The Ragnarok Family

When I've got time to kill, these are some of the folks I hang out with - the Genesis Guild. From left to right:

Reyna, Wizard - fun lil' gal out on the east side of the country somewhere. Took a break for a while due to grades and worked her way back.

Shade, Monk - This is me!!! I'm a hybrid monk, much more fun than serious character. I can heal and buff myself AND kick ass...sort of. If I ever get to 99 and rebirth I'll definitely do things a touch differently. I'm sort of the idiot of the crew that helps keep things fun. Kinda like in real life, the guildies often just look at me and shake their heads... But they know if they need me I'm there.

Rose, High Priestess - AKA Saveena. Orlando's g/f in real life, and wife in the game (yes, you can get married in the game, go on honeymoons, adopt children...kinda cool, actually). She's often the difference between life and death for me.

(Middle Front) Gyrick, Rogue - AKA Orlando. One of the coolest guys in the guild. He and Rose are out of the NY/NJ area. I make him laugh (a lot) and get him in trouble with his girlfriend.

(Middle Back) AC, Champion - AKA Yifan. The leader of the guild, and what I'll be after I rebirth. Christina's b/f in real life, and husband in the game. He and his g/f are also out of the NY/NJ area. He takes down some beefyness with single punches.

Chafrika, Priestess - AKA Christina. Helped my merchant a great deal along with Muffin who apparently still hasn't got her license yet (Muffin, not Christina).

Rikku, Assassin - She's...okay, she's one of the few people I've found in this world that can out-random me with great ease and even greater regularity. She pwns me and that's just the way it is. But much hella fun to have in the guild.

Ral Tafer, Crusader - Nobody really gave this guy a shot to be much of anything serious because of how he was building the character, but he's stuck out the long road and has slowly and steadly become one of the most dependable Sword n' Shield guys in the game. He and I worked extremely well together early on and is still great to have in a party.

Missing: Tellah, Priest - AKA Sonny. Husband of Izumi in game, and Pearl in real life. I'm the reason he plays this game at all. He's the reason I came back to it. Better at it than I'll ever be. I created a monster. He wasn't feeling well this night, though, and needed to try and catch some rest.

There's plenty more in the guild, but these are most of the regulars. These folks are the reasons my character is anything at all...one day I'll even get out to NY/NJ and see some of the crew!

Tattoo the Third

After having successfully fought off the urge to get another tattoo for a few years now, me thinks the time has come. Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

And no, I won't be advertising for any CCGs out there with this new art no matter how many boxes of product you promise me (unless said boxes were filled with copious amounts of cash).

The "To Do" List

Years ago I started a lifetime "To Do" list and began to fill it with accomplishments that generally required more than just a couple days of work and effort, but were more process oriented. Some might call them "goals," but progress towards goals is usually measured and I don't much give a damn about measurement or progress or "action items" when it comes to my list. They're just things I'd like to be able to do before I die.

In 2001 my roommate in college commented on a quote he read - "People who write things down get things done." That sounds kinda nifty and my observations have found that to be true more often than not. It occurred to me today that I've never written down my list. It's time I took care of that.

My Lifetime "To Do" List (in no particular order at all)

1. Learn to play guitar as well as I can type.
2. Run in and finish the New York Marathon
3. Learn and speak sign language fluently
4. Own a Corvette
5. Travel
6. Have a little place on the waterfront and a small boat.
7. Compete on an organized volleyball team that I didn't organize or coach

Since I've never written this down before I'm sure I've forgotten a few things, so this is likely to be added to later. I dunno if doing this will necessarily help me accomplish any of them, but it doesn't diminish my desire to finish them in the least.

Mine Nemesis

As many of you know, my past doesn't like to stay there. Yesterday it found me again, this time in the form of the nemesis from my youth. From the moment I met her in 6th grade we didn't get along all that well, some days spitting such filth and venom towards one another that even Mike Tyson would say, "Damn, they're nuts!" She's the one that married me to my childhood love and wrote our divorce papers about two hours later. She's the one that disagreed with me on anything that mattered in the least...politics (what the hell...like that matters at all), religion, romance, entertainment, whatever. And she'd come up with some damn fine arguments, too. She was just always wrong. In fact, I dare say there's not 100 humans alive right now - and maybe not even ten - that have had more well thought out positions that were wrong. And that's really weird for a woman since they tend to be right. Of course I never dated this one so maybe that's why I was always right. Anywho, by the end of our senior years in high school we'd come to a point of mutual respect for one another, and the one project we actually worked together on landed our high school a $5,000 grant.

I noticed that earning the school money tends to cover up a multitude of absences.

In any case, she's my nemesis. And while she was never right (poor soul...), I'll say this much - I wouldn't be the same had it not been for her. She was, and probably will be to some degree, an intellectual honing stone and I'm thankful for the oportunity to have matched wits with her. The world better take cover if she ever figures out what she wants to do with her life. Or at the very least take notice.

For once, I'm even thankful my past found me.

Colleen, as you read this, take a mental picture. Store this one in your memory banks, email it to yourself, print it and send it to yourself in the mail, carve it in stone...just remember it. Neigh, savor it! It's the closest I'll ever be to admitting you're right about anything.

You've been linked.

Tucson Pre-Release Tourney Pics

Check'em out here. Enjoy!

Prescott Day Trip Pics

Click here. Enjoy!

The Wisdom That Only Comes From Prescott

Not long ago I spent the day in Prescott. No good reason, really, other than the fact that the thermometer was supposed to read 102 here, and it read only 82 there. That seemed good enough for me. It had been a few years since I've been there and, while the only real cosmetic changes I noticed were the new buildings, the make-up of the town seems to have dramatically changed. While laying in the shade in the park with my ladyfriend, these are some of the tidbits of wisdom I gleaned that can only be found in Prescott.

