vt_browncoat

Off to the New England Browncoats Shindig tomorrow. Bringing Missy, My girlfriends 20 year old second cousin... I loaned her my Firefly DVD's and my loaner copy of Serenity.. She's hooked well and good.

Another Browncoat is born!

Bonnie and I along with Rose have come to somewhat of an understanding. She still tries the guilt trips stuff slightly but I just ignore her. She also tried to drive a wedge between Rose and I but Rose told her to back off or get out....


On another front, I found out today that I might be getting promoted at work to Crew Chief/Driver. Means more money and a company truck. Thus saving me $$$ on gas for traveling to work.

I should know by the weekend. Keep things crossed folks.

Not sure what to do here...

Last Monday, My girlfriend's best friend got kicked out of where she was staying. Rose (and I) being the type of people we are said, "Sure, you can use the spare bed in the back room..."

Bonnie is okay I guess but very very picky. As part of her "rent" she is helping around the house. Fine I guess but this woman has taken over. Insists on doing 90% of the cooking and since she is a self proclaimed "Gourmet" I spent $210 on food last Friday and that was only on "Extras" Veggies, spices etc. I bought three pounds of hamburger and by the time I got to the checkout (and had my mini heart attack at the price) I realized that I was now nearly broke and we didn't have a single main course to eat (other than some chicken and the afore mentioned hamburger) until I get my next paycheck!

She then tries to shift the blame back in my direction some by saying that I should have kept a running total while we shopped...

She had insisted that she should go with me too...

I'm feeling like a stranger in my own house.

Today, she cleaned the kitchen and almost the first words out of her mouth when I came home were, "Next time you buy lemon pine sol, I'll kick your ass. I've been trying not to throw up all afternoon. stuff makes me sick."

I felt like getting back in my car and leaving... I just worked a full 11 hour shift and I've been up since 4:45 AM I did not need that when I got home! A more proper comment would have been, "Brian, please don't get any more of that lemon pine sol. The smell makes me ill"

And since she wasn't feeling good, she told me I had to cook...

With nothing in the fridge but frozen veggies and a little bit of everything but a main course to feed four people (Myself, Rose, Her very picky 76 year old father who had a stroke and of course, Bonnie.)

Threw together some homemade mac and cheese (after a run to the store to get the mac) and amazingly found some kielbasa in the freezer. Best meal I've had all week.

I've got a big appetite and this is the first time I've felt full after supper since she moved in.

I've spoken to Rose a little bit about my feelings. It's hard to have a private conversation about it because Rose works nights, I work days and we hardly see each other except for dinner. and we live in a trailer. Not a lot of space to get away from Bonnie (Place is so small we don't even have room for a double bed. We have separate bedrooms)

Bonnie won't let the dogs in the kitchen (too dirty) and is generaly a pain in the ass. She told me flat out that she isn't convinced that I'm the right guy for Rose yet but I'm "Making the right progress"

Progress?!?!?! Rose and I have been together for TEN YEARS!!! We've been through thick and thin together. My resignation from the Ambulance and four months without any income on my side of things, Her Dad's medical problems, My year long unemployment (More on that later) and lately, Rose's Cancer.

I tell you, If I had somewhere else to go.... I'd consider it.

The only thing keeping me here is Rose (of course) But as for the Bonnie situation... I have no clue.

Rose and her have been friends since they were 10... over 40 years.

I can't compete with that kind of history.

I was so depressed on Friday after the grocery debacle I didn't do anything but lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling for three hours. I budgeted $100 for groceries... the rest since it was probably the last good weekend of the fall, I was going to take Rose out to dinner and take in a car show (Something we both enjoy) Blew those plans all to hell.

I could have worked overtime this weekend if I had known that my plans were being shattered.

Today, I hear a rumor from the crew I've been working with that the company that contracts out traffic control for it's work sites to the company that I work for, owes my company over $100,000. If the company doesn't pay the bill by the end of the week... I might be seriously lacking for work next week. If there are any hours, it means a commute of over 50 miles for a part time job... Something I can't afford to do for the long term.

I just don't know what to do....


Time to sulk in the corner for a while I guess... being depressed has sure put a damper on my creativity. It took me all last week to do one chapter of my fanfic, Guardians...

I have no enthusiasm what so ever to even start the next chapter.



Laters

B

Pumping gas at a full service gas station

Lets see... What's happened this month...

