character saturday: hot boy sorcerer

Welcome to Hot Boy Saturday. There really isn't a lot to this one. I'd seen somebody do the striped pants online and wanted to try it for myself. And it just turned into generic hot DnD boy. I also think that "entertainer" often ends up being my generic "hot boy background". I think this one is a juggler.

Also, have I mentioned that I really need to play another sorcerer.

I also didn't completely plan the more muted colour palette. But I do love it. And I feel like I've really gotten my eye in when it comes to making leather look good in Hero Forge.

Anyway...

Thursday Night DnD was... interesting. We met the new character who is taking over from the character we lost. I'm not a fan. I very much know that I wasn't supposed to be. The player in question and I often have some sort of relationship between our characters. We've never done "antagonistic", and that was very much what the dead character and my character had.

So I know that certain elements of this new character have been crafted to annoy my character. And that's fine. It needs to be throttled back a little, but we'll get there.

Also, we're still some time away from starting the published adventure, because DM Fluffy does insist on dangling plot hooks in front of us.

Friday was... many things.

To start off with, it was very hot. So fuck that in general. But it was also Chiro Day. And afterwards I decided to wander around the library in town, just because libraries are very much going to define my 2023. Also the fact that we're barely at the end of January and I've already read 9 books this year.

For the record, I finished 1 book in January 2016, 7 books in 2017, 2 books in 2018, 2 in 2019, 3 in 2020, 4 in 2021 and none in 2022. So... there's that.

Then we had Friday Night Not DnD. As a breather between my campaign and the one Mrs is going to run, we're playing HeroQuest, with Mr as the GM. It's not bad. I chose to play the Elf, who has a mix of magic and fighting. It's also weird. There are four characters you can play as... the Barbarian, the Wizard, the Elf and the Dwarf. So, much like early DnD, you're either a class or you're just your race.

So I'm the elf. Also the one female character, which didn't make as much of an impact as the fact the Elf has a little magic. But also because the Elf has no defined "class", my head cannon is that the Elf is a Thief. Which was partially helped by the fact that I ended up with the most gold.

Because it was a first game and we were learning what we were doing, it took a little longer than it might do once we really get used to it, but there was also a Small Child Interruption at about 11:30, so it was after 12:30 by the time we wrapped up and left. Which meant that it was almost 2am by the time I got home.

And I came home to find a giant fucking cockroach chilling on the wall over the kitchen window. So that led to a much longer cat and mouse... or perhaps cat and cockroach game, where I sprayed it with bug spray but then it disappeared behind shelves and I had to move things to try and find it and once I'd lost it there was no fucking way I was going to bed until I laid eyes on a corpse. And then I broke a glass bottle and had to also sweep that up. But finally I saw the little fucker trying to make a break for the door and I murderised it.

But getting home and dealing with that at 2am is much better than if I'd gotten home earlier and woken up at 3am to find a cockroach in bed with me. Urgh [shudder]. Gross.

Today the weather was all kinds of humid and yuck. And of course, as I say that it's started to rain.

So we did the supermarket and then came back here, and that was that really.

Current mood:

character saturday: elf mama

Well... something different (kinda) for DnD Character Colouring Book this week.

And that something also marks the end of me running the Friday Night DnD campaign for the last 260 days.

More on that in a second. But this is Meldis. And this is what happens when one of your players gives you the gift of a mother who left and an abusive father and you still manage to turn it around to give that character a happy ending.

There's also a fair amount of Photoshop fuckery in the skirt (by which I mean the entire skirt is fuckery)... the Hero Forge version doesn't actually have any pants.

 But I also had been sitting on this idea for the longest time. Just waiting for the reveal. And, as previously reported, it went off even better than I expected.

Good times.

Anyway...

This whole library thing continues to be great. It's interesting though, that left to my own devices I've been gravitating to books that have been written in languages other than English and then translated. I picked up two the last time I was at the library and another two this time.

I also am very much enjoying doing that thing I used to do and wandering the shelves, picking up books that look interesting to me on a whim. That doesn't mean I don't also have a giant list of "to borrow" books, but I'm digging the randomness of trying out new stories, things that I would never have bought, but will happily read.

