What a mish-mush of a day this has been for me! I dunno, my bio-rhythms must be out of whack or something, because everything has been… exasperating, off-kilter, mistimed, or fumbled. This morning, we slept in – a deliberate decision by both of us because if we slept in on Sunday morning, when we used to have our weekly “sleep-in”, we lost valuable Rift-playing time (which sort-of shows you where our priorities lie, doesn’t it! 😉 ) so we decided to sleep-in on a Saturday instead. This usually works well, but this morning, for me, it didn’t. When I got dressed this morning, I found that my very favourite black jumper wot I love had somehow managed to stretch about three sizes, which made it look absolutely ridiculous on me (but I’m wearing it anyway cos it’s my favourite, and I don’t have a second favourite that isn’t at the Dry Cleaners) By the time I got to the Walking Room I was still half asleep, and I know that I’ve always said that the first walk of the day is the hardest, but today was a doozy! I was still so sleepy that couldn’t stand up straight on the treadmill, so I did my nineteen minutes leaning all over the control panel (which I don’t think you’re supposed to do) and also, for some unknown reason, the first walk of the day always leaves me with an ultra-dry mouth – but this morning, I don’t think I’d even done a hundred paces – let alone 1.12km worth of paces (yes, favourite eldest daughter, 1.12km!) – before my mouth felt like a piece of blotting paper. Perhaps I was dehydrated? Perhaps that’s the reason my morning walk was so difficult? Anyway, I eventually finished off my nineteen minutes, leaning heavily on the control panel all the way, and went into the Den for a much-needed cup of tea, followed by breakfast. Then I did my Minions, and got all caught up in setting up a Guild and Guild Bank on Wolfsbane. Things have changed a little since the last time I set up a Guild on Rift – you used to need nine signatures to register a Guild Charter – now you only need five, including your own, as Guild Mistress! Guild Bank Vaults now start at only 30 platinum, instead of 1000 platinum, which is what the first Vault used to cost, with each extra Vault rising exponentially in cost thereafter. So that went well enough – now all I have to do is remember to kick out the two people I bribed to sign the Charter! 🙂 Oh, the name of the Guild is “Stillwater Downunder” – “Stillwater”, because that’s the name of this place, and “Downunder” because it’s in Australia 🙂 Then it was lunchtime, and time for my next walkies, which I usually quite enjoy, but today, I dunno, I really didn’t feel like doing – but of course I did… but I made the mistake of trying to open the window first. The window slides open, from right to left, and the window catch is very close to the top of the treadmill control panel – for a left-handed person, opening the window from any position is no problem, but for a right-handed person, standing in front of the treadmill, it’s the wrong angle entirely! I grabbed the window catch with my right hand, and attempted to depress it to unlock it, at the same time as I was trying to push it to the left to open the window. All I succeeded in doing was almost dislocating my right index finger, and the window stayed stubbornly shut! Naturally I emitted a soft anguished yelp (well, it was probably more like a scream of agony, but I’ll settle for anguished yelp, this time) Julian came in to see what I’d done to myself this time, seeing that it hadn’t been a “Help! an Evil Spider is about to devour me alive” squeal, or a grief-stricken “Oh no! I’ve broken a tooth!” wail. When I told him what had happened, he gave me an exasperated look, and standing on the treadmill, he nonchalantly leaned over and opened the window (with his left hand!) and said “Why didn’t you open it like this?!” and he got off the treadmill. I, nursing my poor sore hand, replaced him on the treadmill, and said “Because,” as I leaned over and reached as far as I could towards the window catch – missing it by about six inches – “I can’t reach it from here! I’m too short, and my arms aren’t long enough!” He had to admit that I had a point (and very short arms!) My right index finger is still too sore for me to grip anything properly with my right hand – even trying to hold a coffee cup is painful! I hope it recovers by tomorrow! 
Just think of all the coffee I might have to miss out on if it’s still as sore as it is at the moment!
Weigh-in this morning. Was either terribly good, or terribly bad – depending on your point of view! The consequences of this morning’s weigh-in are quite likely to be dire… I went down five points… half a kilo… overnight! From 66.6kg, to 66.1kg! With a drop as big as that, I’m definitely going to be bouncing back tomorrow! If I don’t, it can only mean that my body is so looking forward to eating proper food again that it’s going all out to get to 65kg as quickly as possible! 🙂 Not that I mind, of course – I’m even starting to construct lunch menus for Maintenance – and maybe even a bite of KFC here and there – do they make low-fat ricotta? When I was a little kid, one of the things we’d occasionally guzzle for lunch was a slice of bread, spread with ricotta (or home-made soft cheese – if anyone wants the recipe for that, just ask – I have it!) …spread with ricotta (not low-fat in those days!) and sprinkled with Bournville cocoa powder! Mmm! delicious! Anxious thought: are there any calories in plain-old Bournville cocoa powder, if you don’t add any sugar? Most likely my lunches will be two Ryvita crispbread with a bit of Philly Extra Light and some slices of tomato, or chopped up celery, or just sprinkled with cayenne pepper (or all three! 😉 ) I’ll even still have the occasional Optifast bar for lunch now and then – simply because I really like them! 🙂
Tomorrow, of course, is our day for terrorising the evil mobs of Telara – from memory, we’ve just started in Gloamwood (or “Gloomwood”, if you want the name to paint an accurate picture of the place!) There was a fairly big update a couple of days ago and I’ve been hoping that it might have rectified the quest in Into The Wilds with that hulking great Dinosaur-slash-Dragon thingy – the patch notes did mention that quest, but I don’t think they’ve made it any easier! Just thinking about that, you know – usually when you have such a formidable Boss Mob to bring down, it’s a quest for a group of two or three players, and depending on the nature of the Boss Mob, even a Raid quest (a “Raid” being a group of 20 players or more) – so why are players forced to go in solo, if there’s no hope of getting out alive? There has to be a catch here somewhere… I just wish that we could see it! Monday my bathroom door will be installed, and the walls will be plastered and waterproofed, then, the week after next, (fanfare, please! 🙂 ) let the tiling begin! Just between you, me and the gatepost, Julian’s shower is horrible! It doesn’t have a shower hose and head, it has a very large fixed overhead shower – it’s so large that no matter where I stand I have great difficulty in keeping the soap on myself long enough for it to clean me! That shower is much more likely to drown you than cleanse you! (*whimper*) I want my own proper shower back! Anyway, that’s just about it from me for tonight – hopefully my bio-rhythms will be back in sync tomorrow, because I really don’t need another day like today! However, do drop around again tomorrow night to find out if my weight did bounce back up again (after a drop of half a kilo in a day, I’m pretty positive that it will!) how we fared in sunny, downtown Telara (and how many times we managed to get killed!) and if my day was any better than today (which wouldn’t be all that hard!) – but until then, continue to bee good (you never know who’s watching! 😉 ) remember that common sense is not so common, and don’t forget to look after yourselves, to drive carefully, and to keep warm – or cool – depending on the weather – but above all, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 