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Summer Madness
Jul. 4th, 2025 08:09 pmI'm glad for the day off, of course, but there's not much to celebrate today.
It is fucking hot and I hate it. I at least got the Impala's AC recharged, but the actuators are still fucked and it intermittently blows warm air on the driver's side. Frustration, coming and going.
It was good to be away from work and clients for a couple of extra days. I didn't do much, and much of what I did do was unsatisfying. I did get plenty of rest, and that's not nothing.
Saturday was Free RPG Day. Went over to Golden Keep and picked up a few things, bought the BattleTech Alpha Strike box. The store has been scheduling demo nights for an array of games - playing Alpha Strike there a week or so ago was a good time, and it's hard to beat getting in a lance-on-lance fight in about an hour. The box is a heck of a deal, two IS lances and a Clan Star for $80, plus all of the maps and terrain and stuff. They're hosting a Mothership demo night on the 26th, and I'm hoping to make it out for that.
Slur Your Role didn't go well tonight. I was the only board member there following a last-minute cancellation; two players had tried to get into my game but the ticketing system wouldn't let them; one person who had bought a ticket for my game didn't ion show; no one showed for another GM's game and I invited him to join mine and boy did he live up to the "mostly a D&D5 and MMO player" in his bio. It's Star Wars, dude, do more than endlessly ask for "who looks disgruntled in this bar" and ah fuck it.
Finally got around to seeing John Wick: Chapter Four. Liked it more than the third one, felt it was a return to the feel of the first two.
It was good to be away from work and clients for a couple of extra days. I didn't do much, and much of what I did do was unsatisfying. I did get plenty of rest, and that's not nothing.
Saturday was Free RPG Day. Went over to Golden Keep and picked up a few things, bought the BattleTech Alpha Strike box. The store has been scheduling demo nights for an array of games - playing Alpha Strike there a week or so ago was a good time, and it's hard to beat getting in a lance-on-lance fight in about an hour. The box is a heck of a deal, two IS lances and a Clan Star for $80, plus all of the maps and terrain and stuff. They're hosting a Mothership demo night on the 26th, and I'm hoping to make it out for that.
Slur Your Role didn't go well tonight. I was the only board member there following a last-minute cancellation; two players had tried to get into my game but the ticketing system wouldn't let them; one person who had bought a ticket for my game didn't ion show; no one showed for another GM's game and I invited him to join mine and boy did he live up to the "mostly a D&D5 and MMO player" in his bio. It's Star Wars, dude, do more than endlessly ask for "who looks disgruntled in this bar" and ah fuck it.
Finally got around to seeing John Wick: Chapter Four. Liked it more than the third one, felt it was a return to the feel of the first two.
Nine Pound Hammer
Jun. 15th, 2025 07:52 pmEarly escape on Friday was good. I did get in some time with a couple of my favorite clients before going home and reading a nice chunk of Moscow X.
Went to the No Kings rally on Saturday. 4500-5000 people there, passionate but peaceful. No signs of trouble all afternoon.
Nerd Louisville board meeting after that. Nothing exciting. I'm not running for re-election at the end of the year. I haven't engaged with the position very much, and, honestly, I'm happier running games than being in this leadership and organizational role.
Drove to Liberty to see Dad after the meeting. Early Father's Day dinner and good talk. Spent the night, played with the dog, did some other stuff. Good times.
This will be a short week. June 19 is a holiday for us, and I took a vacation day on the 20th for a nice four-day weekend. Got some things on the schedule, and some time blocked out to just allow myself to recharge.
Went to the No Kings rally on Saturday. 4500-5000 people there, passionate but peaceful. No signs of trouble all afternoon.
Nerd Louisville board meeting after that. Nothing exciting. I'm not running for re-election at the end of the year. I haven't engaged with the position very much, and, honestly, I'm happier running games than being in this leadership and organizational role.
Drove to Liberty to see Dad after the meeting. Early Father's Day dinner and good talk. Spent the night, played with the dog, did some other stuff. Good times.
This will be a short week. June 19 is a holiday for us, and I took a vacation day on the 20th for a nice four-day weekend. Got some things on the schedule, and some time blocked out to just allow myself to recharge.
