Ramblin' Man


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Scarab Sages

After an entire week off due to the unusual winter weather, my kids are back at school today. So the house is blessedly quiet.

Scarab Sages

One of the worst times in the world to have an annoying plumbing emergency is right after a hard (for this part of the country) freeze, when every single plumber in existence is busy with burst pipe projects.

Stupid me-hating universe.

Scarab Sages

Plumbing problems resolved (ish)!!! We can wash clothes again!!!

Scarab Sages

Spring Break. Why'd it have to be....Spring Break. Stuck at home again with the kids.

Scarab Sages

The one down side to using heavy duty aluminum foil - it tends to pierce the skin very easily.

Scarab Sages

The really sucktastic part about Spring Break? Without the 5-day ritual of bringing the kids to school, then picking them up in the afternoon, you tend to loose track of what day it is very easily.

I dread the summer break. That's going to be one long, monotonous journey down the rabbit-hole of insanity.

Scarab Sages

I had to throw away my bird feeder. Some a*+#~#+ wasps had taken up residence inside. So, the first thing I did was hose the whole thing down with wasp spray. Then I put a garbage bag around it, closed that up as tight as possible, and dropped the whole thing in the trash.

Those little f!~!ers.

Scarab Sages

I saw a news article the other day saying an asteroid was NOT going to hit earth this year, and I was actually a little disappointed.

Scarab Sages

Being in a slightly philosophical mood, I think one of the greatest gifts I ever received was being taught to read. Beyond just being able to better function in society, and follow rules, the sheer joy I gained from the many stories I've read over the years is well nigh unmeasurable.

Scarab Sages

So, in order to keep my dog from wandering in the backyard’s side alleys, I had purchased some cheap lattice to set across each opening. And it worked rather well.

Until last night.

Turns out, all the motivation she needed to go full Kool-Aid Man was a possum on the other side of the lattice.

Scarab Sages

My paternal grandmother passed away. Either last night, or sometime this morning. We didn't get much information from our cousins, which is typical for them.

Sad, but she had a good life, and she was really cool. She was 99 years old.

Ah well.

Scarab Sages

Apparently, they’re going to wait until May for my grandmother’s funeral service. From what I was told, my cousin’s kid is currently living in Europe, and they want to give him time to come back.

You’d think he could get back quicker, considering it’s his great grandmother.

Then again, she’s not going anywhere.

Scarab Sages

I'm near the end of playing the Kingmaker video game, fighting my way through the House at the Edge of Time. And I can honestly say, I'm still not sure I'll bother finishing the game.

Between the annoying way this house is set up, and the whole game-randomly-shuts-down crap, I've more than once considered stopping the game entirely. I can see why the company needed a kickstarter. From what I've experienced, and all the other bugs I've heard about, they certainly don't seem like they were professionals.

Scarab Sages

I think the only reason I keep going on this game is because of how bored I am these days. I spent 90% of my time trying to find ways to occupy my brain and not be bored. I've been watching more TV. I've been making a ton of maps on Campaign Cartographer. I've been playing various video games. I've been reading more.

One problem with all that, though...my eyes have been getting tired more easily. I probably need to go back to the eye doctor.

Scarab Sages

I might go back to playing Baldur's Gate. I have the enhanced edition for the PS4. I played it for a while, but then lost interest in it.

If I do go back to playing it, I'll have to decided whether to keep with my old character (an elf fighter mage, I think), or start over with a new one. Maybe a dwarf fighter cleric.

Scarab Sages

I did go back to playing Baldur's Gate. Not with my old character, however. I had forgotten I kind of reset the PS$ when I finally got around to creating separate, but parent controlled, accounts for the kids. Ah well, now I have my Dwarf fighter cleric.

All I can say is, based on the old 2E mechanics and outdated graphics, I nearly find myself missing Kingmaker.

Except for, of course, all the glitches and endless slow load times.

Scarab Sages

Another year closer to death.

Scarab Sages

At least the weather this week was mostly good.

Scarab Sages

Well, crap. Apparently, Mother's Day is tomorrow.

Scarab Sages

Damnit! I need to get my car's state inspection done, but I also really don't want to go out and interact with people. I kind of intensely dislike people.

Scarab Sages

I'd been keeping my Netflix account active mostly because I was patiently waiting for two new "seasons" of two of the very few shows I watch from that service. Now they've been released, and I've watched them. This will make it harder to justify keeping the account.

Scarab Sages

ON the recommendation of someone in whom I have a small amount of trust, I watched seasons 1 & 3 of True Detective from HBO. I'd heard from multiple sources that season 2 just sucked goat testicles.

Season 1 was, by far, the better of the two. I loved how they worked in Lovecraftian elements, without actually including any out right supernatural elements. It was...very disturbing at times. The overarching story was awesome.

Season 3, while not as good as season 1, had a great lead in Mahershala Ali. I thought he and Stephen Dorff worked well together, and had some great chemistry. The story was pretty decent, even though parts of it seemed like a retread of season 1.

Scarab Sages

Next up, I think I'll give Lovecraft Country a try. My brother had watched it, and said it was really accurate regarding some of the more egregious behavior of white people back then. The kind of stuff we grew up learning about. He also said, however, that it was really well written and acted.

Scarab Sages

Lovecraft Country has been interesting so far. However, I think some of the narrative choices say just as much about the prejudices of the showrunners as they do about the prejudices of the time period the show is set in.

Scarab Sages

I often think it's weird, and a little sad, that I continue to post in some of these threads I've created, where no one else comments and it's basically me talking to myself.

Then I counter think that I don't really care, because the opinions of others rarely matter to me anymore. Mostly, this is just a way to fill some time and not be completely bored.

Scarab Sages

I see there was a spammer, hard at work....

Scarab Sages

I seem to be finished with my chiropractor visits. I'd been having shoulder problems for years, had done some orthopedic therapy for it before, but this new place was recommended by my primary.

About a month later, they hurt me a lot, but the exercises and muscle brutalization (it hurt too much to be called massaging), and my shoulder seems to be doing a lot better. They've given me some continued exercises, and recommend I do them about 3 or 4 times a week.

We'll see how it goes, but for once, I'm hopeful.

Scarab Sages

Incidentally, something else I discussed with the chiropractor, was just a general soreness in my shoulders and neck. I suspected it was from sleeping with two pillow under head (a practice I started for completely different health reasons, which are now kind of moot).

So, after confirming my suspicions with the chiro, I went back to one pillow. It's amazing how much of a difference just a day or two of that accomplished.

Scarab Sages

My TMJ is acting up again, so...not all is well.

Scarab Sages

Still, with my health seeming to take a turn for the better, I'm almost tempted to try and be a little less cranky.

Of course, I'm sure The Universe will quickly find some new way to torment me.

Scarab Sages

Two days into a five day Cub Scout Day Camp, and I’m reminded that I’m not exactly young anymore. The heat and humidity are brutal. The kids are having fun, though.

My boy got two bullseyes and popped a balloon at the archery range. Towards the end of the day, he caught a fish.

Scarab Sages

I am so very glad this past week is over.

Scarab Sages

Stoopid merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. Now our cell phones aren't working properly. So I've got to waste my time going into the Sprint store (if it's still a Sprint Store) to see if they can fix it.

Or....I could maybe switch to another company. Consolidating everything with AT&T does have some appeal......


AT&T is terrible! They'll keep adding shadow fees to your bill every month.

More so then other companies I've used.

Scarab Sages

I'm hoping my eye doctor appointment tomorrow will result in some new glasses.

Although, to be honest, I use them too much and should try to rest my eyes more.

Scarab Sages

I don't game as much as I used to. While I was living in Philly, I had regularly gaming from around 2005 until I moved away in 2013. That was mostly D&D and Pathfinder.

After I moved to Texas, my brother tried getting me in with his group, but that didn't work very well. Every now and then, we do a game with his kids, but that was rare.

Back last fall some time, my old Philly group reached out to me and invited me to join their 5E Rime of the Frostmaiden game via Roll20 (and sometimes Discord). That's been cool, but when we hit long gaps in play, it really has started to bug me more than it used to.

Scarab Sages

Anyway, I've shown honest to goodness restraint this time around. So far, I've only bought the 5E Players Handbook (for playing) and Monster Manual (because monster entries sometimes inspire me to make new maps). I should probably round out the trilogy and get the DMG as well.....

It got me thinking, though. I used to love buying all the extra books. Not necessarily for new rules or spells or monsters (although those are cool), but for the fluff.

All that little extra detail. Those little asides. The meat and bones, so to speak. I love that kind of stuff.

I've come to understand, however, that as much as I love fluff, it's a waste of money for me to buy the fluff books.

Scarab Sages

One of my habits I think I need to break myself of is, when speaking with other people, referring to myself as an engineer. That really hasn’t been true for a few years now, and I doubt it ever will be again.

I’ve begun to think my brain’s insistence on holding onto that dead-end career (that I wasted most of my life on) is holding me back from moving forward.

Not that I know where I’d move forward to.

Scarab Sages

Well, five months after giving up on my futile search for a new engineering job, I started looking again this week. Mostly because the wife finally started nagging me about it.

Scarab Sages

Stupid modern furniture.

I spent part of my day rebuilding (as cheaply as possible) part of The Boy’s 7-ish year old bed. I’m not sure what he did to break it, but I do know why it broke - piss poor design.

Meanwhile, his other major pieces of room furniture, all passed down from my older brothers, through me, to him (probably around forty years), can probably withstand a nuclear holocaust.

Scarab Sages

And now, of course, my shoulder is a mass of pain.

Scarab Sages

I’ve started watching the Westworld series on HBOMax. It’s both interesting and (a very little) disappointing. Some fantastic acting, cool sets, and nice little background shots to add flavor.

The disappointment comes when they start talking about the deeper stuff, like the nature of consciousness. As with most everything else Hollywood, they say just enough to try and give the story that thin sheen of super smart philosophy.

Still, I’m enjoying it.

Scarab Sages

But for my father's death, today would have been my parent's 58th wedding anniversary.

Scarab Sages

Had a good time last night on Roll20 with some of the guys from my old gaming group. We only gamed a very little bit, the rest of the time we just sort of shot the s$$#.

Scarab Sages

Ugh! I feel like dog crap. Yesterday, I thought it might be just because I was a bit hungover from game night. Now I think it might be something more. Maybe a stomach bug.

Scarab Sages

HBOMax added a couple of Hammer Horror films to their library starting 2 days ago. Since then I've watched The Mummy and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. I've seen both before, but it had been awhile.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of a trend, and they'll end up having all the Hammer films.

Scarab Sages

This will be the first full week of school for the small humans. They had three days last week. Not much, but enough to at least get into the old/new routine.

I’m hoping my daughter will adjust her sleeping habits this year, and start falling asleep a little earlier. Then she (hopefully) won’t be such a little s#%~ in the mornings.

Scarab Sages

I started watching The Outsider last night. I’d read the book, and enjoyed it, so this will give me something to watch in the evenings. At least for a few days or so.

Scarab Sages

I was really hoping September would bring more Hammer Horror films to
HBO Max. Maybe they’re waiting for October.

Scarab Sages

I’ve become aware there was a layoff at Paizo. My sympathies to the subject employee. I know how that feels.

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