Freehold DM's page

I'm happy for you that you got to see her one last time, even though the end is near, and that your relationship with her is as good as it has been, even if your siblings and other kin are pieces of work.

I'm a little jealous, even. I know I'll never be able to have that kind of relationship with my family again, and as I never plan to return to the states if I can help it I'll probably never see them again even if I wanted to.

Im sorry, Orthos.

Final Legend Of Five Rings adventure of the year finished, and now we are going for a hiatus of approximately half a year (time will show how long it will actually take - one of the players is nearing sixth month of pregnancy and sooner or later will be less than happy to drive a hour in single direction for sessions, and obviously once she gives birth she will be a bit occupied for at least a few months before the situation stabilizes).

** spoiler omitted **...

MY LIFE FOR YOU DAIGOTSU-SAMA

(in the future, that is)

As someone who has to gather up the spoons to even go to the supermarket or big box stores, I find the self-checkout to be a boon.

lisamarlene wrote:

My current hobby is whispering "Butlerian Jihad, m%&$!*~~!*@@" to every chirpy automated checkout machine I am forced to interact with.

I'm surrounded by over a hundred Transformers figures throughout the apartment, and if I whispered such a threat at them it might get them to pause their Great War just long enough to team up and overthrow me.

drills into Ambys place, exchanges Transformers for spoons, drills out

also exchanges Lisamarlenes name on "visit to the Transformers universe" list for Amby

NobodysHome wrote:

I was morally opposed to automated checkout machines because they take entry-level jobs away from young people. Some stores responded by making automated checkout your only choice. And hoo, boy. "I'm sorry, you can't purchase alcohol at automated checkout machines." "I'm sorry, you can't buy that particular over-the-counter drug at automated checkout machines." "Please place every item in the appropriate area or you won't be allowed to continue. In other words, stop trying to bag your stuff properly and instead leave it in a great pile disorganized pile that spills onto the floor until after you've paid."

The "no alcohol" and "no bagging" just kill me. I'm buying groceries for a family of four for a week. Do you really think I can fit all that stuff in your teensy little "out bin" until my final checkout?

Yes, all of that, but what really fries me is how the thrice-accursed thing has the temerity to try to converse with me as if it is human and has a soul.

F#$% off and die, you piece of bastard circuitry.

quietly takes Lisamarlenes name off the "visit to the transformers universe" list

Finally, the hospice nurse said that my mother has less than a week to live, so tomorrow morning at 4:30 am I'm driving up to Seattle to see her off. I'll be gone for a few days.

I was about to PM you but then I saw this. Please, give your amazing mom my best, and please let her know she raised an equally amazing son. I wish I could have met this wonderful lady.

And it's happened -- Mephisto has outgrown every harness we have, plus he's started pulling the cinder block around a bit, so we need to get him a dog harness.

Built. Different.

Thats my boy.

Freehold blessed us with the whiteness all around. It's cold and wet...

YES

My deepest condolences. May she rest peacefully.

I do like my meal order service. I have at least a couple meals available each week that don’t require much more than putting it in the oven and waiting.

I need to go to CHs house, kidnap him, and then drive to your house so we cook for you.

See, Im not SOLELY about absconding with people's wives, I have no idea how I became associated with that exclusively.

Woohoo! Now I don't have to talk to strangers in the grocery store! FaWtL is back!

envisions lisamarlene(with cowboy hat on and six shooters at her hip) walking up to strangers in grocery store and mumbling something about gaming awkwardly

Im sure trips to the grocery store are more boring now...

Everything fixed?

Freehold DM wrote:

lisamarlene wrote:

We're having a "cold snap" tonight (upper 30s overnight, 50s tomorrow).

Lisamarleneeeeeeee

Stop hogging the cold!!!!!!!!

I've got about 1/2" of snow you could have.

I will accept no less than a Scint of snow.

Qunnessaa wrote:

...I get that. My maternal grandmother was born just before the Depression...

