Sheep Guarding Llama

Happy Halloween!

I have a feeling that some of my back and neck pain is from being at my desk so much the past three weeks (this morning marks my three week point of being home continuously!)  So I found a large book and put it under my non-adjustable monitor to see if that would help by having me look more forward facing and less downward.  My desk was set up more for casual use than for regular use.  Unfortunately I really needed my new desktop prior to this long stretch at home but now that I am home there isn’t time to get it and make use of it, and we don’t want to spend that much money unnecessarily and we have no idea if I am home for a long time yet or just another day or two.  So, I am stuck with what I have.

Around five or six this evening I got the first of my trick or treaters.  I quickly discovered that the candy that Dominica had bought was nowhere to be found.  I searched all over and could not find it.  I had to turn away the first people that came to me door because I had nothing for them.  I knew that she had picked up candy for me to give out because I told her that I had to have something (she wanted me to give out regular food!!)  I had not turned the lights on yet so they could only be so upset, I wasn’t advertising that I had anything.

So I called Dominica and she explained that the candy was hidden in the cupboard under the coffee maker back behind the normal stuff in there.  Um, how was I ever supposed to find that?  Often these things are just “Scott doesn’t look for things like normal people.”  I understand that I am not good at finding things.  But this was a bit crazy.  In a cupboard where that stuff doesn’t go, in front of which is stacked boxes so I wouldn’t even know that that had been opened recently, back behind the things that normally go in there so even if I looked in there I would not find it…. wow.

After that point, I got a lot of trick or treaters.  More than I have ever gotten, anywhere, before.  Including the two that I had to turn away, I got 82 total before I turned off the lights and acted like I wasn’t home because it was dark, late and we were out of candy.  That is a lot of kids.

Liesl and Luciana had a great time dressed up as princesses and they collected a lot of candy.  They always have a great time going around in Houston.  Luciana fell asleep before they were done, she just couldn’t take anymore.  Liesl could not walk by the end and Dominica had to carry her on her back for the last mile.  At least Dominica got some good exercise out of the whole thing.  At least I got to see some pictures of them trick or treating.  Madeline went as a weeping angel, which is awesome.  I am very sad to not get to be out with my girls tonight 🙁

I had to set up a new community tonight for Reel Fishing.  If you are into fishing, which I am not, check it out.  Once I was done with that I played maybe half an hour of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2.  But the game crashed after not too long and I wasn’t feeling much like going back and doing it again.  I had saved not too far from where it crashed.  But I did not have a lot of energy.  So I called it a night.

I went to bed quite early, for me, tonight.  Decided that I was just not going to be productive and felt like getting some rest.  So I did.  It’s nice having no schedule.

My shoulder was much better this morning.  I had made a point of sleeping on it to immobilize it last night and that seems to have done the trick.  Thank goodness.  I got up and showered quickly and immediately ran down to Pastel’s because Art and Danielle had gotten into town an hour early and were having breakfast.  We didn’t have much time as Danielle needed to catch the morning train into the city.

Art and I hung out for a while and did some work for a few hours too.  Danielle’s day ended up being much shorter than anticipated and she was back in Peekskill before two in the afternoon.  So we got her at the train station and then went to the Westchester Diner for a late lunch.

We spent maybe another half an hour at the house but that was all.  They wanted to get onto the road back home before rush hour traffic would start.  We got the extra desk loaded up in their minivan. Dominica will be happy to discover that we remembered that on this trip.  We tend to forget those things pretty often.  One large item from our house that does not have to move again.  At least not when we move.

So they were gone by four.

When I woke up this morning my shoulder was in an insane level of pain.  I could not find any position that wasn’t horrible.  I think that I might have had a pinched nerve.  It made for a very rough day.  I could barely move all day although after I got out of bed it started to improve pretty quickly.  I took ibuprofen throughout the day and that seemed to help too.

One of my projects today was helping with a new online video game community Gamrhaus (pronounced Gamer House.)

I really had a quiet day today.  I did not go anywhere and pretty much did not move.  Tomorrow Art and Danielle are coming down in the morning so that Art can hang out at the house and Danielle can go into Manhattan to work for the day.  So I will get to see real people for a change!

I did get a call today with the latest news on my situation.  Unfortunately it isn’t so much news as just an update.  No real news expected until around Monday.  So just hang tight for a few days.  No one needs to ask me about status because the status is just that I am waiting until Tuesday and hopefully will know something around that time.

Here is to hoping that my shoulder is okay tomorrow.  If it is as bad tomorrow as it is today I am going to need to go see a doctor.  I cannot figure out what is wrong with it.

