End of August

It's been a nice week off and it's even nicer to know that tomorrow I can still sleep in (thank you, Labor Day!).

Yesterday, I picked up Dororo in Japantown.

This is a weird, weird flick. For all that, I gotta say I loved it.

On top of that awesomeness, I'm now on book three of Greg Keyes' "Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" series, "The Blood Knight". I am now searching for a paperback version of book four, "The Born Queen".

Good fun there.

The balance of the week has been involved in family matters (good ones), meeting Wendell the cat (long story), and generally being a bum.

It's going to be very hard to get back to work.

*sigh*

Zombies

Today's hangover brought to me by zombies.

Okay, only one zombie. And three Mai Tais.

To be fair, I should be in far worse pain than I am.

I still feel as though something gnawed away my brain.

car alarm!

So I own a car alarm now.

Huh.

Not much else needs to be said. No... wait. One more thing: It's f***ing hot!

There. Now that's all that needs to be said.

atsui desu ne

If my Japanese is anything resembling coherent, I just said it's hot.

And it is.

So I've finally bit the bullet and ponied up for a car alarm for my aging car. I didn't bother to go high-end. Let's face it, the car isn't getting any younger. Still, I want/need something to discourage the miscreants that appear to think my apartment building is a playground.

Plus, it's a two-hundred-fifty dollar security blanket.

The work is getting done now. It was a hot walk back. It will be a hotter walk to retrieve the car.

Yeah... I think I'm getting a drink tonight.

Son of a...

So my apartment building is suffering from a little crime wave. Last week, one of my neighbors had her car broken into, rifled through, and cleaned out.

So today, I jaunted into the city to do some shopping. I got back about 1-ish and, answering the call of my paranoid self, cut through our garage.

My neighbor's car was open. The car doors ajar. The trunk wide open. Crap scattered all over the place. Further, two of the storage units were open, including the one belonging to my next-door neighbor.

My car and my storage unit were untouched (thank god), so I scrambled around to let my neighbors know, then we contacted the landlord and the police.

Now I'm trying to figure out where the hell I'm putting my bike, since my storage unit isn't safe anymore. Sigh.

The Hidden Fortress

Just finished Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress". Apparently this was one of the inspirations for Lucas's original "Star Wars".

I really enjoyed "The Hidden Fortress". It's held up nicely over time.

Yay! Vacation!

My vacation starts after today! Woo-hoo!

A week and change of sleeping in and goofing off! I'm a mite jazzed about that.

I have faith that I'll find some way to fill the time. Maybe I'll start apartment hunting again. Or build a barbed-wire fence around the building.

I like my apartment. I really, really do. Unfortunately, it seems that crime is on an upswing. Once again our building's supposedly-secure garage was accessed by some thug or two who broke into a car and ransacked it.

According to my neighbor, said car had all sorts of goodies, including keys to the building.

Brilliant. Nevermind. Not going there.

So some of my neighbors (all of whom have kids) are a bit freaked. Can't blame them. One of the selling points of our building (beyond great rent and incomperable convenience) is that it's relatively secure and in a fairly safe area.

Or maybe I'll just get an alarm for my car and not worry about it.

In any event, this won't mess up my time off. I still plan to be an utter slacker. Of course, the only real change is that I don't need to get up at some godawful hour to go to work. Heh.

Ia Ia Lovecraft Ftagn

So today is (was?) H.P. Lovecraft's birthday.

That, in and of itself, isn't really worthy of note. Lovecraft was an insane bastard. That said, he came up with some really cool concepts (*cough* Cthulhu *cough*).

By strange coincidence, today is also the birthday of my good friend Mackie, who shares much of the twisted imagination of Lovecraft but not sharing Lovecraft's more negative personality traits.

So, with that backhanded praise, happy birthday Mackie! Ia Ia Mackie Ftagn!

Mmm...

So I went to my friend Vicky's last night to hang out and visit with friends.

Vicky micro-brews.

Vicky micro-brews really, really well.

I had one of her beers and swore to myself that, since it's a "school night", I'd stick to one.

Three beers later, I realized I should stop.

They were that good.

Got to see Sara, one of my friends visiting from out-of-town, which just added to the awesome and I finally got to meet Marc's girlfriend Shelly, who is a delightful lady.

All-in-all, the perfect way to wrap up a really wonderful Tuesday.

Of course, this morning I forgot my MP3 player at home.

