Big E, Little e, and Faith...

Okay, so, it's been like what, two months, plus, since I updated this thing? Well, here's a bit that I just had to put somewhere for people to see.

---

In today's Schlock Mercenary, Howard Taylor discussed the subject of Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Me. Now, while I may not share his religious faith, this essay is probably the best way to state my own beliefs.

I believe in God, and I'm a scientist. I know that God created the universe, and that he created it in such a way so that we, his creation, could, one day, understand it. This understanding comes from science, and from faith. But, once must realize that faith without science is blind faith, and science without faith is just as blind.

Each new scientific discovery I hear of reveals to me a new and more interesting level of God's love for us. Take the discovery of antibiotics, a way for us to not only finally claim dominion over some of the smallest of the beings God placed under us, but through the evolution (little e) of resistant bacterium, a new level of hubris.

[IC] A Different Point of View

The below is an in character post on behalf of Hamsa Garmand, a half-elven marshall.

---

Today was a bad day. Not that it was the first time I had seen death on the field of battle. It was not the first time I had seen an elf fall beneath the blade of an orc. It was not the second time that I had won the field of battle, but lost the engagement.

No, today reminded me of the life I left behind so many years ago, the life I had thought left behind in an orc prisoner of war camp. A life that I never excelled at.

My mother was the great general, and I was just living in her shadow. She was the tactical genius, the one that could bring victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, I just deliver defeat from the jaws of victory.

A friend of mine died today. He died in a pointless battle, a battle that had been lost the moment we were ambushed. We, no, I had grown complacent. We had won, we had achieved the objective. We were on our way to claim our prize, and await further missions from our new benefactor.

Instead, I sit here, in the middle of nowhere, keeping a vigil over a dead friend. I should have seen it coming. A woman standing in the middle of the road, a choke point, with a hill on one side, perfect cover for snipers, and a forest on the other, no place to run. So, instead, we tried to talk, and it only allowed them to perfect their aim. The first few seconds were deadly, with arrows and spells raining from the hillside as we desperately tried to escape the mass of horse flesh that was rendered by the magical webbing.

I should have used that moment as a rallying point, brought us out of the ambush with the stakes in our favor, not theirs. Instead, I ran, and hid, like a mere recruit, not the major I once was, or the general my mother was. No, I did not attempt to rally until the fight was lost, and even then it did little good. Sure, it saved one, but at the cost of another, and the mission. Was it worth it?

Was it worth losing two to save one? Did it even have to come to that?

No, on both counts. But, there is a small silver lining. Where once was a group divided, on the verge of rupture, there is now a group united by experience in battle. Instead of a near blood feud, instead there is review, and tactics, and a newfound sense of frailty, and the yearning to not let a friend die in vain.

So, here's to you, my friend, my kinsman, here's to you.

May the light shine softly through the branches, and may you find peace in the land of our ansestors.

Abotion, Crime, and Social Engineering

Okay, well, as is my custom, I read Orson Scott Card's Ornery American article, which this/last week (it was date-lined the 11th, but didn't get released to the web until either today or yesterday) was on the topic of abortion, crime, and an emerging field of statistical analysis called Freakonomics. In this article, OSC discusses the book, as well as an application of the books ideas upon an aspect of society.

I recommend you go read it now, because I'm going to assume you did.

Go!

Okay, so, you've read it. Good, wasn't it? Well, if not, then, post a comment. If you agree, post anyway.

So, I agree with his analysis of the information, but since I really haven't examined the raw statistics, I can't comment upon anything but the logic of the analysis, and the logic is sound. So, the crime boom of the 70s and 80s was because of extra-marital and irresponsible sex, and the subsequent decline is because of abortion, which allowed this fetuses to be murdered before they came to term. Inadvertent policing through eugenics and murder.

Peace, but at what cost?

Perspective

I've never lived through a natural disaster, at least, not a real disaster. I've seen them, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, you name it, if there was a camera there, I saw it happen. So, when Katrina struck, I, along with all the other people in the world who could do nothing but watch, did just that, watch.

I saw the devastation, and I, being the cynic that I am, said that New Orleans would flood. I thought it would be from the hurricane, and I was wrong. No, it was because of the floods.