All of my grandparents were Depression era. Grandad (paternal grandfather) was the only one who would talk about it much.

"During the Depression I was just grateful that I was a boy. It meant I always had something to play with when I woke up every morning."

I was 6 when he told me that.

....grandpa.

Bad.

We're having a "cold snap" tonight (upper 30s overnight, 50s tomorrow).

Lisamarleneeeeeeee

Stop hogging the cold!!!!!!!!

I had an epiphany about why I hate democracy so much:

** spoiler omitted **

Drejk wrote:

You know it works like that in every civilized country, right?

That's what is one of key differences between a democratic republic and an oligarchic one... *a political observation paragraph explodes after being hit with a barrage of flaming bikes*

That's very Eurocentric. There are countries that I would consider "civilized" where you are expected to provide gifts to the government officials in order to do business there.

it was already obvious I was American, I became an ugly one upon seeing this level of blatant corruption while visiting.

This song randomly popped up in my head today after God knows how long since I last heard it, and I was thinking that, with the rise of AI "singers", I wonder if any of them would cover it.

I have a confession to make...I like some of these songs. Well. They use AI art for parody reasons, I think the songs are real.

Goddamn Ghidorah looks good with his jacket, hat and cane

Listen to your parents, kids.

Qunnessaa wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?

Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.

Probably fewer than one might think, I guess? In my neck of the woods, we import most of our chocolate from all y'all, and even before - *gestures vaguely at politics* - it's been surprisingly difficult to find even white chocolate chips for baking. For the past year or so most supermarkets near me have been stocking some abomination ("white creme," apparently) whose composition doesn't bear thinking about, I'm sure.

I'm hoping it won't take the collapse of the cocoa market, or a generation for whom even the worst North American chocolate is beyond the wildest dreams of the proletariat, to bring climate troubles home, but that would probably be much kinder than what it's actually going to be. :(

On a happier note, although weird supply chain nonsense still applies, I'm trying to fit running around getting materials to play with hippie witch foragings and whatnot into my schedule this week, but I've been faking it terribly, so results will probably be indifferent at best. :/

San Francisco is the home of Ghirardelli chocolate, which actually was quite good, high-quality chocolate until they got bought out by... get this... Lindt chocolates in 1998. They almost instantly went from, "We can compete with most European chocolatiers," to, "Why are you paying so much more for something that barely beats out Hershey's?"

I guess Lindt was just buying and killing the competition.

I heard that a long time ago. Lindt has a pretty poor history as a competitor.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Where does white chocolate fall in that consideration?

Do any U.S. companies actually make white chocolate? I think Hershey's produces... something... but I'm not sure what it is.

As for the Lindt balls, Talky already very carefully looted all the white chocolate from the first two bags. So we have a fan.

Smooth move talky!

Today's the kittens' first actual "storm" -- they've seen rain before, but today we're getting strong gusts of wind so leaves and small branches are falling along with the very light rain.

In what seems like absolute prescience, but was actually blind luck, this should be arriving later this morning.

I expect joyful chaos.

Please keep the little fellows safe they may not be ready for the havoc this will play with their headspace.

We are delaying the apocalypse!

I did the thing.

Raising a glass to all my sisters and brothers in the teaching profession who do NOT have to go in to school today.

Children on November first are like college freshmen the morning after their first bender... not quite sure how they got to bed last night, exactly how much they consumed, or when their heads will stop spinning, but they have to go to class and pretend to be human.
It's not pretty.

pokeballs a bunch of these kids to be released at lisamarlene on Monday, laughs maniacially

gran rey de los mono wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Put up a sign pool closed due to alligators and hope there isn't a druid for whom that's a bonus?

I worked at 2 hotels in Florida that had outdoor pools. Gators were always a possibility. Never happened while I was there, but heard about it happening previously, and another hotel nearby had it happen while I was down there.

It happened to my in-laws.

I worry for Amby and Solnes and other Florida folks as a result.

