Zel-kun’s Words

I bought the Beatles Album ‘Abbey Road’ yesterday.  Its pretty decent.  Not fantastic, but very good.  It has one of my favorites, ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ on it, so it was well worth the $11.99.  Any song that can be so melodical and upbeat about a serial killer is a damn good song in my book.

Yesterday I also saw the DaVinci Code.  It was a decent movie, though not great.  As far as a suspense, it certainly does its job, but a good suspense is only really good once.  After all, once you know what happens, what are you suspended about?  The movie did have one feature that would indeed make me watch it again, however:

Ian McKellen

Now, let’s forget for a moment that he played Gandalf, that’s NOT why I liked him in this movie.  No, he plays a pompous, witty, british scholar, who was both funny and interesting, unlike the rest of the cast, who seemed to be merely tools for the plot to be advanced.  Granted, it was a pretty good plot, but the characters really didn’t back it up.

I bought Dreamfall for the PC as well yesterday, but I returned it today.  After reading some reviews, I decided I’d at least wait for the game to hit the $20 shelf before picking it up.  While I was there, however, I did pick up the complete series of Wild Arms and Sakura Wars, both of which I have an incomplete VHS collection of.  Only set me back $70, too.  Its often a good thing I tend to like unpopular anime.

This leads me to look at me anime collection, and the fact that I now have five seperate anime SERIES still in cellophane.  I haven’t watched any anime in ages, so its probably time I sat down and started ripping off Cellophane.  Its bad enough I waste my money on anime, without it being anime I’ll never even watch.

Zel-kun out.

I have been going through my archives, which usually doesn’t turn up anything I didn’t expect.  This time was different, as I found maps I don’t remember making, outlines for stories I’ve completely changed since, and most importantly, Bowen Garamonde’s character sheet.

Now, for those who know me, Bowen Garamonde is my roleplaying name.  But, this is no ordinary character sheet, this is my original Warhammer character sheet, from my first tabletop roleplaying game, back from when I was eighteen.  So looking at it brings back fond memories of ages past.  But, more importantly, it brings riddles and odd looks from me as I gaze at the inventory list and wonder “what the hell was I on?”

Bowen’s Inventory (abbreviated):

1ft Jade Stick: increases range by 2DC (I have no idea what the hell that means)

Lycanthrope Wax Mold (ewha?)

3 Silver Pens (I have no idea)

Grave Dust (while I could say it was a reagent for a spell, I had a paladin, so I have no idea what Bowen was doing with the stuff.  I suspect he was snorting it)

Liat x20 (Umm…. what?)

Large Bottle of Gryphon Blood (while I remember killing a gryphon and putting its blood in a bottle, I can’t really determine why.  I think Bowen was secretly a vampire)

So, there’s some of the more bizarre items.  Also on the sheet is a giant mathematical addition and subtraction chain detailing exp gains and expendetures.  Warhammer really needed a simpler exp system.

In other news, people keep coming to my site looking for the oddest things, I submit to you, a few of my stats:

1     quotes about fake people
1     new wendy’s commercial song
1     ‘wendy’s magic carpet’ commercial
1     quotes from howl’s moving castle
1     how to insalt someone
1     new wendy’s commercial song magic carpet ride
1     final fantasy vii zack quotes
1     magic carpet wendy’s commercial
1     civilization iv copy
1     magic carpet ride wendy’s commercial
1     japanese restaraunts
1     magic carpet ride wendy’s

How to ‘INSALT?’  The hell?

And, my personal favorite, and it is my belief that programmers out there need to drop what they’re doing and make this game right now:

“The Legend Of Zel”

Yes, a game about me and my greatness, that would rock so hard.

And, lastly, but certainly not leastly, I have an announcement to make.  I am now dating a fiery redhead:

I think I could get used to putting pictures on this site.  It adds a bit of color and life to the page.  Welp, that’s all I have for now.

Zel-kun out.

I had lunch with Sean from TekSystems today, its pretty good to be back with the company.  Anyone that buys me a meal is okay in my book.  And over quesadillas and empanadas we discussed possible business opportunities.  Its seems I may have some good fortune coming my way, there may be some more jobs available after this one.  Oddly enough, one job available might be my old job at Nalco.

I have mixed feelings about this.  Of course, I’m happy because that would definitely mean some more steady work heading my way, but its not as technical a job as I would like.  But if its offered, I’ll definitely take it.  I’ve done worse things for a living and gotten paid less for it.  As much as I love not doing anything for a living, I love not feeling like an unemployed loser even more, so I’ll take the bad with the good.

Well, that’s it for now.

Zel-kun out.

I was watching television, as I have a tendency to do, and I see a commercial for Wendy’s.  Now, I happen to really like Wendy’s, as far as cheap fast food goes, they top my list.  I have gotten many chili lunches from there.  Anyhow, this commercial features a checkered tablecloth floating down the road.  Granted, it doesn’t make much sense, but commercials seldom do.  But it does this to ‘Magic Carpet Ride,’ one of my favorite songs.  But who do I hear singing it?  Not Steppenwolf, oh no, that would be to easy.  I hear some girl (don’t know who, even Wendy’s website and the ‘TV Commercial Music’ forums don’t know) on an acoustic guitar singing it, and badly (in my opinion) for that matter.  And, of course, emitting the lines ‘Close your eyes, girl, look inside, girl, let the sound take you away. (in my opinion, the coolest lines of the song)’

I ask this question: Why?  Why do I continually see the songs I love being bastardized?  Are classics not good enough?  Do these songs absolutely NEED to be revamped for our modern age?  Maybe I’m just being ornery, but its getting on my nerves.  Other examples include:

‘Yesterday’ as “improved” by 50 Cent

‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Jewel

‘Dream On’ (renamed ‘Sing With Me’, I believe) by Eminem

Covers should capture the sound and meaning of the original song, while adding a unique flair that only the covering band can provide.  It shouldn’t be reconstituted garbage.  I think of Guns and Roses cover of ’Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ and Metallica’s cover of ‘Turn the Page,’ these are covers that fans of the original song can listen to and say “That’s a new take on the song.”

