I'm headachey. I don't know if it's a symptom or a result. I got to sleep in this morning, since we had the day off, which was good - because after waking in the middle of the night I couldn't get back to sleep. I had a good 45 minutes of just thinking through things that I don't want to deal with, like busting hump for things that are - in the grand scheme of things - meaningless and aren't appreciated by others much less gainful for myself.

I did get some cleaning done and a few hours of work logged before heading to my accupuncture appointment and off for a pre-dinner meal with Beff. This evening I'm left here w/ the aforementioned headache feeling a bit woeful while waiting for meds to kick in so I can go to bed and not lay there suffering. I've done the requisite pondering about people in my past and realized for the most part I have no one to blame but myself. I could be the one married to person X if I had played my cards right, but I know I wouldn't have been happy. Even if I didn't feel that way, I do think he cared for me a great deal. At least that's a step up from most of my other relationships where I'm left heartbroken and wanting to be loved. Blah. I know I need to make a change to get what I want, but what?

I can't even say I want kids, but I do lament my age when I think about my eggs going south after 35 (recent article spurred that thought) or seeing people with teenagers of their own that are my age. I don't want to be 60 and just finishing raising someone. I guess those thoughts don't matter since most every guy my age already has his kids. My mind is a minefield right now.

My weekend is almost over... I want to pout. I had a good one and the weather was phenominal. Friday night I ordered a couple earrings for my tragus piercing. I can't believe it's been in long enough that I can switch it out. I'm slightly bummed at the limited variety of things there are out there. Jewelry artists - hook us up!

Saturday we had lunch w/ Slips and then Beff and I headed to Altoona for some shopping and dinner at mom's. I bought a few xmas gifts, and not a ton for myself, so that's a good thing, but still had a good day. Beff drove herself so the girls and I could spend the night w/ mum. That said, I'm tired tonight. I never do sleep super well there.

After heading home today I caught some dinner w/ Ben at Applebees. Maybe I was hungry, but the pecan crusted chicken salad was incredibly good. Notice that my weekend didn't include getting much done around the house, so I guess I'll need to get on the ball later this week. For now I'm going to do some reading and clicking around before I crash.

This week has been one of those strange and rare phenomenons. The days are going reasonably fast and the evenings are dragging... ok dragging sounds like I'm complaining, don't get me wrong, this is a good thing.

Last night I got to head out for some orchard wings with Mithy and Addie. I've also been hunting for christmas gifts in the evenings and managed to get a few more ordered so I can call the nephew done at least. I've also been reading. Since I finished Narcissus in Chains last weekend I've pulled out the new paperback of short stories called Never After which has been going down pretty easily. I think I'm taking some time away from the Anita Blake series as at this point I really do NOT like her. I think she's a bit too whiney and slutty - and I hear it gets worse in future books.

One more Monday down... I'm beat despite not having a full day at the office thanks to needing pick up the Durango and having my first accupuncture appointment. They couldn't find anything they feel would cause the noise I am getting periodically, so while that's a bit frustrating, at least nothing looks like it's falling apart. As to accupuncture, it was quite the odd sensation - and not really painful at all, surprisingly. I did end up with a bit of a headache afterwards, which seems a bit counter productive since the accupuncture study is to treat migraines, but we'll see how things go in a couple weeks.

Part of the reason I'm so tired is getting pulled in a bunch of different directions and not feeling like there is enough time. The worst part is needing to do seemingly pointless small things like little bulletized status lists and the like. If I spend an hour writing up everything I do in a week, can I add a bullet that says I made a list of everything I did that week? It's even worse still when you've got to report as such saying "nothing". Can that not be implied if I don't submit? Please? Save me some time and effort.

Last night I was clicking through channels while in bed and came across V on SyFy. How cool is that?! Ah, sweet flashbacks.

I'm going to bed! What is my issue? It's been weeks since I came back from vaca and I'm still crawling into bed way early.

Things I didn't do, that I should have... general cleaning, clearing the garage for the Tib, switching out my summer/winter clothes, running the pressure washer empty, cooking the chicken I thawed, logged back in to my work computer.

