23:14

Yes, it is actually later than that, but my computer clock is constantly losing time. I do not know why it will not stay set properly--even when it is plugged in all of the time and not just turned off it never stays correct for long. I cannot wait for Windows to actually run its time search--it would be much too far from normalcy by that point.

What can I say?

It is hot and muggy. Did I mention that it is hot? Did I mention that the humidity makes it even worse? Well then it still needs to be mentioned again! It has been hot and muggy.

I was busy so I didn't get outside too much today, so I didn't sweat as much as I could have, thankfully. Tomorrow I'll be outside more, unfortunately.

Tonight I learned how to play golf. No, not with clubs, well yes, there are clubs, but not what you're thinking. Clubs and spades, not clubs hitting balls. I played a couple of different versions with my mom and she also taught me the game garbage. We didn't play much of that, but it was also fun. Hopefully I'll get to play more later--and if we teach my nephews then I'll get to play anytime. :-)

~Matt

Short Work

Just before dinner I recieved a call from work. Apparently one of my co-workers never showed up for his shift. I'm off today, but they wanted to know if I would come in for two hours tonight. I thought about it for a moment, and realizing that I wasn't doing anything much (and I'll be working 9-5 the rest of the week) I said yes. As a bonus, because they don't want to pay overtime, they'll let me go two hours early on Thursday.

Today we all (including my parents who are visiting) went down to Lexington to watch my nephew Ryan play his last soccer game of the season. It was quite hot (up to 90 F) and muggy, but an interesting time nonetheless. On the way back we stopped at bigg's and purchased more corn. Last night I bought ten ears for $1.00, and the prices were still good today so my sister, mom, and I all went in. We cooked up some today and will probably have the rest tomorrow night. They aren't the biggest ears, but for the price I can't complain--plus they did taste good!

Right now I'm waiting for my clothes to come out of the dryer. I was planning to wash them tonight, tossing them in the dryer before I headed to bed if necessary--but that wouldn't work going in. All of my work clothes were dirty. So I threw in a load as soon as I said I'd come in, and I think I'll have just enough time for them to dry before I need to put them on.

~Matt

Smithsonian

I recently subscribed to Smithsonian magazine when I recieved an offer that I couldn't refuse. I also recieve National Geographic Magazine, and have for several years. I know that both are steeped in Evolutionary thinking and I accept that. I am a Creationist. I believe that everything in the Bible is true, period. If God said it happened, it happened. The Earth and everything in it was created in six literal days (no day ages or billions of years). I either ignore or privately laugh at the Evolution based articles. But one I couldn't help but be disturbed by.

The article is in the May 2006 issue of Smithsonian and is entitled "Dinosaur Shocker!" It relates how Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer discovered soft tissue inside the fossilized leg bone of a supposedly 65 million year old T. Rex. I'll quote two paragraphs from the article before continuing:

Meanwhile, Schweitzer's research has been hijacked by "young earth" creationists, who insist that dinosaur soft tissue couldn't possibly survive millions of years. They claim her discoveries support their belief, based on their interpretation of Genesis, that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Of coruse, it's not unusual for a paleontologist to differ with creationists. But when creationists misrepresent Schweitzer's data, she takes it personally: she describes herself as "a complete and total Christian." On a shelf in her office is a plaque bearing an Old Testament verse: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to propser you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Okay, well first of all it is a literal reading of Genesis, NOT an interpretation. Reading in day ages or billions of years is an interpretation. I am a man. To believe that that statement is me claiming to be a male human is NOT an interpretation, it is literal reading. Secondly it is implied that creationists aren't paleontologists, and by extension not scientists. I take great exception to this. Besides the several Doctors (earned degrees at accredited Christian and secular universities!) that I knew in college there are many Creationist scientists with the best credentials. But this spin is not surprising--they have to discredit Creationism however they can because they refuse to grant it a fair hearing.

Thirdly I take issue with Schweitzer's claim. I'll state upfront that one cannot surely know the state of another's immortal soul--but this gives me doubts. First of all she denies the validity of Scripture--yet she seems to affirm it if she thinks the verse worth putting up. How can a God who lied from the very beginning (Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.) be trusted to know the future and bring it about? Or what if he lied in Genesis so that the simple people of Old Testament times wouldn't be confused by the truth of Evolution. Then wouldn't it follow that we cannot know what else he might have lied about? Answers in Genesis (whatever you think of Creation) has it right when they say that once you reject Genesis 1:1 you have undermined the entirety of Scripture. You have started down an extremely slippery slope. Without a literal reading of Genesis you have no reason for Christ to die and be resurrected. If men weren't created and evolved then Adam and Eve weren't real and they didn't sin. Thus there is no need for a redeemer.

According to Scripture Adam and Eve were definately human, not the first primordial organisms to evolve who somehow without brain, souls, or anything else remotely sentient chose to disobey God and sin--thereby condemning all of their evolutionary descendents to an eternity in Hell unless they waited billions (or is it only millions for life?) of years for Jesus to be born and die.

Outwardly you can be a "Christian" if you reject the Bible, but you cannot be a "complete and total Christian" if you reject the very tenets of faith. It would be as if a Muslim rejected everything Mohommed taught, and then said, "but I still follow Islam." It would be a lie, he would be following his own religion that might have some similarity to Islam--but it wouldn't be Islam.

Young-Earth Creationists also see Schweitzer's work as revolutionary, but in an entirely different way. They first seized upon Schweitzer's work after she wrote an article for the popular science magazine Earth in 1997 about possible red bloood cells in her dinosaur specimens. Creation magazine claimed that Schweitzer's research was "powerful testimony against the whole idea of dinosaurs living millions of years ago. It speaks volumes for the Bible's account of a recent creation."

This drives Schweitzer crazy. Geologists have established that the Hell creek Formation, wehere B. rex [the skeleton containing the bone in question] was found, is 68 million years old, and so are the bones buried in it. She's horrified that some Christians accuse her of hiding the true meaning of her data. "They treat you really bad," she says. "They twist your words and they manipulate your data." For her, science and religon represent two different ways of looking at the world; invoking the hand of God to explain natural phenomena breaks the rules of science. After all, she says, what God asks is faith, not evidence. "If you have all this evidence and proof positive that God exists, you don't need faith. I think he kind of designed it so that we'd never be able to prove is existence. And I think that's really cool."

