Redwolf's Journal (continued)

Conversation last night got me thinking. It wasn't even so much the way the utterance of the word "cucumber" really did seem to banish my housemate's hiccups, but rather a little question that came up afterward. To be honest, I'm not sure what I believe these days. I accept that magic can be real in some sense. I've always believed that much. It's easier to believe in subtler things that could be coincidence, though. I have to meet tales of flying toasters with a degree of skepticism (though I wasn't there, so I'm not about to say it *didn't* happen either). There was a time when my belief was stronger. I was convinced will could shape reality if it were only strong enough. I never received any "formal" training, or even picked up a book on the subject to read. Yet in those days I was blamed for wilting an area of thistles, I tweaked weather patterns, and I could pull the Magic card I wanted from the top of a deck with unsettlin

I have a materialistically (is that a word?) competitive streak. It drives me not to be better than others, but to be the first to have something. Thankfully, it applies to things I'm interested in, like games. That's better than something like cars, right? And, while this might be positive in some lights, I consider it a negative trait in general. This is why I drove to Farmington to buy Disgaea. This is why I picked up the D&D 3E core books immediately back when they first came out. And this is why FFXI is proving to be a personal (and very odd) torment. It's out. I want it. I haven't bought it. This bugs me entirely too much. Logically, I should choose to avoid it for the same reason I've avoided previous MMORPGs - monthly fees. I never liked the idea of *buying* a game, then *paying* a subscription to keep playing it. I understand the business model. You can get constant improvements you couldn't in a "normal" game. I still don't like t

It's bound to be addictive... ... and time consuming... ... and it costs $12.95 a month... ... and it's out in two weeks. Evil. I speak of Final Fantasy XI, due out (for PC) on the 28th. Thusfar, I have avoided MMORPGs. Why pay monthly to spend time playing a game like that when I could just MUCK for free? Granted, it's not as pretty, but it's far cheaper. FFXI, though... well... it could be the first one to grab me. I admit, I'm a sucker for Final Fantasy games. Sure, I managed to decide Tactics Advanced isn't worth buying a GBA/adapter, but this is just evil. The classes are there. The graphics look good. The (p)reviews I've read all seem to speak highly of the quest/mission system. I have no idea how you instill storyline into a MMORPG, but they seem to say it's been done here. And why did I build a slick, new computer if not to play newer games on it? But... $50 from the start and $13 a month after the first month. That would almost double

It's been quite a while since I walked out of a movie thinking uncertainly "that was good, right?" I think I enjoyed the movie overall, though there were moments here and there I didn't care for. It's bloody. Very bloody. Pooling blood is one thing. Spraying blood is gratuitous. This movie even goes so far as to use animated blood and black-and-white blood. Frankly, the anime and black-and-white scenes both struck me as serving to "tone down" censorable things within the scenes more than any stylistic purpose. I give the movie points for action, but the fight sequences seem spaced out enough that it didn't feel like an "action movie" to me. There are a lot of elements I could refer to as coming from anime, but the whole thing struck me more like a comic book. I think that came from the way the scenes were done. And the point I expected to bother me didn't. I went into this movie thinking "They made a three-hour movie and cut

... or at least slowed down. I know I'm not as spry as I was ten years ago, but this is getting ridiculous. For reasons unknown, my left foot has been uncomfortable to walk on for the past week and a half or so. I don't remember bashing it or anything, but it feels like some bones/tendons/whatever in there are not aligned quite the way they should be. I *think* it's getting a bit better, but it's hard to tell if that's real progress or just the result of a relatively sedentary weekend. That was annoying enough, but Sunday morning I'm walking downstairs at home and the back of my other foot rubs against the vertical portion of a stair. That's not so unusual - my feet aren't small and the stairs are fairly steep - but something also caught my foot. I wasn't able to find anything, but I suspect a staple holding the carpet in place or something along those lines. It skinned/tore a little chunk out of the back of my heel. it's not a serious wound,

Third time's a charm? QWest finally managed to get the second phone line installed at the proper address. Okay, so they didn't finish by noon like they said they would, and the number isn't the one they said it 'probably' would be, but it's done. Yay. So now we can both be online at the same time. Heh. Strangely, being able to be online all night if I want is taking some getting used to, as if I'm not sure what to do with myself there anymore. The upstairs windows both have screens now. I'll admit, the frames are a little small, though I'm not sure why the measurements worked out that way. So it's not total proof against insects that want to crawl in around the edges, but what is, right? They keep things from flying in, though, and that's the big thing. I even put blinds in the downstairs bathroom. It's always a little comforting to know someone can't walk up to the front of the condo and look in at you while... yeah. ;) My ment

I'm not blessed with the greatest amount of foresight, but I can look ahead and plan. Really. When moving, I was a little late in requesting a transfer of my phone line. It wasn't a big deal - just a couple days of waiting. In this time, it became clear to me I'd need a second line since DSL isn't available. Two Net users in residence make one line a hassle. So, possessing what foresight I do have, I figured I would wait until my primary line was switched over before requesting a second one. Less chance to mix things up, right? Wrong. Well, my main number was switched over without hassle, at least. But, a week later I received an automated call saying the order had been completed. Okay. I switched things over to the handy-dandy splitter and got... no dial tone. After pondering options, I checked at my parent's house. Sure enough, they had installed the second line there. Erf. So I called QWest. The rep I spoke to was polite and seemed helpful, though it wasn'