DAY TWENTY-FOUR - Used to Know

The other day a friend pointed out to me that one of our mutual friends from high school defriended both of us and, apparently, a whole lot of other people.

I thought this was strange as we had just seen her maybe no less than a couple of weeks before, though my interactions with her from then up to this news started making sense.

When we last saw her, she seemed more aloof than she normally was. She was also considerably less friendly, talking only to a couple of people, and when she left she made no effort to say goodbye. More recently, she had stopped by my restaurant the other day and asked if she could fill her water bottle. She acted like she didn't know me.

I thought this was weird, but she's a weird person so I let it slide. Then this news hits me and I'm... I don't know what the proper word for it is. Surprised? The first thought that popped into my head earlier today while thinking about this was the song, "Somebody I Used To Know."

Granted, we were never that close, but still. It's weird seeing someone you were on friendly terms with suddenly treating you like a stranger. Not even a small hello or a sign of familiarity? I don't mind the defriend so much as the lack of courtesy there. I still say hello to people I know but I ain't friends with on Facebook, but to each their own I suppose.

It sort of chafes me but at the same time I realize I never really cared this "friend" in the first place.

Harsh, maybe.


Eric

DAY TWENTY-THREE - Passing the Time

It's been a little while since I started working at my current job. It's just over half a year now, as I started in January, and so far it's been pretty pleasant. I remember a time when I used to dread the idea of working in the food business, but it's not that bad; I used to work at a movie theater so I'm familiar with dealing with customers face-to-face. Working at a restaurant isn't too different.

Back when I was still learning the ropes and getting adjusted to everything, each work day was new and interesting. Recently, though, I've been... bored, maybe? Or perhaps just wanting out? This is semi-related to a few posts back, but mostly I think it's just me wanting a little more free time.

I was granted that wish in a way this past week; instead of working five days I had a random Monday off. Next week's schedule, however, is back to the same old, same old.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the money. The customers and the coworkers are pretty okay and the job is nice. Maybe I'm just getting a little tired of the same routine. It was nice when summer break started, but I guess I'm getting myself ready to go back to school. Go places, do things and all that.

That reminds me, I need to talk to my counselor soon...

But that's for another time. I'll see you tomorrow.


Eric

DAY TWENTY-TWO - Cookin'... Papa?

I'm not very good with my hands, but every time I've tried cooking, I've enjoyed it. I've always wanted to learn how to cook specific dishes that I grew up with.

That may be a little surprising, as anyone who knows me in person knows I'm not very big on Asian food despite my Filipino background. If I had to point at one reason, it's probably because I was more or less surrounded by the stuff growing up. Once I got a job and started going out more, I experienced a whole variety of foods that I would, eight times out of ten, pick over any Asian dish.

Still, I like eating it every now and then. A few dishes that come to mind right now are menudo, sinigang and beef steak. They're all pretty tasty, but in addition to the taste, there's something just... comforting aobut the food. Maybe it's the familiarity or maybe it's the reminder of simpler times, but either way, I wanted to learn how to cook these foods.

Regardless of my closeness to my Filipino heritage, Filipino food is something I definitely want to expose my kids to in the future.

DAY TWENTY-ONE - Work, work, work

Day in and day out, I work. Sure, I have a few days off, but the fact remains that I still work almost every day.

The pay is nice and it gives me something to do. I've always wondered, though, is this all there is to life? Life in the 21st century. Back when, people had to build and hunt and create for the things they needed. Help out on the farm, help clean clothes by the riverside, so on and so forth. There were a lot of things to do, but it was (mostly) necessary.

The concept is similar, I can see that; work hard to keep on livin' and all that. Today, though, you work. Work, work, work, and you get that money. Then you can buy everything you need to live; food, housing, clothing.

Maybe the problem stems from the amount of things people can do now that is totally superfluous. I don't need these games, I don't need this music, but it's fun and it passes the time. I'm probably just spoiled on the idea of having fun all day every day.

I feel like all life is is working hard for money, but I can't help but feel that there's more to life than that. School days were so much easier, simpler.

There's an optimistic quote somewhere in here that I can't seem to recall. Maybe that's a sign.

DAY TWENTY - 20? Twenty?

I've been wondering as of late when I should switch over to numbers if at all. I learned way back that you're generally supposed to write out the full number from one to like a hundred and then when it starts getting longer and complicated you use the numerals. One would also use numerals for dates generally or certain types of numbers.

Obviously I'm not that far yet, but I think I might stick with spelling it out completely just for simplicity/continuity's sake. 

While we're on the number twenty, age 20 for me wasn't all too exciting. I don't remember anything that stood out in particular about that year. Sure, it was the year before the big 2-1 when you can start legally drinking and all that jazz. I was never a drinking/party hard sort of guy. I played games with some friends, but that was about it.

I was in school at that point, wondering when was a good time to transfer. Most of my friends still went to the same college I went to at that point. I still had my old job at the theater, but not much else.

Thinking back on those days... hm. They're not so far away, yet so much has changed already. Off the top of my head, the friends I went to college with... one is already in his 9-5 job, another is at a different school; another dropped out and is working regular hours a week, another is on the other side of the planet doing odd jobs... sweet Jesus, time does fly.

Sometimes I worry about that.

