The Demon's Realm

2003-05-28T07:17:00.000-04:00

Ahem. So this site will be closing down, only to be reopened in MT with much love to Lisa and Tim for doing so. So update your bookmarks and links, and bear with us as it is still rather spare at the new location. Edit: Blogger is notorious for not deleting old blogs, so if you are still using this to click through to various other places, feel free to keep coming back. Just don't expect anything new from me.

2003-05-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

Blogger seems broken today. What a surprise.

2003-05-22T09:52:00.000-04:00

Blogging will be light to non-existent this weekend what with me in NY. But to tide you over: the fencing report (more like the "I've injured myself report"). Not too much happened that was new last night- review of the guards, review of footwork that was familiar to me during my foil days. And I was off last night, not that anyone who fenced me seemed able to tell. How do I know I was off? I parried an attack and knocked my guard into the side of my knee. Normally this wouldn't be quite so bad, but I have a huge freakin' double clamshell with straight quillon guard. OW. I also managed to run straight into an attack, the tip of my opponent's blade hitting me on the right side of my chest, just under the collarbone. More ow. The good news? My shoulder doesn't hurt at all this morning. The bad news? My knee is still a bit shaky. *sigh* Well, I have a full week to recover, and it is still definitely weight bearing so I should be fine.

2003-05-21T13:19:00.000-04:00

So the word count lies and has been lying for a while now as I haven't even updated it since the last time I actually added verbiage to the typed version. I've been doing some notebook work and am, essentially, a scene ahead of myself. I may just be tempted in taking the story with me and doing battle with E.'s ergonomic keyboard to get at least a little more done while she is at work on Friday. I will say this much about the story, it is a departure from the rest of the Nightshades arc in that there is no external threat. No threat of any kind really so the conflict is of a more personal and far reaching scope. It's also involved something I'm good at: namely dialogue although I will confess that it does dip into the shallow end of philosophical discussions with some debate over free will. I'm also delving into a bit of Judeo-Christian theology what with the debate of who has free will and who does not, and the actual ramifications of everyone's favorite ex-demon no longer being tied to Hell. I actually need to go back and reread "Nature of My Game", especially the ending, as my memory is betraying me not in what happened but how much certain characters actually witnessed and were privy to. I am not promising even a rough draft of the story any time soon, but progress is happening.

2003-05-20T23:02:00.000-04:00

Saw the Matrix. This is your fair warning. If you keep reading, do not get pissed at me if you read something that spoiled it for you. The albinos are easily my favorite minor characters, but this is me, and you probably knew that already, didn't you? Much less of a mindfuck for me than the first one was, by a long shot, the musical choices weren't quite as driving, and the overall sense of new and different was lost, probably because so much of what the Matrix did has been copied, assimilated, and let's face it, parodied by others. Now its a matter of one-upmanship, a desire to do things bigger and better. To make the fight scenes more dramatic, more daring, to push the envelope, which it did, but not in many ways that made me sit up and think "That's different". The albinos were one of those major differences. I would have liked to have seen a reason for them to tangle with the more everyday agents. Why? To highlight the difference. I could have done without the flying. There are cleaner ways to get from point a to point b that do not involve flying and that especially do not involve flying like you are Superman in black. Neo, as the embodiment of the slacker hacker, should not be flying around like Superman, one fist out in front for what? To reduce drag? C'mon folks, just have him rip a hole in the code, fold "space" in half, or a thousand other things that could be done to get from one place to the next. Yes, I realize portions of the plot called for it, but none of them could not have been written around. Yes, I know it shows him flying at the end of the first movie. I do not care. NY happens soon. Oh yes, it does. My liver is going to hate me.

2003-05-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

Title and Name Generator Chamberlain of Things That Go "Bump" in the Night, Matthew Xavier Gomez Justice of The Choctaw Nation, Matthew X Gomez, the First Which Beareth Said Name Count of The Hellmouth, Matthew X Gomez Vice Chancellor's Under Secretary of The 'Thrax, Matthew X Gomez Mecha-Maharaja of Naughty Bits, Matthew Jacob Gomez XII Warden of Procrastination, Darth Matthew X Gomez Uber-Emperor of The Institute for Promotion of Furry Wilderness Creatures, Matthew X Gomez Blame Tim

2003-05-19T13:17:00.000-04:00

So E. has a new web design and according to Lisa, I'm next. The email group for the historic fencers was very busy over the weekend: talking about guns, hunting, and sporkfighting manuals. I kid you not. It did make my Monday morning rather more interesting and humorous than it would have been otherwise as I'm sitting at my desk clicking through and reading someone's post about which end of the spork it is better to parry with. Oh, and Lisa wants videotape when we go out on our cow slaughering rampage throughout Virginia (we figure its safer than trying to pick a fight with a bear). This coming from the same person who wants to have a Boston Tea Party Birthday. I've been informed in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to practice my "But officer, they were always so quiet" disclaimer, but rather must think of ways to explain to the nice policeman why we are out in the harbor dumping Earl Grey over the side of our rowboat. The best thing I can come up with is that we were fishing for Brits. I'm still not sure how to explain the vast quantity of beer that we will be in the possession of other than that it is unAmerican to fish without beer.

2003-05-18T20:39:00.000-04:00

Four days to New York. I finished the blurbs for the cd mix I made for Daly. It was more me just needing to get around to it. It took me less time to write the blurbs than it did to finalize the tracks and track order. I'm hoping the weather gets better soon, this raw, nasty shite is getting a bit too much for me, I could do with a bit of sunshine. This week should be relatively easy, no major crises, nothing to panic at. Yeah, just need to make it to Thursday and all will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.

2003-05-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

I'm glad this week is over. I'm glad that this time next week I'll be in New York. I'm glad payroll is done. Daly, Lisa, E., in about one year my brother is turning 21. You know what we must do. I readily admit I am mostly doing this to break Brendan, but I am okay with that fact. Besides, he'll be spending some time in London train- I mean studying. The word update is wrong on the sidebar, but I am tired, and I am lazy. I need to do laundry tomorrow. I saw LEND ME A TENOR tonight with my brother. God, I had almost forgotten what a fun show that is, and the actors obvioulsy had a blast with it. The acting was on, and they did wonders with a bare bones tech set-up. Bravo, I applaud you.

2003-05-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

Fencing was good last night, and this despite me being slightly punchy and overtired. We're continuing McBane (aka the pimp school of smallsword- hey he was a brothel owner), and Bill went over the basic parries and riposte's. A good portion of the night was spent figuring out how the guards and parries worked, and then trying them out on each other. I got to fence Bill, which is always a work out and the fact that the academy was about five degrees hotter than the temperature outside was not helping much. Bill commented that my guard wasn't quite right while I was sparring with him as I was holding it too close into my body instead of leaving it extended like I should have been. Luckily, this didn't make too huge of a difference as my footwork was more than enough to keep me alive. Every tiime one of my attacks fell short I had recovered and removed myself in time to avoid Bill's attack. Note: fencing anyone after Bill is almost relaxing. They just don't have his speed or skill. I was pulling one or two moves that were not strictly either a)manual specific or b) good duelling etiquette. More than one person had teh tendency to over extend on their attack and pass flat against me. What's worse is that they would then leave the blade there, not automatically recovering it. Why's this so bad? In McBane, the off hand is held up near the brow to act as a last mminute parry. I would sweep my hand down to keep the blade cleared, my palm would spack into the metal and my hand would close over it, thereby disallowing the use of it. This leaves a beautiful passing lunge opportunity. What was worse was that after I grabbed their blade, they would reach for me, searching for it with their hand which invariably does not work as well as you think it might. I also managed to pull off a disarm, though the irony is that I wasn't trying to and it happened almost inadvertently when the person I was sparring against missed meby passing flat on my left, underneath my arm. I trapped their blade against my body and snapped my hand up underneath the forte of their blade. They conceded the point. So why is this bad form? As far as I know, most of smallsword discourages grappling and getting that close to the opponent. Also, most smallsword masters, McBane included recommended depending on the off hand as little as possible.

2003-05-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

Note to self: rent ROB ROY (weekend maybe? we'll see) mainly because it's been a while and I want to see the broadsword vs. smallsword fight. In all likelihood, despite or maybe even because of my various bitching and contrary to the previous post, I will return to the setting of the fantasy challenge at some future point. It might not even be with the same characters, but I spent enough time conceptualizing (far more than I did actually writing) that it would be worth my while to take it on again, if for nothing else than to cover portions that I may have only touched upon in the original or that I wrote notes for and didn't use for various reasons. I will finish the current work in progress before I go and do anything new though. My attention span is not that short.

2003-05-14T07:31:00.000-04:00

So according to the people I've heard back from so far (which is most of them) I at least succeeded in writing a fairly entertaining story with the fantasy challenge. That's nice. I don't think I'll be going back along that route again any time in the forseeable future seeing what a headache it was to get off the ground. Granted, I've got some of the hard stuff done, but stillit's back to modern/gothic adventure stories for me. Oh and Adrian liked the duels. Go figure.

2003-05-12T22:37:00.000-04:00

Broke 1,000 words while drinking Oban, so obviously I went with option b while listening to Interpol and Stabbing Westward. Lisa's on im still making noise about me writing a Nightshades novel (hey that would make three to my credit), but that's still an intimidating prospect to me. Anyway, two hours later and I'm doing a bit better than the post below would indicate, and what I faield to mention was that I got tickets for Alex and me for "Lend Me a Tenor" which was one of the first plays I saw in college and one that I had a great time at. Also led to me cementing my relationship with a girl named Hyphen which directly led to me acting as the official at a wedding ceremony for her. I'm still wondering at the turn of events that led to that.

2003-05-12T20:23:00.000-04:00

Just finished the profiles and the fafsa. I'm torn between wanting a scotch and slumping in front of the tv and wanting a scotch and writing. I should write. It'll be good for me. I need to turn the radio off, need to put cds in, need to get my brain back, need to not think of school or work or the rest of the mess that's in my head right this instant. I just need to make it another ten days and I'll be in NY, in a bar, drinking Guinness, sucking down food and conversation, inhaling the stench of the subway and the street. I need to get out of here for a while, clear my head. Here's to wishing I could afford to move back.