Ground Walks
Jun. 11th, 2025 09:41 pmWhee, the excitement of being on call. A bunch of non-emergency calls over the weekend, and then one on Monday that resulted in taking a client to EPS because ambulances don't respond to psych calls anymore and the client and his guardian combined have the executive capacity of a drunken tree sloth.
But it ramped my week's engagement time way up and I'll get to bail out way early on Friday afternoon.
But it ramped my week's engagement time way up and I'll get to bail out way early on Friday afternoon.
Wichita Lineman
Jun. 8th, 2025 03:59 pmAfter far, far too long, I got myself out to a baseball game Thursday evening. The Bats are not doing well this season (again), so I wasn't expecting much beyond just having a good night at the park. Low expectations paid off, I guess, because I had an absolute blast. Norfolk put up four runs pretty quickly - four solo homers in the first two innings; the Bats fought back, tying the game, but lost 5-6. Disappointing, a little, but the experience was good for the soul. Slugger Field is a great park, the small crowd was enthused, and the hot dogs were delicious. I gotta do this more often.
In other Louisville baseball news, the UofL Cardinals are going to the College World Series! They won the Super Regional this afternoon against Miami, getting hot when it mattered most. They ended the regular season badly and were knocked out of the ACC tournament in the first round. Swept the Regional, beating host and top-seed Vanderbilt, got the host slot for the Super, and went 2-1 over Miami.
Things aren't all sunshine and rainbows. Protests against ICE's bullshit out in LA have been declared "unrest" by that orange bastard and federalized National Guard troops were deployed early this morning. LAPD and LCSD declined to escort ICE operatives out of their raid in Paramount and that caused some drama - but, really, if LAPD is declining the opportunity to beat up on people, things are definitely off.
And at the moment, I'm watching the last few episodes of The Handmaid's Tale, so, yeah.
In other Louisville baseball news, the UofL Cardinals are going to the College World Series! They won the Super Regional this afternoon against Miami, getting hot when it mattered most. They ended the regular season badly and were knocked out of the ACC tournament in the first round. Swept the Regional, beating host and top-seed Vanderbilt, got the host slot for the Super, and went 2-1 over Miami.
Things aren't all sunshine and rainbows. Protests against ICE's bullshit out in LA have been declared "unrest" by that orange bastard and federalized National Guard troops were deployed early this morning. LAPD and LCSD declined to escort ICE operatives out of their raid in Paramount and that caused some drama - but, really, if LAPD is declining the opportunity to beat up on people, things are definitely off.
And at the moment, I'm watching the last few episodes of The Handmaid's Tale, so, yeah.
Picture Window
May. 26th, 2025 08:57 pmIt's been a decent long weekend. Saturday and today were spectacularly lazy - didn't get out of the apartment or my pajamas, even. Ran a decent CP Red game Friday night and a banger of a D6 Star Wars game last night at SYR.
I made myself sleep in, or at least lie in, this morning. Kept playing a new podcast episode every time I woke up and went back under the covers, and it felt fantastic. Finally got up and made breakfast and had some brief thoughts about finding something to do. Decided, nah, let's do some more reading, and that was a good course of action for the day.
I made myself sleep in, or at least lie in, this morning. Kept playing a new podcast episode every time I woke up and went back under the covers, and it felt fantastic. Finally got up and made breakfast and had some brief thoughts about finding something to do. Decided, nah, let's do some more reading, and that was a good course of action for the day.
Friday saw a heck of a storm system roll through. Louisville got some strong storms but nothing really bad. Down in Somerset and London, though - tornadoes hit and tore things up something fierce. About 20 deaths across the state, dozens of homes and other buildings badly damaged or destroyed. I don't really have anyone down there anymore, but seeing videos and photos of the aftermath is unsettling.
Catch These Fists
May. 1st, 2025 08:39 pmJesus, April was a heck of a year.
Finished watching Daredevil: Born Again this week. Mostly satisfying, and Vincent D'Onofrio was just amazing as the Kingpin, but it didn't stick the landing. It felt like more of a mid-season soft cliffhanger than a real finale, and I guess that's appropriate since there are another nine episodes coming next year.
I'm rewatching the first season of Andor before diving into the second, and damn, this is still some terrific work. If I can pull a quarter of this tension in my games for Slur I'll be pretty happy.
