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And that untimely positive result means the Thursday session is cancelled because of the safety reasons - it is a different group but run by the same GM, with me being the only shared player (currently).
It is worse for the GM, because on Sunday he was supposed to go GM on winter camps for youth. He will be getting the PCR test tomorrow, but the timing is rather bad.
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I've had a bad day. It's not going to get better for some time. I'm probably going to be offline a bit.
** spoiler omitted **
I'm so sorry, my friend.
Please feel free to contact me through DMs or Discord.
Prayers for you and your family are being said right now.
The other "interesting" little tidbit is that the total bill is less than 1.5x our annual insurance premiums (including employer contribution), meaning that unless something like this happens to one of us every single year, the insurance company is still making money hands-over-fists off of us.
It's similar to GothBard's company's pet insurance: I used Quicken to calculate our vet bills over the lifetimes of our cats, including $3000 radiation therapy and surgery, $2000 blood work, etc., etc., and the pet insurance would still have cost over 10x what we paid over the lifetime of care for our cats.
Makes "catastrophic medical" a far more attractive option for those whose employers don't pay for most (or all) of their health insurance.
We are... "enjoying..." the results of whatever this is after the accident.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
The other "interesting" little tidbit is that the total bill is less than 1.5x our annual insurance premiums (including employer contribution), meaning that unless something like this happens to one of us every single year, the insurance company is still making money hands-over-fists off of us.
It's similar to GothBard's company's pet insurance: I used Quicken to calculate our vet bills over the lifetimes of our cats, including $3000 radiation therapy and surgery, $2000 blood work, etc., etc., and the pet insurance would still have cost over 10x what we paid over the lifetime of care for our cats.
Makes "catastrophic medical" a far more attractive option for those whose employers don't pay for most (or all) of their health insurance.
We are... "enjoying..." the results of whatever this is after the accident.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Crossing my fingers that you have a policy with a "maximum annual out-of-pocket expenses" thingy. The year Shiro had most of his cancer treatments he blew the out-of-pocket maximum out in January and managed to enjoy going to the best specialists available in the Bay Area for the rest of the calendar year on the insurance company's dime.
The problem, of course, is that many HMOs have the approach of, "Not in network? Not our problem!" and therein lies the danger of unexpected five to six digit medical bills.
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For now my antigen test showed negative. It was unpleasant to say the least - apparently I have terribly sensitive insides of the nose. I guess that is a result of the broken nose and misaligned septum I suffered over thirty years ago.
Still waiting for the friend's PCR results tomorrow to be sure. The time since we saw each other was short enough that I might get a false negative easily.
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Went to look at future primary schools for Sonic with ALL (DE) and the kids today, one regular one, which we all liked, and one Catholic one, which we liked less. For the distinctly non-Catholic L. Longears, a school with big old statues of a very Caucasian Jesus with his heart out and little altars at every corner was quite the experience, and they also needed to see Sonic's certificate of baptism before they'd consider letting him in. They both go to a Catholic school at the moment, but that one seems to be a lot more chilled out about the whole thing.
I maintain that attending Catholic school from ages 5-14 explains about 60% of what's wrong with me.
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Upon reflection, I think my vocabulary choices may be why some of the kids find me intimidating.
For example:
"If you spill that, I will harvest you."
It's utterly meaningless, but it's just vague enough to be disturbing.
That is getting too close.
Friend's wife tested positive yesterday (and got the confirming PCR results today).
I saw that friend on Monday (he is a werewolf athlete from a backward planet, we both form the party muscles).
He had negative results on Monday (he has to test constantly because he works at a retirement home).
I might need to get my first test soon.
Get tested regularly, get tested often.
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Upon reflection, I think my vocabulary choices may be why some of the kids find me intimidating.
For example:
"If you spill that, I will harvest you."It's utterly meaningless, but it's just vague enough to be disturbing.
I would be terrified if a teacher said that to me offhandedly.
The other "interesting" little tidbit is that the total bill is less than 1.5x our annual insurance premiums (including employer contribution), meaning that unless something like this happens to one of us every single year, the insurance company is still making money hands-over-fists off of us.
It's similar to GothBard's company's pet insurance: I used Quicken to calculate our vet bills over the lifetimes of our cats, including $3000 radiation therapy and surgery, $2000 blood work, etc., etc., and the pet insurance would still have cost over 10x what we paid over the lifetime of care for our cats.
Makes "catastrophic medical" a far more attractive option for those whose employers don't pay for most (or all) of their health insurance.
We are... "enjoying..." the results of whatever this is after the accident.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
How are you feeling, friend.
Get tested regularly, get tested often.That is getting too close.
Friend's wife tested positive yesterday (and got the confirming PCR results today).
I saw that friend on Monday (he is a werewolf athlete from a backward planet, we both form the party muscles).
He had negative results on Monday (he has to test constantly because he works at a retirement home).
I might need to get my first test soon.
I don't have much contact with anyone, the live sessions (which we restarted somewhere around January last year, with a MD present) being the main exception. The second largest form of contact is groceries, though the crowds are getting tighter again.
I would be terrified if a teacher said that to me offhandedly.Upon reflection, I think my vocabulary choices may be why some of the kids find me intimidating.
For example:
"If you spill that, I will harvest you."It's utterly meaningless, but it's just vague enough to be disturbing.
Meh, it was one of my D&D kiddos, he's fine.
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Meh, it was one of my D&D kiddos, he's fine.I would be terrified if a teacher said that to me offhandedly.Upon reflection, I think my vocabulary choices may be why some of the kids find me intimidating.
For example:
"If you spill that, I will harvest you."It's utterly meaningless, but it's just vague enough to be disturbing.
"Can't go to sleep, Scint will eat me! Can't go to sleep, Scint will eat me!"
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The desire to make a lengthy string of quotations and references to the old "Chickenman" radio show (which no one other than me will ever understand) is almost overwhelming.
He's everywhere! He's everywhere!
One of my (many) favorite moments in Kingmaker was driving the GM up a wall by entering the <spoiler>...
We had honed our tactics in Runelords to such a fine edge that we were consistently triggering multiple encounters at the same time deliberately for tactical advantage -- if all the critters have to go through a 'choke point', it's lather, rinse, repeat time...
When we had the complete and utter drop on someone our opening round would deal enough damage to make demigods lament at their pathetic HP pools.
We also had no qualms about using the ultimate Power Move of coup de grace on viable targets, and a pick that's been enchanted to be incredibly nasty before the crit modifier kicks in...
EDIT: It's also very important to point out here that we weren't really 'power-gaming'. We just had a Plan A, B, C, D, E, and Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.
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I slept very poorly last night (too much tea? Too little tea? Giddy with excitement at going back to work?), so I was very much Not In The Mood for today's 'Magic of the Musicals' office soundtrack, even less than I would be normally. Still, a bit of Wednesday HEMA cheered me right up, so everything's OK now.
Today was an incredibly productive day at work despite feeling like death reheated in the microwave. Wonder when the shoe is going to drop. Can't be on me, I've gotten all my feces indexed.
The desire to make a lengthy string of quotations and references to the old "Chickenman" radio show (which no one other than me will ever understand) is almost overwhelming.He's everywhere! He's everywhere!
Treppa gets cookies.
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I would be terrified if a teacher said that to me offhandedly.Upon reflection, I think my vocabulary choices may be why some of the kids find me intimidating.
For example:
"If you spill that, I will harvest you."It's utterly meaningless, but it's just vague enough to be disturbing.
Wow. I just threatened to glue butts to chairs. Clearly I need to up my game.
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I decided to stop being so political on FaWtL, and I find it distressing that my everyday life has suddenly become "politically charged":
- COVID, vaccines, and testing
- Insurance and COVID
- The U.S. health care system and its insurance industry
- The failure of online learning
- Wealth By Level
Well, maybe this little tidbit isn't too political: Today is street-sweeping day. I was pleasantly overjoyed that not a single person parked in front of my house for the day, and the street actually got swept properly.
