A little thought about the English language.

Isn't it interesting how being vindictive is bad, yet being vindicated is good? Just thought I'd share that little thought. ^^

woah...

It's been over a month since I said anything here >.> Oops.

Just to catch everyone up, my computer seems to be dying a slow death, so I haven't been using it much. I've been working at an asphalt company, in their office, entering driver's logs and other interesting things for a little over a month. It's seasonal, so it goes into November sometime.

I'll reactivate FFXI... soon™.

I've been reading Clive Cussler books the past couple weeks and playing Madden '07.

The Brewers dropped off the table.

The Packers are laughable. (I only mention them because I am in Wisconsin, not because I'm really all that much of a fan.)

Our softball season is over, but if you click on that Softball stats link, you can look at my stats (and there's a small picture of me too... @.o)

Ah well, that's all for now, back to work.

Conversation With a Pirate

I was flying around Octavian Space today (in the game, JumpGate), and saw a public POS that looked interesting. It was an Arty selling shop, so I stopped in to check out the prices. When I docked, I was greeted by a pilot named ernie. "Not constantinople," he said. This was quite shocking. Why, you may ask. I'll tell you why. He's a notorious hard-case. A pirate with seemingly no morals, or care for fellow pilots! I was planning on logging out and going to another registration at the time anyways, so after saying that he was the last person I'd have expected to see there, and a short hi, how you doing. I logged out and switched.

Then I thought about it. Here was one of the more notorious bad guys in the universe, holed up for awhile after a strike he'd made, waiting for the people searching for him to give up, so he could cash in his stolen goods. What an opportunity! So, I immediately switched back to my Istanbul registration and found he was still there.

So I began a discussion with him. Mind you, my opinion of him has been rather low, as he doesn't communicate publicly with the rest of use pilots, and he has no qualms about destroying someone who is more or less defenseless if he feels it will fulfill his goals. My opinion was about to change though.

As you are all aware, I'm writing a story about JumpGate, so I asked him about how he got into piracy. What poured forth was a story, as compelling as it was heart-rending. It turns out that he had started his pilot career as an idealist, firm in the faith of his faction. Then along came a war, a war of the Quantar (his faction) versus Hyperial. I can't say that that little tidbit excited me, but, he was fighting for what he thought was right. I'm not gonna knock him on that account. Anyways, over the course of this war, TRI (The Reconstruction Initiative) and the government of Hyperial recruited muscle to overpower his squad. Slowly his squad started deserting him, until the end, when another squad from his faction apparently swooped in and took over the war and got all the credit for winning it. Then, after it was all said and done, one of his squadmates hacked into his registry, stole all of his property and money and reset all of his information, putting him into the Solrain faction as a recruit. His pleas to TRI went unheard.

At this point in time, he become enraged and violent. He went on a spree of desctruction, laying all in his path to waste, whenever and wherever he had the opportunity. Time passed and his rage cooled somewhat. But he would never again go in with a squad or fight for a faction or TRI. He had only one person he felt he could trust, Spacious. Blood makes for trust for them. They become privateers, hunting, threatening and stealing, causing methodical damage to pilots and the projects of TRI, more so for their profit than for a cause. They look out for themselves, to keep from being betrayed once again. Though, obviously this story is only from his point of view, I believe it is, at the very least, very close to what really happened.

Throughout this conversation, I was impressed by the manner of ernie's speech. He wasn't the despicable criminal I had once thought. He's not a monster, but a person on whom the circumstances of his life caused him to trust no one any longer, so he looks after himself instead. He's not a mindless killing machine, but a human with his own set of morals bred from the treachery he suffered from. Maybe someday he'll be able to work his way through the past, and learn to trust again. Mind you, I still consider him dangerous, but I will look on him now with new light of understanding.

These are the things you learn when you take the time to talk to, and listen to a person whom you may have judged from a distance as a reprobate. Even in space, there is always more to a person than meets the eye.

~Istanbul

The Church of Baseball V

The Brewers haven't been doing so hot since the last update. Their record is now at 52-59, which means they've gone 17-23 since I last talked about them. Injuries have really hampered the team, especially injuries to their star pitcher, Ben Sheets. He's missed most of the year with shoulder tendinitis and had to come out of the last game due to 'pectoral tightness'. The folks over at Brewerfan.net are kinda worried that it's a more significant injury than that. We'll see. Besides Ben, Tomo Ohka and Rick Helling also missed significant time earlier this year.

Position players haven't been all that immune to injury either. J.J. Hardy, who began the year as starting shortstop has been out since May, after injuring himself sliding at home plate. Rickie Weeks just went down a week ago to a wrist injury, also while sliding. We couldn't forget about Corey Koskie either, who suffered a concussion while combining with Billy Hall on a great defensive play.

