2014 Resolutions

Here are some resolutions of mine for 2014: 

• Blog at least 4 times per month.  This one's not new, but I still have trouble with it, so it stays put.  
• Beat the Elite 4 in Pokémon X.  Honestly, this one will be done by the end of January, or maybe February.  
• Catch 'em all in Pokémon X.  This one is much more ambitious, and is the one goal that I think has a good chance of not happening, but it also seems very possible.  It's made easier by the inclusion of most pokémon in Generation VI, Wonder Trade, and the coming advent of Pokémon Bank. 
• Make significant progress in one of my Nuzlocke runs.  
• Beat Myst again.  I'm planning to do this anyway, but it's also between me and my next goal.  It's been long enough that I remember pretty much nothing of it, so it should still be a mystery! 
• Get back into Minecraft.  
• Bonus goal:  Make a Minecraft mod.  I've already got 2 small ones in mind, so this should be doable once I get back into it. 

2013 Resolutions (and 2012 Resolutions)

With this post, I'm meeting my goal of four posts per month (including my Minecraft blog).  Speaking of which, I think that I'll resolve to continue making four posts per month.
Additionally, I'm considering a weight loss/exercise resolution, but I'm not sure exactly what to make it.  If I make a weight loss goal, then I'll need a target number, which will need to be within reason (I'm thinking 250), and I'll need to make sure that I'm on course for it.  If I make an exercise goal, then I'll need to be fairly specific in my requirements and exceptions.  I currently tend to exercise on a Thursday/Sunday schedule, since that ties in w/ my work & play schedule, though I'm considering adding Friday or Saturday, with the specific day depending on which day I'm out that weekend.  This one still needs fleshed out; maybe I'll post in the new year once I've gotten it sorted.

2012 Resolutions (and 2011 Resolutions)

Well, including this post, I seem to have met my resolution to blog at least thrice per month in 2011.  I'm not exactly in a habit, but I seem to be able to crank them out, though they do seem to get loaded toward the end of the month.  I think that that's due to two factors.  One is that the deadline is the end of the month, so of course, as it approaches, I've got to get those shoved in there somewhere.  The other, though, is that, usually, I'm doing stuff during the first two weekends of the month.  It's that silly leaving-the-house-and-socializing stuff.
Anyway, I think that I'll continue this into 2012, so you can expect 3 blog posts per month next year, too.  I'm considering, though, making a separate resolution of making 4 blog posts per month.  Basically, 4 per month will be a goal, but if I miss it, then I'll still hit 3 per month.  If not for having full-time employment (Did I ever mention that?), I'd probably make 4 per month my only goal, but my life keeps pretty busy, and I don't want to overwhelm myself.  So, we'll see how that goes.
Happy New Year!

On NaNoWriMo 2011

Well, NaNoWriMo is nearly over, and unless some sort of miracle happens, I'm not finishing my novel on time.  I'm still going to write with what moments I have, but 50,000 words it won't be.
Still, it's not the end of the world or anything.  The whole point of this is that it's essentially practice.  I've learned some things, though, that should help next year.  I think that the main one is that I should make a much more detailed outline before the month begins.
Before NaNoWriMo began, I set Steam to not start on boot-up, and I turned it off.  That meant no TF2 for me, among other things.  So, I've missed several weeks' worth of item drops, but I don't feel worse for wear about it.  In fact, I'm considering leaving it off through December, too, especially considering that I'll be using December and January to play the very last of LEGO Universe, which is sadly ending. It'll also help me to avoid the annual temptation to buy XMas-related stuff (i.e., winter keys for festive crates, or whatever).
Meanwhile, I just need an idea for next year's novel....

New Year's Resolution 2011

So, I'm probably not going to be able to make enough blog posts in the ... just over an hour before the end of the year to meet my 2010 resolution.
I'm going to make my 2011 resolution be similar to my 2010 resolution, but this time, I'll write at least 3 blog posts per month. Yes, this means fewer posts per year, but rather than trying to average 1 post per week (about 4 per month), I'm going to hold myself to 3 per month. That way, I won't be able to make a huge back log. The worst would be having to write 3 posts on the last day of a given month.
So, look forward to 3 blog posts from me in January, I guess.

