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Oh, lookie at that, I've just discovered that I have a goal for the Vampire game... :)

*taps fingers together, Mr. Burns style*

EXCELLENT!

Labels: emerald chronicles, gaming

:: Dawn 10:00 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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First off, I'm not sure I like these new cake Oreo things, whatever the heck they're called. We kept seeing commercials for them, so we decided that we needed to try them. I am not impressed. Give me my Little Debbie Fudge Rounds instead. :)

In gaming news, I'd say right now that I'm 2 for 3. Scion on Friday was fabulous as always. Changeling was also fun. Vampire, I didn't have as much fun with, oddly enough.

I suspect that the first part of the problem was running around like a crazy person before the game, trying to change my clothes in the car, and then getting a phone call from Jerome that I couldn't take, because I was 4 floors underground. On top of that, I forgot to eat dinner, so I was a bit hungry. And then I was feeling like I was going to pass out or throw up, followed by feeling like I was freezing. So all in all, I wasn't in the greatest shape for an outdoor game. Oh, and there was no where to sit, other than the ground. :(

Also, the game itself seems a bit insular, a lot like the first OWBN game I ever went do. Jerome was whisked away by his fellow Malkavians within moments of getting in game (and he had fun with them), but it took me a good half hour before I found any Toreador to approach. One of the older Toreador then pawned me off on another brand new Toreador, and we had fun chatting, but I really didn't feel like I was doing much. I think the big size of the game really contributes to that--in a smaller game, there are so few people and so much to do that everyone can find something to do. In a big game, a few people take care of stuff, and leave everyone else to socialize... which they then do in small groups that don't welcome newcomers. Argh.

At any rate, next time, I'm going to bring chairs and wear more clothes. The chairs may have the unintended effect of rooting me to one conversation, but perhaps I can put them in a good spot. :) Oh, and I gotta remember to eat. :) (And maybe bring my iPod, just in case I really can't find anyone to talk to...)
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Labels: emerald chronicles, gaming, scion

:: Dawn 2:08 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Jarrod comes through with a wonderful quote, so we DO have End of the Work Week Wisdom!

"Summary of summary: wizzurds wants ur monay."
--Jarrod, on D&D 4th edition

In case you hadn't heard about the above, yes, Wizards of the Coast is going to be releasing D&D 4th edition. Because geeks didn't already have enough to spend their hard-earned parents' whatever money on. :)
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Labels: end of the work week wisdom, gaming

:: Dawn 4:45 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Ah, only my sister... Megan just called me to get directions to the Lemp Mansion. She's apparently driving around in St. Louis with Dad, and called me to see if I knew how to get there. Of course, I had no clue, but I did have the powers of the interwebz, so I got them directions. Go me! :)

(Oh, hey, now it makes sense... Dad's birthday is Sunday... that's why she's in St. Louis! :) )

Tis Friday, and I am happy. :) Scion tonight, Changeling and Vampire LARPs tomorrow night. w00t and such! :) Aside from that, I have a bunch of writing to do, and perhaps I should work on some crafty stuff at some point. Perhaps. :)

In the meantime, though, it is the birthday of one of my co-workers today, and she is ordering in a massively huge lunch for the office, involving all sorts of tastiness. I am sure I will be stuffed at lunch, and then eat more in the afternoon before I go home. :) Today is also Aiden's birthday (my friend Assie's son), though he will not be giving me lunch or any other meal. It's okay, he's only 2. :)

I haven't done End of the Work Week Wisdom in entirely too long, and I don't have any great ideas at the moment, so I'll leave you without it for this week. I'm hoping to get back in the habit again soonishly, however. :)
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Labels: birthdays, emerald chronicles, family, gaming, scion

:: Dawn 10:48 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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So I realized yesterday that I neglected to mention my new blog: Shop Etsy. It's a site for me to cross-post a series of articles that I'm writing for AC about Etsy shops. So far, I've been mainly doing this for people who are in the EtsyRain street team, but I am going to expand out to cover pretty much anyone who is interested in having me feature them. Might be a while before I can get to everyone, but I'll do it eventually. :)

Oddly, I've probably been spending more time working on this than actual crafts lately. Between writing these articles and starting on writing my character backgrounds for all of the new games that I've found, I don't have much time to work on crafty stuff. Things get better on the weekends, though, when I have a bit more free time. Last night, I seriously just wrote and worked on character stuff--though I did get to have a bit of creative time when I made the "deluxe" CD cover for my Scion character's band, Gleipnir.

