Monday, February 28, 2011

The Fantasy Trip: Too Much Of A Good Thing?


    While most of you were busy playing Dungeons and Dragons as youngsters, my go-to games were of the microgame variety.

    Microgames like Melee, from Metagaming -- a rules-light, man-to-man (as well as beast and monster) fantasy combat system. Or Wizard, Metagaming's follow-on game, where you played a magic-user.

    We played the heck out of those microgames during our lunch breaks, while attending middle-school back in the late 70's/early 80's. The entire Microgames line was touted and renowned for its' speed of play, and most of the early microgames had significant replay value.



    Metagaming's line of microgames were reasonably popular during that company's heyday. Metagaming published at least five editions of Melee, before it was finally retired in favour of Advanced Melee. Pictured above (from my microgame collection) are the first, fifth and second editions of the game. The cover illustrations for those Melee editions are by Liz Danforth, Roger Stine and Clark Bradley respectively. I always preferred the Clark Bradley cover illustration, on the right. Not because it was in color, but because it captured the adventurer-party spirit of role-playing, while still retaining a look, unique to The Fantasy Trip, and apart from the Dungeons and Dragons art being promulgated at the time.

    You may be asking why I could possibly need three copies of Melee. Hello, different artwork! :D

    The Melee boxed set with the Stine cover is in the centre. I was never a big fan of his Melee and Wizard covers, nor of his covers for Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard and In The Labyrinth. Yes, with those covers, you knew what game you were playing, but the hyper-realism and plasticity of the figures in his illustrations was simply not my cup of tea.



    As for owning four copies of Wizard, three of which are exactly the same, I really have no excuse. In my defense, you can never have too much of a good thing, and those three feature Clark Bradley's cover art.Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Eating a Bowlful of Sharp Glass

    .
    Walking.

    Walking has become a monu- mental endeavor. I am so out of shape that the simple act of walking from point A to point B is like marathon exercise. I did my walk this afternoon, heading down to 91st street and back, and as usual I picked up a stray. A homeless man that at first was just walking at the same pace beside me down the sidewalk. But once these mental defectives notice this, they begin talking to themselves, or in other words, YOU.

    I hate people so much when I'm walking that I hate when the homeless, who are not even not talking to you even more. I gritted my teeth and was about to stop short and let him walk on. I got to the end of the block, and as he stopped to wait for the light to change to cross the fucking street, I gleefully turned around and headed back in the complete opposite direction. There is something wonderful about times like that, when you can show complete disregard for idiots and just walk off. It's magical, do you hear me? Magical!

    Okay, my right knee and left calf begin to protest the walk, but what the fuck? I'll get home and sit down and it'll all be over. I did, relaxing, but not sleeping, merely writing on my laptop until it was time for me to get ready to go and meet DJ down in the Village. I got dressed, killed a little time, because I tend to get down to the Astor Place Starbucks so fucking early that I have to find something to do for forty five minutes. So this time I killed a little time, prepping a short story for mailing to a publisher. Printing it out, shoving it into an envelope with a self addressed stamped envelope and addresses. Before long, it was ready to be mailed.

    I slipped out into the night and dealt with the walk, the stairs, the steep inclines of the subway stations and other whatnot to ride the trains down to Astor Place, and got to the Starbucks ten minutes early instead of forty five. I stood outside, panting, out of breath from walking up simple flights of stairs. Oh mi gawd! What the fuck did I do to myself? Allow my muscles to atrophy?

    DJ showed up and asked if I wanted to go play pool as my birthday present. Hell's yeah. I haven't played pool in so long that I would love to do a game or two. He stopped off for a pizza first to eat, and then we went to Amsterdam Billiards. We played several games for the rest of the night until we grew exhausted, no longer able to even play the game. I have to admit, I was more sore than tired. The soreness was making me tired. The simple act of bending, twisting, stretching and so forth to make a shot was like yoga exercise to me. After awhile that shit began hurting my tender atrophying muscles.

    When I left the pool hall I was sore from head to motherfucking toe. I wished DJ goodnight, thanked him for the wonderful birthday present and headed home, nearly limping, my knees aching, muscles throbbing and weak, bones brittle with pain. I was hurting like a man rolled over with a steamroller driven by an insane nun. On top of all this pain I had to WALK to the nearest subway station, which was on 14th street, many blocks away, CLIMB up and down stairs, MARCH up and down inclines in the subway, STAND up in train cars, and deal with MOVING about to avoid other straphangers. Fuck this shit. But it had to be done to get home.

    Walking into my room, my entire body was on fire. I stumbled in more than walked, and undressed painfully. I did some light typing but could take the pain and exhaustion no more. I crawled into bed and got an hour's sleep. This was the only solace from the suffering. That was until I awoke and it pounced on me once again. I went to my medicine shelf and found the bottle of hydrocodone and popped two, hoping that it would deal primarily with the terrific pain in my back. By some miracle it dealt with all the pain in my body, washing the entire framework of agony away.

    I breathed a sigh of relief. I honestly have to do this shit more often or I'm going to doom myself. I can no longer just stay in the room, stretched across the bed. I have to exercise, go places, do things.

    Or die.

    HobobobSource URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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March Upcoming Attractions

    Spring is almost here! To celebrate, we have a fabulous line-up of March guests. Here's our sneak peak:




    March 2: Gerri Russell returns to the Lair to chat with Nancy about the ups and downs of an author's career.




    March 3: Paranormal romance author Lori Handeland makes her Lair debut as Nancy's guest to chat about her new release, Moon Cursed.














    March 4: USA Today bestselling author Julianne Maclean (http://juliannemaclean.com/) visits the lair to tell us about her fabulous new Scottish historical CAPTURED BY THE HIGHLANDER.









    March 5: Mayhem breaks loose over at historical author Ashley March’s blog (http://www.ashleymarch.com/blog/) when the Bandits invade for the day as part of March Madness, a month-long party. There will be prizes--and did I mention mayhem? And look out for Ashley’s visit to the lair in September!


    On March 7th, Jana DeLeon visits with Suz to talk about her first release with Harlequin Intrigue, The Secret of Cypriere Bayou. A steamy mystery set in the Louisiana Bayous, a place Jana know intimately.


    March 16th brings NY best-selling author Brenda Novak back to the Lair as Jo's guest. She'll be talking about the fun and excitement of reader conventions, as well as her upcoming Bulletproof series.















    March 22nd: The fabulous Julie James joins us to talk about her smart, sexy contemporary romances and her latest release "A Lot Like Love."
















    March 26: Ellis Flynn returns to the lair to talk about language and words with Nancy.


    On May 30th, Misa Ramirez returns to the Lair as Jo's guest. She'll discuss her recent promotion and marketing book for writers -- THE TRICKED-OUT TOOLBOX and her romantic suspense release A DEADLY CURSE.


























    March 31: Love Regencies? Love paranormal? Now you can have both. Colleen Gleason will be on the blog March 31 to talk about her new vampire series launching this month. This author of the popular Gardella Vampire Chronicles has created a new world of the Regency Draculia. The Vampire Voss, out this month, launches three back-to-back titles that also include The Vampire Dimitri in April and The Vampire Narcise in May.









    Contests!

    Anna Campbell is celebrating the launch of her brand-new website by sharing some great prizes! SIX lucky readers will receive a luscious reading double! First up, your choice from Anna’s backlist (please check out her Books page http://www.annacampbell.info/books.html if you need help choosing). Each winner will also win a gorgeous hardcover Rhapsody Book Club edition of either Laura Lee Guhrke’s WEDDING OF THE SEASON or Madeline Hunter’s RAVISHING IN RED.

    To be in the draw, just email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info with two pieces of information – your favorite romance read from 2010 and which book from her backlist you’d like to win. Good luck! For more information, please visit Anna’s contest page. http://www.annacampbell.info/contest.html And don’t forget to check out her great new website atwww.annacampbell.info, including the excerpt from her forthcoming release MIDNIGHT’S WILD PASSION. The contest closes 31st March, 2011.

    Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Proof that everythings is just fine in Libya...

Last US veteran of WWI dies

    I have been tracking the passing of WWI veterans here since 2007. Yesterday saw the death of the last US veteran, Frank Buckles. He was 110 (thanks to Steve at The Yellow Something Something for drawing my attention to the news).


    Buckles was born in Missouri in 1901. He enlisted in the United States Army in August 1917 when aged 16 (Like my father he lied about his age to join the services). He served in England and France, driving ambulances and motorbikes. After the Armistice he escorted prisoners of war back to Germany and was discharged in 1920.

    In the 1940s, Buckles worked for a shipping company in the Philippines. He was interned by the Japanese in 1942 spending over three years in the Los Banos Camp in Manila. He was rescued on February 23, 1945.

    He died of natural causes yesterday, 26 days after his 110th birthday.

    Rest in Peace

    There are now just two WWI veterans alive, both British: Claude Choules (now resident in Australia) who served in the Royal Navy and Florence Green who served in the WRAF as a waitress.Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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NYC staycation

    Our staycation in New York last week was really refreshing and relaxing. (Thanks again to Miss Moss for guest posting!) While my mom took care of Toby, Alex and I met up with friends, rode bikes to Williamsburg, went bowling (for real), got massages, sipped gin cocktails at this rad bar, saw The King's Speech, hit up the Guggenheim, and went ice skating in Central Park. It was so great to just be together and "knock around," as Alex says. We felt like tourists in our own city.