Ah well, I’m just blowing off steam, really.

Zel-kun out.

The Knights of Arenelia had its first guild run last night.  Granted, it was only VC (killing VanCleef in the Deadmines, for those of you not in the know), but it was still a lot of fun.  It was the first ‘proper’ run I’ve done through the instance in quite some time.  Oftentimes, people like to breeze through there with a level 60 or two just clearing the way.  While this is undoubtedly easy, it is also very boring.  Our team of 18’s went through, almost wiped at VanCleef himself, and got some good loot out of it.

It reminds me of just how well done the early instances are.  They’re challenging for the level, and they can be done in about an hour and a half or so.  This, of course, contrasts greatly with mid-game instances (Zul-Farrak being at LEAST two hours, and Maraudon stretching to four or five) and end-game instances.  Also, there’s more of a linearity to the early instances.  If you’re assembling a run, its assumed you’re going to the end.  This is opposed to mid and end-game runs, where they may tackle one particular wing of a dungeon or one particular boss.  I feel that end-game could be drastically improved with a few smaller instances, allowing a team of 60’s to fight for some decent loot for an hour or two, without having to devote an entire day to it (some of us have jobs and lives, after all).

I plan on taking the guild on a few more VC runs during the week, to collect the rest of the valuable loot there, and hopefully Pete can pry himself away from work to come along.  We’ll probably take it slow next week, being as Paul will be in Vegas, but the week after will be Stockades week (not that there’s great loot there, but there are some quests there).

I’m proud of my little guild so far.  If this keeps up, we can be quite a formidable force of 60’s.

Zel-kun out.

Well, I’m working again, at least for the next couple of weeks.  While I have had a couple little gigs since Sentinel, this is the first time I’ve gotten some consistency, its nice to wake up and come to the office.  Its even nicer to know what to expect.  At Sentinel, each day was mysterious and chaotic, so while this job is a bit dull, its actually a happy change from what I’ve been doing.

I’m working for a company called Toyo Ink, who specialize in creating and supplying printing ink for big companies.  (magazines, newspaper, advertising firms, printing companies, etc)  My job: Scan a few thousand shades of color into a database, and verify the data.  Its not bad, its quiet, I have my own desk in the corner, and there’s a casual and friendly atmosphere about the place.  So for the next couple weeks, I have some steady income and some respectable work, score.

In other financial news, Sentinel tried to fight my claim for unemployment.  Fortunately, after interviewing me, Uncle Sam ruled in my favor.

I have been getting back into World of Warcraft as of late, playing with Zai, Paul, his wife, and hopefully Zai’s cousin.  Its my goal to get a full team of adventuring lvl 60’s, and tear down those end-game 5-man instances.  That’s the problem with the 5-man, either you have to beg someone who’s already done with them to come along, or you have to get a pick up group full of whiny, ninja’ing losers.  If you’re lucky (and I never am), you can find a competent person who wants to go.  So I decided, if I can’t find good people, I’ll grow them.

Enter the ‘Knights of Arenelia.’  That’s right, I founded my own guild on the Proudmoore server, with a membership roughly equivalent to my regular readership here on Zelkun (about half a dozen).  I don’t see it growing all the much, it’ll likeyl remain close-knit, inviting new members as we find friendly and competent players.  For those who don’t play WoW, these are a rarity.

Some may ask why I did this, being as I was a founding member of ‘Holy Order of Light,’ one of the guilds that merged with ‘Disciples of Cloister,’ made up of my long-time WoW friends.  I do it because the DoC, though it was founded on ideals I hold true, is slowly departing from that which made me join.  It is drifting from a casual, player-based community to a hardcore raiding guild.  And while this in and of itself isn’t bad, the effects of it can be.  One, of course, a player being judged on his ability to raid, rather than on his friendliness and cooperativeness.  Another, being an immense amount of quibbling about loot and loot rules (a nessessary evil, I understand).  There are raids every night, which means if you are a player looking to level or hit a five man, you’re probably out of luck.  So I leave the DoC in hopes of forging what I seek, rather than waiting for someone else to do it for me.  I plan to keep in touch with the DoC, because there are still lots of good people there, and it doesn’t hurt to be on friendly terms with a raiding guild.

In non-virtual news, Zai’s birthday is coming up, so I took her out for a nice lunch on Saturday.  The Cheesecake Factory, which houses the world’s best Tiramisu.  It is a very expensive place (I was raised going to resaraunts where two people can eat very well for $15-18), but the food is pretty good.  Before that, I took her to the *shudder* mall to shop around for a birthday present.  I have absolutely no taste in clothes or jewelry, so its best she come along for the ride.  She picked out a nice necklace and a nice ring, both of which she seems to like, so now I feel better about only giving her a Magical Trevor Plushie for Christmas (that should keep me in the Yahoo top ten for plushie searches).

Welp, that is enough of a lunch break, I should get back to work.

Zel-kun out.

P.S.  I updated the quotes page.