My perspective has not changed. I am still of the belief that people who live in Florida shouldn't complain about hurricanes, that people who live in the flood-plane shouldn't complain about floods, people who live on a known and active fault shouldn't complain about earthquakes, and people who live in the forest, their homes mere feet away from the trees, shouldn't complain about forest fires. These are natural disasters that have been happening for millions of years, and will happen for millions more.

But, my perspective has changed. I realize that some people can't leave Florida, or the flood-plane, or the fault line, or the forest, because they are too poor to leave. Of course, for every poor person without a chance, there's a rich person without a clue.

Here's to perspective.

[IC] The Adventuers of Aziz Banjari - Chapter 1

Okay, so, here we go, the first post in my serialized short story, The Adventures of Aziz Banjari.

---

My name iz Aziz Banjari, ant zez are my storiez.

It vaz late is ze zummer, zome of ze trees, zay were already turning ze pale yellow of ze fall. It vas just after my graduation from ze Citadel, ze County'z military college, vitch iz just zouth of Jedbridge. By zen I had traveled down ze Artonzemay River, and was zaying a vhile in Radigast. You zee, I had not been zelected to zerve ze County vhen I graduated, zo I vas all trained, vith nothing to do. Zo, I did what all ze over-trained ant under-employed do, I vent to ze bar, and I zarted drinking.

I vaz deep into my zecond glass of vine, after my third mug of ze blackezt beer I had ever zeen. You zee, ze County, she iz known for many zings, vine and beer, zay are two of zem. But, ziz iz not a zory of a man drowning hiz troublez in beer and vine, no, ziz iz a much more noble tale. It iz ze tale of danger, exzitement, adventure, and most importantly, ze heroez!

Freeform

Well, tonight's post isn't pre-written, so it's not going to be long. Why isn't it pre-written, well, I spent my time today writing, yes, but the first chapter in a book about the adventures of one of my LG characters, not exactly content for this blog. Mainly because I don't own the story, or most of the characters involved, just the one, Aziz Banjari, Half-Rhen, Half-Elf, Marshal. He's fus to play, because my image of the Rhennee are that of ze free-wheeling river folk zat ploy the vaters vith thick accents and fun vocabulary.

Plus, so far most of it's written in first person, rather then third person, so the accent runs a little thick at time, fun, but thick. So, instead, I'm going to talk a bit about work, and my day at work. It was fairly boring, since my highlight was writing, and the lowlight was a simultaneous breakdown of both digital photo machines.

The first was the Aladdin, which is basically a touch-screen monitor connected to a networked server, serving the images customers bring in to another server, called the PIC, which then send it to yet another server, which along with the printer, is called the Frontier. So, it seems, after about two hours of wrangling (thank God for slow nights), that the NIC in the Aladdin is out, broken, kaput.

Well, then the KPM (Kodak Picture Maker), ran out of the thermal printing ribbon, so I had to find time to fix that as well, but at least that could be fixed.

So, off to bed with me, and hopefully, a pre-written post on the morrow.

New Trigonometry Is A Sign Of The Times

Digg Description:
"Mathematics students have cause to celebrate. A University of New South Wales academic, Dr Norman Wildberger, has rewritten the arcane rules of trigonometry and eliminated sines, cosines and tangents from the trigonometric toolkit."

---

Well, I'm not sure if it'll change the world, but it's definitely an interesting concept, and one, if it's not too expensive a book, will probably be looking at more closely in the future.

read more | digg story

Porn (Amateur and Otherwise)

Well, today I saw yet another example of the oddity of America. In addition to the normal odd and stupid things that I, as a photo tech, see, I am once more faces with a supreme example of the odd, amateur pornography.

Now, I don't have a problem with porn, in fact, I usually check out a few free porn sites on a fairly regular basis (say, one a day). Now, my parents, who I know read, or used to read at one point, this blog might know I look or porn. What they might not know is how long I've looked at various pornographic images, since, say, my sophomore year of high school, when we first got High Speed Internet. Yeah, it was illegal, but, I was a lower-tier geek, I had to fit in with at least the outcasts, so, I looked at porn to fit in. Plus, it was a way for me to at least think I out-smarted my parents, even though I suspect they knew about my actions, they never really caught me, so I never really got in trouble. Well, there was this one time, but that really doesn't count. Anyway, it was also, in addition to the social and political aspects, it was a way for me to be a rebel, breaking the rules, and a few laws, to get my jollies.

Now, of the hundreds of free and pay porn sites I have found in my seven-odd years of searching, only one has remained for any duration of time. Almighty Zeus.com, one which I only discovered about, oh, three years ago, only after I was actually legal. Now, I didn't find this site while looking for porn, no, at this time I was still in my Google Directory phase. Instead, I happened up a banner ad that intrigued me. It was on a site run by a friend of mine from high school, [REDACTED], and it was a plain, two-frame, animation of a guy with a content look on his face bounding up and down about three pixels, with a word bubble that said "fap, fap, fap, fap". I had seen this add probably about twenty different times, and since I'm not one to click on banner ads, I had never seen what was beyond it's yellow contentment. So, one day, while I was sitting in my dorm room, I decided to take the plunge, and clicked on the ad, and the rest, as they say, is history. Or not, if you're smart enough to delete it from the history, and the cache, and the address bar, oh, and probably a few other places on the computer, just to make sure nobody finds it.

So, yes, I look at porn, but not the degrading stuff, no, I look at only the best, highest quality free porn, which usually entails searching for just one name. Now, shortly after finding Almighty Zeus, I looked at every free gallery, then, I stopped looking at the amateur ones, no class. Then, I stopped looking at the blondes, never really liked blondes, too linked to stupidity, and I don't like stupid women. So, that limited me to brunettes and redheads, and since redheaded porn stars, at least ones that were born that way (redheaded, not a porn star), are rare, I stuck mostly with the brunettes. So, among the various brunettes, one stuck out. She was classy, sexy, had a great figure, and a modest bosom (though still large enough), oh, and she was smart enough that she ran her own web site and got a significant piece of the revenue off her images. She was smart an sexy, her name Crissy Moran. Now, unlike most men that look at porn, I don't like the really hardcore stuff, I feel that I'm degrading the women enough by looking, I'm not going to go that extra mile and leave nothing of mystery. So, I prefer to look at tasteful porn, mostly bikini and lingerie shots, though some partial nudity, if done right, is still tasteful. Of course, my opinion of her isn't hurt by the fact that she's rather short, only about five foot two, so she's got great proportions.

So, now that we've hit amateur and professional pornography, as well as my history therein, let's do a little housekeeping. This is my first post in quite a while, and it's bothered some people, especially me. I could think of tons of really good blog ideas, like this one, while at work, but by the time I'd gotten home, I'd have thought the topic to death. So, today, and hopefully every, or every other, day for a good while, I'm going to pre-write my blog entries at work and school, so that they're down on paper and out of my head before they are thought to death.

So, here's to old fashioned pen, paper, and pornography.

P.S. - Just a thought. If you see condoms, contraceptives, and sexual lubricants, are you a part of the sex industry?

Edit (05/16/2011): Redacted names and links upon request.

Epiphany

I think I've discovered why I'm having a problem in the Monday Night game.

I was reading my interpersonal communication book, and I read a passage about the four elements of relational messages in communication.

The first is affinity, basically, how much you like or dislike the other person you are communicating with.

Second, is immediacy, the degree of interest and attention we feel towards the communication.

I'll get to the third in a bit, but the fourth is Control, which is a measure of the degree of power each person in the relationship has over the other.

Now, when it comes to these three, I think there's proper balance. I like all the guys well enough, and the interest is there, and as a group, we pretty much equally share the power (though my leaving after the discovery of the wagon was a way of me exerting control, I admit). It's the third element that I think is lacking.

The third element, and the one I believe is crucial in my continued enjoyment of the game, is respect, the degree of esteem you have for the other communicator. That's the element I think is a bit one sided in the game. I respect most of the guys a lot, though one or two I have a problem with, but I don't know if they respect me. I don't think they hold my ideas with the same weight they would others, like my mother or father. I know I'm younger then all of them, heck, at least three of the players are old enough to be my parents (two of them are, one of them is obviously not).

I don't know how to cultivate this respect, but I hope that it can develop more, or I might not want to play anymore. Like I didn't want to judge. It's about respect.

Well, back to work, I've got class in forty minutes.

Teamwork and Stupid People

Ah, another two-topic post. Well, I guess that's because I didn't want to post before the game, so I had to post afterwards.

