You know you’ve spent a little too much time on the Internet when you’re in Maui, taking pictures of a beautiful Sea Turtle, and the first thing you think is, "Oh man, I can’t wait to LOLCat this when I get home!"
This, my friends, is how my damaged brain works.
I’m still on island time, both literally and emotionally, though I’m steadily working my way back into the whole real life thing, knocking down the towering To Do list that built up while I was gone.
It’s so hard to get motivated to sit down and work, when what I really want to do is play frisbee with Nolan, swim with Ryan, and snorkel with Anne. Since this was the first long distance family vacation we’ve taken in several years, I’m willing to grant myself a couple of days to get ease back into real life . . . of course, eating pineapple with breakfast, having a peanut butter and guava jelly sandwich while drinking Pog, and listening to Martin Denny, Les Baxter, and Arthur Lyman while I do my Propelling is making the transition a little less jarring.
A couple of quick notes before I head downtown to meet some friends for lunch (talk about a jarring return to real life!):
Some people I used to work for at PokerStars have started a new online poker site called Fleet Street Games. It’s got Mac, Windows, and Linux clients (a Linux client! How cool is that?!) and is in a free beta right now. I played in — and won — a $150 freeroll tourney last night. SHIP IT!
I called Creation this morning to find out, once and for all, if I was persona non grata or persona we’re coola, and if they were intersted in having me come to the Vegas convention or not. It turns out that my e-mails were going to people who are no longer with the company. The girl I spoke with this morning seemed very interested in bringing me out to the show, and though it would unprofessional to talk too much about the contents of our conversation, I felt that it was very positive and there’s a pretty good chance that I will end up being at the Big Honkin’ Vegas Convention this year after all. More details to come later.
I tried not to follow the news too closely while I was on vacation, but I care deeply about Bush’s domestic spying operation, and the efforts of idiots like Steny Hoyer to defy his constituents and give AT&T retroactive amnesty for breaking the law and helping Bush spy on innocent Americans without a warrant. I’m pretty disgusted with the Democratic leadership in the House for caving in to Mister 28%, but I’m positively appalled that Barack Obama has been effectively silent (other than a weak and intelligence-insulting statement) on the entire debate. I commented at DailyKos:
Wouldn’t it be awesome if a senator who had expressed non-ambiguous
opposition to the Protect AT&T act in the past joined in the
filibuster against it?Wouldn’t it be even more awesome if the vast majority of that
senator’s base — oh hell, forget the base, let’s open it up to the
vast majority of all Americans — opposed amnesty for law-breaking
telcos and expanded spying powers for the White House, making this a
slam dunk win for that senator, giving him a chance to show some
serious leadership?Oh! Oh! Oh! And wouldn’t it be the most awesome EVER if that senator was running
for president, and could use this issue to show Americans that he was
seriously committed to changing the way things happen in Washington?!Yeah, that sure sounds like a perfect dream scenario, doesn’t it?
Oh well. A guy can dream. Yeah . . . a guy can dream.
I’m really, really tan. I’ve actively avoided being in the sun for the last several years, but it was pretty much impossible to do that while I was in Hawaii. I don’t think I’ve been this tanned since I was a teenager. Rawr.
People Magazine put out one of those "Where are they now?" issues about kid actors who are all grown up now. I didn’t want to participate, because I usually get ratfucked by the media in things like this, but since they were going to include me anyway, I decided that it was worth the risk to talk with them and hope for the best. The issue came out this week, and we saw it at the grocery store yesterday. I was very surprised that it was really positive and — get ready for the shocker of all shockers — accurate. They talked about how much I love being a dad, and how important Ryan and Nolan are to me. Anne showed it to Ryan, who was adorably excited to see that he was mentioned in the article.
I’m going to play the hell out of Descent this afternoon and tonight.
Yesterday, I Rickrolled 12000 people. All of them, as far as I can tell, took it in good humor. And no, Internet, Rickrolling will NEVER get old.
Twitter is riding the failwhale to failtown. I love Twitter, and watching it die a slow death is breaking my heart. Now that replies and tracking are down, what’s the point?
