Remember how I was all crazy and obsessive about the space shuttle Atlantis getting to the International Space Station? And I was all disappointed when a hail storm delayed the launch in April, and was relieved when the Atlantis went up this month?
I kept going on about a public space station and all that.
WELL...
Turns out there was EVEN MORE reason for me to be excited about mission STS-117 than I realized!!!
THEY TOOK DVDS OF FIREFLY AND SERENITY TO THE ISS!!!
Right now, as you read this, the box set of FIREFLY and the movie SERENITY are aboard the ISS!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!
I can't articulate exactly why, but this makes me ridiculously giddy!!! I guess part of it is excitement for Joss Whedon and the power of what he creates! Specifically, FIREFLY gives me such joy, and it's so cool to learn that it gives friends I recommend it to joy as well. Then loyalty of the fan-base suggests strongly that many, many other people (people I have never met and probably will never meet) are all receiving this same joy from this group of stories that this cool guy created. So I guess it's partly that shared-experience thing.
But then there's also the work itself: The things that Joss and the other amazing writers, and the actors and the film crew, feel are important stories to tell, are important messages to share with others! I LOVE living in a universe where the crew of the space shuttle and the crews of the space station are addicted to those stories and those values!!! Thinks that important to me are also important to the men and women who are exploring space and furthering out understanding of the universe outside our world!!!
I'm tellin' ya... If one of the presidential candidates can quote Mal or Jane or Kalyee this coming election year, THAT will be our next president, lol! (Politicians tend to all sound more like the Operative or Jubal Early.)
But that's not even all of what excites me so much!
I don't know, maybe another part of it is being allowed to imagine these (quite literally) World Class Scientists -- people whose work IS CREATING OUR FUTURE HISTORY -- like me and my buddies, all going "Dude, you GOTTA check these dvds out!" Like one of them thinking "Okay, we're all gonna be quarantined for 5 hours, nobody's goin' anywhere... So I'll pop in some Firefly and they'll TOTALLY love me for it!" :D
I mean, how great is that?!! How cool is it to live in THAT universe?!! How groovy is it to know that your reality is one in which bad-ass real-life space people dig on watching bad-ass fictitious space-people?!! JOSS WHEDON'S bad-ass fictitious space-people, no less!!!
It gives me so much hope for the future!
And then another part of it has to be the sheer joy of instantly being sucked from a reality where the Atlantis crew has taken the next step to complete the ISS (which is cool enough in itself) and slapped into a reality wherein the crew is all hooked on one of the greatest TV shows ever!!! I mean, the perspective switch is so much fun! From one perspective they're like these demigods to me who are doing these amazingly important things that will cement them into the History Books, and from the other perspective they are still the demigods doing important stuff, but they're also Whedon-junkies like me and my friends!!!
Anyway, I hope this news gives you as much joy as it has given me. If you're into the notion, click around and read about how it all came into being.
That's where I'm ehaded right now!
LOVE TO THE GNOMEY GODDESS!!! x o x o x o
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Helped Mom Move This Morning...
The evening has been a real... um, challenege, lol.
I could go into it, but it would use too much jargon that would have to be explained, and trust me: the explanation and jargon wouldn't make for a very interesting read.
So let's just say that one department did their job poorly, and I felt the need to compensate, which put me back 4 and a half hours or from my regular duties. (That's a conservative estimate, if anything.)
Knowing that I was helping my Mom move out of her apartment after work, My Genius Friend Dave joked that I would be thankful that I was only doing manual labor at that point. This comment proved to be prophetic! (And yet, we never win the lottery... What's up with THAT?!)
Anyway...
I use this blog as a journal, to capture glimpses into the Human Condition, and this entry is very much about that. I'm not making judgment, but merely observing, so that perhaps one day I might re-read this entry and attain actual understanding.
Mom has always been protective of her sons. (Brian & me.)
I am, perhaps, telling someone else's story here, a story that is not truly mine to tell. But I need to understand this, and so I am going to go out on a limb and tell it here, hoping that I don't over-step my personal boundaries.
My mom discovered in a previous marriage (her first) that she is not able to bear children. That guy was a fuck-hole. (My interpretation; I never met him, so I may be really off-base here; but this is MY bog not his, so screw him.) Then she met a man for whome this was not a problem -- my Pops.
But before that, just before that, and after that she had this Dream Guy whom she has known since she was, like, 14 years old. They were forced apart when she was a kid, Fate stepped in and separated them before she met my dad, and then Fate stepped in again and re-introduced them after my dad had passed away.
He is now her husband!!!
I like the guy! He's true and blunt, and he couldn't NOT speak his mind if his life depended on it, lol!
But he lives in Louisiana.
Now, I'm a Texan, born and bred. I lived in L.A. for the better part of a year, but I AM a Texan. If your state have the degree of devotion my state has (and I'll bet it does) then let me illustrate what being a Texan means by way of anecdote:
One of my very best friends, Kelly, decided he wanted both his ears pierced. He decided later in life (in his early 30s) as opposed to in his teens -- like the rest of us -- so he waited until his Halloween visit last year to get his ears pierced HERE, of all places. I'm serious, he went into a seedy 6th Street establishment rather than one of the seen-it-a-hundred-times joints that inhabit Hollywood Boulevard because of this reason: He knew that his Texan buddies would accuse him of "going all Hollywood" if he did it in L.A..
And the sad part is this: He's CORRECT, lol.
However... Having both his ears pierced HERE means we have no ammunition with which to chide and ridicule him, lol!
(A VERY hoopy frood, my friend Kelly!)
So now my Mom is moving out of state (even if it's just 6 hour's drive away, lol) to live with my step-dad.
She's NO LONGER GOING TO BE A TEXAN! I mean, yeah, she was born and raised here, and lived most of her life here... BUT STILL! She's living out her Golden Years IN ANOTHER STATE, lol!
But you know what?
That's cool with me and my brother.
Yes, we're Texans... But we're also devoted sons, and what makes Mom happy is a beautiful, beautiful thing!!! (Seriously, I've sent her then boyfriend/new husband emails just thanking him for the joy he has brought into our mom's life these last couple of years!)
So today, after 10 and a half hours of a "challenging" shift, I helped my mom and her new husband move the rest of her stuff into a U-Haul so she could begin the process of becoming a Louisianian (or, you know, non-Texan).
Backtracking a bit: Ever since Mom knew she would eventually be moving, she's been giving Brian and me things. I definitely got the sense that she was trying to set us up for after the move. She has ALWAYS taken very meticulous care of us. I dare say that into our 30s, Brian and I have always known that if we get deep enough into trouble, Mom will bail us out. There was even a point at which Mom and Dad and Brian and I were living together, not because there was so much room in our 2-bedroom apartment, but because Brian & I had gotten ourselves into so much financial trouble that we needed bailing out.
But one of the GREATEST things she and Dad EVER did was to tell Brian and me that we needed to get our own place, because she and Dad were moving into a 1-bedroom apartment.
This was great because (1) this let a couple of kids-at-heart have their own "tree house fort" in which to do as they like, and (2) this forced us to come to terms with some (financial) realities that only living on your own can do.
And STILL, Mom would help us out anyway she could. For the first several months she would take us to Cost-Co and buy us a couple months' worth of groceries, to make sure we were well-fed. She took care of our dental bills, our cars... If there was ANY problem, we always knew that we could call Mom to bail us out.
But something began to happen over the last few years...
Brian and I began to WANT TO bail OURSELVES out of any fixes we found ourselves in. As it happens, when you're not living under Mom's roof, you begin to realize how much Mom is over-extending herself by helping you out of messes you got yourself into.
So Brian and I started sorting our own shite out.
(Yeah, we're late bloomers... The Edwardses a VERY protective family...)
We've repositioned ourselves so that we will (knock on wood) be able to bail OURSELVES out of the next crisis.
But here's the thing: Mom are MOMS.
Over the last week, as Mom has packed up her apartment and prepared for her Big Move to her next phase of Life, she keeps GIVING US THINGS, lol! All beautiful, and all things Brian and I are happy to accept... But still... It's as though Mom can't help trying to think of EVERY way she can prepare us for her going off and living her life the way she wants, lol!
Brian and I are, of course, merely happy that she's so happy! We see ourselves as independant adults who will sink or swim according to our own reactions at any given moment.
But for Mom, we will ALWAYS be Carolyn's Boys. (Which is really nice in itself, hehe.)
So this morning, I swing by after work, to help her and my step-dad ( I have a STEP-DAD, lol!!!) load up the U-Haul for their trip today to her new home.
At Mom's request, I pick up some donuts on the way to her soon-to-be-ex-apartment. Knowing what a coffee junky I am, she has some coffee made and ready.
She asks if I want some.
"Yeah, baby!" or something like that, is my reply.
She pours me a cup, warns me that it's hot...
...the cup tips over toward me...
...I dodge and get a mildly-heated thumb in the process of righting the cup again...
..and Mom almost starts crying!
I tell her that it's okay, that I'm fine.
She says that it's horrible to harm your child.
I hug her as tight as I can and tell her I'm okay, it's all alright.
But she still can't believe she burned her child.
This lasts a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity.
The Writer part of my brain reasons that when someone reacts overly-emotionally to a situation that doesn't warrant such a strongly emotional response, that person must be reacting to emotions RELATED to that situation that they haven't been fully vented or expressed.
I tell the Writer part of my brain to go take a flying leap, and hug my mommy, and tell her it's all okay.
This chick was unable to bare children, and so chose to ADOPT... Score 1 for her.
When she chose which children to adopt, she chose a cat who was taken from his biological mother so soon that he might never be able to form a normal child-mother bond ever -- my brother -- and a boy who was so old, comparatively, that the sociological issues he had would take nothing short of YEARS to undo and reprogram -- me. And it DID take me some 5 years to deal with my "rage issues". And it wasn't until the last couple of years that I was able to see my Mom for the woman she is: A chick who LIKES TO LAUGH! (Brian and my friend Kelly saw this when they were just kids, but I was too enveloped in my own Teen Angst to notice it.)
Score, like, 100 for her.
My mom has taken on emotional baggage that she did not IN ANY WAY create, and tried to FREE my brother and me from that baggage every day of every month of every year since we became her children.
And now she's moving away -- out of state -- and I suspect that her instincts have her still trying to protect us.
The coffee thing...
Here's the thing: If the coffee HAD spilled on me, it would have HURT. No lyin', that was some hot coffee, lol.
But in the interim of Mom doing her Mom Thang...
My li'l bro' has taught me The Tao Of Jeet Kune Do. This was in my early-to-mid-20s, when I was about 50 pounds lighter than I am. But the beauty of Bruce Lee's principal of martial arts is that it adapts to who you are, how old you are, where you are and in what circumstances you find yourself.
So one of the secret martial arts trick I have learned is How To Move My Body Quickly Out Of The Path Of Harm, lol. I instinctively jumped back quickly enough that only my thick, leather boots tasted the boilding coffee.
And here my mom was, so concerned that she had in some way accidentally harmed her son!
Poor dear woman!
It was odd for me, because I didn't instinctively know how to make her feel better. :(
There was a moment when I confessed my spirituality to my dear, DEAR friend Kelly, and I could autaully see him mentally groping for a pre-ordained response to my (must-have-been) shocking disclosure... I responded (quite literally, if memory serves) to his response and we laughed, and we were back on familiar territory again. But he had been shaken, and I hadn't known how to deal with what he seemed to be feeling.
Here my mom was close to tears about almost "harming her child" and I was lost.
I don't know what she was thinking, or had been thinking since she knew she is going to move -- she and Pops seemed to believe that one doesn't show "weakness" or uncertainty to ones' offspring.
What was that poor woman enduring that she WILL NEVER tell me about? Is she afraid that Brian and I can't make it on our own? Is she afraid that her happiness comes at the expence of Brian's and my happiness?
I'll probably never know.
But in that moment when my mom thought she had tipped a cup of hot coffee all over me, I got this sense of unreasoning LOVE for me. Like a lioness protecting her cub!
And on the one hand it was so sad, to see my mom hurt so badly by something that COULD HAVE, but DIDN'T, hurt her oldest son...
And on the other hand, it was SO BEAUTIFUL, to know that no matter how old I am I will always be that defenseless 8-year-old boy that she swore to raise and protect for as long as she lives!!!
The thing about a Glimpse Into The Human Condition is that more often than if offers up explanations and understanding, it more often offers up more questions. Questions that you accept may never be answered.
May you take what you will from this enigmatic entry.
:)
I could go into it, but it would use too much jargon that would have to be explained, and trust me: the explanation and jargon wouldn't make for a very interesting read.
So let's just say that one department did their job poorly, and I felt the need to compensate, which put me back 4 and a half hours or from my regular duties. (That's a conservative estimate, if anything.)
Knowing that I was helping my Mom move out of her apartment after work, My Genius Friend Dave joked that I would be thankful that I was only doing manual labor at that point. This comment proved to be prophetic! (And yet, we never win the lottery... What's up with THAT?!)
Anyway...
I use this blog as a journal, to capture glimpses into the Human Condition, and this entry is very much about that. I'm not making judgment, but merely observing, so that perhaps one day I might re-read this entry and attain actual understanding.
Mom has always been protective of her sons. (Brian & me.)
I am, perhaps, telling someone else's story here, a story that is not truly mine to tell. But I need to understand this, and so I am going to go out on a limb and tell it here, hoping that I don't over-step my personal boundaries.
My mom discovered in a previous marriage (her first) that she is not able to bear children. That guy was a fuck-hole. (My interpretation; I never met him, so I may be really off-base here; but this is MY bog not his, so screw him.) Then she met a man for whome this was not a problem -- my Pops.
But before that, just before that, and after that she had this Dream Guy whom she has known since she was, like, 14 years old. They were forced apart when she was a kid, Fate stepped in and separated them before she met my dad, and then Fate stepped in again and re-introduced them after my dad had passed away.
He is now her husband!!!
I like the guy! He's true and blunt, and he couldn't NOT speak his mind if his life depended on it, lol!
But he lives in Louisiana.
Now, I'm a Texan, born and bred. I lived in L.A. for the better part of a year, but I AM a Texan. If your state have the degree of devotion my state has (and I'll bet it does) then let me illustrate what being a Texan means by way of anecdote:
One of my very best friends, Kelly, decided he wanted both his ears pierced. He decided later in life (in his early 30s) as opposed to in his teens -- like the rest of us -- so he waited until his Halloween visit last year to get his ears pierced HERE, of all places. I'm serious, he went into a seedy 6th Street establishment rather than one of the seen-it-a-hundred-times joints that inhabit Hollywood Boulevard because of this reason: He knew that his Texan buddies would accuse him of "going all Hollywood" if he did it in L.A..
And the sad part is this: He's CORRECT, lol.
However... Having both his ears pierced HERE means we have no ammunition with which to chide and ridicule him, lol!
(A VERY hoopy frood, my friend Kelly!)
So now my Mom is moving out of state (even if it's just 6 hour's drive away, lol) to live with my step-dad.
She's NO LONGER GOING TO BE A TEXAN! I mean, yeah, she was born and raised here, and lived most of her life here... BUT STILL! She's living out her Golden Years IN ANOTHER STATE, lol!
But you know what?
That's cool with me and my brother.
Yes, we're Texans... But we're also devoted sons, and what makes Mom happy is a beautiful, beautiful thing!!! (Seriously, I've sent her then boyfriend/new husband emails just thanking him for the joy he has brought into our mom's life these last couple of years!)
So today, after 10 and a half hours of a "challenging" shift, I helped my mom and her new husband move the rest of her stuff into a U-Haul so she could begin the process of becoming a Louisianian (or, you know, non-Texan).
Backtracking a bit: Ever since Mom knew she would eventually be moving, she's been giving Brian and me things. I definitely got the sense that she was trying to set us up for after the move. She has ALWAYS taken very meticulous care of us. I dare say that into our 30s, Brian and I have always known that if we get deep enough into trouble, Mom will bail us out. There was even a point at which Mom and Dad and Brian and I were living together, not because there was so much room in our 2-bedroom apartment, but because Brian & I had gotten ourselves into so much financial trouble that we needed bailing out.
But one of the GREATEST things she and Dad EVER did was to tell Brian and me that we needed to get our own place, because she and Dad were moving into a 1-bedroom apartment.
This was great because (1) this let a couple of kids-at-heart have their own "tree house fort" in which to do as they like, and (2) this forced us to come to terms with some (financial) realities that only living on your own can do.
And STILL, Mom would help us out anyway she could. For the first several months she would take us to Cost-Co and buy us a couple months' worth of groceries, to make sure we were well-fed. She took care of our dental bills, our cars... If there was ANY problem, we always knew that we could call Mom to bail us out.
But something began to happen over the last few years...
Brian and I began to WANT TO bail OURSELVES out of any fixes we found ourselves in. As it happens, when you're not living under Mom's roof, you begin to realize how much Mom is over-extending herself by helping you out of messes you got yourself into.
So Brian and I started sorting our own shite out.
(Yeah, we're late bloomers... The Edwardses a VERY protective family...)
We've repositioned ourselves so that we will (knock on wood) be able to bail OURSELVES out of the next crisis.
But here's the thing: Mom are MOMS.
Over the last week, as Mom has packed up her apartment and prepared for her Big Move to her next phase of Life, she keeps GIVING US THINGS, lol! All beautiful, and all things Brian and I are happy to accept... But still... It's as though Mom can't help trying to think of EVERY way she can prepare us for her going off and living her life the way she wants, lol!
Brian and I are, of course, merely happy that she's so happy! We see ourselves as independant adults who will sink or swim according to our own reactions at any given moment.
But for Mom, we will ALWAYS be Carolyn's Boys. (Which is really nice in itself, hehe.)
So this morning, I swing by after work, to help her and my step-dad ( I have a STEP-DAD, lol!!!) load up the U-Haul for their trip today to her new home.
At Mom's request, I pick up some donuts on the way to her soon-to-be-ex-apartment. Knowing what a coffee junky I am, she has some coffee made and ready.
She asks if I want some.
"Yeah, baby!" or something like that, is my reply.
She pours me a cup, warns me that it's hot...
...the cup tips over toward me...
...I dodge and get a mildly-heated thumb in the process of righting the cup again...
..and Mom almost starts crying!
I tell her that it's okay, that I'm fine.
She says that it's horrible to harm your child.
I hug her as tight as I can and tell her I'm okay, it's all alright.
But she still can't believe she burned her child.
This lasts a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity.
The Writer part of my brain reasons that when someone reacts overly-emotionally to a situation that doesn't warrant such a strongly emotional response, that person must be reacting to emotions RELATED to that situation that they haven't been fully vented or expressed.
I tell the Writer part of my brain to go take a flying leap, and hug my mommy, and tell her it's all okay.
This chick was unable to bare children, and so chose to ADOPT... Score 1 for her.
