New eSports bar, Fortress, opened in Melbourne last week.
They just opened last Friday and now they’ll be closed for the next month or so b/c of the Coronavirus. Let’s hope they don’t fold before they even had a chance to truly open.
Author Archives: Serena
What I am up to as of… 19 March 2020
- I’m very loosely playing with the idea of a Yearly Theme. I had some trouble coming up with a theme, but did feel a Year/Season of Less would be a good place to start – I have a tendency of taking on a lot more than is healthy and then get snappy at the people around me, so I thought being a bit more aware of what I’m taking on would be a good idea.
- In line with the Year of Less, I had a talk with my podcasting co-host and we have put “Trigger Point”, our monthly podcast, on hold for three months as we revisit our priorities.
- In addition to playing Pathfinder, I've now gotten into Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. It's a completely different kind of game where “shit happens” doesn't necessary mean TPK, and it allows for players to be a little more creative. Is this a commentary on how to create a constructive workplace? I don't know.
- I'm trying to get back into writing, but did not want to start a completely new project (see Year of Less, above), so I decided to combine it with my Vampire: The Masquerade game by novelising the game sessions as a character journal. This allows me to flex my writing muscles and explore the complexity of my character more deeply than 4-hour gaming sessions every fortnight would give me.
- Was trying out the gym at work to try to slow down the rate my body is falling apart, but with the recent Coronavirus situation, the gym has been closed until further notice…
- The company I work for hasn't made any announcements about when we'll be working from home yet, so for now it's all business as usual; driving into the office every day to crunch out Excel spreadsheets and Infopath forms.
- Nearly forgot, I’m trying out contact juggling – anyone remember David Bowie in Labyrinth? (and yes, I know he wasn’t the person actually juggling those crystal balls)
This page is inspired by Derek Sivers.
I keep forgetting to mention that I’m starting a novelisation of a Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition game I’m playing.
You can find it here: https://vtm.sleepyowl.ink
There’s currently an intro and two sessions – it takes more effort than I would have thought to novelise a game.
I plan to link the RSS feed to my micro.blog account, so if you read my blog primarily through MB, then you’ll see it there too.
2019 Reading List
Read
- The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest – started: 13/12/19 finished: 25/12/19 [3/5]
- The Black Witch by Laurie Forest – started: 6/12/19 finished: 14/12/19 [4/5]
- Forging Hephaestus by Drew Hayes – started: 6/10/18 finished: ** [3/5]
- Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes – started: 25/9/18 finished: 6/10/18 [4/5] re-read
- Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes – started: 18/9/18 finished: 25/9/18 [4/5] re-read
- Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes – started: 12/9/18 finished: ** [4/5] re-read
- The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss – started: 5/8/19 finished: 8/8/19 [3/5]
- Blameless by Gail Carriger – started: 1/8/19 finished: ** [2/5]
- Changeless by Gail Carriger – started: 30/7/19 finished: 1/8/19 [2/5]
- Soulless by Gail Carriger – started: 12/3/14 finished: ** [3/5]
- Poison City by Paul Crilley – started: 25/7/19 finished: 27/7/19 [3/5]
- The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch – started: 23/7/19 finished: 23/7/19 [3/5]
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – started: 17/7/19 finished: 21/7/19 [3/5]
- Part-Time Gods by Rachel Aaron – started: 15/7/19 finished: ** [3/5]
- Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron – started: 14/7/19 finished: 15/7/19 [4/5]
- Dungeon Lord: Otherworldly Powers by Hugo Huesca – started: 5/7/19 finished: ** [3/5]
- Dungeon Lord by Hugo Huesca – started: 2/7/19 finished: 2/7/19 [4/5]
- My American Duchess by Eloisa James – started: 27/6/19 finished: ** [3/5]
- Renegades by Craig Alanson – started: 18/6/19 finished: 25/6/19 [2/5]
- The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee – started: 16/7/19, finished: 17/6/19 [3/5]
- The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi – started: 13/6/19, finished: 14/6/19 [3/5]
- The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson – started: 25/5/19, finished: 31/5/19 [3/5]
- The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson – started: 20/5/19 finished: 25/9/19 [4/5]
- Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – started: 20/5/19, finished: 20/5/19 [4/5]
- Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman – started: 10/5/19, finished: 10/5/19 [2/5]
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – started: 8/5/19, finished: 9/5/19 [3/5]
- Tiamat’s Wrath by James S.A. Corey – started: 7/5/19, finished: 8/5/19 [4/5]
- The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal – started: 15/4/19, finished: 15/4/19 [4/5]
- Juliet’s School of Possibilities by Laura Vanderkam – started: 18/3/20, finished: 20/3/19 [1/5]
- Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal – started: 17/3/19, finished: 17/3/19 [3/5]
- The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal – started: 15/3/19, finished: 17/3/19 [3/5]
- Exile’s Return by Raymond E. Feist – started: 19/2/19, finished: 21/2/19 [4/5] re-read
- King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist – started: 15/2/19, finished: 19/2/19 [3/5] re-read
- Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist – started: 13/2/19, finished: 14/2/19 [4/5] re-read
- Maggie and the Mercury Retrograde by Anya Monroe – started: 22/1/19, finished: 23/1/19 [1/5]
- Skin Game by Jim Butcher – started: 18/1/19, finished: 13/2/19 [4/5] re-read
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle – started: 4/11/18, finished: 4/1/19 [2/5]
- The Productivityist Playbook by Mike Vardy – started: 27/12/18, finished: 14/2/19 [2/5]
Haha, I enjoyed today’s Slack app update notes.
Random question: clasp your hands together, fingers entwined, like how some people pray before going to bed…
(Do it before reading the actual question, I don’t want this to influence your actions)
Which thumb is on top (ie. closer to you)? Left or right?
Top 10 Songs of 2019
Just ran Federico’s Apple Music Wrapped shortcut and Apple Music’s own Replay to see what are the top songs I’ve been listening to in 2019.
Interesting to see the difference. Needless to say, Apple’s own services would be more accurate.
I may or may not be embarrassed by my song choices last year.
Apple Music Wrapped (Federico Viticci)
- 廢話 – Juno Mak & Kay Tse
- I Was the Only Shepherd – Tripod
- River Deep, Mountain High (Glee Cast Version) – Glee Cast
- [The Way I Am (Acoustic) – Charlie Puth
- Bad Liar – Roses & Frey](https://music.apple.com/au/album/the-way-i-am-eden-prince-remix/1485044865?i=1485044867&uo=4)
- As Time Goes By – Frank Sinatra
- Good Morning – Max Frost
- I Will Go To You Like the First Snow – Ailee
- Let It Go – Stellar Kart
Apple Music Replay
- I Was the Only Shepherd – Tripod
- Sunflower – Post Malone & Swae Lee
- That’s Why I’m Sending You – Tripod
- 廢話 – Juno Mak & Kay Tse
- The Hot Dog Man – Tripod
- Kempt – Tripod
- Rock Eisteddford – Tripod
- Climate Change – Tripod
- Do You Want to Build a Snowman – Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn & Katie Lopez
- Krap Karate – Tripod
Edit: I just ran Sam Gross’ tool for analysing Apple Music play history. The 2019 results are as follows:
Klaus, 2019 – ★★★
Watched on Tuesday December 24, 2019.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2019 – ★★★½
Watched on Thursday December 19, 2019.