Bob Space

The Lady of the Manor is wrapping up her third week in the new job. Everything seems to be going well.

And now, a digression:

Nevada was admitted as the 36th State of the Union on Oct. 31, 1864. For most of the history of the state, Oct. 31 was observed as a state holiday — so yup, we got Halloween off from school entirely. However, voters in the 1998 general election said they’d always rather have a three-day holiday for Nevada Day, which the Legislature (after much debate, that’s how important this was) approved in 2001. So now Nevada Day is the last Friday of the month, and the Nevada Day parade is the Saturday morning following.

The Lady is a State employee, and has been for 20-plus years. In all that time she never got Nevada Day off — she was in one of those places where the work has to be done 24/7. This year … she’s not.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying we’re going out of town for this three-day weekend. Try not to miss me too terribly. The itinerary is mostly family visiting, with a detour to miniature golf and possibly to an observatory and outdoor planetarium.

(This would be even more fun if the weather forecast weren’t soaked with rain for the weekend. But, hey. Rain is good.)

Last night our time, about sunrise Friday locally, a Soyuz capsule brought two Russian cosmonauts and game-designer/space tourist Richard Garriott back to earth in a flawless landing. Richard’s father Owen, a Skylab astronaut, was on-hand at the landing site…

“How come you look so fresh and ready to go again?” asked Owen Garriott as father and son exchanged warm greetings. Richard replied: “Because I am fresh and ready to go again.” (Reuters)

Gotta love it.

“Don’t salivate on my leg!”

(No, I’m not going to tell you whose leg, or who was salivating, or why. Make up your own story to amuse yourself. If you’re motivated, share that story in the comments.)

After spending some quality time with the latest schedule book, I have determined that with the new schedule I can successfully ride the bus from work to the nearest stop to my home in the evenings. Yay!

Unfortunately, it’s now impossible to get to work on time from that stop in the morning. Rats. I have tried every combination I can think of to make that work, but there’s no way around the fact that outlier routes which only run once an hour suck at getting me where I need to go when I need to be there.

I really, really would like to bus-commute. Sure it takes longer — a lot longer, maybe, but that’s time I can use to read, reflect, plan, write — personal quiet time, in other words, even if found on a noisy bus. But the Regional Transportation Commission just hasn’t made that possible. Maybe some year. Or maybe I’ll get a rocket pack.

I have to say that I’ve been enjoying James Maliszewski’s musings at his old-school gaming blog Grognardia , this despite never playing Original D&D or Basic D&D (or its expansions) and playing AD&D 1e and 2e in fewer sessions than I have fingers on one hand. There’s still something in the original game that resonates with me, and it’s fun to read about new products or additions to other products.

One of the new releases he’s mentioned is Swords and Wizardry by Matt Finch. It’s available free in PDF via Lulu, and I rather like the cover. The contents aren’t awful, either. Mr. Finch also has an excellent essay available as a free download, “A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming.” I find a lot to agree with, or which agrees with my experiences, in its discussion of how games were when I was coming into the hobby.

I never really had the nerve to fully embrace the sort of player skill-driven, resource management play … I could be called a “second wave” gamer, having come into a group which had already burned out on D&D and had moved on to games less quirky and play more story-driven. But I’ve always had pangs of wanting to have a scale map of a dungeon spread across the table, minis and dice everywhere … but many of the other old school principles make perfect sense to me, and indeed I tried to put those into games I’ve played or written.

[My most distinctly un-Old School behavior: I tend to do away with money & possession considerations -- you have what you need, and what comes after follows from the story. Contrast to Old School, which would take the acquisition (and disposition) of loot as the primary end, and exploring, investigating, and dispatching monsters as the means to that end.]

The official “first looks” at the U.S.S. Enterprise for next summer’s Star TreK movie are expected to be along in next month’s trailer. While you wait, enjoy Jason Lee’s conjectural treatment (which adds a new level of detail but keeps the classic Jefferies design intact) and Gabriel Koerner’s very popular and muscular re-envisioning of the Constitution-class ship.

Dennis Bailey has his own take, something of a blend of the designs by Matt Jefferies, Joe Jennings (for the Phase II series) and Andy Probert (for the first movie). You can see that at the bottom of this page on trekmovie.com.

I’m unaccountably happy these days, which may be why I haven’t been motivated to blog much — nothing to complain about, but not any real news either. But there it is. I am really pleased with the shape of my life these days. I have a swell job (which I hope to keep), my wife has a swell job (which we hope she keeps), only occasionally aggravating children, lots of interesting things going on, and generally blessings all over.

My life wasn’t like this six months ago. And if your life isn’t like this now, I encourage you to keep your eyes up and stay strong. You’ll find the right place.

Yesterday afternoon I began to get a toothache. This was worrisome, as I’d just done a few thousand dollars of repair and restoration in my mouth last year. And I couldn’t identify which tooth was hurting. I went home and tried to distract myself with the first half of Iron Man on DVD.

About halfway through, I began to feel as though my forehead and the upper part of my face were detaching and being jacked out forward. The toothache worsened, and was engaging more nerves. About this time I began to suspect a slow-motion sinus headache. I took some extended-strength acetaminophen… and about this time, the toothache coalesced into the familiar little ball of pain right behind my left cheekbone and eyeball: a classic symptom of sinus headache. Whew! More dental work not required.

I refilled the water tank on my CPAP humidifier and turned up the heat to make sure I’d be breathing plenty of vapor overnight. Seems to have worked: my normal post-nasal drip is back and there’s no headache. I’ve had sinus irrigation recommended to me. It might be worth an attempt or two, once the current financial pinch eases enough for me to invest in some saline solution.

In the wee hours of the morning where I am … but Friday after dinner in Sydney …

mezzacotta

Possibly the most creative thing I’ve ever done, save for my daughters:

My Yard Sign