Happy Birthday Vicky

So I've returned from "Forbidden Island". A good time appears had by all. It was pretty full there, even on a Wednesday night. Nothing like the weekends, but that's to be expected.

Vicky's choice of rums cleared my sinuses and cleaned my contacts without me even being tempted to sip them. Ye gods.

I quite suspect that lady could drink me under the table without thinking about it.

Good thing I'm past the age where drinking contests are likely. I can't win drinking contests anymore. My body just can't process it like when I was in my 20's.

Sucks. Ah well.

Still, I got home, sober and functional in time to get my tired arse into bed for work tomorrow and it's not even 8:30 yet.

Sweet bejebus. When did I get to be so goddamn old?

At least I'm prepared. Got me a nice Irish walking stick (aka a "shillelagh") to lay the smackdown on "kids these days".

Don't think I won't use it! Damn kids!


Sadly, it's only Wednesday. Got two more days of early mornings to go. I've sworn to myself I'll bike ride every day this week, so I gotta get my lazy arse up and out the door with time budgeted to get to work.

Sure, nobody would know if I'm late. I mean, c'mon. Only the insane go in the office during my hours, but my OCD would know.

Sucks to be neurotic, but that's a whole other matter and I don't care to type more about that right now.

So, world, I'm going to bed.

Happy birthday Vicky!

Get better Moira!

Shave off the scruff, Marc!

Email me an update, Megumi!

Okay, that about covers it. Good night!

The duties of the Order of the Crooked Warden

Are only two:

1) Thieves prosper.

2) The rich remember.

I love it.

Shout out

User Friendly called it the way it is.

That's right. Steve Jackson got there first.

If you don't get it, you don't need to.

---

If I ever build or buy my own house, I'm totally doing this.

Ideally in a dome house.

'Cause it would be cool.

That said... this shit is sick.

Very, very sick.

---
This is about time.

---

IKEA!!!

---
It's payday. I am filled with payday joy.

Actually I'm exhausted and I pulled something in my neck. My allergies are killing me and the goddamn wind is kicking up again.

Still, it's nice to have some cash in the bank for the next twenty minutes or so.

It's Wednesday and thoughts go, of course, to the coming weekend. I'm supposed to hit some new, odd drinking hole with my sister and some friends on Friday night. Saturday appears open, which is good as I'll need to try to get into the laundry room and accomplish some laundry.

Whee.

The weekend after is the Kaboom at Steve's. I think I'll know maybe three people at this gathering, but that's cool.

The weekend after should be Erik's game, if I have my schedule worked out. Then May will end with the Memorial Day weekend. Woo-hoo!

And tonight: Forbidden Island

bike riding in the wind

... sucks, just so you know.

The weather report predicts between 20 to 30 MPH winds this afternoon. Today's ride home will either be awesome (if the wind is at my back) or suck incredibly (if not).

Odds are, it's gonna suck. Ah well.

At least the ear infection appears to be fading. Bless decongestants. I don't have to truck into the 'hood to see a doctor. Yay!

One interesting thing about allergies: they give me the strangest and most vivid dreams. Once again, I woke to a couple minutes of confusion as to whether or not I was really awake.

The alarm clock convinced me I was.

My apartment has a vaguely tomato-and-onion smell that didn't fade from having the kitchen window open overnight. I spent a few hours last night making pasta sauce amidst the normal puttering around that I usually do in my post-work afternoons. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I actually got more work done my fantasy story this time around. Should Marc and I do our writing-group-meeting-thing in May, I'll be prepared with at least one of the two stories. I'm still hashing out what the hell I want to do with the sci-fi story. I'm having trouble working out character motivations and background. I know what characters I want to have in the story and roughly what I want to happen, but I'm finding that as I outline the actual plot, I'm dissatisfied. I may have to just nuke the whole thing and start over again.

One of the guys in my department (the only writer with more seniority than me, interestingly enough) once told me "the first three drafts of everything is crap".

He can't recall having said that, but I do and I've taken it to heart.

Alas, I think I'm an exception. The first ten drafts of everything I seem to do is crap.

Ah well. I'll get there eventually.

I'm really glad Erik is taking over GM duties for May. It helps that I don't have to think about game stuff at all (and I really don't want to).

I really need a vacation.

where to get my read on?

So I followed my normal lunch pattern today. I hit the cafe I have gone to for nearly 11 years now, grabbed a table, pulled out my book, and read while I ate.

Well, okay. I tried to read while I ate.

My old stomping ground cafe now has a massive flat-screen TV. On M-W-F, when my friend is running the register, the TV is on with volume full-blast with some kind of drama or reality TV show that's covering subject matter that rarely goes with lunch.

Add to that the volume and I can't get beyond a page to read.

I hate eating in the office. I can't really read in my cube and I can't get anything done in the break room (it's too loud). I don't want to read outside.

*sigh*

I guess I need to find a new place on M-W-F. I could ask my friend to just turn it down, but... eh. If she doesn't realize it on her own, there's no point bringing it up.

Red Seas Under Red Skies

So I have the hardback version of Scott Lynch's "Red Seas Under Red Skies", the second volume of the Gentlemen Bastards saga. I'm only 106 pages into it so far and I'm enjoying it.

I've heard reviews that it's not as good as "The Lies of Locke Lamora". I'm not sure that's a fair claim, but then I'm only 106 pages in. I think it's pretty good. Lynch is a master of taking the narrative in interesting directions.

I mean, I'm lugging around a hardback book in my backpack as I ride my bike to work. I don't do that for just any story. I enjoy Lynch's world more than most of the other stuff I've read lately (except the wonderous worlds of Jim Butcher... I must have more. MORE!).

I'm a little jazzed. The next "Avatar: The Last Airbender" DVD comes out next week.

Yes. I'm excited about a kid's show coming out on DVD.

Bite me.

This show is top-notch animation and has an interesting storyline. If Nickelodean actually communicated when it broadcasts and didn't play TV executive bullshit games with this program, it would have everyone's constant attention.

Many Bothans died to bring us this DVD.

And if it would get me the DVD faster, I'd line up a Death Star at the Bothan homeworld and press buttons randomly.

I don't even know what a Bothan is. I'm such an evil bastard.

Many Bothans died to bring us this Monday

F***ing Bothans.

Today's MythTickle is just awesome:

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/myth/2008/myth080428.jpg

iGod indeed.

Almost as awesome as Sluggy's Ala-ka-blam! And OotS... I laugh! I cry!

Ah, good times.

Oh wait. I cry 'cause it's Monday.

F***ing Bothans.

Yesterday my dad cooked up a couple of racks of his famous baby-back ribs. At some point in the middle of my gorging myself on animal parts, someone suggested I take a "before" and "after" pic so others can see just what kind of pig I make of myself.

I didn't want to get my camera dirty with the rib sauce that was covering my hands.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

He made a mai tai as well. Combine all of this with my mom's always-delicious side-dishes (the requisite veggies, rice, etc.) and it was the meal from heaven.

My folks. Their culinary skills are beyond words.

And, off topic, I think I'm developing an ear infection. Damnit.

F***ing Bothans.

Awesome spring weather

[sneezes]

Yeah. Love the warm, sunny weather though I wouldn't mind us getting a solid two weeks of rain to offset impending water shortages.