Had to sleep in a little this morning since I was up quite late last night.  This morning, when I got up, I discovered an incredible pain in my left shoulder blade.  Apparently the exercising that I was doing while playing the video game was way more than I was used to and I have some amazing muscle pain today.  I was not expecting this at all.  It was so bad that I spent the entire day having massive muscle spasms all over and can barely move my head.  I mostly feel fine, it is just a lot of muscle pain.  Not fun, but whatever.  Pain that isn’t damage doesn’t really bother me.

I reached out to the office this morning to get the news, whatever it might be, that I missed yesterday because the call did not come in.  I really dislike living here sometimes.  The complete lack of communications services is really rough.  So I waited all day to hear back but did not get a call back today. Hold tight, I’m sure I’ll get a call in the morning.  I’m guessing that it is nothing too urgent if I went all day without a call back.

This evening I decided that  I needed get out and see people.  So around eight I jumped in the shower, got dressed and at nine I left the house and walked downtown to the Quietman Pub which is not a bad walk at all.  Of course it is all downhill on the way there.  It is the walk home that is rough.  I listened to the latest Prairie Home Companion as I walked and then some Rick Steves.  Now that I am not commuting to the office I do not have the time to listen to my podcasts and books like I did before.  So that was nice.

The evening was gorgeous.  Fifty seven degrees and calm.  A great night for a walk.  Unfortunately before leaving the driveway I dripped in the darkness and wrenched by back.  With the pain from earlier now it was really bad suddenly.  I was having spasms so bad while I walked that my body would twist over and over again.  It felt like I was holding a spinning bicycle wheel, it was that bad.

I got the pub and ordered an awesome field greens salad, turnip soup and some avocados.  It was a nice dinner.  I hung out with some locals and then the Hudson Room crew came in when they closed and LA of LA Soul came in and he and I hung out until about one thirty.  He was actually nice enough to give me a lift home so that I would not have to walk!  That was awesome.  So I was home quite quickly.  It was a really nice evening, although I was in pain the entire time.

Since I put in such an effort to work through KOTOR (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) yesterday I felt that I had a good chance of completing it today.   I decided that today was a holiday and that that was what I was going to do.

I woke up this morning with some serious shoulder pain.  My idea of exercising while playing KOTOR seems to have backfired.  Although obviously it is doing some good.  My back left shoulder blade is in terrible pain and for about ten hours I had regular spasms from it.

I played KOTOR pretty much the entire day.  Everything was quite around the house. No one needed me.  Pretty much no emails or anything today.  It was pretty much like a quiet weekend day with me hiding and playing KOTOR… except it is Monday.

I have now been home for over two straight weeks.  That is so weird.  I have lost any sense of time passing that I used to have.  It is a really good thing that I am blogging regularly now or I would have no way to determine when one day led to another.  Blogging is great for giving you a more concrete sense of time.

I ended up having to play solidly until three in the morning, but I did it.  I finally completed KOTOR.  That is a monumental game, to be sure.  The environment is not that large but the game really takes a long time.  It was great, though, I really loved it.  A classic and the plot twists towards the end are very good.  The game really does keep you on your toes.  But it was not too hard.  While I died sometimes and had to go back, I did not get stuck in situations where I felt that I just could not move forward and was mad at the game for a lack of balance.  It was exceptionally well balanced and fun to play the whole way through.  It was also nice to have an RPG that really did not have any scary parts.  I hate that every RPG feels like they have to throw that kind of stuff in for no reason.  I think that a lot of people would be happy to skip the gore and scary stuff.  The games tell better stories, most of the time, without all of that.

I am very glad that I put in the time to complete that game.  I started playing KOTOR while we still lived in Texas and made it most of the way through it and I did not get around to picking it back up until yesterday.  Now it is done and I am free to move on to something else.  I highly recommend KOTOR.  I am trying to talk Dominica into playing it.  I think that she would really enjoy it.

It turns out that I got called by work today to discuss the current situation and while the call happened in the middle of the afternoon the voicemail didn’t come through until 10PM.  Very frustrating.  I can only imagine that it is because of the continuous Internet problems that we have been having here.  Since the mobile phones only work over the Internet in the house, if the Internet is not solid a call or a voicemail might not come through.  So I will have to call them back in the morning.  That sucks since basically all I am doing is sitting around waiting for them to call, and I missed it when it finally happened.  At least it was a nice day regardless of that.

Less than two weeks to go until the family is back.  Art and Danielle are coming down on Thursday.  I am not sure completely what the plan is but they will be here all day.  Danielle is going into the city, I think that Art and I are staying at the house.