Good. Not quite as funny as the trailer, but still a lot of good laughs. Much more serious near the ending. A moment of gore or two, but that’s the nature of the beast.
The ending, and its examination of what would happen if the dead rose, is quite well done.

Now to try and go to sleep after seeing a zombie movie.

It was a good commute today. I made it to work in under twenty minutes, and nearly made it home under that too. I think I’ve found the best route to work. (Until the Walterdale bridge opens up its other lanes.) The best route home is still pending.
The bad news is that there are two clear signs of winter. There was a chance of flurries today (although it never did), and I think I’m coming down with a cold (back of throat was scratchy during the night, and it hasn’t gotten better).
Due to the threat of flurries, I took the car to work. My parking situation has made it so I was never technically outside today. I have indoor parking at home and work, so if I plan this right, I’ll never actually see winter.
Except for the running part.
I did that yesterday. I really think my ankle is coming along nicely. Very little pain. I’m really going to try and get to the run on Sunday.
Tonight a bunch of us from work are getting together to see “Shaun of the Dead”. The trailer makes it look like a comedy, but the person who has already seen it says it is a horror. I like one but not the other. But it’s an excuse to go out (into the winter) and I should never say no to that.

I have to wonder how long it takes women to perfect the “avoid eye contact” skill. I can smile at pretty women all I want, but it always seems to be “Eyes forward” with them. It’s starting to depress me. Why bother going out and trying to be friendly, when all the women want nothing to do with me.
Let’s just say, going grocery shopping didn’t do a lot for my self-esteem.
I don’t think I’m enjoying going to New City. I don’t drink, and the music isn’t all that great. The girls are still hot. But, In either case, I didn’t go yesterday. Instead I got hooked on the geek equivalent of crack.
I borrowed the Stargate SG-1 season 6 DVD collection from my manager at work. I started watching an episode at 7:30. I was up until 3:00 watching them. I had more fun being a couch potato than going to the bar. I didn’t mean to stay up late. There were two main excuses that led me down this path. “I’ll just watch until the next commercial.” (The DVD doesn’t have commercials.) or “I’ll just watch the teaser” which is followed either by “Well I can’t leave after seeing that!” or “You call that a teaser?! I’m watching more to find out what the hook is.”
To top it all, I didn’t go running today. So I really am a no good couch potato. I’ll be continuing with the “My ankle still hurts” excuse.

If I don’t do a lot on a weekend, I feel cheated. And when I am constantly busy, I feel stressed. Lately I’ve gotten into an odd mixture of the two. I’ll be insanely busy on Saturday, trying to catch up on all the little chores that have accumulated. Then on Sunday… nothing.
So far this weekend has been busy. It started yesterday, on Friday, while on the way to work. I was scootering along, ruminating on the beautiful Autumn that is in the river valley (See the Haiku from yesterday) when I noticed the oil light was on. Which is weird because I filled it the day before. I turned the scooter off for a moment, and when it was back on, the light stayed off. Five minutes later it came back on, but by then I was close enough to work. Is it just me, or is the scooter feeling sluggish.
A phone call to “Top Gear” told me their assessment was that the gauge wasn’t working. It wasn’t an indicator of oil not getting into the engine, but of level of oil. And since there was plenty of oil in the tank, I was fine. Just to be safe, I left work early and went to have them look at it. (The light didn’t come back on. They said it was fine.) Well, that wasn’t the only reason. It was a high of 20 degrees, and probably one of the last nice days we’re going to have. I really will have to make up the time next week.
Later that day, I had friends over for some board games. We played “Patent Number 1”. Then we gave “Kingmaker” a try. That was a long complicated game. We didn’t finish, but we ended at 1:00 in the morning.
Today, I ran myself ragged. I went to the travel agent to see about getting a flight to Jamaica. I wanted a stopover in Miami to see my sister. If I arrive in Jamaica a day early, and make the trip home all in one day, it would only cost $930. I checked on visiting my sister, and that would have been around $1400. So it looked like no sister for this trip.
Then, while I was booking, Air Canada changed the times of the flight from Jamaica. Enough so that I wouldn’t be able to make the trip in one day. The stopover in Toronto would have to be overnight. The price went up too. Bloody Hell! I might as well go to Miami, where the lodgings would be free.
But no. I phoned my sister and found that I wouldn’t be able to stay with her. She only has a room, and not a place of her own. So back to Toronto.
So, in summary: I leave November 5th, and get to Jamaica that day. I have to find lodgings for myself for one night. Then a week at the resort. Leave on November 13th, and fly to Toronto in the afternoon. Spend a night there. I took a late flight the next day. If I’m stuck in Toronto, I might as well play the tourist. I have no idea what to do in Toronto though. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?
Now, all these hoops I was jumping through were interrupted with other appointments. I am trying to commission some work to help make a good halloween costume. It isn’t going well, and the people are giving up and want me to find someone else to do it. But it is taking time to figure that out.
After all this is done, I have grocery shopping.
So I’m tired.

A thought came across me on the way to work. I could put it into words easily enough, but I decided to try and make a Haiku of it. Unfortunately I can’t get the last line to only be five beats.

I looked up Haiku on Wikipedia and I do at least pass the “one deep breath” rule. Interestingly, it also mentions that a traditional haiku “contained a special word-the kigo-that indicated the season in which the haiku was set.” So I’m ahead on that count. If I knew Japanese I might be able to make this even better.

Both look impressive.
You wish that they had not come.
Autumn, Star Destroyer.

The other night I woke up at around 5:00 AM to the sound of something crashing. Being in the usual state of delirious all I did to check was to make sure my front door was still locked. I tried to go back to sleep, but the best I did was a crude approximation of pretending to be asleep. It was the next day, in the evening, right before I was going to bed, that I found out what it was.
My plant made a break for it.
I have a spider plant. It has a nice ledge next to the TV, near the window. I water it when I remember, so I can understand if it is a little cranky. Being the plant that it is, it sends out a lot of feelers that droop over the edge. There are quite a few of these, and apparently, it had put enough of itself over the edge to actually shift the center of gravity over it.
So there on the floor was my plant, somewhat spread out, but still intact. I gave it some water and set it in the kitchen, then went to bed. A true clean up would have to wait.
What concerns me the most is that it took me so long to notice. Am I in my condo so little that I can’t notice a not-insignificant potted plant splayed out on the floor next to the TV. Do I need to watch more TV?

This morning I saw three people just throw their cigarettes onto the ground. Never heard of an ashtray? And people wonder why I hate smokers.

In other news, the Star Wars DVD came out. I really should check with my lawyer, but I believe I am legally obligated to buy it. The government should allow nersds to write it off. So a bunch of us (manager included) left to go to Best Buy (it’s right across the street) and pick up our copies.
They had some people in stormtrooper armor there. They looked impressive. Talking to them, we found out that the armor doesn’t let you raise your arms all the way. I guess that explains why they were such lousy shots. And since the armor doesn’t seem to stop anything, the only reason I can see to wear them is to look scary.
Best Buy is like a crack dealership for nerds. I wandered around the place and I kept finding things I wanted to buy. I picked up a copy of “Minority Report” because it had finally gotten below $20. I nearly bought the third Matrix film before I caught myself. I saw that they finally have Farscape DVDs available in entire seasons, but at outragous prices.

I forgot about it, but we had an open house today at work. So at 5:30 family and friends could come and see the new digs. It was a wine and cheese party, but there were fruits and wraps. So while the place filled up with little kids, I munched on enough free food to be able to skip dinner. (I make no apologies.)
There were lots of people who I hadn’t seen in awhile. I got to talk to the former owners of the company. They seem to be doing okay. I saw Jean, who used to work for us. I’d like it if she came back to work for us. The current executive assistant isn’t all that competent. I heard that Jean isn’t happy with her current job, so here’s hoping.
She also seemed to have heard that I’m going on vacation. Which is weird because I only casually mentioned it to two other people. I don’t think I’m that interesting to talk about in conversation.
There was a balloon artist there. He was really good and the kids loved him. I was thinking of asking him to make something complicated, like a dragon, to see if he could, but there was no point. He was putting a lot of work into everything. And a kid asked him to make a dragon anyway. In the end I asked him to make something I thought would be incredibly simple: a snake. He worked hard on it, and gave it a rattler, googly eyes, and a forked tongue. I am quite proud of my snake.
But what is the lifespan of a balloon animal?

