You were right, Doc. The 'cane -is- coming for you after all. Considering the already-flooded state of your land, will you be evacuating out of there? Play it as safe as you can, please.


- Sirian

Hi Folks B)

I am back in the city for a quick visit and thought I would share some random notes and observations.

1) A drought is a mixed blessing. The mosquito issues we had at the beginning of the summer are mostly gone. There just aren't any places handy for them to breed when it doesn't rain. On the other hand, gardens like rain and are not overly happy with well water being sprayed on them. I have a mostly drought-proof garden and have settled for using the watering can on the most vulnerable species.

2) I made a new garden area and was reminded all over again about the legacy of the glaciers. I dug up a four by six foot square of dirt and got four wheelbarrows of rocks out of it within a two foot depth. I stopped there because I hit bedrock. :o This miserable little area also had yet another chokecherry growing in it and that took the combined efforts of my teen-aged son and me to dig out all the roots in it. This will be yet another of my experiments in seeing what flowering plants will survive both drought and (very) limited light conditions. I am getting tired of hostas and astilbes. I already have lots of periwinkle, bedstraw, ferns and lily of the valley. So, now that the space has been filled with many bags of soil and some new species, I get to wait and see what survives of it next year.

3) The children are getting bolder. We took an expedition to the Georgian Bay side of the peninsula and I had the fun of watching the smallest son bravely jump off a ten foot ledge into the water (a feat for him as he is an extremely cautious lad) only to see him trumped by the ten year old and sixteen year old who climbed up to jump off a fifty foot ledge.

4) Even after thirty years of knowing someone, they can surprise you. I had no idea my husband was terrified of skunks. He had managed to bravely hide this fact from me, but recent events have forced his hand. The next door neighbour discovered that an animal had taken up residence under the cottage. Skunks had been sighted previously. When my father in law was spotted wandering around toting a gun as he fulminated over them, I knew I had to take action. I borrowed a live trap, set it outside the entry point under the cottage and caught and disposed of a female skunk. Now, dammit, there are three lost teenager skunks wandering about in confusion, sowing terror into my husband. So what is the ethical thing to do now?

5) My favourite swimming hole remains safely in legal limbo and the greedy bugger who wants to claim it for his own is still constrained by a judicial order to allow access.

6) There is water at the end of my dock! :D I even have boats tied to the dock again, after a four year hiatus when the water was too low for the docks to even touch the water. Now it may seem odd to get excited about a whole foot of water depth change, but there is something about having a boat actually in the water that just feels right. Edit:
having finally installed a FTP program that works for me, here is what the dock looked like for a while. Forlorn Dock If any of this summers pics look worthy, I will post one to show the contrast.

7) Light pollution is a sin. There is a cottage on the other side of the bay that has an outside light that can make me cast a shadow when I stand at my own waterfront. This wrecks my night vision and makes me unable to appreciate starry nights waiting for moon rise. I have had a quiet word with the owner, but she rents the cottage out and renters are less interested in the neighbours opinions than owners tend to be. This can be cured by dint of changing the angle of the beam, but, in this case, it means some tricky climbing to get to the specific light fixture and I may have to pester some more before that takes place.

8) A question: I logged on this afternoon to try to prevent my characters from expiring. (I always knew I had too many mules.) What is with all the Tristram run games? Is there some new thing that makes this a beneficial area to farm?

I have so much on my plate lately. I have fallen behind a bit, and as Sirian noted, it is not a good idea to take on new tasks. (Er, words to that effect.) I have so many irons in the fire.

Aside from trying to have offspring somehow...

I came up with this idea recently. Infact, I thought about it one day while laying in bed staring at the wall.

A lot of battered women never fully recover. I have noticed now, over the years, that there are return guests at the women's shelters. That whole annoying victim mentality, lack of self esteem, confidence, and the ability to protect themselves. Both physically and mentally.

So.

I have had this idea tumbling around in my head like a sock in a dryer.

Why not take these fragile womenfolk and just run them through the grinder?

I mean that in a good way... Seriously strip them down and reprogram them.

My idea is simple. Combat training. Harsh, loud, impersonal, and with live ammo. Maybe paintballs to start. Teach them confidence. Teach them to raise their voices and scream a bit. Screaming is good. The massive inhalation to scream increases oxygen levels, makes adrenaline pump, saratonins, endorphines, ect. Screaming at your attacker properply prepares you, disorientates them, and can even act as a deterant. A scream of fright is an open invitation, but a murderous scream of violence is your best friend in toe to toe confrontations. Hire a few Aikido instructors and teach women that they are not as fragile as they think. Teach them how to take a 2x4 in the face and reply with a pelvis shattering dead throw across the room for their assailant. (Folks who study Aikido will understand... It's all about taking a beating) After preparing the mind and body, give them firearms training. Teach non violent conflict resolution and stress the non violent part, but also teach them how to deal with "When all else fails" situations. Lots of firearms training.

Shooting builds confidence. Disolves fear. Strengthens mind and body. Dicipline. And I ain't talking about sissy weenie weapons either, I am thinking that these ladies should deal in Magnums of some sort.

After graduating the program, assist them in getting a weapons permit, perhaps even a concealed weapons permit, and then, as a graduation gift, present them with a gun. A good gun. A good gun is expensive. Any woman could get an Elcheapo .22 Stinger for 25 bucks, but the gun is useless, has little to no psychological intimidation factor, is prone to jamming, and has very little man stopping power. A 44 is nice, but, I favour the .357 for the simple fact that you can swap in cheapo 38 bullets for practice.

Opinions? Thoughts?

I was ditzing around on USWest last night, when who should enter the game but Sirian. We got chatting about various things, and it some point I mentioned the Evil Overlord list then said I'd post a link. Here it is:

http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

-- CH

1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.

As I was a bit late posting the closing notice on this event, we'll extend the reporting deadline an extra day. You have until Wednesday.

Those of you who've never played the Silicoids before, what did you think of them?


- Sirian

Epic Forty-three: Ports Your Goal is now open. Since the save is ready, I decided to go ahead and open now so that players could start over the weekend if they like. This Epic will run through Labor Day in the US, but I don't think we'll need to extend the reporting deadline because of the holiday. If you are planning to be out of town and won't make it back by that Tuesday, please email me and I will be happy to post your report.

Ports Your Goal is the first Sirian-sponsored Epic in 2004, although it's been in the works for quite some time. I hope you enjoy it!

Edit- Oh, and since the Epic is open, I'd like to remind everyone to be careful about releasing spoiler information. If you have a question about the game, your best bet is to email myself or Sirian. If something comes up that requires clarification, we'll post it here.

-Griselda

I am all wet. No really, instead of a pond, I have a LAKE!! That freak storm in SC nailed me. So I send a soggy greetings. I am finally able to go back online.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my life as a whole, and can't help but feel a great deal of remorse over one issue. I have no children. I might be a really strange man for saying that... At least in these parts, manly men don't get all paternal. Well they can kiss my grits... Anyhoo, I do not think I am any less of a man for feeling this way.

I never settled down when I was young, I was ambitious and ruthless and driven and ignored all thoughts of family. I am a happily married man now. My wife, much to both of our dismay, can not have children. This really hurts. It's a bitch.

I am a convicted felon and I have a long history with the law. I am not a bad man for those things, all of them happened for good reasons, well, most of them. These things alone cause me to be blacklisted from most adoption services.

I have found out though, through sources that depend on for all sorts of information, that there are still some legal options as well as some less then legal options for getting a rugrat or two. I am not talking about the illegal baby black market or anything or child abduction, I am talking about spending obcene amounts of money in other countries to cut through all the red tape and returning home with child in tow... But there is still a BIG problem getting the child into the US. However, money talks... That can be bought and paid for as well. In this world, I have found, anything and everything has a price.

And there is the rub. I am not sure I want to do that. For once, for lack of better words to describe it, want something wholly honest and decent. Rather then just buy my way through a situation or side step the law, I would like to do this as honestly as possible. I am not sure how that will go though. They let all sorts of rotten assholes become parents, including people who give birth to children that have no business having them. They let crackheads and alcoholics become foster parents. And yet, I run into all sorts of trouble if I want to adopt and all I want to do is have a carpet ape or two to spoil rotten.

Everything in my life lately has become faded and gray and mostly meaningless. I have never felt so strongly before... I really want this more then anything and while I usually am willing to stoop to just about any level to get exactly what I want when I want it... For some reason something in my mind balks over doing so on this issue.

Is it worth it?

What would any of you do in my position?

Why do I feel this way? Well, since I will try and do the best I can to give any kids of mine good values, I don't want to have to explain to them someday that I adopted them and to do so I have to lie, cheat, or steal. Or resort to blackmailing public officials. You know, all those things I am known for. Perhaps I am turning over a new leaf. I dunno. This is not the post I want to get into that though. I am not sure how to put it. I just want to start off on the right foot.

I am the Dead Old Man Who Refuses To Get Onto The Cart and I need a few more reasons to stick around.

You have until the end of this Monday to finish playing, and until the end of Tuesday to post at least a scoring summary of your game. You can complete a full report any time.

I'm afraid that I wasn't able to find time to play a shadow myself, but I'm looking forward to all the lovely postcards. B)

just started rbd7 to head on over to the crystalline passage. Went afk for a bit, and didn't notice the message. Thresh socket is now Uber D. I need some help holding this game, since it is about supper time here. Of course, I will need some help doing the deed as well....

The title says it all , Game is CB the PW is qq West realm ladder will keep it open as long as possible , I have spawned him at Treehead Woodfists tree house. Any company gladly accepted. :war: :axe: :war: