Journal of No. 118

Here are the two funny entries from Fark's photoshop contest on D&D in real life.
Mapquest
Bush
This will not stop many of you from looking at the whole thread.

Independence Day went off as well as could be expected. No one vomited, no one had to be confined to the garage and no zombie hordes were heard from. For once, I can look like I have all sorts of LJ-friends who are a big part of my life -- among the partygoers were aaronjv, mayxbo5, ladyeuthanasia, n0t2shabby, the_undertow, tardpenguin, and syrinis. But of course there were many more in attendance.

I ate a lot of meat, drank a lot of everything & tried to keep everything running smoothly, which (as usual) means that I didn't have a lot of time to talk to people. Had lots of fun with the fireworks, even if Aaron kept asking me to jump through the sparks until he got a decent picture.

Speaking of pictures, my lame pictures are on printroom.

Sunday, we went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. I expected to see a lot of the things that I've been pissed off about regarding the Bush Administration. I didn't expect to cry like a baby every half hour or so. Obviously, it would be hard to deal with 9/11 and the war in Iraq in a way that would leave you feeling calm and placid, but that's some seriously powerful and terrible shit.

Sunday night, we watched the neighbors' fireworks shows. None of this safe and sane crap. We were basically surrounded by people setting off illegal fireworks. It was pretty neat and it went on for hours. I couldn't believe how many people were out there firing things off up into the sky.

Okay, that's all for now. Time to do some more lazing about.

If you're curious. They didn't come out as well as I might like, but you can get the idea, anyway.

Yesterday, someone tried to break into our house. When I came home, I found the bathroom window screen had been taken off, the window opened and the blinds up. From the dust on the sill, it looks like he never made it inside. Nothing seems to be missing.

Later, we discovered that some of the many single black ladies across the street scoped out a couple guys in a black car who were checking out our place. They intrepidly snooped around and found that the car had no license plate. By this time, the menfolk noticed the womenfolk and everyone left.

I talked to Abraham at the gas station, but he didn't see anything. I called the police and a couple minuscule (but fit) officers came by. I feared the response would be similar to: "Leads? Yeah sure, all just check with the boys down at the crime lab. They've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts."

I was right, but fortunately, there was far less sarcasm involved. Now we're looking into window bars and a roof mounted gatling gun.

And now....

Pirates!

Here's me and my hand-picked crew of hot female pirates. Vengeance has already blooded her cutlass.

After many victorious battles, here's me with my larger crew, mincing at the rudder of my craft, the Lancet.

Here's my original aftergame notes from Arrrrr! More Pirates

Yesterday, we got up early and made the weekly new-homeowner trip to Home Depot. It was time to get medieval on more of the plant matter in the yard. Rebecca chose longhandled pruning shears. Useful not only for clipping off inch-and-a-half thick branches and roots, but also for taking off fingers, so a medical examiner can't identify the bodies. Not that I would know that. Anyway, for my weapon, I chose the Black and Decker electric hedge clippers -- 2.4 amps of vegetation chewing current.
Rebecca did quite a number on one of the beds by the garage. The rosebush was cut back and all the other greenery was completely felled. A scorched earth policy, so now there's a mostly clean slate on which to start over. With some help from Rebecca, I attacked the hedge in front that borders the alley. Like most things at our place, it's terribly overgrown, and leaned way out into the alley. It didn't obstruct traffic, but it was pretty hairy. It was also growing upwards, with many little shoots flying up well over my head. I spent a fair amount of time carving it into something more manageable and respectable. Ah, how I love watching leaves and stems and branches flying through the air, and the heady smell of the sap that oozes from the severed limbs. The efficiency of power tools resulted in a situation where we had entirely filled up our trash can with plant matter by 9:30 AM. Usually, it takes us til noon to lay waste to that much vegetation.
( Cyberpunk LARP )

Pics of San Jose. Mostly relatives, with a couple pics of the Rosicrucian Museum (no pics allowed inside, sadly)

Things seen on a recent lunch-walk from work.

Thanksgiving morning, we took a little walk down along Ballona Creek for a ways. A few holiday-cheer-filled joggers and bikers, mostly in the 60-80 age range. There were lots of birds trying to make a living out of a big concrete channel. Gulls of course, but also dozens of ducks, and a couple white herons as well. The 'random' album on Printroom has a nice picture of the reflection off the water.
Late morning was spent chopping vegetables to take to Thanksgiving. Drove to Dad's and had a festive time there. A good meal and some good conversation. Dad's birthday was the 26th, so we had cake as well. I brought along a bottle of The Glenlivet for his birthday.
We took a hike up to Grizzly Flats this morning. Not a hike we'll ever need to do again, I think. The trail was poorly marked. Much of it was so overgrown that you had to push your way through the scratchy branches that encroached on both sides.
The trail crossed the creek a few times and then headed up the steep hillside. Lots of switchbacks take you up, and the views were not quite as good as one would hope, given the effort that was going into it.
Finally, you reach your destination, Grizzly Flats, and wonder -- Is that it? I climbed up a mountain to discover the amazing fact that it gets flat at the top, before heading back down again? Anyway, Grizzly Flats gets its name from the bears that once lived in the area. Of course, the last grizzly in California was shot in 1916. After a big fire some decades ago, the Forest Service planted pine trees on top of Grizzly Flats, and they are quite tall now.
On the plus side, there was a great variety of plant life, ranging from poison oak to spiny Yucca plants to grotesque parasitic plants. No really, there were handsome manzanitas and a few maples and other trees with some authentic fall color and weird little parasitic 'tree urchins' perched in other plants.
But the best reason not to go back to Grizzly Flats is because those spiny yucca fronds have now tasted human blood. They get a taste for it, you know.
We'll be meeting the fat lazy bastard tomorrow morning, and signing some loan documents; hopefully, the final stretch will get started right away on Monday.

From the Arkham Courier, October 26th, 1935:

Miskatonic University's Homecoming Bonfire was held last night at Orne Beach amid a thickening fog. Many members of the student body, faculty and administration were on hand to watch the lighting of the bonfire and sing some of the traditional songs of Miskatonic. The festivities were somewhat marred when some illicit incendiary devices were somehow hidden within the bonfire, but the onlookers largely took the explosions and flaming flying debris as an occasion of greater celebration rather than danger.
Dean Davis of the Fine Arts was evidently overcome by the excitement of the evening. He collapsed and was unable to move or speak for a short time, though these faculties gradually returned.
Another curious disruption was the appearance of a large stinging insect, perhaps drawn by the bonfire's flames. It menaced the gathered crowd and delivered a potent sting to Coach Vinich. After receiving some medical attention, the Coach confidently announced that he would attend the game later this morning.
Perhaps the greatest omen in favor of the Whippoorwills was the appearance of a strange luminscence in the crashing waves on Orne Beach. Though seen occasionally in these waters, it is rare enough that the Homecoming Crowd spent some time on the dark Atlantic shore admiring the coruscating streaks of blue phosphorescence that flitted lightly along the surf.

Photos from session 2

Pictures of the House!

Amy and Brian and Amy's folks were nice enough to drop by and kick the tires on the house with us as we went through the inspection. There's definitely some work that needs to be done. The house was built in 1926, so just about everything is substandard with respect to today's building codes. Priorities are the wiring in the attic, the pipes and the water heater.

Afterwards, we went to Hollywood for a bit. My Halloween costume is now complete & the ingredients for our super-evil super-secret plan have also been acquired. The fruition of our plan may be long in coming, and we may never be able to tell the world what we have done, but I'm still content.v