When she chose which children to adopt, she chose a cat who was taken from his biological mother so soon that he might never be able to form a normal child-mother bond ever -- my brother -- and a boy who was so old, comparatively, that the sociological issues he had would take nothing short of YEARS to undo and reprogram -- me. And it DID take me some 5 years to deal with my "rage issues". And it wasn't until the last couple of years that I was able to see my Mom for the woman she is: A chick who LIKES TO LAUGH! (Brian and my friend Kelly saw this when they were just kids, but I was too enveloped in my own Teen Angst to notice it.)
Score, like, 100 for her.
My mom has taken on emotional baggage that she did not IN ANY WAY create, and tried to FREE my brother and me from that baggage every day of every month of every year since we became her children.
And now she's moving away -- out of state -- and I suspect that her instincts have her still trying to protect us.
The coffee thing...
Here's the thing: If the coffee HAD spilled on me, it would have HURT. No lyin', that was some hot coffee, lol.
But in the interim of Mom doing her Mom Thang...
My li'l bro' has taught me The Tao Of Jeet Kune Do. This was in my early-to-mid-20s, when I was about 50 pounds lighter than I am. But the beauty of Bruce Lee's principal of martial arts is that it adapts to who you are, how old you are, where you are and in what circumstances you find yourself.
So one of the secret martial arts trick I have learned is How To Move My Body Quickly Out Of The Path Of Harm, lol. I instinctively jumped back quickly enough that only my thick, leather boots tasted the boilding coffee.
And here my mom was, so concerned that she had in some way accidentally harmed her son!
Poor dear woman!
It was odd for me, because I didn't instinctively know how to make her feel better. :(
There was a moment when I confessed my spirituality to my dear, DEAR friend Kelly, and I could autaully see him mentally groping for a pre-ordained response to my (must-have-been) shocking disclosure... I responded (quite literally, if memory serves) to his response and we laughed, and we were back on familiar territory again. But he had been shaken, and I hadn't known how to deal with what he seemed to be feeling.
Here my mom was close to tears about almost "harming her child" and I was lost.
I don't know what she was thinking, or had been thinking since she knew she is going to move -- she and Pops seemed to believe that one doesn't show "weakness" or uncertainty to ones' offspring.
What was that poor woman enduring that she WILL NEVER tell me about? Is she afraid that Brian and I can't make it on our own? Is she afraid that her happiness comes at the expence of Brian's and my happiness?
I'll probably never know.
But in that moment when my mom thought she had tipped a cup of hot coffee all over me, I got this sense of unreasoning LOVE for me. Like a lioness protecting her cub!
And on the one hand it was so sad, to see my mom hurt so badly by something that COULD HAVE, but DIDN'T, hurt her oldest son...
And on the other hand, it was SO BEAUTIFUL, to know that no matter how old I am I will always be that defenseless 8-year-old boy that she swore to raise and protect for as long as she lives!!!
The thing about a Glimpse Into The Human Condition is that more often than if offers up explanations and understanding, it more often offers up more questions. Questions that you accept may never be answered.
May you take what you will from this enigmatic entry.
:)
Friday, June 29, 2007
Like My New Header?
I mean, it's nothing particularly impressive from a Graphic Arts standpoint, but I feel it's a bit more evocative and descriptive of what my blog is all about. It comes just short of using clip art pics for a typewriter and a film camera, lol.
But if you follow the blog, the new header conveys a sense of the content.
The Script Frenzy cirtificate illustrates my screenwriting, and by extension my writing in general.
I WON, by the way!!! 23,810 in 28 days!!! Now, you can't write a screenplay in 30 days and have a manuscript that's worth SHOWING to people, naturally. But still, I have something worth rewriting now!!! YAY ME!!!
I also lucked-out in that my recent finances afforded me the opportunity to actually donate a tiny sum to the organization, and to buy a T-shirt to commemorate this month!!! So that's cool!!!
Also, allow me to clarify: If you missed previous blog entries, winning Script Frenzy doesn't mean my script was the BEST or anything; it simply means I commited to writing a feature-length script in 30 days and I wrote a feature-length script in 30 days. No one actually knows how good or bad said screenplay is (except me, and I'm just gonna lie and tell you it's the best screenplay EVER, hehe).
But I DID IT! (Like Rocky in the first flick: This contest isn't about a knock-out; it's about going the distance.) ;)
So anyway...
The Script Frenzy certificate is my symbolic typewriter, and on the oposite side of the name of the blog is my baby... My inspiration, my strength and my reward, all rolled into one beautitiful being. Then beside her is my Core: Tommy, Kelly, me and Brian, respectively. These are my GUYS, and in the pic we're all together at the screenwriting expo that put us in front of David Koepp and William Goldman and Karl Iglasias and Nathan Fillion & JOSS FUCKING WHEDON!!! This is us together on a 5-day adventure of learning, writing, dreaming and hangin' out. This pic is the guys who've known me since I was a kid, and are still with me, and always will be. And when you combine them with my Gnomey Goddess, you have my Core: These folks are how and why I keep the faith and never stop trying, no matter how bleak the road ahead can look at times.
A Note: There is a guy not pictured: My Genius Friend Dave. This cat has given me SO MUCH over the last decade, and I strongly suspect we will be linked together until the end. The Guys all love and revere him too, as his advice -- often given as an afterthought or in passing -- has often proved invaluable to our endeavors. But My Geniuos Friend Dave is not an attention whore, like the rest of us, and I don't have many pictures of him, and none of us together. But he is still a very active, vibrant part of Who I Am and teaches me EVERY SINGLE TIME WE SPEAK. Additionally, it's My Genius Friend Dave who GAVE me my first computer, got me on the Internet to begin with, got me blogging (him and Kevin Smith), and taught me that often just hunkering down and doing the work yields the most and best results.
So even though My Genius Friend David isn't pictured in the header, he is indesputably part of my Core.
Back to the header now...
Finally, there's my skull & crossbones design for Mangey Raiders which, to me, represents the philosophy by which I live: Imaginative FUN! Pirates were cruel and mean people, but the popular IDEAL of pirates is a subversive, uninhibited, unrestricted lifestyle of joyful excess and bounty!!! The concept of the Mangey Raiders, to me, is folks who don't fit and don't have to fit! People who live outside "The Norm" and enjoy Life SO MUCH MORE because of it! It's Punk Rock, it's Indy Film, it's bitTorrent and shareware and podcasts and raves and it's successfully taping a "Kick Me" sticker on the back of the guy at work who keeps pointing out to the boss that you have a tendancy to arrive late after the weekend!
My pop-eyed skull-and-crossbones logo represents everyhting that the Trickster Zen Masters were illustrating in their bizarr acts and antics.
And yet, I realize, it's not PURE Graphic Arts. What can I say? I'm not a Graphic Artist. I'm a cat who plays with...
You know what? SCREW THAT! I AM a Graphic Artist!
Okay, I'm not a PROFESSIONAL Graphic Artist, but I uses graphics to express myself and my ideas, which -- by definition -- is art.
So I AM a Graphic Artist... Just not a very skilled one.
And you know what? I DON'T HAVE TO BE good at everything I do. Pay me to write a screenplay... It will rival ANYTHING Hollywood has to offer. Pay me to write a novel... It will win you awards. Pay me to write a short story, even, and I will write you a piece that can win your money back ten-fold.
In SecondLife I'm an architect and a T-shirt designer. I've made some money in SL off my architect work, but none off my T-shirt designs,and I have yet to make any money off my T-sjirt designs in RL (at CafePress.com) but we CAN'T be expected to be brilliant at EVERYTHING we do!
So I AM a Graphic Artist... Just not a very skilled one. There's MUCH I need to learn, which I WILL learn when someone is willing to TEACH me.
Okay...
I should be getting to bed now, as I have a fun-filled day of work ahead of me, lol.
PEACE & LONG LIFE!!!
:D
But if you follow the blog, the new header conveys a sense of the content.
The Script Frenzy cirtificate illustrates my screenwriting, and by extension my writing in general.
I WON, by the way!!! 23,810 in 28 days!!! Now, you can't write a screenplay in 30 days and have a manuscript that's worth SHOWING to people, naturally. But still, I have something worth rewriting now!!! YAY ME!!!
I also lucked-out in that my recent finances afforded me the opportunity to actually donate a tiny sum to the organization, and to buy a T-shirt to commemorate this month!!! So that's cool!!!
Also, allow me to clarify: If you missed previous blog entries, winning Script Frenzy doesn't mean my script was the BEST or anything; it simply means I commited to writing a feature-length script in 30 days and I wrote a feature-length script in 30 days. No one actually knows how good or bad said screenplay is (except me, and I'm just gonna lie and tell you it's the best screenplay EVER, hehe).
But I DID IT! (Like Rocky in the first flick: This contest isn't about a knock-out; it's about going the distance.) ;)
So anyway...
The Script Frenzy certificate is my symbolic typewriter, and on the oposite side of the name of the blog is my baby... My inspiration, my strength and my reward, all rolled into one beautitiful being. Then beside her is my Core: Tommy, Kelly, me and Brian, respectively. These are my GUYS, and in the pic we're all together at the screenwriting expo that put us in front of David Koepp and William Goldman and Karl Iglasias and Nathan Fillion & JOSS FUCKING WHEDON!!! This is us together on a 5-day adventure of learning, writing, dreaming and hangin' out. This pic is the guys who've known me since I was a kid, and are still with me, and always will be. And when you combine them with my Gnomey Goddess, you have my Core: These folks are how and why I keep the faith and never stop trying, no matter how bleak the road ahead can look at times.
A Note: There is a guy not pictured: My Genius Friend Dave. This cat has given me SO MUCH over the last decade, and I strongly suspect we will be linked together until the end. The Guys all love and revere him too, as his advice -- often given as an afterthought or in passing -- has often proved invaluable to our endeavors. But My Geniuos Friend Dave is not an attention whore, like the rest of us, and I don't have many pictures of him, and none of us together. But he is still a very active, vibrant part of Who I Am and teaches me EVERY SINGLE TIME WE SPEAK. Additionally, it's My Genius Friend Dave who GAVE me my first computer, got me on the Internet to begin with, got me blogging (him and Kevin Smith), and taught me that often just hunkering down and doing the work yields the most and best results.
So even though My Genius Friend David isn't pictured in the header, he is indesputably part of my Core.
Back to the header now...
Finally, there's my skull & crossbones design for Mangey Raiders which, to me, represents the philosophy by which I live: Imaginative FUN! Pirates were cruel and mean people, but the popular IDEAL of pirates is a subversive, uninhibited, unrestricted lifestyle of joyful excess and bounty!!! The concept of the Mangey Raiders, to me, is folks who don't fit and don't have to fit! People who live outside "The Norm" and enjoy Life SO MUCH MORE because of it! It's Punk Rock, it's Indy Film, it's bitTorrent and shareware and podcasts and raves and it's successfully taping a "Kick Me" sticker on the back of the guy at work who keeps pointing out to the boss that you have a tendancy to arrive late after the weekend!
My pop-eyed skull-and-crossbones logo represents everyhting that the Trickster Zen Masters were illustrating in their bizarr acts and antics.
And yet, I realize, it's not PURE Graphic Arts. What can I say? I'm not a Graphic Artist. I'm a cat who plays with...
You know what? SCREW THAT! I AM a Graphic Artist!
Okay, I'm not a PROFESSIONAL Graphic Artist, but I uses graphics to express myself and my ideas, which -- by definition -- is art.
So I AM a Graphic Artist... Just not a very skilled one.
And you know what? I DON'T HAVE TO BE good at everything I do. Pay me to write a screenplay... It will rival ANYTHING Hollywood has to offer. Pay me to write a novel... It will win you awards. Pay me to write a short story, even, and I will write you a piece that can win your money back ten-fold.
In SecondLife I'm an architect and a T-shirt designer. I've made some money in SL off my architect work, but none off my T-shirt designs,and I have yet to make any money off my T-sjirt designs in RL (at CafePress.com) but we CAN'T be expected to be brilliant at EVERYTHING we do!
So I AM a Graphic Artist... Just not a very skilled one. There's MUCH I need to learn, which I WILL learn when someone is willing to TEACH me.
Okay...
I should be getting to bed now, as I have a fun-filled day of work ahead of me, lol.
PEACE & LONG LIFE!!!
:D
Thursday, June 28, 2007
I Have The BEST-EST GIRLFRIEND!!! :D
I just do, hehe. :) I woke up early yesterday (Wednesday) and I got to have a really nice chat with her, and just wanted to announce that she's THE BEST-EST! ;)
Tonight/this morning I finished the first draft of a short story version of the short Tommy & Brian & I plan to shoot this year. I need to let it "cool down" for 24-48 hours before I read it and rewrite it, then I'll be putting it on my MySpace blog.
I decided I need to get my work in front of an audience, see how people -- not just friends, but annonymous strangers who feel no guilt about just mauling my work mercilessly -- respond to my work. I have a few short scripts that I believe are decent, so I hope to adapt them all (eventually) and put them up there. And I hope to write some short stories that are original to that format.
I could pursue publication, harass any and all magazines that buy short stories and try to make $20 or $50 bucks a piece. But I really don't have the time or energy to do that. My goal is films. Then after that, self-published novels. (Again, not spending my time/energy trying to convince publishers to do me the honor of tossing me a couple of coins for my hard work and life's blood, but publishing over the Net and selling on Amazon, just to see if I make any money at it.)
But I can't COUNT ON anyone reading one of my novels or seeing one of my movies for a long time. So it could be years before I get any sort of public reaction to my writing. I could, conceivably, become a professional screenwriter LONG BEFORE an audience ever sees my work.
And I want a more honest idea of how I'm doing. I know I've got the craft, and I know I have some talent. But I need to hear idiots tell me I suck, and hopefully some of them will tell me why, and I'll learn something about what I'm doing that my friends wouldn't think to tell me.
Ooh! Time to go home!
Okay, see ya! :D
Tonight/this morning I finished the first draft of a short story version of the short Tommy & Brian & I plan to shoot this year. I need to let it "cool down" for 24-48 hours before I read it and rewrite it, then I'll be putting it on my MySpace blog.
I decided I need to get my work in front of an audience, see how people -- not just friends, but annonymous strangers who feel no guilt about just mauling my work mercilessly -- respond to my work. I have a few short scripts that I believe are decent, so I hope to adapt them all (eventually) and put them up there. And I hope to write some short stories that are original to that format.
I could pursue publication, harass any and all magazines that buy short stories and try to make $20 or $50 bucks a piece. But I really don't have the time or energy to do that. My goal is films. Then after that, self-published novels. (Again, not spending my time/energy trying to convince publishers to do me the honor of tossing me a couple of coins for my hard work and life's blood, but publishing over the Net and selling on Amazon, just to see if I make any money at it.)
But I can't COUNT ON anyone reading one of my novels or seeing one of my movies for a long time. So it could be years before I get any sort of public reaction to my writing. I could, conceivably, become a professional screenwriter LONG BEFORE an audience ever sees my work.
And I want a more honest idea of how I'm doing. I know I've got the craft, and I know I have some talent. But I need to hear idiots tell me I suck, and hopefully some of them will tell me why, and I'll learn something about what I'm doing that my friends wouldn't think to tell me.
Ooh! Time to go home!
Okay, see ya! :D
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A Mini Holiday!
WOW! Yesterday was interesting!
First off, I woke up early... as I believe I reported, actually. Yeah, I totally did.
Okay, so after I blogged I listened to some more FOOL MOON before Brian got home from work. He got home early, which was cool! I chatted with him a quite a bit, then retired to my perch here in his room (he was on the PC in the living room) and continued listening to Dresden until I had to run a errand for Mom.
When I got back, Brian asks how many $Lindens I have. A few days ago we noticed that there were several parcels of land next to our Whitelight Ent building, one of the parcels we've owned the longest in SecondLife. They were just L$6,000 and Brian pointed out that my account allowed me to own another parcel without having to raise my "tier" -- which just means "pay more per month" for my SL account.
I had more than L$9,000, so I snatched up the one that attached directly to the 2 parcels we owned.
Well, yesterday, Brian asks how much I have in-world... He's thinking about buying another of parcel. The way these parcels for sale were situated, there were 3 more that lined up with the 3 in a row we already (together) owned. So the more we owned, the bigger our strip of land would be. Then there was another parcel that extended down, which would widen our strip of land, then there were 2 more parcels that extended in an "L" from the end of the nearest 3 that were for sale, then there was a last parcel that extended from the short section of that "L" to form a kind of "Z" shape.
If I'm remembering correctly, that's 6 parcels that would connect directly to our land, and a 7th that connected to the first 6.
A surprising aspect of Brian's personality, one that we probably never would have discovered if not for SL, is that he possesses a sort of land-lust. His imagination fills with the possibilities that arise from larger patches of land and higher prim allowances.
We've already filled up most of our lands nicely, with all his stores, our ridiculously large Build Platform, his Space Cafe and graveyard, my drive-in movie theater...
We really could use a blank canvas on which to begin anew, without having to get rid of what we already have.
And Brian considered it, and thought it might be worth it to raise his membership tier so that he can buy more land. It means that what he makes from sale will no longer pay his monthly bills, though. He'll have to start paying part of it.
But he's okay with that.
So I gave him the L$6,000 he needed to buy another parcel, and we rejoiced and celebrated and giggled and became generally silly.
The patch was next to my land, and Brian told me I could put my space station on it.
I should explain: Some time ago I built a space station for a friend who had purchased one, but it was created with too many prims to fit on her smaller parcel of land. I discovered this when she IMed me (in-world; we didn't know each other in RL, and just barely knew each other in SL) asking if I could figure out why she couldn't put out any furniture in her new space station. It sounded like a prim-count problem, and it was. She teleported me to her and I had a look at how many prims her land allowed and how many prims her space station was, and the math was simple.
I had become confident at my building abilities, and I could see how the creator had wasted a lot of prims putting aesthetic before practicality. I felt like I could create, essentially, the same space station, but use far less prims.
A small parcel of land holds 117 prims. The space station she bought was about 97 or 98. In a day, I built her a space station that was about 27 prims. That would allow her to furnish her space station. Not quite as lavishly as she had hoped, but comfortably.
I, of course, kept a copy of the space station myself, just in case I ever had enough land to put one on.
(I like space stations, hehe.)
When I bought this newest parcel, I thought "Hey! I can finally pull out my space station!"
Turns out, I couldn't.
It was just TOO BIG.
I hadn't realized how LARGE it was! I was building it off someone else's design, so I was just recreating that design, but using far fewer prims to do it.
But when I tried to plop it out on my new slice-o-land I discovered prim-count wasn't the only issue. ACTUAL, PHYSICAL (well... virtual) SPACE was a consideration, as well.
So I had put several hours toward creating another space station, one that would fit within the actual dimensions of my newest plot. I was pretty close to being finished with it, too, when Brian bought his newest plot of land last night.
(Bringing it all back to the original topic. You see how I did that? No narrative slouch am I!)
Brian had purchased the land just because we had the opportunity, and there was no way of knowing when/if we would be able to scoop up land that attached to our own land again. (We went through a phase of development when Brian would snatch up more land for more stores, but it was all scattered throughout SecondLife. And that's a bit inconvenient. You can't build big then.) He didn't have any specific idea about what to do with the land. So I asked him, and he allowed me to replace the teeny-tiny space station I was working on with the huge one I had already created!
