Today I fired up an older computer, and I had set the desktop background to an image created by Stephan Martiniere called Angel City. KGS saw it over my shoulder and asked where I got it, and I couldn’t remember. But google and the filename led me to him.
Very beautiful.
I’m purging the email that accumulated while I was out for a few days, and I noted the text below in someone’s signature.
Simple guidelines to happiness:
Work like you don’t need the money,
Love like your heart has never been broken and
Dance like no one can see you.
Maybe it’s trite and lacking in depth, but it caught my attention. And the theme I see in all three lines is to let go of fear. That’s a message that I need to absorb.
My Beloved Wife’s blog persona is “CraftyMommaVT” and it fits her perfectly. Part of her internship early this summer involved creating a tool for the Skilled Nursing Facility where she was working. She thought through how to make it really useful, worked really hard and carefully, and the final result is beautiful.
She does a better job than I can in describing the project, but the top offers some fine motor challenges, the bottom a standing checkers game, and all of it encourages patients to stand for longer periods of time to build strength and endurance.
The crafty trait apparently is genetic, and Nature Boy exercises his creative energies routinely. Recently, he decided that he needed to add some diversity to his boffer weapon arsenal. See the boffer war hammer he put together? Let me tell you; it packs quite a wallop! We have more raw materials, too, so I anticipate more fun with foam, CPVC, and lots of duct tape.
After I finished my usual morning email purge, I popped over to my BW’s blog to see her post for the day (she posts very regularly). I found myself reading the best birthday card I’ve ever received. I sat in Waterman Cafe across the table from Dr. Science, trying not to sob…
I only worked a half-day, and spent a very enjoyable afternoon and evening at home. BW got me the very awesome Intersections 1985-2005 collection of Bruce Hornsby music.
Four CDs and a DVD of fabulous music. I have lots of good listening ahead of me, and I finally get to hear Rainbow’s Cadillac again. She also got me a Peter, Paul, and Mary album, which has some nice songs from my childhood. Thanks, honey!
Rumor has it the NB had a super gift idea, but that delivery is taking a while. I’m anxious to find out what it is!
Edit: I see that Bruce will be performing in Lowell, MA, in the middle of August. I can’t recall if I’m supposed to be camping, then…
UVM’s Library has a very cool Online Classical Music Library. It usually takes me 15 minutes or so of poking around to find it, but it’s listed under the Online Reference Shelf under Music & Performing Arts.
The service allows you to stream music directly, or to compile and purchase your own CD. Very cool!
When NatureBoy and I attended NorthEast Wars in April, one of the events we played was a six-person Heroscape game. I hadn’t played it before; I think NB may have played with a friend more than a year prior. Although my army died early-on, NB stayed in the game almost to the end. He had a great time, and decided that he wanted a Heroscape set for his birthday.
The game features hexagonal plastic terrain pieces that snap and stack together to build a battle scenario. Then players create armies from miniatures, some of which are single “hero” characters while others are groups of less powerful units called “squads.” The rules for movement and combat are straight-forward and consistent. The object is to be the “last person standing.”
NB received the Rise of the Valkyrie Master Set and the Volcarren Wasteland expansion set, and we have played several games. In fact, he and BW have played several games, and she even likes it. W00T! I expect this will be a staple of our gaming for a long while.
Tonight, I’m getting together with some of my friends to play 7th Sea, a role playing of of swashbuckling high adventure set in a fictionalized 17th century Europe.
I’m playing a Castillian (i.e., Spanish) guitar instructor to the court of Elaine of Avalon (Britain) and a skilled swordsman. I’m also a member of the secret society of Los Vagos — freedom fighters like Zorro who protect common folks from the inquisition and the beleaguered young King from political rivals — but that backstory isn’t likely to come into play in this adventure. We’re seeking a magical compass that may allow ships to navigate the mystical 7th Sea (imagine a roaming Bermuda Triangle).
7th Sea is written by John and Jennifer Wick, and has a really interesting core mechanic. You have several base abilities called Traits (brawn, finesse, wits, resolve, and panache), and then Skills and Knacks. To resolve a conflict or test in the game, you roll a number of d10 dice equal to the sum of your Trait and the appropriate skill/knack. You then “keep” a number of dice equal to the Trait (the ones that rolled high, of course).
So, if I need to leap to grab a chandelier, and I have a brawn of 2 and a leaping knack of 3, I would roll 5 dice and keep the highest 2 (written as 5K2). So the skills contribute to higher rolls, but the Trait is the limit on how high a total is possible. Except that a rolled 10 “explodes;” you get to roll again (and maybe again…) and the sum of all the exploding rolls add to the value of the first d10, so it counts as one really big die roll that you can keep.
There’s also sorcery, political intrigue, mysterious ruins, and loathsome monsters. And there’s a drama dice system for rewarding risk-taking and good role playing that can work for both the players and the storyteller. All in all, our short campaign has been a lot of fun. Tonight is supposed to be the concluding session.
I’m thinking about offering to run Dogs in the Vineyard for a while if folks are interested in continuing to get together.
I have a lot of topics to post about. Here’s a fun one from last weekend.
Beloved Wife surprised me on Sunday morning, suggesting that we head to Whale’s Tale Waterpark for the day. I was giddy. 🙂
Whale’s Tale is in Lincoln, N.H., about a two-hour drive, but it’s closer than Splashwater Kingdom, and much nicer, IMHO. BW had a cooler packed with lunches, snacks and beverages in a flash, and then bought tickets online so we wouldn’t have to wait in line.
Much to our surprise, there was no line at all. Just lots of sun, slides, and pools.
NatureBoy is not a thrill-seeker. In fact, he refuses to go on most amusement park rides, and waterpark tubes and slides are no different. But he loves the wave pool, and we alternated between swimming in the wave pool, and BW and me enjoying the other attractions while NB took some pictures and even video.
In fact, here’s one of his videos, this one of BW and me riding Whale’s Tale’s most recent attraction, the Bonzai Pipeline:
BW’s blog has several more photo’s and a video of each of us riding Eye of the Storm. I really like that one! I’m hoping we get in one more trip to Whale’s Tale this summer.
We’ve just watched Disk 3 of the third season of Avatar, Day of Black Sun – Part 2 through Boiling Rock – Part 2. This is an amazing series, and if you haven’t been watching all along, Netflix can get you caught up. According to Wikipedia and AvatarSpirit.Net, the series’ final episodes will air in July. Nickelodeon released the following trailer:
This is gonna be good!
This has probably been around the web for a long time, but I just found it:
My favorite d20 is old and blue, given to me from the FLGS spare dice bin because I’d always use it. Its corners are really rounded, so it rolls for a long, long time. I love it! (I have affection for my dice!? Should I be concerned?)
NB is a D8:
Hmmm. Tweener and already deep, dark and cynical. Should I be concerned? 😉
Poppa VT 