My first Easter in Finland

Greetings from the other side.

My first Easter on Finnish soil is coming to an end, and I have to say it's been a good experience.

But let's start from the beginning.

As I wrote in my previous post about how I worked on Maundy Thursday, I won't go into that anymore in this post.

The Friday was spent in a calm manner. We didn't really get up to much, although I did get a lot of writing done which felt good. I've been slacking off a bit on my writing lately, so it has felt good to get back to it and being creative again.

We also had my future in-laws over for some Easter 'fika'. Though, again, I wrote about that in my previous post, so if you want to read about it you can find it here.

In the evening, after we had had dinner, my fiancee introduced me to something called "pasha", which you can see in the image below:

Granted, as I understand it, this wasn't the normal kind of pasha that they normally make, and enjoy, as that one contains lemon, something which I can't have. Never the less it still tasted really good, I thought, so I hope she will make it again some time. As I understand it, the pasha originates from Russia.

Saturday didn't get off to a great start. Looking out the window at all the snow that had fallen during the night.

Not much to do about it though. In the afternoon, my fiancee and I went over to her parents place, where we met up with her siblings and their families as well for an Easter bonfire - where we grilled some sausages over the remains of the fire - and a good time. My fiancee's sister and her husband also brought along some friends, a young couple from Afghanistan and their little baby.

On Sunday we went to church. It was nice, as always, but sadly not very many people there.

After church my fiancee and I went to her parents for lunch, and this beautiful and very tasty creation that her father had made:

In the evening we all went to a christian concert in the city church, where my fiancee's brother and nephew were performing as well. It was a good way to end the day, I think.

Time for me to sign out for today. The sun is shining and it is my last day off before heading back to work. I think I might head out for a walk, or something.

See you all on the other side!

Tales of a mixed weekend

Greetings from the other side.

The weekend went by in a flash, or at least it felt like it did. On Saturday my girlfriend and I went together with her mother to a music café. It was really enjoyable with good music, nice people, and a pizza buffé. The only downside to the evening was that I somehow managed to hurt my knee. Again. Same one that has been hurt before. I didn't really do anything to cause it either, as far as I have been able to work out. As I got out of the car when we arrived there, my knee suddenly started feeling stiff and sore. It is still sore, stiff, and feels swollen even though it doesn't look it. From what we have been able to work out it seems to be some kind of inflammation or similar thing in the places where the muscles attach to the knee. It's a bit difficult for me to explain in english, but hopefully that made enough sense.

Luckily though, it has been slightly better today than it was yesterday and on Saturday, so I am hoping it will keep getting better from now on. It does restrict me a bit in my work, which sucks, but at least I am able to work, just not at a very fast pace and I need to be careful so I don't put too much (or any really) unnecessary strain on my knee while I do it.

When you have an 'injury' like this you quickly realize how much it affects you in your job and in your everyday life. I can't wait until my knee is better again.

Yesterday was spent resting and taking it easy. The knee meant I wasn't going to be very mobile anyway. My girlfriend and I got our engagement photos taken by a friend of hers, and later I got some work done on the world-building, as well as on some game mechanics for the tabletop RPG stuff.

We also got the bookcase assembled and put up yesterday, and it currently has about 3½ shelves filled with binders and my tabletop RPG books and boxes.

We had our first 'proper' frost night last night. By that I mean, we might have had other cold nights with degrees dropping well below zero degrees Celcius before, but this is the first night I can remember where the temperature was still below zero when I woke up this morning. Only -1 but still. Second morning so far (though not in a row) where I have had to scrape the windows free of ice on my car before I drove off to work.

See you all on the other side!

Reflections under an overcast sky

Greetings from the other side.

Another fine day of working in the sunshine. Well... not quite "sunshine", more like "cloudy overcast", but it has been a nice day none the less. The temperature outside has been decent, though unfortunatelly, because of the overcast, the grass isn't drying very well, which is causing me some issues with the machines that are supposed to cut said grass. It's been a struggle at times, but eventually I got some done at least.