Pool update:

After seeing the pool wasn't draining any more, we called the company who sells us all our cleaning supplies, as well as pool chemicals. They said "We don't really do that, but I'll ask around." A while later, they called back and said "So, the manager says that since if we tell you something wrong there is serious risk of property damage and/or injury, we're not gonna be able to help you." Which is fair. Next, we called around to various other hotels asking if they could let us borrow their maintenance person for a while. Eventually, one agreed. The guy came over, looked around a bit, and said "Yeah, your shit is f##&ed. Call the pros." So, we called around to several pool companies. They all basically said "Well, that sucks. We can't really give you a quote without knowing exactly what is wrong, but can tell you it would be $X per hour, plus parts. Also, we're booked out for at least a week."

Which means we likely won't have the pool up for a while, and this weekend is not just a football game, but Dad's Weekend for the university. So rates are jacked through the roof (like some people are paying over 5x our normal rate), and we won't have the pool open. Now, usually this wouldn't be a problem, because people rarely use the pool on those weekends. But you can bet your sweet bippy that there will be complaints aplenty about it being closed, mainly from people who wouldn't be using it anyways, but are just trying to get a discount.

Have I mentioned how glad I am that I don't work weekends anymore?

Unfortunate.

Freehold DM wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

Fair, but what's the alternative? Letting the kids free roam opens you up to lawsuits. Ankle bracelets would be too expensive, as would hiring night security guards. Having one chaperone stay up all night per floor would be ludicrous. Tape is flawed, but it's workable. I can't think of a more effective solution.

Iirc, when I was in elementary school/scouts, we had one adult per room. But Jesus that was a long time ago.

Yeah, um, we have about 180 kids and each room sleeps 6. So you're asking for around 35 adult chaperones for the trip. Ain't gonna happen.

We had a lot of parents along, if memory serves.

Freehold DM wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

...

Its gotta be the tape.

We have literally caught kids from other groups intentionally breaking the tape on our kids' rooms. Tape without common sense leads to tears.

We may tape 30 rooms. There are only 2-3 rooms where we know the tape actually matters.

I have seen people break the tape while cleaning, and people just breaking it just cuz. I still think its an incredibly flawed approach.

Fair, but what's the alternative? Letting the kids free roam opens you up to lawsuits. Ankle bracelets would be too expensive, as would hiring night security guards. Having one chaperone stay up all night per floor would be ludicrous. Tape is flawed, but it's workable. I can't think of a more effective solution.

EDIT: I mean, the choir director trusted me so I was the chaperone representative at every parent orientation for those trips. The #1 question was, "How are you going to protect our kids at night?" If we'd said, "We're going to trust the kids," there wouldn't have been a trip. If we'd said, "You're going to pay $40 extra per person to pay for night security guards," there wouldn't have been a trip. Sometimes, the only workable solution isn't a great one.

Iirc, when I was in elementary school/scouts, we had one adult per room. But Jesus that was a long time ago.

Freehold DM wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

...

Its gotta be the tape.

We have literally caught kids from other groups intentionally breaking the tape on our kids' rooms. Tape without common sense leads to tears.

We may tape 30 rooms. There are only 2-3 rooms where we know the tape actually matters.

I have seen people break the tape while cleaning, and people just breaking it just cuz. I still think its an incredibly flawed approach.

gran rey de los mono wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

I've never understood the failure of hotels to take legal action against such groups. If the youth soccer league was sued for damages, it sounds like they'd be out a few thousand bucks. You have physical evidence of everything. If your hotel has security cameras, it's a slam-dunk case.

I understand that suing youth groups is bad PR, but how much do hotels lose every day having to deal with undisciplined monsters? I've chaperoned many a middle and high school trip, and surprise surprise, if the chaperones are willing to do their f-ing jobs this kind of stuff doesn't happen. Send one or two kids home on their parents' dime for misbehavior (yes, we've done it) and the rest fall in line pretty darned quickly.

I assume it's because the fees would be more than the money recuperated. And we only have cameras at the desk, but I'm not sure that they even record. They're mainly so we can see if someone is there while we are doing laundry, and so the manager can "spy" on us from their office. I just wish that they would stop accepting the groups. If the groups are getting refused by all the hotels (or at least the halfway decent ones), then maybe they would learn that there are consequences to their actions. Maybe. Alas, the owners only care about the money, so they keep demanding that we take the groups, because most of them bring in more money than the damages they cause. And who cares about the stress it brings to the employees?

You're likely right. It's just frustrating. We put in 18-20 hour days as chaperones making sure our kids behaved. Then we'd see other groups letting their kids run amok. And of course the staff can't tell the groups apart and all the groups get yelled at. We even had one of our chaperones nearly get in a fistfight with a chaperone from another group for "not controlling her little monsters".

My favorite was when one of our girls' rooms asked us, "Why are the other groups so terribly-behaved? Don't their...

Its gotta be the tape.

Best quote from two days of parent-teacher conferences? A dad said he tried to get his daughter up this morning and she told him, "I don't have to listen to you; you're not Ms. lisamarlene!"

Rotfl

Adobe's Generative AI just informed me that my novel The Chaos Court has a major character named Liss DrowKuill. Spoiler: ** spoiler omitted **

It's like... I can handle being replaced by machines, really. I reconciled myself to that in the movie theater in 1984 about halfway through Terminator. What chaps my meatbag hide is being replaced by an incompetent machine.

Liss DrowKuill...

I'm not looking forward to when it replaces my physician. And tries to remove my splorn.

*wanders off muttering imprecations*

Not your SPLORN!!!!

Once again, we can see why I refuse to work Fridays and Saturdays anymore.

There was a youth league soccer team staying at the hotel this weekend. I think the kids were in the 10-12 year old range. They absolutely trashed the place both nights. I'm talking the halls, the stairwells, the elevator, the exercise room, the lobby, the public bathroom, everything. Especially the pool. On Friday, they left he pool room full of trash (including lots of glass bottles), there was food debris all over the place (including in the pool), and they had thrown about 30 towels into the pool and left them there to be fished out by us. Saturday, however, they did all that and more. They broke the clock, which for some reason had a glass face on it instead of plastic. This led to there being broken glass all over, including possibly in the pool itself. The desk clerk on duty chased them all out of the pool room, which was apparently harder than you might think. I guess the parents didn't care if their kids stepped on broken glass. One of the parents kept saying it was "an accident" and "no one was to blame", but the clerk heard the kids talking about how they had been throwing things at the clock to see if anyone could hit it, so it sounds pretty intentional to me. Today, one of the guests (specifically the one who complained the most about everything, despite everything they complained about being their kid's fault) filed a complaint with corporate, specifically that they "weren't allowed to use the pool during the full listed pool hours".

I hate these people.

(Also, because of the possibility of glass in the pool, we have to drain it to clean it out thoroughly. But apparently no one knows how to. There is a drain in the bottom of the pool, but they can't figure out how to open it.)

that is disgusting.

NobodysHome wrote:

OK. Somehow I trust FaWtLers more than Google. SNAP benefits run out November 1. I want to help. News and Google both say, "Donate to your local food banks." So, I can do that, but I'd really like my donation to be focused on single mothers with kids. I'm pretty sure that would be the lion's share of a food bank's business, but with other people on this board far more familiar with such things:

(1) Where's the best place to donate?
(2) Is cash or cans better? I assume cash, but then you have to worry about corruption and choosing the right place.

Appreciate your help.

From my time working in the nonprofit sector in the East Bay, and working with the Sisters of Mercy, the organizations I would recommend are:

1. Oakland Elizabeth House. Transitional housing and support for single mothers. Well-regarded organization, great reputation in the community.

2. Covenant House (Oakland and Berkeley) offers crisis support, mental health, social services, shelter, etc. for homeless and at-risk teens.

3. The Women's Daytime Drop-In Center in downtown Berkeley (on Acton) has an online wishlist they keep updated.

Yes, what lisamarlene said.

OK. Somehow I trust FaWtLers more than Google. SNAP benefits run out November 1. I want to help. News and Google both say, "Donate to your local food banks." So, I can do that, but I'd really like my donation to be focused on single mothers with kids. I'm pretty sure that would be the lion's share of a food bank's business, but with other people on this board far more familiar with such things:

(1) Where's the best place to donate?
(2) Is cash or cans better? I assume cash, but then you have to worry about corruption and choosing the right place.

Appreciate your help.

Reach out to food banks individually and see what population they work with.

NobodysHome wrote:

lisamarlene wrote:

Apologies if I've asked this before, but is anyone here either current or former law enforcement? I have a couple of specific procedural criminal investigation questions so I don't look like a moron.

Not that there's a huge market for short fiction.
But I like to be reasonably accurate, or at least not painfully inaccurate.

What about CHP boy? Are you not in touch with him any more?

Luke Skywalker? Whingey Wizzard is, but I haven't seen or spoken to him in over five years. And he has baggage around the reasons he quit being a patrol officer pretty quickly and works at one of those truck weighing stations on the interstate... that's been his gig for years. So I don't even know he even has much experience in criminal procedure.

Also he went through a pretty bad midlife crisis a year or two back, totaled his Mustang in a scary wreck at something well in excess of 100 mph (his fault, no alcohol) and by some miracle didn't end up mangled like his car, walked away from it. WW says he's been pretty dark and edgy since then. So, don't really want to go there.

WHOA

Freehold DM wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Fantasy Monster: Blood Red Riding Hood

When you thought that Red Riding Hood might be a werewolf...

S-stop make chaotic evil characters I like...

Have you tried to stop liking chaotic evil character I make?

Or at least...

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

*chuckles*

** spoiler omitted **

Coincidentally, I dreamt of my past love today (or was that yesterday)...

** spoiler omitted **

Drejk wrote:

Fantasy Monster: Blood Red Riding Hood

When you thought that Red Riding Hood might be a werewolf...

[dice= willsave]1d20+8+2

Well, I don't HAVE to like this monster especially as their goals seem to be getting a lot of us killed!

well....*I* like it....

Drejk wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Fantasy Monster: Blood Red Riding Hood

When you thought that Red Riding Hood might be a werewolf...

S-stop make chaotic evil characters I like...

Have you tried to stop liking chaotic evil character I make?

Or at least...

** spoiler omitted **

Wait... That's wrong. You are supposed to like things I make. ALL THE THINGS!

Now try this fish stew containing mangled pieces of fish (I never buy anything fish that isn't explicitly a fillet again), onions, tomato, apple, potato, and sweet potato, seasoned with garlic, paprika, stock cube, and soy sauce...

Sounds good. Was something off in the ratio?

Freehold DM wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Fantasy Monster: Blood Red Riding Hood

When you thought that Red Riding Hood might be a werewolf...

S-stop make chaotic evil characters I like...

Have you tried to stop liking chaotic evil character I make?

Or at least...

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

!?!?!?!

Stop revealing my origin story!!!!!!

Fantasy Monster: Blood Red Riding Hood

When you thought that Red Riding Hood might be a werewolf...

S-stop make chaotic evil characters I like...

I have made birria, so now my house smells great and I will have tacos for the week.

I propose a party to celebrate such a fine feast.

One not held outdoors...

Hm..

Almost some kind of...

House party? No.

A bit more intimate...

Small enough to be held in a single room...

Hmm...

...not THAT interesting!

NobodysHome wrote:

My favorite: Choose your favorite LLM. "Tell me a story."

It does a decent-enough job.

"Tell me a different story."

Um... that one was pretty darned similar.

"Tell me a third story."

Now you learn that its creativity is extremely limited, and you really start hitting a wall unless you start getting into detailed prompt engineering to tell it exactly what tropes to avoid, which to include, what the story should be about...
...and suddenly it would be just as fast to write the story yourself.

