6/26/2002:
I'm enjoying my Evoker a bit more than I did my Cleric. He's much better at intelligent conversation. I did have some difficulty starting out, as I only had 5 hit points at 1st level, and I had to redo a couple of fights because I kept dying. He's 3rd level now, so is a bit more robust as far as health is concerned, and also has a decent lineup of spells for offensive use. Also, he's not too bad with his crossbow or rapier if it comes down to a physical conflict. He would much rather keep his distance and use the crossbow, for obvious health-related reasons. Hopefully I'll have some more time to advance his progress tonight, and post something more detailed tomorrow. I'm still working on learning my way around the city of Neverwinter right now.

Page Update - I added a new section to my Links page: the "Link of the Day". I usually find at least one interesting link each day, and I will post those links at that location. Check back each day for new and interesting websites. I'll try and get something new up there each day, but no guarantees :) There is also a link to the previous Links of the Day, if you missed some.

6/25/2002:
Tired again. Got up early today for a dentist's appointment. That went fairly well; only a few minor problems with my teeth, nothing that can't be fixed during a couple of followup appointments, which have been scheduled for late July.

After the appointment, got my food shopping done, and then actually got some time to play Neverwinter Nights. Now I'm at work, have 6 and 1/2 hours left to go, and I'm ready to go home right now. I could go for a nap. Love days like this.

On the subject of Neverwinter Nights: so far, I'm enjoying it. The graphics are nice and I really like the spell effects. I haven't had time to play very far into the game. I just left the Temple of Tyr with my first character, but decided at that point to start a new character, as I am tired of playing my stupid Cleric. This is not to say all Clerics are stupid (I play one in our tabletop campaign and enjoy it very much), just mine. He has an Intelligence score of 8. He's pretty dense. It's my fault that he was created that way, but I really wasn't sure how it would affect him. He's fine in battle, but his communication skills are very lacking. Biggest problem: he uses "me" instead of "I", i.e. "Me do that for you" is as complex as his sentences get. NPC's I talk to refer to him as a simpleton. I will probably go back and play him more later, but for now I'm going to try out the Elven Evoker (Specialist Wizard) I created right before I had to come to work today. I should have time to play him tonight after work, and I'll post here tomorrow about that experience.

6/24/2002:
Doing better today. Not nearly as tired, thankfully. I don't think I could have gone through another day like yesterday again so soon ...

Had a very very good conversation with a good friend last night. Was glad to find that I was not the only one of us that is finding more and more connections between us 2. Seems we have some spiritual ties. I cannot relate in words how good this makes me feel, for reasons that I cannot even explain. Sometimes the english language, diverse as it is, is just too simple to express feelings like these. I will try and find some such words and post them here...

Busy busy week. Just seems to be alot going on. Dentist appointments, car tune-ups, other errands that need to be done before I head to VT this weekend. Going up to see my parents and help my Dad set up a small office network. Plus, I get to see someone I haven't seen in many moons :) I'm looking forward to seeing her. We're going to hang out and ride ATV's! Wheeee!

6/23/2002:
2 posts for today. The previous is from "last night"; I usually sleep 3 am - noon or so each day (I work 2nd shift; I'm not just a lazy bastard), so my dates get all messed up.

I am living in a haze today. I feel so exhausted and I'm really not sure why. Granted, I did a good amount of driving over the weekend, but not an excessive amount. And I felt pretty decent when I got up today. I didn't start feeling this crappy until I got to work today. Usually my job doesn't have this effect on me, so I'm not sure what the hell is going on.

I don't feel like talking to anyone, which is loads of fun when I'm supposed to be doing customer service. I didn't mind chatting earlier on AIM, but the whole prospect of voice communication right now has really got me down. I don't even really feel like talking to my friends, but I will, because they're my friends, and tired as I feel, I still enjoy the conversation. Customers, however, are a different story. I do not feel like talking to customers today, at all. But again, I will, because it's my job, and I need to work so I can make money, because I need to pay my bills so I can live happily. Not that paying bills alone makes me happy, but financial security makes me feel a hell of a lot less stressed.