1. It's pronounced Prescott like buscuit.

2. Standing on your head is a good way to pick up chicks...almost as good as having a dog.

3. Giving away food in the park next to a big flag with a picture of the planet Earth on it is apparently the best way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

4. There are a LOT of hippies in Prescott!

5. The best way to grow a crop of weed is to not tell ANYBODY because if you do, chances are they'll steal it (since more than likely the one person you told also smokes weed...go figure).

6. There's a pot-smoking lesbian hippie commune in Prescott.

7. Pot-smoking lesbian hippies seem to enjoy saying "Mother Fucker" while reading poetry in the park.

8. McDonalds receipts taste the exact same as McDonalds hamburgers, which taste the exact same as everything else that McDonalds serves. I should know. One of the pot-smoking lesbian hippies told me so in her poetry. And then demonstrated en vivo.

9. "Pennies from Heaven" can evidently be very easily misread.

10. Prescott sun is still hot, but Prescott shade is WAY better than Phoenix shade.

The list goes on, but those are some of the highlights. Enjoy!

The 'dre days

I can shop for holidays for my folks pretty well and have done so for years. Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's, birthdays...whatever. Not too difficult. Mother's and Father's day, however...those consistently stymie me.

For mom, much of the trouble lies in the fact that we historically haven't been the best of friends, nor have we ever spent a lot of time together (the latter being a partial function of the former). That's not to say that I'm not greatful. To the contrary, my mother's a wonderful woman and dedicated mother and wife. She wasn't around when I was younger, though, and we approach things from such opposite angles that our relationship has never been stellar. All that to say that I have little idea of what to get her.

For dad, he has no use for many of the typical "dad" type gifts due to his disability, and he already has ticket packages for three of the four major professional sports teams in the area. I don't want to get him the same things each year (he has a list of books and cd's that he wants that we typically draw from), but then again if he's asked for them I guess it's not too bad.

Given the fact that my parental situation is far from standard I probably should have seen such challenges coming long ago, but even if I did it wouldn't make it any easier. This year we did mother's day on Saturday because...well, because she wanted to. Kinda shot the weekend, but it's her day so no big deal. I ended up getting her a gift certificate to the Build-a-Bear factory. We'll see how that goes.

Tired

I hate it when I don't sleep well. Stupid too hot. Stupid dreams (not nightmares...just weird). And then I have to work off of limited sleep tomorrow because it's the day I switch from closing to opening shift and I end up lagging behind the better part of the day.

Bleh.


Oh well...at least I have Wednesday.

Hammer Time

Mom just hammered a bag of ice. Quite literally. She put ice in a baggie, set the bag on the counter, took out a hammer, and beat the crap out of the bag. There is no precedent for such activity in this household.

I'm afraid to ask, and I'm not sure I even wanna know.

But what if it could?

In the carpool van the driver typically has the radio tuned to an oldies station and this morning was no different. Shortly before we pulled into work the Beatles' classic "Can't Buy Me Love" was blastin' and I got to thinkin'...what if money *could* buy you love?

How much would it cost? How would it be packaged? Would it come in bottles? Bags? Vials? Trays? Flats? Maybe truckloads? Would it be sold by weight or volume? Would there end up being "brand name," "off-brand," and "generic" love? Could you get it flavored? Diet love? Who would afford it? Would there be an age restriction on who could buy it? Would they have to expand the DWI laws to those who were driving "drunk with love?"

If you could buy love, would things like cosmetics, cosmologists, and Cosmopolitan magazine be things of the past? Would "working girls" be out of a job? Would Latin American economies crumble? Would Russia and the Carribean still export so much booze? Would the companies comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average be turned on their heads, if not replaced completely?

And what about different varieties? Could you buy love of the ocean or love of money (wouldn't *that* be ironic!)? Romantic love? Familial love? Puppy love?

Maybe it's better love isn't for sale. It seems to be more valuable without a pricetag on it anyway.

My Favorite Quote from this weekend

"You can't argue with intelligence!"

It was great seeing folks this weekend, and I can't wait for the summer season. Looking forward to 16+ hour days in the tourney hall...

(did I just say that?)

Me and My Peers

This is your brain...


This is your brain on drugs...

"To Be Continued" = Silent Treatment

I was watching House today (btw, Dr. House is like the modern tragic love-hate hero...it's great...think Sydney from Tale of Two Cities) and it ended as a To Be Continued. Now, that's the whole damn reason I don't watch shows like Lost or 24 or Prison Break until they're on DVD. I DETEST waiting for a damn TV show ending because I end up liking the show so much that I *will* keep coming back until I get my tidy little answers, thus bowing to the whims of the advertisements of corporate America and granting them victory.

Well...no, my reasons are far less idylic than what I just made them out to be...I'm just friggin' impatient and I don't like being a slave to the TV other than for sports.

In any case, it occurred to me that I hate To Be Continued as much as I hate the silent treatment. Dammit, be pissed at me, rip my head off, throw something at me, scream and yell and cry...whatever. I can handle all that. Just don't eliminate communication. I abhore that.

A First Time for Everything

I just submitted my first article to a real magazine today. I've had stuff printed online and in school and local and newspapers, but this would be my first national print publication. I don't really aspire to be a professional writer and it's not like it was a complex article - just a first cut/preview article - but it would kinda be a stamp of approval for an English major.

And a few extra bucks here and there doesn't hurt (which assumes the article actually gets printed...we'll see what happens).