I've officially concluded two book series - The Last Rune and The Doctrine of Labryrinthes.

As usual, I am filled with equal parts elation at seeing both to their conclusions, and equal parts deep sadness that there is no more to the journey.

In both cases, I didn't get the porn I was hoping for (and I never really thought I would, but hope is hope), but plenty of sappiness, which is almost as good. The Last Rune came to a speeding end like a bullet train. Almost, one might say, too fast, because the final recap of some of the characters felt lacking, or did not exist at all, though I suppose it makes the most sense to end with the characters you start out with. And I got a gay couple raising their dually parented daughter, which is made of win on many levels. Overall, very sweet and very well done. Doctrine was an emotional ride as always. Felix never fails to make me laugh, cry, and smack my forehead in exasperation. Though much less of the latter in this last book. Again I felt things were a little rushed. I liked that some emotional ends were tied up, but Monette left a lot of things unexplained in terms of the plot and some things that occurred in the previous books. I was glad for the hopeful ending though, which is the best I could have wished for, really, when you have such angst and trauma prone characters as Felix and Mildmay, and there were some moments in the book that had me crying, even days afterwards.

So, those done, I've moved on to book 5 of the Dark Tower series - "Wolves of the Calla". So far it's mostly recap, and I'm trying not to bang my head up against the wall. Combine that with the fact that the monster clocks in over 900 pages...and I may be at this awhile.

Um, in other news, still missing House, but what I have seen makes me hopeful that things are getting back to normal. Yes, I am still following Idol. I seriously want to tackle hug Adam and cover him with glitter. If he's not gay then I'm French maid, cause...yeah. I just hope he OWNS it, and when he wins, he kisses Ryan and...

...heh...that thought train is going elsewhere.

Totally going to go see Crank 2 this week. And May will have both Wolverine AND Star Trek.

*nerd-spolsion*

I feel bad. Because of work, I've been missing House a lot this season, and because I hate watching things out of order, I haven't done any catching up. On the other hand, I've been following Idol again this year. I feel a bit like a traitor. At least it's not on the same night.

Thoughts so far:

Holy shit, Adam is amazing. Give that boy a contract like now! Not only does he have a range but he makes me unreasonably happy in the pants. I haven't heard anything more about those photos of him, but one of them was like a snapshot from Velvet Goldmine, glitter and all. That does no damage in my playbook.

Actually, this is a pretty solid cast this season. Lil is also amazing. Michael is too adorable for words. Danny is also fantastic. Allison has a kick-ass voice, as does Alexis. Kris, Matt, and Scott are also good singers, and I actually hated Megan less after the last performance. And despite his performance last week, I like Anoop.

This will be an interesting season.

In the gaming news section: Mitch's campaign exploded figuratively and almost literally, so I took over with the promise that we'll revisit and properly finish things later. In the meantime, my "Pit" campaign has restarted and is going alright. The Tuesday Meetup game also went well this week. Yay for hordes of skeletons and giant spiders. We also apparently have a Sunday game and I am making my second attempt at reviving a briefly-played swashbuckler character.

My, I have neglected this space.

There is not much to say. My life more or less seems to revolve now around work and gaming.

This new campaign has been quite a rollercoaster. I did indeed create Felix as my D&D character (based, as I mentioned in an earlier post, on the gay wizard Felix from the Doctrine of Labyrinthes series), and he has been an absolute blast to play (pun not intended). I do wish we would have had more opportunities to explore his background. The closest I've gotten is when one of the players was snooping around my character sheet and saw he had ranks in Profession (prostitute). I sometimes have regrets about joking around about seducing party members, because everyone now believes he's a slut, when in game he's only slept with one person, and not a party member. The point is that he's running from his past full tilt, but the party necessarily doesn't realize his demeanor is more or less an act. They may never. But in any case, he's an amusing character to play.

