Month: April 2024

04/30/2024 Half Day and Study Day

There was an attempt to attend Kung Fu class!

But after one stretch to see how I was recovering, I was told that it was a “scholarly day”. History and philosophy lessons concerning Seven Star Praying Mantis.

There was also a bit of quiet where I followed the instructions of my Jow Gows (Black Sash Students) and made my “list” of the forms I knew from memory.

Yes, my handwriting is awful.

The ambitious side of me wants to add to this list, but I made a promise to myself that I would take the time to learn, so it’ll be slow-going.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

04/29/2024 Morning Mailman Martial Arts

My Sunday post had to be moved to Drafts, as it was going from a post about Classic Sci-Fi to an essay comparing Fallout’s Minutemen to US Civil Service. I’ll get both versions posted.

For Monday, it’s shenanigans at the office! My start-time was moved 15 minutes, much to the annoyance of supervisors and senior coworkers alike. Nobody likes that I put my family first in my decisions.

So, in typical fashion, I’m now “early” and am using the time to practice!

Seven Star Praying Mantis on the docks. What’s sad is that I blanked completely on this particular form, so I’m having to go over it without my stances until I can remember the movements correctly.

Just to keep telling the people here that I am an odd one. But it’s time to sort letters and brave the storms.

Stay safe out there, people.

-JB Swift

04/28/2024 Weekly Classic Book

Post was moved to Drafts and published on Monday after a bit of indecision. Apologies for the confusion in your emails.

I’ve been getting into the habit of picking out something to read in my quieter moments (they do happen, I swear) for two reasons:

1: It’s good for me to see what styles were popular and how to learn from them.

2: I have all these books collecting dust, and that bothers me to no end.

For this week, I’m going to one of my pile that for some reason, people around me forget was a book before two shows were made for it: Battlestar Galactica.

Pulled this image from the Internet. My copy is rather worn.

I’m not strong in telling stories about AI, robots, and similar tropes, but this will be a fascinating setting to revisit. I haven’t read this book since I was about thirteen or so years old, though I have carried my copy around all these years.

I know that the shows will affect my biases, but I want to step into this story with as open a mind as I can bring. I think to reflect this, I’ll write a short review on Saturday.

Maybe it’ll be a routine that sticks! Let’s see…

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

04/27/2024 Return to Game Day!

After a month of delays, depressions, and schedule mishaps, we’re finally gathering around the metaphorical game table for an evening of dice and shenanigans!

Sigh. It feels good to be ‘home’.

Now, with the damaged vocal cords (yes, I’ve been through the ringer lately) and my voice being that of Batman on a time limit, I don’t know how well I will be able to act.

But damn if I don’t try.

Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

04/26/2024 Slow Recoveries

It was a joke among my group of childhood friends that “Swift’s got to have some healing factor” when we were younger. An injury that would normally put someone off their feet for weeks wouldn’t slow me down after a couple days.

As I barrel towards my 40s and wince on every inhale (pulled muscle), I think it’s all caught up with me.

Gonna be a night of ice packs and whimpering, folks. Stay safe out there.

-JB Swift

04/25/2024 New Uniform

When your postal customers live in one of the roughest driving neighborhoods and think you need a wardrobe update, it might be time to retire the old shirts and hat.

Of course, I never pass on an excuse for a new hat!

…I like my hats.

Time to find out if the physical therapy has helped the pulled muscles recover any before I do something else that’d be considered stupid…such as getting the training rings for my next set of Kung Fu forms.

Yes, I thought for the longest that these were just for Shang-Chi in the Marvel Comics, and also yes, I want them now that I know they exist.

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift

04/24/2024 Site Work!

If you take a look around the place, you’ll no doubt notice that some changes have been made to the appearance and layout of my little corner. And you’d be right!

Firstly: when I put this site together in the beginning, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I didn’t realize until I went back through a few essays that navigating this place could be a headache for everyone who doesn’t know how I organize things. That made it comfortable for me, but that’s not the point of having a website to show off my work.

Secondly: a subscriber messaged me and asked if I could fix a few things, after I reminded her that she pays me for the content I put up, so her opinion carries legitimate weight.

Ahhh, capitalism. A great idea; just needs strict ethics following it around.

Thirdly: some of the stuff here was just old or was hindering me from publishing. I had to take down a couple short stories that I was trying to submit to a magazine here and there, after realizing that they couldn’t publish anything if I had already put a copyright here. So, I had played myself from getting my name out there by actively protecting myself. Go figure.

A consequence of this was, as you’ve noticed, that a lot of my pages and links are either down or under construction. That’s because as I’m learning, some aspects of the template here are also being updated or restructured. Note to the subscriber: don’t feel guilty that I have more work to do, it really needs to be done.

I’ll be fixing things up and setting them back up in the top menu (had to figure out why I lost a whole damn menu option yesterday; that was frustrating) over time and after consulting with my subscriber. If any of you, readers, spot something that you wanted fixed or just put back up, let me know!

It feels very mercenary of me to mention, but if you donate or subscribe, I’m kinda obligated to listen to you.

My Personal pages and the primary page for the Sidewinder Stories should be active, and the Search Bar can help you find something that doesn’t have an active link. I’m now off to write a little more in the sci-fi story and the SWRPG novel. And to message my players so I can set up my next sessions. And also talk to the artist who’s coming into the campaign.

It only sounds overwhelming until I remember that I can type really fast. Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

04/23/2024 Half-Day and Remembering to Not be Self-Critical

There was little to no writing last evening, and in light of my recent experiences, I’m telling myself that that is okay.

I’ve had a fiercely strong hypocritical streak in me for a long time: telling other writers to not be so harsh on themselves when I am my own worst critic and mean coach. I couldn’t (and still can’t, really) stand it when I am making towards bed or turning on a game without having made just a little progress in one writing project or another.

But as my wife, several friends, and I, myself have said in the past: “You’ll get there, one day.”

So, stumbling through the door after a 10hr shift and tumbling the kids into their beds, I debated taking out the tablet and beginning what the 7yr calls “Dad’s night-work” of pummeling across the keyboard in hopes of coherent sentences.

I knew I wanted to progress in the story (something that might be an essay later on if I don’t first talk to the psychologist friend about it) but my belly was screaming at me, there were dishes that needed cleaning, and honestly, I needed sleep more than I needed answers.

A weird twist for a nerd, I know. I did make a note that I’d use the half-day today to work on my outlines and the SWRPG story, and fought off the nagging self-chastisement that was haunting me as I staggered to bed.

Sometimes, you need a real night off that isn’t executive dysfunction.

Stay safe out there, folks! Don’t forget to take care of yourself along the way.

-JB Swift