Cantousent

Rhumboogie --- Will Bradley/Jimmy Valentine

I'm rather enjoying Supernatural. It makes up for the torment of the Gilmore Girls hour. Since my wife likes both shows, I get a fair dose of both.

I cried for you --- Tony Corbiscello

Hahahaha. I love it. This is the sort of crazy non-sense that makes the Democrats look silly. You're the sort of fringe sort of liberal who truly hurts their own cause. You are truly suggesting that the United States is only a step away from being as bad as Iran? Hades, keep talking. Seriously, not only is it a good laugh, but it also engenders sympathy for Bush. After all, if he were really willing to persecute folks for dissent, why haven't they hunted you and made you disappear already? If you were only a bit smarter, I imagine I'd run into you at UCLA with all the other crazies who wonder why the rest of us just don't get how terrible our lives are. Of course, most of them haven't had to live in government subsidized housing and live off of foodstamps. Maybe that's why I'm a bit leery of listening to the whole conspiracy theory line. Most of the folks advancing such theories are decidedly lacking in both intelligence and imagination.

See, if I were still a moderator, I couldn't observe that this stance is both idiotic and absurd. Iran is a democracy? Sure, Hades. When you have time to pull your head out of the sand, or any place you happen to keep your head these days, then you might reassess the whole idea of a democratic Iran. Still, that's not so stupid as the idea that you're using a pretty serious international issue to push a domestic political agenda. While it might be better if no-one had nukes, Iran is the poster child for mayhem. By the way, the Iranian Theocracy, which is the only real power in Iranian politics, doesn't care that you're a peace at any price pacifist. They'd kill you all the same. If you think otherwise, you're being more than a bit foolish. You think you hate those all terrible Christians who've persecuted you in the United States? Just wait until you get a taste of some of the religious persecution you could expect in other places around the globe. Of course, it's always refreshing to have you arguing for the other side. It adds weight to one's own case.

For my new daily commute, I have to get up at 4am. I used to press the snooze button and set my alarm early and all sorts of things. To be honest, I think you should just tough it out. I set my alarm for 4am. When my alarm sounds in the morning, I get up right away, without even thinking, and then head to the bathroom immediately. Age has been a help of late, since I invariably must use the restroom anyhow. The point is, get in the habit of getting up immediately. Don't mess around with snooze or whatnot. Don't worry about getting to bed early the first night. Just make sure you force yourself to get up early in the morning. Nature will take over soon enough and you'll be able to sleep easily after a few days of such an exhausting schedule. After you get used to a schedule of getting up early in the morning and going to bed relatively early at night, then you should try to keep a similar schedule on the weekends. No, that doesn't mean you can't catch some extra sleep, but don't sleep until noon on Saturday. Sleep an extra hour or so. If you have to get up really early, something like my 4am schedule, get up around six or so. That way, you're not confusing your body by keeping different schedules. You might want to start working out during the day. A good workout helps you sleep, keeps your body in good shape, and makes you look better to members of the opposite sex (or the same sex if that's your preference). Finally, if you simply hate getting up that early in the morning, don't take jobs or classes that require an early schedule. It might be easier to work your schedule around the time you find easiest to sleep. That's the long and short of it. Discipline yourself and it won't be a problem.

That death.... it's been going around.

Every Rose has Its Thorn -- Poison

I think Ender's got some qualities that would help him as a moderator. ...But he would simply have to scale back his combative nature. This is a good example of going overboard. Thanking Gromnir for his input and then ignoring his comments would have made Gromnir look meanspirited. Now everything is shaping up into a real argument and I'm scratching my head as to what purpose it served to choose this fight. Of course, these days I don't tend to choose any fight, so who am I to talk? One thing I have to say is that I always leave the real decisions to the powers that be. I give advice freely, sure. Advice is free to give. Whether anyone listens to what I say in the first place is another matter. :Eldar's foolish grin icon:

I prefer the Avalon Hills Civilization game to the new Sid Meir's Civilization board game. Avalon Hills Civilization is just awesome. Takes at the very least three players, better with six or seven, and takes forever to play. ...But it's worth it.

I was exchanging PMs with someone recently, and skynet's name came up. He was always a level headed moderator for the IP boards. He's a great choice. He's unobtrusive, polite, helpful, and he lurks more than he talks. If that's not the makings of a great moderator, I don't know what is.

This actually made me laugh.

I don't think any of the folks on the list will be a moderator in these parts. That's just a gut instinct, but it seems a reasonable conclusion. The person with the best chance is probably Darth Launch, and I think she'd run like hell once she realized how time consuming it is. For the record, I think Gromnir has the capacity to be a great moderator. I've just always felt that it would be a step down for him. He certainly couldn't be a moderator while posting in the manner he currently enjoys. I wish Karzak were still a member here. I always rather liked the guy, even when I got into a rather ugly argument with him over at the Bioware boards around about the time I bought NWN. You know, I'm not a huge NWN fan, but Karzak just goes nuts from time to time. At least he did. I don't know what he does now. As far the whole thing with Fionavar goes, I'll drop it if you wish, but if anyone warranted special attention, it's Karzak.

