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I'm glad you're ok NH!
Oh my snap Joker is SO GOOD.
Joaquin Phoenix and the director really captured what it's like to be mentally ill. Like, really ill, and ignored, and mocked, and living in a system that shelves us and gives no f%%$s and...
Guys, this movie was so good, and the main character so relatable, it actually made me depressed with how much it reminded me of my life. The scene where he on the sly confesses to the clerk, and the guy doesn't know how to respond...I have been there. The scene where he yells at the caseworker about how she doesn't ever listen...I have been there..."All I HAVE are negative thoughts!!!" Been there.
My favorite line: "The problem with having a mental illness is everyone expects you to behave like you don't."
Unlike him, I won't snap, kill a bunch of people, and get a bunch of followers for it.
...though my nakedness might.
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mark your calendar. I agree with WW on something.
I've had stronger earthquakes in Illinois.
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Seeing Joker tomorrow night. Neither Aiymi nor Zelda want to go for completely understandable personal reasons that I won't go into here.
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Oh it is DARK.
I would NOT go expecting a comic movie. Not even a dark comic movie like Logan. This is just DARK. It is a story of a fragile broken man sliding off the deep end in a society that ignores him until he snaps completely. You really GET why Joker wants to break society. Society broke him.
I am so f@*&ing tired of comic movies I almost didn't see it, but my brother recommended it heartily...so I went.
I cannot emphasize enough this is not a comic book movie. It may take place in Gotham but it could be Anywhere, USA, and there are no heroes. This is just a tragedy, through and through.
So tired. Glad folk are okay!
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I wish that with f~@#ing every food.
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Seeing Joker tomorrow night. Neither Aiymi nor Zelda want to go for completely understandable personal reasons that I won't go into here.
I would go with you if I could. Wanted to check it out.
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Oh it is DARK.
I would NOT go expecting a comic movie. Not even a dark comic movie like Logan. This is just DARK. It is a story of a fragile broken man sliding off the deep end in a society that ignores him until he snaps completely. You really GET why Joker wants to break society. Society broke him.
I am so f!$!ing tired of comic movies I almost didn't see it, but my brother recommended it heartily...so I went.
I cannot emphasize enough this is not a comic book movie. It may take place in Gotham but it could be Anywhere, USA, and there are no heroes. This is just a tragedy, through and through.
I have heard from a friend that it was almost as if they made the darkest artistic-yet-linear movie they could, made a guy who COULD be the Joker the main character, and then said "this is the Joker movie, give us your money please".
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When I see The Joker it will have to be by myself.
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Spoilers for a religious and political news story that happened in my neighborhood just this month:
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Hm. Not a great sign when, as a GM, you’ve started to forget NPCs...
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"Hey, Ms. Scint! I made you something." "Do you have five minutes for your daily Spanish lesson?"
"...how did you know I haven't logged in for a month?"
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I love that program. I am gonna get back into it.
Thanks Scint.
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Hm. Not a great sign when, as a GM, you’ve started to forget NPCs...
Me: oh, yeah! That guy was potentially plot-critical! Man, I have, like, no memories of that. Fortunately it only matters if the PCs do the one thing, and they’ve probably forgotten by now, considering how many months
*PCs immediately and unanimously do the one thing*
Me: aw, dang.
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Character session done.
Half-orc barbarian, tiefling warlock, tiefling ranger, human bard, elf rogue, and at least one other kiddo who couldn't make it today.
The ranger went with the noble background. Warlock took folk hero and declared that she had become a folk hero after robbing the noble tiefling. Rogue went with charlatan and announced his special con was forging papers to pass as the noble.
Quoth the warlock: "I can't decide! Do I set people on fire or gaslight them?"
We haven't even started yet, and I'm already seeing this go off the rails.
Other student is a dwarf druid.
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Other student is a dwarf druid.Character session done.
Half-orc barbarian, tiefling warlock, tiefling ranger, human bard, elf rogue, and at least one other kiddo who couldn't make it today.
The ranger went with the noble background. Warlock took folk hero and declared that she had become a folk hero after robbing the noble tiefling. Rogue went with charlatan and announced his special con was forging papers to pass as the noble.
Quoth the warlock: "I can't decide! Do I set people on fire or gaslight them?"
We haven't even started yet, and I'm already seeing this go off the rails.
stoney druid or tree-e druid?
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Yup, I'm putting in paver edging while listening to co-worker and Taylor (Not Tyler) drone on about hunting and dogs.
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stoney druid or tree-e druid?Other student is a dwarf druid.Character session done.
