Bush

Love Parade aftermath

I'm back and I danced my ass off for about three hours, but I'm pretty out of shape. I took three breaks and was completely exhausted. I was lucky and the second DJ station was the best (hard psy-trance) by DJ Spook. It was pretty fast so I probably didn't pace myself. It was also very warm the sun really affected me.

I was up on the platform a few times as well! w00t!


drinks consumed:
Minute Maid frozen lemonade (talk about the stereotypical raver "drink". I was desperately waiting for it to melt)
Sprite
Red Bull (best one)

2005 Love Parade

Totally unexpected. It looks like my favorite event in San Francisco takes place today. Leather spankings. No no. DANCING DANCING DANCING at the Love Parade.

I have my boogie board shorts on and will be carrying minimal equipment because everytime I run into one of these live dancing on the street events I'm wearing a thick coat and carrying some bag with pounds of books.

the battery industrial complex

I made it! Fortunately there is a molding in my bedroom that I grabbed onto while testing the smoke detector.

Now I am thoroughly convinced that there is a conspiracy by the producers of 9V batteries to FORCE us to buy them by beeping annoying and incessantly until we do so. Someone should sue.

BEEP BEEP REDUX

uh yeah... so now my smoke detector is BEEPing once every minute or so. A single short BIP. THere it is again! I'm going to get a step ladder and set it up on my bed... and try to disable it or something. If I don't post again in a few minutes, someone, anyone, please call 911.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I have a god-only-knows-how-old alarm clock with a red LED display that has thick gooey dust in the crevices and BEEPS exactly like the construction truck that BEEPS every morning at 7AM 20 minutes before my wake up time as it backs up constantly for 10 minutes oftentimes synchronizing with my alarm clock.

I need a new modern alarm clock the ones that are battery powered with LCD technology and bongs like a faux-zen alarm.

jesus christ

I would almost ALMOST trade all the bells and whistles that Microsoft, Google's Blogspot, Yahoo Messenger and god knows who the hell else has with their crumby software for a reliable NONCRASHABLE application. holy crap.. what the frick.

On my other blog I had written this smooth and rich post about undeads and psionics and just when I went to attach an image, XP locks up on me. Thanks Bill!

Lesson: always, at all times, every 10 seconds, click on "Save as Draft."

Ebay and the aftermath

I did pretty well with my two part Ebay auctions.

The first part was with my unwanted role-playing game books and I held that about three weeks ago. TOTAL: $130.

I just completed my second part of my Ebay auction and it was all the Games Workshop minatures that had been collecting both the proverbial and literal dust. TOTAL: $720.

damn. This means, one, I had been hoarding a lot of stuff. Two, it's a lot of money but it's actually a fraction of the initial investment. I'm going to say I recuperated about 60-70% of the cost. There are fanatical gamers out there. And three, $$$!

The funniest part is that I actually made some money on the miniatures because way back, Games Workshop prices were much less even just 4 years ago (this is one of the most sour points about GW as a company by even the most loyal fans: they raise prices like clockwork with phoney reasons for doing so) AND there were many online retailers offereing discounts on quantities (another big sourpoint, GW stopped retailers from selling their products online because of some crazy "Intellectual Property" rights issue).

Regardless... I WIN! I got some cash to pay off my credit cards and I continue my PURGING.

Abraham Lincoln's rocking chair

Here is my favorite MUNI story to date:

4/2/2004

so I wait for the N-Judah at 12AM after my gaming session. Another guy, 30ish with a goatee, wearing one of those mechanics jacket, comes up to the stop and asks if the N-Judah is coming by considering how late it is. I tell him that I think so and after a brief banter, I call MUNI on my cell and it's a recording with no definite answer. Meanwhile Mr. Goatee is across the street smoking his weed. He tells me he's going to run to the next stop for whatever reasons and we say bye. He runs. The J-Church (wtf? It's on 17th AVE!) pulls up soon after, and fortunately for Mr. Goatee, he makes it to the next stop in time to get on. And along with him, hops on this man:

He's in his late 50s or early 60s dressed in ragged clothes. He's missing a few teeth and has a fake beard DRAWN on his face with a black magic marker much like Abraham Lincoln's... and he is carrying a rocking chair.

It's fairly obvious that he's a bit bonkers. He gets on, sits in near me and an asian couple (who is in front of me). There are about a dozen people on the train. All of a sudden, he starts laughing. Laughing, laughing, and laughing. The asian couple gets up quicly to find a seat elsewhere further back. I'm thinking about doing the same. He's not looking at anyone, just laughing. A few minutes pass, I'm trying to ignoring him, and he's still laughing. Mr. Goatee who's sitting behind me starts laughing as well (he's high, duh). This goes on for a few stops. Mr. Beard says, "Where is M.I.T.?" He keeps laughing and so does Mr. Goatee. A few minutes later, a drunk man across from me and I crack a smile. One by one, everyone starts smiling or laughing. Mr. Beard and Mr. Goatee never stop laughing. So from 14th Ave. all the way to Duboce and Church, everyone in the first car is either laughing or smiling. He gets off on Duboce and Church and some of us wave to him goodbye and he waves back... laughing.

I can't explain the "beard" or the rocking chair, but it was a really nice and a surreal experience even though the man who started it all was completely nuts...

GREAT EBAYER!!11!!! +++++++++++++

holy shit, I'm getting rich off of selling stuff on Ebay. Ok, so I'm selling all of the toys that I've hoarded over the years (probably in the thousands of dollars) at a loss but it feels like I'm making money... :p The best part of being a seller is that Ebay tells you how many people are watching the item (tracking it) and so patterns begin to emerge on who buys what and how. It's addicting I tell you.

Jim Channon, fastest systems illustrator with 37 skills and 24 intimate friends

I think his overview resume speaks for itself.

... and then he posted on rpg.net to proclaim his 38th skill.

Gaming ADD

I suffer from what is commonly known amongst the role-playing gamer's circle as "Gaming ADD." This is when one purchases games and continue to purchase games without ever having played any of them. And then go back to the games that were put aside while adding more items to the e-cart.

I have been calling it "collecting" and "research" because it puts my mind at ease but because I believe that gaming books can and should be bought just for the pleasure of reading. Imagine if Tolkien wrote all of the characters like Frodo, Golem, Gandalf and places like Mordor, that elf forest ( :-o ) but left out the plot. I usually came up with the plot and what-ifs in my... ok you get the idea.

SO, I decided to take on the challenge of grubman's experiment. A daring task of focusing on a single role-playing game and sticking with it for 101 days. I have chosen Dark Sun, one of my favorite settings of all time (yes until infinity. I'm predicting that, yes.).

So until that time, I am moving all discussions of role-playing games to that blog and besides I would only be able to talk about Dark Sun (remember grubman's experiment).

Wish me luck and see you on the other side (WAIT! I will still post other mindless things on this blog).

(click on image to transport to Athas)