We had that snow day on 14 Dec which became a "work from home" day. I called in sick that Friday, which eventually became COVID, so that wrecked the following week. The week after we were shut down for the holidays.
I haven't been to work since 13 December and it has been mostly GLORIOUS.
In response to your not having read the books, I will just say I didn't read your post, nor have I watched season 2. Regardless, the show remains trash. Season 1 was terrible and could only be improved by someone inventing time travel and going back in time to stop the whole thing from ever being made. <3
More Baldur's Gate 3: On this latest playthrough, I've decided to add Shadowheart back to my party at the expense of Karlach, who is without doubt my party muscle. To counteract that loss of melee power, I've turned Shadowheart into a War domain cleric and given her a higher strength score using the Ability Score improvement feat (16, 10, 12, 8, 17, 10), so she's Strong, Wise, and Dumb, as all clerics should be. We'll see how it goes. I remember being frustrated by the Gauntlet the first time because I dislike puzzles but once I sat back and looked at what I was being asked to do it was EZ.
I picked up Jedi: Fallen Order for six of your American dollars. The boys and are are conspiring to get some multi-player Baldur's Gate 3 going over the holidays as well, around bouts of Magic and other nonsense.
Seriously, though...I like the feel of the cards in my hand and the banter at the table. I've only played Commander, which is a multiplayer format, and at this point I have zero desire to build or curate my decks. Maybe that'll come with experience, but right now it's just fun to play. Heck, I've even won a few games.
ThTh1: We were lucky. My oldest was a VERY UNHAPPY high school senior when things shut down, so he elected to drop out and get his GED. For my youngest I was able to set up an isolated "classroom" for him, complete with a window and high-speed internet, and his grades actually went up. The running joke in our house is that, being the sole extrovert, I was the only person negatively affected by the shutdown, but I look at my very introverted youngest boy, now a sophomore in college, and can't help but connect the dots between the shutdown and his reluctance to engage more socially at his uni.
This season is a little extra in that not only is it "end of year" but it's also "end of contract." There's a lot of the government insisting we get tasks X, Y, and Z finished before handover. Each of those tasks has a whiff of, "If you had done THIS STUFF to begin with maybe you wouldn't have lost the contract!' to it. Complicating things is an ongoing race to fix a recently-discovered software bug, but after racing at top speed for a few weeks the government finally admitted that the best thing to do is to kick the can down the road to the new contract (well, really, it was more of "if you can't figure this out by X day, just forget it").
We also shut down the week of Christmas, which introduces it's own complications for me, personally. I know I don't have enough PTO to cover the whole week, nor will the contract last long enough for me to make up the deficit. I'm left wondering if I should just take the time off and let it all shake out in January, but I'm inclined to give my current company a heads-up that I'm likely going to be paying some time back at the end because of this. (It's a small community and burning bridges is bad practice, and my prior relationship with this company also helped me land this job, so I'll likely approach it this way.)
Anyway...I hope we get to play D&D this coming Saturday. That'd be nice and normal.
I think the internet and COVID have conspired to kill this particular practice. Yesterday my MIL was over and we took the opportunity to buy here a new laptop and monitor off Best Buy's website. They're already offering "Black Friday" deals.
'
Sentinels of the Multiverse put out a "Definitive Edition" earlier this year and I finally got to play it a couple of days ago. They've made a few game piece improvements and given you some new versions of old heroes and villains to play with, and all the old bits are compatible. It's still a fantastic game.
Going to see a movie with my SO this afternoon, most likely followed by dinner. Very little on the docket otherwise, except maybe getting together with a friend for a beer Sunday afternoon.
The Horny Fix patch wasn't targeted at the party. The party is a one-shot opportunity for you to "dungeon crawl" with whichever NPC you want to, regardless your status with them or your romantic pursuits otherwise. The party is actually designed this way, unless I'm mistaken.
I ran a Paladin through most of Act 2 and decided to start over. I wanted a different character which would allow me to pick up either Lae'zel or Karlach (the Tiefling barbarian). Hilariously, I failed the "persuade" roll to convince the Tieflings to release Lae'zel to me, so...Karlach it is. I love Karlach's ironically happy-go-lucky attitude and the fact that she dances if you leave the party standing still for too long.