2003-05-12T07:24:00.000-04:00

Started typing up the redux of "Innocent Incubus" last night after failing to find any of the prelim work I had done on it. So far so good, got a bit more than 600 pages down and that was without trying too hard. It's nice getting back to familiar terrtory after so long, though I still have to ype up fiction blurbs for the comp cd, so that should take precedence. You'd also think I'd edit before starting anything new, and that might happen as well, but I am making no promises. The mgomez at vermilionink dot com address is live again (thanks to Tim), and I've even gone so far as to set up my outlook express with both of my email accounts. Woo hoo! Go me. E.'s been making birthday plans, most of them based around food, and looks like we'll be going out to dinner with her parents at least once. Twist my arm some more why don't you. So less than two weeks and I'm heading North (can you tell that I'm excited?), my shopping is done for all events through the beginning of June, and I might be back on a regular writing schedule. Oh, and my Weird War character isn't dead yet, despite a werewolf attack, though he might be deceased by the time I get to play again as the GM is going to be playing my character in my absence. Eh. Oh well. And I'm sending the check in to GW today to reserve my spot. Hoo boy.

2003-05-09T13:14:00.000-04:00

So pen and paper work has started for the next part of the current Nightshades story arc that I'm working on and that saw a hiatus of a few months while I struggled with the sword and sorcery short that E. challenged me to. (Note: I will be editing and emailing that tonight, I promise). The portion I'm working on, for those that care, comes pretty close on the heels of "Nature of My Game" and will be the result of me figuring out how exactly Fury and Cassandra got together despite the circumstances of their earlier meeting. I still have major revision work to do to "Fires in his Eyes" and a Descartes story to write. The Rasha/Crowe concept story I had might be scrapped, and I still like the idea of the series ending with "Demon's Dance Card" for a host of reasons, most of them being that it leaves the set with a jagged edge to it appropriate to the overall feel. Hmmm tonight might actually be pretty quiet and if I actually show any discipline I could make some serious headway. I may even be approaching the sort of story development that people think I'm actually capable of. *gasp* I'm also very close to finally finishing Count of Monte Cristo having less than 300 pages to go and judging by the slowly rising body count. Yay! I almost feel like I owe it to myself not to read any serious literature after this for a month at least.

2003-05-07T21:51:00.000-04:00

So fencing, with Coach Bill (I have to call him Coach Bill now, I think) started tonight, as opposed to Coach Chris who I'm sure, knowing his luck, was hit with an extra work assignment tonight so that he had to spend it working rather than with his wife. I don't know this for sure, but I know how Chris' luck runs with things like this. So we are continuing smallsword, but we've left the French school behind to study a bloke named Donald McBane who a) was Scottish b) lived in the 18th century c) got into a lot of fights over prostitutes (he was a pimp) d) liked smallsword, but disliked the French So we went over some of the basics, like parrying(!) and footwork, including the lunge. We spent most of hte class sparring which will be a are instance going forward, as Bill wants to stress drills, turning it in style at least into a more traditional Academy class, as opposed to Chris's lecture/spar format with drills occassionally interspersed. I had a good night, though one of the newer girls got to fence me and had the deer in headlights expression on her face. She has a good instinct though, and got more than a couple clean touches which will hopefully boost her self-confidence. John , who I sparred against last, complimented me by saying I was a good challenge, and he could measure his progress by the number of times I hit him. Before I even got to the academy though I got to walk through a gorgeous thunderstorm that started while I was on the bus and continued during my half mile hike. The downside was that I had to wait at the light for a good four minutes, in the rain, but once I got moving it wasn't so bad. It was one of those glorious storms, rain coming down in sheets, lightning in the distance. I got to the Academy and Coach Alex saw me, asked if I walked, and then commented that I didn't look so bad. Then he felt my jean jacket and realized that I was soaked through. Not so wet indeed. Still, this is why I wear boots.

2003-05-07T13:16:00.000-04:00

As opposed to writing, editing, or even typing up the notes for the comp cd I made for Daly, I spent my evening in front of the computer with various financial forms filling out the Profile. I'm going to review my numbers tonight and then hit submit. Still need to do the FASA, and yes I know I'm pitifully behind schedule on this. Fencing tonight though, which is needed and good. I wonder what I'm going to do when I no longer have this Wednesday night ritual... probably have a harder time repressing my urge to hit people during the course of my normal life. As a complete aside to my personal life, has anyone else noticed that in web comics, women tend to be more violent then men? Of course given that my daily reads include Something Positive, Narbonic, and Errant Story, maybe this is less surprising than it seems and probably should not be taken as a unbiased cross sample.

2003-05-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

So neither Black 47 nor Rogue's March are going to be around in NY for Memorial Day weekend damn them. Must do further research... wonder how E.'s planning is going.

2003-05-06T11:05:00.000-04:00

So I've been listening to Elvis Costello and the Black Crowes and am feeling a Nightshades story coming on, despite the fact that I have yet to even do a rough edit of "Politics", despite the fact that I've got other Nightshades pieces screaming to be edited still, despite the fact that I need to do financial aid witchery tonight. Hmm, maybe tonight after I sit down with my parents to do all this (its required that I be invovled as I am under 30 still). I'm looking forward to NY, if nothing else I am in need of a chage of scenery, see faces I haven't seen in a few months, talk to people that I haven't heard from except in passing ims and emails and abbreviated phone calls. Maybe the last is not so surprising given schedules and habits, and the fact that my voice was rougher than usual the past week or so. I need a few nights of irresponsibility, a few nights of not holding back, holding in, choking down. Alex comes home tonight for summer break as well, and it'll be good to see him. He'll be busy though as he's going back to work for the Shake off and on doing overhire work for the scene shop. I'd say it'll keep him out of trouble if I didn't know the guys at the shop, but it will put money in his pocket.

2003-05-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

Right, so thoughts on X2. (spoilers ahead) Better than the first one, mainly because it did not have to concern itself so much with setting up the premise for the majority of the characters. This let it get faster into the thick of the action, the downside, I suppose, that if you had not seen the first you might be scratching your head wondering what was going on, but the same can be said of most sequels. The screen was easily dominated by Jackman (Wolverine) and Sir Ian (Magneto) with my favorite fight sequence easily being the Lady Deathstrike vs Wolverine, though I would have liked to have seen Deathstrike survive the fight. Why? Simply put it would have made a nice recurring character. Deaths that final are rare in comics and it would have been in keepign with the spirit of things to make it appear that she might have survived, if only barely (::cough::Jean Grey::cough::) The Nightcrawler sequences were superb, and quite possibly represent the best that CGI has to offer. They captured the feel of the comic books well without making it camp. The director/writer/Alan Cummings also did a very good job bringing a humanity to the character that could have easily gotten lost underneath all the blue make-up and pointy ears. Heck, I was even impressed that the German accent didn't fade in and out. So was I a happy little fanboy? Yes I was.

2003-05-02T23:31:00.000-04:00

Muahahahahahaha! I finally finished the story. I just need to go through and do my usual rough edit, and then it will be emailed to you lucky individuals to whom I normally email my efforts to. Oh, and I saw X-Men 2, will post on it probably tomorrow.

2003-05-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

My May Day was quiet... and I can say in all honesty that I don't miss trying to avoid naked people. I'm taking a half day today and am going to see GW facilities (where it very well looks like I'll be attending next year, must do financial aid rituals this weekend) after which I'll go grab tickets for X-Men 2 for myself and Kell to guarantee that we'll actually have tickets. Schweet. Speaking of X-Men, I borrowed the Dark Phoenix trade from John as I had never read it, and it more or less confirmed my learned aversion to the superhero genre. The worst of it? The dialogue explaining exactly what is being shown in the panel. Yeah, I've been spoiled in recent years, I admit. I'm germinating an idea of non-canon Nightshades once this other story is finished (this weekend maybe?). All I'll say is that it involves a character wearing a cape, and being mocked for it.

2003-05-01T23:31:00.000-04:00

So E.'s been waxing philosophic on the amount of time we've known each other. Eleven years and going fairly strong as these things go. Heck, she's known me this long and still talks to me... go figure. Guess I haven't changed to much in that time, maybe slightly more charming (me? charm? nahhhh), a bit more to the left of center (usually in response to the conservatives I find myself surrounded by on a fairly regular basis), and neither more nor less of a geek- just my geekness has become more acceptable for some reason. I've learned a thing or two about writing, fighting, and life along the way. And E.? I don't regret the friendship or what we have with each other at all. I regret that we've had the occassional lapses in communication, but hell, senior year sucked for all involved I think, but that's a rant for a different time.

2003-04-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

So what with tonight being Chris' last night as our coach (he's promised to make appearances now and then to harass) he gave us the chance last week to vote for what our subject tonight would be. The vote? Knife fighting, a thoroughly brutish style of combat as it involves getting as close to your opponent as possible so that you may stab and slah to your heart's content. The downside of course is that they have the same chance to do it right back to you. Chris' suggestiong for what to do if someone pulls a knife on you? Do whatever it is they say. The amount of pain that will happen is not worth whatever is in your wallet. It was somewhat sad.. the first time I sparred tonight was against Bill, and we defaulted to smallsword technique with a lot of feints, staying just out of range, trying to lure the attack. It might have looked pretty, but wasn't really effective. The second time, after Chris lectured on forgetting handwork as you can't parry anyway, I fought John. Now John is fast, but not as fast as Bill, and I was making some funky attacks, my favorite being where I feinted to his chest, then dropped low and took his knee. All I did was drop all my weight forward. He was still expecting my head to be eye level with his, instead of about two and a half feet below that point. And Chris liked the targe (Scottish shield for all of you non-academic types) that comes complete with a spike that may be affixed to the center. Chris was thinking of using it as his new inbox.

2003-04-30T13:07:00.000-04:00

Five hours of sleep does not a coherent Gomez make. Actually, it was probably somewhat less than five seeing as how I did not fall asleep right away (damn this difficulty in breathing that plagues me). Anyway, I've agreed to partake in a one shot D&D session when I head up to NY. Seems I'll be playing a monk. I actually have never played straight d20 D&D having grown up with 2nd ed. and my only other experience with d20 being Weird War II which does not have the same feel as your standard fantasy role-playing game even if the emphasis is still "kill the monster". It's been some time since I've played any sort of mystical/ascetic character type. I'm highly amused by the fact that Daly is playing a dwarf named Marcus, and even more amused by the image of him running a Vampire game. Daly as Brujah.. sure... I'm just trying to picture him acting out the stereotypical poseur Toreador. It also seems that despite it beiong a few years, my reputation as a GM precedes me and people have been warned about my "Smirk of Impending Doom". I also remember having to promise a player in a White Wolf Mage/hybrid game that I wouldn't make her cry.

2003-04-30T01:00:00.000-04:00

Hey, what do you know, I actually wrote tonight. Not quite 1,000 but still, something. And I know I keep saing that the end is in sight, but as I'm working on the final climatic fight, I actually mean it. Not going to say when it will be done, just that it will.

2003-04-29T23:48:00.000-04:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

2003-04-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

There's nothing finer than the look of abject horror on a GM's face when a player declares that his character is launching a rifle grenade at the enemy mage. Except of course when the following character's action is to hit the same mage with a bazooka. We're playing Weird War II, a d20 game where the players are soldiers in WW II and get to face off against the Nazis. But as if being in North Africa and being told that a small squad must defend a location at all costs wasn't bad enough, imagine just how much worse it gets when the enemy turns out to be 30 zombies who have no compunctions about walking right up to you before releasing the safety on the grenade. Yeah. To our credit, we only lost one PC, and were doing rather well until a coupleof the brighter lights in our squad found a sarcophagus in an underground chamber located under the building we were defending and decided to see what was inside. We all woke up with bite marks on our neck and no memory of what occurred... though we were told that we are being shipped off to Europe. Oh joy. Oh rapture. My character? A sniper/radioman who believes in his heart of hearts that if it bleeds, we can kill it.

2003-04-25T13:16:00.000-04:00

More on duelling: So for the story, duelling protocol is that both parties strip to the waist before engaging. That removes any consideration that someone is wearing a chainmail shirt or any other armor underneath their clothes and places the onus of surviving to tell about the duel (and collecting bragging rights) on skill, not the pocketbook. Blades are judged, and both must be alike of make in weight, length, and balance for the same reasons stated above. This creates a nice little ritual before the fight starts and also includes the need for a more or less unbiased third party to judge such matters, not necessarily an easy thing as duelling in this place has recently been outlawed to a lesser degree of success than the Emperor would care to admit. As Adrian so succintly put it, I'm the only one he knows of that would approach world building from a bottom up approach and start with weapons and their use.

2003-04-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

Have I sold my soul? Quite possibly as I have been accepted to law school. I say again, I have received an acceptance letter to law school. George Washington Law School in fact, keeping a certain synergy with my previously attended institutionfor higher learning. This doesn't mean I'll be going there precisely, but at least one acceptance is better than none. And of course those others I would share this information with are all at trivia. Now I just need to figure out how to pay for it. And yes, I am still coming to NY in May, never fear, mainly because I have the bad feeling I'll become even more of a phantom up there than I am now.

2003-04-24T00:10:00.000-04:00

The end is in sight! I think. I hope. So about 5,000 it will be, so I decree. Please let this be done soon.

2003-04-23T22:44:00.000-04:00

Alright, am going to forego the usal fencing report for something a bit different... I've been bouncing ideas around in my head re: the story E. challenged me to write and that is taking a lot longer for me to finish than it should. To my credit, I've restarted it what? three times now? That'll teach me to be open to challenges. Anyway, I've actually been doing some *gasp* worldbuilding of a sort that I never do, namely, world build. The way that I have the story set up, there is an Empire hat the protagonist is part of, and bing the only son of a high priestess to a major god, is afforded quite a bit of status. Well, right there I had to figure out the role of the god, its status in the Empire as a whole etc. The opening scene also starts with a duel and here is where my brain is churning. Duels happen in a fairly specific social context, i.e. there has to be a reason for them to occur. In some historic instances it was believed that God would side with the victor (Trial by Combat). In others, it was because of a slight, real or imagined (Spain). In others it was a tool to climb the social ladder (France). Yes, there is some crossover between the three, and I'm strictly talking about duelling here, irregardless of weather the combat was in plate mail with zweihanders, or at dawn in some remote spot. In the case of the story I am writing, its a case of slighted honor. Makes sense, as the character has some status, but given the nature of the God, it is opposed to the militaristic stance of the Empire. So, being young, he grabs a sword and decides to prove the error of the offender's ways upon his body. Not the most rational of conclusions, but he had been up all night drinking so maybe his judgement was a bit impaired. This concept of swordsmanship (and the fact that duels are outlawed) led me to a few otehr "professions" as it were in the Empire... namely that of the Maestro and the Masgister. The Maestro is your philosopher-instructor, usually partially retired, who instructs youths ill-suited for the military academy or for a life of dry and dusty study. Students study philisophy, mathematics, physics, military science, and "self-defense". Think fencing masters of Italy and you are on the right track. More to the point, I had the Spanish model in mind do the the arching knowledge. Also, self-defense is a phrase that mainly focuses on the hip ornaments fashionable at the time the story is set. The Magister is the law of the Empire. They are the judges, appointed by the Emperor and are the ones who enforce the law as they see best. They also advise the king on legal matters, like whether or not duelling should be banned. In the case of this story, it is. So that's all well and good, and why I haven't gotten far on the story. Then "The Riddle of Steel" showed up and I took one look at the "Swordsman" skill packet and thought "Ah-ha! So what if we incorpated different fencing salons/schools?" Mind you the setting is that of a sort of alternate Earth where a School of Fence would not be appropriate for every locale, but I got thinking more about different weapon styles. What if one country used dopplehanders (the game's equivalent of what I think of as a zweihander) to settle disputes, while another used the sabre, and another used knives. The built-in social stratification of the game then made me think that each social class would have its own protocol for dealing with same, as well as laws, etc. There would be little difficulty in figuring out the system for duels across classes. They wouldn't happen. A merchant, no matter how rich, is going to have the clout necessary to challenge even a baronet to a duel, and a baronet would not hesitate to invoke his privledge to have a peasant hanged who insulted him. Mind you, I am only talking about dueling here, not street fights or combats on the field of battle. I'm thinking of how social contracts and obligations as well as how the constraint of artificial rules (and I'm not talking game system here) dictates how a fight should be fought. I may very well post here (or on the new site when Lisa and Tim have it up and running) my additional ruminations and thoughts on the matter. Until then, adieau. P.S. Getting slashed with an epee across the finger hurts like a biatch.

2003-04-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

A quiz that means nada to my average reader.

What Kind of Edgerunner are you?

click here to take the test

2003-04-21T09:40:00.000-04:00

I picked up a new pen and paper rpg called "Riddle of Steel" and put out by Driftwood Publishing. Its a non-d20 system that won my heart and mind by boasting a fairly realistic combat system and a unique approach to skill advancement. Simply put, the characters, when engaged in combat, declare simultaneously whether they are attacking or defending. That done, the attacker declares what sort of attack he is making (based upon his weapon) and the defender declares what sort of defense, which is based on weapon choice and shield. Damage is stepped by five levels, each one mroe sever and damaging than the rest. Mind you a level five wound to the foot won't kill someone, but they'll probably be too blinded by the pain to do more than watch your sword (or axe or mace or flail or... well you get the idea) arc towards your head. The combat system is fairly well balanced so that while a lightly armored, high reflex character would get to attack more often, he better have more than just a rapier if he's hoping to take out the mook in plate mail. I've only read through the magic system once, but it does allow for some rather ungodly effects. The downside to magic is that it ages you, and the same pool used for casting magic is used for resisting magic. And magic ages you in months, so if you are fasat and loose with it, you can become decrepit but quick. Oh, and the unique leveling process? Each character has a set of five spirtual attributes, most of which have attached to them a specific function. (Example: Destiny (to be killed by a man not of woman born). By fulfilling the character's spiritual attributes, they increase which then can be used (in appropriate circumstances) as bonus dice, or to increase skills, weapon proficiencies, or attributes. So just being a mindless hack and slash mook will mean that you don't gain as quickly as someone actively role-playing their character. Character death is pretty common as one bad die roll can spell life or death... a solid hit might not kill you, but it will leave you wide open for the follow-up shot that will finish you. In light of this, yor next character can start out better as long as you've spent Spiritual Attribute points making your old character better. It takes some of the sting out of losing a preferred character. Oh, and there is nothing unrealistic like wielding two bastard swords, but case of rapier is its own skill. *smile* Granted, you have to be from a certain part of the game world to gain it, but what the hell, right?

2003-04-21T09:14:00.000-04:00

So the story is still not done yet, though the good news is that I broke 3,000 and I know how I am ending it (I think) which means that the end is in relative sight. Will work on it more tonight, but am not promising it will go out just yet. Spent Easter down in Fredericksburg visiting my brother for Easter as well as seeing "Midsummer's Night Dream" which holds the dubious distinction of being theplay that I've seen more often than any other. We also went out to brunch which was very nice, despite the somewhat creepy wait staff. (Even I thought he was slightly creepy). Quote of the weekend goes to Michelle which was along the lines of "Thanks for keeping the stereotype alive" in reference to a guy with a mullet driving a beat up pickup truck. Am sick and should have stayed home, but there is a conference call I need to be part of this morning. Hopefully I can just avoid talking for the remainder of the day since my voice is fading in and out on me.

2003-04-20T18:31:00.000-04:00

Hey E., Someone new for you to lust after.

2003-04-18T09:42:00.000-04:00

Finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and have decided to tackle The Count of Monte Cristo next. I expect this to take me a while. As a continuation of the post from Wednesday, I am not trying to state that I am anti-fantasy lit. just the opposite... I still like well written, well thought out fantasy that is character driven as opposed to plot driven. (Yes, yes I know I am guilty of the things that I am accusing others of). I enjoy good sword and sorcery fantasy, and don't feel obligated to avoid any new lit that is coming out. The big one in this case is George R. R. Martin. I jsut don't feel like spending the money on it right now. *smirk* Is there are certain vicarious thrill to junk lit? Sure, but its like junk food. Sooner or later I'm going to want a literary steak to sink my teeth into, I'm going to want a piece of prose that challenges me, makes mekeep track of characters and developments, and that expands my vocabulary. I grew up on a diet as it were of R.A. Salvatore, David Eddings, Lloyd Alexander, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Just because I'm putting them all int he same sentence does not mean that I hold them on the same level by any stretch of the imagination. My point is more that they were and still are to a great extent sort of the industry leaders. Hence the clones that have descended out that try to duplicate what they did. Even the too-soon-deceasded Robert Howard (Conan) had a fairly major effect on the industry (twice in fact, once in the 20's and 30's and again in the 60's and 70's when he was republished and his creation jobbed out as it were to different writers, including a certain hack named Robert Jordan. Unlike Adrian, I am not quite so sophisticated to give up on pop fiction in exchange for a strict diet of classic lit. Why? Sometimes I don't want to think that hard. I haven't quite gone over to the Pratchett crowd, and not because I don't enjoy satire and humor, but sometimes I like my fantasy straight despite the often inherent ridiculous nature of it. Having said all of that... I think one of the inherent flaws to a lot of fantasy is the tendency to polarize good and evil. There is never any real doubt to who the enemy is or what the motivation of the protagonists are (usually to save the world as they know or some variation on that). They theory, I guess, is that the bigger the threat, the bigger the hero. You know, this is why I like Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser. They are not inherently good, they aren't always looking to save the world, and quite frequently a primary concern was how to put food in their stomach and money in their purse. They are both, first and foremost, thieves and any "heroic" acts that they committ are usually done in some combination of surviving or filling their own pockets. I suppose my overall point, if there is one to be found in all of this undirected rambling, is that there are a few kernels of superb storycraft embedded in the morass of popular fantasy. Given the demographic most of the lit is targeted at, however, and the fact that they quite possibly actually want stories of Chosen Ones, prophecies, and orphans who come from behind to kill gods, the field is going to remain barren to the rest of us for some time to come.

2003-04-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

I'm just having one of those days where I'm not sure if I want to reach through the phone and strangle someone or bang my head against the wall because I know it'll feel good when I stop. Yeah. Will post more about fantasy/s&s later, maybe tomorrow when I'm thinking more clearly than I am now.

2003-04-17T07:28:00.000-04:00

Accomplished some writing last night (must learn to keep ims off. Not that I don't like talking to people, but not good for work ethic). But went to bed at 1:30. Errrgggg.... I'm at the point where eating, let alone actually going to work, doesn't seem like a good idea. Went to the library last night, and was frustrated by the fact that they had portions of series (like the George R. R. Martin and Glen Cook ones) but nowhere near the full set, and not the first of the series in the case of the George R.R. Martin in any case. I've also hit a point where certain blurbs and titles on fantasy books are going to drive me away. Anything involving prophecy or "a battle older than the universe" or chosen ones is more likely to drive me away. Yeah, I know I'm skewed by Michael Moorcock, who had a Chosen One (the Eternal Champion) but kept killing him off in rather tragic ways. I don't think the Eternal Champion died in bed, unless he was stabbed there. The whole idea of the hero needed to win the last battle has been beaten into the ground as well, and we need to go in a different direction folks. And yes, I am aware that the industry rewards those who follow a template more than it rewards those that take a risk, but come on folks. Maybe that's why my own "standard" sword and sorcery story is taking a much more personal, non-epic feel. That and I inherently don't trust heroes. So I decided to catch up on my Victorian strange lit with The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and my continuing love/hate affair with Dumas with The Count of Monte Cristo. Yeah that will keep me busy for a while.

2003-04-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

Well looks like Blogger finally got their act together on the template side. Of course this doesn't stop the fact that I still can't seem to find my archives. *shrug* I'm really not all that crushed by that fact. No fencing tonight due to spring break, which is unfortunate since I could use it, especially since we have a full staff meeting today to discuss various and sundry things that probably will effect my job directly. Oh joy. Oh rapture. No writing done last night, but on the way into work I did come up with a better title as well as a conclusion to the story I'm working on now. This actually helps a lot, because now I know what I am writing toward. The way its looking, I might have this done by the close of the weekend. Note that is a pretty big might, but the possibility still exists.

2003-04-15T09:32:00.000-04:00

Hmm my template seems broken in that it won't let me update... more reasons to move to to MT once Lisa and Tim get a chance. At least it is still letting me publish. According to status.blogger.com all has been fixed, but I think they lie. On the bus ride in, I jotted down some mroe world building ideas. I'm not sure if even half of this is going to play a part in the short story I'm writing, heck, I could probably end the short story here and it would be relatively self-contained. I have one or two more twists that I can throw into the mix though, and ending short of 5,000 seems a bit of a cop out. It is chugging along nicely though.

2003-04-14T21:54:00.000-04:00

Hey... actually got some writing done tonight of a significant nature. A few more nights like this and I might actually have this challenge done. Now for a beer and tv, because you know, I feel a need to kill twice as many brain cells as the beer alone would account for.

2003-04-14T18:53:00.000-04:00

I'd apologize for not blogging, but no one is really reading this anyway, so what difference does it make? Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Spent the weekend with my dad, as Mom and Michelle traveled up to New England to look at Frnaklin-Pierce college and visit with my mmom's ide of the family. My grandmother turned 85 this past Friday. So we went out for good Japanese food, shared a pot of sake, and talked politics. My father is nearing the far right. Not the unrational conservatism mind you, but still much further right on more issues than I ever will be on. The fact that I'm probably further right than my friends should give this more perspective. Just sort of hammered home the point that I'm stuck in the tug-of-war that I think most of America is, somewhere between the ravening liberals and the rabid conservatives, neither of whose ideologies I can fully support. Also got some writing done, the word results I'll post after I get some writing done tonight so that they at least are more than what I previously accomplished. I'm even finding myself doing a bit of after-the-fact world building as I'm trying to figure out the social structure of the empire I am creating. It's... interesting, and I probably should record some of this digitally as even I sometimes have trouble reading my handwriting. Finished the Nightshades comp, or at least the relative easy part of selecting, recording, and burning. I still have to type up the fiction blurbs though. In other news, an event that was looming large over my head, went by fairly easily today... namely my performance review at work. I don't have to go looking for a job, and there are no employment-termination-pending problems, and, as always, there is room for improvement. Still, it was nice to hear my supervisor state that there are parts of my job that are monumentally difficult, thus somewhat mitigating the review he gave me. Yeah.

2003-04-10T19:20:00.000-04:00

My hero. And for the second day in a row a friend of mine has felt obligated to send me a coffee related comic.

2003-04-10T19:12:00.000-04:00

Mmmm French smallsword, the only style that actively encourages absolutely outrageous parries and disarms that probably only belong on stage or on screen. Actually the disarms and fancier attacks are completely in keeping with the French style.. they either work well and make you look very, very good and your opponent like an idiot, or you screw up the timing on it, and you end up looking like an idiot and probably dead. The first two were disarms, both of which resulted in locking your opponent's blade under your arm (none of that pesky "now where did that smallsword go?" nonsense). The first is a hanging parry across your body, then snaking your arm around the blade, popping your hand up to knock it out of their hand. You can then bow to present it back to them. Lest they get any ideas, the hanging parry comes around your body, placing it at about their abdomen level. The second disarm is a bit more complicated and difficult to pull off... you have to parry out, then bind, then bring your blade up between your opponent, catching the opponent's blade down by the forte (near the guard), again knocking it out of their grasp. And you have a free hand to grasp the hilt by, just in case you don't feel like giving it back to them. The last attack is again a parry out that continues all the way around your back, resting it on your hip and executing a passing lunge forward. Yeah. So we free fenced the last ten minutes, and I decided not to try anything fancier than feinting, diengaging, and coupeing. My opponent tried the fancier stuff, but kept trying to do it before I actually committed to an attack. This resulted in me going around his great big parries. What was even worse (for him) was that he lunged. Yeah. That doesn't work when your starting distance is a few inches away from each other. So I kept popping him in the arm and chest. I would also wait for him to place his weight on his front foot and pop him in the leg. Yeah, he could not pull his leg back in time to avoid me hitting it. Oh well. And yeah, it works well against the Italian schools as well.

2003-04-09T13:14:00.000-04:00

I'm tempted to give up on the fantasy challenge altogether, but I'm a bit too stubborn to let it die. Stories that I start on my own and go nowhere is a different matter, but this I will finish, even if it ends up with me having the main character drop dead from an unseen aneurysm. Bah. I have just about finished the final version of the Nightshades cd I'm working on and once I get a final copy burned will post the track listing here. Oh yeah, and I own all of the cds, and am doing this for personal enjoyment only, so I am not in violation of any copyright laws. Nyahhh. I spent time yesterday on the Metro out to gaming rewowking the track order and deciding to replace one of the songs completely for being too whiny. Most of the songs are of the hard fast lound bass and drum variety, and some of it you could even conceivably dance to. Granted, I still need to go back and type up the blurbs I am doing for each song, but that shouldn't take too terribly long. Goals for this weekend? I've got a few, but I think I'll take advantage of Friday night and finally get around to editing the story Adrian sent me oh-so-long ago. And I'm reallylooking forward to Lent being over so that Alicia can drink again.

