Riding High on the Dice

Schedules have been pretty crazy around here in case you've stumbled by and noticed it's been a while since my last post. Here lately, any free time has been consumed in gaming of some sort. In the past few months I've managed to play:

Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition) Mutants & Masterminds (D20 but with superheroes) World of Darkness (Vampire the Requiem & Geist) Warhammer 40,000 (Space Marines FTW!) Warmachine (niiiiice and crunchy rules) Rogue Trader (sci-fi RPG) Poker No Limit Holdem (I even won a game!)

So it's been lots of reading for me lately - and driving. The group I've been gaming with lives on the other side of town but I really don't mind the drive so much. I get to listen to my iPod mixes the whole way and I catch up with my dad on the drive there. It's good to be gaming again. The creative juices are flowing again, I've always got a book to chew on, and I really dig being able to hang out with folks of like minds. They're a good group of guys. So if I haven't posted in a while it's only because I've been way to busy trying to keep up with household stuff, read the latest gaming book, and schedule gaming time in between. Then there's Owlcon to think of too. :)

I'm really looking forward to Owlcon this year. I'm only running one game (a GURPS demo) this year so I won't have to sweat writing a game, NPC's, setting plot speed, etc. Marcel earns his GM wings as well, running a game of Heroscape. It'll be another proud daddy nerd moment I can't wait for.

I just wanted to come in and say all is well in our world. It's gonna be a badass year. Lana's in the zone knocking her business out the park, her convention is right around the corner, Marcel's doing awesome in school, and I'm rattling the dice at least twice a week. All is good.

Well, I've got some Chaos Space Marines to stalk on eBay while the little girl is still sleeping so later!

In the Year Twenty Ten

So it's a new year and it's the first post in the year twenty ten. I love saying that - "In the year twenty ten". It sounds so prophetic or almost biblical. Something world-altering should happen and hopefully for the best.

My world just altered a little just an hour ago. It was just a small thing but I felt my world shift just ever so subtly. Marcel got his first lesson in shaving. He'd been growing a bit of peach fuzz and we decided a shaving kit was perfect for a gift from us this year. So he now has his own black bag to toss under the sink now. I'll now have to worry about him stealing my razor or leaving a dirty sink. Oh, and he's no longer my little "Boogie". Did I forget the part that it became all too apparent that he's quickly becoming more of a man every day?

Puzzling Around

Another Christmas for the books. We've managed to recover mostly. Wrapping paper and empty boxes have been bagged, most of the chocolate cookies are gone, and the new toys have all found a comfortable spot with the rest. Oh, and Christmas pics for 2009 are finally posted.

We spent a wonderful Christmas at home with Lana's grandma and dad. Don's doing great for those that remember his little emergency room visit. We baked cookies and slathered them in frosting, watched Christmas movies with the kids (Jack Frost and A Christmas Story), and then nerded out out to District 9. We even remembered to leave Santa his share of cookie tax before calling it a night.

Now the only problem is finding our regular groove. I think I would have spent the entire past week in pajamas had I been able to get away with it. I'll eventually get back on track I guess though I'm in no particular rush. It's rather nice not having regular jobs and being chained to a work schedule. :)

I did manage to pick up a new-but-old hobby. When Lana and I first got married we moved away to the far away land of Tennessee. I was just a newly promoted PV2, straight out of AIT, at my first duty station and neither of us knew anyone. Before we made friends with the people I worked with at the hospital, we found puzzles when we ventured out at 3am at Walmart. Looking back, it was really a pretty darn wonderful time. It was just us and we were both on my night shift schedule. We'd sleep all day and spend the whole evening together watching movies, playing scrabble, or putting puzzles together. On my off rotation we'd pack up and head out for three or four days and forget I was in the Army. I even have the Article 15 to prove it.

Lana bought a big value pack of puzzles at Walmart for us to do as a family. We tackled the small one first. We moved on quickly to the 1,000 piece puzzle. While it may not be what some call fun, I enjoy it. It's especially fun when Lana scoots up on the other side of the table. It becomes marvelous curveball of fun when Marcel sits down. Maybe you don't get it, but that's okay cause I do.