On the DMing front I haven't run a game since the holidays started. My work schedule got in the way and I put things on hold...and just haven't picked it up again. In an effort to keep that up in some respect, I scheduled a game for my Meetup group that I've arranged to co-DM with my husband. We were discussing what we might run, and I mentioned wanting to stay away from the stereotypes of low-level enemies. Low level games are rampant with kobolds, goblins, and zombies. Among our group, it has been discussed that in video games, movies, and other media, the two safest and most common groups to villainize are zombies and Nazis. So, zombies are blase, but Nazis? What race in D&D would be Nazis? Elves. If it would be any race it'd be elves. So that's the theme. We'll have elves rounding up other races and taking them to camps, eventually getting the party itself captured. I wonder if there is a good elven equivalent of Furor...?

I am also well into taping our new sessions and have gotten a great response so far. I'm even gaining new subscribers every day, it seems. I've wanted to reach out to my viewers more and wanted to start a site for both them and the group to keep track of things like session summaries, experience points, character rosters, campaign setting info, and the like. It'd also be a great place for people to ask questions about the rules and talk about the game in general. I wheedled everyone into coming up with a name for us, and the name Oversized Parties, Incorporated was voted as the best idea. But I've just discovered that formatting a message board is a hopeless task for me, so I'm not sure how to approach the problem. I think a message board would be best, although I've toyed with using an LJ community as well. I'm not sure that'd be any easier.

Work on the other hand is more a distraction than anything. I actually get more reading done there than I do at home, and usually reserve it just for that. I'm now beginning to follow a series called the Last Rune by Mark Anthony. It's one of the many books I searched for looking for fantasy stories with gay or bi heros. So far that aspect isn't completely clear, not does it permeate the story. In fact, I found it was much better than I expected. The author is very talented and plot, pacing, and suspense. Something always seems to be happening. I also found myself much more attached to the characters than I thought I would be going in. While I am clawing my way hoping a romance does develop between the hero Travis and the knight Beltan (feelings finally being revealed, on the knight's side, at the very end of the second book), there always seems to be more to discover about these people. I hope it continues as well now that I've begun the third book.

For those of you who may have been wondering where the fuck I went, well, I'm not dead.

Our brief time of have internet didn't last long and I've been pretty much without until now. We decided that we couldn't afford where we were living anymore, cut lease, and moved back in with my folks. It took pretty much only my husband and I..by ourselves...over 2 days to do the move, and in the end we left a lot of crap behind.

I still hurt.

Hopefully I can get some faster net here soon, though, cause I can't take much more of this. I MUST have my YouTube.

On the upside, I suppose, we don't seem to be facing starvation on a weekly basis, and I got a job at the local Hallmark store. I actually kinda like it, as far as jobs go.

Anyway, I'll have more to write about later. I just wanted to update.

So I have my internetz back, at least for now. Still no tv, though. Thus YouTube has become my primary means for daily entertainment, other than my board, of course. Ok, so I do spend a lot of time rewatching my favs. Well, I fav'd them for a reason, didn' t I? Still, it leaves wanting on occasion. Often all I need is a small reminder of something, or one of their recommendations. Someone mentioned Disney songs and I ended up staying awake all night watching Thumbelina. I noticed my playlist of Halo machinima was lacking, so I dug up a some episodes of a series called "PreGame Lobby" that I'd watched before and found they had a few new episodes. I fucking love Matt. I mean, I would probably boot him if he was in my party too, but it's funny when he's annoying other people. Hehe.

What else? Um...yeah...fanvids...lots of fanvids. Trying to find every worthwhile MurakixTzuzuki or Snape/Harry vid. Hard work, that. Discovered some new music too. Must. Have. Gnarls. Barkley's. New. Album. Their singles are so catchy it's ridiculous. I don't think it's possible for them to make a bad song. Also, Stephen Lynch is made of win.