2003-04-09T09:43:00.000-04:00

For the record.. I have never created coffee that ate through anything stronger than say your average person's stomach lining. Nor have I ever tried to create coffee that strong. I wil however admit to an attempt to create a cup of coffee that you could stick a spoon in, but that's different. And it is still raining outside, that cold miserable pissing rain that I detest. I caved and broke the leather out again because the denim just absorbs too much water. I would hate today more, but there is fencing tonight. My fellow classmates should be happy... I only got about five hours worth of sleep last night which means my reaction time is going to be seriously hampered... good for them, bad for me. Ahh well.

2003-04-08T18:41:00.000-04:00

Got into a conversation yesterday about the British royal succession and British history in a really abbreivated fashion with someone that works at the White House. To be fair, he did ask me what play the theatre was running right now (Richard III). So we talked for a while about what king was descended from whom and what the relation between the various kings. So nice to know that my liberal arts degree is useful for something. *smirk* He then asked me what my major was.... yep, I too was an English major. Granted, my concentration was in the Early Modern Period, and I did have professors who insisted on knowing the background behind the lit. Granted, that also got me questioned by my students when I insisted on talking about the history of the time period when they were reading British lit as well. The fact that I could have been a history major doesn't exactly hurt either, though then no one would want to be in the same room as Daly and myself.

2003-04-08T09:33:00.000-04:00

E.'s posting about poetry got me thinking about something that she thought we should do once back in college... go to a poetry open mike night and see if we could blow the rest of the readers out of the water. Personally, I think she had a higher opinion of my poetry than I did. Poetry is never something that came easy to me. I could never just sit down, willy nilly, and jot down a few lines of verse, even if it was loose and free. I have no real grasp of formal verse, and even have a hard time scanning. My way of writing poetry was to first be inspired to write it, then write it down, start to finish. then I'd look at it for a while and rewrite the whole poem, tweaking it as I did so. Sometimes I wouldn't even look at the original and try to rewrite it from memory, see what came out better and what came out worse. I'd do this three or five times, shrug, and put it aside. Yet somehow E. (and a few other people) got it into their head that I was a poet. Heh. I'm barely a decent writer (as evidenced by my lack of discipline in finishing that challenge she gave me months ago), let alone a poet. In high school and the one creative writing course I took in college, the assignment I feared most was writing a sonnet. Rhythym and rhyme just don't come naturally to me. Sorry. Not to say that I don't appreciate poetry, but it was always something I dabbled in, that I didn't take seriously for myself as a craft (not saying that it isn't serious or challenging, just the opposite). So what's my point? Just the fact that even if E. only writes a couple of sonnets and a sestina or villanelle this month, that'sstill more poetry than Ill probably write in a year.

2003-04-07T12:58:00.000-04:00

So sure, its not snowing here, but it is coming down with that nasty cold rain that soaks through your clothes and leaves your fingers numb and stiff, making it difficult to type. The fact that I just missed the first bus this morning didn't really improve matters much. I did accomplish one thing that I wanted to this weekend, namely the compilation cd for Daly I was plot... er planning. I listened to it on the way to work, and decided I need to change the last song, as it doesn't fit quite as well with the rest of the tracks. To my credit, its been a while since I've tried my hand at this, and while I might not be quite as skilled as some people, I'd like to think that I don't do a half bad job either. I'm also in the process of writing small fiction pieces to go with each song... and I'm almost done. Of course I still need to type them up, but at least I'm close.

2003-04-04T13:17:00.000-05:00

Top three spam types that amuse me the most: 1) Stop hair loss. Right. Like I really have a problem with that. 2) Enlarge the size of my breasts. Hmm... you know I don't think my breast size is too much of a concern for me for some reason. 3) Lose weight. I've got the build of a bean pole, thin with not much mass. I probably can't afford to lose any weight. In fact, at one point in college I dropped down to about 120 lbs. If I was about a foot shorter it wouldn't have been so bad, but at a bit over 6', that's just not healthy. I'd be more concerned though if spammers started to actually tailor their messages to me, so radically inappropriate ones are okay, if still damn annoying.

2003-04-03T16:25:00.000-05:00

So French smallsword could very well lead to my death. Why? I want to lunge. Nearly a full year of Italian has taught me to love the lunge, to embrace the lunge, and that to kill my enemy I should lunge as often as possible. The french have a lunge. Kind of. They bend at the waist and extend. That's it. You see my dilemma. The plus side to French, is that there is actually handwork! Okay, so there was handwork in Italian, but all it involves in a couple of binds. You got one disengage, and that was when you were rolling your wrist up to lock your arm, bracing it for the impact of going through your opponent. Now we have multiple disengages, quick coupes, and the tip control goes back to the hand (as opposed to the elbow where it had been residing). So last night we worked on counter-lunging and lunging-in-opposition. The last one is more familiar to modern fencers as attack-in-preparation. The counter-lunge is fairly straightforward. You wait for the attack, avoid it by either pivoting out or by crossing over in front, and place your tip somewhere on your opponent's chest. The harder they are trying to kill you, the more of your blade ends up in them. Lunge in opposition is nasty for various reasons. First there is the timing. Your opponent needs to be fully devoted to the attack. You have to attack them before they launch their attack. Next, you throw your head to one side, hard. You let this carry you over into an off-line lunge. You plant your hand on the ground to keep from doing a faceplant, then lunge behind you up into their torso. Here's a small caveat, if you miss, there is one defense... a high parry two. Yeah, you don't want to miss. Your recovery, such as it is, is to push up hard off the ground back into a standing position, while maintaining balance. There is an even worse variant on this that leads you right. Why worse? You don't even get the option of that parry. Steve was supposed to show last night so he and Chris could fence case. But, le sigh, no such luck.

2003-04-02T14:22:00.000-05:00

You're Davan! You try hopelessly to find women, but
the only ones who ever stay long enough to chat
are your best buds Aubrey and Pee-Jee. You have
the cutest cat in the world, and you're a geek.
You also have a great sense of humor, twisted
as it is, and you look at life in a great
sarcastic way!

Which Something Positive Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla And to think this started as a joke...

2003-04-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

This is why its a theory folks.

2003-04-02T09:52:00.000-05:00

2003-04-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

For the record: Despite Nightshades being set in NY and despite it being a bar/club, there will still be smoking going on inside. Hey, its my little fictive NY and I'll do with it what I want. Besides, can you see anyone trying to tell Crowe that he can't have his cig, or worse, Fury that he can't smoke his cigar?

2003-04-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

So I was woken up in the middle of the night as well, though not by allergies. No no, the cats, both of them, decided to continue a fight that had started the day before, in my room. At four in the morning. I had decidedly little interest in trying to pry apart the two screaming banshees that had decided to have at it. That and Bailey, the little one, is damn fierce. Turns out she actually drew blood on Boston's neck, and as usual, it was Bailey that started the whole thing, though for no discernible reason. For all we know, she caught Boston using the litter box on the second floor as opposed to the one in the basement that he normally uses. For reference sake, Bailey has driven two cat sitters out of our house to date. Female+cat+territorial=mean. There is a reason why she is known as the Psycho Kitty from Hell. The fight picked up again at breakfast, with both cats doing a damn good job of scaring the rest of us by hitting that low subwoofer growl that screams "Come any closer and go for the eyes!" Suddenly I'm happy I won't be home until after fencing tonight. I just hope there is a house left. Oh and I finally finished The Sagas of the Icelanders. I see a trip to the library in the relative near future.

2003-04-01T19:14:00.000-05:00

I'm still amazed at the absolute coup that DC managed to pull off in the 1990s. For many years I gave Marvel my money. Why? I perceived it as "edgier". I mean they didn't cap everyone's name with -boy or -girl or -man or -woman. They seemed to actually have some creative juices floating around that DC just could not beat. For that matter, Marvel seemed more likely to kill people. Kind of. Even though they'd come back. Again. And again. What did DC do? Dropped the cape and tights. Okay, not completely, because characters like Superman and Wonder Woman still bring in revenue, but they realized the potential of giving writers and artists with rather disturbed ideas relatively free reign. The result? Sandman. The Invisibles. Transmetropolitan. Preacher. They realized that stories could be told in the medium that did not have to involve superheroes, hell, could involve whatever you wanted to dream up, albeit the British/American version of mature is still somewhat tame by Japanese manga standards. Granted, Marvel might well be winning the box office wars, but then they are selling character rights by the truckload it appears. Oh, and has anyone else noticed that the Western revolution in the graphic format was spearheaded by the British?

2003-03-31T12:42:00.000-05:00

Oh, and for the record, I really should not be browsing the internet at midnight waiting for my buzz to die down so I can sleep. I especially shouldn't be reading diepunyhumans in that frame of mind.

2003-03-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

So my weekend with no internet has come to an end... and yes that was deliberate, and capped with a fantastic get together at Dan's in Vienna where I got to see Steve and a host of other people that I haven't seen in a long time (too long probably). The downside was that it was snowing. Snowing! The hell! I mean, it is the end of March, right? and snow? Mind you this didn't stop those of us that brought gear from fencing at all, but now I remember why I don't fence in jeans or in regular hiking boots. I managed to bang my toe up pretty bad, and it looked really friggin' ugly until I took a shower and got most of the dried blood off. This being Dan's, there was also a great variety of drinks to choose from... by the end of the night I was sampling the Talisker and the Oban. Downside? Really didn't want to get out of bed this morning, at all. This being the set of people that it is, we spent a lot of tume discussing military history, weapons (ancient and modern), and tactics. There was also a great deal of storytelling, either about our own misadventures or the misadventures of people we knew. Englebach always makes for good stories in this case, especially when dealing with people who very much can visualize a wookie in a kilt. Also found a great restaurant in China Town called Eat First that is pretty inexpensive, serves huge portions, and has really great tea. Mmmmm good chinese food. Their side menu does make me leery of bringing Daly to it though, since it very well could become "I dare you to eat..." Still, very, very good food. Oh yeah, and no writing was done this weekend, so don't even ask.

