Shake, Rattle Roll....

So, I was in this deep R.E.M. sleep Friday morning, dreaming about sitting on a couch in an apartment (not mine) doing some dog sitting for friends (dreams are weird). Suddenly, the couch starts to move side to side for no reason. Just then I start to wake from my slumber in my bed to the half asleep realization that the side to side shaking movement was not limited to my dream and was not subsiding at all. My bed was seemingly making this movement on its own (WTF?!?!)

Still in partial sleep mode my mind wondered if I was on a "Witch's Ride" (you're in a dream state yet fully aware that you're in a dream state and can't wake yourself out of it). Once I woke up a little more I realized that my bed was indeed shaking side to side!! Did some large animal get into my apartment and burrow itself under my bed and was now humping the travel duffel bag I keep underneath there? Was my apartment haunted by a ghost? Was my apartment haunted by the ghost of an animal humping my duffel bag under my bed???? Or was it a lot of the stress I've been under lately finally starting to take root in my psyche and this was the first signs of a pure, unadulterated, full mental breakdown?

As I slowly came to being fully awake the shaking of the bed came to an end. The whole incident only took about 25 seconds at most. I turned on a light and sat up in bed. After much contemplation I decided to ignore the urge of getting up and looking under my bed (perhaps to find some wild raccoon who'd leap at my face and chew it to ribbons or some undead thing that would try and eat my brain) and to just go back to sleep for the next 50 minutes before I had to get up for work. It had already been a restless night for me prior to the possessed bed incident and I knew I needed to catch a few winks to be able to face the coming day. So back to sleep I go without further incident.

After getting up latter in the morning I turn on the TV and find that there was a 4.5 earthquake in southern Illinois that's effects reached waaaaay up north. This pretty much solved the mystery. I breathed a major sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to have my bedroom blessed by a priest waving holy water over my bed or have the ASPCA come over to wrangle some varmint from under my bed or that I was yet to reach full mental nut job status.

So that was interesting.


I apologize for not having a more frequent posting schedule in this month. Things are pretty crazy right now! Both my professional and social life are pretty crammed filled with a ton of stuff. Plus, there are a few personal issues that are tooling around in my little noggin' at the moment. So I have a full plate of stuff going on lately and I'm reeeeeeaaaaallllly hoping that by the time summer kicks in and we get some really nice weather that issues will have worked themselves out and things aren't as frantic. That way I can enjoy some good herfs of of some fine cigars!!!

I've already dipped into my summer supply and have enjoyed a few. In fact I tried one that I hadn't smoked before that I really enjoyed. Try yourself a Gurkha Shaggy. It's exposed end (the one you light, dumb a$$) is slightly shredded to make for a far more easy and distributive lighting experience. It's very flavorful and wonderfully smooth.


I know I'm behind in all sorts of geeky media reviews so here are a quick couple of video games I recently tried out....

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas - In a somewhat squad based FPS, you and your fellow elite anti-terrorist outfit members try and wipe out a terrorist threat that has plunked themselves down in Las Vegas and have taken over a few of the massive casino hotels. I have to tell you that I'm not at all a big fan of squad based games, but RBSV makes controlling your squad pretty easy. It's also very challenging, once in a blue moon, borderline frustrating. But it makes taking out the bad guys with a head shot all the more gratifying. Graphics wise, it's no Call of Duty 4, but the look and feel of the casinos makes you feel like you're in Vegas. I'm not done with the whole game yet, but I'm closing in. So far I enjoy what I'm playing. Not quite enough to go and buy a copy of my own (I'm borrowing Roberto's), but a good time-passer video game!

Turok - I was a HUGE fan of the Nintendo64 versions of the FPS series that had you being an American Indian with lethal bow in hand ridding the world of aliens and dinosaurs! The games mixed the attributes of FPS, arcade and platformer games. Visually they took you to crazy, visually stunning words. I loved them. When I heard that they were going to revamp the game for the Xbox 360, I had high hopes. But, after renting it, all hopes fell flat. Sure the graphics were excellent, but there's only so much of jungle level followed by jungle level followed by jungle level a gamer can take. It also took a lot of cheap shots at your character making the combat experiences very frustrating, not challenging. How many dinos can one character take on at once? Not the best gaming experience of my life, but if you like frustrating FPS games, go for it!


I'm still reading like 50 books at once right now. And being a slow reader doesn't help the mater. On top of my current reading list I still have yet to get to "Alice Cooper: Golf Monster" and an anthology series of Robert E. Howard's (Conan The Barbarian) of "The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane" that my gamemaster, Mad Mario, lent me last night in preperation of his running an RPG based on the character that will start up next summer. It will take me that long to just finish the stuff I'm on now.

Anyway, my weekend is booked again. I gotta get out of here and do some snack shopping for a CoC game I've got today. Plus there's also episodes of Torchwood I rented this weekend as well as some more Rainbow Six: Vegas so I can return it to Roberto soon. I may even try and sneak in a cigar, weather permitting. So I have to motor now.

Zangz is outta here.