Summer is here and so is NS-13 (tomorrow!)

Summer is officially here, though it's been quite warm for some time. Last night we had our first campfire of the summer. It was nice, though we didn't stay out long. I made a pizza over the fire and we watched the cats try to sneak over and steal some food.

We discovered that one of the cats looks like Hitler. It has a little patch of black under its nose. I'll try to get a picture of it to post. I can just picture it doing the salute and the march. I can also picture it holding meetings with the other cats plotting ways to destroy us. And that worries me.

I finished my last hardcore ascension before NS13 rolls out. I checked my stat page and it was 13 day run! I didn't use my full adventures two days of the run, so it would have been even faster. I have mixed emotions about that. It's cool because I finally got under two weeks--and could have done even better. But now with the changes coming tomorrow, I probably won't see a fast run for a long time.

The anticipation for NS13 is dreadful and exciting. There's been strange weather in the Kingdom lately, storm clouds over the map and a particularly nasty one over the Sorceress' lair. I hope she has a lightning rod and has turned off her appliances. Last year a meteorite was heading for the Kingdom and eventually collided with one of our moons, Grimace. Well, this created a small third moon the orbits the other two. And the meteor, or maybe it was a chunk of Grimace, fell to the Kingdom and created a crater on the northern-most region of the Desert Beach. After awhile, the penguins mysteriously appeared and set up camp. Soon we learned they were mining the grimacite. This lead to the opening of the raffle house and grimacite prizes.

Now, exactly one year after the site was created, we have been granted access to it. No one really knows how, but speculation is the mob penguin guarding the site (who've we all spoken to, but could never get past) left his post or was over run. The penguins are battling and dropping items--something that hasn't happened in three years!

So thousands of adventurers have depleted grimacite in their inventory. I'm just hoping this doesn't lead to some kind of nuclear poisoning and there's not another great plague.

There's also been a secretive mason hanging around the wrong side of the tracks. He claims he's using grimacite to rebuild Hagnk's. Hagnk's is where adventurers store their belongings when they ascend and during hardcore runs. Poor Hagnk's has been burned down, hit by the meteor and flooded. Now most of us have a soft spot for Hagnk, so we'd all be pretty willing to donate a chunk or two of grimacite to the worthy cause of helping him. Along with the rock, the mason asks for 25,000 meat because the grimacite ruins his tools has he shapes them into bricks. Smells like a scam (or meatsink) to me.

Well my Accordian Thief is having issues with little miss naughty up in her tower. Gah, she can't just give me a break. Since I won't be seeing her until Level 13 now she needs to inflict as much pain as possible right now when she has the chance.

Cell Phones Don't Swim

I always "love" those days when I wake up 10 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for work. Today was one of those days. I ironed a skirt (damn wrinkly skirts), started the coffee and got dressed. Then I grabbed my purse, threw my cell phone in it and grabbed my bag.I made a stop in the bathroom to jam some hair pins in (so I could fix it later after at the office) and put my contacts in. I set my purse (okay, maybe it was more towards a "throw" than a "set") on the counter, it tipped, and my cell phone went for a swim. I had water in the sink, soaking some things.

Now kids, no matter how much your cell phone begs and pleads, even if it's 88 degrees and humid. Your cell phone, should not go swimming. It gets water in it's ear and gets an ear infection, gets cold and quite frankly, sinks faster than Kerry when she tries to float. (sorry babe, it was an amazing reference that just came to me).

So nonetheless, I played lifeguard and brought my little buddy back up to the surface. I took out its battery and wrapped it in a towel and stuffed it in my bag. I proceeded to then put in my contacts, grab coffee, call work to tell them I'd be 10 minutes late and zipped out the door. Once I got to work, I fixed my hair and did my make up and addressed my poor wet phone. It wouldn't turn on. 15 minutes later, it turns on but the screen keeps going black. I took about 5 minutes to pull my numbers off so when the phone eventually flat-lined I would have them.

I shared my miseries with a co-worker (her husband dropped his phone in a pool) and we looked at my poor little kyocera. The screen got better, but when Jeanne called my number, she couldn't hear me.I hoped online, checked out alltel.com, visited Radio Shack and finally hit PC Doctors. So right now I'm test driving a Motorola Razor. The only other one that somewhat tripped my trigger was an LG with a MP3 option. But I think I'm satisfied.

