#RPGaDAY2021:Day 28--DELVE

 #RPGaDAY2021 for day 28 I rolled a '4' and got 'Delve'.

From a quick Google search I get this:

"What does it mean to delve deeper?

to examine something carefully in order to discover more information about someone or something:

It's not always a good idea to delve too deeply into someone's past".

Depending on one's level of sensitivity that might be good advice. Sometimes one can look back on a person's life--particularly someone we admire--and find statements they may have said or beliefs they held that would be problematic--so called--in today's society. Even more tricky is when the person is no longer with us to defend themselves or clarify their statements. Of course my hope would be--in the case of most TTRPG pioneers--that they would double-down on the "offense" and tell the snowflakes to grow a pair, but I digress.

Notwithstanding the fact that I am far more offended by what is deemed, "acceptable, normal behavior" today, than what was common in the fairly recent past, it wouldn't take too much digging to find something published or said that one doesn't agree with. That doesn't mean you need to CANCEL the past or clutch your pearls and add disclaimers to the front of everything.

We're focused on TTRPGs here, but clearly this happens with all sorts of media. I'm not sure when people became so sensitive and started "straining on the gnats while swallowing the camels" to paraphrase another book from the past that people get offended by, but it certainly wasn't that way back in the 80's and 90's.

All that rambling and preambling to say that for those who are daring enough to delve deep into the dark past of Dungeons and Dragon, you should checkout 'Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana: A Visual History'. No doubt it has probably been sanitized for our consumption, but there is a lot of great artwork showing how D&D evolved from past to present--including some "spicy" advertising campaigns that will probably have snowflakes demanding the book come with a warning label. I'll give one myself.

WARNING: Product was produced in 2018 and the level of WOKENESS among the professionally offended grows exponentially with each passing year. BEWARE!

Side Note: If you never watched 'Song of the South' you should rectify that at your earliest convienence. While everything is subjective to the viewer's own tastes, I find it to be a sweet and gentle movie with a lot of classic animation and humor that only the flakiest snowflakes would find offensive in the least.

RPG A Day 2020--Day 27: Favor

RPG A Day 2020: Day 27—Favor

I can’t think of a song about favors, so that means I need to write an actual entry today. Unfortunately, it’s another difficult prompt to write for, and to further that misfortune, I believe the ideas that I do have have a negative vibe to them.

I think about how over a period of time many things that were once in favor have now fallen out of favor. The way the game is played, the way people play them, the attitudes of the enthusiasts and even the creators of the games have changed and for the most part it hasn’t been for the better from my perspective. Here’s the most recent triggering: An old quote by Gary Gygax and a more recent one from Johnathan Tweet—now labeled misogynistic by the snowflakes that be. Here’s the link to an article by one of the offended who may well be a “friend” to RPG A Day for all I know.

https://stargazersworld.com/2020/08/26/the-misogyny-at-the-core-of-our-hobby/ 

I’ve tried to post the Gygax one, but you can read both comments from the original blogger’s post and  make your own judgement about how offensive they are.  Neither seem overtly misogynistic to me. Both comments seems like an observation and a report of facts. Stating facts have fallen out of favor over the years.

What is in favor is being overly critical at every statement that doesn’t tow the woke line. What is in favor is "cancelling" a person or finding them "problematic" long after they're dead. Here’s the response from the original blogger to the "offending" quotes:

“Over the last few years I have realized that looking up to “industry luminaries” is often a terrible idea. More often than not our “heroes” turn out to be terrible people. Even worse their often harmful ideologies make it into the games they created which make it hard to separate the art from the artist”.

Brother,—or sister, wouldn’t want to assume gender now would I?—did you ever hear the Tragedy of Chris Benoit the Crippler? If you think these benign comments from a couple of "industry luminaries" make it “hard to separate the art from the artist”,  then you better go find a safe space and hold on to your soy latte should you ever decide to investigate the matter.

