RToD 25JAN2012 – Life Starts When? (Or, Pro-Lifer’s Petitions)

Random Thought of the Day – Life Starts When? (Or, Pro-Lifer’s Petitions)

Those of you who’ve known my blog for any length of time know that I’m not afraid of discussing politics. There’s been one time that I wrote a political piece that I censored it myself simply because the topic with grossly hot-button at the time. (Gun control when the Senator got shot in the head) Normally, though, I’m fine with accepting discussion about politics because I believe that more people should do so.

From the title of this, I’m certain that this is going to cause some serious confusion for those who see it, and I honestly have a feeling that people are going to read a little bit and not bother to read the whole bleeding thing before writing to me one way or another.

I got an e-mail today from the website townhall.com. This is a very conservative site, and I believe I got on their mailing list when I wrote their site before. Anyways, the e-mail was to get me to sign a petition demanding that congress pass a law that states that life starts “At Conception.” The idea is to bypass the Supreme Court’s Rowe vs. Wade ruling by taking advantage of the court’s own statement that they cannot and will not determine when life begins, and creating a set point in time that a fertilized egg is alive. Doing so would bypass RvW and outright make abortions legal. Yay for the “pro-lifers,” right?

The Scenic Route’s Detour – A World of Warcraft-inspired Short

 

Lonewulf as he was on 12NOV2011

It’s no secret that I play World of Warcraft.  I’ve actually been playing (almost daily) since June or July of 2009.  I started out as a male Night Elf Hunter and played ONLY a male Night Elf Hunter for about a year. I also had a Druid whose name I was saving for the then-announced Cataclysm, but he’s since become an off-played alt for when I don’t want to do anything important, as well as randomly creating characters to try the starting zones only to kill them off a few days later on way back to my original.  When the Shattering hit, I created a Tauren hunter so I could learn the new hunter’s setup without looking too much a fool on my original character.  I now sit on a half-dozen hunters (yeah, I like hunters, so sue me) of different races and factions, a few priests, a paladin, a pair of druids, and one shaman who is the biggest standout of all my characters because there’s a really weird back story behind it.  All in all, I think I have 16 characters floating around out there.  I play a lot…

Who doesn't like having huge animals around?

Anywho, one of the biggest things I found myself enjoying the most was the social aspect of the game.  There were all kinds of people all over the place!  Some of them were nice, friendly, chatty, while others were elitist pricks.  Being on a Player versus Enemy server (PvE) without it being a RolePlay (RP-PvE) server, I figured there would be little room for me to be roleplaying.  Boy, was I wrong!  I quickly developed friendships with people who were almost as heavy into RP as I was!  Not so much the over-the-top, “Oh my God, you broke character, how dare you shatter my pretend world” type roleplayers but people who would do some friendly introductions and play-bantering.  I had a blast!  I even had a 45-minute conversation with a Game Master (GM, someone who actually has a lot of power in the game, hired by Blizzard to help players out, interact with the world, and institute instantaneous justice when needed) that started because I was trying to get a particular name on a new realm (sadly, that failed) and then progressed to what it’s like being a GM, crybaby players on the forums, and then a little bit of actual light roleplay with the GM to help them understand that roleplaying is all about writing out your actions, thoughts, expressions, and emotions and not so much having some awesome character in mind.  Then again, being a GM, you’re practically a GOD on the game.  A god that can be fired for causing issues, but a god nonetheless. 

Navi says, “Hey! Listen!”

For no real reason, I went into my library and pulled out a book I’d not read since I finished it the first time. It was the second manga I’d ever purchased, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Vol. 1. Yes, it is most definitely real. Anyway, as I read it, I developed the urge to listen to the game music. Then the idea struck me: Why listen to it when I can PLAY it! WOOT!

So, I set about hunting down the GameCube game disc that I adopted from my wife. I found it, got all excited and then remembered something: My Wii is broken. The optical drive no longer reads discs. I was further saddened to remember that my wife made me sell the GameCube to afford the Wii. And I don’t have any Wii/Gamecube emulators on my computer. What was I to do?

That’s easy! I pulled out my Donkey Kong 64 edition clear-green N64! You read that right! The same piece of hardware I bought brand-spankin’-new in 1999 (and pissed my parents off with because they had intended to buy it for me for Christmas) was my 2011 hardware of choice!

