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I want to make it a long rant, but it is already far, far too late to still be awake, so brief will have to do. I have an acquaintance. We shall call him J, because he's a privacy freak (and this is coming from me, a singularly cautious and paranoid individual) - people from the club will probably know who I'm talking about. J is, in short, an arrogant, judgmental asswipe, who is convinced that he is 1) God's gift to the ladies, and 2) The Shit. He is neither. He has managed to earn the animosity of almost everyone who has to deal with him, and I swear to god, if he says 'That's such a chick thing to do' to me again, I will hurt him. Because god forbid I want to actually get to know people on the internet (or in this case, in WoW), and use LJ to do so, which is apparently only women do.
Unrelated, but on a similar vein, there is really no good way to tell a friend that you would rather go into the wilderness and gouge your eyes out with blackened sticks than deal with his girlfriend. Because I really would, as said girlfriend is the bitchy, whiny, passive-aggressive, 'I'm a girl on the internet so I'm special, pay attention to me' female version of the aforementioned J. I've settled on trying to avoid her as much as humanly possible, both online and off, but Christ, does she piss me off.
Unrelated, but on a similar vein, there is really no good way to tell a friend that you would rather go into the wilderness and gouge your eyes out with blackened sticks than deal with his girlfriend. Because I really would, as said girlfriend is the bitchy, whiny, passive-aggressive, 'I'm a girl on the internet so I'm special, pay attention to me' female version of the aforementioned J. I've settled on trying to avoid her as much as humanly possible, both online and off, but Christ, does she piss me off.
Because I am a nerd, and feel like nattering on about RPGs of both the tabletop and PC variety. Although mostly the tabletop variety, because ED blood elves >>> WoW blood elves, and I feel like telling you why. WoW blood elves changed their name to blood elves because 1) a bunch of them died and 2) they lost the source of awesome magical power they were all addicted to. Now they sit around being vaguely arrogant and evil and making deals with demons. In Earthdawn, the blood elves are called that because they are literally bleeding, all the time. Why? Because they have thorns growing out from underneath their skin. Why? Because it kept them from having their souls eaten by extraplanar monsters.
Okay, storytime - a couple hundred years ago in the Earthdawn timeline, historians digging through the old records discovered that due to the rise and fall of magic in the world, they were due to be invaded by aforementioned big nasty extraplanar monsters, called Horrors. They also figured out a way of hiding from the Horrors, which mostly involved building cities underground and magically sealing them off until the Horrors left again. The elven court, however, being the arrogant SoBs they are, went 'Bah, we can do better than that! We're elves!'. They decided to magically alter their forest, the Wyrm Wood, to form a barrier to protect them. This worked for a while, but as the invasion grew stronger, the barriers started failing. However, the elves realized that while Horrors fed on Namegiver pain and misery, they could only feed on pain and misery they caused themselves - they couldn't feed on elves who were already miserable and full of pain. The elves' brilliant idea? Fuse their souls with those of thorny plant spirits, so they are in excruciating pain all the time. This actually worked, but the blood magic they used to accomplish this seriously warped both them, and their forest (anyone who's read the Coldfire Trilogy - the Hunter's forest? Yeah, it's pretty much like that). So, end result is that the Elven Court is badass and totally fucking crazy, which leaves most of the rest of the elves with some serious complexes - 'We have to honor them! They're the Court! But they're all insane! What do we do?!'.
Our Earthdawn game has been getting pretty epic lately, although I have the sinking suspicion we may wipe next session. We got involved in a slum turf-war while on our way to break two people (former party members) out of imperial prison. Unfortunately, it turns out that there are much larger forces at play than just a simple turf war, and we ended last session with the warren town we were protecting being surrounded by about three hundred city troops. Three of us are evacuating the town via a secret access to the sewer system, while the Swordmaster is about to engage in a duel to buy us time, and the archer is staying behind to back him up - they're almost certainly dead (although Isak now has a great deal more respect for the Swordmaster for facing death honorably, without fear - one of the big things for Nethermancers is to never be afraid, particularly of death). As for the rest of us - well, Isak has probably been Horror-marked due to raw-casting to keep from drowning (we escaped into the river, forgetting that none of us can swim), and this will probably end nastily.