You know what would be awesome? A real life Rickroll: you go to a concert, expecting to see a particular band, but when the lights come down, holy shit there’s Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give You Up on stage FOR REAL. Just the one song, then the band you were there to see comes out.
I have to go to the dentist tomorrow.
I’ve run out of interesting things to say.
Wil,
You had me until this
“I’m pretty disgusted with the Democratic leadership in the House for caving in to Mister 28%”
Why not point out the following
“I’m pretty disgusted with the Democratic leadership, Mr & Ms. 18% in the House for caving in to Mister 28%”
Bush’s approval numbers are bad, but your democratic congress is at an all time low.
Just how much spin do you use?
What the devil is this RickRoll business? I’m from england and i’ve never ever heard it mentioned!! Maybe i’m running under geek radar and havent picked it up yet………
Welcome back! That’s really good news about Creation. Good, so it’s not like last time when they purposefully shunned you. That makes me happy. I won’t be able to go to the Vegas con this year but I do hope you get to go and have a good time.
Yeah, I tend to see pictures in terms of LOLCatness. It’s kind of sad. But it’s not truly sad until you speak in LOLCat to animals in real life. I tend to do that. 🙂
Dude, I should go find a copy of People now. That’s pretty cool that they got everything right. Neat!
Welcome back!
P.S. I love Twitter and hope it stops failing all the time. I used to think the failwhale was cute. Now it just irritates me. Also it screws up my sms messages. Sad.
Hey Wil…just a couple of quick things about the telcom immunity decision.
1. Obama was screwed no matter what he did. If he voted against it, Republicans would have voted him as being weak against terror. If he voted for it…well, you are seeing that now. He was screwed either way.
2. Are you sure that we should spend our time suing those companies? I mean, don’t you think we should be going after the puppeteer and leaving the puppets alone?
3. If I had to choose between suing companies that quite frankly didn’t have much of a choice in their actions, or changing around Bush’s illegal wiretapping…yeah, I’m going to go with the latter.
Actually, I was at the Jonathan Coulton/ Paul & Storm concert in NYC this past weekend, and they Rickrolled the audience by singing “Never gonna give you up” as the first verse of “First of May.” Awesome!
Yeah, I think a lot of people have forgotten that Obama is a politician.
Twhirl and Digsby seem to still be working with the Twitter.
Completely unrelated, but I’m watching episodes of the first season of TNG right now on DVD (as I nurse a wicked flu.)
You were hilariously adorable as a 12 year old. =)
I saw that people magazine while at wally world. I held up the line to look through the magazine to make sure you were in it. I was very excited and undoubtedly irritating to those behind me in line.
Wil,
Have you checked out “Beyond the Red Line”?
Tom
The problem with your scenario about “the senator” is that a large percentage of the country (possibly a majority) believe that the wiretapping was a good thing and that giving them amnesty is a no-brainer. “If it stops one terrorist then it is worth it” is the justification, and any senator seriously committed to reaching the White House will not antagonize that group of voters by taking an extreme stand.
An extreme stand? An extreme stand???!!!
PLEASE tell me you’re joking. Since when is standing up for the rights of American citizens an extreme stand? Since when is standing up for FUCKING CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA an extreme stand???
This is why we need impeachment. Because the Constitution is under attack by BushCo. And if the Constitution is not worth defending, if the wellspring of our democracy is not worth going to the wall for, if the foundation of our freedom is not worth fighting for, then just WHAT THE HELL IS?
What we need is for the House Judiciary Committee to send this to the full House of Representatives for a vote:
Whereas: the President of the United States has admitted to authorizing the use of waterboarding as a form of interrogation;
Whereas: the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States bans cruel and unusual punishment, to wit:
Whereas: the Presidential oath of office states, in Article One, Section One, Clause 8 of the constitution:
Whereas: the President’s allowance of the use of waterboarding is a clear violation of the Ninth Amendment, and therefore a clear violation of his oath of office;
Whereas: Article One, Section Four, of the constitution provides for the impeachment of the President or Vice-President, to wit:
Therefore: the President’s violation of his oath of office is a clear-cut case of a high crime or misdemeanor, and thus, is grounds for the impeachment of the 43rd President of the United States, George Walker Bush.
*Dake steps down of off soapbox.
Sorry to hijack your thread with politics, Wil, but I get a little worked up.
Descent? As in 1995 computer game Descent? If so, you’ve gained even more awesome points.
You are cracking me up today. You definitely had a good vacation. Kudos to you.
The RickRoll was funny, but you’re still a Cheeto Fucker for doing it.
Darcie’s musings on your post:
I LOVE the turtle – I want to take him home
I am jealous of your tan!
I am so glad the media was GOOD TO YOU – honestly, what have you ever done to them to be stinko? They better be nice to you! I am going to buy People for the first time in about 5 years 🙂
Guava jelly sounds GOOD. I like the fact that you are taking your time getting back into the groove of the real world.
Rick Astley – where the heck is HE! I love Rick Astley and I am not ashamed! I almost FAINTED when I found David Glasper (from Breathe) on myspace and he put my band in his top friends at #2 – HOLY MOSES! Wow. You can’t believe that feeling. Ok. I am going to stop. But seriously when I met my boyfriend James he and I had a great laugh when Rick Astley came on in the restaurant and he said “Wow. Rick Astley. Michael McDonald’s voice, Howdy Doody’s face” WOW. OMG. I kinda gave him a teasing what for on that one. I love and adore Rick Astley!… but that sh*t was funny.
I will comment more about the OTHER part of your blog when I am on another computer~ the walls have eyes
Darcie’s musings on your post:
I LOVE the turtle – I want to take him home!
****
I am jealous of your tan!
****
I am so glad the media was GOOD TO YOU – honestly, what have you ever done to them to be stinko? They better be nice to you! I am going to buy People for the first time in about 5 years 🙂
*****
Guava jelly sounds GOOD. I like the fact that you are taking your time getting back into the groove of the real world.
*****
Rick Astley – where the heck is HE! I love Rick Astley and I am not ashamed! I almost FAINTED when I found David Glasper (from Breathe) on myspace and he put my band in his top friends at #2 – HOLY MOSES! Wow. You can’t believe that feeling. Ok. I am going to stop. But seriously when I met my boyfriend James he and I had a great laugh when Rick Astley came on in the restaurant and he said “Wow. Rick Astley. Michael McDonald’s voice, Howdy Doody’s face” WOW. OMG. I kinda gave him a teasing what for on that one. I love and adore Rick Astley!… but that sh*t was funny.
*****
The walls have eyes.
*****
Hello to the family!
OK. Sorry that posted TWICE…
I’m so pleased you may be coming to Las Vegas. Everything is crossed!!!
Wil, I hate to break it to you, but you ran out of interesting things to say one sentence earlier than you think…. :0)
Speaking of the RickRoll:
http://www.dopepope.com/ntps/mctemplate2.jpg
Hahha, I admit to having taken some digital photos and thought of what LOL I’d put over it.. Like the rambling 😀
Glad you had a wonderful vacation, Wil! We almost went to Maui recently for my husband’s medical conference, and decided to go to Vegas for it, instead. I’m glad we did, so we can save Hawaii for a real family vacation. In fact, after 12 years of medical school and residency combined, my husband is finished with training and ready to start practicing medicine. So, we’re off to Myrtle Beach for a REAL family vacation after the fireworks on Friday. Not as great as Hawaii, but it’ll be nice to be near sun and surf. And, I plan on taking HDoOL with me to read, so I’ll try to get pictures of the book a the beach! Take it easy!
My local radio station Rickrolled an entire movie theatre, too bad no one had any idea what was going on:
JoCo did exactly that. Well, close to it anyway. He was on stage, with Paul and Storm, and that one “YouTube Tom Cruise Crazy on the Uke” chick that I can’t remember the name of off-hand, and he started into one of his songs, and then they all started singing IT to the music, and it FIT! Forgot which song it was, now. Very funny. (: