Went to see “Journey To The Center Of The Earth” the other night.  Not a bad movie.  They make it out to sound like a remake of the original in the previews, but I have got to tell you, it’s not a remake.  The basic premise to the movie (without spoiling it) is that Brendan Frasers brother goes missing, his nephew (who was a baby when his dad vanished) comes to stay with him for a week, bringing along a collection of personal belongings of his MIA father.  This leads them off on a journey… obviously one to the center of the Earth.  How is it not a remake?  Well, the MIA brother/father was a Vernian (a believer that the writings of Jules Verne were based on fact, and not science fiction), and set out to find a pathway to this hidden world, in hopes of proving that what he believed was true.  Obviously, if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have much of a movie, but I’m not going to say much more than this.  Go see it.  See it in 3D, because that’s what the movie was made for, and that’s the best way to enjoy it.

DSL… Less than a week away.  Just a few more days, and we’ll be packing up the vehicle(s) to prepare our trip into Vancouver for DSL ’08, ready for an early morning departure.
Okay, maybe not really early… probably closer to 10 or 11… but you get the idea.  With some great prizes, and an amazing band who will be playing a live concert there on Saturday night, this will definately be an experience to remember.

I managed to get a few days off this past week… not exactly by choice, though.  Stepping off my firklift on Monday, I somehow managed to either twist wrong or bent wrong or something, because as my foot made contact with the ground, I got this sudden pulling/tearing feeling just below my shoulder blades.  Nice, huh?  It gets better.  Being the typical guy, I decided that whatever it was couldn’t have been too serious, and reported it to the shift supervisor, and kept on working to finish out the day.  Not one of my better ideas, but whatever.
So Tuesday comes along, and things are not happy.  By noon, it hurt to even move… my firklift seat didn’t really help the situation much, what with forklifts not having any shocks.  Headed to the chiropractors, and after some interesting tests, find out that I had 3 vertibre and 4 spinal ribs out of place that had to be “repositioned”.  Yeah.  OWW!  But wow, did it feel good after.  They couldn’t do anything about my neck for that visit, as its a WCB claim (and the neck is not part of the report), but my back felt great after.  Of course though, I can’t return to work until they say it’s okay, so here I am sitting at home at 11 AM on a Thursday waiting… and waiting… and waiting.
Meanwhile, I just know there’s stuff to be done at work, and that it’s probably superhellainsanebusy… and I’m here, waiting.  Even after I get out of the office, it’ll be close to 3 PM… by the time I got to work, it’d already be 4, and the place closes at 5:15 (can we say pointless trip?).  Theoretically, WCB will cover the 2ish days I’ll be off.  A slight redesign on the forklift would be nice too, as that seat really does NOT help any.
I’m not really sure if they follow this, but I would like to congratulate Matt and Rachel on settling on a (apparently) nice appartment to move into.  I say apparently, because as I write this, I have not yet seen the pictures and can only go on Rachel’s description on her livejournal.  Either way, congratulations you too!  I do NOT envy your next few weeks as you sort and pack and sort and move and sort and unpack and throw away and… well, you get the idea.

As you’ve probably guessed, this blog post was done over the course of… ogh, about a week.  So if you’re confused about the jumping around the calendar thing, let me straiten it up for you real quick.
Journey review: July 21st-ish
DSL blurb #1: July 24th
Back Owwie stuff: July 24th
DSL #2: July 29th
So yeah… about a weekish or so to get this typed.  I guess that’s just how I work.

At any rate, I doubt I’ll be blogging again this week.  I may post from the LAN, but I commit to nothing at this point.  If anything, I’m certain I will have pictures, video, and stories to post when I get back, so be sure to either subscribe to the blog, or check back regularly.  A good, sleep-deprived time is sure to be had by all. 

Later.

DSL ’08 is less than a month away.  I can’t seem to wrap my head around that figure… less than one month.  Are we ready?

…

Are we ever?

