My apologies guys, that wasn't my intention at all if it came across like I was trying to be confrontational.

The problem is that I relax enough here that I don't really think about potentially upsetting people with my opinions or thoughts.

@Liz! I'm so sorry for your loss, I know how it feels and the fact that the funeral was a disaster for you doesn't make it easier! I'm not religious at all but my moms funeral was ok..not dads though....

Also I'm glad to hear your cousin's improving! Those things take time but now there's good hope anyway!

Wish you all the best Lizzy....and remember I AM here even if it may not show...

We had a great Veterans Day weekend in Grits World, kicked off by assembling downtown for a parade at o-dark-thirty Saturday. Then we went to a black-tie fundraising event Saturday night which would have been stressful except I found a great dress and my hair looked awesome. (Mr. Grits told me about this on Monday, so just being there in something other than yoga pants and a shirt you could read was something of a triumph.) The next two days are a blur, it was busy. But good.

For those of us who are celebrating, Happy Veterans Day! And a heartfelt thank you to all who have served our country.

Oh, geez, thanks for reminding me Grits! Thank you to Acadian and all service men and women this Veterans Day.

I just got an email yesterday from TES Alliance, a related group that focuses on modding for TES games.

Apparently the group that developed the mod Reclaiming Sancre Tor for Oblivion (which I have not yet had a chance to begin!) has started their own game-development studio and is hard at work on fundraising for their new project Unwritten: Echoes of Twilight. Because of their track record with RST, I thought I would check them out on Kickstarter and on their own website.

Unlike most RPG's which are story-driven (i.e. have a main quest which you MUST play in order to gain measurable progress in the game), this one is player-driven. In other words, more a true role-playing experience much closer to Dungeons and Dragons (which while I've never played it, I have read enough about it to find it interesting). It sounds like a much more immersive RPG experience than Oblivion. I found it interesting enough that I have pledged a small sum via the Kickstarter site. Now I would like to bring it to the attention of my fellow residents at Chorrol.com and ask only that you check it out for yourself.

Druid Gameworks
Kickstarter Page

It had my money at the ninja bear on the picture.

Edit: Okay, they're going to have to do more with this setting other than Middle-Earth Clone number Ten Jillionty Five, but I'll keep an eye on it in case it turns up something interesting.

Looks interesting, but I'm gonna need more than a couple pictures of a guy with a sword before I fork it over. Again, not looking bad.

Sorry to quasi-thread necromance here, my Aunts Funeral was much the same. She was a, according to posthumous accounts a converted Mormon. , that smoked, drank, drank coffee, and in general did not follow any of their guidelines.

They gor her name wrong, her occupation wrong, her family wrong. In short my Brother and myself were about to at the very least say something to the preacher, were it not for our grieving Uncle who looked like he was about turn the guy into a sock-it balloon thingy.

The final straw was when her photo fell from the pulpit, and three of us stood up in unison but my Uncles Mother had the wisdom and cool head to take over the presentation much to the Priests relief. To her credit, she gave an absolutely beautiful, eloquent, and emotional speech and even drew a laugh from the rest of us when she said that she was so certain that her spirit was with us aside from feeling it, that she knocked over the picture that she hated.

I went to a theater show today! Not a serious one but very professional. In case minque pops in I can say it was about Hjalmar

The show included a dinner followed by the first act. In the intermission we got coffee (from cute waitresses) and a dessert, and then it was time for act two. The show included lots of singing, dancing, acrobatics, funny sketches, monologues and many, many puns! Best part was, I was treated to it all so it didn´t cost me anything!

Yeah, I´m a tightwad. And damn proud of it!

Tornadoes in November, who'd have thought?

I'm fine and the house seems to be undamaged, but we have tree limbs down.

You had tornadoes in your area? I feel this sucks away the fun in my post above

Seriously, glad you and your house are ok. What about your car? It´s not up in a tree, is it?

mirocu - glad you enjoyed the theater!

KC - Holy hailstones! Glad you're okay and no damage to the house. I heard the hail hitting your truck from all the way out here in the desert!