Really wish I could have spent at least 1 more night down in Poughkeepsie. The company was wonderful down there and I was having a great time every moment. Can't say that about most days of my life, but then again, I don't know many people who can. I've been doing pretty good with my own happiness lately; but hard to mirror the great times of this past couple weekends without the people around who made it so great. We do what we can, and keep in touch as we can. A good friend once told me that without communication to fill in the gaps of not seeing people, there is nothing. I agree with her 100%. So we go on, we communicate online and by phone, and we wait for the next time when we can generate such happy times and memories for all. Hopefully it won't be as long between visits this time around...

Yargh. My head is so full of stuff today. Everything is seen through a thin film of exhausted emotion. I was feeling better earlier; now, towards the end of my shift, I feel crappy again, as before. Tired, and maybe even depressed in some sense, but I'm not really sure. All I know is that I want to go home, chat with friends, listen to some music, maybe play some games for a bit, all to relax. Then I want to crash into the softness of my bed, letting my body relax, my heart calm, my mind clear, my soul wander the pathways that it will, even while all these things gently yearn for the soft warmth and caress that can only be provided by a loved one lying close to me.

That last part just didn't come out right, but I cannot express that feeling in words, so that is how it will stay for now. Perhaps better words will come to me later.

If you made it this far, I am truly amazed, and would like to know who you are. Please, sign my guestbook, as the only one whose name appears there so far is mine.

6/23/2002:
Had a really really really good weekend. Got to see a bunch of people that I don't get to see nearly enough of. It had been 3 months or more since I had seen most of them. It was a very good time all around. Got lots of hugs, got cuddled, got bitten... heh heh heh ;) All these things, plus the wonderful company, of course, make a very happy me. Hopefully happy others, as well, for the others that were involved :)

Friday night, Mark and I took Jen and Amy out to dinner, then we all watched The Mothman Prophecies. I wasn't too impressed. It was creepy enough, but wasn't that great of a movie overall. The company was very good though :)

Saturday night, a housewarming party a Wills and Zack's new place. Really nice apartment you have there, guys. Nice and roomy. I like.

I got back in about an hour ago. It is now 3 am on Sunday morning, and I am tired. I will most likely write more tomorrow.
Goodnight, all.

6/18/2002:
Apparently, the old GuestBook function of my page went down. Not sure when it stopped functioning, but all I'm getting is "Page Cannot be Displayed" when I attempt to view my guestbook. I can only assume that others have had similar problems, though no one has written to tell me about the broken link...

So if anyone is reading this and has attempted to sign my old guestbook and got a similar error message, please direct your attention to the bottom of sidebar (left), where you will (soon) see a link to my new guestbook.

If anyone is reading this and has already signed my old guestbook, could you please sign my new guestbook as well? I don't know if the old one is ever coming back...
Thank you.

6/17/2002:
Had a great weekend at Slobfest IV. Played Unreal Tournament, Quake 2, Starcraft, and even some Doom II on the LAN.

Our D&D campaign was also a great amount of fun. We had 5 7th- level players (as per the DM, we had to be Elven): Druid, Ranger, Rogue, Paladin, Sorceress. The Tree of Life in our village was dying and we had to figure out why and thwart the evil. Ultimately, we faced off against a Vampire, who smote us in the end, but it was a good fight and great fun. The Druid was the only one to escape his wrath and warn our village of the danger. They have since moved on to another location, having no one else among them powerful enough to save the Tree.

Perhaps next Slobfest we can extract revenge...although most likely we will play another, different campaign, as is the Slobfest tradition. :)

I had so much fun, in fact, that I forgot to take my Prilosec.
The current result is a ball of rolling flame that is apparently loose in my stomach somewhere. A little reminder of my afflictions. Just what I need.

Oh, also, FINALLY added something to the Scribble section.

6/11/2002:
The weekend cannot come soon enough. Busy, busy, busy at work, but what a great weekend it will be :) Hanging out with some good friends at an event we call Slobfest. This will be our 4th gathering, where we play LAN games and D&D and have a great stress-free weekend. Something we all need at times in this life.
I just need to live that long...

6/10/2002:
Unfortunately, today did suck nearly as bad as yesterday.
Again, the customers called in droves. One minute, there would be no one waiting; the next minute, we're all on calls and there's 14 people waiting in the queue. *sigh*
Tomorrow should be better...assuming nothing breaks.

