Deep 6 FaWtL

[Freehold DM]

Just a Mort wrote:

My BF is going into a foray into 5e. He wants to play a rogue.

*light facepalm*

Then he wants to play an advance scout out the area and report to the group type of character.

Then he chose halfling.

Me:Urm...dungeons are dark and you have no Darkvision.. And a torch... Is going to light up the area like a Christmas tree.

I think I'm too practical for my own good.

the old "beacon of give away our position" problem. Huge fights broke out over that one. Not sure there is a way around it, realism in fantasy games is a huge stumbling block.

[Freehold DM]

As is my...

[NobodysHome]

How bad is public transportation in the Bay Area?

Impus Minor is visiting NobodysWife's work this afternoon. So...

I could put him on the bus, except oh wait, the bus only runs during rush hour, so no, I can't. Plus the bus terminal is over a mile from her work, so he'd have the joy of trying to figure out how to transfer from one bus system (AC Transit) to another (Muni). And it isn't easy.

I could put him on BART, except on top of the depressingly-filthy cars, crime through Oakland has skyrocketed, plus the number of extremely aggressive panhandlers on Market Street is such that I'd be very concerned for him the whole trip. And getting home during rush hour with the uber-aggressive commuters would be equally dangerous.

So I took the afternoon off work, and I'm willingly driving a stick shift through rush hour traffic rather than subjecting my 13-year-old to public transportation.

And I remember back when I was 9 or 10, riding the bus into downtown Berkeley alone, then the Humphrey Go BART up to the Lawrence Hall of Science. These days even NobodysWife hesitates to take BART, especially during non-peak hours. If an adult woman with years of Aikido under her belt doesn't feel safe doing it, I'm not sending my 13-year-old.

[Freehold DM]

NobodysHome wrote:

How bad is public transportation in the Bay Area?

Impus Minor is visiting NobodysWife's work this afternoon. So...

I could put him on the bus, except oh wait, the bus only runs during rush hour, so no, I can't. Plus the bus terminal is over a mile from her work, so he'd have the joy of trying to figure out how to transfer from one bus system (AC Transit) to another (Muni). And it isn't easy.

I could put him on BART, except on top of the depressingly-filthy cars, crime through Oakland has skyrocketed, plus the number of extremely aggressive panhandlers on Market Street is such that I'd be very concerned for him the whole trip. And getting home during rush hour with the uber-aggressive commuters would be equally dangerous.

So I took the afternoon off work, and I'm willingly driving a stick shift through rush hour traffic rather than subjecting my 13-year-old to public transportation.

And I remember back when I was 9 or 10, riding the bus into downtown Berkeley alone, then the Humphrey Go BART up to the Lawrence Hall of Science. These days even NobodysWife hesitates to take BART, especially during non-peak hours. If an adult woman with years of Aikido under her belt doesn't feel safe doing it, I'm not sending my 13-year-old.

uber time?

I look forward to sparring with your wife, I will have a sparring area added to the abscondi-cave.

[Just a Mort]

But if he goes around in the dark, he'll get eaten by a Grue!=(

Not to mention halflings have slow movement speed. You know the saying, I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you?

NH - do you have grab or Uber where you are?

[NobodysHome]

I won't do business with Uber. Period.

We DO have Lyft, which isn't a terrible idea. I'll bounce the idea off NobodysWife.

Avoiding Making Orthos' Head Explode:

So I was thinking about it in the shower, and seriously:

The Albany police have issued an advisory against students walking the BART tracks because the crime rate is such that, "You WILL have your phone stolen if you walk that path alone."
Wonderful when police just give up and say, "Yeah, you're hosed."
So even getting to the BART station, I'd have to drive him or I'd have to show him a significantly-longer walking path that avoids the BART tracks.

Once on BART, BART issued an advisory a couple of months ago that traveling alone during off-peak hours through the Oakland stations was not safe. I don't know whether they've revoked that advisory yet. Once again, "Yep, the police can't do their jobs because they're too busy writing parking tickets in the high-end lots, so..."
(BART has their own police force, but for some reason they're almost never actually on the trains.)