I always end these "tough love" posts with the caveat that the hobby is big enough for everyone. Play how you like. Even if you have to clutch your pearls when looking at older material. I'd hope my SJW targets would use my ranting to grow a spine, but in this case, I can’t say that I fully understand why the hobby wants to change so radically to please a demographic made up of  non-players who’ll screw around a little with it then move on to the next thing they want to ruin while alienating the core  audience—niche as it may be at times—that made the thing a thing in the first place. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

RPG A Day 2020: Day 12--message

 RPG A Day 2020: Day 12—Message

When I think about message nowadays in the context of anything entertainment related, I unfortunately envision the “woke” / “Cancellation”/“Participation Trophy” culture.  If you’re one of my 15 or so regular readers—you are a strong and loyal group—or if you took the time to read my profile, then you know I embrace the deplorable term hoisted upon conservatives by Lady Hillary back in 2016. I don’t really like messages in my entertainment and usually the message amounts to propaganda and you can bet it usually leans to the left. I like my entertainment to be as neutral as it can be politically. We’re hopefully playing RPGs—and reading comic-books, listening to music and watching TV and movies for that matter—for entertainment, not for indoctrination.

I suppose I should point out the obvious and say that there are well known examples of all the media I just listed with “historic” and “cultural” importance that were purposely meant to deliver a message, but generally speaking the “very special” episodes of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ that I had to put up with as a kid in the 1980’s were some of the worst I remember and any message they had only made me want to cringe. I get the same feeling from so many RPGs—there’s a whole drama with this culture involving comic-books, but it’s not Comic-A-Day—coming out these days with their “safe words”, sanitized presentations, and virtue signaling social media accounts. They aren’t quite selling—or not selling as it turns out—Gillette razor blades, but every time I read a tweet from these creators it makes me wonder whether or not I’m in the right hobby.

Much like an earlier entry this month, I do let the other shoe drop and ‘walk it back’ a little as the soy boys like to say because I like that in the case of RPGs that the table has become more inclusive because it gives me more chances to play. In my day there were almost no girls who liked to play aside from girlfriends and/or wives that were essentially dragged there. I like that we’re open to virtually all ages now. It has always been a thing for guys to never grow up or to have a second childhood, but nowadays it wouldn’t be embarrassing—except maybe to a surly teen—if a mom or grandma wanted to play. I like that. Believe it or not I also like the so-called ‘X’ Card. For all my bluster, anything beyond PG-13 in games I run happen below decks. However, it is still possible to be offensive and not even no it, so if one of the snowflakes flash the card or PM me with an ‘X’ I know to back off. 

If this entry has a message it’s to just have fun and know your table. If I had a message to the companies it is don’t preach to me and don’t imply that I’m a bad person for the way I play.

  

2018 July Update

June: final tallies:

Weight Loss Struggle: And it truly is a struggle. I’m living one of the definitions of insanity as I keep doing the same things and getting limited results. Three more months down and once again, could be better, could be worse.

March:17/27 

April: 21/26

May: 17/27

June: 16/26

2018 Overall: 97/157

For the month I held a 62% average. That’s passing at any school and .620 batting average is an All*Star, Hall of Famer, but for me the stomach is still about the same. My strength level doesn’t seem to go up very much either. The alternative is stopping, which I won’t do. That’s the exact same thing I said last month and it still applies. I didn’t manage to do very well in diet or hitting my 100% goal. I won’t recap my “rules” for this venture, but you can look in the previous update to view them. That 62% is deceptive because I used the Stairmaster a lot this month and didn’t lift nearly as often as I should have. I still count it, but for real progress—for me and anyone who is trying to follow along—we have to push harder…and it’s not as if I’m scheduling myself to workout every, single day. 62% is of my workout schedule which includes one set day off a week. I’m proud of myself for trying and not laying out any significant time since I started this thing back in October, but it’s a very long road and the progress—if any—is slow on the go. If I have any young followers, take my advice and don’t get fat in the first place. In the second place, preemptively start exercising and eating healthy now. It gets so hard to lose after age 40…and I don’t think it’ll get any easier.  

