Divinus The Unbreakable CR 10
hp 39 (1d12+7d10+2d8-20)
LN Medium Humanoid
Fighter4/PsychicWarrior2/Pious Templar1/Exarch2/Warblade1
Init +2; Senses Listen +1, Spot +1;
Languages Common
AC 44, touch 42, flat-footed 42 (+15 Armor, +9 Shield, +2 Natural, +2 Deflection, +2 Dex, +3 Defending)
Fort +18, Ref +10, Will +11
Speed 60 ft. (10 squares)
Melee +1 Longsword +13/+8 (1d8+4)
Ranged lol.
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Atk +9; Grp +12
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con 06, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 14
Flaws Pathetic (Con), Solitary Paragon
Feats
F]Shield Specialization (Heavy)
F]Shield Ward
H] Combat Expertise
1] True Believer
F1] Weapon Focus (Longsword)
F2] Shield Bearer
3] Close Quarters Fighting
F4]Heavy Armor Optimization
Psy5]Armor Deflection
6] Leadership
Psy6] Greater Combat Expertise
9]Greater Heavy Armor Optimization
Skills
Tumble at least 5
Craft (armor)
Craft (weaponmaking)
Possessions
+2 Heavy Fortification Mithral Mountain Plate
+5 Adamantium Tower Shield
+2 Amulet of Natural Armor
+1 Ring of Protection
+1 Shield Spikes of Defending
+1 Armor Spikes of Defending
+1 Longsword of Defending
+1 Gauntlets of Defending
Boots of Interdiction (Perm. Expeditious Retreat)
Ring of Sustenance
+4 Cloak of Resistance
394 Gold for potions, etc
Notes::
Divinus' equipment is created under the assumption that he did not spend a drop of his gold on anything magic until 8th level (or that he somehow pawned it off for full market value) at which point he forced his Cohort, an 8th level Artificer, to use all of his gold to create all of Divinus' items. Divinus himself crafted the Adamantium Shield and the Mithral Mountain Plate.
Assuming Divinus somehow needs to get his AC even higher, he can combat expertise for 9, and make his longsword defending, as well as fight defensively for 3. This pumps his 44 to a 57.
Any mistakes, just point'em out.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
E. Gary Gygax (1938 - 2008)
Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax.
For those of you who haven't heard, Mr. Gygax died today. I know I have a few readers that won't know who he is, so for your sake, Gary Gygax is the man who co-invented the tabletop roleplaying game "Dungeons and Dragons", and has widely become an cultural icon for the game.
I can't really speak for anyone else, but I can say that D&D has had a profound impact on my life. I credit roleplaying with helping develop my social skills and providing me with a tool to improve my creativity and writing. Dungeons and Dragons has cultivated my dreams and fantasies, forged friendships. and is the source for many of my favorite stories.
It might seem like a silly nerd thing to some people, but Dungeons and Dragons means a lot to me, and the passing of Ernest Gary Gygax is a day to be marked and remembered. I know that I wouldn't be the same without him, and I promise you that his influence on your life is probably much more impactful than you realize.
Tomorrow: Divinus the Unbreakable.
For those of you who haven't heard, Mr. Gygax died today. I know I have a few readers that won't know who he is, so for your sake, Gary Gygax is the man who co-invented the tabletop roleplaying game "Dungeons and Dragons", and has widely become an cultural icon for the game.
I can't really speak for anyone else, but I can say that D&D has had a profound impact on my life. I credit roleplaying with helping develop my social skills and providing me with a tool to improve my creativity and writing. Dungeons and Dragons has cultivated my dreams and fantasies, forged friendships. and is the source for many of my favorite stories.
It might seem like a silly nerd thing to some people, but Dungeons and Dragons means a lot to me, and the passing of Ernest Gary Gygax is a day to be marked and remembered. I know that I wouldn't be the same without him, and I promise you that his influence on your life is probably much more impactful than you realize.
"...when you help create something as big as D&D, you're changing the world in a billion tiny ways that are out of your control." - Rich Berlew
"Well, it was just great. I had done something that so many people were having a great time with. I obviously love the game and I loved sharing with so many people. It's a great sense of camaraderie." - Gary Gygax
Tomorrow: Divinus the Unbreakable.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Amotivational Syndrome
So I've been a bit busy over the last few days. Personally, I can't be blamed. I've been suffering from Amotivational Syndrome. It's a very serious condition, I'll have you know, and I'll not tolerate any mocking. (For those of you who don't know, Amotivational is an entirely made-up condition that means "laziness". For a while, the big scary word was used as a symptom of smoking weed because dumb/stoned people couldn't fanangle the meaning, but anti-drug activists have wizened up in recent years and cut that out of their ads.)
If you haven't noticed, I've added a little bit of music to the side of my blog - I encourage you to put on some headphones, close your eyes, and pump up the volume. It's beautiful. Also, it's a perfect segway into
Spontaneous Nerditude
The last week or so of my time has been entirely dominated by a new nerdy obsession of mine - EVE Online. It's a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Space Simulation Game.
That's right, I'm playing a MMORPSSG. And I got Rita into it, too! Its main draw? Its got British people on headsets. And god knows that Americans love the British accent. Aside from that, the MMO is actually quite different from many I've played - possessing both a strong, unique, award-winning PvP system and a rich, detailed economy for those who aren't interested in battle to manipulate. Experience isn't gained through combat - rather, the players assign skills to train, and they do so in real-time, even when the player isn't logged in.
A Definite Improvement.
