Sun Nov 6 - I was pleased to wake up on time and not be the slightest bit rushed out the door, Sunday morning. I got to town with extra time to hang out and socialize before church started. We were a really small contingent this week, only about 6 or 7 of us total, but still church is an oasis in my life, and I've missed my family there for quite some time now. Sometimes going to church is *way* more about the people, the community, than about the actual worship or message.

Afterwards, three of us went over to Barnes & Noble to pick up copies of a book we'll be studying/reading together during Advent. And as luck would have it, the hardbound copy was on sale over on the Bargain/Clearance racks. The original price was $25 and it was on sale for $5, and there were three copies left: Perfect for the three of us to purchase! The book is "Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths" by Bruce Feiler and looks like a facinating read.

After a lovely lunch over sandwiches and salads with Craig and Donna, and Greg when he was able to join us after his errands, it was time to head over to the "Costumed Fighter Practice" in the park. A magazine photographer has recently gotten interested in the local fighters'/warband household in my shire, and came out to the park for an extra photography session this afternoon. So the rest of us took the time to be in full costume, to help make the afternoon just that much nicer for everyone. I had only intended to be "local color" but I ended up getting my practice sword out of the car and working on forms and practices too.

After our practice in the park, several folks went for an early supper at a local deli, and I just stayed long enough to enjoy a soda and then head over to choir practice. We were able to sketch out the majority of what needs to go on our promotional fliers, and then we had a wonderful rehearsal with five voices this week, including our Bass (who's really a Baritone, but he's doing his best). Unfortunately I need to memorize the Tenor parts most of the time, but overall I really like the sound we're putting together. Plus, I love the people, so that has a lot to do with it.

On the way home, I gave Ben & Erika a ring and they were home and happy to have me over for a bit. The role-playing game group is meeting for the first time on Friday evening, so Ben had offered to help me finalize the character I'm bringing to the game. The three of us stayed up fairly late, designing the character and being very silly. This is really going to be quite fun, since I've never gotten to play this kind of game from the beginning ever before. [And for those of you who *are* familiar with gaming: It's based on Firefly/Serenity, and I'm getting to play a Medic who's also a Computer Hacker—think Kaylee crossed with Shephard Book and Simon Tam: A bookish linguist who naturally can hack computers but went to school for medicine. Crossed with my actual sunny personality. Hee hee.]

Sadly I did *not* watch the clock carefully so I ended up getting home WAY too late, but I'm really looking forward to Friday evening.

Mon Nov 7 - With only four hours sleep (grumble) it was really rough to get up this morning, but I did get into the office a little after 6 am. The book copying/printing task took WAY too long, but fortunately the only registered student was in her new-hire orientation for the first hour, so we were ready when she got there. The class itself is going to go very well, simply because the nature of who's in the room, not because the book is anywhere close to what I wanted it to be like. Oh well. *heavy sigh*

Now, after work, I'm trying to wrap up some personal emails and tasks before heading home. The dyestuffs folks are working on a guild and so Mariam and I have launched a start-up website for everyone at http://www.bluenailsguild.org/. So yes, there is yet another website design in my projects pile, but with other folks working on content, again it should be pretty simple to put together. One of these days I really ought to get some formal web design training, just to round out my knowledge.

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Recently Listened to: Gravity Willing Requia
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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Old college friends that I can remember fondly, like Fig. It's nice to look back on my memories and realize that sometimes, I really did get it right. Hmm. I should look him up again and see how he and his wife are doing lately.