I made it to the gym today in spite not going to bed until 4am, and thus am feeling proud.

I still have to figure out what to do about the credit card bills that didn't get paid while I was helping my parents deal with my younger brother's psychotic break, and not at home to get bills, and to preoccupied to realize they were coming due. I think I'm going to wait until next pay period, when I can a least offer them partial payment...

Other wise things are going okay.  Not great but okay...

Marvel 1602.

I don't usually do comics, but... Dr. Strange as John Dee? Sir Nicolas Fury standing in for Walsingham? Carlos Javier's discreet academy for "witchbloods"? Otto von Doom of Latveria versus QE1?

Oh hell yes.

Care of pharyngula:

More pictures!

( Fuemizu Elementary )

( Random Festival in Komatsubara )

( Okagematsuri! )

More pics later. Sleep now.

Sorry that I haven't updated this. Just haven't been in the mood, and people know how moody I can be.

So, my Dad had his surgery a while back and his recovery's been... slow. He can barely eat, so he has to graze all day to get his strength up. But overall, he's been doing ok.

Today he starts chemotherapy again. I got him settled into Hope Lodge NYC (American Cancer Society's free lodging for cancer patients getting treatment in NYC) last night. It seems like a nice place and I hope he and my Mom take advantage of the things they have there when Dad's not at the doctor's office.

*crossing his fingers*

Several White Wolf products (including my own Rose-Bride's Plight) made it into the ENnies nominations for this year's awards!
Find out more.

So I heard this story and wanted to share, mostly because it's odd. Also because it's how I'll take care of annoying PCs in the future.

Anyway. As odd as it sounds, I learned this story from a reasonably reputable source who is familiar with the family in question. I did not read it on the internets or anything like that.

So, a fellow — an older fellow, I think, by the sound of things — and his family have gone on vacation to Florida.

They have been doing whatever and are returning to the car, which has been sitting in the sun and Florida heat. The older man reaches out to open the car door, and when he finds it hot, he jerks his hand back, loses his balance, falls back on the pavement, hits his head, and dies. Just like that.

That is all.

I saw Wanted the other night and thought it was a good action movie, but not the greatest thing since the original Matrix as some people had decryed it to me.

Also saw Eagle Eye. Meh. It was mindless fun, but don't think about it too much or it'll explode on you.

Gaming Breakfast: What can be said. Unhealthy, filling, a proud twenty-year tradition.

The Game: I'll make no bones about it. I was headed into this game with a lowered set of expectations. I have no plan of changing the game we're playing (for once), but I didn't know if L5R was "working." Well, this session wasn't the best session ever. But it went pretty well. Sure, we meandered, got distracted by this, that, and the other thing, but I don't think we've really ever tried for an immersive experience for a couple years. We've tried to have fun, and I certainly think we had it.

We did have a character die, and it's too bad, since I liked that character. But I've also liked my current uncompromising approach to NPC level and damage. Encounters with the "lords" of the setting aren't constructed like D&D4e encounters. There is no guarantee that what your facing is in any way designed around your capabilities. It was an inspired choice for Kakita Tasu to to challenge Lord Takashi to a duel .. and one many other lords woulod have answered with a "kill this fool." But bound to his bloodsword, as he is, Takeshi had to accept. And Tasu may have won. However he binned a reachable roll not once, but twice, and that spelled his doom.

The Food: Helen made us all fresh bread (yummy) and then we piled foods together to make a spaghetti dinner for her, Chris, and me.

The Board Games: Post-L5R we broke out the "high powered expansion" for St Petersburg. the new cards aren't all that powerful at all, the game works well with five players,and everyone had a good time playing it.

Later, with an evening to burn still, Helen and I headed to the cafe where we played a round of Fjords, and another of Minotaur Lords. It was a nice way to spend an evening, when my other options seem to revolve around "playing the computer for yet another night, as I have done for nights without number."

UFC 100: Although the crowd didn't appreciate Brock Lesnar's solid defeat of Frank Mir, you have to respect what he did. As a wrestler he's a "ground & pound" fighter, and he adopted a posture that allowed him to use his strength to fire dozens of crushing punches. He didn't just lay there, he worked a game. I know we all like stand-up bang-fests, especially from the big guys, but rarely have I seen a guy with an effective skill set like Frank Mir so totally neutralized.

But for an ex-Pro wrestler, you'd think the boy would have better "mic."

Doug.

So, I've been sitting here watching people bash on Palin for... No apparent reason, other than that she is an outspoken female republican. When I ask people about it, they either assume it is obvious, or go for niggling details that wouldn't stand up if you went after a liberal woman or POC. Honestly? It seems that self-proclaimed feminists have a double standard, and now, it seems I'm not the only one who sees this:

http://www.reclusiveleftist.com/2009/07/04/feminists-and-the-mystery-of-sarah-palin/
Honestly? People I respect? Stop being sheep.

After months of planning and weeks of hard work and research (mostly on the part of the Viking) my new website is live.

Check us out at www.jesshartley.com and let us know what you think!

I'm looking for players for a Shadowrun (4th edition) game...  Experience with the system is not necessary.  If interested, either comment on here or drop me a PM.  Feel free to spread the word!



Thanks!

Someone asked me why I feel like I overdue it so often. Like, why would i constantly work myself to exhaustion physically. Most people can tell when they are about to overdue it, so have I just lost the ability to tell when I get tired or am I doing herculean amounts of effort each day?

The answer is simple.

You see, each day I do get "better and better." Yes, I've said that a dozen times, but it's not just some sort of self improvement mantra. I wake up in the morning feeling like shit, and the pain in my back is incredible. After my morning dose of valium and the new painkillers ,which are less effective than percoset but at my current level of pain are more appropriate, I slowly start to get mobile. I have to use my walker to get out of bed or off the couch but after a few laps around the inside of my house I can move about.

Now, the exhaustion and other symptoms sneak up on me. In the beginning, it was easy to predict when I'd get overwhelmed. By the first day I could walk about, it was taking laps around the cul de sac. Later on, it was when we did the physical therapy laps at Washington Square that let me figure out when I'd get exhausted. But it's all very...hard to tell.

One day I can make 10 laps around the court and then walk inside and walk upstairs to take a shower. The only pain I'll have is some slight pain in my feet, sharp pain in my back, and irritation on the incision. Then two days later I can get badly winded walking downstairs and by the time I walk halfway around the court I'm wheezing and can't catch my breath. Lately I walk with my Mom to help run errands and while I walk around the store I'm perfectly fine but once we start to make it to the car I'm limping severely and it feels like I just had a workout at the gym.

I think my body is still so out of whack that as I attempt to rebuild my stamina and endurance, my body's sytems get screwed up and overreact/undereact depending on the exertion. I walk almost a full mile around the mall today goingto different stores: I feel fine exception for a minor headache until I get home and the endorphins wear off and I ache all over. I walk upstairs to get a fresh shirt, and my body assumes I wrestled Matt McFarland in a No Holds Barred Match. (Which I would WIN.)

Oh, and hand-eye coordination still needs some work. Not only did I reach for a can of La Croix and sent it flying across the floor, but as I attempted to put some car paperwork up I sat crosslegged on the couch. When I offered to get my Mom something to drink I stood up and lost balance, and nearly overshot myself and had to grab my walker for support. I ended up tripping backwards into the wall, but managed to avoid damaging the wall or hurting myself too badly. Like I said earlier, sometimes I feel completely normal and I tend to hit the ground running when I'm still weaning myself off training wheels.

By the way, while the creativity splurge made it impossible for me to sleep past night, I still got a lot done. I had a character I wasn't satisfied with and now the slight change has made it flow so much easier. But now I need help from you, faithful readers:

What is the proper term for fish that can only exist in freshwater instead of seawater? And please don't just say "freshwater fish."

In Other News,
You know, some teenaged shithead mocked me today for walking with a cane but I just smirked and looked the other way. If not for my cane to help me maintain balance, the walker which I use at home to help me stand up from chairs or get out of bed, or my Mom occasionally helping me move about to keep me steady I'd be in a lot worst shape than I am today. I'm sure kharma wise those kids will get what's coming for them. And as comical as I'm sure I was to them today,what really made me laugh was how overly accentuated their moves and actions were! The way they would laugh overly loud or mimic me with my cane to a comical degree, they looked like idiots.

...to Kerrigan!

Mommy loves you very much, little girl!

Searchers shovel Northwest dirt seeking giant worm

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer

( MOSCOW, Idaho – The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle — its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from 'Dune' or those vicious creatures from the movie 'Tremors.' )

I haven't been posting much lately as other responsibilities have kept me away from LJ. However, I am working on several blog posts I hope to have up soon.

Origins had its high and low points for me this year, and I hope to expand on those through a series of articles in the near future. I've been hesitant to post anything about the convention, mostly because I want to be sure my praises and criticisms are constructive and appropriate. Thats a strange concept for a blog, I know ;).

I also have several games I'm looking at right now and am excited to talk about. I feel like I need to spend more time talking about games while I am learning and reading them rather than saving everything for a review. I also have several games I recently realized were lost in the shuffle and never had my reviews of them published. I intend to make up for that very soon.

ME

He's at the hospital and doing ok. It looks like it wasn't a heart attack after all, but some sort of breathing disorder. He's stable now, and they'll continue running tests on him to make sure he's ok.

Thank you God for making sure he is doing ok so far.

I do have one angry post to make later, but for now I shall be very grateful for him recovering.

Today is mall walking day. I will bring you pictures of the side of town I live on that some of you have been begging for quite a while. Prepare to see the wealth and beauty of the Eastside...where once we held the bulk of movie theaters, jewelry stores, and had the two largest malls in Indianapolis. You can now see what has been nagging at my heart since my return home, and the ravages of economy, time, and just plain lack of care.