MurderHobo.Club

Category: Real Life

  • Writing Session X4Z5P6

    Garth and I are sitting here, having a beer, watching Youtube and doing some writing. We just watched the Suicide Squad trailer, and I was reminded of a previous script that I’d intended to put together ages back.

    So, the final lines in the trailer, are Joker saying, “I’m not going to kill you, I just want to hurt you.” And while that’s a cute idea, it doesn’t really suit me.

    I had an old script idea about the serial killer collective, brought together by social media and blackmail, dragged into a contest, where they split into teams, film their kills and then screen them for the other members, before releasing them unto the internet as darknet torrents. It’s not a bad idea, and I should do some work on it again some day.

    Anyways, the Joker line reminded me of something with a Shadowrun flavour, someone who “didn’t plan to kill you, didn’t really want to hurt you, but needed to upgrade you.” He had criteria for his victims, and he upgraded them, installing his own attempts at cybernetics into them.

    And part way through the story, he’ll find someone else who believes in upgrading people, who will join him, and give him access to new ways to upgrade people.

    (Garth Spencer):
    Something like this has occurred to me, although the story idea hasn’t quite gelled. Start with the philosophical issue: we are not, yet, entirely adapted to being “intelligent” beings. I put the word in quotes because whether we are really a thinking, rational species has yet to be proven; in fact it’s a lot easier to prove we are irrational, and fundamentally a believing, even superstitious species.

    Considering the challenges we face to survival, someone who decided to play god with humans might well decide to upgrade us. Mentally. Biologically. Or, at least, with cyborg implants, for proof of concepts.

    Item: thinking ahead. Have you ever suspected that engineers and industrial investors suffer from an extraordinary level of suboptimal planning? Even, an extraordinary aversion to thinking through the consequences of half-assed industrial processes? And now we have a universal level of toxins and industrial effluents in seawater and water supplies, and marine garbage patches the size of Australia. Plural. (Isn’t anybody going to capitalize on this? Where’s the IPO?)

    Item: social perception. You know and I know and your maiden aunt’s little doggie knows that there are pretty inconsistent and irrational inputs to everyone’s education, especially the unconscious education about how to read people or succeed in business or battle the international threat represented by the underground worldwide Cult of Kali, and its famous fronts the NRA, and ISIS, and the Conservative Party of Canada.  (I say nothing about the U.S. Republican Party, nothing at all!)

    Item: Why are almost all the elected representatives or candidates for elective office THAT WE HEAR ABOUT unqualified for running a Sunday school class? Because they’re almost all fronts for the Belgian conspiracy to achieve worldwide domination? (Today, Europe; tomorrow … ?)

    Item: If I’m so smart, why ain’t I rich and famous and basking in the love of fair women, plural?

    Answer: because I haven’t sat down and written everything I can. That answers everything.

    (/Garth Spencer)

    And that’s the commentary from Murderhobo.Club’s first guest writer.

  • I’ve lost an touchstone.

    I was less than 20 when I moved out of my parent’s place. Before that I’d moved from the upper floor, where everyone lived, down in the basement, probably when I was still in elementary. So I’ve been moving away from my parents for probably about two-thirds of my life now.

    Still, I’ve used that address as my home address for the majority of my life. It would have been 3rd grade when we moved into that house. And now it has been sold. That link to my past, will cease to be.

    I’m not sure how I feel about that. In recent years, I’ve always been fairly uncomfortable when I’ve been over there. Partially because of the renovations that had taken place, and partially because of the somewhat strained relationship I’ve had with my family.

    Since I link this to my facebook, my grandmother will likely read it, and she’d rather I not go into too much detail about my relationship with my family. She sees that as airing dirty laundry.

    On one hand, I can see her point; on the other hand, this is my place for catharsis. This is a place where I can put my thoughts into order and perhaps untangle some of the knots that formed inside my mind.

    Without saying too much, I can say that the relationship is perceived differently by all parties involved, there is very little agreement regarding common structure. This is somewhat magnified by the fact that the personalities involved are all fairly strong.

    As a stew, it doesn’t work, too much conflict in the flavors. Perhaps it works better if spread out more, and mixed with something to cleanse the palate. I suppose that’s where my brother-in-law comes in.

  • This weekend was brutal

    So, weekends, they’re a time to relax from the stress of the 40+ hour work week; Down time.

    This weekend, not so much. I was asked to dogsit for my parents, since everyone was out of town. Then I was told that the dogsitting also included taking the dogs for a 2 hour walk, during the open house that they’re having. Their neighborhood, isn’t really fun to take walks in; too many hills. Moreover, this walk needed to happen between 2pm and 4pm, which meant that there was a distinct lack of shade.

    Anyways, add to that the fact that this was a Noir weekend, and Reive was in a car accident on Thursday, in which his truck was totaled. So, my bailing, which might have been possible, became a rather bad idea.