Where to start here? Good question. There is another subtle dig by referring to Earth as a popular science magazine, but not even mentioning that Creation has scientifically based articles. But that isn't a big deal--they are so entrenched in the idea that to be a scientists YOU MUST accept Evolution that they can't get past that. I don't expect anything better. But again I have a problem with what Schweitzer says. Let us go back to an oft mentioned quote from C.S. Lewis which I'll paraphrase: "Jesus wasn't just a good moral teacher. He was either a lunatic or truly the Son of God, there is no middle ground."

All verses are from the NASB.

John 14:6-9
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and {yet} you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how {can} you say, 'Show us the Father'?

Clearly Jesus is saying that if you have seen Him you have seen God the Father. A sane man could never truthfully make this claim.

Matthew 9:2-3
And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven."
And some of the scribes said to themselves, "This {fellow} blasphemes."

Luke 22:70
And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am."

Luke 5:21
The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this {man} who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?"

Forgiveness of sins belongs only to God. Sins are an affront to Him, and only He can forgive their commision. Were Jesus a man he would definately have been blaspheming at that moment.

John 8:52-59
The Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets {also;} and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.' Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out {to be?}"
Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God'; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw {it} and was glad."
So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.
(emphasis mine)

Confused? Let us go back to Exodus where God was talking to Moses out of the burning bush:

Exodus 3:13-14
Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Leviticus 24:16
'Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

I AM describes God, it is his name. He isn't a "was" or a "will be." Always God is I AM. At creation, I AM. At the flood, I AM. At the birth of Christ, I AM. At the end of time, I AM. Everything physical is God's creation. He is above it, beyond it, He is NOT a part of it. He is I AM. For Jesus to say "I am" was a very, very clear statement that he was claiming divinity. He could not be a "good moral teacher."

Now perhaps someone can have saving faith in Christ and yet reject Genesis. I doubt that these two could go together, but I don't reject the idea. I know that Genesis is true, so the person in question is still wrong, but they may be saved. Thus I do not come out and say that Schweitzer cannot possibly be a Christian, I simply doubt that she can truly be a spokeswoman for Christians. She serves much better as a method of placing up strawmen arguments such as "science versus religion." You can find many accredited scientists who disagree with Schweitzer and are not "hijacking" her reasearch. You could say they're hijacking God's creation to prove their ludicrious theory if you wanted to have fun. :-)

None of this was surprising to me or unexpected. It was merely an interesting note within a fascinating (once you get past the millions of years old crap) article.

~Matt

Long Nights

Today I work until 22:00 and tomorrow until 23:oo. But the good news is that after that next week should be great. Two days off and three days only working until 17:00. Tonight, however, is the time my parents arrive. They've been down at my brother's place in Tennessee for a couple weeks and now they're coming up to Kentucky to visit for a couple weeks. It will be great to see them. In college I came home every few months, but I've not seen them in over a year at this time.

~Matt

Indonesia Earthquake

You'll have to click on the screenshot to see greater detail and to make sense of what I'm saying (if you're in Firefox just open it in a new tab). I woke up this morning (after falling asleep early last night) and looked at the news section of my Google toolbar. I immediately noticed that there had apparently been a large earthquake in Indonesia. It wasn't until I looked a bit closer that I saw the whole story.

As is normal with disasters such as this (look at the 2004 Tsunami or Hurrican Katrina--though thankfully numbers went down with the latter) initial reports are almost always incomplete, especially in countries closer to Third World status.

Sidenote: These terms are holdovers from the Cold War. First World refers to the anti-communist Western allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, etc... Second World refers to the Soviet Union and its allies and satellites. The Third World are all of the other nations of the world, usually impoverished and battlegrounds in the Cold War.

The initial reports from 11 hours ago say 15 dead with hundreds wounded. By nine hours ago another news source was reporting 50 dead. Not a huge jump and not as big of a disaster as is now apparent. Especially with the recent Tsunami death toll this must not seem like a great deal in Indonesia. But, the numbers were nowhere near complete.

As of five hours ago estimates had jumped to 1,300 dead. Finally the death toll now stands at 2,700. I'm sure that it will probably rise from there as the bodies are counted (and this time there shouldn't be too many missing as there were none washed out to sea).

It is at times like this that we can bemoan what sin has brought to this world. Yes, people die every day and many more than this. However, they are not concentrated in one place, are thus ignored by the media, and so we seldom think about it. We don't think about the thousands of babies murdered in China (or even the United States), or the hundreds dying of starvation in Africa, or dying in genocidal campaigns in the Sudan.

When God created the world, "it was good." There was no sin, no disease, no suffering. It is the legacy of Adam and Eve that we now live in this cursed world of sin and suffering. But God is so glorious, for one day he will burn away all sin and create a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no sin, no suffering, no crying. 'Tis truly a great day to look forward to, and every day like this should remind me that something better lies ahead.

~Matt

Lost (spoilers) Quarters

Well yesterday at work I couldn't stop thinking about the finale of Lost. Just as it did last season I was engrossed the entire way through, though several times I looked down at my watch because we had seen so much I figured that it must be the end--but it never was. Yes there are many jarring parts about the show, especially how many main characters have died or disappeared. However, I believe that this truly is one of the strengths of the show. Besides the biggest of the main characters the show isn't completely dependent on the cast (and now with the big three of Kate, Jack, and Sawyer captured who knows what is next?). Characters aren't killed off or written out because they want to leave but because the producers believe that is the direction the story needs to go.

Authors can and sometimes do do this--perhaps not as often as would be refreshing (for they maintain popular characters)--kill of actors to satisfy the plot over love for characters; but most television shows are built around the main characters. We don't have much suspense because the main characters always live--unless they don't, and we know becuase the actor/actress usually blabs beforehand, or some media outlet reports the news. Before you can say "Jack-be-nimble" the news is all over and you can't avoid it even if you try your darndest. On Lost though, four main characters have been killed, two are missing (dead?), and two have left the island.

