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Hermitage, Day 1
Nov. 13th, 2020 11:30 am
Kaiser is hosting a drive-through COVID test in two locations nearby, and we've just come back from being tested. It wasn't as uncomfortable as I had worried it would be; just a swab against the back of the throat and in both nostrils, then we were done. Results should come in 1 - 3 days, so I'm anticipating results by next Monday.
I'll be putting in one last Eaze order today (credits for previous unsuccessful orders will expire this month), and that'll be the last planned deliberate contact until Thanksgiving. We're forming the social bubble, starting now.
Last night we went to the store to pick up as many groceries as we could get before hunkering down. I don't think I've bought so many groceries in a long time, but it was a pretty straightforward trip besides that. Just plugged in my earbuds and jammed out along the aisles until I got what I needed! Too often, I forget the simple joy of listening to music while I'm doing something I won't need that part of my brain for. I tend to listen to instrumental music when I'm working or writing, just because voices distract me so. But when I'm just shopping or folding clothes, I could be listening to so much more!
I'm taking the "Self-Esteem" course in Headspace, which so far is trying to establish the habit of recognizing when I'm lost in thought, or my internal narrative has taken me out of the present moment. I haven't been as diligent with that work as I would have liked, but it's definitely helping my time on the cushion. It's getting easier to catch myself being carried away on a current of thought, but the...light touch that's recommended when guiding myself back to the present could use work. It's easy for me to get the idea that "thought = enemy", so when I catch myself there's a small start before the acknowledgement, and I'm too quick to dismiss those thoughts. It's a bad habit that...might discourage deeper thinking in some ways. I have three more days in this part of the course, and over the weekend I'll try focusing on being gentler with myself. If I catch myself whisked away, it's OK -- it's just the brain doing what the brain does, after all.
Tonight it looks like there's nothing planned. R. is likely going to spend some time in VR playing Phasmophobia, or Among Us, or hanging out in VR Chat. I'll use the time to park myself in front of the laptop and write. There's certainly no shortage of stuff to work on, so it might be a worthwhile endeavor to split my time among the few most important. It would be really nice to get over this hump of inertia, start the hermitage off on the right foot, so to speak.
Tomorrow is another work day. I'll be covering the queues for Diwali, but I'm not anticipating things to be too heavy -- especially if I can knock out tickets today as they come in. You know, set myself up for success and everything! The plan is to sync with my returning boss in the morning to get them up to speed on tickets. Hopefully, by the afternoon, things will be slow enough that I can play this Dungeons and Dragons game at the same time.
My friend K. is running it, and I'm playing a forest gnome rogue named Wimblyvort. I had built him as an urchin, this little guy whose ancestral home had been taken over by an evil red dragon decades ago. Now, dragonborn are in most positions of power, and there's a sizable contingent of halflings and gnomes who fight against their rule. Wimblyvort grew up on the streets, alone, for as long as he could remember, and had anticipated he would be a small man leading a small life on the fringes of an unfriendly society.
Then a comet crashed from the sky while he was escorting a halfling fighter (and resistance agent). It turns out everyone in the party has a comet birthmark signifying a destiny of some import. Wimbles had never put much stock in it, but now that everything's happening and he's met others who clearly have *some* level of talent, he's forced to face the idea that he has a role to play in the shape of the world.
The "comet" turned out to be a phoenix, which was near death and trapped by the dragonborn for study and possible dissection. Wimblyvort nearly died freeing it, and it thanked him...personally...before disappearing in a gout of flame. An egg was all that remained, and Wimblyvort has been taking care of Little Comet ever since, convinced that this is what he was destined to do.
It's a pretty fun character! I'm not sure I have a handle on the way gnomes are traditionally played in D&D, but I've been layering in gnomish tendencies bit by bit. In the last game, he constructed a shock absorption box for Little Comet using twigs, sap and string. Thankfully, I rolled a natural 20 on my check so it's *actually* pretty sturdy. :) Wimbles is learning about the magic of the forest for the first time, and the whole experience seems to have awakened some latent magical ability in him -- now he's an Arcane Trickster, capable of using magic to be the sneakiest rogue who ever sneaked. :D
The rest of the party is full of interesting characters. In addition to Kella, the halfling cavalier with her riding dog mount, there's her fast friend Hildegaard, a Dragonborn barbarian who made a living as a pit fighter. There's Beck, a wizard who also leans towards the sneakier-side of the spectrum; Wimbles and Beck tend to pair up most easily. Then there's Yaz, a Tiefling warlock who believes himself to be the first cleric of a new god (who is actually a demi-god, and his patron). R. plays Yaz with the fervent belief of a fanatic, but gives him an excellent backstory to justify it. His parents are full-on devil worshippers, knowing that they're going to the Abyss(?) when they die. Yaz is terrified of befalling the same fate, so he's made a pact with this young god for a better deal in the afterlife. It's brilliant, and he plays it so well. :)
That's it for today, I suppose. Back to the ticket mines, and getting myself organized for various and sundry.
I'll be putting in one last Eaze order today (credits for previous unsuccessful orders will expire this month), and that'll be the last planned deliberate contact until Thanksgiving. We're forming the social bubble, starting now.
Last night we went to the store to pick up as many groceries as we could get before hunkering down. I don't think I've bought so many groceries in a long time, but it was a pretty straightforward trip besides that. Just plugged in my earbuds and jammed out along the aisles until I got what I needed! Too often, I forget the simple joy of listening to music while I'm doing something I won't need that part of my brain for. I tend to listen to instrumental music when I'm working or writing, just because voices distract me so. But when I'm just shopping or folding clothes, I could be listening to so much more!
I'm taking the "Self-Esteem" course in Headspace, which so far is trying to establish the habit of recognizing when I'm lost in thought, or my internal narrative has taken me out of the present moment. I haven't been as diligent with that work as I would have liked, but it's definitely helping my time on the cushion. It's getting easier to catch myself being carried away on a current of thought, but the...light touch that's recommended when guiding myself back to the present could use work. It's easy for me to get the idea that "thought = enemy", so when I catch myself there's a small start before the acknowledgement, and I'm too quick to dismiss those thoughts. It's a bad habit that...might discourage deeper thinking in some ways. I have three more days in this part of the course, and over the weekend I'll try focusing on being gentler with myself. If I catch myself whisked away, it's OK -- it's just the brain doing what the brain does, after all.
Tonight it looks like there's nothing planned. R. is likely going to spend some time in VR playing Phasmophobia, or Among Us, or hanging out in VR Chat. I'll use the time to park myself in front of the laptop and write. There's certainly no shortage of stuff to work on, so it might be a worthwhile endeavor to split my time among the few most important. It would be really nice to get over this hump of inertia, start the hermitage off on the right foot, so to speak.
Tomorrow is another work day. I'll be covering the queues for Diwali, but I'm not anticipating things to be too heavy -- especially if I can knock out tickets today as they come in. You know, set myself up for success and everything! The plan is to sync with my returning boss in the morning to get them up to speed on tickets. Hopefully, by the afternoon, things will be slow enough that I can play this Dungeons and Dragons game at the same time.
My friend K. is running it, and I'm playing a forest gnome rogue named Wimblyvort. I had built him as an urchin, this little guy whose ancestral home had been taken over by an evil red dragon decades ago. Now, dragonborn are in most positions of power, and there's a sizable contingent of halflings and gnomes who fight against their rule. Wimblyvort grew up on the streets, alone, for as long as he could remember, and had anticipated he would be a small man leading a small life on the fringes of an unfriendly society.
Then a comet crashed from the sky while he was escorting a halfling fighter (and resistance agent). It turns out everyone in the party has a comet birthmark signifying a destiny of some import. Wimbles had never put much stock in it, but now that everything's happening and he's met others who clearly have *some* level of talent, he's forced to face the idea that he has a role to play in the shape of the world.
The "comet" turned out to be a phoenix, which was near death and trapped by the dragonborn for study and possible dissection. Wimblyvort nearly died freeing it, and it thanked him...personally...before disappearing in a gout of flame. An egg was all that remained, and Wimblyvort has been taking care of Little Comet ever since, convinced that this is what he was destined to do.
It's a pretty fun character! I'm not sure I have a handle on the way gnomes are traditionally played in D&D, but I've been layering in gnomish tendencies bit by bit. In the last game, he constructed a shock absorption box for Little Comet using twigs, sap and string. Thankfully, I rolled a natural 20 on my check so it's *actually* pretty sturdy. :) Wimbles is learning about the magic of the forest for the first time, and the whole experience seems to have awakened some latent magical ability in him -- now he's an Arcane Trickster, capable of using magic to be the sneakiest rogue who ever sneaked. :D
The rest of the party is full of interesting characters. In addition to Kella, the halfling cavalier with her riding dog mount, there's her fast friend Hildegaard, a Dragonborn barbarian who made a living as a pit fighter. There's Beck, a wizard who also leans towards the sneakier-side of the spectrum; Wimbles and Beck tend to pair up most easily. Then there's Yaz, a Tiefling warlock who believes himself to be the first cleric of a new god (who is actually a demi-god, and his patron). R. plays Yaz with the fervent belief of a fanatic, but gives him an excellent backstory to justify it. His parents are full-on devil worshippers, knowing that they're going to the Abyss(?) when they die. Yaz is terrified of befalling the same fate, so he's made a pact with this young god for a better deal in the afterlife. It's brilliant, and he plays it so well. :)
That's it for today, I suppose. Back to the ticket mines, and getting myself organized for various and sundry.
