Month: August 2022

08/22 Monday’s Work Shenanigans and Evening Writing

I had a feeling that my supervisors were going to be upset at me for remembering that I was a career employee of over 10 years and not a new-hire that was ignorant of his rights and union backing. They barely spoke to me all morning.

Which…I mean, I fail to see the problem with that. If they leave me alone in the morning, I can actually focus on getting my mail set up for the day and be on the street quicker. Maybe they’ll figure that out someday. (Most likely not, but a man can dream)

Of course, the day job wasn’t exactly peaceful. We’ve been under heavy weather warnings, with the chance of rain being ever-present and flash-flooding an ongoing concern. It’s almost like we’ve been going through a change in climate or something…

But that’s, apparently, a fight between scientists who know what they’re doing and politicians who don’t. What I had to concern myself with was the storm clouds rolling over my head.

This was just before the rain started falling, and I admit that it’s a bit unnerving to see the clouds roll into each other and form storms so fast. The 12 miles were quiet, for all the rain and thunder, and I used my lunch break to begin work on the second Short-Arc Story for Arc 1.

I’m hoping to get this one done quickly, especially since they’re actual short stories and less than 10 pages. I might parcel this one out instead of attempting to write the entire thing out in one day. I do have another Wiki-styled article to write and post, so I’ll focus on getting that done first for the night before I make my evening attempt.

With that, I’m off to plunk away at this keyboard until I get knocked out by my own exhaustion.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/22 Late Sunday’s Updates, and Missing the Deadline by 10 minutes

I was so close.

I told myself this morning, after getting the kids ready to go visit with their grandparents, that I would get a Side-Arc finished by the end of the day. All I had for the Side-Arc was half a page of notes, but I had the story fixed in my mind and knew where I wanted it to go. I wanted to have it finished for Sunday’s posting, knowing I had also planned to have a characters’ wiki article posted.

The article was finished in about an hour, and then I went to work at crafting a Side-Arc short story. All day, every moment I could find, I typed away. I made it to less than 2 paragraphs to go and it was 11:40PM.

Then sleep came up and slapped me upside the head. I woke up at 12:15AM.

That’s … incredibly frustrating.

But it is written, and I have it posted, as well as the Wiki Article from this morning.

Side-Arc: Beak “Puppet Strings”
Orada Termins

I’ll set it up properly in the Timeline, and then I’m going to get to bed. I expect my supervisors will be highly annoyed with me for managing to get the weekend with them unable to say otherwise, so Monday’s going to be … fun.

Good night and stay safe, readers. I’ll see you in the morning at sunrise.

-JB Swift

PS~ The Old Men were also asleep in the room, and I just had to get a quick picture of them.

You’re welcome.

08/20 Saturday’s Day Off, Han’s Dragon, and Tonight’s Session! (And Dogs!)

I haven’t seen a scheduled Saturday off since…checks notes…June? Maybe May?

I’ve had to put in leave for a Saturday here or there, but those were extremely busy Saturdays that needed me around. Today is a free day, as in I can finally tackle the list of things I’ve been needing to do for the last few weeks.

So of course, I’ll be handling those chores, being the present father, and attempting to write, all at the same time! I never said I was exactly sane.

The 6yr saw a brief introduction to the world of RPG storytelling and writing earlier this morning, as she peered at the various books and notepaper on my desk. “Dad, what’s all this?” she asked. She knows that the dice are meant for something I do when I have my headset on, and she knows I tell stories, but hasn’t made the connections yet.

“You know that book you got from the Book Fair?” I asked, pointing at the ‘Making a Creature Encounter’. “The Dungeons & Dragons book that talks about monsters for storytelling?” She nodded.

“I have several of those books,” I said, “but sometimes I can’t find a monster I want the heroes to fight. So,” I gestured at all the papers, “I make them myself.”

Her eyes were wide with astonishment. “You can make a monster for your story?”

“When I need to,” I said. She looked at the pictures in the open books. “Are you making a dragon?”

I nodded. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to use it in my stories soon,” I said, “but I want one to be in the story in case the heroes come across it.” She was disappointed when she realized that making a monster was mostly math, but she was intrigued by the kind of monster I was thinking of. I told her she’ll be ready to start playing in about a year, if she can get a better grasp of rules and quick-math. She’s frighteningly smart already; just gets too excited and stops thinking, sometimes.

The Main Arc Session is tonight! The players have been asking good questions and planning things out. With this session, we’ll be beginning the Arc Finale.

Looks at Sidewinder Story pages…really need to get on that. I’ll need to reset my writing list and set my priorities.

While I’ll be plunking away at the keyboard, I have these two lummoxes to keep me company.

Jojo, on the right, lost a lot of weight during the summer, just as we finally got Casey back to a healthy-looking size. So, we’ll be cutting down on Casey’s feeding (only 2X the normal amount instead of 3) and tripling Joe’s food amounts. I’d say I was worried, but as I also stay outside most of the day (and lost nearly 40 pounds or 18 kilos since April) I’m in the same boat as the Old Man.