2003-03-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

Going away this weekend so no blogging (or any other writing for that matter) for a while. There will be a fencing party though on Sunday that I'll be attending which means an excuse to wear my good fencing boots which the Academy in it's oh-so-infinite-wisdom banned because they possessed the dreaded black soles. Of course, in another year or so it may not matter when the floor is scuffed beyond Alex caring about it getting more scuffed. Still... a wooden floor is a significant improvement over the concrete we had to deal with before, so I suppose I should not complain all that loudly. We'll also get to see Steve try to use the technique formerly known as Viggiani against the more proper Agrippa of Chris. Not to mention a case o' rapier reprise might be in the works which only gets truly silly when both Chris and Steve start to get tired, because that's when the skill shines you know. Also it will be a nice change fencing outdoors which has a much different feel from fencing inside, esp if we move to the lawn.

2003-03-27T12:58:00.000-05:00

I think we've all had days like this. In unrelated news, the theatre has recently issued everyone photo id badges, which, due to the modern marvels of digital cameras and color printing, contains a really fuzzy picture of yourself. Oh yay, something else for people to lose. What's even more fun is listening to the receptionist telling vistors to sign in and then asking them to be sure to return the badge and the plastic slip cover that they are inserted into as if this was the single most important thing in the world. Luckily, I have headphones.

2003-03-26T21:40:00.000-05:00

Yep, its a Wednesday, so its a fencing report... Tonight marked the beginning of French smallsword, and like all intros, it focused on much lecture, a little drilling, and no sparring, which makes sense. It also featured the return of Chris' favorite guinea pig: Bill, the person replacing him. So tonight we talked about the advance (lean forward) and the retreat (lean back) and the fact that there are two very different versions of smallsword that were contemporary. One was used for duelling where you were not trying to kill the person. The other was used for street fighting when someone was actively trying to kill you. The key key difference between the two (other than the obvious) is that in the duelling there is no actual footwork really involved, while in the street fighting, there is a lot more footwork involved. Next week promises to be more interesting, simply because Steve will be there. So for a whole host of reasons I cannot wait for the weekend to get here already. Also, Chicago is coming to The National Theatre in June. Despite everything else going on that month already, maybe I'll try and score tickets. And my vermilionink dot com email is busted, so use the Hit Me sign on the left of your screen to get in contact. Or there are always the comments buttons.

2003-03-24T13:13:00.000-05:00

We have seen the enemy... Where I gamed this past Saturday was a place called Games Parlor located in Chantilly, VA. In addition to racks of games, miniatures, dice, cards and comics they have an entire back section where people can play as well as computers for LAN games. I was very, very frightened. I will admit, I can occassionally come across as a cave dwelling geek, but for the love of God people. I saw first hand what a lifestyle of computers and role-playing only can do to people, and it is not a pretty sight. All I could think of was Something Positive and "It burns! It burns like hygeine!" For the next session in two weeks we'll be going to the house of the guy running it. It will be quieter for one and less traumatizing for the other.

2003-03-24T09:27:00.000-05:00

So why has writing been like pulling the proverbial teeth? Because fiction at this moment seems so trite. What with everything else going on in the world, my little escapes from reality seem just that.. little escapes. The argument could be made that there is something very wrong going all the time, and that this current conflict is merely bringing it into our proverbial living rooms, but the fact remains that writing anything raises the big nasty question of "Why am I doing this?" What has helped get me out of this funk? Reading Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan, a work of fiction that makes me smile the same way when I first saw Bringing Out the Dead. Its crude and raw and infused with black humor and it too is a fiction, but fiction that is unabashedly unafraid of itself. That said, I did no more writing this weekend other than what I managed on Friday. Why? Well Saturday I went and played d20 for the first time. Not just any d20 either, but Weird War II, a bizarre mix of WW II squad combat and the supernatural. Our intrepid band hasn't run into anything supernatural quite yet, but hopefully we'll all live long enough to do so. I also went and saw Richard III last night with Kell and her future roommate Theresa. Mmmm unabashedly evil villain who still gets his comeuppance at the end. Now I see why E. is all about this play.

2003-03-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

So, writing happened. Actually the side bar lies as I deleted two pages worth of material and took a different approach. Maybe by completely abandoing the original, difficult approach and steamlining it down I'll have better luck. What it does mean is that over a 1,000 words have been written tonight. Woo hoo! Go me. Maybe later this weekend I'll post why this has been such a bitch for me and what may be getting out of this funk.

2003-03-20T22:16:00.000-05:00

And in lighter news, Dropkick Murphy piper Spicy McHaggis has left the band. Why? He got friggin' married and decided to give up the good life- cheap motels, willing women and long nights- to settle down with a nice English lass. His replacement? A guy by the name of Scruffy Wallace who learned to play while in the Canadian army. In happier news, there is a new album coming out in 82 days and counting. No real info on it yet though. Also, Rancid is back in the studio working on a cd due out sometime in June. Circle Pit!!!!!

2003-03-20T22:09:00.000-05:00

So what with the chaos in Iraq... a few well written articles that I've come across, one by Ratican at the Propaganda Box and one over at Suburban Limbo, and both move beyond the simple WAR IS BAD approach that so many liberals I see taking to counter the WAR IS GOOD approach being taken by the far right. I got into a conversation with Adrian last night about what's going on, and ended up wondering what the history books are going to say even ten or twenty years from now and how they are going to look back on this period in the United States' history. Personally, I think it completely depends on what the end result is as opposed to the stated intent (disarmament) or the barely veiled actual intent (seizure of a valuable economic commodity) will determine how these actions are viewed. 12 years ago, it was less of a question. Iraq had invaded another sovereign nation, we had the support of the UN, and we knew exactly why our leaders told us they were going on. Sure, there economic interests involved, but they are involved in almost any war, whether you think they are there or not. This time? How do you justify a preemptive strike against a nation that, while ruled by a strongarm dictator who would like nothing more than to see us fall into anarchy, poses no direct threat to you? 9/11? Please. We, the educated middle class, are not complete idiots. Sure Hussein probably shat himself in glee when it happened, but that doesn't mean that he had any connection to the attacks other than he happened to be from the same broad geographical region. If this war results in democratic rule for Iraq, if it results in greater stability in the Middle East, if it does not result in a protracted peace action where America's sons and daughters are expected to rebuild a nation for a group of people that looks upon them with active hostility and ill will, then maybe the history books will overlook the unilateral decision of the United States to attack, will ignore the civilian casualty numbers, will overlook the piss poor military decisions that are being made (here's one.. you start with Shock and Awe off the bat. You stun the military and leadership from the beginning so that your forces are in less danger. Gradual escalation does not work as well as going from 0 to 300 missiles an hour without any warning), and will overlook the deep divisions that were caused in this country and in the world because of it. The conversation with Adrian became one of intent versus end result, and the fact that so many of the end results are, to greater or lesser degrees mixed. World War I ended with Germany being pushed back, but it also led directly to World War II, not to mention some of the problems that occurred later int eh century with Vietnam and the Middle East. World War II stopped Nazism and one of the worst recorded genocide attempts in human history but it also divided Europe into a battlefield waiting to happen. Thankfully it didn't, but I'm not sure how much of that wasn't pure blind luck. Am I happy that we are engaged in conflict with Iraq? Hell no. But at this point I want to see it ended quickly and with as little loss to first and foremost, our people and secondly to the Iraqi civilian population. Is that selfish of me? Yeah, probably, but then the people I know who are currently in harm's way had about as much say in getting involved as your average citizen.

2003-03-19T21:49:00.000-05:00

Yep, its a Wednesday night so it must be time for a fencing report! Big news of the night? Coach Chris, who originally got me hooked on the original program is leaving. Why? There are only so many hours in a day, and coaching twice a week takes up too many of them. What this means is that we are going to go into a crash course of smallsword in the next five weeks (Lisa, wipe that smirk off your face) after which Coach Bill (who is actually coming back to class next week. Yay!) will be taking over and we'll be going back to a different Italian master... Fabris. I've done a little of this already, but it should be fun. What I really need to do is figure out a way to get the party being thrown a week from Sunday for Steve's arrival in the states. Mmmm lots of acreage, lots of swords... much chaos will ensue I'm sure. So we spent tonight doing a wee bit of Capo Ferro, and dissecting why it doesn't work (the no retreat thing does wonders toward getting you killed) so we studied a technique of an Englishman by the name of Swetham (I probably am butchering the spelling but am too apathetic to google a proper one. Basically it involved taking a low guard, and when the attack came in, parrying down and to the outside while bringing the arm all the way back before inserting the tip into the attacker's arm/throat/forehead. In order to pull this off, you bring the lead leg all the way and throw your butt out behind you to get the target area (your chest) out of the way. No, its not a flick... its a really big, slow coupe that is a bitch to defend against. It only works in certain situations, and there are better techniques to use, but its still pretty when you pull it off.

2003-03-19T13:01:00.000-05:00

Nice to see that nearly a century later Clausewitz's theories on war are still alive and well and being employed by the Pentagon. At some point I should either borrow Daly's or get my own and try to make it through the text of Vom Krieg. I think I managed to surprise a few people at the bar Monday night when I went into a brief overview of infantry anti-armor tactics utilizing chokepoints and terrain. Just because I took a course in high school called Military Warfare from Napoleon to World War II and we were using graduate level materials...

2003-03-19T09:52:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow also starts the season where I diligently read the sport pages more than any other time of the year. Why? Because I've got five bucks riding on a crazy ballot for the NCAA tournament. And hey, if I have the worst ballot imaginable, I get my five bucks back.

2003-03-19T09:37:00.000-05:00

Yeah yeah, so no new writing done, I've got a story sitting in my email from Adrian with a 7,000 word story attached that I still need to download (let alone edit), but at least I sent a few of the emails I meant to send. I still need to send four chapters of Continuity on to Katie (still not sure how she ended up missing the first three and one of the middle chapters), but I can do that tonight after fencing. Mmmm fencing. The other good news is that Richard III Invited Dress is this weekend. Mmmm bloody drama with a peace message tacked on at the end. It should be interesting to see if any of the critics decide to jump on the overarching metaphor and apply it to the current world situation. In related news, Brendan (not Daly, but my godfather's son) made history Feb 27th when he was part of the first combat jump since Panama.

