The howl of the wolf

I'm really not sure where to begin. Part of me wants to get to the meat of the story, yet there's just enough storyteller in me to want to set the scene, and to give context - or at least flavor - to the events of last night.

So, here goes nothing.

It's been an unusual week to be sure. The first oddity has been poor Benjamin (Dogbook, via Facebook) having spells of puking and explosive diarrhea (exactly what one wants in a long-haired sheepdog who has to be crated during the day). This started sometime Monday, as I discovered to my chagrin on coming home Monday night.

Wednesday was his birthday, and T and I feel sorry for the poor little guy as being sick anywhere near your birthday is seldom a good thing. Tuesday he was mostly all-right (one quick session of coughing up a tiny amount of stomach acid), so things were all good.

Wednesday (yesterday) I got home nad he was back to not feeling well apparently - his crate was a mess again. *sigh* T and I were due to drive to Pittsburgh last night, to attend a viewing for a friend's father's wake. I offered Tawnya the opportunity for us to stay home, so she could take care of her baby. To my surprise she was okay, and wanted to just clean up the mess and head to Pittsburgh to be with Joe and Susan in their time fo need.

I relented, and after making him a quick meal of ground beef and rice (recommended by our vet to settle his tummy for the night) we were off around 6pm.

It was a simple enough drive - there's little Inter-state traffic between OH and PA on Wednesday nights it seems, so the 2 hour drive passed pretty quickly. We stopped, made our quick visit with Joe and Susan, and decided to stop off to see Emily last night, since we were so close, I haven't seen her since the wedding, and T left some baby stuff there last time she was in town.

10:30 rolls around and it's time for us to depart. The drive home is pretty uneventful. T falls asleep, I set my iPod to play more of my Wheel of Time audiobook (Winter's Heart), and am cruising along minding my own business.

Running pretty low on gas, I get off at my home exit off the turnpike, pay my toll, everything's A-ok.

Heading up I-77, I see a patrol car watching for speeders. I'm not speeding, no worries.

A car passes me just after I pass the officer, and I see the officer pull out, pass me, and start pacing the other car. I see that the next exit has gas, and I start to slow down for the exit.

The officer is slowing down and catches up to me, and gets behind me off the exit. Odd. . . but it's a Brecksville officer, and I'm in Breckville, not far from the station, so, no biggie.

As I turn off the exit, his lights come on. WTF?

I wake T as I pull over. He tells me I was weaving over the median - a charge I *highly* doubt. I was wide awake, quite enjoying a big reveal in my story, fully alert. There's pretty much NO WAY I was weaving, chaging lanes, riding the median, etc. But, I'm not one to make a scene.

I tell myself he's likely just checking for druink drivers, I was in the right spot to be checked, and just shrug, handing him my insurance and license. He takes my license, heads to his car to run it, etc.

5 minutes later he's back. . . and he asks me if I'm having any problems I'm aware of with the city of Parma. I frowned. I recall the ticket I'd received months ago for the headlight that was broken after that tow truck backed into me. I mention that the only problem I'd hate was the citation I paid a few months ago, confused.

Apparently my payment was not received. Parma issued a warrant for me, because I didn't pay, and I didn't go to court. Yup, I was wanted. Instructed to stay put in the car, Tawnya and I just stare at each other in sheer befuddlement. The officer said they may or may not actually want to haul me in tonight, and just to hold tight while he waits on a verdict.

Sure enough, 10 minutes later, Parma wants me, so he's gotta haul me in. Seriously. T's got her license, so she's allowed to drive the car and follow me to the stations.

Turns out Parma wants me for - get this, a $100 bond. So Brecksville hauls me in, and as I'm heading to the station house, the officer who originally pulled me over tells me - TELLS ME that he'd like to not even cite me but "we're not supposed to bring people in on a warrant without issuing a citation". I don't even recall how I replied - though I made a note in my head that this guy essentially just admitted he shouldn't be giving me a citation. He also tells me now that I was weaving across the line and THEN was riding the line. Before I'd just been weaving.

So, they place me in the interrogation room after patting me down and emptying my pockets. I get fingerprinted (they don't use that heavy balck ink seen in movies/tv - there's some light purple dry ink that came right off my fingers afterward) and sat back down. Parma should be here in 10-15 minutes.

An HOUR passes before Parma picks me up, and tell Tawnya that it's a $100 cash bond.

She's got $85 on her, she says, and I had $15 in my wallet, so we're fine.

Get to Parma, get patted down *again* and get started signing my release paperwork, as the desk lady tells the officers that I've already been bonded. It turns out later that T can't count when she's nrvous and was $10 shy, but she was able to swing out to an ATM real quick, so no biggie.

