No WoW for me

So, I cancelled my WoW subscription because... I was unemployed and I thought it was bad form to use the money I was borrowing to make my credit card payments to play WoW (I did this AFTER paying CitiBank).

I will go back on under the following conditions (which I have set):

1. I will only play Sunday afternoon/evening.

2. I will use WoW as a friend interface, not as a place where I can experience success vicariously through Derdriu.

3. I will not pay for WoW with my credit card.

With reference to my previous post:

1. My boss is still accepting applications, but he's not really hiring. No harm in applying.

2. Greek food is teh overpowered.

3. The food is really Greek. i.e not Turkish or Iranian.

KOSMOS: Opening Day

Worked 10:30 to 5:30 today. So my hours have been pushed up already. I've been feeling a bit feverish, but some Med0-Lemon with breakfast held me over until I got back. Tomorrow, I will take some aspirin to work.

I ate a delicious souvlaki pita today. Hmmm... PORK!

KOSMOS Greek Cafe

Tomorrow I start work at KOSMOS on Dickson street (where Asahi used to be, next tot Rice Village).

You should TOTALLY come by and get some souvlaki or a gyros. The tzatziki is great and the hummus is spicy.

Come! Eat pork! Eat lamb! Eat pita!

I will be there from 10:30 until 3pm. Let me recommend the Kosmos Gyros: Seasoned beef and lamb gyros with tomatoes, red onions and tzatziki sauce in a pita bread. It costs four dollars. Add soda and fries for an extra two dollars. Six bucks for a great meal. It's cheaper and better than Brough.

The "Are you a Pirate or a Ninja" test

Hardy-Har-Har Pirate

You scored 19 Stealth and 76 Arrogance!

Arrrrr....you be a pirate. I bet you love your rum and pushing people
off of the plank...especially if sharks are around. Keep up the work.

My test tracked 2 variables. How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 11% on Stealth

You scored higher than 85% on Arrogance

The Are You a Pirate or a Ninja Test written by saint_vox on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Could you pass 8th grade science?

NOTE: There's a typo in question 6: It should say "neutron" - but you knew that anyway.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

What part of thanksgiving are you? (Thanks to Colleen)

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Great links!!!! (edit)

From Jordan: Walken 2008

From Tim: D&D ad

and this: Shadow Priests

...and the Cee Burgers quote of the day:

"For the primitive, art is a means; for the decadent, it becomes an end" - Pierre Reverdy (Le Livre de mon Bord, 1948)

I came across that in the introduction to the Oxford World's Classics "The Kalevala."

JORB!

I have a job now. Feeling a little embarrassed after talking to yesterday, I went out to look for work. Well, not really. I just happened to pass by that new Greek place and there was a help wanted sign in the window. I walked in, filled out an application, interviewed and got the job. I have to go to training on Friday, but I guess I'm in.

I love Greek food. This is going to be the best jorb ever!

A new look!

I stole the gifs I had on my long dead webcomic and stuck them in here. I have leet skillz.

To help me actually get things done

I've activated the "Parental Control" thingie on wow. Now I certain play-times are blocked out. Heh, I know the password since I made it, but I only need a subtle reminder to get off and do work... at times.

South Africa will be the next New Zealand

This is very possible. Here are the reasons why:

1. We are centrally located and closer to everyone than New Zealand.

2. We have more people than sheep.

3. Nelson Mandela.

4. South Africa may not have a volcano, but it has deserts. Deserts are far more marketable as movie locations.

5. We used to have a nuclear weapons programme.

Here are the reasons against:

None at all! Stop going to New Zealand!

South African Films

South African films are the best.
They really rock it out.
They are my favourite films in the mix.
Watch them or I'll hit you with my karate stick.

Cape of Good Hope

Crazy Monkey: Straight out of Benoni

U-Carmen eKhayelitsha - no trailer

Stander

Yesterday

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?

Numenorean


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Wesley Willis, the greatest artist of this or any other Millenium

Why? Well, van Gogh did his bit to make everyone feel that dementia is not a real limiting factor when it comes creating amazing art. The problem with van Gogh? He died without recognition.

Wesley Willis is my hero because he made CRAP music, was totally insane, and everyone loved him. Yes, Mr Willis gained almost universal appeal while he was still alive. Awesome? Hell yes!

This makes me less fearful of old age and the inevitable dementia that will comsume my mind and soul when I need them most: regardless of what I create or do, I will be loved (if only for being a spectacle) by everyone I meet.

Sadly, Wesley Willis was a spectacle. He was mocked and ridiculed by everyone who ever heard him. He was hailed, mockingly, as a genius.

