Another Long Weekend

Well, this weekend is shaping up to be chalk full of wonderful, busy things.

Thursday:  The Men's group at church is gathering at 6pm for a potluck and movie, "Kingdom of Heaven".

Friday:  The Great Quizzing Challenge Party at my Pastor's house for all my Quizzers, where we will nom on some hotdogs, veggies, chips, soda, and of course, Pastor's handmade milkshakes.  Oh, we'll be watching "Tangled" by the way.

Saturday:  Time for some down and dirty overtime, plus Deanna's folks are in town, so I'm sure there will be hanging out after work.

Sunday:  Spokane MS Walk at Spokane Falls Community College at 9am, followed by more hanging out with parents, and then Geek Moot at 5pm (we're picking up a super challenging campaign, so I need to be mentally alert).

So in light of my super busy weekend (where my downtime will be filled with cuddling or Pokemon) I'm not going to post anything new.  However, if you, my dear readers, would like to submit some ideas for me to blog about, or have questions or comments you'd like me to address, I will be more than happy to do so as soon as Monday rolls around.

(I might arrange a guest blogger for the weekend too, if I don't get any submissions)

The Rules

One of the things I like best about Deanna is her ability to get me to talk about the strangest stuff.  Okay, it's not so much an ability to get me to talk, as it is more an ability to withstand the amount of dorky stuff that pours out of my mouth.

Last night's conversation was about little things that annoyed us, and I launched into my soap box speech about how guys should not talk to each other in a public restroom.

I'm really not sure when or where this practice began, but I can guess it had something to do with the monks who took vows of silence, and realized the blessing of silence in a public restroom.

So, dear readers, here are the Men's Restroom Rules for you consideration.

1.  Do not talk to each other, ever.  Did you know that the Romans had large public restrooms in their empire?  Their empire fell to pieces.  This is why we enjoy silence, because every time you talk, you risk having America collapse.

2.  When the stall door is shut, I am invisible.  It is for the best if you do not attempt to identify the person who just made that "manly" sound/smell by their shoes.  Treat them with dignity and anonymity.

3.  The Mark of Shame.  It is a well known fact that some men sit down to pee, like little sissy girls.  Remember that all men in the room can hear what you are doing, and if you use a sitting stall to just pee, you best be standing up with the door open, or you will be held down and branded as a little sissy girl for the rest of your life.  That, or poop.

4.  Do not pleasure yourself, EVER.  Remember, we can hear everything you do in that stall.  Approved "manly" sounds are all we want to hear.  What we don't want to hear is someone struggling and grunting to...ya know what, forget explaining this.  If you get caught "pleasuring yourself" in a public restroom, you will be branded a freak for life.  Wait until you're at home for cryin' out loud!

5.  No women allowed.  They have cooties, need you any other reason?

Descent Into Geekdom

Over the past ten years or so, I have noticed a slow, downward spiral towards ultimate geekdom in my life.

It started with MMORPGs, then moved to buying my own custom built computer (thanks Chad), then it moved to purchasing high speed internet, followed by what I consider the most recent milestones in this tragic tale of normal boy transformed into a geek.

First, even though I do play table top RPGs every week, I had never EVER been to a convention.  That experience happened last year at GameCon, where I not only attended my first convention, I actually ran a game for them!!!

Follow that up several months later where I ran not one, but two games at SpoCon.

That's when I first noted the descent.  I had crossed a line into a world of geekiness that I believe escape from is impossible at this point.

Technically, impossible from the point of last night at 9:30pm.

You see, there's one aspect of geekdom that I had yet to participate fully in until last night, and that was a fullblown LARP (Live Action Role Play for those who don't know).

Side Note:  I technically spent 5 years in Amtgard role playing there, but there were few cahnces, and it was mostly combat oriented with padded weapons, rather than actual role playing.  Back to the Blog.

At first, I was prepared to jump in with both feet and no clue as to how to play, which is my favorite approach to all games, but then I was informed of Deanna's parents coming into town and wanting to go out with dinner, so I just went along to observe until dinner time.  But after dinner, I went back to the LARP, and jumped right in.

The scariest thing was how much I enjoyed it.  Let me put it into perspective for you.  Friday night was going to be pretty short.  I had to be at work today at 5:30am, so my bedtime was 8:00pm last night, just so I could get some decent sleep.  People showed up, and starting gathering at the LARP at a little after 6:00pm.  The plan for dinner was to meet up with Deanna and her folks around 7:00pm, eat, and then go home and go to bed.

