Monday, August 30, 2010

huh

Well that was an interesting day.

A long day, but very interesting.

I'm tired.

And so it begins

I've had to dust off my suit. Today is that funeral I'm a pallbearer in.

This should be very surreal. I've done the pallbearer thing before, but never for someone whom I've never met and am not related to.

Is that too many negatives? Bah. Need more coffee.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Yes

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
I Have a Scheme
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Fried Day

Another week comes plodding along to an end. Another month is nearly done.

I think I'm fighting a bug. Worst possible time for it, too. I have two practically back-to-back birthdays to deal with and a funeral I've let myself get talked into helping with.

WTF? A funeral sandwiched by birthdays. How goddamn weird.

The weather forecast shows the day of the funeral is supposed to be sunny and start warming again. Great. Just the kind of weather I want to wear a dark suit in.

And here I thought I was free-and-clear of neckties in the summer when none of my friends were tying the knot in the hot months.

Bah.

I risked misfortune by baking a batch of cookies (birthday present) while imbibing a well-earned beer.

The blasted cord for my electric mixer nearly sent said beer on to the floor. That would have been unfortunate. Thankfully fear of alcohol spillage appears to give me nigh-superhuman reflexes. Not even a drop hit my rather dirty kitchen floor.

And the cookies are good.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Twisting and Turning

Okay, so it's not a bad day (at least so far). Just a weird one.

I've gotten slammed with work, which is kind of nice. More accurately, I've gotten slammed with assignments for stuff that I've mostly done already.

I don't think that's happened to this degree... um... ever.

It looks cool outside, but it's warmed up a bit and feels muggy. Bleah.

Meh. At least it's not hot.

Harbingers

Some days just start off with a bad "feel" to them. Today's been one of those days:

* Weird traffic (including a spectacular collection of assholes) in the wee hours.

* Traffic lights behaving oddly.

* Extra sensitivity to fluorescent lighting.

* Extraordinarily-tired. Don't know why.

* Puffy eye. Again... don't know why.

* Overall short fuse

And yet, there's the pluses:

* Fog bringing much-welcome cool air

* Thursday


Maybe I just need coffee.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Satisfaction

Bakesale Betty's chicken salads are actually more satisfying than their sandwiches. And their sandwiches are pure heaven. Add to that lunch company of one of my better friends and the opportunity to meet her new kittes (KITTIES!!!) and you have the necessary ingredients for a fairly awesome lunch.

Hell, I even got my same parking spot returning to work.

I'm also enjoying one of those rare moments in life when my snooping instincts have turned out to be correct. Makes me think I may well have had a reasonable career as an investigative reporter if I'd actually had the spine to do that sort of work.

Best of all? Ocean breeze coming inland to provide much-needed relief.

Life is good. I'm actually starting to forget the six dozen fucktards who were in my way as I was trying to come back to the office.

D'oh!

Atsui desu ne

Ugh. Hot.

Oh well. It's supposed to start cooling off today.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Lunatic Heat

Between the full moon and the sudden, sharp increase in ambient temperature, I think I have plenty of external stimuli to justify the really weird dreams I've been having.

I had an exceptionally-vivid dream last night in which I was trying desperately to help an old friend get to a hospital after being shot. It was one of those dreams I was grateful to wake from.

Stuff like that always leaves me a little off-kilter for the day. I had to shut off the news this morning 'cause various stories were bothering me for no good reason.

And I think my bamboo is dying. I don't think it likes the coffee grounds. Crap. Gotta find some actual soil for the thing.

For added weirdness, I've been asked by a friend to be a pallbearer in a funeral for her grandmother.

I haven't met her grandmother nor am I a member of this family. I have no idea why that family is short pallbearer-material. The explanation is a bit weird and I suspect involves some cultural stuff I won't understand.

Meh.

I agreed to take a day off work next week to pony up and help out. Should be surreal. Oh well. I've agreed to help friends with weirder situations.

I hate Tuesdays and I can already tell today's going to drag something fierce. *sigh*

Monday, August 23, 2010

Caliente

The hot weather. It has arrived. Summer. It is here.

For a few days, anyway.

I suppose I should get my bike fixed so I can spare the air and all that. *sigh*

Friday, August 20, 2010

crash

Too much sugar. Damn my lack of self-control at bake sales.

The big debate now: Do I go see Scott Pilgrim or do I catch up on my shows?

Decisions, decisions.

Hungry. Must eat something lacking sugar.

Ia Ia Lovecraft F'tagn

Howard Phillips "H. P." Lovecraft was born August 20, 1890.

He's best known for his bizarre horror writing in which he created such noteworthy entites as Hastur, Nyarlathotep, and the unforgettable Cthulhu.

I have a friend who shares Lovecraft's birthday and his penchant for the weird (though, thankfully, Herr Mackie shares none of Lovecraft's other disagreeable traits).

I thought it was worthy of a gibbering horror note.

So feel free to gibber away.

Go on. Gibber!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Ugh

Baking experiment went awry.

Damn it.

Second try appears better.

I'm very tired of going to the supermarket.

Statistics

Apparently one out of every five American citizens believes President Barak Obama is a Muslim.

Given that this same pool of geniuses elected George W. Bush for two terms of crazy bullshit, one cannot be terribly surprised at the one-in-five belief.

Honestly? I figured more idiots would believe Fox "news" and Glen Beck for this kind of idiotic misinformation. I'm shocked the number is as low as one in five.

It's almost like IQs are rising when such a small pool states a belief in clear bullshit.

Slowly rising.

Almost.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ray's got it made

Two things:

1) NSFW language

2) GODDAMN this is funny!



Via io9

Misty

It drizzled on my car this morning.

It's mid-August. I had to use my windshield wipers as I drove in.

Yeah.

I can't remember the last time that happened.

Weird weather.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Tools

I'm a sucker for keychain tools. It's a character flaw I've grown comfortable with.

I just got the True Utility KeyTool today.

It boasts of many a useful function, including screwdrivers (which look functional and useful), a file (hmm...), bottle opener (needs to be tested, but looks functional), knife (not so much), and tweezers (which took me a while to figure out how to use).

It's worth the amusement value, if nothing else.

choppy

Busy weekend.

* Game. Crazy. Much happened. Still tired from it. I held to Rule One and all was well.

* Time with the fam. I inherited bbq responsibilities. The meal was not a disaster. Pleasant surprise.

Why am I writing choppy? It's Monday morning. It's amazing I'm able to write at all.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Gluttony

Wrath.
Greed.
Sloth.
Pride.
Lust.
Envy.
Gluttony.

I've commented on the Seven Deadly Sins before and how much a fan I am of some of them.

Gluttony... that one keeps edging to the top of the pack. I try to resist the siren lure of the ginormous bag of fortune cookies at my desk just as I tried to resist the tasty chocolate chip cookie I got at the Farmer's Market yesterday.

Gluttony, why do you haunt me so? Mmm... tasty food and drink...

the crazy

Yesterday was just one of those days when someone held up the mirror to my face (unintentionally) and showed me the crazy.

I knew the crazy was there. Knowing it's there and seeing it are very different situations.

I do not like the crazy. I do not like the cone of shame.

No wait... still channeling Up.

Hm.

SQUIRREL!

Anyway...

There was no shortage of the crazy yesterday. Two of my friends felt a burning need to do incredibly idiotic things yesterday that should have very entertaining consequences.

It's Friday. I wonder how much more of the crazy lingers?

Craaaaaazy.

xkcd

This is an idea that needs to happen.
(xkcd)

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Rules

For the uninitiated, table-top role-playing games resemble nothing more than a bunch of hygienically-and-socially-challenged mouth-breathers gathered around a table to stuff their faces with junk food and argue the arcane points of Tolkien-inspired fanservice.

There's certainly plenty of examples to support this view, but it's not really all that accurate. For example, most of my personal gaming group is comfortably and happily married. Of the ones who aren't, about half are machines on the dating scene.

Everyone bathes regularly (thank the gods). Nobody mouth-breathes to my knowledge.

Okay, we eat junk food, but really we're not much different than a bunch of guys who get together to watch football or play poker, save that sometimes the word "Elf" comes up in conversation a lot.

It dawned on me fairly recently that I've actually been running ("game mastering" or "GM-ing" in the parlance) for about twenty years now, give or take a few years.

