Fox Tails and Phoenix Down

Are We Married Yet?

2011-08-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

Jacelyn:

It occurred to me today that there are only 7 days left until the wedding (duh!) so that means my time on this blog will be drawing to a close. Time for one last update!

At the moment, I'm feeling quite calm about the impending event but of course that could change within the hour. People have been asking how the stress level is and happily, it's not nearly as high as it was two weeks ago. Two weeks ago I was panicking that there were so many details not yet taken care of and so many things still to arrange, but this week, it seems like almost everything that can be done is done, and now we wait for a few days until we can set it all up.

Point form seems to work best in a post of this nature:

-lanterns are finished, covered with hearts cut from book pages and lighted from a battery operated tea light glued inside. (they flicker like real candles! but without the danger of setting the church on fire!)

-bouquets are finished, *insert sigh of relief here* . Sewing all the flowers out of fabric was the very first wedding project I started and it felt so good to check it off the list.

-bridesmaid dresses are complete, and each girl also has their shoes and jewellery after an intense day in Metrotown.

-seating chart has been wrestled into submission, a small miracle in itself.

-alterations on my dress are done, and the extra lace bits may show up on the veil...

-veil is done, having been pulled apart and stitched back together again, but I would not let it beat me!

-flowers have been tended and are showing off beautifully.

-potatoes have been dug to serve at the reception, they are tasty!

-photos have been chosen to document our lives from birth to present day (including awkward adolescent phases).

-reception tables have all been named, place cards have been stamped and appropriate quotes have been printed and organized.

-marriage licence is bought and paid for! Although we might not have been legally married if I hadn't noticed that the lady helping us had put an "E" at the beginning of my last name.

And on the "life together" front:

-James has moved into our new basement suite and helped maintain order during the Great Kitchen Organization.

-James is in the final stages of making our four-poster bed, the paint is chosen ("Stone Age") and if the calculations are correct, it should just clear the ceiling. :)

-mattress was delivered today! So we will have something to sleep on, though I'm dying to try that bowling ball and wine glass trick you see on commercials.

-we've been doing some reading up... ;)

Whew, no wonder we're ready to just be MARRIED! At times this week, I'll admit that all this detailed planning and creating has seemed a bit superfluous, but it'll be a party to remember!

The Fun Never Ends

2011-07-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Salutations! It's probably time for another update in the wild world of Wedding Planning. Time creeps ever closer as we are now at 52 days until the wedding! At the 100 day mark, Jacelyn made James a magnetic picture frame with magnetic numbers to change every day and James gave Jacelyn a magnificent bouquet of red roses. There were smiles all around. :)

The most significant thing to have happened since the last update is that the invitations finally got finished! At this point, Jacelyn might have a few strong words to share but she's been working on remaining calm and professional. When James and Jacelyn were designing the wedding invite, they thought it would be a lovely idea to have a quote on the front. They both love quotes and use them often. A suitable one was found and in the interest of saving time printing and cutting more little bits of paper, they decided to have the quote turned into a stamp. The seller was contacted online and all systems were go. However, once she had the money, the seller did not respond to any emails, and it was discovered that she had a backlog of orders, yada, yada, yada... by the time it actually shipped, it was stuck in the Canada Post strike. *sigh* There was great rejoicing when it finally arrived and everything looks the way it should.

James and Jacelyn have also secured a place to live! It is a bright and sunny basement suite with plenty of room for the six bookshelves and assorted stuff. James moves in on August 1 and Jacelyn will follow after the wedding.

Jacelyn (and James) have been showered with gifts! All attendees to the showers have been very generous and the pile of loot stashed in the Abrahams' basement keeps getting bigger!

Jacelyn got a phone call that her dress had arrived and she'll be picking it up this weekend (hopefully)!! No luck on finding the perfect shoes just yet.

If there are any more exciting updates, they've been forgotten at this late hour... more pre-wedding bliss to come!

It's All in the Details

2011-05-19T17:22:00.001-07:00

Jacelyn:

It seems we get asked a lot lately how wedding planning is coming, and let me tell you, it hasn't gotten old! While in my mind, our 'to do' list is still miles long, James reminds me often how much we've accomplished and been able to check off that list. Let's go point form, shall we?

-buying James' wedding suit - no places in Abbotsford or Mission rent grey suits or tuxes, we went to plan B and bought his suit and will have the groomsmen in suspenders and skinny ties!

-buying James' wedding ring - I must have asked him a million times to make sure he really was happy with a plain white gold band, after all the detail he put into mine, I didn't want him to feel neglected... he assured me this was what he had always wanted. The fun part was, when I picked it up after having it sized, I drove to his place and asked him to marry me!

-buying a mattress - while this doesn't fit into the 'wedding' category, it was still a necessity. Sleep Country had an amazing sale and will hold it for us until we have a place to move into. One of my cheeky coworkers asked me, "What are you two going to do with a mattress?" I replied, "Oh, we'll have all sorts of fun with it!" and turned around to see an elderly, kerchief-wearing lady behind me. Oops. :)

-making flowers - I've been stitching up a storm as all the bouquets and boutonnieres will be made of fabric flowers.

-assembling invitations - we've got almost everything we need and we've started stamping the birds and birdcages to go on the front.

-finalizing reception location - after much deliberation, we have decided not to have the reception on the yard, but in our church. The rental cost alone for all the tables, dishes, flatware, etc. was almost more than what we had budgeted for food! Much less stress this way too.

-securing kitchen committee and food - I hope all those brides who said they were too busy to eat were just being silly. I know I will be famished and I intend to enjoy every part of that meal.

-ordering a (massive) roll of paper - for our vintage typewriter guestbook!

-buying material for the bridesmaid dresses - patterns and notions too, now the girls just need to get measured.

-paying for Paris - the final payment has been made, we even purchased a travel book to help plan our itinerary.

-making centerpiece decor - votive holders wrapped in lace and I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

-buying lots and lots of books - every few weeks we scour every MCC, Value Village and Salvation Army in the area and our collection is growing.

-making time for each other - and sushi!

I'm sure there's so much more but this should give you a glimpse into our life at the moment. :) In a flash of frustration one day, I moaned to my mom that it would be sooo much easier to elope. She told me that yes, it would be easier, but this is our one chance to throw the biggest party of our lives for all our friends and family on the day that they will all be celebrating with us. Why not make it the best ever? :)

One Dress, Two Dress

2011-04-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Jacelyn:

School is done! I handed in all three papers, but I'm pretty sure my brain was floating somewhere above my body so I didn't quite hear the angels singing as I walked out of my last class, but wow, does it ever feel good! I have my last exam in two weeks, and then I will be officially ready to get a job as an EA!

Ok... wedding dresses. As of a few weeks ago, I became a two dress bride. I had been unaware that this was an epidemic until a few months ago, but apparently in the wedding world, it's not terribly uncommon. Girls buy a dress, change their minds and go out to buy a new one. Pretty frivolous, I thought. I won't throw my money around like that. Well, let's back up to the summer of '09. James was in Africa. We were falling in love, but not saying anything definite on the subject just yet. I was on holiday with my family in Vernon and in one of the little dress shops downtown, I tried on a pretty wedding dress for a laugh. It was perfect. It looked very much like this. (James, don't follow these links :) I loved the detail of it and how it was so unique. I ended up going back to Vernon a week later to buy it and I've been picturing myself wearing it ever since.

Fast forward to March when I decided to go wedding dress shopping with all my girls. I told them (and myself ) that this was just for fun, one of those quintessential experiences that every bride must have. We all trooped into the salon laughing and chattering, picking up dresses left, rght and center. It felt like I tried on a hundred (included one chosen by my little sister that made me look like a snowbeast). It was so much fun. Then it happened. The consultant zipped me into one of the last dresses and told me that it was much too old, that it belonged on a 40 year old bride. She put me on the pedestal and tucked in the straps (to make it younger, she said), turning it into a sweetheart neckline and everyone gasped. The consultant proceeded to tie a satin sash around my waist and when I looked at my reflection, I was stunned. I felt like a bride. She wanted me to buy it that day, but I was so confused I just wanted to go home. It took me long time to come to a decision, during which there were a few tears for feeling like I was betraying the other dress, but eventually it came down to how I wanted to look on my wedding day.

So there you have it. I ended up finding THE dress (with a much less hideous sash than the one pictured), and I'm happy. I suppose the original dress can go up on craigslist, although a friend suggested doing a Trash the Dress photosession, which would be a blast! Anyway, the planning continues in earnest!

Eureka! A new? dice system?

2011-04-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

I think I've got it, by George!
Yesterday at work was a stupendously boring day, which I don't mind of course for it gives me much to mull. Let us see if I can recall the thought process that brought this idea about...

Jacelyn and I have been buying up old books from thrift stores, as part of our decorating theme for the wedding, and we've come across some real gems. About a week ago I got her a 109 year old copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles (a 1st edition would only be 110 yo), and we've got about 3 copies of Water Babies all deliciously gilded and imprinted, things of that nature. Well, let me try to be more concise. This past weekend we scored about 14 books, 9 or so of which are eligible for our theme, among those 14 were a nice hardback copy of The Wind in the Willows and a full-colour softcover of Stuart Little.

In thinking idly how fun it would be to have children so that we could read such awesome books to them, I thought of how similar those character are/would be to characters in the Flora RPG that I've been on-and-off working on (all being anthropomorphised animal characters). Then I thought of how children might view RPGs and how their imaginations might help to create a world truly unexpected. How we might take a family trip to New York to visit Central Park, the setting of it all, and how much fun we would have altogether. But then I thought of the dice system I wished to use, the d100 system just like Warhammer, and how unsuitable it would be to younger players, how basic and non-interactive it would seem to those energetic minds. Then I came up with a new dice system, full of risks and rewards and a undulating dice pool that gives control over odds to the player. I explained it to my roommate last night merely to get it from brain to tongue, and I also wrote it down on paper so I would not forget.

But alas, it seems I have no more time and must, indeed, must quickly become ready for work. I will post again as soon as I am able, divulging some of the secrets and keeping my fingers crossed that it hasn't been done before. Until then, thank you for reading.

Inspiration Board

2011-04-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

Jacelyn:

*sigh* I've been desperately wanting to blog (is this the beginning of the obsession?!) about the lastest wedding developments but I can't in good conscience devote that kind of time until I've finished all three, yes three, papers that are due this week.

What I can do however, is post an inspiration board from a wedding blogger who asked for people to submit their colours and ideas. Here's what Ami of ElizabethAnneDesigns came up with for us! Enjoy!

Jacelyn’s wedding this September has a palette of slate gray/blue, dusty plum, dusty rose and ivory. And, since she and her fiance are both book lovers, they are incorporating books into their wedding. Jacelyn, your elegant color palette screams romance to me, so I incorporated lots of ruffles and pleats into your board, as well as lovely letterpressed invitations and patterned china, to bring in the vintage element you wanted in a less trendy way.

James and Jacelyn Have a Recurring Conversation... Again...

2011-03-09T17:46:00.001-08:00

James: ...which will make things a whole lot easier once we're married because...

Jacelyn: (interrupting) Oh My Goodness!

James: What?

Jacelyn: We're getting married!

James: (grinning) Yeah.

Jacelyn: I love you.

James: I love you too.

*kissing*

Invitations and Honeymoons

2011-03-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, here I sit immobilized so what better to do than post about our wedding? I threw my back out yesterday and so far the sharp, stabbing pain has not receded, no matter how many pills I pop or hot baths I have. :(

Before the back incident, James and I actually had a very productive Saturday. After I got back from my class, we scouted the paper store on Essendene and placed a massive paper order for our invitations. Yes, we have decided to make them ourselves, a decision I was pretty hesitant about, but with so many friends offering to help I think we'll have a pretty efficient assembly line! Thanks to the super helpful paper guy, we ordered cardstock in Steel Blue (when James describes it to people he pulls the "Blue Steel" face and I roll my eyes ;) and we'll embellish the cards with stamps of birds and birdcages. I'd also like to have a quote on the front of the invitation on love, but we're still looking for the perfect one. Shakespeare?

We also combed the hotel book the travel agent had given us to find places that appeal to us for our honeymoon in ... PARIS! (insert excited giggle here) James' parents have been very generous and gave us a chunk of money we have decided to put towards the trip of a lifetime. Neither of us are beach people, we've both been backpacking in Europe before and loved it so this promises be relaxing, romantic adventure. Perfect for the starry-eyed newlyweds.

So far, this planning stage has been so much fun. I've been warned about stress and family problems, but with a fiance this fantastic and the best families ever, life is good!

Because who doesn't love weddings?!?!

2011-02-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Jacelyn's debut post! James asked me if I'd like to contribute on his blog with updates on our wedding planning so people can see what we're up to. I was a little hesitant at first (I'm still familiarizing myself with the foreign planet that is blogland) but an outlet to talk all things wedding?! Yes please!

Just a heads up, I probably won't be posting every other day (or every other week for that matter) though I will try my very best. I am currently doing my practicum, going to university, working part time and planning the wedding, so time is limited but here goes!

Some details:
-Our wedding is set for September 3, 2011
-It will be outdoors on my parents' yard in Mission
-The theme is vintage
-I love James!!

Hopefully that gives you enough to go on, there will be much more coming!

Warhammer continued

2011-02-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems I have two more sessions remaining, and a lot has happened since I first posted about it. If only for a personal recap I will try to encompass everything in point form:

-The party managed to get back together.
-They saved a child from the clutches of a mutant chaos cult
-This got them a feast at the nearby town as the child was the son of the Mayor
-The child was kidnapped again, and the Estalian jumped out a window to try and rescue him (after trying to get into bed with the mayors daughter)
-The mutants were tracked down, and the boy rescued again
-There was another feast
-Some travel happened
-They bumped into a scholar and his three porters who were looking for an ancient tomb, which just so happened to be the place the mutants were using as their hideout
-With the mutants all dispatched they opened the tomb proper and were greeted by ghosties
-Then a !!Dwarf Vampire Lord!! that looked like a statue on a throne killed the scholar
-One of the porters got crushed to death in the closing tomb doors and another was revealed to secretly be a !!Vampire Hunter!!
-The Vampire Lord kicked their rear ends until the Norsman rolled a double critical and put him out
-The staked him in the heart before he regenerated and the Vampire Hunter took some loot as a token of his victory
-With the help of the last porter they piled the late scholars cart with everything of value from the tomb
-The last porter turned out to secretly be a !!Tomb Robber!! and poisoned them and escaped with the treasure
-Upon waking they chased him down only to find his body squished flat in a !!giant!!s footprint, one of many leading away into the hills
-The treasure was also gone, they, of course, followed
-The came upon the giant and his comrade at night and tried to sneak past to get their stuff, but the Estalian was caught
-Then everyone else was caught and forced into service of the giants, who it turned out, were bringing together a large army of giants to raid the Southern part of the Empire
-After a time in servitude they reached an abandoned dwarf fortress that the giants were using as a base
-Some of the giants went off raiding and the party was split again, two of them were to accompany a pair of giants in a quest for gunpowder to use with some cannons the giants had, and two of them stayed behind with the other slaves, a shell-shocked Halfling cook, and an aged Dwarf smith
-The pair traveling with the giants (the Estalian and the Centigor) managed to rouse a nobles patrol to help dispatch the two creatures only after an innocent goatherd was smashed by a giant-thrown boulder
-The pair remaining took the reduced number of giants as a sign that it was time to strike, and strike they did
-One was killed while still in an alcohol induced slumber, and the leader and his crony were locked in the main hall while burning straw was heaped inside
-The giants broke out and nearly killed the norsman, but a couple good shots by the Dwarf with a ballista took out the leader and the fleeing crony was pinned under the portcullis by the Halfling cook
-The two giants on guard duty came to help, but got distracted trying to steal the crony's boots, instead one got a ballista bolt w/ flying Dwarf projectile an the other got chopped in the shins and fell off a cliff

And that is where it stands now, a headless giants corpse is now covered with rats and ravens in the courtyard, a large blood smear marks the path from the portcullis to the cliff, and the party feels they have control over the fortress. hehehe

James and Jacelyn tell their proposal story, together.

2010-12-30T00:43:00.000-08:00

*As seen on Facebook.
James: This is a story all about how I proposed to the most wonderful girl in the world, who, for some reason, said YES!

Jacelyn: Would you like me to start?

James: Yes love.

Jacelyn: Once upon a time, there was boy...

James: Me. And a beautiful girl.

Jacelyn: Yes. This boy loved the girl very much and she loved him back with equal measure.

James: Are we going way back to the beginning?

Jacelyn: Hmm, that might be a bit much... Let’s start with Saturday December 11.

James: I would like to start by telling the people that she was surprised. I always start with that.

Jacelyn: (smiling) Yes, the people are not surprised, but the girl was. It was, in fact, a day like any other day. The boy and the girl put on their stomping boots and set off into the wilds to chop down a magnificent tree for their Christmas celebrations....

James: ...and then...

Jacelyn: Sorry... I got distracted by the shiny...

James: (grinning) Anyway... they got the tree and took it home...

Jacelyn: Ah, yes, they set up the tree and proceeded to decorate it all blue and silver. They went Christmas shopping, ate sushi, and celebrated their 20 monthiversary.

James: Which I shall explain. December 11 was exactly 20 months to the day that they had professed their inklings of “like” for each other, just before the boy took off for Africa.

Jacelyn: They went out for dinner...

James: In celebration of the girl’s birthday earlier in the week...

Jacelyn: And the girl ate too much garlic and cheese and got a tummy ache. They went home to watch a movie and open birthday presents.

James: Cake.

Jacelyn: … yes...

James: Hey! I wasn’t finished! Her tummy was too sore for cake so it waited in the fridgerator. All chocolatey and delicious. The movie was magic (It’s a Wonderful Life) and the girl was restored to health.

Jacelyn: And the people rejoiced.

James: So, birthday presents, then cake and lo and behold, the girl got tired, just like the boy knew she would. Of course, she felt terrible taking a nap in the middle of their lovely day together, so in exchange the boy announced that he would redeem a coupon -previously given to him as a gift on their official anniversary (Dec 1st)- This seemed penance enough to the girl and she agreed.

Jacelyn: As she lay down on the couch she chuckled and mentioned that Marilyn, a cheeky coworker, was convinced the boy would propose today. Little did she know...

James: Hehe. The boy played along, remarking how ridiculous it was that everyone seemed to know when he was going to propose, all the while thinking about the ring in the box under the couch. The girl drifted off quickly and the boy then went and paid a phone bill (I know, but it was 11:30 and the bill was due that day). Then, when the girl was snoring soundly...

Jacelyn: Like a log. Out Cold.

James: Yes, :D, all part of the masterful plan. The boy grabbed a few roses from his room, passionate red and pure white, and tore them to bits, pulling off all the petals. He scattered the petals all around the sleeping beauty and lit tea lights to cast a magical glow (and because diamonds sparkle best with multiple points of light).

Jacelyn: And sparkle it did, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves...

James: So the boy, all prepared and foolishly not nervous one bit, attempted to wake said sleeping beauty. Traditionally a single kiss is enough to wake ones true love, but even after a couple dozen all this boy got was a true love that rolled over smiling.

Jacelyn: Teehee. Sorry.

James: The girl had only been out for about 20 minutes, but she seemed to resist his every attempt as if in a deep slumber.

Jacelyn: (Indignantly) Because she was, after working the midnight shift!

James: Sure, sure. Well, the girl finally was sitting upright, though still mostly asleep, and all she could think of was that she was crushing the rose petals that had previously covered her. Then there was the confusion as to why there were rose petals and candles everywhere. This only happened after a few minutes of semi-wakefulness. Still oblivious to the perfectly obvious signs of matrimonial propositions forthcoming, she blinked twice as the boy handed her the coupon to be redeemed.

Jacelyn: The girl fully expected to unfold the slip of paper and see a request for a backscratch or neckrub, but was greeted with the following words: “Redeem this coupon for one lifetime of love and happiness, given unreservedly.”

James: The last and most telling coupon in the packet made by the girl.

Jacelyn: Upon looking up from this coupon...

James: Realization dawning for the first time that evening...

Jacelyn: The girl beheld a most amazing sight. The boy, her beloved and best friend on his knees holding a very important little box, open to display the most perfect and stunning diamond ring glittering in the candlelight.

James: The boy smiled, now finally a little nervous, and asked the girl: “Jacelyn Pankratz, will you marry me?” To which she eventually (after about a minute of open-mouthed silence) said: “Yes!” She stared and stared, and smiled and smiled, and then questioned the boy: “Am I dreaming?” which made him smile all the more.

Jacelyn: He assured her that she was not dreaming.

James: And now they are living happily ever after together, except not ‘together’ exactly because they are not yet married, but that glorious day will come.

Jacelyn: Amen. And the people rejoiced yet again.

James: Indeed.

*Kiss*

Warhammer: Under a Giant Shadow of Pain

2010-11-22T01:26:00.000-08:00

So here she be. I have been running a pretty much seat-of-my-pants Warhammer RPG campaign for a couple months now. It's every other week so I have time to think through the random junk my players decided to do last session and figure out a way to try to kill them in an interesting and glorious fashion, all while at work. My job allows for this. I've got 4 players, which is the most this sort of campaign can withstand, and all but one I've GM'd before. That helps.

The campaign has no official title, but I think the one I devised for this post will fit nicely. I basically started out by suggesting to players that we make a fun, D&D style romp without using the d20 system, which I think we all hate for various justified and unjustified reasons. So to that end I allowed them to chose any race, and any basic career and then gave them a few months wages and 1500 XP. This is what we got in the finish:

An Estalian Diestro-Duelist with a best quality floppy hat.
A Dwarf Runebearer-Sergeant that runs as fast as an Elf.
A Norse Berserker-Sergeant that tries to tell stories but mostly hits things with his big axe.
And a Brettonian Centigor Knight of the Realm-Knight Errant who acts noble despite his evil heritage.

An interesting thing of note for the setting is that none of these characters are native to the Empire which they are traveling in. Also Centigors (unlike their calmer Narnian counterparts, Centaurs) are fully evil beastmen that are trying to constantly bring the forces of chaos into power over the Empire.

Of course with such an assortment of characters I was forced to have them meet in a pub/inn. It also had to be in a small town because you should never give players too many options in the first session, it's just uncontrollable. So, the villagers decided the Centigor was due to be burned, just for being a beastman, despite gallant attempts at diplomacy. Attempts were also made to distract the villagers, and to batter down walls, and to steal anything not nailed down. No attempts were made to put out the fire set to the inn, or to rescue the poor, innocent innkeeper from a terrible death in the ensuing inferno. An agitator in the mob was killed in one swing of an axe and the townsfolk sent running. Then the players sent their characters running into the hills, all but one at least who got a nice backhand from the leader of a patrol of Sigmarites, who thought he was being unhelpful finding the villains responsible.

And thus the party was split 3:1, not the ideal end for the first session.

Busy Busy

2010-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

Haha, Laughable.

Let's go point form for this.
-Jacelyn and I co-lead our bible study with another couple every week.
-I've been playing in a Firefly RPG twice a month, that is a game based off the super awesome TV program. I am playing Captain Dalton Willows who is a dirty scoundrel and not very noble at all.
-I've been running a Warhammer RPG twice a month. This is where I think my blog might go, I might begin to chronicle my players exploits, because to be honest they are pretty super.
-I finished up my garden a while back. Most of my squash got run over by a over-zealous mower, and a homeless guy from down the road snatched a bunch of my carrots, but all in all a doable harvest.
-I've seen Jacelyn every day since I got home last December, sometimes for only a few minutes, but usually longer. Some people think this is unhealthy apparently, but we haven't gotten sick of each other and there is no other I would rather be with than her, so why not, eh?
-Work is back to mostly evenings. I get a couple earlier shifts each week, but it is dark when I go home now.
-I'm a forklift driver now, it's pretty easy and I'm getting better all the time.
-I have been spending a fair bit of time over at Jacelyn's place, I enjoy her family a lot thankfully.
-We have been slowly working through Battlestar Galactica. We are on season 3.5 now. After that I hope we can finish Cowboy Bebop.
-We have also been very slowly working our way through a book titled "The Kingdom Beyond the Waves" by Stephen Hunt. Every time I read Jac falls asleep.

That's it really, we would like twice as much time to do more, and see more people, but that's the way it goes. We have a loose list of people we need to get in contact with, and some are harder to pull off than others, but we are trying. Real life is hard.

I, Reluctant Writer

2010-05-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, you should understand the rut I have gotten myself into. The guilt ridden rut where updates and news pile up and overlap and who knows what and what is important, or most, and it is so hard to decide and what if it doesn't stick, that's not fair... I should ask my famous sister (Heidi) what to do. But I am in a writing mood and I figure that she would advise taking advantage of it, and so I try and figure what else she might advise.. she gives good advice. Baby steps is what the Heidi-in-my-head tells me. And already I have a paragraph.

To catch up is tough, I am so far behind. But news that is worthy is worthy. Most of you already know this tidbit, and perhaps secretly credit her with astounding powers of attraction, of my attention at least. I speak of my lady love. Jacelyn *sigh* She is perfect, so utterly perfect, I spend every second spare with her when I can, I think about her when I can't, she is my one and only! We officially started dating on Dec 1, the day she picked up these sorry, travel weary bones from Seattle airport. I knew I had to start this off right away, after all she had been waiting 7 months for me :) That will never happen again, I can tell you.
Other news, perhaps a half-baby-step more, I got a job, it is ok, it shall do. I have a place, it shall also do for as long as I am planning on needing it, and a roommate, who is also named James, he sleeps.

I have a garden now, following a little in my father and brothers footsteps. 1000 square feet, it's a lot to take care of, but it shall do me well. I often go from work straight there to water, especially with this crazy nice weather we've had. My potatos are starting to poke through.

Bonzai are fun, I've gotta start making cuttings, got the potting mix and the rooting hormone. Found a few seedlings that show potential. Planted a few seeds and three have germinated. Covering all angles, exciting! This post needs pictures.

Also, my little sister got hitched.

Finality

2009-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

13 Days for me. I calculated it at 356 hours until I am in my sweethearts arms. I am ready to be there now.

I don't know what it is, but I am just done, mentally I am not here at all. I just wanna be gone. I'm sorry for all of you who have to be here with me these last days, I promise I will try to enjoy it, and I know that I will miss you very much. Hmmm, it sounds like I'm already saying a farewell, well I'm not, not yet. But since I got back from my weekend in Grand Popo I haven't been exactly the same. I have 4 shifts left, and tomorrow is only partial. Well maybe. Remember that Presidential invitation to a dinner at the palace? It's on again, and has only been postponed twice so far, it should be tomorrow, and if so I get half of my shift off to go. Thanks Murray. I am of course more doubtful than those people who were not here those many months ago when this scene originated.