So what DID I do today? Sadly, very little. I love Halloween, but I just don't feel it. I went out and used my uber coupon for a 31 cent dunkin donut, I ran through a couple stores, and I went to a couple movies. That's right - a couple. I'm in a funk and I was trying to escape it in a story line or two.

This afternoon I went to Saw VI. It's another sequel, what's to say? But it was good enough for what it is. Then this evening I went to see Paranormal Activity the movie with the tag "don't see it alone" - like I have a choice. So there I sat in the sea of friggin couples and look at me I survived. It barely gave me a minor jump at the end. Eh. Major let down in my book. Time for a bowl of cereal (late dinner) and curling up with a puppy or two or three.

This week has been a bit stressful. I'm almost caught up with documentation on one project... almost. Not quite. As for the other project, delivery early next week and some late Friday glitches encountered. Isn't that always the way? Either way, I needed the massage I had this evening even if I did need to come back and keep working instead of napping such that I could go hang w/ some peeps in celebration of halloween. I guess I should just go to bed then. I'm beat!

The girls and I had some company yesterday which spurred an impromptu Vixie walk. It pooped her out yesterday, but she's fiesty again today. More posts to wrap up the recent cruise posted! I still don't have Beth's pics of me, so it will be a while before I post photos. Not tons to say as of late - just trying to get some basics done around the house and sleeping more than usual. Hopefully it will help me fight off all the colds going around.

I've added afew more posts this evening and I'm still far from caught up on here. At least I got my butt in gear and got the fan club website updated! Now to fold and put away the clothes I washed a couple days ago. The cold weather we've come back to has most definitely inspired hibernation desires.

I'm not going to fret about not getting lots done in the evening. Frankly, I am, as expected, behind at work on both projects and struggling to get back up to speed, and for one have nothing with a deadline outside of work to worry about. As such, I'm going to allow myself to be a bit of a bum at home, I've earned it. That said I have a fuzzy girl staring at me from about 3 inches away, I think it's time to go lay down and cuddle with my fuzzy butt.

Worry not, I'm back, just putting off posting because I know words will never capture everything we saw and experienced.

Since returning I've hit my bed pretty early the past two nights and slept for 12+ hours. At this point I think I'm back on track from jet lag and feeling rested from the interesting return trip. My sinuses on the other hand are being real pissers - but I'll blame returning from 70 degree weather into 30s and rain for those issues.

Anyhow, I've posted a few of our stops worth of information, and there is much more to come!

Our last day onboard was at sea. It was a pretty quiet and slow day, but it was also a rough one! The waves were pretty large, but this was no where near as rough as it was when I was on Empress. Regardless, come late in the day the end of the cruise got "extended" a wee bit. I'm returning a beach towel to the front desk when they comment on a couple of passengers that had their life vests. I stepped back, waiting for Beth, and took in part of the conversation that unveiled that a couple windows were broken out on the third floor.

By the time Beth and I got up to one of the lounges the captain was broadcasting that we did have some broken windows and that there was no concern and they were working to repair the windows. That was all well and good until around 5something in the morning, right before our wake up call was set for. At that point the announcement came through that we had to slow down due to the damage we incurred and wouldn't be in Barcelona until noon time. Well, since our flight was at noon that was a big "oh shit". I guess I'm rolling straight into October 13th with this post, as it all kind of blends together.

For my anti-versary we were delayed as all hell. Kindly however they opened up the telephone lines and internet connections to allow us to (attempt to) get our reservations changed. Once we finally got a line we learned that everything out of Barcelona was booked and would put us behind by two days. Our next alternative (thanks to Kirk's quick planning) was to go out of Madrid, but that too wasn't until the next day.

So, we're taking a train to Madrid. To save a few bucks we took the overnight train, which was cheaper than the three hour express train, and covered us from needing to get a hotel in Madrid. I've got to say that the wait in the Barcelona train station for 9ish hours before the 9 hour train ride was slow slow slow. The train wasn't bad, but a bit of an irritation for me. Even though all four of us paid for first class, Kirk and I didn't get sleepers, the chairs didn't move too much, so it was hard to sleep.

