Weather Update:

Okay, so it’s not actually a weather update so much as a Sloth update. But weather just sounds more fun, plus it reminds me of Bill Wurtz’s History of the Entire World I Guess.

Some news about me:

  • I finished knitting one sock and started another vs finishing the second sock

  • I realized my pen pals are having a BABY and therefore need to speed knit a baby blanket to send to them

  • This is the second time I am speed knitting a baby blanket

  • After the first time, I said never again…

  • I had another virtual D&D session and it went BEAUTIFULLY—more on that soon, I promise

  • I woke up in a fugue state this morning and crafted a loosely based off of Monster of the Week and Dungeons and Daddies “Monsters and Mommies” game after talking to one of my players who also loves D-A-D and came up with some beautiful Mom Archetypes and plot lines that will become a side one shot for the party

  • (me, telling my collaborateur about my creative method: “they come to me in my dreams like a prophet receiving visions from an angry god“)

  • I will be posting the full fun module(s) when I finish creating it, depending on when that is

  • Work on the other modules (two sessions and a campaign bible) is mostly finished, now I just have to collect it together and find a place to post and/or list it.

  • I’m thinking maybe Etsy?? Another service???

  • Much to think on—if anyone has suggestions let me know

In unrelated fun news, here’s what I’m reading:

  • Finished! - Range - David Epstein (why generalists succeed where specialists fail)

  • In Progress - The Monster of the Week manual, for research purposes

  • In Progress - Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need - Blake Snyder

  • Just Started - Because Internet - Gretchen McCulloch (Linguistics book on the internet)

  • On Deck: Patton: A Genius for War and the Silent Patient (and about 50 more books….)

Other than that, it’s been a fairly productive week for me! I’m almost nearly done with one of my courses from a previous post and getting a lot of stuff on paper, which is always helpful for me. Should have a better post next week as this weekend is a three day weekend!

Toodles,

Steph <3

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Nothing special to add today, more just a follow up of my post last week.

Virtual D&D night was a huge success! While I, and my group, much prefer getting together in person (and it’s far easier to control the flow in person), this is a great option since we can’t do that. It’s also giving me the opportunity to use some of what I’m learning in the online classes I’m taking to help shore up our online system and workflow. My goal is to really streamline the process and make sure feedback and metrics are gathered. I’m hoping to get one, maybe two, additional posts about codifying and improving this process so keep an eye out for those when I finish writing them.

And for those wondering:

Online Classes I am taking during this time:

  • The Science of Well-Being, through Yale via Coursea

  • Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics, through Leiden University via Coursea

  • Teaching Online Classes via General Assembly

I know it’s not much but it’s helpful to keep things interesting when I could be just sitting here spending the majority of my time rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the 5th time (and trust me, if it wouldn’t rot my brain I would). Plus I’ve always wanted to learn more about Linguistics, as its the basis for so many things including programming languages. Initially I was just going to dive in and buy Syntactic Structures from a local bookstore but then I thought hey, why not learn from some educators first? I’ve got the time.

I’ve also started gathering all of my pictures and notes on virtual map making, so I expect to have that post up by the end of the week, quarantine schedule willing. I did just get enough yarn to make a sweater and I’m nearly done with a cowl so we’ll see which of the three wins this duel for my attention.

In the meantime, did you know that there’s a man out there who’s just doing things in a primitive fashion in the woods of his backyard and filming it? Easily the most soothing videos on youtube tbh.

That said, I will stick to my classical and film scores playlist to get my relaxation on.

ttyl y’all.

<3,

Steph