I’ve come to realize that the Soap-a-thon is like a sick deranged terrorist. It’s holding me hostage.
When it is on, I feel that I should be there all the time. If I’m not eating or sleeping, why am I not at the theatre? Why am I doing anything else this weekend?
I’ve realized that I feel like I can’t do anything else when it is on. So I end up doing nothing at home instead of going out and doing something. It’s been true in the past, and it is true this time.
I broke the cycle (a bit). I’ve only attended four hours of the soap. I also volunteered for two hours, but that doesn’t count. But I’ve also had a games night, I’ve worked on cleaning up my home office. I’ve sat on the balcony and read a book. The Soap-a-thon ends in two hours, but instead of going to see it, I’ve gone out to Starbucks and I’m having a hot chocolate. There was the requisite guilt, but I’m here.

Today, we went to lunch at a place called Dante’s. It was Kevan’s turn to choose, and he had said that that place had hot looking waitresses. Far be it for me to argue with that logic. And yes, they were hot. But there was something else interesting going on.
There was a table a bit away that had two businessmen with laptops and a beautiful girl. They were talking, and the girl seemed to be the center of attention. It actually looked like she was taunting them. She had a loose sweater on, and was every so often uncovering her shoulders while she was making herself more comfortable. It’s nice to see young women using sex to manipulate men in negotiations.
The Die-Nasty Soap-a-thon started at 6:00 today. 53 straight hours of improvised soap opera. I think I’m getting burnt out of Die-Nasty. I went for the first two hours, and then I went home. I just didn’t feel like seeing any more. I’ll probably see more tomorrow, because I’m volunteering. But not today.
It looks very self-referential this year. It’s set in New York, but everyone seems to be playing an actor or a writer. So I suspect there are lots of inside jokes. Mark Meer is pretending to be Sir Ian McKellan. He promptly announced “you might remember me from such films as X-Men and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And as far as I’m concerned, that is my entire body of work.” It became obvious that he wasn’t that familiar with the actor, when others started mentioning previous things Ian McKellan had done.

Once again I am exhausted. The past few days haven’t been kind on me.

Yesterday, I did a wire transfer to the organizers of the Caribbean vacation I want to take. I’m hoping it is going through without incident. But the stress level is a bit high from that.

On the way home, on my scooter, it started hailing. I was luckily taking a route through downtown, because if I had taken Groat road, I would have found it flooded. It was a miserable trip because everything was a traffic jam. I didn’t want to go fast because I assumed it would be slippery, and the traffic was very accommodating because I could only go forward a few meters before being forced to stop and wait. Especially annoying because my scooter, since it got the new pipe, has been sucking back gas like it was going out of style. I want to do constant speed instead of start-stop start-stop. It took me 39 minutes to get home, but I was secure in the knowledge that that would be the longest commute I’m going to have.

This morning it took me 42 minutes to get to work.

I wanted to avoid the university because that seems to be a big time suck. The alternate route I took was nothing but traffic jam. More start-stop start-stop. I’m guessing that I made every wrong choice that is possible on that trip.

I had a webex meeting this morning. But the people showing me the problem weren’t able to reproduce it. It was a fiasco and a waste of time. There is an hour I’m never getting back.

I had submitted an expense claim two months ago for some Javascript courses I had taken. It’s normally only supposed to take four weeks before I can get reimbursed. I’ve been waiting for that money so I can get my bank account above the level where I don’t have to pay service fees. I found out today that the paperwork has been completely lost. I have to find the copies I have of the receipts somewhere in the pile of papers at home and then resubmit the claim. Even though my new company bought an electronic forms company, they still do everything by paper.

This would be easier if my home office was tidied up, I could find the receipts quickly, but I don’t have time for that. That crystal meth solution is looking really tempting now.

