Small world.... the person I met for lunch, talking about Green Party activities in my local area, is one of the people behind the RPG's: Spire, Strata, Heart etc. rowanrookanddecard.com/spire-rpg/?v...

More of my favourite TV shows iploaded to my NAS and are watchable on my Plex. Should finish uploading the rest tomorrow, depending on time and stuff.

Got a meeting at lunch tomorrow with a prospective Green Party councillor candidate. For some reason they want to talk to me as I've been quite vocal over the mess our council have been making over the last decade (and more), especially around SEN care for both my kids.

Due to madness like this, I'll be not attending any US con until the madness ends. As I don't know how many more orbits around the Sun I'll have this might come back and bite me, but I must take a stand.

I've updated the RAM on my NAS, and I'm running a memory test, which brought back floods of memories. Memtest86+ is being run, wrapped in a Synology wrapper (running in a Linux container). Wow, used to run that a lot when building PCs back in the 90s.

And a busy few hours post-Hospital - I've added Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex - Season 1 to my Plex account, so now I don't have to swap discs and can re-watch.

Darn my brain. Last night I had Chippy Chips + Battered Sausage (very battered, I demanded it was beaten to near death), due to the anxiety about the Hospital Appointment today. And tonight, it's said 'You didn't appreciate the chips last night, have them again as a treat for coming off the meds'.

Right, waiting now for my Hospital Appointment regarding my Blood Clot on my right lower leg. I've got some dice ready to make the roll. I'm hoping for: No signs, stop taking the meds, carry on. I suspect: Looks good, let's carry on the meds another 3 months and bring you back in. Gulp.

Love this film, but time to sleep.

I am wounded again. Doing some prep work in the house, stretching really high (to pull down curtains) and I woke up with a sharp burning pain under my arm, so now when I move it hurts. But in better news, back in Hospital tomorrow, hoping for the all clear on my leg.

Everyone in the house bar me is in bed, waiting on the eldest to ring when she gets home from work. Time for some Firefly, it's just such a lovely series - and maybe I savour it because it's not a long series. Next up, my favourite episode, Jaynestown.

It's a shame I can only fix the BBC News website locally.

Remember in these dark times. There's a safe haven in our house for anyone.

@rpgkitchen.bsky.social Hit me up if you want help with that Campaign thing. I was building one in summer but life happened.

You're a GM based in Europe, you identify as a woman or femme, and you have an AP you'd love to run. We're looking for stories to tell this March - stories just like yours. It's a perfect match. Come and tell us all about it! tally.so/r/ODQxG7

Please help Chad see below!

A day of Tool music here as I'm knackered doing stuff being used as Human Tool.

I had a sort of dream (you know when you wake up and your mind goes somewhere linked to a dream - maybe). That I was running #SHEFCon - which was a sister con to #MORPCon alternating the months, as travelling across the Pennines is a pain at times.

Feeling dirty that I've spent so much on myself over the last few weeks, even though that dwarfs the amount I've helped others with. I had to be a bit selfish as the world is looking dire and I'll be a year older soon and one less year to be alive.

Anyone travelling to #Grogmeet - well done, enjoy the dice rolling, the character conversations, the beer, the post game conversations and the tabletop experience. I will be there next year (assuming we have a next year). Most of all, be safe, it's weathery out there!

Busy day tomorrow..... as Hospital Appoointment (why i couldn't go to Grogmeet) plus my new TV and Soundbar are here, as well as a new PSU for a new 2.5g Switch and a PSU for my NAS and, phew, some NVMe drives for the NAS as well. Just waiting for the Memory for the NAS and a 2nd NVMe!

Doom is coming, or should I say Snow. Seems both have the same result.

Wonder why I have a blue box when I post something new, but anyway. I made a pot of tea, you are all welcome.

The week is not over, and yet this week: 1 x Therapy 1 x Hospital Appointment 1 x Doctors Appontment All completed, and just 3 days of work and I want work to end for the year.

@katiefenn.bsky.social How's your heating these days with your Heat Pump? If you don't mind, can you tell me how much it cost yesterday?

@bryan-talbot.bsky.social Let Bryan know I (re)watched the 2000AD documentary last night. I also met him in the 90's at a Peterborough Sci-Fi fest where I bought some original artwork (From the Sandman comic) and it's still a pride of joy for me.

Expensive month here at BeardMan cave. We're having the windows replaced, and due to us having leaded lights, it's a lot more costly, but it's finally being done. It should make the downstairs (1st wave of changes) a lot warmer soon, which is great, as we used £6 in gas yesterday!

Tired here, ready for a holiday - but back to work tomorrow. Sigh. One more year, then I can think about retirement, though I think I'll go part-time for another 6 years before taking my pension* *I'll change my mind tomorrow, and the day after..

Just finished watching the 28 Years Later film, my Ems made me chuckle: 'Oh, I see the Tango man is out of retirement.' And then at the end, is that Jimmy Saville back from the dead, still in his tracksuits. Film was terrible, but not liked any of the series so far.

A day of upgrading my home network - moving to a 2.5gb setup, how boring, but now ready for my NAS for when the drives turn up, they appear to be stuck in Memphis.

Been wanting to run a (Super) Heroes game for a couple of years. I'll make it happen in 2026. I'm using @montecookgames.com 'Claim the Sky' - since getting that book it's been something I've wanted to use. www.montecookgames.com/store/produc...

So to start this year we filled in the Jan month of the calendar we use for the family. 3 x doctors appointments 2 x hospital appointments 1 x dentist 3 x therapy sessions 2 x talk therapy 2 x online therapy That's the family (3 of us) and of course back to work on Monday, no time for fun!

One of the reasons I first picked up the MERP books was the cover art, and I never looked back. Great art on the cover, great art on the inside and a usable book for my MERP campaigns.

It's that time of year when I decide on my support for small businesses, good people, or just the right thing to do. I'm being more careful this year, as any business that uses any form of GenAI can go in the bin. So many people are finding things harder, and yet AI slop keeps appearing.

What was the last move you watched in 2025? A classic, Grace Kelly was so beautiful in this movie, and another great James Steward performance.

About to boot up my PC and play GW2 until the small hours. Normally, I'd be drinking and drinking, but playing Dad Cab later. I'll see you all on the other side, keep it real people, and stay safe.

I am still a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes. Still when I see strips like this they resound within me. Very much great back when first read all those years ago, and still great now.

Plans for 2026 (in no order) Get healthier - lose another 1.5 stone (or more!) Sort out my current health issues Sort out work, my mental health is not good Get my new NAS all working, and nothing left 'in the cloud' Spend more time with friends Game more Have a wonderful New Year to you all!

The RPG world needs more Traveller, it's great and just great.

Thanks to @dahliablackthorne.bsky.social and their moviethon thing. I had to watch Hunt for Red October. It's still a solid film, outdated in some areas ,but that doesn't matter. One of my favourite films, it's got everything for me in my Tom Clancy reading days.

So as 2025 comes to a much-needed close, it's been a terrible year for me personally, both at home, health and work. I've been poked, prodded, x-rayed, ultrasonically scanned, jabbed, given pills and more. Once my blood clot clears, I'm hoping I'm back to 'normal'. So, here's to 2026, be better!

Back now into my Home! Tired, but that's fine.

Off back home now. A quick visit to Dundee but a good visit. Cheers for the beers and chat @sensiblearchie.bsky.social

To finish up the year, tomorrow it's me driving up with my eldest back to Dundee, staying over the night and then rolling the dice on the Monday trains. @dracowie.bsky.social @sensiblearchie.bsky.social - can you recommend a good pub with grub? I'm staying in the City Centre.

Does anyone know of any great RPG-focused conventions in Canada in 2026? As no GenCon/Gamehole Con until I know I can get in, as I am not allowed to give anyone my work email addresses, so I'm a bit scuppered, and want to visit Canada anyway. #rpg #canada

Plan for the new year, due to security and thieving AI and storage costs on the cloud and stuff. Going to get myself a NAS (last one was 20 years ago!) and chuck something like NextCloud/OwnCloud on it, configure it for local and limited remote access. Love tech projects, and ripping of media!

Fun fact here. When we visited on the way back from seeing eldest in Dundee, the walk to this fort from the Car park area indicated that my bettter-half did indeed have Asthma. So if you're not sure if you do, try this and you'll soon know! It's a great place though, well worth your time.

This is brilliant, both my girls were born at Jessops, and the Maternity unit was brilliant, all the midwives and the facilities. Crickey, they even let me stay an extra 10 minutes when my first was born beyond the normal 'send dads home' time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Such a hard year at work this year, unlike any of my 4 years before at this Gov Dept. I managed 30 minutes today and had enough, and being naughty, I've not put my Out-of-office on (hehe). It will be ignored anyway. So, no more work until Jan 5th, unless it's an emergency.