Star Crossed Musing

So sometime (it may have been at my surprise birthday party, sadly) I picked up the dreaded norovirus. It basically ate my life starting Sunday morning (I'm still not recovered, but I seem to be better). I threw up four times in twenty-four hours, and I will not discuss the other events. Seriously, it was not messing around. I haven't been that sick in that way since I was a little kid. I managed to keep drinking ginger ale, despite the fact that I knew it was all coming back up anyway. And this morning, I've managed to eat two saltine crackers! Whoo! I can also be enough myself to post this, whereas yesterday I slept something like 20 hours out of 24, and sitting up for fifteen minutes was cause for another nap. I couldn't even manage to watch Poirot , my go-to when I don't feel well, because a) they had scenes of people eating and b) I couldn't follow the plot for more than 10 minutes at a stretch. Si, loyal doggie that he is, apparently spent the whole day ...

... but I've gotten a lot of work done, so that's something. I've finished three knitting projects and started on two (2!) pairs of socks, one color work and one plain that a friend requested. I'm looking at starting on a star-stitch scarf, because obviously we all need another scarf in the world, and I can't let this yarn I bought that's the wrong size for what I want to do go to waste. It's really pretty, even if it is far too yellow for me to use in a lot of ways. (I look like death with yellow next to my face. Seriously. Not a good thing.) Sephi got out of the yard yesterday and went wandering, and I went this morning to pick her up from animal control (she's fine -- the lady there knows her and knows us, we just couldn't get back by 3:30 to pick her up, given that we finally got the call at 3:25). All is well, though we have to make sure her paperwork is caught up and get all the collar batteries for the invisible fence updated. My gothic ...

Hey! So next week I'm going to be a guest at Midwinter Gaming Convention in Milwaukee, WI, Wed-Sun. Jan 14-17. I'll be doing some panels and running a session of Tragedy, as well as manning the IGDN booth, your source for indie rpgs! Also hanging out and talking and maybe playing in some stuff, not to mention making time to take Matt to the Safe House (shhhh!). If you're going to be there, come by and see us! Also, Oscar nominations come out next week, and I'll start posting about the Oscar movies I've seen again, along with the thoughts about the menu we'll be basing around the best picture nominations. Potential nominees already seen: Creed, Concussion, Mad Max Fury Road, and the Revenant (not counting any animated stuff). Yay for a new year!

So! It's the end of the year! That means it's time for a yearly wrap-up, along with everyone else's blog. :) Things I did: Got started getting tested for autism Coordinated convention stuff for IGDN Helped make the case for a quiet room at GenCon Taught engineers why communication is important Taught music students how writing fits into what they do Finished Chill and delivered it to the world Got my dissertation prospectus approved and outlined key parts of it Got my first publication acceptance as an academic  Got my first "revise and resubmit" as an academic Developed my first material for Onyx Path Met my oldest's girlfriend via Facebook (!) Discovered Hamilton Knitted some major projects, including the Pac-Man blanket, finishing Will's color stripe rainbow blanket, and a whole bunch of fingerless gloves Discovered that corn, milk, and nuts really are not my friends at all any more. :( Luckily cheese and yogurt are still on good ter...

My apologies for the long delay in posting; I have a few things I want to wrap up on the last day of 2015. First of all, I want to post the end of Season 2 of the Rising Waters game, and then I want to comment a bit on the Dresden Files Accelerated playtest. When last we left our intrepid crew, they had gone to the librarian to get some word on their gifts. Jeffrey, said librarian, was impressed and rather horrified at the same time. He pointed out that these were some of the weirdest things he'd ever seen because of their combination of fae and demonic magics. These are not two great tastes that taste great together, and while it explained how fae magic could take on ghosts, for example, it did not in the least reassure him about what's going on. The group was equally chastened, realizing this just got a lot stranger than they'd bargained for. They had to get back to the tea shop, though, since Hui had made Dylan promise to have Eldi back before dark. Nobody wants t...

While we had the official McFarland holiday feast of Thanks yesterday, today I have the blog post of thanks! I am officially thankful for the following! Matthew McFarland, as he manages through his wizardry to let me have a semi-normal life with food and friends and gaming and kids and a house and dogs and family and love.  His kiddos, Teagan and Cael, who very patiently stand in with me for my own kids sometimes, despite being awesome kids on their own.  His mom, Suzanne, who is a pretty darn good mother-in-law and who is one of my primary sources of higher ed encouragement. His ex, Heather, who is sane and smart and patient and good-humored. And a cake wizard. My dogs, who remind me that as long as we have petting and food and water and a nice place to sleep, nothing is all that bad.  Alisdair, my eldest son, who is 18 and trying to find his way in the world.  William, my youngest son, who is 16 and cutting a swathe with his humor and dapper choices....

I was out with my husband last night shopping and doing errands and getting dinner when we started talking about the new Deadpool movie that will be coming out next year. He's excited about it -- likes the acknowledgement by the studios that the former appearance of Deadpool was just dumb, likes that they're being true to the comics with it. I have thus said that, although I can also appreciate these things, I will not be going to see it with him. He wondered why that was, and so I told him, and he suggested I post about it, which I am now. *For the record, I do not yet have a diagnosis of autism. I have been referred to start the process of getting one, though, and my son is on the Spectrum, and my speech-language pathologist husband is convinced of it, so take that for whatever it's worth. I have a large hole in my ability to get humor. I know that it's there, I know what triggers it, and I know what thus to avoid. I can tell when other people will find things ...