Week Ending 8/2

Hey, it's me...

You know how I said I might have overdone it finishing In Moonlight last week?

Yeah, I overdid it finishing In Moonlight last week. This week has been mostly resting, playing Skyrim, chilling and watching stuff (see yesterdays review of Conan the Barbarian (2011))

The only other thing I did is worked with D creating an Age of Sigmar conversion from the Grand Army of Cathay. Actually, D did all the work. I just reviewed what he came up with and made suggestions for tweaks. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's OK. We wrote house rules, converting a new faction from the Warhammer Old World tabletop miniatures game to the Age of Sigmar tabletop miniatures game because we don't play Old World.)

That's really it. A quiet week. 

Onward

Conan the Barbarian (2011)

Hey, it's your roving movie reviewer, back after who knows how long...

I just have to talk to you about the movie I watched today - Conan the Barbarian (2011) with Jason Momoa. I watched this on streaming because, well, I was tired and needed some mindless entertainment. This looked promising for that. 

I can say, it lived up to that promise. :)

Honestly, if this movie had been one of those cheap '80s Conan knock-offs that a lot of men of my generation are embarrassed to admit we enjoyed, it would have been a pretty good one. It's got the big, strong guy with a loincloth and a sword who spends most of the movie hitting people. It's got the pretty girl, who's bare breasts you do get to see in the obligatory sex scene. It's got enough incidental bare breasts to solidly lock in the young adult male audience. It's got a creepy evil sorceress and a scenery chewing villain. It even has a vague semblance of a plot, engaging enough to drive the action while simple enough so you don't really have to think about it.

In short, it's a basic, cheesy sword and sorcerer flick. If it had come out in the '80s it probably would done OK in theaters and spend the rest of the decade being played nightly on Cinemax. 

Unfortunately, it came out in 2011 and so missed it's target audience by about three decades. According to Wikipedia, the movie's own director is horribly unhappy with it and considers it's sole saving grace the fact that it did not tank Jason Momoa's career. Honestly, on that score I think it might actually have helped him... if only by proving conclusively that you can't just give him a loincloth and a sword and expect success.

Still, if you're looking for a mindless guilty pleasure to kill a couple of hours with, you could do far worse.

Week Ending 7/26

Hey, it's me...

It's finished! I have completed the drafts and screenshots for the last ten chapters of In Moonlight. About two months ago, this story was kicking my ass so hard that I had to stop and set it aside for a bit. Then, when I finally felt up to writing again, my game started crashing like crazy, making getting screenshots a virtual impossibility. Now, after all these trials and a couple of weeks of struggling with the most technically complex writing and screenshots I've attempted since I started on SimLit... It Is Finished! It won't actually be fully published for another ten weeks, but it's written (baring the minor edits I always make as chapters get closer to publication). 

I am proud of me.

In other news, I had my doctor's appointment this week. After last weeks blood test debacle, I spent most of the worrying about what was going to go wrong next. Answer - not a blessed thing, as far as I can tell. I had a good talk with the doctor. He explained why he hadn't put in an order for bloodwork (the metformin needs more time to work before bloodwork will show meaningful data). We discussed a couple of other small things that were bothering me and, it turns out, I'm actually doing really well. All the small things are, in fact, small things. 

So, yeah... that's good.

I have probably massively overdone it finishing In Moonlight today, but I'm still too bloody pleased with myself to care at the moment. 

Onward

Week Ending 7/19

Hey, it's me...

What to say about this week?

I've been pushing myself too hard, working on write and getting screenshots for my current Wyrd Tales story. I'm very near the end and I'm excited to get the story finished. At this one, I'm down to two more chapters to write and screenshots for those and five more. It's some of the most technically ambitious stuff I've done both in terms of writing and screenshots. I'm rather proud of it. Still, it's taking a lot out of me and I'm getting frustrated because I can't just work until it's done.

I also had a deal with some extremely annoying blood tests... in that there weren't actually any blood tests. I have a doctor's appointment next week, so I went to the lab to get my bloodwork done. First, the idiotic new hospital managers closed the lab that was across the street from me, so we actually had to go all the way into town to go to the hospital. Then, when we got there, they said I didn't have any bloodwork scheduled. They even called the doctor, who evidently agreed that I didn't have any bloodwork. So an entirely wasted day... and weird because I always have bloodwork before an appointment. Well, we'll find out what's going on with that next week. 

So, I'm worn out and frustrated... but my story is fantastic!

