photo friday: birthday boy and purple pal

liberty - sailor, swordsman, sweet-talker

Let's get a little weird... in any number of ways. So the idea of what the first character I might make from the 2024 version of the PHB has been floating around in my head for the last little while, and the one new subrace that they floated that really caught my eye was the Chthonic tiefling.

Which led me to this week's DnD Character Colouring Book... Liberty, Chthonic Tiefling Sailor, Great Old One Warlock and Swashbuckler Rogue.

I know what you're thinking... because, literally, it was what I was thinking up until about 75 seconds ago when I googled "chthonic"... it's less about Lovecraft and Cthulhu and literally just means "underworld". Which, honestly, makes it make a lot more sense. And had I realised that at the time, might have altered my theming... but instead I discovered the Piscoloth, which is one of the possible Neutral Evil fiendish ancestors.

So, why wouldn't I lean into the cool, purple, aquatic, nightmare lobster and make it more people-like. Also, leaning into that idea meant being able to make a hornless (bald) tiefling. Which I dig. Originally he didn't have a tail, because I wanted to lean away from a number of the regular Infernal tiefling visuals. But he just ended up looking like a purple dude... so, sometimes you can't get rid of all the tropes.

The tattoo is a combination of a "Great Old One" sketch I found, two lots of "Lovecraftian" text (keeping in mind that Lovecraft was a racist asshole) at 90 degrees to each other, pulled from the Dagon short story (specifically the passage describing the titular creature) and a symbol for same. The idea would be that it's less of a tattoo and more something his patron inflicted on him.

I also, mostly for my own benefit, I included screen shots of the specific Warlock Eldritch Invocations he would have with six levels of Warlock and four levels of Rogue. I'm not convinced about the Gift of the Depths option, it would be one of those there I'd have to have a conversation with the DM and ask "is this a thing that's actually going to come up or be useful at all?". Because if there's like, one room in one dungeon in the whole adventure where this might be useful and nowhere else... then I'll just take Eldritch Smite (maybe).

The tail cuff was originally three rings, but the more I looked at it, the more I went... "that would just be uncomfortable and impractical", so instead I defaulted to the singular cuff. And engraved it with the name of three ships he's served on. One of which might just be a Spelljammer ship (probably a Damselfly Ship). Because as much as I probably don't ever want to PLAY Spelljammer, tying him into that idea might be fun. I also just realised that two of the three ship names I came up with are alliterative... so either I need to change the one that isn't so that they're all like that, or change one of the ones that are.

In my head, he would also have light, silk robe/jacket that would go over the armor... but that's not a thing that would work in Hero Forge. Think something that's kinda Burning Man, kinda Coachella, very dramatic, big wide sleeves (or no sleeves)... something you could get a good "King Thranduil" shablam moment out of before a battle... yeah. That.

And lastly, because he has Mask of Many Faces, I also mocked up his... default disguise. Because as much as the playtest information says "thanks to the victories and sacrifices of these legends, tieflings throughout the multiverse enjoy widespread acceptance", widespread isn't total and there's going to be times when it's much easier to pass as a brown skinned gentleman with a relatively normal tattoo than it would be to be a very distinctive purple gentleman with a tail. The names of the ships appear up in the tattoo also.

liberty jones - sailor, swordsman, sweet-talker

Anyway.

This week was Birthday Week.

But before we get to that...

I'm not going into this too deeply, but my landlord is literally the most awkward man to ever live. Also, I finally got my stovetop fixed. Because it kept fucking up... but nobody actually seemed to bother investigating what the issue WAS, the electrician just upgraded the fuse that the oven and stovetop runs on. So we'll assume that fixes the issue. I guess. But also, because electricians can't ever give you a time, he was supposedly coming "mid afternoon" and it was basically 4pm by the time he showed up. So that ended up being most of my Wednesday, at least from a "taking up space in my brain" perspective.

Most of the week was me hiding in the aircon, because fuck the last throws of Summer, which always thrashes around like a dying octopus before it disappears out the door.

Thursday was my actual birthday... and I just realised that I did not do my annual "it's my [number] birthday and also [insert male celeb's name who shares my birthday]" image... because, frankly, I completely forgot about it. Also, I'm basically recycling celebs at this point. So... maybe we skip this year? Maybe. Which is sad is the only other time I skipped it was 2021... and, honestly, yeah, I was clearly in a mood for the entirety of 2021.

And did I just take a detour and go and do a search to see if anybody new or interesting had popped up? Yes, yes I did. But I also don't know that I want to go, create an image and then backdate a post. Seems like, honestly, too much work. I forgot, so maybe we'll pick it back up next year, maybe it's a meme that had it's day. Which is something of a shame this year, given that it's my 50th. Also, I'm 50, who the fuck let that happen.

So, getting back to Thursday.

I started off with a message followed by a phonecall from Ma wishing me Happy Birthday. Then I did my usual visit to Boost Juice and Baker's Delight in order to collect the free shit both of those places give you when it's your birthday.

Thursday Night DnD is... as Fluffy and I have remarked on many occasions, cursed beyond the telling of it. So, that fell over and died, because our host wasn't well. Which meant that I had a nice quiet evening.

Friday was Chiro Day... so I went and did my usual wandering around town after getting my back sorted out. I did spend a while pottering around Dymocks considering potential books to buy with the money left over from last birthday's gift voucher. But I have two issues when it comes to books right now. Stuff that I have read and enjoyed... I'm not sure that, for most of it, I actually need to own it or, for right now, wouldn't really be that bothered going back and rereading (mostly because, right now, I'm enjoying just cycling through all kinds of new and exciting books)... and when it comes to things I haven't read yet... well, why wouldn't I borrow it from the library first to ensure I'm actually going to enjoy it? Which then turns into the first issue.

And the one book that I did think that I might buy just so that I actually own it... they didn't have. But wandering around books was an enjoyable way to spend a little while.

Then we get to Friday Night DnD...

And it turns out that directly after I have everybody a "hey, important birthday coming up, but I don't really need STUFF, but I also don't know what I want... you figure it out and don't ask me things..." just after Valentine's Day, they commenced Planning Things.

Some of that planning came to fruition when Fluffy asked me "a quick question about a totally fictionalised situation that will have no bearing on actual events". Which turned out to be a question about cake. And that I initially said I didn't have a lot of strong opinions about, and then proceeded to have several strong opinions about. Because marzipan, white chocolate and baked cheesecakes are all, in fact, literally The Devil.

So it wasn't a great surprise when Fluffy messaged me when he got here on Friday to say "could you get the door for me and spare some room in your fridge". Because you have to put hypothetical cheesecake in the fridge, obviously.

Then when we got there, it turned out that they'd been plotting and scheming and working together. But due to circumstances, the plan didn't quite work as it might have done... but that was okay, because for the plan to work, time travel would have needed to be involved. So we dealt with the timeline we're currently in.

Because, honestly, you don't want to give me the power to mess around with the timelines at this point. Not least of all because I'll just go and buy a bunch of Apple stock and several copies of Action Comics #1 featuring the first appearance of Superman. Or something.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, presents. There was a set of group presents... that's a confusing sentence. There were three presents, from the group. A present "to celebrate", a present "to remember" and a present "to inspire". Yeah, like I said, they'd been plotting and planning.

Celebrate was a... well, I don't know what the official name of it would be... a diadem or a corolla, maybe a coronet... not a tiara though, because it's a full circle... essentially it's a tiny crown. Which is made of some kind of metal and has little fake gemstones and repeating fleur-de-lis... which is funny because my first tattoo was, in fact, a fleur-de-lis.

And why... because, I am, in fact a Pretty Pretty Princess.

Does it fit my oblong head? Not remotely. Is it clearly designed to be worn by a bride with a veil and connection points where you attach it to a hairstyle with bobby pins? Yes. Is it very cute? Also yes.

Remember was a very lovely Sketchgoblin portrait of my girl Nightingale. Is it the version of my girl that I would have designed if I'd been dealing with the artist directly? No, but I think they were working from the 2020 version of my girl... and I think I've slightly redesigned her several times since then, and, honestly, she's about to go through another slightly update next week when they drop some new jacket pieces. Also, I'd possibly be a nightmare dealing with an artist. Or else send them a full terrabyte of reference images.

But, again, this is "remember". So, basing it around the version of her that finished the game is entirely appropriate. And I'm also perfectly happy for this to be... "fan art" of my girl. Also, just so we're clear, it is quite lovely. And the perfect group gift from this group of people. Because that was the first character I played with them when we started doing our Friday thing back at the end of October 2019.

Entirely fitting.

Inspire was scarlet yarn. Several balls thereof. Half of which was acrylic and half of which was merino wool. Weirdly, if you'd showed me the acrylic yarn and asked if that was my preferred colour of red, I would have said "absolutely", right up until I looked at the merino wool, which is slightly darked and a less orange leaning scarlet.

What am I going to make with it? Not a fucking Scooby. Scooby Doo. Clue. You got that, right? Cockney Rhyming Slang.

And then we have some very delightful tropical/passionfruit cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop and played a game of Sheriff of Nottingham and a game of Sushi Go (both of which Fluffy won, because I goaded him into not playing Sheriff the way he normally plays it, and none of us really ended up  challenging each other when we were clearly all lying). But it was a pleasant evening.

Anyway.

Today was also pleasant.

We did the supermarket thing, came back here and watched more of the UK Portrait Artist of the Year only to discover that the episode marked as Episode 4 was actually just Episode 3 again (nobody cares, I understand)... also that the last episode that seems to appear online is like a month ago... so that train may have run out of steam. Then we watched Canadian Pottery Throw Down, which is just Great British Bake Off but for pottery (well, actually it's the Canadian version of The Great Pottery Throw Down, which is just GBBO for pottery... again, nobody cares)... only to discover that the Totally Legal and Absolutely Autorised Version that we were watching cut out literally two seconds before they announced who was going home this week. Rude.

