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Random Update on a sleepless night, 9-2-13


On 09/02/2013 at 01:59 AM by Ranger1

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So here I sit at 1:15 AM, wide awake. I actually crashed early, around 10:30 or so, after finishing my book. It may be a long weekend for some, but I've had to work the whole thing, including tomorrow? today? Whatever. I got woken up by a terrified fifty-five pound dog landing in my midriff, and once I was fully awake, I realized that we're in the middle of a pretty decent thunderstorm. He hates thunderstorms. So does the cat. I love 'em, but spend most of them soothing terrified pets. And now I'm wide awake, and I was sleeping so well, too. One of those really deep, restful sleeps. Oh, well. Maybe later.

Reading: I just finished another book by Cherie Priest called Hellbent. It's the sequel to Bloodshot. I got it in the mail from thriftbooks.com, that site Michael117 told me about on Friday. I like the characters, hope she's working on the next one.

Listening: Not listening to anything new at the moment. I think John Roberts is in the CD player in the car at the moment, but I'm transitioning back to punk, I think. May be a product of it having been a particularly busy August at the park. All I know is that I'm jonesing for some Social D and The Clash.

Playing: Still playing AC2. I so love this game! I spent four hours the other night climbing viewpoints, finding treasures and feathers, and accepting assassination contracts and never touched the main story. I also kept bobbling the Flying Machine segment because I was having too much fun kicking the guards and wasn't paying enough attention to where I was supposed to be going. I was bummed when I finished the segment and found out that the Flying Machine wasn't available for anything other than that one mission.

I'm also playing Last Window: The Secret of Cape West on my DS. It's the sequel to Hotel Dusk, which is one of my favorite DS games. I really like the art style, and I like puzzles, just haven't encountered too many of them yet. It's more of a visual novel with some game play thrown in, but since I love story-driven games, that's not a downside. And before anyone gets all excited, Last Window was never released in North America. I had to import my copy from England. Only game I've ever imported.

Ranger Stuff: The osprey are migrating. There's just one chick left from the whole family on the island. I think it's the one we took care of. He's still hopeful that if he cries long enough, someone will bring him a fish. He's perfectly capable of catching his own, but he's ever hopeful. The snowy egrets are moving through, there were a dozen down by the shore the other night. Six of them flew by within 15 feet of me, all at about eye level. They don't look nearly as ungainly in flight as their larger cousins the great blue herons. I also watched a pair of kingfishers zooming around between the osprey's island and the marsh stairs where I was standing. My favorite find this past week though was a small hermit crab. I'll post the video later when I've uploaded it to youtube.

Along with the wildlife, I've also been dealing with people. Most people are very nice, some cause you to question who let them out on a day pass. Had a family that just did not understand the whole concept of tides at all. I could see if they had been from the Midwest, but they were from New Jersey. I don't think any part of that state is terribly far from the ocean...

Well, the thunder seems to have abated and the dog has stopped shivering violently, so maybe I'll mosey back to bed now. Happy reading.


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

09/02/2013 at 02:34 AM

Oh man, I hate losing that good kind of sleep. I love sleeping during thunderstorms, too, so calming. I haven't gotten much sleep or decent food this entire week; training has been extremely time-consuming.

It's fitting that someone named Priest is writing a book called Hellbent. What's the series about? And thanks for the tip about thriftbooks.com, I remember Michael117 mentioning it. I actually thought of you when I got a CD from CDBaby in the station's mailbox. I don't think it quite fit our format, but it wasn't bad. It's around my desk somewhere. Or maybe it's in my backpack right this second, and I just forgot.

Speaking of music, The Clash is an excellent choice; I believe we have them for Classic Hits days, and I'd argue they fit both that and alternative.

I should really get on getting a copy of Hotel Dusk and/or Ghost Trick for my DS. Maybe when my finances stabilize a bit. My friend downloaded ACII to his 360 a while ago though, prehaps I should visit more often, under the pretense I have ideas he can use for his thesis.

So cool what you do for a living, I wish I was a bit more of an outdoorsy type sometimes. Sorry to hear about the idiots, but they're outweighed by good people I hope. Happy sleeping! 

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 02:44 AM

And just when I'd drifted off to sleep came thunderstorm #2...

Bloodshot and Hellbent are about a vampire who makes her living as a thief/private detective. She accepts a job from a client who happens to be a fellow vampire, but he's blind. He wants his file from when he was being experimented on (hence the blindness). Along the way, she acquires a "partner" who is an ex-navy SEAL drag queen. Hijinks ensue. I don't normally go for vampire novels, but the characters are really good in this series.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

09/02/2013 at 04:14 AM

AC2 did a great job of making you want to just syncronize one viewpoint. The feeling you got climbing all that way, letting the view sync, and jumping into a bale of hay is so incredible.

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:08 PM

That was my favorite part of the first game, too. It was one of the few things the first game got right, actually.

jgusw

09/02/2013 at 08:40 AM

Hostel Dusk is one of those games I always saw at GameStop, wanted to pick it up, and still hadn't done it yet.  I've wanted to get it so many times that I'm not sure if I already own it or not. Embarassed

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:10 PM

I recommend doing what I do: get a tote for each system and keep an inventory sheet. I actually made a data base, but I'm eventually going to have an inventory sheet with each tote listing the contents. OCD much, you think?

If you do get it, let me know how you like it.

leeradical42

09/02/2013 at 08:59 AM

I love deep sleeps it seems i get so little of them these days and a thunderstorm would be awesome since here in Texas we havent had a real soaking rain sincethe first of July and its been triple digits since then so actually i wouldnt mind being awaken by a thunderstorm and i envy your job i think it would be so cool to be working in nature on a daily basis i mean i know you work hard and all after all being maintenance of a huge park would be overwhelming but the fact that your outdoors in nature is a cool thing.

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:13 PM

We had five, count 'em, FIVE thunderstorms between 1 AM and 7 AM. Every time one would roll through, the pets would repeat their earlier behavior and wake me up. By 6, I was ready to kill them both. And it's been very dry here, too, since June which was the 5th rainiest June on record. And we were still an inch below average rainfall as of midnight. May have made up for that last night, though.

My park isn't that big, only about 250 acres. Pretty easy to maintain, too, as we don't have a ton of equipment like my last park. I have a riding mower, a push mower, a weedwhacker, three chainsaws, and an ancient Kawasaki Mule to take care of. There isn't much mowing or weedwhacking, as we're mostly woods and hiking trails. I spend more time unclogging the three toilets than anything else!

leeradical42

09/02/2013 at 07:29 PM

Oh i can totally relate i am maintenance of five schools 3 elementarys 1 primary and 1 middle school and between all of them unclogging toilets and fixing drinking fountains are my top time killers lol!! but its still cool that you get to work in nature thats one heck of an office lol!!!

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:53 PM

Yes, yes it is. I know how lucky I am. Been doing it for 26 years now.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/02/2013 at 10:15 AM

I love thunderstorms too.  We get them out here in the desert, especially this time of year, if you can believe that. Sometimes there's thunder and lightning, but only a dust storm, no rain. But lately it's been raining, as water has been coming in from the west coast. 

My dogs don't seem to notice the storms, but earlier dogs I had certainly did. 

it's cool that you're enjoying reading so much. I haven't been able to focus on a novel for years now.  I think it's my meds. I used to love reading. I still buy novels though, I just don't read em. 

maybe you can get one of those 2DS's now that they are out and cheap.  There's a bunch of great 3DS games out now.  The 3D is pretty unnecessary, but I do play with it. 

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:21 PM

Yeah, I kinda want a 2DS. It'll have to wait, though, as I only have another four weeks before I'm laid off for the winter. I'm hoping to find a job working for some mom and pop outfit and not a big box store like Target, which is what I did last winter. Not that Target was bad, I just don't have the mindset to work in that kind of environment. LL Bean was worse, I at least felt like Target appreciated me as an employee.

Jonathan Drake

09/02/2013 at 12:29 PM

I hate thunderstorms, only due to the fact that whenever the weather isn't 100%, my city's electricity distribution starts fluctuating and just goes out. 

AC2 biggest flaw: You can't play with the Flying Machine at leisure :(

Ranger1

09/02/2013 at 07:23 PM

I live in the boondocks, so things can be iffy during storms. However, the major electric company here finally got off their butt and did some serious trimming back of the trees near the power lines. Only lost power twice since I moved in December, and one of those times was a major Northeaster that dumped 30 inches of snow on us at one time.

Chris Yarger Community Manager

09/03/2013 at 06:39 AM

Sleep? What's that?

Ranger1

09/03/2013 at 09:59 AM

You have a very small child and another on the way. I could describe it to you, but I don't think you will experience any of it for a very long time...

mothman

09/03/2013 at 08:38 PM

I worked all of my labour day weekend too, but from home, sitting in my office on the laptop from dawn until well past dusk. I knackered right now. I was supposed to work tonight but I decided I needed some downtime before I lose it.

When you said AC2 I'm thinking, "in what part of Animal Crossing do you do assassinations. LOL.

I had a really bad night on Sunday. Woke up about 2:00 AM all clenched and feeling like I wanted to punch something. It took me an hour or so to relax, I have no idea why.

Ranger1

09/04/2013 at 12:39 PM

I thought of that abbreviation after I hit the post live button. I figured people would figure it out, though. And don't skip the down time. It keeps us sane and from waking up at 2:00 AM all clenched and feeling like we want to punch something. Been there, done that, too. That's the really great thing about my job - when I leave, the job stays behind. More or less. I have a tendency to critique trail building, people who don't pay their user fees, litterers, and dog leash law scofflaws... 

mothman

09/05/2013 at 08:36 PM

Yep, I've got over 30 hours of OT under my belt for the last two weeks but the project is moving and everyone is happy so far so that's a buzz. I'm going to take a couple of days off once this dies down.

There is a ton of shit to do at work right now but I'm happy for the first time in years. I actually want to go to work in the morning instead of throwing up when I have to get out of bed.

NSonic79

09/08/2013 at 01:58 AM

I was originally going to see you had that summer moment too but a dog jumping on you might not be the right moment to the summer.

Ranger1

09/09/2013 at 06:37 PM

LOL, no, not so much.

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