2002-09-27 - 3:37 a.m.
A bit of rambling; has it really been 10 days?

Bit of a shock, tonight, on the premiere of CSI. About the chocolate, I mean. Makes you think twice about sucking down those bags of M'n'M's, doesn't it? Fourteen years of eating a pound or so of chocolate every night during marathon poker (chocolate grown in conditions where leaded fuel ends up in the atmosphere and rained down on cocoa plants); add some eyedrops in a drink, and poof, instant stroke. Oy. Forget American fastfood, howzabout American eating habits period. Hello, and how can we poison ourselves today? What a way to die.

*blink* I think I'm a bit incoherent, but then again, it is 3:18 AM as I type this and I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in a week. I think it's a lingering psychological reaction to the loss of job, not that I miss the job much. I'm just stressing about having to get a new one. I've applied for a few, but they're mostly receptionist type positions, and I am so not looking forward to being Miss Hi, How Can I Direct Your Call.

On the other hand, I am deepening my appreciation for the world of distractions online. Ever tried out PopCap? They have a bunch of online games there; don't try them if you're on a modem, but if you have any kind of more serious connection, please do. They're a blast. The newest one, Bookworm, reminds me of -- what's the game -- I think it's Boggle. You know, where you have a random collection of letters spread out in a square, and you have to make words using only letters that connect but not reusing any? Bookworm's like that, only you get the occasional burning letter thrown in that could "burn the library" if you don't get rid of it.

I was always very, very good at Boggle, and having no competitors makes the online version an absolute piece of cake. I gave up near 200,000 points on my first try and shut it down; it gets kind of pointless when you know you can keep going nearly forever bar a serious goof. Maybe someday when I'm bored I'll see how far I can rack it up. Some of the others are nearly as bad -- I can keep Noah's Ark going on and on and on, for example, and I beat the Insaniquarium in one sitting -- but hey, logic skills plus vocab plus reaction times earned through years and years of Nintendo tend to add up to good gaming skillz.

I really, really must pick up a book on Chess though; I can beat lots of my friends, but that's sheer luck. I mean, on a good day, I can think 3 moves ahead, and I don't know any of the named maneuvers or anything the championship guys use. Madman could think 5 ahead, and I only ever beat him the once, when he made a stupid mistake. (Oooh, the look on his face; it made all the experience at graceful losing worth it). The big boys can think ahead 8 plus moves, and one day I'd really like to be that good. Maybe when I'm old and have run out of other things to distract myself with, I'll put in the discipline? *grin*

Oh, and on the subject of Boggle -- Dad wondered aloud the other day in the ADD discussion if maybe he doesn't have it. Well, duh. He got a low average, he said, in his year and a half of community college and so dropped out and became and electrical apprentice, but hey, he can beat me at Boggle; surely that says something. Man's got a brain.

Oh! And looks sharp in a formal suit, which he absolutely detests, so I've pretty much never seen him in one before. Did I remember to mention that, back a few months ago when he bought it? Absolute shock, to realize that one's father is capable of looking hot. Mom's just getting the pictures back from their re-wedding ceremony last week on that anniversary cruise they took, and Dad still stresses about the whole bit with the tie, but my goodness, my parents looked good. People are going to start accusing them of being my older siblings, not my parents.

Am I babbling yet? Better sign off, I have appointments to keep later this morning. *sigh* God Bless.