Games night fun

We got to play games with our friends tonight to celebrate one of them being back in town. It was a lot of fun - we played Alhambra with one of the extensions (Wechselstube) and For Sale. I hadn't played For Sale before and I enjoyed it very much. It's fast-moving and easy to understand so everyone could play right away without too much of a learning curve.

I also got to do some sewing today - I've attached the collar and have pinned the neck facing in place. Once I sew that, all I have to do is sew the buttonholes and hem it and it's done. whoo hoo!

Tomorrow I'm the lucky recipient of a CT scan for my head. Remember I fell back in July and gave myself a concussion that took me about two weeks to recover from? My oncologist suggested that it would be good to be sure that I didn't actually do any damage to my head so we're doing a scan tomorrow. I'm actually glad that we're doing this because I've been a little worried about the length of time it took me to recover from the concussion. I'm probably just being a bit of a hypochondriac but I'd rather be sure that there's nothing bad going on in my head.

No more stitches!

My family doctor took my stitches out today and I look WAY more normal now :) Part of the scab has also fallen off and I think the long cut (which was more superficial) won't scar too much. I'm crossing my fingers about that, anyways :)

My doctor said that I definitely had a concussion but that I'm ok now and that I shouldn't experience any long-lasting effects. The side effects I had - dizziness, headaches, and nausea - were normal. He also said that I didn't need an xray or anything and that nothing should show up on next year's bone scan. Whew!

Tonight we went to a friend's place for game night and played Power Grid. Some say that playing this marks us as hard-core German board game players because there's a lot of strategy involved in it... which might be true. There are some elements of chance but much of the player success is determined by strategy on several levels with auctions, commodities markets, and building networks. I'd definitely play this game again as it's quite fun, but I wouldn't play it on a night when I was tired.

More fun and games

We got together with some other friends tonight for games. Well, we thought we'd get to play games (multiple) or else play a single game and leave early. As it happened, we played a very long game of Citadels and that was it. Funny, the site I linked to back there says that the game is about 60 minutes. I guess we're very slow because ours with 7 people took about three and a half hours. The game was still fun even though it was long. I would have liked to play another game as well, though - someone had an expansion pack for Bohnanza that looked interesting.

I saw my family doctor today and we're going to try and cut the oxycontin painkiller out altogether. I hope that I'm able to get off of the oxycontin; I'm down to a quarter of what I used to take and I'd like to not have to take it at all anymore. The thought that I might not be quite as tired by not taking the oxycontin thrills me :)

A lot packed into such a short day

Either I was tired before the Pamidronate or it knocked me out again, because I didn't get up until 2pm today. Oh well - sleep isn't a bad thing.

When I got up I went to look at my favourites on etsy and found that many of the patterns that I liked had been sold. I didn't know why that would have happened all of a sudden but when I checked the A Dress A Day blog it became clear. The sellers of those patterns are having a Buried Treasure sale and so people bought the patterns. Of course I didn't want all of the patterns I liked to be sold so I bought some :) I can't wait until they all arrive!!!

This evening Ian and I went to a games night with some people that he knows. We played Bohnanza and had a great time. I won the first game and came in tied for last on the second one. I hope to go again another time.

While at game night, an etsy seller invited me to be in a craft show. The next show is May 26 and is held about monthly after that. A table is $45. I was poking around and it seems that the focus of the show is reclaimed goods but that any crafter can apply. There is some jewelry there but none of it is like what I make, so I'd be bringing something new there. I think I need a vendor's permit and so I'd have to register Angelstuff.... am I ready for that? What do you think? Information on the show is here. Thanks for your thoughts :)

A change of group

I had my young women's support group today. I came out of it feeling sad and angry and I'm not sure that I really want to go back. I'm not getting anything out of it and I'm finding that I'm withdrawing while there in an effort to protect my inner self while there. So I don't know that I'm giving anything to the group, either.

