Title courtesy of the late great Frank Zappa. All of the con reports I've been reading about Origins 2004 kinda make me want to go to Origins some year in the near future. Probably not next year, but maybe the year after. GenCon is fun and all, but a change of pace might be nice. … Continue reading Is That A Real Poncho Or a Sears Poncho? →

Just a quick bit of bloggage to let y'all know that I've FINALLY started posting entries in my new fiction blog over on Blogger.Com The URL is: http://tfse.blogspot.com/ Check it out and let me know what you think. More entries ARE on the way

Another fun weekend here at The D&G Cross International Home For Aging Gamers:) We PVRed "Return of the King" off of pay per view, so now we have the whole trilogy saved. Soon, we'll set aside a Saturday and watch the whole shootin' match from start to finish. I spent the bulk of Saturday driving … Continue reading Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Jose Cuervo →

So I'm driving home from work, music blasting loud, when right in the middle of The Ramones "Rock and Roll Radio" these altered lyrics popped into my head... We need change and we need it fast. The GOP is stuck in the past. And lately they all sound insane to me Woah Woah That felt … Continue reading The Basset Hound Liberation Front →

Oh yumski yumski! My friend Sharon went all crazy in the head this weekend and spent the better part of two days cooking up huge batches of Chili Verde, Spanish Rice and Refried Beans. Last night, she gave me a bunch of all three and I had a fine dinner. Even better, since Grace doesn't … Continue reading Fear And Loathing In Middle Earth →

I'm taking a break from transferring some of my LP records to MP3 status. I'd forgotten how many albums I have. After the break, I'll be doing all my Michael Nesmith stuff, then it's Jethro Tull and The Kinks. My "Hell In Your Mouth Chili" turned out very well yesterday. With luck, my tongue will … Continue reading Spending Quality Time In A Warehouse Full Of Other People’s Stuff →

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Naturally, gardening is a large part of it, but there are other things screaming for my time. First off, I have to hook my friend Sally's turntable up to my laptop and transform several albums worth of music into MP3s. Next, I need to dry … Continue reading Kitty Cats Steal A Sports Car →

I've changed the name of this LJ to "Oops, Wrong Planet!". For many years that was the name of my zine in Alarums & Excursions, but since I haven't written for A&E in a long while, I just figured I'd move the title over here. The original title of this LJ, "Tales From Somewhere Else" … Continue reading The Funhouse Mirror Universe →

Another weekend bites the dust. I did some (but not nearly enough) work in the garden. All the veggies are coming along nicely, especially the cucumbers and cantalopes. Plenty of flowers blooming, including my new "Limerock Ruby" Coreopsis and my pink cannas. We played another session of the Kingdom Sim game today. Things are really … Continue reading Frozen Lizards On A Stick →

Just heard it a while ago...Ray Charles died today. Now THAT was a man who should be remembered and honored in the national media for a week. And yeah, I'd be up for seeing him on the twenty dollar bill.

My Sweet Little Chicken Pot Pie Of Love and I have just returned from seeing "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and we liked it. Yes, they did cut or compress things from the book, but overall they did a really great job of telling the story. There were a few bits of exposition … Continue reading He Rode Off Into The Sunset And Took The Sunset With Him →

I'm bored and sleepy, so you get this to read, copy and alter with your own responses. UNWRITTEN BOOK YOU WANT TO READ: "Women Explained: A Guide For The Puzzled Male" UNMADE MOVIE YOU WANT TO SEE: "Wild Cards: The Movie" WHAT SHOULD WE CARVE ON YOUR TOMBSTONE: "What're YOU lookin' at?" ANIMAL SPECIES YOU … Continue reading Yummy Fried Whale Fritters →

Damn...almost a week with no posts. Time to fix that. The garden is cooking along just fine. We have cucumbers piling up in the kitchen and the tomatos & cantalopes racing headlong towards ripeness out on the vines. Grace has been picking green beans every day and the basil plants are bushing out wonderfully. My … Continue reading Porkfaced Morons From Neocon Central →

Interesting weekend here at Chez Cross. Grace and I spent Saturday down in the Bay Area at Kubla Con. I ran two TOON games as part of Dorkstock West (the John Kovalic/Dork Tower celebratory minicon within a con) and both went very well. I also played in a session of the Dork Tower board game … Continue reading An Armada Of Armadillos →

The weekend approacheth and I need to put the finishing touches on my KublaCon Dork TOON games tonight after work. For those of you that attend said con, Grace and I will arrive about 8:00-9:00 AM on Saturday and depart about midnight Saturday. Please feel free to stop by the games and say hello. I'm … Continue reading I Said I Wouldn’t Break Your Heart. I Never Said I Wouldn’t Steamroller It Flat. →

Saw "Shrek 2" tonight with My Sweet Little Curried Shrimp of Love. Very funny flick and Puss in Boots pretty much steals the show. Stole this from iamnikchick... LAST LONG CAR RIDE: Understanding that "long car ride" means "more than 3 hours long" to a Californian, I'd say the trip to GenCon SoCal in December … Continue reading Powered By Love And Caffiene →

As usual, alot less got done this weekend than we planned. On the other hand, we still managed to do a bunch of stuff. I even cooked up a few finger sized baby zuchinnis for dinner. Didn't do as much in the garden as I would have liked, but did get things fertilized and tied … Continue reading Put The Blame On VTR →

Oh yeah, time once more for this... READING: The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game WATCHING: Animal Face Off (Anaconda VS Jaguar) DRINKING: Green Tea EATING: Cream of Wheat LISTENING: Acid Eaters by The Ramones PLAYING: Runescape CONTEMPLATING: Buying a digital camcorder

Ok, now THIS, http://www.mutablerealms.com/ looks like the kind of online multiplayer RPG that just might steal players away from tabletop roleplaying. I'm looking forward to checking it out later this year oor early in '05. EDIT FROM THE FUTURE (2014): Well, that was a bust. Mutable Realms folded in 2005.

Well, friends and neighbors, Grace and I finally bought a DVD player today. Yeah, I know we are behind the wave on this one, but owning a DVD player was not all that high a priority. I mean, we have DISH network, so movies are readily available. However, the fact that you can also play … Continue reading Crouching Chicken, Hidden Wombat →

Oh yeah...the title of the post below this one is taken from the fact that I bought a young coconut from a guy selling them ready to drink from. The meat of the coconut, when it is a young one, is very puddinglike and very easy to scrape off the shell. (which I did, with … Continue reading Swabajukama →

Well, my little porkchops, let's see what Uncle Doc did today. I got up early and drove up to my moms house. She gave me some plants and a couple of pieces of garden equipment. I gave her a Mothers Day card and twenty bucks. (because I no longer give actual gifts to family members) … Continue reading A Great Day For Coconut Snot →

Holy Hamsters, what a busy weekend lies ahead for the Good Doctor and his Sweet Little Red Winged Blackbird Of Love! Starting tonight, we are off to buy a new washing machine to replace the one that died this week. Then, tomorrow, we have... The Whole Earth Festival at the U.C. Davis campus A trip … Continue reading Put De Lime In De Coconut →