Okay, I’m biting the bullet. I’ll be taking a vacation in early November. Jamaica. I’ve put down the reserve money, so I’m committed now. I still need to get the airline tickets. I have some leeway of the route, so I’m thinking I might be able to stop off in Miami along the way and see my sister. But I don’t know if this would be a good time for her, as she is still settling in.
A vacation will be really nice.
In other news I went for a run today. My ankle was slightly swollen before I started, but I haven’t had much pain lately. It only really bothered me when going up and down hills. But it was nice to get out and have some solid exercise. I’ve put ice on it, and it doesn’t feel bad. I’ll take a wait and see approach now.
Yesterday I got a new pipe for my scooter. It had been promised to me when I first got the machine, and it finally came in. So now when I scooter it has a much lower sound. Before it was debatable whether it sounded like a lawnmower or a chainsaw. I sound more serious now. I can also feel the acceleration, and I found I have a top speed of 100kph going down a hill, as opposed to the 90kph before. (Please don’t ask me what the speed limit is on that hill.)
The person at the scooter store wanted a quick race. He had a 70cc Vespa against my 50cc Derbi with the new pipe. He won, but it was close. I was one foot behind him once we got up to speed, and I didn’t fall behind or catch up. Just a steady 1 foot. So if I had a better start I would have been ahead. He thinks if we had a longer course I would have overtaken.

Yesterday’s newspaper had the headline “Edmonton on way to being Alberta’s crystal meth center”. Today’s paper covered some of the people addicted to it. “‘When you’re high, time flies,’ Shawn says. He kept a spotless apartment, and would draw amazing pictures when he was on meth.”
That actually sounds like a great advertisement for taking meth. I could really use a clean up on my apartment. I keep the main areas clean, but I seem to have neglected the industrial strength of a spring cleaning. So if I take some crystal meth I might be able to get my place back in order.
Unfortunately they didn’t leave a phone number of where dealers can be reached.

Boring journal entries my foot.

This has been an exhausting day.
It was fine for the most part, but I just became drained since work ended. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like commuting. Before the move it was, at most, a ten minute drive. Today I drove half an hour to get home, with several traffic jams. (Would it have been faster if I was using the scooter?) To top it all off, there was even a traffic jam in the elevator. Two girls that were too lazy to travel one floor up by stairs forced me to stop off at every floor.
In addition, the people I’m trying to commission to help me with a good halloween costume are now saying they can’t do it. They are trying to find someone else to take over, so there is still a chance.
I had improv class, but everyone seemed so tired. A very low energy class.
I need a vacation.
I’m going to take that one in November that sounds good. I hope I can afford it with money being tight.

Yesterday I abandoned eHarmony.
I’ve been paying for its use, but no one seems to want to contact me. Now part of it is my fault. I only recently posted a picture, and I could have written better essays about myself. But the people they recommend I contact all seem to have done very little with the site. Since I seem to be getting the dregs, I cut bait. Why should I pay to have my self-esteem shredded.
It also didn’t help that a friend started trying out online dating, and I do believe he has gotten a girlfriend already. So I’m trying out a different service, the one he used. I filled in a profile quickly yesterday, posted the essay I’ve been working on, and then went to bed.
This evening I have three girls who have expressed interest.

I guess a better post some pictures too.

So I talked to my parents yesterday. They have found out I’ve been keeping a journal. I let my sister know about it when she moved to Miami, but she can’t read it online, so I’ve been sending her the entries by email.
I think my mother is upset that I’m not sending them to her too. But as I’ve covered before, I really don’t want my mother reading about all the minutia of my life. That would be creepy.
My sister also described reading my journals as always referring to playing games of Ultima. Apparently that is all I am doing. I don’t think so. I browsed the old entries, and for one weekend I do mention it a lot, but not since then, and only for a bit before. But I always like to meet people’s expectations, so….
Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima, Ultima!

Last Saturday, there was the “Tommy Chong Memorial Scavenger Hunt” for the scooterists in Edmonton. I wandered past at the wrong moment, and was drafted in. At least the temperature really improved that day. It actually did go up to 20 degrees. (And for the record, my thermometer was showing the high for the past week, not the current temperature.)
Anyway, it wasn’t that much fun. We were given clues of where we needed to go and get evidence that we had been there. The clues are what killed me. They seemed geared for people who had lived in Edmonton all their life. How was I supposed to know that the university bar was called “The Powerplant”. There were a few that I should have been able to get, no matter where I lived, but I guess I’m just dumb. I got a few of the clues, but on the whole I gave up after an hour. I returned to the start and gave my entries. Then I went off to do other things.

There is a civic election coming up in Edmonton. I have to vote on a mayor and city councilors. When I think about this, there is really only one issue that concerns me. Everything else seems to have no effect. Sure I would like traffic flow to improve, but I’m not going to see that for years. Urban sprawl doesn’t personally affect me, and I doubt there is a real difference on that policy between the candidates.
No, the one issue that concerns me is smoking. I want this city to get as non-smoking as quickly as possible. There is going to be a total ban on smoking next June, and I can’t wait. I would vote for the person who pledges to ramp up the schedule in a heartbeat. I want to be able to go out to social places, and not have to immediately wash all my clothes as soon as I get home.
With the smoking ban coming in, there really isn’t anything for me to concern myself over. But now the stupid stupid bingo halls want to be exempted. They are trying to get the great blessed smoking bylaw changed?! That’s just wrong.
But god bless the evil black bile that they consider their hearts. They published in the paper a list of the “candidates the Edmonton Bingo News considers qualified and in favour of loosening the July 1 smoking ban at bingo halls and casinos”. The council and mayor that would have the best chance of overturning the smoking bylaw. This makes my life so convenient. Here is a list of people that have so completely lost my vote. And to think, I was considering voting for Noce.
In other news, it is a very weird feeling to go shopping in Superstore while carrying a lone golf club. Try it sometime.

Well the snow has melted. According to the weather network and my thermometer, it is 20 degrees outside. It’s completely overcast, windy, feels like it wants to rain, and when I go outside, it is very cold. I think I’m going to be cooped up in my place for the weekend.
I need to take a vacation. For the past year, I’ve been thinking of taking a sun holiday for sometime in the fall. The weather is helping confirm this. However the weather is also causing me to have second thoughts. I found a resort that sounded interesting. It even had special events the week before my birthday. So it sounded like a good place to go. The thing is, it is located in Jamaica. Which I believe just got run over by hurricane Ivan. I don’t know what the condition is for the resort, but I’m suspecting it isn’t good. The deadline for applying is September 15th, so I’ve got four days to figure this out. It’s expensive place though, even before airfare, so I may just pass on it and try for a generic Club Med excursion.
There is nothing wrong with Club Med, I had a good time there last time. But I’ve been there already. And it got run over by a hurricane last month.
I do know that if I go to the Caribbean, I’m going to have to stop off in Miami and see how my sister is doing. Last I checked she wasn’t dealing with snow. Just the various hurricanes bearing down on her.
Stupid weather.

Yesterday I was supposed to go running after work. I decided not to. The weather was pretty bad and I played the “my ankle hurts” card. But to justify myself, I decided that today I would use the Club Fit pass to try out the new gym. Since work is now above a Club Fit gym, a bunch of us got together and had a tour of the place. They gave us passes that are good for a week.
I’ve been a member of Club Fit in the past, at the location on the south side. It was usually crowded in the mornings, and it was hard to get a treadmill. They also had removed the fans, so when I was going at a good speed, I started overheating. Fans are important. Passive air circulation won’t do. Anyway, I stopped going when I joined the Running Room run club. That and my condo has a small gym with a treadmill (and fan) that I can use in a pinch. So I really don’t need a Club Fit. But hey! Free Pass!
So, go to bed early, get up at 5:30, then off to Club Fit.
If I might digress for a moment first: Snow?! It’s early September. Why the hell is it snowing? My sister is dealing with a trio of hurricanes right now, but at least she doesn’t have SNOW! Bloody weather.
Anyway, it wasn’t crowded at this gym. I used the treadmill for half an hour and my ankle felt fine. That could be because there is less stress on the body with a treadmill. The place where the feet are pounding has extra springiness. However, I did not enjoy the time running there. There were no fans. The scenery never changed. There was no one to talk to. The only thing it had going for it was the springiness.
Afterwards, since I hadn’t had breakfast, it was off to Denny’s. Conveniently close, and a good breakfast place. They do look at me funny when I order an entire carafe of orange juice for myself. I finished it, and I could have drunk some more.
Then back to the building and to work. Cute beauty esthetician in the elevator, and friendly too. Work dragged on forever, and I wasn’t very productive. I got up a little too early.
This evening though I got together with some friends and played pool. My team won the last two games, not through skill (we weren’t too bad) but because the other team kept scratching when they were trying to sink the 8-ball. Unfortunately, I now smell like a chimney. Only ten months until the smoking bylaw kicks in.

