Mythic Mhoram

Howdy,

   Back at home.  Spent the evening character creating for a new D&D Eberron campaign.  Should be fun.  I'm going to play a hardboiled, washed up alchoholic former spy (artificer/urban druid), whose friends are a loyal but angry-at-the-exploitation of his people warforged monk/barbarian, and a changeling dusk blade/psionic who's still in the dark lanterns.

   I have no idea how this all will go, but it should be interesting.

   In other news, I have a battery powered serious hand-vacuum now.   Whoo!

Hey there all.

So, I've been in Chicago/Champaign for about a week and am going home tomorrow.   I've spent a bunch of time with my mom.  Lots of time driving to and from places.  Three nights in Champaign.


hecateuse  and the_sween did their level best to sell me on the many charms of Chambana as a place to put down roots.  Living in the Cambridge area with all the life and culture there is heady, but the appeal of home ownership and old friends has it's charms too.  Ultimately, I think that what I'm looking for is my future.  Harvard has a lot of nice opportunities for me, as does Cambridge, but the one thing I can't find there is personal history.  You have to make that up from scratch.  And yet, that seems to be the foundation of most of the people I know's deepest friendships...shared history.

( Shameless maundering )

The past offers little solace to my night fears and anxieties.  And the future is filled with uncertainty.  By day, the future seems bright and full of possibilities, and the past perhaps full of comforting memories of love and past success.  But sometimes, it's night on the inside.  Bete Noir, the black beast of fearing lonliness and unlove.  I've got to learn to find my daylight, to put the beast to sleep.  For now, real sleep, an early flight, and the long journey to find my way home.

Hey all,

   I'm now officially, in print published as a writer.  Go me.  Harvard Summer Review '07.  Yeah Baybe.

   You can probably tell, by my posting rate if nothing else, that I'm an infrequent visitor to this site.  I'm similarly infrequent of a visitor to facebook.  I logged on to facebook today, after several month off, and learned that 79 out of 79 strangers would not date me.  So I've got that going for me.

   Fortunately, my freshly published ego is far too puffed up to be brought low by my tragically poor sex appeal. 

Finished Kushiel's Dart.

Most fetishy piece of good fiction I've read in a long time.  So much BDSM, so central to the engaging, intrigue focused plot, that It never quite managed to seem gratuitous.  Very good intrigue, very good story, interesting characters. 

Currently:

1- Working on learning enough Cocoon to get by on my new project.
2- Catching up on classwork for my audit class
3- Trying to find time to work on Nobilis campaign I want to run
4- Reading "Spirit of the Century" game book, VERY enthused
5- One month until Spring break

From hecateuse  Book meme:

Instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book (that is at least 123 pages long).
2. Open to p. 123.
3. Go down to the 5th sentence.
4. Type in the following 3 sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Currently reading Kushiel's Dart

"'But they are good theories, no?'
Reluctantly I admitted that they were, and we talked then of other things until Guy's face shone pale outside the window of the Cockerel, calling in the marque of my debt and beckoning me homeward.
It was not long after this conversation that two occurrences of note too place, although to be sure, one was notable only to me."

I haven't gotten there in the book yet, although it's coming soon.

I guess I'll tag some people:   atheana, book_geek, rantmaster, skylon, shadefell

I'm not going to live my life like I'm a sightseer in it.

Staying in and cozying up will always be there, and is good in moderation.
But getting out and doing is necessary as well.

Alright, I'm jumping on a meme.  May the internet god have mercy on my souls.

"I always loved illusion
I thought make-believe was truer than life"

I hope to be visiting Champaign Urbana in March. (Fourth weekend of five) 

If you wish to coordinate with my travel plans, feel free to let me know.

In other news, I'm very, very, happy.

good_ol_don had some happy news yesterday.  And since I'm in a creative place right now,
I thought I'd dedicate something I just wrote to the new person coming into his life.

Child of the green earth.  Singing your young songs
Seed of the future, planted in the rich soil
Dream your harvest dreams, Fruit still on the vine.
Blossom still open, ground unmarked by toil.

Prospserity yields, in the fullness of time
all treasures, all goods.  Everything of worth
from Biology.  Flesh to think, to eat,
Every embrace, every thrill, Immortal through birth.

We pass this charge on.  Each yields to the next
The child of labor is the seed, the dream.
That what is in us of value endures.
In time's endless plain.  We are life. A stream.

So, I'm an idiot.  One of the ways I'm an idiot is that I've signed up for two classes this semester.
That's two extension school classes after work.  I already have a regular weekly gaming commitment
on Tuesday nights.  So that leaves me in class or with guests every week night except Thursday.

