(crossposted to good_rpers_rock)

Years ago -- about 19 or so, when I was still in high school -- I picked up the tabletop RPG Ars Magica, with the idea that I would someday want to run a campaign in the setting. Ars Magica, for those unfamiliar, is a historical fiction roleplaying game, set in the late 12th and early 13th century, focusing on mages. The mages gather in Covenants, which are like mini-feudal systems -- the mages protect mortals, while the mortals serve the mages as guards, servants, farmers, cooks, etc. Covenants have seasons, however, aging from Spring, when they are young and fresh; to Summer when they are a little more experienced; to Autumn, at the height of their magical and political power; to Winter, when they are past their prime and have lost a great deal. If they are lucky, they might survive to renew into a new Spring.

I wanted to do a campaign focusing on a single Covenant through the shifting seasons.

In October, 2009, I started running this campaign with some amazing players. Most players remained throughout. Some came and went as real life opened up and intruded. Some came later and remained throughout.

Tonight, the Covenant of Lakehaven, deep in winter, renewed into Spring. The last of the old characters fell away, making room for a new generation.

I could go on for pages and pages, telling amazing stories about the characters, the themes, the amazing work the players did. Instead, I will say this: in the 22 years that I have been GMing, this is one of my top two campaigns I've ever run, and I have the absolutely amazing players to thank for it. They gave this campaign life -- this campaign I've wanted to run for over half my life.

They deserve praise and thanks for helping me tell a truly amazing story.

You are all great players. Thank you so much. If you were there for three session, or for every single one, you all helped make this amazing. And this amazing story will forever live in our minds.

You rock.

( I wrote a letter to a Holocaust-denier today. )

This is fascinating. Iceland is writing its own constitution... online, by regular citizens.

And it's not being reported, for the most part, in any American media outlet.

For my birthday, several people got together and got me a gift.



It seems that Henson Studios will make a personalized Muppet for you. My friends discovered this.

They made me a Mr. Downing muppet.



This = awesome.

Copyright. We’re all told we have to obey it, and I agree; it is the law. But rarely do we ask: is copyright ethical?

I suggest that copyright law, as currently written, is actually incredibly unethical. Copyright was originally intended to help defend the artist, to protect their creation from being stolen. It was to protect a small creator who had created something he loved from those who could steal his idea and distribute it faster, with no credit ever being given to the original creator. It was to assure that the creator would have enough time to make money off of the creation, and to encourage greater and greater ideas. Originally, within the United States, copyright law defended an item for fourteen years. If, after fourteen years, the original creator was still alive, he could file for an extension of copyright for another fourteen years. After that point, the item would enter public domain – for if something was so popular for 28 years, it certainly would have entered the dominant culture by that point.

But copyright law has shifted over the years. Ideas can be purchased from the original creator and held indefinitely by corporations, who hold the ideas back if they don’t like them, or who milk them on ad nauseum far longer than the original copyright laws would allow. Consider, for a moment, the characters of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Superman, or Darth Vader. Can we honestly say that these are not characters who have transcended a single company, and now belong to the greater culture? How are these any different from characters like Robin Hood or King Arthur – legends and folktales which culture needed to grow… and which grew alongside the culture. Robin Hood and King Arthur took elements that the culture gave them, and bits and pieces of cultural flotsam attached themselves to these legends along the way. They grew organically, and were a voice of the era from which they emerged. Current copyright law stifles that growth, locking concepts and ideas into what corporations decide are sanitized for our consumption.

Not to say that the corporations are evil. They are not. But they are motivated primarily by money – not by cultural growth or artistic expression, which is what copyright is intended to defend. Today, however, copyright defends the rights of those corporations as they make money, often at the cost of the cultural growth of our culture and society.

Do you agree? What do you think about the ethics of copyright law? Should copyright law be changed? What alternatives do we have? Do you think it's ethical? Why or why not?

It's all over the blogosphere, particularly in geek circles, and I don't have anything to add that someone somewhere hasn't already said, but I'd like to address it anyway.

