A Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

I finally called Ricky back just now. He wants to come down for Art Beat this year. We went to only a little bit of 2005's (2006 being the Ricky-(and-art-)free Volity Year) but he has only good memories of it, as well as sadness that he didn't buy "that piece with the string". I don't remember this.

I do remember feeling a little antsy when he was trying to have a conversation with one seller about her stuff when it was clear that How much is this? was the only question she wanted to hear. Ricky does not pick up on these things. It is too bad that it makes me antsy, but it always does.

Anyway, he's how tentatively scheduled to be staying at my apt for that weekend. We will probably hit the MFA too so he can enjoy its courtyard, where he hasn't sat in a long time.

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In other news, I finally cleaned my keyboard this afternoon. I didn't have the article author's specialized scrubby tool, but I did have a whole lotta Q-tips and some Windex, so I got most of the gross (and I do mean gross) matter off the base. His sandwich-baggie method of mass key-cleaning worked like a charm.

Sadly, as a fan and frequent user of mammalian skin and hair, it's bound to get all gunked up again soon enough unless I invest in a cover thingum. karlvonl recommends this one. Maybe!

Also, the AC is up again. Whirrr. $$$$. eh

I sunk the better part of the last two days into Baldur's Gate. Yesterday I found myself wrapped up enough in it that, while riding on the T, I continued to feel real existential dread over my decision to accept a ranger and mage into my party over a probably stronger cleric. (The game limits your party size to six characters, so when you make new friends who wish to join you, you must kick people out. The dialogue strongly implies that the game will give you opportunities to reunite with these ousted characters later on, though.) Thankfully, I'm at a good break point right now, having completed the first dungeon (along with a goodly number of side-quests), and confident in knowing where I'm supposed to go next, thus not leaving me slavering for More Carnage. Watch as I Take Out The CD and Put It Away For Now.

Meanwhile, in the world outside of my head, things move along. Matt Sargent, arguably the most powerful voice in the world of Perl & XML, has responded the book draft, um, a little too late for our tastes, but there you go. We (which is to say I, assuming Erik is still feeling overburdened) now have today to decide whether it merits changes drastic enough to pull the book from production. I have not read it yet. I do this thing now.

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First I say that last night was cool. Went to the MFA to see Outstandingly Entertaining Short Films, in a party led by cthulhia and populated by a sizable subset of the usual cthonic posse. I was nervous about seeing "Bullet in the Brain", because I had heard the original short story read on the radio show "Selected Shorts", and as the title suggests it involves, um, massive neurological trauma, which is a squicking point for me. I ended up enjoying the very nice film, of course, though I question the filmmaker's decision to flesh out the main character a little more with an introduction that makes him seem more contemptible. Was it meant to cushion the blow? Shrug.

There are no photographs of me wearing the 5,000 admission collar clips that cthulhia pinned on me as we wandered the museum, picking them up off the floor as we admired ahht. Sorry. magid thought that it looked like an urban interpretation of a shark's teeth necklace.