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I meant to post about my trip to California, which happened in April, but seeing how it’s been over a month since I posted anything here at all, we can just agree that I’m not. It’s been too long for me to write about it in-depth, at least to me, but I will give you the rundown on what I’ve been doing.

April

So, yes, I went to California in April. I began tossing the idea around in my head in the beginning of the year but put it off due to money and nerves. Finally, I picked a date and booked myself a train ticket and flight. I decided to take the train from Chicago to California (after hopping a bus from here to Milwaukee and another train to Chi-town) to simultaneously save money and see the country. So.. I did that.

It was a long train but interesting. I saw a bit of the country – not all of which was worth seeing. Some of it was gorgeous and interesting, but restlessness prevented me from enjoying parts of the trip (I’m talking to you, Utah). I was super nervous because I’d never been on an American train before, but I survived and learned a bit about train culture, namely that there is a demographic of people (retired, limited income, wants to travel, has nothing better to do) that just loves trains in a way that I think I can’t.

My trip to Cali was short, shorter than I should have planned it and made even shorter by my purchasing a ticket from the wrong airport. All was okay, though. I saw the beach, took walks, enjoyed good food, bonded with my aunt, her husband and cat, saw the tech museum, visited rose gardens and the Egyptian museum, hacked 400+ new portals in Ingress and caught a new Pokemon. Not a bad little trip.

I flew into Minneapolis, spent the night with a friend and took the bus back after one long week.

May

I was super excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 last month and, well, it was okay. Just okay, you know? Not terrible but certainly not worth the time I waited, and that’s a shame. I saw the original three times, but the sequel just didn’t hit all the right spots.

I took a day trip to see a sculpture garden, shop and attend a cultural fest in the next town over, which was quite enjoyable.

Last month, one of my very good friends also got married. I was in the wedding, which was cold and hectic, but I wish them all the best. In April, my friend was finally able to move in with his fiancee, so I’ve had to adjust with not having him around. This has been, at times, quite the struggles.

I also struggled to walk as many miles per day as I wanted to last month.

Before the month wrapped up, I finally got myself to see the MC Escher exhibit at the art museum, and it was better than I could have anticipated!

The end of last month also marked my 31st and golden birthday. I wanted to do something different.. so I did nothing at all. I released myself from expectations and had an interesting day with friends, cupcakes and lots of sun. It was fun and low-pressure if not entirely memorable. But it certainly was different. Go me.

June

This month started impatiently. First, I was walking my ass off to level in Ingress. I am now 14 but probably won’t level for the rest of the year. Boo.

I was also awaiting the second weekend, which I had dubbed Wonder Woman Weekend. Robyn and I headed to Minneapolis (I’ll return next month to see Adam Lambert and Queen in concert) to stay with Wendy with plans to see the Pixar exhibit at the science museum, visit the zoo and see Wonder Woman. I didn’t see it opening weekend because I was waiting for this, so there was alot of expectation.

Wonder Woman was great, the zoo was nice and the museum was interesting, but it was hot. I didn’t get enough rest and returned home pretty grumpy. I also had a very busy work week last week that technically ended yesterday morning, so I am feeling little swamped.

Right before I left, I tackled making some galaxy bottles for decor. They looked amazing in the beginning but have since muddled. I think I know how to fix it, but it’s a bummer.

Throughout all of this, I’ve done the norm – walked all the miles, entertained a guest a time or two, read all the books (I’m over 52 titles on GoodReads if you count comics and audiobooks!) and comics (I’ve read my first ever Marvel titled in 2017), went out to eat, attended a few game nights, fires and birthdays parties and (binge?) watched plenty of Netflix. Judging from the length of this post, I’ve been a busy little bee. Perhaps I should add relaxing to my calendar!

Welcome to 2014. There’s a new WordPress theme, so it must be a new year. That aside..

I thought I’d go over my 2013.

Over so soon?

The year started on a high. Maybe because I’d sort of met someone. It didn’t work out but it gave me confidence to look for more possible romances. There were also several people interested in me over the year, and I returned the interest with someone. We spent some amazing time together, but it just seemed like it wasn’t the right place or right time. Truthfully, I’m hopeful that will change but realistic enough to realize that it probably won’t.

Because I felt invincible, I wanted to reconnect with some friends who I’d “broken up with” in 2012 or earlier. Honestly, I felt as though the frustration they had caused before was something that I could deal with better last year. This was true.. for a while. I am currently re-evaluating whether all those people need to be in my life. It’s difficult.

However, I wound up making several new friendships through that decision, so I do not regret it. Fate seemed to be on my side when it came to reconnecting because several other people came back into my life. All in all, I was a whole lot more social in 2013 than the previous years. This involved a lot of trivia nights, game nights, parties and drinking. It felt right for a 27 year-0ld. I guess I felt like I’d never quite gotten to be that person before.

Work has remained mostly the same. I don’t talk about this. It’s annoying.

My family dynamics have also remained the same but moving last year meant I was much closer to my mom and sister. So I’ve walked there many times this year. In fact, walking took on a lot more significance and I walked hundreds of miles this summer which led to some weight loss that’s probably all coming back since it’s cold and I’m cooped up inside. Oops.

In terms of material goods, 2013 was really good for me. I beefed up my wardrobe, especially for winter. I went through many shoes due to all the walking, but I have both an awesome pair of Chucks and boots that I recently bought. I bought both a PS3 and a Nintendo 3DS with a slew of games for them. I outfitted my living room with an area rug and an ottoman. Things have definitely come together. I enjoy the spending money.

