Meme taken from christin.

1. If you were able to go back in time 10 years and talk to the younger you, what would you say? 

Don't let Gary sell your house out from under you, don't move in with your folks cos it'll wreck your life for the next 8 years and don't flog all those 40K minis you and moonie will be buying in 3 years time. 

2. What would the you of 1998 think of the you of 2008, why? 

I think I would be dissapointed with myself for not being something better. I should be in a relationship by now with kids, and not worrying about money. 

3. The you of 2008 receives a letter from the you of 2018. What does the letter hopefully say? 

It tells me that I've lost weight, got married to a wonderful woman and we have three beautiful kids (8, 5 and 2). It tells me that life will get better and I won't end up left on the shelf unwanted.

I think its a fake because the gods hate me.

4. In the letter from the you of the future, you read something that surprises you, what is it?

That I have kids and I ain't such a bad dad.

5. You have the opportunity to switch places with the you of 1998 or the you of 2018 for a day, who do you switch places with and why?

1998, because life was so much simpler back then with less worries and more fun.

-

Well, I think I've updated the Goes Bump chapter of DFRPG (the one that talks generally about the various critters in the Dresden Files books). I seem to have added +1343 words, in light of Small Favor.

And now, I take the weekend off before tackling Who's Who (the chapter that talks specifically about all of the "named" characters in the books).

(woof.)

Amazingly enough, given the fact that he has been out all day and has led the life of riley, he has been sulking since he came in for some reason.

The 3rd finger on my right hand has swollen up for some reason, I have had to take my ring off. It was painful, and trust me a painful ring is not a lot of fun..lol. I will leave it on my other finger for a while and see if it has any effect.

I havn't taken the ring off for 20 years. It belonged to my Grandad, and is a signet ring. It's the only piece of glitter that I wear. I am not really a fan, but I wear it because it was his.

My mom wants a picture of Perdita with a simple background. This is the best picture I have of her:

( Tuxedo Kitty )

I don't suppose anyone with a graphics program could get rid of the Hand of Aitkendrum?

ETA: done, thanks!

Location of me: the Kingdom of Fife
Location of my mother: Southern California

Sunday: sees reminder note in my day planner to mail Mother's Day card (which I cleverly bought back in March, because I learned THAT lesson a few years ago)

Monday: tries to mail card, is foiled by bank holiday

Tuesday: mails card around 10am

Friday: sends e-mail saying 'in case the card doesn't arrive in time, have a great Mother's Day!'

Friday: receives e-mail saying 'it arrived yesterday, and it's so cute!'

o_O

I know the time difference works in my favor here, but TWO DAYS? It isn't as though she lives next door to the LA sorting office.

One of the things I used to like about posting a whole lot on RPG.net was posting threads where we could share our mad ideas, threads that provided space for others to create or asked others to make something mad to toss on the gaming table for more madness to occur.

I missed that kind of stuff.

So, I posted one.

Set in the world of Exalted, the book is a story about Swan's visit to Yane. It's a city with a society where people are assigned to a specific caste based on the alignment of stars during their birth and the social status of their families. Swan is a foreign diplomat arriving to help his friend, a royal of Yane. He is also a Solar Exalted, Chosen by the Sun and commonly believed to be a demon in mortal flesh.

The story focuses in part on Swan's mission to help in trade relationships between cities, a drug plot and young Maylea. It doesn't take long for Swan to note that Maylea, the daughter of his friend, is on the cusp of Exaltation. The young girl is flooded with new memories about herself and the diplomat which causes confusion to form between her and Swan, especially considering she is soon to be married.

For players of Exalted, Maylea's memories will end up surprising, I certainly never thought of using pre-Exaltation memories in such a clever way. Further tying them into the ongoing plot, which is revealed to be truly epic, is just one reason to applaud the author. Naturally, no Exalted book is complete without fight scenes between Chosen, this holds true here. Not only that, the final fight scene is in an exotic scenery which only makes it harder for Swan to come out victorious. All this as we slowly get to know how his final opponent figures into the story and what are her motivations.

While there are many threads running throughout the book, they are cleverly tied together at the very last chapters. Meaning the full picture is for us to discover after we reach the epilogue.

Anybody have a Secret Power that could get me in a position to have a picture taken with Jemaine at Sunday's Flight of the Conchords show in Milwaukee? There's be much Dork Tower goodness in it for you, if you can help Make This Happen.

It's be a hoot.



Separated at birth. Well, birth plus ten years...

The Army of Dorkness has accomplished many amazing things over the years. This would be a rare feat, indeed.

***

It was a week of repeats on DorkTower.com, due in no small part to lots of large things going on, both in Real Life and Work Life.


Here's today's strip:



Happy Anniversary, honey!

And here's Monday's strip.

And Wednesday's strip.

Which is really a euphemism for "doesn't contain real coffee".

I have a shiny new laptop - a Lenovo Thinkpad R61e.* It arrived this morning, at the same time as my order from Play-asia of CJ7. I won't be watching CJ7 just yet, though, for two reasons - there's a regimental training weekend starting tonight (on the ranges! With pistols! I haven't fired a pistol for years), and they sent me a Blu-ray instead of the DVD I ordered.

