Various things I’ve been meaning to post about…
On reading Lord of the Rings: it’s a long, wordy story. It will take you a long time, and you could easily be pretty confused about lots of stuff the first time you read it. It’s also one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. See, it was written by a man who loved words – words were both his job and his hobby, so he wrote a lot of them. But the world he created, he spent decades building before LotR was published, and that’s one of the most amazing things in it. By the time period of the books, Middle-Earth has an oral history reaching back tens of thousands of years, and parts of that history are directly responsible for current events. It’s not light reading, but it’s a world one can get fully immersed in.
On my favorite Disney rides: Star Tours, Alien Encounter (way cool), Rockin’ Roller Coaster, Test Track, and The Haunted Mansion (we will make out on that ride someday, Rain!) and those are just the first five. Disgustingly, that place is just as much fun as all their propaganda says it is. 🙂
I still don’t know what “oekaki” is.
Everyone still freaks out when they see my beardless face for the first time, but I ought to have enough chin shadow by Rising Star to be respectable. Rain insists she was unaware she’d married a 17-year-old. I have to admit something, I got a little nervous about that costume being a bit “over the top” on the drive over to the party, but I got pretty good reactions from everyone. I should stop worrying so much.
As I am a card-carrying lemming, (“Let’s go!!”), here’s my job test:
# 1 Chef
# 2 Teacher
# 3 Artist
# 4 Author
# 5 Graphic Designer
# 6 Mathemetician
# 7 Park Ranger
# 8 Salesperson
# 9 Web Designer
# 10 Computer Game Programmer
# 11 Movie Star
# 12 Rock Star
# 13 Astronaut
# 14 Chemist
# 15 Doctor
# 16 Engineer
# 17 FBI Agent
# 18 Geneticist
# 19 Inventor
# 20 Lawyer
# 21 Politician
# 22 Professional Sports Player
# 23 Researcher
# 24 Police Officer
# 25 Reporter
… I think “Iron Filk” is as close as I want to get to chef, and I’d never be a salesperson, but the list is interesting nonetheless.
Biography trivia answers to be posted soon!
I’m running behind – so you know everything’s normal
There’s a lot of posting I have to do, I have to post the answers to my quiz, and I’m thinking of answering the alphabet quiz too. Maybe I’ll post Lisa’s pics of my Halloween costume – and maybe I won’t LOL.
Until then, here’s the secret code for Rain: five – eight – six – dot – two – eight.
Hey Mary, tell f42 it was great to meet them all! 🙂
Adventures in Operating Systems
Well, I finally took the plunge – this is being posted from the new installation of OS 10.1 on my machine. I’m still getting used to a lot of it – it takes me longer to find stuff at the moment; some of my favorite applications haven’t been “carbonized” to run under the new OS yet, while at least one game will run but insists on setting my monitor to a size it can’t handle (cheap monitor’s fault, not the OS), and there are other teething troubles. On the other hand, text looks really good and very readable on here; once I install X Windows, I can find a nice mailreader and read my mail directly off Elfie, bypassing Adelphia’s bogus servers; and, the best part about this installtion, is that it’s not Windows ME or XP. I fought with ME for hours this afternoon just trying to get it to acknowldge a LAN connection to the Internet; and I’m hearing so many bad things about XP right now that I’m glad I own some Apple stock. Wonder what RedHat stock’s going for right now? 🙂
It’s a weird Thursday night. I *still* don’t have the hang of Thursdays.
“I just love scanning for lifeforms!”
All right! I’ve made it into the top 20 members of the SETI @ VTSFFC project! (Okay, so there are only 26 members in the first place… but I’m making progress!)
Follow the trend, it’s easy and fun!
Time for my quiz!!! True or false…
1) An easy one: I am 33 years old.
2) My favorite film actress of all time is Isabella Rosselini.
3) I have been kissed by B-movie queen Brinke Stevens.
4) I never actually graduated from high school.
5) I have artificial parts in two of my limbs.
6) Among my friends and relatives, I can count three actual rocket scientists.
7) Counting full “starship” chapters and probationary “shuttle” chapters separately, I have been a member of seven different Starfleet chapters.
8) I read remarkably quickly. In elementary school, I was clocked at 500 words per minute with a 99% comprehension rate.
9) A gaming article of mine was once published in D&D’s “Dragon” magazine.
10) I can’t stand the sight of blood or maimed bodies.
11) In high school, my three-member clique was sometimes jokingly referred to as the local Irish Republican Army cell.
12) I have performed in a play at Roanoke’s Mill Mountain Theater.
13) My first VTSFFC experience involved Scott Gosik and a car accident.
14) I have never been to the West Coast.
15) I have intentionally walked around naked, in public, in the last 10 years.
Good luck – enter early and often!!!
The Sex Test
According to the Sex Test @ TheSpark.com, I am fated to have one more lover in my life; this person will be female, and I will be in love with them. However, as I am an idealist, I will have to be careful not to get hurt by the relationship. I just hope Rain likes her… LOL
According to their polls, 31% of all Trek fans are virgins. Of course, their polls also claim that 155988 people have given Bill Clinton a “hummer”. (That’s that military 4-wheel-drive vehicle, right?)
“I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”
Heck of a week so far… work has just been nasty. I am seriously considering killing one of my co-workers and sticking her head on a pole next to my desk as a warning to others.
Oh well… my new camera’s coming soon, my Halloween costume finally arrived, I get to go home early today, and tomorrow’s Friday, so it’s not all bad.
I am jealous of Vond – I always wanted to fly a plane. Once Rain is running her own megacorp, maybe I’ll buy one. 🙂
So, What Exactly Are Your Criteria?
Okay, I took the Geek and Goth tests…
I AM 53% GEEK.
Nerd, Freak, Geek, Dweeb. Sound familiar?
That’s okay, cause I will be the richest
person at my 15th year high-school reunion.
If a “con” isn’t happening that weekend.
Take the GEEK Test at Fuali.com!
I AM 49% GOTH.
Oh My Goth! You Goth, Girl. There is a
good chance I am bi. Freakiness pumps
through my viens, but I can still laugh
at myself.
Take the GOTH Test at Fuali.com!
Now, I answered just about every question in the “goth” test no… my few “yes” answers must have counted a LOT.
Also, the goth test keeps calling me girl… Hmmmmmmmmmm. 😉
Open the iPod connection, Hal…
Apple introduces iPod, a FireWire-equipped digital audio player (MP3, MP2, more) with a 5GB hard drive (1000 songs). iPod is the size of a standard deck of playing cards, and includes: 20 minute skip protection; FireWire connection; a 10 hour lithium-polymer battery which charges in 1 hour; backlit LCD display; playlist support; ID3 tag support; a scroll wheel for fast song access.
iPod will ship November 10 for $399.
Here’s a look at it.
I really wanted one of these for about 15 minutes, until the price got posted. I can think of other things to do with $400. If this is the beginning of Apple’s move into consumer electronics – well, I have my doubts. It’s neat – and I do want one – but I can’t afford that price.
“We Are Klingons! (Aaarrrrr!!)”
I know that this post will be completely uninteresting to those who don’t watch any “Star Trek”, but I was thinking randomly this morning while working on another used car ad, and my mind turned to last week’s episode of “Enterprise”.
You know, I became quite weary of Klingons during the late seasons of “Next Generation”. It’s not so much their politics, cultural attitudes, manners etc. that I directly mind – it’s just that I wonder how the heck Klingons ever managed to become a space-faring race with a large empire.
I mean, is it only humans that actually face risks and difficulties in space travel? Imagine, if you will, “Next Generation” as a series about a Klingon ship, maybe the “Battlecruiser Vengeance” (that’s an in-joke, btw.)
“Encounter at Farpoint” – the crew of the Vengeance meet Q, who challenges them to prove that they aren’t a savage, child race. They fail, and in pique, he curses them with the inability to actually die permanenly. (They’ll need that curse.)
“The Naked Now” – Investigating a lost ship near an unstable star, the Vengeance contracts the “drunken” virus. The crew start slaughtering each other, until the last two or three are killed by the explosion of the star.
“Where No Klingon Has Gone Before” – An alien Traveler accidentally gets the resurrected Vengeance crew lost in another dimension. After his first attempt to get them home fails, they kill him, and wander uselessly in this dimension until they starve to death.
“Q Who?” – The captain of the Vengeance is too proud to ask Q for help against the new race he has introduced them to – the Borg. The Klingons shoot the Borg a lot, and the Borg effortlessly snuff them out.
You see the pattern? All Klingons know how to do is shoot and bully, and you’d think that in the Star Trek reality of the 22-24th centuries, that wouldn’t keep them going too long…
Sometimes I can’t help but start thinking about these things. I don’t think even medication would stop it. 🙂
On a sadder note, condolences to you, Barb. I only met Dan a couple of times, but I really enjoyed his Zetra-stuff. He will be missed!