It has been a day of quiet contemplation while working. There is something almost meditative in loosing yourself in thought while you work. Some times it can even help you solve a problem you have been struggling with for a while, or it can give you new inspiration for something. For me, both things were true today. I was able to figure something out that I have been pondering for a while now, with regards to my world-building, and I also found inspiration for something new which I could add to it.

The weeks just seem to be rolling by. It's monday, and then suddenly the week has passed by again. I guess it is a good sign that I am enjoying myself here, but at the same time sometimes I wish that time would slow down a little. At least on occasion. The weekends would be a good time to do it in. Though I have a feeling that would be asking for too much.

We're still unpacking and moving stuff, little by little. My working long days does put a little break on it, but we'll get it all done eventually. We also need to get the upstairs ready as well, as we did move some stuff from there downstairs. Soon enough we will be able to have people from Sweden visiting. Something I am quite looking forward to! :)

Time for me to go help out with the dinner.

See you all on the other side!

A thought-full entry

Greetings from the other side.

A few days have gone by since my last update. During this time I have been busy with work, moving, every-day life things, and a tad of role-playing related stuff. In short: I have been busy. Yet for some reason, as I sit here to write about it, nothing in particular comes to mind. Strange that. I know I have been very busy, but at the moment I can't think of anything to write about. I guess it must be the tiredness, and I have plenty of that. Though that is partly my own fault as well. I did sit up later than usual last night playing a tabletop roleplaying game with my friends over the internet. It was fun, but it also resulted in me only getting about 6 hours of sleep last night. Luckily it only happens once or twice a week, so it won't effect me too much. You do feel some effect from it though, as working 8 or 9 hour days combined with not enough sleep does tend to leave a mark. But as I said, I only sit up like that once or twice a week, so I'll be fine.

Still haven't gotten any extra TV-channels installed, so I still can't watch the football (soccer for you North Americans out there). I do miss it, but due to a few different factors we have postponed getting them to a later date. It will happen eventually though, and I am quite looking forward to that day.

In my job there's a lot of work, but it also lends itself to a lot of time for reflection and thinking. I quite enjoy that about my job as well. It is an interesting mix of physical labour, and creative thinking. It lends itself well for my world-building, without taking anything away from performing my actual work. In that sense I guess I get the best of both worlds in this job. I think it is beneficial to both the mind, the spirit, and the body.

The physical nature of the job still leaves me tired in the evening, though I suppose that shows I am actually doing something during the day.

Another factor I love about my job is that I get to meet and talk to a lot of people. It gives a sense of connection, that I wouldn't get otherwise. I work in a church, and even though the church is my employer I serve the parrish. The contact with people, talking to and listening to them, is an important part of the whole. I believe in meeting everyone with kindness and an open mind, no matter who they are.

See you all on the other side!

One day at a time

Greetings from the other side.

In my last post I mentioned that I wasn't feeling too well. That is still the case, unfortunatelly. I hope that some rest will do me good this weekend, even though I work this Sunday.

It isn't really affecting my work that much yet. Only discernable issue is that everything I do seem to take a longer time than it normally would, and I get tired a lot quicker. It isn't ideal, but at least it isn't keeping me from doing my job. I've only been working there about 4 weeks, so I don't really want to come down with a fever, or something, now that would keep me home.

Outside of my work, the thing that annoys me the most about this tiredness is that it is also having an effect on my creativity, which has been almost zero this week. After I get home from work my mind is just too tired to be creative, or at least that is what it feels like. I might try and do a bit of writing today, just to see how it goes, but judging by the way I feel I don't have high hopes for it.

Even coming up with things to write about on the blogs is difficult right now, but I am trying to push through it. Might have to be a few shorter posts until I feel better, we shall see.

It is kind of strange, ever since I moved here from Sweden I seem to have been suffering from one thing or another. First it was my knee, then I got an eye infection, then my current issues. I will persevere though. Hopefully I will be all better soon. :)

Now to try and write something for my other blog.

