Print is not dead.

That said, it's becoming a bit of an inconvenience. There's a lot of talk going on about e-readers - Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad Library, etc. - that tends to toss people into two very different camps: Print Is Dead, and Books Are Smelly¹.

I understand both arguments, and I've often put myself in the Books Are Smelly camp - or at least, I've defended the position. My actual position, though? Lies in the middle. And no, it's not a Golden Mean² here; it's an actual valid position.

While real, printed books will always be my preference, I've made plenty of trips where I had a whole backpack full of the things, for the travel, or for relaxing while I'm there. I read fast, and will finish a book quickly; that, or I'll want to switch off between a couple ones I've been meaning to read for a while. For situations such as these, I'm hoping to be able to purchase a Kindle for my birthday coming up.

That said, I definitely don't want to be sitting in my favorite chair on a lazy Saturday afternoon with the sunlight filtering in through the window just so, without an actual book in my hand. I'd feel wrong.

So there you have it. The two can definitely co-exist; you just have to keep an open mind.

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1. "Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower, or a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences long forgotten. Books smell musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible, it should be, um, smelly."


2. I usually call it the Grey Fallacy, in deference to the X-wing series where I first heard of it.

@alliancesjr: So...the term "girlfriend" can't be used to describe Trekkiegirl anymore.
@alliancesjr: On a related note, I'm going to have to get used to the term "fiancée". It's French for "My parents are going to say we're too young."
Twitter: *explodes*

So, I'm getting married.

Wow, we're coming up on the home stretch, aren't we?

Tonight, I play StarCraft Classic with Tessa LIVE on 1P Start!, and it'll be a lot of fun. Depending on how fast the games go, we may even play best two out of three.

It will be even more exciting because I'll let Tessa's audience choose my race and maybe even the map we play on.

Which brings us to today's meme post!

Something that makes you feel better, in great detail

This is really going to be a short one.

Hanging out with friends. Doing something. Pretty much anything. Whether it is watching Buffy or CSI with Tessa, or hanging out with Trekkiegirl, or seeing John or Debbie or Sharon or any of my other local friends. Something social will always relax me and cheer me up.

If I was in a bad mood today, tonight's StarCraft broadcast would cheer me up.

I ate'nt dead. The tops of my forearms feel like it, though.

My cousin from Seattle¹ came in town on Monday; she hadn't been to Chicago since she was 2, so she didn't remember anything about it. (Besides, she had only come to our house at the time anyway.) I took Tuesday off work, and the five of us - Cousin, myself, my parents, and Cheer Sister² - went down to the city. We stopped by Navy Pier, Buckingham Fountain, Millennium Park, and checked out the observation deck at the Sears Tower³.

(The girls all went out on The Ledge - those new extensions on the deck that lets you stand in a bubble outside the building and look 103 floors straight down - but my father, who is terrified of heights, was content to take pictures from the safe carpetted area. I took one step and realized that I was becoming more and more like my father every day.)

We also took a Segway tour of the city. We actually covered a pretty fair amount of ground of the South Side - Millennium Park, The Island Formerly Known As Meigs Field, through the Museum Campus and Soldier Field, and roughly Grant's Park. A three hour tour, all on Segways.

I know what you're thinking. Segways are ridiculous. And yes, they are. I looked completely foolish on it. But regardless of how ridiculous they look, they're wicked fun. We were pushing 15 miles an hour on those things.


So, one week until I do stand-up comedy in front of a live audience. Tickets are still on sale, online and at the door. A class of nine, plus one professional opening, one professional middle act, and one professional closing act brings the total to twelve comedians. For a twelve-dollar ticket (plus a two item minimum), that's a great deal for an evening's entertainment. Details are here, including a link to buy tickets online if you don't want to wait and get them at the door. (Made of Fail listeners, feel free to come! It'd be great, plus I think I'll be sticking around after the show and you can come up and say hi.)

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1. Well, one of them. The older one.


2. Who is incidentally back in cheerleading this year, making my referencial name to her valid once more.


3. What? No, the legal name isn't something else. No, you're imagining it. Go back to your own cities, you ketchupped hot dog eating crazies.

So, I've passed the halfway point in my comedy class, and I have more information about the Graduation Night show. Anyone who is going to be in the greater Chicagoland area on Wednesday, August 4th at 8:00 and wish to see an inexpensive night of amateur comedy at the world-famous Improv Comedy Club, you can purchase tickets here. (For legal reasons, I have to specify that it's the graduation show, not an actual booked gig, so I can't just call up a big venue and ask to headline 'cause I've been featured at The Improv.)

Tickets are $10 $12¹ (same price at the door if you don't want to buy them now, I highly doubt they'll sell out and they love walk-up sales), and there is a two-item minimum, per person. This includes all appetizers, entrees, alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks, so ordering dinner and a drink will cover you. It'll be a full dinner service, too, and they've got a great menu, so you won't be disappointed.

Just to recap:

Where: Improv Comedy Club at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois
When: Wednesday, August 4th, at 8:00PM
Price: $12 and a two-item minimum

I hope to see you there!

