| Catching up on things part 2 |
[Jul. 16th, 2005|08:59 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  worried | ] |
Ok, for this one, I'd like to speak about the border security issue. As a guy from Windsor Ontario (that great suburb of Detroit), I'm used to having to deal with the border security, even before all of this beefed up security since 9/11. I've answered odd questions, dealt with smart ass and arrogant border guards, and have been subjected to a full on search when I went back to Afghanistan from Denver. And with the recent terrorist bombings in London, I was sure that getting through the US border, even in Manitoba/North Dakota would have been a pain.
Imagine trying to explain this story: one Canadian, one American in a car that has NO plates, crossing into North Dakota, to head to Windsor, drop me off, let the American come back over to Detroit to pick up her mother, then head back through Canada to Niagara Falls, then down the east coast to North Carolina... heh, I can barely type it all out without getting bleary eyed. But that was the story that we were attempting to go the border with.
I've been to the Emerson crossing once before, and I went through a huge rigmarol (if that is an actual word) just getting across then, and that was with my military ID! This time, I really thought that we would get a grilling. I was, (un)fortunately wrong.
When Amanda and I approached we readied our documents (and it amazes me how large the US birth certificates are!). We were asked the question of our citizenship, and then were told by a really arrogant (read a$$hole) guard that our car had no plates. Yes, thank you, we know that. Amanda told him that the car had temporary plates, and she had insurance and the car had the temporary registration in MB, and it would be sorted out when she returned to NC. The guard then asked when if she knew that she was importing the car, which she replied, Yes, and she already asked this question to US Immigration and was told to do the paperwork at the border when it comes across. The guard came out, and surprisingly he didn't check the temporary registration, but looked at my VIN. I'm not sure why, other than to ensure that it was still there and wasn't changed. He then told us that we better hope that we had the tags, or we'd have to call the manufacturer! Umm, yes, it's a FORD TAURUS, made in Chicago, and imported into Canada.
So, I dutifully pulled around to the side entrance, Amanda grabbed her Registration, ID, etc, and we entered into the building. At this time, I had shown NO ONE my ID yet. Amanda talked to the guards inside, and filled out the paperwork, the guard went out with the registration papers to check the VIN. He came back in, signed the paperwork and then sent us on our way. I asked him what I needed to do next, if I needed to go out and around again to go through customs and he told me no, just carry on through. WOW! We had the entire car packed full of stuff and I never showed my ID to ANYONE, and here I had a free pass to enter the states. I could have been bringing across bombs, people, tobacco, alcohol, or even worse, CUBAN CIGARS!!! and no one even said a thing to me.
This is very worrying for a variety of obvious reasons. The Yanks seem to think that we are the reasons that terrorists are entering their country, and accuse us of being so lenient with letting people get passports, etc, and here I am waltzing into their country untouched. Yeah, sure, thanks guys, blame Canada for all of your problems. Second, this is in the wake of a terrorist attack in a fairly large city (London) and after the US bumped up its security level.
The biggest problem with homeland security is that no matter how well your policies are, and how tight your security and borders are on paper or in theory, it's the guys that are making nothing working the border that are the problem. They just don't seem to care sometimes and aren't very interested in implementing the new policies. They don't see the over-arching issues and most of the ones at the busy border crossings seem only to worry about money and tariffs on any goods you are importing, most certainly not the emphasis that would lead to a more secure nation. The weakest link is always at the bottom. |
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| Things that are piling up, part one. |
[Jul. 15th, 2005|05:49 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Black Eyed Peas | ] |
Well, here we go, I have about 3-4 things to talk about here, and I guess that I should actually start updating this thing once in awhile. The biggest change of my life finally came: I am now released from the military! Unemployed and lazy, what a bum, I know, I know! Heh, the goatee has already started (coming in grey I might add) and I'm already getting stir crazy. Wow, I'm not even officially finished my contract yet, and I'm going crazy. This doesn't bode well. What do I have to talk about: 1) the last gaming session our group did, 2) leaving the military, 3) moving out of the house, 4) our trip home, and 5) the oddity of border security!
I will start with the last gaming session that our group had. It was quiet sad actually, and much like the sundering of the fellowship (yeah, okay, it's not quiet that dramatic, sorry Tolkein). It was interesting as well, since, Amanda is from North Carolina, Ivah is a base brat from Petawawa, NB, etc, Robyn hails from the east coast, Steve is a Brandonite, and I'm from SW Ontario. It was simply a chance meeting at a Prairiecon, and there was a 2 year friendship born. It all started when I asked Ivah if he'd like to game outside of the Con, and he invited me to Amanda's for a night of gaming, with, ironically, a character that I had started with a year before at Beginner's D&D (my first year in Shilo). It was same gaming world, and Amanda and I hit it off incredibly well. We seemed to play off each other and had a great time. Welby was pretty much the perfect character for me, a coupling of a powerful artifact sword, a sense of goodness, a great sense of humour and a great role player, with an excellent DM. We eventually invited Steve and Robyn to game with us, and had a great two years of gaming and saving and destroying the world! Props out to Ivah for a great campaign and keeping everthing interesting.
As the last day drew nearer, we figured that we should get together and have one last gaming event. Something epic, with the ordered out pizzas, the dice everywhere, the long hours, etc. Ivah was obliging, and it was decided that we would have a higher level campaign, and that Ivah would bend the rules for non-human races. Heh! time for a bit of powergaming! And FINALLY(!) we got to go to happy-happy fun land, something of a running joke in Ivah's campaigns. We never seemed to go to nice places, and it was always go to the Forest of Doom, or the Crevice of Death, so Welby would always complain (only half jokingly) "Why do we never go to happy-happy fun land?" Thus, here we were, going to visit HHFL, and destroy it! Heh, thus an evil character was in the making...