I'm handed a court summons, and checked out. All in all, a two and a half hour ordeal. Because parma didn't receive my payment for a ticket, that was caused becuase the guy who owns the tow truck that hit me couldn't/wouldn't fix my car properly.

So, now I have citations for: riding the median, poorly aimed headlight, and failure to appear. The latter two with a court case in a couple weeks.

I kinda want to fight the first one - save it won't be worth my time. The fine is probably $100 - the time to sit in court, then have it be my word vs the officer's word (since T was asleep) and probably lose anyhow just isn't really worth it.

The latter two - I frankly feel silly for even having to go. I'm more flabberghasted by the process. Every time I've ever received a ticket I've had to list my phone number, home address, etc. I don't recall seeing anything in the mail from Parma, though T says she thinks she saw an envelope from them, but assume it was a receipt for my payment) - and I know I never got a phone call.

I've received phone calls for when T's brother, Jacob was supposed to appear in court and didn't (after we'd boneded him - another LONG story that's buried in my blog somewhere). I can't help but be amazed someone would issue a WARRANT for me, and I'd get no notice confirmable notice. I'd have expected a phone call, or a certified letter, or. . . something! Heck, I would have been far less surprised if I was told my license was suspecned for failure to pay. . . but a WARRANT?

~shrug~ Needless to say, I'm baffled by the entire process. I'm not incredulous (much) - and I'm not at the stereotypical level of "blah blah blah, go arrest a real criminal, blah blah blah" but. . . I am AMAZED that something so little because such a big to-do without me even being aware that things were at this sort of level.

I'm. . . . just in shock I guess.

Part of me wants to talk to an attorney at this point - perhaps to fight the lanes citation, but more to cover my ass at the "failure to appear" court appearance. To me it's a non-issue - somewhere communication channels got crossed, and I truly want to make restitution (though I do think they tow truck guy should have paid my ticket, but that's another issue). Having to go to court becuase of all this is. . . annoying.

Ahwell. It is what it is.

So, yeah, odd week. Sick puppy, wake for a friend's dead father, arrested, and still waiting to hear news about this morning's delivery of a baby Taranowski. Sooo much to keep track of right now. Seems to be a stack of omens. Just wish I knew what they are pointing to.

Okay, so, I was hungry, so I decided to cook something.

So I went to that . . .thing that keeps food cold? With the top and the bottom, and the top is colder? Well, on mine it's colder, I guess some people have it on the side or on the bottom.

Anyhow, I pulled some stuff out of the thing, and grabbed some bowls.

I started to pour the things I'd gotten out of the cold thing into a bowl, and then I put it in that microwave thingy, and I pushed a few buttons.

Now, the micro-thingy lit up and made a whooshing noise, but for some reason when it was done I didn't have a very appetizing meal.

What'd I do wrong?

So, I'm getting caught-up in the micro-blogging "thing" and, having discovered Twhirl, I've been posting fairly regularly (once or twice a day) to Twitter.

For the non-geeks reading this (aka, my family) a micro-blog is not unlike this blog. However, instead of taking time once or twice a week to write down whatever comes to mind, micro-blogging allows for a sentance or two at most, and is intended to be a "What I'm up to right now" style-tool. Fairly spiffy, especially since you can track friends, reply to them, and even see what everyone else is talking about.

So, I'm branching out. This morning I tried Seesmic. Same concept as twitter - quick, short entries on what I'm thinking about - only done via video. And in the time it's taken me to type this up, I've already received a reply (not sure how to link it for ya, still figuring out the site - with luck you'll find it yourself).

Anyhow, check it out, might (or might not) be something I keep up with, and it might, or might not, be something you enjoy.

. . . girl!

I was gonna do something witty, or at least wait until after a several-paragraph-long blathering of nonsense before getting to the point, but. . . nah.

Tawnya and I have been hoping for a little girl, and (while not 100% conclusive) the ultrasound today seems to confirm it. A little girl is on her way to us. Of course, she had to share her side of it first in her blog, but now it's my turn.

In a word, I'm elated. I get to raise a nerdy little Daddy's girl, and I don't know what more I could possibly ask for. Everything seems pretty normal too (though, our squirmy little baby wouldn't sit still long enough for all the ultrasound pictures - we have to go back in a couple weeks to get more spinal photos).

Still. I'm VERY gleeful.

This is really a post just to test twitterfeed to see if it really will report to Twitter when I make a new journal post.

However, to make sure this isn't a COMPLETE waste of space, I'd like to tell everyone about Nerdcore.

