Rules for a Safe Halloween

Just in case you have forgotten the rules for a safe and
Happy Halloween.

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER
check to see if it’s really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a
joke.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has
gone out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other
language which they should not know, shoot them
immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long
run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill
them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak
with somebody else’s voice.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off
and go it alone.

6. As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open por-
tals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt.
This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

8. If you’re searching for something which caused a loud
noise and find out that it’s just the cat, GET THE HELL
OUT!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not
check for short circuits; just get out!

10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there’s pro-
bably a good reason for it. Don’t stop and look around.

12. Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless
you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

13. If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip
or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the
fact that you are running and the monster is merely shamb-
ling along, it’s still moving fast enough to catch up
with you.

14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit un-
characteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for
blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on,
kill them immediately.

15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some
of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Tran-
sylvania, Nilbog (you’re in trouble if you recognize
this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in
Maine (or Alabama).

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road,
do not go to the nearby deserted looking house to phone
for help. If you think that it is strange because you
thought you had half of a tank, shoot yourself instead.
You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

17. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery,
now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This applies
to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or
died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who
performed satanic practices in your house.

Ok, so I got this in an email from my mom, I don’t know who wrote it, I sure as hell didn’t, and I don’t take credit, I’m just putting it up because I think it’s an awesome and I don’t feel like waiting until next year to post it because I’ll have forgotten by then. Hence the double post. Deal with it.

As an added note, remember that if you enter a dark place with no light you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

I think Stockholm Syndrome is setting in. I laughed at iCarly today. On another note, that's a good Blink 182 song...

My Top 10 Scariest Movies

As Halloween fast approaches bloggers everywhere come together with a blogger's seeming favorite pastime: List making.

There's the ever popular 'Top 10' lists, the 'Top 50' lists and of course other variations for people who seem averse to nice round numbers. Me, I am a nice round number person and because there aren't all that many movies out there that I would consider truly frightening I compiled a list of my personal favorites. I'll start with least scary and move up from there and try to explain why I think they deserve that place on my list. There aren't any specific spoilers, but if you don't know the general storyline you may not see my point of view.

Back to Spongebob. Now we're encouraging kids to move into their jobs in order to be more effective? Don't even get me started on Fanboy and Chum Chum.

Star Wars Writing Role-playing

A friend that I have online and I spend a lot of time doing online role-playing. We don't follow the typical role-playing format, though, and use dice or anything. We do it fairly uniquely, and just make up our own stories and characters and play through different scenarios. I guess it's probably more like practice writing exercises than role-playing, but we've always referred to it as such.

I started and met my friend when I was 13 and we played on and off until I was in late high school but then of course high school got the better of us and we stopped. We started again a few months into my first year of college when she was already two years into her college experience.

After that we've pretty much kept up since then, though we've been taking a break since July. But that doesn't mean I have to take a break, right?

Writing is one of my hobbies that keeps me sane. I do some writing on my own, but I have the most fun writing with my friend.

Anyway, I wrote a short story involving one of my main characters and a new character I'm planning on introducing. Thought it might be cool to stick it up here.

After many mornings of watching Spongebob I wonder if its really a good idea for kids to aspire to flip Krabby Pattys when they grow up...

Discovering Star Wars

As I mentioned in one of my other posts, the little boy I babysit has been watching Star Wars since I loaned him my dvds. Over the weekend he watched Episodes IV and V. He loved them! I was so excited. He had a few questions, understandably, and I again tried to be careful to answer his questions when it pertained to confusion, not to things that would be a spoiler to him.

I asked him which movie he liked better, and he said he liked Episode V better. I couldn't have been more proud! I then showed him some videos from when I was at the convention in Orlando. The first one I showed him was this one:

I thought he'd enjoy it because it's a little kid about his age, going up against a guy dressed as Anakin Skywalker in Episode II. That's when he made the cutest comment. He gets excited and looks at me and goes, "wow! they're using the real props like in the movies!" Needless to say, I didn't have the heart to tell him that they're just using FX lightsabers. 

I've also been showing him a few things that I bring from my house that I think he'll enjoy. I brought a small pop up X-wing book, and a few different toys that I have. Yesterday I ordered my Star Wars sneakers from Adidas, and when they come in tomorrow I'll definitely show him those!

He's in the middle of watching Episode VI right now, and I'm looking forward to what he thinks of the end of the saga. He hasn't asked me about Darth Vader being Luke's father, or Luke and Leia being siblings even though he's up to when they all arrive at the Ewok village. I haven't yet asked him whether or not he believes Vader is Luke's father, but I'll approach that with him soon.

I'm really enjoying re-discovering Star Wars with him because even though I was also 10 years old when I fatefully became engrossed with the universe, I saw things differently than he does, and it's fun to see things the way he does. Especially things like Vader being Luke's father because I had seen the movies before growing up with my dad, so there were very few things that were surprising to me, I just simply understood them better and had a better understanding of how vast the Star Wars universe was, and continues to be.

The Saga Begins

This week I started a new babysitting jobs for one of the families that I teach at tae kwon do. The whole family, mother, father and two kids all take classes at the school, and I've worked with the kids since they started. A little while back they informed me that they would be needing a babysitter for the mornings to get the two kids up and ready and drive them to school in the mornings. I'm only there for 7am to 9am when I drop the two kids off at their school which is fortunately quite close to their home.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share my excitement about one of this week's occurrences. The kids are 10 and 6, and neither have seen Star Wars. The older one, the boy, showed me his Star Wars pop up book and then said that he'd never seen any of the movies. Needless to say, I smelled a mission. The little girl didn't show his interest (what a surprise, she prefers, like most 6 year old girls, to play with her barbies) but that's ok. For babysitting purposes, I can sit and watch iCarly and play barbies if necessary.

I told him to ask his parents if it was ok for me to lend him my Star Wars dvds so he could watch them. The next day he said they thought it was alright, so I brought over my dvds this morning, and gave them a disclaimer about the two scenes in Revenge of the Sith that I thought they should be aware of. Now, anyone who has seen the movie knows which two scenes I'm taking about. Specifically, Anakin cutting off Dooku's head, and Obi-Wan leaving Anakin to burn on Mustafar after cutting off his legs and an arm. I personally would not let a 10 year old watch that movie, I'd let him wait another year or two, but his parents approved it so I guess they think he'll be ok.

I also made a decision that I know George Lucas would sorely disapprove of. I told the little boy to watch them starting from A New Hope and then move on to the prequels after having completed the original trilogy. I don't care if The Phantom Menace is meant to be a fun kid's movie, I still firmly believe they should be watched in that order, and if (a big if) I ever have my own kids that is how the saga will be presented to them.

I'm looking forward to hearing what the little boy thinks about the movies probably more than is necessary, but mostly it's because I can't wait to see and hear what he has to say about the whole thing. When we were going through his pop up book he kept asking me questions like which animals were in which movies and which scenes from the book were in which movies and I told him basics but I was sure not to reveal anything big like the fact that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader and Luke and Leia's father, or even that Luke and Leia are siblings. I told him that Yoda is a wise Jedi Master who speaks backwards but that was it. I also told him that the Emperor was Darth Vader's boss, but not that he orchestrates the deaths of hundreds of Jedi and a whole Clone War. When he asked me what the Clone War was (it got mentioned through something else), I simply told him it was a war that happens in the movies that he will get to see.

When I left this morning he was so excited to watch them, and I'm excited to babysit on Monday to see what he thought of whatever movies he got to watch. It's going to be so interesting to see it from the view of a child who really knows very little. When I got into Star Wars I was his age as well, but I had seen them many times growing up so there was very little mystery in it for me. The little boy, on the other hand, has a whole new galaxy to discover and I think it's kind of cool that I get to introduce him to this huge wonderful (and when it comes to the Expanded Universe, frustrating) universe that George Lucas created 33 years ago. For him, the saga is just beginning, and I think it's going to be one hell of a ride.

