Friday, I went to work and did paperwork. Then I came home and tried to get my computer in order. I was getting tired, but eventually went out in order to accomplish some shopping. This happened in the company of gameboyguy13 and myrrhianna. There was assorted silliness. Polka-dotted umbrellas, the color pink, insane and purple, blowing on glass containers, pipecleaners so the cat poop would sparkle, holding shirts up against JD to see how they would look on him (he likes fun shirts, with flowers or fruit; we are leaning towards plaids); the thought of Nibiki vs. an exploding ball, lots of joking about soda and camera memory cards (don't ask), and the complete lack of steakums. I will dance around and look as if I am losing my balance when I get tired and silly.

Saturday involved sleeping in, then being a rather not productive zombie (but a clean one!) by poking at the computer and taking a nice shower. I called Darkside. He had to study, so there was not much phone-time, but a whole lot of giggling and bad puns happened. That's sort of inevitable when we talk to each other. meacu1pa's party followed, and it was good.

We came somewhat unfashionably late. Parking was horrendous, as advertised. We eventually found spots; myrrhianna was given a phone number by the guy vacating the spot. This was a *pear* moment. There was dinner. There was swimming pool. There was insanity. In attendance: meacu1pa and the "hand"-yman; rhea_windrider and husband; danielle_faye and husband; gameboyguy13, myrrhianna, easalle, trystan_laryssa, a cameo appearance from hcolleen, quantum_gazebo and midnightfae, and ... am I leaving anyone out? Oh, two of meacu1pa's friends who I don't know, who left around 7-ish.

There was sculpture. There were games. There was gossip. There was insanity. I may remember the ASL for "blowjob" in the morning; I may not. (It's very similar to the sign for "attack", which similarity evidently livened up a lecture on WWI that the "hand"-yman was translating.) Fun was had by all. JD crept up behind me in the pool and used a pool noodle held between the legs to poke me in the behind, and announced "Surprise! Buttsecks!" This meme got spread throughout the whole pool. We completely overflowed the hot tub; there had to have been a dozen people in a very small hot tub. I throw waterfight-toys like a girl. The Legend of AK-47 Guy was spread to the quantum_gazebo/midnightfae direction. It turns out that the "hand"-yman runs an Amber game.

We eventually all wound up playing Cranium. (Well, those of us remaining, minus the "hand"-yman.) rhea_windrider, her husband, and easalle formed one team; gameboyguy13, trystan_laryssa, and I formed another, and meacu1pa, midnightfae, and quantum_gazebo formed the third. The "hand"-yman occupied a couch and made sarcastic commentary. My lack of pop culture showed through in places. The most notable one was when I was supposed to act like a character. How the HELL was I supposed to act like The Fonz when I had never so much as seen the source show, much less read up on the characters? In desperation, I pulled the only bit of knowledge I had about the show out of the archives of my brain. "Look! A shark!" I said, and then took a leap. Amazingly, it worked! Immediately! My team knew exactly what I meant. I only knew the reference because I'd been reading up on the history of the phrase "jump the shark" way back when; if it had been a less iconic thing that hadn't worked its way into pop culture as a whole, I never would have managed to portray that character at all.

I wound up going home with the fruits of my adventures in sculpting. The red sculpture is still intact; the blue and green ones are not.

We do have to plot a coherent plan about the Return of gameboyguy13 to California.

