December 21st

What's new pussy cat??

There've been some fun stuff in our life recently!

I went to AIDA at Hale Center Theatre with my family. It was technically the last time I'll be doing that with them as they did not buy me tickets for this next year, and trust me it was a FANTASTIC one to end on. I don't know why I'd never heard of this play. It was written by Elton John and Tim Rice, and I thought it was ironic that it matched the plot of The Pirate Queen significantly, but was SO much better written. I was thoroughly impressed. Both Aida and Ramades had INCREDIBLE voices, and the ensemble did well, and the staging was phenomenal. I was drawn in and captured. I even cried when Merib died (spoilers) and I've been listening to the music here and there.

Atlantean finally found some work working with his bosses younger brother (who got kicked off the job site for getting into a fight with another guy) and he helped him work on something nearer to home. He came home apologizing if he smelled like cigarette smoke and bringing me the 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese I asked him to pick up (and a sneaky bin of blueberries he bought for me, and denied was in there when I accused him of it lol I love him) so I could make some really cool Bruschetta Chicken Bake, which was basically chicken covered in stuffing and cheese. Atlantean loved it, and kept saying, "My wife is a good cook!" I like it when he's happy :)

On Tuesday, I also took the morning shift and went to a panel! One of my old teachers facebook shouted-out to all of her old Novel Writing class alumni and she was overflooded with responses. So she put together a panel for a couple of us to come and talk to them. I took the morning shift and got a ride with my mom up there to find them in the breakroom discussing the concept of "idleness" versus "leisure" while sipping tea. Classic Paradigm. I met some old alumni, some graduating almost seven years ago. One of the girls had worked with Joe Biden and had other impressive credentials. I also saw a newly married friend of mine who I'd been wanting to get together and have newlywed friends, so I asked her if February was good for her, and then got her number.

We have been going upstairs to hang out with Jinn and Troll to do Family Home Evening with them. Their little Unicorn is growing so fast! She's already one and I can see her being so attentive and cute! Jinn taught me how to make deviled eggs (it's SUPER easy guys - and I LOVE dill in them) and then we watched Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, which made Atlantean cry, he loves that show and it is DARLING! It apparently is very hard to find an American copy, and you have to have a special international disc player to play anyones bought in England. Troll printed me out a copy of his manuscript and offered it to me. I told him I wasn't promising I'd read it, but that I might give it a go, which might have been mean, but I wanted to be honest up front. He just said to treat it like a baby, not to show it to anyone and not to wreck it.
I'm also currently reading a lot of scripts and a book called One Second After which is all about what would/could happen to a nation where it hit by an EMP in our atmosphere and all our electricity taken out. It's kind of horrific and based on all true science. It was recommended on the Congress floor as a book everyone should read.

The next day, Atlantean was excited because he was finally going to be able to work with my brother Wolfman again, and it turns out they had both missed working with each other, which I think is so sweet. They went into work together, and even came and visited me together after they headed home  little early. Then Atlantean and Wolfman went and bought Wolfman his first pair of D&D dice (blue with gold lettering - they're beautiful and I wouldn't have excepted anything less, I knew he'd choose blue) and then they brought me some lunch. It was a late lunch, especially when a lady from Accounting told me they were letting us go early today since it was snowing so hard. Atlantean wasn't picking up his phone, so I just assumed I'd wait the extra half an hour and see him at five, but then a co-worker offered me a ride, and she was super nice and cool to talk to, and maybe we'll become more of friends because of it. I like where I work :)

That night we went with Atlantean's mom and went mattress shopping. His dad and her have been concerned about our bed, because although it's free, it's not a very good bed (hence why it probably WAS free...) but it was a bed at the time, and Atlantean and I are having back aches every morning, we know it's time to switch, and for Christmas, his parents are offering to buy us one! How kind is that! So we went to the mattress store. I discovered I am not a fan of memory foam and it's hardness upon bouncing onto it. I like bouncy mattresses or hybrids of the two. Atlantean's family has a relative that is going to help us get a discount, so they said don't worry about the price. We found one this relative's mother had mentioned she loved, and we were both a fan, namely because it was a hybrid and had both memory foam and springs. We didn't settle on anything, but it was nice to go look around. Atlantean and I agreed they ALL felt better than our old bed and would love to sleep on any one of them. I also fell in love with a pillow which was super plush faceted on one side and gel pillow on the other. Thought it was 109.99, so I gave up on that one lol.
That night, we stayed over at his old home and listened to scriptures and had prayers and it was kinda nice for a change. He was hinting he wanted to leave, but I wanted to listen to scriptures. When we got home, he and I danced around the kitchen to some gospel songs, we watched an episode of Teen Titans and he let me attempt to put beads in his hair since I thought it would look cool, and they stayed in there until the morning when he ran his hands through his hair in the shower to wash it and cried out when they came out. He thought it was cool too. I think I might invest in some hair beads for him. Or even beard beads. I like a man with hair longer than mine.

This morning, I made tater tots for breakfast and whipped up a  pasta salad that my mom helped me accumulate ingredients for since Atlantean has no place at his work where he can heat things up so we have to think of cold meals for him. Then I walked to work and it was the slipperiest day of my life! It was ridiculous! I was constantly either baby walking and I was almost light headed from how much I had to look down and alternate between my face guard or my sunglasses since I can't wear them at the same time or the glasses will fog up. I'm kind of glad for this next enormous break, but I am also dreading it since I won't know what to do with myself and I'll get out of shape and out of practice lol. I'll probably take a lot of walking trips to Macey's.
I'm also planning a D&D campaign and it's turning into a whole amazing (hopefully) accumulation of all these stories that I started and created characters for, but had no idea where to go with. I think it should be pretty cool once Atlantean finishes his campaign, which is AWESOME BTW.


Tonight I'm attempting to make Eggs Benedict with Siren! Jinn told me the hardest part is not burning the hollandaise sauce!

Wish us luck!
~Nymph

December 18th

Speeeeeeeeed post!

Happy one month anniversary to us! Atlantean and I have been officially married four weeks, and now to the day - one month!
Now for a speed post!

My family and Atlantean and I really enjoyed Star Wars, we saw it on Friday. I got out of the theaters thinking it was incredible, but was slightly disappointed that my dad had to poke a million holes in it (even though he's always right grrrr)
That night, we had a great session of D&D which Wolfman came to (yay!) and we got farther along and more intrigued in the plotline. I love Atlantean's DMing so much :#3
The next day, Atlantean and I went to Target and bought a couple things (including a vacuum!) without spending a cent because of all our Target gift cards from the reception. I know the people in line were judging us, cuz it was crazy busy, and I kind of felt resentful for that. Then after we got the kitchen/necessity stuff, we put a Target gift card budget and bought DVDs so we could start furnishing our home with a good collection :) We also visited Atlantean's parents who agreed they would buy us a bed for Christmas.

Sunday we went to two blocks of church, but my back started hurting after second block, that we paid our tithing and then went home where Atlantean gave me an impressive full body massage! It's because of our bed that our backs have been hurting so badly...
We ran to my old home to drop off presents, barely missed the Keps, and then went to dinner at Atlantean's old house, which then we had to leave kind of hurriedly from to have an awesome game night with Pixie and her mother and boyfriend at our apartment. We played a game they brought called Sheriff of Nottingham, and Pixie's boyfriend is actually slowly impressing me with how funny and dry he can be. Maybe he'll grow on me yet.

My mom and I bought us food this morning! Namely ten-grain hot cereal for me since I'm sick of eating pasta for breakfast and wanna try something new! That was of course we ran to the Social Security Administration Building and got my name legally changed! I am officially Nymph Atlantean now!! (You know what I mean) And my new SSN will be coming in the mail soon!

Life is good!
~Nymph

December 15th

Just wanted to mention an awesome thing that happened yesterday with Atlantean.

Atlantean got really productive yesterday. When I left for work, he stayed home from work, and not only got the headlight fixed, but did the laundry, applied for graduation and set up his computer. He was incredible! And I'm telling you right now that it was incredible to see the man I had married truly come to life! He was so different! So confident and self-assured. He was attentive, intriguing and vibrant! I was shocked by the man I had married! And honestly so amazed to be his eternal partner! He confessed he was proud with himself with accomplishing so much. I was too! Just the night before he was down, and then the next morning he soared! I love him! and I know he will not continuously be this hard-working man (who is all the time??) but he seriously amazed me and I can't wait to see this side of him just blossom!

