Current Kiki Events - Part II

My vacation was, however, cut a bit short when F called me Monday morning to tell me there were fires all over the place near our apartment. This was on top of a fairly sleepless night, thanks to a tornado siren that went off by accident for over an hour (starting at 3am). I guess a lot of you have been following at least some of the fire news. The Witch Creek fire threatened our home and both of our places of work. I thought F's workplace would be bad because it was across a major street from a burning neighborhood. His building is fine, though. It turns out the Park was even closer to danger. Most of the eastern half of the property (the undeveloped half) is burned. The fire went right up to (and once over) animal areas and around the northern end of the Park to catch the property to the West of us. More information is available here. The reason the Park was around to open yesterday is that the fire management programs are well-planned and the Park was ready to deal with any fire right after finding out the Santa Ana winds would be so bad.

As to our personal story, our apartment never came under mandatory evacuation orders, but the evacuation zone was about half a mile away and the fire came within 2 miles on Tuesday. F evacuated on Monday with my kitty. I flew back into town Tuesday night. The flight over the mountains with fires on either side of the plane was amazing, but the flight right over the Harris fire was awesome. Fires in the distance looked like lava in the darkness. It was indescribably beautiful... Back in reality, I stayed with a friend in North Park for the night, then drove up to meet up with F in the LA area Wednesday. Then, I got up at 3:30am to move my cat back to my apartment and go to our department meeting and help with Park clean-up. Thank goodness for my fitted face mask; the air is still awful here, though generally getting better.

Already, it's mostly back to work as usual (though with much lower attendance numbers). Savanna Safari was amazing Friday because it goes right through one of the areas that burned. I also handled our Great Horned Owl for the first time. So cool! Yesterday I dressed up for a Halloween Weekend shift...and, oh yeah, I dyed my hair black...

On the gaming front, we finally are going to play again. Mutants and Masterminds this time. I'm still trying to come up with all my character stuff but I'm having a hard time. I like superheroes, but it's not as much my thing. I'd love to get back to D&D but I'll really play anything, since I just enjoy the company of my fellow nerds. D (the main GM for this adventure) wanted to help me better understand the tone of the setting and give me character-development ideas, so I now have homework: five trade paperbacks to read by Wednesday evening. It will be especially tough since I also have to rewatch all of Eva by November 7th (it goes back to my brother then), in preparation for watching the movies (or at least the 2nd movie).

I think that catches you all up on my life. Thanks for hanging in there for two long posts. I'll try to get back on top of it, now that I have a computer again (my parents' ran slow, mine was in LA until today, and updates at work can be difficult).

Sick Again!!

I think I need to keep blogging whenever I get sick because I think I just need to document it. Since my "sicksville" posts, I have been well (except for when Bayou - 4.5 foot alligator - hurt my shoulder). It must be because I work with children. I mean, is it any coincidence that I just did my first kinder programs since...well, at least June? Maybe. I remember when I would get one really good bout of bronchitis a year. Now, it's usually two. Currently, I'm not to that coughing-my-brains-out stage, so maybe I can still fight it off...

In other crappy news: it has totally hit the fan at work. I will post more on this later, but suffice it to say we have such a dysfunctional work environment that HR has stepped in and our education director has resigned. Fun is being had by all. If only I could just do my job...you know the one I like to do.

To top it all off, when I was at my game session that didn't happen (since I'm the only one really showing up for the last month...damnitall) someone broke into my car. Luckily they didn't have to smash my window as I left a tiny crack they could use to unlock my door. Also, they couldn't take my radio, since that requires taking off practically the whole dashboard console. So they made off with the tools in my center cubby. Funny part of it all: they left all my tapes sitting right on my seat...can't understand why they wouldn't want Tiffany or Paula Abdul...

The 100 Best Games Meme

I would have included this list here, but Live Journal has a much easier and friendlier way of hiding text. So, especially to the gamers, visit it here.

Hello from Sicksville, Part II

Let's see. What other horribly boring things can I tell you about. Last month we went to LA for the weekend to hang out with some friends. We went to the Florida Tech Alumni Picnic (LA Chapter) there and had a blast. We also learned to play Pirate's Dice (aka Liar's Dice), which was awesome. And C, B, F, and I played a nerd game: Scene It - Marvel Comics. Hardest Question: Name the five original members of Alpha Flight. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't ask. You don't want to know. I posed this question to my D&D boys. Put aside the fact that most made snide comments about Alpha Flight, as I did when I heard the question. S just began rattling off names...so he wins...something.

F and I also had the opportunity to take a tour of the Warner Bros. Studio lot. Not the regular hop-on-a-cart kind, but the personal tour of one of his acquaintances. It was very cool. We saw all kinds of Gilmore Girls sets (F and our guide are both huge fans of that show), some ER sets, and the FBI headquarters set for Without a Trace. We also went to the props building...very, very cool. Here are some shots from our trip:

Here we are, just walking around the studio on a beautiful day.

Stars Hollow. Gilmore Girls takes up a huge amount of space on the lot, but turn the corner and you're at the ER ambulance bay. Freaky. Go through any building and the other side may be another building you know if you watch the show. For example, down the street on the right is Suki's house. If you go in, it's Suki's house. The back exterior is Lorelai's house. That interior is on a sound stage.

So, of course most of the hospital on ER is on a sound stage. However, the ambulance bay has an entrance that leads to a fake room. So, we are in that fake room, standing behind the counter, just past the receptionist station. Behind is is a painted wall...I mean right behind us.

Here's a set they were finished with and about to tear down. It's for Oceans 13. Looked cool. WB basically rents out their lot for anyone to shoot on, unlike most other studios, who only allow their own shows/movies.

Props everywhere. Most rooms were filled with furniture. Furniture was labeled to tell which show would be using them and when. The amazing thing was that no one really cared that we were there. Our guide had her badge on. She would just ask if we could walk in and see what was going on. We didn't see any tapings, but ER, Studio 60, and Gilmore Girls were all filming while we were there and we saw some minor actors.

Speaking of which, I recently did my first "celebrity tour" at work for Tracy Tweed. If you don't recognize the name, don't worry. Neither did I. But, watch the Gene Simmons reality show. I also thought the stars were aligning for me to do a tour for Laura Dern, but it was not to be.

Our other huge announcement at work...which is old now...is that we have another elephant baby. He has yet to be named, but was born March 11. Cute, cute, cute!!

I'm sure there are other random things I was thinking about writing, but I can't remember them right now. I'm sure as soon as I post this they will all pop back in my brain.

Gamery

I am having an uproarious amount of fun in gaming right now. S's mindfuck story is really enjoyable, and our group dynamic is only getting more interesting, I think. We have a foreign (ie not European) paladin, a cleric who worships the angel of vengeance (but good), an ultra-paranoid rogue, an evil (I believe) inquisition monk (not monk in the western sense but martial artist sense), and me, the tree hugger druid, who can turn into a wolf and rip someone's throat out (a secret until last night). With this kind of dynamic, I have to wonder if we will eventually have a death of one player at the hands of another. Fun.

Also Gaming Stuff

Okay, so more gaming stuff for anyone who cares. S, who's in all the other games I have played/am currently playing, has started a D&D campaign. We've played twice (of course, most of the first session entailed character creation). He's created his own world sort of based on Medieval Europe, but we're using D&D play. I have a totally rockin' druid (no, rockin' and druid are NOT mutually exclusive!). It's pretty fun so far, though S looks a little squirmy when we players are total idiots and can't see the clues that are laid out in front of us (some virtually with flashing neon signs...but, we're distracted by J's rogue and his desire to fish for sharks). It must be how D feels watching me play a video game he's already played until he can't contain himself any longer and has to tell me a hint...and I do that, too, with F. Anyway, we didn't play anything for a month and I was crazy ready to get out and play anything! Thanks S!

Stuck at Work

Here I am on a long split shift at work. By that I mean I had a tour shift that started at 8:15 and lasted til almost 1:00. Now I am off the clock and fiddling around until my next shift from 6:00 to 9:45. When you are a bit down the totem pole, you get stuck with the splits. I had a pretty rough tour this morning, too, so I need a break. However, today is my Friday, so I will have some relaxation time.

Stumpy (really, this is not his name...) ate like mad last night and is really reacting positively to feeding time. I have figured out that the way to disturb him the least with other duties is to wait until about an hour before I turn off the basking light. By this time he is usually on the log and will stay there for the night. I can just remove the log and he will stay right on top of it while I clean and remove any crickets that got away from him during feeding time. And I have seen no more weird and/or disturbing behavior.

Let's see, what else. I have been playing more FFXII. Still not totally thrilled, but I have been enjoying some of the street characters and the bestiary. Hilarious. Plus, I actually am kind of taken with the licensing system. F and I have also been playing Justice League Heroes and LOVE it! I hope the Marvel game is just as good. You just cannot beat playing Superman or Wonder Woman. Pick up a car, fly with it, and then beat down some robots! Awesome!

I also get out of the house once a week (aside from work, which doesn't count) to do some role playing. A female friend from work got me into this group last year. Now she has moved so I am the only girl there. Anyway, we alternate games. We were playing D&D (Eberron) but we have been taking a break from that for a while now. So, we are playing Star Wars (d20) and a game called Found! The latter uses the Unknown Armies system and is loosely based on Lost. Well, as long as a story where something really messed up happens to a group of people and they are trying to figure out what's going on and there are weird coincidences, etc., and there are flashbacks that help flesh out the characters is like Lost, then it is.

Well, I've blown, what, 30 minutes? Yay me. You watch, I'll be back in an hour...