Death Race causes Marvel Delay.

I got some news today that annoyed me. It was work news, so it shouldn't really worry anyone else.

The job is fine. I just found out that our shipment had some problems. My store is not alone in the problem. In fact, it is nearly all the stores that receive Marvel Comics that are the ones effected. Turns out, over the weekend, there was an accident. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, but it seems that many comics were destroyed. This is pretty significant in that it will definitely impact sales. Many of the major Marvel titles for this week will be short in number. They have to allocate as much as possible. Of course, it's from my warehouse that has to allocate the most.

So, this coming Wednesday will be highly annoying for me. I will have to make a sign telling of the shortage. A sign no one will read. I will then have to tell everyone that walks in what the sign means, because they are morons and cannot understand English unless it is present by guys and girls in spandex. I will also need to keep track of what we actually get in, so that all of the customers that reserved certain books that are short, will still get them when we get the remainder of the reprint. Then people will complain that it is a reprint and not a first print. Fate just likes screwing with me on Wednesdays.

This Sunday was rather bland. I had wanted to head to Target for a completely different reason than for 3D glasses. Apparently, there was a 3D portion of the Grammys tonight which was a Michael Jackson tribute. I watched the Grammys, and they were all right. Still, I wanted to head to Target for simple shopping.

I haven't been shopping in a while. I need to get a couple things and occasionally like to browse. I mainly want to get some blank CDs. I am still happy over getting a functioning CD-player at work. I have a few soundtracks I need to bring into work to fill the silence of a Monday. Three of them are the Back to the Future soundtracks. Still, I didn't make it out. I had to stay home while dinner finished cooking.

We had a small Thanksgiving here. I had to wait for a turkey, stuffed with stuffing of course, to finish in the oven. It was nice. My brother, Matt, and his girlfriend's son was over. The hardest part was trying to explain how to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to the two of them. They have a Wii in their household. After dinner, I hopped on the Xbox to play a little CoD:MW2 online to show what you can do against living opponents. It was fun. I don't play as much as many others, but once and a while it's great to just shoot some people without repercussion.

So, other than that, I did watch the Grammys. That was after I watched Death Race 2000. Now, this is a movie worth seeing. It has unnecessary nudity, but it fits in the plot of the movie. It not only has David Carradine, but also Sylvester Stallone. I could have sworn, but when I was a kid, I thought I had the Hot Wheels version of Frankenstein's (Carradine) car, Monster. I just can't find any pictures of it on the interwebs, so I may now be mistaken.

Snowy Birthday Wishes.

Man, I am out of it this weekend. Everything just seems to feel odd.

It probably started on Thursday when I wasn't feeling too well. I think I am sick with something. I'm not quite sure what. It's not something that really knocks me on my ass, but it sure as hell keeps me from 100%. From stomach problems and body aches, to headaches and eye strains, I feel like I have hit a lot of symptoms for something larger, without getting the whole show. Not that I am complaining, mind you.

Today, I would like to say Happy Birthday to my friend, Dawn. Her husband set up a surprise birthday party for her this fine afternoon/evening. It was planned and prepared by dawn's mom. It was a common consensus that Dawn's mom should go into business party planning. She is extremely good at it. Today's theme was casino. The tables were all draped in red and black, with different playing card suits as centerpieces. There were poker chips, dice and a deck of playing cards on each table as well. There was even a toy slot machine that eventually led to the winning of prizes.

The problems started t arise when many people started to bail on the party, almost including the guest of honor. There was a snowstorm that swept through the area that caused many to panic. Of the group of friends, I am associated with, there were only 4 of us to make it. Not a great showing for people that have know the girl since around high school. It also didn't help matters that the location of the party didn't show up on google map searches. It really wasn't that hard to find in the end though. It had a pretty visible sign right at the entrance.

Things were starting to get hectic when the party planners were worried that Dawn wasn't going to come. The apparent cover was someone else's 30th birthday party. Sadly, it was someone from dawn's youth, but not necessarily a priority friend. Dawn wasn't feeling that guilty if she didn't make it. It didn't help matters that I-95 was shut down due to an accident. Dawn was in traffic with her husband for probably around an hour. She eventually walked in and was surprised, but it was nearly the zero hour for the reveal just to get her there.

Over all, it was fun. I had a good time just talking with the other few people I knew. The food was good and there was plenty of it. The music selection was varied from a traditional party fare. There was a dance floor, which no one used. The kids there were highly entertaining with their antics to keep from being bored. It's amazing what children can do to keep themselves busy and distracted.

There was talk of heading out to Sugar Mom's in Philadelphia afterward, but that didn't happen for me. I wasn't feeling too well, and I wound up needing a nap anyway. Naps are sort of a reset button for me. Now, I just have to wait for my 30th birthday.

These ears can hear.

We finally have a new CD layer at work.

Ok, so it isn't technically new, but it's new to the store. The old one broke early this week for failure to play CDs. It was selective about what it wanted to play. At first I thought it was only burned CDs it was avoiding. It turns out it was anything with a slight scratch or scuff. Only the most pristine were even considered for play, i.e. the player read them and counted the tracks. Most discs I would put in would read as not there and try to be spit back out. If it read the disc, it was a 10% chance it would play it. Even with those odds, a couple CDs were played. Granted, some of the CDs only played for a couple songs before the player gave up.

My boss likes to call me on Fridays to see when he can come in. Friday mornings used to be a day off for him. I usually had someone else to cover the time with. With our store being short staffed, my boss doesn't get much time home. The usual conversation consists of him asking how crazy it is. Most of the time it was rather quite. Once and a while, something happens when there is a ton of phone calls or just annoying customers, and it makes me extremely irritable. He doesn't want to walk into that, so he wants a buffer. Still, the only bothering me this morning was how quite it was because I couldn't listen to any music and had to rely on mall sounds.

During our conversation, his wife over heard him. She suggested he just take their CD player from home into the store since it wasn't getting any use there. It's old, and it works, so that's fine with me. It even has a 5 disc changer so I can just set up a few discs and let them play. I didn't do it today because I wound up getting the CD player at around 3PM. I settled for listening to the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack my friend Gregg got for me.

I felt like crap a couple hours ago. Lack of food does that. Now, I have some chicken in me, but I don't think I will make it out to see the Poison cover band a friend asked me to see. I will probably gather up enough strength to just head to the bar and have a drink or two, just to get out of the house. I'm not really in the party mood, but you never know what the night may present.

On another note, I want to see The Losers when it comes out. It's based on a Vertigo comic under DC's imprint. It is about a group of black-ops characters that get betrayed by their government, and they want a little payback. It's more of a revenge kick than Burn Notice, but I think it looks good just he same. Here's a link to where I saw the trailer: VIDEO: The Losers – The Full Trailer Now Online

Damned and Lost

I'm frickin' freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth!

