Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in ralph_the_gnome's LiveJournal:

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Friday, October 3rd, 2008
10:05 am	It's Nice to be Liked... But it's better by far to get paid. -Liz Phair Friday rolls around again and I find myself in need of content once again. Lately thoughts of money keeps surrounding me. It's not just the news, it's my life. I am now the sole wage earner in a household. I've got a kid I'd like to send to college someday and the thought has finally occurred to me that I need to do something so I won't be working when I'm 70. Add that to the constant banter of financial news and who my bank is has changed twice in the last week (not my choice) and it is pretty much thoughts of money that surround me. Combine that with the serendipity that as I drive home I am often greeted, just by sake of timing, by NPR's marketplace on the radio to talk even more about money. I know this is something that everyone else is worried about too but it used to be easier for me. When there were two jobs in the house it did not matter as much that one of us might lose a job. When there was no baby the thoughts of the future were not as pressing. There used to be time. Now there is a shot clock as I look at 18 years till he graduates high school and 35 before I would like to be in a position to at least not do the grind I am in now of working 6 days a week. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 26th, 2008
1:12 pm	Voting (long) Failing to provide any cute baby pictures I now am stuck doing my substantive post. With tonight’s debate looming I decided it was time to be critical of my own opinions. While I am a pretty hardcore lefty I have left leaning friends who are seriously considering McCain. Regardless of how the debates go I belief both men to have the character, integrity and temperament to be President. Few get as far as they have without this. I did not think George W. Bush was qualified as a President so he did not get past that step. So I now turn to their issues and breakdown how each candidates position works out. ECONOMY Right now both candidates are pretty identical on their position on the Wall St. issues. Obama however includes help for individuals facing mortgages and I prefer that. Looking at their overall economic policy McCain favors corporate tax cuts, which I have always thoroughly opposed and Obama favors tax cuts and stimulus for lower income families and I favor that. IRAQ/AFGANISTAN I have felt for a while that a timeline was the proper way to handle this. Obama has long held this view and it seems that is what the Iraqi government wants as well. While I appreciate McCain’s support of the general’s desire to have an open timeline I think that it is terrible of us as a society to send troops out there without the kind of equipment they need, which we have been doing, while at the same time the economy grinds down their families at home. Our involvement in Iraq is part of what caused us to be weak and unable to properly respond when Russia invaded Georgia. Once again, advantage Obama. NATIONAL SECURITY McCain voted to renew the Patriot Act and has not come out in support of the 9/11 commission’s recommendations. Obama opposes the Patriot Act and wants to implement more of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. I am 100% with Obama on this one. ENGERY A serious issue in the country. After looking over both men’s plans the main thing I see is McCains focus on offshore drilling. There are plenty of other avenues to explore that are more environmentally friendly. I think we need to get away from oil. Once again I am with Obama though I will say McCain does support many alternative energy programs and that pleases me. ENVIRONMENT/CLIMATE CHANGE While Obama is tougher than McCain on this either would have to work with Congress and compromise. They are probably equal in my mind. HEALTH CARE Obama favors nationalized health care and McCain wants a program where health care companies can hop states for economic advantages. I have always supported nationalized health care. While I do not think McCain’s idea is terrible I do see what the same idea did to the credit card industry. The result was good credit for some but for others there was a lowering of standards and terrifying customer service followed by the huge amount of out sourcing. I think McCain’s plan has some serious consequences for individuals that I do not want to face. SOCIAL SECURITY Obama wants to tax the rich more. McCain wants to help privatize social security. I do not think he noticed how much money people lost on Walls Street with private investments. Prior to the 2000 election both Gore and Bush wanted to privatize part of social security. After the election when the market tanked noone wanted to talk about it anymore. The market can go down, it can go down a great deal. Any plan that has a privatized social security I think is too risky with the livelihood of retired people. EDUCATION Both want to reform No Child Left Behind and put higher quality in education. Obama wants to do this with, what seems to be more money. McCain supports school vouchers. I believe school vouchers are the wrong way to go and they will result in the rich pulling their tax money out of schools. What we need is real reform and standards, not capitalism. Capitalism, while good for business, necessarily leads to inequality. I am against school vouchers so once again Obama. IMMIGRATION Both are pretty close on this issue. It has not really been explored since it has not been a hot button issue. Really either platform would be fine with me. ABORTION I’m pro-choice, Obama again. For those who wish to argue why I stand with these issues just realize that it is a separate exercise from what I have done here. I recommend everyone educate themselves on the actual stands of the candidates. I can’t say that I am really surprised by the results of my research but I am glad I did it so that I know that while I would not be as irate with a McCain presidency I would be happier with Obama as president. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 20th, 2008
