Jamie Wakefield

For those of you into comics, these past couple of days are for you. Read the post before this one and then make sure to read Mr. Fantastic’s response in the comments section. His comment is better than the blog post, with links to back up his points. Really, really well done. Go read that then come back here. One of my failings is, I don’t create enough of a sense of community by not replying enough to comments. I will work on improving that. Mr. Fantastic, 1) Excellent points on Superman. I do have to disagree on the last part though. I like to read about stiff white bread characters. Superman and Captain America are my two favorite ongoing characters. Well, I haven’t read their comics in years because they have been shite, but when written well, they are my favorites. 2) I think Iron Man was an Alcoholic before Speedy became addicted to heroin, but I might be wrong on that. Your kung-fu is strong, so you’re probably right. 3) Marvelman aka Miracleman is one of my favorite characters...

I have been reading The Authority trades in my spare time. Reading The Authority opens my eyes a lot to what could really be happening in comics, which is, pretty much, anything you can imagine. It’s actually poorly written, but it does stretch the bounds of the imagination. They have a Superhero called Apollo who is, essentially, Superman. He shoots beams from his eyes, can lift buildings, fly in space and swim in lava. He is one of the least powerful member of the team. The villains they face are like nothing the DC universe has ever seen. A man so powerful he can snuff out the sun or stop time forever. There is a hero who can command entire cities to attack whoever he wants, including entire armies, by sucking them inside building walls or bludgeoning them with bricks and mortar. Imagine New York City attacking an invading force of 10,000 soldiers. There is an alien being that needs to be defeated that is essential God, as in, it created the Earth and has returned. It is so large it...

BenJamon has informed me my wedding photos link did not work and to try this one instead - http://wendyandjamie.shutterfly.com/pictures

I’d like to say we have a lazy day, but we don’t. The morning is filled with things we need to do but the late afternoon is lazy. Our second day home, Wendy says- “Let’s take him to the dog park.” “The one across the street?” “No, the one by the Temple de Diebold where that little café is.” “I don’t know if he can walk that far.” “If he can’t we’ll stop and rest and get him some water and come home.” I am dubious, and as usual, wrong. I come from a cautious family and I can’t help it. The safe route always seems smart to me. 99% of the time, I am wrong, so I have learned to just go along with what Wendy suggests and it usually works out just fine. Thor still hates the stairs but I hold his harness and guide him down, letting him know I’m there to support him. He hugs the wall, as far away from the hole that leads to the bottom floor as possible. He stops at every door as if to ask “In here?” No. Keep going. On the street he is not frightened of the cars, or the people, or the noise, or...

For those not on Facebook, this is the site Wendy has chosen for everyone to upload their photos and videos. http://wendyandjamie.shutterfly.com/pictures These are not the professional photographer's pictures but all our wonderful friend's photos. Enjoy.

I drop Wendy, the little dog, four huge bags of luggage and two carry-ons off at our terminal, then do my best to find the rental return for our car. Even with the GPS, I still get lost once. Meanwhile, Wendy and the little dog are in full sunlight on the hottest day of the year, waiting outside for my return. The return lot is packed and I am frantic to get back to my wife and child. Finally someone attends to me and then I hop on the bus back to our terminal, which is, of course, the last stop. We load everything onto luggage carts and attempt to check in. They board the dog without blinking. There is, honestly, a hilarious story that goes along with this, but if I put it on the web, the terrorists win. That’s not even a joke. See me in person for the story. Eleven hours later we arrive in Madrid and a half an hour after we get our luggage, Thor is delivered to us. So now it is onward to customs… Oh God... We have everything we need, right? Yes. Thor is in a green dog crate, the kind...

My sister has had care of Thor for the past four years but he has been having “disagreements” with her new pit bull, as in, Thor thought they were playing while the pit bull thought they were fighting to the death, so he was given back to me. While Thor is a great dog, we no longer have any dog accessories, and, also, not insignificantly, live in a completely different country. Wendy and I approached two different dachshund rescue sites but they suck and couldn’t find a home for him in three months. By the time we are ready to leave, we have decided to keep him, because, well, he’s the best dog ever. Plus, I thought he would be a good trial baby. How would having this dog affect our lifestyle? Multiply that times ten and you have a baby, so, let’s see how that goes. Thor needs all kinds of official paperwork to let him travel from the U.S. to the European Union, but I have that all under control. The week before the wedding, I race him down to the vet for the all important rabies sho...

Yes, the wedding details are coming. It is long already and Wendy is looking it over to make sure I didn’t forget anything. So, for now you get this. I would like to add, this was a four page single-spaced Word document before the brilliant Wendy came and talked to me about my move to the free side on StarCityGames.com. It eventually dissolved into this- "How many StarCityGames.com articles do you want to write a week?" "One." "How many times a week do you want to update your website?" "Every day." "Is that possible?" "This is my hero. Look. The Watchtower of Destruction by The Ferrett. He updates every day." "Notice how he does paragraphs and you do four pages at once." "...." "Break up this entry (which no one has read yet) and your writing for the week is done. Expand on some of it. Post it as 'The Saga of Thor...' to be continued. "No one really wants to read four pages at once anyway....