Jason's Space for Rant

For anyone in the Toronto area, I'll be at Pandemonium on the weekend of the 24th and 25th, doing my part for the gamer lifestyle, by running Shadowrun and 7th Sea.  Should be a lot of fun and I hope to see a decent turn out this year.

 

I got my hands on a Wii yesterday...I had to stake out the local EB Games, but I got one.  I've been playing a ton of tennis and bowling, as well as the latest Zelda installment (very drool-worthy).  As a result, my shoulder is a little bit tired from the exercise I inflicted on it.  Once I get into Twilight Princess in a big way the next big thing I'm waiting for is Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.  That promises to be an awesome game.

 

So few hours in a day...

 

J.

Life's been hectic.  I'm going to be a Dad again (wife's due in May), I've run a few demos since my last post and I'm gearing up for Pandemonium (I'm actually not waiting till the last minute to get my material ready, for a change).

 

I also got a promotion at work, which is the core reason I haven't posted.  I've been ridiculously busy and putting in all sorts of insane hours.

 

While I can't promise that I'll be posting more often, I hope to provide people a semi-reliable way of keeping up on all things me (not that it's a thrilling read).  I have something coming done the pipe, though I don't have an official date yet... one of my short stories is being published.  Getting paid and everything.  :)

 

Once its up (wrote a piece for Fantasy Productions for their website), I'll be posting a link.

 

Back to work now...

 

J.

It's been a while... mainly because this blasted site wouldn't let me post anything...

 

That aside...

 

My 30th birthday came and went.  I got a pile of stuff for Warhammer and WarMachine...my friends went above and beyond this year.  Thanks guys!  Of course, I haven't even begun to assemble these things, as my model backlog just continues to grow on me.  Do I assemble my new stuff or continue on with my painting project...?  I wish I could snap my fingers and have everything look all snazzy.

 

I went to G-X this past weekend (Labour Day) and it was a real hoot.  I got to meet some cool people, like the guys at LICD and a couple of celebs.  I hooked up with an old friend from Germany who now resides in Toronto.  He hooked me up with a sweet sourcebook for Shadowrun called "Loose Alliances", since he helped write it.  The Gaming portion of the expo was a little disappointing, as it was kinda small given the size and scope of the FanExpo and it lacked any kind of structure (no assigned tables or anything...just sit down and hope your players find you).  That didn't stop me from getting a decent turnout both my games and having a total blast.  My players loved the game and wanted to get the SR4 core book, only to find out that not a single retailer in the entire building was selling any.

 

Bother.

 

I did get to meet two of the voice actors from "Naruto":  Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke) and Kate Higgins (Sakura).  Both were easy going and down to earth types that were great to chat with.  While I'm not a Naruto fan, I did know that Yuri also did the voice of the Prince of Persia in two of the three Prince of Persia video games ("Sands of Time" and "The Two Thrones").  So, while I had his attention, I had him sign my copy of the Two Thrones.  He was happy to sign something other than Naruto stuff (he'd been doing it off and on all weekend) and I had my pic taken with the both of them.

 

The Games Workshop booth has some crazy stuff there... a scale replica of Helms Deep and an enormous crashed Imperial Cruiser were there.  They also had some of the new Eldar models, but I couldn't get a decent shot of them.  :(

 

So, some of my pics from the convention are below to be viewed...

 

Next week I'm on vacation and my daughter turns three on Monday.  So, September continues as a busy month.  Of course the week after my vacation leads into the second Convention of the month: Phantasm.  I do Phantasm every year and this year is no exception.  If you're around Peterborough on the 23rd and 24th, you should pop into Phantasm and try out Shadowrun or 7th Sea.  It'll be fun.  Trust me.

 

J.

It never fails.  I'm always sick on my birthday.  I thought I was going to get away with it this year, but now my throat's all scratchy and I barely have a voice...

 

Knowing my luck, everyone that's coming by for my birthday on Sunday will catch this blasted bug too...

 

I almost dodged this bullet, but spending the weekend with a sick 2 year old ended any chance I had of avoiding this thing.

 

On another, more positive note, I'm gearing up for next month, when I have two gaming conventions I'm attending and running Shadowrun at.  It should be a ton of fun, though the month is going to be very busy.  In amongst the conventions I have a vacation and my daughter's third birthday.  Going to be an interesting month...

