[Sovalis]

I should try to get a photo of my huge dragon I need to paint. He’s the Fafnir mini from Loot Studios printed on our resin printer at some wild scale and he is gorgeous. I am a little intimidated to start him! You can do it!

[Radost]

On 10/4/2024 at 9:57 AM, Sovalis said:

 

I should try to get a photo of my huge dragon I need to paint

 

Oooh yes please! I enjoyed seeing your white dragon over in the West Marches!

[Radost]

Week 4 Roundup

Main goals

Seek and defeat evil: ? Patrolled the nearby woods and defeated several minor demons

Regain spells: ?

Lesser restoration: ?

Buff the party!

Protect the party coffers: 

Side Quests: ??

Satisfy the Alderman: ?

 

Bonus

Patrol the Hinterlands: ?? Rode out to the Labyrinthine Grove and wandered some of the lesser-walked back trails, then consorted with friendly ghosts on the path home

Long Rest: ? spent time spinning and listening to restful music

? Flower bed maintenance 

 

☕️ 4/5

?? 4/5

 

Running total: 36 ?

 

Cutting sugar from my coffee and tea isn’t happening reliably on Mondays, but it is happening reliably one or more mornings and evenings so I’m counting it. The goal is to mix things up so sweetener becomes something I’m more comfortable taking or leaving. I also decided to take a star for the maintenance I did on the front flower beds - I initially planned to dig out a third bed, but I barely had enough dirt and native wildflower seeds to put a fresh layer on the two beds I have partly established so I’m just going to focus on those for another year. Last year, almost nothing came up. I think it’s because we had a warm spell in late January-early February, so things germinated, and then a hard freeze (around -10C, which is Very Cold here). 

 

Spoiler

Before!

 

After! I know, it’s not much. Last spring was hard. Hoping I’ll have a nice budget for seedlings next spring. 

 

 

I didn’t fit in a dedicated strength workout as I usually try to, but I did some bodyweight and dumbbell exercises in between life stuff. I also ran twice, 5k after work on Thursday and a very slow 8k at the medium-far lake where I always get lost on the trails on Saturday, and fit in a short yoga practice after Thursday’s run. My foot hasn’t been bothering me basically at all! I’m a bit worried about jumping from 8k this week to the 11k trail race I’m doing on the 26th, but I work hard to be in the kind of shape where I can just do it, even if I end up walking a fair bit. But like. The 8k run in the Labyrinthine Grove was preceded by a 40-minute bike ride, which does take some energy even on a flat rail trail, so probably by race day I’ll be up to the challenge. 

 

After my forest run, I stopped by a Halloween craft fair in the neighbourhood. I was looking up the directions from the lake and read that they’d have a professional photographer on site and suddenly felt so Rong in my plan to just show up in my running gear, maybe with a weird art t-shirt over my tank top, when probably lots of people would be in costume or gothic finery - I almost bailed on the plan! But a potter whose work I adore and don’t own yet was going to be there AND they were offering a little discount for newsletter subscribers who wished them a happy birthday and the lure of a 10% discount was huge. I was definitely underdressed compared to most people, but one artist recognized my shirt and we chatted about how great that artist is while I was picking out stickers. There was so much amazing stuff! Lots of reclaimed skeletons and insects, gorgeous miniatures, nerdy shit, even a couple artists doing flash tattoos! I’m still riding high on the dopamine hit from seeing so much awesome art! I overspent my budget…I had some cash and had made a plan for how much to spend on my card, but I used some cash at a stall where the card reader wasn’t working and then didn’t have enough cash for the mug…so I charged that and then was like “ehhh, might as well spend this cash!” I recognize that I have not been succeeding at my budgeting challenge, but if you can believe it, it’s still helping a lot and has made a noticeable difference. This challenge I should only be over by a tiny bit, much better than my first try. 

 

Anyway, here’s a few pics from my run as well as most of the craft show haul (if you’re on my IG you’ve probably seen these already, haha). 

 

Spoiler

 

Not a bad place to eat lunch. My leggings were probably muddy at the craft fair though, haha. 

 

 

It’s pretty steep on these trails! I had a lot of 9-11 minute kilometres, haha. 

 

 

I love the marshy thicket of birch and alder that you can see beyond the mossy coniferous hills the trail winds through. 

 

 

This mushroom was about the size of my hand, but I found some as big as my face later on!

 

 

Perfect fall colours. I was reflecting through this run on the degree to which green is the dominant colour of my autumn, as all the grasses, ferns, and mosses recover from summer drought. 

 

We do get some good leaves though!

 

 

It feeds my soul!

 

 

Skull mug, labradorite pendant, art stickers, earrings made from insect carapaces, and Ghost Baby, who I’m excited to get to know a bit better and introduce to my vampire BJD. ?????

