So I haven't updated for a while. I don't know, I've been feeling disconnected from everything lately. Part of it may be because I got a new computer and have been setting up everything slowly... but it doesn't really feel like mine yet. I read my email, but somehow it doesn't feel like I have to respond to it. I don't know, it's very strange. I think I'm also just way busy nowadays. (Which sucks because I need to update clonecommandos.net so much.)

(My new computer is awesomely leet BTW... I need to get Battlefront II sometime and pump the graphics! )

Anyways, I thought I'd update anyways, because though I don't have a lot to say, I do miss talking about SW when I don't update.

First of all, I am totally hyped on Mando'a, the Mandalorian language, these days. I love learning a new language! I've also been listening to the Republic Commando music a LOT and I can now say that I have 99% of the Mando'a memorised. (This is significant for me, because I'm not the kind of person who learns song lyrics easily - let alone when they're not in English!) My favourite song of the moment is Ka'rta Tor and I currently have Ni cuyi kandosii sa kyr'am ast ("I am as ruthless as death itself", more or less) as my MSN Messenger personal message. And yes, I wrote that from memory.

On the Mando'a thread, we're all practicing by inserting any Mando'a words we know into our normal (ie. English/Basic) sentences. I did consider doing that here, lol. I'll spare you all (ven ni spare gar an ), but it's rather fun.

Mando'a is really starting to change my insults vocabulary in a very strange way. Case in point... I run a lot of websites, and lately I've been getting lots of spam through the forms on my sites. So the other day I was changing the forms so they couldn't be used by people with certain IP addresses (since all the spam was coming from the same addresses), and I needed a message to display if the form can't be submitted because the IP is blocked. This is what I wrote:
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This IP address is blocked. Go away, dirty evil di'kutla spammer! :P
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Now I use Mando'a all the time on my Republic Commando website, but the subject matter fits the context there. The above message is used on many of my sites that have absolutely nothing to do with SW! But insulting people in a way that they'll have no idea what you're actually saying is so much more fun... it's like you get the satisfaction of insulting them PLUS the amusement factor. Hehe.

I also did something else the other day - I wrote Mando'a in Aurebesh. I love Aurebesh, and I'm very fluent at writing it (and pretty good at reading it). Now I know that the Mandalorians had their own written alphabet, but as that hasn't be officially released it's hard for me to use that. Also, I already know one SW written language and I don't particularly want to learn another nowadays (learning Mando'a itself is hard enough!) ... so writing it in Aurebesh was cool. I can still read it, though not quite as easily as English in Aurebesh. So anyways, I scanned my handwritten paper with Aurebesh Mando'a for you all to see...
Click here!
What does it say? The lyrics to Ka'rta Tor!

Mando'a rocks. The next thing I want to know how to say is the verb 'to like' or 'to love', so I can say "I love Mando'a" in Mando'a. Or maybe it's just because aimer was the first French verb I learned, and this was one of the first Greek verbs I learned. So in my third non-native language, I feel a need to know that verb too! Hehe.

Alright, next topic: Comics! Ok, so since I last talked about this, I've read a bunch more comics... let's see... Outlander, Twilight, and Darkness, and I also have Clone Wars volumes 1-6. They're all so good! It's funny, because those three gave me total 'prequel' vibes, because I'd already read the CW ones when I read those so I knew the characters and the rough outline of the plot. But I got to find out how it all happened! That was nifty. I have no issues with reading SW stuff out of order.

Of course, I've recently been reading the New Essential Chronology (wow, there's a LOT of stuff in the Clone Wars era that I didn't know about!) and I do like the fact that it's written chronologically. It puts things in perspective, I think. So I think I'm going to go back and read all my comics chronologically. Especially regarding Quinlan Vos and his plot in the CW comics (as a single, double, and triple agent, lol), it can get rather confusing. I feel like my brain has all the information, but it's not organized. So I need to do a brain defrag, hehe - get everything sequential, unfragmented, and generally better.

And finally, I'll leave you with an anecdote... I just got my Insider #85 magazine in the mail today, and I have it open on my desk to the short story Two-Edged Sword on the page with the picture of Vader and the saber-wielding stormtroopers (let's see... Hyperspace members can go here... the pic near the bottom). Both my brother and my sister separately came in my room and said something akin to "stormtroopers with lightsabers? what the heck..." and when I said something like "they're leet stormtroopers" (yes, I say "leet" in real life... probably more than online, even!), they both wondered why they still wore stormie armour. My brother was adamant that only people who wore capes or hooded cloaks could use lightsabers. (In a silly joking way though. ) I tried to think of a counter-example with him, but we could only come up with Asajj Ventress... and she does wear a cloak at the beginning of the Clone Wars cartoons. Anyways, I think the Dark Jedi stormies are awesome.

I should actually finish reading that story... I got kinda sidetracked. Ok, until next time...