9:02 am	Confessions of an Attorney "Who's going to cry, you or me?" "Hopefully neither of us" LJ is normally a pretty impersonal space for me but as the days wear on and I care for an infant when not working six days a week I have begun to realize that there is a real danger of losing touch with friends and letting them know what is going on with me other than mundane details. So I am going to resolve to have at least one substantive post a week about my thoughts and my life. Today's post is about my job and the particular environment it brings. When I was in real estate people were mostly happy. Someone got a house, someone else got money. The people who had the worst attitudes were usually the real estate agents who wanted their money faster than we were normally able to provide. Things are different in bankruptcy. People do not come to me unless things are bad for them. Sometimes, they are very bad. The above quotes are literally the first words one of my clients said to me when I met her this week, the next quote is my response. At one point she said to me, "I guess you're insulated from all of this. I bet you don't feel anything." My reply was about the satisfaction I got from helping people out of untenable situations but I thought about it afterwards and realized that she is right. I hear heart breaking stories every day and if I did not keep an emotional distance I would be a wreck. I don't even notice it at the time but when I get home and look at my wife and baby something inside me uncoils and I can be me again and not keep the distance. I should have known it weeks ago. Before Mat was born I had the following conversation with a friend. Him "How was work today?" Me "It sucked, someone cried it my office today" Him "Wow that sucks. I don't envy your job. If someone started tearing up in front of me I would feel terrible" Me "Oh that happens all the time. I only count it as crying if they start crying and cannot stop" (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
11:20 am	Lens of Experience We all interpret life and art through the lens of our own experience. This fact is largely undisputed and was one that was well known to me for some time. Still, I had not quite expected the advent of fatherhood to change my perception of art quite so readily. I am a scant handful of pages away from finishing the first novel that I have finished since Mat was born. For those who are curious it is Evelyn Waugh's _Brideshead_Revisited_. While I was on board for most of the novel a specific thing has struck me. Our hero (or at the very least he is our narrator) has abandoned his children at the point I am in the novel. In an odd way the children were superfluous. They never actually appear in the action of the novel and it is dubious whether he has ever laid eyes on the second of his offspring. The children do not lack for material comforts and he readily agrees to pay sums to support them during his divorce. I do not support "staying together for the chilren" but what about staying together with the chilren? In some ways this novel is a product of its time. Originally published in 1945, it was more of a societal presumption that a woman, even within a happy marriage, would do the lion's share of child-rearing. Clearly, the auther does not intend for the abandonment of the children to be seen as a folly on the part of the narrator since he takes note to mention that our narrator has financially provided for them and even that his soon to be ex-wife will be marrying her long time lover and that the children's uncle had always cared for and played with them like an affectionate father. Still, as a father, this point keeps bugging me and I keep coming back to it mentally. Perhaps it is because I want to see more resolution of the point but perhaps in 1945 this was all the resolution that a reader would demand. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
10:22 am	It's a boy! Michael Anatolio Tang, we call him Mat Born Aug 26th at 10:36 PM 8 lbs, 1oz; 20 inches long Mother and baby are doing great. Expect us to be out of touch for a bit as we adjust to having a newborn in our lives. I am skipping Dragon Con for the first time since I was 16, priorities-go figure. I am sure I will have more to say about life, the universe and fatherhood soon but that is another day. (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
9:53 am	McCain D&D Flap (long) Many of you may have read the quote from a McCain staffer who slammed Obama supports as being a bunch of D&D players. As my non-gamer friends know I am an avid gamer. While I am a far lefty I do believe that we should take things into context and figure out what was going on rather than just shaving quotes. So I did some research and this is what I found. PART ONE McCain tells a story about how, while he was a POW, another man drew a cross in the dirt on Christmas. The man was a POW and I see nothing wrong with any candidate telling stories from their life. PART TWO Starting in 2000 (so we are including when he was competing with Bush), McCain starts telling this story on the campaign trail. Critics at the time pointed out the following facts (1) McCain had never told this story till he wanted to campaign for the president and (2) the scene he describes is identitcal to a scene in a very famous book. The book in question is the Gulag Archipeligo, a semi-autobiographical account of the Soviet forced labor camps. This book was enormously influential in both the US and as an underground book in the USSR. The book spoke for a many Russians who had undergone internment and forced labor and was widely read in the US in the 1970's when it was released. This is not geek literature. Whether or not a man did this in McCain's camp is not verified but it is a question that has been raised by other camp since 2000. PART THREE McCain uses the same story and the Obama camp raises the same issues. McCain's staff could, at this point, reiterate the same defense they have before. Instead they made the comment they did. Several implications are possible: 1.) McCain's staff feels that those who did not go to war are D&D nerds hiding from real combat. 2.) McCain's staff believes that only D&D nerds remember what happens in books that they have read. and, what I believe to be going on.: 3.) As part of his overall campaign to curry the vote of the religious right he is seeking to, on the one hand, show that he is against those Satan worshipping D&D players while with the same comment he is trying to stigmatize the fact that Obama is an intellectual. In short, this is the political version of "wait...isn't that story from a book?" responded to with "Shut up, nerd" There are of course other possibilities, but there you have it. For those of you interested in the actual quote: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/19/mccain-staffer-slams.html (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
12:54 pm	Everything Good... "Everything good turns to crap eventually," and that's when Tommy said "Isn't that just the way it is?" -Ookla the Mock, Tommy One the eve of Star Wars III I read an interview with George Lucas in which the interviewer asked him about fan reaction. Mr. Lucas said something along the lines of why did it make so much money. But really, I'm getting ahead of myself. When I was a kid I loved the Star Wars films. While I was only born in 1978 the films still had an enormous impact on me through the copies my parents had taped from TV. My parents, not really being geeks, saw no reason to invest in a tape that they would pay full price at K-mart for. As an adult I bought and read many Star Wars comics and there is a huge space for Star Wars the role-playing game on my shelf. As an adult I went to the re-release of "A New Hope" and found myself massively disappointed. At that point I was so disappointed that I did not go to the other re-makes and just resolved to buy the original versions. When Phantom Menace came out I was very excited. The look of that poster with Jake Lloyd, his shadow that of Vader, had me 100% jazzed. I saw the film opening night along side a crowd of fans, and I was disappointed but the love remained. As Attack of the Clones came out I felt that perhaps an older Anakin could be better suited. I saw it opening weekend but not opening night with small group of friends to a less crowded theater. I felt there was hope there. I saw the movie twice more in the theaters as different groups of friends wanted to go. I was one of the few people that liked the Yoda fight scene. Time passed and Revenge of the Sith came out. I went to see it a few weeks after it opened in a largely empty matinee screening with one friend. Afterwards we got some lunch and talked about how little reaction we had. Little did I know how much that film would impact me. After the film, at some point, I learned about the animated Clone Wars tv show. It would have taken some effort for me to see it and I never have. I bought copies of the original movies when they came out unedited and have watched them with enjoyment. Now the Clone Wars animated film is out and I just cannot bring myself to go see it. I have seen almost every other blockbuster this summer (it's just been one of those summers) and I just have no enthusiasm whatsoever to see it. I am not saying it is good or bad, I have not seen it. All I am saying is that the enthusiasm I had as a child for the universe of Star Wars has been mostly depleted and I doubt it will ever return. I'm not sure what that says about me, geekdom, or just getting older-but there it is. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
11:07 am	Dear John (comics related) The storyline will also feature the return of the triangle numbers that used to grace the covers of Superman-related comic, as the books attempt to tie closer into each other. And as for concerns about a crossover "forcing" readers to buy multiple titles, Johns countered, "They'll want to read it!" "The plan is to make all three Superman books so interesting and so good that you want to pick them up," Robinson said. "The unfortunate thing is that 'crossover' has become a dirty word," Johns said. "We want to make it so that, why wouldn't they want to buy these books? They're all good books! There's no reason not to make it a big story." -Geoff Johns Full Article: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080813-SupermanTeaser.html Mr. Johns, I am afraid that your point here completely evades the real question of crossovers. While I understand this is well tread territory I think the