I don’t remember how many of my regular readers who frequented EFNet #Vampire remember LordRaven. He was quite an amusing and intelligent guy, who stayed in hospitals far more often than anyone should because of his cystic fibrosis. A few years ago he had a full lung transplant which was hoped would help him.

About a week ago or so, he contracted pneumonia and it caused his lungs to reject him. Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do. He died earlier today.

You know what they say… only the good die young. I never got to meet him in rl, which I do regret. Hopefully I’ll get that chance when I move on from this life…

I admit to annoyance. First off, our good friend Jesse is doing her yearly Blogathon, raising money for the Tri-County Humane Society. That’s not what irks me. In fact, I’ve already donated. What irks me is that she’s giving away this Squeeky toy thing to whoever guesses what a particular song clip is, and even after three hints I still can’t figure out WTF song it is. It’s not that I want it for myself; I want to win it so that I can give it to Missy. *sigh*

I had an optometrist’s appointment this morning. I surprised them somewhat by revealing that I haven’t worn contact lenses since I got that corneal ulcer in my eye back in December. It’s really a combination of A) not being bothered enough to deal with it, and B) not exactly looking forward to putting something in my eye again. So, I ended up buying new glasses, which I should be receiving in a couple of weeks, once they put the antiglare coating in and mount them on the frames. These are rimless glasses, which should look nice. In addition, they’re like my previous glasses in that they come with clip-on sunglasses that clamp over the bridge via a magnet. They look quite nice, if I do say so myself. Ah, well… just have to wait for them to come in.

Also this afternoon we went to eat at Ruby Tuesday’s. We were up for a change, and only found out this week that there was one at Willowbrook Mall. I should say, that a new one had opened near Willowbrook; twenty years ago there had been one in the mall itself, and we had rather enjoyed it. Then it closed, and we hadn’t heard of a Ruby Tuesday’s in Houston since this week, when my coworker Cherry mentioned seeing one across US 249 from Willowbrook. Anyway, we went there and had dinner there… though we weren’t expecting it to primarily be a burger place. :-) A lot can change in twenty years, though… anyway, it was a good meal and we enjoyed ourselves. We’ll keep it as a standby.

As for the rest of this weekend… hmm. Not sure what I’ll do to occupy myself. Right now I’m just drinking a Shiner and relaxing. I’ll probably sleep in tomorrow and watch movies most of the day. Not sure what yet, though. For now, though… just going to go play some pinball. Fun fun…

EDIT: I finally realized what song it was after I heard a phone post with Jesse’s oldest daughter Lisa singing it: Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat”. So, by some miracle I was able to win it, and Missy will get the squeaky toy she wanted. :-)

You learn something new every day.

All right, so… Peter Cullen has been confirmed to be the voice of Optimus Prime in the upcoming Transformers movie. For those not familiar with the name, he was the one who voiced Optimus in the original cartoon series. This is, of course, a pretty good sign. I’m not one of those who is against the movie because it’s made changes from the original series, mind you; every iteration of Transformers has made changes to the continuity and/or characters since the original “Generation 1” series. Still, this might be an indication that Michael Bay respects the franchise.

Of course, now the attention is likely going to be focused on whoever will voice Megatron. Most people I come across are hoping Frank Welker returns as Megatron. Welker voiced Megatron in the original series. However, I’m likely one of those rare people who also like the voice of the person who had been voicing Megatron in the recent Transformers series. I did some looking, and found that from Beast Wars until Cybertron, Megatron had been voiced by David Kaye. So, I have no objection to him getting the part. What surprised me, however, was who voiced Optimus. Apparently, from Beast Wars to Cybertron, Optimus Prime/Primal had been voiced by Garry Chalk. Those of you who like Stargate SG-1 would know him as the actor who plays Colonel Chekov. Small world, I swear…

As I said before, I’m not one of those who’re getting pissed about some of the changes they’ve been making in the movie. For example, a lot of people are annoyed that Bumblebee is a Camaro instead of a VW Beetle. Uh, news flash: Volkswagen refused permission to have their cars used in the movie. Also, people are annoyed that Megatron doesn’t transform into a gun, and instead transforms into some kind of alien jet. Again, news flash: Megatron hasn’t been a gun since G1. Most versions of Megatron have him transforming into either a tank or an alien fighter/gunship. :-) The movie looks like it’ll be fun, despite what some people are worried about; hell, one of my favorite little fun details has to be on the vehicle mode of the Decepticon Brawl. He turns into a black Mustang police car; however, the “city seal” has the Decepticon logo over it, and instead of saying “To protect and serve” it says “To punish and enslave”. :-)

Ah, well… the movie won’t be out for another year. We’ll see how good (or bad) it is then.

All right, on one hand I admit to bewilderment. On the other hand, I admit to looking forward to this.

OXM‘s cover story for its upcoming issue deals with Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. People have been receiving the issue already, though, and it turns out the mysterious minigame mode in MK:A has been revealed. It’s Motor Kombat, an up-to-eight-player cart racing game.

Yes, you read right. It’s a cart racing game. My own head nearly exploded when I read it.

Not that I think that’s a bad thing, mind you. I actually happen to enjoy racing games, and am rather looking forward to this. In fact, I tend to do better at racing games than, say, puzzle games. (Justin tends to annihilate me at Puzzle Kombat, which makes it a bit less fun to play). Dave and Louie love racing games as well, so Motor Kombat may end up being the game that gets them playing SOMETHING Mortal Kombat related. Also, Dad loves his racing games, so maybe I can get him to play…

Also, it’s amusing when you consider how many people talk about Mario Kart when “MK” is brought up. It’s always fun seeing an in-joke brought to life.

Anyway… I’ll judge it properly when I get to play it. Until then, I’m looking forward to the chance to try it. I gotta admit, though… it’s certainly a different idea.

EDIT: For those people who somehow found my site on a Google search for Motor Kombat… er, hi. Here’s the info from the Mortal Kombat Online story I ended up putting up:

The secret minigame mode that had been secret until now has been revealed as Motor Kombat, an up to eight player cart racing game. The playable racers are Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Bo’Rai Cho, Jax, Raiden, Kitana, Mileena, and Baraka. (UPDATE – Cyrax and Johnny Cage are also available. Thanks for the correction, Casselman!) The characters are capable of using their own special moves during the match (Sub-Zero freezes cars, and Bo’Rai Cho can cause cars behind to slip on his puke, for example), and can even knock cars into course deathtraps. The minigame is playable alone, via online with eight people, and with up to four people with split-screen.

Once again, Dementia is taking part in Blogathon, where she will be raising money for the Tri-County Humane Society. This is, as she puts it, “a Cause for Paws”. It starts July 29th at 9 AM EST and runs for twenty-four hours.

I’ve pledged to donate. You all should too. It’s a worthy cause.

Gah. In an earlier post I mentioned that I had an ingrown toenail and that it had gotten badly infected. I also mentioned that I had to go in to see the podiatrist today to have him take a look at it and cut out the offending ingrowns. Well, he did. Fortunately he did it under anesthetia (the injections for which weren’t the most fun thing in the world), and was done before I realized he had actually finished. Now I’m just sitting at home, both toes bandaged up, my feet propped up on my entertainment center, and having a caffeine-free Diet Coke before I consider going to bed. I wish I could say this was the end of the foot treatments, but unfortunately the doctor wants me to keep soaking them twice a day, leading up to a followup appointment next Tuesday. Gods, I hope this all works out fine.

I did myself and my parents a favor today and signed up for Netflix. I had been meaning to for a while, but with the new TV and DVD player, I figured it was about time for me to get onboard. Granted, there is a Blockbuster Video and a Hollywood Video near my house, but they tend to be out of my way and the former is a bitch to get in and out of. This just works out nicer for everyone involved… especially when Mom and Dad have their own sign-on and queue. Now I don’t have to worry about what movies to get them. Ah, well… at least there’re enough movies that I’ve been interested in that I have shoved into my queue. I should be good for a while.

Anyway, I guess I should be considering bed at this point. Fun fun…