So, Skyler and I have been hanging out lately. It started with me showing up for the big Tuesday night dinners he makes for essentially anyone who wants to show up. He's cut back D&D to once a month (!) because he realized it's not been a social event so much as an obligation for everyone involved, and so instead, he's picked a loose Tuesday night dinner-and-movie thing. Chris and Sarah come, his mom and sister come, different friends on different nights, and it's overall a much diffused and more inclusive situation. After we saw that that went okay, we started hanging out to watch BSG, and that went okay, too.

I know this has the propensity to sound naive and stupid, but I can't believe the change I've seen in him over the last month, and I've heard it from a few other people, too. He started with apologies, and since then, he's been remarkably polite and conscious of other peoples' feelings. He offers to help with things, no obligations or strings attached. His entire overall tone is just different. He seems happy and grateful that anyone's giving him the time of day at all. Overall, he's much less tense, and he's been smiling a lot. It's nice to be able to hang out and not have my buttons pushed or worry about if I'm imposing on him or what asstastic thing is he going to say next? I'm glad he's making this change. It was sorely needed.

Overall, it's so strange. He's someone he hasn't been for a long while. This is the guy I fell in love with, and I don't know how I feel about that now, after we've been through so much. I'm not sure if I trust it to stick yet, and though I know that I don't have to make that decision anytime soon, it's still on my mind. Everything is so new and familiar all at once. And now that I don't have to worry about him leaving for California, there are so many possibilities. I guess we see how the cards fall.

He says that he wants to start to get to know my friends better. He realized that in the nearly two years we dated, he hardly ever saw them, and it was largely his own fault. So he's asked that when I think it's okay to do so, maybe I could include him in some group activities with my friends. The big question is this: after all the shit he pulled, are my friends going to want to get within ten feet of him?

Anyway, he's coming to the Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend with Chris and Sarah and I, and we'll be meeting Tina & Matt, and maybe Heather will show up as well. If you're a DC-area peep and you wanna come, we plan to be in DC around 10:30, do the sakuras, see the museum of Natural History, and be in Dupont for lunch at Teaism around 2pm, followed by wanderings around (I probably will want to stop at Beadazzled, maybe Candleman) until whenever. Seeing as hanging with Tina is a rarity, if she wants dinner, I might stay for dinner as well. The whole day's gonna be fun with friends.

First things first-- I'm getting a new phone, and it's free! Verizon gives you a free phone up to $150 every two years. It is time to retire my poor, old battered, beaten-up Kyocera and replace it with a shiny silver Razr. I got a flippy phone, yay.

Secondly, since I've seen this a few places on the f-list and I almost died this morning, Alanis Morrisette wins at life. I also have a total girlcrush on her smile.

I had a wonderful dinner last night. Skyler and I made lemon verbena pesto pasta with a side salad of spring greens (it all looked very pretty) and an appetizer of garlic hummus on pita. We had a riesling recommended to us by the guy at Mount Washington wines, and though it was a little sweet and nectary for what we ate, it had great apricot and pear notes, and I'd drink it again, especially chilled. For dessert, we had beautiful translucent chocolates that were incredibly delicious. We had the winter mix with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, metallic midnight blue almonds, chai tea cordials, and M&M type things. I definitely want to try the 'Blue Metallic Euphoria' mix and one of the pink springy ones. I also find it incredibly amusing that you can make your own Pantone-matched chocolate mix. At any rate, we watched BSG while I worked on some beading stuff.

Anyway, brief thoughts on Doctor Who and BattleStar Galactica, as promised (season 1 of both, only).

( Spoiler cut-- Doctor WhoCollapse )

( Spoiler cut-- Battlestar GalacticaCollapse )

Okay, back to the salt mines. I had something else to say, but I can't remember because the boss is having one of his "I'm going to say everything as condescending as humanly possible 'cause need to feel important" type days. Not even necessarily to me, but it's still no fun to hear him be a total tool to other people, either. Somebody obviously needs a cookie and a nap.

Just another day at the office: unpacking a human skull and nearly mistaking the President's office for a telemarketer.

Well. She didn't introduce herself and her exact words were "this is regarding a solicitation." You'd mistake it too.