I’m still recovering from feeling sick this week, and I’ve spent the weekend alternating between small household chores and resting. It seems that I failed to post yesterday, so the pressure of keeping my streak alive is officially off. Whew.
I don’t think I’m contagious but why don’t we socially distance with our preferred beverages while we get caught up, eh?
So, it seems that the last time I really updated you on what’s been going on was [checks notes] September 8th and it’s now [glances at calendar] October 6. Wait. Is that right? Okay, I guess it is.
I know what’s on all your minds: what’s been happening in the TTRPG campaigns? Well, you’ll be pleased to know all the wikia pages are up to date! You might recall there’s quite a few campaigns going on, so here they are by description:
- Hilan Lagcy: set two hundred years after the original campaign, a group of adventurers must save the new pantheon of gods from being subsumed and consumed by powerful external entities. They are currently trapped in Barovia, where one of the paladins is attempting to negotiate a betrothal with the vampire lord Strahd in order to permit them leave to return to Hilan and continue their mission.
- Shadows of Eclipsium: in a land ruled by manifestations of the seven deadly sins, a group of adventurers must prevent the planes of existence from collapsing in on each other.
- Palla Grande: a Sabbat World of Darkness campaign set in Mexico City, 1999 featuring a pack of vampires who have uncovered a plot to raise and release demons into the world. It is a night of masquerade and intrigue, and one of the party has just initiated a lip sync battle to the death.
My character is the one involved in the lip sync battle, and one of my fellow players sent me a package of 55 ten-sided dice to aid me in my quest.
That wasn’t the only package that came recently, either – my latest Mad Labs order arrived, too! I got a 30ml spray bottle of the custom My Chemical Romance scent I ordered last year (and have used up) and a roller of Gertrude Robinson from the Magnus Archives collection. MCR has notes of honey, whiskey, gunsmoke, blood, fire, water, and roses while Gertrude smells like white cedar, wisteria, plum, and vetiver.
Did I get Gertrude because my grandmother’s name was Gertrude and the character reminded me of her in ways? Yes. Yes I did. Look for a review coming when I’ve had time to properly test it.
And there’s other packages on the way since Lily Seika Jones opened the Rivulet Paper Etsy shop again.
There was a weekend that Krystal went out of town so I was left to my own devices. Mainly that included me making food that she wouldn’t like, such as a mushroom pizza, braised shoulder steak, and oatmeal.
When she got back, Krystal sent me two recipes: one for onion pie and one for creamy butternut orzo. I’ve made the onion pie and bought the squash for the other.
The onion pie was okay, good and pleasant but not exceptional. I need to use sweeter apples next time and add parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (yes really) to the seasonings, which only included salt, pepper, and nutmeg in the dish I made.
Now to be fully honest I haven’t been feeling well for a few weeks now with a persistent cough but literally no other symptoms. So I’ve been eating quite a bit of tomato soup and grilled cheese, chicken noodle soup, and mashed potatoes and gravy (and other soft and comforting foods like that).
Now, there was the time I got drive through mashed potatoes and gravy from Bojangles and they’d have me three sporks, which was two sporks too many. I had it covered; had they so little faith in me?
Well, be that as it may, last night I was feeling up for going out to Applebees with Krystal (she had a gift card). We ordered loaded waffle fries and pretzels for appetizers and I had a mushroom Swiss burger and Dr Pepper for my main course/drink.
The mood was darkened when Trump’s anti-trans ad came on one of the TVs (the one that says “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you”) and it stopped her cold – she’d never seen it, only heard me describe it. For a few moments I just I wanted to leave and go home but we stayed, talked, and were able to redirect and have a good time. But the fact that folks I still love will vote for a candidate who hates me, well . . . this is a dealbreaker. This is not an “agree to disagree” issue. To vote for Trump (or Mark Robinson for NC governor) says you think my existence is a danger to America, because that’s a position he holds, has endorsed a commercial about, and is specifically and explicitly running on. Therefore, to vote for Trump is to say you believe I deserve to be unemployed, belong in prison, or even worse (depending on the extreme fringes of the GOP voter base). You don’t have to vote for Harris, but you don’t have to vote for Trump either.
Speaking of, the other day I got FIVE pieces of trash from the Trump campaign: four anti-Harris pieces and one reminding me to vote early for Trump (oh, the ironic hypocrisy). Trump must be really worried about losing NC; let’s all vote Harris so he’ll never have to worry about an election again.
But on the other has there’s folks like my friend Jeremy, who on Friday told me
Jay, you are an inspiration to me but also just my everyday friend and I love that you have the capacity to be both of those things for me, even if it’s not on purpose.
And what with Friday being the third anniversary of my father’s passing it was already a day for feeling big emotions, so this had me in tears for all the good and right reasons.
And then there was the day I opened my email to find someone had not only read my previous email but saw my signature and used it to address me correctly:
Finally, you might remember me introducing you to my new feline friend Casserole. I’m pleased to let you know that Casserole’s human got him a house for Halloween!
I leave you now with a picture of the plate tacos I made Friday:
What have you been doing lately?
Running In My Head 