I fell really behind on my shows though. I avoided House fic the whole time cause I didn't want to get spoiled, and now I don't really feel like reading it anymore. I don't know if that means I'm burnt out on the pairing...no...I don't think that's true. It's just that the fics in the community tend towards these multi-chaptered epics that I don't really feel like following. Call me lazy, but I like my short and sweet. But anyway, I finally got ahold of the last three episodes...


Tried to catch up on Death Note, but the site that was hosting now requires me to download this program that basically says - "We will monitor what you search and send you spam and fuck you this is going to be your default search engine too" O.o Wtf? So much for that, then.

Finally got moving back at the Respite board. Finishing the arc that got put on hold for 3 months while I was away. The uncomfortable romance continues between Mattimeo and Tiponya. I can't wait until the next dream sequence. It will get more complicated still. I'd elaborated, but you know who you are is reading this journal...I'm not giving it away yet. Finally, I've proved that I can even turn Norse deities gay. Loki was all me, and vaguely understandable considering his history, but Thor wasn't my fault. I blame my aura of slash. It infects all.

Finally reading through that Nightrunner series I mentioned. It's decent. Lots of political intrigue and cool rogue/spy stuff, but I'm having trouble sticking with the third book. Several reasons for this: Alec and Seregil go from first kiss to established lovers between the second and third book. I love first time stuff and I felt a little deprived. My subsequent searches for fic revealed the author is one of those Nazi's that ordered it all removed for the internet. Didn't count on ZIP files though, did'ya? Yeah, she lost points for that. Secondly, I love the intimacy between them, but the teasing just makes me frustrated. I lose focus of the plot every time it happens and go off in search of smutty fics. I stop caring about what's going on outside of the two main characters and keep wondering when they're gonna get a little private time in. Yeah, I have problems.

I suppose one benefit of my large amounts of free time is that I, on occasion, get the motivation to get stuff done. Granted I do not always finish the things I start, nor are these things necessarily productive. I do not care if I spent 8 hours doing nothing. I still will not mop.

I've been going to the library alot. I've been working through the Westlands series by Katharine Kerr. I read a few of the novel from later in the series a few years ago and decided to start from the top. The plot is wonderfully complex and the world is so rich, made even better when you realize that all the little side-plots that crop up all are interconnected in their own strange ways. I also read through an (apparently) ongoing series by Sarah Monette, which starts with Melusine. Her world is so unique and the characters narrative voices are so compelling. Plus, gay wizards, FTW. I've fallen in love with both the main characters, Felix and Mildmay, and now I'm chomping at the bit to see what happens to them in books to come. The next one is scheduled for Spring of next year. I hope they straighten things out. Both of them are so stubborn for their own good. I alternated being wanting to slap them and wanting to hug them. Poor things. Oh, and I am so basing a D&D character off of Felix. I've been wanting to play a spellscale sorcerer/warlock for ages now, and Felix's personality seems to fit quite well with the race and the concept I had in mind. Let's see...I also have several books on order for the Age of Fire series by E.E. Knight. I love the idea of dragon protagonists. And also something called the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling.

I've been fiddling endlessly with Movie Maker. I keep finding stuff to tape just so I can edit. It's pretty sad, frankly. I really want a proper film project, but I'm no scriptwriter. I taped Mitch and Alex playing Magic before a game, and then I got lots of random footage at my parents place, mostly of birds and junk. I even started something I threatened Gabe with months ago, with was a loop of a part in the D&D vids I tell him to "eat the nuts" and turn it into a techno beat. I sort of lost interest a few minutes in, but I consider the threat fulfilled nonetheless.

Mitch and I have been watching the Stargate series via renting through the library, because no cable means no tv either. I find myself constantly saying to myself, "Sliders did it first!", but I do admit the series is good. Dammit.

