...after the Pellenor Fields, the playing fields and the Secret Cow Level.

Fall always gets me in the mood to watch The Lord of the Rings. It's probably because in the first movie, it's fall, and much of the themes are the ending of the Middle Earth as it was.  So I've managed to watch it twice in the last few weeks.  Between the reflections of the smallest among us rising to the great occasion and the fact that watching an army of 100,000 orcs get ridden down by 6,000 horse is just fucking cool, it's a good way to eat up a little time.  What I really need is the extended version of the movies.  Because 9 hours and 17 minutes in Middle Earth is not enough (that's the total run time, I added it up).

I'd like to companion it with a reading of the books, but unfortunately, my books are falling apart.  I tend to read the shit out of books until they do, indeed, fall apart.  When it's a thin crap book that won't fuss me if it collapses, not so bad.  But it's always the big paperbacks that are both the best and the quickest chewed apart. 

Of course, a fall day off would not be complete without a trip out to watch someone play soccer.  Today (and tomorrow) it's my nephew that was playing.  I can report that they won 2-1.  Yay.  And I actually saw all the scores, despite my children.  They are preschoolers, they have legs, and there was a play area within line of sight.   I don't think I need to elaborate.

The great thing about playing through a game is finding all the Easter eggs and bonus shit they pack in.  In Diablo II, it's the Secret Cow Level.  Imagine herds of cows, on two legs, sounding like people saying "moo" and chasing you down with poleaxes.  It's fun.

The problem is that after all this, I get the kids bedded and I find I'm still behind on cleaning the house.  It's mostly clean, if that's any consolation to myself.  It won't be when my mother shows up, so perhaps I need to stop blogging long enough to clean this mess up.  I have to get up for a damned meeting in the morning (Sunday morning is really quiet in the world of tech support), and that means sleep by midnight.  It's ten minutes until 11 now. 

With ice cream and "personal time" still to fit in, I'd better get cracking before the snacking and whacking....