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Well i went to class yesterday even though i was sick and got dirty looks, i simply didn't feel like missing 4 days in a row. I stopped by my English Prof's office to clarify something she emailed me about and she told me that she wanted to nominate me for a ASC class so that i could tutor other students. That surprised me. After assuring me that we aren't allowed to touch grammar (whew! I'm a bit...loose there) i thought maybe it wasn't that bad an idea. I've been there before. I know Cat doesn't think i would make a good choice for teaching, but i can't help that she can't remember anything about football!
Today class (my whole one class) went well with most of it being in the library working on a research paper. Afterwards i had a appointment at the Unemployment Office and good old Joe (my caseworker, i guess you'd called him) told me that to qualify for an extension for schooling, i would need something other than a Liberal Arts degree! How dare he!! Well...knew that was going to happen. So i went down to academic support and had a pow-wow with those fine folk. As it turns out it will take me only aquiring 4 courses besides what i already had planned and i have an AA Adolescent Education Degree (history). A couple of Lit clasess i was going to avoid (shakespeare can suck me), a history class i wasn't going to take and a couple EDU courses i hadn't planned on (i was already going to take two EDU courses anyway) and my Liberal Arts: Humanties & Social Sciences becomes an Education Degree. Go figure.
So....thats right people. I am going to be a history teacher. Eat it.
Even though i've had yearnings in the past to teach and i've been approached about tutoring and teaching in the past more than a few times (from back in the day in high school to teaching college students at PMI), i've always avoided it. My reasons were varied (don't feel like over analyzing myself too much in one day!), but coming back to school has really fired my love for learning and maybe my age (maybe a movie is in order? The 40 year old freshman?) has really added an all-important quality to want to teach others what i know or how i learn. I wonder how much of Dr Felter's sponsoring me for ASC is self defense and/or as a tactic to reclaim her class from me!! I claim jump it from time to time. The same goes for my history class, now that i think about it. Especially in history class. My history prof loves it (although i think its that he just isn't awake at 8 am) though.
Classes are going well at the moment. Since i finished one accelerated course i currently have a 4.0 grade average! Whoo Hoo! I think i'll appreciate it before Phyiscal Geology and algebra take their due. I'm running a 99.26% grade in History. Yay! Got one exam question wrong in 5 tests that was just a mis-click. Boo! I'm averaging a 93.03 (.03??!!) in English. Boo MLA format!!! Health class was so fast and easy that i still have a hard time believing it was a college level course. Haven't had a Geology test of any kind yet (talk about geologic time!!). What am i missing...
Oh yeah, algebra. That class. I'm managing a shaky B in that course. I could get an A if i really applied myself, but i am still working through the anger of having to take a class that i got an A in but since that was 22 years ago i have to take it again. Right.Then another math class after that! i'll calm down after a while, but right now my professor will have to accept that i'll show up at class be a good little citizen. Giving a damn about his class will take a while.
- Pyre Nadir:where else?
- Burn Intensity:
moody - Licks:nope!
Well, ultimately we had a fun time. Played a couple of interesting games and met some fun gamers. Overall it was a success.
We played 3:16: Carnage among the Stars. That was an interesting game. It is a half-board game, half-shared narrative rpg. You are space marines or troopers and the system is simplisitic. You have Fighting Ability and Non-Fighting Ability. One if for combat and the other, of course, is for everything else. The fun part for me was describing the successes of those abilities (or in my case, yesterday, the failures!!! Trooper HANK HANK was having a bad day. But i got to dig a fire hole with a rifle barrel, so it wasn't a total loss), that was cool. You are squads of troopers (and non-coms who we kept calling "sir"). It is a very narrow scope game, but like many games these days, you can easily make what you want of it. Like many gameday/con games the game went funny and we have a F-troop in the future type theme. You can't have names like Corporal Pants, Stabby MCKnife, and Trooper Hank Hank involved. But i can definitely see the possibilities of a Space:Above and Beyond type game with that. Very interesting game. Different kind of game design, very cool.
