A fun weekend. But...

...when one of your best friends that you only see every so often tells you after an entire weekend together that you haven't been yourself the entire weekend, that you've obviously been preoccupied with something that is stressing you out and preventing you from being the fun friend she's grown to know, well, how do I say this... something is wrong to a point of a necessary change to prevent further unhealthy day-to-day living. I like to think that I can, for the most part, accurately gauge many aspects of my life, including health, happiness, stress... but after this wake-up conversation, I'd say at was 50% off, minimum. When I was asked what was new with me, my first and only answer contained a bucket of pessimism ready to spew... I held it back as much as I could, but it eventually came out, and then I got the confronting wake-up from my friend. And I needed it. And I thank her for it. I hope to show her the "old me" she used to know when I see her again in a month. I don't feel sorry for myself for my current state... I walked this path. And I'll find a detour. And I'll rid myself of these bags under my eyes... no joke, I've noticed these over the past few weeks, something I've never seen in the mirror before. Ugh, what a dark post. I'll try to find solace in a quote from what I'll call my new favorite movie. "The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming."

Vacation booked

Wherever Sonic goes, Tails follows. At least in the video game. I'm going to see my good friend Tails in Florida in a month. And oh, that reference is from Halloween 2003 where I was Sonic and my friend was Tails... it's in my top two for personal best Halloween costumes. Somehow I don't have a digital picture of us in costume on this computer... but I do have a personal favorite pic of us on the beach in Florida before a Badger bowl game where we constructed the Wisconsin Badger "W":



This Florida trip is part of an entire week off I've been dying for. I will now start counting the days.

and THAT'S why...

... I play poker.

I'm allowed to brag once in a while, damn it.

All about money

The stock market is scary right now. I looked yesterday to see it was, at one point, 40% below its peak. Eek.

Sounds familiar as my 401K is down, oh, about 40% also. Just great.

To book my upcoming vacation, I need to get paid for my poker work from a month ago. Gone are the days where I could literally take money from my online poker account and have it in my hand in five minutes. Now it takes five weeks. UGH. And I'm still antsy until I have it in my hands as I'm never 100% sure I'll get it anymore.

I hate doing laundry. It's one of my least favorite things to do. I'd almost rather buy new clothes. I need to get quarters from the bank to do my laundry too... a pain in the arse itself.

I saw gas at $2.87 the other day. I need to remind myself that that isn't a bargain.

I wish I got paid hourly some days. Like today. I keep telling myself that the extra effort is going to pay off in the end, one of these days. Can I really expect this, or am I just kidding myself?

Money is green. In the US at least.

I'm out of money-related topics. End post.

Blob week

A combination of a work trip and a trip to Madison over the past four days and the next three days, respectively, have left me and will leave me feeling like a damned blob. I won't let that take away from this weekend's fun, but I will have some work to do next week... it will be my own version of "The Biggest Loser", a TV show where the contestants see how much weight they can drop over a given period of time... not that kind of loser.

For now, I look forward to a long-awaited reunion, a huge football night game, and some surprises I'm sure. Go Badgers!