Yesterday was the day when this site got the most traffic in its three-year history, and I don’t know why.

But hey, hello and welcome new readers! I feel kinda bad for not having time to write something incredibly soulful, but in the meantime, enjoy this picture of squirrel porn.

UPDATE: Today is about to surpass yesterday’s record. It seems most of the visitors are coming from search engines, looking for images of Elektra. But why today? The web is weird and wonderful…

…who made this online comic about the Montreal bloggers, but it KICKS ASS. And almost totally (minus that whole part about my having a life) accurate.

“dudelitta, stu fais? on va boire esti” Crying here…

I smell the start of a trend…

Pimp my PSP.

(Still no cure for cancer).

Philippe has passed the baton to me in this latest meme. Easy blog.

How many books do you read a year?
Very few, around 10.

What is the last book you bought?
Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer

What is the last book you read?
Échecs amoureux et autres niaiseries, Matthieu Simard.

List 5 books that mean a lot to you or that you particularly enjoyed.
The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien.
What’s Bred in the Bone, Robertson Davies.
Emma, Jane Austen.
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera.

Who will you pass this on to? (3 bloggers)

Take it away Martine, Ed and Paolo.

In preparation for the circuit’s second race of the year, I applied most of the lessons I learned last time around. Didn’t drink the night before, trained like mad in the weeks preceding, made sure I didn’t get sick. And on Sunday morning, the run did feel amazing.

It was sunny and mild, early and quiet, and it started off great. However, about halfway through, my happy little runner’s high was interrupted by two loud men, obviously there to coach some poor girl through the race.

“SHE’S AVERAGING 5:45 PER KILOMETER”

“GOOD.”

“SHE SAYS SHE’LL ONLY SPEED UP AT THE 500 METER MARK”

“OH, OK”

I couldn’t see who “she” was, but I got an annoyingly loud play-by-play of her progress. I was a little embarrassed that they were being so loud, so early in a residential area. At one point, one of them asked me “How you doin’, Lucky Seven?”. I gave him a thumbs up then accelerated away.

I soon forgot about “Pascale” and her coaches. Then I saw the finish line about 700 meters away, and wondered exactly when to push to the finish, and how much to push myself. I had plenty left in me, but didn’t want to die out before the finish line.

Then the annoying voices returned.

“YOU CAN DO IT PASCALE! PUSH IT PUSH IT PUSH IT!”

“THAT’S IT, YOU HAVE TO BEAT LUCKY SEVEN!”

Now why did they have to drag me into it? I glanced over and for the first time, I saw her. She was an intense burgundy color, soaked, and managed an exhausted “ch’pus capable”. Feeling bad for her having to run with those two on her back, I let her overtake me.

But the finish was almost on us, and I still had all this energy. It was all I could do to stay slow enough to let her stay ahead.

So my altruism was short-lived. I always say I don’t run with others because I don’t want my pace influenced. And now, I’m being influenced by a stranger, I thought. Screw it. With the finish in sight, I turned the turbines on full and overtook her and three others.

I’d like to train with others, but I just can’t do it without things like this happening. I can’t just do my own thing. Call it competitiveness, conformity, sociability, I can’t help but see it as a race, one I’ll feel bad for losing, or for winning. I frankly don’t understand how running clubs do it. I really wish things were different, but it looks like my social running experience will remain limited to online forums for a while longer.

Agace-manette n.m. Gars qui entre dans ton bureau et te donne un build de ton jeu en disant “Voici la dernière version. Tu vas ca-po-ter!”
- Pour vrai?
- Non. Y’a presque rien de changé.
- Maudit agace-manette.

Hey! It works in English too!

Joystick-tease Noun. Guy who walks into your office with a build of your game and says “Here’s the latest version. You’ll be blown away!”
- Really???
- No. Almost nothing has changed.
- You joystick-tease.

You gotta love this, made using nothing but actual gameplay in Soul Caliber.

Via Dan

Helping the blogfather organize tomorrow’s big party:

[13:11] chickatlitespeed: well, can I drop off the stuff at Zeke’s tomorrow? that’s not a problem
[13:11] Patrick: and leave it where in the mean time?
[13:11] chickatlitespeed: I’ll take it home
[13:12] Patrick: did you see the stuff?
[13:12] chickatlitespeed: no
[13:12] Patrick: how big is it?
[13:13] chickatlitespeed: if it fits in my car, I can move it
[13:13] Patrick: hehe
[13:13] chickatlitespeed: it’s not an issue. i have thomas coming over tonight, so I can get him to help me.
[13:14] chickatlitespeed: ;l=-
[13:14] Patrick: ok then. i’ll call zeke back. give him his afternoon off
[13:14] Patrick: what the hell is that smiley?!
[13:15] chickatlitespeed: it’s not a smiley
[13:15] chickatlitespeed: It’s me reaching over for my coffee and hitting the keyboard with my boobs.

…for Yulblog, in The Hour this time.

Yep, it’s for real:

Of course, to be complete, it needs sections on:
- Daylight: who needs it?
- A guide to generic no-name sodas: your best fuel for battle
- It counts as losing your virginity even if she’s an NPC: getting in-game nookie
- Kissing the GM’s ass for XP: ten tried-and-true methods
- No I wasn’t flat-footed, check page 38 of the third-edition sourcebook: winning dick-size arguments on who knows the most minute details of rules
- Well maybe you weren’t flat-footed, but my dice are see-through crystal blue: aggression through digressions

What am I forgetting?

(thanks Dr. Wank)

* NPC = Non-Player Character
GM = Game Master
XP = Experience Points