At least I got some exercise tonight after work. I guess that's good. Head pain prevented me from doing as much as I would have liked, but some is better than none.

6/9/2002:
Want. To. Rip. Hair. Out.
Very stressful day at work today. Customers are good; without them, I would not have a job. Do they have to call in such large numbers though?
I only hope tomorrow does not suck nearly as bad.

6/8/2002:
Pretty good weekend. Played copious amounts of Dungeon Siege and Unreal Tournament. Hung out with my friend Pete tonight and *gasp* played video games!
Going to play some Dungeon Siege and then go to bed.
Let's hear it for the geeks. Go, geeks, go.

6/4/2002:
Still seem to be tired. Got sleep last night in an amount I thought acceptable, but my body says otherwise. Hopefully I can remedy this tired-and-half-sick feeling tonight by going to bed at my normal time (~3:30 a.m.), as opposed to the ~5 a.m. that occurred last night, due to me hanging out with my roommate and some friends.

Finally got a counter implented! (see main page)
Thank you to Blackwatch for introducing me to BraveNet, where I was able to sign up (for free) and get this FREE counter. :)

6/2/2002:
Just. Plain. Tired.

Had a good weekend. Hung out with some good friends and played lots of video games :)
Had a nice little LAN party at my place and tested out my new switch. It functioned very well and we had a good time :)
Multiplayer games played throughout the weekend were Starcraft, Diablo 2, Tiberian Sun, Renegade, TA: Kingdoms, and Warlords Battlecry II.

We were going to try out Heroes of Might and Magic IV, but, sadly, there is currently no multiplayer option.

In today's news, I have 2 hours left of work (woohoo!), then I go home and do copious amounts of laundry (currently wearing my last clean shirt and last pair of clean underwear). I know everyone wanted to know that.

5/30/2002:
Remember that switch that I ordered yesterday?
Yeah, it arrived today at 2:30 pm. That, my friends, is amazing. I picked the least expensive shipping option and got the equipment in 24 hours, on the dot. Hooked the switch up before I came to work and it's functioning beautifully.

Comready.com has since been added to my links page.

5/29/2002:
Better day at work today.
System seems to be working better overall, and we are much less busy.

I have a roommate again!
It's so nice having someone around to visit with besides my cat. Not that Lynx isn't great company, but he's not usually much for conversation. More into grooming himself loudly and attacking my feet as I walk by.

Anyway, we got most of Nikki's stuff moved in last night, and she's getting settled, so that's good.
I have missed having her around.

Being the geeks we are, both Nikki and I have multiple computers, so it is going to be networking mayhem at my place.
To make said network better, I ordered a new 8-port 10/100 Mbps DLink Switch today from Comready.com, and they shipped it already (I placed the order at 2:30 pm EST)! Now that's what I call good service. So hopefully I'll have a new toy to play with on Saturday.
WOOT! ;p

5/28/2002:
See yesterday's update.
The headaches continue.

5/27/2002:
New equipment and new software at work = new headaches.
Joyous wheee.
This has been one hell of a hellish day.
Think some Max Payne is in order tonight...

5/26/2002:
Changes continue in my life. I actually went out to the Music Hall in Springfield last night to watch a couple of live bands and see a good friend of mine.
The previous night, I went out to Kahunaville (bar/arcade) to hang out with some friends from work.
Operative words are went out. It was great to do something non-virtual. I think I may do this "going out" thing more often in the future.
Or maybe I shall grow a tail and spend my days chasing it ;p
I feel extraordinarily strange today.

5/24/2002:
The CMOS battery clip on my 3rd computer broke a couple weeks ago.
I fixed it today using a paper clip and some masking tape.
And it works.
Sometimes I scare me.

5/23/2002:
Played the Soldier of Fortune 2 Multiplayer Demo today, before work. The demo includes all of the multiplayer weapons that are going to be featured in the full version of the game. If you like FPS's, definitely check it out. The graphics, sound, and death sequences are very nice ;)
I like.

5/22/2002:
I am actually getting into a regular exercise schedule, working out twice per week, after work. Being in shape is good. It's also something that I have been very little during my life. I'm looking to change that. Think I'm on the right path towards doing so.