Kind of a creepy realization. And in this ridiculous amount of time doing this bizarre hobby, I've found I have a number of rules I follow when dealing with games.

Rule One: Players never do what I expect.

Rule Two: Double-tap. No wait. Wrong list.

Rule Two: You do not talk about... noooo... still wrong. Hang on.

Aah.. got it. Rule Two: Players are their own worst enemy. See Rule One.

Rule Three: Keep plot points flexible and, where possible, not inter-dependent. See Rule One.

Rule Four: Have more NPCs (non-player characters... "redshirts"... background faces... call them what you will) handy than you'll ever need. See Rule One.

Rule Five: Be flexible. See Rule One.

Rule Six: Try to devour appropriate media before running a game to keep inspiration fresh in your head. See Rules One and Five.

Rule Seven: Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. See above rules.

It's not an inclusive list, mind you, but it sort of encapsulates my view on running tabletop games. It's sort of like ad-hoc, cooperative, creative writing on-the-fly.

Wow, that statement completely got away from me.

It's a maddening hobby, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

zzzz

I don't have anything particular to say beyond "good lord I'm full from lunch". I just wanted to see what the "new" Blogger editor looked like.

Sisyphus Day

Aaah... hump day.

Nice to know the weekend is that much closer.

I just wish today wasn't going to be so goddamn long.

I may relocate desks again in the immediate future. I'm hoping that will afford me slightly more tolerable lighting options so I don't have to slam quite so many pain-dulling pills.

Day two of the bamboo in the coffee grounds. I honestly am not sure if it looks more wilted today or if I'm just imagining things. I didn't scrimp on the grounds. We're talking Peet's Sumatra here. Maybe it's a Major Dickason's kind of plant? Bah.

I find it strangely-amusing that people hit me up for help when I'm overbooked but I rarely hear from folks when I actually have free time. It fits in nicely with Neil Gaiman's line from NeverWhere:

"Events are cowards. They never come at you individually. Instead they wait and come all at once."

Okay, I'm paraphrasing. I can't remember the exact quote for not having the book in my bag today.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Aaaaaah-CHOO!!!

Goddamn hay fever. It's freakin' AUGUST!

I am NOT supposed to have allergies at this time of year!

If I knew what the cause of said hay fever was, I'd kill it with fire. A lot.

---

So... Doctor Who meets "The Simpsons". The level of awesome is truly off the charts.

---

Day one of my bamboo in a bed of coffee grounds and a new pot. So far, it's alive.

---

After a weekend of pizza and rum drinks, it's time to get back on the wagon and ride for a while. Hell, I think I should pull the wagon. I stepped on the scale this morning. I did not like the number I saw. I did not like that number at all.

I really ought to get my bike fixed.

---

It's been two months now and the good and glorious state of California still has not seen fit to supply me with license plates for my Preciousssss.

It may be unfair of me to blame California. I called the dealership to find out if they know what's taking so long. The representative just said the paperwork "processed" towards the end of July.

I have no idea if that means they just got around to it six weeks late or if that means the DMV finally got around to processing things on their end so late in the game.

Either way, I've been told not to expect plates for another couple of weeks.

Mind you, there are advantages to running around with dealer plates. It just makes me feel uncomfortable to leave my Precioussss parked anywhere as new cars without plates do draw the eyes of the unsavory sorts.

---

Another bought of sneezing. I am not enjoying this.

---

I'm thinking that I have the wrong nickname for my car. Oh, it will always be my [Gollum voice]Preciousssssss[/Gollum voice] but many have rightly commented that it has a ridiculous amount of interior space for a seemingly-small car.

Mayhap I should take this a step further in geekdom and call it my TARDIS?

Oooh! I can call it my PRECIOUSSSSSS TARDIS!

Hang on. I need to find where I put the electrical tape for my glasses. Maybe it's with my pocket protector...

Monday, August 9, 2010

Bamboozled

Years back, my dear friend ML gave me a "lucky bamboo" for our birthday (we share a birthday... don't ask).

I should clarify something. Plants do not do well with me. They tend to die. Quickly.

It's a testament to the hardiness of bamboo that this plant is still alive and indeed thriving.

