Jump On It!

Just a quick plug: This weekend there's a special promo on my Kickstarter campaign and you should check it out. Click the badge to the left for details.

Don't miss JJMIV's post below on our sweet Cyberpunk game!

Eurotech Business Machines: After Action Report

Last weekend a daring attempted desertion was foiled by EBM's new Counter-Espionage and Sabotage team, led by Nia (played by Darlene) and supported by Larson (Mary T) and Richie (Adam).

We had a fast-paced adventure set in the mean streets of NYC in 2020. The team had to uncover a plot by an EBM employee to breach her contract and go to work for a rival firm. They did some extensive sleuthing: following her when she wasn't at work, monitoring her apartment, even harassing her doorman and building manager to get the information they needed.

When the time came for the deserter to be extracted, they were on the scene and in control. A nomad family (the O'Sheas) had been hired by Microtech to kidnap Dr. Etienne. This gave Microtech plausible deniability in case the plan was foiled. The O'Sheas were well prepared to make the kidnapping, but they didn't count on the stiff resistance that the C-E/S team put up.

A high speed, run-n-gun chase ensued, and the kidnapping was foiled.

Dr. Etienne pleaded with the team to let her desert to Microtech. At EBM she worked on targeting systems for cyber-weapons, but at Microtech she was slated to work on medical equipment. Her appeals to their hearts failed, and even her generous appeal to their wallets did not deter them from taking her into custody.

It was a very strange end to a Cyberpunk game. Usually the players take the role of a band of misfits and nobodies who are out to fight the evils of mega-corporations. This time, they didn't hesitate to enforce strict corporate policy. You never can tell.

I'm So Excited

This silliness about sums it up:



There's a metric ton of crazy-awesome that's going down in McCullough-Land these days. I have a few fun announcements to share today and I hope that video puts you in the right mood. Here we go:

• This past weekend I finished the first draft of my novel. To celebrate (and also in celebration of my birthday), I'm having a few promotions on the Kickstarter Campaign. If you back the campaign from 12:01am Friday morning (12/4) to 11:50pm Sunday night (12/6) you'll get some exclusive bonus content with your book: stickers, buttons, and a special surprise! Click on over and hop on the bandwagon.

• We played a sweet game of Cyberpunk this weekend between rounds of turkey dinner ~ and if we ask JJMIV nicely enough maybe we can get him to write a post about it... pllllleeeeaaaase!?!?

• I'd also like to introduce an idea to the interwebs: SEEKER. It's a webseries about two female bounty hunters, the bad guys they chase down, and the trouble they get into. I'm collaborating with my best friend and general co-conspirator, Sarah Croce. I spent a good part of the fall writing season 1 and we've recently joined forces with a wonderful director. The wheels are turning and I'll be sharing this process as we move forward.

• Finally, I want to share one of Sarah's recent projects. I'm one of her True Fans (because she's beautiful, talented, and brilliant!) and it's important to pass on the work of those you love and admire. Episode two of the web series Bleeder (name similarities merely a coincidence) is out and embedded below! Check out episode 1 here.
  

Bleeder - Episode 2 - Common Bonds - SD from Mark Kochanowicz on Vimeo.

We've got a lot of work to do; but also a lot to celebrate. Man, I love December!

~DMcC

Slice It Up

Kudos to my friend Jennifer's comedy group, Candy Slice, who were given some love by Perez Hilton yesterday. Here's the video that's getting attention.



They're trying to get a nod from the ECNY Awards 2009, so if you like them give them a nomination!

You know, for all my chatter about indi artists and the need to support them... I'm just a nerd girl who thinks this is cool.

~DMcC

The Brain; well, it plays tricks on you. It sees things that aren't there. It tells you that bumps in the night are monsters intent on devouring your toes.

Lately, my brain tells me that I'm not working hard enough. That there's more I could/should be doing. Yesterday (after working alllllll daaaaay on a sewing project and then spending a few more hours on the book) I received some physical proof of my efforts. And I want to share them.

First up are the proofs from a shoot for Citizen Stock. This is my favorite shot. It's especially welcome as I don't have very many nice pics with my guitar.


AND a commercial I worked on also premiered yesterday ~ sorry to say that I was trimmed away, but it was still fun. Here's a production still to play Where's Waldo? in, and the completed video.




Happy Thanksgiving!

~DMcC

Indi Artists and 1,000 True Fans

We all have felt it. We all know it's there. We feel it in the way our habits have changed and the doors opened or closed.

For most the impact is in how we get our news and entertainment or approach shopping. You no longer head to your local music store, whether it be a small independent shop or a monster Best Buy. You don't get the New York Times delivered because you can read it on-line. If you need final proof, it's in how many of my friends no longer have cable. Why pay for it when I can get it for free on Hulu?

We all are listening to the old model of producing entertainment take its last rasping breaths. Just because analysts have been saying it for years doesn't mean that they're wrong. When's the last time you bought a CD? Compare the number of books you bought in 2002 to 2009. The blockbuster, Top 40, Brittney-Spears-mega-seller business model is on its way out. The time of the independent artist is rising.

But in the vacuum being left how is the independent artist to breath? The path used to be laid before us, even if it wasn't simple: Get agent, write proposal, struggle, try to make enough money to support all those that have failed. Rinse. Repeat.

Now we are faced with a world of uncertainty. Should I take this risk. Can I still feed my family if I do. What if no one buys it? What if no one is listening? What if I'm not a NYTimes Best Seller? Add to the mix that most artists have no idea what it means to be business savvy and we're facing a scary cocktail.

Kevin Kelly's 1,000 True Fans Theory has been making the rounds and it makes a lot of sense. It's how I comfort myself in the cold, wet, dark of the night when my teddy has rolled beneath the bed and I've convinced myself that I'll never amount to anything.

Best described in his own words:

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

Kelly continues by elaborating on the concentric circles of supporting fans that may not buy everything but still support your work. (Every indi artist should read this. Hell! Everyone should read this. As a consumer of indi work you should understand how your artist survives).

The “1,000” number is really an X value. X = The Number of Fans Needed to Keep Your Work Alive. I (and many others) believe that this is the new business model we're all fitting into. Using the tools of technology to keep close to our fans ~ Twitter, Facebook, iLike, and (thank god) Kickstarter. We connect to you directly and you tell us what you think. The feedback loop is strong and supportive. The best example of this are Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day. Watch how they play with their fans on Twitter and you'll see what I mean.

But how do we get to our X number? Starting with our families and friends, how do we push beyond? The theory leaves us with a model but few techniques. The artist is left screaming into the static of the web looking for a way to be heard. Hoping that everyone they spam that YouTube link to will forward or repost it. An artist can't go viral without their help.

The artist is still found to be hoping that their work and their fans are strong enough to bring in more. The anxiety of the mass market is still there, still very real. We talk about not living in the shadow of Blockbuster production; but we're also living without it's shield.

With the direct link to the artist now available, Fans have more power than they ever have. They can tell an artist exactly what they think and feel the ripples of the opinion. But, as we know from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Without the viral effect, without art pushing beyond the original audience, it eventually dies. The artist can not sustain production. No fan wants to feel put-upon, so what is the artist to do?

Keep producing. Keep Twittering. Keep clutching the bear in the night and dreaming of new ways to reach out into the static.

Late Bloomer

I'm a late bloomer. Not in the when-I-got-hair-down-there sense, but as a geek.

Not in the greater-world sense. I was always socially awkward and had a Hermione-like need to answer every question a teacher threw at a class. When I was five I gave my 20-something aunt a lecture on the proper pronunciation of counting is Spanish because "I've seen it on Sesame Street!" (which means I know everything. Duh).

But in the nerd-world sense. Unlike my husband, I didn't grow up in a pocket of well-defined nerds with super-humanly-smart parents who watched Star Wars daily (yes, one of our friends did that as a child) who all played D&D together as they grew up. I just wasn't exposed to it. I didn't know what D&D was in high school, and I grew up in a family that still questions its relationship to my Christian upbringing and ties to Satanic worship.

I didn't know Magic or WoW and probably would've thought GURPS was an STD.

I remember very clearly my first D&D game. We played in the penthouse in one of the dorm towers at our college, and with the city sprawled below us I ventured out as the halfling rogue Elizabaum Roseleaf (she'll always be my favorite). JJMIV's friends had stopped in for a few hours during a road trip and in the chatter before the game they were talking about various girlfriends' refusals to play D&D. At all. Ever. I was already the only girl, it was the first time meeting any of JJMIV's friends from high school, and I'd never played before.

I was more nervious than a prize piggy in a bacon factory. And this wasn't helping What if I sucked!? Does it diminish my nerd-cred if I don't know how to play? What if I'm reinforcing the stereotypes of girl gamers and bla, bla, bla...

We've all seen the movie-magic stereotype of what gamers are. The Comic Book Guys of the world. Ready to sass you to prove their Epic Nerd Superiority (or compensate for something, perhaps?).

And I would argue that there's some truth to the myth. If you run in nerdy circles long enough it eventually happens ~ you invite your cute new lady-pal along to a gathering. Your inescapable, socially inept Sheldon-line pal comes too. And he rips her up for confusing Star Wars and Star Trek, even though she has a legit science/math/cool-other-shit degree. But why does his opinion matter in the first place?

Well, because being a nerd isn't just about the gaming. Or the science. Or knowing a lot of cool things that no one else understands. Nerds who found a group as kids grew up in a pocket of like-minded fellows. Sure, they went through all the other crap we all go through, but they had Saturday morning gaming sessions to help them cope.

But Late Bloomers; we had our own set of challanges. Trying to find other people who liked science as much as we did. An outlet to rally around. Doing a ton of activities, but not really feeling like we had a place where it all came together.

I think Jim from American Pie 2 says it really well: "Nadia. I am a band geek. I just never joined band."

Being a nerd is partially about inclusion. I played that first D&D game when I was 20. That winter JJMIV also taught me how to play Magic and Risk. I built my first decks and got my ass handed to me by a bunch of 13 year olds at a few Booster Draft tournaments. You know what? It was awesome. Sure, those 13 year olds looked at me like I was a jerk and I had no clue what I was doing. But I loved it. We bought Carcasson and it seemed like there was always something to do or play or someone to hang out with.

And that first D&D game was awesome too. The guys we played with are now my friends and they didn't mind pausing to show me where to look on my character sheet to tally my bonuses. They liked teaching the game. Though some are Sheldon-esque at times I've realized that SO AM I. Now I'm DMing my own adventures.

Late Bloomers are an important part of our community. They're refreshing, and it's wonderful to see the faces of people who've never gamed before realize how much they love it. Being in theatre it's bonus-exciting because there are so many natural story tellers. People who really get into the background of their characters. (I just wish one of us could DRAW! It makes me jealous of Gabe & Tyko all the time).

This year we've taught 2 more people D&D who never played before. My friend Hannah (whose SWEET Dragon-born Paladin saves my Shaman Human's butt every week) said to me last week "I can't believe I never played D&D in high school. You guys must thing I'm so behind."

Nope. You know why? Because I'm a Late Bloomer too. And being a geek takes all kinds. Welcome to the fold.

Art Feeds Art

I love cool stuff.

This sounds like such an obvious statement, because who doesn't? HONESTLY! Duh!

But it's a wonderful thing when you're wandering through your day, half awake and something smacks you in the face and says "Look at me, dumb @$$". Like this piece from Tom Otterness in the 14th Street Subway Station.

I was on my way to a shoot, it was 6AM, and I was out of it in a way that defies both logic and description. I'd been going gig-to-sleep-to-gig for three days. Creatively exhausted and expected to put out (figuratively) in about 90 minutes. These little guys were a breath of fresh air. I almost missed my train because I needed to photograph them.

Even on my crappy phone camera from behind the barriers you can see how great they are. Sweet little guys going about their day, undermining the structure of the city.

I even talked to them a little (Like you do at 5am on 4 hours of sleep). To the one above I said "He's just standing there letting you get eaten!" While taking this picture from the other side a stranger came up and said "get it from over here" and gestured for me to come over to his side. Resulting in the shot above, which is MUCH better.

What I liked most about the installation was that for all the salt of the other two pieces, where the subway is being destroyed and one of the little guys eaten by an alligator, this one is sweet. The big, bad, guy with all the money is helping the little one out. You could read it like he's only giving him one or two of his coins, but those could be for other little ones out there.

I'd like to think my work that morning was better because of Tom Otterness. Thanks Tom, wherever you are.

Write Write, Bloody Well Right

When presented with endless free time I'm a fan of quickly filling it with projects and I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that I often over-extend myself. This fall seems to have become no exception.

I currently do not have a full-time "job". I quote it because I'm not currently getting paid or what I've been up to; but I might some day (I hope). I've applied for a few, but nothing seems to be biting. In all honesty I'm not looking all that hard. So what have I been up to?

First: Auditions! Every week I'm running around the city popping in and out of overly-bright rooms and blurting out a few pages just to run to the next one. Even one audition that takes five minutes easily becomes an all day affair. I get up early to work the sides and set my curly hair just right and then ride in on the subway for an hour or more, have my five minutes of glory, and then ride back.

The result of these efforts are 2 commercials I hope to come out in the next week. They're hilarious and I can't wait to post them.

But beyond the acting and the occasional make-out session with my guitar (admit it, you thought that would end in TMI), I've been writing. Like there's no tomorrow. Songs. Blog posts. But most importantly: novels.

As a kid I loved the idea of writing a novel, and even planned how I would do it someday, but couldn't "find the time" to actually write it (even as a kid, I overstretched myself). So in the first week of October I got the brilliant idea that I should start working on one. And I did. And I'm really proud of how it's turning out. So proud that I've decided to self-publish it.

Here's the catch. I know I can use Lulu and I know what I want to do, but how to launch it all? And then I found Kickstarter. Kickstarter helps artists/creators/collaborators launch their visions by asking for backers. They choose an amount and a timeframe and shoot for it. As I believe in doing scary/crazy/exciting things, I launched my project this past Sunday. YOU SHOULD FUND IT!! You get cool stuff in return for funding and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. (A side note: if you pledge now you're not charged until Jan 5 when it ends, so don't worry about waiting for pay-day)

As if that wasn't enough, I've decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo ~ National Novel Writing Month ~ and do another novel for that. Oh, and we got a director for the webseries I wrote, Seeker. I'm collaborating with Sarah Croce and we're bringing in Mark Kochanowicz to direct. (We'll probably use Kickstarter to raise the money for that project too.) More on Seeker in the next few months. It's going to be huge!

Free iPod, anyone?

Now, I normally am not one for plugging; but I can say of my friend Katee that she has one great blog. Confessions of A Young Married Couple. Why do I plug you ask? Why, because they're giving away a free iPod. And everyone likes free (including me).

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby!

Whoo!

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been for both of us. D&D, opening the Haunted Hotel,Sam & Andrew's wedding (good friends from Yale) and my first commercial!

We've been playing Keep On The Shadowfell and John is DMing. We've had a few great sessions and one 10 HOUR MARATHON and we're finally getting to the meat of it all. I have to commend our friend Brian, he's playing an evil avenger of Bahamut (I still haven't figured it out either) and did some of the best RP I've ever seen last session. He convinced a Hobgoblin War Chief to hire us, and then we killed him. And took over the clan. And sent them somewhere else. It was brilliant.





I've included a pic of Brian so you can see the amazing shirt he was wearing during these shenanigans.

The Haunted Hotel has been equally satisfying. It's at City Tech (where J teaches) and they brought me in to work with the actors. It was an interesting challenge to bring a room full of Tech students who have never acted up to speed in an hour. There were bumps, but we opened last weekend and from all I can tell everyone is having a lot of fun with it.

This weekend I filmed my first commercial spot. It should be up on the interwebs in a few weeks, and you can bet your sweet pinky toe nail that I'll be posting it everywhere possible, so stay tuned.

Finally; on Sunday we went to the wedding of our friends Samantha and Andrew and it was wonderful. Quite possibly the funnest wedding I've ever been to, including our own. They have wonderful taste and every detail was perfect ~ it was really wonderful to be a part of it. Below are some of my favorite pics from the afternoon.

~DMcC

D&D Anyone?

Just wanted to share my favorite shot from a photo shoot I did last week with Nathan Blaney. The nerds in the audience will appreciate it in a big way!

Nathan was a lot of fun to work with and was willing to experiment with my gaming concepts a little. This is John's favorite too.

We're sharing the couch at the moment and prepping for a game on Saturday with our friends Ben & Jen (BJen, as you may know them). It'll be my second round of DMing and I'm trying to keep my conscious mind occupied while I come up with schemes of the best way to meddle in the lives of these "helpless" player characters. Muahahaha.

DMing for Dummies

First, to answer your obvious question: Yes, there is such a thing. No, I don't have it nor did I consult it for DMing.

From the last few posts you can gather that I DMed for the first time a few weekends ago and John's thoughts on the subject. I haven't given it much reflection; though I'm about to begin my next campaign. It's about time I paid it a little thought.

It was a LOT of fun. Honestly. I really enjoyed watching them try to work their way through my puzzles or manipulate the NPCs and chase down leads that weren't really there. It held the game up a little and also taught me a lot about thinking like my players do.

You know what else they did? Tested my ability to think on my feet. No matter how much you read about Use what your players give you! Don't negate them! it's really hard that first time not to get defensive of the hours of work you've put into your campaign the first time it happens.

"Amanda, why is Gnell going to Nenlast?"
"To visit his uncle Gniven who runs the inn."

Internal monologue: But I've already made someone who runs the inn. His name is Will and he's going to tell you all about why you should help them. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

This is luckly the moment when the years of hearing "Yes, And" from my improv coach at No Laugh Track Required kicked in and I said "Great!" and decided that Will ran the pub instead. No problem! This trend continued as they decided to try and be sneaky with the locals and then talk to/berate/insult the head of the local "militia" (which is really just a bunch of farmers). When John's character Brevan nearly had a screaming match with this NPC, it was obvious that maybe it was time to move on... (Side note: it was a choice that this NPC was a jerk. It was also a choice for John that his PC be a jerk and insegate him. Hehehe)

I dont want to go too much farther into the encounter as I dont want to potentially spoil a few things that John and Amanda haven't figured out yet. What I will say is that I mis-read some of the rules and the combat was too easy! I'd been so concerned that I would kill them if only two people were playing and they totally plowed through most of the combat. By the end I was adding extra guys so they weren't yawning. I was a little disappointed in the puzzle I'd made, because instead of solving it they just tried every combination until it was completed. Next time I'll be sure to provide some negative consiquences (hee hee).

It may be awile before Gnell is able to join us again so John has asked me to run a different campaign with the local peeps. That's what I'm starting to brainstorm now.

More to come...

Do you have suggestions on how you DM that you think would help?! Take a page out of Ben's book and send them to me. I'll post them up for all to enjoy! (This means you Adam & Eric)

Lame Little Video

One reason we came to New York? So I could focus on acting and music. It's been good so far; I started auditioning and playing at open mics... both of which are wonderful and terrifying.

I wrote a new song a few weeks ago and recorded this video on Friday night when I was way too tired to be allowed near the camera.

Enjoy:

After Action Report - Barbarians of Nenlast

Last weekend, Darlene took up the mantle of the DM for the first time. Since a DM needs players, I obliged and played the role of Brevan, eladrin fighter and scion of the House of the Autumn Leaves. Gnell the gnome bard was played by Amanda, our dear and true friend.

What follows is an excerpt from Brevan's fieldbook:
Having met on business in Hammerfast, Gnell and I came to travel together to Nenlast, a small fishing village on the eastern shore of Lake Nen. I was questing after an ancient magical spear, rumored to have been lost on the field of battle near modern-day Nenlast. Gnell was making an annual visit to her uncle Gniven, delivering metal goods from Hammerfast for use at his inn.

The people of Nenlast were ill at ease, and with good reason. The Tigerclaw barbarians, who usually trade furs for salted meat and metalwork, had taken up the habit of raiding for their goods. The fishers and farmers of Nenlast were no match for these brutal and experienced warriors, and had been totally unable to repel them. Needless to say, we took it upon ourselves to confront the barbarians. We gathered what information we could from the villagers about the whereabouts and habits of the barbarians, then set off into the wilderness in search of our quarry.

It was our intention to reason with the Tigerclaws, who had been honest trading partners in the past, but the Tigerclaws would have none of it. We were ambushed by an archer and a beastmaster with trained dogs. The barbarians attacked immediately, without warning and without asking any questions. We bested them swiftly and took the archer as a prisoner. Through a mixture of interrogation and tracking, the entrance to the lair of the brigands was soon found.

The camp was located inside an ancient ruin. Though the wall was crumbling, and had lost much of its former glory, it was still high enough to keep out intruders and boasted a magically sealed gate. Gnell, being as skilled in the ways of magic as she is at playing the mandolin, quickly deciphered the magical lock and opened the way.

Inside the camp, we found not barbarian warriors, but city-dwellers from the south. They had in their tents furs and facepaints like the Tigerclaws wear, but they used them only as costumes for scaring the villagers. Their leader, Regdis, was an accomplished warrior and was assisted by a woman mage with mastery over lightning. They were formidable opponents, but were ultimately defeated. Regdis had a letter from an unknown third party named Korin. They were appartently quarreling, but there were no clues about why these people were so far from home, or why they were impersonating the Tigerclaws.

Nenlast appears now to be safe, but for how long? And what has become of the true Tigerclaw clanspeople? I have some further inquiries to make in town about the old battlefield. Perhaps I will also dig deeper into this mystery.

Sage Advice

After being out of commission with my first NYC cold I'm finally getting back on my feet. Unfortunately, it means I haven't had a chance to write another post... so instead I'll be sharing the wonderful input of our dear friend Ben.

In response to my "OMG I'm going to DM!!" post Ben sent an e-mail with some guidance, and I thought it would fit well into the flow as I develop as a Dungeon Master. Unfortunately for my victims... uhh, I mean "players" (hee hee) I didn't receive his e-mail before we played on Saturday (I'll explain later). For now, here you go:

I've been pondering what nuggets of juicy wisdom I can add to what John would tell you about GMing. The first detail that I thought you might not have stressed is that DnD4e has just about every conceit that the theater has. The action is broken down into scenes and acts with a very specific structure for how the action is resolved. While there is nothing wrong with this, and in fact much that is good about it, there are other ways to operate. It is possible to instead conduct the action in a more literary fashion where the primary motivation for playing is developing the characters. This is more akin to what White Wolf games (Vampire, Werewolf, Exalted) try and do. These other games take longer to play since you don't just race to the boss fight and kill as fast as you can. And they also take a different priorities amongst the players and GM.

The other detail that John may well have mentioned but I feel it good to bring up. I, for one, find the best antagonists to be intelligent beings doing what we would consider reasonable if the story were told from their point of view. Like the old Wizard trying to achieve immortality. Our only gripe with him is the collateral damage caused by the ritual. It makes the moral life of the characters more than just words on the page. Again these are harder to motivate and pull together for one-shots and are better suited to a campaign.

Lastly, don't just give experience for what the book tells you to. Do your characters only learn and grow from killing things or set piece skill challenges? The point of the game is to have fun and tell a good story. Whatever helps that gets experience.

Simple Folk (Spoiler)

After writing my blog post last night I started looking through the setting maps in the 4.0 DMG and reading through the descriptions. I'm already familiar with some of the areas from the campaigns that JJMIV has been running, so I wanted to working in an area that we haven't already been playing in his world.

As I browsed the book I came upon the humble fishing village of Nenlast. It's nestled in the northeast corner of the map, a few days from Hammerfast.

Text fromthe DMG:

This tiny human village lies at the east end of Lake Nen. The folk here make a meager living by trading smoked fish to the dwarfs of Hammerfast. They also deal with the Tigerclaw barbarians of the Winderbole Forest. When the wild fold choose to trade, they come to Nenlast to barter their pelts and amber for good dwarven metalwork.

I feel a little lame. I wanted to build a great campaign with crazy monsters that made my PCs go "WHAT!?"; but alas, I've disappointed myself. I've written a straight-up brigand campaign.

From my notes last night, here's my concept:

The simple people of Nenlast have recently fallen to despair; the Tigerclaw barbarians have been praying on their simple lives, but who can help them? The local militia are simple fishermen and can do little to stop the wild woodsmen.

While there are a few surprises on the way, our adventurers will mostly be taking on the bad boys in the woods. I'm fleshing out the details of the role playing and encounters, and then it's go time! Still have to work out the treasure.

One thing that drove me crazy was the Monster Creator from Wizards of the Coast. "Why?" You ask. Well, I put together all my baddies and though I had everything ready to print... only to realize that it wouldn't print out neat little cards like the Character Creator does for your PC! Why not!? AND - if you've put something in your "clip board" you can't pull it back up to print it. Lame. Meh, it's beta.

Time to get my peeps to roll up characters. Here we go!

-D Mc C

Dungeon Mastery

One thing about New York: because we were apart all summer we've been spending a lot of time together. It's also the first time since we've been together that neither of us is going to school. The trick is finding something to do with that time. So? We've been playing a bunch of D&D.

And it got me thinking about what goes into a game. I've watched John pull together dozens of games since we've been together, but I've never helped; I always felt like I didn't know enough. Well, a person has to start somewhere, right?

So I'm taking on the mantle. I'm slipping behind the screen. I'm going to DM my very first adventure.

Obviously, JJMIV is going to help (how could he not?). We've been listening a lot to the D&D podcasts of the gents from Penny Arcade, Scott from PVP, and (sigh) Wil Wheaton. John and I thought it would be fun for me to blog my DM journey.

(For those playing, I'll warn you when there's a spoiler coming)

I've read the Monster Manual and DMG to start with, though it seems my first major road block is not what I expected: I can't find where to start! The thing I'm having most trouble with is inspiration for a story, a plot. Just that drop that starts the creative juices a-flowin'. Nothing. I've tried having JJMIV tell me about a character he wants to play. I've looked at fan fiction and artwork on-line. I've even tried Wiki-How.

Nada.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and force it. (Insert "last night" joke about your mom here)

-D Mc C

Fly A Kite

Fly A Kite
Originally uploaded by leneyloo

After 18 days in New York we finally found 1) the mini USB cable and 2) the camera, and finally had all the necessary technology to unload the pictures from the summer.

I love this picture of Noah & I at Skaket Beach so much that I couldn't wait to post it.

Our New Home

We've done it.

We live in NYC.

I've spent the last few days looking around our box filled apartment thinking "we're actually here!"




For anyone whose thinking "huh?" (maybe you've been under a rock?), John & I moved to Brooklyn this past Sunday. As of right now we've only really unpacked the kitchen and most of the bedroom. We're painting the bedroom and office (bedroom is DONE!) before unpacking anything into them.

The 2nd picture is the main room on Sunday afternoon after all our things were brought in - intense to say the least. We've both been fighting the urge to feel overwhelmed ~ but with some time and some elbow grease this is going to be home. Our home. :)

Pack it up, Pack it in.

We're almost there - in 3 days all our belongings will be on a truck winding its way down I-95 South. Back to my favorite state; on to new and exciting things.

It's been a great summer at the beach house. We've had parties and sunsets; and I'm reasonably sad at the good-byes.

People here have been joking with me about the stops on my "Farewell Tour". Almost every night for the last week I've had somewhere to go or something to do. It's been intense; and John's had his own version of it in Poughkeepsie.

So this afternoon I have lunch with two of my favorite people at Miya's and tonight I have a dinner party to go to; John's playing pool after his final day of notes in the shop.

Tomorrow is lunch with my former boss and happy hour at Sage (mmm...); John's climbing with our friend Amanda and saying bye to his close proximity to the Gunks.

Saturday John will be home. The moving fan shows up Sunday morning... 3 days from right now.

Today is my final packing push. My hope is that I can finish it all and spend tomorrow on the beach one last time. Here's hoping...


NYC... here we come...

I can't wait to get on the road...

To quote Willy Nelson: "The life I love is making music with my friends/ and I can't wait to get on the road again."

Plans are starting to materialize, and just as it seems that those around me are settling into their summers I feel like I'm about to shift into high gear. For months we've been plotting and trying to nail down details and it seems that they're all falling into place. I was lucky to find this little weekend haven of not traveling (the first "free" weekend since graduation!) to collect my thoughts.

Next weekend we'll in in NYC looking at apartments. We have the weekend of the 1st as a fail-safe; but I'm hopeful we wont need it. Then just 2 short weeks till we move. The beach house has been good to me; but I can't wait to unpack all our things and build a home with John that we know we'll be in for longer than a 1-year lease. Our plan is to find somewhere we can plan on staying at for 4 to 5 years. Then we'll be ready for that big, scary next step that we don't talk about (shh... yes, I'm making a b-a-b-y reference. Don't tell our moms... they get a little excited).

John will start teaching at City Tech around Labor Day, and though it wasn't originally the plan I'll actually be leaving my job (GASP! I know!). I'm not sure yet what my plan will be. It'll be nice to have some time to focus on my more creative endeavors, yet at the same time I've spent the last 3 years running the show. Managing our lives to allow John to focus on school. It'll be weird going back to being the flaky one who doesn't think about that stuff as much and having a more shared control. We'll adjust. We always do.

So with all the changes I keep reminding myself of a conversation I had with John's mom not long ago when I told her I was losing my job and there was some uncertainty on the horizon. She said something about being flexible and going with it and I replied "Ya. We're good at changing the plan. We have a good perspective that we're married to each other, not the plan."

A Big Fat Filthy Liar!

I know. I promised. I told you all that I'd post about graduation and I didn't - but I had a good excuse! My computer died (ok, I spilled water on it), and then John left, and then I had house guests, and then it died again. But I'm posting now, ok!?

OK!

So, unfortunately it's true; yesterday my computer had a serious problem loading Vista and couldn't get past the initialization loading bar - then everything would go black except the mouse pointer and it would sit there... doing nothing... I tried to repair it. I cried over it and begged it to come back to me. I apologized for not shutting down properly the night before. Ya, it was my fault. I had to reset to the factory default - losing all my pictures and music from the last month.

I suck. Lesson learned.

Thanks to the miracles of facebook, I can at least share a few of the highlights.

Below are some of the best ones:

John's parents and grandparents had a good time talking with Ben Sammler in his home on Sunday night.


Sam and Andrew are to be married this October, but this weekend all the focus was on him being one of the graduating Class of 2009.

On Sunday night we went to the the YSD No Name Band play. John and I had a great time laughing and dancing (Yes...John...DANCING!)
The No Name Band was awesome - I'm disappointed that Philip's face is covered in this shot because he's leaning into his guitar like such a rock star!


This isn't the best pic in the world, but I just love seeing John in cap and gown with a little smile and his ribbon for Pierre. All the graduates wore green ribbons in honor of our friend who passed away in an accident at the theatre a little over a year ago.

Ben Sammler, the chair of the TD&P department, is the Grand Marshal for the YSD graduation. (I'm sure you recognize John) On the right is Dean Bundy.
Family photo. Grandpa Mike, Jack, Me, John, Becky, and Grandma Johanna


One of John's classmates and our friend, Jun, left to return to Korea soon after graduation. He's invited us to come visit him (and I'm sure we will) and we were saying good bye.

Phew!

The whirlwind of changes has officially descended on upon our short branch of the McCullough family; though we're beginning to see the eye of the storm. Where to begin!?

First, I'll apologize. I'm currently working on pirated internet and connection is 'poor' at best, so I'm not able to upload pictures (Oooo, I'm such a bad kid!!).

This past Monday, on Memorial Day, John graduated from Yale. It was awesome, and I'm so proud I don't really know how to describe it. I cried like a little girl! (Twice!) It by no means was the easiest 3 years of my life; though it wasn't as bad as I was warned it would be by the people I met when I first got here. He worked really hard for this, and it shows. John was honored with the Edward C. Cole Memorial Award, voted on by his fellow students; and the 8 members of his class were all recipients of the Pierre Andre Salim Memorial Award in memory of our friend who passed away in Oct 2007. I PROMISE that later this week there'll be a post dedicated to graduation (with pictures).

There was little time to relax and celebrate, though, because John had a thesis to finish and we had to MOVE! That's right - is our copious free time this week we had to pack the rest of our apartment, clean like fiends, and rally the troops to carry our stuff.

But first: my bowling team won the league championships! Yippie (I know...big deal!). So I HAD to take time off from packing and working and celebrating to go the the big fancy award ceremony (not really) and get my championship patch!?! PATCH!? Where the little trophy with the man on it? Whatever - no time to complain, I have a move to do!

Back to our regularly schedule hectic life. Yesterday morning we started around 9 and had a great group of friends show up. It was warm and sunny and couldn't have been a better day for a move - John even described yesterday as "fun". We had plenty of time, and had the truck back by 2!

So here's the plan: we're moving to NYC in 2 months, so we're not unpacking most of our stuff here; and I also have 2 friends storing random stuff at the beach house as well - which means everyone was worried that we wouldn't all fit. Well, good new. Everything fit and we only have 5 or 6 boxes left to unpack and we're DONE until August.

PHEW!

It's been a crazy week. Wrap into that a little cold and a touch of heat stroke yesterday and I feel like I just won a prize fight; but the point is we WON the fight. The beach house is AWESOME (though Sammy and Stella might disagree with me at the moment). The kitchen is huge, the living room big enough for a double twister game (almost), and the best part? Long Island Sound is less than 1/2 a block away! When I get out of my car I smell salt water. I went down to the beach for a walk today and there was no one else there. :D

John leaves in 2 weeks for the summer; but we're going to enjoy our time here together while we can... and then in a few weeks the storm picks up again when we start looking for our place in NYC! For now, a little break from the crazy to enjoy the sea gulls and having a kitchen big enough to cook in.

Congratulations Adam!

We've headed north this weekend to join John's family in celebration. Adam, John's younger brother, graduated yesterday from Sterling College; one of the smallest colleges in the country. They have a working farm, draft horses, graduated 14 people this year, and they promote an amazing sense of community. Everywhere we went yesterday we heard how much they love Adam and what a contribution he's been to their lives. It was great to hear (especially since we feel the same way!)



We had a great day - it started off with lunch in the dining hall/meeting room/biggest space on campus. Unfortunately, it started to pour and most of the days activities were outside. What to do? Why, a Ping Pong tournament, of course!



The rain cleared and we thought we were safe. We headed down to the barns and half-way there the sky opened up again. We dove for cover in a shed and listened as the hail slammed down on the tin roof. Finally it seemed like it would hold off for a bit and we made our way to the farm.

Being spring, there were a lot of baby animals; despite our efforts, Mary T and I couldn't convince her dad that he should want a baby goat. Then Adam introduced us to the draft horses.


Commencement was a lot of fun, and a great celebration of how different this place is from your average college. I spent the day feeling like I understood why Adam loved this place so much - they're his kind of people.

Adam was elected by the Class of 2009 to be one of two speakers at graduation. His speech was fantastic, and so ADAM! I did my best to capture it on my dinky camera (sorry for the pauses, it was saving...) and you can hear his own words about why he loves Sterling.

The Sterling College Class of 2009

Bought Boxes Yesterday

The packing frenzy is off to a slow start in the McCullough household. We're a whopping 5 boxes in and it's mostly books. For our first 3 years together we moved a LOT: the longest we were in one place was 9 months during the school year and the shortest was a matter of weeks while company housing was being prepped at a theatre. So it's a little odd to have been here for 2 years and now have to un-trench ourselves.

I'm also enjoying the realization that I've been making little promises to myself about this move. I'll sort stuff and actually label all the boxes. I'll throw things away. Man - I never knew throwing stuff away could feel so GOOD! Being that we've been together since both of us lived in dorm rooms we have a lot of junk that was collected as we got our first few apartments: shelves from good will, a shoddy DVD rack we use to hold plays, a mix of chairs and other furniture hand-me-downs. Now that we'll both have jobs and we're planning on buying real big-kid furnishings they're all going to Mr. Dumpster.

My favorite so far was heaving the bookshelf. It's been broken for 3 years and the top warped from a bad plant-sitter while we were on our honeymoon. Ugly doesn't being to describe. All of its contents went into a box and it went away - and I felt a great sense of relief and accomplishment:

This is really happening. We're really going to move to New York. I'm really going to work from home and take some acting classes. John's really going to have his dream job.

I'd forgotten in our 2 years in this place and our 3 years in New Haven, that moving isn't just about taking your stuff somewhere else. It's about new beginnings and possibilities. And I am so completely ready for ours.

Amanda's 1st Outdoor Climb

John & I love having a friend out climbing for the first time - and tonight we took our friend Amanda outdoor for her first time. She's been gym climbing with us a bunch and has rapped a few times. We had a great time, and we both rocked this one crack system. Here's a slideshow I made of one of her climbs.

There's not an easy way to speed it up, so I find clicking next gives a cool affect.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A good one right after a solid climb:


And the 3 of us at the end of our climbing morning:

Making Plans

It's been a busy and exciting few weeks for the New Haven Chapter of the McCullough Club - John's climbing trip, my vacation to LA, shifting back to work, and spring is finally here! As we've alluded to for many weeks, there's some exciting news on the horizon; however we didn't want to let the cat out of the bag too soon.

So first - an announcement: John's got his first post-graduate job! He'll be an Assistant Professor of Technical Direction at City Technical College in the Entertainment Technology Department. Are we excited? You bet your shiny top-hat we are! The way I've been describing it: "This is his dream job's, dream job". So John's going to start teaching in Brooklyn for the fall semester.

Now, you may be asking yourself the next logical question - will we live half way to NYC? Why, no! We're moving to New York in August! We've started looking at apartments in Brooklyn and neighborhoods. Our friends have been very helpful with advice and suggestions (if you have any, please don't hesitate!).

One more big bomb to couple with these...my job. While my heart is still in theatre, there are many practical concerns and I've come to LOVE working for H1 more than I'd ever expected to care for a job with a desk and a headset. 2 weeks ago my boss shared with me that they'd like to allow me to work from New York, and this week they promoted me to Sr. Analyst! Steve (my boss) was kind enough to surprise me by leading off our team meeting with an announcement of my immediate promotion - he said many wonderful things and I was tickled. It's a lot of responsibility and time managment, yet I think I'm up to it.

So here's the breakdown:
-John will graduate on Memorial Day
-Our lease is up May 31st and John's going to Poughkeepsie for the summer for work - it's only 2 months this time!
-I'll be staying in New Haven for the summer; partially because I don't want to move by myself again, and partially to have some more time in the office.
-John will be done in Poughkeepsie in mid-July - he'll come back to New Haven to help me prep for the move.
-Around August 1st we'll move to Brooklyn and I'll start working from home.
-In late August he starts teaching

Next, we take over the world!

I haven't had a chance to post yet about my AMAZING trip to LA yet; however I'd like to let "The Plan" sit for a little while and be absorbed. So, here's a teaser for my awesome trip-related post to come:

A lot of summaries.

Well, it's been a little while since I got back from all of my various trips, but now I've got some time to write about them and share them will all of you good people.

West Coast
Earlier this month I went out to visit friends and do some camping and climbing in Yosemite National Park. It was the first time I had been Yosemite, and only the second time I had been to California. This time around I was spending time in the Northern Reaches (Oakland, Davis) and saw a very different side of the state.

The first day and half were spent bumming around in Oakland and Davis, watching movies and picking oranges. Not a bad way to spend a day, and definitely good to see old friends again, but not the main attraction for this trip.

The main attraction was a 4-night and 4-day camping and climbing trip in Yosemite Valley. It was my first time doing much crack climbing, and I had never been trad climbing before. All in all, a lot of firsts. The whole time we were there we were lucky with weather. Sunny and mid-50s during the day, and mid-30s at night. Not a drop of rain while we were there, and the snow was mostly gone. Also, this early in the season, there weren't many other people in the park (a huge plus).

Our first day in the park, we stopped at a few places on the drive in to get some tourist-y photos. They may be viewed below.
This is the view on the way in. That is us (me and Maura) in the foreground, and in the background are El Capitan on the left and Half Dome on the right.

This is Bridalveil Falls. We heard a lot of crashing/crunching noises while we were in the park. I suspect it was either ice falling off the waterfalls or it was rockfall.

This is a closer shot of Half Dome on the right and that is Washinton Column on the left.
The remainder of the first day in the park was spent practicing my crack climbing skills on Swan Slab, and learning some trad technique.


Maura prepping for our first climb on Swan Slab. While in the Park, the wildlife tends to be very close to you. They have gotten used to having people around, and they are not shy. Around 11am we saw a bobcat walk past base of the crag. Over the week, we also saw two coyotes, a lot of deer, no bears and on the last day we saw a guy hit a bobcat with his car. He was pretty pissed about the dent in his fender, but didn't seem to concerned for the bobcat.


Day two was our big climbing day. We climbed Nutcracker on Manure Pile Buttress. It is five pitches of great climbing, and tops out at 600' above the valley floor. The road that leads to the picnic area near the base of the crag was closed, so we had to hike in a couple of miles. This climb may be the most strenuous thing I have ever done in my life. The first pitch was a pretty sustained lieback, which took a lot out of me. The second pitch was a long easy ramp. The remaining three pitches were a good mix of crack climbing, corner work, friction work on the face, and a good mantel on the last pitch. The last three pitches were very exposed, and it took a lot of concentration to focus on climbing and not on the view.
This is me pointing to where we topped out. Manure Pile looks a little dinky next to the Three Brothers on the right, but it sure felt tall standing on the top. The guidebook says it is a 2-4 hour climb, but I would say we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 hours on the climb.
This is a closer look at the route. The climb basically follows the white line on the picture. You can see the top two pitches of the climb in this shot. I have more pictures from the top, but they are in a disposable camera that I haven't finished yet, so I'll post those when I get them developed.

