Previously, in Trip's Life...
31 August 2006 - Thursday
Argh. No brain. Hard to move. Barely made it to Taos. Person I wanted
to see wasn't in. Also, somewhat queasy.
* * *
Yay! My prescriptions are in! Brain pills OK!
* * *
The new edition of Exalted is better in some ways (unified charms for
extra dice/autosuccesses/rerolls on abilities, flat difficulties for
attacks, a single social combat system that all persuasion skills and
powers use, scales on maps), but it is still fundamentally way too
detailed for good martial-arts wild action with ninja death monkeys.
* * *
Cats: So very orange!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
30 August 2006 - Wednesday
I made my feet sad by walking to Lee's and back, and then later to
the drug store and back. Somewhere in there, I made my mouth sad by
eating In'n'Out fries (mediocre) in place of an additional burger
(yummy). My brain is sad because I have not successfully renewed my
prescription for brain-improving pills.
But we have successfully watched more Twelve Kingdoms!
Yay!
* * *
Cats: Miau!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
29 August 2006 - Tuesday
Today I actually went in to Taos and got introduced to some of the
new account managers and poked vaguely at a Cisco router. I'm sure that
if I wanted to use the router for something, I would be able to, but
just a router sitting there purposelessly is not too exciting.
* * *
Puzzle of the day: Petals Around the
Rose. I poked at it a little, then went home and ignored it until
Marith mentioned on the way to anime. I had an idea then, but couldn't
test it out until she got Dave to try it after anime. Of course he
figured it out in under a second, but at least my idea was right. As of
this writing, Marith is still working on it. I suspect she'll get it in
less than a year, though (which is what it takes a U of Michigan
professor, according to that page).
* * *
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is quite peculiar! I
think I like it, but I don't know if Marith does. Dave seems to. Neil
bailed just because he's sick or dead or something, so we don't know
what he thinks yet.
* * *
Cats: Orange!
Writing: check.
HaruSuzu by marith (Tue Aug 29 23:19:29 2006)
I don't dislike it so far! (Except maybe for Victim On Legs girl). It is very peculiar! The first episode was very very silly. :)
HaruSuzu by Dave (Wed Aug 30 14:55:47 2006)
So, compare and contrast Suzumiya and Sugimoto. ;) Both seem to wish the world around them was something other than it is.
Suzumiya vs. Sugimoto by marith (Wed Aug 30 22:25:36 2006)
Hard choice! Suzumiya gets points because he appears to be sane (so far). On the other hand Sugimoto does things.
Asano seems pretty similar to Suzumiya though. (The Melancholy of Asano could make an interesting retelling of 12 Kingdoms.)
Re: Suzumiya vs. Sugimoto by Trip (Thu Aug 31 00:06:45 2006)
Suzumiya is the weird girl, not the narrator.
names by marith (Thu Aug 31 14:57:47 2006)
Oh! Sorry! "Melancholy" was just not a word I associated with the chick in question...
Make a comment!
28 August 2006 - Monday
Too lame to go into Taos, but at least I walked both ways to get my
certified letter from the post office. They were nice and gave it to me
even though I had forgotten the pink slip until I was half a kilometer
from home.
It's from my doctor, saying I suck. Bah.
* * *
The anime of Get Backers is more entertaining than the
manga, but I still don't see the reason for it's popularity. Not that
my sample set is large. Maybe it's just popular among people who like
the slashability.
* * *
Cats: Orange, orange, and more orange!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
27 August 2006 - Sunday
Oh, I guess this is Worldcon weekend. Not sure that's a good
reason for Earl to skip gaming, though, especially without sending
email!
The rest of us (er, also minus Adam, who doesn't love us any more)
gathered at Jeremy's place and talked about possible games to replace
Space Pirate Zeta. Jeremy's idea of nukes producing paranormals (not
spatially localized) instead of explosions got considerable discussion,
but I won, or lost, with my proposal of Girl Genius ×
Amber: the PCs are the constructs made by Oberon to help
him run Amber, but now he's taken off and the PCs have to keep Amber and
the railways into other worlds working. Better hope the Great Machine
doesn't blow a tube, because Oberon didn't leave any
documentation...
I'd be worried, but I figure my GMing will drive people away before I
have to come up with too many plots.
Anyway, Earl will probably return and refuse to have anything to do
with the idea.
* * *
Having run out of anime and American Gothic, I should
now watch Deadwood.
[time passes]
My, that was a lot of swearing. And a lot of people who need to be
recycled as fertilizer. But some people who don't!
