| Murder She Wrote

I've watched a lot of Murder She Wrote as a kid, so this breakdown of how almost every episode went is  hilarious and totally accurate: Lonk

Man, we woulda had a thousand of those by now.

| I'm a little ashamed we didn't come up with this first

LOL, Dice Shaming

| Packing Rats for Life

I have always been fairly balanced in what I keep, but my wife is a different story. She has a tendency to be a bit of a pack rat. Her issue seems to be a mix of both your habits, a little of the nostalgia bug, a little bit of the "I might need this someday" justification. Drives me a bit insane because in both cases she saves way too many things, making our apartment very busy. But hey, what are you going to do? For better or for worse.

We did see Guardians this past Saturday. I liked it quite a bit. I thought the dialog was way better than most of the campy or soulless crap that usually gets scripted for comic book movies these days. I do tend to agree with eLzar about the stinger. It was okay, but not a big deal for me.

D>M>

| Elzar's Catalog of Lost Dreams and Adventures

I don't know why I hoard either (dragon in a past life?) but my reasons are usually the completely irrational "this might come in handy someday" argument. This broken plastic rear-cover to a remote control I no longer own MIGHT come in handy someday. Let me place it on this pile of newspapers/rat shit/bags of piss. (I'm not that bad of a hoarder.)

Idea for your gaming-collection hoard pile:
Take a picture of each game, then write a blog/tumblr/livejournal/website.net about each game and the memories it triggers, like you just did with that 'Nam game. Then, ALI FUCK SHIT UP, pack the game in a box for the next con to sell (or Ebay, or whatevs). I think it might be a nice cathartic experience that serves the dual purpose of getting you to creatively express yourself by writing about your past in a memoir style AND clear some fucking space in your present life. You don't need any of those old games and Wy isn't going to play them anyways (if that ever creeps into your mind as a reason to keep stuff). He is of the future where they will implant games directly into their neck-jacks.

If you want to be really ambitious, keep the blog of this project private till it's all finished, then publish it as some kind of geek memoir where you tell this overarching story of your angry-youts days.

It can be the true-life nerd-version of:
Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry

(I haven't read this yet, but it sounds kind of awesome and it's being made into a movie which sounds less awesome because, how would that even fucking work? Ugh)

| I Know Why I Packrat

Maybe I always knew, but I think I figured out a big part of why I packrat games.  If I look on my shelves and I pick any game off the shelf, I remember a lot of personal history around that game.  Some of this stuff I would never remember or think about without some sort of cue, and all the shit in my office is that very cue.

Mostly this has to do with RPGs, and the more I have this a-ha I realize there were also some games that I've sold that I wish I kept just for the memory jog (I'm really only thinking about Assault on Hoth, because I think Jordan and Yukari played it against each other in my Pine room way back when and that's a nice memory to have given where they ended up :) ).

For example, "Recon".  This is some shitty Vietnam RPG by Palladium that is poorly laid out, has worse copy, unclear rules, terrible art, etc. - truly an RPG representative of the boom in the 80's.  I don't think I ever actually played it, but what I do remember is I bought it from Galaxy Comics on Aviation, I also bought my first complete set of clear blue 'crystal' dice in the tube with the orange cap at the same time.  Thinking about Galaxy reminds me of what the store looked like, how I ogled all the comics on the walls, what an adventure it was for me to track down all the Punisher appearances I collected when I was younger, and that I was living in my grandmothers house on the Strand in Hermosa while our other house was being built.

All of these little triggers remind me of so much more from my past that I feel like I would really be losing some of myself if I let too many of them go.  I might lose that one cue that is tied to a whole thread of memories I might never get to enjoy or experience if I sell or get rid of that certain game.  I think I've instinctively known this and have been reluctant to get rid my sheet for this very reason.

Anyway, who's to say there isn't another, less junky way, to remember this stuff, and maybe it's not that crucial for me to remember in the first place - maybe I should be filling my brain with new and important things but there's no room because I have too much of the archive filled with the layout of Galaxy Comics (which I just remembered had a Mighty Mouse on it's business card).

For better or for worse, that's why I have so much shit.

| Guardians of An Galaxy

I liked it!

