Month: August 2022

08/31 Wednesday Routines and Yesterday’s Storms

Man, but Louisiana weather is tricky.

Every morning, we go over the weather reports and try to plan accordingly. The kids are always interested in this part as they watch me set up my gear for whichever kind of possible-disaster the day will bring.

But none of us were ready for the storm to suddenly roll in. At least they’re inside during the day while I do the postman thing and walk through it.

The last blue patch before the rain.

The evening didn’t fair much better. There were a few hours reprieve before the second storm front showed up.

Well, that’s worrisome.

The kids don’t much like thunderstorms and are somewhat stunned that I don’t notice them. I like to think it’s adding to the legends Han is building around me before she becomes a teenager and learns that her dad is just a goofball with a manual labor career.

But hey, today’s report called for clear skies! Now, let’s see if that turns out to be true.

It’s another Writing Night as the Main Arc session draws nearer. I’m hoping to get Votosh’s article finished this evening, but I promised myself it’d be a draft until the player has looked it over and gave his criticisms.

Time to sling letters, folks. It’s looking to be a 15-mile day.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/30 Tuesday’s Mad Dashes

I walk and lift for a living.

On a typical day, the mail route is 12 miles long with about 50-60 pounds (22.6-27.2 kilograms) in the mail satchel slung over my shoulder. The route was (supposedly) set up to be 8 hours worth of work so I’d get a full day’s pay.

On Tuesday and Thursday every week, I handle the route in 6. The Postmaster calls it “Swift’s Running Days”.

This is because the family needs me home at a decent time on those days. Either to get the kids from after-school care, or to take Han to her Kung Fu training. Much to my supervisors’ annoyance, I refuse to be a part of the social patriarchy, in that it’s commonly accepted that the father is meant to be working while their mother handles the child-rearing.

I refuse. A consequence to that is I have to hurry twice a week if I want this to happen, as the supervisor is unsympathetic. I still manage to get 60 hours every week, so I’m always exhausted by 8:15PM.

But we got through the day, and Han went through her evening of training. Ben talked nonstop about his new friends at his school (he may look like me but he definitely get his social charms from his mother), and the kids went to bed.

So began the nighttime writing routine! Had to get the finishing details for the Main Arc session down (there are some story aspects that the RPG books didn’t cover, so had to map out the math) and work on Votosh’s Wiki article. The player gave me artistic license to make his background essay into a biography format, so I’ve been filtering the essay in an outline and putting in notes that line up with his species’ culture and the timeline.

I’m debating whether or not to give the Wiki article-writing to the players as a challenge, with Experience Points and Extra Credits as the rewards. My folks always did say I’d make a good teacher.

I got as far as I could before my biphasic sleep pattern started to kick in, but it’s time I slept for at least three hours. I’ll handle a chore in the interim and get back to bed.

Good night, readers. Stay safe.

-JB Swift

08/29 Monday’s Overtime, Han’s Cloud Photo Request, and Possible Doctor Visit

With the grogginess that only seems to hit when I have to go in and work an off-day, I packed up my satchel with the tablet and water jug, confirmed I was indeed wearing uniform pants (went once while wearing jeans, fun times), and got my Irish non-existent ass to the office.

Thanks to the biphasic sleep pattern, I woke up at the latest I have in a while (2AM) and couldn’t get back to sleep until 3:30. There was a debate on if I should’ve just stayed up the rest of the night, but I figured another hours’ rest would do me good.

Of course, I forgot that during Sunday’s yard work, I got stung by something in the collarbone. I was reminded when I laid back down that whatever it was, I was probably allergic to it. I’ve done what home treatments I could for it, but I’ll most likely be stopping by the doctor’s office while out slinging letters and asking for a shot. Lucky for me, his office is right next to the route and also family, so the visit will be quick.

I’m slightly disappointed in myself for not getting the Votosh Wiki page written up and posted, but I had to go over it a few times. As a consequence to having good players in an RPG campaign, the character has a lot of material in his background and personality. I wrote up a draft with how I thought the material should be organized, read it, and realized that I was going to have to outline everything and talk to the player. But with that done, I’ll be able to fly through writing the second draft. I did fix Taran’s page, though.

Han made a request during the school drop-off that I get a picture of the cloud formation this morning. “Put it on the blog, Dad!” she said, and I’m obliging.

She’s got a good eye for the sky, though. Altocumulus clouds, according to the Internet.