YAY FOR ME! FINALLY I got to enjoy the fruits of my own labor!
But the night wasn't over yet...
Brian couldn't stop trying to come up with ways to get more money. He wanted to snatch up those other available patches of land. When would we get another chance to expand out land like this? We are not likely to ever afford a sim, or an island. (The RL monthly fees alone are ridiculous. Like US$100 a month, or thereabout.) Yet we had this opportunity to own a considerable chunk of this one sim, just by adding on to the land we already owned here.
So I checked my bank account and discovered that some contested purchases from last week (someone phished my credit card number online and charged my account fraudulently) had been refunded, so I had a great deal more than I thought I had!
I could buy enough Lindens to let Brian buy 6 of the 7 remaining parcels of land!!!
Also, our buddy Tommy was willing to let Brian borrow enough to buy the 7th!
So we spent the next several hours in-world, playing on our new land. Brian extended this platform he had way up in the sky above our previous land, so that it covered our new land. (It's now ETERNAL! You can't see one end of it from the other anymore, lol!) I situated my space station about 400 meters above the land. (I found this EXCELLENT spot where Brian had recreated the moon and just hung it up in the sky, and the cargo entrance looks out onto it.)
Around 9:30 pm Tommy came back in-world and we three ran around my space station, blasting target practice dummies. After Tommy went to bed, Brian and I chased each other around, shooting each other.
We haven't spent that much time together in SL in MONTHS! It was really cool to experience that again. I mean, it's fun just hanging out with my li'l bro, but there are infinitely more things to do in SL than RL, lol. I mean, we can shoot stuff, create stuff, drive reclessly, fly attack choppers, name it! In RL we have this tiny little apartment that can't really hold all our stuff. (Not comfortably.) In-world we have vast tracks of space and any environment we can imagine and create!
I kind of forgot about how cool that feels.
So while we're building and shooting each other and just generally being giddy about expanding our SL land, we were also drinking, lol. And after a while Brian crashed.
I returned to FOOL MOON, and passed out after listening to it for a few more hours.
Since I was awake during the day yesterday, I went to sleep earlier than I usually do. And thus, I woke up earlier. About 5:30 am, too late to catch my baby before she goes to work. So I watched a couple of KISS videos (KISS KONFIDENTIAL and X-TREME KLOSE UP) and re-read a few chapters of Gene Simmons' autobiography to answer a couple of questions that popped into my head, then went back to sleep. Woke up around 9:30 am and resumed listening to FOOL MOON.
I finished it not long before I sat down to type up this entry.
It's GOOD!!!
Jim Butcher is amazing! It's mind-boggling the way he can torture his poor hero so viciously, alwasy taking Harry Dresden and the reader to place they never imagined they would possibly be going, and just generally beat the snot out of the guy for 30 and a half chapters, then making everything okay in a chapter and a half.
I guess I've become used to TV shows lately, where nothing gets TOO bad because you've only got 45 minutes to get your hero into hot water and then bail him out.
Actually, I've noticed a new trend in some of the shows I watch: In character-driven shows (which are the good ones) you spend at least 10 minutes setting up the emotional problem of the show, and the last 5-10 minutes wrapping it up. The emotional problem also has to deepen and evolve while the action story is going on, so you're talking about maybe 20 minutes of action.
Which is fine, really. I mean, you have to consider that talking is quicker and cheaper to film than action. And whether you realize it or not, it's the character's emotional dilemma that makes the story gratifying.
And movies have similar time/financial restraints to TV. (Recent budgets and running times not withstanding, lol.)
But even a lot of the novels I've read in the last decade or more haven't been as downright brutal as The Dresden Files! Butcher is a rare and thrilling author, indeed! It's as though he's taken the writer's rule-of-thumb "Stick your hero up a tree, then throw rocks at him" to sadistic extremes, lol.
But that's not to say you won't be laughing out loud for most of the novel! Butcher is just as generous with his wit as he is with his torture. And MAN do you care about his characters!!! I am positively exhausted from from the first 2 books, but I find myself tempted to jump into the third, just so I can see what the characters are up to now, lol.
Thinking about where the forth book picks up, though, I may take a breather before returning to the Dresden-verse, though. I'm not sure I'm gonna like how GRAVE PERIL is gonna end.
Though I do trust the author, and I know he's not going to let me down.
Anyway, I've been writing for a while, so I'm gonna go away now.
:D
First off, I woke up early... as I believe I reported, actually. Yeah, I totally did.
Okay, so after I blogged I listened to some more FOOL MOON before Brian got home from work. He got home early, which was cool! I chatted with him a quite a bit, then retired to my perch here in his room (he was on the PC in the living room) and continued listening to Dresden until I had to run a errand for Mom.
When I got back, Brian asks how many $Lindens I have. A few days ago we noticed that there were several parcels of land next to our Whitelight Ent building, one of the parcels we've owned the longest in SecondLife. They were just L$6,000 and Brian pointed out that my account allowed me to own another parcel without having to raise my "tier" -- which just means "pay more per month" for my SL account.
I had more than L$9,000, so I snatched up the one that attached directly to the 2 parcels we owned.
Well, yesterday, Brian asks how much I have in-world... He's thinking about buying another of parcel. The way these parcels for sale were situated, there were 3 more that lined up with the 3 in a row we already (together) owned. So the more we owned, the bigger our strip of land would be. Then there was another parcel that extended down, which would widen our strip of land, then there were 2 more parcels that extended in an "L" from the end of the nearest 3 that were for sale, then there was a last parcel that extended from the short section of that "L" to form a kind of "Z" shape.
If I'm remembering correctly, that's 6 parcels that would connect directly to our land, and a 7th that connected to the first 6.
A surprising aspect of Brian's personality, one that we probably never would have discovered if not for SL, is that he possesses a sort of land-lust. His imagination fills with the possibilities that arise from larger patches of land and higher prim allowances.
We've already filled up most of our lands nicely, with all his stores, our ridiculously large Build Platform, his Space Cafe and graveyard, my drive-in movie theater...
We really could use a blank canvas on which to begin anew, without having to get rid of what we already have.
And Brian considered it, and thought it might be worth it to raise his membership tier so that he can buy more land. It means that what he makes from sale will no longer pay his monthly bills, though. He'll have to start paying part of it.
But he's okay with that.
So I gave him the L$6,000 he needed to buy another parcel, and we rejoiced and celebrated and giggled and became generally silly.
The patch was next to my land, and Brian told me I could put my space station on it.
I should explain: Some time ago I built a space station for a friend who had purchased one, but it was created with too many prims to fit on her smaller parcel of land. I discovered this when she IMed me (in-world; we didn't know each other in RL, and just barely knew each other in SL) asking if I could figure out why she couldn't put out any furniture in her new space station. It sounded like a prim-count problem, and it was. She teleported me to her and I had a look at how many prims her land allowed and how many prims her space station was, and the math was simple.
I had become confident at my building abilities, and I could see how the creator had wasted a lot of prims putting aesthetic before practicality. I felt like I could create, essentially, the same space station, but use far less prims.
A small parcel of land holds 117 prims. The space station she bought was about 97 or 98. In a day, I built her a space station that was about 27 prims. That would allow her to furnish her space station. Not quite as lavishly as she had hoped, but comfortably.
I, of course, kept a copy of the space station myself, just in case I ever had enough land to put one on.
(I like space stations, hehe.)
When I bought this newest parcel, I thought "Hey! I can finally pull out my space station!"
Turns out, I couldn't.
It was just TOO BIG.
I hadn't realized how LARGE it was! I was building it off someone else's design, so I was just recreating that design, but using far fewer prims to do it.
But when I tried to plop it out on my new slice-o-land I discovered prim-count wasn't the only issue. ACTUAL, PHYSICAL (well... virtual) SPACE was a consideration, as well.
So I had put several hours toward creating another space station, one that would fit within the actual dimensions of my newest plot. I was pretty close to being finished with it, too, when Brian bought his newest plot of land last night.
(Bringing it all back to the original topic. You see how I did that? No narrative slouch am I!)
Brian had purchased the land just because we had the opportunity, and there was no way of knowing when/if we would be able to scoop up land that attached to our own land again. (We went through a phase of development when Brian would snatch up more land for more stores, but it was all scattered throughout SecondLife. And that's a bit inconvenient. You can't build big then.) He didn't have any specific idea about what to do with the land. So I asked him, and he allowed me to replace the teeny-tiny space station I was working on with the huge one I had already created!
YAY FOR ME! FINALLY I got to enjoy the fruits of my own labor!
But the night wasn't over yet...
Brian couldn't stop trying to come up with ways to get more money. He wanted to snatch up those other available patches of land. When would we get another chance to expand out land like this? We are not likely to ever afford a sim, or an island. (The RL monthly fees alone are ridiculous. Like US$100 a month, or thereabout.) Yet we had this opportunity to own a considerable chunk of this one sim, just by adding on to the land we already owned here.
So I checked my bank account and discovered that some contested purchases from last week (someone phished my credit card number online and charged my account fraudulently) had been refunded, so I had a great deal more than I thought I had!
I could buy enough Lindens to let Brian buy 6 of the 7 remaining parcels of land!!!
Also, our buddy Tommy was willing to let Brian borrow enough to buy the 7th!
So we spent the next several hours in-world, playing on our new land. Brian extended this platform he had way up in the sky above our previous land, so that it covered our new land. (It's now ETERNAL! You can't see one end of it from the other anymore, lol!) I situated my space station about 400 meters above the land. (I found this EXCELLENT spot where Brian had recreated the moon and just hung it up in the sky, and the cargo entrance looks out onto it.)
Around 9:30 pm Tommy came back in-world and we three ran around my space station, blasting target practice dummies. After Tommy went to bed, Brian and I chased each other around, shooting each other.
We haven't spent that much time together in SL in MONTHS! It was really cool to experience that again. I mean, it's fun just hanging out with my li'l bro, but there are infinitely more things to do in SL than RL, lol. I mean, we can shoot stuff, create stuff, drive reclessly, fly attack choppers, name it! In RL we have this tiny little apartment that can't really hold all our stuff. (Not comfortably.) In-world we have vast tracks of space and any environment we can imagine and create!
I kind of forgot about how cool that feels.
So while we're building and shooting each other and just generally being giddy about expanding our SL land, we were also drinking, lol. And after a while Brian crashed.
I returned to FOOL MOON, and passed out after listening to it for a few more hours.
Since I was awake during the day yesterday, I went to sleep earlier than I usually do. And thus, I woke up earlier. About 5:30 am, too late to catch my baby before she goes to work. So I watched a couple of KISS videos (KISS KONFIDENTIAL and X-TREME KLOSE UP) and re-read a few chapters of Gene Simmons' autobiography to answer a couple of questions that popped into my head, then went back to sleep. Woke up around 9:30 am and resumed listening to FOOL MOON.
I finished it not long before I sat down to type up this entry.
It's GOOD!!!
Jim Butcher is amazing! It's mind-boggling the way he can torture his poor hero so viciously, alwasy taking Harry Dresden and the reader to place they never imagined they would possibly be going, and just generally beat the snot out of the guy for 30 and a half chapters, then making everything okay in a chapter and a half.
I guess I've become used to TV shows lately, where nothing gets TOO bad because you've only got 45 minutes to get your hero into hot water and then bail him out.
Actually, I've noticed a new trend in some of the shows I watch: In character-driven shows (which are the good ones) you spend at least 10 minutes setting up the emotional problem of the show, and the last 5-10 minutes wrapping it up. The emotional problem also has to deepen and evolve while the action story is going on, so you're talking about maybe 20 minutes of action.
Which is fine, really. I mean, you have to consider that talking is quicker and cheaper to film than action. And whether you realize it or not, it's the character's emotional dilemma that makes the story gratifying.
And movies have similar time/financial restraints to TV. (Recent budgets and running times not withstanding, lol.)
But even a lot of the novels I've read in the last decade or more haven't been as downright brutal as The Dresden Files! Butcher is a rare and thrilling author, indeed! It's as though he's taken the writer's rule-of-thumb "Stick your hero up a tree, then throw rocks at him" to sadistic extremes, lol.
But that's not to say you won't be laughing out loud for most of the novel! Butcher is just as generous with his wit as he is with his torture. And MAN do you care about his characters!!! I am positively exhausted from from the first 2 books, but I find myself tempted to jump into the third, just so I can see what the characters are up to now, lol.
Thinking about where the forth book picks up, though, I may take a breather before returning to the Dresden-verse, though. I'm not sure I'm gonna like how GRAVE PERIL is gonna end.
Though I do trust the author, and I know he's not going to let me down.
Anyway, I've been writing for a while, so I'm gonna go away now.
:D
Monday, June 25, 2007
FOOL MOON, Part 2
It's one minute till 1:00 pm as I write this.
Last night I listened to the first 13 or 14 chapters of FOOL MOON, the second book in The Dresden Files series. I did a little construction in SecondLife (I'm working on a space station on a new patch of land I just bought, hehe) as I listened, but mostly I just listened.
And waited for my sweety.
Around 2:30 am my body was just ready to shut down, but I really wanted to be online in case my Gnomey Goddess logged in before work. So I laid down on the bed in here and rested my eyes as I continued listening to my new book.
I woke up a little after 5:30 am (11:30 am Gnomey Time) and turned off the iPod, left a message for my baby apologizing and telling her I couldn't stay awake any longer (I think the odds are pretty good, though, that she didn't have time to log in before work) and dragged my aching heiney to bed. (Or is it "heiney"? What is the entomology of that word? If it's Slaviv than the "e" would come before the "i". Spell Check doesn't recognize it. I doubt it's of Latin origin. Hmph. "Hiney"? Nope, Spell Check doesn't recognize that spelling, either.)
I don't remember when I woke up, but I've been listening to Dresden for a couple of hours now -- and done a considerable amount of work on my virtual space station, as well, so I', guessing it was maybe 9:30 am or 10:30 am.
I thought I might play some TOMB RAIDER ANIVERSARY for a few hours before I re-committed to Dresden. So I pulled my iPod out of the cradle, slipped it into it's protective rubber glove and plugged in the ear buds. I just wanted to find the last section I actually remember clearly, before the sound of James Marster's voice began blending with the sights and sounds of my subconscious.
After I found my place, I couldn't stop listening, lol. I fell right back into the book, and Jim Butcher's amazing storytelling.
Eventually, as I listened, I heard this deep, low rumble outside.
Rain? :)
I peaked out the blinds in the living room and YES!!! It was raining!!! YAY FOR RAY JAY!!!
I so love weather!
So I copped a squat on my balcony and listened to Dresden while I watched the beautiful rain moisten the small patch of the complex my corner apartment affords! (Which means that I was mostly watching the charcoal gray asphalt of the parking lot turn glistening black, and I got to watch the empty back yards of the row of houses just behind the complex. Still... PURDY!)
I felt the odd cool droplet pelt me as I watched, and that was nice too. But then the verticle downpour became a diagonal gale, so I was forced to move back inside after maybe 5 or 10 minutes.
But it was really groovy while it lasted! :D
In fact, it was such a pleasant and fun experience I had to come in here and share it with whomever wanted to read about it.
So here ya go. ;)
Last night I listened to the first 13 or 14 chapters of FOOL MOON, the second book in The Dresden Files series. I did a little construction in SecondLife (I'm working on a space station on a new patch of land I just bought, hehe) as I listened, but mostly I just listened.
And waited for my sweety.
Around 2:30 am my body was just ready to shut down, but I really wanted to be online in case my Gnomey Goddess logged in before work. So I laid down on the bed in here and rested my eyes as I continued listening to my new book.
I woke up a little after 5:30 am (11:30 am Gnomey Time) and turned off the iPod, left a message for my baby apologizing and telling her I couldn't stay awake any longer (I think the odds are pretty good, though, that she didn't have time to log in before work) and dragged my aching heiney to bed. (Or is it "heiney"? What is the entomology of that word? If it's Slaviv than the "e" would come before the "i". Spell Check doesn't recognize it. I doubt it's of Latin origin. Hmph. "Hiney"? Nope, Spell Check doesn't recognize that spelling, either.)
I don't remember when I woke up, but I've been listening to Dresden for a couple of hours now -- and done a considerable amount of work on my virtual space station, as well, so I', guessing it was maybe 9:30 am or 10:30 am.
I thought I might play some TOMB RAIDER ANIVERSARY for a few hours before I re-committed to Dresden. So I pulled my iPod out of the cradle, slipped it into it's protective rubber glove and plugged in the ear buds. I just wanted to find the last section I actually remember clearly, before the sound of James Marster's voice began blending with the sights and sounds of my subconscious.
After I found my place, I couldn't stop listening, lol. I fell right back into the book, and Jim Butcher's amazing storytelling.
Eventually, as I listened, I heard this deep, low rumble outside.
Rain? :)
I peaked out the blinds in the living room and YES!!! It was raining!!! YAY FOR RAY JAY!!!
I so love weather!
So I copped a squat on my balcony and listened to Dresden while I watched the beautiful rain moisten the small patch of the complex my corner apartment affords! (Which means that I was mostly watching the charcoal gray asphalt of the parking lot turn glistening black, and I got to watch the empty back yards of the row of houses just behind the complex. Still... PURDY!)
I felt the odd cool droplet pelt me as I watched, and that was nice too. But then the verticle downpour became a diagonal gale, so I was forced to move back inside after maybe 5 or 10 minutes.
But it was really groovy while it lasted! :D
In fact, it was such a pleasant and fun experience I had to come in here and share it with whomever wanted to read about it.
So here ya go. ;)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
STORM FRONT
Argh! I'm STUFFED!
I woke up too late for Family Dinner tonight, so Brian and Mom brought me back a Chimmichanga from Serano's and I'm STILL hurting, lol.
Good Chimmichanga, tho'! I now have a new favorite dish at Serano's.
One of the reasons I couldn't wake up in time is that I stayed up too late listening to STORM FRONT, the first novel in The Dresden Files series!!!
IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!
One of the episodes of The Butcher Block (the Jim Butcher podcast) offers a recommended reading order for people just getting into the novels, and it is recommended that the first 2 novels be read after the third and forth one, because the first novel was an exercise for a writing course and it apparently isn't until the third novel that Butcher really finds the stride that makes his novels stand out the way they do.
As it happens, I read the forth book, SUMMER KNIGHT, first, simply because I was able to get a hold of the mp3 version free.
AND IT RULES!!!
After listening to it a second time I broke down and bought the first 3 books in the series. I had to have me some more Dresden!!!
They arrived Friday, and so I spent Saturday morning, after work, loading them onto my iPod so I could start listening to them on my way to work Saturday night.
STORM FRONT is 8+ hours long, and I listened to just over half of it at work. Then I continued listening to it on my way home, and I couldn't get to sleep until I was done with it!
IT WAS SO GOOD!!!