I also like hunky Chris Pratt from Parks and Rec, so I was pulling for him to make a big splash in the lead, but in the end I don't think he pulled it off.  Not that it was entirely in his control to do so, directing, writing, etc. all got in the way, but he didn't scream 'leading man' to me after seeing it.  Maybe he'll do better in II.

Anyhoo, it was fun!  Definitely not a kids movie, yet my whole theater was filled with kids.  Lotta swearin', killin', stabbing, talking about killing, smashing, shootin, breaking, etc., which I enjoyed, but glad I didn't bring Wy.  I didn't THINK of it as a kids movie until I watched some trailers and much of the cutesy Raccoon and Groot stuff came across as kid friendly.

It was an interesting blend of real Earth stuff with Marvel universe stuff, which was neat too.  Did they do that with the OG GotG comics?  Marvel Unlimited will tell me!  Good stuff, and glad I chose this movie to be first I've seen in the theater since 2011 (Deathly Hollows, pt II)!

PS for me, the after credits bit was a bit of a let down.

Saw it tonight too and it was great. I like the marvel movies for the most part, and it's def right there with Avengers as one of my faves. All the marvel movies have been getting better, but this one was just legitimately funny throughout which is always impressive. I just watched Man of Steel on cable again the other day, and what a dreary piece of shit that turned out to be.

Eyy! Caught a showing of Guardians of the Galaxy. I thought the other Marvel movies I've seen were OK-to-mediocre (IM1, IM2, Avengers, Thor, half of Captain America), but this one was actually really cool and worth seeing! Much funnier and better written than the others and WAY prettier to look at (lots of really cool space vistas to look at). All the characters were pretty solid and I think not knowing who any of them were made things more fun and surprising.

Also, the post-credits "stinger" for these movies is usually a labored tie-in to some future entry in the series, but this time it was just ludicrous (in a good way).

| Wazzooo Benefits

O Rugs: That sounds quite stressful. I was never a huge fan of working in call centers, especially when resolving an issue is time sensitive; however, with dispatch, that would be a whole new level of pressure. Plus, if there is one thing I am not good at, it's memorizing binders full of information. Good luck, sounds like you are on the ball. It would be nice to see you at one of the future nerd-/man-/gaming-/drunk-/prosti-cons.

With regards to the affordable benefits. I miss that. The missus used to have awesome bennies when she worked at the hospital. For the two of us the plan cost exactly $0/mo. And they were excellent plans. Her wage was quite good too. Too bad the department dysfunctional, her managers neurotic and the company obsessed with profits over patient care. One of the most profitable non-profits in the area. Now we are on my company's benefits, while they are not astronomical, we are paying a good bit more than $40/paycheck for the two of us. Booo...

r00d, yeah TSR's needle point acquisition was strange indeed. But I think the most cringe worthy part for me was:

In early interviews, they frequently boasted that gaming and business required the same competencies. Gygax even compared the rise of TSR through 1980 to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, with it starting out as “a low-level-character sort of company” but gaining “excellent experience” to advance towards the “really high-level game producers such as Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers.”

Funny thing is, I always thought he lost control of the company to his wife in a divorce or something along those lines. Anyway, it was a good read. I guess that goes to show that a lot of old school games had very poor business acumen.

D>M>

| Bennies & The Jetz

I got hired for the purposes of being a Dispatcher, but before they even let you try to start learning that, you have to go through training on all the other floor positions/jobs. So, I've been training on the call-taking side of 911 since March, starting with the non-emergency desk all the way up to 1st Queue (you take nothing but priority/emergency calls all shift long). Thankfully, the pay while in training is enough to pay our bills and put food on the table, even with Michelle being unable to work (don't get me started ranting about the last 9 months of doctors that have been glad to take thousands of dollars in fees and provide next to zero clarity/solution on what's going on). The benefits are absolutely ridiculous. I didn't think these kinds of benefits even existed anymore. When I went through my onboarding March 31st, they said I had to fill out a stack of paperwork so my benefits could start on time.. and I asked if it was 60 days (hoping), or 90, or 6 months, or whatever.. and she paused for a second, looked at me and said, no, these all start tomorrow, April 1st. *cue look of shock*

