MSN Mobile Momentum - More Useful Every Day reminded me of A Hard Day's Night. 

Tonight I came home to the sound of something whirring.  Disconcertingly, it was my DVD player.  I couldn't get it to stop with the power on or off, nor could I get it to open.  So I unplugged it for a few hours. 

Then, I turned my computer on only to find a trojan trying to install itself while my firewall was loading.  Now the dang thing has installed all sorts of things on my computer.  Looks like I'll have to reformat this.  I hate having to do that.  Stupid Internet.

Well, it looks like the DVD player will work now.  So at least something is going right.  :-

I was originally going to post a review of our Wasteworld adventures, but I no longer feel like it.  Maybe later this week. 

"Before any cosmic act of reform we must have a comic oath of allegiance." - G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

In loco parentis is an interesting look into the future. 

Well, thanks for the continued good wishes for my birthday.  Bill and I did indeed go see The Punisher that night.  Then on Thursday the gang went to Chuy's where we had great food and great conversation.  Afterwards we went to Jinnetic's to watch Clone Wars Season II and play Star Wars Epic Duels.  Everyone now knows why I call it the best Star Wars game I have ever played.  If you still haven't played this game yet, do whatever you have to do to get the opportunity.  Seriously. 

Friday we played Wasteworld again.  Saturday we watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Starship Troopers II.  Sunday Father Milt was back for mass.  Last week he had done mass for Saint Gregory Parish's 17:00 hours mass.  Today I mowed, went grocery shopping, and am expecting my mother to come by with her hand-me-down colour television and computer speakers.    Speaking of which, I think that's her in the driveway now...

"Love is not blind;  that is the last thing that it is.  Love is bound;  and the more it is bound the less it is blind." ~ G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Phoenix Fan Force | Events

Ten years ago: Israeli and PLO negotiators wrapped up an agreement transferring civilian government powers to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and Jericho.

Five years ago, on April 20, 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.

One year ago: U.S. Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital. Celebrating Easter, the Reverend Emmanuel Delly, a longtime Iraqi bishop, pleaded for safeguards against the persecution of Christians in the new Iraq (news - web sites). A landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan killed 38 people.

How annoying.  My entire My Yahoo! layout was gone when I logged in this morning.  I doubt it was a hacker, because several of my old content modules are no longer options and some others have a new look.  They even did away with my layout background!  Worse, some of my Yahoo! Bookmarks folders were empty, too!  Oh well.  We flow with the change or get left behind. 

Thanks for the well wishes, folks!  I promised my grandmother I would check my E-mail today, but my E-mail bookmarks folder is one of the empty ones.  I don't recall the telnet address to aztecfreenet so it'll have to wait until my mother sends me the link tomorrow.  Jess was exceptionally sweet today by wishing me a happy birthday on several weblogs and making a really cool birthday card.   

I find it humourous that some of my friends remember my birthday every year because its one of their holidays.  I never became a part of their culture, but apparently its a day to celebrate because of the backwards way Americans date things:  month-day-year.  I never remember their holiday until one of them reminds me.  Hey, at least they're remembering me, right?

Less humourous are the people who had made plans to hang out with me today and bailed.  Jason was supposed to stop by and play Shadowfist today.  My stepfather was supposed to go to dinner with my mother and I.  Oh well.  My mother and I still went to dinner at Flamingo Palace, and Bill and I are supposed to go see The Punisher tonight.  Plus, I had the chance to do all of the chores I do on my weekends, so overall it was a successful day.

Saturday we played in Steve's D&D game.  Griswald went with us to the chasm where the dwarven spirits reside and went in to talk to them.  He came back out with seven seashell necklaces which he gave us before telling us that whe was going to remain with them in order to try to set them free.  So, armed with the necklaces which he said the dwarves told him would aid us in retreiving the item we sought before in the caverns, we left. 

After spending the night at the lodge one last time we returned to Dagger Falls.  Along the way we ran into more Zhent agents demanding a toll.  This time there were more agents and barracade.  Twiggy decided to run the barracade while everyone else decided to pay and watch the spectacle.  Magnus and Cap offered to pay for their "addled" friend, but this time they had a new rule which prohibited paying the fare for others.  Eventually Twiggy was surrounded and he had to pay the toll, a fee for evading the toll, and had his horse impounded for twenty-four hours.  Luckily, they let us pay to get his horse out of impound early, and he only cost us seven gold.  Compare that to our cost of one gold each! 