Today I went to work. But for the first time in 28 days, I drove a car. It was nice enough that I could have taken a scooter. However, it was the first Tuesday of the month, which is when I stock up on a lot of groceries. So I needed more transport than a scooter can handle.
After work, after shopping, I did a brief stopover at home, then right back out again. Had a quick sushi dinner, then it was off to Improv class.
The class was fun. Jana O’Conner is teaching. So far she’s been great. Previously, when I missed a month of classes, it felt like I was starting from scratch. Since there hasn’t been a class for two months, I was concerned. But I seem to be doing well.
It’s a small class this time, with only five people, and I know all of them. We all seem to be at a similar level of skill, so this should be a good month. Megs made an observation about me. “He is good at improv, but he doesn’t think he is.”
Stuff to ponder.

It is done.

It took an entire long weekend (with many breaks), but Minax is dead and Ultima 2 is completed.
It was more frustrating than the first one. A lot of things didn’t make sense, and I would have been hooped if it hadn’t been for walkthroughs available on the net. (And included with the game.) For instance, I have no idea why giving money to the doorman in New San Antonio will raise your stats. Most of the other frustration can be summed up by saying “money problems”. To do anything to improve yourself, you need to make money. And lots of it. And there is no easy way to get it. Except for killing monsters, and that gets repetitively boring soon enough.

So, here I am, on my balcony, trying to sun myself. The weather this weekend has been pretty bad, but I believe I’ve covered that already. But today is a high of 16, with sunny periods. I’m trying to milk those sunny periods for all I can.
It’s at that annoying temperature where it’s pleasant when the sun is beaming down on you. But when there is a cloud, it feels cool enough to be uncomfortable.
And what happens? A cloud has parked itself right in front of the sun, and it isn’t moving. The sun is going across the horizon faster than this cloud. Especially annoying is that there is a large patch of blue sky, just to the east of it. If the wind would only blow that stupid cloud out of the way.
So I decided to threaten the cloud. I’ve taken out my laptop and I’m using it. So now if it gets too bright, like say if a rogue cloud moves, I won’t be able to see the screen. Take that!
While I’m waiting for white fluffy things to migrate I’m working on an essay for online dating. I signed up for online dating back in February, but I’ve never put work into the personal essay. So I now have to do soul-searching and try to come up with a fun and interesting way to describe myself. It’s not easy.
In other news, Ultima 2 is progressing. The main hurdle has been trying to find frigates to do my killing for me. (They are easily the most deadly weapon in the game. Quicksword! I thumb my nose at you.) I’ve now got one in every map except 1463 BC. I’m also wasting time waiting for creatures to respawn. I need a lot of treasure in this game, and the only way to get it is to kill things. Conveniently enemies always head for me, but there isn’t enough of them. And the treasure you get is not commiserate with their threat. I’ve had lowly orcs, that die after being hit once with a rock, give me more treasure and experience than a huge balrog that survived many multiple canon blasts.
Sun seems to be back now. Back to work, er … lounging.
Later note: That didn’t last long. Another cloud has got the first one’s back. So I’m stuck where I was before.

I really don’t seem to be productive lately. I have things I need/want to do, but I never seem to get around to doing them. When I should have been productive, I was instead lounging around. The big thing I did today was to start playing Ultima 2.
The game isn’t as good as Ultima 1. When I first played it on the Apple II many years ago we had cheat programs so that you could pump of your character. This time I don’t. Mind you, if I put my mind to it, I probably could figure out the saved game file and artificially inflate the character. The extent of my cheating has been looking at walkthroughs. I read them because I don’t want to waste time puzzling through the game. I did that decades ago. I want to finish it and get that checkmark on my “life tasks” list. I won’t finish this as quickly as the original, that’s for sure. The way the game is set up, I have to spend a lot of time just trying to earn money.
The scooter gang didn’t seem to be doing anything tonight. It is cold and a long weekend so either one is an excuse not to show up. I still went, and instead learned a bit about tweaking my scooter. The ride feels a lot smoother now, and hopefully more fuel efficient.
After that I finally had the filet mignon that I had promised myself. I then watched the movie “Finding Nemo”. Now I’m in Starbucks (no problem ordering a medium this time) and updating my journal.

