A Window, A Light...

Capitalism is a lot more like feudalism then most people want to let on. When people say that it promotes freedom and upward mobility, what they mean, secretly or not, is that it promotes freedom and upward mobility in a select few. For everyone else, it just allows the ruled to pick which lord they will serve, on and on, down to the serf.

Man. I hate sending out resumes and applying for jobs. My oh my.

But if you get a call from a weird number, I'm doing it again anyhow. You know who you are. Sorry about that, I wouldn't do it if I didn't need gainful employment, but I totally do.

Trying to get things in order up here. I've been told I should be able to expect a resume in my email from my mother, who has a better idea of what websites I wrote copy for then I do at this point, since she's got the records for it. I haven't, though, so I'm trying to edit my old resume to better reflect my current experiences, including new addresses and references.

References are always the constant pain in the neck, and layout is an issue, but I really want this done by today. More likely tonight, though, sadly. Still, if I can get something acceptable, I'm told that things look optimistic. The concept of coming to Seattle and just getting a job and place is utterly surreal to me, after trying to get something close to home and things not working out as they did.

Airport officials don't let you take certain things, like shampoo and whatever, so I had to cram what I could in a Ziploc and buy the rest when I landed, including hair glue which I thought was hair gel, and now my hair is ever so slightly more aggressive then it usually is. Brent and I located a nice little tea shop which we might frequent again, and I went for a walk today that wasn't particularly productive, but it was nice to get out and stretch my legs a bit.

Still no pictures. My bad.

Getting ready to run Escape from the Blessed Isle, my Solar-oriented Exalted game, and looking for players besides Brent and one or two others. I think it could be run on just a few people, but I'd like at least three. There's been some brainstorming about an upcoming Dragonblooded and Sidereals game as well.

I'll throw in some Exalted to make it a little palatable, but this is just stress relief.

The thing is, I understand that this time, I'm being unreasonable. I've backed out of stuff I said I was going to do before, and people were pretty forgiving, and I've had worse reasons then "Nobody will cover for me.". But, to tell the truth, this was almost as much a test to recover some of my good graces post-leaving that my boss had never once had since I began work. After being berated and called in and working for peanuts, at the end of my work period, I've asked for a single inconvenient day off that's at the end of a week long vacation that, well, followed a week long vacation by two days.

I'm really not surprised that my dad doesn't follow my logic, because when he says that this isn't that important, it's true. But, on the other hand, I'm currently measuring this time with my friends as something I can't get back. I'm trading the goodwill of a fickle and abusive small business owner for the graduation party of, not just some of my closest friends, but in a way, my own. I never had one myself, and when I mentioned it offhand, Brian was quick to tell me that I could celebrate mine with him. It's not my party, but I can celebrate like it is.

I wasn't able to get that across to my dad in any meaningful way, which made me feel kind of bad.

So, I promised a little gaming cookie to make up for a kinda bitter pill.
Fun Fact: Autochtonians was specifically designed to accommodate Darth Vader, Samus Aran, and other famous robotic pop culture icons - one for each Caste. Sure enough, not only are there light sabers, but also a beam cannon and a beam grapple hook.

Met with my mom and grandmother today for dinner today after I got up, which was nice. We chatted, ate, and then had them bring some coffee and when I got back, I tried to get in touch with Frank, since we were supposed to hang out. The other manager called off, so he wass stuck working from the beginning of his shift until 1 AM. Maybe another time, then. Instead I hung out with Matt and another friend and had small talk about gaming and politics until about 10:30ish

Called into work at about midnight, and got the other night op on the line to see if she'd volunteer for my Saturday shift. She won't or can't, so I'm going to have to get Boss Jr. to. Depending on his reaction, I might be quitting a little early, so we'll see.

Matt, Madelyn, and some others were pestering* me about a going away party. I contemplated having one before, but I've been trying to hold on to the greater portion of my funds thus far. OTOH, I was informed that I shouldn't worry about funds too much, so I'll see if I can get an idea together in the next day or so. I might have one after all, so I suppose I'll keep people updated.

* By pestering, I mean encouraging! =D

EDIT: I might be talking about Autocthonians soon. Alchemical Exalted ftw.

This is a two parter. The first part is now, and there's a good chance I'll get the second at work. I'll cut them into two once I finish. I just don't want to clog everyone's friend's list like I know I do.



So, roleplaying is a topic tonight. I know people disagree with me, but I've always thought that playing regular mortals matched up against supernatural bugaboos is pretty cool. There's some problems with this, though, because once the big hardcover core books start getting printed, stuff like Mage, Vampire, and Werewolf, the temptation is to start busting these dudes and ladies out as the opposition to our stalwert Guy Whose Primary Weapon is Not Fangs, But Rather,  A Maglight'. We'll call him Guy, for short.

Between you and I, well, I think Guy's at a disadvantage. Even with bucketloads of experience points, mortals have certain limits that they can't typically overcome.  Merits don't let skin soak leathal, guns don't do agg, and you've got only one pool to try to overcome mind-effecting powers, and that last one's a doozy. In some important cases, people without a power stat can't even try to resist. Suck it, mortal world!

As much as I love a mortal game, and I do, I don't really see this as a design error. First of all, I really consider characters like Mages, Vampires, and Promethians to be Big Deals. Hard cover splats are basically the kings of the supernatural world. They're leagues more powerful, they've got self-awareness, they're organized, they can create or locate others of their kind, and their powers are diverse. Plus, putting myself in the shoes of a PC, and considering the nature of a mortals game (probably horror, for me) the idea that there's an entire warren for ancient blood-sucking undead is pretty harrowing. 

Sigh. Anyhow, I have an alarm that goes off every 12 seconds for a problem I already know about. Frankly, I'm baffled at the number of people awake and willing to call in at 3 am. Like, if your whole neighborhood is out, I'm pretty sure I know about it. I can' t concentrate though. I'm going to have to call this off.

I've got this appointment at the vet for my rats tomorrow at 11:30 am. I've had it for a little while, but I didn't feel it was real important to let everyone at work know what I was doing on my day off, since it really doesn't apply to them. Got a message in my mailbox at work from yesterday saying that the boss has set up a mandatory meeting for 10 AM tomorrow without letting anyone know ahead of time.

It's for the night ops especially. They set it up for 10 AM. When we're usually sleeping. Like, we get off work at 8. And then the meeting is at 10. And it goes till noon. What is the other op supposed to do for 2 hours until the meeting? Stick around? Go home? How about me? They didn't inform me until last night in email.

So, I'm not going. No way. I'm turning off my phone and going to the vet.

In other news, my dad didn't really understand what I meant when I said I was going to move. He didn't really believe it until I told him I bought tickets for the 24th. The first thing he said was, "Well, I'll miss you here." which was actually pretty touching.

EDIT: Vet bill was huge. It was nearly 300 dollars to get my rats examined, and even if nothing had been wrong at all, I still would have walked out 80 dollars poorer due to exam fees. It's 40 bucks just to look at a rat, I guess.

Whoo! Two-day weekend! 

So, that's lame, but there's still something to be said for getting all the days you actually want off, off. I think even if I knew tonight was going to be a living hell, which it has been, then I'd still suck it up so that I could fulfill the past says endeavors. Not, I suppose, because every moment was fun in the traditional sense but I felt I had a lot invested in them. 
It was my opinion that the yard sale went fairly well, but I'm substantially more proud of writer_lynnfor doing the heavy lifting then I am of my ADCship. I think that in time, I'd get pretty good at it, but not only did I feel pretty irresponsible for not sleeping the night before, but by and large, we just didn't end up with all that much stuff. I wanted the sale to do better, and I think I could have worked harder on it. Still, the work's not totally done. Money and donations still have to make it over to the pickup site. Depending on what's left, it might all actually fit in my car. We'll have to see.

Anyhow, my Xanga (as always) gets a different batch of data. Since I'm beat, and likely to be busy, I probably ought to make things short and go long tomorrow (providing things are better), but the gist of it is that it looks like I'll be needing to cut my leave date back to the 23rd because I foolishly waited too long to procure my tickets. That means I'll be officially leaving my job on the 19th and leaving four days later instead of 7 in order to save 80 bucks. Between now and tomorrow morning, I might change my mind, but the money difference is substantial and leaving on Thursday doesn't gain me that much more. 

I found the 4e trial interesting, but would have enjoyed some non-combat scenes. It didn't feel like the D&Ds of my past, which is a good thing in AD&Ds case, but about break even with 3rd. If I ever begin playing 4e, it'll be in addition to 3.5, and not instead, if my hunch is right. I like 3.5 but 4e combat was fun, too. Also, I'm a Wizard!

Before I'd realized the yardsale was on this Saturday instead of the 28th (the date I originally recalled), I'd made an obligation to do a petition against the Granite City Wal-Mart with a friend so he wouldn't have to go alone. I basically planned on making the rounds on no sleep, but the game was called on account of sudden rain, so I mostly just dozed in his car until he made his way over to his girlfriends graduation party at which point, I actually ended up crashing in his car for a few hours until I was a functioning human being again.

The party itself was alright. I told everyone I'd go, but it was mostly filled with people I'd never met with guest starts from people I did know, and totally didn't expect to show up. It made me all nostalgic for a graduation party of my own, which I'm pretty dubious about fitting in with my schedule. I made vague plans for a few get togethers, but if I do something (and I'd kind of like to) it's going to have to be altered because time and budget issues are looking rather imposing.

I don't mention them very often, maybe because they're so low maintenance, but I've become the caretaker for a pair of little girl rats. I love 'em, but lately the Momma Rat seems to have acquired a tumor. I'm told that this isn't uncommon and, in fact, I'm pretty sure that Baby Rat needed an operation for a minor one before Vi and I were able to adopt her. I'm increasingly convinced that they need to see a vet though, because I'm starting to suspect Momma might have another one. There's a vet not too far away, and I'll be trying to set up an appointment probably tomorrow, but until then, I'm a little worried. Honestly, I've never been the pet caretaker, so this kind of thing is a little foreign to me. I'm also a little worried about costs. Rats are tiny, but that won't stop the vet bill from being large.

I called work from Edwardsville to let them know I wouldn't be in today. Of course, I'm having trouble getting the other op to pick up, but that's not really unreasonable considering I woke up really early today to get my day started... at 11 AM. There's a good chance she's just sleeping and'll return my call later this afternoon, but it's not something I want to fool around on. So I called my father to let him know I was ill, and let Boss Jr. know, too.

Ended up renewing my Cam membership despite my irritating hours lately. I've noticed a kind of one good month, one bad month cycle to what weekends I have available right now, which is enough to make me think I can handle showing up fairly regularly. I've made what I'd consider a token effort at least to convince Wormtongue to join as long as games didn't interfere with their normal plans. Vampire has never been their favorite game line, though, and time is a real issue for all of us, so while it's possible it could happen in the future, I don't think I'd be able to expect any more cabal members for poor Atol any time soon. I admit my selfish motives! I require more band members! Also, a second Mage game a month would make my heart pitter-patter, but honestly, it's difficult enough to show up right now. So, I'm making a sad face, neow.

My rats really are adorable. If you've never met them, they're really sweet. So, I hope they're ok, but I'd better stop hanging out with them and get a move on if I want to be timely.

EDIT: Update.
I didn't end up going to the spa party for a few reasons, some lesser ones being that it would have ended up a logistical nightmare. I'm tempted to call tonight to ask how it went, but in the event that it ran long or turned into your default slumber party, I've held off. So let me know how it went! =D

Instead of trying to make it the long way to St. Peter's then, today, I opted into the showing of the Chronicles of Narnia. It was supposed to be an event with a group, because a lot of people showed up for it, even in from St. Louis. Sadly, it was kind of lame. The pre-show get together was supper at a bar where we couldn't hear ourselves talk and the beer was too pricy. We were supposed to head out for drinks after, but the movie was longer then a lot of people figured it would be and most people went home. Specifically, I blame the nightlife scene in the area, since I think the closest good places to hang out in the evenings are in St. Louis or maybe Edwardsville. Otherwise, it's houseparties all the way, but nobody really was offering.

How was the movie? Eh. Some good scenes, but overall it felt really shallow. Maybe it was because I missed the first movie, but I suspect it was mostly because it was a big-budget kids movie with some Christian allegory for good measure. It certainly wasn't a bust of an evening, though, but I'm not sure that I'd skip work for it again.

Turns out that anyone taking a day off anywhere will mess up the schedule a little bit. It was already bad, and now it's moved a little again. I'm going to re-check my next few months on Google calender at work tomorrow and see when I'm good to play. I think I get a few available days, and some that I didn't have before.