Just to add to the pile of things not going the Brewers way, they were unable to come to terms with All-Star slugger, Carlos Lee on a contract extension. So, a few days before the trading deadline loomed, the Crew made a deal with the Texas Rangers, sending Lee along with minor league outfielder Nelson Cruz south in return for Fransisco Cordero, Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix and A-ball pitcher, Julian Cordero. Though losing the powerful left fielder is tough to take, getting back a solid outfielder in Mench, as well as a much needed relief pitcher in Cordero (the first one) makes it easier to swallow. In addition to that move, the Brewers picked up infielder Tony Graffanino from the Royals for Jorge de la Rosa, and third baseman David Bell from the Phillies for Wil Laureano, a minor league pitcher, shoring up the Brewers infield for the rest of the season.

So, now the Brewers have a 'new look' team. Unfortunately they face an uphill battle, just to regain .500, but, it's baseball; anything can happen! Here's hoping...

TTF
Mophia

MMORPGs

What is an MMORPG? It stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. That means that you are a character in a large environment, interacting with hundreds and thousands of other people from around the world in a virtual universe. They're a bit addictive, but lots of fun. There's MMOs that fit just about any niche or genre that you may enjoy, from fantasy, to science fiction. There's even sports MMOs out there. With that in mind, I'm going to post a list of MMOs that I have, or do, play. (Hopefully I don't forget any :D)

In order of when I first played:

Earth and Beyond
Final Fantasy XI
Ultimate Baseball Online
Legend of the Green Dragon (not quite an MMO really, but I'll list it anyways)
Asheron's Call
Gunz
OGame

E&B was a sci-fi game, with spaceships and such flying about the solar system and the galasxy. It has been defunct now for a couple years.

Final Fantasy XI is the online game of the Final Fantasy series. If you like MMOs and you like Final Fantasy, it's a pretty good bet that you'll enjoy this game.

Ultimate Baseball Online is... an online baseball game. It's in beta. Being a pioneer in the MMO field as the first sports MMO, it's beta has been very long, and still has bugs being worked on, but... it's fun.

Legend of the Green Dragon is an online text based game. I've played it through the DDZ website.

Asheron's Call is a rather old MMO. I tried it late last year, but... having played FFXI, it just didn't do it for me with it's extreme oldness, and really, just not being as good all the way around IMO. Of course, I generated this opinion by playing just a few days, but, that was enough for me.

Gunz is an online FPS (First Person Shooter), with a bit of a twist. The use of a katana, and special moves makes this a unique blend of dashing action, with gun toting warriors diving accross vast distances, shooting at blade wielding samurais flying through the air.

Ogame is a web browser based, sci-fi strategy game.

Currently, I'm playing JumpGate, under the name Mophia. I also play Ogame in galaxy 4, under the name Istanbul.

So, what games have and do you play?

TTF

~Moph

(Links finally added!)

Istanbul: Not Just a City

Chapter 3, Pt. 2 is up over at JSR! What's cool, I have a pretty good idea of how the next part goes too. Yay! Actually the next part, i've known fairly well how it was going to go this whole time. the hard part was getting from the end of the last chapter to this point. Cuz, though the last line of Chapter 2 makes a great hook. When i wrote it, I had no idea what the motivation was, or even who the nefarious scoundrels who would do such a thing were! I kept on trying to come up with ideas, terrrorists, flux huggers, government conspiracy, but none of them were really fitting the bill. But then, about a week and a half ago, after six months in remission, I had a blinding flash of insight (i'm still seeing spots from that!). An underground criminal organization! hehe. of course, it's still very nebulous to me, but, I have the important part down. the rest is just getting there and filling in the details ^^

Link

TTF!

~Ist.

Finally

After a month, I finally got at least a temp job, piling 30-50# boxes at a cheese factory for a few hours today, and a full day tomorrow, and maybe a half day on friday. It's kind of tough repetitive work, but, all things considered, it ain't bad. It's definitely a lifesaver right now.

TTF!

Mophia

Istanbul- Not Just a City *updated*

Link

Part One of Chapter Three is up! Yay!

Around the Galaxy In 80 Days

Now, I know most attempts to redo classics in a modern/futuristic setting fail miserably. But, I think Jules Verne's novel, Around the World in 80 Days, is one that could be adapted in a science fiction setting quite well. It was, to an extent, science fiction, just set in it's time, rather than in the future. So, when I was diddling around with this idea for a story I've had for years and never done anything with (because I'm better at coming up with ideas than implementing them), I came up with another brilliant idea, Around the Galaxy in 80 Days. It has a ring to it, doesn't it? ~.^

TTF!

