Howdy and salutations—

I’m not going to apologize because at this point regular content is somewhat of a pipe dream. I could shorten things and try and turn this into a more bite sized experience but honestly that seems like more work than it probably is. After what feels like knitting a quadrillion beer mittens, continually hosting D&D games and now moving all of my material virtual, I feel like I’ve been way too busy for what is now a super slow period of time. Also RE3 came out but I finished that so fast that honestly, it’s time to get back into this.

Some general updates and things to come:

• Posting another blog segment on map making, virtual focused (and specifically directed at those of us who prefer physical maps and translating that to digital services)

• Posting another blog segment about music during your games—what I’ve found that works and what doesn’t

• Posting another blog segment about running your sessions — what to actually care about and what not to

• Posting YET ANOTHER blog segment about getting friends to join; i.e what does a successful pitch look like for those who are unaware of what D&D even is

• A separate post detailing my first (mainly shelved) novel I wrote and it’s new, much trendier and cool brother that I’m in the process of planning

• Posting about my knitting projects thus far this year — there’s actually a lot, it may end up being mostly pictures lol

I’ve also been thinking about selling my maps and other campaign materials (none of it is really affiliated with any WotC stuff but I’ll check before I upload) as it’s entirely home-brew and some folks enjoy that. Who knows. I don’t have a major following anywhere so yolo right?

Other than that, I’ve been a busy bee this quarantine (not sick and no one I know is sick but still, better to be safe than sorry and also to help those who must be safe) between baking bread, knitting, catching up on TV and podcasts, etc. (Minor achievement: I listened to over 200 episodes of My Brother My Brother and Me last year while still clocking over 85k minutes of music on Spotify)

Some things I’ve been enjoying this year (and in last year but extra enjoying now that I have endless time to myself) have been:

• Happy City by Charles Montgomery

  • Can urban design really make people happier? Can one really learn things along the way that lead to generally happier people? Signs point to yes!

• Dungeons & Daddies (not a BDSM podcast)

  • I thought the Adventure Zone was peak comedy but holy cow, these dads have got it in spades. Plus Anthony is an amazing DM. The first episode alone gets almost everyone hooked

• Relearning how to use my Apple Pencil

  • I will probably post some pictures at some point once I make something worth showing

• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, read by Scott Brick

  • I’ve downloaded Libby this year and I’m trying to get through more books on my list via audio books. So far, loving it!! Scott does a great job bringing the people and setting to life.

• Études no.2, Phillip Glass, Reworked for Orchestra by Christian Badzura

  • I don’t normally listen past the morning show on WQXR but the one time I did, I pulled out an absolute gem, Mr. Badzura really changed this piece into something spectacular, beautifully played by Siggi String Quartet with Víkingur Ólafsson

• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

  • Worth every penny. The second people get the hang of this game, it gets buck wild and everyone can enjoy it, young and old, sober or drunk.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I will hope to get the next blog post up after this weekend as I have D&D tonight (VIRTUAL!) and then nothing scheduled for the indeterminate future. Maybe I’ll replay Ocarina of Time.

Toodles.

<3,

Steph