These feelings have a lot to do with one particular person who has been attending the group this time and last month; I find her to be very overbearing. It feels like she sucks my energy out of me into her. I suspect that I'm much too sensitive to be around someone like that right now because I don't have much in the way of emotional protections up. As silly as it is to leave a group because of one person, well, I need to protect my self for a while. I definitely need a break from the group for a while until I'm stronger.

After the group I went to game night which was much, much better. I got to spend time around people who were friendly and having fun and we played fun games. I'm so glad that I went - I feel much better. We haven't been able to go for a long time and I hope we can go more often.

Sewing and more Rock Band

I managed to sew most of the day. I'd done this dress before and I changed the back so there were a few little oddities in the front. I changed those and I'm re-making the dress in a different fabric. I probably could have finished the dress if I hadn't got tired; also, I was sewing mostly black and it's hard to see as it gets dark (and rainy) out.

Once I got tired of sewing, Ian and I played some Rock Band. Yep, we're still playing, out on our "tour". I'm not a bad vocalist, although I can't sing. My pitch is definitely getting better, though, and there are certain songs that I can easily sing: almost anything by Oasis, Ballroom Blitz (who knew?), and even some Metallica songs. This is some fun for both Ian and me :)

Shopping, bellydancing, and Rock Band

I went to the new Fabricland in Stratford with a friend of mine - I haven't seen her in ages and was very glad to have seen her today. The Fabricland is bigger than the one I go to in Mississauga - in fact, it's about the same size as the Fabricland I used to go to that closed down in one of the malls. I did buy some fabric at 50% off and I'll be able to head there this next week if I want any Vogue patterns for $5.99 (which I probably will).

Even with all that shopping and chatting, I made it to bellydance to practice the choreography for the recitals April 6 and May 11. After that we did two hours of rather intense bellydance heart/chest movements.

I don't know if you knew, but people here were asked to turn their lights off/down for Earth hour between 8 and 9pm. Our sacrifice was to lay Rock Band in the dark with no lights or unnecessary machinery running. Lots of people around us turned their lights down, which was cool. And an even of Rock Band is always fun after a long shopping and bellydancing day.

Game night, and more sewing

I was finally able to make it to a game night!!!! We had a great time playing Alhambra and Bang. Best of all was hanging out with some of our friends. Since I haven't been go a game night in forever, I haven't seen then in, well, forever.

I am still working on that dress. Sigh. If I ever finish it, I think it'll be gorgeous. But you know how you struggle to get something attached and then you decide that it's somehow not quite right? Well, I decided that I didn't like the fabric bordering the sleeves and on the collar. It looked like it had a greenish cast and it just didn't look right on the dress. So I took all of it off and have cut yet another set of these pieces out of a silvery-grey fabric, which should match the subtle silver stripe in the dress, and am starting to sew it all together. Again.

Of course I'd already trimmed and clipped my seams which makes re-sewing them tricky. I'm managing ok, though - I'm hoping that since I've done these seams already (and had trouble with them - did I mention that?) that it'll be comparatively easier. I hope so. I'd like to finish this by Friday afternoon so that I can wear it for dinner Friday night. If I don't finish it, well, I'll wear something else. But I'd like to wear my own made-for-me dress :)

Turtles are so cute

I spent the day making a dress for myself. I want one of those trapeze-type dresses that are gathered in at an empire seam but that doesn't make me look pregnant. Unfortunately my dress is not yet working out and needs a bit more work :( Oh well - I got some great fabrics and I can still afford to play around with them a bit. Hopefully I'll get it working :)

After Well-fit we went to a friend's house to play games. This time we played Hoity Toity and Set. Hoity Toity has very long instructions that are very precise. They were meant to leave no possible situation unexplored so seemed quite long. The game was very fast moving and a lot of fun. Ian and I ended up winning :)

Set is a fun game where you match up cards in sets of three. I think it's usually a game for children. It was fun, too :) We all really enjoyed playing that one.