It’s looking to be a very long day out here on the routes, but I’ll still try to find time to whittle away at the writing, plus I’ve scheduled out DM Writing Nights for the week up to the Main Arc Session on Saturday.

Time to sling letters and add miles to my feet. Stay safe, readers.

-JB Swift

08/27 Saturday’s Weather Shenanigans, Reading Choices, and Caffeinated Writing Night

I’ve had to accept that, as a native Louisianan, I’d be dealing with daily storms and inclement weather. That said, it’s gotten monotonous over the past week, keeping an eye on the storms as they roll by overhead and wondering which one was going to drop a deluge on the mail route.

This morning, just before I was forced to sit under a porch for 8 minutes and wait out the rain

But with the day-job done, the family asleep, and my own sleep-cycle being off track due to not thinking about having that cup of coffee so late, I’m able to have a rare night of able-to-stay-awake writing! This will, of course, probably jinx me and my sleep schedule will knock me out in about an hour.

Until then, there’re articles and stories to write!

Along with that, I’m debating what books to have for next weeks’ lunchtime decompression. While I usually reserve that time for new books and authors (I’m not an ARC reader, but I support new authors however I can) I’ve been wanting to go through my Expanded Universe collection again.

So, the question: which book should I read?

Both of these books hit hard emotionally, so either way I’m looking at a week of being riveted and ignoring the customers who ignore the “I’m on Lunch” sign in the postal trucks’ window. I’ll figure it out by tomorrow.

Now, if I do manage to stay awake and alert, I’m wanting to write out the Wiki Article for one of the Main Group character: Votosh Khall. He’s in “A Long Lost Puzzle” if you want to refresh your memory. His perspective is shown here. Obviously, I can’t write about what happens to him later than Adventure 1 for the moment, so it’ll be a short article. If I’m really lucky, I might even get the second Short-Arc finished and ready for posting tomorrow. That’d be pretty ambitious, but I personally enjoy this particular Side-Arc, for reasons you will see when it’s posted.

With that, I’m going to finish the coffee and plunk away at my keyboard before I get slapped upside the head by my sleep schedule.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/25 Late Night Wiki Updates

While I’m awake during the biphasal sleep pattern, I’ve updated one of the Wiki Articles!

https://swiftscorner.wordpress.com/wrrlporrin/

I’m particularly proud of this one, as it’s helping set up several Side-Arc writings in the future.

It’s probably high-time I sought my bed, however, and went through the second phase of my sleep pattern. See you in the morning, readers! Stay safe.

-JB Swift

08/23 “Weather Warnings”

…cackles in US Postman…

Excuse me while I drive an overgrown hamster cage into the flood zones to bring people their letters and parcels.

Just gonna accept that I’ll have wet socks all day. Don’t tell the 6yr old, or she’ll realize her dad is not, in fact, an American Tall Tale.

Y’all be safe, readers, because I sure won’t be.

-JB Swift

08/23 Tuesday: Management’s Revenge and Catching Up on Postings

Note: I wanted to give today’s post the title “The Supervisor Strikes Back” but as they couldn’t get around the union rules today, they couldn’t make my life difficult today. Don’t worry, they will eventually, and that corny title will be used. I have that much faith in management.

That said, ever since I’ve become a postal worker, I’ve decided I’d never take another job if that new career lacked a union. Having grown up in Louisiana’s “right to work” employment system, I’m well aware that management will try, and often gets away with, pushing employees through hell and back to meet their high (unrealistic) demands. Having a union at my back protects me from the majority of their abuses, and for those they still attempt, I keep an eye out for and call them out on.

With it being a half-day (the kids need their dad and I will be there for them, by thunder) I should be able to catch up on the writing I began last evening. In a completely surprising turn of events, I fell asleep before the writing was complete.

I know you’re surprised, readers.

But I had made significant progress before the sleep cycle shut me down unexpectedly, so it shouldn’t take too long to finish. Now that I’ve learned a little more about maintaining formats between my writing program and this website, the pages should start looking cleaner and I’ll start obsessing over the older pages and wanting to fix them.

And it wouldn’t be a proper shift at the day job without being caught at the far end of a walking mail route by a sudden rainstorm.

Yay…

And the storms will be rolling through for the rest of the day. With 4 dogs who hate thunder, and 2 kids starting to understand what thunder is, it’ll be an interesting evening at the Swift House. Sidenote: the cats don’t really care about the weather; they just nap through everything.

With that, I’m off for evening chores. Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift