Why Are You Downcast, O My Soul? (Psalm 43:5)

Greetings, all! Isn't that top picture incredible?

I am officially sick, though I don't know how long it will last. I got a butt-load of sleep, so that's been handled. But I'm scheduled to work at the rug shop Friday, then go to Easter rehearsals both Friday night and Saturday, in prep for running the lights during the Easter production on Sunday. So I have a lot planned the next few days; kind of a bummer time to be sick.

But I'm caffeine free at the moment... haven't had anything from Starbucks since that devilish latte on Tuesday night...

Yeah, it's April Fools Day today. Some of my favorite online haunts posted the expected tomfoolery, including Logan (who said he was shutting down his blog), Shelly, who was threatening to replace her iconic "tub reader" pic with a similar pic of her husband (lol), and A Dribble of Ink claiming the GRRM had finished A Dance with Dragons. Also, this won't mean anything to anyone, but over on The Berrics, they posted what was supposed to be a clip of a surprise round of Battle at the Berrics, between Chris Cole and Mike Capaldi. As you can imagine, I clicked the video immediately, saying "Whoa, no way! Cool!" only to get punked.

Of course, Google pulled a prank, claiming that they were changing their name to Topeka, in response to the news that Topeka Kansas was changing its name to Google, Kansas. But the best one I've seen thus far was at FilePlanet, who announced that they had a playable demo for Duke Nuke'm Forever available to download. Cruel, cruel. If you don't "get it", it would take too long to explain, sorry. Trust me, it was a good prank. Much better than Gamespot, who did a Star Wars joke that only Logan might find funny...

I considered trying to post a prank, but couldn't come up with a good one. I was going to say I was done with my novel, or that all the files had accidentally been destroyed and I have to start again. I was going to say I won some prize and was rich now. I was going to post a pic of a random female and introduce her to the blog as my new mistress, saying, "It's ok, Wifey will never find out because she never reads my blog." But none of the ideas seemed worth the effort of developing. So I guess I'll just be boring old me, and post a regular post...

There's only one thing to do, which I'm sure you've already guessed. Yep, post a great picture of Machu Picchu.

Gotta have me some Machu Picchu now and then!

I was planning on starting the P90X program today, being the first. I have this thing about needing to start the three-month program on the first of a month, otherwise my brain short circuits. I'm sick, so I couldn't do it! BUT I could watch the DVD, which is what I did. So that *almost* counts as working out. At least now I'll know what I'm in for, as far as chest and arms. Dang, they do every type of pushup and pull up imaginable, and a couple I'd never even imagined... I got winded just watching it. But for some reason, it counts!

I watched the trailer for the new Stallone joke of a movie, called the Expendables. The gimmick is that it has every "past his prime" action movie star imaginable in it, in some role. Check out the cast list: Sly Stallone, Arnold Swartzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Dolph Lundgren. You'd think something like that could be cool, right? Well, watch the trailer, and then guess again...



I'm starting to get the same type of gut-level morbidly curious reaction to Stallone's "surgically enhanced" face that I did with Michael Jackson... he's not that bad yet, but it looks like he's heading that way. Yikes.

Still plugging along with Hawkwood's Voyage (Paul Kearney). It has stretches where it reads really well, and other stretches that drag. But it's a short(ish) book, so I'll make myself read it through before diving into my recently-arrived copy of Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. I traded that Scott Bakker book for Elantris on Swaptree. Pretty cool site, though I have yet to master the fine art of securing the lowest shipping price. So far, I've done 2 trades, and each time, the shipping cost about as much as it would have to buy the books themselves! The idea of trading books, with the only cost being shipping, seemed like a great idea. It is, in a way. I just don't know the right trick yet.

At least I don't have that Bakker book on my shelf anymore...

OK, I think I'm done for the night. Sorry about the mellow post. I'm going to use 'being sick' as the excuse tonight. Guess I should go soak in the tub, drink some tea and read a book. Dang... what a girly thing to say! Forget it... I'm going to eat beef jerky, pass much wind and play an FPS instead... ah, that's more like it!

Adios,

Dave