Onward

Week Ending 7/12

Hey, it's me...

Well, let's see... the ongoing computer drama from last week is semi-resolved. Basically, we got my computer back from the repair place. The guy a) failed to actually repair the game, b) updated the game despite my explicit, detailed, written and illustrated instructions not to, c) messed up my browser settings and d) messed up my Windows OS. We had to take the computer back to shop for him to fix the things he broke trying to fix the game. He worked on it. He didn't fix it.

So, maybe not going to the repair place again.

On the plus side, with some help from the Sims Creative forum members, and the time without my laptop to clear my head, I've managed to get my Sims game working well enough that I've been able to get some screenshots for my story again. The game still isn't entirely stable, but that could be for any one of countless reasons. 

In other news... nah, not really much by way of other news. Life goes on. The stress of last week, and the relaxation that comes with having resolved most of it, have left me pretty wrecked. I'm resting. Really not much more I can ask for. 

Onward

Week Ending 7/5

Hey, it's me...

A little late today, but still here. Well, kinda...

See, I mentioned last week that I was having trouble with my Sims game. Well, after several days of testing mods, I managed to get it to work... or so I thought. Then I tried to load my actual saves and get some picture for my next chapters. That was the point where everything when completely pear shaped and my computer started crashing like crazy. 

Long story slightly less long, I sent my laptop in to the local computer repair store to see if they could figure out what was wrong. 

The rest of the week has been complete hell. I've discovered how dependent I am on my laptop for... basically everything. I'm losing my mind... and no, I don't have it back yet. J was kind enough to let me use her laptop for the last couple of days which has kept me somewhat sane, but the longer this drags out, the worse it gets. Of course, basically the last three days were 4th of July weekend, so the repair shop was closed and my laptop is sitting on a shelf somewhere. I have no idea when, or even if, I'll get it back. 

In short, this week sucked!

Cross your fingers for me.

Onward

Week Ending 6/28

Hey, it's me...

Sorry, this week got away from me and I forgot until just now that it was Sunday. 

So, on the plus side, we have not been washed away by flooding (touch wood). We've had some... exciting... weather and all, but we're still good at the moment (touch wood again). Staying safe and keeping alert.

On the minus side, I feel like crap. I think I'm having a bad reaction to my new medication... or possibly to a combination of my new medication and fatty foods. Either way, I've had a couple of really, really rough nights and some long days. 

To make matters worse, I made the mistake of updating my Sims game, which is now crashing all over the place. I'm sure it's a problem with one of my mods, but I couldn't easily figure out which one. I'm having to my very first 50/50 test of my mods folder. That involves pulling out all my mods, dividing them into batches, putting each batch back in in turn and testing to see if the game crashes. When it does, you pull out the last batch, divide it in half and put half of it back... repeat until the game no longer crashes and you identify the bad mod. Then move on to the next batch. I've been working on this for two days and I'm about halfway through my mods folder. It's not exactly fun.

I also had a complete emotional meltdown earlier in the week... combination of stress, fatigue, frustration, hunger, nausea, loneliness and just general misery. (Not helped by the conviction that I'm just talking to ghosts here... but, you know, at least she listens. She always listens.)

So, yeah, rough week. Not all bad, but definitively rough.

I'm going back to taking it easy. Maybe watching a movie later.

Onward

Health Insurance is Bad Business

 A recent Facebook post by a friend got me thinking about health insurance. I wrote a lengthy comment on it, which I've decided to copy here...

Private medical insurance should be illegal. More, it simply shouldn't be a thing at all.

The basic idea of insurance is that a group of people pay into a common pool. In the event of a disater, the pool pays out to those impacted. The key part of this is "in the event of disaster." So, with car insurance, we all pay in and if we are in an accident, the insurance pays for (some of) the damage. That works for everyone, because more people pay in than have accidents. So, the insurance company makes money because it takes in more than it pays out. Yeah, they still play games with trying to avoid paying out because people are greedy but the general system works.

Health insurance isn't like that. Medical expenses are not occasional accidents. Medical expenses are regular occurances. You go to the doctor at least a few times a year. Everyone gets sick at least a couple of times a year. Because we live longer now, everyone ends up with chronic medical conditions that need regular medications and care. So the model of "everyone pays into the pool and only a few people draw on the pool" doesn't work! Everyone pays in and everyone draws! It simply does not work as a for profit model. It's a bad business. It's only profitable because the system has been rigged to make it profitable.

This has been me, stating the obvious. 