James S. the DayVolunteer who works at reception is going to become crew on the 23rd, he is so excited, and I am really excited for him. He's had a hard time this last little while, the people that really took him under their wings in the beginning of the outreach are all gone now, and it's up to me and Hannah to help him along. He is a sensitive soul, and of course there are cultural differences, but he has been an invaluable addition to the reception team. Not many know this, but I was fully ready to pull a 'Rudy' and lay my epaulets on the Pursers desk if James wasn't accepted. I'm glad it didn't shuffle that way, but I wouldn't have minded a change in this last month.
I think I've done most of my souvenir shopping now, I am well aware of what money is being spent on these trinkets, and I am almost out, we'll see what life is like at home being broke. That is a lot to think about too, and something I definitely need prayer regarding. Going home I have no place to stay (I don't want to impose on my parents hospitality too much) and no job, as mine convieniently reached the end just before I thought I was coming here, and all other jobs were just stop-gaps. I think I'll get a travel insurance refund enough to insure my scooter for 3 months, that gets me mobility, but in winter, on a scooter. It's been done 3 winters before. So yeah, prayer.Despite that I am very excited to finally come home. They say home is where the heart is, and that would have to be true. No matter how comfortable the toilet seat is at my parents that is no longer my home. My heart has found me a home, and I am ready. My sweetheart is picking me up from Seattle airport on December 1st *sigh* We will take our time getting back across the border.

I think that is all I have in me at the moment. I'll intersperse pictures to liven it up perhaps.

Touristy

2009-11-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

One more to go! Ok, well...

I've done a few things while here, some of them I've posted about and some I've not. Some of them happen to be touristy things, and so I'll post pictures and describe them, because it is easy, and because it is what people like, win/win!

I went to a football match! Benin vs. Mali, a World Cup qualifier. It wasn't that exciting actually, they tied in the end and that's the only time it had much action, the last ten minutes, but I'm glad. Had Benin lost I dunno what sort of 'reaction' there would have been. Note the barbed wire encircling the field.

I've gone to play frisbee pretty regularily. I was out of commission for a couple weeks, so I went and took pictures one time.

I gave blood. Not too touristy a thing to do, but my name was called and I had to be brave. We only do whole blood here so the recipient was just in the next room in surgery. I'm O+, if you know what I mean?

This last weekend I arranged it to get the latter part of my friday off to coincide with a ship holiday long weekend. It was cool. We went to Grand Popo and stayed at Awale Plage for a couple nights, 13 of us, in a few bungalows near the beach.

There was a pool of course, and we played a fair bit in the water. It was PJs birthday and he got an inflatable volleyball net.

There was also the beach where Ben and I made a sandcastle. It rained the next morning for a number of hours and so our creation passed away.

We saw some nice sunsets, no sunrises though, I sleep too much then. I like this shot.

On the Saturday evening we got to eat by the pool. All the resort staff were dressed a little like pirates and it was all decked out in lights. The power went out a couple times, but hey, it's Africa...

This is our group, sans me since I'm taking the picture. I ate barbequed prawns, with the shells completely on. I was hesitant at first, but they were tasty ;) Even the steak was good, though I've been without good steak for 6 months.

Overall it was a very nice and relaxing weekend, too bad we had to get back to the ship.

But not before finding and playing with another Praying Mantis, hmmm, did I not blog about the couch?! I should I guess, maybe when I'm on my way home, lol.

That's it, pictures. Now I think I have to go make a trifle, oh the trials of this life.

Oh, and just 27 days left until I come home ()!!!

Tranquility

2009-10-15T02:42:00.000-07:00

I feel that to reward all of you for slogging through that last monster post I will post a few pictures. Plus it's easier to do and I still need two "ty" posts after this one ;)

Despite all the smog from zimidjans and open fires it is rare to get a spectacular sunset here, I think it might havesomething to do with the ocean breeze. This shot is from Deck 7 portside.

They laughed and mocked me for picking these flowers, which I had to do very stealthily, but I don't care, they are for someone very special to me. Taken during a relaxing day at Hotel Marina.

My apologies for the dude in the speedo (and now I've drawn your attention to him) but the other pictures I had also included less than decent folk. This one just had the most palm trees.

The beach where we play frisbee, I was out with an injury, so I decided to take a few pictures. You can see the ship way in the background. Sigh, wish you were here.

Moonlight on the water. Taken from the dock looking east, the picture doesn't do it justice.

An introverts thoughts on living in community

2009-10-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have been on the ship here for quite some time, I have observed what I would consider "many things". I know, however, that not all is as it would appear at first, or even after a while.

For example: Any new crewmember, upon waking after their first night asleep in their bunk, will head bleary eyed to the dining room for breakfast(if they can find it). Regardless of if they are on time or not they will see people, someone, maybe me even at reception, but they will see people. To them those people, if they did not arrive on the same flight the previous night, will seem like they have been here 'quite some time'. Of course there are exceptions, some people retain that stunned fish look for a week or so and are thus obviously also new, but usually if a person arrives even a day before they will never know unless they actually become friends and talk about it.

One of the things I have observed here is the series of questions, The Questions. When an 'old' person makes first contact with a bewildered 'new' person they ask for a name (introductions are a vestige of polite society, but don't let that fool you). Then they ask for a location, an originating point. The next question is where they will be working, and the last, generally, is how long they are here. There are more questions on occasions, like when a boy catches his eye upon a girl, then an actual conversation may start, but these are the universal four.

Name and workplace are useful for finding or avoiding someone dependant on the answers to the other questions. The reaction to location varies from asker to asker; they may find the common bond of hometown-homestate/province enough to become friends; or a strange faraway place may frighten or intrigue; for some a language barrier could spell doom for any friendship, or it could provide much entertainment for the rest of us. Generally though there is indifference, the grimace of a forced smile as one listens to the other tell of their adventures in the land of the firsts youth, usually touristy stuff. For me it is usually a story or two of when they went skiing in Whistler.

The last question surprisingly(at first) carries more weight than the others. It is not that we are a judgemental lot, weighing a persons value against their commitment in time and money, but it really comes down to a matter of investment. It is our investment in time and energy into making a new friend of this person we have been polite to. To an extent we do this at home too, or at least I do. I only have so much time and so much energy in a given day, and only so many days in a week, month, and year, so I'd rather build quality relationships that give me the most for my limited resources. Now this may seem a selfish and insensitive way of viewing things, but really I'm using a quantitative vocabulary for something that goes far beyond numbers in red and black. But I don't want to get all into the mushy emotional side of things, how one person or another makes me feel and how that feeling is valued by me as compared to how it might be valued by you.

It is not all cold and calculating either. One must understand that to survive here you have an absolute need of certain types of relationships. If they do not exist you become strange, and we have quite enough people starting out that way to be adding more because of "simple" circumstances. The types of relationships needed, I believe, are directly tied to ones own answer to the fourth question; How long am I here? It is also my opinion that the longer a person is here for the less they can do without a strong relationship, I won't give examples of observable failures. So a person must arm themselves with friends of the right mettle, and that in itself is a dangerous expedition. Too much carousing and you may end up with a bunch of friends who are bright and cheery and ready to leave in a couple weeks, forcing you to start over. Too much serious philosophizing and you won't have any fun or see anywhere but the port.

But this is over-analytical, and I doubt much of this passes the brains of those who do have fun and visit exciting places outside. I think most people, for good or ill, settle for the easiest route: the roommates and the coworkers. Six females sharing a room, assigned there by age and job classification, are likely to "get along". Males likewise, unless of course unconquerable differences exist, such as too much cultural distance, or a (silent) conflict over a target of desire (a girl). This is the easiest and most common method of gaining friends and crashing social circles, at least among the short termers. Long termers have gateway, and don't even get me started on how it might be more aptly called "How to Gain Friends and Alienate Everyone Else".

I am on the cusp. I am not long term by any stretch (thank the Lord my Savior!), but 7 months is a tad longer than the average of 2 and a 1/2. This provided me with a relatively interesting experience. At first I faced the difficulty of being assigned to deck 2, a two berth deodorant testing facility. My roommate Atumbi and I suffered from too much cultural distance. We rarely spoke. I next had to deal with a work team that didn't ever work together. Scratch the two easiest and most common methods of being not anti-social.

It was about two weeks of eating alone, or if people sat with me then in the presence of others, and working alone, and being in my room alone. It was nice, to a point. Eventually though I was adopted :) There was a very nice group of longerish termers that scooped me up and decided I was their friend. I suspect it was so they could beat me at every game known to man. I don't mind. It turns out their cautious watching and evaluating was pretty right on, I fit in well, and have even begun to win some games. I still value my alone time, but they know how to give it, they need it too. I've made other friends as well, and watched them leave, so I understand the social dynamic that a short termer brings to a group of longish termers and I am thankful for them. I think I will stay in contact with them too, something my 21 year old self even struggled with after 6 months of bibleschool with the same people. And hey, apparently when I get married there is someone who will shoot my wedding for a song and a dance, quite possibly a literal song and dance.

This post seems to have gotten a bit sappy at the end. Dang you, you sweet, sticky friendship rainbow!!!

Missed Opportunity

2009-09-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

The other day -that was how this post was supposed to start.

The other week I went off the ship. My mother always asks me if I get off the ship, I do. We are docked constantly, gangway down, with the exception of the very occasional refueling maneuver or dredging operation. Leaving the ship is easy, just go up (or down) to deck 5 and scan out, walk past the Gurkha and down the gangway, and you're off. There's not all that much to do in Cotonou, West Africa's premier port. I have been privy to the discovery of the best food in town; Bangkok Terrace is a Thai place, they've got the vermicelli I so like, I'll try the seafood next. You never order seafood the first time. I also play Ultimate Frisbee pretty much every week. We used to go to the sand field at the police academy, a pretty safe place to play I think. That got kyboshed recently, so we occasionally pay to play at another sand field, the local kids cheer us along. So yes, I get off the ship occasionally.

The other week when I went off the ship it was to the fabric market. I had just finished a shift, or was just about to finish, when a trio of new girls on their first day off work showed up at the desk asking James #1 for directions to the fabric market. He was very hesitant, telling them it wouldn't be safe for just the 3 of them to go alone for the first time. I hear like a fox, and I offered to accompany them for navigational and security reasons, as soon as my shift was over. They waited and we went.

I took them by a back way, it seems James #1 is not great at giving directions, lol. The fabric market is near the "big market", apparently West Africa's largest open market. You don't go down there with a ratio = or less then 1:1 My eyes weren't open well enough I don't think, or maybe it was my heart. I only thought about it on the way back really, so into the security detail I missed it, no excuses. I took a picture to show you. Here it is:

The dude in the foreground ducked out of sight when he saw my camera out. I am thinking that he was under the impression that I was trying to steal his soul. Voodoo is fairly widespread here, and seriously I haven't done much looking into it from a research perspective, so I'm going on hearsay, but I think that might be related.

We were in a shop that I had been in before with a different group of ladies, I had bought something that time, to make a dress for my beloved. Such a wonderful fabric ;) And the floor manager obviously recognized me at once, how many white guys with this much hair are there in Cotonou after all? We talked a bit, both of us with our accents, and he asked about Mercy Ships. I told him of the humanitarian effort, the improvements to peoples daily lives that we provide. He asked a lot of questions, and I think by the end I hadn't ever mentioned Jesus Christ. Bonnie-Jean, one of the girls that I was escorting commented "Do we ever get to tell people the good news?" and I knew I had missed an opportunity.

That got me thinking (finally) on my way back to the ship, the shops floor manager was an obvious (missed) opportunity. But going back to the dude who avoided the photograph, how I might have ministered to him, just walked up to him and told him that Jesus loves him? Maybe he would have understood english, maybe not. Maybe I would have thought I was speaking english and he might have heard Fon, I don't know, but I was in the wrong mindset and I missed an opportunity to save an eternal soul/plant a seed/water a seed/show Gods love :(

This experience has stayed with me for so long and I am only now writing it down, but it has definitely changed my thoughts on ministry and where I might feel called. Jesus is relational with us, and that is where He beats out any spirit or deity any human could imagine. We need, absolutely need, to be relational with those we seek to save, or at least with those we seek to share our own salvation with.

My thought, that's it.

I'll leave with a couple more pictures, another of the selection of prints in the market...

And to show dj kosmotronix that I did make Nanaimo bars at Tamaras suggestion... (I had no bakers chocolate, so I used 3 Ritter Sport bars)

And one shot of that fabric I am so happy with from that first trip to the market...

Tasty

2009-08-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking of things to post about that end in "ty", as I've been challenged! :)
I've got pictures to go with it...

Ok, we get pretty good food here on the ship, it is brought from either Texas in a big container, or Holland in a slightly less big container (Texas, c'mon). Sometimes we start to run low on things and we don't get cheese or cinnamon for a while, but then a container will arrive and the wonderful cooks will run wild with their crazy ideas.

Today we had Tasty fish with a vegitable stir-fry and coconut rice. I always take pickles as a condiment when they are available, though they by no means rival my mothers. We normally have fish on fridays, but I think the new container bumped that off a few dayswith the endless possibilities it offered.
This meal is classified TASTY!

A couple days ago we had this meal, pulled pork with beans on a bun. Eddie, the baker, from Vancouver, bakes our bread and buns, and these were ever so Tasty. I'm not exactly sure what the pasta was for, but I took some anyway and put beans on it. That is also fresh pineapple that is sooo good. Obviously there were no pickles that day. This meal is also classified TASTY! (And I'm not even a pork fan)

I sometimes miss meals, due to my irregular shifts and subsequent sleeping patterns. I don't mind so much, I'm rarely hungry, and I've gained a few pounds since being here. But it has been really nice to not be tied to the galleys strict schedule. I sometimes enjoy some 25 cent ramen noodles when I am in the mood for something salty. I would say that in a way these noodles are Tasty.

Ok, seriously, do you wonder why I've gained weight. Look at this burger, crafted based off of a fine Canadian's recipe, this is not your traditional slab of slapped together American ground beef. This thing is thick, it's got all the flavour a cow never even dreams of, spices, herbs, even onions built right in, mmmm. The freedom fries ain't bad either, actually deep fried for that fast food TASTE-Y!! You may note the pickles I added to the meal ;)

The galley staff are not the only ones who dabble in the realm of Tastilicious, there are other brave souls who spurn the limitations of the snack shop and buy mixes for things, some even venture to the "from scratch" nebula! I made this TASTY cake for Ryans birthday (Happy Birthday Ryan!) and Deb made the icing. No pickles, but note the bear and shark locked in mortal combat on his shirt.

For those ever so not-very-hot African days (seriously, it's the rainy season) there is FanMilk. Vendors with little push carts and old fashioned rubber ball horns, wearing bright blue, ply their TASTY wares wherever there may be folk who sweat or could do with some refreshing. There are even a few with bicycle carts!! This is a FanChoco, my favorite, other flavours include FanIce, FanMilk, and FanYogo.

And lastly we come to my favorite, something I crafted from scratch, Apple Perishky, mmmmm. I tried blueberry first, but due to the terrible state of either the Texan or Dutch blueberries available to me, I gave up. The little yellow apples we get locally are great for baking, I don't even peel them. I've made em 3 times so far, from a recipe at www.Mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com and they have been a hit.

This last time I tried something new, I grabed a handful of bananas, local and ripe, and blended them with some whipped cream and sugar, making a runny, but TASTY banana cream filling. I then used a few mini marshmallows to give it form and packed it all up together inside the pastry. The marshmallows expanded, breaking the seal, but they also bowned nicely giving the Perishky a little crown with a banana core, mmmm.

Ok, I'm done, let's see if this works this time...

Until we meet again, eat hearty!

Visuality

2009-07-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

A smattering of pictures for you. Been here a while now, and I finally figured out that the bandwidth is all mine, my own, while the rest of everyone sleeps and I keep the ship safe on night shift. Because of this I can upload pictures easier.

One of my favorite shots from deck 8, port side looking forward at all the little fishing boats in the harbour.

I got a chance to go out to the agricultural site with a guy named Ken and another guy named Jean-Claude. They are teaching local farmers ways to grow more cost effectively without use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides. I enjoyed it immensely.

This is where I work: Reception, deck 5. The bright window you see is the starboard gangway.

We're still not running on a full crew yet, and the pair of fill-ins we just trained are leaving in a month or so. Sigh, I won't be going home any sooner than December it seems.

We few canucks got out to deck 7 to celebrate Canada day. No beer because it's against the rules on ship, so we went to a little place at the end of the dock to make it feel a bit more like home. I had Citron Fanta.

A second trip to the Ag site, this time with just Jean-Claude. If Africa is this much of an etemologists dream I can't imagine how many cool bugs would be in South America.

Interesting note, there is a tree that's leaves act as a natural insect repellant. We crushed it up and mulched with it around the corn and beans, and made a spray with water too. I wonder if it grows back home?

Ok, that's it for tonight, I am now busy. Too busy to continue, I hope you non-facebookers enjoyed it. Maybe tomorrow night I'll try a video, wouldn't that be cool?

Normality (It's a word, see HHGttG)

2009-07-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

With some of the most lovely assistance I was able to figure what was the matter with me. Steps are being taken, at this very moment in fact, to remedy that.

The "cabin fever" I was experiencing was not so much a result of a claustrophobic closeness of my actual cabin, it was more rooted in the perpetual closeness of people. Even when I had moved back home for a couple months prior to this trip there was not so much forced social interaction as there is here. Now, I had been complaining/lamenting my lack of social regularity a while ago, but that situation has changed, due to a unique Mercy Ships quirk that I will analyze in another post. Still, had it not changed this fever would have struck me regardless, just at a later date. But now I do have to retreat a little bit, trying my hardest not to give up my few quality gains in the process, but my sanity, and thus the safety of everyone on board, is at stake.

Aigui chincha

I guess this a good enough time to let everyone who didn't know it already, know it. I'm coming home ( ) a couple months early, in December, the earlier part of December, like the 1st or 2nd. I can't wait!!!

I guess it's also a good time for me to thank all of you who are supporting me both financially and prayerfully. I really feel it here, the prayer that is, things could be bad I think and I feel really good. I've only been sick a couple of times in the first few weeks, I'm having a pretty good time, and there is nothing in general that He and I together cannot handle.

I'm trying to get a update letter out too, really I am, even postcards are difficult to set aside time for, but I will try.

Insanity

2009-07-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Night shift, bite shift, site biff, plight skiff, SARLACC!!!! Tentacle, tentacle, Bow.....Ba!

Hi, yes, you may ask. Yes, I may answer.

Indeed.

Is some sort of rotational or circular, even ovoid, or -if-the-case-may-be- semi-circular movement (or thought) required for one to participate in the act of going "stir-crazy"?

I live in a cabin, and oh, how I wish it was in the woods. Surrounded by cozy little trees and cute little critters, I could find peace there I have never known. Sadly, if one would account this sad, my cabin is nestled in amongst steel and pipe, and is actually beneath the water. The dirty stinky pinky water. Obviously there is no view, no grand vista spread before me, no window to crack and admit the scent of pine or rain (but not lavender). A bed, a door, a hall, a stair, and another stair. Windows exist, and the air can be scented (not at all like lavender) from the decks. One exit, at least legit, and a town without names or familiar faces. No favorite haunts, by my ghosts at least.

I am not disenjoying my time here, I just have cabin fever.

My brain is not stimulated enough, or has been tampered with while I slept, either way, I am acting strange. Strange, yes, I am using that term to describe new behaviour, beware. For starts there is my walk, a kind of mixed head-bobbing velociraptor meets captain Jack Sparrow. And I'm laughing a lot more than usual, finding the most unusual things humourous, like the word itself ('humourous', not 'itself'). Of course writing this I am as straight faced as can be. Hmmm maybe I'm allergic to daytime, like a mentally affected vampire. I'd rather be a lycan.

This post is going nowhere fast. I'll post, and I'll post my continuing symptoms if they develop.
Ciao

Irregularity

2009-06-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my "ty" capped posts...

There are (in my opinion) 5 distinct aspects to my life: Social, Work, Romantic, Spiritual, and Creative. For a contented existance I require a bit of routine, a small bit of the predictable. Not too much of course, because then everything just gets boring, but some.

At home I had constancy in my social life, regular events and true friends that could be counted on. I liked that.
I also had constancy in my work life, even when I took strange jobs I was able to fall into the routine pretty easily. I liked that.
I don't think it is ever good for my romantic life to become routine, and at home it wasn't. I liked that.
Likewise, my spiritual life, though stable, was never predictable. How could that not be a good thing?
And lastly at home my creative life was the most unpredictable, I am always at the mercy of some muse or abscence thereof. I was fine with that, the rest of my life was ordered in a fashion that could accomodate any moments of irregular creative clarity.

Here it turns out that the most stable and predictable aspects of my life are the romantic and the spiritual, two that are probably healthier being less so. That is not to say they are more boring and routine than they were at home, it's simply to say that the other aspects have gone to the opposite extreme of the spectrum. I do not have constancy in my social life. I do not have even the illusion of constancy in my work life. I still do not have any constancy in my creative life, but now I lack the flexibility of accomodation.

What this produces is a situation where a normally adaptable person such as myself doesn't know where to start.

The most difficult is perhaps the work aspect. Don't get me wrong, the job is pretty easy, a little challenging, but I am certain I shall master the skills quickly. It is the schedule that gets to me, I can work mornings fine, evenings, and nights too. But when I work 5 evenings, have 2 days off, work 2 mornings, have 3 days off, work 4 nights, have 3 days off, work 5 mornings...... it becomes a slog, a marathon of trying to let my body catch up and relax before the next foray. That isn't so bad when you get down to it, I can slog through it. But it affects the second most difficult aspect.

My social life is already hindered most by the language barrier, there are a lot of people here that I cannot easily understand. The constant straining to translate what people are saying into understandable concepts makes it really hard to enjoy any liesure activity. I can do it but it takes much of the fun out of it. And then with work; I have a weekend in conjunction with a Saturday-Sunday maybe once a month. Try to build relationships when you work by yourself, and you have free time by yourself.

Ok, I feel like I'm complaining, so I'll end on a good note or two. I am doing more writing, working on about 4 projects when time and muse allow: FFRPG, Flora RPG, Katos Adventures, and a short story that I can't title yet. Also, I have nothing but huge smiles when it comes to my romantic life, sure there is a little bit of routine, and oceans seperate us, but :D!!! That makes anything, everything else, worthwhile.

Hilarity

2009-05-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

I just have to chuckle. I don't think I can laugh today, but I can manage a soft chuckle.

I just got off a series of night shifts, just woke up in fact, in time for supper, which they insist is called dinner. I digress. During my last night shift, 9:00pm to 7:00am, I was told that I needed to wear my uniform. I had not previously known we didn't have to wear our uniforms during night shifts, so this didn't change anything for me immediately. The reason why I had to wear my uniform in the darkest hours of the night was that Don Stpehens, the founder of Mercy Ships was coming for a visit and was arriving then. The reason, or part of the reason, why Mr. Stephens was coming for a visit is that we, the crew of this vessel, were invited by the President of Benin to dinner at the presidental mansion on Friday. This is pretty cool.

News that I heard when I got up: The dinner was cancelled.

LOL

On a side note; I hadn't thought one person could grate on me so much that my day would be near ruined. Skillz.

Travesty

2009-05-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yes. I have just come from witnessing a travesty. I was so appalled by it that I thought immediately of writing of it. This will be short, however, due to my shift starting in a few short minutes.

No it was not a genocide. It was a gamecide. I just watched the latter parts of a 13 round game of Risk. No joke. 4 players, 2 of them new, one of them Dutch. Now Ben, do not become angry with me for insinuating that your countrymen are responsible, you cannot help it. You're cool by me, just so you know.

It started with a horrific modification, a paring down as it were, of the basic, civilized, standard rules of Risk. And from there is dragged on in a more painful fashion than any of the frankenstien versions I have had the pleasure to playtest. Those even have the excuse of being testable, admitting their potential for flaws and getting over it. This, this was brutal. And it is apparently the way it is always played, no leeway for change, or acceptance of brokeness. Argh.

It's not even that I like Risk all that much that I feel compelled to defend it, but I must speak out in this case; At the very least play with the full set of standard rules, no less, please. I can't even really get into it right now, my brain feels like a cat jumped on it, a mean cat. Ok, my rant is done, ask me later for the horrific details if you must.

My new residence

2009-05-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

I cannot say that Africa is my new home. Home is a place that you are comfortable in, I used to say that home is where the toilet seat is most comfortable. Others say home is where your heart is. My home is then back in a cozy little town on a hill above a river in the midst of a temperate rainforest. I miss home.

Homesickness? more like heartache, from all the way over there, yeah, I know.

I am a crewmember of AFM. A receptionist, I get to put these black sleeves on the epaulets of my white shirt, the sleeves have gold embroidery, crossed quills. I guess that's appropriate. The novelty of this glory wore off quickly.

I should really have pictures to post here for everyone, but I haven't gotten around to taking many. I ran through my camera battery on the plane looking at stored pictures, I just recharged it. I am on deck 2, or my cabin is. That's right above the tanktop, which is the lowest, hottest, noisiest deck. There are 8 decks total, though deck 8 is just a weather deck, which means it is exposed. They don't call the beds Racks, or even Bunks, they call them Berths. I call them Racks. It doesn't look much like the Battlestar Galactica inside, it's mostly white and green, instead of the nice utilitarian grey. There are a few watertight doors, but none of them have wheel seals, just dog-ears. It does feel like I imagine being on a starship would feel. The vibrations are constant, even though we are in port, the generators must run all the time for the lights and A/C. The climate is controlled and air is recycled just as it would need to be in space. The water tastes scrubbed, but better than the awful water in Texas, my hair is doing alright. And there are not many windows, at least not on my deck, so it feels like the containment I would imagine in space. Even the windows here on deck 6, the big ones, feel like feeble imitations to me, the sun and the clouds mix the light so that from anywhere but close up they appear as white lights, I guess that is the opposite of the blackness one would see in space, but when it gets down to it it's a minor difference.

I don't know what to think yet, I am very adaptable, but I don't want to fit in. It's not that I have to make a concious effort to not fit in, I'm just not putting forth any effort to. Books, headphones, laptop, all are my hidden coves of refuge from everyone here. I'm sure that after a while I will discover that there are people who I get along with, but I am not seeking it, why?

I'm not telling. We'll just have to see if God is going to shake me up and make me, or if He can teach me what lesson I need to be taught without the ease of such confidants.

I tell you whut!

2009-04-21T13:48:00.001-07:00

Howdy.

I am in Texas, the lone star state, where the earth is red and the sky is blue. This is the first step in my 9 month journey, and a tedious one it has turned out to be. I am at the International Operations Center for Mercy Ships, I'm here taking my BST (Basic Safety Training). I've just completed the first two days which are dedicated to basic firefighting, specifically marine firefighting. I got 100% on my written test, easy peasy, multiple choice. 3 Days left, then I'm here for the weekend, after which I fly out to the dark continent for 9 months.

Tedious because of many things. The grounds here are amazing, but frustratingly vacant. It seems that there is more life flying between the trees than walking the extensive paths or using the large classrooms that make up the complex. There are goats and sheep too, but also unused. The agricultural training aspect of Mercy Ships is in doubt they say, it's too bad, I'd be interested in something like that. Who else will come with the proper training for raising crops and herds effectively?

I've been under the weather as it would be said. I was greatly blessed to be able to finally get all my shots on Friday, the day before I left, along with weekly malaria pills. And I was chipper and full of energy late into the night as my friends were over to send me off. Thanks guys. But on the plane I caught ahold of something, or it caught ahold of me, like a cat viruses choose their owners. A tickle, a cough, a sore throat, a headache. This, coupled with the effects of the live Yellow Fever vaccine I had gotten stuck in me on Friday, made for a miserable cocktail of symptoms. But I am over the Yellow Fever now, the cold remains yet.

My course consists of 3 instructors, nice folk all, and 3 students, myself included, again, nice folk all, with the exception of me. Thankfully the classes have kept my mind a bit more occupied than it would have been otherwise, or more like alternately occupied. It is good to be busy in some ways. I cannot relax here regardless. The sooner I am gone the sooner things actually start to feel like they are moving.

Perhaps I should sit out in the hot Texan sun with my pasty white legs and arms and play with the fire ants.

Voodoo

2009-03-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

She found him in a battered box under a bed. He was gangly, awkward, and stuffed with pieces of memory, with scraps of experience. It made him unique. She thought it made him interesting. She smiled when she saw him and took him with her. He didn't know where he was headed, as if he ever had a choice in the matter. Not with those eyes.

She talked to him and held him tight. It was something he was unused to, being all the time alone in a box under a bed, and he didn't mind. She put him on her shelf, right at the end, near her bed. Late into the night they would talk, her to him. She poured out her soul to him, he listened well. As if he had any choice in the matter. Not with those tears.

He didn't see it then, I did and tried to tell him, to make him see through those little thread eyes. He was entranced by that smile, it was hard to ignore. The dust that covered the other mismatched toys further down the shelf waited with the utmost patience. I saw, but he only had eyes for her.

She made for him a heart to wear, he was so proud. She would take him from the shelf and dance with him out the door, sharing her life with him. He would never stop smiling that little crooked smile, even when placed once more upon the shelf, right at the end, near her bed. As if he ever had any kind of choice. Not with that peaceful golden head.

Then the day came when she closed the door, her bed made and her clothes packed away. He sat there patiently, waiting for her to come back, to talk, to dance. The door stayed closed and the room got cold. He looked down at the heart she had made for him to wear, fading away with the patient layer of dust, that heavy dust. He sat and waited, high on the shelf, on the end, near the lonely bed. As if he had any choice. Not with that pin holding him there to the wall.

~This is a short story(obviously) that I just finished (finally) that accompanies that one finished painting I did a while back. It just happens to be 365 words long, which would be a word a day for a year, if it took me a year to write it, which it did in a round about way. Still, I have a few others in the works, and perhaps I'll have enough peace and quiet on the Africa Mercy to make an attempt at those.

Months

2009-02-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

I am trying I really am, being where I am now makes it extremely difficult to get on this blogging thing again. Excuses, excuses, I know. At the very least I am aware that I want to post at least once a month, especially while away. This medium can brush more spheres deeper than limited time on facebook could. I can compose on the top of my lap, and then log in and post, it'll be marvelous.

I'll do the most important things first. I got baptized a while ago. I thank all of you for your prayers and support. I am old now, I had my birthday, it was good. But I am old now. And I know where I am going: Benin. Yes that is right, I am going to a country most of you who have been out of school longer than you were in school cannot even recall. It is a sliver of a thing, right next to Togo and Ghana to the west, and Nigeria to the east.

All has not been smooth sailing for this trip however. I have committed to go, but there is one prerequisite left unfilled, by no fault of my own. I need a BST course. It's a 5 day course specific to marine safety, Fire, First Aid, Evacuation, etc. As near as I could find it here it cost $1600 at UVI, and they were full up. So Mercy Ships, with some finagling, has offered to cover the cost if I take it from them in Texas, or from a specialized school in Alabama. I am still waiting on them before anything can go forward. Not going forward is my flight. I discovered that as a "missionary" I have access to better deals on airfares, through certain travel agents. If only we had known when my sister was flying to and fro from Scotland eh? Regardless, it helps now, the flight is roughly half of the $7000 one that Flight Centre could arrange, so that is a blessing. But in yet another negative turn of events Mercy Ships Canada has dropped the ball in getting back to me about being able to raise support, I should have been well on my way these past two weeks, but nope, I haven't heard hide nor hair from them at all. I am probably going to need to sell my car to be able to afford the full time away, but I insured my scoot for the last few months I'll be here, and if I can get back on with the city for this short time then I can make a few more bucks. Oh, what you do with me, a man of little faith my Lord.

Little life things now. Point form like I mean it.
I started a Warhammer Fantasy RP game, it is fun, and deadly. On of my players' characters already lost his leg at the knee and is hobbling about on a crudely carved peg.
I worked as a recycling truck driver for a short time, I got my air-brake certification (and a new photo for my drivers liscence), and then worked for about 3 weeks.
I started reading the Harry Potter series, at the behest of a new, and suddenly very close, friend. I don't mind them actually, I'm on #4.
I am watching BSG season 4.0. My dad doesn't like it anymore, but it has gotten better recently.
I ran a LotR TCG Fellowship block tournament at my house, had 6 people show, plus myself. I am planning another one in April, this time Two Towers and Fellowship Blocks. There was pie!
I ordered a t-shirt from Penny-Arcade and it came yesterday. It says, "20 million kids are eaten by bats every second." and that is a fact, and it's on my shirt.
I've started putting things aside on a table downstairs, things that I need to take with me, I hope there's have enough room for all my books.
My life hasn't ever been more confusing and strange to me as it is now, but I am experiencing more joy than ever I have experienced.
My personal history has a very strong chance of repeating itself, to my detriment. I have learned from this past, but will I be able to withstand it's most definite and increased allure? Please pray for me, God has given me a chance at redemption, personal redemption, and not only I hang in the balance.

Ok, ~fin~

Tagged

2009-01-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is the 4th picture in my 4th folder(that has a picture). I have to explain it as per the tagging. It is a screen capture (you know that "print screen" button actually has a purpose?) from my favorite Final Fantasy game, FF VIII. It is pretty rare to have a screen capture like this, causeit's from a FMV (full motion video) within the game, which can't be paused, and Prtsc only does one at a time, so this was the lucky shot. Also made more rare by the fact that you can't easily do it from a console without lots of expensive cables and things. I had (note past tense, dang little thieving midget man!) a copy of this game for the PC, which WAS worth a whole lot, grrr. Anyway, the picture itself is of the Galabadian attack on Balamb Garden, after the Garden became mobile I think.

There is no real point of tagging anyone else, they've all done this already, so... it ends with me.

Ere the raindrop falls

2008-12-30T22:36:00.000-08:00

and the catcalls strike softly at the moon, a playful ball illuminates my dreams below, and mushroom men dance in the wavering gloom.

I feel really very guilty, and my guilt has kept me away. But I have an excuse, of sorts, as they all are in the finish. My excuse has to do with my move, I moved, and the place my head now rests is warm (usually) but it lacks one near necessity. . . wireless internet. So while my laptop has been fine for all the things for which I originally purchased it, I have felt a little cut off from the world between binarys. Still, I have access through this dinosaur and have been taking advantage of it exluding only my blog, and that is unforgiveable.

What news? What news? You all cry. I have faith that you care for me so. So starting from the eldest events left undocumented. I returned from my 15 day trip around U.S. of America safe and sound. I clocked a total of 6475 Kms in my red beast, I think I need new tires. I slept in the back a total of 6 (six) times. I had a grand time at my sisters, and a grand time at my aunts, I wish to do it again sometime.

I found work, though temporary, at an old haunt, the HoJ. They needed the Christmas help, and I didn't need to be trained. It has been quite enjoyable. I even made a friend or two.

I slept outside, it was -14c. I was cold. Neither my tent nor my sleeping bag were made for that type of weather. But it was fun, and I did it.

I had started up a forum for my local RPers, so that after my pending departure from this continent (more on that later) they would still be able to network. They are so shy those guys, gems one and all. The forum is called, and I am quite proud of this, The Undead Talking Necromancer Bunny Village. It is a nod to many things, inside jokes and the like. We have lots of fun on there, I have organized a Play-by-Post L5R campaign that has 4 active players. It moves slowly, but is great fun. And best of all I will be able to continue running it in some small capacity once I leave.

And on to that, the most important of announcments; "I am leaving, I wish you all a very fond farewell." Not exactly as Bilbo spoke it, but close enough. The Africa Mercy beckons and I am drawn to it. It didn't shuffle out exactly as I had planned, but my plans aren't important here are they? That was rhetorical, so shut up your face. ;) I start the 1st of May, a beautiful month to begin something in. I do not yet know where I will be flying in to, but I know what position they need me for. I had applied availing myself of any job they had unfilled, I figured in this way to get on sooner rather than later, my logic is lost sometimes on the unlogical, and/or God. So I begin May 1st, and I will be a receptionist. It will be a grand adventure I am sure. I would very much like to meet a pirate. I don't go seeking change, I don't think, I go seeking a continuation of my growth through whatever circumstances God wants to put me in. So just pray for me that I can stay focused on God through this entire time, leading up to it, during it, and afterward, for if you know me at all you know that I am easily distracted by the pretty and the shiny and the quirky and the exciting and... let's just say I am easily distracted.

I here am

2008-11-14T00:51:00.000-08:00

I have been a rubber-tramp these past days. Dirty looks from decent folk, "Hon" from greasy spoon servers, and quashed exclamations from the young and less worldly. I could do this for a living.

There's much to be missin' from back home in cananada, but I'm not for missin' it. Truth to tell this has been a mighty freeing experience. I know, though, had I embarked on such a journey away back in January the tale would be darker and troubled. God works, plain as that.

I won't be postin' any pictures here, facebook has made that much easier to do, check 'em out if you are so inclined. But for the uninformed amongst all the sailers of the blogosphere, of which there are many, I've been down to South California and Colorado to whittle away some time visiting relations. My sis in Cali, and my aunt and cousins in CO to be exact, and I am exacting, not revenge of course.

Oops, said I'd not stay up til 2:00 again, I'm still on coastal time.

Been having bad dreams, verge of nightmares I think, perhaps prayer? Thanks.

Traveling

2008-11-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Is it one "L" or two? I have been driving a lot. First few days there was not a whole lot to stop and see, because it was raining with a vengeance, seriously, it was making up for the awesome september we BCers had. I stayed in Seaside the first night, I only left home at 1:30, so give me a break. Then I went past Redding and almost into Red Bluff the second night. My car is a beaut for sleeping in, almost got the hang of it now. And I am in Escondido right now, I could call Sis and tell here I am here, but it's nearly 9 and I'll give them one night more of rest afore I drop in, little T's asleep by now anyway.

My GPS is the awesome, it makes things so much clearer, even when it's just on and not telling you where to turn. Anyway battery running out here in the parking lot, and for some reason it won't let me into hotmail, shucks.

I am alive though.

I can't believe I am going to say this..

2008-10-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

but I think I need a Meddler in my party.

I have started a new RPG for my group, Grimm. It is set in the lands contained in Grimms Fairytales and various nursery rhymes, the players play as children, using various archetypes such as Jock, Bully, Nerd, etc. The players are seemingly quite adept at playing scared little children, and have made absolutely no progress whatsoever. This is not good.

A Meddler is usually not good, he is usually a player who doesn't play well with others, who always wants to test the boundaries and limits of the GM, and likes the spotlight even if he is sneaking around in the dark. What a Meddler would do well in my situation here and now is that he would get people jealous. Jealousy is a pretty good motivator. Not many people can sit back and watch someone have all the fun, while all it would take for them to get a piece of such a tasty pastie would be a few words. And I think I can handle a Meddler now, I have enough GM experience by this stage, throw it at me players, I challenge you!

::bows::

Goodnight.

Today

2008-09-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

I saw a red thing on my floor, I thought it was a candy. It was a funny assumption since I've not ever had candy in my house before. Where did it come from?

I ate leftover chicken noodle soup. Two tasty chicken thighs, and a little anise seed like grama used to make it. I had some grape jello too, just because.

My house is lonely and empty. I watched "Tombstone", one of the best-played westerns of all time. I just bought it today, I think my movie list is so far complete.

I drank a Rootbeer that I wasn't supposed to have until tomorrow evening, just because. Now I'm going to play Final Fantasy IX, it's already 8 years old. It makes me feel a part of something, at least while I play it, afterward things are normal again.

It wasn't a candy.

Because it's just more fun

2008-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

I've been running games nights recently. I have a place to host now so that is way awesome. My Ikea table is getting a lot of use and I'm glad I paid that little bit extra and got the bigger one. Yesterday I went into Port Coquitlam to Drexoll Games ( http://www.drexollgames.com/ ) and drooled for a while, I had looked online at everything they carried, but to see it in person is just a bit different. I have to say I feel kinda lame, I only bought games that I had played before, nothing new and exciting for me. But with the price of these things you can't afford to get a turd, so it's the menno in me.

I did spend a bit of $$ though, I got the third expansion for the ever favorite card game Munchkin ( www.sjgames.com ), "Clerical Errors". I picked up "Ticket to Ride; Europe" ( http://www.ticket2ridegame.com/ ) mostly for my family to try playing when Josh and Heidi and everyone come for a visit in December. I got "Guillotine" (unfortunately a WotC game) just cause it is easy, awesome, and fun, and I think I can start my relatives on it slowly this next weekend (it's hard to break the "Taboo", "Guestures", "Pictionary" mold for some folks) it's described as "The revolutionary card game where you win by getting a head", make sense? And I also Picked up "Citadels" ( http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ ) which is really fun and easy to learn, and I think will appeal to various male relatives, maybe. It is kinda tough being so different from everyone in your family.

Well, last night the guys came over and we dove right in, played a few rounds of "Star Wars: Epic Duels", a great, fast-paced miniatures combat game that Aaron got for like $3. Then we played "Guillotine" twice and had a laugh both times. We wrapped it up with a long game of "Munchkin", the decks just keep on growing. I would have liked to play "Citadels", but between the pop and the pizza everyone was bushed, so we watched a movie. Can you believe a bunch of guys electing to watch "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? I own it, it's one of my favorite movies, so of course I'll watch it, but the other guys surprised me, and that they actually didn't complain about it, good job boys.

I'm thinking about running more generic games nights now, I've been running my FFRPG for over 3 years fairly continually, and it is getting wearying. There is so much prep put into each session, and I can't see the guys enjoying it as consistently as these games nights, which require little to no prep and are just as fun for me. Like I now have 6 players showing up for FFRPG, but not all of them all the time, so how do I know who is going to show and thus who I should dedicate more prep to? There are of course the steadfast regulars, but I can't keep revolving everything around them. Take the last session for example; I spent about 4 hours doing prep, mentally completing npcs and writing out possible scenarios based on my assumptions of their actions, and 5 players showed, pretty good. But the one player who didn't controls the one character who was essential to the storyline (you can't have them rescue/warn the Queen of an assassination attempt and gain great glory if the guy who knows about the evil plot isn't there to share it, and to not enact that part of the story wastes how many hours of prep?) and so I am left with a big problem and the entire session falls apart. Lol, at least some of the characters can keep themselves entertained in a fashionable clothing boutique (seriously about an hour of Role Play, Diplomacy and Bluff skill rolls, and verbal technicalities over pretty much just a hat) but it was great.

But I am complaining here, and nobody wants to read that.

Jeremy and his "lady friend" went to Anime Evolution yesterday instead of coming over for games. I wish I could have gone. I am not an anime (japanese animated movies/TV shows) junky by any means, but I enjoy art where it exists. And there are apparently a lot of cool geek oriented things to buy there, and I so want a plush cactaur. I also think it'd be cool to see some of the Cosplayers in real (Cosplay is like halloween, but with even more dedication, people dress up as their favorite anime, manga, and videogame characters and walk around having their pictures taken with people that share their interest). It is definitely a different, and probably more accepting, subculture.

In a completely different topic, I am very very excited to have Heidi and Tristan coming out TOMORROW! I've been saving up Lego sets for him, but I think he is still a bit too young, keep on waiting... I also think I'll try to have my entire family over here for supper one day, I have a ham that is just sitting there in my freezer, and it talks to me, it begs me to eat it up, but I am only one man and it is a large ham.

Also, here's to hoping my back magically gets better before tomorrows day of work. :S

Forays into Darkness and Sunshine

2008-07-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

At my eldest sisters behest I have photographed and will now display my "art", I have not titled the one complete "work", but whatever.

Perhaps I shall call it "Escape, by any means, but escape". I have just started the actual painting process on my second piece, a much larger canvas, and many more colours, so that is exciting.

Also, I am finally settled into my new place, I mean there is still a disorganized organizational pile of stuff in my bedroom, but that can't be helped. What I mean is that I wake up in the morning (at bloody 5:40) and I don't feel like I'm 8 years old and having a sleepover. It doesn't feel like "home" though either, nothing will really ever replace that feeling, I think it has to do with the comfortable toilet seat, full true. But here are some pictures of the living area.

As you can see, this is the dwelling place of a pair of geeks, a very simple observation will reveal a Dungeons and Dragons players handbook in the foreground, two Guitar Hero Guitars on the floor, Darth Tater and a Vader helmet on the far bookcase, a mideveal weapon hung prominitely on the wall, and two bookcases filled with Fantasy and Sci-fi paperbacks.

This is looking the other direction toward the kitchen, again more evidence of our geekiness in the form of Yojimbo and Knights of the Round statuettes, a double-bladed lightsaber, and a katana resting on the windowsill. All in all I am enjoying myself nicely. Tomorrow we are having a bunch of guys over to play Risk, good times.

In other news I burned myself, or more like the sun burned me, or my shoulders, no big deal. I actually like it, not the burn, but the whole being outside thing. I have callouses on my hands and dirt everywhere, and I don't dread the next day of work. I gave my 2 weeks notice at LD and it has been a sweet relief for me not to have to go in there even once a week. I have keys 5 (five) for various things from back when I was the receiver, I wondered if they would ask for them back since they are notoriously bad with those sorts of organizational policy type things. But indeed, they called my previous landlord and he(on orders from me) refused to give them my cell number, and so took the message himself and passed it on to me. There are a few people I will miss from there, and I will tell them so, but I never shopped there before I worked there, and I doubt I will now that I'm soon to be gone, so I'll have to write those people notes or something.

I am dead tired, so I will go to sleep now.

End of things

2008-06-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome all but one, or all and one, or gibberish in the clouds if you prefer. It is late. I will make this brief, maybe, I am loquacious after all. (and I love my commas, and my "asides")

Mr. Chase, that is the name I have come up with for my orange tree, has started working on his 6th leaf! Chase is my sisters friends sons name I think, it is also a really cool guy in the sword of truth series(he has tons of weapons), it is also the second half of "purchase" which is where I derived it from, and old receipt. -- receipt --

I haven't gotten my $100 cheque from the government yet, I have yet to do my income tax, I should do that ya? Tomorrow perhaps, cause it is my day off. The extra bit of money infused into my bank account wouldn't help, plus I'll get to modify my address, more on that later... -- infusion --

I have booked my holidays at LD, I have two weeks with pay, quite a large sum actually, it was going to be a bonus, I was going to buy things like a kitchen table and a dutch oven and such, but now it will just offset my week off of work and the poor paycheck that resulted. -- off work --

I sprained my ankle playing soccer. It was great fun (the soccer game) and I played for 1 3/4 hrs after the incident, not my brightest moment. I didn't score any goals, and I wasn't the keeper so I didn't make any great saves, I just checked and passed, like old school days, it was fun. I need to learn how to run though, since I am sucks at that. As I mentioned I missed work for a week, and even went back a bit before the doc said I should. I turned it, my ankle, again today, at work. Then I had to work at LD for 4 hours, and it is my Friday today, or was.

I am leaving things behind, I hope. And the new things in my life will be great, I also hope. I have a cold, it is not so great. I have a roommate and a new place to live, I hope that will be great too. I am going to the canada day parade with my momma, tradition. I am addicted to Travian http://www.travian.com/ I have 4 games going, I am glad my laptop doesn't run something like World of Warcraft, it would spell my doom. I finished my first painting in around 7 years, I will scan it maybe, or take a picture of it sometime and post it here. I have to give kudos to Miranda http://miranda-runswithscissors.blogspot.com/ , she got me interested in painting again. I have my second canvas all laid out and plotted, I just need a few more colours, and one of those things you put the paint on, and a mixer, like a putty trowel, but not. I have to find those things, maybe tomorrow. I got a long dirty look from a Clearbrook Waterworks Division worker the other day, it puzzled me until I realised he was a douche-bag, they are not real city workers, I don't have to associate with them. Nature's Pickin's is a good place to shop, fruit is cheap and deli meat is 10% off on Fridays, and there is a cute girl that works there ;) I got two (2) packages in the mail this week, the first was Creatures of Rokugan, a L5R RPG source book, thanks mom! The other was a print I ordered from Anthony J. Clark http://nedroid.com/ , he was so nice and even wrote me a note by hand, I bought a frame for it and it will look great in my new place, thanks Mr. Clark! I need boxes because I am moving to this "new place", where I will live with this "roommate" and it will hopefully be great! I need to go to sleep because I'm tired!

Dolphins of the sky.

2008-06-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have discovered them, the dolphins of the sky.

In my job with the city I have the privelage/honour/joy to be able to mow sports fields on a large mowing device. I try my best to keep a straight line, I focus on some distant point and hope not to be distracted. It at least puts a small element of challenge into the day. And one thing I like to be distracted by during these times, is my visits from swallows. You know, the little birds, Barn Swallows, with the V shaped tails. Swallows are the dolphins of the sky. For just as dolphins will jump and frolick in the wake of a ship in the ocean, so will swallows swoop and veer in the proximity to my mower. It is quite cool to see actually, there will be up to 10 swallows around my mower and I can look across the field and see there are none anywhere else. I must stir up the insects or something, even on rainy days. I want to get a video of it maybe sometime, we'll see.

I tried my hand at a diet, a non-dairy diet. It is supposed to help clear your sinuses of all that extra mucous. Well, it works, or at least it worked for me. I didn't notice the change though, until there was free pizza, and I had a few slices and the next day I was stuffed up unlike I had been for the previous week. So it works, but is it worth it? I can live without drinking milk from the jug no prob, but cheese, ice cream, and did I say cheese? It is too much to abandon for a sense of smell, mostly because there are so many temptations anyway. Dairy farmers thank me, I am back on the wagon.

I am also looking for a place to stay, I have been given the boot, so to speak. In hte end I think it is a good thing. I've been where I'm at for almost two years now,a nd I think it is about time to branch out in a different direction. I was really interested in a single bedroom apartment, but they are generally overpriced compared to a two bedroom basement suite. So I'm looking for a roommate, I have a few options, but I'm uncertain about them at the moment, I'll have to do some more praying. But I think it will be good to be out, I'll start buying all those thing I never really had to buy for a home when I was just renting a room, still, it would be nice to be on my own somehow.

I think my writing speaks for itself, or at least will when I reread this later, but you may just be able to tell that I only went to sleep 4 hours ago.... I should try to get a couple more hours at least, ugghh.

Arbour Day

2008-05-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know how much I should post about my job, but today was momentous, in a way, maybe, to some people, maybe.

Today, or really yesterday (cause it's Saturday now), was Arbour day in the city, my city (I don't put it's name there because then google will show this post to whoever searches those words, you all know where anyway). I was selected for an elite unit of children dealers-withers, we assisted and instructed a large number of younglings in the planting of Hemlock and Douglas Fir saplings. I doubt many, if any, will survive a month (saplings, not children). I was a team leader, leader of team #1, I had a walkie-talkie, and a bright shiny vest, and a button which I got to keep.

I don't even know where to start, I guess I already did as this is the third paragraph. So we planted trees. I got "interviewed by a reporter, he took my name and my department down, and my picture I think. He had good timing, he got me in my best presentation (as the team leader I had/chose to give the kids a bit of an education about planting trees and stuff) I asked for a volunteer and this cute little girl, grade 2 I think, immediately put up her hand, so she helped me demonstrate how we plant the tree, and then got stung by stinging nettle, lol. I can still feel the bumps on my own fingers.

I have to admit I had my reservations about the whole activity, seemed to be a bit last minute to me. We got in early and had to drag yards and yards of blackberry vines out of the way so we could plant easier, k-5, not a very tough group for certain. And the amount of saplings they wanted in that little park, we had over 1000, but they fit, if a bit tighter than realistically possible in a healthy environment. So that was my day, my throat was a bit sore, I had to yell to groups, of sometimes 60 kids, essentially a stones throw away from the highway. and it was fairly non-stop, I wouldn't have been as weary had I weed-wacked all day, I wonder how those two guys did anyway...

Ok, now off to a more important message before bed, yes loyal readers it is sad, you are not the most important thing in the world to me, I mean, I feel that this relationship is so one-way, you know?

;)

Not a killer

2008-04-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

The other night, must've been Sunday, I was driving home from work (LD). Upon the road ahead, a few curves in front of me, I spied a shambling shape. It's size was similar to that of a cat, it was crossing the road. I noticed instantly it's gait, and dismissed the idea of it being a cat, it was then confirmed to be an opossum, the most ugly of north American mammals. Wiry grey fur, thick rat-like tail, beady little eyes, and a mouth most indubitably filled with little sharp, pointy teeth.

Only a moment goes by since my noticing of it before this information has played through my skull.