I am happiness.
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Oh, and here's one of those "tactical mismanagement" things I'll never understand:
Our 5e party got attacked by a pair of giant black puddings, likely to destroy all our gear and a couple of us, so the fighter sounded a general retreat. One of the oozes moved between my cleric and the rest of the party, forcing her to walk around it in medium armor; no small feat. On the other hand, everyone knew she had the highest AC in the group already, and I'd added a Shield of Faith to that. I had a good chance of getting out.
Nevertheless, the rest of the party kindly delayed to see what I'd do. As expected, I moved around the ooze (no AoO in 5e unless you break contact) and hit it with a Guided Bolt to soften it up in case I had to stay and fight. (I'm slooooow.)
Everyone else obeyed the fighter and disengaged, as expected. Except the wizard. Hearing the GM say, "You really hurt it with that bolt," he decided to try to be a hero and finish it off with Magic Missiles, saving my cleric from her uncertain fate, but putting himself in danger. Needless to say, the Magic Missiles didn't kill the ooze.
The wizard had a choice: Move away and have a 100% chance of getting attacked (attack of opportunity for moving away), or stand still and have a 50% chance of getting attacked (I was still adjacent to the ooze, and the GM is fair and openly rolls randomly as to which person the ooze will attack.)
As I've seen far, far too often, the wizard decided to risk the AoO.
One critical hit for 52 of his 18 hit points and the wizard was a smear on the ground.
Why take a 100% chance of being swung at when if you stand still it's only 50%?
Neutral jin: Sometimes the best action is no action.
EDIT: And in case you're wondering, my cleric has 31 hit points and would have survived the blow, and the bard was close enough to heal her to give her a second chance to escape.
EDIT 2: I'd love to go through all my obits from all my campaigns and see how many of the deaths were caused by people moving away and provoking AoOs. I know that the answer is, "Several". But that's time I can't spare at the moment...
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Oh, and here's one of those "tactical mismanagement" things I'll never understand:
Our 5e party got attacked by a pair of giant black puddings, likely to destroy all our gear and a couple of us, so the fighter sounded a general retreat. One of the oozes moved between my cleric and the rest of the party, forcing her to walk around it in medium armor; no small feat. On the other hand, everyone knew she had the highest AC in the group already, and I'd added a Shield of Faith to that. I had a good chance of getting out.
Nevertheless, the rest of the party kindly delayed to see what I'd do. As expected, I moved around the ooze (no AoO in 5e unless you break contact) and hit it with a Guided Bolt to soften it up in case I had to stay and fight. (I'm slooooow.)
Everyone else obeyed the fighter and disengaged, as expected. Except the wizard. Hearing the GM say, "You really hurt it with that bolt," he decided to try to be a hero and finish it off with Magic Missiles, saving my cleric from her uncertain fate, but putting himself in danger. Needless to say, the Magic Missiles didn't kill the ooze.
The wizard had a choice: Move away and have a 100% chance of getting attacked (attack of opportunity for moving away), or stand still and have a 50% chance of getting attacked (I was still adjacent to the ooze, and the GM is fair and openly rolls randomly as to which person the ooze will attack.)
As I've seen far, far too often, the wizard decided to risk the AoO.
One critical hit for 52 of his 18 hit points and the wizard was a smear on the ground.
Why take a 100% chance of being swung at when if you stand still it's only 50%?
Neutral jin: Sometimes the best action is no action.
EDIT: And in case you're wondering, my cleric has 31 hit points and would have survived the blow, and the bard was close enough to heal her to give her a second chance to escape.
EDIT 2: I'd love to go through all my obits from all my campaigns and see how many of the deaths...
Remind them of the withdraw action, if it's available in the ruleset (it is in PF1, not sure about PF2 or 5E).
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Remind them of the withdraw action, if it's available in the ruleset (it is in PF1, not sure about PF2 or 5E).
#1: How are you holding up? I'm glad to see you back online, but I'm still concerned. Because I'm a mother hen by nature.
#2: Everyone else had already used the withdraw action. He knew he could do it, but he wanted to take a chance to be the hero. So he chose to attack instead, meaning he could no longer withdraw. Then he tried to walk away.
Friend got positive results. Grumble. I might need to actually stay home for a week and a bit.
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And now we have snowstorm with thunders...
FREEHOLD!!!
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The General and I are getting our booster shots later today.
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I'm having a rough day.
It's the anniversary of my dad's death. The thirteenth to be precise. We'd been out late at an inauguration party celebrating President Obama, and I had maybe three hours of sleep before I got the phone call that he'd been lost at sea. And last month was the fifteenth anniversary of our eldest son's death. So this winter has been hard. I almost posted an old photo of the two of them together on FB this morning, and didn't, because I still can't look at my son's pictures.
And I ran the numbers for the month after getting notice about WW's pay from the school district, and after taxes, well, unemployment was better. And no more advance child tax credit benefits. Things are going to suck for a while yet.
I can't take many more days like this.
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I'm having a rough day.
It's the anniversary of my dad's death. The thirteenth to be precise. We'd been out late at an inauguration party celebrating President Obama, and I had maybe three hours of sleep before I got the phone call that he'd been lost at sea. And last month was the fifteenth anniversary of our eldest son's death. So this winter has been hard. I almost posted an old photo of the two of them together on FB this morning, and didn't, because I still can't look at my son's pictures.
And I ran the numbers for the month after getting notice about WW's pay from the school district, and after taxes, well, unemployment was better. And no more advance child tax credit benefits. Things are going to suck for a while yet.
I can't take many more days like this.
Geez, I'm so sorry! It's horrible how such things tend to cluster and hammer on you all at once. I'll send you virtual Que Bueno and good beer; I'm concerned that sending you the real stuff might make the envelope mushy...
The desire to make a lengthy string of quotations and references to the old "Chickenman" radio show (which no one other than me will ever understand) is almost overwhelming.He's everywhere! He's everywhere!
Ahhh! Treppa! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I decided to stop being so political on FaWtL, and I find it distressing that my everyday life has suddenly become "politically charged":
- COVID, vaccines, and testing
- Insurance and COVID
- The U.S. health care system and its insurance industry
- The failure of online learning
- Wealth By LevelWell, maybe this little tidbit isn't too political: Today is street-sweeping day. I was pleasantly overjoyed that not a single person parked in front of my house for the day, and the street actually got swept properly.
I am happiness.
vote Freehold, eliminate wealth by level!
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Oh, and here's one of those "tactical mismanagement" things I'll never understand:
Our 5e party got attacked by a pair of giant black puddings, likely to destroy all our gear and a couple of us, so the fighter sounded a general retreat. One of the oozes moved between my cleric and the rest of the party, forcing her to walk around it in medium armor; no small feat. On the other hand, everyone knew she had the highest AC in the group already, and I'd added a Shield of Faith to that. I had a good chance of getting out.
Nevertheless, the rest of the party kindly delayed to see what I'd do. As expected, I moved around the ooze (no AoO in 5e unless you break contact) and hit it with a Guided Bolt to soften it up in case I had to stay and fight. (I'm slooooow.)
Everyone else obeyed the fighter and disengaged, as expected. Except the wizard. Hearing the GM say, "You really hurt it with that bolt," he decided to try to be a hero and finish it off with Magic Missiles, saving my cleric from her uncertain fate, but putting himself in danger. Needless to say, the Magic Missiles didn't kill the ooze.
The wizard had a choice: Move away and have a 100% chance of getting attacked (attack of opportunity for moving away), or stand still and have a 50% chance of getting attacked (I was still adjacent to the ooze, and the GM is fair and openly rolls randomly as to which person the ooze will attack.)
As I've seen far, far too often, the wizard decided to risk the AoO.
One critical hit for 52 of his 18 hit points and the wizard was a smear on the ground.
Why take a 100% chance of being swung at when if you stand still it's only 50%?
Neutral jin: Sometimes the best action is no action.
EDIT: And in case you're wondering, my cleric has 31 hit points and would have survived the blow, and the bard was close enough to heal her to give her a second chance to escape.
EDIT 2: I'd love to go through all my obits from all my campaigns and see how many of the deaths...
Because there is no guarantee staying still will keep the character alive and just about everyone wants to do something when faced with a certain death situation. Sounds like the character got screwed.
On Sunday, the power brick for my XBone died. Microsoft doesn't sell them anymore, so I ordered a 3rd party one of Amazon. I was given two shipping options (I don't have Prime): Free shipping to arrive on Friday, or $7.61 shipping to get it Wednesday. I chose the free option. It arrived today anyways. I guess there probably wasn't any reason to chose the paid shipping option in this case.
It's working so far. We'll see how long it lasts.
You gotta be kidding me. Thanks for the heads up. I'll check to see if I can get a third party brick.
...Oh, and here's one of those "tactical mismanagement" things I'll never understand:
Our 5e party got attacked by a pair of giant black puddings, likely to destroy all our gear and a couple of us, so the fighter sounded a general retreat. One of the oozes moved between my cleric and the rest of the party, forcing her to walk around it in medium armor; no small feat. On the other hand, everyone knew she had the highest AC in the group already, and I'd added a Shield of Faith to that. I had a good chance of getting out.
Nevertheless, the rest of the party kindly delayed to see what I'd do. As expected, I moved around the ooze (no AoO in 5e unless you break contact) and hit it with a Guided Bolt to soften it up in case I had to stay and fight. (I'm slooooow.)
Everyone else obeyed the fighter and disengaged, as expected. Except the wizard. Hearing the GM say, "You really hurt it with that bolt," he decided to try to be a hero and finish it off with Magic Missiles, saving my cleric from her uncertain fate, but putting himself in danger. Needless to say, the Magic Missiles didn't kill the ooze.
The wizard had a choice: Move away and have a 100% chance of getting attacked (attack of opportunity for moving away), or stand still and have a 50% chance of getting attacked (I was still adjacent to the ooze, and the GM is fair and openly rolls randomly as to which person the ooze will attack.)
As I've seen far, far too often, the wizard decided to risk the AoO.
One critical hit for 52 of his 18 hit points and the wizard was a smear on the ground.
Why take a 100% chance of being swung at when if you stand still it's only 50%?
Neutral jin: Sometimes the best action is no action.
EDIT: And in case you're wondering, my cleric has 31 hit points and would have survived the blow, and the bard was close enough to heal her to give her a second chance to escape.
EDIT 2: I'd love to go through all my obits from all my campaigns
Or, you know, this. It's damn good to see you again.
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And now we have snowstorm with thunders...
FREEHOLD!!!
THUNDERSNOOOOOOOOOOOW
The General and I are getting our booster shots later today.
I have to do that.
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I'm having a rough day.
It's the anniversary of my dad's death. The thirteenth to be precise. We'd been out late at an inauguration party celebrating President Obama, and I had maybe three hours of sleep before I got the phone call that he'd been lost at sea. And last month was the fifteenth anniversary of our eldest son's death. So this winter has been hard. I almost posted an old photo of the two of them together on FB this morning, and didn't, because I still can't look at my son's pictures.
And I ran the numbers for the month after getting notice about WW's pay from the school district, and after taxes, well, unemployment was better. And no more advance child tax credit benefits. Things are going to suck for a while yet.
I can't take many more days like this.
I am so very, very sorry. This sounds like an awful time for you.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm having a rough day.
It's the anniversary of my dad's death. The thirteenth to be precise. We'd been out late at an inauguration party celebrating President Obama, and I had maybe three hours of sleep before I got the phone call that he'd been lost at sea. And last month was the fifteenth anniversary of our eldest son's death. So this winter has been hard. I almost posted an old photo of the two of them together on FB this morning, and didn't, because I still can't look at my son's pictures.
And I ran the numbers for the month after getting notice about WW's pay from the school district, and after taxes, well, unemployment was better. And no more advance child tax credit benefits. Things are going to suck for a while yet.
I can't take many more days like this.
Yet when you look at TEACHERS in particular, it's almost like people want to punish them for trying to A. Do a job right and B. Live while doing the job.
This is NOT new. There are no small numbers of movies (both Hollywood and not) about the struggles of educators.
And yet, a district or two over, the struggle is not over 'pay' but "which fancy AP-qualifying electives can we get for our ELITE school so our ELITE children can get into 'the best colleges'.
If teaching paid what it was really worth to the future of a given state, people would be FLOODING to those jobs, and the students would be well-behaved and everyone would be there to LEARN.
Unfortunately, what schooling has become is a 'playpen' that parents that are too busy working send their kids into,
And then they blame the teachers for the fact that they have to BUY books for their kids, BUY uniforms for things like gym class, BUY insurance for things like football "Isn't that what our taxes are going towards?"
No. The taxes always seem to go to massive piles of cash that just sit there as targets for administrators and executives to raid for their 'pet projects' (which may or may not include their or their friends wallets).
Credit to you and WW for doing the hard work and heavy lifting.
An 'F' for all states for education and they should retake all their civics and economics courses until they pass and until they do, they can't do any bullshittium projects that don't help the process of teaching our future.
It is rough as heck right now, and there's not a lot of solace I can offer, other than support and understanding.
I'd offer cookies, but the last time I made cookies at home I nearly ruined the oven with a slight case of over-greasing the pan -- twenty years ago.
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A curious note. I was getting groceries for myself for so long that I have hard time making a list of groceries for someone else for me to get.
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Also, the Monday GM tested positive today. We all had sat for about four hours together so it is likely that my yesterday's negative result was false negative of a test made too early.
Unless the booster worked really well, though I'd wouldn't bet on that - the GM got his a day after me.
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All boostered up!
I expect some more super powers out this one.
All boostered up!
I expect some more super powers out this one.
Impus Major declared that the booster had turned him into the Grinch.
It took me 4-5 minutes to work out that he was having chest pains and his heart felt three sizes too big. It took 10 more minutes to talk to the advice nurse and get the advice to, "Get him to the emergency room ASAP, and don't even bother with an outpatient clinic!"
Less than 20 minutes later, he was in the ER and eventually the hospital proper.
Be careful what you wish for!
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Also, the Monday GM tested positive today. We all had sat for about four hours together so it is likely that my yesterday's negative result was false negative of a test made too early.
Unless the booster worked really well, though I'd wouldn't bet on that - the GM got his a day after me.
Shiro is immune-compromised and spent and afternoon playing cards with his stepfather, who tested positive the very next day. Yet Shiro managed not to get it.
So being at the same table as someone who tests positive isn't a slam-dunk, "Now you're infected!" moment.
Also, the Monday GM tested positive today. We all had sat for about four hours together so it is likely that my yesterday's negative result was false negative of a test made too early.
Unless the booster worked really well, though I'd wouldn't bet on that - the GM got his a day after me.
Shiro is immune-compromised and spent and afternoon playing cards with his stepfather, who tested positive the very next day. Yet Shiro managed not to get it.
So being at the same table as someone who tests positive isn't a slam-dunk, "Now you're infected!" moment.
Was that recently with omicron abound, or earlier, with the less infectious strains, though?
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Hang in there LM!
Hey there John Boy!
Bit of exciting news here, I am four novels away from owning every TSR and WotC novel ever published (to date, that is). And yes, I do also own all the PF novels, and a pretty dense collection of other classic SF and Fantasy books, I have a library, gotta be filled, or I would be doing it wrong. :)
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Well, that's good work!
Sounds like you're having a particularly hard time, LM - sorry it's proving so rough at the moment.