Society for Aesthetic Deletions

How Gay are You?

Courtesy of ***Dave.

I want to know why I'm being recommended to buy this book with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

There's only three copies left. Should I buy one? Both? Decisions, decisions...

Courtesy of Bookslut.

O'Reilly Network: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Decepticons

Morbus Iff, aka Kevin Hemenway, relates Autobots and Decepticons to MacOS and Windows, and comes up with some interesting parallels.

Me, I prefer Beast Wars.

First one is for my current D&D character, second was for my previous AD&D character, third is for me.

What can I say, I was bored?

Courtesy of Sean.

As we prepare for Attack of the Clones, I thought I'd give myself a refresher of the first film, courtesy of Rod Hilton's The Editing Room.

If you haven't read it already, please do.

Note, there's lots of swearing, not for kiddies (heh, like they don't say such frelling things themselves...)

I don't like all of his treatments, but I do love this one.

My Amazon package arrived today! Four romance novels, Diplomatic Immunity (which Lou will read first, probably starting tonight), and the FFX Soundtrack!

I will be ripping the latter in a few minutes, as soon as I rip open the plastic packaging.

Gee, this now, a Chow Yun Chat with Anne tonight, Spider-Man with Jack and Lou tomorrow (after a nice breakfast at Percy's), Rilla and Gevrok stuff with Jack and Lou for the rest of Saturday, and Sunday is relaxation, baby, and more FFX playing!

Had to redo a bunch of stuff last night (razza-frazza) because I did some stuff out of order, and never got the Aeon's Soul. Stupid me.

Mr. Izzard, we have new material for you at the front desk.

Yahoo! News - Prince in Trouble for Anorexia Joke

Courtesy of Jack, who doesn't blog.

No Friday Five this week. She's moving to a new host.

So, here's what I'm doing this weekend, alluded to in an earlier post.

Friday

- Trip to the bank with Lou, to up the amount we pay on our credit card consolidation loan, to pay it off four months early (we hope).

- Trip to StillPoint to let Jack know we're done at the bank, and he can spend the evening with Lou, doing Guy Stuff.

- Chow Yun Chat with Anne. Going to bring Escaflowne and Farscape DVDs, just in case.

Saturday

- Breakfast at Percy's Place with Jack and Lou.

- Spider-Man with the above folks, 10:30 a.m. show.

- Rilla & Gevrok D&D stuff, with the above folks.

- Dinner somewhere, eating in or out, unknown at this point.

Sunday

- NOTHING! mwahahahahahahaha!

- So probably going to spend some time with the hubby, playing FFX, maybe watching Farscape (he's not seen the last few episodes), oh, and probably reading Diplomatic Immunity.

Wendi started it, Lisamarie continued it, and Meera responded. Then Kristen angled it, and now I'll take a stab at it.

I hit puberty late. Oh, I shot up in height early on, but the actual menstrual cycle started, IIRC, when I was 14. I had some problems being regular at first, but never any bad cramps or bloating or mood swings, other than the standard teenage ones. But not long after I started, I went on the pill.

No, I was not sexually active -- it was for my acne. My dermatologist recommended a very high estrogen birth control pill to clear up my awful acne problems. Fortunately (or at the time UNfortunately), it was limited to my face. I went to a gynecologist who REALLY didn't like the pill I was on, but she relented enough to let it help me through my high school years.

I had some experiences in college with bad cramps, and used to fake cramps in high school to get out of class, but it was never a really bad problem for me.

I used to never want children. That changed somewhat over the years, and my biological clock ticked awfully loudly for a brief period of time a few years ago, then has been quiescent. I want to have kids, and I realize that I'm getting old to start. But I'm enjoying my life now. To have kids would mean that my whole life would have to change (not only because of them, but because of the kind of parent I want to be), and Lou and I aren't ready for that yet. And I want a house of my own before I have kids. I was raised in one; it's how I want to raise my kids. Even if I have to share it with the bank for 30-50 years first.

