But this is not that story.



I like the 70s style to it!

And I ganked it from another LJ post who said that it will be a fun movie but probably not one to think too heavily. And I like John Cusack but he does pick some weird ones at times.

edg

Watched some fireworks and played with some with the niece and nephew. The show started late but it was pretty good. And we didn't have to leave our house to see them! So, that was nice.

Then I couldn't sleep and didn't sleep well once I did fall asleep. So, nothing unusual there.

Now it's time for work.

edg

Busy weekend.

Waiting for my niece, nephew and b-i-l to show up to watch some fireworks. I wiped our outside chairs but don't know if they will be dry or not.

Working a lot with Masterplan. It's an awesome program! Even if you don't use 4E, check this out for ideas. Also, look for Labyrinth on his pages as well. I am using them for my campaigns, including the d20 Future one, and it works so well! And awesome program!

Long weekend but I could have used another day.

Finished the Dark Sun novel Brazen Gambit. It was good. It took a bit to get used to that author's style but I like the day to day look at the city of Urik. So, a good read.

Watched some Scare Tactics. I am still amused by it.

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean a few nights ago. Still an awesome movie!

Most of the RPG stuff via paperbackswap is gone. It went in less than twenty four hours. That's a LOT to mail. But, it's a good thing. I should do this more via there. I have a few more things that might go, including some DND stuff. Have to think about that.

Still haven't tested out the new monitor I got! Just been busy. Hopefully tomorrow.

Played a bit of BF2. It was fun and frustrating, as it normally is.

Didn't sleep well even though I was physically and mentally tired. I can't win with sleep.

edg

I am getting rid of a lot of vampire the masquerade, werewolf, wraith, essentially old World of Darkness stuff at paperbackswap.com.

Also some Chill, Dragonlance SAGA, Trinity/Aeon, Aberrant, Hunter, Lord of the Rings RPG by Decipher and other things if anyone is interested or knows someone who might be interested.

edg

Last night's game was a LOT of fun.

Most of my gaming life, and I think this would be typical for a young person, gaming was ruled by rules layers. We had to follow the rules. Finally my group and I are in synch and we don't need to be so literal with the rules.

Last night's combat was cinematic fun. I stayed consistent but made up rules to make it tense. The guys had to last so long before the other part of the group arrived. They had to appear to be a threat to keep the bad guys at bay and hopefully not die in the process. I could envision the whole scene.

The guys who aren't there are racing their hovercar to get back as soon as they can.

The bad guys are laying down cover fire while trying to advance up the corridor.

The group pinned in the engine room are hovering over sealing the door and shooting back to keep the bad guys out.

In the end, it was a close, fun fight. I think the gaming wiki has been updated with some of it but I haven't read it.

Lots of enjoyment there.

edg

We had to schedule a time to see my sister and her family. And they still weren't all there! It was fun to see them, though.

Started a Dark Sun book. It reads different. It's the author's style, I think, and I haven't figured out if I like it or not. (Brazen Gambit by Lynn Abbey)

I tried to read a Star*Drive fiction book but it didn't pull me in and I have read it before! I don't remember it, though, so that says if it was memorable.

Didn't sleep the best but better than the night before.

It's only a four day work week, so that's always nice!

edg

My computer did some updates last night. It didn't look like anything new or different than they have done before for windows, or a browser or anything. I played a few games then when I was done, shut down the PC as I have done before.

When I booted up this morning, I found I had lost EVERYTHING.

I mean everything personal that I done with the computer, including desktop icons, bookmarked web pages, email was reset as if I had just installed Outlook. So, I lost all email that hadn't archived, although I haven't looked at that yet, as my pst file was reset. NO individual folders. No sent emails. All of it gone. That really pisses me off.

My desktop and folders were gone. Games and programs are still installed, although I haven't tried to run them yet, but all shortcuts were gone. My quick launch tool bar was reset with nothing. The language bar was displaying.

Startup items, such as AVG, Zone Alarm and some others are there but not everything such as Skype and a few others.

WHAT THE FUCK??????

What the fuck kind of an update can reset things this badly?

I am NOT happy about this.

edg

Edit: I am an idiot. Thankfully my friend "found" it all. I r stupid this morning.

Just playing around with a new tool that could have saved me all of the money I have spent on figures. I found a program that will allow me to create maps with dungeon tiles, import dnd4e creatures and enter player character information, and then run combat on the maps created. Certainly, it's not perfect, but it might work really well given the two remote players I have.

However, there are still some technical issues to work out, in terms of computers and how well they will perform. I am also using a program that will allow the remote guys to login into mine to see the maps. That takes resources as well. Not sure if everything will be possible. I think we will be able to test it tomorrow.

Having said that, there is still nothing like having figures on a map in front of me. As well as being able to touch them and watch expressions as players see the to scale figures. As compared to little blobs on a screen, that even to scale really don't give a sense of what it looks like. But, if it works, that's all I want.

Watched several episodes of Alias. Not completely done with season four but closer. I think it's holding up mostly well. However, the first part of season four didn't deal with Rumbaldi, and that's too bad as it seems to have lost its focus. It was merely a generic spy show at that point, with no overarching story. And that was its strong point, imo. Once they get back to that, it does better. It's strange to think this ended three years ago already. I started watching it when we still lived in CR! Same for Buffy and many other shows, but as I am watching Alias, I am thinking of it.

We used to go over to friends when it was on Sunday and watch it with them as we were all fans. We would have supper before hand, played some games and got hooked on Trading Spaces since it was on before Alias. Fun times! I miss them.

Not sure what I want to do. I went to see Transformers yesterday. It was okay. I don't know. There was something off about it, that's tough to explain. It reminded me of Bay's other movie, Pearl Harbor, which I enjoyed at the theater but when I thought about it and read about the liberties they took, I didn't like it as much. I haven't seen PH since it came out, though, so who knows. In any event, the Transformers movie was fun and exciting but something was missing.

I kinda want to see Taking of Pelham 123 and kinda don't.

I started a Dark Sun novel but haven't gotten far in that. Lots to read so I do need to keep going on my books.

I have cuddled Max twice today! He was up when I was watching TV and as soon as he came out, he let me cuddle with him for a long time! That's always cool!

That's all the excitement in my life!

edg

Went to see Star Trek again last night. I could nit pick a few details, things I didn't catch the first time, but it's still a great movie. The casting was near perfect and everyone did a great job. My only real complaint is that I want a TV series, to get more hours of this to watch, rather than a two hour movie every couple of years, if that.

Got some ideas for the gaming group(s) that if it works, should really improve the game. The downside is that I have to prepare more than I do and a lot more specific than I prefer but even then I have some work around to that. I found a campaign planner that includes the ability to make maps from the dungeon tiles and run combat on it!

Work hasn't been bad this week. Got a few things progressed and another few things to do. It's been pretty good, actually.

My wife had a friend in visiting and it was good to see her. Today she leaves to spend time with a friend and then see her grandfather. I hope she enjoyed her week off and that it was as good as she wanted it to be!

Max got a lot of snuggles from both of us last night. He loves it! And it's fun to give them to him.

Time for work.

edg

I went outside after work to 108 degrees on the thermometer on my car but it did cool down to only 97 degrees. (42 - 36 C)

By the time I got home, it was down because now it's storming and looks like it will be a big one. Of course, it will only keep it humid and then it will got hot again. Ah, well.

I saw a corvette on the side of the road on the way home. A corvette? Wow.

Hopefully gaming is still on, even with the storm.

edg

So, Sunday wasn't too bad. I didn't get to the grocery store for groceries but it was relaxing.

I did figure out some things about CC3 and making ship plans. However, I also figured out a couple of other things. It very tough to fake a ship plan because I don't know much about ships. I have done dungeons, and read up on ancient tombs and crypts, such that I can make on of those and have it logically laid out. But, I don't know what is in a ship, or submarine, to make plans up on the fly. So, I figured out some generic things but more for drama than anything else.

Didn't exercise. I find it boring and so if my mind is stimulated, the last thing it wants to do is something it finds boring. Of course, that means I am up in weight. blah

Watched a few more Alias, including one that was a bit over the top in terms of the drama. Too weird. Also, I can see how they have "drifted" from their core in this season. It might be why they lost ratings . . . except they didn't. I looked it up on wikipedia and season four had the best ratings. Hmm. Maybe it was more accessible to others? But, from my standpoint, it hasn't advanced the main storyline.

Now it's time to go to work.

edg

I am in a big city, or the downtown of one, and there is a lot of trouble. I don't know why now but a building starts to collapse. It's a tall building and all I can do is watch. It actually stops at one point and I see people in offices trapped, unable to get out. So, I grab a hammer and try and smash the window so people can get out. I get a few out but then something happens to me.

I am now miles up in the air, falling. There is a person with me but I don't know who. I am yelling at them to put the parachute on and why didn't they already have it on. So, it must not be too unexpected where I am but I still don't know how I got there. He gets the parachute on, I am clinging on to him for life and he opens the chute. It works but a part of me wondered if we had fallen too far before he opened the chute.

I think there was another part to it but I don't remember it.

edg

( ugly picture but to be expected given the subject matter )

edg

Finally.

I figured out what I was trying to do and made some starship plans. They are ugly, I called it the USS Ugly, but it opened the potential. About time.

Now to get the big stuff I want done, done.

edg

I slept well last night, so that was good. Still tired at work but got some good things done.

Watching some Alias.

I tried a twitter. Not sure about that. and I couldn't see a way to ship it over to LJ but I was lazy and didn't look that hard, to be honest.

Played some Punch Out. They cheat but it's still fun.

Tried to play some computer games but the ping rate was pretty high for some reason. So, I didn't play. I did read some FML and play some poker, but lost (play) money. D'oh.

edg

Although I probably won't be able to hear the Doors now without thinking of this.

edg

Anyone know if this is true or not that mars candy does animal testing?

