Month / March 2007

by carlos

Little Larp Humor

VENTRUE: Okay, guys, sit down. I suppose you're wondering why I've  called you all here.

TOREADOR: I should think so. I have an engagement in two hours that I  simply MUST attend, and I don't want to be late.

VENTRUE: Yeah, yeah. Order. <banging noise> Well, I don't know about  you guys, but my Progeny have been asking some rather ...  embarassing questions, and I--

MALKAV: Just tell them that when a Mummy and a Daddy love each other
very much--

VENTRUE: Shut up, Malkav. Anyway, they want to know where we come from, why, how, the whole bit. I think it's time we had an answer for them.

<silence>

BRUJAH: Well, what are you asking us for? WE don't fucking know.

SAULOT: LANGUAGE!

BRUJAH: Sorry.

VENTRUE: What about you, Ralph? You seem to have your nose in every- thing.

NOSFERATU: No, I am ... no longer called "Ralph." From this day forward,  you shall call me: "Nosferatu."

<silence>

RAVNOS: I dunno, man. Ralph suits you.

NOSFERATU: No! I REFUSE to be stuck with that name.

VENTRUE: Leave him alone Ravnos.

TOREADOR: Actually, while we're on the subject ...

VENTRUE: What is it now?

TOREADOR: I have taken the pseudonym "Toreador."

<more silence>

HASSAM: You've never even SEEN a bull, let alone fight one, Norman.

TOREADOR: LEAVE ME ALONE !!!

RAVNOS: I was gonna say something about "full of ..." Oh, never mind.

VENTRUE: SHALL we get back to business?

LASOMBRA: I think "Nosferatu" sounds cool actually, Ralph.

NOSFERATU: And it's a lot easier to say when you can't retract your fangs.

VENTRUE: GENTLEMEN!

<silence>

VENTRUE: Okay, any ideas?

TZIMISCE: Uh ...

VENTRUE: Yes, Tzimisce?

TZIMISCE: Yas. Do you think it vaz a disease, perrrhaps?

SAULOT: Nnnnnnno ... I don't think so. I'd know about it by now if it was.

MALKAV: Ooo! Ooo! I've got an idea!

VENTRUE: <groan> What?

MALKAV: Ooo! Ooo! We're ALL ... aliens! Yeah! From the planet ... Yuggoth!

BRUJAH: Malkav?

MALKAV: Yeah?

BRUJAH: Drop dead.

<silence>

MALKAV: Ain't it just TOO BAD you don't have Dominate?

BRUJAH: REAL men don't NEED Dominate!

<thud>

MALKAV: Owww!

RAVNOS: Okay, I've got it.

VENTRUE: Yes?

RAVNOS: They're not REALLY vampires, they just THINK they are.

VENTRUE: Hmmm ... not bad ... but then the dumb ones will try to prove you wrong by taking a sunbake.

LASOMBRA: SO? Weeds out the stupid ones, less of a population problem, less nosey Progeny asking silly questions.

TOREADOR: Lasombra, you are perverted.

LASOMBRA: Hey, am I my brother's keeper?

TZIMISCE: He has a valid point, frrriend.

TOREADOR: Sickening creatures.

<sniggering>

SAULOT: Brother's keeper ... hey! That reminds me! You know those guys who wear the funny tea towels on their heads--

HASSAM: WATCH it, three-eyes.

SAULOT: Sorry. Anyway, they have this old story about this one guy who kills his brother and gets cursed, see ...

SUTEKH: Cursssed, you sssay? Hmmm ... I like it!

NOSFERATU: Yeah, but if YOU say it, no-one will believe it.

TREMERE: I know! We did it by magick!

<silence>

BRUJAH: Who the hell are you?

TREMERE: Oh. Tremere, Arrogant Scheming Mage at your service!

SAULOT: Hang on, you're not supposed to be here until A.D. 1314!

TREMERE: So? I'm an Oracle of Time. I'll be when I want.

VENTRUE: A mortal, eh? Hey, Tremere!

TREMERE: Yeah?

VENTRUE: GET OUT.

TREMERE: Sure. <slam> <muffled> Damn. Must learn how to do that.

VENTRUE: Now, we might be onto something with this "curse" business. We haven't heard from Gangrel yet, and we need a female opinion at this juncture. What do you think, Gangrel?

<silence>

VENTRUE: Gangrel?

<more silence>

VENTRUE: Anybody seen Gangrel?

RAVNOS: Errr, actually, we've had a bit of a disagreement ...

MALKAV: Awww, doesn't Mummy wuv you any more?

RAVNOS: Suck off.

MALKAV: DOES she do it doggy-style?

<biff>

RAVNOS: Thank you, Brujah.

BRUJAH: No prob, bro.

VENTRUE: Okay, so what gives with this curse thing?