 

 

Came home to bake a cake and host board games. Most people wanted to play Legendary, which only goes up to 5 players (we had 6 in attendance). I suggested a few things for a second table, but no one was that into other games so in the end I decided to set up my paints on the second table. It worked pretty well except that Legendary is extra hard with 5 players and the two novice players were a bit disheartened. I did some good work on My Little Zombie, though. 

 

Spoiler

Trying out some of the new paint colours that came in the KS, and testing ideas I had for some 80s “girls” toys themed monsters inspired by Keypers, Sweet Secrets, and of course MLP and Care Bears  

 

 

This week my chamber choir is back into rehearsals for our winter shows. I had asked the choir director if it was possible to get the music ahead of time…he finally sent it out at like 8pm Saturday when our first rehearsal is Monday at 7, so I guess I’m not going to be able to show up with the notes all learned. I’m only singing in one December show, though, so I’ll have extra time since the two shows are alternating Mondays through October and November. 

[Elastigirl]

What pretty pictures, and cool Halloween art stuff. Except the ghost baby? That would give me nightmares. Something about dolls like that freaks me out.

[Laghail]

Such gorgeous photography! I think the mushroom pics were the objective winners but this one spoke to me:

 

Quote

 

[Radost]

On 10/6/2024 at 5:31 PM, Elastigirl said:

Something about dolls like that freaks me out.

Sibling B pointed out that my little display is a good way to find out if any friends have pediophobia, haha. Thankfully I don’t think anyone I have round is more sensitive than “please don’t show me that thing,” no one I need to remove him from the shelf for or anything. 

 

On 10/7/2024 at 9:21 AM, Laghail said:

Such gorgeous photography! I think the mushroom pics were the objective winners but this one spoke to me

Thank you! That’s one of my favourite places to eat lunch, no matter the season. 

[Elastigirl]

1 hour ago, Radost said:

y little display is a good way to find out if any friends have pediophobia, haha. Thankfully I don’t think anyone I have round is more sensitive than “please don’t show me that thing,” no one I need to remove him from the shelf for or anything. 

It kind creeps me out, but most likely I wouldn't run screaming from the room.?

[Radost]

Week 5 Roundup

Main goals

Seek and defeat evil: ?? 

Walked the perimeter and vanquished a swarm of mephits, then made a circuit of the surrounding villages to gather intel. 

Regain spells: 

Lesser restoration: ?

Buff the party! ?

Protect the party coffers: 

Side Quests: ??

Finished sewing my ghost cat skirt and spent a bunch of time on my spoop swap cards. 

Satisfy the Alderman: ?

 

Bonus

Patrol the Hinterlands: 

Long Rest: ? making spooky art

Sewing project completion bonus: ?

 

☕️ 5/5 ???

?? 5/5 ??

 

Challenge total: 50 ?

 

I didn’t make my budgeting challenge again. But I overspent by less this time! Between that and the EI payment that finally came through, I’m in better shape financially than I have been for a while. Gonna keep on it, and hopefully get in a low-spend six weeks between now and Christmas shopping. 

 

I finished the skirt I’ve been sewing and wore it the next day…got lots of compliments at work! But I wore it to choir practice hoping to chat about it with the other sewist in my section and…she wasn’t there! And because of our current split rehearsal schedule, I’m only there the first and last week of the month. If I want to show off the skirt during spoop season it means wearing the same distinctive outfit to two rehearsals in a “row.” Not sure I can make myself do that, haha. 

 

This week was stacked even though I only had 2 long workdays rather than 3. Fit in a dumbbell workout Wednesday (Sibling B was cooking!). Thursday I busted out a run after work and then spent like three hours in the kitchen making a complicated dinner. Mr. Radost’s birthday was Saturday, so on Friday I had to brave downtown to get celebratory truffles, and rolled in a few other errands, including getting fancy envelopes for my spooky card swap. Saturday, “early” morning run before a long Scion session (why does 4h feel so much longer as a player than as DM, even when the session is really fast-paced and action-packed?), didn’t leave myself time for yoga or meditation. 

 

Just a couple pics this time

 

Spoiler

Ghost kitties! I need to get photos of the skirt in action, haha. 
 

This tree was looking exceptionally perfect on Thursday afternoon. 
 

When I was making my cards, I suddenly remembered how, as a teen, I used to put a fake company logo on the back of handmade cards. I used to put quotes from a very silly, poorly designed 1987 text adventure that I loved as a kid and I spent probably two hours googling, trying to find anything but the most memorable quote from the Mad King, but it’s absolutely impossible in a post-Game of Thrones world to find mad kings that aren’t Targaryens. So instead I snagged some in-jokes from the community that hosted the swap. It felt good to come up with something unique for each one. 
 