But I stand by my story: Wesley Willis gives me hope. Because of him I know that if I ever become sick, I will be humored and I'll entertain people in a way I did not intend.

Awesome.

Book fragment 1, redo

A PATH LED BY DREAMS

by Carl Burgers

Prologue: The Birth of the Gods

Linno and Penwayl

At first it was completely dark. Later a speck of light flickered and went out. Then a thousand lights all at once exploded across the blackness. This was the beginning. Each light was a child of A'sion, the one we cannot explain. The lights fought in the blackness until A'sion stirred. His voice was shattering glass and running water and the din of slowly folding rock. With his hands he cupped the lights together and formed them into two beings: Linno and Penwayl. He warned them, saying, “It is dangerous to wake the one that fills the Abyss. Go, make yourselves a place to play in and have children. Do not wake me again, for my wrath with be mighty.” Saying this A'sion went back to the Abyss where he remains today.

Linno and Penwayl saw that there was a brown land in the darkness, some distance from the Abyss. “Let us dwell here,” said Linno. Penwayl built a house for his wife from the grass of that place and hunted for beasts to cook. Before long Linno was lonely. She said to Penwayl, “It would be good for us to have children.”

Penwayl was grieved by this. He said, “Surely our children will make such a noise that they shall awake A'sion, and so bring his wrath upon our home. Let us live in peace in this brown land.”

The Coming of Juh'rahn

One day when Penwayl was out hunting, Hyena visited Linno. “I am lonely and I have no child,” said Linno.

Hyena grinned and chuckled. “Let me father your children, if your husband will not!” So, Linno and Hyena lay together. When Penwayl returned from his hunt he saw the virginal stains and grew angry, but he did not let his rage overcome him.

“What is this, my wife?” He said.

“That is the blood from the ostrich which you caught last night,”she replied

When Linno was large with pregnancy he said, “My, you are getting fat, my wife. You should not eat so much game.” Then he sang a song to her:

Tooth and tongue

take in and spit out

sharp ears and smooth eyes

find the maggot in the meat

A swelling gut can mean more

than a dead man's bloat.

Linno was pregnant for twelve years. Each day Penwayl would tease her about her weight and her gut. “No more flesh for you, my love. You have grown fat indeed and need no more food!”

Linno stood at the edge of their brown land and shouted into the abyss, “A'sion! I am cursed! I betrayed my husband and slept with Hyena. Now my body is deformed and I am still without child.”

Baboon heard her cries from where he hid amongst the tallest trees. He climbed down to her and spoke gently, “Why do you call to blackness? The Abyss will not answer you.” Baboon took a bird and killed it, examining the signs carefully. At length he spoke, “The child you bear comes with difficulty because this world is not to receive him. You must seek another land where the soil will be willing to yield to his feet.”

That night, before Penwayl returned from the hunt, Linno fled across the blackness in search of a new land. She wrapped herself in a cloak of dark cloud so that Penwayl would not see her as she ran. She had not gone far when she began to feel the birth pangs. Hiding herself between two huge rocks she gave birth to a son. He was called Juh'rahn, although we have called him Yoond'hoo. As she nursed her son, Linno noticed the darkness deepen about her. When she looked down at her son he was fully grown and strong. “Go home to your husband,” he growled. “I have no further use for you.”

Linno ran home to Penwayl. In time she bore him two normal sons. Their names were Nambisa and Lobohn.

One day when Penwayl was hunting in the woods of the brown land, he met a strange figure sitting under a tall baobab tree. “Who are you?” asked Penwayl.

“I am the maggot in the meat,” said Juh'rahn and he leaped up at Penwayl with vicious teeth and killed him. Nambisa and Lobohn heard their father's screams and ran to his aid. When they found his body they were deeply grieved: Juh'rahn had torn the body to bits.

* * *

When Linno learnt that Penwayl was dead, she ran to his side. Lobohn had build a mound for his father over the gathered remains. Linno embraced the mound, wetting it with her tears. The mound became the Earth and Linno became the sky. Lobohn dwelt on the Earth, protecting it from Juh'rahn, and Nambisa dwelt in the sky with the other creatures of the brown land.

Nambisa and Tamal

Before the sky had clouds, the Sky People argued over whom they should make king. Homosa, the Sky Lion, stepped forward and said, “I have the mightiest roar and the most powerful jaws. I am the one to rule us.” Many agreed, but more cried, “No, he is not our king.”

Tsongana, the Sky Elephant, stepped forward and said, “I am the wisest of us all and I am the largest. I am the one to rule us.” Many agreed, but more cried, “No, he is not our king.”

Mufayane, the Sky Baboon stepped forward and he said, “I am the most nimble and the craftiest of us all. I am the one to rule us.” Many agreed, but more cried, “No, he is not our king.”

Kroko-kroko, the Sky Crocodile, stepped forward, but again they cried, “No, he's not our king.” And a fight broke out in the sky. All of them fought except Nambisa, the Sky Man. Nambisa did not have a powerful roar nor did he have great size, but he was the smartest of all the Sky People. He went to Earth while they fought. In a cavern he created a powerful weapon. Smoke billowed from the great cave where Nambisa toiled. Clouds choked the sky until the Sky People could not see each other. They bore down on the cave and marveled at what roared at the entrance. They saw the flames and they were afraid. Then Nambisa, the Sky Man, stepped forward and said, “This is Fire. He who controls it has power over all creatures. If I am king, I will keep Fire safe from men and animals alike.”

The Sky People shook with fear and bowed down to Nambisa. “You are our king,” they said. Then Nambisa made for himself a fiery crown. It shone so bright that the Sky People fled into The Abyss to hide from Nambisa. So Nambisa grew lonely. And the men of the ground felt sorry for him and made him a wife out of ivory, marble and silver. They called her Tamal and when Nambisa saw her, he fell deeply in love. All day she soared with him on the winds and together they lit the day. Then Tamal bore to Nambisa the first women and he gifted them to the men of the Earth as wives. And all the creatures rejoiced, since at that time no creatures had wives. But Nambisa said, “Because I love them most, only men will be given mates.”

The Sky People were angry that only men would have wives, so Mufayane made a plan to steal Tamal from Nambisa. Mufayane hid in a tall baobab tree and sang a sweet, sad song over the veld. Tamal heard the song and searched among the giant trees for the singer. “I'm right here,” said Mufayane in a sweet voice, “I am so sad, please help me.” Tamal grew closer to the tree where Mufayane was waiting.

“Who are you,” she asked.

“I am one of your children,” said the baboon, “I have become stuck in this tree. Please help me.”

Tamal drew even closer, “What is your name, my child?”

“I am the Wandering Wind,” he said, “I am the Smoking Dawn.” When Tamal drew closer still, Mufayane lept out of hiding and dragged her over the sky to Darkest Night, where Mambisa could never find her. There she bore to each of the Sky People wives for their creations and in the Night Sky she stayed.

Nambisa was furious. In a fit of rage he summoned all men to his cave and there he taught them the art of Fire and the craft of smelting metal for spears. “Never teach an animal this lesson,” he said, “You are greater than the zebra and the gazelle. They will be your food and your clothes. You will rule them and they will submit to you.” Having said that he left the Earth forever to spend his days searching the sky for Tamal. All day he searches and when he sleeps at night the Sky Animals chase Tamal across Darkest Night.

Now you understand why we hunt the animals. It was them that stole Tamal, who is the moon. And it is because of Mufayane that we have learnt to make fires to burn the grasslands and how to smelt iron into spears.

* * *

The Imprisonment of Yoond'hoo

Lobohn walked among the men of the Earth. He taught them how to plant crops and ferment beer. The men gave him the name Guln'jar, for he was like a mighty bird. The men he liked best he called the Guln'kin. Together they built a city out of iron and wood. It was called Jitur'kena, the Warding Tower, for all men feared Juh'rahn, the Yoond'hoo.

In the coldest places Yoond'hoo had dwelt. In the glaciers of the South he fed of sea beasts and enslaved the monstrous southmen. Out of reach of Nambisa and far from the warm kingdoms of Lobohn, Juh'rahn began to sleep.

Uncountable years pasted. A disagreement amongst the Guln'jar and the Jitur'gul gave rise to a new fortress, deep in the jungles named Fulo-Gwan. Guln'jar spent his time between the two cities, giving council to both people. One day a messenger brought news that sea beasts had borne an army of southmen across the sea from the southern wasteland. Yoond'hoo was coming with his Yoond'kin.

Jemisoa, they named him: Soil Blighter. His armies marched to the gates of Jitur'kena and laid siege to the city. Guln'jar took a band of his greatest sorcerers to curse Yoond'hoo and end his evil. At the city gates Yoond'hoo was trapped inside a mound of seamless rock. The proud city of Jitur'kena was ruined, but the Jitur'gul remained to protect the burial place and prevent evil from opening it again. Likewise Guln'jar and the sorcerers forgot the enchantment that commanded the spell of imprisonment. They would not risk evil to undo their magic. But Guln'jar allowed for way to undo to sorcery: should powerful malice seek to crack open the very rock that held Yoond'hoo, then would be called two people, a dreamer and seer, to open a new path, a path led by dreams, into the mound. There good would strive with evil and a new day would dawn.

