I had no idea people used YouTube to advertise until my friend George forwarded his advertisement for Team Bias.

I have a self-reflective post and a DarkCon 2007 review floating around in my head which I’ll post here eventually. 

B & I saw Curse of the Golden Flower on Civil Rights Day.  Wow!  A definate must see. 

It’s been raining these past few days.  Friday, I arrive at work and one of my coworkers says to me, “I thought you’d take the bus today.”  I was astounded.  After six plus years, you’d think he’d know me better.  I love the rain.  I always ride to and from work in the rain.  And this week’s rain has been the best:  steady, but not soaking.  If I don’t have to wear a different set of shoes home than I rode to work, that’s excellent in my book. 

Admitably, Saturday was a bit painful.  I had a blowout in my front tire on the way into work, and with the rain the bike just slid out from under me at the same time.  I slid down the asphalt of the street like a slip and slide, and the left side of my neck still hurts.  I did laundry yesterday, and the asphalt stains didn’t come out, so it looks like I’ll have to use bleach. 

I’ve been watching the first episode of The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet.  It was decent, for the kind of show it is.  I think the friendship between the hosts is more real than between Regis & Kelly, their main competition.  As I don’t really watch such shows, that’ll probably be the last I see of them.  However, if you like shuch shows, I encourage you to give them a chance.  They do an excellent job, and would definately watch them over Live with Regis & Kelly if given a choice. 

Earlier this month I also took the time to listen to the first episode of Ankarlo Mornings.  Darrell Ankarlo is a conservative talk show host who actually shows respect to folks on all sides of an issue, something few conservative hosts are capable of.  The sad thing is most conservative hosts claim to be Christian, then fail to act like it.  Ankarlo actually seems like the real deal.  And that’s something to appreciate in the media.  He’s no Pat McMahon or Tony Femino, but he’s a good addition to the News 92.3 KTAR schedule.  I’ll probably listen occassionally over time, even if I won’t be a regular listener.

The new Chuy’s on Greenway has finally opened.  They closed down the one on Bell and have changed that to another kind of bar/restaurant by the same owners.  I like the new restaurant, as have my friends and family.  I’ll try to remember to review it soon. 

You Are a Newborn Soul

You are tolerant, accepting, and willing to give anyone a chance. On the flip side, you’re easy to read and easily influenced by others. You have a fresh perspective on life, and you can be very creative. Noconformist and nontraditional, you’ve never met anyone who’s like you. Inventive and artistic, you like to be a trendsetter. You have an upbeat spirit and you like almost everything. You make friends easily and often have long standing friendships. Implusive and trusting, you fall in love a little too easily. Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

Currently Reading
Welcome the Light:  Daily Devotions for Advent
By Joyce Rupp, OSM
see related

Of all the famous Scrooges, Carl Banks’s Scrooge McDuck is one of the tops. 

My “Currently Reading” listing, Welcome the Light:  Daily Devotions for Advent, has been of great help to me this Advent season.  It speaks to my pride and self-denial issues, and hopefully I’ll let it help me grow more mature.  As my grandmother gets worse, I’ve been spending a lot more time over there.  It’s really opening my eyes as to where I get my various possitive and negative traits.  Of course, I read somewhere once that our negative traits are really just our possitive traits made sinful. 

I have a lot I want to journal out and not enough time.  Mental prayer will have to suffice.  Otherwise I’ll be on no sleep all week at work, which would be bad this time of year in retail.

Of course I’ve never seen any of the movies I supposedly match.  *shrug*

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic

Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy – your life appeals to a select few. But if someone’s obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky. Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

“The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure.” ~Vince Lombardi

Where did fortune cookies come from and are they really Chinese?

similar_stranger said, “Somehow your quote makes me feel guilty. Oh well, small mind… at least it works–no?”  I certainly never meant anyone to feel guilty.  After all, journals (including weblogs like mine) are naturally about discussing people.  This here ‘blog is a discussion of me.  Does that mean we all have small minds?  No, my interpretation of the quote is that people that only discuss people are small minded;  those which discuss people and events are average minded;  and those which discuss people, events, and ideas are capable of being great minded.  It’s the natural progression of social development in people, IMO. 

I’ve been catching up on my lj blogs, but not my Xanga blogs.  Normally I do the opposite.  I need more time,  It’s had to believe that Advent starts next week.  My mother pointed out to me that I hadn’t put away my Christmas videos from last year when I pulled them out and placed them atop my television set.  (Why do we call it a set, when it’s a single unit anyway?)  There’s a lot of things I don’t make time for in my life.  I obviously need to reprioritize, something I seem to always be saying but not doing.   

Speaking of bad priorities, check out the most recent Onna Chance for another great gaming moment.  How could you not laugh? 