I thought I grabbed a photo of the spiderwebs, skeletons, and spooky trees I drew over the envelope closures, but you’ll just have to imagine them in gel white and sparkly red. 

 

 

Overall, this challenge went well! I feel like I’m on a roll. I can also feel a hint of “ready to drop this sustained activity,” so I’m going to take some time this week to contemplate where I need to set my bar so I’m still challenged but not in danger of burning out. One thing I intend to keep up is the commitment to get out in the forest at least once per challenge. That has been incredibly positive all year - I used to sometimes only get out hiking or forest running a couple times a year, but now I’m mentally setting aside a day every month.  West Marches was a lot of fun too, as an unpredictable challenge and an encouragement to flex my creativity.

[Laghail]

1 hour ago, Radost said:

I didn’t make my budgeting challenge again. But I overspent by less this time! Between that and the EI payment that finally came through, I’m in better shape financially than I have been for a while. Gonna keep on it, and hopefully get in a low-spend six weeks between now and Christmas shopping. 

 

Big congrats!!

 

1 hour ago, Radost said:

I finished the skirt I’ve been sewing and wore it the next day…got lots of compliments at work! 

 

Huge congrats, but zero advice on how to handle repeat outfits at choir. Sounds like a lot of work tho! 

 

1 hour ago, Radost said:

This week was stacked even though I only had 2 long workdays rather than 3. Fit in a dumbbell workout Wednesday (Sibling B was cooking!). Thursday I busted out a run after work and then spent like three hours in the kitchen making a complicated dinner. Mr. Radost’s birthday was Saturday, so on Friday I had to brave downtown to get celebratory truffles, and rolled in a few other errands, including getting fancy envelopes for my spooky card swap. Saturday, “early” morning run before a long Scion session

 

Truffles and fancy envelopes?? Yesssss

 

1 hour ago, Radost said:

(why does 4h feel so much longer as a player than as DM, even when the session is really fast-paced and action-packed?)

 

Spitting truth here. The current version of tabletop gaming is taking turns generating two-person narratives between an individual player and the DM. Imagine the DM as a hub to a wheel with the individual players as each of the spokes, now imagine the mild boredom of every spoke who isn't currently engaging the DM in our metaphorical roll down the gaming table. I have no idea how to fix this problem and it's why I don't play table tops anymore. Also Scion is amazing. Please share deets about your character.   

 

1 hour ago, Radost said:

Just a couple pics this time

 

Super fun! 

 

1 hour ago, Radost said:

Overall, this challenge went well! I feel like I’m on a roll. I can also feel a hint of “ready to drop this sustained activity,” so I’m going to take some time this week to contemplate where I need to set my bar so I’m still challenged but not in danger of burning out. 

 

SMaaaaart

[Elastigirl]

Great work on the challenge, Those envelopes look very cool

[Radost]

On 10/14/2024 at 12:06 PM, Laghail said:

The current version of tabletop gaming is taking turns generating two-person narratives between an individual player and the DM.

Oof, very true. My groups have a decent amount of player-to-player chat, as well as ooc table talk, but it’s absolutely true that DMing adds an extra layer or three of processing, since even when my players are all chatting among themselves I need to be listening and figuring out how to tie the threads they’re spinning in with whatever already exists in the world. 
 

On 10/14/2024 at 12:06 PM, Laghail said:

Scion is amazing. Please share deets about your character. 

Don’t mind if I do! Buyanzaya (she/they),  The Unshakeable Grip, is a Scion of the Mongolian Tengri Jayagaghtsi. 
 

Spoiler

The circumstances  of her birth indicated that she’s a person with a great fate to fulfil, who must be trained in the three manly arts of wrestling, riding, and archery. It was a bit confusing when she was born with different anatomy than expected, but who can contradict the stars? 
 

Now Buyanzaya is living in Canada, where they came to make their name as a rodeo star. They fell in with some other scions in North Ontario who are currently trying to corral the constellations of the zodiac, which fell from the sky after a catastrophic mishap with a magic armillary sphere that once belonged to Tycho Brahe. None of us had anything  to do with what happened at the observatory that night, I promise! We were just there when Aries possessed that guy and made him start attacking! Anyway, we exorcised the ram for now and we can proudly say we solved the Wabegoon Crab situation, so what does it matter exactly how we ended up on top of that hill?
 

It’s a fun game and Mr. Radost has layers upon layers of mysteries for us to interact with…plus we spent last session chasing a runaway train and duking it out with some weird bird people. Action packed!

 

 

 

On 10/14/2024 at 2:33 PM, Elastigirl said:

Those envelopes look very cool

Thanks! We have a super stationery store in town and it was nice to have a reason to browse there.