See you all on the other side!

Less than 100%

Greetings from the other side.

Not sure what is up with me today. My head is feeling heavy and clouded, my body feels heavy as well, and it feels like I haven't slept in days. I don't have a fever however, nor do I feel like I am coming down with one. I have been feeling like this all day today.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. I have a lot of stuff to do at work this week, so hopefully I can stay healthy and get my head back in order again soon. I am trying not to get stressed about it though. I know that stressing won't help in the slightest, and it would probably only succeed in making things worse, which would probably make me stress even more, etc etc.

I'm even having a hard time being creative and writing stuff or working on maps today. Which is a shame because I love doing that stuff. It gives me a "vent" of sorts, to focus on doing something I love doing. It's a good way to relax for me, doing things like writing about creative stuff such as the world-building, making maps for the world-building, playing tabletop roleplaying games, reading about historical stuff, etc etc. I have already written a post about how doing things you love is good for you so I won't go into any more details about it here.

I have a hard time focusing my thoughts right now, so I will end this post here.

See you all on the other side!

Creativivity & Everyday Life

Greetings from the other side.

Another work week is under way, starting out with a 9 hr work day. The weather was nice though, and the day went by fairly quickly. Feeling tired still despite having had a very calm weekend. Hopefully I am not coming down with something. Need to stay healthy now that I have just started my new job.

The new blog is working out well so far. Only three blog posts on it as of yet, but there will be plenty more. :) Not really had much issue keeping up with two blogs either. I know I am not able to update every day, but I am trying to update about every 3 days or so at least. Keyword there might be "trying" on occasion, but for the most part I will try to keep that up for both blogs.

I have been working more on the map-making for the world-building project. I have some of the major land-masses outlined, but still need to fill in the details. I am still learning, and I don't really want to fill in the details until I have learned the program better. It is a process, but I am learning a bit every time it feels like. I have also tried working on the writing, and I have been brimming with ideas. :) It's just been a matter of actually getting it all down on paper.

Football (soccer for my north-american blog-readers) season is underway, but sadly I have not been able to watch any games yet as I don't yet have the required TV channels to do so. Will need to get it soon, but honestly with the expenses we've had in the first month of my stay here I would not have been able to justify it. Things should calm down soon though on that front, so it is definitelly up there on the list of things to get. Another thing is a finnish phone so it is not so expensive for my gf to call my swedish phone. A big problem for her has also been that whenever she sends me a text message, her phone seems to send me 3-5 copies of the same text message. An example: Day before yesterday she sent me a short message to let me know she was on her way back home. I got that message 7 times, including one the following day. We'll need to talk to her service provider about that, and if it is not on their side then we'll need to see what can be done about the phone.

On a more positive note, life is moving along quite well over here. :) I am enjoying myself, work is going well, and I am surrounded by wonderful people. I am trying to get around to learning a bit of finnish, but after an 8 or 9 hr work day of hard work, I'm not always in the mood to do some studying when I get back home again. Hopefully I will pick things up as I go along and learn a bit at a time.

See you all on the other side!

Blog news & bits

Greetings from the other side.

Another busy day has passed and it feels good to be back home again. The weather has been good, though looking out the window I can see that the wind has picked up a bit again. Not too bad yet though. I am silently hoping that it won't get too rough. Tomorrow there might be some rain, so I will probably be doing most of my work indoors if that happens. The kind of job that I do tends to make me walk around a lot, so I have been seriously thinking about getting myself a stepcounter of some sort. Would be interesting to know just how much walking I do in a day. At least for me it would be interesting. :-P

I got recommended a language app called "DuoLingo", as I am thinking about starting to learn at least a bit of finnish. I figure I might as well if I am going to be living here. :) Sadly though, the app in question doesn't feature classes in finnish, so the search will have to go on.

Blog news! I have started up a new blog today, for my blog posts that relate to tabletop roleplaying and tabletop games in general. With all my other ideas for things to write about in this blog it felt like a logical thing to put that stuff in a separate blog. I probably won't be moving any of the stuff I have already written in this blog though. It isn't that much and some of it tends to be mixed in with other stuff. I will try to link to the other blog in the sidebar of this blog, once I have sat down and figured out how to do it. As I have mentioned before this is my first ever blog, so I am still learning all the ins and outs of blogging. Once that is done I will also post a link there to this blog.

I have not yet posted anything in the new blog. I will see if I have the time, or inspiration, to do that today, but hopefully I will have something there this upcoming weekend at the latest. That is what I will be aiming for at least.

I have not yet decided where I am going to be writing about my own world-building, and things that relate to that. A part of me figures it would probably fit best in the new blog. I am sure I will figure it out as I go along.

See you all on the other side!

Campaign reflections & A short story

Greetings from the other side.

Feeling a bit tired today, but hopefully I can get some creative stuff done this evening. Would like to continue writing on my world-building, as the idea of one day running a tabletop RPG campaign in it is growing on me quite a lot. Will of course need to find players for it, etc, but that'll be a problem for further down the line. :) And yes, I know I said in a previous post that the world was a separate project that I was making to see what I could create if I gave myself no deadlines and complete creative freedom, not tied down by a specific tabletop rpg system or any specific campaign ideas. I have found however, that as I am building this world, a lot of ideas for campaigns are starting to take form based on the information I write down about this world. So in a sense, it is not the campaign that gives birth to the world, but the world itself that gives birth to the campaign, if that makes sense. I still have a lot of work left to do though, before I feel comfortable with using the world for a campaign, but it is coming along nicely. The fact that I have now started making maps for it is also a huge boost to me. It is 'only' world maps of individual continents or lands at the moment, but they really help me put everything into perspective a bit more.

The creative process is really calming to me. It almost becomes meditative at times, as I loose myself in the process of writing and coming up with ideas. Sometimes, I don't even have a pre-planned idea of what I want to write, it just comes to me as I sit there in front of the screen with a blank document in front of me. It is kinda like when I write this blog. I don't always have an idea what I want to write about. I just start and the words just start flowing. A good example, tying back to the tabletop RPGs, I had a character (well, I still technically have the character, it is just that the campaign is on ice for a bit) who was an elven ranger in a 4e D&D game. I initially wrote up about a page or two of backstory for the character, which were mostly bullet points to be honest, but then one day I decided I was going to expand on it to give my DM  (Dungeon Master) a bit more to work with. So I sat down with a blank document in Word, and had the two pages I had already written on the side, and started writing. After a fairly short while I had about 11 or 12 pages written, plus reference lists of people the character had met in their backstory, a list of locations, etc. It was about at this point that the DM begged me not to write any more stuff. So I stopped, even though I could have fleshed it out more and written a lot more information as well, and ended up with far more pages than I already had, but I decided to be kind to our DM. ;)

See you all on the other side!

A different pace

Greetings from the other side.

Life moves at a different pace here in the countryside. It's a nice, relaxing atmosphere, and I quite like it. That isn't me saying people here are lazy or anything like that. Quite the contrary actually. People in the countryside here tend to be at least as hardworking as anywhere else, but there is still a calm atmosphere. I think everyone needs a bit of calm in their life from time to time. Sure, some people thrive on stress, or at least claim that they do, but I do believe that even they need a break from the stress from time to time. A chance to re-charge their batteries, if you will. I think that is something everyone needs, whether they realize it or not.

A surprising amount of things can be accomplished when you are relaxing. Life will start flowing at a different pace, yet you still find after a while that you manage to do all the things you want to do anyway. Perhaps the important thing is that they are things you want to do, rather than things you 'have' or 'need' to do? It's food for thought. You are welcome.

If you are relaxed and comfortable, things start to work out better, I find. You don't get stressed as easily or as much, and things that previously might have felt tedious to do can some times even become enjoyable. Almost meditative. It depends on what it is of course, and what ends up feeling enjoyable or not is very much down to the invidual and the mindset of that individual.

