Well, I certainly expected to have more time to post this past week.  Oh well.  I left off with the Passion Sunday mass.  Afterwards there was another HPLA conference, where Wayne kept having his computer crash.  As you can expect, we didn't accomplish much.  No one seemed happy that I was going to ditch next Sunday's meeting.  Oh well.  Easter Sunday is only one day a year.  They can survive without me this once. 

Monday I wrote and sent out the CopperCon XXIII invitation rough draft, so that the rest of the ConProgramTeam could proof it.  Plus I mowed the lawn, bought some groceries, and cleaned off a huge portion of the mess on my kitchen table.  I also rebuilt some small end tabled and coffee tables my grandparents had given me a few years ago.  They'd been in the shed all this time.  They've helped create more space for stuff.  The cats seem to like the new furniture, too.

Wednesday morning I received a call from Kim, asking me what I was doing that night.  Once I explained that I was going to participate in the Office of Tenebrae at my old parish, St Theresa, she seemed disappointed.  She said that either she or Jay would contact me if Jayson was OK with making plans for Thursday instead.  I never did get a phone call that day from either of them, but after services I went home and found a post from Jay suggesting that we get together the following Wednesday. 

Backtracking slightly, I should probably explain Tenebrae.  The service is a solemn event taking us out of Lent and beginning the Triduum.  This year, members of the Life Teen program ran the service.  One member leads the service, three others read, and a fifth extinguishes a candle after each reading.  Each reading is broken up to be read by a different reader, or different combination of two readers in unison.  In the end, all of the candles are extinguished, and the strepticus (sp?) occurs.  Following several moments of silence, parishoners file out silently and reverently.  I thought the teens did a good job.  I think our church's future will be secure in their hands. 

Before the service I ran into the Life Teen director for St Theresa's Parish, my friend Matt.  He said that they had had a roll over in a church van recently, following a tire separation.  I guess several were hurt, but everyone will survive.  I'm sure they could all use your prayers.  It sounds like the incident has shook up Matt enough to swear off of driving church vehicles for the time being. 

Despite the events, he smiled upon seeing my mother and I before the services, saying, "I love Holy Week.  That's the only time I get to see Paul each year."  And it's true.  I know I'm invited to maintain better ties with my old parish, but it's over fifteen miles away.  It's actually the same distance from me as my work, only the commute would be longer due to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve inbetween us.  I'll always have a special tie to St Theresa's Parish, but St Paul's Parish is my home now. 

So Thursday Kim shows up after work to take me to the Chuy's Mesquite Broiler at Metrocenter where we meet Jayson.  Surprise!  I though we were meeting next Wednesday instead, but it turned out that was a separate plan.  They treated me for my birthday, then gave me a heavy gift in Harry Potter wrapping paper.  It turned out to be the boxed set of hardcover Harry Potter novels for years one through four!  How sweet!  Apparently someone has read all of my entries here, and noticed that I kept promising myself these books. 

I guess that means that I should be careful what I say here if people pay that close of attention to these posts.  Oh well.  I promised in my first entry that I'd post what I was feeling.  I can't let fear of what people think of me dictate my actions.  I mean, what happened is really no different that how my parents gave me for Easter a liquid measuring cup and tool set that I had mentioned needing a different times.  The only difference is that Jayson read it here rather than overheard an offhand comment of mine. 

Friday we ended up playing Jackson's campaign again.  Kitty was still trying to catch up on everything that she left behind when her mother died.  So our group was allowed some down time.  Zed was restored to neutral good status when the clerics of Moradin cast an atonement spell on him.  Ryllis had her blindness cured.  Delome had a restoration cast upon him so that he could regain his lost level.  Princess Icehammer and her battlerager guardian were put up in the temple of Moradin until her distant relatives could be reached. 

Then Ethan decided that we needed an item which the Great White Death owned, so that we could cast a spell to determine his exact location without scrying upon him.  He suspected that anyone who scryed upon Skragg's grandfather would instantly alert the old and powerful wyrm to their presence.  Syrus secured four great white owl steeds from the Longstridders, and we set off for the closest horde the GWD keeps along with Skragg's half-brother, a half-pegasus.  It was a whole day's journey to get there, so we camped on the porch of the ice citadel until morning.  The porch was actually about half-way up the citadel, so it was raised well above the surroundings.  That made it easily defendable for the night.

Saturday I attended the Easter Vigil at St Theresa's Parish with my parents.  It was too long for my stepfather, so he bailed about halfway.  I love the Easter Vigil mass.  We get to welcome new members into our church on the day we celebrate the most central event to our faith.  It's an awesome occasion. 

On Tuesday at work, our vp asked me which mass I went to for Easter.  When I told him it was the Vigil he said, "Oh!  The long one."  From right there I could tell he didn't attend that mass at his parish.  I don't understand why people let the length of the mass bother them.  They can easily spend just as much time devoted to a book, video game, hobby, craft, hike, et cetera.  It's not like its days long or something. 

One thing that I love especially about the one-two combo of Tenebrae and Easter Vigil at St Theresa is the symbolism of the candles.  Just as candles are extinguished during Tenebrae, during the Easter Vigil first the paschal candle is lit.  Then the flame of the paschal candle lights small candles in the hands of the pastor, associate pastors, deacons, and alter servers.  Then the flames of those candles light the small candles of other parishoners, until the whole church building is lit as bright as day. 

The world of sin tried to extinguish the light of Christ some two thousand years ago.  But it failed.  Slowly the light of Christ has passed from believer to believer until the whole world is lit with it.  Easter reminds us of the promise and the responsibility of the Resurrection.

