Man. that's just vicious.

Netflix for video game geeks.

My Brezsny this week:
Though he wrote almost five centuries ago, comic novelist Francois Rabelais provided the perfect advice for you this week: "It behooves all adventurers to treat their good luck with reverence, neither bothering nor upsetting it." In other words, Cancerian, don't spend even a minute wondering why your life is blessed with so much grace right now. Refrain from analyzing it, discoursing about it, or theorizing on how you might be able to preserve it. Instead, use it exuberantly and with a devout sense of gratitude. Explore in vivid detail what it feels like to be a free-wheeling adventurer.
Boy are my legs sore, though. We softballed last night. There weren't really enough people, so we did about an hour of warmup before the game. Warmup involved balls being hit into the extreme outfield. I ran a lot. During the game, I played second base. I'm happy but sore today.
On luck: It was a great game.

Would you believe me if I told you there was a yellow submarine following me?

I guess there's nothing I can do on my end. I'll just sit pat and wait for another number to report. (le sigh)

Man. My experience with Bank of America has firmly lead me to believe that they really don't give a flaming poop about stolen credit card numbers. They don't report the thefts to police. They don't care if the thief gives addresses in conjunction with the order. They don't even seem to care that I've so far had orders taken on 5 stolen cards from their bank, which I reported to them. They contact the card holder. That's the sum total of their action taken. Oh well, I guess. They don't even know what to do with the information. They told me not to call anybody here, and that they didn't care if I did, because (and I quote) "the action was on a credit attempt that was, we have to contact the card holder, and the action was on an attempted, we have to ask the card holder if that name was, and the address, if you contact your local authorities, we can take the action here." That's what the lady on the phone told me. If you can decode it, let me know.
Then I called the APD Financial Crimes office. The phone rang for two minutes before I got sick of sitting there, and that was after navigating their voicemail system. Why is it so hard to report stolen credit cards to people who give a shit? Are there any? Is it really just the cynical reason that comes to mind: they make more money if people have to pay for $5000 of books that they wouldn't normally have ordered? It makes a fella wanna move to an island and live on shellfish and sand.

The Blog o' Kat. It is now kind of spartan, but she promises to update this summer.
Also, BrodieMac has updated the music download page. I like the new look. See what you think. Click on "Music" and then on the "10 newest songs" link. Go nuts. Download 'em all!

::Update!::
I got the Nigerian scammer to send me additional stolen card numbers (which I reported promptly). That brings me up to a cool half-dozen. I also got another order with the same MO, and am expecting the same things to happen. This oughta be fun. Maybe I can get these cards coming in double speed! Whee!
It's up to 7 numbers now. Hee.

For every princess on a pony, there's a little fat kid with a shovel.

I just got another of the classic Nigerian scam letters (don't know what that is? There's a fine collection here.) from a fellow named Cheapoo. That isn't even the best part. He uses the word ACCUMMUDATE (all in caps. The whole letter is all in caps). I don't know what it means, but I wanna use it every day. Here's how he uses it:
I WANT TO MOVE THE FUNDS AND DIAMONDS INTO YOUR POSITION FOR YOU TO SECURE AND ACCUMMUDATE IT FOR OUR MUTUAL BENEFITS PENDING WHEN I WILL COME AND MEET WITH YOU.NOTE THAT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF THIS MONEY WOULD BE COMPENSATED TO YOU FOR YOUR ABLE ASSISTANCE, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME SO I CAN GIVE YOU MORE DETAILS ON THE NEXT STEP.
Yeah, CHEAPOO also uses compensated wrong, but still, I like the word Accummudate.
I got the previous guy to send me two more credit card numbers, which I reported. I then asked if he'd like to reorder again. Let's see if I can get more numbers from him. Hee.

I'm entrapping Nigerians! Whee!
OK, not really. Actually, a Nigerian scammer sent me 2 stolen credit cards, which I called in (one was already reported as stolen. When the name on the purchase was substantially different from the one on the card, Bank of America marked the other). I told him the cards were declined, and asked if he'd like to reorder with other cards. When he does, I'll call them in also. Whee!

OK, as cool as this may or may not be, it's certainly ambitious.

The thing that gets me is I've had friendships I'd describe like that.

Happy belated Marvelous Bob day. I didn't hear about it until just now. It's the story of an everyman super hero. The current storyline is long and unfinished.

Everybody listen to the Sinner G sound...

My LJ is proving to be a lot of fun.

