Bill Bodden's Blog, page 13

Convention Advice

I've been attending conventions for some time now, and while they can be a tremendous amount of fun, they can also be tiring, and a huge drain on finances. I'd like to share some tips for how to stay sane, rested, and financially solvent during convention season.

First and foremost: follow the 6/2/1 minimum rule: 6 hours of sleep a night, 2 meals a day, and one shower. Trust me, these are all important, not only for your own health and well-being, but also for those around you.

The Buddy System may save your life. Make sure you have a reliable friend with whom you can make an agreement to check on each other at least once a day during the convention. It can be especially important if you have a sneaky medical condition (diabetes comes to mind) that could physically disable you if you aren't careful. On the flip side, be a good friend yourself: check on your friend regularly. Catch their eye in social situations to see if they need help. Maybe they need to be rescued from a boring conversation, or maybe someone with ill intent ...

To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/09/10/conv...

Preparing to Adopt

Buster in back, Chyna in front We've been catless now for more than a year. It's been tough for me to get over; I fell in love with our pair of Siamese cats, Chyna and Buster, and their passing left a gaping wound in my heart. Finally, we're done with travel -- where both of us will be gone -- for a few months, so this seems like a good time to get cats and allow them to settle in with us.

Including T's tabby boys -- Scout and Smokey -- we've had cats in the house for well over twenty years, so being without now for twenty months has made the house seem quiet and empty. We still haven't finished cat-proofing the house, but I think that's something that will have to happen on the fly, as it's tough to determine just what new cats will fancy that they shouldn't until it happens.

I didn't think I would like cats much until I lived with one. Her name was Cassie, and she was...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/09/03/prep...

Necessary Evils

I was at the Henry Vilas Zoo recently, and before that the Indianapolis Zoo during GenCon weekend. I enjoy visiting zoos because I love animals -- even reptiles, bugs, and fish. They don't have to be cuddly for me to find them fascinating -- though if they aren't cuddly mammals, odds are good that I don't want them in my house!

To many people, zoos are depressing places: animals in confinement, being stared at, shouted at, and (occasionally) having things throw at them, by people. They can be depressing if you can only see that particular unpleasant aspect, but there's another point to consider: Zoos are...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/08/29/nece...

Falling For It

I fell in the shower last week Monday. More precisely, I fell out of the shower last week. On the way to the floor, I bounced off the toilet bowl using my mid-back as a springboard.

I am of an age where falls in the home are starting to seem pretty scary. In truth, I've fallen like this before, but was more lucky in the past: I missed hitting the toilet the previous time, managing to roll out of the fall with nothing more serious than a bruised ego. This time I was six inches farther to my right when I fell, and was in intense pain for about ten minutes. Last time, the shower curtain slid off me as I fell. This time, it stuck to me like glue, and I brought the curtain with me, pulling the curtain rod down and half-tearing the anchoring fixture on one side out of the wall.

The thing about back injuries is, you can't do much of anything. It hurts to bend over. It hurts to turn or twist. It hurts to reach across my body with either arm, though my injury was on my right side. I had to...
To read the rest of this post, please visit:
http://billbodden.com/2018/08/20/fall...

Cockroach Stories, volume 1

Cockroaches are everyone's favorite disgusting pest. I've had my share of run-ins with the little buggers, and had to do a fair bit of research on them for a writing project, so I know how deep this particular rabbit-hole can go.

When I was working on my scenario, "Bugs in the System," for Mutants & Masterminds: Wild Cards: All-In , I wrote about a Joker who basically morphed into a human-cockroach hybrid, with absolutely no apologies to Franz Kafka. I felt I needed to research these ultimate survivors at greater length to add verisimilitude to my writing; after the research, I didn't sleep well for a week.

Did you know a cockroach can live for three days without a head? Yep.

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/08/13/cock...

Post-Con Zombieness

I just got back from GenCon on Monday evening, hence this post on Wednesday instead of Monday. Traveling to and from cons can be fun, but the conventions themselves can also be exhausting, particularly if you're working a booth, as I was most of GenCon weekend.

I have to admit, I'm getting too old to work booths for any substantial amount of time. Two days later, my legs feel like they've been beaten with sticks from the knees on down. The foam mats Onyx Path has to cover the concrete floor of the booth help tremendously, but essentially one is still...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/08/08/post...

Hero-Worship

There is a lot of talk of heroes these days. The thing about heroes is, it's very easy to admire them for one aspect of their lives, and completely ignore other aspects that don't fit the narrative we desire.

My dad was a huge fan of Babe Ruth in his time. Living in small-town Wisconsin, it wasn't often that he could get to a baseball game to see the Bambino in action live, though often -- if the weather was right -- he could listen to game on AM radio. Babe Ruth also broke my dad's heart. The one time dad had a chance to...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/07/30/hero...

New Book is Out!

A book I worked on extensively last year, Pan's Guide for New Pioneers , has finally been finished. Print copies exist (I've held one in my hands!) and are making their way to stores in the next few weeks. Be sure to stop by your friendly, local game store soon and ask for a copy!

Pan's Guide is a combination quick start and adventure, meant to appeal to players who are new to the game. It includes a multi-part adventure, a nice selection of pre-generated characters, and the basic rules of the game to get people playing as quickly as possible. Part D&D adventure, part homage to Thundarr the Barbarian, and part tribute to the Walter Miller novel A Canticle for Libeowitz, Pugmire's action...

To read more of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/07/23/new-...

Health Issues Ahoy!

*Warning: discussion of health issues and bodily fluids will ensue. You've been warned.*

So I have a health issue known as Edema. My body swells up with excess fluid. I take a drug daily to help me pee out the excess liquid, but lately it's not as effective as it once was. After I take it, I need bathroom breaks about every 30 to 60 minutes for a couple of hours as the drug works it's magic. Mostly, the swelling is limited to...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/07/18/heal...

Who Comes Up With This Stuff?

Several months ago, I came across PBS's "Great American Read" quiz , encouraging visitors to see how many of these "Great American Reads" they themselves had read. I have to admit I was puzzled by this list: it contained an awful lot of the dusty old classics of yore -- things our English Lit. instructors insisted we just HAD to read. Take the quiz yourself and see how many you've read: my score is...
To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/07/09/who-...