They tried a few new things this year.  They sang a new version of the Litany of the Saints with which I was unfamiliar.  Also, the after mass social was held outside in the courtyard rather than inside the gym.  This caused a lot of congestion as people stood and socialised rather than sat down to socialise.  However, it did encourage more mingling. 

During the social I ran into Christina.  She had said that she was attending Saint Theresa's Parish since moving back from Tucson, but I had forgotten.  Her parents reminded her that my mother and I attend St Theresa's Easter Vigil every year, so she dragged Chris and her sibblings to the mass in hopes of saying, "Hi!"  It was great seeing her again, but I was surprised at how much weight she and Chris have gained since last year!  I guess that's a sign that their marriage is doing well, though.    I guess she's thinking of attending law school next semester either here or out of state, depending on where she gets excepted.  She's so dedicated towards helping people, I can totally see her becoming an awesome attourney in the social work field. 

Easter Sunday my parents and I were invited for ham dinner at my maternal grandparents' house.  We had ham, boiled red potatoes, boiled corn on the cob, cabbage salad (although I had manufactured apple sauce instead), rolls, and a birthday cake.  Grandma was disappointed and tried to guilt trip my parents when they had to leave in time for their sweat lodge ceremony.  She made me take the rest of the cake home, so I finished that finally last night at the Blue Plant game (I'll explain later). 

So I agreed to go to my parents' Easter sweat lodge ceremony in Guadalupe.  Even though my stepfather left midway through our services the night before, I made sure to stick it out through his services that evening.  I apparently let my electrolyte levels get too low though, because afterwards while getting ready to go home I fainted.  I realised too late what was happening and tried to shout, "Uh oh!" but it apparently came out like a mumble before I hit the dirt.  I scraped up the left ankle, knee, and face, plus the knuckles on both hands.  Considering the fact that I had stretched and put my hand into the ceiling fan when I woke up that morning, I looked pretty beat up.  After they forced me awake, they made me stay awake for an hour afterwards to prevent concussion.  Thus my birthday post here. 

I was so tired that I didn't want to have to wait for sleep.  So I went to bed asap that night.  When I awoke the next morning I unpacked my backpack only to not find my towel.  Having sworn that I had packed it the night before, I figured I lost it somewhere in the house during my half-asleep forced wakefulness.  Giving up, I mowed the lawn, did dishes, paid bills, and backed my Harkins cup, Shadowfist, and HeroClix before heading down to Jackson's place.

When I got there I found out that Steve had got called into work (on his day off!) for a couple of hours, so Mike and I played Shadowfist until he was off.  Then the three of us ate at Five and Diner before seeing Bullet Proof Monk.  Jackson liked the movie and compared it to a Feng Shui Game.  Steve was a little disappointed in the movie and compared it to a Mage:  The Ascension game.  Silly gamers.  It was obviously a comic book, not an rpg. 

Afterwards we went to the Game Depot.  I seem to have misplaced my gift certificate for there.  Oh well.  They gave me a birthday discount on HeroClix, so I bought one of each of the new boosters plus both Adventure Kits with some of my birthday money.  I got a couple of useful filler character like the Con Artist and Paramedic, but the best characters I got were a Doctor Octopus, Mandarin, and Doc Sampson.  Oddly enough, I got unaligned versions of Hawkeye and Yellowjacket II.  Most of my Avengers characters are unaligned.  Both my experienced and veteran Wasps and my Black Panther are the only Avengers aligned characters out of the nine characters I would normally associate with the Avengers.  They explain it in the system as the different experience levels represent different times in their career.  But what were the odds of getting so many non-Avengers Avengers?  Then again, I have the X-Men aligned Magneto, so I shouldn't complain. 

After that I went to Rosita's in Tempe for our third Monday ConProgramTeam meeting.  There I found out that some people were getting blank E-mails from me, others were getting unintelligible E-mails from me, yet no one was getting both or neither.  To further complicate matters, I apparently missed out on many E-mails.  In order to  solve the situation in the short term, Kitty made a new E-mail address for me at AZgamers.info until I can figure out what's wrong with my E-mail.  The lack of proper E-mail communication with me left many miscommunications which I tried to solve.  I hope people don't think that I intentionally ignore them.  I also encourage people to call me if they don't get a response back from an E-mail.  

Tuesday I had the opportunity to stay at work an extra hour because our computer network has slowed down to a crawl and our IT people have no idea why.  The registers are slow when processing sales, slow when printing reciepts, slowing when post end of day results to our accounting are warehouse, et cetera.  They hope to fix that this weekend.  Thursday they wanted me to stay after my usual duties to await an error message they expected to occurr ten minutes after I was done.  After fifteen minutes and no error message I had to call our IT people and our vp, so I was at work two hours after my usual time.  It'll be nice overtime, but it meant going straight to bed when I got home Thursday night. 

Luckily Brett got to do those closes on Wednesday and Friday, while George got the opportunity on Saturday.  That didn't make the work week any less stressful, however.  George was on his annual visit to his parents and sisters in San Diego from Tuesday to Friday, while Debbie had a court appearance Wednesday and Thursday.  That left just Jeff and I as the remaining sales force, so our vp had to schedule himself to work with us on the map gallery floor all week.  We were so busy with our reduced workforce that we barely had time to fit in our mandatory thirty minute lunches.  Thursday we didn't even have time for breaks, so our vp ordered us Dominoes pizza to have for our lunch.  That was rather nice of him. 

Wednesday night Monte stopped by my work to let me know that he was working until 19:30 hours on Friday.  So I told him that I'd just meet him over at Jackson's.  He then stuck around to chat while I waited for Bill to pick me up.  He declined our offer to join us at Chuy's, even though we were going to the one at 32nd Street and Indian School Road near his apartment. 

