December 18th, 2017

And so it begins; finals week for Max and Hal. Hal has this week off at the museum due to his finals, so I didn't get to see him at all today. He texted a few times to say he was out of this test or that one. He's feeling pretty good about the tests he's taken, which is good. But he's got a lot to do between classes to prepare for the next test, so I wasn't able to see him after work either. It's strange, it wasn't so long ago that this was my normal, go to work, go home, no one to see or spend time with. But I've been having lunch with Hal regularly for so long that lunch felt lonely. And then after work he's usually taking me home at least if we don't go spend some time together. Riding the bus home felt kinda odd. Though it was amusing for the driver, Yemi, to be so happy to see me again. She was worried something might have happened, but was thrilled to learn that I have a boyfriend now who gives me rides.

Work itself was good. Things are starting to get back to normal after the introduction of our new exhibit. We are still getting a lot of people wanting to see Nephmesu, and so our volume is still up from this time last year. But not like it was these last two weeks. We've adjusted to having so many guests that even as busy as it has been, we actually felt like things were slow.

So I've been home since after work, had a little bit of time and went looking in to progress at DIA. I was curious how the earthquake might have affected things, but being on the far side of the city they didn't feel it. There was a couple of items in the news concerning DIA though. Firstly that since they were having to rebuild the concourse, they've decided to go ahead with a long overdue expansion. But while the earthquake didn't cause any problems, there was some electrical problems yesterday that delayed some flights and no word on what the cause was. Finally, people are reporting items missing in unusually high numbers.

It's important to note that people aren't losing things out of their luggage, nothing is being taken. Mostly it's that items lost aren't being returned. There's always the lost and found right, well people are still losing things, but nothing's being turned in as found. So when travelers come to lost and found hoping something might be turned in, nothing ever is. It's a strange situation, which is probably the only reason it's being mentioned.

I've been scanning the news looking for mysterious break ins or anything that resembles what had happened along Nephmesu's tour. I can't find anything, nor am I finding anything for Portland either. I'm wondering if the break ins were due to a road hand that might have quit between San Fran and Portland. It's still possible the break in's had nothing to do with Nephmesu, but if not that's an awful lot of coincidence. I'm just not sure how to look in to who was working on the road crew, so I have no way of finding out who might have quit at any time. I also have no legal authority.

I did check the message boards that had also noticed the break ins. They never did make the connection with the tour, so their theories are wild. Nothing strikes me as plausible, much less likely. Especially not the UFO claims. I mean really, if they can teleport matter why bother with opening any doors? Besides, nothing was ever missing.

Tomorrow will be my Friday. I can look forward to another day like today I think.

December 17th, 2017

Sunday morning meeting, not unexpected. With the Holidays upon us, we discussed a seasonal get together for the employees. Of course not to take sides and alienate anyone who doesn't share any particular religion (Good!) we'll celebrate the Solstice itself, which falls on the 21st this year, Thursday evening. After work they've made reservations at The Lucky Strike, a nearby bowling alley. Everyone is encouraged to come, and we can each bring a friend or significant other.

Since Hal and I would be each others significant other, we discussed inviting friends. I thought of Candace considering she so rarely gets out, but I wasn't sure I'd also be able to invite Sam. And I didn't want to dictate to Hal who he should invite. Hal said it wasn't a bad idea though, and he said I should talk to Candace and just test the water and see. If she wants to go and Sam's okay with it, great. If he wants to be there, Hal can invite him. My other concern was of course Max. She's always been my plus one, so she might resent me inviting anyone else. Hal figured if he wasn't inviting Sam, he could then invite Max. And if Candace said no, then I could invite Max and he could invite his roommate or something.

So after work I called Candace and talked to her about it. Just let her know what was going on, which since it fell on Thursday made it easy to discuss plans for that day. Candace actually said she and Sam were planning on staying in those days. They'dve been happy to have me as usual, but they didn't want to go out. At first I thought it might be their monthly feast, but she said that would be tomorrow night. She didn't offer any explanation, just that they didn't want to go out, and that it was fine if I wanted to go to the party.

Seemed kind of odd, but she wasn't forthcoming so I didn't pry. It freed me up to ask Max, who when I called was quick to say yes. I guess she's already feeling the stress of finals week, and having some way to relax in the middle of the week was a welcome diversion. She said she only had one final left on Friday, and that it was late in the day so she could study in the morning. Or well, after lunch if was able to get blasted.

Which reminded me about Hal's finals. So I called him to let him know that his plus one was free to be used and took the chance to ask if the party would interfere with his finals. He said he'd have a final on Friday morning, but that he was confidant about the test and wasn't worried about studying the night before. I get the feeling he doesn't have anyone else to ask, he actually seemed disappointed that I didn't have someone for him to invite. I asked about his roommate, but Hal suggested that was a last resort sort of thing. The guy seems nice enough, I've only seen him in passing, but I guess that's the way it is for Hal anyway. Hard to invite someone you don't see very often, even if you do live with them.

Anyway, that's why I'm a bit late getting to this: all the talking. Well, that and watching the news. I hadn't mentioned it yesterday 'cause I had my own things going on, but the earthquake caused damages to I-70 and has been backing up traffic something godawful. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt due to the falling rocks, but there was one car that was trapped over night while emergency crews were trying to get to them. Traffic is being routed through the other passes, which aren't exactly designed for that volume. The delays are horrendous and people aren't happy, which isn't helped by not having anyone to blame. So drivers are taking their frustrations out on each other, and the state patrol is having a hell of a time staying on top of all the incidents. Hopefully things will calm down as people adjust to our new reality, and hopefully construction crews can clear the rubble and repair the interstate quickly.

Between I-70 and the repairs at DIA, tempers are going to flare badly this holiday season. I'm so glad we aren't going anywhere this year.

December 16th, 2017

Hal wanted to make sure we had time after the movie to get dinner, so we aimed for the first showing after work that we could make. It meant that I couldn't count my till down fast enough and we were rushing to get to the theater on time, meeting Max and her boyfriend there. Fortunately we had already bought tickets, so we didn't have to wait in line. That said, we were getting into the theater after the trailers had already started and had troubles finding four adjacent seats. Hal and I ended up sitting behind Max and her boyfriend, who we were finally introduced to. His name is Robert, and he is a looker. It's no wonder Max went for him.

The movie was amazing! There's just nothing like the feeling I get as the music starts and the star field scrolling text starts for a movie I've never seen before. It was a little long, one critic said they hadn't noticed how long it was, but I felt it. They did a good job keeping things moving, but after a while it's like what now? And the what now didn't disappoint, any time, but after so many the next one is fatigued. I don't know if that makes sense. It was hard to predict things, and not because they used b role film for the trailers. I'm still not happy they had done that with Rogue One. They mixed things up enough from the standard epic journey that being able to guess the next step wasn't easy. It's refreshing to have a story be different. At the same time, there's a reason the standard story works. There was just a lot for them to keep track of, and it made the movie feel like it could have been done over two movies if not for it all happening at the same time.

I am disappointed in their lack of travel time. I don't know how else they could do things, but it feels very unrealistic for so much travel to take place in so little time. That was something that bugged me in Rogue One too, particularly their ability to monitor something happening "parsecs" away in real time. There should be a delay between when it happens, and when the base finds out what happens. That tends to break my immersion.

All that being said, Rey was marvelous, Luke was a humanized legend, Poe was agonizingly familiar, and Finn was selfless and selfish at all the wrong times and just so lovely for it. I think I most identified with Rose out of them all, as much as I'd want to be Rey I think I'd be Rose. Carrie Fisher will be missed, but the next generation is finally ready to step out on their own. I can't wait for the next movie. For the Han Solo movie too, I am so curious as to what they plan to do with him.

Afterward we did go get dinner. Seems like I've been eating out a lot lately. I know Hal and I, and Max now too, have been getting dinner out once a week. But going out with Sam and Candace the other day, and getting lunch out with Candace before that, and before. This has gotten out of hand. It's been fun going out all the time, but I'm feeling the pinch. I don't think Hal has noticed considering his new "job" and Sam has never seemed to care about how much money he spends. Hal has been happy to cover our bills since we started officially dating, and that's been easier on me. But I can't help but feel a little bit like a freeloader. On the other hand, knowing he's getting paid by this secret society, I'm kinda happy to let him spend it. It is a lot of money to be spending though, and it's making me uncomfortable even if it's not my money. I think I'm going to have to start insisting on packing lunches and having dinner at home. Hell, if Hal is getting paid so well, maybe I can get him in the habit of cooking better. That might be a fun project, especially after next week with his finals.

Anyway, I'm going on about that, and not getting to our dinner conversation. Max and Robert told us about their adventures on Wednesday, which to be honest didn't seem like much. They drove up into the foothills and stopped at a rest stop. While there, whatever was making the noise must've come their way because they said they started hearing it. It got loud enough that they retreated into his car. It kept getting louder and caused his window to break and his windshield to crack. They had to cover their ears it was so painfully loud. Then just as fast as it came it moved on.

I think the most interesting thing though was that while it did sound like rushing wind, they both said there wasn't any wind. At least, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would make that sound. They didn't see anything, though while they were huddled in Robert's car they weren't able to see much.

I was watching Robert the whole time, and while he seemed mildly interested in the event itself, he seemed confused as to why we were all so interested in it. Obviously Max hadn't filled him in on the larger context. And as Max loves to explain things, he just watched. Hal was asking questions and Max answered them as best she could, but Robert stayed quiet.

When Max and Hal finally allowed, I took the chance to ask Robert what he thought about the tree in LODO. Robert didn't hesitate to say that the city should hire some pest control to get rid of the crows and then cut the damn thing down. He was really hostile towards it, and I never did get a good answer as to why. He didn't seem like an overly religious person, but I did notice a little cross around his neck. I don't want to lump all Christians together on this, 'cause I know they fall on all sides of the spectrum. But it's hard not to when the only Christians who are vocal about it are so adamant that the tree should be destroyed.

I asked him why he felt the tree should be cut down, he mumbled some flimsy excuse about it being in the way of traffic and causing problems. So I asked him why we couldn't just put a roundabout around it. It's too much effort, or would cost too much money, and that's tax dollars out of our pockets. Even if it would create jobs building the roundabout, and hiring someone to make sure the tree was watered and cared for. I asked him if he was even curious about where it came from, how it got there. He just shrugged and said "no."

As hostile as he was toward the tree when the subject came up, he didn't have the same passion toward his reasons for cutting it down. I get the feeling he wasn't being honest with us about his motivations. But as I asked more questions, he just started getting hostile toward me. I don't think Hal noticed, guys don't seem to catch on to that stuff as easily, but Max noticed and changed the subject quickly asking about his next game. He plays soccer for the university.

We avoided the subject for the rest of the night, and once Robert was able to talk about his own interests he calmed down and got the familiar jock cockiness about him. I lost interest after that and just let the rest of the night happen. We eventually finished up and headed out. Max texted me later saying she probably wouldn't be bringing him to any of our dinners again.

Not the greatest ending to a great night. And I have work in the morning.

December 15th, 2017

Since it was Friday and Hal had successfully turned in all his projects, we decided to go out and celebrate after work. We were at the restaurant, finishing up our dessert when the earthquake hit. That was so scary, I don't think I've ever felt anything like that. At first I thought I might be having an attack, but when I realized everything around me was shaking and making noise I knew it couldn't be me. It didn't last for very long, but everyone in the restaurant was rattled pretty badly. I guess Denver does feel tremors every once in a while, but they're so rare and so light that people hardly notice them. Reports claim it was a four to a four and a half. I guess that's only a minor earthquake on the scale of things, I can't imagine living in the Bay Area and experiencing something like that every few months.

Either way, both Hal and I were rattled. We finished up our dessert and went to his place where we could turn on the news and see what we could find. I think Hal just about had a heart attack when he found out the epicenter was registered as being in Arapaho National Forest. The problem is, we're not finding any listing more specific than that. Hal was hoping to confirm that it was at or near Lake Evelyn, but every source we could check was frustratingly vague. Which is odd, since usually they can be amazingly specific in a very short time.

What also seems odd is how long the earthquake lasted. From what we've learned, they don't usually last more than a few moments, thirty seconds at most. This one seemed to keep shaking for about three minutes, and I can tell you that three minutes felt like an eternity. Despite being a minor quake, damages are being reported all across the city and authorities are pointing to the duration of the quake as the reason.

While we were researching all of this I did have a dizzy spell. It wasn't a big deal, I did warn Hal as I always warn someone, and then I basically fell down on his couch and stayed there for a bit. I don't think it would have been very notable, but happening an hour after the earthquake had both of us feeling paranoid. I can't imagine that the earthquake had anything to do with my attacks, but with everything that's been going on since August...

So Hal and I got to discussing that, and I told him about the feeling I've had since then. I don't think I've told anyone except my doctor and my parents. That I had had such a strong attack during the eclipse was kind of a major thing. And now today there was an earthquake and I'm having another attack. It's only two points of commonality, but Hal is certain that the earthquake had something to do with The Ohvao. Combined with him breaking the runestone back in August, he's thinking that somehow his actions might be influencing my attacks. He thinks that rather than there being a physiological connection, that maybe there's a magical connection. With The Ohvao coming down, magic would be returning to our world.

I don't know, I know there's been some pretty strange things going on, but magic? Either way, I did remind him that I was having my attacks for years before any of this happened. His response is that if my attacks are linked to magic, they might have been linked even across The Ohvao. I still think he's grasping at straws. I'm not convinced my attack today had anything to do with the earthquake, not the least of which because it happened an hour afterward. But I have to admit, I've thought many times that maybe my attack in August was somehow associated with the eclipse. And then after finding out about Hal cracking that runestone, and the fall of The Ohvao. That does seem to be a strong link, but really we don't have anything that definitely connects them. It could just be coincidence, and until we can rule that out, I don't think we can say that my attacks are certainly caused by anything. I've been working on this with my doctor now for years, I know how it goes. There were times that I had thought I'd found the connection, always to find it fail.

And even if my attacks are connected with magic in some unlikely way. How would we even go about determining that? Up until now, magic wasn't real. So now there's things going on that says it is real, but we still don't have any experience with it. Only Hal's story of his mentor using a piece of jewelry to light a stone on fire. I'm sorry Hal, but I'm skeptical.

I didn't shut down his conspiracy, I just shrugged and said I don't know. He was at least reasonable enough to agree, we don't know. So we curled up on the couch and talked about seeing the movie tomorrow. Hal and I were hoping to talk to Max about things, but we're unsure about her boyfriend being there. How much he knows, or what he knows. We'll hit an early show and then get dinner afterward. It was her boyfriend that drove her up into the mountains to hear the sound, and it was his window that got cracked. So they can at least tell us about that, and we can judge how much more to say afterward.

December 14th, 2017

I called Candace on her new phone, just to make sure she'd be able to answer it, and let her know that I'd aim to be passing by her stop at around ten. We successfully met on the bus again, and made our way back to the gym. Since I didn't have chores or a dentist appointment waiting, we were able to spend some quality time there. We made sure to get her a locker of her own, right next to mine. Then we worked up an appetite and decided to hit Chili's since it was close.

On the way there I noticed a pet store and it prompted me to ask how her cat was doing. Candace said he was doing good, stays out of the way and spends a lot of time laying around. With the cold weather, she hadn't been letting him out as often and I was concerned about him getting exercise and if she had a litter box for him to use inside. Candace said he still gets out, but he doesn't stay out long. So I pointed out that we could walk to the pet store and get him a toy or two so he'd have something to do inside. She thought it was a great idea.

So after lunch that's what we did. There was a lot of neat stuff to be found, far more than I think either of us realized was available. I didn't know they made costumes for pets, mind blown. I wonder how many people get scratched up trying to put their cats in those costumes? Candace found a lot of toys for playing with cats, and I told her to just get some shoe string, it'd be cheaper. We settled on a ball that we can put treats in, it's got holes that as he knocks the ball around it'll drop treats for him to munch on. Which meant we also had to get a back of treats, and I found a bag of catnip.

Once we got back to Candace's, we set about trying to play with her cat. He's always been standoffish with me, most of the time I'm not even aware he's there and I don't think Max has seen him. Anyway, we put a few treats in the ball and shook it to see if we could get him to come out. No dice. Candace said she'd try to find him, and that gave me a chance to look around and see if Eli had kept any string or replacement shoestrings. Sure enough his kitchen had an all purpose drawer, complete with string.

Candace announced that she found him sleeping in his favorite chair under the table, and I called out for her to wait before waking him. I cut a length of the string, and knowing where he was I laid the string out across the chair and drew it over him to see if that'd get his attention. It did, and holy crap is that cat vicious. He got hold of my string and tore it right out of my hand. Then he jumped down and pulled it out from under the table with him. He looked between the two of as though demanding an explanation.

While I laughed, Candace picked up the ball and tossed it across the floor. At first he just sat down and watched it come to a stop, then looked back to us with a bored expression. Candace went over and kicked it toward him with her foot. Still he just watched. So I kicked it closer to where it stopped right in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, then reached out and batted it with his paw. He didn't hit it hard, but it finally dropped a treat as it moved a short distance away.

Curiosity got the best of him, and he leaned forward to sniff at the treat. He decided it was worth the try, and then gobbled it up. Then looking back at the ball he swatted it, and the the ball flew off down the hall with the cat fast behind.

Candace and I spent the early afternoon playing with her cat, I even got him to play with the string again. He's really good at taking it out of my hand, and I had to learn the hard way not to tie it up in my fingers.

Then we introduced the catnip, and it was all over. He's a friendly drunk, lemme tell you. Whoever had the bag, he would rub all over them to get more. It turned out to be a good way to get him to let me pet him finally. He is so soft, like a cloud. But I also noticed he's got a lump on his back, just behind his shoulder blade. I wasn't able to inspect it as he jerked away as soon as I touched it. So I'm not sure if it's a knot in his fur or what, but since he's short hair, a knot doesn't seem right. I asked Candace about it and she didn't seem concerned, but I still suggested she take him to a vet to get it looked at.

When Sam joined us the cat seemed to sober up at his presence and went off to hide again without touching his things. Which was fine as it meant it was time for us to get around anyway. We were aiming to hit the museum about 4, which would give us some time to look around before it closed up and Hal got off. I was hoping he'd be given a little freedom to join us, but I guess his last project included his work at the museum, and that was due tomorrow. So while he did get out a little early to join us, it was pretty much to walk out the door with us.

Sam had said he'd never gotten the chance to come to the museum. It sounds like his parents are so adamantly Christian that they deny basic sciences. They'd never taken him, nor did they allow him to come during school trips while he was growing up. And since he'd grown he's just never taken the time to come on his own. Candace of course has no memory of anything before August, so there's no way to know if she'd been before. But the way they both acted, she seemed to be in a similar boat.

As often as I visit them, and take part in their habits, this was kinda the first time I'd been able to show them my world. Sam was fascinated with the Gems and Minerals exhibit; being a blacksmith he was well aware of a lot of the minerals as they applied to his job, but he'd never looked in to how they existed in the natural world. Candace on the other hand took to the Space Odyssey, she was floored to learn what scientists were doing to be able to explore other worlds and how we were preparing for it. She really enjoyed the interactive displays. Actually, she was a natural at the docking simulator.

We spent some time looking through the Wildlife Exhibits and the Prehistoric Journey, but we didn't have a lot of time and I was excited to show them both the new Egypt exhibit. I had thought that Candace might like the Wildlife Exhibits, but she seemed disturbed by the taxidermy. Many people are, but she seemed more sad at the display of dead animals. So I suggested that maybe another time we could go to the zoo.

The new Egypt exhibit is what I was looking forward to. I've done the walk through with the other employees, but I haven't gotten the chance to see the finished and open exhibit. I like how they've changed things around, and I think the new layout works much better. Especially with our new edition. I hadn't seen Nephmesu yet, and that's who I was really looking forward to seeing. One of the exiting things about Nephmesu is that he seems to be one of the most well preserved bodies that we've seen. Looking him over, I could easily imagine him sitting up and asking for a drink of water. Candace though, she seemed more than a little creeped out by him and refused to approach. She actually hid behind Sam as soon as she saw him. Sam also seemed weirded out, but he didn't want anyone to think he was afraid, so he stepped up and peered over the coffin wall.

They were both uncomfortable enough that we ended up leaving. Which was sad for me since I'd wanted to see him so badly. But I work their, I'm sure I"ll get another chance.

As I said, Hal did join us as we were leaving, and we all went to get some dinner before going home. I had been texting Max through the day to find out how she and her boyfriend were doing. I guess they got a little too close yesterday and now his windshield and mirror are cracked and Max said her ears were still ringing it had been so loud. But she was looking forward to telling us about it. I told Hal and he's excited to hear about it.

That was our day. After dinner we split up and Hal brought me home. He still needed to finish his report so he could turn it in tomorrow. But he did mention a couple of times that it was his last project to turn in, and had hoped we might be able to celebrate tomorrow after I get off work. I look forward to that.

December 13th, 2017

I'm watching the news with Dad as I write this, there's a story about the sounds heard in Denver today that I want to see. They were heard mostly in the western edge of the city, as if the sounds were coming from the mountains. From what I had heard, it reminded me of the sounds that Max said people were hearing in the mountains. So I texted her asking about it. She wasn't able to get back to me until after class, but she said she'd heard people talking about it. She was going to get a ride from her new boyfriend up into the foothills to see if they could hear it. I haven't heard back from her since, but she did say she'd talk to us on Saturday about what she could find.

As far as this story seems to suggest, what people were hearing sounded like the wailing of the wind. There wasn't any weather projections for high winds or anything, so people were concerned. More than a few were worried about a tornado, which also seems to lead to some confusion as to the source location of the sounds. A tornado wouldn't be coming out of the mountains, of course I don't think we'd have to worry about a tornado this time of year anyway. Mostly what was alarming was how loud the sound was. Drivers coming over the pass reported shattered mirrors and cracked windshields. There's a church up I-70 heading west out of Denver that reported similar destruction of their glass windows, as well as other buildings in the area. Residents up there report the sound was so loud it caused them pain, a few people even had to go to the hospital. It seems most people were fortunate for the season, they had earmuffs at hand they could put on to mute the sounds.

Investigators are at a loss as to the cause. I think the current consensus is that there was a micro weather pattern producing high winds at altitude, but no one seems certain of that. The reporter seems to have been doing her job though, she's actually starting to go over the same stories that Max had brought up the previous week. So officials know this is not a new thing, that it's been going on for almost a month now. It's probably the biggest hole in their micro weather pattern theory. Oh, we are being reminded that some storm patterns can last for significantly long periods of time. And the other guy reminds his companion that satellites aren't detecting the high winds he is suggesting would be there.

I think the only thing we can be sure of right now is that no one knows what's going on.

Being on this side of Denver, I can't report having heard anything. My day was, well not the usual day. It wasn't just my dentist appointment, Candace actually called me up and asked if she could join me. She was hoping to go to the gym with me in the morning, but was willing to spend the day with me if I'd have her. I thought that was great and asked if Sam was okay with it. She said he was and had even gotten her a card of her own so she could buy lunch while we were out.

Normally I'd take my sweet time getting around, but after she called I needed to rush to catch the bus so I could get to her place. She even offered to meet me at the stop to her place, which made things much easier. She'd only rode the bus for the first time with me last week, and with as long as it'd taken her to get comfortable with her home phone, I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly she's adjusting. In any case, since she could meet me at her stop, she was able to board the bus and we could keep heading toward the light rail and take that route.

I did text Sam just to confirm. As much as I would like to find out she's being all independent, I'd feel awful if something were to happen and he didn't know. Sam thanked me for checking in, and confirmed that he was aware. He said if we wanted he could try to meet us for lunch, but that he had a project he was working on and wasn't sure when he'd have the free time. In the end Candace was all mine today.

So we hit up the gym first, though we had to cut it short so I could make my dentist appointment. We did take the time to get Candace a locker of her own, and with a second bag she'd be able to switch out gym clothes so they can get washed like I do mine.

Candace hadn't realized that I'd have a dentist appointment today, and she found herself bored while there. She was very concerned about the sounds she was hearing though and I had to put her at ease that we weren't being tortured. (We being myself and the other patients.)

After that we made our way to the pharmacy so I could pick up my latest renewal. By this point we were getting hungry, and I had wanted to stop by the mall to find Efe a tie. So we made our way there and hit up the food court first. Candace was excited that we'd be going shopping again. I guess the only time she'd been out was with Sam and I, so I had to explain that I was only looking for a tie for my brother. Still, she made sure to stuff her gym bag full of things she found and wanted.