I didn't even play before dinner, I just hung around and chewed the fat with a couple friends before leaving.  Yet, all through dinner, it was an epic battle between my normal self and my geek self as to whether I should go home, be responsible and sleep, or go back to the game and play a little, despite the lateness and having to work early.  I ended up going back to the game.  Which caused me to get to bed around midnight, and up at 4:30am to get ready for work.

I'm a little tired right now, but my inner geek is sustaining me, since it is so pleased at winning the fight last night and getting to come out and take control.

So, my name is Dave.  I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess...I'm also a geek.  And proud of it.

I have arrived at my destination, Geek City, population: me.

How close are you to total Geekdom, dear readers?  And does blogging really count as a geek activity these days??

Surprises

Yesterday was my day off (I work this Saturday), and my chance to do something nice for Deanna.  But I had to surprise her.  More to the point, I have to actually work at surprising her.

I'm not good at keeping secrets when it involves surprises.  For some genetic reason, I just have to tell someone.  It's not a desire so much as a driving need to let it out.  Because of that, I have to work extremely hard to do something she doesn't expect.

And that usually involves telling someone else who won't tell her.

Moving on though, I also had to hide the fact I wasn't at work, or else she'd totally know I was up to something.  So I got up early to call her, as is our usual morning routine.

Side Note:  There are a lot of people, some friends included, that automatically assume that we live together.  This is not the case.  She lives on the north side of the city, and I live on the east side, close to the Idaho border.  It's about 35 minutes one way to her house.  And it's kinda fun to watch people boggle and reel when they find out we aren't living together, or even sleeping together.  It's also sad that even people who know us as Christians still just assume we're living and sleeping together prior to being married.  Oh well.  Back to the blog.

After I called her, I wanted to go over to her place right away to get everything ready, but I knew she sometimes goes home for lunch, and I didn't want to get caught in the act.

Side Note:  Yes, I have a key to her place, mostly for emergencies, or surprises, like this one.  It's not an open door policy.  Back to the blog.

So I did whatever I could to bide my time.  I played some Pokemon, watched a movie, even did my laundry!  Eventually, I was in the safe zone and went over.

I did her dishes, cleaned off the dining room table, and planned our evening.  Frisbee at the park until sunset, then a candle-lit dinner, followed by "Dirty Dancing".  The only problem I had with keeping it all a surprise was were to park my car.  Of course, my awesome "ninja skillz" took over and I hid it in plain sight.  She even walked right past it and didn't think to look twice.

Side Note:  I really do have "ninja skillz", but I'm saving that for another post.  Back to the blog.

In fact, genuine surprise covered her face when I opened the door and welcomed her home.  She was quite delighted.

The rest of our evening went well, and I was super proud of myself for being able to keep it all a secret.

Also, "Dirty Dancing" was a pretty good movie, although Deanna kept having to cover my eyes during a couple scenes.

So, dear readers, what have you done for your sweetheart lately?

Q&A Once More

Okay dear readers, time for some Q&A.

My question to you is, what would you like to be when/if/even if you don't grow up?

Personally, I'd want to be my own narrator for my life, kinda like in "The Christmas Story".  I think that'd be fun.

Also, don't forget to order one of Star LaSky's books here!  Congrats again on becoming published Star! 

(I'm ordering mine tonight and having it shipped to her house so I can get an autographed copy, hehe!)

Exciting News!

In my life, I've had a few friends that I've exclusively know via internet.  One of them, who goes by the pen name Star LaSky, just became a published author!

I'm so excited for her!  Go buy her book!

Click Here to check it out!

Way to go Star!!!

(Let the record show we were friends BEFORE she became famous.)

Funny Little Thing Called 'Love'

This morning's drive to work was one of deep thought as I spent the time thinking about 'love' and how much we actually know about it.  What follows is a semi-chronological history of my dealings with the subject.

The exact date of the first time I thought of love is lost to me, but it was when I was 10 years old.  For some reason beyond my knowing, I was deeply ingrained with the belief that I was going to get married, and stay married for the rest of my life.  I was also completely sure that there was only one woman out there for me. 

Several years later, as the hormones began racing through my body, I began to ponder who this on person was, what she would look like, and how wonderful our life together would be.  I also began to become awkward around the girls at school, and that lead to many, MANY, socially dumb moves.

