misterdeath

Re: The cranky thread nice to see you too. you do know the story of how I got my nickname don't ya? If not, Mr Death is my dad. Yeah, well, I used a cousin in an example, and man did she get pissed. So, well, I'm a little leery. edit: besides you're one of the nicest people around here. It makes a nice contrast. D

Re: The cranky thread Bah. So you've been a hot headed, violent prick, with psychological issues. So freakin what? So Am I. Three weeks ago, I was holding my neighbor's German Shepherd in the air with one hand threatening to tear her throat. I put both hands on her jaws, held her up that way and started to yank them apart till her head cracked off. Sure, she had just attacked my dog. Twice. Sure, I could claim I was just defending myself and my property. But, truth be told, I WANTED to rip her head off. Because she pissed me off, I wanted her dead. I've always had access to firearms. Ask yourself why haven't I ever killed anything with one of them? I'd rather use a 24 oz rip hammer with a sharpened nailpuller than a gun. It's because I like to see the blood up close and personal. You know what that struggle is like. The killer that you hold inside that you're afraid to let out, and that you can barely control. And, yet somehow we do. I didn't kill her. I don't think I even hurt her. Took every ounce of willpower I possess not to just snap her, and deal with the concequences (her owner is a local cop) later. Because I decided not to kill that day. If the situation happens again, who knows what'll happen. Your demon might be closer to the surface than mine. Mine is closer than others. But we've all got one. Something will set us off, and away we go. It's how we cope that's the issue. And, yeah, you've had issues with the coping. That just means you haven't learned how yet. You're no more a monster than I, or Zornwil for that matter. (sorry Zorn) You've got a good heart, to go along with that demon. That's why this tears you up so much. Trust yourself my friend. You're a good guy. D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Hah! Got the new dryer. It's nifty. Tis the month for things to break. The old computer. The dryer. New tires for the car. Thanksgiving went well. Drove up on thursday. Got to my Aunt's house just in time for desert. Spent lots of time talking to my various cousin's live ins. Didn't know any of their names. Friday was spent watching my niece. She has no idea how to entertain herself. She's got to be doing something with someone all the time. That was tiring and a half. Every visit with her caps my decision to never, ever have kids. Saturday, we did the Grandparents rounds. Spent nearly 4 hours talking to Dad's parents. I can't believe how much I hated them when I was growing up. They're really cool now. Sunday, that was Thanksgiving for Mom's side of the family. My cousin and his wife are feuding with their second daughter. She didn't show up. Their eldest daughter and her son Damien, er Jesse, was sick and didn't come. Very quiet, got to talk to some people. Drove back yesterday. One nasty patch of road construction in Indiana. All in all, a most excellent trip. But I'm still glad I live 9.5 hours away from them. D

Re: The cranky thread It'll probably go away. I've got one big scar on the back of my hand from the knife wound, the little one on my wrist from the semi-feral, and the one on my lower lip from ramming my face into the cast iron table when I was a yard ape. The others have faded to insignificance. And good luck, get better soon. D

Re: previous gripe I've figured out how to make it work. Prop up the Paladin/Sorcereress as the leader. The player is the most newbie of the group, but she's got some good ideas. Plus, while we were foundering, one of the other characters did some things that put her off her feed "Let's shake on it" THWAK!. If she's the leader, she can put a stop to that kinda stuff. I can use my knowledge base to be her advisor. Hee. Oh, yeah, "What type of Gnomes are those? I've heard of Rock Gnomes, and Forest Gnomes, but these guys live in a city, so they must be ... metronomes?" D

