Well, I have to work Monday through Friday. But the schools we work with were all off on Monday. Evidently CEC, does not care to observe Martin Luther King's birthday. Usually what happens is the school send us information late in the day that we process the next morning. But because of the holiday, I am out of stuff and I've been here for less than 3 hours. So a few things on my working, yet bored, mind.
1) Snow is great when you don't have to drive through it.
2) Trader Joe's Orange flavored chicken (the kind you would get at Panda Express) is great, especially with some hot sauce sprinkled on top.
3) You know those little red chili peppers that are used in Kung Pao dishes? Make sure you have plenty of bread or milk when you eat one. I had a Kung Pao shrimp with rice stir-fry last night and it had a lot of those chilies in it. I think I burned 50 tastebuds right off my tongue.
4) After being gone for almost 2 weeks, Mom wants to go to San Diego for a week before she finally goes back to work. She won't be able to vacation for a year so she's doing what she can. The problem is she won't take Hogan this time like she did when she went to Florida. I love being with him, but he's just so much happier with Mom. Besides, I work 10 hours a day, it's hard for me to give him the time he wants, needs, and deserves. We'll see what happens.
5) This has me annoyed. At work, the group of SBI processors (15-20 of us) that I'm in apparently had a great year in terms of wiping out our debt and allocating money where it should be. That's the easy way to put it. So the VP of Finance of CEC wants to take us out for lunch. That's the good news. The bad news? We're going to Jersey's in Hoffman Estates, a pizza/bar and grill type place. I went there once. It was sad. We got a pizza with sausage and some veggies on it. Now we knew this would like be a Chicago thin crust pizza, which I've said a lot of negative things about before. But the flavor of this one was brutal. It was a little overcooked, the meat had no flavor, the crust was forgettable, the sauce was just tomatoes, little seasoning, there was nothing to savor.
And the best part? We asked them to cut the pizza like a pie or a deep dish, you know 8 slices. The server (and I'm not blaming her at all) comes back and said the kitchen staff won't do it. They don't have the capability. How can you have the ability to cut a pizza in little dinky squares, but no slices. The blade still covers the same amount of space. So looking to Thursday, at least it's free.
6) I'm moving on. Quite Frankly with Stephen A Smith has been cancelled from ESPN2 due to low ratings. I knew it wouldn't last. SAS is aggravating to some, and I understand that. There are sometimes I am really mad at him, particularly when he extols Mr. Overrated, Tom Brady. But at least he's honest and has no fear. He'll still be on ESPN radio in New York so I'll have to settle for that from now on. And remember, it's his house, but you welcome any time.
7) Wildfire has the most amazing carrot cake I have ever had. The cakes is round, warm, and soft, and the frosting tastes like the icing you would get on a gourmet cinnamon roll.
8) I'm ready for the weather to warm up so I can play some disc golf again!
9) It would be awesome if the Presidential election came down to Obama vs. Giuliani.
10) Now here's what I want to get into. A student who attended Columbine High School when the infamous school shootings happened in 1999 has made a video game called Super Columbine Massacre RPG. It was going to be debuted at an upcoming video game festival in Utah, but recently got pulled due to sensitivity issues. Here's what happens in this internet-based game. Players take the place of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 13 people and themselves. The tagline, if you can believe this, is "How many people they kill is ultimately up to you." Now I'm quoting this from wikipedia about how the game works.
"After the bombs fail to explode as planned, Harris and Klebold decide to go into the school and murder as many people as they can. The player is armed with a Tec-9, two shotguns, a carbine rifle, and many other bombs and weapons: the same weapons the shooters had at the school in the actual event. Their "enemies" are only named as stereotypes or occupations, such as "Preppy girl", "Janitor", "Math teacher", and "Jock", among others.
The player decides whether or not to kill, while making his way from the school cafeteria to the library. Eventually, after the police arrive, Harris and Klebold commit suicide. The actual grisly security photographs of the shooters' bodies are shown, followed by a montage of crime scene and newspaper photographs; finally, family photographs of Klebold and Harris from early childhood to high school are shown.
The game begins its second part at this point, with the player taking control of Klebold alone, as he finds himself in hell. Unlike the first half of the game, this segment departs from historical accounts, as the player makes his way through Hell while combating demons and monsters from the computer game "Doom." After reuniting with Harris, the two joyfully proclaim their excitement at the prospect of living out their favorite video game.
The game's creator, Danny Ledonne, said 'I had the same kinds of issues in high school that the two shooters did and I just dealt with it differently, fortunately.' "
Oh I see. So this guy is fighting emotional issues and being bullied and his response is to turn a tragedy, a massacre, of young adults, and their supposed descent to hell, into a game? And don't tell me about freedom of speech. I know he can do what he wants to in his own time. That's his life, he can live it how he wants to.
But who in their right mind would play a game where you can step into the shoes of two teens who murdered over a dozen of their classmates, wounded 24 more (many more would have died if the bombs they planted in the cafeteria had exploded), and then killed themselves? Then see them battle demons from another video game in the setting of hell? Who would do that? Well, the game has been out for a year now and has been downloaded roughly 40,000 times. Apparently, the youth of American has too much time on his hands. And it's not a video game thing with me, I play them a few times a week (though it's mostly golf and football). But I'm very uneasy reading about someone turning this event into a game that's supposed to be all innocent and fun. Move on, yes. You have to move on. But tell me how making a game like this supposed to give you peace of mind. I'd like to know.
And I'm sure the Columbine movie will be getting released in the next few years...
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