Most of my other posts haven't included a beautiful girl next to me. :P Rather than blog, i'm going to go spend time with her.
Until tomorrow. [Unless the AMS strikes again!]
If you haven't noticed, I've added a little bit of music to the side of my blog - I encourage you to put on some headphones, close your eyes, and pump up the volume. It's beautiful. Also, it's a perfect segway into
Spontaneous Nerditude
The last week or so of my time has been entirely dominated by a new nerdy obsession of mine - EVE Online. It's a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Space Simulation Game.
That's right, I'm playing a MMORPSSG. And I got Rita into it, too! Its main draw? Its got British people on headsets. And god knows that Americans love the British accent. Aside from that, the MMO is actually quite different from many I've played - possessing both a strong, unique, award-winning PvP system and a rich, detailed economy for those who aren't interested in battle to manipulate. Experience isn't gained through combat - rather, the players assign skills to train, and they do so in real-time, even when the player isn't logged in.
A Definite Improvement.
Most of my other posts haven't included a beautiful girl next to me. :P Rather than blog, i'm going to go spend time with her.
Until tomorrow. [Unless the AMS strikes again!]
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A Nod to You, Dashboard Confessional
It is not often that my minority views are actually vindicated by real life. This isn't to say that my opinions are by and large wrong or outlandish, just unpopular at times.
Vindication has come, at last.
After a year of the new generation of video game consoles being on the market (two for the Xbox 360), it turns out the Wii games have exceptionally low rating scores compared to other systems. Compared to all the consoles in both last and current generation video gaming, Wii games appear to be consistently worse than their counterparts.
I have long held that the Wii is a console built on gimmicks. Nintendo, an aging empire, attempted to avoid competition with current console king Sony and underdog bruiser Microsoft by completely skirting traditional gaming and making a "revolution" in gameplay.
Except it's not a revolution. It's a mouse. That you point at the TV. This is not a revolution; this is Duck Hunt, except now every game is forced to use hypersensitive and nonsensical controls that are less precise than my mouse.
The whole point of gaming is that you generate a lot of output for very little input. I press a button; my dude does something really fucking awesome. In order for you to to increase the input, you should increase the output - games like Guitar Hero are prime examples, which make you feel like a rockstar badass as you whale on the guitar. Wii games, on the other hand, are exciting for the better part of an hour, and then you just feel like a noob. An intern for a Wii software development company gave me this advice:
In the article, the man tries at the end to dismiss the findings as reviewers looking at the Wii's "poor graphical output" and prematurely rating the games as suck because they just "don't understand Wii games."
It seems more likely to me that reviewers, who review games for a living, just aren't fooled. Consumers, on the other hand, are gobbling up the Wii like crazy, and companies like Ubisoft are scooping up large bundles of cash off of poor games like Red Steel. The Wii has become a media frenzy and people have looked at games like Wii Sports (which, I hear, is pretty good.) and just churned out minigame generators for people who buy games based on the pictures on the back of the box.
When Wii developers realize that shaking a Wiimote back and forth isn't a game, then I think the system will be put to good use. Unfortunately, the quality of games doesn't seem to matter from a business standpoint, because the Wii is making more money than ever.
Vindication has come, at last.
After a year of the new generation of video game consoles being on the market (two for the Xbox 360), it turns out the Wii games have exceptionally low rating scores compared to other systems. Compared to all the consoles in both last and current generation video gaming, Wii games appear to be consistently worse than their counterparts.
I have long held that the Wii is a console built on gimmicks. Nintendo, an aging empire, attempted to avoid competition with current console king Sony and underdog bruiser Microsoft by completely skirting traditional gaming and making a "revolution" in gameplay.Except it's not a revolution. It's a mouse. That you point at the TV. This is not a revolution; this is Duck Hunt, except now every game is forced to use hypersensitive and nonsensical controls that are less precise than my mouse.
The whole point of gaming is that you generate a lot of output for very little input. I press a button; my dude does something really fucking awesome. In order for you to to increase the input, you should increase the output - games like Guitar Hero are prime examples, which make you feel like a rockstar badass as you whale on the guitar. Wii games, on the other hand, are exciting for the better part of an hour, and then you just feel like a noob. An intern for a Wii software development company gave me this advice:
"When you play the Wii, rest your arm against something stable and comfortable, like a table or an armchair with a pillow on it. This should help you reduce the excess movement from things like breathing."Breathing.
In the article, the man tries at the end to dismiss the findings as reviewers looking at the Wii's "poor graphical output" and prematurely rating the games as suck because they just "don't understand Wii games."
It seems more likely to me that reviewers, who review games for a living, just aren't fooled. Consumers, on the other hand, are gobbling up the Wii like crazy, and companies like Ubisoft are scooping up large bundles of cash off of poor games like Red Steel. The Wii has become a media frenzy and people have looked at games like Wii Sports (which, I hear, is pretty good.) and just churned out minigame generators for people who buy games based on the pictures on the back of the box.
When Wii developers realize that shaking a Wiimote back and forth isn't a game, then I think the system will be put to good use. Unfortunately, the quality of games doesn't seem to matter from a business standpoint, because the Wii is making more money than ever.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I'm not a nigger, I'm from niger!
If the topic confuses you, Youtube "Star Trek Hood". It's a little crude but getting to see spock say "I'm not a nigger, I'm from niger" like every 5 minutes is absolutely awe-inspiring.
OH SNAP!
If, like I suspect, you know Marz, then you probably know about his beaten-up old piece of shit car. We affectionately called it the "Buttermobile", because of...
