Sing along to the most popular BtVS (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) episode ever, Once More with Feeling, on the big screen! We’ll be heading up to the Seattle showing on Saturday, June 30th (tomorrow), so if you’re in the area, you should definitely join us!
Also, if you have a whole lot more cash than I do, you might be interested in this. It’s times like this that I wish I weren’t dirt poor. No wait, I pretty much wish that all the time.
It seems to me that, in order to get by gracefully in this world, the most important skill that one can possess is being able to adapt easily to change. There is no stasis in this world. As much as we might feel it, there is actually little entropy for anyone who lives life with, at the least, two legs and eyes in the front of their heads. Even small changes: a friend gets a haircut, your poker night switches houses, you start going to bed at 11:30 instead of 11:00; even these little things can have a great effect on your life, and if you’re not adaptive, not willing to say to yourself “Okay, this is how this is now and I’ll just have to get used to it,” then even these tiny details can be grating, difficult, and ultimately destructive.
And when it comes to relationships, change is the dealbreaker. Or the dealmaker. My brother had to make a fairly large change before he could marry the woman he loved, but he did so, and gracefully, and so was able to move on with a happy and fruitful existence. My own relationship has gone through so much change of late — engagement, my moving to Montreal, my coming back from Montreal, building rooms, visiting friends, and starting new jobs — that sometimes I feel like I hardly even know which way is up anymore, and at times I just wish it would all stop. Where is that moment when, returning from Montreal, I finally get to rest, bask for a moment in my own happiness and fulfillment, and take a nice, long, deep breath? Where my deep, deep relaxation? As I’ve sought it out, I’ve come to a rather painful realization concerning my ability to adapt well to changes.
I don’t.
How did that happen? I always thought I did great. I always thought that I was the zen master of living a simple and uncomplicated life where the events of the world did not have the ability to affect my tranquil and positive state of being. Evidently, not so much.
But I’ve still got hope for myself. The next fourteen – sixteen months will provide me more than enough opportunities to, hopefully, get over myself and, in doing so, find myself again. I sound like a fortune cookie, even to me, but I know that there’s that core there, somewhere inside me, that remains unflappable. Perhaps I’ll find it. Alternately, maybe I’ll come to realize that being unflappable? Not so great after all. It’s the people that flap, that are sensitive and emotional, that live with great passion, that burn and seethe and cry out in the night their joys and heartaches. I’ve envied these people for years, but somehow I just don’t think that it’s the way I was built to be.
Either way: change? Yeah, I’m gonna learn how to deal with it and maybe, one day, to even enjoy it.
You may have already noticed, but things will be rather kablooey around here for a little while. It seems easiest to use this site as a theme-editing sandbox. I’m adjusting the newly available copyblogger 1.0 theme for use at our university.
Fun times.
Dude. Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: The Role-Playing Game!?
Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: The Role-Playing Game!
There’s also one called “Ninja Burger.” Both games are based on the “PDQ” system (Prose Descriptive Qualities), created by Chad Underkoffler, about whom Eric Burns just did a lovely little write-up.
Silly though it may be, it’s the little things like this that make me feel like it’s an alright world, after all.
“Order is illegal! It goes against the laws of thermodynamics.”
“Anarchists educated in entropy? The epitome of irony!”
If you’ve ever talked to me about music, chances are that I’ve mentioned Pandora, my all-time favorite web radio application … ever. Pandora starts with a suggestion; say you like you some No Doubt, or maybe you heard Little Brown Jug for the first time, and you’re itchin’ to find something else to make your toes go all nimbly-jimbly and dance around. Pandora’s got that, they’ll take your suggestion, and they’ll roll with it, and you’ll like some of what you play, and you won’t like other choices, but as you go along you can tell them what you think, and in this fashion your station becomes more and more refined, more and more perceptive, perhaps even, ultimately, sympathetic to your search for a certain feel of music.
Today, however, no toes are tapping. Today there exists only silence in the hallowed halls of pandora.com. Today we observe a day of silence, and hope that it really, truly, only lasts a day.
Today, you can be sympathetic to Pandora’s cause, and fight to save internet radio.
Sinfest started on the 17th of January, 2000, with decent black and white art and a couple interesting characters. Since then, it has evolved to become one of the most well-polished, consistent, and funny webcomics I read. I’ve just been catching up a bit. Considering that Sinfest updates with near perfect consistency, seven days a week, there’s plenty there to look at, and nearly 2500 strips to read if you want to start from the beginning. There’s plenty of schwag too, if you’re in for that sort of thing.
The strip pictured is one of the sunday strips, larger and in color, with a different style. I love the styling on Monique in the “of love” panel, though for some reason it makes me think of Final Fantasy games. Honestly, one of things I like about Sinfest is that it does a great job of being a really sexy comic, without ever crossing the line.
If you’re interested in crossing the line, on the other hand, check out Jess Fink’s “Dirty Limericks” over at adultwebcomics.com. It is what it sounds like, so probably best not to read it anywhere you might get in trouble.