Previous Post . . .

-My post of earlier this morning has been privatized, since Annie pointed out that its intended purpose was at odds with its actual effect.

Always Worth the Exercise: 10 Things To Be Happy About

1. GURPS Banestorm shipped today!
   
2. Friday night, Zeph/cathijosephine spent the night at my place, as much of her place is covered in dust that was formerly part of her floor. That includes her toothbrush, so she asked if we could pop into a pharmacy and pick one up for her. "Hmm, I'm pretty sure I've got a spare, still in the box." And I did.
   
3. Bey/buxom_bey spent the weekend at Wildfire. The plan was that she'd stop by my place on the drive back. However, around 9pm Sunday I get a call; she's still in Connecticut, the weekend has been really hard work, and her truck isn't starting reliably, so she's not going to be stopping by, but rather going straight home.
   Around 11pm, I hear a tapping on my back door. It's Bey. As she was passing my place, she couldn't think of anything she wanted more than to see me and get a hug. This promptly goes on my Top 10 List of Romantic Moments. She spends the night, and in the morning asks, "Do you have a toothbrush I can borrow?" "Umm," I reply, "I think I gave my spare to Zeph." But I look in my toiletries drawer, and sure enough, there's another spare, fresh in the box . . .
   
4. I'm going to be Wells' Time Traveller for Halloween. I watched the George Pal and Simon Wells movies over the weekend. Should be a fairly easy costume; vaguely turn-of-last-century shirt, pants, vest, shoes (some of which I already own), a pocketwatch, and some random steampunk accoutrements (goggles, great big wrench). Should be cool, and mesh nicely with Bey's costume . . .
   
5. . . . for which I provided the bone, to her delight.
   
6. When I mentioned Bey's costume to Housemate Mom, and how I was going to be the Time Traveller, mom said, "Oh, what about Zarabeth? Bey should be Zarabeth." I'm not a big enough geek to have that name on the tip of my tongue. I'm delighted that me mum is.
   
7. This picture is now my desktop at work.
   
8. Hmm, need three more things . . . Work doesn't suck. I didn't have to do any support this weekend, 'cause our Houston office wasn't underwater. And the pay is nice.
   
9. ricevermicelli is both intimidatingly sexy, and fiendishly smart.
   
10. And, the holiday season is almost upon us! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, glee glee glee . . .
    
11. Edit: And an eleventh, I have an appointment to model for firespiral this upcoming Saturday!
    
12. Edit Again: And, heck, a twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth: I'm spending the next weekend at Bey's, we're seeing Serenity with good friends, and I'm thinkin' 'bout taking her to the Topsfield Fair and doing absurdly schmoopy stuff like the ferris wheel, and showing her the town I grew up in . . .
    

Talking Is Good

-Annie/asciikitty is a wonderful friend, and I love her dearly.

-No, we remain not a couple. But we had a talk, and while I expect I'll still have some brief irrational forays into morose or angry, I'm feeling a lot better about things, and I think she is, too.

(Edit: Except, obviously, about the Martian Death Flu, which she hates with the white hot flame of a thousand white hot flames.)

Shiny! Mine! Eee!

-And what did I find waiting for me, when I got home?
( Cut for bandwidth . . . )

-SJGames has the printer drop-ship a single copy to authors and such, which is how I got a copy on the shipping date. It is shiny, and pretty, and I'm going to call it George, and it will be my George.

(Except that I really think the art director missed an opportunity with the art for the medusa racial template. Here is what I put in my art notes:

Medusas are important to get right. Here's the description: "Medusas appear to be human, with snakes instead of hair. About half have a 'normal' skin color, but the remainder have exotic colorful patterns on their skin, matching the coloration of their snakes. Medusas only have scales on their snakes; their bodies (apart from color) are usually completely normal." The medusa should be pretty to beautiful, peering out of a jungle at the viewer. Her snakes are green and patterned; use the URLs below for inspiration. The pattern continues onto her skin, though enlarged. Try to use it to enhance her facial features, not hide them. Remember, her skin may be green, but it does not have scales! She looks wary, but not hostile. She's wearing roughly-stitched leather.
http://www.newenglandreptile.com/ball_greenhead.html
http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/snakes/smooth_green_snake.html
http://www.bome.com/Restorator/help/tutorials/snake.jpg

-My hope was that the art for the medusa would cause any gamer — in particular, any female gamer — to immediately say, "Ooo, she's cool, I want to play her!" The art I got is just a headshot of a pink-skinned medusa, and is unlikely to have that effect. [sigh])

-But, regardless of parenthetical caveats, life continues to show me that things are pretty darn good in my world.