The allergies, however, can go f*** themselves. I'm getting tired of this shit.

So last night's booze-up didn't result in a disaster for me. I honestly had to take it really slow. Mackie was kind enough to make more than a few disparaging remarks about my manly drinking powers, though he does acknowledge that my pre-drinking with my sis and Ang would slow most people down a bit.

Vengeance will still be mine.

I hate to admit it, but I was a little off-my-game last night beyond the afternoon's booze. Before I set out, one of my friends overseas notified me via email why I haven't heard from her for a good three months. It's been kind of weighing on my mind a little.

She's been in the friggin' hospital.

I have no idea why she was hospitalized. She's out now and apparently undergoing some kind of recuperative therapy. I'm hoping she'll have an opportunity to bring me up to speed as to what's been going on with her.

Non-stop fun these days.

gettin' mah drink on, ah tell yew whut

Got a call from the unnamed around 11 saying:

"We're going to Jupiter! Join us for beer!"

It's a gorgeous day, so I could hardly say no.

Of course, I have standing plans tonight to catch up with my buddy Mackie for a few pints in celebration of our mutual decade of employment with those who sign our paychecks.

And I'm a wee-bit tipsy as I write this. I'm not meeting up with Mackie for another three hours.

Not an auspicious start to this evening. If it weren't for spell-check, I couldn't even spell "auspicious" worth a damn.

Yikes.

Finished watching last night's BSG and the Dr. Who ep. BSG was filler, though still entertaining. Dr. Who wasn't as bad as I feared, but it was mediocre. Kind of sad, really.

The unnamed, Ang, and I discussed some general ideas about my pending 40th. The unnamed did suggest perhaps I show a bit of restraint and not go absolutely batshit crazy with my invite list.

Given that I'm expecting at least a 50% flake-out rate on this, I don't anticipate a problem. Ang made a good point that people may well go the extra mile to give me shit over turning 40.

I befriend sadists, for the most part. Ang makes a very valid point.

I have plenty of time to dwell upon this. Probably best to give this more thought when I'm not a wee-bit tipsy from several pints of beer.

Tonight may well be a bit of a problem.

Just sayin'

Funny bit of random that caught my fleeting attention... I returned home and my neighbor was playing with his two kids (8-ish and a toddler) in the hallway. I'm not positive that he realized I'm a bit inebriated. I figure it ought to be obvious, but he talked to me as though I'm fine (which ought to be alarming... am I normally behaving like a lush? Ah well).

I get along well enough with the kids. I tend to get along fine with kids, for the most part. I think they sense someone far from emotionally-mature when they look at me. That or they realize I'm someone they can steamroll. Whatever.

I was amused, and still befuddled, by the fact that the toddler stared at me as if unsure who/what I am. I get that a lot from kids that age. It's something that makes me a bit self-conscious. I can't figure out what the hell it is that they're staring at.

And some pets do this. Especially dogs. Dogs, like toddlers, either like me or hate me. In the case of dogs, they bite. In the case of toddlers, they make a keeining, wailing, cry.

Yet the neighbor's kid toddler seems okay with me.

So what's with the staring? Is it that we've got the same general hairstyle?

Okay, the toddler has more.... *sigh*

Whatever. Gotta drink more water before tonight's destruction of the liver.

The Idiot Box loves me

So last night was a new episode of "Lost".

I just finished watching the episode from my tape.

Man, when these guys are on their game, they're on their game. Damn! This is the kind of stuff they SHOULD be doing! Hard core, take-no-prisoners, frak with the audience kind of stuff.

It was great!

Of course, now they've set themselves up to frell it up later. Damnit!

Like how I mixed my sci-fi epithets? Thanks. I'm quite proud of it. Hang on... gotta replace the electrical tape on my glasses.

Aaaah... there we go.

So it's Friday night and my three-hour block of SciFi channel goodness has begun. More "Sarah Jane Adventures" 'till 9pm. It's kiddie fare, but I'm still enjoying it.

Next is "Doctor Who". Alas, they're introducing the new companion, Donna. I wasn't partial to Rose, the first of the reimagined series companions. I liked Martha but the character did need to move on. I think she'll do better in "Torchwood". Donna, however... she was introduced in the last Xmas special and... ugh. Annoying to the Nth power.

Why can't they bring in Sally Sparrow from the best episode of the reimagined series, "Blink"? She rocked.

It's also the first of the new season's proper episodes. It's penned by Russel Davies so it's guaranteed to have either fat jokes, farting aliens, or some other bits of his signature stuff. Eh, I'll tape it and fast-forward through the boring bits.

And then "Battlestar Galactica". It's almost too much nerd-dom.

Prior to this I found myself in the odd situation of being more social with my neighbors. I don't normally interact with them too much, but this time I pretty much chatted with half the building.

I barely know any of their names, but whatever works. They're all really nice and pretty friendly. Some are chattier than I'm used to and one has a tendency to share information I'd rather not know... Brrr....

Honestly. Do people walk up to total strangers and chat about intimate details of their personal lives and any medical treatments they may be in the midst of undergoing?

I can understand wanting to talk about stuff that may be stressful. That's normal and I don't have a problem being someone's sounding board for stuff like that, but I'd think that filters would kick in at some point and certain levels of detail might get omitted.

One of my friends claims I draw this out of people.

Dunno how. Wish I could turn it off at will.

Oh well. I still have the Idiot Box and its lovely offerings for the socially-inept on this beautiful Friday night.

Time to see if I have any beer left...

To jog or not to jog?

It's a little after 2:30 in the afternoon. I have a short time left before I can blow this popcicle stand and fight for the laundry room.

Do I want to jog as well?

The weather is really nice but my allergies are acting up again. Decisions, decisions.

What are the odds I'll see hotties on the jogging trail?

Actually... pretty bad odds, based on the last few times I've gone running but sometimes I find myself pleasantly surprised.

Ah well. The Toddy decanter arrived. I've finished the rest of my urgent work for the week. I got a pile of edits that I really don't want to deal with.

It's nearly beer time.

Island-y goodness

So my friend Vicky's birthday is next Wednesday. She wants to hit "Forbidden Island" in Alameda and drink some disturbingly expensive rum and hang with her buds (and, as I'm invited, I guess I'm among that august number).

"Forbidden Island" may well be my favorite bar on this Earth. Their mai tais are nearly on a par with my dad's.

Their zombies can kick my arse disturbingly fast.

Thinking on bars makes me realize I'm still thinking about how I want to handle my upcoming 40th. The idea of actually renting out a bar has a great deal of appeal until I start thinking about how much it would actually cost up front.

One of my friends suggested I solicit about five bucks from everyone I'd invite (which would be pretty much everyone I know), but I dislike that idea.

I think that's tacky to hit people up for money in cirucmstances like that. I just wanna hit some place with lots of room, have a few drinks, and mingle with all the people I know who make life worth living.

For me, that's a surprisingly large list of folks. I'd be inviting my sister and people I know through her, college and high school buddies of mine, gamers, and most of my office, among others.

Right there, that's over a hundred people.

A hundred people I'm not sure I want mingling with one another... hmmm...