*sigh*

And I find myself surprised

So Tuesdays generally suck.

It's a truth I tend to hold to along the lines of viewing perversity and irony as the primary foundations of reality as we know it.

Every now and again, the perversity thing kicks in and gets me with the "generally" thing. Today has not sucked.

Today has been lovely.

Got a Peet's card as a thank you for keeping a fellow "Buffy" fan hooked on the "season 8" comics, which has covered this week's caffeinated bean goodness.

"Dark Knight" is coming to one of the local Speakeasy theaters. Beer + Batman = awesome.

Beer + Batman on my week off? Beyond awesome.

Going to a friend's tonight to hang with her, an out-of-town friend, drink homebrew, and possibly meet up with another friend and his girlfriend visiting from China.

That sentence got away from me. This is what happens when I avoid personal pronouns.

My latest reading endeavor, Greg Keys' "The Briar King" is getting good, so I've ponied up to get the next three books.

Is "ponied" a word? Eh...

And lunch today was Pasta Pomodoro. Good times. Nom nom nom.

My day is over half-done and the weather is warming up for the bike ride home.

So now I nervously look for the other shoe.

Yay! Package!

My replacement flash drive arrived! Yay!

I got an Imation 2 GB flash drive to replace the flash drive I lost (and am still obsessing over).

Yes. I have trouble letting things go.

This drive has password protection software included (though obtaining such isn't hard) and I think I'll be taking advantage of that this time around.

Life lessons suck. Just sayin'.

Heee

Yeah. This could be me. And for unexpected moments in mythology.

---
It was a nice, quiet weekend. I took "bum" to new lows, but I got much-needed "me" time. I really need to expand my hobbies. I broke up the doing-of-nothing with going to a party at a friend's house. I took the easy route and brought beer and baked goods.

The baked goods have been a problem, since I allocated some for family and some for the party. And I've snacked on some for (cough) quality control (whistling).

*sigh*

Self-control. Not my strong suit.

So the party was good, clean fun in a creepy house. I managed one pretty severe faux-pas by failing to recognize my friend's wife and spacing on who she was when she talked to me. I am still mortified.

I'm usually really good with faces but this was, as the kids say, an epic fail.

Aside from that glaring moment of me-stoopid, it was a fun party. Met my buddy Jack's various new housemates and varying friends. Got to see the creepy, axe-murderer basement of his house again (long story...).

Best of all, it was a brisk walk from my place, so I got exercise of a sort. Alas, I got a little carried away with the beer, so Sunday was uncomfortable.

Such is life.

Culture Jammers

I love people who take cultural icons and sacred cows and tweak with them a bit.

So long as nobody gets hurt, I usually find this sort of thing funny and good for society as a whole.

So when I see things like the couple who lived in a mall I can only sit back and laugh.

Wish I had the creativity and guts to do this.

and another Friday comes about

And with it comes Payday! Woo-hoo!

So, once again, XKCD gets it right.

And I'm tempted to ask for one of these for my birthday.

I can only imagine the amount of chaos I could cause with one of those. It would make movies more enjoyable, though...

I just finished reading Brian Ruckley's "Winterbirth". It was an enjoyable read, although it had a slow start. He's got some really interesting concepts. I've ordered book two through the ancient greek warrior woman online retailer.

(How's that for code?)

I've gone five-for-five this week on bicycling. Damn but that tuneup made a huge difference.

Okay, I'm out of things to say. I really have to do something interesting with my life.

a turn of ill luck

So I lost the 1 gig flash drive I keep on my keychain. It's not irreplaceable. Just had drafts of stories, game stuff, and my resume.

The loss of that freaks me a bit (I've never been comfortable with detailed personal info being out of my immediate control). Given that the drive doesn't really look much like a drive means it probably wound up in the trash somewhere.

Still... damnit.

On top of that, I've been slammed with allergies.

It's friggin' AUGUST and I have allergies. WTF???

I actually left early yesterday to get some rest and out of the toxic stew of my office's "air". It helped more than I thought it would.

Maybe they should clean the vents at my work...

Aaah... panic

Nothing wakes me up faster than early morning panic.

As I fumbled with my keys this morning, I realized my 1 GB flash drive I keep on the chain appears to have fallen out of its holder.

A frenzied search of the chaos that is my apartment did not turn up any sign of the little bugger (that's literally the size of the first joint of my thumb).