I chatted with Anne while she was pregnant and afterwards, and one of the things she said she really didn't miss was the whole "monthly visit from Flo." I don't think I'd miss it at all, either. But I'm not ready to give up on the possibility of children...it's also likely the only way Lou's parents will have grandchildren, though Lou's brother's wife is 10 years younger than me. She's got plenty time to change her mind if she wants to have kids.

And I do think it'd be great for Will to have a playmate. But not just yet, alas, not just yet.

Maybe if we win Powerball on Saturday.

I don't mind being a woman, or all the crap that comes with it. Sure, I'd love equal pay and equal rights and everything, which means the good that comes with it as well as the bad. I also agree with Kristen - if men had to go through what we did each month, they'd have such trouble. There was a comedian who once joked that he would never trust a woman...something that bleeds for a week and doesn't die? Yeah...and if men got pregnant, maternity leave would last from the minute they found out until a year after the baby was born, and would be with full pay.

Umm...I don't know that this is saying what I want it to say, but I'm going to stop now

I just fixed Paula's Palm. It wouldn't wake up.

Of course, she lost everything, but it works now.

I feel so geeky. I have to go put two new computers on the new temp people's desks.

Verisign sucks.

You should use Gandi if you're looking to register your own domain.

Verisign sucks.

Gandi recognizes you as the owner of the domain name you register.

Verisign sucks.

'Nuff said.

Courtesy of Doyce.

Kate just told me that she wants me to go to the Macworld Conference & Expo in New York in July!

Hella cool!

Of course, it's New York in July, but I'll be inside most of the time.

I don't think I should bring my Toshiba laptop. I'll have to borrow one of work's iBooks or TiBooks, methinks.

Anyone have any recommendations for hotels?

Oh, and sorry for the no-posts yesterday. Was home sick, ears hurting something fierce. Still hurting now, but not so bad.

I talk about this game enough, I figured it's time I share some of the music with you.

I am nearing the part in Final Fantasy X where I get to participate in all the side quests, before going off to finish the game. I have been party spoiled (my own fault), but I have managed to not tell Lou.

This is the opening credits music. I think it's just beautiful and somewhat sad. Now that I have made it to the part of the game wherein the opening credits scene takes place (a departure from other FF games), I must say it is a perfect fit.

I will post more about this game when it's over, possibly on my Pop Culture blog. Hmm...reminds me, I should do a Spider-Man review...

Lou is home sick today. He left work early to go to the doctor yesterday, and he has some sort of infection in his salivary gland or something like that.

The doctor's advice? Suck on sour candy.

Can't go too wrong with advice like that, eh?

If it continues beyond a day or so, he'll go back for antibiotics. It's affecting his ears and his balance, which is why he's home.

My husband is having the strangest medical things these days.

The Trade

Posts like these are why I check his site multiple times daily.

Spidey has a Web-Blog. Heh.

Courtesy of Doyce.

CNN is reporting this story.

Accused mailbox bomber Lucas Helder told authorities he was planting pipe bombs in a pattern to show a happy face during his five-state weekend cross-country spree.

I'm just glad for my friends and fellow-bloggers who live in/near the areas where he planted the bombs that he was caught.

The newly revised Very Secret Diary store, now with Merry and Pippin stuff.

Still want Aloof Unavailable Elf Princess Shirt, since cannot have Gap of Rohan shirt.

Sigh.

Okay, not really.

But I must highly recommend that anyone who uses Movabletype and has the Comments feature active to allow it to mail comments to them.

I have gotten, in the past few weeks, comments on earlier blog entries that I never would have noticed if not for the email feature.

First, I got emailed a comment about my trip to Vegas. Turns out someone who knows Paula found my site via her, and was in Las Vegas at the same time I was. She's from Rhode Island. Cool.

And in the past few days, I have gotten comments on my Boggan quiz post from a man named Boggan, and on my Famous Photojournalist entry.

Besides, it's not like any of us are Wil Wheaton, and inspiring 100+ comments per post, right? :)

Dan Quayle speaks out on the Osbornes, saying that they have "family values."

"In a weird way, Ozzy is a great anti-drug promotion. Look at him and how fried his brains are from taking drugs all those years and everyone will say, 'I don't want to be like that.'"