It's cold in my house. It is apparently getting colder and colder this weekend. If I were a meteorologist, I would assume any dramatic change of weather would be the end of days. To quote my friend Paul, "Al Gore is a fraud. There is no global warming."

My body also aches all over. While, sure, some of that could be attributed to just being old, I don't think that is the full case. For starters, it just really started today. I would think it would be a gradual thing if it was normal wear and tear. I think my body is fighting something. I don't know if it is a flu or not. I am still pretty active, and not really lethargic, except for the idiocy to not sleep on a regular schedule. I'm not nauseous, much. There are occasional bouts of upset tummy, but nothing producing anything. Most of it just comes down to not focusing on it. I think it is trial of willpower.

Everyone seems to want me to play Dragon Age: Origins. Next to Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age seems to be the RPG people are talking about. My biggest problem is that I don't really dedicate time to playing many games. Dragon Age is up my alley, with the whole fantasy aspect were decisions actually have consequences. The company that made it, Bioware, has a track record for allowing choices to be made that effect the story and/or game-play of the video game. I played their original RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the original Xbox. It is a great game, so I am not surprised that Dragon Age isn't also awesome.

I spend way too much time learning about video games than actually playing them. I am probably a scholar of it at this point. I have no practical knowledge of the product, but I know what everyone else tells me. That can probably be about many things concerning me. I typically listen to 2 podcasts a week dedicated to video games. I even read a magazine or 2 a month on the subject. That doesn't count the websites I check for news on nearly a daily basis. I probably put more work into learning about video games than I do leaning about comics.

I more than likely follow video games as a hobby instead of comics because comics are my job. Video games are escapism for me. There is only so much comic rumors I can take. Just like wrestling, I usually can tell what path the comic industry will take, but I will follow it regardless of what happens. With video games, options open up. With such a significant price tag attached, as well as time committed to playing the game, a lot gets invested by the consumer.

right now, there are about a dozen or so game I would like to be playing. right now, though, I am settling for Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City. It is a disc version of the downloadable content available for the original game GTA4. I am currently going through The Lost And The Damned, where I take the role of the second in command of a biker gang. I have only played for a little while, but it interesting how the gangs story happens at the same time as the original GTA4's protagonist's, Nico, does.

I never even beat the original GTA4 game. I asked for GTA4: Episodes from Liberty City for Christmas, and it was the only game I got. I am playing it before I get something else, like Dragon Age.

The Nail

Wow, am I tired? I just spent the last hour or so passed out at the computer. I thin I crashed from the Red Bull I had before leaving work. These things can happen when one works for 13 hours on little sleep. It also didn't help matters that I felt sick all day. Even right now, my body's insides are giving me problems.

I found out shortly before passing out, that a friend of mine had an injury at work. He is a floor-layer and had a nail shoot into his eye. Let me repeat that: A NAIL SHOT INTO HIS EYE! It was almost nonchalant how his wife told me. Granted, it was via the instant messenger service on Facebook. Still, reading the text it was like o big deal. Still, he is okay, and can probably return to work on Friday. Needless to say, he is one of the luckiest and unluckiest people I know. Unlucky in that he had a nail in his eye, but lucky in that it was an eighth of an inch away from where he could lose his sight. He was wearing safety glasses at the time. It could be that the nail ricocheted off whatever and shot up between the glasses and face. It was a crazy, short story regardless.

In standard Wednesday fashion, I wanted to kill half the people that came into work today. Maybe not kill, but maim could be more accurate. I was being driven insane because the CD player at work refuses to function. I got to listen to two and a half songs before it crapped out on me today. The silence was so nerve racking, that I thought it had to be 5PM, but when I looked at the clock it was only 2:30PM. Even chronology was fucking with me. I wound up creating a temporary solution. I listened to my iPod in one ear as I did some work, just to have that little bit of music to break up the silence and monotony.

Now, I should get to bed. My body is turning against me. It allowed me a bit of a reprieve to type this whole thing out. It wants to keep my promises as best as possible.

Sometimes naps aren't great

I am not feeling good.

I spent the whole day feeling like crap from exhaustion. I decided it was a good idea to only get around 4 hours of sleep. I justified this with the heartfelt reasoning that I would take a nap after work to recharge my batteries. It turns out that sort of happened.

The whole day at work consisted trying to keep my self busy, or I would fall victim to narcolepsy. I got plenty of work done. I just didn't do anything that I was really planning on for the day. To start, I handled my usual transfers to the other store and a DC Comics order, but then I worked on an independent comic book order.

There is one, major comic book distributor in the industry, Diamond. They have the exclusive contract to distribute the 4 major publishers: DC Comics, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse. There are also plenty of independent comic companies that just solicit through Diamond. What I went through today was our major independent, smaller press distributor, Haven.

Haven used to be called Cold Cut. When Cold Cut folded, Haven purchased the warehouse and all and incorporated a whole new inventory system. The problem with dealing with Haven is the limited number of stuff I actually want to carry from them. Most of the stuff is also carried by Diamond, but Haven tends to keep more of it on hand.

For the better part of 4 hours, I had Haven's catalog on the computer while I took quick walks around the store to see if we needed any of the items. It was a lot of walking. Figure I needed to see what Haven had in stock, then I needed to remember if we carried it. The final part was legging it to see if we needed it. There is only a few companies that really get much attention from me through Haven. The main one being Slave Labor Graphics, for the Johny The Homicidal Maniac and Squee comics. The unfortunate thing is that they didn't have the ones in stock that we needed. Also, they don't carry any of the Lenore comics. My guess is since Lenore is getting reprinted by Titan Books, they can't carry the old issues of the comic.

The main comics I think I ordered were some Simpsons and Sonic the Hedgehog ones. Yes, Sonic comics sell really well for us. You would be surprised at how many we actually go through every month. I think more kids read the comic than play the video games.

The rest of the day was talking with my co-worker about Dragon Age: Origins and unpacking some shipments. It was midway through the comic shipment that I made a comment that I knew it was a day day when I didn't want to deal with comics anymore today. I pushed through. It also doesn't help that Diamond likes to screw up shipments on a weekly basis. We were missing a handful of things ordered and was instead shipped stuff we didn't order. Granted, the stuff shipped was probably valued more than the stuff ordered, but I knew the stuff I had ordered will sell.

When I finally got home, I made myself a sandwich, and eventually took a nap. It wasn't a comfortable nap considering I kept periodically waking up shivering a bit. I slept off and on for close to 4 hours. I even skipped dinner. Probably not the best move. I woke up with a pain in my stomach and a trip to the bathroom. It wasn't pleasant to say the least.

