4 weeks to go

Well looks like my time at Petro-Canada is coming to an end. I have mixed feelings but I guess that comes with change. I feel real good about going back to school. Something about learning is exciting to me, guess I’m a big nerd. Things should be good financially for us as I applied for more loans and I also received some pretty good scholarships.
I have also come to the conclusion that at this time in my life I can’t afford the things I have been accustomed to, like a lot of comics/movies/toys per month. Anyways looks like I better cut back and be more pragmatic when I decide to spend my much smaller amount of monthly money. So I decided to do more things that cost me less money.

Things that I want to do that costs less list.

• Trying out Guild Wars (because it’s basically free) this game is a couple of years old but I hear good things.
• Cut my comic spending by 2/3 =( (This ones going to hurt, but if I am smart I can still follow my current storyline, and I have a friend who almost buys the same comics as I)
• Download movies instead of renting (Granted I do this now but I shall continue)
• Go to less movies that I have to Pay for (I can’t wait for my friend Mike to come back from summer work)
• Organize a Board Game Night (BGN) A night for like minded people to get together and “geek out”
• Continue my quest for cool Web 2.0 apps and sites (Sites like Flickr and flixster)

That’s all the things I can think of right now. But more will most likely follow. Oh and I am listening to last.fm. This site is so consistently showing me great music you should check it out and be my friend.

Tele-Marketing Fun

I have a different take on the telephone Marketing or tele-marketing. I for one like it when they call. Now people might think me weird or crazy but when the phone rings and an offer comes up I take that poor soul on the other line to the limit. I have even had then give up on me as a customer. That’s right my goal is to have them hang up on me! Why you ask? Because its fun. Sometime I debate with them why their offer is so better than my current plan. I actually had one guy try to sell me long distance plan with a company that did not offer high speed internet, just Dial-up, whereas my current company, which is not great by any stretch, did. Why I even used a land line at the time still is a mystery. He actually said I should give dial-up a try, heh. Anyways I kept asking him questions on why I should give up my High speed to go to a considerably less fast Dialup. This debate went on for a good 15 minutes with him eventually giving up on me. I give him credit for trying to sell something from the nineties.

I guess my problem is not so much with the people making the calls, as they are just doing a job so they can eat, but more so with the Idea of invading my home when I am not wanting it. I guess its OK when watching TV that it’s a given that commercials are going to invade your head, given and accepted, again I don’t watch TV, more or less as compared to Download TV show and watch when I want, sort of Tivo on demand. I simply cut out the middle man. I suppose if iTunes in Canada allowed for TV shows downloads I would probably pay for it as I am addicted to iTunes music DL’s. Marketing Companies that deal in tele-marketing are evil. So I combat that evil by making sure that the people they hire are put through a rigorous training process that combines endurance, patience, as well as product knowledge. I want to take these people to the limit, so that they know, definitely that they are in the career for them. If they go 15 minutes on the phone with me and make it, well maybe they are in the right profession. But is sure wouldn’t want to be a party when careers are brought up.

Ramblings and revalations

I think, occasionally, about what I should do with my free time. This is a problem, you see, as free time sometimes is hard to find, as it is free, it does not belong to me. I once gamed, I know, "that thing that most guys do to waste their free time.” Gaming to me is kind of love hate as on one hand I had a very good time leveling my warrior to level 60 in World of Warcraft. On the other hand, I think I missed some pretty amazing things as well. Things like eating healthily, spending the time with my new family and the like. I know some people managed to do all these things, Alas I found it hard to coexist between the two worlds.

I have been officially game free for about four months and I am pretty happy about it. But for some reason I have in the back of my head a kind of uttering. You know that little sound that resonates within your mind, the one that wants you to do bad things like eat McDonalds and watch two or three movies in a row. That voice is saying to me “What game are we gonna play next?” This voice is both enchanting as well as scary. I was laughing the other day at myself because I found I was looking at some games to play for the summer. Then I thought, "Isn’t summer for being outside?" Oh well we will see.

No matter how old I get I find that I will or have always have or had a crutch, some sort of major/or minor addiction. If I’m not PC gaming I’m console gaming, or collecting and reading comics books, which after 10 years seem to be falling head first into again, again both enchanting and scary. Seems after the initial exposure to this whatever, say a couple months of uncontrolled indulgence, I seem to wake up. I now Think I will be able to say no to that comic’s book dealer when he says I should read the latest piece of crap comic. I now see a direct relationship between comic dealers and crack dealers, lol.

Renewed Interests, and other ponders

Recently I have been getting back into the comics thing, rather running head first into a gigantic monster of addiction that is about to engulf my very being with want, rather than need. Seriously, I have throughout my life been somewhat of a lover of comics, my infidelity is rearing its ugly head once again as I see good thing being produced. In the early nineties I was part of a mass of people who thought they were investing into a future market of comics, the problem with that was that the big companies realized the popularity as well and decided to capitalize on this fact. With multiple covers (Chromium, metallic, to name a few), to increased costs and hype about back issues to even the death of superman, this was a time of collecting but also a time of really poor art and subpar writing. I like so many other left the scene, embittered. But like so many thing left, we like to visit from time to time the annals of our past. I decided, now that I am done with a certain life stealing computer game (WOW), I would, yet again try my hand and my mind at the creative aspects I so dearly miss. This being finishing my Movie I have been working on the past 4 months, and possibly try my hand at some illustration. This has drawn (HEHE) me back into those little places that are rather hard to find these days, The Comic Shop.
The first time I had returned to one after many years was a real experience. The smell alone caused me to remember the old days of buying stacks, and I mean stacks, of those little books that I was so smart in purchasing all 16 variant covers of the number ones, let alone any number one as I did not want to miss out on my future fortune. Pushing these thought aside I ventured in.
Now these days it seems that good things are on the rise, it reminds me of the old days when before the hype of the books was beyond reason, before running a comic shop was one of the top 10 businesses you could start ( Most shops I knew are now parking lots or hair dressers). The colors attracted me like a deer in the headlight of a car destined to mow me over. I went into a Zen like state and ignored my buddy who came with me, a fact I later was scolded for. I engaged into conversations with the clerk manning the store about the old days and what’s happening now, which by happenstance is a lot, and perfect time to jump back in, which is still a bit frightening. We left, I had a few.
Wow I didn’t actually think I was going to put this all down it sort of just came out of me. I guess I am just practicing so I can flex my creative muscles more and more. The cool thing is now; Angie my wife, an artist at heart is kinda into it as well, not as much but there none the less. I wanted to do a quick list of the book I have been reading.
Fables, Y the last man, Exmachina, and Marvel’s Civil War and a few Ultimate’s. I also want to mention that I was never really into the Non-Super Hero genres but after I read Allan Moore’s Watchmen (Which I rate all Graphic Novels against) changed all that, and opened me up to the world of Independents.
I hope to bring these comics to this Blog, Reviews and such. I know no-one reads this but who cares.
Later,
Mark

Why I can't stop watching Smallville

OK I guess I can say I am an addict. I think hands down "Smallville" is the best show out there on TV today. I know its about superman, but...come on...It's SUPERMAN! for crying out loud. Anyways check it out. I can alos say, sadly, I got my wife hooked on it as well.

This Summer there are two comic movies that I know of that are coming to the big screen. Superman Returns and X3. Looking forward to them both.

I have been listening to Podcast recently and 2 have kinda stuck out, mostly related to tech and geekdom they are diggnation and twit. Both very good productions that include interesting humor and insights. I think Podcasts are going to get bigger and bigger as more people are introduced to them, so check these out. I will get more Podcasts to share in the future.

Later.

This is me. In all my magisty.