At Chuy's, Kim, BJ, Jay, Bill, Dai, Sam, and I chatted before going to Hong, Sam, and Dai's place to see Spirited Away on their large projection screen.  It wasn't nearly as cool as seeing it in the theatres as Jay and Bill promised, but it was an awesome movie nonetheless.  I'd still like to see it at the discount theatres. 

Friday we played Jackson's campaign again.  Kitty was doing her Secret Shopper job at some theatre where she had to watch Identity all day long.  Some of them who had seen it earlier in the day with her said it was good.  Those that saw it with her after the game that night said it was good, too. 

During the first watch of the night some human in monk-like simple, yet unidentifying, tattered grey robes climbed down the ice citadel towards our party.  He told each character a cryptic message, almost as if he could divine each's future just by looking at them.  He warned Syrus about some foxes, the elves not to take anything not belonging to them, Ryliis that the reign of good dragons was not over, nor was the reign of evil dragons near its beginning, Scuigbarm that a gem was precious to Eldath, recoiled in horror at Skragg, looked fearfully at Zed and mubbled something about assassins, and started to saying something to Delome when his head was suddenly severed from his shoulders.  The elves and Ryllis claimed that the northern lights suddenly made the same shape and design as the old man's head being severed, the blood splurting out, and the head falling to the ground as what actually was happening to the old man at the exact same time.  Syrus flew off on one of the owls in response, and returned back with a tale of how some foxes led him to a white dragon with its insides completely missing, just like the silver dragon above Silverymoon.   Nothing else happened that night, so in the morning we explored the ice citadel.

The weird events of the night before encouraged Squigbarm to pray for divination during his dawn prayers.  But during his prayers he received a vision from Eldath.  In it there was a hot spring.  It eventually froze over.  Atop the frozen spring gold was heaped, then weapons, more gold, some armour, et cetera.  Then the ice melted and the treasure dropped into the spring.  The process repeated, with various treasure being amassed, then falling into the melted spring.  After several season, when a bunch of treasure was already on the frozen spring, a ring was tossed upon the heap.  When it fell into the water and was refrozen over the vision ended.  When no one questioned his extra long devotions, Squig didn't volunteer any information. 

The group was debating whether we should heed the old man's words and leave or stay and continue our quest, Squig offered to cast the divination for which he had prayed that morning.  When they agreed, he cast the spell and asked if staying would be to their advantage.  The answer came in the form of the vision from earlier that morning resuming, this time with gnolls coming and digging out most of the treasure, except for the ring. 

He then related that he suspected that the gem which was precious to Eldath according to the old man was inside.  So it was agreed to continue forward.  While Ethan and Zed tried to find a way in through the door we camped outside, Delome and Squigbarm examined the white dragon corpse.  Not finding anything else of note, they returned in time to find Zed the victim of a fire trap.  Inside we found a long deserted barracks. 

When we went further down the outside of the ice citadel to the exterior ice alter, Zed was able to trigger a receding ice staircase which we followed deep into the citadel.  Eventually we found our way to the cavern of the vision, with gnoll swords, shovels, and picks having removed a lot of the treasure from the ice.  Delome found the ring where Squig pointed it out, and Syrus dug it out with a sword and some ignited lantern oil.  When Syrus couldn't get it to work for himself, Squig took it from him to examine it.  The ring warmed up and expanded to braclet size.  Meanwhile, his Flask of Everfull water also heated up.  Taking the clue, Squig slipped the ring around the flask where it bonded.  Suddenly, Squigbarm knew all of the command words and abilities of the flask.  It had been stuck in the on possition since it was found when he was a first level cleric.  Now he could turn it off with a simple command word, as well as use more powerful water blasts.  He also now knew that the ring had other, yet unrevelaed powers.  So we left the chamber with some gold and silver coins which some of the others were digging out in the meantime. 

Once we reached the surface we were ambushed!  Delome was bullrushed by an invisible force off the side of the citadel while Ryllis was attacked by a suddenly visible sword-weilding gnoll.  Fortunately, the random targetting of our characters worked in our favour this time.  Delome was wearing his mask of flying and thus did not fall to his death.  While Ryliss has the best flatfooted armour class of us all, so both sword attacks missed.  We cliffhangered there until next time.

And I'll have to cliffhanger here as its time to get ready for mass tonight.  Later folks. 

For those who want to read useless stuff on my journal, here's a silly quiz and a sillier game.  I can't say I was surprised to be an eye, they are after all the most important body part.    The eyes are the windows to the soul, after all!  As for the game, I only posted it because this was the first time I'd seen a score of 0.0.  I dare anyone to get a lower score. 

Here's something of note:  MSN Entertainment - News - Couric, Leno Trading Places

Anyway, let's open the Wayback Machine and return to the Eleventh of April this year.  It was a Friday, so of course I attended Jackson's D&D campaign session again.  Rusty was going to pick up Kitty from the airport and the two of them were going to dinner that night instead of coming to the game.  Thus Tom turned down running his kid NPC campaign yet again. 

The group battled hordes of enhanced skeletons, zombies, and ghouls and the mithril smelting plant.  Meanwhile, Zed had snuck in and rescued the last dwarven princess of the Icehammer clan and the battlerager who was sworn to protect her.  The Seven had a brilliant plan going where they would cast offensive spells, thus dropping their invisibility, only to have another of their number recast invisibility upon them all again a few segments later.  They blinded the Hinn and Squigbarm, death rayed Syrus, enfeebled Ethan's bodyguard, and level drained Delome!  Luckily, we kept them at bay long enough to hack into the skull of the huge zombie golem--which was composed of various skulls of all the sentient races wired together-- and remove the coffin placed where the brain should have been.  Zed opened it and nearly sucked us all through the gate to the Negative Material Plane.  Luckily we got it closed without losing Zed.  Meanwhile, the others looted what they could and burned down the rest. 

