Simple America

Its been a quiet weekend. No kids. My daughter went to Schlitterbaum, a water park. at San Marcos, TX with her old Girl Scout Troop. My son sent to Lake Somerville, where I hope he can see Mars as big as the moon. Me and the missus are enjoying the peace and quiet. We kind of have a little honeymoon.

But before it got started, my boss kept calling me on her new cell phone. “Dad, will you bring grapes when you bring my things. Also need money for the trip.” The phone was supposed to be help us keep in touch, but it is turning into the servant’s bell. Though she does call on occasion to chat.

So Friday, I threw all her stuff in the van and son’s pack. Oops. He forgot his uniform. So I go digging that out for him too. I figured he and I would have to kill an hour waiting for the Boy Scouts to arrive. Driving home at today’s gas price’s is something I avoid if possible. I bought a new card game at Gencom called Spycraft. So I took it along for us to try out.

So I am at the school for about 2 hours. My duaghter comes. I giver her grapes, plus a gin doi (sesame bun) and char shui bao (barbq pok bun). I even got her a water and of course money. Shes happy and then shes off. My son and I hang out and finally the scouts show up. Then I head out.

Friday traffic is horrid. It takes over an hour to drive home from school. I wanted to go to the movies, but it does not happen. Just tired. So my wife and I go to eat out. Our first choice has gone out of business, dang. So we go hit a Mexican Restaurant and have a decent meal. We decide to stop at the grocery store and get some DVDs.

Friday night we watch Sin City. This is cool, as Frank Miller is the producer and wirter. He might have directed too, I cannot remember. I just know that he is an awesome story teller and I loved it when he penned Daredevil and Ronin. Sin City was alright. I don’t like the way they filmed, as my eyes are old. Too much black and white for my taste. I have not read Sin City, so I imagine this follows the art of the story.

In the morning we watch Bride and Prejudice and it was delightful. This is a movie that is about India and the west coming together. I loved the dancing and the singing. The women were really beautiful. The guy that plays Sayed in Lost was in the movie and I really enjoy watching him dance in the movie. Very talented fellow. The story follows Pride and Prejudice as should be easy to guess. Though a little more light hearted.

After that I tried to close July books for 12 to Midnight. Missing some information to complete my sales data, which is a pain in the butt. Sales determines a lot of my expenses, to include commissions and royalties. Oh well. Hope to get it done before September.

Went to get the oil changed on my car and the mechanic lowered my window and it dropped off the support and into the door. This happens all the time, but usually it just gets off balance not falling all the way down inside. I should have told them of this but forgot. I’m going to label the damn thing, so there won’t be any more problems like this. Cost me $42 to get the window back up. Won’t go back to Firestone again. Thinking about calling my lawyer.

Got home just as my wife returned from her massage and a little shopping. She is buying some gifts to take with her to Toronto next weekend. Me and the kids are going to be abandoned. Mwuhahahaha. Her tires are low, which is my fault. so we stop off at the gas station and I fill the tires with air. She gets out and supervises.

From there we go to her brother’s house. We are going to eat out with his wife and mother-in-law at an Italian place. My hands are dirty from pumping air in the tires. I have this thing about dirty hands. I am not comfortable. When I get to their house all I want to do is wash my hands. I’m already sweating like a pig from pumping the air also. Temperature is 99 degrees and the humidy is around the same. We brought this box of clothes for them, but my sis-in-law wants it in the garage. So I go meet my bro-in-law to put it in the garage. I go inside the house wanting to wash my hands and I get inside just as they turn on the alarm, so I have to leave with dirty fricking hands. I’m not in a good mood.

Finally we ge to the restaurant and I go straight to the loo. Who’s in there but a painting of Elvis? I don’t know about you but when I have business to take care of the last person I want to look at is Elvis. He is hung right over the urinal so it is hard to miss him. Finally, I get clean hands and we have nice Italian meal.

After the meal my wife and I went to see the Brothers Grimm. Interesting story. I would take some of it and use it when I start playing Rippers. The movie can difinitely be Savaged, though this is not one I will add to my DVD collection. While it was entertaining, it did not grip me.

Got home and beat one hell of a storm. Its pouring outside now.

My head is full of jello today. Every time I attempt to think a thought I nod off. Damn I need a good nights sleep. Maybe tonight. Don’t have to work late like during registration, but my daughter has piano lessons. Plus my wife comes home from Detroit tonight. She’s usually late and does not get to bed early. That tends to make me restless as well.

