Simple America

I believe most of you knew I was going on an Alaska cruise. Well I am cruising now and it has not been as easy to stay in contact as I though it might have been. I am hoping to make a few posts here and there. This being the first post. Guess that was kind of obvious, huh? I have to plan these things out a bit as the internet cafe is not free and it is pricey enough to kill any thoughts of blog hopping. I miss visiting your blogs and will catch up when I return. I’m not rushing though. Cruising is a blast.

We woke up at 7:30 Saturday morning after the missus and I went to bed at two. We roused the kids and had a quick breakfast of eggs and Canadian bacon. Basically we had been clearing out the fridge so no food would spoil in our absence. Checked the house out. Turned off all of the electronics that did not need to be on. Packed the luggage in the truck (We cancelled the van that was originally hired to drive us as we had too much luggage), double checked that we had tickets and passports. Then we drove away. Bye-bye home for two weeks.

Next stop was #4 sister-in-law’s house. She was riding with us to the airport. We loaded her suitcase. From her place I stopped for gas and then we visited her bank.

With all of that done we cruised down I-59 and then on to Beltway 8 in out quest to reach the airport. That was when the first mishap of the day was discovered. #4 discovered she left her cruise boarding pass at home. Damn. So we turned back after passing through the first toll. In retrospect we should have driven on to the airport. But we did not.

We returned to her home and she retrieved her cruise ticket. Then I drove like a demon back the way we passed earlier and on to the airport. Very fortunate I did not get pulled over as I drove around 85 mph most of the way in a 65 mph zones.

One thing working for us is my missus (#6 sister btw) is an experienced traveler. She printed our boarding basses online the night before for the five of us. Once we made the airport I dropped everyone off at terminal C. We were very tight to making our flight. 20 minutes and counting and I had to park. I must seek a spot in the terminal, as I had no time to park in the outlying cheaper parking lots. Damn.

Fortunately, Saturday is not a crowded day for that parking lot. I surprised myself by how quickly I found a spot. In no time I walked into terminal C where I looked for my flight’s gate. Much to my surprise the flight’s boarding is in terminal E. Apparently, Continental Airlines takes the baggage in C for domestic flights, but uses the gates in E for boarding Alaska flights. I have never been to E and the signage was horrid. It took 15 minutes to get heading toward E.

Security almost became a problem. My arm bumped into the scanner and it beeped. That got all of the security folk’s attention. Five pairs of eyes looking at me and I felt that my luck would cause me to get strip searched or something. They allowed me to walk through again and this time I took my time. I did not touch the scanner and no beep. They allowed me to proceed and I grabbed my stuff and headed deeper into terminal E heading towards gate 9.

The missus called as I passed the Starbucks and I told her my location. She said to hurry and I got on the moving sidewalk dodging pedestrians. I could see the sign for gate 9 ahead of me and my legs moved at a brisk pace. My missus stood in the gate. A crowd of people sat in the chairs around the gate area. I soon learned these folks had nothing to do with my flight. The missus held the flight for me. The gate attendant said run. I tried to run. I really tried to run, but my hiking shoes were made for walking and their weight prevented me from lifting my feet properly. I lost my balance a couple of times. And then I fell.

My humiliation grew quite a bit as all of the people in the gate area could see my clumsy ass prove the theory of gravity. In my desire to get to my seat on the plane I tried to stand up, but the frustration and embarrassment worked against the simple act of standing up. I held a camera bag and toted my laptop backpack. My missus came to my rescue and took the camera bag. With a free hand I was able to pull myself up with the railing. The pain that shot through my knee told me I was going to be in for a long flight.

I hobbled down the long gangway that leads to the cabin access. The stewardess greeted me and I entered the plane. There I felt truly guilty as I looked down the long cabin. All of these people looking at me. The flight was full too. Not an empty seat except for mine and the missus. The kids and #4 were sitting down already. As I headed to my seat I saw #3 brother-in-law and his wife a few rows behind my seat. My seat was away from my family. It placed me next to the window with and mei-mei and jie-jie sitting next to me. The two little girls were cute, but I had no desire to sit next to the window with my leg in its present condition. Fortunately, their mother sat next to my missus and she let me swap seats. That gave me the left side aisle seat. Without that seat I would have had a horrid seven and a half hour flight.