    We also chilled with my mom and Toby, including brunch at a Mexican place in our neighborhood, where Toby thought the tablecloth was delicious. :) We miss you already, Mama!
    Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Some things never change


    Watercolour by surgeon Charles Bell of a solider wounded at the Battle of Waterloo



    Watercolour of Private Green, September 1918 prior to reconstructive surgery by Harold Gillies, the ather of modern plastic surgery.


    The surgical skills may have improved in the intervening century but the workload of the army surgeon certainly did not...

    Both paintings are included in the current Watercolour exhibition at the Tate Britain.

    The exhibition which I visited today, is a comprehensive study of (mainly) British watercolour art from about 1200 to 2010. Arranged by themes it was unsurprising that the wart art had the greatest impact on me, especially Eric Taylor's study of corpses at Belsen.

    The exhibition has some dross and a fair few works that left me unmoved either way. That said there is plenty to enjoy (particularly some well loved Turners and Blakes) and it is wel worth a couple of hours.



    The same could not be said for the Susan Hiller exhibition - Except for the installation Witness which I lovedSource URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Hobobob's First Ever Award

A Comment From A Satisfied Customer

    .

    "Ah ha ha, Ard Azz here, loving it here in Miami, and loving Hobobob's blog! Once again he's back with his witty insights and loving commentary on the human condition. I can sleep at nights knowing that there is such a conscientious man questioning what he sees is going wrong in this country. He's another Rush Limb...er, Rush Limb...errr, the fat guy. I look forward to reading his award winning blog posts every day and I have to say, I wouldn't be able to put my dentures in without him in the mornings. Thank you Hobobob. Keep up the good work!"
    Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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God of Love

MANCAT MONDAY WITH DANTE AND DYLAN: DARK DAY IN THE SUN!

    It's snowing very heavily outside today, so we harken back to the past -- which seems so long ago now, but in reality was only a few short days back.  Days when the sun was bright and all was right with the world.  A world where mancats could bask and bond at the same time.  Or was it?
    In this story, Dylan and Dante first come face to face in broad daylight.

    Dante was just relaxing on the deck bench, when ...

    ... Dylan jumped up to join him.


    Dante was a bit taken aback, but he loves his brother, so ...

    ... they peacefully PURRused the yard together.

    That is, until Dante began to feel those old familiar stirrings.


    Enjoying the sun, Dylan is completely unaware that Dante's dark side is emerging from the depths within.
    (Biggify this picture to see Dante's evil look!)


    Danger, Dylan -- Danger!

    Dylan is alerted just as Dante begins his descent.

    Dylan better move quick before the worst happens.  Dante has a rePEWtation as an incorrigible butt-sniffer.


    So, Dylan moves to the opposite bench, where Dante soon follows.  I'm sure sniffing the bench isn't anywhere near satisfying when you've got butt on your brain.

    Dante pretends to ignore his quarry, but Dylan isn't buying it, as he waits on tenterhooks.


    Then a large bird, squawking fiercely, captures their attention.


    Peace returns, and Dylan lets down his guard.

    Little does he know that the dark side of Dante is about to erupt once more.  And this time, it is volcanic in its intensity!

    We don't dare show you what happened in the interlude, butt ...

    ... this is the result!
    And Dylan will never be the same again.

    Quite the dark tale on a sunshiny day, n'est-ce-PAW?

    Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Westminster council - Caring and compassionate

    My thanks go to Skuds for drawing my attention to this little tale.

    Accordng to Ekklesia Westminster Council has opened a four week consultation on a new byelaw which will fine people in the Victoria area if they “lie down or sleep in any public place”, “deposit bedding” and distribute free food and drink.

    This byelaw will affect rough sleepers and charity workers in the Vitoria area,particularly the area around Westminster Cathedral where charities regularly give food to homeless persons

    The consultation period is running until 25 March.

    A copy of the proposed byelaw can be sen here. The bye law, if enacted, will make the following illegal in an area around Westminster Cathedral:


    • No person shall lie down and sleep in any public place
    • No person shall at any time deposit any sleeping materials used or intended to be used as bedding in or on any public place
    • No peson shall distribute any free refreshment in or on any public place (sporting events and free samples of food excepted)
    • No person shall knowingly permit any person to distribute any free refreshment in or on any public place
    There yopu have it. Nobody is pretending that food runs solves the issue of rough sleeping. It does provide a lifeline though.

    Banning rough sleepers and charities that provide food to them will solve absolutely nothing either except to move the problem to another area. From the council's perspective (and to paraphrase Stalin) it's a case of "No homeless, no problem"... at least the problem will not be across Victoria Street from the council HQ.