In the process, I got a new hard drive for my laptop and installed it with a little help from Ben. I also finally rooted my phone even though I’m planning on getting a new one as soon as possible.

2013 was as geeky as ever. I went to two large conventions — Convergence in Minneapolis and Chicago Comic Con. It wasn’t my first time in Chicago, and I really enjoyed seeing some of the panels. I tried out Sci-Fi speed dating. It sucked. I purchased all the things, including some new art. I didn’t blog about either con, I guess. However, I posted lots of photo on Facebook. If you’re my friend, you can see the album for Chicago and the photos from CONvergence in my mobile uploads. CONvergence was really something else. It a fan run convention that’s outgrowing its current state but allowed me to get drunk with bronies. Really, it was such a different experience and some of the things I was able to do — attending the drinking for geeks panel, drinking, eating at some awesome restaurants in Minneapolis, Rocky Horror shadow casting, are like none other. It was too hot for me to costume, but I did make some Facebook friends. I don’t know if I’ll go next year but I will likely go again.

I dove into Reviews By Cole more than I have lately. I’ve reviewed more and joined many more group giveaways. I’ve been posting in more communities; although, not all are a good fit. I think I feel a greater sense of community. This has led to all the tutorials I’ve been posting lately. I’ve been much more active on Facebook. Give us a like, will ya?

Things have changed a bit on Her Realm, too. I moved hosts and am in the process of really cleaning things up. Things like the site section have been condensed to a single page, and the navigation has changed up a bit. On the whole, I feel good about losing some of the excess.

Personally, I’ve found a lot more release by writing on Lyrical Musings. Maybe you don’t even know what this is or have forgotten about it. I have a blog dedicated solely to writing — mostly poetry — in a cathartic way. As you’ll see, romance was on my mind in 2013.

I threw some big parties last year. There was a lot of stress. Memories, sure, but I think I need to keep things smaller than that in the future.

So what now? I definitely want to keep up my friendships and make things happen romantically but I have no arbitrary goals for 2014. In fact, I have no resolutions at all, really. I think this is because if I continue doing what I did last year, I am okay with that. Perhaps this is a sign of a year well done.

Do-it-myself, that is. I kept seeing all these sunburst mirror tutorials made with a little hot glue and some clothes pins. Everyone kept saying how easy and cheap it was to make. Everything was at the dollar store. I was convinced that I could do it, too.

So I headed to the dollar store and found me some clothes pins, but they had no mirrors I could use. Michael’s had some, but they sure weren’t $1. While there, I picked up some wood glue and some scrapbook paper for decorate the shit out of my future mirror. This sure was more expensive than everyone else’s project, but I figured I could decorate the clothes pins with pretty paper until I found a mirror. Of course, I needed an utility knife to finish it off.

I went home and glued a bunch of paper on a bunch of clothes pins, but that’s not any fun, and I couldn’t find the right mirror, so I stopped for a while. The other day, I randomly found the right type of mirror at the dollar store and picked it up, so I finally sat down glue my pins onto the mirror. I found out/remembered a couple things:

• Hot glue is hot
• I sure use that burned finger for everything
• Hot glue is also messy
• Apparently, it’s harder for people–like roommates–to remember that having two pairs of scissors allows you to keep on for non-food stuff. Mine was nice and sticky from popsicles. Yay.
• Lining up clothes pins is a little harder than I figured
• The whole thing wasn’t much fun

I lucked out, I had exactly enough clothes pins and hot glue to finish the project. It’s drying, upside down, and I’m afraid to move it. You see, the glue acted less like glue and more like little silicone grips. I think it’ll work fine. I mean, it’s not like the pins will fall off. Maybe I should have gotten better glue. This is only a glue gun and sticks from a 100Yen store in Japan.. from like five years ago. Does hot glue go bad?

Anyway, let me know if you want pictures. I don’t think I like this whole project after all. Everyone else’s look so much better..

A month or so (or more) ago, I decided I needed new bedding. I’d had mine for almost three years and had decorated my room around it. While I had loved it muchly, it was dry-clean only and has seen better days. I decided to switch from red to a purple theme and began browsing the Internet. This involved sending tons of links to Thas for her input and we both enjoyed a set I’d found from JcPenney. It was reasonably priced but, the indecisive shopper that I am, I wasn’t sure I was going to buy it after all.

The very next night, I got their newsletter in my inbox and it was all “OMG Cole, crazy sales! Check it out!” And I did because who can ignore that?! The sales were indeed crazy. Reduced prices meant I could buy the comforter set, a pillow and sheets (black satin!) and get free shipping for just about $100. So I did.

After some mix-up where my stuff shipped to the store instead of to home (why would I use that free shipping coupon then?), I was soon requesting the help of my sister to make my new bed. It’s a pretty sweet set-up and feels fairly luxurious. Satin sheets definitely kept me cooler during our recent heat wave (and remind me to keep my nails and skin soft LOL). The cats like the new comforter better than my old one. I just need to have the old stuff dry cleaned so I can tuck it away in a box.

Oddly enough, the roommate thinks my bedding matches my (red) lampshades better than the old stuff. I quite like it either way.

First, I lied to you. I’m writing this on Thursday to be posted on Friday because I don’t like to post more than once per day.

Here I was all excited to post my Got Done list and I sign in to blog about and I realize that I’ve already blogged. So, number one, I blogged. I wrote articles. I did laundry. I ran the dishwasher. I watched a movie. I charged and synced the iPod. I made food (mashed potatoes!). I took a walk. I came home and I dusted, cleaned the TV and laptop, put dishes away, cleaned the microwave and stove top and vacuumed the couch. Then I blogged again.

Oh, I also made a noose.