Our D&D group test ran 4th edition a couple weeks ago. I can't say we reached a verdict. It's certainly streamlined, and every class can do cool stuff, but it's seems way too, well, MMO. It's definately more video game than simulation. Also I feel there are less options for improvisation and creativity. The jury's still out on this one. In any case I've started running my game again, mostly to fill a gap until Alex can come play again. Hopefully I can start taping them again too. Travis is weird about the camera, but my subscribers keep asking for more. I got a whole bunch more after I posted that group and have over 60 now. It's pretty cool. Nothing to rival the big names, of course, but it's still pretty cool and I love reading their awesome comments and hearing about what part of the video they liked. Makes a girl feel special ;)

So that's it for me. Just thought I'd share.

Hello all. If you've been wondering where I am, my internet got shut off (I'm borrowing right now). But thanks to the free time, I finally got around to making those JCS fanvids I've been planning for ages. Well, one was planned, the other just was part flash inspiration and extreme boredom, but I like the result.

The first one is a slashy vid set to Static-X's "So"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hR_cyQwFfU

The second is a semi-slashy-but-mostly-gen vid centered around Jesus, Judas, and Pilate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MwZs-PRUNI

Anyway, hope you like. ^.^

So we're still pretty broke and I'm still looking for work.

I know I'm desperate at this point, but even so, fast food is my last resort. Retail I can manage but sales is out, as is anything that would require a resume.  Cause, let's face it, I'm a shy loner with a less than stellar work history.

On the upside, I have an interview for a position at the Wild Animal Park, working at their interactive bird exhibit. I'm sure it'd be hard work, and I'd have to work through some anxiety issues, but it's still better than McDonalds. Plus, I really do love birds. I'd have been an ornithologist if I wasn't so bad at science. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

In other news, I started working out idea for a short video about DMing/GMing due to all the questions I've been getting on my D&D session videos. I hope to get Bailey in on it to insert some humor into what would otherwise be me talking at the camera. I just want to work on some new projects, as the editing for the latest arc of my vids is proving...tedious. Faire is also this weekend. I'm not sure I can spare the money to go, but...I'd really like to make another faire vid.

So yet another year goes by and I once again I have seen NONE of the movies which won or were nominated for Academy Awards. Hell, I haven't even gotten around to watching The Departed, the movie that won so many awards LAST year. And while I do intend to get to most of these eventually, it's more of a self-assignment homework assignment than a joy in most cases. Most of the things I like are fantasy movies, which are rarely made and even more rarely acknowledged,  and action actions movies. I like movies that are both fun and visually exciting. What's worse is I don't even like that many indie movies either. All the books about filmmaking are how to make our own films. I don't want to do that, alright?! I don't care. I WANT to work in Hollywood. I WANT to help make big studio movies with big stars and big explosions. I want to work with green screen and miniatures, and operate expensive rigs like cranes and stedicams. I want to film in exotic locations and interesting set-pieces. It's not that I don't care about story. I do. But apparently most of what is award worthy is not interesting to me. It doesn't daunt me from wanting to get in the business, but it makes me feel inadequate at something I'm supposed to love so much.

Meme rules:
1. Pick 15 of your favourite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions. Totally cheating, you dirty cheaters.



 

Suuuuuuuuuperstaaaaaaaaar!

That's right. I went to see a production of Jesus Christ Superstar on Sunday, starring none other than the original Jesus, Ted Neeley.

It was wonderful and a little interesting....

Ted started out a little gravely-voice and kept cutting short the high notes. I was a little worried, but it got better. His part in the Temple blew. me. away. WOW. It was even more powerful than in the movie. And, of course...Gethsemene. Wow. Just wow. He really brang out the emotion for that. Gotta give the man respect. It was an amazing performance.

The guy that played Judas was the lead singer of that old band Living Colour. I can't say I disliked him. He sang well, but brought a very R&B like interpretation to way he paced things, and very hard to tell whether it was odd or pleasing in some places. Unfortunately I saw little emotion from him, perhaps only a second or two during his death scene. It was a bit of a let-down. He did do the collapsing at Jesus' feet like in the new version, but I would have liked him to hold out the note longer. Still, I liked that they did it that way. You know I had a really hard time not comparing everything he did to Jerome, right? Yeah...