Mophia

Minor Update

Hey, i finally put links up, instead of that dippy google news thingy. Go me!

Game Recap III

Tonight, I played my first game in my career, in center field. A bit scary, since I don't have the greatest range, but, I'm a solid fielder. Only one ball came out to me, a solid line drive base hit, that I picked up and got back into the infield quickly. So I did fine.

We were up against a tough pitcher, who had a really high arc, and could land strikes quite regularly. My first ab, I hit a hard one hopper to the second baseman, who went to 2b for a force on the runner, but I hustled and got to first before the throw to keep out of a double play. Then a couple guys got out. My next ab, in the 3rd inning, I hit a liner over the first baseman's head (he nearly had a webgem, leaping grab on it, but it glanced off the top of his glove) for another base hit. Again, the side was retired. Then in the fifth, I got a pitch that I could pull, and hit a hard groundball past the third baseman down the line for another basehit. Again... the side was retired by the other teams good defense and pitching. Now don't get me wrong, we'd been getting hits and scoring runs here and there, just nothing out of the bottom half of the order pretty much (the guys after me, I batted 4th for the second game in a row). So, we got into the bottom of the seventh, with the game tied at 7-7. The leadoff hitter got out, but the #2 guy, hit a nice double. One of our great hitters, who had hit an inside-the-park-home-run in his previous at bat, unfortunately flew out to the centerfielder, but to shallow to let the runner advance at all. So, I was up, with two outs... I swung and missed at the first pitch, which was a bit short. Then the pitcher lofted one up, waaaay short, no way I was gonna swing at that. So, with the count 1-1, he let the pitch fly. It was coming down towards the outside and front part of the plate, my happy zone. I hit a hard shot past the second baseman, and got the walkoff victory! (I kept on running to second on the play to give myself credit for a double ~.^) So, I had another 4/4 day, with the one, important RBI :D

That's all folks. I promise my next post won't be about baseball. Ya just gotta give me a bit of a break, since it IS in the middle of the season.

-Mophia

Church of Baseball IV

Well, the Brewers lost tonight to the Detroit Tigers. But it's been a great week all around. Early in the week, Brewerfan.net had a give-a-way for their last open seat to their FanFest 2006, which I signed up for. Thursday, they held the drawing, and lo and behold.... I WAS THE WINNER!!! wOOt!

So, saturday morning, after softball practice, two hours in humid 90+ degree weather, I zipped home, showered and changed, and headed down to Milwaukee. A few minutes in line and I got parked, then spent a few minutes finding their party tent. I introduced myself and got my ticket and chilled for a couple minutes. There was about 25ish folks there. I went and played catch with one of the kids for a little while while waiting for the food to get ready. The food was great, grilled and cooked by various staff members of the website. I helped with the cleanup, since everything had to be taken care of by game time.

Well, after that we headed in to our seats, and the game was on! It was an excellently pitched game on both sides. Dave Bush had a spot of trouble in the 2nd inning. Jake Westbrook gave up only a run on an error. Then, finally, in the bottom of the 9th inning, against the Indians closer, Bob Wickman, the Brewers started mounting a rally. After Corey Koskie struck out to start off the inning, Carlos Lee drew a walk, as did Prince Fielder following him. Bill Hall got a bloop single to drop in, loading the bases for Geoff Jenkins. The entire crowd of 42,000+ people were on their feet cheering. Then he ripped a line drive down the right field line for a walkoff two run base hit and the stadium erupted! So, now i'm 3-0 in Brewer games i've attended and I had a great time!

Here's a link to some pictures (including one of me >.>) for those interested.

Here's a link to the thread discussing FanFest.

So, now for the week in review...

When last I updated y'all on their progress, they were 31-34. Including tonights loss, they are at 35-36, which is a 4-2 record last week. They swept the Indians, and won a series against the Reds, as well as the series before that (part of which includes the last update). Good luck to the Crew for this week.

Fun Times

For those of you who do not know, I joined the ranks of the unemployed Thursday, June 8th. So, I have had one thing that I haven't had in years, in plentiful supply this past week, time.

Thursday, the day I was fired, I went home and finished filling out a couple of applications I had picked up the day before and talked to various people, family and friends and let them know the news. I went through careerbuilder.com for a few hours. Took a swim in the pool. Did cleaning around the house, washed dishes for my sister, organized my desk and did various other things.

