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As promised, a big update!
So what's new?
Work: I still can't tell y'all what I'm working on, since the product announcement has been pushed back again. Software is late, slow, hard, and crucial; hardware is mostly done, but as new software appears, occasional new bugs are revealed in the hardware, which is stressful: even though software is late, we probably don't have time for another full spin of the hardware, and we really don't want the extra expense. In many ways, the product is My Baby at this point, although my grasp of the software, especially the higher-level stuff, is a bit dicey. It's very cool in some ways, but the details that need taking care of are uncountable.
Social: December is shaping up to be a socially active month. S. will be away for a week plus in there, my parents will be away at Christmastime, and I'm taking a sabbatical from aikido, so I'll have quite a bit of time available; if you're interested in getting together, let me know!
Games: Yesterday's games went well, and had an unprecedented event: there was at most one each of Mike, Dave, and Chris, but two Donnas. 5 of us (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dagibbs, iclysdale, donnav, J.M. and I) played Notre Dame (dagibbs edged out donnav for the win) while S. and Donna B. played Scrabble (Donna won), then I took over from S. and played a couple more games of Scrabble with Donna B. (Donna won the first, I won the second) while S. went to bed and the other 4 played Santa Fe Rails (iclysdale won, I think). I really want to get a game of Long Live the King together sometime early in the new year; dagibbs made some sounds which gave me some hope that he might be willing to host it, since it needs a profusion of rooms, being a live-action strategy game with lots of intrigue. Please?
Music: I keep coming back to this DJ thing, and wanting to do it; the big obstacles are a) time to do the necessary preparatory work, and b) promotion. Turns out, people want a DJ just fine, until money comes into the picture. Sadly, music, equipment and licensing don't come cheap, and while I don't need to make a living on spinning (see "Work" section above), I would like my expenses to be at least partially covered. Frankly, I also like the respect of having the value of what I do recognized: I put my money in the jar when I go to a reading or a show or whatever because it's worth what I'm paying, and refusing to pay would be equivalent to saying that their art isn't worth anything to me. Amount matters a lot less than intent in this: for students, giving up a few bucks can be a big deal, where dropping 20 or 50 can be trivial for someone with a substantial, steady income.
Thesis: Well, it had to get mentioned sometime. I have equipment arriving Real Soon Now(tm), and I even have my supervisor's word that he'll reimburse me for the $1500 I've spent on stuff; now I just have to get invoices etc. together and send them in for claim! Once the equipment arrives, of course, I won't have any excuse for not working on it...
Miscellaneous: Recent events, discussions, and communication snafus have caused me to start rethinking about the separation I maintain between my public "work" identity and my personal interests. (Yes, this is vague: it's an LJ post being written at work, and therefore is somewhat public, q.v.!) It rather upsets me that I believe I need to retain that separation, and I think it's limited a few relationships. People may be reluctant to ask, even privately, about things I don't volunteer information about; I'm wondering whether I should take the risks inherent in being more proactive.
Well, there you have it: an update. I can now die happy and fulfilled. Or get back to work; same thing, kinda.
ETA: And, of course, the discussion in comments is all about setting up a Long Live the King game, about which I asked some weeks ago and got no reply! Wisely has it been said that there is no knowing what answer will come out of the mists of LJland.
So what's new?
Work: I still can't tell y'all what I'm working on, since the product announcement has been pushed back again. Software is late, slow, hard, and crucial; hardware is mostly done, but as new software appears, occasional new bugs are revealed in the hardware, which is stressful: even though software is late, we probably don't have time for another full spin of the hardware, and we really don't want the extra expense. In many ways, the product is My Baby at this point, although my grasp of the software, especially the higher-level stuff, is a bit dicey. It's very cool in some ways, but the details that need taking care of are uncountable.
Social: December is shaping up to be a socially active month. S. will be away for a week plus in there, my parents will be away at Christmastime, and I'm taking a sabbatical from aikido, so I'll have quite a bit of time available; if you're interested in getting together, let me know!
Games: Yesterday's games went well, and had an unprecedented event: there was at most one each of Mike, Dave, and Chris, but two Donnas. 5 of us (
dagibbs, iclysdale, donnav, J.M. and I) played Notre Dame (dagibbs edged out donnav for the win) while S. and Donna B. played Scrabble (Donna won), then I took over from S. and played a couple more games of Scrabble with Donna B. (Donna won the first, I won the second) while S. went to bed and the other 4 played Santa Fe Rails (iclysdale won, I think). I really want to get a game of Long Live the King together sometime early in the new year; dagibbs made some sounds which gave me some hope that he might be willing to host it, since it needs a profusion of rooms, being a live-action strategy game with lots of intrigue. Please?Music: I keep coming back to this DJ thing, and wanting to do it; the big obstacles are a) time to do the necessary preparatory work, and b) promotion. Turns out, people want a DJ just fine, until money comes into the picture. Sadly, music, equipment and licensing don't come cheap, and while I don't need to make a living on spinning (see "Work" section above), I would like my expenses to be at least partially covered. Frankly, I also like the respect of having the value of what I do recognized: I put my money in the jar when I go to a reading or a show or whatever because it's worth what I'm paying, and refusing to pay would be equivalent to saying that their art isn't worth anything to me. Amount matters a lot less than intent in this: for students, giving up a few bucks can be a big deal, where dropping 20 or 50 can be trivial for someone with a substantial, steady income.
Thesis: Well, it had to get mentioned sometime. I have equipment arriving Real Soon Now(tm), and I even have my supervisor's word that he'll reimburse me for the $1500 I've spent on stuff; now I just have to get invoices etc. together and send them in for claim! Once the equipment arrives, of course, I won't have any excuse for not working on it...
Miscellaneous: Recent events, discussions, and communication snafus have caused me to start rethinking about the separation I maintain between my public "work" identity and my personal interests. (Yes, this is vague: it's an LJ post being written at work, and therefore is somewhat public, q.v.!) It rather upsets me that I believe I need to retain that separation, and I think it's limited a few relationships. People may be reluctant to ask, even privately, about things I don't volunteer information about; I'm wondering whether I should take the risks inherent in being more proactive.
Well, there you have it: an update. I can now die happy and fulfilled. Or get back to work; same thing, kinda.
ETA: And, of course, the discussion in comments is all about setting up a Long Live the King game, about which I asked some weeks ago and got no reply! Wisely has it been said that there is no knowing what answer will come out of the mists of LJland.
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It sounds like it would be interesting. We would have to have exactly the correct (8) number of players, though. I'm wondering if I actually have enough discrete, with shutable doors, areas for this. And where would the dungeon be? I really don't want to stick anyone in my actual basement.
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LLK logistics
Space: Doors don't have to be shuttable; what players overhear, they overhear.
Dungeon: Your basement is too cold for the purpose? Is there an upstairs room that can be used as a Bastille?
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Re: LLK logistics
The 3rd floor could be used, though.
If not needing shuttable doors, then could be made to work.
One assistant to the king could be helpful, yes.
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Re: LLK logistics
3rd floor?
BTW, do you want to king it, or shall I? I was planning on doing so, but if you're the host, I'm fine either way.
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Re: LLK logistics
My house has a 3rd floor -- essentially finished attic space. Only one stair up to it, which goes up from close to the landing of the front stairwell. People talking to prisoners would have to "shout up" from the bottom of the stairs, giving that "public" nature to such discussions.
Hm... King David... sounds familiar somehow. :)
I don't know who would be King, could be either one of us. (I've read through the rules WW published online. The record keeping doesn't sound too hard.)
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Re: LLK logistics
The word around BGG suggests that tracking the various things like status cards, favor, allowance, intrigue card effects etc. can get painful; that may be group-dependent, though.
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LLK logistics cont'd.
The rules are not well-organized, either, so it will be important for the King to be free to referee the game and make rulings as things come up, possibly with reference to the online fora (WW, BGG).
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
I think I've got Excel on there, definitely a couple of web browsers.
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
I haven't GMed something in years, so I'm really tempted.
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
I once tookover
It was fun though.
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
Huzzah for non-smoky bars, at least!
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Re: LLK logistics cont'd.
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I don't know the specifics of Long Live the King but it sounds interesting, assuming the game got scheduled when I was available I would be interested.
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Yes it does sound like fun.
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2) Must get together some time, if i ever actually have time in the frightful month of December.
3) Music; have you heard of Re-vamp? It is being run by dolston from lj and is hiring (and paying) dj's for sunday nights. It is mostly the DarkOttawa crowd, but they are good people.
4) Thesis sounds useful and eventually you will be done. :)
5) I maintain a similar level of separation between different aspects of my life and i do understand. While you might be right on the reluctance, i have a hard time giving coherent advice.
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2) Yep; A. hopes to have a bit more schedule room in a couple of weeks.
3) Nope, hadn't heard of it; what's the venue and flavor?
4) One way or another, dammit!
5) Just so long as we're not reduced to playing truth or dare!
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The venue is Cafe Decuf, with the flavour that of the local darkottawa scene. Zaphods on tuesday nights, but more diverse in terms of music in general. Might not be your thing, but if it piques your interest i could almost certainly get you a gig.
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What time does work end?
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Work would be ending 5.30-6pm most likely which will make it easy enough to attend.
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*ponders*
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Hrm. Moving further away from the Market, I'm actually rather fond of Connor's on Bank. And people could stop by at our place afterwards if reapplication/adjustment of clubwear was necessary before hitting Re-Vamp.
(I'd suggest pho, but I understand
From:
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Also, had Bad Experience(tm) with E&C.
Do you recall the name of the Indian place?
Places in the vicinity that I know, and that aren't really expensive: Shafali (Indian), Zaks Diner, Royal Thai, Tuckers Marketplace (buffet); there are doubtless others, including some (non-pho-dominated) Vietnamese places whose names escape me.
Btw, since you're in the know, what's da dress code/flavor at Re-Vamp?
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(With optional red highlights, red straps, red buttons, red boning, or red tulle.)
Nope, don't recall the name of the Indian place, sorry.
If Connor's isn't an option, I'd prefer Zak's, and not Shafali's. (Can't find menus for Royal Thai or Tucker's.)
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We could meet somewhere and check out R.T.'s and/or T.'s menus the night of, with Zak's as a backup plan, or jump straight to Zak's; preferences?
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2) S.'s plans are already locked down by plane tickets: she's gone during the earlier part of the month, so I'm going to be looking to fill more time with social stuff then (it's an extravert thing)!
3) I will say that I thought of you when setting up this LLK thing... do ping
4) I don't need even that much if it's a gig I like and it's not a cash cow operation that the organizer is soaking me on.
5) Yay decent tools! My stuff will arrive shortly before Christmas, it seems.
6) I think I mostly understand what you're getting at. This is becoming a difficult conversation to have online though ;)
We'll have to talk more 'bout that sub rosa!
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Have I met
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He vaguely remembers meeting you that night as well.
He lives out in Kanata, in case that makes any difference in the decision making.
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Kanata would be much easier on a weeknight (i.e., when I'm already out there); I think I'll pass on tomorrow, because I'm going for dinner with my folks in Orleans.