sionainn go out with iroshi? Straight chick + bi chick = mass confusion. So probably not.
2) When did you last call chorus_of_chaos? Not sure if it was within the last year, actually...
3) Is tygerr a nerd? I'd more precisely call him a geek. This is a good thing.
4) What planet should chorus_of_chaos be from? Somewhere with a lot of moons.
5) Where was atalantapendrag born? Earth.
6) Did hcolleen break up with you? She'd have had to date me first for that.
7) Would you set up sithjawa and boojum? No. But boojum set up sithjawa and me, does that count?
8) What would trickofthedark give deeahblita for his/her birthday? Some delightfully drawn porn.
9) Do you have a crush on shadesong? On her writing, maybe.
10) Is norabombay single? Definitely.
11) Would kellinator and chorus_of_chaos look good together? Dunno. I don't think there'd be a great meeting of the minds there, though.
12) Would you ever date wibbble? Not right now. And only if his wife approved. ;-P
13) How long have you known mamadeb? Since I was in my teens, actually. lmbujold's e-mail list is a great place.
14) Is sionainn athletic? She's a wench, which is better.
15) Has atalantapendrag dyed their hair? Probably.
16) What do you disagree with tsjafo about? We haven't actually had very many in-depth conversations, but I'd imagine there might be places, especially politically, where we'd agree on a principle and disagree on implementation.
17) What comic book character would elysianmusings be? A superhero ballet teacher? Do they draw such women?
18) Do you have smmc's screenname? Sure do.
19) If figment0 commanded an army, who would be his/her followers? Oh, dear. Um. Either a lot of Mormons, a lot of gamergeeks, or both.
20) What do you agree with amberfox about? Lots of things. Especially that we probably need to be local.
21) How would digitalambience conquer the world? By wheeling and dealing his way to the top.
22) Has tyrantmouth been to your house/dorm? Alas, no. We are not local enough for that to be a regular occurrence, either.
23) Does rubrchick drink? I suppose she might. Especially water.
24) How long would tigergladys dating amberite last? It might not even start, but if it did, probably a month or two.
25) Is thette popular? Hulda, or at least Hulda's bread, is. Yay fen! Yay game!
26) Where was trollprincess born? Also Earth. She at least grew up in the Pennsylvania part of Earth, one of the parts that is not one of those two big cities.
27) Where did you first meet raranax? At Grandma's. That was the visit where I sat on the cactus.
28) Would you wrestle silmarian in jello? Perhaps. I'm not sure his wife's as comfortable with me as she was, and I'm not sure how Darkside would take it.
29) Do you think elorie is hot? Haven't met her. Can't say.
30) What animal should popefelix be combined with? Perhaps a ferret or a lemur.
31) Is nalidoll your best friend? Darkside's got that spot, but she could be close.
32) Is trickofthedark in a relationship? Married, even.
33) What is easalle's favorite movie? Utena, I think.
34) If elysianmusings and pharminatrix were spliced together, what would it be like? A super-concentration of a billion different kinds of artistic.
35) Is cawingcrow related to sunshinegirl? Nope.
36) What exotic animal would ataniell93 like as a pet? She might well enjoy a snake, or Bad Tom before he went all bad.
37) What would you do if chorus_of_chaos died? Mourn. Possibly see if there was anyone local who could pay a certain man a certain kind of visit.
38) Does amberite know meacu1pa? Don't think so. Two different worlds.
39) Is rubrchick dead sexy? I'm assured so.
40) If tomb_of_osiris took over the world, who would be happy? Geeks everywhere.
41) If mamadeb and sithjawa were spliced together, what would be its name? Mama Sith. There would be scary cooking.
42) Does metaphorge have a crush on chorus_of_chaos? Nah.
43) Which president would bekithewitch be likely to idolize? Scotland doesn't have presidents. But it wouldn't be the Shrubbery.
44) What color should rubrchick dye their hair? Black, to match.
45) Would you make out with boojum? You should have asked me this before she got married.
46) Is meacu1pa an emo? I think there's a rule you can't be emo over age 25 or so.
47) How many monkeys could iroshi fight at once and win against? Lots.
48) Does onyxrising do drugs? Sidhe don't have to do drugs.
49) What video game does raranax remind you of? That text-based game where the currency is meat.
50) Are smmc and sithjawa married? Not to each other. And the Sith is not married. (Do Sith marry?)
51) If garnetdagger and nilo were Siamese twins, where would they be joined? The elbow, and they would have to have five hands.
52) Does elynne travel a lot? Not physically.
53) Where would karlita most like to visit? Nifty places around the entire world.
54) If juuro were hanging off a cliff, what would onyxrising do? Snap photos of the climbing feat in progress.
55) Could you see elance and metaphorge together? Not for particularly long, and I think her husband might be annoyed if he hadn't been consulted first.
56) Would thette and onyxrising make a good couple? Her husband also might be annoyed, but they would have tremendous fun scheming.
57) What is amberfox's shoe size? I'd guess 9.
58) What flavor of jello would tomb_of_osiris be? Lemon.
59) Have you flirted with grifyn? No. She is straight. Also married. I do not want to scare people. Too much.
60) Does sithjawa smoke? No. We would have to send the cigarettes to Antarctica too.
61) melcocha's eye color? Dark. And she has the gorgeous hair!
62) How tall is tigergladys? Tall enough to be beset by hamsters!
63) What is tsjafo's favorite band/artist? I think he's a lmbujold fan.
64) One thing you can't stand about lasayla? SHE DISAPPEARED OFF THE FACE OF THE INTERNET FOR A YEAR!!!
65) Have you ever dated chorus_of_chaos? No.
66) If elorie was a superhero, who would be his/her archnemesis? Stupid Person.
67) Is amberite a college student? Yep!
68) Which of your friends should swallowtayle go out with? I can't answer that on the grounds that she's my sister.
69) Would reichiere be a better ninja or pirate? Pirate.
70) What would sorcha007 think of eng1ne? Yay, a geek!
71) What is elance's favorite food? Strawberries? *arch look*
72) What rank would lasayla have in a giant robot army? Commander, chief snarker, or high-ranked minion.
73) What mental disorder does shadesong remind you of? sickhippo.
74) What is smmc's favorite game? WoW!
75) What would dustraven do differently in your shoes? Have very sore feet.
76) What animal does trystan_laryssa remind you of? Badger?
77) What would you do if you found out godai has a crush on you? "If I found out"? I seem to recall I flirted outrageously and had cybersex.
78) One quality you find attractive in raranax? He's both related and awesome.
79) Is cawingcrow related to you? Does the corvid thing count as related? Then yes.
80) Is sorcha007 friends with aratina? If they met, they would be.
81) Are hardartist and aratina going steady? Nope.
82) What languages does tygerr speak? English, probably some scraps of fan-created languages, likely snippets of Spanish, and both Geek and the Language of Luuuuuurve.
83) Does grifyn have a dog? shiba_inu is The Big Dog, so that would be a yes.
84) What is grifyn's biggest flaw? Probably paranoia. And not enough spare time.
85) Does raranax go to your school? Alas, no.
86) Does reichiere have a big secret? If so, her cats know it.
87) What is swallowtayle's favorite color? Not orange anymore.
88) Thoughts on popefelix? GEEK!!! (This is a good thing.)
89) Is ataniell93 a high school student? Long past that.
90) What word best describes tattooedchick? Emotional.
91) Is mamadeb 1337? Not quite that old yet. But she's more tech-savvy than many people in my parents' generation, without falling prey to abhorrent internet-specific abbreviations.
92) If chorus_of_chaos took over the world, who would suffer? The current mismanaged incestuous abusive healthcare system.
93) What song/movie would you recommend to bekithewitch? It would help if I knew her taste in music, but it's hard to go wrong with "White Reflection", because it makes me hyper.
94) Is silmarian introverted or extroverted? Introverted.
95) What is hardartist allergic to? Time-wasting e-mails like the ones he asks people not to send in his comic's site's FAQ.
96) If cawingcrow had a superpower, what would it be? Super Poly Organization!
97) Are popefelix and jdllama going out? I guess I don't have enough gay guys on the friendslist to warrant forcing opposite-sex pairings.
98) rubrchick's hair color? Dark. This has the added advantage of not showing up backstage.
99) How would popefelix kill elynne? Pun war.
100) Do metaphorge and rubrchick go to the same school? It would help if either of them were in school.

