Day 17: "I cast Magic Missile at the darkness!"

sorceror has asked me to talk about roleplaying games!

It doesn't feel like that long, but I realised recently that I've been roleplaying for going on fifteen years now. I discovered roleplaying in university, pretty much by accident, and it changed my life.

( I waste it with my crossbow! )

Day 18: "Leaving on a jet plane..."

curtana asked me to talk about the places I would like to visit, or my dream travel destination.

This is going to be difficult, because I want to go to ALL THE PLACES. No, seriously, if money was no object, I would spend a lot of time travelling.

( Don't know when I'll be back again... )

Day 20: The vehicle of novelists and poets

Wait! Before you tell me that I skipped a day, I did it on purpose! The reason for this is that I'm at work (it's a very slow night), and the post for Day 19 will likely require pictures that are on my own computer. So I'm cheating and writing today's entry first.

tx_cronopio wants to know my thoughts on bicycles, which can be summed up thusly: Bicycles are awesome!

Here are the reasons bicyles are awesome:

1- They are fun to ride. It's one of the basic skills you learn as a kid, and there is nothing more fun when you're little than racing around with your friends on your bike. Bicycles are the best way to get around when you're little, in my opinion.

2- They are ecologically friendly. They don't require gas to operate, and thus are one of the greener forms of transport out there, with the advantage of being faster than going anywhere on foot.

3- You can attach trailers to them. If you need to transport groceries or lighter items or a kid, just hook up a trailer to your bike!

4- They are (relatively) inexpensive. After your initial outlay of funds, which can admittedly be expensive depending on what sort of bike you want, a bike will basically cost you nothing to use. Once a year I get a professional to tune up my bike for about $40, but experienced bikers know how to do this themselves. Every so often you might have to spring for new tires, but compared to the monthly cost of owning/leasing and operating a car, the cost is negligible.

In short, bicycles. Inexpensive, versatile, useful in a variety of ways, and also fun!

I have not biked much (or at all) since I moved to my house, but now that I'm moving I plan to dust it off and use it to do my grocery shopping at least during the months when the ground isn't covered in snow. I'll have to get it properly detailed and the tires replaced, but I'm excited at the prospect now. :)


On that note, I need to get back to work. It's been quiet thus far, but it could pick up at any second. Also, I seem to have tweaked my neck in my sleep, and it's been getting progressively worse all night. Time for some ibuprofen, methinks.

In lieu of a themed post, a real life update

I didn't have time for the pet post today, so you'll have to settle for a Real Life Stuff kind of post for now.

Tonight is my last shift here in Moncton. It's been a very exciting thirteen days, but I'm looking forward to getting home. They actually are asking for some people to stay on until July 4th, but even if I wasn't done my own unit needs me back. Besides, I have renovations to organise and the dog to take to the vet, and plenty of things that simply aren't getting done while I'm not there.

Sometimes yesterday morning I must have slept funny, because I have hurt my neck in a pretty serious way. It's not as bad as in 2009 when I had to be medicated to the gills to even be functional (I couldn't lie down or do anything other than keep my back ramrod straight because even tensing my neck muscles ever so slightly was excruciating), but it's pretty painful nonetheless. I couldn't find a position to sleep in that didn't pull on muscles in a bad way.

Our visit to the Hopewell Rocks was cancelled due to my coworkers being wet blankets who didn't want to get up three hours early to drive out there and back. Boo. Then again, seeing how much pain I'm in, perhaps it's just as well. I am sad I won't get to see them, though. I guess I'll just have to come back to New Brunswick some other time and see them then!

The shift supervisor of the operators who were on duty the night of the shooting took us out tonight for a tour of Moncton and then for a lobster dinner! It was delicious, but very rushed because the tour took longer than expected. I had to take half of my lobster to go. Still, it means that I have a lobster snack waitin for me later tonight!

Friday night is always busy around here, so it's actually taken me about three hours to write this entry so far. Compared to the quiet nights we had earlier this week, we've had a fair bit of action tonight. Nothing too terrible, no lives truly in danger (which is good!), but someone lit his food on fire (accidentally, this was not meant to be a flambé) in a big apartment building, so that kept us busy for a while.

Okay, make that four hours to write this entry. Eesh. Lots of stuff happening. Lots of custody disputes tonight, and one little kid. "My mom and her boyfriend are fighting and yelling and throwing stuff at each other." Super calm, too. You could tell it wasn't the kid's first time calling. :(

The regular operators are going to start coming back gradually as of tomorrow, so things should slowly get back to normal here. I think everyone is going to heave a collective sigh of relief as life goes on in the wake of the tragedy.

*checks clock* *sighs* Still not time for more Robaxacet. It's the only thing keeping me functional tonight. That and the Aleve I took around 16:00. I accidentally took two of those at the time, not realising I'm only allowed two a day (one every two hours), so I guess I'm stuck for the moment.

So that's the news for now. In 24 hours I'll be on a plane heading for Ottawa, and from there I'll be driving home in the morning. Good times. I'm going to miss all the people I met here, but it'll be good to get back.