Weil wenn du lange in das Internet blickst, blickt das Internet auch in dich hinein.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Thursday, 24 December 2009
What's up with Krishna and cows?
my knowledge of Hindu mythology is rather limited... but a quick internet search tells me Krishna was a cow-herder in youth...
I think there's something there...
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
If two cows enter a barn and three leave afterwards, how many cows are in the barn, getting devoured by Cthulhu?
The Great Cthulhu devours all so the answer to how many cows he will consume is the same as always: All of Them...
Only the True Followers of the Great Cthulhu are safe until such time when the infidels are devoured, which amounts to a few extra seconds of your life!
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
The Weekend
On Saturday I went to DragonMeet where I saw Insane_Prophet, Deoq and Revamp... Mithras didn't show up, no clue what's up with him... I was with my flatmate and another friend so we had some confusion as to what we're doing and I ended up walking on the guys halfway through a game of some Wrestlers RPG... I just sat next to them and read one of the books I bought... on to the things I bought!
Geist: The Sin-Eaters - I buy a White Wolf book every time I go to DragonMeet...
Hero System 6th Edition Volume 1 - the part with Character Creation rules, heavy book but I'm glad I bought it... I just like reading a book instead of a pdf... and I am running a superhero game using it...
Superiors 4: Rags to Riches - an In Nomine supplement detailing some Demon Princes, it was in the cheap stuff section, where I usually find out-of-print books...
War for the Throne - I normally buy an Exalted book this time of the year... but there weren't any so I got myself this Exalted boardgame... I'll play it this Saturday with my group...
a skull ring - it was cheaper than a pendant and I thought it's about time to wear rings... I'm also thinking of piercing my ear/s...
HeroClix - two booster sets since they were half-price and there are guys playing it on Sunday in the same shop I go to on the weekends... I got Batman and Batman 1 Million!
Dice - I bought a lot of various dice, one with a side that has the Union Jack, another with a skull, one with just Good/Evil/Neutral on it and one double d10 (a bigger d10 that has a smaller d10 in it)...
I also bought a die with poop on it and green 9d10 for Seventh Attempt... it was funny, I bought them from Q-Workshop which I know is a Polish company, I noticed that the staff has Polish names on their T-shirts (Magda, Przemek) so when they asked me what I think of the dice, I replied in Polish, talked a bit and they gave me a poster for free!
as the convention was coming to an end, I started looking for my flatmate but he was nowhere to be found so me and my other friend (the one who is also in my group here in Brighton) went to catch the train. While on the Overground, this friend got a call from a guy who is part of his London group and was invited to come over to game... so I went with him and we played Magic The Gathering, had pizza and finished off with Ave Caesar (a chariot racing board game)... best thing is that this group consists of two couples and both wives are hot...
I returned home at 1am and woke up with a cold the next day... my parents came over in the morning, my mom made dinner while me and my dad struggled with assembling the bike I bought... then me, my parents and my flatmate had dinner... I translated the conversation between them... then me and my dad had some mock lightsaber fight photos taken of us... my mom had a glass of wine with the flatmate while me and my dad played House of the Dead Overkill on the Wii with the pistol thingies...
after the first game, my dad got used to the controller and it was suddenly very hard to beat him in point scoring...
we went to bed after the game... after breakfast my parents went to Sainsbury's to buy my mom lunch for when she'll be on the plane and she bought Cif so she can clean up the bathroom before leaving...
then we said our goodbyes...
Geist: The Sin-Eaters - I buy a White Wolf book every time I go to DragonMeet...
Hero System 6th Edition Volume 1 - the part with Character Creation rules, heavy book but I'm glad I bought it... I just like reading a book instead of a pdf... and I am running a superhero game using it...
Superiors 4: Rags to Riches - an In Nomine supplement detailing some Demon Princes, it was in the cheap stuff section, where I usually find out-of-print books...
War for the Throne - I normally buy an Exalted book this time of the year... but there weren't any so I got myself this Exalted boardgame... I'll play it this Saturday with my group...
a skull ring - it was cheaper than a pendant and I thought it's about time to wear rings... I'm also thinking of piercing my ear/s...
HeroClix - two booster sets since they were half-price and there are guys playing it on Sunday in the same shop I go to on the weekends... I got Batman and Batman 1 Million!
Dice - I bought a lot of various dice, one with a side that has the Union Jack, another with a skull, one with just Good/Evil/Neutral on it and one double d10 (a bigger d10 that has a smaller d10 in it)...
I also bought a die with poop on it and green 9d10 for Seventh Attempt... it was funny, I bought them from Q-Workshop which I know is a Polish company, I noticed that the staff has Polish names on their T-shirts (Magda, Przemek) so when they asked me what I think of the dice, I replied in Polish, talked a bit and they gave me a poster for free!
as the convention was coming to an end, I started looking for my flatmate but he was nowhere to be found so me and my other friend (the one who is also in my group here in Brighton) went to catch the train. While on the Overground, this friend got a call from a guy who is part of his London group and was invited to come over to game... so I went with him and we played Magic The Gathering, had pizza and finished off with Ave Caesar (a chariot racing board game)... best thing is that this group consists of two couples and both wives are hot...
I returned home at 1am and woke up with a cold the next day... my parents came over in the morning, my mom made dinner while me and my dad struggled with assembling the bike I bought... then me, my parents and my flatmate had dinner... I translated the conversation between them... then me and my dad had some mock lightsaber fight photos taken of us... my mom had a glass of wine with the flatmate while me and my dad played House of the Dead Overkill on the Wii with the pistol thingies...
after the first game, my dad got used to the controller and it was suddenly very hard to beat him in point scoring...
we went to bed after the game... after breakfast my parents went to Sainsbury's to buy my mom lunch for when she'll be on the plane and she bought Cif so she can clean up the bathroom before leaving...
then we said our goodbyes...
