Real Life and What's Happening...

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and now we are looking at a very likely 2 month break, so, maybe for the best!
It may be game wise and for that I'm happy for you but I bet its not feeling so good.

At least if I'm tying things correctly together.
 
It may be game wise and for that I'm happy for you but I bet its not feeling so good.

At least if I'm tying things correctly together.
you are, and I posted in the wrong thread. The break will be fine. I have been focusing on mountain biking and traveling and such.
 
Got a work shindig tomorrow. My department head admitted to liking Durian and I might have found some in a local Asian food shop ...
Muhaha ... this will either be a source of mild amusement or get me fired. Watch this space.
 
Today was the last day I had to work at my second job. It was a substitute cook position at a local school district. I was even offered a full time position starting the next school year, but that would conflict with my studies. It could be deeply satisfying at times, seeing kids like what you eat.
Still, I greatly disliked it. The work itself was good, but my coworkers were truly abysmal. They said things that would break the cardinal rule here on the Pub.
In many ways I am very glad to be done with it.
Despite this, ending work there has put me in a sort of melancholic, brooding mood.
I'm not sure why.
 
Got a work shindig tomorrow. My department head admitted to liking Durian and I might have found some in a local Asian food shop ...
Muhaha ... this will either be a source of mild amusement or get me fired. Watch this space.
Update - the durian was appreciated and folks were drunk enough to laugh at sheep shagging jokes. Since one particular experience a few years ago I've been of the opinion that by far the most effective team building exercise is for the whole team to get shit-faced together; this event did nothing to dissuade me from that view. My shoulder's been playing up a bit over the past couple of days, which precluded me from participating in the drunk rounders[1] but it was one of the better corporate shindigs I've been to. It really had a nice vibe by the standards of such things.
_________________
1 - For those across the other side of the Atlantic, Rounders is a baseball-like game normally played at primary school level with a tennis ball. The bat is to scale for the normal participants - about the size of a truncheon.
 
Since one particular experience a few years ago I've been of the opinion that by far the most effective team building exercise is for the whole team to get shit-faced together; this event did nothing to dissuade me from that view.
I steer clear of any activities or outings organized by my work exactly because I do not want to see any of my colleagues when I'm off work, especially not drunk. They're not the kind of people you want to experience drunk.
 
I steer clear of any activities or outings organized by my work exactly because I do not want to see any of my colleagues when I'm off work, especially not drunk. They're not the kind of people you want to experience drunk.
These things definitely vary with the quality of the people involved, I think. I've been at places where one wouldn't want to do that, and I've been at places where it's quite fun. One team I did an impromptu drinkies with bonded so well we've remained in contact with each other for about 13 years now.
 
Update - the durian was appreciated and folks were drunk enough to laugh at sheep shagging jokes. Since one particular experience a few years ago I've been of the opinion that by far the most effective team building exercise is for the whole team to get shit-faced together; this event did nothing to dissuade me from that view. My shoulder's been playing up a bit over the past couple of days, which precluded me from participating in the drunk rounders[1] but it was one of the better corporate shindigs I've been to. It really had a nice vibe by the standards of such things.
_________________
1 - For those across the other side of the Atlantic, Rounders is a baseball-like game normally played at primary school level with a tennis ball. The bat is to scale for the normal participants - about the size of a truncheon.
My theory is trust is built by error and forgiveness. Alcohol tends to increase both in a smallish but not too small group setting.
 
I steer clear of any activities or outings organized by my work exactly because I do not want to see any of my colleagues when I'm off work, especially not drunk. They're not the kind of people you want to experience drunk.
Yeah, I've seen people get reprimanded and fired for things that happen at these parties. I don't friend people I work with and I don't go out to work things with them. I'll have lunch, but that's about it.
 
Yeah, I've seen people get reprimanded and fired for things that happen at these parties. I don't friend people I work with and I don't go out to work things with them. I'll have lunch, but that's about it.
At this point in my life I do that too. However I do feel like I bonded much more strongly with teams I had a deeper non work connection too and I worked harder for those teams. It's a tradeoff.
 
At this point in my life I do that too. However I do feel like I bonded much more strongly with teams I had a deeper non work connection too and I worked harder for those teams. It's a tradeoff.
Yeah, I can see that. It just that working harder doesn't get you anything, so I'm far beyond that as even a possibility. Show me the money and I'll elevate my game for you- F comraderie, free food and drinks, or any of that. If you can pay your stockholder dividends, you can do the same to me.
 
Yeah, I can see that. It just that working harder doesn't get you anything, so I'm far beyond that as even a possibility. Show me the money and I'll elevate my game for you- F comraderie, free food and drinks, or any of that. If you can pay your stockholder dividends, you can do the same to me.
There's truth to that with caveats.

My experience has been if I show the performance above the level I'm being paid to do then I get promoted. I've seen a lot of good people say "I'll work like an X+1 when I'm paid like an X+1!" not realizing the only way someone knows you can work at a higher level is when you demonstrate it to them consistently.

Also after a certain level of income the other benefits can become the deciding factor if you are going to be there long hours.
 
My experience has been if I show the performance above the level I'm being paid to do then I get promoted. I've seen a lot of good people say "I'll work like an X+1 when I'm paid like an X+1!" not realizing the only way someone knows you can work at a higher level is when you demonstrate it to them consistently.

Yeah, that goes back to that I don't want to be promoted, I just want more money. I'm at the point that I can't be promoted unless I take on reports, which I'm unwilling to do, or someone vacates a position or one is created. My boss already wants to promote me. So does his boss. HR is in the way.

So with that, what's the motivation? I already do more than my position allows for...
 
Yeah, that goes back to that I don't want to be promoted, I just want more money. I'm at the point that I can't be promoted unless I take on reports, which I'm unwilling to do, or someone vacates a position or one is created. My boss already wants to promote me. So does his boss. HR is in the way.

So with that, what's the motivation? I already do more than my position allows for...
I was thinking more generally but it's an interesting question. Can you convince them to pay you more if they can earn some multiple of that more by letting you do something without managing reports? I don't know any of your specifics but I wonder if that's an option somehow.
 
Yeah, that goes back to that I don't want to be promoted, I just want more money. I'm at the point that I can't be promoted unless I take on reports, which I'm unwilling to do, or someone vacates a position or one is created. My boss already wants to promote me. So does his boss. HR is in the way.

So with that, what's the motivation? I already do more than my position allows for...
I feel you here. I ended up leading. It’s very hard, but it’s getting easier. I’m currently the Principle Investigator on a couple of things, and likely a third will come up. I’m glad they are all closely related, or I couldn’t do it

I feel like there is a definition of promotion that seemed to ignore experience snd depth. How one person is just that much more efficient because they’ve done a lot of things. My own place of work has a real dividing line where you have to “lead” but they do a very bad job of defining that outside of “manage a team”. I suspect it comes from who makes the promotion requirements.

where I work, there are scientists and managers. Scientists have a promotion curve based on academia. Unfortunately, it’s a bad fit for technical folks like developers or system administrators, which we have A LOT of. The manager like is super soft and undefined, except for the one that gets in money, which has a dollar figure metric.

It’s a tough spot. My place doesn’t have a tool for this, and HR isn’t helpful.
 
I finally got around to switching my primary care provider after dealing with the same terrible one for years. Oh man what a difference it makes. This office was highly rated on Yelp and it took me a while to get my first appt but it was worth it. The office is modern with friendly and helpful staff. My doctor is a cool dude about my age who communicates expediently by Zoom and email instead of a boomer who insists on a face-to-face office visit for every little thing like it was 1974. The doctor didn't assume I was an idiot and explain things like I was 5 or assume a passive-aggressive air of superiority. Instead he made eye contact and spoke in clear, direct language. He even cracked a couple jokes, gave me a fist bump when we met, and shook my hand like a man at the end of my visit. 10/10 would recommend to friends and family.
 
Been busy with summer school and building two new Mythology classes for next year. Free time has been sleep, eating, playing a little Conan Exiles and trying to get some recreational reading done.
 
I do not post here at all, but I thought I would join in.

My life has been tumultuous, but happy recently. My divorce is finally coming to a close and I am very happy with my current partner. I got the vaccine recently and I am more than halfway done with my novel.

I had a meat pie today.
 
I feel you here. I ended up leading. It’s very hard, but it’s getting easier. I’m currently the Principle Investigator on a couple of things, and likely a third will come up. I’m glad they are all closely related, or I couldn’t do it
I tried it.. and it was frustrating because I couldn't really do anything for my reports. I was able to do very small things, but it was like pulling teeth. One of the women was not a native English speaker, and she didn't like to take lead because of that- she felt self conscious talking about things even though she was solid technically. It took too much effort just to get her some software and classes and into toastmasters, even though all of that really increased her performance. And speaking of performance, the way we did performance reviews sucked. It's 'merit based', though truly it is more 'politically driven' from a higher level than I was able to affect. So even though my reports did good, I had to find reasons to justify the ratings that were handed down.

It just wasn't anything I wanted to deal with, as it was antithetical to the way I think.
 
I was thinking more generally but it's an interesting question. Can you convince them to pay you more if they can earn some multiple of that more by letting you do something without managing reports? I don't know any of your specifics but I wonder if that's an option somehow.
If I truly cared, I'd do what many have done- get another job offer and watch them match it. Or if they don't, leave and come back in a few months. But I get paid enough- our bonuses are insane if you get good performance reviews (I currently have a 30% target if I do decently well, and have gotten 40%+ of an industry standard salary as a bonus), and I've been fortunate in that the people over me know what I'm worth. That and the excellent benefits, flexible work schedule, and pre-existing conditions keep me from playing any of those cards. I could make even more- but this is enough to live more than comfortably, and I enjoy my work as it is.
 
I tried it.. and it was frustrating because I couldn't really do anything for my reports. I was able to do very small things, but it was like pulling teeth. One of the women was not a native English speaker, and she didn't like to take lead because of that- she felt self conscious talking about things even though she was solid technically. It took too much effort just to get her some software and classes and into toastmasters, even though all of that really increased her performance. And speaking of performance, the way we did performance reviews sucked. It's 'merit based', though truly it is more 'politically driven' from a higher level than I was able to affect. So even though my reports did good, I had to find reasons to justify the ratings that were handed down.

It just wasn't anything I wanted to deal with, as it was antithetical to the way I think.
Yea, I had a bunch of those responsibilities and got rid of them. It was just painful. Now I’m mostly just the tech lead. I have one person who I will need to talk to. She’s unwilling to take any initiative. She sits back passively and is eager to learn, but mostly it looks like too afraid to do anything. It’ll take some work
 
Yea, I had a bunch of those responsibilities and got rid of them. It was just painful. Now I’m mostly just the tech lead. I have one person who I will need to talk to. She’s unwilling to take any initiative. She sits back passively and is eager to learn, but mostly it looks like too afraid to do anything. It’ll take some work
Oh tech lead- yeah, I have that. I was the only architect in our content division for a long while- a couple have come back on that side with the changes in the org, so it's spread around a bit more, but I still have enough responsibilities that I always feel like I'm on the edge of what can do without giving more of myself than I want to. Notice I said responsibilities- not authority. That's a two-edged sword I find- responsibilities without authority means I don't have to do any of the work I don't want with dealing with people problems, but it also means that I can't force people to do anything most times- I have to lead with a really soft touch. But it's better than the alternative.
 
Got my dental cleaning done this morning. Considering I was a year or two overdue, it wasn't too bad. I do have to go back in two weeks to get some old fillings redone.

Today is my 14-year anniversary of starting my job with [Largest Midwest City] Public Library. I didn't do anything particular to celebrate- honestly I forgot about it until a few minutes ago- but I am happy.

14 consecutive years is by far the longest I've done any given thing, other than, like, be alive.
 
We are all moved into the new place and unpacked. I'm quite loving it here. Got my gaming den, my reading nook, and a wonderfully peaceful backyard patio. Finally opened the Glenfarclas 25 I've been saving for just such an occasion.
Glenfarclas.jpg

Cheers.
 
We are all moved into the new place and unpacked. I'm quite loving it here. Got my gaming den, my reading nook, and a wonderfully peaceful backyard patio. Finally opened the Glenfarclas 25 I've been saving for just such an occasion.
View attachment 32053

Cheers.
Excellent way to cap off the crap year that has been Covid!
 
So, imagine the cringiest cringe-comedy you've ever seen. And imagine the male protagonist trying to tell a girl he likes her, and he does it in such an insanely messed-up way that, not only does it freak the girl out and make her think that he's got some kinda problem, it doesnt' even get the point across that he's interested.

#erockerslife
 
I got my MRI scan yesterday and remembered what a racket the scanners make. This time they gave me earplugs.

Fun fact: the magnet in an MRI scanner is powerful enough hat you could install one in an orbit at the L1 point of Mars, and it would deflect the solar wind enough to allow Mars to retain an atmosphere.
 
We are all moved into the new place and unpacked. I'm quite loving it here. Got my gaming den, my reading nook, and a wonderfully peaceful backyard patio. Finally opened the Glenfarclas 25 I've been saving for just such an occasion.
View attachment 32053

Cheers.
Damn.

I have a Glenrothes 26 (store exclusive from The Whisky Exchange) that I’m set to open when WHO declares the end of the pandemic.

Glenfarclas is supposed to be amazing — I only ever had a miniature of the 15 and didn’t really enjoy it. (Maybe I got a bad batch, maybe it needed a little more time open.)
So, imagine the cringiest cringe-comedy you've ever seen. And imagine the male protagonist trying to tell a girl he likes her, and he does it in such an insanely messed-up way that, not only does it freak the girl out and make her think that he's got some kinda problem, it doesnt' even get the point across that he's interested.

#erockerslife
Oh brother. We’ve all been there, I guess. Cringe comedies get written for a reason.
I got my MRI scan yesterday and remembered what a racket the scanners make. This time they gave me earplugs.

Fun fact: the magnet in an MRI scanner is powerful enough hat you could install one in an orbit at the L1 point of Mars, and it would deflect the solar wind enough to allow Mars to retain an atmosphere.
Really? Just one magnet? (What, 1.5T, 2T?)
 
Oh brother. We’ve all been there, I guess. Cringe comedies get written for a reason.

Thanks! Happened about a week ago, so at this point it is actually kind of funny. All we can do with mistakes is learn from them and move forward, right? That's what I'm trying to do.

On an unrelated matter, I'm thinking of buying a road bicycle. I have a pretty nice mountain bike, but there are more opportunities for road biking than mountain biking in my area.
 
Baby Butcher (age 4) was found throwing rocks at a wall with a friend. After a mild reprehension, I questioned him on why they were doing it.

“Because I want to destroy Planet Earth!” (His exact words, emphasis mine.)

But why?

“So we can land on another planet!”

Really? And what are you going to do on another planet?

“Destroy it too! We are going to destroy all the planets.” (Again, his exact words, emphasis mine.)

Really?

“Yeah! And after we destroy all planets, we will fall down to the ground beneath everything. It’s going to be a great adventure!”

I shit you not.

So you heard it here first, people. I have sired the Great Unmaker, the Shatterer of Worlds. Plan accordingly.

Needless to say I am so. Fucking. Proud.
 
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Baby Butcher (age 4) was found throwing rocks at a wall with a friend. After a mild reprehension, I questioned him on why they were doing it.

“Because I want to destroy Planet Earth!” (His exact words, emphasis mine.)

But why?

“So we can land on another planet!”

Really? And what are you going to do on another planet?

“Destroy it too! We are going to destroy all the planets.” (Again, his exact words, emphasis mine.)

Really?

“Yeah! And after we destroy all planets, we will fall down to the ground beneath everything. It’s going to be a great adventure!”

I sh

So you heard it here first, people. I have sired the Great Unmaker, the Shatterer of Worlds. Plan accordingly.

Needless to say I am so. Fucking. Proud.
My wife always wanted girls. We had three boys before we got one. The older they get the more she remembers why she wanted girls. The boys have so much energy and hit so many random things. It kind of hilarious watching her pull her hair out trying to get them to behave like girls and fail so hard.
 
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