Alright, that's enough walking down memory lane for now. I'll try to come up with something non-past-ish for next time. 

Eric

DAY NINETEEN - Harder Than It Looks

I was talking to one of my friends about D&D recently. I told him about how I aimed to keep everything as open as possible (aka decisions that matter and the ability to go in any route so long as the players are aware of the consequences) and that, as a result, I can never plan maybe more than three-to-five battles at a time. The way he reacted to it, I think, sums up the workload in a word.

"That's insanity."

After taking the time to DM, if you're not using a pre-made setting or following a pre-written scripted adventure, the workload is... daunting. If you're making up your own setting, there's world-building which includes but is not limited to: cities, landmarks, continents, countries and their borders, population, demographic, factions and probably a whole lot more I missed.

If you're making your own adventure or even your own campaign, it becomes a writing exercise; at least that's how it was for me. For my campaign I wrote a very general outline, with a definite beginning point and a vague-ish goal: to collect several weapons that were used to defeat an ancient evil. It gave me a lot of leeway for what will happen inbetween, but I'm not entirely sure what the endgame will be because of all the variables.

So as a result, I generally never know what's going to happen two or three sessions in the future. I leave a lot of what I plan blank to allow for player creativity/choice. Same goes with my world-building; I center my attention on wherever the players are at currently, mostly to better their experience but also to avoid getting burned if the group somehow stops playing.

I'm hoping that's not the case, but... I've been burned enough to not keep my hopes up.

Regardless, I still really enjoy creating worlds and sharing it with people. I'm still planning on making those short stories about the player companions, despite my not-so-great writing skills. I've had a lot on my mind recently, though, but hopefully they'll be up sometime before this challenge is over.

In the meantime, transform and ROLL OUT. /baddicepuns


Eric

DAY EIGHTEEN - Up

I remember doing something kinda stupid but kinda cool in high school once.

It was lunch time. Kids tend to sit with the kids they know or the kids they're friends with. They weren't necessarily cliques though I guess each group had their similarities.

The lunch room was divided in two, with lunch tables and chairs on either end of the center, which was the kitchen/food area. I sat with some friends in one corner of the lunch room, the corner being closer to the kitchen area. This corner in particular featured a few plastic lounging chairs for people who wanted to sit in bigger seats, which is what I was doing on this particular day.

The people I hung out with back then were, I think, greatly varied. That's one of the benefits of growing up in this township--diversity. I was as much of a gamer back then as I was now, though perhaps moreso; at one point I remember being in a "gaming clan" and having all-night Halo sessions that consisted of maybe 4-5 games tops. It was crazy fun but also crazy intense. I got mad at video games and so did my friends because of how competitive we were, plus the teenage testosterone.

So one day there was a younger kid, maybe a freshman or something sitting in the same corner. High school freshman, they're just kids... but so are high school kids. Some friends my grade, maybe sophomores, were mocking this one kid for some reason. I don't remember why, but they were teasing him hard. I don't recall if I asked them to stop making fun of the freshman.

But what I do remember is that it bothered me. A lot.

And what I do recall is that I told them to stop it. Loudly.

I think I screamed, though I don't remember what; maybe for them to stop or something similar. I hit the side of the plastic chair I was sitting in, too, making a loud banging noise. Folks from other tables looked over, but that didn't matter to me because I was mad. I managed to get those bullies to stop, though, and then stormed off.

My memory is rather hazy. I don't know what happened after that; if they stopped teasing him after, or if the victim thanked me... though I am inclined to believe that it is a no. I don't recall getting in trouble for that either.

I think about this moment every now and then. I remind myself that once upon a time I stood up for people. Granted, I've surrounded myself with people who wouldn't do something as mean as to bully some dude, so the situation rarely comes up from within. But I need to remind myself about this so that if it does happen again, I'll be prepared.


Eric

DAY SEVENTEEN - Smaller Things

Today I realized a couple of things while at work.

For starters, I realized that despite my voice sounding somewhat cheery, my face doesn't really, uh, move. It's like someone saying enthusiastically, "Have a great day!!!!!" but their expression is just flat. Like a ":|" face. And I realize that can be really off-putting, which would explain why people seem as much at the register. It's hard to smile when you don't want to, though. Well, constantly that is.

I also confirmed another cliche today, the one where taking the time to look and laugh at something that was annoying/upsetting can make you feel a whole lot better.

So what happened was this lady came in when I was about to do some stocking in the background. I sighed, maybe a bit too loudly, but when I went out to help her she said she'd wait for my coworker who was busy with another customer. I didn't really know what was up with that--maybe she knew him?--but I just said "okay," and left. Later I asked my coworker if he knew her, and he didn't.

It bothered me, to say the least. Like, da hell? I think it was equivalent to another time where this one semi-regular customer comes in and... well, in a phrase, she's an ice queen to me. Getting back to the other woman, when I told my coworker that she waited for him, he joked that maybe she had a crush on him or something and, while it wasn't kneeslappin' funny, I thought it was mildly amusing. It made me feel a whole lot better about that situation, and I was glad for that.

There were a few more realizations tonight, but I think I'll share those another time. Right now I have a tuna sandwich calling my name, that being...


Eric

DAY SIXTEEN - When I Grow Up...