My sonic screwdriver

I finally got a chance to order my sonic screwdriver and it came in Friday. Perfect timing, since that's when I got back from Orlando! I thought that for my own amusement (hopefully someone else out there is amused too, but if not that's ok too) I'd take a picture of it in action. Here's me trying to use my sonic screwdriver to deadlock my door in an attempt to keep my mom out.

"Can't you sonic it?"
"It doesn't do wood!"
"Doesn't do wood? That is rubbish!"
"Oy! Don't diss the sonic!"

I guess I should have remembered that bit of wisdom from the 11th Doctor and Rory before I attempted (and failed) to seal my door. Oh well, I can still use it to attempt to keep my computer in line, I suppose...

Otherwise, I'm quite pleased with it! It lights up, makes sounds and it's a pen! Can't ask for much more, I think.

Thanks, ThinkGeek!

Mandalorian Fathers

Jusik recalled a comment Kal’buir had made a couple of years ago. He couldn’t remember what had led to it, but it had moved him deeply, and every so often it surfaced in his memory: Bard’ika, if you ever want a father, then you have one in me. Yes, Jusik often wanted a father. He’d been handed over to the Jedi long before he was old enough to have any memory of his own. But he was now part of a culture where fathers and fatherhood mattered- not lineage of bloodline, but the long and infinite duty to a youngster who depended on you. He badly wanted to be part of this family, a real part, formal and permanent.

“Kal’buir,” Jusik said, “have you got room for another son?”

Skirata looked baffled for a few seconds, then smiled and held out his hand to grasp Jusik’s arm, Mando-style, hand to elbow. “Ni kry’tayl gai sa’ad, Bard’ika. I recognize you as my child.”

Mandalorian adoption was fast and permanent, a few words to recognize someone as child and heir regardless of their age. Given the emotional weight behind it, the oath seemed almost inadequate.

“Buir,” Jusik said. Father. Everyone called Skirata Kal’buir, a mark of affectionate respect, but the word was now changed forever for Jusik, because it was suddenly real and literal. He was finally someone’s son; someone with a name, someone he knew and cared about. For a man with no past, that sudden sense of completion was heady and unexpected.

- Republic Commando: 501st

Karen Traviss

I took this directly from the last Republic Commando book because it was one of the scenes from it that will stay with me forever. It’s just another scene that shows how important fathers are in general, but even more so to Mandalorians. It’s the reason why Kal Skirata is my favorite Mandalorian.

I hope it doesn’t cheapen the impact of this post, but for anyone out there who wants to talk about Mandalorians, check out and join this message board: http://mandoade.proboards.com

I used the term Mando’ade because it means Children of Mandalore in the Mandalorian language, Mando’a.

Also, I took this post directly from another blog I had, located here at Echo Base. 

Too Much Tv

I watch too much tv. This is just a fact of a life, but I take comfort in the fact that this is a recent phenomenon. Up until I started college I had two shows that I watched when they aired on tv and those were Battlestar Galactica and Lost. I watched Lost since the second season, so that maked it my longest watched show on tv. Which is why it is sorely missed now that it's been over for a few months now.

Anyway, back to how much tv I watch. Let me give you the run down; right now of the shows that I watch whenever they are on the air my week goes like this:

Monday: House, Castle

Tuesday: NCIS, White Collar, V

Wednesday: Law and Order: SVU

Thursday: CSI, Burn Notice

Friday: CSI: New York, (and if I'm really in the mood) Clone Wars

There are other shows that are currently filming and won’t return for a few months that I also watch when they air, assuming they don’t conflict with a show I like better: Burn Notice, White Collar, and Dollhouse before it ended.

Now, here’s the shows that I also watch but I catch online somehow whether it be the next day, in re-runs or after an entire season is over and it’s on Netflix: In Plain Sight, Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Law and Order, CSI: Miami and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Whew, I’m tired just listing all of them! Basically, my point is I watch a LOT of tv. Something should be done about the number of hours in a day, because it’s hard to keep up! And USA certainly doesn’t help with the number of good shows it suddenly seems to have. And CBS as well (when they actually AIR the shows on schedule). Oh, and there’s also ABC’s contribution. And Fox’s. Though they both recently just dumped two shows that I watched regularly: RIP Lost and 24.

Anyway, that’s about it for my tv watching. There’s a lot of it.

MC Chris - Han Solo (Jason Derulo Parody) - Dorkly Video

Thanks to a friend's Facebook page I came across this site. I'm a huge fan of MC Chris' other song about Boba Fett so seeing that apparently he's got a new Star Wars related song was awesome. I can't stand the song that it is parodying, but this version is awesome. Especially for Han Solo fans who know he really is this cool.

MC Chris - Han Solo (Jason Derulo Parody) - Dorkly Video

Some things can't be made up...

Yesterday I flew to Orlando to spend some time with my dad. So far it's been good here, but as usual, on the flight there were some interesting happenings. The lady I had to sit next to (thanks to Southwest's policy about pick your own seat- which sucks if you're among the last ten people on the place) was an older woman of typical Florida legs and typical American weight.

I'm attributing her weight to the fact that when her husband made me get up so he could go to the lavatory she said "time for some exercise". Wait, since when does getting up out of a seat count as exercise? 

It made me worried, more than usual, about the state of humanity. 

Made it to Orlando to spend some time with my dad. Having a hard time falling asleep without my dog though. Lame, I'm sure, but true.

As a side note I'm trying out this whole mobile blogging thing. Let's see how it works with my Droid Incredible.

Oh Captain, my Captain (Jack)

In addition to being a huge Star Wars nerd (I beat my cousin who introduced me to Star Wars 2 games out of 3 in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit last weekend), I also have come to thoroughly enjoy the latest Doctor Who series and the spinoff, Torchwood.

Or, rather, I did until Russel T. Davies stepped in with his bright ideas for the end of season 2 of Torchwood and Children of Earth.
(Before I continue on this rant, let me insert a spoiler warning here)
If I had a laser screwdriver like the Master's, then I would go after Russel T. Davies with it. Sure, he created the two series that I love, but he also shattered everything I know and loved about Torchwood. I'm not entirely sure why Davies feels that consistent casts are undesirable, but he really needs to stop killing half his cast. When it comes to Doctor Who it's almost understandable to have a constantly rotating companion, but I don't see the reason for it when it comes to Torchwood.

After Owen and Toshiko died at the end of season 2 I was quite sad about it but I also was hopeful for the show's future. I had hoped that with a smaller and more intimate cast that Ianto would be given space to grow even more into his part. Through most of season 1 he was just the coffee boy who cleaned up after the team. I loved when he started becoming more involved and I even loved the relationship that he was having with Jack. To me, Ianto had such potential as a character. And then Davies wrote Children of Earth. *shakes head*

First of all, I think it was an incredibly clever story; I mean, come on, aliens that need kids to use as drugs? Wow. To quote Ianto, "oh, you are warped on the inside." Awesome.

Not so awesome? Ianto's death. On one hand we have Owen and Toshiko who both died very honorable and heroic deaths and on the other hand we have Ianto who got taken out by gas while he asked Jack to never forget him. Argh! Not that Ianto's fears weren't completely valid- how can Jack be expected to remember every single being he had a relationship with when he's lived possibly millions or years?- but I think there were so many better ways for poor Ianto to go.

