Here’s another fun scene from War of Nytefall: Ravenous. I was torn between this one and last week. Decided to post both even after a coin toss. Not much set up to this scene without spoilers though. If you like it then you can grab the book on Amazon as a $2.99 eBook or a $12.00 paperback. Enjoy.
Welcome to our quaint bakery. I know we’re out of the way, so you had to come looking for us. Yes, I guess the big sign with our name on it over the forest and the daily airdrop of fliers does help. So, here is our list of products. We would give out samples, but there’s the whole too many powers and possible explosion issue. Enjoy.
Rye– Increases your tolerance for alcohol. You need to eat the bread within an hour of drinking. The more you eat, the less chance of getting drunk. Does not prevent hangovers.
White– Grants ability to glow and fire low level light beams. Does not protect you against your own shininess.
Whole Wheat– Can grow tiny seeds in mouth and fire them like bullets. 50% chance of them just getting stuck in your teeth.
Bagels– Once ingested, you can expand your body like a balloon and float. You will have a hole in your center, which means organs will shift. Non-lethal, but gas is inevitable upon return to normal.
Pumpernickel– Can blend into shadows. No control over this power, so it is dangerous to use when walking at night.
Challah– Body can be twisted and bent like a pipe-cleaner. You will be highly susceptible to guilt trips and have a great urge to kvetch.
Ciabatta– Can squeeze through any hole. Clothes will not go with you.
Matzah– Sadness. Just sadness.
Pita– Grants ability to create pockets on your body. If ability wears off while objects are inside, they will be painlessly rejected through mouth. It doesn’t matter how big they are.
Potato– Grants all of the powers of a mole. This includes long claws for digging, poor eyesight, and whiskers.
Brioche– Eater will turn into a white ooze that smells like a dairy-based pudding. You can move like this, but people may try to eat you.
Cornbread– Enhanced sense of hearing. The baker behind this has a bad sense of humor.
Focaccia– Grants the ability to heat any liquid that you dip a finger into. The more of you in the liquid, the hotter it gets. Not recommended for public pools.
Sourdough– Until fully digested, you can secrete a mild acid from your pores. It will have a sour smell.
Roti– Enhanced strength in the arms due to fists becoming stone blocks. You will not have fingers for duration of powers.
Soda Bread– Burp out bubbles that can be used in a variety of ways. The bubbles are sturdy and will only pop on command. Sinus pain will occur after extended use.
I forgot when I stumbled onto this critically endangered bird. The Kakapo is found in New Zealand and there are only 248 alive in the world. The threats that they face are numerous including genetic inbreeding and infertility. These were caused by the the introduction of predators such as cats and stoats. Rats go for the eggs too. There is also a respiratory disease caused by the fungus aspergillus, which has laid waste to the population. There is a conservation program that is hoping to help them recover, but it is a major uphill battle. One tactic has been to keep them on two predator free islands where they are monitored while other island are located.
Now, what is a Kakapo?
This is a large, flightless parrot that weighs 4.4-8.8 pounds. They are nocturnal and live on the ground, which is why they are susceptible to predators. Kakapo are also called owl parrots because they have a round face with forward-facing eyes. They are polygynous breeders, which means one male will mate with multiple females. They are also one of the longest living birds at nearly 100 years.
Biologically, Kakapo show what is called island syndrome development. This is caused by having few predators and a lot of food for generations. With birds, this means they develop a meatier and heavier torso while their wing muscles diminish. They inevitably lose the ability to fly. This made them easier to hunt by the Maori who used them for meat and feathers. The Kakapo also appears in many of their legends and lore.
Some Kakapo facts:
They freeze when startled because they evolved to blend into their backgrounds to avoid eagles. This doesn’t work with ground predators that use their sense of smell to hunt.
They have a keen sense of smell due to their nocturnal lifestyle.
Kakapo have a musty-sweet smell, which is very distinct.
They are very friendly and have little fear of humans.
Oh man . . . This week definitely felt like I got strapped into a roller coaster with duct tape and it went haywire. Can’t even say I hit the ground running. I definitely hit the ground, but more of a faceplant followed by having to drag myself along. So, what exactly happened?
People might remember that I worked last Saturday. This required getting up at 5:30 in the morning and spending the day at a Robotics competition. Don’t get me wrong. It was a lot of fun and our team did a great job. Of course, this went until 6 PM, which was longer than I expected. All I had to eat was a cookie dough protein bar since the food there was too expensive for being basic fare. This meant gorging on pizza when I got home and that was the end of me for the evening. Once I laid down, I felt every ache and pain from a day of standing or sitting on uncomfortable seats. Again, watching the competition and seeing the students at their best was great. It just took a lot out of me and that set the stage for the rest of the week.
This put me in a tough position too. Do I spend Sunday resting up for the last full week before Spring Break or do I write? Well, I tried to do the latter as well as 30 minutes of biking in the morning. Fought through the soreness and mild exhaustion to write 2/3’s of chapter 11. My hope was to write the last bit during the week, but that never happened due to events. So, Darwin & the Demon Game hasn’t made much in the way of progress. Not as much as I had hoped, but I probably kept my expectations high. What did I expect from a week like this?
For one thing, there was the usual drama that I can’t get into. Really wish I could because I need some venting. Sadly, it isn’t in the cards. Anyway, the rest of the week did a number on me. There was a Parent Orientation for incoming 9th graders on Monday, so I spent an evening at that. I knew a lot of the curriculum information since I work in a high school and I knew the layout of the school since I went there back in the 90’s. Still, I got hear about the clubs a bit and get a feel for the scheduling. My ex-wife showed up with my son too, so I got to give him a tour of the school. I can’t remember every room that I had classes in, but I think I got most of them.