I just hope things feel better in the morning. I have a long ass day and could really use something positive.

Jibber Jabber and Making Comics

I found out today that a few of my friends have started blogs. This is interesting. I will expand on that at a later date.

I also found out today that the Champs Sports closed in my mall. Another huge corporate store has just uprooted from a already festering wound that is Granite Run Mall. My boss raided them this afternoon to get some of the their fixtures. Granted he did pay for them, he just paid $10 for the equivalent of something that should retail for hundreds of dollars. I am just glad I didn't have to move any of it. Oh, and apparently, there are some other big stores closing in my mall by the end of the month. This makes me unhappy.

The day was rather slow throughout. My mom wound up not having work because a transformer (not a Go-Bot) blew-up near her work. The area reverted to Amish country. Since she works in a doctor's office, the people that were already in needed to use their cell phones to contact the patients to not come in. The blackout also effected my coworker tonight, but not much. He's rich and has a generator, which is probably run by shoveling in the hopes and dreams of the poor.

I'm trying to think of something interesting. It's tougher then you think. I have no idea how people write works of fiction having to develop a whole world and characters to fill it. They I remember that most of the either found a formula or made a pact with some deity.

Well, I have been doing this whole blog a day thing for two weeks, so that's sort of a landmark, right? I'll take my words in any way. What sucks is that I am usually raring to write at the exact moment that I can't.

I am reading a book called Making Comics by Scott McCloud. I've read a couple of his other books, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. The best part is that they are presented in a comic book format.

I first read Understanding Comics years ago, when I was in high school. It is a great book to do exactly as the title suggests. It presents a whole philosophy about comics and the importance of the medium. It was later hat I discovered Reinventing Comics at my college library. I would always search for whatever comic book stuff the La Salle Library held. It turns out quite a bit considering they have one of the largest collections of Vietnam War era related material, like Punisher and The 'Nam comic books. I found the second one a pretty tough read from what I remember. It discusses bringing the the printed medium into the digital age. Personally, I have an affinity and appreciation of the the whole tangible aspect of comics. Hell, even the smell of old comics is borderline euphoric.

This third book, Making Comics, is a different undertaking. It doesn't have quite the appeal for me. Granted, I like the content and presentation, but it is not written for someone like me. It is written for the artist. The whole thing provides guidelines and help for how to structure a comic on the actual page, or screen for that matter, to get a comic to properly flow for the reader. The whole point to for the reader to convey what the artist is trying to explain or describe. Since, I have no aspirations on being a comic book artist, it's not really clicking with me.

I started to read it because: 1) I already owned it, and 2) I am supposed to write a comic for a friend of mine. Okay, I am supposed to write a bunch of things for various people, but have been willfully neglecting them.

I'll go into that crap later. I should head to bed and crash from the caffeine rush.

P.S.: I think I own all The 'Nam comics. I just haven't read any of them yet.

Hero's Journey

It's tough to come up with an idea when you don't really do anything.

I took a trip to the book store yesterday after the last post. I haven't been there in a while, and I just like book stores. I even used to work in one. Now, I mean I worked in an actual book store that sold James Patterson and Harry Potter books. I currently work in a comic book store that sells comic books of Batman, Spider-Man and various other characters. The book store I used to work in was a Waldenbooks, which was the mall equivalent of a Borders (Waldenbooks eventually switched its' name to Borders Express). It was in the mall I work in now, and for a time I worked at both Waldenbooks and the comic book store. There is no book store in the mall now, which is annoying when people ask me where it is since it hasn't been there since last spring.

Still, the book store I went to is a Barnes & Noble. I only went with the intention of using up a $25 gift card I found in my bedroom. I have all sorts of crazy shit in my bedroom (and not even that kind of stuff you sick person). Still, my only actual pre-thought purchase was a video game magazine. That would only be $10, so I needed to find something that was at least $15. I have a nagging urge to use a gift card in one fell swoop, so that I don't have to worry about it again. A gift card with change left over on it is ridiculous.

My friend was recently in a mural arts book, so I went looking for that. With my mind being a sieve for that sort of information, I forgot the actual title. Chances are the chain book stores wouldn't carry something like that without a special order for it. The search got me to look in the arts section. Nothing really stood out for me, even in the how to draw section. It was then a trip to Science Fiction/Fantasy.

Looking in the SciFi/Fantasy section is a bit odd for me. Yes, I will go there every time I am in a book store. I may even buy something on occasion. I just don't remember the last time I actually read a book I bought from there. I have made attempts, mind you. I just don't really read them that often. I buy things with the full intentions of reading them, I just can't focus on actually completing it. The last 2 books I bought from that section were anthologies of critically acclaimed writers, Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock. Howard created Conan the Barbarian and Moorcock created Elric of Melniboné. They both created many other characters, but they are probably their most famous ones. Still, I haven't even finished the first store in the Howard anthology.

Perusing the new release section,. I noticed a WildCards novel. This is a series I would love to read, only it isn't in print. With a line of books about 14 titles long, you would thing they would keep the original selection of books in print, but nope. Someone hates that I want to actually read something. I didn't buy the new ones because I couldn't find any other WildCards books expect for the new one.

Other than the bargain section, the only other section I always check out is Mythology. Set right above poetry, it is only 2 shelves big. I always look there because I really want a Norse mythology book, but all that is ever there is Greek/Roman mythology books. There is the occasional Japanese or Celtic myths as well, but never any strictly Norse. Instead what I found there was Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey.

I haven't started reading it yet, but it is a series of conversations Campbell had with many different people throughout his career. Campbell is considered one of the premier experts on Mythology. I even found his book Hero with a Thousand Faces on my friends bookshelf later that night, which seemed like a sign. A simplified version of Campbell's theory is that there is one main pattern that surrounds the hero myth throughout every culture. He just seems like a guy I should be reading.

It's was a $30 book, and it looks like a textbook for school. I think it will be worth it though.

Afternoon wake-up

It's a pretty boring Saturday, so far. Granted, most Saturday's I don't see the light of day until dusk.

At the moment, I am listening to Respawn Radio. It is a video game podcast brought about by Achievement Hunter.com, which is a subdivision of Red Vs. Blue. That's a lot of information that most people just don't care about. I like it though. Like most podcasts out there, it has that underground feel. It's brought to you by guys that actually play these games they are talking about. They don't really hold back if something is terrible.

I was meaning to write some more last night after I came in from the bar. The problem arose when my computer was in the middle of installing updates. Instead, I watched the DVR. Before I left to go out, I recorded the last episode of Conan O'Brien hosting the Tonight Show. It was a great final episode. If you can, go find it and watch it on Hulu or something. Conan's farewell speech was well done and wholly emotional. I was glad to hear that he is getting of severance of 33 million and his crew is getting 12 million. I was worried about the people who worked for him. But, from the type of person he seems to be, I am sure that he would do whatever he could to help his people out. They will all be back in September somewhere. He is too good a commodity of pass up.