    It's not law yet and hopefully it will be ditched but the proposal hardly sits well with Cameron's Big Society... Then again the council is not exactly known for its compassion (remember Shirley Porter?)Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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WORK AT HOME JITENDRA PATWA MBA [FINANCE]

Your Invitation to the Carntaigh Balls in Honor of Caledon's 5th Anniversary

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    Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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Sunday, February 27, 2011

TRUE GRIT

    by Suzanne

    Since I write western historical romances, both erotic, (THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN) and just plain sexy, (REFUGE), I loved getting to go see True Grit a while back. When my son and I walked out of the theater after watching this remake of the old classic, we talked about what we like about the movie. One of the things he said to me was, "Mom, the person who had the most grit in that movie, wasn't Rooster Cogburn. It was Mattie." And he was right.

    Mattie Ross had true grit.When her father was murdered hundreds of miles from home, she took it upon herself not only to go collect his body and send him home to be buried, but to find someone to help her track down the low-down murdering sidewinder and see he was brought to justice.She weathered low opinions men of the time had for a slip of a girl, nearly drowning in a river, shooting her first man, tumbling down a huge pit and being bitten by a rattler. (I won't tell you how it ends, just in case you haven't had the time to go see this movie.)

    As this is the last day of the AHA GO RED for Women month and the Bandits celebration of such, I thought we should look at other women who throughout history have shown true grit.

    Queen Elizabeth I: Talk about someone walking into a pit of snakes...the human kind. She took over the English crown when the kingdom was broke, under threat of both the Spanish and French invading, not to mention some rowdy Scots to the north. But her country had just gone through some very bloody years at the hands of her sister. Her kingdom was writhe with spies and traitors, advisors who saw her as nothing more than a brood mare to provide a male heir to take her place.Yet she was able to rule with cunning and a strong will for 45 years. Her country and it's empire grew in land, strength and finances during her rein.

    Elizabeth Blackwell: Growing up in England where she watched eight of her siblings and eight of her cousins die, Elizabeth decided to go to medical school after her family moved to America. Elizabeth was rejected by 16 medical schools but was finally accepted by Geneva (New York) Medical College. Despite the taunts of not only the other students, but the people in the college town, she graduated on January 23, 1849. While furthering her medical studies in Paris, she developed an eye infection that cost her sight in her left eye. Undaunted, she continued to study. She returned to America two years later and opened a school to help other women become doctors. She also raised money with her sister Emily and opened The New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857. Run by women doctors, it was the first of its kind anywhere in the world.



    Marian Anderson: Despite many years of prejudicial treatment, even being refused entrance to a local musical school after graduating high school because of her color, Marian rose to be the first black opera singer to be a regular cast member of the New York Metropolitan Opera. She sang for Kings and Queens, many presidents, including FDR and JFK. She also quietly fought many of the segregation laws that were in place during the early part of her career, by insisting on "vertical seating" in segregated cities. This meant that black audience members would be slotted in seats on all levels of the auditoriums. For many, it was the first time they'd ever sat in orchestra level seats.


    Sylvia and Cristobal Pankhurst and the Suffragettes: (doesn't that sound like a rock band?) At a time when women were little more than chattel, they literally fought for women's right to vote. So passionate about their beliefs they thought nothing of chaining themselves to public building railings, smashing windows, interrupting public debates and even setting off bombs. Many of their followers, including Cristobal herself, went to prison, where they conducted hunger strikes to get their message across. Finally, during World War I political changes were made to give limited voting rights to women in England. In 1920 American Women achieved the right to vote through the Nineteenth Ammendment to the Constitution and by 1928 full suffrage equal to those of men were granted to women in England.

    These are some women who have grit to stick to their beliefs, dreams or goals throughout history. Do you have any favorites you look up to? Admire? Or just appreciate their grit?

    Romance Writers of America and the American Heart Association have partnered to raise awareness of heart disease in women. Visit Go Red for Women to learn how to fight heart disease.
    Sign up for the Go Red Better U Program and receive two free romance e-books. From Feb 1 through May 31, 2011, receive one free romance e-book when you sign up for the American Heart Association's Better U Program and one after you complete week six of the program. And look for the Eat Smart for Your Heart limited edition magazine (that features this offer) on newstands and in a grocery store near you.Go Red for Women is trademarked by the American Heart Association, Inc. Romance novel downloads provided by Belle Books. 

    Here's your heart healty tip for today: Whether cooking or making dressings, use the oils that are lowest in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol – such as canola oil, corn oil, olive oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil – but use them sparingly, because they contain 120 calories per tablespoon. (I personally prefer to mix a small amount of butter with olive oil for most cooking, and vegetable oil for baking.) You can also cut back on sugars and oil in baking by adding applesauce to cake recipes!

    As always this month, one commentor will receive a GO RED for Women pin and today I'll give that same winner a $10 gift card to Amazon.com. (Heck you might use it to buy a copy of THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN or some other book to make your heart race!)Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/02/
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