May 10, 2012

<tkeiser> I liked the scene in Black Swan where Pam Grier shoots the pimp in the back and Fred "The Hammer" Williamson runs him over with a car.
<Halspal> No, you're thinking of Black Caesar.
<Halspal> This film is totally different.
--From the catbox, 18 Oct. 2011

Nice. But, easy a mistake as it is to make, it was not Pam Grier who appeared in Black Caesar at all, but Gloria Hendry (who appeared, as well, as the first black Bond Girl in Live and Let Die, and had earlier been a Playboy Bunny). Sadly, Hendry has not seen Quentin Tarantino come along and fashion a career reviving vehicle of the sort he made for Grier. And, oh, hey, while we're on the subject, what is Tarantino up to these days? Plotting and planning, that's what. To be more specific, after he finishes Django Unchained (an audacious Southern slave-defeats master sort of thing) he'll be writing Kill Bill: Volume 3, aiming for it to be released in 2014. This next installment is likely to feature the go at revenge by Nikki Bell (the daughter of the Vernita Green character, Green having been killed when she brought a gun to a knife fight in her own kitchen in the first film). Bell was played by a then-preteen Ambrosia Kelley (the character was supposed to be, like, 4; Kelley was then 7); as it happens, Kelley is still a working actress. So yeah.

And the node audits just keep rolling along:

The Custodian -- on page 33 out of 40.... This is getting heavy, folks.
wertperch -- on page 4 out of 10 -- and I'm just getting warmed up!!
gnarl -- on page 2 out of 6 -- trust me, this won't hurt a bit.

Thinking ahead now, who else ought I audit? Custo is surprisingly near the end, and wert and gnarl won't take very long.... suggestions welcome!!

Random update: Think I'll randomly node-audit Shaogo and Sketchwick, just since they daylogged here with me. Blessings!!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Greetings, noders!

It's been awhile since I've been here. A couple of days off due to illness (nothing fatal) gives me time to come over to this side of the Inter-web to say hello.

During an egotistical trip down memory lane (read: I'm re-reading my nodes from years ago) I ran across some comments and additions from lots of people. I loved so much including other noder's comments as post-scripts for my writings. After this afternoon, however, I've accumulated a list of nodes that I'd promised to up-date but haven't yet.

I'm weeping, now, reading grundoon's yummy addition to deep fried foods in the restaurant: "hush puppies". Thinking about her healthy and with an appetite to tell me her favorite fryalator creations just led to water-works from my eyes.

The frying in the restaurant piece just brought back to me the wonderful, collective nature of what we do here. Other noders contributed perhaps 30% of that story by the time it was done.

I know what you may be thinking: "well... WRITE SOMETHING!" -- I tried. But right now I'm reminiscing and just taking time to breathe; the new restaurant (www.arenapatio.com) is keeping me busy but very happy.

The most important thing to tell y'all right now is that although my ex-wife remains a rock of support in my life, there's a dude in my life now who's making it worth living all over again. Yes, folks... a d-u-d-e. He's 46 but looks 30 and what on earth he's doing with my paunchy, greying ass only the Good Lord knows. But it's been working since long before I went to China last summer and it continues to work. We respect each other and have a great deal of affection for one another. He's moved into the big house but he has his own floor - boundaries are important.

Meanwhile, I'm listening to music on-line while writing this (and, coders, by the way, LOVING the WYSIWYG interface which makes things ever so much easier for a non-coder like me).

All my love,

Shaogo

 

 

I do not like saying I will do something and not doing it. This is part of who I am. I'm not sure it's a virtue. Being that I can be very spiteful and contrary, I can get set on doing things that aren't at all helpful.

But I told someone I was gonna write something a long time ago, and now I will.

I used to play Magic: the Gathering professionally. I used to travel to conventions and tournaments. Please do not think this meant that I made more money than I spent traveling, I did not. Technically I was a professional poker player after first moving to Vegas. Please don't think that meant I made more than about $8 an hour.

Anyway, there is this convention called Origins. The first time I went it was in Philadelphia. I could write more stories about that...but this story happened the years Origins was in Columbus, Ohio.

I think, but I am not sure, that the first time I experienced the Convention Center at Origins, my girlfriend at the time came with me. So her and I and a bunch of my friends get some food at a cafe court there in the convention center. There is this little Asian food place...think Panda Wok, only a little more Mom and Pop, but enough that it's at all out of place in a food court. Go up to the line, order, move to register, pay.

So we were all cool and Dutch and she didn't need for me to open her doors or anything like that, so I got my food first, and went to sit down. Keep in mind this is a gaming convention. There is lots of gaming going on. There are lots of distractions for MY brain. So I'm at a table talking to my friends and she comes over and sits down. I'm not distracted enough to not realize when a girlfriend of mine is unhappy. She was unhappy.

"What's wrong?"

"I gave them a $20 bill and they gave me change for a $10 bill."

"Okay...wait, you didn't fix it?"

"I tried but she says I gave her a ten. I KNOW I gave her a twenty."

(I let this sink in)

"So that's it?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I'm not the kind of guy that tells people what to do. Let me just say that if this had happened to my father, he would already have his money by now, because those Asian women are business women, and they understand an irate Irishman screaming at them in front of their business is not worth $10."

I had made my point, but if she didn't want to get the money back, it wasn't a big deal. I didn't really think much of it, we all ate our food, and went back to gaming. As far as I know, she got over it.

And she got over me. So the following year when I'm in Columbus for Origins, she is not. My friends and I went back to the food court and I went back to the Asian place (I do love American style Asian food).

I order. I move to the register. I pay. With a $10 bill.

THEY GAVE ME CHANGE FOR $20.