We ended up teleporting out with the various rescued dwarves, carts full of mithril ore and some already smelted ingots, a few dwarven masterwork weapons, the gate to the Negative Material Plane, a small lap dog, a potion, some scrolls, a Ring of the Cult of the Dragon, a loadof information to pass on to the lords of Silverymoon, the enemity of the Seven, and all of our party memebers!  I thought for sure we wouldn't all come home from that one. 

The next night we played Steve's D&D campaign.  You might recall that we last left off where the party had succesfully taken a Zhent fort on the road to between the Moonsea, Dagger Falls, and Mith Dranor.  We picked things up with our rouge, Magnus, failing to disable the trap on the inner door of the fort.  Our gnome paladin, Caleb, then chose to open the door anyway.  He was rewarded with a blast of electricity which knocked him back five feet and prone.  Next, our changling druid of Lurue,  Capernicus, stood behind Caleb ready to catch him when he tried again.  Luckily, the trap was expended and the door opened.  Unfortunately, as he opened the door the remaining Zhentarim agent used his readied action to fire an arrow into Caleb, thus mortally wounding him.  Cap stepped in front of his fallen companion to fight the fallen intruder while the clerics attended to him.  However, while Cap maneuvered into place to let Magnus flank the agent, Cap, too, was mortally wounded. 

Once we defeated the agent, healed ourselves, and discovered that the last agent's holy symbol of Bane radiated evil magic, it was time to enter the dungeon underneath the trapdoor he was protecting.  Caleb was kind enough to take the shock after Magnus failed to disarm the trap again.  Below we found torches, more Zhent agents, some masterwork weapons, an alter to Bane, some secret doors, a multi-portal, and some devout worshippers of Bane in black armour.  They mistook us for worshippers of Cyric when they first attacked, but they continue to fight once we corrected them.  :0  One did flee through the multi-portal, so it was time to go before the guy brought back reinforcements. 

Sunday we had a lovely Passion Sunday mass.  As you know, this was our first year with a new parish hall.  So I wasn't surprised to see that we did not start the Blessing of the Palms in the old hall.  However, we had it in the new grass courtyard instead!  The weather was perfect for it, and the blessing and procession into the church were beautiful. 

The Passion was performed the same way as last year, with the same parishoners in the same roles.  Three females were on the right side of the alter, all at different levels, while three males were on the left in the same fashion.  This created a kind of V-shape, with another male in the point of the V on ground level in front of the alter.  Another male standing atop a box in front of the alter, where the box is on the top level with the alter, stands with his back to the parishoners except when his parts (Pontius Pilot) came up, at which point the male below him (Jesus of Nazareth) would turn his back to them.  Father Milt narrated from the ambo.  It was all well choreographed, and amazingly memorized.  Last year I think they read from three ring binders.  This year only father read.  The others were reciting from memory!  Amazing.  Praise God that it worked out so well. 

And thus ends part one of my catch up.  Find out how the rest of Paul's Holy Week went in the next installment of Chernabog's Xanga site! 

How nice of Yahoo! to wish me happy birthday.  I thought I'd share it with you tonight: 

On April 20, 1971, the Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.

On this date:

In 1812, the fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 73, becoming the first vice president to die while in office.

In 1836, the Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.

In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.

In 1940, RCA publicly demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope.

In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.

In 1972, the manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.

In 1978, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed.

In 1980, the first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.

In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Littleton, Colo., as students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

Ten years ago: President Clinton ( news - web sites) told a news conference he accepted responsibility for the decision to try to end the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, but said David Koresh bore "ultimate responsibility" for the deaths that resulted. Mexican comedian Cantinflas died in Mexico City at age 81.

Five years ago: In an unusual use of a racketeering law designed to fight the mob, a federal jury in Chicago ruled that anti-abortion protest organizers had used threats and violence to shut down clinics. (However, the U.S. Supreme Court ( news - web sites) ruled in February 2003 that federal racketeering and extortion laws were wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.) A Boeing 727 leased to Air France crashed in Bogota, Colombia, killing all 53 people aboard.

One year ago: Representatives of the Group of Seven countries, meeting in Washington, agreed to intensify efforts to combat terrorist financing and also adopted a plan to better deal with international debt crises. 

April 20th

Positions of Planets at Birth:

Sun Position is 00 deg. 48 min. of Taurus Moon Position is 24 deg. 24 min. of Capricorn Mercury Position is 19 deg. 04 min. of Taurus Venus Position is 15 deg. 16 min. of Aries Mars Position is 16 deg. 06 min. of Cancer Jupiter Position is 05 deg. 55 min. of Taurus Saturn Position is 26 deg. 49 min. of Cancer Uranus Position is 05 deg. 16 min. of Scorpio Neptune Position is 13 deg. 39 min. of Sagittarius Pluto Position is 10 deg. 13 min. of Libra

Paul's Sun Sign is Taurus ...

Paul, your sign is that of earthy Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac, the sign characterized by endurance and sensuality. Taurus is also associated with material goods. Venus, the planet of love and beauty, is your ruler, and makes you a very warm and faithful person. For the most part, Paul, you are even-tempered and show a great capacity for affection, as well as an appreciation for beauty and art. You are loyal and reliable. You keep your promises. As the first of the three earth signs, you are realistic, patient, and persistent. You are the most grounded sign of the zodiac, preferring to put down roots and aiming for stability. Comfort, even luxury, is very precious to you, Paul. And indeed, you rule the second house, the sector of the horoscope that encompasses money and possessions. This house describes your value systems, including the value of oneself. You are a fixed sign, Paul, meaning you enjoy responsibility and taking charge. However, you are not a doer - you are a delegator! Like every genuine Taurus, it may take you longer to get involved with something, but once you do, you don't want to stop. You are more passive than active, and prefer to have the world move around you while you sit still and direct. Your strengths lie in your decision-making abilities, Paul; you don't make snap judgments or jump to conclusions. You engage in careful consideration, as hastiness and impulsive actions do not appear in your script. In your relationships, you are fully committed and faithful, and you seek harmony and inner peace. But you have a few weaknesses, too, Paul. One trap you may fall into is that of obstinacy and self-righteousness. Due to your firm beliefs, you are deaf to any kind of criticism. This inflexibility can cause you to resist change and procrastinate. You run the risk of becoming lazy, overindulgent, or convinced of your own infallibility.

Your Rising Sign is Leo ...

Leo Rising, you present yourself with dignity, energy, and will. You are able to engage and fascinate people by displaying an incredible amount of self-assurance, and an exquisite sense of courteousness. In some cases, Paul, you may even enter into and dominate a situation without being invited, and once you are center stage, you begin your show, very attentive to the audience's applause. Your creativity, mixed with a touch of drama, usually gets you the attention you want, because you strive on the vital energy you receive through recognition and admiration. Sometimes, when you are alone, you turn to the mirror admiring and studying yourself, wondering how others see and think of you. You can definitely be considered a force of nature, Paul, because you never seem to run out of energy. You enjoy a practically indestructible confidence in yourself, which allows you to accomplish great things. When you use your powers for good, you are as generous, humane, open-minded, and faithful as can be, and enjoy sharing your experience with others. You are supportive, loyal, and benevolent, which is the reason why people love and respect you. However, when you use your powers for selfish reasons, your intense personality may suffer from arrogance, autocratic pride, egocentrism and extreme narcissism. As a Leo Rising, you may have a hard time being independent, in the sense that you take action only after getting other people's opinions on those actions. However, if you act according to your deepest aspirations, without necessarily obtaining other people's approval, you can become the most powerful of all, dear Paul. Behind all the sparkle on the outside, you are a very tender, sensitive person with a heart of gold.

The following paragraphs concern the study of Paul's personality, as induced by the positions of the planets and Rising sign. Some of the character traits mentioned may seem completely contradictory and incompatible. This is because the rough-hewn personality is a rarity. Usually, individuals are made up of a subtle orchestration of many different tones or aspects. However, serious introspection or detailed analysis should make it possible to distinguish the opposing or diverging images comprising Paul's overall character, and perhaps, in time, find the best and most harmonious way to integrate them.

Paul is a practical mover-doer: his personality has no room for utopian ideals or mirages. When all systems are go, his inner strength and stamina will drive him straight to the heart of the material world with no detours or mistakes. He then becomes the quintessential creator and producer. He creates out of love for the phenomenon of creation, on every level. Although his innate sense of matter, his earthiness, may sometimes confine him to the material plane, it also endows him with the power to give substance to his intuitions. His material possessions embody his spirit. Paul is a man of conviction. He believes in his action; he has faith in his approach. Striding purposefully ahead, he goes even farther, more effectively. He is aware he has a job to carry out; he knows his duty is to create and construct. As a result, it is important for him to be deeply implicated in his career, and to feel as though he is really accomplishing a goal that is important to him. He is coherent and pragmatic, and his life and mind are carefully organized. Improvisation is not his forte; on the contrary, he tends to plan out his work in advance, stick to the plan obstinately, and pace himself carefully. This tendency may strike others as being somewhat plodding and slow. But the opinion of others means little to him; he judges himself on the basis of the fruit of his labor. His accomplishments arouse his pride and possessiveness, since he views them as the evidence of his worth. However, the work ethic so prevalent in our society is deeply ingrained in him. Merely by slogging on with his duty, he achieves such personal rewards and satisfactions as the knowledge that his potency never flickers; his inner virility and ability to follow through are steady, sure, and irresistible. The only drawback is that his earthiness and stubbornness may confine his interests to somewhat low horizons. Paul's capacity for work is related to a capacity for self-devotion. He is able to give his entire being to a great cause, to devote himself body and soul, with all the might and conscientiousness he possesses, if he believes the goal to be his ultimate purpose. His initial problem is to find the person or cause he will make his purpose in life, because if he were to err, if he wandered into the trap of a bad cause fraught with risk, he would suffer a terrible setback. Therefore, the essential value which will define his life and destiny is the fruit of a long ripening process, a slow, gradual deliberation, the opposite of an impulse. If his purpose in life were to elude him, he would be tempted by indulgence, apathy, and laziness. His taste for sensual pleasures like good food and drink might then take over, depriving him of maturity and fulfillment, and, ultimately, his vital potency. But, don't worry, this is pure conjecture!

Due to the influence of Leo rising, Paul seems to have a high ideal of himself. Although his presence is electrifying, it belies a serious, cold demeanor, and he rarely indulges his taste for luxury, preferring an ascetic lifestyle. These contradictions arise from a deep-rooted feeling of anxiety. Paul continually sabotages his true nature, and represses his emotional outbursts and instinctive motivations. He is as severe with others as he is with himself, and they resent his harshness and pessimism. As a result, he feels more comfortable in behind-the-scenes activities which demand analytical abilities, tenacity, and self-control. He has succeeded in inhibiting his natural narcissism to such a degree that he only rarely allows himself to seek the approval and confirmation of his personal worth in the eyes of those around him. Because he is ambitious and generous, authoritarian and magnanimous, he still enjoys giving orders for the opportunity it gives him to display his righteousness and the nobility of his ideals. Maturity and experience (a bit of suffering and hardship) should help him build a more secure sense of self-esteem. At that point, he can rediscover " the lightness of being " and the pleasures of the flesh.

Paul is sensual. Pleasure is important to him.

Paul needs others to fulfill himself and accomplish his ambitions.

At the time of Paul's birth, his Rising Sign was located in Leo (the Lion), while the Sun was passing through the constellation of Taurus (the Bull). A summary of the various clues mentioned above provide Paul's personality profile; the following key words distill the essence of his character and indicate certain contradictions which may be sources of tension:

Narcissism - Determination - Opposition to progress - Pride and self-assurance - Compassion - Superiority - Perseverance - Brilliance - Pragmatism - Generosity - Productivity - Positivism - Sensuality.

With his steadfast, wholesome personality, honest and determined, Paul is intolerant of evasiveness and subterfuge in others. He is never happy with anything less than excellence, and will actively seek out social success, power, and material comfort. Although he has a taste for privatization, he knows how to be generous. His great sensuality makes him appreciate pleasure as much as duty, with the same optimism and delectation.

Born between three-and-one-half and seven days after the rising of the Full Moon, Paul is said to be a " Shining Moon " type. This soli-lunar configuration gives him a shining personality which is apt to communicate and transmit ideas. Throughout his life, he will be attracted to the idea of acting as a spokesperson for a cause, idea, or person whose message seems essential to him. He will have to develop his powers of discernment, to determine which subjects or people are really worth his personal commitment.

Warm and affable, Paul is animated by honesty and generosity. Due to the solar dominant of his birth chart, his father (or a man who served as a father figure, possibly a teacher) influenced him strongly and imprinted him with the positive values which are now at the core of his being. However, his perception and comprehension of the world are filtered through an innate ability for artistic discrimination: a sense of aesthetics. For him, " beauty " is " truth " - and not vice-versa. Style and harmony, and the skills involved with putting things on display, such as artistic representation, light, and transparence, are concepts which come naturally to him, and he makes use of them in his life.

DRAGON SPRING is your season. APRIL is your month.

Personality : Sovereign in your kingdom, you exist to be flamboyant and exceptional. Like the mythic, fiery Dragon, you love to confront the enemy in battle, leaving the earth behind you burnt to a crisp, and hearts inflamed along your path. Great commander of the rain and fine weather, one must respect you when you talk, admire you when you act and submit when you command. An impetuous energy animates every one of your actions: you are ready to take on any challenge, go off on a conquest of power, and tear down any obstacle. If by chance you fail, you will never admit to being vanquished and will find in this snub a new will to conquer. An insatiable warrior, you become stronger after each defeat, and more invincible after every wound. Demanding of others, you are rather gentle on yourself and rare is the Dragon who recognizes his faults... Intelligent, lucid and clairvoyant, you willingly bang your fist on the table when your audience doesn't share your point of view. You like to see life as a big adventure and can't stand it when those around you lack ambition. Your fault: A bit of megalomania and narcissism! Work : You are meant for big projects. A tunnel under the Atlantic, a trip to Mars, a pyramid at the Louvre... You are at your best when involved in great projects and in extreme situations. Intuitive and visionary, you are exceptionally creative, endowed with an innate sense for the show and stage. You belong to the race of powerful men and horsemen. Hungry for success, you can work day and night without sleeping to get a big project going. Boredom is what kills you, not work. Money : An aristocrat in the world, you love to live in a grand style, going out every night and spending money without counting. You like to drive a sports car, hunt for antiques in China, and sleep in silk! You are generous to yourself, family, and friends, and you cover them with presents... especially if they show their gratitude! Born under the sign of Luck, the Dragon is rarely without money. But come what may, you never lower yourself to do work that you hate for money. You have your pride even where money is concerned! Love : Exasperating Dragon! Your irresistible powers attract consenting victims into your den. When you deign to lower your regard to the chosen one, you know that they are already conquered, all the better, since you hate all forms of resistance! In exchange, you ask for nothing more than to be honored when they are at your side. For you, love is something owed to you, not a duty, so your partner must often make do with little to be happy. If they reproach you the slightest thing, you leave by slamming the door, once you have let out all your rage. Trying to blackmail you has no effect. To seduce you, a person needs to be fascinated by you and your gestures, to swoon in admiration, and hide a strong heart behind a seeming fragility. In The Year Of The Goat The Dragon Needs Gentleness Dragon is a leader. With fiery weaponry, Dragon can defend any position, romance, or business. From February 1, 2003 to January 21, 2004, the Year of the Water Goat, Dragon energy is asked to apply kindness and compassion in order to grow and thrive. If Dragon thrashes it's tail and breathes furls of red-hot flame as it goes about the business of living, Goat will withhold opportunities that should rightfully go to the Dragon. Goat will not reward anything other than empathy and the ability to listen to Dragon's higher self and others. Should Dragon forget these lessons, Goat will use its horns to pierce the Dragon belly, which translates into damage to self-esteem and to the good will of others. If Dragon walks softly, however, and willingly carries others on it's strong back, then Goat adds to riches and wealth during the Goat Water year. The key point for Dragon is to quiet the mind and the mouth long enough to realize that Dragon can digest a lot of life that is not to Dragon's liking without getting emotional indigestion. Goat can make a meal on tin cans, remember! So Dragon needs to learn to do with less during a Goat year, and to mimic the ability of Goat to be alone, rather than the usual manner of Dragon, which is to gather a large and adoring audience. Romance for Dragon is hot and fiery, as long as the Dragon personality is calm and collected. Business thrives if Dragon is enterprising and sharing.