It requires water once a week. Otherwise I occasionally give it mild plant food and have pretty much left it alone to do its bamboo thing.

Every once in a while I consider transplanting (heh) it outside to just thrive somewhere, but I figure that might piss someone off.

Last week, one of my cube neighbors commented how much the plant was growing. The blessed thing is sprouting up like a weed. He asked: "that thing is still in the same little pot? Dude, you need to move it to a bigger pot."

Huh. I never even thought about it.

So I bought a five dollar pot and dumped some used coffee grounds in it on the half-remembered story that coffee grounds make for great compost.

This morning, I moved the bamboo into its new home. It took some... persuading... to get it out of the old pot.

Said persuasion wound up spraying crap, including used coffee grounds, all over my desk.

F*ck.

I've gathered up most of the grounds and covered the bamboo's roots. Here's hoping this doesn't kill the poor thing.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Eleven Doctors

I MUST HAVE THIS!!!!!

I wonder what the going rate for kidneys are?

SQUIRREL!!!



Yes, I'm still channeling the dogs from Up.

I've seen this pic several places across the intertubes and - SQUIRREL! - found it strangely appropriate to post after seeing Pixar's latest.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Dear Social Conservatives

Did you hear the news?

Go find something else to do with your time and just let people do their thing.

Lindsey Lohan

I need to preface this with a bit of a rant:

I don't understand the media obsession with Lindsey Lohan. A mediocre child actress has a meltdown and hasn't actually acted in several years, yet she's somehow become a media darling in the ridiculous amount of airtime her personal issues generate. I honestly could give less of a shit about her one way or the other. I don't hate her. I almost pity her. I mostly just don't want to hear about her.

That said, the following isn't really about her. Apparently Taiwanese news has a romanticized idea of what her brief stint in jail was like.

Utterly hysterical.



Via Salon

Nerd Rage Rap



via the Awesomer.

NOTE: NSFW for language. And for the record, I agree with pretty much every thing these guys say about the movies and TV shows they cite.

Damn this is funny.

Upping the game

So I finally watched Pixar's Up last night.

Pixar never fails to astound me and goddamn if the movie didn't make me choke up at some points.

Brilliant movie. Utterly brilliant.

By coincidence, my DVD copy of Ninja also arrived yesterday so I watched that after Up.

I should've done it the other way around.

Incredibly bad (but fun) ninja movies don't follow quality stories very well. It's like trying to enjoy a fine meal after gorging on cotton candy and crappy, greasy food.

Erik had to tell me that Target carries clear plastic NERF Mavericks for about ten bucks.

So I stopped at Target on my way home yesterday.

It's so... shiny...

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

BLARRRGGGGH

Today's one of those days when I really just wanted to throw the alarm clock across the room, call in "sick", and go back to sleep for the balance of the day.

An electrician is working on the lights in my office. It's making my headaches worse than usual 'cause he's messing with the intensity settings on top of the fact that there's now more enabled lights on the floor.

Good times.

The only thing that got me going today was lunch plans with an old friend. Shocking how much time has passed since we last talked. Should be a funny lunch.

One of the black belts in my martial arts club persuaded me to review some papers for an upcoming journal publication to determine what is, or is not, appropriate for publication.

Honestly, I have no idea what the target audience is looking for, but said black belt just asked me to review based on my own ability to engage with the paper.

I just finished turning in the last of the papers last night. I hope this is anonymous or I'm going to get killed next time I'm on the mat. At least I wasn't editing the papers or I'd probably have to go into hiding for the rest of my life.

Ye gods.

Now I know what my editor feels like when she makes my submissions bleed.

On the plus side, one of the other black belts gave me some exercises to work on to develop my core while my back heals. I tried them last night and I think these will work out.

How the hell did August get here so damn fast?

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I swear!

And quite often, too.

I had not realized just how much I swear until today as I shuttled some family about and I made a concerted effort to control said swearing while driving.

And I was doing a fair amount of driving in some unpleasant traffic.

It mostly dawned on me how much I swear as I drove home from dropping off my family and fell back into familiar habits... with my windows down.

I think I accidentally-educated some kids in a mini-van stuck in traffic next to me. Oops!