Awake from hibernation.

It's been forever since I made a blog post. I need to change that; and have done so.

It's been a hectic time in general since my last posts. A fair amount has changed; I'm now happily engaged, with the wedding set for May 28th, 2011. I'm a supervisor at the call center for Express Scripts - they're one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the United States, and while the job is stressful, I love the work I do and the people I work with. Finally got my own apartment in August, and have been living alone for the first time ever, basically. I've been pretty active in the URPG; if you're part of it, my SN should be fairly obvious.

Now, for the interesting part to my few followers:

I've still been moderately active in Warhammer painting. I think I got a little burned out with the TOEMP, because it challenged me to do a lot more than I normally do, in a shorter period of time; and at that time, I was juggling a lot of stuff that has subsided. I've got another half squad of Dark Angels completely painted, have bought a land raider and am painting it, same with a drop pod (for the Dreadnought; he really has mobility issues if deployed with the rest of the army, so a drop pod will let me put him where he needs to be).

Still have my 2 squads of Deathwing, one kitted out with storm bolters and power fists, and the other with lightning claws/ thunder hammers and storm shields. The former will be a great squad to teleport in to important spots, while the latter works great assaulting out of the Land Raider Crusaider that I've basically got assembled. Bought a set of the Ravenwing bikers, and have assembled one - I'm experimenting with doing the painting first, then the assembly, so that I don't have to try and reach the brush into the tiny nooks and crannies, which worked amazingly well; unfortunately, it was also very time-consuming, and now I don't want to have to do the same for the other 5.

Still am enjoying the painting that I do with metallics, and the chances I've had to use washes; they really help bring the models to life with the small details they create. I wish I'd tried them sooner, because what I know now about painting would have really helped me get started with the hobby a lot better. (I'd also not have 1500 points of DA waiting for painting, a massive pile that's just frightening.) But I suppose that everyone has to start somewhere.

Anyway, I suppose that's enough life details for now. Thanks for still following me, those who did - I promise I'll post pictures of the models soon so you can see for yourselves what I've been doing.

Five about Holiness - Thursday

Can you choose to love someone today who is hard to love?

Yes- I will choose to love my callers, and do everything in my power to help them- even if they are not charitable themselves. They are, after all, my neighbors for a short time- and we didn't get award-winning customer service by being jerks.

Spectacular.

Riding to work today, I get almost to the last stretch- coming up on University and Priest, only another mile or so to get to work. I hear a weird metal crunch noise from my bike, and the whole thing starts making a grinding noise as it rapidly decelerates. I hop off, inspecting the chain and pedals- both still move freely, and everything seems fine. Figure maybe a gear just got stuck but is fine now, hop back on, same deal- look back, the back axle is at a funny angle to the bike frame. Well, I figure, this has happened before, the back axle broke. Hop off, start walking it the rest of the way- about 10 minutes until my shift starts, and it's about a 15 minute walk.

Waiting at a red light, I look closer, and realize that the frame itself that held the wheel snapped. The part that braced the wheel was still intact, on the right side, but is no longer attached to the rest of the frame- broke in 2 places. So I walked here, was like 7 minutes late, and sat down at my desk. I'm stuck on foot now, for a while, or taking the bus places.

Just the sort of thing that I don't need right now, with being $150 in the hole from overdrafts, and getting my hours cut to 24 a week. I won't even get my 'congrats on your raise' party as a consolation. :(

But things will get better, they always do. Or else we'll get zombies, and I'll get to be all heroic and smart and stuff.

So, onto the daily bit.

"Try this for just a minute or two. Just sit quietly and think about God. Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly. Can you do that for one minute? Just...sit."

I tried something like this on the way to work- when I was walking, imagined he was next to me, walking as well, and it lifted my spirits- I was still feeling pretty low. forgot how messy breakups can be, even if the friendship is maintained.