Finished watching Daredevil: Born Again this week. Mostly satisfying, and Vincent D'Onofrio was just amazing as the Kingpin, but it didn't stick the landing. It felt like more of a mid-season soft cliffhanger than a real finale, and I guess that's appropriate since there are another nine episodes coming next year.
I'm rewatching the first season of Andor before diving into the second, and damn, this is still some terrific work. If I can pull a quarter of this tension in my games for Slur I'll be pretty happy.
Good Vibrations
Apr. 27th, 2025 11:56 amApril's been a rough month, and I stopped fighting it for a while and took a sick day on Friday. It helped a lot - I've slept so well the last three nights and managed to do some other things for self-care. My shoulders are relaxed, I haven't had anxiety skirmishes, I've painted minis and written little things, and I feel good.
Finally bought a table for the Bambu printer. Setting it up and calibrating and testing and everything else is the order of the afternoon. I'm hopeful that I can get enough of a handle on it to print something useful for May's first CP Red game session.
I feel like I've headed off some burnout by just putting in work instead of reading about someone else's work or endlessly diving into Wikipedia or whatever else caught my attention for the immediate sixteen seconds. I outlined the Star Wars games for May-July, sketched out a few more session ideas for CP Red, and just about settled on Symbaroum for my Charcon games.
Finally bought a table for the Bambu printer. Setting it up and calibrating and testing and everything else is the order of the afternoon. I'm hopeful that I can get enough of a handle on it to print something useful for May's first CP Red game session.
I feel like I've headed off some burnout by just putting in work instead of reading about someone else's work or endlessly diving into Wikipedia or whatever else caught my attention for the immediate sixteen seconds. I outlined the Star Wars games for May-July, sketched out a few more session ideas for CP Red, and just about settled on Symbaroum for my Charcon games.
Think of What You've Done
Apr. 20th, 2025 06:32 pmA couple of decent, almost good, days this past week. Friday was garbage, but at least I ended it a little early and tried to take care of myself. The weekend hasn't been anything to get excited about - a lot of sleep and a little bit of game writing and prep.
Still haven't gotten around to buying a table for the printer. Yesterday would have been a good day for that, but, well, didn't happen.
It's Easter Sunday. Mom loved Easter. No matter how old I was, she always got me a chocolate bunny. I'd kill for one of those sweet little gestures today.
Still haven't gotten around to buying a table for the printer. Yesterday would have been a good day for that, but, well, didn't happen.
It's Easter Sunday. Mom loved Easter. No matter how old I was, she always got me a chocolate bunny. I'd kill for one of those sweet little gestures today.
If Trouble was Money, Second Entry
Apr. 12th, 2025 08:22 pmThis was one of those weeks. Anxiety started hitting hard and that let a whole stew of brain chemicals run wild for a few days. I found some small comfort in knowing it wasn't just me. Co-workers, clients, friends - we all had some kind of something playing havoc with our minds and emotions.
I had planned to make today a self-care day, and it succeeded. Slept in, ran a short errand, read, slept more. Feeling pretty good this evening.
I had planned to make today a self-care day, and it succeeded. Slept in, ran a short errand, read, slept more. Feeling pretty good this evening.
The Family Business
Apr. 6th, 2025 03:25 pmThis weekend was the twice-or-so-yearly Hex family retreat. This time around we assembled at Lake Cumberland - and it may say something about our luck that we were at a lake on a weekend when the regional forecast called for six to twelve inches of rain along with the chance of tornadoes. We sure got the rain, and it was plenty stormy sometimes, but we had a good time playing games and eating and telling stories.
Saturday night had one of those great moments. After the second game of the day and before dinner, Josh and Leighton and I were standing on a covered deck looking over the lake. The most recent storm front had blown through, there was some light rain and wind, and just this energy. We were having a great talk, watching clouds and rain. It was unquantifiable, but it just was the best feeling.
I gave Shadowdark another shot, mostly because Josh is a heck of a GM. I'm still not sold on the game. I don't dislike it, but it's just adequate for me. DCC and OSE are better for what I want, except for OSE's Vancian spellcasting. Shadowdark's simple character classes are a selling point, but on the whole, I don't really get what the fuss is about.
I read Scalzi's When the Moon Hits Your Eye instead of playing Runequest, and damned if that wasn't a heck of a good novel. Scalzi presents an utterly ridiculous event - the Moon turning into cheese - and plays the results completely straight. I loved it.
Saturday night had one of those great moments. After the second game of the day and before dinner, Josh and Leighton and I were standing on a covered deck looking over the lake. The most recent storm front had blown through, there was some light rain and wind, and just this energy. We were having a great talk, watching clouds and rain. It was unquantifiable, but it just was the best feeling.
I gave Shadowdark another shot, mostly because Josh is a heck of a GM. I'm still not sold on the game. I don't dislike it, but it's just adequate for me. DCC and OSE are better for what I want, except for OSE's Vancian spellcasting. Shadowdark's simple character classes are a selling point, but on the whole, I don't really get what the fuss is about.
I read Scalzi's When the Moon Hits Your Eye instead of playing Runequest, and damned if that wasn't a heck of a good novel. Scalzi presents an utterly ridiculous event - the Moon turning into cheese - and plays the results completely straight. I loved it.
Brand New Life
Mar. 11th, 2025 07:48 pmUnsurprisingly the Gran Turismo movie is just chock full of beauty shots of Nissan GT-Rs tear-assing around race tracks. Kaz shows up in some shots. This is, so far, thoroughly enjoyable.
Had some excitement at work last week. A client had gone off his meds and showed up at the center. Started causing trouble with the front office staff. Made some threats, said he was coming back with a gun. Since I was the staffer lucky enough to have been there and with the willingness to do so, I got to swear out a MIW on him. Dude was arrested when he showed up the next morning.
Had some excitement at work last week. A client had gone off his meds and showed up at the center. Started causing trouble with the front office staff. Made some threats, said he was coming back with a gun. Since I was the staffer lucky enough to have been there and with the willingness to do so, I got to swear out a MIW on him. Dude was arrested when he showed up the next morning.
Highway 61 Revisited
Mar. 4th, 2025 07:56 pmMore revisiting of long-idle projects on Sunday during a couple of races. Dug into some of the Mars stuff that I'd written for Shadow of the Beanstalk years ago. Cut some of the extraneous meandering ideas out, made it a tighter, leaner scenario.
Big day for Mars in gaming today. The crowdfunding campaign for the Terraforming Mars RPG launched today, and of course I went in on it. Reasonable pledge level, the core book and the campaign guide. There's a ton of digital content added on thanks to stretch goals and the like. I love the board game - and its iOS adaptation - and will at least get this on a table at some Nerd Louisville event or another.
Also launching today, the new edition of Cold City/Hot War. Tight, brilliant horror games set in postwar Berlin and post-nuclear London. I had the originals and sadly sold them off in one of my bookshelf purges, and I've regretted doing that for a long time. And now, future me gets a present!
There was even one more campaign that I'd been interested in - books of maps for modern/near-future games. I talked myself out of that one - I use maps and minis rarely enough, and I'm waiting for Loke to deliver on the set that I helped crowdfund last year.
Saw some interesting things today. A Rumpke garbage truck caught fire on 64 this morning - thankfully he was eastbound and it didn't affect my commute and the crew got out safely. In the afternoon, on my way back from a client visit, I saw an unusual locomotive on a bridge over 9th Street. More interesting were the cars it had in tow - a track inspection train! I got a decent short video of it and dug into railpictures.net and found a picture of the very same train during a run through Georgia.
Saw Captain America: Brave New World last night. Did not like it - there's some great talent on the screen with so very little material to work with.
Big day for Mars in gaming today. The crowdfunding campaign for the Terraforming Mars RPG launched today, and of course I went in on it. Reasonable pledge level, the core book and the campaign guide. There's a ton of digital content added on thanks to stretch goals and the like. I love the board game - and its iOS adaptation - and will at least get this on a table at some Nerd Louisville event or another.
Also launching today, the new edition of Cold City/Hot War. Tight, brilliant horror games set in postwar Berlin and post-nuclear London. I had the originals and sadly sold them off in one of my bookshelf purges, and I've regretted doing that for a long time. And now, future me gets a present!
There was even one more campaign that I'd been interested in - books of maps for modern/near-future games. I talked myself out of that one - I use maps and minis rarely enough, and I'm waiting for Loke to deliver on the set that I helped crowdfund last year.
Saw some interesting things today. A Rumpke garbage truck caught fire on 64 this morning - thankfully he was eastbound and it didn't affect my commute and the crew got out safely. In the afternoon, on my way back from a client visit, I saw an unusual locomotive on a bridge over 9th Street. More interesting were the cars it had in tow - a track inspection train! I got a decent short video of it and dug into railpictures.net and found a picture of the very same train during a run through Georgia.
Saw Captain America: Brave New World last night. Did not like it - there's some great talent on the screen with so very little material to work with.
Why my man Won't Treat me Right
Mar. 1st, 2025 08:08 pmI got around to breaking in the Instant Pot this week. Nothing fancy, sauteing and pressure cooking a couple of pork loins I got at Aldi last week. No problems, but the process seemed to cook a lot of the flavor out of the meat. I used the leftovers in a big pot of stew - using the trusty ol' Crock Pot - and that came out really well.
Last night's Cyberpunk game went well. Short adventure, one from Street Stories that I'd overlooked. As I was packing up, I realized that I had nothing on my agenda for the rest of the weekend. No demands on my time at all. I wasn't entirely sure how to process that. Today's been rather enjoyable and very relaxing and almost productive. I dug up some DCC writing that had been left idle for a while, tinkered with that. Not a bad afternoon.
Last night's Cyberpunk game went well. Short adventure, one from Street Stories that I'd overlooked. As I was packing up, I realized that I had nothing on my agenda for the rest of the weekend. No demands on my time at all. I wasn't entirely sure how to process that. Today's been rather enjoyable and very relaxing and almost productive. I dug up some DCC writing that had been left idle for a while, tinkered with that. Not a bad afternoon.
Who Sang It First
Feb. 22nd, 2025 10:25 pmI'm getting a small tax refund, assuming the IRS still exists after tomorrow. I've been looking at 3D printers, and the combined refund will just about pay for the one I've picked out. So, unless some expense pops up, I'm getting a Bambu A1 Mini.
Valentine's Day ate the CP Red game, and that was okay. Saturday saw heavy rain and thunderstorms and that was good for lying in bed and reading. Sunday's board meeting was blessedly moved online, and weather in Florida did a number on the Daytona 500, so, hey, more reading!
Packed my duffel and took off Monday morning. Drove down to the Corvette Museum, a long-overdue visit. The very fast machines are the focus of the museum, of course, and there is plenty of space given over to the people who designed and engineered and promoted them. I found myself taken with the story of Zora and Elfi Arkus-Duntov - they were a heck of a couple, Elfi was the first Corvette Girl, and she would spell out Zora's name on her body with adhesive medical tape and go sunbathing so his name would be on her. It was a good visit.
Drove to Dad's after the museum. Spent the night with him, then lit out for Dayton early Tuesday morning. I hadn't been to the Air Force museum in several years, and while it was nice to see some of the new exhibits (a Titan 4 stack and a Su-27), I found myself kinda bored. Beautiful machines and stories, but I've seen most of them, you know? And the Presidential aircraft gallery just kept reminding me of that orange bastard, and ... ugh. Hotel was nice.
Wednesday morning, up and off to Point Pleasant for the Mothman Museum. US35 is a heck of a fast road, and would have been even faster without the winter storm I drove through. Fun visit to Point Pleasant, then headed back to Louisville. WV2 was an easy drive down to Huntington, and I-64 brought me home one more time.
Ran an errand with a friend this morning. Going to take care of some business this afternoon - taxes and car licenses and REAL ID documents. No plans for tomorrow, maybe back to BG for a train show on Saturday, then the first ALIEN session at Slur on Sunday evening. Back to work on Monday. Can't wait to see what nonsense went down while I've been gone.
That's a lie. I just don't care all that much.
Packed my duffel and took off Monday morning. Drove down to the Corvette Museum, a long-overdue visit. The very fast machines are the focus of the museum, of course, and there is plenty of space given over to the people who designed and engineered and promoted them. I found myself taken with the story of Zora and Elfi Arkus-Duntov - they were a heck of a couple, Elfi was the first Corvette Girl, and she would spell out Zora's name on her body with adhesive medical tape and go sunbathing so his name would be on her. It was a good visit.