We were supposed to play a futuristic Savage Worlds game and i was happy that i would get to get a look a that game for the first time. But the gamer that was supposed to run that game got the swine flu (that pig!). So the guy that ran 3:16 was the emergency GM and ran a game of Barbarians of Lemuria. THAT was a fun game. I really like game system that is not rules heavy but can acheive some level of complexity. You have four stats, four careers, and four combat skills. You roll vs a fairly static target number (with some variation for difficulty) and you combine you relevant stat with either a profession bonus or combat bonus equal to the corresponding ability you tap. Characters also have traits that can fiddle with things. Simple, easy to remember, but allows for some character depth of abilities. Very nice. Magic is the little stuff is fairly simple, big stuff is a pain and costs you big time. My kind of stuff. We had a lot of fun with that game. I'm going to have to look into getting it.
I was fairly impressed with the GM's (Woas) ability to go with the flow. We didn't take it easy on him with our goofy shannigans. I would like to play a serious game with him sometime.
THE BAD PART
Now i will explain why i used the "ultimately" and "Overall". The gameplan was posted and advertised as 9 am-7pm. We got there about 9:15 and the place was fairly desolate. There was a car outside so we knocked. The door was open so we walked in. The alarm goes off. Great. The game store owner and/or manager pulled into the parking lot with his arm full of donuts and almost immediately started screaming at us and dropping f-bombs and all kinds of stuff. Don't think i am exaggerating! This guy really lost his cool! It was surreal. At one point i thought we were getting "punk'd" by the television show. It was that rediculous.Telling us that were we trying to break in and all kinds of crap and that he should let the cops come! Wow. So we tell him what actually happened and of course he said we were full of shit. All this while my friend was trying to apoolgize over and over again and smooth things out, but the guy remianed a jerk. I tried not talking at all because i handle things a little differently when i am being accused things i didn't do by a guy who has gone completely of the handle. So he took us outside and locked the door and said "open it now". Of course it opened right up and wasn't locked at all. He still tried to be an asshole for a while after that, but at that point his thunder was stolen and he eventually calmed down and apologized. Of course by this time i was pissed off because he acknowleged that he knew the door was messed up and didn't lock often and that we weren't actually "probably" breaking in. WTF!!?? All the time during thise fiasco he was yelling at us he saying "You f-ing gamers and your attitudes" or "i'm sick of you gamers" and that crap. Oh i get it. You showed your true colors there a bit, my friend. You are one THOSE kind of gamestores. The one where you hate gamers or talk shit behind their back but are perfectly fine with taking our money. I was getting hot at this point and started yelling back. But Jerry smoothed things out as well as they could be and we each went on with our day. I wasn't quite right until at least halfway through the day. So i apologize to anyone i gamed with who maybe thought i was being weird or standoffish or anything. I don't think i was( it was the games that cooled me out and won the day, actually) but just in case. Apparently that guy (yes that is his name now)pulled Jerry aside during the course of the day and apologized again. Good on him. And good thing he approached Jerry instead of me. It wouldn't have gone well if he had came to me. The argument, or worse, would have just fired up again. I'm getting angry again just thinking about it now. I was too quick to want to kick that guys ass! whew. so anyway...
ALBANY GAMEDAY was fun. check.
GETTING TO PLAY with Ryan. Cool. You are a funny guy and i appreciate your insight on comics. Check.
ALBANY GAMERS you were a lot of fun!. Check.
WOAS, you ran a couple of fun games, even if we were a totally unruly lot!! Check.
ZOMBIE PLANET...fuck you. I'd like to think i'd be more magnanimous in person, but this is my live journal so...fuck you. check.
- Pyre Nadir:somewhere in the albany area...
- Burn Intensity: bitchy
- Licks:the sound of angry angels in my head...
I like it.