I played with Lae'zel in my Paladin's party for a short while before I decided I needed "less swords and more magic" and replaced her with Gale. I enjoyed her sharp tongue and her ability to turn any situation into an opportunity for her to explain how were were all weak and inadequate.
Astarion is less "evil" and more "incredibly selfish." Aside from his (as noted above) frequent threats when I don't act the way he thinks I should, I find him to be an excellent rogue and the one party member I can typically count on to land a hit when I really need one.
If I have a complaint, it'd be that the game mostly seems to force me into "picking fights" to clear out enemies rather than getting attacked by the bad guys and kicking their butts. On the other hand...it's funny as hell to push a goblin off the edge of a cliff to start a fight, and the way the game is written provides for lots more ways to resolve situations without fighting. I suppose I can appreciate that.
My favorite Astarion bits are when I don't do what he wants me to do and he gets snippy and threatens me. He's a fantastically written and acted character, as are all of the potential companions.
Heh. I played I think one year in high school before I gave it up (I had neither the skill nor the temperament for the sport, despite my Dad's best efforts). I played with a lot of seconds, as giving me a good ball was a waste!
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Back To Normal”
THREE! DAY! WEEKEND!
I didn't have my head back in the game until yesterday, I swear.
As is traditional, the end of the holiday season is marked by taking college boy back to school. This year that day falls on this coming Sunday.
On “Stupid Questions With Obvious Answers In Public Places”
I've internalized Jaybird's response to "Hi:"
"No, but it would help."
On “Weekend Plans Post: The No-Man’s Land Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve”
We had that snow day on 14 Dec which became a "work from home" day. I called in sick that Friday, which eventually became COVID, so that wrecked the following week. The week after we were shut down for the holidays.
I haven't been to work since 13 December and it has been mostly GLORIOUS.
On “Wheel of Time Had a Second Season, and It Wasn’t Bad”
In response to your not having read the books, I will just say I didn't read your post, nor have I watched season 2. Regardless, the show remains trash. Season 1 was terrible and could only be improved by someone inventing time travel and going back in time to stop the whole thing from ever being made. <3
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: The Steam Christmas Sale is Upon Us!”
More Baldur's Gate 3: On this latest playthrough, I've decided to add Shadowheart back to my party at the expense of Karlach, who is without doubt my party muscle. To counteract that loss of melee power, I've turned Shadowheart into a War domain cleric and given her a higher strength score using the Ability Score improvement feat (16, 10, 12, 8, 17, 10), so she's Strong, Wise, and Dumb, as all clerics should be. We'll see how it goes. I remember being frustrated by the Gauntlet the first time because I dislike puzzles but once I sat back and looked at what I was being asked to do it was EZ.
"
I picked up Jedi: Fallen Order for six of your American dollars. The boys and are are conspiring to get some multi-player Baldur's Gate 3 going over the holidays as well, around bouts of Magic and other nonsense.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Thai-Style Coconut Chicken Soup”
A chef should, of course, taste his own cooking! It's got a very pleasant heat to it.
"
The soup was excellent--thank you so much for everything! The whole family enjoyed it.
On “Fighting Satan for Fame, Fortune, and Jesus, Or Something”
Excellent as usual, Andrew. Thank you.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Resisting Magic the Gathering’s Siren’s Call”
Seriously, though...I like the feel of the cards in my hand and the banter at the table. I've only played Commander, which is a multiplayer format, and at this point I have zero desire to build or curate my decks. Maybe that'll come with experience, but right now it's just fun to play. Heck, I've even won a few games.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Wrapping up Christmas Shopping”
I mean..."A Christmas Story" is right there...but you'd probably put your eye out!
On “Thursday Throughput: Schooling Edition”
ThTh1: We were lucky. My oldest was a VERY UNHAPPY high school senior when things shut down, so he elected to drop out and get his GED. For my youngest I was able to set up an isolated "classroom" for him, complete with a window and high-speed internet, and his grades actually went up. The running joke in our house is that, being the sole extrovert, I was the only person negatively affected by the shutdown, but I look at my very introverted youngest boy, now a sophomore in college, and can't help but connect the dots between the shutdown and his reluctance to engage more socially at his uni.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Last Few Normal Weeks of the Year”
This season is a little extra in that not only is it "end of year" but it's also "end of contract." There's a lot of the government insisting we get tasks X, Y, and Z finished before handover. Each of those tasks has a whiff of, "If you had done THIS STUFF to begin with maybe you wouldn't have lost the contract!' to it. Complicating things is an ongoing race to fix a recently-discovered software bug, but after racing at top speed for a few weeks the government finally admitted that the best thing to do is to kick the can down the road to the new contract (well, really, it was more of "if you can't figure this out by X day, just forget it").