I hit up both nearby libraries this week, in order to take back my previous books and grab new ones.

Thursday night DnD we kind of got our groove back a little, and are slightly closer to actually starting the written adventure... LOL. I mean, I said that we should have started in a different place, but people had opinions, so here we are.

Friday night DnD, like I said, was the last session of the campaign, and it honestly could have gone in two different directions. One where they wreck house and go seek bloody revenge on the hags, the other where the archfey makes them an offer that two of them definitely can't refuse. I was honestly expecting for them to do both things. But no, once the offer was made, they very much leaned in that direction.

And it was the right decision I think. It definitely led to a happy ending. Which is what you want at the end of a fairy tale.

Honestly, I'm like 50% relieved that it's over (mostly so I don't have to prep for a while) and 50% sad it's done.

We are taking a little DnD break for a few weeks to play a board game, and while Mrs preps the adventure she's going to run.

Anyway...

Today wasn't much more than our usual thing. Supermarket, etc. Although we did make a little trip to Haighs after.

So, that's that.

Current mood:

character saturday: savage killer

Sometimes there are ideas that lurk around in your head and refuse to leave. A body with the "skeleton body paint" is one of those ideas. So much so that I revisited it with a different character this week, but that one was less successful. Also, for the record, his skin is that colour because he's a Reborn (possibly he was burned and his body just has the colour of ash now) rather than any racial heritage.

The idea of both a Reborn lineage and a Zealot Barbarian mesh nicely in my head. And also a character who either has to apply body paint regularly or else has those markings as either tattoos or just as markings etched into their skin also appeals to me. The stupidity of a grumpy barbarian carefully applying paint every morning just appeals to my sense of the absurd.

And does the name mean "death" or "slaughter", yes, yes it does.

I also promise that one day I will play a character who is basically running around in their underwear for an entire campaign. Because why would I not.

Anyway.

Most of this week was me holing up in my air-conditioning and being horizontal once again.

I did go for a drive to the library on Monday morning, because the small one down the street doesn't open until 1pm most days and I was out of things to read. So off I went, only to realise that I hadn't brought my headphones and "Baby Yoga" was about to start. So that was... a thing I had to listen to.

I did grab a couple of books and then leg it home.

Thursday DnD was back... and, honestly given that we had a PC death at the end of the last game, the vibe for our return game was about right. As in very subdued. And a tiny bit... combative.

Also, I have very much realised that my character's defining trait can best be described as "not pleased at being Fate's bitch". And given that it seems that a number of gods have a stake in what we do thanks to a collective dream vision, that feeling has multiplied by a factor of about a billion.

We'll see what happens next.

I also went off to the tiny library at the end of the street to pick up a book I requisitioned last weekend. Because it showed up in two days. Whereas the last one took about two weeks.

There also wasn't Friday DnD this week because of small children and their ability to get sick. But it does give me a week to prep for what will basically be the final session. I just need to make a few decisions about what that's going to look like.

Fun times.

Anyway.

Today the weather was going to be hot, so we did the supermarket thing, wasted some time on a YouTube thing and then I sent Ma home before it got too hot.

That's about it really.

Current mood:

character saturday: a halfling's best friend

So... this has been a thing I've kind of wanted to make for a while now. And the addition of a ton more mounts and familiars during Hero Forge's Advent Calendar let me make it a reality.

My first ever character, Belben Beestinger, on the back of the mastiff riding dog he's had since his... third or fourth adventure, if I remember correctly. So this is Barley. Because of course a halfling would name a pet/mount after a food item.

It's very sweet though.

Oh, and for the record, the final item in the calendar was a flail. Not very exciting.

 Anyway.

This week was... weird. I mean, the first week of the New Year usually is, but because NYD was on Sunday and the holiday was Monday, I legitimately forgot what day it was at least twice during the week.

There's not a lot to report for the week. I basically made the same thing for dinner each day. And spent most of most days horizontal. Because I'm getting there but I'm not there yet.

