Unexpected Character Situations

When roleplaying in a campaign, you have certian expectations. When something totally unexpected happens, you get clueless about what to do.

My psychic character has gone blind. Fortunatly, he has a remote viewing ability to help him get around this.

I think I will enjoy playing a blind man that can see with his mind.

The ending of the world

What's half scary and half silly is that I've got this terrible feeling that something as off the wall as religion, which believers view as their salvation, will ultimately cause the destruction of the human species.

Is this what is was like before the dark ages? The political climate appears saturated with religious mumbo jumbo. Science is being ignored, or worse laughed at.

Perhaps this line of thinking is too depressing.

On a more uplifting note, I'd like to recommend a book Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson. A fascinating look into the human mind. Good stuff. I get my books in audio downloads by Audible.com. Tell them "jueqel" sent you.

More than chewing

Thursdays are game night. We always have a blast. We are currently playing Barbarian Light, Dungeons and Dragons, and Mutants and Masterminds. In two weeks we plan to have a Witchcraft RPG (by Eden Studios) demo done for us. That'll be fun. I may have bit off more than I can chew. I keep signing up for these Meetup events and I think I may have hit my saturation point. We'll see. I just love these games. I'm guessing in a few months we'll be starting up an Ebberron campaign.

On a personal note. Not only do I have a problem with Dairy products, but I've discovered Wheat is an irritation. I had no idea so many other had problems with Wheat.

What was really cool, is when I did research on alternatives, Science Daily had an article on new developments in rice grains that will be usable as flour for breads and such. Right now, it's just not as easy to make bread products from strictly Rice Flour, but by 2005, there should be a great alternative to Wheat.

An introspective moment

Non-verbal communication is something we develop on our own. There are clues we give out to others about who and what we are. We're not aware of most of it, and many times we're trying to give false information.

Giving out false or inaccurate signals is a form of staying in the closet. Not letting anyone else know who you really are. There are advantages to doing this, if it's done right.

So, are you in the closet about something? Are you in the closet to yourself or only to others?

Once upon a time, I knew myself very well. One day I chose to be someone else. It was then that it first started, I guess. It meaning my the closeted me. Hiding from myself. Oh, I'd let myself out in odd and unexpected ways every now and then, but for the most part I stayed hidden.

Then the false me and the me in the closet started to meet somewhere in the middle. Now I don't know me. I think I do, then something comes around to let me know I'm not being truthful to myself.

I guess I like the closet too much to give it up. I used to be in the closet and then I came out. Then there was another closet, and I had to fight my way out of that one. Still there are other closets. I step out of them every now and then, but the frightening thing about leaving closest is stepping into the spotlight.

Why do we have these closets? To protect ourselves. To protect ourselves from others, their opinions, their criticisms, their emotions. We do it to keep jobs, loved ones, and the steady pattern of life we've wrap ourselves in, that comfort zone.

Sister in law

My sister in law, whom I've never really met except over the phone and through email, asked to borrow money. Not thinking anything of it, I told her I'd see what I could do. Well, it just so happened that it was also my nephew's b-day, and I had just enough money at the time to send it to him. His mother, naturally assumed I had sent the money to her, for she had asked me for the money. BIG MISTAKE.

A month passed and another nephew's b-day was coming up. My mother had been discussing her grandchildren and the topic of b-days came up. I let her know that I had sent the money. My mother let me know that the boy never got the money. By this time, I believe I had sent the next nephew his gift of a little cash.

I had not put 2 and 2 together, yet, but it turned out that in the initial cash I had sent was stolen by a house guest of my sister-in-law. The special account I setup to send money to them had an ATM card attached to it. For some strange reason my sister-in-law put the PIN number on the back of the ATM card.

The second round of cash I sent was sucked up by her, thinking I had sent her the money she had asked to borrow.

I inquired to my family members and they each had nothing good to say about the woman. Even her husband was suspicious of her actions. Her mother also had nothing good to say about her. I didn't assume anyone was trying to pull anything, even if the entire family had turned on her. I wasn't going to do that, and I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. I figured something must have happened. I tried to call her to sort things out.

Her phone service had been turned off. After spending a few weeks with phone calls to other family members and patiently waiting, I get a letter from her. She sent me a scathing letter about how it was none of anyone else's business about her borrowing money from me. She then informed me that she wanted nothing to do with me. She also sent me the ATM card with the letter. I was like "where did all that come from?". I didn't understand at the time. So, I went back to read the emails I'd exchanged with her.

As it turns out, the emails we exchanged had an obvious flaw in our communications. I was talking one thing, and she was talking another. But it was all to do with money. I was hurt and felt a little foolish that I didn't see it coming. I should have known that things could get unclear in emails.

So, in response I thought I'd post to the world all about her borrowing of money that wasn't really borrowed money after all. To her credit, which I assumed she was capable of, she returned the money to her children. Even the money that was stolen because of the PIN number she wrote on the ATM card.

So, in the future, dear sister-in-law, whatever you say to me, assume I will tell everyone and their dog. Also, never write your secret PIN number where anyone can use it. I know, now, why your entire family and mine have turned on you. Keep pushing people away like that and you'll be alone forever.

Bluemountain

This Blue Mountain was created with Bryce 3D.

Blue Mountain Artwork

Every few years I get into graphic art to one degree or another. I had an opportunity to use Bryce 3D for a time and I enjoyed creating the landscapes, mountains, beaches, as well as strange creations that could not possibly exist in real life.

One of these creations was a mountain that was colored in shades of blue with white beaches. It was one of my favorites. I posted this image to my website and it had the added effect of attracting multiudes of people searching for a Blue Mountain. I didn't know why for the longest time. So, I did a search on Blue Mountain. I was surprised to discover there was a website that was extremely popular by the same name as my artwork's name.

It's somewhere on my hard drive. I'll see if I can find it, and I'll post it here.

Roleplayers Meeting Others

Roleplayers Meetup

If you've ever played an RPG or you'd like to, join one of the many meetups for roleplayers.

I've actually been doing a lot of organizing of gaming events. Dungeons and Dragons (DnD), Universalis, Fudge RPG, Shadowrun, etc. I'm even working on a game I've developed. It's not quite ready for publication yet, but I need to playtest it to work out some of the kinks.

We are gaming this month on the 16th and the 18th. If you're in the Dallas, TX area, sign up at the Roleplayers Meetup.

RPG = Role Playing Game

Selectsmart

Select Smart is an interesting pigeon hole device

I like it in a way that it lets me know where I stand with my viewpoint compared to others. I don't mind lables. They are specific enough to let the world know who I am, without letting them get to know who I am.

Though many of the questionaires are simply too broad to pinpoint everything. If you don't understand a question, then the answer you give is pointless. Careful, some authors of the questions have their own agenda.