A week ago Sunday our hiking group resumed, doing the short basic trail between 40th Street and Tatum Boulevard and back.  Afterwards we went to 5 & Diner for breakfast, which was fun.  Then I went home for a nap before mass.  Father Joy read the gospel which inspired one of the best sequences in The Last Battle.  His homily focused on the Communion of Saints, a theme throughout all three readings.

Monday Bill and I went to Chuy’s before finally seeing the new Pirates movie at the discount theatre.  Can you believe that it’s $3 to see a discount movie now?!  The discount prices keep creeping up and up.  (I must be getting old.)  It was OK, but it was like The Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future Part II in that it was obviously the dark second act of a three act story.  You knew early on in watching the film that it would end unended.  And amazingly, it did so fairly predictably.  That didn’t make it unfun, just not as entertaining as I had hoped.  That may also be part of the long period of anticipation preceding my chance to finally see it. 

Thursday saw a day off from work, so I went with my mother and grandparents to Thanksgiving Day diner at Cracker Barrel (yes, just like last year).  Afterwards we headed back to their place to celebrate my grandfather’s concurrent birthday, where my stepfather joined us.  He received a Marines ball cap from my grandmother, cash from my parents, and The Railroaders (from Bookman’s) from me. 

Friday my mother and I hit the Black Friday sales before I had to go into work.  We hit eight stores in two hours, plus eating breakfast from Jack in the Box while waiting between the stores we had already hit and the stores which hadn’t opened yet.  If you plan your sales out right the night before you can usually get everything you need quickly and without a lot of fuss.  Unfortunately, my mom know what I bought them and I know what she bought me, but that’s the price we pay for shopping when the best bargains are.  Of course, once I was at work it was relatively dead, as we don’t offer any Black Friday sales.  Thus, our holiday customers will hit the time-sensitive sales first and hit us when convenient.  Saturday was kind of slow, too, as usual. 

Saturday after work I also ran the first installment of Chapter Three in Chaos Out of Order, my continuing Dark Sun campaign set 300 years after the normal timeline.  They get some of the mystery so right, but then they get some of it so wrong.  It’s fun watching them slowly solve it, especially when one or the other has the right idea and the others disagree.  I think they’ve all been right at one time or another while the others disagreed.  As long as they’re having fun I’ll continue.

Yesterday I went to BJ’s birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza before my mother picked me up to go to mass.  It was fun, and BJ seemed happy with all of his many gifts.  I can’t recall them all, so I won’t bother trying to list them.  I gave him some Throne War, Netherworld 2, and Two-Fisted Tales boosters, a rule book from 10,000 Bullets, and a box of Deck Protector Sleeves so he finally has enough cards to hopefully build a deck and use the box.  Between the boosters I gave out for demos and those that he purchased at Hexacon, he didn’t have enough yet to build anything remotely playable.  I also had a chance to play Lisa in air hockey, which was enjoyable.  The time went too fast.  Despite my mother being antisocial, she did seem to enjoy talking with Kim and Lisa.  Maybe someday she can get the ladies to see what’s enjoyable about Doctor Who. 

At mass I was supposed to be the first lector, but ended up being the only lector.  Christ the King is a fun mass to attend every year, because before the main procession of the gospel book, altar servers, and priest we have several eucharistic ministers process forward with candles as the music minister announces sacramental and ministerial statistics for the past liturgical year (one stat with each candle that processes forward).  Of all of the parishes I’ve attended on Christ the King, St. Paul is the only one to do this. 

Father Gene noted before mass in the sacristy that one of the altar servers was now sporting an ear ring, and seemed surprised that his grade school allowed such a thing.  He didn’t make the server take it out, just as he never asks me to hide my long hair.  He did mention once again about his desire to retire in the next year.  I wonder if Father Joy would become pastor or if they’d assign us someone else.  In his homily Father Gene discussed kings and kingship, and how Christ is a holy king rather than a material king.

Before and after mass I was part of the team maintaining the Christmas Angels on the trees in the vestibule.  My mother volunteered to help, which was nice of her.  The Christmas Angels are clothing items (green angels), clothing sets (blue angels), or something nice–such as a toy for children–(blue angels) for the poor of El Mirage.  When I first was involved in our parish’s El Mirage Christmas Angels Project, El Mirage was a poor hispanic community in the rural area outside the metropolitan area.  Now El Mirage is mostly composed of upper middle class anglo families and retirees in various cookie cutter developments.  The poor of the community are now disenfranchised by their own city, which is now considered to be part of the metropolitan area.   The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Or something like that. 

Hey, I found my missing Feng Shui sourcebooks Back for Seconds, Thorns of the Lotus, and Blood of the Valiant today while looking for something else completely.  They had been filed with my outdated calendar collection.  Yes, I keep everything.  But, I was actually looking for some stuff I knew I had somewhere that I will be getting rid of after years of storing for absolutely no good reason.  Don’t ask me why the books were hidden with the calendars.  I have no idea.  And, no, I won’t be getting rid of my calendars.  They’re a journal of sorts with various events scribbled in them.  Future generations might want that history. 

