So Proud Of My Mother For Doing Her Own Research After I Sent Her That Meme. A Sign She Hung In Her Car

I went to whack at a spider while dreaming and then I whacked my bedside table in real life and almost broke my glasses.

Music & Memories

I’m always amazed at how songs become attached to moments or people in your life.

I hear Born To Be Wild, and I remember a road trip with a friend so she can check out a job possibility in Massachusetts.  When that song came on we cranked the radio and belted out the chorus at the top of our lungs.

Gimme Three Steps makes me think of the boss who was always amazed that the song was based on a real story.  He would mention it every time the song would come on and excitedly go on and on about it.

I hear Charlie Daniels, or Run DMC, or Mary J Blige and I think of the special women who have been in my life.  If it wasn’t for them I never would’ve given these styles of music a fair chance.

Whenever Dream On plays, I remember trips to Hampton Beach with friends.  We would always end the trips standing on the beach singing that song.

I could go on and on and bore you with songs and the memories associated with them, but I won’t.  But if ever a song comes on, and I get a little smile on my face and maybe even give a snicker, you know why.

Also important stuff.

Saw this somewhere else and felt the need to post it cause no one else ever really tells you this stuff

Tips for living alone

Buy a bat (I have my old color guard rifle) or similar. Keep it in your room/near your bed.

Get a lock for your bedroom door.

If you’re moving into a new place, change the locks. Who knows who had a key to your place before you.

Keep your phone/a phone in your room.

Get a weather alert system set up. App, weather call, little weather radio that tells you about major weather events.

Adopt a pet

Wave at your neighbors. Take note of the ones that make you uneasy. Watch out for kids always.

Be nice to your mail person. No matter what.

If you choose to drink/etc alone, unplug your wifi router. You’ll thank me.

Have extra seating. People sit when they visit. Your one comfy chair is great for you. Not so great for you + grandma + ur five cousins, your aunt, and a couple others.

Learn the self-Heimlich

When you take a shower, bring your phone to the bathroom in case you fall your phone is no longer halfway across the house, it’s just on your counter

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Idk what else

MTV ran a contest where unsigned bands could make a video and send it in to the contest. If they won, they would get signed by some label (I don't remember who) for at least the one single, which included having a more professional video done. MTV then picked the best and had the audience pick their favorite (via call in voting) in a bracket style competition. The final came down to Dog Police and some other band I don't remember. Dog Police lost in a close vote. So close that many suspected they actually won but MTV and/or the record company chose yo go with the other band.

“Dog Police,” the band responsible for the 1982 single, “Dog Police.” It was championed by “Weird Al” Yankovic and early MTV. 

Rule #51

I did something today that I had been wanting to do for years now.

I made an apology.

I had been wanting to make this apology for so long now.  I kept hoping that I would someday run into her at a super market or a bar or something and I could make my apology to her.

Back in the early ‘90s, we were in a relationship.  Not a long time, maybe 6 months at most.  And the entire time, I just treated her horribly.  Not physically, but mentally & emotionally, I was just the absolute shits to her.

And I know why I did.  I had been really mistreated in the past two relationships before this one, and I took it out on her.  I took all my anger, my frustration, my sorrow out of me and I fed it to her.  It’s not an excuse, because there is no excuse really.  It’s just the sad fact.

I didn’t realize what I was doing then.  It was quite a while after it was over that I saw what I had done.  And I felt ashamed for having done it.  And I felt sorry for her for having to experience it.  And I hated myself for doing it.  For treating her the way I had been treated.  Why would I do that? (Looking back now, I realize that this is probably where the true self-loathing that would come to define most of the past 20+ years of my life probably began. The first step on a long road.)

Ever since I became aware of what I had done, I had been wanting to see her again so I could apologize.  Not for my own sake.  But because she genuinely deserved it.

Today it hit me that it would probably be really easy for me to find her on Facebook.  We probably had mutual friends that would make it easy to identify her in a search.  And I was right.  I did a search for her and, due to mutual friends, it took me all of 10 seconds to find her.

I clicked the message button and wrote my apology.  It wasn’t long before i got a reply thanking me for the apology and wishing me well.  I don’t know if she really means it; you can’t tell on the internet.  But if she’s still the person I knew then, then she probably does.

I would add in https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com, especially if you’re like me and absolutely suck at naming things.

The New DMs Guide to: Building a Homebrew World

Every creature, class and caricature can be found for free on the internet, with almost no digging. Dungeons and Dragons has never been easier to play. These are the resources I used to build the beginning of my campaign. This one isn’t for building story, this one is for building world. (Story Masterpost coming soon)

What I Use

The Obvious: dndbeyond.com - Character Builders, Rule Guides, Guides to Monsters, Tips, Tricks and everything in between. Does require a little money to access the full scope of the site, but the free version is superb as well.

Create your own world map: Inkarnate.com - awesome map creator with free and Pro versions (at very reasonable prices). Example:

The Best of the Dungeon Builders: http://www.dungeonographer.com (free and paid versions. I use the free one) - dungeon builder, but you can make anything! The best dungeon maker I’ve found, with sheer simplicity of use balanced with scope of opportunity. Example:

How deep do you want to go? Donjon’s Generators - https://donjon.bin.sh Calendars? Loot? Dungeons? Demographics? Inns? Towns? Magic Shops?

Cities are big. Someone else can build it. fantasycities.watabou.ru (free) - City Map Generator. Great for creating big cities or tiny towns, and so much easier than building every single major city of your world, if you want to have those maps.

There are plenty of places to download and print tokens for combat play (if you want to use a map at all) online, but I bought mine from: SidequestTTM

Watch and Learn

The Bare Basics of D&D - Handbook Helper. New too Dungeons and Dragons? The team behind Critical Role have a whole (and continuing) series on the basic rules of D&D 

Matthew Mercer and Satine Phoenix’s GM Tips - Some of the best Game Masters in the world share their tips for Mastering the Game. I’ve watched the whole thing twice and always learn more.

Matt Colville’s Running the Game - An incredible video resource that goes from building the very start of a campaign to how to navigate tough spots, how to plant story hooks and some of the best advice I’ve ever seen.

Other Great Resources

“All You Need” Site, http://autorolltables.github.io/index.html - need an npc? A plot? A settlement? A monster? An encounter? autorolltables will make it.

World Map Making: http://www.hexographer.com - specific style of simplistic map making, very useful though I don’t use it myself. 

Azgaar World Map Generator: has landscape, political boundaries, names and more. If you don’t want to design your own, this one’s a perfectly viable option.

https://sketchbook.com: free drawing software, very intuitive but no map making specifics. 

https://rpgtinker.com:  great for more complex characters.

Dungeon Building: https://deepnight.net/tools/tabletop-rpg-map-editor/ - a fantastic but very simple map maker, works best in Chrome and requires flash.

Extras

Make your homebrew content look official

Need a Monster? - roll20 

Yes.

Pup interrupts soccer match, gives interview.