The landlord came over to put a new globe in the rangehood midway through the week. And also fixed the front door, which was hanging crooked. So, yay.

We're starting Thursday night DnD back up next Thursday, provided everyone is hale and healthy.

Friday night DnD was honestly mopping up loose ends, finishing exploring the castle, finding out bits of lore. It's weird. I was so worried about my additions not sticking the landing, I failed to see that the whole end sequence in the book kind of falls over a bit.

But nobody is unhappy about it. It just could have been so much better.

I feel like next week is very probably the final session. If not, then the following week is basically follow up and epilogue. And so my time as DM comes to an end. Honestly, I'm 50% looking forward to not having to prep and keep a whole adventure worth of story living in my head from week to week... and 50% will absolutely miss crafting a story for my friends.

I've also written the least interesting backstory I think I've ever crafted for the next Friday campaign. It works, but it was honestly like pulling teeth. It shouldn't have been, I just couldn't get it started. It's also not complex or nuanced. But, honestly, that might be who this character is... looking to the future rather than the past.

Anyway.

Today wasn't much of anything because it's another hot day. So, supermarket, back here, Ma went home. That's it.

Current mood:

movies: strange world

Let's start out with a little creative exercise. I want you to furrow your brow... like someone has just told you something that makes no sense, or you're trying to read really small text. Okay, now open your mouth slightly, like you've forgotten to close it for about 20 minutes.

Got it? You there? Great. 

Now you know the expression I had on my face for essentially the entire run time of this movie.

Actually, I'm not even sure this qualifies for any of the technical definition of "a movie".

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Welcome to Disney's Strange World.

I do not know what this is. It is not, however, an actual movie. Because a movie has a plot. And characters with personality and motivation. An actual movie makes me feel something other than "confused".

What this is, is if an AI was given the scripts for every Disney and Pixar movie ever (most specifically Raya and the Last Dragon, Finding Nemo, Onward, Atlantis and Moana) as well as Journey to the Centre of the Earth (all versions), Fantastic Voyage, Inner Space, Flubber and a description of that one dream you had that time when you had a really bad fever and were slightly delirious. And then it shat out this script.

Also. I have said this many times. And I'm saying it again.

Disney. Stop. Just flat out stop.

Stop mistaking "appearing on screen" for "representation". Making a main character "gay" by giving them a highly stereotyped same sex crush (oh, he's got blonde tips, wears pink and a skirt over his pants... groundbreaking), mentioning it at the start of the movie, once during the movie and again at the end while it having absolutely zero effect on that character, their journey or their personality is NOT having a gay character.

You know how you fix that. You send the crush with them on their adventures and those two characters say more than... I don't know... 9 words to each other. They develop a relationship. You know, like existed in Raya before you look all the lesbian out of it.

Or you just, and I can't emphasis this strongly enough, fucking stop.

While we're on the subject.

Having a character show up on one side of the screen for 11 seconds in a wheelchair is not representing disability. Putting a three legged dog in the same movie is even worse because the dog with a disability is on screen longer than the wheelchair woman.

You do get a very, very, very small amount of points for having the physical ethnicity of the characters in the movie match (or thereabouts) the ethnicity of the voice actors portraying them. And by points, I mean "doing the bare minimum".

Speaking of the cast. They deserved a better movie. Wasting Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhall, Gabrielle Union and Lucy Lui on this piece of trash is insulting to all of them. And me as the audience.

The writer/co-director, Qui Nguyen, and director, Don Hall, wrote/directed Raya and the Last Dragon. So, clearly, those "gay pages" from Raya ended up here. Half the characters look like background extras from Raya anyway.

But it's also incredibly clear that this movie had no actual script or story. It has some words. But it's over 100 minutes long, rushes through any set up for story and character in the first ten minutes and somehow rushes through the next 90 minutes without saying anything that Disney hasn't said before or Pixar hasn't made into a masterpiece. And leaves you at the end going "whut?".