Besides all of the convoluted connections between each of the characters (and I only keep them straight by referring to Wikipedia pages after the shows air) this show reminds me of life. The characters are real, and the writers feel free to poke fun at themselves or address seemingly obvious dilemas that fans have questioned. Oh, and as much as I love Star Trek I'm quite glad there aren't any redshirts around! ;-)

Well that was all of the good news, now for the quite bad. Some *insert rude unprintable descriptive language here* person at the corporate offices have declared in their infinite wisdom that the quarter devices need to be removed from all carts at bigg's. We have no idea why this idea is being implemented. Yes, I will miss my quarter money dearly (though I won't miss seeing the old guy who comes in to loot the carts each day), but there is more to this than that.

Once before this store removed the quarter locks because customers were complaining about frozen locks in the dead of winter. Pretty soon they were complaining even louder that the locks were gone--so they came back and have been on the carts since. The customers (except for a couple grumpy out-of-staters who are too impatient) like the system. It does serve to keep the lot remarkably clear of carts (even when we can't get out right away to pull carts in) and makes our job easier as people return their carts to the cart corrals. Furthermore removing this system will make it much more difficult to bring carts in. No longer will we be able to pull in rows by hand--without them being hooked together this will be sadly impossible. We will have to use the mechanical cart caddy or work in pairs.

I am a supervisor at the museum, and I am a grunt at bigg's. I know how both ends of the spectrum work. I've seen stupid bosses and stupid employees--and dealt with both. However, I would really like to kick that *more unprintable descriptive language here* out of his corporate office and bring him down to my store. I'd then shove him out into the lot for a few days, then take off all of the quarter locks and see how he reacts--I think he might change his tone quite quickly.

Needless to stay I'm not going to be too happy at bigg's in the future. I've even less reason to stick around than I did in the past. I need to get even more serious about searching for a better job than I have been. Additionally I'm going to hold on to my May quarters for now until I figure out what I'm going to do. I might save them for going camping later this summer, or I might just spend them after all.

~Matt

PS I fell asleep when I was almost done with this. It should have been posted within a few mintues of the Lewis and Clark post, but ended up waiting until I woke back up a couple minutes ago and finished the typing.

Lewis and Clark

If you can catch this on IMAX then you need to! I just saw this tonight at the museum and it was spectacular. It features a reenactment of the famous expedition
along with superb narration by Jeff Bridges (brother of Beau Bridges). Most of the film is covered by the narration, with little spoken dialogue from the characters--it does not suffer for this however.

The narration is historical, but remains true to the 1800s. It doesn't make modern comparisons (except to say "at the site of present ________, South Dakota/Montana/etc...") and remains engaging. The music is inspiring and always an excellent accompaniment to the action on the screen. And on the screen, wow...

Yes, I've traveled through much of the American west--and up into the Canadian Rockies. However, I have not managed to see all of the spectacular sights you will glimpse in this movie. Think of the breathtaking panoramic shots of characters in the first Narnia and first Lord of the Rings movies--now multiply those scenes by ten and you'll come close to what is in this film.

Yes, it is an IMAX film, so it is only about forty-five minutes long, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of those minutes. If you cannot see this in IMAX, then try to find it at the library or elsewhere. If you're at all interested in history and enjoy great scenery then you cannot help but enjoy this. At this moment I believe that this is truly the best IMAX production that I've seen.

~Matt

Longe Time Gone

I won't be home much of the day today. I work 09:00-17:00 at bigg's, then I leave immediately from there to the Museum where I work until 23:00. It should be a long day as a result, but I'm off tomorrow until the late afternoon when I go into the museum again. On a positive note it is almost that time of the month where I cash in my quarters! :-)

~Matt

A Good Day (no spoilers)

Overall today wasn't bad at all. Sure I was at work for eight hours, but I pretty much got done what needed to get done and I got some good exercise in. I wish there was a way to compare what my arm and/or other muscle strength is now compared to three months ago before I started this job. I know that I've definately lost weight. Though college I weighed about 180-190 lbs. Now I'm about 160, and I know it didn't happen before this job. Pants that fit me perhaps a bit snugly a while ago, but still well enough are now quite loose. At one time I was wearing 36, now I think 32s are in order--because most of my pants that are now loose are 34. I'm not obesessing over the weight or anything, but 'tis nice to know that I'm healthier now. That is the one good aspect of this job--exercise that I normally wouldn't go out and seek on my own.

Well I came home to find that my book had arrived. Which book? I'm glad you asked. Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. I must apologize though, the Amazon page doesn't have much really. I would link to the order page on the main Schlock site, but alas orders aren't being accepted yet. I preordered my book and as a result it was signed! :-) But you can't make regular orders yet--I'm not sure when, but it might not be until all of the preorders have been shipped, including the sketch editions. I headed down to the library after work and read the book. Sure I'd read them before, but it was still great! There was some new content, plus it was printed on glossy pages in beautiful crystal clear colour. Ahhh... 'Tis a sight to behold. I'll definately be ordering the next book when it comes out.

My only complaint is that the book starts in 2003, while the strip started in 2000. The artist (Howard Taylor) believes that before that date his art was truly horrible. I'll definately admit that it isn't nearly as good as it is now--he has greatly improved over the years. However, the storylines were still awesome, regardless of artistic quality. You can't beat the opening strip for impact! Click on that one link if not any others, please? Well at the point at which the book starts (if I recall correctly) Howard basically reset the strip in some ways. He didn't restart the storyline, but he included many recaps and other devices to make the previous sections superficially unnecessary. *shrugs* I'm just a story nut. I want to someday have all of Schlock printed and bound for my reading pleasure. Hopefully eventually Howard will agree. :)

Then tonight after I came back from the library I watched the two hour season finale of Lost. Yet again I was amazed. I was left with many moments of "ohhh!" and "wow!" I did recognize a couple of the actors from prior appearances, but one actress I think I must have seen in another show because she doesn't show up online as having guest starred on Lost before. But great acting from all concerned.

There were also many, many questions. I am continually amazed at how the producers steer this show onward (as of the finale it has been about 65 days since the plane crash in the pilot episode) and it changes, yet it remains intriguing. I'll definately admit that they could have kept to the somewhat simple survivors of a plane crash motif of season one and it could have become stale. Or they could have gone too crazy and totally changed the show. It has definately changed, never stagnated, and yet remained fascinating and utterly addicting! I can't wait for season three, but I must. I definately won't preorder the season this time as I'll just have to wait for it to arrive. I'll just save my money and go buy it once it comes out. Perhaps with a coupon at Borders...*shrugs* We'll see.

~Matt

PS Well great news on the Schlock front. I might have missed something, but this book won't be the first forever! Here is the post if you're interested.

Q: Will you ever put the first 1000 strips in print?
A: Absolutely. Pending the success of Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between (the book we plan to ship in November 2006), I’ll start work on Schlock Mercenary: Step Away From The Tub of Happiness sometime in January of 2007. That volume and its companion (currently untitled) will be much larger than the current books. Hopefully by November of 2007 we’ll have all 1000 early strips packed into two books. I don’t know what the price will be yet, and I’m not going to pre-announce anything else about this project until I’ve got a solid handle on SM:TBB.

Sunset

Yeah, I was a bit late getting up this morning. I didn't sleep in too late, but more than I like to. I had to rush a bit more than is normal, and I wasn't able to read my comics or webcomics as I normally would.

The day didn't go that badly at work though, rather well in fact. Sometimes it seemed to speed past actually. The best part was at the end of the day. It was quite nice to walk out to my car in the light. I haven't been working extra late shifts lately--but I just appreciated going home before the sun set tonight.

~Matt

Follow the White Rabbit

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

~Matt

Guten morgen

Yes, this is morning. No the cock hasn't crowed yet, but 'tis after midnight. Technically that is all that counts--naysaers like Chris aside (who insists it isn't morning until you wake up). I find myself staying up late because I want several hours to relax after coming home from work--like a normal evening. But to do that I have to stay up late. This works okay because I don't go in early later today so I can sleep in a bit--but not too much or I won't have time for anything before work. If anyone is reading this soon after I post it then, good morning! Buenos dias!

~Matt

The Spanish American War

Today I had an idea for a short story, but I'm forcing myself not to think about it. I have a science-fiction short story in the works--technically the third in my sci-fi universe, but if I can get writing it and finish it, hopefully it will be the first finished that I'm satisfied with. The first was produced in high school and essentially created my universe. The second was written in college and based off a series of short segments (one to two sentences) that I randomly wrote and selected. I enjoy it, but I need to extensively polish it. Anyway, I'm trying to force myself to work on Tassia's Story to the exclusion of other projects, so I'm going to limit myself to blogging about this new idea instead of working on it right now.

I've always been fascinated by American history, but especially the various wars in our past. Like it or not wars are a natural part of the (fallen) human condition. Man always fights wars--there is no utopia where men are always peaceful (unless they're brain dead). My favourite genres are science-fiction and fantasy. I define science-fiction as taking place in a future extrapolated from the real world and usually involving superior technology (sometimes technological regression is involved, but usually starting from a tech base more advanced than today). Fantasy takes place in a completely fictional world, most often includes magic, and may contain races coequal with humanity (i.e. not aliens from another world). There are some universes that don't quite work. Terry Brooks technically wrote science-fiction with Shannara since it is in our future--but aside from that one fact it is pure fantasy.

In the course of writing fantasy I like to keep a low tech base--what was available in ancient and/or medieval times. However, I will borrow from around the world and occasionally from upstream in the timeline, if I can justify the development at an earlier time in this new timeline. The cooperative fantasy universe I've developed with Miah has Elves, which I control. One segment of the Elves resemble Europeans in some ways, and they have kingdoms next to a place of religious significanace, like the crusader kingdoms in medieval Palestine.

However, today I had another thought, primarily because the old books I've been reading lately (like America Across the Seas) were written in the aftermath of the Spanish American War. What if I had two medieval/fantasy kingdoms (others are around--I don't especially like worlds that are too simplistic--look at medieval Europe and the dozens upon dozens of principalities). One is a young kingdom (no republics or democracies hereabouts) with heavy reliance on trade--the other is a declining empire that depended on conquest to maintain its opulence. (Yes, America and Spain, different.) For whatever reason (a problem with a ship similar to the Maine incident in Havana?) the two nations go to war and the younger kingdom is victorious. As a result the kingdom takes control of various colonial possessions. This is all fairly straightforward--basically what actually happened in real history.

But here comes the twist. How would a medieval nation treat natives such as Native Americans or Caribbean Natives? Then after they had colonized the lands of these natives how would another kingdom act when it came in? We know that the Vikings were driven out of North America by the Indian tribes--and the Vikings weren't poor fighters. Obviously I'm proposing that the kingdoms in question have more resources than the Vikings did, and better access to their home countries. However, there would be much less of a technological advantage than even that which Cortes had over the Aztecs.

I'm not sure how to approach this topic, or what would happen in such a story. But I'm going to throw the idea out there in case anybody wants to drop me a reply. If not I'll still be happy though--just because this is here I might be inspired to revisit this idea in the future.

~Matt

World Factbook

Well I'm off on a history/geography kick lately, and it shows no signs of abating, thankfully! Today I discovered that the CIA had recently (April 5th, but I don't check their site frequently) updated their World Factbook with its 2006 edition. I'm not sure when I first came across this wonderful resource, but it might have been as far back as 2000 when I was just starting college.

The factbook is excellent. Whatever you might think of the CIA regarding their intelligence gathering abilities or tendency to leak information this is still something good that they do. From what I understand the World Factbook was originally produced for government employees to provide a simple one-stop shopping experience for information about countries around the globe. You won't find much exposition here, but many, many detailed statistics from each and every country around the world.

Best of all the information is electronic so it can be updated several times a year without the expense of a new printing. I've been downloading each new version as it is released for several years now--I actually keep them all on my hard drive so that I can compare them if I want to (somewhat like my hobby of collecting old atlases).

Since this information is produced by a government agency it is not under copywright restrictions. Thus if you cruise through Wikipedia much you may notice that many of the information in country profiles there comes from the World Factbook.

