Paddy's Wanderings

A Wandering Tech Noob

Apparently I am technically challenged. I have all these various gadgets and dodads and am having trouble getting my wanderings onto the 'puter. It used to be so much simpler...sigh.

I have been scribbling away on several short stories and hunting the White Whale lately and not blogging. I have also been cramming poems into a collection I intend to self publish. Then I find a 'book' of poetry I was working on back in the Roaring Nineties and hare'd off in that direction for awhile. So on the writing front, my limited time and energy is going on, behind the scenes.

Then I figured out how to get movies onto the 'puter and I will soon be filling Paddy's Wanderings over at YouTube with stuff. I have not forgot putting pics into the flickr page either, the poor scanner is hummin'. So on the tech front, I have been twiddling and tweedling away.

I realized this morning that I haven't blogged in awhile, no Sheeple Stories, no gaming stories, just no nothing. Shame Paddy, shame. I have been neglecting the blog, but it is because I do tend to wander off in all kinds of directions. Go figure.

So I am putting together some blogs and will focus a little more in that direction and rest a bit from chasing the White Whale..as if I could break from that for more then a day..but I will make the effort!

Happy Wanderings!

Lawrence, Buck and Johnboy

Back in the Fashion Challenged Seventies, my family often went 'up north' to my grandparents farm for the weekend. We did all kinds of things, everything a grade schooler loved and then some. Those adventures were cool and I could fill pages with what we did, but today is saturday night TV.

Now saturday night television was a big thing as a kid. We got three channels, sometimes four, and there was all kinds of things to watch. My grandparents got one channel if grandpa was successful with the rabbit ears. He was pretty good at it too. All good,we got TV, right?

Not so much...

You see the one channel they got was kind of limiting for a kid.My grandparents though..that was all they needed. At seven bells, we got The Lawrence Welk Show. At eight, we got Hee Haw and at nine we got the Waltons. Ten came around and it was lights off, time for bed.

Oh how I complained when I was a kid. Well I complained to myself really, but I am sure the adults knew, but I was a good kid sometimes, so I just...dealt with it. For me Lawrence Welk was lame, just not my thing. Hee Haw, by george that show was corny and just, not my thing. The Waltons was okay, but still, it wasn't cool. Looking back now, I guess it wasn't so bad really. But man I wanted the cool shows, Brady Bunch, Jackson Five, all the cool stuff.

I guess I still don't care for those shows but it wasn't so bad. My grandparents liked it and my parents did too. And you know what? I had the world by the proverbial...well you follow me. I had a good family that enjoyed time together, what more could a kid ask for?

Besides, on occasion, we could get my grandpa to play fiddle and we would have a grand old time. So there was some good music floating around then and in a way, it influenced me a great deal. I am about as corny as you can get sometimes and I love music. Grandpa had a neat old violen, er fiddle and he could play and sing and dance.

So you know, thirty years later, it aint so bad.

Demons, Vampires, and Mages oh my!

Oh to find that rare book that grabs you and takes you for a ride. To find that book in a grocery store of all places...well bonus. The better 1/2 is always on the look out for...well just about anything really. So here I am, tip tapping away at the 'puter, writing something or another and she has a surprise for me. Woot! A book surprise. In her hand was Huntress, a collection of four stories. It was awesome!

The first story is Devil's Bargain by Christine Warren. I liked the story and main character. Lillith is contracted by a demon to retrieve a book. Simple enough but the story is not so simple and it pulled me right into the world. Good start to a book!

The second story is The Robber Bride by Marjorie M. Liu. I really liked this story, good post apocalyptic tale that really grabbed me. It has a few twists I did not expect, which made the story even better. So now we are cooking.

The third story is Down in the Ground where the Dead Men Go by Caitlin Kittridge. This story rocked. No doubt about it. I really liked the main character, Jack Winter. He is the kind of character you like, even though he is a bit of a rogue. So three stories in and we are smoking(no demon pun intended).

The last story is Sin Slayer by Jenna Maclaine. A good vampire story, really good. I liked the characters and Cin Craven is one bad, bad woman, and a vampire too. It also has a nice little twist set in 1889 London. I liked this story, wanted more.

So four stories, four authors, and one excellent book all for the price of a paperback. It has been awhile since I bought a paperback and got so much out of it. I liked every story and would highly recommend the book to everyone. It has a wee bit of adult content, but not gratuitous. Overall, I say go buy a copy, and if your so inclined, go visit the authors websites, read other works by them, it is well worth the price of admission.

Fog of War

FogofWar, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

Back in June of 2001, we held our first fantasy tournament in the game store. The first scenario we had, was the fog of war scenario, where the two armies can not see each other at the start of the game.

We had eight fellas show up with their armies and we set up first round match ups and had the guys place the armies. Then, thanks to The Tim, we worked a little Paddy Magic, and voila, fog rolling across the tables.

This picture captures an awesome Dark Elf army squared off against an awesome Goblin army. We had a ton of fun and it was a ton of work, but it was so worth it. Eight great fellas, eight great armies, and a day pushing minis was like paradise.

Of course, this was just the start of something that grew to epic proportions over the years. But for a start, it was awesome. I still have that scenario kicking around, and I think The Tim and myself can create a little magic. Maybe, just maybe, we can do a sequel.

Bay City Pics

BWWIndow, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

The other day I was in Bay City and took a few pics, trying out the digital camera. There is a lot of cool, old buildings in down town so I took a few pics, did the whole black and white thingy. I like black and white photos and I am such a newb with a camera that I figure I am safe if they look old, and grainy. So in my ongoing experiment with a lens, I hereby foist some pics onto the blog.



Part of the same building, just a neat column.



The building was locked...



Check out Paddys Wanderings on Flickr for other photos and my attempts at photography which is going to be a long process.

Random Thoughts in July

Now and then, I have a few thoughts burning my brain and I figured it was time to foist some onto the blog cause, well, why not. So here goes.

I have been reading some interesting discussion on what is hard SF and are current American SF authors writing any of value. As opposed to our good friends across the big ocean blue. It got me thinking and reading about the labels that are put on fiction. I have a vested interest you see, as I fancy myself a fiction writer working on that Great American Novel, and short stories and poetry, etc. Maybe it is me, but I just don't like the labels. I like good reads, that simple. Oh I know it is all about this is SF and if you love SF this story is for you and etc. Yeah, maybe. I cheat and read the first page or two, do a little research if I can on the author or book titles. Sometimes I look at the cover and go, hmmm, okay I'll bite.

There is no tried and true method for me, I use em all. But the whole label thing just bugs me. If the story is good, and you'll know if it is your cup of tea by the first couple of pages, then go for it. Or for the sake of just getting out of your shell, try something new and different. Six months ago if you said hey Paddy, read this dark urban fantasy book, I probably would have said, ahhh...no. Not into vampires and all of that kind of thing, just not my bag, and I would have been missing out on some good stories. Seriously, I would have missed some good reads all because I had this assumption that the 'genre' would not appeal to me.

Okay, like I said, demons, werewolves and vampires are not my cup of tea most of the time, I love space, a little fantasy and have limited reading time, so I pigeon-hole myself. Sometimes I amaze myself with how dense I can get. So for future reference, I am more open with my reads. I'll let you know how the latest book I am reading turns out, so far, so very good. And it has demons!

My second thought, I guess I only have two burning right now, is why am I writing like a man possessed again? I go through stages, I really do. When I was a teenager I wrote song lyrics and fantasy stories. Yeah I was in a band and played D&D, part of my dichotomy. Then, in college I was writing poetry and dabbling with short stories. Then in the nineties it was poetry and dabbling in prose and then I just trailed off for a few years, nothing to really report.

Now the stories are burning again, burning hard and need to come out, to be finished. Sure a poem blurbs out and I haven't really finished a short in a long, long time, but I have so many I am flipping between. And that Great American Novel? Well I have three I am dallying with at the moment. I don't know why, but I figure if I just keep moving, something in the prose line will just get finished and I won't know it and not 'over think' it. Over thinking on my part leads to that dreaded word...block.

I hate to even see that word. But with the blog going along, some Ficly stories, a poem coming up and out and enough characters and stories to dabble with, I shall keep the wolf at bay. This time, there is no stopping, not even with rejection letters(I have a few of those too). Maybe I am old enough to say why not, just do it. So, I'll plod along, do my thing. Come along for the ride, it may be interesting and maybe just a wee bit entertaining. Time to get out of the shell, the rut, the whatever and just do.

Wandering the Car Show

On Saturday, the Sheeple Toddler and I wandered into downtown Bay City for the Be Cool Car Show. It was a nice day to go wander around and look at all of the cool classic cars. Naturally, downtown has limited parking in the best of circumstances, and with the car show blocking off two of the main streets, the chance we were going to get close and not walk a mile was slim to none. I was lucky enough to find a nice little spot very close. My mission, to parallel park the Jeeple in a tight spot on a one way street, and I was easily successful. It has been awhile but I had the toddler so I had to get it done.

Anywho, we parked and walked to the main street and I got a big ohhhh, cars! from the toddler and off we went. Of course dad wants to stop at the cool fifties cars and I told him, cool cars have fins. The toddler was on a mission I was unaware of at the time. It seems he likes cars with flames and the ultra custom cars. I do too, but give me a classic '57 Belaire anytime. So we wandered from side to side admiring all the awesome cars.

I was admiring a '61 Falcon and the owner was more then willing to sell it to me for the small price of $7k, but I declined. He seemed disappointed, but brightened up and told me he had several friends selling their cars, was there something I was looking for in particular? I said sure, a 1965 Mercury Comet Cyclone with a HiPo motor and racing suspension, perferably white, had he seen one? Alas, he had not, so me and the toddler moved on down the road. I had hoped to catch my dad there with his Comet, but I figured he didn't make it out or I would have heard all about the Comet.

A couple of fellas that appeared the right age were talking about Comets the next block down. I asked them if they had seen one here at the show, and well, no they had not. The one fellow seemed skeptical that a Comet was a 'real' muscle car and about how fast they can really go. I chimed in with my personal knowledge, that yes indeed, they were a very fast car. He still seemed skeptical, what do I know of Comets right? So off we wander around the corner in search of more cool cars, and there were plenty.

Then we found Gramp's car, one of the other ones he has in the garage of holding....

A very nice 1964 Ford Galaxy that he has for sale. I guess this was the one to bring out, polish up, and show on this fine day. Of course it could have been any number of cars, but I like the Comet the best, so that was what I was looking for that day. The '64 Ford is nice though, another fast, drag car from the sixties that could scoot with it's array of carburetors and steel and sleek, cool design.

So we got to see one of 'Gramp's Cars' as the toddler puts it and we got to see about 300 other cool cars and had a blast. I love car shows, been to a ton of them over the years, helped put on a few and like most americans, just love cars. I love old cars, back when they had fins and paint you could see a mile into and made of steel and shiny chrome.

I suspect that the toddler and me will catch a few more shows this summer, he is already fascinated with cars. Where else can you go on a saturday, talk with folks who have restored old cars, get a bit of history and enjoy a show for the price of a fancy coffee?

A Wandering Kitchen Sink

If you have been following me in the twitter-verse or anywhere else I show up on a regular basis, then you will find that I have been rather busy with the day job. The job that feeds the sheeple family and keeps the juice flowing to the 'puter, that job. But that's okay, I am employed and doing just fine, so that is a bonus. It is just...some days I can't get anything going on the writing front because, you know, that job takes a lot of effort to do well, and I like doing well. I also like my job, another small bonus.

But it is with dismay that I find I have several blog posts and pics and what not half finished, and those are going to take time to do what I want with them. So it may take a couple days to roll out some good stuff, or at least the kinda stuff I like. But hey, I blog to keep the creative juices flowing, so it is working in that regard.

On the ongoing writer thing. I have written for a long, long time. I have oodles of stuff jammed away in boxes, etc. I found some cool stuff this past weekend while cleaning the closet. Good news is, there was some cool stuff in there and sparked that old creativity juice. Bad news is, I did not finish cleaning like I should have, sigh.

Good news on the poetry front. I am collecting old poems, some of which were published in small press magazines and anthologies, and writing new poems, all to go into a new book of poetry. Yep, I am gonna publish another book, it's been 18 years since the last one, time to go at it again. I figure I sold all but handful last time from the one and only printing, why not do it again, bigger and badder. I am also sending out some new stuff, get in some new mags.

Good news on the short story front. I am whisking along on several stories, and I like them and by summer's end will have sent out some new stuff. Taking the old stuff and re-writing those as well. Who knows? The worse that can happen is I get to collect some rejection letters, been there, done that.

On the novel front I will say I am adding here and there. I get writer's block pretty easy, so no pushing there or I will never finish a novel.

And I am writing Ficly stories and that helps keep the old juices flowing, so that is good as well. At this point I am just going forward, maybe a bit chaotically, but I am moving along and that is a good thing. So I think I need to stop talking, writing this blog piece(people say I talk to much, they are probably right) and just go off line and write. I think I shall...

Bug Exterminator

nidsV.chaos, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

One of our favorite things to do, is to take huge armies and let them clash on the table top. This time, it was the relentless 'nids trying eat their way through the vile chaos marines. At 8k pts per side, it was a lot of minis on the table as the seemingly endless hordes of 'guants rushed through the rocks into the hail storm of chaos.

Then, the demons appeared. I think the most fun we had in this epic battle was rushing the bloodletters into the genestealers and watching the poo hit the fan. It was brutal, but in the end, the 'letters prevailed. It was also entertaining watching a tyrant crack open rhinos until the vile beast lost it's head due to a big cannon shot and the bumping of the table as I tried to retrieve the model. Not to worry, a little pin job and some putty/super glue fixed it right up.

It was a good day to push minis and have some fun with our hobby. Seeing this reminds me of all the work that goes into just assembling and painting the beasties, all the work that goes into making terrain(courtesy of our terrain making bunny), and the pure pleasure of a hobby that has so many facets.

In the end though, the battle is the ultimate goal, and on this day in Paddy's Heroes History, the battle went to the chaos hordes.

Sheeple to Chi-town

bloodangel2002, originally uploaded by paddy's wandering.

Our first trip out with the fledgling Heroes group was to Chicago for Gamesday 2002. So we herded the Sheeple Gamers off on a trip to the Windy City to go play and have some fun.

We headed south on the Great Road, took a tributary west and without too much trouble, landed in the big city. We invaded the hotel, played in the pool and prepared for the big day.

We got our shirts and a ton of minis and played a bunch of games and had a blast getting our geek on. At the entrance, there was two life size replicas of Blood Angel Space Marines, so being the greekoids we are, we got a few pics of us posing.

It was our first time to the big show and we enjoyed the whole shebang like good little sheeple gamers. The success of this trip led us to further trips west to the huge, sheeple gamer bait pile.