I'm back from Holy Week, in case you couldn't tell.  Expect me to slowly catch up on my journaling as time permits me this week.  However, I'm going to bed early tonight.  I've spent my requisite hour after fainting and hitting my head on the ground.  I don't think I'm at risk for a concussion, so I'll set the VCR to record SG-1 for me.  I'll explain it all later.  Trust me.  Night all!  Happy Easter! 

I was thinking tonight about life, and I realized something.  I was raised to never take a guilt trip, no matter who or why.  Yet, somewhere along the way I re-learned how to take one.  I mean, guilt-trips are what keep me involved in local conventions.  And I've decided that I will have no more of that.  Oh, I'll stay by my commitments through 2005.  But I don't think I'll commit to anything else.  Especially not in 2004, the monster year.  I just know that they team is going to stress with the conventions so closely packed together next year. 

Working conventions was never my dream.  As stated in the past, Kitty and Billy were lamenting about the state of local conventions.  They talked of running their own, and I pulled out a white board and stated writing down their ideas.  As usual, I was trying to help others realise their dreams.  And they have.  But for some reason I let Kitty guilt trip me into joining them along the way.  She always uses the fact that I helped give the start to their little enterprise as a way to guilt me into helping it along.  I need to find my inner, "No," again. 

That then got me to thinking about my lack of a dream.  I always like helping others achieve their dreams, but I've never really had a dream of my own.  Nothing I really wanted to achieve.  So I've decided it is time for me to discern whether or not I need one.  Then, if I decide I do, I guess I'll have to figure out what that will be, how to go about achieving it, et cetera. But first things first.  I may end up realizing that I don't need one.  I don't know.  As Treebeard said, "Let's not be too hasty."

And on that note I should say good night.

"It’s always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth." ~ Malcolm Forbes

I had about a half dozen paragraphs when X-Tools crashed. I am not happy with this computer. It seems like every program crashes every time I use it.

Let’s see. Friday we played Jackson’s campaign, with Kitty and Rusty’s characters run as NPCs. Kitty was just returning from her mother’s funeral that night, and Rusty was taking her to dinner. I guess her mother’s ashes are being taken to Glendale, California for interment.

Meanwhile, Skrag and Squigbarm scouted out the second level of the dwarven mines. We found evidence of recent mithril mining, so we talked the group into coming down the whirlpool. We rescued five dwarves from the mines after slaying their skeleton and zombie guards. Then we had the dwarves draw a map of the smelter plant so that we could go rescue the dwarven princess. We’ll have to go past the ballistas, skeletons, zombies, and Huge zombie golem. But we had to stop there because the combat would have run into the early morning hours. Considering how Steve, Lori, and I had to work Saturday it was best to end there.

Saturday Steve ran his campaign, and introduced us to our new players Dustin and Kendal. They play Bloodbowl with him, and used to play in his Vampire: The Masquerade game. Dustin is playing a half-orc barbarian (with Improved Unarmed Combat) who was sent by his sensei, the human monk Master Lee, to go seek out his former comrades and assist them. He is to serve Sven, the human barbarian, in his master’s stead. Meanwhile, Kendal is playing a human rogue who became apprenticed to Pegleg Pete after he was orphaned. Pete, in his pre-pegleg days, was a member of the group of heroes including Master Lee, Sven, Rodolpho Redd, et cetera. So the two have joined them in their current endevours.

After everyone was reunited, we headed to our destination. Along the way we passed a Zhentarim keep whose occupants wanted to charge us 100gp each to continue. After the gnome paladin and half-orc barbarian failed diplomacy, we slaughtered the inhabitants. Inside we found a magical door behind which the paladin could sense several evil presences. We ended there, on the cliffhanger.

Saturday also saw my first birthday present.  Jackson gave me a Character Record Folio, which I'm using for Capernicus Redd, my changling druid in Steve's new campaign.  This, despite the fact that Jackson feels that my character's name is too punny. 

Sunday morning I was woken up by the phone, which I answered instead of ignoring it for some reason. It turned out to be my mother. As we all know, Gary’s niece (Lori Piestewa) was confirmed dead in Iraq. My step-father has already been taking the war bad, as it reminds him of ‘Nam where he picked up his bum knee. I guess this and the tenth anniversary of his father’s death caused him to fall off the wagon this weekend. I ask that any who favour any sort of higher power pray for him this day. He’s tried so hard to build a better life for himself and others, I hope and pray that he’ll be able to get back up from this stumble on the road of life.

This evening we had another Saint Paul’s Café after mass. They served burritos, tossed salad, lemonade, artificial watermelon beverage, two-layer white cake, and cherry ginger cookies. I met Frank, Pam, and their son Michael. It turns out Frank recognized me from work. They’re a fairly active couple, so we discussed GPSes, mountain climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and even commuting by bicycle. Michael is trying to get his service hours completed before Confirmation next month as well, so they were discussing schedule strategies for that. I’m so glad that our parish offers the café so that we can get to know our fellow parishioners in an intimate setting.

After that we had another Harry Potter Live Action meeting. Tom was upset that Wayne wanted to stick Hagrid with a unicorn instead of a huge scarey beast as per the books. Lori got frustrated with Wayne’s focus on the small details before finishing the major plot points. Matt and I couldn’t understand half of what Wayne was explaining. Overall I’d say we had a typical meeting. Considering how these meetings go smoother than the Pokemon Live Action meetings, I can only hope that bodes well for HPLA. After all, PLA was well received all three years we ran that.

