It means that you can just mindlessly ramble about this that and the other thing.
Unfortunately, I fear there will one day be a day where someone may actually read this drivel. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm grasping at phantasmal straws, hoping that there's someone out there that likes meandering monologue. I mean, honestly, they made a movie about the Prairie Home Companion. I love PHC, mind you... but... a movie? Really? A movie?
Anyways, so I'm sitting here at work, wondering what the new year will bring. I'm also wondering if I'll ever get a copy of the Fiendish Codex II. Honestly, there's few things out there that I want right now as much as that book. Okay... except maybe for the Wii and X-Box 360. I am just your typical gaming geek. There's a reason that I'm called the d20 whore.
Speaking of d20, I'm actually attempting to work on get something published. Hopefully, one day, I'll have something in print, and be able to start making some money off this little habit of mine. It would be a great opportunity. I'm thinking of changing some of my ideas, Going from writing stories to more technical writing for game rules and such. It's an idea.
The other ponderance for the new year is to maybe use this site to write a story. Question is... a story about what. Hmm... maybe one of my D&D characters. Maybe about some other random character. Maybe even about the good Shepard that this blog is named after. They're all possibilities. I'll have to think about it over the weekend.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Merry Christmas to all...
... and to all a good night.
Yeah, I know, not the most original intro to a blog, but hey, it's the holidays. It's been crazy lately and I feel very much with the badness that I haven't been able to post in a bit.
I just recently changed jobs, going from customer service at E*trade, to work instead at Verio in their technical support team. I'm a much happier camper all together... now (why do I suddenly want to start singing Beatles songs?).
I'm also now running a three (wo)man adventuring party, as an opportunity to teach some new players the ropes, as well as a chance to get some more game running practice in. It's actually pretty cool. If you've never had a chance to run for nothing but female gamers I... well... it has it's great rewards but it's own special challenges. Being the only guy in the room, there are times I suddenly need to step out of the room, turn on some pro-wrestling, take a deep breath of testorone, and then walk back in. Fortunately, with this group, this happens but rarely. It's a lot of fun, and once again, I get to steal concepts from a hundred and one sources and put them together into a somewhat coherent storyline. I am very excited about where this game can go.
The holidays... ah, the holidays. Christmas is a time to spend it with family, be close to the ones you love, and then remember why it was that you moved out in the first place. I'm kidding. I won't lie to you, getting together with my family, with the amount of neurosis, stresses, insanities, and other dysfunctions can make it as comfortable as a donut in Hawk's refrigerator in the middle of Ramadan (read Applegeeks, darn it! Hehehe...) but, it's family. You know, when we chose our families before we got to this life, I wonder... did we really know they would all end up so neurotic? The great thing about families, though, is that no matter what, you still love them. Despite misunderstanding, jealousies, and other mortal foolishness, in our deepest hearts (maybe the cochels, maybe the sub-cochles, maybe even the colan...) we still love them, and our lives are not complete without them.
This year I think Ang and I did pretty darn good on the gift giving, and got some pretty good gifts in return. My Dad got me an air-popper for popcorn. I'm totally excited about that. I can make popcorn for gaming! (IF I can convince Ang to let me buy popcorn... hmm....) Then we got a very nice blender, which means malted milk shakes, smoothies, and other blended beverages (non-alcholic, of course, but if you want a good Kahlua and Irish Creme recipe... no, wait, that's bad, must be good) for gaming (and other get together). I'm starting to notice a trend... We also got gift certificates, an interesting board game focusing on draconology (very curious), and some other odds and ends. All in all, a good year. I hope my brothers, sister-in-law, Dad, and friends all enjoyed what we got them.
One of these days, I'll have to give a little review of the dragon game that my brother got my wife and I, unfortunately, I haven't even opened it up. (Sadly, I was going to bring in my Mr. Potato Head set to decorate my cubical, but I was expecting that it was going to be a bit busier than it currently is.) For right now, all I can do is reaffirm that Dragon Magic is a darn nice book. That the new issue if Dragon magazine is pretty sweet, and that I am geek beyond words.
Well, depending on how the mood strikes me, I may post yet again later. Depends on how the day goes, the wind blows, and the... umm... moon shows (?).
Yeah, I know, not the most original intro to a blog, but hey, it's the holidays. It's been crazy lately and I feel very much with the badness that I haven't been able to post in a bit.
I just recently changed jobs, going from customer service at E*trade, to work instead at Verio in their technical support team. I'm a much happier camper all together... now (why do I suddenly want to start singing Beatles songs?).
I'm also now running a three (wo)man adventuring party, as an opportunity to teach some new players the ropes, as well as a chance to get some more game running practice in. It's actually pretty cool. If you've never had a chance to run for nothing but female gamers I... well... it has it's great rewards but it's own special challenges. Being the only guy in the room, there are times I suddenly need to step out of the room, turn on some pro-wrestling, take a deep breath of testorone, and then walk back in. Fortunately, with this group, this happens but rarely. It's a lot of fun, and once again, I get to steal concepts from a hundred and one sources and put them together into a somewhat coherent storyline. I am very excited about where this game can go.
