The Tease of Things I Don't Need

They got a message from the (in)Action Man

Mostly mundane things today, despite my having taken most of the day off. Banking, food shopping, cooking, that sort of thing. Damn. I just remembered I had some envelopes I need to have on their way early, so there'll be one more trip out late tonight to get them into a box by a post office where they'll be pulled and sent on their way Saturday morning.

Aside from that, I've theoretically cleared tonight and much of my weekend of much of the drudgery. Closer to the mark, though, is that I've lost the knack of enjoying myself for more than a few, self-unconscious moments aside from narcotic writing such as this. Boo fucking hoo. At this rate I may decide to get a life while on my deathbed. If I could pull my 18 year-old self into the present I don't know if he'd laugh, assured that this is surely a joke, or be seething with anger and disgust. This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends: Not with a bang, but a whimper. (Punctuation mine.) Yeah, T.S. Eliot may have been speaking broadly there, but we are microcosms.

Back to the trivial here and now, the trades from down South arrived today (thanks T & D!), so my experienced Jolt , Ben Grimm Super Rare and Defenders-allied Sub-Mariner have all joined my collection. Well, not yet, as they're still sitting atop a stack of CDs and magazines to my left, but they'll be put away shortly. Looking ahead to next weekend's marquee events (buy three boosters, make up a 300 pt or less team in about 5 minutes, and play that team in three rounds) for the Fantastic Forces set, I signed up for some of the weekend events. I thusfar haven't gone into any of these events intent on winning -- that too often involves a different style of play than what I consider to be fun -- but we'll see what happens. My main intent is to get a little more playtime/gaming experience and between random pulls and trading see if I can put this set to bed. It's hardly essential that I have a complete set, but with just four pieces remaining there's... a pull in that direction.

As an aside on the gaming front, Wizkids is initiating a random, secondary rewards program announced back on June 17th. Starting the weekend of the marquees (July 22nd) and going through October 13th, anyone who wins first place or Fellowship will become part of a random drawing that will award a each Galactus to 15 lucky winners each week. The amusing thing about that is that on the one hand it raises the stakes for the cutthroat players who come in intent on winning, so the mood could get ugly in that respect, but simulataneously more will be likely trying to be the best-natured good sports they can in hopes of winning Fellowship.

Wizkids have been putting on a big push as we head through the summer into the fall. Icons, the new DC base set, will almost certainly be hitting the stores Sept. 7th or 8th (Labor Day's the 4th, and those Monday holidays screw up the on-sale dates for everything channelled through comics shops), while the next Marvel set - Armor Wars - is set for sometime in November. Economically they're pushing the players' buttons with things being packed in this closely, and I suspect many will continue to go tread lightly with these sets as many have done with Fantastic Forces. The emphasis this fall will be on getting people to come out to venues (stores that not only sell Heroclix, but hold gaming events there) to buy & play. They're going to be trying to accomplish this via some incentives, ranging from October's launch of New Guy Night to the Clixbrick program that'll kick off with November's Armor Wars release. One-stop details for these and other moves can be found here.

Enough of the plastic crack for this entry.

On Thursday I had lunch with Crypt Leak and Abbygal, and pre-lunch we took a quick spin through a thrift store. Abby caught me checking out some china cabinets and asked me if I was looking for one, as they're trying to get rid of one that's taking up too much space in a room not really meant for a china cabinet. By Friday C.L.'d given me the measurements for each of the two sections, along with a pic of the piece, and as far as I'm concerned it's a go. I have to check some measurements in the van, but with the back seats flattened it should work well. Worst case I'll have to make two trips. We have at least two likely spots for it here, and I've been leisurely looking for what's essentially a display case (my intent) for the past two or three years. Anything I've looked at that'd be worth having was more than I was prepared to pay, so I've gone without as it couldn't even remotely be considered a necessity. I'm looking forward to getting it in and set up, and already have some good ideas what I'm going to be doing with it. I'll wait to do it first before blathering about it, though, as that'll be more fun for me.

Abby, being both gregarious and a practiced hostess, was already going on about vegetable kabobs (though how " a little prosciutto" worked its way into the ingredients she rattled off I'm not sure...) she was looking forward to making up for my visit. Sounds good to me. I think that some reactions I had to the board of fare at Saladworks and pehaps the mat of alfalfa sprouts that found their way into a roast beef sandwich I had at an Atlanta Bread Factory (it was like finding strands of floss in there) have given her the impression that I'm foreign to vegetables as all but the most pedestrian of side dishes. I routinely make up salads here with mixed greens, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers (raw and/or marinated), scallions, etc. - we usually have a large salad made up and waiting in the refrigerator most days of the week - and have on occasion had those as meals. Usually if it's going to be the meal, though, I put some roasted sunflower kernels and/or some shredded colby on it, too.

Now I'm getting hungry again.

For some reason Showtime has stuck with us through the week into Friday night (the free preview was just supposed to be this past weekend) and even the On Demand features are working for it again, so we picked up where we left off last weekend and have now seen the complete 24 episode run (complete as it exists at the moment) of Dead Like Me, which Showtime reportedly hasn't had the sense to renew for a third season. After that we watched a couple episodes of Penn & Teller's Bullshit!, but then I had to take a break. If the extended preview lasts through the weekend I'll likely catch more, if it doesn't I won't.

223 tracks in my current jukebox pull and I've just looped "Ashes To Ashes" four* times in a row. Hence the header. Vintage Bowie just sounds particularly good through the earbuds tonight.

Trav has a couple friends over, so they and Nick are all hooked into gaming systems in their bedroom. That'll likely go close to if not completely through dawn. Good for them.

Now's time for me to shift to something else for a while. No specific plans for Saturday, so no reason to get to sleep at any particular time nor to rise, etc. etc. With a little luck I'll get into some fun groove doing something and pass into Saturday pleasantly.

Enjoy the weekend, wherever you are.

(* Okay. Six. "I've loved all I've needed love. Sordid details following.")