Well... where do I begin...? So much has happened on so very very many fronts of my life that I simply don't know where to start... If I wanted to do this chronologically it would make the least amount of sense, I think so I guess I'll go with that. Eh?
The rest of that third semester went by rather smoothly, well except for calculus 2. That was a pain. Got an F in it. The next semester (we're now talking Spring 2007) also kinda sucked. But sucked in a good way. It was.. probably by far my favorite semester of school that I've experienced since coming to NDSU.
That was also the semester that I met Vossler. Vossler is a crazy, happy go lucky friend of mine and it is imperative that you understand this from the get-go, because I will mention him time and time again. (Currently, he is the Fighter in our D&D game that I'm running.) I've been hanging out with the man almost completely nonstop since I first met him and it is only in these far reaching back introspective moments that i'm starting to realize the profound impact he's had on my life. And no, i'm not gay, and i'm not coming out of the closet right now, stop thinking that you sick perverted bastards.
Moving on...
It was just before spring break that I was hit by a car coming into work. Here's a small excerpt from an older blog:
Finally at the top of the shit list is the fact that I was recently (Saturday) in a car accident.
Before you panic... I'M FINE!
I was biking to work Saturday for catering and traveling north on 11th street just before the ballpark when i saw headlights in my side vision... i remember thinking wow they're in a hurry, they'll probably side their way around me... next thing i know i was sprawled out onto the pavement trying to get my head screwed on right. I crawled over to the sidewalk and just sat their for a bit trying to figure out just what the hell happened. Some girl came running outta the car screaming and crying asking if i was okay. She called 911, we got an ambulance.. i filed a police report...they left insurance information. then i was taken to the hospital by ambulance... calling my parents and my brother to let them know i was okay. Apparently, from what I've been told, she was traveling at 35mph (a little bit over the speed limit) and hit my bicycle, whereas I flew off back towards her car, smashed her windshield, and as she hit the brakes I few off her car into the street. Had I not been wearing my helmet you would all be one Stan short of a friends list. So they determined I had a mild concussion. They took me to the hospital and I was given a clean bill of health. I walked away with some road rash, a big ass bruise and a now 4 day nonstop headache. Tomorrow their insurance person comes by to take a look at my bicycle and figure out how much they want to give me. I'd settle outta court for my bicycle, my helmet, and my hospital bills. That's all I'd really care about.. I'll let you all know what happens.
Anyway... so yeah, getting hit by a car really sucked. The insurance company gave me $600 straight up for a new bike since the 2007 version of my bike cost that much (when in actuality it was a used bike i'd had for almost 7 years that originally cost me $50) I used 200 of that to buy Brett's bike and then I used the rest of it on a Wii. Later on I did sign an agreement saying that I wouldn't take them to court for long term damages and that was another $500. Looking back on that i could have gotten more, but if you look back at the old blog, being greedy wasn't on my docket of things to do. I had more pressing matters on my plate.
Then came, after all the jokes had been full exhausted about being ht by a car, it came time in April 16th 2007, the Virgina Tech Shooting. I'll only briefly touch on this subject because of what happened later. Essentially what happened is that I left my gym bag at the bus stop on campus a day later and someone had a misunderstand, reported it as a bomb and they shut down campus for a few hours while they attempted to defuse and eventually blow up my gym bag. I will never live down my campus bomber title.
Another fun side tangent... so back when Vossler was truly impressed by the amount of people I knew on campus (back when i first met him, he's still impressed, but become numbed by it by now i'm sure) and he calls me at 3 am one morning. Says he's just come from the library and asks if I remember an Amanda from Cresbard. I had no idea who he was talking about and sharply reminded him that it was 3am. He goes on to explain, and since he's my friend i continue to listen telling him, "I dunno maybe i know her, i guess?" and he says, well there's this librarian.. and he's at the front desk asking if they can fix the printers. Well they can't and Vossler spouts, well you know if my friend Stan were here he could fix them. The younger librarian, Amanda (and well actually i think he said her name was Amanda.. it's a great story but I don't recall the specific deatils, i'm horrible with names) and well Amanda says, "who's that" Vossler is appalled that he's finally found someone who doesn't know me. Until the older librarian who know's me very well (as i'm at this point in time a Tier 1 worker at the helpdesk and working nearly everyday at the library) "Oh yes, Stan Kwiecien, good kid." Amanda's face turns pale and she mutters.. "Stan.. kwiecien goes to school here... i hate that man..." Apparently the story here is that I came out of nowheresville (Spelled: Pollock) South Dakota and kicked her ass at Oral Interpretation at a State competiton and then dissappeared. Which is true.. i wen to state.. beat the pants of everyone my senior year and then moved.
Anyway... where was I? Krash, bomb.. Amanda... oh yeah... time for the happiest ... and crappiest part of the story thus far. Tracy... Olsen.
I met Tracy the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year. This was the summer that I worked 40 hours a week, and the only time that I've fallen so head over heels in love that it hurt to the point of irreparable when I picked myself back up from falling....
It started when I helped Cassie with her computer. Cassie is one of the heads of the anime club and a good friend that I know from the Association for Computing Machinery. It was during the summer and we had lunch together one afternoon since we were both bored and hanging out on campus. Cassie introduced me to Tracy Olsen. Tracy was a ... ou know i can't remember what major she was, but I know she holds a job in the reptile room in Steven's Hall. We started having lunch on a more and more regular basis and we went out on a date or two during the summer and with more and more nagging from my older brother, Brett, I "siezed the carp" and asked her out an afternoon in the fall.
That was awkward.... I remember it very clearly too. We were in the downstairs of the Union and I asked, "So ummm.. Tracy.. do you wanna... like, I dunno... Go out... go out... out?... uh.. with me?"
...and she said YES! (While most people wouldn't make a big deal about this.... but I never dated in HS or throughout my first years at college... Tracy here was my first official girlfriend). I met her parents, she met mine, we had dinnner at my house once (grilled italian chicken and spaghetti) and watched Love Actually. It was a great evening and... at the end, welll... I just i dunno, i couldn't kiss her... we'd only been dating a month and it was stuipd but I was a scared little shit. Later on, Brett chastized me mercilessly and now that I had a gf, he was goading me to trying to kiss her. Even then I didn't do that until February of the next year. I had invited her over several times, wanting to show off my cooking skills with the Christmas Present she gave me (a really nice crockpot) but every time she came up with some excuse as to why she didn't, or couldn't come. They say "love makes you blind" and in retrospect... they're right. ... those fuckers. I should've seen the end of the relationship from a mile away, but didn't. I fell in love with her and then after we kissed... February 9, the valentine's ball, I spoke to her maybe once or twice, and then over easter break I tried to get a hold of her and she wouldn't respond... then the monday morning after we got back from spring break.... she broke up with me.
I had such an amazing time with her, when we were together she was my everything, which I realize now was stuipd. I didn't stop hanging out with my friends but I was so enthralled to be spending time with someone my age of the opposite sex that it was... I can't describe it. It was perfect, those little moments together. When she told me that monday that she didn't want to be my girlfriend anymore, I tried to keep my head up, she said, "this is the hardest thing that she's ever had to do"... and why? To this day, I don't know. She never has given me an answer, and well, to my defense I've never really asked her. I've called and left messages asking to talk to her once or twice, but she's never called me back. We still hang out at the ACM together, and I don't things will ever be not awkward between us. She left me in the basement and then I went back upstairs and kept to myself for a few weeks, crying in my alone hours not wanting to share the pain that I felt with others, knowing it would bring them down.
She avoided us, and people we knew for the next few weeks. I'm not sure why. People either decided to try and make me feel better, or perhaps she just felt guilty about leaving me but, if she felt guilty, then why did she do it? I've thought about it and I've thought about it, and to this day I still don't get it. Perhaps I'm missing something, like maybe she spoke to her parents about it or...?
I suppose it's no use dwelling on the past too much but writing about this has been pretty theraputic, even if it's taken me nearly 2 months to think about and complete this section. I have three things left from that first relationship, the crockpot, a few pictures, and my pewter 20-sided die. I think for now.. i'm done.. i'll post another blog later but it's high time that this piece got out onto the interwebs.
2/12/09
2/10/09
wow... old blogs....
So I finally got fed up with myspace enough to remove the few pictures of there I had on myself before I deleted my account. There were quite a few reasons building up to this removal... 1, i never use the damn thng, and 2, when I was going through my own pictures myspace tried to install a trojan. Lucky for me I have an AWESOME computer with an amazing antivirus that stopped it dead cold before things got out of hand.
wow... and apparently this site autosaves your drafts.. which is cool.. i didn't notice that until now.
Many people will wonder why the 4 month hiatus from this blogging thing and the truth is.. Meh... I got lazy. But going back through my blogs on myspace that span my entire first 2 years at NDSU (that's North Dakota State University) I began to realize what an emo little shit I was/am.
Here's a great example, anyone ready for a trip down memory lane? No? Well too bad, i'm in control of the keyboard. If you really don't want to read this, I suppose you can just skip down to where the text changes font back to normal.
Anyway...
ugh... 30 minutes left. I never thought i'd hear myself say this, but I'm ready for monday morning. I've had just one helluva weekend. I suppose it started with friday.
BTW, It has come to my attention that I have, quite possibly, the worst luck, and timing when it comes to women. And to keep people from being offended, I have removed many names from this blog, though many of you, my good friends know who they are because I talk about them all the time.
I thought I was going to have a pretty decent weekend. Granted I knew I was going to bomb my test that I had later that day, but even that didn't go too badly (I hope). What bothered me was that the one event I had been looking forward to for quite a while was the LAN party which for some unfathomable reason had been canceled. Usually we hold them in Minard, which for some reason had a debate going on and so we had to leave and find a different room. So Sudro 22 was the new location and earlier that morning that had sent a message saying that we could no longer use their room. Something about a confrence I guess...
I must backtrack a bit if you'll allow me to...
There was a girl that I liked, well I still do like her, one of my good friends, but for a while there, there was a time when I REALLY liked her. And I had lined up to ask her out to the friday homecoming dance thing that was going on the monday of homecoming week after she got back from home. Well she came back monday morning... with a boyfriend. I guess I didn't "Seize the Carp" soon enough. (If you don't understand this reference, ask me sometime.)
Well, so it had taken me a while to get over her, because she, like Kayla before her had my heart but I don't think she knew it. Kayla, for those who don't know was a girl I knew in High School that I really liked as well. The feeling was never mutual and although. And I really haven't heard from her since I left the group at Minneapolis to go home early from Senior Trip. Brings to mind that popular Green Day lyric, "Now I wonder how whastername has been."
To quote the Lee, "Le Sigh."
anyway... I had gotten over her slowly but surely with the help of my friends (thanks, guys, you all freakin rule!) and I went and did something monumentally stupid. I fell head over heals for a girl again. Greg and Reed had some good insight as to what I should do, and although some of Greg's suggestions were rather cheesy I had begun to formulate a plan. Chris Farley in Tommy Boy comes to mind with, "I've... GOt.... A... PLAN!" I had nothing to do Friday, the LAN was canceled after all (stupid studro asses...) meh.. why not ask her to the MU movie, and maybe bowling afterward. Left her a text message since my phone has been on the fritz and she texted back saying she had plans with a friend for that evening, but certainly a rain check was in order. I thought I still had a chance. Woke up Saturday morning and facebook had her listed as ,"In a relationship." I nearly cried, not even a whole semester had gone by and I was already 0 for 2.
15 minutes left... will this weekend never end??
Well I had an APO fundraiser to get ready for, we were just randomly volunteering at the Innovis christmas thingy and I was placed directing traffic flow to and from santa. I did that for about 2 hours straight, and the rest of the time was spent helping kids play carnival games. Which all in all isn't bad, but after a while my ears were starting to ring. Don't get me wrong I like kids, but growing up during High School left me to babysit my younger bro and sis a lot of the time and I was glad to get away from that in college. I commented to my carpooler, "You know, this isn't my idea of a good saturday morning, but at least i'm not catering Madrigals."
So I got back around 4-ish. took care of the moose cause Brett was at Madrigals, it's this big dinner/theatre thingy that goes on once a year near the start of the advent season. It's kinda cool except we just sit behind the scenes, follow the script and have food ready when it needs to be, then we get stuck doing all the dishes afterward too. When i finally did get around to plugging in my phone I had a message from my boss at catering saying, "We need you here tonight for madrigals, get your butt over as soon as you can." Screw the 6 am mornings... devotion to a job is biking through 6 deg Farenheit weather 3 miles when you aren't scheduled.
Have I mentioned that I still had a speech that's due this upcoming monday?
So I ended up working the Madrigals event anyway. But i dodged the bullet twice at least, didn't have to do it Friday and I wasn't scheduled for it Sunday. Betsy however helped me redefine my speech and gave me some direction. She had a few long papers due monday as well and she was scheduled to work the Sunday shift. So that night and sunday morning I hauled ass on my speech and actually just got done with it before writing this blog so yeah. But I figured she'd helped me, I was practically done and she really needed the time off so I took her shift for her like she had requested, and magically I was back on the schedule to cater the 3rd and final madrigals event.
10 mintues... good god...
So for the second night in a row I ended up doing a shit load of dishes (like an 8 course meal with ALL the forks knives and spoons ever invented for some 150 people) not to mention water glasses, coffee cups, wassail (which is awesomely spiced apple cider) mugs, plates for bread and salad and desert and the main meal and the saucers and the pans used to cook all their food in.
Doing dishes though gave me time to think about all that had gone on with relationships and see a sort of correlation going on.
(backtrack time again.. nostalgia is such an awesome thing)
This past summer I was with a group of friends (cause I didn't go home this summer, I stayed in Moorhead and watched my brother's animals while going to work and taking intro to Java) and we got on the subject of relationships. So we got on the subject of relationships and they queried, "So Stan... gotta girl in your life yet?" "Well... no." They said I should, "Get working on that." And I replied with the idea that I think something's wrong with me... whether i emit geek vibes, or i'm not uber attractive.. I dunno. So we asked a passing friend, one who was busy on a way to a summer class and said, "Hey, hypothetically speaking, if you weren't seeing your boyfriend, would you go out with Stan?" She replied firmly, "No." and I said, "Well not that I'm angry at that answer, but we're trying to figure something out... and I continued, "well... Why not?"After a moment of careful consideration she replied, "Well Stan... it's just that you're too.. too..."
"Too what? Please tell me. I gotta know what it is that i'm doing wrong!"
"Well Stan.. you're just too.. too... I dunno... too Stan.. i guess."
...
...
huh?
Apparently I'm too Stan to go out with. what does that mean? This puzzled me.. and it still kinda does but after talking with other friends and explaing this I got a few different answers to work off of... Chigga said that he's been telling me this for years (and he has sorta, but I haven't seen him for two) but that he doesn't know how to explain it any better than that. So I went to another friend Ace, Ace replied that it's the way that i am... "I come onto people a little strong sorta like, 'ShzzaBAM! Here's STAN! Whaddaya thinkuf ME NOW!!?'" And well watching Ace get in my face was kinda funny I've actually taken this into consideration.
I had asked my sister what that all meant cause let's face it for all her faults, she is my sister and more importantly female. She replied, "Well SJ..." (and maybe i should explain my family doesn't refer to me as Stan cause that's my fathers name as well, so while I will respond to SJ if called on.. if you're not a family member you will get a dirty look.) "what she meant when she said that is that you are set in your ways. You know who you are and you aren't willing to be anyone else besides yourself. And while this turns some people off.. there is someone out there who is going to love you for who you are. Look at my fiance Greg. A lotta people don't understand why I, "put up" with him.. but for me it's not putting up with him, I love him for who he is and I encourage what everone else refers to as "Gregness" You're Stan," she continued, "and some people just can't cope with that. Remember Shakespeare... This above all to thine own self be true." I thanked her immensely for my input. As an afterthought, my sister replied after her well timed Shakespeare quote, "Trust in the old dead white guys, cause if they weren't still partially to fully right, we wouldn't still be quoting them."
(so... that was a nice trip down memory lane)
5 minutes...
In spite of all the adversity I face in trying to seal my first date (yes, my first, cause prom where i'm new in town and setup by my teachers doesn't count) <=(once again ask me if you're confused by this.) my friends tell me to remain optimistic and eventually I will find "her". Deke put it best I think when he said, "Hey stan, women are crazy, and me, well I just got lucky. You will too one day..." People for the longest time have been telling me that my time will come eventually, I just have to be patient.. course, they've been telling me this since 7th grade when I moved away from my first crush. It'd be kinda nice to know just when it'll happen, maybe get just an inking of what year it'll be. Until then, it'll be just me and you, my faithful readers. For now though, I'll open my desk drawer and take a look at the fortune that I got from a fortune cookie a number of years ago that says, "It's time you ask that special someone out." and think to myself how wrong a move that would be cause she's taken. And although she's not with me, she's happy, and that's the most important thing. 3.... 2.. 1. /rant Finally.. It's monday now and I'm glad for it. This weekend has been hell for me and the weather looks like it'll remain crappy for quite some time now... I'll go check on my laundry and make sure my pants are ready for my speech tommorrow morning... I hope I don't oversleep cause that would suck.. I still have to write my bibliography and put my speech notes and final visual aid together. Wish me luck. -Peace
I was recently at a thing... for lack of a better word, it was a sort of conference workshop thingy led by an interesting man who goes by the name Kevin Prentiss, and he spoke to us about something called the Dance Floor Theory. Elegant metaphor, really Kevin, bravo. But he inspired me to get back to the blogging scene. I think i'll also post another blog or two this week about the intervening time since this fully emo blog and the present day, because believe me... A LOT has happened.
-Don't die.
wow... and apparently this site autosaves your drafts.. which is cool.. i didn't notice that until now.
Many people will wonder why the 4 month hiatus from this blogging thing and the truth is.. Meh... I got lazy. But going back through my blogs on myspace that span my entire first 2 years at NDSU (that's North Dakota State University) I began to realize what an emo little shit I was/am.
Here's a great example, anyone ready for a trip down memory lane? No? Well too bad, i'm in control of the keyboard. If you really don't want to read this, I suppose you can just skip down to where the text changes font back to normal.
Anyway...
ugh... 30 minutes left. I never thought i'd hear myself say this, but I'm ready for monday morning. I've had just one helluva weekend. I suppose it started with friday.
BTW, It has come to my attention that I have, quite possibly, the worst luck, and timing when it comes to women. And to keep people from being offended, I have removed many names from this blog, though many of you, my good friends know who they are because I talk about them all the time.
I thought I was going to have a pretty decent weekend. Granted I knew I was going to bomb my test that I had later that day, but even that didn't go too badly (I hope). What bothered me was that the one event I had been looking forward to for quite a while was the LAN party which for some unfathomable reason had been canceled. Usually we hold them in Minard, which for some reason had a debate going on and so we had to leave and find a different room. So Sudro 22 was the new location and earlier that morning that had sent a message saying that we could no longer use their room. Something about a confrence I guess...
I must backtrack a bit if you'll allow me to...
There was a girl that I liked, well I still do like her, one of my good friends, but for a while there, there was a time when I REALLY liked her. And I had lined up to ask her out to the friday homecoming dance thing that was going on the monday of homecoming week after she got back from home. Well she came back monday morning... with a boyfriend. I guess I didn't "Seize the Carp" soon enough. (If you don't understand this reference, ask me sometime.)
Well, so it had taken me a while to get over her, because she, like Kayla before her had my heart but I don't think she knew it. Kayla, for those who don't know was a girl I knew in High School that I really liked as well. The feeling was never mutual and although. And I really haven't heard from her since I left the group at Minneapolis to go home early from Senior Trip. Brings to mind that popular Green Day lyric, "Now I wonder how whastername has been."
To quote the Lee, "Le Sigh."
anyway... I had gotten over her slowly but surely with the help of my friends (thanks, guys, you all freakin rule!) and I went and did something monumentally stupid. I fell head over heals for a girl again. Greg and Reed had some good insight as to what I should do, and although some of Greg's suggestions were rather cheesy I had begun to formulate a plan. Chris Farley in Tommy Boy comes to mind with, "I've... GOt.... A... PLAN!" I had nothing to do Friday, the LAN was canceled after all (stupid studro asses...) meh.. why not ask her to the MU movie, and maybe bowling afterward. Left her a text message since my phone has been on the fritz and she texted back saying she had plans with a friend for that evening, but certainly a rain check was in order. I thought I still had a chance. Woke up Saturday morning and facebook had her listed as ,"In a relationship." I nearly cried, not even a whole semester had gone by and I was already 0 for 2.
15 minutes left... will this weekend never end??
Well I had an APO fundraiser to get ready for, we were just randomly volunteering at the Innovis christmas thingy and I was placed directing traffic flow to and from santa. I did that for about 2 hours straight, and the rest of the time was spent helping kids play carnival games. Which all in all isn't bad, but after a while my ears were starting to ring. Don't get me wrong I like kids, but growing up during High School left me to babysit my younger bro and sis a lot of the time and I was glad to get away from that in college. I commented to my carpooler, "You know, this isn't my idea of a good saturday morning, but at least i'm not catering Madrigals."
So I got back around 4-ish. took care of the moose cause Brett was at Madrigals, it's this big dinner/theatre thingy that goes on once a year near the start of the advent season. It's kinda cool except we just sit behind the scenes, follow the script and have food ready when it needs to be, then we get stuck doing all the dishes afterward too. When i finally did get around to plugging in my phone I had a message from my boss at catering saying, "We need you here tonight for madrigals, get your butt over as soon as you can." Screw the 6 am mornings... devotion to a job is biking through 6 deg Farenheit weather 3 miles when you aren't scheduled.
Have I mentioned that I still had a speech that's due this upcoming monday?
So I ended up working the Madrigals event anyway. But i dodged the bullet twice at least, didn't have to do it Friday and I wasn't scheduled for it Sunday. Betsy however helped me redefine my speech and gave me some direction. She had a few long papers due monday as well and she was scheduled to work the Sunday shift. So that night and sunday morning I hauled ass on my speech and actually just got done with it before writing this blog so yeah. But I figured she'd helped me, I was practically done and she really needed the time off so I took her shift for her like she had requested, and magically I was back on the schedule to cater the 3rd and final madrigals event.
10 mintues... good god...
So for the second night in a row I ended up doing a shit load of dishes (like an 8 course meal with ALL the forks knives and spoons ever invented for some 150 people) not to mention water glasses, coffee cups, wassail (which is awesomely spiced apple cider) mugs, plates for bread and salad and desert and the main meal and the saucers and the pans used to cook all their food in.
Doing dishes though gave me time to think about all that had gone on with relationships and see a sort of correlation going on.
(backtrack time again.. nostalgia is such an awesome thing)
This past summer I was with a group of friends (cause I didn't go home this summer, I stayed in Moorhead and watched my brother's animals while going to work and taking intro to Java) and we got on the subject of relationships. So we got on the subject of relationships and they queried, "So Stan... gotta girl in your life yet?" "Well... no." They said I should, "Get working on that." And I replied with the idea that I think something's wrong with me... whether i emit geek vibes, or i'm not uber attractive.. I dunno. So we asked a passing friend, one who was busy on a way to a summer class and said, "Hey, hypothetically speaking, if you weren't seeing your boyfriend, would you go out with Stan?" She replied firmly, "No." and I said, "Well not that I'm angry at that answer, but we're trying to figure something out... and I continued, "well... Why not?"After a moment of careful consideration she replied, "Well Stan... it's just that you're too.. too..."
"Too what? Please tell me. I gotta know what it is that i'm doing wrong!"
"Well Stan.. you're just too.. too... I dunno... too Stan.. i guess."
...
...
huh?
Apparently I'm too Stan to go out with. what does that mean? This puzzled me.. and it still kinda does but after talking with other friends and explaing this I got a few different answers to work off of... Chigga said that he's been telling me this for years (and he has sorta, but I haven't seen him for two) but that he doesn't know how to explain it any better than that. So I went to another friend Ace, Ace replied that it's the way that i am... "I come onto people a little strong sorta like, 'ShzzaBAM! Here's STAN! Whaddaya thinkuf ME NOW!!?'" And well watching Ace get in my face was kinda funny I've actually taken this into consideration.
I had asked my sister what that all meant cause let's face it for all her faults, she is my sister and more importantly female. She replied, "Well SJ..." (and maybe i should explain my family doesn't refer to me as Stan cause that's my fathers name as well, so while I will respond to SJ if called on.. if you're not a family member you will get a dirty look.) "what she meant when she said that is that you are set in your ways. You know who you are and you aren't willing to be anyone else besides yourself. And while this turns some people off.. there is someone out there who is going to love you for who you are. Look at my fiance Greg. A lotta people don't understand why I, "put up" with him.. but for me it's not putting up with him, I love him for who he is and I encourage what everone else refers to as "Gregness" You're Stan," she continued, "and some people just can't cope with that. Remember Shakespeare... This above all to thine own self be true." I thanked her immensely for my input. As an afterthought, my sister replied after her well timed Shakespeare quote, "Trust in the old dead white guys, cause if they weren't still partially to fully right, we wouldn't still be quoting them."
(so... that was a nice trip down memory lane)
5 minutes...
In spite of all the adversity I face in trying to seal my first date (yes, my first, cause prom where i'm new in town and setup by my teachers doesn't count) <=(once again ask me if you're confused by this.) my friends tell me to remain optimistic and eventually I will find "her". Deke put it best I think when he said, "Hey stan, women are crazy, and me, well I just got lucky. You will too one day..." People for the longest time have been telling me that my time will come eventually, I just have to be patient.. course, they've been telling me this since 7th grade when I moved away from my first crush. It'd be kinda nice to know just when it'll happen, maybe get just an inking of what year it'll be. Until then, it'll be just me and you, my faithful readers. For now though, I'll open my desk drawer and take a look at the fortune that I got from a fortune cookie a number of years ago that says, "It's time you ask that special someone out." and think to myself how wrong a move that would be cause she's taken. And although she's not with me, she's happy, and that's the most important thing. 3.... 2.. 1. /rant Finally.. It's monday now and I'm glad for it. This weekend has been hell for me and the weather looks like it'll remain crappy for quite some time now... I'll go check on my laundry and make sure my pants are ready for my speech tommorrow morning... I hope I don't oversleep cause that would suck.. I still have to write my bibliography and put my speech notes and final visual aid together. Wish me luck. -Peace
I was recently at a thing... for lack of a better word, it was a sort of conference workshop thingy led by an interesting man who goes by the name Kevin Prentiss, and he spoke to us about something called the Dance Floor Theory. Elegant metaphor, really Kevin, bravo. But he inspired me to get back to the blogging scene. I think i'll also post another blog or two this week about the intervening time since this fully emo blog and the present day, because believe me... A LOT has happened.
-Don't die.
10/20/08
Liscensed, Errata, and other updates
So...
I'm now an officially licensed Dungeon Master for 4e. It didn't really take too much, the hardest part was trying to get recognized as a a member of DCI. That's taken me since Game Day 08, which was back in June. But I'm now a "Herald Level" DM. Which entitles me to resources almost unlimited. I will probably begin getting a subscription to D&D Insider (mainly for the Dungeon and Dragon Magazine content, but I don't know for sure, my finances at this point are still up in the air.
However, because I'm a DM, that means that my books should be updated with the latest set of rules. This "errata" is a pain in the ass because while most things are simple updates (one to two word changes) there are a crap ton of them... 22 pages worth! Argh! I freaking HATE doodling in my nice PHB but stuff's gotta get done.
The advanced group finally left Fallcrest (the intro adventure) and started on their way to Keep on the Shadowfell. The beginners group will be doing that sometime within the next two weeks so cross your fingers and wish for good rolls.
Game on!
I'm now an officially licensed Dungeon Master for 4e. It didn't really take too much, the hardest part was trying to get recognized as a a member of DCI. That's taken me since Game Day 08, which was back in June. But I'm now a "Herald Level" DM. Which entitles me to resources almost unlimited. I will probably begin getting a subscription to D&D Insider (mainly for the Dungeon and Dragon Magazine content, but I don't know for sure, my finances at this point are still up in the air.
However, because I'm a DM, that means that my books should be updated with the latest set of rules. This "errata" is a pain in the ass because while most things are simple updates (one to two word changes) there are a crap ton of them... 22 pages worth! Argh! I freaking HATE doodling in my nice PHB but stuff's gotta get done.
The advanced group finally left Fallcrest (the intro adventure) and started on their way to Keep on the Shadowfell. The beginners group will be doing that sometime within the next two weeks so cross your fingers and wish for good rolls.
Game on!
10/16/08
Sundays @ Dox
As a DM, I try and maintain a healthy level of humility for the players involved, which I emulate by running a game while I try and play a game. Unfortunately, the time constraints between this semester have got me so cornered down that my game that I'm playing is a simply PbP (Play by Post) online at http://forums.gleemax.com If you wish to follow it, here is the full link: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1097411 you should recognize the character I'm playing, the infamous goof Owen. (However this is him in his early twenties before he became a well respected adventurer)
anyway... so I'm running two campaigns.... well actually the same campaign, twice over. The first is with a group of my friends, Fox, Vossler, Snoop, Pirate, and Chip IV which is why I spend Sunday @ Dox. Dox has been a gracious host when we show up allowing us time and space to play.
The second campaign is the same one that the advanced group above is running, but it is the beginners group which is also the aforementioned Guild Sanctioned game of D&D. I'll be leaving more updates with each one of these groups later. I hope both adventures work really well. The reason I'm running the advanced group and the beginner group on the same level is because this way I can work out all my story telling kinks with the advanced group (who know me well and know my storytelling style) before running the same content with the beginners group.
anyway... so I'm running two campaigns.... well actually the same campaign, twice over. The first is with a group of my friends, Fox, Vossler, Snoop, Pirate, and Chip IV which is why I spend Sunday @ Dox. Dox has been a gracious host when we show up allowing us time and space to play.
The second campaign is the same one that the advanced group above is running, but it is the beginners group which is also the aforementioned Guild Sanctioned game of D&D. I'll be leaving more updates with each one of these groups later. I hope both adventures work really well. The reason I'm running the advanced group and the beginner group on the same level is because this way I can work out all my story telling kinks with the advanced group (who know me well and know my storytelling style) before running the same content with the beginners group.
Background
Wh00t! F!rst p0$t!
(okay, so now that that's outta the way... I've always wanted to publish something like that...)
This blog is for anyone really, a lot of it D&D based, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm sure there will be quite a few insights into my view of the world. I guess we'll start off on a few of my experiences of D&D.
Unlike many people who write about D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) I've only been playing for about 2 years now. My friend introduced it to me during a fall semester that was pretty horrible and at the time I wasn't 21 so it became an evening social event for those of us who didn't go to bars. (Why is this thing not recognizing contractions as being spelled correctly? Google, get to work on that stuff!)
