Avalanche

Avalanche


you see now
but not then
bitty pebbles
but now—
lots of bitty pebbles
all coming
down
fast.

how long
years
you can’t stop
too many
pebbles

was it because
no one noticed
the first
bitty pebble?
But we all
have
pebbles
and they don’t
become
lots
of
bitty pebbles

so I pick up
a shovel
to scrap
what’s left
of me
after your pebbles
Hit me

but not you
too many
bitty
pebbles

9:23 pm 11/25/07

Pseudonerding

I'm writing this on Monday night, and I'm watching a Magic deck construction in progress. I haven't really played any of the last Magic set (like at all) and am feeling a little overwhelmed and uncomprehending. I'm quiet since I don't really have anything to contribute to this conversation, and I'm wondering if perhaps I've been out of the loop too long. I'm about to see a Devastating Titans deck charge against a discard deck (I think), which should be highly entertaining.

I suspect my problem is that I was introduced to nerding too late in life. My first exposure to popular fantasy culture came from Lord of the Rings (one could argue that was part of my first exposure to life in general), and while I can play Magic and Dungeons & Dragons and Runescape, there are other parts of my nerd education that I fear may be too late to catch up on. I've listened to people talking for hours about different comic book worlds and characters and Star Wars this and Star Trek that and I fear that I may never reach the point where I can sort the Marvel heroes from the DC heroes with anything resembling accuracy.

Aaaaand both decks just discarded three cards and Devastating Titans take six to the head. Discard deck is shaking his head; it appears as though we have an interesting situation shaping up.

I've been called a nerd before, but it is for these reasons that I feel I am not worthy of the title. I simply was not indoctrinated in the comic / roleplaying world at an early enough age. The most I can hope is to be a pseudonerd--able to say Hello, Where is the Restroom? but unable to give a doctoral thesis in the Language of Nerding.

Shopping, Or, What I Do When I'm Feel Masochistic

There are three things I love shopping for. It's not really so much an act of shopping as it is an act of giddy adoration coupled with an inability to acquire those items forever and ever.
Those three categories are books, alcohol, and knives. What can I say--I like to read and I'm attracted to sharp, shiny things. Especially if it can fold up and hide in your pocket. And there's just so many different varieties of alcoholic beverages in the world I suspect I won't be able to sample them all before I'm forced to leave this mortal coil.

Otherwise, the process of shopping tends to be a slightly arduous and torturous process. I approach clothes shopping like an undercover sting operation: sidle into the clothes section in hopes people will think I'm just cutting through on my way to the electronics department, grab a few different items of clothing that I don't think my nearest and dearest will try to embarrass me for wearing, ninja my way into a changing room, struggle in and out of multiple pairs of clothing while becoming aware of the fact that the last time I showered was two days ago and I'm forcing my slightly sticky body in and out of cleanish clothes that I don't own, select the two or three items that don't make me look like an horribly bloated elephant...and then I make a dash for the cash register because right now I'm really in pain and I want to get the most painful part of it (spending money) over with.

The only item of clothing I tend to be picky about are sandals--possibly because I wear them almost every day year in and year out until they finally fall apart on my feet to get away from me. They can't have Velcro straps because those collect lint and eventually stop staying attached; they have to be open-toed so my toes don't get all sweaty and gunky; they have to have a heel strap so I can run without worrying about my shoes falling off; and they have to at least give the illusion of having some sort of tread so I can caper over rocks or whatever I feel like capering over without doing a snake on a greased pyramid impression.

I own about three to five items that can be combined to give me a semi-professional look if I ever need to dress up. The downside of these items is that they seldom have pockets (which are essential for my keys, chapstick, cell phone, knife, and whatever else needs to go into my pockets that day) and force me to carry a purse which I don't normally do (most of the time a bellybag waist purse fanny pack does nicely).

The funny thing is, sometimes I do my normal approach of digging random items out of my drawers and then people are asking me what the special occasion is. I guess this just goes to show all things are possible in a chaotic universe.

Too Awesome to Not Say Anything About

Click here, really, it's funny
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Okay, hopefully you clicked on the link.

I just want to say that was an awesome counter-protest and does what any serious counter-protesting would have probably not been able to accomplish.

It's a shame there's people that have to go around spouting hate and exemplifying the utter slime to be found in their hearts while hiding behind a false cover of religion. If they really want to read their Bibles with an open heart and mind they'd find that without love they're nothing. It says that in the literal black and white print they're so fond of making up misquoting.

Thank God for Comic Con Nerds!