I actually began composing a list of items my future spouse was required to have.  She would have to be ticklish, have curly hair, straight teeth, wear those "modest-but-tight-in-the-right-places" dresses all the girls at church wore, etc, etc, and so on and son into a complete mess of items that I was sure only one girl in the world would ever fit into.

I tried to hit on a couple girls, but in the 5th grade, that appears to be nothing but chasing the girls and teasing them and pulling their hair.  I'm not sure who came up with this tradition, but I think it's to help relieve the embarrassment following devastating breakups further on.  Why else would we really have a notion for making the girls cry? 

My particular experience with this lasted all of two days.  On the first day, I teased the girl, on the second, I wouldn't leave her alone at recess, so she slapped me.  When I woke, surrounded by the playground lady and many classmates who had been at least 800 ft away when the slap occurred, I decided to ice my face (at the request of the nurse) and try a different tactic.  Something that involved the girls being more than arms length away before flirting with them.

I moved to Spokane the next year, and tried one more time.  This time, I asked her at arms reach to the school dance.  We went, and it turned out she lived only a block away.  She was a cute little red-head who gave me my first real Valentine's Day gift, a stuffed rabbit which I named Shakespeare.  I gave her a poster of a chocolate heart that I got on my last visit to the dentist.  We got along pretty well, until I moved again in the 8th grade, and we stopped speaking to each other.  Mostly because I was too lazy to write letters.  Last I heard, she was engaged to a chainsaw artist who sculpts wooden statues. 

Moving back to the other town just increased my desire to date, but severely handicapped my status due to the fact I was a total dork, and a jerk to the girls in grade school.  I tried the "friend first" approach.

Side Note:  For those who don't know (I'm assuming mostly just women) the "friends first" approach is a tried and failed manly approach at getting into a dating scenario.  Unfortunately, no guy between the ages of 14-25 realizes that it won't work, and even if it does, it's totally divine intervention.  The approach calls for the guy to insert himself close to a gal as her "friend" with the intention of waiting days, weeks, months, even years for her to realize what a stupendous guy he is, and how much better he is than any guys she's ever dated, and begin dating him.  Back to the blog.

That approach, as always, failed miserably.  Or at least I thought so.  On the last day of 9th grade, after being best friends with the young lady who laid me out in the 5th grade, I broke the news I was moving again, and she lunged at me.

Now, to be honest, I'm a lover, not a fighter.  Her moved was more akin to a vicious bear attack than anything I had ever seen before, and so, in anticipation of having my face ripped off, I screamed.  Like a little girl.  She just simply kissed me on the cheek, and skipped away to her mother's car.  I was devestated at that point.  I mean, here I was moving again, and I missed out on the one opportunity to pull off a successful "friends first" approach.

The rest of high school did not go well, as I got stuck in the "let's just be friends" loop from several young women. 

Side Note:  Let's just lay this one on the table now, so that every female out there can understand.  NO GUY WANTS TO BE JUST FRIENDS.  Seriously, it' just telling us "I don't like you enough to date you, but I also don't like you enough to tell you the truth and let you pursue another female because I want you to spend years at a distance while I torture you dating horrible guys that are worse than you all the time making it clear I don't want to date you and want you to die alone and suffering."  That might be an overstatement, but it's also true.  Either we want to sleep with you, or we ignore you.  Granted, years of experience down the road will give us broader shades of gray and we can be friends in a totally casual with-the-spouse-present way, but that's not until at least 30.  Til then, we're totally hoping that a miracle happens and we can get into your pants.  Back to the blog.

College was the last of my socially dumb moves, and ended any chance of dating for about two years.  My biggest mistake was to volunteer to be the group leader for the Adam vs Eve project in my Biblical Literature class.  Following my standing-on-the-cafeteria-table-bellowing-how-Eve-was-at-fault-for-bringing-all-sin-into-the-world phase, I was unanimously banned from all female contact.

I actually moved to from Idaho to Kentucky the next year just to out run the growing awareness of my college outburst.  Kentucky was definitely a worthwhile trip, as I got a job in the cafeteria of Northern Kentucky University, and hooked into the Baptist Student Union, which harbored no less than ten eligible and marriage oriented females who liked me.

However, I was completely down the path of Eric and Leslie Ludy, and waiting to date just that one person God had chosen for me.  In hindsight, it was probably a good thing, but there's still a part of me that wonders which one of those women would have said "yes" if I had dated and proposed to her.  All of them, save two, are now married to other guys.