He sat me down with a wonderful book known to others in the community as the 3.5 PHB. (Player's Handbook for 3.5 edition) I created one of the greatest characters from a story that my sister and I are co-writing which you can find small bits and pieces on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/coderx (not anymore i've removed my account there) but he was a Bard, named Pinnak. I really had no idea at the time of character creation what I was doing, so I made him a particularly strong Bard and not having an optimal charisma score (which is what most bards need) this didn't matter though because as we fought the final bad guy of my friends campaign a number of weeks later, Pinnak being the last one alive standing as character was 3 sheets to the wind and kicking the curled over bad guy in the gut with his steel toed boot yelling "I AM NOT A SQUISHY BARD!" It was a good time had by all.
I then began planning to run my own campaign which was in and of itself a massive train wreck. It ran for several months and actually ended just a few weeks ago. But god am I glad it's over. I already have plans for a future campaign that I will be running and Co-DM'ing with a friend of mine whom I will refer to as Chip IV or just Chip. He was a former player in my first run campaign, a player in my current campaign, and will be a partial DM for the future campaign that I'm running. Probably the best thing to come out of this first campaign that I ran was the NPC (Non-playable character) or rather DMPC (Dungeon Master Playable Character) named Owen Tonamachè, the 35th level crazy Ranger. He was truly fun to play around with and will be lots of fun in the near future.
I also had two different charaters in Chip's campaign that he's running, the first one was a bardic socrcere by the name of Snaps McGreggor who played air guitar. He died when I decided to leave because of failing grades. My second character is still alive and he is a monk called Bruce Striker with the punch line of "You seem (insert random feeling here)... my friend... have you considered poverty?"
And now we come to today. I am the Head of Membership for a group of close friends on campus known as the NDSU Gaming Guild, and I'm running the Guild Sanctioned game of Dungeons & Dragons. This will consist of Fallcrest (in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide) then running through the 9 adventures that will be available periodically throughout the next several months.
Happy Gaming.
(okay, so now that that's outta the way... I've always wanted to publish something like that...)
This blog is for anyone really, a lot of it D&D based, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm sure there will be quite a few insights into my view of the world. I guess we'll start off on a few of my experiences of D&D.
Unlike many people who write about D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) I've only been playing for about 2 years now. My friend introduced it to me during a fall semester that was pretty horrible and at the time I wasn't 21 so it became an evening social event for those of us who didn't go to bars. (Why is this thing not recognizing contractions as being spelled correctly? Google, get to work on that stuff!)
He sat me down with a wonderful book known to others in the community as the 3.5 PHB. (Player's Handbook for 3.5 edition) I created one of the greatest characters from a story that my sister and I are co-writing which you can find small bits and pieces on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/coderx (not anymore i've removed my account there) but he was a Bard, named Pinnak. I really had no idea at the time of character creation what I was doing, so I made him a particularly strong Bard and not having an optimal charisma score (which is what most bards need) this didn't matter though because as we fought the final bad guy of my friends campaign a number of weeks later, Pinnak being the last one alive standing as character was 3 sheets to the wind and kicking the curled over bad guy in the gut with his steel toed boot yelling "I AM NOT A SQUISHY BARD!" It was a good time had by all.
I then began planning to run my own campaign which was in and of itself a massive train wreck. It ran for several months and actually ended just a few weeks ago. But god am I glad it's over. I already have plans for a future campaign that I will be running and Co-DM'ing with a friend of mine whom I will refer to as Chip IV or just Chip. He was a former player in my first run campaign, a player in my current campaign, and will be a partial DM for the future campaign that I'm running. Probably the best thing to come out of this first campaign that I ran was the NPC (Non-playable character) or rather DMPC (Dungeon Master Playable Character) named Owen Tonamachè, the 35th level crazy Ranger. He was truly fun to play around with and will be lots of fun in the near future.
I also had two different charaters in Chip's campaign that he's running, the first one was a bardic socrcere by the name of Snaps McGreggor who played air guitar. He died when I decided to leave because of failing grades. My second character is still alive and he is a monk called Bruce Striker with the punch line of "You seem (insert random feeling here)... my friend... have you considered poverty?"
And now we come to today. I am the Head of Membership for a group of close friends on campus known as the NDSU Gaming Guild, and I'm running the Guild Sanctioned game of Dungeons & Dragons. This will consist of Fallcrest (in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide) then running through the 9 adventures that will be available periodically throughout the next several months.
Happy Gaming.
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