(They asked me at work why I didn't use AI more often. I pointed out the only areas it was available to me, and how it cost me more time to use it because I had to fix its responses, and they backed off.)

I've met multiple teachers who have filtered out AI by saying "your homework is to write a story" then including the qualifier "if your story is about a girl named (I can't recall the name but it's always the same) who lives in the forest, you automatically get a zero."

mmm. Interesting.

I know, I know, politics. But this is really what it's been reduced to in the U.S. I have no idea how it's going in other parts of the world, 'cause U.S. media.

Canada: Here's a lengthy quote from Ronald Reagan, played in its near-entirety, about his opposition to tariffs.
MAGA: You're taking that out of context!
Canada: In what way?
MAGA: Shut up!

This made me guffaw.

However, I have a reputation to uphold.

That said, please spoiler this for those who are disinterested, lest I risk disinheritance by firing flaming bicycles at my beloved father, whom I might add looks like he lost weight recently and, if possible, has an even fuller head of hair than he did a decade ago.

Based on this thread, I observed that among all arcane casters, the ones that tended to draw criticism were prepared arcane casters specifically: arcane Sorcerers and Summoners were fine, but Maguses, Inscribed One Witches, and Wizards are generally thought of as problematic in some form or another. Specifically:

* Maguses draw criticism mainly due to their action economy, as well as their overall rigidity as spellcasters, to a degree where they're sometimes not even thought of as spellcasters so much as martials who can hit really hard and maybe sometimes deploy a bit of utility.

* Witches in general tend to not be seen as terribly strong unless you're using a Faith's Flamekeeper or Resentment patron, and the Inscribed One Witch is infamous for having a particularly weak familiar ability.

* Wizards have been criticized for a while, especially following the remaster. Though different players have different expectations out of the class, the consensus seems to be that the Wizard doesn't really shine at anything in particular, especially not at a time when there are many more four-slot casters around with strong class features.

As it so happens, these also all happen to be Pathfinder's current spellbook casters, i.e. casters who prepare from the limited selection of a spellbook (or familiar, in the Witch's case) instead of their entire spell list as would an Animist, Cleric, or Druid. This got me thinking: what if spellbooks were turned from a limitation to an asset? In particular, when the topic of prepared casters comes up, that often comes with the suggestion of giving those prepared casters spell substitution by default. Thus, the suggestion would be:

* Allow all prepared spellcasters to prepare from their entire list.

* If a spellcaster has a spellbook or similar mechanic, they could quickly reprepare spells into spells from their spellbook as a 10-minute exploration activity, much like the...

Some good ideas here, pretty versatile!

I am working with some similar ideas for my own thing.

We're in the middle of Ace Awareness Week. If you're Ace, you are welcome and valid! I don't see you because I don't know who you are, but if I did, I would see you!

Aw crap, I thought it was Prep Awareness Week!!!!!

Dammit!

I did not mean to leave Ace people out. Sorry about that.

So have a possible lead from one of my gaming friends. Will be checking with some people about it this week, seeing if it follows through.

If it doesn't pan out, I do have a potential alternative, but it requires being able to travel to Thailand, where apparently gender-affirming care is a bit easier to get (and is less expensive than some of the other options). The downside of that will be that we won't be able to go until Thanksgiving break at the earliest, Xmas break at the latest. Meaning I'll have to make my estradiol reserves stretch at least another month and a half, possibly two and a half.

We'll see how things go. Still welcoming any advice or recommendations from anyone familiar with gender-affirming care in this part of the world.

Took the words out of my mouth.

Medical tourism in Thailand is encouraged by the government, and travel there from where you are isnt so bad.

Flashing a pendrive with a Linux Mint... Now.

No Freehold! Not that kind of flashing!

...thats even scalier than I imagined

And just to make Freehold happy: This morning I got up, came out to the living room, and for the first time noticed a slight chill in the air.

Winter is coming.

IT CANNOT COME FAST ENOUGH

(the only time I will use that phrase outside of referring to money or cursing a male rival)