Well, I'm still tired but I've been having some fun. Got home from work, had lunch picked up the house a bit and then fell into an exhausted drooling coma on the couch. I woke up when mel was home and the storm started to hit. We managed to get out and get shopping done. With me on travel so much of late the cupboards were making the battle of pantry kung fu harder to win so we got staples and the like. Once home, mel finished cleaning up the kitchen and I got dinner going.

Now, I luv Patak's spice marinades and blends. I'd bought some tandoori rub/mariande and wanted to do a nice indian dish. Got to cooking and once the spices hit the veggies the meal turned...well, fuchsia. Yes, dinner was bright fuchsia pink. But it was tasty. Game night went well, though we got off kilter quite a bit. We had fun and that was the main thing. Got to bed after making a potluck item for the luncheon (cous cous salad again). Awoke at 230 to hear the pounding rain and that got both of us out of bed to hit the bathroom. I slept well but I was still pretty stuffed up when we got up for reals at 730. Got a shower and felt better but I was still tired. I think this is gonna take a while to shake.

The drive to mons was nice, the mountains look very lush with the rains and my iphone was melancholy. Got to site with plenty of time and hung out for a bit. The tourney had 16 fighters and I made it 2 rounds. First round was to Sir Justin with Great Sword. Not my best weapon and I was hesitant...which in this style of tourney, well, any tourney isn't the best. Next round was single mace which I seem to be much more comfortable with than even my sword and shield. It was against mathew de lacy and I didn't do badly. I thought one of the shots skipped and got off of my helm and they called me victor, got off of the field and went back on when ivan said it had landed squarely on my head. Mace's hit weird and Matt wasn't sure either so we refought, this time with matt getting me but I took his right leg out from under him very well...I'm sure there will be a bruise. I was out and stayed in armor for a while to await pickups...but as the tourney went on I got home tired and just weary. So, I got out of gear and cooled down and attempted to stay awake. I did get some knitting done and that made me happy. I also got to use my own gauntlets which I ahd spent most of game night and part of the drive stitching in gloves. They are comfy.

Got home after a while and I took a good nap. Mel worked on shoes and I've since just been watching tv...nothing else. No knitting even...just watching tv. I think it will be an early night. I'm still very tired. Will post pictures tomorrow from the tourney.

So, yesterday's comic I posted couldn't be more apropos, more on that later. Got off of work yesterday after a crisis was kind of averted. I managed to get the hardware to work but it will require my ladies to re-tap all of the hole in a connector since our vendor seems to either have 1)a worn tap or 2)tapped it from the wrong side making our screws bind up. I'll call them today and discuss with them. But there is a work around, though not to pretty.

I headed out and got my sewing machines picked up at Cathy's and then I headed off to bookmans and picked up Plum Lucky, and 2 JD Robb books I hadn't yet read (the 2 before the book I bought at costco yesterday) and then I trundled off to Joann's to pick out the yarn I needed for my first afghan. Now, you'd think this would be easy...yeah, not so much. I wanted something that represented me and since I'm making it for me I wanted something pretty, and cozy and comfy and snuggly. scribe_ari and I discussed wooleze and that is what I went with but the color choices were hard.
I finally got the following: ( yarn pictures )

Its gonna be pretty...not what mel was thinking for colors I would pick but honestly...the color selection wasn't as broad as I wanted but I'm coping. Its gonna be nice. Though I'm gonna do a little bag first since that will be more transportable but still good and a bit easier but eh. Got home and mel was awesome and had dinner ready. I ate and then worked on my plarn bag. I'm a bit confused about when I need to start decreasing the stitches to start making the bag go "up"...anybody who does circular crochet please ( read here )

Got ready for the hall and had an interesting time dealing with bugs and thinking to much. Not sure how I stop that...its always been my problem and I never know what to do when someone tells me that. My hands and knee and back were all screaming at me which was not helping. My muscle memory doesn't seem to work like everyone else and none of the movements are linked to what they should be...and I don't remember the nomenclature and I get lost pretty easily. I need more drills and outside practice to get through this but I'm very slow at learning. I think the allergy head is not helping. Ended the night with my contact being slidey around my eyeball and then by the time we got home both of my eyes were starting to swell shut. I took some benedryl and put cold packs on my eyes and I think I fell asleep that way cause mel woke me up to tell me to go to sleep. So I rolled over, took the packs off of my eyes and was out some more.

Pretty bleary-eyed this morning. Things are just not happy in the eyeballs...but the swelling is down, especially after I got the gunk out of them. Which I had an ice pack now though. My morning meetings keep expanding and that is annoying...and I have a meeting this afternoon, after I leave that I have to stay for. Sighs. I'll be getting to grandma's late but I will also be asking the above crochet question there too.

I teach tomorrow and will need to get things packed up before I go to bed tonight. Course checking the schedule..I teach both classes tomorrow..oops..rats, will need to pack everything. Course if I'm feeling like I am now, I'm not going to drive by myself up on sunday...course looking at the class list...I think I will stay home. There is nothing that I want to take that I can't ask some one for their handout later..which will be nice. I want a sunday at home with my hubby. Course that means my basket o' doom will be very heavy tomorrow eh. Got a lot to remember too. Course since I don't teach until 11am it might be nice to get there latish. We shall see.

So, time to stop babbling and get on with the engineering. Bleah. I think everyone I'm trying to get a hold of is gone. That sucks.

Well, work was a lot of work. A lot of brain drain and then I got home and worked on research until it was time to go to VH. I had a hard time getting things ready for the hall...couldn't find this, forgot where I put that but we made it on time and then I kept putting things on in the wrong order the normal bubbling me.

Drills were good and it emphaises to me that I need to get a new sword...I need to recut my handles...the current stick isn't great...I'm gripping too hard which causes things to be too tight in areas they shouldn't etc. So, gotta go through the rattan stash and make a new stick. The drills were good as well, I'm starting to get the muscle memory and getting to know when I'm doing things wrong and I know how to fix them.

The next set of drills was fun (well, it started out that way). It starts with a set 3 shot combo and progresses through the line to 4, 5 and then 6. I made it to 5. I had finally started to relax, was breathing good, trying to be fluid and I got to the 5th shot which was an off body. Alessandro and I had been working on my angles to throw that shot for the first time in slow work so I thought I knew what to do. And I did, with my body and my arms but I didn't set my feet correctly and when I went to throw the off body I felt my knee pop...well, actually I thought justin had hit me in the knee and I forgot to put my knees on and then I was on the ground not in a happy place. Got me settled off the sidelines after a bit and justin figuring out that things had just popped due to the angle and I was okay but I'd be sore. I'm thinking I was very tight in the legs from kung fu and then I had relaxed and just did something wrong and the body wasn't happy about that.

This has blown many of my plans for the weekend out...I was gonna ride the next 3 days and see a movie but I'm gonna do research and sleep I think. I'm able to walk but slowly and I can't put too much weight on it but I think that will get better as long I keep stretching it out today. I'm gonna call glenn and see what he says too so all should be good.

Well, I think a nap is in order. Very tired.

What sucked though is that things were clicking into place finally and then I go and hurt myself. Oh, well, I won't forget how to make it better.

Well, work was somewhat satisfying. I got a bonus for my good works in the tough times of supporting way to much hardware and my efforts to get our rework down. So that made me feel good. It was unexpected and well a monetary chookie does lift the spirits a bit. Got home and mel had dinner almost done (yay hubby!) and we had dinner and then a good power nap before VH. Fighting was good and it was a slow work night. Still didn't feel "on" my game but I know what I need to work on its just getting my body to stop doing things its done for 9 years is hard.

Got home and the girls were whiny but they coped and it was soon bedtime. I finished the book I've been reading and now will go back and read the first book in the series...still not sure if I like it or not but the premise is interesting.

I'm in work today to work a split shift to get hours back from missing monday so I can conserve my meager amount of PTO. All good though since I have many things that require complete silence and thinking time like my end of the year summary of accomplishments and a few change papers that are a bit sticky. I've got the follow up with my GP today about the ears and we shall see what he says and I have to schedule my followup with the ENT and get scrips filled today to.

Thanks to reynier I have good Southern Crusades Blend Coffee this am. Very good for sipping and working I might add.