Yarr!

Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day as if'n you din't al'ready know it! Avast and scurvy!

*ahem*

I know I link him a lot, but theferrett often has a lot of good things to say, advice to give, and there's always the funny, that's very important. Today he talks about "The Myth Of The Single-Side Supplier, and does the one ability that I wish I could add to my writing, namely he takes two things that really have nothing to do with each other, throws them together, and suddenly it all makes sense, they do go together like fine wine and a bologna sandwich!

He got me thinking about my relationship with Maria, the fantastic lady I've been with for the last seven years of my life. We started off rocky, we didn't really get each other, but we both were out to have a fun time, and if we could do it together, then awesome. She knew I was weird, but she was in college so everyone was weird in one way or another.

And then there was roleplaying. She just didn't get it, didn't like it, didn't understand why I wanted to do it all the time. A year after our relationship started, I discovered the next step up in my addiction, Live Action Role Playing (LARP). It allowed me to not only act out a fantasy character, but also to run around the woods at night, scared for my life because a gang of five to ten goblins are running after me and I all I had to defend myself was one lousy dagger, and my speed*. It was an addiction honestly, completely, I was giving up things in my real life in order to play the game, hurting my relationship, my employment, and my life-style.

It was bad for a while, and somehow she stayed with me. Through it all she learned to hate roleplaying, hate LARP, and basically detest me when I went and did these things. Outside of that, things were peachy, but if it had been up to me that's what I would have been doing 24 hours a day, aside from sleep.

Skip ahead five years to 2004. I mellowed out, learned how to control my life a little better, and still enjoy a little free time with friends playing D&D. I LARPed, but if there was something important going on at home or money was tight I could miss an event without freaking out about it. I had matured and gotten past an important turning point. Okay, maybe I had just settled down a bit and realized I needed money, but I prefer to think of it as maturing.

That's when Maria started playing D&D, and loved it. She was making characters, learning the rudimentaries of roleplaying, and enjoying herself. Our friends were more shocked than I was - I had seen her slowly learning the rules by listening in, watched as she stepped in to help someone that just didn't get it and saw her interest growing, but still it came as a shock when she said "Sure, I'll play," and pulled out her Druid already made to go and kick some butt.

Skip ahead 2 more years, to this year, about 3 days ago. Maria's been playing D&D for roughly a year and a half now, enjoying herself, and learning more. She comes with me to drop off a sword I made for a friend for LARP at Adventures In Midland and sees roughly 50 people in costume, wandering around, enjoying themselves and having a good time. On the drive back "What kinds of characters do you think I could play?"

Like a dog whizzing on an electric fence, I'm shocked. "Buh," I believe was my response.

5 years it took me to get Maria to play any kind of table-top game, 5 years. Now 2 years later and she's ready to LARP (she starts next month). Should this pattern continue, she will soon be attending cons, enjoying filk, and reading fantasy books!

I'm scared. My gamer geek girlfriend is going to out-geek me, I just know it. The game we went to was Saturday, and she has her full costume picked out, bought and paid for, all she has to do is sew herself some gloves. High quality costuming, things I've been trying to get for myself for years, but have been told I should spend my money on better things. She's going to look better than me, fight better than me, and probably make more money in the game than me. I have only one saving grace.

I will out-roleplay her. If I lose that, then I've lost it all, and will have to get a corporate job, wear a suit and tie, and remember lovingly those days when I tossed those funny-shaped dice with friends or beat them over the head with plumbing supplies. I will have to out-professional her.

That'll be the day.

*Slow. Turtle slow. Sloth slow. Not fast slow.

Talk Like A Pirate!

1 VVILL HAXXX0R5 J0U VV1TH MY L33T KAZAA SK1LLZ!

*ahem*

Thanks to everyone who gave me encouragement and ideas the other day when I was having trouble with making a latex weapon and didn't know what to tell my customer since I had just the night before told him everything was fine.

Everything went okay, and I'm currently in the process of fixing the weapon that was messed up and making him the second matching sword. Aside from the problem of the finished sword being sticky when it was supposed to be smooth he said that it was perfect. That was a huge ego boost for me, even though he was obviously disappointed that he wouldn't be getting it when he wanted it.

My non-latex weapon, which is made generally sword-shaped and covered with cloth, went over very well and gave me an idea. I think I'm going to try and make a bunch of them between now and the next big event being held in Pennsylvania, and sell them when I go. Nothing official, and nothing too crazy, but make 10-15 simple but elegant swords and see how it goes. I like creating things, and seeing my handywork used, so it's not only a way to potentially get some sales going, but it'll also make me feel good. I've never tried to make 15 swords in 2 weeks though, so I may be shooting high. Sounds like a fun little challenge to me.

So even though I was worried on Saturday about where I was going with this part of my life, and contemplated completely turning aside from it, things are smoother. I'm not a master craftsman and never plan on being one, but if I can make something good enough to get someone to smile, I'm happy. That's what it's all about, right? Making someone else smile?

It is for me, and that's enough.

This is a Curious World

Let's say you're a part of some organization that touts peace, love and goodwill to all as the highest possible calling any person can ever hope to follow. They have this leader guy who doesn't exactly tell them how to live, but does make suggestions, tells them stories, and genuinely seems to want his followers to be good people, live good lives, and be happy. That's all he seems to want for them, and they adore him for it.

Now take one person. This person is quiet, well spoken, and much loved. He is not a part of the group mentioned above, but espouses all of their tenants, suggests nothing but peaceful solutions to problems and only wants for people to be happy. He is the leader of his own group but in more of a general way than directly telling people what to do. Much like the leader of the above group, this leader tells stories, makes suggestions, and genuinely wants his and all people to be happy.

The only real difference between this one person and the legion of followers of the first group is that he doesn't believe that the other leader is the savior of the world. He still wants all the good things, and wants nothing but peace for people, but this is the difference - he wants it because he knows in his heart it is right, not because some guy told him he had to.

Why then would the fundamentalist Christians stage a huge protest against the Dhali Lamma when he comes to speak at a local University? Seriously, what does the peaceful, loving, non-judgemental Christians feel is wrong with this man except for the fact that he doesn't follow Jesus? They are on the same side, so why can't they see that?

I seriously considered making my own side and joining the protesters. My sign? "Protesting peace is what being a good Christian is all about, apparently." Sure, it seems long, but since they had scripture quotes that couldn't even be read from a car, it'd do, I think. I mean, really I wanted my sign to read "These people are idiots," but Maria suggests that that might not be a good thing.

Am I missing something? Is the Dhali Lamma actually some big evil in disguise that I don't know about? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure he won a Nobel Peace Prize, preaches peace and love, and is generally a pretty good person. Does he eat babies for breakfast and I have just heard nothing about it?

Heh. Babies, it's what's for breakfast.