(This a response to veni-vidi-vici's opinion piece. Read it first. Then come back. I'm patient. :D )

I'm what many might call a voracious reader: I have a miniature library, and I've read all of the books at least twice. I'm also omnivorous when it comes to books: fantasy, science-fiction, science-fantasy, history, historical fiction... if it's printed, I'll read it. The only thing I steer clear of is trashy romance novels (*suppresses gag reflex*).

When I write, however, I write dark fantasy because I enjoy the genre. A lot of very intelligent books and stories by very spooky talents (H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Brian Hodge, just to name a few of my favorites) have inspired me.

Is it easy to write that styIe, though?

I've been writing in my spare time for over 20 years now, and in that time I've written 3 novel-length stroies (one of which I submitted to Palladium Books) and dozens of stories. The trickiest ones, however, are the horror and dark fantasy ones.

It's a tough tightrope to walk when I set pencil to paper (yes, I'm that old-fashioned... but I use a mechanical pencil :lol: ). "What can I convey and still be believable? What can I reveal, and not reveal, and still deliver a chills-up-the-spine, hair-standing-on-end twist that will make the reader sit bolt upright and supress a scream?"

Most importantly, "How much effort do I have to exert not to sabotage myself with a clever one-liner or pun?"

Because, quite seriously, I gravitate towards the humorous like iron to an eletromagnet. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett are particular favorites, and quoting them at work has made me pretty popular (software can be stressful... breaking the tension is my specialty :D ). Keeping that out of my darker writing keeps me on my toes.

I've experienced pure heart-breaking joy (the birth of my children, the day of our wedding), immense sadness (the death of my younger brother to leukemia) and even fear (car vs. 18-wheeler). Sheer heart-stopping terror? Fighting a vampire? Resisting a paralyzing spell? No... but I try my hardest to convey them in my stories, because it's a challenge.

I have no objection to sunnier movies like the old Disney movies (if I did, 3 kids crushed that in a hurry), but some of the darkest movies can be absolutely hilarious: "Motel Hell" is a personal favorite of mine, and "Robocop" (the original, not the awful sequels) have moments of side-splitting black humor amidst the ultra-violence.

I'm not in any way suggesting that writing comedy is less challenging. What I am saying is that comedy isn't the only challenging genre to write.

CG: "Hi, I'm a console gamer."

PCG: "...and I'm a PC gamer."

CG: "Tell me something, PCG. Why do you bother?"

PCG: "Bother with what?"

CG: "Well, according to reports, PC gaming is dying."

PCG: "Really? What makes them think that?"

CG (looking confused): "Well, um... the article does. PC software is selling less."

PCG: "Read further. The NPD doesn't track MMO subscriptions or digital downloads, does it?"

CG: "It also says it's more expensive."

PCG: "That's because it does more than a console."

CG: "Several consoles do a lot. PS3 has a Blu-Ray player for movies..."

PCG: "...which you can upgrade you PC with..."

CG: "...and they'll play mp3s..."

PCG: "...which your PC will do..."

CG: "Did you know Grand Theft Auto IV is not coming out on the PC? Top that!"

PCG: "Look at the list further on. History says it comes to the PC soon enough."

CG: "I only paid $400 (the cheapest PS3; the least expensive XBox360 is $349, and the Wii is $249).How much does a PC cost these days? Not some barely-functioning model designed for e-mail and the web... a good gaming rig? How much?"

PCG: "If you buy the parts, you build one yourself for less than $1000. Less if you cannibalize your old PC for parts, like monitor or mouse."

CG (smug smile): "I'll bet you still have issues with newer games. Especially at maximum graphics settings."

PCG: "Do you play games just for pretty graphics?"

CG: "No..."

PCG: "Do the real-time shadows give you abilities in a game you don't normally have? Does anti-aliasing add extra armor in a shooter?"

CG: "So you'll sacrifice graphics for better performance? We console gamers don't need to do that!" (smug smile again)

PCG: "Sometimes, you sacrifice more. Supreme Commander is cutting its population cap in half, and eliminating 8-player maps for the XBox360."