In town, we broke the news to Felicia that her nephew was now Valor's hostage.  We ran into Ruben who had returned from Myth Drannor because he lacked a large key which was needed to continue.  We surmised that the key was what Valor must be looking for and that that key was in the underwater portion of the caverns which the drow inhabitant had warned us off from. 

The next morning we went up the cliffs, under the waterfall, reopened the sealed wall, and tried to go swimming with the necklaces.  But they didn't seem to work until Magnus showed us that they were actually masks where the large shell went over our mouths!  After that we could breathe underwater and swim without much resistance.  We explorered until we found a box set into the wall with an inscription in that ancient elvish toungue.  Being the only remaining member with an understanding of elvish, Cap was able to piece together some of it, namely the word "key".  Magnus pulled the box out of the wall (and it was then revealed to be an exceptionally long box) and we discovered more of the writing on the inside of the opening in which the box had laid.  It warned of something, but Cap wasn't clear.  The box had no discernable welds or openings of any kind.  On the way out of the cavern, the drow who had warned us before not to go down in the water now blocked our path.  He warned us that if we left with the key that the great peril would be unleashed.  He said that only he kept it in check and that he would not if the key left.  He was willing to let the great peril loose on Valor if Valor ever tried the same.  So Magnus sent Cap and Twiggy back to town to ask our mentors what tehy would prefer.  We could either ambush Valor when he came for the key and hope to win that way, or we could take the key and take our chances with the great peril on our own. 

It was unanimous.  All of the mentors wanted the key brought back, reguardless of the odds.  Within an hour all of our mentors, the king's guard, and Randal Morn himself appeared at the falls ready for anything.  Cap warned them that it might be a contagion, a monster, a curse, et cetera.  We had no idea.  But they were all assembled just the same so Cap and Twiggy entered, gave the returning signal, and gave the drow and our party the news.  So we left with the key.  Once we came down the cliffside we could see our mentors bent down around the ground.  We we got close enough we saw that it was the king--dead! 

Mydorn said that there was nothing he could do for the king.  As soon as we left the cave under the falls the king fell from his horse dead.  No one heard or saw anything leading up to or during that event which would give us a clue as to what happened.  Insert cliffhager.

We have a month of downtime before our next session in two weeks.  I guess I'll have to get together with Steve at some point and plan my character's downtime.

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost in a good book, or giggling with my best friend, I live in a world apart, one full of adventure and wonder and other stuff adults don't understand.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
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Write To Your Senator Today (So You Can Leave Comments On Their Weblog Tomorrow)

Well, its been a busy few weeks.  I found myself paying even more taxes than before.  It seems to have increased severely ever since everyone else started getting tax breaks.  I guess those in power figure they can transfer the tax load onto somebody. 

Last weekend I attended World Horror Convention 2004 here in Phoenix.  Not because I'm claiming to be any sort of professional in the genre, but because I was assisting the program director.  It was fun getting to meet people like Ramsey Campbell, Caniglia, Stephan Jones, David Morell, and Dee Snider as well as see favourites such as Jane & Scott Dennis, Yvonne Navarro & Weston Ochse, Adam Niswander.  It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between fan and pro conventions.  I even spent some of my birthday money on a souvenir shirt from Fo' Paws with art by Caniglia.  He's an awesome artist:

This past week I was told both from a friend and my boss that I am on a different level than most people.  It's kind of frusrating, because I guess people think that my mind opperates on higher levels than them.  I like to give people the benefit of the doubt in most cases, however in this case that means that I tend to give people greater credit than apparently I should.  I don't want to treat everyone like little children either, so I'm not quite sure what the happy medium is.  I thought I had reached it already, but apparently not.

Tonight at mass they changed some of the lectoring procedures without an advanced E-mail or V-mail warning.  The new associate pastor, Father Richard, warned the lectors and alter servers about a half hour before mass.  Luckily, everything seemed to go smoothly.  Father Richard seems to be a nice enough, older gentleman.  His homily stressed the importance of using Thomas as an example of how our faith life should be led. 

Anyway, I need to keep this short as I have to work tomorrow.  They're giving me a Sunday/Tuesday weekend this week because a consultant from Chino Valley is coming in to train me on some new application he created.  At least that gives me my birthday off. 

"The more transcendental is your patriotism, the more practical are your politics." ~G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Star Wars: Episode III Release Dates Announced for US and Canada.  All I need next is the ticket sale date so I can start preparing my time off.  Lineup plans have begun here:  Phoenix Fan Force | Events | Episode III Line-up Begins!!! 

