The Grammar Police Officer Raises His Photogenic Head

Recently, I received a weird complement from a woman about my "photogenic" memory.  While I might be cute, or even adorable, some might even say I am boyishly handsome (it's the hair, women dig the hair), I'm pretty sure she meant to say "photographic."  At least it gave me the idea to star in the next round of print ads more my store BookNotes.  However, I didn't correct her.  Not on the fact she used the wrong word, nor that the preferred term is "eidetic" (one of my most favorite words), or even that I don't have such a good memory.  I have been told that it come off as being rude, even when I am only trying to help.  That is why I almost went into journalism; as an editor, I could correct people for a living.  Okay, maybe I like to show off a little too.  I have had some many interests and hobbies, I just need to explain certain points.  While I have a pretty good memory at times, I have to work on it.  For instance, I couldn't tell you the names of any of my classmates from my last two-and-a-half years of college.  Maybe the one who wrote the nationally distributed comic book, but only if pressed and even then I might get it wrong.  Yet, I can tell you something about any of my former/current interests, even from years ago, and still be right the majority of the time.  When I was in grade school, I was the science geek.  I studied archeology, astronomy, geology, meteorology, and paleontology; you know, the basics.  I also had a liking for new age topics, or what many booksellers refer to as Body, Spirit, & Mind.  I read on parapsychology, metaphysics, mythology, cryptozoology, and astrology; basically, any mystical/magical tradition or belief.  By the time I got to high school, I was firmly into the liberal arts and humanities. I was drawn to literature, music, theater, and the fine arts, even as I got stuck as the science geek.  Still, my interest in the Romantics, Surrealism/Dada, and even acting hung true.  This doesn't even cover my wide range of hobbies that I developed.  In the late 1980's and early 1990's, I was drawn to cooking Italian/Italian-American cuisine.  I became an amateur tarotist, mostly from a historical context (I'm surprised Dan Brown hasn't tapped into this for his next Robert Langdon novel; if he doesn't, I might).  By the late 1990's, I turned to tabletop role-playing games as well as weightlifting (I needed to get fit again).  In the early 2000's, I became a NASCAR aficionado and became enamored of the steampunk ethos.  Recently, I took up social media (duh) and My Little Pony:  Friendship Is Magic [the previous statement does not necessarily reflect the views of this blog, even if true, unfortunately].  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  I guess I do show off a bit, don't I?  Still. I can expose quite a bit on any of this, although none of these are my favorites.  My longest craves have always been comic books, ever since a learned to read via them when I was four.  My other favorite interest has been puzzles and games, what this blog is ostensibly about, if barely.  Although that woman made a mistake, I didn't by correcting her.  However, I did make a mistake in my blog, at least one that I will admit to.  There is a deliberate misspelling.  If there are more, I won't say, but at least this statement covers all the bases. 

Those Who Can Flaunt It, Those Who Can't

I could never become a teacher.  For one, I could never stay with one subject for long periods of time.  After I can't find anything out new on a topic, I frequently lose interest for a time, only to return sometime later.  Staying with a subject, year after year, especially in a field without much change, could bore me.  Next is the way I learn.  I frequently make intuitive leaps in learning a new subject, figuring things out on my own, sometimes before I am ready to truly understand them.  It come from learning how to read when I was 4 (Thank you comic books!)  and watching way too much educational television programming (I learned the basics of algebra watching a GED show when I was 5 or 6, but didn't realize it until years later what I knew).  This can make it hard for me to tell others what I know in a way for them to understand.  Sometimes, it makes me want to do the work for them just so they can understand concepts I find that are simple, but not for them.  Of course, I also have a problem relating to kids.  I been that way since the eighth grade or so.  I just don't have that much patience sometimes.  Actually, at one point, I did want to be a teacher, but only at the collegiate level. Late in my final semester of college, I decided that academia could be my field.  I was going to get my Master's in English, with a focus on folklore, legend, and myth.  I could teach some classes, and maybe write to my heart's content if I chose to.  Unfortunately, my school only offered the GRE once that cycle, after my December graduation.  I tried applying with an incomplete form, but I was told to try again after I could get everything done correctly.  I kept missing deadlines to apply for the test, until it went to a computerized form only; as I mentioned in a previous post, I don't handle computers well, so I never went to grad school.  The first part of being unyielding, without heart, is everything; but who am I kidding?  Even if I could now take the test, what university would accept me.  Even my age, I actually have less life experience then most regular students (odd, but true).  I can barely remember what I learned to get my BA (that flitting from subject-to-subject I mentioned awhile ago).  Technically, I don't need a Master's to write, only to teach at university level.  I am unsure if I could handle the politicking involved in today's schools.  That part of the job would not excite me.  Still, I wonder about what could have been the almost perfect life for me, if only a few things had been different, opportunities that weren't missed.  Maybe a few regrets, or maybe not.  I still can't think of a good sign off yet, so I will end today's post with a cryptic message.. (4,4)