Friday, I turned in said applications, did more online job surfing (which activities are standard every day events, so I'm going to stop mentioning it now). Cleaned out my car. Mowed the parents lawn. Went out with mum, pop, sis and our former across the street neighbors.

Saturday, I had softball practice for a couple hours in the morning. Then went to my Grandma's (Dad's side) old farm and helped mow the lawn and do a few miscellaneous things. Hung out, ate supper, etc.

Sunday was church, a big shindig kids service with a big carnival outside. Everyone had fun. We rocked out at spanish service with me on the drums.

In short, I had the best weekend i've had in several years! Here's to me gettin a job soon. ^.^ PM

Mumu of Sevenths (or something)

1st off... what in the world is a meme??? In spite of not knowing what one is, I shall embark upon this great adventure, a meme of sevens... (they appear to be lists, though how they got called 'memememememes' is beyond my grasp of culture ^.^):
(None of these are in any particular odor, in fact they all smell quite nice, i think. They also aren't in order.)

Seven Things to Do Before I Die:

1. Fly in a fighter jet.
2. Hit a HR OVER the fence.
3. Get married.
4. Have kids.
5. Have a band.
6. Have a GOOD band.
7. Record an epic CD.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

1. Swallow pills.
2. See without my glasses.
3. Play guitar like Joe Satriani (maybe someday, but no time soon).
4. Write in cursive (yes, I learned in elementary school, but never continued practicing and have forgotten how to write it (though I can read it oddly enough), I can sign my name like a doctor though ;D).
5. Hit a HR OVER the fence.
6. Wire a house for electricity (another maybe someday).
7. Eat cow lung/stomach/any other organs that Hispanics seem to like...

Seven Books (or series) I Love:

1. Bobby's Girl - J.D. Austin
2. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
3. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Series - Michael A. Stackpole/Aaron Allston
4. Star Wars: The Lando Calrissian Adventures - L. Neil Smith
5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
6. The Phule Series - Robert Asprin (Phule's Company, Phule's Paradise, A Phule and His Money, Phule Me Twice, No Phule Like An Old Phule)
7. The M.Y.T.H. Series - Rober Asprin (12 Books, I ain't listin 'em all ~.^)
8. The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
9. Armageddon 2419 A.D. - Philip Francis Nowlan
10. The Trixie Belden Series - Julie Campbell (First 6 Books), 'Kathryn Kenny' (several in house writers at Western Publishing)

Hmm... I GUESS I'll stop with this list here... :P

Seven Movies I'd Watch Over and Over Again

Well, most movies I watch over and over again, are due to my sister watching movies over and over again. One time a month or so is usually good enough for me ~.^

1. The Princess Bride
2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
4. LOTR series.
5. The Chronicles of Narnia (both the new LW&W and the ole BBC/Wonderworks productions).
6. Joe Satriani: Live In San Francisco
7. The Original Star Wars Trilogy

People to tag?
Sorry, I only know one person with a blog... >.>

Well, that's all folks! Hope yer happy :D

The Church of Baseball III (with Game Recap II)

A bit long in coming, this is the third edition of, The Church of Baseball!

Over the course of these past few weeks, the Brewers have fallen to 31-34. Losing two of your starting pitchers, and their top replacement has a tendency to do that kind of thing. The merry-go-round of minor league replacements helped the Crew to an 8 game losing streak, and a record of 12-15 since I last updated you. Of course, if you factor out that losing streak, they haven't done too bad ~.^ Rick Helling, the replacement starter, is due back soon, and the pitching staff as a whole has rebounded some. Here's to good luck for the Brewers until I post again!

Now, I'm sure you're desperate to know how my softball season has been going since my first game. Well, it's been alright. I did well my second game (which was actually in a work league that was pretty sappy, but still fun). My line in that game was, 3/4, 2b, 2 R, 4 RBI. Had a few snappy plays on the defense too. Yay!

Game 3 was back in the normal league. Was fun, but not quite so good. We lost. Boohoo. ~.^ I didn't hit so well, 1/3, and even my hit was kinda icky. On the defensive side, a few balls were hit my direction, but none within my range to catch.

Game 4 was last night, and it was great all the way around. Due to a shortage of players, I actually ended up playing 3b. I've barely had any infield practice so far this year, so I was pretty rusty there. But, the I improved steadily as the game went on. The first ball that was hit to me, I kinda shied away from, and missed (really bad). The second ball, I stayed on better, and at least got a glove on and slowed it down (not too bad). the third ball, I picked up (good!) then proceeded to make a boneheaded mistake and not get any outs (bad). The fourth ball, I picked up, and got a force out at 3b (great) and attempted to throw to 1b quickly for a double play, but was a bit wild, but the 1b got in front of it and stopped it (not bad). The fifth ball, was a line drive hit to my backhand side (my right) which I snagged (great!). The sixth ball was also a line drive, this time a bit to my left, and at my feet, which i also caught quite niftily (really great!) Now, for my hitting: 4/4, 2b, 2 R, 1 RBI. First couple hits were pretty blah, but my last two were really quite good. Yay again!