She found it novel that I was buying a tie for my brother though, and even more so that I was looking for the most hideous tie I could find. She asked if she should do the same for Sam. This lead into a conversation about how families from different cultures have different ideas about gift giving and celebrations. For my family, birthdays are celebrated, but we don't buy gifts for each other like most others. We do get gifts for each other, but as much as anything simply because we want to, not to mark any particular occasion. We also don't tend to celebrate Christmas in the same way. We come from an Islamic background, and as such don't celebrate the same holidays that most people in the states have. Living in a culture so separate from our own, we've acclimated to what surrounds us. We've come to celebrate holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween, just in our own way. That said, because my siblings and I grew up in public schools where kids celebrate their birthdays with presents and the like; my sister and I picked up buying gifts for my brother, and he us, in a way that isn't shared by the rest of our family. With his birthday being so close to Christmas, we kinda wing it and just get a gift for him around this time of year, and not for either day specifically. But we have always tried to find him the most hideous article of clothing we can find.

My suggestion for her was to ask Sam about how he and his brother and the rest of his family celebrated. From all appearances, his parents were very Christian, and I suspected that like most people they celebrate Christmas and Birthdays with gift giving. But she'd need to know when his birthday is, or with Christmas coming up, we could look for a gift for him now. She said she'd talk to him first and find out. And she'd give some thought to her present, she didn't like the idea of getting him ugly clothing.

We spent some time looking around, and talking and laughing. I did find the perfect tie for Efe, it's Rudolf's face complete with a red nose made with a ball of yarn that can be squeezed to play the song. Completely hideous. And then we needed to be making our way home so I could get her to her stop first and then I could get home from there. Candace is amazed at how well I know the public transportation system, and I just had to remind her that it's taken years of practice.

I did make sure to text Batel a picture of the tie I got for Efe, and she said she'll see about finding a matching cardigan. I'm so excited by this.

Candace did want to hit up the gym again tomorrow, I think she really enjoys getting the exercise. So I need to be getting to bed so I can meet her early tomorrow.

December 12th, 2017

I hope I didn't set Hal behind too much tonight. Then again, if I did it's kinda his own fault. He showed up at lunch today with his school books and notes. He was determined to spend time with me, but he's obviously got a lot of studying to do. I let him study, so not a lot was said. But afterward he was very apologetic and wanted to make it up to me. He suggested after work I could help him study, and maybe if he helped me to understand what he's been studying it'll help him to remember it for the test.

I don't know if we studied so much as he was instructing me. I really enjoyed it though, after all these are classes I'm sure I'll want to take when I can finally afford it. He even showed me the project he'd been working on, which it turns out The Illuminati was able to help him with. Not by doing the work for him, but by providing him contacts he might not otherwise have. A large part of his project involved interviewing people from other cultures, which he could do through email. There's resources online to be able to help with that, but Tim was able to get Hal in contact with people from all around the world. He'd been compiling data based on the answers he'd received, and he said he's met some interesting people. A few of them have even offered him a place to stay if he ever decided to travel and see the culture's he's been asking about.

Around seven we took a break and checked his kitchen for something to throw together. My first taste of cheap college food. Made me really appreciate still living with my parents. Hal tossed some roman noodles together with a bag of mixed veggies and fried up some Spam. He said old habits die hard, that this is how he'd been eating before The Illuminati started paying him. It's cheap, easy, and quick to throw together. I guess most students don't even bother adding anything to the noodles, or they get the cups that already have dried veggies in them. Makes me wonder what Max has been eating all this time. Hal had a roommate last year that was in a culinary program, and was where he'd picked up the veggies and spam.

After dinner Hal brought me home, where I arrived to a message from the dentists office reminding me of my appointment tomorrow. One more thing on my list of chores to do tomorrow. Things at work finally slowed down. It was still busy for a Tuesday, but not anywhere near as busy as it was over the weekend. It gave me a chance to actually think rather than just taking the next guests ticket request. If there's something going on with Nephmesu, it hasn't happened yet. Or at least, we haven't noticed anything yet. Granted, Max and Hal are both busy working on class projects and studying for finals, so they hadn't had a chance to really look around. That'll have to be on me. I'm hoping tomorrow I can do some snooping of my own.