My 1st follower, across the pond, my breakfast, and story time!

So I promised to make this post interesting and about my breakfast!

Bagel's & Joe danish and a small carmel fufu drink...BAM there it is!

Exciting huh? No, not even close. So, to make it exciting I'll share how the ghost of the raccoon I ran over last night. *epic movie music with thunder crashing*

The clouds were low as the fog floated up to meet in a loving embrace. There was no love in the car racing down the road. Escape, she must move faster. Her breakfast won't wait and it must be eaten before...

The fog rose up into the road as if something moving from the edge carried it with. It was back. It had never truly left, trying to get closer. 

Her turn, thank god! Tires peeling out as she barley slowed for the turn. Almost there.

Glancing to her side the fog was almost to the door handle of the car. It wasn't being affected by the speed of the car. It continued to engulf the car.

The lights of the establishment pecked over the hill, her breakfast was quickly approaching. Safety! 

The fog was now nearly over the window sill. She'll have to thrust open the door and hope that is enough of an opening.

Squealing into the parking lot to a dead stop the car and go, go, go!

The fog whisked around the quickly opened door. Don't look back, go, go go!

Bells violently clang as she flings the door open.

"Caramel latte and a Danish for here please.  It's crazy weather out there. Thank you."

Grabbing her breakfast she took a seat by the window. Hopefully she could watch to make sure that fog was gone. 

It was gone. Not only gone but the morning showed that there had been no fog. The sun was coming up and she could see for blocks, clearly. 

Her heart skipped a beat, was she going crazy? The coffee was delicious and relaxing. Finishing the danish she slowly exited to her car. She still didn't trust what was going on around her.

Fumbling for her keys she just wanted into her car, it's safe in there. Then it came. It surrounded quickly and quietly. The keys hit the ground as the sound was muffled as if miles away. She pushed her hands forward hoping to feel the car. There was nothing. Tiny step forward, still nothing. A larger step this time. She could hear some approaching from the right. Relief, she was still in the parking lot.

Bright lights suddenly came upon her. The sound abruptly stopped. 

Am I really that creative person?

I'm sitting in my Intro. to Digital Imaging and the folks around are super creative. I know I tend to immediately get insecure and jealous because I can't do decent/good spontaneous art things. Now if I would practice and not get pissed when I mess up because telling myself I'm a super novice and with practice I'd get better, it still doesn't work. I still get super annoyed at myself for not being perfect NOW!!

I think so detailed, it's almost to detrimental to being a creative person. I'm never satisfied with basic answers. 

We'll over this insecure hump an on to the next!

Book Review by: A Non Book Reviewer

So, I just finished the first published book “Double Dead” by Chuck Wendig, on my Kindle. The first book of my "reading project that I hope to actually finish." I’m not a big reader (I know, I know, I’m a horrible person) and I really want to change that.  I will admit that I consistently follow his blog (www.terribleminds.com) and his Twitter account. I figured he’d be a good place to start.  I enjoy his banters enough to keep coming back for more! Whether it’s his awkward staring at your soul or loud slurping of earl grey tea, it makes me have to come back again and again and well…again. On to the actual book review, of which I have absolutely no credentials to write, here we go.

I loved it!!! The relationships between Coburn (vampire whose kind of an asshat *ponders that statement* okay is an asshat) and all the humans he plays with…I mean deals with. There were a few “oh shit, no way” moments, which I loved and pulled at the heart strings of this reader.

There we go…right?

Oh there needs to be more substance? Okay.  *goes and reviews Amazon.com reviewer comments* Wow, those are small, basic, and to the point!

I’m sticking with this, good day Sir.

GM(Gaming Master)/DM (Dungeon Master) Discussion Group - Facebook

So my husband started a GM (Gaming Master or DM/Dungeon Master) FB page to help DM’s out and discussion. I’m excited to have the discussion between so many GM’s and I get to be included in it. Here’s what my introduction has to say:

“I guess the wife better get her stuff posted here too! J Okay, so I haven’t played as long as Thomas nor did I really know the existence of DnD or those types games until I met him.  I knew MMO’s and video games so this was a new realm for me.  The only reason I took up DM/GM’ing was because I wanted Thomas to enjoying playing instead of always running a game.  My first game had its highlights (only after it was over), but mostly I learned that things I thought players would get because they were simple were made excruciatingly hard.  Things I thought would be super hard were completed in a blink of an eye.  Oh, and Thomas got upset super easy with all my riddles….I thought they were brilliant to make the player actually think.  Well needless to say the story fell apart and I stopped for a bit thinking I had done something terribly wrong and that I just plan sucked. Luckily, later Thomas informed me he actually enjoyed it as he hadn’t played like that before. So with a few ego strokes from the hubby, I tried again. With each game I learned more. I would planned way too much I would get informed that I wasn’t giving the players the ability to decide their own fates. So I’d open the floor to let them do what they wanted and give themselves direction, that ended with begin informed that players need some direction. I had to get the porridge just right.  All good critiques really and knowing who the players were makes a big difference.  Okay, I think I’ve deviated from what the original reason for this post is, which is introduction.  Ekk, let me get back on track. As I stated above I have only DM/GM’ed for a few years. My main inspiration is Thomas, but I’ve played under Craig, Chris and Steph Rathburn, James Blanchard, and heard never ending stories of the epic quests in Kearney under John.

Right now I’m running a Scion game and a DnD game when time permits. I enjoy telling stories and making players really think about how their character would react to a situation, not themselves.  I know for me as a player that is really hard…Thomas can attest to that! J”

If you’re a GM/DM and wish to be a part of this discussion group please contact me through email at iliamarie2001@gmail.com and I’ll let the administrator the page know.

