acquisitions

3 albums:

1. T.I. Paper Trail. I listen to this sort of thing so you don't have to. And I love it.

2. MIA- Kala. It attaches to your brain and does not let go.

3. The new TV on the Radio. How in the hell did this come out and I didn't notice? I LOVED the last one. I haven't heard the new one yet, but how could it possibly be bad? It can't. It's impossible.
Check out this one from their last album.


This year has seem crazy slow as far as music to me. What am I missing?

theres three stories and they are all mixed together

They came over the hill- and there were 20 of them. I'd never seen that many in the sparsely populated area. They had formed a Warband, and my explorations into a quiet part of the map were at an end.

Today was front yard lovin day. 5 bags of leaves and pinestraw all thanks to my mower (which has to be coerced into starting despite the sticker proudly saying "Guaranteed to start" on it.

There was four minutes left in the game when I noticed a lot of guys in blue shirts hanging out together, listening to music. We had set up a tv so people could watch the game, and there were about 30 people doing so. I also noticed the black shirted guys moving in behind the blue shirts. But only just barely. The 3 cops that appeared next to our tent had noticed as well.

They slaughtered me. Instantly. I respawned at the warcamp and saw that something bigger was going on. Our own warband was forming, and I joined up. Those Order assholes were going to pay.

The backyard remains in its leaf-full state. I did attempt to go to directv last week and was told unoffically which tree must go. It's not that big and the neighbor gave the OK to kill it since its on both of our property. I look forward to some chainsaw justice next weekend.

The next thing I know, literally 5 fights break out at once. I had never seen anything like it in my life. I immediately move out of the way as 4 guys push one through one of our tables. The tv shakes, so I hold it. My head is on a swivel- the guy who crashed into the table is getting mauled by four guys in black shirts. There's two fights near me and people are running away. 3 people stay fixed on the game. I contemplate putting the tv on the ground and getting out of there- but then I see that the cops are pulling out the mace.

The warband has a very vocal leader. He has a plan and we must follow it exactly. I imagine him to be a 15 year old kid who's yelling at his mom for one more hour playing the game in between detailing our strategies. I just go where he tells me and whack things with my sword. we quickly roll through the smaller objectives, and end up at the keep- a giant castle filled with those Order bastards that ganked me before.

I got mocked today for caring so much about my yard. I guess its tough to explain- but when the yard is cut it feels good. I can finally understand why my father was so obsessed with it. It is satisfying to look out across your land, and be happy with it. I am by no means OCD about cleaning things, but when you do it, and do it right, it does feel satisfying in a way that I've never understood until I got the house.

So there I was, holding a television, watching the cops douse the gangs in mace. And they didn't seem to care- at first. After about 20 seconds which seemed like an eternity, they all started running away from us. The cops strolled along behind them, not in a hurry, herding them out of the park. I was laughing at the poor bastards when I got my first whiff of mace. It is not a smell/taste I'd like to ever experience again. And I still can't believe how long it took for them to react to it- they must have really wanted to beat up those blue shirt people. I know I haven't worn a blue shirt since.

The seige of Stonetroll Keep was very fun and also very long. There's something to be said for about 80 people interacting together playing a game at the same time, with similar goals. We planted seige engines, they put a vat of oil over their door so we couldn't destroy it with dying almost instantly. Our ranged attackers had to kill the oil first. This left me useless. I do my business up close. Once the oil was taken care of, we battered the door open- and I saw my nemesii (c'mon, that has to be right?) staring at me.

But other priorites always get in the way with the house. The list of things to do grows and grows and grows. And the distractions from a video game to work always seem to creep into my time. I don't let myself focus on the house- maybe I should. I don't know.

So that's how I survived a Mexican gang fight. A week later, it seems less intense than it was at the time. But it was pretty damn crazy. I asked a cop afterwards if he'd ever seen anything like that. He replied "Yeah- on TV." Amen, cop.

The battle was bloody. I think I died 3 times. Luckily I was resurrected by a teammate. We actually didn't take the keep- but I killed at least 6 of the twenty that got me. Once I had a little goblin guy concerned with my health (literally), I was a wrecking ball tearing through their backlines. If you're wearing a robe and holding a stick and see me coming, then I hope you make peace with whatever weird thing you worship because I can assure you that yous gonna die. I logged off and realized that I needed to get away from the game for a while. I'll do some yard work.

Warhammer

Tycho for Penny Arcade sums up Warhammer pretty well in the middle of this post.

In other news, I was in the middle of a Mexican Gang War this past Saturday.

Really.

And I now know what mace smells/tastes like. (bad, of course).

I will discuss this with you when I am not supposed to be working.

I have a rekindled love of twitter. if you search for ditchell, you'll find me.

etc.

There's plenty to say but I'm too tired to say it all. 

I've been sick since Sunday. This is the first day I've felt close to normal.

I have played a ton of Warhammer. I love it. It loves me. I will probably speak of this again. My character in the game has a giant sword for an arm. Don't turn your back on him because he will totally stab you when you're not looking. I'm making a career out of that (in game only, I swear). 

I'm reading the new Neil Stephenson book Anathem. It is absolutely incredible. I will also speak of this again. If you're wondering who this is, go buy Cryptonomicon and thank me 1000 pages later. 

The leaves have begun their descent. The days of harvest, mulch, and complain are upon us. 

Due to my warhammer problem, I am typing to you from Windows XP, installed on my mac. This is both hilarious and sad to me. 

Work is actually kinda cool lately. November is looming as THE MONTH. The pressurized finale to my ascension to whatever it is I do. After November, I am going to make some big decisions about the future and such. 8 years at one place is a long time. I'll say that.  I'll also say that if the economy remains like this, I'll just be happy to have a job. 

I'm going to come out and say it, on the internet. I'm voting for Barack Obama. I don't agree with everything but he seems like the best option. This will be the first democrat I've voted for. My shameful presidential voting history- Perot, Nader, Bush (shudder).  I really hated Kerry and I was over Nader in '04. Ugh.

On that note, its half a shot of Nyquil and six hours of crazy dream sleep. And tomorrow writing scripts and Friday, glorious Friday, I don't have to work. I plan on forcing myself to go to the gym, and playing sweet delicious warhammer the rest of the time. 

must...resist...

ok. I have a confession.

I really, really want to play Warhammer.

I can tell you based on to my brief, sleep deprived, moments with Warcraft and City of Heroes this is what will happen:

1. I will drop off the face of the earth for no more than 1 month. Maybe 2.
2. I will get bored with it, and upset at being surrounded with losers who have nothing better to do with their time (and have better equipment than me)
3. I will cancel it, and vow to never play it again (until the expansion comes out, and I'll do this same thing again).

Despite knowing that this will happen- I still want to play the damn thing. The lure of these type games is strong for me.

So I guess I'll see you next month?

Oh and just wait til Champions Online comes out. Been nice knowing you...

No god no

It's coming. I can feel it.

The end of daylight savings time. It just makes me mad. No single thing makes me think I'm wasting my life in a windowless cave more than leaving work when it's dark. And now slowly, the days are getting shorter.

Part of the "remove crap from my house" initiative has begun. I removed all the lumbering hulks of dead computers from a closet- 5 towers in all. dead computers of Phil, John, my parents, and myself. Out of some sort of strange (for me) concern for others, I removed the hard drives from the stack and will find a way to properly smash them. Next up is the great book purge- If there's honestly no chance of me ever reading it again it will go. I remember when my friend Targus bought his first house- I was stunned at how empty it was. Now, I am jealous.