And now I find myself retracing my steps yesterday. And of course I ran multiple errands after work.

Crap.

200?

I was just about to say this then blogger showed I apparently have 200 posts.

Too bad it doesn't count how many of those posts are lame. Then again, I don't think I want to see that count.

Anyways... today's Looking for Group is just too damn funny.

But not as funny as this.

I, for one, have no intention of waking the straw man.

Busy weekend

Friday night I got together with some buddies from the law firm days.

And there was drinking.

I figure it's been... what? Thirteen years? Funny how much changed and how much didn't.

I got to see a really, really cheesy bar in Chinatown. I drank less than I thought I would, but that was partially because my ass is getting kicked by allergies.

Satuday was a game. It went late... very late. It probably would have still kept going, but the aformentioned allergies hit me in the last half-hour and I was suddenly having trouble keeping my eyes open.

At least I think it's allergies.

My uncle is in town and I saw him Sunday. Family goodness.

I think I need to do something about the fact I finished off the good beer in my folks' 'fridge.

Ever had that feeling?

So as I said, I'm feeling a bit under-the-weather.

On top of that, I forgot my damn sunglasses today.

Tonight? There's a Raiders-49ers game that will make BART horrific.

Ever get the feeling someone/thing is telling you to stay home and not get out of bed?

Oh well. Too late now.

Ahh... I love Fridays

Mainly because I can look forward to sleeping in on Saturday.

And I really need to sleep in. I think I'm fighting a bug (or I have strangely-persistent allergies).

Kind of bad timing, given that I'm supposed to meet old friends for drinks tonight, then host a game tomorrow. Ah well, it's just a "I feel eh..." instead of "I feel sick", so it's probably just a "I need sleep" thing.

Wow. Reading that prior statement, it's kind of funny that I'm employed as a writer.

I hope I'm clearer on my job.

---

I'd like to once again sing the praises of Wheelgirl. After their tune up of my bike, it rides like a new machine.

I love my bike.

---

Huh. Interesting voicemail for tonight. This should be fascinating.

life doesn't suck

Had my review yesterday. No big surprises and it was positive overall. I'm happy.

---

I hate when I have an audio CD that looks fine (no visible scratches, etc.) but for reasons I can't determine, I can't rip one of the tracks.

Gah.

---

So apparently I'm going to have drinks with some cronies from the law firm days.

Apparently this is happening tomorrow.

This should be surreal.

I laugh

Today's xkcd.

Too funny.

organizationally challenged

So this is my first time ever dabbling in Evite.

And just as I sent out a batch of invitations, I realized I lacked actual email addresses for - oh - about half my list.

I suppose I'm being OCD to mail about an event over a month away, but... um... I am obsessive-compulsive.

I guess that excuses it.

I hate making lists. I always have the feeling I'm forgetting something.

And that would usually be because I am.

*sigh*

Jinxed?

So last Monday? Bike trouble.

Today? I manage to break my sunglasses just as the sun burns away the fog.

What is it with me and Mondays?

and Dr. Who

So the Russell T. Davies run of "Dr. Who" ended for the U.S. on Friday.

I've had mixed feelings about Davies. I'm a huge fan of his reviving the series, but some of his storytelling concepts (aliens created from human fat, farting aliens disguised as fat people, pig-people, etc.) leave much to be desired.

I was apprehensive when the fan buzz indicated that the "Who" finale would have pretty much everyone who survived season two of "Torchwood" (like I care), folks from "The Sarah Jane Adventures" (YAY Sarah Jane!) and past episodes of "Dr. Who" (more Rose? Jeez...).

That said, it really was better than I expected.

Rose, while still whiny and clingy, wasn't nearly as annoying this time around. Her mother, Jackie, was unnecessary. Mickey, Rose's dorky quasi-boyfriend, was actually much better. They toned-down his dorkiness. Thank god.

Captain Jack Harkness? Eh... he was entertaining, but not great. The rest of the Torchwood people were pointless.

Martha Jones? ROCK. STAR. I was okay on her as a companion (she was a bit whiny), but post-companion? She's Xena in UNIT. I'm a fan.

I was glad to see them deal with Donna in a way that made her more interesting. I was always lukewarm on Donna (hated her in the XMas special they introduced her in). She improved as the season progressed. I was satisfied how they resolved her story, even if it felt a bit half-assed.