I eventually moved back to Washington, still unable to move beyond a 1st date.  I decided not to risk my heart anymore, and pulled it off the table for dating.  I did everything I could to be happy with who I was as a person and pursued other interests.

About 3 years ago, I began to ponder on love again, and trying to find a way to date without being hurt.  Despite all the experience of rejection (that's sarcasm right there) and the hundreds of hours spent learning about relationships through books, classes, even listening to old ladies give me advice, nothing seemed to work.

I had to face the facts.  If I wanted to find someone to date, I had to get my heart hurt.  Dating would be a time of loneliness, dashed hopes, and awful memories.  But I knew that if I just went through it, I would find that person I would want to marry.

I hadn't had that old list for at least a decade.  I didn't really need it anymore because I wanted that person to be a surprise to me.  I stopped following the Ludy's books and ways, not that they weren't Biblical, just that I didn't want to wait anymore.  I even stopped following the advice of the little old ladies, because I figured out that every relationship is unique.  I had only one option now.  Get in the trenches, get hurt, get a little bloody, and I'd come out with the best person for me.

Surprisingly, it worked!  In less than six months from now, we'll be husband and wife. 

It just goes to show you, love can be such a funny little thing.

My Friend The Cupcake

I have to admit that I have a weakness for all things sugary.  Well most things.  I had seaweed candy once from Singapore.  I do not have a weakness for that except the retching in my stomach after eating it.

Moving on.

One of our church members, who is also a friend, has a business making such wonderful sugary treats known as cupcakes .  Mr. Magic's Cupcake Factory to be exact.  This past Sunday, they brought some cupcakes for everyone in their Sunday School class, and since I just happened to be waiting in the foyer for him to arrive, I went ahead and helped myself to one before going to my own Sunday School activities.

The first problem was which one to choose from.  There were several yummy varieties to choose from.  Like these:

Which I forget what kind they were.  But something yummy.  No doubt about that.  There were also these:

Which are Mexican Chocolate.  They are a mix of caramel and chocolate.  It was hard not to just grab the box and run at that point. I controlled myself though, and ended up with this one:

This one is the Washington Carmel Apple cupcake.  Honestly, I really enjoy it when companies make stuff related to their states. 

Side Note:  Last night, Deanna and I went out for sushi with her friend Scout, who's spending some time over here on vacation.  As we were browsing the menu, I noticed several state specific sushi.  Washington Roll, Idaho Roll, Montana Roll, etc.  I suggested coming back one day and having all the state rolls just for kicks.  We did end up ordering the Montana Rolls, which were awesome!  But this blog is about cupcakes, so lets get back.

The above picture was taken prior to my actual taste test.  The intention was to split this with Deanna, and only eat half.  However, shortly after taking the first bite, I was thrown into a blissful state of ravenous munching and when I snapped out of it, I only had half of the wrapper and a deep bite mark on my finger.

It's her fault for not coming to church with me that day anyway, right?

The cupcake itself was just amazing.  It had real apple chunks and a mouth-watering carmel filled center!  I'm adding these guys to our list of possible suppliers for the wedding, since we need to feed about 300 people some sort of desert.  Though I'm not sure 300 people crazed on yummy goodness would be safe for the decorations, or the DJ.

If you want to learn more, check them out on facebook!

Just A Thought

Last night I read an article on the Japanese disaster, and a quote from one of the locals really stood out to me.  He said that he once had a good life, but now he had nothing.

That really struck me.

I have a lot to be thankful to God for.  I can't imagine coming home to find half of the city a pile of ruin.  It sends chills down my spine just thinking of it.  Even more so, I practically go crazy with a panic attack just thinking of not being able to find Deanna in all of that.

It really makes me pray all that harder for those people in distress these days.  Not just the Japanese, but everyone.  I'm making that my prayer focus this month.

Care to join me dear readers?

A Funny Thing Happened To Me At Church...

This last weekend, in between sessions of Children's Church, a couple of my Quizzers came up and asked about the Great Quizzing Challenge I was planning for them.

Side Note:  The Great Quizzing Challenge is something I created to challenge my quizzers throughout the Quizzing season.  The top ten quizzers would get dinner, a movie, and our Pastor's homemade milkshakes.  It was originally designed to test their ability to adhere to my rules and guidelines, but eventually I felt guilty enough to get rid of that concept, and basically, it's going to be a surprise for ALL of the quizzers, not just the top ten I originally intended.  Parents, please don't tell the kids yet!  Back to the Blog.

