcorn thing was a one-time deal.

Speaking of comics, we will not be attending the Houston Comicpalooza. Instead, we're going to the Dallas Comic Con! YAY! I'm betting that my steampunk outfit will not be ready on such short notice, but that's okay. EXCITED!

Lemon Merengue pie was a success. I think I've discovered my new go-to way to make pie crust via the food processor. No more falling apart crusts! No more gooey hands! This is life-changing, I tell you! Adding a teaspoon of cornstarch and a half a teaspoon of cream of tartar bulked up the merengue as well. I've already gotten requests to make a chocolate silk pie and a coconut creme pie from two of my other inspectors. I might do them when people least expect it, just so we don't have a full week of nothing but sweets.

Just ordered my new steampunk outfit from Etsy. I should have shopped there for my usual Faire garb; I just spent about half of what I paid for my usual green and white outfit. I bought a tan blouse and a brown/tan bustle skirt - I'm using my black corset for now, but the shop I bought everything from has beautiful corsets that I'm thinking of using as incentive to shape up the waistline instead of coming home and then sitting like a blob on the sofa. I didn't ask when the skirt and shirt would be done, but fingers are crossed that I get them in time for Comicpalooza.

Now I just need to head out to Hobby Lobby or Hancock Fabrics and look for some neat looking neo-Victorian style fabric to make a wrist and/or belt pouch to put my wallet in.