It was good to see everyone again; I haven't seen them lately as I haven't been able to go to the last two game nights. The best part about tonight was the turtles. The hosts have two of them (a male and a female). They're red eared slider turtles and they're very, very cute!!!! I got to feed them snacks and they were so cute when they stretched their heads up to eat the treat from my fingers (biting my fingers in the process)! They took the male turtle out and I got to hold him. He has very long claws and kept trying to get away - it felt really cool to have him push his little paws against my hand. Turtles are so cute.... it almost makes me wish that I had a cute little turtle :)

A very long day

I saw my doctor today and we're going to try increasing my current antidepressant by 50%. He'd originally wanted to double it but it already makes me really tired. I'm sleeping quite enough these days (or at least I want to sleep a lot). We talked about how depressed I am and about how sometimes I end up feeling stupid. I know I'm not stupid, don't worry, but there are times when someone will say something or use a tone of voice that makes me feel stupid. This has been a sore point with me since I went back to school after my primary breast cancer; the treatments left me with lots of cognitive difficulties and I definitely wasn't the smart, quick person that I used to be. It was and is very hard to deal with that. Right now, with me being depressed, feeling stupid happens more frequently and is more upsetting than usual.

While we were discussing this I started crying and my doctor seemed to get really angry with me. He told me that I wasn't stupid and that I'd been through a lot, more than most people and other things. Actually, I have no memory of what he told me and Ian had to tell me afterwards. Ian said that he must have had some reason for raising his voice the way he did, that he must have been using some technique with me and that it was planned and all that. I don't really see how that was supposed to work, though. At the time, I felt hurt and frustrated that he wasn't getting it. Intellectually, I KNOW I'm not stupid, and it doesn't help to be told I'm not stupid by someone who doesn't make me feel stupid in the first place.

One problem with my depression is that my thoughts and behaviours are NOT AT ALL rational. I kind of came away from the appointment feeling like he wanted me to just snap out of feeling stupid, and to feel another way instead. If I could do that, I would, but it's just not that simple for me right now. I know that ultimately I will need to do things that help me react better in these situations, but I can't do that right now. I'm going to give my employee assistance program people a call tomorrow to see if I can get in for therapy. However, I also need the chemical help via antidepressants to make it possible for me to try to turn my thoughts around.

My doctor also wants me to get out in the sunshine during mid-day, especially as spring starts to spring. I guess I kind of have a prescription for sunshine :) He wants to see me next week and I have an appointment for Tuesday morning. We will also be talkign about my pain; I'm taking my long-term painkiller every 3 hours now, so it's time to bump the strength up again.

The rest of the day went much better :) I got some new walking and wearing-with-jeans shoes. I also got my teeth-whitening equipment from my dentist. I'm self-conscious about my yellowish teeth and have been sort of trying to whiten them by using over-the-counter products. They haven't really worked, but I think that this will. I see my dentist in two weeks to see whether or not it worked :) I can hardly wait :)

I had dessert with a new friend and then we went to play games. We played Apples to Apples and they played Bohnanza while I read the rules for Hoity Toity. I'm looking forward to playing Hoity Toity; it's new and I think it'll be fun. I was glad to get out and see people - I haven't seen them in a while and I've missed them. Yes, I'm depressed sometimes, but I can still go out and have fun and enjoy my life :) It was a very fun, if long, evening.

We have a social life!

I listed a couple of items on Etsy today!!!!! :) I'm very excited! :) I don't expect anyone to rush out and buy my stuff as there's a lot of traffic on the site and I'm an unknown, but I hope that eventually my stuff will sell. Over the next few days I'll add more items. I wanted to start out small and build up my store.

We also went over to a friend's place to play games tonight. We played Alhambra, For Sale, and Strange but True.

We've played Alhambra before and we like it; it took a long time tonight because there were two new people and a number of us were playing with hard puzzle-things (the 3D kind that you have to put back together into a solid object). Ian and I are considering getting some expansion packs for this game as each pack adds interesting new features. We'll see.