CG (looking worried): "But what about other ports? Surely they must be better!"

PCG: "Universe at War has fewer bugs on PC than XBox360."

CG: "OK, now you're just bragging." (pouts)

PCG: "No. I'm simply saying that I enjoy playing my games on a PC. It's not right for all kinds of games... I'll give the consoles that. But I like my PC. I can even play older games on it."

CG (smiling again): "So can I! And I can play them without major incompatibilities! Top that!"

PCG: "How far back?"

CG: "I can play NES, SNES and other older games on my Wii, I can play PS2 games on my PS3 (only the 60GB and 80GB version, though), and many XBox games on my 360 (can't find the source, though)."

PCG: "I can play games I've owned for Windows 95 on XP. I can do the same for many games on Vista. Plus I can configure my PC to run older OSs at the same time as XP (dual-booting). The example I have is XP and Vista, but it can be done with Vista and Win98, too. That gets me all the way into the DOS era."

CG: "You don't get professional DLCs, do you?"

PCG: "I get much more... I can get user-created mods for most games, for free. In fact, I can get entire games for free... legally."

(CG frowns, leaves)

Mac (walks in): "Did I miss something?"

That's where I am right now... in that relaxing space between major projects.

"The Art of (Real-Time) War" is pretty much done. As I mentioned, only game-specific chapters are left, and to be honest, I'm not 100% sure I need them. GameFAQs has plenty of guides for almost every RTS in existence, and the writers are very thorough with their guides. I'll keep pondering some more ideas, but I'm at my limit.

At the moment, I can't even look at the strategy games I have. I am so absolutely burnt-out on strategy, I can't even play Peggle. (I'll let you ponder that one a moment.)

As far as writing... I have a short story in progress for a "for fun" competition. When I finish it, I'll throw a link up... I think you'll enjoy it.

I also snagged a fanfiction.net account and re-posted a story I wrote last year based on Dark Crusade. "One Marine's Battle" was an interesting little story that I really enjoyed writing... I hope you enjoy reading it. :D

I finished reading "Legion," book 7 of the Horus Heresy cycle. All I can say is, "Holy Terra, that was an awesome read." :shock: I refuse to give anything away about it... if you're a 40K fan, you owe it to yourself to read it. Seriously.

My brain needs a serious break from the deep and serious, so I stopped by a near-by used book shop and picked up a $1.50 horror novel (The Unholy by a no-name author who's name escapes me) for something to do. I doubt it's very good, but I have a soft spot for Z-list entertainment (how many people do you know proudly announce ownership of a copy of "Killer Klowns from Outer Space") so it'll keep me amused for a week or so (it's a "snack:" less than 300 pages).

Meanwhile: I seem to recall someone mentioned taking a stab at an "Art of First-Person Shooters" series. Somewhere before I started writing the "AoRTW" series, I mentioned that I was hoping it would spin off into others creating their own guides. DOn't think of it as "ripping me off;" think of it as "inspired by" the guide. :D

That's all I've got for now. Party on, dudes.

(Edit: Fixed the link to the story... apparently, I pointed it to my edit page. *facepalm* )

(Back to Chapter 9)

"Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated." - Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"

In discussing strategy, one one piece of the overall structure has not been explored: you, the player. To master any game, you must first master yourself.

What makes a good real-time strategist? Waht type of player is suited to the genre, and what type isn't? What type of player is suited to victory?

There are several ingredients:

Grace Under Fire: Unless you have the instincts to think quickly in the most stressful situations, you will not succeed.

Adaptable: Unless you can change your tactics and strategy when you need to, you will not succeed.

Foreward-thinking: Unless you can anticipate your opponent's possible moves and prepare for them, you will not succeed.

Determination: Unless you can face adversity and setbacks on the road to victory, you will not succeed.

That does not mean you cannot learn these traits. It takes patience, desire, and practice to master these skills, and they can only be done by playing a game many times.

Prepare yourself for defeat at first. You will lose many of your initial games, and may feel overwhelmed. This shouldn't deter you from playing further and mastering the game; rather, a good player will learn from those defeats and push themselves to keep playing.

There are benefits to playing RTSs which you may notice as you continue playing: several players have stated that their real-world money-mangement skills have improved; others have noticed that they can think better under real-world pressure.

Conclusion: The final piece of the strategy puzzle is the player. Master yourself, and you'll master the game.

*************************************************************************************

I'd personally like to thank everyone for their suggestions, support, and tips while I was writing this. Without you, all of the work I put into this would feel a lot more like work, and less like a genuine pleasure. :)

If you have any questions or further additions to this guide, feel free to send me a message letting me know which chapter and the possible changes, and I will seriously consider them.

"Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness." -Miyamoto Musashi, "A Book of Five Rings."

As a kid, I saw "Star Wars" in the theatre several times, several years before VHS made movie-going near-obsolete. It was one of those horizon-bending mind-blowing movie experiences, truly an event that can never, ever be repeated.

What made it even better? I had never heard of it before I saw it. Inconceivable in this day and age, but back then, it was a lot more common.

When I heard Lucas had Episode 1 in the works, I expected incredible special effects, Han Solo-style acting, good characters... and although I was satisfied, it was sort of...

...empty.

Sure, there was flash and fireworks, and excitement... but there was *The Gungan Who Shall Not Be Named* and Robo-Anakin. There wasn't enough movie to overcome those disappointments.

(Episode III, by the way, was so awesomely spectacular that I'm still going "wow.")

Lots of things in life can be that way: building up the excitement, only to have the actual experience fall sadly short of expectations. I looked forward to finally laying hands on Fable, for example, or Battle for Middle Earth. When I finally played them... I didn't see anything incredibly gripping about them, and still don't (after beating BFME's single player campaign, I played several skirmishes as each faction, and never lost with Rohan. Even at max difficulty. Against 7 AI opponents. All of them as Rohan as well).

Avoiding hype is very difficult. These days it's everywhere: on soda bottles ("Gamer Fuel" for Halo 3), on cereal boxes (is there a law that says every Pixar film needs to be on a cereal box?), even on ads in websites (Firefox + AdBlock Plus = surfing heaven). It doesn't help the product's quality in any way, shape, or form, but can detract from your enjoyment if you expected something that would wash your dishes, mow your lawn, or shovel your driveway, and instead got Peggle (this is, in no way, a knock against Peggle... I have yet to find another equally simple, ridiculously addictive game... who would think a little ball bouncing among a bunch of blue and orange pegs could dominate "the strategy guy's" time? :? ).

The less well-known can be much more satisfying. I'm enjoying Sins of a Solar Empire quite a bit, despite the fact that I knew next-to-nothing about it whan I bought it. I have several movies you may never have heard of in my collection ("Rashomon," "The Hidden Fortress," "Killer Klowns from Outer Space") that I'll load up in my DVD player long before I watch "The Phantom Menace (to my sanity)" when I'm in a movie mood.

There are rare exceptions. Does anyone remember the old Timex commercials? "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking?" I just bought a new Timex tonight to replace my old one (the battery was dead, and the crystal was so scratched up I could barely read the digital part). In the past 18 years or so, I've owned 4 Timex watches, and never managed to break one (and believe me... I've tried). In the year previous to that, I owned 4 Casios, and each one died a horrible death (I liked the nice features they had, but they weren't built for the long haul). Now that's living up to the hype.

HA!!! YOU LOOKED!!! YOU ARE NOW UNDER MY SPELL!!! :lol:

Seriously... a couple of people "tagged" me (namely, majorflyswat and John1918), so I am supposedly compelled to reveal 5 things about myself that no one on GS knows about me.

Being me, however, I'll throw my own spin on this (really, it's an interesting idea, but wouldn't have been nicer just to ask?!? :? ) and invoke obscure Rule ORK-1137-a of The Universe:

A.) I'll reveal 10 things about myself:

1. I'm a very small person: 5' 5", about 135 lbs. (I don't know the metric conversions). Consequently, I find it very easy to fade into a crowd and (when needed) sneak in to places. This comes in very handy because...