A while ago, one of the new hires at the restaurant I work at asked me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She said that to everyone who was working that night, but the question was interesting given that she's a whole... oh god, I just did the math and it's awful.

Nine. Nine years younger than me.

God damn.

Creeping death aside, today I found out she might no longer be working with us because her folks don't want her working to 11PM. It was a little strange to hear considering I've been working to 11 or later for the past 7 years, but she's still a youngin' and you gotta respect your elders. Even if she "brags" about smoking cigarettes and drinking Four Lokos. (For real.)

Anyway, her original question got me to thinking. For a long time, I thought I knew.

A long, long time ago, I... don't remember exactly what I wanted to do. Thinking about my elementary school and early junior high experiences, I can't really recall anything career-based. Without a doubt that question popped up at one point or another, like one of those go-to teacher questions for a day's lesson, but I probably put some generic response like astronaut or president. What I do remember during this time was being praised for my advanced (for my age) writing ability. I also remember doing particularly well in a spelling bee, but that's beside the point.

It gets a little blurry from there. Early junior high was a bad time for me socially, but that's a story for another time. Late junior high to high school I got really into anime and video games, thanks in no small part to Adult Swim. One of my all-time favorite animes to this day is Cowboy Bebop, back when Adult Swim's bumpers were old people swimming. Good times.

So I sought to emulate the stories I read and played. I wrote a lot and I drew a lot, both of which were... kinda cringe-worthy, though I wish I had kept up with drawing. Still, I had a sort of outline for a story I wanted to write, complete with characters and a total number of books. The way I had planned it, there would be five books, each set on a different continent complete with their own cast and stories. These stories, however, were intertwined and would eventually come to a head in the fifth book. I even planned a set of "prequel" books that would tell the story of the main book's legendary heroes and how the world came to be, and then a set of sequel books that would use the ancestors of the main book's characters.

I had written it in my old email account, however...

High school was a simpler time, but it was also a busy time. I got a new email somewhere during this time, back when gmail was invite-only and still really new. Somewhere down the line I lost the password to my email, thereby losing all the things I wrote.

Moral of that story is keep your passwords safe, but every so often I try getting into that account. I wonder what's still in there from time to time, but it's out of my hands.

I still remember a handful of things from the stories that I wrote. I may or may not incorporate them into my D&D games, but we'll see about that. And if there's any consolation to me losing all of that, I'm still very fond of planning story structure out. Hopefully one day I'll be able to get into that old account of mine and maybe one day write those books of mine.

But that... that's just an old dream.


Eric

DAY FIFTEEN - It's WRITING time

NO, ERIC, NO!

I think a few posts in the not-so-distant future will be--you guessed it, stories!

In order to flesh out the characters of my D&D game, I want to try my hand at a little short story writing. Nothing too crazy long, maybe... what's short, 1000 words? Well, no more than that, I think, but I'm hoping it will be a good exercise in writing as well as a way to develop all these side/companion characters that my parties will be encountering and teaming up with.

To be honest I'm more than a little nervous. Despite liking to write and all that, I'm nothing more than an amateur. That, and I don't read as many books as I'd like to and it's been forever since I wrote fiction, so... yeah, amateur.

I mean, most of them are my friends, so I think I ought to be okay, but I know some are more critical of story elements and whatnot. I used to think I had these great and original ideas, but it turns out they weren't so original nor were they "great." I'm not so much concerned about the originality bit because it's fairly hard to be 100% original these days. The first quote I remember liking in regards to that: "Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about."

But the overall quality? Okay, but not great. Or maybe I'm just over-critical of myself. Who knows? You will, after possibly reading my stories!


Anyway, I must be off to start preparing for this little exercise. Take care,

Eric

DAY FOURTEEN - Airing Grievances

I tend not to think a lot about the things that annoy me mostly because they're... well, they're annoying. But a set of things happened a recently that I started to think about what annoys me, and I figured I ought to make a post of it to get my thoughts sorted out.

First on the list is one word responses. Since the start of text and instant messaging, I've found one-word responses to be super obnoxious. Type up a paragraph describing what you'd like to do? "K." Ask a few questions hoping to get more information? "no." Train a person how to do things correctly? "Oh," for every. Single. Response. Of course there are situations where one word might be all that's needed, but the reverse is the same too.

Another thing that bothers me are people who argue for the sake of arguing or to "win" an argument. The other day a lady "customer" at my restaurant argued with me about the length of some of our choices. I admitted that they weren't all uniform in size, but she kept complaining about how they ought to be and when I offered that she could talk to a manager about it, she said she didn't want to and kept on complaining to me. I use quotation marks here because after she complained at me for five minutes straight, she "changed her mind" about ordering and left.  

Lastly--and what mostly inspired this post--are conspiracy theorists or those folks who cry "fake, fake" at everything they see. I know, it's important to question everything you see, lest you become some sort of mindless follower or whatever, but really, every little awesome or terrible thing has to be "fake"? This applies to all manner of events, from the moon landings to a video of a guy falling from a trampoline and bouncing right back up to where he sat. I'm just happy there's going to be a robotic mission to the moon in the future that will take pictures of the landing sites to shut up those conspiracy theorists.

Overall these are all minor grievances, but they're still annoying. I get over it, some faster than others, but geez. These first world problems.


k bye,

Eric 

DAY THIRTEEN - Singin' Along with Some SONGSSSSSS

A long, long time ago in my high school days, I think I was fairly introverted. Or perhaps shy. Either way, I didn't have a lot of courage to do things in front of others, like performing for instance.

