Samurai's Dojo

One morning last week i got into a discussion with a friend of mine about how i feel that i need to learn to be more aggressive in some ways.  It was then inferred that i did not know what that meant, being the clueless git that i am.  I still don't know what they meant though, so i thought i'd look it up and try and figure it out.

ag·gres·sive
[uh-gres-iv] -adjective
1. characterized by or tending toward unprovoked offensives, attacks, invasions, or like; militantly forward or menacing: aggressive acts against a neighboring country.
2. making an all-out effort to win or succeed; competitive: an aggressive basketball player.
3. vigorously energetic, especially in the use of initiative and forcefulness: an aggressive salesperson.
4.boldly assertive and forward; pushy: an aggressive driver.
5.emphasizing maximum growth and capital gains over quality, security, and income: an aggressive mutual fund.
6.Medicine/Medical .
      a.(of a disease or tumor) spreading rapidly or highly invasive; difficult or impossible to treat successfully.
      b.pertaining to a risky surgery or treatment, or to a medication that has grave side effects: aggressive chemotherapy.

Origin:
ag·gress
[uh-gres] -verb
1.to commit the first act of hostility or offense; attack first.
2.to begin to quarrel.

To be honest... in the context i had intended... most of those definitions were not what i was going for.  I wanted to say that i wanted to be the initiator, the first to begin as opposed to my furtive attempts before.  Always waiting to make sure i was not offending in some way.  I am not looking to quarrel i am just trying to lead in some ways. I guess if i were to apply one of these definitions it would be from #3 above.  Although... after this little exercise... i am still not sure.  LOL 

Things at work have been a little 'stormy' of late.  Just busy and chaotic.  Last week i was approached about the possibility of some kind of trip out to the mid-west.  I was both excited and nervous.  Excited because, well, i don't do a lot of business trips.  Nervous because i would be going into someone else's "house" to sniff around.  It's a long story, and one i would not like to air out here in public.  For my take on things, i would not be going to exert any kind of pressure.  I would only be there to get a better idea of how things are working there, look under the hood so to speak, and see what we could do to interact together more efficiently.  Today it looks as if the long reconnaissance patrol has been canceled. Basically i am standing by to stand by.

For some time now PUMPKIN (DD3) has been wanting a puppy REALLY bad.  Before i say anything else, i love dogs.  I like the comradery , the unconditional acceptance, and the incredible faithfulness of the canine species in general.  But in the end, i am not ready to have a dog in our home.  Dogs require a lot of care.  I do not want to get a dog and then neglect it in some fashion.  Of course she says she would take care of it, etc., but i know the truth.  Next winter when it is snowing i am going to be the one out there walking the dog and cleaning up the yard.  Then, there are the medical bills, etc. that eventually arise.  Due to allergies etc. a cat is out of the question too.  Note: unlike some dog lovers i am not opposed to cats.  I like cats for their independence and how they can (generally) clean up behind themselves.  They can also get in trouble and create messes too, but again... i am leery of the additional expense of having a cat.  Animals deserve, and require, care and one should not assume the responsibility of ownership of a pet unless you are prepared to care adequately for them.  As a compromise i went out and bought a starter ten gallon fish tank. We have it set up in her room to allow the water to balance out and we will be going to get the fish later this week.  I had never heard that the ratio for fish is generally 1" of fish per gallon of water capacity of the tank.  I am still pretty sure i will be the one who ends up taking care of the thing, but at least the fish won't smell up the house or tear up the yard.

I deferred my Dragon hunt in MouseHunt due to a special event where the amount of scrap metal dropped by the various mice was doubled.  "Farming" for scrap metal in MouseHunt is a test of endurance and patience.  I recently constructed a powerful base, but it took 200 pieces of scrap to make it.  I am pretty sure the cumulative time it took me to gather it all up was literally a month or so. Now, i am not sure what else i might need it for, or if there is something coming up that will needed it, but one cannot ignore such events on just the off chance it will come in handy.  Anyway... i have begun my Dragon hunt in earnest as of Monday.  If i catch two Dragons will be happy... if one of the two should happen to drop the blueprints for a very powerful Hydro trap... i will be ecstatic. Once this brief run (50 pieces of cheese maximum) is completed, i am finally beginning my run through the Seasonal Gardens and Zugzwang's Tower.  I have so been looking forward to this region because i LOVE chess... even though i am not very good at it.  In preparation i have already purchased and crafted the traps i am able to use at this level.  If i can get the Heat Bath blueprints from the Dragons i will be even more prepared.  Unfortunately i had to smash my one Chess themed trap that i did have to craft the even more powerful one... but i will save up to replace it.  I am going to shamelessly post each chess piece i catch on my facebook profile.  I apologize to my friends in advance for, perhaps, unwanted game advertisements.

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