Ogre's in the shower, and I just heard him saying "No" repeatedly in a very silly British accent.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on in there, but I'm sure it's entertaining.

The Kitten is chasing something rattly around the floor. I'm almost afraid to look.

Memo: Me

Dear Me,

You are not in your early 20s anymore, and throwing yourself around the dancefloor to "Beers, Steers and Queers" or "Fuck it up, Pigface" is no longer in your best interest. Your knees are about ready take out a contract on the stupid addled brain who thinks they can still handle it.

Also, your calf muscles would like to have a conversation about these cramps.

No Love,
Your Body

All told, it was an excellent night. Oh, do my knees ache today. Amy introduced me to this drink made with cherry vodka that tastes almost exactly like Hawiian Punch, and in the immortal words of the FABULOUS bartender, "When you make it with the Cherry vodka, it has WAY less calories." And, as Amy pointed out, no High Fructose Corn Syrup. Flavored boozes for the win! Granted, he also tossed about four maraschino cherries in there, so that kind of defeated the gain there. But, hey. They were YUMMY.

Much love to Kate the Red for chauffering my drunk ass up to Greenwood to meet up with Ogre and Julz at their "Times Up" game. Also, for feeding me Dicks. (Seattle people get that.)

Saw lots of people I hadn't seen in ages including DJ_Wudi, Bob, Little Dave, just loads of people. Lots of dancing and laughing and one seriously cute boy in the most awesome outfit who I was too tongue tied to actually talk to, though he seemed nice. And a very sweet guy who liked my tattoos.

Oh, the aching. Need to hop in the shower. I used an assload of product on my hair last night to keep it slicked back and it's really... unfortunate this morning.

I get unaccountably annoyed when people use the phrase "..., who just happens to be [race], ..."

I realize that this is just a dialectical feature of coastal white American English, which is meant to convey "race isn't important to me, but I feel a need to note it anyway." It's a set phrase, and I shouldn't try to parse it for grammatical meaning, like another sentence. But I do, and thus it annoys me.

Does anyone "just happen" to be their race? Did it "just happen" to them? Like they were walking around, happily white just like everyone else, and they tripped and fell in a puddle of Chinese?

Seriously? That happens?

Because most of the people I know get their race from their biological parents, anything but accidentally.

I think I've finally figured out how to maintain the pleasantly warm, but not drunk feeling. And I did last night. Hazelnut rum and Mexican Coke for the win! Also Grappa, with which I am not enamoured, but it was warm going down.

It was fucking freezing last night.

Today's agenda is drop by at Emerald City Game Fest. Not sure about clubbing tonight, because my throat has that scratchy, pre-sick hurty going on. And if it comes down to clubbing and getting sick, or staying home and fighting it off, guess which wins.

So. 2012.

The best I can describe the feeling I had watching that movie is as if someone put 9/11 to the Benny Hill theme.

There are situations where I can suspend disbelief, accept a movie's premise, and allow for sassy one-liners and a family adventure romp a la Harry and the Hendersons. The extinguishing of all human life across the globe is not one of them.

There was no way for that movie to not be godawful. But I don't know, other people in the theater seemed to have fun and laugh their way through it. I'm just kicking myself now for not knowing who the director was before paying $10 for a ticket.

I walked into work today and the shitstorm was already in full swing, covering the department in blue flurries and angry shouts. I dove straight in, same thing every day, right?, and held my breath for as long as i could. But by the end of my trip around town for meters, and just when i was starting to see reasonable due times, i accidentally picked a fight with two departments. Their situation dragged customer service into the fray. Which is bad, because Sean-0 works in CS now, and when Sean-0 gets pissed at you it's a bad sign. He's a good guy, so it's kinda like seeing Tom Hanks or Mr. Rogers flip you off. It's unsettling, and utterly surprising.

And just to cap-the-stone i'm standing at the door to my department, loading another spool of paper, when i overhear a conversation:
"What do you need?"
"Another color department."
"ha ha ha...good luck with that."

My gut just kinda tightened up, and my shoulders drooped. Had i messed up that bad?

I see a lot of fear here, nowadays. We're a business based on the worst part of our already failing economy. And that's a good reason to be scared, i guess. Some good people have been fired from this place just cause we didn't have the money to afford them. And you mess with people's money, they get scared.

But yesterday i spent a lot of time talking with a friend about the choices we make, and that perfectly useful but highly-overlooked truth about one's attitude and the adjustments it will make to the world around you. So i'm going to just try and cancel this out, and i'm going to try and do it with an easy soundtrack and a decent flavor.

( All that good things i want to tell you. )

Just have to shut everything down.

Boozes, here I come!!!!

So a month after melting to my desk, Snorlax is finally getting looked at by the repair guy. For the last few weeks I've been making do with Slowpoke, and he's totally satisfactory for general use, but freezes quite a bit when handling large image files and has a low max screen resolution. Ideally, once Snorlax is fixed I'll keep both of them around and use one for work and one for... well, I don't know what. Actually, Slowpoke may end up being donated to my students.

Other coputers I've owned over the last few years: Sqirtle, Psyduck, Ekans.

If you want to know what's happening with me on Twitter, I'm not broadcasting here anymore. Instead, go here and just follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/vesztes

Yum! Honestly, as much as I am a proud carnivore, I love me fresh salads that involve something other than iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce is good only for a burger topping and then only grudgingly.

Ok, I have a few more things to slog through for accreditation. Oh the celebrating when this is all over.

I don't blame you for not caring, but if you do: March 9, 2010 is when FFXIII will be released. There is a date.

That is all.

FIRST: If you've been tagged, you must write your answers in your own LJ and replace any question that you dislike with a new, original question.

SECOND: Tag eight sexy people. Don't refuse to do that like a pansy. Unless you really don't want to of course. And if you're not tagged and you want to do it, then do!
nakedvilliany, carpe_noir, kaligrrl, loree, drakemonger, javagoth, botia, qweerdo. I did not tag Ogremarco because he won't do it.

Who sleeps in bed next to you?
Ogre and several cats.

What did you last eat?
Greek Gods honey yogurt and a handful of granola.

What kind of books do you read?
I'm on a serious alt history binge right now, with a generous sprinkling of fantasy.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?
Ok, while I doubt it would be as much fun without all the Ambercon folks there, I'm having longing thoughts for the Edgefield.

What's really creepy?
Ryan Craig's Julian in the Amber Family Therapy game.

Name one odd item within five feet of you.
A tiny cupid made entirely from string.

What's your current fandom / obsession / addiction?
Amber, Steven Erikson's Malazan books, Lady Gaga.

What did you really want to do today that you didn't?
Sleep in, snuggled up with the Boy and the aforementioned horde of cats.

What are you most excited for?
Seeing Lee_OS, Hunnythistle and company for the Girl Genius game tonight.

What websites do you always visit when you go on line?
Yahoo, LJ, Twitter. In that order.

What do you do for fun?
Game, write games, write fiction, beat up cats.

If you could have any pet, what would it be?
The obvious answer is too heart-breaking. So, I'll say LLama!

What are you wearing right now?
Black 3/4 sleeve v-neck shirt, purple elbow-length fingerless gloves, black modal cotton knee length skirt, charcoal tights, Love and Hate TUKs.

What do you want right this minute, off the top of your head?
To hav just a little while to sit and cry.

Where is the place you like to return to in order to calm down / relax / etc.?
The car.

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll centre of a Tootsie Pop?
I don't know. I always bite them.

What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
Thank you so much for loving me unconditionally, and I'm sorry I'm such a basket case that I don't always know how to respond to that.

Are there any bits of childhood that you miss?
Summers spent on the shore of Lake Superior.

Say something to the person who tagged you.
Froggie, I love you and I'm really, really glad that you're in my life. Also, I adore your children. And I even still like that grumpy, antisocial dick you're married to.

On the Voice of the Revolution...

The Voice of the Revolution #36: October 2009, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies Review and Kevin Allen Jr. Interview

Check it out!

October 2009 -- Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies Review and Kevin Allen Jr. Interview

• 0:29 - Brennan welcomes Paul back after his month off and jumps right into what's new on the site.
  • Empire of Dust
  • Mars: Savage Worlds Edition
  • Cthulhu Britannica
  • Tome of Secrets
  • Alpha Omega: The Encountered
  • eCollapse
  • Bulletin #3: Marine Talent Operations
  • The Shotgun Diaries
  • Kobold Quarterly #11
• 7:19 - Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies by Chad Underkoffler is a game of fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles, and sky pirates.
• 18:08 - Kevin Allen Jr. talks with Brennan about his approaches to and experiences with indie publishing.
• 27:04 - In At Our Tables, Paul and Brennan talk about ending games (and other things), and why Chewbacca is the best supporting character in sci-fi.

Runtime: 38:35 / File size: 26.5M

Find out more about these fine games and others at Indie Press Revolution. To comment on this podcast, visit The Voice of the Revolution forum or send us an email.
Direct download: revolution36.mp3

When I got my teeth cleaned my dental hygeinist said I should switch to an alcohol free mouthwash. Since I have allergies and asthma I breathe through my mouth fairly frequently, and that dries out your mouth, leading to more calculus build-up, faster. Because of this I should avoid anything that leads to my mouth drying out more. I said, Ok. And when Ogre and I hit Whole Paycheck the other night for... something, milk and lunch supplies, I said, "Oh, I need to look at the alcohol free mouthwashes."

Boy says, "Why don't you just get Tom's of Maine. They're probably alcohol free."
Me: "Yeah, but they probably have witch hazel in it, and you know how allergic I am to that shit.*"
Boy: "Who puts witch hazel in mouthwash?"
Me: "It's Tom's of Maine, they put witch hazel in everything."

So we walk up to the mouthwash section, and I start laughing hysterically. Ogre says, "What?"
I pointed to the Tom's of Maine mouthwashes. The second ingredient on the FRONT of the fucking bottle is witch hazel.

We wound up picking up a bottle of Kiss My Face mouthwash since I usually have pretty good luck with their stuff.

Well, I'm not allergic to it. And it tastes fine while you have it in your mouth, but once you spit it out it interacts with the air and suddenly your mouth is full of calamine lotion. It's pretty nasty, but it's liveable. And we'll use it up and then try another brand.

In other news, I'm upright, dressed and managed to remember to fill the cats' food dish on the way out the door. Also, I forgot I had a Whole Foods salad that I picked up for lunch the other day. Yay!!!



*At one point Ogre used some witch hazel on a cut, half an hour later he touched my thigh and I welted. I'm REALLY fucking allergic to witch hazel.