Category: Blogs!

09/06 Tuesday’s Return to Routine and Finding Memories

With the end of Labor Day, it’s back to the routine of slinging letters and attempting to write in the wee hours of the night for me. None of us were particularly happy about the routine coming back (I wasn’t the only one groggy this morning; poor kids aren’t ready for coffee yet) but we’ll soon be comfortable with it again. Han forgot to keep a look out for her weather photo-request, so she asked me at the drop-off to spot a good one for posting.

“Dad, do you always know the weather?” –Han (Not really, kid, but I try my best.)

I did get some progress done with writing before I passed out at the desk. Not as much as I prefer, but I did get the new class finished. It’s still a draft and needs to be gone over and play-tested, but I’ll post it today for perusal (criticism is welcome, so let me know what needs fixing)!

Most of yesterday was spent in hyperfocused house-spouse mode, which meant that the areas I was cleaning were taken down to almost bedrock and scoured. Doing so helped me find an old, old treasure: a medallion I haven’t worn in well over 10 years.

My first RPG party members all have these, somewhere.

As I have a little extra time before the letter slinging begins, I’ll see about getting some more notes in. Namely, I want to get a Prestige Class a little more filled out.

It’s slightly infuriating that WordPress doesn’t let me keep the class table like that. It actually looks decent.

Today will also be an early day, as I have to pick up my son from his school and help him in his afternoon routine (again, he’s not happy about it, but he’s getting there), so I might, just might, get that chapter posted. My parents did say I was ambitious.

Stay safe out there, readers.

-JB Swift

09/05 Labor Day

If you’re a reader in the United States, you’re reading this on our National Holiday: Labor Day. That means that you’re most likely enjoying a day off from work. If that is true, you should thank a Union.

Union Member: “You’re welcome.”

To provide some history, we’re celebrating a tradition that became national within the U.S. in 1894 and was spearheaded by the trade unions and labor movements of that time, namely the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor.

(Yes, I’m paraphrasing from the Wikipedia article. It’s my day off; I’m allowed to be lazy)

In the modern day, at least here in the United States, unions are given a dichotomous and ironic standing with the citizenry. Growing up in a conservative state, you’d think I’d have been told to join and support unions. After all, the union is the organization of the working class to combat the predatory aims of the (stereotyping here) more educated management and company leaders.

Sadly, this is not the case. I’m considered by many of my fellow citizens to be a crazed liberal and I’m one of the few pro-union folks around in my area. This is because the last 20-30 years of workers have not been in unionized jobs, nor were they given education on why unions are important. They’ve also seen moments when a union can be turned against those people outside of the specific union, resulting in corrupt people who need to be fired being protected by the very rules and contracts meant to keep them from being fired for frivolous reasons.

It’s imperfect and frustrating.

For today, however, we thank the unions of the nation for providing us a day when the working class should be able to relax, enjoy their time with their families, and not be expected to break their backs for their bread.

For this union man, that means a ton of chores, playing with the kids, and eventually plunking away at the keyboard during the evening.

Happy Labor Day, readers. Stay safe out there.

-JB Swift

09/04 Sunday’s Notes, Chores, and Finale Aftermath

It’s morning in Louisiana and I’m still riding the high of a good RPG Arc Finale.

The story turned out as good as I could hope for, and the players were excellent in their choices and acting. Having a good team of people who actively want to help the GameMaster give them a good story is just an awesome mindset to be in. I’m going to be taking time off from the day-job soon, so I’ll be in a unofficial writing retreat to get the stories written.

But as it’s Sunday, it’s a day dedicated to house maintenance and preparing for the week ahead. If the weather holds, that also means yard work.

Yeah, that’s actually optimistic-looking weather.

I’m trying to convince myself that I can’t avoid mowing the yard if it’s possible today, but I have to admit that I just don’t want to be out there. I’ve been in the weather all week; I can focus on my indoor chores first, right?

The evening will be dedicated to notes and calculating the Field Groups’ rewards, both in experience and inventory. They also came to a consensus and asked for an additional Arc instead of a Time-Skip, so we now have 18 Arcs in the Timeline.

