I swear, I'm going to bring this up every year until mankind quits fucking around with Hello Kitty themed cell phones and gets serious about making tomorrow happen. Talking toasters and musical mousetraps? C'mon: let's reach for the freakin' stars!

...So! The Dark Tower lives to see another year.

that's a plus at least.

But utterly pointless until there are cities on the moon to fly them to.

And where are the robot butlers and alien sex slaves? The future is still a long, long way off.

... but I'm pretty sure the Japanese are hard at work on robot sex slaves.

Robot sex slaves and alien butlers...at least the robot sex slaves aren't too far off the way technology is going.

Hello Kitty themed city on the moon would be much better though, I do agree.

When such a city is erected, you can move there...and stay there...in Hello Kitty Heaven. I only hope it'll be on the far side of the moon.

God damn, but you haven't been around here for a year of Sundays! How's ol' Aelric gettin' along, do you know?

I happened to google my nick yesterday and came across old links to my forum and to here, was pleasantly surprised to see recent posts. I used to have so much fun chatting with everyone here through the day.

I haven't really spoken to Aelric in prolly over 4 years. What I do know is that he still plays EQ, and I don't believe he's in Florida anymore.

Are you still in Florida? I'm still in Pennsylvania freezing my ass off (the pastime of the Commonwealth -- I think it's even official). A few days ago I spent a few days in Orange County, California, my Home Planet so to speak. There were Santa Ana winds and temperatures got up into the low 80s. Totally not fair. The Northeast is such an unlivable shithole for half the year, I swear, I really can't understand why anyone actually lives here. People live here because they're "stuck" by circumstances, basically. It shows in every grim scowl on the street and in the extended middle finger of every prone suicide statistic found frozen in a gutter.

Then again, if everyone lived in nice climates, the nice climates would end up not so nice due to overcrowding.

So you don't go in for those online games anymore like World o' Warcrap and NeverQuest? I liked the South Park episode that parodied them; if you haven't seen it you should!

I don't think I could stomach all that pink and frills either.

I am still in Florida, where it is a freezing 60 out. We had mid to high 70s and 80s last week too.

If I were to move back north I'm convinced I would not survive one winter season. I was out to San Diego for ComicCon awhile back, really liked the area, high on the list of places I would love to move to but will probably never afford.

And speaking of people flocking to better climates, this town has a serious snowbird population, and when they arrive in town after a long absence it's amazing how noticeable the difference is. One day you can get safely to work in 5 minutes, the next it takes you 20 minutes with the added bonus of 3 near death experiences.

I have seen that ep of South Park! Quite funny, and scary true, I know WoW players who were probably used as behavioral models for that ep. Never got caught up in the WoW craze, though I do play EQ2 now. However I used to play EQ every moment I wasnt at work before, now only play once a week if theres time. EQ2 is better built for casual playing as it allows one to still have a life and participate in other activities.

So whats keeping you stuck in Penn?

And any idea what the rest of the DT crew is up to? Alni found me on facebook and Verence ran into me on an anime forum awhile back. Both were pretty funny occurrences.

That's a good question: what's keeping me stuck in this shithole? (And when the weather is as shitty as it's been lately, I can scarcely contain the wrath and bile, the frustration, and occasional despair.)

Right now I have a secure job at a college, with tenure even. Now, I could start sending out resumes to places where human life is possible without a goddamn moon suit, go to the occasional interview, and finally, perhaps after a few years, get hired somewhere in a tenure-track position, but...

...We have a house, and it's going to be a really bad time to sell for a long while. On the other hand if the place we're moving to in my hypothetical scenario also has a housing market that crashed and burned, maybe it would all even out financially. But...

...Where would Essay work? And what if I want to get into a Ph.D. program for real? In fact, I'd have to wait probably about 7 years to get tenure at another college, so the job security would be lacking and I probably wouldn't want to fool around with getting a higher degree under those circumstances.

Finally, neither of us is keen on moving again after having moved three times in 8 years. Logically I'd get my Ph.D. here first, where there are all sorts of universities, then shove off to happier climes.

But fuck this weather with a rusted lawn aerator anyhow. Makes me want to knock hats off heads, take a pick-axe to every filthy snowman, and hurl Molotov cocktails at every salt truck. Every breath is like pissing razor blades, hands are dry and cracked, and a peck on the cheek sparks a nasty static electric shock. And the zinger: the times when we actually get temperatures a little higher than normal are the times when the rain and blizzards come; so everyone stays shut in their huts to wait it out...for weeks...and months...half a year....

God damn I hate winter.

Okay, I think I'm done now. So things are swell with you in Florida, eh? Don't think I'd consider living in Florida. The desert calls to me, and I'm not fond of hurricanes.

A few who might be considered part of the old Dork Tower gang are known to occasionally make an appearance on the onering.net's forums. Aside from that, well, I don't know. A couple of the Ancients like ILM and Lynne have made recent appearances a few threads down. I think I can account for myself and Essay. Ewok, another First One, is obviously still around. There's good ol' Jester, Shay, and mj. The Professor and Mary Anne....wait -- jumped tracks there. But Sméagol lives still, and Harold showed up as recently as March 2008. Alnilam, now, has been AWOL since February 2008, I think. Kimi, Diff of Doom, Patty, Ninnyhammer (Verence) and JenCat, I see, haven't been around for about two years. GTX, Magrat and Beren have been too cool to hang with us losers for over three years. The rest of 'em I forget.

And I was so hoping I could have spent Spring Vacation on Mars by now. So the next 2001: A Space Odessey, will have to be 2020: A Space Recession.
wok

So why would you want to go to Mars? Alas! One never appreciates a thing until it is lost! That much life has taught me.

I'm suffering in the fetid bowels of some of the worst weather in the world right now, so you'll have to forgive my being nearly as ornery as mj for the next few months.

No, I don't think I'd like to live on the East Coast right now, at least not in weather like that. But it's so beautiful there,and you actually have seasons. And the houses aren't square flat stucco boxes. Your's have character and architecture!
When I've visited my parents in WA, and it was 30d, I LOVED IT! I felt so comfortable, & like THIS is where I belong. I've hated the heat as long as I can remember, and here I still am. Not by choice, but by career and marriage. Granted, we had planned on moving up there when we both retired, but now that I have, everything I want to do is here. They don't have anything like it there. I would like to move closer to the coast where it would be 20d cooler but we can't afford it.
You have to pay thru the yingyang to live here unless you were born here and already in the housing market.
We could always win the lottery.

Pluto is starting to look like a summer vacationing spot.

At least the freeze lifted this weekend.


******

Visit Alnilam's Realm. Now.

It sounds like we're all in agreement; weather has been weird this year. It's looks like we're dropping 20 degrees on Wed and then 59d by Sunday. But it will still be 87d F today.
wok

My consolation is that the Winterlude starts this week. Hopefully the transit strike will be over before then so I can actually go to see the ice sculptures after work.


******

Visit Alnilam's Realm. Now.

It sounds like we're all in agreement; weather has been weird this year. It's looks like we're dropping 20 degrees on Wed and then 59d by Sunday. But it will still be 87d F today.
wok