Blog Archives
Five Things for a Weird Tuesday, Oct 26th
I haven’t done a “5 Things” post in a while (small bits of stuff that don’t warrant a full blog post, but allow me to write something), but since I’ve been sporadic and feeling guilty about it, I decided to do one today.
1. A very strange day. Out of the blue, I got a Facebook message from an aunt on my father’s side. I don’t recall ever speaking to her or meeting her, although it’s possible I did when I was very very young. When my Dad died when I was 7, we pretty much lost all contact with his side of the family (and the majority of my mother’s side as well, long story). One of his brothers, Phil, kept in occasional touch, mostly because he was executor of my grandparent’s estate, and when they died I received a small sum of money, along with all his other grandchildren. In the space of a few hours, my aunt and I exchanged a few emails. She’s a hospice nurse with lots of children and grandchildren. It was nice to finally “meet” my father’s sister.
So, A Week Off Kind’ve Happened…
It certainly wasn’t intentional. I took last Tuesday and Wednesday off from work, since I’d agreed to cater a 40-person dinner on Wednesday night, and figured that it would be a good idea to give myself actual time to do it. The best part was that Lady Aravan volunteered to do the desserts and took those days off as well. Tuesday, we got up, did Bob’s cardio exercise, felt great, and went clothes shopping. Had a great time, got home, started prepping some food and throwing stuff into slow cookers. So far so good, day off and still worked out! Read the rest of this entry
Everquest Nostalgia
I got an email today from Sony about a new expansion for Everquest, the first MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which goes to show that the video game industry seriously need to work on their acronyms. Can’t they come up with something cool, like VIPRE or STELTH or something?) I had ever heard of. Way back in (I think) 1999, I read a magazine article about this game that was coming out, that allowed you to make your own character, choosing their race and their class and customizing your appearance, just old-school tabletop gaming allowed, but now in a world populated with other players all over the world. My mind was blown. I had to get this game.
Five Mass Effect Things for Monday, March 8th
1. I, along with Lady Aravan, spent the weekend playing Mass Effect. When some people say that, they mean they spent several hours doing something. What I mean is, we got home from work on Friday night and started playing, played until 2 am, got up Saturday and played from noon until 6:30 am, got up Sunday and played from noon til 11:30. I finished my second full run-through, including at one point going back 6 hours to an old saved game since I screwed something trivial up. Lady Aravan finished the game for the first time, threw in Mass Effect 2, and started playing until she realized that there was a bonus for getting level 50 in ME1 in the second game. So she reloaded a saved game and spent a good number of hours finishing nearly every quest in the game (she missed 1 that I am aware of, and couldn’t get it without going even further back) as well as finding pretty much every debris field and resource on every landable planet. When she finished the game, she was 50 and I was in awe, since even though I went back 6 hours and did the same shit another time through, I don’t have the fortitude to do what she did. Although I have to admit it bothers me that I’m 48. Moral: we like games.
Work Dialogue Trees
Sit Down (press A)
Access Laptop (press A)
Ignore E-mail (press A)
Co-Worker 1: Hi, Aravan, how are you today?
Options:
– Just great, Co-Worker 1, and how are you?
– Not bad, you?
– Fuck off.
Aravan: Fuck off.
Co-Worker 1: Someone’s having a case of the Mondays, I see. [ends]
Monday Morning
Yesterday, I was cruising the galaxy in the fastest, most advanced ship in the Alliance arsenal. Alien women were throwing themselves at my feet, I was being interviewed for the vids, I was interrupting every overheard conversation with an emphatic, “Is there something I can help you with?” I was charging around the corridors of powerful but corrupt corporations, colonies under attack, and research facilities filled with alien beings who wanted me dead, my rippling muscles surging under the heavy armor that shielded me from their attacks while they died under withering fire from my Spectre class assault rifle. Today? Not so much.
Five Things for Monday, Feb 15
1. Valentine’s Day weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night Lady Aravan and I relaxed with a Dominick’s stromboli and calzone, Saturday we went to a Chinese New Year’s party, and Sunday we had company for dinner. As much as I looked forward to relaxing all weekend, every activity was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself immensely.
Five Things for Friday, Feb 12th
1. I am in the mood for some good horror-based tabletop roleplaying. Lady Aravan’s VtDA game would be so much fun right now, with the dark nights and the cold wind blowing. I’d even run one, if I had the time or inclination to design one. I’ve been reading a Ravenloft source book, and even though I don’t really like D&D as a system and mood-setter, it does make me crave a good dark gaming session. Someday soon I’ll get started on my campaign, as soon as I finish editing the damn novel.
Five Things for Wednesday, September 23rd
1. I really, deep down in my bones, hate meetings. The more people in them, the more excruciating they are. I was in a meeting from 10:30 to 11:30 this morning, then in one from 2:00 to 2:45 this afternoon. Add in lunch, and I was pretty much unproductive for 4 straight hours. Meetings do nothing but interrupt my workflow and force me to listen to chattering idiots who love nothing more than the sound of their own voices.
Five Things for Tuesday, September 22nd
1. First day of fall. Hint of crispness in the air. I like these things. However, the absolute dark of 6 a.m. is a downer. Very hard to get psyched and motivated for exercise when the sun isn’t even remotely up. Did it anyway, which I am happy for and proud of, but it’s still a struggle.
Winter in Derenemyn 