Now this is a game I could get into!

Listening to the radio this morning, Q104.3, for those anxious to know, I heard an interesting commercial. Interesting due to the name of the business, Catamite Ski Resort. I found it particularly fitting, due to the habitual makeup of the ski crowd nowadays... Alas, I misheard. Looking it up later, it was actually Catamount Ski Resort.

Not one in a hundred in today's poorly educated world would know what a catamite was, anyway...

Happy December Fools Day*!


*Feliz Día de los Inocentes!

While I am most definitely not a believer in the Christ Mythos, I do appreciate the fact that many around me are. In that spirit, may I extend my sincerest wishes for a Merry Christmas to everyone around me, and especially to those reading this. May all your wishes come true...

I'll be spending Xmas in NYC, at a Luddite facility, so blog posts might be skimpy until the weekend. Gotta love the Luddites, though. They set a mean table...

There's a pretty good chance I have something lined up which will allow me to not depend 100% on the crappy systems company I currently work for. It might even allow me to dispense with my current job altogether, if it works out. Big if, but way better than nothing. I'll probably have a better feel for it by next week, as I have a couple of meetings lined up with the interested parties in the next few days.

I think I could go back to freelancing if I could just get one initial deal that would cover the bills for a year or so. While the corporate world has its plusses, they are outweighed and negated when one has the misfortune of working for a completely clueless and top-heavy company. The only reason I am still here is the marginally better-than-the-norm salary I am getting, and which I would be unable to easily match in today's corporate economy. I just wish I could take them down before I leave...

What were you doing 25 years ago, people? I can't tell you exactly what I was doing at any particular instant back then, but I can tell you one thing. A large percentage of the time I was engaged in killing strangely shaped creatures trying to invade my planet from somewhere out in space. They came in waves, and all I had against them was my comparatively weak tank which fired a short laser burst which, fortunately, seemed to do the invaders in, mostly. Occasionally, a flying saucer would cross the sky, and I would attempt to hit it. As time went by, I noticed that by counting a certain number of shots and waiting for the saucer to pass, I could maximize the points awarded me for each kill. This allowed me to earn more and more points, even if overall my kill count was lower than some of my peers.

At some point, killing these critters became so easy that we started to get fancy. We would kill all but one column, and then kill those from top to bottom. We discovered the bottommost invader would then leave a trail across the sky. We discovered a few other little tricks, too.

Better games came out later. Oh, yes, I was talking about a game, in case you hadn't figured that out by now. So, better games came out, but Space Invaders always kept its place as the first good game to hit the arcades. In time, it all but disappeared. You can still find a few, in theme bars and the like, but they're rare. A few years ago, the MAME Project published an emulator and the original ROMS were posted for all to use who wanted to. I whiled away many an hour reliving those good old times, on my PC, but part of the thrill was doing it in an arcade. Impressing the crowd. Making a quarter last an unnaturally long time.

Happy 25th Anniversary, Space Invaders!

And, thanks to NAMCO (the company that owns the game currently), a new arcade version is set to come out to mark the quarter century milestone. I look forward to it.

Right from the start, I have always felt compelled to study certain subjects, and attain a specific degree of proficiency in each one. That varies, according to the subject. It just occured to me that it is exactly as if some unseen college counsellor were helping me choose what classes I should take each year. Only this education has lasted a lifetime so far, and shows no sign of stopping.

Now, these subjects I feel compelled to master do not seem to be aimed at anything in particular. I mean, it's not as if I was feeling compelled to follow a Medical curriculum, where I could say, "Oh, right, my higher self wants me to be a doctor". No, these are subjects and topics willynilly from all over the place. I have to work under the assumption that I am being prepared for a job that doesn't exist yet.

I hope it's Overlord of the Universe.

I have arrived at the conclusion that Saddam had been captured weeks, if not months ago. He was then interrogated and his will beaten down to the point where he could be safely shown in public. At this point, an operation was staged to show his 'capture' to the world as something that had just happened. That's the only way to explain his demeanor in the videos shown and purportedly filmed right after his arrest. What for? Part of the Shrub's campaign plan. Makes me wonder whether somewhere, in some secret bunker, we don't have Osama being prepped for capture, too. A capture to take place a month or two before next year's presidential election.

Think about it. Saddam might be a scumbag, but he's a confrontational scumbag. No way would he have acted so placidly without some serious conditioning.

Interesting and fun filled weekend.

On Saturday I recommenced my Bujutsu classes, as Sensei returned from Japan. He very kindly brought back my sword cleaning kit, as well as a decent shinai and a bokuto. Rounded it out with a nifty carry bag that holds the latter two elements with room to spare. I'm getting better at the stances, as my body limbers up again. Took a while. It had been years since last I practiced anything like this seriously. But I'm getting there.

Also on Saturday, we had (don't laugh (too much, anyway)) our yearly Santa-on-the-firetruck outing where we dress up someone as Santa and stick him on top of the firetruck, while the rest of us wear our normal gear and ride around town for an hour or so. Purpose of it being to delight the local kiddies. We'd had a pretty decent snowstorm earlier, too, and the chill factor was pretty nasty. The standard fireman outfit is pretty well insulated, though, so it wasn't too much of a hardship.

Well, the village idiot caught Saddam. I wonder, now. Will the weapons of mass destruction be found within his pockets?

Oh, bloody great! Something else for me to worry about! It seems the Earth's magnetic field is going to reverse itself in 1500 to 2000 years.

And people think it's easy being immortal...

I saw SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica miniseries this week. I sort of thought it would go on for more than 2 episodes, but it was good, nevertheless. The ending leaves it open for them to continue if they want to, just like the original series. Now, I never was too much of a fan of it the first time around. Star Trek was my poison of choice back then. But from the few episodes I recall from those many years ago, I don't seem to have ever had any desire to jump Starbuck's naked carcass and drag it into a bed. I don't think I've changed all that much, so Starbuck must have... Wasn't it a guy, last time around?

I am getting better and better at predicting what an acceptable human reaction for whatever circumstance I'm in might be, and pretending to it. The human condition is still very intriguing, and even mystifying to me at times, but I can now simulate it, most of the time.

The more I learn, though, the more satisfied I am at being the way I am. I see humanity as mostly weak and flawed, but with great promise. Until that promise is fulfilled, if ever, I am content to remain who I am.

I guess you just can't get enough of a good thing. Or I can't, at least. Which explains why I am going to see Maiden again. Not right now, unfortunately, as I could use the lift. But the end of January isn't that far off.

Rest in peace, Nowhere Man, old friend... 23 years later, listening to you still brings a smile to my face.

Had to go out early this morning, purportedly to cut someone out of a car that had crashed a couple of miles down the road. They'd gotten the victim out by the time we got there, and loaded into an ambulance, though. Spent the next half hour or so directing traffic so no one else would pile into the wreck, especially since the already narrow 2-lane country road had been reduced to barely one lane by the crash.

First good snow of the year today. It's supposed to be melting soon, unfortunately. But it was almost a foot of the second best white powder in the world.

Massive issues today at work. Systems totally unstable due to badly planned upgrades where besides the lack of planning, we weren't allowed a chance to test by the customer. And since my management is too chickenshit to stand up to the customer even to protect said customer from their own stupidity, we're living with the consequences during the customer's busiest sales season. Some of their main customers have already taken their business elsewhere this past week as a result of the failures. The customer is screaming bloody murder and threatening everything from legal action down against us. And, of course, no one has the balls to go in and say, "Hey! Part of this, if not all, is your own fault!"

And everyone is running around in headless chicken mode, trying to fix the unfixable, and do it by yesterday. I wish they'd eff the ineffable, too...

Baiting the customer by email even if it costs me my job? .001 cents per email.

Blindcopying a ton of people on every reply just to prove how clueless the customer is? .001 cents per email.

Getting all the replies from the blindcopied people saying 'you rock, man'? Priceless.

I passed my nihongo exam last week with flying colors. I've always been able to pick up languages easier than most people, but I have to admit that Japanese concerned me somewhat. It's not as hard as I had supposed, though it's by no means a cakewalk, either.

My teacher is spending a week or two in Japan. I expect to continue my language lessons sometime in January. I'm very motivated with this, as I'd wanted to learn Japanese for quite a while now. I bought a few language casettes at a Book Warehouse for 3 bucks. Going to dive into them while teacher's having fun in Nippon...

As a favor to a very good friend, I drove down to the Philly area (about a 2 hour drive each way) last night. Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater was signing autographs and otherwise hobnobbing with his fans at a Sam Ash store. My friend doesn't live here in the US, so he doesn't have the opportunity to go to these things, mostly. I bought Dream Theater's latest CD before heading down, in order to have something for Portnoy to sign. I listened to it on the way, too. They're definitely not my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, their music isn't bad, but then, it isn't anything out of this world, either. I wouldn't change stations if they started playing, but neither would I go out and buy their music. There's more important stuff I can plunk down 20 bucks for. Anyway, all the guy's fans (well, 95% of them) seemed to be barely past puberty homeboys. Which more or less describes my friend, too, despite the fact that he's 30 years old or so. He's a good kid, though, and I owed him. And Portnoy's like his all-time God or something really close to it.

I arrived at the store a half hour early and was thus able to be right at the front of the line. Maybe 10 people ahead of me. Not a lot of people showed up, maybe 60 or 70 all told behind me. Maybe more showed up later, but I sort of doubt it. To be honest, I'd never heard of these guys until my friend mentioned them to me, when I worked with him, back in Colombia. Haven't heard them mentioned a whole lot anywhere else. Their fan base is pretty loyal, and they were all wearing Dream Theater t-shirts, and carrying band paraphernalia. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my NIN t-shirt. I felt like shouting, "Hey, my band can kick your band's ass anytime, man!", to all the crowd, but I controlled myself. Portnoy took one look at my t-shirt and lost all interest in me. He signed my CD and waved the next guy in immediately. I guess he knows whose band can kick his band's ass, too. And NIN isn't even my favorite band. Not even close. Reznor does kick ass, though...

Well. Back from Thanksgiving. Did you all miss me? I'll post bigger, longer and uncut later...