My Akoha History #21 – Bicycle Love

Played July 2, 2011, “Bike To Work” had me…bike to work. Something I’ve never really done, safe the few times I’ve done so in one of the first few jobs I held. In my mind, it’s a luxury to be able to do this. Not only to be able to save on gas and get exercise, but to appreciate the thrill of the wind buffeting your face as you speed by the beautiful world around you. It’s quite a rush. Just the thing one needs in order to make the usually unwanted but necessary hours passable. Mind you that’s not really a mindset I have anymore, but it’s the bulk of the work force, so that’s the reason I say it. These days I’m usually too happy or busy to be bothered about how most of my time is in the hands of someone else.

However it goes, this mission was played a month after I had given up my delivery driving gig at Toppers, and took in the work of being an Insider or at the very least spreading the word of Toppers to the masses. In the end I only had one Insider shift, and pretty much worked two months on nothing but spreading advertisements around the area. Being on a bike not only made this task amazingly easy, but allowed me to see the city in ways I never had the chance to before. Unemployment can do that as well, but as it goes. What’s really interesting about all this is I had never actually used my bike up until this point, and…well, I’ll just let my past self explain.

My Akoha History #20 – A Fine D&D Gathering

“Board Gamer” played June 7, 2011 required me to “Play a board game with a friend or group of friends and post a picture of the game board at its most dramatic.” This one was simple enough, because I play Dungeons & Dragons like a boss. With permission of the fellow players, I brought out my cellphone and took a picture, which I then begrudgingly sent to my email, thus garnering some sort of charge as I do every time I send a text. And while most people today would find that very annoying, I have appreciation of the limitations this puts on me, because this prevents me from going nuts and possibly driving others nuts due to my texts being equivalent to full fledged novels. Okay, not really, though that’s what I’ve been told in the past.

But I digress! What’s really impressive about this dramatic moment is that it was completely made up on the spot. It wasn’t really planned out as much as I hoped, and I honestly forget if the reason they went to this locale was simply made up as well. I loathe improvising on the spot with D&D, because when you’re a DM, everything you say sticks like glue, and you will be beaten by a stick from the PCs should something contradict in the long run. Though in this circumstance, everything fell into place perfectly. More a matter of being lucky than anything of skill, because I’m average in all sense of the word, but there’s nothing wrong with noting how something went incredibly right for something I thoroughly enjoy.

Heart String Marionette Released…Sorta

My Akoha History #19 – An Old “Friend”

Played April 23, 2011, “Long Time No See” had me seek out someone I haven’t seen in a long while. Given that I don’t seek out people too often, there are far too many people this mission could have applied to. If anything, it deserved to be given to two friends on the other side of Wisconsin, who haven’t been seen and barely spoken to since 2008 (probably later now that I think on it). But it’s more a matter of being able to get it done than anything else, and driving that distance and maintaining the work flow I needed to live despite the fact it was never enough…well, I had to keep myself close to home.

So I got in touch with the only member of my first D&D group which kept in contact with me, and arranged a meeting for lunch. I even went so far as to have lunch be on me, even though such a thing would be dreadfully taxing on whatever I had left. After all, this was played around the same time I made it clear to my former employ I couldn’t be a delivery driver anymore, and this was under the realization bills were going to be thrown at me soon enough. All the same, I believe in the power of a good gathering, and good manners are always appreciated. How it went down…

My Akoha History #18 – As It Goes

“Personal Creeds” was played February 18, 2011, and quite simply asks for a simple line or saying that speaks on what your personal creed/code of living is. Okay, sure, the exact quote is, “Share what values and principles guide your life, and how they’ve helped you,” but that’s pretty much the same thing, right? In which case, that’s simple enough.

“As it goes.”

It is what it is, so accept it for what it is, and move on to the next thing. Do not distress. There is too much love in the world to dwell on what something isn’t. So just live on.