I have to admit celebrating the end of my third decade of life at "Forbidden Island" has a great deal of appeal. Alas, there's no reliable public transportation to Alameda and that bar fills up fast. Within an hour of opening, there's no seats. None.

I'd prefer something within reasonable walking distance of BART, so I'm eyeballing a bar within crawling/staggering distance of my apartment. I've already asked about reserving their upstairs. I'd need to call one of the managers during the week and get a rough price quote. The bartender I talked to said my planned weekend celebration would be quite expensive, since that's when they do the bulk of their business.

*sigh*

Maybe I'm being overly-ambitious. I could just say "screw it" and fly to Vegas again.

Probably a bad idea.

I have to admit I do like the idea of actually having a birthday party for a change. Not some "surprise party". I hate those. I wanna have some control over (and idea of) the guest list, especially after the "surprise" party for my 30th. The only surprise there was the appearance of someone I really didn't want present. Yeeesh...

I'll get you for that Jenny! Oh yes...

But back to "Forbidden Island". Is it wrong that it's not even 8 am and I'm craving a mai tai?

Don't answer that.

Aaaah Friday

I finished "The Lies of Locke Lamora" last night.

I've found a new favorite author in Scott Lynch.

I LOVED this book! It had me "on the edge of my seat" 'till pretty much the very end.

Genius.

I loved all of it. The motivations of the Grey King. The rise of the Gentlemen Bastards. The Spider's scenes. Locke's learning of his limitations and getting his mojo back. The Bondsmage. Jean's training montage. The grand plot.

I even loved how one of the Gentlemen Bastards never appears in the book but remains an incredibly important character nonetheless. Crucial even.

Now it's off to Marc for his reading pleasure while I dive into book two. I've heard "Red Seas Under Red Skies" isn't as good as "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Given that it's book two in a seven book series, I expect "Red Seas" to be more of a bridge novel. I'll still read it.

And the end of my three-day work week arrives. I could get used to working only three days a week (with my normal paycheck, of course), but I notice the workload never really gets lessened.

At least my allergies are starting to calm down a bit. I'd have ridden my bike today if I weren't expecting a package that can't survive a bike ride to come to the office.

Hopefully it will arrive today. Today's drive in has already been rife with idiots. I'm at the freeway exit at a red light. There's some idiot in a van at another red light. Without warning or any actual traffic signal on his part, he decides to cut across the lane I'll need and do a three-point turn.

No, wait. It would be a three-point turn for someone with a brain. This idiot? It was a twelve-point turn.

And he chooses to do this as the light turns green for me.

At 5-something in the morning, my already-slight patience for dumbshits is even more anorexic. It's times like that when I want some kind of high-tech disintegrator beam or a dumbfuck ray that shifts complete morons to the "Moron Zone".

Oooh...

I like that idea.

Media overload and whiny b.s.

So one of my co-workers loaned me more copies of "Naruto Shippuden" and "Bleach" for my viewing pleasure. He's gotten me hooked on those anime offerings like a crack fiend.

"Naruto" is in filler-mode right now (more or less). While immeasurably better than past filler offerings, I'm still somewhat disappointed that they're backsliding the title character. With the "Shippuden" restart, they built up Naruto to be more cunning and skilled, then suddenly decided that just wasn't working and went back to making him an utter idiot again. Kind of sad.

"Bleach" however... gaah! I LOVE this anime! Watching the title character, Ichigo, throw down with his latest foe, Grimmjaw, and lay a smackdown worthy of a title character just made me happy. Happy, happy, happy.

I hate powergaming, but I'd be briefly tempted to game in a session themed like "Bleach". It would get old really quick, though.

I'm almost done with "The Lies of Locke Lamora". The anime distractions kept me from finishing the book, but the plot is heading to the conclusion already. I'm curious what the Grey King's scheme is and if Locke will revenge himself upon the Bondsmage known as the Falconer, and how he'll do it against such an obviously-overpowering foe.

Given that this is book one in a planned seven book series, I'm confident he'll lay the smackdown on everyone in his path and be home in time for dinner. I'm going to try to get book two this afternoon (albeit in hardback... *sigh*).

And I finally got book three of the "Least I Could Do" compliations. It's only been a month and a half with two screwed-up orders. Still, I got a nice mousepad thrown in for free. I guess I don't really hold a grudge. Their customer service was pretty responsive and the mouse pad is worth about ten bucks.

It was kind of like a late Xmas yesterday 'cause a lot of my orders came in. I got a DVD I ordered from Japan (the latest of my "Eko Eko Azarak" collection... I have a serious problem) and an "all edges brownie pan" I got from Amazon.

Mmm... brownies. Alas, I have to be good for a couple more weeks.

The "Eko Eko Azarak" DVD is weird, even by standards of so-called "anime" and this series (which is really weird). I haven't finished it yet because I really wanted to watch the anime...

Thus overload.

[Gaming-related rant follows... just in case you don't care about RPG-related whining]

At some point I need to start working more on my prep for the June game. I left things in a cliffhanger and the group is so over-powered that it takes a lot of planning to come up with something that's even a mild challenge.

No, that's not precisely true. It's easy for most of the group. For the spellcasters, it's damn hard. The spellcasters alone can take out the entire group of PCs and a couple of small armies for good measure.

And then there's the NPCs.

The purpose of the NPCs is mainly support and to be plot motivations to keep the PCs trying to protect someone/something. Pretty straightforward.

The problem is that two of my NPCs and nine of the other GM's NPCs are disturbingly overpowered. Admittedly, one of mine is a deus ex machina kind of NPC and he's severely limited by not being able to kill, or even shed blood, of others. The second is his bodyguard who exists only to protect this guy.

That leaves the nine Magery 3 NPCs. They are difficult to deal with. I find myself looking at their stats and getting a mite frustrated, truth be told. I mean, I can get that an Elf's entourage would have mages and badasses. It only makes sense that an Elven kingdom would send some of their best to protect one of their more famous and important guys.

I get that.

But NINE people with MAGERY THREE??? In GURPS that's insanely rare, or it's supposed to be. Further, one of the characters is carting around a blade that's intrinsically more valuable and powerful than anything any of the player characters are carrying.

And the sad thing is that the group is carrying so much crap right now that it's just crazy. Sure, they'll need a lot of it in the planned parts ahead, but it does sort of make some of the planned encounters sort of unnecessary and stupid.

Ah well. I guess it's not that big of a deal. Everyone else seems to enjoy the overpowered playing. I can just breeze through this, not put too much effort into it, and let this go the way it goes. It will hasten the end of the campaign and open the way to other, less-munchkiny, campaigns that are more interesting to me.

Or they'll just get me to stop whining and write my own damn stories so I don't have to worry about what others do.

randomness

I think I've figured out what Agent Smith meant in "The Matrix" when he was whining about the "stink of humanity".

He'd just completed an assignment in the Berkley part of the Matrix.

Seriously. It's unreal how many people don't take the time to bathe in that city. I don't encounter that many stinking people in Oakland or S.F. Why Berkeley?

In the aftermath of watching "The Forbidden Kingdom", I've gone back through my obscenely large stack of DVDs to watch some of my other martial arts flicks. I found and started watching "The Seven Swords" by Tsui Hark. Enjoyable, but pretty gritty. I think I like the more over-the-top performances in "Iron Monkey", "Hero", and "Lovers" (aka "House of Flying Daggers").