Ok, that catches up the church of baseball and game recap editions. I solemnly swear to do that mumu of sevenths in the next couple days. really!

Oh yes, my season totals, which i'm sure disinterests you all greatly ;D :
9/12, 2 2b, 1 3b, 5 R, 6 RBI, .750 Avg., 1.083 Slg., 1.833 OPS.

Another Quiz From Peer Pressure

You Are Iceman

You tried to live a normal life, but it just wasn't possibleA bit of a slacker, you rather tell jokes than cultivate your powers Powers: turning self and others into ice, making ice weapons, becoming nearly invisible

Which of the X-Men Are You?

hmmm... not toooooo far off i guess ^^

Sweet Talking Woman - The Electric Light Orchestra

This is one of my favorite songs ever, which I first heard as a cover done by Five Iron Frenzy. Hearing there version, and reading their liner notes, introduced me to the band ELO. Here are the lyrics:

I was searchin' SEARCHIN' on a one-way street,
I was hopin' HOPIN' for a chance to meet.
I was waitin' for the operator on the line.

SHE'S GONE SO LONG What can I do?
WHERE COULD SHE BE? No no no,
don't know what I'm gonna do,
I gotta get back to you.

You gotta slow down SLOW DOWN sweet talkin' woman SLOW DOWN
You got me runnin' RUN RUN you got me searchin'.
Hold on HOLD ON sweet talkin' lover HOLD ON
It's so sad if that's the way it's over.

I was WALKIN' many days go by,
I was thinkin' THINKIN' 'bout the lonely nights.
Communication breakdown all around.

SHE'S GONE SO LONG What can I do?
WHERE COULD SHE BE? No no no,
don't know what I'm gonna do,
I gotta get back to you.

You gotta slow down SLOW DOWN sweet talkin' woman SLOW DOWN
You got me runnin' RUN RUN you got me searchin'.
Hold on HOLD ON sweet talkin' lover HOLD ON
It's so sad if that's the way it's over.

I've been livin' LIVIN' on a dead end street,
I've been askin' ASKIN' KINDLY everybody I meet.
Insufficient data coming through.

SHE'S GONE SO LONG What can I do?
WHERE COULD SHE BE? No no no,
don't know what I'm gonna do,
I gotta get back to you.

Oh, slow down SLOW DOWN sweet talkin' woman SLOW DOWN
You got me runnin' RUN RUN you got me searchin'.
Hold on HOLD ON sweet talkin' lover HOLD ON
It's so sad if that's the way it's over.

Slow down SLOW DOWN sweet talkin' woman SLOW DOWN
You got me runnin', you got me searchin'.
Hold on HOLD ON sweet talkin' lover HOLD ON
It's so sad if that's the way it's over.

Slow down SLOW DOWN sweet talkin' woman SLOW DOWN
You got me runnin', you got me searchin'.
Hold on HOLD ON sweet talkin' lover HOLD ON
It's so sad if that's the way it's over. (repeat & fade out)

30 second sample from amazon.com

Anyways, me likeys ELO. You could do a movie soundtrack with just their songs... and it would be good!

IstanbulTaye/Mophia/Philip/Whatever name you may know me by ^^

The Church of Baseball II

Well, this edition will be short due to the weather in the area since thursday (and going through tuesday). My favorite MLB team, the Brewers, went 3-3 this week, holding them at .500 for the year with a record of 19-19. Using pink bats, to support mother's day, and breast cancer awareness, the Crew defeated the Mets 6-5. Yay! Go pink bats! Down with breast cancer! There will be no game recap this week, because even if they get a game in somehow, I will be working tomorrow night. See all of you on Tuesday when I think of another song to ramble about. ~P

The Movement...

Apparently there is a strong underground women's movement to end their suffrage... see this video.

Istanbul: Not Just a City

Well, let me introduce this subject by mentioning a unique MMORPG, Jumpgate. It is a cool sci-fi, space combat sim, which is totally cool. (The dev likes Firefly :P) I will now link you to a 'fan-fic' story that I started writing last year, and occasionally add to. It resides at Joystickrequired.com which is a really cool forum run by a guy named JumpDemon. Here's the story. Enjoy!