This weekend, I did a bunch of stuff. I spent all or most of it with absolutely no idea what time it is. I'm to the point of kicking coffee and cigarettes (all tobacco, really. I haven't been smoking my pipe either. I'm laying off it all for a while) that I'm into the time distortion part. Combined with the time change a while ago and the lengthening days, I've been really clueless as to the time for the last four or five days. I dug my watch back up, which helped considerably.
Saturday, two of my friends came to the house and played Boule, a game like Bocce, but very French. It involves steel balls instead of wood, and 3 per team instead of 4. Very French. Really, those two games are just Italian and French versions of the game Horseshoes, which is like the Canadian game Curling, and all of them are like the semi-outlawed game of lawn darts. There exists a whole family of games in which a number of objects are thrown or rolled in an attempt to be the nearest to a smaller target some distance away. We played one. Adam is really very good at throwing a steel ball with surprising accuracy. This is a fact it is nice to know about a person before it matters.
Then, we invented a game like Ultimate frisbee, in which there are no teams. We met up with the Invisible Citizens Jon & Sharon for lunch, and then went back to the park and refined the rules some. Then, we returned home and played Doomtown, and a game called "Hex, Hex." It was a good day, all in all, with much interaction.
On Sunday, I slept in. Toshi & I went to see Scooby Doo 2, which is silly and fun, and had Amy's Ice Cream. We spent half-an-hour in a Borders Books&Music Store which smelled like flea powder. I stuck an Amy's sticker to the back of my geep. The sticker was given me by a girl named Jesse who works at Amy's. She works at the Amy's where my brother Flash used to work, and she also has a brother whose name is the same as his. Her brother, though, never worked there.
Then, I read Cerebus for a while, until its bible interpretation made my head hurt, so I went to sleep.
Tha end.

The next Violet Crown shows are May 28, 29 & 30, and June 4 & 5. We're doing an original script starring that Bestest of Heroes, the Blue Menace (cue rolling thunder and heroic music)! I'm reading the part of Chip, Perky Sidekick & Ace Reporter! Swell!
Also an old thriller script about space.

I feel like it's about time to Cook again. Anybody else?

edit: we're thinkin' Fondue.

I've taken to leaving work once I've done enough business to pay for myself. It keeps the profit margin high with respect to keeping me on. I'm trying to make it just downright dumb to fire me. Keep yer fingers crossed.

edit: and I'll remember to hang by my thumbs.

Oh, and it's official: by adding 6 blocks to my route in the morning, I save 25 minutes.

Trip to the Dentist: $35
Fitting for and production of a bite guard: $550
Follow-up exam: $35
Being told that your teeth look twenty years older than you: Priceless.

I'm not buying the Occlusal Splint right now. It's really a little pricey, and no insurance will cover it. The dentist looked into my mouth, poked at the soft tissue ("Does this bother you?" "You mean more or less than being poked in the mouth usually bothers me?") and asked me how old I am. Night-time anti-grinding devices are expensive, but I guess you have to pay separately for each name they call 'em. I've had 'em recommended to me now on three occasions by the same office. In the course of talking about them, they never use the same word twice.
The hygenist said, "You're here to talk to the dentist about the occlusal guard, right?" I said yes, and got poked in the mouth. The dentist said, "I'm going to fit you with a splint," like it was something completely other. I don't think I'd feel so bad, but they all look at me like an idiot when I ask them what they're talking about.

"Hey, buddy! You want a Twinkie?"
"Sure! That sounds good. Do you have one?"
"No, but I have some cream-filled snack-cakes."
"Oh. Um. Well, may I have one of those?"
"Well... you look more like a golden sponge-cake man to me."
"Um. Sure. Any of those is fine, yeah. I guess. Um."
"You dolt. They're the same thing! Don't you know anything?"

Also: I used my new route to avoid the scariest parts of Lamar today. It worked nicely. There were no attempts on my life, and I cut probably 15 minutes out of my commute. Happiness.

Pomegranate juice is wonderful stuff, particularly when it's got black- & blueberry juices in it. And, I hear, it's good for one's heart. So, yay!