If you watch the TV show, then jump into the 4th book, your head just explodes, because Butcher has this amazing ability to just kick the shit out of Harry Dresden, lol! The TV show is just SO TAME compared to the novels! But the first book is actually closer in scope and pace to the TV show. It's still more complex than the TV show (because of the inherent limitations of the medium) but you totally get the feeling that the first book was the model for the TV series' format.
And there's NOTHING wrong with the TV series, in my opinion! If the novels were simply prose versions of the TV episodes, it would still be a great read!
BUT THEIR NOT!!!
Omg, Butcher created such a rich, full universe with the Dresden Files novels!!! The scope is much more like an epic movie than a TV series!
Actually, movies have a lot of limitations, too. The novels are like NOVELS, lol.
And I swear to you that Butcher makes you just almost believe that magic is possible! Like it exists in our world, and you could learn to do it if you knew where to look, lol! It's astounding!
I would (now) recommend anyone getting into the novels to just start at the beginning, and know that you've got a wild and scary ride ahead of you with each new book! Whether you know the character from the TV show, or you're just meeting him with the first read, I say STORM FRONT is the place to start.
The progression is like the Harry Potter books: The first Potter book introduces you to this whole world, and tells you a cool story. The second is kind of more of the same, but it lets you know there's going to be an overall series arc. Then the third book just blows your mind, and the series really just keeps amping up and up from there! I haven't read the second Dresden book yet, but from the impression I got from the afore mentioned podcast episode, the Dresden books seem to do something a bit similar.
I'll let you know. I'm about to start on FOOL MOON the moment I post this entry.
Throw in some hoped-for Gnomey Time and this is going to be a COOL weekend!!!
:D
I woke up too late for Family Dinner tonight, so Brian and Mom brought me back a Chimmichanga from Serano's and I'm STILL hurting, lol.
Good Chimmichanga, tho'! I now have a new favorite dish at Serano's.
One of the reasons I couldn't wake up in time is that I stayed up too late listening to STORM FRONT, the first novel in The Dresden Files series!!!
IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!
One of the episodes of The Butcher Block (the Jim Butcher podcast) offers a recommended reading order for people just getting into the novels, and it is recommended that the first 2 novels be read after the third and forth one, because the first novel was an exercise for a writing course and it apparently isn't until the third novel that Butcher really finds the stride that makes his novels stand out the way they do.
As it happens, I read the forth book, SUMMER KNIGHT, first, simply because I was able to get a hold of the mp3 version free.
AND IT RULES!!!
After listening to it a second time I broke down and bought the first 3 books in the series. I had to have me some more Dresden!!!
They arrived Friday, and so I spent Saturday morning, after work, loading them onto my iPod so I could start listening to them on my way to work Saturday night.
STORM FRONT is 8+ hours long, and I listened to just over half of it at work. Then I continued listening to it on my way home, and I couldn't get to sleep until I was done with it!
IT WAS SO GOOD!!!
If you watch the TV show, then jump into the 4th book, your head just explodes, because Butcher has this amazing ability to just kick the shit out of Harry Dresden, lol! The TV show is just SO TAME compared to the novels! But the first book is actually closer in scope and pace to the TV show. It's still more complex than the TV show (because of the inherent limitations of the medium) but you totally get the feeling that the first book was the model for the TV series' format.
And there's NOTHING wrong with the TV series, in my opinion! If the novels were simply prose versions of the TV episodes, it would still be a great read!
BUT THEIR NOT!!!
Omg, Butcher created such a rich, full universe with the Dresden Files novels!!! The scope is much more like an epic movie than a TV series!
Actually, movies have a lot of limitations, too. The novels are like NOVELS, lol.
And I swear to you that Butcher makes you just almost believe that magic is possible! Like it exists in our world, and you could learn to do it if you knew where to look, lol! It's astounding!
I would (now) recommend anyone getting into the novels to just start at the beginning, and know that you've got a wild and scary ride ahead of you with each new book! Whether you know the character from the TV show, or you're just meeting him with the first read, I say STORM FRONT is the place to start.
The progression is like the Harry Potter books: The first Potter book introduces you to this whole world, and tells you a cool story. The second is kind of more of the same, but it lets you know there's going to be an overall series arc. Then the third book just blows your mind, and the series really just keeps amping up and up from there! I haven't read the second Dresden book yet, but from the impression I got from the afore mentioned podcast episode, the Dresden books seem to do something a bit similar.
I'll let you know. I'm about to start on FOOL MOON the moment I post this entry.
Throw in some hoped-for Gnomey Time and this is going to be a COOL weekend!!!
:D
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Fajitas, Cervesas y FUEGO!!!
Tommy couldn't make it for the weekly production meeting (he's been traveling the globe -- Europe, specifically -- for work) and my baby's feeling ill (poor, sweet woman!) so she went to be early, so my brother and I had something of a party tonight!
My Tuesday started around 8:20 am when my body decided, quite arbitrarily, to wake up and be ready for the day. I had already talked to Gnomey before she went to work (several hours before she was supposed to, I might add, thanks to one of her co-workers) so there wasn't much to get me out of bed, despite the fact that I wasn't really sleepy.
I mean, yeah, yeah, I should be working on my script. But I've done 18,500+ words out of 20,000, so I'm taking a break.
But I HAD TO do laundry TODAY, or else I would have nothing worth wearing for work this coming week. But that's not the type of thought that motivates me to leave my bed.
The second thought was that this was the last day of my weekend and I hadn't gotten very far with Tomb Raider Anniversary!!!
I was up.
Once up, I decided to take care of the Need-To stuff first, so I got my laundry done. (FINALLY. I have and extra week work of underwear and socks and stuff, but it's npt the GOOD underwear and socks, you know? Don't act all superior, you TOTALLY know what I mean. :P ) I checked my email and all that while waiting for the clothes to be done.
I even made time to finish off Series 1 of MI5 (or SPOOKS if you live outside the States or Canada). DAMN!!! WHAT an ENDING!!! I'm dying to see how Series 2 starts off!!!
After the laundry was done I sat down to some serious gaming.
The way I used to play videogames when I first got into them a few years back (before my 2nd-hand Sega Saturn my gaming was relegated to Gameboy, then Gameboy Color... this coming off of Nintendo, which was my next system after Atari back in the 1980s) was to print out the Walkthrough and play a near-pristine game; then I could go back and replay from start to finish and really enjoy the experience because I not only knew what I was doing, but knew what I would have otherwise missed out on.
Look, I'm very careful not to call myself a Gamer. To me a Gamer is some genius who can sit down with a brand new videogame and shoot through it, discovering all the hidden sections along the way, in 24 hours or less. That's NOT me. I'm an Explorer. I like experiencing the world of the game and the experience of the game. And I tend to not enjoy either when I keep getting eaten by the friggin' Boss at the end of the Second Level!
And games aren't designed like movies or novels: You don't just sit back and watch it, then watch it again to repeat the experience. Games are designed so that (without the benefit of someone else's experience to guide you) you CAN NOT experience the whole thing the first time you go through it. Or even the second time, for that matter. (Unless you're a Gamer.)
So anyway...
The way I got to know how to game was by following the Walkthrough the first time I played RESIDENT EVIL 2, RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA, TOMB RAIDER, TOMB RAIDER: UNFINISHED BUSINESS, TOMB RAIDER 2, TOMB RAIDER: THE GOLDEN MASK, TOMB RAIDER III, TOMB RAIDER: THE LOST ARTIFACT and maybe a couple of others that slip my memory at the moment. And then, after I've experienced the game once, all the way through, the correct way I could go back and start at the beginning, and play by myself making my own mistakes, but with the vague memory of generally what I'm supposed to be doing. (It's the same process I use when I trained for any new job I ever did.) In this fashion, I'm able to really enjoy the experience of the artistry and craftsmanship of the game designers and writers and artsts, and the world itself.
Which is why I'm so much more suited to SecondLife: SL is about exploring the world, without threat of boulders or dinosaurs or zombie jumping out and forcing you to start all over. (Though those elements are SO COOL!!! hehe)
But this approach to gaming allowed me to eventually jst be able to pop in TOMB RAIDER: REVELATIONS, TOMB RAIDER: ANGEL OF DARKNESS, TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND, EVIL DEAD, SPIDER-MAN 2, SUPERMAN RETURNS, GHOST RIDER, DESTROY ALL HUMANS, DESTROY ALL HUMANS 2 and any number of toher games and play then without the benefit of a Walkthrough and thoroughly enjoy them. (Even finish some, lol.)
But with TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY decided I wanted to go back to my Old School way of gaming, so that I could get a clean experience, and THEN just replay the game until the platform breaks down and become antiquated, lol.
I mean, at first I just popped th game in and started playing it. I couldn't help myself, hehe. And I got past 3 levels, too! But Sunday I began playing the game with a Walkthrough -- to enjoy the WHOLE experience -- and then I didn't play any Monday.
So today I got through Croft Manor with the walkthrough. I missed one Artifact, because it's a nigh-impossible maneuver, then when I did complete the maneuver I discovered that I had performed a step out of sequence and saved, so I bar I needed to swing on to get the Artifact was out of place. :(
Then I moved onto Level 1 and got into it a ways, but by then Brian and I had discovered that Tommy most likely wasn't coming over (and, in fact, he didn't) so I gave up the game in favor of some movie-viewing.
See, Brian made these "Fajita Hours d'Vours" and I prefer nopt to be playing a videogame when I'm eating tasty food. I asked what we should watch, and he's still obsessed with GHOST RIDER, so I asked if he'd mind watching it with the Writer/Director commentary track, and he was game. (It's the Director's Cut, no less, so I was hoping to find out what scenes didn't appear in the theatrical release: The Director's Cut flows the same, so the additional scenes must have really melded seamlessly! Besides, I like the writer/director's work on DAREDEVIL, particularly his extended cut of it!)
After Gnomey went to bed I cracked open a couple of beers and just played my previous, willy-nilly game of TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY, and I advanced to the Lost Valley and the part where I'm just blasting away at veloceraptors. I finally put down enough raptors that I was faced with the Big Dawg: The T-Rex!!! I dodged and ducked and shot and shot and shot and died, and died, until I finally decided he was killing my buzz.
And then I turned off the PS2 and turned the dvd player on, and Brian had just finsihed creating his EPIC fuckin' Fajitas! OMG!!! The next half-hour was devoted to listening to a great filmmaker talk about how he does what he does while eating Fajitas that BEND PERCEPTION!!! I am SERIOUS! I was once chatting with my baby and told her I was going to go eat, and she asked what I was having and I told her Fajitas, and she said she wanted to come live with me NOW. But the secret is that if she could taste Brian's Fajitas she would dump my worthless ass IMMEDIATELY and fall in love with him, lol! When we attended our friend Chuck's wedding, Chuck made some Spaghetti that made everyone in the room orgasm involuntarily, and Brian couldn't stop commenting on Chuck's culinary prowess for weeks. But if Chuck ate some of my brother's Fajitas, those two would be making out in a corner before the night was through, lol.
(Sorry, that was a weird mental image. Let's pretend it didn't happen.)
So anyway, I'm devouring these DIVINE Fajitas and watching GHOST RIDER with the audio commentary and downing beer, and at one point I swear I SAW GOD! It was AMAZING, lol! I don't think I'll experience anything NEAR as mind-bending until that first kiss I share with my Gnomey Goddess.
It was a good day for Ray Jay! :D
And now I'm about to watch Episode 4 of Series 1 of ROBIN HOOD! :D
OOH! Have I told you about ROBIN HOOD?!! It's this BAD-ASS BBC TV show!!! My baby loves it, and I caught the first 3 episodes yesterday, and it's AMAZING!!! I mean, it has it's flaws, but DAMN!!! I've been a HUGE fan of the Robin Hood character since I was a boy! (I love all the classic anti-heroes: Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Batman, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, etc.) And so to find out that there is a British-produced series based on the character (he is from Nottingham, after all, lol) blew me away! AND MY BABY LOVES IT!!! So that makes me feel just a little bit closer to her, too!
So I watched the first episode AND HAD TO watch the second and third episode immediately!
It's a GOOD SHOW!
The first series came out here in the States earlier this month, so if you have $70 to spair, I SO recommend it!
So anyway... I plan to watch a couple more episodes of ROBIN HOOD before drifting peacefully off to Dream Land.
PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS TO ALL!!!
:D
My Tuesday started around 8:20 am when my body decided, quite arbitrarily, to wake up and be ready for the day. I had already talked to Gnomey before she went to work (several hours before she was supposed to, I might add, thanks to one of her co-workers) so there wasn't much to get me out of bed, despite the fact that I wasn't really sleepy.
I mean, yeah, yeah, I should be working on my script. But I've done 18,500+ words out of 20,000, so I'm taking a break.
But I HAD TO do laundry TODAY, or else I would have nothing worth wearing for work this coming week. But that's not the type of thought that motivates me to leave my bed.
The second thought was that this was the last day of my weekend and I hadn't gotten very far with Tomb Raider Anniversary!!!
I was up.
Once up, I decided to take care of the Need-To stuff first, so I got my laundry done. (FINALLY. I have and extra week work of underwear and socks and stuff, but it's npt the GOOD underwear and socks, you know? Don't act all superior, you TOTALLY know what I mean. :P ) I checked my email and all that while waiting for the clothes to be done.
I even made time to finish off Series 1 of MI5 (or SPOOKS if you live outside the States or Canada). DAMN!!! WHAT an ENDING!!! I'm dying to see how Series 2 starts off!!!
After the laundry was done I sat down to some serious gaming.
The way I used to play videogames when I first got into them a few years back (before my 2nd-hand Sega Saturn my gaming was relegated to Gameboy, then Gameboy Color... this coming off of Nintendo, which was my next system after Atari back in the 1980s) was to print out the Walkthrough and play a near-pristine game; then I could go back and replay from start to finish and really enjoy the experience because I not only knew what I was doing, but knew what I would have otherwise missed out on.
Look, I'm very careful not to call myself a Gamer. To me a Gamer is some genius who can sit down with a brand new videogame and shoot through it, discovering all the hidden sections along the way, in 24 hours or less. That's NOT me. I'm an Explorer. I like experiencing the world of the game and the experience of the game. And I tend to not enjoy either when I keep getting eaten by the friggin' Boss at the end of the Second Level!
And games aren't designed like movies or novels: You don't just sit back and watch it, then watch it again to repeat the experience. Games are designed so that (without the benefit of someone else's experience to guide you) you CAN NOT experience the whole thing the first time you go through it. Or even the second time, for that matter. (Unless you're a Gamer.)
So anyway...
The way I got to know how to game was by following the Walkthrough the first time I played RESIDENT EVIL 2, RESIDENT EVIL CODE: VERONICA, TOMB RAIDER, TOMB RAIDER: UNFINISHED BUSINESS, TOMB RAIDER 2, TOMB RAIDER: THE GOLDEN MASK, TOMB RAIDER III, TOMB RAIDER: THE LOST ARTIFACT and maybe a couple of others that slip my memory at the moment. And then, after I've experienced the game once, all the way through, the correct way I could go back and start at the beginning, and play by myself making my own mistakes, but with the vague memory of generally what I'm supposed to be doing. (It's the same process I use when I trained for any new job I ever did.) In this fashion, I'm able to really enjoy the experience of the artistry and craftsmanship of the game designers and writers and artsts, and the world itself.
Which is why I'm so much more suited to SecondLife: SL is about exploring the world, without threat of boulders or dinosaurs or zombie jumping out and forcing you to start all over. (Though those elements are SO COOL!!! hehe)
But this approach to gaming allowed me to eventually jst be able to pop in TOMB RAIDER: REVELATIONS, TOMB RAIDER: ANGEL OF DARKNESS, TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND, EVIL DEAD, SPIDER-MAN 2, SUPERMAN RETURNS, GHOST RIDER, DESTROY ALL HUMANS, DESTROY ALL HUMANS 2 and any number of toher games and play then without the benefit of a Walkthrough and thoroughly enjoy them. (Even finish some, lol.)
But with TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY decided I wanted to go back to my Old School way of gaming, so that I could get a clean experience, and THEN just replay the game until the platform breaks down and become antiquated, lol.
I mean, at first I just popped th game in and started playing it. I couldn't help myself, hehe. And I got past 3 levels, too! But Sunday I began playing the game with a Walkthrough -- to enjoy the WHOLE experience -- and then I didn't play any Monday.
So today I got through Croft Manor with the walkthrough. I missed one Artifact, because it's a nigh-impossible maneuver, then when I did complete the maneuver I discovered that I had performed a step out of sequence and saved, so I bar I needed to swing on to get the Artifact was out of place. :(
Then I moved onto Level 1 and got into it a ways, but by then Brian and I had discovered that Tommy most likely wasn't coming over (and, in fact, he didn't) so I gave up the game in favor of some movie-viewing.
See, Brian made these "Fajita Hours d'Vours" and I prefer nopt to be playing a videogame when I'm eating tasty food. I asked what we should watch, and he's still obsessed with GHOST RIDER, so I asked if he'd mind watching it with the Writer/Director commentary track, and he was game. (It's the Director's Cut, no less, so I was hoping to find out what scenes didn't appear in the theatrical release: The Director's Cut flows the same, so the additional scenes must have really melded seamlessly! Besides, I like the writer/director's work on DAREDEVIL, particularly his extended cut of it!)
After Gnomey went to bed I cracked open a couple of beers and just played my previous, willy-nilly game of TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY, and I advanced to the Lost Valley and the part where I'm just blasting away at veloceraptors. I finally put down enough raptors that I was faced with the Big Dawg: The T-Rex!!! I dodged and ducked and shot and shot and shot and died, and died, until I finally decided he was killing my buzz.
And then I turned off the PS2 and turned the dvd player on, and Brian had just finsihed creating his EPIC fuckin' Fajitas! OMG!!! The next half-hour was devoted to listening to a great filmmaker talk about how he does what he does while eating Fajitas that BEND PERCEPTION!!! I am SERIOUS! I was once chatting with my baby and told her I was going to go eat, and she asked what I was having and I told her Fajitas, and she said she wanted to come live with me NOW. But the secret is that if she could taste Brian's Fajitas she would dump my worthless ass IMMEDIATELY and fall in love with him, lol! When we attended our friend Chuck's wedding, Chuck made some Spaghetti that made everyone in the room orgasm involuntarily, and Brian couldn't stop commenting on Chuck's culinary prowess for weeks. But if Chuck ate some of my brother's Fajitas, those two would be making out in a corner before the night was through, lol.
(Sorry, that was a weird mental image. Let's pretend it didn't happen.)
So anyway, I'm devouring these DIVINE Fajitas and watching GHOST RIDER with the audio commentary and downing beer, and at one point I swear I SAW GOD! It was AMAZING, lol! I don't think I'll experience anything NEAR as mind-bending until that first kiss I share with my Gnomey Goddess.
