Day in the Life of an Idiot

It's been another busy week, with a convention looming tonight! (ConFABulous). Quickly, here's my schedule:

FRIDAY
4:00-5:00 PM - Control Tower
Solo RPGs: Is playing by yourself pretend or is there more to it? Let's talk about about what makes solo RPGs interesting. There are a lot of new things out there, including big fancy manuals like Star Trek: Adventures Captain's Log. This includes the topic of "PDF RPGs." (Lyda Morehouse)

SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 AM - Control Tower
Operation Metro Surge: "Rebel Loons and Queer Fans Melt ICE." Fans, fan themes, indigenous people, women, queer, and non-binary folks all had prominent roles in resisting Operation Metro Surge. Let's talk about our experiences in the ICE War. (Lyda Morehouse & John Till)

Starting at 5 pm - Earhart
Mascot Mayhem: Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG with GM Lyda Morehouse Our intrepid lesbians find themselves in Neo-Tokyo once again on another cyberpunk-themed quest. This time, the word on the street is that something is very sus about the neighborhood’s costumed mascot, Chiitan-san, a friendly otter--or rather, suddenly not-so friendly. Worse, Chiitan’s mood seems to be spreading to other automatons in Akihabara. Will the lesbians be able to figure out what’s gone wrong before it becomes MASCOT MAYHEM!!? Simple rules will be taught. Pregens provided. (Up to 7 players.)

SUNDAY
10:00-11:00 AM - Control Tower
Queer in the Last Yea An informal gathering to talk about books and other media with LGBTQ+ themes that you have read or watched in the last year. (Lyda Morehouse and David Lenander)

Starting at NOON - Earhart
Camp Flying Moose, a RPG with GM Lyda Morehouse Inspired in part by the Lumberjanes comic book series, this PbtA RPG embodies "high fantasy, low stakes" with the addition of twee magical girls/enbies/boys with powers like Crafting and "I Have a Badge for That!!" Come spend a few hours at Camp Flying Moose where you can choose to help a talking squirrel find her missing pup, chase the monster in the lake, or try on the costumes found in the creepy Loft of Cabin One. Whatever you do, try not to end up on the path through the bent oaks that leads directly to the land of the Fey! Design your own characters, very simple rules will be taught. (Up to 5 players)

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Otherwise, I've been feeling chronically behind this week. I've had a couple of rather annoying errands to do, but nothing that should make me feel so vaguely anxious as I have been. The annoying errands involve a clock that Mason was gifted by his grandma Margaret before she died. Obviously, when it stopped working, we wanted to get it repaired. It's nothing all that special? But, it is a lovely mantlepiece clock that has a lot of sentamental value. There's a place in town--one of only a very few--that does clock repair. It's called "House of Clocks" and it could not be less centrally located for me. It's in Maplewood, which is not, itself difficult for me to get to. I used to regularly drive to the Maplewood Library as part of my work with the Ramsey Country Libraries. But, this particular shop is just in a weird place. It's equally distant from either of the main highways I could take to get to it (36 or 94). So, the travel time is just... always 30 minutes or more, you know? With 2/3rds of that time being on a stop-and-go street, White Bear Avenue. 

Plus, because they're one of the only games in town, House of Clocks gives no craps about keeping an exact schedule. Their building has permanent paint on it that lists hours, but these are LIES. It is open when House of Clocks wants to be open. You can not depend on the internet knowing when House of Clocks is open; only House of Clocks knows when it is open. So, of course, this errand actually started on Wednesday a day that I had been assured by the LYING McLIAR posted schedule was a day that House of Clocks would be open. It was not. So, I drove for an hour to achieve nothing. The thing I did gain, however, was their hand scrawled note on the door posting this weeks rando hours. Thus, I made a plan to drive back on Thursday (yesterday.)

I should back up here because this whole thing is actually a fool's errand to begin with.

We actually dropped grandma's clock off at House of Clocks several months ago. They told us not to expect the clock back for four months, so largely, I managed to forget about it. However, I woke up in a cold sweat several days ago because my previous phone had a terrible voice mail system and, of course, in the meantime I also got a new phone. I was convinced that we might have missed the call to come pick up grandma's clock. So, even while driving over to House of Clocks on Wednesday that I was not likely to actually be getting grandma's clock BACK. I was just going to talk to someone to find out if they were still working on it and whether or not I'd missed a call.

Why not just call them, you ask? Well, while House of Clocks *does have* a phone number to call, it tells you the schedule that they are open for the week and then hangs up on you. You can not leave messages with the House of Clocks. 

Why not just email them, you ask? Well, while House of Clocks *does have* a "contact us" form on their website, it sends you an automatic message asking you to try calling or stopping by during BUSINESS HOURS, which, as have been previously discussed, CHANGES WEEKLY.

But, so I finally made it back when the doors were open. (Notably, House of Clocks actually props open their door when they are open, probably because people are forever driving by trying to figure out if they are open or not.) The best part of this story? The lady who helped me was actually extremely nice, found our clock right away, and assured me that it was in its final phase and should be back to me in a week or two. So, all of this kind of for nothing? But it was a good nothing, and, in someways better than I expected because I had also been in a panic over the fact that I lost the claim check. 

Yeah, so, that was just ONE of my errands this week. The other most memorable one (which also ended up being two trips) was to go to the tailor shop that was just up the road. Mason got his very first tailored suit this week because he applied for and got onto the philanthropy board for his law school and he had a donor dinner he attended last night (Thursday.) This shop Milburn's is just up the street from our house and is kind of a Twin Cities institution? Like, these guys all walk around the store with the measuring tape slung over their shoulders and you kind of feel, walking in, like you've been transported to somewhere in the New York City burroughs in 1953. I mean, there's no smoking in the store, but otherwise there is very little to distinguish it from that kind of place and time. So, I also ended up stopping in about an hour too early to pick up Mason's suit yesterday morning, so I had to set myself an alarm to go back and pick it up. It's a very simple, nice, off-the-rack suit, but it made a lot more special by the fact that it was, in fact, tailored specifically to Mason. 

