Wow... two months without an update. That's bad.

That said, I have been insanely busy lately. It's so bad that my nice new computer is still in the box TWO WEEKS after it arrived. Something I intend to change this afternoon.

So what's been keeping me so busy? Well as my last post mentioned my girlfriend and her son moved in with me. This of course means doing lots of fun family things like going to fun parks, playing games and watching kids movies.

I can highly recommend Kung Fu Panda by the way, very funny!

Games have been the main thing though. I recently upgraded from a NES (original 8-bit baby!) to a Wii. It is SO much fun I lost interest in video games after the original Nintendo. The games were always cool enough, but I could never get the handle of those 6 or 8 buttoned controllers. The Wii controller is almost as simple to use as the NES, which means I can now really get back into video games again. Yeah! Just need to curb my enthusiasm for a while until I can afford to start buying more games.

I have also managed to get Dylan hooked on Munchkin. Those of you who know the game know how much fun it is. I've been a RPG player for 15 years now. So to get my step-son interested in the hobby, even if it is just this ancillary form, really does make me smile. Some day (years from now, after he learns to speak English...Unless I can find a D'nD set in Dutch) I'll introduce him to the real game.

What has consumed most of my time these past two months though is the really big news: I bought a house!

The final paper work is now being done by the bank and the notary and baring any unforeseen disasters (crosses fingers, knocks on wood, throws salt over shoulder) we'll be getting the keys on the 11th of August. It really is a great house. It has everything we were looking for and is in the nicest neighborhood. It's going to be a hell of a rush to move in though. We get the keys on the 11th and Dylan has to start school on the 18th! Thankfully the house is in good shape, so nothing structural needs to be done to it. Still... It's going to be a busy week! but one I am definitely looking forward to!

Now I shall try to catch up on what's been going on around here...

Hope all is well with everyone and I'll try to be a little more active from now on

Greeting MY SG friends.

Sorry for being MIA the last couple of weeks, but things have gotten very... interesting... around here.

As of two weeks ago my girlfriend and her son are now living with me. It is SO great being able to wake up next to her every morning and her son is an absolute angel. He really is a lot of fun. Even if it is a little exhausting trying to keep up with him all the time

I'll probably be a lot less active in the coming weeks as SG isn't really appropriate viewing material for an 8 year old... But I'll try my best to keep up to date with everybody!

House hunting isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Fund a great place but they were asking too much for it. So the search continues. I really do want to get a place soon. We're currently packed together in my one bedroom apartment. Now, I live in a fairly large one bedroom apartment... so were not "squeezed" as it were. It would be good to have a little space for ourselves though. and that just doesn't exist in the situation as it is now. It's a small price to pay though

So here I am... suddenly a family man... It's VERY weird. Will take a lot of getting used to, for all three of us. I wouldn't trade it for the world though. Despite a lot of stress and the tight quarters, I can truly say that i have never been this happy in my entire life.

I just got my Credit Card statement in the mail and saw a charge from SG on it... Have I really been here a year?

wow.... time flies.

Still say it's one of the best purchases I've ever made

In other news: I've started house hunting in earnest now. I've been looking around for a while. Need to get something closer to work the way gas prices have been climbing lately I'm now loosing over 150 Euros a month just got get back and forth from my job. I'd much rather be spending that cash on a nicer place than letting it burn away in my car. Got three viewings next week, wish me luck for the one on Thursday that is such a sweet house!

In other, other news: getting a house will most likely mean that my girlfriend and her son will be moving in too...



As you may have guessed... I kind of like this idea.

We've been talking about moving in together for a while now, but always in the future tense. Now that I have a real shot at getting a nice place the plans are becoming much more serious. So once again: wish me luck

And if you haven't seen the movie Black Sheep You should check it out a.s.a.p.! fucking hilarious!

Why it is a good thing Video Game Super Powers are not real...







These made me laugh my ass of!!

Ok. Want to know how you can get me to panic? Answer: take away my cell phone.

I just got back from visiting some friends in Leiden (1 1/2 hours drive away from here) and realized that I have left my fucking phone there... I am therefore kind of freaking out right now. My cell is the only way anyone knows how to directly get in touch with me. My work... My friends... My family.. My girlfriend! It's the only number they have.

I know it's paranoia... I just really, really, hate the idea that if something happens no one will be able to reach me. It scare the shit out of me to tell you the truth.


EDIT: phone retrieved. I feel relieved

OK World: WHAT THE FUCK?

I mean, according to the movie 2001:

And it's been all downhill from there....

Firstly the climate has gone completely NUTS! In the space of 12 hours yesterday the weather went from sun, to rain, to hail, to snow, to frost, and back again! I mean it was supposed to be the first day of spring! You know.. sunshine, warm breezes, twittering birds... all that shit. Instead we get the kind of weather I haven't seen since The search for Spock.

Next thing I know I'm hearing stories of giant sea creatures being found near Antarctica... I swear those starfish things are about to go all Lovecraft on us!

And then there was this story..... I don't think that great saying "what the fuck?" can even cover this one... I mean it's like something out of a cartoon. Only in real life when you get squished there ain't no coming back.

What's next? The sun explodes?


ahhh fuck...


That's it. Next election I'm voting Cthulhu. Might as well get it over with... by the look of things we're doomed anyway.

Well, it's been a fun couple of weeks!

March has been a good month. I've literally had a party or two every weekend so far From birthday celebrations to the SGNL horrothon meet and a welcome home party for a friend of mine (he just got back from a year in South America) it's just been nonstop. Until now.. I have to work next weekend. But hey, three weekends in a row is pretty good. And it won't do my bank balance any harm to take it easy for the next couple of weeks.

*Randomly jumps to another topic*

Has anyone else found the "standard" (and I use the term loosely) for which sets go live and which end up in the hopefulls to be a bit... askew lately?I really just don't get it. (And I can't honestly say it has just been lately).

Now don't get me wrong, I understand that tastes can differ and there are many sets that g live which are really awesome! But then i surf through the Hopefulls section and come across sets which are better than many that I've seen go live. In some cases WAY better. Both Elf's latest submission and Anjuli's first are sets that (IMO) are well deserving of a place on the front page. Both gorgeous women (hey...who could not love Elf? ) with really well shot sets, and both in the Hopefulls section. I just don't get it.





*jump*

A friend of mine and I have long been into the idea of making our own films. We both still write and have made some attempts at shooting movies in the past, but now I've been finding more and more venues/festivals to which short films can be submitted. It strikes me as the best way to try and make an entrance into the business of film making (which is my absolute life long ambition). The problem I have is that I never come up with short story ideas... somehow everything I think of has a way of turning epic on me real fast. I need to start scaling down. Because though I love my job in the Heinz Lab, it isn't something I want to do for the rest of my life. Storytelling, film making, is.

Easier said than done of course....

*and now... a LOLcat*

An ubergeek LOLcat

It is a sad day for geeks everywhere.

Today The Associated Press reported thepassing of Gary Gygax, the man who created Dungeons and Dragons. Though it was based largely on existing ideas D'nD was really a world changing phenomenon. It brought together whole generations of kids and adults and gave birth to a sub-culture that has transgressed every boundary imaginable.

Role Playing Games are now fairly common place. Be it the "traditional" pen and paper variety or the high-tech online versions, these games are everywhere. Back when Gygax (and his partner in crime Dave Arneson) were working on D'nD there was truly nothing like it. Sure there were war games, but nothing that truly transported you to another world the way Dungeons and Dragons could do.

Now I wasn't around during the really early days of D'nD, having gotten into the game in the mid 90's when i was about 16. But if my own experience is anything to go by, the impact this game has had on the lives of millions around the world can not be understated. My oldest and dearest friends, guys who i love like they were family, all came into my life thanks to Dungeons and Dragons or other role playing games. Today, with careers and families taking up so much time, these games provide great opportunities for me to get together with friends and just spend a day hanging out and having fun. Something for which most people don't make enough time.

For geeks like me D'nD opened the doors to a social and creative life that main stream society would likely have cut us of from. I truly can not imagine how my life would be had it not been for Dungeons and Dragons and all the games that followed in its footsteps. I don't think I want to.

So to Gary Gygax I say thank you. Thank you for giving all us geeks this wonderful gift. Your work has enriched, enlightened and inspired millions. You let us be heroes. You will always be ours.

Game On.

Einstein once said that there are only two things which are truly infinite: the universe and human stupidity. and he wasn't so sure about the universe.

I think the internet has proved him right. There really is a LOT of stupid shit out there. Frankly though I'm glad for it. It has provided me with a few much needed laughs tonight I'll explain why I needed them later, for now though I'd like to share a couple of the things that nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing!

First up is Lord of the Rings, done in a World of Warcraft style .gif. (I hope this loads properly...)



I know...I know...it's geek humor. But that is just my kind of thing.



This is such a great picture! Here is the larger version. for those of you who don't follow politics (or recognize the old Adam west batman era bad guys ) just take my word for it: this picture is hilarious!

And of course it all just wouldn't be complete without a little Cthulu



I could go on all night... but it's already nearly 3am. so I think I'll just head to the silliness boards instead

Stories I found interesting:

Well.... My theory about the Cloverfield monster just got a kick in the nuts. The director of the film spilled the beans in this interview that this monster was only "a baby" acting scared and confused. Which frankly just sucks... Today it was announced that the sequel has already been given the green light. Now I am curious what it will be like. I am however also very apprehensive about which direction the film makers will take the story in.

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For those of you who thought the US government covering its ass and not taking responsibility for its actions was something George Bush invented. Here's a story from CNN about how the Army Core of Engineers, who built and were responsible for the maintenance of the levees around New Orleans (You know... the ones that broke and left 80% of the city under water), are "protected by the Flood Control Act of 1928. [Which] shields the federal government from liability when flood control projects fail."

Great... so it was their responsibility... it was their fault the levees weren't properly maintained (or even up to the required standard!)... but they can't be held accountable for the fact that they failed.

Don't you just love the legal system sometimes.

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Naked Women are on strike in Italy.

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The French police have dumped Microsoft..

Interesting... I wonder if any more large (public) organizations will follow. Finally end the monopoly of Windows.

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Not really news, but while the rest of the world waits to find out what caused the death of Heath Ledger, the man who directed him in the up coming Dark Knight film, Christopher Nolan, paid tribute to him in Newsweek.

Read the whole story here. It really is heart breaking.