Today's pre-work conundrum. My wife gave me a pocketknife last night. Multicolor 'rainbow' blade. I think it needs a name. 'Stabatha' feels right but I feel like doing more. Should I seek out an equivalent (girl's name combined with a verb used with knives) name in Mandarin? (made in China)..

Proof my wife loves me. Still looking for a Pride Flag knife.. or better yet, a Leatherman.

Wife wanted to go to Lake City and we took the scenic route home to see the leaves.

Mississippi pot roast was a success and that was about the extent of my accomplishments today. Had a lot of days in a row of using all my spoons and acting like I'm not disabled.. going to pay for that for a while.

Seem to recall a few years back there was an attempt to make a 'D20 Modern' but for D&D 5E. Based on movies, I think it was.. Everyday Heroes? Wondering if there was ever a supplement for Deal of the Century, and/or what films should be counted in the same universe as that movie.

Post-performance depression isn't just for choir, band, and GMing. Got in the door and started feeling the weight of every bad decision since we left. Lost time, wasted money, etc.

Heading to Jamestown and running headlong into what it's like when everybody on the road does the '5mph below the limit, hit cruise control, let everybody else slip around me' thing. Oof.

Well, today marks a first.. put on a list for following someone on another app.

"Oh crap, we're getting ANOTHER produce box tomorrow?" results in improvisation. And I still have half a cabbage in the fridge.

Junior high was bad, but one of the few bright points was the.. oh, I don't remember the name. So we had Home Economics.. cooking, sewing, meal planning.. and Shop.. metal, wood.. and then we got to crank up Macintosh Classics and do some CAD.. drafting and making plans. Ah, 1990.

OK, I just had a moment of sorts. Googled 'OGRE Battletech crossover' and the AI response not only knew what I meant but had non-SEO-infested answers and examples. Should I be afraid, or should I be looking forward to a Catalyst Game Labs/Steve Jackson Games collaborative effort?

So I took that image somebody put up of an octopus in plate armor with a longsword and did some GURPSing yesterday. Going through Bio-Tech and seeing how I'd tweak the listed templates for a more fantasy-esque game with a light 'Dragon Quest' kind of feel. Picaresque but not mean.

Welp, 3 more keywords muted, some forever, some for 30 days. I've mentioned how my soul cries for Curmudgeon Mode, correct?

No burnination so far.

Attempting Swedish meatballs tonight. If there's no fire, I may take a pic.

Welp, my entire 'take Halloween off to go to the Cities and visit Anoka and have hotpot with my wife for our anniversary' idea has gone squish. No plan survives contact.

So one of the formative events in Cyberpunk Black (aka Cyberpunk 2013) was a massive Vietnam-esque war in Central and South America. Johnny Silverhand and Morgan Blackhand were there (and my inner fanboy thinks Johnny was the guy who caught a bullet on Black Lace in Morgan's story). 1)

So my wife put Children of the Corn on and.. y'know, that sure looks like the future the money wants for us. No newfangled technology or arts or music, children slaughtering adults or anyone capable of nuance.

Well, I have volunteered to get Burger King kids meals so my wife can score the Scooby-Doo toys. The things one does for love.

In theory I shouldn't need physical therapy to recover from cardiac rehab, correct? 4 freakin' minutes on an elliptical bike yesterday and my.. uh.. thigh myomers have been screaming at me all day. Ice pack, lidocaine, ibuprofen does nothing.

Gaming went OK tonight. Too many helpful voices overwhelmed me but I gutted it out and learned a lot about the modern MTG game. Something about a Star Trek deck next year, too. Hoping for an all-ENT Commander deck for maximum faith of the heart. Or a Babylon 5 set eventually.

Ok, the Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein account just gave me an idea, and I'm throwing it out there. Lovecraft owned firearms. We know H. Beam Piper had some. Same with Robert E. Howard. What about Heinlein, Campbell, Asimov, E. E. 'Doc' Smith? Darn it, I may have to read biographies.

So of course the second I need to focus and try to deal with the 'Bluesky app shuts down every time I send a post or reply' issue I get a phone call. Trying to avoid chest-pain-inducing stress here, people.