Well, the bar last night was definitely one of the more boring nights. I was even going to load the jukebox up wit crap I wanted to hear, but people beat me to it. The while the bar was fairly crowded,it wasn't the standard regulars. Apparently, one of the former regulars from when the bar had a previous name, had died. This was sort of a makeshift wake. Conversations were overheard consisting of what a good life the guy had. I didn't want to pry. It wasn't my place. Still, I made do trying to have a good time in a bad situation. It's at these points where I can be an asshole at the sake of amusement.

I didn't go overboard, and most of what I said was in jest. Still, I wanted to have a good time with the limited resources available. At one point, to lighten the boring mood, the bartender wanted to make myself and 2 friends a shot. The catch was that we each had to pick a liquor to mix. After a trip to the toilet, I walked into picking one. First thing that came to mind was amaretto. Little did I know that someone already pick Jeagermeister. Who the hell would pick Jeager as a mix in anything? The third selected a bubble-gum vodka. It was all mixed and cut with a cranberry juice. It actually wasn't too bad.

The one regret of the night was that there was no real eye-candy. I know. I am shallow. Still, I still like to see pretty things. The median age for the night was about 40 or so. Granted, I didn't feel old, but it sure as hell would have been better if some youth was involved.

Well, tonight I think I am going over a friend's place. Some sort of celebration about some birthday. I may take a trip to the book store first just to pretend that I can read. All I am really going to buy is a magazine.

Who do that Voodoo you do so well?

The telethon to help Haiti is on television right now. I am unsure how I feel about the whole thing. Granted, I don't like that thousands of people died or that so much damage was done, but this outpouring of support seems like an excuse for something.

I think Haiti's number 1 export is voodoo. We are all in a loa trance or something right now. When this is all over Baron Samedi will raise a zombie army, and then the apocalypse begins.

I wish something interesting happened at work, but nothing did. All I day today was unpack shipments tat came in. Granted, I spent about 5 hours doing that. It was about 7 orders worth of stuff. Various sized orders from 4 different companies. It was just me and my pricing gun.

I am probably going to head out in a little while. I will of course head to the bar. I have little other direction than that. Is it wrong to look forward to just sitting in a bar and drinking? I have been wanting to do it since about Wednesday.

There's a certain unpredictably to heading to my local watering hole. For starters, it's not local at all. I have to drive a few miles to get there. I go because it seems that's where many of the people from my old neighborhood, who I can tolerate, wound up congealing. There have been Friday's when absolutely no one shows up and it is just arduos to get to close. I stick around till then because what else is there to do when I have no other set up plans. On the contrary, it could be like last week and turn out to be a good time with lots of people. It's always hit or miss. Some nights are just off, others are on.

It's a short one for now. I may be writing later whenever I get home. I think with many of the previous posts, I can allow myself a short one here and there. Christ, I think 2 posts ago I hit over 800 words. I can be a chatterbox when I'm not directly talking to someone.

THAC0

I have no idea what I am going to write about... Which is how all of these should, will, or do start.

Work was rather unproductive, so it's not the best thing to write about. All that really happened was the the Dungeons and Dragons group that plays at the store on Thursdays, played Munchkin instead. The whole group couldn't make it, but they still wanted to get together. Since most of the party in the D&D campaign needed to deal with one of the other characters that wasn't there tonight, it was time for other games instead.

I like the store's D&D group. They have been playing at my store for over a year. In fact, for their anniversary, they brought in cupcakes and treats for everyone. That includes me and Josh, who only works Thursdays. What's interesting about the group is their age. When they first started, I wouldn't think one of them was under the age of 35. Now, the girl (woman) in the group might have a problem with that. Oh, they even have a female playing in the group. Over the course of the year, they wound up adding another player who is probably in his late 20s or so. Still, I like that they have fun with imagination.

I haven't played D&D or any role-playing game (RPG) in a very long time. I think the last time I did, I was in high school. That's a typical response. I know people that still play, and have been invited to play on a couple occasions. I just haven't put forth the effort in playing.

Some friends of mine get together almost every week playing something. At the moment, it's a D&D campaign in 3.5 edition or Pathfinder. To clarify, they update the rules for RPGs quite often to spurn sales. With the invention of D&D 4 Edition, it segregated some of the audience. So, some of the people that still want to play, just use the old rules of D&D 3.5 Edition. There is a company Paizo that was publishing the monthly magazines for the D&D culture named, oddly enough, Dungeon (for the Dungeon Masters ((the storyteller of the game))) and Dragon ( that was geared more for the player). For a while I used to collect Dragon because I liked the concept of playing a game.

When Paizo was told that D&D was going to do the magazines in house, it caused a slight rift. In retaliation, Paizo latched onto the 3.5 edition rules of D&D because they knew there was still a market for it. Paizo already launched a fantasy setting called Pathfinder, but with a new rule set based on D&D 3.5, they had a game on their own. From what I was told, the Pathfinder system takes the core D&D rules and pulls out all the junk. Gone are the things that no one ever used, like redundant feats. (A feat is a special action or quality your character has while in the game.)

There are a couple other games friends of mine play, but I'll talk about them some other time. I reached my enforced limit of words needed. I'm treating this post like a high school paper: bare minimum.

Since tomorrow is Friday, I may have to do something exciting at work in order to get something written between when I get home and when I leave for the bar to engage in social awkwardness. We shall see what happens.

Abnormal and Cranky

Goddammit. It's 3Am, and I still have to write. I have to keep this think up if I want to take it seriously. The good thing is that there is no set structure, so I can go on whatever tangent I want. This helps when you just need to throw words at the screen and just have them stick. they really don't need to be in particular order any.

Today, was the long day at work. So long, in fact, that I was there an extra half hour cleaning up after working for 13 hours on my feet. The whole day just felt odd. It started out as a typical Wednesday, with me frustrated at anything that took me away from dealing with comic books. The ride in was smooth, the I overheard the traffic report the one road I take to work had a downed tree. Not want to experience the possibility of succumbing to back roads with no names, I made a detour of my own on a known road. I had sudden detours because they tend to put my non-Magellan ass places I have never been. Then the panic sets in. I avoided that though.

I was greeted to bags of trash as I opened the gate. Apparently, bringing the trash to the dumpster was too much an effort for the previous nights crew. That crew being named my boss. He explained when he came in that he was there till midnight and it just slipped his mind to take it out. He saw it when he closed the gate, but it was at the point where since it's already closed, he had escaped and didn't need to return. God knows I have had that feeling before.

There was the typical stuff. I wasn't finished pulling all the books for our subscribers by the time we opened. There was one guy, who wasn't a regular, that needed to come in and buy his three books that weren't ready yet. This is annoyance 1. He then proceeded to try and buy these three comics with a hundred dollar bill... as the first sale of the day. Annoyance number 2. I hate the practice of using large bills for small purchases on an exponential level. It almost erupts in violence how much hate I have for the practice, especially in the early morning.

The rest of the day was rather quiet. We didn't get any shipments. I got my normal stuff done early or on time. It was probably that I wasn't distracted by everyone on the earth that I could get my "numbers" done withe the other store. Basically, "numbers" is the term I use when we can make adjustments to books we have already ordered. So, today, me and the manager from our other store went over our orders for some books that come out, supposedly, in three weeks. We can increase or decrease as we see fit judging by prior sales of previous issues. We used to only be able to do it with Marvel and DC, but now we can also adjust Image and Dark Horse. These are the 4 biggest comic companies.

The rest of the day, I just found stuff to do. I did some inventory, talked with customers, and even looked up some game news. I wound up sending my coworker at night home early because it seemed rather slow. The only people in were some people just grabbing some comics and the group of guys playing miniature games in the back. What sucked, is that the gamers don't like to keep track of time. So, at 9:30, when we officially close, I asked them to pack it up, nicely. It was when they still weren't out 15 minutes later, that I got pissed. So, I started the nights paper work when I would normally be finishing up, and I still needed to get vacuuming done.

Granted, I probably didn't need to vacuum, since I was the only one closing. The store looked bad though, and despite my personal living conditions, I get freaked out if my workplace is cluttered and dirty. I feel to need to impress people with presentation. I did the same thing in college with my dorm room, not that it did me any good. So, I was at work an extra half hour just straightening and cleaning.

On the way home, I should have listened to some karaoke stuff with the window down. That would at least kept me semi-alert. Thank God no one was really on the road at that time. I thought I was hallucinating at one point. It was so bad, and I was so cranky by the time I got home, I snapped at just about anything. It nearly erupted in violence. I wanted to break something, anything. Thankfully, I didn't and opted to just take a nap in front of my computer, or my secondary bed. I felt better after that. It also the reason this is going up late. Good thing I don't have work till 5PM tomorrow.

Perchance to Dream

Crap. It's already after 2AM and I haven't gotten any writing in yet. Well, here it goes.

Today was a rather boring day in the life of me. I slept terrible through the night. I tossed and turned and dreamed. During one such dream, I was fighting with someone over something, I can't remember. What I can still remember, is waking from it to another dream.

I awoke on my couch in the house I grew up in at the time. Everything was dark. I hadn't realized it was still a dream yet. I tried to turn on the lamp next to my, but it wasn't working. I made my way from the couch and headed toward the door. For some reason, I didn't pay much mind that the door was open. It was even dark outside, an eerie gloom. I flicked the switches that normally light up the living room, and nothing. I tried the other switch for the upstairs hallway, and that didn't work either. I then thought that I may not be in here alone since the door was open. It was at that point that I stared into the blackness of the stars that led to my bedroom, and realized that this was going to turn into a nightmare.

I promptly woke myself up. I tried heading back to sleep, but my heart wasn't having it. It's racing and pounding kept my adrenaline pumping.

Work was fine today. No real complaints. I handled my responsibilities that usually happen on a Tuesday, like dealing with DC Comics and transfers to the other store. I spent most of the day with my co-worker, Greg. He told me that I need to see Hurt Locker. Also, I should see Taking Chance.

Apparently, Taking Chance is about a Marine that he knew when he was in Iraq. The story revolves around a Colonel in the Marines hearing about the death and actions that led to the death of the Marine, Chance. The Colonel personally transports the body to Chance's home. There is a ritual in the Corps that a Marine always brings a Marine home. The Colonel wrote a memoir about his experience with taking Chance and the response and support he received from the many people he came across. Basically, it was a tale that shows that the people here support the troops, even when the troops have no idea how they actually feel about them.

Oh, and Chance was apparently in Greg's battalion. Greg was ordered to remove about 5 guys form his platoon and put them in another. Chance was one that was moved. While the firefight waged that killed Chance in the South, Greg was a bit North in a firefight of his own.

I think it's crazy that I know a guy that was actually over there. I'm sure I probably know a few, but these types of things are strange to discuss. Whenever something military comes up, I usually run it by Greg first.

Other than that, I was going to go to a open mic night to see a coupe friend's perform. I was side-tracked over my friend's place, because I had to drop off a model for him. I wound up just staying there because people were driving like assholes on I-95, and I didn't want to search for parking downtown.

I wound up watching the end of Commando, Predator and a NWA Clash of the Champions from 1988 or something. There was some good discussions on various guy things, like making fun of people who weren't around to defend themselves. I even got into the NWA event. The main event had Ric Flair vs. Sting go to a No Contest after a 45 minute epic. The original Eddie Haskell, a Playmate and the older brother from the Wonder Years were in attendance for it. Still, it was a good wrestling match that definitely reminded me why I like wrestling.

Oh, and the open mic wound up getting canceled anyway.

Ok, I'm going to sleep now. I have work at 9AM till 10 PM. Fun time ahead.

Twas Monday

It's now after 2AM, and I have yet to write anything for the day. This isn't good considering that it has been about a week since I decided to commence this undertaking.

I'm just sitting here listening to Nine Inch Nails. To be specific, it's Right Where It Belongs off of With Teeth. See all that extra crap just eliminated a few words from my projected 500. Of course, I'm not really having that big a problem reaching that goal. The last post I made consisted of over 700 words. I guess I can be a bit verbose with my prattling.

So, where to begin today? I guess I can talk about work. Seeing as that is where a majority of my day was spent, it is deemed the most likely candidate. Monday is typically a busy day for me, and in some retail in general. That's the day many orders are placed for both new product and replacement product. It's is typically Monday so that the distributors can get the stuff out to the stores by Friday, i.e. the weekend. This Monday was a bit odd in that it was also Martin Luther King Day.

Being MLK Day, many a school and business was closed, being in a mall, it means we were more crowded than usual. Sometimes it's not so bad because some of the regulars sometimes visit and hang around. Basically, it gives me an excuse to kill time while avoiding my actual real work, inventory. There were a few in today playing some of the miniature games. It's frightening how much of this stuff I have absorbed over the years because I can rattle off rules, never having played the game once. There also a bit of "gamer drama" over the past weekend's big tournament. To sum it up, the one regular got screwed out of the #1 position because of a weak painting score. (When you play in miniature tournaments, not only is your playing skill judged, but so is how your army looks and how the army is composed.) Our regular decimated all of his opponents and still only wound up in 3rd. I felt for the guy, but this types of things are one of the reasons I don't get too involved with the competitive aspect of the hobby.

