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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
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5:26 pm - Internet, folks.
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| Monday, June 29th, 2009
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10:55 am - Movin' movin' movin'
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Heading into the homestretch of Apartment Blitz 09. Which means that I have everything I can't live without packed, and most of it is already in storage. Unfortunately, this also includes things like, oh, my checkbook. Um. I didn't mean to pack that, but I guess I did. However, considering that I've been doing all the packing on my own, and me and my Dad have been doing all the hauling of furniture just with the two of us, I ain't going to complain.
Predictably, all of this exercise is ruining my sleep schedule: once my body gets used to doing stuff, it doesn't want to stop, and that includes sleep. So, for the last week or so, I've been going to bed around 2am, and my brain has been waking me up around 7am. It sucks.
Got final paycheck, so hurray for financial solvency, however temporary it might be. Without rent, though, it should keep me without difficulty for another four months or so. I am not displeased.
Actually, I'm pretty happy. The idea of going back to Columbia makes for happy feelings, for I will be close to my friends again. And book stores, game stores, /gamers/, and maybe even get back into anime geekery. I miss geekery in general.
How is your week starting out?
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 21st, 2009
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9:47 am - Wild, Furious Fancies in the Night
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On the bright side, my dreams no longer revolve around work. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.
This time, I dreamt that I was in a small group of people: it was a family group, and for some reason I had been put in charge of my nephew, a baby with startlingly fair hair and bright blue eyes, who the whole family adored but hated to be touched on his head. There was also my father (not my real father, but a dream substitute), a cousin, and a younger cousin (probably around eight or so). We were fleeing from something, and made our way to the wilderness, and a complex there.
Upon exploring the complex, we found a temple-like room with many elderly people, who seemed near death. Our arrival scared off the little (about two feet tall) old woman who had been feeding on them; she skittered away into the depths of the complex. We were able to rouse the victims, including a nice old man who turned out to have some measure of magical powers. Although he could not revert the aging that all of them had gone through, he began restoring their vitality.
Of course, as he restored their vitality--and his own--his real personality came through. He was...I suppose the best way to put it is to say that he was a dark shaman. The more of himself that was restored, the more of his totem animals began to show: a spirit eagle, first, then a snake, and finally a monstrously huge spider. Most disturbing, all of the spirits had the man's own face...not like a hybridized version, but just...his face. So it was like he was looking at you from four different directions. He was sardonic, and considered himself neutral in the fight between ourselves and the breathstealer, but did help out.
When the breathstealer attacked, it went after the baby. I pulled the baby close, and somehow my hand went over the child's face. In the battle that followed, my grip tightened, and the skin of the baby's face just...came off. Instead of what one might expect, beneath the fair face was another one, older and darker, and with budding horns on either side of his head. While I was considerably freaked out, the rest of the family viewed it as nothing special. As we trussed up the breathstealer, my younger cousin looked at the baby (who was now a boy of about seven years old) and said that she liked him better this way. He smiled and said that he did, too.
And then I woke up.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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8:18 pm - So...
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Who's interested in a very weird indy RPG that is heavily, heavily based on Neon Genesis Evangelion? It's called Bliss Stage, and it is VERY STRANGE. Summary:
You will be teenagers, seven years after the end of the world as we know it. Something has invaded, and its first action was to send all adults into a deep stasis known as the Bliss. Terrifying alien drones ravage the child survivors, and the world itself warps with manifestations of the dream world, particularly around water.
One adult manages to keep themselves awake, drawing together a small group of child survivors, and organizing them into a resistance that proves able to bring down and capture one of the alien attackers. From this psuedo-organic technology, a weapon is created: the ANIMa. It allows certain pilots to enter the dream world of the Bliss and form giant mecha from the strength of the relationships the pilots share with others. The stronger the relationships, the stronger the power of the mecha. Using these, they can battle against the horrors of the dreamrealm, and perhaps even destroy the aliens and rescue the adults from the Bliss (and themselves from their inevitable fate of slipping into the Bliss as well).
Of course, should their hearts falter, and their relationships be torn apart, the very strength they summon will rend their minds asunder...
Note: This is an indy RPG, which means things will be done a bit differently than usual. For one, there is a strong focus on relationships and soap opera elements, which then translate into asskicking. There are strong horror elements, as well, and the world itself is pretty bleak and post-apoc, and players will need to be okay with running multiple characters (a pilot which is Yours, and other NPCs which can be traded around as necessary). I would like two to four players who can suit up. Note: Side-RP is going to be really, really important, so I need people who will be okay with seeking out RP outside of missions, and being available for such. Also, we do not have to play with a full group; missions can be carried out with two players: a Pilot, and an Anchor. So scheduling should be easier than it often is.
EDIT: Here's the Dreamwidth community for the game that I created. We've now got four players, which is plenty to start with. Don't worry about having a dreamwidth account: you can post without one, just sign your name to your comment. :D
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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3:35 pm - BG2 Fanfic
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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3:08 pm - Deeply Self-Indulgent
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| Friday, June 5th, 2009
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6:49 am - Mwuahahhaa!
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| Monday, June 1st, 2009
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1:48 pm - Fanfiction: Persona 4 Short
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Replaying Persona 4 in order to hide from my general failure as a human being. Got to the second rescue, and something struck me as interesting.