Man, I love Earthdawn. I know I blather endlessly about Shadowrun because I ♥ cyberpunk, but Earthdawn, honestly, is a stronger, better fleshed-out system.
Okay, storytime - a couple hundred years ago in the Earthdawn timeline, historians digging through the old records discovered that due to the rise and fall of magic in the world, they were due to be invaded by aforementioned big nasty extraplanar monsters, called Horrors. They also figured out a way of hiding from the Horrors, which mostly involved building cities underground and magically sealing them off until the Horrors left again. The elven court, however, being the arrogant SoBs they are, went 'Bah, we can do better than that! We're elves!'. They decided to magically alter their forest, the Wyrm Wood, to form a barrier to protect them. This worked for a while, but as the invasion grew stronger, the barriers started failing. However, the elves realized that while Horrors fed on Namegiver pain and misery, they could only feed on pain and misery they caused themselves - they couldn't feed on elves who were already miserable and full of pain. The elves' brilliant idea? Fuse their souls with those of thorny plant spirits, so they are in excruciating pain all the time. This actually worked, but the blood magic they used to accomplish this seriously warped both them, and their forest (anyone who's read the Coldfire Trilogy - the Hunter's forest? Yeah, it's pretty much like that). So, end result is that the Elven Court is badass and totally fucking crazy, which leaves most of the rest of the elves with some serious complexes - 'We have to honor them! They're the Court! But they're all insane! What do we do?!'.
Our Earthdawn game has been getting pretty epic lately, although I have the sinking suspicion we may wipe next session. We got involved in a slum turf-war while on our way to break two people (former party members) out of imperial prison. Unfortunately, it turns out that there are much larger forces at play than just a simple turf war, and we ended last session with the warren town we were protecting being surrounded by about three hundred city troops. Three of us are evacuating the town via a secret access to the sewer system, while the Swordmaster is about to engage in a duel to buy us time, and the archer is staying behind to back him up - they're almost certainly dead (although Isak now has a great deal more respect for the Swordmaster for facing death honorably, without fear - one of the big things for Nethermancers is to never be afraid, particularly of death). As for the rest of us - well, Isak has probably been Horror-marked due to raw-casting to keep from drowning (we escaped into the river, forgetting that none of us can swim), and this will probably end nastily.
Man, I love Earthdawn. I know I blather endlessly about Shadowrun because I ♥ cyberpunk, but Earthdawn, honestly, is a stronger, better fleshed-out system.
1) I am sick of being sick. Sinus infections (which I'm fairly certain I have) suck.
2) I have started the job hunt anew, because I'm sick of traveling an hour each way to sell overpriced produce to bitchy rich people. Particularly when a few of the staff I like have quit or been fired. So I went by the mall today, filled out an application for Chapters, dropped off resumes at both EB Games (selling my soul, I know) and Lush, and learned that Best Buy and Futureshop do all their applications online. So I'll see what comes of it.
3) I bought more Transmetropolitan while I was at it, because Warren Ellis has made me into a corporate whore. It's so good, though.
4) Have begun cleaning up the garden out back - it's a mess, though, so it's a little daunting. Updates to follow when I actually get somewhere.
5) I really love Moon Guard - I made an alt there, because I'm insane and decided I wanted to try WoW RP, and it's apparently the RP server. And it's really refreshing, because I can actually leave Trade on with out wanting to murder people. The stupidity level seems amazingly low.
2) I have started the job hunt anew, because I'm sick of traveling an hour each way to sell overpriced produce to bitchy rich people. Particularly when a few of the staff I like have quit or been fired. So I went by the mall today, filled out an application for Chapters, dropped off resumes at both EB Games (selling my soul, I know) and Lush, and learned that Best Buy and Futureshop do all their applications online. So I'll see what comes of it.
3) I bought more Transmetropolitan while I was at it, because Warren Ellis has made me into a corporate whore. It's so good, though.
4) Have begun cleaning up the garden out back - it's a mess, though, so it's a little daunting. Updates to follow when I actually get somewhere.
5) I really love Moon Guard - I made an alt there, because I'm insane and decided I wanted to try WoW RP, and it's apparently the RP server. And it's really refreshing, because I can actually leave Trade on with out wanting to murder people. The stupidity level seems amazingly low.
So, last week was not a good week for computers around here - Jon managed to get some sort of boot-sector virus on his PC, and in the process of trying to remove it, managed to fry his master boot record - any advice from the technically inclined here? He's got a new HD and reinstalled the OS (XP Pro), but the computer won't recognize the old HD as actually existing, so we have no idea how to fix it.
Oh, and then I spilled pineapple juice all over my laptop. Dead serious. Thank god it's a Thinkpad - the keyboard took the brunt of the spill, and everything is working pretty much as intended (I'm using it right now), although half the keys are now slightly sticky, and smell of pineapple. Such is life - hopefully with enough acquired dust in the keyboard, the stickiness will go away.
I also bought a ton of stuff over the last two days - I've decided to clean up and re-plant the garden in the back yard, because I love fresh veggies and it's a mess right now, so I bought a bunch of gardening supplies. I also finally bought a wireless doorbell (there are four doors between outside and my living room, so I don't hear knocks), and a water filter pitcher. I also went out yesterday and splurged, and bought three more volumes of Transmetropolitan, because this comic is amazing.
The weather has been nicer lately - still cold for spring, particularly out here, but it's bright and sunny out, and it's finally taking the edge off the anger and depression I've been feeling for the last few weeks. So that's good. I sat in the sun and chatted with Rosie and Julie for a while this morning, and that was good. Hopefully I can get things back on track now.
Computer Woes, Shopping Sprees, and Other Things
Oh, and then I spilled pineapple juice all over my laptop. Dead serious. Thank god it's a Thinkpad - the keyboard took the brunt of the spill, and everything is working pretty much as intended (I'm using it right now), although half the keys are now slightly sticky, and smell of pineapple. Such is life - hopefully with enough acquired dust in the keyboard, the stickiness will go away.
I also bought a ton of stuff over the last two days - I've decided to clean up and re-plant the garden in the back yard, because I love fresh veggies and it's a mess right now, so I bought a bunch of gardening supplies. I also finally bought a wireless doorbell (there are four doors between outside and my living room, so I don't hear knocks), and a water filter pitcher. I also went out yesterday and splurged, and bought three more volumes of Transmetropolitan, because this comic is amazing.
The weather has been nicer lately - still cold for spring, particularly out here, but it's bright and sunny out, and it's finally taking the edge off the anger and depression I've been feeling for the last few weeks. So that's good. I sat in the sun and chatted with Rosie and Julie for a while this morning, and that was good. Hopefully I can get things back on track now.
Computer Woes, Shopping Sprees, and Other Things
There's something about two am that inspires me to go on long, epic computer quests, whether it be graphics-making, or a flurry of wiki-ing, or, as tonight, deciding to research and install some new WoW addons. I think it's that at two am, I'm sleepy enough to think that all of this is a brilliant idea, but awake enough to actually carry it out.
And then suddenly it's three am, and you realize you have to be up in six hours for classes. If you're a terrible person like me, you end up deciding to skip said classes to sleep in >.> The notes are up online, and I don't want to deal with people at the club just yet, as I am still too annoyed over elections ('joke' candidate didn't even vote for himself. Gah. I want to kick him in the balls, I think).
And then suddenly it's three am, and you realize you have to be up in six hours for classes. If you're a terrible person like me, you end up deciding to skip said classes to sleep in >.> The notes are up online, and I don't want to deal with people at the club just yet, as I am still too annoyed over elections ('joke' candidate didn't even vote for himself. Gah. I want to kick him in the balls, I think).
So, election results are in. I lost to the 'don't care' candidate by one vote. The 'joke' candidate was one vote below me. My respect for the members of this club has sunk to a new low, I think. Particularly as I know already I'm going to end up doing all the position's work, because nobody else will, with none of the benefits, because I wasn't elected.
Managed to get the file exports to work again, so I've cleaned out the old databases, installs, and HTML files (I had three different archive sets), and upgraded to MT4.1
In life-news, slowly getting burned-out by my work/school schedule - I like my co-workers, but the hour to hour and half commute to work and selling overpriced produce to bitchy rich people is getting me down. I'm going to look for a closer job for the summer, but it's frustrating not being able to get jobs in my field because I'm not Canadian (almost all the grants and work opportunities are limited to citizens or permanent residents).
I also went and bought comic books on Sunday - Volume 8 of Sandman (Brief Lives, my favorite story art ♥), and Volume 1 of Transmetropolitan, which is awesome and cyberpunky, and which I think I may go buy more of today.
I feel like I should post more, but it would probably be all 'blah blah blah, my life sucks' because I'm an angry, bitter individual. Perhaps there will be WoW-blather later.
In life-news, slowly getting burned-out by my work/school schedule - I like my co-workers, but the hour to hour and half commute to work and selling overpriced produce to bitchy rich people is getting me down. I'm going to look for a closer job for the summer, but it's frustrating not being able to get jobs in my field because I'm not Canadian (almost all the grants and work opportunities are limited to citizens or permanent residents).
I also went and bought comic books on Sunday - Volume 8 of Sandman (Brief Lives, my favorite story art ♥), and Volume 1 of Transmetropolitan, which is awesome and cyberpunky, and which I think I may go buy more of today.
I feel like I should post more, but it would probably be all 'blah blah blah, my life sucks' because I'm an angry, bitter individual. Perhaps there will be WoW-blather later.
Okay, so unless someone knows where I can find a zip of MT 3.34, the installation is unsavable - I can only find 3.36, and it won't upgrade properly. So tomorrow afternoon will be spent reformatting the year of files that aren't on the old-old install, and then doing a clean install of 4.1. Skuld, I'll format your files too, but if you want to save any index templates from the current install, you'll have to log in yourself, I don't have access to your's.
So, I installed Movable Type 4.1 the other day to play around with it. Unfortunately, it must share some key files with MT 3.34, because despite installing it in a different directory, it has borked up my MT3.34 installation. All the HTML files are still there, but I can't add new entries or access the export functions, nor can I edit templates other than the index. So I'm backing up the HTML and SQL databases and attempting to re-install 3.34 over 4.1 and hope it works. If it doesn't, well...I can still access my old MT 2.63 install, it looks like, and export from there. That goes up to March of last year, so it's not too bad.
Jesus Christ, guys, I'm twenty now. I don't really feel any different, but it's strange to think that I'm not a teenager any more. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday here or on Facebook :D It was a low-key day - I skipped classes and slept in today because it's been a bad week, and I think I'm coming down with something. And then had cake and sushi and played Shadowrun. Jon gave me Burning Crusade and a pair of sweet mirrorshades, so it was all pretty good.
The depression and anxiety have definately been rearing their heads again, in part because I'm worried about elections (when I go for something, I get really competitive - it's why I don't do cosplay contests any more), and in part because I've really dropped the ball on biochem class - I failed the first midterm, missed one major assignment completely, and am worried about failing the course. So I really need to buckle down and get studying on it. It's giving me terrible insomnia, though, and a very short temper.
But soon spring and the end of classes will be here, and things will be better.
The depression and anxiety have definately been rearing their heads again, in part because I'm worried about elections (when I go for something, I get really competitive - it's why I don't do cosplay contests any more), and in part because I've really dropped the ball on biochem class - I failed the first midterm, missed one major assignment completely, and am worried about failing the course. So I really need to buckle down and get studying on it. It's giving me terrible insomnia, though, and a very short temper.
But soon spring and the end of classes will be here, and things will be better.
So the gaming club's hosting is up in a few months, and having seen the package we've got now, it quite frankly blows. I've been pretty happy with the webhost I'm using for T-T.org, but it's been a good three years since I've actually looked to see what's out there in terms of hosting, and I figured now might be a good time. I know a bunch of you guys have your own domains - any hosts in particular you really like?
Second, I'm running for election as Games Librarian. One of the things that really needs to be done is re-cataloging all the stuff the club has - this is a mix of board games, card games, RPG books, novels, and magazines, and there's about twenty lockers of it. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to publish this to the web and make it available on the club site - basically have listings of titles tagged with type of material, genre, etc, maybe with a brief blurb about the source if I'm feeling really ambitious. The big thing is I'd like the tags to act as filters - be able to search for something that is both a board game AND fantasy, for instance. I'm not entirely certain how to do this, though - I know a lot of the blogging scripts out there now a days have built-in tagging systems, but as I am far too lazy to actually use them, I have no idea if tags can be compounded the way I mentioned. Input, anyone?
Second, I'm running for election as Games Librarian. One of the things that really needs to be done is re-cataloging all the stuff the club has - this is a mix of board games, card games, RPG books, novels, and magazines, and there's about twenty lockers of it. I was thinking that it might be a good idea to publish this to the web and make it available on the club site - basically have listings of titles tagged with type of material, genre, etc, maybe with a brief blurb about the source if I'm feeling really ambitious. The big thing is I'd like the tags to act as filters - be able to search for something that is both a board game AND fantasy, for instance. I'm not entirely certain how to do this, though - I know a lot of the blogging scripts out there now a days have built-in tagging systems, but as I am far too lazy to actually use them, I have no idea if tags can be compounded the way I mentioned. Input, anyone?
Gary Gygax passed away this morning. I know I'm not the biggest D&D fan, but I'm sad anyway - he really was one of the fathers of tabletop RPGs. RIP Gary, and thanks for all the games.
I know V-Day was last week, but I was sick and busy with midterms, so I had no time to make tasty chocolates for people. I'm still sick, but on spring break, so I just spent a chunk of my afternoon making truffle filling. A secret I will share with you all: people who've never tried making them think making truffles are really hard. They wrong - it's messy, yes, but hard? Not really. So making them is a really good way to impress people with your mad cooking skillz. And to that end, I'm going to share my recipes with you guys.
( chocolately goodness )
( chocolately goodness )
You know, I've done the big, burning, addictive sort of love. And in some ways it's wonderful, just the sheer force of it, but at the same time, that sort of feeling consumes you, and if there's no real outlet for it, it does become damaging after a while.
And when I stop to thing about it, there's something to be said for the sort of person who you can be around all the time, who always understands how you're feeling, who you can talk to about anything. It's not quite as forceful, but it's just so...comfortable. Like something that should be.
(By which I mean to say, love you, dearest ♥)
I wrote this a while ago, but forgot to post it...
And when I stop to thing about it, there's something to be said for the sort of person who you can be around all the time, who always understands how you're feeling, who you can talk to about anything. It's not quite as forceful, but it's just so...comfortable. Like something that should be.
(By which I mean to say, love you, dearest ♥)
I wrote this a while ago, but forgot to post it...
So, as I have no self-restraint, I went bought WoW today. What servers are people on my flist on?
I forgot to mention our tabletop misadventures for the week - on Tuesday, we discovered the one thing Earthdawn does really badly - mass combat. There aren't any mass combat rules which means when you have a hundred barbarians? Each acts individually. It was kind of painful (although luckily not literally so - everyone's character is still intact). Brief side note, while I'm too lazy to blather for a whole entry about how awesome Earthdawn is, if you like tabletop and high magic settings and don't mind a little bit of number-crunching, give it a try. It's got a wonderfully fleshed out world, and the mechanics are very solid. I know I talk about SR a lot (because I am cyberpunk's cheap whore), but mechanically, ED is waaay better.
And then last night's Mage game featured an Englishman (me) and a French-Canadian (Richard) posing first as paranormal investigators, and then as Jehovah's Witnesses. And then Nick and I did a highly unwise thing - we found the Hedge separating this part of our world from the faerie realm, and crossed it. We'll see how badly we get screwed over the fae, I guess.
Also, in SR news, Arsenal (the new gear book) is fucking awesome.
And then last night's Mage game featured an Englishman (me) and a French-Canadian (Richard) posing first as paranormal investigators, and then as Jehovah's Witnesses. And then Nick and I did a highly unwise thing - we found the Hedge separating this part of our world from the faerie realm, and crossed it. We'll see how badly we get screwed over the fae, I guess.
Also, in SR news, Arsenal (the new gear book) is fucking awesome.
Aaron? You might want to stop reading now, if you want to retain your respect for me XD; (And Aaron, Julie, this post stays between us. I am not telling people at the club about this).
So. As some may have already guessed, I caved under peer pressure, and downloaded the free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft. My short opinion thus far? It's not that bad. I'm not sure I would pay money for it (or get other people to pay money for me), but it's not that bad. So I apologize for my incessant mocking of you guys that do play - I was wrong (I'm not sorry for mocking the people at the club who drink/eat/breathe WoW 24/7, though, because they're still annoying - thus why I'm not telling them).
Because it's only a ten day trial, I'm just kind of mucking around with shit and seeing what there is to do - I made a troll rogue on Blackhand (I default to rogue-types - I've played a DnD rogue, SW scoundrel, Earthdawn Illusionist, and a new WoD Acanthus enchanter thus far), and my only real thoughts on that is that the Valley of Trials looks a lot like Arizona. I also make a night elf hunter on Feathermoon, so I could play with Jon, who made a night elf priest at the same time. Far more lulz ensured, including:
-Level 1 duels: like slap-fights, but less amusing (I've seen two twenty year old guys have a slap fight. It was hilarious)
-Prettypuss versus ripheathldgr (who was naked)
-Killing boars and having Bambi just prance right on through the battle ('Oh, hi guys! It sure is a nice night out :D!')
-Female night elf strip-dancing on top a mushroom (Jon: "Okay, you go grab those petals, and...I'll be over here. Dancing on top of this mushroom;)
-Magical robe of cleavage - a V-neck that would have made Kanoe proud
Commence the mocking XD;
So. As some may have already guessed, I caved under peer pressure, and downloaded the free 10-day trial of World of Warcraft. My short opinion thus far? It's not that bad. I'm not sure I would pay money for it (or get other people to pay money for me), but it's not that bad. So I apologize for my incessant mocking of you guys that do play - I was wrong (I'm not sorry for mocking the people at the club who drink/eat/breathe WoW 24/7, though, because they're still annoying - thus why I'm not telling them).
Because it's only a ten day trial, I'm just kind of mucking around with shit and seeing what there is to do - I made a troll rogue on Blackhand (I default to rogue-types - I've played a DnD rogue, SW scoundrel, Earthdawn Illusionist, and a new WoD Acanthus enchanter thus far), and my only real thoughts on that is that the Valley of Trials looks a lot like Arizona. I also make a night elf hunter on Feathermoon, so I could play with Jon, who made a night elf priest at the same time. Far more lulz ensured, including:
-Level 1 duels: like slap-fights, but less amusing (I've seen two twenty year old guys have a slap fight. It was hilarious)
-Prettypuss versus ripheathldgr (who was naked)
-Killing boars and having Bambi just prance right on through the battle ('Oh, hi guys! It sure is a nice night out :D!')
-Female night elf strip-dancing on top a mushroom (Jon: "Okay, you go grab those petals, and...I'll be over here. Dancing on top of this mushroom;)
-Magical robe of cleavage - a V-neck that would have made Kanoe proud
Commence the mocking XD;
New blog layout - not my finest work, but I'm just happy to have something new and shiny up. I was originally going to port it to an LJ layout, too, but I started working on it and remember how much writing overrides suck, so yeah, not happening. Not much to say other than that. VNV Nation makes me happy. This is all.
New domain layout, long over due. New blog layout coming when I finish hemming and hawing over graphics details - I finally got the code to validate properly. Highlight of Tuesday night's SR game - the horror on our tech-geek player's face in response to '...WPA? What the hell is that?'. Highlight of Wednesday's Deadlands game - exploding rats (and the faeries did it, again). My Deadlands character is a cheerful blonde mad scientist/demolitions expert by the name of Melissa Bentley, who is kind of summed up by this XKCD comic.
In other news, 4chan has declared war on Scientology. Good luck, anonymous. I'm rooting for you (well, and I might put up some posters).
In other news, 4chan has declared war on Scientology. Good luck, anonymous. I'm rooting for you (well, and I might put up some posters).
.