The set was simple. Just a curved metal bridge over a slightly raised stage. One of my favorite interesting things they did with the decorations was during the Temple scene. They suspended a long piece of fabric, depicting a Roman coin, from the top of the stage and attached the bottom end to the bridge. It looked nice, and made the place seem more closed in. I noticed there were slits in the fabric, and wondered why they were there. Well, after Jesus threw the people from the Temple, the fabric fell to the floor. As it went into the number with the lepers, the fabric began to shift, and the lepers stuck their heads through the holes in the fabric, moving and undulating as they sang. It was very cool.

Let's see. I loved Pilate, as always. I missed the deep-voiced Pilate from the 2000 version in a lot of places, but he really made for it in the Trial scene. He was one of the few actors up there that really portrayed emotion as he sang. I could see, hear, and feel his mental breakdown as the scene went on. It was awesome. His was the only performance that actually made me tear up. Bravo!

Herod was good, but the poor guy's mic cut out on him halfway through and it took them forever for them to get a working one out to him. His backup girls were dressed in a Latin style, and it soon became apparent why, because they brought a salsa flavor to the music for his scene. It was weird. Not sure I liked that. But the guy brought in a LOT of humor to the scene. I laughed so hard the guy next to me looked at me funny.

Hm hm, what else? Caiaphus and Annas were alright. Caiaphus started out deep, but seemed to have trouble maintaining the baritone and it was a little jarring. I'm just used to teh awesome Annas that Michael Shaeffer in the 2000 version, but the guy was still good for being a recent graduate. Mary was good. Nothing negative to report especially, but both her and Peter seemed to be more singing to the audience than acting. Although Mom thinks it just my woman-hating ways. She may or may not be right on that one. Oh...and Simon was very good too. One of the better performers up there.

Well, I'm probably going to rewatch the new movie now. See you later.

I feel remiss for not posting for so long, but frankly there isn't much to say that can be said so publicly. That's not a bad thing, mind you. Of course I have drama and worries - money, my husband's employment future, my car, etc. But, in the grand scheme of things, none of that really matters or worries me for long. I'm just ridiculously happy.

I've been having a blast at the new Respite. My characters are growing and developing. I've developed a small emotional attachment to all of them, not to mention the vast amount of off-topic, often risque, fun that we have when we're not roleplaying. All of it has been excellent writing practice, which has made me contemplate trying to write my novel again, or actually attempting some fic.

I have two friends who mean the world to me, and whose kind words and love this holiday have been the best gifts I could ever have received. Between them (and you know who you are) and my husband, my self-esteem is quite high. Yours would be two if you had three men telling you on an almost daily basis that you are kind, intelligent, and beautiful. My only regret is that they are so far away.

My heart has never been so full. It is my foolish hope that one day I can have all those I love close by. Any visions I have of the future include them, and I want nothing more for it to be true.

I love you guys.

Hmmmm....I suppose I'm due an update about now, eh?

Not much going on. Been in a frenzy of gaming for the last few weeks. Last week I had a game had kept us up until 6AM, a Meetup game that same day, and then our Rogue-themed gamed Sunday.

I also taped the last two session of my D&D game and have edited them together and uploaded them to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

There is some straight gameplay in there, but also lots and lots of joking around. The first in the series is here.

Sorry for not updating for so long. Obviously I am still alive and quite well, all things considered. Went to two Alter Bridge concerts earlier this month. Very, very cool, as always. Make some new friends and realized some old ones I called friend maybe aren't such good friends after all. But no matter, I got a chance to meet the band in their entirety, so I'm happy. My concert review is here and my photos can be found here (mostly page 2 and 3 of the album).