2. I have a miserable memory for the mundane. I'm forever locking myself out of my house because I left my keys in the house; at one point, I left the windows of my car cracked and taped a straightened coat-hanger under my car, because I would randomly leave my keys on the seat (for some reason, it seemed more secure than a Hide-a-Key... :P ). Now, I just wear clothes with a ton of pockets, and put everything in them.

3. I am legally blind in one eye, due an accident I suffered in the Navy. Basically, we were hauling a large electric motor from an engineering space, in high seas. The ship I was on was a "gator freighter" (an amphibious ship that carries Marines), the USS Nassau (anyone who's read "Red Storm Rising" should recognize the name); gators are flat-bottomed, and ride high in the water, making them very prone to rocking. Compounding the problem was my partner in this, who'd only been on the ship for a month, and never in a storm, so his balance was poor, to say the least. As we hauled, the ship caught a massive wave from the bow, rocked up over it, and threw him into me... elbows-first. Being much taller than me, one elbow caught me in the eye. It took two months to clear enough for me to see out of, and I was left with a permanent scar on the retina, which was torn by the impact.

4. I have a Stork Pin. Four years ago, my wife went into labor while I was at work. It took a half-hour to leave work, drive the 12 miles home (at an average speed of 90 MPH), and pick her up. I wasn't concerned: from experience, I "knew" we had 2 hours until delivery... notice I said "knew." :lol: The hospital was 20 minutes away, and we had "plenty of time," right? (Especially since it was 5:30AM, traffic was light, and I knew my car could do a shade more than the "conservative" 90MPH I had driven to get home). My wife got on her cell phone, called 911, and asked them for an escort, which was rejected (some BS about "reckless driving" :? ). As soon as I got on the last stretch of highway into Troy (Rt. 7) and got a half-mile down, she grabs me and says, "Pull over. Now. I feel the baby's head coming out." Um... what? I pull over quickly, and about 5 minutes, one scared cop (he took one look at what I was doing and said, "I'll go get a blanket." My tax dollars at work. :lol: ), and some severly ruined upholstery later, I'm holding our youngest (irony? I didn't know it was a girl until I got to the hospital... :lol: ).

5. I have green eyes. Take a look at my blog banner, over on the left by the Java icon. That's a couple shades darker than my eyes, but very close to the right color.

6. I hit level 8 without posting anything. I used (and still use) GS to download patches for legacy games who's companies no longer support them (like Warlords: Battlecry).

7. I've played on a console on every generation (excluding the current one) since the Magnavox Oddysey (in the early 70's!), and still own an NES (currently hooked up), a Genesis, and an SNES.

8. I own books from at least 20 PnP RPGs. Before we moved two years ago, we had a 7' high by 4'wide by 18" deep bookcase for my books. The bottom two shelves were packed with RPG books. It took 3 people to carry that box to my parent's place for storage (we had no new bookcase, and no room for the books :( ).

9. I have miserable luck with cars. In order, I've lost them to: theft (never recovered), a collision with an 18-wheeler (tore the entire front end off the car... the engine block ended up 10 yards away; I got out without a scratch), a collision with a Toyota (almost no damage to his car; mine was totalled... odd thing: both cars were Toyota Corollas); total brake failure (right before I put it into a telephone pole to keep it from crossing a busy state route on a red light... that probably would have hurt a lot), blown clutch (it would have cost 4 times what the car was worth to fix it), a blown head-gasket (fried the engine to a crisp), a blown valve (saddest loss... I delivered a baby in that car), and yesterday, I almost lost another to a blown tire (as it was, it ripped up the side of the car, and I have to buy a new lens and mount for the passenger-side blinker... I'll have to take a picture and post it).

10. I have a one-eyed calico cat named Harlequin (because she reminds me of the old court jesters of medieval times, and because of the Joker's sidekick in Batman: The Animated Series).

Now that that's taken care of...

B). I'm not going to tag anyone! HAHAHAHHAHA!!! Instead, if you want to tag someone (and ran out of "tags") or even yourself, just do it and blame it on me. :lol:

In the mid to late '80s, a new kind of heavy metal hit the music scene. It was fast, loud, aggressive, and angry, much different from the average "pop-metal" offerings of Poison and Bon Jovi. The front-runners of this music was Metallica, and if you didn't own a copy (more than likely taped from a friend, probably 3rd or 4th generation copy, sounding like it was recorded with the mike buried in a foot of mud) of "Master of Puppets" you were either a.) a "poser" or b.) not a "true" metalhead.

