RL Achievements and ToW

[Fjorab_Teke]

Achievement-despite aggravation:
On Friday bright and early in the morning, my husband and i managed to get out of the house with everything (important) we needed for the trip to visit my hometown for two weeks, just in time to catch the flight. The flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta was, however, delayed for 4 hours. I felt sorry for everyone, even the noisy tired kids, crammed in that airplane for almost 9 hours...and the stewardesses, pilot, and cleaning crew who had to deal with it and the aftermath. We got to Atlanta at 1am, instead of the itinerary time of arriving at my home-area airport at midnight. Ugh, i don't like sleeping on the floor at Atlanta. It happened to enough people that there weren't many/any chairs or even much floor space to be had. But we survived it and got lucky on standby for the first flight home in the morning.

But now we're safely in the house where i grew up. We have a full two weeks ahead of us visiting friends and family. Yay for home-cooked goodies, hugable horses, Toyota Supras, Magic: the Gathering with friends we'd missed, and going to see Inception.

[Joey]

Awesome achievement of awesomeness: Last Friday, after going to both Distant Worlds concerts in San Francisco, which were awesome enough on their own, I got to meet Nobuo Uematsu! He's really awesome, and I've been feeling high on life ever since. This is totally one of the most awesome things to ever happen to me. I even got a picture!

Spoiler: open/close

Nobuo Uematsu is on the right, and the other two are Arnei Roth, the conductor for the concert, and Susan Calloway , the singer. They're also both awesome. And I'm in the back, looking like a dork. But I don't care! I also got a signed poster, CD, and ticket stub. I'm going to have to frame them.

[Jessibean]

This isn't really an achievement or a woe, but more like a funny anecdote that doesn't require its own thread.

This morning, shortly before our alarms went off, we woke up to the sound of Wyn being annoying - digging in the corner of the room at a pile of books and bags and what not. Lindsey got up to push him away, and when she came back up, she had a squirming little baby bunny in her hand!

It was probably a few months old, definitely old enough to survive on its own. Our theory is last night, we had our door propped open while we carried in a giant 40-breeder reptile tank holding my friend's bearded dragon that we're... lizard-sitting. That thing was heavy, and it's quite a walk from our car to the house, giving that poor bunny plenty of time to run inside. We took turns holding it for a few minutes, and I let it outside, where it sat frozen for a second, then quickly hopped away. Too cute!

[Huggles]

I have trypophobia! I suppose it's achievement for finally finding a name for it, but a woe for having it. It's bascially a fear of clustered holes that are sometimes asymmetric, and sometimes have things in them. Yeah.... My phobia flavor is almost strictly related to those holes occurring in flesh or organic matter. Honeycombs and lotus pods don't bother me, but surinam toads do as well as the abundance of photo-shopped images of holes in people's skin. I've always had it, but was never really able to describe it to anyone very well. I think one of the most memorable instances for me was reading a magazine and seeing an article for an anti-fungal foot cream. The ad consisted of a full color page featuring a foot with most of the big toenail missing, replaced by an exaggerated artist's rendering of the fungus. It wasn't even my magazine and I had to instantly rip the page out, tear it into pieces, crumple it up and toss it in the trash. It makes my whole body tense and itchy, my heart feels like it's pumping a million beats per minute, and the image sort rolls around in my head for days.

Sharing is fun!

[Xelio]

Never heard of that phobia before, but learning new words is good for a person, right? I suppose that's one of those nasty spring-loaded-cat style phobias; never know where and where it's going to pop up.

I suppose I'd call this an achievement. I started student teaching today. English IV, Composition and an accelerated college credit course. Senior English was a subject I liked when I was a student, so at least it's a subject that catches my interest. Some of the novels I'm fond of and some not as fond, but it'll be an adventure. I think making it to this point of my college career is an achievement. If I can make it to December, and pass, then I can have a massive achievement post for graduating.

[Jazzy]

I've never heard of it before either, but good on you for being able to put a name to your phobia! I've had a really frustrating flareup in the last few weeks of my own quasi-phobia of touching anything wet, getting wet, etc. Once I've got my hands in water, or am standing under the shower, I'm fine, but a few drops of water or touching a damp towel really make me squirm. I've never liked damp stuff but it's getting slightly ridiculous.

[AngharadTy]

I've heard of that phobia because I have a pretty mild version of it myself. Not much makes me shudder. Just things happening to eyes (there are some scenes I can't watch, e.g., something in Blade Runner), and holes in places that shouldn't have holes, especially people.

When I was very little, SimAnt was one of my favorite games. One time, I was digging really deeply in my own nest. Just making tunnels that would never even get used, for the fun of it, heh. One of the spots I dug in revealed a perfectly round, perfectly black hole. Turns out it was a secret added so that you could sneak into the red ants' nest, but man, it stopped me in my tracks and gave me the worst shivery feeling I'd ever had. I'm pretty sure you couldn't even cover them up again with the cheating tool. I learned never to dig too deeply, heh.

[Foghawk]

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Horseback riding was fun, but I was savaged by a rampaging sheep.

[AngharadTy]

At least you weren't ravaged by a scavenging sheep?

[Fjorab_Teke]

YAY! I've been having a great time driving cross-country, seeing friends and family and places i've never been before.

BOO, i didn't get to meet up with Jessi and FMD, even though i passed through their town. Next time....

More BOO, my husband got in a car wreck. He's OK, thankfully! The car, however, is not. Now we're waiting on what insurance and such says about all of it.

[invaderhorizongreen]

BIG TIME REAL WOE i had a co worker and best buddy pass away last night in his sleep. none of us were expecting it at all and at the store the management pulled me aside and told me. i am gonna miss them big time we were very good friends for 7 years, it sucks *cry*

[Marah]

So sorry to hear that invaderhorizon. :Sends you a cyberspace hug:

[Jessibean]

Lindsey and I fostered a litter of rats a month ago, tiny little things with their eyes still closed. Out of the six, two made it and we considered ourselves very lucky (and proud!) because honestly, with baby rats the odds are really stacked against you and these ones were tiny and weak and underfed...

And we decided to keep the two that made it, but now one of them, Fen, is very sick with a neurological disorder of some sorts - tumor, virus, i don't really know, but he isn't going to be with us much longer. He's just six weeks old.

I feel like my heart is breaking and I don't know what to do.

[Jessibean]

Double posting with Ty's blessing because some of you on here have been talking to me on Subeta etc and would like to know. Fen passed away in his sleep I think, sometime this afternoon, curled up in his oatmeal container that had become his hide-away.

[Kamil]

I'm so sorry, invader. It is so hard to lose a dear friend, and then having it come out of the blue like that really just takes your breath away. It really puts everything else into perspective as well, and makes you realize what loss really is.

Again, my condolences.