SAULOT: Well, they say that the first two sons of the first man had to give offerings to God. The first brother gave plants and stuff, and the second brother gave animal blood.

ALL: Yeah! Alright! Sounds great! Cool!

SAULOT: So the older one -- Cain, I think -- killed Abel, the younger one, and was cursed by God for the very first murder.

HASSAM: Innovative man, this Cain.

SUTEKH: Ssso, we're dessscended from a psssychopathic greengrocccer. How about we're dessscended from the MURDERED one, ssso that we are the CHOSSSEN of God, the INHERITORSSS of DIVINE POWER, the--

MALKAV: You REALLY have a God complex, don't you Sutekh? Tell me about your mother. Did she lock you in a cupboard? Or--

<biff>

BRUJAH: Final warning, kook.

VENTRUE: Sutekh, please, stop standing on your chair.

TREMERE: I like the "cursed by God" thing, actually.

VENTRUE: How did YOU get in here?

TREMERE: Correspondence. Don't you know ANYTHING? Hey, Saulot!

SAULOT: Yeah?

TREMERE: I JUST worked out where I've seen you before. Could I have a word with you outside? It won't take more than five minutes.  Promise.

SAULOT: Sure. You seem like a decent enough fellow.

<slam>

LASOMBRA: Wonder what he wants ... anyway ...

TOREADOR: I think I prefer the older brother. He's a charming, regal  figure who diligently sacrifices for his Lord, but is consumed by jealousy into a desperate act -- which he regrets later, of course -- but TOO LATE to avoid the harsh judgment of an UNCARING God, and is DOOMED to wander the earth, OUTCAST from his fellow man! Oh, the horror! Oh, the HUMANITY! Oh, the ANGST!

BRUJAH: What's an "angst"?

SUTEKH: Oh, it'sss a kind of a crossss, but with a loopy bit on top. My guysss love 'em.

BRUJAH: Oh. <pause> I don't get it ...

TOREADOR: Philistines.

<scream from outside>

TZIMISCE: Vat the hell vas that?

NOSFERATU: Sounded like Saulot. HEY! YOU GUYS SHUT UP OUT THERE!

<door opens>

TREMERE: Oh, sorry, uhhh ... Saulot says to say that, uhhh, he ... had to leave -- real quick, like ... uhhh, but he was REAL happy about it, and, uhhh, he was glad he caught up with you guys again.

NOSFERATU: Is it me, or does he look kinda pale?

VENTRUE: Who cares? Getting back to this curse thing ...

LASOMBRA: So, are we his direct Progeny, then? 'Cos if so, how come we don't know where he is now?

MALKAV: Errr, he made us, then ran away. Really fast.

RAVNOS: No, no, no, he made some OTHER guys first, and then THEY made US ...

TOREADOR: And he repented of The Horror He Had Unleashed Upon The Earth! And banished himself from the sight of ALL!

MALKAV: AND ran away really fast.

TOREADOR: If you must.

VENTRUE: But how come we're all so different?

TOREADOR: The Curse works in Mysterious Ways ...

NOSFERATU: Yeah! I used to be the most handsome man in the world ...

RAVNOS: Yeah, right.

LASOMBRA: And I had a reflection!

BRUJAH: Can I have been a philosopher?

RAVNOS: And Toreador used to have taste ...

MALKAV: And I used to be insane!

<silence>

VENTRUE: I think we might be pushing our luck here.

SUTEKH: Any BETTER ideasss?

VENTRUE: Well, let's put it to a vote, then. Magick?

TREMERE: Aye.

VENTRUE: That's one.

<silence>

VENTRUE: Okay, aliens from the planet Yuggoth?

MALKAV: Twenty-three.

VENTRUE: Your multiple personalities don't count, Malkav.

MALKAV: Awww ...

VENTRUE: The chosen son of God? ... Sutekh, Lasombra, Tzimisce. Any others?

HASSAM: Aye.

VENTRUE: Okay, that's four. Cursed children of a psychopathic green- grocer? ... That's four, plus myself, five.

<groans>

LASOMBRA: Swinging the vote, you black-balling bureaucrat!

VENTRUE: If you don't like it, go and form your OWN group.

LASOMBRA: Maybe I will.

VENTRUE: Okay, then, I charge all of you to disperse this data to your Progeny, and I'll have MY people send out memos in triplicate to YOUR people before the start of the next fiscal year. Meeting adjourned! <banging noise, general muttering and
shuffling> Drinks anyone?

MALKAV: I think Tremere just ate. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhh ...

TZIMISCE: Vy did you throw him out ze window, Bruhah?

BRUJAH: I dunno, man, just something I had to do ... <sulking> none of you understand me, anyway ...

HASSAM: <whispered> Hey, Tremere!

