No Thanks, I Already Have a Penguin

2002-07-20T16:29:00.000-04:00

Moving!

Blogger's a little flakey, so I moved over to Jeremy's server... here's my new address... there will be no future posts here...

See you on the flipside!

2002-07-18T14:05:00.000-04:00

Running into Walls

My eyedoctor thinks she is funny. She measured the script for my old glasses, then checked my vision.

"Are you having problems running into walls?"

Ha.

Ha.

Ah well. So now I have contacts again. I'd been thinking about this for a while, getting the extended wear sort of lenses that you can wear for 2 weeks and then throw out. I hate waking up fumbling for my specs. I hate having to clean my specs on the tail of my shirt. I hate walking outdoors in the summer and being suddenly blinded by condensation. Also, I thought it might be cool to have colored lenses... violet maybe? Or brown? Not sure.

In two weeks, I go back to the eye doctor to make sure everything is peachy with the new lenses. She said, for a few days, that my close work might suffer, and she's right. My computer is mildly blurry - and very very LARGE. There's something about going from specs to contacts that makes everything seem much larger than it really is. Actually, I think it's reversed. Glasses make everything look smaller. But I'm used to glasses, so I'm adjusting.

2002-07-16T11:27:00.000-04:00

Ten.... Thousand.... Platinum....

Picture the above being said with absolute reverence. 'Cause that's about how I said it. One of my EQ friends dropped me a note last night saying "Hey, Jahkari, if you got a minute, would you stop by Gfay? I got some stuff for you." This is not uncommon for this particular friend. He's one of my EQ "boyfriends" and he's got something like 3 different accounts and 5 or 6 +60 level characters, so he's often got some really cool gear - and he passes his old gear off to me.

This time was a bit different. I show up in gfay (after whining at Andahl to give me a port - thanks Andy, so sorry I named a patriarchicial country after you!) and M meets me at the bank in Kelethen.

"Here," he says and hands me 10,034pp.

I almost fell out of my chair.

Ten.

Thousand.

Platinum.

"Go crazy, get a new bow... " Gfay, in case you're not an EQ nut is the biggest /auction zone on our server. (I understand it's Freeport on other servers). Buying and selling takes place constantly there. So I sat down, turned /auction on, and started reading. And buying. And buying. And more buying.

In the end I got....

Blessed Faydark Stinger (bow) Damage: 20 (+7 damage bonus) Delay: 60 Range: 200 Str: +5 Wis: +5

Barbed Ringmail (chest): AC: +30 Str: +9 HP: +50

Tigeraptor Cloak: AC +9, Str +8, Sta +6, Dex +10, Wis +6

Spider Fur Cloak: AC +10, Str +4, Sta +4, vsCold +6

Lamentation: (long sword, 1 handed slash): Dmg 9 (+7 damage bonus), Dly 19. Str +6, Sta +6, HP +20

A pair of Chipped Bone Bracelet: AC +4, Wis +5, Effect of Affliction Efficiency II.

Crystal Covered Shroud: AC +12, Str +4, Wis +4, Int +4, vsCold +10

I didn't actually need 2 Chipped Bone Bracelets, but the girl who was selling them was selling them as a pair only (of course, they usually run about 400pp each and she was selling a pair for 300pp). I figure I'll sell the other one later. (yeah, right... I hate selling crap... I'll turn it over to Arcturon for his standard 10% selling fee). I also didn't need a Crystal Covered Shroud, that's caster armor, but it's a standard price of 400pp and I picked it up for 100pp. Likewise, turn over to Arc for resale. The cloak was my screw-up. I picked up the Spider Fur first, then saw someone selling the Tigeraptor... but that's ok... "Arc... come here, dear... "

I managed to sell off my old bow - a Trueshot - almost immediately as soon as I bought the new one... but I still have my old chest armor, off-hand sword, and cloak. Ry'gorr Battle Mail tunic should sell relatively well, and there's another ranger in my guild who'd probably be happy to see the Dragonhorn Ykeesha that I've been using for... 20-some levels now. He bought my old Short Sword of Ykeesha a few months ago and the Dragon Yak and SSOY make a wicked combination, especially for a ranger. Of course, Wurmslayer and Lamentation make a much wickeder combination. Wow. I went out and beat up Chief Goonda last night (because I could, and hey, I owe him a few deaths anyway) and was doing an average of 60 points of damage with every blow and I hit 4 times a round (and that's without a Haste... oh, Balthenie, my love, come here and Haste me, would you?) On the other hand, after one fight, I could see that I'll need someone on back up with an Invigor. The two swords are heavy and my fatigue was dropped flat halfway through the fight.

In any case, I was up til almost three last night buying, selling, and showing off my new gear.

Thanks, M!