The story resolution of Rose and the Doctor made little sense (why did she have to go back to the parallel universe? The Doctor didn't want her clinging around? He could've owned-up...), but eh. It is what it is. Could've been worse.

I swear. They'd better be done with Dalek stories after this.

Good stuff and a nice, clean slate for Stephen Moffatt to take over. Now, how can I bribe him to bring back Sally Sparrow as the Doctor's companion?

Mmm... Sally Sparrow...

What was I saying?

And yet another Monday rolls around

The tuned-up bike? SWEET ride! I didn't even mind the wind this morning.

It's amazing what a difference a tune-up makes. It's like riding a completely different machine.

---

So I just found a down-side to running games via e-mail. Sometimes my account seems to get marked as spam or even blocked by my friends' ISPs. Makes things inconvenient.

Pacbell, in particularly, seems to dislike me. Bummer.

---

I wonder if I was too harsh with my review of "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor"? Eh... probably not.

Yay! Bike!

Seventy bucks later, I got my bike back!

Yay!

The mechanics at Wheelgirl appear to have fixed all the problems.

Bonus: I got issue #4 of the Dresden Files comic: Welcome to the Jungle.

Good times!

Something to read as food coma sets in from the family lunch-supper-meal-thing.

the joy of low expectations

So I took advantage of the so-called matinee price and went to see "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor".

As stated, I went in with low expectations. All I wanted was an fx feast and a bit of kung-fu. In this sense, I went in expecting what I sought from "The Forbidden Kingdom". Instead of a Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li duel, I was looking for some cool Jet Li vs. Michelle Yeoh action mixed in with some of Brendan Frasier's usual comic-action.

That said, I got what I expected, more-or-less.

I'm torn about how bad the movie was. It wasn't good, strictly-speaking, but it wasn't terrible. It was more mediocre. In that sense, it's much like "the Mummy Returns" in that the story writing was weak and the characterizations were a bit scattered.

In "the Mummy Returns", they went a bit too far for the camp. They introduced a lot of potentially interesting background characters and did nothing with them, save to kill most of 'em off quickly.

In "the Dragon Emperor", they do the same butchering of history with the legend of the first Emperor of China (the Qing Emperor? I forget exactly who that was in "real life"). I have to say that Jet Li was kind of an awesome Emperor. As a fan of "Hero", in which his character tries to kill the first Emperor, I found the irony entertaining.

He was a cliche Eastern bad-guy, of course. Hollywood can't resist a chance to do that. Michelle Yeoh was cool as the mysterious sorceress character who serves as his enemy. Then again, I've always had a bit of a crush on that actress, so my opinion of "cool" is likely a bit tainted.

They were, of course, both under-utilized, but there you go.

Brendan Frasier was as great in the role of Rick O'Connell as always. While nobody can really step into Rachel Weisz's shoes (mmm... Rachel Weisz... another crush...), Maria Bello did an adequate job. I really didn't mind her performance at all.

The dude they picked to be the O'Connell's son Alex was a bit forgettable, but he wasn't bad. Same with the Chinese heroine/love-interest they cast in the movie. The younger actors were okay for their role.

I don't watch these kinds of movies (or, really, any kinds of movies) for the romantic plots. This movie drove home why. There was no chemistry between the two actors. Their interactions felt too contrived and forced. In that sense, this was much like "The Forbidden Kingdom" in that the interactions between the cliche Cocky-White-American-Guy and the cliche Chinese-Girl-Who-Can-Kick-Butt-but-then-becomes-a-Damsel-in-Distress were painful to watch.

The character of Jonathan, the smarmy brother of Evie, was the same as always but played a bit too much towards being comic relief. I found him a bit tiresome.

Visually, the movie was cool. The effects were nice. The battles were okay, if a bit disappointing. I got my Jet Li vs Michelle Yeoh swordfight, but it was disappointingly short.

In the end, I guess it wasn't horrible, but it was no "Dark Knight".

sweet, sweet coffee

Having a Peet's nearby the office is a godsend.

I usually try to limit my coffee intake to my first cup of dark life with breakfast (mmm... life...) followed by a second cup when my "coffee buddy" comes into the office, usually later in the morning.

Some days, I need more.

Today is one of those days.

Aaah... Friday

And August begins. What the hell happened to July? I mean... it was June... like... ten minutes ago.

Or maybe a month ago.

Sheesh.