Hobbies

As the saying goes All work and no play makes John a very dull boy. The following pages give some details on a few of my hobbies and interests.

Once upon a time, I was a clown named Goober. . . .There I admitted it. Let's never speak of it again. Check out the balloons section to read more about what I learned in the profession that shall never be spoken of again.

I love to read for both knowledge and pleasure. I mainly read science fiction and fantasy novels for pleasure but I have been known to pick up other genres on occasion. Just NO ROMANCE NOVELS. Please check out the books section for a list of my favorite authors.

I once had a job in a comic book store selling comics ( of course) and roleplay games. It was one of the best jobs ever. I have played many games. After a long hiatus while my kids were young, I am happy to be playing a few once again. If you are interested in Shadowrun or D&D please check out the links to their respective pages.

And lastly, Let's play Minecraft!! If you haven't played you are missing out.

Balloons

Once upon a time, I was a clown named Goober. . . There I said it again. It all started back in High School. I had a part time job working as the door man at the movie theater. One summer we were hosting a movie camp for kids and the manager asked if anyone was willing to dress as a clown and entertain the kids. She had bought a book on tieing balloons and was willing to buy a pump and some balloons if someone would learn how. I volunteered.

Today, I don't wear the make-up but I still tie balloons. I love the expressions on people's faces when you are tieing balloons. Little kids are amazed when it doesn't pop and they always know exactly what you made even if it sometimes isn't perfect. But be careful! You can only tie the simple cats and dogs until you tie the first multi-balloon animal. Then everyone only wants what was just tied. The ladies all want birds kissing in hearts or flowers. The little girls want heart wands. And the boys want swords, and dragons. Melissa's flowers on our first date were balloon flowers.

"is set in the dystopian near-future of 2070, a world where cyberpunk meets magic, where criminal subcultures rub shoulders with corporate elites, and where advanced technology competes with the power of spells and spirits. It is an age of hightech lowlifes; shrouded in danger and mystery, driven by intrigue and adrenaline. Those who play in the shadows stand on the edge, always on the cusp of adventure." (SR4, p.14)

Players have a myriad of character choices. You can be anything or anybody you want, as rich, magical, glamorous, or tough as you want. Most characters begin life on the down and outs, living in the gutter and working their way up. But, depending on your campaign, you can be whatever you want.

Shadowrun is my favorite role play game. I was introduced to it in the 90's and have enjoyed playing it immensely. Shadowrun has gone thru several revisions, owners, and versions. I began playing using the SR2 rules and have progressed with the times. The game is currently owned by Catalyst Games and is in its fourth revision. If you are interested in learning more check out their website. If you're in Starkville, MS and want a game then shoot me an e-mail. I have a standing game every other Friday night.

Our Campaign

"Would someone shut that fraggin dog up!"

For the last ten minutes or so, some mangy piece of flea-bait has been howling at the top of its lungs. You would think that one of the local wannabe orc gangs would have grabbed him up and shoved him in a pot by now. Around here most dogs learned quickly to shut up. I mean here I am trying to recover from a horrific hangover....

Reality slowly began to dawn! Horrific, doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. A constant stream of images flash thru my head, in desperation I try to shut it all out.

The mesaage from "The Exchange" had promised an easy job with a big reward, easier than babysitting some pansy-eater's grandma and more rewarding then the last three jobs. The jobs had been fun even. Especially glue spraying that wage-slave's car doors shut. We had even hung out to watch the show the next morning as he cussed and fumed trying to open them. We almost got caught by the Star when he heard us laughing and called them. Everything had been cool, we had received some really good swag for each job and had a barrel of laughs too. This job didn't seem any different than the others. It was a simple B&E at some remote storage facility. We were supposed to break in and tag some boxes and crates with a bunch of RFID's, that were left for us at a local bar, and leave. The only problem had been when I geo'd the local and found that it was in the middle of the Redmond district. The Redmonds is home to the 162s, Crimson Crush, and the Rusted Stilettos; ghouls, orcs, and mutants "Oh My"! Local rumor said even Star was avoiding the area. We thought it best if we went armed.

We were lucky and encountered nothing more than a bored security guard to sleepy too notice us creeping in. Everyone was shocked by what we found. We had walked into some hidden research lab full of test tubes and high priced machines that we couldn't even begin to name. Curiosity got the better of us, especially when we saw the 30 or 40 huge cylinders full of glowing blue fluid. The fluid wasn't the only thing in them. Every one of them was occupied. There were trogs, halfers, humans, orcs and even a pansy-eater or two. Just as we were getting over our amazement, some stupid slitch lab tech walked in and screamed.

Getting in had been easy; getting out proved to be anything but. We weren't top shelf runners or anything but we thought we could take the corporate monkeys that responded to the internal alarms. We easily took out the first 4 or 5. But, then the 'Vatjob' showed up! Nothing moves that fast without a little chrome under the hood.

Lizzie didn't stand a chance - That's a hard thing to say. Lizzie was the biggest trog I had ever seen and I had seen her mow thru dozens of tough opponents before. Lizzie was at least twice the size of the diminutive 'Gillette' that bolted around the corner.Within seconds Lizzie lay in a bleeding heap.

One after one the Gillete cut us apart. She'd geeked about half of us before Aiden ripped her ah' new one with some mystical mumbo-jumbo. The Gillette was down but not out. As we moved in for the coup de grace, I heard Drake scream incoherently. Looking up I nearly soiled myself as the great head of a Wizwyrm came blasting down from the rafters. I wouldn't even call the next few seconds a battle. The wyrm overwhelmed everyone without much effort.

My memories after that are distorted fragments and flashes of a horrid nightmare. I remember the searing pain of being healed and interrogated over and over again. And, The rumbling chuckle of a deep voice amused by my answers. After that everything seems to be bathed in an alternating flow of blue and white images. My only memories are full of half faces covered by surgical masks and blinking machines.

If I hadn't lived it, I would have thought it a dream. As I opened my eyes the dog finally stopped its racket. I found myself laid out in bed at home. A quick mental check didn't seem to reveal any damage just a tingling nervous itch at the back of my skull. Almost like a hangover but my nerves seemed more raw and sensitive than before. As I sat up in bed and tried to put all the pieces together, I noticed the dog, I don't own a dog, and the big shiny box with the pretty pink bow. I sat there for a tick or 200 and stared at the dog. It just stared back and wagged its tail....

Our runners begin their adventure, dazed and confused in the year 2068. Their bodies are full of secrets and the last three years are a blur of images and memories that they don't understand. The above story is told from Jacket's point of view. Similar stories play out for each of our runners, and yes they all have dogs. Christopher "Jacket" Knox is a young technomancer and barely even that before being kidnapped three years ago. But, he is not the central character in our story. He is the tool by which the story is told. Jacket is our link to the team of runners that will become known as "Full Plastic Bucket".

This is the most awesome game that I have ever played.

Minecraft is a sandbox building game made by an independent developer, Mark "Notch" Persson. Notch used the proceeds from this game to create his own company, Mojang.

Minecraft is still in Beta testing with a release date of 11/11/11. If you buy the game now you can get it for a reduced price and still get the released (not final) version then. Why is not final? Well Notch continues to make new content and features for the game and is opening the game up to allow other programmers to create mods to customize the game or create new content. Some mods have even been included in the game as standard features with the mod creators being paid for their creations.

Minecraft interests me not only for its playability but for the very fact that outside developers can create custom code. Minecraft is written in Java and I relish the opportunity to study code from others and learn something that I don't already know. Maybe I will write a little code myself if I have a good idea,and if the creepers don't get me first.