Onward

Week Ending 6/21

Hey, it's me...

It's been a mostly quiet week. I've been doing some writing but came to a decision. I had been publishing a chapter every week for my SimLit - In Moonlight. I've decided to take a pause, so I can work on the final chapters of the story without the self-imposed pressure of needing to get something done every week. I've actually gotten more written as a result.

A bit of exitment... was woken up around 4:30AM on Thurday by the tornado sirens. We're OK. Here, it just rained a lot and by morning, it was clear and sunny. The worst of the storm were well north of us.

That's really it. Like I said, quiet week.

Onward

Week Ending 6/14

Hey, it's me...

Another week gone by. A week of good days and bad days. A week of learning new things. Let's talk about that...

I've mentioned before that I have type-2 diabetes. My blood sugar hovers just over the line of what is called "pre-diabetes" which means it's higher than my doctors, or I, would like but it's not dangerously high. I've managed to keep it there by doing the "small" things like cutting out candy and soda and sugary good, managing the size of my meals, etc. That's kept it steady, but not brought it down. I finally decided that I wanted to try out some medication for it. Partly, to improve my blood sugar and partly, I must admit, to allow myself to feel that I could maybe eat the occasional donut or slice of cake without guilt. 

The new medication takes some time for my body to adjust to. The initial side effects were not fun, including basically knocking me out within an hour of taking the pills. However, after a couple of days, my body did adjust and I was able to take it and feel ok. The side effects are now minimal (knock on wood). At the doctors recommendation, I am slowly building up the dosage to the minimal recommended levels. 

As part of this whole journey, the doctor got me a prescription for the means to test my blood sugar. I'm not testing after every meal, because I don't actually need to monitor it that closely. It's really just for my own curiosity and reference at this point. So, me being me, for the past two weeks I've been testing every day in the morning before I eat and recording the results. 

At first, I felt encouraged but as things remain stable just above that pre-diabetes line, I've found myself getting frustrated. It wasn't improving. The numbers would dip down for a day and then shoot back up and stay up for days. I found myself wondering what the point was... which was when I realized that this is like trying to lose weight. If you monitor your weight every day, you're going to get frustrated. You're going to lose 3 pounds on Monday and then gain 6 on Wednesday. You're going to wonder why you bother putting yourself through all this and you're going to want to give up.

The solution is not to give up. The solution is to stop obsessively watching the numbers. Big changes in complex systems take time. Just do the work. Setbacks happen. Just keep going, doing your best... because that's all you can do.

... and this turned into a life lesson about all kinds of things without me intending it to. 

So, I'm going to end on a note that makes me look smart. :)

Onward

Week Ending 6/7

 Hey, it's me...

This will be short, because I'm totally worn out. Pretty good week. Did some writing. Getting some rest. Monitoring my blood sugar, which is new and exciting. We'll talk more about that later.

Now, I'm going to rest some more.

Onward

Week Ending 5/31

Hey, it's me...

This week was kind of a lot and I'm not sure where to start.

A friend from college passed away this week. His name was Kirk. Kirk was... I have no idea how to describe Kirk. He was clever and silly. He was kind but no nonsense. He was one of those people who showed me how to not take things too seriously... even though it took about 30 years and a chronic illness for me to really the point. I hadn't seen him in many years but I followed him on Facebook. He was always posting funny comments and weird dreams he'd had. He was a good person, and I will remember him. Cancer sucks. 

So, that happened...

In other news, I spent a lot of this week fighting with In Moonlight, my SimLit story. The upcoming couple of chapters were not working for me. I ended up literally ripping them into pieces and reassembling the pieces into something new that works better. I'm rather pleased with it. Check it out for yourself, if you like.

The only other thing worth mentioning is I finished my 50th model for our family painting challenge. Yay me! D and I both managed to reach 50 models. J is almost there but she let things too long and the last minis she wants to paint have turned out to be more complex than she thought. Still, she did 25 long before D or I did so we all get prizes. Go us!

Yeah, that's about the excitement for this week. 

Onward

Week Ending 5/24

 Hey, it's me...

After so many eventful weeks, this has been a fairly quiet one. 

I finally got to see Project Hail Mary, because it finally came to streaming. I liked it, but I didn't love it. You can read more about it in my review.

Otherwise, I worked on gaming stuff. I wrote another chapter of In Moonlight.

My big deal thing is I painted more minis. We'd agreed as a family to extend our "paint models" goal through the end of this month because D and I were struggling to hit the goal date. I did manage to get 25 done by the original goal but only just. However, I painted a couple more... 

For "a couple" read a full squad of 20 Skaven Clanrats. Yes, it's a horde of rat men. Yes, I'm starting another new Age of Sigmar army. Please don't judge me. 

I've got five more models to paint this coming week, and I'll hit 50. It should be fun.

Onward

Movie Review: Project Hail Mary

Hey, it's me your random movie reviewer... today I'm bring you my thoughts on Project Hail Mary. 

I wanted to like it. I really did. Actually, I think I did like it. That's my problem. I liked it. I didn't love it.

I loved The Martian, the first movie based on Andy Wier's first book. It's one of those movies J and I just watch when we feel like watching a good movie. I could watch it again tomorrow and enjoy it. 

I just did not love Project Hail Mary. 

Visually, it's stunning and it is reasonable true to the book, but I think that might be the problem. The movie suffers from trying to be too true to the book in places while skipping the heavy science-y parts. Unfortunately Andy Wier stories hinge entirely on the heavy science-y parts. That's even more true for Project Hail when we're dealing with fictional science.

Fundamentally, I think Project Hail Mary fails to build it's world. 

Mild Spoilers

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The story centers on the idea of the astrophage... an alien microscopic life form that literally eats stars. It consumes solar energy, slowly causing stars to dim. Earth's sun has been infected with the astrophage, and all life on Earth is endangered as the sun slowly fades. A desperate mission - Project Hail Mary - is launched to the one nearby star that seems unaffected by the astrophage.

Unfortunately, for me, the movie completely fails to establish the "rules" of astrophage... how it works and how and why it is ultimately used as fuel for the Hail Mary mission. These details are critical to understanding the story.

The movie also fails completely to establish any dramatic tension regarding the threat of astrophage and the potential end of all life on Earth. We can a short scene with the main character downplaying the danger to a bunch of grade school kids, and several calm, measured and dispassionate statements by Eva Strat, the leader of the project. Don't mistake me, I believe actress Sandra Hüller plays Strat perfectly. Her character is calm, controlled and driven... but no one else, at least no one over the age of 12, expresses any urgency about the impending death of the sun. I feel like we needed to see someone freaking out, shocked or afraid. Everyone is just too calm about the end of life as we know it.

So, that's why the movie doesn't work for me. It fails to establish it's world or drive home the stakes in the kind of visceral way that movies need to.

That said, I think Ryan Gosling did a great job as Ryland Grace, the reluctant heroic nerd. Rocky looks fantastic. Kudos to the movie's crew for using practical effects for him. 

The interactions between Grace and Rocky are funny, insightful and touching in turns. You really feel the friendship they form. It's the saving grace (unintended pun) of the movie.

So, yeah, I liked it but I didn't love it. 

Week Ending 5/17

 Hey, it's me...

Well, this was a busy week.

Went to the eye doctors. You may remember I had some problems with my new glasses. (I think I mentioned this...) They were giving me headaches and things looked weird through them. So, we had a follow up appointment to check and see what was wrong.

It turns out my new glasses were perfect. That's what was wrong. Perfect was too clear. So clear that it was literally physically painful. I didn't need perfect. I needed good enough. 

There's a lesson in that, I think.

In other news, I got a gadget to test my blood sugar. It's actually kind of cool, but since it pokes bloody holes in me, I won't just randomly test myself a bunch for the fun of it. 

We got it because I'm trying out some new medication for my type 2 diabetes. I tried it and got slammed by fatigue and weakness... like 'can't keep my eyes open or lift my arms' fatigue and weakness. I worried it was working too well and crashing my blood sugar.  Turns out, nope. Blood sugar is still high. Fatigue and weakness are just a side effect of medication.

So, new plan... take the blood pills with dinner instead of breakfast. What's a little more fatigue and weakness at the end of the day? Just rocks on top of the mountain.

So, yeah, busy week.

Onward

Week Ending 5/10

Hey, it's me...

What to say about this week. It feels like it's been busy but I can't really think what it is I was busy with. I did managed to finish the 25 minis I planned on painting by May 9th.

If you'll forgive the bad pictures, here we have a Doombull.

A unit of Darkoath Fellriders

... and some tents for a Darkoath camp.

So, that's something.

Other than that, J and I played an Age of Sigmar battle (I managed to pull out a win because she overreached early and I was able to divide and conquer) and we're continuing our Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure.

That's really about it. 

A pretty good week really.

Onward 

Week Ending 5/3

Hey, it's me...

This has been a weirdly intense week. 

On the one hand, I've felt very much at loose ends. Like I've been doing stuff, but don't really feel like I've had a direction and, at various points, I've felt pleased with things or very, very lost and dissatisfied.

I signed back into Facebook for the first time forever. I'm still not entirely convinced it was a good idea. I was partly lured back by the promise of a SimLit Facebook group. Still, what I really used to convince myself to do it was the idea that it was the last "place" I "saw" so many of my old friends. I think I hoped to reconnect with them, while avoiding the general filth that is Facebook. On both fronts, I would call it a tepid success. 

I posted a link to one of my Wyrd Tales short stories (A Tartosan Wedding), which was written to be a good introduction to my characters for new readers. It got some likes. I've made a few general posts and replied to some posts from friends. Those have gotten some likes and a scattered few responses. Still, I'm not sure either is really scratching that "want to interact with people" itch as well as I'd hoped. I think I'll stick with it a little while longer and maybe lower my expectations.

In health news, I tried metformin - a diabetes drug - for the first time. Within about a half hour of taking it, I crashed super hard... like couldn't keep my eyes open, could barely lift my arms, tingling all over. Juno looked over the side effects list of the meds and immediately got me some maple candy. Felt better within minutes. So, maybe metformin isn't for me. Reached out to my doctor, but haven't heard back yet.

In other news, Juno and I started up a new rpg campaign. I'm adapting the D&D adventure Wild Beyond the Witchlight for us to play. We managed to get in a short introductory session and it's been fun so far. We also managed to start (but not yet finish) a new game of Age of Sigmar, testing out some house rules that seem to working well. The "new" edition of Age of Sigmar is trash, so we're making our own... because, of course I am.

That all sounds really impressive as I write it up... so why do I feel like this has been an unfocused, dissatisfying and emotionally draining week? Probably because there is a lot of just laying around feeling unhappy in the gaps there.

Ah well, I can work on that. 

Onward

Week Ending 4/26

Hey, it's me...

Well, it's been an interesting week. Where to begin? 

Let's see... no vertigo this week. So, that's good.

Wednesday, I woke up at 4am , which weirdly turned out to be a good thing. I woke up and decided that rather than fighting with things, I'd just get started. I rewrote a chapter of In Moonlight that was badly in need of revision and am very pleased with the results. All in all, I had a really good day that day... it just ended before most other people woke up. That was OK too. I spent the rest of the day dozing in bed, watching stuff on streaming when I was awake and being quiet when I wasn't. I seem to have good days when I let myself not worry about needing to up and doing things.

Thursday, I had a doctor's appointment which actually went really well (touch wood). I felt like my doctor and I really communicated this time. He listened. I listened. We got along. It was good. I think this might work out after all (touch wood, again).

Also, I managed to get some more minis painted, including finishing up this guy... a Dragon Ogre Shaggoth (yes, there are little people on his back, braiding his hair).

Finally, I actually went outside and sat in the sun a little.

All in all, an interesting week. 

Onward

Week Ending 4/19

Hey, it's me...

So, you remember how, in my last post, I'd spent week recovering from the mess of the week before. 

Yeah, still working on that. 

I'm doing better than I was but not as well as I thought I was doing. To the extent that, on Thursday, I got nailed by another bout of vertigo. 

So, yeah, trying to balance "take it easy" with "doing enough to not feel like a total useless slug" and not really succeeding.

We'll get there.

Onward

Week Ending 4/12

Hey, it's me...

Well, this week was spent recovering from last week.

Monday and Tuesday were complete write offs. I basically spent them in bed, drifting in and out of consciousness, binge watching early episodes of Castle (because it's one of those shows I can almost recite from memory and so can sleep through most of an episode and not feel like I missed anything) and doing not much else.

By Wednesday, I was feeling well enough to really focus on something... anything... for more than a minute at a time without my brain feeling like it was on fire.

By Thursday, I was feeling well enough to recognize how truly horrible I felt... which, believe it or not, represents great progress.

Friday and Saturday, I felt well enough to start thinking about all the things I wanted to do and feeling annoyed at not being able to do any of them. Again, really good progress.

Today, I was finally able to do a little something. Actually did a little writing. Juno and I managed to play a short TTRPG session, and I'm writing this. Now I'm going to crash and spend the rest of today... well... resting. 

So, all in all, not actually a horrible week.

Onward