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Ravage
so I just got another birthday present... this time from the United States courtesy of some Dane...
here the pictures of it, click on them for a larger version...
Transformers! Robots in Disguise!
Transformers! More than Meets the Eye!
The Autobots wage their war
to destroy the evil forces of
The Decepticons!
Transformers! Robots in Disguise!
Transformers! More than Meets the Eye!
yes, it's a USB flash drive of 2GB... most people say it's not much but it's the largest I ever had so I'm pretty happy with it... besides, I lost my previous one and now I finally have the means to take my files with me!
here is the package of Ravage himself... naturally, being a cat Ravage is the coolest Decepticon there is!
the package has a lot of Kanji... I didn't expect that from a store situated in the United States but I guess it's just one of those things...
Finally... for a product this small... they really did send me a huge box... I expected it to be wrapped and put in my mailbox so I was fairly surprised when the postman delivered it to my door... but then, now I have a carton box to put stuff in...
Ravage also comes with an animation software. After installing it, every time the USB is plugged in, I have Ravage walk on my desktop and I can give him commands... like eat an icon!
I need to play with him some more :)
here the pictures of it, click on them for a larger version...
Transformers! Robots in Disguise!Transformers! More than Meets the Eye!
The Autobots wage their war
to destroy the evil forces of
The Decepticons!
Transformers! Robots in Disguise!
Transformers! More than Meets the Eye!
yes, it's a USB flash drive of 2GB... most people say it's not much but it's the largest I ever had so I'm pretty happy with it... besides, I lost my previous one and now I finally have the means to take my files with me!
here is the package of Ravage himself... naturally, being a cat Ravage is the coolest Decepticon there is!the package has a lot of Kanji... I didn't expect that from a store situated in the United States but I guess it's just one of those things...
Finally... for a product this small... they really did send me a huge box... I expected it to be wrapped and put in my mailbox so I was fairly surprised when the postman delivered it to my door... but then, now I have a carton box to put stuff in...Ravage also comes with an animation software. After installing it, every time the USB is plugged in, I have Ravage walk on my desktop and I can give him commands... like eat an icon!
I need to play with him some more :)
Friday, 13 November 2009
Quotes
I do enjoy the quotes Qendi posts on his blog... so here are some of mine:
J1: So how do I knock someone unconscious in this system?
K: You knock them on the head
J2: I walk through the town and try to get a feeling for it
K: *scribbles down a note*
J2: *reads, looks at me* That bad?
M: You chew your way through into the building, there's a woman in the office you end up in and the door is closed. No matter what you do, you'll have to roll Dexterity + Stealth!
K: No matter what? Alright, I turn into a raven, fly up blocking the window and screech at the woman *rolls dice*, I got 1 success!
J1: So how do I knock someone unconscious in this system?
K: You knock them on the head
J2: I walk through the town and try to get a feeling for it
K: *scribbles down a note*
J2: *reads, looks at me* That bad?
M: You chew your way through into the building, there's a woman in the office you end up in and the door is closed. No matter what you do, you'll have to roll Dexterity + Stealth!
K: No matter what? Alright, I turn into a raven, fly up blocking the window and screech at the woman *rolls dice*, I got 1 success!
Friday, 21 August 2009
Adulthoodery
Growing up has always been a strange concept to me. It is a process of change, at which end we become adults. Becoming an adult has always been an important part of society, even today we have rites of passage in form of high school finals. Matura is called the Adult Test and the fuss about it is at that level. A few months later, it's forgotten so I'm always unsure why we put such a big importance on being an adult and have this strange concept of what an adult is.
When we had a party in primary school, someone spilled a drink on my food and the teacher said I shouldn't worry because it all gets mixed in my stomach anyway. I find that explanation as unreasonable today as I did then.
I still hold true to the ideologies that I had then, ignoring all those voices telling me I was too young/stupid to hold any. In essence, the only thing that changed about me is that I can express myself better and learned new social tricks. There's very little change involved in growing up, most of it is learning the ability to manoeuvre in social environments and a lot of self-discovery. Yet we have this notion of child and adult, two opposing concepts defined by visual perceptions.
We see kids play with toys, they're into games, comics, lego, transformers, anime and all that weird stuff. Seeing kids being into all that we associate it with what a child is, then our obsession with a rite of passage tells us there is a line between an adult and a child, that you can only be one or the other. We end up with situation where if you have a collection of superhero figures on a shelf in your house, you're acting childish. The only way to be an adult in that mindset is to leave those things behind and to offer yourself to work, paying bills and watching the news. It is irrelevant that having that collection doesn't immediately mean a person doesn't do any of those adult things, that the childish replaces the adult.
A child has the connotation of innocence, adult doesn't. So maybe an adult doesn't like people acting like kids because in some subconscious flare of symbolic logic, he wants to drag them into his pit of sin. On the other hand, an adult is responsible, a child isn't. We would like to deal with responsible people, who stick to their word and think before they do or say anything. Yet the world is filled with irresponsible adults who are not into childish things.
"When will you finally grow up?" becomes a strange question. It's hard to reply without seeing misguidance in it. Sure, buying a toy is expensive but I hardly have the same level of expenses as someone who spends his disposable income on alcohol and cigarettes. Is it really better to not spend anything at all and just hole yourself up in work? There's still family that you can turn to instead of work but then, family is a very childish thing. An adult can live alone but a child has real problems doing the same.
I'm going to be a child for as long as I live because I care about you, because passion should not die with age and be replaced by normality, because seeing the wonders of the world and the mind is never boring, because playing with children is more fun than drinking with adults.
Because buying a toy for half price makes me smile for weeks to come...