Then we went down to the Parade, avoided the insanity going on today at the Irish pub on the other corner for St Paddy's Day tomorrow, and went to the same cafe we went to for Ma's birthday last year.

Should I have gotten the focaccia/baguette instead of the chicken burger? Probably. And when the problem with the chicken burger is... the chicken. Well, what are you going to do really? It wasn't bad... just... highly underwhelming.

So, Happy Birthday to me I guess. On the plus side, I do have half a cheesecake in the fridge right now.

photo saturday: grumpy ghosthunter

orryn silverthread - addict, ghosthunter, grump

I've said it a few times of late, but the difference between some of my earlier Hero Forge models and what it's capable of now is pretty much night and day...

 In fact, Orryn, who appeared in a DnD Character Colouring Book after the post-Kickstarter HF 2.0 dropped now looks like the action figure version of this character. Part of that is the Face Customiser, part of that is the newer items being much less chunky than the older ones, part of it is just the many, many, many hours experience I've had posing the little fuckers.

I'll be honest, I do still want an updated (and two armed) version of Orryn's original jacket (also, more short katanas, technically wakizashi I guess) because I love that thing, but I also love the single armored arm. And the very grumpy face.

Orryn was my first gnome character (they're a race I just don't much care for, especially when comparing them with my preferred halflings), who I made for a one-shot back at the end of March... who is a class from the world of Critical Role, who took part in a solo adventure (one DM, one player) that was mostly The Witcher but with more than a little of the Mandalorian thrown in. Neither of which I have seen/played. But it wasn't bad. 

I didn't realise it until I was looking back through Discord messages that he was very much an "early days of lockdown" character, where we did the one on one session entirely through voice chat. And that that was so long ago while also feeling like it was literally five minutes ago.

Also yes, I liked the name so much that when it came time to design my first gnome who would survive beyond a single game, I reused it for Quillamina. An alternate universe branch of the family perhaps.

While this version is still a Critical Role Bloodhunter, I did think about re-imagining him as a Psi Warrior Fighter... or, as I mentioned at the time, possibly a Phantom Rogue (but as much as I love Rogues, I'm not sure that Phantom necessarily vibes for me without a very strong hook). But I'm also kind of feeling the need for a more close up melee character. It's not generally my thing, but there's some character with a sword sitting in the back of my brain and banging on various bits of grey matter. And I think it's definitely a sword... rather than any other weapon.

We'll have to see what happens when the new 2024 rule books drop towards the end of the year.

But part of the reason Orryn got a do-over was I was going through and clearing out some of the Hero Forge models I don't need anymore (mostly the old versions of character who now have updated faces), and one thing led to another.

Anyway.

So, at some point, I think I've brought up seeing the Indigenous weather calendars for various places around Australia, and the fact that while some places (mostly on the east coast) have up to 6 different seasons, and some places have as few as 2, the Kaurna calendar is more or less the same as the regular calendar, but just offset by a month. So Summer is January thru March, etc.

And honestly, that's my new calendar. Because we're at the start of March and having a heatwave as we speak.

Fun times. Although, honestly, much less stressful that it was back in the days when I had no aircon.

Otherwise, not much to report.

Not Thursday Night DnD because of reasons... the reason mostly being that the game is mostly cursed and it's going to take us for-fucking-ever to finally finish up the campaign.

Friday Night DnD was good... did I perhaps slightly stretch the capacity of what I was supposed to be able to do in a turn of combat... yeah, yeah, I did. But not on purpose. I just perhaps got a little over excited in the moment. It also didn't help because we were playing without a battlemap. And that always fucks me over.

But no harm, no foul.

Anyway...

Given the aforementioned heatwave, we did the supermarket slightly earlier (not THAT much earlier, but early enough that it seemed like the clowns had all escaped from the circus. Or, alternatively, the people who would normally go to the supermarket later went much earlier because of the heat.

But we did the shopping thing and then came back here and watched some YubTubs for a while before I sent Ma off into the world/home.

photo saturday: undead druid boy

dal - guardian, shapeshifter, druid

There are times when I look back on the "hand coloured" minis I made back before Hero Forge did colour and I go... the fuck was I thinking? There are also characters where I go... awww, you poor bastard, you didn't stand a chance.

Dal is both of those things. Also, a halfling, because we know how I feel about halflings. He was, if memory serves, my second ever halfling.

Dal has been through some stuff. He spent a lot of time running around as a dinosaur defeating undead pirates. And as of the last time I played him, he's sitting out in the jungles of Chult on the edge of a ruined city with a ruby in his forehead, technically an undead creature. I kinda need to play another Moon Druid. I like the Circle of the Moon... changing into big dangerous animals is fun. Changing into dinosaurs, even more fun. And being a Ghostwise halfling and having the ability to communicate telepathically while in animal form.