I broke down yesterday and had a chocolate eclair.

I'd forgotten how good custard-filled chocolate-coated pastries were. I wonder if this healthy lifestyle thing is really worth it? The damn eclair (and the burrito I had earlier on my walk home) probably blew whatever health benefits I got from the walk completely out of the water.

Eh. Who am I kidding? The day I get my next blood test done, I'm totally having a french toast breakfast, a side of bacon, and hitting Zachary's for dinner.

Mmm... pizza... I haven't had that in a dog's age.

I wants my 'za! I miss my 'za! Damnit!

Yawn

I forgot how much early mornings suck.

And it even drizzled rain last night. That made it even harder to wake up this morning. It also killed my desire to ride my bike to work.

It helps that my feet are killing me. My boots are still in that "breaking in" phase and I had the bright idea of walking from University home yesterday, with a stopover at the odd shop or two.

My feet hurt like hell. Still.

So I'm back in the office on a Wednesday and I've downloaded my email. I realize it's really just a perception thing, but why is it that if I take any time off, it seems like everything has turned to batshit as soon as I get back to the office? Is it that I just don't notice during the normal day-to-day stuff?

Sweet bejebus.

And we're closing in on release, which means everyone is in a tizzy. We've only had a year and a half to get our shit together and people still panic over bad planning and poor time-management. Gaaah!!!!

Then again, it's not like I don't have my moments every other day.

Nearly done with "The Lies of Locke Lamora". I probably would've burned through it already, but I find myself savoring Lynch's world and characters. The plot twists are satisfying and the characters rock my world. I need to purchase the sequel. Maybe today...

The brownie pan I ordered should arrive at the office today. I expect it to be somewhat cumbersome, so it's good I drove today. Alas, my replacement decanter for my Toddy Coffee is due to arrive Friday. Should I drive that day? It's a delicate, glass thing (thus necessitating replacement in my clumsy hands). Should I instead try to cleverly find a way to secure it to my bike?

Probably not wise.

And so my last debate with myself is whether or not I shall endeavor to jog after work today.

To jog or not to jog? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the blisters and sore soles of outrageous fortune for fitness and weight loss...

Adventures in BART

I love being near Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). It's handy, reasonably quick, and saves me having to navigate the ever-annoying streets of the Bay Area in my all-too-delicate car. Plus gas is hell of expensive.

So after a brief jaunt into scenic Berkeley (with its requisite encounters with batshit crazy people and folks who don't understand what "soap" is), I decided to hit S.F.

No particular goal in mind. Just wandering around.

It's damn cold there, too. Admittedly, I was cold 'cause I still didn't wear a damn hat, but it's my blog. I'll whine if I want to.

After walking Market (again, no real goal... just seeing if anything caught my eye), I debated walking out to Japantown (which, for the record, is an insane walk from downtown. Insane. It would've been sufficient to deal with my exercise, but my poor feet...), I opted instead to head up Grant.

I was craving a tapioca milk tea.

Seriously. It was overwhelming. I was craving that like an addict. I wonder if I should ever let Meg know that she got me hooked?

Anyways, Monday afternoons are not the best time to hit Chinatown if you're looking for shops to be open. Then again, it's a great time if you don't want to step on a billion tourists milling about. Most of the places I wanted to see were open. No movies grabbed my attention. The bakery with those awesome spongecakes was closed for vacation (thank goodness... I love those damn things too much).

And I got my tea. Mmm... Nummy! I wish I knew why I loved these things. I'm lactose intolerant, yet it's worth the roll of the dice to get these.

I considered grabbing some lunch in North Beach, but opted to restrain myself. I'm still full from breakfast and felt an uncharacteristic desire to show some self-control.

Besides, I wanted to get back so I can go running before the local rugrats get out of school.

And it's after 2. I should go now if I plan to beat the anklebiter horde.

The Good Life

There's something to be said for working for a company that gives me so much PTO (paid time off) that I have to "use it or lose it" fairly often.

Given that I haven't taken a big vacation this year, I find myself hitting that ceiling fairly often of late.

So today (and tomorrow) I'm being a bum. I slept about ten hours, woke to actual sunlight (gasp!), then decided to go out for breakfast. I took a walk to a local cafe to enjoy amaretto french toast, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and coffee.

It's f***ing cold outside, by the way. I should've worn a hat.

It was an excellent breakfast. I got further into "The Lies of Locke Lamora" and absolutely love this book! (Indulging in gaming nerd-dom) The main character, Locke Lamora, reminds me of any number of Steve's characters in our games. I should loan this to him. (end gaming refs)

And now I prepare to head out to arrange a few personal matters. Should be a hoot. Maybe I'll go for a jog later.

I actually got some writing done yesterday. Maybe I'll take some of the free time to return to that. I started working on gaming stuff, but the power-gaming elements of our Fantasy campaign is bugging me at the moment. Hell, we have a cadre of NPCs who are more powerful than some of our PCs. Gah! Frustrating.

That's actually one of the things I hate about Fantasy settings. They encourage a "god among men" sort of approach to characters akin to superhero settings. That bugs me. I tend to prefer more of an "every-person" sort of hero who can excel at learning and mortal limitations. I guess that's why I favor science fiction settings, but then given the right kind of technology applications in a game, it runs into the same kinds of problems.

Kind of an interesting statement on life, in a weird kind of way.

But I digress on my morning, post-coffee, brain dump.

Monkey King

So I just watched "The Forbidden Kingdom" with some of the more aromatic folks of Berkeley.

I've promised myself twice now that I wouldn't see movies in Berkeley. I really need to overcome this lying to myself habit.

Anyways, I liked the movie. The Jackie Chan/Jet Li combo was better than I expected and the fight sequences were most entertaining.

The main kid, a white boy from Boston, is quite forgettable. Just for once I'd like to see a movie where they have a "fish out of water" story, like a non-Asian in Asia or a non-Brit in British high society and not make that character into an utter dork.

I can get behind the character's fanboy behavior. I'm right there, but c'mon. Try not to treat the audience like complete idiots. If any of us were suddenly flung back in time, even as teenagers, we wouldn't be showering folks there with modern references that they wouldn't get. It would be idiotic in the extreme.

And the attempt at a romantic subplot between the main boy and the main girl was, at best, lacking anything resembling chemistry. "Forced" doesn't begin to cover it. Still, that wasn't what I was watching the movie for, so I was able to ignore it.

I would have liked to have seen more badass underlings throwing their weight around for the fights with the heroes, but overall I enjoyed the movie. It was good, clean fun. The ending was predictable, but that's fine too.

$7.50 well spent.

I would get the soundtrack, if it were out. Sigh.

Kung Fu Grip!

So "The Forbidden Kingdom" opens today, starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li in their first cooperative film effort.

The adverts make a big deal out of a battle between the two of them, but given that this is a story about a 13-year-old American boy who goes back in time to ancient China to learn kung fu, I'm expecting that the anticipated "fight" will be three seconds of disappointment.

That's okay. The trailers have plenty of ass-kicking stuff in it that makes me want to pony up some cash and check it out.

Tonight's a new Dr. Who and BSG, though. And I hate opening night at pretty much any movie.

