In the land of the blind...we seek the one-eyed man

2005-03-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, first the update.Franny and I are doing well, keeping busy with Mary Kay/school and thesis/teaching (respectively), and enjoying the early stages of pregnancy. That is, enjoying the idea that we're going to have a baby; Franny's not enjoying the nausea part. We're due on September 24, which gives me exactly 6 months, 11 days, and 3 hours to enjoy the last sleeping-in I will ever be allowed

2005-02-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

Yeowzah!!!A pinto shibby-shabby toolamara WOOO! Krakatoa tumbarelly cotton-pickin' FOO'!!...No, really. I mean it. NOW!The fact that no-one reads this blog any more, it having been virtual years since I last updated, means that I can say such things with impunity. By 'virtual years,' I mean exactly that--years which, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, are "of, relating to, or

2004-08-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Oh the horror -- the Horror! I have gazed into the Abyss, and the Abyss stared back at me ... with a natural 20 Intimidate check. The sheer, mind-numbing terror as I critically failed my Will save.... The factory life of Ben the Proletariat has reached a new low. And I say that having thought my work life was already as sad as it could get. It was pretty sad. Could anything, I ask you, be

2004-07-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

I wish to share with you a few of the websites that have claimed my few waking, non-working moments this summer. You will enjoy them. That is, you WILL enjoy them, or else. s*p - something positive : A bit of a misnomer, actually. But it'll make you feel more positive about YOUR life. Konsekai: Swordwaltzer : Somewhat of a more fantasy/manga comic. Warrior with a past must pick up his

2004-07-21T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hmm, three weeks since my last update. Looks like I'm right on schedule. I hope you realize that you gaze upon a changed man -- a better, wiser, broader man; an enlightened man. In the last few weeks I've experienced the daily grind of the Everyman. I've been up close and personal with the intricate operation of our juggernaut Capitalist economy. I've seen the wizardry, heard the roar,

2004-06-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ethan's wedding went off splendidly this last Saturday (June 26th) at Silver Lake (Pennsylvania). The whole family was there, and the weather had been ordered specially for the outdoor ceremony (sunny and warm, with a light breeze). Ethan looked dashing in his Nehru suit, Amy looked beautiful in an extremely white gown, and I didn't forget the rings (damn straight). It was a great wedding. I

2004-04-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Mountain Dew is good. Caffeine is good. Gooood Mountain Dew. Mmmmm, caffeine.... "I have not yet begun to write!" <-- infamous (that is, more than famous) anthem of English majors the world over (and if it happens to be true, what of it? I still have....36 hours). "Thank you, I'll be here all night!" <-- the sad truth (but even sadder: I don't get free drinks). "Sadder"??? WTH? It can't

2004-04-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

"In this paper I argue that since nationalist anti-colonial sentiment led to the failure of the socialist dream in Africa, Ayi Kwei Armah uses anti-nationalist sentiment in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born to point out the even worse situation in which Ghana finds itself; more specifically, I argue that Armah’s anti-nationalist attitude is supported by the historical, critical, and cultural

2004-04-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

My plans for next semester have undergone a slight change. I was planning on taking my final 9 hours of classes in the Fall so that I'd only have my thesis hours in the Spring, but due to my election as president of GSE (Graduate Student organization ["organization" with an "E"?]) and the fact that next semester offers the slimmest class pickings evAr (gaming slang for "ever"), I'll probably

2004-04-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Crunch time. 2.5 weeks until the end of the semester. Two critical papers, a take-home exam, and a conference paper to go. Bring it.

2004-04-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Check out 8-Bit Theater. It's the classic tale of Warriors of Light (and questionable morality) who challenge the Darkness and all of its Foul Minions, and who manage to survive (so far) through no fault of their own. If you've ever had an RPG experience, you WILL be staring back at yourself from the Abyss. If you have a day or two available, and don't mind your eyeballs swelling to the size

2004-03-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Franny! Well, belated birthday that is. Due to her participation at the Mary Kay Career Conference in Tulsa last weekend (the ladies in her unit had a little celebration on Friday for her), we had her party today. It went well....or as well as a cookout in a park can go when the bottom falls out of the sky. Though it may have been more fun as a result of the rain.... The

2004-03-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hmm. Another too-long hiatus from this technological marvel that is Blogspot, through which I reinforce the barriers separating humans from humanity and encourage the decline of true and meaningful communication. If I could get this silly code to work, we could have some give and take, some real interaction, and hence communication. As it is, we are blind in a land of the blind.... One

2004-02-05T05:27:00.000-08:00

It sucks to be sick. Franny has been battling what might be the early stages of pneumonia, and I woke up this morning feeling like a wreck. Poor girl; I'm a miserable patient at the best of times. I imagine that we look pretty funny trying to take care of each other, but we manage at least somewhat successfully to do so. Franny's such an angel. I blame our adjusted sleeping schedule for our

2004-01-22T04:49:00.000-08:00

I've been fiddling with the code that allows viewers to leave comments on the posts, but it's been doing screwy things like slowing down the loading time and turning my page into geek code. Or so it seemed to me at the time; being a geek, I thought I recognized it. Or it could have been a strange A Beautiful Mind thing where random letters and symbols start floating off the computer screen in a

2004-01-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

I come before you now a shattered man. Shattered, I say, and in a not-so-metaphorical sense. You may be aware of my attempt to change myself from a Night Owl (tm) into a Morning Person (tm). Beyond the ability of your average student, perhaps, but I happen to be more than average. I am More-Than-Average, a man of steely-eyed determination and mastery. Mastery, you see, with which I master...

2004-01-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

Ahhh. The cool, slightly damp breeze which caresses one's face. The quiet chirping of crickets. The gentle illumination of the big-bellied moon from a clear sky. Who wouldn't want to wake up and begin the day at 4am? ..... Or, if you're a realist like me: The sub-arctic wind of a January morning that penetrates my coat like a hail of needles. The resentful roar of inadequately-warmed

2004-01-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, has it really been almost two months since I last posted? That's entirely my bad.... Granted it's been a busy two months. I finished up my first semester of grad school, for which I thank God. Franny and I were also able to spend Christmas and New Year with my parents in Pennsylvania. That was a lot of fun, even the part where we built an outdoor shed in 25-degree weather. I have an

2003-11-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

Pilgrim's Progress by David Barber ..... The fin is the finest thing of its kind. The wing's a wonder the world over. The tongue is a form of eternal flame. The stone's a story that never grows old. O fin, it's certain you want for nothing. Yo wing, you're everything we've ever dreamed. You said it, tongue: of arms and men you sing. Here's looking at you, stone: a star is born. Who

2003-11-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

I'm so fond of the days after a major presentation. I just made 35% of my SciFi & Utopia grade last Thursday. It's taken me a week to get back to the point where I want to do anything school-related....which doesn't help my Comp I students who are waiting for me to return their 3rd paper. Or my critical essay for said class. Or the one for Shakespeare. But that's okay--I'm back now. :) I'm

2003-10-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

We're moving to Fayetteville. Driving 100 miles every day suddenly got old....besides which, gas is expensive. I remember saying to myself at one point, "I'll never live in Fayetteville. It's too much of a college town." [Ah, youth. Where did it go?] Now I'm thinking to myself, "Oooh, Fayetteville! Maybe people there work at places other than WalMart." Please note that I use "WalMart"

2003-10-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

How exciting! Anduril will be in stock on October 23! *salivate* Check THIS out!

2003-10-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Where have I been, you ask? Floating in a langorous manner on the surface of Odin's well, fingers dangling over the bottomless black pool of knowledge; in spite of a steady diet of Ramen noodles and after-dinner mints, I've never felt more myself. (Yes, I'm aware that I used a fragment -- it's for emphasis.) Here's a short story written by a grad student in the MFA program at the U. of A. and

2003-09-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on me. One update every 10 days is almost insultingly slow. If there's one thing I've learned in my Science Fiction & Utopia class, it's that we live in a land of fierce competition and great demand; we must produce if we wish to reach the top of this grasping pile of humanity. Work, work, work! So with that strong adjuration in mind, I bash head to keyboard in time with

2003-09-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last updated, but I'm here to assure you that life is proceeding apace (what a fun word..."apace"). Reading's never been difficult for me, so it's been interesting to find that I'm actually having to work at it. In fact, one might say that my "work" is mostly reading. Fortunately, I enjoy it. I'm learning a lot, even in my Composition Pedagogy class. It's basically

2003-08-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

The first week of classes is over, and it's been a little more exhausting than I expected. Must be that daily commute. I'm enjoying my Shakespeare class, and even though it will involve a lot of reading I'm also enjoying my Science Fiction and Utopia class. Yesterday we looked at Star Trek as a modern view of utopia and the most important TV series ever created. We'll talk about that more

2003-08-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

God in the Console : Looking for Religion in Video Games - by Tom Loftus Aug. 20 — Before “god mode” or “god games” there were “God games” — low budget, PC floppy disks that married evangelical Christian thought and scripture with simple game play. The boundaries between the holy and the secular were simpler then. You had your “Heaven Quest” on the one hand, your arcade shoot-em-up on the

2003-08-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

So the TA Orientation is a little more comprehensive and useful than I initially expected.... This is a far cry from the vast majority of pre-school teacher meetings I've attended previously. I love higher education.