Napped too long, too much time in the store, chopping squash kicked my ass.. soup didn't get fully 'on' until 8. That being said the Mai Tai packet from Crystal Light's Mixology set is darn soothing.

Got scolded at cardiac rehab for not having nitro with me. Sadly, I haven't found a nitro pill bottle that looks like the TNT block from Minecraft. Stupid chest pain.

So, with apologies to Mike Pondsmith and R. Talsorian Games, this is how I think. Cyberpunk 2013= Cyberpunk Black (the art for the box set was black and white, the covers were black). Cyberpunk 2020= Cyberpunk Chrome (flashier, Chromebooks, etc.). Cyberpunk 3rd= Cyberpunk Green (artwork).

Sadly, no frybread or cornbread or cinnamon rolls.

Listening to the Behind the Bastards Himmler episodes, and I can't stop myself from thinking 'No, he wouldn't be playing D&D, he'd be playing Das Schwarze Auge, FFS!' Intellectually I get it.. most people think D&D is the only role-playing game that exists. Still gets me emotionally.

Definitely one of those days made for the 'I never wished anyone dead but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure' crowd. 'Course, now we'll have to see what the backlash looks like and who the Lernaean Hydra will send out as replacements.

Part of today's haul from the Little Thistle Book Fair.

Let the 'hurry up and wait' commence! They still use pagers.

More fun with sleep deprivation this week with a bit of cardiac surgery shenanigans on Friday.

So instead of going back to bed I make crockpot soup.

Alarm goes off at 4. I force myself up and get ready to fight morning rush hour traffic (all those commuters). My wife wanders out and reminds me we don't need to leave the house until 6. Blah.

So the food box program my wife and I are taking part it is an effort by OMC, something called 'Equity Eats', and MN Food Rescue. A box of produce and printed recipes/usage suggestions is a lot cheaper than medication and hospital visits. Another candle in the face of oncoming darkness.

Today's Daily Illuminator really makes me regret giving away my copy of Tales from the Floating Vagabond. A game from the heady days where Nazis were bumbling comedic foils instead of (gestures around).

Weird game idea today. Gloomhaven type setup but FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes-era characters exploring an abandoned ruin. So not FASERIP rules but something boiled down enough that the -2 to +2 card deck makes sense.

Gaming went well. Came home and got peeved (vegetable oil all gone), picked up more, came home, now tired and down. Here's hoping the stir fry goes OK.. that'll give me a win.

Huh. Do we know exactly what was on that sandwich that was thrown at a LEO and triggered a massive propagandistic overreaction?

Maybe it's due to being a jaded old man, maybe it's because I'm 8,000,000% the wrong demographic, but The Summer I Turned Pretty is getting funnier and funnier. Maybe because it reminds me of a couple people I knew in college.

A Christmas gift from a local Chinese place makes me a customer for life. 3 of the 4 sat in their cute little box until now.

Is anyone working on GURPS Hot Spots: Fiume?

Radioactive material in me has decayed. So far no beneficial mutations or increased murderous rampage desires. Naked Gun reboot was darn funny.

Having a bit of confusion. Memory tells me that both GURPS Cyberworld and GURPS Cthulhupunk used 'Icehawk' as a slang term for.. I think it was ISOCs? in setting. Like the Penske-driving masked amateur human traffickers we know now but more official. Google and Warehouse 23 don't mention it.

So the vast majority of the time I don't pay much attention to "(figure) would have been (number) years old today!" posts.. after someone walks on it seems odd to focus on their birthday after a few years. Not judging how others mourn but it seems odd to focus on the birthday.

Swedish Meatball plans halted by my wife's need to make taco slaad.

I suspect if I made myself in GURPS I'd have a 'can use it as a job' skill level in Intimidation (12 or higher, as in roll under that on 3d6). And Quirk-level 'occasionally enjoys scaring the heck out of people'. Though I do prefer Stealth to Intimidation for that.

Got it from River Town Games in Red Wing. Ton of cool stickers, too.

Best laid plans gang aft agley. Libertys.. closed. Papa Tronnios.. closed. Asi es la vida.

So since neither of us can really have cake my wife offered to make me birthday Jell-O.