Day: December 31, 2003

The 2004 list of words that should be banished for “misuse, overuse and general uselessness,” according to Lake Superior State University:

Metrosexual: An urban male who pays a great deal of attention to appearance.
X: As in “X-Files,” Xtreme, Windows XP (news – web sites) and X-Box.
Punked: To dupe, popularized by the MTV show “Punk’d.”
Place Stamp Here: Printed on return envelopes.
Companion animals: Also known as pets.
Bling or Bling-Bling: Flashy jewelry.
LOL: E-mail speak for “laugh out loud.”
Embedded Journalist.
Smoking Gun.
Shock and Awe.
Captured Alive.
Shots Rang Out.
Ripped From the Headlines.
Sweat Like a Pig: The problem is pigs don’t sweat.
In Harm’s Way.
Hand-Crafted Latte.
Sanitary Landfill: Also known as a dump.

Check out this TI-99/4A emulator for Windows.. other OSes um, I guess go
install it on your friend’s Windows computer:

ftp://ftp.whtech.com/emulators/Win994a.ZIP

This emulator is especially cool because it comes with a whole bunch of old cartridge roms, the best of which is “Hunt The Wumpus”. Here’s how it works:

Open Win994a..
Go to “Carts > Insert Cartridge… > Hunt The Wumpus”
Press any key to begin.
Press 2 for English (3 for French and 4 for who knows what)
Pick the difficulty you want (probably easy to start out with)
Pick the option you want (only normal is any good)
Okay, the game begins!

Your goal is to find and kill the Wumpus, who is somewhere in the maze you just appeared in, but haven’t seen and doesn’t move. You only have one arrow, so make it count! When you’re next to the room with the Wumpus in it, press Q to mean you’re ready to shoot your arrow and then press in the direction you think he’s in. Your arrow will let fly.. if you hit him you win, if you don’t, YOU DIE! Who knows why? Perhaps I lie! You can also die by walking onto the Wumpus or falling into one of the two pits in each randomly-generated maze.

So, how do you find the Wumpus? You walk around with the arrow keys
looking for blood.. the Wumpus has left a trail of blood two “rooms” away from his location in every direction. There is also a little bit of warning for pits.. there’s green slime in rooms directly next to a pit. That’s it! Oh, except there are also bats in some rooms, and if you walk on them too many times, they’ll carry you to a random
location (which could be right in a pit or the Wumpus himself!) Also, there are curvy paths between rooms sometimes. These paths connect rooms as though they were right next to each other.. e.g. a room two away from the Wumpus but only connected via windy paths will still have blood in it. Also, if you shoot your arrow down a windy path it follows it magically until it comes to a room.

Sound confusing? Well, you must be stupid! It’s the easiest (and best) game ever! Just give it a shot and you’ll understand what I’m talking about way way better. If you like mine sweeper, you’ll love “Hunt the Wumpus”!

lots of these going around – almost like SARS
I figure, why not cough a little

1. What did you do in 2003 that you’d never done before?
Bought a steam clearner. Read the Dead Sea Scrolls (translated). Met up with LJ peeps I dodn’t already know IRL. Dressed up as an Indian god. Wandered around Glouceter MA. Went to a Crawfish Boil. Hung out with friends my own age in Maine.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Didn’t make any for 2003. 2004 holds 2, which I think I should be able to stick to.

3. Did anyone close to you have children?
Yep. Few people. Good for them.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yep. Couple people. Bad for them.

5. What countries did you visit?
Does Texas count?

6. What would you like to have in 2004 that you lacked in 2003?
More sanity and free time.

7. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My birthday, since pulled the GD wool over my eyes and surprised me.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I managed to maintain a lucrative yet time consuming side job while adding a nearly equal one to the works and STILL manage to keep my sanity.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Assuming certain things about people which left me in dire straits later.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No major illness, no major injury.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A new GBA SP.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
, for not killing our ex-roomate. for doin the change of pace lawschool thing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? appalled?
See comments re: previous roomate.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Moving, furniture, not wedding plans =/

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Starwars Galaxies (flop) and NWN (yay!). New books by King and Salvatore, as well as Umberto Eco. Sex and the City going away forever!

16. What song will always remind you of 2003?
Milkshake song. Definitely the milkshake song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
Happier

ii. Thinner or fatter?
Fatter

iii. Richer or poorer?
Both!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Write.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Waste time.

20. How did you spend your favorite holiday?
Watching Evil Dead. Going to couple days later.

21. What happened to 21?
Eh? That is a dumb question.

22. Did you fall in love in 2003?
Was already there =).

23. How many one-night stands?
Nada

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Carnivale – up to the finale – done with that now, and hoping that 6FU pulls up on the stick.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not really.

26. What was the best book you read?
Nonfiction
Guns Germs and Steel and Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes.
Fiction
Crossroads of Twilight or Baudolino.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ken Nordine

28. What did you want and get?
An mp3 player (it is in the mail).

29. What did you want and not get?
A promotion.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Kill Bill

31. What did you do on your birthday?
I got surprised by my g/f and friends at a party at my ‘rents palce.

32. What’s one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Finding a non-ghetto apartment with a closer commute at a good price.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
fashion? feh.

34. What kept you sane?
, intense mental training

35. Celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
er, “fancy” is an odd verb – lets jsut say, i still think Tom Waits kicks ass.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
FOIA Vs Patriot/Homeland Security BS

37. Who did you miss?
Melissa.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
. Having a friend as a co-worker is definitely a good thing.

39. What valuable life lesson did you learn in 2003?
Texas is closer than you think!

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Just another Dime Store novel.