When we had a party in primary school, someone spilled a drink on my food and the teacher said I shouldn't worry because it all gets mixed in my stomach anyway. I find that explanation as unreasonable today as I did then.
I still hold true to the ideologies that I had then, ignoring all those voices telling me I was too young/stupid to hold any. In essence, the only thing that changed about me is that I can express myself better and learned new social tricks. There's very little change involved in growing up, most of it is learning the ability to manoeuvre in social environments and a lot of self-discovery. Yet we have this notion of child and adult, two opposing concepts defined by visual perceptions.
We see kids play with toys, they're into games, comics, lego, transformers, anime and all that weird stuff. Seeing kids being into all that we associate it with what a child is, then our obsession with a rite of passage tells us there is a line between an adult and a child, that you can only be one or the other. We end up with situation where if you have a collection of superhero figures on a shelf in your house, you're acting childish. The only way to be an adult in that mindset is to leave those things behind and to offer yourself to work, paying bills and watching the news. It is irrelevant that having that collection doesn't immediately mean a person doesn't do any of those adult things, that the childish replaces the adult.
A child has the connotation of innocence, adult doesn't. So maybe an adult doesn't like people acting like kids because in some subconscious flare of symbolic logic, he wants to drag them into his pit of sin. On the other hand, an adult is responsible, a child isn't. We would like to deal with responsible people, who stick to their word and think before they do or say anything. Yet the world is filled with irresponsible adults who are not into childish things.
"When will you finally grow up?" becomes a strange question. It's hard to reply without seeing misguidance in it. Sure, buying a toy is expensive but I hardly have the same level of expenses as someone who spends his disposable income on alcohol and cigarettes. Is it really better to not spend anything at all and just hole yourself up in work? There's still family that you can turn to instead of work but then, family is a very childish thing. An adult can live alone but a child has real problems doing the same.
I'm going to be a child for as long as I live because I care about you, because passion should not die with age and be replaced by normality, because seeing the wonders of the world and the mind is never boring, because playing with children is more fun than drinking with adults.
Because buying a toy for half price makes me smile for weeks to come...
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
It's been so long...
I haven't posted in a while... mainly because at first I didn't have what to write about... at first... then everything blew out of proportion and I didn't have time to say anything...
After all the semester ending madness subsided, with me being sick for a week at the end and running madly to catch up... by the way, it is very unpleasant to have a rather nasty fever while there's a party downstairs... then I had a week to prepare myself for a journey to Poland.
I am too lazy to check if I said anything about it already but I am not going to apologise for repeating myself (my blog, I'll do whatever I want with it!): My dad had car issues and I had to deal with an insurance company, the repairs garage and the lack of communication between them. Later on I had to deal with the rental company too... and it all lasted a month at the end of which dad got a cheque (that had problems going to its destination) and a broken car so he had to buy a new one.
We were supposed to go to Poland by car but it broke down and couldn't be repairs so I had to buy myself a plane ticket and repack everything in my possession for that trip since my landlord decided he will be painting the house. That was not a nice day to have. At least I managed to buy cool toys for my little Siths :D
and then we had one week with parents, which was okay and then a week without parents, at the end of which I went to a con in Warsaw... I'll have the report posted soon enough with some seminar reviews/reports/stuff... naturally, I spent some time with Vegael, watching films and hanging out... he can still be annoying but he got me a really cool external hard-drive full of anime so I won't stab him... for now... oh... and he was happier about getting Darkly Dreaming Dexter than I expected...
In the recent weeks I spent a lot of time with the Godmother of my oldest Sith Apprentice. She's a fun gal and we hanged out in town, the streets, the malls, the parks... we even saw Terminator Salvation together... and I cried, it was such a moving film... I'm a terrible wuss...
Last time we were out together some drunk guy wanted money from us... even though we refused, he kept following us until he grabbed her by the arm... and I had to be MANLY... apparently, my manliness causes people to give up... then we went to eat some kebab... and I had a chuckle when she ordered a kebab without kebab...
Other than that, I borrowed a book on Shamanism and Hungarians from Książnica Podlaska's director... my poetry book is starting to look like reality, finally... I will have a print run of 300 copies.
I regained the ability to use maps in my online games... which makes combat all the more enjoyable... I like it when players have to decide between a Move and a Dash, who to attack and where to place themselves from tick to tick...
I might be running yet another Exalted game though this time it will not be on RPoL and it will involve different things from player characters... seduction and torture will be a more viable part of it than in United We Stand...
First episode of mine and Daniel's podcast... where we topple how to make a campaign using one of mine as an example (Saint Christopher's Orphanage for Lost Children!)... has been recorded... four more to go and we'll be looking at releasing them to the public...
and I think that's all... I better go write some emails to people... oh... and I might put something on DeviantArt... some character fiction at least...
After all the semester ending madness subsided, with me being sick for a week at the end and running madly to catch up... by the way, it is very unpleasant to have a rather nasty fever while there's a party downstairs... then I had a week to prepare myself for a journey to Poland.
I am too lazy to check if I said anything about it already but I am not going to apologise for repeating myself (my blog, I'll do whatever I want with it!): My dad had car issues and I had to deal with an insurance company, the repairs garage and the lack of communication between them. Later on I had to deal with the rental company too... and it all lasted a month at the end of which dad got a cheque (that had problems going to its destination) and a broken car so he had to buy a new one.
We were supposed to go to Poland by car but it broke down and couldn't be repairs so I had to buy myself a plane ticket and repack everything in my possession for that trip since my landlord decided he will be painting the house. That was not a nice day to have. At least I managed to buy cool toys for my little Siths :D
and then we had one week with parents, which was okay and then a week without parents, at the end of which I went to a con in Warsaw... I'll have the report posted soon enough with some seminar reviews/reports/stuff... naturally, I spent some time with Vegael, watching films and hanging out... he can still be annoying but he got me a really cool external hard-drive full of anime so I won't stab him... for now... oh... and he was happier about getting Darkly Dreaming Dexter than I expected...
In the recent weeks I spent a lot of time with the Godmother of my oldest Sith Apprentice. She's a fun gal and we hanged out in town, the streets, the malls, the parks... we even saw Terminator Salvation together... and I cried, it was such a moving film... I'm a terrible wuss...
Last time we were out together some drunk guy wanted money from us... even though we refused, he kept following us until he grabbed her by the arm... and I had to be MANLY... apparently, my manliness causes people to give up... then we went to eat some kebab... and I had a chuckle when she ordered a kebab without kebab...
Other than that, I borrowed a book on Shamanism and Hungarians from Książnica Podlaska's director... my poetry book is starting to look like reality, finally... I will have a print run of 300 copies.
I regained the ability to use maps in my online games... which makes combat all the more enjoyable... I like it when players have to decide between a Move and a Dash, who to attack and where to place themselves from tick to tick...
I might be running yet another Exalted game though this time it will not be on RPoL and it will involve different things from player characters... seduction and torture will be a more viable part of it than in United We Stand...
First episode of mine and Daniel's podcast... where we topple how to make a campaign using one of mine as an example (Saint Christopher's Orphanage for Lost Children!)... has been recorded... four more to go and we'll be looking at releasing them to the public...
and I think that's all... I better go write some emails to people... oh... and I might put something on DeviantArt... some character fiction at least...
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
I sit here... thinking of getting tea... pondering if it's wise to have tea knowing I just brushed my teeth... is there meaning to sipping a cup of hot tea filled with sugar to keep my eyes open as I stare into the empty soul of the internet void... that black pit filled with all manner of nastiness... among them this very post...
the stars tell me to drink tea...
the dice tell me to drink tea...
your mom tells me to drink tea...
and yet... I fear to give in to Fate... as it is an evil mistress...
on the other hand... mischief is right next to angst when it comes to my personality traits...
ah, my personality traits... how I love watching them fight in a battle royale in my mindscape...
I end up having a lot of fun thoughts that way...
alas, lately I was too busy calling insurance, repair garage and car rental to get into the appropriate mindset to do anything else... my essay isn't going so well either...
maybe I finish the draft tomorrow... or maybe I won't...
I still find it hard to relax... I can't seem to get into the mindset of just letting time go by... it all has to be on schedule and according to a plan that I myself can't keep up with because my expectations towards myself are inhuman...
yes... I better get some of that tea...
the stars tell me to drink tea...
the dice tell me to drink tea...
your mom tells me to drink tea...
and yet... I fear to give in to Fate... as it is an evil mistress...
on the other hand... mischief is right next to angst when it comes to my personality traits...
ah, my personality traits... how I love watching them fight in a battle royale in my mindscape...
I end up having a lot of fun thoughts that way...
alas, lately I was too busy calling insurance, repair garage and car rental to get into the appropriate mindset to do anything else... my essay isn't going so well either...
maybe I finish the draft tomorrow... or maybe I won't...
I still find it hard to relax... I can't seem to get into the mindset of just letting time go by... it all has to be on schedule and according to a plan that I myself can't keep up with because my expectations towards myself are inhuman...
yes... I better get some of that tea...
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
I haven't made a proper entry in ages... partly because I spent the time moving posts from Livejournal to this place... and partly because I'm trying to stop posting how negative I feel about absolutely everything...
so without making this post deeply philosophical and negative, let's have a look at what's buzzing in my head
I started to regularly play on Saturdays. The games alternate between Scion run by me (The Stoicheion Pentagram) and In Nomine not run by me. Same group for both, the GM of In Nomine is a cool guy, like the rest of the group... it's a relaxing experience and it actually gives me energy to be more productive during the week... strange...
I'm writing up a play report from those Scion sessions, which goes very slowly. Especially this week when I have to deal with writing a literature review for Higher Education...
The research projects aren't going too bad, even though I keep hitting myself on the head for not making more progress than I'm doing. I keep feeling like if I were to stop being lazy, I would have it all done by now... even though the due dates are in June... but that's me being me...
United We Stand goes well. We had a rough patch earlier this month but it seems like we prevailed, once again. I'm really proud of that game... I even make a wiki for it on Obsidian Portal and put there what I had in my notes. It's not much but I hope my players will contribute, it's a wiki, right? I'm summarising the threads and building up a network for the wiki pages but it's going even slower than The Stoicheion Pentagram.
Another thing that I'm working on is making posts for Alea Iacta Est. How fast am I making them? The last post, about 700 words, I wrote up in two weeks... and I can type fast... funnily enough, since I posted a link to the Blog Carnival, my traffic went up to 21 views yesterday... I have some other posts saved in drafts, only one is finished and it's really short...
including the super secret project (which had a little setback that the Team is trying to destroy), it may seem like I am focusing too much on roleplaying related stuff... I don't think so, most of my time is still spent studying... I just don't feel any confidence in my research projects... I might be even focusing too much on one project at the expense of my other two...
My heart really isn't in studying right now. I don't know why, I never felt this down about it in my life... I'm sure I get over it, I'll read and write what I'm supposed to and get whatever grades I get... it's just the next step that's really scary...
There's a DnD 4th Edition day tomorrow at the Roleplaying Club I go to... now I'm wondering if I should go... I just don't feel like I deserve it...
Will I ever stop being this much of a workaholic? Unlikely...
Will I ever stop being such a wuss and cry-baby? Even less likely...
so without making this post deeply philosophical and negative, let's have a look at what's buzzing in my head
I started to regularly play on Saturdays. The games alternate between Scion run by me (The Stoicheion Pentagram) and In Nomine not run by me. Same group for both, the GM of In Nomine is a cool guy, like the rest of the group... it's a relaxing experience and it actually gives me energy to be more productive during the week... strange...
I'm writing up a play report from those Scion sessions, which goes very slowly. Especially this week when I have to deal with writing a literature review for Higher Education...
The research projects aren't going too bad, even though I keep hitting myself on the head for not making more progress than I'm doing. I keep feeling like if I were to stop being lazy, I would have it all done by now... even though the due dates are in June... but that's me being me...
United We Stand goes well. We had a rough patch earlier this month but it seems like we prevailed, once again. I'm really proud of that game... I even make a wiki for it on Obsidian Portal and put there what I had in my notes. It's not much but I hope my players will contribute, it's a wiki, right? I'm summarising the threads and building up a network for the wiki pages but it's going even slower than The Stoicheion Pentagram.
Another thing that I'm working on is making posts for Alea Iacta Est. How fast am I making them? The last post, about 700 words, I wrote up in two weeks... and I can type fast... funnily enough, since I posted a link to the Blog Carnival, my traffic went up to 21 views yesterday... I have some other posts saved in drafts, only one is finished and it's really short...
including the super secret project (which had a little setback that the Team is trying to destroy), it may seem like I am focusing too much on roleplaying related stuff... I don't think so, most of my time is still spent studying... I just don't feel any confidence in my research projects... I might be even focusing too much on one project at the expense of my other two...
My heart really isn't in studying right now. I don't know why, I never felt this down about it in my life... I'm sure I get over it, I'll read and write what I'm supposed to and get whatever grades I get... it's just the next step that's really scary...
There's a DnD 4th Edition day tomorrow at the Roleplaying Club I go to... now I'm wondering if I should go... I just don't feel like I deserve it...
Will I ever stop being this much of a workaholic? Unlikely...
Will I ever stop being such a wuss and cry-baby? Even less likely...
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Scion Quotes
"How big is this Tiamat?"
"Taking into account that after defeating her, Marduk split her in half and created the Earth and Sky from those two halves, I presume she's very, very big."
"Okay, the wind is so strong that it might pick you up. Roll Stamina+Fortitude to resist... okay, you're starting to float into the sandstorm."
"I grab her hand!"
"You got yourself a human balloon."
"Physics don't work like that."
"Physics doesn't apply to me because I'm Awesome!"
"But if he throws the lion at the griffin which is holding you up in the air, both Titanspawn will end up on top of you!"
"I can take it, I have fucking Endurance!"
"Taking into account that after defeating her, Marduk split her in half and created the Earth and Sky from those two halves, I presume she's very, very big."
"Okay, the wind is so strong that it might pick you up. Roll Stamina+Fortitude to resist... okay, you're starting to float into the sandstorm."
"I grab her hand!"
"You got yourself a human balloon."
"Physics don't work like that."
"Physics doesn't apply to me because I'm Awesome!"
"But if he throws the lion at the griffin which is holding you up in the air, both Titanspawn will end up on top of you!"
"I can take it, I have fucking Endurance!"
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
BookMooch is cool
I have just received my first book from BookMooch. It's the first book in the Victoria Nelson series Blood Price and I wanted to check it out since watching Blood Ties... it came from Germany... I wasn't sure if I'd like BookMooch that much since I enjoy having books on my shelf but now at least I have a way to get rid of unwanted books without destroying them... too bad the site isn't so good when it comes to grabbing popular titles... nor is it that good when you're not from the United States but that's nothing new on the internet...
Since we're on the subject of books... apparently, having a book on twentieth century short stories means I might be interested in cookbooks...
Since we're on the subject of books... apparently, having a book on twentieth century short stories means I might be interested in cookbooks...
Friday, 20 February 2009
Mercy and Justice
In Victorian London, two lovers were to be given to different spouses. They could not bare the thought so thy ran away together to the east side. On their first night, the two fools were robbed and the young woman raped. Thus began her slow descent into madness, she began to see her assailant everywhere, her life was a series of wailing, shaking in terror and sleeping from exhaustion. The young man tried to calm her down, searched for a job and found an urge in himself to find the man who robbed them. There was another threat he had to fight with, the neighbours demanding his love were to be given to a mental institution.
Years later, they went to America but instead of finding the American Dream, they found an economic depression. The fact that they neither aged nor died was not lost on them but they were happy to have more time together. The young woman finally free from the madness after the young man found and killed her attacker after all these years. Now they would kill together, she those who craved for the release of death, he those who were judged not to be worthy of walking among the living.
They had their questions; why nothing could kill them? why no one could find them? why did they roam the streets like ghosts?
One day they descented to the underworld. They saw the miserable, the sufferers, the unfaithful, the wrathful, the treacherous and the murderers. The more they walked in, the better this place felt, they were lords in their own domain. In the great city they found their answers when brought before their Godmother and Godfather. They told them thus:
"All that is alive must die. Sometimes the living beg for more time but to create that time it needs to be taken from others. We offered your parents a deal, we would give them the life time of their unborn children. You were born but you were never alive and so you will never die. This is not the first time and not the last. Humanity is growing and we are no longer able to act as the angels of death for all of it. You will share our burden. One for mercy, One for justice."
They agreed... but not everyone did. Years later they would meet those who could not stand this. The deal, they said, was unnatural and against the laws set forth by the universe. The rogue faction searched for allies to wage war on Lord and Lady Death, soon the young lovers would need to take a stand like all the pairs before them did.
Years later, they went to America but instead of finding the American Dream, they found an economic depression. The fact that they neither aged nor died was not lost on them but they were happy to have more time together. The young woman finally free from the madness after the young man found and killed her attacker after all these years. Now they would kill together, she those who craved for the release of death, he those who were judged not to be worthy of walking among the living.
They had their questions; why nothing could kill them? why no one could find them? why did they roam the streets like ghosts?
One day they descented to the underworld. They saw the miserable, the sufferers, the unfaithful, the wrathful, the treacherous and the murderers. The more they walked in, the better this place felt, they were lords in their own domain. In the great city they found their answers when brought before their Godmother and Godfather. They told them thus:
"All that is alive must die. Sometimes the living beg for more time but to create that time it needs to be taken from others. We offered your parents a deal, we would give them the life time of their unborn children. You were born but you were never alive and so you will never die. This is not the first time and not the last. Humanity is growing and we are no longer able to act as the angels of death for all of it. You will share our burden. One for mercy, One for justice."
They agreed... but not everyone did. Years later they would meet those who could not stand this. The deal, they said, was unnatural and against the laws set forth by the universe. The rogue faction searched for allies to wage war on Lord and Lady Death, soon the young lovers would need to take a stand like all the pairs before them did.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Working Weekend is Free
A while ago my dad asked me about one thing in relation to work.
As some of you may (or may not) know, my dad works as a lorry driver. Every other week, he drives off on Friday to make a delivery and returns to base on a Saturday because it's such a long trip from point A to B. Apparently, his employer now tells him that working four hours on a Saturday isn't work so he won't be paid for driving back to base on the weekend. The matter could be resolved simply by not working on Saturday but the situation is such that if he doesn't, he'll be spending the weekend in the lorry...
So he asked me to find out if this is even legal for an employer to do...
As some of you may (or may not) know, my dad works as a lorry driver. Every other week, he drives off on Friday to make a delivery and returns to base on a Saturday because it's such a long trip from point A to B. Apparently, his employer now tells him that working four hours on a Saturday isn't work so he won't be paid for driving back to base on the weekend. The matter could be resolved simply by not working on Saturday but the situation is such that if he doesn't, he'll be spending the weekend in the lorry...
So he asked me to find out if this is even legal for an employer to do...
Thursday, 12 February 2009
The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic is a very misleading title for this film. It is based not on the first Discworld book by Terry Pratchett but on the two first. The Light Fantastic is encompassed by the second part of the film which bares the same title. As such, the film varies from the book in that it meshes the two plots together... or rather, one plot, since as Pratchett says himself, the first book is just a series of funny stories.Funny stories they are. Thieves, assassins, imaginary dragons, giant stone trolls, magic swords stuck in stones, treacherous and power hungry wizards, heroic barbarians. Epic plot to save the world included. We're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?
The Colour of Magic begins with the meeting of Rincewind and Twoflower. The first a failed wizard, expelled from Unseen University due to his inability to learn any spell. The latter is the first tourist, not knowing the value of his gold and a romantic optimist seeking adventure from his mundane insurance clerk job. The Luggage, a walking box with homicidal loyalty towards the tourist seems to be another character in this group, later joined by Cohen The Barbarian, the eighty year old retired Greatest Hero of the Discworld.
The film is very well made, much more interesting than the books it was based on. The characters are interesting and parodies of certain fantasy tropes. However, like with all parodies, it is hard to enjoy them if you don't know the references used. There are visual and audio jokes within and at least a few puns.
What else can I say? I'm too impressed to find much fault in it. I keep having flashes of the humorous parts and they were many of them, this is not to say that the film lacked cohesion. Far from it, using the plot of The Light Fantastic to create a plot throughout two parts proved a very good move, even though some scenes from the Colour of Magic couldn't be included in order to create new scenes with Trymon, the main villain of the film.
Lastly, I can say that to understand the film, you don't have to have read the book. I didn't read it before watching this and I still feel it's a film worth watching.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Idea: +Exposition
I once again had a very strange idea...
I started making summaries of United We Stand threads. I haven't done them in a while but that's beside the point. Those summaries are based on a very simple assumption: the reader knows Exalted. That assumption is a result of playing a roleplaying game. We familiarise ourselves with the game world, make characters that fit into that world and run with it. An outside reader thus can't make sense of what is happening because there is no exposition within the game (and the summaries)... my crazy idea is: what if I were to add that exposition in the process of editing the threads instead of making summaries!
That would take a lot of work. I most likely would have to add NPC scenes that the players weren't aware of but that is more of a plus side, added content is always fun...
Editing them in such a way would also enable non-Exalted readers to familiarise themselves with the setting, or at least the part we are using, and I could show it off to people who aren't into Exalted or just didn't read the book...
It would be a massive undertaking... it would take me months to finish... but it would be worth it... I must ponder this further...
I started making summaries of United We Stand threads. I haven't done them in a while but that's beside the point. Those summaries are based on a very simple assumption: the reader knows Exalted. That assumption is a result of playing a roleplaying game. We familiarise ourselves with the game world, make characters that fit into that world and run with it. An outside reader thus can't make sense of what is happening because there is no exposition within the game (and the summaries)... my crazy idea is: what if I were to add that exposition in the process of editing the threads instead of making summaries!
That would take a lot of work. I most likely would have to add NPC scenes that the players weren't aware of but that is more of a plus side, added content is always fun...
Editing them in such a way would also enable non-Exalted readers to familiarise themselves with the setting, or at least the part we are using, and I could show it off to people who aren't into Exalted or just didn't read the book...
It would be a massive undertaking... it would take me months to finish... but it would be worth it... I must ponder this further...
Monday, 2 February 2009
Fly Away
Two brothers are saying goodbye to their friend. He is going on an assassination mission, they wish him no death.
The black car is driving away, they start to run home, their dog with them. As they run through an empty street in the middle of the city, they spread their arms and make childish noises of engines. A moment later their feet stop touching the ground. They fly away, like air planes, they become air planes. The two fighter jets make complicated manoeuvres when they stop a public transport plane. They come closer and land on it. Their maws open, they eat the plane with the people inside and their friend amongst them.
The black car is driving away, they start to run home, their dog with them. As they run through an empty street in the middle of the city, they spread their arms and make childish noises of engines. A moment later their feet stop touching the ground. They fly away, like air planes, they become air planes. The two fighter jets make complicated manoeuvres when they stop a public transport plane. They come closer and land on it. Their maws open, they eat the plane with the people inside and their friend amongst them.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
I'm such a Geek
I don't know why I had an urge to go out and buy a trade today. I haven't bought any in months so that's probably why. I was a bit annoyed that Amazon didn't had the third volume of Y The Last Man but I took this as a perfect opportunity to support the local comic book shop. Unfortunately, they did not have a copy either. Since I don't like to go back empty handed, I left them my money in exchange for Scott Pilgrim versus the World.
Afterwards I was still not satisfied. I went to WH Smith knowing that there is a very slim chance that I might find that book in their badly organised graphic novel shelve. As I go downstairs, wondering what I'm wasting my time for, my eyes lay upon the shelve and the first thing I see is the exact same book I came here to buy! I was so overjoyed... I also bought Focus, because I haven't read any popular science magazine in ages...
I rarely have days like this...
Did you think this is the end? Of course not... I went shopping because I needed to get some things into my fridge. While getting various dead things into my basket, I noticed they offered the Collector's Edition of Men In Black for £3... so I bought it too.
One of these days when everything just has to go right...
Afterwards I was still not satisfied. I went to WH Smith knowing that there is a very slim chance that I might find that book in their badly organised graphic novel shelve. As I go downstairs, wondering what I'm wasting my time for, my eyes lay upon the shelve and the first thing I see is the exact same book I came here to buy! I was so overjoyed... I also bought Focus, because I haven't read any popular science magazine in ages...
I rarely have days like this...
Did you think this is the end? Of course not... I went shopping because I needed to get some things into my fridge. While getting various dead things into my basket, I noticed they offered the Collector's Edition of Men In Black for £3... so I bought it too.
One of these days when everything just has to go right...
Friday, 16 January 2009
Justice
Deep in the woods a strange scene occurred. A car was being held in place by two rows of people holding its back and front even though the driver kept on trying to get out of this place. Finally, the people couldn't hold it any longer and they found themselves under the vehicle's wheels. The driver drove all over them, making sure they were all dead.
This has been noted by a distinguished detective who upon witnessing the mass murder, went up to the car and knocked on the car's window. When no reply came, he smashed the window open, grabbed the drivers tie and tied him up beneath the chassis. Whilst the culprit was screaming for mercy and out of fear of being dropped under a raging car, the detective took him to the police station in town.
After reaching the parking lot, he told him with a smile he needs to pay for his crimes and so they politely went to see a police officer who would pass judgement on the poor fellow.
This has been noted by a distinguished detective who upon witnessing the mass murder, went up to the car and knocked on the car's window. When no reply came, he smashed the window open, grabbed the drivers tie and tied him up beneath the chassis. Whilst the culprit was screaming for mercy and out of fear of being dropped under a raging car, the detective took him to the police station in town.
After reaching the parking lot, he told him with a smile he needs to pay for his crimes and so they politely went to see a police officer who would pass judgement on the poor fellow.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
World War 2 Superheroics with Mom!
I wake up and go to brush my teeth. Meanwhile, the radio station is broadcasting how the nazi planes are bombing poor Norway! I keep on brushing my teeth a little bit faster when my mom jumps into the bathroom.
"There's an attack on Norway," she says. "You better get going."
"I know mom," I finish off the teeth cleaning. "I won't be long, a few more bombs won't make a difference."
"I certainly hope so!"
"Have you seen my costume?" I ask after getting back to my room. "I can't find it anywhere."
"Have you checked the drawer?" she shouts from the kitchen.
"Yes," I reply. "I did, it's not there."
After a while of scrambling I find it and get it on, when I'm about to leave through the front door, mom catches up with me.
"Oh and can you take this to your uncle while you're there," she gives me a bag of cake from the smell of it.
"Yes, I can but I need to be going," I'm starting to get a little worried. "They probably burned half the country already."
"Oh, you're such a big boy, I'm so proud of you," she hugs me. "Just like your father!"
"Can I go now?" she releases the hold she has on me.
"Just don't make too much property damage, and watch out for loose scrap metal, and don't get your cape torn, and don't forget the bullets flying."
"Yes mom, it's not the first time," I say as I fly away into the raging sky.
"There's an attack on Norway," she says. "You better get going."
"I know mom," I finish off the teeth cleaning. "I won't be long, a few more bombs won't make a difference."
"I certainly hope so!"
"Have you seen my costume?" I ask after getting back to my room. "I can't find it anywhere."
"Have you checked the drawer?" she shouts from the kitchen.
"Yes," I reply. "I did, it's not there."
After a while of scrambling I find it and get it on, when I'm about to leave through the front door, mom catches up with me.
"Oh and can you take this to your uncle while you're there," she gives me a bag of cake from the smell of it.
"Yes, I can but I need to be going," I'm starting to get a little worried. "They probably burned half the country already."
"Oh, you're such a big boy, I'm so proud of you," she hugs me. "Just like your father!"
"Can I go now?" she releases the hold she has on me.
"Just don't make too much property damage, and watch out for loose scrap metal, and don't get your cape torn, and don't forget the bullets flying."
"Yes mom, it's not the first time," I say as I fly away into the raging sky.
New Year Resolutions
Since everyone and their mom thinks New Year Resolutions are a waste of time and never work, I thought I might give them a try.