Re: Musings on Random Musings You and me both, brother. CZ stuff rocks. D

They did it to me again... My wife is finally running the D&D adventure (the three previous times she's tried to run the damn thing, the group has imploded--this time one of the players got a new job in the evenings...). We're making 5th level Gestalt (from Unearthed Arcana) characters. I'm a Psion/Ranger. We've got a Rogue/Cleric, Fighter/Rogue, and a Paladin/Sorcerer. They've all got Charisma. That's my dump stat. They've all got social skills. I've got Knowledges. This character cuts out with the bad puns right in the middle of a conversation. "Look, one Gnome over there, away from the group. That's our Gnome away from Gnome." So, guess who gets nominated to talk to the Gnomes to try to convince them that we're not out to kill them. Right-o. I'm the freakin party spokesman again. Again. Sigh. Just once I'd like to get to play the antisocial misfit and make it stick. I told them. I helped them min-max their freakin characters. I made certain that any of them could handle the talkie situations. And dammit, they stiffed me again. As far as grumps go, that's the only one I got. mea culpa D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings This has been a totally suck week. Monday, we get to meet the cute little neighbor (across the street) dog. She's out running around, so we play with her, and talk to her owner for a while. Then we drive out to get our Pizza, and when we come back, the dog is dead. Killed by the three Blue Heelers two doors down. They hammered down their gate, jumped the puppy, and slaughtered her. Right after we drove out of the subdivision. If we had stayed a moment longer, we might have been able to round up the puppy, and keep this from happening. Tuesday, I talk to my mom. Find out her very best friend commited Suicide. Well, it might have been an accidental drug overdose, but based on the warning signs/commentary, I really doubt it. He was depressed over his wife's death, and was having some legal issues. He was one of the people always on my side, no matter what happened. A great guy. Wednesday, that's been the best day so far, mainly because that's Gaming Night. I had to pull some punches to avoid the TPK. Apparently, I was being too aggressive. Hmmm. Today, well, work was hell (the last day before the real end of the quarter) and since it's raining here, people are doing totally stupid shit like turning left from the center lane right through my car. I've almost been killed 3 times today by people doing that. And then, I come in here for a spot of light reading, and find various leftover blood baths. Sigh. I just don't have it in me anymore. D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings This has been a good week. The chocolate cake turned out better than it had any right to, for being a prepackaged mix. As did the meatloaf. Mom-in-law got her power restored (the eye of Charley passed right over their house) Gaming yesterday went swimmingly. I finally taught Joe the valuable lesson of "run like hell to regroup 'cause we can't beat this". Plus lots of cool roleplaying. I finished every ounce of work that I have to do for the quarter, and so now have to work on "special projects" which means old no deadline pressure stuff. Heehee. Plus, I got a big thank you from my boss's boss for all my hard work. Got paid today. Paid the bills, still got money left. I wonder what tomorrow will bring with a sort of optimism that I haven't had in a while. Considering that my nature is "cynical, bitter asshole" I think that's pretty good. D

Re: The cranky thread Hmmp. My wife's parents died pretty young, and so we don't know which, if either of them had it. She's an only child, from a small family. Good luck yourself. D

Re: The cranky thread She's already been to tons of doctors. But, yeah, the expert in Atlanta should be able do a confirmation, and give us more information on what to do. Emory's a good hospital. That's where they treated my wife's cancer. And, yeah, always get a second opinion. Always. D

Re: The cranky thread Same basic thing. They originally thought she had Parkinsons. She'll just be walking along, and her body will start to go the wrong way. Thump. She's having eye-hand coordination troubles too. She's 68 and has to walk with a walker. I dunno how you go about getting started getting a diagnosis of SCA, or how they ruled out Parkinsons. That's why we're going to visit the doctor. I remember a surprising amount of my biochemistry classes, and I'm getting a little lost. Did your grandfather or grandmother have similar symptoms? They've been looking for this for three years, at four different hospitals. Her Dr in Tampa is sending her to Emory in Atlanta because they have some sort of expert to confirm the diagnosis. If it is SCA, then it's a dominate genetic mutation, some variations (there's 12 or so) seem to be slightly sex linked (which means males more likely to get it), but most aren't. Which means that if you get the gene from your father, you've got it, but since your mother doesn't, if you got the gene from her, you won't. Vice versa in my wife's case. Of cource, it's closely related to Friederich's Ataxia, which is recessive, which can skip generations. The kicker is, that from the last papers I read, there's only tests for 5 of the 12 types. So, even if they do the DNA test, they might not be able to get a confirmation. And, of cource, if they can't get a confirmation, there's not any point for my wife or any of her sisters to get the test. Because at best they will be unconfirmed. However, if mom has one of the 5 types that can be tested for (and those are the most common types), then her daughters can be tested, and if they come up negative, they'll be fine. So, we may have to shell out for mom's genetic tests, if she can't swing it. Her Dr didn't recommend spending the money, since it's not going to matter for her treatment. It's more for the children than for mom. Fortunately, we've been saving money in the Fix up the house fund, so we can plunder that if necessary. Either way, it's a 50/50 shot that my wife's going to develop the same symptoms. One of the fascinating things is that the mutation progresses, in that each successive generation develops the disease earlier, and harsher. The closest I've been able to dig up for a "treatment" for this variant, is to take a ton of anti-oxidants, and hope that that slows down the cerebellar decay. For some of the damage related ataxia, there are things you can do. Of cource, there are a ton of related diseases and things, which supposedly is the reason why it's taken three years to get a diagnosis. Apparently, they hit Ataxia early on, and have just been running through all the variations. Thanks to all the well wishers. D