The "review" of HBO's A Game of Thrones from the New York Times.

I put "review" in quotes, because there is no mention of plot beyond a hasty (and apparently inaccurate) parallel to global warming, no note of characters, no note of actors. It is merely a diatribe against fantasy fiction as a whole, and a rather sexist one at that. For fantasy is "boy fiction," and doesn't appeal to women unless there's lurid sex as well. Because we all know that sex scenes are just there for women, and men don't enjoy such things at all. And, worse, this story is too confusing and unless you are a brilliant card-counter (in other words, if you're a typical woman, it implies), you should go back to "Sex in the City" reruns.

Full disclosure: I haven't read any of the books in the series, or indeed any books written by this author. I had no specific interest in seeing the series. (This review, and the fallout one can find all over the blogosphere, has convinced me to remedy both these points immediately.)

However, I wish to stand up and take note of the blatant sexism and bigotry in this so-called review -- and from a female reviewer, no less. I feel it is particularly appropriate to do so here in this season just before NorWesCon, which I will be attending this upcoming weekend. Science-fiction fandom owes a great deal to women. It was female fans of Star Trek who began organizing science fiction conventions in the first place. It was a woman who was the first science fiction genre author, writing two novels which could be considered the foundation of the entire genre (Mary Shelley, who wrote both Frankenstein and The Last Man.) I know far more female geeks than male geeks, truth be told.

I remember the heartbreaking tale of Katie which was all over the blogosphere a few months back, a little girl was teased at school for bringing a Star Wars thermos to school because she liked "boy" things; she was willing to pretend to stop liking Star Wars and just have a pink thermos if it would help her fit in. The fan community responded, and Katie was shown she doesn't have to hide who she is. She was visited by actors from the Star Wars TV show, who encouraged her to be proud for who she is. And her school made a "proud to be me" day where everyone was encouraged to be themselves, differences and all (a good way to turn a moment of early-grade bullying into a learning experience, I think).

But it's not just at the elementary school level such bullying takes place. Reviewers such as Ginia Bellafante prove that it does not stop when one moves on from 3rd, 6th, or even 12th grade. Women should stop playing make-believe with epic fantasy and go back to Sex & the City, and book groups involving only realistic (and depressing) fiction. There is "boy fiction" and there is "girl fiction," and ne'er the twain shall meet.

So my male friends who like Sex & the City (who, admittedly, are predominantly, though not exclusively, gay)? They need to stop, or they're weird. My female friends who like Dr. Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and superheroes, or who enjoy RPing? They need to stop, or they're not "real" women. People who enjoy plots that are somewhat complex? They're card-counting wierdos.

Okay, she doesn't like the genre. That's fine. It's not for everyone. My mother doesn't much like the genre overall (with some exceptions -- I recall she enjoyed Star Trek: the Next Generation), though she has been very patient putting up with my brother's and my tastes. To excoriate those who like it for being strange, particularly if they have a uterus, is not only lazy, but socially irresponsible as it feeds all sorts of negative stereotypes.

It's sad to see such obvious and disgusting sexism and bigotry come across in a mainstream paper such as the New York Times. It is, however, heartening to learn that geek culture has responded, and responded strongly.

To my fellow geeks, regardless of what type of anatomy you possess: thank you for being so awesome and for standing up and saying "no" when confronted by such terrible bigotry.

In honor of what would have been her 96th birthday. Happy birthday, Billie.

Two days ago, I celebrated my 10 year wedding anniversary with Michelle. I look back at pictures of that day and think, "Man, I was young." And I was... but I don't think I was too young. I was pretty zen about it -- I felt it was just something that was right for me. I hadn't rushed into it; I'd put a lot of thought and consideration into it, for a year before the proposal, and another year since. If I'd waited another 5 years, I wouldn't have had my dad there, or Samantha, as within a little over 4 years later, both would be claimed by cancer. Other people commented that I was the most cool and collected groom they'd ever seen. M, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. In the years since, it hasn't gone perfectly smoothly -- there have been arguments, and things have gone wrong. It's been hard work, at times, to make it work. But it's been worth it.