An Open Letter to TV Networks, Regarding Halloween

Dear TV Networks,
I've noticed that you tend to run themed programming or marathons in October, leading up to Halloween. In particular, I notice that the themes are generally "horror" in the general or "zombies" in the specific. Sometimes it's a different specific, such as "slashers" or "Hitchcock", but not usually.
My point is this: For the season when, per tradition, the veil between worlds grows thin and those who died in the past year ready themselves for their journey to the afterlife, why not show films about ghosts and the afterlife? It would give us something different from the usual mix, and it's thematically appropriate.
Well, that's what I wanted to say. It's just my two cents.
-Wikimancer

P.S.: If you saw this post and would like to mention a good ghost- or afterlife-related film, then leave a comment below.

What I Got for Xmas 2010

Here in the states, Xmas is celebrated on December 25th, and it's traditional to exchange gifts. Here's what I got:
-a sweater
-pajama pants
-Under Armor (special case of under shirt)
-Forbidden Island (the cooperative board game)
-Mushishi (anime) ^_^
-some Munchkin stuff
-some money from relatives

I think that that's it. Everything's going to get some use. I'm on schedule to watch Mushishi in late January or early February.
What did you get for Xmas? Also, happy new year!

Post Surge December 2010

Today & tomorrow, I'm going to be posting about 20 posts to this blog. There are a few reasons for this:
1. I have a handful of unfinished posts that I need to wrap up & publish.
2. I have several post ideas that I haven't gotten around to writing.
3. I resolved to do about 52 posts this year.
That last one is the biggest contributor to why they're all bunched up like this. There was a convention back in October, which kept me busy, and then I got sick afterwards, and then November was a bit weird, plus Thanksgiving was there at the end, and then pretty much the entire period between Thanksgiving and Xmas was used preparing for it (both w/ gift-getting and w/ trying to fix the lights on the tree (they still don't work, by the way)), and now it's just after Xmas and the year's nearly over.
So, yeah, expect lots of posts here today and tomorrow.

Conversations Regarding Conversation Hearts

So, we got some conversation hearts recently, and, as usual, some of them struck me, but this time, since I'm trying to blog a bunch this year, I figured that I'd blog about them.

"Marry Me"
Forward much? This is either a very forward proposition for a conversation heart or a very poor choice in marriage proposals, unless you met at a NECO fan club or something.

"Adore Me"
Note that this does not, in fact, say "I adore you", but rather says "adore me". The giver is instructing the receiver to adore him or her, which works just about as well as saying "love me" or "have the same interests as I do".

"Tweet Me"
Oh, I see that twitter has become mainstream now. Well, that's going to be about as effective at stopping me as the mainstreamness of blogs is at stopping me from blogging.

P.S.: It's a short post this week, as I forgot about what subject I had originally intended to blog.

Resolutions for 2010

So, since New Year's is an occasion on which people customarily resolve to accomplish within the next 12 months, I figured that I might as well make some resolutions.
My first resolution is to blog weekly. So, I'm already losing at that one. I could limit myself to full weeks, so that the week of the 1st & 2nd doesn't count, or I could blog twice today, but frankly, if I have at least 52 blog posts this year, I'll be pretty happy, considering how little I usually blog.
Secondly, I'm working on a resolution on some web stuff of mine. I'm not being specific on it because I'm still not sure on the details of what I'll do with it. I'm planning to schedule various things over the course of the year. Also, there's a piece of hardware for me to get before I do anything with it yet.
Thirdly, I'm resolving to read several books this year. The list hasn't been finalized yet, but among other things, I expect to get around to finishing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I thought that there was something more, but I don't seem to remember it, so I'll just leave that there.

Merry Xmas

Well, we've survived Robot Santa's attacks yet again, and I came out on top this time. I'm just posting this to say what I got.
I got a WristStrong bracelet and A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.
I got Spirit of the Century and Don't Rest Your Head, each in both print and PDF form. DRYH also came with a free gift of Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide, which has Silver Age Sentinels stats for a bunch of Champions Universe characters and HERO System stats for a bunch of SAS characters, and complete, official rules for converting between the two. Of course, I don't have either system, so that'll be shelved for a while. I also got some Fudge dice to go with SotC.
I also got Steampunk, an anthology of steampunk stories.
More blog posts are coming soon.

Remember, Remember, the Date of the Month

I'm sort of hurrying this post along. I remembered a thought that I had before, and realized that, since I have a blog, I should probably put it up while it's still on the day.
I'd just like to point out that the remembering scheme for Guy Fawkes Day is a bit odd. For those who don't know, it goes:
"Remember, remember, the fifth of November."
The problem with this is that the last part - which is what this is used to recall anyway - could be any of several dates in September, November, or December. The "fifth" is not even required to rhyme with anything, so any monosyllabic ordinal will do.