- Burn Intensity:
surprised - Licks:missouri football
I'm kidding. It actually has been a lot of fun. Health is painfully simple. Logic is simple (so far). Western Civilization is being mailed in by the Professor at the moment, but it is the subject i am most interested in (the focus of my liberal arts degree). Algebra is algebra and therefore not worth talking about!!! (no offense to you math zealouts out there). I'll pass it and then forget about it. If my transcripts had been on time i wouldn't have had to take this course...but anyway. Fresh English really doesn't seem all that different from what i remember about high school, just more of the same. Geology is turning out to be the more interesting class than any of them at the moment.
It is difficult to determine whether the classes are as easy as they seem or whether it is just that i have had a lot more experience and time to learn more than your typical college kid over the years. Obviously it is somewhere in between and fairly hard to put a finger on.
It is also fairly strange sitting in classroom and discussing opinions with people half my age and at least half of my experience.
But its all good.. I'm enjoying myself.
- Burn Intensity:
accomplished
It was pretty easy though. Takes notes, use notes to answer test questions, even during exams. I know they are teaching through repetition, but damn! What you expect out of a 1 Credit accelerated class that doesn't require a textbook, i guess.
We narrowly avoided a charged political/cultural clash about euthanasia (sp?), but all in all it was fun.
- Burn Intensity:
contemplative
Yippie-Kay-Ay Mother fuckers!!!
- Burn Intensity:
anxious - Licks:It cuts and trims grass too!!!
I hate it when i am just clearly wrong about something and finally see it.
Fuck.
- Pyre Nadir:the Dumb House
- Burn Intensity: annoyed
- Licks:the popping and sizziling of my ego!!
Maybe i should be a little concerned that the class doesn't appear to have an instructor/teach yet, but hey, shit happens. Apparently it is down to between two people. One uses books, the other doesn't. Guess which one i am pulling for?
My bike is still in the shop. The fuckers have told me 3 times now that is was fixed only to have it still do the same thing every time i tested it. Tomorrow if it isn't fixed when i get there, am having them replace the damn thing or give me my money back. I'm no longer feeling charitable about this situation....
- Pyre Nadir:My laptop...duh
- Burn Intensity:
hyper - Licks:History Channel
I watched the opening credits and was supprised when the biggest response i had was...WHO? I mean other than Darrell Hammond (who is old enough now that he doesn't need make-up for bad impersonations of old politicians) i didn't know anyone on the cast. Hel, i didn't even recognize the guest star.
Sad.
I don't like to be the old geezer type guy that talks about how things were in the old days, but holy crap! Heroes must subsidize SNL now or something, because it isn't carrying it's own damn weight, i can tell you that.
- Pyre Nadir:Honkeytown
- Burn Intensity: annoyed
- Licks:the muffled sobs of Lorne Michaels
Anyway, while i was there my UI Agent (who i will call Big Fat Joe - he was literally twice my size and ate the whole time i was there) tried to talk me into trying their Job Training program. I looked at it a bit and wasn't really into what they wanted. I'm trying to get out of construction, i am NOTnot becoming a business beaver, and i certaintly am not a nursing or PT candidate (lift that leg one more time maam, or you're going out the window! +smash* Ahhhhhhhhh...)
He then mentioned that i could just go to school and possibly qualify for the unemployment. So i thought about that for a little bit and walked on down the hall (the UI Office is at the college campus. Nice placement). I ended up talking to a Admissions Agent and ended up with a placement test date the next day (I'm sure it had nothing to do with that fact that she was smoking hot..). That night i applied for FIN AID and got enough to pay my way (and probably half my books if i'm lucky) and was quickly accepted. I took the placement test the next day (i had to take everything since i am ancient) and then worked out a class schedule 15 minutes later. Today my transcripts finally appeared and i'm off to finalize everything.
So by the end of the day i'll officially be a Liberal Arts/Social Sciences student at CCC.
Yay for me!
Here's to my teachers being older than me...i hope *clink*
- Pyre Nadir:Cloud 9
- Burn Intensity:
cheerful - Licks:none
I filled out the 101 questioneer and their open-ended responses and what not. It took a while, not forever, but somewhat of a time committment as i watched the Knick's summer league where they are desparately trying to not lay a goose egg for wins in Vegas during the
event.
After i get done they tell me how i am open-minded, Strong willed and independent, but flexible, emotionally open and a social magnet. They go to pretty good lengths describing how i believe in moderation and personal freedom, but have an open emotional state that others would find engaging. "A facilitator of social engagement"
Overall, it was pretty nice and i was very much flattered.
Then they told they couldn't find any matches for me in their database.....
Hilarious?
Or Depressing?
- Pyre Nadir:The Hoffman Estate
- Burn Intensity:
confused - Licks:The crying of my soul as the knicks blow yet another lead
Volume 4: First Report
Written by Lionel “Linx” Leary
CLASS IS NOW IN SESSION.
Welcome back students of the Risingstar Academy! The Class of 2008 now begins their journey to hero-dom and prepares to join the world as Guardians. We here at the HERO LINX office are excited to begin our last year of reports, though sad to see the end of an epic era of extra-normal reporting.
We are happy to announce a full return of our junior class and bid farewell to last year's graduating class. We also welcome new members of the Academy in the 2011 incoming freshman class. Welcome to Extra-normal University. We look forward to seeing you around campus.
As a senior, let me pass along a few words of wisdom. Don't try to leave Instructor Huff out in the desert during survival training while you go get dinner, it isn't healthy and he really doesn't think its funny. Always consult the PR dept first when making a change to your costume design. Lastly, don't eat the orange spaghetti in the mess. Talk about superhuman emissions!
THE BIG EASY...OVER
The Senior class of Risingstar spent it's first weekend back at the JAC (the Jack Abrams Center) at a press junket in New Orleans. Among the various press conferences and humanitarian aid (which we were actually able to get to fairly shortly) the Risingstar class were quickly engaged by the obligatory villain attack that happens at all major hero appearances by the anti-social villains THE VOID. During a short but electrifying fight now known as the BIG EASY BATTLE the students of Risingstar (and agent Ella Kyle of E.N.D.) were able to subdue the members of the radical group without loss of life and surprisingly little property damage.
HERO LINX SPOTLIGHT:
The Void
The Void first appeared in 1993 in Los Angeles, California. They assaulted what they believed to be the pinnacle of western society's decadent lifestyle in the hopes of attacking our way of life. They were brought down by E.N.D. (Extra Normal Deterrent) forces in their first extra-normal engagement. They are a group that formed in order to bring chaos to society. Lead by British Eco-terrorist Maelstrom, who seeks to reset society to what is was before humanity sullied it. In the recent BIG EASY BATTLE (see above), Maelstrom confessed to exerting his considerable influence of the elementals to cause the Katrina disaster. Note to Bad guys – battlefields revelations are usable in court. See you after a few life sentences, smart guy. Verge is The Void's African political activist who strives to tear down our societal structure through manipulation and psychic subterfuge. Who doesn't hate mind creepers? They get in your head and root out your thoughts and creep around and...well...anyway. I guess they aren't all bad. The third member of THE VOID is Null, a entropy worshiping temporalist Aussie who wants to break humanity down to its baser components, often literally. His ability to freeze time and cause things to age and disintegrate are quite dangerous. But nothing a punch in the mouth can't solve. The last, and perhaps largest threat, of THE VOID is the angry Tokyo teenager Yurihito MAW. Born with an enhanced jaw structure and razor sharp teeth, his overbite becomes a terrible bother when he uses his impressive growth ability. MAW seems to care for very little but random destruction. Perhaps it will be possible to reform these dangerous zealots, but no one here at the HERO LINX office is holding their breath.
QOUTE OF THE WEEK...
“Ride the Lighting baby” - as quoted from Livewire, during the BIG EASY BATTLE. T-shirts available.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKS
Administrator Manor would like to remind all students and faculty of her academy operations seminar held weekly in the convention center. Thick coffee and anti-depressants will be available.
Prof. “Machine” Eden will be holding his patented crazy scientist symposium next Tuesday in whichever lab is still functioning at that time.
Espionage specialist, Mr. Shadow Hunter, will be holding several spy games this semester for aspiring sneak-abouts. If you can find him.
Senior student Fuega is accepting applications early for potential hot dates for the after-graduation End of The Year ball. Apply early.
NEXT REPORT...
HERO LINX spotlight...Prof. Machine Eden, creator of the E.D.E.N. Protocols, guidelines for Extra-Normal containment facilities. Never miss his classes!!
Quote of the Week
Social Bookmarks
An expose on the Academy's desert irrigation program. Environment friendly gardening, or anti-weather control power out-sourcing?
See you next time!
Same Linx Station!
Same Linx download!
- Pyre Nadir:the J.A.C.!!
- Burn Intensity: cheerful
- Licks:Thunder Kiss '65
That is all i'm gonna say about that....
Fuck!!
- Pyre Nadir:Eat me Ville
- Burn Intensity: pissed off
- Licks:Glug-fucking-glug!
Been tracking this a while.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1255932
As long as i can live to see this movie (and one day after so that i can gloat and enjoy the afterglow), i can die a very happy man.
I get the joke, too.
- Pyre Nadir:a happy place for the moment
- Burn Intensity: energetic
*The Xbox is still alive and healthy. It is awesome. Grand Theft Auto IV is a horrible, horrible game that is wonderful, wonderful fun.
*I have been working overtime lately and will be working more of it this week (i'm working 10's all this week). My back is killing me, my brain is kinda numb, and my hands are stained yellow. Permanently, i think.
*The summer is really starting to get on my nerves. Where the hell is my fall!!??
*The Marvel game i am playing on altenate sundays is two weeks in and we are having fun with it. My only player (at the moment) is getting into being a supergenius armor suit character. Think a mix between Iron Man and Reed Richards. He is very good at techno-babble.
*I saw Cloverfield last night. Very cool movie. I thought it was more intense than i was expecting. I could have used more of it.
*Saw Dark Knight a couple weeks ago.....WOW. That was freaking dark and i freaking loved it! Best Joker EVAR!!
*more later this week.
- Pyre Nadir:The Brat Cave
- Burn Intensity:
tired - Licks:oops!!
I kinda felt bad about getting rid of my PS2, though. If only because it has been such an awesome workhorse for me for the last 10 years or so. Never had a problem with it, never even thought about having a problem with it. Dependibility like that isn't easy to find, even if i am talking about a video game system! Although it had some weird kinks that stranged me out. I've had friends come to play their games with me and everything i had unlocked on my memory cards would automatically unlock the things on their cards the second they got put in. That apparently isn't supposed to happen they tell me. I wonder if that is just a quirk/perk/defect of the original PS2 systems or not. Maybe i had a super special mutant PS2 that was aware. Of course, i basically kicked it ot the curb, so it is probably already taken over the local EB video shop and is plotting it's revenge upon me. I can just imagine all the mind controlled store employees coming after me with memory cards sticking out of their heads chanting "We must download your braaiiiiinnnnsss"
Where is Ash when you need him?
- Pyre Nadir:the house of X
- Burn Intensity: amused
- Licks:Dynasty Warriors 5 soundtrack
But if i ever get my keyboard on the bastard who wrote that crap...he won't be happy.
Just when i thought that torture and inhumane imprisonment has no place in civilized society....
- Pyre Nadir:Awburn
- Burn Intensity: drained
- Licks:air conditioner
Hey all. Been a bit since i last posted. settling in and taking care of all the little things has been almost as tiring as moving in the first place!
But i am better now. :)
Work has been slow the last couple of weeks though, giving me time to rest a bit and work on things on the new homefront. I have been hanging out some with the guys down at the new game shop that opened up here in Auburn last month. They are pretty cool. They are a bit more focused on Magic and Minatures than rpgs at the moment. Not that i can blame them. That is what brings in the money. Not that a good rpg vendor plan can't make a store money, it is just that most game store owners and managers that i know are only marginally interested in rpgs themselves (can't figure it for the life of me) and frankly don't know anything beyond what the distributors have on their lists to order. Most of which they haven't heard of. But i am doing my part in letting them what they need to know to grow in that area. I also game them some places to look that they might get direct access to indie games and the like (IPR, etc) because i would like to see some of them adorning their half empty rpg shelves down there!
