Thursday, April 28, 2011

Comedy

I love standup, I love food, making John Pinette's routine simply awesome:

Monday, April 25, 2011

When Your Friends And Loved Ones Come Through

I got taken care of this weekend. Big time.

Saturday night I had the boys over for Greedy Little Bastards. One of my players has two daughters that came with, dyeing easter eggs to hunt on Sunday. My daughter and the eldest daughter of my friend told me, in no uncertain terms, to hide the eggs well!

The game went wonderfully, the best I've run in months, if not years. All the players were laughing and thoroughly entertained.

During the night I had an email from a friend that managed to get me into World Fantasy this year, transferring his additional attending membership to my name. I owe him such a debt for doing this. I was terribly worried I would not be able to attend the con this year because of a SNAFU I mentioned before.

Sunday morning the aforementioned girls came over and hunted the eggs I planted ahead of time. The girls spent thirty minutes searching my very small back yard, complaining I had hid them too well.

Then, The Coolness made brunch, feeding my two friends and the three egg-huntresses a killer meal. It was a great meal, and my wife a gracious hostess. I am so blessed. My friends were floored, and truly appreciative.

On occasion, I really do need to recognize how lucky I am in my friends and family.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Updates

Trying, very hard, to get ahead of my obligations and try and find more time to write here.

As part of the research I am doing for a short story I am writing, I'm reading 1632, by Eric Flint. An enjoyable read overall, intense in places and a bit of a romance in others. Writing even vaguely historical novels is hard, and he does it well. As the short I am working on is set in a relatively unused corner of his universe, I have a bit of leeway. Still, I have a lot of fact-checking to do to ensure continuity with my reading of the history of the region I've chosen and Flint's alternate universe.

The Last Captain is with my friend. He needed a few weeks to even begin an assessment of it. Waiting of this kind is far easier on me than waiting for word from the publisher was, mostly because I know I am imposing on his very limited free time. I have high hopes I will be able to fix what's wrong with the piece.

Soccer has been a mixed bag. The second game was a bit of a disaster for me as a coach, with my inability to get through to one player driving me to distraction. We have lost the last few games, but the girls are showing steady improvement, playing well and playing well together.

Gaming has been going quite well. The Greedy Little Bastards have been renewed over the last month, with old players returning to table and old friends joining the game. The characters have pulled up stakes, and at last arrived in the big city.

Work is, as usual, work. The childish behavior of adults never ceases to amaze.

Home life is good.

All in all, not so much to whine on about.

I would still like some cheese, if you please.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Ha!

In case you didn't know it, theft is the international language of politicians!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Writing

I need to focus a bit on my fiction writing, and therefore won't be posting here with anything like my usual slavish regularity.

I hope you will not mind.

I hope you will read when I do post.

Take care, and don't take any wooden nickels.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Coaching Update

Tonight, weather permitting, the third practice. I think this season will be a good one. I like the way the girls seem ready to work. With my less than stellar news of late, I look forward to these occasions even more than I usually do.

I do so love to coach, to see little ones learn and develop both the skills of play and the ethics of proper sports conduct...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Black Dogs, Great Friends

You faithful few know I've had some bad news of late. Not terrible, world-ending, I cannot go on-type news, just bad. On getting such news in the past, I have been known to let the black dogs in, that I might wallow in my self-pity with them.

This time was different. I have some problems, sure, but I also have a great kid, solid marriage and a job. Many cannot say that. Many are dealing with the rending torture of lives truly gone sideways. I recognized my bad news for what it was: something to be dealt with and processed.

Besides, after complaining about how long it took for the dish to be served, I can't very well send it back for being undercooked, can I?

Helping me through all this was the fact I also had some friends really come through for me; some with inspiring words, others with favors that have confirmed what I have long thought to be true; you just can't get through the challenges of life alone.

Peter V Brett, on hearing of the rejection, said, "It isn't over until you quit."

How very, very true.

No quitting here. Not now. Not ever.

On with the show.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Games

First game of the season today. Lots of good hope, expecting fun and a goal or three. Isabelle was sick last night, but seems fully recovered this morning. I had a little talk with the players abut respectful language and courtesy last night. I hear too many kids speaking to their parents as if they were siblings, and the parents responding in kind. I had two parents, hearing me, respond with "Yes, your hear coach Griffin?"

Tonight, Warhammer, and the Greedy Little Bastards. Two of my core players have returned after a long absence, which shall add to the entertainment value. The characters are in a recently-devastated town dominated by the soldiers of the local Graf, a grasping man of low character and ill-repute. In short; their kind of man.

And now, we're off.

Friday, April 1, 2011

All Is Right With The World!

All is in its proper place, and things are going so very well my head might explode with butterflies and rainbows.

You do know it's April 1st, don't you, fool?