2001-01-12 - 16:54:51
Moving, gaming, and $$ worrying (again)

The answer to yesterday's $32,000 question: A. Leotard. Props to anyone who got that; I would have needed to use a lifeline! *grin*

Why is it that I always get nervous before doing anything of significance? The idea of moving doesn't make me uneasy, and I've been fine taking boxes over to the new apartment the last few days, but the finality of not living in N&J's house anymore, and actually having to pay $400/mo or so for rent & utilties, has my mouth going dry and my stomach fluttering at odd moments. Silly, silly Shell. Everything will be OK.

Of course, I suppose that doesn't say much about the state of my nerves, because I also get nervous going up against one of the Act-end bosses in Diablo II ... especially Duriel. He was easy to kill in Normal, but my Amazon was stuck there in Nightmare level for weeks. Then, I read somewhere online (can't find the page again now) that with a javelin-class weapon, a good shield, and a point or two in Jab, he wasn't all that bad.

So I went on down last night, cast a town portal and a Valkyrie, and entered Duriel's lair. As long as I kept recasting the Valkyrie when she died, he focused on attacking her ... and the Jab skill is NOT slowed down by his cold aura, while a bow attack would be. I was able to polish him off fairly quickly, using only one or two potions. But let me tell you, my heart was racing the whole time! *laughing*

Sometime today, my parents are going to arrive and spirit my furniture away. Sometime soon, meaning that I won't be working a full day. *grin* They should be taking my brother's second load of furniture over right now. His roommates are going to be astonished when they get home from work tonight ... he's told them he's moving, but not when his last day is, and they probably don't know he's already moved ALL his small stuff over in boxes, since he left everything in the main room as it was, more or less. Almost all of the furniture and network equipment in that room is his, so things will be pretty sparse this evening!

I'll be going to my first SCA meeting next week ... and all of a sudden, I find myself tempted by all kinds of medieval-themed books and items on eBay. *slapping wrist* Like I need any more incentive to spend money there. I just bid on a couple of Jane Austen books yesterday, and last week I bought a VHS copy of the 1930's "Scarlet Pimpernel" ... Not quite as good as the 1982 Jane Seymour version, but that one goes for $40.00 or so online easily, while the older one cost me only $1.00.

I feel like quoting Mrs. Bennet right now: "What is to become of us all?" Where will I go after I leave employment at Fox? Unless I marry within the next year or so, I'll have to, in order to afford living costs. $20,000 a year ain't much when you factor in $650/mo rent, food, gasoline for the 30-35 mile round trip to work, water, sewer, electricity, DSL, telephone, $40/mo cell phone for long-distance calls, $100/mo car loan, $216/mo school loan, etc., etc.

I know I could partially solve my problems by spending less, and, indeed, I should. But I already lived through one hellish semester where I was taking 16-17 semester credits, 10 hrs/wk of workstudy, and 15-25 hrs/wk at McDonalds, and still being dirt poor. Well, I did have an apartment, a vehicle, and food to eat ... but I could not afford to buy clothes, books, movie tickets, or anything that did not support directly either my life or my schooling. I couldn't even afford to visit my non-school friends. That semester was one of the blackest times in my life, surpassed only by the Weatherman Effect (the depression caused by my ex-fiance). I find the prospect of going back to that penny-pinching lifestyle daunting, to say the least.

It's not like I spend all that much on entertainment these days. All I ask for is $5-$20 a week. Even with my latest fascination with eBay, I don't often spend more than that. (I know there are people out there that think that's excessive enough, still, to be offensive; and I know there are also people out there that think that sum is microscopic enough to be offensive. To each of those groups, I say, I am sorry, but do not judge my life and its comfort zone by what your life, income and personality can support).

Enough money worries. I apologize. I did not mean to get morbid today. It must be the outfit ... I'm in all black, in honor of the size 10 black jeans that I finally fit into again!

*re-reading entry* Good grief, I sound juvenile sometimes. Maybe that's because I am usually much too serious in the real world, and I need a place to gush. Quite often I feel like I was born at the wrong time, and I'm really 35 at heart, not 22. Of course, that may just be the effects of education on a sensitive soul. *grin*

Anyway. Here, at last, is the question for today ...

[For $64,000]: Which of the following is a type of ornamental design found in architecture?

A. Block and tackle
B. Egg and dart
C. Hook and eye
D. Buck and wing