2009-08-30

Rolling up the past

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 17:53

It has been an interesting week. Beyond the usual of just getting homework done (unit 7 of 12) and the final petition out, I also got caught up in the final throes of a massive undertaking I was doing at work. I’m trying really hard to keep with my original estimates (since last year I got dinged for giving poor estimates), but this last week is going to be an absolute killer. And things outside of my control are blocking me.

But, that is life. I’m doing a bit of extra hours this weekend to make sure I can get everything done.

I also got involved with a mental puzzle with Kingdom of Loathing. Yes, it is entirely optional in my life, but the intellectual challenge of doing it is really obsessing me. I know it can be done, just trying to figure out how to do it.

Beyond that, I’m getting ready for enjoying a 4-5 day holiday with my dad up at the family cabin. Which means I have to work extra hard this week to finish a day early so I can not feel guilty about taking Friday off.

2009-08-20

Random musings

Filed under: Writing — Tags: , , — D. Moonfire @ 14:25
Weight Loss (7.8 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (15,238 of 15,000 words)
Steps (18,297 of 500,000)

Enjoyed a pretty good day, despite being the first day back to work. The biggest thing was the start of the walking program. I didn’t really push it in the first two days, but I managed to get 12,925 steps which is about 6 miles. I also lost 0.4 kg at GenCon. I could have sworn I gained weight since I was off my feet so much, but apparently I actually kept my eating under control.

On the way back from GenCon, I got a chance to talk about Ranger Tom. He is partially why I added furries in my steampunk world, but he also had some good ideas on social and geological constructs for my world. I decided on a super-continent for the main world, mainly because I like the idea and it would force most of civilization to the edges of the continent. That also makes the center regions mostly deserts and tundra, perfect for a former slave race. We got to talk about the idea of furries being treated as “less than intelligent” and the implications of them suddenly given a homeland they don’t want but it is the only “home” they actually have.

Yeah, I like misery in characters and in settings. Besides, if you don’t have conflict, then why will people have adventures. I also don’t care for perfect worlds, unless they are being broken. Probably why I liked Villains by Necessity so much as a book.

I also realized my world is too structured. My first fantasy world was pretty much a clock, which fit my ideas at the time. 10 months, 10 day weeks, 10 “hour” days, etc. This one, I wanted a lot messier which doesn’t fit well with my need to have that regularity. However, when thinking about the cosmology of the teenagers from Flight of the Scions and with Mudd Fourier’s traits, I realized it was too rigid. I needed less structure. While the number of people who have read Muddy Reflections can be counted on one hand, it is still one of those initial novels that sets the scene for my world so I need to integrate that with Scions and the talents in that book. In a non-neat way.

These thoughts came from talking with fightertype about her fantasy world. I find it too restrictive with too many absolutes. “This can never happen.” Sooner or later, you go from “this can never happen” to “okay, this once” like when White Wolf had their werewolf/vampire crossbreeds. Also, when I get annoyed with something, I usually look inside to see why. One of my philosophies is that you don’t like what most resembles yourself. So, if you find yourself getting annoyed by other’s absolutes, look for that same thing in you.

2009-08-19

Walking challenge

Filed under: Games — D. Moonfire @ 18:50
Weight Loss (7.4 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (15,238 of 15,000 words)
Steps (5,372 of 500,000)

There is a walking challenge at work for the next six weeks. Trying to get as many steps as possible, so I’m aiming for 500,000. It is a doable goal, but will require me to push a lot harder than I have been. Which is perfect since I really need to push if I want to keep losing weight. I got my 5% by GenCon so I’m hoping to hit my 10% goal by the end of the year.

Bah, decided not to do a day-by-day for GenCon right now. Basically, the second day was great. The games got a lot more exciting, except for Shooting Ladders. While Fluffy and I were looking forward to it, the game ended up being more tactical and tedious than we expected. Just too many things to keep track of and too much strategy in the type of games we like.

I also played in the League of Unextraordinary Gentlemen, set in a HERO system. That was a fair amount of fun, mainly because we had a GM who could handle anything we threw at it. While it still had the normal railroaded plot that I expected in a con game, it was fun playing Mario from Super Mario Brothers and Lydia Deets from Beetlejuice.

On the third day, Saturday, I lost half the day for other reasons. Sen So looked like a lot of fun; Fluffy played that without me. She said she loved it so I went to buy it. One of the other players was right in front of me and basically cleaned out the store of all the cards. Bummer, but the next day I found out they had more so I got to get almost everything for her. This will definitely be showing up at our next board game night.

I also got to play a Desolation game (kind of fantasy post apoplictic game). I playtested that a few years ago at GenCon at it was cool to see how it evolved (including a few rules that came up during our session).

The last game, at just about midnight, was Snakes on a Train. A very fun HERO 6 game. I got the “worthless” character who couldn’t tell anyone he was using his powers or have anyone use them. But he had a 75 point VPP pool. So, I got to play an old-style Mage from World of Darkness. Except, my weapons were “look out for the cow!” and the world’s second largest ball of twine. Overall, definitely worth playing until three in the morning.

I only had one game on Sunday. I was an hour late (didn’t pay attention to the start) and they stopped an hour early (car checkout was 14:00). But, for the little bit I got to play, I had fun.

When I got back, I was seriously ready to head home. We actually got all the driving done on Sunday: four hours to Illinois, an hour getting dogs and my luggage *sigh*, then another four getting back to Iowa.

This was probably the most miserable GenCon I ever had, but I still had a lot of fun. Just took the effort to not let my pain ruin my having fun and it actually seemed to work. I missed a lot that I wanted to do: I missed some comics I wanted to pick up, hunting down Anton Strout to say hi, and going to some of the writer seminars. I’ll post about the authors as soon as Fluffy uploads her pictures; might as well have images for those who enjoy it.

2009-08-18

GenCon Day 1

Filed under: Uncategorized — D. Moonfire @ 18:44
Weight Loss (7.4 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (15,238 of 15,000 words)

The first day of GenCon was fantastic. Amazingly, I still retain my ability to separate discomfort and pain from enjoyment, so I actually had a lot of fun. I played in a new game, Eclipse something where I got to play an uplifted octopus. I even got to use my ink blast attack. :) But, I think that storyteller will never let someone use corpses as distraction maneuvers like that again. It seemed like a fun game, basically Shadowrun in space, but they had some stupid “only 30 sold a day!” which means, I won’t touch it for the year. I don’t know why, but I really, really hate those type of promotions. Yes, they are because of printing problems and everything, but they always make them the first 30 people which means people who don’t zerg rush the dealer hall never have a chance.

My second game was with Quest Cards. Pretty fun, in a Warhammer Quest type of way. Basically, a game you don’t need a storyteller but you can keep levels and equipment between levels. Warmhammer Quest might be more fun if I can make the boards out of LEGO, but still fun. The DM running it had no pre-regs for the next session, so I got four hours out of a two hour ticket.

My final game was a HERO system based on Sky High. Half the players were regulars with each other, but I still had fun. Not as much as I could, since it was a mostly roleplying game and I didn’t have the rapport the others did. Still, I love HERO.

Speaking of HERO, 6th edition came out at GenCon. I couldn’t find it for three days (they weren’t on the map), but I ordered the books and got a CD of the game. Oh, and got a chance to thank Steve Long for doing a wonderful job. I’ve been waiting for this for quite a while now, mainly because I’m going to develop my steampunk world in HERO 6 as I write in it. HERO Games also had printing problems, but they made some CD’s to get around it which is a far better way of handling it and why I happily handed over $75 when I wouldn’t even try with Eclipse.

I also got a chance to chat with authors, but they deserve their own post.

2009-08-17

GenCon Day 0

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 14:52
Weight Loss (7.4 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (15,238 of 15,000 words)

GenCon was a lot of fun, but this year it was also very, very stressful. After Fluffy picked me up, we had our initial argument while packing up to leave and then got out on the road. Everything was normal. We dropped Inigo off at fightertype’s for the week, chatted for a few hours, and then went to our hotel.

That was the first major problem. I won’t got into details but I managed to hurt myself by not taking care of myself and it pretty much put my entire trip in pain (well, walking, sitting, standing, or changing between those positions hurt). I was also hobbling until end of Saturday. It also took out half my Saturday and is the reason I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. No… not going into details, 99.999% of you don’t want to know specifics. But, it made moving around very painful for most of the trip.

The next morning, JL picked me up to help me cut down a tree at our house. We were both surprised to see it was still alive, so we just cut off some excess dead branches, cleaned it up, and moved on. I was very happy to see that my tenants are taking VERY good care of the yard.

A stop by my mother’s, move a 100 kg television around and some cabinets, and we also picked up Ranger Tom, our con-mate for the trip. Then we were off. Just under four hours to get from Illinois to Indy.

Just over three hours into the trip, I realized I accidentally left my suitcase in the back of JL’s van. With all my clothes, bathroom supplies, and my blanket (hotels never give enough so normally I give Fluffy all mine and sleep with the one I always sleep with). Because JL picked me up and I really wasn’t moving comfortably, I just took my bag with me for the tree-cutting. And then promptly forgot it. So, a hunk of my entertainment budget went into buying clothes for the trip and critical bathroom supplies. Thankfully, there is Walmart and while I’m at the very top of their size charts, we found a few pairs of shorts and a few bags of shirts and underwear to get me through the trip.

Just a little stress spike. :) All while it hurt to bend over and move.

Once we got to the hotel, we got settled in. Ranger Tom and Fluffy went out to get the swag bags and program booklets. The swag sucked, pure and simple. For something you have to prove your badge and they mark your badge so you don’t get more than one, five cards, a dice, and a 5-pack of common Magic cards isn’t worth it. The program was very pretty this year.

I was miserable but decided to do as much as I could. I don’t like ruining Fluffy’s trips, so we crashed around 23:00 and got ready for our first day of GenCon.

2009-08-11

Sitting without a date

Filed under: Games — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 20:03
Weight Loss (7.4 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (15,238 of 15,000 words)

Sitting in my living room, waiting for my date. I’m anxious to get going for GenCon though I’m pretty sure I forgot something along the way. Got the clothes and food pack. Just don’t have a wife. She isn’t packed and I’m pretty much out of things to do unless I get into the “hard to walk away from” list of things.

And my commission, but I’m avoiding that until next week.

I even distracted myself for three hours playing with KoLmafia so I can get some tedious stuff done while at GenCon (i.e. it will do my daily quests for me). It is cheesy, but I like the challenge of figuring out how to do it without abusing the server.

I’m excited, just anxious.

2009-08-08

Tree stumps

Filed under: Uncategorized — D. Moonfire @ 19:42
Weight Loss (6.8 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (12,876 of 15,000 words)

This week, the landlord started the process of getting rid of a dying ash tree in the front yard. When we moved it, it was pretty obvious that only half it actually lived. This is the same tree that I had a bad feeling about and the next day, it dumped a large branch where I normally parked the car.

So, good thing.

Sadly, tearing up the tree took a few days. The first day, they cut off most of the excessive branches. The next morning, the garage door wouldn’t close. After a bit of investigation, I saw that the “safety” transmitter had been knocked off the hook, so I put it back on and I had a working garage door.

On the next day, they cut down most of the tree. In the morning, the garage didn’t work again. Looking at it, it fell off probably from the shaking of the ground. I also noticed that the wire was chewed up from the garage door rollers going over it. So, I had a pleasant hour or so repairing the wiring on the garage while chatting up Fluffy.

Very fun.

When I got home the next day, they removed all but the stump of the tree. A bunch of stuff had fallen in the garage and the transmitter got knocked off again. I put everything back. I figured they were done.

Nope, the final day, they dug up a really big pit in the front yard to get rid of the stump. When I got home… more things knocked over and the transmitter was on the floor. It was the last day, and while I was getting tired of it, I could finally leave it in place.

This morning, I found a half-dead rabbit inside my garage, trying to get out.

And the transmitter was on the floor.

And the wires chewed up.

I’d like you to know, red herrings look like tree stumps.

2009-08-06

Random thoughts

Filed under: Writing — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 02:59
Weight Loss (6.8 of 14.7 kg)
Commission (10,027 of 15,000 words)

Haven’t really been posting a lot, I know. I have been posting a bit more frequently on Twitter, mainly because it is a must more free-form medium and doesn’t require heavy thoughts. Not to mention, I can post from my IM client which makes it easier.

Probably the main reason that I haven’t been posting is because I don’t think I have much to say. Yeah, most of it is emotional going on, but I think I’m finally getting tired of being a wannabe, but at the same time, I’m not actually doing much to not be a wannabe. It doesn’t matter if it is a programmer, writer, or anything else. I keep saying I want to be something, but I’m focusing on getting through college and just getting through the weeks, not on really creating anything new.

GenCon does this to me. There are so many talented people out there who have done my dream. I see their books on the tables, chat with them on occasion and I love doing it. Even the people who write books I don’t care for, I still put on a pedestal. They got there. They wrote something to put on a table. They sat on the table and did my dream. But, I can’t help feeling that I’m just dancing on the edges. It reminds me of the old drumming circles at the festivals I’ve gone to. I spent so much time standing on the edge of the firelight because I was afraid to take that plunge.

Fluffy says it isn’t nearly that bad. I’ve had almost continual writing commissions this year. It is actually the second best year I’ve ever had with commissions and she, repeatedly, tells me that I should be proud of that fact. Steady, repeat business writing. But, somehow, I still don’t think I’m a “real” writer.

While unpacking my office (11 boxes and 5 meters worth of books left), I found two copies of MG in a box. One was the original publication and the other with the cover I commissioned myself and absolutely and utterly adore. It is like a medal sitting on my desk, a reminder that I did it once and I can do it again. Its a nice feeling, more so when Fluffy asked me to read it out loud to her at night.

I really try not to give up. And I’m not giving up. I’m still writing every week but I still feel that I’m not really doing anything.