I then think on roadkill, the thing will be in my lane by the time my speeding car reaches it, what should I do? My first thought is that if I run over it my car may slip in the guts and gore and I may loose control around the corner, not a good thing. My second thought, following quickly on the heels of the first, is that my car sits low enough that I most likely will kill it by just running over it (estimated 60% chance for instant fatality due to a broken back, 100% chance of eventual fatality). There are no oncoming cars at this time of night, so I swerve, only so slightly, since only a second has passed since I first noticed the thing I still have enough distance that a slight course change will save a life. And indeed a second later I sailed by leaving the thing to spread it's rabies and offspring as it is wont to do.

In these collections of seconds, perhaps 5 in all, I found out that I am not a killer. My brain sometimes works in strange/disturbing ways, perhaps I just view the world from a different angle than most. But instinctively saving the ugliest animal known to man from certain death teaches me something about myself. Despite all that may run through my overactive imagination, and eventually spill out the causeway that is my mouth, I am still good, just chaotic-good ;)

Like a beaver

2008-04-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

It is sad, there are beavers inhabitationizing Downes Bowl Park, and they have made a lodge, and a long dam, and they are going to be "removed". They are rodents I guess.

I have been busy, thus the lack of keeping everyone posted. I work for the City of Abbotsford now, in addition to LD, on the verge of quitting that hole. I work in the Turf & Grass division of the Parks, Recreation and Culture Dept. I like it a lot, My supervisor is really nice, easy to talk to and pretty laid back. I worked for almost 2 weeks on my own, but now I have a team-mate. We work well together, though apparently it is a problem when we come back to the yard too close to the end of our shift, it makes all the other city workers look bad or something. I'm tired after work, I have a sense of accomplishment that I've not had for years, but my mind is not weary.

I bought a CD the other day, a novel idea I know. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, by The Smashing Pumpkins, it brings back so many memories, I miss 90's music. I've been listening to more music now that I have a vehicle with a radio, and I am dissappointed with the radio stations, they repeat so many of the same songs, even Rock 101, who you'd think would have more than enough music to pull from. oh well.

I watched the sun set today, these moods hit me funny sometimes.

I ate pigs skin the other week, didn't know what it was at the time, it looked like some sort of noodle. It was cold, and then tough, so I thought maybe it was squid tentacles, but the texture was wrong (I like Squid). It was cold, shredded swine epidermis. I tried out a new(to me) Sushi place, Mar's Sushi, it's in downtown, and I was really quite impressed. It would be a place to take a girl, if there was one to take. I don't eat sushi, but they always have more than that on the menu, I ordered Chicken Udon, it was the best I've had. I also tasted the Spicy Prawns my friend got, and they actually had some spice to them. Good job Mar!

RPG has been interesting of late, I have been having trouble with a few players not being focused at all. There is essentially a single weak link, but I'm not really cruel enough to cut him out, I just pretend I'm cruel. (I'm actually pretty devious and sadistic, shhh don't tell) I've tried one approach so far, and it seems to have maybe worked, but it revealed to me further underlying issues, which may or may not be the root.

I should post a picture of my little guy, he's still pretty small, but leaf #3 is on it's way, real sunshine actually helps.

Lol, how pitiful is that, I post pictures of a plant on my blog...

My little guy

2008-03-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

A bit of a reversal from my heavier posts of late.

This little guy is growing up so fast, I must be doing something right. But I'm worried about root rot since the soil is so shallow and his root (singular) is already snaking along the bottom. I'm going to attempt a transplant tomorrow.

Also, just thought I'd put this out there for all fellow fans, my land-man Dave bought Battlestar Galactica season 3 today! I was just catching up to the last few episodes that I missed while in Europe last year. And thanks to the writer's strike season 4 hasn't started quite yet so I have a bit more time. Wouldn't it be crazy if the 'old man' was a cylon?!?

Blurred lines of incandescent reasoning

2008-03-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Aka. What has happened to me these past days.

Hmmm, where to begin? Back after Christmas I bought a satchel of mini-mandarin oranges from the Korean market in Surrey, they were super sweet and helped me keep up my vitamin C. The only downside to them was that pretty much every segment had a seed, kinda took away from the convenience of the mandarin. It's life I guess. I planted one of the seeds. It sprouted. It was in an inch, at the most, of the sandy-clayish soil from our "backyard", in a jam jar, in my bathroom which has no windows, and it sprouted. The stem is about an inch high now and it is starting to split into a few leaf buds. Hooray!! Now I just have to not kill it.

I've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman. I do that, find an author I like and latch on until I've caught up to everything they've written. He wrote the novel Stardust, I liked the movie, so when I saw "Anansi Boys" by him at the bookstore I picked it up, along with "Fragile Things", a collection of his short stories with a few free poems thrown in :) He writes what I think people call contemporary fantasy, that is fantasy for the modern world. I gobbled them up, then bought "Stardust", and then "American Gods" which reminded me of Douglas Adams's "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" but better, and broader in scope and imagination. Now I'm into the truly eerie stuff, his graphic novel "Sandman". I should go to bed right after this, but I want to finish volume one. It's the first graphic novel that has taken so much of my attention and focus that I haven't been able to finish it in one sitting.

I was finally placed in a bible study group through my church. I asked about it pretty much when I came back from Europe in May last year, and it has finally happened. We got a couple married couples, and then a bunch of singles, mostly youngish. I don't know exactly how I fit in yet, I'm fairly shy. I want to dive deep into contextual meanings and the actual history and setting and all that to find out what things that have been translated and re-translated into English from ancient Greek and Hebrew really mean. But I'm not sure if that is over the heads of some of this group, and I don't want to force that kind of academia on anyone. Peace & Love.

In my search for a job I applied at the City of Abbotsford Parks and Rec. Dept. I went in to the department for an application form, they pointed me to the front desk. The front desk was out of them, so they pointed me to the HR dept up the elevator on the fifth floor. ding! They rummaged around for a while and finally found an application form, a 4 page double sided affair that was very poorly photocopied. I took it and left. I don't have a printer, so I had no copies of my resume at hand and, after the ordeal to get the application, no idea of who I'd give it to anyway. I went back to my scoot, looked in the mirror, and noticed that I had a grime smudge on my cheek from when I had put air in the tire... yup. I faxed the application form in a little later, to a number that an insider had given me ;), and the fax machine seemed to work, kinda. I left it at that figuring if God wants me to get the job then I'll get the job.

I bought another vehicle, a car, it has four wheels, a roof, a heater, and a RADIO!! Among other things of course. I like it, I haven't named it yet. It is red. I want to go on a road trip this summer, it may or may not happen. Of course the only way this car happened to me is because I am finally past the "Run away, run away" stage. I think. Screw her and all the pain brought about by being "involved" with her. Sure I'm still feeling a little mis-led, a little used, like a single serving packet of tuna, there when it was needed, good ol protein. I'm seeing clearer now, and retrospect is gory, how blinded I was to it all. My friends give a sad grin and a look that seems to say, "We tried to tell you what we saw, but your head was in the clouds. Welcome back though."

Anyway my heart is not in an old tattered box under my bed, it's in my chest pumping whatever viscous liquid passes for blood in this old goats body. It works just fine enough thank you very much. So Michelle, if you are reading this, like I knew you used to, please stop, I've done my half of getting over these memories, you should do the same. You owe it to him, but more to yourself at the very least. Just know that I don't see you ever being truly happy with him, there was too much that you could not find there, you know it. There's someone out there who has the perfect combination for you, don't settle.

Ok, that said, on to easier topics. In my quest for better employment (I had three 4 hour shifts this week) I applied for the Photo Desk at LD, I had an interview on Monday. It went well, the Photo manager was there, and the Electronics manager too, they like me. I like being liked by people, and pretty much everyone at work, sans upper management, likes me. Or at least doesn't show open hatred. It seems things would have to change a bit and I'd have to put in my dues all over again to get up to prime hours (not even full time at that), but the department seems fun and only has female employees working it, I work better with the ladies. I've been told that I got it if I want it.

I was bit by a dog!! On my finger, it hurt a bit, I was mad at the dog, but I feel sorry for it now cause it might have to be put down now. Maybe it could just sense that I'm a cat person. I hope I don't have rabies, only 4 people have survived rabies without the vaccination, and three of them were severely brain-damaged. I'm going to be #5!! I'm already crazy so there may actually be a cognitive improvement as a result.

I was getting eggs, that's where the dog came into the picture, I was getting eggs to make brownies, those little delectable brownies in the mini muffin cups, oh they turned out awesome. It was for my bible study's social evening, two other people brought brownies, haha, we should organize things a bit better.

Tuesday I had a dental appointment, first one in 6 (six) years. I could see (visibly) a cavity on the side of one of my molars for some time, so I was prepared for the worst. I had a cleaning, I love the feel of gum-pain, ahhh. I think some of my wires are crossed. I saw the cavities on the x-ray, I could point them out by the slight variation in shade, I was impressed with myself. They scheduled two appointments for fillings, one for each side of my mouth.

After that I had an interview with the City. Mark had email me on Monday eve and told me he had had his interview and it went well and that I should re-apply. He basically kicked me around on my bum until I did it, he's a great motivator that one. I shaved my stache, it was too patchy for an interview, I tied my hair back all sexy-like and went in. It went well.

Then I had to go get a background check at the cop shop.

Then I visited my momma, and intercepted a message by my grammama that she needed help with a mattress, so off I went, intending to get my Drivers Abstract and book a road-test afterward. But she had done the heavy lifting when I got there, and we ended up having tea :) and talking for a few hours, it was nice. Then my momma and I watched "Into the Wild" it was sad and good, but sad.

On Wednesday I went and made a doctors appointment to get a new family doctor, My old doctor died. A long time ago now. I've only been to the doctor 4 times in my life I'm proud to say, well, beyond my baby check-ups. Twice as a child for strep-throat, and twice as a teen for a strained back.

At work that evening my scooter was a victim of a hit-and-run. Some young girl backed into the shopping cart return slot, which is right next to the motorcycle parking spot where I park. She must've hit it pretty hard judging by how far the slot had moved, and my scooter had been knocked flat. At first glance it looked like just some scratches etc. but then I saw that the rear brake lever was snapped off, I need that, the front brakes don't work well at all, dunno why. Anyway I spent my break and a bit more making an ICBC claim and then on hold with the Police Department to file a report. In the end I had to go to the cop shop to make the report after work, all hit-and-runs are criminal offences, and it's a good thing I got two witnesses. It kinda helped that the girl stopped the car and switched seats with the passenger before driving away from the scene, it let everyone see the plate number, lol, suckas!

On Thursday I went in for my first set of fillings. It was amazing, dental technology has advanced a bit in 6 years for sure. I need to floss more. I got my Drivers Abstract, but couldn't book a road-test in person. Then I went to ICBC and had the damage to my scooter assessed, once they admit guilt I'll get every last piece fixed on their tab, just to teach them never to run from the scene of an accident. Then I helped my momma make ham and rice croquet's. I ground up two (2) big hams, mmm tasty ham, and we ended up making 99 croquet's!! And then we had Ham dinner cause my freezing had worn off.

Friday I went for my new Doctors consultation appointment. Dentists are by far the more efficient schedule keepers. Then I went out to Vi-La Palace for lunch with a friend, I try something new every time, always satisfied. You should try it too!!!! Then home to work on RPG stuff for that nights session. It was horrible, and not entirely my fault, ugh. It was planned so to the point, it was a scalpel, and I wasn't the drunk surgeon. Oh well, there's always next session.

That has been a bit of my busy week, I think that it's in the correct order, it was a blur for me, even without much actual work.

Recently

2008-03-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

There has been food, like tasty ham! With good friends to share. Movies too, some good some not so good. I would recommend: "Everything is Illuminated" and "Eastern Promises", but not "Shoot 'em Up" or "Donnie Brasco".

I perfected my pancake recipe, but I ran out of maple syrup. But I've been using the plum-pear jam my brother and sister-in-law gave me! It is better by leaps and bounds. I also found my Peter Gabriel CD, I looked for it so many times.

I like going for walks, and spring is starting too. The weather was nice for a while, but I forsee much rain, I need to get away. So many things to get away from.

I am looking for another job, they keep cutting down my hours, they hate me, I do not know why. It sucks cause I really like working with most of the people I work with, I probably won't miss them, I'm good at forgetting people, usually.

Sometimes I feel like a stranded starfish.

2008-02-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

Where I'm at

2008-02-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

Now my birthday has come and it has gone, as has New Years again of course, and I find myself being introspective. More so than I have ever been before, not that I often introspect. I shall ramble, it is what I am good at, it, at least, is something.

One year more gone, one year less to live. It is like a map or a birds eye view. One can look upon it and see the path, can see the forks the dips and the resting places. The forks taken and those left unvisited, they can be seen from here, but only to the edge of the map, to the edge of bird-sight, beyond that lies the mystery. I am not tempted by the mystery, I am confident in my path, what is before me is as yet a mystery, no need to attempt to visit the past. The steam from my tea dances it's spiral dance, entrancing me. There must be a draft.

A year ago I was here, where I am now, well a little more than a year ago let's say. I think I was happier then, or about to be. Where am I now? Have I not moved? For all that has happened I wound up here again, a little worse for wear. Same job, that was a circuitous pathway indeed. Less money, by which we don't want to but always end up judging our success. Memories, more of them, as to be expected after a year, but what of their quality? Does it matter? Some are wonderful, some euphoric, some are easily forgetten except for the digital images ratained here on my laptop, some are painful to recall. Some of the euphoric ones are painful to recall, like the dentists needle penetrating the gums, slowly freezing, that pain which I like and hate at once. What do they do for us, our memories? Beyond the basic instructive instinctual use for our survival, fire = hot = hurt = bad. That is the knowledge gained and reminded by our memory of the lesson. What lessons did I learn? No more steam, it is cool enough to drink now, bitter and good.

Lessons learned in the past, if learned again, were they ever learned at all? Or would Malcom describe microscopic variations in the pattern that lead to chaos, and thus inherent unpredictability? Would it not then render all lessons pointless? Or do we then approach odds and scales of judgement, contrived values based on emotion, all of this philosophical mathematics. I have bad odds, if I were my mother I would not even bet on me. Oh thank goodness that we believe in God, though I may have him to thank for the state of my odds as well. Balance I guess. You have to believe in Him because you believe in Him. I learned my lesson again, maybe well this time.

Step forward, three feet at once, hut! Grim resolve. Echoing chamber, a mile below a bass drum, shut up! Die. Crack that whip and hoist that sail, tie that gib and swab that deck. Bearing.... neverwhere... The rum never lasts. Act III, the paint begins to weigh heavy, breathed air stale, the obi is too tight, studied control. Where do I go from here, how do I get there? Public transit doesn't acknowledge my pass, nothing to it but to hoof it, on my own...

I Am Skillz

2007-12-12T23:48:00.000-08:00

I had to go home from work today cause I was sick. My belly was just in knots from 10 am onward. It hurt quite a bit, enough that I could barely focus on my job, so I did what needed to be done from my pov, and called it a day, kinda. The rest of the afternoon, from 2:00 on, was spent lying in bed or kneeling in front of the porcelain throne, I never did throw up though. Can't rightly place what it was that caused it. Could've been the seafood spaghetti leftovers I ate yesterday, which when I ingested them primarily, ran through me like a surfer riding a wave of molten lava. Or it might have been the fact I missed breakfast again, though it's never felt anything at all like this. It might have been that since I didn't have breakfast and was feeling a bit peckish I scrounged in my drawer and found an expired Mon Cheri bar and ate it. Chocolate doesn't really go bad, but this particular type has hazelnuts in it, I love hazelnuts, hazelnuts will go bad, they tasted fine though. Or the last thought of mine this evening was that I could have been fairly severely dehydrated, I rarely drink water or anything at meals, when I have meals, and for some time now my only liquid has been the milk in my cereal in the mornings, which I have not had the last few days. Anyway I feel better now, now that I have your sympathy, or apathy, I'll take what I can get. I actually was worrying that i wouldn't be able to eat supper like I had been unable to eat lunch, but I was better by then.

It is a good thing too, this is the meal that I prepared, I Am Skillz! It is Wednesday and it was my turn to cook. I've never done a roast chicken before, nor baked yams, or even Yorkshire puddings, but I think I am happy with how everything turned out. Mark liked it too, but sadly Kim couldn't make it, see that third spot set, that was for her.

I know I am tooting my own horn here, but for a first try I think I did well. Yorkshire puddings are going to be my new staple now that I know exactly how to make them. And I love pickles, and yams, yams and sweet potatoes, I really have no clue about the difference. I think if I had done carrots and green beans it would have been as close to a perfect meal as I am capable of, oh, and grape juice too.

I am now stuffed, and re hydrated, and I even snuck upstairs to check the fridge, but alas Young-sun did eat the Yorkshire I had left for her. I hope she enjoyed it.

Next target: HAM!

I love ham.

The status of things

2007-11-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

So I figure I haven't posted regarding my RPG in a while. Things have been going well on all fronts it seems. I designed a multi-level "dungeon" that has kept them occupied these past 5 sessions, that's 10 weeks! The dungeon is really an airship, a massive airship called The Invincible, not so much. Things are all trying to be tied together storyline wise, and so far two of them have been, the main plot has sadly taken a backseat. A while back I railroaded my players into a storyline that I thought would get them interested in the epic plot I had created, but it seemed that they just resented not being able to play their own way into things. It took a lot of thinking, and even some soul-searching to see if I was even going to continue, but I eventually started thinking from their pov and developed a method for making them happy. Mark will say, "Happy wife, happy home." but I'm not married so I'd have to put my RPers into that slot and I'm not a homeowner so I'll put GM in that spot.

So with a bit more railroading (I got them captured by pirate/slavers, foiled their escape attempts, sold them to a monster arena, killed them, and then sold their corpses to a crazy old inventor who took them away on his airship) I got them in a position to get back to basics. I had a benefactor (the crazy airship man) and he had goals, the party could then work toward those goals, or not and run away. The goals turned out interesting enough to keep them loyal, and then I threw in more options, ones that were easy enough to predict, but that let the players have an amount of choice in their storyline.

So back to this massive "dungeon", their airship captain/crazy-old-man (Dr. Cid) had previously run askew of a very powerful power, the Empire of Rozzaria, who were now trying to catch up with him with The Invincible. Cids airship is smaller and faster, but he can't really shake them, they are tenacious. Some last minute changes to plans, due to The Invincible, strands the party as Cid takes off to hide once more. This allows them to encounter another group of people, The Hokuten Knights. The knights are a rebel group based in the forest north of the town called Timber, their goal: the party hasn't really asked directly yet, but it involves re-forming the city of Cornelia and its surrounding towns, now all part of the Dukedom of Cornelia, once again into the Kingdom of Cornelia, gaining independance from the Kingdom of Thamasa under a rightful heir to the Cornelian throne. The party lets slip something about an airship (fantastic flying contraptions that haven't been seen in this part of the world for a few decades at the least) probably as some sort of status symbol, "Don't mess with us, we've got an airship!" The Hokuten Knights decide that an airship would be a splendid thing to own if they are to take Cornelia by force, especially if their enemies do not have one themselves, air-superiority!

After a bit of a three-way scuffle between the knights, Cid's Moogle crew + the party, and some Rozzarian Imperial soldiers, Cid hatches a plan to get rid of his hunters, save his airship, and satisfy the knights. The party is sent up to The Invincible to take it down, by resequencing its navigation systems, and blowing up its primary lift engines, afterwhich it should descend right where the Hokuten Knights are waiting for it, so that they may take it by force. Cid is essentially wagering his airship on the success of the party, if they fail the knights still get an airship, if they succeed they just get a massively bigger one with lots and lots of firepower. If they kinda succeed, then the knights and the Rozzarians will keep each other occupied long enough for him to make an escape.

As of now they have exactly 15 minutes left before the charges (set on the main fuel lines) detonate. I had to give them a time limit, a dread time limit, otherwise they would have tried to kill the entire crew (600+) themselves (they were actually well on their way). They have beaten the boss, and one character has already made good his escape in a small aircraft. After that who knows... I forsee a lot of loot splitting and gil spending, but really, where to next? I really want to get into the main storyline but I don't see many viable ways to introduce it without it seeming forced, and I'm not doing that again.

Failure of Courage

2007-11-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Howdy, yeah let me explain.

First if it is wet the visibility goes, that is bad all by itself. The ankles and wrists are the first to get hit, the weak points in the whole getup. The hands and chin quickly follow, next and most painful are the knees. From there it goes down the calf to meet up with the ankles. The chin is completely numb by this point which I guess is good, cause the thighs keep trying to fight it, which I ought to be grateful for, but it hurts. Anyway, the elbows and feet surprisingly outlast the shoulders, but at this point it doesn't really matter, the core is the last thing ya got. Hands can barely move to control the brakes and throttle, and even the ears nose and lips become numb. Shivering is your bodies way of trying to reheat, but it doesn't help much with staying on the road.

So I made two promises and did not have enough willpower, courage, or fortitude to see them both through, oh and it wasn't just the temperature, I was late to begin, and there was a bridge out. My effort was valiant, but nonetheless insufficient. I felt that if I could not see this through, then what else am I going to fall short in? Will I not have the courage to see through what is my greatest promise? Will there be advesity I cannot overcome, if so few simple trials turn my path? I am confident that what I hope for means more to me than a L5R tournament, but will it mean enough, Yes, of that I am certain, I will hold on.

Movie nights

2007-10-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

Hey again. No, it is not that Facebook has been stealing all my time, I am just lazy in the old-fashioned way. So I wanted to start writing more about my life, but that is personal stuff right now. I've decided to try my hand at being a bit of a movie critic, I've seen a lot of movies recently, and I definitely know what I like and do not like. Plus I go over to Marks place every week and eat and watch a movie, so there is a steady stream of fodder :)

Anyway, a week and a bit ago we watched Deathproof, a movie by Quentin Tarintino. Starring Kurt Russel and a bunch of girls, some of whom are actually popular, their names just elude me at the moment. First beef: it is not under "D" for 'Deathproof', it is under "G" for 'The Grindhouse Presents Deathproof', bogus, that was fine for the theatres when it was a double feature, but if I only get the one at a time, then put it under "D". This movie came out when I was in Europe, so I never saw many previews or read any reviews. In my mind this movie could have been edited a lot, it seemed that Tarintino somehow came across a short story somewhere, maybe a poor college student or an artsy scriptwriter, but he liked it, he wanted to make it into a movie, but he thought of his own variation. Not wanting to spoil the original, and planning to make it full length, he decided to film both his modified version and the original story and make it one movie, except that it really did feel like two movies, or like two alternate endings and middles to the same movie. We actually fast-forwarded it a bit during the second half. Kurt did a great job (I've always liked the roles he chooses) until he got grazed by a bullet and started bawling like a baby.

Now apparently the theatrical version and the DvD release were different, but overall I have to give this a 2.25 out of 5. It tries and succeeds in providing suspense, but deflates in the second half to give us an ironic, yet expected, ending.

Yummy Squiddy

2007-09-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Been a while I know.

OK, so yesterday, Wednesday, I went over to Marks for dinner, my turn to cook so I brought over all the appropriate ingredients for chili. I like chili. I like it with a mixture of beans, a melange some might say. Extra lean ground beef, red, and jalapeno peppers both, super-secret spice ;) All was set for a great meal.

We went to Vi-La Palace, I love Vi-La Palace! Lol, chili can wait. Vi-La is Vietnamese food, and Laotian too, with a bit of Thai for good measure. We normally order #27 ::mouth watering:: but this time since Kim was with us we decided to get a fondu. Not just any fondu mind you, we went straight for the bottom and got the most best fondu there, the Thai fondu!!!

Instead of being cooked in oil like a north-american fondu the pot is filled with a spicy Thai broth that you can eat as soup with the vermicelli they provide on plates. The pot is separated into two sections by a metal partition, one section for the meat, the other for the vegetables. Ahh the meat, mmmm, so it was chicken and beef meatballs, prawns, crab, mussels, SQUID, and finely sliced beef, mmmm. The vegetable was good, kinda looked like spinach without the gross taste and smell (spinach = yucky), but I can't remember the name of it. Apparently it was really expensive and normally wouldn't be included in the fondu except it is in season right now, we felt bad that we didn't eat all of it :(

So the meal was an ordeal, we got the explanation about what everything was and how to eat it, and were constantly putting more meat in and adding more of the spicy black bean-chili sauce to our noodles, and talking. It was great!

The best part about it was that I tried everything, I knew I would, I'm not chicken, but I found that I really like squid, and the mussels weren't bad either, not as fishy as oysters and delectable with the black bean sauce. Of course I already knew I liked crab and prawns, but the squid... it reminds me of duk-ramyun, I like duk too :p

I guess I posted about food cause I'm hungry right now, I only had breakfast this morning and was too full from that and the fondu to bother eating lunch or supper. I know, I'll go eat a pickle!!

Norge

2007-07-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Norway!! We flew into Oslo, kinda, and took a nice bus trip to Oslo proper, funny story that. I think I ate horse meat in the airport. We then took a train to As (don't have the correct type of "a" to make it phonetically appropriate). As is where Cherie's friend Gunhild lives, she met us at the train terminal in Oslo with her boyfriend Gunstien, he's cool.

So this is the house that a Norseman built, I assume, I didn't see any vikings, just a few cairns that Gunstien pointed out to me. This house is about 200 years old, it was a farmhouse, now it is a house for Gunhild and her roommate Ingvil, they were nice enough to let us stay.

Bikes, they like to ride them all over the place in Norway, especially, I think, in As. Many of the people here rent out rooms and small houses to the students going to the university. It is a small town and has a nice country town feel to it. But of course the universal truth applies here too: Students are poor, most don't have cars, so they ride bikes.

I like this sunset shot, the spiders silk in the grass is my favorite part. Norway reminds me of home a bunch, except that there are no huge mountains looming in the back of every shot. Green, and rolling hills, clean air and birds singing, I miss it a bit.

Gunhild and Gunstien took us to Oslo one day to look at the viking ships that had been unearthed and put on display. There were three of them, I learned a whole bunch, it was really cool, I would have liked to be a viking.

A tabletop condiment fairly common for breakfast or lunch, it was explained that it wasn't like the expensive Russian caviar. I didn't try it, but I did like the brown cheese, and corn on pizza is not bad, go ahead and try it sometime. And kebabs, ohhhh, sure it cost us near $12, but it was worth it, even just to watch them make it. Somebody needs to start a kebab stand here.