Also, Disney, as a company, can you please ensure that your male Animation Department employees have access to mental health care, because they're all very clearly suffering from some unresolved issues with both their fathers, children or both. And writing it into a movie script for the 10th time isn't the same as actual therapy. Or maybe it's time to let some women write and direct. The men clearly need a nap.

And, if you're paying enough attention, the twist in the movie becomes obvious at a certain point. Or if not "obvious", I found myself thinking "well that looks like [blank]" many, many times, and it turns out that, yes, that's because that's exactly what that was.

As an idea, it's fascinating. But it breaks down in so many different ways if you think about it for more than about 11 seconds. And no, I'm not spoiling it. It's the single thing the movie has going for it.

But the movie does not earn the reveal or have me care about the characters in the movie enough that I'm still interested in the movie by that point.

I continued to watch this movie mostly because by that point I needed to know what they thought the pay off for the movie was supposed to be and what they thought a successful resolution was. It is none of those things.

I honestly need a behind the scenes featurette about this movie. I need to know what they thought they were making. Because they failed.

This is a movie based on listening to too many Twitter threads, Tumblr memes and YouTube hot takes. And then failing, fundamentally, to make an actual movie.

This is that Disney movie that you will 100% forget existed. Or that in future will become the subject of many long video essays on YouTube that include the terms "developmental hell" and "plagued with problems from the start"... or even my absolute favourite "started principal production without a finished script".

It's this generations Meet the Robinsons (also written by Hall), Home on the Range, Dinosaur, Oliver and Company or The Black Cauldron. A movie that in about 5 years, if someone mentions it, you'll say "Oh, I totally don't remember that one... are you sure that was Disney?". Or you'll just shake your head and say "nah, never seen it", even if you did.

It's instantly forgettable.

The usual caveats apply. The imagery of the movie is stunning. As always. It's Disney Animation. Of course it's stunning. But it's candy floss and marshmallow... it's empty calories with no substance. None of it made me go "wow" because it's either weird and off-putting images or else I was staring at the movie with a confused look on my face going "but why?".

So, for the first time ever in the history of the blog, I'm introducing a new rating. Which hopefully I will never have to use again, because hopefully I won't encounter something like this again.

This isn't a real movie. It's an exercise in pretty images with nothing behind it.

yani's rating: Whut? electric brussel sprouts out of 5

2023

Welcome to 2023.

International Year of Millets and also Dialogue as a Guarantee of Peace... so there's that. And I went a little oldschool with the image for this year. All the way back to the 1930's with this photo by Gustave Roud from his Farmer Bodies series. Because who doesn't like a little vintage Swiss beefcake.

Yesterday was pretty chill. I did my usual prep. Emptied things, filled things. Took down the few Christmas decorations I had up. Changed my sheets and towels. Posted my regular posts to Twitter, Insta and the blog (Twitterversary, Insta Top 9 and Year in Review respectively).

And the Fluffy came over for NYE Movie Night.

Oh, I was also very, very happy to see Channel 9 continuing the NYE tradition and extending it this year. So not only was Can't Stop The Music on just before midnight, but before that, they put Xanadu on. Which makes my heart happy, because they're both trash, but they're the good kind of trash.

Speaking of movies.

I continued Fluffy's Classic Movie Education by introducing him to 1992's Death Becomes Her. Because what better way to end 2022 than with homicidal bitchy divas. 

And then he wanted me to finally watch the Marvel Halloween short movie, Werewolf by Night. It was about what I expected. A cast mostly devoid of charisma, a script mostly devoid of actual horror or suspense, and the usual amount of "stunt man throws other stunt man using wires" you expect from Marvel. The upsides. Cinematographer Zoe White, who made it look amazing. And, honestly, Man-Thing, the non-speaking CGI creature. Also, the makeup department.

It was not, however, the worst thing we watched all night.

Disney's Strange World. More on that shortly.

We also need to get better at timings for New Years Movie Night. So that, you know, we actually end the last movie at or just after midnight.

Because we finished up at about 11:30, wandered around my apartment for a good 10 minutes just saying "why" at each other, and then I drove Fluffy home, and was sitting at an intersection on the way home for actual New Years. Which did mean that including the drive there and the drive back, I saw about 8 different sets of fireworks go off. And got home just as the ones in Adelaide finished.

This morning I attempted to recreate the perfect egg and bacon roll I made back in... I dunno... it was 2 houses ago... so about 2015. Today's entry was tasty enough with the edition of my tomato and onion relish, but not as Instragram-worthy 2015 version.

So that's that about that.

Current mood:

two thousand and twenty two in review

This year started off with me being a giant ball of stress.

Moving house. It sucks at the best of times. This wasn't the best of times.

But I got through it. And the new place is... adequate for requirements. It's certainly much quieter than the old place.

I also got to dip my toes back into DMing, and actually DMing a full hardcover adventure for the first time. Which was actually super satisfying.

There were a few post-moving projects, including changing all my DVD covers over to Penguin Book themed covers. And then there was a lot of pre DMing prep.

So, for what it's worth, here's this year's roundup.

January: This month was one long moving related freak out. Up until securing a new place. Then it was just packing. And then I got a new iPhone, because the old one was on the bring of failure.

February: I lost a DnD character and gained a new one. I moved house with the help of Ma and Fluffy. Then did all the things that come after a move. And we got Ma a new iPhone also.

March: We had a tiny, tiny earthquake. I spent too much time printing things at Officeworks. Birthday.

April: I unpacked the last of the moving company boxes. We finished the current Friday Night DnD adventure.

May: I started DMing for Friday Night DnD.

June: I redid my blog banner. Got my flu vax. I got a new drivers license.

July: Got my fourth vax booster.

August: I got sick (just regular, normal sick) for the first time since 2019. The Thursday Night DnD group finally finished our non-campaign campaign after a little over a year.

September: Thursday Night DnD started our new Critial Role campaign with DM Fluffy. I got a new laptop. And then had to make it behave.

October: I had to go and get a second new driving license (thanks Optus). Third anniversary of the Friday Night DnD game.

November: After something like 25 years, I rejoined the library. I had the first proper rental inspection since moving in (the mid year one was cancelled). I put my Christmas decorations up and tweaked my back in the process (although that didn't become apparent until later).

December: Like I said... tweaked my back. I've spent most of the month laying on the bed and seeing my Chiro more than usual. No Christmas Tree decorating at Ma's place this year tho. Boardgame Christmas still happened followed by Movie Night with Fluffy. Also Regular Christmas.

So there's that.

As far as movies go... this year wasn't great for movies. The highlights being The Tragedy of Macbeth (surprising no-one) and Everything Everywhere All At Once. The movie that annoyed me most this year was No Time To Die (and yes, it came out last year, I didn't see it until late March).... fuck that movie.

Current mood:

character saturday: adventing part five

Remind me next year to definitely keep a colour theme through the whole of the Hero Forge Advent Calendar. I like the look of the items cross the weeks.

And I almost got away with a single model this week... but pauldrons don't really go with shoulderless shirts.

Also, because we're a day ahead in the future here in Australia, I don't get to add tomorrow's final item. Depending on what it is, I might use it as the basis for an outfit. Or not, we'll see. 

• Current item count: 35 + a ton of new familiars and mounts (everything else was a one off this week)
  
• Current item's I'd actually use count: 18 + (I'm not sold on the hat or the "beard", everything else is nice... and the animals will definitely show up in various things as we go)

So, we're roughly in the "about half" zone for things I'd use. Which is pretty good. I guess time will tell.

I do like the way these random collections of items start to suggest a character. Some kind of spellcasting, armoured sea captain with a rabbit familiar.

Anyway.

As always tends to be the case, there isn't a lot to report on in the week between Christmas and New Year. And even more so because I spent pretty much all of it horizontal. 

It's also why I'm typing this while standing up. Because there's not a lot of point spending a chunk of time laying down or walking around and then fucking up all that goodwill by sitting. I'll get there. I mean, I am getting there, I just want to try and sidestep some of the setbacks.

So I put most of my Christmas presents away early in the week... still gotta find a permanent home for Sharky McSharkington though... I reorganised my dice collection... I made salads with leftover turkey and sausage meat for most of the week (until it ran out)... it was mostly just a chill old time.

And then we get to Friday night DnD. They very nearly finished the campaign in the middle of the session... LOL. So I very definitely did that video game thing of saying "You're entering the final element, please ensure you've completed all quests you want to before proceeding"... or, that, but better written.

But we got to the big "twist/reveal"... and everyone's reaction was essentially the same as mine when I first read it.

"Huh... sure, okay... didn't see that coming. But why though?"

I also didn't drag it out. Once they had one of the big reveals in hand, I spelled it out for them, because otherwise it's just confusing. Because you don't see it coming or expect it.

But I think we have maybe a couple of sessions left if they want to go fight all the bad guys before triggering the end of the game. I need to give some thought to what happens there too. I just had a thought... I'll have to pull on that thread and see where it leads me.

I did also get to reveal Fluffy's warlock Patron to him finally. And of course, because his Patron was also his favourite magic item in the game, he was very happy.

Which is all I ever want really. For my players to be happy after a reveal. Even if the characters aren't.

Anyway.

Today was all about errands.

Supermarket to start, then off to Kmart and Big W looking for various bits and pieces. Most notably a new iPhone cord for me because the old one developed that "clearly broken unless you put it just so once it's plugged in" and fuck that game.

So that was it really. Then it was back here to do pre-New-Years things before Fluffy comes over for Movie Night.

Current mood:

post christmas round-up 2022

So Kris actually belongs to the Jingle Bros (Part 1 and Part 2) from last year. But I ran out of time to add him to the roster, so, you know what, he can be part of today. And he's just as I made him last year, I didn't bother remaking him.

And of course he's a halfling.

Merry Christmas to the, like, handful of people who still bother reading my blog. Essentially it's just a diary I shout into the void these days. But I'm still grateful for anybody who has stuck around.

So, indulge me for a little bit if you will. I'm feeling a little... garrulous.

The observant amongst you would have noticed that there was no traditional putting up of the Christmas Tree this year. No scantily clad Christmas hunk posted earlier on Christmas Day.

Yeah, I wasn't, and am still not, feeling it.

What I am feeling is more pain than I would like. And the sentence that has been whirling around in my head all day, and was originally going to be the opening line for this post is thus.

Surprising nobody, pain changes your brain chemistry. Regular pain more so. And for at least the last month, my brain has been dealing with intermittent pain from my back. Or, weirdly, pain that SHOULD be in my back, but is often on the sides of my calves, because nervous systems are fucked up little monkeys.

So, the last thing I wanted, or was physically able, to do at the start of the month, was drive down to Ma's place and put the Christmas Tree up. And so, left to her own devices, and under strict instructions that if she attempted to construct and dress the whole Christmas Tree I would be Very Angry With Her, the image above was the result.

It's not great, it also doesn't suck. It's the top third of the regular tree, inserted into the base of the regular tree. And had I been involved I might have attempted something with the Christmas Lights, it's not terrible.

But, going back to... well, my back. I can't sit for long. Not in most places. When I do, the aforementioned pain starts to creep in around the edges. And then all I want to do is go lie down. But after I've been lying down on and off for almost a month, that also fucks with my brain.

So, clearly, given this little story, I'm in a weird place this Christmas. Last Christmas was pre-moving stress. This is... less intense. But, honestly, I didn't much care about Christmas this year. And, yeah, I know, if you go back through the last few years, I've been saying some version of that for the last several years. But it's still true.

I still went through all the motions. But it was mostly for other people. And while I had fun along the way, I wasn't feeling it. Which brings us to today. Let's just say that left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't have bothered much.

I woke up about as early as I have been of late, which is a little too early for my tastes. And I'd already told Ma there wasn't much of a point in me being down at hers super early. So I wasn't in any kind of rush. I faffed around, watched some YouTube stuff, and finally got my ass into gear, before having a shower, loading up the car with what little there was to load it with, closed up the house with the aircon on so I'd come home to a nice cool house and toddling up the road to Ma's place at about 8:45 or so.

We had our usual breakfast of croissants, and I'll be honest, as much as Ma always asks what I want on/with them, generally speaking I just want a little butter and that good, good warm pastry.

We fucked around a bit after, I complained, as I do every year, that none of the TV stations just digs into their stock of shitty (or not shitty) Christmas movies and just runs them end to end all day. There are enough channels these days, they could totally do that. I don't want to WATCH them, you understand, but I like some, as we call it, colour and movement going on in the background, since it's just Ma and I.

I never keep track of time on Christmas Day at the best of times, and it somehow tends to just flow through my brain like water anyway, so who the fuck knows when anything happened... 

But between mostly ignoring and quite often going "Hey, it's that person who was in that other thing", we put the original 1947 Miracle on 34th Street (it does kinda fall over a bit when you realise that Santa is also Captain Wiles from my favourite Hitchcock movie, The Trouble With Harry) and at some point in the process it was time for presents, such as it was.

And I say that only because a lot of my presents are what happens when you say "oh, that thing I need, or that thing we just bought, that can go away for Christmas". For... like the last four months. So it's all some combination of kinda from Ma, kinda from me to me.

But it also includes the presents from Mr, Mrs and Fluffy from Board Game Christmas.

So, starting there...

• LEGO Horizon Forbidden West: Tallneck
  (from Fluffy... nearly made me cry because reasons)
• IKEA BLÅHAJ Baby Shark
  (again, Fluffy... because we got slightly obsessed with some stupid IKEA Japan videos and the sharks in general)
• Here to Sleigh expansion deck (from Mr and Mrs... they bought me the original game a couple of years back)
• Q Workshop 2022 Advent Dice Calendar (from Mr and Mrs at the end of November)
• IKEA PIPSTÄKRA quilt cover (which also has an associated fitted sheet and a couple of pillowcases for other pillows, but I didn't bother including them)
• IKEA VINTERFINT Apple scented candle in metal tin
  
• Bonds Essentials Move Pullover Hoodie (plus a couple of Bonds tees, also not included)
• Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes sourcebook
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold by  Toshikazu Kawaguchi
• Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell
• LEGO Minifigure Series 23 Cardboard Robot (the one problem with blind box things is sometimes you get the one you're wildly ambivalent about instead of one of the 11 you really, really like)
• Chessex Polyhedral Dice Sets in Translucent Orange, Translucent Yellow and Light Blue

Oh, and some Bundaberg Spiced Ginger Beer, which is not so much a present, as something I was definitely taking home.

I took some photos, moved some stuff around, and then we started on lunch prep. Which went about the same as always, albeit slightly smoother than some years.

We put the potatoes in with the turkey and the sausage meat, so they got all good and crispy. But mostly it was switching between half watching The Holiday and doing prep.

And I'm just now remembering that I forgot to steal both the last of the mango salad dressing AND the mince pie ice cream from Ma's place. Oh well.

I have no idea when we sat down to eat. Sometime after 2pm maybe. No clue.

It was pretty good though. And some combination of the pepper I put on the tomatoes, the chili in the salad dressing and the ginger in the ginger beer definitely made it nice and tasty.

The intent was probably to play some Here to Slay, but, I'll be honest, I wasn't in the mood.

We tidied up, we watched a good chunk of Robin Hood: Men in Tights, which it seems like Ma hasn't seen before, and she groaned through all of the groan-worthy parts.

And then I threw together some Eton Mess with mince pie ice cream, lemon meringues and fresh berries. It's a good Christmas dessert. Even if, traditionally, we have it about three hours after dinner.

Then, honestly, by that point, I'd kind of had enough. Mostly of sitting and standing.

So I packed up the car with more stuff than I arrived with and headed back up the road. And other than the heat, it wasn't a bad run. I think it was around 6pm when I got home, and after unpacking all the stuff, threw myself into a quick shower and then had a lie down until I felt able to tackle this post.

Which is done now.