Be more of a jerk
Deoq once said that I suffer from an ailment of being too nice. Before that, my doctors always said I need to be more egoistic. I never really took my tendency to think about the other person before myself as a bad thing. Recent years proved me wrong (happens more often than I don't care to admit), I'm just being taken advantage of and abused as I don't want conflict to complicate my life. This needs to end, I have to change my attitude. Malice is not hard, I just need to find a balance that works.
Cease activity on the Polish side of the internet
RPG.net has this saying: no game is better than a bad game. This can be easily translated to other walks of life as: not doing something is better than doing something that only causes you frustration. There's really no point in me engaging in an activity that only turn out is bashing my head on the wall out of sheer frustration on how things are.
Get a BA
My final year and I'm writing up a blog post instead of studying? Who does that?! Me, of course.
Learn some prayers
Already started learning one really long one. Maybe I'll be done with it by the end of the year... or maybe not. I can't really call myself orthodox if I don't pray, right?
Read more
I've put an hour in my schedule just to read. It's working, I'm reading. I want to get rid of the pile of books to be read. I probably won't make much progress until I get out of university and into the scary wide world of doom. I'm making progress in getting through the 105 books I own which is a good thing!
Send a story to some magazines
While most of my ideas are best served in novel format (what can I say, I like complexity), I have an idea for a short story now and then. I've never tried sending it to any magazines for publication, there are some bits I don't like about publishing but I can't use my idealism as an excuse all the time. I made preliminary research, now I just have to edit the story I have and send it to as much places I can.
Start jogging
I wanted to start working on my body for a while now. I had an epiphany recently, it often happens I have trouble sleeping, I just wake up very early in the morning. I'm a morning person I guess. I'll use this ability of mine to wake up early and start the day with a run. I find it hard to imagine there will be a lot of people at 5-6 AM and a bit of time alone with the world would do me good. Although, I think I might start a bit later in the year. Catching a cold now would only complicate things.
Write Stuff
I promised to write a couple of things for MrGone, Calliope, Seven and Alther to read. I've been putting it off because I prioritised my studies higher than those things and it's been slowly eating me up. I really don't like breaking promises, and while technically I didn't break anything since there was no deadline involved, I still feel bad about it. There's also Class Deceased, the novel I started a year ago, which didn't get any progress at all. I Should Be Writing had a very good point in saying that it doesn't matter if you write 5 words or 1000 words a day, a week or a month, it's more than nothing. I don't think that was the exact wording, but you get my meaning. As such, I won't care how much or what, I'll just write whenever I'll get the chance.
Be more of a jerk
Deoq once said that I suffer from an ailment of being too nice. Before that, my doctors always said I need to be more egoistic. I never really took my tendency to think about the other person before myself as a bad thing. Recent years proved me wrong (happens more often than I don't care to admit), I'm just being taken advantage of and abused as I don't want conflict to complicate my life. This needs to end, I have to change my attitude. Malice is not hard, I just need to find a balance that works.
Cease activity on the Polish side of the internet
RPG.net has this saying: no game is better than a bad game. This can be easily translated to other walks of life as: not doing something is better than doing something that only causes you frustration. There's really no point in me engaging in an activity that only turn out is bashing my head on the wall out of sheer frustration on how things are.
Get a BA
My final year and I'm writing up a blog post instead of studying? Who does that?! Me, of course.
Learn some prayers
Already started learning one really long one. Maybe I'll be done with it by the end of the year... or maybe not. I can't really call myself orthodox if I don't pray, right?
Read more
I've put an hour in my schedule just to read. It's working, I'm reading. I want to get rid of the pile of books to be read. I probably won't make much progress until I get out of university and into the scary wide world of doom. I'm making progress in getting through the 105 books I own which is a good thing!
Send a story to some magazines
While most of my ideas are best served in novel format (what can I say, I like complexity), I have an idea for a short story now and then. I've never tried sending it to any magazines for publication, there are some bits I don't like about publishing but I can't use my idealism as an excuse all the time. I made preliminary research, now I just have to edit the story I have and send it to as much places I can.
Start jogging
I wanted to start working on my body for a while now. I had an epiphany recently, it often happens I have trouble sleeping, I just wake up very early in the morning. I'm a morning person I guess. I'll use this ability of mine to wake up early and start the day with a run. I find it hard to imagine there will be a lot of people at 5-6 AM and a bit of time alone with the world would do me good. Although, I think I might start a bit later in the year. Catching a cold now would only complicate things.
Write Stuff
I promised to write a couple of things for MrGone, Calliope, Seven and Alther to read. I've been putting it off because I prioritised my studies higher than those things and it's been slowly eating me up. I really don't like breaking promises, and while technically I didn't break anything since there was no deadline involved, I still feel bad about it. There's also Class Deceased, the novel I started a year ago, which didn't get any progress at all. I Should Be Writing had a very good point in saying that it doesn't matter if you write 5 words or 1000 words a day, a week or a month, it's more than nothing. I don't think that was the exact wording, but you get my meaning. As such, I won't care how much or what, I'll just write whenever I'll get the chance.
Saturday, 10 January 2009
This is Life
I just came back from the Wench.
I had a really great day. We talked, watched Sweeney Todd and had a pizza. I also did some shopping meaning I acquired sustenance and didn't spend any hours that I would use for essay writing.
Sirus recognised me, hoops were had!!!
Love the cats, as always!
I also had the pleasure to add a couple sociology books to my humble library and I got a present from Ash... which really surprised me to the extent I had no idea what has just occurred.
I need to have more days like this one...
I had a really great day. We talked, watched Sweeney Todd and had a pizza. I also did some shopping meaning I acquired sustenance and didn't spend any hours that I would use for essay writing.
Sirus recognised me, hoops were had!!!
Love the cats, as always!
I also had the pleasure to add a couple sociology books to my humble library and I got a present from Ash... which really surprised me to the extent I had no idea what has just occurred.
I need to have more days like this one...
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