So, my first topic is actually stupid people, rather then teamwork. Today, at work, just before I got off, my coworker, who was there to relieve me, commented about some people who were sitting on top of the propane tank cage, smoking. Now, this is tree stupid things. First, they were smoking, which is deadly in and of itself, although it's a slow and expensive killer. Secondly, they were smoking around propane, which creates a very fast and painful death. Thirdly, they were doing it in such a place that it would harm me if the shit had hit the fan. That's a very bad thing, because, well, I like being alive, and unharmed.

So, enough of the stupid people (well, those stupid people), and on to teamwork, on in the instance of tonight's game, the lack thereof.

So, we finally arrived in the big town, and while inspecting our new place of residence, two of the PCs discover a giant cask in the basement, though, what they actually discovered was the passageway behind the giant cask. So, beyond the door is an iron portcullis, a trapped one at that. So, they try to open it, up, down, sideways, and finally, they try to disarm the trap, by setting it off. Very stupid, but that's not the point. The person didn't ask for advice, they just did what they wanted to, and didn't care one way or another.

So, after that, and an encounter with a hippogriff, another stupid person episode, we finally get out on the road, and about 12 miles from our destination (and 6 miles from the previous town), we find a wagon broken down on the side of the road. Two people go over to investigate, and discover the bloated bodies of a family of four, covered in pox scars. So, my character, takes a wide track upon hearing this information, and after a bit of an argument with another PC/Player about the potential of the "driver" being either one of the four dead or a fifth, unknown, person, we then begin to dispute if they might have come from the town we were headed towards.

I'm thinking, hey, they died twelve miles out of town, but only because the wagon broke, which meant that it was a fast death once it hit. Why? Because they were strong enough to leave the town, and get twelve miles, but not strong enough to walk the next six to the larger town. Fast and hard, that's what I think. Now, the other PC/Player insists that they might have travelled through the town, and that their driver might have gone off into the surrounding fields, even though the tracks do not suggest this theory. It's like he wants to argue with me.

Okay, so, diseased wagon, two potentially diseased teammates, and a potentially diseased town ahead of us. So, my character did what I thought was the wisest thing to do, I turned around, and rode as fast as the horse would take me towards the previous town, six miles back. Now, no-one else wants to come. Why? I don't know. So, I ride into town, and talk with the priest there, get information, and after a bit of diplomacy, get a single potion of Remove Disease, just in case.

Now, I then ride back to the group, who have since gone from two camps, exposed and non-exposed, to a single camp. So, my character stays a hundred feet away. And another PC/player, trying to get my goat, tries to come over. My character, being the paranoid person she is, threatens him if he does not stay away. She wanted to be alone, and he would not respect hat. So, after a safe night, it happens again the next day, and I threaten again, and he stays away. So, my character is always a hundred feet away, until, finally, we encounter battle, and the paranoia she feels about the disease is overcome by the camaraderie of the team, and she joins the battle.

So, yes, I split the team, and didn't work as part of said team, but that's because I tried to play the smart person and stayed away from the disease. These people died quickly from a disease, and she didn't want to die quickly as well.

But, it's only a game.

First Week

Well, I've finished me first week of classes, and, well, it's not exactly what I expected.

I'm sort of on the fence about my Interpersonal Communication professor. She's talented, really talented, and very experienced. That's without dispute. It's her personality that I have a problem with. She has an ego, though she has a right to it with her credentials, but it's still aggravating. I guess it'll be fine though, as I respect her enough for her ego not to bother me too much.

Then, there's my History professor. He's very difficult to read. We talked about Columbo (the proper name of Columbus), and he wouldn't allow me to play Devil's Advocate, but he did allow me to present a lark of an answer, which he then integrated into the lesson, wherein he played Devil's Advocate for all the Hero vs. Villain arguments we had come up with. So, in addition to learning more about the history of the various "discoverers" of North America (Lief Ericson in ~1000 AD, Zheng He in ~1432 AD, and Columbo in ~1492 AD), I learned about how some people, when faced with hardships, desire a scapegoat, and what better figure then someone who's dead and has a national holiday?

Plus, there's my math class, which is getting rather fun, though it's still fairly easy, since homework is now worth much more then last semester, I'm actually going to be doing some of it.

And I'm out of here.

First Day of School (Part 17)

Okay, so, today's my first day of classes, for my seventeenth time (starting with kindergarden). Starting off with Interpersonal Communication (which I'm currently sitting in). Then, after that's U.S. History, then a break (for food and a call to AppleCare), and then Integrated Mathematics.

Well, class is about to start, so, I've got to go.

