1. Doesn't look like I blogged yesterday. I think I did, but there's none with the correct date, so I must have gotten discombobulated somewhere.
2. Watched another Studio 60, the one from this evening. Two episodes ago, Danny made a throwaway comment about the most compelling plot line to get people, especially women, to watch a television show is to show a pregnancy in peril; including that line in an episode of a show that seems to be pulling out all the stops (on about 25 organs) in a desperate attempt to get people to watch before it's killed once and for all was a stunt worthy of The Sopranos.
In last week's episode, which we watched last night, Simon makes a comment to the effect that the show shouldn't be taking potshots at the Press Secretary for trying to put a positive spin on things because that's the Press Secretary's job; the proper target for humor is people who don't question that. I'm still sort of thinking about this one.
I realized tonight that Sorkin's shows (The American President, Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60) all share at least one underlying theme: Everybody else is stupid. The American public is stupid. (The old Quaker wording I always used to hear as a child half-facetiously is, "All are queer but me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee.") They shouldn't be; they've had every opportunity not to be; nonetheless, they are. And this is true; I simply can't argue with that. In his job, with the sorts of shows he writes, that's probably the most frustrating reality of his life. He writes shows that are smart, and there aren't necessarily enough smart people around to enjoy them.
And while I love his writing (no one writes either repartee or political exhortation better than he does), that seems a sad, self-fulfilling overall statement, with the potential to become either bitterness or smug self-satisfaction (and some would argue he's already gone there, although I'd disagree).
We watched other stuff on TV, but it didn't really matter.
3. Got Pogo badges to at least 60%.
4. Got three characters (rogue, warlock, warrior) through the Midsummer Fire Festival.
5. Read a lot in Arthur, finishing the reading assignment and sketching the quiz for what's probably going to be Week Three.
6. BigFishGame is a Professor Fizzwizzle; I played a previous game with this character, and it swung from levels so easy they wouldn't even be in a children's game to levels so hard they didn't belong in a game for anyone who didn't have a PhD in string theory, so I'm excused.
Pogo Games has a simulation gardening game. We'll see; I might download the demo. Simulation casual games usually have about 75 minutes of compelling gameplay and then no replay value at all, and since they usually have 60 minute demos, I end up feeling like I got taken to the cleaners.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
6/20: What I Accomplished Today
1. Graded two classes, finished prepping tonight's class, taught tonight's class. I don't have much mojo this summer; I can't get a groove. My rhythm is off. Maybe I could think of more metaphors to indicate I don't feel I'm doing a particularly effective job for the in-person class.
2. Watched last week's Studio City. Everybody was infuriating (particularly Simon). I recognize that this is the sign of compelling characters about whom I care, but I just wanted to sit everybody down and make them "be sensible," and nobody would.
3. Got Pogo badges to at least 40%.
4. Read more in Arthur.
5. Had Level 25 Human Paladin finish the parts of the Midsummer Fire Festival that seem doable. (There are a total of five quests; I think my characters, all nine of whom are between levels 25-30, can realistically finish three of them. The other two are for zones I don't suspect I have any business in yet.) In the process of doing this, she dinged 26. Then I had my Level 25 Draenei Shaman finish the sequence. This sequence takes longer than the orphan sequence; the shaman was about an hour, but she has Ghost Wolf. It took the human paladin 90 minutes to two hours. Blech.
6. Yesterday's BigFishGame is 360 Rome; I enjoyed 360 Paris, so I would probably enjoy this, but I also haven't finished 360 Paris, and I don't enjoy it so very much that I must own the next immediately. It looks like today's game is another three-matchy. Nothing new at Playfirst or Sandlot. (I'm actually not entirely convinced that I can buy anything new from BigFish anyway. If I don't see games I want to download that successfully work on this machine, I guess I'm going to have to cancel my Game Club membership; it's silly to pay for it if their interfaces messes up the downloads.)