Again, Cell phones shouldn't go swimming. No swimming for cell phones. Bad idea.

Pictures (top to bottom): My old kyocera. *sniff, sniff*

My new Razr. She's pretty cool, but still gonna miss my old buddy Kyocera.

Affirmation ...

Do you remember the song from Savage Garden? Really fast beat, probably made faster by the club-machines for people to dance. It's title was "Affirmation" and each lyric started with "I believe." I've always enjoyed it, and agreed with most of their affirmations.

So two weeks ago, in pondering what I should blog about, and listening to the cd in the car, I decide to give some of my own affirmations. Sadly, there aren't as many as I would have liked, but I suppose I could always do a Part II.

With no further ado, here are my Affirmations: (the ones with * behind them are in the Savage Garden song, as well)

I BELIEVE ...

in Karma what you give is what you get returned.*

the grass is never really greener on the other side.*

that God doesn't endorse anyone who hates in his name.

that God also doesn't care who marries whom ... gay, straight or otherwise.

GW ran for office to follow through where his father failed.

movie stars should keep their personal lives and opinions to themselves. Knowing their skeletons and opinions ruins their storytelling ability.

we each need to make special efforts to do our part so we don't destroy the Earth.

a soul mate deosn't have to be a romantic match.

tanning beds are just as dangerous as the sun.

putting someone down is not okay--neither is not sticking up for a friend when you hear others putting them down.

a true friend is always there when you need them, which is the greatest gift they can give.

we by nature judge people--it's that realizing it's only our opinion--is what truly matters.

the line between heroism and terroism is blurred and in the eye of the beholder.

no one has the right to take your happiness.

in things that go bump in the night.

Rejected Adventure

Back during St Patrick's Day week, aka: Week of Drunk Lovin' II (yeah, that's a week in the KoL Community) the clan of Nobleese Obligiation (or some sort name) had a drunken stuper writing contest. I submitted this one, and sadly, it didn't place. I'm still proud of it though, so I decided to share it from you.

Cold, Wet & Sticky ~ Brilliant!

You’re that special kind of drunk where you are a better driver since your senses are heightened because you know you’re drunk. To celebrate your intoxicitity (which is a word on St. Sneaky Pete’s Day) you hit Seaside Town.

You stumble into the lair of the pretentious painter. He refuses to paint your portrait because you’re clothes aren’t good enough for him.

You’re just about to give him a piece of your mind when he asks why your tongue is green.

Forgetting that you’ve downed more than few green beers, you run away terrified and bump into a suspicious looking guy. He’s outraged at the drunken debauchery around him on this his holy day. Hey—Suspicious Looking Guy is Irish!

You stop to argue that everyone is Irish on St. Sneaky Pete’s day, and he takes a break from his rant to break you in half.

He dumps a thick black beer down your back and leaves you in a puddle with nothing but beads around your neck and your flashing button pinned to your socks.

You lose 17 chutzpah.
You gain Stale Beer Smell (10 turns)

KoL adventure text has pop culture references. Mine include: Family Guy episode where Peter and his friends are drunk and are deciding who should be the driver. Reference to the Pretencious Painter, when you visit him w/o an outfit he turns you away b/c you have bland clothing. Guinness. Flashing button was the item drop for Sneaky Pete's day.

To Hinder, a raccoon

The weather sure has been weird lately. Yesterday morning it poured and then was cloudy and by two it was so sunny. I hope today is the same because it's raining right now. I wanted to tend the garden later on. We'll see. As an aside, I hate blogging about the weather. Can you get any more cliche than that?

Last night around nine I took the cats some cooking scraps. I opened the door and saw a thick, furry tail. Well then, that explains why we have to fill the dishes up to the top every day. We have a fucking raccoon (i almost typed squirrel there, hee hee).

He's a big one, and mean too. I opened the door and flipped on the light, didn't even step foot in there and he growled and hissed at me. But now as I type, I'm not sure if he growled, but I know that he hissed. How weird is it that a raccoon hisses? I don't know why I keep saying "he." I didn't exactly check out the anatomy to make a distinction (more like tossed the pan in, turned off the light and shut/locked the door and ran back to the house).

