ganked from evilgrins:


Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Good Friday always makes me think back to the First House of Clocks. One of the more notorious parties we had there was the Be Bad on Good Friday Party. We crucified Ian and played Pin the Nail of Jesus. I remember someone shouting "the beer's on fire!" and rushing to put out the flames. You know it's a real party when you have a beer fire.

We had music in the old tinfoil covered playroom. The old playroom was crazy. I mean, really crazy. Tinfoil walls, strange paintings along with random items screwed into the ceiling. I had written on the walls and the floors. Blissfully hopeful things and abysmally awful things. The pictures on the walls didn't match up spatially with their frames. A Twister mat was the table cloth. It was me. Me then. Strange, cluttered, mismatched, bright, stark, broken, glowing, and scary. I'm different now. I am no longer that room. I am breaking out of a chrysalis, not sure yet of what I have become.

By now, most have heard about the video of U.S. marine throwing puppy off a cliff in Iraq. This sort of behaviour isn't new to war. There was a Vietnam veteran in Cahill 3 with me. He told me a story that seems now eerily similar to this.

The guys in his unit called the orangutans "rock apes", because they would catch rocks you threw at them and then throw the rocks back. They had fun playing catch with the orangutans until one day one of the guys in the unit decided to pull a pin out of a grenade and throw it at an orangutan . Of course the orangutan caught the grenade and was blown to pieces. That ended the fun they had with the orangutans. The difference is that they didn't have camera phones then.

Should we be surprised by this sort of behaviour? These soldiers have been sent to kill people. Most humans view other animals as less than human. If they're killing people left and right, what's the odd puppy or orangutan ? Who is more evil then: the marine that killed the puppy or the politicians sent him over there to kill?

I've become completely addicted to the Powder Game.

Who wants to come play in associationword with me?

I am addicted to matchgamelj.

I'm back in Boston. I had a great deal of fun with My sister, niece, brother-in-law, and mom. Maddie is a little ball of energy. Well, not little, she's quite big for a 7 year old. Smart and creative, but I just can't keep up with her.

The day I arrived, Thursday, we pretty much stayed around the house and relaxed. My mom had already been there for several days and was already settled in.

Friday, Christian stayed home while Maddie, Bridgette, my mom, and I went down to Georgetown. We hit Lush and Godiva and went to Dean & Deluca for lunch. While I've seen central meter machines in parking lots, I'd never seen a central machine for street parking before. I guess it is more efficient than having a separate parking meter for each spot, I'm just not used to it. The biggest disadvantage I see with the central machine system is that if it breaks down it disrupts the use of a number of parking spots at once.

Saturday we drove into Virginia through wine country and went to Linden Vineyards (nothing to do with Second Live). That was my favorite part of the trip down. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe the place. Surrounded by rows of grapes and vine watching the clouds shadow-dance on the Blue Ridge Mountains. The cigar Christian gave me to smoke at the vineyard not only went perfectly with the cheese and wine, but also with the surrounding tranquility.

Sunday, I got up later than I had planned, but not so late that it caused any hassle in catching my flight. Upon leaving, Christian gave me some cigars, along with a 15-pack of Rocky Patel vintage 1992s, one of my favorites. My mom gave me a wonderful dragon cane when I arrived at the house and I was a bit worried about getting on the flight with 2 canes, but I didn't have any hassle and the return trip from Reagan National to Logan went smoothly.

I had hoped to get some good bird pictures, but unfortunately my birding camera is not working. I noticed it my first day there. It seems to be a connection problem with the battery prongs, which should be repairable. But, I was glad to see that Maddie loved birds and birdwatching despite her father's hatred of them.

I have only one word to add to the ongoing PS3 vs. Wii debate: 3DO.

gryffyn gave goldmourn and me a ride up to London, where I caught the bus back to Boston. In short order I screwed up boarding the bus and spilt my entire cup of coffee (a lot of it going on my skirt).

However, things seemed to go a bit better until we reached the border. Compared to the security personal at the Canadian border, the Americans are fascist assholes. Someone in front of me put his hands in his pocket while waiting for the border guard to confirm his identification, for which he received the threat: "WE'RE NOT PLAYING GAMES! DO YOU WANT TO GO TO JAIL RIGHT NOW?". His was hardly atypical treatment. Greyhound had scheduled 15 minutes to cross the border. However it took us over an hour to get through security, and there was no one ahead of us. The imagery reminded me more of the check points in the old Soviet Bloc rather than something I'd hope to expect from the United States. How times change.

Luckily the hold up at the border didn't cause me to miss my connection at Syracuse. Other than losing an inexpensive article of clothing, the rest of the trip went smoothly — I walked out of the bus station the exact moment purpleglitter was pulling into the parking lot.

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I didn't do my normal voice post updates during this trip, because the entire LiveJournal voice post system was down the entire trip.

Since the LiveJournal Dungeons change over time with changes in interest and friends lists, I decided I'd try mine again. Didn't do so well this time...

I died in the Dungeon of Neitherday

I was killed in a torchlit pit by Iheartdrag the arch-demon, whilst carrying...

the Crown of Purplepants, the Amulet of Mirrors, the Sceptre of Qassandra and 0 gold pieces.

Score: 62

Explore the Dungeon of Neitherday and try to beat this score,
or enter your username to generate and explore your own dungeon...