Yes, Nerdcore. Nerds who rap. Current favorite? MC Frontalot. MC Chris is good too. Next paycheck I think I'm gonna snag some Optimus Rhyme. Any of my geeky friends have other suggestions? :)

Ah, how time flies.

Important stuff:

Some of you may have missed my playful way of announcing it a few posts ago, so. . . to be sure there is no confusion, Tawnya is pregnant. :) You can follow along with our pregnancy over at the baby's blog (yes, I'm that much of a geek). The site is as open to the public as I can make it for now. When baby is born (due in February), however, I'll be limiting access to friends and family. In a nutshell that means you'll have to make an account to keep up with any updates I don't post here. There will be reminders. I just figure it's best to not put pictures of my future child, along with his/her name on the Internet.

I doubt anyone would really troll the site, get my kid and do anything, but there's still something to be said for one's privacy.

I haven't updated recently - here or for baby - and I need to amend that. I'm updating here now. . . will update for baby later.

Not really sure what to update about today. There's been a trifling of little things, saw The House Bunny with Tawnya last week (predictable, but still a good movie if you want to just shut down your brain for a bit and simply be entertained).

Oh, I'm finally "reading" Dune. Yes, with quotes.

Having a new iPod that came with T's macbook, I've been listening to more and more audio content in the car. Especially enjoying This Week in Tech, as suggested by several people on twitter (www.twitter.com/wolfstar76 - my "microblog" that I tend to update randomly through the day). TWiT turned me on to a free trial of hte premium program with Audible.com.

From there, I got a credit for a free audiobook, and (somewhat randomly) chose Dune having never read it. I'm about 1/3rd of th way through the unabridged volume, and I must say I'm quite enjoying it. Good story, I can see why people are such fans.

Previously my only exposure to the world of Dune was the movie - and even then when I was in, perhaps Junior High. The movie doesn't do the book justice I'm told, and I recall it being a muddled mess back then (perhaps why I've been so averse to reading the book(s) for myself). The audiobook is compelling however, I might well have to follow-up with the next book in the series.

I find myself wanting to say more - though I'm not sure what about. Something is budding inside me, yet I can't yet identify it, or put words to it. Is it something I'm keeping secret? Something I've forgotten? Or just my cyclilic nature of random desire to write re-surfacing again?

Hmmm. I'm not yet sure.

Okay, geeky post, if you're not into Dungeons and Dragons, and even then, if you're not up on 4th Edition rules, I won't be offended if you skip this completely. On the other hand, even withhout the rules, if you're a creative type with a good imagination, well, read on since I'm looking for help from creatvies. :)

So, in 4th Edition, I've decided that my Living Forgotten Realms character is a Gnome Warlock. He's already seen a couple adventures, but he's still lacking much personality, and I've had a rough time fleshing him out.

Gnome Warlock? Wuzzat?

Gnomes. IT's like being human, but shorter, and with a great propensity for magic, studying things that go "whirrrr", and being 3 feet tall. Y'know, like Shane in puberty.

Warlock. Warlocks are characters who've made a pact with otherworldly beings for a measure of power. There are (currently) three different types of pacts that help define your powers.

• Infernal - Long ago a forgotten race of devils created a secret path to power and taught it to the tieflings of old to weaken their fealty to Asmodeus. In his wrath, Asmodeus destroyed the scheming devils and struck their very names from the memory of all beings—but you dare to study their perilous secrets anyway.


• Star - You have mastered the astrologer’s art, learning the secret names of the stars and gazing into the Far Realm beyond, gaining great power thereby. You can call upon powers that madden or terrify your enemies, manipulate chance and fate, or scour your foes with icy banes and curses drawn from beyond the night sky


• Fey - You have forged a bargain with ancient, amoral powers of the Feywild. Some are primitive earth spirits, grim and menacing; some are capricious wood, sky, or water spirits; and others are incarnations of seasons or natural forces who roam the faerie realm like wild gods. They bestow magic that ranges from feral and savage to wondrous and enchanting.

I went with Fey Pact for my gnome. I dunno why, but I like the idea of working with the capricious powers of wood, sky, or water sprits. The fact that many of my Warlock's powers focus on frustrating enemies (denying them actions, immobilizing them, etc) is just my style. I should also point out that, in this case, (as I see it) the fey creatures aren't amoral because they're all "screw the systam, man! Evil is where it's AT!" but rather, given their capricious nature, they're mischevious beings because they simply can't grasp the concept of "morality". They do what seems like a fun/good idea at the time. Think mega-extreme hippies. :)

I want my gnome (Gerle "Twinklestick" Fudwinkle) to be a little on the creepy/crazy side, but not comic relief. So I'm trying ti fill in some of the gaps along that line.

