Myriad Bits of Random Shit

   Things have been a bit crappy health wise. I have a minor sore spot on my lower right leg just above the ankle. I told my primary doctor about it, and she set up an ultrasound. The lab tech did the ultrasound on my right leg and, for reference purposes, took some readings on my left leg. The results revealed that I had blood clots behind my right knee and more clots in the upper left groin area. Because of this, I'm now taking Eliquis, a blood thinner. The padding in my knees is largely gone and there's now some measure of bone-on-bone action going on. I've received three injections into each knee of a substance made from rooster combs. Whether or not I'll need to have one or both knees replaced has yet to be determined.

  My Dad ended up in the hospital because he was having a hard time urinating. About a liter of urine was backed up in his system and this put stress on his kidneys that led to an infection. He was transported to the hospital and spent time in the ICU. He's currently in a nursing home recuperating. Hopefully, he'll be home soon. 

  The Kickstarters I'm backing are progressing slowly. The Crit Effect and Fright Effect dice have arrived at the seller's location. I've got some new Kickstarters slowly moving towards completion. This includes the Cthulhu Mythos Tarot, Crossroads Inn, Wastelands Saga, When the Wolf Comes, Satanic Panic, FlipDice, Stokerverse, Game Space and Paranoia the Perfect Edition. The two Cthulhu Wars Kickstarters are getting closer to completion. Once The Game Steward gets their Kickstarter orders, I'll be getting my Cthulhu Wars orders. Petersen Games has added The Dunwich Horror expansion to their Cthulhu Wars expansions. They're being made along with the other Kickstarters. I contacted Petersen Games and found out that they'll be selling some of these expansions via their website as soon as they become available. Here's a video of the expansion.

  I'm really looking forward to getting The Dunwich Horror and my Cthulhu Wars orders. Once I get them, I'll have pretty much everything Cthulhu Wars related. Only a few minor upgrades remain unpurchased.

  Thanksgiving and SatursGiving were a bust. We didn't make a turkey on Thanksgiving because Dad was in the hospital, and I couldn't go to SatursGiving because I had to work. I'm hoping that I'll get New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off so I can play boardgames with my friends.

Have Some More Chop Suey

   The Era: Hitman v1.1 Kickstarter has concluded. The books arrived a few days ago. The Cthulhu Wars Kickstarters are progressing towards completion. I've traded in my Samsung Galaxy S8 and upgraded to a Galaxy S22+ (256 Gb). Like most flagship smartphones, the S22+ doesn't have a headphone jack or SD card slot. It also has a different charging setup. The charging cable has USB C connectors at both ends and I had to purchase the plugin block separately. The cable, plugin block and SD card for the S8 is now being used with the Galaxy Tab A7 SM-T307U (32 Gb) I purchased from a seller on eBay. The tablet was used and came with nothing else.

  I also purchased a screen and camera lenses protector for the S22+ and a tablet cover for the Tab A7. The Tab A6 SM-T280 (8 Gb) has become my RPG rulebook tablet. All the RPG documents I've acquired are stored on the 200 Gb SD card occupying the memory card slot along with my music files. The Tab A7 SM-T307U (32 Gb) tablet will have my GoDice app and other RPG apps loaded upon it. It will serve as my RPG gaming tablet. This will cut down on the amount of gear I take with me when I go gaming. 

The Tail End of Summer

   Another boring summer is heading towards its end. Gen Con has come and gone, and I wasn't there to enjoy it. Hopefully things will be different next year. I've been to the Bristol Renaissance Faire once this year and I'm hoping to go again before the season ends.

  I've backed a few more Kickstarters since my last post. The first one is The Big Conspiracy card game. Others include When the Wolf Comes, Era: Hitman v1.1, Gausahedron, Wasteland Sagas, Cthulhu Mythos Tarot and Crossroads Inn. The Cthulhu Wars: CATaclysm and Cthulhu Wars: The Daemon Sultan Kickstarters are progressing very slowly. According to the latest update, the pieces are being or have been molded. While I was unable to participate in these Kickstarters directly, The Game Steward has backed both projects. Over the past two years or so, I've placed orders with them for items from both of these Kickstarters as well as other Cthulhu Wars expansions. When all these orders arrive, I'll pretty much have everything Cthulhu Wars related. I've acquired an Eradication first player marker for the game recently on eBay.