RPG Update: So, the Cyberpunk 2020 campaign on Roll 20 is moving right along. The past two weeks we have had issues so I went into recruit mode. I have a couple of prospects already wanting to play. I just hope they show up. As nerds and geeks you probably have a bit of a tough time connecting with people IRL just like me. Playing at a live table and going to RPG gaming events helps me to interact better socially. I have a wife and a kid, and many associates and colleagues, but most of my friends come from gaming. My current Roll 20 crew must go with text chat only. Connections are just too bad. I know that we are multinational. I am living in the UAE, two players are from Indonesia, and one player is from Australia. I had a player from Japan for a little while there. However, I don’t know what any of the guys look like, and in some cases even how old they are. We chat a little bit about our real-lives but not too much. Mostly, it’s all about the game. This past weekend my duo from Indonesia didn’t make it. I later got a message from one of them—our lone girl player—that our friend’s dad had to be rushed to the hospital, and that’s why he didn’t make it. So, I sent him a PM with “thoughts and prayers” which is something I think I should do, and about the only thing that I could do. Up until now, I haven’t heard any more about the situation. I’m not even sure if I should try to run the next session, but I probably will. It’s just seems weird to care about people that you only know in the most abstract of ways. I don’t know what my players really look like, their ages, or their lifestyles, but I’ve been playing with the current crew for nearly a year, and I hope they are alright.

The live table is on hiatus until the next school year. We didn’t get to finish the eight week mini-campaign in spite of the best intentions. Hopefully, we’ll have enough people to play when September rolls around.

Bible Reading Update: Currently in the books of: Ezekiel, 2 Chronicles, Joshua, and 1 Corinthians. Since the last update I’ve made it through: 1 Chronicles, Jerimiah, Lamentations, and Romans. 

So, my books of the Bible reviews? I always preface this by saying every book in the Bible is good. As others have said, it’s all written for us, but not necessarily to us…at least not specifically. A lot of the Old Testament readings have to do with law and sacrifices, which Jesus has now fulfilled. We’re all lucky to be living in the “Church Age” period of grace, that’s for sure—especially if you are an animal lover.  1 Chronicles: This is an easy read as long as you skip the genealogy section. That section is about nine chapters long. The rest of the book tells about the reign of King David and the many wars he fought and ends on the birth and eventual coronation of his son Solomon. This is more of a history book, but there are plenty of life lessons to learn from these men of history. Jerimiah: He’s one of the prophets and a lot of the people of Israel don’t like him. They refuse to believe his prophecies and many of them pay the price. There are many good sections in this book and a lot of what Jerimiah said about Israel’s attitudes can be applied to us today. Lamentations: This is a poetic book written by Jerimiah. There are several writings in which the prophet laments the state of Israel and himself. A lot of people made fun of Jerimiah. He is a type of Christ in that he is also a man of sorrows. The book ends with the prophet asking God to restore Israel. A very easy and quick read. I like the short books, it makes me feel like I’m making progress. Romans: Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. This is one of the most famous and helpful books in the Bible. You may have heard of the “Roman’s Road” as this book and the gospel of John are often used to lead non-believers to salvation. The march through the Bible moves on. I hope I don’t fall behind during summer break.  

 I don’t know how many people read my blogs, but I write them for me just as much as I do so for my few loyal followers. Since I’m in “desk warming” mode at the school I may update a few times over the next couple of weeks. We’re stuck in this mode until July 12^th. Anticipate a review of the great Mutant Crawl Classics RPG and a new feature that I’m going to call—“The Road to Anywhere Else but Here—likely China”

2018 March Update

I promised to keep up with the blog this year...among other resolutions. And two months in--sitting at the computer on the 1st of March--It's reflection time.