Yes, I'm still goofing off

But look at this

Derdriu is looking good!

I've got a skull and a chicken and I'm in a guild with a better tabard. Seriously, check me out.

Also, I can currently build my own Harvester Golems (giant scarecrow/tinman combos) that will stab upon my behest. Awesome.

NEW SHOULDER PADS!

Got these sweet babies as a quest reward. Since I do quests for the XP, I always find out what the reward is when I cash one in. These are pretty decent.

Later tonight I will hopefully join a guild and start wearing my tabard again.

Awesome.

A Path Led By Dreams (fragment 1)

A PATH LED BY DREAMS

by Carl Burgers

Prologue: The Birth of the Gods

Linno and Penwayl

At first it was completely dark. Later a speck of light flickered and went out. Then a thousand lights all at once exploded across the blackness. This was the beginning. Each light was a child of A'sion, the one we cannot explain. The lights fought in the blackness until A'sion stirred. His voice was shattering glass and running water and the din of slowly folding rock. With his hands he cupped the lights together and formed them into two beings: Linno and Penwayl. He warned them, saying, “It is dangerous to wake the one that fills the Abyss. Go, make yourselves a place to play in and have children. Do not wake me again, for my wrath with be mighty.” Saying this A'sion went back to the Abyss where he remains today.

Linno and Penwayl saw that there was a brown land in the darkness, some distance from the Abyss. “Let us dwell here,” said Linno. Penwayl built a house for his wife from the grass of that place and hunted for beasts to cook. Before long Linno was lonely. She said to Penwayl, “It would be good for us to have children.”

Penwayl was grieved by this. He said, “Surely our children will make such a noise that they shall awake A'sion, and so bring his wrath upon our home. Let us live in peace in this brown land.”

The Coming of Juh'rahn

One day when Penwayl was out hunting, Hyena visited Linno. “I am lonely and I have no child,” said Linno.

Hyena grinned and chuckled. “Let me father your children, if your husband will not!” So, Linno and Hyena lay together. When Penwayl returned from his hunt he saw the virginal stains and grew angry, but he did not let his rage overcome him.

“What is this, my wife?” He said.

“That is the blood from the ostrich which you caught last night,”she replied

When Linno was large with pregnancy he said, “My, you are getting fat, my wife. You should not eat so much game.” Then he sang a song to her:

Tooth and tongue

take in and spit out

sharp ears and smooth eyes

find the maggot in the meat

A swelling gut can mean more

than a dead man's bloat.

Linno was pregnant for twelve years. Each day Penwayl would tease her about her weight and her gut. “No more flesh for you, my love. You have grown fat indeed and need no more food!”

Linno stood at the edge of their brown land and shouted into the abyss, “A'sion! I am cursed! I betrayed my husband and slept with Hyena. Now my body is deformed and I am still without child.”

Baboon heard her cries from where he hid amongst the tallest trees. He climbed down to her and spoke gently, “Why do you call to blackness? The Abyss will not answer you.” Baboon took a bird and killed it, examining the signs carefully. At length he spoke, “The child you bear comes with difficulty because this world is not to receive him. You must seek another land where the soil will be willing to yield to his feet.”

That night, before Penwayl returned from the hunt, Linno fled across the blackness in search of a new land. She wrapped herself in a cloak of dark cloud so that Penwayl would not see her as she ran. She had not gone far when she began to feel the birth pangs. Hiding herself between two huge rocks she gave birth to a son. He was called Juh'rahn, although we have called him Yoond'hoo. As she nursed her son, Linno noticed the darkness deepen about her. When she looked down at her son he was fully grown and strong. “Go home to your husband,” he growled. “I have no further use for you.”

Linno ran home to Penwayl. In time she bore him two normal sons. Their names were Nambisa and Lobohn.

One day when Penwayl in the woods of the brown land, he met a strange figure sitting under a tall baobab tree. “Who are you?” asked Penwayl.

“I am the maggot in the meat,” said Juh'rahn and he leaped up at Penwayl with vicious teeth and killed him. Nambisa and Lobohn heard their father's screams and ran to his aid. When they found his body they were deeply grieved: Juh'rahn had torn the body to bits.

National Novel Writing Month

I'm going to write my novel!

Here