Traffic on Lamar has now officially become too scary for me. I mean, the construction is tolerable, and it being down to two lanes is merely a small inconvenience I use to listen to three extra minutes of radio on my way to work. The thing that's scaring me is self-righteous Austin drivers.
There's an area on Lamar between 1st and 4th streets where the spacious 2 lane northbound strip becomes a cramped, smaller-than-your-huge-Truck 1-lane scariness. That's OK, really, but what happens at these is not the usual thing, in which most people go ahead and get in the right lane, sit and wait their turn, some of us (OK, me) laughing at Howie Mandell in the car, while some people see the open left land, zip ahead, and sneak to the front of the line. It's the way people do things. I used to live in Houston (which is all under construction and has been since the 70's). People are used to that crap and they accept that human nature dictates that it will happen, no matter what.
Not in Austin. Here, people in the right lane see somebody coming up the left, so they pull out in front of them and stop. This causes a traffic flow interruption, but it damn well keeps the order of things. Also, it scares me and makes me glad I didn't eat breakfast, as I'd have lost it. I'm already a kind of nervous driver, as I've been hit by two cars this year (and survived. I ain't complainin' about that, lemmetellya), so I tend to assume that the other guy is out to get me. When he pulls out from behind me an into the path of an oncoming car, an act which would have killed all three of us, to stop them getting ahead in line (whiny voice: Mizz! She got cuts! I want cuts! Mizz! Miiizzzz!), I know it's a fact.
Grade school mentality, baby! Yeah!

Y'know who I feel bad for in the wake of the Howard Stern fiasco that just happened? The small, local stations. The ones who are now looking at a maximum of "all your money for ever and ever and being locked in a debtors prison" as a fine if one of their DJs has a rotten day, slips up, and continues a conversation from the party last night on the air. I mean, gosh, it's just a fine of $27,500. That's only, like, half the yearly operating budget of a radio station.
We complain about the Clear Channel Formula, then let this kind of crap happen. It's the only smart business model, having a computer play your music and keeping humans off the air. This is the agency that's trying to get hold of your cable, satellite and internet broadcasts.
Ponder that: Sure, cable, that makes sense, except that I paid to get it into my house and know what I'm getting; sure, satellite, that makes sense, except that I pay to have a signal sent to me and me alone, and choose exactly what I'm getting; sure, internet, that's not a foothold into censoring all content you go looking for on your computer including news.
When they stuck it to The Man, I stood and cheered.
When they stuck it to The Man's Boss, I clapped.
When they stuck it to The Man's Sponsors, I nodded in sage approval.
When they stuck it to the Consumers of The Man's Sponsors, I went to jail for ever.

Hello? Anybody?
Nope. I didn't think so.

Last note: Ruth has mail on the way.

Oh, and hey: Here at work, IT has started. The attrition has begun. It's a trickle now, but I can hear the momentum building. First some higher-ups quit, and then it all falls apart. I know the drill. I heard back from Dell, more or less, and am giving them a week to send me a non-form letter. The current one says "We Got Yer Resume!" I don't know if it's exactly a rejection, so much as an acknowledgement. Until I hear more, I'll go ahead and continue to apply to additional places.

I have this mindset that is necessary: I Am Not Safe When I Drive. I got all complacent in my last car and started to believe, completely erroneously, that I was safe in it. Goodness no. As long as I just assume that every other driver is actively trying to snuff me, I drive much safer.
What's that, Mr. Guy In A Big Truck? You want to cut me off and flip me the bird? Fine with me, as long as I live through it. What's that, Lady In A Mustang? You want to weave dangerously close to me in your lane on the highway while driving seventy miles an hour, turned backwards, fiddling with a baby seat? Great! Here, why don't I just slow down and let you do that as much and as often as you please. Far away from me.
See? It works. Plus, I swear less while I drive!
The only trouble with this plan: I've had sore muscles constantly since I started it, and I don't sleep as well. Price you pay to be alive, I guess.

It would seem that one of the 50 ways to love your country is to only print enough of your book for an initial run, just enough to stir interest, and then not to reprint. Stupid, stupid rat creatures.

Unrelated poem on a similar topic:
Ordering books for the Texas Poetry Fest
Publishers are out
Books are gone
An industry of flakes:
who knew?

So, I'm all applied to Dell. I should be expecting a confirmation card in the mail any old time.
I didn't lie at all on my resume. Maybe I should have.

I don't know why, but I find my Brezsny mildly disturbing this week.
I'm a direct descendant of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), the Mongol leader who controlled an empire stretching from Hungary to Korea. The funny thing is, you might be one of his progeny, too. Geneticists have determined that there are millions of us worldwide, owing to our forefather's prolific sowing of wild oats over an extensive area. Of course it's natural if we have mixed feelings about him: He and his troops did all the nasty things a conquering army usually does. But he was also a good manager who codified laws, advanced religious freedom, and promoted ethnic diversity. Even if Khan isn't officially your ancestor, Cancerian, you're now primed to imitate his more enlightened side. As you expand your territory and authority, fantasize about the ways your new clout will allow you to give greater gifts.