Why Computers Are Dumb

I frequently grumble about the problems I have when I write this blog.  Part of the reason is I am no good with computers.  It all started in my last years of college.  I couldn't afford a computer, yet, especially since I only wanted an Apple.  By my last semester,  I only had one class that I even needed to type assignments for (I had two art electives) and my personal typewriter was good enough, since the computer labs were in a basement nowhere near my classes.  At my only job, my skills had gotten very rusty and my employer didn't offer any help in learning new ones.  During the next four years, when I was basically forgotten, technology advanced way beyond my skill set.  I only needed to be around computers for about an hour or so a month; so I never got one.  This was also the time when cellphones became ubiquitous.  Since I never went anywhere and had no one calling me/no one to call, I never got one of those either.  When the store opened up, I felt it was better financially speaking to wait to get one.  It took months to develop the systems I needed to keep everything organized, but it works for me.  Even when I found out that on of my distributors had increased offering online, that only added another hour of so a month to go over the three dozen plus categories(out of more than seventy)  and thousands of listing I liked to go through.  Believe me, it is not as boring as it sounds.  Then, when cellphones gave way to smartphones and tablets, I almost thought seriously about getting one.  However, I still didn't go anywhere much.  I didn't have any pressing needs to call anybody from anywhere.  Data plans and finances confuse me.  In fact, I have only been in one situation that I needed to call someone when I didn't have a phone in seventeen years.  Besides, I like not to be that easily reached.  Then, a few years ago, more information became available only online.  This added another thirty minutes online a week.  Then, last spring, while waiting on a thirty minute oil change that became a two hour major repair, I fooled around on Wix and finally created a website for the store.  I snowballed from there.  I finally got my own email address instead on using the store's (which I didn't set up or control).  Then, I got this blog so I could start writing again, beyond the store's blog, which I upgraded to here as well.  Then, I put the store on social media, which meant I was on social media.  Now 1-2 hours every 2-4 days isn't cutting it.  I am also trying to set up online sales, meaning a need for a mobile device as well.  I also found out that I am almost the only customer at my local comic book/gaming store not upgraded to a digital reward system.  The kicker, Apple finally opened a store in Lexington.  Now, the few times a year I go up there, I pass by it daring myself to enter, but I never do.  For years, a wanted a computer, but never had the need or opportunity to get one.  Now that I need one for professional/personal use with just a three hour drive, I don't want one.  No guide for dummies, already out-of-date on printing, can make up for 25 years without hands on training.  I will probably get one or both by the end of the year, finally, but not without some kicking and/or screaming involved and I can stop using public libraries.  But seriously.  Computers, entirely kinda useful.

This Is Me, at Least with a 90% Probability

I have been doing a lot of looking for myself... online.  It started a few weeks ago when I submitted my address to a website.  When I checked back a week or so later, the site had changed my address to an older one that no longer exists.  Really, the building has been torn down and even the ZIP code is being phased out.  I may have typed a digit or two off, but that cannot explain why the site reverted to an old address.  Therefore, I decided to search for myself online.  It took between 4-10 pages of results before I came across a page that was about me, depending upon the search engine used.  Not bad for only a few months of online presence.  Most of the results were about a physician who may work for the Mayo clinic.  Probably not related.  I even checked one of those "free" people finding sites for me.  It did not find me.  Not one of the results were anywhere near me.  It was only when I began thinking about a topic for today's post that I realized why I couldn't be found.  I,technically, have an unlisted phone number.  Oh, it is in the directory, just not under my name.  I never bothered to have it added or changed.  On the one hand,  this cuts down on any unsolicited calls as well as many attempt at identity theft.  On the other hand, it makes it almost impossible for anyone who really wants or needs to find me.  I had unintentionally made myself too unavailable.  With all of this misinformation out there, one would either had to know some very specific things about me or be one of the few people I had given personal contact information to over the years, and then search for me using that data.  A very hard challenge, but it would be one I personally would enjoy.  I have actually done such searches based on little info over the years.  For example, for the final challenge in a contest, I had to look through nature guides to identify the approximate species of a bird depicted on a stamp and then go online to find out which country, or former country, had issued said stamp.  While I wasn't one of the winners chosen, I did manage to get the correct answer.  Of course, now that I am on social media, it has become a lot easier to find me; as long as one remembers to look for me every once and awhile.  That reminds me, I might have to change some of my security settings soon. 

A Few (Will) Shortz Notes

A just read an article in the new April issue of Games World of Puzzles magazine about Will Shortz, the current editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle page.  To be honest, I don't even like crossword puzzles all that much.  I much prefer other types, such as cryptic crosswords.  However, I usually try to solve at least one crossword puzzle a week.  I got started when I would pick up the Friday newspaper because of a feature it ran.  I felt a little guilty just getting a paper for one thing, so I would wind up reading most of it and doing the puzzles in it.  When I first started out, it was taking me hours to solve one, and that was with the help of an entire small bookstore of information.  Even with my experience with other puzzle types, it was taking me a while to understand the intricacies use in crosswords.  As time went on, I got faster and had to search for fewer answers.  I got my solving time to just under thirty minutes most weeks, and without having to look up a single clue.  Unfortunately, the paper stopped running the feature, but I kept getting the Friday paper for some time afterwards.  That is until last year, when I started getting the Saturday edition to keep up on a feature on that day.  Even with me previous practice with Friday difficulty puzzles, I am taking about an hour or so to solve a Saturday puzzle; I usually have to look up an answer or two.  I didn't think it would take me so much longer.  Maybe it is the added distractions I face most Saturdays.  (As an aside, it only took me about a half an hour to solve the contest in this issue.   Most of it setting up a letter frequency table, and I was unfamiliar with the answer's theme.)  Back to the article.  What delighted me most was the revelation of some of Shortz's mistakes, especially since one of them was indirectly about my name!  I still have the first crossword puzzle I solved that included my first name as an answer.  I positively giggled when I saw the clue, but I waited to enter it into the grid until I solved a crossing clue or two, just to make sure.  I think the clue was about the mug 'toby' instead of the name.  Why is spellcheck flagging my name as incorrect, just because it is uncapitalized?  If it started with a capital letter, it wouldn't be flagged.  I just checked.  It is not that uncommon a word, or is it?  Never mind.  That should be one word, but the spellcheck says otherwise.  I don't like it.  I better close for this week, before I get frustrated and write something else I would alter regret.

But They Really Do Go Well Together

First, let me say that I am most definitely not a brony.  Yes, I have seen very episode of  My Little Pony:  Friendship Is Magic, and all of the spin-off Equestria Girls movies.  I have read some of the comic books, but I have never even thought about purchasing any of the toys or other related products.  I have thought up some fan-fiction that has eerily come close to what has happened in the cartoon.  At most, I am 55 to 60% a brony.  That being said, I have had some ideas about a RPG base on the show and based on the World of Darkness rules.  Hear me out.  Using Bygone Bestiary as a guide, one could set up a basic system for creating characters and stories.  There would be three primary classes (earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi) with hints about the possibility of becoming an alicorn, with aspects of all three.  Further additions would include other classes both magical (dragons, griffins, changelings) and more mundane (zebra, bison, donkeys).  There could even be suggestions of the mythical hippocampii, sea ponies (not cannon for the cartoon yet, but featured in the original toy line from the 1980's).  There would be systems for natural abilities and magic, as well as story ideas based on the show and comic books.  With Onyx Path creating Pugmire and the Monarchies of Mau, an equine based game would not to far off.  Unfortunately, it would have to be a parody as Hasbro would never give up the license since it already owns a RPG company through Wizards of the Coast and TSR's Dungeons and Dragons.  Still, I think it could work out somehow, maybe as an entry level game for younger players.  Okay, maybe this does kind of make me a brony after all.  Oh well, until nest week.

Waxing and Waxing on and on

Last week, I had a birthday, just after I published my post.  It started to make me feel a little down.  I have mentioned how I had just finished going through the eighty plus World of Darkness supplements that had been damaged.  That got me thinking about where I got many of them, as well as World of Darkness 2.0/Chronicles of Darkness and even Exalted books.  I was kind of trying to figure out if I could slyly ask for an extra discount on my weekly pull because of my birthday, even though I probably wasn't going to pick them up until after my birthday.  That is when I realized that I had been going to them, Page 3 Game Zone, for over twenty-three years!  Over that time, I have bought thousands of comic books (about ten years of which were also destroyed in the aforementioned mishap), hundreds of magazines and trading cards (both regular and CCG's, I used to buy them by the box), a dozen or so books, two comic book related tarot decks, a few boxes of gaming figurines, and even a brush kit that I actually used on some actual paintings (including the one I keep trying to download onto here without any success, don't worry I won't bring it up again).  It just gets me sad is all.  I keep trying to get the confidence to to more with my hobby I guess you could call it, but something is just missing from my reach.  I don't know what it is.  I am running out of ideas for today.  I almost forgot that I needed to do this today because I had so must else to do.  In a few minutes, I am going to try and contact some people I haven't seen or even heard from in years.  I needed to calm down and get my confidence up before I did anything else.  I guess this is it for today as my wrists are really starting to hurt again.  My typing skills are shot and I will have to hunt- and-peck or just scroll with the mouse for the resat of my social media session.  Be back next week.