ADVENTure Wrap up - Coming Soon

Somehow I always decide to post one of these when I have no time, but give me 3 days off and I do nothing. Go figure. This is a quick one, as we have week 2 of vacation camp going on this week at work, and I have to gets pretty soon, but just wanted all my loyal followers know that I have not given up on ADVENTure, far from it. It went very well, and its wrap up shall be posted. I actually have most of it written up and ready to go, but I just need to take photos of everything and plug them in.

Christmas was good. Becca and I hosted for the first time and had her brother, Dad, and their dog up for the day. Things went off without a hitch, the food was good, drinking was done, and many games were played (well, several anyways - Dog, Zombie Fluxx, and Metro. Power Grid was attempted, but we forgot how much prep and setup was involved and opted for something else instead). We watched a couple christmas specials and called it a day.

All in all a very good weekend. will have the ADVENTure wrap up soon.

ADVENTure Day 15 & 16: Looking Good

Well hello! It ends up that I can open my ADVENTure gifts without Becca being here, and on top of it, she even claims its ok! So what have we in store?

Day 15
It really seems to be all about timing, because when I need something, ADVENTure provides. Be it food, drink, batteries. Yesterday I was in need of something to wear so I would not be at work looking uncivilized with no shirt, and yet what do I find in my giant box under the tree...
A new sweater. A good fit too, showing off all my quality assets in just the right way to make it look like I have arms and such.

Day 16
I've always liked the Carl Sagen approach to things ever since I saw Contact, which is when you only really need one of something to get by, why not get two? And this applies to most things in life, be it pants or gigantic gyroscopic space and time travel devices.
Now, you may think that new underware is not as exciting as gigantic gyroscopic space and time travel devices (its not), you have to admit that the penguins in sunglasses look a lot more awesome than the guy from Picket Fences who gets blown up by the religious zelot in Contact. well, before anyways.

In other news, I played Paranoia last night for the first time, and it is awesome and needs to be played again. Theres also a possiblity that Becca and I will be doing Christmas at our place, so that means we will need to deck the halls to all levels of holiday gaudiness - more on both of these later.

ADVENTure Day 10-14: Eating and drinking, socked out, and Powered up

Recently I have been called out for sucking at keeping up with the daily ADVENTure by the international community, by which I mean Luke Milton, who has done the opposite of me and has managed to stay on top of his ADVENTure, as well as sprawl into new territory by reviewing holidays specials as well. Jerk.

Day 10
The scary thing you find when you don't do this daily like you are supposed to is that you start to forget what came when. As you recall, I have started to see a pattern in my daily gifts - food. The 10th day was no different, and is a favorite:
a repeat? Yes, but we knew that the rest of the bag would be finding its way to my belly sooner or later.

Day 11
now this is something new this ADVENTure and just in time too:

Neither of us has done laundry in quite a while, so this seems to be timed perfectly, and I like smartwool socks.

Day 12
another repeater this day, and while we currently do not need it like last time round, I am looking forward to getting to use it:

Day 13
This one was a surprise, and I really don't know what to say on it

Does this mean something deeper in the box will need these? should I use them up now, or should I save them for the future? Can they be used in Day 14's gift....

Day 14


No, but I will eat these as well in good time.

Becca left to go to Connecticut last night for a few days, so I am not certain of the rules and by-laws that dictate ADVENTure, and am not sure if I can open without her being here (wanted to say "present" but it would create this awesome double meaning that would blow your mind, but I need you continuing to read this), but know this friend - THEY WILL BE OPENED

Making Something Special

Last May you should recall that Becca and myself, as well as the international community (mainly consisting of New Jersey and Western Australia) celebrated the greatest and newest fake holiday known as Lowemannzeit. With this, Becca and I spent time making a short stop-motion animated holiday special known as The Legend of the Norgenchewer, which can be seen here:



With Christmas coming, we've been watching some older holiday specials, including He Man/She Ra, Pee Wee Herman, and John Denver and the Muppets, and have been following friends blogs who have been watching and talking about them as well. This leaves me with a solid conclusion that I must make another holiday special.

So this leads us to the question, what kind of holiday special should I make, let alone for what holiday? Should it be another stop-motion? Should it be full of friends and guests singing and dancing like you'd find in a Bob Hope special? should it be bizarre, long, and depressing much akin to the Star Wars holiday Special? I need your thoughts.

Also, if I am to take this course of action, I may need your help. Are you up for the challenge? or will I be doing it all on my own, and by on my own, I mean Becca will be doing it too. What say you friend, all 18 of you?
This could be you and your excitement to be a part of something you might regret for the rest of your life.

ADVENTure Day 8 & 9: Gorging Myself

Yesterday was a very slow moving long day full of snow that produced nothing much. But thats not what you want to hear at the moment...its ADVENTure you need!

Day 8
Now, you may not have noticed but bread is good. Also, another wonderful thing in the world is beer. This is why having beer with sandwiches or french toast is a great idea. but the amount of work and effort it requires to drink AND eat at the same time can be too much. Enter Day 8...
Day 9
Yesterday had not much time for contemplation of what I received because we opened early and I was out the door and into the snow. this is actually very similar to how every morning starts for me - up and out the door, and in turn I don't really remember to bring anything aside from coffee. In turn, I've become very good at not eating during the day, but some times that just doesn't cut it and I have to break down and get something to eat. Knowing this, becca pickd up a gift card to a place that I tend to frequent due to its closeness to work.

All in all, I'm starting to notice a trend. Its almost as if she is trying to fatten me up...but for what? Better hide the knives.

ADVENTure Day 7: Looking good while I sleep

Day seven has come and gone, and we are on the verge of day eight, waiting for Becca to wake up, but she better hurry because I needs to gets.

Last night was an ill night for sleep due to a small 18 pound furry feline named Elwyn
Do not let him fool you, he is vicious and cruel. This morning at 3:38am he decided it would be best to come in to the bedroom, purring up a storm and start pawing my face and eating my beard. Naturally, I push him aside and try to continue to sleep. However he is persistent and this continues until he gets bored and will leave. This time, he chose to walk across the night stand, knocking over the lamp, shattering the light bulb all over the floor. Awesome morning.

But Wait! All is not lost, because my sleep was had with my magical ADVENTure day 7 gift - pajama pants

These ergonomically designed sleep attire are the next best thing to a dressing gown for comfort. These are the pants that you want to go to work in because you feel amazingly professional in them and know that they will further your career just by having them. That is why when I was unemployed I would wear my current pair every day to keep me focused and on track with the job hunting.

Day 8 to come soon. The cat, by the way, is currently sleeping on top of my arms between me and the laptop as I type. that is a total of about 7 inches of space. I'm pretty certain my arms and hands are asleep because I don't even know if I am typing this.

ADVENTure Day 4, 5, 6: The Return of Hope

I want to say that the last few days have been busy and I have not had time, but we all know that would be a lie. What has the last few days brought us in the realm of ADVENTure? Its been very much like the Epic and critically acclaimed film Conan the Barbarian, minus the sex slaves.

Day 4
In recent times, a precious heirloom was stolen from me by the hands of a dendrological smack talking red head that was in the form of a black giraffe bead that was entrusted to me by the mythical Bead King (surprisingly, this is actually true). Hope has been lost and has yet to be restored to me, but I take comfort in knowing that I have this malicious gingers travel coffee mug as a ransom until this treasure is returned to me.
Becca decided to try and speed up the process by giving me a new travel mug of my own in a similiar design so I might actually give the other one back. This is your chance Adams, don't dwell on it.

Day 5
In times not too dissimilar from now, I have been fighting an ongoing war within. It takes the form of plaque and gingervitus, and other hideous blights that has chosen my mouth as its battlefield. The weapons of this war have served me well, but alas, wars toll has been taken on them, just look at how it stands:
Yet, at the dawn of yesterday, a turn in the battle with the morning light - a new toothbrush has been gifted upon me
But whats this? Its not alone!!
Unfortunately for them, the proper feats had been taken to dual-weild, and no penalty shall be had this day. Roll for initiative and be damned.

Day 6
The battle rages on, yet today in the form of hunger. While I have been classically trained in the arts of not eating, this cankerous need still fights its way in once in a great while. And yet, ADVENTure provides to fight this ill-bitch by punching it in the face with this
Its like it is four almost-individually wrapped sticks of peanut butter dynamite to explode it into nothingness. Thats right hunger, your getting the middle finger in the form of alternating layers of peanut butter and wafers covered in chocolate times four today.

In other news, Becca left for a frisbee tournament at 5 this morning, so I've been up and bored. I did watch Empire Records though, so I got that going for me.

Damn the man, save the Empire

ADVENTure Day 3: Good Eats

Long day and it was all out of sorts, but Becca came to work with me today to work with 3-year olds, so that was good for her, and thats the magic number for the day.