February Final Tally:

Weight Loss Struggle: Once again, could be better, could be worse. I'm still motivated for sure and February ended on a very good run. In the end I went 13/24--this assumes taking one scheduled recovery day a week--I improved from 48% to 54%. Proof positive on how the stats can "lie". February is a short month, so it was bound to look better--or worse than Jan. March on the other hand is a long one, and may be the month that defines this latest run at fitness. I stopped doing the military diet, but I think it did what it was supposed to...which was to get me pointed in the right direction. My portion sizes are still too large, but not as big as I'm accustomed to. I'm doing a fairly decent job of avoiding trigger foods. I can't remember if I had any fast-food this month at all. Not that all my home-cooked meals are healthy, but at least my wife can control the ingredients list. When I update next month, I'll need to really access the situation thoughtfully. Everyone wants fast results. In the past I've been too inconsistent to see if I'm really changing or not. If anybody could work out 26 times and turn around years of bad habits then everyone would do it. Still frustrating that you put so much work in for so little results. I have to focus on this being a long-term, permanent part of my life...and I don't know that I ever will.  

RPG Update: On to bigger and brighter things. This week I'm modifying some 7th Sea mass combat rules and letting the Ryuutama group give it a go. Scheduling issues are popping up again with the group. I have a lot of fun running for them, but sometimes I'd like to just pull the plug. In this system characters work their way up to level ten before going on a Legendary Journey which should end the campaign. My highest level players are at seven now. I'm torn between speeding up the process or letting them grown naturally. I really want to end the campaign as if I'm ending a story for once rather than the traditional way where everyone slowly gets scattered to the four winds. A very fun system this Ryuutama.

Bible Reading Update:Currently in the books of Leviticus, Job, Isaiah, and John. Leviticus has been a slog if there ever was one, but I'm likely to finish it up today. Unfortunately, as far as the Old Testament is concerned, I've read a lot from Numbers on different attempts at reading the Bible through and I'm afraid it isn't going to get much better for a little while. I finished off the Psalms and Luke in February. It's kind of like my working out, if I can see progress, I feel better about the whole project.





My other resolutions then have fallen to the wayside. I finally got my drawing figures which turned out to be about the same size and level of articulation as the Sailor Mercury figure that already had. I still haven't gotten around to taking up any of my drawing lessons though. If I can pull off good results from these three projects--plus the fourth which is keeping the blog updated--then I'll be doing alright.

There are 31 days in March...let's see what we can do with them.

About a Dragon...but not Dungeons and Dragons.

As a part of my 2018 initiative to write more, I'm presenting this mini-rant/dissertation or reading of the song Puff the Magic Dragon. Why? Well, about a year ago one of my older teaching friends mentioned the song on a Facebook post. To this day people still think it has something to do with pot smoking or 'puffing the magic dragon' if you will, but they would be wrong. It's easy to see why people think this way as the song comes from that hippy-dippy  60's era--according the Wikipedia entry it was written in '59, recorded in '62 and the popular release by folk group Peter, Paul and Mary was in '63--when the drug culture was coming around, but it was never about that. A stronger argument could be made about one HR PuffnStuf, but we'll save that for another entry. Puff is actually a song about growing up and how we sometimes lose our imagination and childhood wonder...and on an even deeper level, how we lose people that we care about as we get older. It's pretty deep for what is looked at as a kid's song--is it still a kid's song BTW? The most popular kids songs I hear to day are godawful covers of pop music. Was the world waiting the Kidz Bop version of Ke$ha's latest hit? Again, that's for another day, but let's get on with my personal take on Puff.

As I mentioned before the song was written and originally released many years ago. It's much older than I thought. However, by the time I came around in 1974, the song had become a standard for kids. It may be hard for some people to remember such things today, but back then compilation albums would be advertised on TV. Among the Freedom Rocks and Hey Love compilations--No, my brother, you have to buy your own--you would also find lots of kids songs and nursery rhymes. These inevitably made the elementary school circuit, and I remember hearing Puff the Magic Dragon, among others, very often. This resurgence in popularity eventually led to a cartoon of some acclaim back then with the same kind of annual showing you expected from Charlie Brown and the Grinch, but sadly, as far as I can tell, it only exists as YouTube nostalgia today. As a kid, I never caught on to anything particularly sad about the song...maybe a little in the way it was performed, but I liked hearing about the dragon and all the adventures. Little did I know how sad the song was and how sad it would yet be.