Courtesy of Jeanne.

Friday Five is still going through its setup paces.

So, here's the plans for the weekend:

Friday

• Ian arrives this afternoon, hangs out at the office until Lou picks us up.

• D&D 3E game tonight.

Saturday

• Breakfast at Percy's with Ian, Jack, and Lou.

• Hang around until Feng Shui crowd shows up, then hide in computer room and bedroom.

• Trip to niece's birthday party, where we're going to also give our mother her Mother's Day Present.

• Start on those pesky side quests to gain legendary weapons in FFX. Try really, really, really hard not to throw controller against the wall when I can't get the 0:0:0 time needed to get Tidus' sigil.

• Finish reading Living Dead in Dallas so I can start in on Diplomatic Immunity.

Sunday

• Play more FFX. Read more books.

• Crew over for the Sunday game.

• Play more FFX. Read more books.

So, here were the plans for the weekend, and here's how I did:

Friday

• Ian arrives this afternoon, hangs out at the office until Lou picks us up. Well, Ian got here after I sent Lou to pick him up. Doh!

• D&D 3E game tonight. Went somewhat successfully. Got Margaret off the scene for Anne's break this summer. Sent everyone else to flying city, since original plans were sketchy and PCGen kept losing the half-dragon kobold sorcerer's spells.

Saturday

• Breakfast at Percy's with Ian, Jack, and Lou. Done

• Hang around until Feng Shui crowd shows up, then hide in computer room and bedroom. Done. Played and watched lots of Virtua Fighter 4

• Trip to niece's birthday party, where we're going to also give our mother her Mother's Day Present. Done.

• Start on those pesky side quests to gain legendary weapons in FFX. Try really, really, really hard not to throw controller against the wall when I can't get the 0:0:0 time needed to get Tidus' sigil. Did not accomplish any of this. Played some Saturday night, but was trying to capture more creatures than compete in silly Chocobo races.

• Finish reading Living Dead in Dallas so I can start in on Diplomatic Immunity. Did not finish LDiD.

Sunday

• Play more FFX. Read more books. Did not play any FFX. Decided instead to try to start writing story idea in head as I was up at 7:00 and had breakfast date with Pat at 9:00. Ouch. Writing story muscles have atrophied.

• Crew over for the Sunday game. Done. Worried now that husband is going to inflict serious damage on my poor little Shaman, because she summoned her 3 Huge Earth Elementals to beat on bad-guy Ogre Magi Monk, after Finger of Death failed (rolled a razza-frazza 1 on spell resistance check). Whimper.

• Play more FFX. Read more books. Read more of LDiD, but did not finish.

The Black Road is this weekend, so I will be busy this week and weekend, and probably won't get much blogging done. That, and the fact that my boss is going to be away for a week starting tomorrow. Urgh.

Oh, and I have a game tonight, have to decide if I'm going to play in a 7th Sea game on Wednesday night. I'm hoping to fit in Attack of the Clones on Sunday night, post-Con.

But, to tide you over in the meantime, I give you Jecht's Theme, from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack.

This song is bouncy, but with a twang that is all Jecht, since he ain't bouncy at all. Jecht is our hero Tidus' mean old man, who vanished when Tidus was young. He ended up in Spira, where Tidus also ended up, and helped out our heroine Yuna's father, Braska, on his quest to rid Spira of Sin.

Jecht's Theme reminds me of an old style country song, with that guitar twang, but it's much more than that. It is only played in the game when Tidus finds these memory spheres, and replays scenes of Jecht, Braska, and a young Auron on their quest.

Enjoy!

Ian, you can get one now. Be glad you waited the few days instead of buying on eBay.

Sony cuts PlayStation 2 prices. It's down to $199.

Also, controllers and memory card prices are dropping a lot.

Jack says he may get one to have two DVD players in the house.

And I love my boss. She said, when I told her to go to Apple's homepage, "How many do you want?"

I've never done much with racks before. This would be a lot of fun. I'll have to learn all about managing them at MacWorldExpo.

Made my hotel reservations today. Decided to go on the cheap, at the Travel Inn, which is right around the corner from the convention center. Didn't want to have to walk far in NYC in the summer, and don't want to bother with cabs.

I played some FFX last night. Lou cancelled his Aberrant game, with a headache (sinus headache returning from Saturday) and a desire to see Buffy as it happened (that's my thought).

I am now collecting legendary weapons. I got Wakka's and Rikku's last night, and a few other of the secret bits. Went back to Luca for Wakka's, and decided to go into the Sphere Theater. I'd been there before, but didn't have enough cash to buy anything.

Oh, this is hella cool. You can "buy" any of the FMVs from the disk. I'm assuming ones that you've seen already...I didn't have enough cash to buy them all. Some are short, a few seconds long. Some are longer, like the first part where Sin shows up while Tidus is playing Blitzball (and I can now confirm that the loud rock song on the FFX soundtrack is most definitely from this scene).

And you can also get a music sphere, which will play bits from the soundtrack. I think the max there was 68 songs, and I have 87 on my 4 disc set, but it's still cool.

It nearly wiped me out of cash. I think I will skip buying more of the music (since I have the soundtrack), but I will most definitely buy the movies.

Now I just have to figure out how to hook my VCR up so I can tape these suckers.

Actually, it's 2.11.

Downloading now, and going to be installing soon. Whoo-hoo!

UPDATE 1:11 p.m.: Update went well. Once I downloaded the correct files and uploaded THEM instead (sigh).

Stupid me.

Rebuilds seem to go a lot quicker too.

I need a vacation.

I was talking to someone on IM yesterday, and I realized where all my creativity is going, and why I've felt so blah lately.

I'm in too many games. Let's count:

Sunday - three Sundays a month (or four if we hit a month of 5 Sundays), Lou runs his D&D 3e game. We've been playing this since 2nd edition Skills & Powers, converting right after the DMG came out. We've just hit 15th level.

Monday - I used to have Mondays free. Lou played in a 3e game. Then that game ended, and another one started up. Every week, for a few short months, I played Miss Amaryllis. And then we all died. Now, the same GM of all the Monday games is running a Wheel of Time game. Lou and I are playing Aiel algai'd'siswai, though he's a Borderlander who found himself in the Waste, and the Stone Dogs took him in. I'm playing a Maiden of the Spear.

Tuesday - Every other Tuesday, Lou is running an Aberrant game. This is new, has been running about 6 sessions now. It's fun...I'm playing a divorced photojournalist with a kid who lives with her ex. She just can't relate to either of them.

Wednesday, Thursday - no games. Thank $deity.

Friday - I run my 3e game. Used to have other games in the alternate week, but am glad now we have a Friday off.

Saturday - Once a month, I run my Amber game, Which Endureth Forever. Or not so forever, as it's winding down to the last story. On one other Saturday, the Feng Shui players come to our apartment, but I don't play in that game.

And then there are the email games. I play in To Reign in Hell, which is currently on a long-term hiatus. I am also starting in Stranger Still to Come, and hopefully soon in Ill Met in Amber. I am also in my husband's post-apocalyptic Earth/psionics email game.

I also run my own version of the post-apocalyptic Earth/psionics game in Dreamlyrics, and I am possibly going to be playing in a Fading Suns game on that forum. I should also be restarting in a game that was on a long-term hiatus there, but I haven't gotten around to posting yet, now that the GM has come back. I may drop that game, I'm unsure.

And I am doing a letter blog with Anne, and also doing a side blog for her while she's taking a hiatus from the game this summer.

Between all that, blogging (here, Pop Culture, Whitespace, and my secret LiveJournal), reading everyone's blogs, the pile of books at my bedside, FFX, and my husband and cats, I have no time for anything else.

Something, or somethings, are going to have to go. It's just a matter of deciding what goes.

</rant>

I just notice all my categories for all my entries are gone.

Stupid Movable Type.

Though it was probably my fault. (sigh)

I know what I'm doing this evening...

I ran the mt-update21.cgi, and it said it ran successfully.

It LIED.