So him and I went to Marco's Pizza, took the pizza home. Atlantean seems to be keeping his job as the money keeper more seriously, and wrote down our bank account total on the whiteboard, and stated his goal with it. I totally agreed. After Marco's, I agreed to go to Game Haven, in fact, I was almost eager, and when we got there, we played demo games into the night! I myself was shocked! We picked up Trash Wars from Gangrene Productions, and tried multiple different kinds of Fluxx, like Batman Fluxx and Doctor Who Fluxx, and the thing is with Fluxx, with any kind of Fluxx,  you can't just play one game. Atlantean says that's like only having one potato chip. So we played game after game and just sincerely enjoyed each others company. We also discovered that the different kinds of Fluxx are played differently, and even though it's more of Atlantean's thing, I had a good time figuring out the differences and the strategies and even discussing them later. We had a really great impromptu date night and both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! Atlantean was even hinting that he wanted to do something else, which has never happened in our marriage when it comes to card and board games. I was the one pushing him to keep playing!
Afterward we got ice cream and went home to watch a Lets Play! of a game we had seen and both been interested in.

I could not have married a better man,
~Nymph

December 14th

Recently had to feed the missionaries. Thought it was gonna be an embarrassing social flop but kind of turned out well considering the missionaries scarfed it down. Liked their message because it was short and sweet. I made Chinese chicken from one of my bridal shower recipes and then collaborated with the lady who had given it to me for advice. She was super nice.

Loving our new ward. Went to a relief society white elephant with Jinn. Jinn and I made a plan to steal one thing and then steal it from one another so it would be safe (when it's stolen twice - it's safe) I'm realizing more and more how much of a minimalist I am and don't want a lot of things. I got chocolate and I was perfectly fine with that. I'd rather not have to get rid of obscure statues and useless junk.

Other than that, Altantean and I have been pretty happy. It's weird how time passes now. It's crazy how the time still continues to fly. I've almost just gotten used to not paying any attention to it as it zips by. We've almost been married a month. I'm thinking about new projects and next steps. I'm attempting to animate the Amalgamation at my work. Also, a lady at my work is going to bring me an inflatable shark that swims in the air and I'm super stoked.

I'm glad I have the good marriage and the good man that I have. I hear all these horror stories of over-indulgent husbands or selfish husbands, and while I'm sure it's just usual gossip to talk about husbands like that, and while I'm sure Atlantean and I will become older and mislerier, I still know I have a good man. Just last night we were talking about kids and when we wanted to have them and if we'd ever be ready and this morning he started to feel like he wanted to be more responsible and productive for the kids we'd have someday. I love him. I adore him.

We had a slam poetry night that my mom put on last night at Paradigm High. I'm so proud of her and the impressive work she does. She kept pushing and pushing for her poetry and she pulled it off, and it was very impressive. One of the poems, even though I'd read it before, gave me chills the entire time it was being read. Slam poetry is pretty darn cool. Mom also had a lot of people who didn't show up so she asked for volunteers to read for them, so I jumped on the opportunity, as did Atlantean and he did great too. He hopes to further and push himself by going to things like this. I hope it helps him :)

Other things ... we had a huge fundraiser at work today with a silent auction and awesome food. It was pretty darn cool :)

All for now
~Nymph

December 11th

What to tell ... what to tell...

We had another successful D&D night with Aos Si. He also is cleaning out his room since he's moving to Atlantean's old room and he gave Atlantean a bow and arrows and he gave me a punching bag stand, which was seriously a huge shocker because I have always wanted one.

I also agreed to feed the missionaries on Tuesday, turned down the position of visiting teacher and am excited to see Star Wars on Friday, and working through new marital arisals. Did Yoga this morning with my mom, it was cool. She bought me Arby sliders. I think I'm a little fatter than I've ever been in my life so far...

That's about it in my life.
Also really trying to work out the kinks in my Amalgamation script, and possibly my musical script. I hesitate to say this, but the links to both the Amalgamation installments are on this blog, and they are my ORIGINAL WORK, so don't go stealing them. Really hardcore editing these scripts is both invigorating and exhausting.

Just ... here for now
~Nymph

December 5th

I haven't been terribly happy this morning. In fact I've been kind of irritated, and I don't want to blame it on my husband, but it's just small things that irk me. I don't know if it's just the marital bliss just finally polishing off, or if there's a single unseen thorn in my side, or there's something I'm lacking from my life, but I have had the urge to snap a little more today and I don't want to do that to Atlantean. Might be cuz I'm on my period though.
Anyway, just an update I guess.

