Lost in Vana'diel

Usually one hour out of the day, I leave this place and go to a fictional "fantasy" land called Vana'diel.

It's all there in an MMORPG called "Final Fantasy XI". I may have mentioned this before in a previous post a while back. But now that I've become a more seasoned "adventurer", it's worth mentioning.

Just the basics about my character: I'm currently in the World of Cerberus (a server, there are many more). My name, or handle, is Penske (try to figure that one out). Penske is a Hume from the Republic of Bastok.

Penske is currently a Rank 3, Level 30 Warrior, with a Level 15 subjob of White Mage. Warrior is pure muscle, wielding a mighty sword, while White Mage heals and protects. Penske is soon to Level to 31 and after that, he will go back to his "Mog House" to switch his jobs around: White Mage will become the main job, while the Warrior will become the subjob. Hopefully, Penske will travel to the Valkurm Dunes to join a party, so the White Mage and gain experience and level more quickly.

What really helped me out was that a friendly fellow, an Elvaan folk by the name of "Lazydude" gave me a linkshell. I was wondering around the Dangruf Wadi, a geothermic spot in the region of Gustaberg, when he welcomed me into the then-small fraternity of the DarknessGods.

Through a linkshell, as long as it's equipped, you can communicate with other linkshell members (within that particular linkshell), no matter where you are at in Vana'diel. It's just a huge, helpful resource. Some shout-outs: Cerek, for helping me with getting my subjob; Lazydude for the linkshell; Furionstormrage for selling me stuff at hugely discounted prices; and others for their timely advice: Huzozo, Hyipee, Bumbi, Strato, Dakkondarkstar, and Archeaon. If I'm missing whoever, sorry!

But I'm digging this game. Like I said, I only play it for about an hour a night (just as long as my experience ring lasts) and I'm done.

Currently, I'm ripping the Korroloka Tunnel as new asshole, but I'm out of there after Penske reaches Level 31.

Updates later.

Potter, Hogwarts, and All That

I finally caved and decided to see what the big deal was about. I borrowed my Mom's Harry Potter books and started to read.

So far, there are 6 books in the series with one left to go. Basically, it's one book/one year, as the young wizard Harry Potter makes his way through the School of Hogwarts (for wizards and witches).

I just recently finished the first book in the series yesterday, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Even had time to watch the movie, which actually adapted the book quite well.

I kicked up the second book last night, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". I'll eventually watch the movie after I get done reading that book.

Overall, it's an easy read -- but I still haven't figured out what the fuss is all about when I see the news reports of hundreds and hundreds of people cramming book stores when the sixth book came out eariler this year. I'm sure the momentum will kick up later on, but as for right now, the books are average. Somewhat predictable, but what books aren't?

Funny story: I mentioned that I was reading the books to my 5th graders and they just blasted me. "You don't know who Draco Malfoy is?!?!"

Chill, I'm getting there.

Harsh

I got this forward from a student of mine. I found the humor in this, but if this truly happened, talk about a kick to the nuts!

So I decided to goto the mall earlier. I was rushing around trying to get some last minute shopping done. I was stressed out and not thinking very fondly of the Christmas season right then.

It was dark, cold, and wet in the parking lot as I was loading my car up with gifts that I felt obligated to buy. I noticed that I was missing a receipt that I might need later. So mumbling under my breath, I retraced my steps to the mall entrance. As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I heard a quiet sobbing. The crying was coming from a poorly dressed boy of about 12 years old.

He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing a ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's chill. Oddly enough, he was holding a hundred dollar bill in his hand. Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I asked him what was wrong. He told me his sad story.

He said that he came from a large family. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father had died when he was nine years old. His mother was poorly educated and worked two full time jobs. She made very little to support her large family. Nevertheless, she had managed to save two hundred dollars to buy her children Christmas presents. The young boy had been dropped off on the way to her second job. He was to use the money to buy presents for all his siblings and save just enough to take the bus home. He said he had not even entered the mall, when an older boy grabbed one of the hundred dollar bills and disappeared into the night.

"Why didn't you scream for help?" I asked.

The boy said, "I did."