I tried to fix it, but all the categories seemed to be right in the config. So I figured I'd download the .cgi file again, and run it.

This time it did a whole bunch of stuff, all category related, and finished.

Voila! All the categories are back.

Yay!

Read this.

Courtesy of Anne.

Just caught the teaser trailer for The Matrix Reloaded. Excellent quality vid...beautiful images, makes me want it NOW.

Oh yeah, and he's back.

I watched it through once, then went through it frame-by-frame. Why do I have to wait for 2003??

Oh yeah, because they've gone through about thirty cast changes, or at least thirty attempts to get some great Hong Kong action stars to be in it, and they all saw the script and walked.

Plus, the Wachowski brothers decided they didn't need Woo-ping Yuen. (rolling eyes)

[though, IMDb notes that he's listed as the "action choreographer." Maybe they did get him back?]

Anyway, this will tide me over while I hide from the AotC spoilers.

The Con went well. I ended up only running one game, as one of my four players dropped out of the Saturday game, which left me wiith what I thought was an untenable number of players for a 7-hour slot.

But I am dead tired. We're not seeing Star Wars:AotC tonight. Our next available night however, is Wednesday.

So I'll ignore any spoilers until after then. Sorry folks. I'm off to bed now. It's 7:30. That's how tired I am.

Later

Two of the falcon eggs have hatched.

Good picture, if a bit dark and large, is here.

Friday Five is back! Of course, when I go away for the weekend...</rant>

1. What shampoo do you use?
I'm currently using Pantene. I also use Pert Plus on occasion. We have both at home.

2. Do you use conditioner? What kind?
I'm using the Pantene conditioner that goes with the shampoo, or the Pert Plus with the conditioner in it.

3. When was the last time you got your hair cut?
April 20th. Lou and I went to my sister's salon to get both of our hairs cut. I tend to go every few months to get a trim, at least my bangs. I have cut them myself, too.

4. What styling products do you use?
None, really. I have some mousse my sister gave me, and I have some Herbal Essences hair spray, but those are very rarely used. My bangs don't want to cooperate on occasion, so I often have to mangle them to work with above products.

5. What's your worst hair-related experience?
I decided my friend's hair was really cute, and I wanted my hair to look just like hers (this was the 80s). Unfortunately for me, the short haircut looked good on her because she had straight hair. which I do not. The cut looked awful, and I swore I'd never go back to short hair.

I kept a tail behind my left ear that I braided, which was fun (and hip at the time). As it was growing out, I decided to have an angular cut...one side of my hair was shorter than the other. One day at college a floormate was talking to me, and commented that she had just noticed that my hair was supposed to be like that...she always had thought I'd held my head tilted to one side.

Then there was the attempt at layering. My hair does not layer. I looked almost like Farrah Faucett, with the feathering. I could not wait for that go grow out.

Now I keep it long, most often pulled back, with bangs because my forehead is so frelling high. I gave up on side-parting and when I do part these day's it's mostly down the middle. Hence the issue with the bangs not behaving on occasion.

1. My name is -- Julia.

2. I may seem -- like a tech-geek girl.

3. But I'm really -- a role-playing wierdo.

4. People who know me think I'm -- rabidly independent.

5. If you knew me you'd probably -- wonder how people put up with me.

6. Sometimes I feel -- like I just can't do anything right.

7. In the morning I -- like to sleep in.

8. I like to sleep -- with lots of covers.

9. If I could be doing anything right now I would be -- watching Attack of the Clones.

10. Money is -- the root of all evil. I wanna be evil, baby!

11. One thing I wish I had is -- a house of my own.

12. One thing I have that I wish I didn't is -- debt.

13. All you need is -- to love yourself.

14. All I need is -- love.

15. If I had one wish it would be -- to be able to write like I think I can.

16. Love is -- when two people are more than the sum of 1+1.

17. My body -- is in sore need of exercise.

18. If an angel flew into my window at night I would -- feel its wings and ask for a feather.

19. If a demon crashed into my window I would -- scream loudly and grab the baseball bat my husband keeps under the bed.

20. If I could see one person right now it would be -- my dad.

21. Something I want but I don't really need is -- more kittens!

22. Something I need but I don't really want is -- self-control when it comes to spending.

23. I live for -- the future.

24. I dare you all to -- kiss a stranger.

25. I am afraid of -- never having the determination to write.

26. It makes me angry when -- I see people being intolerant.

27. I dream about -- being able to afford anything I want.

28. I daydream about -- winning the lottery.

I have seen it.