Oh, btw Heidi, Norway was my most favorite place on this trip, actually my second most favorite place in the entire world! I will of course be posting more pics of this place soon :)

London

2007-07-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

London. We had a great hostel, Cherie's friend, Julie, booked it for us from Scotland, we had terrible troubles in major cities before that, so it was a blessing. Anyway, our great hostel was one block away from Hyde Park and a major bus route. Don't take the metro, it is very expensive, but they do have an automated voice that reminds you to "mind the gap", balance that on your scales of value beforehand, you'll know what to do.

This is me in Hyde Park, I think I was thinking, when am I not thinking? The statue was a representation of 'masculinity' or some such.

Also somewhere in Hyde Park, the place is huge, Cherie looking sweet and pretty on a hill surrounded by flowers. But you can see that for yourself.. .. .. She's really not all that sweet, she just looks it, like those purple candies that taste like soap, ughh, biggest waste of 10 cents in my life. No, she is sweet.

We went to the changing of the guard, funny hats, yay! We stood around for a long time, saw these dudes marching it out to Buckingham Palace, saw some real military dudes follow them, and then left. We were already a block away before we realized that the guard was just then changing, we missed it :P

Big Ben, it's really not all that big, I had a crayfish sandwich, it wasn't very big either, but it was sufficient and delicious, much like Big Ben I would assume.

Trafalgar Square. I like this shot, took a while of waiting to let two Italian Lady's finish their telephone calls in the most prime picture taking spot in the square.. sheesh. No escape I tell you.

Ok, we also went to a Blue Man Group show, stopped by Drury Lane and took a picture with a muffin, went to the London Zoo, and visited various other tourist traps, we even ate at a noodle hut. Anyway, next we are off to Norway to visit Gunna.

Prague, Part II

2007-07-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

So, again, here I am. I wish to finish these posts soon, but I must do the locations justice in my commentary, and yes, I am lazy. No Crispy Crunch for me today, something very similar in occurring events to that which brought the chocolate to my gullet, but no, no food involved.

Ah, the destination! A friend of mine who had been to Prague with her fiance told me of it. On the little map we had it was barely legible that there was even a church here. It was hidden behind some houses up on a hill, we climbed and enjoyed the view, enjoyed the church, and the church gardens. It was lovely.

A view from the gardens, overlooking the river in the opposite direction of the last river picture, Cherie takes some great pictures.

The next day we did the castle. We walked across the Charles Bridge (remembered that one). There were people everywhere, we thought we got a good deal on gelato from a vendor until we actually did the conversion and looked at the size of the scoops he gave us, it was still good tasting. There was also this cool little old man with his music machine, similar I guess to a grinding organ, but he just stood there turning a wheel and the song wet on and on, all sort of musical instruments playing merrily.

Inside Prague Castle Cherie had some fun with a guard she thought was cute, poor fellow.

This is the back end of the church located in the castle area, it looks pretty cool, even I'll admit that.

Next we headed off to London town. Yay!

Mind the gap

Prague

2007-07-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here now some information, brought to you in part by Cadbury. "The only thing as good as your Crispy Crunch is one that was destined for another."

Not enough landscape pictures remaining of Rome, so we are off to Prague in the Czech Republic! The aeroplane ride from Rome to Brussels to Prague was quite an experience, Cherie wrote about it after it happened, on her Xanga, if you can find it. It is her story more so than mine, so I won't attempt to tell it, I was just along for the ride so-to-speak.

This here building has a name, I should remember this name, I knew it once, but I forget it now. It's not the Powder Tower, that one I remember. This is the everyday view we had while we ate lunch in the main square a couple of blocks away from our hostel.

This is the National Museum. It sits at the end of a huge square (rectangle is more appropriate), there were around 3 McDonalds resturaunts either on the square or on a side street. Sad, but cheap cheeseburgers :) I went to the museum one morning without Cherie, it was good I did.. they had a really extensive mineral collection. All in all it was a really nice place, but Prague has a plethora of museums that one can visit, most would be smaller than this, but cheaper and more enjoyable. Oh well.

Same unnamed building at night, I was experimenting with night shots, I do have some nice portrait ones. . . a tripod would have helped. Unlike most bigger european cities we had been in, Prague didn't have this 'exclusive' feeling night life, we could wander around in the light of lamps and feel safe, and the people were nice during the day too.

I found a grand reading tree, I was reading the Hitchhikers trilogy by Douglas Adams, I highly recommend it, there are 5 books in the trilogy, so be sure to get them all. This park was the largest we had come acoss so far in our travels, it was pleasant to be able to traverse city blocks in the green scented shade of trees, but as always we had a specific destination, so onward and off.

Our destination, was not this castle, it is Prague Castle, we did it the next day. This is the view from our destination, with the help of a bit of my 10x optical zoom! No more pictures for today, so our destination will have to wait to be revealed til another day, it was a good one, recommended highly by a nice person.

So, back to sleep for me, I just woke up from 3 hours sleep, stupid headache, stupid helmet giving me a headache, ughh.

Rome Part II

2007-07-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

Like it how I used Roman Numerals in the title, huh, yeeeeah! I should be going to sleep, but what the hey, if the pictures go up they go up. I like root beer, mmmmm.

Well, this is not the old city, this is pretty much the one and only picture from the Vatican that was landscape, lazy. This is the hall of maps, just imagining how long it would have taken to accurately paint just one of these things, and the whole hall is filled with them. It was also the Popes 80th b-day the day before we went inside, we saw him, I think.

Here is some old stuff, I think lots of people take pictures of these particular columns, they are nice to look at, and the weather was great too, as you can see. Be jealous.

Here we are in front of the Coliseum (that spelling looks so wrong, but the spell checker is accurate, right?) We had a bad experience purchasing the audio guide for the Vatican and so were hesitant about doing it again. The deal breaker: we got to skip the line and get in right away, even though we had to buy two audio guides it was worth it.

The inside. Most of it is ruined, they took stones from it for the longest time, but they re-did part of the flooring, and left the other sections open so you could see down into the inner workings. Might be hard to see, but the small strips of lighter coloured stone in the middle aisle are actually grooves for the elevators, cool huh? The audio guide was much more informative here then at the Vatican.

An outside shot (thanks captain obvious), the thing is huge. That is all the pictures I am allowed in one post I guess, so next time maybe a bit more of Rome, or if not we are off to Prague.

Rome

2007-07-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

So here I am, sitting on the side of my bed typing sideways onto my laptop, listening to The Feeling, thinking about L5R tonight, what shall I play, no printer, so I get to use the budget hand-written proxies.

On to Rome..

Here is me, I am standing in front of a fountain, you can tell cause there is water spraying into the air and landing in a bowl thingy made of stone. I really have to apologize for this, there are so many tall things in Rome that the majority of pictures are portrait, and of course I am lazy.

Ok so this is a famous fountain, there is someone out there that will remember it's name, I never knew it, so I don't remember it. The first day we were there we just walked, we had a map from a tourist kiosk or something, and it had 3d drawings of every tourist attraction placed on the map, we basically spent the day going from one to the other. This was one of them.

One of the few green places in the entire city, at least public green places. Cool memorial in the background, it had a plaque that was actually in English. We figured that the huge amounts of dogs all pooped on the sidewalk cause there were no parks for them to do it in, and then while enjoying this green stretch we found out lots of dogs use this one.

Cherie on a hill, overlooking a big section of Rome. Lots of buildings, it's a city ;)

Next I'll show the real good stuff, the pics of the old city, it'll be grand!!

2007-06-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

Venice

2007-06-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

OK, so it has been some time since I last posted. You think I am going to tell you what that was all about!? Venice was probably around the halfway point of our travels, we only had 5 more places to visit after this. We only spent one day here, that, I found, was enough to see most of the city. The best strategy is to get lost, don't take a map, just wander along the streets, over the canals and take a look at all the wares for sale. There is much to buy in this city, I find it sad, though, when an entire city's economy is based on tourists.

This is just one of the many markets throughout Venice. Not much to say about them, except they mostly focus on venetian glass or carnivale masks. I didn't buy any of that stuff.

This is Cherie on a canal bridge, one of the larger ones, at the end of our day of getting lost, before this we actually did get lost in the residential district which is on a peninsula not connected to the rest of the city by more than a few bridges.

Cherie took this great picture, pigeons love this city because it is like one massive town square. I think we only found one park in the whole place, there were pigeons there too.

Next we head off to Rome...

Cinque Terre

2007-05-19T23:18:00.001-07:00

So the location known as Cinque Terre is actually 5 small villages spread along a section of the northwestern coast of Italy. I think it was right above Pisa for people who know of that town. This is where the niceness truely began, our room was affordable and spacious, and the resturaunts were quite good, if you can get over the cover charges, we stopped tipping here because of that, good little Canadians being ever so polite until they add a 5 Euro charge to your bill for sitting in the empty place!! The gelato was good, though not as good or as cheap as New Zealand ice cream, oh I would nearly return just for that alone (to NZ I mean).

This is the view of the village we stayed in, Monterosso, it is the first, the largest, and has the best beaches of all the 5 villages. Before the villages attracted tourists they were only connected by a walking path that winds along the cliff above the coast. This picture was taken from there.

This is the next village over, I can't quite recall its name. We walked to it from Monterosso the second day. It turns out that the whole area, even some of the coastal waters, is a national park, we had to purchase a pass to go onthe walking trail, but we got a map!! It didn't have any distances listed though. Cherie wore flip-flops and had sore feet after the hour of hiking to this point so we took the train back.

I think this is the fourth village. A few days after we did the first hike we took the ferry all the way to the most southern village and walked all the way back to Monterosso. It was apparently just at the begining of fishing season and many of the locals were out painting their boats, it was neat.

If you like feet these are Cheries. Again I have been too lazy to change the format of many of my portrait style pictures so I only post the landscape ones. The water was still cold in April.

Next we go to Venice, it was good fun!

Genova

2007-05-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yup. We didn't much like Genova, some might say we never gave it a chance, some might say ... SHADDUP!

We ended up walking for a rather long time, after a rather stupid train ride (Italian trains are no candle makers to French ones) with rather large packs on. We most likely just turned down the wrong street and missed all the hostels and such, but we were tired, we ended up crashing at a hotel, a real hotel, the President Hotel.

This is the view from our window on the 8th floor, Genova has this old grungy look to it as you can see by these buildings

In the morning, after a great sleep in some very nice beds, Cherie straightened my hair. Brings back memories. After that we went downstairs for the full breakfast going on, I really enjoyed the scrambled eggs and ham, and pineapple juice and french moon shaped pastries, don't get me to try and spell it. We stole a bit of food for our hungry pocketses and were one our way, so glad to be rid of that place that we forgot to take a picture at the train station. Next destination Cinque Terre, hopefully better than this.

Nice

2007-05-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yup, as my eldest sister pointed out Nice is nice :p We were quite jealous of all the really beautiful beaches we whizzed past in the fast train, but we were sure Nice would be better. It was, kinda, the sand wasn't as fine as we were hoping, but you know what they say about the sand on the other side.

These are flowers, they were growing in a garden, the usual place for flowers this nice, I have to admit that I don't know what kind the yellow ones are, but I posted the pic because of the orange Gerberas in the background, for somebody who likes Gerberas especially.

Most of the beach where we had access was not sand at all but a flatrock like at Cultis Lake, I found it humourous (love the canadian spelling) that these 4 women were trying to soak up a little sun through all their ethnic clothing.

If any of you have been unfortunate enough to have seen the movie 'The Transporter', then you may recognize this location, it was near enough to the begining of the film that you were most likely still awake. There were many interesting individuals to be found here, those selling things and those just being themselves. It was a good place to walk and be freely entertained at the least.

Ok, off we go again, this time we say goodbye to France and head easterly into Italy, passports in hand. Next stop Genova!!

Marseilles

2007-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of Marseilles for your pleasant enjoyment, hopefully. I will try and not sound grumpy, or better yet I guess I will try to not be grumpy ;)

This is the view from our "hotel" room. The place was 2 (two) whole stars, I remember the sign had a spot for a third star, which was since removed, so it must have gone downhill some. I think Cherie liked shutters. We got the first good weather here, just don't walk behind any monuments, that is where people pee.

This is a picture of the harbour as viewed from the fort at the entrance to the port, it rhymed. There are many sailboats docked as you can see, too bad the weather wasn't the greatest this day. The fort was cool, you could see cannonball marks in the walls.

Here we are IN the "hotel" room, there was a stain on the wall by the light fixture, and the bed was kinda squishy, but we had TV. I watched curling for a few hours, please someone, put out my eyes with a burning stick that isn't quite hot enough to do it's job in one go.

I'm not sure what sort of breed of doggie this is, we saw a few like this in our travels, so that seems to point to a real breed as opposed to a generic mutt. He was really lazy, but I'm sure had his owners, also the owners of the grocery store he sat in front of, yelled whatever the french word for 'thief' is he would have sprung into action with a deadly, slobbery, clumsy grace.

Ok, so now we are leaving, off to Nice, which will be the next picture set, maybe tomorrow. These trains in France were very nice, and also very fast.

Ok, for Heidi

2007-05-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me, and the gross stuff that started growing on my face after I stopped caring about life. I bought a sword, and that cheered me up for about 5 minutes, and then 5 more minutes when I took it out the box, and another 5 minutes when I cleaned it at home. It is big.

I'm back. What?! I was gone?

2007-05-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am happy to say I am back, I am indeed happy to be back. It almost feels too much like I never left though. There are some thing I may have wished to have changed, and some things that I may have wished to stay the same. What is is.

Ok, nobody wants to read what I am typing, so I'll get on to what people want, pictures.

This is me an my sis at the train station going to the airport to catch our flight to Beauvais, which it turns out is over an hour away from Paris itself. Fun times.

Notre Dame. Yup, gotta love the rain, we went inside, but it wasn't that conducive to taking good pictures. I am not really a fan of this type of church anyway, something to do with the word excess.

This is the Eiffel Tower, the only horizontal picture of it that I took. The vertical ones haven't been formatted properly yet, I don't really care if you were to strain you neck looking at them, I just have an excuse now for being lazy.

Le Arc De Triumph. We went up this one. A dude somewhere told us the lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower was busted so we didn't bother Q-ing for it. This one was fine for me.

Ok so that is Paris, not much, but I've been there and it is likely that you have not, so suck it. Maybe next time I'll do a bit of Marseilles.

2007-03-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

A picture, cause my sis wanted one. This is a Lionfish, it lives in water and eats things that also live in water or that have fallen into the water where it lives. I took this picture at the Vancouver Aquarium.

This is another picture, taa daa! This is a picture of a turtle, it is a silly turtle, it was moving too fast for me to take a picture. I am the slowest picture taker in the world apparently, but I guess I can't be good at everything. This was also taken at the Vancouver Aquarium. I had lots of fun there.

This is Kotei Season

2007-03-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

It is here, it is early this year, it has been here for a while now. I was looking through my deck today, picking out cards that need to be replaced, and proxies of cards that I need to get, good luck. This is my first Kotei playing my true Clan, the Phoenix. Last year in Vancouver I played the Mantis Clan, and this year in Seattle I played the Shadowlands.

I started playing L5R back in Diamond Edition, a few sets in. Aaron and I looked at all the starters left in the display box, and he chose the Dragon Clan, the one I wanted, so I took the Phoenix Clan. They were similar enough for me to be intrigued by both. The Dragon are the enigmatic mystics that live at the top of a mountain and speak in riddles. The Phoenix are their neighbours, pacifists governed by an Elemental Counsel instead of a Champion. What really drew me into the clan was the awesome destructive power of their many spells, especially Kuro's Fire! I could sit back and gain honour every turn and never attack, simply wait for my opponents to come to me, then, Wham! You all burn. It was great fun.

Now it nears the end of the Lotus Edition, and begins with the new Samurai Edition. Things are stirring in Rokugan, the Emporer is dead and the Khan, Moto Chagatai, Champion of the Unicorn Clan, seeks the throne for himself. If you didn't know already, L5R is an interactive storyline CCG, we, the players, have a say in the future of our environment through the choices we make when playing tournaments, participating in the RPG, and interacting with the worldwide community of players. It is very unlikely that I will have any direct say in the choices made at this years Kotei here in Vancouver, I hope to win some games though, and merely watching the movers and shakers decide characters fates is exhilarating. Last year Patrick was runner up with the Unicorn Clan, Bryan Reese won, but since Pat conceded the final game he let him choose the story prize. The Unicorn Clan had already enlightened 3 personalities for that half of the season so he was allowed to choose a member of another clan to become enlightened, he chose Isawa Sawao of the Phoenix. Thanks Pat!

If by chance I win this year, out of all the options I have to choose from, land, influence, opposing the Khans bid for the throne, and supporting his bid, I will most assuredly choose to support the Khan, to repay the favor Pat showed to my clan. But I'm sucks, so I will not have that choice.

I just finished a 1lb bag of licorice, so I must rest.

The busy life of me, and the knights who say...

2007-03-06T23:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, nope, no fiction this time, has bee a month and more since my last post. Sheesh time flies when you are having fun. Speaking of fun, my life has been a whirlwind these past two months, new friendships being the most exciting, and I am going to visit my little sis in Scotland and travel Europe with her. She is a poor missionary so we will go budget. Got my ticket already, I leave on the 26th of March come back on the 4th of May, yay! I think this time away will be very good for me and people here as well, time to relax and get thoughts in order before making and huge decisions. One of which is whether I will return to school this fall. I am seriously contemplating taking courses to give me an avenue into Forestry/B.C. Parks stuff. I want to be a forest ranger, I already have the pin that says "Ranger" from my dad when he was a leader in Boys Brigade. Plus Aragorn was a ranger and he is cool. But seriously, I took the advice of my friend Mark to heart, he was talking about how Gods will is hard to grasp sometimes, and all that we are left to do is move forward until he closes windows to direct our path. After he said it like that I remembered a speaker in Capernwray talking about it in a similar fashion, that it was like a plane in the old days that would fly in silence listening for radio signals, if it heard the signal that meant it was off course, so it would adjust accordingly. As long as it flew between the two signals, in silence, it was on the right path. So we will see what He has to say about this plan of mine, I just don't want to get so caught up in it that I will miss the signal.

In other news I went to the Vancouver Aquarium on Saturday. I have just bought a new digital camera for my trip and took it on a test run. A Panasonic DMC-TZ1, only 10 pictures between my weenie memory card and the internal memory, I'll have to learn how to post them here, some of them at least. I also bought a new scent of deoderant by Old Spice, I've always been an Old Spice guy, and I saw this add, it's really a stupid add, but I went in and looked for the scent shown, it was more expensive than the others, and kinda reminded me of Axe or Tag or some other stupid crap that young punks would buy, it's called "Showtime", lame. But if it helps me with the ladies... boo-ya! Naw, I don't think I need it, I'm sitting pretty right now, the opinions that I care about have been expressive of this kind of sentiment: Jerk, Arrogant, Huge Ego, Smart Alec, and Strange. All in all par for my life.

My RPG is also going smoothly, just starting to get the characters drawn into the main plot of it, after over a year. Taught them a new lesson as well, talk to people, they didn't learn it right away, and paid for it.

Anyway ta ta for now

A Dream

2007-01-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

The other night I had a dream. You know those dreams that are really vivid and seem so real while you are in them, that when you wake up you look around and for a split second wonder where you are? This dream was more vivid, not so much in colours and sounds, but in its theme.

I know who was there, where we were (and unlike other dreams this one has not faded in my mind), I know who wasn't there, and I know I was there and why I was there. It was a place from the past, with friends from the past, yet it was current. They say scent is the strongest sense tied to memory, maybe, there were familiar scents too. Now I say it was current, but not completely, the guys who are married didn't have their wives with them, nor the girls have their husbands. I was the center of attention, it was like a forum, everyone weighed in on the topic of me, I just watched. It was no ego boosting dream by a long stretch, but I feel different somehow now, as if it really happened. I think it was an answer to a prayer I have been praying for a long time, and one that I finally now let God deal with.

I've had a request for more about Aghar the Dwarf, so in the future I hope to continue part 3 of ?. Please post so I know my work is not in vain, it is sometimes discouraging to do all that work without anyone ever seeing it.

Allegory

2007-01-04T22:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's all made of cheese, pure geek brand cheese.

Hello, I'm 7 years old. My mother set a play-date with a person from my class at school, I don't know him all that well. When he came over I asked him what he wanted to play, and I showed him all my Lego, my board games, my video games and most of my toys. But instead of wanting to do any of that he reached under my bed and pulled out a worn and dusty box. There is nothing particularly special about the box, it is the original packaging for what is inside, but it is far from mint. Inside is a Landspeeder, it is also far from mint, it has scuffs and some of the decals are peeling. It is no Millennium Falcon or Slave I, but it is mine and it has special meaning to me. I put it in the box and stuck the box under my bed to keep it safe. Now, do I stop my new friend from playing with it outright, or do I trust my new friend to be gentle with it and not throw it off the sundeck?

Goro, Monk of Osano-Wo

2006-10-26T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is the short backstory I wrote for the GM of the new L5R rpg that I am participating in. So far so good, but it seems to have one problem in common with the DnD group I just got out of, the characters can't get along or see eye to eye, and that is a strange thing in Rokugan where behaviour is dictated by liege lords and bushido.

From the beginning... This is not what is known to me, but what in actuality occurred before the story of my life truly began. It starts with a man, alone in the world, by his own will or the whims of the fortunes that spin mortals fates... Matsu Arihiro; troubled, tortured, broken, a Deathseeker, such examples of a samurai are best left to the back shelves forgotten, remembered only for the deeds they accomplished at their end and not their indiscretion in life. I was a reminder of such indiscretions, a product of barbarism forgotten by all but those closest to my mother. Oh, they wished that they too could forget, and so they abandoned her, my mother, to find her way on her own, without family, without clan, without dignity, as peasant filth.

She was unable to escape the perils of the wild world for long, my rescuer arrived long after her screams had faded into the night. Of my life preceding this event I was told little except that I did not cry out, even as a babe. I responded to sound, so they knew I was not deaf, but it was assumed I was a mute, until my 7th birthday. By then I had a name, simple, like the names given to all the monks raised by my temple. My view of the world was shaped by my surroundings, the aged men devoting hours to meditation and physical perfection, the strict guidelines, the peaceful order of the place. What I knew of samurai were from the few visits my temple received from the local magistrates, and the stories told at night under the starry sky, by monks who vaguely claimed to once have lived among them in some other life.

Long years passed, my elders grew older and passed on, their wisdom sometimes fading from the mortal realm, sometimes passed on to another keen mind in the following generation. My training progressed as it always had, with the proficiency of my masters and teachers. It was not a mystery to me why men devoted to such peaceful existence pursued such violent martial arts, I assisted in many battles, minor skirmishes compared to the wars being fought amongst the great clans, but deadly nonetheless. Instead of fighting for rights to tax border villages, or for honour, or for the Emperors favour, I fought for the peasants right to live, to drive away pillaging bandits preying on the weak, and, whenever such evil arose, against the shadow of the taint that crept into the hearts of our land. The Fortune of Fire and Thunder, great Osano-Wo, cares as much for the common man as he does for the valiant samurai in their lacquered armour.

I had trained with the best and most revered masters of our sect, even studying for years at our largest temple outside the Shinomen forest. My hard work and dedication to Osano-Wo brought me great rewards, I was appointed to head a new temple in a remote village on the borders of the scorpion lands. The village was known to its inhabitants and neighbours as Old Tree Village, or Furui-Ki-mura, because it centered on an ancient cherry tree planted many generations ago by a wandering monk, or so it was told. I selected my most diligent and promising student, Ichigo, and together we traveled across the empire to the site of our new temple. The reason we were assigned to start a temple in such a remote village was because we had been petitioned by the village headman after a great lightning storm had passed over the region. All the surrounding villages had been damaged greatly during the storm, but the only damage Furui-Ki-mura had sustained was a single lightning strike to the ancient cherry tree. The tree dropped a large branch that the villagers decide to use as a cross-piece for a torii, the gateway to a shrine. Given the nature of the storm it was felt that it was only appropriate to devote the new shrine to Osano-wo. This coincided with a dream an aged monk at our temple had, and it was decided to construct a temple on the site.

When we arrived at Furui-Ki-mura construction on the temple was well under way, the villagers had cut back on the time they spent in the fields to finish the temple in time for our arrival. When the time came to erect the torii on the path to the temple many villagers from the surrounding region had gathered to watch the momentous event. It was remarkable how much work had been done in such little time, and in the end it turned out that the rice harvest was the greatest in many years, signifying Osano-Wo's favour. The temple was small, and barely had room for Ichigo and I, but for the next five years I found the most peace and contentedness I had ever known. The villagers still worshipped regularly at the shrine to Inari and enjoyed the bounty brought to them by the fortunes, there were few problems during those years.

I had gone to a neighbouring village to check up on a sick child that none of the healers could mend, and on the return trip was confronted by a furious storm. Lightning flashed all around me and thunder echoed through the hills. The suddenness with which it had started awed me. I had no fear, however, I was a monk of Osano-Wo, the fortune I served watched out for his followers, this most likely was an omen, a warning or foretelling I was not sure. The ferocity of the storm spurred me on, though I was not concerned for my safety nor my dryness, I began to get a feeling of dread that only grew as I neared Furui-Ki-mura. Darkness covered the land, but I didn't light my lantern for the raging wind would blow it out immediately, and the constant lightning strikes illuminated the path enough for me to navigate. I came to a portion of the path that was washed out and was forced to march the long way around, but by the time I reached the edges of Furui-Ki-mura the storm had moved on. Moisture hung in the air and I could still feel the electricity and hear the thunder as the it receded. Water covered the packed ground of the path, shimmering in the moonlight newly revealed by the quick moving clouds. I lit my lantern and headed toward the darkened huts on the edge of the village, all was silent except for the distant thunder and a small sound closer to me, the sound of a crying babe. I looked down at the ground again, at the pools of water at my feet, and the rivulets feeding them. They glistened red.

I rushed through the village, slipping in the mud, toward the temple. All around me lay the dead bodies of the innocent villagers, sprawled in heaps where they were cut down, defenseless. When I reached the torii I paused, taking in the gruesome sight before me, tears of rage and pride welling up in my eyes. There lay Ichigo, his breathing shallow, surrounded on three sides by the bodies of his assailants. There were five dead bandits at his feet, their arms and legs twisted and broken from his savage blows, weapons grasped in chilling hands. There was a broken katana lying on the ground, its hilt clutched by a bandit with his head caved in, there were multiple gashes in Ichigo's chest, and two stab wounds in his gut, a yari still protruded from one. I kicked the dead bodies aside and moved to cradle Ichigos head in my arms to try and relieve the pain of his last moments, he tried to speak but coughed up blood instead. I wanted to tell him that all would be alright, but he wouldn't let me, he tried to speak again, but only one word left his lips before his eyes fluttered and he was gone.