* * *
Cats: Super-orange! With extra bonus purrbucketing when I want to
sleep! I think I may be confusing Marmalade by sleeping in all the time.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
26 August 2006 - Saturday
Marith came with me to yummy Thai lunch and we did not die hardly at
all! Not more than usual, anyway.
* * *
I spent the afternoon watching the last five episodes of
American Gothic. That's not really an ending that makes one
optimistic for the future of that world...
* * *
The latest Tenchi Muyo spin-off, Here Comes the
Bride, is amusing but awfully slow-moving. Four episodes, and
hardly any explosions!
* * *
Cats: Augh, too much morning purrbucketing!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
25 August 2006 - Friday
Friday is just not as impressive without a work week to escape from.
* * *
Apparently Ken did not drink enough rum'n'coke, because he crushed us
all at Saberteeth of Carcassonne. Bah!
* * *
Cats: Dani is not only so much more genki than when she came to live
with me, she is not so skinny and her fur is much nicer! She somehow
managed to get a couple of little mats behind her hear, but otherwise I
have not had to remove any of her fur for weeks now! I guess I must not
be doing everything wrong.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
24 August 2006 - Thursday
After some more waffling around, I went to the coffeehouse with Ayse
and we read companionably.
Exalted 2nd edition seems to be better than 1st edition, although it
still has copious spell lists. It is also a much prettier book, which
might count for something.
Still not sure what the best system for Exalted would be. I haven't
tested Exaltedway, but it
will probably turn out to be ill-conceived. Maybe Truth & Justice? It
prefers either a few powers or thematically-unified powers, but I think
having 2897525302 powers individually noted on your character sheet is
bad and not necessary to the implementation of the Exalted concept.
* * *
Cats: Continuing with the orangeocity!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
23 August 2006 - Wednesday
I slept in a whole hour later than yesterday! And then I read manga
instead of going to answer tickets! Eventually I did get up, though, and
get comics, eat lunch, waffle around, print out/fill out/fax in
paperwork for nonGooglification (which was in PDF format, not Word --
substantial non-Evil points right there!), waffle around some more,
etc.
Being underemployed turns me into a bum!
* * *
Serpentes
on a Shippe! (via Making Light)
* * *
Dragon-Blooded! This session was spent partly convincing
super-intelligent wasps to move out of the airship we covet, and partly
using psychedelic fungus to find out what the deal with the hair elemental
is. Apparently soon we will be smushed by Solar Anathema.
* * *
Cats: Still quite orange!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
22 August 2006 - Tuesday
No more Google! Er, as a source of income to supply my cats' food
addiction; it's still a search engine.
No word from Taos about where they might pimp me next, but I will
attempt to remain optimistic.
I got a cake and a card and people made fun of the way I cut cake, so
that was all very touching. Wum.
* * *
Triumphant (yet also tragic) finale of Kiddy Grade! Next
week, another series! Probably The Melancholy of Haruhi
Suzumiya, even though I know nothing about it, because would
Chris lead us astray?
I guess that means I should make a DVD.
Oh, and perhaps also next week, the Return of Neil!
* * *
Cats: Hah! I found where Marmalade ditched his collar and put it back
on him, so Dani is not unfairly oppressed!
Writing: check.
HaruSuzu by Carl (Sat Aug 26 10:17:18 2006)
I've watched 12 of the 14 episodes of Haruhi and it's been excellent so far. It's best watched knowing utterly nothing about it, but then I feel that way about most anime, because it's fun figuring out what's going on.
14 is a wierd number of episodes for a complete run, but that's Haruhi in a nutshell.
Obligatory plug for Mushishi goes here; season 2 is still coming out but season 1's 20 episodes are already out.
Also, Veronica Mars season 2 is now out, although it is perhaps not as anime-like as things that are not live actors.
Re: HaruSuzu by Trip (Sat Aug 26 20:07:13 2006)
Okay, two recommendations! I have all 14 episodes, so we're set to start watching on Tuesday!
Thanks for reminding me to hunt down more Mushishi!
Veronica Mars is probably not much like anime, although I hear it's good.
Make a comment!
21 August 2006 - Monday
Looks like this is in fact my penultimate day at Google. No contract
extensions for anyone, ever, under any circumstances.
* * *
Up to episode 23 of Gantz, and still nothing has been
explained. In fact, this may be an example of negative explanation, since
some things that appeared to be known before have changed.
* * *
Cats: Marmalade has somehow escaped his collar, and hidden it
somewhere I haven't been able to find it. Also, Dani is still having
occasional poopy-butt.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
20 August 2006 - Sunday
I did things today, but I don't seem to have accomplished anything.