As the years passed, though, I slowly got more comfortable with this... mostly. While I still avoid Speech classes with a burning passion, today I want to talk about songs and singing.

I've always been a moderate music listener ever since I was able to carry my music with me. Early songs I remember singing along to were the Beatles and "Reflection" from Mulan. Singing in front of others, though, even if they were some of my closest friends, was still a big ol' nope for me. I gradually eased into it though thanks to a little game called Rock Band and today I am... still a little shy about it, but much more willing to sing.

A long while ago I used to think I enjoyed all types of music equally or as I said, "whatever sounds good." Despite that still being true it is vague, no doubt about that. Nowadays I know personally that I generally enjoy alternative/indie/classic rock, but otherwise I'm pretty open to most music.

As for songs to sing, I'm a big fan of high-energy songs but also songs with a ton of range; combinations of both are great. Some songs that fit into this broad description include Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", Panic! At the Disco's "Bittersweet" and Fall Out Boy's "Of All the Gin Joints in the World." I could go on and on, and... maybe I will! Someday, but not today, ha.

Anyway, I sing whenever I think I am alone but man, there have been some embarrassing moments when it turned out I wasn't. Yeesh. I can't remember specifically right now, but I can just feel it in my bones. If I come up with anything, I'll probably write about it, but that is for another time.


I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stoppin' me,

Eric

DAY TWELVE - DANDY 2: Electric Boogaloo

As I have said before in the past, I run a game of Dungeons and Dragons for some friends of mine. One of the players for this game, character name Syne, recently told some of our other friends about his character and his back story. This subsequently got these friends interested in the game and, as a result, I will probably now be running a second game for them.

Part of me is excited about the prospect, as the more players and their characters means more neat interactions and all the goodness that comes with roleplaying. Another part of me is a bit intimidated by the work load, though what I'm doing for game should lessen that problem a bit. And yet another part of me is a little worried about the players, as some of them I'm not so familiar with, and I'm not sure if I'll be entirely comfortable with DMing for them.

Regardless, though, I'll be doing it. The idea that popped into my head was too good to pass up: different party, different continent... same world, same universe. So what that means is both parties 1 and 2 will exist simultaneously and have the chance of actually SEEING each other. And, depending on their goals... fight or work together.

It's a very awesome scenario, but just the concept that their choices will have a ripple effect on each other's stories is amazing. Additionally, the idea of player vs player or one GIANT party is just... awe-inspiring.

It's just... so crazy. I'm really excited. And the pre-game workload isn't too large because I have a ton of character ideas I wanted to use but couldn't, so now they can be used for these guys. It's a really awesome feeling. Though now I'm a little nervous. Hopefully they like it.

The craziest part about all of this though, I think, is that I'm actually willing to DM a third group... ohhhh my. But more on that as the story develops!


Rollin' for success,

Eric

DAY ELEVEN - WoW and cash shop?

So the other day I learned the popular MMO World of Warcraft will test an in-game cash shop. Along with giving the players to buy vanity pets and mounts within the game as opposed to through Blizzard's website, the shop will also be selling experience boosts and, in particular, items that are grindable in-game and used to trade in for re-rolls for item drops.

As a player who started up in the mid/early Wrath of the Lich King days, I have a fair amount of experience with the game. I've been watching it get... easier, I think? I am by no means a hardcore WoW expert, but the skill cap has definitely been going down. But as a man who is finding less and less time to sit down and play a game, the ease-of-play and the convenience it provides (that is, not having to pore over five different skills when it's all in one handy skill) I can't say I'm complaining too much.

So with that in mind, I would say the in-game shop is overall not a bad addition. The majority of things it will be selling is stuff that players could have bought previously through battle.net, except instead of forcing the player to go outside of the client to make the purchase, they can do it in-game.

Secondly, when Mists of Pandaria came out, after I had leveled my main, a warrior, I spent a lot lot lot of time leveling my first alt, a mage. Let me tell you, despite having heirloom items, the whole process still took a long while. Like I mentioned before, I have limited time to devote to gaming sessions, so if this experience boost is reasonably priced, then I am all for it.

The last thing is the doozy, though: the lesser charms of good fortune. Back when I was still playing, players had to grind these lesser charms from the end-game daily quests. Players needed 90 to get a greater charm I believe, which then allowed the player in any of the end-game raids a free re-roll on a boss. If I am not mistaken, this as well as the drops specializing themselves to your character and specialization were new features for MoP as well, and I was all for it because it lessened the time needed to get geared up.

(For those unfamiliar with WoW, this extra chance at a powerful item was great because players can only search for them one per unique raid, so doubling one's chance at getting the item is crazy good. Additionally, boss monsters could drop an item for ANY class, so the newest expansion made it so that big bad bosses only drop something that could be useful to your character.)

The only concern I would have for the end is the idea of pay2win, but really, those charms helped gear players for PvE which, while competitive, is not the same as PvP. It just lets the player get the best raiding gear they can get a hold of. Plus, if they want to drop money on something that can be easily grinded, then that is their prerogative. Last I heard, the previous 90 requirement was lowered to 50, and supposedly those charms are being given away like candy now.

For now, though, I think the best we can do is wait and see how it all pans out. Thanks for reading!


Wow, what a nerd,

Eric

DAY TEN - A Bug's STRIFE

Starting this blog the classy way--with a pun!

Puns aside, as it is summer, it is prime time for all the bugs to get all up in my business. Some folks tend to be creeped out or scared of bugs, and I happen to be one of those folks.

Most recently, two rather large bugs (maybe the size of a nickel, and they FLEW) happened to sneak in through the back door at work. One greeted me as I was headed toward the back room, and I was... considerably perturbed. Knowing we had a flyswatter in the back, I moved past the miniature monster to the backroom, got the swatter and smacked the bug out of the air. I then proceeded to "jump" on it, as my coworker put it.

In my opinion it was more of a lunge, but yes. Later, a second bug dropped on my head and right in front of me, to which I responded with a loud profanity. Thankfully there were no customers around because I am pretty sure I still would have sworn. My coworker was fairly amused by all of it, even remarking at one point that she felt sorry for the bug(s). "God have mercy on those bugs," she said.

I've thought about why I'm so scared of bugs for awhile since then. I don't mind bugs from afar or if there's something separating me from them, like a glass window at a zoo or something (though seeing more disgusting bugs wriggling about is still kind of gross). Bug types also happen to be one of my favorite types in Pokemon, though I think that's due to the designs being cooler or cuter or what have you.

I remember several times where I crossed paths with bugs in my childhood.

One time, when I was visiting my aunt and uncle's new apartment in Chicago, when she was putting Parmesan cheese on my spaghetti several roaches popped out. Needless to say that apartment was probably not in the best of condition. (I still love both spaghetti and Parmesan though.)

Another time, while I was in the Philippines visiting with my family, I remember sleeping on the floor and seeing roaches skitter about on the floor. I don't know if you know what a roach looks like in the Philippines, but roaches here are maybe the size of a nickel or quarter. The roaches in the Philippines are maybe the size of a How Wheels car. It was awful.

Once when I was still fairly young, I was playing in my room with a fly buzzing about. I wasn't actively trying to kill it, I was just sitting on the floor playing with some figures or something. At one point, though, I guess it died or I hit on accident, because I noticed the very dead fly just sitting on my lap... and it freaked me out. I couldn't get myself to move for awhile, but eventually knocked it away.

I don't know what it was. I got the impression that kids were fascinated with bugs and liked to catch them and things like that, but me? I'm not as deathly afraid of bugs nowadays as I was then, but I think my visceral reaction to bugs is mostly due to them just coming out of nowhere and surprising me.

Insects, if you're reading this, respect my personal bubble or prepare to DIE.


Bugs buggin' me,

Eric

DAY NINE - A Small World

So I work five days a week. My scheduling manager is fond of copy-and-paste schedules, which is A-OK with me because of the stability.

Anyway, on one of those five days I work with this girl. We get along alright, as we talk every now and then. The other day was pretty much business as usual, but as we were doing our pre-closing rituals, she ducked behind register and walked to the backroom.

She told me that she thought she had seen her ex-boyfriend parking outside of the restaurant. Awhile ago she said they had broken up because he had cheated on her with some 16 year-old girl (he himself being 22), so I already knew this guy was a douchenozzle. I didn't know why she would have to duck and hide from this guy, but then she related to me a story about how, one time after the break-up, she woke up and he was sitting or lying down or whatever next to her.

Turns out she had given him a key to her place but he never gave it up post-relationship, so she got... that. Naturally my response was... being absolutely speechless. He then, according to my coworker, begged her to take him back and that he loved her and so on and so forth. I also learned from her that he was apparently this shut-in or friendless guy who stayed home most nights and that he was one of those people who "doesn't know how to be single."

Now, the same conversation that I learned about this dude in the first place stemmed from me living five to ten minutes away walking; my coworker told me she used to walk to her boyfriend's place because it was also pretty close by. So flash-forward to the other day, and I learned that this guy also went to my old high school. I asked her if she minded telling me what the guy's name was, out of a small chance that I might know who it was.

Lo and behold, I did!

When I heard the guy's name, a moment passed by and then who it was exactly hit me. The same guy who was apparently a "loser" by all accounts was, from what I remembered, a fairly popular and outgoing guy in high school.  It was... crazy, to say the least.

I guess a lot can change in four years, but geez. What a small world.


Eric

DAY EIGHT - An A-Shirt Story

Over the weekend while I was doing some last-minute shopping for Anime Midwest, I bought a three-pack of a-shirts anticipating that I would run out of undershirts for work next week. I was right and I ended up wearing one today at work.

A-shirts are those shirts without sleeves, colloquially known in the States as "wifebeaters." I was surprised when I first heard the real name, but the more I thought about it, it made more sense. Before that, though, my Filipino family referred to them as... sandos? I don't know how it's spelled, but that's what I remember it sounded like.

I mention this because as a child I wore a-shirts as undershirts frequently to school and one story that I am particularly fond of revolves around the fact.

It happened way back in elementary school. It was recess, and a bunch of kids (myself included) were outside in like a courtyard area. I'm not exactly sure what was happening, but I believe we were starting up a game or something.