Happy GM/DM’ing!! 

Chuck Wendig. Book 1. Start!

So I've been following the author Chuck Wendig for many months now and have decided to read all his books. If his books reflect his blog I'm in for a treat. I want to support an author that takes time to entertain me every day (no joke, everyday!). 

http://terribleminds.com (sorry for no hyperlink, but copy/paste rocks)

So to start off, hopefully I got his first published book as I'd like to go in order.

Double Dead

I'll write a review when I'm all the way through it.

If anyone wants to join me on this trek I'd enjoy some company!

Movie Review Time, Yay Netflix! "Against the Dark"

Good evening everyone,
So last night Thomas and I tried to watch a movie I saw on Netflix. It had Steven Seagal, with a sword, in front of two vampire chicks. Now take into account that someone merely flipped the one girls image to make it look, well, cooler? I know my graphics design teacher would freak out if he saw that's what I had done for a finished project. I digress, it's Steven Seagal so I was like "Hey, let's watch that. How bad could it be?Seagal will do some martial arts which will make it entertaining."  Well I was wrong, super wrong. We, I mean I,  didn't make it through more then 20 minutes of the movie and I couldn't watch anymore.

The movie went like this (at least the 20 minutes I watched):
Scene 1: Steven Seagal and some random folks, at night (oh when they tell you not to go out at night cause that's when all the vampires are out) and they slice up some "vampires."  Oh and each clip shown of the "vampries" make you think they are zombies. I don't think the director knows his horror monsters. Now I'm assuming Seagal did some martial arts stuff with that cool sword but I can't say for sure as their lighting didn't show anything. At least the sound guys tried their best to make up for it. You do see Seagal move though, so you can assume.

Scene 2: Away from Seagal and his band of black wearing lackeys and to a group of normal people who are actually the story plot. Now enters in the cookie cutter dialogue. Now this was a teaching moment for me because I thought back on some of the things I wrote and worried if my stuff sounded like this movie. It was bad.

Scene 3: Back to Seagal, walking in the dark, with a sword *cough* just like the move cover *cough*, slicing up a few things, saves a kid, and then makes a comment that had no place at all. Thomas stated that they probably edited out the sentence/conversation prior to Seagal comment...not sure why'd you do.

Scene 4: Back to actual plot and characters, enter cookie cutter dialog...and turned the movie off...

Now I know to give a movie a real review you should watch the who thing but I just couldn't. Seagal fits into a category with Jean Claude Van Damme of actors who are fun to watch because they are more of a martial arts tool then an actor.  Sorry guys, I enjoy watching you but come on.

If anyone actually makes it through the movie you can prove me wrong or tell me it gets better, I'd enjoy hearing from you!

Family Emergency Preparedness

I've been hearing a lot of radio commercials about being prepare for emergency situations. This really makes me think about my family situation. We get so complacent because here, Lincoln Nebraska, stuff rarely happens. Tornados miss us, an occasion snow/ice storm, heat wave, nothing catastrophic *knocks on wood*. 

This makes me think of how complacency can effect my personal family and really everyone around me. I don't want myself, or my family to be caught off guard. Catastrophes can happen quick and without warning so we need to be ready. Now, to be prepare for everything just isn't obtainable, but to have the necessitates to help get through it can be. 

Preparation can even go so far as to make meeting place arrangements because emergencies aren't going to happen when everyone is concise entry together. Kid will be at school and parents will be at work, the furthest away everyone can be from each other. When disaster strikes where does everyone want to be? Together! Where will everyone most likely start? On all different corners if the city. 

Saying you'll put something together later us jut as helpful as making giant plans and not following through. Baby steps, remember something is always better then nothing. My family lives in an apartment so we can't have a basement of necessities. What we can do is have a closet and some travel bags ready to go. Having items I'm a car is always a good idea too, there's a very good chance you could be in your car when something hits. 

There are a lot if really good sites to help you and your family build a kit.

http://m.fema.gov/

http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/home-family/get-kit

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/preparedness/kit/disasters/

Remember, you'll be super mad when a disaster hits and your not ready .

Another "I don't know" days....

Perhaps it's the Mondays coming to drain my soul, but I am really feeling the uncertainty of life. It's like all avenues taken, whether tiny or huge, are all giant issues that I'm triple checking myself on. Yet I'm still unable to make a clear decision on what the right path is. I'm probably already going down the right paths, but that certainty is an evading little rascal. 

I started the app, "Zombies, run! 2" yesterday and it was great...except the side effect of my mind thinking the possibility of it being reality. I mean, if something like that really did happen, I'm super screwed!! I learned that jogging away from the incoming zombies horde is NOT good enough. When they say you need to run, they are not joking. They mean "run chubby lady RUN!" 

As I sit at work today i heard a plane/jet fly over really low and my thoughts flashed to a bomb dropping. positive right?! I realized that I hope my family and I are in the 'instant death' radius so we don't have to deal with the aftermath. Is it bad that I wish for a quick and painless death for my family then to deal with the horrible possibilities of "....what happens next"?

Self preservation is VERY important don't get me wrong. It's just scary to think about. When co-workers call me the zombie lady cause they think I 'Like' zombies I have to clarify that I do NOT like zombies. It's fascinating but really very scary and inflicts nightmares and daymares. 

What's a "daymare" you ask? It's when your awake and your mind throws instant scary thoughts to where you know it's not real but you still don't open that curtain because there's that 1% chance it could be. 

So, in conclusion, this Monday is making me feel less then a proper decision making adult and more of the panic, second guessing human.

Oh, don't forget I have a project to do in my Graphic Design class so huzzah for going into it with great feelings!!! Ha!