So some randoms news for you all. First off, Mt. Saint Helens keys off on the debate later tonight by stirring up the west coast. I guess mother nature isn't satisfied with driving all Floridians out of Florida she seems to be trying to drive more Americans from their homes. Will it help make the elections saner? One can only pray. Maybe it can be debate hot seat on St. Helens :D
I watched Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 last night. Very good stuff, each movie had its strongpoints although I think overall I preffered 1. Some of the blood spraying could be scaled back and the whole hospital scene (you know which one) probably didn't need to be included. Anyhow glad I got a chance to watch them.
Finally, check out the Fae who are the latest Exalted hardcover. Def. the prettiest cover yet. I am excited although I'll prolly get it right after I get home. I'd give you a close up but the ISH cyber cafe computers are being crappy so maybe when I am back in our room. Anyhow, that is all. I wish I could see SNL's version of the debate!
30 September 2004
23 September 2004
Avoiding Karaoke
Yea, that's what I'm doing. Not really up for a re-hash of "I got you babe". I did my hard time already. Prolly will go, everyone else seems to be heading in that direction from our group, rather find the Canadian girls (cause they're cute and quiet!!) even tho I can't remember their names. Called Claudia Clare and they don't even have a Clare in their group, that had to go over well. Oy. Anywho, we seem to get louder and more insensitive to the people around us as we go. I was hoping as a group that this trip would be fairly strong proof that Americans usually aren't that loud, rude, arrogant, or whatever most of the time. We seem to be doing the opposite. Granting even I've said dumb things a couple times, there are days I seem incapable of saying smart things, alas now Europeans (and Canadians) have to put up with it. Poor them. At least I know why the continent hates us so much, we get real breakfasts not a single roll and some random spread. They could just ask and we'd airlife over a couple thousand Egg McMuffins a day. Or better yet their McDonalds on every other corner could make them for them!
Right. So a couple things to get noted, both AmbrosiaSW and White Wolf have gotten new webboards as of late. I haven't hit Ambrosia's in awhile due mainly to growing out of that type of group except at random bored moments (such as late) but their olds boards were always impressive and these new ones are quite good as well. WW has slowly been ironing the bugs out of their boards considering how major an upgrade they have made. I am happy with both although I don't have much to say or read on either these days.
Fair Folk will reportedly come out a whopping 328 pages in length second only to the core book for Exalted. No wonder ProductionBrian had all but dissapeared.
BTW I was going to try and upload some pictures to the blog which happily support such things these days but it requires a program to do that directly and I can't do that on John's comp. John has about half the group's pictures so he has a nice collection to work with posting wise. I may try and dump them onto my old geocities page and link from there. Kinda depends on how motivated I am.
I have picked up 4 or 5 books now for Jovian Chronicles so I have some side reading to do since I have pretty much finished all the books I brought barring the 9/11 Commission Report which I have gotten bogged down in just about halfway thru. JC is a pretty interesting concept but I am frustrated you need SilCore rulebook to know the system or use OGL D20 which is hardly supported outside of the core sourcebook. It also needs a decent spell check run and slightly better layout in regards to combat stats for ships and exos (ie mecha). It's impossible to figure out how many exos the ships carry! I guess I am rather spoiled by WW's fantastic editing and art departments although this is mainly ProductionBrian. However it's an interesting setting as I said and very cool mecha. Gundams in space which observe the laws of physics! Kinda annoying to have to explain it to each and every other person in our group when I am reading one of the books in class. It's so incredibly hard for people to grasp for whatever reason not using a computer or anything! But I did figure out why I enjoy RPGs so much even if I don't get to play them, it gives my, at times, over-active imagination a new world to play in so it's kinda like a new jungle gym for it to swing around on.
Speaking of gaming I did find a group that plays here, they actually meet literally right next to ISH at a pub called The Green Man. So I am in a d20 Modern game with a bunch of Brits. The GM, Rob, is hilarious. It'd take too long to explain but his accent really helps.
Is there anything else I can ramble about now I wonder? I think I am gonna go over to the ISH pub, where karaoke is at, around 10 and just slip quietly in for a bit. I should go see if Lindsay wants to go but she was complaining about a headache so I don't want to pester her. I am so indecisive when it comes to the opposite sex :/
I adjusted my post times to GMT-Greenwich time so I think it now now on London time but not quite postive, see when I went to post tonight it said I started at 8:05 PM which isn't exactly right, I was sprawled out on my bed, in the dark, listening to my iPod at the moment. Maybe some more fiddling will be involved.
Tommorow we go to the Globe theatre to see "Much Ado About Nothing". We're going as groundlings so it better not be raining or super chilly or I'm gonna be pretty darned unhappy. Standing for 2-3 hours in cold wet conditions are not on my top list of things to do in London. Boo! Plus it's a long walk back too. I should note I am holding off on using the Tube here as long as possible because it's far better exercise to walk places here and I'll always have enough time to get anywhere in Central London on foot so I can save money and be in better shape! However when we are told we have to be out at a tour at the Globe 3 1/2 hours prior to our performance it's rather annoying especially when we just found out we're standing! (Yea I am complaining for no reason at this point, if it was really bad I could take the Tube. I'll live, I am just venting a tiny bit.)
I have succeeded in beating Mindsweeper 3 times in my life now. The things you do when trying not to type papers. As for taking so long in my life to beat Mindsweeper I will remind you I prefer Macs and the school computers only have Hearts. So that is my excuse, got it? :P
I've learned the basic rules to cricket too. I can't bowl (pitch) because they do it crazy but I could do the rest. It's crazy to watch. I got to see an ametuer match at Lord's Cricket Statium and also got to see the home of the English cricket team who upset the Aussies (alas not there so no live game) whilst I was on the tour. Four fours and they were up 85-1 with only 14 overs! Anyhow you all must cheer for the English going into the world championship versus West Indies. Not sure who's favored but if the English do as well as they did Tuesday they've got it in the bag! BTW if you are wondering they won 262-4 (England) 258-9 (Australia). The number after the dash is a bad thing. I have still not found out if the term "wicked googly" relates at all to cricket.
Right, this must be incredibly long but I don't care much at the moment. I needed a good ramble here and I won't be getting out to Regent's Park anytime soon to write in my journal in the rain (because it always mists/drizzles when I go there to write but I have a good hiding place) so needed an outvent. Whee, rambling, it's not an art, it's a freaking professional sport!
Right. So a couple things to get noted, both AmbrosiaSW and White Wolf have gotten new webboards as of late. I haven't hit Ambrosia's in awhile due mainly to growing out of that type of group except at random bored moments (such as late) but their olds boards were always impressive and these new ones are quite good as well. WW has slowly been ironing the bugs out of their boards considering how major an upgrade they have made. I am happy with both although I don't have much to say or read on either these days.
Fair Folk will reportedly come out a whopping 328 pages in length second only to the core book for Exalted. No wonder ProductionBrian had all but dissapeared.
BTW I was going to try and upload some pictures to the blog which happily support such things these days but it requires a program to do that directly and I can't do that on John's comp. John has about half the group's pictures so he has a nice collection to work with posting wise. I may try and dump them onto my old geocities page and link from there. Kinda depends on how motivated I am.
I have picked up 4 or 5 books now for Jovian Chronicles so I have some side reading to do since I have pretty much finished all the books I brought barring the 9/11 Commission Report which I have gotten bogged down in just about halfway thru. JC is a pretty interesting concept but I am frustrated you need SilCore rulebook to know the system or use OGL D20 which is hardly supported outside of the core sourcebook. It also needs a decent spell check run and slightly better layout in regards to combat stats for ships and exos (ie mecha). It's impossible to figure out how many exos the ships carry! I guess I am rather spoiled by WW's fantastic editing and art departments although this is mainly ProductionBrian. However it's an interesting setting as I said and very cool mecha. Gundams in space which observe the laws of physics! Kinda annoying to have to explain it to each and every other person in our group when I am reading one of the books in class. It's so incredibly hard for people to grasp for whatever reason not using a computer or anything! But I did figure out why I enjoy RPGs so much even if I don't get to play them, it gives my, at times, over-active imagination a new world to play in so it's kinda like a new jungle gym for it to swing around on.
Speaking of gaming I did find a group that plays here, they actually meet literally right next to ISH at a pub called The Green Man. So I am in a d20 Modern game with a bunch of Brits. The GM, Rob, is hilarious. It'd take too long to explain but his accent really helps.
Is there anything else I can ramble about now I wonder? I think I am gonna go over to the ISH pub, where karaoke is at, around 10 and just slip quietly in for a bit. I should go see if Lindsay wants to go but she was complaining about a headache so I don't want to pester her. I am so indecisive when it comes to the opposite sex :/
I adjusted my post times to GMT-Greenwich time so I think it now now on London time but not quite postive, see when I went to post tonight it said I started at 8:05 PM which isn't exactly right, I was sprawled out on my bed, in the dark, listening to my iPod at the moment. Maybe some more fiddling will be involved.
Tommorow we go to the Globe theatre to see "Much Ado About Nothing". We're going as groundlings so it better not be raining or super chilly or I'm gonna be pretty darned unhappy. Standing for 2-3 hours in cold wet conditions are not on my top list of things to do in London. Boo! Plus it's a long walk back too. I should note I am holding off on using the Tube here as long as possible because it's far better exercise to walk places here and I'll always have enough time to get anywhere in Central London on foot so I can save money and be in better shape! However when we are told we have to be out at a tour at the Globe 3 1/2 hours prior to our performance it's rather annoying especially when we just found out we're standing! (Yea I am complaining for no reason at this point, if it was really bad I could take the Tube. I'll live, I am just venting a tiny bit.)
I have succeeded in beating Mindsweeper 3 times in my life now. The things you do when trying not to type papers. As for taking so long in my life to beat Mindsweeper I will remind you I prefer Macs and the school computers only have Hearts. So that is my excuse, got it? :P
I've learned the basic rules to cricket too. I can't bowl (pitch) because they do it crazy but I could do the rest. It's crazy to watch. I got to see an ametuer match at Lord's Cricket Statium and also got to see the home of the English cricket team who upset the Aussies (alas not there so no live game) whilst I was on the tour. Four fours and they were up 85-1 with only 14 overs! Anyhow you all must cheer for the English going into the world championship versus West Indies. Not sure who's favored but if the English do as well as they did Tuesday they've got it in the bag! BTW if you are wondering they won 262-4 (England) 258-9 (Australia). The number after the dash is a bad thing. I have still not found out if the term "wicked googly" relates at all to cricket.
Right, this must be incredibly long but I don't care much at the moment. I needed a good ramble here and I won't be getting out to Regent's Park anytime soon to write in my journal in the rain (because it always mists/drizzles when I go there to write but I have a good hiding place) so needed an outvent. Whee, rambling, it's not an art, it's a freaking professional sport!
21 September 2004
Home
Yea, right now I'm a little homesick. It's tuesday night and no Chi Alpha and no mario kart. Frankly tho I miss everyone tho right now, somehow I just feel very alone in this city of 16 million in my group of 29. Kind of silly isn't it? Anyhow I am thinking of you folks back home and seriously wishing I could be there.
Wholly unrelated here but I need to link it for myself later. Not exactly pleasant either but worth a look. However this is not for the weak hearted.
Wholly unrelated here but I need to link it for myself later. Not exactly pleasant either but worth a look. However this is not for the weak hearted.
19 September 2004
Thames Festival
John got his laptop working in the room with internet so now heh I guess I can be on more which is prolly a bad thing. I don't intend to be on much tho but it is nice to be able to check things. NFL scores at my fingertips! w00t!
Anyhow instead of going to the sports bar to watch the Packers lose to the Bears (but how about them Lions, I guess whilst the Dolphins suck I can cheer for them) I went down to the Thames festival with John, Filteau, and Beth (who got to be doted on by 3 guys but hey she's got John so us others are redundant). It was great, we heard a little live reggae by the Top Cats, I think was what they were called, watched a huge parade where the different elements basically competed to be loudest, and then watched fireworks on the Thames river. Very cool. Ton of walking but I don't mind, I've decided to try and not use the Tube much this semester and instead walk it.
I have found a decent tasting alcohol called Strongbow. It's kind of a cider I guess so that is why I think I enjoy it, it doesn't taste like alcohol. Dun worry I am not becoming a drunk or anything.
BTW you all missed my single and hopefully only kareoke performance. Too bad (or good?) for you. I however was forced :P
Anyhow instead of going to the sports bar to watch the Packers lose to the Bears (but how about them Lions, I guess whilst the Dolphins suck I can cheer for them) I went down to the Thames festival with John, Filteau, and Beth (who got to be doted on by 3 guys but hey she's got John so us others are redundant). It was great, we heard a little live reggae by the Top Cats, I think was what they were called, watched a huge parade where the different elements basically competed to be loudest, and then watched fireworks on the Thames river. Very cool. Ton of walking but I don't mind, I've decided to try and not use the Tube much this semester and instead walk it.
I have found a decent tasting alcohol called Strongbow. It's kind of a cider I guess so that is why I think I enjoy it, it doesn't taste like alcohol. Dun worry I am not becoming a drunk or anything.
BTW you all missed my single and hopefully only kareoke performance. Too bad (or good?) for you. I however was forced :P
13 September 2004
Arrival
London. Finally.
Somehow by hook or by crook or by a fairly absurb amount of incredibly dumb luck I have made it here. Can't say a whole lot about the city itself yet, as I haven't really gotten a chance to explore alas. This due mainly to the fact we stumbled into London late last night due to two simaltaneous flats on our coach right off the Calais-Dover ferry. So while we did see it rain several times already within the 18 or so hours we've actually been here, noone as far as I know has actually gotten a chance to explore the city. I, myself, am hunting for a bookstore, a grocery/convience store, and a gaming place of some sort so that I can maybe get something in whilst away from GASP. I have got quite a bit of time tho so I am not massively rushed. The best thing I have to admit was to be able to unpack all the way and enjoy the view from our very spacious room, with balcony, into Regents Park. Never thought I'd get a room with a nice view of the greenery but can't complain I guess.
Classes have already started today and my first half of the week (Monday/Tuesday) are light but Wed/Thurs are packed for me. Lots of history though so I am hoping I will enjoy this semester. Speaking of history, Normandy was by far my favorite part of the trip. We stayed at a small village college Benerie s/mer (that's nowhere near correctly spelled) right on Juno beach. Literally it has the first house liberated by sea-born Canadian forces. In general I just enjoyed being in a small local place rather then the hustle and bustle of huge cities which was where we mostly were. Reality is that I think I am a small town person and the 12 million odds Frenchmen of Paris have the same big city attitudes of New Yorkers, etc to foreigners and strangers, ie they aren't usually that polite.
Visiting the sites in Normandy was very impressive. I have to say that going to the Omaha beach cemetary for Americans nearly broke me down. The little white crosses just go on and on and on. Most of those men buried there were my age or younger. A number of them had no identification, their crosses reading (this isn't an exact quote sorry) "This honored comrade's indentity rests only with God". A very sobering expierence.
I wished we could have spent more time there but alas only a day and a half on the coast. Never got to St. Lo or any of the places I would have wanted to putter about. I did get to see the Aure River which looks frustratingly hard to cross even though it appears to be 10% water 90% mud. The vertical drop is a problem tho.
So anyhow I am in London now, getting settled in and then I'll try and write a little more. Internet is fairly cheap here (£10 for 6 hours which is approx $20 US I'll admit but that is not bad for England believe it or not) so I may write with a decent regularity if time permits.
Somehow by hook or by crook or by a fairly absurb amount of incredibly dumb luck I have made it here. Can't say a whole lot about the city itself yet, as I haven't really gotten a chance to explore alas. This due mainly to the fact we stumbled into London late last night due to two simaltaneous flats on our coach right off the Calais-Dover ferry. So while we did see it rain several times already within the 18 or so hours we've actually been here, noone as far as I know has actually gotten a chance to explore the city. I, myself, am hunting for a bookstore, a grocery/convience store, and a gaming place of some sort so that I can maybe get something in whilst away from GASP. I have got quite a bit of time tho so I am not massively rushed. The best thing I have to admit was to be able to unpack all the way and enjoy the view from our very spacious room, with balcony, into Regents Park. Never thought I'd get a room with a nice view of the greenery but can't complain I guess.
Classes have already started today and my first half of the week (Monday/Tuesday) are light but Wed/Thurs are packed for me. Lots of history though so I am hoping I will enjoy this semester. Speaking of history, Normandy was by far my favorite part of the trip. We stayed at a small village college Benerie s/mer (that's nowhere near correctly spelled) right on Juno beach. Literally it has the first house liberated by sea-born Canadian forces. In general I just enjoyed being in a small local place rather then the hustle and bustle of huge cities which was where we mostly were. Reality is that I think I am a small town person and the 12 million odds Frenchmen of Paris have the same big city attitudes of New Yorkers, etc to foreigners and strangers, ie they aren't usually that polite.
Visiting the sites in Normandy was very impressive. I have to say that going to the Omaha beach cemetary for Americans nearly broke me down. The little white crosses just go on and on and on. Most of those men buried there were my age or younger. A number of them had no identification, their crosses reading (this isn't an exact quote sorry) "This honored comrade's indentity rests only with God". A very sobering expierence.
I wished we could have spent more time there but alas only a day and a half on the coast. Never got to St. Lo or any of the places I would have wanted to putter about. I did get to see the Aure River which looks frustratingly hard to cross even though it appears to be 10% water 90% mud. The vertical drop is a problem tho.
So anyhow I am in London now, getting settled in and then I'll try and write a little more. Internet is fairly cheap here (£10 for 6 hours which is approx $20 US I'll admit but that is not bad for England believe it or not) so I may write with a decent regularity if time permits.
07 September 2004
Paris...
Well I am currently hiding out at the FIAP (sp?) in Paris. I have managed to avoid any major diplomatic incidents so far. I visited Napoleon today and got to see the French musee d'le armee. Frankly I want to head to Normandy but most of the rest of the group is thrilled with this city. The metro is nice but people need to take baths cause apparently people stink massively here. This is blog is coming courtesy of Andy's laptop. So go check his site out or something. Also I have the LJ from Casey another member on this trip. So you can get another opinion of this jaunt. Going to keep this short cause I want to get some sleep before we head to Versaille, looks more and more like I will have fairly easy web access this trip just not sure about Gmail unless Andy gets internet with his laptop.
01 September 2004
Lost I Was
Yea so yesterday I managed to get lost by myself in Venice. Italians need cities which have normal streets and no canals! Thankfully, by the grace of God, I managed to end up where I wanted to go. I say by the grace of God cause I sure didn't cause myself to get there. Anyhow I am not enjoying Italy as much as Austria or Germany, it's just not as well managed here in all respects and things are rather ragged not even around the edges but even in the center! So if planning to go to Europe stay in the nice cool north!
So Apple released iMac G5s those punks! I want one! And they did it in Paris a week too early! Boo! Another reason to hate the French (sorry Nathan). Two days and then Switzerland and someplace I'll rather enjoy. I have to admit tho I am excited for Normandy as well not so much Paris tho. Big cities are kinda meh at the moment (London will be different however).
Lesse anything else to talk about whilst I kill time waiting for the girls to get done (since this place denies both Gmail and UWSP mail, try turning ActiveX on when the controls are in Italian! Or switching Languages!). Hoping that I can get Gmail to work in London if not I may have to hold out hope that anyone who'd e-mail me with it checks the blog and uses my UWSP e-mail which has to work in London.
Good news for Teng, I am a lighter-weight then he is. It only took 3 glasses of wine to give me a buzz. Wasn't trying too or anything so it was a major surprise. I didn't like the feeling either so I am seriously surprised that people do this and worse to themselves. Dumb. I found a white wine which isn't completely disgusting so finally have something I can drink with other people and not hate it.
I am gonna head out now supper soon. See ya.
So Apple released iMac G5s those punks! I want one! And they did it in Paris a week too early! Boo! Another reason to hate the French (sorry Nathan). Two days and then Switzerland and someplace I'll rather enjoy. I have to admit tho I am excited for Normandy as well not so much Paris tho. Big cities are kinda meh at the moment (London will be different however).
Lesse anything else to talk about whilst I kill time waiting for the girls to get done (since this place denies both Gmail and UWSP mail, try turning ActiveX on when the controls are in Italian! Or switching Languages!). Hoping that I can get Gmail to work in London if not I may have to hold out hope that anyone who'd e-mail me with it checks the blog and uses my UWSP e-mail which has to work in London.
Good news for Teng, I am a lighter-weight then he is. It only took 3 glasses of wine to give me a buzz. Wasn't trying too or anything so it was a major surprise. I didn't like the feeling either so I am seriously surprised that people do this and worse to themselves. Dumb. I found a white wine which isn't completely disgusting so finally have something I can drink with other people and not hate it.
I am gonna head out now supper soon. See ya.
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