I also went to the Fall Renaissance Faire here is Escondido. Had a good time, although at some point I dropped a 50 dollar bill I was carrying around in my camera case. *tear* Oh well, no use dwelling on it. My second Ren Faire video is now up on YouTube, and it has ACTUAL video this time! Check it out and enjoy!

So Mitch and I spent the night at the parents place. Tuesday afternoon, however, we left and went south because 1)The Poomacha fire looked like it might be getting too close to their place and 2)The Witch fire looked like it was getting closer to our place and we wanted to try and save our computer just in case. When we made it to the apartment, though, we found clear skies and a light on in nearly every house, even though we appear to be in the mandatory evac area. We decided to stay put and keep an eye on things from here. So far the part of the Witch fire that, according the maps, got as close as a half mile south of us, seems to no longer be actively  burning. It appears the worst is over.

I wonder if Felicita park burned. I was really looking forward to the Escondido Renaissance Faire this weekend. I also hope all the fires and related madness does not stop the Alter Bridge shows from occurring. I would not be pleased.

FOX preempted House for the fire coverage last night, though. So not cool.

This week just sort of started f***ed  up, I swear. On Sunday, the Wizards of the Coast moderators shut down the Traveller's Respite. I'm not going to go into much here because I've done enough ranting on the subject already. Basically, we violated the CoC and there's really no fighting it. I still find some of their reasons rather screwed up. Thankfully, someone managed to save the contents of the thread and someone else is setting up a new forum for the game.

My state is on fire again.

*sigh*

There are high winds and very dry conditions. Currently there are 8 fires that have broken out in my area. One to the east of me is less than 10 miles away. There is two more to my west and south, but are reportedly going west (at the moment). There is also one more north near my parents' place.

I'm unsure if I'll have to evacuate, but just in case I'm going to start getting things together.

I'll update this entry if it looks like I have to leave.

Wish us luck.

ETA: 10/22/07 12:55PM PST

So we've evacuated to my parent's place along with clothes, valuables, and important documents (including my concert tickets ^.~), and the cat. After packing up most of that stuff I went back to bed for about 3 hours. When I woke up I looked outside and the whole sky was this sickly yellow color. Almost like being trapped in amber. The smell of the smoke was everywhere now and makes eyes burn and my nose itch.

Leaving town was weird. Traffic was eerily light for the time of day. We sat at a stop light and the winds rocked my car. The roads were littered with fallen branches and all manner of debris. It was more like driving through a warzone. 

We're just waiting and watching right now. My apartment complex is pretty much surround by fire in every direction. 

More updates to come, assuming I continue to have internet access. 

Thank you for the well wishes so far. You guys are awesome.

Not too long ago the Slavemarket thread on the WOTC board ended and a new roleplay thread was started in it's place. The new thread, The Traveller's Respite, was designed with a 7th level cap on the PC's to keep the power level low, since the market was strangely epic.

I wracked my brain trying to think of what existing character I could use for this. Most of my characters were much too high level, unfortunately. Then I thought of Francis and Lloyd.

Francis and Lloyd were two random enemy NPC's from my Arthurian campaign who Arnaud, Mitch's character, had seen fit to press into service after defeating in battle. Both woke up with a small monkey on their chest as it leaned into a dagger pressed against their throat, and where told that they were going to work for him whether they like it or not. He had (as far as they knew) brought them back from the dead. They could run, but he'd find them. They could kill themselves, but he'd just bring them back again.

Francis was the first. While he briefly thought of suicide, he, rather resentfully, resigned himself to the fate. At first his way of speaking a bored, almost sarcastic  monotone was my way of showing my displeasure at the players' actions, I later decided it was actually very close to his normal persona.

Lloyd, however, was selected as the new minion after he scored a lucky critical hit on the bard with his scythe and basically cut her in half. The vindicitve knights, played by Kyle and Bailey, chose to mark the offender by shoving a piece of chalk (Kyle's character actually bought chalk) into a wound in his upper right arm. The two took every spare opportunity to haze Lloyd by setting him to the most menial tasks and by poking him in the arm where his flesh had healed over the piece of chalk (that = very painful).

Sometime after Lloyd's entry into the party, he and Francis were part of threesome involving Arnaud's cohort, Alionna. Why? Because I needed cheering up after Mitch pulled that stunt again, and it just made me smile. However, it happened again in Camelot, along with Arnaud himself. Then there was another incident involving the two and a hapless rogue the party had captured. Nearer the end of the campaign, the party left their caravan alone and their minions unsupervised. In perhaps what passes for half a fit of boredom and a stroke of inspiration,. I decided to write an original piece of slash starring the two, mostly because I wanted to attempt smut.

Somewhere along this very strange road, Francis and Lloyd stop being cardboard cut-out NPC's and start to become real people. In act of trying to explain why these two oft abused indentured servants didn't just up and leave during that time, they started to develop deeper back stories and personalities.

And so I've begun to explore this even more at the Traveler's Respite. While Francis is entertaining in his own right as a pillar of almost unswerving neutrality, Lloyd's psychology is the most fascinating. The combined trauma of his near-death, his capture, and his treatment by the two intimidating knights severely traumatized the man. In general he became extremely nervous and easily frightened by people larger than him (he's rather short, for a guy). In thread he also developed a slight phobia of small animals and a stutter that usually only relents when he is alone with Francis. Admittedly one aspect I enjoy the most is their romantic relationship. While it does entertain parts of me better left undiscussed, it's also interesting for other reasons. Their bond was born primarily out of their similar experience, both in having been captured by Arnaud but also in having their respective groups slaughtered in total by the party. Oddly enough it was Lloyd that turned out to be the aggressor in the relationship because of his previous experience and Francis' lack thereof. Going by the Kinsey scale, I equate Francis to a 1 and Lloyd to a 5.  In any case, I love the idea I can portray a homosexual relationship without either party being, well, obviously gay. The only time anyone caught on, before any obvious physical affection was shown, was that Francis is highly protective of his partner. In public their relationship is rather subtle because, at the end of the day, they're still men.

Recently I had to scramble to come up with some kind of back story for the two when prodded by another character.  What resulted was rather interesting. I decided that Lloyd was a youngest of four brothers who  picked on him constantly, so he ran away at a young age and was picked up by the group of bandits. Rather than kill him, they took him in and taught him to fight. He came to regard the band as his family. I equate to what happens to kids who fall in with urban gangs. Since their home-lives are often un-supportive or even abusive, they gravitate to a group of peers who take the place of their real family, even if the environment is less than healthy. The later abuse by the knights just brought up all his demons surrounding his brothers, which is why the event was more traumatizing for him that it may have been for another person in the same situation.

Going off the hypothesis that Arnaud has now freed the two from service, they are now free to explore their own path. The challenge now for them is to grow and develop, to find their new purpose in life now that their old lives were extinguished, to transform themselves from criminals to honest men with a positive purpose in life, to develop their skills and discover what they are truly meant to do. Even I don't really know the answer to all that. There is a constant debate, both within the characters and myself, about whether or not they were better of with Arnaud.

By giving these two names, personalities, emotions, and histories, I've had the enlightening challenge of looking at the actions of a party from the outside, and the view is almost heart-breaking. This is especially true in case of Lloyd and his band. While the individual scouting party did attack them, Arnaud and the other went out of their way to track down and destroy the rest of the band, who previously were only stealing livestock.Players rarely, if ever, stop to think about the feelings, motivations, or personal history of the nameless enemies they defeat in battle. I almost feel, by way of giving life to formally nameless NPC's,  I can encourage PC's to take a closer look at their actions.

So, I picked up Alter Bridge's new album, "Blackbird" from Best Buy yesterday, and I must officially state that is it a masterpiece. Start to finish full of beautiful songs that fit nearly every taste in the rock genre, from the heavy tracks like "Come to Life" and "White Knuckles", to radio friendly tunes likes  "Rise Today", soft songs like  "Watch Over You" and the 8 minute epic that is the title track, "Blackbird". I've pretty much had it on a loop since I bought it. I'm not sure what my favorite track is yet. It'll probably change daily for each spin of the record.

I already bought two tickets to the Anaheim show. Unfortuately it's in the middle of the week and Mitch can't make it. >.< Shoulda checked the calendar on that one first. So, I have an extra ticket. Either I'll take a friend, gratis, or sell it off to someone. They just added a date in Ventura on a Sunday, though, so I can definitely make that one with Mitch. Part of me doesn't want to, because he never wants to hang out afterwards or wait in line for 6 hours beforehand either. -.-

But then, the same night I buy the album, House is on...

There is so much going on this month, I am so happy!

The premiere of Heroes was last night. OMG!


The season premiere of House is tonight! WooT! I've had to bar myself from the House comm for weeks to try and avoid spoilers, because even the spoiler TAGS are spoilers. Idiots. Finally, tonight I get to have a post-episode discussion for the first time in what seems like ages. I miss that so much. My husband doesn't get how we can spend all that time talking about characters and plot. But then, I don't get how he can spend hours in one area of an RPG leveling and finding hidden stuff. But that's another issue.

Alter Bridge's new album, Blackbird, is set to release on Oct. 9th. I've been listening to the two song they have on their MySpace over and over. They're so awesome! Their music makes me so energized, and the new songs are a bit harder than the stuff from the last album, which makes me incredibly happy. I hope this trend continues. They are set to start touring as soon as the album breaks and their are two dates in CA already - Anaheim and West Hollywood. I'm golden for Anaheim, but the Hollywood date is the same day as the damned Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Dammit! Unless Mitch can get out of that somehow, I'm stuck with only one show...unless maybe I can swing the Las Vegas show. Hmmmmm.

In any case, I can't wait for the concert. I know I've said this before, but it's just an amazing, almost spiritual, experience. It starts with hanging out in line for hours beforehand with people who love the same band as much as you do. Then when you're in the show it's like being reduced to a singularity when the adrenaline is coursing through your veins and the whole audience is singing the lyrics in unison. *sigh* I miss that so much.

And also, my husband and I's 2nd wedding anniversary is on Oct. 6th! We're going to the Chart House. Mmmmm...seafood.

That is the question.

Yaoi-con is at the end of October and I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I should go. A lot of it depends on where I'll be next year, but as of right now I don't know the answer to that question. This may be my last chance. If I'm going I need to buy my ticket before the end of this month or it's not at all. But oh - the AMV's, the undiscovered mangas, the bishies! And the fall renaissance faire is the weekend right after that. Quite the dilemma.

Still waiting (im)patiently for season 4 of House. Avoiding spoilers of any kind is becoming more and more problematic, because even when people put it behind a cut they still feel the need mention the fact that it's BAD NEWS IN THE LINE JUST BEFORE THAT! Like I don't have enough anxiety already.

Other news:

Mitch sick. As if work isn't hard enough already. I might be getting it too.

Kyle mentioned idea for a video to me last week. I would love another project, I just need the equipment. Thinking about going to Brandon at Fallbrook Film Factory with the pitch.

Although I was under-prepared for the first session of my new camapaign, it seemed to go well. However, planning feels like banging my head up against the wall, especially when it comes to the main baddie. If all players interested show up at once, I'll have 8 players. *STRESS*

I also plan to properly epilogue the Arthurian campaign, and then segue that into a little solo, mostly-RP game for just Mitch. And no, Pam, I don't know how much Xp you got yet. ;P

Devin finally started up a game though, so I'll actually get to play, rather than running 1.5 campaigns. Heh.