It was a good day for Ray Jay! :D
And now I'm about to watch Episode 4 of Series 1 of ROBIN HOOD! :D
OOH! Have I told you about ROBIN HOOD?!! It's this BAD-ASS BBC TV show!!! My baby loves it, and I caught the first 3 episodes yesterday, and it's AMAZING!!! I mean, it has it's flaws, but DAMN!!! I've been a HUGE fan of the Robin Hood character since I was a boy! (I love all the classic anti-heroes: Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Batman, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, etc.) And so to find out that there is a British-produced series based on the character (he is from Nottingham, after all, lol) blew me away! AND MY BABY LOVES IT!!! So that makes me feel just a little bit closer to her, too!
So I watched the first episode AND HAD TO watch the second and third episode immediately!
It's a GOOD SHOW!
The first series came out here in the States earlier this month, so if you have $70 to spair, I SO recommend it!
So anyway... I plan to watch a couple more episodes of ROBIN HOOD before drifting peacefully off to Dream Land.
PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS TO ALL!!!
:D
Sunday, June 17, 2007
AAAAARRRGH!!! :D
YIPPEE!!!
WOO-HOO!!!
YEE-HAW!!!
HA-HAAAAA!!!
That's the sound of my bouncing around my apartment like a madman, lol!
I JUST GOT OFF A VIDEO-CONVERSATION WITH MY ANGEL!!! :D
I had forgotten just how long it had been since we were able to talk and look at each other until we ran out of things to say, then giggled a bit (or was that just me doing the giggling? hee-hee) then thought of more to say, then run out of stuff, and giggle some more, then think of more stuff to talk about, and on and on, lol!!!
I know, I'm being terribly silly at the moment, but I'm giddy as a school girl AND CRAZY IN LOVE!!!
I mean, I've been crazy in love for 10 months now, but you just can't comprehend: To look at and listen to and interact with Gnomey... it's intoxicating!!!
Seriosuly, I'm drunk on my Sweety Munts Munts and I just want to hop around and shout about it!!!
:D
You ever see Nature footage of chimps playing, hurling themselves through trees and tall grass and falling down and rolling around and just squealing their high-pitched chimp squeal while they do it? That's exactly how I feel right now!
It's brilliant!!!
I mean, it's utterly insane, the way I get when we have video-chats, but I dig it!
Seriously, I'm a rather articulate man. I have considered opinions about things and can talk your ear off about any number of obscure and interesting subjects.
And yet... lol!
I talk to poor Gnomey in these 3-minute bursts. I last about 3 minutes in conversation with her, then I get lost in the sound of her voice and the sight of her (Her SMILE!!! OMG her smile!!!) and then I'm just all giggly and blushing, lol!
I ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE WEATHER for a while, lol!
It's been 10 months now, and she STILL does this to me!!!
This is one amazing woman! I kid you not!
Okay, so I need to get ready fro Family Dinner in a couple of minutes. But I would have burst had I not made this blog entry.
hee-hee :D
More soon, I'm sure. ;)
WOO-HOO!!!
YEE-HAW!!!
HA-HAAAAA!!!
That's the sound of my bouncing around my apartment like a madman, lol!
I JUST GOT OFF A VIDEO-CONVERSATION WITH MY ANGEL!!! :D
I had forgotten just how long it had been since we were able to talk and look at each other until we ran out of things to say, then giggled a bit (or was that just me doing the giggling? hee-hee) then thought of more to say, then run out of stuff, and giggle some more, then think of more stuff to talk about, and on and on, lol!!!
I know, I'm being terribly silly at the moment, but I'm giddy as a school girl AND CRAZY IN LOVE!!!
I mean, I've been crazy in love for 10 months now, but you just can't comprehend: To look at and listen to and interact with Gnomey... it's intoxicating!!!
Seriosuly, I'm drunk on my Sweety Munts Munts and I just want to hop around and shout about it!!!
:D
You ever see Nature footage of chimps playing, hurling themselves through trees and tall grass and falling down and rolling around and just squealing their high-pitched chimp squeal while they do it? That's exactly how I feel right now!
It's brilliant!!!
I mean, it's utterly insane, the way I get when we have video-chats, but I dig it!
Seriously, I'm a rather articulate man. I have considered opinions about things and can talk your ear off about any number of obscure and interesting subjects.
And yet... lol!
I talk to poor Gnomey in these 3-minute bursts. I last about 3 minutes in conversation with her, then I get lost in the sound of her voice and the sight of her (Her SMILE!!! OMG her smile!!!) and then I'm just all giggly and blushing, lol!
I ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE WEATHER for a while, lol!
It's been 10 months now, and she STILL does this to me!!!
This is one amazing woman! I kid you not!
Okay, so I need to get ready fro Family Dinner in a couple of minutes. But I would have burst had I not made this blog entry.
hee-hee :D
More soon, I'm sure. ;)
Saturday, June 16, 2007
My Li'l Bro Rules! :D
Sorry it's been a while. It's been hectic. Fraudulent charges on the credit card kept me awake for WELL TOO LONG yesterday. The day before that a storm knocked out our power and screwed up my alarm clock, so I woke up to a co-worker calling... an HOUR after I should have been at work, lol. I got to work an hour and a half late, so I had to stay an hour and a helf late to get that time back.
Then today...
Today's been okay, actually. :)
[Total Sidebar here: When I spell out the word "okay" my computer marks it as a misspelling. Which is well weird because for 35 of my 36 years of life "ok" or "OK" were the misspellings, and "okay" was the accepted spelling. But now, whatever Spell Check program my blog utilizes only recognizes "OK" as a proper was to spell the word. I'm getting OLD, lol.]
I went to sleep after watching FININD NEVERLAND -- which is an ASTOUDING movie, no matter how many times you watch it!!! Work was long, but even-keel. Yesterday was Payday, so I was able to wake up and eat Taco Bell for breakfast -- which is a luxury for me, hehe. And at work I even found time to do something very silly...
When SUPERMAN RETURNS came out, one of the downloads the official website offered was stationary from the Daily Planet, with the Planet's logo at the top and "From the Desk of..." just below. It looks like official business letterhead, and you cand print it out (ive you've got a good enough printer) and write a note written on letterhead that reads "From the desk Of Clark Kent" or "...Lois Lane" or "...Jimmy Olsen".
Very cool! :)
But I -- being the digital-image-manipulator that I am -- changed it to read "From the desk of Brian Edwards" and "From the Desk of Ray Jay Edwards" because I thought that would be some way-cool stationary!
But there's only one printer at work (Brian's and my printers don't work at the moment) that could print our the Daily Planet logo convincingly.
And I had just enough down-time in my shift tonight to experiment.
I came away with 25 great copies of Daily Planet letterhead "From the Desk of..." Brian and me!
On my way home from work I stopped by Walmart. I needed to buy a battery-operated alarm clock, so I thought I'd search for some Superman folders to put the letterhead in. I didn't find any. :( (Apparently, Superman is SO 2006. 2007 is all about SPIDER-MAN and PIRATES it would appear.) But I did find these cool clipboards that are designed to store paper and pens in, as well as write on! And they had that prime blue color that one generally associates with Superman's costume! So I bought a couple of those. More than a couple of folders would have cost, but more versatile!
(I also bought a new wallet because mine is straight-up knackered, lol.)
I get home and Brian hasn't gone to work yet, so he's still asleep on the couch -- his bed of preference, lol.
And I go into my room to arrange the letterhead on his new clipboard to surprise him when he wakes up...
...and laying on my bed is a Johnny Blaze Stunt Cycle! One of those that you insert the ripcord, yank it really fast tha the toy motorcycle zooms off across the kitchen floor!
I should explain a bit here...
Monday night I was going to buy some groceries. But when I saw it was just a few hours until midnight, I decided to wait so I could buy GHOST RIDER on dvd, too. I had seen GHOST RIDER, but Brian hadn't, so when I bought it on dvd, that was his first viewing. He watched it OVER AND OVER since I bought it -- he's currently sleeping to the Main Menu loop of the dvd, lol. He just really enjoys the movie!
And when I bought the dvd, I bought the Double-Disc, Walmart Exclusive edition with a 3-D card and a Ghost Rider bandana packed in there, as well as the Extended Director's cut, lol. (What can I say? I wanted the Exclusive Bonus Disc AND I wanted the director's version of the film, so I bought both.)
But Brian apparently found a couple of toy stunt cycles -- one Ghost Rider and one Johnny Blaze -- and decided he and I HAVE TO have them, hehe!
He definitely spent more on his gift to me than I did on my gift to him, lol!
But see, THIS is why we will both be millionaire filmmakers/screenwriters/novelists on day! because we not only recognize and accept our Inner Child, but we nurture our Inner Moppets and buy them toys and take them to the park and stuff, lmao!
You may call it "childish", but I call it "inspiration". ;)
Besides, have you seen my photo? Do I LOOK 36? I'm a smoker and a drinker and I don't workout, but I got carded for beer last month, so I must be doing SOMETHING right, lol.
OOH!
But here's the SWEETEST part of my day...
As I'm unwrapping my Johhny Blaze Stunt Cycle I get a text message: It's my baby and she says that she's at work right now, but she'll be available tonight and all tomorrow!!! HOW FUCKIN' SWEET IS THAT?!! I might be able to have a cyber-date with my angel this weekend!!! (You may not understand: It's been A WHILE since we got to seriously spent time together! The last month or so has been the equivalent of a "good morning" and a kiss before one of us rushes out the door to work, or some other obligation. Last weekend was AMAZING because we got to catch up a bit on each other's lives -- the equivalent of actually getting to sit down to a meal together -- and so to be able to spend a few hours with her is like a married couple actually getting the same day off with the kids spending the night at Grandma's house, lol! It's brilliant!!!)
Now, the catch is that for the last month-and-a-half, every time my baby thought she was going to get some serious time with me, Life jumped out at her and said "Oh no ya don't" and that could happen this weekend, too. But still -- as I told her in an email before I decided to make this entry -- just the POSSIBILITY!!!
It's really exciting! I wonder if we'll be able to meet in SecondLife, or if maybe we'll be able to play some Poker or Minesweeper, or if maybe we can watch a movie simultaneously over the Net, and then talk about it afterward... Or maybe I we can just hang out on the phone while I giggle and fumble for something -- ANYTHING -- to say, lol.
Omg, just thinking about it... I HAVE TO WIN THE LOTTERY TOMORROW!!! (Well... "tonight", technically..) So that I can buy a huge house and plane tickets for my baby to come live with me and for us to wake up with each other EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
Okey dokey... I'm a bit punch drunk from the week, lol.
Time for me to sign off for now and report back later.
PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS TO ALL!!!
:D
Then today...
Today's been okay, actually. :)
[Total Sidebar here: When I spell out the word "okay" my computer marks it as a misspelling. Which is well weird because for 35 of my 36 years of life "ok" or "OK" were the misspellings, and "okay" was the accepted spelling. But now, whatever Spell Check program my blog utilizes only recognizes "OK" as a proper was to spell the word. I'm getting OLD, lol.]
I went to sleep after watching FININD NEVERLAND -- which is an ASTOUDING movie, no matter how many times you watch it!!! Work was long, but even-keel. Yesterday was Payday, so I was able to wake up and eat Taco Bell for breakfast -- which is a luxury for me, hehe. And at work I even found time to do something very silly...
When SUPERMAN RETURNS came out, one of the downloads the official website offered was stationary from the Daily Planet, with the Planet's logo at the top and "From the Desk of..." just below. It looks like official business letterhead, and you cand print it out (ive you've got a good enough printer) and write a note written on letterhead that reads "From the desk Of Clark Kent" or "...Lois Lane" or "...Jimmy Olsen".
Very cool! :)
But I -- being the digital-image-manipulator that I am -- changed it to read "From the desk of Brian Edwards" and "From the Desk of Ray Jay Edwards" because I thought that would be some way-cool stationary!
But there's only one printer at work (Brian's and my printers don't work at the moment) that could print our the Daily Planet logo convincingly.
And I had just enough down-time in my shift tonight to experiment.
I came away with 25 great copies of Daily Planet letterhead "From the Desk of..." Brian and me!
On my way home from work I stopped by Walmart. I needed to buy a battery-operated alarm clock, so I thought I'd search for some Superman folders to put the letterhead in. I didn't find any. :( (Apparently, Superman is SO 2006. 2007 is all about SPIDER-MAN and PIRATES it would appear.) But I did find these cool clipboards that are designed to store paper and pens in, as well as write on! And they had that prime blue color that one generally associates with Superman's costume! So I bought a couple of those. More than a couple of folders would have cost, but more versatile!
(I also bought a new wallet because mine is straight-up knackered, lol.)
I get home and Brian hasn't gone to work yet, so he's still asleep on the couch -- his bed of preference, lol.
And I go into my room to arrange the letterhead on his new clipboard to surprise him when he wakes up...
...and laying on my bed is a Johnny Blaze Stunt Cycle! One of those that you insert the ripcord, yank it really fast tha the toy motorcycle zooms off across the kitchen floor!
I should explain a bit here...
Monday night I was going to buy some groceries. But when I saw it was just a few hours until midnight, I decided to wait so I could buy GHOST RIDER on dvd, too. I had seen GHOST RIDER, but Brian hadn't, so when I bought it on dvd, that was his first viewing. He watched it OVER AND OVER since I bought it -- he's currently sleeping to the Main Menu loop of the dvd, lol. He just really enjoys the movie!
And when I bought the dvd, I bought the Double-Disc, Walmart Exclusive edition with a 3-D card and a Ghost Rider bandana packed in there, as well as the Extended Director's cut, lol. (What can I say? I wanted the Exclusive Bonus Disc AND I wanted the director's version of the film, so I bought both.)
But Brian apparently found a couple of toy stunt cycles -- one Ghost Rider and one Johnny Blaze -- and decided he and I HAVE TO have them, hehe!
He definitely spent more on his gift to me than I did on my gift to him, lol!
But see, THIS is why we will both be millionaire filmmakers/screenwriters/novelists on day! because we not only recognize and accept our Inner Child, but we nurture our Inner Moppets and buy them toys and take them to the park and stuff, lmao!
You may call it "childish", but I call it "inspiration". ;)
Besides, have you seen my photo? Do I LOOK 36? I'm a smoker and a drinker and I don't workout, but I got carded for beer last month, so I must be doing SOMETHING right, lol.
OOH!
But here's the SWEETEST part of my day...
As I'm unwrapping my Johhny Blaze Stunt Cycle I get a text message: It's my baby and she says that she's at work right now, but she'll be available tonight and all tomorrow!!! HOW FUCKIN' SWEET IS THAT?!! I might be able to have a cyber-date with my angel this weekend!!! (You may not understand: It's been A WHILE since we got to seriously spent time together! The last month or so has been the equivalent of a "good morning" and a kiss before one of us rushes out the door to work, or some other obligation. Last weekend was AMAZING because we got to catch up a bit on each other's lives -- the equivalent of actually getting to sit down to a meal together -- and so to be able to spend a few hours with her is like a married couple actually getting the same day off with the kids spending the night at Grandma's house, lol! It's brilliant!!!)
Now, the catch is that for the last month-and-a-half, every time my baby thought she was going to get some serious time with me, Life jumped out at her and said "Oh no ya don't" and that could happen this weekend, too. But still -- as I told her in an email before I decided to make this entry -- just the POSSIBILITY!!!
It's really exciting! I wonder if we'll be able to meet in SecondLife, or if maybe we'll be able to play some Poker or Minesweeper, or if maybe we can watch a movie simultaneously over the Net, and then talk about it afterward... Or maybe I we can just hang out on the phone while I giggle and fumble for something -- ANYTHING -- to say, lol.
Omg, just thinking about it... I HAVE TO WIN THE LOTTERY TOMORROW!!! (Well... "tonight", technically..) So that I can buy a huge house and plane tickets for my baby to come live with me and for us to wake up with each other EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
Okey dokey... I'm a bit punch drunk from the week, lol.
Time for me to sign off for now and report back later.
PEACE, LOVE & HAPPINESS TO ALL!!!
:D
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
I Beat Jack Sparrow At Liar's Dice!!!
Excuse, me, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!
hehe :D
Tommy came over today for a production meeting, only he's going to be out of the country for the last part of the month... So we covered all thing production related in about... 20 minutes, lol.
So Brian and I taught him Liar's Dice!!!
It was A BLAST!!!
I may have mentioned this last night, but the rules that came with Disney's "Pirates Dice" set are incomplete, so he & I had to sort of figure out the rules as we went along. Then I went to Wikipedia.org and discovered that we had figured out the CORRECT rules, lol! (Well, for one variation, anyway. The game has geuinely been around since the Age of Sail, so many variations have arrisen throughout the centuries.)
So when we played with Tommy, the third player created new questions that we had to resolve. It was a bit of a shaky start, but before long we had a stride and were laughing and play, and not long after that we were creating strategies, picking up on each others strategies, and adapting!
IT WAS WELL FUN, MATEYS!!!
OOH!
At one point we had to pause he game because MY SWEETY CALLED ME!!!
OMG! It was SO WONDERFUL to be able to just have a chat with her and catch up and hear her voice!!! It was a really nice conversation!!!
So eventually Tommy has to leave (he keeps Normal People Hours) and I played some more TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY for a while while Brian made and then obscenely ate some Chicken Fajitas. (If you're telling me "There's nothing obscene about eating Chicken Fajitas," then you've clearly not been around Brian when he eats them.
Then I take a nap...
Nice lazy day!
Then I wake up to chat with my baby for a bit when she wakes up. She's taking care of her morning routine now, and so I'm looking for something to do...
I noticed, when I was doing my research about Liar's Dice, that the Disney PIRATES site has a Flash version of "Pirate Dice"...
Brian's asleep, so I can't play with him...
SO I PLAYED WITH WILL TURNER AND CAPTAIN JACK!!! :D
AND I WON!
It's interesting, too, because Will and I were the first to loose dice (in this variation you loose a die when you loose, and the last person to have a die or dice wins) and Captain Sparrow still had all his. So I realized I was going to have to start applying strategy (usually when I'm playing against a computer I'm just trying to remember the rules, lol) and I got Will out of the game entirely!
Then I went after "Witty Jack"...
He had 5 dice and I had 3...
I lost a die, but then I proceeded to take away 3 of his, until we both had 2 dice each...
Then I whittled him down to 1 die... THEN NONE!!!
I'm VERY clever, you see, hehe. :P
Which is good, too, because to enter the game you have to sign a contract stating that if you loose your soul goes to the Pirates of the Caribbean... so, you know... high stakes!
I currently retain my soul. But I don't know... I may play again soon, lol.
I'll keep you updated on the status of my immortal self.
OOH! HEY! If you decide to play the Flash version of "Pirate Dice" (I do the parenthesis thing because the REAL name of the game is Liar's Dice, by golly!) then let me give you some tips on strategy:
Whoever goes first proclaims that there are so many dice on the table showing a certain number. You start out with 5 dice each, and the Flash version is 3 players, so that's 15 dice all together.
Each successive player ups the bid, either by raising the number of dice showing a certain number, or by raising the number showing on the dice.
