Okay, I have zero entries for my contest and only 2 people have even expressed interest in entering. Maybe it's time to spice up the pot. Understandably, my prizes aren't that great. Anyone can buy you a drink, it's been done before in other contests anyways. So I thought, what can I offer that no one else can? Sad, but the best answer I could come up with was a kiss on the cheek from me.
Now, I know that very few people are gonna enter a contest just for the potential of a small peck on the cheek, but I can't really give anything more than that or Olivia will get mad.
Fortunately, today I got 2 new prize options which might lure more entries. Option #1 is a 2-baseball card set I picked up from the bottom of the box of Honeycomb that I've been eating since senior year, the days of Pact. The cards feature 2 of the best catchers in Major League Baseball of recent years: Mike Piazza and Jason Kendall. They are in mint condition, still in original plastic wrap.
The other is a Northrop Grumman little clock/calculator combo, which management gave all the engineers today in honor of N.E.W. (see post from 2 days ago). It's pretty snazzy actually, it folds up for compact convenient transport. There is a light button, alarm feature, stopwatch, plus the fashionable Northrop Gumman Electronic Systems Logo adorns the cover. A picture follows:
And yes, I am willling to part with either one of the above mentioned prizes. If you can name a good amount of my favorite CDs, you earned it. Looking at the list I have, it's tough, I doubt anyone reading this knows me well enough to name them all. But I encourage you all to try.
Currently playing on my Winamp: 50 Cent & Nate Dogg - 21 Questions
Nate Dogg is awesome, but only when he's doing someone else's song. I don't think I know any solo Nate Dogg songs.
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Ok, this was a cheap blog, so I will release the following short story I've written. Once again, it involves Starcraft, but written in a different style. It's kind of long. I don't know how well people will like my writing, but I have a couple other stories and maybe I will post those if this one is popular. Don't want people to think I'm too big of a nerd than they already do though.
Broodwar Adventures - Episode 1
It was a dark time in the land of Pittszergh. Minerals were scarce, Vespene Gas was nowhere to be found, and the few overlords that remained were weak and dying.
But to Harry Hydralisk, life was grand. His friends would always wonder how Harry could stay upbeat in such a bleak environment. Harry's father had skipped town when he was yet an egg, leaving his mother and older sister to raise young Harry and struggle to make ends meet.
It was a wonder that their family had made it this far, but even now they had to constantly worry about their next meal and fight for survival. In all practicality, Lurker College was gonna be out of the question for Harry, and he would likely end up being a normal patrol-lisk or worse yet, a front line Hydra in battle.
Still, none of this ever seemed to bother Harry, a strapping lad now in his mid-teens and feeling quite invincible. "Hakuna Matata", he'd always say. "It means no worries, for the rest of your days. It's a problem free... philosophy.... Hakuna Matata".
For though he was still young, he understood that to be alive was to be lucky. Every day he'd see the starving, undeveloped larvae outside the hatcheries, and felt fortunate himself for what little that he had. Compared to them, he thought, what he had was a lot indeed.
Early one morning, Harry woke up and got ready for school. Today was a day he'd been waiting for weeks to arrive, because they were finally gonna learn how to burrow. He ate his breakfast quickly and headed out with his normal exuberant step.
"Make sure you bring your umbrella," said his mother, "weather.com says there's a chance of Psi Storm today."
"Oooo-kayyy", said Harry, who was already halfway out the Den. As much as he hated being babied by his mama, she was just looking out for him, and she was usually right. After all, she was older, wiser, and could still give him a solid whoopin if called for.
So Harry, with umbrella in hand, went on his way to school. The walk to Kerrigan High was about a 20 minute hike. Distance wise, it wasn't all that far, but it was a winding path filled with hills and curves. There was, however, a shortcut that could get him there in 10. The only problem was, that path would take him through a part of Protoss territory. His mother always warned him never to wander that way, which was indeed rather dangerous, although Harry knew of many schoolmates who took that route regularly without any trouble.
But this time, Harry wanted to be first to class and be in the front for burrow training, and, perhaps feeling a little extra spicy that day, he decided to ignore his mother's admonitions and take the shortcut anyways.
He was hardly a few steps into Protoss territory when a patrolling zealot spotted him and began to approach.
"Son of a Broodling!" he shouted, and immediately began to flee. He'd run his way through Protoss land to safety back in Pittszergh and its friendly sunken colonies yet. But the zealot gained all too rapidly, much to Harry's chagrin; this one had obviously undergone the leg upgrade.
In no time, Harry was overtaken and he would be forced to fight for his own survival. As a young healthy Hydralisk, Harry still had a chance of defeating the zealot, if he was lucky.
Unfortunately, by choosing to run first instead of fight, he had already forfeited what was perhaps his only advantage over the powerful zealot: range. Nevertheless, Harry quickly unleashed a fury of spines at the zealot, who was momentarily stunned by the onslaught but shrugged them off and began an assualt of his own.
The struggle continued for what seemed like hours, which were actually only mere seconds in battle. Harry's barrage of spines were gradually wearing down his opponent's plasma shields, but he was taking significant damage himself from the devastating psi blades. It soon became apparent that he was going to lose this battle if things continued the way they were going.
Suddenly, an thought struck: "use the umbrella, Harry!" said a voice, as if Obi-Wan Kenobi himself were in his head. Quickly, Harry unsheathed his umbrella and began using it to parry the Psi blades while continuing to spit his spines as before. Surprisingly, the umbrella withstood and absorbed the blows of the Psi blades easily, rendering them rather worthless.
The zealot, taken aback by the turn of events, saw that he was now outmatched and retreated from the fight. Harry, meanwhile, breathed a deep sigh of relief and wasted no time in taking the opportunity to run to school. Surely the zealot would soon return with more of its kind, and Harry wanted no part of that fight.
By the time he reached school, he was out of breath, though at least his battle wounds were all but healed. He looked at his watch: still 5 minutes early!
As Harry found a seat at the front, he glanced at the umbrella that saved his life and managed to crack a weak smile to himself at his little adventure. But some hard lessons had been learned that morning that he would never forget. Never wander through Protoss territory, always bring an umbrella, and above all else, listen to your mama!
