Posts in category “Bewitching Vagabond”
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The Dead End Dating Series by Kimberly Raye

Kimberly Raye Writes the Dead End Dating Series with Lil Marchette

Lil Marchette is a fashionista vampire. Labels matter and she does like her clothes. But, keep reading. Lil wants her own life. She begins her own dating agency for paranormals like vampires and werewolves (who are real party girls). Lil struggles to keep her business afloat while keeping her vampire status from her friend and solo employee.

Lil meets Ty, of course there has to be a hunky vampire guy... but Ty is not for Lil. Ty isn't a born vampire and only born vampires are able to have children. Lil's parents would never approve and though she wants her own life she can't leave her family behind. Even though they are pretty high on the eccentric level. (Not by their own born vampire standards of course).

Dead End Dating is the ongoing story of Lil as she tries to balance her life, her business, help friends and dating clients and keep her family from intruding into what she has built as her own life, for herself. Plus, she is a vampire and has those kind of needs too.

I don't identify with the world of the fashionable types. It was a big plus for me that Lil is written as a woman who likes life, colour and being her own person. I like Lil because she wants to make something of herself and she doesn't give up. I also like her efforts to pay her bills and get her dating agency off the ground. Things don't always go her way, like someone in a romance novel.

Resources for Dead End Dating Fans

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Carmageddon for Game Grrls (and Women)

Die Anna was from the first Carmageddon game in the series. I hope they bring more women drivers into the game. Not as slutty bystander types but real drivers who don't show cleavage.

Wreckage, Mayhem, Demolition and the Mooing of Cows

Weekend Carmageddon marathons are some of my favourite ways to spend couple time. Not so much on the romantic side but it was pure pleasure. Hunting down my husband, determined to find his hideout spot and smash his car into bits of wreckage on the pavement - with him in it! Could you find a better way to spend a weekend together?

Carmageddon is a video game. You race a car around a track (several tracks with different themes) and you choose how you want to win the game.

  • Demolition - Wreck and disable all the other players.
  • Race - Be the first to get to the finish line - not as easy as it sounds.
  • Carnage - Kill every last pedestrian, cow, dog, etc.

No, it's not a game for everyone. I'd rate it for the over 16 crowd but I know younger people are playing. I don't think they really have the maturity to appreciate the dark humour of the game. It should be taken as dark humour. If you look at it too closely you will just be horrified and never have any fun at all.

I've read posts from people who say they learned to drive, partially, from playing Carmageddon. You do get put into the driver's seat on a real tough course. You learn to control your vehicle in skids, wipe outs and over very rolling and bumpy terrain. Over time you develop a feel for how sharp or slow you need to take the turns without having your car spin out. I don't know if this experience will translate into the real world of driving a real car, but I've always thought it did (for me).

Mostly I play the game just for fun, some stress release and a chance to let out my dark humour in a way that harms none (husbands don't count when they're in the game).

Play Carmageddon on the LAN (Multiplayer)

We hooked up our computers over a network so we could both play on the game, at the time same. This was drastically fun. If you have some technical know-how and the hard ware to do it, I highly recommend playing Carmageddon as a LAN game with someone who won't get too angry once you turn their car into scrap metal.

Run Carmageddon 1 on a LAN - YouTube Video Instructions.

Carmageddon as a Single Player

Play alone and enjoy driving recklessly.

Target the computer players, track and hunt them down or get as many points as you can from power ups (some are hidden or take skill to access) and finish the race while leaving everyone else spinning around.

So far, winning the race has been kind of ignored when it comes to the computer generated players. You can always out race them on the regular game tracks. But, Carmageddon has not ignored the need for speed. There are games which you can only win by finishing before the timer runs out. But, you have a few obstacles... things like boats, nuclear reactors, treacherous roads, livestock, pedestrians, monster trucks with road rage and so on.

Carmageddon is Not for Animal Lovers without a Sense of Humour

Carmageddon 1 had cows on a track of the game. I know it sounds pretty bad to say I loved getting them, but I did and they are just digital cows. There was no cruelty to any real animals.

Carmageddon 2 (Carpocalypse) has dogs. I don't mind admitting I have very little affection for dogs. So, based on past personal experience, being able to run dogs down in the street did give me personal satisfaction. (You try being attacked by dogs and pulling a mouthful of teeth off your four-year-old sister and see how friendly you feel about dogs).

So, I know the dog killing spree won't be for everyone. You can still get the pedestrians and get points for extra skill in splattering them around. We all have some of our fellow man and woman we have no sentimental feelings for. Admit it, you'd secretly like to run down at least one person. Carmageddon is just a game, but it gives you that chance. Peer pressure be damned.

Carmageddon @carmageddongame

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What to Do with Your Old Postcard Collection

The problem with postcards is to know what to do with them afterwards.

I've been collecting postcards for years. They more than fill a shoebox. I don't have them out on display anywhere because there are just too many of them.

I should sort mine out and choose some to keep. Then add those to a frame with a nice backing of some kind.

Then I should get rid of the rest of them. Some ideas I've had are:

  • Mail them out to other people
  • Take them to the library or museums
  • Donate them to be sold
  • Recycle them with the other paper
  • Sell them to collectors

Another Option for Reusing Your Digital Photographs

I've got a lot of photographs taken over several years since I bought my first digital camera in 2006. Some are photos taken of abandoned houses (my hobby is urban/ rural exploration). But many of the photos are flowers and plants in my Mother's garden, photos she just had to have, but she doesn't do anything with them.

Other photos are family, my sister's children, my own brother and sisters, etc. They take up space. This isn't a bad thing, because they do have value, but no one sees the photos when they are just stored on my hard drive and whatever DVD I burn them to.

What if you pulled out those family photos and turned them into postcards you can mail out to your family?

How I Began as a Postcard Collector

I began collecting postcards as a kid. My Dad would go on a business trip. My Grandmother would take a trip back to the UK to visit family. My family would wander off around Ontario in the summer months. Later I began writing to penpals and was soon trading postcards with them. We would send a pack of them all fresh and tidy in an envelope rather than directly through the mail. I wasn't thinking about keeping them clean or collectible, it was just easier to send them in a bunch than paying for them all one at a time.

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Nice Girls Play Carmageddon and Win

Finally... A NEW Carmageddon is in the Works!

Carmageddon: Reincarnation will be out in 2012. This time it's more than just a rumour. Die Anna - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Addendum: The Carmageddon Reincarnation is out as an alpha game only to those who joined up and contributed to the KickStarter campaign. If you did, you can now be playing the game on Steam while it is in development. You get to see it evolve.

I know it's not a nice, pleasant game with fluffy bunnies and kitties. You don't grow things and harvest farm animals. You don't bake and run a fantasy shop of some kind. You just run things over, a lot.

If you want to do something differently you can choose to be the last one still driving in a demolition derby.

You can test your skills and see how well you keep control of your car in a race over hills, up paths and over and around various obstacles like boats, nuclear reactors, that kind of stuff.

Or, you can take out your frustrations of the day and get every last pedestrian on the map. You can win the game that way too.

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Theme Song from The Dudesons

I've got hooked on watching The Dudesons on Saturday nights. Late Saturday they run 4 - 6 episodes back to back. At first I thought it was too crazy to watch. It kind of grows on you if you don't turn the channel. Now I think of them as "those crazy Vikings" and I usually watch after midnight every Saturday.

I'd been wondering about the theme song on the show. I spent some time this morning tracking it down. It's called Once Upon a Time by Damn Seagulls.