Today has always been a tough day for me. Even after 35 years the pain of my Dad’s death has not eased.
The proverb “time heals all wounds” on this anniversary seems so hollow.
Dad’s passing has always meant September has never been a month where emotional I’m in a good spot.
But the pain is now doubled with Nan leaving us just eight days later.
It truly feels like September is the month my heart and soul shows how broken they are.
The only signs to the outside world is I may become more reclusive and avoid the outside world. Which might mean I cancel plans at the last minute and piss off friends. But that is unavoidable. It’s hard to give the true reason. I’m one of those irrational folks that will gladly help anyone in anyway I can, but not be able to ask for help when I need it. Sometimes that mask slips. I’m sure I’m not as good at hiding it as I think.
I miss them both dearly.
But I remember the good times and their love. May they both be in peace wherever they are.
Well for two or three days I have been. And didn’t think you wanted more posts on my current fixation.
The plan was for September to get off to an epic start of gaming after the disappointing amount that took place in August.
However best laid plans etc meant that this start to the month has been a damp squib.
For instance today was meant to be Twilight Imperium 4 again. And it would have been if British Gas had come to upgrade mums meters at the time they told her (8am).
In my defence my mum organised this without checking with me first.
However as the morning went on and no sign of a British Gas engineer I had to make a call about if the game went ahead.
The guy didn’t turn up until after midday. Apparently they didn’t know they had to come to mums until they thought they had finished their last job for the day and got told they had mum to do.
This is what a disappointing month of gaming looks like
So with no Internet, and having dog sitting duties whilst the engineer was next door I tried getting mums dog Ebony to settle. But she just wouldn’t. She’s an old dog who doesn’t handle changes to routine that well. Which meant it was nigh impossible to watch any dvd. But I tried a couple episodes of Blake’s 7.
So no gaming but at least mum has a new smart meter for her gas and electric.
I’m hoping Tuesday still happens and I can draft Dice Masters with Dave, and finally get the gaming off to a start for the month.
On the arm front the arm is starting to get sore again. But not nearly as bad as before. So I’m still popping the pills to control things to allow me the use of the arm and to try and rest it as much as possible.
Some gaming stuff did happen in the last week such as…
I had been putting off getting the recent Rolling Realms promo packs when they were released due to cash flow issues at the time.
But now I have them and they are added to the Rolling Realms box. Which now is so full you couldn’t fit another card in it. Well not with out a bit of knife work on the insert.
I did finally manage to get the custom Dice Masters playmat image that I purchased shared with Patriot Games for printing. It was too large to upload via their website. So hopefully that arrives soon. Just hope Gav is able to find the playmat I originally had now. I know the dice bag I ordered off etzy has been posted. So with a fair wind it will be here by Tuesday.
Other arrivals in the week were two Dark Phoenix draft packs. Can’t wait to draft these. The temptation to crack them open has been huge. I want to know if I have the current meta defining Master Mold Endless Sentinels in one of them. So far I’ve been good and resisted.
Wow did I just sneak in Dice Masters to this post? Oops. Bait and switch.
Thanks for reading this far and catch you in the next post.
After a weekend of resting the arm, popping pills (only the prescribed medication btw and in the correct dosages and intervals), the arm is currently pain free!
Not only that today I was able to raise the arm high enough to be able to put on a tee.
Until now I was unable to raise my arm high enough (without hurting) to put a tee on.
So I’m a bit chuffed with this progress.
Sadly I had to sacrifice my gaming plans for the weekend to be able to rest the arm and give the medication time to work.
Fenland Gamers Club Night Last Friday aka the one I couldn’t attend. Photo copyright Jonathan Warren
Which meant I missed a really well attended Fenland Gamers club night on the Friday evening. I think going by the photo there were 15 or 16 that turned up, with about 3 new to group folks giving us a try.
Obviously the banter went it was only so well attended because I wasn’t there! “Again, right in the ears, straight to the feelings.” Wil Wheaton Big Bang Theory
The arm also meant I had to cancel our planned D&D session on Saturday afternoon. This Summer so far has not been good for the running of D&D.
No impromptu gaming session Sunday afternoon.
There are plans to play Three Sisters tomorrow evening. Obviously having just introduced Dave to the roll and write genre with the Trek 12: Himalayas entry level roll and write. The next logic step is to throw him totally into the deep end with the sharks (Charlene, Ben, and myself) and play this combotastic, not even remotely entry level or mid level roll and write.
I am hoping the medication and the arm hold out so that I am able to attend the annual Jeff’s all day birthday gaming day next weekend. I believe it is once more going to be Memoir 44 with an overlord map. But more importantly is the home made curry Jeff makes. His curries are rather good.
Even with these plans in place I think my gaming stats will be down for the month. I played way less than I could at Nathan’s because of the arm. It’s cost me a weekend of gaming. How could the numbers not be down?
I’m just happy the alarm is not a major source of pain at the moment. The rest will be what it is. See you in the next post.
Monday I caved and tried booking an appointment with my doctor. However there were none and was told to login at 8am the next morning and fill in the form to get one (hopefully) for Tuesday.
I did phone the minor injuries department at the North Cambs hospital who do walk ins. However they told me because I had no history of this sort of thing they would most likely just refer me to my doctor! So there was little point struggling to get to them for relief from the pain.
Tuesday morning I did indeed fill in the form that my surgery requires to be done first before getting an appointment, pressed submit and started the wait.
Nearly three hours later I had a text back saying they had sent a prescription to my regular pharmacy. Which surprised me as I hadn’t had a prescription for years and didn’t know I had a “regular” pharmacy. Plus they were referring me to physio.
Within minutes I had a call to arrange an appointment with physio. That will be happening on the 22nd of the month. I also asked them where they thought my “regular” pharmacy was, as I had no idea. When they told me it was ASDA it made sense, its where I pick mums stuff up from.
In the meantime I had my brother pick up my prescription that only had two of the three items I had been prescribed.
But still £28 was a bit of a shock. Tells you when I last paid for a prescription. Plus I had only been expecting one item.
So yesterday saw me having to pick up the missing medication from the pharmacy and after a day it seems to have started making a difference. The arm is less painful with a little bit more movement. But not much.
Hopefully it keeps it this way or better until the 22nd.
It’s been one of those weeks where nothing much gaming wise has happened. Hence the blog silence.
Preparations for Nans memorial next week are in full swing. As you can imagine things are a getting a bit emotional for me.
My iron clad edition of Scythe Expeditions arrived yesterday. The production quality is amazing, as usual for a Stonemaier game. And OMG those large metal mechs are gorgeous.
Luckily I don’t have too long to wait before it hits the table with tonight being club night.
So look for initial thoughts on the game over the weekend.
I was going to write a post in response to a recent YouTube video by Jamey Stegmaier and one or two others called Tabletop Publishers, Content Creators, and Audiences: The Inside Scoop.
However this heat wave is sucking my will to live, and I can’t be bothered to share my very cheap opinions about the issues raised.
Besides I’m not a content creator in the board gaming space. Or not by any definition that most people would use.
What we have in this little corner of the internet is a personal diary where I talk about what gaming I get up to. I don’t review stuff. I share my opinions on the games I play.
If this blog is read by more than a handful of people I’d be shocked. I’d bet good money that most of those that read my posts are friends and family.
Why do I write it?
It’s for me. And maybe one day for Nathan. That’s why some of the posts recently have had a more personal “back when I was a lad” bit to them. It’s my “gift” to him. Hopefully it will help him feel closer to me if he ever decides to read my badly written words.
So no I’m not trying to make a living from this. I’m not trying to get free games (god I’d hate that pressure), and I’m definitely not trying to make a name for myself.
I’m just creating memories that one day will help my son.
It’s been a busy and tiring week at work. Which has left me too tired to try and arrange any midweek gaming.
My attempt to get some gaming in last night failed. No one was free or interested in playing some roll and writes. And I had to turn down an invite to learn Marrakesh as it would have meant finishing too late.
So it looks like June is on course for being a slow month of gaming, and I don’t have a car issue as an excuse this time.
Work wise I’ve stepped up the job search as the clock counts down to the end of my temp contract. Apparently there is a full time contract, they are timetabling as if I’m there next year. However I’ve not seen anything yet to sign.
At the start of the week the latest promo packs and solo mode for Rolling Realms arrived. It’s getting to the point now that an alternate storage solution needs to be found for the game. I think with the Encounters promo pack that comes out at the same time as when the game does that’s it. The limit for everything in the original game box has been reached.
So yesterday out of the blue my pre-order of Tome of Beasts 3 by Kobold Press arrived.
I am a big fan of the Kobold press pocket editions of their books. I love the format. It’s so handy. Goes nicely in a bag to read on public transport or in bed. I just love it compared to the larger books like the Monster Manual.
I currently have two other of their creature books, Tome of Beasts 2, and Creature Codex. With the updated Tome of Beasts pre-ordered (out next month if memory doesn’t fail me).
For me I actually prefer these Kobold Press offerings to the official WotC equivalents. They feel fresh and fire the imagination more. The art is amazing. Which helps fire that imagination.
There is also the benefit that unless your players also have purchased the books that they are unlikely to have come across the creatures in them. So when they encounter one it’s a surprise and refreshing to them also.
I’m looking forward to flicking through the pages of this latest volume and seeing what grabs me.
It’s been a couple of days since I last posted, and I know how folks hope that the drivel has finally stopped if I haven’t posted for a day or two. And I so like to disappoint.
Even with a bank holiday on Monday, and turning 55 last Sunday. This shorter week has felt so long. Which I think is due to how hectic it is at work at the moment.
But gaming has been happening. Well last night it did with a second session of the Shadowdark rpg. But there will be a post mortem post about that in a day or so.
The cards needed for the Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage combo deck have started to arrive. There were three envelopes waiting for me when I got home yesterday. With more on the way.
This deck is a different build to the one I had a few years back now. That was fun to play. So I’m expecting this to be just as fun.
I like experimenting with different deck archetypes, and I definitely have my favourites. But the experimentation does help in becoming a better MtG player. Even at a casual level. It allows you to assess the opponents deck, make inferences about possible cards, or type of card, and allow you to adjust your tactics based on that information.
For example if I was up against an elf deck or something that has splashed green, I would do my damn best to disrupt that early ramp from those Llanowar elves.
Those two new poison decks from Card Kingdom have given me the urge to revisit my Atraxa Commander deck and look at what new cards I should be considering to add to it. Although playing Atraxa as a Commander does put a pretty big target on the back.
Tuesday I got an email from Chaos Cards saying that they had the A Game of Thrones Mother of Dragons playmat back in stock. Something I had given up hope of ever owning.
Until that email landed in my inbox the price of the playmat was easily over double retail plus a hefty shipping cost on top. Assuming there was one for sale.
So I didn’t even hesitate in clicking the link and ordering one. Nothing like getting something you really wanted for slightly less than rrp and with free postage.
The playmat should be with me next week. With hopefully enough people willing to play the following Saturday.
So that’s my game related stuff this week during a very very hectic week.
A week is a long time in something or other. Especially when this blog appear to go all silent.
It’s been busy at work. A different kinda busy being in education again.
Yesterday was a great day because I got to do game coding with the students. But we aren’t here for that sort of chat.
There have been a couple of new arrivals in the week.
At the start of the week another copy of the 2004 edition of Doom the board game arrived that also had the expansion with it. I had to buy it like this as the was no way the seller would have separated the expansion out.
Midweek I decided for some reason that I’d get the War of the Ring card game to play with Nathan. There is no way Nathan has a table large enough to play the War of the Ring board game. He likes the Lord of the Ring movies. So War of the Ring the card game arrived Thursday. I can’t wait to play the game with Nathan at the start of the Easter holidays.
I’m not going to write now about last nights gaming. That can wait until I do a weekend gaming post. However I did do a bit of board gaming business last night.
Marcin had been after a copy of Outlive so we came to a deal last night that saw the game leave my collection and join his. In return on Sunday my collection gets a copy of Conan the board game.
In conclusion I’m still alive! And leading a pretty boring, mundane life. See you in the next post, I’ve got a D&D session to plan for.
As I’m working on the next part of my Doom epic for this weekend I thought I’d just ramble on about stuff.
I’m getting the board game side of the Doom project in place so that I can get it to the table. Which naturally will then feed into the posts.
I’m not sure what folks think of the Doom posts they are a bit out there for this blog.
The latest Tapestry expansion and folded space insert have dropped through the letter box. So I have an excuse to get that back to the table but before I do I have an insert to build.
A few Marvel Champions also arrived. Which means I have all the big expansions now along with a few more heroes. But I’ll talk about that once I’ve finished organising the cards I already have. Which I’m in the progress of doing.
A lot of card sleeves are on their way so I can sleeve the Doom games when they arrive and the just arrived Tapestry expansion.
I’ve got the expansion for Deep Sea Adventure (Charlene got me a copy while at Airecon). Well I will have once I see Charlene. I owe her one Hostage Negotiator play mat too.
