Ramblings (Happy Halloween/Writer's Strike Eve Edition)

What's happening kiddies? Do you have a bunch of people meeting together to see if you have to come into work? I do. They call it negotiations. I'm probably going to be a little disappointed if there isn't at least like two or three days of a strike. I've psyched myself up so much I'm sort of looking forward to some time off as long as it's only a week or two. Any more than that and I'm no longer keen. It's also a little funny how people's attitudes have changed slightly as the contract deadline has approached. Used to be a lot of joking about it mixed with a little concern. Now there are a lot more people with the "Shit! This is really gonna happen!" look on their face. There is a nice undercurrent of panic flowing through the lot. It's a little weird. My personal stance on this whole strike things is: Screw 'em. I know I'm a little bias since I'm pursuing the writing profession. Still the producers have come across like such bullies during this whole ordeal. They concede parts of their proposal that had no right being there in the first place, and then act like they have made a huge concession by removing it. I'm just tired of this whole mess that it seems a group of logical people could have figured out in a week.

Coinciding with the most job stress I've had in the last few years, I quit smoking on Monday. There are a couple reasons why.

First, I had to quit so that the impending back surgery will have a better chance at success. Second, it's cheaper not to smoke.
Third, I'm tired of being associated with the second worst group of people on earth. If you were to do a poll on what groups were considered the worst type of people it would probably come out a lot like this:

1. People that club baby seals
2. Smokers
3. Republicans
4. Democrats
5. Soccer Moms
6. Terrorists

I get more dirty looks walking around with a cigarette than I would walking around with a bloody axe.

Speaking of bloody axe, I got my Guitar Hero 3 in the mail Monday. First off, the new wireless guitar is fantastic. The buttons are much better, and the guitar just feels great with its added heft. I found myself hitting a lot more runs than I could with the old guitar. Second, the song list is pretty fantastic, and more than half of the songs are from the original artists, and not cover songs. The game though is a little more hardcore. The Hard difficulty is a bit more difficult than in II, but the Medium difficulty is about the same but easier because of the nicer guitar. This leaves with a bit of a problem of one difficulty being too easy and the other too difficult to be enjoyable. The bonus songs you unlock also aren't as enjoyable as in Guitar Hero 2. The core of Guitar Hero though is firmly intact with a better main songlist and better wireless guitar.

Hmm...anything else?

I have no idea what I want for Christmas.

The office is addicted to Scrabulous.

Ah, screw it. I've got nothing. Nothing. This whole town is about to shut down and that's all everybody is thinking about.