Arc 3 is now from 1 ABY-2 ABY, titled “Wartime Diaries”. The majority of the Group will be handling battles within the Rebellion Era of this time. I’ve planned ahead on that and have inspirational sources for reading. Namely my World War I books and “All is Quiet on the Western Front”.

Ominous? Possibly. But it’ll make for a good story, I promise.

With that, I’m off to house-spouse. Have a good Sunday, readers. Stay safe out there.

-JB Swift

09/03 Saturday Storms and Game Night

The long-anticipated Main Arc session is today, readers! For a couple hours this evening, I’ll be at my desk and talking to players across the United States, giving them scenery, dialogue, and presenting challenges for them to overcome.

So of course, there were multiple heavy storms throughout the day!

The afternoon was a mini-hurricane. View from the truck.

I managed to dodge the majority of the rain during the first part of the day, but with Louisiana, the end of a storm brings hordes of mosquitoes out of the grass. At one point, I had to tell a customer I couldn’t stop to answer her questions because “there is a cloud of mosquitoes following me and you need to get inside before they sense you.”

But then 5PM rolled around and the bottom fell out of the sky.

When I decided I’d drive to the houses and drop off mail.

With it being such a sudden storm, I was caught off-guard and drenched. I ended the shift waterlogged and freezing, which was odd all by itself with the upper-80 degree heat. I made it home, changed, saw to the kids, and am making ready for the session.

Pictured: either a very worn out mailman, or Jesus’ Northern European cousin.

With the kids asleep, food eaten, it’s time to get my notes and dice together. The Field Group is assembling and they’ll be anxious to step into the session.

Wish them luck, readers! Stay safe!

-JB Swift

09/02 Friday’s Final Preparations and Han’s Morning Sky Photo

That’s both pretty and foreboding for the mailman.

After a 2-hour stint of wakefulness at 1:45AM, I managed to get a little extra sleep before the chaos of the morning took over. After moving the recently spayed cats (man, but they do not take well to other cats after that procedure) to their preferred resting spots and getting the kids ready, we sauntered out to meet the day.

I have a feeling that Labor Day is going to be spent mostly on rest and recovery, as my body is telling me all about the various aches and pains that the past week has inflicted. The Kung Fu training is helping with that and keeping me functioning, but it’s becoming more apparent as time goes by that my 20’s are in the past.

Grumblings about physical ailments aside, it’s the day before the Main Arc session for the Star Wars Field Group. This being the Finale of the Arc, I’ve been excited about giving them a good story and nervous that it won’t be an entertaining challenge. That’s a good kind of worry, as it tells me I have good players at my table. In keeping with the timeline, I’m debating splitting Arc 2 into two half-arcs so there wouldn’t be a large time-skip. I’ll go over my notes and see what can be done.

For now, however, there’re letters to sling and a storm to outrun.

Stay safe, readers!

-JB Swift

09/01 The Beginning of Heavy Season (Plus Dogs!)

With summer over and the school year in full swing, a time period unbeknownst to non-postmen has begun: Heavy Season.

In the United States, there are a great number of National and Religious holidays in the later parts of the year, while the beginning of the following year is dedicated to Tax Season. For the postman, these two time periods are lumped into one.

The mail will double, if not triple, in volume and weight, from September to April.

I’m of two minds for the Heavy Season. In one mind, I take pride that I’m part of the system that keeps communication within the country functioning. I’m happy to be one of the people that my fellow citizens can look to when they need their letters and parcels shipped across the country.

In the other mind, damn but this part of the year is exhausting, especially with the walking route.

I’m way too tired for the evening writing, so it’ll be an early night for me. At least, I say that before I wake up an 2AM and remember to do whatever it is I need for tomorrow’s shift. Frustrating, but it’s a part of the struggling-writer life to have a day that writing just doesn’t happen. But as Friday isn’t a ‘running day’, I can pack the tablet to work and whittle away at the writing during my lunch and 10-minute breaks.

With that, I’m off to bed for a few hours. Before I go, a snapshot of the Old Men napping behind my desk chair.

One day, they’ll stop folding the rug and have more space. But not today.

Good night, readers. Stay safe.

-JB Swift

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