2002-07-14T17:00:00.000-04:00

Litter Boxes

You know, I think everyone who owns cats will agree that changing a litter box is just about the most annoying part about the whole cat-ownership relationship (I'll leave it to you to figure out if I own my cats or they own me... ). Karen - an avid cat-hater from way back when - lists it on her top ten reasons why dogs are better than cats. Of course, Karen thinks we're all crazy for owning cats in the first place... I generally agree with her assessment that we're crazy, but I'm almost positive that I'd much rather change a litter box than stand outside at o'dark thirty in mid-January in upstate New York, pooper-scoop in hand, trying to convince a walking slobber machine that really, this bush is no different from that bush when it comes to prime waste disposal locations. Then again, I don't much like dogs. This is all beside the point, as the litter box really needed cleaned today.

Part of this is because, well, the cats use it regularly (this is a good thing, really. Bear and Sandi, much as I love and miss them, were not exactly religious about using the litter box if the dirty laundry pile looked more inviting) so it should be changed about once a week. However, Kevin and I are in this sort of subliminal battle of wills.

Kevin will not change the litter box. Period. End of story. It doesn't matter why, I can be dying of the flu and he won't do it. I can be stuck on the couch for three months with a broken leg and he won't do it. (This is a verifiable fact - last year, when I was confined to the couch with a broken arm and broken leg, the litter box got changed exactly three times, once by Liz and twice by Ashby. In three months! Gah!) In the grand scheme of "yes we are, no we're not trying to get pregnant", I think I'll have to invest in those disposable litter trays and hope some of my friends take pity on me to throw them out once in a while - there's some thing about pregnant women and kitty waste that aren't supposed to mix well.

However, I won't take the trash out. Period. End of story. So, he's supposed to take out the used litter and throw it away. It's all bagged up nice and neat and whatnot. After I clean the litter box, I'll tell him "Hey, sweetie, I cleaned the catboxes, can you take out the trash?" and he'll say "In a bit." and it won't get done. And it won't get done. I hate having a buildup of trashbags in the cat-room (ok, it's a utility closet, and as good a place as any to put the cat boxes), so I tend to try to avoid changing the litter box until Kevin's taken out the trash.

Sighs.

There are two trashbags in there now. I'm giving it 10-to-1 odds that there are three next week.

2002-07-14T00:58:00.000-04:00

No Posts

Well, Blogger seems to hate me, for some reason... can't post a thing... how lovely.

On the other hand, it gave me the chance to delete a boring little grumble about EQ that I'm almost positive no one is interested in except maybe me.

I had a wonderful chicken dinner this evening at Ruby Tuesday's called Church Street Chicken, which was grilled chicken and bacon with garlic and cheese over rice. Yummy!

2002-07-12T17:20:00.000-04:00

Movies I'd Like to See

Reign of Fire - I've been semi-dubious about this movie... for one thing, McConaughey looks exceedingly stupid with no hair (some guys can pull off the shaved look - Vin Diesel, for instance) but McConaughey is not one of them. He looks like a neonazi idiot. However, I like stupid action movies with good special effects, and everything I've heard suggests that the dragons might actually be cool. Still debating...

Men In Black II - Well, I really liked the first one, I almost always adore Tommy Lee Jones, and Will Smith, when he's not trying to play a cowboy, is usually pretty funny. (ref: Wild, Wild West which had only one benefit - the AC in my apartment was broken and it was 2 hours in an AC-fied theater)

PowerPuff Girls - Still considering this one... I'm a big fan of the TV show, but I can only stand about 15 minutes of Power-packed, Overly Pink, Brutual Cuteness (TM) before I have to go eat a lemon or something. On the other hand, Kevin really likes MoJo JoJo (I confess, my favorite PowerPuffs villian is Steve "Hi, I'm a monster, my name is Steve.") and I know he wants to see it. Maybe we'll go catch it as a matinee and I'll knock over some old lady for an insulin kit.

K-19: The Widowmaker - Harrison Ford as a Russian sub-captain! Cool! Aside from the fact that Ford's Russian accent sounds more like the Scottish Lord he tried in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade than Russian - I feel about the same way about his accent that the guard did... "If you are a Scottish Lord, than I am Mickey Mouse!". On the other hand, it's only moderately worse that Connery's accent playing a Russian Sub-captain.

Signs - Well, I like Shyamalan (even if it did take me three times to spell that right) and I like Mel Gibson and I like crop circles. So, what's not to like? Except that no one else is even remotely interested in seeing this movie... prolly going to be a wait-til-video or a KT goes by herself.

XXX - I am only interested in this film because of Vin Diesel. ::wanders away from the keyboard to fan herself for a moment:: Ok. I rather expect this to be a bad movie. Of course, I was expecting Jason X to be a bad movie - I was not disappointed - but it did have its moments, beyond just eyecandy.

Blood Work - Maybe. Still iffy. I like Clint Eastwood, but really, pal, you're getting too old for this shit.

2002-07-11T00:55:00.000-04:00

A Beautiful Mind

Every Wednesday, Liz and Kevin and I "do something." Something varies from week to week... sometimes we play puttputt... sometimes we go to a movie, sometimes we rent movies. Once we played a hellaciously funny game of Star Wars monopoly. We usually eat or go out to dinner (tonight's menu was keilbasa and kraut with a side of cheese rice)...