Things get a lot chaotic after that Monday event. My son had a lot of reading assignments, which are always a challenge. Tuesday was really rough since he started reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. I came home from a meeting to find him on the verge of a meltdown after struggling with the first 2 pages. Thankfully, he blurted out that he preferred the previous book with bigger letters. Tossed my shoes and jacket back on to rush to the library to get a large print version. Made things so much easier and started a week long discussion about this being an official accommodation. I’ve seen plenty of kids have a ‘large print’ accommodation for tests and books, so this isn’t anything new. Really glad I figured this out before we went for too long because it would have been a rough week if this battle lasted.
Wednesday had most of the ‘drama that cannot be named’ due to people who think the rules are there for them to change at their whim. Thursday was . . . All I remember is getting ramen with my son after a rough reading period. We had an evening appointment too, so the schedule was thrown off entirely. By the time Friday hit, I felt like everything else was a distant dream and just marched to the end. Heck, I almost forgot to write this blog post because I didn’t even realize the day of the week. Still have to do 20 minutes of biking for the week too, but I’ll do that today while my son does some reading.
This coming week should be easier. Only three days of school/work and then we’re on Spring Break. Of course, this starts with Passover, which means I start with there being no more bread in the house. Goodbye sausage, egg, and bagel sandwiches for 8 days. On the plus side, I’ll get to sleep in and I get my son for the first 5.5 days of the break. This includes my birthday. We have some fun plans, which include a few movies, video games, and Lego sets. That’s a reason why I’m pushing to get a little extra schoolwork done this weekend. At least today since we’ll be visiting family tomorrow. Been a while since I saw my niece and even longer for my son to have spent time with her. Actually, I think it was February for both of us due to the craziness. Good times will be had.
Darwin & the Demon Game will get some attention if possible. I’ll be happy if I can write that final section of chapter 11. That will leave me with 21 sections to go, which I can get pretty far into during Spring Break. I’m almost done setting up the June posts to help promote Do I Need to Use a Dragon? too. Those are really just excerpts with each week covering one of the four sections. Figure that’s a better idea while leading to a July 3rd book release. I’m trying to think up some more topic, thoughtful posts about ‘how to’ books and giving advice for July.
I do have a quick question though: Does it make sense to price the eBook at 99 cents for the month of July and boost it to $3.99 at the start of August? I keep thinking of doing this, but it seems tough to pull off without actual promos. Maybe I’ll just put a reminder on every July post that it’s 99 cents for the month. I’m still not sure if I want to go $3.99, $2.99, or maybe $4.99. A nobody giving advice doesn’t seem like it would go for a high price.
Well, this post is getting longer than expected. I need to get on with the list and dig into the day.
Goals of the week:
Help son with schoolwork.
Work for 3 days. Should be fun.
Finish the June posts, which might happen today.
Start July posts.
Finish chapter 11 of Darwin & the Demon Game.
Biking!
Passover . . . Matzah as far as the eye can see.
Get tickets for ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ to see with my son. Already got April 9th tickets for ‘Super Mario Brothers’ since it’s my birthday movie.
Continue watching ‘Leverage: Redemption’ Season 2.
The title says it all. Happy National Crayon Day! I’m sure most of us have some fond memories of these childhood treasures. Now for the funnies from a Google Image Search.
We all get stressed. It may be different levels and at different rates, but we all have moments of pressure. This can cause our minds to falter and our bodies to take on some damage. Sadly, it isn’t easy to relieve stress if life has you running around all the time and you can only lie down if you’re sick, too tired to move, or dead. There has to be something that one can do. Right?
Turn off or at least mute the phone. This is probably the hardest thing to do because we use it so often. It’s also caused people to think they can contact others whenever they want and get an immediate response. I don’t even mean for a long period of time. Anywhere from 10-20 minutes can give you a sense of relaxation. During the course of writing this paragraph, my phone went off 7 . . . 8 times. It only took me 2 minutes to write too.
Meditation is a hard sell because people think it has to be done with a lot of humming and atmosphere. I don’t think it does. All you have to do is find a quiet place and do one of two things. Either think of nothing to get the stress to fade away or think happy thoughts only. Both methods can work depending on the person.
Listen to music. It doesn’t matter what kind of music or when. Just actually listen to it instead of letting it be background. You can do this with a walk, while driving, lying down, in the shower, or in any place where you can be alone. Just let the music push away the stress.
Avoid alcohol if you’re really stress and anxious. I know people may argue with this point, especially since I talk about drinking a bunch. The truth is that I haven’t had much in the way of alcohol in years. A big reason is that I noticed even one drink would amp up my stress levels because my mind would wander to the stuff I didn’t want it to touch on. The only times it didn’t was when I was drinking with a friend who helped to redirect my attention. So, I guess this is more ‘do not drink alone’.
Talk to a friend who is willing to listen. This seems to be one of the hardest tips for people follow. Why? We are raised to keep our damage hidden on the inside. We are taught to pretend to be healthy, functional, and confident adults. The reality is that most people are heavily scarred on the inside even if they don’t realize it. Much of our stress comes from keeping the pain internal and fearing that those around us will learn about it one day. This is why having someone to talk to about your stress can help relieve it. Could be a therapist, a friend, a family member, or anyone who you feel you can trust.
Take a nap. Couldn’t hurt, but don’t do it at work or while driving.
Adopt a quiet hobby that you can do from time to time. It can be jigsaw puzzles, drawing, crosswords, sewing, or any number of low stress, relaxing activities. I’ve found that doing them before bed can help in falling to sleep with less rambling thoughts. Use these activities to help get your mind off whatever happened that day and maybe give your emotional state a small reboot.
Legends of Windemere 