7/6: What I Accomplished Today

1. Rather annoyed right now because I can't enter a title. If I can ever get into that blank, it's going to be "7/6: What I Accomplished Today." It won't let me click or tab in. I've exited the ap and done various page bopping. Very irritating. (It let me in about 20 minutes later.)

2. Had dum-dum food.

3. All-in-one printer necessary for Co-Vivant's bidness died yesterday, so we went and bought another.

4. Scheduled a dentist appointment. Tried to schedule my haircut, but my person is on vacation. Bought tickets to Blue Man Group for parents' visit next week.

5. Graded the in-person class so I wouldn't have to next Tuesday when my parents arrive.

6. Watched D.O.A.; I hadn't seen this before, and it's a good movie. (I do wish the guy had been a little more forthcoming; "I am about to die; please help me" is compelling for most people.)

7. Watched Night at the Museum, our Netflix movie. This was good, clean, silly fun. I usually just sort of want to poke Ben Stiller with a stick (granted, I haven't seen many of his movies; my favorite of his is Madagascar, and since we don't see him, it hardly counts), but this was cute.

Actually, that's not fair. My first memory of Ben Stiller is when he was probably eight or ten years old and his parents were on a daytime show--Mike Douglas, I think. And they were just overflowing with pride and love for their children, Ben and his sister. And they made these poor children play violins (I remember it as two violins; I've seen the clip since, and I think one was actually on a piano, mebbe, but I still have it filed mentally as two violins), and they were perfectly adequate, but they weren't particularly outstanding. I don't remember the sister clearly, but I remember I was a year older than he (remarkably, I still am), and I was jealous beyond belief. Not to be arrogant or snotty, but I could tell that I had more natural musical talent and ability than either of those children, and I was not on the Mike Douglas show. I remember my mother being a little irritated (I actually think she may have said, "Oh, that's nice for the Stillers, but either of you girls has more talent than these poor kids, and they're sort of a waste of television time" or some such. If so, that would be a little harsh and judgmental for my mother, but I remember my mother being irritated that musically average children were on television. She had several score more talented piano students she'd have been delighted to put on the Mike Douglas show.)

Now as an adult, I think that it was really very sweet for Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller to be so head-over-heels in love with their children that they just wanted to share that joy with America. I've actually heard Ben Stiller discuss the occasion on another talk show, and he was mortified and humiliated, perhaps scarred, by the whole ugly incident. (They really hadn't played well.) Both of our parents used to make my sister and I sing or play musical instruments or perform little silly things in front of groups of relative strangers, and I know such command performances aren't fun. I've also had a number of friends tell me I would enjoy his work, particularly There's Something About Mary. I may be almost over this Mike Douglas appearance from about 30 years ago enough that I can enjoy his work on its own merits.

8. Level 29 Draenei Shaman went into Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch until she had a little over 100 honor.

Now hear this: When you are playing Arathi Basin, the way to win is to get three bases and then keep them. It is not to bop off and try to get the farm. We can't keep the farm; it's by their base. Somebody today said he kept doing it so they'd go there to defend it and stop attacking our bases. Doesn't work like that. The stereotype is that Alliance battleground teams are three defenders and twelve hot dogs, and the stereotype is seldom proven wrong. Once there are three bases, you're more useful defending the existing ones than running around like your ritalin prescription is low.

If I remember correctly, this character dinged 29 yesterday, but she hasn't gotten her level 29 Azeroth Advisor newsletter yet. I've subscribed to this for a few weeks, and I really like it; it tells you of spells you'll be learning soon, places you could visit, gear to be on the lookout for. It's given me some really good ideas. (I didn't know about the instance in Silverpine Forest, for example; I've sent two or three characters in there for good experience and loot since I found out about it, although no one has finished it yet.) I'm hoping my newsletter comes soon.

