Up The Hill

Saturday was my birthday and we made plans special in order to celebrate it.  We’d been talking about what to do for my birthday on and off for a couple of days, and I’ve been so sick lately that we made two plans.  Plan “A” was in case I was having a decent day, and plan “B” was in case I wasn’t doing too well.  No matter the outcome, we had planned on going out to lunch (being that I’d have the best chance at eating something “fancy” earlier in the day) and then after lunch we figured we’d decide on what exactly to do the rest of the day.

I woke up and got to have breakfast and Master Pravus brought me my presents!  I was excited to open my package.

The first thing I noticed was an Eternal Sonata game guide!  I have wanted this ever since I got the game (the day it came out!)  I keep playing the game without it (because I love it) and I have a bunch of the achievements, but the collectable score pieces in the game are a complete bitch and it’s pretty much impossible without a guide.  Seriously.  Try Googling it if you don’t believe me.  I’m a completionist though so I never give up on a game until I get all the (offline) achievements.  Though, that doesn’t mean I’m fast about it or anything.  I just kind of complete games on my own time.  Still, now I’ll be able to do it!  Woo hoo!

The second thing I got was new jewelry for my septum piercing!  I liked it, but unfortunately the company sent the wrong gauge.  I hate ordering jewelry online because that happens a lot.  The company will measure the balls on the end of the jewelry instead of measuring the bar that goes through your piercing and then they are wrong a lot.  It’s really annoying.  So, we’re trying to exchange it for the right size but in the meantime they sent an 18 gauge when I wear a 16g.  Fuckers.  Hopefully I will have pictures with my new jewelry when we fix that.

After I got dressed, Master Pravus took me to a local fish place to get some lobster bisque.  It’s my favorite soup and it’s completely blended so we figured we would give it a shot for my birthday.  I knew it’d make me nauseous but I think sometimes you gotta suffer a little bit for the sake of a celebration.  Ha.  I took some nausea meds and was nauseous most of the day anyway, but it was worth it.

Master Pravus took a picture of me while we were waiting on bisque.  He said I looked so happy with my tea.  Well, of course I was!  I love me some tea!

After our lunch we decided to go up the hill.  I wasn’t having a great day physically (I barely slept the night before.) but I’m about to start some new kinds of meds for my unspecified autoimmune disorder, and even if Master Pravus finds permanent work we probably still won’t get to go back up the hill for quite a while because of it.  So, it seemed our last chance for a while.  We knew I would need my wheelchair anyway but we decided that if I got too tired or anything at all we would just turn around and go back home.  Gotta be a little crazy on your birthday, says we.  Otherwise you risk not livin.’

So, before going up the hill we stopped at the nearby coffee shop to get me an earl grey tea to bring on the hour long trip.  My best shot at surviving a hill trip is a lotta lotta caffeine.  It’s at altitude and it’s a much higher elevation than Denver so even on a good day I do struggle up there a bit.  One thing which I really love about going up the hill though is the gorgeous mountain views.  It’s about an hour drive to the casino town, and the drive is so pretty!  Just going up and back feels like an adventure on its own even without getting out of the car.  I really love it.

Before starting on our journey, Master Pravus gave me $20 as play money to gamble with.  Usually he will let me gamble whatever little “allowance” he gives me, but then at the end of the day I give any and all money in my little wristlet back to him.  I don’t get to “keep” it, and I know that if I lose all I have then I lost all I have.  We only play penny slots when we go so we’re not huge gamblers anyway.  $20 would have been more than enough for a full day.

Surprisingly, each casino we went to wound up having free play for me!  I guess I should have expected that, being that it was my birthday and all, but I didn’t.  It was kind of cool because I put very little actual cash into the machines.  Hehe.

From the time we went up the hill, I wasn’t feeling very good at all.  We only stayed two hours and then we drove back down.  I’m pleased to say that my wristlet had just a bit over $30 at the end of the day, so the machines didn’t beat me!  Tee hee.  I was glad that I got to play the few games I really like though.  There’s a Princess Bride game and a Jackpot Party game that I always play when we go to the casinos, and I got to play an Alice in Wonderland game I like a lot too. 

Master Pravus found a Game of thrones game we had never seen before, and he had a lot of fun on it.  The last time we went to the casino was back when Master Pravus accepted this contract, so it had been a while.  We don’t go a heck of a lot anyway, just when there is something spur of the moment to celebrate.  I do like having constant free hot tea at my disposal and being able to play adult “video games.”

When you get done with each game, you get to cash out your ticket in the ticket machine, and he let me keep any actual coins I got for permanents so that I could feed Bankie!  He reminded me it was just because it was my birthday, but I think I might have had five dollars in change for Bankie when I got home that night!  Sweet!  It got to the point that when we went to the redemption machine I was giggling and saying “PIGGIE FOOD!” so only Master Pravus could hear me.  Casinos are loud though.  Master Pravus thought it was cute.

Our drive home was really nice.  We left while the sun was still up and we got to watch it set.  Master Pravus thought that maybe one last stop would be in order on the way home and he decided to take me to Toys R Us to try to find an aerator for the sea monkies.  You know how excited I was over those little guys?  Well..  I’m having trouble with them.  I have grown sea monkies before and I know how to take care of them, but we had a sudden cold snap I wasn’t prepared for in the house. 

You’re supposed to turn their light off at night (to simulate the sun) and we had days that were high seventies making the house quite warm so I didn’t think it would be an issue (it hadn’t been yet)!  Well, with the cold snap I woke up shivering, and when I checked the thermostat it was only 65*!  Sea monkies do better around 75-80* and these had only just hatched so I was worried about them.  I checked on them as soon as I was able, and more than half of them had died in the cold.  Awful.

As I said, this kit didn’t have the aerator (which is essentially a crappy piece of shit little straw that shoots bubbles into the water so the sea monkies can breathe) and so I had been doing it the other way, which was to stir with a normal plastic drinking straw gently to try to incorporate more air.  Despite this, (and leaving the heat lamp on) I lost even more sea monkies the next night and I was really sad about it.  I had been doing so well!  There are only six sea monkies in the tank now, and I’m determined not to give up on them.  The first sea monkey kit we ever bought was at Toys R Us though so Master Pravus thought they might have the aerator just to give these guys a better chance.  I still have that spare egg packet and I’m not afraid to use it if I have to, but I am not giving up on my sea-ciety yet!!

Toys R Us did in fact have the aerator, and that aerator came in a kit (with no tank) but it had extra food and some more eggs and water purifier, so now I know that if these sea monkies fail I have even more!  Equipped with sea-cessories we took the rest of the trip back home.  As soon as we got home, I aerated the crap out of the tank, and it looks like the few sea monkies I have right now are getting a bit bigger!  Maybe it’s helping.  It’s surely not hurting.

Unfortunately we had to be up stupidly early the next day for Infusion, so I got showered and ready and then Master Pravus went to bed while I stayed up doing chores and crocheting.  It was a very nice birthday and I had a good time even if I wasn’t feeling the best.  Master Pravus went out of his way to make it a special day for me and I appreciate that so very fucking much.

=^^=

Know who else’s birthday it was?  If you remember, last year Master Pravus took me to the shelter to adopt Dongalor!  This means Dongalor is two now (he was about one when we got him).  Since it was Dongalor’s birthday too, we couldn’t very well go without getting him a present, now could we??

So Little Man got this cute little electronic cat toy.  It’s a green ball with a feather that sticks out the top and when you turn it on the ball rolls around which makes the feather move.  I’ve bought electronic toys for cats before and never had a cat like them.  Usually they are too scared to chase said toy around, and so when Master Pravus chose this for Dongalor I was a little nervous.  I didn’t say anything, it was his choice, but I just was vaguely wondering if Dongalor would be scared of the toy or not.

Well, we turned the toy on for Dongalor, and he did seem a tiny bit reluctant for the first minute or two, but we sure warmed up to the thing!  He LOVES it, and even when I am crocheting he doesn’t try to attack my yarn.  It’s awesome.  He he.  Not that we don’t still play with him manually, but this thing does keep him out of trouble when we’re too tired or otherwise indisposed.  Super good find!

Styx, of course, wants nothing to do with Dongalor’s toy.  That’s just as well, it’s not her birthday for months.