Here is a sample from the article on Guernsey, one of the channel islands belonging to Great Britain. Small entries like this that deserve to be separate from the main country but aren't actually independent are often included in the factbook. I've only included some isolated selections from the entire page.

Background:
The island of Guernsey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Dukedom of Normandy, which held sway in both France and England. The islands were the only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II. Guernsey is a British crown dependency, but is not part of the UK.

Population:
65,409 (July 2006 est.)

Age Structure:
0-14 years: 15% (male 4,998/female 4,842)
15-64 years: 67.1% (male 21,752/female 22,170)
65 years and over: 17.8% (male 4,926/female 6,721) (2006 est.)

You can learn what drives the economies of various nations, how many television stations they have, what religions/languages are prevalent, how big their militaries could be, and many other fun things. It was from this publication that I first learned that there is officially now a fifth ocean. The Southern Ocean surrounds Antartica out to 60 degrees south latitude.

~Matt

Montenegro

I love maps. Unless this is your first time here that can't be a surprise to you, ;-). Well I also enjoy tracking changes in maps. I own a massive National Geographic world map that hung on the wall of my bedroom at my parents house (until my dad and I built a floor-to-ceiling bookcase along that wall that is). I couldn't afford to go out and buy a new map each time something changed (and anyway the first was purchased at some sort of fair that we never went to again). I would instead write corrections on small pieces of paper and tack them to the map.

At the time I removed the map from the wall I know that I had several, Hong Kong's return to China in 1997, Maccau's return to China in 1999, Canada's new province Nunavut in 1999.

Other items I look for are Czechoslovakia (it broke up in 1993), Zaire (the name changed back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997), Timor-Leste's independence in 2002, South Vietnam, and now it appears Montenegro.

European maps were so simple before World War I. The west of the continent was basically the same as it is today, with the exception of the British Isles where the Irish gradually gained their independence. In the east though it was much simplier than today (not that I'm complaining exactly, I know all of the modern nations, and they're interesting) with the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire. Then came the imperial break-ups at the end of the "War to End All Wars" and maps have never been the same since.

Yugoslavia did simplify the Balkans for many years, but of course that was too good to last, and it eventually broke up following the demise of the Soviet Empire. However, the nation still persisted as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which consisted of former Socialist republics Montenegro and Serbia. In 2003 this nation changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro, a looser confederation. The time might have finally come for that to end. Montenegrans have apparently voted by a "slim margin" to sever their ties with Serbia and establish full independence. I'm not sure exactly what it will mean for the country, but on the map front I'm excited.

When you look back over the later part of the twentieth century there weren't that many significant changes to atlases. Yes, you did have the break-up of the Soviet Union, but there wasn't much else. When governments change (such as in Iraq following the downfall of Saddam Hussein) this fact doesn't register on the physical map of the nation. It isn't as easy to identify modern maps as it is to easily date something to a period of European colonization or before, during, or after WWII. The more changes there are, like Montenegro (and perhaps Kosovo in the future?) the more interesting things are for map followers.

~Matt

PS It is official. All new maps that you have are officially out of date. :-) I wonder how long until someone publishes an updated one actually... I'm also looking forward to the updated CIA World Factbook entry.

America Across the Seas

This is a book that I purchased recently on eBay. I don't frequent that site too much anymore as I am trying to watch my money, but once in a while I can find excellent deals. I am always trying to find more Atlases (and now other books) published by Hammond. In older books the publisher is listed as C. S. Hammond, later Hammond Incorporated.

As I'm sure I've mentioned here before (probably several times) I love old atlases. Until recently I didn't have any from much before World War II--one of my prized possesssions was a 1939 Hammond World Atlas. Over the course of the past year and a half I've bought a few Hammond atlases on eBay, America Across the Seas being the latest one. I've concentrated on the earliest part of the twentieth century (the company was started sometime betewen 1900 and 1910 I believe) as I have several atlases from the sixties through eighties. There is just something different about holding actual antique maps versus looking at modern representations of old maps.

This particular volume contains not only maps of American overseas possessions, but articles on each region. Published in 1909 it deals primarily with territories gained from Spain in the war of 1898. The Philippines, Guam, Porto [sic] Rico, and Cuba are all featured prominantely. Other than that you'll read about other Pacific Islands, Hawaii, and Alaska--the last two of course weren't states yet. In fact at the time Oklahoma was the most recent state of 46. I've just started to read this book and I'm definately enjoying the time spent.

It is definately recognizable as an old book, with constructions and formality no longer commonly seen. I can't describe exactly how it is written, but I especially appreciate the rich descriptive language. However, the attitudes of the day are obvious, that of the natural superiority of the civilized white settler and what he can do for the primitive natives. This is to be expected and it doesn't especially bother me. Perhaps I'm just a racist white man, but I like to think that I enjoy historical books for what they are--relics from another time, not products of a modern politically correct environment.

The mountains have a charm all their own and are much less known than the lower altitudes. Sometimes, above one thousand five hundred feet, their vast flanks are dotted with innumerable groves of great pines. Again on their mist-clad summits the trails will lead through dense forests where enormous vines coil like huge pythons about the giant trees, and creepers and parasites and flowering orchids innumerable make a fantastic paradise of the woods. And if on the trail one meets a native, or a party of fifty, they pass the time of day with such gifts as may be handy, perhaps an offer of tobacco, and a long-worded and usually difficult attempt to explain routes and distances. While, if one comes at night to a solitary dwelling, the woman of the house cheerfully sacrifices her last chiclen to set up a feast for the stranger. One could, if necessary, travel from north to south in the islands subsisting entirely upon the bounty of the native people, whether the civilized natives or the pagan wild tribes. I have never heard of any instance in which the natives have refused to extend hospitality where on any pretext it could be offered.

~Matt

Take the Red Pill

Have you ever felt as though you want to wake up from a dream, but you're actually awake? Life at times has felt like that for me. I was reminded of that a bit tonight. Recently I had a hankering to watch The Matrix, but both of the library copies were due a couple months ago and haven't yet been returned--so I eventually gave up hope there. I went to Amazon and purchased a used DVD for only a couple dollars (but of course I had to pay shipping). Still, it was a better price than it would have been most places. I watched it tonight, though since the big screen was being used I had to settle for my laptop screen with headphones. Somehow I managed.

Did I mention yesterday's book sale? It was great fun. While I only spent $11.00, I found some great books--besides just the kids books. Though I did enjoy finding good kids books, and I almost hated to give them to my nerfs. I think that at the next sale I'll be looking for really good books for myself that I can keep to start my own kids library--since I think my parents will keep my youngest kids books for when grandkids visit.

One is an early twentieth century (mid forties) copy of Two Years Before the Mast which I've never read--but I know it is somewhat of a classic. I do this sometimes, buy books I might not read for a while--but ones that I might read eventually. Another is a view of Japan written in 1938. This will be especially valuable as a primary source (or very close secondary source) someday if I can ever get back into the history profession or history classes as a student.

Additionally I can't go wrong getting old books for such cheap prices. :-) Now I'm up to over 430 books in my database. I need to update my library site soon.

For some time I've been avoiding Star Trek novels. If I ever go back to common-universe novels I'll get caught up with Star Wars first. It isn't that the ST series don't have good authors, but they're so constrained because there has to be a reset button at the end of each book--or the textual equivalent. Once I started reading real sci-fi I became bored with these books. I did buy one yesterday [Thursday] though, it is an Enterprise novel. I want to make sure when I line up all my Star Trek novels on a bookshelf someday that I have at least one Enterprise book up there, even if the series was cut tragically short.

Well now that I'm not writing on such a tight timeframe I think it is definately time that I get back trying to update a minimum of once a day. I'm going to try to be better to make each entry distinct and interesting. I think that if I have multiple entries per day I'll space them out (as I've done) and try to make one or two exclusively about things I've been thinking about (such as politics or literature) and not about life. I'll see how this goes--perhaps it is all a late night pipe dream stimulated by too little sleep, ;-). Speaking of that I should post this so that I at least have the opportunity to hit the sack.

~Matt

PS Aunt Bee, I've been told the above still is from your favourite scene.

Finished

Well I finally finished my Superheroes episode. It ended up being 7,800 words long--and several of the later segments had either scenes I'd planned on cut, or were just shorter than I'd intitially envisioned. I even went so far yesterday as to not bring a book with me to work so that I would have to write during my breaks. It went well until I ended up talking to Miah late last night and then fell asleep writing. I woke up this morning and had everything done in a couple of hours.

Today I also went to the Covington branch of the Kenton County Library for the first time--they're having a book sale today through Saturday--but I'm working both tomorrow and Saturday nine through five. I spent eleven dollars and came home wth about twenty books--but several were children's books that I bought for my nerfs--five in all. I also bought a couple children's books for myself and several WWII era volumes. It was a good trip, but very light on the sci-fi/fantasy unfortunately.

~Matt

Rain, Rain

Come again tomorrow as I'm not working! :-) Normally I'd be sad about missing work on Sunday (we get an extra $1.50 per hour) but on the other hand it is Mother's Day and promises to be a very busy day at the store. So in the balance it isn't a bad day to have off. We'll see how much of that cheerful attitude I have when my paycheck comes though, ;-).

Today it didn't rain much, only a very few, very light drizzles through the morning. Then after 15:00 it started to rain hard at one point, but then only lightly for a while. I went out without a jacket and didn't really get very wet, I was certainly dry by the time that I left at 17:00. I even had my window down when I was on surface streets driving home.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before here (but I think that I have)--but now that I'm working outside I don't like rain so much unless it is a day off! :-) With any other job I could love the city of Seattle with all of the rain it gets--or even parts of Hawaii. Moving through or driving through rain is different than working in it, pulling rows of carts through a parking lot pocketed with deep puddles.

~Matt

Superhero

I'll be honest. This is simply a placeholder post because I'm too busy to actually post but I want to "post" before midnight. I've been busy writing my next episode of Superheroes to do much else on the computer.

~Matt

Pirates of the Spanish Main

Um, yeah...I'm hooked. The only problem is getting my nephews reliably hooked as well so I have some competition. The game is a tabletop miniatures game, but the miniatures in question are tiny pirate ships that you punch out of cards. Thes ships can be disassembled and put back into the cards for easy storage. It may not sound like much fun from that description, but I've enjoyed it so far.

You can see the official site for the game at this link. Check it out! The ships actually look quite cool when they're put together. I even had an error in one of the packs I bought, so I looked through the site to see what I had to do. I was informed that I needed to mail in the parts in question and I would recieve a replacement pack. When I want to write down the address I saw with surprise that it was in Cincinnati! I'm hoping that I won't have much of a delay in getting my new parts as even the USPS can't screw up the delivery that much. *crosses fingers and fervently hopes Murphy stays away*

Well today I slept in. Then this morning I finished compiling files for the Superheroes story. I've put all the current stories (not all of which are on the blog yet) into a Word document. I even printed them out. At 103 pages it took a while! Back when my friend Miah started this project I never imagined that we would still be going this much later and with this much text. By the way, in that total realize that each episode starts on a separate page (I'm currently writing number sixty), but that the font size is 10 point!

I so much enjoy writing these stories because you get to play around with characters that you and others have created. It is great to see how other people treat situations. Sometimes you might not like it at first, but several ideas I'd have never thought of have really grown on me. Well I really need to get back to the writing of that episode. I meant to go to the library for a while to work on it today, but I was stuck watching nerfs most of the day and couldn't get away. Oh well...I'll live. It looks though as my next day off won't be until next Thursday. *sigh* I'll have to suffer through seven straight days of labor. At least I'll have different schedules on some days so it won't all be the same.

~Matt

Tired

If anybody besides the future me (and he does count) cares I apologize for the lack and brevity of posts recently. Yesterday I was quite busy with the Superheroes story and today I was at work too long. The other guy working today has to leave early on Tuesdays anyway (so he starts early) but today he left two hours earlier than normal, so I had to do both carts and housekeeping for seven instead of just five hours. Let me tell you, that makes a difference. I was at work 36 minutes late just to get the lot looking pretty good, and I didn't even clear quite everything. I realized that if I tried to get everything I wouldn't leave until 23:00 and I didn't think they wanted to pay me that much. Right now I'm tired, and with apologizes must end this post. I think I can get back on track tomorrow with my last day off of the week.

~Matt

Um, this is an update, right?

I went to first service this morning and then went in to work. I haven't had any time for the promised pictures of free comics or any descriptions of such. Right now I'm going to try to read for just a bit and then go to sleep. However, I am off again tomorrow, so I can sleep in!! :-)

~Matt

Free Comic Book Day

Well I want to type more, but I'm a bit caught up in my book right now. I'm reading Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card. It is quite fascinating. I was intrigued when I read the back cover, and continued to be interested as I got into the first few chapters. It is contemporary fiction, and promises on the back to turn into horror/thriller. It doesn't disappoint, but it was so delightful that the back didn't have any real spoilers. I couldn't see what was going to happen based on what I read there, which I was quite thankful once I realized the real point of the book.

I'll post pictures from today in a bit. None from the actual day since I didn't take my camera with me, but of some of the stuff that I procured today. 'Twas good.

~Matt

400

Yes, I finally have 400 books entered into my book database program. I use the book collector program at Collectorz.com. You can download a free trial that lets you enter up to 100 books. I did this a while ago and soon realized that I needed to have the full program so I bought it long before I'd entered 100 books. ;-) One of the benefits of the professional version is that you can export to html. You can see my library here on my website. I don't have the 400 book version converted to html yet, so the list you'll see via the link is a bit out of date.

These 400 books are merely a fraction of all the books that I own. I conservatively estimate that I own 1,000-1,200 books (possibly as many as 1,500?). However, most of them are burried in my storage unit where I cannot get to them easily. Last summer I removed a couple boxes to enter into the program. I've also entered the few books that I've pulled individually out of my storage unit and the many books that I've bought since moving to Kentucky. So the 400 aren't just the ones I've bought or anywhere near my true total.

I'm really looking forward to the day that I have every one of my books entered and can download my list to a handheld computer (like a Palm). Then when I go to a bookstore or a used book sale I'll know exactly which books I already own! I'll even know the format and condition of my books so I'll know if I need to get a new version (say it is the only book of the series I have in paperback and I find a hardcover at a book sale). I wish I'd found this a couple years ago so that all my books could have been entered before I moved, but alas that didn't happen.

Well I'm off to the museum in a few minutes, so I'll have to keep this short and fairly close to on-topic. I was off today and I'm off tomorrow. It is wonderful to sleep in finally! :-) Today was a day to pay bills. I also transfered some money into savings (it has been too long since I've been able to do that!) and wrote out a tithe check (I'd been saving money from the past few pay checks so I didn't have to write many tithe checks--I don't write very many checks at all actually).

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! I apologize for not blogging about this sooner. If you have the time check out the site tonight and find a store near you. Go! Participating stores will have free comics and some even have other events going on. I'm planning to take a couple of my nephews along. It should be great fun. I'll be wearing my Schlock Mercenary T-shirt. :-)

~Matt

The Mothman Prophecies

I'm not sure where I stand with the "horror" genre of movies. I enjoy M. Night Shaymalan's movies as well as Hitchcock's Psycho and The Birds. I also enjoyed watching The Mothman Prophecies this evening. On the other hand such movies as the Texas Chainsaw Massacres don't look interesting at all. I watched The Ring and The Grudge, but those were a bit too intense for me, with no real hope.

I'm usually on the edge of my seat, and have to force myself not to pause the movie if I'm watching it via DVD. I enjoy the suspense, the director's attempts to scare you. But I don't want to be "gored" to death with blood and guts or watch something where an unstoppable force of evil murders everyone. If you know from the first few minutes that a character can walk out a door without being jumped by an axe murderer then I'd say the movie has hope. If you're in suspense, but your imagination doesn't adapt the plot into fourteen new ways to die before the next morning, it has hope. I enjoy a movie with suspense, but hope.

The Mothman Prophecies was recommended by Miah in a conversation where we discussed the different horror/suspense movies we'd seen. He thought that I'd enjoy it--so I checked the movie out from the library and tonight I finally watched it. He was right. It was suspenseful and I actually did have to pause it to go watch CSI, but it was good. I enjoyed the ride through the story, even with all of the unanswered questions left...

~Matt

PS CSI was good--again different from normal, but definately quite enjoyable.

CSI

Well tonight a new episode of CSI is on, and I'm home to watch it! Yeah! I still enjoy CSI, years after I started watching it. This season has been especially good with several episodes that tweaked the normal formula and brought out the character's personalities and quirks. I'm speaking here of the original CSI, set in Las Vegas.

For a while I watched CSI: New York and CSI: Miami, but I've since given up on both. At first it was enjoyable to watch the new cities and new cast members, but earlier this year I realized how far the two "sequels" are in quality from the original. I don't know so much that it is the fault of the actors, mainly I think it is the writers (though I do like the Las Vegas actors best). I can't quite put my finger on specifics, but the writing is always weaker on NY and Miami. They make mistakes, rush things, or always have suspects confess to wrap up the case. Even with things like the "mole in the department" thread on Miami I found myself becoming less and less interested in the two shows. Finally I gave up on them altogether. I haven't watched a new or old episode of either show for probably two months now, and I'm not missing them at all! Now the Las Vegas show on the other hand I plan to keep watching as long as it is made--assuming that it doesn't jump the shark.

~Matt

Steps

Don't ask me why I was thinking about it, but today I realized that I never walk up stairs one at a time. I'm not sure when I stopped, though it was probably quite some time ago. Everytime that I go up a set of stairs I either bound up two at a time (frequently the case here at home) or I walk, but still two steps at a time minimum. Perhaps it is a sign of my general impatience, but I simply cannot stand walking up stairs one at a time. If I am trapped on a set of stairs behind someone dawdling I will slow down, but still go up two at a time if it is at all possible.

