We took it relatively easy again this year. Somara went to work (and continues) to make all the overtime she can because people still receive iTunes gift cards for the holidays. I imagine that for every problematic code Somara facilitates, hundreds, even thousands go through flawlessly. In my decade of online purchases via Apple, Amazon and I figure others I can’t recall, I think I’ve only stumbled once or twice.
Me, I was doing pretty well until Sunday evening. By Monday morning, it felt like I had a vise-grip crushing the bridge of my nose. Allergies or a cold? Take your pick. I’m leaning toward the former. Cedar fever has arrived. According to the daily e-mail alerts I receive from a pollen warning site has reported readings in the eight or higher range. The cliché around Central Texas is unfortunately coming true, everybody here eventually contracts allergies to the numerous pollen strains. “Paradise” always has a price. Now if the allergy issues could prevent the influx of jerks from California, NYC and Texas’ polluted cities.
The year 2014 is filled with promise (all beginnings do), promises (resolutions), unpleasantness (it is the off-year election cycle, ugh) and reflection (anniversaries). Besides the 20th anniversary of my arrival in Austin, this year is also the 40th birthday for Dungeons & Dragons. Regardless of your opinion of the hobby, its influence has permeated the world at many levels. From the obvious: Tolkien’s books being made into films; to ubiquitous jokes: the header will change at random to various programs which feature the game’s cameo in the plot; to less conspicuous: D&D’s pre-occupation with random outcomes through dice, has been the muse for thousands, maybe millions, of computer programmers. I know when I was in high school, any kid worth his salt who tried to write a program in BASIC often used character generation as an exercise. Playing D&D and being glued to the Apple II at Strake went together like peanut butter and jelly.
This also means I will put aside one of the books I’m reading piecemeal and get cracking on Of Dice and Men, some Forbes reporter’s take on the history of the business. I think he focuses on the earlier years involving Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and the other key members at TSR. Will it be accurate? I wouldn’t know. My involvement in the saga is at best a footnote, namely the lawsuit between TSR and GDW, the last time I ever had to drive to snooze capital Peoria, IL.
Additional resolutions are coming, ergo, I’ll wrap it up here and write them out. How did I do for 2013 though? (Checking…) Not a one damn it. Well, circumstances prevented several yet I did come pretty close on the running goal. I aimed for 10 percent, I achieve 6.7 percent greater than 2012, I find that impressive. The ones I fell short on? Other than my weight rising in the low 220s, none were deal breakers. Oh, I did succeed on the GWD goal numerous times after joining Consuelo and Pablo’s team. Winning first at Rumble in the Pub I isn’t quite the Geek Bowl but it beats a sharp stick in the eye.