The lady behind us was really nice. She handed me some tissue paper as I sweat a great deal from my running about. Then #3’s brother-in-law walked up and handed me a water bottle. I needed that so bad.

Then the pilot announced that he would delay takeoff for 30 minutes. The air traffic controller had issued a bad flight plan. So all of my rush and pain seemed to be for naught.

The time passed quickly and the plane took off and we were off for Alaska. The food was just snacks. The movies were nothing special. They showed Aquamarine and then Something New. Nothing exciting happened on the flight.

We made good time, but I could not get comfortable and was happy to step out in Anchorage. This was the third time I landed in Anchorage Airport. Twice I stopped here on the way to Korea. Both times I landed in the middle of the night. Now it was daytime and I could see the mountains in the distance.

At the baggage area the Princess Cruise personnel greeted us. They took our luggage, while we boarded a bus that would take us to the port of Whittier and the Sapphire Princess, our home for the next week. We had a great bus driver. He pointed out Dahl sheep and made sure we noted the blue of the ice in the glacier near Anchorage. We drove along a body of water which had no ships floating upon its waters. Turns out that at low tide all of the water would be drained out and there would only be mud flats. Very treacherous stuff as people could get stuck in the mud, just like quick sand. If the mud did not swallow you, the frigid water would come and finish the trapped person off.

The bus made great time too as we had to pass through a one-lane tunnel to reach Whittier. The tunnel was used by wheeled vehicles, as well as trains. We arrived in time for southbound traffic and drove on through, with little delay. The other side of the mountain was quite rainy. But through the rain we were able to catch our first glance of the Sapphire Princess.

The bus let us off and we received our ship passes. We walked onto the ship and I tried to go to the clinic to get my knee examined. The clinic would not open until the next day and emergency care was pretty pricey. I passed on it. In a short time we arrived at our room on deck eight. Here is a peek at a cabin. Very tight living for us.

We hooked up with my wife’s family a short time later at the buffet. We are a loud group. There are 22 of us altogether. Take a look at us all.

This group includes my wife’s mother and father. Next there are her two brothers and three sisters. Yes, all of her siblings on board. In the 20 years I have known her, this is the first time we had everyone together at one time. There are two sister-in-laws and three brother-in-laws (including me) on board. There are four grandkids with us, which includes my children. My son is the only boy amongst them. Both brothers had some of there in-laws join us. #1 son brought his father-in-law and sister-in-law. #3 son brought his brother-in-law’s family, consisting of his wife and son. This give my son a boy to hang out with.

That’s all for now. Hope to post more later.

Note. /Siblings will be identified by their birth order to try and keep it easy.

#1 son

#2 daughter who has a daughter present (I will call her older niece)

#3 son

#4 daughter who has a daughter present (I will call her younger niece)

#5 daughter who is traveling alone

#6 daughter is the missus.

I picked up this meme from Lucia. Go and give her a visit. Especially Malaysian citizens. You’ll be glad ya did.

1) Name 5 people who are currently on your current list of “most favourite blog mates”.

This is a real toughie. How to narrow this down to just five? I would not list you if I did not enjoy your blog. But I guess I should consider other things since the criteria is blog mate. This must consider passing emails and/or meeting on IM. So with that in mind I will list alphapetically:

1. LyN She is the first Malaysian blogger I came across. Though at the time she was attending uni in London. I greet AhMui every morning. She has such a depressing job and I like to try and cheer her up each morning. LyN is really into the movies. I hope someday we can work on a script together so we can walk down the red carpet together.
2. M I yak a lot with M, though he is a busy dude. I think we give each other needed male companionship even though he is in Singapore. We chat a lot about rock n roll, and movies especially.
3. May I yak with May most days. At minimum I try and say good mornin’ to her. My blog looks good because May has been so kind to help me dress it up nice. This would be an ooglie blog without her influence.
4. mistipurple Misti and I must go back at least a year now. She and I been chasing each across the internet, stealing hugs to pass on to those that need ‘em. We also been sharing this poor bed bug that is on its last poor widdle leg. She’s another hard worker and I worry that she overdoes it sometimes.
5. msfeline I usually just call her Cat when I am referring to my adopted daughter from Singapore. She has put up with me even longer than misti. She has to be one of the funniest blogger’s I have met. But I also appreciate her devotion to the animal kingdom.