For example, let's say Jack proclaims there are 4 Twos (4 dice showing the number Two). If it's your turn you can either say there are 5 Twos (raising the number of dice) or you can say there are 2 Sixes (raising the number on the dice, but in this case actually decreasing the quantity of the dice showing this number). This continues until someone calls the last person to bid a Liar.
At that point the cups are raised, and if the Accuser is correct then the Accused looses a die. If the Accuser is incorrect then he loses a die.
With me so far? (It helps if you have 10 dice handy in order to sort of play some practice rolls and get a more substantial idea of what I'm describing. Or to have the game up so you can watch how the play unfolds.)
Now, the game is conservative and calls "Liar" quickly, you you only have a round or 2 before someone calls you or someone else a Liar. This bares consideration. When Tommy and Brian and I were playing, for the longest time it seems like Brian would just keep going until someone called someone else a Liar, lol! I think he was just enjoying seeing how many different possible configurations he could come up with based on his dice and what Tommy and I might have had.
But with the game, you want to stick more or less with what you have, because you might be called out on it immediately.
So let's say you've for 2 Ones (in the Flash game Ones are not Wild, though they are in the Disney version of the physical game), 1 Three, 1 Four and 1 Six.
If you've got 2 Ones, there's a decent chance that, of the 10 dice you can't see (your opponents' dice), there is at least 1 other One on the table. If each player happens to have 2 Ones each, then you can bid 6 Ones, be called a Liar, and win the round.
But 6 is a bit bold. Equal odds are that you are the only with Ones on the table.
In this case I might bid 3 Ones, hoping that at least 1 other player has a One if I get called a Liar right off the bat.
Now, if the next player bids 4 Ones, then the last player bids 5 Ones, you have to ask yourself if you think there are 5 Ones on the table. If you don't, you call "Liar" and see.
But if you think there ARE 5 Ones on the table you have figure out if there are 6 ONES (because you have to top the previous bid) or decide if you want to try upping the number showing and maybe bid, say, "3 Threes".
You could bid 1 Three, but another part of your strategy is to undercut your other players. If you have 1 Three and you think that your opponents might each have a Three, then this bid works in your favor one of 2 ways:
1) If there are only 3 Threes on the table and the next player bids 4 Threes and gets called out, then he looses, or
2) if there are only 3 Threes on the table and YOU get called out, then you win!
The danger, of course, is that there are less than 3 Threes on the table and you get called out.
But hey, this IS gambling, after all, lol.
Another gambit, if you are the first to bid, is to bid a low-ish number of a die you DON'T have. Thee is a tendency for the next player to bid one over whatever you bid. (Even when you're playing against the computer.) So if you have no Fives, bid 3 Fives. If the next player bids 4 Fives and he gets called a Liar, there's a decent chance there aren't 4 Fives on the table. If the third player calls 5 Fives, then you call Liar because if you don't have any there's an even better chance that he's going to come up short.
With 3 players -- particularly if the other 2 are part of a computer program -- the odds are quite good that at least one more player will go before "Liar" is called.
Unless you bid high.
Brian and Tommy and I discovered that when you're playing with 3 humans and your 1s are Wild, 7 dice showing any number is the if-y. That means that 2 players have to have 2 of that number, and the third player has to have 3.
But it also could mean that 1 player has 5 of that number, in which case the other 2 players only have to have 1 each.
With 3 humans playing, if someone bids 8 of any number, you can pretty safely call them a Liar.
Blah.
Am I going on too long about this, lol?
It's a FUN GAME! I encourage EVERYONE to play it! You don't even have to buy the Disney game! (Brian did because he and I are a bit obsessed with pirates, lol.) All you need is 5 dice and 1 cup per player.
In the movie (and the Flash game) the cups are slammed upside down onto the table and each player peeks beneath his cup. And that's how Brian and I played it last night.
But with Tommy, we found it was much more convenient to sit back comfortably and just peer into our cups, as the cups provide plenty of concealment as long as you're not all right on top of each other. So you don't even need a table to play!
And it's great fun!
Okay, if my baby is going to log back before work it will be about now. So PEACE!!! :D
hehe :D
Tommy came over today for a production meeting, only he's going to be out of the country for the last part of the month... So we covered all thing production related in about... 20 minutes, lol.
So Brian and I taught him Liar's Dice!!!
It was A BLAST!!!
I may have mentioned this last night, but the rules that came with Disney's "Pirates Dice" set are incomplete, so he & I had to sort of figure out the rules as we went along. Then I went to Wikipedia.org and discovered that we had figured out the CORRECT rules, lol! (Well, for one variation, anyway. The game has geuinely been around since the Age of Sail, so many variations have arrisen throughout the centuries.)
So when we played with Tommy, the third player created new questions that we had to resolve. It was a bit of a shaky start, but before long we had a stride and were laughing and play, and not long after that we were creating strategies, picking up on each others strategies, and adapting!
IT WAS WELL FUN, MATEYS!!!
OOH!
At one point we had to pause he game because MY SWEETY CALLED ME!!!
OMG! It was SO WONDERFUL to be able to just have a chat with her and catch up and hear her voice!!! It was a really nice conversation!!!
So eventually Tommy has to leave (he keeps Normal People Hours) and I played some more TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY for a while while Brian made and then obscenely ate some Chicken Fajitas. (If you're telling me "There's nothing obscene about eating Chicken Fajitas," then you've clearly not been around Brian when he eats them.
Then I take a nap...
Nice lazy day!
Then I wake up to chat with my baby for a bit when she wakes up. She's taking care of her morning routine now, and so I'm looking for something to do...
I noticed, when I was doing my research about Liar's Dice, that the Disney PIRATES site has a Flash version of "Pirate Dice"...
Brian's asleep, so I can't play with him...
SO I PLAYED WITH WILL TURNER AND CAPTAIN JACK!!! :D
AND I WON!
It's interesting, too, because Will and I were the first to loose dice (in this variation you loose a die when you loose, and the last person to have a die or dice wins) and Captain Sparrow still had all his. So I realized I was going to have to start applying strategy (usually when I'm playing against a computer I'm just trying to remember the rules, lol) and I got Will out of the game entirely!
Then I went after "Witty Jack"...
He had 5 dice and I had 3...
I lost a die, but then I proceeded to take away 3 of his, until we both had 2 dice each...
Then I whittled him down to 1 die... THEN NONE!!!
I'm VERY clever, you see, hehe. :P
Which is good, too, because to enter the game you have to sign a contract stating that if you loose your soul goes to the Pirates of the Caribbean... so, you know... high stakes!
I currently retain my soul. But I don't know... I may play again soon, lol.
I'll keep you updated on the status of my immortal self.
OOH! HEY! If you decide to play the Flash version of "Pirate Dice" (I do the parenthesis thing because the REAL name of the game is Liar's Dice, by golly!) then let me give you some tips on strategy:
Whoever goes first proclaims that there are so many dice on the table showing a certain number. You start out with 5 dice each, and the Flash version is 3 players, so that's 15 dice all together.
Each successive player ups the bid, either by raising the number of dice showing a certain number, or by raising the number showing on the dice.
For example, let's say Jack proclaims there are 4 Twos (4 dice showing the number Two). If it's your turn you can either say there are 5 Twos (raising the number of dice) or you can say there are 2 Sixes (raising the number on the dice, but in this case actually decreasing the quantity of the dice showing this number). This continues until someone calls the last person to bid a Liar.
At that point the cups are raised, and if the Accuser is correct then the Accused looses a die. If the Accuser is incorrect then he loses a die.
With me so far? (It helps if you have 10 dice handy in order to sort of play some practice rolls and get a more substantial idea of what I'm describing. Or to have the game up so you can watch how the play unfolds.)
Now, the game is conservative and calls "Liar" quickly, you you only have a round or 2 before someone calls you or someone else a Liar. This bares consideration. When Tommy and Brian and I were playing, for the longest time it seems like Brian would just keep going until someone called someone else a Liar, lol! I think he was just enjoying seeing how many different possible configurations he could come up with based on his dice and what Tommy and I might have had.
But with the game, you want to stick more or less with what you have, because you might be called out on it immediately.
So let's say you've for 2 Ones (in the Flash game Ones are not Wild, though they are in the Disney version of the physical game), 1 Three, 1 Four and 1 Six.
If you've got 2 Ones, there's a decent chance that, of the 10 dice you can't see (your opponents' dice), there is at least 1 other One on the table. If each player happens to have 2 Ones each, then you can bid 6 Ones, be called a Liar, and win the round.
But 6 is a bit bold. Equal odds are that you are the only with Ones on the table.
In this case I might bid 3 Ones, hoping that at least 1 other player has a One if I get called a Liar right off the bat.
Now, if the next player bids 4 Ones, then the last player bids 5 Ones, you have to ask yourself if you think there are 5 Ones on the table. If you don't, you call "Liar" and see.
But if you think there ARE 5 Ones on the table you have figure out if there are 6 ONES (because you have to top the previous bid) or decide if you want to try upping the number showing and maybe bid, say, "3 Threes".
You could bid 1 Three, but another part of your strategy is to undercut your other players. If you have 1 Three and you think that your opponents might each have a Three, then this bid works in your favor one of 2 ways:
1) If there are only 3 Threes on the table and the next player bids 4 Threes and gets called out, then he looses, or
2) if there are only 3 Threes on the table and YOU get called out, then you win!
The danger, of course, is that there are less than 3 Threes on the table and you get called out.
But hey, this IS gambling, after all, lol.
Another gambit, if you are the first to bid, is to bid a low-ish number of a die you DON'T have. Thee is a tendency for the next player to bid one over whatever you bid. (Even when you're playing against the computer.) So if you have no Fives, bid 3 Fives. If the next player bids 4 Fives and he gets called a Liar, there's a decent chance there aren't 4 Fives on the table. If the third player calls 5 Fives, then you call Liar because if you don't have any there's an even better chance that he's going to come up short.
With 3 players -- particularly if the other 2 are part of a computer program -- the odds are quite good that at least one more player will go before "Liar" is called.
Unless you bid high.
Brian and Tommy and I discovered that when you're playing with 3 humans and your 1s are Wild, 7 dice showing any number is the if-y. That means that 2 players have to have 2 of that number, and the third player has to have 3.
But it also could mean that 1 player has 5 of that number, in which case the other 2 players only have to have 1 each.
With 3 humans playing, if someone bids 8 of any number, you can pretty safely call them a Liar.
Blah.
Am I going on too long about this, lol?
It's a FUN GAME! I encourage EVERYONE to play it! You don't even have to buy the Disney game! (Brian did because he and I are a bit obsessed with pirates, lol.) All you need is 5 dice and 1 cup per player.
In the movie (and the Flash game) the cups are slammed upside down onto the table and each player peeks beneath his cup. And that's how Brian and I played it last night.
But with Tommy, we found it was much more convenient to sit back comfortably and just peer into our cups, as the cups provide plenty of concealment as long as you're not all right on top of each other. So you don't even need a table to play!
And it's great fun!
Okay, if my baby is going to log back before work it will be about now. So PEACE!!! :D
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Aaargh! Five 6s, Matey!!!
Today was cool!!!
I got to chat with my Sweety for a second before she went to work, then carshed fo a loooooong time, then woke up to Brian calling me... He was about to grab some food at Sonic and wanted to know if he could pick my up anything.
YEAH!!!
Usually, when Sonic food is avaiable, I'll get jiggy wid it and have, like, a Breaded Fride Steak Sandwich and a Foot-Long Coney and Onion Rings and such. But I had been asleep, and upon waking to this miraculous call I was happy with just a plain ol' Cheeseburger and Tater Tots.
Divine!
I slapped on some clothes, ran down to the mailbox, found what I'd hope to find (nothing you should worry about ;P ) and when Brian got home we both partook in some DELICIOUS Sonic grub while watching UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED.
IT WAS GREAT!!!
I watched UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED after Gnomey went to work, and was BLOWN AWAY by it!!! (I've been a "believer" since I was a child. And this documentary completely validates that belief!) Kevin Smith called it "the LOOSE CHANGE of UFOs" and so after watching UOF: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED I watched LOOSE CHANGE, which was also amazing!
I had had a copy of LOOSE CHANGE for a while, but couldn't bring myself to watch it, as I already have plenty of reasons to be angry at the way American society is run as it is.
But UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED makes the current domination of corporate domination of the globe understandable, though in NO WAY excusable or morally acceptable. But still, the UFO doc allowed me to watch and appreciate LOOSE CHANGE with a sort of intellectual detachment and understanding that would have been absent before.
So anyway, Brian has always been WAY more obsessed with UFOs than I am (and that's pretty obsessed, let me tell you!) and so it was well cool to watch this doc with him! Sometime in the late-90s I started to doubt whether there really was ET life Out There. (I don't know if Brian ever did, so I'm only speaking for myself here.) But this doc confirmed everything I ever believed, showing me images that I never imagined EXISTED, mush less that I'd ever see for myself!
And watching it while we ate Sonic... DAMN Life can be good at times!!!
After the flick was a lively discussion that was just a blast to be a part of.
Then we played us some Liar's Dice!
You know that game in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, where Will Turner challenges Davy Jones, and Bootstrap bets in order to keep his son free, but it turns out that it didn't matter whether Will won or lost? Well Disney liscensed USAopoly to create a "Pirates Dice" game based on Liar's Dice, and -- natch -- Brian bought it.
It's weird, Disney (or USAoploy) seems to have gone to SO MUCH TROUBLE to avoid encouraging kids to lie that they never really finished the instrctions, lol! Brian and I had to sort of take what the game instructions said, and then figure out the rest through gameplay.
As it happens, we were right, lol!
Prepping for this blog entry, I tracked down "Liar's Dice" on www.wikipedia.org, and it contained the history and rules for the game. And a lot of the decisions Brian and I made while playing the game are actually "official". (I put "official" in quotes because there are many variations of the game.)
Anyway, I pulled out some plastic doubloons and Brian pulled out some, and we played for quite a while! It was A BLAST!!!
We finally stopped at midnight, when GHOST RIDER went on sale! I had some shopping to do, but I decided to hold off until I could pick up GHOST RIDER on DVD at the same time. Plus, Brian really want to see it!
While I was at Walmart I remembered an ad for TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERASY "in stores now" and I went ahead and bought that, too.
When I got Back, Brian was nigh-asleep, so I guess we'll watch GHOST RIDER tomorrow.
Still...
Fun day for Ray Jay!
Also, I got a message from my Gnomey Goddess before she went to work. I was... away from the keys when she IMed me... which sucks. But not TOO bad. ("Sea turtles, mate.")
Anyway, it's not 11 after Noon in the UK, so I can safely assume my Gnomey won't be logging back in before work, lol. So I'm off to read the Walkthough for Level 1 of TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSAY, then go see if I can defeat the first level, hehe.
PEACE!!! :D
I got to chat with my Sweety for a second before she went to work, then carshed fo a loooooong time, then woke up to Brian calling me... He was about to grab some food at Sonic and wanted to know if he could pick my up anything.
YEAH!!!
Usually, when Sonic food is avaiable, I'll get jiggy wid it and have, like, a Breaded Fride Steak Sandwich and a Foot-Long Coney and Onion Rings and such. But I had been asleep, and upon waking to this miraculous call I was happy with just a plain ol' Cheeseburger and Tater Tots.
Divine!
I slapped on some clothes, ran down to the mailbox, found what I'd hope to find (nothing you should worry about ;P ) and when Brian got home we both partook in some DELICIOUS Sonic grub while watching UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED.
IT WAS GREAT!!!
I watched UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED after Gnomey went to work, and was BLOWN AWAY by it!!! (I've been a "believer" since I was a child. And this documentary completely validates that belief!) Kevin Smith called it "the LOOSE CHANGE of UFOs" and so after watching UOF: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED I watched LOOSE CHANGE, which was also amazing!
I had had a copy of LOOSE CHANGE for a while, but couldn't bring myself to watch it, as I already have plenty of reasons to be angry at the way American society is run as it is.
But UFO: THE GREATEST STORY EVER DENIED makes the current domination of corporate domination of the globe understandable, though in NO WAY excusable or morally acceptable. But still, the UFO doc allowed me to watch and appreciate LOOSE CHANGE with a sort of intellectual detachment and understanding that would have been absent before.
So anyway, Brian has always been WAY more obsessed with UFOs than I am (and that's pretty obsessed, let me tell you!) and so it was well cool to watch this doc with him! Sometime in the late-90s I started to doubt whether there really was ET life Out There. (I don't know if Brian ever did, so I'm only speaking for myself here.) But this doc confirmed everything I ever believed, showing me images that I never imagined EXISTED, mush less that I'd ever see for myself!
And watching it while we ate Sonic... DAMN Life can be good at times!!!
After the flick was a lively discussion that was just a blast to be a part of.
Then we played us some Liar's Dice!
You know that game in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, where Will Turner challenges Davy Jones, and Bootstrap bets in order to keep his son free, but it turns out that it didn't matter whether Will won or lost? Well Disney liscensed USAopoly to create a "Pirates Dice" game based on Liar's Dice, and -- natch -- Brian bought it.
It's weird, Disney (or USAoploy) seems to have gone to SO MUCH TROUBLE to avoid encouraging kids to lie that they never really finished the instrctions, lol! Brian and I had to sort of take what the game instructions said, and then figure out the rest through gameplay.
As it happens, we were right, lol!
Prepping for this blog entry, I tracked down "Liar's Dice" on www.wikipedia.org, and it contained the history and rules for the game. And a lot of the decisions Brian and I made while playing the game are actually "official". (I put "official" in quotes because there are many variations of the game.)
Anyway, I pulled out some plastic doubloons and Brian pulled out some, and we played for quite a while! It was A BLAST!!!
We finally stopped at midnight, when GHOST RIDER went on sale! I had some shopping to do, but I decided to hold off until I could pick up GHOST RIDER on DVD at the same time. Plus, Brian really want to see it!
While I was at Walmart I remembered an ad for TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERASY "in stores now" and I went ahead and bought that, too.
When I got Back, Brian was nigh-asleep, so I guess we'll watch GHOST RIDER tomorrow.
Still...
Fun day for Ray Jay!
Also, I got a message from my Gnomey Goddess before she went to work. I was... away from the keys when she IMed me... which sucks. But not TOO bad. ("Sea turtles, mate.")
Anyway, it's not 11 after Noon in the UK, so I can safely assume my Gnomey won't be logging back in before work, lol. So I'm off to read the Walkthough for Level 1 of TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSAY, then go see if I can defeat the first level, hehe.
PEACE!!! :D
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Take Me Out To The Black...
I just -- JUST -- woke up from a dream that I was both IN and WATCHING a sequel to SERENITY.
I'm not up to writing just yet -- this is in real life -- and I'm basically killing time until Gnomey wakes up, so I lay down for a nap.
I fell asleep really considering why I do what I do, or why I WANT to do what I want to be doing (making movies and writing stories for a living) because I haven't really had a good think about that in a while. (I spend so much of time time just trying to do it I often don't really stop to ask myself why I try so hard when I never seem to get more than a single baby-step closer to my goals.) I'm articulating, to myself, in my head, the reasons as I drift off.