The abject lack of comments on That Other Page don't bother me so much, since I'm writing it for me and not for anybody else. It's funny (only to me) that there are even comments on any of them at all.
Also, I'm about ready to go back to it and finish that Story About The Monkeys. The long one that isn't posted anywhere.

Many, many bible quotes in this one. Just so's you're warned.
Alright, so confusion:
This passage is generally given as the one cementing Satan's fate in hell, which is all well and good (and is the one that refers to the "morning star") until you realize that it's not about Satan at all. It's about Jacob, and specifically about driving home the fact that no matter how powerful a human you are, you aren't God. That's a very common meme in the Bible. Maybe You're cool, but you're still human and you're still going to die and be eaten by worms (I'm really impressed with the turn of phrase about the worms).
The other passage I've often seen cited as Satan being cast down to hell is this one. That, however, isn't at all the whole passage, which goes more like this and casts a whole different light on the thing. It's odd that it refers specifically to burning the one cast down with a fire from inside himself rather than casting him down into hell, but you can overlook that, at least until you see that it too is about somebody else. It's a reminder that all the money in the world doesn't make you God, thus the remarks about possessing quantities of precious stones in settings of gold and still being cast down by God.
Both of these are good lessons, and they're both absolutely true: Earthly power is all well and good, but it doesn't change the quality of the man under it. We're still an aggregate of guts and blood destined for the dirt. The only place I've found that actually has the devil being cast out of heaven in a huge war is in revelations, and that's stuff that hasn't happened yet, right?
So, what I'm getting out of this is that the Devil was cast out of Heaven and walks around (Just look at the book of Job and any of the accounts of the Temptation of the Christ), but that he's going to be cast into Hell during the Apocalypse, during which time (this makes more sense from a Jewish perspective) all of the unfaithful and the non-Kosher will be cast into hell, this being a new thing which will be created especially to house the unfaithful and the non-Kosher after the end times. Does that seem like the logical conclusion? I'm afraid that most of the Devil stuff that's made it into the shared wisdom is from sources outside the bible and therefore suspect. It's hard to tell, what with upwards of 2500 years of outside sources, liberal translations and removal of context, what's gospel (if you will) and what's not.
Puzzlement.

From the Saxon Bible, a sort of interpretation of biblical texts into Saxon for conversion purposes. If you scroll down near the bottom to the "Christ & Satan," it gets pretty interesting. According to this one, all the angels went to hell.
It also actually says Satan's not confined to Hell, but walks around. The version of the bible I was raised on is never quite clear on that point. It goes into this whole "cast down into a lake of fire" thing, and "tormented eternally in Hell" thing, and then out the other side of its mouth talks about the "adversary" who walks the earth, tempting man. I now sort of figure that to be symbolism about the heart of man containing animal urges and not a literal demonic presence, 'cause if God casts somebody into Hell, one would imagine they stay cast in Hell. This is a puzzlement to me, 'cause the most common Christian dogma includes a line approximating "The Devil's greatest victory was convincing mankind he did not exist," which is a clever way of saying "don't ask so many questions, boy." Puzzlement.

Maybe I'll come down.

Brezsney this week, which he put up on the 1st. We had a party on the 2nd which went over beautifully. Go him. Heck, go us!
Add more locks to your doors and more armor to your defense mechanisms. Transform your home into an impregnable fortress of solitude and don't go out unless you absolutely have to. You must make yourself perfectly safe! APRIL FOOL! It probably makes sense to be more discriminating about whom you share your feelings with, but in general it's an excellent time to open your heart and turn your home into a festive center of abundance. I suggest you invite every interesting person you trust to come and experience you in your natural habitat.

So, yesterday's hangover was, in fact, Oak-Related. It kicked the heck outa me, and I slept away most of the rest of yesterday. Toshi had the same. I feel much improved. She seems to be vertical again as well.
Also, a note: when did my work become a soap opera? Was it always, and I was just too far out of the loop?

There is a genre of silly parody spells for D&D. The one I've thought of lately is "Delayed Blast Hangover." I won't bother you with a whole "d20 compatible" description.
I haven't had anything to drink in weeks, but I'm dizzy and nauseated. Ugh.

Does it count as wisdom if it's good advice?

One of those little pieces of wisdom that will slip by you if you aren't paying attention:
If you carry a pen in the pocket of your shirt, it will leak.
It's funny to me, 'cause it still hasn't sunk in for the person who told me that. At least, he still carries pens in his shirt pockets and still has shirts that have ink stains on them. Although, lately he wears more T-shirts and just clips the pens to the collar. I guess that's the compromise.