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This 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.

Turnout for early voting was fairly high over the weekend, for whatever that's worth. The Tuesday night group decided to play on Election Night and leave our phones in our cars. I'm not hopeful.

Got on the road Friday morning. Weather was good until I got south of Charleston, and that convinced me to head to Christiansburg instead of diverting to the New River Gorge. Checked in, went to C&C's new home, went to dinner, caught up. A good day on the road and a very good evening with friends.

Went to Roanoke Saturday morning. Lots of good stuff to see - the J looks like it's doing 70MPH just sitting there, the big A-class is almost as impressive as a C&O Allegheny, and I think I want to add an E-unit of some stripe to my collection. Checked out a couple of other places - Center on the Square had great aquariums and Mishap Gaming impressed with the amount of not-D&D5 on their shelves.

Today's weather was much better, and the drive to the Gorge was quite nice. The bridge is a damned impressive structure, and the Gorge is just beautiful. The sense of the age of the place is daunting - the Appalachians are incredibly old, and the New River predates the rise of that ancient mountain range.

Stopped off in Charleston to have lunch with Gena. Great pizza at Pies & Pints - Gena's vegetarian, and their white pizza was a good fit for both of us. Got home ... around 7, I think. Gonna watch part of the Sunday night NFL game, then take some sleep medicine and call it a night.

Back to the literal madness tomorrow.

I got back from Charcon a few hours ago. I'm calling it a successful convention weekend. I ran one of the two games had scheduled, played some pickup board games, had meals at a great late-night calzone place and Tudor's and a hibachi food truck. And got to see some friends - the most important part of the trip!

Something caused a fire alarm to go off in the middle of my Saturday morning game, so we evacuated the building. That ate up about 20 minutes of table time, and I had to compress the final encounter into a narration, but it was still a good time.

2024 is halfway over. I'm not processing this, more ignoring it than anything else. Time does fly.

This weekend was the Hex retreat, held at Kentucky Dam State Park this time. A lengthy drive to the western end of the state, same as a couple of months ago. I gave myself a little time off after my class Friday afternoon and got to Calvert City around 6PM local time. Met with the others and headed out for dinner. Huge delicious pizza at Mama D's. Games and cooking and eating on Saturday. Breakfast and catching up. A heck of a good time, and plans made to do it again in October, rather than waiting until next year.

I wound up with a free month of Paramount+ right about the time my Apple+ subscription wound down. I've been watching Trek, mostly, and checking out some of the movie offerings here and there. Anson Mount and a couple other Strange New Worlds cast members are going to be at a show here in town next month, so, hey, lots of good optimistic SF in the air.

Training days were good. The subject - building trauma resilience in communities - is aligned with my public health education and personal interests.

The rest of the workweek was okay. I'm more and more convinced to start looking for something else sooner than later, even if that means jumping to another agency. I just don't have my heart in this, and the clients deserve someone who is committed to their cases.

The trip to Paducah was a good weekend getaway. The Jackson Purchase is a part of the state I'm not especially familiar with, so trips out that way have some learning experiences for me. Most of the drive time was on the Western Kentucky Parkway, which is now signed as Interstate 69 along much of its length. Traffic was light, for the most part, as it tends to be on the state's parkway system, and I had a few opportunities to let the Buick lay its ears back and run.

First stop in Paducah was a local restaurant, Just Hamburgers. They have a weekly special burger, and this week's is the Quilt Chamberlain - two burger patties, cheese, hash browns, and their spicy "Death Breath" sauce. Gods, that was a terrific burger, and at under ten bucks for the burger, side, and drink, it felt like a steal. After than, over to a model train shop, Fast Freight. Nice store, good stock of train stuff and other models and supplies. Found a couple of cars to add to my collection. Then, another shop called Classic Trains and Ferrari. I thought it was just a cute name to draw attention, but nope, when I pulled into the parking lot, there was a lovely red (of course) Ferrari convertible parked out front. Lots of Ferrari memorabilia in addition to train stuff.

Got to my hotel, checked in early, took a nap. Matt and Heather closed up things at the show and I drove over to Metropolis to pick them up. Dinner at a barbecue restaurant, where Steve joined us, and after that, we all went to my hotel for a couple of hours. Davie was on call and couldn't join us, sadly.

Left around 10:45 Central this morning, thought about detouring to a couple of game shops in Hardin County, but decided to just head home. Got in, emptied my duffel bag, started laundry, got in my GT7 workout. Watching The Crown now. Pretty good weekend.

I would like to have a drink. A mid-shelf bourbon, preferably, on the rocks or mixed with Coke. If not bourbon, something with rum would do nicely.

Unremarkable week, followed by a good weekend. I caught up on some reading - no, I read some - on Saturday before heading down to Shepherdsville to play DCC. Sunday, slept in, read, watched a NASCAR race, then got it in my head to try painting another mini. This one had a lot more little fiddly details than the last one I painted, requiring as much time doing touchups as it did on the main work. The orc came out pretty well, I think, and I have enough confidence to try my hand at painting a mini of my Dragonbane character later on this evening.

For All Mankind S4 ended on a satisfactory note, and a fifth season is on the way - plus a spinoff series set behind the Iron Curtain of the show's alternate history. This pushes my Cold War kid Soviet-phile buttons! I'm following FAM up with another AppleTV series, Silo. It's alright, a good premise, but the execution hasn't quite come together for me.

The store down in Somerset that was such a haven for me during my exile had to close. Some kind of tax issue that couldn't get resolved. I hated to hear it - it was a good store and community, and I had some good times at its game tables.

Two days of offsite training this week. Two days not going out into the community. 112 days until I can apply for internal transfer.

I'm lighting out for Paducah this weekend. An out-of-state buddy and his girlfriend are in town for a quilters convention, and that's reason enough to head west and hang out with him and some friends who live there. It'll make for a long Sunday, as I'm scheduled to run a game that evening at SYR.

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.

At least for now, I'm back home.

I started the week off with the first half of the Super Bowl. Not the most exciting thirty minutes of football, but it was okay enough. Had to go to bed early, so I could get up early and head to Louisville.

Monday morning, on the road before sunrise, and the start of onboarding. Over to downtown to meet my supervisor and teammates. Then over to the first hotel of the week.

This week was another reminder that I have friends that are far too good for me. My oldest friend offered to spend some of her stash of rewards points to put me up in another hotel for most of the week. So, here I am in a very nice Tru by Hilton and, well, the reminder mentioned above.

Anyway, back to work. Tons of online training sessions, talks with my supervisor and team. Worked from the hotel yesterday, then shadowed another case manager today and met some of our clients.

And I don't think this job is for me. There is a lot of turnover in the position, so I'm not feeling bad about something like doing this for six months or so and then finding something else.

Turned 52 today. Whee.

Saturday night was the annual big-ass LeNoue holiday party. I went up to Lexington a couple of hours early to see Ben Parks for the first time since Lexicon. A good hour and change catching up and just hanging out with one of my brothers-by-choice.

He's living in the same apartment complex I lived in before moving to Louisville, and the place has since seen a big remodel. It's gated now - just theater, since the exit gate is always open - and the units are dolled up a little. Being there spun up some memories - I was pretty happy in the place, really. It ... goddamn it, it felt like home.

The time to head down to Southpoint came soon enough. The LeNoues are lovely people, and always welcoming to someone who is just a friend of their son-in-law. Lots of food, the friends from Transy and that circle.

It was an exciting night, weatherwise. Powerful storms down in Tennessee and western Kentucky. A couple of F2 tornadoes hit around Clarksville. The parents of a friend from UK saw some damage in their neighborhood, but nothing worse than power loss at their home. We got a lot of heavy rain, started hitting on my drive home. The neighborhood is about a mile south of Man-O-War, and at that time of night, getting from there to Danville is about half-an-hour. In the rain that night, it took me a little over 45 minutes. Never quite got to the point where I felt the need to get off the road, and I was glad to see things calm down about the time I got to Danville.

Sunday was nice. Slept late, got up later. NFL games, napping, reading. It was a quiet afternoon and evening, and I sure appreciated it after the socializing and heavy weather on Saturday. Got a call from SCC this afternoon to schedule a second interview - there's tomorrow afternoon locked down. Let's see what happens.

Welp, the last few days have been exciting.

About an hour after I posted the previous entry, I saw on the company Discord that someone had dropped out of the GenCon team. I filed it away for an hour or so before deciding to get in there and make this about me. And so my planned day trip to GenCon became a three-day working vacation.

Drove up to Indy Thursday night, taking over five hours thanks to construction up and down I-65. Got to the Hilton, chatted and got updates from the team, called it a night.

Wasn't scheduled to work Friday, so I decided I'd get in some time in the Exhibitor Hall and open play area. Headed to the R. Talsorian booth first off to get Danger Girl Dossier. Good fortune smiled on me, and I got to chat with Mike Pondsmith and Steve Jackson for a few moments. Went to Free League and Modiphius, striking out at both places, then drifted over towards the Goodman space. All around good dude Dieter Z was working a booth next to Goodman that was moving someone's overstock, so I got a copy of Night's Black Agents: Solo Ops for $10 - and would get The Dracula Dossier Director's Handbook for $10 on Saturday, leading me to swing by Pelgrane and just finally get the core book Sunday morning. I'm not made of stone, okay, and Mr. Laws and Mr. Hite were there and graciously signed the book and took a few moments to chat with a fan.

Saturday - taught one of our upcoming games, Buru. Very pretty, quite fun. Saw some of the Louisville folks. Played BattleTech. Had some tasty barbecue - brisket served over smoked gouda mac and cheese. Retired to the hotel for a nap. Dinner at Giordano's and boy-howdy do they serve up a killer deep dish. Turned down an invitation to a product release party.

Sunday, pickup game of a Shadowrun card game. Met a Discord acquaintance face-to-face. More Buru teaching. Closed down the Exhibitor Hall for the first time since 2019. Delicious tacos for dinner.

Drove home this morning.

A few big stories from the con:
The Disney TCG was in great demand, and GenCon screwed things up pretty badly Thursday morning after the publisher had set things up nicely. An orderly line - one that started forming at 6PM Wednesday - became an ugly mob around 7 Thursday morning.
A couple of dudes got into the hall staging area and stole about $300,000 in collectible cards.
Free League won SEVEN Ennies across their various lines.

It was good to be there again, and it is sure good to be home. Gotta finish laundry, and finish winding down. Gods help me, I have missed working that show.

Most of last week was a blur, not because it was chock full and moving fast, but because there was not much of anything going on. Got a pre-convention haircut. Little things around the house. Tried to read YA fantasy novel Goodreads sent me, with very little success. Just existed.

Then, Friday morning rolled around and it was time to head to West Virginia. The shop hasn't been able to get the Escape in, so I took the Canyon. The Escape is far and away the more comfortable ride, but since its AC is out, I opted to deal with the pickup's harsher ride. Took a Google Maps route that sent me through neighborhoods in Richmond - not recommended. Giggled at the "Sharkey Farmers" sign on I-64 East - it's funnier than Waddy Peytona heading the other way. Noted that seeing the Catlettsburg refinery in the middle of the day as an apocalypse-experiencing adult is a different experience than seeing it in the middle of the night as a post-apocalypse-obsessed kid.

Turned off the Interstate east of Huntington and headed north on West Virginia 2. It was a very nice along the Ohio River, separated from Ohio by the Ohio. Made it to Point Pleasant, navigated the compact downtown, and spent some time at the Mothman Museum! Cute, earnest enough, and a fun visit. Got back on the road, heading southeast on US35 - another Federal highway that has gotten a build to nearly Interstate level - and rolled into downtown Charleston. Checked into the hotel, then headed over to the Clay Center for my badge and a walk around.

Met and chatted with Anthony from Pithy Publications, who I knew from a Discord channel. Bought a copy of his Ghastbashers game, then headed to the RPG room to set up for DCC. Good game. Went back to the hotel and broke one of my rules of conventions and ordered Dominos to keep some rewards points from expiring. Quiet room and a comfy and I was out in a hurry.

More DCC Saturday morning. A number of repeat customers from the night before, and another good game. Met up with Gena Chattin, caught up, went to dinner (Pies & Pints, had been to the Lexington location) and had a good evening. Back to bed, as above with a side order of fireworks from the baseball park before I went to sleep.

Checked out Sunday morning, went back to the Clay Center for a few minutes, bought a Coriolis book from the Free League booth, then headed home. Made good time, and good mileage for the pickup. Got home, chatted with Dad, and got some rest.

Charcon was fun, and I think I'll keep this one on my list for next year. The drive, though ... it turned out to be at the far end of my tolerance. This is a sign I'm aging, and I do not like it. I don't know if I want to make the two-hour-longer drive to Archon in a couple of months. Maybe I'll just go up to Cincinnati instead.

That's for another time. Now, I need to drive 25 miles to pick up some printer ink, because I currently live way way out in the hinterlands.

Still waiting on the labels from Noble Knight, and I'm getting a little impatient. I would very much like to get these boxes shipped out.

Went out to dinner with the Phelps' Thursday evening. They're some of the first friends I made after moving here, and some of the best people I've ever known. We had a great couple of hours reminiscing and catching up and just enjoying pizza and friendship.

Another friend made at gaming tables messaged me last night. Hadn't heard from Will in a while. He's doing well, and it was good to chat with him for a while.

I'm still packing and sorting and all the other stuff. I pick up the truck at 10 tomorrow morning, and should be loaded up and on the way to Liberty before sunset. I have the truck until Wednesday morning, so my plan is something like a partial unload at the house Monday evening, putting everything else in storage that night or early Tuesday morning, and cleaning out and returning the truck Tuesday. Dad's going to drive me back to Louisville Tuesday or Wednesday to pick up my Escape and any last items from the house. And then a day or two, at least, setting things up in what was Mom's suite at the house.

This may not have been the best or smartest thing, but it's the choice I made, and this afternoon, it sure feels like the right one.

Didn't get much for the books at HPB, but I cleared out a couple of boxes of stuff, and that's more important. Haven't heard back from Noble Knight yet.

Godsdammit. Just found out that we've lost another game store. Heroes Comics & Games is done, and it's not an April Fools' joke. I'd wondered about things there, but wanted to be optimistic. So much for DCC Day and my planned continued demo games.

Sigh. Didn't have the words for this in my last entry. Had some bad news waiting when I got home from the retreat. A friend died last week, just a few years older than me. Pete had suffered a stroke back around 2018, and according to his brother he'd been hospitalized for some time as a result of a series of strokes. I won't say that we were especially close; we ran in some overlapping circles and were in some games together over the years. Pete was a good dude, though. When last I saw him, in the New Albany hospital after his first stroke, he couldn't speak, but he could smile and write a little bit. He moved back to Lexington after that, and I lost touch. Life got in the way.

While sorting books, I found a birthday card from my grandmother. It was for my 21st, so just a few months after we had lost Papaw. At the time, the family expected Mamaw to grieve herself to death, but she fooled us all, hanging on for nine more - mostly good - years. The card triggered some sweet happy memories. Mamaw was the best.

Heavy weather here this week. Powerful thunderstorms and very high winds. Nothing like what Alabama and Mississippi got hit with, or Iowa, too, thank goodness. It was awfully loud last night, enough that I couldn't sleep through the storm. LG&E's maps showed only a few outages, so things were better than a couple of weeks ago.

Except for Stacy's verbal diarrhea, the rest of the retreat was a delight. A terrific DCC Dying Earth session, more board/card games, dinner and dessert, and just being with some of the best people in my life.

Got up early Sunday morning, hit up Casey's again, and drove out to the city park where the Kentucky flows into the Ohio. Spent a little while just watching water flow by. Back to my hotel, a little more sleep to further reset my sleep cycle, then over to the park. Helped clean up the host cabin before we headed off for pizza.

Got back to Louisville in time to start laundry and watch a race at the Circuit of the Americas. Felt good, a little bit reinvigorated even.

Monday morning, up early. Repacked my bag and headed to Mom&Dad's. Did some work around the house to prepare for my move. Spent some time driving around and confirming my decision. Inquired into a couple of storage units. Played with the dog. Came back to Louisville this morning. Got housemate's plans for after I move out, and they dovetail nicely with what I'm doing. Watched Top Gun: Maverick. Going to box up some books for sale to HPB and send off my for-sale list to Noble Knight.

Work came and went. Two trainees on my last three nights, and they did well. Hugs and handshakes on the way out the door. Home, a nap, packed my bag for the weekend retreat.

Got to Carrollton - a little town at the junction of the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers probably best known for a horrific church bus accident in 1988 - and checked into my inexpensive hotel. Had a perfectly tasty dinner at Welch’s, with a stellar view of the Ohio. Would have had their catfish, but it was Friday, and I wouldn’t want someone to think I was, you know, Catholic.

Hung out at one of the cabins while folks played a few rounds of a card game called Symposium. Left earlier than I would have liked, but my sleep schedule is nowhere near off of night shift timing. Slept for a while, then got up and went out to a Casey’s General Store for breakfast and plastic cups and cutlery. I must have slept through a storm, as power (including traffic lights) was out in town north of the state resort park where everyone else is staying.

So, I’ve had a couple of croissants and some tea, and I’m listening to Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, and in a few hours, we’ll reassemble and play games and have a good Saturday.

One of my best friends signed himself into a psychiatric observation stay this week. He'd posted a few things mentioning some mental health concerns, and we had a brief talk about things last week - as much to shore each other up as anything. He signed himself out this morning following observation and evaluation. We're going have a longer talk in a while, when he's ready.

Ben and have been friends almost since we met back in Lexington. He was one of my GenCon staffers for a few years. I was one of his groomsmen. We've had good times together. He's successful, father to a sweet year-old daughter. He's been there to reel in some of my less-noble behavior. He's going to be okay.

He just posted a lengthy description of what led to this. There's no big single event, lots of things stacking up. The death-of-a-thousand-paper-cuts. I can sure understand this. I'm fighting my own collection of mind-weasels; sometimes winning, sometimes losing, sometimes managing a holding action.

I'm getting better at making the same mistakes. Friday evening, I got it in my head to drive up to Hebron for an Armada tournament at a store I'd been meaning to check out anyway. So, went home and went to bed early. Got up early Saturday morning, got my kit together, and headed up I-71.

I don't like driving 71 for some reason. It's somehow both just familiar and unfamiliar enough to put me on edge. Got onto 275, and remembered that probably the last time I'd driven that stretch of road, I was heading to the NKY airport to pick up Erin. Got close to the store, and recognized the car behind me as one of the Louisville group. We got to the shop a few minutes before it opened, and what the heck, I texted Erin.

Twelve players for the tournament. Erin came by - first time we'd seen each other in a few years. Good time catching while I fired and maneuvered. I bailed out after the second match - the early morning, drive, and couple of games taxed me, and I still had the drive home. Seeing Erin was good, but the rest of the day wasn't worth the fuel.

Yesterday afternoon's Cyberpunk game helped make up for things.

I guess we're going to war. Again. Russian forces are moving into Ukraine under a ginned-up casus belli - like the US and Iraq 20 years ago. Going to fuel up the truck in a little bit.

Cleanup has started out in the western end of the state. No one's still missing, looks like, but there are 75-80 deaths in Kentucky, about 20 more in the other states. Steady stream of relief actions - charities, NGOs, food trucks, Senate candidate Charles Booker's campaign, the tactical training group I'm joining, many more.

Second holiday party in a month last night. I'm becoming a social butterfly in my middle age. Gods, such a good time, though. Got in around 1AM, took a while to relax and get to bed. Slept in, decided that today was going to be a good one for resting and recharging.

Independence Day came and went, and thanks to alcohol and diphenhydramine, I lost very little sleep to the countless fireworks whatevers. Or maybe there just weren't as many this time around. I know what I'm betting on.

Starting low-intensity prep for October's convention game - Trail of Cthulhu. Been a while since I dove into this one, and it's good to see it again. It's a Ken Hite game, and after listening to a lot of the podcast he does with Robin Laws, I've found myself "hearing" the text of the book in his voice, especially the joking asides. It's rather pleasant, really.

After a two-year journey/ordeal, one of our Star Wars group is off to the Army next week. We had a little going-away party for him last night - lots of shaking of hands and well-wishing and the like. Alec's a good kid, and he's going to do well. His dad's clearly proud of him, but he equally clearly is going to miss his son.

Mom's been home for about eleven days now. She's doing pretty well with her PT, and every time I talk with her, she sounds stronger and healthier than I've heard her in some time. She's able to walk about 170 steps at a go, using the walker, and she's able to get out over her chair or bed on her own. They're sending the rented hospital-type bed back to LifeLine next week, even. And Kaiser remains very very protective of her.

It has been a week, I tell you.

The weekend at Rough River Dam was just so darn good. Good people. A beautiful location. Good food and drinks and games. The perils of an electric car and charging it from a 120 volt outlet. Talking and catching up and just being together. And planning, most of us, to reassemble in a few months at a con and do it again.

To balance things out, I guess, Mom's back in Ephraim McDowell. She was badly dehydrated Monday morning, so Dad took her to the county hospital's ER. From there, airlifted to EMRMC. Dehydration from a kidney infection, and a very low hemoglobin level. The good news is, she's able to get out of bed and move on her own, and she sounds strong enough - but during a couple of conversations, she has been bombed out of her skull on pain medication and antibiotics and it has been, from my end, more than a little bit funny. No idea how much longer she'll have to stay, though. Hoping to see her Saturday or Sunday.

I think I've finally hit my saturation point with superhero TV, or at least the CW's franchise. Arrow ended, I didn't watch anything from Black Lightning's final season; even the last season of Supergirl has been a wash for me. Years of entertainment, so that's definitely a good thing.

Roadside Picnic

Bright Ideas, Dark Futures

The Family Business

How Could I Love Her so Much

Patterns

Chemical Sunset

Blue Mountain

If I Should Fall Behind

Sleep Now in the Fire

Photograph

Strong Enough

This Life

When the Morning Comes

If All I Was

You Could Make a Killing

Soul Man

Where the Rivers Meet

Shooting Star

Trip Through Your Wires

Cattleman's Gun

Someone Thought to Give it Beer

Crisis on Two Earths

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June 2025

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