My monitor didn't broadcast its normal signal when it is powered and computer isn't last night, despite the green power light being on.  I tried all of the connections, turning it and the computer off (separately and together), et cetera so I figured that it must have blown.  But today when I turned on the power in the room for my vacuum cleaner, the monitor lit up.  So, I quickly ignored the vacuum cleaner and came on to catch up on E-mail, Message Boards, and Weblogs.  I guess I should go back to cleaning.  Later all.

Here's an interesting article:  A Baby Dragon, Or A Bad Joke?

Well, I think its safe to say that I've finally developed an allergy.  I woke up this morning with my eyelids sealed shut in crud, and I've been wiping away handfulls of eye crud all day.  I'm hoping that what is causing the reaction is just from the spring bloom and will be over with as soon as the summer heat kills off most things.  People kept asking me about my red, puffy eyes today.  No fun. 

I saw Hellboy with Wayne and Al today.  It was very enjoyable.  Al and Wayne kept picking my brain for how I view and understand films because I guess I see and understand more from films than either of them.  They'd ask me questions about scenes, characters, et cetera.  And it wasn't just Hellboy, either.  We stopped by Fudrucker's afterwards and introduced Al to the ostrich burger. 

My father lent me his mountain bike this afternoon, so I'll be able to avoid the bus until my bike comes back home.  I guess he hasn't used it in two years so he won't miss it.  That'll make helping Billy out with World Horror a whole lot easier. 

Speaking of conventions, I was asked today if I'd do the at-con programming for WesterCon!  I've never even attended a convention of that size, much less worked at one.  Everyone seems to think that I'd be capable, but I'm not really interested and turned it down.  It's very far from home, I didn't ask for the time off yet, and I'm not sure I want to waste the money on a room unless it was a shared expense.  It's flattering all the same. 

It's hard to believe that Lent is almost over.  I remember when it used to seem to drag on forever, but this year it barely feels as if its begun! 

The Passion Play had our usual excellent cast this year, however the weather meant that the blessing of the palms was held in O'Carol Hall instead of in the grassy field.  On the way home I couldn't finish reading the bullitin because both Wayne and Bill called me. 

Anyway, I had been discussing D&D.  In Steve's D&D game we tracked down Valor and Griswold, and Seren willingly became Valor's captive so that Griswold could be freed.  And so Michael's character was written out of the game.  We hope to see him again, but Valor is a sneaky and untrustyworthy advisary.  We'll never know for sure. 

Monte was happy to have finally had the chance to role play.  He's been desparate for a fix ever since Michael died.  I guess Steve's going to ask a couple of new people to join to refill the party.  Hopefully they'll accept. 

Here's a picture of me at the Phoenix Fan Force dinner with Timothy Zahn and Mike Stackpole.  They're at the table behind me (out of the picture).  It was fun to hang with the gang again, even if I couldn't stay long due to ride considerations. Dinner was delish, conversation was good, and I was able to get my Thrawn Trilogy first editions personally signed and dated, too!   

This weekend I also had to leave early from our viewing of Alien.  Mike was leaving early that night due to his work schedule, and everyone else with a vehicle had been drinking.  Trav offered me his couch, but my throat was sore from a draining nose so I declined.  It might just be the changing of the seasons, I might be developing an allergy, or I might be coming down with a cold now that I don't have any sustained exercise periods with my bike down for the time being.  Just in case it was a cold, I figured they didn't need those kind of germs infused into their couch.  Only Steve and my mother have mentioned noticing my voice change since its been sore, so I'm hoping that this will go away soon.  I have a lot of plans for Holy Week.   

Learn your Ninja Clan at the Ninja Burger website.

April Fool's Day -- History, Traditions, and Foolishness

MSN Encarta - Daylight-Saving Time: What's the Point?

It's April, so its time for All Fools Day and the switch by some to Summer Time.  Summer Time is so silly because here in Arizona we just post different hours for winter and summer, thus avoiding the confusion of setting clocks back and forth through time. 

Anyway, I have some unfinished journal business with which I guess I should start off.  I finally replied to Ken and Ben from a couple of entries ago.  I just didn't feel up to it until now.  Also, last entry I started to discuss something but didn't finish because it was late.  I started,

"I don't know if Kitty plans on running Michael's D&D campaign starting this weekend or next.  But I suspect that if it does happen, not everyone will be happy to play.  Some people have already expressed to me that we'd be better off starting a new game rather than trying to revive an old one.  I'd type more on that, but I'm tired and up past my bedtime."