I chose a mind flayer mage for my bad boy (with a nod to Dr Zoidberg), Amanda was the Succubus Rogue, Steve was the unstoppable Troll warrior, and Robyn was the crusty Lich Priest. heh heh! Death to HHFL! The story was fairly simple, go get a wizard in Hell, so he could open the portal to HHFL and then burn it to the ground. Thus, most of our characters were built for killin' goody two shoes, and we had a 'devil' of a time in Hell! We waltzed into the prison, killed a few minor demons, and then met up with what was better known as the jailer. dun dun dun! Basically, it was this fricking HUGE monstrosity, with 2 heads and the wizard was trapped inside of him. M'eh! Ah but wait, I must backpedal a bit here. The ONE item that I really really wanted to try out was the Rod of Wonder, which basically has a different effect everytime you fire it off. I decided to try it out, and BAM, rolled a 68, shrinking me to 1/12 my original size. Wow, was that a bit of egg on my face! but it worked out in the end, since I could ride my Imp as a mount and fly around everywhere. Now, back to the battle (me being about 9 inches tall...). I figured that it was nuts to fight this stupid thing, so I decided to rush in, grab the wizard and teleport out of there, no problem! This thing was a monster and started to tear into the rest of the party. I cast Otiluke's Resilent Sphere, and then zoomed (on my Imp) straight into the monsters gullet. I couldn't be harmed, thankfully, but alas, all of my teleport spells were 'touch', and I certainly was gettin out of the invulnerable sphere! Thus, I summoned a couple of djinnis to wreck havoc, and a celestial bee (don't ask... I just had to), when I finally figured out that the environment in here wasnt' toxic. I dropped my sphere, and then dropped daern's instant fortress... heh heh! so this monster caught a 60 foot tall building in his gut! I think Steve or Amanda got the killing blow, but it was the most fun I've had in a long while. As well, I lived up to my trademark of putting my body into other beings' bodies. (like puttin my hands into a diseased corpse to remove plague postules.. yummy).
We continued on to earth, breaking into a Hogwart's like setting, in which my mind flayer had a great time, mind blasting everything possible, and eating many brains! brains! HHFL actually turned into a theme park where goodies go to relax. We somehow snuck in and began causing havoc, only as we can do it. I disjunctioned the tamed Tarrasque, Robyn was throwing fireballs everywhere, Steve was killing , and Amanda was having fun on the rollercoaster of all things. Heh! With our combined wits, we wrecked the place, and as the park crumbled, the large castle grew legs and and began to attack us! Thankfully Robyn zapped it with a disjunction! and it fell apart! But, of course, it wasn't done. This oddly shaped cirle, reminiscent of Berzerk or FrenzY (i'm probably the only one who remembers it) which began to attack us. Fair being fair, it zapped us with a disjunction, turning steve's stuff to normal, and then cast implosion, a wonderful little spell that can annihilate things. It killed Robyn, but being a Lich, she survived as a recurring spirit, and my SR saved me! Thankfully, Amanda backstabbed it and it died!
A great ending for a good adventure, and a very good friendship (which most certainly isn't over!) Hopefully, we can resurrect some of the RPing online when Amanda gets settle back in NC, since I'd like to see what John Tong and Saslyn will be doing next. |
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| My father |
[May. 14th, 2005|05:57 pm] |
My Father
Dad, I’ve known you’ve been proud of me,
For a long time now.
My pictures are everywhere you are,
My exploits are always on your lips.
I have chosen to serve my nation,
Before myself.
A sense of dedication and loyalty,
I have learned from you.
Hard work and toil were what we shared,
Not so long ago.
My hands were cut and bleeding,
But a smile and good times are what I remember,
Which has forged me into who I am.
You nurtured me, never judging,
But supporting my decisions;
Letting me make my own way.
When I think of you,
I can’t help but smile
Knowing I’ve repaid you
For being more than a father,
But for being a Dad. |
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| this has been removed |
[May. 14th, 2005|05:56 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | rejected | ] |
Laurie, you're nothing more than a liar and a whore.
all the love i felt for you is gone, since now i'm simply a mistake to you.
I will live my life well, just to spite you, but i will never wallow in self pity. You don't deserve that, ever. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 14th, 2005|05:51 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | pensive | ] |
Fear:
You sit in the pit of my stomach.
You surround me with self doubts and questions of my security.
You are the destroyer of all that I hold dear.
You are that cloying cloak of recrimination,
the seed of doubt in all of our minds,
that nagging, persistent feeling that all is not right,
that all is not normal.
You place walls around me, so I cannot escape.
You grasp my heart in a clamp of cold iron, never releasing me.
You leech away my worth, my courage.
I can feel you, pecking, seeking a weakness in my resolve all the time,
Waiting for the boundaries of what I know and what could be to blur.
You are patient, you are persistent.
You tell me that I cannot do things, that I am incapable of facing you.
You whisper to me, things, secrets, that chill me to my bones.
You seek to sap my strength, to cut out my foundations from me.
Yet, Fear, I have lived with you before.
I have heard your whispers, your threats.
I have felt the prison you build for me,
Encasing my spirit in the tendrils of shame and cowardice.
I have felt your power.
But, I have lived.
I have conquered you, each and every time.
I see through the window of my cell,
I see the new day.
I see what you cover up with your emptiness.
I see Hope, I see Strength.
You are running out of things for me to fear.
With every new experience, every new thing you try to make me fear,
And I conquer, I grow stronger not you.
Soon, there will be no more things to fear,
Only Peace and Hope, and sunshine on my face.
You will be a fragment of a memory,
The past, not the present, and never the future. |
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