Online Classes and Playing A Role

Okay, today's third post, unlike the first two, is not about my iPod, and, it has two subjects. Wow, two subjects, well, almost three, but this is just an intro, so it doesn't count.

Okay, the first subject is about Online Classes. I just realized why online classes are, well, different. Not only do I need to get a different book (the one I bought cheap was for the RRCC class, not the CCCOnline class), but I also need to purchase a lab kit, and a microscope. The book is on the order of $132 plus shipping, and the lab kit (with microscope) is going to be about $240 plus shipping. So, that's an additional $372 plus two shipping charges for a class I had to pay extra to get in to. But hey, at least it doesn't fuck with my work schedule. Oh, and I still have to at least look into buying the books for my two other classes. Though, i've got two different US History Books, and Interpersonal Communication should be easy enough.

Next, is my second topic, a bit more out there. It's about me trying to play a character different from myself. It gets boring playing the shy, cautious, non-tactically minded, nerd, so, i decided to go with a complete opposite with my character for my Home Game. Instead, I'm playing a female, outgoing, courageous, tactican. Unfortunately, it's too far away from me, and I seem to be having a problem. Plus, get this, the other players, instead of offering suggestions, they go and chide me, and be rude. Heck, tonight alone I had to fight like five times of throwing an outburst because of how rude the other players were. They rib me about playing a girl. Well, sorry, but I rolled randomly, and it came up female. They tease me about playing a former military character. Well, how the frell else am I supposed to have a backstory for a Marshal? It's a military class, and just because I don't have the personal military experience to play the character, unlike at least three of the other players, they tease me about it. Plus, they want me to play the diplomat, but when I need to be one, they don't let me talk and think. They're always (or seemingly so) wanting a quick reaction, well, i can't give them one. there's a reason a full-round diplomacy takes a -10 penalty, you need time to come up with the right words.

Okay, so, i was a little wordy, but, hey, it helped.

AppleCare

Okay, so, following last night's fun with the iPod, I called AppleCare this afternoon, after work. I called with two things in mind. First, I needed to transfer my APP (AppleCare Protection Plan) from my previous iPod (number 4), to my current iPod (number 5).

This took me quite some time, because, well, I couldn't find the phone number. I looked all through their website, and couldn't find it. Oh, I'm sure it's there, I just couldn't find it! So, I googled it, and found it.

For those that care, it's 1-800-APL-CARE (or 1-800-275-2273).

So, I call them up, and once I get into the right queue (love that word), I'm on hold for like five minutes. Then, I get the Customer Service Representative to hook me up. It works, and within another five to ten minutes, my current iPod is under my APP. Then I ask about the problem I'm having, and she transfers me over to Tech Support.

So, after another five minutes of hold, this time with much better music (and my phone nearly crapping out midway due to lack of power), I get on the phone with a Tech. After giving my name and serial number (the iPod's not mine), she asks me what the problem is. I describe it, and just to make sure, I try to replicate the problem.

but, lo and behold, it works. So, I'm like "Um, well, it wasn't working, but now it is". So, I try and check everything out to make sure, but the USB Dock Connector doesn't work. That should have been a sign, but I didn't take it. So I rushed over and grabbed my Firewire Dock Connector from my HTS, and just as I'm about to make it all work, my phone finally craps out, and I'm without Tech Support.

Then, it goes and does it all again, and I'm without iPod.

Again.

I guess I'll tackle it on my way to school tomorrow, seeing as I'm leaving early so that I can give my Mom extra Alone Time.

Well, off to the game. (I might post about that aftewards).

Stupid iPod

Argh!

Well, it finally happened, my fifth iPod died on me last night.

Now, some people who read this blog (you know who you are), might be thinking Fifth? But Nobodez, I though this was your second iPod?

Well, it goes like this. I received my first ipod (a 5GB, scroll wheel model), in February of 2002. Later that year, I believe it was September, that one died, and so I received a second, replacement, ipod from Apple. Then, in January of 2003, right before the one year warranty ran out, the second one died, and I received my third iPod.

That one died about a year later, though it limped on for about another year before, on Christmas of 2004, I received a 40 GB iPod (Click Wheel goodness) from my loving parents. All was fine and dandy, but not three or four months in, it went and died, and I received my fifth iPod in the mail (well, actually it was DHL) from Apple.