The prize of that was getting to see the stars as we went through the countryside. Not even out on the farm was there such an uncontaminated view of the night sky. I've never seen so many and so bright stars in my life. It was quite soothing given the tiring situaton.

We got into Madrid on the 14th, and waited some more before the long flight. I got the bum seat on the flight with a little bit of a larger guy on the side of me, a chair that didn't want to go back, and a lady in front of me that clearly didn't like me leaning my forehead/pillow on the back of her chair. Again, I didn't get much sleep. But then we were back in the states, Filthadelphia to be precise. It was a bit strange to pay for things in dollars instead of euros at this point. A short wait and we were on another quick hop to Baltimore.

You'd think that the final leg would have been a nightmare, but the drive back to Johnstown wasn't too bad and went fairly quickly. Home at last at darn near midnight. I was suppose to be off work that day to go get the girls, luckily Cozy Inn is flexible and I was able to get ahold of them and they tended to the girls for an extra day. Instead I took the 15th off to get my fuzzies.

As normal, they spent several days tired as could be. Saffy was so happy to see me and more than content to cuddle with me each evening for the next three days. I, much like the girls, was tired as could be, and ready to go to bed at 7pm the next two nights. It's just been in the past few days (today is the 26th) that I've been up to 11pm+

Our last port - Naples. What you read is true, Naples is dirty and rather unappealing. Worse still on a Sunday - when NOTHING is open. Luckily we had already planned on heading to Pompeii. Pompeii was amazing. The bodies were bitchin. I can't believe how large it is. I did a report on Pompeii in elementary school, it's been a draw ever since.

This was our only day that was even slightly rainy and it was barly drizzling for part of the day and overcast. This was also the first train trip where we saw the famed thieving/begging children on the trains. Shameful that parents would use their kids like that.

After returning from Pompeii, and boy were my feet aching from the large stone streets etc we headed for Da Michelle to get some authentic pizza. But, as mentioned, most everything is closed there on Sunday! We found it, but the gate was down. We headed across the street to another pizza shop where Beth and I shared a margharita con bufalo za that hit the spot!

From there we wandered back towards the ship, stopping in one store where I snagged some limoncello to bring home and the two little shops in the port as they were our only option to get my standard shot glass and postcard.

A day at sea - once again, not a moment too soon. I slept until nearly noon. After a nice calm lunch we headed to the art auction, which is where I spotted my Gockels. I wanted something special to commemorate the trip and now that I've got my Simon Bulls it was time to go for a Gockel. Too bad I don't have the cash to drop on a Peter Max. Instead of one, I ended up with two on a package deal, spent more than I wanted to overall, but I am happy. I'm still waiting for them to arrive, but I think I know where they're going. Both are heart shapes, but one is a liberty piece.

The show on this particular evening wasn't one that enthused us, but we went anyhow and am I ever glad I did! It was a Beatles tribute band and they were phenominal - heck, Paul and John really looked like Paul and John. They really reminded me how much the Beatles did that I do enjoy. I need to get a best of CD or something.

And then there was Athens! It was a breeze to catch the bus and then the train we needed to get to the Acropolis. Actually, we got off the train at the bottom, the non-traditional stop and immediately worried as it looked straight up to the Acropolis, but we pressed on with the recommendations and found that the back entrance led to a slight grade that wasn't busy at all - perfect.

The bummer here is that much of the monuments were in a state of repair or reconstruction, but they are still quite impressive. Go figure half of the work being done is to repair attempts to maintain it from years ago. Leave it up to modern man to screw up amazing things. After a brief delay due to separation issues (I'll leave that story to Beth to tell) we got around to see the Acropolis, Erechtheion, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, the Parthenon, parts of the Roman Agora, Hadrian's arch, and the temple of Olympian Zeus.

Then there was, as most stops, some shopping along Plaka and then we stopped at a small outdoor eatery for some local food. It wasn't the best and sure didn't seem super "authentic" but it was decent grub. Better still was the freddochino I had which was the pick me up of caffeine I needed. This stop didn't seem as rushed as many others, perhaps we were settling into a pace or perhaps there just wasn't as much to cram in.