Name 5 types of people who irk, amaze, amuse, disgust you.

irk:

1. bloggers who ask questions that have already been answered in the comments
2. morons that cut me off in traffic
3. people that ask me a question and keep yakking while I’m trying to think out the answer
4. cold callers for telemarketing firms. leave me alone
5. me. I irk the hell out of myself

amaze:

1. I used to get amazed by a blogger I knew. But then I found out I am just a stranger. But I still think this person is remarkable and hope they write a book of their life
2. technology and all the new gizmos and gadgets keep surprising me. When will technoolgy hit a wall?
3. my kids amaze me. The things they do. The goals they set. Their achievements. Their failures
4. my partneres amaze me. They are so good at what they do. Really sad that they do not get greater recognition in the industry
5. God amazes me every day I breathe

amuse:

1. games always amuse me. All types of game
2. Malaysian humor. I love the sense of humor and topics that some of the zanier bloggers achieve. Especially the three musketeers Ah Pek, Cock-a-Doodle, and Lin Peh. And I cannot forget the pretty miss, Titoki
3. Texas politicians amuse me. I wonder what they are going to do when I quit voting for them and giving them my money
4. Stephen King, Robert Jorden, George R R Martin, and Michael Moorcock write novels that amuse me
5. People that argue loudly in public amuse me. Especially, when the argument should have ended 10 minutes earlier, but they are too dumb to realize it

disgust:

1. people that yell into cell phones. If I wanted to be part of your conversation we could conference call
2. people that say the ef word in front of my kids. Yeah I’m guilty of it and yeah I disgust myself
3. republican party
4. democratic party
5. people that do not bathe. stay home if you wanna be a stinky ass

Name 5 hot male/female celebrities.

Like Lucia I am going to write about the opposite sex. I have no clue what makes a guy hot, outside of sitting down in a campfire.

1. Hsu Qi. I can never get this girl off my mind. She sizzles
2. Yunjim Kim. I would love to be Lost with her
3. Song Hye Kyo. This girl is so cute and really is a good actress
4. Kate Beckinsale. I wanna be a vampire if she bites me
5. Sandra Bullock. She always makes me laugh. Love her flicks

Name 5 things you are passionate about.

1. gaming
2. blogging
3. writing
4. traveling
5. Christianity

Name 5 blogs that you love reading.

Blogs that I love to read. Another toughie. But I know there are certain blogs that I just jump on as I like to see the graphic presentation or I enjoy the way the blogger writes. Again I list them alphabetically:

1. J J I think I have know the JJ the longest on this list. She has been AWOL lately, but her test is over so I expect the blogging will pick up shortly. I like the peeks into her world. Her blog always has a happy feel. Somedays I really need that
2. L B The leader and President of the Hug Hug CLub. I love to visit his blog where I can see good food, and great graphics. He has helped me with my blog, but I doubt I can ever achieve the presentation he brings with every post
3. May Is the female version of L B. Great graphic presentation and good food. I’m not worthy to visit her
4. Plink This lady is very creative. She rarely has a graphic on her blog. But she paints a picture in my mind with words that I just love. Some of the songs she writes and musicals she composes entertain me a thousand fold. Imagination should be her middle name
5. Velverse I just discovered V recently. She has the most fun in Malaysia I swear to God. But she is very creative too. The graphics on her blog are super and I just enjoy seeing what she is up to. Sometimes I think she gets self conscience about her English, but I never realized it was a problem for her until she said so. Be bold V and don’t worry lah

Give 5 phrases that describe you.

Oh great. The fun part.

1. I’m just an average size for an American. Well if I lose 100 lb./45.5 kg.
2. I hate to wait
3. I seem to always be late any more
4. I spend too much money
5. Really like to flirt. Usually I’m not going anywhere with it. I just like to see the response

Thats it. No tags. Do it anyway.

I have hardly been home over the last few days and that is why I am behind in all things blogging.

Friday I worked late and finished compiling the comp hours I need so I may have two weeks vacation. I leave this coming Saturday for Alaska. There I board the Sapphire Princess for a trip down the coast to Vancouver, BC. We will stay in Vancouver for a week. I hear our plans include a train ride and drive over to Banff also. Dang, Fantasy Flier moved too soon. Looking forward to seeing my missus and all her siblings together for the first time since I met her. She is the youngest of six kiddos.

But back to last weekend. I drove to Clear Lake to pick up my daughter. I had an hour to kill so I visited the Half Price Book Store. Looking for buried treasure and I found a couple of gems. Finally, found a Photoshop 6 book. I own some Photoshop CS books, but there is differences, which have frustrated my learning this program a bit. So hopefully I can upgrade my skills and get more pics on the blog. I also found the Spycraft Roleplaying Game book. It was a good price and I get my royalty check this weekend, so a little celebrating is in order. Spycraft allows a game group to enter the world of James Bond, Aeon Flux, or Spykids. Player agents can save the world from various nefarious threats. It is a d20 system product, but it has some neat little nuances that make it work well for a world of espionage. I am particularly interested in its rules for conducting chases. I will probably savage this in a setting for the kids who seem interested in playing in some secret agent fun.

Then it was time to go pick up the girl. I arrived early and the parking lot was already quite filled. Inside there were several ques formed for the various dorms. The girls stood in a huge mass serenading the parents with camp songs. I waited in line, when my daughter ran up and hugged me from behind. She then told me I was in the wrong line and just as quick she ran back to the chaotic mass of girls. I joined the correct que and times are so different. When she was younger I would have to pay for things she bought during the week. Now she does not spend a penny. But she did earn the next rating for her sailing and earned some community service hours.

I wanted to go, but she wanted to be part of the ceremoney where they displayed their banner. The sailors do this every year and the galley walls are covered with the displays of sailors past. So I sat through the dancing, baton twirling, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Then the presented the new poster. The girls drew it as a treasure map and depicted the adventures of the particiapants. My duaghter drew the streams, which included a picture of the shoe she lost in the bay. Losing the shoe did not matter, as the plan was to toss them out when camp was done. These things were ready for retiring and unworthy of turning in to charity.

And then it was over. We went to my daughter’s dorm, gathered her bags and made for the parking lot. Everyone was in a big hurry. We had to duck cars on three occasions and it really ticked me off. The girl was really hyper. She yakked the whole way home about her two weeks. I enjoyed listening to the fun she had. Really need to look into the sailing lessons they have for fathers and daughters. Always had this dream of sailing to Australia.

The missus was happy to see her girl. We ate supper and then we packed for our morning departure. I needed to pick up my son from Ed’s but I was staying over Saturday night so we could get in some gaming. Plus the girl wanted to see Uncle Ed. To start the day off that Saturday morning we had to go to the Little Tadpole’s birthday. Ed’s and my partner, Preston had a birthday party for his son. The boy hit three and we ate hot dogs and cake in the lad’s honor. Also saw Preston’s baby daughter for the first time. So itty bitty and cute. Blue blue eyes on that girl. Daddy needs a new shotgun. lol

A lot of the local gaming group was present. The Brazos Knights are great bunch of guys. And I conversed with Kyle for the first time. Heard his name from game stories, and maybe I saw him at the last Christmas Party too. But this was the first time I chatted with him. He complimented my blog and I replied that I type too much sometimes. Then I got pulled away with saying  a proper thanks for the compliments. I felt kind of rude and do apologise if I came off that way.

After the party I went with Ed and his family to Wal-Mart in Bryan. Oh I did not mention my son was present too. He looked good despite being sun burned the day before from swimming.

We headed to Ed’s house after that. Ed and the kids watched Malcolm in the Middle DVDs for Season One. Sunday Preston would come over for our midyear planning meeting. I needed to run a few more numbers so I could write royalty checks for the first six month’s sales. Got that done just as Ed finished cooking some sausages. Good stuff that.

Then we played some more Evernight. We had all the essentials. Dice, character sheets,  and miniature figures at the ready. And it was a long night, and unfortunately so. This part of the adventure ran on a rail. Our characters were prisoners and the importance of the information was vital for later. But Satruday night literally put me to sleep. Damn I hate being tired. And none of this is Ed’s fault. There is just no way around it.

After that we stopped and Ed broke out a game for his PS2. The title was Gun and it is set in the American Wild West. You get to play a cowboy looking to solve a mystery and avenge the death of the man he called his father. I had to force myself to go to bed at three in the morning. The graphics were superb and the story was superior. I have to find this for Xbox.

In the morning I woke up at 8. Had a few more things to do before Preston was due at 9. He arrived with his baby, who was pretty good for the entire time the meeting ran. We got quite a bit done and I hope we can keep the schedule.

Preston has some neat ideas for convention support. We intend to make a package that includes a T-shirt for the game master, table tents, and toe-tags for people that play our games. The toe-tag is similar to what they use in a morgue to mark a corpse’s identity. This fits with horror gaming and appeals to most gamers sense of humor. (Hey we are geeks, haha). We plan on providing a death certificate to players that redeem several toe-tags. Yeah it is a little morbid, but done with a tongue placed firlmy in cheek.

Speaking of cons. We are going to try and get a presence at Con on the Cob in Colombus, OH. This will be in early November. Hope we can find a cheap flights as the company probably cannot afford to pay this, unless the market suddenly picks up.

After the meeting I hoped we could play more Evernight. The kids wanted to as well. Ed was tired from his trip to Lufkin on Thursday. So I played more Gun. I have made it pretty close to the end. Dang thing is addictive.

Left around 6:30 as I have to work Monday. Was nice to spend time with Ed and his family. Arrived around 8:45. We unpacked, while the missus cooked salmon. Tasted great. Just like home. hehe

I have taken some pictures but have not had time to download them to my computer. Hope to give some of you folks a better idea of what a roleplaying game is. I also took pictures of my dice. More than a few of you have asked me why dice are important to me. And I hope to give you folks a better idea of these things I mention.

I promised Ed to do this so long ago. Time I did it. The meme is if you could sit down with any historical figures for lunch, who would you pick and why? Ed chose 20 and so shall I.

1. The Apostle Paul. The greatest mind of history, besides Jesus Christ. No one else comes close to his genius.
2. Gaius Julius Ceasar. The greatest politician and general of Rome. He built a system of government that lasted for 500 years. His government was greater than the decadence of the men that took mantle after his assassination.
3. General Douglas MacArthur. The greatest military man and diplomat that has ever served American. Only a lame petty ass like Harry Truman could fire such a man.
4. Tokugawa Ieyasu. After years of war and deceit he united Japan under the Shogunate. Very shrewd and deadly.
5. General Thomas Jonathon Jackson. A fantastic leader and Christian. He could teach all of us humility and service to those less fortunate. Not to mention he kicked Yankee butt everytime they engaged on the battlefield.
6. Boniface. He created the Christmas tree and it would be delightful to listen to how he used these merry symbols to teach of Christ.
7. Gary Gygax. He created dungeons and dragons. His work has brought a lot of delight to me. As I work on my own game designs I can only hope that I achieve a smidgen of the impact he has had on the gaming world.
8. Shakespeare. The writer of all writers. He would be so interesting to listen to.
9. President Theodore Roosevelt. He is the best President this country has ever seen. We shall never have a man of his integrity and capability in the White House ever again.
10. Genghis Khan. I have always admired his ability to wage war and then make use of the subjugated people in further conquests. He truly was capable of conquering the world. Only death prevented that.
11. Shaka Zulu. He has to be the greatest black man in African history. His ability kept his people strong for years even after his death.
12. Frederick Hohenzollern II (the Great). The Prussian King was a very talented man. Musically and militaristically he excelled at his passion. He protected his tiny Kingdom from the giants that surrounded him.
13. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The greatest Frenchman ever. Funny how the greatest Frenchman had to be imported. He is the greatest genius on the face of the Earth since Paul breathed his last. Very talented, but unfortunately too ambitious.
14. Moses. The greatest man to live until Christ’s arrival. His genius spread across many fields. Don’t envy his position leading a bunch of whiners out of slavery. He has to be the most compassionate man in history.
15. St. Patrick. I have always been fascinated by this man. Could be the Irish blood in my veins too. Did you know that he was a Presbyter and not a Catholic?
16. Lady Rebecca or Pocahantis. She is an intriguing person. Would like to hear her impressions and comparisons between her home and England.
17. Cleopatra Ptolemy. The last of her line. She was quite intelligent and cunning.
18. King David. A man of greatness and flaws. No matter what mistakes he made, he always returned to the Lord. I could learn so much from him.
19. Esther. Another intelligent women. She had to endure life as the wife of a jackass,  the Persian Emperer Xerxes. He had to be the worst of all the Persian rulers.
20. Abraham. The father of the Jewish race and the recipient of many promises for that race by God. One of the reasons the Jews are hated and killed with little provocation is that Satan seeks to prevent the promises to Abraham from becoming reality. One of the ways he can defeat God is by preventing a Holy promise.

