I spent the last chunk of time doing some work that I’ve been neglecting for some time–partly because it’s really volunteer work, and partly because I had forgotten how time-consuming it can be.  I have read, or in most cases skimmed, all of the articles that were published on this site in January of 2000.  I have added tags to them, cleaned up a few bad links, and put reviews in the proper category.

None of them were mine, although one was an interview with me.  It was an interesting read, reminding me where we were back then.

So that’s how I spent the better part of my evening on my day off.  There were several other options, but none which appealed so much as getting that done.  I’m trying to work my way through to the end of 2001, so I can pick up the Game Ideas Unlimited series for the next volume to be printed.  I could, of course, just jump ahead and do those, but I want to help straighten out this site as much as I can, and someone’s got to do the articles.

–M. J. Young

My youngest is attending a prom tomorrow night.  I am not certain I can call it his prom, as although it is at his school he is technically too young.  His girlfriend, though, is the right age and grade, so I suppose technically he is taking her to her prom.

It has occurred to me that this will mean he will probably take her to two more proms, since he will be eligible to go to the prom himself next year and the year after while she is attending college, probably locally.

It also means that I have chores to do on top of my usual work and chores–including that any minute he is going to arrive home and we will make the trip to collect his tuxedo from the formals shop.  This will require a cash withdrawal from the bank, but we will do that on the way.

I did here from that friend I am hoping to see on my weekend trip north when I take another son to stay with family while attending school up there.  It seems fairly certain that we will be able to meet for coffee or dessert on my way home; he wants to see the new books, and will probably buy one of them, maybe also the other.  I don’t want to seem mercenary in connection with friends and family, but it is certainly good to sell books no matter who is doing the buying.

I keep running things through my head that need my attention, but attention has been diverted to other matters of late.  However, let me not divert time here–I think I hear someone coming in the front door, so it may be time for me to move.

–M. J. Young

I’m not entirely happy at the moment, but here I am.

On the less than completely bright side, where I was less than completely bright, I did almost everything I intended last night–took the girlfriend home, dropped off the son, visited my friend, and finished the forum posts.  I even got the opinion of my experienced drummer friend on a couple pieces of the new drum set, which he said was surprisingly good quality for a beginner’s set.  The one thing I did not do, as I rushed out the door trying to remember everything, was take copies of the books with me, so I found myself describing the Faith and Gaming and Game Ideas Unlimited books to him without examples in hand.  So I feel a bit stupid, particularly since I’m not at all certain when next I will make that trip.

I returned home close enough to time to awaken people for school that I just stayed up and finished the postings.  Thus it was well into daylight by the time I said goodnight.

I’m also a bit perturbed because I was the only one to show for tonight’s Collision rehearsal.  No one called; no one showed.  I really don’t want to be the driving force in a band of people who are not interested or committed, and I’m worried that this is starting to move that direction.  I’m not, however, certain what to do about that.  Everyone can complain that someone else is less committed to this, less ready to play, than he is; that doesn’t get us anywhere, particularly since no one is really ready to play.

I practiced a bit myself, but finally decided my time would be better spent getting this work done.

–M. J. Young

I fell asleep sometime probably around ten last night.  I know that was the time, because I was watching something on television and looked at the clock at 9:47, and then when someone awoke me at 10:30 to ask me to add something to the schedule for today (which they asked me to remove from the schedule for today about five minutes before it would have had to have been done) the program was something I’d have changed had I noticed it.  I am not certain when I next fell asleep, because I think I saw the entirety of a Monk episode that ran from eleven to twelve, and put something on after that, but was asleep when my wife entered, whenever that was.  I had to put away supper and tend to a few other things, but was back to sleeping before four and up just after five, and then managed to get a solid five hours from seven to noon.

All of which is to say that I am well rested today, and not worried about falling asleep on my long errand to drive people tonight–the girlfriend home and the son to work.  I am hoping also to meet with the friend who is interested in buying the books while I’m up that way.

He will also be interested in the fact that amidst the confusion of today I picked up a free drum set.  It may be worth every penny, as my father would say, but it’s the best drum set I’ve ever owned.  My thinking at this point is that it might provide supplemental pieces for one of our drummers, although I’m not terribly impressed with the quality–and this from someone who knows very little about drums but that he has worked with a few drummers over the years.

I uploaded the updated pages last night, although I still don’t have a banner for the special.  Here’s hoping it will help.

I’ve more to do than I can in the time that remains, but I’ll do what I can and try to squeeze a bit of extra time out of this somewhere.

–M. J. Young

I did not really get enough sleep last night; however, when I returned to bed this morning I was antsy.

Part of it is that I’ve been thinking I’ve got to make a change in an arrangement of one of the Collision songs–I’m demanding too much of my bass guitarist, and if I want to get the six core songs down I’m going to have to take some of the riffs from the fifth on myself so that I can push him to learn the sixth.  Thus I was lying in bed trying to make sense of riffs in my head–where are the notes on the fingerboard, on the staff, in that nebulous tonal recognition center in my brain.  After lying in bed for half an hour locked into this, I got up, set up the coffee for later (which I should have done sooner), and picked up a guitar.

Fifty minutes later, I was satisfied with that and had run through a few other guitar parts, and decided that I was no closer to going back to sleep than I was when I got up, so I might as well find my glasses and start my morning.  That’s not to say I’m not tired; only that I’m not sleeping.

It also occurred to me that I did some work I neglected to mention.  Sunday night, after doing the weekly file backup, I created a new specials page, uploaded to the site for the M. J. Young Net site, complete with a descriptive banner.  It announces throughout the site the availability of the new books Faith and Gaming and Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1, which hopefully will help sell the books.  Meanwhile, I also did a fair amount of updating of the pages on the Multiverser site, but have not uploaded these.  The changes include adding links to our other Cafe Press storefronts, the new Game Ideas Unlimited store and the long-neglected Nagaworld store in addition to our standard Multiverser merchandise.  I also did the work to launch the announcement of Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1 on the Multiverser site, but am awaiting a banner from our art director before uploading all of this.

So I did a fair amount of web work, but it doesn’t all show yet.

If I’m going to make this early rising thing work, I’m going to have to get something done, so let’s move to it.

–M. J. Young

I was supposed to meet someone Friday night.  I was in the northern end of the state picking up someone’s girlfriend, and expected to rendevous at a place inappropriately referred to as a diner–it only does breakfast, from ten at night to three in the afternoon, and is closed for the seven hours during which most people eat dinner.  My friend was interested in seeing, possibly buying, either or both of the two new books, Faith and Gaming and Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1.  He did not answer his cell phone, and he did not show.

He called last night to apologize; he got the date wrong, and he doesn’t really use his cell phone much.  He is hoping that we can rendezvous early this week, whenever it is that I have to return said girlfriend to her residence (which is something I do not yet know).

Otherwise, there’s not much to report.  I’m still feeling beat up with this bronchitis, and although I’m much better I still had a coughing fit earlier this afternoon which nearly rendered me unconscious (no, I get those a lot, even when I’m not sick, side effect of my allergic asthma; I manage it pretty well, knowing how to keep control of those faculties that are necessary for whatever I’m doing at the time).  I did not get my laundry done yesterday, but I managed to do everything else on a rather lengthy list, including the grocery shopping, so I’m not disappointed.  I’ve been handed responsibility for a few extras today, but today should be fairly light otherwise, so I’m not too worried about it.

I have a lot of projects requiring my attention, but I don’t think things are going to move forward much for a few days, at least.

–M. J. Young

I would love to tell you that Ubercon X was great, but I would be lying, and although I will obfuscate and conceal, I do attempt not to lie.

It was not without its highlights.  I very much enjoyed meeting Timothy Zahn and his wife Anna, and hope they will find the time to drop me a note eventually.  He and I sat on one panel on early influences, along with Josepha Sherman, and the Zahns came to our otherwise sparsely attended Sunday morning Christian Gamers Guild-sponsored worship service.

That panel was recorded (were I to say “taped” I would be showing my age) by a group that produces a broad and podcast program under the name Non-productive, and it will be airing on the Rutgers radio station and another local station fairly soon.  They also tapped me to do a promo for the show, which they let me write:

This is Multiverser author M. J. Young encouraging you to listen to the most Non-productive broadcast in any universe.

The tech says I have no idea how accurate that is, and that it will go over well with their fanbase.  Now I wonder whether anyone in their fanbase would have any clue as to who I am.

