Well, let's see. I know my small audience is crying out for an update, so let's get to today's developments on As The Stomach Turns:

Tammy's box showed up fine. My paranoia appeared unfounded, but, well, I left work right after I took my test (I'm sure I passed, beyond that, I have no idea how I did) and came home, pleading no sleep the night before (which was true) but mostly simply wanting to hang around and make sure Tammy's package didn't go astray. I didn't see any roving red trucks with light fingered Flemings in them, though, so perhaps Scott just stayed the hell away. That would be nice, especially if he continues to stay away tomorrow, when Mike's package is due and I won't be able to be hanging around waiting for it.

People sending packages to me in the future may want to wait a few weeks. Once I'm out of training (two more weeks after this one) I'll be going to a night schedule and will be home when the delivery people come by. And, of course, once I move out of here (hopefully around the start of March) all this nonsense should blow over once and for all.

Of the local clix playing crowd, which is to say, Paul's gaming buddies, Jeff is officially neutral and Pat, according to Jeff, flatly disbelieves any and all accusations made against St. Scott. I'm trying not to take this personally, since I didn't expect anything better from either of them, and I realize it's tough... but I admit, I would have liked to be pleasantly surprised by a little support from people I'd regarded as being to at least some extent my buddies if not friends.

Now, one can't take Jeff's word for much, because Jeff is one of those people who says whatever he thinks his target audience at the time wants to hear (and since I'm very odd, he often misreads me and says things I find annoying, which is one reason I'm not particularly close to Jeff). However, it wouldn't surprise me if Pat simply blindly took Scott's side, nor does it surprise me that Pat has apparently heard some version of this thing by now, despite the fact that Paul hasn't told anyone but Dawn, and I haven't spoken to Pat at all. Scott is doing damage control, and it's working, apparently because, well, it's not like he did anything to anyone IMPORTANT, so, well, it can just be shrugged off.

Times like this I'm very grateful for this blog and you folks out there who comment on my stuff so supportively, otherwise I think I'd just go batshit.

I mentioned yesterday I'd asked a woman I liked a lot at work out. I was actually side by siding with her (also known as 'double jacking', also known as 'jacking up', that last being a euphemism I myself am not fond of for obvious reasons), and I'd done it before and we seemed to have some rapport and some things in common. She was very nice about turning me down and told me she didn't want me to feel like I shouldn't come double jack with her again because she enjoyed having me. Then, after I'd been there for about half an hour, one of her supervisors took her off the phone to coach her about something.

So, I was worried I'd done something that had gotten her in trouble somehow. Thus, before I went home this morning, I went up to the floor and strolled over to her cubicle to make sure I hadn't done anything horrible, and...

Well, you should have seen the look on her face when she looked up and saw me standing there at 9 a.m. in the morning. It was not welcoming, to say the least... in fact, it was one of those 'oh my god am I going to have to get a restraining order on this guy' expressions that perhaps a few of you male readers have seen on women's faces before when you made the mistake of believing that just because they said they liked you and enjoyed your company, they actually meant it.

So I inquired, and no, she'd just been coached the night before because she was having a slow sales day, and I got the hell out of there, and I will not trouble her again because that's a look I try to see as little as I possibly can.

I don't mean to be depressing. Tammy's little package of joy was, indeed, a package of joy. In addition to all the wonderful clicks she sent me, she also filled the box up with goodies of all sorts... Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Twizzlers, Raisinets, packages of cookie mix, granola bars... a veritable cornucopia of amazement and delight. And the clicks... oh MY.

Just listing the Uniques for a moment, I got a Mojo (which I gave to Paul, since Paul is very depressed right now and Mojo is one of his favorite villains), a Thanos, a Captain Marvel, an Enchantress, a Parasite, a Martian Manhunter, and a Medusa. I adore them all thoroughly. In non-Uniques, I got Magneto, who is also awesome and much appreciated, the Toad (can't have Magneto without the Toad), Klaw, whom I needed to fill out my Silver Age FF villain set, a Madame Masque, who is always cool, and a Nebula, who goes well with her grandfather Thanos.

Paul got some good stuff too... Wonder Woman, Circe, a Green Lantern (I already had those clicks, so I let him have them), and some other stuff I can't recall and that's out in the living room so it's just gonna stay there right now.

Unfortunately, Scott's treachery... and I am not using that word ironically... has cast quite a pall over HeroClix here. Normally, Scott would be the first person Paul and I would show off new stuff to and trade with and play against, and now, well, Scott has ruined that, and honestly, I just hate him for it. I hate him worst for what he's done to Paul, though. This is severely fucking with Paul.

It's just horrible that Scott's criminal misbehavior has ruined, even if only temporarily, the enjoyment Paul and I get from this game. Normally this would have been a big week for me... a DVD of a beloved movie from Scott Shepherd, a box of goodies and clix from Tammy, and another box tomorrow from Mike. But now, it's all just bleak and grey and shitty. God DAMN Scott.

I must, must, MUST, however, at this point note that Tony Collett has joined the ranks of all you delightfully daffy people who for no sane reason at all just give me free stuff. In much appreciated support, Tony has bid on and gotten a Vision click and offered to send it to me gratis. In all honesty, I don't know what to say about all these people who are just sending me stuff for nothing, except, well, thank you. I offered to pay Tony for the click, but he will have none of it, so, fine... thanks, Tony, and I'll get you my snailmail address probably tonight or tomorrow.

After much consideration, I took all my clicks out of the box I'd tossed them into after the Vision theft, which I'd hidden in my bedroom, and put them back out on the front bookshelves. My reasons for doing this are two fold. First, this is my goddam apartment and I like looking at my clicks and I'm fucked if piece of shit Scott Fleming is going to take that away from me along with all the other stuff he's ruined. Second, Paul has promised me that he will not allow Scott inside this apartment while I am living here. I suspect Paul yearns to break that promise, so the clix are there as a constant reminder to him that Scott cannot be trusted and must not be allowed into the place under any circumstances.

And, if Paul does cave and let Scott in, and my new Thanos vanishes, well, even Paul shouldn't be able to live in denial after that.

We are supposed to pay our full rent this month, for the first time I can recall ever since I moved in here (well, no, we paid it in full the first month I was here, because I had some money then and was still getting Unemployment). However, Paul is going batshit trying to figure out how to pay the full rent, buy groceries, and get his horticultural supplies for the week (that would include all inhalants, legitimate and otherwise), so we're going to beg the new landlord to let us hold back $50 until next week. I don't think it's a great idea, but, well, I won't be living here much longer, hopefully, so it's on Paul.

In the 'yeah, that'll happen' department, Paul mentioned to me today that Dawn's husband may be moving up to New York State to paint motorcycles with his brother, or some such (and can I go, please?) and if that happens, they're talking about moving in together, so they feel it would be lovely if that all came together in time for me to simply 'inherit' this apartment. I like this apartment, and it would be a perfect size for me and my shit with Paul and his shit gone, but with Jeff living next door, there is a large gaming group meeting nearby which is comprised of Scott the Shit Sucking Thief and various other people who regard his right to steal from me as being more important than my right to keep my property, so I feel that while it would be lovely to avoid packing and moving one more time, I should probably get the fuck away from this address anyway, because even though I like the apartment, I am of the considered opinion that the neighbors lack the sort of quality that someone like me deserves, nay, True Believer, demands.

Plus, it's not like Dawn's husband is actually going to leave, and Dawn is actually going to let Paul move in, and any of this is going to happen within the next three weeks or so, anyway.

Also, the bathroom in this apartment is truly horrible. And Paul has just let the whole infrastructure degrade to an awful extent.

But, on the other hand, I do really like the back porch.

I don't think Paul has considered what he's going to do with Chewie if he moves in with Dawn. Dawn is a cat person (it's one of the few things I like about her) and her cats will not mix well with a large, galloomphing wookie-dog, it seems to me. And if Paul thinks he's leaving Chewie with me, he's lost his blonde little mind. I love Chewie, but part of me moving out is my desire not to live with him any more.

Kind of like Paul that way, actually.

Okay. I actually liked Smallville last night, and I'm about to go watch it again. I vastly enjoyed Angel. Whedon usually determinedly ignores all Buffy continuity on Angel, but every once in a while he throws us a bone, and last night's ep was a whole cemetery worth of them. I still clench my teeth whenever I see the dreadful and appalling Andrew giving lines that should, by rights, belong to the much more likable and pleasant and interesting Jonathan, but I enjoyed the ep nonetheless.

I liked Smallville because I've figured out who Lana's new boyfriend is, in Superman continuity, and I think that's pretty cool. Have you? I won't spoil it here, but it's pretty obvious to me now, given what we saw last night.

I also am intrigued by this new development whereby Chloe is using 'Lois Lane' as a pseudonym. Now, I know, she mentioned she had a cousin with that name and was just borrowing her name, but, still, there's a possibility that Chloe might, somehow, turn out to actually be Clark's true love... and I'd really like that, since I've always enjoyed Chloe much more than I like Lana, and in fact, Chloe pretty much IS Lois Lane, what with her constant investigations into Clark's secrets and such. It would be SO cool if it turned out she was destined to be Clark's paramour... although, when does she start dying her hair blue?

All right, I must away.