The original DnD Character Colouring Book with him in it is from three years ago now, and the poor character didn't last beyond 2017 if I remember my timeline correctly. But I do like this version. The "octopus armor" is a magic item he got before he got fucked over by an adventure that was later changed. And I like this version with just one big embroidered octopus.

Anyway...

Very minor catastrophe this week... I was showering when I heard an almighty crash and the breaking of glass and I thought "well, that can't be in my house, I have all the windows wide open, surely that was from outside somewhere"... but I had to check, so I peaked around the corner into the living room only to discover that the big framed artwork that has sat, perfectly fine, on the chest of drawers, had done a 270° rotation swan dive off the top, landing face up on the floor, broken glass, thankfully, mostly still contained in and around the frame.

So, I did the only sensible thing and got back in the shower.

And then got dressed and put shoes on and spent about the next half an hour picking up thin shards of glass from atop the artwork and the surrounding floor.

Not a fun way to start a day really.

I also don't have any idea HOW it fell. Did I slightly nudge it when I put my book on it, was it already in the danger zone and the wind whipped through the house (see aforementioned windows) and nudged it past the point of no return.

Thankfully the artwork itself was predominantly unharmed, a couple of very minor nicks, but the frame is toast.

Thursday Night DnD was good... weirdly, this session made me more interested in reading the adventure when we're done with it, mostly because I want to read what the book outlines as the reasoning and ideas behind some of the elements. I've definitely formed a particular opinion about certain elements, and I'm not sure if they're because of the way things are written, the way DM Fluffy is running/playing them, who my character is or some combination of all of the above.

We're definitely in the final act though.

Friday Night DnD was... something different. Fluffy was off doing Fluffy Things, but we'd reached a point in the story where the other two characters were going off to do something without his character, so, we had a session anyway.

And... it was weird, right up until the point we actually started playing. It was weird not having Fluffy roll up on my doorstep, it was weird not having him in the passenger seat on the way there (and the way back), it was weird rocking up at the door sans Fluffy... it was just weird.

The session itself went... well. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, and that's fine... with any D&D game, choices are made and those choices lead to situations and events. And in this case, that was a left when I'd assumed a right, but overall it was good. And, Fluffy, I told you I wasn't telling you anything... so go away now.

It was good to have some one on one time with Mr's character though.

Anyway...

Insert the Saturday Mix Tape... Supermarket, etc.

Although after that, we went on a little side trip to IKEA. Originally there had been a plan for looking at new armchairs and, obviously, frames. What ended up happing was that I decided that a frame I already had would serve for the time being... or, potentially, I'm considering going through some of my existing artwork and seeing if there's something I want to swap over to.

And as for armchairs, honestly, the issue is getting new chairs up the stairs and getting old chairs down the stairs... so, I'm going to try the "dye chair covers to a colour that isn't beige" trick that I attempted with varying degrees of success back in late 2019/early 2020. But I'm also not going to rush it this time around.

I'll also be honest, after reading the fucking instructions for dyeing things, I'm bordering on not giving a fucking shit because the whole "do it on the stove top" for items that are essentially 55% cotton and 45% polyester was something of a nightmare at the old house, and potentially even more of a nightmare here with a different stove top.

But like I said, I'm not going to rush into it... I'll give it some thought beforehand. And maybe this time, we don't try for bright red, since I don't know that that's going to happen anyway after last time. We'll see.

photo saturday: man in saffron

brother dilmah - sweeper, agent, monk

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is the last of the Old Folks Who Will Fuck You Up trilogy. Brother Dilmah, named after the brand of tea, obviously, was my take on the History Monks from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. 

I don't know if he would actually be a Shadow Monk at the table, but it made sense at the time. A little like last week, I might veer in the general direction of Way of Mercy.

I did enjoy this face though.

Anyway.

So, there are times when a thing happens and then there are consequences and you look at those consequences and go... "totally worth it".

That's been me for all of last week, although the amount of "totally" has varied through the week.

Because shortly after I finished up the blog post for last week I had a young gentleman caller. Which was unexpected, because it kind of came out of nowhere and he was very much my preferred flavour of young gentleman... and... that... sounded better in my head, I swear. But he was very sweet and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours rolling around on my bed.

It was only when I woke up on Sunday morning that I realised that my entire body was broken. And my back was definitely complaining. So I did spend a chunk of the week laying on my bed again and made prodigious use of an ice pack.

But totally worth it. Even when Wednesday rolled around and I had to do a second run at cleaning the apartment for my rental inspection... again.

I managed to beat my vacuum into submission... by which I mean, given that the power button wouldn't stay on unless I basically stood on it, without intending to, I reversed that situation and set it permanently to on. Which works better, because I can just switch it on and off at the plug end.

It was also not a full clean, I basically just cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed and mopped without moving ALL of the furniture. But I also didn't rush, because fuck it... I was broken.

That also meant that I went and basically did the exact same thing I did during the last, aborted inspection. A stop off at Officeworks where I actually got a replacement remote for my TV, a wander around Spotlight looking at things. and then I went and hung out at the library. Also, before I left, I did do a last pass of the vacuum over the bedroom carpet just to ensure they didn't Have Opinions about the fluff magnet that is that carpet.

And unlike last time, the land agent managed to work out how to unlock a door. And I got good marks across the board. So, you know, woo or whatever.

There was no Thursday Night DnD because nobody wants gastro... and also, it made more sense for me to resume the horizontal position given that I'd spent a couple of hours sitting in a weird chair at the library.

Friday Night DnD took a while to get going and we mostly did roleplay honestly.

Anyway...

Basically we just did the supermarket... there were things we could have done, but also, we'd futzed around my place for a while too long, so there wasn't much point doing anything. So we didn't.

photo saturday: swamp witch reprise

verna blackwater - hexblood, swamp witch, druid

As happens a lot with... well, most things really... but I've found it very specifically with Hero Forge things, the more time passes, the more bells and whistles they add, the more experience I have with the tool, the more I end up loving the minis, even when I really loved the first iteration of the design quite a lot. Also, add in another character to the Badass Older Person list.

So today's DnD Character Colouring Book is a revisit of the Swamp Witch character that just hasn't completely let go of my brain, Verna Blackwater. And the addition of the Face Customiser really bumped her up the list of my favourite post-FC designs.

I've also been pondering an idea of what I might play in a game that went from Level 10 to Level 20, because an adventure that does that is coming out shortly... and while the first thought was a Swashbuckler/Hexblade, the idea of turning Verna it a Circle of Spores Druid/Way of Mercy Monk also kind of appeals. Especially since she doesn't look like she should be a front line melee fighter, but the Spores Druid does kind of nicely synergise with it. Although I'd kind of need to work out how many of each level made the most sense for Level 10. My default idea might be a 50/50 split, but I could also see leaning a little more into Monk.

I also like the idea of her rejecting the lore for the Monk subclass and having her never wear the mask that it talks about, and never hiding her face under a hood. Because sometimes I 100% love to fall deeply into the subclass lore and sometimes I like to throw it out and go my own way. I could also absolutely see an updated version where she's carrying the very plain mask that's essentially just a slab of wood with eye holes on her belt.

Anyway...

The Hexagon Cardigan Project has hit... a speedbump. And we call that speedbump "ribbing", also "cuffs". Because, I'll be honest, the cuffs I want to do is HARD. Or at least harder when dealing with black yarn. And possibly harder than my current skill level. And I ended up having to frog/undo the other style of cuffs that I managed to wrangle through when two pieces of yarn in the previous row that should have been securely knotted together (and I swear they were), but for whatever reason, in the process of trying to wrangle the stitches the knot came undone in the previous row. So... I threw my proverbial hands up in the air and frogged the whole couple of rows and till try it again using a completely fresh skein of yarn.

I'm also currently plotting ideas for a semi-matching scarf to the cardigan... not intended to be worn WITH the cardigan, you understand, but worn all the times I'm NOT wearing the cardigan. Because this version of the cardigan is potentially not one for wearing out amongst the general populace. There might be a later project for that.

I revisited an old favourite for dinners this week... Tuna Noodle Do (also, what the hell was going on with that photo, I know we were barely past the Potato Camera stage, but also, that's clearly too much cheese and I still don't get why it looks that way). I did make it too many times last summer, and was very over it by the time Soup Season rolled around again, but it was good to revisit it.

Thursday Night DnD actually happened... so that's a development. Although I did share with the group my decision to step out after we finish this campaign, at least for whatever the next campaign is. Because, sometimes, as much as you enjoy spending time with people, little niggles build up over time and... well... essentially I've reached the point where my feeling when we play and my feeling when we don't play are basically the same.

So, yeah, a break is necessary I think.

There was no Friday Night DnD this week. Because the DnD Gods giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. Friday was also where the majority of the aforementioned cardigan cuff business took place.

Anyway...

Today was yet another Not Much Going On Saturday. We did the Supermarket thing... and then, because we really didn't have anything we wanted to do, there was some YubTubs, and that was it really.

Also, I just have to say that I got distracted while typing this by the 2024 Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection fashion show, which I am now completely obsessed with and want to watch a movie set in whatever world that is... or, you know, live in that world... or something.

photo saturday: unexpected old lady

beilyn porridgepot - swordcaptain, retired, focused

I swear that I'd featured Beilyn Porridgepot previously.... but scrolling through old posts, there's not a single sign of her anywhere... so she definitely gets a place in this week's DnD Character Colouring Book.

So Beilyn came from a number of places... firstly, halfling, but also because I love a small barbarian. And I also wanted to play in the "unexpected old lady" character space. Of course, the Hero Forge model never looked appropriately old until the face customiser let us age up characters.