Now, yesterday, my iPod went and deleted all it's music and had to be restored. And, while I was recopying the songs, the hard drive went out, which meant that it was dead.

Dee Ee Dee, Dead.

Well, I'll call AppleCare this afternoon and get them to send a box for me to send Galatea (the name of iPod 5) to them so that I can get my sixth iPod.

For the record, I don't remember what iPods 1 and 2 were named, but 3 was named Alexandrina, after my iBook (though it was named in January of 2004, rather then 2003 when I received it from Apple), and number 4 was named Yoriko, after an Iconic Character in d20 Modern. Galatea is named after the Master of Many Forms Iconic in Complete Adventurer.

Well, off to work with me.

Contrary Brin

Wow, here's another great blog, though this one had both a more famous author (unless Holly Q is a nom de plume of someone really famous), and a much more, well, political slant.

I'm a fan of Mr. Brin, who's written quite a few books that I've admired, though like most books, a devoured what ones I read.

Also, it seems that I've doubled my readership (from one, myself, to two). that'll really up my AdSense revenue.

Well, here's to blogs and other fun shit.

Holly Q

Holly Q's Blog

Wow, this is a great blog. I found it while randomly hitting the "Next Blog" button up at the top of the page. She's not one of the stupid people. Instead, compared to her, I am one of the stupid people. She's insightful, funny, informative, reverent, irreverent, and did I mention insightful?

Yes, well, whatever. A very good blog.

I recommend you read it.

Oh, and press that "Next Blog" button every once in a while. You might just learn something.

Stupid People part 1

Okay, so, I'm now going to talk about stupid people, but since I know I'll never get all of the examples of stupid people the first go around, this is part one.

Okay, so, I work in a Photo Lab at a Walgreens, and well, I encounter a lot of stupid people every day.

First off, there's the people that ask for their photos, and don't, at first, say their name, or present their claim ticket, or whatever. So, the first type of stupidity is people who assume I know who thye are to pick up their photos.

Secondly, there's the people who can't work the frelling touch screen computer. It's not that difficult, all they have to do is pay attention to what the screen says. So, they ask me how to do things, and then, they ask me the same frelling thing like a minute later.

Argh, okay, it's getting late, I guess I'll do more stupid people stuff later.

Podcasts

Hey, just thought I'd get one more post in tonight.

Well, as per the subject line, this post is about, well, Podcasts, mainly the ones I listen to.

Let's see, from my iTunes Podcast section, the first is Ancestor, but since that's just a placeholder for the soon to come Podiobook, see the link off to the side.

Diggnation, both the audio podcast, and the video podcast. A good one, very funny, and I like the beer reviews. You should find the link off to the side.

Then, there's Dragon's Landing, it's a gaming podcast. Fairly decent, though you might want to read the bit I previously posted about Message Boards.

Then, there's Earthcore. fi you haven't at least checked this out, please, do so. It's in the links to the side.

Next is the Mugglecast, but I've just started that one, so I'm not yet one way or the other.

Skepticality, another great one. Just starting in this one. Very good, very funny, very informative.

Next, there's Systm, which is a videocast, very interesting. I highly recommend it. Stars former TSS people, like Diggnation. I liked TSS. Damn G4!

Next, is TheForce.net, nice podcast, though I'm not a big, huge, Star Wars fan.

Finally, there's tWiT, aka This WEEK in TECH. Great, funny, but I sometime miss it when it comes out. Meh, I catch up eventually. Really, I do.

Well, that's all folks.

Working with Idiots

Okay, so, last night, I realized that I'm either way too smart to be working at Walgreens, or this is just god's way of telling me that I need to be more tolerant of people who have different priorities on what's important.

For one thing, one of the women I work with, Vanessa (who is rather hot, but under 18), didn't know what a stereotype was, or more specifically, she didn't know that stereotype was the proper term for what a stereotype was.

At first, this didn't phase me, since it really wasn't important.

But, then I used the word anachronistic, and that went over both her head, and that of another of my coworkers, Matt. So, now both of them are looking at me funny. So, instead of trying to define anachronistic to the pair, I decided, to just frell it all and actually go home, since it was after work and I wasn't getting paid to be there in the first place.

Once again, I hate stupid people.

Stupid College

Yeah, it's another post nobody will read.

But hey, it fells good.

Okay, Stupid College, let me count the ways.

