| (no subject) |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|02:45 pm] |
I cannot think of what I want to make icons of! Help me outttttttttt. |
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| efemel |
[Dec. 29th, 2009|05:26 pm] |
I went up to Reno the other day for an overnight trip. Thanks to the incessant barrage of second-hand smoke in the hotels, casinos, and restaurants, my immunes were destroyed and I picked up a nasty cold. I'm all but over it, but I'm still sick enough that I have to pass on a party I was really looking forward to (all my old friends will be there) because I don't wanna be the asshole that gets everyone sick right in time for NYE.
God dammit. |
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| Hey, Christians? |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|03:42 pm] |
Is there a contest to win Randy back to Jesus? If so, I really hope the prize is awesome.
This shit is getting old. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|02:09 am] |
I love this song.
It incorporates some of the best quotes from Sagan, including: "We on earth marvel, and rightfully so, at the daily return of our single sun. But from a planet orbitting a star in a distant globular cluster, a still more glorious dawn awaits. Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise - a morning filled with 400 billion suns; the rising of the Milky Way." |
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| Post Christmas Lovecraft-ian Board Game Night |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|10:52 am] |
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Wrapping up projects for UDON and the semester at Seneca, I finally had a chance to see family and relax. Christmas zipped by and now Stacy and I are enjoying a nice bit of downtime before New Year's. 2009 was an adventure and a half. :)
Last night we cracked open the Arkham Horror board game she bought me for Christmas. My friend Cory raved about how great a board game it was when we worked together at PAX this summer and hearing him go on with glee about it made me put it on my X-Mas List.
With such a crazy work schedule and less social time than ever, running or playing a regular tabletop RPG has become a near-impossibility. I've had false starts on games, one-off sessions and played a few short run campaigns that have petered off. There's just too much stuff going on with our lives. Having some sort of semi-regular board/card game night would be a really nice substitute that's flexible in terms of who's coming over and what we'd be doing. I'm hoping we can arrange that in 2010.
Anyways, with board gaming on our mind, we tried out Arkham Horror. Opening up the box and seeing the massive amount of counters, play pieces and cards in the box is quite intimidating. You get a lot of material for the sticker price but it's quite daunting figuring out what each component does on the first play through. The game board is big and real estate intensive, the many little decks of cards spread out and the whole thing is overwhelming. Reading and understanding the rules is quite tough when the concepts are just abstractions and you haven't tried them yet in-game.
However once you actually start playing and the rules gel, the game is fantastic and very engaging. It's 100% cooperative, meaning that the players are playing "against" the game itself, which is represented by randomly drawn encounter card events. The players are all on the same team so there's a great deal of communication and strategy as everyone makes a plan to beat the Ancient One that looms on the sidelines ready to overwhelm the city of Arkham if you don't succeed. Having a fun group game with no sore losers or gloating winners makes it a top notch experience all on its own as far as I'm concerned. Add in a massive amount of depth and re-playability, neat game mechanics and the H.P. Lovecraft-driven atmosphere for its backdrop and the game is really, really good.
All in all, I'd recommend trying it with someone who's played the game before to speed up your experience the first time through. Thankfully Stacy and Joanna were ultra-patient as we slowly went through the first few rounds, finally leading to the "a-ha" moments where we began to understand how it all fit together. As such, the first half hour was a quagmire and the rest was a thrill as we finally started making it work and gaining ground against impending evil. Even though we lost in a climactic final battle, we didn't feel crappy afterwards or get a sense that the game was unfair. This morning Stacy was already talking about strategies for winning next time, which seems a very positive sign indeed. :) |
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| Maxwell |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|07:19 am] |
Maxwell, age 2. A fluffy black cat... one of his parents allegedly was a Maine Coon, but he's pretty normal-sized. And fluffy. Did I mention fluffy?
Had my camera's battery charger not been lost you would all be faced with yet another barrage of cat pictures by me.
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|03:23 am] |
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The Ustream Q&A is done for this week - thanks to everyone who showed up! |
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| NFL SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|08:31 pm] |
WEEK SIXTEEEEEEN
Bills (+9) FALCONS
Chiefs (+13.5) BENGALS
Raiders (+3) BROWNS
Seahawks (+14) PACKERS
Texans (+3) DOLPHINS
Panthers (+7) GIANTS
Jaguars (+7.5) PATRIOTS
Buccaneers (+14) SAINTS
Ravens (+3) STEELERS
Rams (+14) CARDINALS
Lions (+12) 49ERS
Broncos (+7) EAGLES
Jets (+6) COLTS
Cowboys (-6.5) REDSKINS
Vikings (-7) BEARS
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LAST WEEK
Bob: 8-7-1
Yoj: 8-7-1
Tam: 8-7-1
Kento: 7-8-1
Maggie: 6-9-1
Joe: 6-9-1
Ryan: 5-10-1
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OVERALL
Ryan: 119-101-4
Kento: 117-103-4
Tam: 117-103-4
Yoj: 116-104-4
Bob: 113-107-4
Joe: 110-110-4
Maggie: 96-124-4
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My picks: Falcons, Bengals, Browns, Packers, Dolphins, Giants, Patriots, Bucs, Steelers, Rams, Lions, Eagles, Colts, Cowboys, Vikings
Maggie: Falcons, Bengals, Browns, Packers, Dolphins, Giants, Patriots, Saints, Steelers, Cardinals, 49ers, Eagles, Colts, Redskins, Bears
MY REASONS:
1. FALCONS. I think the Bills match up pretty badly against the Falcons offense.
2. BENGALS. This game was impossible to pick. I don't think the Bengals are good enough to be favored by more than 10 over anyone, but the Chiefs are bad. The Bengals showed offensive promise last week, and I'll go with them to keep improving on that.