Since then I've had two more conversations with people as well, so I'll combine what I wanted to say before with what I now should say as well. 

To start with, when Kitty first approached me with the idea of her continuing Michael's campaign I told her that I'd feel uncomfortable playing if other people also felt uncomfortable with the idea.  That's still true.  She agreed with me on that day, and so she said that she'd ask the others.  In the meantime she asked everyone else, forgot that she asked me (not surprising considering the circumstances), and I reminded her of my viewpoint.  Somewhere along the way either I told other people my viewpoint or she did, because one of my friends interpreted that as, Paul doesn't want the game to continue but doesn't want to be the one who prevents everyone else from gaming. 

So recently, as in since I last posted, I had to try to convey my full feelings on the subject to this friend in the hopes that they understood my point of view.  I do not wish to hurt any of my friends.  Some of my friends will want the game to continue because they feel they owe it to Michael to continue the game.  As such, their feelings are genuine and should be treated with respect.  Others will want the game to continue because they don't want their characters' stories to end.  Those friends I am less concerned about.  If any of my friends indicated that continuing the game would hurt them, I am not willing to injure a friend just to appease others.  That's why my stance is that I will only oppose the game if someone doesn't want it to continue.

And that may be why Kitty asked me when she heard through someone (her source she didn't name perhaps to protect them) that people didn't want the game to continue.  If that's the case, and if people knew of my stated game preference, its logical that they would have contacted me to have me stand up against Kitty for them anonymously.  However, such has yet to be the case.  She speculated that it might be Lori and Steve, as neither of them were in the house at the time of the conversation on Friday.  If any of my friends does ask me to prevent the game for them, I will do so, anonymously, too, if asked.  Even if its Kitty.  If she decided that she has reservations she didn't expect, I'd be willing to let her save face and let her be an anonymous holdout. 

However, as also stated in my last entry, and not finished because of the late hour, there have been two people who have told me that they will likely not play if the game continues.  One player I'm not too concerned about because they quit playing after fourth or fifth level due to interplayer conflict.  The other player has since developed a work schedule conflict. 

It has also been suggested to some of us that we make equivalent level characters for a new campaign, that way whoever runs may start afresh.  Specifically, so that they aren't consistantly reminded of Michael's loss from the group.  Yet, we wouldn't lose any of the time we spent leveling our characters.  This was an intriguing possibility I hadn't thought of before, but one to which I'm not sure how everyone would respond. 

Me, I'd go either way.  I'm a fairly easy going guy.  I have preferences, to be sure, but when it comes to games I figure it's all supposed to be about having fun.  So I rarely feel as if I couldn't have fun doing something.  It's all in how you approach it.  No one as yet has made me aware that us continuing in Michael's game would deteriorate our comraderie, so I'll have fun reguardless of the final decision. 

Anyway, I need to catch the bus to church.  I'll catch you folks later.

Currently Playing
Lifescapes|Experience|Ireland
By Various Artists
"The Sickle, The Sun & A Harvest Dance"
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Phoenix Fan Force | Forums and the Trollhallan Legend of the Green Dragon game are both playing the April Fools game in clever ways.  Check them out before they're too late.

Tonight my father and I went climbing at AZ on the Rocks.  My upper arms are tired from the workout. 

At work we changed some of our displays around.  We got some new products in as well, but the two are unrelated.  While on break at work today I found out that I won't be getting my bicycle back for about a month.  So it looks like I'll have to borrow a bicycle or buy an April bus pass.  They still won't give me a price estimate for it.

Saturday was my grandmother's seventy-fifth birthday party.  I think everyone who showed enjoyed themselves.  There was plenty of food and Grandma got plenty of gifts which she enjoyed.  I even got to take some birthday cake home because there was too much left over after the party was over.

Friday we played Shadowfist over at Kay's place.  I don't know how much longer we'll be playing over there, but I suspect that they plan on having games there until she moves in with Julie.  I don't know if Kitty plans on running Michael's D&D campaign starting this weekend or next.  But I suspect that if it does happen, not everyone will be happy to play.  Some people have already expressed to me that we'd be better off starting a new game rather than trying to revive an old one.  I'd type more on that, but I'm tired and up past my bedtime.

You're Chile!
You're really skinny, and kind of bumpy in frame, but you're not as rough a person as you used to be.  You like long, long, long walks on the beach and avoiding having your rights violated, just like anybody else does.  You're even willing to stand up to those with more power and influence than you, trying to bring them to justice.  Fight the man!
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid