I am tied up with other projects today, so today’s post is going to be another “daily digest”; I’m going to pop in here throughout the day as postable things pop into my head.  I won’t blame you if you wait until later to read, but hey, it would also be cool if you popped in and commented; it’d be like a conversation.

If you decide to wait, why not take the Centurian Quiz I posted yesterday?  The worst that can happen is you have a bit of fun, and you could win a prize.  Prizes equal good, so give it a shot!

6:17am – Mmm, if there is anything more delicious than a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning, I don’t want to know because I’m not sure I could handle it.  Yes, caffeine is a drug, and yes, that makes me an addict.  Don’t care, drinking my med’cine now…

7:47am – I’ll post a link when it goes live, but I wrote a guest article on “The Cage” for Beyond the Farthest Blog, the Star Trek blog belonging to Mike of Mike’s Best Blog Ever fame.  Mike was flatteringly complimentary when he received it, so I have some hope it might amuse.  Looks like it will get posted this Sunday, so I’ll post a link Monday.  And let me repeat a two-part shout-out: I am interested both in guest posting for other blogs, and having guest posts here.  If either of those things interest you, please drop me a line in the comments or contact me on Twitter.

9:24am – It seems that the lads over at Penny Arcade have made the switch from D&D 4th to Pathfinder RPG.  While there is no secret I love Pathfinder, I consider myself neutral regarding the Edition Wars.  I get a visceral pleasure from playing 4th ed., and I have played sessions at cons and enjoyed myself.  But for sustained pleasure I always come back to Pathfinder; it has what I need to make me happy at the campaign level.  Looking through the PA blog it seems that Gabe came to a similar conclusion, and made a choice accordingly.  While I’m always happy to see new Pathfinder players, I think the more vocal among our tribe need to settle down just a bit.  Guys and gals, we didn’t “win” anything, D&D did not “lose”, because there is no contest here.  They stopped playing a game they no longer enjoyed, and tried a new game which worked for them. End of Line.  To make any more of this is to perpetuate a pointless conflict.  If you are such a person, then I have the same feeling toward your virtual saber rattling as I do towards Macedonians seeking redress for a war that happened BCE.  Which is to say, confusion and annoyance.

11:13am – As foretold in the prophecy, plans are afoot for the Trimming of the Tree.  I had some concerns that I would not be able to pull-off something suitable geeky.  Then I found instructions for creating my own Star Wars paper snowflakes.  My concerns have been eliminated.

11:36am – Breaking News! Canada Post just dropped off a box from Paizo!  I am expecting a shipment of Venture-Captain shirts from them, but the shipping tag would seem to indicate this is not those.  I investigate anon!

12:46pm – Turns out the package was a bunch of stuff that I had on my Paizo site wishlist.  Thing is, I didn’t order it!  So some Pathfinder Angel took it upon themselves to purchase the stuff and send it to me.  I don’t know who you are, but thank-you very much!

1:30pm – Work done for the day (except for the stuff I’ll work on tonight).  But right now is Me Time! And how do I celebrate Me Time? With the traditional vacuuming of the living room! I know, right?  Don’t worry, there will be some relaxing in there, too.  But our carpet is filthy, and must be cleansed for the good of all (those wearing socks, mostly)!

3:12pm – Investigating the local Taoist Society.  I feel like it’s time to get back to tai chi, and it seems new classes will begin Jan 12.  So between now and then I’m going to re-implement my stretching routine so I have some flexibility back before the first class.  I’m a bit nervous/excited; I haven’t really practised tai chi since a few years after college, but I remember how good I felt when I did.  It would be pretty great to have that feeling again.

3:22pm – Seems to be a lot of negativity flying around the nerd community again.  Male privilege, bullying, women sniping at women, edition hate…seriously, everyone, dial it back.  Try focusing for a moment on why you love your corner of fandom, divorced from what other people think.  Stay with that idea, and make that what drives you.  I promise, you will enjoy our geekdom more if you stop worrying about whether another geek is doing it “right” and focus on yourself.  Yes, our fandom has issues.  But strident anger does not get your message across.  Don’t believe me?  Read your latest rant out loud and record it.  Now play it back?  Would you want to listen to that? Neither would I.