9 1/2 Months
It's been roughly 9½ months since I last posted here. Not so much for lack of interest, but lack of internet. We've had no home internet for all that time. Technically we still don't. But I found after returning from our trip to the Philippines I could use my phone as a mobile hot-spot. It was even longer before it occurred to me that I could access that hot-spot via my tablet, which I use to post here. It was only today I made the leap to realizing I could post on LJ. I guess I was so out of the habit, and tonight is the first night I find myself really wanting to post something.
Like much of the rest of the world, we are on a partial lock down due this the Chinese Covid-19 virus. Fortunately no one I know has caught the virus that I'm aware of. Lubbock is on a partial lock down in that non-essential businesses are closed and people are asked to stay home except to buy groceries or other essentials, or seek medical treatment. So Cha and I are pretty much stuck at home. I'm effectively on furlough, which is to say I no longer go to work, but I still technically have my job. I may even still get paid, not that I can work from home. I guess I'll find out next payday. Charcoal is working from home. She got hired by Odessa College as a professor last August , though now all her classes are online. This is nice as she still gets paid and doesn't have the 2½ hour drive to Odessa. She's also working for Texas Workforce Development teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), also online at this time.
We were originally planning to move to Odessa when our current lease expires. This had its ups, no more afformentioned commute, but also a number of downs. It would be even harder for me to finish my degree as neither Odessa College (which I could attend for free) or any of the other universities in the area offer a actuarial or economics degree. I'd have to find a new game group, an activity I wasn't looking forward to given that it took me a decade to find my current group, and if the gamestores down there are any indication, it'll be even harder to find one in the Midland/Odessa area. Speaking of gamestores, the only one I could find in Odessa was more of a comic book shop that carried a few RPG items. Midland had a slightly better store, but still nothing compared to Mad Hatter's.
As I mentioned however that was the "original" plan. A full time position is opening up where I work. At first I wasn't going to apply as we were planning to move. However Cha wants me to apply, saying we won't move if I get it. Since the job is essentially doing what I do now, I'm certainly qualified. So I figure I have a good chance of getting the job if I apply. From what Cha has said if I do get the job, we'll maintain two residences. Either a house in Lubbock and an apartment in Odessa, or a house in Odessa and an apartment in Lubbock. If we get the house in Lubbock then Cha will stay in Odessa when she has classes, and come to Lubbock when she doesn't. If we get the house in Lubbock then I'll stay in Lubbock on the days I work and go to Odessa when I'm off. I've pointed out that the latter option is less practical as I'd continue to run Pathfinder on Saturday nights which means I'd be getting to Odessa sometime between 11pm and midnight, then have to either leave Sunday night or 5:30 Monday mornings. But we'll wait and see if I get the job first. We were hoping to know by now, but with the Chinese Covid-19 virus closing everything there's no telling when we'll know.
We spent most of December in the Philippines visiting Cha's family there. It had been over ten years since she's seen her family in the Philippines that even if I hadn't wanted to go, I wouldn't have begrudged her. As it was I had no objections to going. I wasn't however looking forward to the flight which was Lubbock to Colorado to San Francisco (I think) to Japan to Manilla to Bacolod. We arrived dirty, tired, and jet-lagged. However it was a pleasant three weeks, even if towards the end l was dreaming about American food. The trip back was even more excruciating. We stayed overnight in Manilla to visit one of Cha's sisters then it was Manilla to Japan to Houston, where we had a 14 hour layover to Colorado, to Lubbock.
The only thing that bothered me about going, apart from getting to and from the Philippines, was having to leave Charlotte behind. In November Cha got me a fuzzy gray kitten named Charlotte. Charlotte is a very affectionate, if naughty kitten. She just loves to sit on my lap. I'm hoping after we get her fixed to get a harness and leash so I can walk her outside. She's just dying to get out, and we have to be careful going in or out or she'll slip outside then I have to go chasing after her. As it is she'll climb the front door trying to get out at times. It's cute to watch, but I worry one day she'll slip out and I won't be able to catch her. She's chipped but I'd still worry.
Being stuck at home for the last three weeks with who knows how many more to go, has given me plenty of time to work on my Pathfinder campaign. It's not like I've got any other hobbies. So I've been alternating between finishing adventure 4, revising the Net Book of Unlawful Carnal Knowledge for Pathfinder rules, and working on my wiki.
Adventure four I'm almost halfway done with. I'm almost finished with part 2. I just need to finish the maps. This means assigning each hex a challenge rating. In keeping with the tradition going back to 1st edition AD&D, wilderness maps are drawn on a hexagonal grid. And in keeping with both the Pathfinder exploration and kingdom building rules, each hex on the map is ten miles across. The way I determine random encounters is each hex is assigned a challenge rating (CR) that determines the average CR of the random encounters. My random encounter tables are organized by monster CR, with all the CR 1 encounters on one table, all the CR 2 encounters on another table and so on. If a random encounter is determined a d20 roll based on the CR rating of the hex determines the actual CR of the encounter. Slightly complicated but less so in practice than to describe. It also avoids the problems such as my level 2 party encountering a CR13 banshee.
I didn't get any work done on the Net Guide today and almost nothing on my wiki. Yesterday when working on the Net Guide, my laptop was lagging, and freezing up on me. After I finished, I closed everything and restarted hoping that would fix the problem. When I tried working on my wiki today I was having the same problem, only more so. So I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and optimizing the laptop. I think that fixed the problem. However by the time I was finished it was too late to do anything, so I won't know til tomorrow if the problem is resolved.
Right now in the Net Guide to Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, I'm working on revising the spells. It's slow going as there are a lot of spells ranging from juvenile and silly to quite clever, and revising a spell can take 15 minutes to an hour. But I believe that's the last or next to the last part of the guide I need to finish. I've got similar work to do to the Net Guide to Alcohol. When I'm done I plan to have them printed out and bound.