I also got a chance to teach Mason the double-Windsor knot for his tie. The very one my father taught me. 

So, that was very cool and it was nice to see him looking so sharp. 

Then the rest was kind of a blur, but there was a trip to the Farmer's Market--for those of you who care deeply, the answer this week is Macoun. I also got some green apples that I failed to catch the name of because they were a spontaneous addition. Shawn, for whatever reason, really prefers green apples? And when I was buying the Macouns I happened to see that they were next to a green variety, so I just grabbed those as well.  I promise to pay better attention next time!  (I am proud of myself for remembering to memorize Macoun this time.)

There were daily jogs here and there, though--we have a terrible habit of figuring out dinner on the fly and so I'm forever running off to the grocery store for this item or that.

Right! Well, I should go prepare both for my first panel this afternoon and my upcoming games!

This weekend was grey and somewhat rainy. We didn't get a ton of rain after Friday's long, slow, steady soak, but it remained overcast and cool the entire weekend. Which....? I actually like. I'm a fan of autumn. The cooler weather often energizes me. I think, in part, because I grew up with a professor parent, fall was always back to school time--which, for me, I loved, if for no other reason than that it meant new pens and notebooks. My mind still retains some of that excitement, I think. Fall feels like "new begining."

Plus, you can always win my heart with a fancy pen and a nice notebook to this day.

Shawn and I did our usual alleterative errands: coffee, carbs, CVS, and, in the case of this last Saturday, we also stopped by to chat with (C)Keven. I guess "chat" would have worked better than trying to make Ceven out of Keven (and, yes, he does spell his name like this, with all "e"s.) Shawn's brother has been dealing with a kidney cancer diagnosis for over a year now. His inital prognosis was not good, but he keeps on keeping on, and the tumor does seem to have responded well to chemotherapy. Keven never married and is a lifelong bachelor--though not in the usual alternate meaning of that. The point is, no one is looking after Keven but Keven. So, we make an effort to stop by now and again with something to eat and to spend a little bit of time just hanging out with him. 

I was supposed to have a D&D game Saturday morning, but one of our players. Nick, had a death in the family. Rather than run a one-shot without him, I decided to cancel out of respect for his loss. Of course, on Thursday night, at work, I got a plantative text from him saying, "Uh, actually, I could play...?" Since I'd made this decision for everyone a few days earlier, I just told him that "hey, as it happens I have some free time. You want to go grab a cup of coffee somewhere?" So, that was good. 

However, I can never go back to that particular restaurant again.

I had an extremely delightful waitress and then ABSOLUTELY FORGOT HOW MATH WORKED and ended up accidentally giving her a tiny tip. Like, seriously, I got home and I was like, "Oh, shit. That was two dollars!!" Even typing this is making me blush furiously. I probably should have gone back when I realized what I did and brought her a wad of cash? Instead, I was just like, "Whelp, I can never go back there." I will live with the shame forever.

Otherwise, I spent the rainy day doing a lot of fic writing. In the process of setting up this new computer, I uncovered a cache of stuff that I'd written years ago, but never posted on AO3. It's Bleach stuff, so none of you care, and that is fine. It was funny because one of the things that Nick and I have in common is anime. As we were winding down our conversation at the restaurant that I have barred myself from for life, he guiltily admitted to me that he tried to watch Bleach and just couldn't see the appeal. When people tell me this, all I have to say is, "Yes." If pressed, I could probably explain what about it made me fall into it SO hard, but I also fully recognize that, in many ways, my attachment to this anime/manga was kind of a fluke. It just hit the right buttons for me me at the right time in my life. I fully understand when people give me the "??" look about Bleach and say, "Isn't that just some dumb fighting manga?" I mean, yes?  What can I say?

Sunday, I made the mistake of trying to have a "pajama day," which is something that any member of our family can declare on any day. The idea is that we give up on trying to do errands or other housework and just spend the day lounging in pajamas, reading, quilting, etc. But, Mason had a study group to go to at and Shawn just wasn't in the mood. So, my pajama day was declined. Alas! I probably should have capitulated and gone and done some grocery shopping because, thanks to our abortive pajama day, we woke up this morning without any bread in the house. Shawn had to bring cold pizza for her work lunch and Mason likely left the house without anything either. Not a great start to a Monday.

 A very hit and miss weekend actually. How about you?

What can I tell you about my life? I worked last night and, as usual, it was FINE. I spent much of the night on the floor in the children's nonfiction area because it's well-used and so that means nothing is in the proper order. I'd complain, except I'm honestly very happy to know that kids are reading about dinosaurs and sharks and space and how weather works and biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I brought home some books on Tuesday that I haven't gotten around to opening up yet. One of them is a new novella from T. Kingfisher called Nine Goblins. I did actually crack that one open right away, but I'm not sure about it because it seems to be very goblin-y and I'm not sure I'm up for the kind of gross antics goblins get up to. There has already been a discussion of an eyeball in gruel and... I just dunno if I want even a short novella full of that, you know? I will give it another chapter or two, however, since this is T. Kingfisher and normally I'd be happy with her grocery list. The other one that I snagged was also on the New SF kiosk and also a novella. This one is by S. L. Huang and is called The Language of Liars. I know nothing about this novella, but novellas are often good bets for me because they are short. And, I never mind it when I bounce out of librrary books because, well, they're library books!

