fatrockstar

I know I know -- I'm totally abusing the few of you that remain faithful to LJ by advertising, but I promise it's for a good cause (me) and it's probably the only time I'll do it until there's another event coming up. This album was recorded in about two months, and the mixing process took a bit longer than that, then there was sending it off to Austin, TX, for mastering, not to mention the ungodly amount of time I took procrastinating over the graphic design and getting the distribution started. This was supposed to be a summer release. Now it's a Christmas one! You can buy the album as a CD or mp3 download at the link below:



We are having the official CD release party this Sunday (12/18/11) in Redmond at Soul Food Books. We're paying for the venue, providing consumables, and performing. Those of you who attend in person won't pay a red cent to join us. A barista will be on-hand to sell you a coffee or chai if you lean that way (we don't cover those, sorry). For those of you who can't attend for some reason or won't leave the house, Soul Food Books streams all the shows live online. Ours will be one of them.

Please feel free to invite yourself to the event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/334058319953758/ And I hope we get to see you there!

But, um, hey -- it's animated, so it can't be that dirty... right? Oh, and it's from Germany. That should make it ALL better!

This is awful and I'm not entirely sure why I love it:

http://www.youtube.com/v/IjDmCEJokZs

OMGTHISGAMEISSOAWESOMEILOVEHOWYOUHAVETOSHAKETHEWIIMOTEANDNUNCHUKTOGETBATMANTOKICKASSITSSOFUNANDOMGOMGOMGTHISISWHATI'LLBEDOINGALLWEEKENDIFANYBODYISLOOKINGFORMETHISISAWESOME!!!EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

...his forepaws planted firmly on the table top. He was warbling the worst English I'd heard out of him yet, but I could make out a little bit. «What is this? Can you get it? I can smell it, but I clarglarghaharrr» He was clearly very excited. In my morning fog it took me a while to realize he was sniffing at a canvas grocery bag I had set on the dining table. Inside it were my purchases from the pet store, and among them was a fresh Pawbreaker ball.

I fumbled my way through the bag to find the Pawbreaker in its packaging and pulled it out. Grady sat back on the chair, licking his lips and purring. «YOU FOUND IT! Can I have it? It's what I want, you knarewwegrrrr I do oh miiiiiyiiiyirraefggggrr..» His English was getting worse the more excited he got.

Remembering how he lost his last one (twice), I walked the package to the blue room and worked on opening it. «Naooooow? Naaao? Orowwww? How about naaaao?» It was taking me too long, and the longer I waited the louder he got. "Hang on, I got it..." I tell him. I try to drop it on the floor where he can chase it, but he has positioned himself directly under the ball, and it is simply not possible to avoid what happens next.

A Pawbreaker is roughly the size of a large gum ball and three times as dense. I might as well have been dropping a marble. As it fell Grady jumped to intercept, and I could hear the *tok* sound clearly as it bounced off his head. For a split second he was stunned, staring goofily into space before he snapped out of it and began his catnip love-fest.

I guess you had to be there. The whole thing was surreal, and I worried until the *nom nom nom* noises started. He's fine. As a matter of fact, he's reciting King Lear in the dining room as I write this. Not bad for a lil' dude strung out on the 'nip.

In other news, I am happy.

City of Heroes has been on my list of Stuff I Pay For since about a year ago. Before then, Garret paid for it with his credit card. I rarely logged on because, you know, I had things to do like cook, clean, shop, work, and take care of myself and him. Bottom line: He wanted me to want to play games with him, but was too passive-aggressive to encourage me. Four years later, I have this MMO on my computer that I've been paying for and not playing.

Once I canceled my billing for this game I was told the month of September was pretty much paid for until the 27th, so I decided to get back into it for a while. Without a job, I have a ton of time to do this. I leveled my toon ten times in the last three weeks. How? By getting over myself and interacting with other people online.

I'm not going to lie and say "omg these people are so totally normal and kewl we should make out" or anything. Some are cool, some are not. I'm not into RPG's because I find them incredibly, painfully nerdy, but people in the game will sometimes role play, and I'm still really blurry on the protocol for these people. Parenthesis, no parenthesis... reacting to some of my "mundane" comments "in character..."

I could go on about the different things I've experienced in the game, but it would bore the crap out of you. Instead, let me tell you what I learned about myself.

( Read more... )

I like to play games. I have game consoles. I do not think I can spend every single spare waking minute playing. I don't like to play alone, I know that much. I also know that when the frustration outweighs the fun, it's time to stop.

Yep.

Well, the end of the week is upon me and still no offer. I followed up with my recruiter and a couple of other contacts and it's the same all around: Hiring managers all ran off to get a head start on the three-day weekend. This puts a ding in my hope, but I will try not to let it get to me.

Amanda, who has twisted her ankle, contacted me this afternoon to let me know she wouldn't need a ride to PAX after all, which I wasn't expecting. I am not one who enjoys driving, so I rarely do it alone if I can help it (especially in the state my car is in). Luckily, I was able to find someone happy to give me a ride and I'll be there when I had hoped to.

I will meet up with Melody (Ed's ex-gf) while I'm there and we'll check out a few gamerchix-oriented discussion groups. I will probably see her there Saturday, too. I need to arrange companionship for Saturday, because I really don't want to go alone. Actually, I don't mind going alone, it's the possibility of seeing two people I really don't want to see in public together, ever.

Trying to catch up on Elite Beat Agents and I'm getting stuck on "Let's Dance" of all friggin' songs. I get about two-thirds through and choke. When I reached the point where I was about to throw my DS, I stopped. Maybe later.

I have not logged in to my NCSoft/PlayNC account for City of Heroes in so long, I can't even remember the answer to my hint question. When I wrote to support and gave them all the information I had, they wrote back and asked me for a super secret word that was in my account creation email. That would make the email about, oh, four years old -- and long gone.

Maybe I should just say sayonara to Brawler Barbie and let it be done. I will never play that game again without someone I know in there with me, and I don't know anyone who plays regularly enough anyway. Fuck, I only got into it for Garret, and with him gone there's no point. I can't even "respec" any of my players without worrying I'll make it worse. You know, I don't even notice when they update the game and it affects the powers I'm using? The forums light up with angry players, and I just sit there scratching my head like a monkey. I am not cut out for MMOs.

Grady will be here alone for most of the weekend. This rules out any 3 a.m. Guitar Hero/Rock Band tournaments I may have been interested in. I guess I'll deal with it. I don't need to be nurturing my insomnia anyway.

I should pack up my stuff for my day out. Maybe I'll do some cleaning, too. I don't know. Is any of this even interesting? I have forgotten how to interact with others at this point.

The first time I encountered the Grim Reaper I was incredulous. How dare he! I still had two teenagers at home and was awaiting the birth of my second grandchild -- I couldn't leave NOW. I weakly attempted to wrestle the near-empty hourglass from the bony fingers holding it in front of me. This can't be happening... I... I... HEY -- where are my hula girls? I'm not supposed to die in mediocrity -- noooooooooooo



...and then I woke up.

It's closer to the truth to say I quit my game without saving. SimWynne's biggest aspiration at the time was the impending grandbaby, and getting that done was imperative to having enough aspiration points to die well. It took way too long, and I had to enter a different lot to do it, but it happened. SimWynne Blau is survived by three sons, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters, who all benefited greatly from her demise. She is interred at the family cemetery, 76 Sim Lane.

The house remains the property of Alfred and Henry Blau, who continue to nurture their mother's love of animals by becoming Crazy Cat Ladies. Way to misread senility, boys.