There's a lot more I could relate, but it's after midnight and I'm getting sleepy. I'll try to write an entry for tomorrow too.
Like much of the rest of the world, we are on a partial lock down due this the Chinese Covid-19 virus. Fortunately no one I know has caught the virus that I'm aware of. Lubbock is on a partial lock down in that non-essential businesses are closed and people are asked to stay home except to buy groceries or other essentials, or seek medical treatment. So Cha and I are pretty much stuck at home. I'm effectively on furlough, which is to say I no longer go to work, but I still technically have my job. I may even still get paid, not that I can work from home. I guess I'll find out next payday. Charcoal is working from home. She got hired by Odessa College as a professor last August , though now all her classes are online. This is nice as she still gets paid and doesn't have the 2½ hour drive to Odessa. She's also working for Texas Workforce Development teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), also online at this time.
We were originally planning to move to Odessa when our current lease expires. This had its ups, no more afformentioned commute, but also a number of downs. It would be even harder for me to finish my degree as neither Odessa College (which I could attend for free) or any of the other universities in the area offer a actuarial or economics degree. I'd have to find a new game group, an activity I wasn't looking forward to given that it took me a decade to find my current group, and if the gamestores down there are any indication, it'll be even harder to find one in the Midland/Odessa area. Speaking of gamestores, the only one I could find in Odessa was more of a comic book shop that carried a few RPG items. Midland had a slightly better store, but still nothing compared to Mad Hatter's.
As I mentioned however that was the "original" plan. A full time position is opening up where I work. At first I wasn't going to apply as we were planning to move. However Cha wants me to apply, saying we won't move if I get it. Since the job is essentially doing what I do now, I'm certainly qualified. So I figure I have a good chance of getting the job if I apply. From what Cha has said if I do get the job, we'll maintain two residences. Either a house in Lubbock and an apartment in Odessa, or a house in Odessa and an apartment in Lubbock. If we get the house in Lubbock then Cha will stay in Odessa when she has classes, and come to Lubbock when she doesn't. If we get the house in Lubbock then I'll stay in Lubbock on the days I work and go to Odessa when I'm off. I've pointed out that the latter option is less practical as I'd continue to run Pathfinder on Saturday nights which means I'd be getting to Odessa sometime between 11pm and midnight, then have to either leave Sunday night or 5:30 Monday mornings. But we'll wait and see if I get the job first. We were hoping to know by now, but with the Chinese Covid-19 virus closing everything there's no telling when we'll know.
We spent most of December in the Philippines visiting Cha's family there. It had been over ten years since she's seen her family in the Philippines that even if I hadn't wanted to go, I wouldn't have begrudged her. As it was I had no objections to going. I wasn't however looking forward to the flight which was Lubbock to Colorado to San Francisco (I think) to Japan to Manilla to Bacolod. We arrived dirty, tired, and jet-lagged. However it was a pleasant three weeks, even if towards the end l was dreaming about American food. The trip back was even more excruciating. We stayed overnight in Manilla to visit one of Cha's sisters then it was Manilla to Japan to Houston, where we had a 14 hour layover to Colorado, to Lubbock.
The only thing that bothered me about going, apart from getting to and from the Philippines, was having to leave Charlotte behind. In November Cha got me a fuzzy gray kitten named Charlotte. Charlotte is a very affectionate, if naughty kitten. She just loves to sit on my lap. I'm hoping after we get her fixed to get a harness and leash so I can walk her outside. She's just dying to get out, and we have to be careful going in or out or she'll slip outside then I have to go chasing after her. As it is she'll climb the front door trying to get out at times. It's cute to watch, but I worry one day she'll slip out and I won't be able to catch her. She's chipped but I'd still worry.
Being stuck at home for the last three weeks with who knows how many more to go, has given me plenty of time to work on my Pathfinder campaign. It's not like I've got any other hobbies. So I've been alternating between finishing adventure 4, revising the Net Book of Unlawful Carnal Knowledge for Pathfinder rules, and working on my wiki.
Adventure four I'm almost halfway done with. I'm almost finished with part 2. I just need to finish the maps. This means assigning each hex a challenge rating. In keeping with the tradition going back to 1st edition AD&D, wilderness maps are drawn on a hexagonal grid. And in keeping with both the Pathfinder exploration and kingdom building rules, each hex on the map is ten miles across. The way I determine random encounters is each hex is assigned a challenge rating (CR) that determines the average CR of the random encounters. My random encounter tables are organized by monster CR, with all the CR 1 encounters on one table, all the CR 2 encounters on another table and so on. If a random encounter is determined a d20 roll based on the CR rating of the hex determines the actual CR of the encounter. Slightly complicated but less so in practice than to describe. It also avoids the problems such as my level 2 party encountering a CR13 banshee.
I didn't get any work done on the Net Guide today and almost nothing on my wiki. Yesterday when working on the Net Guide, my laptop was lagging, and freezing up on me. After I finished, I closed everything and restarted hoping that would fix the problem. When I tried working on my wiki today I was having the same problem, only more so. So I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and optimizing the laptop. I think that fixed the problem. However by the time I was finished it was too late to do anything, so I won't know til tomorrow if the problem is resolved.
Right now in the Net Guide to Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, I'm working on revising the spells. It's slow going as there are a lot of spells ranging from juvenile and silly to quite clever, and revising a spell can take 15 minutes to an hour. But I believe that's the last or next to the last part of the guide I need to finish. I've got similar work to do to the Net Guide to Alcohol. When I'm done I plan to have them printed out and bound.
There's a lot more I could relate, but it's after midnight and I'm getting sleepy. I'll try to write an entry for tomorrow too.