2003-03-18T20:32:00.000-05:00

Apologies to those of you that were expecting emails from me, after I managed to stagger home last night the only thing I wanted to do was crawl into bed. There is something very, very wrong with St. Pat's being on a Monday. I even considered just going home and ignoring the speech, but I got an email from Colleen luring me out to the Tune Inn and the promise of a seemingly endless pitcher of Yuengling. Yes yes, I know it wasn't Guinness, but dammit they didn't have Guinness. *cry* I also got my music fix in Friday with Seven Nations, so while I do feel bad that I missed Black 47 in NY, the number of times I have seen them is nigh onto staggerring, except perhaps when compared to a certain Drunken Moose who at one point made weekly jaunts to Connelly's, rarely missing a show. The crowd was good, and there were a couple ex-theatre employees there who I hadn't seen in a while, and that's always a fun experience. The downer of the night was learning that, why yes indeed we are going to exert military force in the Middle East. Not that anyone with half a brain couldn't see this is where we were going, regardless of whether you think its about removing a dangerous dictator who may or may not have weapons of mass destruction or about seizing control of vital economic assets.

2003-03-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

And of course... Happy St. Patrick's Day. The lack of green around me is deeply disturbing... its days like this that I miss NY more than most. Speaking of NY, plans are being set in motion as I type this of me journeying northward for Memorial Day weekend... which just happens to coincide with Lady Evil's birthday. I mean, someone has to help her drink her way through her birthday, right?

2003-03-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Well I had a fairly productive weekend (why is it that on weekends when I don't post I get more hits?) Friday I saw Seven Nations with my brother and a bunch of his friends, where I got to be the "responsible adult". I was also the only one over 21.... an odd feeling seeing as how I think I was still in college last time something like that happened. The State Theatre in Fall's Church is a great venue for live music... just don't order the tortilla chips. I did get a wee bit of writing done to the tune of about 500 words. The story is developing and I have a plot in my head where I would like for it to go. I created a short list for the new Nightshades compilation I'm going to put together, though mainly its aimed at Daly, Katie, and myself. Instead of the standard track listing, I'm going to write short pieces of fiction for each song to explain the significance of each. I've only got a couple done so far, and it will be interesting to see if I can sustain the concept for all songs. Tonight I need to remember to email Katie the rest of the Nightshades stories along with the Continuity chapters she seems to be missing. Also need to get caught up on email... I received an email asking to join up with a role-playing group and another from someone that I haven't heard from in a long, long time.

2003-03-13T09:29:00.000-05:00

So Amalthia, the much better half of the Drunken Moose has a livejournal. Is there anyone I know (okay, maybe Kell) that doesn't have some sort of presence on the web? On a related note, she asked me for chapters from CONTINUITY that she didn't have to show a friend of hers. ::blink blink:: Other than Kell no one has made much mention of that particular piece of work in quite some time. One of these days I'll do like I promised Kell, dust it off and actually, seriously edit the bejeesus out of it. Who knows? Maybe there will be a decent short story in there once I'm done. I did get some work done, restarting the fantasy fluff story as I gnash my teeth over writer's block. well maybe not so much writer's block as writer's stumble. This is the third time I've started this story, and I think I might have hit on a formula to make it work. It meant really stripping the storydown to the bare basics, but we'll see what happens. The people I talked to last night seemed hopeful regarding the end product. Ahh yes and there was fencing last night, continuing Capo Ferro. You know I'm going to be pretty happy when this style is done, even if it does mean we're moving into smallsword. Having the ability to really only move one fott is bothering me, and something about the dependence of hand work over foot work, let's just leave it at that I miss Agrippa. I was doing better with it once I let my body get a bit looser... at the start of the night I was telegraphing my attacks to the point where I knew I was going to end up hit halfway through the start of my lunge... and I couldn't figure out how to break the timingso that stopped happening. Rather frustrating really. There is a historic clinic this weekend that I'm hoping to catch... mainly because its to make up in a small way the classes that we missed in Feb due to all the freakin' white stuff.

2003-03-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

So this fantasy challenge second start seems to be a non-starter as well. The downside is with Alex home I haven't been able to just crank my stereo to play loud obnoxious industrial music and focus on the writing bit. I did however start writing (in a notebook no less) an intro to a Nightshades story that I may or may not use (probably not, but it was good to get thinking along those lines again). Why restarting? Because I'm getting bogged down in dialogue which this story really should not be all about. I mean two thousand words in and not a single fight. Bleah. So yeah, I might scrap what I've started and start over, again. That and I felt like I was focusing too much on generating word count as opposed to telling the story, which yes, is a bad thing. Speaking of loud and industrial, I've been on a Second Spin binge lately. Strrangest song so far has got to be a loungecore version of Head Like a Hole done by Pig. Loungecore, in case you are wondering, is the bizarre love child of lounge music and hardcore and is just as wrong as it sounds. Damn catchy though (as if te original wasn't bad enough). Its also leading me down the path to a new Nightshades compilation (haven't made one of these in years), which is looking like its going to go the all-covers route. The benefit is that Daly, who will be the recipient of one copy might not even know the original songs, unless he's picked up the habit of listening to Ministry and Tool.

2003-03-11T10:08:00.000-05:00

Oh, and its friggin' snowing again.

2003-03-11T09:24:00.000-05:00

Finally went and did something I've been meaning to do for a while... namely to update my links sidebar, including an updated link for The Propaganda Box, and links for Adventures Anatomica (updated Mondays and Wednesdays) and Zebra Girl(updated Fridays). No writing was accomplished last night, nor no editing either. Yep, I slack big time, though I have been chugging along with The Sagas of the Icelanders. Whee!

2003-03-10T13:44:00.000-05:00

The irony of this does not escape me.
You are "24 Hour Party People". Things
may seem nice and peachy right now, but if you
don't grow up a bit, you may never acheive your
goals.

!?!What Indie Film Personality Are You!?!
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2003-03-10T13:43:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Lisa
You are Methos, the most ancient of the immortals.
Known for your quick wit and wisdom, you must
spend your life as a myth to protect yourself
from the headhunters who desire your
quickening.

Which 'Highlander' immortal are you?
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2003-03-10T13:37:00.000-05:00

So Alex is home for spring break, his roommate Phil is with him, and I've been displaced for the time beng upstairs to Alex's room. I need to update my links on this site. I need to finish E's challenge, mainly because it is annoying me right now and I'm losing focus. What's really sad is that its not even because I'm itching to write something else... I'm not. I am a bit more than halfway through the Sagas of The Icelanders though. So what did I do this weekend? Finished my taxes for one thing. Laundry for another. Pretty slow and lazy all in all. And its Monday and already I'm itching to go to fencing. The good news is that we are going to have a chance to make up at least a small part of the time we lost with a clinic this Sunday. I wonder how much of it will be lesson and how much will be sparring. I'm going to guess that it is mostly going to be sparring.

2003-03-07T13:28:00.000-05:00

So a post by Lisa got me thinking about the reasons I fence and why I like fencing. We have a few new people in the class, as in this is their second or third class. And one new person. So Chris introduces her and my response is "I'm sorry." Why sorry? Because I knew what we had in store for that night, which was more drilling and maybe a wee bit of sparring. Not exactly the kindest or gentlest thing to be going into, not to mention that Chrisfirmly believes that the styles and techniques build upon each other. He also has no shame in referencing things we did six or more months ago, which is fine for those of us there, but as for the rest... oh well. This also includes inside jokes (such as the style formerly known as Viggiani), and snide comments. The downside is that with Bill not in the class the number of snide comments has dropped. Yes, I consider this a bad thing. The benefit to having all of these new people is that it keeps the group from growing stale. We had lost a lot of people at the beginning of the school year, and it was nice to see people coming in to replace them. It also gives a wide range of people to fence, each with their own idiosyncracies and styles. The downside is well.. they're new. I've been in the rapier class for a bit over a year now, and fall into what is probably the midrange in terms of age. Since I've been doing this for a while though, I have a slightly easier time adjusting from one style to the next, and there are certain basic concepts that apply throughout that I'm used to that somebody coming into the class fresh, even from a sport fencing style, just isn't. I've somehow manged to get a reputation in the class as being good for newcomers to work with, and Chris likes to pair me up with them. I don't mind so much, but I miss the total concentration in fencing someone my ability or better. Granted, there is the challenge at looking at what someone is doing and trying to get them to make bigger or smaller adjustments and to give suggestions, but it does take away from my focus on my own work. Part of the joy of fencing for me is that it makes me focus my entire attention. I can't drift off in the middle of a bout or I am going to get hit. There is an absolutely incredible rush that comes from knowing that I managed to pull off barely not getting hit while punching through an opponent's defence. Hence why I can't wait until Bill gets back. Hmm wonder if I'll get a chance to fence Steve when he comes back to visit...

2003-03-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

So its a day late... but its a fencing report. Wednesday night was a continuation of Capo Ferro, a late Renaissance rapier style originating in Italy. Unlike most other Italian styles, this one uses a reclined guard, so all of your weight is on your back foot to start. This changes. To attack, you first extend into the thrust, lean forward until you are just about to start putting weight on that front foot, then you push off. All of the kinetic energy is being stored in that back leg, and you suddenl;y release it into one mother of a long lunge. Reaching first actually gets your weight moving forward, and since its part of the attack, you really aren't telegraphing your attack as you might think you would be. This is different from the Agrippa we were doing which was simply predicated on letting your weight carry you forward into the lunge. Class was spent drilling a routine which was extende/reach/lunge, followed by a recover of the torso to get the weight moving back again, recover the foot, then sweep the blade down in a aparry as you slip the lead foot behind and then thrust again. Yeah, this is going to take practice.. a lot of it so I know what I'll be doing before class starts. If I'm smart I'll actually do some drilling this weekend to get the muscle memory in place. I think Chris managed to depress himself when he realized just how long Steve's been gone (and consequently how long Chris has been the head of the historic program). Chris was still engaged, as opposed to married, when Steve left. Even more depressing, there are about four people still in the rapier program who remember Steve. This is in a class that ranges from 12 to 15 people now. Granted Steve has been gone since Nov. of '01, but still. Hopefully Steve will make anappearance in at least one class, and we might get to see a case fight... which is oh so pretty.