I located most of the villagers in the temple , while Ichigo had held off the attackers he had bought time for many of the helpless villagers to hide, and apparently the bandits had fled after confronting such a foe. The reports were sketchy at best, it appeared that the bandits had come in the late evening, quickly killing many of the men by stealth in the fields before they returned home. The rest of the villagers had been rounded up in the center square under the cherry tree, and the bandits demanded all their rice and money, killing the headman when he refused to give in. Some of the men tried to resist and overpower their attackers, but it was ill fated, only when Ichigo emerged from meditation and heard the fighting over the storm did the tides start to turn, but then for many it was too late. The one detail that all could agree upon was the hideous look of the bandits leader, a large man towering over the others, with a jagged red scar running across his face, twisting his mouth into an awful grimace. With that information in mind I left Furui-Ki-mura in search of a trail long washed away by the rain.

One word cycled through my mind....

...

...

VENGEANCE.

Killed the Party!!!

2006-10-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

Killing the party is not always the best thing, some GMs have it out for the party from the get go, always looking for weak spots and testing the players. But I like to have adventures that everyone can enjoy without always looking over their shoulders. My mistake. My players have gotten sloppy, or maybe I never realized they were always sloppy, either way I had to teach them some basic lessons about dungeoneering and adventuring, and what better way to learn than through personal experience.

Lesson 1:
Don't touch the shiny thing til you know it's safe, and don't put it on until you know what it does.
I covered the second part of this basic tidbit of common sense, the first part I hope will not have to be taught after this.
The previous session the party had 'assisted' Firesh(the fire god Ignus's servant in the mortal realm) in slaying a swarm of Windwing Drakes, Firesh did most of the killing and took most of the hits. Firesh left, without them asking him any questions(a lesson for another day), and they entered the drakes lair. Without checking the surrounding cavern the party dove into splitting up the loot. I had been pretty frugal with treasure up until this point, mostly because the treasure chest tables and complete lists of 'things' were not finished. There was a lot of good stuff in the horde, a couple shields, some armour, a few accessories, and a lot of gil. They methodically went through everything and split it up, then went to the treasure chests and had a bit of fun there. Among the loot was a bronze bangle, the player who found it immediately put it on so that the other players wouldn't claim it. At that moment an ogre appeared in the cave, at least that is what it looked like to the rest of the party, who, as intelligent creatures, ran away. Craedon, the Gigantos character who put the bangle on saw his friends fleeing and quickly followed, as did the ogre. There was a little bit of running back and forth before the players decided to make a stand against the foul beast, and if one of the players wouldn't have rolled a 1 on their damage die the ogre/Craedon would have died. After seeing his friend attack him for real he screamed out, causing a bit of confusion and ultimately resolving the mistake and taking off the bangle, which ended the illusion.
It was difficult to pull off, but in the end everyone had a good laugh about it.

Lesson 2:
Don't run toward the treasure before first checking the room for danger.
I have tried to teach this one before with trap doors and the like, but I have never been so ruthless, I hope that is the key.
After returning to the cavern and collecting the horde, Kato a moomba character noticed a discrepancy in the cavern wall(an illusion placed there by Firesh to keep them out of the dangerous caverns beyond). But the moombas night vision and a high perception roll identified it. Together the party pushed through (at least they don't wander off alone anymore) and came to a joining cavern with a small pool fed by trickling water, and stalactites and stalagmites, and large mushrooms growing around the edges. The cavern continued into another passageway and Craedon noticed a shiny box in the torch-light. As usual he ran straight for it to claim it as his own, disturbing the mushrooms as he passed, awakening them from their slumber.
Now, in the videogame Fungars are not the most deadly monster to face, but when you look at it tactically, being able to put characters to sleep and poison them in one action is pretty deadly. I modified them for the P&P game, because of the grid they had a definite drawback for movement and range, spores can't float very fast, and inflicting 2 status ailments with one action could only be balanced 2 ways; 1 lowering the success rate, or 2 separating it into two actions. I chose the latter, here is the selection for the Fungar, the party faced 4 in total.

Fungar - Type: Plant/Fungi
Level 6

HP: 220 - MP: 30 - TN: 12 - Move: 2 - Jump: Na - Ini: 11
Str: 7 - Int: 11 - DmgR: 20 - M-DmgR: 30

Accuracy: 4k3
Evasion: 4k3
Perception: 4k3
Spellcasting: 4k4

Exp: 70 - AP: 4 - Gil: 50 - Drop: Sleep Powder- 15%
-Immune: [I]-Elem, Root, Sleep, Stun, Zombie.
-Weak: [F]-Elem- 50%, [A]-Elem- 20%.
-Poison Spores, Action: Radius 3. 40% chance to cause Poison. 4 Ticks.
-Sleep Spores, Action: Radius 3. 50% chance to cause Sleep. 4 Ticks.
-Bite, Attack: 2d4 ATT. 20% chance to cause Drain. 5 Ticks.
-Flame, Spell: [F]-Elem. 2d6 ATT. CC 8 Ticks. Cost 10 MP. 14 TN.
-Expel, Response: When this creature is Ko'd it disperses all it's spores at Radius +1 and +10% chance to cause Poison and Sleep. 45% chance of success.

Two of the characters, Kato and Craedon, died right away, the other two, Kenji and Wawlimus survived until the sleep wore off, they made a few strategic errors so I was nice to them, but in the end it was Kenji alone and asleep, I let him get away and he pulled it out and saved his friends. The encounter was designed to kill them, and it succeeded, whether they learned anything or not is yet to be seen. Hopefully it was more educational than tedious for them.

The next lessons they need to learn are to talk to people and to not trust everything everyone says. It is hard to punish the absence of action, but a few sessions of wandering around aimlessly might make them a bit more cooperative.

Death and Rebirth, the cycle of the Phoenix

2006-09-28T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hey again, I am here, and I haven't died and been reborn. I am just referencing the lack of survivable RPGs locally. I have kinda called it quits with the one DnD group that I was a part of, the DM completely sucked and I had better things to do with one of my two evenings off a week. The WarHammer RPG has also been officially pronounced dead, we haven't played in like 2 1/2 months due to incrongruous schedules and various priority complications with the Vanguard. The original L5R RPG has not finished the campaign it left off 8 months ago, and the second one never got off the ground at all. Mine is still chugging along though, got a new player to replace the one that moved away. This one has actually played a number of Final Fantasy games, the older ones in fact, yay!

One of my other players has nearly finished his own RPG, it looks to be very interesting to say the least. It's not based on anything that you know of, completely original, even the mechanics are original. I love the style, it seems to be kinda a midieval version of Star Wars's Empire crossed with the Roman Empire, but without the jedi knights or an organized rebellion. Basically the entire world has been dominated by humans, who appeared and did this after the firstborn races defied god and "fell". The bits of rebellion are basically disgruntled elves that have hurt feelings. It will be very interesting to see how he tells it, conflict of some sort is usually the driving factor for most RPG stories, but there is not much conflict to be had, even within the empire, interesting indeed.

And finally Aaron is starting up another L5R RPG, this time it will be on Wednesday nights to avoid conflicts with Vanguard attendance. I am going to be playing my aged lecherous monk of Osano-Wo character I made for the second game that never took off. The group is supposed to be all ronin, and my monk fits in with that, I think it will be a very harrowing experience for him. I was reading in the GMs guide to Rokugan, and ronin have it very hard, sometimes they are even considered lower than eta. I think I might have to take a diplomatic role in the party in order to keep them alive.

I'm also trying to develop a card game in my spare-spare time. Think a combination of Pokemon, Star Trek, and Full Metal Alchemist. Of course it is based on Final Fantasy, # VII actually.
-Goal: like Star Trek, gain 100 points by finishing quests.
-Costing: like FMA, the leader of the party determines what is playable on a given turn.
-Quests: instead of dilemmas like Star Trek your 3 person adventure party will face monsters based on the pokemon template. Once all monsters are defeated active characters use printed "skills" to overcome the Quest and gain the points.
-Decks: two decks, one playing deck 40-50 cards, one monster deck 30 cards exactly.
I based it on FF7 cause it has been the most popular game of the series by far and it has a huge supporting cast: Turks, Avalanche, Shinra, Sephiroth, and the Heros, all with given leaders and various skill sets. Later expansions could focus more on other games in the series, especially FF6 and FF4. I think if I was getting paid to do it I could make one kick awesome game! Please don't steal this idea and make money off of it!

That has been my gaming life so far, real life has been harder/more boring. I am being trained as a back-up reciever at work, and I don't get too much time to gain experience. I had 2 2 hour training sessions before I was sent in alone. The one good thing is that I am getting more hours, so far, doesn't look like it will continue past the training though. I might have to apply at the HoJ anyway. It's all dependant on the hours they give me at my current job.

I'm still here

2006-09-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Don't worry. I'm sure you haven't. Anyway, for the amount of time I spend on the computer it is amazing how long I can go without updating my blog. So here it is.
I have been really quite busy. Breakaway Comics, where I used to work, closed, boo. I moved to my friends Daves basement, yay! I like wagon wheels. I have started running FF RPG again, this time every other week. I am in a DnD playgroup every other week as well. On Tuesdays I still try to get out to Pats for the L5R, but it is really competitive. I really have been enjoying those few days when we can get together and play WarHammer though. My budget has been slashed now that I am down to one job, but I am a cheap menno so it works. I'm still saving money to go traveling in the spring, Europe with my lil sister who is already in Scotland. I have to finalize an itinerary. I can't wait til Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 comes out on the 19th, I like it more than Lost, but I have yet to see any of season 2 for that. Right now most of my time is still spent on working on FF RPG, there is a whole lot that needs to be done from a story design pov, I have only finalized one race so far, the others are constantly changing to accommodate various story twists that I think are cool. I decided to start from the beginning, or the top, whichever you prefer, and I am working on Deities, there are 24 in total. I still haven't figured out 1 of the 4 base classes yet, Chemist, they mix things, and I haven't finished/barely started 'things'. So since 'things' are the primary focus for the entire class I have had to block it from my players. I took out the Burmecian race after I realized they were rat people not lizard people, and I added Bangaa, which are definitely lizard people. So anyway, I hope you enjoy reading a bunch of individual thoughts without much cohesion, that is what it is here from now on. Well, I may, if I have the time, write a few more stories.

Tale of Aghar the Dwarf. Part 2 of ?

2006-07-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

For three days Aghar walked, eyes staring blankly ahead and slightly down. Had anyone took notice enough to look at his face they would have seen two peculiar lines running from his eyes through the grime on his face down into his beard. He stopped only once when exhaustion took him, and he ate not at all.

Though he was not aware of it himself he was slowly moving south through the myriad tunnels that made up his dwarven home of Karak Hirn, and on that third day he approached a large gate. He was oblivious to the fresh air blowing in his face from that opening, to the new smells it brought with it, even to the bustle of merchant carts and wagon trains belonging to humans going out and Dwarves coming in. Had it not been so busy he would have surely been stopped and questioned and perhaps would have returned to himself, for a dwarf with a large blood encrusted warhammer heading alone out the great gates into the darkening outer world was not a common sight. But he just kept on walking, through the gates and down the road toward the plains of Grekara.

For a while he walked beside various merchants on their mule drawn carts, but their pace was one he could not, nor even attempted to, match. They knew that when darkness fully descended they wanted to be safe within the protected walls of Shelterspring. The same knowledge was buried somewhere deep within Aghar as well, but he did not remember. So he plodded slowly onward, staying on the path only because it offered less resistance than the open plain. Then darkness fell and Aghars staring gaze could no longer take in the sight of the road, though his feet continued to propel him forward.

The only sounds in the cool night were the rustling of the wind in the grass accompanied by an unsteady beat of dwarven feet as Aghar staggered over the barren and rocky landscape. Soon his feet found their way easier, moving steadily downhill. His pace quickened and he skidded against a large sharp rock. Then the ground gave way in a series of drops that had the warhammer on Aghars shoulder bouncing up and down, and then the ground disappeared from under his feet altogether. The wind still whistled through the grass and around scattered boulders, it was no longer joined by the thump of feet but by the sound of loose scrag rolling downhill after a larger, softer lump of a dwarf bouncing off of boulders. The first thing Aghar had actively registered in his mind in three days was a sharp pain in the side of his head, and the starry blackness was replaced by blackness alone.

Aghar opened his eyes and immediately closed them again, stifling a low groan. When he opened his eyes again he saw his feet and above them the grey of a twilight sky. He was head down near the bottom of a gully, stopped short by a very large rock. He closed his eyes again to ward off the throbbing pain in his temple, and then he heard it. A chittering sound was coming from off to his right, it sounded somewhat intelligent, and it sounded like it didn't belong to one creature alone. He opened his eyes again and turned his head slightly to locate the source of the noise.

Tale of Aghar the Dwarf. Part 1 of ?

2006-06-29T02:31:00.000-07:00

This is a little story that I just wrote as a backstory for my Rat-catcher character in the WarHammer RPG, how many more parts there will be is completely dependent on what the GM needs. So yeah, it could be stand alone, or it could turn into a series, if a series it does become, I think it will focus primarily on the main events of this young dwarfs life.

Enjoy.

The illustrious tale of Aghar the Dwarf

Aghar was born the first son of Firenminson, a sewer-scraper in Karak Hirn. They lived on the outskirts of the great dwarven stronghold among the other less glorious dwarves. Aghars father hadn't always been a sewer-scraper, there was a time in his long life, so he said, when he was as ballsy a soldier as could be found in all the marshaled forces of the Bandag clan. Aghar never knew the cause for his fathers fall from glory, he never asked, or maybe he did and his father never said, or maybe he did and Aghar just forgot. In any case Aghar grew up among other less fortunate dwarven children with little knowledge of the world outside the alleys an sewers of Karak Hirn.

One day when Aghar was about 22 years of age his neighbourhood was invaded by the shining and clanking forms of the Bandag clan recruitment officers. The sight of all the finely armoured warriors and muscle-bound tattooed berserkers was enough itself to send Aghar into a faint, his mind reeling with shiny new ideas. And as soon as the priest began recalling stories of the heroics and great deeds done by famous dwarven forefathers nothing could budge Aghar from his spot listening to the tales for days. Indeed it was days until someone told him he was eligible to sign up for the military and his eyes glazed over in wonder. It didn't take him long to build up the courage to approach the recruitment tents set up in the small market square, for courage and idiocy are sometimes synonyms, and in Aghars case he was filled to the brim.

As Aghar prepared to take some rudimentary reflexes and skills tests he grinned and looked around at the crowd. Off at the edge he noticed that his father stood watching, a proud look on his dirty face. Aghar grinned even wider, his short beard bristling oddly, and gripped the wooden practice mallet. What followed cannot be blamed solely on Aghar,it could be said his father never took an interest in teaching him the basics of armed combat, or also that he may have tapped into a latent berserker ability and went with what was most familiar to him. Regardless of the cause, a young dwarf flailing wildly with his fists and foaming at the mouth opposing a seasoned sergeant quickly makes himself a fool in the eyes of all present. "He has enthusiasm, and the cleanliness of our sewers shall be eternal proof of that." said the head recruitment officer.

It was a few days until the swelling in his eyes receded enough that he could make his way home, and when he arrived he found his father home, drinking heavily. For the next few weeks he got used to the presence of his drunken father in the home when he should have been out at work. To give Firenminson credit he never took out his disappointment on his son or his wife. Instead, he took down his old warhammer from its place above the small mantle and in drunken rages would sometimes pound great holes in the walls of the house until he passed out. Aghar simply adjusted to the change in environment and stayed out of the house more often, he felt some sense of guilt that his fathers behavior may have been linked to him, but the reality of the situation never really sank in.

A few weeks later as Aghar was leaving the house his mother called to him to go down to the well and fetch some water because his father was suffering from fever. He took the clay jug and headed off to the nearest well. On the way, however, he noticed a strange looking lizard clinging to the tunnel wall. In the last few weeks or so Aghar had gotten used to hanging out by himself and finding things to occupy his time since nearly all the young dwarves his age had left with the recruitment officers. So when he saw this lizard he wanted to catch it so it'd keep him company, he tried, and it moved further up the wall, but he was persistent and spent the next three hours on his lizard hunt. In the end he finally caught it by throwing a fist sized rock at it's head. No longer able to provide companionship Aghar stuffed the dead reptile into his trouser pocket and looked around. He had no idea where he was, and he was hungry. So he went about finding himself some grub, it wasn't as easy here, where the city pathways were kept clear of refuse and merchants were very watchful when he came by, but eventually he found some food and settled in the corner of an ally to feast.

After eating he fell asleep and only woke to raging alarm bells and the rushing quake of many booted feet. Getting up and moving to the end of his ally he observed dozens of groups of dwarven warriors rushing in one direction. He automatically moved to follow, still holding on to the clay water jug his mother had given him that morning. Though he tried to keep up, the warriors were much better trained and prepared than he, and soon outdistanced him. Aghar, not one to lose focus of something so fantastic so easily, kept up his pace as best he could. After about an hour he arrived at a scene of a recent battle. The injured were having their wounds tended to and there were groups taking care of the dwarven dead scattered throughout the bloody streets, but the majority of corpses belonged to creatures that Aghar had never seen or imagined in his life. They looked like scrawny dwarves, bent and twisted with black fur covering their bodies, gnarled fists and feet with sharp claws clutching at wicked hooked weapons, and horrific faces, like giant rats. Beady eyes stared unblinking at him from all directions and he thought he was going to be sick. He looked away from the battlefield and noticed that he recognized these buildings, he was near his house, very near.

Wanting to get away from the gruesome carnage before him, Aghar ran down the street toward his home. The situation was similar there, fewer dead creatures, and even fewer dead dwarven warriors, but many dead dwarves. He looked to his house, there was a pile of dead creatures in a pile in front of his door, and what appeared to be a dwarf trapped underneath. He rushed over and began hauling bodies off the dwarf, when he had exposed it he knew immediately that his father was dead. Bloody gashes crossed his face, and his jaw was almost removed, there was also a heavy barbed dart protruding from his belly. In his hands were the broken neck of a gut-rot bottle and his old warhammer, covered in dark blood. Aghar started to shed tears, and then looked farther into the dark and quiet house through the doorway where he stood. His mother was also disemboweled, lying amongst broken chairs with a large kitchen knife in her fist and a dead creature next to her on the floor.

Aghar turned away, tears now streaming down his face as he retrieved the warhammer from his fathers cold grasp. He stood up still weeping and hefted he hammer over his shoulder as he walked away down the street.

Final Fantasy Journal 4

2006-06-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

Tali-ho,
It has been forever and more since I posted here. I have started a Yahoo group for the RPG guys to discuss stuff, and all of them are too lazy to read anything I write anyway. So this will probably be the last post for another long while. Mostly since the group has stopped playing right now, 8 players is a bit too much, even when they don't all make every week, and every week is a bit to often to plan a 6 person session.

I am also participating as a player in 3 other RPG's. A group of 'Magic: The Gathering CCG' players that I know from work has started a DnD campaign that meets about once a month, I'm a Half-Elf Wizard that will eventually cross-class to a Monk. Exciting. Then there is the WarHammer RPG, it's in lieu of Pat's L5R rpg that slowed down during kotei season, I'm a Dwaf Rat-catcher named Aghar (10 points if you understand that one) with only 23/100 Intelligence, I actually chose to be a rat-catcher. Lastly there is nother group of L5R guys that has started a RPG, I'm a Monk of Osano-Wo named Goro in that one, was thinking about being a Kenku (crow-person), but the GMs character is a Naga (snake-person) and would probably eat me.

So yeah, pretty busy lately. My first day off in three and a half weeks this Saturday, and guess what I'm doing? L5R rpg in the afternoon, and DnD in the evening! True to form I am The Geek.

Now on to what you have all been waiting for........ ::Looks around empty storage closet:: .......... The continued adventures of our ever-expanding Final Fantasy Party, I guess it is kinda staying true to FFVI.

Players

Telemic Rhade- Ronso Warrior- played by Nate.
Terissa Ju'nai- Human Rogue- also played by Nate.
Wawlimus Purtuk- Ronso Warrior- played by John.
Zaragos- Ronso Rogue- played by Brad.
Kenji- Human Warrior- played by Jeremy.
Ruggar- Moomba Rogue- played by Ferris.
????- Moogle Chemist- played by Aaron.
Rei- Were-Tiger Rogue-played by Mitch.
Morgoroth- Wood Elf Warrior- played by Chris.
Lorana- Wood Elf Archer- played by my lil sis, and later by me.

Ok, too many.

When we last left our insepid adventurers they had just wiped out a cluster of Imps and were resting, recovering their wind and allowing the imps plenty of time to organize, which doesn't say much.

The party just decides to charge straight up the middle, the imps camp is nestled in between two ridges that project from the skirt of a large grouping of mountains. As they move slightly up hill the remaining imps flee before them, squealing cries of fright before the bloodied blades of the heros. The hills close in on either side and then suddenly widen out agian, revealing the bulk of the imp encampment.

To the left Ruggar notices a large wooden cage containing three figures, but the rest of the party pays it no mind and charge the nearest group of disorganized imps, still wondering what the cry of alarm meant. Blood flies forth, imps, dead from the first stroke, fall to the bloodsoaked ground in peices. But again the party has a difficult time dealing with the Nakks that leap for their throats.

Meanwhile in the cage a Moogle, Human, and weretiger struggle to break free and join the fight, the Moogle tries to give out a telepathic cry for assistance, but the fighters are so enraged none heed it.

Telemic breaks free of the Nakks and charges forward again, seeking new foes. He is met then by better armed and armoured imps, the champions normally held in reserve. Three of the brutes engage him while another three charge past to engage his allies, trailing more Nakks. The fighting is severe, and the arrival of the Imp Champions encourages the remaining imps to turn back to the fight.

Frustrated beyond belief at the stupidity he sees before him, Rei struggles at the bars of the cage, trying to make his way into the fight. After some straining and use of his weretiger power he breaks the cage door off and slips away to find his weapons. They are located in a nearby tent and he brings the ones belonging to the Moogle and Terissa out to them. The Moogle grabs his trident and flies off into battle mixing a big banger on the way, and Terissa follows close behind with her bow.

Telemic, having dispatched two impa champions on his own moves to the third, but a few lucky blows from the imps club stun him, and a vicious lunge from a Nakk tears out his throat. He collapses to the ground just as Kenji moves up beside him to kill the Nakk. The other party members then finish off the remaining champion and the last straggling imps and look to their fallen comrade. Kenji reaches down and takes his katana, tucking into his belt, and walks away. Rei meanwhile has been slipping silently along the side of the camp and plans to take the imps unawares from the rear.

Having no time to bury their fallen friend the rest of the party follows Kenji, while the moogle and Terissa seek some privacy/treasure in a tent. Approaching the end of the camp and nearing the high mountains the party sees a terrible battle standard stuck into the ground, it is not scary, just terribly made, as if by a child with only two colors of paint, rust and brown. Before this standard, glaring menacingly at them in hideosly mismatched armour, is a fat, slobbery coal skinned imp. To his sides are at least 15 cowering imps wielding crude weapons and rocks.

And of course the group charges straight up the middle, cutting a path through the imp fodder to the main badguy. Every time an attack would hit him, however, he grabs one of the other imps to act as a shield, but soon after the battle starts he notices his supply of imp-shields is running low, and looks of to the side. There, with his weapons spinning in his hands stands Rei, methodically slaying imps with quick jabs to the throat eyeholes, earholes, noses etc. Soon the Imp Cheiftan is forced to fight fairly, and though it is a long and difficult fight, when the imp has fallen, all the party members still stand.

They then proceed to search the area for any treasure, don't find much except for a strangely well crafted signet ring on the fat imps finger, Ruggar is determined to wear the imps dilapitated armour, and strips the stinking body. While everone is busy talking and looting what isn't nailed down, the imp chieftan jumps up, looks around, and runs off into a large cave in the mountain at the end of the camp. Everyone looks at each other and sighs, and then the moogle and terissa show up, and the moogle projects some vivid images into the other guys minds. They all laugh!

KUpo KupO! ;)

End of session.

Maybe I'll have to do another soon. oh well.

Final Fantasy Journal 3

2006-04-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

Character Recap:

Telemic Rhade- Ronso Warrior, played by Nate
Wawlimus Purtuk- Ronso Warrior, played by John
Zaragos- Ronso Rogue, played by Brad
Kenji- Human Warrior, played by Jeremy
Ruggar- Moomba Rogue, played by Ferris
Morgoroth- Wood Elf Warrior, played by Chris

When we last left our courageous heros they had just been greatly rewarded for completing a job presented to them by the Moomba Cheiftan, now what will they do next?

After the great feast presented by the Moomba village the party decided to go back to Byfree and enjoy their new wealth. They proceeded to spend a large sum at the various shops restocking their supplies and upgrading their equipment. Kenji makes a point to investigate the smithy to see if he may be able to work on his wakizashi, which was possibly damaged during the shipwreck. Thelgar the smith gladly offers him the use of the forge and his tools as he himself doesn't have any large projects to do at this point, and it is always nice to hear the ringing of steel while relaxing for a day. After shopping the rest of the party retires to the Plump Quail for supper and some drinks. There Zaragos and Ruggar conspire to steal a very shiny silver circlet that the new party member Morgoroth found in the the eastern ruins. They wait til everyone is asleep, and then Zaragos makes the move and snatches the loot hiding it underneath the docks before heading back to sleep.

The next morning everyone wakes up and goes about their business. Kenji heads to the smithy with his sword to work it over again. Zaragos heads over to visit Leogar and Pladar, and ends up going scouting with them and kills a few Imps. Ruggar heads around town looking for trouble, but finally settles to make a rough lockpicking set at the smithy. Wawlimus, Telemic and Morgoroth head out to practice with their weapons, sparring with each other and practicing with bows.

Later in the evening an irrate woman drags a bunch of young village boys into the inn where the party is relaxing, apparently she found some of the boys with a fine silver circlet that they must have stolen. The circlet is given back to it's rightful owner and Morgoroth, now suspicious of everyone in the room, heads out to brood alone.

