Typing this before going to bed at the end of my two days off. I actually did everything I set out to do during these two days which is something I can't say very often. On both days I have managed to write for my freelance contract, get some musical composition work done, and do a little bit of work on the house. Despite doing everything I set out to do I still feel like I could have done more. Maybe that's just the feeling that comes with being on a bit of a roll. Who knows.

I even had enough time to do some WoW playing which I haven't done in a while and to do some reading. I guess it feels like it was a long couple of days. Oh, also had rehearsal where we did the blocking for the scene I'm directing. That was easier than you might think. I have such a wonderful group of actors and they don't require that much direction. Most of the time their instincts on where to go were exactly the blocking that I had in mind. I am really proud and am so excited to see this performance happen in a few weeks.

The past two evenings were spent watching a lot of horror movies. I'll try to post mini-reviews of them. For now though I should be getting to bed.

My motherboard and power supply are arrived, installed, and the PC now runs better than ever. My PC is slowly turning into a Ship of Theseus but that's okay. It's fun to upgrade parts.

This means I am freed up from using my mom's ancient computer which turns firing off a FB or LJ comment in 20 seconds into a ten minute ordeal. I can now do things in a timely fashion.

It's too bad my WoW subscription ran out and I can't really afford to renew it until next week :( 

 As some of you who are American might know, Friday was the 4th of July. Independence a Day is a holiday I can typically care less about due to having spent most of my July 4th's bored, lonely, and wishing the day were over. To illustrate, let me say that one of the best 4th of July evenings I ever had was spent with batchix and her husband inside a Kinko's - a Kinko's! Yeah, not my holiday. This 4th was fairly decent though. My parents cooked a lot of hamburgers and brautwurst, which is a sure-fire way to make me happy no matter what and while the meat cooked we sat and watched Independence Day which I had not seen in many years and had honestly forgotten how much fun it was. It's not Citizen Kane, okay well as far as alien invasion movies go it probably is the Citizen Kane, but it's still a lot of fun.

And why does everyone always compare movies to Citizen Kane? I've seen it and it was boring as hell. 

After food I humored my dad and set off fireworks with him, which I haven't done since I was a child. And I actually had fun doing it probably for the first time ever. I then went home and rounded out the holiday by watching the last two episodes of Season 1 of Oz. Because nothing makes you appreciate freedom like watching people in prison. 

Saturday was my day of getting things done. I did all our laundry, found a new pair of work shoes so I could finally throw my old hole-filled ones away, and got a long-overdue haircut. The haircut was almost a post in and of itself. I got to the hair salon I always go to and found that it was closed so I then went off in search of this one my boss told me about that he goes to. Locating it in the shopping center was a mini-adventure of its own. The real fun was when I got inside where I was hit with more questions then you should need to answer for getting a haircut. "What's your full name? What's your address? What are the last four digits of your phone number?" I think there were a few other questions too, none of which seemed in any way relevant to the transaction I was there for. I thought barbers got out of the surgery business centuries ago, so why did I feel like I was filling out a release? They also immediately try to upsell you on all these shampoo/styling/hot towel on your face extras. I"m sorry, but what is so hard about hair is long, take scissors, make hair short? I was really happy with the haircut I got but I can't decide if I want to go back there again.

Between all of Saturday's chores I also got a lot done on World of Warcraft. Hit honored with both Aldor and Sha'tari and was able to upgrade to some nice new gear on account of it. The day was rounded out by a fun game of Munchkin with my wife. By that time 5:30 AM had rolled around so it was time for bed.

Sunday I hit WoW for a few battleground matches, bought some groceries, washed some dishes, did a lot of sleeping, and watched Family Guy, Venture Bros., and Metalocalypse. After a shaky start, I must say the new season of Venture Bros. is finally starting to get really good. That means nothing to most of you and that's fine. Just take my word for it.

And that was the weekend that was.

I had a very fun weekend. Saturday's L5R game was a blast, especially with all the tacos. So, can someone who was there tell me what happened after we stepped through the Torii arch? I'm dying to find out!

I could continue all the bitching I did at the game about the upcoming 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but I doubt anyone here cares.

Sunday was very mundane. I did all the laundry I've had piling up for weeks and I went grocery shopping. But all of that made me feel very accomplished. Aside from that my big accomplishment for the day was levelling my warlock in World of Warcraft. I'm levelling her pretty fast but the real fun is coming from speed-leveling her professions. (When you have a level 66 character who can go get all the materials you need for profession leveling in 15 minutes when it would take weeks to acquire them at lower level, things move pretty fast.)

I've fallen behind on my reading lately. In January I finished four books in a month and in February I barely finished one. This weekend I made a great deal of progress on The Subtle Knife, book 2 of Pullman's His Dark Materials. Very enjoyable and action-packed just like the first one. It's a shame that Pullman hates the founders of the genre, hates the readers, and pretty much everyone else because he really is very good at what he does.

I wish I could say the same for my own writing. I keep starting stories but then quickly lose all interest in them and have no desire to finish them. It's frustrating as hell.

What to say, what to say. Work is still work. I still have no leads on another job but really I'm not trying as hard as I should be. I work with some very friendly people who truly seem to like me and that's a blessing. Except for one kid who is a public health hazard. Aside from thinking he runs the store and always trying to weasel out of doing his assigned tasks, the kid's just gross. He has spinobiffeda, but doesn't properly manage his health problems. ( Those with weak stomachs might want to stop reading now. )

Then there is the pharmacy which could have better customer service skills. My having to handle phone calls from angry customers saying they are NEVER COMING TO OUR PHARMACY AGAIN is almost a daily occurence now. Why the pharmacy doesn't handle their own messes is beyond me. I've seen what the pharmacists get paid. Eight hours of their time is worth more than your life. The pharamcy techs get year-end bonuses. I don't. Let them clean up their own messes. Pharmacies get a lot of accusations levelled at them unfairly, being caught as they are between customers and unhelpful insurance companies. But I've seen how our department operates and they really do bring some of it on themselves. And it always winds up being my problem.

In happier news, World of Warcraft has become the opiate which helps me cope. Yes, I'm sucked into the game like all those people you make fun of. Laugh at me. I don't care. However, having read the fiction in the Burning Crusade expansion's instruction booklet I can officially say that I have no clue what this game, as delightful as it is, is supposed to be about. To borrow a line from MSTK, "Tolkien couldn't follow this plot." I played the original Warcraft back in the 90's. Back then it was a simple game about orcs and humans attacking each other's farms. Fun, addictive, and one of the first games to cast orcs - the mid 20's black male of fantasy gaming - in a sympathetic light. So now ten years later we've got this game where... well, where what the fuck is happening anyway? The Horde and the Alliance are no longer fighting except when they are, which is all the time, and the real enemy is these demons from beyond time, and apparently in Burning Crusade we have even MORE demons from beyond beyond time... and there are about a bazillion legendary characters who did legendary things and lead their legendary peoples who begat other legendary peoples who were different but not quite the same. It's like being plopped down in the middle of The Silmarillion... and it's in Elvish.

I think part of the problem is too many people and cultures with names that are too similar. 800 years ago Arwan Firepants lead his people the Spandax out of the Mighty Forest into the Dry Desert where they shared water with the Pletha tribe and its leader Waran Shinypants. But the Pletha betrayed them and lo great battle ensued. Arwan Firepants begged his people to see reason, but voices cried out for revenge. Under the leadership of Narwa Brightpants this rebel faction named themselves the Latax and exiled themselves to the Continent of Beyond where they might forever contemplate their revenge. Meanwhile the dwarves of Ledaahosan under the leadership of Narwa Mightypants launched their great war machines against the remainder of the Spandax as they emerged from the desert. The Elves would have been lost that day if not for the heroics of Waarn Tightpants. As a reward he and his followers were granted the majestic and very impressive lands of Pak'kage Bulge. Now centuries later these old conflicts are stirring again. The Latax have returned from their long sojourn and have made a deal with the ancient demon Thkk'ing Hazn'op'aanz and war threatens to tear the Alliance apart!

Yeah. That's World of Warcraft. MMORPGS are a lot like life, I guess: time-consuming, hard to get out of, and most of the time you have no idea what's going on. But as long as we have lots of money, power, and an unrealistic, unhealthy standard of female beauty we'll be okay.

I really do love the game, though. I tease because I love.