As the title states, I just thwarted a very odd home invasion attempt earlier this evening. I had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink when I hear this scratching sound. I turn on the lights to see what it is, and I see a possum trying to bust through one of the two kitchen windows overlooking the back yard which had been left open with only a screen mesh covering them. It wasn't a very large possum, probably about half-grown or so, and was behaving a little bit strangely, not running off when I hit the lights or approached the windows and made a sarcastic remark. Luckily he hadn't gotten through the screen yet, so I simply closed the window, at which point he realized he was busted and scurried off into the backyard. What's even more crazy about this is that I had been playing Sly 2: Band of Thieves when I decided to go to the kitchen. Needless to say this guy was definitely no Sly Cooper! :P

Well, I had a rather interesting day today. I took the day off to attend a Case Management Society of America picnic my mom was invited to at the Oklahoma City Zoo along with my two nephews. Got some pictures on a kodak disposable camera that I hope come out (still don't have a replacement digital yet >.<;) and saw some awesome animals, including a few native species I'd never seen close-up before. At one point, a white-tailed deer buck came right up to the fence and turned his head so I got an awesome profile shot of his head with his budding antlers. Also saw a specimen of one of the rarest of European snakes, Kaznakov's Viper, which is limited to the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Also saw a couple of African Lion cubs they have there, though for cubs they were pretty big; about the size of a medium-breed dog. After we left the zoo, we swung by Little Caesar's & Sonic for dinner and drinks & dessert, respectively. I ended up getting a minor sunburn out of the deal (it's not hurting yet and I plan to put some aloe gel on it before it does), but all in all it was certainly worth it plus I got a day off work out of the deal as well. Oh, before I forget, I took and passed the written test for my driver's license this past Thursday. Would have taken the driving part too, but they were maxed out on openings and didn't have any available that day, but I can come back to take it any time within 90 days of taking the written. Looks like things are going relatively well for me at present, hope my luck holds!

Just thought I'd make an entry describing how my 28th birthday went. Even though I had to work during my birthday, it still went relatively pleasantly. The day started out after work the day before (1 AM on my birthday, actually) when my mom surprised me with a trip to Ihop after picking me up from work, where she presented me with a Wal-Mart gift card, which I used to purchase 'Sly 2: Band of Thieves' for the PS2 (it's presently being shipped as of this posting). I also recieved a bag of gummy bears from my oldest nephew, and a marble birthday cake with Sonic as he appeared in Sonic Adventure 2. Work went well, we had a relatively light workload that night. I went to a nearby Gamestop and picked up Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus to complete the trilogy (only to find out later that the disk is all messed up, causing the game to freeze and have other frustrating glitches) and treated myself to dinner at a Pizza Hut Bistro in the parking lot during my lunch break, and had an interesting light show on the walk over due to a thunderstorm that passed close by. Once I got home, I found some pecan pralines & cream ice cream in the freezer from my mom, and a Tollhouse chocolate chip sandwich cookie from my sister. I still have a couple bucks or so on my gift card, and am trying to figure out what to use them on.

For those of you who bother to read these, hello once again. For those of you who don't know and have been wondering why I seemingly fell off the face of the earth, my computer suffered a severe crash back in September of last year and wouldn't boot up. After talking with some tech-savvy friends of mine, we thought that a registry file had become corrupted and was preventing it from booting. Simple fix; just pop in the CD-ROM with Windows on it and replace the bad file, right? Well it seems that my computers did not come with such a disk, and since my version of Windows (winXP Media Center Edition) was considered OEM by Microsoft, they wouldn't give me the time of day let alone a disk, and I'd had the computer roughly a year when the crash happened so I didn't even bother trying to contact Sony. Instead, I went with a friend's plan to send me a CD with Windows on it. I figure a few days' to a couple weeks' wait is no big deal, but it turns out the mail route between here and my friend's place is quite unreliable, as it takes several tries and a couple months before the disk makes it, and even then it's only after he sends it priority and takes out insurance on it. So I finally get the disk and think this whole ordeal's finally over, right? Wrong. Turns out the computer's in even worse shape than originally thought, since it won't boot from the disk and is now making a clicking sound on startup which I come to learn indicates that the hard drive is on the brink of a head crash, which of course dashes any hopes I had of recovering data from it. I then am forced to get a whole new hard drive with my tax returns, which I manage to snag for $72. I then get windows installed, only to find that it's winXP Professional Edition, not XP Media Center Edition, and it has some drivers missing, namely the modem and audio drivers, plus my wireless network in my home's also acting up! So I get a flash drive and download the drivers and reset my router & everything's fine, right? Wrong again! Seems I still can't get online on the wireless for some reason, and the dialup is insanely unstable. I put up with this for a couple weeks, then finally today I figure out that what was happening with the wireless is that the Windows networking software was conflicting with the network adaptor's software over the connection, basically like two people trying to go down a narrow hallway at the same time; not gonna happen. I finally get that sorted out and now I'm finally fully back online. The past few months haven't been all bad news though; I got a job unloading trucks at the local Wal-Mart back in October, and I've been losing an insane amount of weight just from working there. I went from 290+ pounds when I started to 243 pounds as of this posting, and from a XXL 50" waistband to an XL 43" waistband. All this just from hefting and lugging around boxes, no fancy diets or pills or any of that stuff. I'm hoping to get down to around 200 pounds or so within the year. I've also found and set up a working VHS player in my room, so now I can watch both my DVD's and my old VHS tapes. I also used my tax returns to buy a PS2 and got Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves as my first game, which I've already beaten the story mode on. Well, that's all for now, see you all later and take care.

Well I've finally joined the rest of the 21st century, and have upgraded to broadband (cable) internet and HDTV service, and I'm loving both of them. I've recently gotten on Second Life, and aside from the lag, it's pretty cool. If anyone wants to look me up there, I'm on as Orca1 Writer.

Well, yesterday marked my 27th year of life, and was celebrated quite enjoyably. Started when I got up at 7 AM and had a couple Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast and recieved some birthday cards from my mom, sister, and my two nephews, as well as my first gift; a 15" LCD monitor to replace my late 90's-vintage 17" CRT monitor which was on its' last legs. Later my mom and sister treated me to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, the fanciest place I've been to aside from Olive Garden. Was a bit overwhelmed by the menu since this was my first time there. I eventually settled on a pizza (spiciest one I've ever had) with some Barq's rootbeer, and had one of thier namesake cheesecakes for desert, which was so rich I had to get a take-home box for it. My sister then took me to Bass Pro Shops, where I spent some time browsing around and looking at some impressive sportfish they had in display in a large aquarium, including a catfish bigger than my 3 year-old nephew. After that, my sister took me on a mini shopping spree at th local Hobby Lobby store where I scored two aircraft model kits; an A-10A Warthog and an F/A-18E Super Hornet, both kits being under $20 each. After that I came home and watched some DVD's on my new monitor, and enjoyed dinner with my family, a special chocolate chip cookie cake being the desert. All in all not a bad day, I'd say.

At 4:52 PM US Central Time, my new nephew, Devon 'DJ' Teet, was born. Even though this is my second time becoming an uncle, it's still an overwhelming experience. I'm actually in tears right now as I write this. Just the sheer joy and pride is indescribeable. He's doing good so far, no complications at this point. I'll have more details as I get them.

At long last, the US launch date for the Nintendo Revolution's finally here. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say it's about frickin' time! Sadly, I had the rotten luck to fall into financial troubles this past week (got overdrawn, apparently), so I won't be able to get in on the launch day euphoria, though there's still Christmas and my birthday this coming March. That and the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM DVD box set are pretty much the only things I want right now, though the latter won't be coming out until late Feb./early March. *starts knocking on a whole forest full of Redwood trees!*

Figured I'd do a couple of these for my two main furry characters, starting with Orca.

1. What is your character's name?
Orca

2. What kind of character is it (furry, anime, etc) and any particular race?
Furry, specifcally a male anthro Orca (aka 'killer whale').

3. What is the first thing your character would think of when he/she first wakes up?
"Those tanks aren't gonna man themselves."

4. Your character's favorite outfit would be?
US Army BDU's or Class A (dress) uniform (he doesn't really like the new ACU uniforms all that much).

5. When your character looks into a mirror, what's the first thing they would notice?
"Damn, my (insert clothing article here) is crooked." *promptly adjusts it*

6. Does your character have the same tastes in food as you?
Pretty much, yeah.

7. How is your character similar to you?
As with many fursonas, he's basically an anthro version of myself, so pretty much when you interact with him, you're interacting with me. He's also my oldest character, dating back to 1998.

8. How is he different?
Well he's enlisted in the US Army for one, although that's a goal I hope to achieve soon. He's also in much better physical shape too.

9. If your character could speak, would they have the same voice as you?
See question #6.

10. If you were to suddenly become your character, what do you think would be the first thing you would do as them?
Probably be like "What the hell?" Then try to hook up with other local furs while trying to avoid being seen and possibly lynched.

11. Is there something about your character that you don't like how others think of them?
Not that I can think to mention here.

12. What advantages does your character have over you?
Well as stated above, he's in better shape than me, plus he has the ability to swim, hold his breath longer, and that built-in sonar all cetaceans have.

13. What disadvantages?
He needs to apply moisturizing cream regularly (at least once a day) or his skin dries out something nasty, especially in arid environments like deserts.

14. Do you have any secrets relating to your character that only you know?
Why should I reveal them if they're supposed to be secrets?

15. Do you have any secret drawings only you know about?
Yes, and no you cannot see them.

16. Do you have any plans for your character or are you working on something big relating to him/her?
Not quite sure presently.

17. What misconception(s), if any, do people have about your character?
That he's a fish. He's been called that so many times I've lost track. For the last friggin' time people, he's a MAMMAL!

18. If there was ONE characteristic you could take from your character, what would it be?
His sonar ability. Not only can it show him things he can't see with his eyes, but if focused enough it can be used as a weapon within a certain range.

19. Have you made any characters that go along with yours, based on real-life people, that have the same traits?
Not really, no.

20. Have you written any stories about your character?
Got one in the works, just need to get off my ass and finish it.

21. How has your character changed since his/her first creation?
He started out as a regular civilian fur, but a few months in I made him into a soldier after getting involved in an RP with some other furs.

22. Give us a one-liner from him.
"Hooah!"

23. What's something people would be surprised to learn about your character?
Even though he's a soldier, he's still a kind, compassionate person.

24. If you met your character in real life, what would you do with him or her?
Maybe go to an airsoft game or a shooting range with him?

I had a rather frightening nightmare today IRL. As a few of you know, I'm working to get in shape so I can enlist in the US Army. In the dream I had today, I was kicked out of basic training. It upset me so much that I actually woke up. Only one other nightmare has upset me that much, namely one where my father (who is suffering from Parkinson's Disease) has a seizure while we're out fishing and when I try to help him, I fall overboard and can't get back aboard the boat to help him.

What's the worst nightmare you've ever had, and was it bad enough to make you wake up?

Just recieved some tragic news this evening. Mr. Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin has been killed. Please visit the following link for the full story.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006.....n1963907.shtml

He leaves behind a wife and two children. May he forever rest in peace.

I usually don't buy into these things, but this time I figured aw what the hell, so here goes:

[A is for age]
26.

[B is for booze of choice]
No, nein, nyet. This Orca is 100% sober. :P

[C is for career of choice]
US Army enlisted, as soon as I get my fat ass in shape.

[D is for your drug of choice]
See the booze question. :P

[E is for one essential item you use everyday]
Cell phone. I swear I use that thing more than land lines these days.

[F is for favorite song at the moment]
Anything from Sonic the Hedgehog games.

[G is for favorite game]
See last question. :P

[H is for Hometown]
Houston, Texas (presently in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma though).

[I is for instruments you play]
Does beating on my computer when it doesn't work count?

[J is for favorite juice]
Orange. Tastes great and keeps the germs away.

[K is for kids]
I have a nephew, does that count?

[L is for last hug]
Mom

[M is for marriage?]
No plans at the moment.

[N is for nickname]
Orca

[O is for number of overnight hospital stays]
Only one I can remember is when I had my tonsels (sp?) taken out as a little kid.

[P is for phobias]
Can't think of any off the top of my head.

[Q is for quote]
"Just because you can't something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

[R is for biggest regret]
No comment.

[S is for singing]
You don't want me singing, trust me.

[T is for time you woke up]
11:55 AM CDT.

[U is for underwear]
Hanes briefs.

[V is for vegetable you love]
Corn

[W is for worst habit]
Procrastination.

[X is for number of x-rays you've got]
Can't remember.

[Y is for yummy food you make]
I usually only cook for myself, and even then it usually involves a microwave.

[Z is for zodiac sign]
Pisces. Fitting, huh?

Had an interesting day today. First off, I got woken up at dawn after having gone to bed at 3 AM to help my sister take out the trash, then got a wake-up call around noon from my 2 year-old nephew who's screaming and bawling his head off because he doesn't want to go down for his mid-day nap. Then later in the evening I decide to take my computer apart to see why the DVD-ROM drive in it won't work. Turns out the idiots at Sony who assembled the thing forgot to connect the DVD-ROM to the hard drive, so when I load a disk it'll spin up but nothing else will happen. As if that wasn't enough, the cord that connects the DVD-ROM, hard drive, and power supply won't reach from the hard drive to the DVD-ROM in the slot the DVD-ROM's in, so I have to move it to another slot. To top it all off, I managed to cut my thumb on a piece of metal that was part of the tower frame. Almost as if the thing was saying "Disembowel me will you? Well take this!" But it's worth it now, because now I can watch DVD's in the privacy of my room in high-definition! :D