Santa Town in College Station

So we finally got a majority of the Christmas shopping done. Lana and I spent an early morning wrapping presents together while the kids slept the other night. We're usually pretty late on the boat, but Lana's been all over it this year. This year, we did the bulk of our shopping through Amazon. So now we're just biting our fingernails and hoping it all gets here in time. I'm told by my Amazon account that it should all be here before Santa, so we should be good. The only trouble we have right now? Keeping the little girl from unwrapping the other presents under the tree. She can't seem to help herself. The moment she knows I'm not watching her she's tearing into a present. The next week or so will be a battle of wills that will end with us probably hiding the presents until Christmas Eve.

Other than that, we're really just counting down. We haven't made our trip out to Prestonwood yet but we did drive out to Santa's Wonderland with some friends. It was really pretty impressive. I only wish I could have set up a tripod for some extended shutter speed shots but they don't allow you to get out of your car on the road that goes through the lights display. Once you've done the lights display, they even have a little Santa Town. They had live music, a Santa, and even a mechanical bull. Most importantly, they had funnel cake. :)

Other than that, it's been a bit lazy around here as we bunker down waiting for Christmas. I've been reading the Heroes Die books again and not been getting a whole lot of other things done. It's a bit dangerous to have books accessible through my phone at my whim. I'm going to write my Owlcon GURPS 4th Edition Demo game based off the setting written in the first two books. I've decided the adventure will take place in the years between Blade of Tyshalle and Caine Black Knife. Now I just have to write it in umm... three days? That's when the preregistration opens up which means maximum exposure to gamers. I do work best under pressure...

Giving Thanks Twice

Thanksgiving is over - sort of. Like most folks, we're still living off leftover turkey but thankfully the sweets are long gone. Unfortunately a good portion of it went down my own gullet. We ended up actually celebrating Thanksgiving twice this year so it was a double helping of gut-busting food. I even made Sweet Potato Pie this year thanks to Alton Brown. I've recently discovered I actually enjoy cooking. I don't have the natural palette for it Lana does, but I know how to follow directions. I can't tell what needs to be added or in what quantities but if given good directions I get usually make something eatable. I've come a long way from paying my little brother to make me grill cheese sandwich.

Even with crazy schedules, we managed to get the Christmas tree up! I brought down all the boxes from the attic room with help from Marcel. We sat around the fireplace listening to Christmas carols streamed through the TV from our home network, watching our family photos on the slide show, while we hung ornaments. Livie decided they were all too nice to hang and it was a constant battle. We'd hang two and she'd take one off. It ended up being a pretty lengthy task but that's all right. I'm not sure how many more Santa years we're gonna get out of Marcel. I think that he already secretly knows who the real Santas are and it does make me a little sad. Maybe that's why he hasn't said anything. Normally I wouldn't give a kid that kind of credit for being that sensitive, but Marcel's that kinda kid. I'm a lucky guy and I have a lot to be thankful for.

So now we're on Santa countdown with the calendar. The kids move the little bear every evening together. Marcel reads the day's hint and Olivia looks for the spot to move the bear. It's really pretty damn cute. So at some point Lana and I need to finish our shopping. Olivia will be pretty easy but Marcel gets tougher every year. He claims he doesn't really play with his toys anymore but I can't help but notice the G.I. Joe's scattered across his bedroom floor in a very reminiscent fashion of a good ol' ass whoopin dropped down by his heavily armed and loved Halo figures. So I think maybe this year I'll grab a few Collectible action figures that he can continue to urmmm, "display" in his room.

I should go. The living room just got really quiet and when I rolled my chair out as a bluff move, I heard little feet take off running.

TINSTAAFL

I missed Veterans Day. I can't believe I forgot about it and let Marcel go to school. I'm not sure when it became okay for kids to go to school on Veterans Day but I don't send my kids to school but this go around I actually forgot. My father served in the Army and racked up four MOS's. One of his brother's served in the Army and had the privilege of becoming an Airborne Ranger. Another served in the Navy. I served in the Army as an Army Medic. So to say I felt bad about sending Marcel to school on Veterans Day is a little bit of an overstatement.

