Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Tao of D. Adams

'This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays..." - Arthur Dent, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Monday, November 26, 2007

Hooray, it's Monday!

Mondays are always tough, but coming back to work after a long holiday weekend is even harder. Especially when your holiday weekend consisted of running hither and yon to visit people, running long overdue errands, doing long overdue housework, getting your proverbial ass shot off at paintball for the first time ever, driving 8 hours to pick up your kid from her other parent, dropping in on another group's rapier practice and getting stabbed more than is reasonably justified, etc. All in all, a fun, frustrating, frenzied, fantastic, f**ked up four days. And the next couple of weekends, while shorter, are looking to be just as brutal. I'm developing a love/hate relationship with weekends. I mean, its great to be off work and all, but when your weekend activities require more effort than your job does... well, at least it keeps life from getting boring, right? 'Cause boredom is so much worse than aching joints, bruises, sore muscles and bone-deep exhaustion. Sure it is.

On a different note, I'd like to say thank you to all those people who hosted us, visited us, shot us, stabbed us, were stabbed by us and otherwise made our holiday weekend memorable in a variety of ways. You guys (and girls) rock!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Turkey Massacre Day

Hope everyone had good food, good company, and plenty of time to sleep it all off. While I may not agree with the common grade school concept of happy, cartoonish Native Americans and Pilgrims breaking bread together and everyone living happily ever after, I do agree with the concept of expressing gratitude. So, to the Great Earth Mother and Father Sky I give my deepest thanks for the bounty They offer. To those persons who have offered support and friendship to us over the years, I offer my sincere respect and well-wishes. You are truly appreciated. May you have plenty of reasons to be grateful not only on Thanksgiving Day, but all year 'round.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Good TV, Bad TV

I don't generally watch a lot of tv anymore. The reasons are many, but it all boils down to two things: lack of time and lack of quality shows. Reality tv has reduced most channels to clearinghouses of retarded drek that cater exclusively to the lowest common denominator of society (Hello, Billy Joe Lowbrow) . As a result, we tend to go out and buy (on DVD or iTunes) the shining gems that are actually worth watching. Recently, it's been Babylon 5. We're just about done with the first season and it amazes me how intricate and well-constructed the storyline is. They cleverly plant the seeds in Season One for things that will shake the foundations of the Universe in Season Five. Now that's good tv! Some other small screen diamonds are Firefly and the Dresden Files. Both shows were excellent and yet were doomed to cancellation after only one season. Apparently, they weren't dumbed down enough for the unwashed masses. A couple of series that I haven't really managed to get into yet are the new Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. I wanted to like the new BG, but memories of the original series got in the way. As for Heroes, it's more a time issue. I might snag the first season on iTunes and watch it that way. It sounds intriguing.

Monday, November 19, 2007

through the grey

This morning I woke up to a day of unrealized light. My first look outside revealed iron clouds hovering low over barren trees that wept for the loss of the sun. A world shrouded in melancholy that waited patiently for me to leave the secure confines of my home so that it could absorb me into its unmitigated bleakness. It is a place I know well, though, and I don't fear it. The bitter tears falling from the trees make a subtle symphony to my ears. The iron clouds reveal patterns of great beauty to those who take the time to look. A grey dawn, but not one devoid of promise. After all, our lives can't be all sunshine and bright colors. It's mornings like this that make the sun more welcome, the blooming flowers more vivid. Not only that, but it gives us a chance to dwell on feelings too fragile to survive the harsh glare of the sun and perhaps too frightening to call up in the full darkness of night. Wrapped up in the dim cocoon of sheltering half-light, however, we are free to cross over into realms that must otherwise remain hidden. Of course, given a choice I'd rather crawl back into bed and sleep for a few more hours.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Smile... you're screwed!

I'm home from work today. The reason? My youngest tripped on a rug at school Monday and chipped a tooth. A permanent tooth, not a baby tooth, of course. So, today is her first visit to a dentist for something serious. We just got back, actually. She did remarkably well, for her age. I'm very proud of her for that. Not so happy that it had to be done in the first place. I've informed her that this should be a lesson to her to not be so careless in the future. Maybe it will sink in, maybe it won't. But, that isn't the part that really bites my butt. What makes me feel like I've dropped the soap in a bad prison movie is the conversation that I had with the school this morning. Keep in mind that I haven't actually talked to the main man in charge of "risk management" for the school system (he was at a conference until Monday), so maybe I'm ranting needlessly here, but according to his assistant (or whoever she was), the school doesn't have any liability for such things unless they were "negligent" in some way. So basically, what they are telling me so far is that I am required by law to put my child in their care for 8 hours a day and they take no responsibility for her safety and welfare. Hmmmm.... what's wrong with this picture? While she's in *my* care, I'm certainly held responsible for any little thing that might cause her harm. I mean, Gods forbid that I let her so much as get a suspicious bruise. But the government, who insist that I turn her over to them as surrogate "parents", refuses to be held to the same standard. Her tooth was chipped while in their care, regardless of how or why it happened. But can we expect any accountability on their part? Most likely not. And these are the people that are supposed to be such fine examples of honor and responsibility to my child? Now don't get me wrong. Teaching her such things is something that falls more on me than anyone else. I accept that. But in taking on the role of mentors, if even partially, the system should freely accept the burden that such a role implies. But they don't. Instead, they employ blood-sucking laywers to weasel them out of having to have anything remotely resembling honor. The sad thing is that our society not only encourages, but admires and emulates such behavior. We consider it a worthwhile skill to be able to successfully push blame onto others. How sad.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Fighter's Collegium - the Aftermath