Well, okay, I got my steamband character to level 50 (the highest
level possible), but that's not really an accomplishment.
* * *
No D&D because Ayse had to teach people about kicking bad guys in the
head all day.
* * *
Cats: Quite, quite orange.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
19 August 2006 - Saturday
HAPPY HAPPY KENDAY!!
Whippersnapper. :)
* * *
I meant to have yummy Thai lunch, but Earl and Cat lured me to see
Snakes on a Plane instead.
It had snakes! They were on a plane! Samuel L Jackson kicked ass!
In other words, pretty much what we expected. It wasn't a horror
movie; I'm pretty sure that if a normal human kicks ass, the genre isn't
horror. In this case, standard disaster thriller, vehicular subtype.
* * *
Yummy Thai supper!
* * *
Cats: morning kittybreading!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
18 August 2006 - Friday
I cruelly betrayed my cow orkers by going to my optometrist
appointment. Well, it would have been a cruel betrayal if I hadn't
already worked enough hours to make up for missing an afternoon.
Apparently my eyestalks are still there, and in fact not much changed
from last year. One needs ¼ diopter more correction than before,
and the minor astigmatism in another has rotated slightly. My insurance
would pay for new lenses, but not for new frames to put them, so it
would be a huge pain to get my prescription changed. Bah.
* * *
Indie game of the day: Caper! (John O'Brien), in the heist flick genre.
It's semi-GMless, in that one person (chosen by secret ballot after the
group hears the blurbs for each candidate's proposed movie) plays the
"mastermind" character and has somewhat more narrative control but
narration rights pretty much rotate around a few times, with a simple
card-based mechanic (2-10 add to stat+skill, face cards let you narrate in
a new NPC to help, aces let you narrate in a new gadget) to resolve one
exciting bit per turn. After three rounds, there's a potential backstabbing
phase where people allocate their plot tokens between increasing the take
and bidding for who gets to split it. Finally, a victor is determined by
counting up points. Whee!
The betrayal phase and the extra card functions are nice, but I'm not
sure that there's really much new here. An analysis of the genre without
any mechanics might be as useful.
* * *
We never did manage to watch any anime, but Ayse and Marith and Dave
came over and talked and talked and petted the cats and talked some
more, so that was okay.
* * *
Cats: They didn't like the cat basket Jim gave me, but Dani would curl
up on the pad if it was laid on the floor, so I made a lurking spot with
the basket upside down over the pad, and Dani and Marmalade have been
taking turns in it!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
17 August 2006 - Thursday
Two Lumps would make me snort
diet Dr Pepper through my nose if I weren't smart enough to not drink
anything while reading it.
* * *
Cats: Usually Dani is pretty good about protecting the world from the
alien slime creatures that live in her nose, but sometimes one of them
escapes.
Writing: check.
two lumps by kit (Mon Aug 21 14:06:20 2006)
...fortunately, I don't have any Dr. Pepper of any sort. *giggles a lot*
two lumps by marith (Mon Aug 21 18:51:45 2006)
You are a fiendish parasite. I stayed up entirely too late giggling and giggling and pointing at the screen. :)
Re: two lumps by Trip (Tue Aug 22 17:10:55 2006)
Ha Hah!
Make a comment!
16 August 2006 - Wednesday
Bah, customers.
* * *
Yay! Ayse and Ken are back! I hear their cats might be glad to see
them.
* * *
Latest indie game read: Mortal Coil (Brennan Taylor). It's diceless, and
sort of Universalis-like in that you spend tokens to establish facts about
the game world. Another sort of token is spent to do things; uncertainty
comes from not knowing how many tokens your opponent is going to add to
stat+skill. You can also invoke your psychlims (which must be Duties,
Fears, Hates, or Loves; no waffly abstracts here!) for more plusses, but
not too often.
Good things: you can make up your own skills, so breadth varies, but in
a conflict, the narrower skill gets a bonus. Psychlims are
required to be non-wussy. Players explicitly get input into the setting,
both before and during play.
Bad things: Four kinds of tokens possibly confusing. Strong player
input into setting may interfere with the joy of discovery. Not many
examples for setting creation.
So, maybe.
* * *
Despite having travelled for endless hours through the horrors of the
airline system, Ayse and Ken were up for anime, so we gathered to watch
The Twelve Kingdoms. Also, to admire Carl's huge stack of
indie games from Gencon, some of which looked pretty cool. Ken was
particularly taken with the game of building Lego mecha and having them
fight it out. Carl apparently likes Mortal Coil a lot.