~Nymph

December 4th

If nothing else, I want to talk about two great evenings I managed to have with some of our brothers and some of Atlantean's friends! I really want to keep moving forward in life, so I might also cover some of the projects I'm currently engaged in.

For starters - D&D! We had our first official Dungeons and Dragons event with Aos Si and our newest edition - Wolfman! It finally felt right to let my brother join the guild, especially since I don't see him like I used to. Wolfman made a character named Travis and we told him all about our characters and actually had a very successful evening, with Atlantean as our DM significantly moving the plot along and having some really cool scenes to boot. I think Wolfman had a good time for his first encounter, and even really tried getting into character. We had a good time and I even very successfully made Spaghetti Pie which was a meaty casserole that all three of them liked! Atlantean even was excited to see the leftovers in the fridge later. He loved it! And I fed them! Got a whole dinner together by myself and everything and it tasted great! I was worried about the noodles - but it all turned out fine! There was a little fiasco before dinner where Atlantean and Aos Si's mother called and asked them to come over and help move a piano into their brother's house, and while both Atlantean and Aos Si didn't want to say no, they kept saying that dinner had JUST come out of the oven, and I just thought it kind of ridiculous how his family doesn't plan anything and just expects them to be available. But they called back eventually and said they had different help coming. Even Aos Si was happy they didn't have to go. Aos Si was more calm than I'd seen him in a while, taking things very well and playing D&D very strategically and intelligently. I think we're gonna have a good team ;)
On top of that, Aos Si also brought a whole bunch of snacks, so we ate those and then he just left them for us! (Intentionally) so we could have just that little bit more of food! It was super cool and kind of him :)

The next night - we were called over (this was Saturday) to Atlantean's friends house (oh gall, I have to think of names...) Imma call him Oni because he likes Japanese stuff and he's kind of a little devil because he keeps tempting Atlantean to buy expensive model games. We went over to Oni's house to help him hang up some Christmas lights for his mother. The funny thing was, Dwarf and Oni called Atlantean over to help and because Atlantean is so tall, he could just reach up and plunk the holders into the gutter. Perks of marrying a tall guy. What would have been a half an hour venture turned into about five to ten minutes. Dwarf, Oni and Atlantean all went inside and had pizza (I joined them, but with less pizza) and they started reminiscing, especially to me, telling me all of their stories like how they threw rock hard licorice at the ceiling fan and it exploded, or how they shot fireworks into the snowbank and found ash the next spring. Just fun stuff like that. I see Atlantean light up in ways I can't make him when he gets around these friends. These stories and memories reach long back and they fulfil a certain part of him, and I was excited when he finally looked like he was enjoying his chatting with them. He's been concerned in the past that they have nothing to talk about, and while it's true that they mostly talk about pop culture and video games, new movies, board games, etcetera, there's certainly some merit and fun to it. So Atlantean whispered to me, "I kind of want to invite them over." I knew his relationship with some of his longest friends is important, and I wanted to nurture it if not be a part of, so I was all for it. I also had Oni's mom offer me a lot of Christmas decoration, of which I took a single angel Christmas tree topper and a shower curtain (not a Christmasy one, just a plain, but cute, shower curtain) I just didn't feel like I wanted to start this massive decoration fiesta of bins and bins of Christmas decorations. Maybe it's just because we're young and don't actually own a house yet, but I just kind of like the idea of a minimalistic Christmas, or holidays in general. That's one way I suppose I rebel and I don't want to buy into our rich white culture. Maybe it'll change, but for now, I enjoy having limited decorations. Then we went and visited Oni's mom's bunnies! I tried to hold every single one! Oni's mom may have kind of a scattered lifestyle, but I like the way she is generally pretty easy-going and wants to share whatever she has. Also, I don't love her boyfriend. I know she's had an abusive friend in the past, and he's probably a step up, but her boyfriend (whom even Atlantean doesn't know that well) is kind of pushy, selfish and weird... and that's me being really judgmental and mean, but he'd say stuff like, "Maybe you'd listen when I say it the first time" or push her to do things when she was obviously in the middle of something else. Apparently now half her storage shed is full of over 1,000 Sci Fi and Fantasy novels from him, and all I've ever seen him do is sit down in front of a monitor and play video games. I dunno. She takes it all pretty well, which just shows again what a kind of cool person she is. I mean, I'm not in love with her, but she is someone you can kind of easily adore. She also owns a lot of bunnies, so that might be a bonus. She's kind of a "come what may" gal. Takes life a day at a time, I think. Always open and pretty kind ;) One of her bunnies is a show winner and would be certified if more bunnies had shown up to the competition, which is only bragging rights for her, she admits, but it still kinda frustrates her. Two of her male bunnies, when their cages were opened, they just stared at each other. Oni's mom said they were talking to each other, and she said it was all tough talk at that lol. Bunnies are cute and fun to hold, but I don't think I'd ever want one as a pet unless it was for meat. They're not cuddly or friendly enough for me to keep as a pet. I'll keep Fuzzy, whom I fall more and more in love with everyday. :) What a cuddly kitty. It's fun figuring out her part in our little family. I also think Oni's mom was happy to have all her boys back. She's kind of like a second mom to Atlantean and them.
So Atlantean invited Oni and Dwarf over and I consider it a successful night with chatting about pop culture. I made myself some Hot Totty with some ingredients my mom had kindly supplied when we had gone to pick up a printer my family had offered (which hopefully we can find the chords for) but then I really tried to immerse myself in the conversation and ask the boys questions about the pop culture and the story and it was actually a very enjoyable conversation and I feel I gained some ground in that friend group, so I was happy about that :)

