Climbing the Third Stair

So I'm finishing up my morning tea and scanning the AEG forums when I notice that the semi-annual dust-up over BoJ is still going on in the Setting subforum. I've been trying to ignore it this time, but (as usual) I can't resist a good train-wreck.

But even knowing what I know, I was kind of taken aback by the post that claimed that the current story team had no respect for the book. I mean, really? Misquoting the Story Team is the L5R community's second favorite pastime, but it's not often that the result is so funny.

(Also, it's not often your default icon is the exact perfect match to a post. More funny.)

My, but this week is busy.

I have had to do far too much safety officering at work this week. Monday we had a cooler in the store make a crackling noise and emit a gasp of acrid smoke, which left me hovering around it fretting over the possibility of loose electricity, fire, or wildebeest stampedes. (OK, so the wildebeests weren't really a factor, but...) Anyway, the repairman showed up quickly and it proved to be remarkably minor (hooray). Then on Tuesday in the morning one of the deli people sliced himself while chopping green onions. I helped in first aid, got him convinced to go see medical help, scrubbed anything remotely connected with the incident with a stiff chlorine solution and pretty much lost a morning of production work.

I have lots of writing to do, as well. I had gotten a little way into ACH 13 last weekend, so that's still on my list, but I also got a reason to write something that doesn't involve two people who insist on acting like good samurai when what I really need is for them to do something emotional and semi-stupid. This is the time I'm glad I started taking the bus, because it gives me more time to think and scribble each day.

Last night I showed up at Gauntlet and found actual L5R playing going on! I played a couple of games with my Crane Learn-to-Play deck and had fun. I think that PPC is the perfect Crane stronghold for a learner deck since its ability is basically "Bow to make 4 gold." Yeah. On a sad note I found out the Jeremy, one of the pillars of our local L5R community, is gonna be moving to Indianapolis this fall. It's because of a job promotion so I'm happy for him, but I'm sad to see him go. When I was first learning L5R I learned a LOT from playing him. Tonight I am going to play in my rpg, since I'm not suffering from weather-induced headaches.

I have a lot of things that I wanted to get done yesterday, and accomplished almost none of them. There were reasons for this, some good and some less good. One of them was that it was about 100 degrees here, and I don't have air conditioning--this kinda saps my will to be energetic. Also, I got my computer back Thursday night and now have been able to email and write at home again.

A lot of Saturday was thus spent reading online things that I'd sadly lost touch with. Brent had posted the last Third Station story at Kyuden Ryu, and I hadn't even known about it until Friday. (KR is my homepage on my home computer, which meant that I never remember to check it at work. Don't ask me why.) It was a very good story--I was on the edge of tears at the end of it, and I pride myself on my ability not to cry. If you are into L5R and like to read fanfic I really suggest that you go and check out Brent's stories--he's quite amazing. (If only he'd let me proofread....) He's also prolific, so if you need pointers on where to start drop me a line here and I'll be happy to advise.

I also spent some time getting my brain back into ACH. I'm rereading all of the stuff previous to 13 (still need title!) and thinking about what needs to happen now. I also uploaded and emailed the current partial draft of 13 to myself, so that if something new goes wrong I have something to fall back on. Once burned, twice shy they say.

I'd like to get some writing done today, but there's so much to do. I have two pounds of hamburger and three pounds of chicken parts that need to be cooked today (100 degrees! no air conditioning!), two weeks worth of laundry, and a pile of mail/rough drafts/crochet patterns/etc that needs to be sorted through. Oh, and since it is Sunday I have my yarn club meeting this afternoon. And church--mustn't forget that. And a story-draft on Ricepaper to comment on. helen_keeble just announced that she was looking for commenters on a story she had just finished, and though I'd love to read it I don't think I'd get around to offering feedback in geological time, so I' going to have to skip that.

I don't know how my friends with kids cope. I can barely look after myself some weeks.