A Day at the Office

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Paizo office isn't just all about the RPGs and trade paperbacks—it's amazing what goes on around here. The other day, I came to work early just to participate in Pierce Watter's weekly taijiquan lesson. It's a great way to start the day; I learned the qigong warm-up exercises, the beginner's pushing hands exercise, and ten ways to kill a man with an eyelash.

Pierce is very knowledgeable about taijiquan (as his 40 years of martial arts training, being the founding editor of Internal Arts magazine, and multiple magazine articles in Kung Fu magazine will attest), and perhaps even more knowledgeable about various Chinese teas. Each day, Pierce prepares a pot of tea, and after the lesson he offered me some of his delicious brew (there's nothing quite like sharing a pot of tea with Pierce Watters while talking to him about Chinese tea culture, taijiquan, or his tenure at TSR).

So, with my day already off to a great start, there was only one way to top it: work on Pathfinder products. I was particularly pleased with this day; David and I completed the first two big projects we were assigned, and we gave an editing pass over a chapter of the upcoming sourcebook Pathfinder Chronicles: The Great Beyond, A Guide to the Multiverse. (This book is going to be great; what we read has David and me very excited to see the rest!)

By six o'clock, I was ready to call the day a success, go home and get some dinner (I had skipped lunch), watch some of The Office, and pass out. Little did I know that there was still more awesome headed my way: Sean K Reynolds approached and invited us to join him in his weekly after-work session of miniature painting! Even though I was starving, I had to check it out. So David and I hopped on over to the meeting room where Sean showed us the ropes of this delicate art while assuring us that the process is actually quite simple.

The really cool part was him unveiling a foam case filled with his as-of-yet unpainted miniatures and allowing us to choose one, saying with a smile, "You paint it, you keep it!" How cool is that?! (Incidentally, I chose what looks like a human female rogue, masked and hooded and wielding a longsword.) I'm really excited about these sessions, even though I still find the task a bit daunting. He says it's easy to learn, but then you look at his, and they're seriously works of art.

But you know what, even if I'm totally horrible (which I'm fairly certain will be the case, since I can't even stay in the lines of a coloring book... that's right, I color), it will still be a lot of fun. Also, Sean has some very entertaining anecdotes of various games he's played in with other famed game designers (which kept me there far longer than my growling stomach would have liked). David and I decided these stories absolutely need to go up as blogs, and we'll also be posting pics of our sloppy attempts at miniature painting once we finish our first ones (well, David's might actually be good).

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and certainly a great way to bookend what is just another day at the office!

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

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