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Monday, 01 June 2009

A Collection of Things

Lately I’ve been in a sort of collecting mood where I take certain hobbies and look for “collectors’ items” that pertain to them. For instance, lately I really got into this book called Bone. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading this hefty graphic novel (I say “hefty” because I’m referring to the One Volume Edition, not the nine separate books), I highly recommend you do so.

The author, Jeff Smith, utilized his childhood doodles (which he named “bone creatures”), borrowed from one of his favorite stories, The Lord of the Rings, and created his own world where three bone creatures—the Bone cousins—are chased out of their hometown by a mob and are stuck in the wilderness. When Fone Bone, the main character of the story, meets with a mysterious young person named Thorn, the three cousins and company stumble upon adventure after adventure, much in the same vein as in Tolkien’s tales. You can visit the website here. And you can also read my take on the book.

Anyway.

I was enamored so much by this wonderfully crafted story that I decided to buy my own copy. And here’s where my recent aficionado-ism comes in with “collector’s items.” After much research, I found out that, back in 2004, Smith released a rare, limited edition run of the One Volume Edition. Only 2,000 copies were made, and each was numbered and signed.

I had to get a hold of one of these bad boys.

After much patience, diligence, and Googling, I finally found one. It was definitely worth every penny, and I am now the proud owner of one of the out-of-print copies.

Along the same lines of my “collectors’ items” crap, another of my recent hobbies is Killer Bunnies. When I studied in London back in 2006, I attended a weekend get-away for Christians and, during one of the nights where we just hung out, one of the gals busted out the highly addictive card game.

Three years later I finally bought my own set.

After many months and games, I have finally placed my order for the last expansion.

But some of the cards have been tricky to get a hold of, especially for me since I got into the game late. Of particular mention is the Omega Series. I had gotten most of the series’ cards except for the first four. Well, just recently I finally found the first two excruciatingly rare cards: Bunny’s Eleven and The Djarnak.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced and addicted to this game yet, these cards wouldn’t probably mean diddly-squat to you. But I recommend you get into the game soon and then maybe you’ll feel the same excitement I did when I got a hold of these two cards!

Nerd out.

P.S.

If you ever want to play, hit me up! I’m always down for a game, provided I’m not working or studying for graduate school.

Friday, 29 May 2009

What happens at work on a not-so-common Friday afternoon.

The waft of afternoon boredom was intoxicating the very fabric of my inner sanity, numbing the importance of drafting discovery pleadings and ripping apart the sinews of what awareness I had left on a post-meridian Friday.
For the last two hours I have been waging a war against the ever-beckoning quiescence with the fact that I won’t be home till Helios himself whips his horses to their stables.
Alas; another four hours of brazen agony.

“Holy crap,” I thought to myself. “If I have to stare at another piece of legal literature, even so much as a caption, I’m going to think of something drastically morbid to do to myself.”
I switch my eyes towards my desk and see a pile of backers, the end of which seems to go down deeper than Mariana.
“Well, I really don’t want to waste my life over this; God expects more. So nothing morbidly drastic today.”

I rotate my eyes slightly again and see a little orange-green globe on my desk. Thank goodness for my co-worker’s appreciation for vegetables: on my Kleenex box (which I rarely ever use; I don’t believe in germs—it’s all superstitious) rests a Mandarin orange that she gifted me two weeks after she started.

She started in February. Today’s May 29.

For a while I felt bad for not eating it right away and made an effort to some day pry open the rinds of that sweet li’l clementine and taste the succulent nectars within. But when it started to turn green, I thought maybe eating it wasn’t so much of a good idea anymore.

So one day I grabbed a Sharpie and drew little eyes and a mouth on it, and decided to name it Gourdo, after my father. (Okay, not really after my father.)
One of the eyebrows is slanted, echoing an expression made titular by a certain Hawaiian pro-wrestler. The mouth is half closed, half bared, fully grinning; you know, like in the Ninja Turtle comics?

Then I delved deeper into my inner creativity and mused for some imaginary situations Gourdo could stumble into.
You see, the office life isn’t the most thrilling in terms of things physical, so I thought maybe my little fruit could go on some adventures for me. Thusly, during the night, when all is quiet and asleep, Gourdo secretly comes to life, speaks in a very self-reflective way, and explores the very canyons of a downtown Chicago suite.
The very first of these adventures has him come upon a most monstrous element, the very Leviathan of offices: the copy machine. And do not presume that our copy machine is any standard one. Heck no: ours is the latest and greatest, housing all the special features an office could ask for: a fax machine, an email scanner, COLOR COPIES, and 1001 trays.
And yet, it still has problems. (Don’t they all?)

But to Gourdo, it’s a symbol of treachery; Mr. Xerox (as I’ve come to call it) also comes to life, and pitilessly taunts Gourdo with his booming James Earl Jones voice (but boomier than in Star Wars).
“*Gasp!* Egad! The very bane of my existence!” exclaims Gourdo (or something cliche to that effect). And, in his attempts to show Mr. Xerox who’s boss, causes certain features to malfunction so that, the next day, when Selene goes to her sleeping chambers and the office is brimming with human life once again, one of the legal assistants gets blamed for breaking the copy machine.

I need to think of more interesting stories for Gourdo…

But back to work!

Friday, 13 March 2009

Hobbes: Real or Stuffed?

I recently read this post on Facebook about the character of Hobbes from Watterson's masterpiece comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes:

I think Bill Watterson explained it perfectly in one of his books (I have it on my bookshelf, but can't remember which one). It is not really a question of is he alive or not, but rather how one perceives the world. Everybody perceived Hobbes as just a stuffed tiger. Calvin perceived him as a 3 dimensional friend, a more dynamic friend than anybody else in his life, or in the comic strip. The Calvin, Hobbes is somebody who can carry on a conversation, provide input to a situation, or even wrestle you at the front door. To the rest of the comic strip, he was merely a stuffed tiger.

And in a lot of ways, that was the premise of the strip. Calvin had a hard time getting along with most other people or other situations because he perceived things differently than others. His perceptions seemed crazy to others, but Calvin is a brilliant kid. We can learn from him.

To support Josh's statement, I do recall reading that in one of the books not too long ago. But, like Josh, I forgot which book (and I'm not going to go scurrying through them all just to find it).

It was sad to hear my notion--which deduced that Hobbes was only real around Calvin, then somehow morphed back to a lifeless toy around others' company--debunked, but, after thinking about it, I actually like it better that way.

It's sort of a relief to hear Hobbes is neither real nor fake, but is perceived the way people want to perceive it. If we want to see Hobbes as real, he's real; if he's only a toy, he's a toy. I think it's Watterson's attempt to urge us to see things in a child's eye (not everything; we must be adults at times, too), innocently viewing life and trying our best to cope with the world around us, whether playfully or (boringly) seriously.

Calvin and Hobbes is a true work of art. In my opinion, it's the best comic strip out there, satiating my need for humor as well as emotional drive. To each their own, but when someone asks me what my favorite comic strip is, I unhesitatingly spit out, "Calvin and Hobbes." Like I just did five minutes ago.
With lunch in my mouth.

Tuesday, 03 March 2009

An extension from yesterday's post.

Okay, so I've been in a huge board game mood. Ever have one of those days (or weeks) where you just focus your attention on one sole thing?
(Hey, Jon, know what I'm talking about? Mr. Hockey-man, looking up hockey videos on YouTube!)

Anyway.
I really want to get some games going of Killer Bunnies, Texas Hold 'Em, and Risk. I also want to learn how to play: Blokus, Hex, Mahjong, and Settlers of Catan.
Anyone know how to play those games and willing to teach?

They're a really great tool--these board games--to get people together, socialize and communicate. And even when things get vicious and competitive, you still have a blast. It's part of the fun!

Monday, 02 March 2009

Board Games

So yesterday I finally caved in and bought a couple board games I've been looking for: Risk and Killer Bunnies. I don't like the current, "revised" edition of Risk, so I searched online for a good, used one. When I stumbled upon one on Craigslist, I found that it was brand new for $18, and the older version--sweet deal, indeed!
I also found out that the self-same seller had Killer Bunnies--an American card game I was introduced to in London, and have been wanting to teach some friends here--for $10 bucks. Used, but in good, clean condition. He lived near Berwyn, and was a very fine bloke. I haggled with him and the best offer I got was three bucks less. So I got two games for $25, when just one of 'em in the stores costs $30 brand new, sans taxes.

The transaction took less than five minutes. (I brought big Alex for back-up. You never know about them Craigslist sellers!)

So, anyone up for Risk or Killer Bunnies?

P.S.
If you happen to read this, I have Risk - Lord of the Rings Trilogy edition. I played it, but prefer the original version, so I'm selling it. The box is a bit tattered, but complete (as far as I can tell). $15.