Drove to Dad's after the museum. Spent the night with him, then lit out for Dayton early Tuesday morning. I hadn't been to the Air Force museum in several years, and while it was nice to see some of the new exhibits (a Titan 4 stack and a Su-27), I found myself kinda bored. Beautiful machines and stories, but I've seen most of them, you know? And the Presidential aircraft gallery just kept reminding me of that orange bastard, and ... ugh. Hotel was nice.
Wednesday morning, up and off to Point Pleasant for the Mothman Museum. US35 is a heck of a fast road, and would have been even faster without the winter storm I drove through. Fun visit to Point Pleasant, then headed back to Louisville. WV2 was an easy drive down to Huntington, and I-64 brought me home one more time.
Ran an errand with a friend this morning. Going to take care of some business this afternoon - taxes and car licenses and REAL ID documents. No plans for tomorrow, maybe back to BG for a train show on Saturday, then the first ALIEN session at Slur on Sunday evening. Back to work on Monday. Can't wait to see what nonsense went down while I've been gone.
That's a lie. I just don't care all that much.
Red Rooster
Feb. 12th, 2025 06:14 pmToday marks my one-year anniversary at the job that brought me back to Louisville. I still don't love the gig, but sometimes I kinda like it. I'm looking for something else, because of the dissatisfaction, but also because who knows if the position will even exist in a year. We're a non-profit that relies heavily on Federal funding, and the stupid bastard in the White House is destroying Federal agencies right and left.
I'm on vacation next week - some time to myself to celebrate a birthday. Not entirely sure where I'm going, but I have some candidate destinations in mind. I really just want to get away for a while. Going to get the Impala's oil changed this weekend and throw my duffel bag in the back seat and point the nose in whatever direction.
I'm on vacation next week - some time to myself to celebrate a birthday. Not entirely sure where I'm going, but I have some candidate destinations in mind. I really just want to get away for a while. Going to get the Impala's oil changed this weekend and throw my duffel bag in the back seat and point the nose in whatever direction.
I read Burning Chrome over the last week. The Sprawl stories are the backbone of the collection, and why I bought the book so many years ago. The other stories are good work, too, of course, and a passage from "The Winter Market" stuck in my head this time around. Lise, the brilliant and broken braindance artist, asks the narrator, Casey, if he wants to have sex with her. Lise has some neurological disorder that requires her to use an exoskeleton for mobility, and she can't feel anything. Casey asks her, after her offer, that very question - "Could you feel it, if I did?" Lise responds, "No, but sometimes I like to watch." There is so much bitterness and hatred in that brief exchange. It's so fucked up.
If Trouble was Money
Feb. 1st, 2025 08:18 pmStill dealing with this latest sickness. Congested, repeating headache, coughing and sneezing. DayQuil is helping, and having nothing requiring me to leave the apartment this weekend has been nice. Resting, reading, just trying to heal up.
Started last night's CP Red session by asking the players what they wanted to do. I hadn't been able to come up with anything on my own, and the scenario I was going to default to needed a lot of rewriting to bring it up to snuff, so I had the players do some of the lifting. And they went for a fetch quest, and this was a pleasant surprise. It was a short, fun session, doing some favors for contacts. To my surprise, they all said that they were fine with quests like this, and I'm okay with it. There are two fetch quest scenarios in TotR: Street Stories, and they're well written - and I'd written them off because I didn't think the players would go for them. Joke's on me, I guess! The book gets more value late in the game.
Started last night's CP Red session by asking the players what they wanted to do. I hadn't been able to come up with anything on my own, and the scenario I was going to default to needed a lot of rewriting to bring it up to snuff, so I had the players do some of the lifting. And they went for a fetch quest, and this was a pleasant surprise. It was a short, fun session, doing some favors for contacts. To my surprise, they all said that they were fine with quests like this, and I'm okay with it. There are two fetch quest scenarios in TotR: Street Stories, and they're well written - and I'd written them off because I didn't think the players would go for them. Joke's on me, I guess! The book gets more value late in the game.