So, for another year, Merry Christmas, and thanks for listening to me unpack my internal monologue as part of the post-Christmas round up. It's becoming a tradition at this point.

Current mood:

character saturday: adventing part four

Of course, this week had to feature three pieces of headgear... leading to a little picture in picture action.

Much more of a blah week for this week's Hero Forge Advent Calendar, but some nicely rendered pieces again.

• Current item count: 29 (including two versions of the helmet, some handheld snowballs and two sizes of the arcane lantern)
• Current item's I'd actually use count: 14 (although it's a big maybe on the helmet, circlet, lantern and axe honestly)

Favourite item? Visually, the axe. Although I don't make a lot of heavy weapon wielding characters.

So, we have one more week to go, because this Advent Calendar runs for the whole month and doesn't end on Christmas Eve. Tomorrow does tend to be the big one though. All I'm really hoping for is less hats.

Anyway...

Sunday was Rocky Road Day. As in, the day I made this year's batch of Rocky Road. Which I ended up making in two batches, because I don't have bowls big enough. All while watching the 1970's version of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge. Which is free on YouTube and nobody seems to have noticed or cared that it's there.

Originally it was just for "colour and movement" while I was doing other things, but, I'll be honest, it's actually really, really good. It's also a musical and none of the child actors can really hold a tune. But it does some interesting things with something that is so overdone and I've seen so many versions of at this point.

As I've said to a number of people, it's the best version of the story that doesn't include Muppets.

Monday was Board Game Christmas Day.

And it was a good day. We played a bunch of games. A little L.L.A.M.A, followed by some Uk'atoa, then the adorable Calico (which was the only game I actually won, by a single point) and then finishing up with Shadows over Camelot, which was a co-operative game that we lost as a group. Well, except for Mrs, because it turned out she was the traitor, and because we all lost, she won.

We also did presents (which I well detail tomorrow), but suffice to say, Fluffy got me a little emotional, for reasons I can't quite explain, with his choice of gift.

I just threw home made tomato and onion relish (the food item I mentioned last week) and big boxes of Rocky Road at everyone.

After Board Game Christmas, Fluffy and I came back here and watched Hackers (which he'd never seen, which is a crime), and the aforementioned Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. And between the movies, I made a quick pizza with stuff I had in the fridge.

So, quite a long day, in fact, from when he arrived to when I dropped him home, Fluffy and I hung out for over 12 hours. A good day though.

The rest of the week was pretty much nothing much, but a lot of me laying down to help my back out. Because it's getting there, but it's not there yet.

Fast forward to Friday for Chiro Day. As in the actual day I was intended to go to the chiro, not one of the several other times I've been this month.

And then it was Friday Night DnD.

I finally understand why many people said that the final area of this adventure was problematic. And doesn't make a ton of sense. Because while I'd prepped it, it seemed okay. But then the map showed me something that the text seemed to contradict and then suddenly I was in the realm of WTF. So I'm going to tweak some of the bit and pieces and see where we end up.

Because the "as written" instructions are actually kinda dumb.

But we'll get there.

And I don't really care because the stuff that I layered in which was more interesting is still paying dividends in ways I didn't forsee. And I still have some tricks up my sleeve even now.

But there are some spots in this final area I'm excited for them to get to, even if they're not super involved.

Anyway.

Why is it that when Christmas Eve DOESN'T fall on a day we would normally go shopping, the supermarket is insane and crammed full of people. And on the year that it DOES, the supermarket was... still busy, but not insanely so.

We did get there a little earlier than usual, and yes, the fruit and veg section was a little nuts, as it usually is. But I got served instantly at the deli counter (because they had a ton of staff on) and in a minor Christmas miracle, I just randomly picked a checkout because the person being served was about to leave, and it turned out to be the lovely girl we tend to gravitate towards on a normal week, because she's efficient, knows how to pack a bag and seems nice.

But it was actually fairly easy overall.

Ma didn't stick around for long afterwards, which is fine because I'm seeing her most of the day tomorrow, and it gives her more time to prep at her end.

So that's that about that.

Current mood: