22 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 162

Micah 6:8
Acts 1:21-26
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Christian is after me to get back to playing D&D again. 

 

It's been a looong time since I've DM'ed a game, and even longer since I've been a player. Looking at the current rule books and so forth, I'm amazed at how much things have changed since I was a regular player.

OK, maybe changed isn't exactly the right word. The whole concept is the same - a role playing game of the mind, not on a board, it's almost like radio, in a sense: theatre of the mind.
As I've written before, I'm a big radio fan for that very reason - it engages the mind rather than subsituting for it. So the changes in D&D are not exactly cosmetic, but they're not fundamental. There are new character races and classes available. There are new weapons and spells and magic items and all that. But we're still left with a game where one person (the DM) has created a world within which other people (the players) will roam and act. It's a shared creation of a story or stories. In a sense, it's what authors are talking about when they say their characters dictate what they write. The bones of the plot are there: the setting, the cast of characters, their basic attributes, etc. Then, as the author puts them through their paces, it sometimes becomes obvious that what was originally intended simply won't work; that the characters need to be true to themselves and do what they need to do, not what the author initially intended.
That's pretty exciting.

I have often wondered how authors can collaborate on stories and novels and so forth, but maybe now I know. They're each bringing some of the background, the setting and characters and story arc, but then they each listen to the characters they're dealing with and weave it into what it really needs to be, rather than what they had intended.
I know sometimes one author has created a world and a basic plot, maybe a very detailed outline, and then the other one writes to that outline and plot, but often they work much more closely than that. I think that's how D&D creates stories. The DM has created a world with a set of problems to be solved, or a series of goals to be achieved, and then the players go in and make it what it really should have been.
This could be exciting!

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

21 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 161

Micah 6:8
Genesis 37:3
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is quite a day for lovers of ice cream and its Italian cousin, gelato. It's National Spumoni Day! While many Americans think of spumoni as being synonymous with Neapolitan ice cream, in fact Neapolitan is more a subset of spumoni, modified to accommodate the American palate (and to be cheaper than traditional spumoni, which is a series of layers of gelato interspersed with fruit, sometimes with the gelato mixed with whipped cream to get even foamier (spuma = foam!). Still, multi-colored ice cream/gelato is the way to go today.

Interestingly, today is also Poets Day. In order to go all out and combine both of these celebrations, how about a poem about spumoni? It's a great word, after all, and let's give it a shot in terza rima, shall we? Signor Alighieri would be proud, no doubt.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

Remember: the mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

20 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 160

Micah 6:8
Matthew 13:3-9
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

One of my friends had an important post on Facebook the other day:

The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

This is clearly a big problem, especially during this lockdown/quarantine, as many of us struggle with anxiety, fear, even terror. It certainly doesn't help that nearly every newscast is exclusively bad news about how we're all about to die no matter what we do, but all we have to do is wear masks, wash our hands, and stay 6 feet apart. How are we supposed to process that disconnect? It's like we're being told, "There's nothing you can do, you're doomed, but it's your fault for not doing what we say." It's no wonder people are getting more and more anxious (and skeptical, but that's another topic). I'll be including that contact info at the end of these posts for the next long while.

Happily for me, I seem to be having a far different experience of this quarantine from many others.
While I do miss the conversations and camaraderie of the office, I'm not at loose ends all day.
While I am home and in reach of food at nearly any given moment, I'm not eating myself into oblivion (nor into obesity).
Part of this is, no doubt, due to my essentially asocial character. I'm not antisocial, I'm just fine being mostly alone much of the time, and part of it is that I'm working from home - I actually have projects to complete and provide to coworkers and clients. That helps immensely.

The other thing that helps a lot, and something that I miss when working in the modern, open office setting, is radio. Not just talk radio, although there is some of that, but music - music that someone who knows about music has curated, selected, and scheduled. Music I may never have heard before it comes out of the radio, and about which I actually learn from a host who loves and cares about music as much as I do.
How fitting, then, that today is National Radio Day. Tune in a station you don't normally listen to and see if you find a new favorite song. Tune in a station that plays radio dramas - theatre of the mind! - and see how amazing a good audio play can be.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

19 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 159

Micah 6:8
Colossians 4:5-6
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Black Cow Root Beer Float Day. One has to wonder why this particular treat gets celebrated so frequently. After all, earlier this month we had plain old Root Beer Float Day at which time I wondered whether that mightn't also called a Black Cow, and opined that it could. As it turns out, I was right (see post of August 6).

It further eventuates that today is National Potato Day - what is your favorite potato dish? With this confluence of commemorations it might be fun to make a gravy float - a glass of gravy with a scoop of mashed potatoes in it, much in the manner of a Black Cow / Boston Cooler.
I think that sounds lovely, and it reminds me of a cocktail challenge of a few years ago, when my sister challenged me to come up with a gravy-based cocktail, eventuating in the invention of the Gravy Alexander. It was very like a Brandy Alexander, but seasoned with spices normally associated with a roasted turkey and its gravy. (Hmm, maybe gravy is the mother of invention, eh, Frank? I suppose we could ask a vegetable.)

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

18 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 158

Micah 6:8
Acts 17:22-31
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Helium Discovery Day, commemorating the discovery of that noble gas, helium, back in the 19th century. Don't you wonder how they discovered it? After all, you can't see it or smell it, and it's lighter than air, so it wouldn't be hanging around in the corner of a lab. Maybe a lab assistant accidentally inhaled some and started talking funny and the lead scientist, Irving Helios, wondered what was up with that. I'm fairly certain that was the way it actually happened.

At any rate, my favorite helium-related story goes back many years to when Bob Edwards was the host of NPR's Morning Edition. Back then they had good news coverage and - total bonus - Doctor Science! Anyway, Bob was reading a letter from a listener who was a farmer. The farmer's problem was that he listened in his combine, but Bob's dulcet baritone voice was just about the same pitch as the purring engine of the combine, making it hard to hear. "Perhaps," suggested the listener, "Bob could breathe some helium to make his voice easier to hear."
"Well," said Bob, "I don't know if Edward R. Murrow would approve, but here goes;" and he proceeded to inhale a balloon's-worth of helium, much to the delight of all and sundry. What a good sport, eh?

Moving from the world of science to the arts, I note that today is National Bad Poetry Day. Frankly, I believe that bad poetry is better than no poetry.
I suppose I could be convinced otherwise by some truly dreadful examples, but I'm pretty sure that I'd rather have some than none. If you care to challenge my assertion here, please feel free to leave examples of bad poetry in the comments. I hope I don't have to ask this, but just in case I do, I shall: please stay within the bounds of decency and propriety.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

17 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 157

Micah 6:8
Luke 18:15-17
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I was shocked this morning to learn that yesterday was National Bratwurst Day. 
How could I have missed that? Here's a link to one of my all-time top posts that will tell you how to cook bratwurst.

Moving on to today, we have landed on Stay Home With Your Kids Day. Now, that's just cruel, don't you think?
Or maybe it's actually genius - let's celebrate necessity! After all, necessity is the mother of invention. 

Frank Zappa was an amazing musician, and he was the leader of the Mothers of Invention, so maybe we should all celebrate by asking any vegetable, or hanging out in Joe's garage, or wearing a real poncho (no, not a Sears poncho), or a wide range of other things. Your kids will thank you.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.

16 August 2020 - Plague Journal Day 156

Micah 6:8
Romans 12:1-2
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Please join us for worship today at Grosse Pointe United Methodist Church!

 If you can't be there in person (we meet outside around the Memorial Garden in front), watch our YouTube live stream. Worship (and the stream) start about 9:30AM.
Also, here's a link to our channel with past worship services and other videos as well.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.