3. BROWNS. The Raiders only win games when they play good teams. They've beaten the Broncos, Eagles, Steelers, and Bengals. And they played the Chargers tough twice! What a weird team.
4. PACKERS. The Seahawks let me down every week. Fuck you, Seattle.
5. DOLPHINS. The Texans find a way to fuck me over every single goddamn week. I hate them. I hate them SO MUCH. I'm coming to Houston this week, and if I see them at Emily and Matt's place I'm going to headbutt them.
6. GIANTS. The Giants look good. The Panthers have been a little fiesty, but I think the Giants have got it going. I'd love to see them lose here though.
7. PATRIOTS. The Jaguars no longer have anything to play for. I think the Pats win by 10 or more.
8. BUCS. I like the Saints, but they don't have a whole to play for here.
9. STEELERS. I don't think the Ravens will be able to stop Big Ben.
10. RAMS. Man this was another hard game to pick. Arizona has looked sloppy the past two weeks after monkey stomping the Vikings. But the Rams have only been beaten by more than ten once in the past seven weeks.
11. LIONS. I like the 49ers here, but I don't knof it they're good enough to win by two TDs. Even against the Lions.
12. EAGLES. This team is good. I really really hope the Giants lose so that their final game against the Cowboys doesn't mean anything.
13. COLTS. I'm not betting against the Colts.
14. COWBOYS. The Redskins have no reason to play hard. If they actually play hard and this game is close and/or they win, I will murder Danimo.
15. VIKINGS. Once again, it is a privilege to bet against the Bears. Even if it is on the Vikings.
My only thoughts on last week is that the Cowboys should have fired Wade after the victory over the Saints. Like, before the post game press conference. "I'm letting you go out on top, big dog." That should have happened. |
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| QUICK UPDATE |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|07:52 pm] |
Got down and CLEANED a bit today. And I say "got down" because I was really on my butt cleaning my kitchen floor, which needed it badly. It still isn't Martha-Stewart clean, but I'm fine with how clean it is. I pushed my monitor to the edge of the kitchen door (my computer desk is right next to the kitchen anyway) and put on an episode and a half of Top Gear and just went to town. The difference is substantial. Tomorrow the plans are to clean the bathroom and the den area, but I won't clean them as HARDCORE as I did the kitchen. Just a pick stuff up the floor, or find a place where it needs to be. It already looks a little bit cleaner because I kinda sorta repaired the hall tree. It's rickety and I don't trust it, but it seems steady, so I will leave it there! It is much nicer to look at when it is all one cohesive piece and not broken into two useless halves.
I am glad I have this week off, but man is it a BUSY week. Though I suppose once I get down to Hewstun it'll be less busy and more hang-out-and-drink-and-eat funs.
My Christmas was pretty low key. I got mostly monetary donations to my bill-paying funds, which is, not surprising, EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED. I got my folks the first season of The Wire and Dexter. I tihnk they'll like Dexter more than The Wire, but mom seems hell bent on trying The Wire, and it's none of my business to try and tell someone they might not like one of the greatest shows ever. I also got a Razorback themed Snuggie from Steve and Chelsea, which is actually making for a dynamite seat cover for my chair, and occasionally it makes for a nice warm-up device while Im playing videya games.
I also received a framed photo of the mom's side of the family from last Christmas, which is nice because it reminds me of just how skinny I looked back then. Since the plan is to start the diet at the beginning of the year, it makes for good motivation. I look SO SKINNY. Holy shit. Gotta reach that point again. Goal for the year is 175, which means losin another 45-50 pounds.
I have been pretty good about not splurging on videya games during the amazing Steam sale. I bought the Witcher for $13.50, and that's all I've gone for. I thought about getting Lumines, but I played the demo, and while I liked it, I could immediately tell I wouldn't be playing it much. I am considering getting Volume 2 of Bookworm Adventures, which I didn't know existed, but since I adore the original, it will probably be mine. I thought strongly about, but passed on Prototype. I'm still like halfway through the FIRST of the two Riddick games, so I have plenty to catch up on and have no reason to push it and buy a shitton of games. Riddick is okay. There's a lot I like about it, but there's a lot I'm pretty indifferent about as well. |
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| MAGIC! |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|12:03 am] |
One of the gifts I received was this insanely light, thin down jacket. And it's goddamn warm. You don't breath at all in there, and it gets real toasty, real quick.
The best part? This illogically-light jacket packs up into a cinch pouch roughly the size of a Nalgene bottle. I LOVE practical attire that packs light. Between this and my silk long johns, I am fucking READY for Winter when I get back to New York. |
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| FYI Re GOTY |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|10:57 pm] |
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Uncharted 2. EoD. |
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| This is Ben |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|11:52 pm] |
He is an ewok.
Merry Christmas, people. |
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| FRIDAY NFL |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|11:59 pm] |
Chargers (+3) TITANS
Gimme the Titans. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|09:18 pm] |
Here is my plan for the next 11 days.
Thursday, December 24. Work till noon. Head to aunt's house. Xmas Eve with mom's side of the family.
Friday, December 25. Head to folks' place for Xmas brunch with dad's side of the family. Then recover. Watch football.
Saturday December 26. More or less open. Day for chores, and for planning. Maybe go see Avatar.
Sunday December 27. Head out with friends for bender.
Monday December 28. Recover, possibly head to Houston.
Tuesday December 29. If didn't go to Houston on Monday, head there this day.
Wednesday December 30. Everybody loves Hewwwstun (I know I do!)
Thursday December 31. NYE in Houston.
Friday January 1st. NYD!
Saturday January 2nd. Drive home, probably leave midday.
Sunday January 3rd. Recover.
Hmmmm. Could be fun! |
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