There’s my 20 greatest. It might seem strange that I left Jesus Christ off the list. But I think it would be wrong to impose myself upon him. I have all eternity to bother him.

K..at tagged me and now I have the time to respond. This meme is about the favorite things my Mom cooked for me as a child. The problem about this is my Mom did not know how to cook. What made things even more difficult is we grew up in a world without microwave ovens. Frozen food was going through some major developments and it was amazing what new stuff you could find in the frozen food section. But most of my food came out of a can it seems. But I did eat something.

1. El Chico frozen Mexican TV dinners were a favorite growing up. Especially if they had refried beans though I never cared for the Spannish rice. The entree could be tacos, burritos, or my favorite cheese enchiladas.
2. Chili dogs were a favorite too. The hot dogs would get cooked a bit as was the chili. Then Mom would put the dog in a bun and add cheese and chili and bake that some. It was to die for. (And considering all of the cholesteral and suspected by-products it still could wipe me out).
3. When I was teenager they finally got Frozen Southern Fried Chicken right. I loved eating that stuff. Almost as good as KFC. Of course we would have beans and corn (have to have a vegetable hahaha) and instant mashed potatoes.
4. Another big hit during my early teens was the pizza loaf. Almost as popular as pizza. I could down a couple of those suckers. But only after throughly sprinkling it with parmesan cheese.
5. When the first blue norther would hit in October or November my Mom would get my Aunt to visit. My aunt would make Frito pie. That was so good when it was cold. All of that chili and beans and corn chips and cheese and onion layered in a delicious union. Aw delish.
6. Hamburgers were one of the few fresh meats my parents bought. They would garnish it heavily with dried onions and peppercorns. Then she cooked these wonderfully greasy hamburgers usually surved on white bread with mustard and frozen fries baked in the oven. We had ketchup for our vegetable. *wink wink*
7. Hamburger Helper was one of my favorites and one of the first dishes I learned to cook. I liked the cheesey noodle kind the best. Really good stuff.
8. Tuna sandwiches were a big hit at my house too. The tuna would get mixed up with chopped eggs, pickle relish, and mayonnaise. Then spread on white bread with American cheese.
9. Ice cream, usually, neopolitan with its inviting variety of flavors. Yep thats right. Sometimes ice cream was the whole meal. Maybe with some chocolate syrup and a maroshino cherry (had to add something healthy). I had that a lot for breakfast in the summer when I was home alone.
10. My favorite was a T-bone steak served with a baked potato and can corn or beans. This meal was rarely served and the closest I ever came to eating all fresh food at home. I always covered my steak with ketcup as a boy, but when I became a teenager I advanced to A-1 sauce.

Very different from my current diet. Though it’s no wonder I am so fat today. haha  No tags of course.

Time for a little update. Change of pace after last weeks interview questions.

The girl has been at Camp Case Mare for a week now. I dropped her off at one of her Girl Scout buddies’ house last week. The next day they went down and she has been sailing on Clear Lake ever since. I think this weekend they sailed to Galveston and they hit some muesuems and Schlitterbaum to unwind a bit. I pick her up on Friday.

The boy has been home driving his mother nuts. He’s such a good boy. I taught him how to play Car Wars yesterday. He liked that. Nothing like blowing your father’s car into smithereens.

Today I took him to Ed’s house in Caldwell. Give the boy a week in the country. Get to play with dogs and a kitten. Go swimming and fishing. Play outside with Ed’s boys. Do stuff he cannot do in the city.

Course we took advantage of the five hours I was there and played Savage Worlds. Evernight to be exact. We have been playing this every time we get together and it has been a lot of fun. My son and I created each paladins who are brothers, while Ed’s older boy played a Barbarian. My daughter had an Elf and I played for her to round out our group a bit. Not going to say what happened as I do not want to give out any spoilers. But we had a blast.