Other than that, I wound up getting my typical inventory done for the DC Comics stuff. I get them out of the way as quickly as possible because my Sales Rep for DC usually calls me in the morning. I need to get the order in before 1PM. It was a short list since the past 2 weeks of orders are still in transit, which were sizable.

For the remainder of the night, I made scenery for our gaming tables. Whenever we are working on making scenery at the store, it draws the attention of people who have no idea what we are doing. Most of our stuff, like hills, buildings and rock formations, are made out of a "pink foam". Basically "pink foam" is insulation foam you can get at Home Depot and the like in 8 feet by 4 feet sheets. We carve the stuff down with knives and other tools, glue stuff together, give it texture and paint it. It's really not as hard as it seems, but I guess I could just be used to it. For the most part, all it requires is time and patience. The picture for this article is similar to what I was doing tonight.

Well, I think that should be enough. I also just remembered that I have laundry in the dryer that needs to be folded. I gotta have them clean drawers.

Instead of video games, try partying

I have been in front of my computer for almost the entire day. I just haven't been doing anything useful with it.

I guess I will go over what I did the night before, but as for today, nothing even remotely close to productive. My oldest brother, Ted, brought over a couple old video game systems: a Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Gamecube. I already had an N64, but the Gamecube is a welcome addition. With this acquiring, also came a few games. The funny thing is that apparently my brother got the systems from a bar he goes to occasionally. The patrons were apparently taken to play them every so often. What I think is hysterical is that the N64 includes two Pokemon games. On a non-hysterical front, I already own one of the Pokemon games.

Well, last night, I decided to get some writing in before I moved on to other ventures. I thought those ventures were going to consist of finally playing my Xbox after over two weeks of negligence. Turns out that around two minutes after hitting the "post" option, I received a phone call by my friend, James. A party was being held, and he requested my presence.

Let it be said that the announcement of free booze is always a good thing. The party was in Media, PA. Now, if you have never been to Media, it consists of about two main streets of action and excitement surrounded by hills that can make alpine climbers nervous. Of course, it was on these hills where the party lied. The good thing is that getting there was sort of easy. Organized like a grid pattern, my only problem arose in not knowing which street were one way until I already passed them, or missed them all together. Eventually, I found suitable parking, and followed James' instructions of just listening for the noise. He was right in that an outside deck couple probably be heard for blocks.

People were surprised that I had shown. The host, Matt, had no idea how to contact me. It was only later that I even found out that James wasn't even initially invited for the same reasons. I guess I am a tertiary invite. Ah well, I was welcome to be there anyway.

Getting there at about midnight made me stand out. I was definitely the most sober, with possibly the most drunk being a guy, Pete, who was almost making problems for himself. Now, I really don't have any problems with Pete. I just don't really know him. Other people may have voiced a negative opinion, and in my interests to accelerate humor, I lashed out with some bashing of my own. With Pete slurring that there were bucket fulls of people he didn't think were his type, I responded with "They're called women." As far as I know, he isn't gay, but he can seem that way at times. Still, he took it as a sad drunk and just agreed. I actually felt bad at the point and just backed off.

There was an actual gay man at the party, Derek. He is actual a pretty cool guy. He's one of those gay people that doesn't hide what they are, but being gay doesn't define who he is in life. It also helped that he was wearing a comic book t-shirt.

The party was evaporating since before I showed up. There was good beer to be had in some dark ale on tap, which I no forget the name of. It had a chocolate taste, and seemed expensive to have a quarter keg of it. It was tasty though. Soon after 2 AM, things were definitely on a down swing. I wound up taking a couple friends home.

After dropping one off only a few blocks away, I had to head through curvy roadways to get to the other's house. On the way, a deer was nice enough to stand in the road before me. I didn't even hesitate and just went around it. This prompted hysterical laughter from my drunk friend. I only found out later that that probably wasn't the best course of action and things could have been much worse under different circumstances. Sill, it was memorable for the time.

So, there you have it. I wound up doing something aside from just playing video games for an evening. I think I need to get away from the computer now.

B-Game

Wow. I have almost no energy today. It's like someone stuck a straw in me and sucked out all the fun. I did have family over, so that could be it.

Well, I had a pretty good time at the bar last night. It started off rather boring with no one I usually talk to there, so instead I talked with a girl I have a passing acquaintance with. i know who she is and all, it's just that we never really talk. I apparently switched to my B-game for the night and was just having a good time while not being as overboard as I can be.

Since I didn't go to the boxing match, it seemed like everyone else did. Hence why no one I knew was actually at the bar. It took till around 11Pm for everyone to role in from the festivities. Shockingly enough, Joe, who I was going to see fight, actually won the title in a decision What I didn't know was that the whole fight was around 3 minutes long. 3 one minute rounds to be exact. Hardly seemed worth it for a championship match. Joe didn't get to keep the belt, but he did get to pose with it for a while. Apparently, they had to use the same belt for the other boxers who were champions.

An old friend of mine, Bill, attended the match and showed up at the bar later. I haven't seen or talked with him in a while, so it was good to catch up. I wound up say goodbye to him twice that night, since he was stopped and talked with some of the lovely ladies that were there. Hell, even I talked with some random strangers. I was in a good enough mood, I just really had no rhythm. I mean that literally. I couldn't follow the beat of the music at all. It's like I suddenly realized I was white.

Usually, I can get into the groove of whatever is playing. Last night, I was a skipping record. As hard as I tried, I couldn't feel the beat. I may just blame the lack of hip-hop that was missing for the night. Something circa 1992 would have sufficed to kick-start my hip gyrating.

At one point I wound up talking with one girl a the jukebox as she attempted to fill it with dollars. They weren't working. I helped and we laughed at some ridiculous stuff that was already on there without even using the fancy, Internet-age Super Search. You know the expensive thing that lets you play the songs you actual want to hear for an inflated price. As the night progressed, my friend, Joe (not a boxer) egged me on to close the deal. I didn't because... I 'm a coward. Still, I was having a good time regardless. The girl was friendly and talked with many other guys, most of which attempted further acknowledgment and failed. It was only at nearly close that Joe (not a boxer) swooped in to play cleanup. He wound up with the number, despite the heckling of the bartender. Apparently, the bartender thought Joe (not a boxer) stole the girl out from under me. That didn't happen, I just sort of gave up interest.

Joe (not a boxer) called me tonight to explain himself. I told him I was probably the only person that didn't care that he did that, which is the truth. He's my friend. He looked out for me, thought I wasn't interested and pursued his own interests. I can't blame him for that.