During the meeting I received a notice from the park informing me that we’ve switched garbage pickup companies starting the next morning. Nice. What about people already asleep (not unreasonable at 21:00 hours)? I suppose the fact that they wouldn’t know that the days for garbage pickup had changed until they left in the morning is of no concern to the park management. I guess I’ll go put the garbage on the curb after I post this, lest I forget.

I saw the new Jack ‘n’ the Box Fish and Big Chips commercial. Hil-ar-i-ous! I also got to watch Stargate: SG1 episodes Wormhole X-Treme and Desperate Measures tonight, along with The X-Files episode The End. The End is a very pivotal episode in the series; bringing back CSM (whose escape from death had only been hinted at before then), and introducing Jeffrey Spender, Diana Fowley, and Gibson Praise. It also features CSM’s torching of the X-Files office, Scully turning to the Lone Gunmen for help in paranormal investigation, and guests by other important characters including Walter Skinner, the Well Manicured Man, and Alex Krycek. Desperate Measures, meanwhile, guests Colonel Maybourne, Colonel Frank Simmons (John de Lancie), and introduces new gaoul Adrian Conrad. While not as pivotal as The End is to The X-Files, it is nonetheless an important part of the continuing story arc involving the NID. Wormhole X-Treme is non-pivotal, but is a sequel to Point of No Return. Where the original episode poked fun at the show’s fans, this episode pokes fun at the show itself. They make fun of specific episodes, the actors, producers, network executives, writers, sets, creative consultants, and USAF guest stars.

Anyway, I’m not sure why I’m explaining television episodes to my diary. I guess it’s time for bed. I tend to ramble as I get tired. At least I’m not laughing at anything and everything. That’s the next stage I reach as I get even more tired. Night! 

Well, I'm still eatting leftovers from Sunday.  I'll probably finish all but the cookies and cake by Monday.  Cross my fingers. 

I got to work late yet again today.  My manager made a comment, so I'd better do better next week.  Tonight I'm staying invisible while I pack my lunch, listen to Virgin Breakfast, and do laundry.  I wore out the seat on another set of pants.  They never seem to last long, presumably due to my long commute. 

It's getting warmer, so I brushed Christmas and Spunky this evening.  Wow!  So much fur so early in the season.  I hope that doesn't mean we're in for a high fur content summer.  They seem a lot happier, so that's good. 

Well, I didn't read anything online as I said I was going to do tonight.  I guess I'll leave that for my Sunday/Monday weekend as usual.  Same with whatever E-mail I might have recieved today.  I'm too tired to do any of that and hope to be functioning in the morning.  I need a thirty-six hour day.

I did get the 10th of May off!  Yay!  Now I just have to see if anyone will go with me, or if I'll have to go to Sedona by bus.  The non-weekend people grumbled when I was OKed for two Saturdays off in a row, but my manager said I was entitled to some vacation.  That was appreciated.

Hah, Pete and Geoff are having a contest right now where they fastfoward through an episode of the Osbornes until the contestant says stop.  Then they have to guess whether there is any swearing or not in the next ten seconds.  All three contestants guessed that there would be swearing, and all three times they were right.  These "lucky" people win a copy of the Osbornes DVDs.  Remind me to never watch that show.

Well, the lame Daylight Savings Time thing starts this weekend for most of the nation.  They've had studies that claim that accident rates increase 7% that day and decrease by the same amount the day DT ends.  I always hear DT proponents claim that it magically creates more daylight hours in the day.  Here in Arizona we just change our operational hours.  It's so much more logical than changing the clocks.  I really wish they'd outlaw the stupid thing.

"The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be."~ Robert Fulghum

Currently Playing:  Radio Set Gregorian

Faerieworlds Festival looks so cool!  Brian Froud is the GoH!  How awesome is that!  But it's on a Saturday!  D'oah!  I'll never get work to get me the day off.  I already have LepreCon XXIX off the same month.  And it's in Sedona, so who could I talk into giving me a ride?  The people I know who like fey enough to attend a fey convention with me are women married to people who would be dead set attending anything of the sort.  It's so exciting, and yet so heartbreaking. 

Monday I kept busy by weeding the rock yard, performing bicycle maintenance, replacing the kickstand on my bicycle, fighting my constantly crashing computer, watching The Distinguished Gentleman, buying cat litter, testing Wayne's VCD of Digimon (which failed on my DVD player and my computer), and eatting left over food from the Richardson house warming.

Tuesday I had a Phoenix Map Gallery sales meeting after work.  They treated us to twelve ounce sodas and a three foot long sub from Blimpie's.  We had the usual updated about communication issues, new products, et cetera.  Then we had a notice that we're going to modernise our building exterior!  Yay!  I've only been fighting for this for the last several months.  Our building exterior is so tired and outdated its pathetic.  The projections looked good, and now it's up to getting approval from the city.  Cross our fingers. 

Afterwards I had a pretty frustrating time with my crashing computer again, but I put up with it because I was having a good IM with Jess.  Unfortunately, I was up so late I had a hard time waking up and showed up several minutes late for work.  I've got to crack down on myself and become better disciplined again.  No more staying up past midnight on work nights.  I used to do that.  I've got to return to that, no matter how tempting it is to do otherwise. 

Tonight Wayne talked me through configuring my virtual memory, which seems to have solved my recent crash problems.  I had tried posting here a few times yesterday, but gave up.  But now that I uninstalled and reinstalled several programs and configured the vm, I'm all caught up.  However, I haven't received a Xanga daily digest since the 31st, so tomorrow I'm going to visit each site that I read to see what I haven't received.  It's too late tonight for me to do that.  Especially considering how late I was up last night.  If I go to bed now, I could get seven hours of sleep.  Of course, that would require ignoring all my friends who are online.  Hopefully they'll understand.    Night all, God Bless.