Re: The cranky thread They finally figured out what's wrong with my mother-in-law. Took them long enough. The diagnosis... Spinal Cerebellar Ataxia. Let's do a quickie research project... Holy F**k. Most forms are a dominant genetic disorder, not recessive. There is no cure. There might be a therapy by using tons of anti-oxidant vitamins. Hmmm. June 19th, she's got a meeting with a "specialist" in Atlanta. We're going to be there. D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Christopher Judge has some of the best facial expressions I've seen in a tv series in a long time. D

Re: The cranky thread Damn. And Hee. Good luck with that. Keep up your fluids. White Heat's right on that. D

Re: The cranky thread Three days with your Mom and ex-wife packing stuff up for a move? I love spending three solid days with my current spouse. Although, last time I pulled my groin. Dammit, I'm getting old. Fortunately, I've got a Gene Simmonsesque tongue. How's that, kinky and cranky at the same time. D

Re: The cranky thread Hee. That's perfect. Sorry to hear about your issues. We had a credit card issue a while back, it was quickly resolved. Thanks AmEx. And I'm sorry about your friend. Although a "third strike and your out policy" seems a little... harsh. The back yard faucet finally got fixed. Yay! Oh, right, grumpy thread. I'm only half way through the first season of Stargate. Damnit, I've got 5.5 seasons left. And the Bush visit fragged over the traffic pattern. It was almost as bad as when "little wooden boy" used to show up to his campaign headquarters. That's all I got. Things are going pretty well right now. D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings My wife relates the following. She was following a car. It had a bumpersticker on the back. Had a pinkish stripe, an off white stripe, and a baby blue stripe, all vertical, next to each other. She got closer, and realized it was one of those "These Colors Don't Run" American flag bumper stickers. I wonder if there's some sort of message there. These colors don't run, but sure they do fade away. Hmmm. D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I saw the stupidest thing ever recently. A 84ish model year Olds '88. That grey/tan color that all mid 80s gm cars that don't get detailed seems to fade into. A couple of primer patches. And it's on 22 inch rims, with spinners. The tires and rims are worth way more than the car. What the hell is this guy thinking? D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings So, I'm doing the obligatory last minute "must get done ASAP 'cause the quarter's closing" stuff. It was a cue sheet on AC/DC's Back in Black. I loved that album. Wore out a couple of tapes of it. So, I mentioned it to one of my coworkers, and she said she loved it too So, we were talking about "Given the dog a bone" and she had no idea that the song was about Oral Sex from an ugly woman. Sigh. Children today. D

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread Do what I've started doing. Avoid the political threads. Heck, cut down on your board time. It's done wonders for my outlook on life. Nobody's saying much that's new anyways. All the information being presented is slanted toward the particular bias of the presenter. Discource has ended, and people are just yelling at each other without seeking any understanding of anyone else's positions. Not just here, and in fact we're better than most. But it seems that rational discussion about anything important has been crushed under a blaze of partisan bickering and "I'm right, you suck." D

Re: A Thread for Random Musings My Origin nomination for Worst 3.5 book: Complete Divine. Complete LG Cleric/Paladin is more like it. Complete cut and paste from previous products, perhaps. Complete Defenders of the Faith? Complete Typo? I got it, Complete Disaster. WotC needs to hire some real editors, or get a proofreading staff quick. It's almost as bad as a classic white wolf product (see page XX). And, hey, dumbasses a Kukri isn't an Exotic Weapon anymore. Sigh. I was stoked for this book based on how much I loved Complete Warrior. Complete Divine is nothing more than a piss poor 3.5 upgrade version of Defenders of the Faith, with some stuff about Relics and a few spells chucked in for new content. D

Re: Origins Award Nomination FWIW That's why I print the monsters for next weeks session ahead of time from the SRD. Import from the .rtf into a .doc, change to my heart's desire, and print. Can scribble on the paper as things change. Easier to find stuff too. ___ And congrats on the Origin nomination, here's to many more. D

Re: The cranky thread Well, the home inspection went swimmingly, except for one problem. Apparently, when the Orkin people came in and did our Termite treatment, they broke the spigot on the back outdoor faucet. Sigh. They attached the hose to the faucet to keep the thing from leaking, and then got the hell out of there. Rather than fessing up and apologizing. So, we've got a call into the supervisor, but he's not called back yet. D