Monthly Review, March 2024

Homestead

I’m getting a fair bit of woodworking done—built a bunch of raised beds and planters for folks, got my outdoor workbench all sorted out (although I don’t know how viable that’s going to be come summer), and started work on a cedar chest for a friend.

I’m really falling down on the gardening itself, though—the front beds are probably ready for planting, and I’ve got a bunch of stuff in containers (mostly old basil and peppers), but I haven’t had the wherewithal to get much new stuff planted. Part of the problem is not really having a plan, but, yeah. Been doing a bunch of cleaning up and whatnot outside, too—not sure how much of a dent I’m putting in things, or how much it matters, but there you go.

Health

Allergies suuuuuuck. Been feeling pretty run-down, and although I feel like I’m mostly on track to be eating better, that’s a struggle, too. Still getting at least half an hour of some kind of exercise every day, though, whether it’s going for a walk or shooting guys in VR. Easter doesn’t help.

Sleep has been pretty rough, too. I want to blame it on my lack of a work schedule, but we all know that wouldn’t change anything. Oh yeah, and I did a few sessions at betterhelp, but… yeah, it’s not great.

Games

• We’re starting to finish up our year-plus long megagame of Beam Saber—we’ve got one more big mission to go!
• Also finished up our quarterly (12 sessions) of Court of Blades—lots of stuff going on in that game.
• Played one session of Masks of the Masks—the Watchmen-inspired supers version of Pasión de las Pasiones. The others were cancelled, so I still want to get some more of that in to get a feel for how the system works.
• We’re also counting down to the last couple of sessions of The Mecha Hack. It’s been a hoot, and I’m really curious to see how it wraps up.
• Still cruising along with our “Thursday” night Slugblaster games, although that feels like it’s coming in for a landing, too.
• Getting some regular Mothership in with the 5 Million Worlds crew, which is surprisingly nice and chill for a super tense space horror game.
• Speaking of space horror, I’m playing in a game of Trophy Gold that my friend Mads is running (with Amanda, B Narr, and John) and it *rules*. I’m super lucky to play a lot of really great games with great folks, and this one is super top tier.

I also wrote a short game for the One Shot Podcast Network—“Monoculture”, about guerilla gardeners trying to grow illegal food in a dytsopian megacity block tower. It’s really neat, and I look forward to folks getting a look at it!

Oh, and I’m going to be tabling at Staple! next month, so I finally got 24 Game Poems updated and made a new print order, which should come in soon, so that’ll be there along with Grackle Teeth and The Empire Never Ended.

In video games, I put a lot of hours into Vampire Survivors, and finally got all the achievements and whatnot, so I think I’m done with that for a bit. And, of course, a lot of Pistol Whip and Walkabout Golf in VR, as usual.

Media

• Saw Drive Away Dolls at the drafthouse, which was great.
• Watched the most recent Hunger Games prequel and Upgrade on the airplane, and Upgrade is still good.
• Been watching mostly cartoons—Delicious in Dungeon, season 2 of Invincible, and the new X-Men 97 show.
• Watched the 2012 Dredd movie for dramaturgy purposes, still slaps.
• Went to see Trouble Puppet’s new Radium Girls play at the Vortex. yep.

Work

Still unemployed. Trying to drum up some side gigs, but it’s rough out there.

I *finally* got through to the unemployment folks to get my account in order after being on hold for like three months, so now it’s just going to be a little bit more bureaucratic rigamarole to get everything sorted out, and I should be able to get a bit of that soon, hopefully.

Other Stuff

Nic finished their defense and got their PhD!

Nic and I flew out to South Carolina for their sister’s wedding, which was fine. We drove around a bunch, went up to Winston-Salem to visit their folks and tootle around their grandpa’s property/farm, which had all sorts of cool old buildings and whatnot in the woods. (And ticks!)

(Did I mention that Nic and I got married in January? We did!)

Later in the month, we took an overnight road trip to Rockville to go on a little birdwatching boat tour to see the whooping cranes before they took off for the season. We only caught a couple of them, but saw a ton of other cool birds, and some dolphins!

Pai’s been driving to school, and they’re doing great. Should be getting a proper license next month!

I did an interview with Keith from the Third Floor Wars podcast, which was super fun, and should be coming out soon!

I found scrap wood heaven from a craigtlist ad, so I think I’m set for pallets for a while.

Plans

I’m trying to get in touch with folks and maybe have lunch or something before we take off in the fall, but it’s hard.

Getting ready for Staple!, and scheduling more games, now that a bunch are wrapping up now.

I dunno, just keepin’ on doing stuff?