So we're filling out papers for health insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, pensions, 401k stuff and things and we get to discussing what it's going to cost, coming out of our checks. *brace for impact* She says, "Ok, it's going to be $80 a month.." That's amazing, just $80 for myself to get all that covered? So I ask.. ok, so how much to add my wife and kids onto all this? "No, that's for all of you." *me with the blank stare of disbelief* ... I had her repeat it like 3 more times because I was sure there was no way that was right, lol. Then later on she said, "oh wait, I was wrong on the out of check cost for you on your benefits" (me thinking, ahh, thought so, here we go) ... "I forgot that the company kicks in $40 a month towards your benefit premiums, so it's only $40" (yes, I made her repeat that 3-4 times too, lol)

Anyway, long story short, (too late), I'm really enjoying the work. It's extremely challenging intellectually trying to remember all the rules for the 11 different agencies/townships we service, keeping pace with the hysterical callers is always fun), and there's a certain satisfaction in being able to genuinely help people and get them aid when they need it most.

Weirdly, it almost increases the pressure I put on myself to perform at the highest level because now I'm absolutely horrified at even the thought of not making it through Dispatch academic/training/testing and losing this job. This is the kind of job I could see myself putting in 25-30 years into and retiring from. In the "even better news" category, once I get moved from call taking over to Dispatch, I'll be working 4-on-4-off, 3-on-3-off schedule, so I'll have about 14 days a month off!

I dream of a life where we're not struggling to pay medical bills, make rent and still eat.. and instead have leisure time / expendable income for things like TRIPS TO CONS OMG. :D

| Expensive Doxy

That sounds like the world's most intense job training process ever! Is it gonna pay off in the end with a killer salary and benefits? I have some friends here in the LAPD who've worked the dispatch/communications here and it sounds INTENSE. I gotta ask someone, but I'm not sure if what they did was 911 or something else. They're the ones I hear on the police radios telling them to go here or there, etc. Fuck man, good luck.

That D&D article was interesting but kinda weird. Like, it just sorta ends. And that part where Gary Gygax bought some NEEDLEWORK company or some bullshit!? That just annoyed me to no end. I can understand normal hobby-dudes getting way over their heads and making shitty business decisions, but that was the straw that broke the armadillephant's  back.

Oh, Strain-ley
We got around to watching the Strain pilot, and it was good! Looked great. Guillermo Del Toro has a knack for making shit mad-scary and atmospheric (see: At The Mountains of Madness script I sent Elzar). There was a fairly large cheese-factor to things, which may or may not be present in the book, but I know what I'm signing up for with a vampire story, so choo-choo Charlie, all aboard the crazy train.

VICE just had this article about rapey dungeon masters and some D&D history - this is Schlep Week here at AT! Using the DM Guide's "Harlot Encounters" and a d100, I rolled an 84: Expensive Doxy.

| Wazzooooo juice!

That's gold.

Anyone try out that game Divinity? Allegedly it's the best most awesomest DND style RPG, top-down game to come out in forevah. It reminds me of a modern Neverwinter Nights, with a crazy good campaign/mission builder and the ability to multi-play through missions. Don't want to spend $39 for it just yet, but I'mma keep an eye on it for now.

In other non-gaming news, I FINALLY just had my 3 day final skills assessment at the new jerb (911 dispatch center) and passed! That was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Essentially memorizing three 5 inch binders full of procedures, acronyms and codes was brain numbing and took nearly 100% of my free time. I now get to spend 2 more months on the floor taking calls and getting proficient with the computer systems before I go back into a month of academic study and then into another 6 months of hard core training/testing. Gah. Overall though I love the job. It's never boring, even if some times nerve wracking to be dealing with people in ultimate peril/danger all shift long. Out of all the people who started through the filtering/hiring process, 5 of us got brought on in March, now there are just 3 of us left. Unofficial stats from round the cooler say only one, maybe two of us will make it through the Dispatch training/testing process. lol, no pressure or anything.

Curse your riddles! If you wrote the article, just come out and say it!

Let's have a joint bday in late august where you and enr0n stay at the embassy suites near my place and we get loaded at my place and break out the dungeon tiles for some GM emulated DCC action!

| Onote

I guess I should have used my words a little better; the article was written by Onote, a doppelganger of our own Enoto!  And by doppelganger, I mean someone who is named the same, and their name is spelled very similarly, but different and they are actually different people and I am not him.

Look at the author and hopefully my cryptic wordplay will make sense....