Well, I'm not sure why, but we did. And yes, I did say called, because unfortunately, the buttermobile is no more. Surf on over to Ghost in the Machine, on my right, for pictures and more info.
For. The. Win.
Thank Solange Minstein for that wonderful video - she alerted me to that.
Valentine's Day.
Is coming up - and this is an excuse to beg for comments, because none of you lousy readers ever comment, even though I know you're there, lurking! - and I desperately need ideas for romantic things to get for Megan. Make it creative.
OH. And Megan :P No peeking, or you'll just ruin the surprise! [not that I won't add my own touch to this.]
...And for the Nerds.
To all of you who play D&D, this is just a hilarious taste of Kriss Morten.
May I present the Disciple of Metal, the Heavy Metal Bard.
OH SNAP!
If, like I suspect, you know Marz, then you probably know about his beaten-up old piece of shit car. We affectionately called it the "Buttermobile", because of...
Well, I'm not sure why, but we did. And yes, I did say called, because unfortunately, the buttermobile is no more. Surf on over to Ghost in the Machine, on my right, for pictures and more info.
For. The. Win.
Thank Solange Minstein for that wonderful video - she alerted me to that.
Valentine's Day.
Is coming up - and this is an excuse to beg for comments, because none of you lousy readers ever comment, even though I know you're there, lurking! - and I desperately need ideas for romantic things to get for Megan. Make it creative.
OH. And Megan :P No peeking, or you'll just ruin the surprise! [not that I won't add my own touch to this.]
...And for the Nerds.
To all of you who play D&D, this is just a hilarious taste of Kriss Morten.
May I present the Disciple of Metal, the Heavy Metal Bard.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Meow?
It's so true.
Work Update.
So if you know me, you'll know that I've been looking for a job. Best bet so far?
Payless Shoe Store.
Wow -.-
Friday, February 1, 2008
I never sleep these days.
So I've gotten away with not having to deal with school long enough - today I finished up preparations and I am just waiting on the system to finish processing me. That means a return to doing schoolwork - even if it'll only be at my house, it's still work.
I was stumbling and found a nice little list, entitled:
DRAGONFORCE. NOW!
I was stumbling and found a nice little list, entitled:
How to write a paper in college/university:
1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.
2. Log onto MSN and ICQ (be sure to go on away!). Check your email.
3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.
4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.
5. Check your email.
6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee. Just to get settled down and ready to work.
7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.
9. Check your email.
10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.
11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.
12. Grab some mp3z off of kazaa.
13. Check your email. ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR YET?!
14. MSN chat with one of your friends about the future. (ie summer plans).
15. Check your email.
16. Listen to your new mp3z and download some more.
17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory emarks about your prof, the
course, the college, the world at large.
18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out.
19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.
20. Check your email.
21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV.
22. Play some solitare (or age of legends!).
23. Check out bored.com.
24. Wash your hands.
25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either.
26. Look through your housemate's book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is.
27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.
28. Check to see if bored.com has been updated yet.
29. Check your email and listen to your new mp3z.
30. You should be rebooting by now, assuming that windows is crashing on schedule.
31. Read over the assignment one more time, just for heck of it.
32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.
33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.
34. Punch the wall and break something.
35. Check your email.
36. Mumble obscenities.
37. 5am - start hacking on the paper without stopping. 6am -paper is finished.
38. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.
39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap.
Family, Friends, and Girl
So Megan's friend Amy and I got in a conversation last night about music, which led to the realization that she'd never heard of Dragonforce. At first, I thought this an isolated incident, but then a startling, cold realization came upon me - she is probably one of many! After all, if my former supervisor at Subway can manage to never hear of the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, then Dragonforce is an easy task.
DRAGONFORCE. NOW!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Hanging in there.
I think this conversation does a lot to indicate my feelings about the last two months. It took place between roughly 1:20 AM and 1:40 AM.
PieceOfPandora: Hey Alex.
Scrinnameless: Yeah?
PieceOfPandora: I'm sort of in a meloncholy mood right now.
Scrinnameless: That sucks.
PieceOfPandora: My financial situation really sucks.
PieceOfPandora: And both my sister and I have somewhat less-than-true reputations floating around about us at school. I don't go anymore, so it's less of an issue, but...
PieceOfPandora: A good friend of mine apparently thinks I'm doing nothing with my life.
Scrinnameless: ...
PieceOfPandora: Which might be based in truth.
Scrinnameless: See, that's what gets me. If you're content with your life, then I'd say you're not wasting it.
PieceOfPandora: I didn't say wasting.
PieceOfPandora: It's just...
PieceOfPandora: I care what people think.
PieceOfPandora: And the popular opinion these days is that I ran away from everything.
PieceOfPandora: And it's not entirely untrue.
PieceOfPandora: I was sick of high school and my parents.
PieceOfPandora: so I just moved out and switched to e-school.
PieceOfPandora: I feel like I have a defensible position - I had a sanity-draining home life, and high school and I never got along.
PieceOfPandora: I've got a steady girlfriend and while the subway thing didn't work out,
PieceOfPandora: I'm getting a new job tomorrow. Period.
PieceOfPandora: But I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been a little lax in the responsibility department. Partially due to my inability to immediately pay my bills, a friend of mine overdrafted and stayed that way for a few days.
PieceOfPandora: ...I tried to go to bed early but it's not really working.
PieceOfPandora: Need to go to a dentist appointment at 8.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
Scrinnameless: Again, this is getting on the territory where I'm wondering what people expect you to do.