The Rise of Contard Fascism

   The fascist contards on the Supreme Court have overturned Roe vs. Wade. Apparently, this is just the beginning. According to Clarence Thomas, gay marriage, the ability to purchase contraceptives and LGBTQ+ rights could be struck down. Here's the video.

This has sparked protests from pro-choice advocates. Here's that video.

  These contard assholes want to take away the rights of groups they want to oppress while making it as easy as possible for anyone to get high powered military grade weaponry. They want to shove their religion down everyone's throats. They go to extremes to protect the unborn while denying people health care, paid leave and other support programs. A "gun control" bill has passed in Congress, but it doesn't really do much. This watered-down piece of shit does very little when it comes to gun control. The only reason any GOP members signed on was because 2022 is an election year for some of its members and they don't want to be seen as pro mass shootings. Here's that video.

  So, there you have it. Guns have all kinds of protection while the citizens of the U.S. are slowly losing their rights. The contards go out of their way to protect the unborn only to abandon them after birth. The right wants to keep their followers credulous, angry and armed to the teeth just in case they feel the need to try another insurrection. I'm going to end this post with two more videos, one from Betty Bowers and the other from one of the greatest comedians of all time, George Carlin.

Health News & More

   My GoDice arrived a short while back. I got the 6 dice set that came with a charging base, dice tube and tablet/smartphone stand. Along with it, I ordered a set of D&D dice shells with bag, USB charging port, folding dice tray and dice cup. I've installed the GoDice app on my smartphone. Once I charge the dice, I can connect them to my phone via the app. Using the app and the D&D shells, I can create a set of RPG dice. The RPG calculator function allows me to roll attack, damage and saving throws with the necessary modifiers when I'm gaming. All the rolls are recorded on my phone and I can get the total damage rolled for spells like fireball etc.. 

  The GoDice have to be put into the shells in a specific orientation in order for them to function correctly. When separated, you'll see a number 5 on the inside of one shell half and a 2 on the inside of the other half. Below each of these numbers is a small number 1. You put the selected die into its shell by orienting the die so the 5 face is inserted into the shell half with the 5 in it and the 2 shell half covers the 2 face of the die. The 1 face of the die must be facing the edge with the 1. Each shell half has 4 small magnets in it. 3 are shiny and 1 is black. When you put the shell halves together, the black magnets are paired with each other. You then use the app to pair a particular die with the shell you put it in. The d4, d8 and d12 use a 24 sided shell while the d10, d% and d20 use a 20 sided shell. Each die has different colored pips in order to tell them apart. The app also has a function that allows you to light up a particular die by touching a button.

  I bought a large 9 compartment dice bag on eBay. I'm using it to organize some of my dice. About 7 complete sets of RPG dice are in one compartment. All of my odd sided dice (d5s, d7s etc.) are in another compartment. My random encounter dice set, Dice of Death of Death & Dismemberment, Dice Coins and my set of ability score, attack, defense and saving throw bonus/penalty marking cubes occupy most of the other compartments. When the second wave of my Death & Dismemberment dice arrive, they'll fill up the remaining two compartments.

  On the health front, I had a stress test on the 17th. The preliminary results indicate that I have a dilated aorta. It's at 4 cm right now. At this point, monitoring it via echocardiograms is necessary. If it doesn't dilate further, nothing needs to be done. However, should it dilate to 5 cm or more, surgery will have to be done. I wore a Holter monitor for 48 hours. It collected data that now has to be analyzed to determine how well my heart is functioning. I turned it in to the Aurora Cardiac Diagnostics Center this past Friday. It will take about a week to get the results back.