Ten days ago, ten, I paid off the college, all two hundred and fifty-something dollars. Then, I'm like, well, I paid, they'll remove my hold, and I can register. But, no go.

So, I wait for the next day. Still held.

Well, maybe they needed a weekend, yeah that's it, a weekend.

Nope, okay, um, well, I'll call them, that'll do it.

Well, it did, after three days, five messages, and two three departments. So, now I'm registered. Not exactly the classes I wanted, but that's because they dropped one, which sucks.

So, tuesday and thursday afternoons, friday evenings, and saturday mornings. A bit more expensive then I had planned (now it's ten bucks a month, rather then five, so I might want to invest in the pass, maybe.

But, now I'm waiting to see if the delayed billing will kick in.

Here's the bureaucracy.

EarthCore

Okay, yes, this make four posts in less then 12 hours, so sue me.

I just finished listening to Scott Sigler's EarthCore, and I can't help but recommend it. Hence it's inclusion in my links off to the side.

Now, I touched on this over in my comments to the post about the final chapter over there (see link), but, well, I think this would make one killer of a module. And yes, that's an emphasis on KILLER.

It would work good as a d20 Modern or maybe a Spycraft module. Heck, it'd work great as a CoC adventure. Think of what would have happened if Connel and Angus had lost a lot of SAN on the way down. Oh wait, they did. Se what happened to Mac.

Okay, so, I'm a bit of a fanboy, but hey, that's what I am.

Nobodez the Fanboy, out.

Message Boards!

Okay, tonight got me thinking about message boards, and about how much I both loathe and love them.

One the one hand, I loathe them because there are a lot of stupid people out there, and I seem to react badly with stupid people. (Which reminds me, I need to do an entry about how much I hate stupid people). Digression, again. Okay, I hate them because when I see a stupid post, or a post with incorrect information, I want to post immediately with a response, but I don't want to be called a flamer, so I tone down my message, and eventually decide not to post, since my message has been lost anyway.

Take Dragon's Landing for instance (it's in the link below). There, I posted a question a few weeks ago, about if the guys doing the podcast did any RPGA stuff like Living Greyhawk. They take the question, and then go, on their podcast, about how the RPGA is all about competition and stuff like that. It was, at one time, but it's changed, and they didn't do any research when they answered, which made me mad, because now people are getting a bad impression of the RPGA from their podcast!

Okay, I think that's out of my system now.

Now, on to the love part. I love message boards. Why? Because, they allow me to meet (metaphorically of course) lots of new and interesting people. I get to see lots of new opinions, and for a guy like myself, who has generally easily changed opinions, it's good, because I get to see things from new perspectives.

Plus, I get to be a fanboy. I like being a fanboy. Macs, Gaming, D&D, Living Greyhawk, d20 Modern, d20 Past (apparently a lot of people who bought it wished they hadn't, or at least, it's a vocal minority), and lots of other shit. Free Speech, Guns (another topic for later), and other stuff.

Wait, that's two et ceteras in one paragraph.

Eh?

Well, that's all for now. Let's hope somebody'll actually read this!

A Thought

Okay, so, since this is my second post, and in, like ten minutes of the first post, I think I'm doing pretty well.

Not.

Now, a little about myself.

I'm sure at least one person is stumbling across this blog and thinking, who is this nobodez guy? At least, I hope you assume I'm a guy, and not a girl, not that that's a bad thing mind you, okay, must stop digging.

Okay, who am I?

I had to do a speech on that one time, but I digress.

Many years ago, back in my freshman year of high school, cable internet was just coming into town, and my parents, God bless them, were contemplating getting it. So, since I really didn't want my new e-mail address to be like my last one, over at yahoo, I though, well, I should come up with a really cool name.

So, with that in mind, and the knowledge that my e-mail would be "user@home.com", I thought, well, what would be cool, funny, and unique that would work with "@home.com".

Well, as is often the case, it just come to me, a saying, "the lights are on, but nobody's home". So, that became my catalyst. But I couldn't just be "nobodys@home.com", it still had to be unique, so, with a twist of Hooked on Phonics inspired genius, "nobodys" became "nobodez" and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, now you know.

First Post

Okay, so, this is my first post on my blog. Sure, it's not much, buy hey, I wanted to post a comment over at Scott Sigler's Earthcore, but I had to have a Blogger account to do so.

So, here it is, my blog.

Welcome to the 21st century.