The Spring semester has begun at Duck U, and we've been kinda busy in the Bookstore.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm finding it difficult to come up with the motivation to blog here at The Pond.  There are other things going on, too, but that's the main thing.

Not that it matters.

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Even though I had absolutely no reason to do so, I woke up at 5am today, and I'm one of those people who can't go back to sleep once they wake up.  I puttered around the interwebz until around 7am, at which point I started three loads of towels going in the laundry room.  By 9am, those were finished, and I was giving thought to the grocery shopping.  It took me a couple of hours to get the gumption up to go do that, however, as my brain simply wasn't interested in doing anything... I was awake, but it was still craving sleep.  So off to the grocery store I went.

That took me a good half-hour or so, horrified by the incredible number of people there.  I got back to Pond Central, then I was reminded that I'm getting old and my knees are made of jello and razor blades as I took my shopping up the stairs.  I then puttered around the interwebz for another hour or so until my body said "no more, must sleep."  So I did, a glorious five hour nap.  Once awake, I gathered up my clothes and took them down to the laundry room... another three loads and two hours.  Which brings us to right now, more or less, with the temperature dropping like a rock and the wind blowing like the precursor to a hurricane.

I remember when Saturday nights were fun.  I kinda miss those days.

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Classes start next week.  I'm a little worn out already, and I'm barely spending any time on the sales floor.  You'd think I'd be nice and relaxed, and to that, I'd say that you don't really know me at all.  Under stress I tend to get a little twitchy, and twitchy means tired.  As a result, my plans for tonight are simple... have some pizza, watch a little TV, then get to work on the Ep02 writeup for Vividred Operation.  Or take a nap after dinner, one of the two.

Here's a girl dressed as a penguin.

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The Ep01 writeup for Vividred Operation is nearly done, but I've GOT to get some sleep.  It will go up Wednesday evening, I swear upon a plushyferret!

Now I go to bed.

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So there I was, in my office at the Duck U Bookstore and I really should take a picture of it and show y'all, if for no other reason than the entertainment value inherent with what my office looks like; I'm sure you think it's some sort of swank place with velour and velvet and high-end mahogany and a cigar humidor with a built-in wine cellar because what else would the office of a bookstore manager look like?  You're forgetting the huge floor-to-ceiling ferns disguising the door to my private room with the velvet Elvises, or would that be Elvii?  Anyway, two of those, the bar, and all the rye bread anybody can eat, and I go in there and hide when things get crazy (I'm in there a lot) and weep softly to myself as LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" plays over the hi-fi and I try to regain my morale to face the world again and did I just say all that out loud?

Anyway, so there I was in my office at the Duck U Bookstore, doing paperwork like it was going out of style... didn't they say that computers were going to cut down on paper?... when I realized two things: one, that I kept looking at the opening to the private room, and two, I was ridiculously hungry.  But not for just anything, oh no... I had a craving, a veritable need, for two foodstuffs: macaroni and cheese, and peas.  Not mixed together.  Separately: a bowlful of mac&cheese, and a bowlful of peas.

Oh sure, you're amused now, but in an hour, when you start to realize that you've gotta have some elbow pasta and cheddar, and little green spheroids of flavor, you'll realize that I'm not insane.  Okay, yes, yes I am, but not because I had a craving for that.  Anyway, I had that for dinner tonight... I had no choice... and oh my but it was tasty.  Tasty tasty tasty.  Om nom nom.  It wasn't as good as the Infamous Yellow Meal^© but it was pretty close.  And now I don't have the incredible longing for mac&cheese and peas anymore, so that's a great thing indeed.  Nice thing about food cravings, they go away pretty quickly after you eat it.

Um.  Did I just do that?  What's wrong with me?  I tell ya, give a duck a blog and all heck breaks loose.

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COOL:

This was the debut run of the 2012 Toyota TS030 Hybrid LeMans Prototype (LMP1).  If you don't have the volume turned on, you're missing the "cool" bit.  In case you're wondering what's going on, the car begins in electric-motor mode before the V8 engine kicks in... which then sounds like the car is going into hyperspace.  Baby!  If the Prius sounded like that, I'd buy one.

FUNNY:

I've posted a lower-quality version of this before, but I recently found this cleaner and longer clip of the 2001 "control tire" incident in the Australian V8Supercar series.  A simplistic description of V8S would be "Aussie NASCAR, but on road courses."  I love it; if I had to blog about a race series, but couldn't do F1, I'd probably do V8S.

WEIRD:

The first race I ever did extensive blogging for, the 2005 USGP, is known for only having six cars start.  I've spoken of that moment on here before, but never shown it.  Well, here it is, in all its gory glory.  If you're not sure what's going on, read the link.  It'll give you at least a minimum of understanding.

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So 2012 saunters its way into the annals of history, leaving 314 posts here at The Pond behind.  It's been a busy year, but has it been a good one?  Let's take a look, shall we?

There's been two big events on the personal front.  Back in February, I was promoted to run the Duck U Bookstore.  The financial boost of that was huge, but the added stress made it difficult for the other event to occur.  In December, I hit the one year point of my ongoing struggle against smoking.  There were other things, of course, but those were the big ones.  Oh, and I played a lot of Skyrim.

In the world of anime, this year started with the long-awaited release of... a game?  Not just any game, but Katawa Shoujo, a visual novel made by amateurs that beat the odds and turned out to be pretty darn good.  I'm doing one major episodic writeup of a series every year, and 2012's turned out to be the zombie romp High School Of The Dead.  While the writeup might not have been quite as fun as 2011's Rio Rainbow Gate!, that's merely because HSotD was a better show, and therefore not as easy to make fun of.  Here's the link to the first writeup, then Ep02, Ep03, Ep04, Ep05, Ep06, Ep07, Ep08, Ep09, Ep10, Ep11, and the finale.  Except, god help us, there was a truly atrocious OVA as well.  Showing more intestinal fortitude than I expected from myself, I finished it up, then barely blogged about anime again... until I started another series!  This time, the foodfighting anime Ben-To was the lucky recipient of my writeup blessings.  It's been slow going, just because life keeps getting in the way, but here's the first episode writeup, then Ep02, Ep03 and Ep04.  The 10th anniversary of the broadcast of my favorite anime, Azumanga Daioh, came and went without mention by anybody but me. 

This season was the longest in Formula 1 history, which meant there was an awful lot of blogginating involved.  The first seven races saw seven different winners: Jenson Button, HWMNBN, Nico Rosberg, Seb Vettel, Pastor Maldonado, Mark Webber, and Lewis Hamilton.  When HWMNBN became the first two-time winner of the season, he took a big lead in the Driver's Championship, one that was slowly whittled away over the rest of the season; Seb Vettel won his third championship in a row at Brazil, but only by three points.  Along the way, we saw Kimi Raikkonen win at Abu Dhabi after having been retired from the sport for three years.  We also saw the return of F1 to America, with the United States Grand Prix in Austin.  Unsurprisingly, I was somewhat excited by this and covered it heavily.  Just in that week, there was the F1 on SPEED! entry, 1st Practice Liveblogging, P2 not-Liveblogged, P3 Liveblogged, and I semi-liveblogged Quals, all above and beyond the race itself.  Then the swag arrived, courtesy of the head of Duck U food services who worked the race.  The final race turned out to be the final time we'd see a number of things, Slappy Schumacher amongst them.  Really, it was a great season, the only disappointment being that Seb Vettel won the championship.  With seven winners in seven races, it seriously looked like we have four or five legit contenders... and in the end all we got was more of the same.

Finally, the Military History category got a small amount of good writing, and a bunch of Mystery Ships.  The fifth installment of the What If...? concept looked at the potential effects of an attack on the Gatun Locks by the Japanese.  I introduced my readers to The Shelf, and a comment by reader CXT led directly to me acquiring the ne plus ultra of military reference books.  Midway Day came and went, and just a few days ago I delved down into WWI for an article on the SMS Seeadler.

Not a bad year.  Thanks go out to everybody who has decided to spend some time here at The Pond; without you, this place wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun.  Now let's all put on silly hats and bring in 2013!

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It's three-thirty in the morning and I can't go back to sleep.  I woke up about a half-hour ago, a nightmare still fresh in my mind... and it was a very discouraging nightmare it was indeed.

I was sitting at my desk in the back room of the Duck U Bookstore, doing something involving paperwork and computers.  This is also known as "80% of my job", by the way.  So there I was, and it was clearly before the store opened.  This makes sense, as that's the situation we've had this week with our noon-to-four holiday schedule, and I've been going in at 10am.  Anyway, I'm sitting at my desk, shuffling woodpulp and electrons, alone in the store... and someone says "hello?  Hello?"  I poke my head around the dividing wall, and...

...there's a guy standing there with his son.  He's clearly just dropped off a number of boxes, like he's FedEx or something, Of course, I'm wondering just what in the world he's doing in the store, since the lights are all off, the store is closed and won't be open for a couple of hours.  "Delivering those boxes, and the key is in the door."  Hearing this, I reach down for the carabiner keychain I always carry on my beltloop when I'm at the Duck U Bookstore, and...

...it's not there.  I look, and it's in the big sliding glass door, and I have no idea how long it's been there.  And that's when I woke up, terrified and sweating and swearing.  *shaking head*  I'm glad I've got the next four days off for the New Years holiday... work dreams are never a good sign.

But now I'm awake at three-fifty-one on a Saturday morning, and knowing myself, I won't be able to go back to sleep for a while.  This is the point where I lean back, give a deep sorrowful sigh, and do something like read a book or whatever, so I'm going to do that, I think.  Here's a Skyrim cow to keep you busy for a while.

There's something about this picture that makes me laugh... or, at this moment, give a small tired smile because it's 401am and it's too darn early for me to laugh out loud.  Yes, it's nearly bisected by a fence, but that's not the "something".  I think it's more the look on its face.  I'm talking about the look on a digital cow's face at four-twenty-seven in the morning.  I really need to be back in bed.  I'm gonna give that a shot.

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Hello, everybody!  DJ Wonderduck has returned with a special holiday-themed edition of the world's famous SATURDAY NIGHT TUNAGE!

Okay, locally famous.  Locally known?  Not despised within the confines of this blog?  Whatever.  It's a whole post of the few Christmas tunes I can stand to hear after having to hear them over and Over and OVER at the Duck U Bookstore... and no schmaltz, either!  Let's get right into the musicing!

more...

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As the long-time readers amongst you may remember, a year ago today I had a tooth pulled.  The extraction was nice and easy, it was the recovery that didn't go all that well.  "Great, Wonderduck," I hear you saying which is weird since I'm alone in Pond Central, "but what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?"  Which is approximately 1.5 yuan/gram, by the way.

Well, nothing.  Except tangentially, because something else happened one year ago today.  One year ago today was the last time I had a cigarette.  It was surprisingly easy to quit, to be honest.  It only took about six months for the urge to kill everybody I laid eyes on to fade.

However, this past Friday afternoon proved to be the toughest test of my anti-smoking resolve, and it happened completely by accident.  I was just standing outside the Duck U Bookstore, enjoying the crisp and cool December air, when one of my friends joined me.  We discussed football, as we always do, and she casually lit up a smoke.

Oh my, but it smelled goooooooooood.  So good, in fact, I had to leave immediately.  For a half-hour or so, it took everything I had NOT to go back outside and light one up myself... the worst urge I've had in months.  But I didn't.  It was close, but I didn't.  Yay me.

One year down, the rest of my life to go.

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1

I stopped drinking 20 years ago, and I still get the urge every now and then.

But staying dry is an achiement, and the longer I go, the bigger it is. It would be a huge thing to throw away, and that helps me. "If I drink tonight, I'll throw away 20 years of discipline, and I don't want to waste that."

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 08, 2012 08:06 PM (+rSRq)

2 We are proud of you and do not ever again want to see this...

Posted by: brickmuppet at December 08, 2012 08:10 PM (vp6an)

3 Just remember, you're the one in control! KEep it up!

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at December 08, 2012 08:30 PM (i2U3b)

4 Out of curiosity, what's the source for the second image?

Posted by: Mauser at December 10, 2012 04:01 AM (cZPoz)

5 Black Lagoon, I think somewhere in the second season.

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 10, 2012 07:10 AM (LbiZL)

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After 91 years of insane time signatures, legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck took five today.

He wasn't the first jazz artist I was a fan of.  Heck, he wasn't even the second or third, and to be honest, while I loved "Take Five", both the single and the album, I thought he was a gimmick.  "Oh, hey, watch me play songs in a completely bizarre time that nobody other than beatniks and jazz critics can comprehend."

If you needed proof that I was an idiot when I was young, too, there you go.  Yeah, he could follow beats that would make strong musicians weak and weak musicians want to be somewhere else in a hurry, but on top of that was always a masterful melody.

It's hard to believe that "Take Five" hit #25 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1961.  Times have changed so much... musical talent isn't much appreciated anymore.  But I'll tell you this: guitar god Chet Atkins decided to take a shot at the song and declared it the most difficult piece of music he'd ever played.

...and the most entertaining. 

Dave Brubeck.  He was an artist, a pioneer.

He'll be missed.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I have an ick.  I've had this particular ick since last Thursday, and it just will not go away.  It's the worst type of ick, in that it's a non-specific ick which just makes me feel icky.  Gatorade is my friend right now, that and generic tylenol.  About half of the building the Duck U Bookstore has the same non-specific ick, and is probably about to start a round of ping-pong with the other half.  Just in time for Finals week to begin in a few days, and you know what that means!  If it's Finals week, that means it's BUYBACK WEEK AT THE DUCK U BOOKSTORE YAYYYYYYYY!

Posting might be a little bit light for a while whilst I deickify myself.

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There are times where I'll just get remarkably lucky when I point my camera at things.  Like this:

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Yesterday, as I took a break at the Duck U Bookstore, I happened to glance at a copy of the local newspaper... and promptly my bill hit the floor.  Gathering it up, I read the article again... and felt my feathery heart sink.

For much of the past month or so, there's been a terrible story coming out about a young woman who was murdered and her body dumped in the local river.  Of course, the husband was suspected... they always are... but from what I'd been able to glean, the police didn't have enough proof to file charges.

Well, the other day the police DID charge the young woman's husband with first degree murder.  The newspaper put his picture on the front page... which is why my bill hit the floor.

I knew him.

Heck, I worked with him for a year.  It's been maybe 15 years since I last saw the guy, when I walked out of RadioShanty to take over my bookstore, but I spent plenty of time at work with him before that.  And he was just a regular guy.

To say that I was more than a little weirded out is an understatement.  Still am, truth be told.  15 years changes a person, to be sure... I'm not the same duck I was when I was 29, after all... but one never expects to hear that someone you knew may be a murderer.

Here's something to get that thought out of your head: Nori-chan in a cow suit!

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Steven's back, and he's responding very well to therapy!

What a relief!

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Steven had a stroke the other night.

'Round these here parts, there ain't nobody happy 'bout this.  Get better soonest, Steven!

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I've been playing Skyrim again.  This is my horse, Shadowmere.

As you can tell by the glowing eyes, Shadowmere is kind of a badarse.  I've seen him go head-first into a dragon's breath, come out the other side on fire, and start kicking all sorts of dragon butt.  There's another talent Shadowmere has, however... one that's much more valuable.

more...

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What have we here, thought Mouse as he saw the figure stroll by.  It was a dark night, but there was enough light from the tavern windows to see that the... man?  Woman?... was well-dressed in a foreign style.  Perfect, nobody local will miss... him, Mouse decided as he slipped away from the tavern and through the shadows.  Mouse wasn't the best thief in the world, but he was plenty good.  Good enough to take this guy without having to work hard.  He's not even paying attention... well, his loss is my gain, he said to himself.  He had given himself the nickname "Mouse" a long time ago, because his mother had thought that "Marei" was a nice name for a boy.  That he could scurry through the darkness like an small rodent helped with the nickname, too.  He'd made a good living taking pouches and wallets in the Dark Quarter of the City, and often enough further up The Hill too.  That's where he got the blade he now loosened in its scabbard, the blade that his appraiser friend told him was part skymetal.  Not the whole thing, but from the point maybe an inch down was coaxed out of a rock that fell from where the stars were.  Mouse supposed his friend was telling the truth; he'd offered 200 gold and a Forestling Knife in exchange, after all.  Two hundred would have made for a good month or two, Mouse smiled, or one helluva weekend. 

Mouse had worked his way down an alley and gotten past the foreigner now, and taken position in a dark alcove.  He's totally lost in his own world.  Maybe a scholar?  They're supposed to be absent-minded, snickered Mouse.  I'll be teaching him a lesson in a moment.  He pulled the knife out and waited for the scholar to walk by, all the while holding his breath.  A moment later, he struck, the knife easily slipping through the expensive-looking robe and into the heart underneath.  This surprised Mouse not at all.  On those fortunately uncommon times he'd had to fight his way out of a blown heist, the skymetal blade had shown that it could punch through steel armor as easily as it could slice cheese.  Even that Darneshhi cheese, the one with the chewy crust-like thing on it, that'd be tasty for dinner... maybe Scholar here will have a purse big enough.  Hey, did it get warm all of a sud...  Mouse's skeleton flared brightly, incinerating him from the inside-out as the skymetal blade turned a glowing white before it, too, disappeared from the searing heat.

Ow, that hurt, crossed the mind of the well-dressed mage.  More than it did the last time someone snuck up on me, come to think of it... magic blade, maybe?  The damaged flesh does seem to be knitting back together a little slower than normal... well, no matter.   Where was I?  The mage continued his nightly stroll.  He was sure S'nleen would berate him for not paying better attention to his surroundings, but when he got to thinking like that ...and what thoughts they were.  Where does magic come from, anyway?  Every wizard, spellcaster, parlor mage or farmer with a nasty disposition towards rats thought the question at least once in their lives, but I might actually be able to find the answer.

The night's walk lasted a very long time.

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Inventory is over and done with.  While we won't know the official numbers for about two weeks, preliminary reports are that it didn't suck.

My regular irregular blogginating will resume Thursday.  More or less.

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While the American people go forth and vote for their choice of either a head of cabbage or a... head of cabbage, something truly important occurred today... to whit:

That's the DuckMobile's odometer at roughly 6pm this evening.  A 1996 Toyota Camry with 111111 miles on it?  Heck, I'm going to have to drive a stake through its engine block and bury it at a cloverleaf interchange to see it go away.

Okay everybody, go back to watching the news to see which head of cabbage wins.

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