zornwil

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Some of my dreams turned into musicals!

That is so cool!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Serotonin Saul: His only power is to cause a massive Serotonin release in people nearby. He makes his money as a hanger-on for depressed celebrities' date=' following them around and keeping them happy. Repeated attempts to recruit him as a Superhero or Villain have failed. He has no desire to chase criminals or get shot at, and less desire to rob banks when people will pay him just to hang out. Plot hooks include trying to get him to use his powers for a greater good than cheering up wealthy talk show hosts and singers, and being hired by wealthy talk show hosts or singers to rescue him after the villain of the week decides to kidnap him for use in a poorly conceived bid for world domination. Bonus plot seed: A media company is the actual kidnapper, after Saul's employer kicked her previous drug habits and party girl lifestyle and thus became a much less marketable celeb.[/quote']

Aw, dang, I just repped you for something else and this is just superb! Both as humor and a great hero idea.

 

I think I will add an alien race into the galactic superhero game that does something like this.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Damn that's tough. A friend in Pennsylvania is in almost the same situation you're in (he was laid off from Waccovia); he was able to get an emergency unemployment extension after his first six months ran out' date=' so he's at least getting some income. Not sure if he'll be able to go back a third time. It's not like he's not job hunting, but not many people want to hire a 42 year old without exactly the right skill set.[/quote']

I was saddened to hear re someone I had only just met recently who works in one of our divisions and was just laid off as part of some significant layoffs we've had in the US because she's 50+ and had worked there quite some time. Her prospects of finding a job are somewhat bleak in general of course (it seems to me that financial controllers are still getting hired but not sure, so I said "somewhat bleak" rather than leaving it as merely "bleak"), but certainly dismal in terms of finding anything at the pay she was getting or as decent a position.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

*shudder*

 

Nope, won't do it.

 

And yeah, I've dug ditches before.

I am, however, well qualified enough to be able to pass on the really evil jobs, like the time I quit a job in Folsom making big rocks into little ones.

I figured if I was gonna do that, I might as well at least get to kill someone first...

So they actually offer that as a job, you mean, or am I missing a joke?

As you say, you'd think that'd be "reserved" for those who "earned" it!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I actually rather like working a desk job. I've worked hard physical labor. I've worked retail. I'll take sitting at a desk over that any day.

Ditto. My parents were factory laborers, I've done that for a summer as well as thrown my back out once most likely because of loading/lifting boxes on our receiving line when I was responsible for our warehouse management systems and we were testing the system. I also had a job handing out flyers in the winter (as well as summer, but heat doesn't bother me). My father did a welding job for a whlie and got very bad chronic bronchitis because the shop was all outdoors. Hence my prejudices.

Besides, growing up, my favorite fun was sitting and reading and analyzing sociopolitical data, so that's very much desk job labor. I'm very suited to it.

Even in the event I couldn't handle my responsibilites (which I "intend" to get to in my old age), wanted to have a break from what I do and was downscaling my life, I would still try to do desk job work, specifically data entry as I'm good at that.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Having just updated my Resume, I was reminded of a fact I take some pride in...

 

 

I have NEVER worked at a desk job.

 

 

 

 

Thank the Gods.

But...but...how do you surf the web while you're at work????

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Seems to vary state to state. IIRC' date=' California, you can get unemployment after being fired. Oregon, not so much.[/quote']

Yeah, if you are fired in Oregon you need to be sure your employer feels in a positoin that going to court isn't worth it. In those situations, the employer can/will both fire you AND still allow you to collect compensation. With big companies, this is rather likely - most big companies know that Oregon's labor board, though it takes forever, is a crapshoot (as much as it has a bias towards employers, it somewhat unpredictably rules in favor of employees), so they more often than smaller businesses tend to fire and allow compensation. Mid-sized/small businesses tend to block compensation.

 

But, anyway, every state is different.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I just got fed up. The laptop that I am forced to use no longer connects to the intranet and in fact couldn't even check my email. The computer services guy once more told me it always works like that when I know for a fact that is not true. So i just said "I'm done." and walked out. I haven't decided if I'm going back tomorrow or not. I don't know if they'll want me back or not. I think it's time we severed ties.

Best of luck, whatever happens.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

At one point a local radio station played They Might Be Giants "Minimum Wage" every hour' date=' on the hour from 5 to 10 am, specifically for alarm clocks. To this day I use that on my phone as my alarm sound...[/quote']

I love that, that is great. Minimum WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

You have my sympathy.

 

Personally I wouldn't ride in a vanpool that played country music. Even using my own MP3 player and turning it up probably wouldn't be sufficient. But I'm like that...

And today's country isn't really country - or at least I'm "one of those" who thinks that way.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

It is kind of a disability in some respects' date=' isn't it? Though I've found sympathy is hard to come by.[/quote']

There's always reduction surgery.

Re: If You Draw It...They Will Come

And ditto.

Re: If You Draw It...They Will Come

Whew!

 

Thankfully, the holiday hubabaloo is now over and I have time to spend doing much more important things...

 

...like drawing!

 

Anyhow, here's Tim's Puma freshly inked this morning.

 

After an accident had destroyed the initial picture, I had to start over but luckily I still had the scanned figure drawing before adding any detail. So, I at least had a starting point. Also, I was able to get some very useful feedback concerning his pose, which initially just didn't look right (thanks for the feedback guys!) Puma was pretty challenging for me. I don't do black body suits very well and they're murder on my hands, but without the blacks he didn't look right. Also, there was also the issue of spandex vs. clothing (I did quite a bit of research into Native American clothing). Overall, I like the look of the golden age character.

 

And as always, you comments, suggestions, and critiques are welcomed and appreciated!

Very nice, and a good drawing especially, somehow, in B&W.

Re: Cotu!

Coming back to this, I hope/wish HERO would reconsider its stance re games packaged as "Built using HERO" and, albeit requiring some proving with playtesting, this game is really a great approach to that. To me, this is what shouldi be the artistic and systemic future of HERO, building games using it as a toolkit, building the HERO system to be a toolkit useful for that.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Hey! And to others, too. And as I may forget later, I should say Season's and Religious and Social Festivity Greetings!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I don't know the Firefly characters, but I scored as the Operative also, and as below:

The Operative

63%

Shepherd Derrial Book

56%

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

56%

River Tam

50%

Inara Serra

44%

Capt. Mal Reynolds

38%

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

38%

Simon Tam

38%

Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye

31%

Jayne Cobb

25%

Re: Musings on Random Musings

1. I'm disgusted with the government's conduct in Hevron.
   
2. I'm disgusted with the wackadoos from my own camp in Hevron.
   
3. I'm disgusted with the Arab's in Hevron.
   
4. I'm disgusted with the media's coverage of what's going on in Hevron.
   

Four wrongs don't make a right.

 

I've had enough for the day.

 

No. I've had enough for the next several years.

 

I'm just disgusted.

On a more pragmatic and personal note, where will you be/are you, where will you be living, if I may ask such a personal question? Whatever the case, I hope you and your family pull out of this all right over time. I suppose those answers are elsewhere on these boards but I'm rarely on and I'm a tad on the lazy side - but anyone is free to answer to spare Vondy the repetition. Mainly please take my best wishes for things to get better.

Re: The Mavericks & 9-11

Wow, welcome back RDU Neil! Nice to see this thread and glad you're back to enjoying gaming again!

Re: Marginally Powered Sit-Com Heroes

What are some of the characters that would be included today? Sitcoms are not as popular nowadays as they were.

 

In fact I have a hard time think of any.

Also, the types of sit-coms have changed, with less emphasis on the fantastic and more on the mundane. Scrubs and Seinfeld are my all-time favorite sit-coms but making marginally powered sit-com heroes either stretches those characters unduly or just seems wrong (though you could do it with Kramer or The Todd - what can't that high 5 do, it's saved lives!).

Re: Marginally Powered Sit-Com Heroes

Well' date=' we'll just have to agree to disagree. But many of these arguments about portrayals and write-ups of established characters are a big part of the reason that I dislike (or am at least leery of) games with established characters.[/quote']

Yeah, but in my opinion, re such hagglnig, that's largely childishness on the part of people who can't accept that fictional characters can - and should - vary.

Re: Marginally Powered Sit-Com Heroes

All that and not a single mention of Lurch from the Addam's family...

 

For that matter, the whole bloody family is low-powered supers (in my opinion anyway).

Yeah, they're a little too powerful actually, I tend to find. Although I have wanted to incorporate certain ones. Same for the Munsters. Lurch is a good pick - though it requires a player with a strong sense of timing and how to make minimalism work.

Re: Marginally Powered Sit-Com Heroes

Your link does't seem to be working.

Will have to check it out, not sure what I changed over that period. http://www.realschluss.org/mpsch/ works at least, but the char sheets might be outdated, or at least they are in a couple cases.

Re: Cotu!

Something I've been wanting to see, kudos, Sean!

Re: Hero Talk Magazine

Nice to see more, as always!

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I can't really afford Gencon this year.

 

More than that, I have too much going on in my life.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The House of the Palindromedary

Too bad, would like to have met you. But why dont' you come out to socialize, you live nearby, n'est-ce pas? BTW, I was in Indy just recently on work as we have a division near there. I was staying at the Omni, and weird to go to Steak and Shake at 2 AM and almost NOBODY there!