The Mysterious and Tense, Yet Somewhat Psychedelic, Story Of Mostly Purple Patty And The Meatloaf Of The Damned

…co-starring her best buddy, Orville Sweetcracker

Doc Update

Time for an update about life here at the D&G Cross Home For Wayward Basset Bitches. I haven’t been doing these as regularly as I used to, so maybe this will be the start of renewed personal updatage. Or not.

Healthwise, I’m now taking blood pressure meds due to my previously excellent BP going a bit high recently. I’m only taking half a pill a day, so I guess I’m not in danger of keeling over any time soon. I’ve also been told that my blood sugar is “nearly into the pre-diabetic range”, which pretty much means “lose some weight, fat boy!”.

Grace’s low level diabetes has cranked up a notch, so she is taking pills now and keeping a much closer eye on her numbers with twice daily tests. She has lost something like 75 pounds over the last year or so, but will keep on losing until things improve.

Winker is still taking her blood thinner and her diuretic, so she is doing pretty darned well for a dog who was so close to death just about a year ago.

Lucy and Sasha are as healthy as can be. In fact, our efforts to fatten Sasha up just a bit (she was very skinny when we adopted her) have not beeb as successful as we hoped. Being a “sporty” basset, she just burns off calories at a hell of a rate. Still, we have gotten her to a point where you can’t see her ribs.

Jobwise, things are still the same, which means we will be on our Adventure In Poverty until we either get fat raises or win the lottery.

One speed bump in our financial road will come when I am off work after my shoulder operation in March. That will be about 6 weeks, depending upon how well my physical therapy goes. Things will be very tight on the money front for awhile.

Gardenwise, I don’t know if we’ll have a veggie garden this year. Between the goofy ass weather (as in NO WINTER!) and my surgery/recovery, we’ll probably just have a couple of tomato plants and maybe some green beans.

In gaming news, I’m looking forward to my annual trek to Dundracon. It will be good to be immeresed in geekdom and hang out with my tribe for a few days. Beyond that, I’m planning on getting my gaming group together in late April for some regular roleplaying again. I’m not sure what genre we’ll play in, but some sort of Pulp Era game sounds good.

Hark! I hear certain hounds telling me that it is time for walkies. More bloggage soon!

I Said “Living Dead”, Not “Living Bread”!

…now I’ve got to shotgun that loaf of rye

Goddammit, I swear that in 2012 I’ll get back to a regular posting schedule here. In the mean time, a few tidbits before I roll out the first of several new Doclopedia posts.

1: It looks very much like I’ll be running two official games at Dundracon this year. I’m not planning on running any more than that, but if the Call of Open Gaming is strong enough, I may run a third game. If you are thinking about going to Dundracon (and you should be), look me up.

2: Everybody here is healthy, chronic ailments nonwithstanding.

3: While going through old writing files, I found the outline and many notes for a new Toon book. I’m of two minds about doing any more Toon stuff, but the 30th anniversary is coming up in 2014, so…

4: I’m still mulling over what Doclopedia stuff to put into a book and how best to do it.

And now, the latest entry…

The Doclopedia #389

Look What I Found!: 1950′s Science Fiction Edition

Professor Sanders, come have a look at this! I was examining those weasels we exposed to the gamma rays after treatment with that new hormone formula and darned if they aren’t 25% larger than they were yesterday! What? Why, yes, they are aggressive, but after all, they’re weasels. Probably a good thing we keep them in separate cages. Yes, their food consumption has gone up quite a bit.

You can see, of course, where this might lead. Why, if we could increase the size of cattle or pigs or chickens, we could end world hunger. Just think of it, a world where…what? Oh, yes, it is getting late. We’d better close up and get out of here. Jane will have my hide if I come home late for dinner again. We’ll just give these weasels a double helping of food and, what the heck, a couple of these mice each. That should hold them until tomorrow.

Yes, we will need larger cages for them. I’ll leave a note for Joe and Eddie to bring some up from the basement and transfer the weasels into them when they come in to clean up tonight. Shouldn’t take them more than a half hour to do it.

My, that one male is a nasty fellow, isn’t he? Well, we’ll sedate him tomorrow for his examination. I wonder if his testosterone levels have gone up due to the radiation? Oh well, that’s a thought for later. See you in the morning, Professor. Give my best to your wife and kids.

The Way Funny, Yet Also Deeply Insightful, Story Of Mostly Purple Patty And The Giant Popcorn Ball

…co-starring her pet jerboa, Dennis

Holy Crap, Batman, An Actual Blog Post!

Hopefully, this will get me back to regular posting. First up…

New fiction up over on the fiction blog! It’s the Second Series of After The Change Came and it’s not written by the alternate Doc Cross who did the first one. Of course, anybody who hasn’t read the first series might get all confused, so that one will be available in it’s entirety on the Dociverse web site (http://www.thedociverse.com/#axzz1fDhhS3mH) in just a few days.

Healthwise, the injection of steroids that the Orthopedist gave me a week ago seems to finally have taken effect, since my arm/shoulder is much better now. Still not 100% and I had to postpone an MRI today due to a panic attack, but I will be back at work as soon as this work restriction is over on Tuesday. A good thing, too, because cabin fever was making me crazy.

In other health news, Grace has fully recovered from her broken arm and Winker is feeling better after a rather debilitating session of being in heat. Lucy is, as always, physically healthy while mentally she is our little Neurotic Nelly.

I am on Twitter as DocCross now, so you can follow me and stuff

I may well be on track to run two official games at Dundracon this year. I’ll know more in late January. If you come to the con, try to get in one of them.

Gotta go hit the sack now. More bloggage soon, my little hamsters.

Never Tell Your Mom That You’ve Been In A Mud Fight

…mothers tend to get a bit over emotional about such things

So, I’m back from DunDraCon. Actually, I got back Sunday afternoon. The con was fun, despite my developing a knack for not getting into any games other than my own. This took the form of games filling up, me misreading times, me falling asleep and the ever popular “no games I want to play during this time slot”.

Still, I had fun. My TOON game went well and my seminar was pretty well attended. I got to chew the fat with my pal Nicole, her husband Chris and several other gaming folks. I watched some anime, tho I was kinda disappointed that most of it did not hit the high nuttiness that the Japanese are known for. I watched several games being played, saw lots of gamers with babies and, after a few tours of the Dealer’s Room, realized that there are no more cheap games. In fact, all I bought was a few dice for Grace (who no longer goes to the con). Oh, and I attended a couple of seminars that were pretty darned swell. One was on serious games that turn funny and the other was on alternate histories.

Anyway, in recent years, DDC has been my only con (I’ve gone to Conquest Sac, but it has a very high suck factor) and I don’t expect that to change this year unless I strike gold in the garden. GenCon 2011 is a possibility, if I start saving my pennies tonight and use freight trains to get there.

In other gaming news, I realized that running a Harry Potter/Hogwarts style RPG for my group would be full of problems, so instead, I’m gonna set them up as pirates and let them go hog wild. With luck, that’ll start in a few weeks.

And now, dog walking. More bloggage later.

The Kitty Cats Take Over A Donut Shop

…and they run a special on cat hair sprinkled donuts

Duuuude! DunDraCon is only a couple of days away! If you are going to be there, here is the all important Doc info…

Kill The Wabbit!

Friday 8 PM in 156 for 4 hours
GM: Doc Cross
Type: RPG
System: TOON
Edition: Deluxe TOON & supplements
Players: 10
Provided: All characters provided by GM
Power Level: varied
Variations: Oh, yes indeed
Rules Knowledge: Useful
Game Content: Mainstream

Willy Wabbit is a beloved cartoon star. He’s also a miserable backstabbing little punk, which is why you want to kill him. Which of you will succeed? You are all armed to the teeth and won’t let somebody else kill him if you can stop them. Prepare for an evening of fun, mayhem, multiple murders and lots of laughs.

We Hates It / We Loves It

Saturday 12:30 PM in 156 for 1 hours
Presenter: Doc Cross
Type: Seminar

No, we’re not talking about hobbits. Come let the world (or at least a room full of gamers) know what you love or hate about our hobby!

I will be at the con from about 1:30 Friday afternoon until around 5 or 6 Sunday afternoon. Look me up, say hi, buy me liquor or food!

The Moderately Evil Plan Of Professor Breem

…he’s trying to work up to unspeakably evil

Doc Update

1: Everyone here at the homestead is healthy, altho My Sweet Angel is wearing out after a year and a half of working her job AND doing mystery shops.

2: I appear to be getting a major boost in hours at work, which is good and will help take some of the mystery shopping weight off of Grace and I. Unfortunately, the nes route I’ll be driving means that Grace & I will only see each other early in the morning (if I wake up) and on weekends. Still, we desperately need the $$, sob we’ll dealn with it.