2003-03-06T13:28:00.000-05:00

Strange fortune for the day: "If you can't decide up or down try moving across." Almost seems too easy, doesn't it?

2003-03-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

And in other, lighter news... Steve is coming back to visit! Turns out he is taking a break from Scotland to show the rest of us yahoos what new tricks and tips he's picked up while he's been gone. Somehow I don't think that the married life has calmed him down any, which is fine. What's going to be really amusing is seeing the reaction of the people in the various classes meeting Steve and watching him fight for the first time. Watching Chris and Steve duel was always fun with the realization that why yes, they just are that damn good.

2003-03-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

So a recent posting at Suburban Limbo caught my eye and the article it linked made me want to gnash my teeth. Just because I happen to be anti-military action in Iraq (I have yet to see a reason that has persuaded me that turning Iraq into a sheet of glass is a good idea), does not mean that I don't support people serving in the military. Just the opposite, I support them to the point where I don't want people that I know, friends of my brothers, friends of my family, killed. And for what? Can someone please explain to me, in short succinct sentences that does not involve the words "Al-Qaeda" (haven't seen a link between the two, sorry), or "stabilizing the region" (wars, by their nature, do not stabilize). At least the overwhelming response from the international community means that I'm not alone in my head scratching over the military posturing of my government.

2003-03-05T09:11:00.000-05:00

Errrgg... was up at 5:30 this morning. Why? To get ashes at 6:30. So I caught an early bus by the church after Mass, andwas in to work by 8:00.... so you'd think I'd something productive.. nahhh... I'm here until 5:30 anyway, and I'm waiting for payroll to be delivered so I let myself get caught up with email and such. And there's fencing tonight.... my body's going to hate me.

2003-03-04T19:51:00.000-05:00

An ongoing debate: Marcus insists that the axe is a much better weapon than a sword. I argue the opposite. Mind you, most of this is just general preference on both of our parts and are opinions held on to for mostly aesthetic reasons (for instance Marcus likes the sound axes make when they hit something as opposed to the noise that a sword makes). This debate recently saw a new resurgence when the History channel aired an episode (that I have yet to see) based on this self-same debate. Now Marcus would argue that it takes a particularly disciplined swordsman to not bolt at the site of an axe wielding crazy who is either: a)naked and painted with a blue halluginogenic dye or b) frothing at the mouth and trying to gnaw his way through his shield. My opinion? It would take a highly disciplined anything to not bolt at the sight of either one of those regardless if they had an axe, spear, sword, or rubber chicken. This does not prove that the axe was a better weapon, nor that it had greater psychological impact. The psychological impact would come from getting hit with the axe and seeing said arm lying on the ground, no longer attached to the rest of you. Don't know about you, but my brain would go into overload trying to reconcile this fact. I'd still have a decent shot at surviving as long as I wasn't attacked again while trying to get my brain to accept that my body had been non-surgically alterered, because, well, Medieval and Renaissance man knew what to do in that situation. Tie off the wound and count the limb a loss. A sword though was capable of puncture wounds as well as a chopping attack (yeah yeah an axe can thrust as well, but it is really not balanced for it). Deep puncture wounds were a lot harder to deal with... you can't exactly throw a patch on to the wound and consider it done, because the attack just created some nice warm air pockets on your insides. Mr. Bacteria is no longer your friend. Marcus then brought up the point that his ideal would really be an axe/shield combination. What he fails to mention is how this is fundamentally different from a sword/shield combination. Further proof that Marcus is but an Uncivilized Moose who needs to have it proven upon his body that the axe is not the ultimate hand-to-hand weapon. And yes, I realize that Marcus takes the term Uncivilized Moose as a compliment.

2003-03-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

The results of this quiz are wholly dependent on my mood... at one point I took it and gt head 'splody instead. Hehehe
Smart but angsty....now ask me another question

What JTHM moment are you?
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2003-03-04T09:58:00.000-05:00

Gimme some sugar baby.

Which B-Movie Badass Are You?
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2003-03-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

I did see DAREDEVIL on Friday. What'd I think? Eh. It was far from the worse movie I've ever paid money to see, but far from the best as well. Colin Farrel as the sociopathic Bullseye absolutely dominated the movie, which is odd since you'd think the guy in the red leather suit should be doing that. The story was developed... kind of. Except that it didn't follow logically (to me at least) that because Elektra and Daredevil ended up in bed together that there would suddenly be an overwhelming emotional bond. The worse part of the movie? The CGI was atrocious. Okay, maybe not all of it... but the computer model for daredevil could have at least been the same body type as Ben Affleck, and there were times when it just wasn't needed (climbing up to the organ). The wire work was not too terrible, though Daredevil kicking Bullseye off the motorcycle was... awkward. It was as if they were trying to pull off the MATRIX 360 effect but didn't quite have the technology or the knowledge to pull it off alas. Still, a good guilty pleasures movie... and the trailers really make me want to see BULLETPROOF MONK, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN, and HULK. X2 looks promising, but it didn't manage to spark my interest like those three.

2003-03-03T07:56:00.000-05:00

I had a fairly prouctive weekend for all that I did next to nil writing. Sent off applications to two law schools right at the line (they needed to be postmarked March 1st), only one more to go. Did my taxes, well part one of my taxes anayway seeing as I still need to file my Virginia ones. The good news though is that I'm owed money by the Feds as long as I calcualted this right. Also went and saw the Laramie Project down at Mary Washington College. For those familiar with it, some of Rev. Phelps' protesters came out on Saturday... all six of them, and were met by thirty-forty counter-protesters. Ales was woking as a video operator on it, and they did a good job (as evidenced by the standing o they received at curtain call). The game plan for this week is to send off the application to George Mason, finish my taxes, and hopefully get more writing done to the point of finally finishing this story. Yeah that'd be good. But first... work. Bah!

2003-02-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

Still snowing. Last I heard its supposed to stop at noon but we'll see. And its supposed to snow again next week, aroudn the middle of the week. Will this mean that there will be no fencing.... again??? God I hope not. I forgot how long my week becomes without that simple joy of trying to hit and not be hit other like minded individuals. I even almost miss the drills. Almost.

2003-02-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

For the record this would never have happened at Regis, for a few reasons. 1) Better security. Its harder to break into Regis then you think, especially with padlocked entrances and only one real way in or out guarded by faculty. 2) The Jesuits would hold out for more than fifty bucks. 3) Girls ask Regians out? Pure fantasy. 4) They guy would probably already be dead. and last but not least... 5) Well it was an all guy school. So we might have gone to Marymount to exact revenge on someone there, but that's a completely different story.

2003-02-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

So the word count for the writing challenge has gone down since I last updated it. Why? Because I started over more or less from scratch. I'm reusing some of the same plot elements, but also tightening up some of the writing, changing the names of characters and places and overall I'm liking this version better. In other words, I don't think I'll dred writing it nearly as much as I have been. And yes the style of the sagas is leaking into the writing here, making for a much more straightforward approach than perhaps I'm used to, but one that is much more suited to this style of the story than it would be for Nightshades. So maybe I'm not such a lazy sod. I'm almost tempted to write until I break 2,000... we'll see. Update: for those paying attention, you already know. For those not: I went the extra step and went over and above 2000, putting me just shy of where I was with the original attempt. Not too shabby for a good little slave monkey. (Yes E. I said that just for you.) And my dad got glasses. Sure he's had reading glasses for a while now, but he's got honest-to-God prescription glasses, progressives no less, that he'll be wearing during his waking hours. To say that this is going to be a major adjustment for him is an understatement. He wasn't exactly thrilled that he wasn't a candidate for contacts either. Those of you who know my dad know what a major adjustment this is going to be for him.

2003-02-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

You'd think that we'd be use to the snow by now. You'd think that an inch or two and more falling steadily, but not heavily would hardly be cause for concern. You'd think I wouldn't be waiting over an hour for a bus in below freezing temperatures. You'd think that and be wrong. And fencing will probably be cancelled tonight turning this into one bang-up day. Update: Yep, fencing was cancelled, though this means I'll write tonight. I'd rather fence though. God next week is going to suck when I go back.

2003-02-26T07:12:00.000-05:00

No new writing last night, but that's because I finally went gaming again after a week off due to inclement weather (which is back by the way). Still reading the sagas, though I've finished two of them so far, and only have nine more to go (and five much shorter tales). Right now the caffeine in my body is fighting with my body's overwhelming desire to crawl back into bed and not come out until Saturday. Or spring. Spring sounds really nice right about now. The plan is to mail off the applications tomorrow. I need to pick up some of those large mailing envelopes, attach my name to my essays, and I'm done. Keep your fingers crossed for me people, because I'm about to take the plunge. Oh yeah, and in the spirit of "Still not king": Still a lazy sod.

2003-02-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

So I've been a lazy sod and mostly undeserving of the ten+ hits a day I've been getting (what the hell are you people looking for anyway? No, never mind, I don't want to know). I have done no new work on the fantasy challenge story, no new Nightsahdes work, not even editing, and I have been working on law school apps, which need to be postmarked no later than (drumroll please) Saturday. I'd be more nervous, but aside from some niggling details for in-state financial aid I am done. Booyah! Hence why I am sitting here now, drinking a beer and blogging. Not sure what I'll do after this. If I was a good little slave monkey I'd write. Or at least go through and replace all the Ulrichs in my story with Eiriks. No that was not a typo, however prone I may be to them (bloody stupid fingers), I meant Eirik. Yes, the sagas are going to my head. Deal.