Dungeons and Dragons Again

First Published: 2022 December 2

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As with my last two posts about Dungeons and Dragons, I again was playing at the same friend’s house with the same DM. This was the third session in our module, which was prewritten by WotC. I predicted one of the major plot reveals,¹ which was that the wise mentor on the island dedicated to dragons was, herself, a dragon. It’s been a fun time so far, and I’m really excited to finish out this module before starting another one. I don’t have much more to say right now, though I’m sure I’ll have more to say tomorrow.

Monthly Reflection

First Published: 2022 December 1

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It’s the final month of 2022, which means that it’s my final monthly reflection for the year. I didn’t really set any goals in my first post of the year, but I did mention five things I was excited for then. I’ll reflect on those at the end of the year

My goals last month were:

1. Blog every day

2. Stretch every day.

3. Write a poem every day.

4. Finish NaNoWriMo successfully

5. Make progress towards catching up on BiaY

6. At least two entries in 24².

1. I blogged 13 times last month, which isn’t my best job ever. Hopefully this month goes better.

2. I stretched three times that I recorded, which is still progress technically.

3. I wrote a poem a day until the 22 or 23, when I abruptly stopped.

4. I did it!

5. I’m much closer now, though still not there

6. I only added one new entry.

That’s honestly slightly better than I normally do. I realized that I was using time I would often use for blogging for NaNoWriMo, which meant I didn’t want to blog as much. This month I’d like to write at least as much, but I guess I’ll have to see if I can do better about still blogging. Stretching remains a goal of mine that feels so unapproachable for some reason. Writing a poem a day did a lot to force me to write, though in addition to the prose I was doing, I don’t know if I still need it right now. NaNoWriMo was fun, and now my brother has pointed out how easily I could output a large sum of writing. I’m behind on 24², which is sad, but I guess encouragement for me to start doing things faster.

My goals for this month are:

1. Blog every day. This month is the month, I can feel it.

2. Stretch every day. ibid.

3. Write another 50000 word book. I saw that it was very possible last month, so I’d like to show myself that it is again.

4. Catch up on BiaY. If I want to finish this year, I need to be caught up by the end of the month.

Time to see how I do!



NaNoWriMo Update

First Published: 2022 November 25

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Hooray! I finished NaNoWriMo yesterday, nearly a week ahead of time. Sadly, there are still two achievements which require me to continue writing these next few days, so I will continue to do so.

Last time I was curious if the goal would be 0 after finishing the goal, which is somewhat true, Before I had put an increase in my wordcount today, the goal was zero. After doing so, the goal was 40, which is interesting. My writing continued to go more quickly throughout the month, which was nice. I

To My Muse

First Published: 2022 November 24

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At this point, I’m more and more sure that I’m the only one who reads this blog, for all that I rarely do so. In many respects, that makes this mostly a write-only space. But, I am currently listening to an audiobook about the creative process, and there are some interesting ideas in it about creativity.

A brief search of my musings¹ shows me that I have mentioned my muse in apparently only two posts, both of which are from my initial blog. In one, I talk about how I was blessed with a hyperfocused muse that day. In the other, I mention how my muse should be considered to have the name Janet that day.

The book talks about how writing more makes you more creative, though it does so in more of a spiritual sense than I think I am personally willing to ascribe to it. Still, it made me think about the fact that what I do now does shape who I am in the future.

So, to the future me, I hope that the writing I do now is helping you write better. To my muse, I hope that my willingness to keep writing will encourage you to keep giving me ideas.

Come From Away Review

First Published: 2022 November 24

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Last night¹ I had the chance to watch a fantastic musical called “Come From Away.” It’s about the small Newfoundland town that suddenly nearly doubled in town on September 11, 2001 when planes were diverted to its airport. I really enjoyed the musical, because most of the music was clearly coming from the Newfoundland folk tradition, and there were certainly² a number of nods to that great Canadian songsmith Stan Rogers, with his driving bass and rock influences.

The musical was interesting, especially in the way that it interspersed the serious with the profound with the funny and lighthearted. It gave me, at least, a similar feeling to what it must have felt like to be running without sleep for days in the midst of tragedy and love.

The mix wasn’t the best, but that could also just be where we were sitting. It was a fantastic show!

Book Review of The Housekeeper and the Professor

First Published: 2022 November 21

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I just finished rereading Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor. The book tells the story of a housekeeper assigned to a former math professor who has suffered an accident which means he cannot remember anything more than 80 minutes in the past. The professor is brilliant, in love with mathematics, and a genuinely kind person. Most of the book focuses on the relationship between the professor and the housekeeper’s son, who form a bond over their shared love for baseball.

Reading the book was an interesting experience for me. The last time I read this book was more than half of my life ago,¹ when my grandmother gave it to me. I don’t remember why she had the book, thought I would enjoy it, or what I took from it at the time, but throughout the entire reading of the book², I kept remembering vague snippets of my childhood.

For a book about the lack of memory someone has, it was an interesting metaexperience reflecting on my own lack of memory about my last reading of it. Even without my own personal connection to the book, though, I did really enjoy it. It’s great as a person in science seeing a writer talking about the fundamental beauty of math, and the characters all feel real. More than that, though, most all of the characters in the book are kind people. Too often I find that fiction, especially realistic fiction, tries to paint a world where no one is motivated by the interest of the common good. This book does not do that.

Overall, I give it a very biased score of 5/5, and would likely still give it a 4.5/5 even without my history. I’d highly recommend reading it, especially since it’s so short.

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

First Published: 2022 November 21

Luke 23:37 “they called out, ‘If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.’”

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The liturgical year’s last Sunday is always the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. In 2018, I noted that the year was the Year of Grace, though I don’t know what the year is this time.

Something I found really powerful about the readings is how they connect to each other and to Christ’s Kingship. The first reading shows us David’s entry into kingship, which is the line through which Christ claims His. The second reminds us that everything was created through Christ for Christ.

And, the Gospel serves to remind us what the King’s role is. He is not some warlord, conquering nations under a sword. Rather, he dies on behalf of those who revile and spite him.

Reflections on Today’s Gospel

First Published: 2022 November 13

2 Thessalonians 3:10 “In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.”

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As a brief preface, I really only focus on the Second Reading today, and in particular a single verse from it. That verse pertains to the nature of work in the Catholic worldview.

A question that I’ve had for a while is what the Church teaches about intellectual property. So far as I can tell, it doesn’t really have any teachings. The Church does, however, have a number of teachings on physical property.

One of these is that St. Paul’s exhortation requiring people to be willing to work comes with it the duty to give them what they need to work. I, personally, take that to mean that intellectual property also belongs generally to the public. Of course, the Church strongly states that we have a right to individual property, not just public use. The defense of copyright from that perspective is that we have a right to the profit potential of an idea.

For many reasons, that strikes me as a hollow argument. After all, most of the profit coming from ideas is not from individuals, but from corporations. Corporations preventing other corporations from using an idea they’ve created is something I don’t have strong feelings about, but I do strongly believe that an individual working for their own benefit should be able to use whatever tools they can that do not harm another. That is, since sharing information does not take it from the sharer, there is no legitimate cause, in my mind, for people to have the right to hoard knowledge. Additionally, is the right to profit really a right at all?

I am reminded of a quote from Saint Basil the Great, “The one who steals clothes off someone’s back is called a thief. Why should we refer to the one who does not clothe the naked, while having the means to do so, as anything else? The bread that you have belongs to the hungry, the clothes that are in your cupboard belong to the naked, the shoes that are rotting in your possession belong to the barefooted, the money that you have buried belongs to the destitute. And so you commit injustice to so many when you could have helped them.” Just as we would say that you should not forcibly take bread from someone with much to give to one who is little, but the one with much is in the wrong, we should not take the intellectual property from one who has it to give to one who does not. But, that’s the great thing about information. It isn’t taken when it’s shared.

I have two more points about St. Paul’s quote. The first is that he does not say that people who do not work should not eat, only that if someone is unwilling to work. Too often, society takes the assumption that anyone not working must not want to work. However, doing work that is not fulfilling to you or beneficial to the community is not work that we are called to do. One unwilling to do this meaningless work should not be punished, at least in my reading of the text.

Finally, just after Paul tells us this, he reminds us that paying attention to the doings of others is also not Christian. That is, he does not say that we should not feed the person who does not work, but that they should not eat. He then makes it very clear that it is not our place to decide who is and is not willing to work.



On Remembering

First Published: 2022 November 8

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Yesterday was my grandmother’s birthday. It’s a strange day for me, because it is a little sad. I still miss her, if only intellectually.

On the other hand, though, I can no longer remember most of what used to make me sad about her absence, let alone her. The only pieces of her voice that I can recall are from the voicemail that my dear brother had¹ for the longest time. When I try to picture her face, I can only see the photographs of her that we keep in our home.

It’s strange for me to realize that I’ve been without grandparents for nearly half my life now. A lot of the poems I’ve been writing this month have centered around memory, especially the generational memory that I feel like I’m missing.² In retrospect, November is a month that always has so many calls to my past, so it’s unsurprising that my reflection³ would start centering on them.

So what is remembering? Is it the emotional ties that we keep to what’s now gone? Is it the intellectual knowledge of something now lost? Is it something else? I don’t really know, but I’m glad I at least had this to reflect on it for a bit.



NaNoWriMo Update

First Published: 2022 November 7

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It’s officially one week into NaNoWriMo¹, and I’m currently doing well. I’ve managed to write at least my word goal every day, and I’m almost a full day ahead now. Since the last time I attempted it², the website has changed a lot. It’s much more user friendly now, and it’s far more gamified as well.

There’s even an achievement for hitting par³ every day in the month, which has been my primary motivating factor. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the daily goal appears to update based on how many words you have left to 50000. I wonder if that means it’ll set itself to 0 when I surpass the goal.⁴

Huh, also apparently there’s more text in this document in the footnotes than in the actual text. I guess my asides are more content than I expected them to be. I