I'm not quite sure what to do. I don't want to keep feeding the damn thing. I'm thinking of taking the food dishes in a night. I'll either lock them in the container where we keep the food or put them in Sparky's old house where the kittens are. I just need to bring them out each morning.

We had five baby kitties but can only find four now. I think I might know what happened to that poor fifth one.

My latest music interest is the band Hinder. I first heard it's song "Lips of Angel" on the way to Chicago last summer with the Colby girls. Not really listening to the words, I wasn't immediately pulled to the music. When actually heard the words, I was appalled.

The song is a phone conversation with his ex-girlfriend. She calls late one night, crying. Well, the new girl is just over in the next room, and he knows he needs to be quiet. Throughout the conversation he remembers being with her--hearing her voice say his name, wishing his current girl was her, saying that he's been thinking about her and finally, she makes it hard for him to be faithful.

Now the surface of this song makes me want to bitch-slap that guy. Cheating is a deal breaker. And though he may not be doing anything physical with her, he is emotionally cheating on the new chica. He's obviously still hung up on the ex, which is fine. But he shouldn't be in another relationship or sneaking around talking to her. But I digress.

There are two things that make me like this song. The emotion and forlornness in the guy's voice and the devotion to the ex-girlfriend. Everything else aside, it's an honest conversation filled with regret, guilt, longing, jealously and probably some delusion. But her voice takes him back to a happy part of their relationship, through rose-colored glasses they share a perfect moment. And perfect moments--no matter how they hurt others, are wrong and all other consequences forgotten--are something special.

The next song from Hinder, "Better than Me," I liked instantly. The music, the lyrics, yeah. It starts with an acoustic guitar (which I always love) and very simple vocals. There's just something about his voice that draws me in. Is it the scratchy rocker voice? Is it the feeling that he's singing from deep down in his gut and act of expelling the notes and words are the only things that are keeping him breathing?

The message I take from this song also has me conflicted. Better than Me is about a man reflecting on the relationship he ended. "I think you can do much better than me, after all the lies I made you believe." The lyrics are him remembering what they had together and what he'll miss. It also expresses the way she impacted him, and that even when he's older he'll still think about her--how we carry the people we love with us. Good or bad, the way they make us feel can be called back with a memory or a familiar sight. "And I think you should know this, you deserve much better than me ..."

The part that has me conflicted is that he broke up with her because she deserves better. I always hated when that happened in movies or books. It should be her decision not his. That always felt like a cop-out--and way to fake being noble when really it's just an easy way out rather than working for a relationship. On the flip-side, if he really is being shitty to her and she can't see it b/c she's so head over heels in love....

Hinder's best quality, and something not all rock bands can capture, is the music can be strong and powerful one moment and then next beat it's quiet and solemn. That range is what really makes their music interesting.

A week or so ago, I just had to hear their first single, "Get Stoned." Though it is not as lyrical as the other two, the lead singer has same raw quality voice that I enjoy. I love cadence and the beat of the song is fun. This song is more of a screaming-type of song--and I can't sing along and be on key with this one. It's about a dysfunctional relationship: the highest highs ;-) and lowest lows---they're not good for each other, but they're oh so good to each other.

Despite everything (and maybe a primal because of everything), I enjoy this song.

At first, I thought the lead singer reminded me of Marilyn Manson. He's very skinny and does that weird tilting-back arching thing where he throws his hand to the side like Manson. But then, after I saw the video for "Get Stoned" and something on Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, I realized they are really more similar. (though he still reminds me a little of Manson).

All in all, Hinder really isn't my type of band. The three songs I just described are about defunct relationships, and I'm not willing to buy the CD to find out if there's any more depth or intellect to the group. Nonetheless, those three songs were strong in my rotation.

Random music note, I popped in the blink-182 untitled CD (which is, of course, magenta). Good stuff (an evolved blink, one that makes me sad that I won't ever hear the next step). And extra great enjoying some music I'd forgotten (and Mark says on his blog that +44 is playing some blink songs at their concerts. I wonder how royalties might work for something like that...) I have to buy a new copy, mine's getting scratchy. Check it out too, if your so inclined.