But it is not all about what might feel better to do when you are feeling relaxed. It is also really important to remember to take the time to rest. Rest opens up the gate to being relaxed and calm, and can even help creativity I find. My creative mind does not thrive on stress. I guess that doesn't necessarily go for all though - after all, some work better under pressure. But a relaxed mind in a restful state is wonderful at suddenly solving that problem you had been trying to solve for so many hours earlier today, or suddenly remembering that important thing that had gotten lost amongst all the other things that occupied your mind in the stress of everyday life.

See you all on the other side!

Reflections on time

Greetings from the other side.

The weekend has just flown by, it feels like. Can hardly believe Monday is almost here again. In general it feels like time has passed really quickly since I got here. I mean, it has already been 3 weeks since I moved here, I started my new job last week, and yet it feels like I've only been here a few days. Kinda strange how the perception of time can be so seemingly different depending on what is happening in your life, how you are feeling, etc. Yet at the same time I know that, logically, whether I feel like time has moved quickly or slowly, the same amount of actual time has still passed. It is a fascinating thing when you think about it. Like a lot of things in this world are, when you actually stop to think about them. Even things that may seem as mundane as time can be a fascinating thing when you actually think about it. We have watches, or keep track of time in other ways, for example on our mobile phones, etc. We schedule our days according to what time it is. We eat lunch and dinner at certain times, there is a certain time we start working or go home from work, etc etc. Whether a work day feels long or short can vary depending on a lot of factors, like how much we enjoy what we do, how much stuff we feel we need to get done in a day, etc. Yet, regardless of how long the workday felt, the same amount of time has passed regardless. Time is a fascinating thing, I think. It plays such a big part in our lives, yet we have all become so accustomed to it that we don't really think about it most of the time.

In tabletop roleplaying, especially world-building, time is an interesting factor to play with as well. Depending on whether you want to go really detailed on the world-building, or not, of course. If you don't mind it however, thinking about things like what does the world's calender look like? How do they measure time? Is a year the same length as it is for us here on Earth? What, if any, significance does time have in a culture? Does the view on time differ between different cultures and/or races? I love thinking about things like that, though I understand if it isn't for everyone. :) You can also think about whether you want to ever have time as a factor in a roleplaying game. There's things you can do, like timed challenges or pussles for the players to deal with, or perhaps introduce festivals or other things and events that happen at specific times of the year. An event doesn't necessarily need to be a festival or other "man-made" occasion, it can also be a natural phenomenon that happens in the world every year at a certain point in time. It can help give more flavour to the world. A good rule is to introduce it if you like it and it makes sense in the world you are creating.

I have also gotten back into map-making again. Still trying to learn the program, but I am making slow progress. Just need to keep ignoring my own inner wish to just ignore the training and get it done. :) lol Better to learn step by step in the long run. I have made basic maps, just detailing the landmasses, of two of the continents I have been working on. Still need more practise before I can add mountains, forests, etc. Though I can always practise that on other maps and then come back to these.

See you all on the other side!

Creative sparks, and everyday life

Greetings from the other side.

The first week in my new job has finally begun, and so far, so good. Lots to get used to, and learn, but so far I am coping well. :) To be honest, it has been a somewhat calm week, as I am getting to grips with things around the workplace. A couple of surprises, but nothing I haven't been able to handle.

We've finally gotten some sunshine today. The sun decided to show itself in mid-afternoon, clearing the rainclouds that had been covering the sky up until then. Let's see how long it lasts. If the past couple of weeks are anything to go by, I should fully expect the rain to come back tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. We shall see.

Internet is behaving... most of the time. Still getting the occasional dip in connection speed where it is much slower than normal. We might have to talk to the service providers again.

