I have two classes defined in my <style> tag, 'good' and 'bad.' Usually I choose the one based on how I'm feeling at the time of writing, and usually that mood dictates what I'll write about, and usually bad goes with bad, and good with good. Makes sense, right? However, it's been almost two months since I last posted. For shame, I know. But who really likes October anyway?

I don't usually like October, to be honest. I don't usually like any of the autumnal months, but this October was different.

On the first, I started talking with Giggles again. Odds are, anyone still reading this, besides Frank and Alexander (which is about two thirds of my reading base, I think) doesn't know Giggles personally, and I've never mentioned her before. Alexander has called her a calendar before, but that's more for me to laugh at later, than for you to understand now.

The first was Alexander's birthday, and he and a bunch of his friends, myself included, went to a restaurant in the U-District that makes really good sausage, and good beer from what I hear. I remember it pretty vividly for some reason. That was back when I didn't have an appetite.

On a side note, as most of my posts are largely composed of (and taking a nested aside, that was a terribly formed clause), my appetite has been really weird lately. For several months starting in about June, I hardly ate at all. I would hardly be hungry, and even when I was, nothing sounded particularly good. Now, all of a sudden, I am always hungry. Alas, I'm on an airplane, and planes no longer see it fit to feed you dinner during the dinner hours. Airline companies are having trouble staying afloat anymore, and can't afford what previously were common services. Curse you, Cisco and your "Network Effect!"

I got home pretty late, if memory serves. It was a Wednesday night. Giggles and I had sent a few Facebook messages in the past couple days, just briefly catching up. I learned she was going to school in Texas and working at a bank, and she learned I was working at Microsoft. But that night was the first night we both were on Facebook at the same time, and the first time we started chatting on it.

Work is going well. I'm getting more and more attuned to programming everyday. In school, I've always been the procrastinator who waits two and a half weeks to begin a three week project. At that point, most of the code is written in my head, and I just write it out, fix my errors, and get an A. The same philosophy is harder to do in the software engineering setting. My first tasks had been a very small amount of code -- something any one of the other devs on my team would probably do as a bug, or maybe a two day mini-feature -- but fairly intensive as far as working with other people. This second task was the opposite -- a much larger project basically on my own as far as development goes (still worked with a PM of course). Since I was on my own, my procrastination policy worked fine, but had I been blocking someone, and spent a week with writer's block before my two days of intense coding, that would not have worked. So now I'm working on pacing myself.

Giggles and I started out with small talk, of course, more thoroughly catching up. There was an intimacy there, though, something between friends. It was really easy to talk to her and sort of hide nothing, and she felt the same way. She gave me a rundown of her past, in more detail than she's ever told anyone. My heart swelled for her. I couldn't think clearly the next day, feeling overwhelming compassion for her, and wishing there was something beyond being her friend I could do for her. I prayed and prayed. That night I felt like the Holy Spirit was guiding me to do something I've never done before: fast. And the next day I fasted for 24 hours, mourning for Giggles, and in anticipation for the dramatic (positive) life change I sensed coming for her.

That night when I got home from work, Giggles was waiting for me online. Over those three days, we'd sort of developed that habit, working out the day and looking forward to getting home so we could talk to each other. Until that night, that pining hadn't been voiced. For the long hours until midnight, we talked about all sorts of stuff. I think that night she got the story of each of my girlfriends, how the relationships started, how they went, and how they ended. She seemed intent on, and content with listening. I think that began when she asked me what I look for in a girl. It occurred to me after the story that I never really answered the question, so then I did, listing my non-negotiables, and then going into preferences. I asked her the same question, and she kind of avoided it. She said she wasn't really sure she'd ever get married, and honestly I feel the same. I want to get married someday, but if I don't, then I trust that God has better plans for me.

The next morning, I participated in a 5k run. I came in 64th place of 89, I believe. Basically, I beat everyone who walked the whole thing. I'd not run since March, maybe April. I think I was able to run or jog the first half, and of course the sprint for the last 200 yards, but between those two spans, I basically only walked.

The next day, after church, Giggles and I jabbered for 14 hours online.

Our talking had always been a bit shamelessly flirty. At first it was harmless, just attempting to be charming, or make the other person smile, and it often succeeded. Toward the end of Sunday night, we both knew there was something else there. Though it wouldn't be for a few more days that we gave voice to it.

It turns out they do still give us dinner, only, we have to pay for it, and if I weren't ravenous, that burger would not have been worth $5. Also, Jones Soda Root Beer: not a fan.

One of the things I find interesting about Giggles is that while she wouldn't call herself a Christian, she enjoys listening to me talk about my faith, eager in a way. She wants to believe, but given her past, everything she's been through, and her stubbornness (which I adore), it'll be a journey for her.

It is now occurring to me that I'm not on track to meet my parenthesis count quota. (I'm truly sorry. [No really I am. {These sentences didn't need to be in parentheses. (Well, maybe this one and its predecessor did, but not the first two.)}])

As with Fey, I went down kicking and screaming, refusing to date someone, when it's almost assuredly a mistake, or at least wouldn't end well, and yet cultivating feelings for her. Technically, while I write this, I'm still single. In two hours and 11 minutes, that will probably change.

The weeks have passed. Virtually every night we've spent talking at least a little to each other, on the phone, via IM, or with a webcam. We txt and email frequently throughout the day, so long as it doesn't get in the way of our work. Her sister claims we're joined at the hip, but that would make us siamese twins, and I don't date someone related to me by blood -- especially my own blood.

We still maintain our own lives though, what little we had. On Mondays, I still go watch Heroes with the guys, and Tuesdays are Bible Study. Thursdays she goes out on the town with her family (her sister and her sister's husband). I don't mind frequent contact like that unless it distracts me from the other things I enjoy in life. I don't want either of us to become obsessed, and so far, so good.

Every now and then I consume a little too much root beer, and wake up having passed out somewhere. And I guess I make ridiculous txts. That drunken state has even given itself a name, Baron Rootbeer. (You can tell I must be drunk as 'Baron' is a position, not a title -- it's always Lord or Lady. Thank you Oxford Dictionary.) He sends Giggles a txt most nights for her to wake up to -- a way to express my undying weirdness without seeming too weird, and also giving her a giggle.

Apparently, she was neither a giggler nor a hugger before she met me. I guess I just inspire radical changes like that. The first or second time we talked on the phone, I offhandedly mentioned her giggling, not knowing this was a new phenomenon, and she protested, "I don't giggle!" I immediately equated this to the time Eowyn claimed she wasn't blond, and how girls always fight a simple truth, and then eventually say I was right in the first place. "Mmhmm." Sure enough, some 20 minutes later, she was talking about how she giggles now.

In these past six weeks, she's started a second job (this on top of her Bank position and going to college) at a cigarette shop. It was only supposed to be a weekend thing, but she puts in a couple nights a week as well. I call it her night job.

So now, about a month ago, I bought these plane tickets from SEA to DFW. I wish Paolini's ancient language were real so I could prove to you all I'm not lying when I say I'd be going whether or not there was a romance between us. On October first, had she asked me to fly down there and support her, I would have taken my two personal days and hopped on the next flight to Dallas, so strong is my compassion for her.

I'm only staying for the weekend, which is a little sad, but still entirely worth it. I can't stay away from work too long; we're nearing the end of a sprint. She's going to visit me for about a week in December, so we're looking forward to that as well. First things first though; I'm not even in Dallas yet. We're going to have a wonderful weekend.

For her birthday I got her something. The day I decided to get it, she had just previously thought of something for us to do while I'm there, and gave me a couple hints about it until I eventually figured it out. Alas, my flesh is too weak, and I googled "the 6th floor" clue to get the answer. Anyway, after I decided to get her it, I gave her a clue: "Forever." It was the only thing I could think of at the time, but it made it too obvious in my mind. On the way home from work, I thought of two more: Sean Connery, and pencil. Later that night, I gave her Snow White, and necktie. As you might imagine, it's a laminated, pencil-shaded cardboard cutout of Sean Connery as a dwarf wearing a necktie. That or a diamond necklace, though not an expensive one. (Forever, as in diamonds are forever; Sean Connery as in Diamonds are Forever; pencil, as in graphite, as in carbon, as in diamond; Snow White's dwarves mined gems; and of course, necktie draws attention to the neck which holds the necklace. QED.) So, now we refer to her surprise as Sean Connery. What she doesn't yet know, is I got her both. I didn't have time to makeshift laminate him, but an hour or two with a Photoshop trial, a knife, some scissors, and a pizza box later....

I finally finished Brisingr last night. It was good. Not great, like Eldest, but good. I have a feeling Giggles is going to make me read Twilight here soon. I still need to finish at least the sixth book of Wheel of Time before I begin another entertainment thread. I still have Phoenix Wright 2, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker, Spore (if I ever get around to playing the space stage), Mass Effect, and Halos 1-3 to play. Also, I should get The Force Unleashed soon, and I'm playing WoW currently, though for how much longer I don't know. I'll quit when I'm bored. I have over 1000g at level 36, and yet no Staff of Jordan. Sad.

Well, I did bring Lord of Chaos with me, so I think I'll pick that up a chapter before I left off. That is to say, I'm done typing for a while. Seriously, take a hint and leave already.