So two successful outings at our home! Our success rate so far is good! Now for projects!
My next big project is putting together a day for the Amalgamation script reading part 2! It's not as good of a script, or even all that impressive, but I want an excuse to get together, have kind of a housewarming party, and what can I say, this script came out of me and I wanna hear it outloud, hear opinions on it. Unfortunately Dryad can't make it, which I just realized is one of the main people who made noises and reactions during the readings, which makes me sad, but I guess we'll have to do with what we have. Glad we have this new printer now :) Now just to buy paper...

Other than that, I went with my mom to Yoga for the first time this morning. Physical exercise and community classes like that make me really happy, so I was really cheery for the rest of this morning. It was hard, and my legs were shaking even if I was mentally certain that I could keep going. At some points, I even just willed myself to say, So what? They're shaking! Let them shake! I had to accept where I was at, and if that meant letting my legs shake - so be it. So we're working on that. My mom recently discovered that she has planar fasciitis or something like that, and it makes it difficult to walk and get exercise, so we're both excited to do this together. We talked with the yoga teacher after, and she was SUPER nice. She made me want to be like her, very attentive, cares what people have to say, seems to authentically care about people. It was really cool. Cool lady.
Other small projects. I'm going to Star Wars with my family. I'm also going to Savior of the World, along with AIDA at Hale Center Theatre this month. They're paying for all of those tickets. And then we're going to Jumanji with Dwarf and Oni. I think.
Also - my old Novel Writing teacher popped up on Facebook and asked old students or alumnis to come in and talk on a panel for her younger class. I wanted to prove that Novel Writing or writing in general can lead to many things (like scripts, musicals, comics, short stories and other things I've worked on over the years)  I wanted to represent the other genres, so I really tried to jump on the opportunity, I got a yes from my old teacher, a date, a ride with my mom and work off from my other receptionist gal! So I'm set! And really excited to go talk to kids on a panel! Wow!

Hm. Guess my other goals and projects, I'm just trying to make a good meal every Friday for the boys and for D&D so they'll want to come over.
Life is good.

As for married life (lol, what this blog is about) I have married the most wonderful man on the planet. The other day (Saturday morning actually) he wrapped me up in blankets, told me to rest and did all of the chores. Last night, when we realized we hadn't put the Arctic Guard on the car, I hesitantly offered to go do it, but he ranted about how "HECK NO. I'm the husband - I do all the outside things!" And I just. Guys. Guys. I just - I just - I JUST LOVE HIM. He's INCREDIBLE. I can't see how nobody saw or sees him the way I do. He's remarkable. He's wonderful, he's kind, considerate, and makes goals like, "No comic books in the bedroom" or "whenever I come home, I want to ask what I can do to help" or "Every day I want to make sure you feel totally and utterly loved" I mean, how remarkable is that? I feel so inadequate all the time compared to his endless compliments and service. I have married an angel. He's incredible. And I hope to even come close to being worthy of him.
Also, he lets me play musicals throughout my house whenever and wherever I want.
Obviously an angel.
I just love how chill he is. At first it kind of bugged me, but I've come to rely on it if not even envy it. I want to be as calm as that all the time. Gall I adore him.

I am truly happy :)
~Nymph