Finally, put on my writer’s hat and worked on Skinwalker today. Change a word here. Reword a phrase there. All for the sake of clarity. This beast ought to be done soon. I hope I can put it back in the edit pool by this weekend. Like all of my previous works I am starting to hate it. A written work turns into an annoying child after awhile. Never satisfied and always demanding more.

I need to refocus myself on the CPA firm this weekend. Its been placed on the backburner with 12 to Midnight taking precedence over the last two weekends. I must find another marketing angle and another mailing list to get the word out there. I want to work in the county that I live in for a change.

I don’t know how she got hooked on it, but my daughter is fond of Queen. That’s cool. I liked Queen when I was in Hight School. She’s rocking on the Bohemian Rhapsody. I can remember singing that song walking down the street annoying people. One day my voice was really hitting the high notes good. My buddy was pretty impressed. I was pretty stupid and did not recognize that my throat was getting worn and I went to hit a high note and really screwed up my voice. I could not speak for like two days. And I’m blaming that incident on ruining my rock and roll career.

This stuff works when Charmin has been all squeezed out. Great for the boss, or any other asshole that pisses you off.

It is my second day of registration. Should have been my third, but I called in sick on Monday. Gencon just drained me. So much for living the rock n roll life style of a Game God. I guess that’s the problem. I have not advanced from hero’s water boy yet. Have not drank like that since College. I’m still tired today. Last night I told the boy scouts I cannot make the campout, because I need the weekend to recharge. Good for my son to get a little more independence, though I am going to miss stargazing, especially with Mars being in such close proximity to Earth’s orbit.

Monday night I briefed my 12 to Midnight partners on Gencon. They are excited by the news. They also provided some concerns, which are more than reasonable. We have to make the right move. So we are going to start working up ideas for our secret project. This is something we have needed to work on for the longest time. To date we have only produced adventures and a couple of rule enhancements. No one produces these outside of the pdf market. The sales are not good enough for paper books. The secret project is different than anything we have done before. We’re ready to rock the game world and this may do it.

Still staying up too late at night. I have been trying to catch up on emails sent while I was at Gencon. I boffoed one of the free mods I sent to a customer that visited the booth. Somehow I sent the document to our reviewers. They were all scratching their head about that one. Oops. So, sorry y’all.

I need to get back into the writing mode. Skinwalker needs to be in its third draft and turned over for editing. I just do not want to leave any loose ends, as I did in the earlier drafts. The way I write on these things, I focus on story in the first draft. As I go along I may put notes that a sidebar is needed or reference a handout for the players that I will make when time allows. At this stage we don’t have time for that. I want to get this work tighter than a steel drum, so we can get it to layout and off to the public. My biggest concern at the moment is map and arts. But I’m not perspiring about these yet. Its just these items are beyond my control and that makes me antsy.

I’m surprised by some of the lurkers on my blog. I learn of their existence when they posted on the 12 to Midnight forums. Makes me wonder how many gamers might have come just to read of my Gencon experience. Its cool, but I have to be aware of security regarding projects and spoilers. I came away from Gencon feeling like a minnow swimming with sharks. Fortunately, I have a good piece of coral. I know I will never be a shark, but I can be a barracuda. I’m good with that.

This morning the drive was so looooooong. Got off on a wrong foot, because my kids were dragging. Son did not bother getting his little butt out of bed until I turned his light on. Fricking laid there for 40 minutes. I’m going basic training on his butt tomorrow. I remember waking up in the middle of the air a couple of times at Infantry school. The perk of living on the top bunk. His drop won’t be as long. By the time I dropped them off at their schools it was a quarter to 8. Leaving me 15 minutes to drive 60 miles. I tried. But I was so tired. I kept nodding, succumbing to the white line fever. I even made use of the entire road, yes I owned it. Damn I got to get some sleep or I am going to own a tree for a hood ornament. May not happen tonight. Got to go to my son’s school for parents night.

One last thing. I just have to mention this guy I saw at Gencon. He was walking down the vendor aisles begging. He is dressed like your normal geek, shorts, smelly t-shirt, and tennis shoes. He’s holding the top of a large plastic container. The container is white and he wrote on it with black ink. The writing sez, “Parents killed by ninjas. Need money for kung fu lessons” I wonder if he got any donations?

Back to work at the job that pays the bills, but kills my passion. We are in registration at the moment. Students are in a rush as they try to get registered. Tomorrow is the last day that they register for the Fall semester.

I kind of enjoy doing this, though it is quite different from my regular duties as internal auditor. I get to meet a lot of students during this process. I always get the job of printing out the student bills. This task is boring, but it keeps me from having to handle assets or doing some other task that could minimize my independence.

The fun part is talking to the students. A few have encountered me in the past and we chat. The new students are the most fun to watch. They approach nervous and unsure of themselves and the process. Usually a parent, sometimes both, accompanies them apprehensive, looking to guard every nickel and protect their baby. Some come up quietly give me their ID number and walk away without another word. There are a few problem students and they come up with a chip on their shoulder. I try to defuse them the best I can with the meager information at my disposal. If they get pissed I just send them to a person that can help.

What’s tough is I’m getting sleepy, and I have to wait it out in front of everyone that walks by. Guess I better stand up or I’ll be drooling in my keyboard. Maybe it’ll create a shock and wake me up. Or I could beat myself over the head with the keyboard. Maybe still get shocked that way. Plus the students might freak.

Only five hours to go.

Woke up this morning, IMed Preston, ate a quick breakfast, checked my blog, and packed. I have low expectations for the con today. I intend to work the booth 2 hours and then I have about 30 minutes to walk the hall and say my farewells and maybe pick up a few things. My purchases are focused on things that I cannot get at my favorite local game store in Sugar Land. Or if I see a drop dead offer that only a fool could bypass.

I walk to the con and damn my sandals are not made for walking on concrete. They are great on carpet and tile, but they were not designed for concrete. Getting shin splits almost.

Make it through the throng a little easier today and I arrive at the booth with 7 minutes to spare. I remember my free dice coupon and I run over and visit Erskin real quick. Voila I have a new set of dice. Let me a take a moment to explain to the non-gamer that getting new dice is as good as sex. These are pretty too, Aquamarine with blue speckles. Now these are not dice like for playing craps or Yachtze(sp?). These are roleplaying dice. There are seven dice in this pack. The numbers of sides for each die differ starting with a pyramid 4-sider, working on up to 6(most common), 8, 10(singles digits), 10(tens digits), 12 and 20. The reason the 10 sided dice are configured as they are is to allow a roll of 1 to 100.

I go over to the Wizards booth to see if a can roll the huge 20-sided dice they have to win some prizes. They don’t start rolling until 11. Dang I have to work my booth so no chance. The line is always long. Next year.

So I go back to my booth and get things ready. Next thing I know the masses are charging for the free dice booth. The first three days they made an announcement for the opening of the doors. Not today. Oh well, I sell my products anyway. There are not as many people today, but still significant numbers. Most cons I leave early on Sunday and I am doing that for this con also. Big mistake as this con still has enough people to make it worth the while to work. Next year I will leave Monday or late Sunday.

My big surprise of the morning is John Danovich drops by the booth. He has a Studio2 folder and he explains the basic terms of doing business with Studio2. I think I am close to getting a book deal. I just need to learn the cost of a book. I imagine our emails Monday or Tuesday shall go into this detail. John can do a lot for us and he seems professional and trustworthy. Shane trusts him and that means a lot to me. To be in print would be great. Game stores shelves do not hold pdfs, they hold books. A book provides more exposure and may find its way to a broader market. This confirms John’s interest in 12 to Midnight and makes this trip worth every penny spent. Hell, I should have taken him out. Though I recall when I spoke with him on Friday, he had just come back from his third lunch meeting in a row. He was stuffed and I must admit that John looked to be quite fit.

Have some other folks visit. I gave away another Savaged adventure, to a customer that has played some of our modules. Another guy came by pushing his marketing services. I took a copy of a magazine he publishes. Another guy comes by that does custom t-shirts. I get more customers looking at the Flatland tiles. After the first couple of days I have a stick that really gets their eyes to widen on this product. I have seven tiles on display printed on light cardboard stock. Two floor types, one creature tile without border, a character tile with border and name, a full scale Hummer tile, a helicopter tile, and what a customer named for me, the CSI tile. The CSI tile is neat for horror or mystery gaming. It has a while floor with blood spray or bloody cult runes. It also had police do not cross tape lines and there are several corpses covered with sheets. But the part of the tile people point at most is the chalk line of a murder victim. This is a wonderful game aide and the fans really liked looking at them.

To sale Flatlands, the first thing I do is inform them that there is more, over 50 pages total on the pdf. I hand them a coupon that provides the web address. Then I hit on the tiles they I did not bring and I truly think that they will buy these when they get home. That is if they did not spend all their money at Gencon. What I wish is that we had a list of interested people to contact after the show. Send ‘em a reminder and if they don’t buy send another in a couple of months. Just keep mailing them until the ‘cease and desist order comes in.’ Joking!!!

This guy from another game company comes by and he is annoying. He is selling me on his fricking product at my booth. Worst part is these games all have the cute bunny heroes. Sorry Wabbit, I cannot buy them because he is ignorant. I got customers that I need to explain product to and because he won’t shut up or be considerate I miss giving out some coupons. At least then they could check out our stuff when they get home and get a little discount too. Then I find out he wants to do a tradeout. I give him my stuff and he gives me his stuff. I tell him come back at noon, when Chris shows up.

Sean and Karen visited me too. I let them leave some stuff at the booth while they did some last minute shopping. They are going to drive back to Tennessee shortly. They are really nice genuine folks and I am glad that I got to meet them. Very real southern folk. I live in the south and it was comforting to be around them. Plus Sean is sharp and knows his shit.

Chris arrived and he thanked me for working the booth with him. I am glad I finally got to meet him. He’s a young guy and he knows how to get his product out there. His books look pretty good and I love his Darwin’s World stuff. In fact DW is how I got involved with him. We had tried to find some projects to do together, because our companies are very complementary. Then he asked if we wanted to convert DW to Savage Worlds. That became my baby and I was enjoying it, until the project got killed. Oh well, that’s the way the biz goes. We now work with Chris on the Modern Dispatch, which includes Adamant and Ronin Arts, two other publishers. We each take a turn producing a weekly ezine for modern gaming, the Modern Dispatch.

Well time for me to make my last walk around the booths. I go over to the Green Ronin booth, but I do not see JD or Rich. Just for the hell of it I ask if Chris Primas is around and finally, he is here. I introduce myself to him and ask him about Bloodlines. Bloodlines is our most dynamic product to date. We made it with the intention of having it sold as a book. Problem is that it is adventure. Right now adventures do not sell, not enough for book deals to be worthwhile. It works as a pdf or pod, but that’s about it. Chris says no to adventures and basically he says modern stuff does not have enough market either at 20% of the RPGs. Let him keep thinking that. I intend to grow this market some kind of way. Just going to take some work. At one time we thought Chris and Green Ronin would be essential for our advancement into print. Thanks to John Danovich that is no longer the case.

Finished there and walked over to bid Shane Hensley farewell. He was surrounded as always, but he went out of his way to shake hands and say in front of the fanboys, “what a good time he had hanging out with me.” I told him I hope we can do it again.

Then I walked over to the Wizards shop to see if they had any deals. Nope. Lots of pretty new stuff, but I can buy it all at home. Then I decide to leave. I pass the AEG booth and they have a sweet deal on their Spycraft card game. I cannot pass this up. Oh well, I am a geek. Going to have to sell some of my old stuff on ebay to make peace with the wife.

Walked the 12 minutes stroll to the hotel passing the Indiana Capitol building one last time. Very nice building I must say. Yakked with Preston on the phone about my morning. In the morning I had extended my stay to one o’clock. But now my key does not work. Why did I bother? Wait for the damn slow elevator again, walk the long hall to the front desk. Guy tells me the computer does it automatically at 12. What kind of service is that I think? This hotel, Residence Inn, does not want me working there. I’ll kick their lazy asses, I know how a hotel should treat their guests. One day my room did not get cleaned because the maid sees the do not disturb sign when she came by at 9 in the morning. I took the sign off when I left at 9:30. That pissed me off. Two strikes on ‘em. Strike three was the internet connection dropping at night. I’m writing somebody about this. Got in the room and left a couple of shouts on my blog. Packed the last few things and left for the lobby.

Took a cab to the airport. Cabbie was a good chap. He explained how the gas prices are killing his business and I bet they are. The lease for his vehicle is like $300 bucks a week and he has to purchase gas and any parts that he needs for repairs. Maintenance labor and insurance is covered by the lease. I don’t see how he makes it. Got to hustle to get fares that is for sure. If he wants to get a couple days off each week he has to make $60 bucks a day plus gas just to break even. He adds that when he worked for a larger cab company they paid over $800 a week for the lease. Stay in school folks. You still have to work hard, but it is tough without an education to bring home the bacon.

Well I get to the airport and check in at the counter. Lady gives me stand by for an earlier flight to Chicago. Go to the gate and there is no chance that I get on this flight. So I go eat. The airport food is the best I had the whole trip. Just a burger but it is almost up to Whataburger standards. I go back and sit down at the gate. The plane is delayed as there is weather in Chicago. Apparently this plane should fly from Chicago and then return with me and my fellow passengers.

So we get to wait. The passengers are annoyed, but what can we do? Its funny for a while, this pilot is playing a computer game and its just rocking. Loud explosions and guns blasting, some alien enemies screaming in pain. A woman near me is annoyed. She needs to understand that all the major geeks came to Indy. Of course she’s annoying too with her off hand statements and damn she has enough food to feed all of us. It does not smell very good either. Plane finally has arrived. Unfortunately, my connection has left Chicago already. I’ll be stuck there until 8 at the least. Oh well I better get on it. What da ya think?

Get to Chicago at 6. I got no idea what my connection is? The promised United representative is no where to be seen. They said our flight was delayed due to weather, but we found out they lied from the pilot. Turns out some luggage got lost and they had to wait until it was found. Crud. I find a departure monitor and the only flight to Houston is 8:00, so I go to the gate. No one is there, so I visit the adjacent gate. The attendant there provides me with a boarding pass and I am now good to go.

As I rushed about the airport I realize how much I am ready to be home. I see a lady playing violin in the terminal and I think of Oceanskies where I occasionally lurk, but have not posted. Yes, I know she plays cello. I see another lady carrying a cat and I think of my ninja friend. Now I try to look for other bloggers in the people I pass, but when you try to do that it just does not happen.

I go find a deli and order a tuna fish sandwich. It’s okay. I wonder why they ask me if I want a mayonnaise, but they don’t ask me if I want mustard. See two different families while I sit and eat, one has toddlers and the other teens and preteens. I look forward to seeing my kids. I spoke to them on the phone and they are looking forward to me returning. They want to see what toys I might bring home. Might? Will works a lot better. My poor wife. Ebay here I come. Out with the old, in with the new.

So now I sit waiting for the final leg of my journey. I should arrive in Houston at 10:30. If everything clicks I should arrive at my house by midnight. It would be nice to arrive at 12 to midnight, almost auspicious. All I ask for is a chance to kiss my wife like I did before I left home. May not happen, as she has to get up at 4:30 and goES to Detroit. Don’t want to be greedy for my lost time from her.

Of course, I think she might be going to Canada next weekend. Oh, hmmm. I better check that out. Folks are too busy at my house this month.
The flight from Chicago is pretty bumpy. The woman next to me is kind of chatty and I’m tired and grumpy. She asks me what I do and I do what I do best. I scared her. I informed her, “I sell zombies, vampires and ghosts. Would you like my card?” She was quiet the rest of the trip. I need home cooking so I can be my mellow low key self again.

Get my bag which comes down the baggage ramp upside down. So much for the nice posters I picked up for the kids. Take the Park N Ride bus to my car. Drive home and I arrive at 12 minutes after midnight. God has a sense of humor. Probably my first installment in punishment for being mean to the lady. Everyone is asleep. I should go to bed also. Might be catching a cold too.

It is time to close out this final entry for my Gencon blog. I thank Preston and Jane for keeping me company in the morning while I ate breakfast. I want to thank Jane, Cat, and K-man for touching base with me in the evening, when I could have typed about anything some nights, I was plain plastered. I hope I stayed polite. Sorry to cat for having to deal with my poor connections it seemed like every time we IMed. Thanks to my wife, my daughter, and Preston for walking with me to the con while we chatted on the phone. My apologies to Ed. We never really got to talk the entire time I was there the way I would have liked to. I dedicate this series of blog entries to you. Looking forward to getting together and rolling the dice in anger real soon.

Once again I cannot sleep late. What the hell is wrong with me? So tired and still a little drunk maybe? Take the elevator down to eat breakfast. It stops and an elderly couple gets on as I disembark. I walk all the way down to where the gatehouse is supposed to be. Where is it? Doh! I got off before the elevator made it all the way down. Catch the elevator again!

Get my food and go back to the room to make my Friday blog entry. Takes forever to write. I post it and then leave for the con. Get downstairs and it is raining. Dang I need a cab. I meet another con attendee and we agree to share a cab. Bonus, he even pays for it. Random act of kindness. Arrive at the site at 12:30. I wish I could have made it at 10:00.

Go check on Chris. Let him go to the loo and he takes forever. I notice there are a lot more people here today. The corset guy is busy. I love his line to his customers, “Can I tie you up?” I talk to him later and he says he will bring help next year. He eats a sandwich before they open the doors and he eats another when they close out. He never leaves his booth. Admirable fellow.

Karen comes by just as Chris returns. She and I go over to the Wizards of the Coast area and see if we can get in on some games so we can roll the dice. It is just too busy and the games last so long and I have to man the booth at 2:00, so we blow it off. We go to the Heroscape area. I have always been curious about this game. They give me a free figure, looks like a blue dude riding a saber tooth tiger. My son ought to like it. In fact I may get him this game for Christmas. Looks like fun and I have heard good things about it.

Karen and I go to a demo of a card game called Battleground. It is an interesting game that caught my eye the first day. Quite honestly I though about designing a similar game. Now I don’t need to. Some of the cards are army formations, while others give command bonuses. The cards are placed on the table and then maneuvered like an Army. I bought four decks to take back and play with the kids. Maybe even Ed might try this one. He does not care for many card games, but he does like war games and this is a war game despite the cards.

I decide to grab a bite to eat. But I want to go say hi to Shane real quick. He’s not at the booth, but Zeb is. I tell him hello, but then I need to go, as I need to grab some food before I work the booth. I grab a hot dog and nachos, doesn’t that sound healthy?
The booth has a lot of folks come by. Randy visits me. We missed him last night. Turns out he and his wife were playing a live action roleplaying game or LARP for short. Sounds like his wife really likes these and I remember she was dressed as a pirate on Thursday. She looked very cute in that outfit. Randy is a lucky fellow. We chatted and then I noticed Erskin Cherry over in the booth across from mine. I asked Randy if he had met Erskin and he had not. So I introduced them both.

Lot of people came by and visited. Met more people that wanted review copies, freelance writers, and artists seeking commissions. I took their cards so that I could include them in my Gencon report. Have to give that to my partners on Monday. Gave away a copy of Savaged Weekend Warriors. I sold my hard copy of Weekend Warriors at the end of the day. I don’t want to take anything home with me. More people came by and drooled over the Flatlands tiles.

So many people, I hear that there might be over 40,000 here, but that could be incorrect too. I don’t doubt there is more than 30,000. Well they shut the doors and now I don’t know what to do. Sean said to give him a call, so I do. Cannot get the call through. So I walk around. Now I discover that the NFL Colts are playing the Chicago Bears in a preseason game. The RCA dome is attached to the conference center. It looks funny to see the gamers walking amongst the football fans. Blue and white clad folk walk side by side with Jango Fett, Stormtroopers, Shrek and Fiona. Men dressed as wizards, they look damn good. Don’t want to get their attention or they might throw a fireball. I see a girl dressed like the female android that is running away in Bladerunner. Not a whole lot of clothes there. Another girl isn’t wearing much more than band aids. Costume malfunction waiting to happen and plenty of boys gawking and hoping.

As I walk I find the card room. It is huge. There must be 200 tables with dozens of different card games being played. Magic is still the number one game, but there are others vying to be king. I leave as I don’t have the energy to play cards.

Go back outside and finally reach Sean. He and Karen are starving. I tell him I will walk to his hotel and meet in the lobby. I call Ed on the way, but he’s not home. Hope there is not any problem, as I have called all day and no one answers. I call Preston and update him on the day and last night. Then I arrive at the hotel and give Sean a call.

They come down and we go to find a restaurant. Every place is crowded. We choose Palemonico and eat at the bar. I choose a German wheat beer with a lemon to garnish. Dummies don’t know how to serve it. The lemon should be sliced, but they give me a wedge. I ate some pasta with chicken, benne pesto. Don’t really like the food that much. Then I am blessed by kindness again, as Sean pays for dinner.

We go back to Sean’s hotel room. We talk about the industry and he shows off his book, which he gave me a copy of. He is doing some steam punk stuff and I think he has some neat ideas. Though some of it sounds like Sharn which is the Eberron campaign from Wizards. He shows me Sean Patrick Fannon’s Shaintar’s Players Guide. There are a lot of editing bugs in this book. The first flaw I see is that the book title is not on the cover. It mentions the Shaintar campaign, but not that this is the players guide. It also has GM notes inside. Why should a players guide have GM notes. It does not seem logical.

I’m tired and I leave. I catch a cab and go back to the room. Get my blogging done and time for bed.