Of Mice and Minor Annoyances

There are some things I don't really think about until suddenly, they're annoying.

Example:

Corded computer mouse.

For a number of years I've used a wireless mouse for my laptop, one which you plug in a USB drive and it communicates to your battery-powered mouse. I use the mouse for most things because it's hard for me to have the same degree of control with that tiny little mousepad on my laptop. Sadly, this dependency renders me severely handicapped whenever the battery in the mouse dies and needs replacing; I end up raiding all battery-powered items in the house until I successfully find one and steal a battery from it. I'll be sure to buy more batteries before we need the Swiffer again, right?

At work, my mouse has a cord. At least it doesn't have that gray lint-trapping ball in it and has a nice laser light instead. However, I've discovered that I'm constantly having to move my mouse cord so that my mouse is not impeded in the course of its duties. This, in itself, impedes the efficiency of moving the mouse. This is making me annoyed.

On the subject of mouse batteries, I used to use rechargeable batteries, but it appears that both my battery chargers are terminally ill and soon to go to that great electrical outlet in the sky, or wherever electronic items go  after they get hurled into the nearest garbage receptacle (according to Futurama it's space). I am now faced with the choice of buying a pack of batteries or buying another battery charger for rechargeable batteries that are probably bad themselves. Which means I'd have to buy more rechargeable batteries.

Pack of 17,000 batteries it is.

A Monday Morning

I scramble for the the alarm as it beeps at me. It doesn't feel as though I have gotten enough sleep but the twirping tells me I'd better have. My brain frantically scrambles to disentangle my last dream from waking reality. Some mornings are more difficult than others; if I get yanked out of sleep mid-dream I have to run down the list of reality checks: this is my bed, the window is on that side, there is no warehouse, I can't actually fly, etc..

I crawl off our California King bed and make a stumble for the door. The aroma of coffee in the air reassures me that yes, I did remember to set the automatic coffee maker last night. I stumble past it to the bathroom for a quick visit, pausing on the way to turn my laptop on.

Upon exiting the restroom I enter my password into the computer and navigate to the kitchen, where with any luck the coffee pot has stopped gurgling. I pour five seconds worth of sugar in my coffee cup and then fill it up with coffee. A quick stir and a quick sample tell me that it's sweet enough. Clutching my coffee mug like the Holy Grail, I slog to the couch where my laptop has hopefully finished loading everything and open the Runescape home page in hopes that they've updated the game today.  This week they're supposed to be making an upgrade to their clue trails. The way clue trails work is that you get a clue scroll from a monster and then you go on a treasure hunt all over the world of Runescape, following the clues. If you're lucky you get cool stuff.

No update, which makes me sad for all of two minutes as I log on and set off to slay Hellhounds, which is my current slayer assignment. Twelve red dogs later and I get a clue. I decide to save it for the update (as you can only get one clue at a time and I want kewl st00fs) and set off to gain a fishing level.

I end up not getting the fishing level because I'm trying to find a way to get my Facebook to announce whenever I have a blog post. This takes some time. I also run across a way to put a 'Like' button for people to like my posts, so I figure how to put that in (took some HTML code insertion). I am startled by the sudden appearance of Roommate, who mumbles a good morning in my general direction and sets about making himself breakfast. I am finishing reading Cracked articles when Roommate offers some corned hash and eggs. I have a small amount before looking in the refrigerator for items I can throw together for lunch. Today, we end up with some leftover stuffing and McDonalds chicken nuggets. I nearly forget but I grab a white nectarine to accompany the other items in my soft-sided lunch bucket. I then head to the bedroom to put on some out-of-the-house clothes and to put my pocket items in their appropriate pockets. Today I switch up some of the pockets; the keys ended up in the right front pocket when they normally go in the left front pocket.

I then give LOML a kiss, and he gives a happy grunt without waking up. I grab the lunch pail and backpack and head for the door. It's raining, so after putting my sandals on I sidle against the house wall for as long as I can before making a dash for my car.

Five minutes of driving, I'm at work and it's not raining anymore. I walk into the office I share with two other interns (M___ is already in, as usual). I set my backpack down on my seat and head for the kitchenette area to stow my lunch. I get a cup of espresso and head back to my desk. It appears that the computer in Chile is still running the program I told it to before I left on Friday, which is good; however there appear to have been no earthquakes over the weekend. My mind is still refusing to put thoughts in sequential order. But that's Monday for you.

Facebook Update Test

Just checking to see if I actually have this done correctly so it will auto-update on my Facebook page when I have a new blog post up.