I didn't do anything tonight. So, no fancy story about a rip-roaring Saturday night. I woke up late after getting in at 5:30 AM. I wound up hitting up a diner after the bar fiasco. Then family came over, and that was fine. We headed to my store to grab a couple things. I then proceeded to get tired in front of the computer for lack of an proper stimulus. Now, here I am writing this.

I'm going to go play video games.

Game Learnin'

If I plan on writing today, I should probably do it now. Chances are, whenever I get home from the bar, I will be too tired or something to do anything constructive, aside from make a hot pocket.

I was going to go to an amateur boxing match tonight. A flip of the coin, literally, made me choose not to attend. Sometimes, yes, I do rely on an actual coin flip to make my decisions, much like Mr. Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, my coin isn't a double heads one with one side scarred.

The boxing match that was on the bill involves the owner of a bar I go to called Marty McGee's. Joe McGee is going to attempt to win some championship from the nephew of Sylvester Stallone. I wish I was making that up. Part of the reason I didn't go is that I wasn't really going to know anyone there. Another part was that I want a drink and doubt they would have good beer there at reasonable prices. I'll just save my $30 and put it toward more beer at Joe's bar instead.

Work was all right for the most part. It being Friday, I had most of my normal stuff for the week already finished. There was only some minor things I needed to take care of. The unfortunate thing was that we didn't receive one of the shipments we were supposed to get today. Games Workshop holds the largest line of models we sell in the store. Their game of Warhammer 40,000 just released a new rule book for one of their armies, along with some new models. New army stuff generally means greater sales. The rule of thumb is that the new army is usually the best one at the time. The good thing is that we sold out of nearly most of the stuff we received on Wednesday. The bad thing is that our reorder that was supposed to come today was delayed somewhere along the line, so we may not have some of the popular stuff for the weekend.

Instead, I occupied my time with other orders. A game shipment with almost two dozen card packs for "Living Card Games". Basically a Living Card Game consists of something that used to be a standard collectible card game (CCG). The most popular collectible card game is Magic:The Gathering. What happened is that these older CCGs went away due to poor sales and the like. The company that holds the license thinks they can still make some coin off it, so they republish it somehow. They box up sets of the card to make a playable card game that removes the deck building excitement of getting random cards. They make a boxed base set, they produce "chapter packs" that add on to the base set for extended play. Now there is no randomness to the cards, like 15 card booster packs. Instead yo get 40 card chapter pack that hold a certain theme. I believe we carry 3 different Living Card Games: Game of Thrones, Call of Cthuhlu, and Warhammer: Invasion.

Other than that, it was some new miniature model company called Red Box Games that I had to scrounge the Internet for prices.

Ok, that should be a good amount for the moment. I am off to go get my drink on. Have a good night fair people that are bored enough on a Friday night to read this drivel. Even if I don't entertain, maybe you can learn something.

Over the course of a couple hours.

You know, it's depressing when after making a sandwich, you look and realize the bread is moldy.

That's what I get for making my food with turning on the light. I was relying on ambient lighting. Everything seemed fine as I was prepping everything and slathering on the condiments. Now, I really want a sandwich.

I didn't get much done today. Well, at work I got some stuff done, but other than that, not much. I woke up much later than I expected. I guess I needed the rest. I don't really regret staying in bed for that long. Come to think of it, I probably would not have accomplished much before work anyway. It's hard to get properly motivated when I know that I will have to stop whatever it is I am doing and head into work.

One of the things that does suck, is that my windshield wiper fluid sprayer doesn't work. This probably wouldn't be such a big deal, if there wasn't frost on my car every single time I need to get in it. It's exceptionally bad considering that my car seems to attract dirt and grim easier than a drunk girl near last call.

During the morning drive, it's bearable. No glaring lights diffuse in my vision, so I can navigate quite well. Sadly, since this is still winter, the daylight fades early, and I am forced to deal with other's headlights. Oncoming headlights are one of my least favorite things about driving. It seems that most cars are just high enough, or angle well enough, to shoot right into my rods and cones. With the widow a little blurry, it increases the radius of the lights projected at me. This leads to much more reliance on the whole automatic driver thing, while I pray someone isn't on the road in front of me.

Since it is so cold, as I attempt to clean my windows with a solution of glass cleaner and rubbing alcohol, frost still occurs. Apparently, the whole alcohol thing was supposed to prevent that, but it doesn't really. I clean the things, and then they just frost over a bit again, just a little. It is only after a trip to the gas station where I can actually clean my windows. Apparently, using a squeegee is the only form of window cleaning my car will allow.

I'm also starting to get into the habit of just listening to iTunes whenever I am in front of the computer. I used to leave the television on as background noise, but that usually makes me try and find something decent on. Nothing ever good is really on at midnight, and [adult swim] isn't nearly as well done as it was years ago. Sometimes I just slap on Good Eats and wind up sitting down to actually watch it. If only I actually took the initiative to actually cook.

Over the last few months, I have added a ton of music onto my computer. The past week or so saw the addition of about 10 or so CDs worth of music. I have decided to not really put them in specific playlists. I used to have my whole computer listen by album, but that was a long list to scroll through every time. Now, I just get surprised whenever I hit random.

Cold, Tired, Rambling... What else is new.

It is incredibly cold in my house. I worked a long time. 13 hours at the job with almost all of it on my feet moving around. Thank Christ I remembered to wear my sneakers today. I even had that discussion with myself in the morning. I sat at the edge of my bed and contemplated what I should wear. I then remembered that since it's new book day, that I would probably be standing a while filling subs and walking to the counter. Turns out I was right. Go me.

It is actually a little painful to type. After such a long day, became extremely tired. With the pre-work routine, I stopped at Wawa. I grabbed some standard breakfast stuff, but also opted for an energy drink that I swore I was going to need. I didn't even really eat anything throughout the day. I had my Wawa Sizzli thing about an hour after I should, but a quick reheat in the microwave made it palatable. I sloshed the remaining hours sipping from a half gallon of iced tea. It was easier to get one of those then attempt to procure varied drinks, especially considering the cost. The only other nourishment was around 3 or so with a package of Nutter Butters. Then I didn't have anything. Pure will power got me through the day. I should be a damn Green Lantern.

Needless to say, I passed out shortly after I got home. Manwich was on the menu and I needed anything. It's surprising how great things taste when you haven't eaten anything in a while. I even had my energy drink from before. I knew I wanted to be semi-conscious to attempt this whole writing ordeal, but my body didn't agree. Even after drinking some of the magical wake-me potion, I proceeded to pass out at the computer... again. It's like this chair is my second bed. Thankfully, I am gifted with being able to sleep anywhere. I even used to fall asleep on my Big Wheel when I was a kid. Eventually, after sleeping through the local news and Letterman, I woke to Craig Ferguson's voice going over emails. At least I was awake, now, after the power nap and swigging the remainder of the energy drink.