When I had a little age on me--actually didn't start to hit me until mid-20's/early 30's though I believe this epiphany could come around to anyone at any time after graduating from high school--I started to realize that I was Jackie Paper in the song. I was getting older, and yes, even I was moving on. I had held on to my youthful joys for so long--and I still try to in as much as I can--but what was "cute"in  my early 20's with excessive rapidness started to become more and more pathetic the closer I got to 30. Dragons live forever, but we humans do not--at least not while we're on this Earth. It took a good long while, but I got married. It wasn't long after that the new wife and I left my parents' home never to be their boarders again. It was a big thing. I'd left home a couple of times before to live with male friends as roommates, but those situations were never going to be permanent. I'd never even gone away for college like a lot of people do, but there at last at the ripe old age of 29 I'd taken my 23 year-old bride and began to seek my fame and fortune. The wife straightened me out. I really did start growing up--at least in as much as an anime lover with a weekly game of D&D can be said to have grow up. I eventually went back to university to become an English teacher. When I was about a year from earning my degree, my Mom and Dad moved in with us. Under the same roof again but more as roommates than anything. I graduated and ultimately decided to work as a teacher overseas, and once again I had to leave my parents--and for the first year, my wife--behind. That year as a single man--for all intents and purposes, except I didn't cheat--was about as much independence as I'd ever faced. It was a year in Taiwan as a rookie teacher. My childhood and even young adulthood finished up then. I went home after the first year out there, found my current placement in the UAE, collected my wife and the pair of us were off again. I lost my Dad before the year was out. He was only 65. All my new friends and colleagues agreed that it was an untimely passing nowadays. I don't know about all that. There aren't many ball teams looking for 65 year-old center-fielders. He had lived a fairly long and at least somewhat fulfilled life. He never ran off or abandoned his family until the day he died, but it would be a lie to say it wasn't a financial struggle for him throughout, and his own childhood was far from ideal. I love that rascal and still miss him. I hope he knows it. Seven years have rapidly passed since then. My mom's still out there living in the house my wife and I are still paying for--one which I only lived in for one year--as best as she can. She too is a lot like Puff in his cave because the nest is very much empty. My dad has now long passed, my brother and his wife have moved far away, and of course we're half a world away and don't get to visit nearly as much as we should. It really is a sad song to hear when you're Jackie Paper...

...But wait there's more...It's even sadder when you realize you aren't Jackie Paper anymore. You're Puff! Could it be any more depressing? At least I caught on quick. I have a daughter who is now three years old...She's Jackie...she really does bring me bits of strings and other 'fancy stuff', but there's going to be a time when she won't do that anymore. We're not sure if we will try to have any more kids, but even if we do, that day will come for them too. So, I make it a point to pay close attention to her. I try my best to limit the time I spend on doing things that aren't fun. In as much as I can, I spoil her hoping not to turn her into a brat. I want her to keep visiting Kings and Queens with me as long as she can...and of course her mother feels the same way. But, is there any hope in the song? One that actually can make me tear up even thinking about it like I am now.

Yes, with a but...according to Wikipedia there was one more verse in the poem where Puff finds a new friend to play with. It's been lost to time, but it's good to know that it was there. In most of the later performances by Peter, Paul and Mary the song remains as written, but for the last chorus. Instead of saying Puff lived by the sea and frolicked in the Autumn mist...it is changed to lives and frolics. That makes a big difference. Sure he was sad for a while, but he was able to move on. I like that version better. It works that way for me too. Although we don't get to visit nearly as much as we would like, my daughter is always glad to see her Nana and talk to her on the phone or with Skype. It would have been a better story if PopPop would have lived long enough to have met his granddaughter, but one of these days we'll all be living by the sea and frolicking in Autumn mist. 

2018: February Update

I promised to keep up with the blog this year...among other resolutions. And one month in--sitting at the computer technically just going into the 2nd of Feb--I'm trying to motivate myself to take in a late night/early morning workout. Probably won't happen this time, but at least I'm thinking about it.

January Final Tally:

Weight Loss Struggle: Could be worse. At turns I'm showing signs of improvement and being my lazy self. Always shocking how fast a week of not working out can add up while a week of actually working out properly drags. Anyhow for the month I ended up with a 13/27--this assumes taking one scheduled recovery day a week--for 48%. Hope to do better this month, but that's not too bad. I'm currently taking a modified "military diet" which is just calorie reduction based. I don't drink sodas and try to stay away from sweets in general. This one is three days on four days off, but these aren't four cheat days.

RPG Update: The group wound up getting back together on Roll 20 and we went 3/4 for an even better avg. than my workouts. I've managed to return to my live table group as well. Nothing of significance or humor to report though. I'm just glad to be back. Holidays are the bane of RPG groups so I'm glad we weathered that storm.

Bible Reading Update: Currently in the books of Leviticus, Psalms, Isaiah, and Luke. I've finished Genesis, Exodus, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Matthew, and Mark. I've tried many times to read through over the years, but this time I just might make it. Started this back in October technically, but I'm very far ahead of the plan because of it. Not going to lie, Exodus and Leviticus are slogs. The saying is true that every book of the Bible has been written for you, but not written to you. These books about the priests and the temple duties aren't all that exciting for me. Isaiah is pretty good and Luke is going okay, but he really did put a lot of detail into getting the facts down.

There's not much to say on my other topics. I haven't watched too many movies or done much with my other hobbies aside from the role playing. I started a WIX website, but I haven't finished it, and as to the deplorable things...it's been a relatively quiet month. There's some memo thing and a state of the union thing, but really I haven't been all that interested in it lately.

There's one monthly update down. I hope I have something more interesting to write about next month, but I'll just be glad if I can stay the course. 

Happy New Year: 2018

Hello folks...knocking the dust off of my blog--it's anemic and suffering since #RPG_a_Day ended this past summer. There was a D&D December that I heard about, but it didn't seem as appealing during the busy holiday season. I also stopped submitting to my paid blog and only just spent the last of the funds that it generated for me. It was fun while it lasted--money for nothing--as I enjoy writing anyway. I decided to get back into this blog for 2018 and we'll see how far it goes.

BACKGROUND UPDATE: There have been a lot of changes since the summer break. Professionally my teaching gig, which is now 1/3 of the way through year number eight, has an entire new curriculum. Unfortunately, we have the same old students and administrators. It's their attitudes that make the difference. If you've read any of my non-RPG/right wing rhetoric entries, you'll know that 9/10 of those attitudes are poor, so SNAFU. As expatriate teachers we do the best we can with what we have, but not much going on there. My friend compares it to golden handcuffs as in we don't like the handcuffs, but we're glad that they are gold. My uncle compares it to holding a wolf by the ears, I don't really like what I have, but I'm afraid to let it go. From my end, I don't know when or if I'll ever give it up...maybe from my employer's end they'll get tired of this old, deplorable American and not renew his contract. In some ways they would probably be doing me a favor--in other ways my family likes being able to eat and they wouldn't like me losing my steady pay check. What can you do?

As to my personal life, my daughter made it to age 3 back in September. She's growing strong and healthy so far. My dreams of her eventually becoming a professional wrestler and/or corporate assassin remain optimistic. The wife remains healthy in her ongoing recovery from thyroid cancer, and I remain about as healthy as an aging, overweight guy can be. The blood pressure is high--so high that I currently can't find affordable life insurance--but I feel fine and up until the holiday relapse I was fighting to become healthy with fairly good results which leads us to...