We also shut down the week of Christmas, which introduces it's own complications for me, personally. I know I don't have enough PTO to cover the whole week, nor will the contract last long enough for me to make up the deficit. I'm left wondering if I should just take the time off and let it all shake out in January, but I'm inclined to give my current company a heads-up that I'm likely going to be paying some time back at the end because of this. (It's a small community and burning bridges is bad practice, and my prior relationship with this company also helped me land this job, so I'll likely approach it this way.)
Anyway...I hope we get to play D&D this coming Saturday. That'd be nice and normal.
On “We Should Talk More About Dying, Cause You Will”
Well said, Andrew. Thank you.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving”
I think the internet and COVID have conspired to kill this particular practice. Yesterday my MIL was over and we took the opportunity to buy here a new laptop and monitor off Best Buy's website. They're already offering "Black Friday" deals.
'
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Liar’s Dice and Lying Pirates”
Sentinels of the Multiverse put out a "Definitive Edition" earlier this year and I finally got to play it a couple of days ago. They've made a few game piece improvements and given you some new versions of old heroes and villains to play with, and all the old bits are compatible. It's still a fantastic game.
On “Weekend Plans Post: The Three Day Weekend”
Going to see a movie with my SO this afternoon, most likely followed by dinner. Very little on the docket otherwise, except maybe getting together with a friend for a beer Sunday afternoon.
On “About Last Night: Election 2023 Edition”
These two were first-time winners, replacing two more "liberal" board members. This result makes the school board 100% right-leaning.
"
The "Moms for Liberty" types won in my local school district, unfortunately.
On “Baldur’s Gate III: On Evil Making Things Less Fun”
The Horny Fix patch wasn't targeted at the party. The party is a one-shot opportunity for you to "dungeon crawl" with whichever NPC you want to, regardless your status with them or your romantic pursuits otherwise. The party is actually designed this way, unless I'm mistaken.
On “In Which Jaybird Goes To A Haunted House”
So was it SCARY or was it just...amusing/irritating?
On “Baldur’s Gate III: On Evil Making Things Less Fun”
I ran a Paladin through most of Act 2 and decided to start over. I wanted a different character which would allow me to pick up either Lae'zel or Karlach (the Tiefling barbarian). Hilariously, I failed the "persuade" roll to convince the Tieflings to release Lae'zel to me, so...Karlach it is. I love Karlach's ironically happy-go-lucky attitude and the fact that she dances if you leave the party standing still for too long.
I played with Lae'zel in my Paladin's party for a short while before I decided I needed "less swords and more magic" and replaced her with Gale. I enjoyed her sharp tongue and her ability to turn any situation into an opportunity for her to explain how were were all weak and inadequate.
Astarion is less "evil" and more "incredibly selfish." Aside from his (as noted above) frequent threats when I don't act the way he thinks I should, I find him to be an excellent rogue and the one party member I can typically count on to land a hit when I really need one.
If I have a complaint, it'd be that the game mostly seems to force me into "picking fights" to clear out enemies rather than getting attacked by the bad guys and kicking their butts. On the other hand...it's funny as hell to push a goblin off the edge of a cliff to start a fight, and the way the game is written provides for lots more ways to resolve situations without fighting. I suppose I can appreciate that.
"
My favorite Astarion bits are when I don't do what he wants me to do and he gets snippy and threatens me. He's a fantastically written and acted character, as are all of the potential companions.
On “Open Mic for the week of 10/16/2023”
Reading now that Jordan has dropped out of the Speaker race.
On “Adventures of a Little Golf Ball”
Heh. I played I think one year in high school before I gave it up (I had neither the skill nor the temperament for the sport, despite my Dad's best efforts). I played with a lot of seconds, as giving me a good ball was a waste!
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.