Kids tend to pick on each other for perceived weird things, like having glasses or freckles or whatever; sometimes it's mean-spirited, sometimes it's in good fun. This one kid saw my undershirt's... shoulder parts? Regardless of the real name, from under a shirt it would look like straps of some sort, which is what this boy said.

"Are you wearing a bra?" he said, or something similiar, "You're wearing a bra!"

"It's not a bra!" I said, or something to that effect. I had never given these "sandos" a second thought while growing up; they just seemed normal to me. Then suddenly this dude starts making fun of it, but how did I deal with it? "They're like... jerseys, except you wear them underneath."

"Oh, okay," he said, or something like that, "Cool!" And that was the end of it.

Reading it on paper, it doesn't sound too amazing. I'm still proud of that moment, though. For a guy who regularly misses making witty remarks, it's nice to look back on that one moment of quick thinking.


A-shirts are cool,

Eric

DAY SEVEN - Currently Summer

I've never had a great handle on time.

Looking at the calendar and I can't believe we're in the middle of July already. I'm enjoying all the free time, but on the flipside, school and all that other important stuff is only a couple of months away.

Bleh.

I mean, I enjoy the fall and winter. I'm a fan of cooler/colder weather because, as it just so happens, I hate heat or at least the sweaty, totally uncomfortable heat. I just don't like the having to do things part, though who doesn't?

On the plus side, summer this year has been pretty mild. Here's hoping it doesn't jump into the 90s in October, but I get the feeling that with each passing year the temperatures for the seasons move up a little. It would certainly explain the lack of White Christmases for the better part of the last decade.  Either way, today is July 14th. Just about in the middle of July.

Time really does fly.

I think I take my time for granted, but I'm working on it.

I wrote a lot more after this part, but it got into some existential crap that I am nowhere near qualified to talk about so I scrapped it. Man... I can't believe we're in the middle of July already.


Some artsy farewell,

Eric

DAY SIX - Timing and D&D

Oh man, I was in the middle of my shift at work today when I suddenly remembered the blog. I forgot if I had published something ahead of time, and lo and behold, I did not.

Thankfully my job is super close by, literally five-to-ten minutes walk. If this would have happened when I had my old job, I would have been screeeewed. To put it lightly, that is. Or heavily.

Before I get into the content of this post, I know that only six posts into this thing and a third of my posts have been about Dungeons and Dragons, but it's generally on my mind five or six days a week due to how I made the game; essentially, an every-choice-matters sort of game where different choices lead to legitmately different paths.

Anyway, on the topic of timing, I've been thinking about D&D and how my games have been running so far. Pacing is incredibly important for anyone interested in telling a story; you take too long on one thing and you risk losing the audience. Unfortunately for me I feel like I've been doing just that these last few games.

Part of that is the uncertainty of the game's future, both in-game and out. In-game, I've given my players a general guideline--right now they're searching for a blacksmith--but how they do that I try to leave it up to them--they could either take one of two options presented, not take either, or choose an option other players discovered. Out of game, finding the time to play when college rolls around will be... difficult, to say the least.

The amount of time and effort I've put into this game, plus just my overall enjoyment of crafting a world and guiding some friends through it... honestly, this is one of the few things I look forward to doing each week. Generally.

But getting back on topic here, the last few sessions the party was split, so I had to divvy up the time for each person so that no one would feel left out or bored. The first dungeon I made was based solely on this concept; most of the players' characters hadn't even met until that one dungeon and they even came in from different entrances.

Last game, however, had the group split up looking for information on the aforementioned blacksmith. Since I try to make every choice feel meaningful and not just a slight variation on how to get from point A to point B, I plan very little outside of a general outline/checklist. This session was no different. Unfortunately, one of the things I planned on the fly was a small fight a couple of characters took part in, but the other players? Gathering information.

That's all well and good, but rolling the dice is part of the appeal to any tabletop game. I felt bad that I wasn't able to include them in any of the action, though they did manage to forward the plot. I haven't gotten any complaints yet, but I still want to improve the experience for everyone.

I also forget that despite myself thinking that what I plan ought to be just enough for three or four hours, my players are very curious; I found myself making up taverns and shops for the characters to visit. I need to keep this in mind for future games.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by. I'll try to talk about something not D&D-related for tomorrow's post.


No promises,

Eric

DAY FIVE - TOO MANY GAMES

I bought too many games. Now I have to play them all.

But seriously though, yesterday was the first day of what will be an eleven-day sale...stravaganza, I guess? I've already bought a handful of games (among them: Hotline Miami and Civilization 5) for pretty cheap, but it is also the first day... and there are a ton of games left to check out. I'm thinking of buying The Sims 3, but we shall see.

Like every other Steam...er? Steam user. Like every other Steam user though, I have to wonder, "am I really going to play all these games?" Some are pretty short, but others are crazy long. I've had a hard time in the past few years finding time to dedicate to Japanese RPGs due to their tendency to be at least 50-60 hours of gameplay.

Not that that's bad, mind you, but it's still something to consider. Nowadays I mostly live off my computer, so if a game is multiplatform I tend to jump on the PC one. I also own and play on both of the current-gen handhelds too, though I hope to go back to console gaming one day.

I think convenience is probably a bigger factor than anything. As I mentioned before, I'm pretty much on the computer every day, so being able to play games off the computer saves me precious relaxation time when compared to turning on both a console and a television.