Bought a car. It blew up (engine) on the way home. -$1,200

Sold old junk cars in back yard. +$400

Get $200 back from the guy I bought my car from.

Put that $600 and all of my paycheck for the next three weeks into another car.

I now have something to drive (Actually a nice something to drive)

Now, I can spend money on other things like... food and clothing.

Had to refile my unemployment (again) because my part time job went over 35 hours two weeks ago. The next week I got 14 hours. I got 9 1/2 today and it was my first day working this week.

Had a Grandma in a Subaru nearly run me over today. I actually had to jump out of the way. How can she not see me... 5'10" 300 pounds standing directly in front of her, dressed in neon yellow clothing, safety vest and holding a STOP sign!!!!

Oh the joys of working traffic control.

At least I got two chapters of New Blood done this week.


Toodles

Your results:
You are Derrial Book (Shepherd)

Derrial Book (Shepherd) 60% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 55% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 50% Wash (Ship Pilot) 50% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 45% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 40% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 40% Alliance 40% A Reaver (Cannibal) 30% River (Stowaway) 25% Inara Serra (Companion) 15%

Even though you are holy you have a mysterious past.

Click here to take the "Which Serenity character am I?" quiz...



Never thought I'd be Book.....

Got an e-mail from a guy today who wants to buy my two old dead cars to use in a demo derby. $400 for the pair and he's picking them up in the morning. Now I will have some money for fixing the car I just bought.

Now maybe I can relax enough to finish some fanfic

I can't win for trying.

State cut my unemployment by $110 a week. I'm now working part time and they want to increase my hours but since Rose and I are sharing a car, that's not practical. She works overnights and I work days.

Soooo as I stated in my previous post, I put money down on a car.

I gave him the last of the money, last night. I went to pick up the car and...

It has blown head gaskets... Retail cost for repair is about what I paid for the whole car.

It would probably be cheaper to put another engine in the car. A local salvage yard has the right one with 30,000 less miles for $350.

That's a start.

Still trying to figure things out. I was so mad earlier today, I... Well lets just say I was really mad.

or whatever they call it. Thanks to persistent nagging By Rallem (Just kidding Jim) I signed up for a Twitter account (www.twitter.com/Briglad) Lo and behold I found out my girlfriend had an account too. and her daughter...

Anyway... Since the wonderful Vermont summer has been rather wet(Ha! That's an understatement!) I haven't been getting many hours at work due to the job being weather dependent.

Thank goodness my unemployment will be good for another couple of months.

I have been saving my pennies and put down $600 on a used car this week. Total cost is $1,200 (private sale) for a car that blue books for over $3,000. Sure beats the $400 junker I have been driving since April.

I'm buying a 1997 Ford Thunderbird. I've owned two previous T-Birds and they were great cars. Now I can make it to the NE Browncoat Shindigs on my own if I want. In August anyway.

Here's couple of slightly crappy and small cellphone pics of my new ride.







To celebrate, I ordered a couple of Firefly related decals for my Bird. A Blue Sun Logo and a line image of Serenity.

I got em' from Artcat from over at FFF.net http://www.texasartcat.com/bluesun.html

That's it for now. Looking forward to next weekends NEB Shindig (My second) and meeting Magdalena who is visiting from across the pond.

Ta for now

Needed a little humor tonight so after perusing LOL Dogs http://ihasahotdog.com I had to make one using a picture of my Shepalute (German Shepherd/Malamute) Koko.

Caught her digging a hole a couple of years ago and just had to take a picture. Tonight I ran it through the LOL maker...

All of a sudden too.

Rose is feeling better and has been back to work for nearly a month and a half. She was given a clean bill of health by her Doc on Friday and she now considers herself a true Cancer Survivor.

And I now have some form of employment.

Last Saturday, I was certified as an ATSSA certified traffic flagger and I should be getting calls from the company that hired me by the end of the week.

I also have a job interview for a nice full time position as a Fire Extinguisher Tech on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed people.

And to top it off, If I had a Commercial Driver's License with a Hazardous Materials endorsement, I could accept a position offered to my by an Online Buddy. He is a pilot for a helicopter company that works mostly forest service contracts. (Mostly Firefighting) He needs a support truck relief driver.

It's a per diem job that pays $40 a day to be on call as I understand it and the company pays all my hotel and travel expenses when they need me to go on a job.

It combines my old career as a Line service tech, fueling aircraft with my firefighting experience and my love of driving and travel.