One Last Helping of Chop Suey

   This past Friday, I had two doctor's appointments. The first one was with an orthopedist regarding my knees. An earlier x-ray revealed that both knees are arthritic. The doctor told me that the cushions between my leg bones and between the kneecap and joint are worn thin and my bones are rubbing directly against each other. The term she used was remodeling. I got steroid injections in both knees, which she told me would elevate my blood glucose level. She wasn't kidding. When I checked my blood glucose level the next morning, the meter didn't give me a number, it just said HI. That put it over 500 mg/dl. I checked it again at around midnight and it was still around 475.

  While my eyes haven't suffered any damage as a result of my diabetes, the cataract in my right eye is slowly getting worse and affecting how well I see out of it. I have an appointment with another eye doctor in December where we're going to discuss the possibility of having cataract surgery. That will change the lens prescription for my right eye quite a bit, so I'll have to get new glasses.

  I've finally transferred all my gaming material onto the SD card of my Galaxy Tab a6. I've installed a PDF and document reading app on my tablet so I can read the files. Some of the files had to be modified because certain file types like rich text files and TIFFs aren't readable by the app. Now I can bring less books with me when I go gaming. I also have easy access to all my errata files. The internal storage space on the tablet is very low. I've moved what apps I could onto the SD card, and I periodically have to delete cached and unnecessary data from it in order to perform updates. Right now, I can use the tablet to access all my email accounts, listen to music, watch YouTube, look up information on Wikipedia and surf the net.

  I've placed my final Cthulhu Wars order with The Game Steward. This order consists of Dire Azathoth, Dire Cthulhu and all the remaining alternate game boards for Cthulhu Wars (Yuggoth, Dreamlands, Library of Celaeno, Primeval and Shaggai) in both 3-5 player and 6-8 player versions. With the exception of a few crossovers from other games, I'll eventually have everything currently available for Cthulhu Wars. In the course of about two years, I've spent over $1,000 putting all this together.

  I had to order a three pack of A to micro-B USB cables for my Tab a6. The original cable's micro-B plug has cracked in two places. I glued those pieces back on, but now the insulation by that plug has cracked revealing the wiring underneath. I couldn't risk further cable damage possibly damaging my tablet or battery. I've already replaced the battery twice.

  I've gone on eBay and ordered a military canteen cup stove, rubber style canteen cup lid and an American style mess kit to add to my military canteen, cup and pouch set. While I'm never been camping, I was contemplating creating a small portable cooking set up that I could occasionally use to cook a quick outdoor meal. I might add more to it over time.

The Financial Report

   The RAV 4 is finally sold. An inspector for the buyer came out a few days ago and looked over the vehicle. He checked the inside and outside of the car and took a bunch of pictures before he left. That coupled with the CarFax report lowered their initial offer of $11,400 to $9,000. The car has been involved in three accidents: one minor, one moderate and one severe. I accepted their offer and uploaded pics of the front and back of the title, registration and front and back of my license to them. They emailed a FedEx label to me so I could ship the signed title to their office in Georgia. The title should get to them sometime later today. Once they have the title in their possession, they will electronically transfer the $9,000 into my account. Arrangements will then be made to have them pick up the RAV 4.

  My federal refund will be in my account on the 13th. It dropped from $3,405 to $2,005. I think the reason for the drop had to do with the third stimulus payment. Hopefully, later this week, I'll have $11,005 in the bank. I'm going to shunt $1,000 into my Health Savings account and about $1,000 to $1,500 will be used to pay down my credit card. Other bills due this month will be paid as well. I do plan to indulge myself a little bit. I'm going to buy the equipment guide for Twilight 2013 and a bunch of additional expansions for Cthulhu Wars like Dire Azathoth, Dire Cthulhu, the other game maps like Shaggai, Library of Celaeno, Dreamlands etc. and the 6-8 player maps for each. The rest of the money will stay in the account. I'm hoping that the amount of money I make on a monthly basis will be more than what I pay out in bills per month. I want to keep paying down my credit card and building up my savings so I can go to Gen Con next year.