Thanks to some incoming assistance from some friends, a lot of stress has been taken off our shoulders, allowing us to focus on other parts of the event, as well as the dozen or four other projects that all suddenly popped up.

Umm… yay?

So, we’ve gone to see a few movies since my last post.  Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull, Hancock, and Wall-E (which we caught last night in Abby).  Thoughts?  I was actually impressed, for the most part.  I’ll explain a bit here, without spoiling the movies.

Indy.  Well, other than the weird-ish ending, it was a fairly well-done movie, I thought.  Yeah, they deterred from their usual topics of chasing after Xtian relics, and into a mythical outlook (or a different mythical outlook *wink*), and it’s sad to find out that the actual real life Crystal Skull(s) were found to be fake, but overall it was pretty good.  Shia LaBeouf could very easily take on Indiana’s legacy as a treasure hunter, and I think that the movie may have actually left that option open.  I guess it’s whether Lucas and Spielberg are in need of a new gold-plated Mercedes or not.
Speaking of gold plated… HOLY CRAP HANCOCK!!  I have heard a lot of bad reviews about this movie, but honestly, I came out of it happy.  Why?  Other than the fact that everything that Will Smith touches on a July long weekend turns to solid gold, it was like Superman with actual human traits… primarily the flaws.  Sure, one of the flaws was the ability to put back a 40 pounder of any hard alcohol like we drink water… then take out a sign or two while flying drunk… but it brings up the question “If you had the power to save people over and over and over… would you still do it when they stopped thanking you?”.  Throughout the movie, it also moves (somewhat slowly in points) towards the idea of one person being able to change the world.  Yeah, in this movie, part of that seems to involve destroying buildings, cars, trains, streets, people… you know, change the world one piece at a time.  Great ending though (no, I will not spoil it).  Some of it was disgustingly predictable, but overall, I enjoyed it enough that I would seriously like to see it again when it comes out on DVD.
Wall-E.  Great animation, although a bit more “cartoonish” than a lot of the Pixar movies we’ve seen lately, and a strong storyline that remains consistent throughout the movie.  The downside to the storyline?  Well, while the movie was obviously done to market primarily to kids, a lot of the storyline was a bit on the mature side for them (like a lot of “cartoons” now).  It weighed heavily on the Environmental impact humanity has made on the planet, and what it takes to make it better.  Now, this may spoil part of the movie, but it (the movie) also takes a quick jab at American Lifestyle… as people depend more on junkfood and machines, and less on such strenuous tasks as walking, what happens to their bodies?  Hover chairs, though… gotta get me one of those.  The movie touches peoples hearts a few times, like when Wall-E (obviously the main character) starts to… wait, can’t tell that without spoiling things.  Just be ready to tell the kiddies that everything will be alright… Pixar wouldn’t hurt their pocketbooks… I mean, their characters like that.  they did a nice touch of using live action “movie reels” inside the cartoon to give that feel of looking back on “old Earth”… something that, so far as I am aware of anyway, Pixar had not done for any of their other movies.
Oh, and you adults will also get to see a few mini-references to 2001-A Space Odyssey in the movie, so be watching (like you could miss these).

So what’s up in my personal life, other than DSL?  Well, some of the things, I can’t… actually… say.  Well, I can, but I would probably get in trouble and be moved to the couch until after the things are over… that’s a long time, and I’m not THAT into our new couch.  One of the things that I can talk about though, is how creeped out I was the other day at a customer that came into work… she was, I kid you not, airport security’s worst nightmare.  I mean, piercings in moderation is one thing (though not really MY thing), but DAMN, she probably breaks a sweat whenever she’s within 15 feet of a magnet.  She had, and I am not making this up, like 3 in her eyebrow, two in her lower lip, and two in her upper lip, she had both sides of her nose pierced, the center ring (why?  Well, why the hell not.. she’s already going for a 50/50 flesh to metal ratio), she of course had her ears turned into a pin cushion, and the trademark tongue piercing… and that was only what we could see (without asking, which I certainly had no intention of checking into).  Why would someone trash their body like that?  I mean, fine, pierce your ears… but know where to draw the line.  Maybe I’m just alone in thinking that when I look at someones face, I don’t want to be looking at shiny crap ON the face.  Plus, and I mentioned this earlier… imagine what damage could be done if they were to be near one of those big car magnets… or an older microwave.  So, how much do you want to bet that she screams and yells when she gets a paper cut or a sliver? 

