Yeah, I know the blog is a little plain-Jane right now. This theme is significant, though, in that it’s the first theme I have WRITTEN MYSELF. I used a great tutorial to get me going (WPDesigner.Net), and I am working on a theme that, for once, isn’t written by someone else. It means I’ve had to strip back my code, but that’s okay! I’m learning as I go, and if I want to do something, I will figure it out.
I’m having fun with this so far. I don’t expect the black to last forever, certainly–I’m working on a more complete look. In the meantime, this will change probably every day, somewhat.
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[This post is purely for my sister.]
V is returning!
No, not V for Vendetta. Freakin’ V, the 1985 alien invasion miniseries and short-lived regular series. Variety has the news. And the best part is, it’s being helmed by one of the guys who did USA Network’s great 4400 series. That show was never perfect, but it was often innovative and never afraid to advance a plotline or change the status quo of the storyline.
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This is the sort of thing that warms my heart: John McCain is apparently abandoning Michigan.
John McCain is pulling out of Michigan, according to two Republicans, a stunning move a month away from Election Day that indicates the difficulty Republicans are having in finding blue states to put in play.
McCain will go off TV in Michigan, stop dropping mail there and send most of his staff to more competitive states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida. Wisconsin went for Kerry in 2004, Ohio and Florida for Bush.
Recent polls put Obama 10% ahead in Michigan, a lead that’s been growing steadily since the primaries. I’m not surprised he pulled out! I was sick to death of being called a “battleground state” anyway.
Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, John. Actually, let it.
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Well, I have my glasses. In addition to being obnoxious, they make my eyes hurt MORE, which the doctor says is “normal” and will “go away once your eyes adjust.” Whatever. All I know is that, after I take them off, I see WORSE than I did before beginning to wear them. Damnit.
Also, they make me look older. As in “your eyes are failing, you old fucker.” Here take a look:
Before glasses.
After glasses.
Fuck, I look ancient! Sigh …
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I went to the eye doctor last week. My eyes were aching off and on, and I assumed it was computer eye strain, since it always seemed to happen when I used a computer for prolonged time.
Now, I haven’t been to an eye doctor since high school. I didn’t need to–I’ve always had great eyesight. I can read at a distance, see detail up close, and I even have great night vision. I figured he’d recommend me some eye drops or something, maybe a screen cover for the monitor to reduce glare, and that would be that.
Instead, he did some tests, and tells me that I’m farsighted, and therefore I need glasses.
I tell him, “But I’ve always had great vision! I still do!” And he tells me that, no, I’ve probably been farsighted all my life, but that my eye muscles were strong and therefore able to compensate for it. As I get older, my eye muscles are getting weaker.
Older? I’m only 33!
Yes, he says, that’s a common time for this to happen. So now I’m old, and my muscles are getting weak, and I need old people glasses. Blech.
And to top it all off, for the last three days my eyes have ached almost constantly, even though I can still see just fine. But I’ll probably wear the damn things when they come, just to get rid of the ache.
Sigh.
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Well, I did not get the job with Privateer Press.
What I did get, though, was an interview. I was only one of a handful of people (3-5) out of 100 to score one. That in itself was a huge accomplishment for me. My resume does not scream “game designer!” I have a handful of freelance D&D writing credits, nothing more. What got me the interview–and I was flat-out told this by the company owner, who was one of the interviewers–was the quality of my game submission.
The interview after that wasn’t spectacular, I admit. My answers didn’t “wow” in any way. But I didn’t care if I got the job or not. I had been told by a man whose games I love that my own game was a quality design. Freaking cloud 9 over that.
And what’s better, they proceeded to give me feedback about my game, points to make it, in their words, “publishable.” Game design pointers from the people who design one of the biggest tabletop games on the market right now! Needless to say, I wrote everything down. Redesign is already underway.
I am still holding out hope that, once the dust has settled from this hiring process, that PP will seek to purchase some of the top game designs they saw on a freelance basis. I suppose it will be up to the new game designer, who will be put in charge of the Bodgers card game line. But even if that never happens, I know I have a good game here. I can easily re-theme it into a sci-fi/cyberpunk game and fire it off to a dozen potential game publishers. And I stand a fair chance of making a sale.
Confidence is a good feeling. 
Filed under: games, submission by Brian Hudson
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As if I didn’t have enough silly things to distract my day, I’ve decided to put up a (possibly temporary) discussion forum dedicated to the new MONSTERPOCALYPSE game from Privateer Press. It’s not even a game I was certain I wanted to get into, but when they revealed both a Martian Invasion army and a Cthulhu army, I knew I was hooked.
The forum is only there for as long as there are interested posters; the second PP puts up their official up, it’ll probably die right down. In the meantime, though, it’s allowing me to get familiar with the phpbb3 software, which is a good and useful thing.
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When I entered college, I had a particular ambition: I wanted to publish my first novel by the time I graduated.
When I graduated six years later, I was a bit more realistic. Writing a novel in college was crazy talk. However, getting a first novel published by age 30 was certainly doable.
Well, 30 came and went. Missed that one by a mile. Now I’m 33, and I have no idea where that ambition is at. I’ve got all these ideas, all these half-finished novels. But I just can’t seem to follow through on them! By the time I finish a whole day of work I’m in the wrong mental space to write, and on the weekends there’s always life to take care of, all those things that piled up durting the week because of work. It’s horribly frustrating.
Sigh. Since my writing career has been full of unrealistic expectations, I guess 35 is the next target date. Let’s see what I can pull off …
Filed under: books by Brian Hudson
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Well, my first 4e game proposal was rejected. Sigh. Time to rework it and seek out another publisher.
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