Today, we rented A Beautiful Mind. Kevin and Liz had both expressed interest in seeing the movie, for completely different reasons, but you know, that's ok...

Kevin wanted to see it because he's sort of grumpy that Lord of the Rings didn't win Best Picture. Mostly, I think he wanted to watch it and then make snarky commentary about how badly it sucked and why LotR should have won instead. I feel about the same way about Forest Gump, so I didn't argue with that logic - excepting, of course, that I have more sense than to actually watch Forest Gump. But I do rather resent the fact that Shawshank Redeption, which was a brilliant, moving, and emotional piece (not to mention being written by Stephen King, who is among my favorite writers - and is, generally, completely unappreciated by "serious" moviegoers or readers) was outstripped by Forest Gump, which had no plot or character development. This is me getting eyestrain from rolling my eyes so hard.

Liz wanted to see Beautiful Mind because it's about a math guy, and she's got a Master's Degree in math. Back in college, she and I used to argue (in fun, really) about who had the better major - me in Literature (which has no "right" answers, only well-defended premises) or her with mathmatics (which always has a right answer). I, of course, still think that Literature is a better major. I guess it boils down, for me, to one simple thing. Computers can do math. I've never once seen one draw a picture, write a poem, or hum a song. Not, I guess, that math isn't useful... I suppose. But then, I suck at math. Almost as much as I suck at spelling.

Well... I wasn't particularly interested in seeing Beautiful Mind. I mean, I like Russel Crowe okay... Gladiator was a fun movie... and, of course, L.A. Confidential (which, I confess, I saw because Kevin Spacey was in it). But I wasn't particularly interested in a movie about a guy who won the Nobel Prize for economics... I mean... seriously, how boring can you get?

However, Kevin and Liz so rarely agree on anything they want to watch - I highly suspect Liz of catering to my husband from time to time as sort of "rent" that she has to pay in order to have time to spend with me - so, this seemed like a good thing. I'd sit through a boring movie so that Liz would be happy and so Kevin could feel smug and snarky. That is not exactly what happened.

At first, I was sort of dubious... Russel Crowe's a bit old to be playing someone just starting off in grad school. And he's terribly inept at socialization. I admit to having quivers about that sort of thing. I know a lot of people think those "embarrassing moments" are funny, or help you feel not so bad about your own mistakes. I don't. I get... almost sick to my stomach about them. Like, in Karate Kid, when Daniel bumps into the waiter at the country club and everyone laughs at him? I didn't think that was funny at all. I was close to tears. And that's even a bad movie where I'm not at all attached to the main character. So, I'm feeling a little flinchy for the first... twenty minutes of the movie.

And then, all of the sudden - WHAM! - and I am hooked. I sat on the couch and watched the whole thing, hardly moving, barely blinking. WOW. The story was compelling, the acting was fabulous, the scenes... amazing.

Even Kevin, who almost never admits to wrongness, was impressed. He said that yes, the movie deserved to win.

2002-07-09T15:59:00.000-04:00

EQ Wedding

Ok... so I got married again. I keep doing that. You'd think, by now, I'd have enough wedding certificates to paper my bedroom or something.

Let's see...

Vallel is married to Gloss.
Tyl is married to Jelarthna.
Loria is married to Kevil (and the two of them will eventually be married to Diya)
Bastian is married to Catreenia.

And those are just my Hall relationships... on top of that, Jahkari was married to Starfall, briefly engaged to Tinian, and is now married to Soress. Another other EQ character, Zephyrine is still single, but my bard is sort of dating Ahzrael.

On top of the fact that I have personally been married and divorced and remarried.

You'd think this would get old after a while, wouldn't you?

2002-07-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

Nine Pages

Whew! No wonder I'm exhausted. I wrote nine pages of a short story today. Which does not, unfortunately, give me much energy or enthusiasm to chat here... So, go read the story. Feel free to email me with commentary.

2002-07-06T22:01:00.000-04:00

Meat Pie

Yay! I have a food processor. This is such a neat thing! One of my favorite recipes in the last two years or so is a medieval type meat-pie. But you need a food processor or meat grinder to make it (I highly recommend a food processor... much easier on the arm!). Sometime just after Christmas, my old food processor - which was really my mom's mini-processor that she only bought to chop nuts and I stole - gave up the ghost. [Staring John Ritter, the Ghost of Food Processors Past, coming soon!] Well, actually it burst into flame. Eeep.

So, I got this new food processor last week, and used it for the first time today! ZZZZZZZZZ! wow! I was very impressed.

I am happy.