The Twelve Kingdoms: remarkably little doom! Plot
progression! Recap episode!
Aysehugs are good.
* * *
Argh, more steamband! I am weak! (But my character is MIGHTY!)
* * *
Cats: Cat and Earl's cat Phoenix jumped up on the couch to purr very
loudly into my ear, so I guess he's not put off by the scent of other
cats on me!
Writing: check.
cats by cat (Fri Aug 18 09:22:15 2006)
Phoenix is a mooch! A moochy moochy moochy mooch! As long as you'll scritch him, he doesn't care. =P
Earl says that's he's fading a bit to... orange. Too much sunbathing, i suppose.
Re: cats by Trip (Fri Aug 18 10:30:28 2006)
That would be the behavior I call Marmalade a big floozie for. (But, strangely, not Dani. Maybe because she just comes and sits quietly in my lap or next to me and doesn't make a huge production of it.)
Apparently orange is contagious! Muahahahahaha!
Make a comment!
15 August 2006 - Tuesday
Quick summary of Tuesday Night Anime:
- Bleach: violence!
- Otogi Zoshi: violence and doom! (Plus bonus Heian mad scientist action!)
- Kiddy Grade: violence and doom!
- Princess Tutu: DOOOOM!
* * *
Cats: I was wandering around with Marmalade in the crook of one
arm while trying to shut down the apartment for the evening. This was
cute until my fingers slipped when lifting a fan down from the front
window and the crash made Marmalade LEAP SPASTICALLY. I haven't trimmed
his back claws, and his feet were in the palm of my hand. Ow.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
14 August 2006 - Monday
Bleah, Monday. Customers.
Apparently my manager-person (not a "real" manager, but the poor
schmoe who was tapped to fill the position when our previous manager
bailed) is trying to get my contract extended, in hopes of staving off
the doom of the Mini group suddenly losing 33% of its members.
* * *
More Gantz, still eeee. But now there are four episodes
per disc rather than two. I guess they got flamed enough.
More steamband, too. But my next quest is on level 18 (working up
from level 50) so perhaps I will finish soon.
* * *
Cats: Opacity-kun helped me watch anime for a while, but then sat on
the couch behind me and groomed my cranium. Aw!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
13 August 2006 - Sunday
Because I am a lazy slug-creature, I got a ride to Earl's with
Marith, who was going to dye the back yard (and anything it might
contain) in bright colors with Cat and Angie. But I helped her carry
stuff, so that was sort of like justifying my existence. Maybe.
Space Pirate Zeta is over! We have Won With Style! Lemuria shall rise
again, with the power of space-time engineering! And, this all came to pass
because we returned the lost weirdo and her external brain to her
people instead of vivisecting her like the Atlanteans would have.
Obviously the question of what to play next arose, but remained
unaswered. We couldn't even decide if Earl should get to play for a
change. This is because we are kind of lame.
* * *
Suddenly I desired meat, so I went to Armadillo Willy's. Raar.
* * *
Cats: Dani has poopy butt again. I hope she feels better soon.
Writing: check.
Space Pirate Zeta by marith (Mon Aug 14 21:54:21 2006)
Thank you for carrying things! You were extremely helpful and caused me to not be even later to dyeing!
Best overheard quote: "I understand you are sentimentally attached to this flesh, but..."
Make a comment!
12 August 2006 - Saturday
Remembered to feed Ayse & Ken's cats!
* * *
Pirate bARRRRRbecue at the Bertanis'!
I wore my James Nicoll quote shirt, and attempted to pillage people
for their words, but with limited success. On the other hand, retro 80s
Angie! With new rum watermelon action!
* * *
Cats: Asked after at the party! I assured everyone that they are
still orange, and explained about Marmalade and the Linen Closet of
Solitude.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
11 August 2006 - Friday
There's some sort of huge picnic thing going on at work. Bah,
parties. Don't these people have tickets to answer?
* * *
Eee, Gantz.
* * *
Cats: No variation in orangeness level.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
10 August 2006 - Thursday
Yes. What
Charlie said.
* * *
Too much steamband. No brain.
* * *
Cats: So very orange!
Writing: check.
What did Charlie say? by marith (Thu Aug 10 11:57:57 2006)
I can't read it :)
Re: what Charlie said by marith (Thu Aug 10 12:02:06 2006)
Oh, this? http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/
Word.
Re: what Charlie said by Trip (Thu Aug 10 12:12:36 2006)
Oh, it's friends-locked. But if you friend him, he'll probably friend you back.
It's not on his "more public" blog, 'cause it would just attract Christianoid flame-slugs.
Make a comment!
9 August 2006 - Wednesday
No Dragon-Blooded, because Ken is dead from work and has to leave the
state in two days.
* * *
Yay Girl Genius volume 5!
* * *
Again stayed up too late playing steamband, because if you leave a
quest level, you fail the quest. That's right, it's insidious game
design that's at fault, not any moral weakness you may be accusing me
of. Curse you, steamband!
* * *
Cats: Orange!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
8 August 2006 - Tuesday
Yay anime! No series started or ended today, but we are getting
toward the end of Kiddy Grade. Plus, quack!
* * *
Argh, I stayed up way too late playing steamband because I couldn't
find that one last stupid troglodyte witch doctor! Finally I checked a
room I'd checked many times before and there he was. Yay!
Automatons are cool. Strength 40+ and Con 60+ as a beginning
character! Plus, hot-swappable heads!
* * *
Cats: Still quite orange!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
7 August 2006 - Monday
For the first time in some months, GreenCine has sent me a disc of
Farscape. Hm. It's really not very good SF, is it? Oh
well.
* * *
Cats: Not only did I get evening purrbucketing, I got morning
purrbucketing as well! I die of the cute!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
6 August 2006 - Sunday
The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty good, although not
what I was expecting. Ninjitsu is so much more common in fantasy fiction
than con artistry.
* * *
Yay D&D! Not that we actually accomplished much of anything, but we
know which door to kick down next session. Er, after my character is
eaten by invisible flying demons when she goes scouting.
* * *
Cats: Marmalade wouldn't move off the bed when I was trying to make
it, so I made the bed right over him. I expected him to squack-zoom, but
he just hunkered down there as a lump under the bedding until I
uncovered him. So cute! Also, massive purrbucketing as I was trying to
go to sleep.
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
5 August 2006 - Saturday
I attempted to have Thai lunch while reading The Lies of Locke
Lamora, but instead I was cruelly forced to talk with Rachel at some
length (while Jeremy wrangled the spawn, as it worked out). Oh NO!
* * *
More Dead Like Me. So much angst!
* * *
Cats: So cute! With the Tummy of Love!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
4 August 2006 - Friday
Oh, good, the customers have gone home for the weekend. Or something.
* * *
Today's new foolish thing to do with a computer: steampunk
angband.
* * *
Now Ayse has seen all of Haibane Renmei! And she liked
it! But there was discussion far into the night until I was very
sleepy.
* * *
Cats: Dani came and sat on Ayse while she watched anime and purred
very cutely!
Writing: FAILURE.
Make a comment!
3 August 2006 - Thursday
Argh! Why are all these people breaking their Minis?
* * *
Apparently, I can't even do laundry well. I was so busy dying in a
pathetic heap in ToME that I didn't
notice 22:00 had arrived and the laundry room was locked. Bah!
* * *
Cats: Dani was waiting in the window with her rusty miau for me to
come home! Kawaii!
Writing: check.
Make a comment!
2 August 2006 - Wednesday
After working here for more than a year, it finally occurred to me
that I can go to Lee's during my lunch break and not have to worry (as
much) about everything good being sold out by the time work ends. Doh.
Admittedly, this leads to leaving work later, and I usually prefer to
have my nonworking time all in a lump, instead of having some in the
middle of the work day where it's really not that useful, but enh.
* * *
Oh, look, it's the week that Tokyopop releases all their output for
the entire month. Fortunately, I have a large backpack.
* * *
We had Ayse and Ken at Twelve Kingdoms night again,
because they have finally caught up. Yay! Ayse likes it a lot, and is
sad that now she has to wait two weeks to officially watch more
(although she has Carl's boxed set of the first 5 discs, so she could
sneak ahead...). In fact, everyone still likes Twelve
Kingdoms quite a lot. We have not yet discovered that Carl is
leading us astray!
Also, Ayse has a fabulous new jacket.
* * *
Cats: Marmalade has taken to sporadically hiding in his Linen Closet
of Solitude again. Hurray for no heat wave!
Writing: check, although just barely. Too sleepy after getting back
from anime.
Make a comment!
1 August 2006 - Tuesday
The doctor scolded me for being a bad parasite. Wum.
* * *
I cruelly tormented Marith by only showing one episode of
Princess Tutu at TNA. Neener neener!
* * *
Cats: Dani tried to use the Tummy of Love to prevent me from going to
TNA! I felt like such a heel, even though I promised to return!
Writing: check.
neener by Marith (Thu Aug 3 18:54:07 2006)
You may be a fiendish anime-withholding parasite, but never a bad one!
Make a comment!
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