This was fine for a little while, but a funny thing happened in 1990: the inaugural "Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal" Grammy was awarded to *gasp!* Jethro Tull. Aside from the fact that flute is about as "metal" as Hello Kitty, it also signalled an end to Metallica's full-throttle approach to music. The "Black Album" was tame, trend-following... and, unfortunately for the hard-core metal-heads, award-winning.

From that point on, Metallica calmly and quietly cranked out one trend-following disc after another, never pushing the envelope again, and turning off the old faithful fans... and picking up new ones that had no idea of what they were missing. "St. Anger" was just about the most horrible piece of recording ever released (so bad, they had to submarine Napster to force people to pay for it), but it was eaten up by "new" fans and critics alike. "They've recaptured their old magic, in a new way!" was the common praise... but to me, the only thing they manged to do was make a digital recording sound like it was taped with a microphone buried in a foot of mud.

In 1998, a similar phenomenon occured. This time, it was a game called StarCraft, and it was loudly hailed as the next coming of awesome. Words like "balance," "innovation," and "micro" were appended to this offering. It continues to this day to be the yardstick against which all real-time strategy games are measured.

...that is, unless you're like me. I dislike SC. Never liked it, and never will.

I've tried to like it. I've put several hours... nay, months into attempting to penetrate its mysteries, and see what it is I must be missing.

Then it occurred to me... maybe it's not for me. Maybe... just maybe... the game isn't tailored to everyone. Maybe... just maybe...

...I'm different. What a concept! :lol:

Where am I going with this? Is there a point? Can I get to it sometime this blog? :lol:

People do many things to fit in. They'll follow any trend, buy any product, pierce any body part, and praise any idea regardless of their own feelings about the matter, or even if the facts explicitly conflict your new beliefs. And while you complacently move along behind the herd, you rapidly lose your own sense of taste or smell in the miasma of methane emanating from herd.

Of course, simply walking against the herd has its own hazards... the worst of which is following along a different herd in an attempt to avoid the original herd. Forming an opinion simply to contradict the majority isn't an individual choice, but simply swapping one cow's behind for another.

Another hazard of being an individual is being ostrasized for being different. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the herd abhors a "mutant" that refuses to conform to the standards and opinions of the majority. If you can live on this fringe, and lead your own life, then you truly are a unique individual... and you'd better grow a thick skin rather quickly. :D

Of course, fitting in with other unique individuals is possible. In fact, it's highly encouraged. Just be careful that you don't start conforming yourself to the "uniqueness" of the other individuals, or you're right back to the herd again.

(Back to Chapter 8)

"Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated." - Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"

Chapter 9: Know your Enemy

There is a significant difference in overall strategy between a single player match and a multiplayer one, which affects how you will approach a battle, and how you proceed towards victory. A straegy that works against an AI opponent won't necessarily work against a human opponent, while the opposite is more likely true.

Single player campaign: This is generally an excellent way to learn the basics of your army. A well constructed campaign will introduce you to the units you will use in such a way that their function becomes readily apparent. It will also give you some insight as to how to best use them in a real battle.

In general, however, it will not teach you the best mix of troops to defeat an opponent. When a unit is introduced, it will typically be the only one you need to defeat the campaign mission, which can lead you to the conclusion that it is only useful in that narrow circumstance.

Another issue to consider is secondary objectives that might appear in the mission, which can distract from the lesson in the mission itself. Rarely does an actual battle require you to take Building A, hold it for X minutes, and instantly win; the reality is, winning (most of the time) requires the complete annihillation of your opponent.

Single player skirmish:The best tool for an RTS player in learning to play (other than multiplayer games) is skirmish mode. Fighting against the computer allows you to try out new ways to use your units, and try new combinations of units for maximum effectiveness.

One of the biggest drawbacks to relying on it, however, is the predictability of the AI. If you play enough skirmishes, you can readily see the patterns emerge in the AI behavior. If you play the same map multiple times, you will see the same approach to your base every time.

The computer builds everything faster than you ever can; this can lead to facing large forces before you are completely ready for them, and more buildings to destroy before winning the game.

Also, the computer will always know where you are, and have the appropriate counters for any unit you posess. This can be frustrating on higher levels of difficulty.

However, knowing the AI's weaknesses and strengths will teach the one thing on-line play cannot: patience. If you can counter an early AI rush, chances are you will be able to duplicate this in a battle with a human opponent, and the game becomes one of superior tactics and strategy.

Against a Human Opponent: This is much more difficult, as humans don't have scripted battle orders. There are several points to keep in mind when facing human adversaries:

1. Expect anything: If you don't prepare for a rush in the first moments of the game, it is possible that you will lose almost before the game begins. Any crazy, off-the-wall strategy is possible. Preparing yourself for the strangest possible attack can win you enough time to mount your own.

2. Never use the same tactic twice: If you approach a base from the north in more than one battle, you will find that your opponents will fortify that area more heavily each time. Being predictable is as close as you can come to losing before your begin the game. Remember, "The art of strategy is the art of deception," and predictability makes deception impossible.

3. Be aggressive: If you let an opponent do what they please, you will find yourself reacting to them, instead of acting of your own volition. If you act, it will allow the battle to move at your pace, not the enemy's, and allow you to force them to react to you.

Multiple opponents: Sometimes, you will find yourself facing multiple opponents. This can be a very difficult situation, as you will have to counter multiple strategies, and in many cases multiple races/factions and their units.

The best way to deal with this is: eliminate them one at a time, while protecting your own base from the others. If at all possible, try to lead them into fighting each other; many times, this will take care of an entire army without firing a single shot in their direction.

Multiple Allies: The final situation you can find yourself in is having multiple allies supporting your conquest. Supporting them in return is crucial: allowing one to fall can undermine the confidence of your other allies, and you may find yourself at the mercy of the next attack, without the help of your friends.

Also, some games allow your allies to "unally" with you. If you are playing one of these games with an unfamiliar ally, do not fully trust them. You can find yourself on the receiving end of a turncoat, with no recourse, unless you make a contingency plan for that eventuality.

One way of achieving these seemingly contradictory needs is to build a secondary base in the middle of your "ally's" base. This allows you to provide support and troops at a moment's notice, and at the same time give the other player a credible threat to consider if they decide to "backstab" you.

Conclusion: The way you apply your strategy changes depending on your opponent (or opponents) and your allies. Being aware of the possible ways in which you can play the game will allow you to better prepare for victory.

(Final Chapter: Know Yourself)

I just looked at my first blog post, and realized... I've been wring these for over a year now (as of March 3rd). Where did all the time go? :shock:

I look at some of my early ones and realize I didn't take these seriously back then (of course, it could be argued I don't take some of them very seriously now :lol: ) and some of them were just random rants against the forums... which, truthfully, have lost a lot of their allure.

In that year, I've been part of the death of two unions (the Troll Hunters, whose noble ideals were crushed by moderators who felt we were stepping on their toes; and the Thinking Outside the Box Union, resurrected as the Monkeys Writing Shakespeare Union, with a much lighter tone). I've joined 2 others (an accomplishment, as I don't usually join anything) and occasionally stop by to say "hi."

I've gone from being a near-constant at some boards to just perusing the threads to see if anyone really wants to explain why Game A (usually StarCraft :evil: ) is better than Game B (usually another RTS); I'm always happy to disillusion a fandroid. :D

Mostly, though, I've found a group of friends who I can talk to without my usual face-to-face shyness (although, truthfully, it's still there even here... I look at some contact lists that number in the triple-digits, while mine sits comfortably, for me at least, in the low teens, and I only really track people who track me first). I've found intelligent debates about deep (for gaming, that is) issues. I'm writing a lot more and (I hope) a lot better than I have in my life.

It seems like I've weathered the absolute worst a gaming site can throw at its users, and definitely feel like better days are ahead.