TREMERE: What?

HASSAM: Saulot -- you did him in, didn't you? You snuffed him. Sucked him dry.

TREMERE: Uhhh ... yeah, I did.

<silence>

HASSAM: What's it like?

--- FIN ---

by carlos

An end-of-the-week reflection

Caledonia
Celtic Woman

I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away
I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I've come from
That's the reason why I seem
So far away today

[Chorus:]
Let me tell you that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home
But if I should become a stranger
Know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found others on the way
I have kissed the fellas and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying
I have traveled hard, sometimes with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

[Chorus]

Now I'm sitting here before the fire
The empty room, the forest choir
The flames have cooled, don't get any higher
They've withered, now they've gone
But I'm steady thinking, my way is clear
And I know what I will do tomorrow
When hands have shaken, the kisses float
Then I will disappear

[Chorus]

Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

It's one thing to be tired but it's something completely different to be impotent over what your body decides to do with you 🙂

Ironic as it may sound I had a hell of a time with Friday off.  I'm not used to not working and not having stuff to do so I dickered along at home for most of the day playing Dawn of War: Dark Crusade and getting to know my LARP character better

It doesn't help that I'm frustrated as hell both with people and with my job.

by carlos

How I feel today

Far Cry
Rush (Slings and Arrows)

Pariah dogs and wandering madmen
Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues
The ebb and flow of tidal fortune
Electrical changes are charging up the dawn

It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing

One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it is falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it is rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on

Whirlwind life of faith and betrayal
Rise in anger, fall back, and repeat
Slow degrees on the dark horizon
Full moon rising lays ever at your feet

It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
It's a far cry from the way we thought we'd share it
You can almost feel the current flowing
You can almost see the circuits blowing

One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it is falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it is rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on

It's a far cry from the world we thought we'd inherit
You can almost see the circle growing
You can almost feel the planets glowing

One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it is falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel,
And the next it is rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on

One day I fly through a crack in the sky
And the next it is falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
I can get back on
I can get back home...

by carlos

What makes a relationship special?

I'm yours
Jason Mraz

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
and now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
Nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment maybe sing with me
A lá peaceful melody
It's your God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love loved

So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
My breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and laughed
I guess what I'm saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
No need to complicate
Our time is short
It can not wait, I'm yours

Well no no, well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
A lá one big family (2nd time: A lá happy family)
It's your God-forsaken right to be loved love love love

I won't hesitate no more
Oh no more no more no more
It's your God-forsaken right to be loved, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

No I won't hesitate no more, no more
This cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, The sky is yours...

by carlos

Food for thought

Found this while browsing through Central's Football Team website.

It is the things in life that aren't easy that will provide the most satisfaction when they are completed.

To always give my best in everything I do, remembering that who you are and what you represent goes with you everywhere.

"The thing I've learned over and over here at Central is that you do things the right way. You don't cut corners or try and do things the easy way. You look the obstacle dead in the eyes and handle it like a man. If you don't do it that way, you're cheating yourself, on the field and in your daily life."

The funniest thing is that I keep coming to this quote from Grey's

[the cast, narrating]
MEREDITH: "Human beings need a lot of things to feel alive."
GEORGE: "Family"
CRISTINA: "Love"
IZZIE: "Sex"
DEREK: "But we only need one thing"
RICHARD: "To actually be alive."
CRISTINA: "We need a beating heart."
ADDISON: "When our heart is threatened"
ALEX: "We respond in one of two ways."
GEORGE: "We either run or-"
IZZIE: "We attack."
RICHARD: "There's a scientific term for this."
ALEX: "Fight..."
ADDISON: "...or flight."
MIRANDA: "It's instinct."
MEREDITH: "We can't control it."
IZZIE: "Or can we?"

by carlos

The difference between a friend and a former love

I've always found it extremely hard to stay close to the people I break up with in the short term at least. But ironically, those people turn up among my best and closest friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been told I'm a sucker for punishment but there was always something that attracted me to that people to begin with, wasn't there?

The video on this post is one of my favorite songs by Wilson Phillips, both lirically and harmonically. I just love the three voices doing harmony and the lyrics have touched me ever since I first heard the song a while ago.

The vide above is one way to look at relationships, the lyrics below are another

Nick of time
Bonnie Raitt (Nick of Time)

A friend of mine she cries at night, and she
Calls me on the phone
Sees babies everywhere she goes and she
Wants one of her own.
She's waited long enough she says
And still she can't decide
Pretty soon she'll have to choose and it tears her up inside...
She's scared...scared she'll run out of time.

I see my folks, they're getting old, I watch their bodies change...
I know they see the same in me, and it makes us both feel strange...
No matter how you tell yourself, its what we all go through...
Those eyes are pretty hard to take when they're staring back at you.
Scared you'll run out of time.