For each of my nine characters, I've had certain goals for levels 25-30: finish Deadmines; start the sequences for Stockades, King's Tribute, and Missing Diplomat, and work a little on Stalvan; get at least 100 Honor. I've done all these things for the first five characters I've moved from 25 to 30. This Shaman, the sixth character has done the quest work and the honor, but she hasn't finished Deadmines yet. I suppose that'll be a goal for tomorrow.

9. Read for Arthur. (I normally read voraciously, but I haven't had that in me recently. I'm sure the fact that I have nine World of Warcraft characters between levels 25 and 30 is a coincidence.)

10. The other thing I haven't done yet that I meant to is set up my business website. It's Harry Potter related; I have research that I've completed that might be of use or interest. (It was originally going to be a book, but as it progressed, it looks to me like it's more a website; it's much too big to be a book, and it's the sort of little fiddly thing that's going to require a format in which I can easily edit the tiny little minuscule errors that will inevitably creep in without having to send a paper addendum out to people who bought a book.) Now again, I know why I haven't done this: it's just been more fun to play WOW than to build web pages. On the other hand, if I don't do this, I feel like it's probably my most viable chance to provide long-term financial security for the two of us that isn't dependent on being employed by someone else. (I don't mind the teaching per se, and as long as your paperwork is in on time, people largely leave you alone, which I like, but any time you work for someone else, there are frustrations and dumb rules and policies, and I would love to be able to say, "I'm going to do this other sort of research, which I enjoy very much, full time, professionally, and make a living at it. I may teach a few classes part-time as I wish, because I'd enjoy it, but I don't need your money; I'd rather have my time. We're in much better financial shape now than we've ever been before, but we aren't there yet.)

I've been feeling a little worthless and unproductive recently (people who have read any of this at all will surely not wonder why), and I know I feel like I'm literally letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away, but I just haven't been motivated to make myself do the work. I need to do it, or I'm never going to have quite the same respect for myself again.

But it's so much more fun to see how far I can get a character through the Deadmines.

11. I have the first 25 episodes of Miss Management to three stars.

12. Worked on Pogo badges.

13. Today's BigFishGame is a mah jong thing. I'm excused.

7/5: What I Accomplished Today

1. Graded three classes, prepped a class, taught a class.

2. Watched comedians and Big Ideas for a Small Planet on television.

3. Got Pogo badges to at least 40%.

4. Read more for Arthur.

5. Draenei shaman dinged 29.

6. Miss Management: have all three stars on first 20 episodes.

7. BigFishGame for today is a stone pusher. I am excused.

7/4: What I Accomplished Today

1. Happy Fourth of July! We were going to go to my mother-in-law's today, but one of the Fellas had to travel, so we stayed home. (With the wide variety of fireworks going off in the neighborhood, it was just as well we were home where we could keep an eye on our roof.)

2. Level 27 Draenei Shaman dinged 28. She was in Rested state all the way through 50% into level 28.

3. Finished Volume I of Malory for Arthur.

4. Watched various comedies and the latest Big Love. Nikki may or may not have been disowned, but her mother still destroyed the tape that incriminated Bill.

5. Played Miss Management. I finished all 30 episodes; now I'm going back and replaying the ones for which I didn't have all three stars. So far, I have all three stars for the first 17.

6. Today's BigFishGame was another findy-thingy, so I'm excused. I was working on Miss Management, so I didn't take a look at yesterday's Q-Bert clone.

7. Started Pogo badges.

7/3: What I Accomplished Today

1. I was very, very bad last night; I really enjoyed Miss Management, the BigFishGame--so I stayed up until 8:30 a.m. playing it. (You've probably figured out I'm on odd schedule; I teach nights, so I usually get up noonish and go to bed between 4 and 5 a.m.) I had to get up at 12:30, so it's been an odd day. The game is fun, though. I'm stuck at Episode 30 right now; I'll probably figure it out (or at least luck into a possible solution) tomorrow.