Aw, man! I haven't been able to find anything on the web to refute this. If you find anything, please let me know.

Swiped from jeniferj.

edg

Trying to paint an entire apartment, that changes, in a certain time limit. The time limit keeps changing and I keep wondering if I can do it with longer and longer days. I have to paint the walls and ceilings but it’s all the same color. I keep trying to figure out how much paint and if I can get it done in the time I have.

Then, in the same place, a high school classmate lives there. She drives there and almost goes off a bridge and I am really worried about her driving. I am trying to get ready for a party. I keep having to go back to the tub to rinse or wash or something and it’s taking a long time to get ready. I finally go back and want to get in, or that’s my mindset, but someone is there. So, I just stick my head in to wash the shampoo out of my hair.

I am trying to get to my parents in time for something. I think it’s church but am not sure. Two things stop me. I am several towns away and I have to pick up some stuff in one town. The first thing that stops me is that I am picking up chickens for some reasons. And they are running around in the church in this town. I meet some friends there and they help at times or just watch me as I am trying to gather up the chickens. Then I think the chickens are theirs instead of mine and I am trying to round them up. The chickens manage to get in areas with other chickens in the church and now I don’t know if I can tell them apart.

The other issue was that in trying to leave the town, the main road is under repairs and they have dug a huge ditch, eight feet deep and eight feet wide. This road is the only way around the town but for some reason, I keep driving right up to it. Several times. Forgetting that it is there. I barely manage to keep out of the ditch. At one point, I see down the length of it as I come to a halt parallel with the ditch and I wonder if I would be able to get the car out if it did go into the ditch. I never do go in the ditch.

I also remember looking at a clock a lot for times of when I am supposed to be at my parents. It keeps changing so quickly and I keep being more late and they keep getting upset.

edg

I looked at the 100 books to read before I die. It's a load of crap. I think they took books that didn't get good publicity, mainly because the newest one is still a fifty years old, and put them on the list.

Yeah, they are classics.

But I find I am a modernist. Most of the time, the modern versions tell me what the classics did in a way I better understand and remember it.

My father owns several classic cars. They look beautiful and are still running. However, they take a lot of work to maintain and if they break down, it takes a lot of work, and specialized parts tough to find, to fix them. In contrast, my current car can survive for a long time with regular oil changes. And that might be all I need to do.

Now, books aren't cars. I get there. And there are some classics I like, including the Iliad, Odyssey and Shakespeare (although he wasn't on the list) as well as some others. However, those were written in a different time, when they had a lot more time than we think they did. A three hour play was standard. When was the last time you saw a three hour movie?

Also, even as much as I like Shakespeare, it does take some work to understand it. If you aren't fluent in the mores and styles back then, you have to look things up to grok it all. It's not a matter of reading it; there's more to it than that. It's the same for the most of the "classics" on the list.

That's why I like modern things. They tell me the same thing in a way that I can already understand. Yes, it's partially lazy, and I do like to learn so it's not all bad. But some of the books, especially the ones set in the 50s and 60s, do take an understanding of those times to understand them. And I am not sure it's worth it for all of them.

Otherwise, weekend was blah. Watched some Alias. Played some games. Hung out with my wife. Cleaned up, well straightened up my office. (My wife won't claim to see a difference but I do.) Work tomorrow. Joy.

edg

I haven't posted but it's more from a lack of anything to say.

Still reading Berry. I am now on Venetian Betrayal. They are interesting and this is the last one of his I have to read. (I don't have the newest.)

We aren't gaming this Tuesday as many people would miss. So, next week.

Playing BF2 with a friend and it's both fun and frustrating.

I want to clean up my desk and office. There are things that need to be done. I need to work on my mom's computer.

I need to relax. Two days won't work.

Watched more Alias. Better than I remember in some ways. Still a good show.

Went to the humanist meeting. It was okay but the same people with the same stories, myself included. Not sure if I will go as regular.

Really not much to say.

edg

Tired.

Gaming wiki updated with last night's game. I thought I was off. Fairly standard tropes but there is a new underlying style to it as I talked a LOT about the plot and some ideas with the group.

We aren't tracking the money, though, and I am not sure if we are going to be able to do that or not. I am not sure what it will add or not but we will play around with it and see what happens.

bodine with his kids stopped by and that was fun! Got to see them a bit which is always good.

Reading more Berry. Still good. Might read more.

Playing a bit of free poker. Watching some poker but nothing exciting.

edg

Happy Birthday, purrfectionist!!!!

I hope it's a great day!!

edg

I was back in my hometown working for someone but I didn't like it. I was talking to a vendor about a job and if it was a job for me or the company, the line kept blurring there. I even got a text message from them but am not sure what it said for sure as it kept changing and it's tough for me to read in a dream. As I am trying to figure all of that out, I am also trying to go to the game store in town.

Then, for most of the dream, I am wondering around my hometown, although it keeps looking like my hometown less and less. Sometimes walking, on a bike, or in a car. At one point, I lose my car in or near a drug house, after it almost got stuck in some kind of quarry. I am looking for a police officer to help me get it back when I wake up.

blah. I hate those dreams of wandering around like that.

edg

The first dream was that I was hired as a consultant to help teach teamwork via role playing! I was being paid to play DND. I did have to carry a lot of things around in the office building where this was located but I did find the room they had devoted to it. It had some figures, a good table and lots of space. It was really cool. (I was not happy to wake up and find that wasn't my job.)

My second dream was trying to get back to my car. My dad at one point knew a quick way but didn't share it. I was carrying a lot of things in this dream as well and it was awkward. Then, I went on the rides with all of the backpacks and stuff. It was water slides and ice slides. It was not fun to go through all of these tunnels carrying everything that I had. And, I would think I was done when there was another section to go through before I could get to the car. At one point, some guys had to lift me onto the ride area as I couldn't lift myself with all of the things I was carrying.

I woke with numb arms. No surprise, really.

edg

We are up visiting my wife's grandfather. It's going well. He let me win at cribbage earlier today. Then we took him to an anniversary party of his lay minister. Interesting place. A huge cabin in the middle of no where. Nice place.

We headed back and they watched the cubs (lose) while I watched some Alias. It's a good show although for some reasons, Garner isn't as attractive to me this time around. Even if the black/red scene. Not sure why. It's a good show, though, and the whole cast does a good job. It is strange as I remember Jack being much better than the show shows him to be.

My wife got Sims 3 and seems to be enjoying it.

I am using Astrosynthesis to get the stars entered for the Verge. It's actually quite cool! I can show the guys the nearby stars. I am only about halfway done. I think it will go faster if, instead of doing it from a rocker, I do it at a table. I haven't yet.

Also working on some ideas for the campaign, specifically if I could use a couple of modules and how much I would have to modify them. I haven't had a good way of merging the module with my other ideas, though, so not sure what to do yet.

Max is running around with my wife. I think he wants his own couch back. He's been traveling a lot! I don't think we have any plans for the next several weekends after this. yay.

edg

More fun dreams, about a juxtoposition of high school, college and now. Moving while a road is being torn up and redone. I try to get on it to beat the parade but end up in the parade and trying to get out. I get back to where the moving is happening but have to care for our rat. I try to give him a drink and he jumps into the glass! By the time I get him out, which was tough to do, he is freezing because of the ice. I hold him close to warm him up, which he eventually does. We have a family of bats instead of rats and they are huge. The biggest is probably two feet tall.

edg

Home for a bit longer before we leave to visit my wife's grandfather this weekend. I am sure he will beat me at cribbage again.

My eye has been watery for the past hour. Sucks. I took another allergy med to see if that would help. I forgot to check if they are red. Maybe I need the drops we got me in TX.

Decided to read the next Berry book, although I don't remember the name. Still have a pile of things to read, which is not bad!

Want to do lots with the campaign. I have ideas and am fleshing them out. I also apparently don't have a campaign go much beyond eight months. I would like to break that but am not sure why. Or how, really. I think I get bored. I have the story figured out and then want the next one?

This time, I am trying to draw upon the Stargate shows for inspiration, as they were more open ended. Maybe if it's an ongoing story, instead of a story with a definite ending, it will be better. At least, that's probably partially what happened with the WoD game.

I looked at Punch Out for Wii. It looks like it could be fun and maybe some exercise for me. If I could do some. I need to walk or do something but haven't been good about that.

edg

Happy Birthday, celestedraco!!!!!

A day early, I think, but in case I am not near connected over the weekend.

I hope it's a great weekend!

edg

I has it.

Now, in fact.

Still not tired and didn't fall asleep after over an hour of lying there.

blah.

Weird dreams last night about bodine and loaning him my jetpack. Unfortunately, he took me literally when I said, "go now" and stopped, instead of walking forward more. So, he slammed into the low ceiling. I don't know who did that wrong but he was loopy for the rest of the dream and I felt bad.

Not much else to say. The gaming wiki has been updated with the last gaming session and character information. It went well and was a lot of fun! Still trying to learn CC3 and Astrosynthesis for use in the game.

Finished up Berry's Templar book. Now onto his next one. Oh, it was good but like reading a lot of Dan Brown's stuff in a row, I start seeing patterns and don't get surprised as much. A few things surprised me but not as much as if it had been a while since I read some of the other books.

Burn Notice started this week! Woo hoo! I think True Blood starts up soon.

I have a lot of Modern Marvels that I would like to watch but I don't think I will have the time. I would buy them but they charge $30 PER EPISODE, which is only 45 minutes! No way! That's way too expensive, even if all of the money supported the History channel.

blah. Might watch some TV and then see if I get some sleep. Maybe I will sleep with Max.

edg

About to go see him.

Should be fun!

edg

Nothing sets the mood for the game when the first roll by the player is a one!

:)

I think it's going to be an interesting ride.

More on it later.

edg

I have read but haven't posted on LJ in a while.

We went to see my parents this past weekend. My father broke the small bones in his foot and needed help with some things, so I went and helped. I mowed several lawns and then we took and replaced the steps on a deck at one of his rental houses. It was not bad but I was worn out by the end of the day!

At one point, I was under the deck because the previous tenants thought he had lost something under there. Although, why he didn't look when he realized it, I am not sure. So, I crawled under there and looked for it but didn't find that. I did find a ring that I gave to my wife! :)

Been feeling under the weather. Slept terrible on Sunday night. Apparently, I made some interesting snoring noises and kept my wife awake. Oops. I slept okay last night but woke up with a headache and general blahness of feeling.

Gaming tonight! I am excited about that. Lots of good ideas for the campaign, although we have some character stuff to finish. I have gotten a lot of minis for it. Probably too many but it's been fun. I understand the addiction to them. It's fun to open up a pack and see which minis I got this time!

Reading The Templar Legacy by Berry. He's a good author. Lots of good suspense.

Re-watching Alias. Finished up season one and started season two. It's better than I remember, with a few worse things there, but I can ignore them. I get why they were there, it's just funny.

There's probably a lot more I am forgetting but I have to get going.

edg

I was caught in the middle of a battle between titans, the gods and another powerful group. Maybe mages or fey. My wife and I are visiting the mages, I will call them, at their mansion. We are sitting in a sun room, looking at the huge grounds and house when the attack happens. The gods are throwing boulders at the house! I mean, three to four feet across boulders. They start smashing into the house, the yard, everything.

We get up and run down a corridor to escape it. A few boulders come close. I think I put myself in front of one to protect my wife and the others. We get to some rooms in the middle, hoping they are more safe.

Then we are on a plane, hiding from the gods. One of the mages has captured a leprechaun, who looks like the one from Lucky Charms but something is wrong with his teeth. It looks like he has a piece of paper in there such that it's one, solid tooth.

Anyway, there are more attacks and the mages are getting worried. They go to another area of the plane and I am looking around when the god shows up. It's an egyptian god and I have no idea what to do. Part of me thinks I should give respect but I don't want to anger the mages I was with. Turns out, the gods threw everything they had and are now out of power, so to speak, and want to talk truce or something with them. So, I let them talk and go away.

Weird but fun at times.

edg

The plan for this day was to shop in the morning and then go to grandma’s around one. A cousin of my wife’s was going to be there then and we would talk. (Hopefully away from grandma’s place as she is a lifelong smoker and the place reeked of it.) We slept in and then started planning our day. We wanted to see the RPG and bead shops. I was hoping to find some cheap d20 Modern books, since that’s what we will be doing. She was looking for any deals or cool beads she found.

The problem was one of location. Google maps is awesome! But it showed how spread out they all are in the Dallas area. And as we didn’t get going until a little past ten, we didn’t want to spend tons of time traveling. Google maps showed us the ones that were close and so we went to a place that was supposed to have a bead shop and a game store.

Oh boy, did I find a game store. At first, in the mall it was in, I was thinking from the front that it was a like a Games by James or similar where it’s more board and card games, with some electronic games as well, and if there is any RPG stuff, it would be an afterthought. However, when I went inside, it was a LOT of RPG stuff! And the owner and his assistant were quite helpful and nice! So, that was cool. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of money. A LOT of money. I found a lot of stuff for the d20 future campaign, including using a lot of Star Wars figures, ships and minis, that will work for this campaign. I also found some modern figures that I could use for (another) WoD campaign. The tokens were nice but I think figures will work better.

After that, we went to a bead area but it was a scary area. Well, that’s my wife’s term for it. I thought it was an outlet area. Admittedly, some of the buildings were run down and older but it was a lot of wholesale stuff. We drove around and were just thinking we weren’t going to find the bead store when my wife saw it. Wow! Quite the bead store. It’s a different lay out than a game store but even I can see how they have their “treasures” laid out to see. My wife was in heaven. And the web site she found was right as she got a 30% discount on the beads. We also found some things she can make for presents for the nieces, so that’s cool as well.

We were late by the time we drove around to these places, so we were going to arrive later than one o’clock. My wife called her grandma but had no response. She was getting worried. And rightly so. When we arrived, there was a note that her grandma was in the hospital. D’oh. We broke grandma. Her cousin and his wife were there and they arrived not long after that to take us to see her. (We were worried it was at the scary hospital where her grandma had seen a cockroach! It wasn’t.) Apparently, she pushed herself and knew it. We didn’t think of the things we were doing and her grandma didn’t say anything. She ate a bit poorly for herself and had elevated levels of something in which it’s not good to have elevated levels. This happens a couple times a year, according to my wife’s cousin, so it wasn’t bad. It did mean that she would be in the hospital a few days, though.

So, not what we wanted. Her cousin had a nephew and had to meet his wife’s family, so we didn’t get much of a chance to talk to them, which is too bad as they seemed pretty cool. My wife wasn’t thrilled about being in the hospital, having had too much of that recently, so after making sure her grandma was okay, she decided to leave and that we would head home. No point staying until tomorrow at this point when her grandma needed the rest and would be in the hospital for several days.

We felt really bad about it but did go back to the hotel, pack up Max and our stuff, and head out. At four in the afternoon. For a twelve hour journey. I had caffeine. A LOT of caffeine. Probably three or four diet cokes over the next eight hours. More than I have had in more than a decade! It got me through. I drove us back and we arrived home around four in the morning on Sunday. And I was not tired for another three hours. I broke my personal record for most time awake! I didn’t make it the full 24 hours but I did make it 23. (My previous best was 21 hours.) It wasn’t that bad, actually. I could see making it 24 hours awake if it was necessary. Driving at night meant we had the road to ourselves, even in KC. We did hit some rain/hail in Oklahoma City but it wasn’t long and we were soon out of it. Otherwise, it was a long drive.

Fortunately, it getting home early, we had Sunday and Monday, a holiday, to chill out and get back on schedule, especially after all of that caffeine!

So, that was the trip! A lot of fun! It was good to see her grandma, even if we broke her. And it was a good vacation! We saw a lot of fun things and had a good time!

Go to jeniferj's journal for links to pictures. They shouldn't require a login.

edg

On the second day, we were even more busy.

We started by going to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not display and the wax museum.

Ripley’s was only okay. There were a lot of things that made me want to go look up and see what was real or not. I liked Ripley’s as a kid, and had several of those books, but I think there is enough misinformation in the world already. So, I wanted a bit more weird facts than made up stuff. It was still interesting, and I think most of the made up stuff was obvious, but maybe not.

The wax museum was amazing! They are so lifelike! My wife was getting freaked out with the president display, expecting one to move! They were that well done. They had some good displays, including talk show hosts, life of Jesus, and then an entire horror section, based on modern movies. The Predator and Alien displays were quite good!

After finishing with that, we went to the Dallas aquarium. We had some difficulty with parking and getting into it. It’s a neat facility and had we not needed a wheelchair for her grandmother, it would have been better. They had a very winding path to get into the building and it was not very handicap friendly.

When we finally got in and started going on the tour, I was surprised. The first two floors had very little aquariums! It was birds, monkeys, sloths, reptiles and bats. Very few water creatures! We actually had a bird right next to us, holding onto a cricket. I mean, six inches away, next to us! It was pretty cool! Unfortunately, though, pushing the wheelchair was tough as they floors were not smooth and the chair got caught several times. It worked out.

The bottom floors had the aquariums, including a tunnel in the water, where we could see sharks, manta rays and other predators, sometimes from the bottom as they swam over us. Very cool views of them! We also saw manatees, very large fish (don’t know the name), turtles and penguins! So, a lot of good things to see.

We had tickets to Medieval Times that night but there was a gap and it was close to the aquarium. So, we found a Starbucks with internet access and sat for a while. Then we went to the Medieval Times early and were glad we did as we got a GREAT parking spot! We had to kill some time so looked around the gift shop. I saw some awesome pewter dragons and almost got them but that was not the time for shopping.

The show itself was okay. It’s more glitz and glamour than SCA level authenticity. That’s mostly fine but I would have liked the battles to be less choreographed. It could be that these actors weren’t the best. (I also think this was the same show that we saw out in Vegas years ago.)

After that, it was late and we took grandma home and then back to our hotel. Our hotel had wireless internet but it was not there the first night, flaky the second night but finally nice and stable this night. So, we did some web stuff and then went to bed.

edg

Got back at 4 am. Drove with a few hours worth of stops. Used caffeine. Was up until nearly seven before I got four hours sleep. Almost made it a record for most time up in a row!

More later.

edg

crothian, I hope you take my comments in the good intentions I meant them. As I said, I am not down on your idea of using RC and am curious about your thoughts on it.

In another thread, I talked about P&T's BS and how they were down on Ren Faires and people living in the past. Makes no sense. However, what most people do is try and re-create the past. Most people I know, know how bad the Middle Ages, taken in full, were. They were awful and I would NOT want to live there.

I am talking and reading on many threads, including the one with crothian, about older games. And, I have always been this way, I like modern versions most of the time. Sure, I like the original song I knew first, a TV show that looks dated (Dr Who really comes to mind on that one) and books from my youth that aren't good by today's standards. But, in many things, I like what today offers.

TVs, radios, computers, cars, medicine, jobs and many other things are much better today than they were when I entered the force over a decade ago, or even two decades ago in my youth. To me, that seems obvious.

So, when I look back at older games, especially earlier versions of DND, I cringe at how dated it is. And I was still playing 2E ten years ago!

But, what do I mean by dated?

Well, there are many schools of thought on that in the RPG community. I don't care about most of it, really. What I like is a game system that lets my group have fun and tell an interesting story.

We are adults with lives and other choices and gaming has to meet or exceed those other choices for all of us. White Wolf can do it but DND 4E really does it for us. I used to use other systems to show how DND failed me in what I wanted to do in a game session. Now, I find myself wishing other games were more like 4E in how it handles things.

That's huge.

I mean, really big.

I spent decades, nearly literally, house ruling and fiddling with DND. I added ability scores and removed them. I used alternate classes and ideas. None of it worked as well as I wanted.

To find myself using DND as the comparison instead of saying, "I wish DND did X like this system does" is a huge thing from me.

Having said that, I am not sorry to be playing d20 Modern. I think it will be different because of the guns. However, I know I will be using house rules.

Random thoughts I wanted to capture.

edg

We went to the Zoo yesterday!

It was a long day of walking all around and seeing the animals. I am torn on it. The Zoo's do help and have many species that were endangered or extinct in some areas. Yet, they are also caged and it can't be fun for them. In any event, it was a very good and big zoo.

Rather than talk about them all, my wife has pictures at her facebook and they are worth a lot.

http://www.facebook.com/friends/?ref=tn#/album.php?aid=115175&id=629382563&ref=mf

After that, we had a break and then went to a restaurant. Their theme was Time Machine and fictional characters. So, our waitress was Velma and we saw Shaggy around there. They also had Dumbledore, Mad Hatter, and other characters!

We got pictures of that as well but I don't know if she posted them yet. It was good food, although a bit pricey for it, but fun.

We were tired but when we got back to the hotel, we still spent a while online, when it was finally stable at the hotel as they have been having internet problems, and then went to bed tired.

Next - Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Aquarium.

edg

We got up and got started a bit later than we wanted but still around eight. I really thought it would be a much longer drive than it was, as we were going about 750 miles. It wasn't that bad.

I started out driving and we talked for the first couple of hours, until KC. Then, after that, we didn't have tons to talk about. So, I listened to Fool Moon for a while as we went. We talked here and there. We tried getting a hold of a friend in KC but it didn't work out then. Hopefully on our way back thru.

We stopped for lunch somewhere in KS and then I got tired and needed a nap. My wife drove for a bit and then I drove the rest of the way, across KS, OK and into TX.

The last time I was in TX, I was with my parents and we were going to see my niece who had just been born. That was sixteen years ago!

We got to Dallas and to the hotel, in a round about way, and then went to see her grandmother for a bit that night. The visit was good and then we went back to the motel.

We did bring Max with us and I feel bad for him. He is probably bored and not happy with us. He doesn't like new things and all of this travel and hotel is new.

Next - the Zoo.

edg

Lots to post about.

So far -

Wednesday - twelve hour drive to Dallas. Not too bad.

Thursday - Dallas Zoo and tonight it's Magic Time Machine Restaurant. Zoo was fun but very tired now and more to do.

Friday - Aquarium and Medieval Times.

Saturday - shopping, potentially, and then meeting cousins.

So, I am a ahead a bit. It's been good so far.

edg

The gaming wiki has been updated. Well, part of it.

In brief, we finished the story of the Raynes and talked about the next campaign. After a long list of choices:

DND 4E - FR
DND 4E - Dark Sun
d20 Mecha
d20 Shadowrun
d20 Star*Drive
Star Wars Saga

we decided to go with d20 Star*Drive! I am quite happy and excited about this. We are leaving tomorrow and I am packing the books with me to take to start planning the new campaign. I really enjoy this stage!

edg

Fun dream about eventually going on a quest with the Doctor, Tom Baker. bodine was there but he kept trying to stop me. I don't know what the reason was but he kept trying to make it so I couldn't go.

At one point, the TARDIS broke because bodine did something and I had to put it back together. Somehow he managed to remove a piece, or loosen it, and so I had to put it back together. It wasn't until the Doctor showed up that he made it a full TARDIS again.

I did have to do some chores before leaving and something was tough about it but I don't remember what now.

There was also a scene about going out into a lake as a storm is brewing and it's getting to be bad weather. I was thrown a life jacket as I was swimming out there and was putting it on and trying to catch up to a boat?

Fun but weird.

edg

As I was driving home, I took my wife's car to see if the engine light would come on for me, which it didn't, I came to a point where traffic was slowed down. As I slowed moved forward, I saw a car on the side of the road but it was by itself, so I wasn't sure if it was an accident or not. Then, as the car moved in front of me and swerved to the right a bit, I saw the deer on the road. It had obviously been hit.

And as I drove past, it tried to move and from that motion, when I looked at it, it was still bleeding.

I was almost sick.

Still get that way if I think about it too much.

I can pass a dead deer on the road and it's sad to me but nothing like this. It's like having it in your face. It's saying that I eat meat but then being given the implement to kill the cow. Could I do that? I don't know.

This was quite disturbing to me. I suppose that's good. After all of the violence on TV, movies and the computer, I haven't lost my compassion.

I really wanted to come home and give Max a lot of hugs but he was asleep in his cage and I figured waking him up wouldn't be fun for him. So, I did that later. In fact, he came looking for me for some attention, and I gladly gave it to him for nearly a half hour! That was great.

On the note of rats, we watched the Modern Marvels on rats and the first part was tough. It was about the laboratory rats. At first, I thought I could work there but I realized my wife was correct and that would be too tough. They don't get a lot of room or attention and that would be tough. Further, a few people there lifted them up by the tails and that really gets my wife but it bugs me as well. They also talked about poisons and some were inhumane, taking days to kill the rats. :(

The second half was better, as it was about pet rats, fancy ("pure bred") rats and the rat competition. We didn't see any of them pick up a rat by their tail! (And Max again got a lot of attention, which I think he liked. Well, most of it.) It was fun to see the pet owners and how much attention they gave to the ratties.

I thought you got "harder" as you got older; more numb to things like this. I guess that's not the case for me, although 37 is hardly "old" but it's a definite change from when I was younger.

edg

Two years ago, a man with my same name emailed me and said hi. I responded back and that was the end of it. We didn't have much in common but it was interesting that we had the same name.

He had a website with his ventriloquist act and my then co-worker really didn't like it. He did Barney Fife but it wasn't good. That's not against him, per se, just an example of what we didn't have in common.

edg

I must have had a good Sunday, though, because I felt bored at times. Very blah and not sure what I wanted to do. I didn't want to read or play computers games, so maybe the cycle on those things started over.

I did do a bit of both. I watched the rest of BS. Good stuff. For some reason, I cringed at some of the shows, watching people do things that they thought were accomplishing big agendas (like world peace, or being "green") but they are actually only making themselves feel good. Nothing else was accomplished.

The final episode was weird as it seemed to make fun of people who had nostalgia for Ren Faires, the 80s or even the 50s. It wasn't as if these people who hurting anyone as it was just themselves so I don't know why it was bad.

My wife and I had a good talk. Again, getting better at communication or at least recognizing things. If this talk had happened years ago, it would have made me nervous and wondering what I was doing wrong. But, I was able to ask better questions and talk about what was happening such that it didn't turn into a fight. Maybe I can learn. :)

A good Sunday, really.

edg

I am putting it back on.

*sigh*

No motivation. I did go for a walk last week and it was good but then it seemed as if it was tough to do it again.

I don't like gaining weight. I am eating out of boredom not because I need it. I don't seem to have the willpower to stop at the moment.

It sucks.

It does hurt my self esteem at times but I try and not let it get me down. I do what I can but it's not enough.

edg

At first, the dream is about being on a sub, but the layout is my parents' basement, and there is a terminator robot there. We seal it in a sub level area but then I have a vision of him undermining the structure of the sub and so we have to go after him. I watch as several different scenarios play out but finally the machine is destroyed.

As that finishes, I find myself in the middle of a recruiting office for a big country. I don't know why I am listened to or followed, maybe because of the sub and terminator, but people start following my lead. So, I say I will handle all of the selective service applications that we got, and it's a lot.

I find myself giving orders, handing out promotions and trying to organize people. Soon, we are still fighting the machines, or someone, and I am trying to keep the infrastructure going. So, not only am I trying to get the new recruits where they belong, but also supplies, farming, factories, and everything else for a country. I am trying to keep people from starving and everything running.

The interesting thing is that I didn't run from it or was scared by it all. I accepted it, picked up reports and notices, and did what I could. I appointed people I could trust in positions and set them to it. I did what I could and kept going. It was actually cool.

And strange.

edg

Yesterday, we went down to Independence, MO to see Jim Butcher at a book signing. It was a LOT of fun!

We met some fans from his message board and they were a lot of fun! We got there about an hour early and sat around talking to them and hanging out at B&N. Eventually, Jim, and his wife Shannon, arrived and started signing books. No talks, darn it, but I did hang out next to the table for a while to hear him speak. He's a very good speaker! I didn't hear lots of stories but the ones I heard were fun.

The nice thing is that he is very gracious. Very cool man who was very cool with pictures, autographs and his time! He even said several times that it was no problem to ask questions and that it was part of his job.

The people we met from the JB forums were also quite cool. We got lots of pictures and talked with them for a while, which was fun.

A good time!

edg

My wife says it better and with pictures!

I got a very cool surprise last night! The guys had pizza and cake for my birthday! It was quite fun and an awesome surprise.

Gaming was good. We are ahead of schedule getting to the end of the story. We could have finished it last night but will have the final climactic battle next week. I had intended this to last longer but they guys pushed and found their enemy. We talked about it a bit and they decided to attack, as it's what their characters would do.

If they hadn't, the bad guys would have disappeared for several months while they regrouped, as the guys hit them hard at several safehouses. So, we would have had some filler stuff until they attacked.

It's all good. Next week, we can talk about what we want to do next.

I am sure the gaming wiki is updated with notes if anyone is interested.

edg

I have had some weird and fun dreams but haven't posted them. I don't remember tons about them now. One was an action dream trying to save myself from a trap but I don't remember why they wanted me. If I don't think about them right away, they fade.

We are caught up on TV except for Medium. Supernatural and Dollhouse were good. I liked them!

blah

edg