When did the choices get so hard?
With so much more at stake.
Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.
Hummmm...scared she'll run out of time.

Just when I thought I'd had enough
All my tears were shed...
No promise left unbroken,
There were no painful words unsaid.
You came along and showed me
How to leave it all behind....
You opened up my heart again and then much to my surprise.

I found love, love in the nick of time. 3x

by carlos

More Random Music

The scene above is what clued me into Unkle Bob and one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen in Grey's Anatomy it also gives a context to the random ramblings to follow.

After a while there are little signs that tell you you're depressed. I experienced 2 of them this week, so far. An unbelievable anger, unfocused and totally irrational but always there nonetheless. Perhaps mom is right that I should go to a pshrink and figure out what the problem is.

by carlos

About Time

Yahoo! News

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority

By PETE YOST and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers 13 minutes ago

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Amid calls from lawmakers in both parties to resign, Gonzales got a morale boost with an early-morning call from President Bush, their first conversation since a week ago, when the president said he was unhappy with how the Justice Department handled the firings.

With a 94-2 vote, the Senate passed a bill that canceled a Justice Department-authored provision in the Patriot Act that had allowed the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation. Democrats say the Bush administration abused that authority when it fired the eight prosecutors and proposed replacing some with White House loyalists.

"If you politicize the prosecutors, you politicize everybody in the whole chain of law enforcement," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The bill, which has yet to be considered in the House, would set a 120-day deadline for the administration to appoint an interim prosecutor. If the interim appointment is not confirmed by the Senate in that time, a permanent replacement would be named by a federal district judge.

The vote came as Gonzales and the White House braced for more fallout from the firings. The White House also denied reports that it was looking for possible successors for Gonzales. "Those rumors are untrue," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

Bush called Gonzales from the Oval Office at 7:15 a.m. EDT and they spoke for several minutes about the political uproar over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, an issue that has thrust the attorney general into controversy and raised questions about whether he can survive. The White House disclosed Bush's call to bolster Gonzales and attempt to rally Republicans to support him.

Meeting later with reporters, White House press secretary Tony Snow characterized Bush's call to the attorney general as "a very strong vote of confidence."

Snow said Bush believes the firings were justified.

"Let me put it this way: Nobody was removed for reasons of partisan recrimination; nor was anybody removed for the purposes of trying to influence the course of ongoing investigations," Snow said.

He called reports that Bush was seeking a replacement for Gonzales "just flat false, period."

Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay had said earlier Tuesday that the scandal "is just a taste of what's going to be like for the next two years."

"And the Bush administration sort of showed their weakness when they got rid of Don Rumsfeld," the Texan said on NBC's "Today" show. "... This is a made up scandal. There is no evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever. ... They ought to be fighting back."

Bush's call came as congressional investigators sifted through 3,000-pages of e-mails and other material concerning the dismissal of the prosecutors. Some of the documents spelled out fears in the Bush administration that the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys might not stand up to scrutiny.

The documents were not the end of the inquiry. House and Senate panels later in the week expected to approve subpoenas to White House aides Karl Rove, former counsel Harriet Miers and others. Miers' successor, Fred Fielding, was to tell the Judiciary Committees later Tuesday whether and under what conditions Bush would allow the officials to testify.

But the documents told more of the story of the run-up to the firings and the administration's attempt to choreograph them to reduce the bloodletting. It didn't work out that way -- the prosecutors were shocked and angered by the dismissals, the lack of explanation from the Justice Department and news reports that the administration fired the eight for performance reasons.

The documents that Congress will focus on in the coming days show that Gonzales was unhappy with how Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty explained the firings to the Senate Judiciary Committee in early February.

"The Attorney General is extremely upset with the stories on the US Attys this morning," Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse, who was traveling with Gonzales in South America at the time, wrote in a Feb. 7 e-mail. "He also thought some of the DAG's statements were inaccurate."

In a statement Monday night, Roehrkasse said he was referring to Gonzales' concerns over the firing of Bud Cummins in Little Rock, who he believed was dismissed because of performance issues. At the hearing, McNulty indicated Cummins was being replaced by a political ally.

Neither of the two most senior Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are stepping forward to endorse Gonzales, but likewise are not calling for his ouster. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said he will reserve judgment until he gets all the facts. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has not given interviews on the subject, his spokesman said.

Speculation has abounded over who might succeed Gonzales if he doesn't survive the current political tumult. Possible candidates include White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former Solicitor General Ted Olson, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein, federal appeals judge Laurence Silberman and PepsiCo attorney Larry Thompson, who was the government's highest ranking black law enforcement official when he was deputy attorney general during Bush's first term.

___

On the Net:

House Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.house.gov