I learned a few things. First, the AV cables don’t stay soft and supple forever. If you have any way of protecting any plastic/vinyl-covered cables, make sure to do so BEFORE storing your consoles. Second, I learned that my 720P Westinghouse flatpanel differentiates between S-Video and Video. It only took me 20 minutes of arguing with my television and listening to the awesome theme song of DK64 to discover this. How did I discover it? I turned on “Auto Input Select” and it went to what I’d labeled “Cable”. *facepalm* Third, I learned that I’d forgotten to take the batteries out of my Rumble Pack. *double-facepalm* Luckily it’s just some mild surface corrosion on the spring and contact, so I’ll be able to fix it. Fourth, I discovered that big, red start buttons attract the attention of children very well. I can’t tell you how often my son hit Start on me. It was hilarious anyways! Finally, I discovered that I really, REALLY need to replace the analog sticks on two of my controllers. At least I have 2 nice, firm thumbsticks in the back.

I also learned that Nintendo did something that I hadn’t realized until today: They tuned their consoles to work with the typically-fuzzier displays of the time. I remember my games looking nice, the glowing lines flowing and just beautiful. On my new, higher-definition display that doesn’t show the “fuzz” so well. There’s so much jagged imagery that I thought my console was broken! It’s not. The games were just designed for an entirely different light display. the cost of playing classic games on hi-def TV’s, I guess.

Ultimately it didn’t bother me much. I was too busy starting a fresh save file on Ocarina of Time and reveling in my old, senior-in-high-school fun times. Those were the days. No bills, no money concerns, no major responsabilities. Just me, my mom’s older TV set, and my N64…

The Dream-Stalkers – Of Dreams and Nightmares

Writing recently has been… Interesting…

I’m not sure what it’s been recently, but I just haven’t been able to really write anything that I’m happy with.  I’ll sit down and write for a while and then decide it’s crap and scrap it.  It’s begun taking a conscious effort to NOT just delete an hour or two’s writing because something just felt off with it.  That includes this piece, Dream Stalkers part 5.  I started writing this one three times before I was finally happy with what I started with.  Either the wording was bad or I felt the flow was off or something.  The first one I did, I didn’t even re-read it.  I just said, “It’s crap,” and closed the window, no saves.

The other day was different.  The words just fell into place and I was happy with it from word one on.  I’m not sure what was different about it, but I’m glad it finally worked out!

So, without further ado, the writing that I’m sure some of you have been waiting for, The Dream-Stalkers - Of Dreams and Nightmares!

“Mother, I don’t think you’d ever be that cruel.” Tatiana’s voice was rushed as she worked to get a room ready for herself, the Queen Mother Lasha, and the human-formed werewolf that the queen considered to be her daughter, Elisa. “It doesn’t make sense, not with how hard you work to keep the peace between humans, vampires, and werewolves.”

Elisa, dressed in loose-fitting slacks and a flowing blouse, chimed in as well. “She’s right, mom. You’re nothing but the utmost in niceness, why would you claim to have such a past?”

Random Thought of the Day 27SEP2011 – Random Forums Sillyness

Today’s “Random Thought” isn’t so much a random thought…  I was reading the World of Warcraft forums and found an unusual thread.  That thread was labeled: Nerf my GF’s sex drive.   My thought:  Oh, I gotta check this out.  (After the jump, of course..).

The Dream-Stalkers: Vampiress’s Summons

Well, looky here!  I done did me some writing, yup.

It’s been a while since I’ve completed a writing piece.  I’m sure that more were hoping for a No Way Back chapter, but this is what wound up coming out: The Dream-Stalker: Vampiress’s Summons!  This would be basically piece 4 in The Dream-Stalkers and it’s not bad, if you ask me.  If flow goes right, there’ll be one more and that’s the end of the sequence.  I’m surprised it worked this well all considering the source of the story: one hell of a painful nightmare.

So, without further ado, The Dream-Stalkers: Vampiress’s Summons!  (After the jump…)

Heavy Wulf 27JUL2011 – I’m Givin’er All She’s Got!

I remember hearing that as one of the most famous quotes from Star Trek.  I don’t mean the new whiney-boy Kirk and Emo-Spock version with naked, green-skinned aliens.  I mean the old original series.  Kirk would call down to Engineering because, to quote another awesome sci-fi movie, “Must go faster…  Must go faster!  Go, Go, Go, GO!”  In reply Scotty would yell back that there really wasn’t anything left for the ship to give back.  Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t find that extra gear, that nitrous boost, that untapped dilithium today.

Yesterday’s time made me so very excited.  After all, trimming down a full four minutes from when I started really is something to feel accomplished about.  17:48.64 was the time posted.  That’s an average of about 5:56 a lap.  Not shabby.  I can even give my fastest time yesterday as 5:51.  I was so excited about it that I was dripping with perspiration.  Maybe that was the actual walk, I’m still not sure.

Heavy Wulf 26JUL2011 – All Right!

Even during a heat spell I need to keep up with my walking.

Maybe I should just make that “Get Back to my Walking.”  I have to admit that I did, for a time, stop doing my regular walking.  I don’t have an excuse or a real reason why, I just stopped doing it so much.  I got down to about once every two weeks!  That’s not very good! 

I’ve decided that the only way I’m ever going to actually beat this is to force myself past it.  If I can force myself to wait for hours in one area on World of Warcraft (and yes I’ve done that waiting for Loque’nahak and STILL haven’t seen him living once!), then I can force myself to get up and spend roughly twenty minutes at least every other day walking! 

Random Thought of the Day 08JUL2011: Writing Again, Yay!

It’s been a few days, hasn’t it?

What?

It’s been two months?  Nah, couldn’t have been.  Really?  It has been?  Hmm…  I guess it has…  Well, for those of you still around, hello again.    For those who stumbled across my blog on accident or not so by accident, welcome!

I noticed that I’ve had a few months without a writing addition.  Let’s be real, I’ve had a few months since I’ve had an urge to write.  I’m over 80k words into No Way Back and to be honest it started feeling like a chore.  I was writing because I HAD to get it done.  I could feel it.  I was losing the spark of wanting to write.  Writing was something I was doing like it was a job — a job I wasn’t getting paid for.  Chapter 26 was finished and then…  Nothing.  I wasn’t seeing anything anymore.  The quiet whisper of the words and the hidden sights of the actions just weren’t there.  Obviously when you’re writing that’s not a good thing.  I had become obsessed with getting things right that I started losing sight on getting things write.  (Written, but it made sense when I thought it.)  I tried sitting and forcing myself to write.  Write anything.  Write a poem.  Write my thoughts.  Write about being angry over something or another.  I just couldn’t seem to make the words gel.  I can’t describe how much I hated it.

About a week ago, I was talking with a player I know online on World of Warcraft.  They go by the name of Breiz.  We were just BS’ing and chatting when something brought up the topic of science fiction and writing.  I told them that I write, and was asked what I’ve written.  I offered a link, then another, then another, until finally The Princess and the Were was opened, which I know will make little sense because I never posted it here.  I’ll remedy that soon enough.  The comments I received made me start reading through some of the comments I’d received on my writing before.  I never stopped to think how many of the people who’ve read my work actually gave me some sort of praise.  Then something happened.  I wanted to write.  The visualization of events, the sounds of the characters, the strange languages and landscapes and histories all opened up.  I don’t know what the difference is, but in 24 hours, I’d tacked on another 1300 words for Chapter 27.  It felt right.  It seemed like I was supposed to be writing it.  I don’t know what really the change was, but somehow I felt like writing was right again.

I think the issue I was having was actually rather simple: I’d lost sight of my own goals and lost the interest.  It became a grind, not something I was doing because I had fun with it.  But, the comments I’d received in various forms, the feel of the world materializing around me as I wrote just made it worth doing.  So, for those of you who are looking for Chapter 27, thank you for your patience during my hiatus.  Hopefully things will change a bit here.  I can’t say that I’ll be popping out chapters per week, but chapters in general would be great!

As long as this returned happiness with writing stays, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Random Thought of the Day 20MAY2011: Snake? Sna-a-a-a-a-ake!!

So, I had a visitor of the slithery-kind show up about a week back or so in my back yard.  At first I thought, hey, it’ll be alright.  It’s just passing through.  We’ve never seen snakes in our back yard before, and this one just seemed to have been startled by my mowing the lawn.  I scared it into the crevice beneath the shed and didn’t see it again, so I didn’t think anything of it.  I thought it was cool, posted a little status-thing on FB, and called it a night.

Looking for a way out.

A few days pass and nothing.

Yesterday, I got to see Mr. Snake again.  It was more or less resting under one of our gates.  I tried to catch it because I don’t want to see the little guy hurt, but it shot into the tall grass that I was trying to mow.  I argued with the grass for about ten minutes before I said “Screw it, it’s not in there,” and proceeded to cut that grass anyway, hoping for the best.  I wound up not finishing the lawn because of a mild scratch to my son’s face.  Yeah, that’s a whole other story…