The Thessaliad Redux

I haven't slept at all, but am surprisingly awake. Also very amused.

I haven't even thought about the fantasy hockey league I'm in for quite some time - between illness, job stresses and FFXI, it just wasn't a priority. I was just reminded rather forcibly of its existence and how cool I generally think it is by the simple expedient of two other players trying to offer up a trade for one of my best players - one Brendan Shanahan. (Yeah, sorry; I've only just now checked the email address that offers go to - I promise I'll check more regularly.) One of them is my good friend tolshak. Neither of them actually made an offer I could in all good conscience accept, but the other guy came closer to a good offer, I will admit. Now, of course, I've rejected both offers inviting the lads to try again, but after having a look at my roster, it'd take a lot to get me to part with Shanahan. Eh, it's fun, anyway. At least the other guy has a player I might consider trading for if he threw in a decent defenseman, whereas I couldn't think of anyone tolshak could offer that would make me want to trade the best player on my team. This is why I didn't make a counter-offer; sorry.

See, on the one hand, I could be really mercenary about this, and that would probably mean that I should accept the other offer. However, the other part is presentation of the offer - whereas tolshak just said, "I'm making a push for the top spot", the other guy specifically named tolshak as the guy to beat. Probably not a wise negotiating tactic, telling the person that you want to do business with that you want to make one of their best friends lose. I'm not sure if this necessarily means that tolshak can get away with more. More that the other guy can get away with less. If that makes sense.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna start paying attention again. Y'know, actually update the roster once in awhile. I'm second-to-last, but the season ain't over yet...

The cramps have not yet gone away. I don't get it. I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do. Minimal coffee, no cola, taking my meds, eating - when I can eat at all - reasonably. And yet my stomach is still this cramping mess of pain. So I have decided on the following. Today and tomorrow (because pain like this, much as I wish it would, does not go away overnight) I will wait and see if the meds show any signs of kicking in. If they do not, I am going back to the doctor on Wednesday and saying, "Okay, this appears not to be working. Please tell me when I should worry because I can't go in to work this way". That'll be two weeks out with this mess. I hate this whole damn mess. The really stupid thing is that despite going to bed rather late last night (cramps, plus sceneage to take my mind off the cramps), I am up and would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed if not for the gastric pain.

Hockey season is on its way. tolshak has sent out the invites to the Fantasy Hockey League. At first I didn't think I was going to have the time - I mean, it's all about following the games and the general league stuff so you know when to laugh in someone's face when they offer you a stupid trade and changing your roster appropriately and so on and so forth, and I seem to commit myself to an awful lot of internet-related faffing. Then again, at least two of the three online RPs I committed two have been pretty effectively chucked (you may have noticed a subsidance in the bitchery factor of late) and, while Final Fantasy fills the hole pretty effectively, it's fifteen minutes maximum on a daily basis, excluding public holidays, and gives me a reason to keep abreast of the league doings, so I don't spend the season finding things out from nightskywarlock and going, "Why didn't I know this?" So I think I'll sign on. Worst that can happen is, like last year, I'll do reasonably and then get caught up doing other things midway through the season and probably place miserably. But I'll probably place miserably anyway. That's kind of not the point. And so it is done.

Now I think I am going to do a quick web comics peruse and then go lie down. Being recumbent helps the cramping somewhat. I am going to get so bored... I think this may be my cue to sprawl on the sofa at some stage with iMisc and DVDs. I have been meaning to rewatch the Buffy eps "The Replacement" and "Intervention" because ... well, interesting trivia for the Buffy fans among you. The alternate Xander in "The Replacement" was not CGI. That was Nicholas Brendon's twin brother Kelly, who is the older twin by three minutes. He also does most of Nicholas Brendon's stunt work and, when Nicholas Brendon got ill during the filming of "Intervention", Kelly stood in for awhile. That must be really neat for ... well, somebody, having a main character with a built-in understudy. Though I can see it sucking to be Kelly, whose own acting career is in a weird stuntman limbo because his little brother's given that face a degree of fame. Anyway, so now I want to watch "Intervention" to see if I can tell which scenes were Nicholas and which were Kelly. I doubt I'll be able to, but it's worth a shot.

Plus, when I have laid down for awhile ... LEVEL SIXTEEN, BEEYOTCH.

In other, non-Affils related news, I am still dead last in The Good Old Hockey Game fantasy league thing. And Thugtuzzi Crisis is still trying to trade me for Kovalchuk. He made me a halfway serious offer this time, at least (offered me Murray), but not quite serious enough for me to consider it. Obviously laughing in his face when he offered me Weekes for Hasek has made him take me just a liiiiittle bit more seriously.

You won't have seen a word count bar in the last couple of days, mainly because I haven't written a goddamn thing since the last one. Between various stresses, disappointments and the back-wrenchy, I haven't been in the mood. It's a good thing I'm so far ahead or I would be unutterably screwed. As it is, I'm probably going to finish off most of it this weekend. Hey, if I can do 10k in a weekend, 12k and a bit shouldn't be so hard. I just need to start earlier in the day or something. Still, I'm looking forward to spending at least some time with my Sims this weekend, and it's so much better doing it during the day for some reason. Staying up all night writing makes one feel accomplished; staying up all night playing Sims 2 makes one feel like a social outcast who hasn't got anything better to do.

I'm kind of torn at the moment. You see, weaselbitch texted awhile ago asking if we were going to go see Goblet of Fire this weekend. I think dodgyhoodoo would be quite happy to go and see it now, but I'm dead set on waiting at least two weeks, with the deadline set at post-Dragonmeet. This is mainly because I don't want to share the cinema with a bunch of ill-disciplined kids and possibly their parents. However, most of the people I know who want to see this film, whether I'm likely to see it with them or not, want to see it RightNowThisMinute. The thing is, if I don't go see it RightNowThisMinute, I'm stuck with listening to people either rave about or critique it for two weeks, not to mention depriving myself of the social outing aspect of the cinematic experience. Still ... screaming kids. Ugh. No.

I suddenly realise I have no one to rant sports with. At least, not in any major way.

I play Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey with tolshak and his happy band of hockey maniacs. Which is generally good, though I am bottom of the league because half the time I forget to update my starting lineup and wind up having everybody who's playing on the day on the bench and am therefore racking up no points. Generally, I am someone that someone else is playing. I don't contribute much, never ask for trades and just generally coast.

Until the manager of The Thugtuzzi Crisis, another team, asked for a trade. Marleau for Kovalchuk. So basically he wants to trade my absolute best player (7th in the League tables) for Marleau, 81 in the league with a slightly less impressive scoring record long-term. I had a look at the stats -- while they're pretty much even on scoring terms over a season, I discovered a trend -- Marleau peaks early and then keeps a relatively stable scoring record, while Kovalchuk tends to not do so well in the first little while but peaks mid-season. I could get a lot better mileage out of him long-term than I could out of Marleau, so I said no deal.

Well, not entirely no deal. I made a counter-offer. He can have Kovalchuk if he's willing to give up Bertuzzi. There's only a five-player difference between them in the league tables so I'm not losing out so much and he's a good scorer. I'll have to see if he takes it. (That's assuming the Thugtuzzi Crisis is a he.)

Damn. I suddenly realise that I have no idea how the hockey is going. I must check on the Habs...

We're at the top of the NE standings?!? ROCK ON! *squee* And we're still beating the almighty crap out of Boston; we always do. Toronto kicked our arses, the snots. And we play the Sens tonight. Must remember to check the score tomorrow.

Just got an e-mail from tolshak. Yahoo Fantasy Hockey League is back! Mostly I like it because it gives me an excuse to follow NHL activity, but it's also just fun. Thanks, tolshak; I actually missed The Good Old Hockey Game last year. Stupid fucking strike.

I have slept, and consequently feel somewhat better. Still a little bleary around the edges, but I have caffeine, so this will pass. weaselbitch is coming 'round for coffee in about an hour, so I have a little time to browse and faff before she does, so I'll make the most of that.

One of the Sims 2 downloads I got awhile back is a set of buyable Aspiration rewards -- both general and career-related. The career ones are better, frankly, because they don't rely on you being at a certain aspiration level to use them. Plus they're fun, and have helped me build a couple of new lots for Sim-Llandeilo. So far I've got Elise's place (tiny room that comprises living room and bedroom, minuscule kitchen and bath, huge two-room lab) and Lucille's surgery (complete with beds, IV drips and everything a surgeon could possibly need to stay on top of her field, plus living space). Some of the animations are excellent. And now I really can't wait for Nightlife to come out.

Particularly since I'll be able to afford it when it comes out. Whee! Employment! I mean, mostly I'll be doing sensible things with my first paycheque but I have been waiting for this one for months and you have to treat yourself a little bit, right?

*sniffle* They killed the hockey season!

There isn't going to be a Playoff run this year. Last-minute attempts to kill the lock-out and at least have a 28-game season failed. But nooooo, no one wanted to be the one to back down on the pay cap thing. I know hockey's not been the most lucrative sport lately, but sheesh, if people had simply sat and thought about it rationally...

And they keep saying that the sport will never recover because the bloody Americans don't give a toss (sorry to those of you who do). "It's not the national passtime", they say. Excuse me, but fuck you. It may not be the American national passtime, but the Canadians started the goddamn sport, and it's our national passtime, you blinkered fucks. A little respect would be nice, instead of just, "Oh well".

Bettman and Goodenow must die.

I have discovered an entirely new way to abuse Photoshop and waste my time: Sims skins. Well, at least it's creative.

Bank Holiday weekend. Everybody's suggesting things like barbeques or the cinema. I can't do the cinema without triggering a migraine. Given that the new Harry Potter film's coming out -- the one I said was the Potterfilms' last chance with me -- this pretty much sucks. I might go see it anyway; I get migraines no matter what I do so why should I have to miss out on things I enjoy just because it'll make my head hurt? Well, missing out on cinema excursions isn't actually that bad most of the time. My expectations were at an all-time low with regards to Van Helsing and I really don't want to see Troy. If I wanted to see Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom prance around in skirts, I'd send them both tickets to the nearest Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening. Mmm. Orlando Bloom in a corset and fishnets. Anyway, I think I'll just actually read the Illiad. Less expenditure, less cringeworthy and I won't have to sit there and wait for the credits to find out who Brad Pitt's leg double was.

As for barbeques, this is England. You can't trust the weather as far as you can throw it. And yet people still insist that, despite the changeable climate and the tendency to rain all over everybody, it's a great idea to cook food in the great outdoors. And forgive me, but I'm having trouble with the concept of a vegetarian barbeque. I suppose this is just the stereotype -- big slabs o' meat cooking over coals -- and I know you can have veg-kabobs but it still seems to kind of suck for the vegetarians among us (of which there are at least three).

And the Gathering's impending. Still don't know what I want to go as. Not entirely sure I want to go at all. Sure, the concept of a three-day LARP sounds ace, but I just know I'm going to get this out-of-place feeling that only comes from walking into a mass of people you don't know. Ah, well, it'll do me good to go out and ... meet people oh God I'm going to have to spend a weekend being social.

Summer was not this busy or panic-worthy last year. Last year it was just me, a book and the tail-end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now I'm so busy I don't even know who's winning or how far along they are. Gah.