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1. Price has gone up since then. Twelve dollars is still not a lot for eleven performers - they're aiming at a ninety-minute show.

Still plucking away at Theater of War, one sentence at a time. I'm taking it a bit at a time, as I find time to write and as I get more inspiration.

Speaking of writing, I've got a couple things I'm going to be working on, with no real time frame.

• A fanfic-swap with Trekkiegirl; I'll be writing her OC-fiction for Star Trek in the TNG/DS9/Voyager era, and she's writing me something she hasn't specified yet.


• An original-fiction short story as part of another writing swap with Trekkiegirl. She picked a concept that I'll be exploring, and I think it'll be really neat.


• A donation incentive for Made of Fail; I'm thinking of doing a "Straight Guy Review of Bad Romance Novels" every month if a certain number is reached. (Alternate title: Don't Look At Me, Her Bodice Was Ripped When I Got Here)


• Possible, but not likely: Chapter by chapter re-reads of Naruto, in the style of Tor's Avatar Re-watch.

So, I'm looking into my health benefits for the details of my vision coverage. My eyesight has been slowly deteriorating; not really fast enough to notice, but I've been having trouble with reasonably-distanced street signs while driving, especially at night, and I tried on Trekkiegirl's new glasses the other day and was surprised that everything really did seem a lot clearer.

I'm thinking I may need to get glasses.

This doesn't surprise me at all; I was pretty sure this would happen. Genetics and all; my mother has worn glasses ever since she was a girl, my father started out with reading glasses about ten years ago, then had to wear glasses full-time from about five years ago. Physics Sister started wearing them just after high school (or possibly in her last year, I don't remember), and Cheer Sister just got them a year or so ago.

Honestly, with the amount of sitting in front of a computer screen that I do, I'm surprised I'm only discovering this now.

Looking into my benefits resources with my company, I see that I did have the foresight¹ to not cut Vision out when I re-enrolled last fall. Decent amount of base coverage, too. Now all I need to do is find my cards (and failing that, requesting new ones) and schedule an eye exam.


EDIT: Found my information, didn't find my cards but I ordered new ones. Exam isn't covered (though it might be under general health; must cross-research), frames are free up to a point and then I get a discount on the balance after that, basic lenses are at a very cheap co-pay, slightly more expensive co-pay for anti-glare (which will be worth the money for sitting at a computer screen for hours on end). Now all I need to do is wait for the cards and schedule an appointment; Trekkiegirl, you'll accompany me, right?

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1. Hur.

But I'm feeling that way.

I've been so completely wiped all day every day. It's not a lack of sleep or a lack of nutrition; I'm getting enough of sleep and a nice variety of food. I don't know what it is.

I'm not stopping the Twilight reactions, either. You guys enjoy them way too much, and I've been having fun amusing myself while reading something that I physically could not get through before. I've just been busy. They'll return, I swear.

Unrelated side-note: I'm going to see Paranormal Activity tomorrow. Really really excited about that; means we'll probably talk about it on this weekend's recording of Made of Fail - the Halloween episode which won't be released until the 31st for...obvious reasons.

Jillian's been home for a while now, and the apartment feels especially empty now. Perhaps it's the fact that three people in the place made it feel even more alive than normal, or perhaps it's just her presence and her constant singing filled the space, and now that it's gone it's incredibly noticeable. Perhaps it's the fact that she cleaned my room and now there's a lot of space there. Regardless, it's...not the same.

Sulking over, though. She's home and getting ready for another year of college, and that's an absolutely wonderful thing.

Side-note here: She and I have always had some funny conversations, especially involving her mother. Mrs. Jillian's Mom is an awesome person and I love her to bits, by the way. Anyway, the following took place after a discussion that Jillian had with her mother about a co-worker they had.

Jillian: And she dresses like a tramp, like she's trolling for sugardaddies or something. Really? Really? Who looks for men in a used book store?
Me: Someone who likes her men broken at the spine?


We've started Warcrafting again. Tessa, Adam, Jillian and myself have really had the hankering for Alliance-side roleplaying again, and we set up shop on one of the relatively new servers. Starting over, really. I mentioned to Rene that she and Gen were more than welcome to join us whenever they wanted.

I picked up a guild charter for us. We may keep it just us, or we might branch it out into a whole RP guild of its own, but I still need to get signatures for it. I'll offer gold in Elwynn later.

Cataclysm was announced at this year's BlizzCon, by the way, and I'm pretty excited about it. More thoughts will probably be given on this weekend's episode of Made of Fail, though the level of detail I go into will probably be dashed by the fact that Dayna could care less.

Speaking of the show, I've been playing around with some concepts that I need to discuss with Dayna. Things that'll ramp up the show a bit more (and take advantage of Topher's superior processing sexiness), things we can do to the show format that we'll both enjoy, and some general overhauling discussion that we've wanted to have for a while anyway. Needless to say, you guys should really enjoy what's coming up this fall.