I was on two other panels, one entitled How to Write a Game Anyone Can Play, but I’m not sure that the panelists all agreed that was a suitable goal.  Chris O’Neil, Peter Schweighofer, Tony DiGeralamo, Dave Simpson, and someone who did not make any of the program listings were part of that.  Much the same group also talked about how to attend cons and buy books without going broke, although we all joked that if anyone had any ideas on that we’d love to hear them.

However, it was a very slow con.  Tony DiGeralamo agreed with me that there were fewer people here than at previous cons, and most of them the same people.  Even so, many of the expected people were absent.  One fan purchased copies of the two new books, Faith and Gaming and Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1, but when it comes to it my mother bought more books (one of each of those plus copies of About the Fruit and What Does God Expect–and yes, my mother bought those books, as gifts for her pastors, but I charged her the convention discounts for all books).  If my count is accurate, we had three new players at the table; no one had any money to spend on books, although several expressed sincere-sounding regret on that point.

Of course, conventions are always tiring for me.  I get booked rather solid, with just enough time to sleep overnight before returning in the morning.  I also lost most of an hour of time to a late Friday night phone call which burned up my cell minutes and my sleep.  I should have cut that shorter, but I do enjoy talking to friends even when I should know better.

Further complicating life, I realized sometime on Friday that my resistance was struggling against something, but I had forgotten to bring the Cold-Eze Tropical Fruit drops that are so good against this.  The next morning I found no drug store open, and the next morning although the drug store was open I was late for the first session (a meet and greet Kaffeeklatsch that was mostly guests and staff chatting about games and conventions).  I finally obtained this important medication on my way home after dinner with my parents, but it was too late as I was already plunging into a serious case of bronchitis.

Since I am already a respiratory patient (the asthma), it was insisted that I be seen by the doctor today, and that I obtain an antibiotic for the malady.  I must thank one of my sons for assisting me with the obligatory trip to take my mother-in-law shopping, especially as it seems to have gotten him in dutch with his girlfriend.

All of this means I am collapsing, with little to show for my efforts, and posting this only because I did not want phone calls or e-mails asking where I am.

Thanks for your understanding.  It is to be hoped that tomorrow I will be able to begin catching up on everything that has backed up since Friday.

–M. J. Young

I stare at the screen wondering what to type.  It is very like writer’s block; I do not know what to say.

Of course, it isn’t really writer’s block.  The reason I don’t know what to type is that I was here late last night and am back again early this afternoon, and nothing has happened in the interim.  Of course, it’s not true that nothing has happened.  I got a phone call last night telling me that the Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1 books would be arriving today (according to tracking information)–and lo, as I am typing the crunch of truck breaks out front alerts me to the arrival. I have now seen copies, and they look good, so assuming I make it, they should be with me at Ubercon.

While I’m on the subject of Game Ideas Unlimited, let me call attention to the next in the series, Screen Wrap.

I did not actually get to bed early–I did, but not early enough–and so I am already tired from a somewhat early start intended to manage anticipated disruptions which have already occurred.  Let me press forward, in the hope that I can finish before I am again too tired.

–M. J. Young

Not every day can be a milestone.  In the past week I’ve seen two books finalized and made available for purchase–Faith and Gaming yesterday and Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1 over the weekend.  I have done a bit of announcing of these books here and there, although there are probably a few more places where I ought to announce them.  I should also get them added to the web sites–but today is Tuesday, always busy, so it is unlikely that these tasks will be completed just yet.

We’ll see how it progresses.

I have just come from the directors meeting, where it was agreed to release Game Ideas Unlimited Volume 1 at the price of $18.95.  You can view and purchase it at the new CafePress storefront created specifically to host these books.  The plan is to have some in hand at Ubercon, although of course with the time getting close there’s no guarantee that we will.  I should mention that this joins our two other CafePress storefronts.  The one we have promoted to some degree is known as the Valdron store, which sports T-shirts, mugs, and other paraphernalia including the dice poster.  The other is the NagaWorld store, which features the nerf-like creatures of NagaWorld but also has the poster based on the cover of the novel.

So the book is available for those who wish to have the first two months of the series in a convenient portable format.

–M. J. Young