My creative spark is still there, and I have been doing quite a lot of writing and thinking. Especially when it comes to the world-building. It is so nice to be back in the creative groove again. Though it can be a bit annoying at times when good and/or interesting ideas decide to enter my mind just when I am about to go to bed. All I can do then is jot down some quick notes on a notepad and hope it will help me remember the idea until the next evening after I get home from work. Unfortunatelly the writing has meant that the map-making has had to take a backseat. Again. Not much to do about it though. I will come back to it as soon as I get around to it.

That will round out a somewhat short post today.

See you all on the other side!

Building worlds & making maps

Greetings from the other side.

Yesterday was an interesting day. Not because something particularily interesting happend, but because it was one of those days where it felt like we did a lot of things, yet nothing at all at the same time. We went into the city to do some errands and some shopping, and we had a gluten-free pizza for dinner, and that was about it really. Yet it still feels like the whole day went by in a flash and we did a ton of stuff. Weird.

Last evening was apparently also "rain and thunder evening", where mother nature decided to put on another impromptu show for us. The rain has keept going so far today, but at least there hasn't been any thunder.

Because of the rain, I have instead stayed inside and worked on a bit of world-building. Feels nice to be back into the groove a bit with the writing. I have also tried my hand at learning how to use my map-making program. I have, in the past, used AutoREALM for this purpose, but that was a 'while' ago now (read: over a year... at least), so I am currently trying to learn to use Campaign Cartographer instead. I find that I have two 'enemies' in this:

* I know I need to do practise maps first, before I start working on actual maps, but for some reason there is something inside me that just want to make the maps immediately. This impatient side of me is kind of annoying at times.

* It takes too long between times that I sit down with the program, so I end up making much slower progress than I really should need to.

One of the benefits of using AutoREALM is that it has a GREAT measuring tool built in, that allowed you to measure distances in various ways. You could measure it in feet, meters, miles, kilometers, etc, but also in things like 'days travelled on foot', 'days travelled on foot in difficult terrain', 'days by sailed galley', etc, and even in astronomical units and parsecs, should one wish to do that. I have, as of yet, not found any similar function in Campaign Cartographer, though I suspect there isn't one.

Don't get me wrong, I still really like AutoREALM. It is just that I wanted to try and learn how to use Campaign Cartographer as well, as I have heard a lot of good stuff about it.

The writing goes well. I am well on my way to writing up another land and its peoples. :) I actually got the inspiration for this land when I was practising my map-making skills earlier today, so sometimes inspiration can come to you from unexpected places. Currently working on an island / archipelago nation, inhabited by two species who have learned to co-exist after a troubled past (at least, that is how the story goes at the moment). Not the most novel of ideas I know, but I am hoping to expand on it and go into more detail as I go along. It is the seed from which the tree grows as I keep writing their story, if you will. I am excited to see what it ends up being like. Knowing me though, I will probably make changes to things as I go along, so what I just posted could still be subject to change.

Well, that's about it for now. Time to get back to the creative writing again. :)

See you all on the other side!

Windy days, lessons learned, knee & internet issues, and a bit more world-building thoughts.

Greetings from the other side.

Hello from a very wind-swept island somewhere in Finland. We went to run some errands today, and the windspeed indicator indicated winds of 21 meters / second. I can believe that. It's been blowing quite vigorously yesterday and today. A shame as I had been hoping to get some more work done outdoors. Ah well, as I pointed out in my last post there's no point in stressing over things when you have plenty of time to do it in and there's no need to rush it anyway. :)

My right knee started acting up again today, having been well for a couple of days. I doubt it is an injury as there is no pain. It just feels swollen and starts feeling a bit stiff after a while of use. It got better once, so hopefully it will get better soon again. Best I can do is try and rest it, and my gf, who is a zone therapist, will probably try and help as well with some treatment. It worked wonders a couple of days ago, so hopefully it will do the same now.