The weather outside is sucky. So instead of being productive on this wasted long weekend, yesterday I decided to see the movie 40 Days and 40 Nights. I’ve been trying to rent more movies, so that the huge screen television I have isn’t such a waste. Since there are so many old releases that I haven’t seen, I decided to try tackling them alphabetically. I go to the video store, start with the top of the alphabet, and go until there is a movie I haven’t seen, but have at least a vague interest in seeing.
Since this movie started with a number, it was one of the first picks. It’s just a young male sex comedy, so I went in with low expectations. After seeing it, a few things bothered me about it. I’ll assume everyone reading this has already seen the movie, so spoiler will follow.
The movie was everything I expected. Surprisingly, the evil act that Nicole did near the end had no comeuppance. As near as I can tell, she profited from her maliciousness, with no consequences. That annoyed me. Although I should always appreciate when a Hollywood movie breaks from the stereotypes. It wasn’t until a few hours later that is suddenly dawned on me what had actually happened.
Nicole raped Matt.
I believe that courts recognize this as a possibility in this day and age. And yet no one talks about legal proceedings in this movie. It would be fairly easy to prove, because Nicole would have to admit it if she wanted to win the bet.
Other than that, it was a nice fantasy. I would love to live in Matt’s world where women will freely throw themselves at men. It was actually a little depressing for me when you compare this fantasy to ones life.

I forgot to mention. One of my D&D players works at Wal-Mart. They had a fund raising thing going on, where they brought up Krispy-Kreme donuts from Calgary. So he had purchased a dozen for the game.
So, after all this time I was able to try one of these fabled donuts.
Nothing ever lives up to the hype. They were okay, but I’ve had a lot better donuts at Tim Hortens. They had a more cake-like taste, and a lot of sugar. It might have helped if they were fresher. But for now, I no longer have any interest in going out of my way to try them.

Today, I had the D&D game. I didn’t feel prepared, so I was lucky that we got let out of work early because of the long weekend. It gave me an hour and a half more to polish up the game.
I think it was a good game, but I got distracted. When I have a problem in D&D, I have a good rule of thumb that has served me well: Throw monsters at the problem. It works in a surprising number of places. I had hoped to have enough prepared that there wouldn’t be any need for monsters. There always has to be some combat, so I need to have at least one monster. And that was to be covered by a lone purple worm that leaps into the poisoned sand to attack the party. It would die quickly, and the players would learn why the worms don’t spread out.
But then they go and kill the worm too fast for the poison to show its affect. Feeling denied, I added two more. Then three more. That’s when the players got the idea that now was the ideal time to run. They then got to watch the worms die from the poisoned sand as they pursued.
My players are sick of purple worms, but that’s because they’ve been in the only place in the world where they are allowed to roam free. Basically the purple worm sanctuary. So there are quite a few there.
That battle sucked up more time than I expected. So by the end of the night, they hadn’t gotten nearly far enough. Hopefully I’ll be better prepared next time.
After it was over, and I was home, I watched the movie “Novocain”. I had rented it last Friday, and it is due at 10:00 AM tomorrow. So it was either see it now, or not at all. Showtime started at 11:30. It was a good movie, although the protagonist was fairly stupid in the start, which led him into a lot more trouble. But there wouldn’t have been a movie if he hadn’t been. It starred Steve Martin, but he was never funny. I’d like to see him in more comedies, like “Bowfinger”, but I guess he has to spread his wings.
Now it is far too late. I really have to go to bed.

So yesterday, well technically two days ago since it is early tomorrow, I was drafted into the condo council meeting. One person hadn’t shown up for several months and they decided to appoint me when they kicked him out. This had been decided last month, and I had agreed to be the replacement. Unfortunately they hadn’t sent written notice to the absentee member, so I couldn’t be made official yet. So I got to sit through the meeting, but I had no power to vote.
It was interesting, but the whole thing took two and a half hours. (It didn’t help that the fire alarm started misbehaving during the meeting.) I didn’t get out of there until 9:30. Which sucked. I had planned to have a bacon-wrapped filet mignon for dinner, but it was too late to barbecue it up, so I had some leftover chicken and a danish instead. I could have really used the time to prepare for the D&D game on Friday. So I stayed up late trying to prepare.

Did I mention I found the missing box of stuff? It was about twelve steps from my door. It probably didn’t get to my office because there was no label on it. I thought I had put one on. Oops.