Odds 'n' Ends

Again I have been remiss in blogging. Work seems to experience these waves of busy-ness and then periods of calm, and the past few weeks have been a wave of busy-ness. I was alone for a week while the other editor was on vacation, then I've been having to deal with legal threats from an elementary school mad about a blog item (but I consulted the company lawyer and the blog item is fine, sheesh), and the company is still blindly feeling its way around the new consolidation, which means all of us have to come along for the (bumpy) ride. Good times.

But anyway, updates! As of this writing I have finally dropped a total of 10 pounds. The same 10 pounds I've been battling for so long, I had almost resigned myself to keeping them around just for company. It's been a struggle, no doubt, but this droppage has been achieved simply by eating better. I am probably eating with the same frequency as before, but the quality has improved. Instead of junk, I'll snack on edamame or yogurt or a cereal bar...or an occasional (small) piece of chocolate. Portion control, too, has been important. It can be a killer when you go out to eat. I try to pick a salad or something I can eat half of and take the rest home. Gone are the days of yummy fries and Taco Bell and such. Although I do crave those things sometimes. ;) I'll steal a fry off Ryan's plate every now and then. And I did indulge in many a chip at Chevys the other night. But, on the whole, I've been eating healthier, and keeping in mind that I need to breathe in my wedding dress. That has been a good motivator.

Everything wedding-related is still right on track. I'm down to a few things that I can't tackle until I know exactly how many people are coming...such as ordering favors and drawing up a seating chart (we're doing assigned tables, not assigned seats). I've been polishing off the DJ list, which is actually harder than I thought it would be because you have to put a lot of care into selecting which songs you want played when. We still have to go get our marriage license, but the court we have to go to is in Oakland, and they're only open on weekdays, and they need BOTH of us there at the same time to issue the license. So we have to plan that into one of our upcoming workdays. (Plus it's a whopping $85!) We also have to finish shopping for attendant gifts and I have to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my hair. Mom will be doing my hair, but we should have some idea in advance of how we should do it.

I have to say that I'm not in the least nervous about getting married. Lots of people talk about "cold feet" or wondering if they're doing the right thing or feeling daunted by such a huge lifetime commitment, but I am excited, confident and happy about this next step of my life. It sounds impossible, but everything is perfect. We have a nice home that we worked hard to buy and improve ourselves, both have steady and pretty well-paying jobs, we both enjoy the same things and each other, the cats are crackheads but they are happy and well-taken care of, and we aren't really struggling with anything. We don't fight (we have argued in the past, but nothing serious and it's infrequent), we both have pretty easygoing natures and we tackle life's problems together to come up with a solution. And we laugh A LOT. Things in the Hicks house are pretty good, which I am very thankful for. Marriage just seems like the next natural step, not some huge, frightening hurdle. And it's going to be fun to be able to say "this is my husband" to people. :)

Well, this is odds 'n' ends, so I'll move on to another topic, especially since this has been pretty mellow so far. So Ryan and I just recently bought an Xbox 360 (thank goodness for 6 months no interest on the Best Buy card!). I am addicted to Guitar Hero II, and I think I may soon develop carpal tunnel in both wrists. I finally beat "medium" career difficulty mode and have been dabbling in "hard" on the practice mode. They're not lying, it's hard! I don't know how people can read the "notes" that fast...or even play them that fast. There are five colored buttons on the guitar, and all of them are used in "hard" mode. Except you only have four fingers to push the buttons with, so grabbing the last button with your pinky always screws everything up. How am I supposed to get from a yellow-orange chord all the way over to a crazy green-blue thing in two milliseconds? You also have to strum with the other hand, which poses its own problems. Anyway, yes, I actually played Freebird yesterday. Let's just say it was a biotch even in medium.

Meanwhile, Ryan has been slaying Germans in Call of Duty 3. I haven't played it yet...mostly I like to watch him play. But I have kicked his butt at the tennis game and Madden '07. Yes, Madden! Who knew I could open a can of whoop-ass in video foosball?! My secret: use the "ask the coach" feature for picking plays. ;)

Um, what else. Chorus has started up again and we're working on a bunch of holiday music. We'll be doing a big performance at the giant Mormon temple in Oakland in December. They invited us to sing there, which is awesome if you've seen the temple over there. I'm not Mormon, but the architecture is pretty neat. We're also working hard in Special Blend to get a holiday set together for live parties and events this winter. If you know of someone who needs live entertainment at their party, have them check us out! www.specialblendgroup.com or www.myspace.com/specialblendgroup

Wow, this is long. OK, enough for now. Live long and prosper!