I also learned an important lesson while driving today. Just because the entry-way into a roundabout is wide enough for two or more lanes, doesn't mean that the roundabout itself has more than one lane. In fact, from what I am told, there are no roundabouts, in this area at least, that has more than one lane. Silly me from Sweden who thought that when the entryway is that wide it must mean that it is just like home that the roundabout usually has two lanes. Nope. Not the case. Something to keep in mind if you are thinking of coming here from Sweden and do some driving around. I managed to get into the roundabout anyway, eventually. Appologies to any finnish drivers who might have been wondering what that crazy swede was up to! :)

New internet is still causing issues. Best advice we got at the store when we talked to them about it was to try and connect a cable between the router and the laptop. It hasn't worked wonders really. Yesterday evening the internet was on and off. The slowest speed I tested vs Bredbandskollen.se was about 0,25Mb/s down and 0,24Mb/s down. On a 100Mb/s connection. Fastest I think was in the region of about 20Mb/s both ways. Connection speed is a bit iffy it seems. Hopefully it will get better. I can't deny I'd like to get a broadband cable into the house, but doing that is kind of expensive and something that will need to be postponed for later. It will happen at some point though.

Did some more writing on the world-building yesterday. Not much, but a little at least. I would love to get working on making maps, mainly as a visual aid for myself. I find that it can be really helpful to see the things you have envisioned in writing come to life on a map. Sadly, I am not very good at drawing maps, but I suppose practise makes perfect. I do have a program or two to help me with it, I just need to find the time to actually sit down and figure the programs out and actually draw the maps. So far, most days have been booked with something, and when a day hasn't been booked I have found something else that needs to be done. :) lol I do need to get started on it though, so I will try to work on it this week. At least the 'learning how the programs work' bit.

On top of the fairly gigantic world I am already working on, ideas for a second world has already started poping into my head. The first one is, I guess, more fantasy oriented, with the second one being more steampunk-ish in nature. I need to write down my ideas for it and see where that takes me. One thing I DO know, however, is that I won't make the second world nearly as large as the first one is turning out to be. I alreay have enough material and ideas for about 3 or 4 continents in that world, and probably plenty more to come. If I would hazard a guess, the steampunk "world" will probably be limited, at least initially, to just one or two continents or areas. I might expand that further later on, but until I am done with the fantasy world I think that will do.

See you all on the other side!

Another day in the life of...

Greetings from the other side.

Every day is still a new adventure. In the sense that I still learn something new every day. Yesterday, for example, I learned not to buy regular sparkling water (Sv: kolsyrat vatten, som Loka fast annat märke) at the local shop anymore. 2 bottles of 1,5 liters each cost me 5 euros. For my family and friends back in Sweden, that's bordering on 50kr. So from now on I will be buying things like that when we go into the city to do the weekly shopping, should I need it.

Yesterday and today I have had my first introductions to my new job. It's been quite interesting, I must say, and a lot to take in at the start. Though I am sure I will get the hang of it as time goes by. Amongst today's work-related excursions, was included a part that unfortunatelly resulted in us standing outside in the pouring rain under a tree (and not one that was very well suited for keeping the rain out) for about 20 minutes or so, before it subsided enough that we could move some place more sheltered. Anyway, despite that it was an interesting day with lots of information and a lot of stuff to take in and memorize.

I am also starting to find my way around my new home better. Have been learning how the woodburner works for the heating, and was out earlier today and did some "maintenance" work - i.e. I pulled out a couple of small trees that were growing right next to the house before they would grow up and become a problem for the house's foundation.

All in all it feels like it has been a fairly productive day.

Today is also the first day that I haven't (yet) heard any thunder in the sky. I am silently hoping and praying that we are done with the thunder now. After about 3-4 days of it, give or take, it would be nice to see some blue sky and sunshine again!

Seems I am slowly getting my creative spark back as well. It sort of comes and goes in patches, but that's better than not having it at all. :)

Will be interesting to see what the rest of the day has to offer!

See you all on the other side!

Sleep depravation, explanations, and every day going-ons.

Greetings from the other side.

Didn't sleep much last night. There was a thunderstorm outside, and normally I can sleep through stuff like that no problem, but for some reason I couldn't last night. I am not convinced it was because of the thunderstorm. More likely a general issue of not being able to fall asleep. Oh well. It happens.

It was pointed out to me yesterday that I had kind of forgotten to specify what kind of RPG I was talking about. As I posted in my reply in the comments to that post, I was in fact talking about a tabletop RPG game system. I do know that plenty of game systems exist out there, and I've even tried my hand at playing in some of them over the years. As I also said in my reply was that I am not really doing it because I am planning on publishing a new tabletop RPG or anything like that. To me it is a fun experiment, and one I have found that I quite enjoy working on. I find it to be a very interesting challenge. :)

Most likely, it will turn out to be something I might try out with my friends but never go any further than that. If, in fact, it turns out to be a functional system at all in the end. It is my first time trying my hand at it, so I have no idea whether it will turn out good in the end or not. The main thing is that I am enjoying working on it for now. :)

The main thing though, is still the world building, which is it's own thing. As I mentioned in my previous post I am just creating a world, without tying it to any specific game system or adventure idea. I might GM a game in it at some point, or I might not. The main thing for me is the process of actually creating it and seeing it come to life.

Am still trying to come up with a good name for the world as a whole. One of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to tabletop roleplaying is coming up with names for my characters, Not to mention coming up with one for a whole world.... But once I do I might start refering to it by it's name rather than just talking about 'that world I am working on'.

Still settling in well over here. Starting my new job in about 2 weeks time, and until then I am just getting to know my surroundings a bit more. :) Been out driving, with my gf as my guide, to learn how to find my way in, and around, the nearest city.

Sadly haven't been able to go to the store to ask up about my internet connection yet. Due to various IRL reasons it has been postponed until Friday.

Also sad that I haven't yet been able to do any tabletop roleplaying online with my friends yet this week, due to the thunderstorms. They have said we will probably be getting more of the same today, so might miss tonight's D&D game as well. :-/ If I do, I will have to wait until Monday for my next game. Keeping my fingers crossed I will get a game in tonight.

Anyway, I think that will be all from me for now.

See you all on the other side!

Thunderbolts and Lightning, World building, etc

Greetings from the other side.

Today we are on the third day straight of thunder and rain. It sort of comes and goes. From having experienced almost no thunder previously this summer, mother nature appears to have now, suddenly, decided to make up for that. Really wish we could get the sun, and calm, back now. Kinda sick of it. I can deal with the rain, and thunder normally, but 4 days of it kinda wears on you a bit.

Also it will probably impede on my ability to play RPGs with my friends online in the coming days, if it keeps up. Something I am hoping will NOT happen, as I wasn't able to play with them last week and I kind of miss it. Not to mention it is a great creative outlet and might help get my own creative juices flowing again.

New internet also installed. Though for something that is supposedly going to give us 100Mb/s (at least, that is what we are paying for), we are currently only getting around 20Mb/s. Will go back to the store and ask up on that tomorrow.

Been trying to do some creative writing again on my world-building project, but haven't really been able to do much of it since I got over here. Am hoping to get that creative spark back soon. Not sure how much of it will be discussed by me on the blog in the future. I guess it will depend on whether I find something in there I'd like to discuss on here. It is a subject, and a project, that is dear to my heart though, and something that is truly a labour of love more than anything. I didn't really set out to make it for any specific roleplaying game I was going to run with my friends, but more as:

A) something I have always wanted to do, as I have had the idea and concept for a world in my head for a very long time but never gotten around to writing it down and fleshing it out further.

B) to see what I could do if I gave myself complete creative freedom, not restrained by any particular game system or adventure idea.

That being said, I might still run a game in that world in the future. A friend of mine even convinced me to start working on a game system specifically for this world. I was a bit hesitant at first, but having worked on it I am now finding it to be a very fun, and interesting, challenge to go alongside the actual world building. I am still making sure however, that the world comes first and that the game system will be adapted to it, rather than the other way around.

Well, I think that is all from me for the moment.

See you all on the other side!