Camping, random places on the net

First, I'll just leave these here, shall I? Thing 1 and Thing 2. I should also point out that there's a lot of funny stuff if you hit the main page for Thing 2.

So. I ventured out into the wild and survived the Fathers and Sons camp out over the weekend. G was pleased. The camp site was actually pretty nice - we were in a group spot that had well manicured grass and some tables and a fire pit and so on. There was a nice little pavilion with restrooms and a man made reservoir sort of thing that you could theoretically swim or fish in. I got roped into telling a bear story for the evening get together. It was very last minute. The tent we were in was nice, it even had a little "porch" area that was screened in. Very cool. The air mattress we brought along could have used a little more air in it and I would have liked to have gotten some (any) sleep that night, but overall it was not the worst experience ever.

We picked up Hive for our anniversary. Well, lovely wife ended up giving it to me, but whatever. After a rather argumentative first game we've managed to get things sorted out a bit. It's actually pretty fun and is one of those games you can take anywhere. In fact we played it at JCWs the other night. It's a two player game in which you each have a set of pieces that represent various bugs. The bee piece is your important piece and the object is to surround your opponent's bee with pieces of your color. There are 4 different bugs (not counting the bee or the expansion pieces) that you can use in various ways to accomplish this (you have several of each type). The pieces are hexagonal, so you'll eventually need 6 of them to win the game. You take turns placing pieces or moving the existing ones around, so the "board" is built over the course of the game. It's a decent little strategy game. McK is actually pretty good at it and has managed some wins over lovely wife.

I finished off Evangelion. I suspect most people (and possibly myself in the future) can simply watch the first 24 episodes and call it good. 25 and 26 offer a navel-gaze-y alternate take to the ending. Or expansion of the ending. Death and Rebirth is mostly pointless if you have access to the TV series and End of Evangelion. End of Evangelion does offer some relatively interesting plotting that happens where the TV series left off, but then also goes all navel gaze-y. I understand why those parts do have some meaning, especially in context of the show as a whole, but I prefer the straight story telling. So yeah, fun subversion of the giant robot genre, but not really for everyone. Especially the end bits. I like it. And the revamp the new movies are doing.

Vacation looms in my future. Dad should be out soon and that will be fun. I think I may try taking him to the driving range and hitting a bucket of balls. It will be nice to have a bit of a break. I could use one.

More thoughts on giant robots and grave robbing and evil plans

I have indeed started watching the TV series version of Evangelion again. I'm not certain I can pinpoint why this series is fascinating me at the moment, but it is. I suppose it might be the way it subverts the traditional giant robot genre (ok, not really) or it might be the philosophical  treatise it weaves on why we need each other (definitely not) it's probably just the dance dance giant robot sequence in one of the upcoming episodes...

I have finished Rotters by Daniel Kraus. Yes, it's a book about grave robbing. And yes it can be pretty disgusting at times, but boy is it awesome. Little sis needs to hit the local library and check this one out. Joey Crouch loses his Mom at the beginning of the book and, per her wishes, is sent to live with the Dad he barely knows exists. Once in the tiny town he calls home he discovers that the townsfolk are none too impressed with his Father and that overshadows a lot of his life at school. The beginning of the book sets up the pieces - Joey, his Dad, his Dad's profession, the kids at school, the teachers, etc. and then the rest of the book is a serious roller coaster of events that you just can't quite believe. Just when you think the story has topped out at the craziest thing that can happen something else comes along and demolishes it. Rotters builds to a crescendo of ... well that would be telling, but believe me, it's a crescendo. And it's one heck of a ride. So, if you can stomach the subject matter, definitely give this one a go.

The roof is finished. We managed to make use of the two sunny days we had and got it done. So yay for that. Also a happy birthday to lovely wife's Mom. Wish you were here, we'd have a party. Dad's birthday is coming up quick (and he'll be out soon so we can have something similar to a party) and in between is some sort of anniversary or something. I forget.

16 years.

Actually, there was an interesting bit in Reality is Broken (the current book I'm reading - save the world through gaming says Jane McGonigal) about how one of the emotions that gaming encourages and we need is "happy embarrassment". That teasing we do to those we trust. So apparently there is a purpose to all that trash talking. See dear? I'm doing it for your own good. Who knew?

Which leads to another funny story. Here, allow me to cut and paste from a nightmare McK had early this morning (while changing pronouns):

Apparently I told lovely wife that I had a big gift for her for our anniversary and when she asked what it was, I said a divorce and gave her the weekend to pack up and move out of the house, taking M and G with her and leaving Mck with me. Dream then jumps to thanksgiving where we get together as a family one last time and I announce I am getting remarried and McK hates my girlfriend.

Which, ok, bizarre nightmare spawned by one too many jokes at the dinner table or a friend going through it, or something she read, or one too many viewings of the Parent Trap or whatever. The funny bit was my reply to lovely wife where I told her that if I was really mean I'd use me secret dream knowledge for EVIL and get home tonight and at dinner announce I had a big gift for her for our anniversary. I can't decide if I'm that evil or not. But it still makes me chuckle a little bit to think about. So I'm at least a little evil. But we all knew that.

Giant robots, virtual worlds, it all ends in the grave

Last night lovely wife and I watched Summer Wars, an anime movie by the guy that did The Girl Who Leapt through Time. I liked this one quite a bit. It's got some great messages about family and life. Natsuki hires Kenji for a four day summer job (as her fiance he finds out a little too late). While meeting and dealing with her family (led by a most awesome 90 year old Great Grandmother) the virtual world OZ that runs pretty much the entire planet comes under attack. And Kenji seems to be at fault for that as well. There's a fair amount of humor and tension and Hanafuda cards. It really is worth seeing. Even if that description doesn't fill you with excitement (Hanafuda cards! Are you emotionally dead?!) Lovely wife recommends it as well, so there you go.

A while back (years) we watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime series that turned the Giant Robot genre on its head. I found it pretty fascinating even though it got really strange towards the end. It didn't help that Gainax (the studio creating the show) ran out of money and lots of corners were cut and so on. There were a couple movies that attempted to summarize and retell the ending of the TV show, but those didn't really clear things up either. So they've once again decided to try their hand at telling this story. They're rebuilding Evangelion over the course of 4 movies. The first two are currently out on DVD. 1.11 - You Are (Not) Alone and 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance. The first movie follows the plot of the TV series pretty closely. The second starts to deviate in significant ways and ends on one heck of a cliffhanger. I've found them to be a lot of fun to watch. The second one was better in my opinion - it features a lot of humor and a lot of truly shocking/heart wrenching moments. The problem is, I think you almost have to have seen the TV show to really appreciate it. I'm really not sure what a complete new comer would make of it. Heck, I don't remember all the details and as I did a little digging on Wikipedia there are things that suddenly make a lot more sense as I look back at them. I may have to watch the original series again.

I'll save most of my thoughts for when I finish, but Rotters is awesome. It's a book about grave robbing. (Did I mention it's awesome?)

We need to replace our roof. Unfortunately this means tearing off the old roof and putting new shingles on. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. Except we're having the weirdest Spring we've had in years. A lot of rain and so on. So at the moment it's half done. We managed to get the lower roof torn down and re-shingled. Now we just need a good enough break in the weather we can do the last half... I am glad I'm not a roofer. I was extremely sore that next day. Honestly I'm impressed I made it up on the roof. Really don't like heights. I've narrowed it down a touch more to really not liking ladders.

Thoughts and prayers go out to little sis and family and letter 'r' and family. You could all use a break.

Apparently McK is enjoying softball. And has managed to score a couple points.