Worm Hunting

Sometimes, you just gotta go do something ridiculous. It might have a purpose, maybe not, but if one day you wake up, look outside, and decide you want to gather up a large quantity of worms, well, this is the blog post for you.

First of all, go barefoot. Why? Because everyone needs an excuse to go romping around in the mud, and worm hunting is one of those reasons.

Second of all, go after a rainfall. Why? Well, apparently worms come crawling out of the ground after a rain. I've never really seen it myself, but you might get lucky. And hey, you need after-rain mud to squish inbetween your toes, right?

Now, if you seriously want to go digging for these crawly critters (maybe for fish bait, maybe for animal food, maybe just for fun) digging around in the ground is a sure-fire solution. Just as long as you have some dirt you're sure to find some worms as well, assuming you dig around long enough. But the problem is, you don't get very many little creepy crawlies this way, and most of them aren't really big either. So, how can you improve your worm hunting skills? Well look for fallen branches and logs, silly!

In all seriousness, any object that has been plastered onto the ground (you can tell because the bottom bits will be sunk into the dirt a little) is what you're looking for. Warm up those muscles and push whatever you find aside, and sure enough you'll see tons of worms nestled underneath! Other critters, such as centipedes, slugs, and ants are also common, but whether or not you want to collect those too is purely optional.

Now this is when you have to be fast. The little worms aren't all that worried about what you just did, but the big fat ones (like nightcrawlers) get pretty scared pretty fast. Though you'd assume that the smaller worms would be the faster worms, this unfortunately is not the case. So if you're hunting for large prey rather then mere numbers, you have to be quick. Having a garden scoop is handy here; though worms quickly slide down into the dirt if you're careful you can dig them out before they crawl too far out of sight. Inevitably, you're going to lose some of them. But, how fun would this hunting experience be if you caught everything you were searching for?

And, well, that's all there is to it! Worm hunting might not be the msot exciting of sports, but lack of complexity is not directly proportional to lack of fun. However, an enjoyment of slimy things definitely helps.

Pictures are not related, but definitely hilarious. (Thanks to my dad for finding this in the first place.)

Dungeons and Dragons Strikes Again

You know, D&D is one of those nerdy things that never seems to get anywhere, but never really goes away either. It's different, fun, and always hilarious, but in terms of actual plot and normal RPG style progression, nothing really happens. You kill some baddies, sometimes you die, every session comes with a slew of witty jokes, bathroom humor, and awkward roleplay. And, nearly every campaign has a fight that ends in a truely awesome way. But, eventually, people get busy or lose interest or something goes wrong, and the campaign drops off at a strange spot and

never is picked up again. However, sure enough, a month or two or three later someone says "HAY GUYS, lets play D&D, I got some suh-weet ideas!" and the process starts all over again.

It occurs to me that there are a few things that have taken on this "on-off" cycle throughout the years. Starcraft, obviously the best game ever (in my opinion), is one that always seems to make a comeback and delivers fun times. Diablo 2 appears now and again, and usually we'll all play halfway through Nightmare or a little bit into Hell before we realize how much of a pain in the ass the game is and move on. Magic has swelled and receeded, never really dissapearing completely but always sort of in the background; the game that fills up the boring times between other events. And, of course, World of Warcraft, a game that sticks around primarily because it is so damn addictive. There are other things too, like Smash Bros and nightly walks and other (less nerdy) things that come and go as well.

It makes me wonder what it is about these activities that makes them cycle in and out. They are all extremely fun, but I suppose that without variety even the most refreshing of activities can quickly become stale. So you need to boot them out and then bring them back in order to keep getting enjoyment out of them. I guess this is a pretty obvious conclusion... but it was on my mind. I think there would be a lot more activities that would take on this nature if people were able to participate in them. Especially "kid things" if you know what I mean, like playing at a park or who knows what. (Not that you can't play at a park now, but people would look at you pretty wierd if you did.)

You know, if adults were allowed to play in playgrounds, I think there would be a lot less fat people in the world. And why can't they? I mean, playgrounds are fun, and healthy! But think about it, if you saw some 30 year old man crawling around on top of the monkey bars (yes, you're not supposed to be on top, but everyone did it!) it would probably wierd you out a bit. There are a lot of things in the world that are like that. I mean, I'd love to go and play pretend out in the woods with some toys like I did as a kid. But it's just... not acceptable I guess. And because of that I'd feel wierd doing it too. I really think if there wasn't such a stigma attached to

adulthood, where you "need to grow up" and "stop doing kid things" people would be a lot healthier in general. They could just go play pretend and enjoy simple things sometimes, and you know, that makes people feel good. Sometimes you just have to go play pretend, or climb on top of the monkey bars.

Uuuh, wow. This post got out of hand.

Anyway, I've had the next panel of Adventures in D&D nearly finished for a few months now, so I should probably get on that and continue with it. It really was a great fight, and extremely hilarious at the time, so I should finish what I started! Here is a teaser in the meantime:

This time the Ent is the one freaking out....

The main reason why I should finish this strip is to make way for future strips. D&D always has funny moments just begging to be illustrated, you know? :)

10 things about ND that are different than MN

1.) "Can I have a sack?"

I'm not really sure where this came from, but at least fifty percent of the people who come into my work a call bags "sacks." It is more common among older folk then younger, and definitely more common among people from other states like Texas and Montana. I just wonder where the name came from, because "bag" seems to make so much more sense to me then "sack." Oh well!

2.) Fat Chicks

This is probably more of an area thing then a problem with all of North Dakota, but the percent of fat chicks is much larger here then it is in Minnesota. (Male obesity rates seem to be about the same.) I'd say about nine out of every ten women are very large, which seems wierd because most of the people around here are involved in farming and oil working. Perhaps oil workers make so much that their wives can just sit at home and get fat? I'm not even trying to be mean here, it's just true!

3.) Box Burning

In Minnesota, most cardboard boxes are unrecycleable or else they need to got through an entirely different system in order to be re-used. In North Dakota? Just burn those sons-of-bitches! I guess in Minnesota it is illegal to burn boxes, which is absurd (in my opinion) because they burn clean and stores get so many of them, and it's not like they're hard to make. Oh well!

4.) Gun Laws

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the gun laws in Minnesota, but when transporting a firearm in a car you must have it unloaded and in a gun case. North Dakota is almost completely opposite. If you have your guns cased, they have to be in a place in the car that is easily visible. And, it is not illegal to have them uncased and loaded. Shooting prairie dogs out of the window of your car is probably one of the most hilarious things I've done while I've been up here, and in Minnesota it would be completely impossible.

5.) Cowboys

I'm going to be competely honest here; I really didn't think cowboys existed anymore. Not in terms of the profession, because there is obviously enough free-range cows around to warrent the existance of cowboys. I'm talking the dress style. Tall leather boots, the signature cowboy hat, plaid shirts nestled underneath a stylish, fringed leather jacket? Oh how wrong I was. On a side note, however, it is a pretty attractive style on skinny young guys, so I suppose the fact that it still exists isn't really a bad thing. :)

6.) White Trucks

Is white a very interesting car color to you? I didn't think so! But I guess in North Dakota it is. Again, this could be just a regional difference, but the amount of white trucks in this place compared to other colored trucks is at least 2:1. Why are there so many!? I really have no idea. One day I held a count of how many white trucks I saw while going about my normal business, and I made it well up into the forties. I just don't get it!

7.) Montana Tax

"Uhm, yeah, I'm from Montana but I'm in North Dakota so can I just skip your tax and have mine instead?" Yeah, I know it sounds dumb, enough that when someone asked for it for the first time I just laughed at him. (Not a very good idea for a cashier to do, and he wasn't very happy about it.) But, apparently, in North Dakota this is actually possible! If you're from Montana and you buy over $50 of anything, you can take off the North Dakota tax and have Montana tax instead. What the hell? Too bad I'm from Minnesota I guess....

8.) "Sorry, you're not old enough to look at booze."

In North Dakota, liquor stores tend to be in places that you don't really expect them to be. Like, latched on the side of a Wal-mart, or nestled in the back of a convenience store. But, what's even more surprising is that you can't enter one unless you're 21. Period. I found this out the hard way, by following my dad into one after a day of shopping. Once I told the lady at the counter my age she gave me a huge buggy-eyed stare and pointed towards the door, complete with incoherent babbling that I didn't quite understand. What I want to know is why? "Oh no, I've been in a beer store! I'M GOING TO DRINK AND HAVE LOTS OF SEX NOW!" It's just wierd, I guess this is a law I don't quite understand.

9.) 24-Hour Stores

You know those stores that are open 24/7, like Walmart or Cub Foods? In North Dakota there is a law that says that every 24-hour store must be closed for at least 8 hours a week. This kind of defeats the purpose of the 24 hour label wouldn't you say? At least they close Sunday mornings most of the time. Who would want to go to Walmart that early in the morning anyway?

10.) Drive-Through Subways

This is something I've never seen before until I came here. Maybe they exist in Minnesota, but if not, I wonder, why not!? Subways in North Dakota have a drive through option! It'd be a little more complicated then ordering a burger at Hardies, but also a lot more convenient for people on the go! I was pretty surprised when I found out about it myself, and my coworkers seemed pretty amused by my excitement. I suppose I'm just easily entertained or something. :)

Also, here is a WTF doodle that is not related to this post at all:

Aaand, me and Chad beat Diablo 2 last night. I took a screenshot as proof! Pretty cool huh? (My character was a summoning druid that attacked with a bow [hence the name PewPewDrood] and his was a concentrate barb that used a lot of warcries. Kind of a wierd combo but we ended up kicking ass.)