I also feel like things are better in general (there was warmer weather and actual sunshine this week :D ). My mp3 player decided forthe 4th time to lose all my songs, so I replaced it with a better model (SanDisk Sansa e250: 2GB memory, AM/FM tuner, voice recorder, and a larger display and controls, for only about $10 more than my old c240 1G). I also found all 4 of Overkill's CDs with Bobby Gustafson on guitar to replace my beat-to-Hell cassette, as well as a copy of Testament's "Practice What You Preach," an all-time favorite (if you can find it, listen to "The Ballad;" the words are just inspiring).

The only downside: I've been way too distracted to think through the last 2 chapters of "The Art of (Real-Time) War" to begin them. The end of the general strategies is near; after 9 and 10, there'll be only game-specific strategy left to address.

Then again... I'm also an RPG player. Maybe Ork Tzu can turn his thoughts towards Tolkien and Gygax's spawn as well? Who knows...? :D

Until the next transmission, fellow Earthlings, be well. :D

...or, "Why I'm Dancing on the Still-Smouldering Corpse of One Man's Political Aspirations."

I should warn you: I'm not going to pull any punches. This is just too toxic a situation to let simmer, however, so I'm just going to let loose.

I'm a registered independent. My voter card reads "No Political Affiliation" for a good reason: I disagree with both parties about something. I disagree with the Republican's stand on big business and what our military should (and should not) be used for. I equally disagree with Democrats on welfare and regulation of...well, everything.

Most of all, though, I disagree with politics in general. To me, they unnecessarily interfere with the running of the state. NY is notorious for late state budgets, high tax burden, and dislocation between the largest city on Earth and the rest of the state. Point blank, if I could move, I'd do so in a heartbeat (if I could find the cash, that is... NY takestoo much of mine :( ).

This is actually the second major scandal for Democrats on the past year and a half: the former comptroller was forced to resign when it was found that (at taxpayer expense) that he was shuttling a family member around in state vehicles. Somehow, in the middle of the investigation, and despite the fact that he publicly admitted it, he was re-elected. So much for common sense.

Now, our governor, who actually investigated and prosecuted high-priced escort services in NY, has been forced to resign because he was visiting a "ho-fessional". Shocking? Yes. Bad? Absolutely.

Am I happy? You called it... :D.

First of all, for someone who was Attorney General, he was perfectly willing to give out driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It may seem minor, but it's through such loopholes that terrorists slip through... and 9/11 wasn't so long ago. I personally have no problem with immigrants in the US (heck, at best I'm only 3rd-generation in this country) but there are controls in place, and watch lists for dangerous people. Allowing anyone to dodge them is dangerous at best.

Next... $80,000?!? Where did he get that kind of money, considering he's been a NY public servant for the past 9 years? While the residents struggle to scrape together enough to pay their property taxes, he's got money to burn? W. T. F?!?

(Now I know where my tax dollars have been going, at least :? )

Finally... I just couldn't stand the guy. His entire attitude, as AG and governor, has been, "I'm better than you, and I know it." His robotic delivery at speeches, his lack of facial expression... really, everything about him screamed "smack me." Even while he delivered his resignation, he looked like a Disney animatronic, not a person. (His wife, though, looked like Lorena Bobbit just before the snip... :lol: )

There is one bright light in this: The Lieutenant Govenor, David Paterson, is an African American from West Harlem, and seems to be exactly what we needed in the first place. He's also legally blind (a first for any governor in the US), meaning he has some acquaintance with hardship. Best of all, the leaders in NY's Senate and Assembly actuallyrespect him, so we may actually see some real change in NY's future.

I know my view isn't exactly popular (in fact, given the heavily-Democratic area I live in, I'd say walking around with a "Don't blame me, I voted for Client 8" t-shirt wouldn't be a wise idea). In fact, I'll more than likely regret writing this, and not keeping my mouth shut. I'm too honest to let it slide, though, and seeing others talk about it as a joke, or with the cynicism of distance and experience, I felt that I needed to let people see what the real repercussions are, and why I won't shed a tear for the "Love Gov."