PieceOfPandora: I don't know.
Scrinnameless: Stay home and argue with your mom until she becomes a rational person?
PieceOfPandora: Meh.
Scrinnameless: Exactly.
PieceOfPandora: I've been much happier here.
PieceOfPandora: But money pressures are getting me stressed recently, as you can tell.
PieceOfPandora: Once I get my new job and my next check comes,
PieceOfPandora: I should be fine.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
PieceOfPandora: And right now that's what I'm concentrating on.
PieceOfPandora: But there's a lot of stuff I need.
PieceOfPandora: I don't have a car. I don't have a license, or insurance.
PieceOfPandora: I need a computer.
PieceOfPandora: And I do, I do need one.
PieceOfPandora: I can't keep using Rita's.
PieceOfPandora: ...it's low on the list, though
PieceOfPandora: Stuff.
PieceOfPandora: My response to overwhelming stuff, is to ignore it and focus on one thing at a time.
PieceOfPandora: Which I guess is better than ignoring it all.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
PieceOfPandora: I guess the thing is...
PieceOfPandora: I'm surrounded by people telling me I'm doing it wrong.
Scrinnameless: And that gets you down?
PieceOfPandora: Yeah.
Scrinnameless: All right. I gotta go.
PieceOfPandora: Ha.
PieceOfPandora: Alright man.
PieceOfPandora: Have a good night.
Scrinnameless: For what it's worth, I think as long as you're hanging in there, you're doing all right.
PieceOfPandora: Hey Alex.
Scrinnameless: Yeah?
PieceOfPandora: I'm sort of in a meloncholy mood right now.
Scrinnameless: That sucks.
PieceOfPandora: My financial situation really sucks.
PieceOfPandora: And both my sister and I have somewhat less-than-true reputations floating around about us at school. I don't go anymore, so it's less of an issue, but...
PieceOfPandora: A good friend of mine apparently thinks I'm doing nothing with my life.
Scrinnameless: ...
PieceOfPandora: Which might be based in truth.
Scrinnameless: See, that's what gets me. If you're content with your life, then I'd say you're not wasting it.
PieceOfPandora: I didn't say wasting.
PieceOfPandora: It's just...
PieceOfPandora: I care what people think.
PieceOfPandora: And the popular opinion these days is that I ran away from everything.
PieceOfPandora: And it's not entirely untrue.
PieceOfPandora: I was sick of high school and my parents.
PieceOfPandora: so I just moved out and switched to e-school.
PieceOfPandora: I feel like I have a defensible position - I had a sanity-draining home life, and high school and I never got along.
PieceOfPandora: I've got a steady girlfriend and while the subway thing didn't work out,
PieceOfPandora: I'm getting a new job tomorrow. Period.
PieceOfPandora: But I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been a little lax in the responsibility department. Partially due to my inability to immediately pay my bills, a friend of mine overdrafted and stayed that way for a few days.
PieceOfPandora: ...I tried to go to bed early but it's not really working.
PieceOfPandora: Need to go to a dentist appointment at 8.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
Scrinnameless: Again, this is getting on the territory where I'm wondering what people expect you to do.
PieceOfPandora: I don't know.
Scrinnameless: Stay home and argue with your mom until she becomes a rational person?
PieceOfPandora: Meh.
Scrinnameless: Exactly.
PieceOfPandora: I've been much happier here.
PieceOfPandora: But money pressures are getting me stressed recently, as you can tell.
PieceOfPandora: Once I get my new job and my next check comes,
PieceOfPandora: I should be fine.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
PieceOfPandora: And right now that's what I'm concentrating on.
PieceOfPandora: But there's a lot of stuff I need.
PieceOfPandora: I don't have a car. I don't have a license, or insurance.
PieceOfPandora: I need a computer.
PieceOfPandora: And I do, I do need one.
PieceOfPandora: I can't keep using Rita's.
PieceOfPandora: ...it's low on the list, though
PieceOfPandora: Stuff.
PieceOfPandora: My response to overwhelming stuff, is to ignore it and focus on one thing at a time.
PieceOfPandora: Which I guess is better than ignoring it all.
Scrinnameless: ::nod::
PieceOfPandora: I guess the thing is...
PieceOfPandora: I'm surrounded by people telling me I'm doing it wrong.
Scrinnameless: And that gets you down?
PieceOfPandora: Yeah.
Scrinnameless: All right. I gotta go.
PieceOfPandora: Ha.
PieceOfPandora: Alright man.
PieceOfPandora: Have a good night.
Scrinnameless: For what it's worth, I think as long as you're hanging in there, you're doing all right.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I'm typing with my mouth full.
We have done the impossible. We have breached the barrier of childhood and adulthood. We are no longer as dependent as we used to be.
We have created burgers.
Yes, that's right, at 9:30 AM this morning, Marz Meyer and Michael Donaldson successfully created two (2) hamburgers, from scratch.
The process that led up to this is a long and arduous one. Rather than tell it all, I shall summarize it quickly for you; Marz and I were hungry. We hadn't had real food in a while - I since the last time I was at Megan's, and him since his father took him for dinner. In fact, the only food I had on sunday was one-and-a-half pancakes, and a peanut-butter sandwich. Not even jelly. Needless to say, we had been up all night and decided enough was enough - we went to kroger, picked up some ground beef (among other foodstuffs) and returned home to create what is currently now in my stomach - real, cooked burger.
Win.
Spontaneous Nerditude
Everyone already knows that Fox News is absolutely retarded, but this time a corporation actually had the balls to tell Fox News themselves to go shove it.
In Chronological Order, courtesy of Kotaku.com, The Rebuttal.
EA Politely Tells Fox News to Go Fuck Itself
Fox News completely blows off EA; EA not surprised.
Wait for it....
Jack Thompson DEFENDS MASS EFFECT.
Fox News' "Expert" recants her opinion on Mass Effect; Admits she was wrong.
It's about damn time somebody did something about those idiots at Fox News. I don't understand why it's called news - it's blathering falsehoods that conservative families watch, believe, and get worried about.
Seriously. Jack Thompson. I can't even think of someone less likely to defend video games, and he's STILL on Video Games' side.
Family, Friends, and Girl
In a shocking upset, I actually beat Marz at Scrabble yesterday/early this morning. I most certainly did not see it coming, and yet it came. Rematch pending.
Megan's still amazing. Nothing new.
Turns out my mother got herself into another accident. This is not usually notable, but it happened the day after I mentioned to my friends that my mom gets into accidents all the time. Funny how life reinforces my statements, eh? Sister bruised her knee; I told her to tell people she got the bruise in the War.
Seriously. Jack Thompson. Why are you so stupid, Fox News?
We have created burgers.
Yes, that's right, at 9:30 AM this morning, Marz Meyer and Michael Donaldson successfully created two (2) hamburgers, from scratch.
The process that led up to this is a long and arduous one. Rather than tell it all, I shall summarize it quickly for you; Marz and I were hungry. We hadn't had real food in a while - I since the last time I was at Megan's, and him since his father took him for dinner. In fact, the only food I had on sunday was one-and-a-half pancakes, and a peanut-butter sandwich. Not even jelly. Needless to say, we had been up all night and decided enough was enough - we went to kroger, picked up some ground beef (among other foodstuffs) and returned home to create what is currently now in my stomach - real, cooked burger.
Win.
Spontaneous Nerditude
Everyone already knows that Fox News is absolutely retarded, but this time a corporation actually had the balls to tell Fox News themselves to go shove it.
In Chronological Order, courtesy of Kotaku.com, The Rebuttal.
EA Politely Tells Fox News to Go Fuck Itself
Fox News completely blows off EA; EA not surprised.
Wait for it....
Jack Thompson DEFENDS MASS EFFECT.
Fox News' "Expert" recants her opinion on Mass Effect; Admits she was wrong.
It's about damn time somebody did something about those idiots at Fox News. I don't understand why it's called news - it's blathering falsehoods that conservative families watch, believe, and get worried about.
Seriously. Jack Thompson. I can't even think of someone less likely to defend video games, and he's STILL on Video Games' side.
Family, Friends, and Girl
In a shocking upset, I actually beat Marz at Scrabble yesterday/early this morning. I most certainly did not see it coming, and yet it came. Rematch pending.
Megan's still amazing. Nothing new.
Turns out my mother got herself into another accident. This is not usually notable, but it happened the day after I mentioned to my friends that my mom gets into accidents all the time. Funny how life reinforces my statements, eh? Sister bruised her knee; I told her to tell people she got the bruise in the War.
Seriously. Jack Thompson. Why are you so stupid, Fox News?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood for felons.
So I've been enjoying the wonderfulness that is StumbleUpon, a neat little addon for Firefox that basically acts as a boredom vaccine. Basically, you specify the sort of thing that you like to hear about, and then you click the little "Stumble!" button. At their whim, you're instantly transported to an interesting, quirky, or fun little page. It could be anything from a funny video, picture gallery, or list of really silly facts.
Well, catch this - StumbleUpon found me a neat little site called Felon Spy, which has a little handy search feature that tells you exactly who in your neighborhood is a felon. That's right - you can finally figure out if that guy who lives next to you is a rapist. Uh, well, a convicted rapist, because according to my neighborhood the guy who lives next to me is the local rapist-at-large, and the police just don't have enough evidence to convict him.
But that's just hearsay. Didn't hear it from me.
Spontaneous Nerditude
So I've been playing a game called Supreme Commander, which is a "Next-Gen RTS". For those of you who don't speak gamer, that's 'Real-Time Strategy', and was popularized by games like Age of Empires, Warcraft (and, by association, Starcraft, South Korea's National Sport), and Command and Conquer. One of those popular old-school RTS games was called Total Annihilation, and the same folks that made that game decided that the genre really needed a perk-up.
Enter Supreme Commander, which in my opinion, has done the deed quite well. It's got something of a learning curve, but it's not too vicious.
If you like RTS games, you owe it to yourself to check it out [on top if that, I'll lend it to you :P]
The House on Somber Way
The soda intake in this house has become catastrophic. We are seriously going through two 12-packs every two days.
If you're curious, that's roughly $120 a month this house is spending on soda. Which is more than my internet and cable bill combined.
I got fired from subway for sleeping through work on Friday. Lolz.
Family, Friends, and Girl
Megan stopped by and met Marz, and subsequently taught us a new way to play one of our favorite card games, Egyptian Rat Screw, and Marz and I will have a hard time going back. Basically, instead of whoever slaps it first getting the pile, it's whoever can get the cards first, regardless of who actually touched them first. This leads to all sorts of physical violence [and other forms of coercion, in the case of Megan and I's personal games >.> ]
My hand hurts. And my thoughts are drifting to a certain girl in Prospect all too often these days.
It's early. I'm going to bed.
