Hobbies and Communities

I was driving home from work the other day and I was thinking about various things I wanted to accomplish this weekend for hobbies. I have a gaming con coming up in February for the TTRPG I am designing. I want to make some time to play my lute dulcimer. I have a miniature that I am trying to paint, a website that I am trying to build, and several RPG sessions to plan. While all of this was occurring in my head I happened upon a really cool song Night Friends by Switch Angel. I've run into them on TikTok a couple of times and I instantly thought the song was fantastic. They're coding tracks on a platform call Strudel.cc. I thought, yeah I want to get back to making some electronic music. Problem is, I am hitting such a wall to do that. The more that I thought about it, I am also hitting a really wall with just creative writing as well and it go me thinking, why is that?

I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when it occurred to me that the hobbies that I am currently engaged with all have communities around them that I am able to feed off of. Larping, TTRPG, learning my lute dulcimer. Those are all either sort of supported by an active community or they have a specific end goal in mind. The lute dulcimer for example as the goal of learning to play by next year's Hynafol Grand Gathering. My TTRPG has an end date of my convention. My electronic music and writing though? Those have no communities to support me. 

I've been most successful with writing when I was actively participating in Nanowrimo or when I was posting to Scribophile. Unfortunately, Nano is dead (at least for 2025) and I haven't been on Scribophile in a couple of years, if simply because I was focusing on other writing endeavors. My electronic music also has been lacking since online communities died. I used to be an active member in several online forums including Serious-Sounds.net, IDMForums, EM411, and others. Forums have largely died with the rise of Reddit and Discord. I'm not quite sure what it is with Reddit, but I have never found the same sense of community there. Perhaps those communities are just too large and anonymous, but the level of active feedback just doesn't seem to be present. In many cases those genre or hobby specific subs don't want people to post their works for review and critique. I dunno, but I feel like for me that is the genesis of some of my inability to engage in some of the hobbies I used to prior to COVID. 

Discord itself seems to be an interesting beast in all of this. Generally, I find Discord gets too unwieldily once you hit a certain threshold of users and the posts are coming too fast. I don't want to login at the end of the day and see that I have 200+ unread posts. All that being said, our LARP group has really engaged me and perhaps that is because the size is rather manageable to a few dozen active people. 

Unexpected Goodbyes?

Last night we had a raccoon show up at our door step. Literally at our front door, laying on our door mat. We discovered him only because we had a food delivery driver bringing food to us. When we first found him he was curled up and looked like he was sleeping on our mat. 

As the evening progressed on, I found him curled up in some dried leaves just next to the front door near some mulch. From an outward glance he looked like he was healthy enough but his movements seem a bit labored. All evening I felt very stressed out. My shoulders ached, my hear rate was elevated, and I couldn't fall asleep. Perhaps this was in part just because of my stress and worry of having a wild animal literally on my doorstep, but I've also always felt I've had a bit of an empathic connection with animals. Perhaps I was feeling some of his pain and discomfort? 

This morning when I woke up to go check the front door, I work up groggy, tired, and with a sense of dread. I think I knew what I was going to find, but silently in my mind wanted to tell myself there would be nothing there. Unfortunately, I found the raccoon still on our door mat by the front door. I believe he passed away in the night, although I am not 100% certain he is gone. I don't want to get too close at this point and I have a wildlife control company coming later this morning. The raccoon though appears to be unresponsive and as far as I can tell not breathing. 

Thankfully he looks like he is at peace though and I am honored that's he found our home for his last moments. I hope that he at least had a dry and comfortable passing under the eve of our front door and that perhaps our home is in some way a welcoming place for spirits. 

I think I would like to hold some sort of passing ritual this evening. 

Sometimes life is a fucking disaster

The world is weird sometimes. I feel like this across the board are kinda shitty right now, but I had a nice extra does of shininess this past couple of weeks. Those of us in the northern Illinois region have been hit with some pretty heavy storms. I think we had 3-5 storm events that dropped +2" of rain in less than an hour over the course of about ten days. I experienced seepage in my basement for the first time from these storm events. Thankfully the actual amount of water was minor and just amounts to mostly wetness under the flooring. 

I do have pull all of the flooring up however. The benefit and bane of waterproof vinyl floors is that the water has probably spread to a larger area than where it actually seeped in, so there is going to have to be some investigation as to where the water is coming from. I have my first meeting with a company next week to take a look at the foundation. 