Hmm... maybe over the weekend. I'm taking a nice, long weekend. I can catch a matinee or evening performance.

WOH-PAH! Ninja-agile!

This could be really good or really bad.

So it appears that someone's decided to do a remake of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress".

http://www.japan-zone.com/forum/?num=1208489917

You know. A remake after "Star Wars", which was a remake with robots, spaceships, and blasters.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I haven't seen Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress". I saw "Ran" and was unimpressed, but I should give "Fortress" a try.

I watched the YouTube trailer and figured this will probably be good enough for my low standards. There's swordfighting and a hot heroine. I really don't need much more.

Yeah, it's pathetic, but I really don't care.

Books! And stuff!

I finished "Magic Burns" last night.

Wow.

Seriously. Wow.

That was just awesome. Andrews has won my loyalty as a fan. I can't wait for her next book.

I'm having trouble deciding if I like Andrews more than Patricia Briggs or not. Butcher still tops them, but... wow.

Charles is quite the book pimp. We've discussed him getting an appropriate hat.

Erik finished Harrison's latest Rachel Morgan book and both he and Charles have independently assured me it lacks the annoying crap that bothered me in her prior books. I'll give it a read when it hits paperback.

In the meantime, I am now reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch (based on a recommendation I read in Sohmer's blog on "Looking for Group").

I'm only about 34 pages in and I'm already hooked.

I'm glad I don't have much TV to distract me from the reading material. On a whim, I picked up a DVD copy of "Appleseed Ex Machina" and watched part of it while I ate dinner last night. I was surprised at how much I'm enjoying it.

When anime is on. It's really on.

I still have to watch the copies of "Naruto Shippuden" that my friend Marc got for me. And "Dennou Coil" that Ben burned onto DVD for me (after I go through the joy of installing new codecs and the like). And new episodes of "Bleach" are on the horizon.

It's a good thing I don't have much of a life. Affords me the time to properly appreciate all this fun entertainment. It's kind of sad that I'm considering hitting "Forbidden Island" over the weekend and reading while I enjoy a mai tai or two.

I should be good and get back to work on the damn stories. Gaah.

Muffin!

So... good...

Nom! Nom! Nom!

Miscellanea

So the down-side to maintaining baldness is the head shaving. The problem with shaving one's head is applying a sharp edge to one's scalp.

Head wounds bleed. They bleed a lot.

So when I get the bright idea of shaving my head before I step out (say to go to the supermarket or something) and I manage to take a bit of skin off, I'm bleeding like hell for quite some time.

Ay carumba.

---

I never used to get cold, at least not easily. A few years back, I'd go wandering outside in a foggy morning wearing a t-shirt and shorts with nary a whine.

That was then. Now? Now I get cold. Stupid AC comes on in my office about 6 or 6:30 and I have to bust out a jacket or something and sometimes a hat (for the aformentioned shaved head).

WTF? I can see it now: I'll be one of those older folks who's shivering in the dead of summer.

Oh well, with global warming, I guess I'm adapting in a way.

I should sprout gills any moment now.

---

Weddings... so, ye gods. I figured that when most of my friends got married, that would be it for a while. I mean, with a few exceptions, most of my high school and college buddies have walked down the aisle. The stragglers are probably going to remain single for some time to come.

So how is it I find myself getting invited to so many weddings still?

WTF?

It's going to be a strange, long year.

---

I really want a blueberry muffin today.

I really should resist the siren lure of the blueberry muffin.

I wants it. I waaaanttsss itttttt!!!!

You can go about your business.

Move along.

Move along.

These are not the droids you're looking for.

There is nothing to see here.

Move along.

Move along.

Readin', writin', and no 'rithmatic

Needing something light after finishing "Last Argument of Kings" I have returned to "Magic Burns" by Ilona Andrews.

I love it.

Love. It.

Normally, I'm not fond of female authors (with the exception of J.K. Rowling) for my fantasy. They tend to get too "chicky" for me. My friend Charles has recommended some authors that are changing my hidebound (and probably a bit sexist) views a bit. Slowly.

Andrews was one of his recommendations and I have to say I do love this author. "Magic Burns" is the second of the Kate Daniels books and I'm about halfway through it. Great stuff. Weird world she's crafted and it rocks my reading world.

All this makes me consider getting back to doing writing. I'm in a "writing group" with a buddy of mine from work. It's mostly a mutual-encouragement thing. I think we're supposed to meet soon but I haven't done a damn thing since our last meeting. The gaming stuff has pretty much sucked me dry for any creative writing and I still have a bit of writer's block on what I want to do with my two in-progress stories anyway.

Ugh.

Still, I'm off the GM duties 'till June, so I should suck it up and focus on one of the two stories to make some progress. I need to do something constructive these days. I'm just slacking too much. I can feel my brain dribbling out my ears and it's not like I have a lot of grey matter to spare.

Does that mean that Sloth is my favorite of the Deadly Sins? I would've figured others first...

A bit breezy

The wind has been crazed of late. Since yesterday, the news says the wind's been blowing between 20 and 30 mph.

Sounded like more than that last night. My windows rattled from the damn wind. It wasn't enough to keep me awake, but it was awfully impressive.

It actually made me sleepy. "Weather" (rain, wind, etc.) always seems to have that effect. Of course, the fact that I went jogging yesterday probably had some impact on that. I suspect I inhaled a good pound or two of pollen. Ah, allergies. You've been with me so long, what would life be without you?

I sure would like to find out.

--

I love living in the 21st century. LED flashlights please me almost as much as my MP3 player and flash drives.

And the ultra-bright LED flashlights are so friggin' bright! I just got some cheap ones from Amazon and they boggle the mind with how bright they are.

I do love my gadgets.

I've learned I'm a bit of a marketing slut, too. So I felt the need to have a lightweight jacket for the local weather (all year round one always needs a light jacket or more). I also love garments with pockets, be they cargo pants or jackets with much the same. The more pockets, the happier I am (due in no small part to the love of gadgets mentioned above).

So I've been eyeballing the "Alpha Industries McGyver Field Jacket" mentioned in Uncrate and sold by Urban Outfitters. After questing for one in my size and preferred color (black), I gave up and wound up buying a Merona "Safari jacket" in a "charcoal" color for about a third of the price of the "McGyver" jacket (yes the spelling is off from the TV show... it's deliberate, from what I gather).

The Merona jacket is really nice. Tons of pockets, lightweight, and just my thing.

To mix things up a bit, I decided to get the "McGyver" jacket in the alternate offered color ("olive"). It arrived yesterday.

Here's where I'm a marketing slut. I bought it based on advertising and, while it's a nice jacket, it's not as comfortable or pocket-laden as the Merona jacket, which is a Target-brand jacket.

I think it's 'cause the Merona jacket is roomier. The Alpha Industries jacket is cut a bit more form-fitting and feels a bit claustrophobic. The pockets are also smaller. Hmph.

Life lesson here? Pay less attention to the purdy advertisin'. Will I learn something from this? Probably not.

That said, I regret nothing.

BSG

So... Friday's Battlestar Galactica restored my faith in the franchise.

I was initially inclined to chalk up the season opener as a fluke, especially after the utter shit that was the end of season three.

I now eat my words raw and with no seasoning.

Episode two of season four was absolutely lovely. Fantastic.

- I have to say, after three seasons, I'm warming to the character of Lee "Apollo" Adama. Slowly.

- I cannot believe how often Baltar gets laid. It's just wrong. Very, very wrong.

- Bill Adama? He is a rock star.

- Cylon politics are awesome. "Boomer" Cylon-Sharon is surprisingly f***ed up. I'd like to know if it was a particular Six who got the Centurions to do the housecleaning or if this is a "new" Six? I like Six with the darker blonde hair. Mmm.... sorry, what was I saying?

- I'm still annoyed with the character of Starbuck, but Katee Sackoff just rocks in that role. She does edgy really, really well. They should've done the "Bionic Woman" entirely around her character.

Ah well.

New "Dr. Who" this Friday as well as the next BSG. I'm so excited!

zzzzzz

Mondays just get harder every friggin' week.

So everyone survived the game on Saturday. I was certain I'd have a nervious breakdown running a three-way session, but everything went surprisingly smoothly. I thought I'd under-prepared with NPCs but the dice took over and gave the players a run for their money.

Figures. When I use mooks, they're bogged down and bloodied. When I prepare badass NPCs, they walk through them like a tank running over kittens.

*sigh*

But I'm off-the-hook for GMing for a while now. Erik's got the May game. The session ended on a cliffhanger, so no email filler is needed. Gives me time to prep.

---

I went to see the family Sunday. There, my sister learned about the latest Butcher book and I told her I'd loaned it to Erik.

For the rest of the day, she didn't let up at all.

At. All.

If she was reasonably certain where Erik lives, I suspect she'd consider some robbery. I had no idea she'd take to Butcher's stories so well. Erik? I think once you're done with the book we should meet for a beer and a book handoff.

Good lord...

---

I flaked on bike riding this morning. The weather prediction claimed wind and all that. I need to run errands afterwards, so I'll just drive today and maybe tomorrow, then go running afterwards.

Whatever works.

I came into the office to find my lucky bamboo Minh gave me showing signs that it's dying. Honestly, I'm shocked the thing survived a few years in the office under my care. Thank goodness bamboo is nearly impossible to kill from neglect.

Funny. I wonder if care is killing it? I moved it to the window outside my manager's office so it would have actual light ('cause my cube is in constant shadow... the light burns usssss.... hissss). Now it appears to be fading. Maybe it needs more water? Maybe the plant food isn't good for it? Maybe I need to feed it more babies?

*sigh*

Hebron left me a surprising present on my desk. So my cube-neighbor is a hard-core bargain hunter and found cheap LED flashlights for about $7/each with shipping. We both ordered one on his card. Mine did not work (bad connections? Who knows?). So he returned my cash and started haggling with the seller for a replacement or a refund.

They shipped a replacement.

This thing is BRIGHT!

I love flashlights (despite the light burning usss... hisss....) as I do other handy gadgets.

A good start to the morning.

So I'm a convert

The fan buzz is that the "Sarah Jane Adventures", while a kid's show, is still superior in writing and acting to "Torchwood".

I'm inclined to agree.

Mind you, that's not saying much. The acting in "Torchwood" is pretty horrible. The writing is even worse. "Torchwood" is a show that squandered an incredible amount of potential to make a mediocre product.

The "Sarah Jane Adventures", however... I have to admit, I was surprised. I wasn't expecting much. I was a fan of Sarah Jane Smith in her tenure with the third and fourth Doctors. She was always the classiest of the Doctor's companions.

Okay, I had a mad crush on Leela. Most Dr. Who fanboys did. Let's get past that.

Sarah Jane was just always an interesting "everybody" character. She was startled by the weird stuff but always kept that British mannerism of controlling the fear that I found kind of awesome.

That said, I figured her in a kids show... that can't be good.

To be fair, I've only seen the first episode. It was campy, hokey, and a little silly. The main villain was Samantha Bond (Moneypenny from Brosnan's 007 run) who played it up in classic "Who" style.

They went kind of crazy with the "Sonic Lipstick" and the various alien doodads that Sarah Jane had strewn about her house. I mean, c'mon... now she's "Torchwood: Suburbia"? "UNIT Junior"?

Still, it was overall remarkably well-done. The freshman episode was superior to "Torchwood" and the revived "Dr. Who", in my humble opinion.

And I appreciated the subtle fanservice they added. Not just K-9's cameo, but the names listed at the end. Props to the reference to the old UNIT crew.

Adventures in lunching

So, normally I'm pretty dull and predictable at lunch. I hit the local cafe that I've gone to for the last eleven years (!!!!) and eat whatever is my meal-of-choice at the moment. Lately it's "americanized" pho (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup), mainly 'cause it's filling but not too rife with the stuff I should try to avoid (red meat, high cholesterol foods, etc.).

Somehow, without fully-understanding exactly what happened, I've found myself part of a "lunch posse" that does outings usually instigated by my cube neighbor Hebron or one of my other work friends, Angela.

The dining has been entertaining. It's either Korean food at a great place on Telegraph and MacArthur or it's somewhere in Oakland Chinatown or it's somewhere in the Pacific East Mall in Richmond/El Cerrito.

I guess it's not all that different from the lunches my other friend at work, Rach, often organizes. Those are usually Dim Sum or occasionally Thai food.

Regardless, it's almost always Asian cuisine. And, more often than not, I'm either the only non-Asian of the lunch crew or one of two with that distinction.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on how that happens to work out for me. Some opinions are somewhat snarky and judgmental. Some are friggin' hysterical.

Me? I'm enjoying the meals and I'm grateful I rode my bike today. I'm full!!!

More vacation musings

So the latest nonsense with the airline industry in the U.S. is not making me enthusiastic about traveling far for a vacation.

Still... I need one. But where to go?

Top contenders:

- Japan (I would like to see Tokyo)
Pluses: I know a little Japanese and can more-or-less manage to get around there. Plus, there's people I can visit with there. If I could figure out how to do it, I could take a train to Kobe and visit Megumi and maybe the Ono City crowd.
Minuses: Expense and the fact that I can only speak a little Japanese and can't read it worth a damn.

- China (I would like to see more of Beijing and Shanghai)
Pluses: I've been to Beijing and Shanghai, so I more-or-less know what to expect.
Minuses: Expense. I can't speak or read Mandarin at all. Going to China during the Olympic craziness is just stupid.

- Korea (mostly out of curiosity)
Pluses: I've never been there. It sounds interesting.
Minuses: Expense. Oh, and I can't speak or read Korean. And I really haven't researched this at all, so it's more of a whim.

- Germany/Austria (to see the family roots)
Pluses: Should be easy to get around. It sounds interesting. Beer. Pretzels. I mean... how can that be wrong?
Minuses: Expense. The exchange rate is just baaaaaad. I can't speak German.
Side note: It would be better to hit Germany/Austria in September for Oktoberfest anyway.

- Scotland (again: family roots)
Pluses: Should be easy to get around. I mean, theoretically, they speak English there... the weather is my kind of weather. Edinburgh is supposed to be totally fantastic and "my kind of city" (or so people keep telling me).
Minuses: Again with the expense. Also... Scottish food? Yeeesh. The Scots aren't known for their culinary skills.

