In the immediate future I'm mainly hoping to shake off this cold I've been fighting for almost a week now.  My current f8 status is "sick and tired of being sick and tired...".

So yeah, I've been away for a bit, because I was dating a girl and that occupied my thoughts and attention for three months, and then it was over.  I'm not happy about it, but a friend of mine put it in perspective when I complained "every time I get to be with somebody I'm really into, it goes great for about three months and then they up and leave me".  She said "yeah, that's called dating".  So, moving along...

It's hard to assess my current mood when I've got this illness.  I'm looking forward to being able to sleep without meds, to taste food, and enjoy exercise again.

I guess I promised y'all an update on everything that's been happening since August that doesn't involve Teh Girl.  So...

Exercise.  I've been doing my five mile walk pretty much every day since August, and wouldn't you know, the results have been pretty good so far.  To put it bluntly, I've lost about forty pounds.  I've got about a hundred or so more to go before I get to my reasonable goal weight, but I'm not letting that intimidate me.  I figured out how to do the walk in the mornings instead of the evenings, which has all kinds of benefits in terms of scheduling and metabolism and daily mood and whatnot.  Especially now that we're back on standard time...while I can walk in the dark, it's not ideal.

Work.  I continue to be pretty happy doing development.  Using the car analogy from my previous diary, we've basically got something you can drive to work every day, but you might not be super-comfortable taking long road-trips in yet.  We're in the process of putting the finishing touches on (the hardest part) and we're on track to meet our schedule, so that's pretty good.

Music.  I'm kind of in a lull period right now, since I'm not singing in the upcoming Bach Vespers.  I've been putting off doing any serious work learning the Christmas Oratorio, though, and I should get on that next week after I'm (hopefully) over this damn cold.  I am doing Sons of Orpheus again, but doubt I'll continue after the Christmas concerts I'm committed to - three choirs is just too much, even for one month, and I almost always find myself wanting to smack some people around at the end of those rehearsals since I feel like we could get them done in half the time if people would shut up and concentrate.  If I'm going to give up my Friday nights I would appreciate not having my time wasted.

Gaming.  I am enjoying the heck out of The Orange Box.  I've come late to the Half-Life party, but this way I get five games for fifty bucks.  Portal is by far the star of the bunch, even at only roughly three hours of initial gameplay.  There is great replay value in watching your friends play the game (one thing I've learned from that, though, is that while Portal may not be a traditional FPS combat game, if you don't have a lot of FPS experience, you'll probably find some of the later levels very difficult, not because you don't get the concept of the puzzle, but because you won't be able to execute the moves necessary, being unfamiliar with WASD+mouse controls...just like I can't stand trying to play Halo 2 on the XBox).  I also love Team Fortress 2...I like to play as Pyro and hide around corners, waiting for people to walk in front of my barbecue gun.

Cooking.  I haven't been particularly adventurous lately...I made some truly terrific pizza the other night for Teh Ys.  I know that the difference between my best and worst efforts in pizza-making is pretty small and that most people enjoy it the same either way, but I love it when I manage to nail the crust just right.  What I tend to forget if I don't make it for a while is that for the crust to be just right, that the initial kneading process has to be really pretty hard, where you're worried about whether you've made it too stiff and whether it'll be able to rise or not.  Don't worry, it will.  Maybe I should try making some bread in general, or perhaps going through some of these cookbooks I've got and trying some recipes I've never made.  I've already abandoned my blog about going to a new restaurant in Houston every week, so maybe I should try one of these blogs where I make every recipe in $FAMOUS_COOKBOOK.  The French Laundry Cookbook is a little beyond me, not in terms of skill (I'm pretty confident I can do anything in the kitchen I set my mind to), but in terms of effort and taste - I'm sorry, but I don't feel like spending five hours making what is basically an appetizer.    Maybe I'll blog about making every recipe in the Achewood cookbook.  Yeah.  I've got plenty of free time on my hands now that I'm not making the 290 nookie run every free weekend.

I must be crazy, because $95k for an airplane made in 1950 sounds pretty reasonable to me, when that airplane has a radial engine.