Well, we survived. Despite the 6 hour drive (each way). Despite freezing our butts off in unheated cabins both nights. Despite losing the Queen's Ring to Lord Hawk. Even despite the vegetables being hurled at my lady wife by the Dark Pelican of the Apocalypse. We survived to return home, we weary travellers. To be honest, the good outweighed the bad. We got to see people we haven't seen in a while. The classes were enlightening and went off more or less on schedule. I had some fun fights and managed to pull off several victories defending the Queen's Ring before Hawk took it. I don't mind losing to Hawk. He's scary good. My melee class was well received (I hope) and everyone seemed to be having fun with the practice melees we ran at the end. Ysabel managed to take the Precious (the Iron Ring of Meridies, which is different from the Queen's Ring) from Lord Sigurd. Considering she can't fight with her right hand at the moment, they agreed to fight left handed to the first 5 touches. They were both at 4 each and doubled on the 5th, so a tie-breaker was fought and Ysabel got the touch. Very impressive. As for my fighting, I was a little disappointed in myself. I never feel like I'm good enough, of course, but lately that feeling has deepened. Control is paramount and I've been too busy with mundane concerns to devote the proper amount of time to honing my control. Even when I win a fight, if I don't feel my fighting was clean enough, it bothers me. Winning isn't about beating my opponent (no matter how skilled or unskilled they are). It's about achieving mastery over myself. It's time to get back into fighting trim again. Time to practice daily, like I should be. I know that our hectic lifestyle is not conducive to that, but the attempt must be made. When I take the field, I will be in control. Period.

Friday, November 9, 2007

On the road again

Tonight we leave for Fighter's Collegium, an SCA event occuring somewhere southeast of Atlanta, GA. It's a 5-6 hour drive. Can't leave until we all get home from work/school, which may well have us getting there around 2 in the morning. Once there, we have to unload all our stuff, set up beds (the cabins at this site don't come with bunks... or heat) and try to sleep enough to function when we get up in the morning. Did I mention that we have to be up around 7am to get the rapier field set up? Sometimes I wonder why we keep doing this stuff. Then I remember a quote (from a Magic: the Gathering card, oddly enough) that would explain it.

Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don't ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don't ask why I fight.

Pretty simple answer.

(A cookie to anyone that can name the card that came from.)

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Fangasm!

Ok, so it might totally suck. It might be the most horrific piece of festering dog crap ever committed to film. But it's here! Dragonlance: the Movie! Fantasy geeks rejoice! Or cower in fear of the hazing you are going to get if this straight-to-DVD turkey completely bombs. You know you are going to watch it, come what may.

http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/news/show_news.asp?id=21

Hey, think of it this way, the first Lord of the Rings movie ever made was a badly animated children's feature, too. Maybe in time, someone will do a live-action, big budget version of the Dragonlance Chronicles that doesn't completely blow goats.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Space... the final frontier

In lieu of anything more interesting to say, I'll just post this:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/071106-five-planets.html

For some reason, I find the idea of finding another "earth" deeply intriguing. How will it effect mankind to know that we are, indeed, not alone in the universe? What would it be like to stand on alien soil and look up into a sky not our own?

Friday, November 2, 2007

Flashback!

Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for 1969! For those of you who don't understand that reference, you are obviously uncultured cretins and unworthy of attention. Kidding! Seriously, look it up. I bring this up because I had an odd time travel moment last night. I was driving home from work and as I passed the police station in the small town where I reside, I noticed a bunch of protesters vigorously lambasting passers-by (of which I was one, obviously) with some deeply held conviction or other. Upon closer inspection of the signage, it would seem they were attempting to "save the nature park". How very 1960's! Go Hippies! I must say, I was tempted to stop and offer them a spirited "RIGHT ON, BROTHER!". However, this being the year 2007, I quickly found my callous, apathetic center and continued on in subdued silence. Upon arriving home, my teenage step-daughter informed me that she had heard of the protest and that it was due to plans by the city to bulldoze the local park and build a Kroger grocery store there. Apparently the small Food Lion on the corner isn't enough. Keep in mind that there are not one, but two Kroger stores less than 20 minutes away. She also informed me that some of her friends from school were most likely involved in the protest. Now, despite my aforementioned callousness and apathy, I felt an unusual sense of outrage at the thought of losing a nature park to a bunch of corporate jackals. So I offered to take my step-daughter up there to join the passionate tree huggers in their noble fight. I was feeling a sense of purpose breaking through my normal wall of cynical self-absorption. Why not protest an obvious wrong? Why not fight for what was right, instead of what was easy and profitable? Why not STICK IT to the MAN!! Then my step-daughter says something to the effect of "No thanks, I'm on the computer right now." And it hit me. It wasn't the 1960's. The protesters weren't a bunch of free-lovin' flower children. It was 2007 and they were a mix of bored suburbanite moms and emo kids. The park is most likely doomed. Sacrificed to the spirit of convenience and greed. So long natural beauty, hello 2-for-1 specials on the snack aisle. Progress marches on, trampling roughshod over green pastures and wide-eyed idealists alike. Welcome to the 21st century. Enjoy it while it lasts.