Other than that, I've got a new pair of armwarmers in the works that I am keeping for myself, and then I will start working on more armwarmers and hats to add to my Etsy shop. It's about time to start thinking of such things, in the crafting world. I suspect folks who read this and are having 100+ degree temperatures would disagree with me, but trust me... it's time to start working on fall stuff. :)
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Labels: crafts, etsy, gaming, scion, writing

:: Dawn 9:52 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Yes, that's right, the ScaryWhiteGirl is headed back into a LARP, from the depths of which she is never likely to fully return... :)

Okay, so I will actually return from the LARP, but yay!squee!w00t!, I found us a LARP. Or six.

At the Abney Park show on Saturday night, I got many compliments on my goggles, which are a fabulous pair of Russian goggles that I picked up on eBay. They are simply lovely. :) But anyway, the first person to compliment me on my goggles was standing fairly nearby me, chatting with another girl who was going to the show, and though I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, once I heard the words "Vanish from the Mind's Eye," they had my undivided attention. As soon as they reached a lull in their conversation, I blurted out "LARP or table top?", to which they responded "LARP."

HURRAH! :) The conversation then sped up to a mile a minute as I started pulling details out of the both of them. As it turns out, Emerald City Chronicles is the Camarilla Vampire game under the umbrella of the Emerald Chronicles. Said umbrella keeps five different games out of the rain... and they're all old World of Darkness! HURRAH! :)

The sixth game, as mentioned above, is actually the guy's Firefly LARP, to which I was invited, but sadly had to decline. Jerome's work schedule is a little bit unstable at the moment (which may bode poorly for the Scion game), and I think it will make my life a whole lot easier if I only go to games that are in relatively close proximity to home. Yes, the buses go everywhere in this city, but I've heard that they are odd on the east side of Lake Washington, and, well, that's where said Firefly game plays.

The EC games, on the other hand, are at UW, which is not too far at all from where we live. And oh my. Are there ever games. From 6-9 p.m., there are three games to choose from: Sabbat, Mage, or Changeling. Trust me, that is not an easy decision for me. And from 10 p.m.-2 a.m., there are two games to choose from: Camarilla or Werewolf. Gah! Again!

Right now, I'm going with Changeling in the early slot, and Camarilla in the late slot. What I think I like most about this is that if I decide that one or the other (or both) aren't my style, I have a few other games to try out to see how they fit. But I think I'm gonna like the two that I chose. The Cam game STs have been very quick to respond to my questions, and that makes me a very happy camper.

More on this later, I'm sure. :)
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Labels: emerald chronicles, gaming, old world of darkness, vampire

:: Dawn 10:12 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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It's the week that never ends... it just goes on and on... okay, I'll stop now. :)

Last Wednesday was the first meetup for the Seattle Etsy folks, which was a blast. Of course, this also meant that I didn't get a whole lot done. So Thursday night was spent getting ready for all of the events over the weekend, as was Friday night.

Saturday was the supply swap at Marlo's house, which was a lot of fun, despite the increasingly warm weather. I took a bunch of fabric, patterns, and other things I couldn't use, and came home with yarn, lots of nifty bits and bobs for steampunk costumes, and a lovely purple bound sketchbook (full size!) for me. I still can't draw, but that doesn't stop me from having a sketchbook. :)

After running home from that, it was time to go to our first Scion game. I still haven't entirely read the mechanics, but I am getting the hang of it pretty quickly. Unfortunately, we got into combat fairly late in the evening, and I botched my "join combat" roll, which meant that I didn't get to do my super kewl manuever that I had thought up. Ah well. Maybe next time. :)

So we got home from that close to midnight, and then I had to be up at 6 a.m. to get ready for the Fremont Market, where some of the Seattle Etsy people were vending. We ended up with 10 of us sharing two booths, which really worked out fairly nicely. Despite the heat and the relative lack of sales, I had a pretty good time chatting with the other sellers and a few customers. I'm still waiting to see if any more sales come out of the event, but I'm hopeful. I know I got my name out there, and we also got Etsy's name out there. So that was good.

Of course, I couldn't veg out when I got home from that, but rather had to work on photographing new items and such, and I didn't get to bed till my usual time. I'm really paying for it today at work, because I'm dragging big time. It doesn't help matters any that our office manager is on vacation, so I'm covering for her as well as doing my own work. It's been a bit hectic today, due to that. But it's calmed down now, so I'm unwinding a bit before heading home... to do more stuff...

I think I will definitely be trying to make time for a nice bath tonight though. *crossing fingers*
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Labels: crafts, etsy, gaming, scion, Seattle, work

:: Dawn 6:21 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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And now, some thoughts on Scion. :)

As to a little background information, Jerome is actually the one who discovered this game, I believe on our one and only trip to Barnes & Noble since we have arrived. That store is a dangerous place for people who like books, so we avoid it. :) At any rate, he found the game, thought it looked neat, and I was half inclined to agree with him. Only half inclined, mind you, because I generally haven't liked what White Wolf has done with their newer games.

I think Scion has changed my mind. Granted, I haven't really looked at the mechanical aspects of the game yet, and I may find that they are simply maddening, but as for the background behind the game, and the general feel of the game, I think White Wolf has a winner. In my book, at least, which ought to count for something, if you ever think about how much money I have spent on that company's products. (I try not to. It just makes me depressed. :) )

The basic premise of the game is that all of the old "pagan" gods are still around, and occasionally come to Earth to... ummmm... propogate... yeah, that's a good way to put it. And the offspring of a god and a mortal is a Scion. So depending upon who your character's divine parent is, he or she will have all sorts of nifty powers and inclinations. My character, for example, is a daughter of Tyr. She's going to be a politically active rock singer, championing such causes as gender and racial equality--in other words, justice for all. :)

My only complaint about the game so far is this: Scion: Hero is the first in a series of three books. It only covers character advancement up to one-third of your character's ultimate potential. In other words, if you wanna take your character all the way, you'll have to wait on the other two books, which will cover the rest of their potential. Clever marketing strategy. Annoying, however. Scion: Hero set us back $35+tax. This is gonna end up being a $100+ game! (Oh, wait, we're thinking about how much money I have spent / will spend on game books again. Stop that.)

So I'm sure I'll have more to say when I read through the rules mechanics. Of course, that would involve wrestling the book away from Jerome for more than a few minutes at a time, and having a bit of free time to do so. Okay, so it will probably wait till Saturday morning, when he's still asleep. :)

::..::

In other news, I get to meet some of the other folks from the Seattle Etsy street team tomorrow night. Saturday, we've got a Crafty Supply Swap (sponsored by i.heart.rummage), and Sunday, some of us EtsyRain folks are going to be at the Fremont Market. If you're in the Seattle area, stop by and see us! We'll be at the FAR end of the Market, which I can't describe in terms of street intersections, but if you've ever been to the Fremont Market, I think you will understand. :)
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Labels: crafts, etsy, fremont, gaming, scion, Seattle, white wolf

:: Dawn 9:57 AM [+] :: (0) comments
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Why yes, I think things have changed around a bit on the site! Thank you for noticing! :)

Yes, I have rearranged my sidebar, and added a handy little Google search bar. I figure I might as well make my blog useful, right? :)

Oh, wait, I can do that by posting? No way! :)

Anyways, life is good, I'm doing like twelve billion things at work and maybe eleven million things at home. Busy? Yeah. But those who know me well will know that that's how I like it. :)

This weekend, we have two picnics to go to on Saturday, and we're meeting a couple of gamers for coffee on Sunday. Looks like we might be playing Scion. Yeah, a new World of Darkness game. I have accepted the inevitability... either that, or Scion looks like a super awesome game, and I just don't care what system it is at this point! :)

I've also got about a billion things going on with Etsy right now, as I've somehow stumbled my way into being the contact person for the Seattle street team. This kinda cracks me up, because I've been here what, all of two months now? It's okay, though, I feel like I belong here already. I've learned my way around a few select areas, and will eventually branch out to a few more areas. :)

Okies, off to get more stuff done. :)
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Labels: etsy, gaming, new world of darkness, scion, Seattle, work, writing

:: Dawn 9:48 PM [+] :: (0) comments
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Right, so I guess I haven't posted in like three weeks. You might think I'm a slacker, but I assure you, I'm not.

The last week of February and the first week of March were spent busily working on the final proofreading of the new Lincoln Forum book, which is due out in April. Now, if you've been following this blog (and/or my life) for long enough, you've probably heard me talking about the first two Lincoln Forum books. Well, certainly the 2nd one. I didn't get credit in the first one. In the second one, my name was on the title page, but not the cover. For this third one, I'm on the cover, right alongside the other two editors.

This was actually a negotiation on my part. My boss wasn't interested in doing the third book, but his friend was pestering him about it. I told him to tell his friend that we would do it (meaning I would do the bulk of the work) as long as I could be on the cover this time. His friend agreed. So I get cover credit! :)

When it's actually out, I'll let everyone know, but I'm fairly certain that I've already given away any free copies that I might receive. Mom and Dad each get one, along with Uncle Joe, Seth H., and I believe I promised one to Clint. Jerome's dad will also want one, I know, and Candace (my tattoo artist) wants a signed copy. :) Hell, I don't even know if I am getting ANY free copies, let alone... 7?! Oh, wait, 8, cuz I'd like to keep one. :)

So yeah, that's what occupied two of the three weeks during which I didn't post. This past week has been spent working on stuff for ANOTHER book, though I won't be getting any credit on this one either. Really, all I've been doing is typing old articles that are being reprinted. Yeah, it's work, but not of the credit-worthy variety. Probably gonna be working on that book all next week too, and then I am OFF for an entire week, for our trip to Seattle! :)

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So, let's catch up with Cindy, shall we? She's been writing busily:

Amazon Tops Ebay for Selling Old Books, Videos, Games

How to Simplify Your Surroundings

Sweeter Than the Sweet Sixteen

A March Madness Primer for Non-Fans

New Budget Proposal Cuts More Southern Illinois Workers

Which is a mix of good advice on decluttering, March Madness related stuff, and local news.

I haven't written anything in a good long while. I've actually stopped even looking at most of the writing sites that I used to look at because I've been so busy at work, and so worn out when I get home. It's craziness, I tell you! :)

(And as an aside, I took Cindy's advice from the first article and opened an Amazon store here. It's mostly game books and vampire novels, but there are some CDs and one DVD.)

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In gaming news, I gave up on my Serenity/Firefly game, because the rules were giving us all headaches, and that made it not fun for me. Instead, I'm running Werewolf TT now, and it's considerably more fun. I suppose I need to decide where I'm going with the plot, as I'm supposed to maybe run it tomorrow. I think I'll be let off the hook for a bit, though, as Bryan and Vanessa will be in town for Vanessa's b-day.

And then I get like 3 more weeks to slack off, because we'll be out of town the next Saturday, E-Con is the weekend after that, and we may be going to Garou LARP the weekend after that! w00t! :)

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And in crafting news, it's more of the same, I suppose. I've been coming up with stuff to crochet that is good for summer wear, as opposed to winter hats and things. :) After we get back from Seattle, I'm going to be looking into doing some tie-dyeing, for some neat crocheted headbands that I've made. Those should be fun and summer-y! :)

And that is all from the land of Dawn.
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Labels: cindy articles, etsy, gaming, work

:: Dawn 2:33 PM [+] :: (1) comments
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