time has come to speak up once again about it. When I was buying comics what I did was to have a pull list. I included the titles I wanted to read based on the authors and artists that I liked. Some were not included due to budget constraints. One day, after two months of neglecting my pull box I returned to it only to find that multiple titles had undergone crossovers. I now had 1/3 of two different stories, no clue how they ended, no clue how they began and I had spent what I do not consider a small amount of money on three months worth of story that I now regretted. I understand the marketing reasons for this but that means you leave readers like me out in the cold. Sure, I could cut back on other pleasure expenses to read more comics but I am not going to do that. I cannot have all of my leisure money spent reading comics to follow all the storylines of all the characters and writers that I care about. Instead I am going to do what any reasonable consumer will do, I will opt out and opt in to a medium that has a lower cost for greater enjoyment than just reading part of a story would give me. Even more money is lost because, since I am out of comics, I do not know about storylines that I could follow that I would enjoy. Mr. Johns, I know that you may have to tow the party line here. You are a professional and denigrating the things that marketing and your editor have come up with are probably gauche moves. So let me say in closing that I enjoy your writing and that I am sorry that the structure of the industry has interferred with that. Sincerely, A Comics Fan (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, August 1st, 2008
4:43 pm	Seeking Artist I am a comic book fan who does not buy comics. Something is wrong with this picture. What is wrong is that the comics on the shelves fail at something very important for me. They fail at just having a story that I can read and enjoy. Twice in my life I have abandoned comics for years at a stretch becuase of the ridiculous amounts of crossovers that require me to read multiple issues to get a sense of what is going on. I want to have a writer and an artist I like and be able to follow their story with a handful of characters as it grows and changes over the years. Is that too much to ask? I've decided to put some more of my money where my mouth is. A few times in the past I have tried to get a comic project started with me as writer and others as artists. Alway we have failed for one reason or another. I may share in this journal some of my escapades with names cleansed from the record. I could yammer on for a while but I think the best thing to do is to cut to the chase: Wanted: One or more artists to work at executing a comic project. Said project will be flexible and will eventually work towards either distribution with a comic art house or independant publishing. While I am open to many different genres and styles I want to embrace what comics are best at with "mad, beautiful ideas"+ and "lo-fi weirdness"* that comics do best. If you are an artist interested in such a project or you know na artist interested in such a project please get in touch with me. +Alan Moore *Grant Morrisson (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 21st, 2008
3:47 pm	Dark Knight Identity I saw The Dark Knight this past weekend and this weekend I read the comic Identity Crisis this weekend. For those of you hoping for the comic book geek's review of the movie I will say that it is an excellent film and is not just a "comic" movie. However, to get to the real meat of what this post is about I should point out a bit about my own history with comics. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big fan of superheroes. The genre, the comics, all of it. In 2005 I stopped reading comics regularly, partially due to money concerns and partially because I was not happy with where comics were going. What I objected to most was the interjection of various new elements into characters that I personally loved. An old saw in the industry when people complain about doing new things with characters was that "these characters have been around for a long time, you have to do new things to keep them fresh". While I agree that is true I was starting to feel disconnected from the stories and I was having a hard time putting a finger on why. These two stories, The Dark Knight film and the comic Identity Crisis have helped me realize why I always had a problem with that old saying. When dealing with characters that have been around since the sixties (or in the case of Batman specifically the forties) there is a certain amount of curatorship. Change the character too much and it is no longer the character. More pages have been written about the private life of the Flash than have been about Abraham Lincoln and so these characters cannot change on a certain level. Where you can change them is not by changing the picture but by changing the angle. The Dark Knight gives a unique look at the joker as being far more plausible and dark than he ever was in any comic I read. This is not the Clown Prince of Crime, this is a psychopath and a terrorist and it all makes sense. Identity Crisis resolves some of the hokier issues that we just ignored in past comics and brings to light the kind of moral question that involves being a costumed crime fighter. While these seem divorced from our every day lives I agree with Akira Kurasowa on an important point. When asked if he would ever make a film in a modern setting Kurasowa said that he could say things about humanity in a historical film that he could never be believed in a modern film. Maybe it is because we do not want to believe it. This is the power of super-heroes. Because they are, in some sense, larger than life and operatic they can say things about humanity and morality that would not be believed in the real world. However, to maintain this we need to maintain the heroes themselves. When fans bitch about changes it is sometimes because they are changing the picture, not the angle. As the creators and publishers it is their right to do so but I guess I just have to keep waiting for stories that are about the humanity of heroes and villains and not some new power they have or, in the case of my favorite, a relationship I just do not believe. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
