The Current Campaign Is Winding Down...

Good Afternoon, All:

Over the last six or seven weeks, my personal life has been quite demanding. Between getting a divorce, moving into a new place and preparing the old house for sale, I have been quite swamped with Real Life™ stuff and I've been unable to focus on this blog at all. For those who are regular readers, I most humbly apologize for dropping the ball here.

My players are winding down on the Madlands Campaign I've been running for the last two-plus years. It is likely that, after a few more adventures, probably two months or so, at most, I'll be bringing that campaign to a close. After a brief respite, we'll be diving into another campaign. Of the two options, I think we're either going to do the Isles of the Saharan Sea campaign or a more modern Odyssey Prime cross-genre world-hopping campaign. I'm definitely prepared for the first. The second will take some work, but I've already got some notes on campaign details I want to make sure I include.

Starting next week, I'll start a new series of posts as I start exploring other campaign options. Also, I'm slowly working on building a new website. Once it's up, all of my future game-related blogging will be done there. I can't wait to show it off, once it's ready, of course.

More Later,
Flynn

My Personal Adventure: Letting Go...

Good Afternoon, All:

This week's posts will likely be short and sweet. As part of my personal adventure, I'm moving into a new place this week. It's smaller than my old place, and I'm having to cut down on my personal belongings. For those that know me, this is a pretty hard thing for me. Perhaps the deepest cut is the need to sell part of my gaming collection. A friend of mine will handle the sales on eBay, but it's still difficult to let go.

I've been studying up in minimalist living. It has helped me realize that if I have copies of the information electronically, I don't really need the physical copies eating up space. If I haven't opened a physical copy of the book in two years, I'm seriously planning on letting it go. For example, I have an almost complete set of World of Darkness (pre-Gehenna) books and supplements, for example. Expect to see that up for sale soon.

So what books are making the cut? What gets to stay in my personal library? I think I'll chat about that on Wednesday.

More Later,
Flynn

Buying Up My Constitution, AKA My First 5K Run...

Good Morning, All:

As a personal note, I thought I would share the fact that I ran my first 5K race yesterday, after only nine weeks of training using the Couch to 5K running plan. I completed the 3.1 mile track in 44 minutes, 4.5 seconds. It's not a fast time, I admit, but it's a success. I couldn't have done this at the beginning of the year. Last year, I lost almost 70 pounds. This year, I'm running races. I can't wait to see what next year brings me, in terms of personal successes. :)

All of this is part of an overall goal: I'm trying to build a healthier me. The men in my family have traditionally died from heart-rated complications in their mid-50s. I don't want to be one of those numbers. I have a new baby coming in June, and since I turn 41 tomorrow, following in my father's footsteps means that I won't live to see her graduate high school, much less go to college or walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. I started losing the weight last year before my wife got pregnant simply to insure that I'll be around as long as I can for her and for my 12-year-old son. Our baby girl's arrival simply adds more impetus to that desire. Also, I remember tales of a group that attended Gen Con one year promoting Gamers For Health, and I think it would be cool to stand out from the crowd as a healthy gamer, as sadly, most of us are a bit overweight. (At least, that's my assessment after nine years of Gen Con attendance, based on a purely anecdotal perception of the gamers I've seen in attendance there. It's a large sample space, but such an evaluation could scarcely be called scientific by any stretch of the imagination.) As I passed the half-way point to my ultimate goal weight, I formulated the plan to run a 5K this year as the next step in improving my physical health. That's where the Couch To 5K program came into the equation, and now I've done it only nine weeks after starting the program.

I'd say I feel as if I'm spending points on my Constitution/Vigor stat, and it's a great feeling.

With that in mind, I have to ask my readers the following question: What do you do to either improve or maintain your health, given that gaming is mostly a sedentary activity? If you don't, what would you like to do in those regards, assuming you were interested in doing so?

Working Towards A Goal,
Flynn