Half-orc barbarian, tiefling warlock, tiefling ranger, human bard, elf rogue, and at least one other kiddo who couldn't make it today.
The ranger went with the noble background. Warlock took folk hero and declared that she had become a folk hero after robbing the noble tiefling. Rogue went with charlatan and announced his special con was forging papers to pass as the noble.
Quoth the warlock: "I can't decide! Do I set people on fire or gaslight them?"
We haven't even started yet, and I'm already seeing this go off the rails.
Dunno!
"What do you want to do?"
"Heal."
"Okay. Cleric, druid, or paladin are going to be the best for that."
"Can't druids turn into stuff?"
"Yes."
"I want that."
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Why is it that government organizations cannot comprehend that most of the time, being too early is even worse than being late!
Example 1: The bus.
We have a bus stop 2 blocks from our house. Since GothBard doesn't like hanging around on street corners, she leaves the house at 8:00 am to catch the 8:04 am bus. At least once a week, the bus breezes through as early as 7:57 am, leaving her stranded.
If you say, "We will pick you up at 8:04 am" and then you leave at 7:58 am, you're going to leave a lot of people stranded.
Example 2: Street sweeping.
"We will sweep your street between noon and 4:00 pm on the third Wednesday of every month."
Due to the horrific parking situation around here, I've found that I need to wait until 11:30 am, put up the No Parking sign, and then move the car.
Of course this morning the sweeper came through at 11:20 am, there were a good 15 cars still parked on the block, so the guy got to come through, do nothing, and get paid for it.
If you're late, I may have to wait. If you're early, I'm likely to miss you entirely.
Grr...
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You know you picked a fun hobby when you start shopping for a good respirator.
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Example 1: The bus.
We have a bus stop 2 blocks from our house. Since GothBard doesn't like hanging around on street corners, she leaves the house at 8:00 am to catch the 8:04 am bus. At least once a week, the bus breezes through as early as 7:57 am, leaving her stranded.
If you say, "We will pick you up at 8:04 am" and then you leave at 7:58 am, you're going to leave a lot of people stranded.
If that timepoint is printed in the bus schedule, or in the online schedule they the driver is violating your transit agency standards.
Call/write/text a complaint to the transit authority who owns those buses.
The driver will be reminded about that work-rule.
It's a transit aphorism that an early bus is worse than just about everything other than failing to stop for a waiting passenger.
If you're using a scheduled transit option (train, bus, streetcar), they are required to stick to the schedule. Late evening buses in my area sometimes idle at a time point for a few minutes so they don't leave the timepoint early.
In North America, almost all transit vehicles are fitted with GPS trackers, and the supervisors can go back and check whether or not the bus was running early.
If the pickup point is "between" printed time points, then I usually assume that I need to be at that stop no later than the timepoint for the just-previous stop.
Let the transit agency know about any driver who isn't following the rules.
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In Jacksonville that bus shenanigans happened a lot. Thing is, the bus driver's union was good. Too good.
I saw a driver fall asleep at a red light (I was on the bus), take his foot off the break, pull into the intersection and almost cause a huge pile up. What did the union do? Change his route. He was on my transfer route the next month.
As a huge pro union guy I hate admitting that sometimes you need to just fire a m!$&&%~~&#%+, and this was a bad example of the union protections being a bad thing.
And since you're in California, well...
...I doubt anything more than a wrist slap would happen even for repeated schedule ignoring.
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Also, if it is not a timepoint, than 8:04 is just an estimate that the driver isn't held to. Only a fraction of AC Transit stops would be time points.
My favorite is when the bus just doesn't show up at all, and it's a once an hour line. VTA has a severe operator shortage right now, so they often just don't send a bus on a scheduled run at all, redirecting thst driver to a busier line. Which means people on once and hour bus lines have to remember they may get no bus at all, and they just don't even try a lot of the time.
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I doubt anything more than a wrist slap would happen even for repeated schedule ignoring.
And if there are no reports about the bus leaving a timepoint early then they won't even get that.
Documenting the bad behavior is critical.
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I doubt anything more than a wrist slap would happen even for repeated schedule ignoring.And if there are no reports about the bus leaving a timepoint early then they won't even get that.
Documenting the bad behavior is critical.
I'm not saying don't try.
I'm just cynical and believe it will ultimately amount to nothing.
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So, I don't know where you live, but Rosita's got California dead-on: GothBard has complained on multiple occasions, and utterly nothing has changed. Every week at the TransBay terminal at least one bus gets canceled the day of due to whatever (driver illness, accident, or whatever) and there are no make-ups.
