Sasha Pixlee’s blog

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

For the last day or two I've been experiencing very strong urges to smoke. Not to smoke just anything, mind; I'm really craving a nice, fresh Camel Wide. The fresh smell of the new tobacco. The feel of the cigarette that's just the right size for my fingers. I'm not even craving just one cigarette, either. I find myself constructing elaborate scenarios for a future where I've returned to smoker-hood. I haven't caved, of course, but this is something new in the five years since I quit.

I've been thinking about what might be contributing to this new phenomenon. I can't say for certain, but I think there are three main factors:

1. It's winter. My passing desires for a smoke have always increased in the autumn and winter months. It was my favorite season for smoking before I quit.
2. I have less to do. Recent social-realignments mean I have fewer social engagements than I used to. I have more time on my hands, in larger blocks. Boredom always made me smoke more.
3. I have more stress. My new job is a lot more demanding and stressful than my old one. The pay and respect from my co-workers and employer makes it worth it, but the stress is still there. I rarely find myself able to relax as much as I'd like. Smoking is a great stress-reducer, and I spent years reinforcing the stress-smoke reaction.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

First, I want to remind you all that we're now less than two weeks away from Elizebeth's Birthday Party, on December 2nd. Hope to see you there. Also, watch this space for details on our end-of-the-year holiday stocking exchange.

This last weekend, though, has passed and deserves a write-up. On Friday Elizebeth and I did some shopping. We hit up the inventory liquidation sale at Tower Books and Tower Video on Broadway. Remember me talking about Gregg Hurwitz's Tim Rackley books last week? Now I have all four titles, so you locals have no good excuses. I also got a new copy of Last Call to replace my oft-loaned older copy.

On Saturday the two of us watched Hostel (one of my DVD purchases), before heading out for dinner and a movie with Tamie. We ate at El Torito, where my carnitas was excellent. I decided to have a drink after I ate, while waiting for Tamie and E to finish. Their bar didn't have Maker's Mark, so my Whisky sour was made with Jameson's. It tasted like the bartender didn't use a bottled sour mix, but instead used lemon juice and sugar, which was a nice touch. (I've already laid in a bottle of Maker's Mark for Elizebeth's party, by the way.)

After dinner we killed a bit of time at Barnes & Noble and then went to see Casino Royale. Even though the movie was about a half-hour too long, it's probably the best Bond movie I've seen in decades. Gone is the cheesy dialogue and more-improbable-than-anime stunts. This is a grittier, more ruthless Bond. It's also the first one I've seen after I read the book, and it was nice catching the stuff they kept and changed from the plot. Plus, the best use of the hoary old "Bond. James Bond." line evar.

As I wrap this up, I'd like to mention that I'll be out at Cal Expo for harness racing on Wednesday. Elizebeth, Samantha, and Jerry will be there, probably some others as well. Let us know if you'd like to join us.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

Last night i stopped at the library on my way home. This isn't an unusual thing for me. Once we moved back onto the grid I started visiting the library every two weeks, at least. Since I started at
D7
, the Central Library (my neighborhood branch) is conveniently located on my way home from work. Now I usually stop there at least once a week, often more. Anyway, back to my story.

I picked up

Last Shot

by Gregg Hurwitz. This is the latest installment in his series featuring the exploits of Tim Rackley, US Marshal. The previous installments in the series are (links go to my reviews here on the site)

The Kill Clause

,

The Program

, and

Troubleshooter

. I don't normally care for the thriller genre in novels, but I picked up The Kill Clause after it was recommended on the

Pyramid

message boards. It was pleasantly surprised. Like I've been saying, this series is smartly written, action-packed, and unusually thoughtful. Not only are they recommended, but I own the first two, so if you're local I can loan you a copy. I'm your pusherman.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

On Friday I took my first post-raise paycheck and promptly bought Elizebeth some sushi from Ricksha. Friday-night sushi is starting to become a bit of a tradition. Not digging on seafood myself, I usually get something from Wakano Ura, across the street. They were closed in observance of Veteran's Day, so I had some Gam Lei Sig delivered.

Since that's all boring for you, how about gaming? Saturday was the second installment of my GURPS 4th Ed. Madness Dossier game. It went well, my two players ended the session with their characters running for their lives through the Welsh countryside after discovering that the British Prime Minister is in league with their enemies. In two weeks we'll finally start my Unknown Armies game as well. It's been a bit of a struggle getting things rolling with gaming again after I left the old group. I started the mailing list to choose campaigns at the end of May and now it's November. Oh well, new folks, new habits to build. I'm considering making some changes next time around. I think that, rather than two campaigns, each meeting once every 4th Saturday, I'll just run one campaign that meets every 2nd Saturday. I have a theory that meeting more frequently will help busy grown up flakes folks will be able to remember when the game is. Not that all my players have that problem, mind. Scheduling attrition and other factors have pared two five-person groups down into one with three people and one with two.

Another change I may be wanting to make is a move back toward longer campaigns. The idea of playing in the same campaign with people for a year is an appealing one. I miss the long, nigh-epic, campaigns of my youth. I'd like to see if I can recapture some of that today. It would be especially nice if I can lure some of my former gaming compadres into a commitment. This strange nostalgia is even making me longingly look at the AD&D on my shelf. More likely I'll probably have at least one medieval fantasy game on the next ballot, and am also considering some space opera. Watch this space.

Anywayhow, after the game E and I spent some time with Jerry and Terri, ending up with us heading to the movies. Jerry, Terri, and I went to see The Prestige, and Elizebeth went to see Stranger Than Fiction with Sam and David. I can only personally vouch for The Prestige, which was excellent, but Elizebeth assures me that Stranger Than Fiction was great, too. Anyway, I'm going to sign off for now. Note that, if you're reading this on Livejournal, I'm directing comments here. I need to justify my hosting fees, you know?

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

Any of those out there who are hoping I'll be treating them to a bunch of drinks or fine dining now that I got a raise, well, I have bad news: After the co-pay for Elizebeth's insurance is deducted, my take-home pay is only $18.94 more per week. (Yes, I do like being paid weekly.) I do have a spare paycheck coming at the end of the month, though I'll be using that to buy a much-needed new bed.

Speaking of fine dining, though: It seems that, while the date is still up in the air, a restaurant has been picked for the swanky holiday dinner to which my boss treats everyone in the office. We'll be going to Morton's. And yes, I am hoping he’ll be picking up the bar tab.

In swanky news: Swanky has definitely been my adjective for '06. Because I didn't start using it until April, and want to keep using it through at least February, I'm just going to let the adjective for '07 come to me in its own sweet time.

This post has been entirely lacking in any substance; I hope you have enjoyed it. If you are enjoying it on Vox or Livejournal, I encourage you to visit Pixlee.net more often. I have stuff happening there these days.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

Today seems to be a good one for me: Plenty of good news from yesterday's election, Rumsfeld's resignation, and I just now learned that my boss reconsidered my raise and instead of 10%, I'm getting an extra 14%.

Tonight Jacob is coming over so we can finish his character for The Madness Dossier on Saturday, and so I can console hime about Charlie Brown not defeating Bob Doolittle last night.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

Where to begin? This has been a pretty eventful week, all-told. On Wednesday Elizebeth and I finally got around to getting some new bookshelves from IKEA. (Big thanks to Jerry for the truckage.) Now I can put my gaming books and a big chunk of my other books out where people can actually see (and borrow) them.

Thursday and Friday at work were absolutely insane. It was the first real rain of the season and everyone who'd been putting off repairs wanted leaks patched at the same time. I also got my raise straightened out. 10% more than I started at 6 months ago, and in another 6 months I'll be due for another 8-10%.

Friday after work I didn't do much aside from shelve a few books, but I had some more of the pork chow fun from Wakano Ura. Just enough ginger and clove that my tongue was slightly numb by the end of the meal - perfect.

We had some more good food Saturday. We headed out to Trails with Jerry, Terry, and James. I continued my pork-flavored weekend by choosing the chops with apple sauce, which was as tasty as I could have asked for. Our plans to see The Prestige were foiled by a delayed start, and then when we went to see Borat, it was sold out for more than an hour.

Luckily we could smell horse shit from the parking lot of the theater so on a whim we headed over to Cal Expo for the horse racing. Harness racing, to be precise. We spent a few hours hanging around with degenerates and wagering on the ponies. I didn't win anything until I switched from my "Dumbest Name" strategy and bet $1 on Commence Fire in the last race. It was a blast, and you should join us when we go there again.

Today we wrapped it all up by heading out to get the wife some new shoes, a new filter for out HVAC and a small air cleaner for the apartment. I also picked up the new
GURPS Space
, which looks tasty so far.

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

If any of you tried accessing my Den of Iniquity last week, you no doubt noticed that it was having some problems. Someone exploited a security flaw in my gallery and uploaded some junk scripts. That lead my webhost to shut down the site and then their exceedingly poor customer service kept it offline even longer. I'll be moving to a new host soon, trust me.

Other than that, last week was fairly uneventful. Some inspiration struck while I was in the heart of downtown on my way home from work Friday and I've decided to start carrying my camera around with me again. I may also see if I can arrange to take a day off work, or maybe just spend a Saturday shooting out there.

Speaking of photography, my imminent raise has got be thinking about a new camera and other gear. The Olympus E-500 is looking pretty sweet, and I can get it online for under $600, with a lens. Under $700 with two lenses. After that some real lights, etc. and I'm on a roll.

Which reminds: I'd really like to get more people to photograph, especially out and about downtown. I really want a variety of people to work on challenging my skills and building my portfolio. Help a brother out, yo!

Changing topic entirely, Saturday was Samantha's birthday party. I drank plenty of whisky (It was even Maker's Mark, my preferred brand.), saw plenty of boobies, reconnected with some cool people, and met some new ones. All in all, a complete success. I even gave Sam her hat back before I left for the night. (Okay, morning...)

And while we're talking about parties, I've picked a theme for my birthday party in February. After a few years of pirates, togas, and porn I'm changing things up again with a swanky cocktail party. Gentlemen should wear jackets and ties, and ladies dresses. Go Watch Breakfast at Tiffany's to get some ideas. More details (Including location, since I hope to have a swanky one lined up.) will follow in coming weeks and months.

Don't get so excited about my birthday that you forget Elizebeth's Poker Tournament/Birthday Party, though! And keep your calendars clear for our Holiday Stocking Exchange on December 30th!

Originally published at Sasha's Den of Iniquity. You can comment here or there.

I just got back from seeing The Departed with John. Man, that was a great show. I think it's quite likely the best film I've seen this year, and is easily Scorsese's best since Goodfellas. I hate saying that, though: This isn't just a rehash of "Scorsese's Gangsters." If it's like anything by him, I'd point at Mean Streets, I guess.  Go see it, yo.