The next day Pladar comes to town and informs the party that they think that the Imps have settled down and regrouped, and that they might be forming some sort of battle plans. Now is the time to strike, so the group travels into the forest heading north-east past the destroyed Imp camp where they rescued Nancy. The problem with tracking Imps is they never head directly anywhere, and they never move in a cohesive formation. Thus there are hundreds of crisscrossing pathways and scents that must be unravelled or ignored. Leogar and Pladar split up from them to track on their own, and the party starts to navigate the labrynth on their own. They get lost a few times, but always manage to navigate their way around obstacles and twisting paths. After a while they come across a few groups of Imps but no real organized camps, they continue to push ever north-eastward. In one clearing Kenji, Wawlimus and Ruggar come apon a sleeping mound of lumpy grey-green flesh. The troll is huge, but it is asleep, if they can time it right they can kill it without the help of the others. They discuss their options quietly for a few minutes, and finally decide to make the attempt. As they approach, the troll starts to stir, this spurs them into action and they quickly fall to slaughtering the sleeping monster. By the time it actually rises from the ground to defend itself it is mortally wounded and returns to rest shortly afterward. The trio celebrate their success and giddily continue on their way, ignorantly leaving the trolls body to regenerate.

They finally make it to a large clearing at the foothills near a large mountain. The clearing leads up a narrow valley between two ridges that jut from the rocky skirt of the mountain. They crouch down in some underbrush to survey the clearing. It is swarming with Imps as far as they can see, nearby there are Imps patrolling in pairs, and they can make out many of the stinky rotting cloth tents they sleep in. They decide on a plan of attack utilizing their range and a grenade that they discovered in the forest. Their strike is sudden and unexpected, but though they take their opponents by surprise the battle is hard fought. The Imps have many trained Nakks, wide-faced wolf creatures, and these proceed to hold up and seperate the group so that the Imps can use their superior numbers. After some close calls they finally break free of the Nakks and plow through the remaining Imps. A few reinforcments arrive, but they see the carnage and turn tail and run back deeper into the camp yelling warnings. Here the trio rests and wait for the rest of the party.

What will happen next? Will the Imp threat be utterly defeated, or will the Imp cheiftan represent a foe that is beyond any of them? Until next time.. blah blah blah.

Final Fantasy Journal 2

2006-04-01T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hello all, welcome to another edition of the Final Fantasy RPG Journal . When we last left our intrepid adventurers they were about to enjoy a little R&R after rescueing cute little Nancy. Let's see what happens next.
Some of the party members woke early, some of them slept in, but they eventually all met in the common room of the Plump Quail Inn where they had a complementary room. As they were setting out to raid a dungeon a Moomba 'herald' announced the arrival of the Moomba Chieftan. Zaragos presented the chieftan with a battle trophy, the long arrow he had plucked from the head of the Imp champion that had been slain during Nancys rescue. The chieftan gladly accepted this generous gift, more as a sign of friendship than of any innate value in the stained arrow. Telemic, though, didn't like this and as he walked past the cheiftan he picked up the arrow and snapped it in half and laughed and walked out the door. The wise old chieftan was not phased in the least and went about propositioning the party for a mission into some southern ruins. Apparently a crazy Imp had stolen their warchief headress and they had not been able to recover it, the chieftan offered a reward if the adventurers could return the artifact to his tribe. The party, having nothing better to do agreed and set of to prepare.
Telemic was still outside and was informed of the job, and though he grumbled he would not pass up some Gil. Before they left however he wanted to pick up the longbow at the weapon shop, he had just made enough Gil to buy it and was quite excited. When they got to the weapon shop the owner informed them that the moomba cheiftan had just bought it, strange becuase the bow was much to big for a moomba. Telemic was mad, but as they left the shop he saw the cheiftans herald approaching him with the bow. The moomba offered Telemic the bow, but just before he took it the moomba snatched it back and broke it over his knee. Everybody but Telemic laughed.
They then followed Ruggar toward the ruins where the crazy Imp was suspected to have taken the headress. On the way Wawlimus carelessly disturbed a snoozing group of Barretta, squat rhinocerous-like creatures, and the party had to regroup and make a stand. They located the ruins shortly after although as they looked around they only saw foundation stones and nowhere for an Imp to hide. Wawlimus and Zaragos fooled around with a hole in the sand until they heard a menacing rattling sound coming from it. Finally they stumbled apon a caved in stairway leading to the basement of the ruins, which is still mostly intact, they just finish grabbing torches when they are suddenly attacked by an Ankeg, a giant desert centipede. They dispatch the creature without many wounds and head into the ruins. Zaragos suggests that they always stick to the left, and so they navigate there way around the rooms and halls, Kenji keeps a rough map to refer to should they get lost. All the doors on this level are locked and it takes some dexterous work by Ruggar and an arrowhead to pick the locks. The only doors that resist all attempts are a large seigedoor and a door that is magically locked. Still there is much treasure to be found and the party starts to get greedy. Ruggar, Wawlimus and Telimic fall prey to a booby-trapped room and the others bypass the trap and get the treasure before rescuing their comrades. They run into another pair of Ankegs and a Mysterious Wood Elf named Morgoroth joins their party.(????) As they continue to search the rooms they find three triggers that open three ironclad seige doors that blocked their passage. Behind these doors they find the Imp asleep and the headress lying on the floor, but again their greed causes them to search for treasure chests and the creaking lid wakes the Imp and he panics and runs away. They recover the headress and decide to head back to the Moomba village to collect their reward, leaving Telemic and Morgoroth, who had remained searching one of other rooms, alone somewhere in the ruins. Wawlimus chooses to stay and wait for the other companions and soon sees a happy Telemic emerge bearing a fine composite longbow. They join the others at the Moomba village, collect their reward of 3900 Gil, and Wawlimus tells the tale of their adventure during a large feast held in their honour.

The End.....
Until next time....

Final Fantasy Journal

2006-03-27T23:53:00.000-08:00

Here it goes, get my typing gloves on, there. Besides keeping my hands warm on cold nights while I type, my typing gloves also provide a layer of material between my skin and the touchpad on my laptop that prevents me from accidentally moving my cursor to another part of the page. Don't help with spelling though.

Here I will try and keep a regular post going about the happenings in my RPG, that's my RPG, the one I created. Anyway, I'll do it in summary form as each session tends to carry on into pages in narrative form and I don't have that kind of time on my hands. But I have gloves on my hands. :)

The Players:

Nate- Plays a Ronso Warrior, Telemic of Clan Rhade from the western continent, he's foreign and so is still trying to learn common from another Ronso in the group. Telemic is on a quest to rescue his sweetheart, a High Elf maiden...? Ok....

John- Plays another Ronso Warrior, Wawlimus of Clan Purtuk, he's the son of the High Chief who rules a bunch of local Clans. Wawlimus is on a mission to gain leadership experience and to grow up before he has to take over the Clans. Very prestigious.

Jeremy- Plays a Human Warrior, Kenji, from the town of Wutai, which was destroyed a short time ago, he appears to be the only surviving member of that town, thanks to a magical blade.

Ferris- Plays a Moomba Rogue, Ruggar, from the Shining Claw Tribe, located north of the town of Byfree. Ruggar has a bit of lore in spellcasting due to the tutoring of a mysterious red-cloaked mage who afterward disappeared.

Brad- Plays a Ronso Rogue, Zaragos, who watched his family get slaughtered by pirates and only survived by joining their crew. Zaragos was betrayed by those same pirates and now merely seeks adventure, and hopes for revenge.

20 Years After the Tale of Byfree Part 2

1025 AG

It started with a storm, Kenji, Wawlimus, and Telemic were aboard a ship in this storm, the latter two as guests. The ship ran aground and shattered, the crew panicked and it was every man for himself. The Ronso worked together and secured a large section of flotsam for themselves and Kenji did the same. They were the only ones able to make it to land, the rest were devoured, alive or dead, by sea trolls.

The three awake in warm beds to the smell of hearty broth and the smiles of a rotund woman and an attractive young lady. They are now in the town of Byfree. The villagers talk about the storm and how they now have more helpers to secure the harvest. Ruggar, ever the mischievous sort, is curious about the new arrivals, especially the fact that the Ronso can understand to a degree his chirping dialect, and he follows them around.

Apparently the villagers don't consider it an option for the three to leave, and suspecting some sort of strange cult the party bolts out of town and onto the only road out. Kenji is not trusting anyone and so tries to distance himself from the Ronso and Moomba, but when confronted by some strange shelled creatures after the road becomes overgrown he is glad for the added security a party brings.

After surviving the encounter, the party decides to head into the forest, following a more well-traveled path. This leads them to an encounter near a large log cabin, with a small group of Imps, which they finally dispatch. After the battle they meet up with the owners of the cabin, Pladar and Leogar, brothers and woodsmen, protectors of Byfree. They stay the night with the two Gigantos in their cabin and are told the story of why they will not be able to leave Byfree. (Ref Tale of Byfree parts I+II, Nate did not read this story so doesn't know what happened, it fits cause his character can't understand Common anyway.)

The next morning they go with Pladar into the forest to hunt some more Imps and have a great huge battle against a whole band of them, this takes pretty much the whole session. Afterward Pladar is in stitches after watching them bumble about haphazardly while trying to work as a team. Ruggar makes an impressive display of getting a head shot with his bow on an annoying Imp Shaman who was causing them some trouble.

Afterward they head to the Moomba village a little further into the forest, Ruggar's village, and are treated to a traditional lunch feast of fried root paste, fish, rabbit, and dark brown fermented palm leaf ale. They then head back to Byfree with Pladar to see what needs to be done around town, but they are determined not to stay long.

They meet a many of the towns inhabitants and do a bit of shopping in the local shops. Interestingly enough there has been another survivor of the shipwreck found, Zaragos. How he survived that long in the ocean with sea trolls about is a miracle. They get to know each other and Pladar leaves them promising to that if they still want to attempt to leave the peninsula they need to get stronger, and he will show them to places where they may fight more than just Imps.

The next morning after some confusion about misplaced weapons Pladar shows up to guide them through the forest, but this plan is short lived as Louise, a young lady who runs the Item shop with her twin sister Thelma, reveals that Imps have kidnapped little Nancy, the towns sweetheart and the only girl to be born in 20 years. Needless to say this takes precedence over any leisurely monster hunting that may have been planned. So off into the woods everyone goes, hunting down the Imps that had the gall to kidnap their precious Nancy.

The party stays together an navigates the twisting forest pathway quite well, trying to get all the treasure and defeat all the monsters, before rescuing Nancy. They run into a Lesser Hill Troll who nearly wipes them out, but they use some Phoenix Downs and get back in the game, dealing many critical blows to the savage beast before it has the chance to regenerate. Unfortunatly they forget to decapitate it and cauterize the wound and soon after they leave it regenerates and heads off into the forest holding onto a big grudge. They then easily cleave through all enemies until they come across the Gigantos and a troupe of Moomba hunters who have found where Nancy is being held.

The battle is fierce and swift, over 25 Imps are either killed or routed and Nancy is rescued very quickly, the powerful Gigantos brothers holding nothing back. They then return to Byfree with Nancy and everyone has a party, but not before they search the rest of the forest paths for treasure they may have missed. Everyone is happy to have Nancy back safe, but the leaders of the town suspect something strange is going on with the Imps to have them perform so bold an attack. They resolve to investigate the matter as soon as the Imps settle down and return to their natural habits, which should take a few days because the huge defeat they suffered will make them skiddish for a while.

to be continued.........

Been a while

2006-03-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it indeed has been quite a while since I updated this blog. Things have been very busy lately and I have had hardly any time to do anything for myself. Well that's mostly a lie cause everything I do is sorta for myself anyway... That sounds selfish... Anyway, I have been hard at work on my RPG, trying to get the system flowing smoothly, finishing the basic game design, and creating a weekly campaign and weekly dungeon raids. Over and above that there is the Kotei coming up, it's on April 22nd in Vancouver, but time keeps flying by. I am most likely going to use my Mantis Orochi deck, as I have no play experience with Phoenix Control, I hope I do well, but I haven't been able to devote much time to refining the deck past where it is currently. I'm still running it out of The Castle of The Wasp, instead of Amarasu's Pride like everyone tells me to.

But I have an idea, at first I was going to attempt another narrative style of story to tell about my FF RPG campaign, but since we play every week that is a bit much. So I am going to do what I've seen a few other GM's do, I'm going to keep everyone up to date in a point form style telling what people did, what they fought, and the overall events that make up their fantasy world. So maybe I'll start that today. I think it'll give some insight into the game for any of my players who dare read it, and a glimpse into the world of RPG for those that have never experienced it.

FF RPG Fiction. Tale of Byfree, Part II

2006-03-04T01:50:00.000-08:00

--- Five years later ---

The sun was halfway through its daily descent from the middle of the sky into the sea when the three travellers crested the rocky pass. Nenaki looked over at his companions to gauge their reaction as they gazed for the first time on the place he liked to call home. The valley was green, with patches of golden fields illuminated by the declining sun, from here they could see the glistening waters of the sea as it disappeared over the horizon. One of his companions, a female Ronso, looked over at him and he grinned and stretched out his hands, sweeping them over the breadth of the valley.

"Welcome to Byfree Penninsula my friends, we should increase our speed if we are to make it to the town before nightfall." He said.

The other Ronso started eagerly picking his way over the rocky trail and Nenaki turned and gestured for the female to follow. They made excellent time and were soon on the floor of the valley jogging casually toward the sunset. The sun was just slipping under the waves when they arrived at the gate of the town.

The town was alot quieter than Nenaki remembered it, the war had lasted far longer than it should have, and youths were conscripted into the armies even from towns as far away as Byfree. As they made their way through the empty streets calls of welcome came from open windows and merchants paused in packing up there stalls to say hi to the returning Ronso. Nenaka greeted all with a wave and some words, he remembered these people, they looked much older than when he had left, but their spirit remained, they were genuinely pleased to see him. As they approached the Plump Quail the door suddenly burst open emmiting a golden glow onto the darkening street, and a shape appeared in the doorway and rushed out to meet them. Nenaki was almost moved to tears as he noted that all his closest friends in the town had gathered to welcome him home, and he rushed to meet the approaching shape that could only be Spencer. The two good friends embraced shortly and then Nenaki turned to introduce his companions.

"This is Nenaki's younger brother, Batak," he said indicating the stocky Ronso on his left. Then, turning and regarding the female Ronso on his right affectionatly said "This is Kamelka of Clan Gagazet who is pledged as bond mate to Nenaki."

Spencer clasped each of their forearms in turn, the traditional Ronso way of greeting, and welcomed them to Byfree. They entered the inn and the party commenced, Spencer introduced Batak and Kamelka to two of his and Nenaki's previous companions who had also returned from the war. Leogon, a nine foot tall Gigantos in the brown and green robes of a Geomancer, who had brought his two young twin sons along as well, and Mandelfin of Snowglen, a Wood Elf Ranger of some renown throughout southern Almek, on whose shoulder preened a magnificent Barred Osprey, the birds size made the slight Elf look quite lopsided but he held himself with grace worthy of a high court in any land. After the introductions were made the drinks started flowing and with them came the much anticipated tales of the war, of the strange metal monsters, or machina, used by the Krueganians, of great victories snatched from the jaws of certain defeat, of routs, and ultimately of victory.

The celebration lasted long into the night, but after a while the townspeople retired for the evening leaving the four ex-adventurers and Nenaki's two companions to more private talks. At first the conversation remained light and upbeat, but eventually spencer posed the question everyone had been waiting for.

"Is it really over? Seven years of brutal conflict and then suddenly an end? The last report we had recieved down here said things were still a stalemate, as they have been these past five years. What has happened to stop this war so suddenly?" He asked.

"Nenaki is not sure, we were assigned tactical missions, incursions and such, they had become routine, fighting over the same blasted patch of land we were for nearly five years, we were successfull, but it seemed not to make any difference. Then, a call to withdraw. No superiors knew what was going on either, it wasn't a rout, there was no pursuit. When we were miles away we saw what was happening, airships, Almekian airships were spreading something over the battlefields, not just ours, but all up and down the lines. Like a black cloud is fell and clung to eveything, even from so far away we could hear the screams of the dying, it was a desperate time, no one knew what was going on. Kermodei Clan lost two elite units that were still on missions, Gagazet Clan lost five." Nenaki said, choking back rage. "It was criminal, even for our enemies to meet such an end. All the commanders feared similar repraisals, we attacked with unholy magics, they would counter with unholy machina, but our general told us it was all taken care of, and that we were to depart, our part in the war was finished, as the war was soon to be. He smiled smugly, the glint of madness in his eyes, there was nothing we could do to. Nothing good will come of this for Almek nor Kreugania, best that we not be near to that disaster. Maybe Nenaki is wrong, but to prepare for the worst will bring the best as a pleasant surprise in the morning."

The six veteran warriors talked later still into the night, discussing the possibile events that might unfold from this war, how to cope, possible solutions for peace should the war continue. All this talk was in vain, however, they were not in a position that had any power to change anything, and even if they had they were already too late. The whole world was far too late to do anything but watch.

The sun crested the Highwind pass and found Nenaki at his usual place on the rocky knoll overlooking the valley. This time he was not alone, Kamelka sat at his side marvelling in the beauty of the scene for the first time in her life. They sat and enjoyed the view for an hour or more, but then Kamelka grew restless and challenged Nenaki to a race back to Byfree. Grinning widely Nanaki nodded his acceptance and then they were off. Nenaki knew the path very well even after so many years, but he did not take his time in concern for his future bond mate, this was a competition and Ronso females took competition with their future mates very seriously. Kamelka, however, did take her own time to enjoy the sight of her future bond mates barely clad form as he started a quick descent. She smiled knowingly and moved away from the path at the back of the knoll to the top of the cliff facing her destination, with a slight run she leapt far out into the open air. Wind rushed through her fur and her eyes teared slightly, the vertical cliff ended at a rock filled slope that continued sharply to the bottom of the knoll, the rocks were approaching quicky. A quick twitch of her legs and arms at the last second and Kamelka somersalted through the air, feet landing firmly on a large boulder, her legs absorbing part of the tremendous impact, the boulder visibly taking the rest as it cracked open. Before the massive rock was even finished it's groaning cry she was airborne once more, this time jumping further out and down the slope, veritably bouncing off boulders as she approached the pathway that finally wound around the front of the knoll. She saw Nenaki round the corner and timed her last jump so that she was able to handspring off his head as he raced the path below, she giggled slighty as she landed on another boulder further down the knoll and waved at him before leaping high into the air once more.

The pair just reached the gates of the town, Nenaki winning just by a horn, when the first of the tremors hit. At first the Ronso thought his body might just be a bit too exhausted, but then he noticed that some of the taller buildings were swaying as well. Soon screams rang throughout the town as roofs started to collapse, and furniture shifted violently inside the confines of wooden walls. People started streaming in panic out of their homes as some of the older ones started to fully collapse, Nenaki and Kamelka quickly assumed command of directing people out of the streets and if they could make it, into the empty fields of grain beyond the reach of the wall should it too fall. The quake lasted for a full fourty minutes, before there was a pause. The townspeople gathered in the fields had taken count and they knew how many were still missing inside the town, and they endeavoured to return to search for them. Only Mandelfin, of any of the ex-adventurers, had had any experience with quakes before and he urged the townspeople to wait until after the aftershock had hit before they searched the ruins of their town. Many believed, but some, desperate to find loved ones could not be restrained and they scrabbled through the rubble lined streets calling out various names.

The aftershocks hit a few minutes later, before anyone had returned from their search, and this time the quake lasted for over an hour. Mandelfin knew this to be strange, the aftershocks were supposed to be more severe in some cases, but not normally this much longer. He expressed his worries to his close friends.

"I do not believe this to be an act of nature, and I do not know what could have caused Mighty Terrax to shake his foundations so. I fear this is the work of some great evil, or some hand has chosen to judge the world blindly for the acts of a few nations of men. This turmoil will not end tonight, of that I am certain." He said seriously. "Look, Rydia still circles up above, she will not even land when I call to her, the animals know when to flee and fly when we poor few do not."

Leogon agreed, the quakes he felt were no natural thing, but neither did he sense, in his link with the god of the earth, any malice toward the mortal races. This was something created outside the divine realm.

A third quake hit shortly after, this one lasting even longer, and the people set up a large camp in the fields. The quakes lasted for the better part of a week, remaining about 2 hours long each, but lessening in strength. And though the pauses between them increased in length none of the people dared to enter the town for fear that a destabilized building would fall even during the calm. When it was finally decided that the quakes were finished for good, the villagers entered the town to survey the wreckage and attempt to save anyone left alive. The distruction was final in most places, even some of the cellars had caved in and ruined foundations, but the worst travesty besides the death toll was the shore. It appeared as if a massive sword had come down and cut half the town away from the mainland and pushed it into the sea to forever be lost under the waves. Where there had once been a gentle slope toward the waters edge there was now a sharp drop to brown debris filled water. The land that had been swept into the water seemed to completely fill what had once been one of the finest deepwater harbours on the west side of the continent. The only things that bolstered the spirits of the townspeople were the fact that the towns wall was still entirely intact, and the arrival of a local Moomba tribe, apparently unaffected by the quakes, who provided fresh meat in the form of wild boar and hares.

The townspeople perservered and fought on as only Humans could, first starting the task of clearing the rubble and burying the bodies, and then moving to the task of scavenging the reusable rubble to use in creating more adequate shelter before winter. Some of the villagers also banded together to harvest what remained of the crops in the field, for all of the supply warehouses had been located close to sea and had not survived. Even with the extra food from the Moomba hunters as well as the three Ronso it did not look good for the townspeople.Seeing this, Mandelfin vollenteered to brave the pass and seek out help and supplies from whatever other towns had survived, he hoped to be back before winters worst closed the high pass.

Rydia, Mandelfins faithful osprey returned just after the weather started to turn, she circled the makeshift village calling out plaintively as if heralding a great hero on to the underworld, it was a haunting sound. Then she flew off back toward the pass, she returned a few hours later and circled the village once more, finally landing near Spencer and Nenaki's temporary accomodations. She hopped toward them, and in her talons Nenaki spotted a bloodsoaked piece of parchment. He retrieved it and read it aloud.

"Rockslides partially block the pass, no help from outside. Trolls in the pass on my return trip, 30 in number, I have taken fatal wounds and soon shall pass on to the earthmother. I send Rydia to you with this warning, I pray to Gaia that she finds you in time. Prepare."

He looked to the ground as he finished reading and handed the note to Spencer. Then he raised his head and let out a beastial howling chant, one that Spencer had heard only twice before, the ancient Ronso chant for the soul of a fallen warrior, Kamelka and Batak came and stood beside him and joined in the chant, heads held high, honouring the brave warrior. When they were finished the town had gathered to find out what was going on, and Spencer quickly set about ordering night watches to be set, fortifications to be made ready, and weapons be prepared. Trolls were never a good thing.

The next morning advance scouts apon the now much smaller rocky knoll reported a large grouping of trolls moving slowly down from the pass into the valley, they were following the path, but they didn't look terribly organized. Spencer realized that they might actually have some hope of fighting off these brutes. If they were indeed crag trolls as he guessed then it would be easier to distract and seperate them from their group picking them off one by one. Still with thirty or more to contend with it might not be the wisest thing to meet them in the open plains. The five veteran warriors, Leogon's two sons, and a few of the battle experienced townspeople gathered to try and organize an effective strategy.

Nenaki stated that they could not risk the inexperienced townspeople in anything but a defensive fight, but that a few of them might be able to strike out silently before the enemy could charge the defenses, this perhaps would slow the plodding advance, and give the trolls, small minded as they were, something to worry about. Spencer agreed, and assigned Nenaki, Kamelka, Batak, Leogon and one of his sons Pladar to be the advance strike team. The selected warriors each went to prepare, Nenaki braided his hair with steel beads and grabbed afew throwing hammers. Kamelka retrieved her helm, armour and cross spear, all buffed to a brilliant shine that hurt the eyes in the bright morning light. Batak donned very odd armour that was jagged and sharp on all the edges, as well as massive iron gauntlets shaped into massive razor sharp griffon talons. Leogon mixed a muddy concoction and painted himself and his companions with strange runes, while his son Pladar equipped heavy leather armour and unwrapped a strange ten foot long bundle to reveal a tremendous zanbato that he spun as easily as if it was paper. When all was ready Nenaki took the lead and headed out to meet the invading trolls.

The Trolls were not too far into the valley yet when Nenaki and his party came apon them. They were seemingly milling about in the middle of the road, grunting to each other and pointing first toward the forest to the north and then down the path they stood on that lead to the town. Nenaki deduced that they argued about which scent to follow up first, one thing about trolls, no matter which of the many forms of troll one came across, they all had excellent senses of smell, and apparently this group had caught a whiff of the Moomba tribe in the forest. One troll started pushing another around and Nenaki signalled that it was time to act, while they were already distracted. As one they leapt into the middle of the group.

A few had makeshift weapons like tree limb clubs or large rocks, but most had only their knobbly fists with which to defend themselves. Two were down on the ground spilling their brown lifeblood from fatal wounds before they even realized they were being attacked. Batak moved from one of the dying hulks to another one with a surprised look on its face, he drove his gauntlets upward into its throat and violently pulled them free, blood bubbled from the hole and the troll swung wildly. Batak dodged easily and brought his forehead horn foreward into the creatures chest repeatedly, staying under the deadly flailing reach. Elsewhere Nenaki was pummeling two trolls simultaneously with lightning fast fists and feet, acrobatically evading the dazed and bleeding creatures swings. Pladar was just pulling his zanbato out from where it had stopped halfway through the rocky body of a troll when the remainder of the beasts started gaining some semblance of order, the one nearest him eagerly raised its club high in both hands planning on crushing the young Gigantos with one strike. Then a blur of silvery armour and brown fur fell from the sky landing on the trolls raised club and driving her spear through its neck, the razor sharp crossguard nearly severing it's head. Pladar smiled his appreciation at Kamelka as she jumped vertically off the dying troll revealing another angry troll moving foreward to take its companions place, Pladar raised his giant sword and turned to face it. A bit further behind Pladar, Leogon was sitting on the ground in the middle of a set of arcane runes drawn in the earth, his eyes were closed and his lips were moving, the tempo of his chant increased and he reached to his belt, drawing out a small clay bell. At the completion of his spell he rang the earthen bell once, sending a crystal clear note across the battlefield, it seemed that everything, even time itself stood still, all was quiet and then the earth exploded in the center of the mass of trolls sending shards of jagged stone spraying in all directions, imbedding itself in many trolls hides. Seeing the very earth turn against them the dimwitted trolls fled in panic, trampling more than a few of their injured companions in the process of racing back to the safety of the pass. Batak pursued for a while and picked of an injured lagger before the trolls made it to the rocky ground where they proceeded to defend themselves with a steady and deadly barrage of flying rocks. In all 14 of the smelly beasts had fallen, Pladar went about chopping off their heads with his zanbato while the others started a fire and proceeded to use the flaming brands to cauterize the bloody stumps preventing any of the trolls regenerative powers from reviving the dead creatures. After this they headed back to the town, satisfied, but knowing that it was still far from over. At least, Nenaki thought, the crag trolls were so stupid that they could probably surprise them the same way the next day.

The next day was cold and clear, and surprisingly calm. No scouts reported any movement from the high pass all that day. The vetran warriors conferred amongst themselves as to whether the trolls would have been smart enough to descend silently at night and skirt the valley and travel through the forest to avoid being seen. None thought it was probable but they sent some scouts out that way just in case, sure enough they returned without seeing sign of any approach. That night was spent in restless anticipation, trolls were normally most active during the day, using the warmth of the sun to energize their bodies, but there was always the threat of a night attack. Villagers were set as pickets outside the town walls, but nothing showed itself that night either.

After a long night of watchfulness the day finally dawned cool and moist, a slight drizzle making things just a bit uncomfortable out of doors. The Vetrans were used to fighting in worse, but the villagers soon began to loose heart from just standing in the rain for hours on end. Since no sign was recieved from the scouts the villagers were allowed to rest in shifts, standing guard for a few hours and then working on fortifications, then a few hours rest. Even so the stress started to affect all by midday. Just as the sun threatened to break through the clouds directly overhead the scouts reported movement from the pass, a group larger than the last was making its way into the valley, and it was not just ignorant crag trolls anymore. This new band was apparently led by much larger and smarter mountain trolls, smarter than crag trolls at least. They watched the slow approach gauging how best to engage this new threat, it was possible that the same ploy would work again, but the trolls were greater in number and already spreading out across the valley into an organized formation. It was agreed that this would be a defensive standoff, whether they had any hope of winning they made no mention. They put on brave faces and returned to their work, not wanting the villagers to panic and waste their slim chance of success.

The troll horde reached the outskirts of the fields later that evening as the sun was going down. There they stopped and reorganized, it looked as though this was no unruly mob of roving trolls, but an experienced warband. The mountain trolls shouted commands at the milling crag trolls and formed them up into lines, many had large sacks of stones which they dumped in huge piles where commanded. Though the crag trolls were armed with nothing more than their fists and a few clubs, the mountain trolls were well equipped, they sported large iron battle axes and hammers, wickedly serrated greatswords and sometimes massive spiked sheilds. There was one among them that stood out, he was larger than any of the trolls beside him and he paced rapidly, overseeing the distribution and placement of his troops. He wore a dented breastplate and an iron torque shaped like a serpent, on his back was strapped a large battleaxe and at his waist he casually wore a bloodstained kilij, a sword akin to a scimitar but much wider, heavier, and more difficult to weild. But the one thing about him that evoked the sense of dread that the defenders now felt was the belt of skulls he wore around his large waist. They weren't just any skulls, they were Ronso skulls, and they were fresh, pink meat and bloody patches of fur still clung in places and swarms of flies followed him wherever he strode. Nenaki and Kamelka had to hold Batak to prevent him from foolishly leaping to attack in his rage at the sight. This was not going to be a battle easily won.

Some of the mountain trolls took practice shots with the stones to gauge the distance they would have to throw. They were still well out of bowshot when they found the correct range, not that arrows would have any effect on their tough hides in any case. For a while they made a casual game of trying to take out any defender foolish enough to stick his head out above the wall, they made leering gestures and foul noises, and did a good job of destroying any of the villagers remaining hopes of survival. After the sun had dipped below the horizon the troll leader barked out a harsh cry and all the other trolls answered in a voice that echoed off the valley walls, then they began their attack. At first it was a steady bombardment by the mountain trolls, they concentrated their efforts on the weakest link in the wall, the gate. They also kept up constant suppressive fire, forcing the defenders to merely sit and wait, listening to the steady pounding of stone on wood. After about fifteen minutes the huddled defenders heard another sound at their wall, those that peeked over briefly saw the crag trolls using their bodies as rams against the weakened walls, they came away bloody from each strike, but apparently unphased. This strategy was not without fault, however, for a few of the crag trolls were taken out by errant missles thrown by their allies, who just laughed coarsly and continued their barrage as if nothing had happened.

A large group of trolls had just breached the gate, casting aside the splintered wood with ease they strode confidently into the village, swiping away and crushing the life out of all available villagers. That is when Nenaki gave the cry for attack. Batak sped past him in a blur, impacting the lead troll with force enough to knock it down and retaining his momentum to get him clear of his victims death flails and on to his next target. Leogon was again sitting farther back from the wall in the midst of a circle of arcane runes, this time the circle was much larger and the runes were augmented with various semi-precoius stones at regular intervals. Leogons body was siffused with a gentle green glow, and when he opened his eyes at the completion of his spell they gleamed with pure jade fire. The ground started to shake and rumble and from the earth in front of him a large form began to rise. In the dark it was difficult to tell if it was friend or foe, but when all fifteen feet of it had fully emerged, Leogon commanded it to destroy all the trolls and the golem turned to do its creators bidding. Elsewhere Kamelka was just a blur, jumping and striking her opponents from above, distracting them enough to give young Pladar an exsquisite array of upturned necks on which to practice with his zanbato. Nenaki was there too, fists covered with arcing bolts of electricity, wading through the mass of smelly bodies inside the gate, breaking bones and stopping hearts with each strike. Finally the gate was cleared of invaders as Leogon's massive golem crushed the last one with a brown rocky fist, it then turned and plodded slowly out the gate toward the remaining mountain trolls. The defenders could hear the trolls quail at the sight of such a formiddable opponent and the barrage of stones finally stopped, but then the trolls leader barked his troops back into order and called for a charge.

As one, the mountain trolls grabbed their weapons and rushed the wall, the golem stood steadfast striking out as they passed around it, like a river around an island. Many trolls were instantly killed this way until their brutish leader heafted his axe and charged yelling a guttural battle cry. The axe moved so fast that before the golem could finish his first swing it was on its side missing a leg, the leader then quickly severed all its other appendages and gave a cry of triumph, blostering his attacking horde. The trolls then reached the village walls, shrugging off any arrows that were directed their way with ease and slamming into the stone structure with tremendous force. The defenders now realized that the attack through the gate had been a ruse to get their attention off of the crag trolls hammering away at the actual walls, for when the charging trolls hit for the first time many sections of the wall immediatly gave way under the stress. Other sections gave way soon after and the ragged defenders faced a full on assault of mountain trolls. Many could not stand to face their fate and fled, weakening what defense they could have put forth. The trolls gave whoops of glee as defenders fell before their cruel weapons, often hacking at the bodies and licking their blades. The beasts continued to stream into the breaches constantly widening them for others behind.

Spencer had managed to rally a few of the defenders and was making a valiant stand at the head of the road into the center of the village, but the trolls swarmed around the small knot seeking easier prey, finding other access points to the center of the rundown village. The other veterans joined his group quickly, but they were now surrounded by the trolls still pouring in and the groups that were rampaging through the village. Then they saw the troll leader striding in through the ruined gate, kicking aside all the bodies, and surveying the wreckage. Batak could not hold back any longer, seeing once more the belt of Ronso skulls he yelled a berserker scream and charged forward recklessly, Nenaki and Kamelka failing to hold him with them. As he approached the brute two guards jumped out in front of him barring his way. He savagely tore into the first one ignoring a large cut to his shoulder. His armour was streaked in blackish blood and gore hung from all the sharp angles, his horn was coated just as thickly. He made short work of the defending troll and moved to take on the next one only to see it fall with a large axe imbedded in its back, the larger leader smirking over the body at him. The troll quickly drew his kilij as Batak lunged over the corpse, swiftly parrying the vicious attack. Or so it seemed at first, Batak had scored a hit, tearing the trolls cheek right off its face revealing a mouth of rotting jagged teeth. The troll growled, reached up and tore off the loose peice of flesh hanging from its jaw, and then laughed a disturbing gurgling laugh. The onlookers then noticed that Batak was not renewing his attack, he was turned toward the troll, gasping for breath, blood streaming from a gaping would in hs neck. As Batak regained his bloodrage and charged the troll again another group of trolls engaged the watching defenders, cutting off Nenaki's view of his brother, he did not see him alive again.

Fighting for their lives now as well as the lives of the few villagers that fought beside them, the verterans put all their effort into it, where they thought they had been giving all before, they now realized that they were tapping hidden reserves, shrugging off injury and performing their attacks and parrys as if fully refreshed. All the trolls that chose to face them were faced with a deadlier enemy than before, and fell back before the assault. Pladar was cutting huge swaths in troll flesh, his brother Leogar had run out of arrows for his great longbow, and was using it as a massive club against all who opposed him. Leogon was still calmly casting spells, spraying shards of earth every direction, and calling huge stone hands out of the earth to crush the life from his assailants, but he was tiring and the green glow surrounding his body had dimmed signifigantly. Kamelka was darting from open space to open space, thrusting her spear in exposed troll flesh at every turn. One of her crossguards had been broken off and he spear was stained black, but still she attacked. It was a sign of how tired she was that she rarely took to the air with a jump attack, and unfortunatly when she finally did a troll was ready for her. She instinctively dodged but the swing was too fast and her body too tired, a spiked club snagged her leg and tore he out of the air, winding her. Nenaki moved to her side and fended off the attacker. He had just collapsed the trolls lungs with three quick strikes when he heard its leader bellow a victorious roar. He cursed fate that he could not be with his brother when he fell, but he offered up a small prayer to Ignus that he, Kamelka, and the remaining villagers would somehow survive to honour his brothers heroic death.

Seemingly in answer to that prayer, a tremendous force shook the ground and a pillar of red flame burst upward from where the leader had been. Then, almost immediatly, it was followed by dozens of other similar eruptions, none as large as the first, but all equally devestating as they poured through the ranks of trolls on either side of the defenders. The heat was so intense that even the trolls engaging the few remaining fighters fell, their skin blistering and cracking. Remarkably the flames didn't harm anything but the trolls, only the ground was slightly scorched to mark its passing, and piles of ashes and the occasional puddle of iron marked where a troll had been. As the flares subsided the group of defenders still heard the cries of battle within the village, although the majority of trolls had been destroyed in the firey blasts, there were many still running free. Then they noticed a slight figure entering the crashed gates, robed all in red with a gleaming golden staff, he looked around and gestured to the group to remain where they were. He continued past them entering the village, shooting gouts of fire or shards of ice from his staff at every troll he came across, the defenders watched dumbfounded as he continued unapposed. The screams of dying trolls were heard late into the night outside of the town as the people gathered the wounded into appropriate shelter, and all the women and children came out of hiding to find their loved ones. Nenaki searched for the body of his brother late into the morning, but all he ever found were the gauntlets, shiny and clean, untouched by the flames. He said the customary prayers and went to look after Kamelka.

The next morning the village woke to find a spectacular sight, on the knoll outside the town was a great grey tower, rising skyward like a mythic sentinel guarding the road to the pass. It seemed as if it had always just been there and they had merely never taken note of it before this day.

The End, for now....

FF RPG Fiction. Tale of Byfree, Part I

2006-02-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

Byfree, year 1000 AG

Nenaki woke early, before the sun even started to rise over the eastern mountains, and stretched out his tightly corded limbs. He rose from his sleeping mat and moved to the center of his small room clad only in his loincloth and dark grey fur. He stretched again, eyes closed, seeming to test each muscle individually before sitting on the floor softly and taking up the lotus position. He sat motionless for many minutes focusing his thoughts inward, scanning his chi for signs of flaws. Satisfied, he opened his eyes and stood, moved to a small chest at one end of the room and pulled forth a pair of thick baggy pants made from some light fabric. He pulled them on and wiggled his tail through a specially designed slot at the rear, then tied the top with a woven belt of the same material. He opened his window, letting the chill misty morning air clear his senses. He looked down, toward the ground three stories below him, the night fishermen had already come in, and the morning fishermen would have already gone out for the day, so the street below was empty, but he could still hear the sounds of dockworkers coming from the harbor. With a sudden movement he hopped over the sill and out the window, landing with feline grace in the deserted street below. Stretching and flexing once more he then turned and started jogging up the street away from the waterfront. He approached the edge of town at a quick pace, leaping the six foot high stone barricade with ease, not even slowing his pace as he headed into green fields bejeweled with thousands of dewdrops and shrouded in a white veil of fog. It was mornings like this that he didn't miss the stark grey mountain home of his Kermodei clan as much. He couldn't believe that it had been eight-teen years already since he had been home, it seemed like only yesterday he was just setting off on a life of adventure and treasure hunting. He continued to run east for a while, and then finally started to circle to the south heading up the only accessible route onto a large rocky knoll overlooking the entire valley. From the still foggy woods to the north, to the Highwind pass jutting out of the clouds between two great mountains to the east, to the gleaming waters of the outer sea crowned with tall masts of trading ships, Nenaki could see it all from this vantage point.

He sat on a large smooth boulder on top of the knoll overlooking the valley, watching Byfree awake. Its inhabitants, slow at first, soon began the frantic pace of life in a busy port town. Sailors swarmed over the docks and on the various merchant vessels making ready to weigh anchor and set sail across the Outer Sea to the many exotic islands or even to the strange continent even further west. Nenaki could identify, even from such a great distance, the recently christened Byfree fleet, a trio of high-sided, quad masted ships that were armed to the teeth with ballista and catapults. They had just been supplied by the merchant’s guild in Trovaire to protect the guild members from pirates that seemed to have free run of the Outer Seas coastal waters. It was a sign of how much influence Byfree had gained recently, Nenaki chuckled to himself, Humans, they moved about so fast, never stopping to enjoy the view, they were like the firecrackers brought by merchants from the east: small, loud, and seconds later, gone. Considering Byfree had only been around since Spencer Bingham founded it eight years ago with his merry band of adventurers, Nenaki was surprised that Humans hadn't taken control of the entire world centuries ago. This thought brought to mind recent reports of war in the far north, pretty much every merchant was talking about it, how it would be the war to end all wars, and that they wouldn't be surprised if it affected everyone even as far south as Byfree. Nenaki doubted it, humans always fought, their wars were quick and brutal just like their lives, but the next generation would always strike out in a different direction, more wars would follow, it was just the way with them, wise races knew to just leave them to their own devices and stay out of the way. That's why he liked it in Byfree so much, it was so far removed from the entire world, sticking out into the sea on a little spit of land, and the merchants didn't bring trouble, just the most recent news of it. The only thing that disturbed the peace was the occasional pirate raid, and then again it was always good fun to bash in pirates heads once in a while.

By now the sun was rising, its rays streaming through the pass and lighting up distant waves, the valley was still in shadow, but not for long. Nenaki had observed this process every morning without fail for nearly six years, the power of the sun still amazed him. Many of the Ronso in his Clan thought it odd that he was devoted to Ignus, Lord of the Sun, but Nenaki was always quick to point out that very little life could flourish without the power of the suns golden light, and indeed as he sat and watched it appeared as though a whole new world was awakened when the sun crested the mountains casting its light in fullness over the valley. His forehead horn was the very first thing to feel the warmth, then the sun, as it rose, warmed his fur and then the rocky knoll and then the entire valley. The fog burned away quickly revealing the thin line of a stream winding through the lush valley like a glittering jeweled necklace on the throat of the goddess Naos. Nenaki sat back to enjoy the show as a group of majestic griffins circled high in the sky over the valley, warming their wings in the suns light before heading out over the sea to fish. Other animals were stirring on the ground as well, but Nenaki's gaze was drawn to the trail leading from the Highwind pass, he saw something that was not a regular morning occurrence. It appeared to be some sort of rider, moving very fast toward Byfree, too fast, it was something he had to investigate. His mornings peace gone he started down the knoll with a fast loping stride. Jumping from boulder to rocky outcropping to boulder again Nenaki seemed to glide like a bird, the distance between some spots was just too great to be leapt naturally and he landed so effortlessly never pausing for a rest. Now the rider was much closer and Nenaki stopped to observe for a moment, it was a fluffy white Moogle in the saddle, or kind of in the saddle. It was riding a golden feathered chocobo which was moving so fast it appeared that it was all the Moogle could to hang on to the saddle horn, it had it's small leathery wings outspread and the rush of wind gave it some lift it could never hope to achieve on its own and its feet trailed in the air behind it. Nenaki started running again, parallel to the road the Moogle and chocobo were on, he was a little ahead of them but they were gaining fast. The Moogle hadn't noticed him, its eyes were squinted even behind a pair of protective goggles and it was focused fully on its destination, the chocobo was wearing blinders and so hadn't noticed him yet either. Nenaki angled toward the road as the pair passed, moving to within shouting range, the chocobo heard his approach and turned its head to get a look, seeing the Ronso it 'warked' in surprise and skidded off the road turning to face him, beak open and crest raised. The Moogle was nearly dumped off at this but quickly grabbed the reigns and reasserted control over his mount, looking curiously at Nenaki.

"You are Nenaki Kermodei, kupo?" It chirped cheerfully.

Nenaki looked over the Moogle surprised that it had known his name, then he noticed the Messenger Guilds emblem on one of the saddlebags. "This is Nenaki Kermodei you speak to." He said.

"Excellent! I have a letter for you, I do." It said rummaging through its saddlebags until it procured a rolled parchment sealed with white wax, and handed it to Nenaki.

Nenaki took it, inspected the seal, a bear’s paw in the mist, and thanked the Moogle. "I am grateful."

The Moogle smiled brightly, stood on his saddle and bowed low. "It was my pleasure, kupo!" He said, then he chirped to the chocobo who responded with a low warble and they headed off again toward the town. Nenaki watched them leave for a moment and then looked at the scroll in his hand, something was wrong.

It was midmorning when Nenaki made his way over to Spencer’s place, grim faced. Spencer had been his closest friend ever since he left his clans holdings to set off on a life of adventure. He was practical, for a human, and very charismatic, they had faced many obstacles on their journeys that would have caused lesser men to turn in defeat, but Spencer would just rally the group and lead the charge. When friends were lostSpencer did not resign himself to grief and despair, he struck out anew to honour their memory. Now at the ripe age of 49 years, he spent most of his time overseeing his town and telling grand tales of past glory in his favorite pub, his life as an adventurer was behind him. It made what Nenaki had to tell him all that much harder.

Spencer was not at home, so Nenaki tried the next place on his list, The Plump Quail Inn. Sure enough Spencer was there, leaning on the bar and waxing poetic on the glories and travesties of war. When Nenaki entered Spencer turned and looked at him, his face dropped, he shook his head and stomped his foot.

"Bloody heck. Look at your braids man, don't tell me you are going too?" He said, gesturing to the thick silvery braids falling over Nenaki's shoulders. "First my armada and now my best friend."

Nenaki looked slightly puzzled.

"The messenger came from the Merchants Guild with orders for my new fleet to sail back and join up with the United Almekian Navy, the war with the Krueganian Empire is taking its toll even here." Spencer explained.

Nenaki nodded. "Word came from Kermodei Clan High Chief, I too am called home to join in fighting, all Great Clans have bargained with Human Lords, we aid Almekians too. I must leave now, not much time to make the trip before the first war drums sound."

He clasped Spencer’s arm. "I will be back, this is a promise, ok?"

"Ok, but you have to tell this old man all about it when you return." He replied, raising his fist in a traditional Ronso pre-battle salute.

"Indeed. Glory in battle through the destruction of our enemies." He said, turning and leaving the inn to collect his belongings.

Spencer watched him leave sadly, wishing to be able to join the fight, but knowing he would never be able to keep up nor be accepted by the majority of Nenaki's people. He ordered up and downed a shot of whiskey in a silent salute to his friend. Krueganian bastards, he thought.

Final Fantasy RPG going lickety split!

2006-02-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well, everyone comes to a point in their lives where they just run out of hours in a day to do the things that they want to do. I am at such a point. Sure I have worked more these past two weeks and that is only temporary, but I still feel the mound of obligations growing past my ears. So, even though it saddens me greatly to say it, I must announce that I will be putting the story of Sasuke and his friends from Rokugan on a shelf for now. I may write the next two chapters if I have a bit of extra time, and I will still take notes on what happens each session just in case I wish to start up again, but for now Sasuke's time is ended. What has usurped this story you may ask, well, it's my own story in a way. I have been working on creating a RPG of my own for some time now, initially it started out as a premise for a videogame, but after playing D&D for the first time 2 years ago, and loving/hating it I decided, with help from a friend, to instead convert it to a pen and paper game, this I did and FFRPG was born. Now, after long years of work, it is nearing completion. The players have been gathered, the campaign is set in stone and everyone is eager to get off and running. Now I have had to commit much more time to get everything ready at the pace at which my players would like it, already they are chomping at the proverbial bit. But fear not oh Blog reader(s), I have been inspired to write some original work for my RPG, something to help get the players into the mood of the world I have created, and I will be posting it here soon. It is much easier for me to write actually, since it all comes from my head and I can do whatever I want with all the characters, and since it is easier to write I hope it is more enjoyable to read, but I'll let you be the judge of that. Thanks for the comments so far everyone and God Bless.

A Post for the Uninformed

2006-02-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

Well again it comes to it. I had done this on my last blog and I feel the need to do it here again. This is a post for all people who are not familiar with either Rokugani or Feudal Japanese customs, I will go over some of the strange words that I often use in my story and explain them a little.

Honourifics:
Usually placed after the persons family name these suffix's are a denotation of the level of respect shown by the speaker.
-San, the most common, indicates respect on a peer to peer level.
-Sama, is used mostly used to indicate great respect for a lord, or when anothers rank is unknown.
-Chan, rarely used, is indicative of a familial bond, normally between close siblings, though it may also used by a close friend of greater age, such as a Sensei or an uncle.

Caste System:
Sad but true, Rokugan is a caste system, but hey it's good to be on top...
-Emporer, basic, he's the head honcho, whatever he says is law. Most Rokugani look at their Emporer as a Son of Heaven, being near infallable, though most samurai realize he is just a man.
-Clan Champion, each of the Clans in Rokugan, Major or Minor, have a Champion. The Champion is the highest rank in that Clan and has the power to start or stop wars.
-Daimyo, each family in each clan has a Family Daimyo, the Daimyo from the most prominent family is usually also the Clan Champion.
-Samurai, all of the above ranks are also part of the samurai class, any samurai below those ranks either falls into the Bushi, or Shugenga class. Bushi are the traditional type of samurai, doing all the fighting and killing and such. Shugenga are the magic users of the empire, they commune with the kami to produce magical elemental effects. Other subclasses to the Samurai class are Courtier, Scout, Monk, and even Merchant.
-Peasant, most of Rokugan is made up of this class, they do the manual labour and give tribute to the Emporer and their local Daimyo, in turn they are protected by the samurai and area allowed to serve the Glorious Emporer.
-Eta, the lowest of the low, eta are considered filth even by the peasant class, they are responsible for hauling away refuse and disposing of corpses. Most samurai are of the mind that eta are less than human, this, as well as the fact that everyone is born into his or her class with little or no hope of advancement, and it is little surprise that eta would resent their superiors.

Status:
To determine status among ranks of samurai one has to be wily and educated, insulting a superior with the improper honourific could lead to death, here is how it is done.
-Family Name, each person in the samurai class has a proper name that is taken at Gempukku (the coming of age ceremony) as well as a Family Name. When the persons name is said the Family Name always comes first, so if I were to say Kyoji's name for example it would be like this: Bayushi Kyoji. This indicates what family he is a part of, in this case the Bayushi family, a samurai would also know from that what Clan the person belonged to, Bayushi being part of the Scorpion Clan.
-Mon, the Mon is a circular symbol similar in function to a coat of arms, each family has a unique Mon. A samurai has to know what each Family and Clans Mons look like, at least enough to be able to recognize them on sight, many pity the samurai who mistakens the mon of the Bayushi family, Scorpion, for that of the Hida family, Crab. Mons are also used for other things besides indicating families, they can also be used to indicate being trained by another clan, membership in a Legion or as a Magistrate, or a high rank such as Emerald or Amethyst Champion.
-Dress, this is the final way a samurai may tell the rank of any given person, though it may suit a higher ranking samurai to mascerade as a common samurai when travelling or conducting secret business, so it is best for a samurai to always assume the person he is talking to is of higher rank, just to be safe.

Weapons:
The life of a samurai, weapons symbolize rank and honour and are cared for with respect, well, most of the time.
-Katana, the 2nd most common, the katana is commonly known as a 'samurai sword', which is true to an extent. The katana features a curving single edged blade about 3.5 feet in length with a small round crossguard and a hilt fit for two hands. It is indeed most exclusively used by samurai.
-Wakizashi, the most common, it symbolizes the samurai's honour, even non-combatants like Shugenga or Courtiers will carry these. The Wakizashi is very similar to the Katana except in a smaller scale, the blade is only about 1 foot long, and the hilt is meant only for a hand and a half.
-Nagimaki, traditionally the weapon of choice for Yojimbo (bodyguards), the Nagamaki is also similar to the Katana, the main difference is that the blade usually has less of a curve and the handle is about 2 feet long giving the weapon more leverage at the expense of manueverability. The Nagamaki is carried unsheathed.
-Tetsubo, a weapon found throughout the Crab clan, the Tetsubo is a long studded wooden club. Upwards of 5 feet long including the handle, the Tetusubo can be driven with fantastic force into ones foes, crushing bones even through armour. Since it's mostly comprised of wood the Tetsubo is much cheaper to manufacture than the finely crafted Katana, and therefore more easily replacable in battle.
-Kusari-Gami, a strange weapon to be found in the hands of a samurai, the Kusari-Gami is actually a combination of two weapons, a Kama (a scythe type weapon derived from a farm implement) and a Flail (a handle and a chain with a heavy weight at the end also derived from a farm implement). The Kusari-Gami is basically a Kama with a Flail attached to the bottom of the handle. Since it is an off-shoot of a farm implement it is looked upon scornfully by most samurai. The Mantis Clan, however, will often use Kama as their primary weapon because they are cheap to replace and when fighting out on open water aboard ships one has the tendency to loose weapons.
-Yari, the basic infantry weapon given to most peasant militia. The Yari is a Spear, pure and simple, a wooden shaft and a metal head, good for throwing or hindering cavalry. Samurai will sometimes carry a few of these into battle as a type of lance when fighting while mounted.

oops. I forgot the quote of the post, so here it is:

"Alas for the wailing of the gulls! Did not the Lady tell me to beware of them?" Legolas Greenleaf