My Weekly Personality Analysis

Even back in the days when I used to train four times a week, I always allowed myself to eat on the holidays. The older you get, and the more relatives you interact with, you begin to realize that you have no choice if you want to maintain the "temporary cease fire" that's in effect between Christmas and New...

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Reflection for 2006

One of many..."Filipinos are a warm, gentle, caring, giving people," Avi says, "which is a good thing since so many of them carry concealed weapons."-Neal Stephenson, CryptonomiconI've always wanted to read this book. I'm going to make a point of it in 20...

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The Best Thing About XMas, 2005

Kick @$$. To say nothing about the Season 2 teasers at the e...

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Holiday Breather

We've got a few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve in Cleveland. Drive, drive, drive. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were awesome, though. So far, between presents from each other, Mamazoo, and some of The Wife's other relatives, we made out like bandits, so far. And, we haven't even seen my folks,...

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War on Christmas II

He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows the best time to send his boys into your home, kidnap you, and have you on a flight to a country where he's going to make you tell him what he wants to know...by any means necessary."Ho, ho, ho--where's your Geneva Convention, now?"Picture...

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Christmas in Manila

Yeah, I understand that excess cultural pride does things like dredge up centuries-old conflicts because the cast of Memoirs of a Geisha is mostly Chinese. And, I understand how tempting it is for non-Asians to sit in their non-Asian neighborhood (yeah, except for That One Family down the block) and wish that they'd just "get over it."**Yet, I feel that pride whenever I see that ethnicity can have...

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Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I said it! If there really is a war on X-Mas, then consider this my Lapu Lapu bit to defend my island against the Conquistadores. C'mon, Magellan--I dare you to knock this battery off my shoulder. And, I got this picture, too. How d'you like them apples?Hey, it could be worse. I could be Huey Freeman.The...

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Masterpiece Theatre of the Macabre

Authorities probe theft of body partsBy TOM HAYSAssociated Press WriterNEW YORK (AP) -- Authorities are investigating allegations that hundreds of bodies were illegally carved up in funeral homes around New York City and sold for parts without the permission of the families of the deceased.Corpses - including that of famed British broadcaster Alistair Cooke - were used to harvest human bone, skin...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Don's Random Movie Quote:'We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army.'- Kurtz, Apocalypse NowTake this quiz at QuizGalaxy.comHuh...well...um...Happy Holida...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

what flavor pocky are you?[c] sugardewGetting in touch with my Asian heritage...

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Yuletide Serpentine Fire

I didn't make the connection until today's morning coffee that I had bought the Chicago & Earth, Wind & Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre DVD at Target, which was in the midst of a holiday ad campaign with EWF. It was funny how The Wife and I watched the DVD and all of a sudden noticed all this EWF music...

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Not Looking Forward to This

The Wife and I were discussing the possibility of having "the talk" about sex and drugs with any future children, the one that all parents have sooner or later. I'm not looking forward to it, but then again, do I really want my children ending up like ...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I'm tired this week. That is all. You scored as Serenity (from Firefly). You like to live your own way and do not enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you that you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.Coming on December 1, 2005:Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which...

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I'm Not the Only One

A friend of mine emailed me:To make you feel better, today I purchased a Real Ultimate Power ninja manual as a gag gift for a secret santa exchange at work. I felt like I was looking at porn (the humor/anime aisle). So I ran back to Literary Criticism, picked up a copy of Roland Barthes' Mythologies (I had been meaning to anyway) so I could stand in line and cover the ninja book. When I checked...

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I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

Apparently, you can't even look at a gay magazine at Borders without someone watching you and having something to say about ...

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The Christmas Splurge Has Begun

I'm not talking about the splurge for gifts for other people. I'm talking about the self-splurging. I picked up the Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire: Live at the Greek Theatre DVD at Target. Oh, come on--the biggest surprise is that I waited this long. The best parts were when they played together on each others' songs. Having a six-piece horn section filling all the parts; the stuff blew my...

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Ah, Memories

Because this looked like fun...If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don't speak often) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.It can be anything you want - good or bad - BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Huh...who'd've thunk?You scored as Idealist. Idealism centers around the belief that we are moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within ourselves, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity,...

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NaNo NaNo, NaNo NaNo, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye

Thank God that's over.This experience taught me a lot of things, but I'm damned if I'm going to write it all out now. Maybe next time.Now, I can get on to some serious, hopefully publishable writing. Not to mention bloggi...

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NaNo Be There

46,328/50,000 words.93% to completion.I could end it by tomorrow, and probably wi...

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Gobble, Gobble, Part Deux

My Wife pwned teh birrrd! All I had to do was guzzle down the cream sherry and do the dishes....

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Warning

This is going on my wallet for the next couple of weeks.Make one yourse...

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Gobble, Gobble

Ways to comment on Thanksgiving:Just say "Happy Turkey Day"Throw in jokes about the various minories--racial, ethnic, religious, or dietary--who do not find a reason to celebrate this holiday seasonPoint out how different countries celebrate the same holiday.Gnawing on a dried-out plucked buzzard to celebrate Britain chucking all the creepy inbred sandal-chewing God-botherers into boats and shipping...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Running away? You yellow . . . What Monty Python Character are you? brought to you by QuizillaGuess this applies where NaNoWriMo is concerned, rig...

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Mork Calling Orson: NaNo, NaNo

37,460/50,000 Words.74.9% toward completion.I'm 881 words behind where I should be at this exact moment.What I've been doing is writing really long chapters (i.e. short stories) with the novel's characters. It's the George Lucas method, where he does his real "directing" in the editing room, rather than during the takes. So, I'm writing pages and pages of stuff, and plan to cut it out, lat...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're normal, but deep down you really just want tostrip off your clothes and roll around inchicken fat. What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die? brought to you by Quizi...

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Things I've Been Meaning to Blog About

...The Reader's Digest VersionITEM ONEDear Sony:Suck it.Love,Bill G.And, it still didn't stop me from getting Chris Botti's To Love Again!ITEM TWOI'm takin' what they're givin''Cos I'm workin' for a livin'-Huey Lewis & the News, "Workin' for a Livin'"Well, workin' when I'm called, anyway.ITEM THREEHave it...

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Ain't NaNoOne's Business If I Do

This is pages 71 to 120 of my NaNoWriMo piece. I've cranked out another five pages tonight (I had another gig), but I gotta tell you. Week Three started out being the picnic that was promised in the book No Plot? No Problem!. But, it's killing me, now. To be honest, I know why. That "Inner Editor" of mine,...

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NaNoNonsensical

I mentioned (Or, did I? My sense of time and place has become skewed for the past few weeks) having a temp gig three days last week. There was nothing today (though perhaps for tomorrow), so I had time to work on The Novel, Draft 0.9. I won't even give it the dignity of calling it a "first draft," because since last week, it's degenerated into a bastardization of narrative prose, blocks of text...

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Bad NaNoer, Bad NaNoer

I'm not really doing anything "bad" according to the NaNoWriMo rules. The point is word count, by any means necessary short of typing out "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over like Nicholson did in The Shining. But, I've now resorted to what I feel are dirty tricks to keep myself at a decent pace (which is to say, two days worth of work behind).In those spaces I feel stuck,...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

You will probably win Nanowrimo - it's a brillantopportunity to lord your mighty brains overyour less well-endowed friends. Whatever. It's Nanowrimo Time! Will you reach 50K?What kind of novel will you write?brought to you by QuizillaI was going to let this slide this week, between NaNoWriMo and a little temp...

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Slackin' to the East, Slackin' to the West

Yeah, I slacked this weekend. I took the time to attend a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning local author Alison Lurie. While her book really didn't interest me (at least, what I read of it), I guessed that she'd have a lot of interesting insights to share during whatever Q&A session that might take place, and I was right.[Edited to remove the broken counte...

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I Try to Walk Away and I Stumble

I did say that I'd blog less in November, although it just seems like I'm posting at the usual (dismal) rate :).Seems like most of the people doing NaNoWriMo who keep blogs like to brag about how they're taking part. I was down with that. I even put the meter in the sidebar from an adjunct "this site is in no way officially affiliated with NaNoWriMo" website that a lot of people use. What I hadn't...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Yes, I've got some nerve to be here after the last post, but I do this every week. Fashionista 59% Tastefulness, 51% Originality, 67% Deliberateness, 45% Sexiness [Tasteful Original Deliberate Prissy]One is certain: you have great taste and plenty of ideas. You have clearly defined beliefs about what's...

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Blogging in November

There will probably be very little of it this month because of NaNoWriMo. It's Day 2, and I'm just on track. I was about 20% ahead of schedule last night, but hey. I had other things to do earlier today and Law & Order was on. Hey, where else can I catch actor Richard Brooks since good vs. evil was cancelled?...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

The Cutting Edge(66% dark, 42% spontaneous, 15% vulgar) your humor style:CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARKYour humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves...

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Outage, Day 3

For the third day in a row, I've seen workmen out in the courtyard behind our apartment working on Teh Intarwub connection. Once again, Intarwub service gets restored for about an hour or two, then completely fails. I have to say that they appear to be trying. Today, I saw them replace whole components, and they still had troubles.* * *Unfortunately, that means I didn't get to finish listening...

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Outage

Teh Intarwub has been down at our place for the past two days, so I've had to leave to get online. Jaysus, it feels like I'm in Athens, again. So, that means I'm on the run, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays, when The Wife needs rides to and from work because of her irregular hours. I've sort of buried myself...

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Just Ignore

It seems that I let our free image-storage account on Ripway.com expire. I emailed them to reinstate them, but I've been meaning to do this anyway. I'm uploading a bunch of images to link to lat...

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