Entries tagged with crafty

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Sleep Now in the Fire

I'm still, much a certain asteroid, not entirely stable, but I'm getting there.

Being back in Louisville has been pretty darn good. I'm working with good people. I'm spending time with friends. Playing games around an actual table again. It's pretty darn good. Meeting tomorrow to apply for an apartment, and assuming that works out, I'll be in a much better place, in more than a few ways.

The crowdfunding effort has seen some success, not as much as I had hoped for but more than I tell myself I deserve. Donna apologized for not having enough rewards points to spend on putting me up in a hotel again - she's too good for this world.

I was all set to mix some couch-surfing and hotel time next week, until talking with Alex F this evening about plans for next week's GAMA trade show. I guess, once again, I'm going to be a guest of Crafty Games! I'll be in the friend-of-the-company role on Sunday afternoon, and something more but not entirely official from Monday evening through the end of the show on Thursday. Alex's flight gets here late Monday evening, and I'm going to pick him up and take his generous offer to stay in the AirB&B for the duration of the show. Going to take a sick day on Friday and run around town with him until he flies back west that evening.

I'm excited about GTS. I've gotten comfortable with the GenCon experience; I expect GTS to be a whole other thing. Alex suggested going to the Sunday events and collecting freebies, and that's incentive enough for me. Some folks I've gotten to know at cons are going to be there, and seeing them will be nice.

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crafty,
eclipse

Once in a Lifetime

Today's the day of the great North American Eclipse of 2017. Here in Louisville, we're going to get about 97% totality, which is going to be enough for some pretty lovely things to see. I've seen something 55% totality before, and that was something - we still had a working cattle farm then, and the cows started gathering together like they did around sunset. The dogs headed for the porch to sleep, and the barn cats came out for a while. No pets here at stately Bourbon Manor, sadly, but I'll manage.

I'm as interested in the goings-on around the eclipse as the eclipse itself. The path of totality is going to pass through southwestern Kentucky, with the longest period of totality happening at (in? over?) Hopkinsville, finally giving anyone a reason to go to Hopkinsville. Estimates of a half-million visitors to the area are being thrown around, with warnings about emergency service response times, overwhelmed cellular phone networks, and food and gasoline shortages. Southbound Interstate 65 is crawling down around Elizabethtown.

GenCon was the 17th-20th, and I broke my attendance streak. Drove up to Indianapolis last night to see Alex and Pat. Good time catching up, met a couple of new people. Got some great encouragement and reinforcement, which I needed more than I thought. Some talk about me coming back onto the convention team, which may happen, but probably not at GenCon. PAX Unplugged is coming up; Pat's going and extended an invitation to me. Can't do this year, and ugh Philadelphia, but 2018 maybe. Besides, there's Imaginarium and Nerdlouvia here in the coming months.

Current Mood: grateful

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Walk This World

Quite a few things have happened since the last update.

SPHIS accepted me into the MPH program. I get to skip the second undergraduate year, and may be awarded the Bachelor's degree anyway based on strength of work. Dr. Jacobs was impressed by the number and strength of my recommendations. Unless things go very wrong, in 21 months, I'll be a newly-minted Master of Public Health, focus to be determined.

The school is also giving me a job. It's nothing spectacular, but it does keep me in everyday contact with the entirety of the school's faculty and staff, so I'll be a familiar face to everyone. That has to be useful in a year or so when practica and other out-of-classroom work comes around.

I wound up going to GenCon, extending my streak to an even ten years. One of the volunteers had to cancel out (and with a legitimate reason, too - no McClouding this time) and The Bosses offered me his badge and room space free of charge. How could I refuse? So, I got up godawful early on Saturday and rolled up to Indy. After accepting thatn I wasn't going at all this year, my two-day visit was glorious. Saw many friends, and felt very much welcomed by my ... well, I can't really say teammates. By the Crafty staff and volunteers. Minimal loot - a K-Wing and TIE Punisher/Interdictor, as you prefer, a handful of snazzy hammer-and-sickle D6s, and a couple scoops of dice for D. Much socializing and the like. And some business, too. Tested out the four upcoming card and board games (and there is a character in one of them based on me). AF offered me some work on Spycraft 3, and I am quite flattered, but I had to decline any deadline/wordcount work. School has to come first, and back-to-back 600-level Biostatistics courses are going to test me. So, I'm going to be a consultant of sorts. Pretty exciting stuff.

Other GenCon news of note. There was some kerfuffle at the Ennies, not sure of any real details, but it sounds like the Atlas Games folks didn't acquit themselves well at all. FFG knocked many pairs of socks off with their panel. X-Wing Wave 8 was revealed, with ships/pilots/crew from Rebels at the center. The mic-drop moment came at the end, when Christianson brought up the title card to The Force Awakens, and indicated that TFA product was already on its way from overseas factories, to be revealed around September 4. We knew it would happen, but not this fast. Games Workshop had a tale of woe - while clearing customs, one of their UK staffers let slip that the group was "working a convention," not merely attending. They had no work visas, and were immediately deported. There was a skeleton crew of US-based folks covering their exhibitor presence through the weekend, and those poor guys had to have been wrecked by end of show. Pinnacle announced a Flash Gordon line for Savage Worlds. Vampire: the Masquerade 4th Edition (seriously).

Despite only being there for part of the show, I was worn out when I got home this afternoon. Two very late nights in a row, so much road construction, and all of the walking and lugging that the convention involved. Worth it - I was meant to be at that place at that time. If I can, I'll be back next year. And the next and the next. Before that, though, three regionals and Origins. After the way I was welcomed in Indy, I can't not fly the flag.