Were there flying monkeys? Because you know a tornado's bad if there are flying monkeys involved.

Speaking as a Witch, I am glad I was nowhere near the place...

We also had tornadoes here in my neck of the woods as well. No damage in my neighborhood, as far as I know, though.

Thunderstorms are still ongoing. We had a close strike not too long ago. At least my laptop was off the power cord at the time. Anyway, no big trees around us to come down, at least. New development, all that.

We are still under a severe wind advisory - gusts up to 57 mph are likely - until 8 pm tonight. I had a store meeting early this morning, and was happy to get home before the wind really picked up. I have absolutely no plans to go anywhere else tonight!

Glad to know you're okay, KC.

I was wondering if you were hit HER, I understand you live north. Glad you are doing fine.

Apparently the east coast is now waiting for what you guys had

-Watch out, Kobby!

Forget Kobby! Watch out, me!

Yes, watch out indeed! If yesterday's system doesn't lose power, it will hit the East hard.

We were fine through the day yesterday, though I could hear the screens rattling in the wind if I stood next to the windows (which were closed, natch). But driving to my pulmonologist this morning for my monthly checkup, I noticed quite a bit of damage across the county. A large horse barn had its western end stove in and a quarter of its roof gone. Several big oaks were down in the town next to mine. And Com Ed is out in force, repairing the damage done to the electrical infrastructure in several locations.

I do think I'm north of you, KC. The tornadoes that triggered the warning yesterday didn't touch down, according to today's paper online. So most of the damage are to power lines and trees. Close call! We are actually located along the northeastern edge of Tornado Alley, so we do see some every year, but more commonly in the spring and summer, not so much this late in the fall.

On an aside, writing for Nanowrimo, I learned that the sun doesn't come up in St. Petersburg, Russia, until 10 am this time of the year. And it's down by 5:30 pm! Yikes! How does one get anything done then? No wonder most tourists stay away from one of the most picturesque historical and cultural centers of Russia (Catherine the Great spent much of her time there, and actually founded the Hermitage there. For those who aren't familiar with art history, Catherine the Great was one of the greatest art collectors of all time, and the Hermitage still holds many, many priceless treasures, in spite of the Revolution, the siege by the Nazis, and the Soviet economic measures later).

If I ever travel the world looking for train stations, Russia just made it onto my list of must-see. The Metro in Moscow just floors me, and the rail stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg are amazing. If you like Art Nouveau architecture, check out the images for the St. Petersburg station. Wow. Just wow.

5:30pm? That´s rather late. Here the sun sets about 3:30pm now

The dark time of the year can be quite beautiful really because of the mood it presents. Lights are important and I have always been somewhat obsessed with nice, bright lights on my car

FWIW, St Petersburg, Oslo, and Juneau (Alaska) are about the same latitude. Time zones affect the sunrise/sunset points, of course, but those cities would get the same number of daylight hours.

Alaska's the only US state that's not entirely south of the UK, and it extends further north. I was surprised when I moved to the USA that summer evenings weren't anything like as light as I was used to.

So I got glasses about a month ago. They are reading glasses and I don’t really need to wear them, they just make the letters clear so I can, em, read the words. Anyway this morning I was having a hell of a time trying to read. The damn glasses have ruined my vision! I even went and washed my eyes to see if there was something in them.

Turns out you have to wash the glasses. Who knew?

*Facepalms*

Damn amateurs...

Just returned home from funeral #3 this year. Downright depressing! Don't know what's wrong with this year, it seems positively defective. Think I'll swap it for a new year end of December.

I´m sorry to hear that, stargelman This year has been a bummer for many it seems, me too but not nearly as bad as yours.

Lost our dear cat to illness and lost my job. Damn you, 2013

I wish all the best for 2014, stargelman. Lets hope you don´t have to go to more funerals in many, many years now.

I hear ya, stargelman. Mrs Acadian the First died in 1999. Within a year, my sister's husband and my beautiful old great dane died as well. That proved Y2K to indeed be a disaster.