But alas, since I don't have the required CDL (And it costs about $3,000 to get one), my dream job is currently unobtainable.

Could be worse...


Brian

Oh well, maybe next year....

Coming up on 11 months out of work...

Some days life sucks

And other days I write four chapters worth of Firefly fan fic in three days.

Posted another chapter of Triad today. Over the weekend I wrote the first three chapters of a totally new series called New Blood. Set 18 months after the BDM and as usual has Rayne but not at the forefront.

I've stopped posting at Fanfiction.net due to the seconf of two virus attacks on my computer from ads on that site. If I ever get an e-mail back from them even acknowledging the problem and I will start posting again.

In the meantime, head on over to the Blue Sun Room at Fireflyfans.net for my fanfic.

We'll see how it goes.

Back to the real world...

Rose is back to work after 6 months off due to her cancer treatment. She's only been back 2 1/2 weeks and still can't quite pull a full shift yet but she's getting there.

I have a car again!!!!

This weekend I dropped $400 worth of saved up cash on a slightly worn (Slightly... HA!) 1994 Ford Crown Victoria. It had been in a small accident so I can't open the front passenger door as of yet but I'll be getting that taken care of. Hope to get it registered and insured this week. Just in case one of the many resume's I've sent out bears fruit and I find work. At least I'll be able to get there now.

That's it for now...

Ta

Here we go. My take on River's first hangover. Jayne offers some advice and a helping hand.

 

( Read it here... )

Thanks to Bytemite over at Fireflyfans.net I now have a "Family portrait" to go with my continuing "Allanverse" Firefly fan fiction.

She did a wonderful pencil drawing of my OC Allan Bryant along with Zoe and their daughter Sara (at approx age 7 or so)

What a shiny job!!!!





Keep Flyin...

Brian

PS: got a new theme for my page... I like this one better.

February... Wow, I haven't updated since Before Christmas... YIKES!

Let's see, What's been happening.

Got laid off from my temp job at Green Mt. Coffee Roasters second week of January, four days after my 43rd birthday... Nice Present.

Back on unemployment, Joy Joy.

Rose is doing well with her Cancer treatment. She's just over half way though her radiation treatments but she is feeling a bit "crispy"

Still looking for work but the job market is pretty bad around here. I have lucked out in the fact that I was making so much before I was canned last year that even if I take the maximum pay cut the state tells me too, I can still hold out for a job making at least $12.50 an hour. No flipping burgers for me thank god.

Might try for my Commercial Drivers license this spring if I don't find anything in the meantime.

We'll see.

On the fanfic front, I've got two more "Allanverse" stories in the can, one almost done and several more with plot ideas laid out.

If it wasn't for my Fanfic writing, I'd be bored out of my skull by now. AS it is, my A$$ goes numb after sitting in front of the computer too long.

Oh, well.

That's it for now... Laters

Brian

It's been nearly two months since I updated my page.

My Bad!


Well, here's some updates.

Rose is responding well to her cancer treatment. Her MRI today showed that the tumor is nearly gone. Her case will be reviewed before the "Tumor Board"  A collection of cancer docs who will look at her treatment so far and suggest what steps to make next. Might be radiation or maybe  more chemo....

I'm still working part time at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Ain't much but it's a paycheck. As soon as we know what's going on with Rose's treatment, I'll start looking for more permanent work.


My fan fiction work continues and I'm nearing the end of "Heritage".

Once that arc is done I may backtrack in time a bit to fill in the missing pieces between Big Blue and Heritage.

That's it for now....

If I don't update before,

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or what ever holiday you celebrate this time of year.


Laters,

Brian

Sprained my ankle at work last week (I have bad ankles... too many sprains over the years) near the end of my shift. Went home early after doing three pages of paperwork. Ankle felt fine by Tuesday... All is shiny right?

Wrong. After a twelve hour shift yesterday, I could barely walk. My ankle blew up and even with some decent over the counter meds it still hurt like hell.

So here I am taking the day off, an ice pack wrapped around my right ankle at 6:30 in the morning. Oh well, I might be able to finish Big Blue over the next few days. Then I can jump back into Heritage with both feet (Ow... there goes the ankle again).

As for Rose's cancer... So far so good.

Her hair started to come out last Tuesday from the chemo. In her typical fashion, instead of crying over it, she had Amy, her daughter come over the next day and giver her a buzz cut. Said she looked like GI Jane afterward. That's my girl!