Some of you know that Kat and I are planning to set up a monthly meeting for gamers in the area (rpgs, board games, minis, whatever) and that day is coming closer to happening. At the end of the month if we are lucky. I plan on letting the gamers in the area that i already know about it. I am also thinking of trying to contact a lot of local names i've seen on the net or places like Meetup.com. The store manager at Back of the Closet (the new store i was talking about) said that i could put up a note for the gamers that go throw there to see. so i think i can get some sort of turnout. It may take more prep time than i think and maybe the first meeting will have to be the middle of next month. We'll see. The store manager also told me that they have a decent sized basement that they have to set up that would be a great place to game and meetup.
So that is what is up with me.
How about yall?
.
- Pyre Nadir:Happy Town
- Burn Intensity: chipper
- Licks:school bus
So it is finally, actually happening.
On the gaming tip, i had already cancelled my sunday game for the time being (because of the constant moving, full time work, new relationship, and a 1001 minor house repairs or set up jobs). It was getting too much to prepare. But to be honest, it isn't just that. I've stopped going to the friday game in Syracuse (where i am a player) because i just am not having fun with it. I know a good chunk of it is that i just don't quite fit with the group. They like a lot of silly stuff (with some actual giggling involved) and a lot of very pedestrian type of gaming (hey, lets have our characters going shopping in the bizarre this session!). That in of itself isn't so terrible, but it is the norm rather than the occasional thing. I like impact scenes and/or stories (you could have a wonderfully cool scene in a bizarre that has nothing to do with any over-arching plots or everything to do with it...if any of the other players wanted it). I like scenes where we can "get into it" whether it is "words of steel" between two anbtagonists in the middle of a battle, or political debates in the court that reveal conspiracies or convince a nation to go to war or something. It could be just a thing in the bizarre where we each tell a story about our character's past while walking the town. Something. Anything! When someone asks what your game session was about and what happened and you really don't or can't give much of an answer is a problem for me. If your eyes can't light up when talking about the game or your character, then what the hell have you been doing? The Friday sessions seems way more like a game of Sims or something. I just had to admit to myself that i just didn't fit with the group. They like what they like and i really don't. It sucks, but there it is.
I am also fighting burn out. It seems like the time between burnouts keeps getting shorter and the length of the burnouts keeps getting longer. I don't even like thinking about it, because when i ask myself the question 'why', i don't like getting the same answer over and over again.
So i kind of decided to build a list of what i think i need to enjoy gaming again.
1. Fellow players who like to act. Not just roleplay (i'm an orc with a dark past, so i am mysterious. Great, but how does that translate into cools scenes and awesome memories during play? Anyone can be moody, turn it into something!), but people who can (or at least want too) really carry a scene with you and make it something very cool.
2. Regular change over of games. I don't think i really want year long campaigns and marathon character building. I can flesh out a character pretty nice in just a few sessions. Maybe short campaigns with options to renew, as Cam mentioned in a recent Godzilla podcast. Maybe i have been overly affected by some of the Indy games that are more of a short burst of storytelling and then moving on, but i love the idea. I just have way too many ideas firing off in my head to play the same thing every week, over and over again (especially if i have explored a character pretty deeply already).
3. Playmate bunnies serving munchies.
Okay....maybe not the bunnies.
I just realized that Kat occasionally reads this journal....
- Pyre Nadir:the last place i lived
- Burn Intensity:
awake - Licks:none
So i be cranky right now. I don't even care if i spelled necrophiliac right or not.
I would much rather be working in the shop today. Sanding boards or something down in my hole at work than going back to a city that i have moved away from 3 times. grr.
- Pyre Nadir:old rebel base rather than shiny new one
- Licks:none. it is too earlyf or that!
