I am the worldest largest softie

So, my fears were realized. It has happened. I have become totally addicted to Harry Potter. I finished the movies and have been reading the books, one after another. I bought the sixth and seventh books Friday night and by Sunday afternoon I had finished the sixth and started on the seventh.

I still maintain my position that JK Rowling isn't a particularly good writer, per se. But I will say this. Her character development is damn good, and she certainly is able to pack in a whoooooole lot of material into each book. In my stories I always struggle to have things, you know, happen. She has no such issue.

I think I like I like the sixth book the best so far. It has the most mature voice, the most humor, and well....BECAUSE I'M A BIG SOFTIE.

What do I mean by this? I'm a sucker for a romance. Completely and totally a sucker for them. I get completely carried away. And the sixth book has lots of romance. Let me put it this way. After I finished the sixth book I immediately looked up Ginny Weasley on the internet, and then rushed to read the epilogue of the last book before even starting it because if Harry didn't end up back with Ginny there was going to be an investigation. I was positively glowing after reading the part where they got together. It's all I thought about.

I'm going to cite a passage from the seventh book. This is Ginny giving Harry his 17th birthday present, filled with wonderful tension as Harry has broken off their relationship in order to protect Ginny from becoming a target.

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"Harry, will you come up here a moment?"
It was Ginny. Ron came to an abrupt halt, but Hermione took him by the elbow and tugged him on up the stairs. Feeling nervous, Harry followed Ginny into her room.
He had never been inside it before. It was small, but bright. There was a large poster of the Wizarding band the Weird Sisters on one wall, and a picture of Gwenog Jones, Captain of the all-witch Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies, on the other. A desk stood facing the open window, which looked out over the orchard where he and Ginny had once played a two-a-side Quidditch with Ron and Hermione, and which now housed a large, pearly white marquee. The golden flag on top was level with Ginny's window.
Ginny looked up into Harry's face, took a deep breath, and said, "Happy seventheenth."
"Yeah...thanks."
She was looking at him steadily; he, however, found it difficult to look back at her; it was like gazing into a brilliant light.
"Nice view," he said feebly, point toward the window.
She ignored this. He could not blame her.
"I couldn't think what to get you," she said.
"You didn't have to get me anything."
She disregarded this too.
"I didn't know what would be useful. Nothing too big, because you wouldn't be able to take it with you."
He chanced a glance at her. She was not tearful; that was one of the many wonderful things about Ginny, she was rarely weepy. He had sometimes thought that having six brothers must have toughened her up.
She took a step closer to him.
"So then I thought, I'd like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some veela when you're off doing whatever you're doing."
"I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest."
"There's the silver lining I've been looking for," she whispered, and then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion, better than firewhisky; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair -

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"There's the silver lining I've been looking for." GodDAMN what a line. That section, I reread it over and over and over last night before I went to bed. I spoke it outloud several times. I LOVE that part.

So yeah, I'm a huge softie. Completely overcome by romance. The sad aftermath of that all is that I feel particularly lonely. Is a little love too much to ask? Bah.

In other news, my new laptop FINALLY came today. Nearly two months after I ordered it. I'm never buying Lenovo again, they suck ass. But I held out because this is the only tablet with an integrated fingerprint reader I've found (the fingerprint reader is total sex). So hopefully I'll be able to get back to working on the Pebbleman in off moments at work again. Additionaly, while Vista isn't as utterly horrid as I thought, it's still terrible. Do not care for it.

Also, I've migrated all my posts over to Blogger (google enabled some spam protection, I was posting on that one quite a bit, as you well may imagine). I think I'll officially move over there permanently on the first of December so that the 4 billion posts in November don't make the page as long as your arm.

Posted by Taco @ 11/29/2007 10:01 AM PST
Hooray! Now I can set up the RSS feed in Thunderbird and never miss fett blog post goodness again!

	Posted by fett @ 11/27/2007 07:59 PM PST
	Blue, that wasn't my soft side. That was unadulterated lust. My soft side would be the candlelit dinner of fettucine di parma and a nice red wine with some Sinatra in the background...before we broke out the tarp and oil. But yeah, total softie. Is it wrong that I really want someone to hold hands with? Good god, I'm pathetic. Coyote, the new address is fettsday.blogspot.com.

	Posted by Coyote @ 11/27/2007 05:54 PM PST
	Yeah, you act like you've never seen a chick with oil and a tarp before. Prude. What's the URL for your blogger thingy. Tell Coyote or I will eat your soul!

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 11/27/2007 10:05 AM PST
	I'm sooo freaking happy that you love Harry Potter! One of us! One of us! Totally had you pinned for a softy by the way. You pretty much gave it away when that chick came in with the tarp and the oil and your tongue hit the floor. ;) Love, Blue

Oops

First posted 11-5-07

I realized after the fact that during all the fun of TacoCon I forgot to show those interested parties the notes for my novel. For this, I blame everyone and thing but myself. Obviously I am not culpable.

Also, I am sending out googledoc invites for my Pebbleman short story to interested parties. I have completely stalled on writing it, for which I blame my lack of computer at work where I did a lot of writing in my off moments. So I am sending out invites for two purposes. 1. it is the best thing I've ever written so I want people to see it. 2. I need people who's opinion I respect to tell me that it's awesome and if I don't finish it it will be a travesty against nature. You all know I'm not one to toot my own horn....but this story is pretty damn good.

	Posted by Taco @ 11/08/2007 04:38 PM PST
	I missed the post for a while (stinky blogdrive *cough*) but feel it absolutely imperative to say (where other people can read it and hopefully be all jealouslike): fett... it's in-fucking-credible. There's one thing I'm curious about that I think will probably be addressed when one of the notes-sections is fleshed out. Otherwise, minor typos, punctuation, or grammar things. The story is insanely awesome. The characters are insanely awesome. I fucking dreamed about the pebbleman the night I read the story. No shit. If you don't finish this story (and sooner than later), I will personally hunt you down and... uh... hell, I'm not sure. Withhold mansex until you do?

	Posted by Coyote @ 11/07/2007 07:09 PM PST
	I mentioned to Taco the very next day that we had been hoodwinked. You hoodwinker!

Big hitter, the Lama

First posted 10-26-07

"So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
- Caddyshack

So, I'm going to see the Dalai Lama tomorrow. Well, it's not like we're having beers or anything, but he's giving a "public talk". And by "public talk" I mean I only had to spend $25 for a ticket instead of $250 to get into one of his private classes.

I am of two minds about this. For one, I read one of his books, the Way to Freedom, and I find it surprisingly as close-minded as any other work by a religious leader. It was filled with lots of "this is the way it must be in this situation and I will brook no argument." On the other, it's the Lama, and how often am I going to get to see the Lama. And his main message is that of peace, which I can fully support. The title of the talk is "Compassion: the Road to Peace" or something like that. I am all for peace.

I am kind of hoping there is a question and answer session. I'm am taking suggestions for a question. I currently have two ideas.

1. How far have you ever taken one off the tee?
2. Can I rub your head for luck?

Also, tonight I'm going to Best Buy and if there is a Wii there I am buying it. I am a weak, weak man. And a friend of mine wants me to play co-op Force Commander when it comes out. That is going to be the shit.

Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/29/2007 04:54 PM PDT
Your silence has a devising conspiracy theories. My current fav is that you've bought a wii and have played it so much you're laying on the floor in front of the tv unable to move anymore. Oh.. and giggling of course wondering if Mario is a Bears fan! ~Blue

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/28/2007 08:29 AM PDT
	Ok.. so you've seen him.. what'd you ask him? Is he a Bears fan?

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/26/2007 11:02 PM PDT
	I think you should invite him to come over and play with your wii. What? The nintendo guys come to your door and say they want to play! Haven't you seen the commercials?

	Posted by Coyote @ 10/26/2007 05:52 PM PDT
	"Lama, why do the goats faint?"

	Posted by Taco @ 10/26/2007 03:15 PM PDT
	Also, rather than asking a question, I think you should do my daughter's "diarrhea/shake your booty dance." How often do you get to do that for the Dalai Lama? I'm just sayin' is all.

	Posted by Taco @ 10/26/2007 03:12 PM PDT
	Taco loves you baby. Find your wii: http://wii.findnearby.net/

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/26/2007 03:10 PM PDT
	Question: Is he a Bears fan? What? I know you expected it! The wii is all manner of goodness. Taco and I own them and they are all manner of awesome. You're becoming one of us fett. Just so you've been warned.

The cool kids at the back of the short bus

First posted 10-22-07

10 thoughts from TacoCon!

1. I would say that Blue is 10 times cooler in person but that just wouldn't be true. Blue's coolness factor, in fact, goes to 11. She goes to 11. I am simply not worthy.

2. Blue's husband must love Blue very, very, very......very much. He too, is more awesome than we can handle.

3. Larriken, in addition to totally looking like a professor I knew in graduate school, is a cool dude DESPITE THE FRICKEN PUNS. You punny maniac.