(If you're curious, I still like my reasons and motives for trying to break into writing professionally, and so will continue writing and trying to "make it".)
The next thing I'm aware of is both watching a sequel to SERENITY and also playing Jane. Stuff is happening -- terribly exciting stuff, both spectacle and SFX as well as exciting and fulfilling character stuff (none of which can I remember the details about, except a HUGE explosion that tosses everyone all over everywhere (without hurting us) somewhere in the Opening of the flick) -- and I'm just really having a great time.
Then I wake up for half a minute, check the time -- still hours before Gnomey is likely to be online -- and fall back into this great dream.
In the second part of it, though, I AM A CHARACTER in this Firefly movie, and I have this great, emotional sort of scene with Mal. I remember telling him about how his reaction to this thing that happened earlier scared me (though my character is very Jane-like still, and outsiders don't ever seem to know when I'm frightened because I keep plugging away, doing whatever needs to be done) and Mal (not really Nathan Fillion in this secotion of the dream because we're all sort of living this movie, even though the fact seems to be that it IS still a movie, somehow) expresses surprise at my revelation, and then we're attacked by someone big.
We're all in this motel room and our ship is outside, so Mal and the others run to the ship. Now, for whatever reason, I've been living in this motel room with Brian and my mom up until now, so I have some stuff to pack. Brian and Mom have moved, but I haven't left this motel room for years, and even thought I've packed all my clothes except my boots into this suitcase, as I grab my last few items (which is important to the action of the movie, to get the dramatic timing right, I somehow know) I suddenly realize I have all these things that I need to take with me. One suitcase becomes a suitcase and a few crates and some electronics and extension cords and surge protectors and even some sentimental momentos that I know I'll have to leave behind.
To make matters worse, I realize that, for some reason I can't figure out, when I changed clothes earlier I slipped into my jeans, rather than one of the pairs of cargo shorts I now wear faithfully. In real life I ware cargo shorts because I carry a lot of crap around with me everywhere, and pants with 6 or more pockets allow for more efficient organization of my crap and ease of carriage. The looseness also allows for ease of motion. And now I'm in an action situation, and I actually NEED all the extra crap and ease of motion.
But Mal is outside yelling for me to fun for it, and I still have to put my boots on.
And with all the explosions and confusion outside, I can't get a good enough look around the room to find my suitcase, much less figure out what I need to take and what I should just leave behind, and how I'm going to carry it all, and should I just lug my boots with me until I'm safely on the ship and the ship is lifting off?
Then I hear Mal yell "Run for it!" one more time and this time I sense that whatever time I had to organize my stuff is now past, and I now have to run for the ship, or risk Mal or someone running back to the motel room to rescue me (which would be well embarrassing since I'm not in trouble or anything, I just can't organize my crap, and my confusion is putting myself, the crew and the ship more and more at risk with every passing second)! So I'll carry the boots and the suitcase -- once I figure out where IT is now -- and I'll change into a pair of cargo pants when I'm safely on the ship...
And I wake myself up.
I'm not completely awake, mind you, I'm just out of that world and back in my bedroom. But the moment I realize this I decide that I don't HAVE TO make decisions under pressure in the Firefly 'verse. It's just a dream.
So I pad into here and decide to jot this all down in a blog entry.
It's interesting, because last night at work (before everyone went home and left me alone with the station) I passed out in my chair for a few minutes and had another dream in which I was both watching and participating in a movie.
In last night's dream, I lived out a half-hour section of the movie, and I noticed how something important happened every 15 minutes, and that the scenes leading up to it were sort of "partial scenes" where a lot of story takes place off-screen. But then when that Minute-15 Scene happens, everything takes place ON SCREEN and plays out in minute detail. And somehow that's how the audience knows that something important is happening, even if they're not clear how or why it's important.
I'm a freak, right?
Anyway...
You think this is what people mean when they say they "eat, sleep, breath" what they do? If I'm not writing or thinking about the story, I'm pondering why I write, then falling asleep and dreaming in movies.
I think it's the deadline, and watching my first word count marker rapidly approaching.
Sea turtles.
That's what it is, mate.
It's sea turtles.
:D
I'm not up to writing just yet -- this is in real life -- and I'm basically killing time until Gnomey wakes up, so I lay down for a nap.
I fell asleep really considering why I do what I do, or why I WANT to do what I want to be doing (making movies and writing stories for a living) because I haven't really had a good think about that in a while. (I spend so much of time time just trying to do it I often don't really stop to ask myself why I try so hard when I never seem to get more than a single baby-step closer to my goals.) I'm articulating, to myself, in my head, the reasons as I drift off.
(If you're curious, I still like my reasons and motives for trying to break into writing professionally, and so will continue writing and trying to "make it".)
The next thing I'm aware of is both watching a sequel to SERENITY and also playing Jane. Stuff is happening -- terribly exciting stuff, both spectacle and SFX as well as exciting and fulfilling character stuff (none of which can I remember the details about, except a HUGE explosion that tosses everyone all over everywhere (without hurting us) somewhere in the Opening of the flick) -- and I'm just really having a great time.
Then I wake up for half a minute, check the time -- still hours before Gnomey is likely to be online -- and fall back into this great dream.
In the second part of it, though, I AM A CHARACTER in this Firefly movie, and I have this great, emotional sort of scene with Mal. I remember telling him about how his reaction to this thing that happened earlier scared me (though my character is very Jane-like still, and outsiders don't ever seem to know when I'm frightened because I keep plugging away, doing whatever needs to be done) and Mal (not really Nathan Fillion in this secotion of the dream because we're all sort of living this movie, even though the fact seems to be that it IS still a movie, somehow) expresses surprise at my revelation, and then we're attacked by someone big.
We're all in this motel room and our ship is outside, so Mal and the others run to the ship. Now, for whatever reason, I've been living in this motel room with Brian and my mom up until now, so I have some stuff to pack. Brian and Mom have moved, but I haven't left this motel room for years, and even thought I've packed all my clothes except my boots into this suitcase, as I grab my last few items (which is important to the action of the movie, to get the dramatic timing right, I somehow know) I suddenly realize I have all these things that I need to take with me. One suitcase becomes a suitcase and a few crates and some electronics and extension cords and surge protectors and even some sentimental momentos that I know I'll have to leave behind.
To make matters worse, I realize that, for some reason I can't figure out, when I changed clothes earlier I slipped into my jeans, rather than one of the pairs of cargo shorts I now wear faithfully. In real life I ware cargo shorts because I carry a lot of crap around with me everywhere, and pants with 6 or more pockets allow for more efficient organization of my crap and ease of carriage. The looseness also allows for ease of motion. And now I'm in an action situation, and I actually NEED all the extra crap and ease of motion.
But Mal is outside yelling for me to fun for it, and I still have to put my boots on.
And with all the explosions and confusion outside, I can't get a good enough look around the room to find my suitcase, much less figure out what I need to take and what I should just leave behind, and how I'm going to carry it all, and should I just lug my boots with me until I'm safely on the ship and the ship is lifting off?
Then I hear Mal yell "Run for it!" one more time and this time I sense that whatever time I had to organize my stuff is now past, and I now have to run for the ship, or risk Mal or someone running back to the motel room to rescue me (which would be well embarrassing since I'm not in trouble or anything, I just can't organize my crap, and my confusion is putting myself, the crew and the ship more and more at risk with every passing second)! So I'll carry the boots and the suitcase -- once I figure out where IT is now -- and I'll change into a pair of cargo pants when I'm safely on the ship...
And I wake myself up.
I'm not completely awake, mind you, I'm just out of that world and back in my bedroom. But the moment I realize this I decide that I don't HAVE TO make decisions under pressure in the Firefly 'verse. It's just a dream.
So I pad into here and decide to jot this all down in a blog entry.
It's interesting, because last night at work (before everyone went home and left me alone with the station) I passed out in my chair for a few minutes and had another dream in which I was both watching and participating in a movie.
In last night's dream, I lived out a half-hour section of the movie, and I noticed how something important happened every 15 minutes, and that the scenes leading up to it were sort of "partial scenes" where a lot of story takes place off-screen. But then when that Minute-15 Scene happens, everything takes place ON SCREEN and plays out in minute detail. And somehow that's how the audience knows that something important is happening, even if they're not clear how or why it's important.
I'm a freak, right?
Anyway...
You think this is what people mean when they say they "eat, sleep, breath" what they do? If I'm not writing or thinking about the story, I'm pondering why I write, then falling asleep and dreaming in movies.
I think it's the deadline, and watching my first word count marker rapidly approaching.
Sea turtles.
That's what it is, mate.
It's sea turtles.
:D
Space Shuttle Atlantis is in orbit!!!
ThurFri and FriSat were crazy workdays for me, so I didn't get a chance to blog the glorious news...
Space Shuttle Atlantis LAUNCHED FRIDAY!!!
It's set to dock with the International Space Station at 3:38 pm today (Sunday)!!! (Since both Kennedy Space Center, Florida and Houston, Texas are in the Central Time Zone, I'm assuming that's Central time. I could be wrong.) (Also, that would be 9:38 pm Gnomey Time, hehe.)
The significance of the shuttle going up is that it was meant to go up in April, but a hail storm grounded it. And there were supposed to be an extraordinary FIVE shuttle missions this year to deliver components necessary to complete the ISS's full growth by 2010, when shuttles missions will cease.
I want an International Space Station orbiting our planet, so that while huge corporations are conducting scientific research for purely commercial purposes, the ISS can house scientific research for purely SCIENTIFIC purposes! Knowledge wants to be FREE!
Blah.
So anyway, when the Atlantis didn't launch a few months ago I was afraid that something might happen to postpone it AGAIN this month, and the shuttle program wouldn't be able to make all 5 scheduled missions to complete the ISS.
But the Atlantis DID launch! And it's up there, and it'll be docking in 10 hours, 3 minutes!
YAY!!!
Let's see, other stuff going on...
Well, my life sort of went on hiatus when I came back to work, lol. That's kind of the way it goes: I have this rich, exciting life on my 3-day weekend, then during the 4 days I work nothing too big happens, usually. I go to work, go to sleep, and that's more or less it.
Back in my SecondLife days I tended to do quite a lot before and after work, but I honestly don't mind the slower pace at which I'm currently living. (For now.)
Tommy's work is jetting him all over the nation for the month of June, so our short is in a hilding patern. I discovered this when I asked him not to freak-out, then told him I was partaking in Script Frenzy. He then said "Then I guess I don't have to feel bad that my company is sending me out of town all this month".
That worked out rather tidily, wouldn't you say?
I'm ready, too! I've got 3 days of serious writing to do. By my own calculations, I need to have 5,838 words written by the time I come back to work next week in order to be on schedule. (At about 167 words per page, that's 35-ish pages. Or just over half an hour of screen time.)
TOTALLY do-able!
You know why? Because I put in the time to outline my script scene-by-scene already! If I hadn't done that I'd be a bit concerned. But by thoroughly "breaking" my story first, I know what I'll be sitting down to write, and I don't have to worry as much about not knowing where I'm going next!
Very groovy!
So yay!
And after I've made my word count for the day, I have the first series of MI5 (aka SPOOKS in the UK) and EXTRAS at the casa for my viewing pleasure! So that's something to look forward to!
Then there's my FAVORITE sport: Gnomey watching!!! (Where will the Pink-Breasted Munts Munts be spotted THIS weekend? And what will her plumage be like?) :D
Okay, I should get back to work so I can begin my weekend on time!
PEACE!!!
Space Shuttle Atlantis LAUNCHED FRIDAY!!!
It's set to dock with the International Space Station at 3:38 pm today (Sunday)!!! (Since both Kennedy Space Center, Florida and Houston, Texas are in the Central Time Zone, I'm assuming that's Central time. I could be wrong.) (Also, that would be 9:38 pm Gnomey Time, hehe.)
The significance of the shuttle going up is that it was meant to go up in April, but a hail storm grounded it. And there were supposed to be an extraordinary FIVE shuttle missions this year to deliver components necessary to complete the ISS's full growth by 2010, when shuttles missions will cease.
I want an International Space Station orbiting our planet, so that while huge corporations are conducting scientific research for purely commercial purposes, the ISS can house scientific research for purely SCIENTIFIC purposes! Knowledge wants to be FREE!
Blah.
So anyway, when the Atlantis didn't launch a few months ago I was afraid that something might happen to postpone it AGAIN this month, and the shuttle program wouldn't be able to make all 5 scheduled missions to complete the ISS.
But the Atlantis DID launch! And it's up there, and it'll be docking in 10 hours, 3 minutes!
YAY!!!
Let's see, other stuff going on...
Well, my life sort of went on hiatus when I came back to work, lol. That's kind of the way it goes: I have this rich, exciting life on my 3-day weekend, then during the 4 days I work nothing too big happens, usually. I go to work, go to sleep, and that's more or less it.
Back in my SecondLife days I tended to do quite a lot before and after work, but I honestly don't mind the slower pace at which I'm currently living. (For now.)
Tommy's work is jetting him all over the nation for the month of June, so our short is in a hilding patern. I discovered this when I asked him not to freak-out, then told him I was partaking in Script Frenzy. He then said "Then I guess I don't have to feel bad that my company is sending me out of town all this month".
That worked out rather tidily, wouldn't you say?
I'm ready, too! I've got 3 days of serious writing to do. By my own calculations, I need to have 5,838 words written by the time I come back to work next week in order to be on schedule. (At about 167 words per page, that's 35-ish pages. Or just over half an hour of screen time.)
TOTALLY do-able!
You know why? Because I put in the time to outline my script scene-by-scene already! If I hadn't done that I'd be a bit concerned. But by thoroughly "breaking" my story first, I know what I'll be sitting down to write, and I don't have to worry as much about not knowing where I'm going next!
Very groovy!
So yay!
And after I've made my word count for the day, I have the first series of MI5 (aka SPOOKS in the UK) and EXTRAS at the casa for my viewing pleasure! So that's something to look forward to!
Then there's my FAVORITE sport: Gnomey watching!!! (Where will the Pink-Breasted Munts Munts be spotted THIS weekend? And what will her plumage be like?) :D
Okay, I should get back to work so I can begin my weekend on time!
PEACE!!!
I'm A Sur-VIV-or!
In a zombie apocolypse, I'd be okay! I took this test and my score was:
Your Score: Lucky
You scored 57 Survival!
Well you survived, you cant thrive but you can make it eating rats and running.
| Link: The Zombie Survival Guide Test written by dadeathwing on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test |
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
I Feel Like A WRITER!!! :D
I believe I mentioned that as of June 1, 2007 and until 11:59:59 June 30, 2007 I'm participating in a lunatic online event called Script Frenzy?
Well today I logged my first official word count: 2,875 word!
And what's REALLY nuts is that today I completely switched script! Started from SCRATCH!
Here's the thing: I offered for Brian to join me in this insanity, explaining that I think it will be a freeing educational exercise. I have found, over 15 years of study and trial and oh-so-much error, that in the beginning stages as writers we can really over-thing ourselves and our abilities, to the point of paralysis. As complex and subtle as writing is, it's also JUST TELLING A STORY. It's very simple, and most of us can do it intuitively.
So Brian came up with this far-out, well wacky Comedy idea that threw this brilliant character he created into this whole new slew of situations and characters. I came up with a basic structure, and I went to work on it.
I hit some road blocks, and he and I had some in-depth conversations about possibilities. Then I got back to work on it.
This weekend I wrote 1,170 words on it before I realized I was just out of my depth alone.
Brian's not really down for this spend-a-whole-month-devoted-to-completing-a-draft thing (which I FULLY understand) and Comedy is just not something I can write by myself.
So I dug up this Horror concept I've been toying with... That is to say, a concept that's been toying with ME. I have this brilliant -- I'm serious, it's BRILLIANT -- idea that keeps adding to itself in my mind. Many idea seem to shrink once you begin exploring them. (Anyone who has tried to write a novel or feature-length screenplay for the first time knows EXACTLY what I mean.) But this idea keeps growing and growing!!!
So I thought, "What the hey?!!"
Script Frenzy isn't about which idea is the best or the most marketable, it's about starting from scratch with an idea and trying to complete the rough draft -- 20,000 words or more -- in a month.
So I whipped it out, slapped it on the table, and I've been writing on it since roughly 7:00 am this morning. That was 9 1/2 hours ago, lol.
Now, much of that time was not putting words into a document file. That's the smallest part of writing. (The fun part.) Most of it was eating, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, doing dishes, watching a couple of episodes of THE SIMPSONS on dvd, chatting with Brian, trying not to fall asleep, listening to some Book Of Love, and then eating again, lol.
But the words that made it into a document file...!!! NICE!!!
And the rush I'm feeling right now comes from the excitement of CREATION!!! Today I created a bunch of characters with lives and desires, and I threw some nasty stuff their way, and I'm watching them deal with that stuff!!!
It's so funny: I created an approaching storm for them a couple of hours ago, and I still FEEL that storm coming when I'm away from the keyboard, lol! I through the storm in there because it's dramatic and symbolic, and because I like storms. And I step away from the fictional world I made and I still get to enjoy the storm, lol.
And the nice things about this is that THIS time I'm writing a Horror world I really enjoy. The last Horror script I wrote -- back in December or January -- had a lot of elements I didn't really connect with. I had to research the world of BDSM, and power-exchange is just NOT something I can relate to. (In a relationship, I give myself wholey to someone willing to give herself wholey to me. It's about mutual respect and trust and adoration... not "scenes", ya know? Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just me. I'm "vanilla," I believe the term is.)
But THIS WORLD...! It's a world I grew up with! It's a world I spent HOURS at the cinema recoiling from! (In that FUN way, hehe.)
For YEARS I rejected the possibility of writing this world because I thought it too simple! But now I understand that I only found it simplistic because I hadn't explored it fully. There are nuances I want to put into this script that I still haven't figured out how to do yet!
I'm sorry. I'm just very, very giddy right now. If you hear someone say that writing is like a drug, don't dismiss them so quickly. (As I have.) It's not the mere act of creation, it's putting in the hours, then looking back and discovering that you've ACTUALLY DONE SOME WORK! It's AMAZING!
And I'm getting all that fun stuff you've heard/read writer's talking about: I sketched out an outline before I started working, so I knew that the place I was going was a destination worth visiting, and when I stared writing, my characters wouldn't follow the beaten path, lol. I can't force them to go where I'm leading them, so I just follow them and try to herd them in the (generally) right direction. But following them gives me a much more interesting journey. (If you haven't experienced this phenomenon, SERIOUSLY, just sketch out a story in 3 acts -- it doesn't have to be great or even good, just something you like -- then create people and give them personalities, and then write the story and remain true to their personalities. You find they do things a bit differently than you expected! YOU! THEIR CREATOR!!! I'm not saying their behavior will SHOCK you very often, but it will OFTEN throw your original outline for a loop, lol.)
Blah.