    So, Friday, after work, I headed over there to check on the dogs. I found out that the amenities I expected to find, weren’t there. The apple TV had been removed, along with my brother in law’s playstation. All packed up for this move. So much for getting in some gaming time over the weekend. Not that I really had much time for it, as it turned out.

    Of course the Noir setup and the Open House were both going to happen in the afternoon. We managed to move it to a bit later, so I’d have some time to get there. Of course my parent’s place, being the suburbs, isn’t really good for transit, and Noir isn’t back at Chapel Arts yet, since it’s still being renovated. So my usual 30 minute trip down to help with setup became a 90 minute trip down to help with setup. After which, I needed to get back to their place to let the dogs out and put them to bed, so they wouldn’t be a problem. I grabbed a Modo car, so I could head down to the event, but the Modo coverage in my parent’s area is pretty bad, so instead of the usual 15 minute walk back from returning the car, it was closer to 30 minutes. And of course in the morning, the dogs wanted to wake me up for breakfast.

    At least this time, they didn’t bark at random strangers. Oh, and waking up on Sunday morning, I noticed my legs were sore. I’m  not sure what happened, it might have been the walk back from the Modo, or the walk to Robert Burnaby park, or sleeping funny, or something. Either way, I was limping around today.

    So, rather than taking the dogs for the walk, I got a ride back over to my place, with KW, who was there with Sara, who’d been over helping prep the house for the open house, on both days. So, I got the dogs over. I’d been thinking I’d take them for a shorter walk in the flatter area, but my legs were still giving me grief, and I find out that there’s been a bit of a screw up with the whole tear down for the event. So, I grab a bit of rest, make sure the dogs are fine in the backyard, and head down to the event. Only a 45 minute commute this time, not too bad.

    Get the vehicle, get down there, get into the underground lot, find out that it wasn’t just a volunteer shortage, it was a volunteer absence. Staff only, excluding myself, two of which are nearly crippled from recent events; though maybe I am staff at this point. Anyways, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, we managed to fit all of it into the one load; though it was pretty tight. Had we disabled the cross, we might not have been able to fit it in. Of course we couldn’t do that, because the socket wrench had magically gone missing. That’ll be a job for another day. And likely won’t I won’t be able to help with, since I’ll be at work til 9pm every day.

    So, we finished that up by 8pm, got home by 9pm, found out that the dogs are still tied up in the back yard. Original plan was for my sister to pick them up around 6pm or so, but issues on the Sea to Sky highway prevented that. She just showed up a few minutes ago, and managed to accidentally illustrate why Gram has been so opposed to letting the dogs stay over at her place, when Mr G ran up the stairs after Jay, into the house, at a speed which would have knocked over someone who was having balance issues. At least it was G, who doesn’t shed much. If it had been the other one, there would have been tufts of dog hair around the house to clean up also.

    Oh, and I’ve got an odd lump on my back, which seems a bit large for a mosquito bit, and I’ve noticed a bit of numbness/tingling in my fingers, which is not a good thing. I suspect I’ll be much better after a good night sleep in my own bed; which is next on the agenda.

    (TL;DR: I had a rough weekend, and I need some downtime.)

  • Ashes… Its coming.

    So, my pre-order of Ashes is officially on it’s way here. Its been shipped out of Snakes and Lattes in Toronto. So, I’ll have a copy by Wednesday or Thursday night. This means I need to plan a session for Saturday/Sunday.

    Who wants to give this game a chance?

  • Scencest – practical or paranoid?

    Many years ago, when asked why I didn’t date a particular girl, I used the term scencest to explain my discomfort with dating someone inside a small and insular community. Too many crossing paths, too many common friends, or worse too many common ex’s.

    The BDSM community has grown a bit since then, but I find I still have that discomfort. How does one get over it, or it it healthy to maintain it?

    I suppose it doesn’t help that plenty of the guys in my community tend to crowd around the attractive newbies, which tends to scare them off and that just makes the problem worse.

    When a couple breaks up, odds are good that the male will stick around, and the female will either leave or get a ton of messages.

    I’m old, grumpy and bitter, I’ll admit. But how much of this problem is in my head, and how much is what you also see?

  • 33 M4f – looking for someone who appreciates me.

    I think I’m pretty awesome, but I’m having trouble finding someone who agrees and I have chemistry with. It seems that either we have chemistry and they hate me, or we are fond of each other but it isn’t anything more.

    My fear of being a toxic misogynistic asshole has led to me double thinking my flirting & generally just being too damn disengaged to connect with someone.

    My job keeps me busy til 9 pm on weekdays, so I’ve had trouble meeting people at the casual events.

    Even then, I’ve been involved in BDSM and the local Goth scene for a decade and a half, but I hate dating within the community. The whole scencest dynamic and drama… It doesn’t work for me.

    So I look for someone who suits me in other places. I tend to find people who fit me in random places. IRC channels, MUDs, volunteering, here on reddit, etc. It has been a while since I’ve found anyone, so I’m trying something different.