"And nobody came to help you?" I wondered. The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head. "How loud did you scream?" I inquired.

The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered, "Help me!" I realized that absolutely no one could have heard that poor boy cry for help. So, I grabbed his other hundred and ran to my car.

Knees Hurt

Katie and I travelled back to South Dakota to finish up our Christmas shopping last night.

I know I've said this time and time again -- why do I put up with the Christmas rush and especially, following Katie around the Mall?!

With those hard floors -- my knees couldn't take it.

Of course, Kate's gotta look at everything in every store. Yeesh.

Take a guy's mentality when he goes shopping: He has one thing in mind. He goes to the store, walks straight towards that item, buys it, and gets the hell out of there.

I know a woman is a multi-tasker -- she can process many thoughts and ideas at one time, but does a woman REALLY need to look at EVERYTHING all the while she has an idea of what to purchase? It's just hard for me to figure out...

Usually, after a night of shopping (all the while I just want to keep moving), we fight. It's standard, usually over something stupid, like what radio station to listen to on our way home to Minnesota.

Here's the rule that was given to me by my junior high social studies teacher: if you're driving your OWN vehicle, it's YOUR RADIO. Katie completely jumps that rule -- then last night I sort of blew up. All I did was explain to her that if it's her car, it's her radio. She's chewed my ass a couple of times for it (whenever I played with her radio) but the line has been drawn -- No More.

I think next year, I'm getting Sirius satillite radio. No more commercials.

Fantasy Football -- A Return on Investment

Sweet...

After the crucial Monday Night game between the Packers and the Ravens, if official -- I have made the championship game in the South Dakota ESPN league.

Again, it's a "Cinderella" story of sorts, with my team being the #6 seed up against the #1 seed. And I have to tell ya, my team is lookin' good. There's is absolutely nothing to be scared of in this situation.

Between the two leagues, I chalked up a total of $55. Although I'm out in the Minnesota Yahoo! league (I lost, settling for 6th place overall), I'll get some money back. Even if I lose in the championship game, I'll win $100. If I take 'er all, $180.

I can't complain, considering my lowly state in the beginning of the season. But key injuries to other players on other teams opened up my opportunity to take some huge wins (ex. Larry Johnson).

We'll wait and see -- I'm currently looking into some free agent pick-ups to do some last-minutes strengthening.

First-Year Blues

I've never been so enraged over something so stupid.

This past afternoon as I was supervising a detention period, I let out the three students who I had to watch to be excused for a bathroom break. As proper procedure goes, I have to stand in the hallway and wait for them to return from the bathroom.

As it just so happens, another student, a senior, was exiting the bathroom. We struck up a small conversation, nothing much -- myself asking him "where should you be?" and all that. I assumed that he was returning to class -- so when one of my detention students came out of the bathroom (that lil' smart-ass), he wanted to take a calculator back to the math teacher he borrowed it from. Of course, he cannot do that.

Just to save time, I asked the senior to return the calculator to the teacher instead. He obliged and went on his way. Things were cool until the end of the day, when apparently the senior's instructor e-mailed me and asked where he was. Also, the senior re-affirmed the story to his instructor that I had him run an errand.

So casually, I e-mailed her back and said that he did stop by the detention room and returned a calculator for one of my detention students.

Then, I got the third-degree.

Her next e-mail was so condenscending, I could hardly believe it. She just railed on the fact that I should have checked the senior's pass, not having him run errands for a "kid" in detention, plus the fact that I was chatting with him (for no more than a minute) -- that's a NO-NO. Several exclamation marks were used. Plus, she "cc'ed" the principal, so she's basically making me look like the asshole in this whole situation.

As I figured out later, she released the senior to go to the nurse at 2:00 p.m. for something that I have no knowledge of, and he returned back to her class at EXACTLY 2:07 p.m.

Oh, my God! A whole, seven minutes!!!

It pissed me off something fierce after school today. I sat there thinking of a good e-mail to send back to her, but I decided to keep my dignity and left it at that. I promptly deleted the e-mails.

Now, as I was thinking tonight, if I were a veteran teacher instead of a first-year, would she have used that language, or that tone, for that matter? I really don't think so. I'll admit, I'm still new to the whole education industry and I'm still learning procedures every day, but my God!

Overall, she made me feel "yay-big" in this school. She fuckin' treated me through that e-mail like I was damn middle schooler. Another teacher telling me how to do my job -- and she runs off and tells the principal on me for something so ridiculous. Get your facts straight. Some fuckin' nerve.

Maybe I am not cut out for this crap -- but I'm going to persevere. I just cannot wait to get called into the office for this one tomorrow...

New DVD

I got this as an early Christmas gift from Katie.

The 40-Year Old Virgin.

Oh, my dear Lord. Tears, man. Tears.

"Fuck a goat!"

Check out the complete collection here.

One Christmas Down...

...I'd better invest in Pepto Bismol.

This is the period of the year in which I look forward to the most (except the "coldness" and snow). Thanksgiving through New Year's -- yeeeah. Food, friends, family, beer -- nummy.

I just had a Christmas at the family farm last weekend with my dad's side. We didn't have a house full -- at most 15 people -- so we had LOTS of food to go around. Me being me, I like to eat. I literally woofed big time; I ate the ham, even had pheasant, potatoes, corn, relish tray, and other stuff. Combine that with 3 NFL football games on that Saturday, I had a pretty satisfying day.

Then Sunday. My uncle is a master at breakfast and he did something to the scrambled eggs that made me come back for more. Later on that day -- something was building up inside that full gut of mine (you can see where this is going), almost of the point where I was falling over from the pains. My cousin was already out from stomach aches -- but he didn't even eat any breakfast.

Sooner, better than later, I was "sitting down" playing electronic Yatzhee. Not pleasant. Doing repetitive motions in personal hygiene can leave one "feeling very uncomfortable."

Sorry I had to bring that all up -- but I'm warning you the dangers of EATING WAY TOO MUCH during the holidays. I'd rather wake up hung-over on New Year's, barfing my guts out.

Fantasy Football -- Picking Up and Steamrollin'

A Tale of Two Leagues ... yeesh.

After the devastating one-point loss in the First Round in the Minnesota league, I'm slowly picking up the pieces and battling for Fifth Place. Currently, I'm one point behind (what's up with all of these one-point games?!), but I've still got RB Samkon Gado for the Packers, going head-to-head against my opponent's TE Todd Heap for the Ravens in a Monday Night Showdown.

But in the South Dakota league, although I finished at a 7-6 record overall, I'm thinking "championship game." I still have one player left (again, Gado) and my opponent was WR Mark Clayton of the Ravens. I currently hold a 13-point lead, so it's a nice cushion. If I take the win -- it's Super Bowl for me, baby -- and the chance for the jackpot of $180.

Fantasy Football Playoffs -- Simply Depressing

In both of my leagues that I'm involved in, I made the playoffs. Surprisingly enough, I'm the 6th and final seed in both playoff brackets.

In the Minnesota league, it was a friggin' miracle. I started the season 0-6, finishing the regular season at 6-7. In the South Dakota league, I finished at a 7-6 record.

But last weekend, it was a bittersweet, yet depressing weekend in Fantasy Football.

I'm still stewing over this, pissed off as all hell. I can only blame myself. In the Minnesota league, I was up against Cory, the #3 seed. In the end, I lost by ONE stinkin', ONE fucking point. I can easily blame one of my running backs, Mike Anderson for the Denver Broncos, for giving me 3 points, or the Oakland defense for giving me that crucial negative-one point. Hell, I figured since they were playing the New York Jets, the worst offense in the NFL, the Raiders should play well. NOPE.

Damn it all to hell. I eventually had a SOLID team, could have easily made a run for the championship. Now, I'm playing for 5th place. Woo-hoo.

But, in the SD league, I dominated in the first round. I scored over 200 points, the first person to do that all year long. It's a feeling of accomplishment as I move into the second round, where I can hopefully get some of my money back.

One fucking point. Simply depressing.

The Town of 1000 Hills

Last Friday night, I drove from my abode in Minnesota to a small, up-and-coming town in South Dakota called Dell Rapids. I was there to watch my brother-in-law, who is a junior in high school, start his basketball season against the local Catholic school.

Also, the reason why Dell Rapids is on the map is due to John (Nee-Nee) and some other friends that I knew from college. I figured since I was there, hell -- might as well stop in for a gander.

Even Troy (Mongolian-Weiner-Man) headed up from Sioux Falls, as he's moving there from Mitchell.

The game itself got to a late start, but in the end, my brother-in-law's team killed 'em.

But I have a beef with the town of Dell Rapids itself. During my days in Mad-Town, or in any other small South Dakotan town for that matter, the city crews would literally DUMP sand on the roads, making it seem like you were dune-buggin' through the streets. All except for DR, which was nothing but snow, ice, and HILLS.

Simply unbelievable! Even with 4-wheel drive, the ol' Chevy had a tough navigating the streets of Dells, slippin' and slidin' all over the place. It was an adventure going DOWN a hill towards an intersection, praying to God that a car wouldn't cross your path. There were a few times that I practically slid through the intersection, but lucky for me, there were no vehicles coming from the other directions.

In John's defense, Minnesota is home to the Salt Mines. Even if I think South Dakota is home to the Sand Dunes, I sure didn't see any in DR!

Ah, the local war between SD and MN still rages on!

Nee-Nee! (hand-motions)

Classic

With Christmas approaching, the advertisements are in full-force on television about the all-time classic Christmas shows like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of "The Charlie Brown Christmas" and I'm lucky enough to own this title on DVD. I was watching it last weekend -- not only for nostalgic purposes -- but I REALLY watched it.

I never realized how MEAN the others were to Charlie Brown. Here's this bald-headed kid who always seems not to get things right, nobody gives him Christmas cards (or Valentines, for that matter), pretty klutzy (Lucy pulling the football away each time) ... you cannot help feeling sorry for the kid. Lucy (that bitch) and all her other girlfriends just rip him a new one when he returns with the scrawniest Christmas tree he could find for use for the Christmas play. Even his dog Snoopy makes fun of him. Snoopy might as well lift his leg in the air and piss on Charlie Brown.

Linus is there for support, but you don't see him getting ripped on by the others for bringing that "lousy" tree back to the auditorium. But God Bless Linus for reminding everybody (and the viewers) what Christmas is really all about.

With all the crap that Charlie Brown endures, wouldn't you think he'd have some problems? Suicide watch, anyone?

Some things I didn't get:

• Aluminum trees? Must have been something big back in the mid-60's. Just awful.
• When Charlie Brown gave up on the play and took the scrawny tree back home, he attempted to "dress it up" with an ornament from Snoopy's dog house. It keeled over from the weight, sending Charlie Brown into another downer of his manic depression. When the rest of the kids show up and give the tree "love", where did all that green come from?
• How can Pigpen kick up dust when there's snow on the ground?
• Also, if a kid like Pigpen is that dirty, shouldn't somebody talk to that kid's parents? Child services?
• Don't any of these kids have parents? They all seem pretty independent.
• Where were Peppermint Patty and Marcie? Rumors throughout history states that they are in fact lesbians -- well ... guess I answered my own question.

Of course, these questions or concerns are not to be taken seriously -- just look at them with a little humor.

Overall, it's a classic. Simply love it. Especially the "Linus and Lucy" theme. If you don't know what that is, you should be shot.

The Calm Before The Storm

In about 11 hours from now -- it will be determined whether or not I will get my money back.

A few posts on TonyTimes have been dedicated to Fantasy Football, to the two leagues that I am currently participating in Minnesota and South Dakota. In both situations, I'm right on the bubble for making the playoffs -- the final stretch to see if my team can kick it into high gear to win some money back.

Sundays and Monday nights have been super-stressful, as of late. Even NASCAR had taken a back seat to my fantasy football antics -- flipping between CBS and FOX, keeping up-to-date on statistics of my players and my opponent's players as they play their games -- simple madness on my part.