11:32 am	Defensive Eating Yesterday the air conditioning in my building was not working so well. I was exhausted because I had a decently big breakfast and that weighed me down for the rest of the day making me sluggish in the heat. Today I ate a tiny breakfast to survive the heat. The A/C is working today. No real way to win I guess. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
4:28 pm	Is it just me? The iPhone (or any phone with tons of gadgets and bells and whistles). I just cannot seem to justify it. Granted, having a GPS in the phone is cool and it looks like some cool tricks but I just cannot imagine paying that much for a phone, much less the minimum they expect each month. I would love to have a gadget like that but I would never pay that amount of money. I thought "hey, I'll get the off brand or the older version" of things but from what I can tell there is no such thing anymore. Phones do not go down in price, they just come out with a new model every few years, often with a higher price. Is it just me? (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 7th, 2008
11:44 am	Weekend Update Minus Amy Polar, Tina Fey, Kevin Nealon, Norm McDonald, Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtain. Thursday after work the wife and I went to Duluth and watched the fireworks with friends. Part of it was our excellent positioning and part was the years its been since I have seen fireworks but I really enjoyed it and I would like to start making more of a habit of seeing July 4th firreworks. Friday I had the day off and spent most of the day cooking and cleaning. Things are slowly getting more organized in our life. In the evening we went to a friends house for dinner and she cooked us some glorious meat pies. Saturday I worked in the morning. On my train ride home I got the SOS from my brother that he was in Atlanta and needed help with a car he and his wife had just bought. After helping them deposit the car at my place I spend the rest of the after noon with my wife's parents and we did some book shopping. Got a handful of good paperbacks. I was too wiped out after all that to go to the FoD social. Sunday morning I got down to PTC to get my brother and bring him up to get his new car. After that Trin and I ran some errands and I got a call from the boys that they wanted one last FoD meeting. After zipping through the errands I obliged. The wife and I then spent our evening at the movie Hancock. I must admit, it was better than I expected and much darker. More of a review will be forthcoming if you ask me in person. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
9:39 am	Everyone Owns a Chair I am at my new job for day two: electric boogaloo. Day one went well but was pretty overwhelming with the amount of training/information thrown at me. Supposedly the rest of the week will be a matter of honing the information from yesterday along with bits of new information that are more periodic. My boss is not in the office yet so work/training has not been assigned for the day. Overall I have been busy and the biggest adjustment is the working later but I will get used to it. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 27th, 2008
3:13 pm	Impending Radio Silence Today is my last day at my current job. On Monday morning I will walk into a new job and we will see what happens there. However, this new job means new circumstance and entering the unknown. We currently do not have the internet at home and I am uncertain as to what my computer situation will be at the new job. As a result I may be unreachable via the interwebs for some time. If you need me then call me. Hopefully I will be triumphantly returning soon with such thrilling tales as my first day on the new job, my review of 4th Edition D&D, or if the net thing takes too long then the birth of my child. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
3:19 pm	Then and Now Change is often cause for reflection on what was. As we graduate college the changes are apparent but also proscibed that we should change. Nearing my last day at my current job I am drawn to reflect upon who I was then and who I am now. 2005 It was August and I had taken the bar a month before and was still not officially a lawyer. I moved in with my girlfriend as the first woman I ever lived with in the first apartment I ever paid for without my parents help though I was still driving a car they had given me. Three days a week I was probably drunk and I weighed about thirty pounds moe than I do now. I played in larps when I had time and money but mostly I was broke. I was 26. 2008 It is June and I am a lawyer sworn in long a go. I am married to that girlfriend and we have our first child on the way in our first home (though most of the downpayment was paid for with money gifts from our parents). I drive a car that I paid for. I don't really get drunk anymore but I do run a successful larp ever other month or so. I am 29 and breathing on 30. Looking back, this is not just going to be remember as my first job but the job I had when and where I grew up. Change is inevitable and I am glad it happened. I could not be that young irresponsible man and do the things I have done in life. It is strange to recall though. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