I was taught as a kid that we live in a country of incredible opportunities - if one's willing to do the work. Our country is based off the premise that the opportunity is provided for you to elevate yourself. Without going into my father's private life too much, he knew what it was to live in poverty and did something to change his life. He didn't ask for government handouts or welfare. He worked for it. I'm not sure what's changed in American mentality but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that most people believe that their government should provide for them what past generations worked for and earned.

Anyway, I felt bad about sending Marcel to school. So I picked him up from school early the following day and took the kids out. We had a little rehash talk on the road about his grandpa. I can't think of a better example of hard work and dedication than my own father's story. Marcel knew his grandpa's story already but I thought it important to remind him that the privileges most take for granted are not free. Not the freedom to express ourselves, to worship (or not worship) as we choose, medical care, welfare, social security, etc. Someone has to pay for it even if it's not you. Sometimes with a hit to our wallets, sometimes with blood. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

That was our little discussion on our way to the Houston Zoo. Of course, we talked about his newest girlfriend too but I know this stuff he'll remember even if he seems bored by it now. It was a fantastic day for a zoo trip too. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was cool enough that most of the animals were out and playing. This trip was made particularly easier since we had our iPhones loaded with the Houston Zoo App. Olivia makes friends everywhere she goes and at the zoo was no exception. She talked to the women sitting beside us as we ate, she made friends with the kids on the playground, and even charmed our waitress when we had dinner afterward. She kept Marcel and me pretty busy. Marcel and I were a bit disappointed that the Kipp Aquarium was closed but we did get to see the piranha at least. The kids were so worn out, they both fell asleep once they were in the car.

Fun and Games

With Halloween now behind us I find myself a little restless with nothing to work on that has a real deadline. Sure, laundry needs to be done every few days and the dishwasher has to be run every evening but nothing that really says, "Get Your Ass MOVING!" The kids enjoyed their candy far too much, Marcel's still running around wearing his mask, and Olivia still tries to squeeze her witch hat on daily. All the good candy is long gone but the kids (and me) are still chipping away at the left-overs. It's mostly tootsie rolls and suckers left now but we'll manage, I'm sure, to make sure none goes to waste.

I guess I just didn't realize how much taking them trick or treating together meant to me until there was the real threat Marcel would be trick or treating without us. He'd gotten invited to a really large Halloween birthday bash - with trick or treating to wrap it up. I guess I just kind of assumed he'd always want to spend Halloween with us. I guess I'm just being a bit too sentimental. He ended up trick or treating with us since the party was actually just going to do a group hayride but no trick or treating so we got him for one more year. We'll have to do something enticing next year to make sure he decides to stick with us on Halloween I guess. I'll resort to bribery, you're damn right.

So now I want to make something again. I had fun making the mask but honestly it wasn't difficult. I didn't do anything new. I made a plaster face mask, I sculpted the mask on top of it out of clay, then I made a mold from latex and plaster. From there I just mixed up a batch of milkshake and glassed the inside. Done. No real challenge.

With that said, I've decided to try my hand at making a few more poker tables. I'm going to give myself a deadline to make and see how it goes. To help the ball get rolling I went and sold the other poker tables I made to help grease the wheel and motivate me. I'm feeling more confident with my woodworking abilities these days. After making Marcel's wooden swords and tossing together a few push sticks for the table saw I'm ready for a new challenge. This go around I'm going to try to make pedestal bases. These poker tables are now attempt five and six. We'll see how it goes especially since I can't leave good enough alone. I've taken numerous poker table building plans and bastardized them into my own so there's no real detailed directions out there (that I've found) for what I plan on building. It's nothing too complicated other than a mishmash of a few plans but it will definitely be a challenge. The fun part is the planning right now. I'm using Illustrator CS4 to layout my lumber cuts and 3D Studio Max to visualize the dimensions. Does it get geekier than that?

It's nearly nap time, so I'm outta hear for now. I've got poker table plans to finalize and a workout to do while the little girl recharges.