I now find myself once again, one day away from my (mostly) yearly traditional week after Thanksgiving vacation. A week I dedicate to doing all the things I like to do, but don't have the time to do throughout the year. I'll stay up all night again, I'll watch lots of anime, I'll play lots of video games, I might do some work on my web sites, and this year I'll get to do something new on my Thanksgiving vacation - play with my kid.

That's right. For those of you who have been reading my 3 blog entries over the past couple of years (in between stages of WordPress not working after moving meeko.org to new servers), and have been eagerly awaiting my next entry, wondering just what's going on with me - now you know why there was nothing mentioned about my vacation last year. Because there was no vacation last year. Because last November (2006), I became the proud father of my first child - a baby boy.

So my vacation had to skip a year, but that's fine. I've had more fun in this year with him than I ever could have imagined. It's been such an experience watching him grow over this year - watching him learn to roll over, to sit up, to crawl, to stand up, to taking his first steps. Watching him smile and laugh and play is better than the fun any video game can provide - so I really don't mind missing out on my vacation last year because the experience I've had with him has way more than made up for it.

But, getting back to now. Let's not kid ourselves - I'm still a nerd at heart. A video game and anime nerd. A night owl video game and anime nerd. And this vacation that starts tomorrow is my time to myself. My time to stay up until 6:00 AM every night, and sleep till 3 in the afternoon. And what will I be doing all during those nights? Well, I'm currently playing 3 video games, all handhelds. I'm playing Children of Mana for the DS, which I'm pretty much ready for the last mission. I'm just levelling up for the fun of it now, so I can use the strongest equipment. I'm also playing Final Fantasy II for the GBA. I decided earlier this year I'd like to re-play all the Final Fantasies from 1-6 in order. I already have all the games for the GBA (except III, which is for the DS), so its just a matter of playing them all now. It's been so long since I originally played FF2, so I don't know how far in I am. I just got the black and the white masks, and am hanging around Mysidia, for those who are familiar with the game. And finally, I'm playing Popolocrois for the PSP, which although I've only got about 20 something hours on the game, I've literally been playing it for close to 2 years. Every once in awhile, I just decide I'm finally going to finish it, and I get a few hours of play time on it and then just stop - and don't play for months at a time. Well, this week I'm really going to finally finish it.

I also may decide to start Grandia III for the PS2. It's been over a year since I've played a PS2 game, the last one was Final Fantasy X-2, so it would be nice to get some multi-hour playing sessions back in. I *loved* Grandia I for the PS1, and even though it was buggy as hell, Grandia II for the PS2 was also pretty fun. I'm also one of the few people who loved Grandia Xtreme for the PS2. I just love the battle system on the Grandia games, so I hope I'm not disappointed with Grandia III. I don't think I will be.

I'll also be sure to watch plenty of anime. I'm currently watching the series Mahoromatic, I'm 3 episodes in. It's much better than the last series I watched, Rozen Maiden. After watching the entire series, I still have no idea what the hell that show was about. All I know is it was something about dolls. I think. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for it. Anyway, I'll probably finish that series and then decide what I want to watch next.

So there you have it. After a year off, I finally will begin my traditional after Thanksgiving vacation tomorrow. While everyone else is off at work, I'll be inside all week drinking coffee, watching cartoons, and playing video games. And playing with my boy. And just like I wrote 2 years ago, all will be right in my world. But this time, it will be for more than just a few days.

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As has become a yearly ritual for me, every Thanksgiving I take the following week off of work. We already get the Thursday and Friday off, so that comes to a total of 11 straight days off of work. And what do I do with that time? Do I use it for educational purposes? To better my life? To better society? To make an impact? To do something useful? To make a difference? In a word: hell no! I use it to give a heartfelt "screw you" to society's general rules for well behaved adults. I do everything I would like to be doing, if I didn't have to play alongside in a world that's totally out of synch with my natural rhythm. I go to bed at 7:00 AM, I wake up at 4:00 PM, I down a half a pot of coffee at 10:00 PM (my heart can't take an entire pot of coffee anymore; damn my 29 year old aging body), I stay up the entire night watching lots of anime and playing lots of video games, and then I do it again. And again. And again. And again. I do it until my body says to me, "Wow, you're finally letting me live! I'm free to be myself! No more of this waking up at 8:00 AM? No more having to listen to people complain because you don't do the same things they do? 8 hour video game sessions are the norm now? A couple hours of sunlight a day is all there is? This is awesome! Thanks, dude! I love you!"

And then its over. I have to tell my body, "Well, I hope you enjoyed it. We'll do it all again next year. Time to get back out into the world and deal with people. Time to pretend to be semi-normal. Because people aren't like this. People like to wake up early and go out and conquer the world! They like to go to lunch at noon, socialize, talk on their cell phones, drive their SUVs, talk about what happened on American Idol last night, take their kids to soccer practice, go to fancy dinners, buy fancy clothes (after all, you wouldn't want to look different than everyone else), drink Starbucks, do yardwork, clean, have cookouts, invite the neighbors over, visit relatives, redo the kitchen, go to the supermarket, go to the mall, hang out, talk with friends, talk with strangers, intermingle, and just generally 'get along well with others'." And people don't like it when you don't do those things. You aren't normal. You have problems, and need help. After all, how could you possibly enjoy life if you aren't doing those things? It's for your own good.

Well, they can do what they want. They can say what they want. They can think what they want. And why? Because I know in my mind that Thanksgiving will come around again next year. And while everyone else is out 'getting along well with others', I'll be getting along just fine with myself. And to me, there's no greater joy than getting along fine with yourself. Call it selfish if you want, but you are the only person you are ever guaranteed to have to spend your entire life with, so you'd better learn to get along with yourself. And while I'm off enjoying myself on my own personal vacation, you know what other people will think? Absolutely nothing. No one will care one bit. And that's a very beautiful thing. The world will be oblivious to me. And I will be oblivious to the world. And for just a few days, all will be right in my world.

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First it was the hurricane (and the following floods) that killed thousands of people, and pretty much destroyed New Orleans, and other areas in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Watching the news footage of that really made me feel sorry for all those people. I can't fathom the devastation they have experienced, and the years it will take them to get their lives together.

Then on top of that, I received news that a good friend of mine, Tracy Fein, was killed in a car accident on August 27th, just 6 days after her 22nd birthday. Those of you who visit my The Little Mermaid page will recognize the name. She is the one who got me my personalized Meeko autograph from Jodi Benson. I still can't believe it happened, it was a huge shock. I will miss her.

So this week, my heart hasn't really been into it. I haven't been able to get a lot of sleep (even less than normal, which for me isn't much anyway), and I've been feeling slow and groggy at work. I hope this week is better, I don't really see how it could be much worse.

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So how should I start? I guess I'll start by telling a brief bit about myself, and what you're likely to read here in the future.

I am 29 years old, and I work as a computer programmer. Some of the activities I enjoy most are anime, video games, writing, and bowling. I'm in a 32 week bowling league that happens to be off right now (it starts back in September), so I'll be able to give updates on how I'm doing once that starts. I'm sure you can't wait.

I am probably what one might conservatively call a 'quirky' individual. I'm also very observative. When I am in public places (which I try to do as little as possible), I am always watching and studying other people's behaviors and how they interact with each other. Many patterns and activities I have noticed annoy me quite considerably, which you will read about in my category I have labelled "Gripe Central" (until I come up with a better name for it). Since I've never really taken too much time and effort in writing these down, the exercise may also help me understand why some things just get to me like they do. But maybe not. Anyway, it'll feel good just talking about them.

Another topic I feel passionate about, which I may mention frequently, is anime. I've always been a fan and admirer of animation in general, but recently (since 1997), anime has been my main interest where animation is concerned. So I may from time to time offer mini reviews of whatever I happen to be watching at the time. Right now I'm watching Magican Nyan-Nyan Taruto, which I like so far, though I'm only 2 episodes into it. The last show I watched was Someday's Dreamers which I must admit I wasn't too into. It was way too slow and melodramatic for my liking, and it didn't get interesting until the end of the next to last episode. By that time I really didn't care though, and I just wanted it to end so I could get on with the next show.

I'm also a big fan of video games, specifically RPGs. My first video game system was the Atari 2600, which I got when I was about 7 or 8, and I've been playing video games ever since. My first RPG was Dragon Warrior I on the NES, and I was one of the few who stood in line at the toy store the morning Final Fantasy I came out for the NES. Ok, there was no line, it was just me, but I was determined to get my copy even if there was a line. The sad thing is, I wasn't even home at the time it came out, I was in Florida visiting my grandparents and I didn't even have my NES with me to play. It was still going to be another week after I bought it before I could even play it. I must have read that 84 page instruction manual from cover to cover 3 times during that week, which seemed more like a year. Ahh, the good old days. Ahem, so anyway, you will probably see me talk about whatever RPG I happen to be playing at the time. Which right now is La Pucelle Tactics on the PS2 and Pokemon Sapphire on the GBA. Since I don't have time to play nearly as much as I'd like to, it sometimes takes months for me to get through a game, so it may be awhile before I go onto other games.

Lastly, and my biggest reason for starting this blog, is my interest in writing. Writing was my passion for a long time when I was younger. When I was in high school, I would frequently spend entire classes writing stories on paper (when I wasn't writing programs on my TI-85 calculator... yeah pretty nerdy) I wrote a lot until sometime around 1996 when for some reason I just stopped. I kept saying, "I'll get back into it", and I have in small spurts from time to time, but I never really got back into it the way I wanted to. Now, almost 10 years later, I'm making my largest effort to date to get back into my old hobby. I'm hoping that regular blog writing will spark the creative flame that has seemed to fade this past decade. So really what it all boils down to is this blog is really my gateway for creative writing. You may not see some of that for awhile, you'll mostly just see me talk about stuff that's going on, but it has an ulterior motive. I hope you readers don't mind me using you in that way. Hopefully when the creative juices get flowing again, you will enjoy the results.

Ok, that's a good enough intro I think for the first night. You'll learn more about me as time goes on if you read this. If anyone happens to find this, please leave a comment so I know someone is reading. I may feel more encouraged to continue if I know there's an audience there, no matter how small it may be. Enjoy!

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