At any rate… yeah, piercings and tattoos have never really appealed to me, and this example just made me… ick.  Other than that, it’s mostly SSDD syndrome in the NightStorm way of life.  Things are going well, and they’re of course going to just get better as time progresses.  Check back over the next few weeks, because there’s going to be some awesome announcements coming.  I wish I could make them now… but, well… couch.

Also, check out Tami’s blog (or villagegamer.net), as she’s reviewed a couple of great books on there in the last week or two (well, a lot more than a few, in a much greater length of time, but a couple stand out in my recent memory of 7 days… that’s about all I’m good for right now) that I suggest people check out.  Especially people who like, play, or live within 100 miles of someone who plays, video games.  That’s all of you, for the record.  Just in case you missed that.

 So, every once in a great while, we may feel compelled to make a statement.  I don’t mean like the one I made her yesterday about the weather (although I still stand by that one).  No, I mean something, well… more.  What sort of statement could one such as myself make?  Not much of one… at least, not in any form of originality, anyway.  But I can echo someone else’s.

 As the story goes, this video was made with an intended purpose… a focus on the War in Iraq.  The statement it makes though, reaches far beyond any one purpose.  This video should be viewed more as a way of life… a better way.  Is it possible that the World can really live this way?

 You decide.

 With each passing day, we have choices to make.  Do we turn left, or right.  Do we smile, or cry.  Do we point and laugh, or do we help the person up?  It doesn’t take much to reach out and make someone else’s life a little better.  Does it?  One World.  Our World.  Together.  Think about it.

12 Stones Adrenaline Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WVCUEifZYI if it doesn’t work for you…

Yeah yeah, I know… I’m late.  So sue me.  I was actually considering skipping this whole thing, and moving right into a different post all together, but instead I decided to just put it up anyway, and move on.

That’s my new way of life.  Something goes wrong, just move on.  It’s what got me to here, and it’s working out well so far. 

So, here we go.  My list of things I learned through 2007.

What have I learned this year?

• Greyhound sucks.  There is a reason it’s so cheap… that’s the only way someone would willingly spend more than 10 minutes on one of their busses.  Personally though, I don’t think it balances out.
• The best relationship is the one that you never really notice is there until it smacks you right in the face.
• Laying Linoleum sucks… especially when you are very limited in your supply and operating under a "learn as you go" method.
• "Home" isn’t always the place you live.  "Home" is the place you feel you belong.
• New Orleans rawks, and yes, Jino, Donna, Tony and Gail really are as cool in person as they are on the board.
• If someone acts like a nut, it’s very likely that the person truly is in need of mental care
• Suicide is nothing more than a cowards escape… which explains why only a coward would try it
• Once someone lies to your face once (be it about where they are, or who they are sleeping with), there is nothing to stop them from turning into nothing more than a pathological liar… the best thing you can do with a pathological liar is to get as far away from them as you can.
• Women with Russian ancestry are hot.  Or at least one of them. 
• Don’t ever replace the toilet.  If one ever requires replacing, just give up and get a new house.
• Being a "gamer" and living in a "gamer house" is probably one of the most expensive hobbies one can come across.  But at least entertainment is always readily available (assuming you can wrestle the controller out of some one’s hand long enough).
• So there’s this guy… Murphy… he’s not cool.
• Sometimes, it’s not about the destination, but in the journey you took to get there.

I’m here.  And I’m happy.  I hope you all are as well.  Take care.

- Me