Megan thankfully has talked me off my panic attack this past week, and I am slowly coming to realize that while the basement might be impacted for the next couple of months, we thankfully have not had any real damage. 

Just when I was getting a handle on the situation though, I saw a mouse today in the basement while pulling up some floorboards. The cats are on high alert, but my anxiety immediately spiked back up after this incident. An exterminator is I guess also now on our list of things to do in the next week or so. 

The Queen of Spades - A Parlor Larp

This past Saturday I had a chance to try out an experience I have never done before and play something called a parlor larp. What is a parlor larp? It is a live action roleplaying game, that takes place in a single location (one's home usually) and has no combat. This is my first time playing a parlor larp and I believe it was the first time for everyone playing, including the director. The premise of this larp is that all of the players in the game, including the director, wake up on a ship after they were drugged and kidnapped. All of the characters have a history or relationship with a character named Marissa who at some point during the story will probably die. 

The story then unfolds into a "Murder on the Orient Express" sort of whodunnit. The general premise is pretty straight forward and everyone was able to grasp the general concept easily enough. 

General Thoughts and Observations on the game:
- The game is played in someone's home so there is some care needed by the host to make clear what areas are off limits and what are part of the game. Our play group uses some simply cardboard signs to indicate the rooms on the ship. 

- The location of the ship did not play a huge part of the game except for creating a space where people could not leave. There were several locations like the helm and engine room which were inspirational but otherwise didn't really serve much purpose in the game. I'll touch on this a bit more below. 

- The game appears to really only have one objective, which is to kill or find out who killed Marissa. Our play group ran into a few narrative stalling moments. For example, the players who were inclined to kill Marissa weren't explicitly stated to do so in their character backstories. We had to force this pivotal moment. Once it occurred though, there was a general "what's next" sort of revelation. The handful of characters who wanted Marissa dead had their mission accomplished by someone else, and were not inclined to turn that person in or exact any sort of justice. 

- The game overall could use a few more milestone triggers in the story to help push some narrative. As I noted above, the ship we were on was inoperable and the scenario stated there was no way to fix the ship. I think there could've been some more effective storytelling in allowing some environmental events to occur that would force certain characters to be in proximity with each other, or be in a room by themselves to force some story. Having two people forced to work in the engine room to repair the ship for example gives them an opportunity to talk by themselves in an isolated and unusual area of the ship without inherently triggering suspicion.

- Similarly, secondary objectives for the characters could have been very useful to keep the game moving after Marissa's death. In our game, once Marissa died, we all basically sat in one room on the ship and tried to logic our way through what happened. There was no further separation for the social interaction. The character backgrounds allude that certain players may have conflicts, but it doesn't provide anyone and guidance as to an objective. One character for example was a surviving member of a family my character eliminated. Sure, she was upset with me and we had a confrontation out in the open, but at no point was she urged to try and kill me as well. Perhaps experienced larpers would know do this, but with new players and strangers none of us really had the awareness or knowledge that it was ok to eliminated other players. 

- The abilities mechanics in this game were sort of confusing and seemed like they were unnecessarily complicated. Abilities had a limited number of uses in most cases, but would cost players a portion of their "life" (FL) when used. It was a challenge mechanic, but if we were reading the rules correctly even if a player won a challenge it was very probable they would take more damage than if they just allowed themselves to lose. Additionally, some of the jumps in life didn't make sense thematically. For example, if I used a non-combat mechanic against someone, let's say "talk down to", the result might bring the character from FL 5 (highest amount) down to an FL 3. That meant that they had broken bone, or bleed or were physically impaired in some way. That didn't seem to make sense. After the game we discussed as a group of perhaps using a separate token mechanic, perhaps each player has 5-10 tokens as a limited resource they could use in those non-combat challenges, and damage to FL would only occur to players during combat or physical encounters. 

Overall, It was an interesting system. Our group wants to play some more, but we feel we would tweak the mechanics a bit more and perhaps pull in some mechanics from "Good Society" where before the game we can establish some secondary character issues and relationships.

Bags. Bags. Bags.

I've recently discovered that I probably have an inordinate amount of bags for myself. This all arose a couple of days ago when I was discussing with Megan about getting a new bag for my personal laptop. I picked up a new 13" MacBook Air (which is great btw) and decided I need to get a new bag for it to protect it. 