- Ireland ('cause Ireland is fun!)
Pluses: Been there. It's easy to get around and the people are incredibly nice. It's safe and both the food and the drink is appealing.
Minuses: Been there. Plus expense... I think they're on the Euro, so the exchange rate would be much like Germany/Austria, so I may as well light half my wallet on fire.

There's the Vienna-Budapest-Prague trip that my sis and I keep talking about. That's still on the books, but probably for 2009. Assuming civilization hasn't collapsed, the polar icecaps haven't completely melted, and the economy hasn't gone completely into the shitter.

So... local trips, maybe?

Tim suggested camping/hiking treks. My only camping experiences come from those best-forgotten months with the SCA. I think I have some equipment, but probably not enough to satisfy my anxiety-driven OCD.

Maybe a trip to Seattle/Vancouver? I could see friends and family. I barely remember my one trip to Vancouver, so I could stand to see it again.

Or maybe a return trip to Vegas? Ay carumba... I'd need to carefully pick who to go with.

Gaaah!

Whee!!!

Friday! Yay!

The end of a long, allergy-ridden week. Ugh. I'm looking forward to being able to sleep in for a couple of days. One thing about allergies is that they give me the weirdest dreams. Makes it hard to wake up.

I'm just about ready for my game tomorrow. I'm thinking I should get a whiteboard for future sessions to help do quick maps and spell out NPC names and all that. Probably won't help. Some of my fellow gamers have the most interesting spelling hang-ups...

Still, I like the idea of quick, temporary maps as a supplement to the hex map. I believe a trip to Staples is in order at some point. Now I wish I'd driven to work today.

Friday has mutated into my only worthwhile TV night. I've got the "Sarah Jane Adventures" to try out at 7:30, new eps of "Avatar" coming up at 8:30, either tonight or next week. Then BSG at 10.

I don't have high hopes for any of these, but they're something.

For the Sarah Jane Adventures... Davies has done a good job reviving the "Dr. Who" franchise, but his stories are uneven at best. Some of the stuff (facing down "the Devil", encountering the Quantum Assassins in "Blink") is brilliant. Some of it (every companion falling in love with the Doctor, farting aliens, fat jokes) is just infantile and retarded.
"Torchwood" is even worse. Davies has some good ideas, but the individual stories are best executed by Moffett and other writers. Farting aliens? C'mon Russell. What is your problem?

I've heard the "Sarah Jane Adventures" are more true to the original "Dr. Who". They're aimed at kids, but they're still supposed to be well-done. I'm not surprised. Whenever a show prides itself on its "adult content", it's mostly substituting plot with titilation. "Torchwood" is a great example of that. Terrible acting. Inane plots. Everyone sleeping with everyone with little context. And the characters were just... stupid. These guys are supposed to be the brilliant investigators of the paranormal? They couldn't investigate their way out of a reality TV show. I've seen backbirths on talk shows brighter than these characters. Ye gods.

At least Sarah Jane Smith is old school and a good character. The show might be okay.

And "Avatar"... another kid's show. But so very good... I love my wuxia/martial arts/ninja shows. "Avatar: the Last Airbender" may be cartoony and dorky in parts (it's written for kids, after all), but its overall story is brilliant. It's surprisingly sophisticated. I'll never understand how Nickelodean markets this. They irregularly air it without any warning or advertising. They don't keep accurate TV listings. Hell, there's people clamoring for the soundtrack for a couple of years now and it's falling on deaf ears.

TV execs. I swear, they are an argument against both evolution and intelligent design.

And BSG... They frakking better have a good plan for BSG. I am still not happy with how they ended season three. At this point, I'm hoping Helo, Sharon/Athena, Dualla, Adama, Roslin, Tom Zarek, and old Doc Cottle just take the Galactica on ahead to Earth and leave the rest of the idiotic cast to get turned into Cylon target practice.

Mmmm... Grace Park...

Sorry. What was I saying?

Clean your room!

So my manager swung by my cube yesterday, somewhat randomly, to chat ('cause she's awesome and does stuff like that). She took one look at my... ah... untidy... cubicle and started to lecture me in her "mom" voice to clean up a bit.

Do all mothers adopt the same tone due to some genetic "mom" thing or is it learned? I swear, she sounded exactly like my mother!

And I paid about as much attention... sorry Mom.

Though at least I took down the sixty or so empty Trader Joe's Traveler's Chocolate tins.

I got introspective about this later. I mean, my cubicle looks like a 13-year-old boy's idea of paradise (or at least as "work safe" allows). I'm supposed to be more grown up than this.

I mean, jeez... most of my friends are married, buying houses, and having kids. I'm still collecting comic books and playing tabletop RPGs.

WTF?

Then again, most of my gaming group is my age and over half of 'em are married.

Over half. That's got to destroy a cliche.

So the little magnetic kung-fu figures stay littered about my desk 'till I'm clearly told to get rid of 'em.

And I'll try to keep the empty Traveler's Chocolate tins out of sight.

A few awesome things

1) Joe Abercrombie. As fantasy(ish) authors go, he's not my absolute favorite, but he does spin a good yarn. Book three of his "The First Law" series is pretty intense. I've finally found an author who hates his characters more than George R.R. Martin does!

And he's impressing me with the moral ambiguity of his characters. I swear... no good deed goes unpunished at all. This guy's therapist must make bank.

2) Fortune cookies. So, thanks to my cube neighbor Hebron, I've found out where I can get a giant bag of rejected fortune cookies for a buck fifty. It's a massive bag of fortune cookies. Friggin' massive. And I'm addicted. They're the perfect thing to take the edge off of an exceptionally-bitter cup of coffee or just to give me my needed sugar rush. Plus, bonus! They don't (shouldn't) have stuff in them to upset the cholesterol.

Of course, it's not like they lack calories or anything. I'd like to think the bike riding is countering, but that's likely b.s.

3) My gaming group. For years we've been gaming like madmen. Once a month, almost like clockwork, we gather and geek out in our epic fantasy world. And these guy put up with me as a GM! Good lord! Who knew I associated with so many masochists? On top of it, we do email threads that read better than many of the fantasy novels I've read. I keep compilations of everything on multiple drives. One of these days, I'm going to try to novelize the whole thing, just to see how it would turn out.

Food coma

Mmmm... so had lunch at a Korean place on Telegraph and MacArthur. Yummy!

One of these days I'm going to pay attention to the actual name of the dish I enjoy. Bim bo bap? Something like that. It has a lot of 'b' words.

Clay pot. Rice. Mixed veggies. Yummy!

And, somehow, it's killed the allergies. I think that's the ticket: Korean food!

Of course, food coma is setting in. Will be interesting if I can get enough energy to ride my bike home home.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Allergies suck

I'm sure that's news.

Yep. Allergies suck. You'd think that I'd be used to them, given that I've had to live with them since... um... pretty much forever.

Nope. They still find new and interesting ways to hose me. The last couple of days I've been so tired and unfocused, it's a wonder I could cook for myself. On top of it, I'm feeling achy like I do with a cold, but I don't otherwise feel sick. Good times. Oh, and the random nosebleed after exercising is fun.

I crashed last night at 8pm and slept straight through to the alarm clock.

I was tempted to call in sick today, but it didn't feel worth it. Besides, I'm going out to lunch with friends and I'm the only one who knows where the restaurant is.