Meat Pie Recipe

3 lbs meat (lamb, beef, veal, pork, chicken, whatever you like... boneless, raw - NOT ground)

3 cups stuff (raisons, currants, chopped nuts, diced apples, shredded cheese, rice, breadcrumbs - whatever you like)

1 cup broth (beef or chicken, depending on meat(s) used)

1 cup white or red wine (to taste)

3 tablespoons spices (nutmeg, clove, ginger, cinamon, allspice, mace, cardamon, white pepper, salt, black pepper, cumin - whatever you like)

1 egg

2 full sized premade pie crusts (I recommend Pillsbury) and 16 frozen pre-packed pie tart shells

Directions:

cut meats into cubes 2x2 inches.

parboil meats for about 5 minutes

use food processor or meat grinder to make "minced" meats

Allow meat to cool

mix meat, extras, spices, wine, egg, and broth in large bowl

use an appropriately sized cookie cutter or glass to cut 8 "lids" out of each full sized pie crust - I use a juice tumbler

let tart shells thaw and fill with meat mixture til slightly rounded

put lid on each tart and close up sides

slit top crust to vent

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes on cookie sheet

These meat pies re-heat really well (remember to take them OUT of their little tins before reheating in microwave) and freeze for long term storage.

I was balancing the checkbook the other day because I needed to pay rent and I wanted to make sure there was enough money in the checking account to pay rent (always a good thing) and realized I forgot to fill in Kevin's last paycheck. So, not only was there enough money to pay rent, but there was a good extra $800. Always nice to have extra money.

Of course, I had to go buy $50 worth of earings, bracelets and jewelry tonight, totally on impulse. Ah well, I like it. The silver bracelet and the dangly earings especially. Very cool.

2002-07-05T23:44:00.000-04:00

Late late late

Sorry about that, but Blog-spot was down all day... hehe...

2002-07-05T06:28:00.000-04:00

Fireworks

You know, it's six in the morning... bleck. Why am I awake this early? I have no idea. Kevin and I were up late last night, and, to be honest, I don't think he actually slept at all, which puts me a little bit ahead of him - but you know, three hours of sleep really isn't that much of an improvement over none. On the other hand, he did sleep until almost two in the afternoon yesterday.

I thought, about two months ago, that he might actually get more sleep once he was off night shift. No dice. On the weekends, he barely gets any sleep. And tonight's his gaming night, on top of everything else. He works until six this afternoon and then is headed over to Scott's house to play Hackmaster. He'll get home around midnight, get three hours of sleep, and get up for another twelve hour shift. I keep being mildly worried that he's going to fall asleep at the wheel and wrap the car around a tree.

But then, ever since my own accident, I've been terrible about cars. I hate being in cars these days. I'm always convinced that there's going to be an accident. Which makes me a very bad passenger. It's gotten mildly better over the last year - or at least, I'm slightly less obvious about it - but personally, I'd be much happier if I never had to get into another car for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, I don't see any way to do that, so I'm coping as best I can. And trying not to piss too many people off by slamming on the air-brake or grabbing the "oh shit" handle, gasping, wincing and otherwise being a nervous wreck. Which is not to say I don't do it, because I do. I'm just trying to be less obvious about it.

Actually, I've found it helps enormously if I don't watch while people are driving.

We went to see fireworks with the Brookses last night. That was pretty cool. I haven't seen fireworks in several years now. Last year I was still encasted on the fourth. (If I remember correctly, I was out of my casts the day after.) But I still couldn't put weight on my leg at all, and the idea of being out with fifteen million people when I could barely walk and no longer had the "stay away from me" security of casts... no thank you. Year before that, Kevin and I tried to go see fireworks in downtown Newport News, but we couldn't find anything remotely resembling a parking place in a 15 block radius around where the display was supposed to be. After eight or nine circles of various parking lots, Kevin got disgusted and we went home without seeing a single sparkler. The year before that Kevin had to work on the fourth, and he still worked an "evening" shift at Gateway... four in the afternoon til one in the morning. I think we saw fireworks the year before that... what would that be, 1998? I think that was the year my dad gave us his season pass tickets for the Richmond Braves and we saw fireworks there. Although that might have been 1997. I'm not sure.

In any case, we drove up to the Brookses around 5:30, had dinner - hot dogs, beans, and coleslaw - and then went into CW for the display.

Have I mentioned I still have 1) a sprained toe and 2) a piece of glass imbedded in the bottom of my foot?

What was I thinking?

We parked in Zable stadium and walked the half mile or so down to DOG street. Took a breather there - Kevin actually called it, since I was panting for breath. Nice of him. I sometimes really hate admitting how weak I am. I mean, I've never exactly been what you'd call "in shape", but at least back in college I could walk from one side of campus to the other. In any case, I have a bad habit of not wanting to admit that I need the breather. Kevin's good for noticing that I'm trying to push harder than I should, and frequently keeps me from over-doing it. After my breather, we walked another half-mile down DOG street to the green. The governor's palace is about halfway down DOG street, between the college and the capital. Matt and Liz were having this odd "I'm not making any decisions" discussion - Liz was all "I have no opinions!" and Matt was busy asking for them. So I volunteered an opinion - let's go to the green. So we went. And then I noticed an empty spot, across the street from the govenor's mansion, on the far right side. There was a big tree there, but we could see about half the sky over the mansion, and honestly, I was very tired and footsore already. I was to the point where I didn't care if we saw any fireworks, I just wanted to sit the fuck down.