No air conditioning and a humidex of 44°C (111°F, 317K). Oddly while it is hotter than yesterday, I do not feel as hot. I imagine that is because I am acclimatizing.

Due of the heat, most of this visit has been spent sitting around, sometimes watching a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, more often playing Trouble. I did get in a good walk yesterday evening, which while a bit sweaty was nice.

Regardless of the heat it has been nice to spend time with goldmourn and I am very glad I came. She treated me very well, and has put up well with my annoyingnesses. Sure, some parts of this trip have not gone as planned, but nothing ever goes as planned and it is better to embrace that as an element of the grand adventure of life rather than as a frustration. I have been doing so this trip, and I have had a wonderful time. i need to this attitude more and more in my daily life.

ganked from: matronmalice

I died in the Dungeon of Neitherday

I was killed in a grimy bathhouse by the wrath of Murky, whilst carrying...

the Wand of Cephalopods, the Shield of Bertrande, the Armour of Sweetprince, the Armour of Butterflysnf, the Wand of Psychology, the Wand of Imageready, the Amulet of Dacookiemonster, the Sceptre of Crying, the Sceptre of Secret Willow, a Figurine of Crucibelle, the Sword of Asleeponsunbeam, the Sword of Coolwhitestare, the Shield of Arcanus, the Crown of Sisterinsanity and 10 gold pieces.

Score: 105

Explore the Dungeon of Neitherday and try to beat this score,
or enter your username to generate and explore your own dungeon...

For breakfast yesterday I had a left over enchilada verde, for lunch punjabi kadhi with rice, for dinner pizza, and for my healthy snack a pickle. I got in about 45 minutes of exercise between walking to dan4th's game night and walking halfway back. Almost made it. However, I had a small amount of cashew brittle and a chocolate caramel pretzel tangle.

I had a good time at dan4th's game night last night. I got there late, but not too late to play Apples to Apples and Chez Geek. I've played the former before, but the latter was a new game to me. I'm definitely going to try to make it semi-regularly to future game nights.

porcelaingirl was there, and it was good to see her again. We had a good chat walking on my way to the bus stop home.

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The bus home was hellishly hot, and I had to get off half way into the trip and walk the rest of the way. I very much dislike the new buses the MBTA has be slowly replacing the old ones with. They have no openable windows, meaning that if it is too temperate for the air conditioner to be turned on, the body heat of the passengers turns the bus into an oven. Even when it is not temperate, the air conditioners can break down and there are bus drivers that believe air conditioning is not needed until the temperature exceeds 95 ºF (35 ºC, 308 K) . My hyperhidrosis ensures that I will become an grumpy and unhappy berv soaked in sweat in these circumstances.

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life. The game, slated for release by October 2006 in advance of the Christmas shopping rush, has been previewed at video game exhibitions, and reviewed by major newspapers and magazines. But until now, no fan or critic has pointed out the controversial game's connection to Mr. Warren or his dominionist agenda. ... According to Mr. Warren, the establishment of this earthly kingdom requires "foot soldiers." As part of his plan, Mr. Warren said he would encourage laypeople to "adopt" needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as "little Saddams." Mr. Warren said his purpose is to enlist "one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God" in the developing world. And the stadium crowd roared its approval. Celebrants included Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, a tiny east African country that lost hundreds of thousands of people when it suffered genocide in 1994. Catholic and Protestant clergy have been convicted in connection with that genocide. Yet Mr. Kagame announced that he would allow Mr. Warren to turn his country into the first purpose driven nation. The following month, 16 Rwandan religious leaders arrived in Orange County to begin religious training at Saddleback Church. Mr. Warren has said that his global initiative was developed "underground" and in "stealth". Presumably, this was done with the assistance of Mr. Carver, who directs the Purpose Driven Church in all its activities outside North America. full article

I hear time and time again the Islam is the religion of violence. Islam is the religion that endangers the world. The only reason the fundamentalist Christians have not resorted to terrorism more then they have (and, yes there have been plenty of terrorist attacks by fundamentalist Christians) is that they often have access to more "acceptable" avenues to pursue their agenda, as carpet bombing civilian populations with white phosphorus is deemed more acceptable than a suicide attack. If fundamentalist Christians lose their political prestige you can expect a series of terrorist attacks from their ranks. "Last Days Crusade" would be a likely organizational name.

I'm not saying all Christian are violent, the same as not all Muslims are violent. What I am saying is that Christianity holds no moral high ground over Islam. Both have factions that want to kill all the infidels. Fundamentalism is the problem, not any particular religion.

My inner circle has drawn tighter lately. My outlook has grown a bit darker and I've become more secretive online and off. I've really not been feeling that outwardly social and have been avoidant. Recent events have further entrenched that mindset.

I'm trying to expand that circle again. Slowly, at first. I met dan4th for breakfast at the Arlington Diner yesterday, who I have long considered a good friend but haven't seen much of as late. I want to make it a point to start attending his game nights, talking to more people, and getting out of my own head. I can't go on like this, so I need to change. Adapt or die.

My sister was in town this weekend. She arrived Friday, and quite late that evening we went out to Stanza, a cigar bar in the North End. Cigar bars are the only bars in Boston in which the patrons are still allowed to smoke, and there are only three of them. Christian, my brother-in-law, shared his staple brand of cigar with me, which I have already forgotten the name. That matters not, as he said he was planning on sending me more and I'll simply read the labels then.