Hang in there; it'll get better. Yeah, let's plan on a new and better year for you come the end of this December.

That´s the beauty with a new year approaching; if the current one was crappy you´ll soon leave it all behind forever

Sorry to hear about Mrs Acadian

Thanks, mirocu. Mrs Acadian I was a Swedish import - a beautiful blonde who carried a gun. Her spirit animates much of who Buffy is - like the granddaughter that never was. I am fortunate also in that Mrs Acadian II (my Aussie Princess) is a real keeper and lives quite well and tolerantly with the ghost of her predecessor.

Maybe that´s why you and I get along so well

Glad to hear you have another Mrs Acadian to take care of you now and keep you in place

Sorry about your loss Stargelman. It's pretty depressing when several people go within a relatively short period of time and it can be hard to take. Hopefully next year will be gentler on everyone.


Didn't know you'd lost your wife, Acadian. My condolences, even though it has been some time since it happened.

I know the feeling. Trust me.

I’m also ready to kick this year to the curb. My funeral suit has stayed in the front of the closet lately.

A bit of good news, yesterday it was freezing and rainy so I actually ran a little way across a parking lot. Last year I was still sometimes using a cane and occasionally dragging a leg. Now I’m not even sure where the cane is.

Thanksgiving is underway in Grits World. Apple pie for breakfast is the traditional start. I hope everyone has a great day, whether you’re celebrating a holiday or not.

Glad to hear you are doing much better Grits!


Happy Thanksgiving!

ERMAHGERD HERPY THERNKSGERVING!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Chorrolians!

Yes, it's a U.S. holiday. But any time is a good time for anyone anywhere in the world to pause and count their blessings. Somehow, no matter how bad things are, there's always something to be grateful for. Like Grits being able to run across the parking lot (God, I appreciate that feeling too!) and enjoy apple pie for breakfast.

So it doesn't matter if you're a U.S. citizen or not -- happy Thanksgiving to all of you around the world and in all time zones!

So yesterday, as I was coming home from the grocery store- because, even though you have more food in the house than any 12 people could eat in a week, there is always something that you do not have… Anyway, coming back up the street, I see something in the ditch near the neighbor’s house. And I think it’s… no- let’s just go on and park and walk back for a closer look.

Yes. In fact it was. A partially cooked, partially raw, whole turkey. Lying in the ditch near the neighbor’s house. (Not the neighbors with the 20+ pink flamingos on their lawn, one of which is wearing a sequined shower cap- the flamingo- not the neighbor, but the neighbors who have been known to “discuss” things at sufficient volume for me to hear it while I am inside, with my headphones on).

So- this is one of those “best not to know” moments. My current favorite theory is that someone got one of those outdoor turkey fryers- the ones that use propane and a big vat of peanut oil, like Mrs. Treydog got me one year when it was like 20 degrees at Thanksgiving. And which I used exactly ONCE, after which I found lots of Youtube videos and stories of people setting their houses on fire with the things- even when using them outdoors, as they are designed.

So my current favorite theory is that someone, several miles away, made the error of bringing the peanut oil to a boil and then lowered in a still-frozen turkey, which was promptly launched into the stratosphere and came to rest where I found it.

But that isn’t really what I came here to talk about (10 points to anyone who gets the reference). Because I am the “tech person” at work, people bring me their computer and computer-related items. Which I do not mind- nice to feel useful.

So, a fellow brings me a DVD, which when placed in the computer, shows no files. Yet visual inspection shows has something burned to it. After some research, I find a program that is supposed to “fix this.” I finally got to it last night. So, I recover the video file which the program helpfully saves as an MPEG to my computer- which plays. Yay me. Except… MPEG is not how a video DVD is encoded. So another download (freeware this time) later, I am able to burn a readable video disk, which I tested on my PC and the DVD player connected to the television. It took 3 hours (partly because I was fumbling with unfamiliar software) and I was up until after 1 o’clock.

But, now that family will have a DVD of the 30 minutes of ultrasound of their baby. So I give thanks indeed. Happy second day after Thanksgiving.

The Fabulous Flying Turkey Trot!

And how wonderful that you were able to revive the US of the baby! Though I think you needed dedicated medical software to recover the file (the kind that costs over $25,000 just to install, never mind the workstation license fees!). Still, you managed to get it out, and that's what counts!

Happy second day after Thanksgiving, indeed!

Hmm, my half-baked turkey theory is that a grill rotisserie accessory failed to rotate while dinner was cooking. Bird was launched by cook’s wife upon the discovery.

That’s great that you recovered the baby video. They must be very thankful.

It's been nearly a month since mALX has disappeared and I have not heard back from her one way or the other. I make no assumptions on to what has come to pass upon her as I am not there. However, it was her wish that I return for a short while to ease her transition into re acclimating to the forums.

I no longer have a reason to be here.

Assumptions that I may have calmed down, or had a change of heart upon recent events are only that: Assumptions.

Even in the face of many tragic losses people lost sight of one fact: This life is the only opportunity you get to be kind to the people around you.

As such I gave myself until the first of December to decide one way or the other, and my time to move on has come. I joined Christmas Eve of 2005, and thus it seems apropos that this December mark my eighth year among you all, and all the unexpectedly close friendships I've developed and had in this time.

That is enough, and I do thank you all; each in your own way, for the time and events that I have shared with you. In this life, I still question who I am, but through writing and submitting my works I have discovered what I am. I am a writer. That is what this place means to me, and I do have a certain amount of hesitation and reasonable expectation of regret that goes along with this decision.

But I have still made it, and will not be convinced otherwise. I have given it the amount of thought and reflection such a decision requires, and ask that this be respected. I do not want to talk about it. (I really do not.)

For all the moment's I've had in tempest, and the words that are said with this letter, the difference is this comes from a place of stillness. I am calm, I am at peace.

Goodbye, Chorrol.

Yours, Black Hand.

Don't leave!!! First mALX disappears, now you're leaving too?!

Thanks for having been here, Blackie. Take good care and enjoy your time elsewhere

Well...poop.

I'll miss you, Black Hand. I wish you the best of luck in your continued career as a writer, BH; you deserve to do well.

*Scratches Black Hand's name off the Wall of The Regularly Visiting Chorrol Old Guard and suddenly feels rather lonely*

Yeah. Another one departs, doesn´t feel too good. But a Blackie has to do what a Blackie has to do

We'll miss you, Blackie. Good luck with whatever you do.

I must ask: why are the fun people leaving? Its sad to see you go Blackie. I'm truly sorry for whatever may happened. I wonder, each and every passing day, what happened to mALX and if she's alright. As you said we can't make assumptions, but its still sad to see you go especially now that she's not here. I myself am thinking about taking my stories to another place. Things have gone dry here. But good luck to you, Blackie.

No one is leaving now!!

I'll be sad to see you go Black Hand, I've known you for a long time and have enjoyed your presence here. Although I wish you hadn't made it, I respect your decision and won't try to dissuade you from leaving if that really is what you want. Minque will definitely be upset when she returns. I hope that Malx makes a return before long, I'm worried about her health.

Our active member list is getting pretty short these days, especially when it comes to long standing forum members. We're going to have to get some fresh blood around here before very long or else the unfortunate fact of it is that more and more members will slowly leave the forums due to personal reasons/real life until I'm left sitting around alone reminiscing about the first forum I ever joined.

I think we are all worried about mALX. On one hand, when I last heard from her at the beginning of November, she was having some pretty major computer problems. If her computer went completely out of commission, that would explain her absence. But then we all know she was having some health issues too.

I really hope it's just her computer.

She was on a rental computer, but remember, fifty days had not gone by yet since her stroke. She kept telling me she was doing better and doing better, but after seeing ny dad after his stroke, doing better doesn't always mean you'll be okay. He was good for about two months, then he started declinging, then passed away two years later.

I´m sorry to hear that, Liz. I didn´t know about your dad

Lets all hope mALX is ok and that she´s just having puter issues. Can´t afford to lose out forum squirrel, can we?