I'm finally able to look up again and look back and reflect.
The last several years have been... most difficult to say the least. A lot has changed, a lot remains to change.
I will reflect here on recent events in the near future, but there is so much to say and I've not yet completed my current tasks.
Maybe now I can finally start moving in the direction to realize my dreams and not just simply exist like a ghost floating around their final resting place.
Know that I've come to peace with a lot of things and am looking forward to what lies ahead.
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition was my mainstay of gaming. While I grew up and did a fair amount of gaming with 2nd edition, during that time, I also experimented with a lot of other systems as well such as TMNT and Other Strangeness, Robotech, Star Wars, and Beyond the Supernatural primarily.
When the 3rd edition came out was right at the peak of my gaming life. I mastered the d20 system and played the most with it. It's the system that I default to and understand implicitly. Over the years, as things came and went, moves happened, and the like, I ended up losing or selling my 3rd edition material. Now I've finally received a new (to me, that is) set of the core 3rd edition books. It's nice to have these back in my possession and seating among my other materials.
[UPDATE]
Sadly, I've since had to part ways with these books due to multiple reasons. Alas, maybe someday I'll rebuild my collection.
A few weeks ago, while at a local hobby store (Millennium Games - nice store if you’re in the Rochester, NY area), I started to dive through the big box of random dice they have for fun. I quickly discovered what looked like a yellow retro-styled d20. It reminded me of the dice I had when I was a kid. They might be from the red box (Basic Dungeons & Dragons), though I don’t recall. The color was about the same as was the lettering.
A couple of minutes later, I had all but a d8 pulled out. I was frustrated. Did they not have it?! It became my mission to find one. I had to have this set, and so I dug in more, nosily scrambling through this massive box of dice. About 5 minutes later, when I was on the verge of giving up and almost in tears, I found it, possibly the only d8 of its kind in there. Mission accomplished!
Having this set is not only a huge nostalgic trip for me but an excellent piece for my collection. While they are not the same dice (the old ones got damaged very easily at the corners), I’m unsure if I will ever play with them. If I ever come across a vintage set, maybe I will put those away and start playing with these. Who knows.
Anyway, why are you still reading this, go buy some dice!
[UPDATE]
Yeah... I gave in and started using them on occasion. I mean, why not? They are dice after all.
The last year has been challenging. I've had to gather myself and slowly get back into anything remotely passing as a hobby.
Last Christmas, I got a bunch of minis, and I've finally pulled them out and started to set up my studio space downstairs. I picked up an airbrush/compressor kit off of amazon, built a work table, and put together a paint spray box. I need to wire up some electrical, put up a shelf, clean up, and I should be ready to start painting all of the minis I have sitting on my desk.
Here's to the tortoise!
[UPDATE]
Still tortoising!
Yeah, my space has changed a bit over the recent years... but I WILL get around to this.
Over the decades this site, like me, has been many things. It's changed a lot, and sometimes it's been forgotten. But throughout all of its history, it has been an exploration. Trying to discover itself and what it's meant to do. What is it trying to explore? I'm not entirely sure. Somewhere in that is a meaning and an identity. Maybe that's the point.
The future of this site is still uncertain, but I have a much better idea today then I did yesterday. All I know for sure is that I need to keep at it, keep working, and keep moving forward. It'll get there.