Not only is it Day 3 of glorious ADVENTure, but its also December 3rd, which Would be our 3 month anniversary had we gotten married in September instead of October. Its also how many gifts I got today

I got not one, not two, but thre Reese's peanut butter cups today, which is great because I really enjoy eating these. Now, if they were the christmas ones instead of the traditional everyman peanut butter cup, I would probably not eat them. I'm not secularist towards chocolatey treats that specifically celebrate a certain time of year due to their beliefs. I just believe that they are not good because they choose to look like trees. It may not be the most flashiest of gifts received or to come, but its much better than some of the filler gifts I have in store for Becca. Whats exciting to think about though that that there is an entire bag of these lurking about in the house that I must now find and exterminate.

Huzzah.

ADVENTure Day 2: Drink of Life

Twice in a day, I must be awesome...why yes I am.

Today is the second day of the radical and bodacious ADVENTure, an event that makes Lumpy wish he was Christian so he wouldn't have to celebrate Life Day by watching Jefferson Starship. Now, I know that you have all been waiting to find out what I possibly could have gotten today since the nail-biting reveal this morning of what I opened yesterday (some sexy fish-themed underware for the lazy who hadn't read up yet). As we all know the second day could very well be a game changer...will it keep in theme with male lingerie and/or fish, or will it go in a completely different direction?

COFFEE!!! A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIRECTION AND JUST IN TIME TOO!!!!

As it so happens, we ran out of coffee Monday, and realised it yesterday. Fortunately for me, Becca had visited mystical southern Connecticut recently, and had stolen this treat from local Peruvian inuits who have learned the art of french roasting. God bless those who steal to give to me.

Still curious as to what I have been giving Becca? So are many others - harass her until she makes a blog to share. And stay tuned to see what other lies I tell in regards to the gifts I get.

ADVENTure Day 1: The ADVENTure box and the first gift

Off to a great start by being late on the first day, so lets get going.

Last year I made Becca an elaborate ADVENTure box that was sealed off to the real world and contained nothing but joyful and magic and christmas cheer, that required you to pierce into it with a sharp knife and cut out your daily gift. This year Becca box is looking a bit lame, so I will have to fix that, but the box that she made for me...Oh boy.

What Becca has done is individually wrapped 24 gifts, and then tethered them to ribbons attached to numbered tags for the days of Advent. Every morning I get to pull out the number tab and follow the ribbon to my joyous gift. Its pretty intense looking inside the box right now.

So, when I pull out the first days gift, this is what I find at the other end of the line:

What can it possibly be? golf clubs? video game? another cat?
No, Its underware! But the are covered in the remains of a thousand dead fish, in celebration of the upcoming Dead Fish Run, so it makes it that much more awesome.

So what did I get Becca? Well, she doesn't have a blog or anything yet, but she was saying she is going to start one to share what she's getting. I'd suggest friending her on Facebook and telling her she needs to start one, even give her suggestions on what to call it. or just post your harrassment here in the comments and I'll make sure to tell her.

And so we return, as it begins

Hi all.

Just about to set off on at least a 25 day blogging spree, as both Becca and I are taking part in ADVENTure this year, which is going to be awesome. Wait, whats that? you don't know what ADVENTure is? But...what?

The short of it is ADVENTure is the 24 days leading up to Christmas, and in turn you make your own Advent calendar for someone else. And if you're lucky, someone will make one for you. While this will be my first year on the recieving end of it, last year was the kick off inaugeral event, where I totally stole the idea from friends Luke and Suzanne (shh...they may not know)

So what have I been doing since Lowemannzeit? Well, camp came and went, and that was good, only minor issues here and there. Becca and I got married, and you can read about it at Together Without A Map or you can look at photos from our photographer (gallery is "Becca & Michael", password is beccaandmichael if it works). Then we went on an awesome honeymoon to Oregon and Washington, where we stayed in a treehouse, saw the redwoods, went horseback riding, explored Seattle, took part in an adventure race, and had a birthday! We came home two weeks later, and almost immediately fans were hit. Becca got the call from the state, and she had been laid off (the day we got back mind you) and then yesterday her bike was stolen (which was a wedding gift from me to her, and was just paid off the day before)

Thats short of it. Some other stuff happened in there as well, including starting a daily photo blog, A Step Ahead of the Composition. Becca got me a killer camera as a wedding gift, so been trying to make use of that as often as I can. Also, after taking part in the adventure race on the honeymoon, decided that I wanted to run one here, and thus, the Dead Fish Run has been born. But thats to come, so we'll leave that as it is for now. But the Dead Fish Run is coming, tell your friends.

So yeah, thats about it. Pimped five blogs, three of which are my own, not too bad. ADVENTure coverage should be coming this afternoon/evening, but wanted to get something out there while I'm thinking about it.