Quote

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."
- James Dean

Anyone out there?

Does anyone actually read this crap?
I have not posted in a long time and I'm not sure why I started this thing in the first place. :-)

Well, back to the grind of school work.

If you want to know a cool word, look up the word "apropos."

Key Chain Scripture

My best friend Doug and I went to six flags and he bought me the most insightful keychain that I have ever seen. It truly sums up my philosophy on life. It states:

"Everything cometh to he who waiteth, so long as he worketh like HELL while he waiteth!"

Vin Diesel on Conan O'Brien

From an interview on Conan O'Brien:

Conan:
You have this image right now, of an action star, tough guy, but there is, for lack of a better term, maybe a slightly nerdy side to Vin Diesel, is that fair to say?

audience: *laughs*

Conan:
Please don't rip my head off, reach into my neck, and pull my heart out, but... You can do that later, but.., let's just say a side of you that people might not expect.

VIN:
I spent a lot of years playing a game called Dungeons and Dragons.

audience: *laughs*

VIN:
Very few people know that I was rolling 20-sided dice and talking like a half-orc

Conan:
You would talk in the voice when you played the game?

VIN:
Oh, we completely role-played, yea.

Conan:
*laughs* you're kidding?!

VIN:
(in the voice of a half-orc) "How dare you!?"

Conan:
That's amazing! (in a nerdy voice) "Fear not, Gandalf is on the way!"

audience: *laughs*

Conan:
That's what I would be, if I was playing with you. You would not let me play with you, probably. You'd be like "that guy's too nerdy, he's gotta go."

audience: *laughs*

Conan:
So you played this for like how long?

VIN:
For like 24 years.

Conan:
For 24 years?! *laughs* I know...

audience: *laughs*

VIN:
Now I call it the training ground for imagination.

Conan:
Right, well that's very...

VIN:
But this was before video games. I started playing in the 70s. And, this was, I mean, I could have played Risk, Monopoly, or D&D.

Conan:
Right, which was probably the cooler of those games.

VIN:
I think, yea.

Conan:
And you created a character for youself, didn't you?

VIN:
I created a character... No one knows this, but in Triple-X, one of the tattoos, right above my belly-button, or below my belly button, I don't know why I'm saying this *hoots from audience*, was the name Melkor. And that came from a character that I had, uh..

Conan:
That you created in Dungeons and Dragons?

VIN:
that I created. That was a Drow witch-hunter. Double-specialized witch-hunter. but this is all

Conan:
There are so many nerds watching right now who are just thrilled. Cause you're making them
cool, suddenly. All these guys are watching going "Go, Vin Diesel, Go! Go!" All hail, Melkor, you know?

audience: *applause and laughter*

Conan:
I think that's neat though. See that you did, see that you'll talk about it.

Quote:

Good things don't happen to those who wait!

Good things happen to those who make them happen!

Vin Diesel Interview

By Shawn Adler in Los Angeles
You haven't really arrived in Hollywood until you've arrived late. Starving artists and young starlets arrive on time. Punctuality, we all agree, is decidedly B-List. Not that anyone wouldn't wait for Vin Diesel. He of the gravel voice and chiseled features, the man who first caught our eyes in "Saving Private Ryan" and our ears in "The Iron Giant" and who vaulted into superstardom with roles in "The Fast and the Furious" and "xXx," is A-List enough to take as long as he damn well pleases. He waited five years to unleash upon the world "The Chronicles of Riddick," a follow-up to the successful sci-fi film "Pitch Black."And if I was going to have to wait an hour for an interview, well, that suits me just fine.

Q: How are you?

VIN : Oh my God, I'm shot. I'm shot.

Q: What question have you been asked the most this junket that you're sick of?

VIN: At some press junkets you get questions that you don't want to be asked. For some reason, this press junket, I have been asked wonderful, incredible, intelligent, insightful questions.

Q: Is it true you're really into Dungeons and Dragons?

VIN: No. I never play D&D. For some reason, they thought that I played D&D for 20 years. They thought that I spent years playing Barbarians, Witchunters, The Arcanum. They thought I played D&D back in the '70s when it's just the basic D&D set. They thought I continued to play D&D when it became Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. hey thought I played D&D when there were only three books - the "Player's Handbook," the "Monster's Manual" and the "Dungeon Master's Guide." They thought I played D&D as it continued onto the Unearthed Arcanum, Oriental Adventures, Sea Adventures, Wilderness Adventures. THEY thought I played D&D at the time when "Deities and Demigods" was the brand new book. THEY thought I played D&D when I used to get up to a place called The Complete Strategist in New York.

[Mouths: "I'm into D&D a lot."]

Q: Did you bring that fantasy element to Riddick?

VIN: Where do you think Elementals come from? From Air Elementals. Of course, the attributes have been augmented a little bit for Dame Judi Dench, but the concept of Elementals came from Dungeons and Dragons. The concept of creating a world of neutrality. We all know that David Twohy is incredibly proficient in the sci-fi world, which I don't know that much about. I'm a fantasy guy. So I brought the fantasy element to the picture, he brought the sci-fi, and it came together. You see that in every aspect of the film. If you watch the film, the very movements and mannerisms and fighting styles and lurching through the air is right out of that.

Q: Why was it important for you to revisit this character?

VIN: 'Cause he's the coolest character I've ever come across!

Q: What makes him so cool?

VIN: He's an antihero. He's the quintessential antihero. We all know how much I love antiheroes. It takes you 45 minutes in the movie just for Riddick to understand the word "heroism," let alone for anyone to hope that he can be heroic. That's cool. That's real. You can invest in this guy's spiritual growth. He's a guy that embraces that indifference and doesn't care what anybody thinks about it, who wants to be left alone. He's a guy that thinks that anything that happens with the universe has nothing to do with him and he doesn't care. That's kind of cool.

Q: What is your Riddick workout?

VIN: The Riddick workout started before I went up there. I was training with a UFC guy, Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter. I got up there two months early and started training in a fighting style called Kali, which originated in Spain and was then brought to the Philippines by Spanish traders. It's a fighting style that's just now beginning to catch wind. It's a fighting style that calls for ambidextrous, two-handed fighting. And that's what we studied. I went up two months early to learn this fighting style.

Q: Having passed on "xXx 2," how much is personally at stake for this franchise to take off?

VIN: I don't see it like that. I see it - like going back to the D&D - this wasn't like creating a movie. This was like creating a universe. I've already won. The idea that I was able to do this from nothing is - I mean, I was literally playing Dungeons and Dragons with Judi Dench and Karl Urban at nights after shooting. I will tell you that I was showing her Dungeons and Dragons books and showing her the different properties of Elementals. Call me crazy.

Q: So you don't feel any pressure to make this film work, with the hype of your career?

VIN: Well, for some reason, I was more nervous at the premiere than I have ever been on any premiere. I was nervous because it was something that I had been working on for five years that is so close, been such a labor of love and that made me anxious for some reason last night. I don't know why I'm more nervous at this than I've ever been. Having said that, the second I finished my first day of shooting with Judi Dench, I won. I had accomplished a real goal. The second I was able, the second the studio greenlit this epic that didn't spawn from a book that was in existence for 50 years, that didn't come from a comic book character, that was completely an original project, I felt like I was satisfied.

Q: Why did you pass on "xXx 2"?

VIN: I never do sequels in a reactionary way. I don't mean that to be holier than thou. I had to do "The Chronicles of Riddick." I waited a year to do it. I didn't do anything for a year, just to make sure everything was right with "The Chronicles of Riddick," and just make sure that the cast was right. The script was right. The mythology was right. When I was done doing the first "xXx," at the end of production, when I would brush my teeth at times, I would see these two blue eyes staring back at me in the mirror, which was an indication it was time to revisit "The Chronicles of Riddick." I didn't have the rights to the wonderful Tolkien books that inspired us all to play D&D. I didn't have the rights to comic book characters. I wanted to create a modern day futuristic mythology, so I dedicated everything to "The Chronicles of Riddick."

Q: How did the cut of the film fall short of your original conception?

VIN: Well, thank God I created a company called Tigon Studios, which created the video game where I was able to add 25 minutes of story, so you see what he's been doing on the snow-covered planet for five years. You witness the point in his life where his eyes are transformed and how that happens.

Q: Were there things from the game, then, that you wanted to see in the film?

VIN: There are things that I wanted to see in the film, but thank God for DVD, [where] you can incorporate them into the DVD. The theatrical experience is dictated by so many elements. If it were up to me, it'd be a four-hour movie.

Q: What has the journey been like for you, these last 10 years? What would you say to people aspiring to follow a similar path?

VIN: Well, for anyone that were to ask me advice about it all or to comment on the journey - I started acting at seven years old. It took me 20 years to understand that if I was going to make my dreams a reality, I had to take the reigns. I had to learn something about being productive and being self- - what's the word I'm looking for? Self-sufficient, but I had to be productive at all costs and I had to make product. Because I was going around, telling everyone I was an actor and unless you were coming to a theatrical play I was in, you would never know.

Q: So your short film, "Multi-Facial," was a tool?

VIN: The short was an artistic expression that at that point, after that long, I wanted to make movies. And that was the release of that desire, that drive. And something that people don't know is that I wrote Strays a year before I did "Multi-Facial." But I couldn't get "Strays" made because it cost $50,000 and I didn't have the money. So what successful people know, and what I learned was, if you can't do it all, do what you can. So I wrote a short film, a 20-minute short film. I wrote it in five days, and I used the means that I had accessible.

Q: Is the man sitting here different than the man then?

VIN: That's debatable.

Q: Are you considering "The Fast and the Furious 3"?

VIN: I haven't seen a script. It would be unfair for me to say that I would rule something out without seeing the script.

Q: Is your elephant bracelet for Hannibal? Is it finally happening?

VIN: Why are you saying is it finally happening? Have you heard me talk about that? Okay, well, there you go. Proof of what I was saying before. I can tell you some production people that I'm working with. Did you know that David Franzoni wrote the script? David Franzoni handed in an incredible script, and you know what Franzoni has written? "Gladiator" and "Amistad." Did you know that Sylvaine Dupris, who is Ridley Scott's storyboard artist and storyboarded "Gladiator," has been working with me for the last month?

Q: Is there a director?

VIN: You're about to get me in trouble. Did you know that I was planning to do a multi-lingual version of Hannibal the Conqueror?

Q: Multi-lingual?

VIN: First of all, in the ancient times, they weren't all speaking Greek. But Italian obviously, Roman for the Romans, an ancient version of French for the Gauls, an old ancient Latin for Spain, for new Carthaginia, a Carthaginian based language that I may use a Maltese language for. And all that in service of speaking to the fact that Hannibal, one of his greatest attributes was that he was able to amass a polyglot army of all these broken people to fight tyranny at the time.

Q: It must make Riddick preparation seem like child's play.

VIN: Crazy, crazy, crazy.

D&D - Heroes All Over and Forever

FOR A WHILE, it seemed, I was part of a generation with no discernable qualities, no great contribution to American culture. Too young to be boomers, too old to be "Gen X," this generation was a product of the burned out excess of the seventies married to the surface glow of the eighties. But here in 2004, I realize I belong to the luckiest generation, and not only that, I am part of the luckiest sub-culture within. Maybe we didn't give the world the Beatles or John Updike, but we gave the world Dungeons and Dragons.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beloved, much maligned, often misunderstood role playing game developed in 1974 by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. Without CGI graphics, surround sound, or flat screens, they invented an immense and complex gaming system that requires only pencils, graph paper, and some oddly configured dice. Arneson and Gygax paved the way, but let's face it, my friends and I changed the world.

It started innocently enough. With a copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" at my side and Styx on the record player, I was looking for something to help me rise above being bored, lonely, and unfulfilled. One day at school, a kid approached me. Having sensed in me an ally -- the same urgent need to avoid getting beat up that day -- he timidly asked if I wanted to play "D&D" after school.

From then on, I never had another forlorn afternoon. And to think, from that first fateful day when I decided I would be known as the half-elf wizard Vendel, I was joining a revolution. But what exactly were we transforming?

To put it simply, Dungeons and Dragons reinvented the use of the imagination as a kid's best toy. The cliche of parents waxing nostalgic for their wooden toys and things "they had to make themselves" has now become my own. Looking around at my toddler's room full of trucks, trains, and Transformers, I want to cry out, "I created worlds with nothing more than a twenty-sided die!"

Dungeons and Dragons was a not a way out of the mainstream, as some parents feared and other kids suspected, but a way back into the realm of story-telling. This was what my friends and I were doing: creating narratives to make sense of feeling socially marginal. We were writing stories, grand in scope, with heroes, villains, and the entire zoology of mythical creatures. Even sports, the arch-nemesis of role-playing games, is a splendid tale of adventure and glory. Though my friends and I were not always athletically inclined, we found agility in the characters we created. We fought, flew through the air, shot arrows out of the park, and scored points by slaying the dragon and disabling the trap.

Our influence is now everywhere. My generation of gamers -- whose youths were spent holed up in paneled wood basements crafting identities, mythologies, and geographies with a few lead figurines -- are the filmmakers, computer programmers, writers, DJs, and musicians of today. I think, for the producers, the movie version of "The Lord of the Rings" was less about getting the trilogy off the page and onto the screen than it was a vicarious thrill, a gift to the millions of us who wished we could have dressed up as orcs and ventured into catacombs and castle keeps ourselves. Only a generation of imaginations roused by role playing could have made those movies possible.

Dungeons and Dragons is seeing an increase in popularity as a whole new generation raised on video games begins to look for a way back to the more personally and socially engaging pleasures of sitting around with a bunch of friends and making stuff up. Imagine, parents, that some of your kids are actually turning the TV off to talk to each other, to play something that they have to "make themselves."

I am getting ready to introduce the game to my son. In a little drawer I have an unopened box of those funny-sided dice, not exactly a family relic, but a tradition to pass on nonetheless. And let's not forget that even though we are talking about a world of basilisks, knights, and talking trees, Dungeons and Dragons can help us make new stories out of the very world around us.

Democrats, you better get yourselves a magic shield, because in Congress, Bush has plus three to hit.

Upgrading to Wife 1.0

Upgrading to Wife 1.0

Last a friend of mine upgraded from Girlfriend 4.0 to Wife 1.0 and found
that it's memory hog leaving few system resources for other applications.
He is now noticing the Wife 1.0 is also spawning Child-processes, which is
further consuming valuable resources. No mention of this particular
phenomenon was included in the product documentation, though other users
have informed me that this is to be expected due to the nature of the
application.

Not only that, Wife 1.0 installs itself so that it is always launched at
system initialization where it can monitor all other system activity. Some
applications such as PokerNight 10.3, BachelorParty 2.5 and PubNight 7.0
are no longer able to run on the system at all, causing the system to
lockup when launched (even though the apps worked fine before).

Wife 1.0 provides no installation options. Thus, the installation of
undesired plug-ins such as Mother-in-law 55.8 and the Brother-in-law Beta
is unavoidable. Also system performance seems to diminish each passing day.


Some features my friend would like to see in the upcoming Wife 2.0:

A "don't remind me again button"
A Minimize button
The ability to delete the "headache" file
An install feature that provides an option to uninstall 2.0 version
without loss of other system resources
An option to run the network driver in "promiscuous mode" allowing the
systems hardware probe to be much more useful/effective.

I myself wish I had decided to avoid all of the headaches associated with
Wife 1.0 by sticking with Girlfriend 3.0. Even here, however, I have found
many problems. Apparently you cannot install Girlfriend 4.0. You must
uninstall Girlfriend 3.0 first, otherwise the two versions of Girlfriend
will have conflicts over shared use of the I/O port.

Other users have told me that this is a long-standing problem that I
should have been aware of. Guess that explains what happened to versions 1
& 2.

To make matters worse, the uninstall program for Girlfriend 3.0 doesn't
work very well, leaving undesirable traces of the application in the
system. Another identified problem is that all versions of Girlfriend have
annoying little messages about the advantages of upgrading to Wife 1.0.

VIRUS ALERT

All users should be aware that Wife 1.0 has an undocumented bug. If you
try to install Mistress 1.1 before uninstalling Wife 1.0, Wife 1.0 will
delete MS Money files before doing the uninstall itself. Once that
happens, Mistress 1.1. won't install and you will get an "insufficient
resources" error message. To avoid the aforementioned bug, try installing
Mistress 1.1 on a different system and 'never'
run any file transfer applications (such as Laplink) between the two
systems.

Don't Close Your Blinds

My mother sent me this little story and I read it as tears began to well up in my eyes.
This story may be just that, a story, but please read it and think of how true these words are.
I will be the first to say that I hate war.
But we must defend our country, and those that cannot defend themselves!
God Bless America!
He has many times before, and I pray that he continues to.

Please read this...
God Bless You!

The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our Country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.
My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. He said "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbor's houses." he replied."
"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."
"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.
"OK Dad, I'm pretending."
"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this son.... what do you do?"
"Dad?"
"What do you do son?"
"I'd call the police, Dad."
"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"
"Dad.......... but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.
"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says
"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.
"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."
"Daddy...he kills them?"
"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"
"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.
"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. ;He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.
"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"
"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?"
Our son starts to cry. "OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"
"What Daddy?"
"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in he window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
"Daddy..."
"WHAT DO YOU DO?
" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the blinds, Daddy."
My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him..."Why?"
"Because Daddy.....the polic e are supposed to help people who need them...and they won't help.... You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself Daddy.....I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and.....do nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds.... so I can't see what he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."
I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and he says..."Son"
"Yes, Daddy."
"Open the blinds because that man.... he's at your front door..."WHAT DO YOU DO?"
My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: " I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"
I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says... "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children and the old lady across the way.You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before it's too late." my husband whispers. THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen son, THAT is the greatest EVIL of all. Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove evil men from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our window so that my nine year old son won't grow up in a world where he feels that if he just "closes the blinds" the atrocities in the world won't affect him.
"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA!! SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...

When I Say You're Beautiful...

This is a little poem that popped into my head that I had to write down...

When I Say You're Beautiful
I'm not just talking about the clothes you're wearing.
I'm not just talking about the way your hair is fixed up, or not.
I'm not just talking about the look on your face at the time.
I'm not just talking about your makeup, or lack thereof.

When I Say You're Beautiful
I mean so much more

When I Say You're Beautiful
I mean everything inside of you.
I mean the thoughts behind your looks.
I mean the past wonders that have happened between the two of us.
I mean the love I have for you.
I mean the power between us two.
I mean everything you are to me.
I mean how special you are.

When I Say You're Beautiful
I mean, I love you.
You're special.
And you mean the world to me!

Life is Complicated! An Update...

Well, I am a good ways into the school year and I am about to loose my mind.
I am so busy I almost cannot believe it myself.

I got a new job working in June for a not-for-profit agency titled S.E.R.V.E. & E.N.T.E.R.
Obviously these are acronyms for something.
SERVE is Sex Equity Recources for Vocational Educators
ENTER is Education for NonTraditional Employment Roles
All that is summed up in one office.
Jack is my co-worker, and co-hort in crime here, with Judy as our boss. Another, older, lady also works with us who comes in of an early morning and takes care of sending out many of the books and videos that are a part of SERVE's library that we have.
Jack is a Journalism major who also enjoys playing the drums ( ROCK ON! )
He and I get along quite well. We enjoy working together, and it has been a blast so far.
We both have good senses of humor and have fun doing the job.
Basically we do a lot of desktop publishing.
I hope to have a website soon where I can post all of the brochures, posters, and the calendar that we have done.
We are just starting the Breaking Traditions contest which is for students who are studying to work in nontraditional roles for their gender. Such as a male that is in nursing or a female that is in construction.
I love the job and the atmosphere.

To add to my pile I just got approved for a work study program at school.
I will be working under the Faculty Technology Coordinator ( even he doesn't know what that means ) to teach other professors how to use Microsoft Front Page and make / maintain their webpages. I have not started this yet, but it should be any time. I am also looking forward to this.

School stacked on top of this has just made everything crazy.
My homework load has been tremendous this sememster. But I like to say that:
" It is better to be busy, than bored! "

Then, the last major adition to my schedule, is that I joined an Ultimate Frisbee league that plays every Sunday at 2:00. I am SUPER PUMPED about this. I love Ultimate Frisbee as almost anyone can tell after knowing me a short time (and most people know that playing frisbee around me can be dangerous because, for some reason, someone ALWAYS gets hit ) - Sorry Bro. Rivera!!!

James (my roomate) and I are now living in a duplex in El Chaparrel, which is interesting because this is now the fourth house I have lived in which is in that neighborhood.
We enjoy the extra space compared to our old appartment. However, we seem to be lacking in the furniture department. Randy was kind enough to offer us another recliner in addition to the one my father already gifted us (rather, we are babysitting). Everything else in the appartment is glass surfaces. Yall know how I love my glass!!! :-)

Mom is getting along without having me right there to work on the computers, I'm just not sure how WELL she is getting along though :-).

Well, that's all for now, more on the Cataclism of non-random events that is complicated Life later!