Ebony and Ivory

So, I've been reading short stories. I may have mentioned this. And among other stories I've been reading, I picked up one of Ray Bradbury's recent collections, and one of Harlan Ellison's older books that I'd been missing.

Flash back to high school: Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury were the two opposing poles of fiction between which I defined my existence. They are utterly, utterly different-- their stories would explode on contact with each other like matter and anti-matter. When Harlan's on his game he can hurt you like no other author alive, show you something raw and painful enough to slap you into a higher state of consciousness. A good Bradbury story suffuses you with all that is innocent and hopeful and makes you remember things you knew as a child but have long since forgotten. They both wrote things that were true enough to bring tears to my eyes, and it was between those two opposing, essential truths that I tried to make my way. I loved them both.

That's the image that I really wanted to record today. Not the fact that One More for the Road is a lazy, self-indulgent piece of garbage that makes me think Bradbury has forgotten how to actually write. Nor the fact that while the Ellison book is much as I remember his writing, real life kept butting in and distracting me from absorbing it. I want to remember the wrestling giants, the transformation they caused in me. And I want you to remember as well.

Query

Also, Dave, when are we getting an update?

Oh, for more hours in the week

So, they're discussing the new club campaign for next year in the roleplaying organization I'm in. And people were saying "Hey, I really heard good things about HKAT! Can we play that again?" And other people are saying "Superhero games? I haven't played a good one of those in ages. I wish someone would run some." Still others are saying "The club campaign this year doesn't have enough games. We need more GMs." And I would love to do any or all of those things. But I look at my weekly schedule, and I weep.

Monday night I run my Nobilis game. They actually have a board on that link above if you look for it. They're now almost to their 40th session and are 3.33 semesters in. This will probably be the longest game I've ever run at the end of it. My players are also awesome.

Tuesday night is Rock Band night. Having a regular night is the only way I make sure that I actually get to play with people I like, and it's a total blast. Our band is still #7 out of 200,000 on the leaderboards.

Wednesday night is my "off" night. Practically what this means is that I spend it playing City of Heroes with my friends who I would not otherwise play with. Or sleeping. Or cleaning my house. There's stuff to do.

Thursday night I play Mage with Alvin's group-- a big ol' group of really smart and funny people that I would never, ever see if I wasn't playing. And the game is without variation high quality. Plus I love my character.

Friday night is double City of Heroes night. I have two different play groups that meet every Friday, one from about 7-10, and one from about 10:30 until we get tired and log off. Two folks are shared with the Wed. night group, but that's it-- and once again, everyone is totally awesome and I would see none of them were it not for this date.

The weekend... I can travel, or go to board-and-card game day, or see movies, or clean my house, or all of the above. It's me time. If I didn't have at least this much unscheduled time a week, I would go crazy. But I still managed to book all my weekends in February.

In short, I have something like four different groups of friends that I try to see on a weekly basis, making up... what... another 20 or so hours a week? On top of my 45-hour a week job?

No more games for me. I just can't, much as I might want to.

Clearly I need fewer friends.

Also, randomly

"He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet." -- Joseph Joubert