Secondly, she was intended for adventures set in Waterdeep, so I wanted to make her a retired Swordcaptain from the Waterdeep City Watch (at least I think that was her rank, it's the one that makes the most sense to me looking at the list now). It also let me lean into the "focus" over "rage" idea for a barbarian.

But I also wanted to mess around with the idea of "Ancestral Guardian" and lean into the idea that the Guardian Spirits she called upon weren't from her family, but were former members of the City Watch, because that just made sense to me. I did at one stage have a whole group of characters designed for that, but they fell by the wayside long ago.

The axe was a magic item that I got as a DM Reward in Adventurers League, but in-game it was left to her in the will of her former Captain, who was a dwarf.

And yes, I did definitely remix her name from Lin Beifong, the Chief of Police in Republic City from The Legend of Korra. Because there was also a definite Lin vibe to the character.

Anyway...

This week was... a lot.

Which is what happens when I need to do a full clean for a rental inspection. And also, because I split the clean over two days so I'm not completely broken afterwards. So Monday I cleaned the kitchen including the oven, straightened up and got everything ready to go, then used to stove and had to give it a once over again.

Then Tuesday there was a full bathroom clean, full vacuum and floor mopping... and when I went to switch the vacuum on again, it wouldn't stay on. So I had to finish the last of the vacuuming with one foot holding down the on button. Not what you would call ergonomic. But I essentially got the job done.

I also managed to get all of that in the morning, so basically collapsed for the afternoon.

Then on Wednesday I cleared out because I hate being here for an inspection. It also let me go drop some old printer ink cartridges off at Officeworks, wandered around Spotlight, and then went and poked around the library at Burnside and caught up on some reading before heading home.

When I got home, it was a little strange because I'd left a note for the real estate agent, and it was still on the counter, but I'd had that happen before and it wasn't too strange. Until I checked my email.

Yeah, the land agent couldn't work out how keys work and hence didn't actually get inside. They sent me a message saying that they didn't have a key for one of the two locks on my door, to which my reply was "I'm confused, there is only one key".

Turns out that they just didn't try hard enough, and they didn't bother calling me, so, they just emailed me after the inspection window was done and rescheduled. In two weeks.

*cue me flipping a very tiny table*

So I didn't even get to enjoy the feeling of coming home to a totally clean house and no looming inspection. Dagnabbit.

No Thursday Night DnD...

Friday was also Chiro Day... which was good, given that I needed a tune up.

The Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I've gotten to the point where I've sewed the sleeves along the top seam, and I'm working on extending the back. But...

I should have known better. It was a bad decision on top of a bad decision. I'd run through most of a ball of black yarn. And thought "I'll just wind it into a ball"... first mistake. But then I made it worse... because I thought "Let me wind it around my hand so that I can start the ball from the other end of the yarn". Second mistake.

So now what I have is a giant tangle of yarn, with both ends being wound around a couple of highlighters and just a mass of black fluff in the middle. And I spent basically two hours yesterday trying to untangle it, and then a little time this morning, and I'm still determined to get it all untangled. So that will be... a thing that happens.

Friday Night DnD was good... although we did spend a bunch of time talking about other things, as we occasionally do. But otherwise it was a lot of "busywork" moving from one location to another, which I'm fine with.

Anyway...

Today was... average. We did the supermarket thing, and did a run to Spotlight because they're having a sale, and also I needed more black yarn for the Hexagon Cardigan.

And that was it really.

If you'll excuse me, I need too try and untangle some more yarn...

photo saturday: holy paramour

andir - paramour, dancer, son

This week's DnD Character Colouring Book is a makeover/reboot... Andir, son of Nightingale. He first showed up with my other "son of a former character" Bo, who, in comparison, has had about eleventy thousand variations... Andir just kind of took up space until this particular outfit set dropped. And, yes, I've used it before... and parts of it show up in a bunch of different models, but this one is pretty much a straight use of the whole outfit.

But I love the white and gold look. Part of which came from actually looking up pre-existing lore on their vestments...  

Paramours wear golden robes sprinkled with gold dust, and they wear their hair long and unbound without any covering.

Admittedly, the "gold dust" part is... a little extra, even for me. So, maybe the gold dust robes are for special occasions.

The other half was from fooling around with the new irises and worked out that the galaxy iris looks really good in white, and sometimes you just have to lean into an existing colour scheme.

Oh, also, I made sure that he had both the symbol of his own goddess and the symbol of his father's goddess. Because, sometimes you're a half-drow aasimar whose father was a goliath that got turned into an angel. Because DnD.

Also, that hairstyle is definitely in my Top Five currently.

Anyway...

The Rainbow Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I'm 60+ hours in and maybe 75-80% done. Of course, part of that remaining percent is doing cuffs and ribbing... which is completely outside my current knowledge base. So there will be a lot of referencing of tutorials when we get there.

