Cyberdeck Test

I'm out early this morning. I hit the gym for a short workout and am now at the Starbucks in Richmond, IN, testing my cyberdeck post-upgrade.

It works. The power from an Anker power bank is enough to run the Raspberry Pi 500, the cyberdeck bonnet, and the screen I nabbed from Adafruit. As a writing machine, I love this. I'm not sure I could do hardcore coding on it, but as a small, highly portable machine, it does the job.

Often, when I go out, my fingers start to itch, and I want to write something on a keyboard. This makes that even easier than bringing my laptop. I'm happy about that.

So what have I been up to lately?

It has been a while since I wrote anything. Here's what's up now:

The L0wl1f3 podcast has been keeping me pretty busy. We have some big plans for the end of season 5 and season 6, and we've all doubled down on trying to push our creativity. I'm pretty excited for what's to come.
The Lair of Secrets has also come back from summer hiatus, during which the hosts were traveling and doing things. We've gotten back to finish our Shadowdark adventure and are returning to Fallout this weekend. Also, we have some plans for some new Campaigns & Coffee conversations down the road.
I am still running my Cyberpunk Red game at Darkhold Games, and that's been a good time. I'm also playing in an Everyday Heroes game on the off week (we play CPRed every other week), and Josh has done a great job running what is essentially a Scooby-Doo adventure. Good times.
Work has been busy. There have been some changes for me there recently, in a good way, but it's still a new situation that is taking a little getting used to. I'm getting there.
I'm currently working my way through Cory Doctorow's latest book, Enshittification. It's good, but it makes me so damn sad. If you've never read a Doctorow non-fiction book, this is the one to pick up. He covered the last 40 years' slow decline of the Internet with wit and deep knowledge.
I've been engaged in some interesting work with my old friend Evo Terra, working within the audio fiction community. We've got a new tool that looks like it might be useful. I need to get that production-ready... should get to that this week. I appreciate Evo's patience when the ups and downs of life get in the way. After 20 years, he's probably used to it by now.
My friend cmdln and I have a standing weekly Ironsworn: Starforged game, during which we play a co-op version of the game. It's been a fun challenge to develop the story without any sort of GM running the plot. It's more discovery than direction, which we both enjoy. As an added bonus, we're both practicing our writing chops by turning sections into written fiction after the session.
I worry about my kids a lot. They are finding their way, but it is so hard in this current climate. Each of them is having challenges that I cannot help them with. I offer love and support, but I feel for them just the same. I hope things ease up a bit, but given the Felon-In-Chief and the Republican bootlickers in office, I doubt it.
My friend David has been DJing a bit, using the Mixlr platform to spin, and I've been enjoying tuning in. His music knowledge is so much deeper than mine... I learn a lot when hanging out there.
My other David friend and I have started some Fallout 76 co-op play. It's early days, but I like the setting. It's... a little hollow. Maybe I'm just getting used to it.

So... I guess I'm busy? I'm certainly engaging my gaming hobby more than I ever have before, and I'm enjoying it.

I'm making some plans for the next year. Little things. I'd like to stream music again... I miss that. I'd also like to play some of my solo RPGs a bit more. And Kevin Crawford's Sine Nomine games are calling me... I might not play with people, but I might use the tools he has to create some settings. For the fun of it... stretch my creative muscles.

That's all from me today. Be well, and take care of each other.