10:58 am	Announcement: New Job Yesterday I accepted a new job. This Friday will be my last at my current job. I really love my current job but given the way things are going with the baby on the way and the new house it was time for me to move on. My current boss respects this and I know that I will keep in touch with him. My suspicion is that starting September 22* I will see a great deal of him actually. I am excited about the new job. I will be changing fields to work in bankruptcy law so we'll see how that goes. Check here for updates! *Heroes Season 3 premiere (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
2:36 pm	Where is he now? I realized today that I have not updated my journal in a while and those of you who read this probably do so to keep up with where I am as a person and my whole general life thing. NEW HOUSE Trin and I bought a house last month and the adventure of home ownership has begun. There are a hundred little projects to do and my current life hobby seems to be unpacking boxes and taking care of my life. PREGNANCY Things are going well for my wife. She and I took a weekend baby class for the last two months and I feel that I learned a great deal. Now to get get ready for the ultimate adventure of fatherhood (gulp) MEH Not much to report really. This is why I do not post that much. My life is very busy but not very interesting. Unless you really want to read the laundry list of things that we have been unpacking or are interested in my high level of satisfaction with our new washer and dryer I feel like I do not have much to share. Perhaps this is what adulthood is though. I no longer take the risks I did when I was young but I do not feel the need to really. I do not have "I made a fool of myself trying to get a girl" because I have a wife who I love very much. I do not have very many "oh my god I was so drunk" stories because I work too much to make it really worthwhile. The minutia of unpacking old fantasy novels and assembling Ikea furniture does not make for good reading but for now it is making a good life and I am happy with who I am and where I am in life. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 12th, 2008
11:28 am	Mother's Day Yesterday was a unique mother's day for me. It was the first mother's day that I have spent where I looked at my wife and knew that she was a mother and that she is the mother of my unborn child. It is a unique feeling, I am definitely not at the kids table anymore. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
3:18 pm	Don't Worry A good friend called last night to check on my mental state. He picked up from yesterdays post that I am not doing great right now. This whole housing situation and living out of boxes has been pretty stressful. Sometimes I feel like I am reaching the end of my rope and especially at times like today when I do not see resolution on the horizon for where I am going to live or how I get wound up. But, none of you should worry about me. I may get stressed but I am keeping things in perspective. In order to show that I am keeping things in perspective I am going to put a list here of things I have that many others do not. Relationship: Going great. I love my wife and am loved by her. We have our tiffs like any couple but it is how you fight and how you resolve that matters. That took a long time for me to learn but I am a better person for it. Just one of the many reasons I am grateful to have her in my life. Family: Having a baby and I could not be happier about it. The wife lets me have free for all access to the belly so that I get the occasional kick. Nothing has ever made me feel quite so connected to life as feeling that kick. I can only imagine how awesome it is for her. Work: Things are rough in the real estate market but I truly enjoy doing my job. Health: I've lost a lot of weight in the last year. Moving offices has made it hard for me to work out regularly but I am generally maintaining my weight and my health. My allergy therapy is going great I feel better than I have in years. Social Life: After about a year of hermitage, with one problem after another keeping us indoors, the wife and I are branching out again. Sure, this is going to run afoul of house hunting but we've seen friends we have not seen in too long lately and it has felt good. If you are a friend who has not seen us in a while feel free to give us a call, we are getting busy again. Larp: Since I run my own larp this gets its own category. I have had to cut back on my personal larping and with the baby on the way that looks to be a state of affairs for a while. However the larp I do run is going well, growing in numbers and I can honestly say I have a great time doing it and am proud of the creative efforts that I and others put into it. We may not be the biggest but I still feel that we have something unique to offer the local larping community and we continue to offer it. And that is kind of my life and all the great things going on it. There are some sucky things too but the good things help me keep it all in perspective. So don't worry, I'll be all right. (Comment on this)