Journal…Of Sorts…

This week, we are having a big inspection at Yokota.  What this means to me is that I have a couple of hours of craziness followed by a couple hours of boredom.  It has allowed me to read a couple of new comics:  Penny Arcade and Ctrl+Alt+Del.  I’d heard that Penny Arcade was worth reading for a long time now, but I just never could seem to get in to it.  So, I went all the way back to the beginning this week and read through all the archives.  Yeah I know, like I said, a couple of hours of boredom.  :-)  I found out about Ctrl+Alt+Del when my friend Eldridge bought me one of their t-shirts for Christmas in ‘04.  I like the shirt enough to read through their archive as well.  What I found is that both comics are VERY similar, and since Penny Arcade is older, Ctrl+Alt+Del probably got their inspiration from them.  Ctrl+Alt+Del has managed to differentiate itself from Penny Arcade, if only a little, and in a good way.  Both are interesting to Video Gamers. 

This has led me to this post where I will inundate you with all the online (and maybe offiline) comics that I read.  I hope this will lead to your enjoyment, but if not, at least I’ll have a list of the comics I like in my journal for easy access.  :-)

The Order of the Stick - Stick figure D&D.  This is my favorite comic.  :-)

Real Life - I’ve been reading this for a couple of years now - sorta gaming centered.  Mostly funny.

PvP - Used to be gaming centered, now it’s just about the people that work at a gaming magazine.  Pretty crazy and funny.  :-)

GU Comics - Definitely gaming centered.  Funny sometimes, but always hits home with gamers.

Wapsi Square - Not really sure what this is about, but it has Aztec references and a God that’s the god of alcohol.  Definitely funny, but is also serious.

Kevin and Kell - This is about a world that mirrors our own, but instead of people, they’re all animals.  Some pretty good story arcs.

Penny Arcade - Gaming centered.  R rater humor at it’s best (and worst).

Ctrl+Alt+Del - If you like Penny Arcade, you’ll like this.

Dragon Tails - This used to be one of my favorite comics…until they stopped updating.  They recently started updating every Sunday again.  Yay!

Absurd Notions - More about table top gaming.  Pretty good, but it can be months between updates.  Used to be daily.  :-(

Angst Technology - About a gaming company.  No longer updated.  This was my favorite comic for a LONG time.

HER! [Girl vs Pig] - This one is bizarre.  Sometimes funny.

VG Cats - Video Game Cats.  Sometimes funny.

From http://www.comics.com/:

BC, Dilbert, Jump Start, Luann, Marmaduke, Peanuts, Rose is Rose, Wizard of ID.

From http://www.ucomics.com/:

Adam @ Home, Calvin and Hobbes, Foxtrot, Garfield, Overboard, Real Life Adventures.

On to the off-line comics.

All-Star Superman - Off to an interesting start
Exiles - VERY good first run.  Crap middle run.  Good again recently.
Green Lantern - Not sure where this series is going, but I love Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps - Lots of Green Lantern’s?  I’m in.
Invincible - VERY good new superhero story.
Powers - Consistently my favorite comic.
Teen Titans - Team Superhero fun.
Ultimate Fantastic Four - Very interesting look at a young Fantastic Four.
Ultimate Spider-man - Consistently good.
Ultimate X-Men - Consistently good.
Ultimates - F-ing amazing when it’s released (usually late).

My poor wife has been missing her dog Parker something fierce.  Not a day (sometimes not an hour) goes by that she doesn’t tell me how much she loves him and wishes he were here.  Every time we go to Cainz (Wal-Mart type store) we go and check out the puppies.  She’s still trying to get them to rent her one until Parker can move over here with us.

About 10 days ago, we were doing some work outside.  I noticed some movement by the fence and then I saw a little head pop up over the bricks.  I think I may have gasped a little.  I starting tapping Sharron and pointing at the animal.  It turned out to be a ferret.  Quite shocking to have a ferret come calling really.  He certainly was a friendly little guy as he came right through the fence and was very curious about what we were doing.  I thought perhaps he was wild, but then I figured he must have gotten loose from a neighbors house as who ever heard of a wild ferret in Tokyo?  I heard the neighbors kids, so I went to get them to see if it was theirs.  Sharron meanwhile was having a grand time playing with the little guy.  He wanted to check out every inch of what we were doing and even started climbing on her.  She even asked me if we could keep him.  :-)  The neighbor kids said that he wasn’t theirs, so I switched to the other side of the house.  There was a guy washing his car and he couldn’t seem to figure out what I was telling him.  Finally I just motioned for him to come over and when I did, he immediately recognized that it was his ferret.  Sharron was sad, but we were glad that he got reunited with his owner.  He sure was friendly!

We also watched March of the Penguins recently.  Very interesting, amusing, sad and heartwarming movie.  We enjoyed it and so would you.

All of this came to a head and since Sharron loves animals so much and since she found one near by recently, we decided to go to the Zoo on Saturday.  It isn’t a very big zoo, but it makes up for that with its animals.  Honestly, from the street you can almost see the entire zoo, but once you’re on the grounds, it is very charming and fun.  My favorites were the monkeys (Macaque) and the penguins.  The monkeys had one of the biggest habitats with lots of things to play with, but what made them really interesting what how active they were.  They were running, jumping, swinging, preening, eating and fighting which made for some very most amusing watching.  The penguins were cool because the zoo was selling fish to the patrons to feed them.  We didn’t buy any (the line was HUGE!), but we did stand there and watch them for awhile.  There was one other animal that was completely interesting and cute.  I have no idea what he is anymore (EDIT:  Red Panda), but there was a trainer in his habitat with him talking to the audience.  While she was talking, he climbed up on a pedestal behind her and kept reaching out to grab her.  It was clear that he’d done this before and that he knew she had treats for him.  Very funny.

Non-animal:  Here is a link to an interesting article.  Notice the author.  :-)