 

J.

Yeah, my birthday is coming up.  Hitting the big 3-0.  No big deal really... just another number.  It's an excuse for me to have a full day of gaming, which reason enough to celebrate.  A whole whack of 40K going down on the day of.  It's gonna be sweet.  :)

 

Finally finished all the touch up work on my models... back on track for painting the unpainted models.  Cause knowing me, I'll be acquiring a whole pile of pewter crack (aka minis) with the cash my family will be giving me and I'll be even further behind.

 

Such is life.

 

I have two conventions next month and I'm eagerly waiting for them... I'm going into Con withdrawal.

 

I see the visuals to this place changed since my last post... not sure I like what happened to my Space... think I'm gonna have to play with it.  Snot green isn't my thing.  :)

 

J.

Work has been insane this month... this is supposed to be our slow season and instead I've been working my tail off and getting nothing fun done...  :)

 

It feels like ages since I last ran Shadowrun and this week it is delayed again... no 40K, no SR... I'm slowly going outta my skull.  I have a four day weekend this weekend, simply to keep myself from going postal.  Maybe I can enjoy myself sometime this weekend...

 

My website overhaul has begun!  I'm so stoked... it looks awesome.  Of course, you can't see it yet, as we're still designing this thing offline before we get it online.  Still it's gonna be sweet when it's complete.

 

J.

Well, I've been with my company for almost 7 years now.  I work with some pretty cool people.  But, I'm a wee bit miffed currently.  I got downgraded in terms of my accomodations here at the office.  I've an office of my own ever since I was hired (though my first office was little more than a storage room in size).  As of yesterday, I lost my office (thanks to a complaining coworker) and my desk is in a nook off a hallway.

 

I've castled myself in to give myself some semblance of privacy, but it still boils down to the fact that I'm in a hallway.  I'm not overly impressed to say the least.

 

I used to share my office with the oldest employee in the company (I'm the youngest, I think) and we didn't exactly see eye-to-eye when it came to music.  Before I shared an office with someone, I was allowed to play music at my desk.  When he moved in, that stopped.

 

Now, I'm somewhat isolated from everyone else, so I can play my tunes again.  At least one thing good arose from this arrangement.

 

Who knows...maybe it'll grow on me... 

 

J.

Well, it's a bit late, but I hope everyone out there enjoyed their Canada/Independence Day weekend.  Mine was pretty good, though the week that followed has been kinda "meh".  Busy week at work and I'm having serious writer's block.  It's really starting to irk me...

 

It is also due to my writer's block that I have no game to run tonight... I couldn't come up with anything.  So we're playing assorted video/board games over the course of the evening in lieu of an actual game.

 

In hopes of spawning some form of creativity, I'm making up yet another Shadowrun character I'll never get to use in an actual game as an excuse to write up some backstory...

 

Yes, I'm officially a sad person...  ;)

 

J.

Of course, I have nothing planned for the Canada Day weekend, but who's counting?  This will be the first weekend in a month that I'll be able to spend with my wife, which is plus in itself.

 

Tonight is character generation for the newest campaign I'll be running in SR4 and it should prove to be interesting.  With the brief conversations I've had with my players about their character concepts, I fear for my sanity in the coming months.  Many of the characters are so riddled with quirks, it'll be a miracle if the team is able to function as a unit.

 

But I digress...

 

I have so much I want to do with my time and not enough hours in a day to complete them all.  I got my replacement box of Arco-Flagellants for my Witch Hunters and I want to get them assembled and on the field for our next 40K night.

 

But, my evenings are pretty booked... such is life.

 

J.

Not a whole lot going on right now... work has slowed to a managable level again.  I'm looking forward to the character generation session for the SR4 campaign coming up.

 

I've been playing a ton of Nintendo recently, especially since I got a replacement SNES unit.  Now I can get my retro fix... of course, that doesn't leave me a lot of time for painting models or planning runs.  But, I'm currently enjoying the lack of cerebral activity.  :)

 

My wife recently got online with her DS and is enjoying being online with Mario Kart and Animal Crossing.  We're a sorry sight... the two of us with controllers/Game Boys in our hands.

 

My daughter is doomed to be a nerd like us.  :)

 

J.