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Well, since I didn't do anything today...let's catch up, won't we?

Day 1: Flight to Minneapolis

Only had an hour of sleep, although I think I slept on the plane. I'm not sure. The flights went super quick though, so I'm sure I slept through some of it. Once I landed, soltice and pazi_ashfeather picked me up and sent me off to some of the best Mexican food I'd had outside of Texas. And it sure beat the pants off of Seattle.

With dinner done, we headed back to the apartment where I kinda lounged a bit. To be honest, I was very woozy, but trying to stay awake so I didn't sleep the whole day away and wake up at 3AM. I don't remember much of that, other than a lot of driving around and seeing what Uptown Minneapolis looked like.

After some time, we needed to take PAzi to her Ojibwa class, and so Tess and I waited at a coffee shop for a bit. We had a nice long talk about writing and stories, comparing and contrasting our little story worlds, and even our collaboration on Voices of Authority. All over frozen yogurt. :9

From there, we headed back to the apartment, where Tess showed off her ham radio station. This got us to talking about Ham radio, and how I really enjoyed the CB scene in San Antonio in the late 80s. This led to one of the more interesting facets of the night:

Tess is really big on amateur radio, and likes to see people getting into it. She's seen my enthusasm for her ham stuff over the years, and knows that I nearly got my licesnse but never pursued it because I couldn't never learned Morse Code. Since morse isn't a requirement, that's no longer an issue. She had me take a sample ham radio test...

..I made a 31% out of 100%.

But it was a 31% on 37 hours awake and one hour of sleep.

She wanted me to try again after some decent sleep. :D

It came time to pick up Pazi, and we headed out, picked her up, and back. In all, a nice night was had. As nice as 37 hours awake could make it.

(no subject)

Day 2 - Minneapolis

After waking up with a bit more sentience than the day before, my day with aspasia13. After a hearty midwestern breakfast we visited the Como Park. We were both dirt poor, and looking for something cheap to do that would also be fun, and this was a zoo AND a greenhouse. They had these really old mold-a-rama plkastic figurine things I remember from when I was a kid. I had a space shuttle once. :D

The zoo, was pretty packed for a free zoo, and they were actually rebuilding.expanding the gorilla habitat. LOTS of neat stuff there, including the cutest lion sleeping in a wading pool. Just like they have on the Serengetti Plains. It was a little chilly that day, and the orangutans seemed to be huddled up. I wonder how the animals fare during the brutal winters.

From there, we hit her hometown of Stillwater, MN. It was a smaller town, about the size of New Braunfels for you Texans, and Redmond, for you Washingtonians.

We continued through town up the St Croix river and pulled into a beach along a boom area where they used to catch trees that were being floated down the river. There was a really neat large firepit there, as well as a (sealed off) cave we explored (well, sort of explored, it was only about 50 feet to the seal).

The St Croix river is gigantic, at least to me. I mean, the Mississippi at New Orleans was MASSIVE, but rivers in Texas are just kinda...small. Seeing the river floating by (and a parked private boat where some folks were having lunch, was really nice. We continued up the ways a bit, and actually crossed into Wisconsin, just so I could add Wisconsin to my list of states we visited.

On the way back, Aspasia took me to her old stomping grounds, and then back to her place for a small pit stop and look around. We extended our stay a bit and got some Chinese for dinner. Back at Tesses, we all watched some movies and just relaxed for a bit before bed.

I was really amazed at how much this felt like Texas. Even the terrain went from flat to rolling Hill Country style hills. If it weren't for the dotted lakes everywhere, I could totally believe I was driving through the Hill Country. The people in MN are my version of Texas Friendly (or as many PNW folks say, superficially friendly), and smiles given are returned. Although mostly tinged with "Was there something I could help you with?"

I gotta say, I really like Minnesota. A lot. But then again, I wasn't there in the middle of February. :D

(no subject)

Had a moment where mom called me my old name and I didn't respond. I did when she called me my current name. What was surprising was I didn't ignore her on purpose...I think for first time it was me honestly not realising she wanted my attention with that old name

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Huh apparently the old road I used to get to college has been turned into part of the Leon Creek Greenway. Looks just like it did in the early 90's.

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Sprained ankle and another nasty tumble. Gonna be a long walk back. :: hobbles home ::

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Half mile to go and l sprained out again! I keep yelling the doctors to replace then with bionic laser ankles but does any one listen to me? Noooo — at Bamberger Nature Park

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Quick update - I did make it back to the truck. Between the concussion, the back, and the ankles (twice) I. think San Antonio is trying to kill me.... — at Buddy Calk Park Trailhead

(no subject)

Confined to couch with ankle up. Played some Super Street Fighter IV 3DS online.

Opponent cheesed his way to a first victory. Figured out how to get out of his trap 2 nd round and trounced him.

3rd round was rough but once I got out of his trap I have him a good what for. He still won with that same trap since I was too low on energy when I escaped, but I managed to give him a good scar to remind him. When it came time to start a new game, he waited a long time and quit.

That made me happy...it meant he didn't want to fight against someone who could get out of his trap and beat him.

Guys...learn to use your characters. Don't rely on cheap traps or spammed moves. I use them, sure, but I don't rely on them. And if someone escapes mine, I'm good enough to recover and keep playing.

(no subject)

Damn, I've missed my family. Extended and otherwise.Wish I'd never gone into radio silence with them for so long

Also...got so much female communication today. I do so so so crave that. Quite happy tonight. :)