    I spend too much time online, either on my laptop or my phone. I do far more writing on my phone than I should. Including writing this. Lately I’ve noticed that I don’t really have anyone I’m taking to. It would be nice to have someone to talk to.

    I spend a decent amount of time on my own, mostly listening to podcasts, because listening to people having interesting conversations is my best substitute for having interesting conversations with people. Horror show Hot Dog, Slaughterhouse Princess, the Giant Bombcast, the Dice Tower, the Secret Cabal, Apropos of Nothing, to name a few.

    Oh right, I should focus on the BDSM bits… I am into BDSM because I have a tendency to lead, and that works better in the BDSM community than in the rest of the world, or at least that is my terribly misguided assumption. I also like the clarity that comes from proper negotiations. Oh and I’m a bit of a sadist.

  • Material chained.

    The other day, I cited material possessions as the chains that bind us to our ruts, or at least me to mine. My biggest chain would be my board game collection. It has grown large and menacing over the last few years; were it to pounce on someone, that person would surely be crushed under the weight.

    There is also a smaller collection of books, and some DVDs. The majority of the books have been replaced with ebooks. There area few of sentimental value or that would be a pain to read digitally, but for the most part, they’re not something that would need to travel with me. Same goes for the DVDs. Netflix would cover most of my movie needs.

    Beyond that, a few knickknacks are scattered around, but I’m not sure if any of them hold any real attachment.

    A few pieces of art, I suppose I’d miss those.

    My pile of monkeys and other fuzzy friends. Leaving them would be a bit strange.

    Then there’s the tech, though plenty of it is irrelevant. I’d be happy with a Chromebook for most of my projects.

    A decent gaming PC, it’s an expensive replacement, but doable in time. Especially given how little I actually play games these days.

    I suppose it would make sense to keep a console, but none of them really inspire me to bring them along.

    The 3ds gets packed, I suppose. Its light, has a few games, and doesn’t take up much space.

    The final pieces of tech are the monitors. Expensive, but not really portable. Pretty easy to replace, I suppose.

    Clothing, some costumes, but really not much there that matters. Mostly just t-shirts that I liked. Like my KoL Bonestar shirts.

    Yeah, reflecting on it, the board games are the big obstacle. Though I suspect I could find a good home for them, if I wanted to go traveling.

  • Current status

    Stunning bout of depression/apathy has hit me hard over the weekend.
    I’m suffering from a serious lack of motivation. Partially this is related to my realisation that the rut I’m in is much deeper and harder to get out of than I’d previously understood. It is partially because some aspects of it have been established over the last decade and a half.

    What can be done?
    Untangle the material chains and drag myself out slowly.
    Start burning the chains randomly and hope I survive the fire.

    The two extremes, essentially.

    Neither path appeals currently.

  • The new thing… Vigilante Justice

    The new thing… Vigilante Justice

    So, my sources tell me that a masked vigilante is out there, in the city. Well, that’s nothing new. This one, is perhaps a bit different though. He’s driving an electric car, wearing a wrestling mask, and carrying a sawzall. He’s been seen parking in front of houses that are watering their lawns excessively, in clear violation of the water restrictions. He’ll walk up to the house, turn the tap fully off, and then with his sawzall, he’ll cut the head off the faucet. Then he’ll apply a sticker to the side of the house, before getting back in the car and driving away. The sticker is printed with a copy of the current water restrictions and an oddly deformed smiley face at the bottom.

    Strangely, the rumours about this man differ greatly. Some describe him as 5’5″, blond hair poking out from the mask, chain smoking, while others have described him as 6’6″, a big bear of a man, who drinks from the hose before he shuts it off. One person even stated that she was sure that the vigilante was in fact a woman.

    In any case, my lawn has gone brown and grey, and will stay that way.

  • Characters

    I’m thinking I should put together a page that lists the various characters who appear in this list, separating those who exist from those who don’t and providing as much or as little real world context for them as they feel comfortable with.

    This was motivated by aRedBaroness joining the board games and DerBlob having a handle that I am having a hard time associating with him.

    So, if you want to volunteer your context, let me know.

    Dimestore is our shadowrun GM, a regular board gamer, a scholar and a gentleman.

    John Duggan, when he appears in the blog, is a fictional interpretation of a real person, who I never spend much time with. Less of a scholar, but no less a gentleman than Dimestore, he has serious obligations that tend to interfere with board gaming.

    Reive Doig has been a figure in the Vancouver kink scene for a few decades now. He’s something of a pioneer, with a passion for community building and education. He is part of the team behind Noir and Erotic Vancouver, which I help with. He tends to have too much on his plate at any given time.

    aRedbaroness and I have known each other for years, since I dated one of her friends. While that ended with a bit of a flat note, the friendship has remained. We’ve recently started to collaborate on some projects, as we both have a strong focus on the written word.

    mogdoll, the henchmuffin, is a great minion.

    I’m sure there are more and more details will be added, but this was what came out of my head on the ride to work.