BarretWallace

I have an update.
 
First up, I asked the GM: I need an honest answer -- is the plan for the Bad Guys to "win" whenever we have our next session or does our party have any sort of chance?
 
His response
 
...so yeah.
 
So, I showed the GM's response to hubby.  Then we talked properly, him and I, about my concerns.  How I didn't liked the bait & switch when I was initially told the campaign was us supposed to be saving the day, not setting up things for what's now the "real" game.  How it frustrated me as a player and as a writer myself that I'm supposed to fulfill a predestined plot as opposed to playing a game.  How, even if I wanted to go out as a Big Damn Hero, it could all be rendered moot by a bad dice roll anyways.
 
And I told hubby how frustrated I felt with him pressuring me to keep playing anyway.  That it wouldn't be fun for me like that.  And I reminded him that we do still game together (Wednesdays with the plan for us GMing together towards the end of the year), so it's not like Fridays are the only thing.
 
...I think he finally got it.  And he'll accept my choice.  I did say that I would finish this campaign first and to see how I'm feeling if I will continue on Fridays.  And I told hubby that I'm totally fine if he chooses to keep playing even if I don't.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/27/world/russia-ukraine-war-news
 
Dang. Nordstream 1 and 2 are toast. Russia cannot sell gas and oil to Germany using that mechanism now even if mutually agreed on. 
 
Looks like a “hey, maybe stop talking about use of nuclear weapons” to me, but what do I know?

If recent history in my home state is any guide (well, recent from my perspective), I must sadly concur.  A few years back, we elected a former pro wrestler as our governor.  He did pretty well for his first two years, and then I think his ego got the better of him.  There were two major high points from his governorship that I recall.  Firstly (at least for his first two years), he was a breath of fresh air, a welcome break from the old, tired bickering of extreme right vs. extreme left.  Second, he sparked unprecedented cooperation between the two major parties; that the cooperation was against him is another point of discussion.  We haven't had a non-RepubliCrat governor since.

That's a really good one. In addition, I'd like to see a real multiparty system, with a wider range of choices more representative of the actual diversity of the American people.

You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

School Board Candidate Says Doctors Who Help Trans Kids ‘Should Be Hanging’ From Trees
 
 

This...is frightening
 
One in five US adults condone ‘justified’ political violence, mega-survey finds

I am now on "Paxlovid": three tablets in the morning and three tablets in the evening. Here's to hoping the infection is defeated.

I seem to recall reading something back in the day along the lines of, "The United States and Great Britain are having a contest to see who can screw their country the most. Great Britain took the early lead with Brexit, but it turns out the United States was holding the trump card."

Newly released surveillance video shows that 11 police were present in Uvalde school hallway three minutes after shooter shut himself in classroom, and had assault rifles and ballistic shields twenty minutes later, yet did nothing for another hour
 

Hell, the break room.  I've seen what non-dairy creamer can do...

My school district actually went the other direction. When I started 13 years ago, lockdown was the first, last, and only consideration. It's only in recent years that our district has implemented the run, hide, fight model.
 
I will note tangentially that if it ever comes to the "fight" part, I've got a heck of a lot of equipment in my lab prep room that would make for excellent improvised weaponry. And that's just the physics room. Get me to the chemical stockroom....

My Dad just called to tell me he'd just heard from the hospital. My brother died earlier this morning. Sad news, but at least he's no longer suffering.
 
My favorite uncle-in-law died just a few days ago, and we mark one year since my Mom died day after tomorrow.
 
It's been a hell of a year.

It was on the drive today up to where the father-in-law died that I realized that getting old isn't what sucks.  What sucks is that everything and everyone around you gets old too, and they leave the world without your permission.

There's a little more information now. My brother was in convulsions when they admitted him to the hospital. They took him into surgery, opened a palm-sized flap in his skull, and removed a blood clot. Apparently he fell at some point; they don't know if the fall led to the blood clot, or if he had a stroke and that's what caused him to fall. In any case, they haven't closed up the flap yet because they're concerned about swelling.
 
It's going to take three or four days before anyone has any idea how it's going to be. He may pull through, or he may not. He may survive but be confined to a full-time care facility. There's a DNR order in place if it comes to that.
 
Dad says there's nothing anyone can do at the moment, so he's advised us not to come out at this time. All any of us can do with it now is wait.
 
In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have survived that fall all those years ago. When we got the call back then, we were told to get there ASAP so we could say goodbye. In time, he surprised everyone and pulled through. But at the same time, he's never been the same since the accident. He was always kind of a smart-ass, a characteristic he shares with his two brothers, but he was a jovial, good-natured smart-ass. Since the accident, though, he's been angry and bitter pretty much all the time. He doesn't have the capacity that he used to have, but part of his injury is that he can't process the fact that he doesn't have the capacity that he used to have. I can't imagine how frustrating these last few years have been for him.
 
So there's a part of me that feels like we are probably going to lose him in the next few days. But there's another part of me that feels like we lost him years ago.
 
Either way, it sucks.

Just a random appearance in my Facebook feed…

Well, one of my Housemates has it. Yay team

More details on the Uvalde school shooting.  Spoilered because they're gonna piss you off if you read them.
 
 

Well, apparently they didn't take action to save any kids but their own, but they DID restrain and taser parents who wanted to get in and get their kids since the police wouldn't. Really good at stomping unarmed citizens, the UPD

all but one of them were Director's Cuts

My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with COVID...
 
...
 
...
 
...
 
...we were just around her during the baptism of my husband's grand-nephew.
 
[BLEEP]
 
(I wore a mask.  No one else in the family did.)