Okay, clearly Kripke and Singer are gamers.

One of the channels is showing a bunch of Season 5, and I just caught an ep and a half just now.

Supernatural: the LARP, as the theme of an episode.  Not the first time they've given fan love like this, but it's well done.
And the Trickster, actually being a mad Archangel Gabriel?  Somebody following In Nomine, or just coincidence?

SJG is down right now, for the holiday apparently.  Jonesing.

Alright, it's not a Sunday and I still did something I typically do on Sundays--hop on a bus to Ilsan for a bagel and a (don't hit me for hypocrisy) venti mocha.  I got out the door and while it was chillier than the 40-50F than it's been, it didn't seem too bad.  A little wet and potentially icy so I stepped carefully off the front step.  No slip-and-slide, this is good.

So I return the movies and notice along the way little piles of white in the cracks and corners.  I also noticed other specks of white sitting around on the street.  Apparently it snowed last night, and some dear municipal soul spread salt around to keep the roads from becoming slippery.  I was still careful where I walked, but at least I could walk without feeling it a constant battle.

So on the way to Ilsan I pass some construction areas, the stream, some rice fields and stuff that while not pastoral was particularly pretty.  Snow is like that, especially the light dusting we got last night.  It highlights things, turns a patch of turned dirt into a patchwork of 3D art.  Well, at least to me who has trouble seeing the three dimensions unless they're color coded!  (I wonder if that isn't helping my fear of slip-and-falls?:  I swear, I feel ninety years old that way!)  I didn't get much in the way of pictures, never do lately, just too much fun staring at it to snap it.  I'm also reminded of why the sidewalks here are better the way they are.  Sure, you can't haul down the sidewalk in teetering heels without looking where you're going, but at the same time when it gets icy here, as it never does in Cali, the sidewalks don't turn into skating rinks.  The snow and ice fall obligingly in the cracks between the bricks, and outside of some spots of sludge which you do have to watch out for the sidewalks are quite navigable, even for the occasional insane Korean woman in teetering heels with her cell phone plastered to her ear.  Which happens more often than you'd think.

So it's pretty, and not just treacherous.  Now I'm going to get off my butt (well, if SJG isn't still down, after a turn at it) and clean the laundry/patio/Yong Yong's room.  The cat litter has gotten kind of icky in there, and it's got this nice drain and the hoses from the washer, just have to get the too-much stuff out of there and hose it all down, then run the space heater on roast until it dries.  Hopefully before the samulnori show tonight.  I'm taking a cab to it, even though it's only about a twenty-minute walk.  I'm not quite that clear of my fears yet.

But folks under the friends-lock know that.

I picked up two movies last night, just on a whim.  One is a horror movie--I wanted Korean or Japanese horror, but got "Solstice" instead--and the other something light and goofy.  Much as I like scary movies, I actually fast-forwarded through that one.  Ugh.
The light one--I recommend it.  "Balls of Fury" didn't do well back in the day, and it's not Animal House.  It's still quite funny though, doesn't take itself seriously at all, nice light goofiness.  George Lopez shines and Chris Walken is obviously having lots of fun.

And I have Oreos.  I could do worse.

Merry Christmas all.

Saw this on Failblog--it's important that you read the caption, because that's the part that got me cracking up.  I believe clicking the pic will take you there.


see more Epic Fails

and for those who don't do the clicky, one that speaks for itself.

First I'll say that I'm in no hurry.  Sure I can't get my LARP fix here in Korea (well, I have a contact who knows of the occasional high-fantasy themed game, apparently the SCA is out here, but my weekends are pretty full as it is so I haven't dropped her a note yet.  There are still parts of Seoul I haven't seen yet!).

Which is part one.  I used to game every single weekend.  Used to keep a chart so I knew whether and how much XP I got, and it was rare to see an entry that said 'zero' and whatever I was doing that weekend.  Really.  Looking back that was obsessive, and I'm not going to do that again.  I've enjoyed Cthulhu games that were roughly quarterly, and that was just enough to whet my appetite.

So okay, WoD as a lifestyle is out!  Snicker as you will.

But a game, to reconnect in a powerful way with some seriously close friends I met there.  That's why so many of us kept going, when the game itself went to Hell, was those friends.  That's significant given my geography--it's hard to find enough excuses to write very often.  So for that I've seriously considered.

And I thought, okay, there are munchkins, cheats, powergamers, MMOthinkers, the kind that drove me out.  Maybe with the different rules in place, limiting the number of challenges those types will stay away.  I mean, if you have 11 adjectives and have to spend one each time you make (or was it just lose?) a challenge then you have to play more subtly, right?  I pondered and thought no, all you have to do is form a different SuperFriends team and tear down your 'enemies' with numbers again, stacked up powerz, sh-- like that.  The problem is an OOC one, and has to be addressed OOC.  You can't shift the rules to try to make them more dramatic, because they enjoy tooling around with the rules.  And they don't even watch the good theatre.  'Oh please get on with it, I've got some numbers to flatten your tush with, why are you soliloquizing, it's only wasting my time.'

I read one guy who said he was staying in the Cam and fighting those types from within.  If he wants my help, not a problem.  I have the advantage of indifference.  Like the munchkins who really don't care if their characters die, I don't have a character to care about.  I don't have an investment in WoD right now (mostly I GM In Nomine, and that's a blast!) and Vampire could go under tomorrow and I really wouldn't care, have a beta-tested homebrew system if I really really needed to get my fang-jones on.   So the Cam solves its dysfunctional gamer problem or it dies (because those gamers, once they've 'beaten the game', will go on to shiny new things to destroy).  I'll be out here doing my own thing, missing the High Harmless Drama With Friends but otherwise being perfectly content.

Won't lie to you though--I do miss the in-character drama sometimes.

I actually do have work to do too, just trying to get the inspiration up.  That and no special classes this week, so I have some time. Was poking around the web and found the proper description for Yong Yong.  He's not a tuxedo cat, properly speaking, because his paws and belly are entirely white.  No, the name of his pattern is even cooler:  "mask and mantle".  Here he is chasing his second-favorite toy, the pizza ribbon.  I think he likes the laser pointer just a tiny bit more.

Feeling low because of the credential and the sense of "spinning my wheels" and then I get my tatt (where I dropped stupid amounts of money) gets front page on the tatt site  It looks like they took it the day of the fluorescent highlighting--note the relative lack of stray ink and skin irritation. http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/112/l_a0d9ae9ad47248d4af303b547de4e1d3.jpg

So yeah, a good shot of it, with the artist's signature besides.  :)

Have to add the glowy version, as in this is what it looks like under blacklight.

...because right now I want to murder students.  A particular set of 4th graders, actually, are on my last nerve.  It's not entirely their fault--students respond to expectations, rewards, punishments, the sum total of what they're taught.  But still.  Glad I have no more of them for awhile.

Well that and a bit bummed.  I have to retake one of my credential courses to finish my Cali, meaning no raise for me for a few months and a few hundred tuition bucks.  Meaning really, outside of a slowly dwindling air fund, I'm no better off financially than I was this time last year.  That sucks, since last year everything was shiny and new and I don't have that anymore.

Meh.

Zero degrees Celsius, in the heat of the afternoon.  Theoretically it's colder out there than it is in my freezer.

Can you blame me for spending all day inside in my pajamas?  Okay, not all day.  I went out this morning to the bakery to get breakfast, and I might go to Delphi if I go in the next couple of hours.  I'm not going out after dark tonight.  Too cold.

On the bright side while I was out this morning we got just the tiniest bit of snow, playful little flakes that melted before hitting the ground.  For this I am grateful--ice is horrible.

Apparently this is a routine, every-other-year thing here. It sucks. Sure I'm damned curious to look inside my guts--actually I am, as touchy as those guts can be at times I'd sure like to see what is where.  I asked to be awake, foolish me, but as it turns out I had my back to the monitor so it wouldn't have helped.  Wouldn't have because I was a gagging puking mess.  No matter how much I psyche myself, no matter how much numby stuff they pour and spray in me, I simply cannot stand the thought of inhaling water/spit/foreign objects.  Panic and freakout, so they knocked me out to get the thing done.  I've been woozy and tired all day.  Yeeech. Okay, it didn't help my psyche that the robe (to wear for the chest x-ray) was a little bit small and there were two guys in the waiting room who could look straight at me in the locker room.  I don't mind being seen less-than-dressed, but I cannot abide being stared at in that state.  Meh.  The site where they drew blood is an ugly bruise.  Not that anyone will notice as it is scary cold out right now, supposed to get down to -10 Celsius tomorrow night .  Not even sure what F that is--it's off my chart.  I'm cleaning but that should involve taking out trash, and that's just not going to happen tonight.  I am staying inside. Low on cash, may stay home tomorrow.  Well, will probably run out for coffee at some point--the instant I bought is unlikely to satisfy me, to say nothing of not coming with a couch and good music.

www.youtube.com/watch The song is called "Eat Peach". Do I have a dirty mind, or is that not wrong?

13.9 Fahrenheit, according to Google.

-11C according to Weather Underground, which is 12F.

Yeah, it's that cold.

It's cold in the halls. That's nothing new.

I remember in various high schools in the Inland Empire the hallways would be chilly especially compared to the rooms. It seems they weren't heated, but this was California and it never got scary, dangerously cold ever so people who complained about the halls were kind of wimps. We shrugged it off. After all, they were warmer than outside!

So here it seems much the same--the halls aren't heated. They're also not insulated--I could slip papers through the cracks in the door at the end of the hallway, and the windows are sometimes gods-know-why left open. But this isn't California.

When I got to our English office it was 11C inside--that's 52 for those on Fahrenheit--before I turned on the heater. It's a little colder out in the hall but without a thermometer I don't know by how much. Outside though it's 22 Fahrenheit, -5.5 for you Celsius people. Snowboard jacket outside, snowboard jacket in the halls, legwarmers all day even though it's a toasty 23ish (low 70's) inside.

And everybody's wearing snow jackets inside, and nobody's a wimp.

Ah culture.

In one discussion (about prep periods) one guy blurted out "But I did have a period!" and we all cracked up.

Later in the weekend a teacher was doing a demo lesson and asked (fairly standard opening question for an English class) "What time is it?" It was, at that moment, exactly 4:20. I bust out laughing, but it seemed like no one else got it, not even the other Americans. I mean, I know I'm weird, but really how often does it happen that a non-stoner asks you for the time at exactly 4:20???

We had one teacher give us the lowdown on stuff, really outright honest about some of the ridiculousness of working here because she'd been giving missing or wrong information about the course she was teaching. We all sympathized with a laugh and a bond was formed, and we got more useful advice there than anywhere else. Sure some platitudes about "communicate with your coteacher" but some advice on, er, how to do that, and who to call when that fails. Great class. She also kept looking out the door to make sure we weren't being overheard with some of our blunt talk. Sometimes saving face is ridiculous.

About a billion links and leads. I have to check out "Tigerworld" a snowsports theme park, because dammit if real snow sports aren't stupidly expensive!

Back to work.

Communities and proxybox are blocked, so I have to wait until I get home to enjoy the world_tourist community. Meh.

I'm tired, no desire to do any work. Fortunately my special class is about two-three days ahead of schedule so I have material for that. Regular classes are with Mr. S----- who's ridiculously competent and since he's following the preset curriculum there's almost no prep I have to do there at all. So I'm posting here.

Have to get to a notary, which may mean getting to the consulate during their ridiculously limited hours. Not good.

Tired. Day 9 of a 12-day week, no wonder eh? The inservice was five days long and sure, one of those days was museums and a show--as opposed to long days of taking classes--but that's not rest. I can handle it but I'm not working anywhere near my peak, and I don't like that.

Bruises on my chin are nearly gone but the one in my eye socket is slightly worse. I thought I had a sty--maybe I bruised a tear-duct or something, or just upset things trying to get rid of the damned sty. Irritating though, nothing more. I'm tired of doctors or I'd get it looked at.

Nearly fell asleep in the shampoo chair yesterday and again when Sante was styling. You can't imagine how good that felt. I'm getting a massage the minute Noniel is healed!

Yong Yong gave me a good solid bite on the foot this morning when I was getting dressed to leave. Surely a cat's bright enough to associate getting dressed with being gone to work for several hours. Poor little guy. But he jumped up on the suitcase and on the kitchen sink last night, and jumping is an improvement. His fitness is getting better, recovering from my well-intentioned overfeeding. Chased the laser 'bug' for what seemed like forever last night. He needs his claws trimmed though, even his back ones which he usually keeps bitten short. If you have to ask how I know that, you don't have a cat!

Wearing the sweater that I bloodied when I fell, and not only did I put it on without realizing, but there's no stain on the sleeve. Woot!

I'm still nervous around stairs but that shouldn't surprise anyone. I was amused though at a classmate who reminded me that "I fell down some stairs" is a euphemism in some places for "I got in a fight I don't want to admit to". No really...stairs!!!! (Come to think of it, was that a classmate at inservice or someone else before it? Yeah I'm tired.)

Tired again, but not quite as bad as last night. Brain overworked, body underworked, bad combination.

We ate at a sushi restaurant/seafood buffet called Marisco. No 's', and no Mexican food. I was amused.

Saw Nanta, a lot of fun but I felt it ran a little long. Possibly that's because I'd just seen the B-boy show recently and the words-minimum shows only have so many tricks up their sleeves. I miss Shakespeare, y'know?

Two museums, both of which I've seen before. Skippy a little bit despite the Nikes.

Too early to go to bed, and I'm totally hogging the dorm computer. Too lazy/tired to go to PC bang.