This Sunday -- this is the Last Stand for both of my teams, the last week of the regular season. Lately, in both leagues, I've been on a roll, making strong comebacks with close wins. Although last week for Week 12 really hurt (I lost in both leagues), I'm pretty confident that I should win both tomorrow.

If I lose -- well, I'm out $55. As the Brooklyn Dodgers used to say, "Wait 'til next year..."

Lazy Town

Even though we got hit up with inches and inches of snow -- I didn't even bother shoveling our sidewalks on our corner of the block. But then I noticed something strange: it seems like ALL of my neighbors own snowblowers.

What ever happened to the good ol' days with a regular scoop shovel? After a few more inches of the fluffy white stuff last night, I did manage to get up early to shovel our sidewalks -- WITH A SCOOP SHOVEL. It seemed like I was the only person out there with a shovel in my hands. Unlike my next door neighbor who seems to bust out his snowblower at the sight of a few flakes, I did it the hard way.

I guess everybody is a little scared to have heart attacks, due to all of these reports of the elderly and the weak-hearted keeling over due to chucking snow manually.

Buck up, people. In a nation bitchin' about gas and oil prices, use some muscle.

Eh, another rant. Another pointless post.

Christmas Cards?

Am I at that point yet in which I have to start dishin' out cards to family friends and relatives?

As far as I'm concerned ... that's what old people do. Well, I'm am 27...and married...

My parents are taking our wedding picture (myself, Kate, Dan, and parents) and giving that out to their friends. The thought has gone through my head and I'm undecided right now, whether or not I should do the same.

Timmy-A gave me a call last night asking me for my address so they can send out a card. It's justifiable, since Tim and his wife Jen just had their first baby last June. Why not show off a newborn? Comparable to Kate and I's wedding ... an excuse to send out a card?

What I cannot stand is those "letters" that people send out -- and they pass it off like a 2-year old wrote it, or even the family pet (like my parents did last year). Makes me sick -- just send the picture.

Decisions...

Nice and Easy...

Things went smooth last night ... reffin' a boys basketball game, that is.

Another teacher (who also thinks that basketball really isn't his strong suit) and myself made sure that a bunch of 7th graders didn't get too carried away on the hardwood. We didn't call too much, just an occasional travelling call and maybe a hack or two, but other than that -- I got back into my basketball groove.

It's almost funny how things come back to me, like my own personal knowledge of basketball. I personally didn't play in high school, but I had a few friends that excelled at the sport. I remember back to the days in which Sean, Robb, myself, and a boat-load of others would pimp out the front row on the opposite side of the gym and "give it our all" for the boys. The constant trash talkin' was the highlight -- not only to the other team and the refs, but to our own head coach as well!

And who can forget The Owl Garden ...

I guess the fear that I have now is that I have to ref a few 9th grade b-ball games. A little faster-paced game -- but I'd better be on top of it. I'm going to have to do a little more research on the game...

Snow Days

One of the things that I have always looked forward to when I was in elementary, junior, and senior high schools was the possibility of a snow day. Now that I am a teacher -- wouldn't you know it -- I still look forward to the snow days in which I DON'T HAVE TO WORK!

I obviously don't get paid for those days (unless I take a sick day), but we are obligated to make those days up later on. But this week, in particular, it seems like we've been getting hit-up with wave after wave of snow storms. It all started last weekend, where it got so bad that we didn't even have school on Monday. On Tuesday, a 2-hour late start. Wednesday, a full-day of classes. Now today, another 2-hour late start due to 5-6 inches of snow that started yesterday afternoon.

I cannot complain, since I do have the opportunity to sleep in a little bit. Katie, on the other hand, who attends a tech school for cosmetology, has to go to school. She kept me up with her damn hair dryer, but other than that, I did manage to get a few zzz's in during the 2-hour late start.

SIDE NOTE: I also have the "prime" opportunity to ref middle school boy's basketball games. Good Lord. I haven't even watched an organized game of basketball in so damn long, even on TV -- sheesh. I KNOW the simple rules of basketball, but I had to do some research on the goofy hand signals that the refs make when there is a foul or a violation.

This should be fairly interesting...

...at least I'm getting paid!