I just finished watching tonight's episode of Lost and just in case anyone from the West Coast is reading this I'll refrain from any spoilers, but wow... If you watched the last new episode you'll know that Michael is back. I think that it feels much like the absence of Claire felt like last season with all of the reruns--it seems like he has been gone for much longer than he has been in show or even episode time. Arg, I don't want to say any more at all for fear I might inadvertently spoil something. I'll simply say that the flashbacks are of Ana Lucia and we learn quite a bit, quite a bit.

Oh, and if you tune out during commercials, don't! There is one that you won't want to miss!

~Matt

Long Day

I only worked a normal eight hour shift, but still it felt like it was much longer. There were two of us for my first three hours only, then it was just me for the rest. I don't mind the reverse of this when it is just me for the first five or six hours of the day, because I know that even if I get behind on carts someone will be in later. In the evening though like today it can get bad because there are multiple demands on my time and such things don't overlap too well temporally. However, I manged to pretty much get everything done (I had someone else complete a couple tasks) by 22:00, so I'm doing okay now. I'm must enjoying my well earned rest--until it is time to sleep once again. Tomorrow thankfully I'll be working an earlier (but not early) shift that will get me home just in time to watch Lost!

~Matt

People

...are stupid. A person may be smart, but people are stupid. So says me. Feel free to disagree, but you're wrong. ;-)

Just take any random sampling of people, say the people you'll see in eight hours if you hang out at a grocery store (the time and setting are of course chosen randomly in my example!). The sheer amount of stupidity, selfishness, and orneriness (defined quite aptly by WordWeb as "Meanspirited disagreeable contrariness") that you'll see are enough to destroy any lingering belief in the inherent goodness of man.

When I arrived today I spotted a man that I've come to quite dislike over the past month or so. He is an older man, in his seventies or eighties. He comes in and wanders the lot just so he can pop quarters out of carts. Now as a carts employee I get to keep all of the quarters that I find. I understand that people will occasionally find an accessible cart with a quarter in it and will use it or pop the quarter out. The purely selfish part of me would prefer I be the only one to find these carts, but I understand it. On the other hand I take a very strong dislike to anyone deliberately driving to the store just to pop quarters from carts. They're not exactly like tips, but they're part of the reason I stick with this job. The extra money is nice!

Furthermore I'm convinced that the man knows exactly what he is doing and that it is wrong. If I'm out in the lot (I'm not allowed to kick him out because that was tried before and he produced a reciept proving he was a legitimate customer) and walk towards him he looks at me and walks away. If he thought he was doing nothing wrong he would keep going, regardless if I was near or far. He can't just be avoiding me because of what I've done to him because I've never done anything to him. From what I've heard and seen he basically drives to the store (or is dropped off) just to pick up quarters--and sometimes he buys lottery tickets with the quarters. He might shop, but not most times--he is just coming to "quarter poach."

I remember years ago I was at the Tucson airport with a younger cousin. For some reason we were outside for quite a while so we started returning luggage carts. You rented these carts for $1.25 I believe and if you returned them to the collection area you recieved one quarter back. My cousin and I were returning these carts and keeping the carts when some employees chased us off and told us to stop. At the time I couldn't understand it--but I get it now. They probably were used to collecting the carts and keeping the quarters--much as I do today.

Well, back to generalities. Many people will deliberately ignore me when I'm forming up a line of carts (usually 12-17) to pull in and will walk across the aisle to put their cart in an empty cart corral. 'Tis only a few nice people that ask if I want the extra cart. Then we have the people that cannot be bothered to put a cart in behind the other eight carts and instead put it on its own right beside them. I don't think people ever think about how the carts get back to the front of the store unless they're invonvenienced by me pulling a row. That is another problem--momentum.

When I pull rows in I have to gain momentum, otherwise I'd be bent over double the whole time with the effort. Stopping mid-trip and restarting isn't exactly an attractive option. Therefore I consider that I have the ultimate right-of-way because of the necessity of momentum. I figure I wouldn't wreck a car, but do you want to see what crashing into a row of carts would do to your car? Trust me, a row of 16 carts isn't light!

I think my favourite have to be the deaf and blind people. I sincerely mean no offence to those actually deaf and/or blind. I refer to those people that slowly take their time procuring a cart from the space where I need to pull my big long row. I have to stop my row of carts as I try to pull them into the corral and wait while they slowly put in the quarter, detach their cart, and eventually (emphasis on the length of time implicit in the word eventually) move into the store with it. I've even seen them pull some trash out of a cart (I don't always have time to remove it--especially if it is in a cart in the middle of a row and I'm pulling them in quickly to clear the lot) and just drop it on the ground right in front of me. Oh, but don't forget Lowes.

Our store is right next door to a Lowes home improvement store. We technically don't share the same parking lot as their plot is slightly lower than ours and separated by a wide planter. This however doesn't stop customers from bringing Lowes carts into our lot and then leaving them in our cart corrals. Obviously I have nothing better to do than return carts to the other lot. I've wondered what such people would do if I showed up at their work and deliberately made things tougher for them.

Now to be fair some of the complaints above I would never have fathomed before I started this job. However, the fact that these might apply to me doesn't change the facts. I'm also a member of the fallen human race and heir to the same general stupidity as everyone else. I think we should stop speaking of common sense. Our vocabulary should morph into "uncommon sense" and "common stupidity." This would be much more accurate! I never thought about some of these things before, but I should have. I might wish I'd had a better full-time job for a while now, but the things I've learned at UPS and bigg's have been quite valuable, such as how I'll treat carts whenever I'm shopping from now on.

~Matt

Dreams

I had some of the strangest dreams last night and this morning. I had my alarm set for early this morning, but as I don't have to go into work until just past noon I actually reset it a couple times and hit snooze several more times. When I do this I'll fall back asleep, but when I do I very often have vivid semi-lucid dreams that I can recall for a little while when I actually wake up.

Unfortunately I didn't start typing this right away, so I do not recall much of my dreams. From what I can remember they were about two different resistance groups. They may have been based in the mountains. But the strange part was the application of dream logic. I think that I was involved with both groups somehow, even though they had completely different goals and may very well have been at odds. Yet while I was dreaming this made perfect sense and I went along great. *shrugs*

~Matt