The holidays... ah, the holidays. Christmas is a time to spend it with family, be close to the ones you love, and then remember why it was that you moved out in the first place. I'm kidding. I won't lie to you, getting together with my family, with the amount of neurosis, stresses, insanities, and other dysfunctions can make it as comfortable as a donut in Hawk's refrigerator in the middle of Ramadan (read Applegeeks, darn it! Hehehe...) but, it's family. You know, when we chose our families before we got to this life, I wonder... did we really know they would all end up so neurotic? The great thing about families, though, is that no matter what, you still love them. Despite misunderstanding, jealousies, and other mortal foolishness, in our deepest hearts (maybe the cochels, maybe the sub-cochles, maybe even the colan...) we still love them, and our lives are not complete without them.
This year I think Ang and I did pretty darn good on the gift giving, and got some pretty good gifts in return. My Dad got me an air-popper for popcorn. I'm totally excited about that. I can make popcorn for gaming! (IF I can convince Ang to let me buy popcorn... hmm....) Then we got a very nice blender, which means malted milk shakes, smoothies, and other blended beverages (non-alcholic, of course, but if you want a good Kahlua and Irish Creme recipe... no, wait, that's bad, must be good) for gaming (and other get together). I'm starting to notice a trend... We also got gift certificates, an interesting board game focusing on draconology (very curious), and some other odds and ends. All in all, a good year. I hope my brothers, sister-in-law, Dad, and friends all enjoyed what we got them.
One of these days, I'll have to give a little review of the dragon game that my brother got my wife and I, unfortunately, I haven't even opened it up. (Sadly, I was going to bring in my Mr. Potato Head set to decorate my cubical, but I was expecting that it was going to be a bit busier than it currently is.) For right now, all I can do is reaffirm that Dragon Magic is a darn nice book. That the new issue if Dragon magazine is pretty sweet, and that I am geek beyond words.
Well, depending on how the mood strikes me, I may post yet again later. Depends on how the day goes, the wind blows, and the... umm... moon shows (?).
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Dear Buddah, I want a pony...
And to find more time to keep on top of my Blog!
I know, I think I'm only slightly worse keeping up with my journal as opposed to keeping up with my Blog. Hopefully, I'll be better with things since I've just changed jobs.
Where I was once working in the high stress world of finance with E*Trade (A pretty cool company, with a pretty witchy supervisor), I now work in the similarly stressful world of IT. This is where I want to be, though. This is what I'm going to school for. It's funny how the Lord provides windows when you think you see a door shutting.
I've been on my back, side and belly for the last little bit, due to a back injury that flared up something awful. I've been out of the office for two weeks recovering. After going to the doctor, and then the chiropractor, I laid in the living room, playing Jade Empire on the X-Box, wondering what I was going to do to make bills meet. Turns out I didn't need to worry. The phone started ringing off the hook with interview requests all for IT jobs. Now, I work for an IT web hosting company. I am very happy.
Thanksgiving on your back, though, is not easy to handle. Fortunately, I have a good wife.
She's been great during all this. She's really enjoying her new job for Dell, and my hopes to have a notebook (since apparently laptop is a bad word there) sometime in the near future, is a possibility. She's been just as stressed as I have, but she's been pretty good about keeping things together through this time of change (even if she hasn't seen it that way).
So, time for me to let my opinion be known on a few things. Being laid up, barely able to walk, one gets the chance to do a lot of unimportant things to try to forget that one is in exquisite amounts of pain. Among the top of my list of things to do during this time are such things as watch Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig. Ah... the classics. Anyone who knows me knows I'm all about the story, and these three beautiful bits of moving artwork are more than worth the time. Also, on that list is games, more particularly RPGs. This time around I did some X-box gaming with Jade Empire, as I mentioned.
Jade Empire is a decent follow up to the original Knights of the Old Republic. I loved that game. My friend Bob will admit (after a long gaming session) that there's even a part where he cried. Jade Empire is in the same vein. I didn't cry, but it follows great with the Chinese mythological flavor that it sets out to do. Now, that being said, sadly, it is pretty much a remake of KOTOR if you're looking for something earth shattering, you'll be disappointed. I will say, the ability to level your abilities was nice, but it was pretty similar to force powers. Still, a fun game, and I recommend getting it, if you have the chance to sprawl out on your couch for over a week.
The other thing I've had a chance to do during this time is take a look at Cityscape the new "environmental" book for D&D from Wizards of the Coast. I'm a big fan of the environmental books myself. I'm really hoping that they decide to do a jungle themed one. This one, though, has left me feeling a little let down. The previous editions of this series had some difficulties (never ever ever ask Bob about the ship sinking rules in this book), but this one just seems rather unimaginative. Some of the information seems more of a reprinting and expounding from Race of Destiny. Also, the creatures seem somewhat forced. Maybe I've just not had a long enough time to fully digest this tome, and let it settle in my DMing stomach, but what I'm tasting just seems to be McDonald's when I've gotten used to at least Wendy's. Hopefully, Fiendish Codex II doesn't let me down. I've got to figure out some book to put on my Christmas list. Of course, now that I think of it... putting the Fiendish Codex II on my Christmas list may be a little... sac religious.
I've got a lot of things to think about. Bob's running his play test again. Oh, I do so love those. Now, if only our group can work out S.W.A.T. gaming, we may actually manage to survive the next few levels. That, or we just keep up the luck with the accidental major critical hits. I'm also starting a Friday night game, where I'm running for my wife and two mutual friends. Of course, it's a bit odd. It's an all female gaming group. No "Captive Elven Princess of the Temple of the Succubus Demon Whore" for this group, no sir. Hmm... though, I think I should make a "useful" Elan (see Order of the Stick NOW! if you don't know who Elan is) for this group. That could be fun. Hehehehe...
Well, until next time... which should be sooner than last.
Don't go too far into the 'Verse without a backup air supply.
I know, I think I'm only slightly worse keeping up with my journal as opposed to keeping up with my Blog. Hopefully, I'll be better with things since I've just changed jobs.
Where I was once working in the high stress world of finance with E*Trade (A pretty cool company, with a pretty witchy supervisor), I now work in the similarly stressful world of IT. This is where I want to be, though. This is what I'm going to school for. It's funny how the Lord provides windows when you think you see a door shutting.
I've been on my back, side and belly for the last little bit, due to a back injury that flared up something awful. I've been out of the office for two weeks recovering. After going to the doctor, and then the chiropractor, I laid in the living room, playing Jade Empire on the X-Box, wondering what I was going to do to make bills meet. Turns out I didn't need to worry. The phone started ringing off the hook with interview requests all for IT jobs. Now, I work for an IT web hosting company. I am very happy.
Thanksgiving on your back, though, is not easy to handle. Fortunately, I have a good wife.
She's been great during all this. She's really enjoying her new job for Dell, and my hopes to have a notebook (since apparently laptop is a bad word there) sometime in the near future, is a possibility. She's been just as stressed as I have, but she's been pretty good about keeping things together through this time of change (even if she hasn't seen it that way).
So, time for me to let my opinion be known on a few things. Being laid up, barely able to walk, one gets the chance to do a lot of unimportant things to try to forget that one is in exquisite amounts of pain. Among the top of my list of things to do during this time are such things as watch Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig. Ah... the classics. Anyone who knows me knows I'm all about the story, and these three beautiful bits of moving artwork are more than worth the time. Also, on that list is games, more particularly RPGs. This time around I did some X-box gaming with Jade Empire, as I mentioned.
Jade Empire is a decent follow up to the original Knights of the Old Republic. I loved that game. My friend Bob will admit (after a long gaming session) that there's even a part where he cried. Jade Empire is in the same vein. I didn't cry, but it follows great with the Chinese mythological flavor that it sets out to do. Now, that being said, sadly, it is pretty much a remake of KOTOR if you're looking for something earth shattering, you'll be disappointed. I will say, the ability to level your abilities was nice, but it was pretty similar to force powers. Still, a fun game, and I recommend getting it, if you have the chance to sprawl out on your couch for over a week.
The other thing I've had a chance to do during this time is take a look at Cityscape the new "environmental" book for D&D from Wizards of the Coast. I'm a big fan of the environmental books myself. I'm really hoping that they decide to do a jungle themed one. This one, though, has left me feeling a little let down. The previous editions of this series had some difficulties (never ever ever ask Bob about the ship sinking rules in this book), but this one just seems rather unimaginative. Some of the information seems more of a reprinting and expounding from Race of Destiny. Also, the creatures seem somewhat forced. Maybe I've just not had a long enough time to fully digest this tome, and let it settle in my DMing stomach, but what I'm tasting just seems to be McDonald's when I've gotten used to at least Wendy's. Hopefully, Fiendish Codex II doesn't let me down. I've got to figure out some book to put on my Christmas list. Of course, now that I think of it... putting the Fiendish Codex II on my Christmas list may be a little... sac religious.
I've got a lot of things to think about. Bob's running his play test again. Oh, I do so love those. Now, if only our group can work out S.W.A.T. gaming, we may actually manage to survive the next few levels. That, or we just keep up the luck with the accidental major critical hits. I'm also starting a Friday night game, where I'm running for my wife and two mutual friends. Of course, it's a bit odd. It's an all female gaming group. No "Captive Elven Princess of the Temple of the Succubus Demon Whore" for this group, no sir. Hmm... though, I think I should make a "useful" Elan (see Order of the Stick NOW! if you don't know who Elan is) for this group. That could be fun. Hehehehe...
Well, until next time... which should be sooner than last.
Don't go too far into the 'Verse without a backup air supply.
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