Earl Yorke

My renewed and enhanced ambition. That’s what I am thankful for.

It has become a tradition for me to put up a post on this blog every Thanksgiving that describes what I am thankful for each year. Any of you who regularly visit this page know this very well, and I enjoy reading about what you are thankful for in your comments. It’s funny how just a simple name of a holiday will prompt people to acknowledge that, even with all of the bullshit that might be plaguing their lives, there is atleast one good thing that they appreciate about their own existence. That’s why this is one of my favorite holidays… that and the fact that it is the one day of the year that I have every excuse to stuff my face with food.

Anyway, getting back to my ambition… what I am thankful for; I am going back to school this winter! In addition to that, I finally landed a job where I have some real responsibility. I am the new freight manager at a local Dollar Tree, which might not sound like much, but you guys have no idea how much people bust their asses in that place. I work 5AM to 1PM, five days a week now, and I’ll tell you that those eight hours each day go by so fast. I don’t have a single moment to sit and breathe. We are going out straight from the moment we get in there until the moment we leave. It’s nuts, but very rewarding since at the end of the day I can actually see what I’ve accomplished.

Moving on to the school thing. I’ll be going to the York County Community College, starting this January. I have already been accepted, and I go in next month to enroll for my classes. I’m thinking of balancing computer-related courses with some creative writing, but the latter will not be my main focus unfortunately. I have to think practical, and I have to acknowledge the possibility that my work may never get out there. It is more important that I focus on creating a good foundation for my family’s future. I’m not saying that I’m not going to focus all of my free time on my dream… it’s still very much alive! In fact, you can all look forward to some posts about Trea’Loong: Fann’s Ascent in the near future.

That’s all for now. As always, I hope that you are all relaxed on this day and enjoying the time — dysfunctional as it most likely is — with your families.

[EDIT] … I guess that I don’t have the following that I once had. The current time is 11:09 PM on Thursday, November 29th. Is anyone coming here anymore?

World of Warcraft is played by millions of people at this point in time. Yes, I play it too… as much as i would like not to. It’s addictive, and I share this obsession with the wife. Of course I still get my writing done before I “relax” with WoW; I find it to be something of a release after a long day of hard work.

You may not understand what you are seeing in the following pictures, but these are of Dina and I playing the game. Most are just of me. I try to find the funniest and coolest pics to place as my desktop background. This is my entire “photo shoot” since the time when I figured out how to take in-game shots (which was only a few months ago… blech, I’m behind the times):

All of those skeletons you see are real people that I killed… yeah… I’m that badass

Dina and I flying over Socrethar’s seat on our brooms that will only last a few more days…

Dina in a skeleton costume… myself in a giant, orange costume

Dina and I in an awesome shot inside the Warmaul Hill mine

Dina reaching level 70… this takes a very long time… congratulations, Baby!

Me on my broomstick… I’ll assume that you guys know why I took this shot… it looks like I have a, um… you get it

Flying over Blasted Lands with my new helm… cost me alot of gold, which takes weeks to acquire

A seasonal quest in WoW gives you this helm to wear… here is mine! Pumpkin-head for the win!

Dina and I waiting to join a battleground

Yeah, I know that I’m a day late, but we got back so late from trick-or-treating the other night that I just passed out. We had a great time cruising the neighborhood in search of the ultimate candy haul, and the results were quite satisfying for Cedric and D’Anna.

This marks the first year that we felt lame enough to dress the dog up, and as you will see in the pictures below, she looked like a complete dummy in her costume (not that she doesn’t look stupid enough without it). The only problem that we faced taking this dog trick-or-treating was that she would bark incessantly at any person who answered the door for the kids. It didn’t take long for me to alter the game-plan and just keep her in the car with me while Dina and the kids did their thing. This didn’t stop her from barking though… blech. This will probably be the last year she comes with us.

I could write alot more about our Halloween, but I’m pretty sure that my endless Dog Tale has already put you to sleep. I’ll now make with the pictures…

Cedric as Batman! I love that he’s in this stage.

D’Anna, keeping with the Batman theme as Catwoman.

The moron as Snow White.

Setting out in search of candy… and people to bark at for no reason.

The haul… they ate half of it that very night. What is amazing is that they didn’t get sick!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! Next stop… Thanksgiving.

Mmmm… mom’s banana cream pie.