We didn't eat dinner with our friends (they had pizza; we made a stir-fry), so we missed most of For Sale, but it looked pretty interesting. Basically, you buy houses as low as possible (by bidding) and try to sell them for as high a price as possible. It's a pretty quick game which is definitely an advantage.

We didn't like Strange but True. In it, you read 4 headlines, only one of which is an actual headline. Each person or team bets on whether they think that the headline is real or not. Afterward, a story corresponding to the headline is read out and each person or team bets on whether the story is unverified or true. It's not all that fun. It got a low rating on BoardGameGeek, though, so I wouldn't expect it to be that fun. If you're buying a board game, then you're better off sticking to games that have a rating of at least a 6.5 or 7 on BoardGameGeek. Games with that kind of rating tend to be well-thought out and interesting.

One of those busy and tiring days

The appointment with the genetics counselor was uneventful. She took my history again, and said that it was highly unlikely that I would test positive for any of the deviations for which they're testing. Apparently the main difference between the testing that I got before and the testing I'll get now is that they have a new test that not only compares genes to see if there is a positive variation (ie one of the known mutations is present) but they also test to see if some genes are missing. So we'll see. It'll take about 4 months to get the results. This is not a fast process.

The drive to and from the appointment was really awful because of slippery roads and snow and stuff - I didn't exceed 30kph for both drives to and from the hospital. I wish that drivers wouldn't tailgate when the conditions are bad like that and there are accidents all over the city - grrr. Between the earliness of the appointment, the fact that I didn't sleep well last night, and the drive, I was very, very tired.

I ended up sleeping for a long time when I got home, meaning that I skipped both Well-fit and bellydancing. I just felt so exhausted and I was having trouble breathing that I felt that it would be better to not do physical activities today. I think my asthma is acting up. It was like I didn't have enough breath to finish my sentences - it was a very strange experience. We've put the humidifier on because it may be the dry air making my asthma worse. If that doesn't help, I'll talk to my doctor.

Tonight after I rested, we went to a friend's place to play Werewolf. It's a slightly different game than we're used to because it has cards we haven't played with before. There was a fairly large group playing - 14 or 15 at the peak - and so we could introduce the different new cards. We enjoyed ourselves very much and had a great time, as did everyone else, I think. One of these days we'll need to host our very own big games night, but we need to get some things first (like some card tables and card chairs and that kind of thing).

A grand day out

Today was filled with adventures. We started the day at my doctor's.

I got to see my actual bone scan report today. Both lesions on the sternum now show up on the scan, where only the larger one showed up last time, and the larger lesion is even larger than it was before. So there has been some progression there, which we already figured based on the escalating pain levels. Apparently I also have some normal degeneration in my shoulder and between a couple of vertebrae as well, which I suppose isn't unusual. There was nothing at all seen on the femur :(

My doctor does believe that there's something there in my femur, at least, and that I'm not just crying wolf about the pain. He's not going to chase after it with scans and stuff, though; we'll just get the pain under control. So he's upped my painkiller usage a little bit.

My doctor and I also talked about my mental health today. I don't think I'm depressed right now, but depression is definitely coming to pay me a visit - I can see it just down the road. So he's starting me on Cipralex. Also, since the pain is worse at night and I have some anxiety issues, he's starting me on clonazepam; I'll start with 0.5mg at bedtime and can work my way up to 1.5mg. That should help me sleep, which is good. Even though I'm sleeping better than I have in a long time, I'm still not sleeping well at all. I'll see my doctor again next week to see how things are going.

After we got back from the doctor's, I went to my Well-fit session followed by my young women's group today. There were fewer people than usual at the young women's group, probably because of the cold. There were two new people, though, and there was a lot more discussion than usual. I'm glad I went. I always feel a lot better after going to that group. They talk about stuff that is relevant to a young woman with cancer - like me - and some of the people there even had metastatic cancer - like me. There is some comfort in knowing that I'm not alone.