3: Once me new hours kick in (next Monday), I’ll be alerting my regular gaming group about a restart to our roleplaying.

4: Both my game proposal and my seminar proposal were accepted for DunDraCon. If you plan on being at the con, stop by.

More bogging later!

Looney Tunas and Merry Maladies

…I really need a vacation

Gaming Stuff

1: I am 75% done with my CC3 map of Hogwarts and the surrounding countryside. It is very much like the official version, but with a few minor adjustments. I think my players will have fun exploring it.

2: I realy need to play in more games at DunDraCon this year. Most years, I play in maybe 1 RPG, but I’m really jonesing to be get out from under the GM hat for awhile. Looking over the submitted games on the DDC website, I see a few that appeal to me, so I’m hopeful that I can get 3 or 4 in while I’m at the con in February.

3: After hearing that Google Wave has online gaming potential, I got an invitation and I’m gonna check it out. On a similar interwebs gaming theme, I’m thinking that my website idea may well mutate into a lot more than just a single website. I can see a linking of LJ/website/Facebook/Dog knows what else. Gotta keep up with the New Hotness, ya know.

And now, chamomile tea. More blogging later.

Orange Parrots Playing In The Trees

…squawk!

Enhanced cross-postings from Facebook

Just submitted my game proposal for DunDraCon. It’s titled “Kill The Wabbit!” It’ll be all about hilarious homicide in February, kids!

Man, these hounds of mine are some watermelon loving girls! They are scarfing it down as fast as I can slice pieces off for them. Winker has had at least 8 pieces about the size of a dog biscuit, while Lucy has had about 6 that were even larger. Well, at least it’s healthy for them.

Six Million Pounds Of Duck Fat

…they were some fuckin’ huge ducks

Stuff, California Style

1: Yo, members of the gaming tribe…only 12 days until the DunDraCon website goes live for you GMs to submit your games for consideration.

2: Speaking of the above mentioned Coolest Game Con In North America, they have scans of old DunDraCon program books from about #4 on at the website. It’s pretty cool to look through them.

3: Final DunDraCon note…I’ve just about decided that my 21st annual Toon game will be “Hairy Pupper and the Sorcerous Bone”.

4: In chatting with a certain Young Jedi In Exile, the subject came up of how people would react if godlike aliens forced all of us back to a rural agrarian lifestyle…or just took away all of our technology. We decided thay most teenagers and folks in their 20′s would just about go catatonic if they were deprived of cell phones (and landlines), computers, cars, shopping malls, music players, tv, radio, etc. Your opinions?

Must go eat. More blogging later.

Of Crawdads, Rain And Battling Bovines

…and exploding elevators

So, I got home from Dundracon today around 3:30 pm. We left the con around noon, being tired, sore and in my case, nearly voiceless.

Despite leaving 2.5 hours later than normal, Arn and I made excellent time and got to the con at about 6 pm on Friday. I managed to get into a Creeks & Crawdads game titled “The Starfish Are…What?”. It was a CoC riff on the whole crawdad experience, with Lolcats and bucketless walruses subbing for Lovecraftian horrors. It was great fun, especially since everyone remembered to play their crawdads as stupid/hungry/sleepy, which pretty much sums up a crawdads life. We did manage to invent a new Crawdad Philosophy of Life: “Food Lies!”. And then we fell asleep and forgot it.

Saturday night, I ran my 20th anniversary TOON game for 14 players. It was big fun and full of much mayhem, including the big fight between Clarice and Berniece Cow in an elevator full of toxic and flammable insect spray. There was an explosion:)

After the game, a bunch of us sat around talking about games for a while, until I started riffing on…stupid things men and boys do…stupid things women do…why I’m surprised mothers don’t kill their kids at some point…snoring…farting…dogs & cats…why men are like dogs…camping and many other subjects. There was much laughter.

All I bought at the con was about $5.00 worth of dice and a copy of Creeks & Crawdads for $4.00. Oh, damn you, shitty economy!

I did other stuff…talk to folks…watch anime…go to a seminar…etc, etc, etc.

So, anyway, next year, I’ll be running Dungeons & Toons…or maybe Toon Munchkin…in my usual Friday night 8 pm time slot.

And now, I’m gonna eat & sleep.