Title: Anima
Summary: Takes place after Kanji's rescue, but before he joins the team. Yukiko checks in.
( Short, Dialogue-only piece )
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 28th, 2009
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9:31 am - The Cost Conundrum of Health Care
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This is a really good article, from Atul Gawande writing for The New Yorker, about an examination of the cost and quality of health care across the nation. Interestingly enough, the cost of health care per patient, and the quality of care, seem to have a pretty solid negative correlation across the US. The higher the cost per patient, the lower the quality: both measured by quantitative measures (recovery time, survival time, complications, etc.) and qualitative measures (patient satisfaction).
The article talks about several factors contributing to the system, and showcases several health care systems that go in the opposite direction, most notably, the Mayo Clinics. It's really worth reading, to get a good perspective on what's contributing to the state of US health care, and what is likely to help fix it.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, May 22nd, 2009
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2:04 pm - I have few words.
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12:41 pm - Ad I posted to rpg_promo...
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I think it looks okay, and now that I've got at least one thread up and running on the game, hopefully people will like what they see, and give it a closer look.
Bright Haven
Date Last Posted: First Time Post
Format: Messageboard
Genre: Heralds of Valdemar (high fantasy)
Name: Bright Haven
Contact: Pyrephox at gmail dot com
Website: Bright Haven
Minimum Age Requirement: No age requirement.
Deadline: No expiration date!
( More Information on the Game )
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(comment on this)
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11:22 am - Very Strange Dream
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It was a very strange night in the Amber's head.
I was a part of a small community, which lived in a ginormous house-like thing. There was a forest, which was divided into areas through sliding walls; like the divider walls you get in conference rooms. It was, of course, off limits, but at some point, a guy goes crazy and attacks his family, driving them all into the woods. A confused search party, me among them, went out to try and find this family that disappeared, and came across their barely-alive bodies, each one deeper into the forbidden forest than the last. While we're trying to bandage them and wake them up, we're attacked by what I called 'black widows'. But these black widows were about the size of a basketball, and roughly that shape. The bottom 3/4s of the creatures were jet black, and filled with legs, legs, and more legs. Lots of legs. The top part was a violent, neon green, and eyes were deepset all around the parameter of the creatures. One was crawling up the back of a colleague, who was screaming and crying and flailing all over the place. I screamed at it to leave him alone...and it did.
Turns out that, for some reason, I could make the animals of the forest obey me. Unfortunately, we were also stuck in the forest; the bodies could not be moved, or else they would die. Except, of course, for the crazy guy, who woke up, ran away, and then started stalking us from the divider aisles, trying to get back to finish the job on his family. And the animals, who I could understand, insisted that /they/ were not the reason that the forest was too dangerous for us.
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 21st, 2009
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9:23 am - MegaTen
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Am I the only MegaTen fan on my friends' list who picked up Devil Summoner 2?
If the 'action' part of the action-rpg bothers you, be not alarmed. The combat is not hard to do, and it's actually pretty fun. They've brought back demon negotiations, so that's pretty neat. And the setting and characters are great: it's the 1920s in Japan, you're working for a detective, and there's a strange dame with a secret who wanders into your office. :D It's got a very pop-noir feel, just with demons and ninja as well.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
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11:34 pm - The Happening
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| Friday, May 15th, 2009
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7:38 am - Bright Haven
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Actually have a player, and have started a thread! Those of you who expressed interest and are still interested, please have your character sheets to me as soon as possible?
Also, had goooooood sleep last night. I think that I was zonked by, oh, nine thirty at the latest. And it was foggy this morning when I walked out, which makes it almost like not waking up at all, but walking through a dream, instead.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
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10:08 am - Persona 4: Yosuke and Kanji
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7:38 am - Niiiightmares.
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Last night, despite being good and fun, was filled with nightmares. More unusually, I had a nightmare I haven't had before; typically speaking, my nightmares revolve around the same themes, so it's like a stable where a familiar face parades around for a bit. This time, though, I dreamed of a childless couple who found themselves in a near abandoned town. The only residents were two, very child-like, adults, a brother and sister. Near the town was The Bad Place where it was implied that the rest of the residents were buried. Of course, as the sun goes down, the couple decides to investigate, and as they reach the bad place, things get creepifying. I had to wake myself up before the couple got beaten to death by a bunch of kids with the sunset in their eyes.
I am pretty sure my brain ripped this wholly from a Stephen King story (It wasn't quite Children of the Corn, but the similarities are notable), but I can't imagine why I was dreaming it now.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, May 11th, 2009
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10:30 am - *yawn*
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In my ongoing ressurection of dead horses, I discovered the proboards no longer recognized me as admin of Bright Haven, the message board Valdemar RPG I set up. In fact, it no longer recognized me as anything at all, including a person. Sadness. So, I've moved shop to http://z3.invisionfree.com/Bright_Haven/index.php?act=idx here, and invisionfree. I'd also like to actually get the game up and running.
Is anyone interested in a Valdemar game? It being a message board setting means that you don't have to be 'on' very long at a stretch, so if your schedule doesn't really allow for a regular-style game, you might find it worth giving a shot! I'm perfectly happy to explain the setting and all.
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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4:22 pm - Bless The Beasts and Little Children Part 4
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4:20 pm - Bless The Beasts and Little Children Part 3
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pyrephox's journal