My 3-year term of enlistment in the Army expires today, but I have already signed up again. For another twelve years. This might seem like a long time, but not only can you leave at any time, if you just don't turn up for training for about six months most regiments will just drop you. Then again, I usually don't plan dinner more than an hour in advance, so signing up to anything for twelve years seems like quite a commitment.

Also, I'm trying to keep up with about 150% workload, and finalise details for the Cyprus trip. Aand, I'm moving in the near future**, and my sister is moving to London. It all feels a bit frantic.

On the plus side, I've been Gazetted! This is a good thing, for those (like me) who weren't sure what that means.

* The extended wait for an Asus EEE dampened my enthusiasm, and I eventually settled on a serious laptop to test Linux stuff.
** The house is ok, but the landlady is ... ah ... someone we don't get on with very well. And it would be nice to move back to GG again anyway.

cwricheson has posted a review for Spirit of the Season over on RPG.net:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13764.phtml

It includes an account of his rockin' actual play session. Check it out!

1. Who do you adore?

Kate Beckinsale.

2. Who adores you?

No one, unfortunately.

3. What's in your pockets?

Tissue, wallet, mobile phone, keys, £5.10 in cash, inhaler and a toothpick.

4. Who can you talk with for hours?

Mike.

5. What sounds great today?

The chilli I am not getting today.

-

Lots of things.

1. People who don't know how to end a conversation and just talk on and on even though its obvious I'm done with it and am trying to do something else.
2. (I'll get jumped for this one) The sound of squealing shouting kids. Makes very irritable.
3. People who don't leave me alone when I'm trying to do something.
4. Arrogance. You are not better than other people, so shut up!
5. People who don't listen to the advice you give them - I'm not saying it for my health here!

Theres plenty more but thats the worst of it. :-)

As some of you may be aware, BioWare are releasing a PC version of their massively popular console game Mass Effect. Now this is initially very cool as I would love to have the opportunity to play this game on my PC. However there is going to be one major difference between the console and PC releases, SecureROM. Yes, EA are making them put SecureROM copy protection in the product.

Now really we shouldn't be objecting to copy protection should we, I mean after all its there to stop the evil pirates from stealing the game isn't it. Well no not really.

Copy protection in PC games does not stop them getting pirated, this has been the case since software and software piracy have existed. The SecureROM copy protection system punishes one person, that person is the user who has legitimately purchased the game.

There are two major problems I have with this system.

1. Limited Activations. If I buy this game I can only install it a limited number of times then it stops working. So if I install it on my PC, thats one, then on a high end laptop so I can play it when I'm travelling, thats two, then I might upgrade my PC and want to play the game again on my new rig. But despite the fact that I have purchased a legit copy of this game it might decide that I've already activated it too many times and I'm now a pirate so I can't play it any more.

2. Internet Connection Required. You have to allow the SecureROM system access via your internet connection every 10 days to verify with its servers that you're not an evil pirate otherwise is shuts down your game and you can't play it anymore. I mean, do I even have to go into the details on how much this can fuck off?

There is a 100 page thread here:

http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=628724&forum=125&sp=1485

On the forums for this game from people who are pissed at this decision and who are letting them know, like me, that they won't be buying this game as long as this Draconian level of 'security' exists.

And the big thing above and beyond this is that SecureROM does not work. The game will be pirated and available for download within 24 hours of release, I guarantee it.

So yeah, despite really looking forward to a PC port of this rather aweosme game I will not be buying it.

Balls. Wrote an entry earlier that seems to have not posted...

Oh well, programme is all fairly straight forward, except Sunday when it all goes mental for me!


Todays dilemma has been to choose between Front242 side project 32Crash and Unheilig. Not been massively impressed by the stuff I've heard from 32Crash so they've lost out this time.

May also accidentally end up seeing Sigue Sigue Sputnik tonight. purely by accident I assure you!

Reading: I'm stalled on John Adams after finishing Hoodtown on Tuesday. Bret found it under a couch. I'll write more about Hoodtown's luchadore noir groove later. In short, it was splendid.

Wearing: A green t-shirt that makes me feel muscle-y and jeans.

Planning: This weekend Witt visits; other than a Kryos segment I've talked to Jeff about wanting to record with him and Mario since we first started the show, we have no real plans.

Writing: I have a Google Docs file called Write a Little Every Day and I've been plugging at that fairly faithfully.

In honor of my iPod constantly shuffling on music from the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack when Kat and I pull into the parking lot for work, here's the finest track on the album, The Anvile of Crom, complete with 50% of your daily Mako intake for the day:



And you?

The schedule is here, for those that might be interested. 20th June to 20th July, 2008.

Including at least one event including cake. Oh, and another food one.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13764.phtml

Check it out!

Following on from elhamisabel's posts about people showing too much flab as soon as the weather turns warm, I'd just like to say that it does tend to bring out the difference between male and female fashion sense. As in, women actually have some.
The students at work have been dressing for the hot weather. The female ones end up mostly looking like this,
while the male ones tend to look more like this.