Yesterday, if my grandfather hadn't passed last autumn, would have been my grandparent's 70th anniversary. They served as inspiration for us both, on so many levels. Opa had been an elementary school teacher, then principal, since... I want to say the late 30's but no later than 1940, until he retired, with only one break to join the Navy in WWII. Omi had been an elementary teacher since shortly after my mom was old enough to go to school, leaving Omi home alone a lot. They served as an inspiration to my own teaching career, and I still speak with Omi quite a bit about teaching. They were from a different generation of teachers, of course, when there were different concepts about what makes a good teacher, but they were still pretty compatible with my own ideas. They never hit their students; they tried hard to help all students learn; even in the 40s and 50s, my grandfather worked hard to reach out to immigrant students, because he understood they needed the help more... and he was successful. They were incredibly progressive.

But their decades of marriage also helped serve as the inspiration to Michelle and my own marriage. We married the day before their 60th wedding anniversary, so there was family already in town for one celebration. M & I stayed in town one night so we could celebrate their anniversary with them before we headed out on our honeymoon.

I spoke with Omi yesterday, and we had a good talk. We both cried, of course, missing Opa deeply, as yesterday was the first anniversary she'd celebrate without him since WWII. But I also told her how much they had inspired both Michelle and me. Without them to serve to show me it could be done... I don't know my life would even remotely resemble what it is today. And I thank them both for that, from the bottom of my heart.

I have an awesome laptop. It is lovely, and it was a gift for Christmas a couple years ago from Michelle's aunt and uncle.

The power cord for this laptop is less than awesome. It has died and needed to be replaced a couple times now.

We now join our hero, as he has ordered his third power cord. It was shipped January 20th. As of March 20th, it was acting buggy, and finally stopped working.

Tuesday, I contact Dell. After getting transferred a few places, I finally get someone who says that, yes, the power cord should be under warranty. A new one is ordered, and I am promised it will arrive soon.

Wednesday, I get a package from Dell. It is... suspiciously small. I open it... to discover only half the power cord. And it's the half that still worked.

I contact Dell once more. After getting the runaround for a bit more, I get someone who assures me that they'll send out the whole adapter this time.

Today, I get home... to find a slightly larger, but still suspiciously small, package.

...it's not the power adapter. It's a laptop battery.

...FOR A LAPTOP MODEL I DON'T EVEN OWN.

I call Dell once more. I get transferred through about four different departments in about 20 minutes, including through at least one loop, before I finally lose patience and hang up. I try their chat program again, and the first thing that I'm told upon explaining this whole story?

"You laptop isn't under warranty anymore. It will be $50 to verify the problem."

After a bit more explaining, he FINALLY tells me that he'll get this solved.

At this point, the theory is that the real adapter, the whole adapter, the accept-no-substitutions-or-mysterious-random-batteries power adapter, will be arriving in 1-2 business days (probably Monday). After three days and four hours worth of runaround and communication with them, this SHOULD finally solve the problem.

Stay tuned...

So I just got an album in the mail today.

This album is 20 years old. Unless you lived in San Francisco in the late 80s and early 90s (or unless I inflicted my musical tastes on you after I moved up here), you've probably never heard of Voice Farm. Most of my copies of their songs were on a tape that was well-loved when I first met Michelle 12 years ago; this tape has long-since vanished.

The other day, I discovered that my favorite album from Voice Farm, "Bigger Cooler Weirder", from 1991, was available used on Amazon. It arrived today.

I'm on my second listen-through now. And I am quite happy.

And here's a little taste of their musical stylings:

I've shared this with a few people already, but... damn, this just made me giggle repeatedly.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, it's time for me to dust off my annual horrible joke.

What's Irish and lives in the back yard?

___________

( Answer below cut! )

Pulpy webcomicness! There's even a decoder ring with secret messages. Come on! It's going to be awesome!

Me (6:34:29 AM): I am awake because of kitties.
Me (6:34:33 AM): Damned kitties.
Anna (6:34:41 AM): aw XD
Me (6:34:43 AM): HI, ANNA!
Anna (6:34:47 AM): hey
Me (6:34:58 AM): I have had four hours of sleep.
Anna (6:35:08 AM): You can't put them in the other room?
Me (6:35:27 AM): They already knocked over something, making a loud sound.
Anna (6:35:34 AM): haha
Me (6:35:36 AM): And it's after when I get up on a weekday.
Me (6:35:44 AM): THUS... brain says, "GET UP!"
Anna (6:35:47 AM): aw
Me (6:36:02 AM): My brain is like this. It peers in my face, saying, "ARE YOU SLEEEEEPING?!"
Me (6:36:12 AM): Looking something like this: http://500px.com/photo/207899
Me (6:36:30 AM): "HEEEEEY! PSSSSST! ARE YOU SLEEEEEEEEEPING?!
Anna (6:36:58 AM): ah that's a creepy photo
Me (6:37:38 AM): Brain: *peeeeeers*
Me: ....
Brain: *peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers*
Me: ...*cracks open one eye*
Brain: HI THAR.
Me (6:38:04 AM): That was my morning, and that discussion makes sense in my brain
Anna (6:38:11 AM): XD
Me (6:38:12 AM): THAT should tell you how tired I am.

So, as you all know, I'm a teacher. And I blog, and I don't often make my posts private, meaning most anyone can see these posts. Meaning that, in theory, students or their parents could find these posts. It hasn't happened yet, to my knowledge, but that doesn't mean it will NEVER happen. And I keep that in mind whenever I make a public post.

I don't often blog about work, however. (Truth be told, I don't often update this blog much at all, though I haven't fully abandoned it, either.) I do sometimes, but I would never complain generally about a student, even if I didn't give their name. At most, I might vent about a specific incident with an unnamed student -- and even then, if I'm frustrated with a student, I can promise you that it's because I believe they can do so much better. My goal as a teacher has been and always will be to drive students to their greatest potential.

So, with that in mind, I saw this article the other day. A teacher blogged at work, making some rather nasty insults towards unnamed students. It was found, and the teacher was suspended, while people are calling for her to be fired. Through that link, you can find the entry in question -- though it's been removed, Google Cache still has it. (Remember, nothing online is every fully gone -- nor is it fully private.)

Unsurprisingly, I have some opinions about this. ( And they go on for many paragraphs under the cut: )

My niece had this on her Facebook, and it was awesome. So I had to steal it.

Please leave a comment on this status about how you met me. The catch: it must be a lie. Make stuff up! Have fun.

Man, a lot has happened in the last 10 years.

I got married. That happened pretty early on.

I met a lot of amazingly wonderful friends. That happened all throughout the decade.

I became a teacher.

I lost several people who were very important to me.

I have struggled financially.

But all told, I think I'm currently in a better position than I was 10 years ago. I'm hopeful for a new decade.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of it.

Okay, so after a conversation with my friend alephz, I started thinking about my favorite villains. So I came up with my list of my top 10 villains of all time (fictional, and individual -- groups such as the Daleks don't count, nor do real people like Pol Pot or Hitler). Lex Luthor and the Red Skull were both edged out, taking slots 11 and 12 respectively.

10) Maleficent -- the best Disney villain of all time. Evil, class, and shrewd manipulative cunning.

9) Joker. Batman has some great villains, but there's a reason the Joker is his arch-enemy. He's brutal, he's funny, and you NEVER know what to expect.

8) Dracula, specifically as presented by Marvel comics. (True, he's not wholly fictional, but he's MOSTLY fictional -- there was a real guy, but he was never an undead bloodsucking creature of the night). He's cunning, utterly evil, and occasionally sympathetic.

7) Palpatine, from Star Wars. He's particularly evil when you include the expanded universe (which I do). He's patient, cunning, manipulative, and unredeemingly evil. It's only when he loses his patience at the very end that he's finally taken down.

6) Scarecrow, from Batman. Okay, so it might be geek-heresy to list him higher than the Joker, but... man, this is my favorite Bat-villain. Brilliant chemist and psychologist, who just wants to understand fear... meaning he needs to gas Gotham City and kill everyone for his lab experiments.

5) Moriarty, from the Sherlock Holmes novels. This is a serious A-list bastard. He is the original arch-villain, and is the mold from which all future arch-villains were made.

4) Sinestro, from Green Lantern. Okay, admittedly, Geoff Johns has made him far more of a complex villain. Sinestro has gone from a mustache-twirling melodramatic villain to a deeply complex and fascinating character. Again, like with the top three, you can totally understand where he's coming from.

3) Megatron, from (gen 1) Transformers. He truly is an amazing villain, and one who you KNOW is bad news whenever he appears.

2) Dr. Doom, from all over Marvel comics (but mostly Fantastic Four). The best comic villain of all time. He's occasionally sympathetic, driven wholly by ego, and can be a threat for anyone from Daredevil to the Beyonder.

And for the top of the list?

1) Scorpius (from Farscape). Far and away, my favorite villain of all time. He is a brilliant bastard, and what's worse, you completely understand him and even occasionally sympathize with him... but you can never ever trust him. Even when you have to.

Alright, then. Anyone wish to share their list with me?

So the move went well. The house is wonderful. I'm loving living here much more than I thought I would. The commute is annoying, in particular because I get home when the sun goes down thanks to the early sunset. So I leave before the sun is up, and I get home after the sun is down, and it just makes the day feel much longer than it really is. That'll change, though. In the meantime, I get home and only have the energy to veg out playing video games or watching videos, and maybe help out with dinner or clean the catbox or something low-energy. Weekends are the only days I have the energy to be too productive as a result for the time being.

I've been working enough that I haven't had a chance to make it to the local districts and look into subbing with them. I've just been working pretty much every day that it's been possible to work, and entirely in the same building. They rather like me there, and I rather like them. Unfortunately, they don't have a permanent position for me -- at least, not yet. Unfortunately again, the state budget is such that it's looking less and less likely that there will be a permanent position anywhere, and if there was, I'd be fighting off hordes of other unemployed teachers for the position. However, I've been at this one school enough that I think I'd have a great shot if they did end up with an opening.

It'd help if I could just finish my Master's Thesis, but that's being held up in red tape at the moment, and red tape is my arch-enemy. It will be difficult to get this sorted out, but considering it means a better chance at getting my own classroom PLUS a major pay raise for doing do? Yeah, I think it's worth the effort. Still, though, it's a headache.

Of course, I was looking forward to doing some writing over the break, since I have time now... and of course, my creativity decides to run out and hide somewhere. It left me a note: "Come find me!" But I think it actually took a flight to Angola -- by which I mean Angola, Indiana, not the African nation of Angola. I have no idea what it's doing there, but it's probably having a great time. It's probably difficult to have a great time in Angola, Indiana, but it's my imagination. It's probably invading with marshmallow-men or something.

Christmas gifts are gathered, which was fun -- I love this time of the year, because despite the obnoxious "GOBUYSPENDMONEY" messages constantly crammed down everyone's throats, I find it a time for quiet reflection and appreciation. Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, take time to appreciate the people in your life, all that good stuff. It's a good message, and one to take to heart. It's sometimes hard to hear over the crass commercialism, but it's still a good message when you can make it out.

Oberon and Puck are growing insanely fast, particularly Oberon. Puck turns more of the catfood into energy than additional-cat, though both of them turn it into a LOT of poop and stink. Oberon has definitely adopted me as his primary human, and Puck has decided Michelle is his primary human. It works out (though Puck visits with me more than Oberon visits with Michelle, thanks to Oberon's over-the-top shyness/paranoia towards humanity as a whole). They're getting along well with Kai and Kainal -- Kainal enjoys having the boys to play with occasionally, and Oberon likes curling up with Kai for naps from time to time.

