Random Access

Sunday – 26 August 2007
Yesterday was good. I mean… come on… the day started with coffee and IKEA and ended in Park City watching India.Arie. How could that not be a good day?! I’ve listened to some of her music before, but seeing her live was very cool. She had great stage presence and just seemed to be having a good time. The crowd really seemed to enjoy her performance, as well.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
At last night’s concert, India.Arie played/sang bits of many different songs – songs made popular by other artists, including a really good cover of Rufus and Chaka Khan’s Tell Me Something Good. But, she put her own twists on them and changed the way they came off… and, in that way, made them her own.

That made me consider something that I wrote a couple of years ago:

I’m having a bit of a John Stewart moment, not to be confused with a Jon Stewart moment.

When I say that I’m having a John Stewart moment, I don’t mean that I’m dressing up in a black and green outfit (I did that last Hallowe’en) and saving the world (I do that in City of Heroes). What I do mean is that I think that I am in the middle of rediscovering/redefining what makes me tick.

I used to use a lot of quotes when I was young. To make me sound mature. To make me sound serious. To make me feel like I wasn’t the second-class entity I’d always thought I was.

But the courage to use your own voice, that’s the test of maturity. That’s the proof of seriousness. Maybe that’s my mission here.

To find my own voice.

To find a voice for all these creatures and let them speak in harmony.

Yeah. Maybe. But in the meantime… there’s business.

I don’t think that I have changed that much since I started writing in this. Maybe I have. Maybe I’m “too close” to it to see. I do know that this journal has changed – it has a flavor that is distinctly mine, but does it speak with the full timbre of my voice? Or the voices in my head – past, present and future? I don’t know. Quite possibly so. But, there are still questions to be asked. And voices that need to be heard.

I should find that voice. My voice. And then, I can find the voice for this journal. Will it change the way that I write in here? Possibly. It’s hard to say until I undertake the process. Maybe it will metamorphose into something new. Perhaps it will revert to something like it was before. We’ll see how it goes.

One of the things that I had been worried about was using others’ quotes to express my thoughts, feelings and/or opinions. Listening to the way the India.Arie used other artists’ songs and wove them into and through her own pieces made me realize something: The things that I listen to and read have become a part of my voice.

They are things that have found an anchor and resonated within me. They’ve made a connection. Brought life to some spark. And, eventually, provide a pathway that I can use to relate/convey what I’m thinking or feeling. Even better, they aren’t the only weapons in my arsenal. They are handy, sometimes even convenient, but I have a versatile array of tools at my disposal. No matter which one I choose, it is mine to use.

That’s something that I think I have known – at some level – for a while. But, sometimes, it takes a different lens to help bring things into focus.

And I like the view.

Stray Toasters

• I have Honeycomb cereal. Before this last grocery run, I don’t think that I could tell you when the last time I had bought Honeycomb was.
• As promised: Pat, here is your mention in my blog.
• The War(s) They Fought
• By way of comes “proof” that I’m Chinese. (Which isn’t really true… I’m Negro-Saxon.)
• From NPR: My Cancer
• Tori Amos is apparently coming to SLC in November.
• 
• If they were to make a Sandman movie, I think that Tori Amos would make an interesting Delirium. Or maybe Evanna Lynch, the young lady who played Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
• 
• I need to hang my banner. Of course, that means cutting it and prepping it for hanging. And that requires effort.
• In this picture, we see U.S.Agent (at one point chosen to be Captain America’s successor) getting ready to tear into… someone. (I don’t read Omega Flight, so I’m not sure who that is.) But, that’s not what struck me. ‘Agent’s costume is based on Cap’s. I thought that I had read somewhere… somewhen… that Cap’s tunic was chainmail. That picture looks more like scale mail. And, according to the Wikipedia entry I just found, apparently it is supposed to be scale mail. Now I want to see if I can track down the source that made me think it was chain.
• I am craving a frozen mocha. But that requires a bit of effort, too.
• 
• Great. Just found an item that said Cap’s tunic is chainmail.
• Speaking of which: I remember playing Chainmail many moons past at The Armory.
• The Armory used to make the best miniatures paints, too…
• I need to get some paints: I am going to do custom ‘Clix for Hand of Nefer-Tem and Corvus Nox. Because I’m a geek like that. To date, the miniature paint job of which I am most proud was the tattoo I did on Alias‘ arm. I wish I still had the miniature, but I think that it fell prey to one of Mom’s cleaning sprees many years ago.

Time to do… something.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 14 August 2007
Last night, I had dinner with and Vikki at David’s Kitchen. Potstickers and Beef Lo Mein. Beef Lo Mein which I meant to bring to work today for lunch… but just realized that I left it in the fridge. *sigh* At least I know what I’m having for dinner.

This morning has seen an odd assortment of weird music-related items running through my head:

• I’ve had Tom Jones’ It’s Not Unusual randomly running through my head for a little while. Just the chorus, though.
• I was listening to 2112: Overture and Temples of Syrinx on the morning commute. I was, for some reason, reminded of how much I despised it the first time(s) that I heard it – 8th Grade carpool. First thing in the morning. VERY loud. Had I been using the term *grblsnrkx* back then, it would have been applied often. In fact, I couldn’t stand Rush from 1982 until late 1987, when a friend in my dorm actually asked me to sit down and actually listen to… of all things… 2112. *twitch* I agreed to do so. It took a few tries, but I got past my grade school loathing of the song and the band. The rest is history, as they say.
• I’ve been thinking about songs that are usually played back-to-back and just don’t sound “right” when not played together:
  • 2112: Overture and Temples of Syrinx
  • We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions
  • Eye Would Die 4 U / Baby, I’m a Star

  I’m sure that there are others, but these are the ones that keep sticking out in my mind.

• Puttin’ on the Ritz just popped into my head. The version by Taco… although when the chorus came up again, it was the one from Young Frankenstein.
• And now, something from a video game – which one I can’t seem to remember – just passed through.
• While playing CoH last night, I was on a bit of a Jim Croce kick. YouTube helped me get my fix, as I had, in a masterful stroke, left my iPod at work.

Other than that, it’s been a good day… not that I consider the aforementioned to be “bad” things.

Chew on This: Food for Thought
Life is an ongoing series of checks and balances:

• Check: My coworker who was diagnosed with the tumor has undergone surgery and is in recovery. He seems to be doing well… but will have to learn to walk again.
• Balance: I got a phone call yesterday saying that there’s been a death in my extended family. It was not entirely unexpected, but still something of a shock.

The Scales of Justice
The Hand of Nefer-Tem dispensed some justice in Brickstown last night. I joined a team for a few missions against The Council. Level 36 Council. Oh, boy. The team had a good balance and did pretty well. By the time the team disbanded, I was (only) 5,000 points from Security Level 32. Oh, so close…. so close….

I was preparing to log out when I was invited to join another team. The desire to level was strong, so I did. This was a smaller team, but it was well-constructed and we managed to run through a couple of missions with a fair amount of ease.

And, by the time I left that team, I had made it to Level 32 and a new power: Resuscitate.

Stray Toasters

• I cleaned up the links page on Random Access last night. While there may not be rhyme nor reason, there is order.
• The Subtle Pleasures of Building a Dungeon
• doot doot doot
• Time in a Bottle (video)
• For those of you who’ve been to Paris, does this hold true?
  
• Miniot’s Hand-Crafted iWood Cases
• By way of… I don’t remember whom: Mind-blowing magic
• A Softer World Laundry Day (t-shirts!)
• 
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Karl Rove

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday – 06 August 2007
Calls have been made.
Numbers have been bandied about… and they weren’t quite as hellish as I had feared.

I found out that one of my coworkers was diagnosed as having a brain tumor over the weekend. He is one of the non-monkeys and a genuinely all-around nice guy; this was about the last thing that I think anyone would have expected. It’s amazing how Life can put things into perspective. He’s in the hospital and will undergo surgery tomorrow to (hopefully) remove it. They expect things to go well, but – as with any major surgical procedure – there is a modicum of risk involved. So, if you have a prayer or good thought that you can spare, I’d ask you to send it in his and his family’s direction.

Rush is but mere hours away…

The Best: Kiss
Prince vs. Tom Jones and The Art of Noise

His Royal Badness vs. The Voice.

While the Jones/AoN cover of the song is good, it just doesn’t stand up to the original, falsetto-toned version.

Stray Toasters

• Until today, I didn’t know that Morris Day was Prince’s cousin. Learn somethin’ new everyday, I guess.
• I like Tom Jones’ cover of Baby, It’s Cold Outside, performed with Cerys Matthews of Catatonia.
• No, his mind is not for rent…
• Bad cops to wear Hello Kitty armbands
• Goldfish.  Tasty Pretzel Goldfish…

*stares out the window*

Namaste.

I’ve often ranted about how we as a culture have put people on pedestals and call them “celebrities. ” I’ve also made many comments about how these celebrities often act as though the world owes them something… because…

• …they’re famous?
• …we pay ridiculous sums of money to watch them perform?
• …they feel some sense of entitlement to the adoration which their fans lavish on them?

A lot of people gave Charles Barkley flak when he said that he’s not a role model.  What they fail to realize – or maybe it would be better to say: “fail to remember” – is that he put the onus of being a role model on the parents:

I don’t believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models…. It’s not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn’t like it, they said, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.” Parents have to take better control.

Wow.  What a concept.   Yet, parents get up in arms when their kids emulate the behaviors of their favorite athlete, actor, singer or whomever… all because they didn’t take the time to get involved and don’t know who their kids are or who their friends are or anything about their interests.

That being said, it is encouraging to see someone who’s been elevated to “star status” giving back to the community.  My coworker, Jason, sent me a link to this video which shows Miami Heat player Shaquille O’Neal doing his part to help tackle the problem of childhood obesity.

I had the opportunity – and pleasure – to meet Shaq a little over ten years ago, when he was still playing for the Orlando Magic.  I also met his teammates Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott.  Shaq was soft-spoken, but personable and very approachable; his teammates… not so much.  In fact, they acted almost as if they couldn’t be bothered… or that they were “too good” to talk to anyone in the establishment.

I’ve seen many things in Shaq’s career, both on and off the court, that have favorably preserved the memory of a night in Orlando of a quiet young man who happens to be good at his job and understands that his time on the court may be brief and that fame may be fleeting, but that he can do something to bring a positive influence to those around him.

If only more people would do this…

Wednesday (coda)
Crossposting seems to be back on track, so let’s give this a go, shall we…?

The day was good. Work wasn’t bad and I had plenty to keep me occupied. That’s never a bad thing, “idle hands” and whatnot. At lunch, I fed not only myself, but also my four-color crack addiction… with a single serving of plastic crack as dessert. Total win-win situation.

Came home and read a bit of Deathly Hallows. I’m seven chapters in. Stuff has happened. Spells have been cast. And monkeys! Flying monkeys! Wait… that was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Nevermind.

Stray Toasters

• I am appalled by this story: Man dies of heart attack after VA hospital turned him away. I would like to hear both sides of the story, as there is possibly more to it than…
  

  The unidentified person who answered the phone inside the hospital said the ambulance should take the patient to a hospital located about three miles — or 10 minutes — away.

  …but that a medical center would turn away a patient? Granted, from the “transcript” of what the paramedic said, there is no indication that she or he said that the victim was suffering a heart attack. Hopefully, the truth will come out in the next few days.

• Samuel Adams: Brewer. Patriot. Homeboy.
• 
• Queen guitarist wraps studies for doctorate
  “So what are you, some kind of rocket scientist…?”
  “Well, as a matter of fact, yes… yes, I am.”
• From the “Truth, stranger than fiction” file: Nude blonde, gold stilettos and a Ferrari
• , I’m not sure if you’ve heard this: Weekly World News dies after 28 years of awesum, Bat Boy bummed
• With The Simpson Movie just around the corner and this being the 30th Anniversary of the release of a little film by George Lucas, this seemed appropos: I Bent My Wookiee! Celebrating the Star Wars/Simpsons Connection
• I’m rockin’ the suburbs…
• And a little somethin’ for the math majors out there:

That’s good for now. Maybe I’ll go check out the invasion.

Pax vobiscum.

Tuesday – 24 July 2007
Merry Mormon Christmas!

It’s Pioneer Day here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain. The commemoration of the day when Brigham Young, leading “a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest: A shining planet territory, known as Earth Deseret,” came into what is now known as the Salt Lake Valley and said, “That’s it. I’m done. Set up camp. Call me when supper’s ready.” What this mainly means is that many local businesses are closed (not us, though…). And there will be parades. And fireworks. And stuff. And whatnot.

Last night, after work, I hung out with and the kids for a bit. I also borrowed her copy of Deathly Hallows. I think I made it to page 16 before I was powerless to resist the siren call of the bed.

And that’s another thing…

I know that dreaming basically sticks the subconscious mind on a couple of Vivarin and two liters of Mountain Dew. But, last night…? Damn. Who added crack to the mix?!

Most people who know me (especially at Clitorati) know that I think in terms of pop culture media/trivia and “hyperlinked” thoughts – and there’s not necessarily much conscious thought given to some of the connections I make… but the connections are logical and valid, when I trace them back.

Last night’s dreams were bi-fucking-zarre. Not only was the pop culture trivia there, but a lot of disparate parts of my life… all jumbled together.

I woke up, staring at the ceiling… and I think my first waking words were literally,”What the fuck was that?!”

The Scales of Justice
Before reading, though, I took a trip to Paragon City. No sooner than I had logged on, I was invited to join a team of my supergroup members. We took on The Council and The Freakshow. There were no Shadow Freaks, though… I was a little disappointed. But, it wasn’t my mission, so not part of my storyline. Oh, na. We also took on a safeguard mission: Prevent a bank robbery. We did. With the quickness. (And… there were a few deaths, but that’s not what we’re focusing on here.)

The Best
Madonna’s cover of Don McLean’s American Pie just hit the iTunes rotation. It’s good. I like it. (Of course, I also like Weird Al’s parody, The Saga Begins (video) But, I think that Mr. McLean’s version wins out over the former Material Girl’s version.

Stray Toasters

• Welcome to Post #500, according to WordPress.  (It’s not exactly 500, but I don’t want to burst its bubble.)
• I need to remember to download Northern Strike.
• Zaz!
• Much to Tyranist’s chagrin – and my satisfaction: Samuel L. Jackson has been confirmed as General Nick Fury in the upcoming Iron Man movie.  This makes sense, as the Ultimate version of Nick Fury was based on Mr. Jackson’s features.  Hilary Swank has also been confirmed to appear in the movie, in an as-yet undisclosed role – I’m personally banking on her playing Natasha Romanova, the Black Widow.
• Mandelbrot Set you’re a Rorschach Test on fire
  You’re a day-glo pterodactyl
  You’re a heart-shaped box of springs and wire
  You’re one badass fucking fractal
  And you’re just in time to save the day
  Sweeping all our fears away
  You can change the world in a tiny way
• By way of : Female Orgasm is Deadly for Men
• I like Basia’s Time and Tide; I have for many years.
• – Iraq War amputee’s bionic hand moves all five fingers
• 
• I still contend that the themes from Thunderball and Duck Dodgers, both done by Tom Jones, sound eerily similar.
• – Wii speeds up the rehab process
• Secret list of buildings you can’t photograph
• Jane, divided
  But I can’t decided which side I’m on

Namaste.

Monday – 23 July 2007
A new week begins.

Yesterday morning, I was too lazy to make a pot of coffee. I think I was awake for about an hour and a half before I managed to drag myself out of my chair and meander the way into the kitchen. After that, the laziness continued.

Until roughly 2:00.

At that point, my six-month muse whacked me in the back of the head… and the lethargy/laziness disappeared. In its place was the compulsion to rearrange furniture. Yeah, most people get the urge to play video games or go for a bike ride or hang out in the park; I get the urge to move furniture. Go figure. Although, the thought of going to the gym did cross my mind. Briefly.

After that, I went to see 1408. I liked it; it was interesting, in a not bad way. It reminded me of the Jack Nicholson version of The Shining in many ways. Couldn’t be because they were both based on Stephen King works, could it? Nah. After the movie, I dropped by Kate and Perry’s for a bit. Then home… then to the airport – I needed to mail a couple of letters and figured that going to the AMF would be the easiest way to accomplish that. Wrong. They have changed their hours and are no longer open to the public 24/7/365… which meant that I had to double back and drop off the letters at the GMF. *BAH*

Stray Toasters

• I have had All Time High intermittently running through my head since early yesterday afternoon, when it popped up on the iPod. My thought process went: “All Time High… Rita Coolidge….no, Melissa Manche… no, it was Rita Coolidge…. I wonder what she’s up to?” So, I checked Google. That led to her website, which, in turn, led me to see that she will be coming to Sandy in two weeks. That could be an interesting show… and possibly a nice change of pace.

  I just infected Tyranist with All Time High. He threatened to kill me if it gets stuck in his head. I’m willing to take that chance.

• By way of :
• I recounted Friday’s tale of being in a foul mood at Borders amidst the Harry Potter hoopla to Tyranist. He said that I could be one of The Seven Duffs. I was amused by this.
• I got my certain and my
  sure ‘nough on
  and I’m puttin’ on my really
  for real
• The following was a sponsored link on my Gmail page:

  Mormon Ringtone – RingRingMobile.com – Send this complimentary ringtone to your phone right now!

• Wow… I just had a horrible collision in my head: The Swedish Chef and the former lead singer of The Sugarcubes – Bjork! Bjork! Bjork! (Please… shoot me now.)
• 
• What is “Cloverfield?”
• 
• By way of TechTarget’s WhatIs.com: “What does PCMCIA stand for? (The slot in your laptop). ‘People Can’t Memorize Complex Industry Acronyms.'”
• makes me laugh.
• Interplanet Janet is currently in rotation on iTunes. For those of you who grew up on Schoolhouse Rock, you may remember that it’s the Science Rock tour of our solar system. I’d never paid attention to the fact that when Lynn Abrams, the vocalist on the track, gets to the following line…
  

  Uranus is built on a funny tilt

  …she pronounces it “ure-AH-nuss,” instead of the more commonly heard “ure-AY-nuss.” I wonder if the powers-that-were at ABC made that decision or if Ms. Abrams did.

• Back in the 80s, Michael Jackson and Sir Paul McCartney performed a couple of songs together: Say, Say, Say and The Girl Is Mine. I’m going to leave Say³ out of this one and look The Girl Is Mine for a moment. There’s something… creepy… in thinking about the two of them fighting over the same girl. And when you throw in their age differences…? Adds a whole new level of *ick*.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 17 July 2007
I woke up in my clothes again this morning
I don’t know exactly where I am
And I should heed my doctor’s warning
He does the best with me he can

Okay, I didn’t really wake up in my clothes. But I did wake up. Before the alarm. Again. Not terribly long before it went off, but enough to make me think,”I could have gotten another 15 minutes’ sleep…”

The commute was, for the most part, alright… with the notable exception of a couple of van-driving PoW monkeys. Driving a little below the posted speed. In the left lane. Up Traverse Mountain.

*braincramp*

This required some judicious passing on the right. In fact, I had to go two lanes to the right so that I could also get around the semi that was in the next lane in. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in my decision to “Choose the Right.” (Yeah, like I was going to pass up that golden opportunity…)

Stray Toasters

• I think that this is pretty cool: One giant leap for space fashion: MIT team designs sleek, skintight spacesuit
• From Dwim: The Want List: Sweep the Foot!
• From Derek: Wal-Mart to Sell Jesus, Religious Action Figures
• By way of Eric: Abortion and Slavery
• Welcome Back, Potter
• 

Namaste.

Monday – 16 July 2007
It begins anew…

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I think that my body is on “automatic pilot” or something along those lines. I was up at 6:11 AM. That’s not really a bad thing, as the alarm is set to go off at 6:15 AM. The… unusual (?) part is: I haven’t done anything like this since I was in high school, I think. Sure, I know that it’s basically my circadian rhythms getting in line with the (rough) schedule that I keep. I just found it a little odd. I’m pretty sure that it’s why I’ve been getting up so early on the weekends, too, though.

There’s something that I neglected to note last night: I noted how the new table – when the leaves are collapsed – looks a little small in the dining room. That’s fine, because I don’t need a huge table… and when I do need more space, I can extend the leaves. TADA! But, the table – like Mother Hubbard’s cupboards – was a bit bare. I have the place settings that Sib-1 and gave me a few years ago on the table (and they look rather nice, I might add), but there was still something missing. Basically, it needed a centerpiece or something to break up the blandness.

I found the perfect thing – at least for now or until something else strikes me as possibly “better.”

When my grandmother died, my father asked me if there was anything that I wanted from the old house. At the time, I could only come up with one thing (technically “four,” but let’s not quibble): A set of angels that I had given my grandmother for Christmas many years ago. I’m not sure exactly what they are made of; I don’t think it’s plaster or ceramic, but it’s something along those lines. I had originally planned to put them someplace else, but opted to set the four of them – wings to the middle, facing away from each other – in the center of the table. I’m rather happy with them there and they look good, to boot.

Stray Toasters

• Read this.
• I actually took the time to eat breakfast this morning. Just a bowl of cereal, but still… it’s something.
• From the “Some Peoples’ Children….” file (NOT to be confused with the “Children of Some Peoples’ Children” file): Nev. couple accused of starving infants while playing video games.
• By way of : Tokyo Dance Trooper
• 
• Code Monkey very simple man
  With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
  Code Monkey like you

Namaste.

Thursday – 05 July 2007
The work week resumes.

Yesterday was good. I spent part of the day hanging out with Kate, Perry and the kids… and part of the day with and family. And stuff. And whatnot. We only half-saw the fireworks last night, due to an obstructed view. Damned dirty trees! (Wow… I just had a horrible “Planet of the Acers” pun run through my head.) Although, we did see, hear and almost get set on fire by the ones that ‘ neighbors.

This morning, there were far more monkeys on the road than I would have ordinarily expected. The only real annoyance with them came near the tail end of the commute, so I shouldn’t complain too much. Speaking of which, had the (mis)fortune of hearing me rail at/against a slew of road monkeys – affectionately referred to as “cock monkeys,” if I recall correctly – Tuesday afternoon.

Stray Toasters

• Sometimes, whether it be Providence, Fate, Karma, cybermancy, technopathy or just lucky happenstance, you wind up hearing a song on your iPod that you haven’t heard in a long time. And it will make you smile. I was the beneficiary of such a circumstance while taking my morning constitutional.
• Speaking of music that makes me smile: The Salt Lake City Jazz Festival is this weekend.
• is trying to kill me. How do I know? She sent me a link to this.
• – Irish children swept out to sea
• – Indian woman strips in dowry row
• 
• First Amendment mob of photogs hit Silver Spring on July 4
• I started with a dream
  But came to a decision
  I started with a dream
  But now I have a mission
  I have a goal
  To see beyond my vision
  With imagination
  I’ll get there
• Cassandra Wilson, Impromtu
• Design story behind memorial for Madrid train bombings
• 

Time to pick up and put down heavy things.

Namaste.

I just made a run to the local purveyor of packaged goods. I exited with:

• A bottle of Merlot
• A bottle of Gewurtztraminer
• A bottle of Irish Creme

I was struck by the thought that an Irish Coffee sounded pretty good as a nightcap. Then I thought about the flip side of that: I don’t know that I want to start drinking coffee at 10:00, if I plan on being in bed sometime around 1:00, especially since I haven’t been sleeping well of late…

Then I remembered: I have some decaf coffee, left over from when Chris would drink it on Shadowrun nights. But then I was stuck with the conundrum:

I know that decaf is pretty much the coffee equivalent of masturbation, but is it blasphemy/heresy (or even prostitution) to put Irish Creme in decaf?

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Wednesday: coda
And so, another mid-week ends…

I came home this evening and took a somewhat unexpected nap. Then it was time to feed. But, I didn’t feel like cooking and, as I do not have the powers of Ronson (yet), making pizza and beer appear from thin air wasn’t an option, either. So, I did the next best thing: I went to Charlie Chow’s Dragon Grill. And, as an added bonus, went with me. Spring rolls. Beef with broccoli. Oolong tea. And a fortune cookie! After dinner, we headed over to Salt Lake Coffee Break for a bit. Nyx shared with me some of her ideas for upcoming art pieces; my thoughts hovered somewhere around “Wow.” I am looking forward to seeing them when she’s done with them.

Stray Toasters

• Don called shortly after I got home; I don’t think that we’ve had a chance to talk since I got back from the Right Coast, so it was a rather pleasant surprise. He had a couple of questions about Silk Road Online and how some of its stats/info compared with other RPGs/MMOs. I wasn’t familiar with the game… but that’s what the Interweb is for.We also talked comics, books, movies, and other games. (Go figure!) So, it was a pretty standard conversation for us. Among the things we talked about, he mentioned a series of books – the Cassandra Kresnov trilogy, by Joel Shepherd – that sounds like an interesting read.
• Vindication 2.0
• Missing Heroes?
• I’ve been a fan of Irregular Webcomic for… a couple of years, I think. Maybe more. Maybe less. I found the editorial/thoughts in this post to be particularly interesting – it’s a somewhat lengthy read, but it’s good food for thought.
• UnRealID.com
• Giant Otter Pop of Doom.
• Designer Interview: City of Heroes & Villains – Issue 10: Invasion
• From Comic Book Resources: Dwayne McDuffie on the Balance of Justice and Injustice
• When ‘Digital Natives’ Go to the Library
• Yes, it’s an iPhone news round-up
• I just had a horrible audio-visual pun go through my head when I glanced at a Magic: the Gathering card: Que Serra Serra…
• Oldman to quit acting?

Quote of the Day

[19:40] : So.
[19:40] : Aye?
[19:40] : When buying a new SATA drive for your PC it is best to make sure your PC has SATA support first.
[19:40] : sigh. 🙂
[19:40] : SATA add in card here i come.
[19:40] : I take it that you didn’t confirm this beforehand.
[19:41] : You’re aware that this will be posted, aren’t you?
[19:46] : yeah. i didn’t. i just assumed. *sob*
[19:46] : mistakes were made.
[19:46] : some deaths were involved.
[19:46] : or maybe i just wanted a new motherboard, CPU and RAM too. hmm. 😀
[19:47] : Maybe so.

Namaste.

Saturday Rocks

The book discussion (Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word) went well! Better than well! It was great! There were eight of us and we had a fairly eclectic demography:

• 4 women and 4 men
• 1 Asian, 1 African-American, 6 White (mixed-European descent)
• 4 straight women, 2 straight men, 2 gay men
• 1 Buddhist, 1 Baptist, 2 Mormon, 4 non-religious

This gave us quite the mix of viewpoints; that was a good thing. Including lunch, we spent almost three hours at the restaurant. And the best parts about it: It was a discussion and not a “let’s shout our viewpoints till everyone else agrees” session and EVERYONE contributed to the dialogue. It was nice to be able to sit and talk about things that:

• …aren’t necessarily ‘easy’ or ‘comfortable’ to talk about;
• …everyone had opinions or comments or questions about;
• …people were receptive to hearing/learning about.

I think that we should do something like this again.

Otherwise, it was a fairly average day. Jess, Larry, new-friend Zaq, and I bowled tonight. Providence and Fortune smiled down upon me again. After bowling we decided to return to our old post-pinkilling haunt, Denny’s. There were some interesting-looking people there tonight.

I think that I shall call it a night.

Peace.