2003-08-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends are gearing up to go back to school: teacher in-service meetings, preparing classrooms, department meetings, Back to School Night.... I almost envy them. They seem, if not exactly eager, at least partially motivated, and I see them girding themselves up, polishing the tarnish off of minds dulled by the summer sun. There's a certain gleam in their eyes, a certainty born of

2003-08-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting review of America's history with Liberia....Our Liberian Legacy.

2003-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Long-Term Healing Potion Use May Cause Liver Damage for Adventurers By Nikolaj Borg For years, adventurers and other people working in hazardous occupations have relied on so-called healing potions to perform their jobs. Those days could very well be over, as experts are becoming wary of negative long-term effects of the popular potions. Laboratory testing on humanoid creatures indicate

2003-08-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

So I was surfing the 'net. (I've never liked that expression. Since when has surfing been "cool"? Why do I want to be cool through association with this practice? Surfing is cold, wet, miserable, and nearly impossible to master. The only person who looks "cool" doing it must have dedicated his entire life to it, and is now intellectually stupid for his effort. The rest of us just look

2003-08-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

Theoretically, I should have no problem with it. I am, after all, a relatively well-educated individual, quite fluent in my native language, and even considered by the state of Arkansas and thereby the United States to be capable of teaching the process to our nation's youth, the business and political leaders of Tomorrow. So what is my hang-up? When I pick up the telephone and dial 1-800-

2003-07-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Cursed code...

2003-07-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

My page has had problems loading, and when it does load it usually has errors. :( I think it has to do with the "Comment" javascript, so that's on hiatus for the time being until I can learn what's wrong and how to fix it. In the meantime, I've been busy happily printing index cards with item descriptions and monster stats for my D&D campaign. I think it'll streamline things a lot,

2003-07-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to pick up a book of poetry for pure pleasure, give Rumi a try. This thirteenth-century Persian's poetry truly is "a paradise of the senses." Dissolver of Sugar: by Jalaladin Rumi - translated by Coleman Barks Dissolver of sugar, dissolve me, if this is the time. Do it gently with a touch of hand, or a look. Every morning I wait at dawn. That's when it's happened before. Or

2003-07-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Bentonville's Memorial Park undergoes a transformation at 10pm. The placid, child-friendly surroundings, mundane in the light of day, retreat into the darkness, blurring crisp edges and unnatural rigidity into true shapes. Shadows haunt the crowded sandbox, swarming over the brutally straight planks of the jungle gym. What were once leaves flicker obscurely, whispering secrets beyond mortal

2003-07-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting interview I ran across a while ago. When Ms. Rothenberg noted that Harold Bloom didn't seem to "belong to any particular school of literary criticism," he replied: "To a rather considerable extent, literary studies have been replaced by that incredible absurdity called cultural studies which, as far as I can tell, are neither cultural nor are they studies. But there has

2003-07-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Going back to school is so much fun! >:} I just got the reading list and syllabus for one of my classes, Science Fiction & Utopia. *salivates* Off to Amazon.com!

2003-07-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

Wow. I'm exhausted. I started out energetically when I woke up early this morning and headed to Jeff's house. We were going golfing: tee time at 7:28am. There were originally four of us, but the other two guys couldn't make it. They probably heard when our tee time was. Not a problem, since the golf-man at the golf course put us in a group with two other guys -- together, see, we made a

2003-07-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Poetry of Heartbreak: by Peter Davidson When Robert Lowell's Lord Weary's Castle appeared, in 1946, it was as welcome as a bumper crop. The sheer gorgeousness and encrusted bookishness of this poetry startled readers used to the plain talk of Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. The book—the first of his to find a general publisher—won Lowell a Pulitzer Prize at twenty-nine. From there

2003-07-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Incidentally, for those of you interested, the guys in my community group and I are studying Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life," and it is the best book I've read in years. Talk about a life-changing, revolutionizing book. Well okay, I don't mind if I do. It's as though I've been going through life in the pitch-darkness of a storm cellar, and I've suddenly seen a candle-flame off in the

2003-07-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Right. So you want to know what I'm doing with my time. Mostly I'm either on the Wizards.com boards posting random thoughts about D&D and the 3.5 version that just came out, or I'm spending my day in Barnes & Noble. The Barnes & Noble employees now know me by my first name. Frightening? Perhaps. Don't you love summer? It's one of the perks of teaching, and I'm enjoying this summer because

2003-07-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

So I was told this would be a good idea...but as in everything, that remains to be seen. Prepare to be stupefied by my pointed observations on life, liberty, and the pursuit of "I'm an American, I deserve that"-edness! Cower before my awesome might! Okay, let's see if this works...