I enjoyed it.

More later when I've had time to digest (and maybe see it again...this weekend?), and read everyone else's reviews/comments/spoilers.

While I compose my thoughts and ideas for an Attack of the Clones review, I'll give you a little music to bounce your day through.

Ukulele de Chocobo, from the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack.

This is bright, and bouncy, and is the music played when you ride your chocobo around the countryside.

Enjoy!

***Dave has introduced a new concept, the Thursday Thumb-Twiddler!

1. Have you ever bought, worn someplace, then returned a new outfit, knowing ahead of time that's what you were planning to do?
Nope. I don't often buy new clothes, so when I do, I want them for a specific purpose. I did buy one dress and return it right afterwards, but that was because it got ripped and I wanted to wear it again. The replacement ripped when I wore it the next time, too. I think I'm just too fat for the dress. I need to shed more poundage before I wear it again.

2. When you do something stupid, how much does it bother you to have other folks laugh at you?
Oh, lots. But it really depends on the situation. If I was totally clueless as to how stupid I was being, then I get really upset when I'm made fun of. But if I had a clue as to how stupid it was and I did it anyway, I can laugh at myself, too. I wish I could think of an example here. Maybe if I come up with one, I'll update it.

3. When were you last in a fight? What was it about, and did you win?
Fistfight? I couldn't tell you, probably something when I was young with my sisters. I didn't ever fight in school (that I recall).

Argument-type fight? I'm sure Lou and I fought about something, and I probably won. I'm more likely to argue/fight with him than he is with me, and he'll give in. Of course, I know I'm right, so I keep at it until I am proven wrong. (chuckle)

Commentary without much to say is gone. Sean dropped blogging. Now I guess I'll just have to email him for his Freecell percentages (sigh).

Wendi has trashed her Confessions of a Working Woman, but is still blogging, at Wendiblog.

I've also added in the Thursday Thumb-Twiddler to the Other Bits section.

And can I just say how much I lurve server side includes? Why did it take me so long to change my linkages to ssi? (sigh) So much easier to update, and no rebuilding necessary.

Highly recommended folks, if your host supports ssi.

On the white mouse...

Oh, they stopped using twist-ties to keep the cords.

On the white keyboard...

Damn, that's going to get dirty fast.

and

Oh, I do like these new cord-keepers.

On the included phone cord...

Oh, that's what that is. White, eh? Oh well. (toss)

On the grey square of soft cloth...

They included a screen wipe? Neat!

On the size of the thing...

Oh, it's so tiny!

On the weight of the thing...

Damn, that's heavy!

On the port arrangement...

Okay, I can see the problem. Should have done a side- or front-port thing, yep, yep.

On fitting the styrofoam back into the box so the lid will shut...

Oh, this'll never fit. (tries, hard, shaking box) This is not good. (tries rearranging styrofoam again, and again, and again, and again, until finally) Oh, thank god. Well, that was a poor idea.

On the power-up...

I wish they hadn't taken away the power-on button on the keyboard. The power-on button is in the back? Oh, bad idea.

On the speakers...

Hrm, pretty loud. But only one speaker. Ah well.

On the tilt screen...

Moves easy. Small size, but do-able for most folk.

That's it for now. I'm off to donate blood.

1. What's the last vivid dream that you remember having?
Oh, I have no clue. I remember dreams for a few hours, then they fade.

2. Do you have any recurring dreams?
Not that I recall.

3. What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had?
No clue. Haven't had a nightmare in a long time. Takes a lot to scare me that way.

4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not?
I had a dream journal at one point. I still have it around somewhere at home. I think I got about three dreams in there, and stopped. I wanted to start remembering more of them, for longer times, so I started writing them down. My friend Dawn did, so I did too. But it just never stuck in my head.

