A Look Back At the November That Was...

I promised you updates a while back and let it not be said that I'm a liar…at least about this. We have plenty to talk about, so we'd better get started.

I hope all of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and that none of you were arrested in a fight at a big box store trying to buy presents. It seems like it defeats the spirit of the holidays…but hey, what do I know?

First of all, my absence can be easily explained. No, it wasn't because of my new computer…but we'll get back to that, I assure you. I was doing National Novel Writing Month in November. For those of you who don't know what that is, NaNoWriMo is a program through which you pledge to write 50,000 words on a brand new novel in a month. I successfully made my quota, which breaks down to 1666 words a day, and can declare myself a winner. My beloved also won. 

Congratulations to everyone who finished! It's a challenge but it's worth it. The point is to get you writing; you can't edit anything you've written, so you're just supposed to sit down and write without judging. Sure, some of it's going to be shit, but some will be great. 

I decided to try this a few years back to fight against my Saturn vs. Neptune opposition, and let me tell you that it really works. When no one is seeing it and you can just write without judgment, you can just let it flow. I encourage everyone to give it a try. 

OK, so that explains my absence. Now on to other matters. Mercury retrograde wasn't pleasant this time around for me, but it wasn't truly horrific. A number of my friends were not as lucky; one Gemini guy I know who didn't know about astrology decided he believes in it now. There was just too much Mercury fuckery for him. I hope you made it through OK. You've got another few months before we do it again; that's right, we're back at it on January 21. I know you can't wait…admit it. 

After getting the gift card via email and not regular mail from Apple, I ordered the new computer. It came in on November 12 and I took the chance of doing an installation of new software during the storm as it was getting back up to full speed. I was fortunate and everything is perfect. I'm typing on it now and IT IS AWESOME. I will never go back to a PC. 

I spent several hours today playing games that kept crashing on my old machine due to the graphics problems. One of my favorites, Civilization, had a new expansion pack and with my totally tricked out machine it handled the game easily. I even increased the graphics quite a bit and it's gorgeous. 

Civilization is a game that has been around since 1990 and Jen and I learned to play it going to college together. This version is AMAZING and is light years ahead of where it was, but it's still addictive. You start with a settler unit and build a city, and through it you build an entire empire. Is it as complex as it sounds? Absolutely. But for a guy like me, it's perfect. 

I spent this afternoon learning the new wrinkles. I played as King Kamehaha and the Polynesians, which was a new civilization for me to try out, and managed to play into the 1700s before I decided I wasn't winning. I tried too late to bring religion into my civilization, and while I did found Judaism, the Egyptians converted all my cities to Islam before I even tried it, so it was pretty much a lost cause. D'OH!

You can pick which religion you'd like to find. While Wicca was not among them, you'll be happy to know that there were 20 religions to pick from, many more than the five in the last version. 

NOTE TO SELF: If you're going to found a new religion, do it early in the game and use it to your advantage. 

And before I start getting hate mail asking about Pele, my little girl is fine. She's been out of her cone for about two weeks, and the spay operation went just fine. The scar is even gone now. The world doesn't need more kittens, but she'd have made some beautiful ones. Just sayin'. She's even faster than before and purrs like crazy pretty much constantly. I'm so lucky to have her. Jen did a great job with her; she got up at night to take care of Pele and let me sleep. That woman is amazing, let me tell you. :)

Anyway, I promise to blog more again soon with more information. Things just keep happening, folks, and we've got another Venus retrograde coming on Yule. Stay tuned for that one; nothing like Venus fuckery over the holidaze!