2. Graded three classes, prepped a class, taught a class.

3. When I got home, I realized I only had two or three hours to finish my Pogo Badges; since two of the three involved long card games (one involved winning 700-point games of Gin and the other involved winning 1000-points games of Spades), I didn't really think this was going to happen, but it did. That was cool.

4. We watched some comedians on the television while I was working on my badges.

5. Read a little (a very little) for Arthur.

6. Didn't really have World of Warcraft energy this evening; just played a metric boatload of Miss Management.

7. Today's BigFishGame looks like a Q-Bert clone, and I always enjoyed that; maybe tomorrow.

I'm really, really tired; I was up later than I expected to be this evening.

7/2: What I Accomplished Today

1. Had another online class today, so I checked and made sure they all got logged on. They did.

2. Got the level 25 Draenei Shaman to level 26.

3. Watched Big Love. Nikki found out from Alby that her father was the one who outed the family. In a weird sort of demented way, it looks she and Alby are close, for mean people.

4. Worked on Pogo badges; don't think I finished any.

5. Got the level 26 Draenei Shaman to level 27. Worked on fishing and cooking.

6. Read for Arthur.

7. Played some BigFishGames. Birdie: this was kinda cute and kinda fun, but it just felt like I'd played it 72 times before. G2 Geeks Unleashed: This was a sort of fun board/strategy game, but I don't know how much I'd play it, so I'm not thinking I'll spend the money on it. Miss-Management: this one's good; I think I'm going to buy it right now. Time and resource management, like the Diner Dash games, but this felt fresh, new and interesting. You're an Office Manager who has to coordinate employees with wildly different (and mutually exclusive) likes and dislikes.

7/1: What I Accomplished Today

1. Guess how we did at Puzzle Day? You're right; we came in second. Ptuey, ptuey, ptuey.

2. Went to Costco again to get the things we forgot yesterday.

3. Read for Arthur.

4. Watched the last episode of Studio 60. Just as well they wrapped this sucker up; Jordan and Danny are together with the baby, and Matt and Harry are together, and everything is just delightful.

The only character on this show who hasn't been seen a gamillion time before on prime time television, Harry, went a little specious near the end. I haven't read Christopher Hitchens' new book God is not Great, but I've read several reviews of and excerpts from it, and I've read quite a few of Hitchens' Nation columns, and while he is at the opposite end of the religious spectrum from the Harriet character, obviously, they both enact the same logical fallacy: they both easily dispatch positions that are too simplistic and vacuous for any actual human being to hold. I think probably the most interesting discussion of this tendency is Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God; her discussion of how the essentially Sacred and the essentially Secular share no starting points, so they share little vocabulary or common ground, should be required reading for anyone who ever plans to discuss faith with someone whose religious views differ from the reader's own. Anyway, Harriet began to ask some genuine probing questions of God as the Night from Hades became more and more harrowing--but indications are that, since every little subplot in the world except Lucy getting to go to Germany with Tom (see, it literally was "in the world") turned out happily, the possibility for her genuine engagement with the complexities of 21st-Century Fundamentalist Christianity is probably null. Too bad.

We watched other stuff on TV, but I don't remember what it was.

5. Got the Human Paladin to Level 30. Started the Level 25 Draenei Shaman. This sucker hadn't even started the Defias Brotherhood sequence, so I'm feeling like a huge regression is taking place here.

6/29: What I Accomplished Today

1. My paycheck hit, so while the lady was cleaning the house, we did the shopping. This is very tiring.

2. Took home the lady who cleans the house.

3. Watched Big Ideas for a Small Planet and some comedy on television. Worked a little on Pogo badges. Read a little Arthur.

4. The level 29 Human Paladin finished some quests and worked on her engineering.

5. The BigFishGame looks like it's another Time Management game about caring for baby birds. I like Time Management games, so this might be fun, but maybe I'll play it tomorrow; I'm just exhausted right now.