I had accidentally left my library card on the workstation table and one of the librarians rescued it for me. I would have been heartbroken to lose it, as it is the coveted laser loon Saint Paul card. I couldn't replace it (or at least not get the same art ever again). This prompted a whole discussion about libraries that do fancy cards and those that don't. A lot of suburban libraries don't. Ramsey never did, nor does Anoka. I kind of like getting to choose from various pictures, sort of like how I like having a bank card that isn't plain. It's not for everyone, but it works for me.

Oh, also, we have a new front display as you walk into the library featuring Minnesota authors. I know most of the SFF ones and so have been pulling those out to place in promenent positions, but if y'all are aware of mystery and romance folks, let me know. I know SOME romance writers like Katherine Eagle and Michelle Hauf because I was in RWA with them back in the day, but feel free to drop your favorites into the comments. I could use help remembering everyone.I'm proud to say, Minnesota really does represent when it comes to writers!

So, that's work.

What else? I've been going to the Roseville farmer's market on Tuesday mornings because this is the time of great bounty. I picked up a bunch of things yesterday including some fresh dill. I didn't get any apples because I got some on Friday at the farmer's market that's just off Summit Avenue. Those have been delightful to have. I tried making an apple bread pudding, but I wasn't especially pleased with it. Baking apples in anything other than a pie always changes something about their essential appleness that I find 'meh' unless done right. And the bread pudding was decidedly meh. Still. It might not have been the recipie's fault. I didn't have quite as much leftover bread as they wanted so I had to fudge and guess on the amounts of the other ingredients. I presumed I had about half, but I might have had less than that.

Ah well.

We still have a bunch of apples left and an entire cookbook called The Delights of Apple Cookery (by Lila Perl) sitting right next to me on the dining room table.

I'm still stuck at the dining room table because I'm still borrowing Shawn's computer. The Reuse Center had initially promised a delivery by Satruday, but, in the way of such things, that got downgraded to... supposedly (we'll see)... today. Of course, it will probably arrive when I am out to lunch with tallgeese . He and I are going to try to spend some time finalizing the ConFABulous programming grid. Wish us luck. We don't have a lot of panelists to pull from this year for whatever reason, so it's going to be an interesting game of "oops, they're running a game at that same time!" I suspect this year will be a one-track panel program. Normally, that's something I dislike, as a restless sort, but we just do not have enough volunteers for anything else. It's going to be an interesting year. Hardly anyone is signed up, period. I'm not sure what's going on with that, but I mean... there are so many conventions in this town already, it's possible that folks are just feeling the squeeze of the economy and an overabundance of choices. That being said, if you have ANY INTEREST in hanging out with me for a weekend gaming and talking SFF, please consider signing up! https://confabulous.org/ !!  I'd love to see you there!

On my way to lunch, I'm going to swing by the hardware shop because I just got the call that our lamp was repaired and is waiting for pick-up. This is an odd little lamp that Shawn and I bought at a church basement rummage sale years ago. It's psuedo-Chinese? and kind of badly done, at that--like whoever hand-painted it did not have the steadiest hand or a lot of color options. So, there are things that are probably supposed to be butterflies that have been painted the same color as the flowers and the peacock is barely recognizable because the paint job is so bad. Still, we love it? I'm sure everyone has something like this, right? It's weird and kind of ugly, but you love it anyway?That's our lamp. So, I'm excited to have it back. It's been getting dark enough in the evenings that I'm starting to notice that I don't have enough light to read by during dinner. 

I think that's probably all the news that's fit to print. How are you? Are you reading anything fun or provocative or even 'meh'?  I'm still listening my way through Lightspeed Magazine's podcast. There were a couple I enjoyed, including "Us, In Another Universe" by A. C. Wise (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/us-in-another-universe/) which is story that's kind of about fanfic without being about fanfic. This story also weirdly inspired a whole series of micro-dreams in which I thought up other scenarios for this couple. 

 I work today at three, which actually gives me a decent amount of time to try to get some things done. However, I had kind of a shock this morning when, after kissing my wife goodbye as I dropped her off at work, she said, "See you tomorrow morning, I guess!"

It struck hard because she's right, actually. I will be home at some point tonight, but not until after my whole family is asleep. 

She's off at work now, Mason is off to school, and I will leave at 2:30 pm for Northtown Library, work there until 7 pm, drive through some terrible, unhealthy fast food place for dinner, and then directly drive to my writers' group in-person meeting at one of my colleague's house. Wyrdsmiths starts at 7:30 pm and so I may be a little late since my commute is exactly a half hour and I will have had to stop to grab food. The majority of the Wyrdsmiths don't have to get up at o'butt o'clock, so we tend to go late. Sometimes we don't break up our sessions until after 11 pm. Even if we were to be somehow super-efficient, Shawn is up at 5:15 am and so goes to bed around 8 or 9 pm. I barely see her even on Thursdays when I go directly home after work.

I hate capitalism. 

But so it goes. This is also a weekend that I work and so, of course, I also have plans for Friday night. I'm going to be exhausted come Monday, just in time for me to have one day off before back to work on Tuesday. 

I am beginning to understand why they asked me three times in the interview if I understood my schedule. (Reader: I did not. I was under the mistaken impresson that I had one week where I worked Tuesdays and Thursdays which alternated with when I worked weekends. Nope. I always and forever work Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is annoying when I am also working that weekend.)

ANYWAY, I also wanted to tell you all about Jeff.

Jeff is someone who probably once had my Tracfone number. Or he currently has a phone number one digit to either side of my current number. The reason I suspect that Jeff once had this number is because when I first started using Tracfone, decades ago now, Jeff's (ex?) paramours immediately started calling my phone. I would pick up an unknown number and get "Jeff? Is this Jeff?" despite my decently feminine ranged voice. 

At first, decades ago, I was like, "Sorry wrong number," but after a while I started to suspect that I was Jeff's dump number for the men he only wanted to see that one time (or wanted to brush off at the bar). This was confirmed when Mason once picked up the phone while he was still in high school for me when we were both in the car. The guy on the other end immediately said, "Who are you?" in an interested voice. "15!" was Mason's immediate answer which did get a sudden, terrified hang-up at least. But, so now when men call for Jeff, I simply say, "This hasn't been Jeff's number for a long time. Sorry, pal. You were played." 

Over the years, I have watched Jeff move across the country, breaking hearts in his wake. For a brief period he also used my phone as a dump for people he met at what I have to assume were work conferences (or he had a little bisexual phase there) because I got a lot of texts and calls from women wanting to reconnect about some networking opportunity or whatever. 

He seems to be out of that job now, though and back to traveling. Jeff managed to break someone's heart in the UK. I saw the +44 come in and I was like, "Damn it, Jeffery! You've gone international!" That poor guy. I actually heard a sad. "Oh," before I hung up on him.

Anyway, another poor soul just called me this morning, so good news. Jeff is still out there, still having his fun. Bad news, someone's heart is broken this morning. By me. Thanks, Jeff. 

 I will have a new computer by Saturday if the delivery gods favor me. Hooray!  I (technically Shawn) have ordered a HP Pro-book, not unlike the computer that I borked for the unbeatable price of $150. This astounding deal comes courtesy of University of Michigan's Reuse Center, a tip given to us via friends of ours who are (and were, but are now retired) professors there.

Go team!

In other news, I'd have been at work already if I did not suddenly remember the mnemomic Tuesday is TWOs-day. I had it in my head that I needed to be at work by 1 for some reason and even told Shawn earlier today that if she wanted a pick up it would have to be by 12:30 as I was headed to work. I don't know what is wrong me that I can NOT remember this damn schedule. 

I've also started prepping for the Thirsty Sword Lesbians game that I'm running at ConFABulous this year. Currently, the plan is to continue in the cyberpunk universe that I've created, largely because I have, in fact, already created it. But I'm considering running a completely different TSL world because, as much discussed, sometimes players are kind of stymied by what's available in a cyberpunk universe. We'll see. I'm also hoping some day to run my weird little magical girl summer camp game, too. (Camp Flying Moose.)

But, I am kind of presuming that there will be players. Currently, we don't have a lot of folks signed up for ConFABulous. (https://confabulous.org/). If you are local to me and a con-going type, let me just pitch it to you. ConFABulous is a lovely little relaxicon where you can hang out with some cool queer/queer-friendly folks, play a board game or an RPG or two (or three or more) and enjoy some light programming--in fact, if you're itching to send in some programming ideas, there's still time: confabulous.info@gmail.com

Okay, well, I should probably get ready to go to work now, as it is 1:13 pm!

 
A dragonfly visitor to our side garden (for pameladean )

Yesterday, I broke down and watered some of our gardens. I know that south of us, near Chicago, it's been nothing but storms (Gary, Indiana apparently still doesn't have power), but the Twin Cities are in the middle of a long, devestating drought. So, I've been praying for rain every day. Well, in so much as I pray, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, my point is that while I was out, this lovely friend stopped by. She let me get quite close to her. Normally when I try to take pictures of dragonflies, I get nothing. They flit away before my camera can focus on them. But, she was a good sport and possibly was waiting for me to actually water something near her so she could get a drink!

I don't have a lot of news this morning. I managed to forget that my usual Farmers' Market was closed despite all their helpful signage last time. Then, I took a wrong turn and got absolutely stuck in State Fair traffic. I wasted a huge part of my morning trying to go to and get back from a place that wasn't even open. SIGH.

Mason is off at day two of his law school orientation (which lasts this whole week.) Tonight, there's yet another mixer of some kind at a brew pub in Minneapolis. So, Shawn is on her own for dinner, which means that I made a casserole last night that she can heat up once she's home. I will be rolling in some time after 6:30 pm and will re-heat whatever's leftover. Orientation sounds like it's going amazingly for Mason. They already had to make a mock argument, which sounded quite fun. The question was something like, "You work at a grocery store. Your boss wants you to put the apples up front in a display and put the carrots in the back near the other produce. You get to the backroom and discover there are only peppers. Where do you put them and why? Make your case!" It was obviously just a silly little icebreaker, but it is an interesting question, nonetheless. 

For me, I'd want to know if they were shiny, red peppers. If they were, I would consider putting them up front where the boss had wanted the apples because they would make a colorful, inviting display, which is what I presume that the apples had represented. It would also depend on whether or not, not putting anything in the front display would leave a hole or if there is something already there that could just stay. Obviously, if the space where the apples should have gone was going to be empty and uninviting, I'd put the peppers there. Now, what I think this means is that I shouldn't be a lawyer, but instead go into marketing. I'm thinking in terms of what draws the customers in. Mason had, in fact, a much more lawyerly answer. He'd put them with the other produce futher back because peppers are more of an ingredient than a stand alone food, like an apple. 

Where would you put the peppers?
 

 I am coming to you fully caffinated.  Today is payday for my family. So, after dropping Shawn off at work, I took myself downtown to my favorite coffee shop just off West 7th. No one makes coffee like Claddagh. I will cry big tears if they ever go out of business.

Last night I worked and then had to rush home to eat, change my clothes, and show up for my writers' group. I can't say that I contributed much. I'm not feeling much like a writer these days and, on top of that, I am generally wasted on Thursday nights because that's my "late" night at work. I know a lot of you out there work way longer hours than I do, so I can't really complain, but I don't do well not eating diner until 7:30 pm. I may have scared my colleagues with my blank, middle-distance stare. It was rough. But, at least I managed to show up, which is better than a lot of times.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to Saturday, even though this is a weekend that I work. On Saturday, we are continuing the denouement of the orcish political campaign that I'm GMing. Last session, the villains were rounded up and sent off to face public trial of their peers (the orcs are experimenting with representational government, though it is currently very early Roman era wherein 'political assassination' is still a viable political move.) Even though there was a new election for senate leader, there was some discussion of whether or not the party should attempt a resurrection of "Ceaser," aka the former warlord who had built the empire. I'll be interesting to see what folks decide to do. I'm as prepared as a person can be with a highly creative, invested group of players.  But, I'm looking forward to Saturday precisely because of that. Who knows where this group will take the story next!  All I know, is that I'm here for it.

I'm hoping that my computer stays working enough that I can catch up on some other projects I've had to let sit, like the new blogs I'm trying to write on my ancient Tate Hallaway site. I was doing really well there for a while and then my computer started glitching out and now it's been several days since I've written anything. Plus, I restarted an old fanfic series and I also want to continue on that. 

But as I am fond of saying, "you can only do what you can do."

How's everyone else? Plans for the weekend?

I was absent from here all of yesterday and, whoo doggie, did I have a busy day!

More on that in a second. First, administrative business: this last week, the thing I read that was probably the most interesting was FTL, Y'all: Tales From the Age of the $200 Warp Drive a graphic novel anthology from Iron Circus Comics (2018). A friend of mine recommended it and Comix Plus had it available, so I read it all in one sitting. It's a fascinating concept: what if, basically TODAY we had access to faster than light travel which was cheap, but not necessarily reliable. Like any comic anthology there were standout stories and some that made me go, "meh" or "is that it?"  But, if you are into science fiction generally and are okay with the graphic format, I would also recommend it. It's very queer and there's clearly a number of Minnesota authors involved, including former Gaylaxicon Special Guest Blue Delliquanti (https://www.bluedelliquanti.com/).

My day yesterday started at 5:15 am when I woke up in a panic wondering if I'd left a sprinkler going in the backyard. Reader, she had.

I dragged myself out of bed and padded barefoot into the backyard in complete darkness only to realize that, yes, in fact, the water had been going in that one spot since 2:00 pm the previous day. My water bill is going to be ginormous, y'all. But one tiny section of the yard is THRIVING!  In fact, I would like to imagine that all of the neighborhood night animals paraded through my yard to get a bath, dig for worms, and or enjoy a cool drink. Because otherwise I'm just dumb and wasteful.

I had been hoping when I trundled around in the dark that perhaps it was only 1 am and I could go back to bed knowing that it'd only been HALF of the night that I'd left the water on. Alas. When I realized it was 5:30 am at that point I decided to just stay awake. Tuesday is typically a busy day for me because it is TWOs day, which means I work at 2:00 pm. Plus, on Tuesdays, there's a fantastic farmer's market in Roseville that I like to try to hit, especially now when the corn and the apples are starting to be available. So, after the usual morning events around our house (which always includes a joint effort between Shawn and me to be "Queen Bee" on the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle,) I took Shawn to work and drove out to Roseville. At this time of year the farmer's market is always an embarassment of riches. I keep myself on a budget by only taking out x amount from the bank in cash and when I run out, I have to stop (even though more and more vendors will take credit). I came home with more ground cherries again, though, which I know is a bit of a splurge because I am the only one in my family who really loves those. I also picked up a small bunch of "First Kiss" apples from a local vendor which are, for me, at least, the perfect combination of sweet, tart, and crunchy.  Shawn tried them this morning and also really liked them, which is good since she likes to have an apple with her lunch every day at work and these are perfect packing size for a lunchbox, as it were. 

I did a lot of housecleaning, etc., before work because Mason flew home yesterday from his visit to Oklahoma City. He brought back some funky crystals that he and Jas dug up in the salt flats. 


The picture Mason sent us of this extremely alien-to-me looking landscape, flat like a lake only... salt.

Mason's plane came in while I was off at work, however, so I missed a lot of the homecoming stories. He's promised to tell me all the exciting bits today before he heads off to campus to pick up his books for his first semester as a law student at the University of Minnesota. 

Work, as you know, was what? Yes, it was FINE. I only saw one lone egret on my way to work so I took that as an omen that yesterday would be a relatively easy, chill day at Northtown Library. It seems as though I read the signs correctly, as it was.  Not a lot to report, although anecdotally, it seems to me that the shelves are filling out more as the summer reading program winds down. Anoka has a summer reading program that includes prizes for adults as well as kids, so they have a lot of participation across the board. So, maybe some of the weird empty shelf look will disappear now that more books have been returned. I'll keep you posted, as I'm sure you're on tenterhooks. 

As I was at work, I followed along as the texts came as Mason boarded the plane for home, landed, and made it back to the house safely.  

He had asked me to pick up an easy-to-throw-in-the-oven meal for dinner from the grocery store so add that to the list of things I did before 1:30 pm. Also, I realized on Monday that I had a Thirsty Sword Lesbians game to run last night so I spent some time prepping that, as well. Not that I needed to? As usual this particular group just never does anything remotely like I expect them to.

So, after work, I drove home for a half-hour, ate some lovely food prepared by my son, hugged him 'hello' and then... went to run a game. lcohen , please feel free to jump into the comments and tell me what you thought of last night? I never know what to think when the GM thinks the game was AWESOME. Like, if I'm having that much fun, does that mean the players are having an 'oh shit, what have we done?' night? (In this case, maybe.)

So, we're playing a cyberpunk game which I have complained a little bit about here before. The game mechanics are NOT specifically cyberpunk; I chose that setting. Thirsty Sword Lesbians actually asks you to build a world WITH your players in your Zero Session. Which makes sense because the game is supposed to be very heavily role-play and light on mechanics, so you need players who are invested in the story. But, at the time, I had assembled largely inexperienced players some of whom had never played any RPG before in their lives. I decided (possibly foolishly) to just drop their characters into a world I'd already created for a one-shot that I ran at ConFABulous. So, unfortunately, they don't have any kind of automatic buy-in. They're in a world they that didn't choose. I have long wonder if I made a mistake because, as I've talked about here before (I think, but certainly with anyone who is even vaguely interested) part of the problem with a setting like cyberpunk is that players don't always know what's available to them. This works better in a one-shot with pre-generated characters because I have gone to great pains in my one-shot preparation to be sure to give each player extras on their character sheets so they have a sense of what is at their disposal and who they can call for help. But, my usual analog is this: in a ubiquitious fantasy setting like your average D&D game everyone around the table knows that if they want to get somewhere fast, they just have to ask if there is a stable in town so that they can buy (or steal) horses, right? The problem with a setting like cyberpunk is that even though I have described all sorts of transportation options like rickshaws, water taxi, hover cars, motorbikes, trains, etc., players will sometimes be stymied because it's not as universally understood what's available... or at least it's harder for more inexperienced players. I often have TREMENDOUS success running this at ConFABulous because it's a gaming con!  Players there are super-into a unique setting and have proven to be deeply inventive when given half a chance and a basic sense of the world. 

But I don't blame my players for this at all. A poor carpenter blames her tools, as it were.

So I started out yesterday's session, becauase we are at the Final Boss stage of a story, preparing my players for what was available to them in the room, how they could utilize some of the game mechanics to do what they wanted, etc.  Then, one player, a very clever one (lcohen ) latched onto an off-hand comment from one of the NPCs and rolled with it. The lesbians (as I call this troupe or party) are basically doing a corporate headquarters dungeon crawl and a random NPC, seeing what was going on, cried out, "Is this a hostile takeover?" And Lisa perked up and was like... "Can we do that?" 

And everything either evolved or devolved from there, depending on your point of view.

I thought it was BRILLIANT (and unexpected, which is my favorite thing that players do!) It was also not without consequences. One of the other players' characters had to use a move called CALL ON A TOXIC POWER to get the help they needed and now... is suddenly faced with the possibility that the people she called family might be more toxic than she realized? For me, this is great story, good conflict, juicey but there were several times in the game where it seemed like maybe I'd lost some of the players to other distractions. There were a couple, "Sorry, what was that?" from folks which usually means they're on their other screens or disassoicating or whatever, like, maybe this plot turn was too high level and not granular enough for them? I don't know. 

Also because a number of the players are still relatively new to role-playing, there were moments of dead silence when I'd expect a more experienced group to be in full role-play mode, you know? 

So who knows. 

I thought it was great, but maybe the players were like ???

Anyway, the crazy thing was that after that (so post 9pm) I needed to hop in the car to take care of yet-another friend's cat!  So, even though my day started before dawn, I did not get home from all of that until 10:30 pm. 

It's kind of a miracle that I'm upright today.

 My computer is mostly behaving today, so let's see how this goes!

How was work last night, Lyda?

You know, it was.... FINE. I was not feeling especially brilliant, so I can't say that I kicked butt and alphabetized like a fiend. But, I hit my official quota. Did I tell you that I have a quota I am expected to make? YEAH. It's like I work in a book factory. A shelver who works four hours is expected by Anoka County to put away 10 tiers (on a cart that holds two tiers) of books. Now, when I worked at Ramsey County there was no such expectation, but my duties were way, way more numerous there than here. It was understood when I worked at Ramsey County Libraries that a four hour shift would be divided by: one hour at the help desk, one hour on the machine (AMH), one hour doing holds/phones, and one hour shelving. There was always plenty of work, so you got what you got done in each hour. But, here, I only do shelving and so I apparently am expected to actually do that and not noodle around, I guess, reading book cover flaps or picking my nose.

I am here to tell you that you, a non-dyslexic person, could easly make this quota and still have time left over for some nose picking and cover flap reading. Even with my careful shelving and double-checking, still manage a bit of cover flap reading because, god damn it, that's the whole JOY of working in a library and I will be damned if I don't get a chance to browse, ffs!

Yesterday, even though I felt like the alphabet was the most difficult thing humanity had ever invented, I still managed to make my quota, albeit just barely. 

Otherwise, it seemed to have rained in Blaine (where my library is) and skipped Saint Paul. Perhaps Blaine is just enough to the west of us that the drizzle pooped out before it got to us. This has, unfortunately, necessitated watering the backyard. My front yard is currently chaos incarnate so I'm not really sensing that the neighbors want MORE out of control growth, so I've been sort of letting that be whatever it is. But, I don't want my backyard gardens to full croak. 

I spent the first ten minutes of work being kind of mad and jealous about the fact that they got rain and we didn't.

I have to work this weekend, which.... is FINE. I get home from work both Saturday and Sunday at far more reasonable times, so it's not nearly as much of a hassle to feel up for making myself (and my family) dinner. I picked up a couple of books on Tuesday night from the library that I'm curious about. The Kamogawa Food Detectives and its sequel The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Kashiwai Hisashi. Then for science fiction I discovered that Northtown (my specific Anoka Library) had Boys, Beasts & Men, which is a short story collection of Sam J. Miller, whose short story "We Are the Cloud" I really, really loved when I first read it.  Sam J. Miller is queer (I think he identifies as a gay man) and so that will be an added bonus for me. 

Yeah, other than that? I've got nothing outside of work planned for this weekend. NEXT weekend will be (possibly) the exciting conclusion of a mini-arc inside of our long-running D&D game that I run which I've nicknamed "Drunk Girls," because we started this whole thing by running the one-shot "Solidarity: Drunk Girls in the Bathroom." 

The only other thing I have to do today is stop by the post office and drop off another set of postcards. For those of you just tuning in, I've been doing a postcard project that started during the pandemic as a way to stay in touch with people that I couldn't see regularly. The so-called "middle circle" of folks. It started with a bunch of real-world travel postcards that I'd amassed, like one does, over the years. When I ran out of those, I discovered a cheap source from DeviantArt and so it then morphed into fantasy travel and suddenly I started to refer to a mysterious figure known only as The Tour Guide(tm). I found the trademark to be weirdly ominous so I kept it? And then suddenly The Tour Company (also ominiously trademarked) was born. From time to time--honestly, when I was feeling lazy and didn't feel up to handwriting 25+ postcards--I would print out fake advertisement from The Tour Company offering summer get-away packages to various places in time (for whatever reason Mrs. Smith's afternoon tea time is always sold out) or suggesting that the recipient had lost (luggage, a pet, a rival, their sanity) [<--I'd circle one.]  It's very silly and my son always calls it my "enrichment," as though I am a captive octopus in danger of jailbreak/mischief out of boredom. (Which? Acurate.)

If this interests you, let me know. There's always room on my list for one more. I have gotten much less regular than I used to be. During the pandemic, I was doing a postcard a week. These days it's closer to one or two a month. You can drop me a DM here or email me (I am at my name as you know it, no middle initial or anything like that, no periods, gmail.) There absolutely nothing required of you in return. I ship internationally. I have at least three Canadians on my regular group (there may be stealth ones? I have three Canadian addresses, at any rate. But I use forever international stamps so you can literally be from anywhere in the world. It costs me the same.) They are fully dumb? I am not pretending to be some kind of clever storyteller. However, they are (I presume) a nice little thing that comes in the mail that isn't a bill. 

But, I also don't NEED more folks to send to, so no pressure, regardless. (So, likewise, if you are on this list and no longer wish to be, just let me know! I will take you out of rotation and there are no hard feelings whatsoever.) 

The only OTHER thing that I'm up to today is my regular patrol at our local mosque. The imam still wants us there, so we just keep showing up. We check in regularly with him, so I presume he will let us know if the community finds us annoying or decides they feel safer without us or whatever. I do love this and will miss it. There's a regular group of us who show-up, several of whom are folks who are also in fandom. So, that's nice. 

Yeah, how about you?

It's been humid lately, and my computer does not play well when there's moisture in air. So, this is my second attempt at this. Wish me luck.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I was up at 5:15 am to take Mason to the airport. He is visiting his sweetheart in Oklahoma City. In the summer, you gasp!? Why yes. That was their plan this year. Jas was here in the depth of Minnesota winter; Mason is in Oklahoma in the dead of summer. It's that old adage, "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best." They've decided to play that out for whatever reason. I mean, to be fair to Jas, summer in Minnesota isn't a picnic either!

But, so that went well. He got off with no hitches and even got a small coffee so that he can meet the parents, as it were, well fortifided. I zoomed home, picked up Shawn, and we voted in the Minnesota primary. We were there ultra early and I was the fourth to vote in my precinct and Shawn was the fifth. I don't know what that means for voter turnout, since we're normally there closer to 8 am. 

Then I drove Shawn to work, stopped off at the grocery store for a couple of quick items for dinner, and then headed directly out to the Farmer's Market in Roseville. I didn't buy corn. I probably should have, since now is the time for local sweet corn. I did by a bunch of basil, parsley, green onions, patty pan squash, zucchini, and some new/fresh potatoes. That's always a lot of fun? But, I bought a lot fewer veggies than I normally would because Mason and I are the big vegetable eaters. But, I did make myself a fresh patty pan squash, black bean, and green onion fry-up for lunch. Then I started on dinner, which might seem weird for 10:00 am, but with Mason gone and me working, I needed to have something ready that Shawn could heat-up for the both of us. Shawn can cook? But, to be fair to her, after forty-one years of me doing 80% of the cooking, she's gotten out of the habit. You've seen our teas. Shawn does bake a lot of the fancy treats. But, over the years, I really have been the one to specialize in meals (lunch and dinner. So, when I say 80% I mean of meals.)

At any rate, I made us a nice shwarma to go with the pita I'd bought. 

Then, I got ready for work. One of Mason's friends is also out of town and he took care of her cat while he was in town, but now that he's out, the responsibility fell to me. I almosted failed it. I had intended to get over to her apartment before work at 2:00, but I dunno. I just sort of forgot that I have a half hour commute and ran out of time. Especially since, I also had some of Mason's library books to return to the Roseville library and so I made a stop to a totally different library on my way to work at my library. 

Work was FINE.

I think I told you all about how I count egrets?  There's this one marshy spot that I pass that regularly has visible egrets, often perched in trees which is always startling to see, so I tend to notice it. I've determined that there is some magical quality to however many egrets I spot. I started out thinking that the higher the number, the better my luck. But, that doesn't seem to entirely work out. It seems as though if I spot more than three egrets my day is sort of chaotic.

Guess how many egrets I spotted yesterday?