Speaking of BART, almost every time the kids go on a field trip with their classes, I get to hear, "And yeah, this guy came up and started sexually harassing/threatening/mumbling at so-and-so until one of the teachers came up and made him go away."
Not my idea of a fun time for a lone 13-year-old

NobodysWife has had to BART home before, and her opinion is that she doesn't know whether Impus Minor could make it. All the pushing and shoving and yelling involved just to get on and off the train is physically demanding

So just no

[Kjeldorn]

John Napier 698 wrote:

Good morning, Kjel. How're you doing?

Best described as a depressive "Meh".

Been sick a lot lately (Pneumonia), but that's mostly cleared up now.
Suffered a minor accident ie Me + scooter + slippery road + lamppost = Me battered somewhat black and blue.

My mood has followed a somewhat downward trajectory so I've been hiding mostly. Its a weird combination thing of my job really sucking right now, mostly due to asshat colleagues, but being overworked doesn't help.
Also been beating myself up a lot lately for my various deficiencies, insecurities and proclivities.

Oh and in my usual self-sabotaging ways, I've gone and fallen for a kind sweet woman, who's living 1500+ miles away, and who if we're going to be any sort of realistic, me being with, is the definition of an up-hillf+&&ing-Mountain battle...

So yea...not been in the best of moods lately.

[Just a Mort]

Ouch on the accident and getting sick!

*Passes Kjeldorn some blankets*

Urm life is bad enough, you don't need to beat yourself up further? Why are you beating yourself up for proclivities? If you like to do something, it's really your choice, nothing bad about it.

How did you meet this woman in question? Does she show any interest in...going beyond friendship?

[captain yesterday]

Gotta try, love will find a way.

[Scintillae]

Long-distance is tricky, but it can happen. :)

[Icyshadow]

I got a few days off from school. I can work on my deadlines, but I've been a bit out of it lately.

[Freehold DM]

NobodysHome wrote:

I won't do business with Uber. Period.

We DO have Lyft, which isn't a terrible idea. I'll bounce the idea off NobodysWife.

** spoiler omitted **

Rightly or wrongly, we live in a time of increased privitization. Public services(what few really are public, at least, most are private businesses with contracts for the city) just cant complete anymore, but some have written their own death warrant with poor service and a lack of competition. Not sure if this is s good thing or a bad thing.

[Freehold DM]

Nothing wrong with long distance relationships. But it sounds like you need a vacation.

[Scintillae]

"[Classmate] needs to stop watching conspiracy theory videos. They're affecting his brain."
"That's what they want you to think."

[Scintillae]

...and they have figured out the art of lying spin for campaign speeches. I may have created a monster with this Civil War project.

[lynora]

Kjeldorn wrote:

John Napier 698 wrote:

Good morning, Kjel. How're you doing?

Best described as a depressive "Meh".

Been sick a lot lately (Pneumonia), but that's mostly cleared up now.
Suffered a minor accident ie Me + scooter + slippery road + lamppost = Me battered somewhat black and blue.

My mood has followed a somewhat downward trajectory so I've been hiding mostly. Its a weird combination thing of my job really sucking right now, mostly due to asshat colleagues, but being overworked doesn't help.
Also been beating myself up a lot lately for my various deficiencies, insecurities and proclivities.

Oh and in my usual self-sabotaging ways, I've gone and fallen for a kind sweet woman, who's living 1500+ miles away, and who if we're going to be any sort of realistic, me being with, is the definition of an up-hillf$*&ing-Mountain battle...

So yea...not been in the best of moods lately.

Glad you're on the mend. Sorry about the sickness and the accident, and the work troubles. But try to go easy on yourself. Especially when sick or hurt it's easy to get overwhelmed by bad feelings. But most of it is just that you're tired. It's not real. It's lies the fatigue tells you. You're doing the best you can. Not everything is bad. And as you start to feel better the bad things won't be so overwhelming. *hugs*

[Scintillae]

"...why are you talking about crossbows?"
"Because they're awesome weaponry."
"And so relevant to the Civil War. Yes, they used a crossbow to assassinate Lincoln. Oh, oops, spoilers."
"MISS. I WAS GONNA WATCH THE MOVIE."
other student just...stares at him

[Scintillae]

"Guys, we should totally answer our FFA interview questions like politicians!"

what have i done

[John Napier 698]

Scintillae wrote:

...and they have figured out the art of lying spin for campaign speeches. I may have created a monster with this Civil War project.

And speaking of the Civil War, exactly which side did Sun Tsu fight for. I'm sorry, but I forgot. :D

[John Napier 698]

*Shoulder bumps Kjel* Sending you my best wishes.

[Limeylongears]

Best of luck with the lady, Kjeldorn!

[Spam Temptress]

Bald ladies bottoms START YOUR TOUR.

Maximal rubbings.

Watch in closet.

[Kjeldorn]

Thanks everyone!

@Mort: It started as shared interests, but as we kept talking over the summer things got more personal. So yes, I do hope there's room for more.

@Freehold: Yup a vacation sounds nice. I've reached out to the woman in question in hopes of visiting for a few day.

[Evil Finnish Chaos Beast]

The mind has been warped. Nothing makes sense anymore.

[lisamarlene]

NobodysHome wrote:

I won't do business with Uber. Period.

We DO have Lyft, which isn't a terrible idea. I'll bounce the idea off NobodysWife.

** spoiler omitted **

Try Kango app. It's Lyft for kids, and all drivers have to go through the same DOJ background clearance that teachers do. I've used it for Hermione and Teensy Valeros before.

[captain yesterday]

I found some super nice lemons, so Buttermilk Chess Pies it is tomorrow.

I shall taunt Freehold with the pictures.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Scintillae wrote:

...and they have figured out the art of lying spin for campaign speeches. I may have created a monster with this Civil War project.

It's great when kids learn things early. I'm only just recently over the past two years learning some of the tricks that politicians and talking heads use to sway the public.

[captain yesterday]

Now Boar's Head is on sale for super cheap.

[Tacticslion]

Sir Limey De Longears wrote:

Might I offer thee an tomato flail, or tomato footman's mace*?

'Tis a bit of a one-shot item, verily, but mightily pleasing to use.

Ye tomato halberd and tomato hand and a half sword are likely to be in development for some considerable time, so don't hold thy breath.

* That is a footman's mace with a tomato for a head, not a mace belonging to a footman with a tomato for a head.

Tomato chucks?

[Tequila Sunrise]

NobodysHome wrote:

I won't do business with Uber. Period.

We DO have Lyft, which isn't a terrible idea. I'll bounce the idea off NobodysWife.

Wow, BART sounds worse than the NY subway -- which is mostly just a lot of pushing and shoving, and some drunk guy peeing into a corner.

Spoiler:

I'm sure there are sexual harassers and other unsavory types here and there, but I can't attest to those.

And yeah, Uber can die in a fire. At least until U.S. courts grow a spine and start treating it like the taxi service it is.

[captain yesterday]

Y weekly shift is tonight.

[Freehold DM]

captain yesterday wrote:

I found some super nice lemons, so Buttermilk Chess Pies it is tomorrow.

I shall taunt Freehold with the pictures.

he hogs the cold and snow. He eats the pies.

Ugh. Can't win with this guy.

[Tacticslion]

... spoiler for the dude that forgot what’s going on with Uber?

[Darth Terrigan, Sith Marauder]

Tacticslion wrote:

Tomato chucks?

*sighs, shaking his head*

I'll say it once again!!

LIGHT. SABER. QUAD-. CHUCKS.

:D

[lisamarlene]

::shrug::

no clue here.

I feel the same way about BART. Been riding mass transit in the Bay Area for 22 years, commuted via BART/buses for five of those, and never felt unsafe, never been threatened.
Granted, it's dirty. And smelly. There was a report a couple of years back about the appalling quantity of fecal coliform bacteria on the seats.
Yes, I've been propositioned. Yes, I've been offered drugs. Yes, I have seen 31 Flavors of mental illness. I have frequently been offered to have poetry read aloud to me by people whose minds were definitely orbiting another planet. Many times. But the worst I have personally faced is being verbally accosted and accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a salwar kameez while white. Which was totally justified; the guy was right.
Given the option, do I prefer driving? You bet. So long as I know for certain where I'm going to park my car and how much it's going to cost, and am willing to accept the trade-off.

[lisamarlene]

Tacticslion wrote:

Sir Limey De Longears wrote:

Might I offer thee an tomato flail, or tomato footman's mace*?

'Tis a bit of a one-shot item, verily, but mightily pleasing to use.

Ye tomato halberd and tomato hand and a half sword are likely to be in development for some considerable time, so don't hold thy breath.

* That is a footman's mace with a tomato for a head, not a mace belonging to a footman with a tomato for a head.

Tomato chucks?

I'll see your Tomato Chucks and raise you a Gopher Chucks.

[Freehold DM]

lisamarlene wrote:

::shrug::

no clue here.

I feel the same way about BART. Been riding mass transit in the Bay Area for 22 years, commuted via BART/buses for five of those, and never felt unsafe, never been threatened.
Granted, it's dirty. And smelly. There was a report a couple of years back about the appalling quantity of fecal coliform bacteria on the seats.
Yes, I've been propositioned. Yes, I've been offered drugs. Yes, I have seen 31 Flavors of mental illness. I have frequently been offered to have poetry read aloud to me by people whose minds were definitely orbiting another planet. Many times. But the worst I have personally faced is being verbally accosted and accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a salwar kameez while white. Which was totally justified; the guy was right.

You just described my every day.

[Tacticslion]

lisamarlene wrote:

Tacticslion wrote:

Sir Limey De Longears wrote:

Might I offer thee an tomato flail, or tomato footman's mace*?

'Tis a bit of a one-shot item, verily, but mightily pleasing to use.

Ye tomato halberd and tomato hand and a half sword are likely to be in development for some considerable time, so don't hold thy breath.

* That is a footman's mace with a tomato for a head, not a mace belonging to a footman with a tomato for a head.

Tomato chucks?

I'll see your Tomato Chucks and raise you a Gopher Chucks.

Basically already covered. (Substitute gopher stats for beavers and call it a day.)

[Limeylongears]

Marrow/courgette/zucchini chucks might work better.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Tacticslion wrote:

... spoiler for the dude that forgot what’s going on with Uber?

While European courts have a spine and so have seen fit to apply the same worker-protection laws to Uber that it applies to other taxi services, U.S. courts have bought into Uber's legalistic argument that "Our drivers are independent contractors, see? So we can't be expected to pay them minimum wage, provide them benefits, allow them the freedom to unionize, or even promise not to fire them for our own faulty technology, see?"

[Drejk]

NobodysHome wrote:

... crime through Oakland has skyrocketed ...

Coincidentally, I just returned from cinema—I saw Black Panther which starts with a scene in Oakland.

Very fine movie, though I am a bit worried about Infinite War, it's gone have too many characters it absolutely has to fit in two to three hours, that each character will have just a moment of a screen time.

Or is that a cunning ploy to make Stan Lee the main character?

[captain yesterday]

I'm actually pretty excited to work tonight, a whole bunch of new toys are coming out this week (today I believe).

[Just a Mort]

Kjeldorn wrote:

Thanks everyone!

@Mort: It started as shared interests, but as we kept talking over the summer things got more personal. So yes, I do hope there's room for more.

@Freehold: Yup a vacation sounds nice. I've reached out to the woman in question in hopes of visiting for a few day.

Sounds like a good start! Go for it!

[Just a Mort]

Scintillae wrote:

"...why are you talking about crossbows?"

"Because they're awesome weaponry."
"And so relevant to the Civil War. Yes, they used a crossbow to assassinate Lincoln. Oh, oops, spoilers."
"MISS. I WAS GONNA WATCH THE MOVIE."
other student just...stares at him

Wasn't Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter? =P

I always thought it was funny that you Americans star your politicians in fantasy action flims =P

[Tacticslion]

We find it weird, and too.

[NobodysHome]

Just a Mort wrote:

Scintillae wrote:

"...why are you talking about crossbows?"

"Because they're awesome weaponry."
"And so relevant to the Civil War. Yes, they used a crossbow to assassinate Lincoln. Oh, oops, spoilers."
"MISS. I WAS GONNA WATCH THE MOVIE."
other student just...stares at him

Wasn't Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter? =P

I always thought it was funny that you Americans star your politicians in fantasy action flims =P

That was a surprisingly fun movie.

Of COURSE we watched it! We hang out with Shiro, don't we?

[Tequila Sunrise]

Terrinam wrote:

Also, expressing a bit of frustration with this statement... Putting it in spoiler because of topic.

Spoiler:

So, let me begin by saying that none of this is aimed at you specifically. I don’t know your story and I respect that some people just don’t want to hear, talk about, or even think about politics any more than I want to hear about Joe Shmoe’s favorite paladin PC from his high school campaign. Everyone has their reasons, and I get it.

But I also get why your coworker might try to get you talking. Someone who doesn’t talk about politics tends to give the impression that they don’t care about politics, and there are a few facts associated with that impression.

The first is that a lot of people don’t vote – some of them because both first parties and the candidates they run every four years are too moderate for them, but many because both are too extreme for them.

The second is that a lot of people complain that both first parties and their politicians are too partisan and unwilling to compromise. Ironically, there are other people who complain that both first parties and their candidates are two sides of the same coin.

The third is that most people only vote every four years, and only for the POTUS – if that.

The fourth is that politics affects everyone, whether they get involved in it or not. Not only does ideology and policy have tangible effects on the world around us, both obvious and subtle, but politics affects the very way we perceive and think about issues. Again, whether or not we’re actively political or completely apathetic. Nobody likes to think that the talking heads influence them, but there is hard science and centuries of con artistry to demonstrate that we are all susceptible to manipulation – and the corrupt and the radical among the talking heads know this, and they depend on the apathy and cynicism of the electorate to pursue their agendas. Thus people who don’t think they’re involved in politics merely become unwitting pawns of the most selfish and guileful of the elite.

Again, I don’t pretend to know what your deal is and I respect that you don’t want to talk about politics. This is just me thinking out loud.

[NobodysHome]

Uber:

The whole "independent contractor" model

Continuing to claim that it does "thorough" background checks on its drivers while crimes committed by said drivers skyrockets

Using software to bypass inspectors and regulations (that's the one that REALLY gets me. "Yeah, we treat our employees and our contractors like dirt, AND we cheat to bypass law enforcement.")

The CEO's entire attitude that, "All's fair in business." The law is meaningless to him

The CEO's attitude that women are meaningless. Add a bunch of sexual discrimination lawsuits on top of all the other stuff

I'd rather go with a company that at least pretends to obey the rules, thanks. (And no, I won't buy a Volkswagen, either.)

[Freehold DM]

You guys need to check out war of the worlds with roosevelt as a machinegun toting alien killer.

[lisamarlene]

Just a Mort wrote:

Scintillae wrote:

"...why are you talking about crossbows?"

"Because they're awesome weaponry."
"And so relevant to the Civil War. Yes, they used a crossbow to assassinate Lincoln. Oh, oops, spoilers."
"MISS. I WAS GONNA WATCH THE MOVIE."
other student just...stares at him

Wasn't Abraham Lincoln a vampire hunter? =P

I always thought it was funny that you Americans star your politicians in fantasy action flims =P

Well, when two of our politicians started out as action stars, things got kinda jumbled.