Yeah, I'm a victim of peer pressure.

I think I'm going to conk out early tonight as well. In that sense, I'm kind of glad there's nothing appealing on TV 'till Friday night.

JOY!!!!

"The Last Argument of Kings", the third novel by Joe Abercrombie, is now in my greedy, grubby hands.

This just bumped "Magic Burns" and everything else to the back-burner.

YAY!!!

Something good came out of the crap that is today!

and rambling

Since I'm on a tear, I may as well get the rest of my brain dumped here.

- Last Friday's season four "Battlestar Galactica" opener was better than I'd expected. Not fantastic, mind you, but it had a great space battle that whittled down the number of those pesky colonials.

I'm still irritated about Starbuck, still hating Baltar (which is good... we're supposed to hate him), still hating Apollo, and still pissed about the "Final Five Cylons". At least the opener was promising that they won't frak this up.

- Finally got my trade paperback of "Death Hawk: The Soulworm Saga". I think I'm one of twelve people in the country who read this comic and enjoyed it. It was "Firefly" before Whedon did it.

- I've got a little over a week to get my stuff done for my next writer-group meeting. Crap. I forgot what my items were for the next meeting.

I have to say I've felt incredibly unmotivated to write anything. I've got three stories that I'll probably never finish. Two set in the fantasy world my fellow GURPS nerds and I game in (which raises all sorts of fun copyright issues) and the sci-fi story that I'm having trouble cementing.

At least I outlined one of the fantasy stories. If I could figure out how to beef up the villains to make 'em interesting, I'd probably do okay. It won't be a great story, but it would at least be different by virtue of being done. That would be a first.

- I need a vacation. Where to go? What to do?

Do I try a fourth Japan trip? It's pretty expensive now that Tim's returned and I can't crash on his floor. It's not like I've studied any Japanese in the last year or two.

Do I aim for a return to Ireland? That has an appeal. Mmm... Guinness... but I've been there already.

Scotland? That has even more appeal. I could look up family roots! I could paint my face blue and scream "freedom"! I'd look awful in a kilt, though.

Germany? That would rock, but I should aim for a time closer to Oktoberfest. And the exchange rate for Europe blows now.

Maybe somewhere in the U.S.? Hmph.

AAAAHHH!!!! (redux)

The Internet gods are angry with me.

So I'm a bit unfair with my credit card company. It sounds to me like the problem with my Amazon transaction is with Amazon.

Interesting that my interactions with both my credit card company and Amazon have me corresponding with the same distant realm across the vast ocean.

Amazon assures me they'll try this again. If it doesn't work out... fuck 'em. I can buy stuff from other companies.

So I get back to work, editing my internal documentation in "vi" (if you don't use UNIX, you have no idea what a pain in the arse that is). I try not to dig into the massive bag of rejected fortune cookies at my desk (obtained from a Friday afternoon jaunt to Oakland's scenic Chinatown... mmm... fortune cookies... but I digress).

I get mail from the good folks at yet another online vendor. And the fun continues.

So, backstory: I ordered a compliation book for one of the webcomics I enjoy.

The site sent me a compilation, but it was the wrong volume. I sent email explaining the problem. At their request, I mailed back the incorrect volume with the assurance I'd be reimbursed for my postage and get the correct volume.

Yesterday, I got something completely different from that company. So, being a tad confused, I shot them off an email asking why they sent it to me.

I get a response this morning from the customer service rep I dealt with last time who seemed as confused as I am.

Good. Times.

I'd cancel the order altogether and demand reimbursement, but the order was made on the now-defunct credit card. I have no idea how a reimbursement works if the credit card number changed.

So, I politely summarized the entire situation from the day of the order to present and asked for status as to when I will get my order.

My manager has taught me the virtues of "killing with kindness". I'll give that a try.

Why did I give up taking martial arts? I really, really, really want to kick the crap out of something right now.

AAAAHHH!!!

Credit card companies (cretin card companies?) exist to drive people insane.

So I got a new one after the last one's number got compromised by someone who enjoys flights to Malaysia and expensive computer hardware. I activated the replacement and then tested it with a small-ish order at a reliable vendor (Amazon).

Amazon claims it's declined.

Being the level-headed, calm, unruffled soul that I'm not, I got on the phone with my credit card company and had a chat with them.

"No, it's not declined," they assured me. "We show the charge as approved on your account."

So I sent mail to Amazon's customer service.

Amazon replied this morning.

"Your card was declined."

So I called my credit card company again.

"No, no," the charming credit card company representative from a distant land over the sea assured me. "Your card is in good standing. We show the charge as approved on your account. The merchant must have network connection issues on their end."

And then she spent ten more minutes trying to sell me services I don't care about (that sounds vaguely dirty...).

So I ask myself, do I really need to do this online purchase? It's a test of the card, more than anything, but now I'm finding I want what I bought.

I already woke up irritated from a dream a half-remember and allergies are hosing me. This is icing.

And I have edits on my desk. Whee!

Jesus knows kung-fu!

Okay, technically he learned "jew-do" (Moore's pun, not mine). Either way, I finished "Lamb" last night. Great book. Rushed ending, but it was biblical, so... Still, I love that there's a disciple out there who knew kung-fu. The author's story rocked my world.

Now on to "Magic Burns" as I count down to Abercrombie's book three coming from the UK. So much reading material, so little time.

Small Favors - a Dresden Files Novel

I finished it this morning.

Oh.

My.

God.

Butcher rules. The crap he puts his characters through boggles the mind. While George R.R. Martin is probably more sadistic to his characters (bordering on child abuse in a creepy kind of way), Butcher keeps his characters thrashed about while still seeming badass.

So unbelievably cool.

Now I have to decide: do I finish "Lamb" (already half through and paused for "Small Favors") or rip through "Magic Burns".

Hmmm... Jesus is learning kung fu in "Lamb", so I guess I finish that.

So many cool books.

Best day of 2008 so far

After the trauma of the credit card nastiness, I found April 1 to be surprisingly awesome.

- got "Small Favors" (Dresden Files). I'm already on p. 194. Butcher rules!
- got a rather cool, multi-pocket jacket I ordered from Amazon and it's both comfy and has more pockets than I thought! (w00t!)
- had a surprisingly good lunch with some folks from work and it's walking distance from home (for future dining fun). Added bonus: fun lunch company (albeit "chicky-er" than I was prepared for)
- successfully purchased another Atwood tool (if you don't know, you don't wanna know)
- Did I mention "Small Favors"?
- actually got a couple of online sellers who I've been having trouble contacting to both reply to my email... on the same day! Yay!
- Credit report looks clean (although the recent craziness may not show yet, but I'm hopeful)
- Did I mention "Small Favors"? 'Cause I'm really excited about this book.

Now, today, I added "Magic Burns" (Ilona Andrews's second book) to my literary pile. Ye gods.

Current reading list:

"Small Favor" (I bet you didn't realize that)
"Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" (incredibly funny)
"Dead Man Rising" (Dante Valentine book 2)
"Coyote Blue" (another Moore book... I'll give it a try)
"Bloodsucking Fiends" (I'm less enthusiastic about this one. Not a vampire fan.)
"Magic Burns" (this might get bumped up in the list)