So. . . what are the blanks?

Well, I'd like to have an idea what "natural" spirit (or spirits?) Gerle made his pact with. Name, persona, etc. I'm horrid at coming up with names, so this would be the area I could really use help with.

I think, just typing this out, I like the idea of him having a pact with a group of spirits. It could help him have not-quite multiple personalities. As the waxing and waning influence of at least two spirits affect him over time he too would wax and wane. The question then becomes are these sprits working together, fighting over him, part of a clan (both, say, water spirits? or one water one wood?) Hmmm.

I'm also trying to formulate why he made his pact. I'd like to give him a little depth, and instead of just seeking out natural spirits, or even having been chosen and approached by them, I'd like his pact to have come about almost accidently. Giving him a small amount of innocence - which I hope would only serve to make his personality shifts a little more off-putting when they spring up in combat. (Hmm. . . as I type this I'm starting to think if I'm not modeling him after River Tam without knowing it).

Perhaps he wandered into the Feywild (accidently or deliberately) and got himself into dire straights? The sprit(s) he's now sworn to aid helped him out of the problem, gave him his power, and now he's partly their servant?

M'eh. Typing it all out has helped spur a few new ideas, but I'd still like to hear what my geeky compatriots think.

My goal is to create a character that isn't particularly cliche, but still memorable. The hard part of this is that in geekdom all the REALLY memorable roles have been done, making any new attempt at least partially cliche. Bah. Now I'm overthinking about overthinking.

Time for some frozen treats to cool my brain off.

Post your thoughts. :)

Been busy with lots of stuff (like GenCon) so three quickies today.

1) Sagamore Ballroom Blog that I was writing for WotC at GenCon
2) I'm on youtube! They made me do a video to introduce myself. I was already losing my voice. Geez.
3) Here's another blog I've been working on.

Ah, time. Why can't there be more of you? Especially in the category of leisure? And why can't someone else do my dishes? :)

Tomorrow I'm leaving for GenCon, so I thought I'd dash off something to get my mind working this morning - since I have to go to work early, and because I'm on some Mucinex which. . . doesn't make me tired, exactly, but it's close. It's also makes my jaw muscles tense, which is odd.

Anyhow, tomorrow morning, bright and early I'm heading to Jim's and we're carpooling to Indy together. I have the following tasks to accomplish in the next 24 hours.

• Pack


• Organize my RPGA "stuff" so it can be efficiently used at the show


• Dishes


• Laundry


• Clean my office at work


• Clean the litterbox


• haircut(?)


• find our camera(?)


• Charge cellphones


• Take a charger


• Snuggle the daylights outta Tawnya

I think that covers most of it. Somehow it seems less daunting on paper than it is in my head.

BTW - I have a PS3 now. I also have Rock Band. I'm learning to love drums all over again. Not so much that I'm sorry I gave them up in high school, but enough that I'm having fun. If you have a PS3, I'm WolfStar76 on there, add meh.

Nothing else of note this morning. . .though it felt like there was more when I sat down. Bah.

Just got done with my first round of e-mail exchanges with Mr. Youngs. He told me what he's looking for in a blogger (report at least once each on D&D Minis, as well as the RPG side of the house). Pretty much what I expected - and what I hope to exceed. I confess, mind you, to being more excited about the RPG side of the hall, since I'm not a minis player.

However, if I can just get occasional updates from the minis guys about anything THEY feel is noteworthy, then I can always dress it up and send it out the door all fancy-like for the web.

I'm already plotting several things I look forward to writing about (Thursday - the excitement of a new show, Friday, growing crowds and early feedback, Saturday - People EVERYWHERE, the hall is PACKED, someon got TRAMPLED trying to get to a D&D table, oh the HUMANITY! Sunday - well, time to pack up and go home, see you next year GenCon!), and I actually think I'm going ot have to pace myself a bit.

As those of you who read me regularly (all, what, 5 of you? Hi sis!) know, I tend to get wordy when I get excited. The above parenthetical sentance is proof of that. Especially as it doesn't cover things like the Delve, the D&D Championship, and other things I'd like to try and focus on throughout the course of the show. I'm going to have to make sure I take the time to stop, take a deep breath, and think as I post. Breaking down my logjam of thoughts into small, easy-to-digest pieces will be key for me.

All the same, to borrow from Shane. . . I'm totally stoked. :)

Anyhow, Chris is likely spying on my blog even as I write this (he wanted a sample of my writing) so I should make this short and sweet lest I scare him off.

More as I think of it.