Well, catch this - StumbleUpon found me a neat little site called Felon Spy, which has a little handy search feature that tells you exactly who in your neighborhood is a felon. That's right - you can finally figure out if that guy who lives next to you is a rapist. Uh, well, a convicted rapist, because according to my neighborhood the guy who lives next to me is the local rapist-at-large, and the police just don't have enough evidence to convict him.
But that's just hearsay. Didn't hear it from me.
Spontaneous Nerditude
So I've been playing a game called Supreme Commander, which is a "Next-Gen RTS". For those of you who don't speak gamer, that's 'Real-Time Strategy', and was popularized by games like Age of Empires, Warcraft (and, by association, Starcraft, South Korea's National Sport), and Command and Conquer. One of those popular old-school RTS games was called Total Annihilation, and the same folks that made that game decided that the genre really needed a perk-up.
Enter Supreme Commander, which in my opinion, has done the deed quite well. It's got something of a learning curve, but it's not too vicious.
If you like RTS games, you owe it to yourself to check it out [on top if that, I'll lend it to you :P]
The House on Somber Way
The soda intake in this house has become catastrophic. We are seriously going through two 12-packs every two days.
If you're curious, that's roughly $120 a month this house is spending on soda. Which is more than my internet and cable bill combined.
I got fired from subway for sleeping through work on Friday. Lolz.
Family, Friends, and Girl
Megan stopped by and met Marz, and subsequently taught us a new way to play one of our favorite card games, Egyptian Rat Screw, and Marz and I will have a hard time going back. Basically, instead of whoever slaps it first getting the pile, it's whoever can get the cards first, regardless of who actually touched them first. This leads to all sorts of physical violence [and other forms of coercion, in the case of Megan and I's personal games >.> ]
My hand hurts. And my thoughts are drifting to a certain girl in Prospect all too often these days.
It's early. I'm going to bed.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
De el mundo, con amor.
Today at subway, I actually had to step in and speak spanish to a customer who didn't understand my supervisor, whose strategy was apparently to repeat what she had said in sequentially slower english, as if somehow he was going to understand what she meant as long as she said it at snail speeds.
For a little bit, I actually felt bilingual, and that's an odd feeling. It's a nice one.
Spontaneous Nerditude
Let's take a look at that spiffy picture to my left.
I found that on my friend Kriss' collection of cool modern/futuristic art. This particular piece of art was located in the "Somebody Badass" folder, implying they had not yet been assigned a character. I took this opportunity to call official dibs on the character, and am planning on making my next d20 Modern/Future/Planeshift character her.
Nerd Videos:
Drugs: My Anti-WoW
Be glad you don't have this much time.
The House on Somber Way
We here at the House on Somber Way would like to take this time to announce that we had no idea how much stuff was in our parent's respective kitchens until we'd like to use it, assume we have it, and consequentially fail when we don't. We don't have Black Pepper. We don't have a Spatula, a Strainer, or any cooking knives, much less steak ones. As we have begun the process of actually preparing our own food, this is becoming more and more of a problem.
We do, however, have Bay Leaves.
And Mr. Meyer does indeed make scrumptious white chili. Mmm.
Religion
As a long-standing advocate of not using religion to justify completely irrational hatreds, I present to you a funny list: Why Can't I Own a Canadian?
Lev 18:22 states "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.", which is one of the big bible phrases used to debunk homosexuality. On her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlessinger mentioned the phrase, and the above link is an open letter sent to her by one of her listeners. It's a satirical, sarcastic letter asking for "advice" on how to deal with other violations of Levitican law, such as:
The best part about the whole section of Leviticus is that it really is undefendable. People are taking this small part of the bible and saying, "Look here, the bible says so!" but half of them don't even know that the same part of the bible outlines rules for selling your daughter, buying slaves from Mexico, forbidding intergender contact between women on their period, and how if anybody works on sunday they are to be put to death. I'm not taking things out of context here, or interpreting anything. It is very clear on these parts.
The very worst part about this sort of thing is that people have somehow inherited the notion that any attempt to disprove something they've learned in their religious education is clearly a lack of faith and can be overcome by showing the nonbeliever the strength of their own conviction by ignoring any evidence placed in front of them. I myself am not an Athiest - I fully believe in the existence of God, and this does not permit me in any way to ignore reasoning.
Look up Deism for more information.
Family, Friends and Girl
I am officially an uncle, by means of my Half-Sister Alyssa's new baby girl. Venus Mira DeRonne was born on January 22nd at 12:58 AM. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces at birth, and is just over 21 inches long.
Who wants to come play with Uncle Mikey? :D
For a little bit, I actually felt bilingual, and that's an odd feeling. It's a nice one.
Spontaneous Nerditude
Let's take a look at that spiffy picture to my left.I found that on my friend Kriss' collection of cool modern/futuristic art. This particular piece of art was located in the "Somebody Badass" folder, implying they had not yet been assigned a character. I took this opportunity to call official dibs on the character, and am planning on making my next d20 Modern/Future/Planeshift character her.
Nerd Videos:
Drugs: My Anti-WoW
Be glad you don't have this much time.
The House on Somber Way
We here at the House on Somber Way would like to take this time to announce that we had no idea how much stuff was in our parent's respective kitchens until we'd like to use it, assume we have it, and consequentially fail when we don't. We don't have Black Pepper. We don't have a Spatula, a Strainer, or any cooking knives, much less steak ones. As we have begun the process of actually preparing our own food, this is becoming more and more of a problem.
We do, however, have Bay Leaves.
And Mr. Meyer does indeed make scrumptious white chili. Mmm.
Religion
As a long-standing advocate of not using religion to justify completely irrational hatreds, I present to you a funny list: Why Can't I Own a Canadian?
Lev 18:22 states "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.", which is one of the big bible phrases used to debunk homosexuality. On her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlessinger mentioned the phrase, and the above link is an open letter sent to her by one of her listeners. It's a satirical, sarcastic letter asking for "advice" on how to deal with other violations of Levitican law, such as:
"Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?"
The best part about the whole section of Leviticus is that it really is undefendable. People are taking this small part of the bible and saying, "Look here, the bible says so!" but half of them don't even know that the same part of the bible outlines rules for selling your daughter, buying slaves from Mexico, forbidding intergender contact between women on their period, and how if anybody works on sunday they are to be put to death. I'm not taking things out of context here, or interpreting anything. It is very clear on these parts.
The very worst part about this sort of thing is that people have somehow inherited the notion that any attempt to disprove something they've learned in their religious education is clearly a lack of faith and can be overcome by showing the nonbeliever the strength of their own conviction by ignoring any evidence placed in front of them. I myself am not an Athiest - I fully believe in the existence of God, and this does not permit me in any way to ignore reasoning.
Look up Deism for more information.
Family, Friends and Girl
I am officially an uncle, by means of my Half-Sister Alyssa's new baby girl. Venus Mira DeRonne was born on January 22nd at 12:58 AM. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces at birth, and is just over 21 inches long.
Who wants to come play with Uncle Mikey? :D
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Been Busy.
You want more updating!? Huh? THIS IS WHAT YOU GEEEET!
Friends, Family, and Girl
So Megan came over to my house today after finaling in her Speech Competition, meeting Rita and getting to see the place. She noticed the shocker poster. No sweat. We got to chill for a while, she managed to teach Rita and I how to fold up a Futon, and then Rita left and her and I...watched Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo was on. We watched it. >.> It's true.
Ah, well, I might have just been listening.
Then her mom came to pick her up. Insert trickery here.
Placing myself in front of her mom [who is short], I widened my shoulders and threw my hand behind my back, flashing the shocker vigorously at Rita, who thank god picked up on what I was indicating. Calmly, she stood up, and went back to the poster, moving it into the kitchen without drawing attention to herself. Megan didn't even notice.
+1 Metal Point, Rita.
Spontaneous Nerditude
I made a Grappler Wizard. It can grapple a Kraken at level 6, easily.
I really want to see Cloverfield, but I can't really afford it right now. The only hint of what the damn thing is supposed to be is Leroy just mentioned the words "Zerg Rush."
You must spawn more Overlords.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Retraction: I saw it today.
Job News
Breaking News - That which was thought impossible has seen the light of day. Metaphorically. Actually, literally, as well. Today (after going to bed at, eh, like 7:30 AM) I was woken up by a call from the owner of the local Subway chain. Turns out they're looking for a guy like me. [i.e., available to work days :P]
I went to talk to the guy for an interview, and it turns out that he absolutely adores the last two food places I worked at. Two favorite foods ever. Needless to say, I got the job, and now I'm looking at a cool 30 hours a week - 10-4 on weekdays. Bring on the money!
Nerditude
This is what my friends are going to ask when I die.
Speaking of MMOs, City of Villains has been slowly taking over my evening hours. For all of you [and there certainly are a lot of you] who are addicted to WoW, I'm pretty sure I owe it to CoV to urge you guys to check out NCSoft's baby. Having played both, I'll assert that CoV is not only prettier, more fun, quicker paced, and less absolutely jam-packed with tards, but in addition to all of this you get to play a game that doesn't feel like work. The character creation system allows you to create a badass, unique villain whose appearance isn't based off of the ph4t loot you payed some scary korean to farm for you.
Does your WoW character look that cool? No. No he doesn't.
That's what I thought.
Family, Friends, and Girl
Right now I'm typing this blog from my old bedroom in my father's house. I must admit that I most certainly had missed my dad's cooking more than I thought. Right now Mischief, my sister's cat, is curled up next to me on the bed, softly sleeping, and there's a tinge of nostalgia in me. I even got to get into a silly arguement with my dad over responsibility, like always. Apparently getting a day job is a "terrible mistake" and I should be focusing on school. I chose to bite my tongue and not tell him I usually stay up until 8 AM. I seriously doubt a 10-4 job is going to interfere with my internet time.
Megan's got a speech competition on saturday at Assumption, a Catholic Girl's School really close to my house. This means that she's going to get to see my house - and my friends.
That Shocker poster is coming down, Marz!
It's one AM. I'm going to bed [Six Hours Early.]
Breaking News - That which was thought impossible has seen the light of day. Metaphorically. Actually, literally, as well. Today (after going to bed at, eh, like 7:30 AM) I was woken up by a call from the owner of the local Subway chain. Turns out they're looking for a guy like me. [i.e., available to work days :P]
I went to talk to the guy for an interview, and it turns out that he absolutely adores the last two food places I worked at. Two favorite foods ever. Needless to say, I got the job, and now I'm looking at a cool 30 hours a week - 10-4 on weekdays. Bring on the money!
Nerditude
This is what my friends are going to ask when I die.
Speaking of MMOs, City of Villains has been slowly taking over my evening hours. For all of you [and there certainly are a lot of you] who are addicted to WoW, I'm pretty sure I owe it to CoV to urge you guys to check out NCSoft's baby. Having played both, I'll assert that CoV is not only prettier, more fun, quicker paced, and less absolutely jam-packed with tards, but in addition to all of this you get to play a game that doesn't feel like work. The character creation system allows you to create a badass, unique villain whose appearance isn't based off of the ph4t loot you payed some scary korean to farm for you.
Does your WoW character look that cool? No. No he doesn't.
That's what I thought.
Family, Friends, and Girl
Right now I'm typing this blog from my old bedroom in my father's house. I must admit that I most certainly had missed my dad's cooking more than I thought. Right now Mischief, my sister's cat, is curled up next to me on the bed, softly sleeping, and there's a tinge of nostalgia in me. I even got to get into a silly arguement with my dad over responsibility, like always. Apparently getting a day job is a "terrible mistake" and I should be focusing on school. I chose to bite my tongue and not tell him I usually stay up until 8 AM. I seriously doubt a 10-4 job is going to interfere with my internet time.
Megan's got a speech competition on saturday at Assumption, a Catholic Girl's School really close to my house. This means that she's going to get to see my house - and my friends.
That Shocker poster is coming down, Marz!
It's one AM. I'm going to bed [Six Hours Early.]
Sunday, January 13, 2008
One of these days I'll see the noonday sun.
Ever since I moved into this house, my sleep scheduled missed the turn for the worse, and took the turn for the oh-my-god-where-the-hell-am-I?
This has sort of bred a weird topsy-turvy relationship with me and the sun. I've gotten in the habit of waking up around 3-4, when the sun is starting its descent, and only getting to sleep as the sun comes up. That's right folks - go to sleep at sunup, and wake up at sundown. Will be attempting to fix if necessary - I'm in the process of job applications.
That leads me to the other big problem in my life - finding money for things. Currently, whatever money I get is channeled directly into my "Get Michael to Prospect, or Close" fund. It comes with dating a girl that lives just out of TARCing distance.
We at the House on Somber Way think we may have found a solution. Aptera Motors has come out with a new Electric and Hybrid vehicle known as the Aptera (Original, huh?). Among other things, the Aptera boasts a meager average of 300 MPG, ASSUMING you're driving about 200 miles. If you're driving, eh, around 40-60 miles in a trip, you're getting roughly ONE THOUSAND MILES PER GALLON.
Imagine, for a second, what the MPG must look like for that 5 mile drive to work. Either way, filling up that 15 gallon tank and driving nonstop in 200 mile intervals will net you 4500 miles per pickup.
Regular city use will net you 15,000 miles. That's roughly 5 oil changes per fillup.
Oh - and it's only $30,000 new. Anyone want to buy me one? I'll drive you anywhere - but you'll have to cough up a nickel for gas.
This has sort of bred a weird topsy-turvy relationship with me and the sun. I've gotten in the habit of waking up around 3-4, when the sun is starting its descent, and only getting to sleep as the sun comes up. That's right folks - go to sleep at sunup, and wake up at sundown. Will be attempting to fix if necessary - I'm in the process of job applications.
That leads me to the other big problem in my life - finding money for things. Currently, whatever money I get is channeled directly into my "Get Michael to Prospect, or Close" fund. It comes with dating a girl that lives just out of TARCing distance.
We at the House on Somber Way think we may have found a solution. Aptera Motors has come out with a new Electric and Hybrid vehicle known as the Aptera (Original, huh?). Among other things, the Aptera boasts a meager average of 300 MPG, ASSUMING you're driving about 200 miles. If you're driving, eh, around 40-60 miles in a trip, you're getting roughly ONE THOUSAND MILES PER GALLON.
Imagine, for a second, what the MPG must look like for that 5 mile drive to work. Either way, filling up that 15 gallon tank and driving nonstop in 200 mile intervals will net you 4500 miles per pickup.
Regular city use will net you 15,000 miles. That's roughly 5 oil changes per fillup.
Oh - and it's only $30,000 new. Anyone want to buy me one? I'll drive you anywhere - but you'll have to cough up a nickel for gas.
Because I thought I ought to.
Right now I'm sitting in front of a glowing screen, at 5 A.M. in the morning, patiently typing out the very first post in what will probably be an intricate collection of classic, babbling nonsense. But sources tell me that if you look close enough, you might yet find a jewel of humor or information in the masses.
Not enough information? Well, here, perhaps this nice little organized, bulleted chart might help!
WHAT TO EXPECT HERE AT PoP!
Promise.
Not enough information? Well, here, perhaps this nice little organized, bulleted chart might help!
WHAT TO EXPECT HERE AT PoP!
- Lots of Spontaneous Nerditude. My girlfriend has informed me that there is a difference between "geek", "nerd", and "dork." She's told me like two or three times and I can't for the life of me remember which one's which, except that apparently she's a geek. Either way, if it's got the scent of nerd about it, it will probably show up here sooner or later.
- Random Tidbits About Me. I am incredibly obsessed with myself, and the only thing that keeps me from being an intolerable, egocentric bastard, is that my vanity has somehow formed a symbiotic relationship with my altruism. Therefore, whenever I'm not thinking about me, I'm ignoring me for someone else's sake. Yeah, it's weird for me too.
- Happenings in the House on Somber Way. I no longer live with my parents, and now live with three friends of mine - Marz, Rita, and Melanie. You'll hear about them and me and our house.
- A Girl. Currently, I'm in a relationship with an amazing girl named Megan, and I might accidentally babble nonsensically in my own infatuation about how awesome she is. Deal with it.
Promise.
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