The bad thing about playing with youngsters is you have to take a lot of breaks. Boys can only stay focused on the game so long and you have to let let them run amok a bit. During one of those breaks we went and looked at the 12 to Midnight website. We visited the forums and saw Preston had been to work. This is what he produced:

Ain’t that cool? For the longest time we have worked on the Modern Dispatch. This is a d20 Modern gaming ezine we produce with three other publishers. Each of us takes a turn every four weeks. We wanted to convert all of those issues into the Savage Worlds format. As it is so happens I wrote the first three issues we published. Ed converted them and Preston compiled them into our first offering of Midnight Tales. I did not expect to get the acknowledgement that Preston gave me on the cover. My jaw hit the floor the minute I saw it. Preston. High five dude!

I’m back home now. I look forward to this weekend. I will pick up the boy then, but plan on staying over Saturday myself. Maybe Friday too. Get some major gaming goodness knocked out. Sunday we will have our mid year business meeting. Mixing fun and work. I cannot wait.

5. In your role as the King of Memes, you have been asked many questions about all areas of your life…but you haven’t been asked everything. What question would you most like to be asked and how would you answer it?

This is very interesting. I have been thinking of devising a meme. Surely a one question meme will not be difficult. And the questions I would ask is:

What kind of country do you want your children to inherit?

I desire my children to inherit a land of opportunity. A nation that allows them the freedom that God gives all man to make choices without ridicule or prejudice. A land where privacy is afforded as much respect as the freedom to be heard.

My children have the right to live in a nation that follows the Constitution as it was originally framed. Judges should interpret the law and not legislate from the bench. When a judge attempts to legislate they should be impeached and lose all benefits.

In this nation I give my children, lobbyists are not allowed to contact politicians. They must impress the true governement. The people. Government represents the people, not the dollar. Only individuals should be allowed to donate money to political parties and candidates. Any other source of funding, besides the politician’s personal wealth, should not be allowed. Any politician found enriching themselves by their office should be hung.

The flag of the nation my children inherit is honored and respected. They understand that American blood has paid the cost for it to be waved from the flagpoles of this nation. Anyone burning a flag is not making a complaint to the nation, but rather is insulting those that secured the freedom that allows this seditious act to be conducted. They should be banished from America’s borders. Go find another flag to burn. These fools will not find more freedom.

My children must be free to select what church they attend or do not attend. They are not required to pray, but do pray when the time is right. They live their life to the Lord as it is the right thing to do. They do not thrust God on those who do not care to listen. However, they are prepared to share God’s grace with those that are motivated to hear. They do so without threat or feeling compeled to act.

My children are free to start a business. They do so with their own capital and have the opportunity to step up and rise to the top. Conversely, they are free to fall flat on their face. No handouts. No monopolies to kill their hopes. They can pursue their dream or just dream and wonder what might have been.

The government I wish for my children is small and recognizes state sovereignty is paramount. They do not see themselves as all things to all people and refuse to act like a God attmpting to cure every social ill. This government recognizes some people fail and that the state is in a better position to pick up those that truly require help. Laziness is never rewarded.

I want my children to breathe free air. They should be able to do whatever does not infringe on another’s freedom. And no one should consider interfering with them. They understand a nation must guard it soverignty as it guards it borders. They recognize English must be spoken as that is the language of business, government and freedom. Immigrants must be assimilated and taught the American way. Greatness is found in the melting pot and not in diversity. Rather diversity splinters various groups and builds a class system. America does not require a service class of people. It must provide the opportunity to lift all people up.

This is the meme I would like to be asked. And now I am asking you, thereader. What qualities do you want in the nation that your children inherit? Consider yourself tagged or not. Remember. I value personal freedom. And that freedom includes accepting or rejecting a tag.

Author Notice. Some of you may have noticed my visiting is down from my normal pace. My home firewall does not like blogspot blogs. This inconvenience used to be limited to cbox which may or may not appear when I visit from home. Now it randomly just kills the window when I try to visit. Depresses me so much I don’t visit the people I could visit. Getting ready to just wipe my hard drive and start all over. See if that improves things or not.

Question 3 and 4 are related. Therefore I choose to answer them in the same post.

 3. You also find yourself in front of St. Peter because of a heavenly clerical error. You are told you will be given your life back, but with something added to make up for the inconvenience. What something would be added? This something could be a quality, a special ability, something else entirely…you decide.

I would request the gift of communication. This would not be a small thing. This would consist of the ability to read and speak all languages without accent. I would like to speak with confidence and charisma also. And then I would teach God’s word. If he is going to send me back with this second chance then I will teach everyone that wants to listen using this gift.

4. Before you can come back, you have to wait for the heavenly paperwork to be processed, meaning that you will have been gone for 40 days and 40 nights. How will you explain your absence to your wife? She will not have any memory of your erroneous death, and will not know where you’ve been.

When I speak to my missus in perfect Hong Kong Cantonese that I am blessed by God. Well I think she will understand. I would hate to lose her. It reminds me of Moses when he lost his first wife when he returned to Egypt. She refused to go with him. My wife can trust my story bolstered by my Gift of Communication or she can stay and disbelieve. I have to do God’s will. And I will with or without her in this instance. Honestly I am certain she will walk besides me on this road.

2.  It is also clear that your military experiences have done a lot to shape who you are today.  What is the single most important thing you learned or did in the army, and what single thing do you most wish you hadn’t learned or experienced?

The most important thing I learned in the Army was discipline. Discipline made College much more productive for me. I really applied myself. The kid that graduated in the middle of the pack in High School stepped up as a man and made the Dean’s list most semesters and graduated suma cum laude.

The thing that hurt me the most in the Army was getting really thick with the drug culture. I did everything that a GI could get his hands on from over the counter drugs to some pretty wicked shit. By allowing myself to give into my desire to escape reality it led me to ignore God and crushed me spiritually for years. Really opened me to peer pressure. I’m just fortunate I never overdosed, got hepatitus or worse.

What I’m truly glad about is that I have been able to kick all of those bad habits cold turkey. I know some people never can get away from the girp of drugs. I can honestly say that my mind is not as sharp as it once was and I attribute it to this experimentation. Also think it contributed to my depression and low anger threshold.

Kimananda volunteered to accept an interview of five questions. She has a wonderful mind and I enjoy her blog a great deal. This led me to offer her some pretty tough questions. Because of this I felt it only fair that I allow her to interview me in return. The questions that follow are what she would like to know about me. Hope everyone enjoys this read and I apologise for anyone that might get hurt by my words. But I would prefer to be honest.

Also as I answer these they get quite detailed. So I will break it up into multiple posts. I just have a lot to say.

1.  It is clear from your writing that you are deeply religious, and that your relationship with your religiousness has changed over time. How do you view yourself as a Christian at this time, and how might you like to see your faith evolve in the future? Truly, I do not like religion as it is evil. Every single one of them. Religion is taking God’s knowledge & ritual and trying to improve upon them or replace them. Man likes to feel good by doing certain things he believes please God, especially if they promote the individual’s personal taboos. 

Now I have been religious during my life. There have been times when I attended Baptist Churches, I have been baptized a Mormon, I got scared stiff at a Pentecostol Church during prayer when all hell broke loose, and I have rattled prayer beads chanting to Buddha following the tenets of the Japanese monk Nicheren. All of that time was wasted promoting my personal approbation and the need to feel good emotionally. I saw my errors and remembered the object of my faith. Faith is what God demands and not the works of religion. Faith allows a man to enter heaven. When an individual tries to add to faith then it is no longer faith, but a human work. Human works are weak and meaningless. 

Christianity should not have to change. The Bible is a book of absolutes and therefore does not change. Any changes should come from me and me alone. I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior when I was 8 years old, so this is my fortieth year of following the faith. Since then I have had many highs and lows as a Christian. I have been a consistent student for periods of time and at other times I have totally rejected the Christian faith, though God in turn never rejected me. 

What is Christianity? Christianity is based on the belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. An individual becomes a believer and receives salvation when he or she accepts by faith alone that Christ died for their sins. At that instant the believer receives a Human Spirit and the Holy Spirit may occupy him as the Christian is the sanctuary for God. The believer should then live a spiritual life. This is made possible through consistent study of the Bible as provided under the tutelage of a pastor.  To develop a spiritual life requires consistent study. It is not an activity limited to a day or two each week. Personally, I have sermons loaded on my iPod and listen to them as I drive to and from work every day. The study of Bible doctrine allows your soul to develop the ability to think divine thought. Divine thoughts allow you to live a spiritual life. As you become stronger in the spiritual life it insulates your soul and you are able to easily handle all of the troubles that life sends your way. 

My current problem is I allow myself too many distractions. Therefore my faith is not as strong as it should be. I recognize this and I need to correct it. My life would be much better if I did focus on spiritual goals but the mundane world lures me from following the proper path.