Okay, I still have a bit more work to do before I can let myself off the hook for today. (This blog entry is yet ANOTHER in my many (may I add "necessary") breaks between writing, lol.) So I'm going to get back to work and wish all of you A WONDEFUL EVENING!!!
And to my Gnomey Goddess: I LOVE YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH & THANK YOU FOR YOU!!!
PEACE!!!
:D
Well today I logged my first official word count: 2,875 word!
And what's REALLY nuts is that today I completely switched script! Started from SCRATCH!
Here's the thing: I offered for Brian to join me in this insanity, explaining that I think it will be a freeing educational exercise. I have found, over 15 years of study and trial and oh-so-much error, that in the beginning stages as writers we can really over-thing ourselves and our abilities, to the point of paralysis. As complex and subtle as writing is, it's also JUST TELLING A STORY. It's very simple, and most of us can do it intuitively.
So Brian came up with this far-out, well wacky Comedy idea that threw this brilliant character he created into this whole new slew of situations and characters. I came up with a basic structure, and I went to work on it.
I hit some road blocks, and he and I had some in-depth conversations about possibilities. Then I got back to work on it.
This weekend I wrote 1,170 words on it before I realized I was just out of my depth alone.
Brian's not really down for this spend-a-whole-month-devoted-to-completing-a-draft thing (which I FULLY understand) and Comedy is just not something I can write by myself.
So I dug up this Horror concept I've been toying with... That is to say, a concept that's been toying with ME. I have this brilliant -- I'm serious, it's BRILLIANT -- idea that keeps adding to itself in my mind. Many idea seem to shrink once you begin exploring them. (Anyone who has tried to write a novel or feature-length screenplay for the first time knows EXACTLY what I mean.) But this idea keeps growing and growing!!!
So I thought, "What the hey?!!"
Script Frenzy isn't about which idea is the best or the most marketable, it's about starting from scratch with an idea and trying to complete the rough draft -- 20,000 words or more -- in a month.
So I whipped it out, slapped it on the table, and I've been writing on it since roughly 7:00 am this morning. That was 9 1/2 hours ago, lol.
Now, much of that time was not putting words into a document file. That's the smallest part of writing. (The fun part.) Most of it was eating, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, doing dishes, watching a couple of episodes of THE SIMPSONS on dvd, chatting with Brian, trying not to fall asleep, listening to some Book Of Love, and then eating again, lol.
But the words that made it into a document file...!!! NICE!!!
And the rush I'm feeling right now comes from the excitement of CREATION!!! Today I created a bunch of characters with lives and desires, and I threw some nasty stuff their way, and I'm watching them deal with that stuff!!!
It's so funny: I created an approaching storm for them a couple of hours ago, and I still FEEL that storm coming when I'm away from the keyboard, lol! I through the storm in there because it's dramatic and symbolic, and because I like storms. And I step away from the fictional world I made and I still get to enjoy the storm, lol.
And the nice things about this is that THIS time I'm writing a Horror world I really enjoy. The last Horror script I wrote -- back in December or January -- had a lot of elements I didn't really connect with. I had to research the world of BDSM, and power-exchange is just NOT something I can relate to. (In a relationship, I give myself wholey to someone willing to give herself wholey to me. It's about mutual respect and trust and adoration... not "scenes", ya know? Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just me. I'm "vanilla," I believe the term is.)
But THIS WORLD...! It's a world I grew up with! It's a world I spent HOURS at the cinema recoiling from! (In that FUN way, hehe.)
For YEARS I rejected the possibility of writing this world because I thought it too simple! But now I understand that I only found it simplistic because I hadn't explored it fully. There are nuances I want to put into this script that I still haven't figured out how to do yet!
I'm sorry. I'm just very, very giddy right now. If you hear someone say that writing is like a drug, don't dismiss them so quickly. (As I have.) It's not the mere act of creation, it's putting in the hours, then looking back and discovering that you've ACTUALLY DONE SOME WORK! It's AMAZING!
And I'm getting all that fun stuff you've heard/read writer's talking about: I sketched out an outline before I started working, so I knew that the place I was going was a destination worth visiting, and when I stared writing, my characters wouldn't follow the beaten path, lol. I can't force them to go where I'm leading them, so I just follow them and try to herd them in the (generally) right direction. But following them gives me a much more interesting journey. (If you haven't experienced this phenomenon, SERIOUSLY, just sketch out a story in 3 acts -- it doesn't have to be great or even good, just something you like -- then create people and give them personalities, and then write the story and remain true to their personalities. You find they do things a bit differently than you expected! YOU! THEIR CREATOR!!! I'm not saying their behavior will SHOCK you very often, but it will OFTEN throw your original outline for a loop, lol.)
Blah.
Okay, I still have a bit more work to do before I can let myself off the hook for today. (This blog entry is yet ANOTHER in my many (may I add "necessary") breaks between writing, lol.) So I'm going to get back to work and wish all of you A WONDEFUL EVENING!!!
And to my Gnomey Goddess: I LOVE YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH & THANK YOU FOR YOU!!!
PEACE!!!
:D
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Read "1408" by Stephen King!!!
One of my very best and longest... um, oldest? No.
Chuck, one of my best friends and I guy I've known since we were both kids, blogged on his MySpace page that he was excited about the upcoming John Cusack flick 1408. I read what he had to say about it being adapted from a Stephen King short story, and then I remembered that I had seen the trailer before!
AND IT LOOKED GOOD!
I don't know how it happened, but somehow when I woke up yesterday before work, I got this obsession to read this short story.
Or, preferably, to let someone read it to me, lol. If you know me you know I'm obsessed with aural storytelling, for reasons I will probably never understand. I like me some OTR, I love me some BBC Radio dramas and comedies, and I love me some audiobooks!!!
So the first thing I did when I woke up was log on to my IM to see if my baby was online.
Duh.
But when she wasn't, the SECOND thing I did when I woke up -- as I waited to see if my Gnomage would log on -- was wikipedia "1408" and find out where it was published.
Turns out that it was originally recorded for BLOOD AND SMOKE!!!
Here's why that's exciting to me:
In 1999 I remember being in Walmart, in the audiobook section (which was considerably smaller then; not that it's huge now, lol) and I was excited to see that there was a new King audiobook! I was EVEN MORE excited when I read the back and discovered that this was an AUDIO EXCLUSIVE! King had read these 3 short stories that hadn't been published in an anthology, and you could only enjoy them here, on audio!!!
Stephen King's cool that way! Like the first couple of chapters of THE PLANT that he tried to sell for $1 a chapter over the Net! He tries new things! (I read THE GREEN MILE between March and August on 1996 in it's original 6-part format, waiting eagerly each month for the next installment.)
Anyway, so I was excited when I saw that king had released 3 new short stories EXCLUSIVELY for my favorite medium! (Well... one of them. It's really a toss-up between audio and film. And TV when it's done well, lol.)
But I was also broke. :( I was really just teasing myself by looking in the audiobook section anyway.
So time goes by, and by the time I could afford to by it (surprise, surprise) it's no longer available. (At Walmart. I could have bought it at Barnes & Noble or Borders Books for, like, $15.00 more. But 15 bucks is 15 bucks.)
And more time passes and I get excited about other things, like ya do...
So jump ahead to yesterday, and my discovery that "1408" was originally released on SMOKE AND BLOOD, and then later published in print in EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL.
But the fact that it was published in audiobook form means that I can hop over to my go-to online media store: iTunes!!! (Buying a Video iPod was one of the best investments I have ever made, lol!!!) So I track down BLOOD AND SMOKE, find the page, click on "Buy"...
...and get a message telling me that this item has just been updated, and my be available on another page.
Hmph.
I had a similar situation with DEATH RACE 2000. Only it was reversed: I couldn't get to the individual page for the movie to buy it -- a message informing me that the item was no longer available -- but I could purchase it off the Search page. (So I did, naturally, feeling gleefully as though I had sneaked past The System somehow, hehe.) But the BLOOD AND SMOKE page didn't have a section below where I could buy it at all.
Hmph.
And then I remembered my old-school audiobook stand-by: Audible.com!
Audible was a revelation for audio-whores such as myself before iTunes, and it still possesses THE BEST selection of audiobooks! I was super psyched when I learned that Audible and iTunes had hooked-up, because those are both 2 great services that are made exponentially greater in tandem.
But what iTunes may not have, Audible still MAY have!
So I dusted off my old Audible Manager, went to the site and seached Stephen King.
AND THEY HAD IT!!! YAY!!!
Now, realize that I had woken up early enough that I could have stopped by Borders on my way to work. But there were 2 problems with that: The CD version of the audiobook was likely to be maybe as much as twice as expensive as the mp3 audiobook (and it is), and also this was SatSun. On SatSuns I do ridiculously little work during my shift (well, compared to the rest of my work week, anyway, lol) and so I actually have time to listen to a short story on my iPod, before the other 2 operators' shifts are over and I'm left all alone in the station. However, if I bought the audiobook on CD I could only listen to it in my car and at home.
But on the iPod I can listen to it while walking down the stairs to my car, in my car, and while walking into the building. Then I turn it off, do some work, and resume the story during my next stretch of down-time.
iPod RULES!!!
Besides, had I bought the CD version, it was just gettin' converted to mp3s anyway, lol.
So for half -- or less -- than what I would have paid for the CD version, I bought BLOOD AND SMOKE and downloaded it to my iPod and I got to listen to "1408" last night!
AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!
It's one of the great horror short stories EVER, hehe! It reminded me of the type of thing Lovecraft wrote, but more effective. Lovecraft would write these stories that were intellectually scary, but you often didn't FEEL scared. You know what I mean? But King nailed it! I was freaked-out for a little while after I listened to the story, hehe. It really messed with my head.
Very nicely done!
Plus, I got to hear another King short story, which was really good, "Lunch at the Gotham", and I have another short story still waiting for me, "In the Deathroom".
So that's cool!
Also, both last night and tonight I got to have a couple of good conversations with my dear friend Kelly! He's been busy making a living as a professional editor, so we haven't been able to really chat for a while. Now 2 nights in a row we've been able to shoot the breeze, and that's cool!
Other than that, though, this has been a really chill day.
OOH! It started storming after Mom & Brian & I left the Chinese food place! That was way cool! I went to bed too late this morning, and I was exhausted when I woke up for Family Dinner, so I went to bed maybe half an hour after we got home from dinner, but I got to go to bed to the sounds of rain and thunder! That's always nice. I don't know why, but a storm outside always make me feel all relaxed and cozy when I'm in bed, hehe. The sound of rain always makes me want to STAY in bed, lol.
I miss my Wendy-Lady, tho'. I hope I get to see her before she goes to work. :D
Which is a couple of hours away, so I'm gonna wrap this up.
PEACE!!! :D
Chuck, one of my best friends and I guy I've known since we were both kids, blogged on his MySpace page that he was excited about the upcoming John Cusack flick 1408. I read what he had to say about it being adapted from a Stephen King short story, and then I remembered that I had seen the trailer before!
AND IT LOOKED GOOD!
I don't know how it happened, but somehow when I woke up yesterday before work, I got this obsession to read this short story.
Or, preferably, to let someone read it to me, lol. If you know me you know I'm obsessed with aural storytelling, for reasons I will probably never understand. I like me some OTR, I love me some BBC Radio dramas and comedies, and I love me some audiobooks!!!
So the first thing I did when I woke up was log on to my IM to see if my baby was online.
Duh.
But when she wasn't, the SECOND thing I did when I woke up -- as I waited to see if my Gnomage would log on -- was wikipedia "1408" and find out where it was published.
Turns out that it was originally recorded for BLOOD AND SMOKE!!!
Here's why that's exciting to me:
In 1999 I remember being in Walmart, in the audiobook section (which was considerably smaller then; not that it's huge now, lol) and I was excited to see that there was a new King audiobook! I was EVEN MORE excited when I read the back and discovered that this was an AUDIO EXCLUSIVE! King had read these 3 short stories that hadn't been published in an anthology, and you could only enjoy them here, on audio!!!
Stephen King's cool that way! Like the first couple of chapters of THE PLANT that he tried to sell for $1 a chapter over the Net! He tries new things! (I read THE GREEN MILE between March and August on 1996 in it's original 6-part format, waiting eagerly each month for the next installment.)
Anyway, so I was excited when I saw that king had released 3 new short stories EXCLUSIVELY for my favorite medium! (Well... one of them. It's really a toss-up between audio and film. And TV when it's done well, lol.)
But I was also broke. :( I was really just teasing myself by looking in the audiobook section anyway.
So time goes by, and by the time I could afford to by it (surprise, surprise) it's no longer available. (At Walmart. I could have bought it at Barnes & Noble or Borders Books for, like, $15.00 more. But 15 bucks is 15 bucks.)
And more time passes and I get excited about other things, like ya do...
So jump ahead to yesterday, and my discovery that "1408" was originally released on SMOKE AND BLOOD, and then later published in print in EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL.
But the fact that it was published in audiobook form means that I can hop over to my go-to online media store: iTunes!!! (Buying a Video iPod was one of the best investments I have ever made, lol!!!) So I track down BLOOD AND SMOKE, find the page, click on "Buy"...
...and get a message telling me that this item has just been updated, and my be available on another page.
Hmph.
I had a similar situation with DEATH RACE 2000. Only it was reversed: I couldn't get to the individual page for the movie to buy it -- a message informing me that the item was no longer available -- but I could purchase it off the Search page. (So I did, naturally, feeling gleefully as though I had sneaked past The System somehow, hehe.) But the BLOOD AND SMOKE page didn't have a section below where I could buy it at all.
Hmph.
And then I remembered my old-school audiobook stand-by: Audible.com!
Audible was a revelation for audio-whores such as myself before iTunes, and it still possesses THE BEST selection of audiobooks! I was super psyched when I learned that Audible and iTunes had hooked-up, because those are both 2 great services that are made exponentially greater in tandem.
But what iTunes may not have, Audible still MAY have!
So I dusted off my old Audible Manager, went to the site and seached Stephen King.
AND THEY HAD IT!!! YAY!!!
Now, realize that I had woken up early enough that I could have stopped by Borders on my way to work. But there were 2 problems with that: The CD version of the audiobook was likely to be maybe as much as twice as expensive as the mp3 audiobook (and it is), and also this was SatSun. On SatSuns I do ridiculously little work during my shift (well, compared to the rest of my work week, anyway, lol) and so I actually have time to listen to a short story on my iPod, before the other 2 operators' shifts are over and I'm left all alone in the station. However, if I bought the audiobook on CD I could only listen to it in my car and at home.
But on the iPod I can listen to it while walking down the stairs to my car, in my car, and while walking into the building. Then I turn it off, do some work, and resume the story during my next stretch of down-time.
iPod RULES!!!
Besides, had I bought the CD version, it was just gettin' converted to mp3s anyway, lol.
So for half -- or less -- than what I would have paid for the CD version, I bought BLOOD AND SMOKE and downloaded it to my iPod and I got to listen to "1408" last night!
AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!
It's one of the great horror short stories EVER, hehe! It reminded me of the type of thing Lovecraft wrote, but more effective. Lovecraft would write these stories that were intellectually scary, but you often didn't FEEL scared. You know what I mean? But King nailed it! I was freaked-out for a little while after I listened to the story, hehe. It really messed with my head.
Very nicely done!
Plus, I got to hear another King short story, which was really good, "Lunch at the Gotham", and I have another short story still waiting for me, "In the Deathroom".
So that's cool!
Also, both last night and tonight I got to have a couple of good conversations with my dear friend Kelly! He's been busy making a living as a professional editor, so we haven't been able to really chat for a while. Now 2 nights in a row we've been able to shoot the breeze, and that's cool!
Other than that, though, this has been a really chill day.
OOH! It started storming after Mom & Brian & I left the Chinese food place! That was way cool! I went to bed too late this morning, and I was exhausted when I woke up for Family Dinner, so I went to bed maybe half an hour after we got home from dinner, but I got to go to bed to the sounds of rain and thunder! That's always nice. I don't know why, but a storm outside always make me feel all relaxed and cozy when I'm in bed, hehe. The sound of rain always makes me want to STAY in bed, lol.
I miss my Wendy-Lady, tho'. I hope I get to see her before she goes to work. :D
Which is a couple of hours away, so I'm gonna wrap this up.
PEACE!!! :D
Viewer Mail
It's SatSun, and you know what that means... VIEWER MAIL!!!
Yes tomorning, like every SatSun tomorning, I crack open the mail bag and respond to some of your fascinating and insightful questions.
But first...
STINKY THE MAIL CLOWN! Say "Hi" stinky!
hi
That was Stinky the Mail Clown, everybody! Say "Bye" now, Stinky.
bi
Alright then! Now on to our first letter:
"YER WURDZ IZ 2 ME VILENT STROKING
UPON MY BACK IZ I SQUIRM
HOWL"
Alright there, Mr...
Or "Miss" Howl....
Well... Thanks, I suppose.
Let's move on to our second letter of the tomorning:
"TAIZTE UR ME 4
ON U HARD IZ ME
SWETZ N SLIMEZ
GRUNT"
Thank you, too Mr./Miss Grunt. Charmed, I'm sure.
What's that?
OH! Hey, Everybody! It looks like a SURPRISE VISIT from our new good friend KRAZY WILLY! How's it going, Krazy Willy?
No, don't tell me. Type it on the blog entry.
Come on, it's fun! Just type something for the readers.
Go ahead!
It's fun!
Okay, Krazy Willy doesn't want to type anything...
Well, you know that Krazy Willy, hehe... He's crazy!
So it looks like we've got time for one more letter:
"OINK OINK OINK OINK SKWEEL!"
Alright, that's Viewer Mail for this week.
Be sure to tune in next SatSun!
:)
Yes tomorning, like every SatSun tomorning, I crack open the mail bag and respond to some of your fascinating and insightful questions.
But first...
STINKY THE MAIL CLOWN! Say "Hi" stinky!
hi
That was Stinky the Mail Clown, everybody! Say "Bye" now, Stinky.
bi
Alright then! Now on to our first letter:
"YER WURDZ IZ 2 ME VILENT STROKING
UPON MY BACK IZ I SQUIRM
HOWL"
Alright there, Mr...
Or "Miss" Howl....
Well... Thanks, I suppose.
Let's move on to our second letter of the tomorning:
"TAIZTE UR ME 4
ON U HARD IZ ME
SWETZ N SLIMEZ
GRUNT"
Thank you, too Mr./Miss Grunt. Charmed, I'm sure.
What's that?
OH! Hey, Everybody! It looks like a SURPRISE VISIT from our new good friend KRAZY WILLY! How's it going, Krazy Willy?
No, don't tell me. Type it on the blog entry.
Come on, it's fun! Just type something for the readers.
Go ahead!
It's fun!
Okay, Krazy Willy doesn't want to type anything...
Well, you know that Krazy Willy, hehe... He's crazy!
So it looks like we've got time for one more letter:
"OINK OINK OINK OINK SKWEEL!"
Alright, that's Viewer Mail for this week.
Be sure to tune in next SatSun!
:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