Liz and Matt began another one of their long, absurd discussions in which Liz declares something - in this case the declaration was "I'm hot, don't touch me! In fact, I will bite the next person who touches me!" and Matt spent the next twenty minutes or so trying to find circumstances under which it would be okay for someone to touch her. For instance, would a person made of ice be allowed to touch her? What about someone who had been holding a very cold soda? What about Oded Fehr? (Of course, I commented that under those circumstances, I might bite him anyway... yummy!) Which reminds me, Kevin touched her, and she didn't bite him - she says she was saving it for later, but I wouldn't be surprised if she just forgot about it. Neither, I might add, did she bite me, but then, she claimed that I would enjoy it too much. [note: this is me, making no denial.]

Finally, the fireworks started - on time too, wow! - and we settled in to watch. Much to my astonishment, the space we were in was absolutely perfect. The fireworks all went off in the clear bit of sky uncovered by tree, and we didn't have to crane our necks, get up, or so much as turn in the chair. Perfect. I was quite pleased. The fireworks themselves were pretty cool, too. I really liked the ones that looked like fireflies in a windstorm... neato! And, despite Kevin's protest about "the ring thing", I liked those too (have you seen the re-release of Star Wars: A New Hope? The ring thing happened there, when they blew up Alderaan and later, the Death Star. I think it's cool in the movies, and it certainly didn't bother me as a firework.)

Fireworks ended and there was another debate. Were we going to "follow the teaming masses" and walk back up DOG street, or were we going to go around the "back way"? After some hedginess on my part (I don't like walking in the dark, and I don't like hills, and I wasn't sure where exactly Matt meant to go, which meant I didn't know how hilly or uneven the way would be) we decided that "teaming" was the better option. Moo. We got up the Confusion Corner and took another breather. My ankle was aching pretty badly by that point... and the worst part is actually sitting, taking the weight off hurts almost as much - or more - than continuing to walk. Gah!

We got most of the way to the end of the Sunken Gardens and I really couldn't go any further. Liz was a bit limpy too... she's got problems with her feet, too. She's actually had a few surgeries for it, and has to wear arch supports all the time. I don't remember exactly what the problem is, but between being hot, and feet hurting, we decided to send the boys ahead for the car and Liz and I would wait for them. Which we did. This being CW, they were inevitably stopped for some idiot to ask directions. Gods! These nimrods had parked their car around Matthew Wiley elementary school and were over at Zable stadium, wondering where they left their car. (In case you're not familiar with the area, let's just say they were about two miles out in the wrong direction). Matt and Kevin got them pointed in the right direction, but somehow I doubt they made their car any time in the next two hours.

We headed back to Liz and Matt's, got a slurpee, then headed home. All in all, a good day, but my ankle is still killing me.

2002-07-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

My Eyelids are Sweating

My gods! It's bloody damned hot out there! 96 degrees and sixty percent humidity. It is hot enough out there for fish to sweat.

It rained briefly, around two o'clock. It just made things worse.

2002-07-03T23:15:00.000-04:00

"Traffic Jam"

Carbon monoxide
Making me choke
No A.C.
And the radio's broke
Cars backed up
Far as you can see
Seems like I've been waiting here for all eternity
Oh, and just in case you're wondering
I'll tell you where I am
I'm right here (right here) right here (right here)
Stuck right here in the middle of this...

Traffic jam
I haven't moved one inch from this here spot
Traffic jam
The freeway's one big parking lot
Traffic jam
My radiator's boiling hot
And I'm stuck right here in the middle (right here in the middle)
Right here in the middle of a traffic jam

Trapped inside
My automobile
Cobwebs growin'
On the steering wheel
Now, I'm no genius
But one thing I know
I shouldn't have had that bag of bran muffins
An hour and a half ago
Yeah, and if you need to find me
I'll tell you where I am
I'm right here (right here) right here (right here)
Stuck smack dab in the middle of this...

Traffic jam
I haven't moved one inch from this here spot
Traffic jam
The freeway's one big parking lot
Traffic jam
Well, I thought we were movin' but I guess we're not
'Cause I'm stuck right here in the middle (right here in the middle)
Right here in the middle of a traffic jam

Stuck in the middle of a traffic jam
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper to
Bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper to
Bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper...
Yay-hey!

There's a yuppie on a cellular phone
I'm gonna puke if I hear any more
There's a motorcycle zoomin' by me
Watch what happens when I open my door
Now we're all goin' nowhere fast
Well, I guess that's perfectly clear
I left home five hours ago
And I can still see my house from here
So if anybody's tryin' to find me
Well, I'll tell you where I am
Right here (right here) right here (right here)
Stuck right here in the middle of this...

Traffic jam
I haven't moved one inch from this here spot
Traffic jam
The freeway's one big parking lot
Traffic jam
Now my back teeth are floatin' and my nerves are shot
And I'm stuck right here in the middle (right here in the middle)
Stuck right here in the middle of a traffic jam
Traffic jam.. traffic jam... traffic jam... woo!