Day three brought some challenges. It's a lot to get into, but I'll just say that we did ultimately get the keys out of the trunk, Maura didn't get any tickets, and I found my wallet. We camped at Upper Pines that night, and had a fire. We feasted on boil-in-bag pad thai and s'mores.

Day four was a short climbing day. We had to leave the park in the middle of the afternoon so I could get to the airport for the return to Ye Olden Easte Coaste, but we did do some sport climbing at Pat and Jack Pinnacle.

Here I am rapping off of a route at Pat and Jack. The whole trip was an incredible experience, which I highly recommend.

Next Stop: Ohio!

Irrational is My Middle Name

I know he'll be home in 4 days. I know this. He's safe and sound in a car winding it's way across the North East headed to a conference. I'll be busy this week cleaning the grossness that is our apartment, seeing shows, bowling night and what have you.

But I'm sad. Over the course of a few short years you get used to another person being around...

As you may have noticed in the recent posts, John's been traveling a lot lately. He's had a GREAT time, and more excitement to come this week as he gets his award from USITT - yet, honestly? I'll be happy when he's home!

Yosemite Weather

Forecast for the next 5 days in Yosemite: sunny and mid 50's; overnights clear and low 30's. John really lucked out cause it could've been sloppy!

He landed safely last night and called well after bedtime. He's visiting friends today and will be setting up camp this evening. Climbing tomorrow as far as I know :D

Into the wild blue yonder...

John left this morning for his great wilderness adventure, and he's somewhere over the midwest at the moment. I'm not sure how much net access or free time he'll have over the next week, but I'll be posting when I hear from him.

Later for now!

Great Sunday

John & I had an awesome weekend!

Yesterday BJen (for those who dont know, that's Ben & Jen, two of John's friend from high school who're just under 300 days until their wedding...anyway) came to visit so we could go see Watchmen; and it's AWESOME! We went out for pie after and got home very late, and unfortunately BJen had to head out early - so what to do with a sunny Sunday in early March?

John knows! Go climbing!

We headed out into the kinda-cold to see if the snow had melted and the recent good weather had dried the rock enough. Though I may have disagreed, John thought it was good enough...and honestly, who am I to say?

So we had a great day of awesome climbs - first thing of note: I finished an outdoor route for the first time, and was so pleased I did it again! We didn't get a pic of my first top out, so we had to have a reenactment:

I was pleased to say the least.











Moving on, John tried something not discussed in the book, which was climbing the "scratches" on the route named Cat Scratch. He did a GREAT job...so much so that I turned this climb into a slideshow for your enjoyment:

Most notable to me was the way he did most of this climb on just the tips of his toes. Great job :D

We just got home a little while ago and I'm making my first quiche. While it was baking he's passed out on the couch; so good luck with that I guess! He's heading out to Yosemite in two days, so hopefully I can wake him for one of our last nights of QT before he goes.

Travel - & lots of it

There's a fair bit goin' on in the McCullough-verse - plans being laid for John's graduation and beyond and people coming and going.

My mom and step dad came down yesterday for a visit. We went out last night and took quite the tour of New Haven - they met some Higher One peeps, my mom tried Thai food for the first time (she liked it), and then met up with some Drama School kids at Beers. We had breakfast this morning at Copper Kitchen, one of my favorites, and then they headed back to smAlbany for a basketball game. We've got a crazy bit coming up in March:

• in 11 days John leaves for Yosemite to go camping and rock climbing with our friend Maura. He just got his cold weather gear in yesterday, and while I was bummed for a minute that I can't go due to a conflict at work I'm ultimately glad I'm not going to be camping in the bitter cold for a week (ssshhh, dont tell)
• John'll be back early on Monday the 16th - and leaves again on the 17th! We'll probably see e/o about 4 hours in between trips and he's going to be EXHAUSTED
• On 3/18 John heads for USITT in Cincinnati. He'll be riding with our friends Nora and Amanda, and receiving the Golden Hammer award on 3/19. Unfortunately, I wont be going to this due to another work conflict.
• John will return for good on the 21st or 22nd...and then it's my turn.
• On 3/28 I'll be headed to LA for my first solo trip since we've been together. I'm off to stay with my friend Nikki, and visit Vegas for the first time. While in Vegas I'll see Willis and Amy and I can't wait :D After a week of fun and sun I'l be back on 4/4.

We're both excited and prepping - we only just made formal plans this week and John leaves in a week and a half. Ya - we'll see each other in April!

Stained Glass

Stained Glass
Originally uploaded by leneyloo

I wanted to share what I spent my spare Sunday doing this week. My friend Danielle has been working glass since she was in high school - she didn't have any plans yesterday and was working on a project. She thought I'd enjoy it and so insisted I give it a try. It was awesome, and I'll likely do it again :D

Sacramento?

Following the example of my friend Stephen and his family blog, I installed Google Analytics for my blogs. I like it a LOT better than my old stat tracker website; it has much cooler tools and I'm not constantly being hit up to subscribe for their "professional" service. They have a nifty map feature...but I have to ask...

Who do we know in Sacramento?

Are you out there mystery Cali person?

Wish List

OK - so I feel like a giant nerd, and a bit self-serving, but I went ahead and made an Amazon Wish List. A few of my friends have them and I think they're a cute idea. 'nuf said.

Some big doin's going on for the New Haven branch of Clan McCullough - but nothing set in stone yet. I guess you'll have to keep waiting with baited breath until all plans have been laid so I can share. In the mean time, just keep your collective fingers crossed and all will be revealed in due time.

What I can tell you is that we're off to see Revolutionary Road this afternoon so I can see if I got cut or not. I'll let you all know...

Happy Birthday A-Man

Today is Adam's birthday - but he's back at school so we can't call him just yet. We're being patient until tonight when he'll be home to call. But just in case he checks this first:

Happy Birthday ADAM!