2. Watched last week's Studio City. Everybody was infuriating (particularly Simon). I recognize that this is the sign of compelling characters about whom I care, but I just wanted to sit everybody down and make them "be sensible," and nobody would.
3. Got Pogo badges to at least 40%.
4. Read more in Arthur.
5. Had Level 25 Human Paladin finish the parts of the Midsummer Fire Festival that seem doable. (There are a total of five quests; I think my characters, all nine of whom are between levels 25-30, can realistically finish three of them. The other two are for zones I don't suspect I have any business in yet.) In the process of doing this, she dinged 26. Then I had my Level 25 Draenei Shaman finish the sequence. This sequence takes longer than the orphan sequence; the shaman was about an hour, but she has Ghost Wolf. It took the human paladin 90 minutes to two hours. Blech.
6. Yesterday's BigFishGame is 360 Rome; I enjoyed 360 Paris, so I would probably enjoy this, but I also haven't finished 360 Paris, and I don't enjoy it so very much that I must own the next immediately. It looks like today's game is another three-matchy. Nothing new at Playfirst or Sandlot. (I'm actually not entirely convinced that I can buy anything new from BigFish anyway. If I don't see games I want to download that successfully work on this machine, I guess I'm going to have to cancel my Game Club membership; it's silly to pay for it if their interfaces messes up the downloads.)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
6/19: What I Accomplished Today
1. Today was a nice, relaxing day at home when we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything in particular.
2. Got my Level 29 Human Mage to 30 (finally!). Did a stats check and mail check. Started the Level 25 Human Paladin.
I would like to make an announcement that many WOW players don't seem to get: every group should have a healer. If a group consists of a mage, a warrior, a rogue, and a druid, the druid should heal. That means you stay in the back out of the way and cast healing spells on people, or perhaps use bandages if that seems adequate. You cannot simultaneously tank and keep track of who needs to be healed. Smarter people than you have tried and failed. You are the healer. Stay in the back out of the way and heal. If the battle is over and everyone is dead except the druid, who is sittin' proud as can be shaped like a bear, the druid is a friggin' moron who should be hung from dangling bodily parts in such a manner as to cause pain. If you're the only party member with the possibility of healing, you're the healer. Deal with it. If you think it's less glamorous or manly than fighting, then deal with your own insecurities or don't play the class. I was in a group today with the above make-up and two druids, and neither of them seem to understand either their class or their role, so we all five died time after time, even though we had two, count 'em, two healers, and we had to reclaim with equipment in diminishing repair because they didn't have a clue between them. One of them (the more advanced one, for heaven's sake!) seemed totally unaware he could rez. Good grief. Freakin' idgits. As soon as I could dump that group without being rude, I did.
3. I don't have any recollection at all what we watched on television tonight.
4. Read more for Arthur.
5. Midsummer Fire Festival started tonight. Got the Paladin through the Alliance Cities quest and the Kalimdor quest; started the Eastern Kingdoms. It's good for flight path accumulation. I suspect that, since most of my characters don't have all the flight paths, this sequence is going to take awhile.
(It seems a shame The Exodar isn't included.)
2. Got my Level 29 Human Mage to 30 (finally!). Did a stats check and mail check. Started the Level 25 Human Paladin.
I would like to make an announcement that many WOW players don't seem to get: every group should have a healer. If a group consists of a mage, a warrior, a rogue, and a druid, the druid should heal. That means you stay in the back out of the way and cast healing spells on people, or perhaps use bandages if that seems adequate. You cannot simultaneously tank and keep track of who needs to be healed. Smarter people than you have tried and failed. You are the healer. Stay in the back out of the way and heal. If the battle is over and everyone is dead except the druid, who is sittin' proud as can be shaped like a bear, the druid is a friggin' moron who should be hung from dangling bodily parts in such a manner as to cause pain. If you're the only party member with the possibility of healing, you're the healer. Deal with it. If you think it's less glamorous or manly than fighting, then deal with your own insecurities or don't play the class. I was in a group today with the above make-up and two druids, and neither of them seem to understand either their class or their role, so we all five died time after time, even though we had two, count 'em, two healers, and we had to reclaim with equipment in diminishing repair because they didn't have a clue between them. One of them (the more advanced one, for heaven's sake!) seemed totally unaware he could rez. Good grief. Freakin' idgits. As soon as I could dump that group without being rude, I did.