--These lyrics brought to you by Weird Al Yankovick. No infrigement of copyright is intented or implied. These lyrics are merely to point out the state of traffic between Newport News and Williamburg a certain Wednesday afternoon, just past five in the afternoon.

2002-07-03T16:09:00.000-04:00

Well, Finally

After much bludgeoning of Diya, I managed to get him to finish the story. And I'm feeling all the adrenalin let-down of finishing a story. This would be both the joy and pain of writing, at least for me. While I'm in the hole of the story, where I can see the characters, feel them, be them... it's such a rush. I've been known to be jittering in my chair with excitement as the story builds in tension, weep at a character's feelings, triumph with them. When I'm actually writing, I don't know that I can describe it. It's like falling in a hole and going on an Alice in Wonderland type adventure. But now that I'm done...

I have a roaring headache - of course, that's not entirely the story's fault. I've had a headache for days now, running from temple to temple. But now I'm aware of the headache again. My hair needed combing, and while I didn't notice this while I was writing, the first thing I did when I finished was got up and brushed my hair. My limp seems a bit worse than normal, and while that may be the weather, I'm almost positive that I'm just noticing it more. Bah. Sometimes, it doesn't seem worth it to come back to reality.

2002-07-03T13:04:00.000-04:00

Diya, Shut Up

There are times when my characters frustrate the shit out of me, I swear to god. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, make with the clicky over on that link there on the right hand side that says KT's Characters.

I've been trying, on and off for a few weeks now, to finish a short story called (of all the creative things) First Nights Part Two. Really, it needs a better title, but that's beside the point. Loria and Diya have just become lovers and I wanted to do a "morning after" bit to sort of round things out. First time I tried it, both Loria and Diya were trying to outdo each other on the "we're not worthy" parade. Which started an argument between them. Ok, I have no problems with my characters arguing. I don't even have too much problems with them having a varied assortment of ego-problems. But I did not want to see them spending four paragraphs whining about which one of them was less deserving than the other. Sheh! (as Diya would say.)

Thank god for the delete key.

I backed up and started over, and didn't let Diya say the thing he wanted to, so the conversation has moved back in a different direction. Got it headed where I wanted it to go, and all of the sudden - wham! - Diya starts telling me all about his third visit to his father's home city of Zhakistahn. They're on their way home from Zhakistahn when the caravan (Diya's father is a trader) is attacked by the Ven'Hedi. Diya's all of about eleven years old at this point... and his first falcon, Calif, gets killed saving the boy's life. I said... "Ok, Diya... I see that. Now, can we finish this bit over here with Loria?"

No.

Diya instead starts telling me all about Loria and Kevil leaving to return to Marsember for three months. He helps them, rides out with them to the cave where Jelarthna hid the portal and then leads their horses back to Alanis. "Ok, Diya... that's great, can it wait until they actually go? What about this..."

Um... that's nice, Diya, who are these people? Oh... Ven'Hedi captives. These are the same Ven'Hedi who just shot down Kyar (his current falcon). Um, Diya, there are ten of the Ven'Hedi... um... oh, shit... and there he goes, charging into a Ven'Hedi camp... lucky me, I missed most of the carnage. Diya comes back to himself to tell me about leading six horses and the two captives who lived, back to Alanis.

Captain: Master Diya-al'Ati, you killed six Ven'Hedi? Alone?

Diya: No, sir. Diya could not find the other four horses, and there were the prisoners to think of.

I'm not really sure where the conversation goes after that, but I know Diya takes one of the Ven'Hedi horses as his own. It's an ugly horse, mostly brown, with a large white blaze across a rather snubbed nose, which covers one eye, but not the other. The horse was one blue eye and one brown one. Diya names the horse Paint, and it becomes his personal mount, as opposed to the Ranger horses. I'm not sure why he wants this horse yet, he hasn't told me.

But we still haven't finished this other conversation. Diya... honey, please. Come over here, sit down... calm down... remember Loria? Please... tell me what she said the morning after you first became lovers. Please.

Please.

2002-07-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

Gateway and Annoying Speaker Problems

I've had this computer for going on two years and three months, or so. When I first got it, it suffered from intermitant speaker problems. What happened - and it didn't happen all the time - was that the speaker would go out for a few seconds. Usually nudging the bass-speaker with my foot would get it going again, although sometimes I'd have to crawl under my desk and wiggle the various connection wires. Kevin said this was a "Known Issue". (That is to say, back when he worked at Gateway, it was a common problem for which they had decided not to fix unless people complained.) I called Gateway Tech Support and was told that the reason my speakers weren't working is because I had my bass-speaker on the floor, therefore it was misuse and I'd just have to live with it. Or replace them myself.

Um... bass-speakers are supposed to be on the floor.

Right. Whatever. It was still intermitant enough that I just suffered through it.

Well, it started getting more regular recently... so I tried Gateway's internet support. I had pretty good luck with them on my Monitor issue a few months back (my monitor was fading out... and I wasn't noticing really, since it was the only computer I ever looked at and I looked at it all the damned time. But believe me, when I got the new one, I really noticed the difference).

