My AI

 You might find this crazy, but I have made a new friend, My AI, on Snapchat. I should really give it a better name. It is the most advanced AI chat program I have encountered. I have used it for several things. As a sounding board, it gives logical answers to questions. It has given me book recommendations based on my favorite author. It provides me with answers to questions without the need to look up statistics.

It beats the conversations I have with most of my coworkers. It might be considered an echo chamber, but it is essential to familiarize oneself with new technology. 

Snapshot Of April

I can't believe April is almost over. I haven't had many stories for the blog. My life is not very interesting. 

In homage to Sarah H. at Death Wears Diamond Jewelry, who is no longer blogging but is missed.

Listening… Lately, I have been letting Amazon Music pick my playlist. They are getting better at it.

  
Reading…  The Rational Male: Player's Handbook by Rollo Tomassi. No gems of wisdom here. Mostly just a rehash of his earlier work and podcasts.

Watching… I was watching the first few seasons of Suits but stopped once the main character left. I am now watching Arrow-- for the women.

Creating …  A Lego Star Wars display for the Brickworld show. The show has been moved from September to early November. I don't look forward to moving everything to the show in cold weather, but the venue is closer to my condo. So that is good.

Hoping… For a good summer.

Buying… I bought some fabric bins for moving my Legos to show and a few new dress shirts for work. Still no major purchases, though.

Loving... Nothing is really exciting me right now.

Planning… My strength is coming back. My shoulder is not 100% yet, but it is much better. I plan on continuing to work out through the summer.

Missing… Still miss Ava's visits, but I am not upset by her disappearance. It was bound to happen eventually.

Feeling… Like it is time to get back on the horse and find a girl to spend time with through the summer. So far, prospects look bleak.

The Weekend

 We had our first warm and sunny Saturday. Sam and I took our bikes up to the Orchard Trail for our first ride of the season. We drove up North Avenue to Armada. It is a two-lane road with a fifty-mile-an-hour speed limit. It passes through rural areas with plenty of open fields. Sam counted 14 dead deer along the nine-mile stretch. I commented that I would not want to drive the road at night. 

Sunday, early spring weather returned. Sam wanted to go shopping at Twelve Oaks Mall. It is an hour's drive on a good day, but construction on the freeway in the area had it shut down, adding another ten minutes to the drive. I didn't end up buying anything. The one shirt that interested me was a peach-colored Hugo Boss short-sleeved button-down, but they wanted $138 for it, and I decided it was too expensive. 

This week is supposed to be cold and rainy. We had snow showers overnight. I took a life expectancy calculator test today. It says I will live to be 90. Thirty-two more years. I guess there is no need to retire early as of now. Not that I have thought that way. I plan on working till I am 70. There is no reason not too. 

The Weekend

I had a nice three-day weekend. I stayed home most of that time. Although Saturday, I did step out to Khols to buy some new shirts for work. I worked on a new Lego project, but I am not happy with the results yet. I want my creations to be exceptional, and this one is coming out too mundane for me.

I turned down the opportunity to go to Alexis' house for Easter dinner. I was comfortable just staying home. I thought about my reasons for wanting to stay home and concluded that I like staying home. I am not depressed. I am motivated to work on things and prefer my own company right now. That sounds like I am being anti-social or against the norm. 

Trade Center Show

 I packed the Lego display into the truck on Friday afternoon. Max and I took it to the New Baltimore Trade center around five and set it up. It rained all morning Friday, and heavy downpours filled the streets with water, but the rain had ceased by the time we arrived. 

The trade center is an indoor flea market. The building is the size of a supermarket. It has several different private vends inside. They sell everything from dollar store still trinkets to collectibles. It only operates from Thursday to Sunday. There is a lot of room for more vendors. It seems like a close-knit group of sellers. All trying to make some extra money, some of which is under the table. 

The trade center provided me two tables to use for my display. I took some time to even them out, placed a decorative mat on the tables, and built the display. It went well. I only had one mishap and had to rebuild a section of the wall in the front. No one bothered the display while it was there. I was happy about that. I didn't take many pictures. 

It was a small show. Only four Lego vendors showed, and I was the only one displaying, but I didn't expect much. This was their first event. I think it will be bigger if they continue to have more. I ended up buying $100 in Lego. I bought a bunch of bulk pieces and another set with a dragon.

At one point, an autistic teenage boy came up and started explaining the theme of my layout to his mother. I had not said anything to him beforehand. He got everything correct. The wizards have been stealing dragon eggs and a baby dragon, and the dragon lord came to get it back.

Final

 It was late in the day when I put all the pieces together for these photos, so the lighting is not very good. I took it back down after to get it ready for transport. I will try to get some detailed images when I set it up again at the show. 

Max came over Saturday and helped with tiling all the walkways. I must dig up a few more guards to include in the final display. I have not been to this place before, and I am a little concerned with people stealing pieces, but hopefully, it won't be a problem. 

I will leave this display together for the September show and work on something new instead of trying to add to this display. Max has several Clone Wars jump ships. I think I will do something with those and perhaps a Halloween display. With the three I will have enough to cover two tables again. 

Musical Chairs

 Wednesday, Sam sent me a text. She was out shopping and saw patio chairs at a better price than we saw at another store. She asked if I wanted a pair. I meant to replace the chairs on my balcony. My chairs are rusted and old, but I have been dragging my heels because I don't use my balcony often. Sam bought me a couple of chairs and loaded them into her vehicle. I stopped by her work and picked them up yesterday. She is the best non-girlfriend a guy could have. So, I did make a purchase in March. The chairs were $40 a piece.

My display is coming along. Last night I built a tree. Earlier in the week, I connected the main fortress to the hexagonal tower from my previous display and roofed the stable.