In that pond, I clocked FIVE. What is even crazier is that I pass another little pond earlier in the trip and had noticed ANOTHER egret there as well as a great blue heron. So, I guess it should come as no surprise that in the middle of my shift I got a text from my friend Bill who asked, "How long does the Zoom tonight go?" To which I responded, "What Zoom???" and then, it hit me. I couldn't go directly to take care of the cat after work because I needed to be at the North Country Gaylaxican's book club as a guest at 7 pm that night. I was never more grateful in my life 1) for friends who remember this stuff for me, and 2) the fact that I have a wife who needs me to make dinner ahead!!

Work was actually weird. I don't know why, but Tuesdays are the day when two other shelvers also work. So, it finally happened. I came in to no books on carts to shelve AND the wanding cart out and already in use. So, I did my first stint as a shelf reader. My boss (who is retiring, so who knows if this will be the policy going forward) told me that I could just pick a favorite section and do it so long as it wasn't, you know, done yesterday by one of the other shelvers. So, I looked through the official book and saw that no one had done anything with the adult graphic novels since November of last year. That was sort of fun. There was, of course, a lot out of order, if only because most shelvers don't know where to find the author's name if it's not printed on the front cover. So there was a Kate Wilson before G. Willow Wilson and small things like that. It also gave me the opportunity to put volumes in numerical order, which again, people don't know how to do when the numbers aren't obvious, etc. By the time I finished that, several carts had appeared. But, oh my god, knowing that I needed to show up for an event that I'd forgotten made the hours CRAWL.

Finally, it was over and I zoomed home and, strangely, had a pleasant catch-up on the porch with Shawn. She'd very nicely laid the table and thus we were able to eat together. Her work has been very stressful so we didn't talk about that much, but we caught up on various observations of our lives and it was actually, possibly my favorite part of the day.

The book club might have been better if the link wasn't broken. A lot of people had trouble getting in and so the whole event started with a lot of technical malarky and who knows how many people gave up? So, it felt decently attended to me, for what I expect these days. Gone are the days when I'd fill a bookstore, you know? So, a half dozen people seemed like a nice crowd, especially since my friend Andrew made a point of dropping in from New York City. 

It is always a little awkward to be an author at these things, however. Always, people feel the need to tell you when they didn't finish your book or how they had a hard time getting into it or whatever. I never quite know what to say to this. I personally don't care all that much if you hated my book. I hate books, too? It's not like I can't relate to bouncing out of something. I'm not sure I'd tell the author to their face that I just wasn't into them, but you do you. But, it does leave me with not a lot to say in response other than, "I'm sorry to hear that," or "Okay." Neither of which are good conversation starters. 

To be fair, eventually a couple of people came on who were extremely enthusiastic about the book, which is also awkward, but in a much more fun way. And, of course, we were talking about my most recent book Welcome to Boy. Net and I have been deeply struggling with a sequel which is several years overdue now. I'm turning into George R. R. Martin in my old age, only without the rabid fanbase. 

So, that lasted until 8:30 pm and at that point, I decided that I HAD to try to see the kitty because I couldn't remember what time of day Mason was last over there and I didn't want her to go 24 hours without food or water. So, I hopped back in the car, realized that with all the running around I'd done, I was out of gas. So, I stopped to get gas, got to the apartment only to realize that I'D FORGOTTEN THE KEYS AT HOME. So, here it is now almost 9:15 pm and I still haven't taken care of this darned cat. 

Because I finally got in so late, I decided that I should be an extra nice pet sitter and I changed the kitty litter too. The cat was deeply suspicious of me, but, honestly, I would be too. 

I finally then collapsed into bed.

Oh my god.

Did I read anything last week? Speaking of bouncing out, I bounced out very early on from Daryl Gregory's When We Were Real because it felt a little too clever? To self-satisfied? I dunno, I didn't like the whole Everyman vibe of The Rabbi, The Novice, etc., with the naming conventions. I probably should have given it at least 50 pages, but life is short. Instead, I spent the weekend up at the cabin listening to short stories on the Lightspeed podcast. A couple of things that I enjoyed were:

• “The Test of Time” by Kristine Katherine Rusch https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-test-of-time/
• “The Last Season of Your Life” by Christopher Barzak https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-last-season-of-your-life/

"The Test of Time" is kind of a fun twist on magical schools and the perrenial question "what if you could go back in time to kill Hitler?" I'm a fan of Kristine Katherine Rusch's . Back in the day, I read some of her Retrieval Artist novels. She writes a very straight-forward, traditional short story that's as easy to fall into as any novel. I found the story delightful as a concept and clever in its execution (AS IT WERE.)

"The Last Season of Your Life" is maybe more depressing? It's about death and the afterlife, but in a gentle sort of way. There's some metaphorical stuff happening in this one, but it can also be read literally, which is a literary device I enjoy and that I feel like fantasy and SF are best suited to really pull off. A lot of mainstream fiction thinks it's doing this, but usually the authors aren't as good at thinking through the actual literal consequences of thier metaphorical world-building, you know what I mean? Like, the mainstream fiction writers will nail the metaphor, but whiff the world if the metaphor were real. This story fully works on both levels for me. 

So that's me! I'm happy to report that today started out much more relaxed, albeit for unfortunate reasons. Shawn woke up with a migraine so we started the day kind of slowly. I did have to do a bit more shopping as we were out of fresh bread, but that meant that we could stop and get a fun breakfast sandwich on the way to work to suppliment Shawn's lunch box. I also ran into a woman who liked my shirt (which today is a rainbow 1d20 with the word SLAY underneath it) and so I told her about ConFABulous (https://confabulous.org/)  Hopefully, she will actually come. (I also need to remember to sign-up, but I need to wait for payday.)

How's you? A few egrets less crazy I hope!