She had a consult with an old EMT colleague of mine who runs a wig shop and photography business. ( http://www.wiggoddess.com/index.html ) Clair does a lot of work with cancer patients and with her help, Rose has a new doo ordered... Brunette with purple streaks in a subdued Tina Turner style... Yep that's rose. she like purple so she's always had some purple in her hair (helps hide the gray). Now even her fake hair will have some purple.

Now let me tell you something about Rose. She is 9 1/2 years older than me (And I'll be 42 in January... you do the math) She's a Grandmother with three grand kids, the oldest is 11.

She's a Rock and Roll Grandma' who got me to like Metalica and I got her liking Skynard.

Rose used to drive a school bus and I used to drive a ambulance.

We both love cars (Classic and hot rods... not nascar) and airplanes. We both have friends who are into "alternate lifestyles" (how we met).

Our idea of a perfect summer weekend activity would be going to a Fly-in (By car, I can't afford to finish getting my pilot's license right now) and then going to the Outback for steaks.

She's into Babylon 5 like I am into Firefly. We both thought that Iron Man was the best movie we'd seen in a long time.

How in the hell could a guy like me luck out and find someone like Rose? We've been together for nearly nine and a half years (Ten next July, the anniversary of our first date). We've been through a lot over the years. Both of us losing jobs (Me twice) The deaths of family, (My Dad and her Brother) medical problems, (My recurring Kidney stones and various injuries and her Cancer combined with her father's recent Stroke) The deaths of our elderly dogs over the years (We used to do rescue of unwanted german shepherds but we can't do it financially anymore.) Our current financial crisis and throughout it all. there hasn't been a single argument. We just do what we need to do to get by.

I held her when she cried about her Brother dying and she held me when I cried the morning I got home from work after having to declare a good friend of mine dead after he had committed suicide (When I worked for the ambulance).

Every day I am glad that I have someone like Rose in my life. I shouldn't be so lucky since in everything else, it seems like a black cloud follows me around throwing lightning into my life.

Rose is my sunny day.

Brian

I haven't posted over here for a while. Quite a bit has happened since last month.

First off, My Girlfriend Rose was positivly  diagnosed with Cancer last Thursday. Fortunatly, her doctors are very confident that this particular type of cancer is treatable and curable. Withing 12 hours of her getting the news, she was getting her first dose of chemotherapy.

Rose goes for a PET scan tomorrow (Tuesday) to see if the cancer is anywhere but in her sinuses where they found the original tumor. Once that is done, she has another round of Chemo on Friday and then has three weeks off before the next dose. She isn't looking forward to losing her hair but overall she is in good spirits.

On my side of the house, I am now at least partially back to work. I am working part time for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waterbury VT. I work in the distrobution center, pulling product for both the mail order/internet orders as well as for the wholesale orders.

At the end of the weekend (I work Saturday and Sunday, 12 hour shifts) I am beat. I spend the entire shift except for break and lunch on my feet walking on concrete. By the end of the day, my feet are on fire.

On the writing forefront, I have started a new series that will be run along side Big Blue called Heritage. It came out of the September challenge here at Copper for a Kiss.

Set 15 years into the future from the current story arc in my "Allanverse", This story arc features our BDH's semi retired on Boros and living the good life. Raising kids and enjoying life. However some angst is in the waiting.

You can read all my "Allanverse" Firefly fiction at http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1539454/



That's all for now...

Brian

Yesterday was a bad day...

It stared out by taking my girlfriend Rose to the local ER because her left eye hurt and she was having trouble seeing out of it. Three hours and a CAT scan later, they thought that she might have a sinus infection that spread to the eye socket. However her blood work was clear and she didn't feel sick.

To be on the safe side, She was transferred 50 miles away to the big teaching hospital in Burlington VT. After another CAT scan, blood work (again), and a very through eye exam they found what they think may be a tumor.

To say that we were floored is an understatement. Rose then went for an MRI for a better view of what was going on. Now, this all started at 7:30 in the morning after I picked her up from her job on the night shift. It is now almost 8 PM, Rose hasn't slept or been allowed to eat all day. Soon after the Ear nose and throat doc's visited again and endoscoped her sinuses. Not seeing anything they decided to admit her overnight and then do surgery and a biopsy today.

Rose has a history of cancer in her family. Her mother died at age 48 from lung cancer and she lost her 45 year old brother to it last year.

Well, Time to head for the hospital...

Brian