So that's my life right now in a nutshell. Some social life with friends a couple times a week, lots of work and commute-time, and insanely-growing kittens. A Christmas tree in the living room, presents under it, cookies and pie freshly cooked in the kitchen. Family and loved ones nearby. A wonderful wife.

Yeah, there's some crazy stuff going on around me... but all things told, I've got a pretty good life. If you're reading this, you're probably a part of that life, so thank you. You help make it awesome.

So with our upcoming move, we decided that Kainal needed to become an indoor-only kitty. And as we did some research, we discovered that it would ease the transition if she had a buddy to help entertain her when she was bored stuck inside.

On Wednesday, we drove around to various shelters. We looked at PAWS on Greenwood Ave. We looked at the animal shelter. There were a lot of awesome kitties there, but none who quite seemed to "fit." However, our local hippie-pet-food-store, Next To Nature, has a few rescue kitties in the back who are adopted out through Friends of the Animals. One younger cat -- about 5 months -- was curled up with a snoozing sibling, but he kept watching me very closely and carefully. He got my attention, but I wasn't able to interact with him then: they don't even want people to pet the animals unless a representative from Friends of the Animals is there (it can potentially spread disease). So we called and made an appointment to meet with someone last night. In the initial conversation, I learned the two who had been curled up together were siblings who were mostly inseparable, but they'd be willing to split them up if it meant an adoption.

Last night, joined by clayin, we met with the adoption agent. Michelle and I played with the cat who had been staring at me, and with his brother, too. We discussed several options.

We came home with two new cats.

(The logic goes that, when Kainal wants to play, she'll have a buddy or two to play with. If she doesn't want to play, but the younger ones do, they'll still be entertained. Plus, it really would be sad to separate the two -- they had been fostered out to different homes before, but when they came back together, they started sticking to each other like glue.)

The names they had been given, "Chill" and "Ananke", didn't seem to fit them, so I grabbed my copy of Complete Works of Shakespeare, and opened to a random page. And right there, the first name I saw, "Puck." The next male name, "Oberon." Chill, who was actually a bit curious and playful, became Puck; Ananke, who is cautious and surprisingly regal for a kitten, is Oberon.

They've been fixed, they're up to date on their shots, etc. They've got a mild parasitic infection that's almost done being treated. They had been found as part of a feral colony, living on an abandoned mattress in Highland Park. And they're quite adorable. Pictures will follow.

Let's see here: my master's project is just about done, but it's caught in a tangle of red tape. Once that's complete, I'll be done. (Though I'll have a couple classes to take next year to finish my library science endorsement.)

Big news: Michelle and I are moving out to Poulsbo, on the peninsula. The move will happen later this month. Because it's in the county where there are coyotes and such, Kainal is becoming an indoor-only kitty. This means we're looking into rescue kitties to see if we can find her a buddy, so she is entertained while inside. (Kai is less of a buddy and more of a loaf, so he doesn't count.)

More incidental news: Martians and a circus are coming for me. And this titillates me in strange and wonderful ways.

This is what I put together for Opa's eulogy. And no, I couldn't make it through without breaking down. (My grandfather was known as Opa, since my older brother was born in Germany, where my father was stationed at the time.)

( What I said: )

Today, my grandfather left this world. He was always a truly good man, and a deep inspiration to me.

( Many photos below: )

Godspeed, Opa. You've changed this world for the better over your years on this earth, and now we're a little less blessed without you in it. I will forever miss you.

Oh, laptop. My sexy, sexy laptop. How I missed you.

So nice to have you back in my hands again, and have you working again, back from the computer repair shop.

What's that, baby? ...you want me to be up all night, writing on you?

I work tomorrow, beautiful.

...but maybe for a little while...