As I began doing some research on this, it occurred to me that I have maybe half a dozen bags already floating around the house that I use in various capacities? Perhaps it's my personal neurodivergent trait here, but each bag I have serves a sort of independent need. 

  • I have an old Jansport backpack that might date all the way back to junior high. It's huge, but in incredibly good shape and was definitely from the "Made in the USA" era of Jansport. It is too big for most of my needs these days, but I know as soon as I get rid of it, I will need that space for something. 
  • I have a slightly smaller backpack that is from LL Bean that is a day hike pack. I've brought it with me on multiple national park trips and it goes with me on pretty much every vacation trip. That is about the only time I use it though because I don't really need a backpack for most daily uses. It's a great bag, but doesn't have any laptop storage unfortunately. 
  • My daily driver is a Chrome Industries messenger bag that I got back in undergrad at college I think? Maybe grad school. It's a pretty big laptop bag that has been my goto bagger work and school for almost 20 years now. It is showing some wear and tear on the edges, but is still in incredible shape and holds just about all of my daily work gear. 
  • I have an older canvas Lands End bag that I used for undergrad school that my parents got me years ago. It is floating around somewhere and I really should dig it out. It is another fantastic bag made out of a really durable canvas, but it again doesn't have any laptop storage. For a while it was my goto D&D bag, and I think I might wan to revive it for my TTRPG runs that don't require any digital tools. There was one point when I was using it as my work bag that a banana got smashed in it and it was a paint to get cleaned. 
  • Finally I have a Chrome Industries Kadet Mini Sling bag. I picked this up a few years ago for music festivals. I like this bag quite a bit and I should probably use it more for weekend stuff. 
  • Bonus Bag: Ahh, I just remembered when discussing the Kadet that I also have a Lunchbox hydro pack, which is a backpack specifically designed for music festivals with a water bladder in it. This I use pretty much exclusively for music festivals, so while it is incredibly utilitarian, it is sort of the perfect tool for a very specific job. 

So, for my next bag I am sort of looking at some options for my small laptop. Again, I want some space to throw just a couple of bags and an additional tablet for RPG sessions, etc. Right now, my front runners are a bit of a surprise as I am looking at a tote bag options. Why a tote bag? Well, I don't really need the long term support that a backpack will bring me. More often than not, I am mainly just carrying my bag from the house, to the car and then back out of the car. Another messenger bag was definitely on the table as an option, but the tote bag with the top opening really caught my eye. The catch is that I don't want something super large. 

Right now it looks like my top options are the Alpaka Bravo Tote and the Bellroy Tokyo Wonder Tote (12L). Both look really nice and I think it will ultimately just come down to which style calls to me the most. 

It's Time to Say Goodbye to META

If you are coming over to this blog because you saw one of my posts over on Instagram, Threads, or Facebook, welcome. I mentioned on those other platforms that I wasn’t going to get into a soapbox about why I was leaving META platforms, but I figured I would do a brief explanation here. To be honest, it wont be a surprise but the main reason is that I do not agree with the general position Mark Zuckerberg and his ideology these days. His recent changes to moderation on the META platforms don’t give me confidence that we wont see an influx of hate speech and other negative commentary, and unfortunately I have too many people on my social and family circles that I have seen over the past eight years get hooked in by some extreme ideology. With the upcoming Trump presidential term, I fear that it will again only get worse and I am sick of seeing it and dealing with it. I’m exhausted and I don’t want to have to self moderate a constant stream of content that I don’t want to engage with. 

When I first signed up for Facebook back in the early 2000’s I was approaching it for the original intended use of connecting with friends and family. Social media has changed over the past twenty years and these days (like most I think), I am not using social media for connect with friends and family. I’m connecting with my friends and family through basic messaging apps and I am finding that more and more of my photo sharing and life updates are occurring through small, closed door discussion rooms. My social media these days is focused around finding communities and discussions around my hobbies. I am really finding interest in, following topics and not following people. 
I am going to miss Threads if I am being honest. For what it's worth, the algorithm over there did find me great conversations to follow and engage with. I am going to be investing most of my time though into the Fediverse, namely Mastadon and Pixelfed. Bluesky seems alright, but I dont really want to rebuild a social graph around another single company. While the environment over there is positive right now, that could change in a heartbeat with a new CEO or management. 