4. Taco and Coyote are terrible....terrible influences on me. I am a shy, quiet, reserved person, damnit! But Taco hands me his phone with his gay coworker on the other end and what do I say? "Hello sweetcheeks". Though I am rather proud of my message to Suyapi, especially the last line.

5. I believe if I were to calculate the total amount of time I spent doing certain activities, the time spent giggling like a retarded schoolgirl would outnumber the time spent breathing. I think I sprained something giggling.

6. That woman, Hilary I think you said her name was? Hooooooooly fucking moses she was hot. When I check into my hotel room in the historic Zebulon Regency Hotel for TacoCon '08 I would appreciate her being there in a french maid's outfit and a bottle of baby oil, thanks.

7. A list of phrases that will be repeated through the coming year that, unless you were there, you will not understand but to those of us present they are absolutely hysterical.
- Invisible Goat is Invisible
- Is he a Bears fan?
- Get some south in your mouth
- That ain't no Georgia sweet tea
- Whorecat is cheap
- Larry would like to talk to you about gun control
- ZEBULON! WOOT!
- Check out that splatter radius
- You guys got that real funny way of writing shit
- Change the light bulb
- You guy are weird

8. Suyapi, Emu and Noq are all immensely lame for not showing up. You all do realize we are going to lord the awesome time we had over you for the rest of your lives.

9. Mitch Hedberg FTW.

10. I got diarrhea. Shake your booty, shake your booty.

Now, not everything at TacoCon was awesome. As I was driving back to my apartment Sunday, I stopped off to get dinner, and right after as I was stopped at a light the woman in the passanger seat in the car in front of me opened the door and vomited onto the pavement. Ok, not pleasant....but it got worse. We're on the on-ramp to the highway, I'm still behind this car, and the door opens again and again the woman barfs. From a moving vehicle. In front of me. Large pale chunks of an unidentifiable material bounced off the pavement and hit my car. Their car swurved to the shoulder and I went home. Needless to say, my dinner got quite cold before I could approach it.

Lastly, I didn't realize how much everyone hated Blogdrive. I will begin the process of migrating my posts over to my blogger account. It'll take some time, but eventually I'll be over there permanently. Until then, stay tuned to this Bat-channel.

Now...Taco...where's my nun pic?! I know you'll be looking at the porn cause it's going to be a reeeeeeaaaaal long time before your wife touches you again.

Posted by suyapi @ 10/24/2007 07:47 PM PDT
suyapi sad. Will make next year. Please lord awesomeness over suyapi.

	Posted by Coyote @ 10/24/2007 07:33 PM PDT
	ZEBULON!! Sweet blessed Zebulon, how I miss ye...

	Posted by Taco @ 10/23/2007 04:05 PM PDT
	Next time I'm passing through your part of the world, I'm kidnapping you, Noq. And chaining you in my attic. And if the other guys are really really lucky, I won't have used you completely up by TacoCon '08. :)

	Posted by Tim @ 10/23/2007 10:38 AM PDT
	But broke Noq was broke. :(

	Posted by Taco @ 10/23/2007 09:48 AM PDT
	I just sent you the nun pic (or a link to it, anyway). Thanks for the reminder. TacoCon. Was. Awesome. I love all you guys with my entire pants.

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/22/2007 09:44 PM PDT
	And Fett... you don't HAVE to move over to blogger with us, but if you make it easier we'll comment more often I promise. :)

	Posted by Bluejeangirlnc @ 10/22/2007 09:43 PM PDT
	No gathering was ever more awesome than TacoCon '07. A few of my favorites: Fett trying to tell a story. He has the patience of a saint when all Taco could do was giggle like a maniac and ask "Was he a Bears fan?" Fett's "Whorecat is cheap!" pose. Dear God why wasn't my camera at the ready for this? You all desperately need to have seen this. Coyote's wooting over Zebulon. It's as if after decades of searching he'd found his place in the world. Larry trying to get into a conversation about gun control and all of us waving fett off.. dear God don't ask!! Texting suyapi and the whole room going silent while we did. Oh.. and Coyote texting Taco while he was texting suyapi because he wanted to be one of us. (You are one of us, I promise.) Seeing everyone in person and realizing my "virtual" friends are real and much more awesome together than I'd ever imagined. Having my husband sit in Taco's kitchen for nearly 5 hours and all of us giggling like children over some of the silliest shit imaginable. He really loves me I swear. Oh.. and he says he was glad to have been there so he'll be back for TacoCon '08! For all of you that weren't there.. you'd better buy your tickets early for next year. It's going to be HUUUGGGGEEE!!!