I've played many board games over the years. Avalon Hills Civilization is still a favorite. One of my friends from school plays a lot of board games such as stratego, risk, clue, etc. It's funny, but she's a gamer's dream. Young, pretty, and she loves games of all sorts. I draw the line at that dance revolution non-sense. So, there are at least two of us who play both board games and computer games.

Yeah, I added a bunch of categories and then revamped my scoring after I did yours. I think I'll just compile and redo all them to use the same standard. Of course, I shouldn't reward you guys griefing me! ...But we'll see. :D

That's true, but you don't know how seriously folks take gaming fora around these parts. When you are set as a moderator, your PM folder is four times the size as a normal member and gets filled twice as fast. Usually, these PMs are folks complaining to you about other members. About half of them, as Gromnir said, see you as "the man." You're the oppressive mod who works for Obsidian Entertainmnet. The other half, again, as Gromnir said, see you as some yutz who spends too much time on the message board. Still, for the most part, folks generally respect moderators. There are two specific points on which I'd like to comment. First of all, I disagree with having a alt account for the purpose of moderating. I respect the fact that some of the mods have one, but I disagree with it. Second of all, Fionavar has done a fine job over three iterations of boards. If he didn't do a fine job, I imagine Admin would have been done with him by now. He essentially runs this message board for Obz. I mean no disrespect to GM, but Fionavar is the man when it comes to taking care of the community. ...And he does so with better judgement and less power than I've seen of chief moderators on other boards. What some folks, including Gromnir, see as caprice, I see as discernment.

The peer pressure charge falls flat at any rate. Having taught in a classroom setting, I can tell you that peer pressure works both ways and there are parts of the country where a student who actually stands and says the pledge as written is more likely to bear the brunt of ridicule than the students who stand around talking or mocking the pledge. I really tire of folks using the peer pressure argument. There is simply too much evidence to the contrary. Of course, at least their not as bad as the fools who suggest there's nothing but the "world community" or other such nonsense. Nations exists to look after the communities in aggregate. Bringing your community to a war is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. The nation, any nation, exists to provide defence and protect the interests of its citizens. To suggest otherwise is not only random, it's rather stupid as well.

I'm still learning the game. I liked the fact that we managed to argue about things today. It gave everyone a chance to get to develop our characters. I just wish I weren't such a wimp in a fight. I was thinking about being a sort of smooth talking academic type. ...And I'd really like to get a chance to role-play a feeding. Not for some perverted reason, but just because I think it'd be interesting seeing how it works. At least that's my story. I'm sorry for bolting so quickly, but we've had some interesting things going on in our lives lately and I needed to speak to her immediately.

haha! You've figured out my evil plans already, Lucius! Curses, foiled again! :Eldar's Snidely Whiplash icon: Aw, who am I kidding, I called folks goofs, doofi, and yutzes while I was still a moderator. Speaking of yutzes... I voted for you, Child. You can count me as a true supporter, but not an athletic supporter.

I don't trust any of you. I'll be there, however, if you give me the time. This is the session where I can actually see a battle and maybe use my cool... uh... academic skillz.

I think Admin was considering, at one point, taking all of the PMs and creating some sort of soap opera proposal out of them. I wonder what happened with that. Lucius, you're just a big goof.

No, the mods don't read PMs, dammit. Admin could if it wanted, but I don't think Admin cares about our PMs.

I'm not so lucky to have an administrative assistant to take care of such matters for me. On the other hand, it occurs to me that I've never bought my own ticket for a flight. ...And I've flown a lot. I've either had the tickets and hotel arrangements sent to me or someone else has bought my tickets and I've picked them up at the airport. ...Or I've flown courtesy of the United States armed services.

Ghost Story --- Sting I watch the Western sky The sun is sinking The geese are flying South It sets me thinking I did not miss you much I did not suffer What did not kill me Just made me tougher I feel the winter come His icy sinews Now in the fire light The case continues Another night in court The same old trial The same old questions asked The same denial The shadows closely run Like jury members I look for answers in The fire's embers Why was I missing then That whole December I give my usual line: I don't remember Another winter comes His icy fingers creep Into these bones of mine These memories never sleep And all these differences A cloak I borrow We kept our distances Why should it follow I must have loved you What is the force that binds the stars I wore this mask to hide my scars What is the power that pulls the tide I never could find a place to hide What moves the Earth around the sun What could I do but run and run and run Afraid to love, afraid to fail A mast without a sail The moon's a fingernail and slowly sinking Another day begins and now I'm thinking That this indifference was my invention When everything I did sought your attention You were my compass star You were my measure You were a pirate's map A buried treasure If this was all correct The last thing I'd expect The prosecution rests It's time that I confess: I must have loved you

"Ghost Story" --- Sting