Mark K

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

I Quit Sugar... stupidly

www.eating-disorders.org.uk

ARRGGGHHHH! Why, oh why did I agree to this torture?

Women are sneaky and calculating. Of this I am now certain. During one of my good, confident moods several weeks back, my wife casually slips into the conversation about giving up sugar together. But it's not all sugars, she hastens to add. Only fructose.

Yeah, why not. Is my reply. Fool. FOOL!

It's only our first week, and I now see the error of my ways: listening to my wife. I'm a chocoholic. One hundred percent. I admit to it freely and openly. But for the first four weeks there can be NO sugar in any form. WHATSOEVER!

As I write this I am staring into a cold bowl of quinoa, kous kous, full fat greek yogurt and grated coconut with walnuts. Where's the drizzle of honey? Please! I even had a dream last night that I was putting sugar in a cup of tea I was about to drink - I GAVE UP TEA OVER 20 YEARS AGO!

Last night I was about to apply Soy Sauce onto my meal, but had to stop and check the sugar content: 82g... ARGH! Suddenly the world is bursting with food items I must no longer indulge. I hear sticking pins into your eyes contains zero sugar. I might give that a go.

I shall keep you posted... would it count if I licked a biscuit, I wonder?

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

The Elder Scrolls Online

I will admit, the Elder Scrolls Online had me excited when initial reports started appearing. Then came the videos; Gorgeous. Sexy. Amazing. This is what the MMORPG scene had been waiting for.

Then more news on character classes and character creation, then dungeon bashing and questing. But wait, that wasn't all. No longer would multiple servers dash your hopes of grouping with friends from all over. One mega server for Europe was to be used (America would get its own mega server). Could this get any better?

But wait... I had been stung like this before with the build up to Guild Wars 2 and that proved to be such a pile of dross it was almost criminal. So I reigned in my excitement and decided to wait for release and see what the initial concensus was.

Darcy - Birthday Girl

Sunday the 25th January was, as usual, a cold, cheerless and overcast day. As was my wife uponher return from a walk with Darcy.

I knew something was up by the demeanour of both Darcy and my wife - one looking sheepish, the other looking, well, tortured. I then notice Darcy's coat is smeared with mud along her right side and neck.

"Fox poo." my wife says by way of explanation with a wrinkled nose. Apparently the bodily waste of a fox is very, very unpleasant to the olfactory sense of humans, but to dogs it is pure heaven, hence why they love rolling in it, as had Darcy. Mercifully for me, my nose was not working - my sense of smell comes and goes due to trauma suffered through several breaks and a little surgery. Today I couldn't smell a thing. Thankfully.

Saturday's Game

Out of the six players due to turn up, only five made it. I had one last minute cancellation - no surprises there.

But, from that five, we had a full evening of belly laughs and fun.

Typically things started off in a tavern. Big mistake. It wasn't long before there were arm wrestling matches, drinking contests and a tiny bit of brawling.
I won't bore you with a complete breakdown of the evening, but suffice to say, we wrapped things up at around 0100am - and to be honest, we were all either looking bleary eyed or feeling that way.

The following day was interesting as I had emails and texts asking the same thing: 'are you going to set up a regualr game session?'

My answer: maybe. Funny, how a 'simple' gathering of friends once used to be a blasé affair, but now, as responsible adults, takes major planning and logistics weeks in advance. And here was I thinking life would get less complicated as we got older? No bigger fool than an old fool, eh? ;o)

Saturday, 3 January 2015

RPG Map Props

Saturday is here and the one-off game looms ahead, due to kick -off in 5 hours and 15 minutes time - not that I'm counting, of course.
Part of the joy of running these games, and always was and will be, is the preparation of 'props' for the game ahead. This game is no exception. So I prepared a map, as will be handed to the group via an NPC, for the party to work with.

As you can see it's a fairly ragged-looking thing, but that's the whole idea; faded, torn, battered and almost falling apart. Hard to believe this started out as an A3 sheet of plain white paper.
I shall, some time soon, post a step-by-step process, with pictures, on how to create such a map. Naturally, everything you see on this particular map is my own creation, and is therefore subject to the usual copyright blurb 'n' stuff.

Friday, 2 January 2015

Batman (Badman) Can't...

Sorry to all you die hard Batman fans out there, but I watched this on YouTube and couldn't stop laughing, so I thought I'd share the experience (be warned, there is bad language involved).

New Year, New Game

It's been on the cards for a very long time now. One of those events you and old friends always reminisce about and ends with, 'We really must organise another session with the guys.' Suggestions about who should call, email or text the others bounce back and forth, and that's where it gets left. Dangling in the air like a pair of old shoes on telegraph wire. And so it goes. Time passes and nothing happens.

But now, I changed all that. Galvanised into action emals and texts flew out to five individuals. My thought process went along the lines of, 'If I get three confirmations, plus my wife, that will give me four players at the table.' The chances of everyone being able to make it and turn up are always iffy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing all my blog friends (blogofs) and their loved ones a very HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2015!

May it bring you all health, happiness, wealth (but not so much as to make us unhappy, of course!) and peace of mind.

Welcome to 2015. Let's hope we're all in for a smoother ride than last year. :o)