*Conundra

I keep being distracted from things I should be doing by Six Flags and Diablo II and Disneyland and miniature golf and all the other random adventures I'm constantly getting myself into. Bad Megan!

I'm 80% done with an interview for ^Helewidis for Project Educate that I've had for about two weeks.
It needs to be all donesy in the next two days. I figure having a journal entry about it up so I'll see it every time I log onto DA will help spur me on to finish the thing.

... and I will have no life for weeks.

Blizzard has finally announced the development of the sequel to Diablo II, one of my all-time favorite games, and I'm so excited I just might pee myself.

Granted, the game itself most likely won't be released until sometime around 2011, and it will only have five character classes (two of which, the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor, the latter of which looks suspiciously like a Necromancer), but despite these drawbacks, I can't help but bounce around with impatient glee after a glimpse of the wank-worthy new graphics and physics engines, the phenomenal amount of gore and splatter, the new world-map, which hints at a bazillion and twelve possible acts instead of just five, and the mere fact that a new Diablo game is finally on the fucking horizon.

The general badassery that characterizes the Diablo franchise cannot be denied, and I cannot wait until its release date. When that day arrives, come hell, high water, college, work obligations, or any other supposedly important obligations that don't involve Diablo III, I will lock myself in my room with a brand-new computer and play until my eyes fall out of my head.

When I was younger, I was a little adrenaline junkie, and adored rollercoasters, but after steering clear of rides larger than Splash Mountain for a few too many years, I became quite the coaster-phobe.

In March, I visited Six Flags: Magic Mountain for the first time. I'd seen Goliath, X, and Tatsu on shows and in ads before, and just looking at the coasters made me meep with fear. Seeing them in person blew my mind.
I somehow managed to ride Goliath that day. My fear vanished completely as soon as we started falling down the 255 foot first drop, and I found myself having a ridiculous amount of fun. I felt ready to take on the world afterwards...
and then I saw Tatsu.

My first impression of Tatsu in person was one of curiosity, followed soon after by terror. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen, and it scared me shitless. 255-foot hills, manageable. The idea of being dangled horizontally a hundred feet in the air with only a couple of restraints standing between my face and the ground was another thing entirely. I'm not really the type to hide from things that scare me, so I made up my mind then and there to ride the damn thing.
I chickened out on my first visit, but I promised and added it to my list of 22 things before I turned 22 as extra insurance that I'd ride the bugger.

Today, Chris, his cousin Nick, and I went back to Magic Mountain, and I rode Tatsu. Strapping myself into the restraints, I was completely petrified. The second the vertical seats were raised into their horizontal position, my fear was replaced by excitement, my expression of mute terror gave way to an enormous, idiotic, childlike grin.

I'm kicking myself for not riding Tatsu sooner. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself that much - it's like the flying dreams I had as a small child come true.
I loved every second of it.

For the record, there's nothing better than riding Tatsu at night, and following it up with a turn on Goliath. The dopamine/adrenaline high is ridiculous.

Now that I've knocked Tatsu off my list, I'm setting my sights on X2. Any coaster with flamethrowers has to be orgasmic.

If I keep enjoying myself this much at Magic Mountain, I'm going to have to get a season pass.

Every day of the last five, I've been sick or otherwise indisposed.
Every day it's been something new.

Monday it was a sore throat
Tuesday it was a stuffy nose
Wednesday it was serious stomach trouble
Yesterday, I had a ridiculously bad headache that Tylenol barely made a dent in.
and today, I feel like I've been run over. While I slept, I somehow managed to pull a muscle in the left side of my ribcage by my waist, in addition to which, my shoulder muscles are incredibly sore. I also have the added pleasure of experiencing nausea after I eat.

I loathe being non-functional.
I've been useless and, at some points, helpless, far too often for my own liking over the last few days.
I need to be job-hunting and making money right now, not sleeping 12 hours a night and wishing I was asleep for the other 12 hours of the day.
I want to be able to do something other than whine at the interwebs all day.

GRAR!!!!

Woke up today to discover that my pageview total has climbed to 10,000 - I've been a member of DA for just under eight months, and I've also managed, in that time-span, to lure around 190 people into watching me. Not too shabby.

Spent yesterday shooting and spending time with =wynnesome and her beautiful new birds. I woke up with a sore throat out of nowhere, and I felt lousy for most of the day, but fortunately she was patient and put up with my lethargia and case of the general blahs. We ended up shooting two concepts and got some lovely material, which I'll be posting soon. We've got a lot more work to do together this summer, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

I seem to have picked up some sort of tummy bug on top of the sore throat/cold, and I feel wretched. When I don't feel right physically, it tends to throw me off on every level and put me into very unpleasant head-spaces.
Thus, this week is going to be completely unproductive - I'll be resting, relaxing, playing a lot of videogames, and living on ginger ale and saltines for the next few days until I feel better.