Work happened. Beauty, from the upcoming NaNoWriMo 2005, is getting very insistent in my head. She's not quite sure who she is yet, but her story needs to be told. She doesn't even have a name yet. I refuse to allow her to gank rosalynde's.

I was on the phones. I got surveys. I was not sitting next to Figment, alas. I was sitting next to one of the Dowager Empresses of the workplace, a stately woman whose hair usually matches her outfit. I am amazed that I am picking up a reputation for being uniformly sweet and polite and nice on the phones. (I think I mentioned that I got my semiannual review the other day? The Alternate Lead Monitor took me into the back room last Friday and told me that I rock hardcore, and to keep up the good work. At this point, I'm probably more critical of my own performance on the phones than the rest of the monitoring staff is.) The Dowager Empress of Colorful Hair wanted to know if I was really as nice in person as I sound on the phones.

Any batch of new hires means new people to get to know, to screen in and screen out. Part of the process is seeing who's going to wind up in The Crowd. From a recent batch of trainees seem to have emerged two students of the Art Institute in Animation (one graduated, one current) who have been spending breaks with Figment and therefore me as well. I was going to do the simple thing and call the guy (about my age-ish, graduated) the Animator, and the girl (eighteen or nineteen, current student) the Animatrix, but then I recalled a certain cult movie and assorted animated spinoffs, and decided that for confusion's sake, I should probably not bestow that nickname upon the girl. The guy may well wind up being the Animator, and the girl may wind up being the Acolyte.

The Acolyte's alarm bird clock has been acting possessed, so I wound up bringing in my old (still functional) emergency back-up alarm clock (the one that the Little Fayoumis infamously wondered "Is that [Darkside]'s alarm clock?" about) for her to have. It was brand new in 1994, and not all the buttons work anymore, and it eats tapes, but at least it isn't possessed. My tower shelf doesn't have a clock anymore, but at least this way it'll be in use.

Benadryl sends me loopier than a very loopy thing, but at least it helps put a dent in the allergies. And there are bad, bad, bad allergies going around. Rain in the Arizona early spring makes the Arizona late spring unbreathable.

In other news, work is having overtime, hiring a bunch of n00bs, and having 10 hour shifts on Saturdays. (easalle -- I'm working late on the 30th, so I won't be able to make it. Argh.) This will prove to be interesting. dustraven and trystan_laryssa's roommate and GM for the superheroes game is working there now. Insanity shall commence, and shall run screaming in the other direction, because work is going to be post-sane, or knurd, or something like that. There will be far too much caffeine, far too little coherent thought, and far too many supervisors pulling a twelve-hour shift or longer than that.

...Heck, after pulling a few supervisor shifts on the 10 hour phone goon shifts (which translates to a 12+ shift for supervisory staff) I should be able to pull a double-shift Sunday as a phone goon (13 hours, 1/2 hour of which is between shifts) no problem.