The only problem I ran into was a topic to write about. I haven't had a solid topic for the 3 days I have done this. Granted, I guess you could say that the first post consisted of a topic, i.e. the premise of trying to write consistently. Throughout the day, I come across various things, but I tend to ignore them about 10 minutes after the moment passes.

I did read an article today that intrigued me. I picked up a copy of The Writer magazine in the vain hope that I might get bitten by a muse if I learn some techniques. Nothing has clicked yet, but the one article was about the key to good writing. In it the author, Randall Silvis, states that connecting to the reader is the most important job. I agree with this. for me the whole purpose of writing, especially fiction writing, is to have the reader enjoy what they are doing. Granted with technical writing there is a discourse for information, so I guess there are exceptions. Still, I liked the idea that stories are generally intended to be felt and not necessarily contemplated. Well, the main purpose is to be felt at least. I know that when I am reading something, I tend to stay more engrossed with it if it tugs at emotion rather than overly complicated cleverness.

I feel the same thing with music. If something I listen to just seems too processed or that the musician or writer/artist is trying to hard to convey their message, they probably aren't doing her job properly. Allegories exist because they entertain. Yes, they are created to show a current problem or to help people understand something, but at it's core things are better understood if the story is clear to the heart.

Almost Unwritten

I've been sitting with a tab for this blog open for a couple hours now. It doesn't help that about 3 of those hours consisted of me passing out at the computer. I should really get a proper sleeping schedule. I just like the night too much to really give it up.

Anyway, I guess you can say I was tired. I don't really sleep that well to start. It doesn't help matters that I only feel compelled to do things at the wee hours of the morning. Still, I actually need to get up for work early tomorrow. It's Wednesday, so that means new comics will be out. I have to get in early to prep them and pull all the books our subscribers request. See, at my store, and most stores, there is a service where the store will hold comics that a customer will buy on a regular basis. I call these customers "Subs".

For the most part the whole thing is mainly just time consuming. I am thankfully gifted with a pretty good memory, so it doesn't require me to scan every book every time I look at a subs file. You have to understand that it's not like only 20 or so books come out in a week. On average, my store gets around 70 to 80 different titles. That's just for one week. That's not counting the number of titles people get every month.

For our service, we require a minimum of 5 books for the subscription service. It pretty much has to be worth our while to spend time making sure the customer gets their stuff. Plenty of people want stuff held till they show, but most times it's only a book or two. Having a ton of bags with names behind the counter with only a book or two each can get quite cumbersome.

The only good thing about tomorrow is that it isn't that big of a week, so it should go pretty quick. For starters, I usually pull my personal books first. Hell, I work there, so I call dibs. I also get a fairly large quantity of titles thanks to a generous discount. Looking over all the titles for the first time, with a fresh set of eyes, allows me to kick-start short term memory. If I get the book, I have a better retention of that knowledge.

Looking at the list I made for tomorrow, I think I am only looking forward to one book: Unwritten #9. The premise of the book is to basically take Harry Potter, stick him as a person in the real world that just happens to share the characters name, and toss in a ton of literary references. It's very well done, and the first collection should be available. Sadly, we don't have it at the store at the moment because our distributor was kind enough to short (read as didn't send) all of our copies of it. Go them.

Of course, there will be plenty of things that I will read through the week. It's just that I am extremely far behind on a lot of books I collect. Hell, I have been getting Hellblazer since before issue 100 (it's now past 260) and I don't think I have read that book in about 5 or 6 years. It is the longest book I have consistently picked up though.

Filler: Now with more kittens!

Turns out that I didn't write 500 words with the last post or with current ramblings through social networking sites.

Right now, this is even more difficult because I have a kitten constantly jumping onto my lap as I am typing. It is quite annoying. If he isn't jumping in my lap, he likes to just sit in front of the screen, waiting for the mouse pointer to move.

Cinder, the new kitten, has been in my home for a little over a month I think. It could be longer. I have no real concept of time when it comes to these things. Hell, I see movies on cable and think I just watched them in the theater when it was really 5 years ago they were released. Thankfully, Cinder has been declawed in the front. He used to tear my back up. He has a tendency to jump on the back of the computer chair, then slide down between my back and the back of the chair. When he wanted to move, he would take it upon himself to use my back a a step ladder to my shoulder. This was all just a set-up to sit in front of the computer screen to bat at the arrow whisking its' way across the flat surface.

I don't have a camera in front of me, so there is no picture at the time of writing. If it's not Cinder getting up in my business, it's the oldest, Stripe. She constantly wants to sit in people's laps now. There is no way to deter her. She thinks she moves slow enough so that she isn't noticed. Well, she actually does move slow enough so that the bell around her neck rarely makes any noise. For a solid 2 hours, I had to keep trying to get Stripe to stay off of me. Nothing working, including a water spray bottle. The only thing to keep her from doing it, is to just move and do something else.

Ok, I think I have enough of a start. I'm going to go get some sleep now.

Plan for 2010

OK, here is what I am going to try and do. Now, I am not really one to make New Year's resolutions. I have a nasty habit of never really following them. I don't even work toward the pursuit of a positive resolution. Still, this is something that I probably should do regardless of resolutions.

I want to write. To get me to try and do that, I am going to attempt to write about 500 words a day. Now, that isn't much, but it adds up over time. Now, I am not relegating all words to one specific thing. Everything will not be placed on this or any other blog as some sort of track record. All I want to do is just write stuff.

I am including blog entries (like this one), forum posts (were ever it is that I venture), and even tweets/status updates. I am only including such minuscule things to give me sort of a buffer for the word counts for the one person that will be an asshole about this whole ordeal. Granted, I don't think many people will even bother reading half the shit I post, so I doubt many people will try and count the words. I have no idea if I am going to decide to back track an make up for the days since the New Year, but I'm just taking this one step at a time.

The idea just sprang on me today, limited word requirement and all. I have told all of one person in the flesh. Of course, it was some one who keeps wanting me to write. The irony is that he has never read anything I have written.m Part of the concept is derived from my friend's attempt to fill a sketchbook by the end of the year. What started as a sketch a day, quickly became 4 sketches a week, with the excuse that the book only had 220 pages (110 sheets) in it. Whatever. I just want hm to work. His talent needs to be encouraged, and the only way he'll do anything with it is if he has a purpose.

So, that's the plan. With any luck things will come from this. I need to get warmed up to write some creative stuff soon.