We went and played games at a friend's house after my young women's group. Actually, we were only able to get through one game: Citadels. It was still fun, though, and I enjoyed myself very much. I like spending time with that bunch - they're fun to play boardgames with. The only downside is that I work with many of them (when I'm working) and so I both miss working and get all tense even thinking about going back to work. Fortunately, we don't talk shop very often during games :)

Now, finally, we're home. Time for sleep.

Snow day!

We got some snow last night and woke up to a freezing rain warning today, so the schools (and hence the University) were closed. So we stayed in and wasted time all day :) Someone sent us a link to the Secret Life of the Brain, so we looked at the pictures there for a while - some of it I'd seen before, but some was new, and it was all interesting.

Someone else sent us this link to the Funny Farm puzzle game. I don't recommend that you play Funny Farm because it's extremely addictive and extremely fun. I kid you not. I managed to distract Ian away from Final Fantasy III by playing this game, and he's taken to it quite strongly. He is playing it right now, as a matter of fact. We have wasted more of our day playing this game than any other game today. Note that the server is a bit on the overloaded side, so please be gentle with it if you do decide to play. Ian will be really mad if we can't play because someone reading this crashed the server, but the game is really too fun not to share :)

I had planned to go to bellydancing tonight. However, I'm still not feeling my best and the roads don't look good, so I ended up not going. Yes, I know that there are people out there who drive in weather like this, but I don't like to be one of them. We don't have snow tires and don't plan to get them for this car since it's a lease. Without snow tires we don't have the traction or control we need to be safest out on the roads today :( Staying in was best - I don't think we're getting any more freezing rain, so the roads should be in much better shape tomorrow.

Besides, staying in meant that we could play more Funny Farm. :)

Ways to waste time

I woke up this morning with no voice. I don't know where it's gone - I can still talk, but my voice is all funny. I have no idea how this happened. I was really tired again, too, so I ended up sleeping for a good portion of the day.

When I wasn't sleeping, tidying up, or making dinner, I was playing Final Fantasy III for the DS :) I wouldn't have thought that I'd like a video game, but, well, I do like this one. I'd bought it for Ian for his birthday, and you know how important it is to give someone something that you want yourself :) I'm enjoying the game - I finished the first quest pretty well on my own, although Ian helped me at the very beginning, and I'm still playing. Final Fantasy III is a role-playing game (RPG) where I am a group of characters that embarks on quests and battles all sorts of monster. I don't have to worry about rolling any dice or anything, like I would if I was playing an in-person RPG, which is an advantage of playing a computer RPG. The graphics of this game are good, and the gameplay seems fun to me. I think Ian likes it, too, so it must be a pretty good game. It also gives me something to do in my spare time when I don't feel like doing anything productive :)

Game night

We went to a friend's house to play some games tonight. It was a lot of fun - we got to see some people at work that we like to spend time with :) When we weren't poking fun and laughing at each other, we played Taboo and Alhambra.

We divided up into girls against guys for Taboo, but unfortunately the girls lost by quite a large margin. Listening to people trying to guess the right answer is always funny :) I wish that there were new cards for Taboo, though, as some of the cards are firmly rooted in the late 80s. It doesn't diminish too much from the fun, but some of the things are pretty archaic. Alhambra was also fun - Ian and I had played before, but no one else had. It has quite a fast-moving pace, but still takes a reasonable time to play.

I also put parts of my purse together today. The lining is done, the spacer pieces are added to the zippers, and I've stiffened (with stitch-witchery and buckram) and basted the beaded pieces together. So now I just have to sew the beaded pieces together, make the tabs for the chain, sew the tabs and zipper in, and sew in the lining. I hope to finish tomorrow. The best part is that the purse looks exactly like it did in my head. I'm so pleased with it.

Servicing my car

I took the car in to get the other headlight fixed. I guess they're really only good for 52000 kms of driving - who knew? There have been some personnel changes over there, and the service person I knew is no longer there. Instead, there are these new people.... and for the first time since I've been taking my car there, I felt talked down to because I am female. It was something in the tones of their voices they used - I didn't like it. Ian has dealt with the people and he says that they're fine. I think I don't like it there anymore.