I'm almost afraid to get started on my intense dislike of Jack after "Children of Earth". What kind of hero kills his own grandson? I understand that it was the only option and it can be argued that it was a very brave action on Jack's part, but I'm not sure I could stomach it. One of the things that I love about Doctor Who is that no matter how bad things get and how many people have died on his watch, the Doctor and the people around him always draw their moral line somewhere and refuse to budge from there and when the episode ends you sit there thinking "wow, if people could really be that awesome then I sure could be proud to be human". Yet I had the exact opposite reaction to "Children of Earth". After watching it I wanted to take a long shower. There was no warm fuzzy feeling (or really any satisfaction at all) from defeating the aliens and I was almost glad to see Jack go. One of the things I love about Torchwood is the fact that it isn't afraid to explore the darker parts of humanity that the lighter hearted Doctor Who won't go near, but there should always be that balance so that in the end you can feel good about the characters winning. Torchwood lost that by the end of "Children of Earth". Among other things.

It's almost 2am and hard to keep everything straight in my head, but I think I hit all the main points I have now against Torchwood. I know it's coming back for a new season but I'm having a hard time convincing myself it's worth my continued viewing. It lost the spark that initially got me hooked, and I'd rather not watch a show when I wish it would simply fade peacefully rather than get butchered some more by Russel T. Davies and his desire to kill main beloved characters. Let's just say I'm extremely glad that Davies has stepped down in writing the newer Doctor Who episodes. Stephen Moffat has been handling the 11th Doctor wonderfully.

Back to Orlando I go!

I was lucky enough to make it to Celebration V in Orlando, Florida back in August. Celebration V was the hands down best four days of my life, even the part where I had a massive headache (induced by lack of sleep the previous week thanks to my excitement) and I slept outside on an Army bedroll with my cousin and only a free t-shirt we were given as a pillow. Hey, it paid off; we were among the first 500 people let in to see George Lucas and Jon Stewart.

Even though I was in Orlando for a grand total of 5 days, one night of which was spent at MGM (I refuse to call it Hollywood Studios) for the Last Tour to Endor, I really did not do any of the typical Orlando and Disney related fun things to do. Of course, on the bus ride back to the convention we did pass by a few of my childhood memories of Orlando, like Pirate's Cove mini golf, and the Ripley's Believe It Or Not building, but we were too busy with the convention to spend any time there. This next trip to Orlando probably won't have much more tourist type activities, but I plan on making my dad take me to at least a few fun things. After all, I'll be there for a week and he shouldn't be doing any work on the weekend.

My parent's divorce has made my life hell for the past 3 years but I still hold out some hope that I'll be able to have a fairly fun with my dad, even if this trip is coming shortly after not speaking to him for over a year and a half. Though, if I'm to be entirely honest, I'd rather spend a week with him in Orlando, then spend the same amount of time with my mom in the same place. After 3 years it's easy to see that the only one of my parents who really is trying to change and make things easier for me after 3 years of hell is my dad while my mom is quite content to shove all her misery on me and make it my fault.

I pretty much plan on spending this week in Orlando completely vegging out. I'm thinking about taking my xbox with me so I can play a few games I need to catch up on, plus I'm taking the Star Wars and Burn Notice books that I have out at the library so I have other things to do to keep me amused. There will also be some school work wrapped in there, but I'm only bringing what I absolutely have to do.

The sign in front of the hotel we stayed at for the convention.

The only thing I'm going to miss about not being home for a week? My 7lb ball of love, a Pekingese/Shih Tzu mix named Kara (for Starbuck in the reimagined Battlestar Galacitca). As a bonus, here's a picture!

Kara Reiko

The best part about coming home from Orlando will be that I get to be with my dog again. She always has the best welcoming committees whenever I come home from being out, even if it was just outside for a few seconds.

While I'm in Orlando I might spend some time working on this place and putting up more posts, and maybe even a few of my favorite pictures from the convention.

New to Blogspot

Ok, I know everyone hates the "I'm just figuring out this blogging thing and I'm new" post, but in this case it's mostly true. I've had a blog or two in the past but I'm just looking for a fresh start. So far, I think I could get used to this place.

Basically I'd like to use this post as a thanks to my best friend who helped me get this started and for her creativity (if you stick around you'll learn I have my witty moments, but creativity is lacking with me).

I think I'll have a more meaningful post up within the next day or so.

Oya!*

*I like Mandalorians. "Oya" is Mando'a for "cheers".