The internet guys really seem to be better techs, or at least, they do what I want faster then the phone techs. I don't have to go through eight calls and four techs and six reinstallings of my drivers. So, replacement speakers are coming. Eventually.

That's the part that I'm annoyed about. My speakers finally gave up the ghost day before yesterday, and they don't work at all. The tech issued replacement speakers on the 22nd of June and said I should expect my new ones by "next Thursday." Ok...

Thurday came and went with no speakers... On Saturday I sent an inquiry email. Where are my speakers? My email comes back saying that "The tech didn't mean 'this Thursday' (the 27th). He meant 'next Thursday' (the 4th) so, expect your speakers then."

I sent back an email saying "Um, the 4th is a holiday."

"Oh. Expect them later."

Sigh.

2002-07-02T12:18:00.000-04:00

Comments???

Gah! Now what? My comments are gone! Help, how did that happen?

2002-07-02T09:09:00.000-04:00

No Phone

In the last eight months or so, Kevin and I got cell phones. Kevin works about 45 minutes away, for twelve hour shifts. And, for the first six months that he was at the new job, he worked night-shift. Seven at night until seven in the morning. Bleh. Which meant if something happened... rather than worry about all the "What if's" a couple of Chicken Littles could throw at the sky, we went ahead and got the cell phones. Which was especially good, since we'd managed to get on about four hundred calling "Mr and or Mrs uh Hicks, you've won a..." click lists. We disconnected the land line and have been using the cell phones ever since. We've even got a little phone message central thingie so you can send us text messages.

Mostly, this has been a good thing.

Until this morning.

Cox had a tech in the area who dropped by my house at 8am (EIGHT FUCKING AM, thank you very much) to pick up the cable bill. Yes, it was late. This is nothing new, given that Cox and I can't seem to get our collective asses together in order to get the stupid auto-pay thing to work. And a lot of times, they just shut off the movie channels, I give them a call on the cell, pay the bill, no problems, right as rain, and we all go off on our happy little lives. But since I don't have a phone (a land line, they're not allowed to record cell phones as people's "home number") then they have to assume when the bill is late that you're not going to pay it. So they sent the tech over to either get the bill, or get the cable gear. Grrrrrr.

2002-07-01T23:11:00.000-04:00

There are just Some Days

Aside from relative annoyances about the Hall (what's new and different in my life?) I'm just having one of those days where I wonder why I bothered to get out of bed in the first place.

I got a breadmaker recently (finally! I've been wanting one for a long time, and despite everything, I'm still happy to have one). Saturday I had a very successful batch of cinamon bread (yum!) and today I thought I'd make garlic-cheddar bread. I washed out the breadmaker and got all my ingredients set up. Water (1 cup). Flour and stuff (1 package). Yeast (1 package). 1/3 cup cheddar cheese. 2 tsps minced garlic. Push program, 1, Medium Crust, 2 lb loaf. Go. Walk away, come back three hours later.

Forgot to put the little kneader piece back in the bread pan. I have... hot water. Wet flour in the middle, dry flour on top. Lovely. Just fucking lovely. Could I possibly get any more stupid? Don't answer that.

I decide I will go take a nap. I'm tired and headachy and grouchy. Kevin comes in to see if I'm all right. I'm not, and I proceed to bitch at him for a while about all the stupid things I've done today and all the annoyances that are getting under my skin. He is actually rather sympathetic and kind and being nice, which is good. I like nice. I also like attention and backrubs... so I turned my phone off and ignored the Hall for half an hour or so...

The Hall was... well, quite dull, actually, but part of that might have been I couldn't even start thinking about getting into character without my cable modem deciding to disconnect me. After about forty minutes, I was back up to a slow boil.

So, I decide to make myself an icy. I got a snowcone maker the other day, too. Did I mention that? No, probably not. My dad and mom2 got me some really nice pots and pans for Christmas. Really nice. I'd have loved them, if I'd gotten them back in December. Instead, I got them in June. Kevin got me a nice set of pots and pans for our annivesary (not as nice as the ones dad and mom2 gave me, but nice). So, I don't need two sets of pots and pans, and so we took the new set back to Target. And got a breadmaker and a snowcone maker and a food processor and some new cup measurers, and a bunch of other silly kitchen gadgets and I am very happy with all my new aquisitions.

In any case, I make an icy and make Kevin one. Thought it was pretty good and wanted another one. Halfway to the kitchen, I felt a bit of a sharp pain in my foot. Lovely. I limp into the kitchen and look at my foot. Nothing. I shrug, make my icy and start to move back to the computer room. More pain. I have stepped on a piece of glass. A little, tiny piece of glass. I can't even see it. But boy, can I feel it. And I can't get it out. Joyous.

If I wasn't so damned awake, I'd go to bed. If I'm still awake in two hours, I may hit myself over the head and go back to bed.

2002-07-01T16:07:00.000-04:00

Plot

Ok... starting at the beginning... nah, nevermind, go read this first and then come back...