5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it?
Not that I recall.

Bonus: What are you doing for the long weekend?
Tonight is ATF, they're doing a dungeon crawl. We'll see how this all shakes down. They have to defeat everything (and not necessarily by combat) to gain control of the floating city. It is NOT going to be easy.

Tomorrow is breakfast with Jack, then he's on his way to NYC. Lou and I may go bike riding (he got hooked again when he used the LifeCycles at TBR), or may just hang around. I need to go into work (he doesn't know that) to check on some things on Saturday, so I may try to convince him to go to dinner out at Fire & Ice or The Cheesecake Factory, at the Providence Place Mall.

Sunday is breakfast with Lou's parents and possibly his brother&wife. This is a combination Mother's Day/Father's birthday present. Sunday afternoon is the D&D game, which is making us miss my mom's cookout. But we will be missing the next two Sundays for the game (the first one we don't play, and Lou's going to be on his way to his conference the next week), so we don't want to miss three in a row.

Monday is nothing until the Monday night game, though we may get in some more bike riding (if the weather holds).

A movie (About a Boy, or Star Wars again for me) is not out of possibility, either.

Not a really big-agenda weekend, but this'll be fun.

Bonus: What are you doing for the long weekend?
Tonight is ATF, they're doing a dungeon crawl. We'll see how this all shakes down. They have to defeat everything (and not necessarily by combat) to gain control of the floating city. It is NOT going to be easy.

Dungeon crawl only lasted one room. They ran into a gorgon, who turned two of the party members (the monk, who can't make a save to save his character's life, literally! And the npc cohort cleric, who is only 4th level) to stone. Fortunately the mage was able to reduce them, teleport back to Clearwater, and get them unstoned and then bring them back. That took most of the night, so they'll be back into the dungeon next time.

Tomorrow is breakfast with Jack, then he's on his way to NYC. Lou and I may go bike riding (he got hooked again when he used the LifeCycles at TBR), or may just hang around. I need to go into work (he doesn't know that) to check on some things on Saturday, so I may try to convince him to go to dinner out at Fire & Ice or The Cheesecake Factory, at the Providence Place Mall.

We didn't do the bike riding -- it was just too cool, with a very strong breeze. I spent the parts of the day not listed above playing Final Fantasy X, capturing monsters and doing other sidequests.

The Cheesecake Factory was our stop, and boy, is their menu HUGE. We took about 20 minutes to decide on what to order, and then couldn't finish it. Of course, topping it off with a fresh banana cream cheesecake. Yum!

Sunday is breakfast with Lou's parents and possibly his brother&wife. This is a combination Mother's Day/Father's birthday present. Sunday afternoon is the D&D game, which is making us miss my mom's cookout. But we will be missing the next two Sundays for the game (the first one we don't play, and Lou's going to be on his way to his conference the next week), so we don't want to miss three in a row.

Breakfast was had, and enjoyed. Final Fantasy X was played, and I almost finished the Village of the Cactuars quest before the game started.

We managed to kill one of Lou's Freak Legion, a group he designed specifically to push our limits. Skyler actually managed to stay out of combat, and barely cast any spells. Fortunately, the fighters were able to handle everything with aplomb. Now, we have to fight the rest of the Freak Legion, or at least those who want to mix it up with us. We are playing next week, since Lou will be gone the following Sunday. And FYI, the one we killed was "Pounder" - a half-fiend troll with quite a few fighter levels. The one who got away was "Mouse" - a half-fiend kobold rogue/fighter. And yes, think about the half-fiend troll for a second. Fire resistance. Troll. (shudder)

Monday is nothing until the Monday night game, though we may get in some more bike riding (if the weather holds).

I played FFX from about 8:00 a.m. until about 2:00, finishing the Cactuar Quest and getting other things done, when Lou insisted we go out for a walk. Bike riding was a possibility, but it was very humid out. We got rather hot from the walk about the neighborhood, so bike riding may have been worse. Then we went out to the Texas Roadhouse for steak before the game. Applebees is definitely off the list of restaurants after the bad service we've had there in the past few months.