In the Bay Area, public transit has no accountability and no concern for doing their job. I love the new BART director who got elected and was so utterly appalled by the behavior of her fellow directors that she started tweeting about it and trying to make their behavior public: "This is not moral behavior!"
After filing half a dozen complaints about the bus being early, being missing, or skipping the stop while people were waiting and getting nothing beyond a formal, "We're sorry this happened. We will try to improve," form letter, GothBard just changed stops to a couple of farther-away but more-reliable ones.
Bus travel in the Bay Area is infamous, and nobody cares if you complain about it or report it.
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You're dealing with three different problems
1.Missing Bus
a) You can't send out a bus driven by someone who doesn't have a commercial license. If they don't have enough licensed staff to cover their scheduled service, then it's a staffing problem.
Complaints about staffing problems need to go to the board. Complaining to a supervisor who cannot do anything has no effect.
b) You can't send out a vehicle that is not street legal. If the bus fleet isn't large enough, it's a board problem, not a supervisory problem. The Board needs to hear about this.
2.Bus Not Stopping
It's against the law to pick up people when the bus is already at capacity. There are two remedies for excess demand over capacity.
a) Use an extra-board driver and a spare vehicle, send a second bus to pick up the remaining riders. If there are staffing problems, then there won't be any drivers to send. If there are vehicle-availability problems, there won't be any buses to send.
b) Increase your staffing budget and your capital improvements budget to acquire more drivers and more equipment. Both staffing and street-legal equipment can be underfunded.
Complaints about lack of equipment or lack of drivers need to go to the board. Complaining to a supervisor who cannot do anything has no effect.
3.Bus running early
Driver? Check. Vehicle? Check. Extra passenger capacity? Check.
If all three of those conditions are true, then it's something the supervisor can deal with. Complaining using standard Customer Service Forms are sufficient.
But be sure that the problem is inept driver, not bus overcrowding, as in Item 2.
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** spoiler omitted **
Your feedback is appreciated, but I'll reiterate that we've gone that route and it's resulted in absolutely diddly-squat. We get a form letter apology, the driver continues on the route for their mandated 3-month stint (continuing to be early once a week, even if you send in video evidence, as we did once), and a new driver comes in.
As far as we, the consumers can tell. Nothing ever changes.
On the other hand, I *did* just email the city about the early street sweeper, and I know I'll get a personal letter from someone, an apology, and I know that the drivers will get a talking-to.
It's good to live in a small town where you have some feeling of control.
When it comes to countywide services (bus, BART, etc.) there is a very strong sense that our voices are meaningless.
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From my experience I'd guess that bus drivers are underpaid, and people with commercial drivers license can easily find more lucrative positions.
This suggests that the transit agencies themselves have inadequate budgets.
I'd also guess that both the capital budget for buying new vehicles and the maintenance budget for keeping them running (both parts and mechanics) are also severely underfunded.
And then there's board chicanery.
The only one your privilege allows you to impact is who is elected to the board. Communities that want better transit services need to have people willing to run for those positions and speak up when they are elected. If you're not interested enough to run yourself, you can at least volunteer for the campaigns of people who are.
Edit:
Spoilered for being too real
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Well, Alameda County has a history of fiscal idiocy; not only did Prop 13 hit them hard, they then proceeded to nearly bankrupt themselves trying to bring the Raiders back to Oakland. AC Transit's entire history has been, "Oh, ridership is dropping and we're starting to lose money! Quick! Raise fares! That's the obvious solution to declining ridership!"
I like to compare AC Transit to the U.C. Davis bus system. Funded by a simple $15 per semester fee on all undergrads, the Davis bus system was the best bus system I've seen outside of Europe. Free for undergrads, $0.25 for kids and seniors, $0.50 for everyone else, and amazingly well-run. Buses managed in a sensible manner by people who care are a beautiful thing.
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In case I haven't reminded anyone here in a while, the Kim Kierkegaardassian Twitter account posts the occasional gem, such as:
"A fire has been set to the tinder which is in your soul. It's bright and classic and adds a pop of color to your fall look."
or
"It is powerful like a god's idea, turbulent like a world's life, harrowing in its earnestness. Diet peach Snapple is my everything."
or
"The smartest people I know:
1. Are living in despair
2. Are painfully aware of living in despair
3. Have the perfect shoes to wear with their despair
4. Know a few basic makeup tricks to take their despair effortlessly from daytime to the agony of night"
The very real advantages enjoyed by an extraordinarily sweaty wrestler are seldom mentioned. I wonder why?
This should be a Trait, if Mr. Buhlman happens to be reading.
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Well, my one-shot, rank 6 Moto Avenger shugenja died today, unleashing a shard of ancient evil on unsuspecting world...
The things for our regular group may get a bit more tedious (once the shockwaves of my failure reach us, which is probably not that soon)...
At least I beaten our regular groups' last Wednesday's TERRIBLE DECISION in the magnitude of bad choices (giving away one of the black scrolls to the Empire's foremost expert and foe of the Shadowlands, Kuni Yoru... who happens to be secretly, and unknowingly to our group a servant of Fu Leng).
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I wish I could eat chocolate and not gain weight.I wish that with f+!%ing every food.
Have either of you considered fostering a slaad larva or two? We here at H.O.S.T. are running a HollowEat special this October. If you adopt a previously-loved aberration from our shelter, we're including a pair of cuddly ♡wuvable♡ slaad larvae for free... one for your new aberration and one for you! Fill your forever home with ♡wuv♡! Act now!
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Its why so many of my NPCs are called Bob
Hail "Bob"!
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Yup, I'm putting in paver edging while listening to co-worker and Taylor (Not Tyler) drone on about hunting and dogs.
that sounds awful.
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Not Tyler: Why do you hum?
Me: Why do you talk so much?
Not Tyler: Fair enough.
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By the way, I've been humming the Smurfs theme song at least once every day for a year and a half and no one's killed anyone or gone noticably insane.
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Its why so many of my NPCs are called BobHail "Bob"!
.... so. We meet again. *neck crack, paddywhack*
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Ah, the bent of a truly evil GM: Shiro just let us level up to 19. Mid-dungeon. And said, "Oh, and all that loot you found puts you to WBL."
Meaning we were just handed 155,000 gp each without any possibility of spending it before the campaign ends.
Cleverly played, Shiro. Cleverly played, indeed.
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Stupid kids.
We used to play Age of Mythology together back when they were much younger (say Impus Major was around 10 or 11). They just decided they wanted to play it again, and of course the CD version doesn't play well with Windows 10. (You have to download a questionable hack to even have a hope of it working.)
So the two of them bought it anew on Steam, giving "Microsoft" yet another $60 for an ancient game (yeah, yeah, I know. Steam gets $9 of that).
And I am *soooooooooo* tempted to plop down my own $30 so I can play with them.
Much as I hate Microsoft, that was a darned fun game!
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...and speaking of corporations behaving badly, really, Anthem?
I make you stop sending me all your spam email, so you start sending me physical letters listing all of my prescriptions every month?
Oh... that couldn't possibly be a privacy risk!
And besides, my shredder is getting full...
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If you want an amazing mass transit system in the US you gotta go to Seattle.
The best transit system I've ever used.
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Ah, the bent of a truly evil GM: Shiro just let us level up to 19. Mid-dungeon. And said, "Oh, and all that loot you found puts you to WBL."
Meaning we were just handed 155,000 gp each without any possibility of spending it before the campaign ends.
Cleverly played, Shiro. Cleverly played, indeed.
** spoiler omitted **
Sorry, Shiro gets all the cookies today.
There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a fun campaign and ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS WANT TO WASTE A WHOLE SODDING DAY GOING SHOPPING.I don't enjoy shopping in my real life. Why in the flaming purple f*** would I want to squander precious game hours doing it in my fantasy time?
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If you want an amazing mass transit system in the US you gotta go to Seattle.
The best transit system I've ever used.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ah, the bent of a truly evil GM: Shiro just let us level up to 19. Mid-dungeon. And said, "Oh, and all that loot you found puts you to WBL."
Meaning we were just handed 155,000 gp each without any possibility of spending it before the campaign ends.
Cleverly played, Shiro. Cleverly played, indeed.
** spoiler omitted **
Sorry, Shiro gets all the cookies today.
There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a fun campaign and ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS WANT TO WASTE A WHOLE SODDING DAY GOING SHOPPING.I don't enjoy shopping in my real life. Why in the flaming purple f*** would I want to squander precious game hours doing it in my fantasy time?
The game has yet to address the need for constant upgrades. I have tried to privately, but it does little more than make lower level enhancements last longer.
That said, it's a world away from 2e "'mundane' weapons literally bounce off of this creatures flesh/this creature WILL NOT DIE unless they have been slain by a weapon with +x enhancement" nonsense.