At the end of the service, they also weren't forthcoming in getting me an invoice. The car is still under warranty, so the light-bulb change was free. I like to have the invoices for my records, and they just wanted to send me on my way without anything. They offered to mail me the invoice, but I waited for them to print it up.

We're hoping to get a hybrid car in the next few months - I think I'm glad that I'm not going to get a car from this dealership.

On a more positive note, I did some more work on my purse - I'm doing the black background beading now. It's only taking me about 2 hours to do each band, which isn't too bad. There's hope that I'll finish the purse before the party :) There's a new picture here.

Oh yeah, and if you like Scrabble and want to see something HILARIOUS (and I haven't sent this to you), take a look at this.

Boardgames

I bought a couple of boardgames today - since we go and play games with other people, I thought it would be good to have games of our own that aren't word-games like Scrabble.

The first game I bought was Blokus Trigon. It's similar to Blokus, but with triangular-based pieces. A woman in the store stopped me and asked whether or not I'd played Blokus before; she says that Blokus Trigon is harder than Blokus. I hope that this true :) I can't wait to try this one out.

The second game I bought was Alhambra. It's a game where you try to build a city given cards and money. It won some German award in 2003. Ian and I played it tonight and we both thought it was fun. It's pretty simple to learn and there's a bit of strategy involved. I think it'll be even more fun with more players. Unfortunately, the game I bought was short one card, and so I'll have to take it back to the store to exchange it. Hopefully the fact that the game is opened won't be a problem.

Games

I slept a lot today, probably because I was up early and out and about for the last two days. I tell you, going to work would be tough if I'm still sleeping this much! :)

We spent the evening at a friend's house playing boardgames. We only had time for two games: Citadels and Thurn and Taxis. Citadels is a card game where you build cities with district cards. At the beginning of each round, each player picks a character card with special abilities, and can use these abilities to either enhance their own riches or to disrupt other players. It's a lot of fun, but the game itself is quite complicated. One person had a lot of trouble deciding how to play, which made the game take quite a long time.

Thurn and Taxis is also fun. It isn't really that competitive; each person has to make as many routes through Germany as possible. The players don't interact with each other too much, but it's still fun. Ian and I teamed up to play this one (it's a four player game, and there were seven of us), and we made a couple of mistakes that cost us the win. Oh well - we'll know for next time.

It's a good thing I slept all afternoon, because it's quite late now :) It was a very fun evening, though.

The heat continues

It's still really, really hot - apparently there are all sorts of records that are being broken these days. I read that it's like this all over the place, not just in Southern Ontario, although I'm not sure a lot of the other places have the same kind of oppressive humidity we have. It's like breathing thick, soupy air. I think that the heat is supposed to break tomorrow, at least.

We went over to a friend's house and played Bohnanza (we really like that game because it's so simple), Blokus, and Taboo. I really like Blokus - it's only real flaw is that it has red tiles and green tiles, so someone who is red-green colour-blind couldn't play the four-player version. Like Bohnanza, it's a really simple game whose instructions take almost no time to describe but that can still be quite challenging. The other nice thing about playing games is that we were in air-conditioned comfort all evening :)

Happy Canada Day!

I saw a lot of friends today. This morning I went to Doon Heritage Crossroads with a friend of mine, which is a re-created village in Kitchener that shows what life was like between about 1900 and 1914 in the region. Admission was free since it was Canada Day. There aren't that many buildings in the village, but it was still sort of interesting. The best part was seeing this friend of mine - I haven't seen her for about a year.

This afternoon Ian and I went to Stratford to see some university friends. We sat around and talked and played Bang and Bohnanza. We don't see these friends very often, so it was good to catch up with them.

We didn't see any fireworks today, and Ian didn't juggle at the Canada Day celebrations (these are both usual activities for us on Canada Day). It was still a great way to celebrate Canada Day - with our friends.

PS - I'll be posting pictures of my new haircut soon.