Future Plans...or resolutions if you will: 
I've got some plans for this blog--even if I do top out at thirty readers normally--which I'll relate here: It ended up being a long one, so just read the headings if you aren't up for a wall of text and you'll get the gist of it.

Weight Loss Struggle: We all make this resolution on Jan 1st and are back to our old ways before spring. This time is a little different for me. I've actually been working on this project on and off again for a few years now making visible progress--but my stomach is still too big, and the progress way too slow, but, it isn't as if I'm starting back at square one. I had an excellent run during May and June...followed by a disastrous summer break July and August...I got back in the groove upon my return for September...but wishy-washy in October...even slower in November...and anemic last month. Holidays are horrible for me for working out and eating right. Hopefully, when I return to work tomorrow I'll also get back into my regular routine. It amazes me that one can work for years and really stick to it, but have such limited results that only a few people notice. Yet, you can lay out for two weeks--as I just have--and you can see right away that your're relapsing. Having a long break during the summer, as teachers are wont to do, makes it even worse.  In this blog I'm going to let my loyal readers know--at least monthly--how the battle is going. I've tried FitDay and Beachbody websites as well as keeping the old-fashioned, personal journal, but I always fall off. I hope that changes here and that I'll keep you guys posted about my progress or lack thereof since I have an audience to talk to. Of course it also works therapeutically even if I wind up with no readers for this thing--if you are a lurker and don't write for some reason, give it a try writing is almost as great as playing RPGs.

RPG Updates: Writing entries during RPGaDay is one of my favorite things to do. I currently run a Roll 20 'Ryuutama' game that we started back in September. I'm thinking that it might be somewhat interesting to tell you guys what's going on with the campaign and the "behind the scenes" stories of my time as GM. Of course if anyone reading my blogs happens to want to play in the game just let me know and I'll send you an invite. Before the break I ran a four player group consisting of three guys and one girl. We've had a lot of fun, but keeping the group together online is very tough and the holidays are the bane of all play groups. The next game is scheduled for the 6th of January. I've got my fingers crossed that everyone makes it back.

Bible Reading: Wha? Yes, for a lot of conservative, deplorables like myself, getting through the Bible in a year is a resolution that almost always fails by April. I've made several attempts and have read through many books of the Bible, but I've never completed the entire book. This is a strange thing as I love to read and have based my entire worldview on a book--which I believe to be the Word of God--that I've never fully read. Much like the weight loss thing, I have a head start this time having already read through Genesis, Matthew, Proverbs and parts of Exodus, Mark, the Psalms, and Ecclesiastes as a part of an online reading schedule that gets one through in one year that I started back in October. I don't know how many entries I'll devote to my reading, but when I see good stuff I'll let you know. For example, Ecclesiastes is very good and timely. It's a book that I've rarely heard preached from, but it's very interested hearing from one who has been called the richest and wisest king to have ever lived. It's almost like reading a blog from Solomon.

Hobby Discussions: I plan to include more reviews of movies, tv shows, video games, wrestling and whatnot that doesn't fall into the RPG discussion. I don't get to talk about these things all that much living as an expat in the UAE. I'm more likely to talk to my students about these things than colleagues my own age. I'm also planning on getting back into drawing. I'll post anything that I produce that seems to have merit.

Website: It's easy to make a website nowadays. I have every intention to create one for me. I'll still keep my blogs posted here--I like the way their page is set up--but I think my own website will be much better than using Facebook. If I get one up and running, I'll direct you guys to it or I'll at least tell you why the plans to make one fell through.

Deplorable Things: Of course I'll be posting entries about #winning, #MAGA, and #Trump_Train when appropriate. Keep in mind that I have friends of every political stripe and most of the time I try to keep my rants funny.

That's about it. If I manage to make good on half of what I want to do, then I'll be a better man for it. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope to hear from you soon!