Then I submitted some corrections to the RPG Wiki of RPGnet for the Feng Shui entries.  I’ll have to scan some covers sometime to complete their Feng Shui data for the Daedalus Entertainment (and Ronin Publishing) era.  Then I’ll work on inputting all of the Dark Sun data that they’re missing.  Remind me if I forget.  Thanks.

Well, Heroes:  The Best Show on Television will be on soon, so I’m gonna jet. 

Thanks to the_chaos_opera for the quiz:

Horus Sparkling personality, intense will, intelligent, understanding, impatient to exert influence. Colors: male: red carmine, female: gold Compatible Signs: Bastet, Geb Dates: Apr 20 – May 7, Aug 12 – Aug 19 Role:God of the pharaoh Appearance: Form of a falcon-headed man, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Sacred Animal: falcon What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock’s Quizzles and Quandaries

“If an idea’s worth having once, it’s worth having twice.” ~Tom Stoppard

What does the “10/6″ mean on the Mad Hatter’s hat from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

I keep wanting to make time to post, but life just keeps me busy. Here’s a recap of recent events.

The Saturday group was kind enough to let me cancel last weekend’s Chaos Out of Order session so I could go to a last minute birthday party for a friend. The host family had been sick for over a week, and thus were only able to give a five day notice. Unfortunately, that meant that besides the hosts, the guest, and I, only one other showed up–and he showed up with his son and new girlfriend in tow close to midnight! I guess he had had another party commitment the same night and tried to do both. The rest of those invited were unable to attend.

We still had a great dinner, played some Guillotine and Torches and Pitchforks, Guillotine was one of the birthday gifts our hosts had given, and the guest of honour seemed to enjoy it. I think she was a little bummed so few people showed up, but she did appeciate the fact that at least some of us were there. Hopefully the ladies had a good time the next day, at the spa.

The last few Wednesday nights I have tried to go to Choir practice after work. I’ve been arriving as cars leave the parking lot, and the church is already locked up and dark. It’s yet another example of how I forget when calculating commute time that I’m not as fast as I was before I was injured. I’ll try a few more times, and if it keeps up, then I’ll just have to respectly decline the offer of joining the choir.

Our Doctor Who Fridays have resumed on SciFi Channel, so we’ve been watching the new season of Doctor Who the last two Fridays. The first week of the season they showed the first two episodes, just like last season. That kept us up way too late for a work night. Luckily, just like last season they’re only showing an episode a week thereafter, allowing for a reasonable bedtime. All three episodes have been fantastic, despite the obvious change in tone and direction with the new Doctor this season. It’s been interesting how they’ve been preparing audiences for the Torchwood spinoff these last two seasons. I hope it airs here in the States.

It was good seeing everybody together again, at least the first week. Da was back in town from Tucson and even B was willing to drive from his side of town for the occassion. Asked to bring a vegetable sidedish, I opted to try my hand at carmelized leeks over green tea noodles. Da and BJ seemed to enjoy them, but Kim (not much for many various vegetables) isn’t likely to eat leeks again. By comparison, it was just Jay, Kim, and I this weekend. Even Lisa was out of town this week. Next week I’ll miss out, due to Hexacon XVI. That’s too bad, as I was always a big SJS fan.

This Saturday we resumed Chaos Out of Order. I miscalulated my d20 level progression. I was thinking people level at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, et cetera, but it’s actually 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, et cetera. I thought maybe people were leveling too fast. Oh well, thank goodness Rusty caught me on that. We’re finally into a stretch of downtime, which is good since we won’t be playing next weekend during Hexacon.

Last Sunday my mom visisted for a game day. We hadn’t played (other than at my grandparents’ place) in a long time. So we played a game of Torches and Pitchforks and a game of The Game of Life:  A Jedi’s Path.  Afterwards, we went to mass, where I was the first lector and Father Milt gave another of his great homilies.  He reminded us that the gospel message applies to the election season and how we vote for candidates and propositions.  This Sunday I worked on some last minute DAL and KLA items for Hexacon before attending mass with another of Fr. Milt’s homilies.  He spoke of the importance marriage, the importance of working on a marriage from within, and working on a marriage from without by the community–married or single. 

Last Monday I attended the first session of Parish Time for the season, our parish’s continuing religious education for all ages.  We covered the Sign of the Cross before the children went off to their various grade levels.  Then the teens and adults broke into small groups and watched a film and answered questions related to each segment.  After I got home I made sure to tune into the what was left of Heroes, the best show on television.  This Monday I attended another DAL3/KLA1 meeting before coming home to watch Heroes, still the best show television.  If you can watch only one show, watch Heroes.

This weekend is Hexacon, so don’t expect me to return until after the madness is at an end.  Have a happy Friday the 13th everyone. 

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” ~Robin Williams