3. I don't have any recollection at all what we watched on television tonight.
4. Read more for Arthur.
5. Midsummer Fire Festival started tonight. Got the Paladin through the Alliance Cities quest and the Kalimdor quest; started the Eastern Kingdoms. It's good for flight path accumulation. I suspect that, since most of my characters don't have all the flight paths, this sequence is going to take awhile.
(It seems a shame The Exodar isn't included.)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
6/19: What I Accomplished Today
1. Went to a meeting on High School/College curricular articulation.
2. Graded a class, taught a class. (I had already graded and prepped the other.)
3. Watched Nova and a few Mad About You's.
4. Level 29 Human Mage finished some Redridge quests. Very slow going.
5. Read more for Arthur.
2. Graded a class, taught a class. (I had already graded and prepped the other.)
3. Watched Nova and a few Mad About You's.
4. Level 29 Human Mage finished some Redridge quests. Very slow going.
5. Read more for Arthur.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
6/18: What I Accomplished Today
1. Last night, I read more in Arthur, finished the Placement Payroll, and graded my in-person class; I have a meeting tomorrow, and I may not have time to get everything done in the allotted time before class. Today, I prepped today and Thursday.
2. Today, we had dum-dum food. I worked on Pogo badges and read.
3. We watched some comedians (Daniel Tosh and Kathy Griffith, both pretty good). I watched the 2nd season opener of Big Love, which was fun. I also saw that we have more Studio 60 on Tivo, so the episode I thought was the season (and probably series) finale wasn't.
4. Level 29 Human Mage. Worked on some Redridge quests. I found some guys who were fun to play with, but as too often happens with groups, once the allotted quest is done, we dithered about what to do then, and then we dithered about what we were doing, and blahblahblah, and suddenly I realize I could have been doing this much more quickly by myself. It was time to take out the trash and do some household stuff then, so I made apologies and said goodnight. This is one big reason almost none of my characters have joined a guild; groups can work in the short term, but they get tiresome in the long term.
5. The BigFishGame is one I've played before; with the new interface, it probably wouldn't install correctly anyway. Nothing new at Playfirst or Sandlot. I may read for awhile, or I may go to bed and watch more of The Learning Company DVD.
2. Today, we had dum-dum food. I worked on Pogo badges and read.
3. We watched some comedians (Daniel Tosh and Kathy Griffith, both pretty good). I watched the 2nd season opener of Big Love, which was fun. I also saw that we have more Studio 60 on Tivo, so the episode I thought was the season (and probably series) finale wasn't.
4. Level 29 Human Mage. Worked on some Redridge quests. I found some guys who were fun to play with, but as too often happens with groups, once the allotted quest is done, we dithered about what to do then, and then we dithered about what we were doing, and blahblahblah, and suddenly I realize I could have been doing this much more quickly by myself. It was time to take out the trash and do some household stuff then, so I made apologies and said goodnight. This is one big reason almost none of my characters have joined a guild; groups can work in the short term, but they get tiresome in the long term.
5. The BigFishGame is one I've played before; with the new interface, it probably wouldn't install correctly anyway. Nothing new at Playfirst or Sandlot. I may read for awhile, or I may go to bed and watch more of The Learning Company DVD.
Monday, June 18, 2007
6/17: What I Accomplished Today
1. Came in second on Puzzle Day; we didn't miss any on the main puzzle, but we missed a few squares on the second puzzle (the ones with clues by Bill Clinton). Also brought the food.
2. Called my parents for Father's Day.
3. Took a nap.
4. Level 29 Human Mage. Today she spent some time in Warsong and Arathi until her Honor was 100. Then I went to Redridge and finished Yowler, but I can't get a rhythm on anything else; I'll try tomorrow and see if I can get a group together. Blech.
5. Reading for the Arthur course. Need to keep doing that.
2. Called my parents for Father's Day.
3. Took a nap.
4. Level 29 Human Mage. Today she spent some time in Warsong and Arathi until her Honor was 100. Then I went to Redridge and finished Yowler, but I can't get a rhythm on anything else; I'll try tomorrow and see if I can get a group together. Blech.
5. Reading for the Arthur course. Need to keep doing that.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
6/16: What I Accomplished Today
1. Went to Costco while the lady cleaned our house. We had to buy food for Puzzle Day because it is our turn to cook.
2. Took home the lady who cleans our house.
Now I saw an odd thing in her neighborhood. A young man was running around in spandex top, shorts, and leggings. I didn't notice his shoes, but they must have looked super-hero-ish. He had some sort of goggles or cowl on his head and was wearing his mother's dishwashing gloves (one teal, one yellow) on his hands. Around his neck, he had fastened a towel around his neck so that it draped vertically behind him.
Okay. Now you're thinking, "Oh, what a cute little boy!" Except he was about 14 or 15. He didn't seem to be mentally deficient in any way, and there were two other similarly-aged young men who seemed to be his friends and not people hanging out with him out of pity or because they had to.
Now I'm of two minds of this. On the one hand, I'm thinking, "Oh, for pity's sake, you left your house dressed like that at your age?" And on the other hand, I'm thinking, "Good for you! Do what you feel like doing, and who cares what anybody else thinks! And where do you get off criticizing this young man when you play a lot of computer games while he is at least outdoors getting vitamins A and D."
So where I end up is, "I do think that's odd looking, but nobody made me queen of the world, so
it doesn't matter what I think. You're not hurting anyone, so knock yourself out." (I sort of wish somebody would tell him that the dishwashing gloves aren't really helping the ensemble, but again, who cares what I think?)
3. Got my Level 28 Human Mage to level 29. Got the Missing Diplomat up to Slim in the bar and finished all of the Duskwood quests under 30. I suppose I have to go to Redridge now. Yuck.
4. We watched some television. I don't really remember what it was.
5. Reading for Arthur. Will go do that some more now.
2. Took home the lady who cleans our house.
Now I saw an odd thing in her neighborhood. A young man was running around in spandex top, shorts, and leggings. I didn't notice his shoes, but they must have looked super-hero-ish. He had some sort of goggles or cowl on his head and was wearing his mother's dishwashing gloves (one teal, one yellow) on his hands. Around his neck, he had fastened a towel around his neck so that it draped vertically behind him.
Okay. Now you're thinking, "Oh, what a cute little boy!" Except he was about 14 or 15. He didn't seem to be mentally deficient in any way, and there were two other similarly-aged young men who seemed to be his friends and not people hanging out with him out of pity or because they had to.
Now I'm of two minds of this. On the one hand, I'm thinking, "Oh, for pity's sake, you left your house dressed like that at your age?" And on the other hand, I'm thinking, "Good for you! Do what you feel like doing, and who cares what anybody else thinks! And where do you get off criticizing this young man when you play a lot of computer games while he is at least outdoors getting vitamins A and D."
So where I end up is, "I do think that's odd looking, but nobody made me queen of the world, so
it doesn't matter what I think. You're not hurting anyone, so knock yourself out." (I sort of wish somebody would tell him that the dishwashing gloves aren't really helping the ensemble, but again, who cares what I think?)
3. Got my Level 28 Human Mage to level 29. Got the Missing Diplomat up to Slim in the bar and finished all of the Duskwood quests under 30. I suppose I have to go to Redridge now. Yuck.
4. We watched some television. I don't really remember what it was.
5. Reading for Arthur. Will go do that some more now.
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