A movie (About a Boy, or Star Wars again for me) is not out of possibility, either.

Nope, no movie.

Warning, RPG rant ahead! Click on More if you care, ignore if you don't.

I have to admit up front ... I am one of those annoying roleplayers who tries to stay true to the character until the end, even if that means the character leaves the game. I know there is another school of thought, that the game is paramount, and you should work hard to make your character fit into the game.

But I just can't do that, not all the time. Not without breaking the character.

Seclusion Has Left Lucas Out of Touch is a good article on why Attack of the Clones has failed to capture audiences like the first trilogy did.

It's not the first to make the argument that Lucas should leave the directing and acting to others. The Self-Made Critic pointed it out in his review of the movie, now on the website. (I get the reviews early in email)

I hope that George takes these commentaries, criticisms, reviews, what-have-you to heart. Write the story for III, Mr. Lucas. Then give it to another writer, and let another director helm your project.

Please. Before it's too late.

Courtesy of ***Dave and Brunching Shuttlecocks' Self-Made Critic, respectively.

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Hell Yeah!

Tomorrow, starting verra early in the morning (well, not that early), 7:00 ET, Farscape is running non-stop until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

Within this 24-hour marathon, are hours 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., and 6:00 p.m., which compromise the last four episodes of Season 3. Hour 4:00 is the one I missed taping.

Yay!

My tape should be back tonight, which means I can rerecord the end of Season 3 on its proper tape, all episodes in order. And then come home, watch a few hours, and then go back and watch the missed episode (I get out of work at 4:00).

Go me! Go Farscape!

Who's your Daddy? D'Argo, tell him who his Daddy is!

Can I get a Hell Yeah?

1. With a poof of inky black smoke, the Devil appears before you and offers you long years of success and fortune, all in exchange for that little intangible he calls your soul. Do you prick your finger and sign on the dotted line?
No, most likely not. While a few years of happiness and fortune etc. would be cool, it wouldn't make up for eternal torment afterwards.

Even if I believed in such things.

2. If you walked out of your house tomorrow morning and saw a bird with a broken wing huddled in some nearby bushes, what would you do?
Since there are no bushes nearby...okay, that's a cheap shot.

I would try to figure out if I could get at the bird, if it would let me. If so, then I'd bring it to our vet, and let them deal with it. Otherwise, I'd probably leave it be.

3. What's the best use you can think of for snow?
Building a snowman, snow balls for throwing, and sledding. All sorts of fun with snow.

Don't know why, it's just not there. So, here's the Bonus Weekend plans:

Friday

- Watch Farscape, in preparation for next week's season premiere.

Saturday

- Bike ride along the East Bay Bike Path.

- Get some work done on a few games (SSC and IMiA, and get new player up to speed in TBE).

- Play some FFX.

- Get some writing done, at least Ennis' response to Kit in the Letter Blog, and hopefully more Margaret stuff done for the ATF blog.

- Go to sister-in-law's house to install network card in their Mac, before they move to Bridgewater.

Sunday

- Possibly breakfast out at Percy's.

- Possibly go to pick up some fans at WalMart, since the heat approacheth (and the humidity), and Lou needs them for his conference anyway.

- Maybe another (or a first) Bike Path ride.

- Maybe some FFX.

- Maybe actually start reading Diplomatic Immunity. Or finish I Dare.

- The Sunday Game, in which we may fight more of the Freak Legion, may find an unexpected ally in the prisoners, and maybe have Betsy's character Storm get her cohort (finally!).

My mother-in-law, who is a librarian, will no doubt be thrilled by the federal judges who tossed out the online pornography law. And two other friends who work in libraries, one of whom works a technology position, will no doubt also be thrilled.

Critics of the law claim that Web sites can get mistakenly categorized as porn by mistake-prone filtering programs -- making information on breast cancer and homosexuality, for example, unavailable to library Internet surfers.

Other sites that were blocked included neo-Nazi sites, which didn't help the kids who were doing reports on Nazis for class.

The list goes on. All I can say is, Go Federal Judges!