Happy Saturday, readers!

-JB Swift

08/19 Friday’s Day Off, Offer of Power, and Family History

It happens once every six weeks, if I’m lucky. Or if the supervisor is glared at hard enough during scheduling by the Union Stewards to remember to follow the regulations instead of personal pettiness.

But it happened this time, and I get a weekend off! A whole three days without a 12-15 mile (19-24 kilometer for any metric readers) walk in the heat and weather, or having to navigate the social morass that is office politics while being the awkward introvert.

Unfortunately, a downside to working 60-hour weeks is that when you do manage to get time off, you have to cram everything else into the little time you have. So, we’re off to run errands throughout the state (because of course, you can’t have everything in your little town) after dropping off the kids.

They’re starting to get involved with my postings. The 4yr pointed up at the cloud formation and said “Dad, take a picture!” So, that’s for all of you.

Last night’s writing attempts were interrupted by two things: exhaustion and a conversation with the local union steward. He replaced me after I had suffered burnout from holding that post for 2 years. I can’t stay that angry all the time and I’m just not skilled with verbal conversation. That makes grievance negotiations…annoying. But I give him advice when he texts me and explain organizational matters.

I wasn’t expecting that conversation to end with him saying bluntly “Why aren’t you the Local President?”

Eh…because that’s terrifying? I don’t want that kind of power and I’ve never pursued it. But we’re down a President, and the Steward is asking what we need to bring in the younger workers, and my organizing brain couldn’t help but rattle off what we’d need.

So…yeah, he’s wanting to put me on the ballot. Just putting that on the list. The exhaustion from the day-job knocked me out at my desk, soon after.

The morning was greeted by new information on an old project: genealogy. There was an email from Ancestry letting me know that my previous research had brought up a possible relative.

This is the furthest I’ve gone down the family’s timeline, and with him I have two other possible relatives that’ll get me into the 1500’s. One of these days, we’ll have to travel to Sandwich, MA and see the place where my family tree started in the US.

With that, I’ll be whittling away at my writing throughout the day. I’ve found two short stories in the Sidewinder Stories that need editing and posting. They’ll help tie everything together and explain things that the players were wondering about. Then it’ll be final prep-work for tomorrow’s Main Arc session.

Now, let’s see if I can actually get all that done!

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/18 Thursday Storms and Looking Ahead

The kids are always startled when they wake up to a storm in the morning. They’re also starting to get protective of their postal-working father. “Dad, it’s raining. Do you have a rain coat or umbrella?”

Looking out from the porch, I tell them to not worry about me, though I don’t mention that my rain gear has since fallen apart due to age and overuse. “I’ll be fine, kids. I’ve walked in worse.”

They worry enough as it is, but it heartens the 6yr old. Ever since discovering the American Tall Tales, she’s said that I was one of those legendary figures. “Dad can walk 12 miles in a storm no not get his feet wet!” she said to the teacher at drop off, this morning. The 4yr old son pats at my shirt as we leave and says “You walk in the rain but you’re never wet!”

Best believe I’m going to hold on to that. They’ll be teenagers soon enough and realize that their dad is just some goofy weirdo, but for now, I’m a legend.

Of course, the morning storm does remind me to check the weather report for the upcoming days.

Sigh…somehow I got to keep my feet dry through all of that, or the myth is broken. Something to think about.

On the way in, I told the 6yr to keep an eye on the sky and track the storm. It’s something you pick up on when your work environment is *gestures at the world around myself* and keeping an eye on the sky helps when you want to know when the storm will break.

She pointed at the cloud formation while we sat in the drop-off line and said, “Dad, the storm will break there!” She’s right, but she doesn’t know how she knows it, yet. She’s got good instincts.

Annoyingly, it’s also a good day for writing, but it’s a work day, made tougher with the news that I’ll be working on another route that is also walking. Hopefully, I’ll catch a few spots of quiet to get my notes down.

With that, it’s time to sling letters and somehow keep my feet dry in the storm.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/17 “Cheers, Old Friend. We Still Miss You.”

It’s been a year to the day since my best friend died. I’ve gone through the day with some quiet contemplation while enjoying my memories. There are still moments that are jarring to me: I’ll think I see him walking up when I visit one of our mutual places like the downtown coffee shop, or I’ll hear someone use a phrase from history that he liked to use in conversation, or I’ll be excited about something I’ve written for an upcoming session and reach for my phone to call him over.

These moments occur and I have my short moment of realization, confrontation, misery, and acceptance. They haven’t decreased but my acceptance of them has grown. Simple time has been the greatest aid to this acceptance, but reaching out to mutual friends has made the burden a great deal lighter.

I’ve thought about how I’d write this. It’s my comfort and shelter when handling rough emotions, and missing a dead friend is right up there with ‘rough emotions’. At first, I wanted to give it a sense of professionalism, a sign that I’ve grown as a writer and presentor.

I immediately scrubbed that idea. It needed to be short, flowery, and showing emotional vulnerability. That’s not to show a sign of growth, but because it would have been what Brady wanted. He would have wanted the above paragraphs because he would have laughed in genuine amusement and quietly be humbled that he was so well thought of. He would have mocked me mercilessly for it, and I would have enjoyed seeing my friend in such high spirits.

So, to get back at Brady by making him uncomfortable: to all you readers of sufficient age, a toast!

Here’s to Brady, the Commodore. You’ve been gone from us for a year, little brother. We miss you and will never forget you. Just know that, if you’re wrong about heaven and your soul is up there, I’m flipping you off as you would do for all of us.

You were my best friend, Brady. You were an acerbic ass and malicious mocker of verbal missteps, and I miss you.

Cheers, readers.

-JB Swift

8/17 Late for Tuesday’s Sunrise and Page Updates

The weather app kept saying that local sunrise was at 6:37, and I went wandering out of the house five minutes after, cranky and caffeinated.

A downside to living in a low-elevation rural area is that you know when the weather can make for a good photo, only you’re surrounded by towering pine trees. But you get what moments you can.

There’s some updates to the RPG site! Also, an interesting consequence: adding a new sport to that universe. It took some editing and seeking advice from other GameMasters, but I’ve added a new Character Biography page that details the Lady Sandhawk’s Chief Engineer (his early life, at least), Pilzuche Ozz.

https://swiftscorner.wordpress.com/pilzuche-ozz/

What I wasn’t expecting to develop from that is the need to add two new items on the “RPG Wiki” list: Ghetrek’d, a version of rugby, and the Kera-Mata, an interpretation of the Māori war dance, the haka. I’ll add more details over time, and I’m keenly interested in exploring the concept. But now that Ozz is on the site, I’m going back to the Adventure 2 writing.

With that, it’s time I clocked in and started slinging letters. Hopefully I’ll be done before the storm hits.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

08/16, Tuesday’s Teachings and Site Maintenance (Plus, a Route Cat!)

As you can see, I’m trying an addition to my post titles, but I don’t think I’ll ever resist the temptation of alliteration. It’s an odd little comfort in my writing.

Also as you can see, I’m handling a bit of teaching at the day-job today. Decades ago, a new-hire was given a full month of training/semi-apprenticeship. We’d learn how to sort the mail, maintain our address books, and develop the physical endurance needed to function as a postal worker.

Nowadays, there’s a week of class and three days of riding with a veteran carrier, then you learn the rest while on the job. I don’t approve of the modern training method, and I’m known for making sure that our new folks are given as much information as possible. Up to and including having the new-hire take written notes, and of course, letting them know they are free to ask questions.

There’ll be writing opportunities throughout the day, and I’ll be working on the site later, as well. Now that the schedule is posted, it’s apparently not fitting properly in the window. Because why should it work correctly the first time?

But I’ll figure it out and fix it in all good time. For now, it’s getting the 6yr ready for Kung Fu class and some quiet note-taking.

To finish out today’s post, I present to you: this route cat!

I can’t help but empathize with the cat. I’m usually ready for a nap when I’m walking by this mailbox, too.

Stay safe, readers.

-JB Swift

Sunday Yard Work, Page Posting, and Event Set-Up (Fixed)

Welp, apparently this post was supposed to go up on Sunday, but due to technical problems (I’m the technical problem), it only posted half and waited until Monday morning. Frustrating, as I was finally getting a daily posting habit down. But I’ll get it fixed and we’ll restart the posting numbers. So, here’s Sunday’s posting, readers:

When you work your day-job for 6 days a week, you have to accept that there will be chores you just can’t get to until Sunday.

Apparently, one of those chores should not be mowing the dog yard when Louisiana rain is almost daily. Went outside in the morning to see patches of grass so tall, I couldn’t see the corgi. Started to tackle it with the push mower, but the yard overwhelmed the humble battery-powered machine. Instead, I took out the weed-eater and went at it with the motions of scythe.

Took over an hour (found ant piles and killed them, found dog poop and cleared it) but the yard looks presentable and no longer like a hostel for snakes.

Now, why there are some patches where the grass withered when right next to them were candidates for a jungle, I have no idea. Gardening, I know, but apparently not grass management. Next on the list will be trimming the bushes down into a hedge. It’s an ongoing project for this exhausted postman.

But I did get some writing in, as well. I finally started my Postal Living page, and hopefully I can stick to my goal of having an essay written for a Sunday posting. Might need to go back over the first one, though. It reads more grumpy than amused (never write when annoyed, folks), so it’ll get some attention this week.

Made progress on Adventure 2, and it’s coming along better than last time. Who knew that having your source material in the correct file would be the thing you need when you’re obsessed about documents being in the right place? I’ve set for that to be posted by this Friday, so let’s see if I can meet that goal. I’ve also started work on more character pages, as well as updating the current ones as players read them over and realize they had background notes they never gave me. *exasperated sigh*

I’ve also figured out how to set up the Session Schedule! It’s on the menu for the Star Wars RPG selection at the top of the site.

Happy Sunday, readers!

-JB Swift