A Public Apology to my Cat, Rimmon

Rimmon

Dear Rimmon,

I am sorry I gave you a bath. I realize you are now traumatized for life and I may have to let you have some whiskey take you to the vet for doctor-approved prozac anti-stress treats. Since you are a crazy rational cat, I will explain why you needed to be hauled into the shower at two o’clock in the afternoon.

I say this with love. First, when your food is being refilled, please avoid taking the opportunity to open the door and stand underneath the stream believing that this is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined into one feeding. Yes, you’re a gaping maw hungry. I get that. But, the consequence of diving into your food container and acting like a kitten all over again is the terror I put you through — the dreaded bathtub.

You should have been familiar with the white vortex of dooooooom that cleans your guardian so she can be seen in public — but I guess not. No, instead your tailed puffed out, you crawled backwards and upside down like you were demonically-possessed, and then you daintily skipped out of the bathtub until I hauled you back in for Round 2.

A few rounds and a wet bath towel later, you survived only to find a comfortable position and take a nap. When you awake and clean your fur, I suspect you’ll still taste like food. You’ll still expect dinner, of course. That hasn’t changed. You bastard.

Hope you learned your lesson, Rimmon, and I’m sorry I gave you a bath. I am not looking forward to giving you one again.

Love,

Your Guardian and One of Two Food Providers

    Mood: I saw the sun. I’m in shock.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: There is no nation like caffeination.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: HAH HAH HAH HAH HA H
    In My Ears: Deadlines and Commitments by The Killers
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing Transformed
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Transylvania 6-5000!
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


February 12, 2014
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Participate in National Craft Month with me!

Soundwave Avatar

Every “boost your creativity” book and website I’ve talks about the benefits of physically taking a pen or marker to paper and making something. The DIY culture has taken off in a big way and the maker culture is even reaching all the way to the White House.

In an earlier post, I talked about how March is National Craft Month. I’m definitely using March as a motivator to get some of my own projects done. What can you do? I thought this article had some good high-level tips to get involved, but I’d like to talk about ways we can tie this back to comics, fiction, and games.

Things like designing or decorating:

  • Bookmarks and Book Covers
  • Dice Bags and/or Book Bags
  • Character Portraits
  • Props or In Universe Paraphenalia
  • Book/Game Trailers

Of course, there’s really no end to the geek hobbies you can engage in, either. The point is not to be good at what you’re doing — just to do it! Have to start somewhere, right? Here’s a few sites that have some cool patterns and the like:

Have any sites to recommend? Contact me via this link and I’ll round ’em up for another post. Otherwise? Get to craftin’!

    Mood: I saw the sun. I’m in shock.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: There is no nation like caffeination.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: HAH HAH HAH HAH HA H
    In My Ears: The Son of Flynn remix by Daft Punk/Sander Kleinenberg
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing Transformed
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Can’t remember. It was some horrifically awful “but my husband t’aint really dead” movie.
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


February 9, 2014
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A Love Letter to Swarovski

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I have to write this post, because I am ridiculously happy right now. And, because I am ridiculously happy well… I’d rather share that than complain about the weather. Again.

If you’re just joining me as a reader on my blog, one of the hobbies I do to keep myself sane is bead. I’m rather fond of the beading community and I love how it brings women and men together from various walks of life to create art via jewelry. Plus, they make excellent gifts that often have a story behind them. During the holidays, I usually pick three random people (usually women) and make them jewelry as my way of paying it forward.

One of the things I like to do for myself, though, is collect skull jewelry. I’m picky, because I really prefer the rocker variety over bone, but I also have metal allergies. (No, you’re right… I couldn’t POSSIBLY make that MORE complicated…) Ergo? I usually make jewelry myself and incorporate skulls when I have a finished pattern. I suppose you could say I’m methodical because I felt I needed to know a lot of the basic stitches and patterns prior to going out on my own — which is why this new bead which I found via Fusion Beads is absolutely perfect timing.

Silver Skull - Copy

When you’re doing bead stitches, you need precision cut beads for your patterns. To have access to a well-designed half-inch skull like this in multiple colors, well…I’ve got dozens of ideas for pendants, rings, earrings, etc. I’m definitely picking up some for my birthday and hope Swarovski will consider making various sizes and flat-backed skulls. All their beads are so easy to work with and they look fantastic every time.

If you’re remotely curious, here are some of my previous posts related to beads and skulls.

Hopefully my own enthusiasm will inspire you to get off your bum and create something yourself — after all, March is National Craft Month!

    Mood: It’s a miracle!
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I was bad. I admit it.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Type… Type… Type….
    In My Ears: Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing Transformed
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Can’t remember. It was some horrifically awful “but my husband t’aint really dead” movie.
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


February 8, 2014
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News from Firefly-Land!

Galactic Starry Space

Yesterday, on the Margaret Weis Productions website, we announced the Table of Contents and that there will be a slight delay for the corebook release. We anticipate that the PDF will still be released in February but the print books will likely come out in March. We’ve had a lot of comments so far about the Table of Contents and I’d like to expand, very briefly, on one of them by giving you our general approach to setting.

There are over 200 planets and moons in the ‘Verse split across three regions of space in five systems. The Firefly television show primarily takes place in the Red Sun, White Sun, and Georgia Systems. While the Border and Rim Worlds have less towns and cities to speak of, the Core Planets are bursting with setting. Just Persephone, for example, which the crew visited in the “Serenity (Pilot)” and “Shindig” is similar to Earth-That-Was. With this much setting, the question on how to address that became a technical one. What was the best way to reinforce the locations from the television show and expand the canon in context for the game?

For us, the answer was to present the setting in context throughout the entire corebook and our rules. Distinctions and Signature Assets, which are crucial for players, ships, and Major Gamemaster characters, are all themed with aspects of the ‘Verse. Instead of giving fans an atlas that was separate from the rules, we opted to integrate game material with what already existed for the core rulebook. We start with the Introduction that gives you an overview and get more specific from there. The Episode Guide is a deep dive into each show and gives you in game examples, characters, and rules that relate to each episode. From there, the Find a Crew chapter reinforces the series again by providing rules for the main cast. Then, we separated out the 24 archetypes by the region they hail from. The odd duck there is Persephone which is technically in the White Sun System but is commonly thought of as a Border Planet. The Find a Ship chapter focuses on the vehicles and boats; you’ll find more horses, for example, on a Border Planet than you will in the technologically-rich Core.

From there, we focus on the rules to play the game and finish with a GM’s chapter that includes a guide to building your own location. The Episode we provide, called “What’s Yours Is Mine”, has a setting-related section that offers ten to twelve locations to flesh out Sweethome’s mining town. In this way, we have opted to make the setting more interactive. As the line progresses, we can (and have through Echoes of War) offer more setting. But for the corebook? Focusing on the beloved TV series was crucial to this game and all that we do stems from what you find here.

If you have more questions about setting, please feel free to ping me. I’ll be writing up a more in-depth post about this for the company blog.

    Mood: B-Vitamined
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I’ve had two cups so far!
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Weeeelllllll? Um…
    In My Ears: Ray of Light by Madonna
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Can’t remember. It was some horrifically awful “but my husband t’aint really dead” movie.
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


February 7, 2014
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Link Salad! Bacon not Included

There's a trojan on your computer

Four links today! Let’s get linkage-ing. In Part II of “things that can make you feel like crap” there are toxic feelings. They fester beneath the surface, make you question not only what you’re writing, but why. I originally wrote 1,000 words on the subject to talk about ways to neutralize them and the like, but instead? Well, I believe The Only Thing You Need To Know About Writing from DorkTower.com sums up my feelings on the subject to a “T.” Knowing these feelings are common is nine-tenths the issue for me. When you realize that you’re not alone, then suddenly it makes you feel like you CAN conquer impostor’s syndrome.

My second link is from writer extraordinaire Theodora Goss who talks about what happens after depression. Emotional trauma of any stripe isn’t something you apply a patch to and you’re suddenly the exact person you were before. When you go through any emotional rough spot, there are triggers that can send you spiraling right back to where you were before. Her post talks about ways to help and be kind to yourself. Great read and fantastic reminder.

Third link is from the esteemed writer Kameron Hurley about publishing. Surprise, I have no idea your book is coming out is a fantastic read. Repeat after me: publishing is not a meritocracy. Good books sell, bad books sell. Good books don’t, bad books don’t. It’s just how it is and, like Kameron says, the only way forward is to get back to work. For those of you who are new to the field, pay attention to what this writer says about marketing. It’s important and all very true. Kameron’s experience describes what happens when a superuser (e.g. you’re online all the time promoting your book) encounters a casual user (e.g. someone that just now encounters what you’re doing). This happens a lot in marketing.

Lastly, an article about net neutrality in practice from a tech blogger. Back when I was involved with GamePolitics, which later morphed to the ECA, there was a lot of fear about how net neutrality impacts consumers for streaming services like MMOs and other platforms (e.g. Netflix, Pandora, etc.) that require an interrupted, higher bandwidth. Regulating bandwidth at peak/off-peak times and impacting specific services on a user level may seem like it makes sense and, in some cases, it probably does on a technical level. However, these practices dramatically affect the consumer when you can’t physically “get” the services you pay for or want to use because the ISP is interfering with that. What’s more, you don’t get the ability to resolve that, either. You can’t call up your ISP like the aforementioned blogger did and say: “Hey, I’m using Netflix, can you please ensure that my stream isn’t throttled so I can access the content I’ve paid for?”

With more and more services going into the cloud, this really worries me. My fear is that net neutrality will be parsed further into pay-per-usage, which will effectively put that back into the cellphone camp… Which will force a dramatic change in the business landscape and also encourage some companies, like Google and Amazon, to set up their own ISPs out of the country. There is nothing more frustrating than worrying about net access, especially when it’s so different outside the U.S. Add on TOP of that the possibility that ISPs are impacting what you can access? In my opinion, that has the potential to change what we buy and what sites we visit in an unfair way. I hope I’m wrong.

    Mood: POWER UP
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Addiction not managed and nah, nah, nah I don’t care.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Phew! That controller was really heavy.
    In My Ears: Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Can’t remember. It was some horrifically awful “but my husband t’aint really dead” movie.
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


February 5, 2014
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