If you would like to come and join me or follow me on some of those other platforms, I would love to engage with you in those conversations. I’ll have my links shared over on the sidebar of this blog. 

Getting Back into Watches

I've made an effort this past year to get back into wearing watches besides just my Apple Watch. My most recent pickup is a Casio-Oak 2100. I'll be honest, I didn't quite like this when I originally got it. The dark color is a bit hard to see at times, but it has grown on my significantly over the past several weeks. It's incredibly comfortable and not nearly as big on the wrist as it maybe initially looks. My only real complaint with it at this point is the Casio App, the is used to sync the timezone. It is simply terrible, so I am not going to be using that moving forward. 


The Wild World: How Close Was the "Old World" To A Fantasy World?

I was having some thoughts the other day that coalesced around this idea of the "Wild World" and this concept of the unknown. It's a fairly common trope in most fantasy worlds that the world is portrayed as an untamed and dangerous place. Bastions of civilization are focused around a handful of cities and alcoves. I alway found the concept of the regarding the world as we know it and how its relates to our fantasy narratives as very interesting.  

In most fantasy narratives it is implied, if not explicitly stated, that the world is mostly uninhabited. There are pockets of dense populations, often times reflected in larger cities, but generally speaking, when your heroes or adventurers are out wandering the world, they are wandering into the unknown, into the wild. Even the established routes between known population areas are portrayed as dangerous. 

I suppose there is a sense of wonder in breaking away from our now common familiarity of travel. We can easily travel fifty miles without much of a thought with modern transportation and, there is little of the unknown wilderness still to traverse in that travel. Of course one has to be careful and not fall into the colonial concepts of barbarians or uncivilized peoples and portraying those as "lesser". T

Bringing this back to our own world though, it really made me think about what the 19th century and earlier must've looked like to most people. Even into the 1800's there were wide swaths of the world that were largely unexplored and you can see this reflected in all sorts of artwork. It triggers a bit of romanticism does it not? To think about our own world and imagine it more wild, one that is perhaps less populated and full of new places to discover. Would such a world be a better place if we brought modern (western) sensibilities to it? Who is to say, but it is fund to imagine. 



Movies: Dune - Part 2

Megan and I saw Dune Part 2 a couple of weekends ago in iMax. It has been years I think since we last went to a movie at the theaters. Probably since before COVID if I had to guess. 

The movie was quite good and I really enjoyed the movie experience. As with any movie adaptation there are some changes from the book and I fully understand how those changes needed to be made. In the movie version there appears to be a much larger emphasis on the Bene Gesserit and their role in the whole prophecy. I would've liked to see a bit more of the space guild and the mentat, if only to highlight a bit how there were more forces as play in the whole galactic politics. 

My only other gripe with the movie that jumped out at me was the handling of Chani's relationship with Paul at the end. In the book she was much more aware of the potential political marriage that needed to occur and stayed with Paul. The movie changed this dynamic quite a bit, apparently having the two split up and bringing forth the conflict between Paul's religious war and the longterm identity of Dune itself. 

It's an interesting take. I got the impression from the books series that the Freeman wanted Dune to become green. The movie portrayed this a bit differently for me, and I got the impression that there is a sector of the Freeman who want to be free, but have Dune remain as it is due to their "heritage". I feel Chani would fall into this camp. The movie conveyed a real sense of dread and devastation. The scene where the Emperor's ship is attacked on the Dune surface was a demonstration of a brutal and devastating blow. 

I had a great time though and despite the hight cost of going to the movies, I would like to get out a bit more and go back. The past few years of movies have not aught me at all. As I posted about earlier this year, I am getting a bit burned out on streaming services and subscriptions all over the place. It was nice to get into that whole movie experience, with the popcorn and everything. Here's to the hope that movies can make a bigger impact as we move forward. 


Maison Marginal Artisanal Collection 2024 - Fashion and Art


I saw clips of this fashion show popping up on my feed a few weeks ago and decided to watch the show on Youtube after figuring out what it was. Wow, what an experience. I absolutely loved this show and it really capture a beautiful cross between fashion, visual art, dance and music. The atmosphere of this being filmed under a bridge in France really set an amazing mood. If you have not watched this, do yourselves a favor the favor and take a look. It was just beautiful.