To top that off I have lots of things in the upcoming weekend.  Some people I met are putting on a
show written by one of them on  Sunday.  There's a gaming day I'd invited a bunch of people to
check out with me on Saturday.  Next weekend is another RPG focused convention in Providence,
and probably when Trina's going to celebrate her birthday.

I'm having dinner with a friend from out of town on Thursday. 

Also, I need groceries and things like that pretty badly.

So I'm reading the syllabus for the acting class and discover that we're required to see a show that /ends in 9 days/.
And the first class isn't until Monday.  So when do I see it? 

The answer is Sunday, blowing off my friends with their homebrew musical.  Which sucks.  But it doesn't
burn as many bridges as elsewise.

Also, I'm really feeling the people-pressure and the need to hide in bed until people go away is strong in me.
But that's not going to happen any time soon.

Also, I've slipped a lot on my project at work in the last few days.

Ugh.

It's quite cold tonight.  I'm in bed with lots of blankets.

I played trivia with some coworkers, and we did really well in the first half and got destroyed in the second half.

When I got back I tried practicing my singing, and discovered that I need a lot of practice.

It's late.  And cold.  Goodnight e-world.

(not yet titled)

I got Iambes confused with trochees.

Something new forthcoming.

Well my first weekend at home, and I got nothing done on my final project for my class.  The clock is ticking.

I also didn't get fresh Timothy Hay for Moezilla, which I should correct soon.

Tomorrow's top non-work-related tasks are crash followups:
1- Talk to the assesor and find out how boned I am over the accident
2- Go to the library and tell them I destroyed their paperbacks

It turns out that you can't order a replacement phone with online pricing without registering.
And when you register, a temporary password is created.
And sent to your phone.
As a text message.
Which you can't get, when your phone is busted.

So you have to wait for them to mail you your temporary password.

Mind you, I could call up and offer credentials enough to CANCEL my phone service by phone.  But not enough to change my password on the website.

Aint technology grand?

Back home in Boston.

Hurray for me.

My cute little Moezille (pics forthcoming if my digital camera isn't a brick) is continuing to show an amazingly increased appetite and level of activity and interest.  This started about two weeks before I left town and continues unabated.  I think it's marvelous, I just don't know what's brought it on.

Some New Years resolutions:
1- Back to the gym, back on weight watchers
2- Get involved in social activities that will help me meet new and interesting people
2.5- Actually talk to people
3- Take both of my classes this coming semester seriously
4- More consistent and better housekeeping
5- No more car accidents for the rest of the year
6- Play or run Nobilis before the year is out

Rented another car and drove back to the accident site with my mom.  Seventy miles or so each way, roads were pretty good until about 20 miles outside Gilman in Kankakee. 

The roof of the drivers side was crumpled.  The car ended up in a slow moving, partially frozen over stream of water in a deep ditch beside the road.  Many of my things, including my laptop and camera were in the water itself, so no holding my breath on those still working.  The water was about thigh deep, with mud on the bottom.  When I opened the hatch, stuff started falling out the back,  so I waded out into it. 

Also, my CD wallet full of movies and new music vanished since yesterday.  I tore up half side of the hill with a shovel looking for it.  On the bright side, most of my clothes were spared the river, because the bag was caught behind the seat.  Also, and this is the brightest spot in a dark day, and certainly a good omen:  my antique copy of the Dune boardgame survived.  I managed to fish the game out of the back seat using two snow shovels (one from the car, the other brought with us in the rescue car), and I finagled it out without dropping it in the freezing muddy water that hovered below it.  I've never been good at those drop claw games, but today, I worked magic.  In a moment of Karmic balance, I lost my new copy of the Dune movie in it's lovely metal case.  But since that's totally replacable at any Best Buy in the nation, I'm not shedding any tears.

All in all, I'm remarkably lucky to be alive and healthy.  I survived a rather devastating accident.  So I'm feeling pretty pleased about that.

The crash site.

Driving on I-57 from Champaign to Chicago I hit a patch of ice, spun out, and my rental car rolled over down the hill, stopping on it's side.

As far as I can tell so far, I'm not seriously injured.  I need to go back and get the stuff I failed to loot from the car when I climbed out.

Not much else to add at this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zMU2tX5n8

Sarah Brightman in a 70's science fiction mashup music video

I'm back from the McCoy reunion in Hugo, NC.

Now I'm working on getting ready for a Halloween party.  I've decided to go with a Mad Science theme.

Any suggestions for decorations, activities, snacks, or special drinks are welcomed.