...As I wrote that, I realize that sounds sort of lazy. But working and being on my feet five days straight a week, I'd like time to recuperate. I think that's a little reasonable, yeah? I'll eventually spring some money for a cable hub thing for my consoles so I can use my computer screen as a one-stop gaming center, but for now I'm content with my PC and handheld gaming.

Anyway, I'm off to cross some animals or something. Take care.


See y'all,

Eric

DAY FOUR - Dandy Livin'

Almost every Thursday this summer I've been running a game of Dungeons and Dragons for a group of friends. Today, hopefully, will be no different.

Today I wanted to talk about the game I'm running. I am by no means an expert in the art that is the Dungeon/Game Master, and I know I still have a long way to go, but I thought I'd share my experiences with D&D anyway.

First off, I'm running a 4th edition game, which I understand has highly divided the D&D fan base. I'm not interested in covering or going into the edition wars, but I will say that I enjoy this edition and it fits my needs pretty well; anything else I needed I've homebrewed into the game anyway, but at it's core it is still 4th. 

This is technically my second campaign, as my first came to an abrupt end due to scheduling conflicts among players and my own personal burnout on Dungeons and Dragons. Flash forward a few months later to March of this year, when I talked with my players and eventually came to the consensus of starting a game up again during the summer.

Once I had got the green-light for the second campaign, pretty much all my personal free time went into world building, plot creation and so on and so forth. My previous setting was a high-fantasy (magic!) campaign where guilds were more-or-less the backbone of civilized society and the players were set to join a benevolent and important guild; after an attack by a force of "barbarous" races (goblins and the like) hired by an unknown client, the guild's leader is kidnapped and the party sets out to find him.

That campaign was scrapped when I started up my current one. Mostly.

In terms of story, my current campaign starts off with the players all possibly opposing one another as they enter a tomb of some long-forgotten warlord. There they seek a lost, legendary weapon; one of seven that were used to seal away a great and evil entity long ago but, more importantly, were said to be able to turn the tide of battle in an instant. With my group so far, they've left this tomb and are now moving on to bigger and better things (while being placed in a party together by plot, of course). 

Otherwise, I recycled many of my NPC characters because throwing away a character with a good amount of background/history/statistics would be kinda pointless. I'm also planning to implement a few things I had planned for my previous campaign, primarily NPC recruitment and affection a la Bioware games. I really liked the way Mass Effect 2 did companions, where each one character filled a role in combat but also a role in the end game that helped the team progress through the final level, so I sought to emulate that in both my campaigns. 

Additionally, each NPC will have a different level of relationship with other players (which can also vary depending on the player's race, status etc etc), with things happening if that affection gets too low (like leaving the party) or too high (benefits, maybe a lover status or something but that might be... awkward). I'll probably also run something similar to this for alliances.

Despite all the heavy planning for gameplay elements, companions, world history and topography, the one thing I largely fail to do is instance build. What I mean by this is that, generally, whenever the party decides where to go, I usually only started planning what that place looks like and how it'll work out maybe a week or two in advance.

I do this mostly to avoid getting burned by planning things out too meticulously only for the party to go in a direction I didn't anticipate. Still, though, it would be nice to have something planned out for the next session whenever they leave a big area, but that's all part of the fun. Right now, the party is headed to a dwarven capital city located high up in the mountains and only two days ago did I finally narrow down what I wanted the city to be like... yeesh. For today's session, I've only planning out the city and maybe some underground locations, but here's hoping they don't get that far.

Anyway, I need to go prepare a little bit more. I hope this was a little interesting and I'm sorry in advance but this... is only the beginning.

May your rolls always be crits,

Eric

DAY THREE - Anime Midwest

Yesterday I mentioned that I've been going to a little convention known as Anime Central. I remember very little about how it all started, but I do know one thing: I've loved conventions ever since.

ACen has been my main go-to since I can remember, starting way back before I even had a job or a car, my friends and I commuting to the con. Since then, though, we've made sure to get a hotel room and it's overall been a blast. Most recently I attended Anime Midwest, which happened July 5th-7th, this past weekend.

Compared to Anime Central, Midwest was far and away a smaller convention. Central is, according to AnimeCons.com, the third biggest anime convention in North America, drawing in around 23,000 unique guests in 2012. Anime Midwest, in comparison, expected about 5,000 people this year, though I've heard some folks put it at about 8,000. While both this year were located at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare, Central spanned two additional hotels as well as the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, whereas Midwest existed in only the Hyatt.

Despite the large size difference, I thoroughly enjoyed Midwest. Due to its small size, the atmosphere felt a little more personal and I was able to see more variety with the cosplay.  Traversing the convention was a simpler matter, too, as the convention was limited to only several of floors. Comparatively, ACen was a lot of walking and figuring out which panel was where and so on.

If I had to knock Midwest, it would be for the insane amount of lines (as a friend pointed out, having to wait longer in line for pre-registering was ridiculous) and some poor management in areas. From what I understand, a lot of staffers quit (I presume because of the alleged rumors flying around at the time) in combination with being overwhelmed by the actual attendance. Additionally, the merchant area was incredibly small and I found myself not buying a single item. Again, though, I can't fault them for being a small convention.

Unfortunately, next year's Midwest falls on July 4th, from the 4th-6th. I'm unsure how many of my group can make it to that one, but I'm still willing to give it ago. We'll see how it turns out!



See you later space cowboy,

Eric

DAY TWO - About Me

To kick things off, let's have the always-interesting and definitely-not-disappointing "about me" post.

My name is Eric and I'm 24 years old. Boy, that's old.

I'm Filipino-American and I currently reside in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I kinda go to college; it's somewhat complicated, but that's for another time. Right now I'm thinking of majoring in business management, perhaps focusing on the retail level because of how much I enjoy working with customers directly.

In the meantime, I work somewhere between part-time and full-time at a local restaurant which is conveniently located within three blocks of my house. It's a pretty good gig in my opinion, especially when I compare it to my old job. The hours are a nice plus.

My interests are broad somewhat, but I believe I fall into the general "nerd" category.

I enjoy playing video games, ranging from consoles to handhelds to PC. I built my computer myself a couple of years ago, but an interesting fact about that: I have no idea how the hell I did it. Okay, I know how I did it, it's more so that I can't believe I did it.

I've recently started stepping into the world of tabletop gaming. Aside from classics like Monopoly, I run a custom Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition campaign for some friends of mine that I wrote. I found it kind of amusing that, despite my interests in both writing and gaming, I never really go into the tabletop RPG scene until... maybe two years ago?

On the topic of writing, I am also a very, very novice/casual writer. The stories I've read, watched and played were all special to me, and I always wanted to try and emulate them, or the good ones anyway. Writing, I think, was always my strong suit growing up and it was important to me. I used to have dreams of writing my own book(s) and, to an extent, I still do. 

I used to watch television and movies, but a combination of things have led to a decline including but not limited to: change of jobs, focus on games, D&D, lack of TV in my room. I share a Netflix account with my gal pal and I occasionally watch things there, though it's mostly things I've watched before (like Futurama or Scrubs). I am also into anime and manga, and I've regularly attended Anime Central for at least 7 years now. Some of my personal favorite series are Cowboy Bebop, Yotsubato and Love Hina.

More often than not, I'm more inclined to watch things on the internet. Currently I watch TableTop on Geek and Sundry's channel and Game Grumps. I used to be really big on YouTube shows four or so years ago; in fact, the whole reason I started this blog in '09 originally was because of the B/Vlog Everyday in April challenge Youtubers took part in.

So that brings us back to this blog. Now that you know a little bit about me, I think you've got a decent idea as to what I'll be putting up on here. More importantly, though...

Now I have an idea about that, too.


Take care,

Eric

DAY ONE - Blog Every Day In/For A Year: The Rebirth

Welcome to the first (second) post of what should be a blog every day for a year!

I won't lie to you, I'm not entirely sure what I'll be posting here. Ramblings, musings and writings maybe?

I not entirely sure this will be entertaining, either. I'm mostly doing this for myself, but if this manages to be interesting or entertaining to anyone who stumbles upon it, well... I'll be glad.

The purpose of this entry, I suppose, is to set some guidelines as well as a sort of preview of the content to come.

The rules for this challenge are fairly simple. All I have to do is blog every day for a year, though it would be an understatement to say that's way easier said than done.

In terms of content, as a personal rule, I want to avoid certain types of posts, like:

• "What I did today" posts
• Today I went to the park and we played basketball. Then we went to the mall to catch a bite to eat. Afterward we went to my buddy's house to play some video games."
• There will probably be posts where I talk about my day, but what I'm getting at here is that I don't want it to be a list of things I did with nothing more put into it
• Steam of consciousness posts
• Man this page is really bright. I can't believe I'm starting this thing up, I wonder how long it will last? Longer than JonTron's stay on GG?? Speaking of which, I wanna watch the latest episode, the new guy is alright. I should watch NSP videos, too. Oh yeah, I was watching one earlier. That top comment was funny. I remember the times I had top comment on YouTube, that was great. This post reminds me of my friend, I wonder what he's up to.
• Short posts
• I'm running out of time, can't post so... uh... hi.
• I did this on my last (failed) attempt, and I want to avoid this with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

So, in other words, I'd like to write about certain topics and go into them somewhat in-depth. 

In regards to what these topics are... that's still to be decided, but I'll try and come up with something. I may also dabble a bit into writing, as a friend of mine recently started up a writing blog wherein he writes a short story every Friday. I am certain I am leagues, leagues below his level and skill with words, so I will refrain from linking it here for now due to... my cowardice, ha. I'll link him in the future though, he's a great writer.

All that aside, I hope you enjoy your visit here. This ought to be... an experience, certainly!


Excelsior,

Eric

Greetings and Salutations

Hello there.

It's been awhile.

Somewhere down the line I seemed to have forgotten about this little project of mine. I'm not entirely sure why I started this project, nor do I remember what got me to stop (though I can certainly make educated guesses). However, I think... I think I'll start it up again.

I've yet to re-read through all of my posts for the year, but I'll try and figure something out; set some guidelines, establish rules for myself and what have you. A few things like "no three word posts" and "vary it day-to-day" come to mind. I'd also like to find a way to post on days where I'll most certainly be out of computer's reach, but I'll ponder this all out when the time comes.

I think, for now, I'll set a soft/hard deadline: July 8th.

See you then.