You done with that? Ok... Given recent or semi-recent of people complaining (and never actually to my face - can I say right now that I fucking hate that? If you've got a problem with me, bring it to me. This is the first step in problem resolution, you know. And if you're going to sit on your ass and whine and bitch about it to everyone else, don't get too damned surprised if I hear about it anyway and come back at you with it.) about my "not including" them in my plots, I spend about two hours back in May and drew up an email. Here are some choice excerpts:

Saturday, May 18, 2002 11:45 AM

"Somehow, I'm not entirely sure how it happened, I seem to have gotten designated as the HM-plot-person. And that, in such position, I wasn't entirely being fair, as I was not sending everyone personalized invitations to join in. So, let me try and correct these difficulties and misconceptions.

"When I start planning a plot, I almost always have my own characters as staring in them. This has always seemed logical to me, as that way, even if no one else is interested in playing in them, I have people to resolve the issues. That means, for the most part, everyone who plays in my plots have a secondary role. Also, I know my own characters much better than I know everyone else's - so I know what my characters can handle, and what will be both interesting to them, and provide experiences for growth and development.

"Generally speaking I *always* need/want someone to play NPCs/Bad Guys for me. If this is something you're interested in doing, please let me know, I can always use the help. Just remember, in the end, whose side you're on, and that if you are playing an NPC for me, you're doing it FOR ME, which means you have to follow my lead, even if I won't tell you everything that's going on (I'm more likely to do this if you're playing an NPC in a plot where you are also playing a PC, so that the plot's not ruined for you. If your characters aren't involved in the plot at all, I will give full disclosure (for instance, Matt, who's playing Tomas, knows all. Karen, who took an NPC priest for a night, was given a bunch of "just do it that way"s because Glossaria is also involved in the plot)"

It would be this third point where the problems are starting. I wrote what I thought would be a short 4-6 session plot called Heritage and Heresy - a basic little adventure with some of my Scum characters and to explore a little of the culture of the Munga Din, who are, in my personal opinion, exceedingly cool. And some of the people who have not had an opportunity to get involved in my plots previously were selected to play key NPC roles.

Ok, the word up there that you need to take note of is "key role". I went ahead and got the plot moving, and I have to say that the NPCs were great. I really enjoyed the life that Ross and Rachel gave to the characters and the creativity behind them. However... plots, like all things, have a certain time in which they need to be resolved. Now, I would be being completely unreasonable if I thought that real life was less important than the Hall (maybe I do think that, but I certainly don't expect to hold anyone else to it). Yet... I thought I was relatively clear with emails to the people involved as to the whats and whens of everything. And now it's looking like everything's going to get pushed off for a few weeks. Or I'm going to have to take back my NPCs and run them myself.

Now, this isn't entirely a bad thing, but I do think it's going to end me right back up in the same boat I was in before. Which is to say that the people who aren't as much involved in Hall plots who wanted to be, are going to end up being right back to uninvolved. If I can't rely on someone to be able to play within a reasonable time frame, I sort of have to move on without them. I am concerned that if I put off the plot until the 14th of July that:

Bienca, Dawn and Dusk are unplayable until the plot is resolved.

People are going to lose interest and/or forget important parts of the plot, which will lead to either missing clues, or having to have long "what the fuck" conversations on the main channel.

I'll have to take back the NPCs, which is going to make Rachel and Ross, if not exactly angry, at least slighted.

I'm not going to feel that I can trust them to play NPCs, or PCs for that matter, in other plots.

They are going to feel that I'm being cliquish again.

Personally, I'm not sure what I'm going to do... right now, I'm just brooding.

2002-07-01T15:58:00.000-04:00

Point?

You know... there are days when it just doesn't pay to be interested in something. I spent probably the last hour or so writing an entry... you know, an actual, real entry... and I lost my internet connection at the wrong time. Poof. All gone.

Fuck

2002-07-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

Working Commentary

Great... comments finally works, but as it's a semi pain in the ass, I am only going to include the comment link when I actually want people to comment on something...

2002-07-01T14:58:00.000-04:00

Testing Commentary

perhaps I have got it working now... seems annoying, but I'm having to look up the blog number manually before putting in my comment script... this will actually test it...

2002-07-01T14:47:00.000-04:00

Test. One... two... three

testing this comment thing again

2002-07-01T14:46:00.000-04:00

Don't Muck About with Mongols

After mucking about for almost an hour, I cannot get comments to work yet... still mucking... how annoying...

2002-07-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

Book Crossing

Book Crossing Interesting idea. I went ahead and registered a book. Just one, you know. I have this habit of hording books, and I'm not so sure I want to release lots of them into the wild, so to speak. My user name there is Tisfan (as it is everywhere that I do things, which generally makes it easy to find me, yes?) so if you go and sign up, feel free to ref me, okay? Okay.

2002-07-01T14:41:00.000-04:00

Neopet Link - just for giggles

2002-07-01T14:35:00.000-04:00

Defining a Blog

Penguin 1. (n.) - No thanks, I already have one.