Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 15:26
Section: Journalism
Originally published in the December 19, 2006 edition of the Hesperia Star.
With both parents in Iraq, 20-year-old Hesperian raises her four sisters alone
Twenty-year-old Audrey Delgadillo doesn’t go to parties. She doesn’t spend her time hanging out with her friends. She doesn’t stay out late and wake up late the next morning. Audrey is raising her four younger sisters while her mother and stepfather are serving in Iraq.
Just for the handful of people who haven’t seen it yet …
The Cinematics department at Blizzard takes more than a year to work on a cinematic, answering the persistent question of “why don’t these guys make a movie?” They’d love to, of course, but it would mean hiring a lot more folks very quickly, with a possible (perhaps even probable) loss in overall quality. And, of course, someone would need to make a cinematic for whatever Blizzard’s next release in that period as well.
In any case, for those who don’t know what the heck that cinematic is about, Illidan, the narrator, is a night elf whose story is told in Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. Thousands of years ago, he was part of the night elf forces seeking to keep the Burning Legion (an army of demons that travel from world to world, sucking the magic out of it and laying waste to it) from Azeroth.
Unlike his (goody-goody) brother and his brother’s girlfriend, he was more interested in defending the world’s magical resources than in fighting the Burning Legion. In thanks, the night elves through his immortal butt into the equivalent of night elf Sing-Sing, until he’s freed during the course of the Warcraft III storyline, when the night elves decide that, it might be nice to have Illidan back, now that the Burning Crusade is invading again. Naturally, this is something of a mixed deal, and after the Burning Crusade are routed at the end of Warcraft III, he decides he’s not going back into stir and takes off to the former orc world of Draenor, now known as Outland after it was blown into chunks in the expansion to Warcraft II and put the smack down on the night elf marshal (essentially) sent to drag him back to pointy-ears prison.
In the expansion to World of Warcraft, the Burning Crusade opens the door between Outland and Azeroth. This is bad news for Illidan because, not only will it mean yet more damn night elves coming after him (and really, I pretty much feel the same way about the night elves that he does), he’s worried that the Alliance and Horde will reactivate all the other portals on Outland that he’s worked to shut down. And that, in turn, will alert the main army of the Burning Crusade that Outland is still a strategic asset and, oh yes, your old nemesis Illidan is still around.
Anyone who’s said that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” never met Illidan.
I just got Hanna and Lucky microchipped. Unfortunately, these are passive RFID chips, so I can’t monitor where they are at all times, like they were on kitty Lojack or something.
Still, since Hanna freaks out when a collar is put on her and Lucky will (no kidding) flex his neck muscles and make his pop off (the vet assistant today when she saw him: “Wow, that’s a big cat!”), this is probably the most likely way of getting them back if they run outside at some point.
Friday, December 15, 2006, 11:33
Section: Journalism
As you may have seen in today’s Daily Press (the article isn’t online, other than in the epaper), a decision has been reached in the battle between the two rival pageant organizations each claiming the right to hold the Miss Hesperia, Miss Apple Valley and Miss Victorville pageants, with the original owner of the names, Empire Pageants, winning the battle.
In case you missed the previous stories on the subject, here’s a round-up of the Star’s coverage:
Who knew that me covering the Miss Virginia pageant years ago would turn into a series of stories 3,000 miles away?
Also in today’s Daily Press (but also not on the Web site, so you’ll have to check out the epaper) is a profile by Hillary Borrud of my cats’ vet, Dr. Ahmed of Hesperia Animal Hospital. Great, great vet and a great guy. His care for 20-year-old Motley Sue will forever endear him to me. And I recommend him wholeheartedly: He’s not cheap, but you get great value for your dollar.
So, my ginchy rimless glasses fell apart the other day while in Von’s, shopping for ingredients for my chili, in preparation for the Hesperia Star’s holiday potluck party.
One of the tiny nuts that attaches to the bolts had fallen off, and since it’s about the size of the flea, it’s just gone. The glasses are in two pieces now, with each lens on its one, and one of them retaining custody of the nose piece.
Under normal circumstances, I’d take the glasses back to LensCrafters, have them slip on a new nut, tighten the whole works up and be just fine. But our only local LensCrafters is in the mall. And it’s Christmas.
So it’ll be a squinty holiday for me for the next few weeks, unless it’s a situation where I can wear my prescription sunglasses instead. Ho, ho, ho.
Originally published in the December 19, 2006 edition of the Hesperia Star.
