On a gathering storm comes a tall, handsome man

Girlzookie starts her second year of preschool this week. After this year, it's public school for her. I'm getting old.

Kidzookie finishes his first quarter of second grade this week. He's finally getting real homework, to my relief and to his chagrin. He's bitchy and whiny about it, but adapting reasonably well.

Disney is buying Marvel. This is wonderful news. Marvel has gone pretty much as far as they can in destroying their own name. Disney can help them take their game to the next level.

Beat the story mode of Batman: Arkham Asylum last night. Great game, fun story. Gotta do all the extra modes it offers now, as well as play back through to pick up all the junk I missed. Whee.

Ran a few instances with my guild this weekend. That's a big deal for me. I'm very instance-phobic, largely because I'm convinced I'll fuck it up for everybody. Didn't go too badly, though, and I had a great time. Signed on for a big cross-guild run that's supposed to happen this weekend. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I'll no longer be such a WoW hermit.

Didn't manage to write any new content last night, but I did go back through and do some more light editing to the last bit I wrote. Happier still with it. More new story tonight hopefully. Steady progress continues, though, and that's good.

Work continues to be insane. The grammar we're supporting is bizarre. Wrote some pretty wild code to support it, gnashing my teeth the entire time and muttering about how much easier support would be if the grammar was in any way related to what they were trying to accomplish. But nobody ever asks me. The team lead chuckled at my pain, then indicated that v2.0 of the grammar is even worse. Fun. On the other hand, I guess if the grammar is so hard to write for, it's that hard to use... and that makes our software a necessity for our users. Reminds me of this Dilbert strip.

Tired Taco is Tired

I've been burning the candle at both ends lately. Passed out last night at 9:30pm. No more gas in the Tacomobile. Even so, I failed to set my alarm clock correctly and overslept this morning, so I was late to help my dad and brother move the last of my sister's stuff to her new apartment. Managed to get out there a mere 40 minutes late (sorry again, guys), and we moved her stuff.

Picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum this week. Hot damn. Great game.

Broke my sunglasses today. Whee. Don't have the spare cash to replace them right now. Dug through some old boxes and found my old sunglasses from high school. Twenty years out of style. I'm calling it "retro." But we all know it's really "Taco gots no style."

Dragged my journal to lunch with me today and write 275 words while the family nommed on cheeseburgers. Would've been more, but I instantly hated the first pass and did a full rewrite of the new bit. I know it's not a ton, but I'm calling it a win. Steady progress to a finished story. I've only ever finished one before, and I'm not thrilled with it. The full rewrite will have to wait until I finish this one.

Couple of guys from my World of Warcraft guild are in the area this week. We're headed off to meet them for dinner tonight. Can't wait.

Kiddo's tracking out of school in a couple weeks, which means the family's going out of town to visit with my father-in-law. I'm desperately hoarding vacation, besides which, it's cheaper when someone stays here so we don't have to board the dog, so I won't be going. To cheer myself up, I talked to Coyote about heading up his way for lunch that Saturday while they're out of town. Can't wait Part 2.

And now it's time to go nap more, because 11 hours last night didn't finish the job.

Ride On

Got myself a one-way ticket
Goin' the wrong way.
Gonna change my evil ways
One of these days.
-- AC/DC, Ride On

Okay, it's not a Larry-caliber pun. Cut me some slack.

So the proverbial bug's still up my literal ass with regard to my writing. I finished touching up what I have for my latest story tonight, and it's ready for me to forge on ahead. Did some light editing to a few points as I transcribed it (in its latest form) into my favorite journal. Formatted it according to the decision I reached with Coyote the other week. Even managed to write the scene that's been intimidating me all these months, and I'm fairly happy with it... though the bulk of what had been intimidating me about the scene has been shuffled off to bookends that'll be added to the story in its new form after I finish the main body. So there's that. Oh well... we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, I've started the next scene, which very likely will be the last of the story, so we're getting there. Progress.

Things I Hate That the Rest of You People Seem To Love for Some Damn Reason:

• Salma Hayek
• Dark City
• The Goonies

What else am I missing, guys? I know there's more. Does Dark City even count? I barely remember the movie. I only remember hating it, actually. And I watched it the week of a really bad breakup. So maybe it's an association thing? I need to rewatch it. Been meaning to for a long time. But, you know. Hate. It doesn't have Salma Hayek in it, right? In that case, it may be safe.

Got my new hard drive from IT today. It was in my hot little hands less than 24 hours after I reported that the old one was failing. Most impressed with them, and more than a little surprised. Spent most of the work day getting the computer back up and running, and was mostly successful in keeping the changes from being visible at all to my users. Probably the only change any of them will notice is the password to access the machine. The new security policies on the box prohibit the old one. I managed to cheat and give it an empty password, which will hopefully mitigate the inconvenience.

I had a long conversation with fiberferret about erections tonight. My friends are awesome.

Which reminds me, I've decided that we could all get rich by starting a Porn Insurance company. Our (very reasonably priced!) Porn Insurance policies will ensure that, in the event of our clients' deaths, one of our agents will remove all their porn before their moms find it. Who's in?

Already linked this on my website, but there's... carry the one... one of you here that I might have missed, so go watch this video. It's work-safe, but wear headphones. I'm told that her vagina is 8 miles wide. Metaphorically speaking. Or something.

Various and Sundries Pt. 512

Trying a real post to break my Conversations of the Damned run of late.

Coyote's got me in my pathetic trying to write mode again. Went back through my latest writing attempt. I'm rather fond of it. What's written is, I think, the best stuff I've ever written. Not that that's really saying much. It's about 2/3 of the way through the story. I don't quite know how to proceed from here, though. Trying a rework based on a discussion I had with Coyote. Went through today and set up the new format. Still struggling. Baffling. I know everything that happens, but can't get it down on paper. Partly, I'm intimidated by one concept. Partly, I can't get my head into that place where the words come out. Halp.

Can't take any more Family Guy. Make wifezilla stop. Please.

Emu Final Countdowned me. Rat bastard.

Finally watched Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Enjoyed it overall, but hated what they did to Tambor's character. Interesting development that happened in the first movie? Never happened, apparently.

Half way through Planet Terror. I know. Way to strike while the iron is hot, Taco. It's my Tarantino aversion. I hate anything that has his stink on it any more. He used to be so great, but for the past decade or so, he hurts me. He cuts me deep.

Speaking of shit I hate that everybody else seems to love, yes. I hate The Goonies. Bite me. You probably like Hayek too, even though her name is onomatopoeic for the noise I make when I eat bad shellfish.

P.S. Work sucks. Fix the fucking economy and get me out. Moping again because my shit got plagiarized. Which brings me back to my first point. It's a vicious circle. Seriously. It bit me, and I had to get shots and everything.

Passing the Torch

KIDZOOKIE: Hey, Dad?

TACO: Hmm?

KIDZOOKIE: When the zombies come, could we go to the grocery store and get a blender, jam it on their head, and push the button?

TACO: You're thinking. I like that.

That's a pretty good deal.

Wish I could take credit for it. My sister found this one.

Tacometry

PHONE: Ring ring.

TACO: This is Taco.

SOME LADY: This isn't Scott?

TACO: I believe that's the corollary, yes.

Kirby vs. Religious Tolerance

KIDZOOKIE: Check it out, dad! Kirby's gotta kill Meta-knight!

TACO: Why's Kirby attacking a Mennonite?

KIDZOOKIE: No, Meta-knight. Remember, from Brawl?

TACO: Poor old Mennonite, just minding his own business, and...

KIDZOOKIE: Die, Meta-knight!

TACO: I think that might be a hate crime, buddy.

KIDZOOKIE: I'm not talking to you while I play these games any more.

Bitchy to the End

TACO: John Hughes died.

WIFEZILLA: What?

TACO: Yeah, at 59 apparently.

WIFEZILLA: People need to start living to 100.

TACO: Workin' on it. So far, so good.

WIFEZILLA: You better live to 100. Of course, you'll be all aches and pains.

TACO: Now there's a prediction. "You'll be all aches and pains at 100." I'm all aches and pains at 34.

WIFEZILLA: Look at it this way. You'll get to be bitchy at people for longer.

TACO: Sold.