We were discussing the movie choices for the Challenge party, and I mentioned that I had decided to show Despicable Me.  The children wanted to watch How To Train Your Dragon instead.  I declined to show that movie because some scenes are pretty scary for the littler kids.  Both of the children agreed, and we began talking about Toothless and how awesome the fight was between him and the huge dragon in the movie.

At this point, my geekiness broke through, and I mentioned that I would really like to see Toothless take on Batman.

The youngest girl (about 7) looked at me, stated with all measure of disappointment "You're acting like a little boy again", and stomped off.

She was right, of course.  Still, you have to admit that would be a fun fight to watch.

Anything like this every happen to you?

Because...Well, Why Not?

Deanna is one of the few people I actually know that observe Lent.  I'm not against it, nor do I observe it.  But it is interesting to hear people talk about giving things up, especially when it comes to the days of the week.

Fat Tuesday

Ash Wednesday

Must See TV Thursday

I have to admit that in the way of traditions that involve naming days of the week meaningful things, my favorite would have to be one I learned early on as a teen.

Fat Saturday

This was originally, as far as I knew, invented by Bill Cosby as a joke during the Season 8 episode "With This Ring?"  (I know, I know, it's really the end of the Mardi Gras celebration, but I don't really observe that either.)  I like his version best anyways.  You can eat whatever you want, all day long.

It'd be cool if we did that every year.  Except of course for the people who gave up chocolate, because no matter how much sugar you eat, you just can't satisfy a chocolate craving.

As many people who know me will tell you, I'm a firm believer in holidays.  As a country, we have a good amount of holidays.  Let me just run down the list with you.

January - New Years, Martin Luther King Day
February - Valentines Day, Presidents Day
March - St Patrick's Day
April - Earth Day, Easter
May - Mother's Day, Memorial Day
June - Flag Day, Father's Day
July - Independence Day
September - Labor Day
October - Columbus Day, Halloween
November - Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving
December - Christmas Eve, Christmas

You'll notice that there's a month missing.  August.  Poor, sad, unobserved August.  31 days of nothing.  For years, I have been writing my government representatives petitioning them to use my birthday as an excuse for a holiday.  (It's in August ya know.)

That's not self serving at all.  In fact, I'm giving up quite a lot to create a holiday on my birthday.  For instance, on Stark Day, you don't give presents.  So I wouldn't even get my birthday presents.  See?  That's a big sacrifice.

I've put a lot of thought and effort into it, and despite the best efforts of those government representatives' interns blocking me at every turn, I still hope one day to create Stark Day as an observed holiday.

I'm certain you want it too.  It'll be fun.  Think of the blank slate of traditions we have.  Other than the presents thing.  I don't want my holiday to turn into a marketing fiasco.

Want to spend the day sewing fish themed clothing?  I could be hip to that.

Or spreading mayonnaise on the lawn?  A bit cliche, but that's cool.

I'd like to see people gathered all over the country singing this.  (Oh come on, you know you want to sing along!)

Okay, maybe we could make it okay to give others half-pony half-monkey monsters to other people.

So...

What about you readers?  What fun tradition would you like to see on Stark Day?

Another Important Date in History

Last night, as we were cuddling and catching up on The Big Bang Theory, I asked Deanna a most important question.

"Do you know what day tomorrow is?"

She knew I was asking in reference to something important about us, and so she wrinkled her nose in that cute little way only she can do, and gave me a puzzling look.

"This time tomorrow," I said, "And six month from now, we'll be Husband and Wife."

I've always been big on dates, as she can attest, more so than any other guy in a relationship that I know.  I was told early on to remember stuff like that because it's important.  She does try though, and can remember her family's birthdays while mine always elude me.  My mom was born somewhere around Valentines Day, my older brother has a birthday early in March sometime, and my step mom has one in April that has a 2 in it, and has two digits.

But when it comes to remembering our first date, or the first time we said "I love you" she's not so good.

Still, I love it when she wrinkles her nose!  It's so hot!

So dear readers, what dates are important in your relationship?

Dave 438, Gnats 3

This morning I woke up to what I, at first, thought was a real nightmare. 

In my shower (I have a see through plastic shower curtain) were a bazillion tiny winged bugs, hanging on everything.  I was freaked!  With no idea as to what was going on, but nearly every scene from the B Movies I had seen as a child coursing through my head, I threw on my clothes, and left the house.

A quick google search or two later (from the safety of my work) I figured out that these were common gnats, and that they must have hatched from egg sacks in my bathtub drain.  I immediately struck out to find a way to kill them, armed with the knowledge only google could provide.

After work, I had a meeting with Deanna and our trusted local jeweler to discuss wedding rings.  Deanna is designing mine, since I designed her engagement ring (it's one of a kind ya know).  We also found out that one of the stones from her ring had fallen out in the cleaning machine, so she had to leave her ring there so they could find the stone and remount it.  As our jeweler walked out to tend to another customer, I got a chance to see her ring next to the base for mine.  Instantly, I thought of the crowns from a King and Queen.  Her design for my ring is perfect!

After that, we parted ways, and I headed to Home Depot to grab my weapons and prepare to combat the problem of the gnats.  I grabbed a couple cans of spray gnat killer (organic of course) and one giant fogger (which is used to coat the entire house in non-organic chemicals designed to kill everything) and headed home.

12 minutes after entering the door, only 3 really fast, super intelligent gnats remain, my bathroom is filled with little winged dead bodies, and my house smells like the inside of a Pepto Bismol bottle.  I'm hoping that they remain dead long enough for me to get my house back. 

I would like to shower today after all.

Can I Have a Day of Rest Please?

This weekend, unfortunately, was extremely busy.

Saturday I was up at 4:30 to get to work at 5:30, worked until 2:00pm, then met up with Deanna for some quality alone time and a movie.  I got to bed at about 11:30pm.  Needless to say, I was tired.

Sunday I was up at 6:30 to do much needed laundry, and to complete the sermon I had been preparing.  Then, 8:30am, Children's Church round one.  I'm covering two services because our Family Pastor is in Hawaii for two weeks.  9:45am and I'm up the street for a cup of coffee and more sermon writing.  11:00am is the start of our second service, and my round 2 of Children's Church.

About 15 minutes until the end of class, and I have to call it quits, take a seat, and let the kids descend into chaos.  At this point, I'm exhausted.  After class, Deanna comes and gets me, and we head to lunch.  And God tells me He wants me to rewrite the sermon I had planned.  This is now 1:00pm.  I preach at 2:00pm, and we just ordered lunch.

1:37pm rolls around, I have 2 pages of sermon notes, a belly full of General's Chicken, fried prawns, and BBQ pork.  This doesn't help my physical state, and on top of that, I haven't gone to the bathroom since 6:30 that morning.  I was kind of in agony.

3:00pm.  Service is done.  Instead of the 10-12 minute message I was asked to preach, I ended up preaching about 20 minutes.  I managed to find the bathroom before the service so that I didn't explode.  I felt even more exhausted, kind of like falling asleep standing (which I've done once before in a blizzard while holding a cup of coffee). 

You would think this would be an appropriate time to relax and take a long nap, but I didn't.  I have a standing Sunday Night obligation to play RPGs with a bunch of friends.  I wanted to cancel, but I really didn't have the time to do so without being uber-rude, so I went. 

Skipping over the fun, geeky details of running around in Tolkien's Second Age Middle Earth, I went to bed at around 10:30pm.

I'm still tired.  Exhausted.  In need of a weekend I can sleep in and relax.

Fortunately, this week only has a couple days planned after work.  The rest I intend to go to bed early. 

Q&A

Sorry about no post yesterday, my day was busy, and I had to be in bed by 8pm to get up at 4am this morning. 

So now it's back to Q&A. 

Fire away dear readers!

A ton of Wings

Last night our men's small group went out for wings at Wingers.  We had 3 Entertainment Book cards with us, so we ended up ordering 6 colossal orders of wings.  I think there were almost 100 when all was said and done.  Plus two buckets of fries.  For 7 guys to split.

Needless to say, my digestive system is all haywire today.

But it was fun!  We all came in with our Bibles, and had our small group session between rounds of stuffing our faces with juicy sugary chicken wings.  It's been a long time since I've been to any public eatery with the guys, let alone toting my Bible.

So, dear readers, whens the last time you were in public with your Bible?

My Day Off

Today is my day off since I work this Saturday.  Usually I take days like these to relax and hang out, run errands, etc.  Today I ended up reading comics.  I'd like to share with you one that I really enjoyed!

Fallen Justice written by Cary Kelley and Steven Forbes, Art by Harold Edge

It's one of my favorites now, and I'm lucky enough to own a signed copy.  I came across it last year when I was looking for inspiration for a superhero campaign for my regular gaming group.  I read the synopsis, and then saved up to buy it as soon as possible!  I'd advise everyone who likes superheroes to buy it as well.

One of the best things about the artwork is that it's not as unrealistic as some of the mainstream comic artwork.  The women aren't completely absurdly drawn as with other comics, and look more akin to real life than other works of art that I've read.

It's also worked as the perfect inspiration for my campaign.  Since I play pen and paper role-playing games, on a regular basis, one of the many things I love doing is creating exciting new worlds and settings for my friends to experience.

Side Note:  For those not familiar with "pen and paper role-playing games" click here.  Back to the blog.

I've come up with some interesting and wacky settings in my time, very few of which actually reach the table.  But this Fallen Justice campaign idea was too good to pass up.  It also gave me a chance to bring back my very first role-playing character!!!

His name was Brink, and he was a member of the Justice League of America in the game.  I played him for almost two years, fighting crime, building a relationship (as only a twelve year old entering puberty can imagine) with the super heroine Fire.  Eventually though, as with every geeky kid with an allowance will do, the comic Death of Superman wound up in our midst, and our Game Master decided since our characters were in the Justice League, we should have to play out that scenario as our heroes. 

At the end of our two day gaming spree, Doomsday killed Fire, who was at the time in our game Brink's wife, and Brink lost it.  He went completely insane, and attacked Doomsday all out, which resulted in his death.

All of our characters died that day.  We stopped playing Champions and moved onto D&D.  That was the summer of 1993.

So, for this campaign set on Fallen Justice, I've decided to merge it with the Justice League, and the group will be fresh recruits being trained by Justice League veteran member Brink.  I'm hoping the group will totally enjoy it.

I know, I'm a total geek, but this is what you get for a blog post on a day off with comic books.

So, dear readers, what do you do on your days off?

So Shines A Good Deed In A Weary World

As any one of my friends or family can tell you, I'm extremely opinionated when it comes to movies, often times before I even watch them.

Typically, when a new movie comes out, I do a little research if it looks interesting.  I'll go online and check out wikipedia to see if the story is something I want to watch, or check the movie watcher forums to see what buzz is being created about the movie.  I'll also check YouTube for every available trailer out there.

But if it's not something I would want to check out, I just dismiss it to the "not gonna watch it" file and let it be.

I get a lot of guff about the films I let fall by the wayside.  For example, the movie Avatar.  I saw the previews, I read the wiki entry, and the forums, and it just seemed like a dumb movie to me.  So into the NGWI file it went.  When I tried to explain this to a group of my close friends, I got yelled at a lot for judging the movie before I watched it.

That reaction made me go watch it.  It was a dumb movie.

When I came back and said the same thing, and told them I had watched it, they were fine, and a few even agreed with me that the plot was akin to Smurfs or Ferngully The Last Rainforest.  It was a dumb movie.  So does that make it right that I judged the movie prior to seeing it?

I think so. 

There are a lot of movies out there that I will never watch based on just previews, or the general content.  I think it's good to have a little prejudgement.  For example, I don't need to sit through all 6 Saw movies to know that they aren't something I would watch.

While it's not surprising that some movies are completely devoid of talent, substance, and anything I would consider entertaining, there are the occasional movies that real me in with trailers, wiki, and YouTube only to slap me in the face with obvious regret that I watched it.

Most recently, it was the Death Race movies that did this.  The 2008 remake with Jason Statham looked good enough to rent and that lead me to rent Death Race 2 (which is actually the prequel to the 2008 one) and that lead to Death Race 2000 (which is supposed to be the sequel to the 2008 film, I know, it's confusing).  I was subsequently slapped in the face.

But it's not always action movies, or even sequels that do it me.  Almost everyone has seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and I wager at least some of my readers will agree with me that the movie was poorly done.  Specifically, the obscure scene with the tunnel and all that weirdness.  ( Which is explained here )  Regardless of my personal feelings on the movie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is better because it lacks that tunnel scene.

So in the interest of avoiding such slaps, and allowing people to prejudge movies as they see fit, let me ask you, dear readers, what movies have you got something to say about, whether you've seen them or not.?