I’ve been thinking about it, and I realize that New Year’s resolutions really don’t stand much of a chance with me.  Truth be told, they’re just to easy to set aside and ignore.  So instead, I’ve settled on some New Year’s wishes – with a side of planning and forethought to see what can be accomplished ^^

The first wish stems from a deal I made with myself last month.  We were having a special for employees at work, and there was a camera that happened to come up on clearance.  Now, I’ve been wanting a new camera for quite some time.  The one I have still works fairly well, though it has it’s quirks, but I really wanted something that could take a little better shots.  Well – this one can do that ^_^ It’s a 14 mpx with 5x optical – not bad, and a certain step up from my last.  Now, the deal I made with myself was this: if I bought it, I had to take pictures *and post* one of said pictures every day for a year.  The picture has to have been taken that day, so no recycling just because I “couldn’t find anything interesting” I’ll be posting those to my flickr account, so check there if you want to see what I wind up shooting. May set it up to post to FB too – not sure about that yet though.

The second wish has to do with school.  If things go well this semester, I’m hoping to have my individualized major finalized and approved – more on that when it actually happens.  Last semester . . . well, I did better than I expected to do to be honest.  The semester was a rough one – not because of anything specific in my courses, all of which were wonderful, but more to do with personal matters.  I have one course I’m going to have to retake.  My second wish is to have straight A’s at the end of the semester.  I’ve already started trying to find ways to manage my time better – i.e. I spent a few hours setting up google calendars integrated with my email client at home with my class schedules as well as the important scholastic dates.  I have it set so I can add an event for every homework assignment as I get it – to make certain I know it is there, and when it has to be finished.  I know there’s more to it than that – and I know I’m still going to be fighting with myself – but it’s progress, and I’m claiming it as good ^_^

My third wish (as wishes are best in threes, no?) is . . . hmm.  The first two were easy – I had already thought about them and laid out a framework of where I was wanting to go and what I was wanting to do.  This one is a bit more spur of the moment.  The more I sit here thinking about it, the more my mind spirals back to some form of writing.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s something I long to do – but it’s also dangerous.  I don’t like to lie – in fact, it’s something that I usually have significant difficulty doing – and when I write . . . though it may come out in some form or fashion perhaps not as readily apparent, what is there is me – who and what I am, what I think and feel, what motivates and drives me forward.  Well then . . . perhaps my third wish is just that – that I write.

I think that’ll do me – this is already a lot longer than I had expected.  Good thing I added that cut at the beginning

Blessings my friends and fellows – may you find your wishes for the New Year and seek them out as well!

I’ve read a fairly good number of the books by Terry Brooks, and I must say that I enjoy them. I’ve read most all of the older Shannara books, a number of the Landover books, and all of The Word and The Void series. They are interesting stories. Now, it has come to the point that I can fairly well map out the plot before I actually read it, but I enjoy his writing style, and the journey of seeing how he will retell each story is usually quite pleasurable.

Once I got out of school today, I came home and surfed for a while, then made a run to the library – as I had some books that were overdue >_>;; Got that all taken care of, and then picked out a few books for reading. Two of theme were Brook’s.

I came home after the library and decided to unplug for the rest of the evening. Made some burritoes and spent the evening curled up in a comfy chair reading. It’s been *way* to long since I did that – and I really enjoyed the down-time. I’m definitely going to have to do this again ^^

What a day ^_^; And though I’m tired – which is pretty much standard for me by this point in the week – I also feel weary. That part is new.

I had my first class, then a short break. Next came the Health & Wellness class at the changed time. That went quite well actually. Turned out one of the students that was taking the class previously was no longer showing up – and his usual seat was a convenient one on the end of a row

Stopped by the administrative offices for a few minutes after class to check on my student loans. They still aren’t showing up on the system we as students have access to, but the gentleman I spoke to said everything was progressing just as it should. That’s encouraging – a little extra would make paying bills not quite so tight o_o

Next up was the Tai Chi class. I wound up being early and sitting in the room with a few other students who were attending. I took a change of clothes to wear for the class, and the freedom of movement – though not as important today – will definitely be a plus as we move forward. Today, he simply showed us the resting stance and encouraged us to become familiar with it. He also talked about proper breathing, which was something I knew would come up.

As he was teaching, I spent most of the time with my eyes closed, just listening as he spoke and letting my body tell me what needed to change and where/how to better line up with what he was asking for. Over the course of the class, there were two times he stopped by to correct me. The first was concerning the angle of my neck – I needed to bend my head down just a little more and tuck my chin just a bit. The second time was when we were practicing the breathing. I realized before he came around that I was shifting to my heels sometimes as I breathed, and that certainly wasn’t right. This is what he commented on when he stopped next to me, gently pushing down on my shoulder to lower my stance a bit and then pushing forward and pulling back slightly on the side of my waist to demonstrate the rocking motion that would allow for the deep indrawn breaths without having to shift as I had been doing. Now, I’ll just practice that daily until next class period ^^

After Tai Chi came the quick dash to EnviroSci for lecture ^^ We also had a stream analysis lab, so I got to walk around in a stream for a while and call it class work I and one of my lab partners conducted various tests on the water from the stream – pH, chlorine, etc. And this was all in walking distance of the college, so we got a nice walk in traveling there and back from the campus.

So, I earned my weariness at least I like being more active in directing what happens in my life – but it can certainly be draining. I was blessed – multiple situations where something could have gone wrong, and it all worked out great ^_^

Yesterday at school, I had something unusual happen. I had set my stuff in one of the little cubicles, then I headed to the restroom real quick. When I came back, there was a young woman setting at the cubicle next to mine.

I sat down and booted up my computer, then proceeded to listen to some music while doing a bit of research. For the record, I’ve found four individuals that I’m considering contacting at this point .. and actually, hmm – random tangent, and I’ll deal with that later ^^ If you want to see the four I’ve found so far, you can check out my delicious page. They have ‘contact’ as one of their tags.

After I had been there for some time – I remember I was looking up a book on Amazon – the young woman turned to me.

“Dude, what are you doing?”

I kid you not ^^ I was referred to as ‘dude’ the entire time I helped her. I think that may be the closest I’ve come to cool-by-proxy so far in my life ;P

“I’m looking up a book and listening to music actually.”

“Could you help me? I’ve got this paper all written, but I don’t know how to end it.”

“Well .. what are your main points? In your closing, it’s usually a good idea to readdress each one to show how you arrived at the end.”

[insert details about the specifics of the paper .. that weren't all that specific].

“So, umm, what were the main points again?”

“…” … “Good question.”

She then proceeded to finish up writing out her paper in the notebook she was using.

“I guess I need to have this looked over. Dude, do you know where the writing center is at?”

Looking at the time on my lappie, I realized it’s about time for me to head off to my next class.

“Yeah – it’s out the doors over there, then up the stairs and back the other direction. Actually, I can take you by up there if you like. I’m sorta headed that way.”

So I packed up my things and then we headed out to the writing center. Out the doors and into the flow of people – as classes were changing. Through the masses and up the stairs. Down the halls that look like they lead nowhere – to the sign hanging from the ceiling proclaiming “Writing and Speech Center”. I dropped her off at the door there, and headed on to class.

What does all that have to do with play? *shrug* I found it interesting, because I’ve never had that happen before. It felt good to be able to help – but I also saw some places I could have handled the situation a bit better. I like the idea of being someone people know they can ask for help. Even if I don’t have all the answers – and I *know* I don’t – I can at least help them figure out where to find them.

And as I think about it, I think that’s how it all ties in to play – that desire to share and grow. I personally believe the fundamental nature of play is looking for ways to help these two things come about. Being the absolute best we can be does not mean that we have to be tearing down someone else. It also doesn’t mean that we can’t challenge each other – that friction helps move us along.

So go play and have some fun – it makes everything a bit brighter when you do ^_^

Ability Scores:
Strength-13
Dexterity-16
Constitution-14
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-17
Charisma-13

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron’s vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity’s domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric’s Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)