After Fluffy saw it in person for the first time yesterday, he described it as "Disco Trash, but Good Disco Trash"... and, you know what, yeah, story checks out.

No Thursday Night DnD... 

And Friday Night DnD for the first time in... I dunno... since the middle of January I think.

Anyway...

Pretty much shopping as usual today... except there was just a random fire alarm in the middle. Turns out someone pressed something they shouldn't have near the bathrooms. So, you know, fun. Or, what's the opposite, oh, yeah... annoying. It is just really, really weird leaving your trolley full of shopping in the middle of the supermarket and leaving the building for ten minutes.

photo saturday: monochromia

the amazing seraphina - prestidigitator, warlock, charmer

Well, The Amazing Seraphina had opinions over the course of about a week. Also, she was one of those DnD Character Colouring Book characters that wouldn't have come together without Photoshop.

Initially she was in black and green, with green eyes, with the pseudodragon on her wrist and the cane held higher in her hand with the standard sphere on the top. And then I started looking at the list of Great Old Ones by renowned white supremacist H. P. Lovecraft for inspiration for a patron... although, honestly, I think the more unknowable an unknowable eldritch horror is, the better... 

But it resulted in a black and white aesthetic with a can with an "octopus" topper and a Lovecraft quote in runes... which is how she encountered her Great Old One and how she taps into it's/her powers.

Normally I would have ended up with a white pseudodragon, I couldn't refind the same pose, or it didn't come out as strong as this little buddy. If she was a Warlock under the playtest rules, the "Aberration (knot of tentacles)" familiar from an old playtest would have been good... or the slaad tadpole...but, honestly, I just want to, as I've said about 100 times already, have a pseudodragon familiar at some point.

I'm kind of into the idea that it is normally a pseudodragon and then at certain points, it just transforms into a tiny eldritch abomination. Tiny eyes all over it's body or a whole body split or too many tentacles. Something weird and messed up. Or even going down a Flerken from the Marvel Universe route... although that kind of comes under a "too many tentacles" heading. And having just looked up when the Flerken inside the cat looks like... yeah, that'd work.

Also, did I name the familiar in order to be able to have a "Hey Presto" joke every time she summons it or asks it to do something... yes, yes I did. And of course, it appears from and disappears into it's pocket dimension by going into the hat. Because of course it does.

Anyway...

This week has been the poster child for What The Fuck Is Weather. Over 40C, high humidity, heavy rain, chilly evening... not all at once you understand, but, mostly individually, over the course of the week. Blah.

Humidity is the one that does my head in. I just can't.

The Hexagon Cardigan Project continues... I have done 48 rows (rounds?) across both sides of the cardigan... and would have done one more earlier today had I not gotten to the start of the round only to discover that, like an idiot, I forgot to do the corner properly, so had to frog (undo) the entire round. So, fuck my drag I guess. I mean, it kept my hands occupied while watching a movie, so it's not the worst thing in the world to have to do it over. And at least I noticed it before I started a second row.

With that hour and a half long screw up, I'm at a little over 34.5 hours for the cardigan thus far.

And as proud as I am of the Granny Square Blanket... the literally chasm between that project and this one is enough to drop small countries into. It's amazing what using a slightly smaller hook than you need can do vs picking a hook because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Granted if I'd done the blanket with a smaller hook it would have been a much smaller blanket. Or I would have needed to make a lot more squares. Or, you know, both.

Friday Night DnD was cancelled due to the Friday public holiday... and Thursday Night DnD... would have been better had it been cancelled.

Anyway...

Something something supermarket, something something unpacking... and then we watched Mrs Harris Goes To Paris. Because it was a movie I saw the poster for ages ago, and then I discovered it was based on a book, and read said book... and then borrowed the movie from the library.

A mini review... it adds things that weren't in the book that kinda mess with the vibes of the original story, although I like the ending of the movie more than the book. But it is very sweet... not as good as Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (also, sometimes I look back on my early movie reviews and cringe), but I'd put them in roughly the same category.

photo saturday: fan-atic

demyan - whipmaster, noble, cleric

I did mention when the fan item came up during the Hero Forge Advent Calendar that I needed to redo/had redone my trashfire cleric, Whipmaster Demyan, formerly Paingiver Demyan, in line with what he always should have looked like...

And if I'd been thinking about it clearly back when I was playing him, I would have reflavoured his fan as his shield all the way back then... because it never completely made sense that he was walking around carrying a shield. And I always had a fan on hand when playing him, because it just became his aesthetic after I brought a fan to a game when the aircon in the gaming shop was questionable that summer.

Demyan is also one of the models that are first in line to get a makeover when major new content happens. He was one of the first to get coloured by me, then one of the first to get official Hero Forge colouring, he was one of the first to get a new face... plus he's been updated when the dropped new whips and the breastplates. The downside is that to actually get him to look the way I want him to, there's a non-zero amount of Photoshop involved to take the high collar from one set of armour, the sleeves from a different shirt and the breastplate and then get him where he needs to be.

Although if he ever went up to his final position in the church, then I'd have to do a version in white... which, now that I've mentioned it again, might have to happen. If only for me. I've had different versions in my head of what that final outfit would be... the same black but with white accents, etc... but I kinda wanna do a full white version. Hmmm... yeah, that doesn't quite work... let's shove that on the back burner.

Anyway...

This week has been... fucking weird.

My stove did a weird on Monday night... and I've been avoiding both the stove and also reporting it to the land agent all week... I'm mostly mentioning it here to hold myself accountable... must do that over the weekend.

Also, do you know how sometimes you have those friends who are the literal definition of Golden Retriever? And sometimes they give themselves a ball... but then they're torn between the ball they have and the ball they could have and they just stand there with the ball in their mouth looking at the ball they could have and whining. Yeah, that... for basically the whole week. I mean, I love this idiot very much... but also, they need a literal slap sometimes.

Wednesday I went to buy more printer ink. Because also, fuck printer manufacturers and the cost of printer ink. So I was going to get the off-brand, eco printer ink, which is half the price of the on-brand ink. But when I got to Officeworks they didn't have any on the shelves... because it may or may not be online only now... because fuck my life I guess. And they didn't even have the other, non-eco off-brand ink... and I wasn't about to pay $128 for printer ink.

So I bought a $40 printer.

And it would LITERALLY be cheaper to go and buy a new printer every time I run out of ink rather than buy new ink. The FUCK is wrong with the world?

Given that I repeatedly looked at printers when I first moved into this place and couldn't come to a decision, it's amazing all it took was literally a minor inconvenience in order to make me buy a new printer.

And it's all fancy and prints over the Wi-fi and stuff. Which I know has been a thing for a hot minute, but I bought my old printer in 2009... so... it's been a minute. Granted, I think it spent several years just sitting under the bed and only being used once a year... but it's had more work to do in recent years. But at least now I don't have to drag the laptop across the room in order to print.

So there was minor ARGH while I set it up, just because it's always that way until things actually work... but it was no fuss no muss.

Thursday, after a couple of failed attempts, I started my Hexagon Cardigan project. I also finally got around to stitching together my second attempt at my little voodoo doll and he's adorable. He's also doing actual duty as a pincushion for my crochet needle.

But the cardigan is going to be both very soft and quite light I think. Basically it's going to be about on par with some of my lightweight hoodies I think. And that's fine, but it's not going to replace my thicker Winter old man cardigan like I thought it might.

Thursday Night DnD was... a lot of nothing. And very much one of those times when I really wish we played with less people than we do. Because it's difficult to herd cats. And I wasn't even the one doing the herding.

Most of the work I've done so far on the cardigan happened on Friday... because Friday Night DnD was a no-go due to visiting visitors.

Anyway...

Today was basically just the supermarket. Because the weather has been all over the place and today took a turn for the warm.

photo saturday: sea fae

This is what happens when you make a character sketch and your brain says "well, yeah, that's an idea certainly... but you'd never play THAT version... how about we make a version you WOULD play?"...

And then, when you've made that version you think... "yes, but what if also sea themed?"... and then when that versions done, somebody drops a blank pose on Reddit and you think "well... now I just need to redo the whole thing again from scratch and lean into the vibes more"...

Of course then you fuck around with textures and tattoos and Photoshop edits... and by the time you're finished, you really, really want to play this character. But you also know that the likelihood that that feeling will last long enough to actually make it to a new campaign is... slim.

So, say hello to Marinus... he's currently the obsession, until the next one comes along.

Welcome to DnD Character Colouring Book... that's basically what happens here.

Anyway.

The first half of the week is something of a blur... given that the latter half of the week was more weighted with activities.

Oh, I did make some chutney... only a small batch, because I didn't have a ton of ingredients, but needed to use up some peaches and plums that were starting to go soft. Which is always my preferred way of using them up.

And for once, because it was such a small batch, I'm keeping the majority of it for me.

Our first Thursday DnD game of the year actually happened. And we definitely entered the Third Act. Well, we will be next week. Granted, I almost derailed us into the Third Act early, because it made more sense to me to go straight there rather than doing what seemed like busywork.

But it was good to be back, and to be getting on with things.

Friday was Chiro Day...

Which also meant that it was also Return The Christmas Presents That Were Slightly Borked. Which were both books. Because Saga had some weird pink printer ink marks on the first few pages, and The 99% Invisible City had an issue with the binding and was basically going to pull itself apart over time.

But it was no muss, no fuss, and I got them changed over.

Friday Night DnD, we kicked a cat's ass... well, that cat was also a murderous, jewel thief druid... so... you know... she had it coming.

Oh, and we found a magic carpet. Well, I found it.

Anyway...

Today was pretty much just shopping. Because, honestly, the weather isn't really conducive to going anywhere and going things.