ridureyu

I just got off the phone with the History Secretary, and definitely, for-sure I am going to complete my Masters Degree this semester!  Best-case, I just do my thesis. Worst-case, I do my thesis and one 400-level elective.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I've been workking on this thing since 2005.


Update!

There was a slipup in my paperwork, and I DO have to take an elective course.  However, the professor who agreed to chair my thesis just gave me an in to an undergrad-level elective that ties into my thesis. I'm looking at a summer graduation!

So, my church is currently feeling some financial strain, and they asked for suggestions to raise their income.




Sadly, all of my suggestions were rejected.







Oh me oh my, is that a Mi-Go?

...Well, sort of, not really.  But my Plan to Take Over the World in Dr. Morley's class has gained more coverage!

http://headinjurytheater.com/strange.htm in the entry for June 12, 2008.


More specifically: http://headinjurytheater.com/mr%20morley%20plan%20ink%20jared%20hindman.jpg

He also tells the story, too.  Woot!

 UPDATE!!!!!


Thanks to this, I have gotten back into contact with Dr,  Morley again!  He remembers the incident well, and would like it mentioned that he does indeed read papers.  As it turned out, since my essay did indeed contain two pages of requirement-filling text, he saw no reason to grade it down.  As previously mentioned, the man will take home HUUUUUGE stacks of paperwork, and the more important an assignment is, the more detail he will go into while grading it.  The little two-page essays were looked at, but he didn't necessarily devote the same amount of time to them.  Just so you know, an awful paper would still get a poor grade.

Dad: "So you see, the terrible, inhumane conditions at the Andersonville Prison are proof of how bad the North was in the Civil War.  The Union didn't even treat Southerners like people!  They abused and starved them all in the prison, and those poor Confederate prisoners had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive.  Do you see how bad the North was now, son?"

Me: "Dad, Andersonville was a Confederate prison.  It's in Georgia."



See?  All those years of school were worth it!

While converting a guest room into an office, I found an old gem that I had preserved.

When I was pursuing my undergraduate degree, there was a professor named Dr. Brian Morley.  Dr. Morley was an awesome teacher, but I noticed every time that he went home he would carry a HUGE stack of papers, obviously more than a single man could grade.  Now, all of the significant essays and homework projects received meticulous grading, but the smaller 2-page papers in each class?  People became suspicious that perhaps he did not really read them.  And so, I was drafted to find out.

Now you see, most people stick "hidden" text into their papers, like, "if you read this, I will buy you a coffee."  Not me! I wanted to go for the gold, to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt whether Dr. Morley reads all of his papers!

And so, I wrote a normal 2-page essay, and added a third page like so:

If you are having trouble reading that, it is:
MY PLAN TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD
1: Tie up Dr. Morley
2: Distract Mormons with Tied Up Dr. Morley
3: Steal Golden Plates from Mormons
4: Trade Golden Plates for Cheese
5: Give Cheese to the U.N.
6: Take Over World

When I got my paper back, the grade was as follows:

And thus, Part 2 of the experiment:  I showed him the paper.  Dr. Morley laughed so hard that he bent backwards into an L-shape.  From that day forward, every paper of mine that he graded had extra comments involving the text.  I miss being in his classes.

UPDATE!!!!!


Thanks to this, I have gotten back into contact with Dr,  Morley again!  He remembers the incident well, and would like it mentioned that he does indeed read papers.  As it turned out, since my essay did indeed contain two pages of requirement-filling text, he saw no reason to grade it down.  As previously mentioned, the man will take home HUUUUUGE stacks of paperwork, and the more important an assignment is, the more detail he will go into while grading it.  The little two-page essays were looked at, but he didn't necessarily devote the same amount of time to them.  Just so you know, an awful paper would still get a poor grade.

I am currently pursuing a Master's Degree in History at California State University, Fullerton.

As the semester is ending, my class will not meet on campus next week, but will instead be at the local Round Table Pizza.  My professor said that she would give us directions, but could not draw a map.

So I helped!



Now you know a lot more about my subconscious than you probably wanted to.

http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?mforum=trolllordgames&t=4373&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45&sid=5c042ff5d36941972bb303e3e7ea19ce&mforum=trolllordgames

http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=7963395

July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008

About two years ago, I accidentally dialed his phone as a wrong number. We chatted about gaming and religion, e-mailed a few times, then met at last year's GenCon.  I actually knew him, so this is hitting me a little hard.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/me-gary-gygax.jpg

I just posted this for class (This week's discussion is World War II's affect on the home front via propaganda and lifestyle changes), and felt like sharing it:

Propaganda: (n) Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause.

Propaganda itself is not intrinsically "Good" or "Evil," as everybody sues it in some form or another.  What we should argue about is whether it is accurate propaganda, dishonest propaganda, and what its exact purpose is.  War is especially nasty, as it always results in many necessary and unnecessary evils.  The word "propaganda" itself has an immensely perjorative association, though.  In the meantime, I have uploaded several images from my own hard drive as well as provided an immensely entertaining link.  All of this is actual World War II Propaganda, and as a warning for the faint of heart, msot of it is not exactly racially-sensitive.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/slapajap03.jpg - This one is famous, and rightly so.  Shouldn't Superman be using his time to singlehandedly win the war rather than print those posters, though?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/ridewithhitler.jpg - If this is true, then I brong Hitler with me to class all the time.  I hope he likes Steppenwolf.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/Murdering_Jap_jk.jpg - I'm pretty sure that these people are still at their jobs now.  They have to be.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/bombs3.jpg - Inspiration for all housewives who want to Do Their Part.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/freedom.jpg - It's hard to make out, but I believe that Reverend might be black.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/PosterYoureNext.jpg - Forget Superman.  Uncle Sam should've singlehandedly won the war.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/propaganda-soldier.gif - This goes well with our text, as most of the cost-saving tips are directly described on the poster itself.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/This_is_the_Enemy_jk.jpg - Powerful imagery, even if you're non-Christian.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/unclsam1.jpg - Fairly nondescript, but it directly discusses higher taxes and war bonds.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/wastime.gif - Stop wasting time!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/canadianwork.jpg - Inspiration for Rosie the Riveters everywhere.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/WorkerVoteForTheFrontSoldierHitler.jpg - This is an actual Nazi poster.  The filename is the translation of the text.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/All_Germany_Listens_to_the_Fuhrer_j.jpg - Another German poster, translation is in filename.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii001.jpg - A German poster depicting a happy Nazi family. I do not have a translation for this.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii002.jpg - German, depicting support for the Fuhrer as being what removes the chains of oppression.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii004.jpg - I wish taht I had a translation for this one.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii006.jpg - in this poster, you see the full name of the Nazi party.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii007.jpg - Also German, telling us to say YES!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/Ridureyu/propaganda/gwwii008.jpg - This is extraordinarily straightforward, and could pass for a metal album cover.

And finally, here is a collection of political cartoons drawn by none other than Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel: http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/

It's time for Part 2!

I would like to once again stress that these are all actual monsters from the Ultra series of TV shows.  Even the very next picture.

Ultraman has, in some form or another, been on the air almost continously for nearly forty years. Each episode has its own giant rubber-suited monster, and when you think about it that's pretty impressive. Sure, sometimes they took shortcuts (one monster was obviously a godzilla costume spray-painted gold with a frill around its neck), but my hat is off to anybody who can design, fund, and build.

With that in mind, I have to wonder. What does each monster say about the people who designed them? What can be gleaned from their varied appearances? To this end, I have selected a few monsters and tried to state what their design says about them. I used toy pictures, because I can't be bothered to remember all their names (and they're not easy to remember. Gan-Q? Gatanozoa? Astromons? Pedoreon?). Also, please do not tell me about how "disrespectful" this is to a "grand cultural tradition." It's okay to joke about things.

Also, anybody who hung around me at SDCC 2007 probably recognizes these guys:

 I got hit on the head with a bottle of holy water today.  It did not have the expected effect.

I understand in this situation, as opposed to my last post, context would be helpful (By the way, the last post was made up almost entirely of names of 1950s-60s Marvel Comics monsters. Seriously, go look them up).  So therefore, here we go - one of my few blog posts which says something about my personal life!

To begin with, this has already been a strange week.  My dog ransacked the kitchen, a fingernail clipping catapulted into my eye, I tasted possibly the worst candy ever, I tried Sesame Tea and liked it, I found a valid application of a voodoo doll joke, and a Republican and Democrat made friends on Super Tuesday.

Anyway, I was relaxing today.  I had finished a massive work project (proofed a book manuscript!), and had no immediate homework ahead of me.  So, I relaxed in my favorite chair with my dog, and put in the Naked Gun movies.  I'm talking about the Zucker Brothers/Leslie Nielsen comedies.  Don't get fresh with me.  I had just settled in when there was a loud knock on the door.  Now. we've got two NO SOLICITING signs that cannot be missed on the way to the front door. At a rate of roughly once or twice a week, though, salespeople either miss it or think that it does not apply to them.  Assuming this, I looked out the window to see a middle-aged Mexican lady sitting in front of the door.

Now, I'm not being racist.  "Mexican" is the correct descriptor for this person, though.  She even said "Ay yi yi!" at least once, but that's aside the point.  She was somewhere on the level of Speedy Gonzales in Mexican-ness, but her English was decent enough to understand what was going on.  Apparently, this was a neighbor I didn't know I had (she was actually most of the way down the block), and was moving today, and NEEDED help to get things loaded.  I said yes, of course, being willing to help - she had gotten me and one other guy I didn't recognize.  The house was what could be called "cluttered."  There was much random bric-a-brac, including but not limited to a giant doll house, neon-colored flowers, a tricycle, more ashtrays than are logical, and religious paraphernalia, which shall be described in greater detail in a moment.  There was also a pretty bad smell, but I chose not to try to identify it.

Now, some people are Roman Catholic, and others are ROMAN CATHOLIC!!!  This lady was the latter.  Aside from the icon paintings, crucifixes (crucifi?) on the walls, and candles with pictures of saints on them, there were a few other personal touches to this house, such as the giant statue of Mary with GLOWING EYES.  I thought things like that only existed in Carrie, but I guess this shows what I know.  What the other guy and I needed to do for her most was carry heavier furniture out to his truck - a few dressers, a bed, and some other bits of furnishings.  She expected us to carry the dressers with drawers still full of clothes, but we got around that by taking the drawers out, moving the dressers, and then moving the drawers back in, clothes included.  But that's besides the point.

While moving the first dresser, I bumped my head on a low-hanging wall shelf.  Down came three Maries, two Jesuses, one flesh-toned Donald Duck, and a bottle labeled "HOLY WATER," which bopped me quite neatly on the head.  I didn't burn or melt, though, so all is okay.  But yeah.  Holy Water.

They didn't need me for the first trip ini the truck (It was too full, anyway), so I went back home.  A few minutes later, there was a familiar knock on the door, and a familiar Mexican lady standing there.  Time for Round 2!  What made this interesting was the space debris.  It wasn't falling on my head or anything, but I counted at least three separate objects in the sky.  Was this a sign of the impending apocalypse?  I and the other guy (and his son) loaded the rest of the random stuff, including a full-length fur coat that appeared to be leopard print, only leopards are not that fluffy.  I do not want to know what animal gave its life to produce this garment.  Disassembling the bed was somewhat difficult, as the screws used that annoying pentagon-shaped head which nobody has a screwdriver for.  You'd be amazed what you can do with a good set of pliers and some coordination, though.

Now, all through this I have neglected to mention the communication between myself and this lady.  She was hitting on me the entire time.


"Do you have a girlfriend?  I think it should be me." (My response? O_O)

"What are you doing tonight?  Are you alone?" (My response? "Nope! Need to call up some people. get work done! Big project!"  Not entirely untrue)

*singing "Do You Want To Be My lover" by the Spice Girls*  (My response?  O_O again)

*random kissyface expression*  (My response? Focus all attention on moving furniture)

"I should come and see you sometime!"  (My response?  Disappear ninja-style)


I was somewhat disturbed.  Remember that Family Guy scene where Meg asked someone to go out with her, and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I'd like to, but I'll be in the hospital that night" and then proceeded to shoot himself in the stomach with a nail gun?  I won't deny it.  I considered that course of action.

Anyway, eventually it all ended.  And so, I went back home, drove my car into the garage, turned out the lights, locked the doors, closed the blinds, and became quiet.  Real quiet.  Then I finished watching Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, and everything felt better in the end.



help me

Goom should not be confused with Dragoom, Kraggoom, Grogoom, Grogg, Groot, Gruto, Grottu, Rommbu, Bombu, Gomdilla, Gorgilla, Korilla, Gorgolla, Moomba, Manoo, Mongu, Goomtos, Droom, Vandoom, Pildorr, Kraa, Orrgo, Rorgg, Shagg, Spragg, Klagg, Tragg, Brutto, Fin Fang Foom, Tim Boo Baa, or his son Googam.

While Christmas decorations are nice (Well, some of them are), the process of actually DECORATING isn't.  The decorations themselves are stored the rest of the year in massive, heavy plastic tubs and balanced on the rafters above the garage. To get them down, someone has to squeeeeze up top and send them down for somebody else to not-drop-but-ease-them-into-carrying-height and not die.  We also tend to recruit random high school/college help each time, since the more capable hands we have, the better.  For that reason, we seem to have coined the following phrase:

"We need a sacrifice for the Christmas Deathtrap!"

Every year, we lose track of where we put our outdoor lights. Thus, we keep replacing them.  I don't know what happens to each year's tub, but this year I FINALLY succeeded in finding some old lights:

Two strings worth.  200 lights total.  Somehow, I had to make this cover the whole house (I am NOT buying more lights).  Unforutnately, these aren't the icicle-styled lights we usually use, and the hanging nails are on the BACK of the eaves.  Thus, I had to let the strings droop between each nail to make it visible.  It covers about half of the visible house froom the street.  Hence, the following statement:

"Merry Half-Assed Christmas."

The Creche set has been in our family since time out of mind.  This year, I noticed that one of the Wise Men was posed differently:  He was facing away from everyone else, and the Angel was slung over his shoulder fireman-style.

Me: "Why is one of the Wise Men running off with the angel?"

Not-Me: "He's black."

Me: "That's racist."

Not-Me: "The white Wise Man is trying to grope Mary."

Me: "That's Sacreligious."

Me: "What's a G.I. Joe doing there?"

Not-Me: "He's giving the Gift of Machine Guns!"

Also, from Christmas shopping, someone whose name will be removed to protect innocence was buying Gas-X as a stocking stuffer.  My response?

Me: "Merry Christmas, honey. Here's some Gas-X!"

Not-Me: "Hey! I'm trying to be practical this year."

Me: "Merry Christmas, honey! I decided to be practical this year.  Here's some Gas-X!"

Not-Me: "..."

Me: "...And have some Milk of Magnesia, too!  Keeps the mail moving!"

ADDENDUM FROM LATER:

Me: (Still joking about Gas-X for Christmas)

Not-Me: "Stop being so loud! That's the only thing he's getting that isn't a surprise!

...Maybe the insanity is all my fault.  I DID supply this as a Decoration:

Frosty the Snowman! He's gonna crush your skull!

(So, does anybody else have anything to say about THEIR Christmas this year?)

We learn new things every day.  For me, it's something I already knew, but forgot.  I went to Party City(tm) to get some birthday cards for my sister and father (11th and 13th, respectively), and then I remembered why I almost never go to that place.  It's so danged distracting.  And they still had some Halloween stuff (on discount!), too.

"Ooh, rubber severed lungs!"

"Ooh, neon skeletons!"

"Ooh, parasitic insects!"

So, here's how it turned out (sorry about the funky lighting. My house is like that. The background should be white.):



NEON RUBBER SKELETONS: $0.99 a dozen ($0.49 with discount)

These are awesome. They're not outwardly squishy or sticky, but very floppy and just a little bit stretchy.  They also look like the aftermath of Mars Attacks!  Insanely inexpensive. too.  I'm going to have way too much fun with these in the future.  You can't really understand how awesome these are unless you're holding a handful at once.




STRETCHY YELLOW POD PEOPLE $1.93 for a dozen.

Okay, okay, these are really "smileys."  And monkeys fly out of my butt.  The smiley face is unpainted, and is so faint that you can barely see it.  These are imperfect clones, I tell you!  Clones!  They're also extremely floppy and stretchy. and are just waiting for me to find something to put them with.  In the mouth of a monster, under a steamroller... they're kinda creepy, really.

SPIDER OF DOOM ($0.20, was thrown in for free, actually)

Best $0.20 I ever spent. Was Free.  She will never forgive me for putting it on that seat.




AWESOME AND ESOTERIC RUBBER BUGS ($2.93)

The most expensive item on the list, these bugs are made of the same material as Sticky Hands, only without the stickiness.  They're squishy, jiggly, stretchy, and rather fun.  Although not as cool as if they were, say, fleas and ticks, you've got to love the green bug on the lower left, or the purple Lovecraftian abomination in the middle.  Sorry it didn't come out very well!




RUBBER INTERNAL ORGANS ($1.93)

Again, the details don't come out right.  That heart is filled with nice, grisly detail.  These are somewhat more gelatinous than the bugs, and a little sticky, but essentially the same material.  It's all about that stomach, though.  I wonder if I should put it in someone's soup...




SQUISHY RUBBER BRAIN OF DOOM ($0.99,  $0.49 after discount)


This brain has about as much mass as the other four body parts combined.  It's also extremely squishy and gelatinous, and is colored in such a bloody, grisly fashion!  It's sticky, though, which means that it will attract dirt fast, but I still want to carry one around, sneeze, and throw it on the floor.

"Oh no! My brains!"




SQUISHY RUBBER LUNG OF DOOM ($0.99, $0.49 after discount)

 

This is bigger than the brain, and somehow gorier.  For this, rather than sneeze it out, I want to slap some people upside the head with my ginormous squishy rubber lung.

 

 

So there you have it.  This is why I will probably never get married.

 
Okay, due to popular demand:



OH NOES THE CARNAGE!!!!! THE HORROR!!!!! THE HORROR!!!!!

Link, as the image is too wide.


Tell me if you see anything unusual about this.

You can find Soulstealers on amazon.com.  It's actually an interesting book.

ANYWAY


I'd like to share one of my favorite continuity errors from anything ever.  

Fist of the North Star, 1986.  The following is all part of one scene.

Sorry about the blurriness, blame the movie.

See the big punk guy?  Zeed?  he's about a head taller than the main hero.

Now it's at least a head and a half.

Okay, it's more like two heads.

He might be a little bigger, might not.

...What the hell?

Something is wrong here.

Zeed is now the approximate size of King Kong.

 

And that's why this is the best movie ever made.

Oneof my textbooks this semester is titled "SOULSTEALERS."

I just want to say that's awesome.

Hey y'all, just saying:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dreamblade-Baxars-War-60-60-UNSATED-RAGEDRAKE_W0QQitemZ170146759092QQihZ007QQcategoryZ2537QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SDCC-07-Exclusive-Silver-Head-DESTRO_W0QQitemZ170146760079QQihZ007QQcategoryZ2467QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I might post some new stuff within the next few days.  These are the big 'uns, though. 

Jagi's Guide to Traffic Safety

Isn't Southern California traffic annoying?  Have you ever been in this kind of situation?  You have a very important appointment you need to get to, but those danged cars just won't let you merge!  Really, it's a madhouse out there, and anybody can lose their cool.  Road rage is a very dangerous thing, but now with Jagi's Guide to Traffic Safety, you won't have to ever worry about losing your temper!  Just follow this four-step process, and you won't ever have to worry about rush hour traffic again!

 

Step #1:

Place oil barrel (be sure to remain calm! Road rage doesn't solve anything!)

Step #2:

Add gasoline. Be sure to cover the oil barrel as well as the car!

Step #3:

Light match (again, calmness is key!).

Step #4:

Calmly let nature take its course.

See?  Thanks to Jagi's Guide to Traffic Safety, road rage is now a thing of the past!  You can make it to that appointment without having to get angry!


If you enjoyed this lesson, be sure to check out other products in the Jagi's Guide line:

 

Jagi's Guide to Dating

Jagi's Guide to Impressing Your Boss




Jagi's 1001 Safe Pranks to Pull on Your Friends

This public service announcement is sponsored by M.U.G.E.N., the custom fighting game program! 

As an inspiration for all, I have actually posted THE PROLOGUE AND CHAPTER ONE of my new fic.  Now, things to note:

1. This is a ROUGH ROUGH draft. I'm really open for any kind of help and proofing, here. I actually haven't written in... let's just say it's been a while.

2. People! Become members of this community! Join and post your updates here!

3. I will be gone until Monday.  In the meantime, feel free to comment, discuss, review, etc. etc. etc.

4. I am sorry that so little is posted so far.  It's been rather difficult - especially the scenes with Sypha, the Sue-ish main character.  We really only get a glimpse of her so far, but even that was fairly difficult.

5.  I actually have stuff planned out, believe it or not.  The next chapter will start on Hogwarts Express and go through much of the Sorting, and will feature the Epilogue kids.  I'm nervous, but so far it's been a ton of fun.

And now, the link to my profile (and FIC):

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/8571/

Enjoy this!  If it looks terrible, then take heart - we're all friends here.  If it looks awesome, then also take heart - it can be done!  And with that, I head off to Gencon for some GAMEY GOODNESS