It Keeps Going And Going And Going...

Okay... More of pretty much the same stuff, different day...

The depressive episode is still lingering and I feel nothing but impending doom as we hurtle toward yet another Magic: the Gathering Pre-Release weekend. I'm not certain why I'm feeling like this. Normally, crazy weekends like what we have coming up get me excited, but this weekend is full of angst on my part, but currently it is all I can do not to curl up in a corner and pull my hair out.

I think part of it has to deal with gaming... I'm not really running anything I can get behind right now, and things are starting to bottle up inside of me. I play in three games, and they are all great fun, but I am A-D-D enough to know that I am a game master/storyteller at heart, and I think that is part of the issue. Trouble is, with all the stuff that happens at the store on a near-constant basis, I don't really have the time/opportunity to make things happen as often as I would like.

That may be the issue at hand... I may need to go on walkabout for a bit to clear my head... We'll see what can be done with that...

-- GopherDave

As Things Roll On...

Today has been a weird day already. I have been tired and irritable for apparently no good reason. Little things are setting me off. Tonight, Skribl is watching the store and I'm off at a quiet place where folks cannot ask me questions they already know the answer to.

I was supposed to have a game tonight, but PapaJosh is feeling under the weather. I don't mind, though. The way I'm feeling, I would have probably snapped at someone at the game.

As it goes, I have forgotten about the deluge of product that people want to trade in right before a new MtG set comes out. With that, I have been answering MtG questions a *LOT* today, and I do not have anymore in me.

After the last few weeks, I can see why people get burned out on doing this... why we end up with "comic book guy" store owners... Mayhaps it's been happening a while, but I am *REALLY* starting to feel it. I'm not sure what I can do about it either. People will ask me if there is something they can do to help, and I honestly cannot answer them currently. I sort of know what is going on, but I am not for certain it's what I am thinking, so nothing I am thinking is concrete.

I hate dealing with wispy, nebulous thoughts, but that's all I have right now. Sorry...

-- GopherDave

More Catching Up...

Another Monday, so it's another order day. Once that is off the agenda, I need to go run some errands for the store. For what is supposed to be my "off" day, I do a lot of work on Monday. =P

I had a nice talk about gaming with the Loquacious one as I drove her somewhere she wanted to go. We mostly bandied about games bouncing in our heads. She's got her idea that she's been blogging about, while I have a couple of ideas that germinated a bit during our talk. My biggest problem is determining when I will have time to work on them... Oh, yeah...

Off days...

-- GopherDave

Hmmm... Not Sure What's Happening...

Today was a weird day... A old friend of mine got married... My daughter had a chorus function... and I had some other stuff to get done this morning. Early on was busy and stressful.

After that, it's been pretty mellow. Almost "randomly fall asleep" mellow. I've got some things to do tonight (mostly laundry) and aim to get all of it done. Unfortunately none of it gets done while I'm babbling here.

Perhaps I'll be back later... toodles...

-- GopherDave

What The Hell..?

Okay... first, what the hell is up with Blogger? They've changed their interface and I cannot see the reasons behind it. I guess my main thing is I hate change, and the old interface wasn't really broken, so I do not see the need to "fix" it.

Second... the show last night was a mix of good and bad.

American Head Charge kicked a**, simply put.

Hed PE is three very talented musicians fronted by two clueless morons. One is a turntablist/back-up vocalist that makes Flavor-Flav seem INCREDIBLY talented and COMPLETELY NECESSARY to Public Enemy by comparison. The main vocalist is a hypocritical fool, spouting rhetoric like "don't get brainwashed by the machine" while engaging the audience in call-and-response loops that sound oddly like... brainwashing.

(bang head on brick)

Mushroomhead (the main band we were there to see and for whom we had driven an hour to do so) was the final band of the night, and they were absolutely on fire when the venue pulled the plug with no warning due to "time constraints". Made for a "what the hell"-ending to what was becoming a great show...

Grrrrrrr....

-- GopherDave

Getting Back To (Bloomington-)Normal...



Don't let the outfit fool you... I like REALLY LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS music.

Today was another day to place orders... we've gotten busy enough to place multiple orders a week.

Tonight is also a night to get my ears blown out... A band I like is playing about an hour from here (in Bloomington-Normal), and as part of my extended birthday present, I (and the rest of the family) are going to go see them. Loq and I have been to countless shows. We have taken Skribl to three that I know of, and I know that he's seen at least one show on his own. Pumpkin has been to one show to my knowledge, but this will be her first "metal" show. It'll be interesting...

There are several bands on the bill, but I'm really only going for two. This one and this one... This other band is co-headlining, but as far as I'm concerned, they could not exist and I'd not lose sleep. Sorry... not a fan. Maybe tonight will change that, but I'm not counting on it.

The next week or so will be frantic as we get ready for another huge event on the weekend of the 28th. Up to that time, it'll just be business as usual, with be pulling my hair out while frantically bouncing about like a decapitated chicken. Go me.

-- GopherDave

Slowing Down... -Ish...

Okay... Today will be another shipment day as a couple of them got delayed for whatever reason. Part of me is hoping for some island of sanity today, as I do have some things to get done. I'm also, for some unknown to me reason, in a crap ton of pain. Both my spine and my knee decided yesterday that they would remind me how much they dislike me. Today, my spine is still screaming, but the knee has quieted down. For all of that, I am glad that I have Vicodin.

On the gaming front, last night was another edition of KnightErrantJR's DC Adventures game, and it was a blast. After session upon session of world-ending apocalypses, we had a less serious set of adventures last night. Not only did we stop a bunch of weaponized, intelligent, velociraptors (with names like Clever Gal, Bitey, Wurlitzer, Chip, Zippy, and Lolz), we got them made "protectors of Canada". Don't ask me how we managed this, because I'm not certain myself.

Next, apparently my character's (Marathon) ex-wife wrote a tell-all book, and is capitalizing on being married to a well-known "hero" (Marathon *REALLY* skirts that fence at times) by promoting it with a two week book tour. Now, Marathon is kind of an a**hole. It's true. So, how does he combat this affront? Well, by following her book tour and telling his side of the story where Marathon owns up to being a d*ck at times, but overall, comes across as not that bad a person. As a result, book sales begin to tank, and Marathon accomplishes being a d*ck by... ...not being a d*ck. Odd...

Finally, near the end, we're back to the world-ending apocalypse thing (we *ARE* the current Justice League , after all). Mongul, son of Mongul, has brought WarWorld into orbit with Earth, executed his father on live television, and told us all to give up or die. Basically, as we watch this and as a collective group we are saying "no", a new wrinkle appears. It seems that Mongul's sister, Mongal also has aspirations for the throne, but due to some whacked-out WarWorld traditions, she needs a consort to produce an heir. Oddly, all eyes turn to us... Really... I mean... where's Lobo when you really need him. So, we kvetch amongst ourselves on who's going to become Mongal's consort, and Marathon steps up to take a hit for the team. He's already been married once, so he knows the minefield he'll be walking, and he's looking for a more positive female role-model for his daughter.

Not so fast... Necromancer decides that he too should be involved in this, and thus we both have to go through the Marriage trials to see if we are even worthy of being betrothed to Mongal. WarWorld + Marriage Trials = Pain. Lots of Pain. In Necromancer's case, it involved his death. Marathon made it through with some willpower, some encouragement from Myrmidon, and a touch of telekinetic cheating. Hence, Marathon is married once more... crap... Why do I have this odd feeling that if this relationship goes sour, Marathon's newest ex-wife won't settle for writing a book to express her displeasure?

-- GopherDave