A while back, I joined Habitica. It's meant to be a 'gamification system' for your tasks and habits. It does this by turning your task lists / habits into goals for an RPG setting.

I don't think I get enough out of it if I am 'playing' by myself, but it has a number of social components built in to help with motivation / accountability.

Since Brad and I were talking about making a game of our tasks / to-do lists, I remembered Habitica and re-joined.

It's a little goofy / hokey, but if it helps us to stay on task...

The Pros:

1. It's free and open source. There's an option to pay to an upgraded 'group' if you want to share specific tasks etc, which I find very appealing for Brad and I, but I'm going to hold off until we prove we can use it with any consistancy.
2. It seems like a solid habit tracker / task management system. If you strip away the 'game' side of things, it handles a lot in a pretty simple / straightforward way. It's tempting to just use it and ignore the 'game' side of things.
3. Breadth and Depth. This might be a subsection of number 2, but I like the way it breaks things down into Habits / Dailies / Tasks. They may be essentially the same (in some senses) but I like those as categories. What's more, I like the depth of information you can add to each, but aren't required to, if that's not your thing.

The Cons:

1. I just wish there was a way to use other artwork than what they have built into the system. It's styled after JRPGs, and that's just really not my thing. This is really not a BIG deal since it's just 'look and feel', but as an illustrator, those goofy / cutesy little pixelated characters / items just bug me.
2. Partly because of number 1, I'm going to have to manually set up a lot of 'rewards' for myself and possibly Brad since I really won't give a shit about earning a new suit of armor for my little avatar.

Anyway, I'm checking it out, and it seems worthwhile, and hell, it's that time of year where we all renew our promises to ourselves to do X,Y, and Z this year - for sure! And who knows, maybe this will help me do that. 🤞

ETA: If you decide to try it out, please feel free to 'friend me' or whatever. UserID in the screen cap at the top of this post. :)

I made an "Alternative Christmas" word search for my extended family in lieu of a crossword.  A representative quote: "Kyle's cheating and looking at my chickens!"

NEKCIHCCNCNCHICKEN
CECHICHHHEHHNIHNCE
CHKICHIIKIKECHIEHK
NHICHICCCNKCHINKIC
​​​​​​​EIIKIKIHECCHICECKI
KCHEEHCKINHICHKIEH
CIINCNCHICNNKCCHNC
IHNCHICCINKNEIHCEH
HCIEHCCHICKENKHHKI
CHICKENINHKCNICICC
HINEKCIHCIHECHIIIK
ICHICEICIKCKNEKEHE
KCHIKENHHNEKCIHCCC
NENEKCIHCNKICHENEN

In what country do people rollerskate through the streets of Caracas on their way to Christmas Mass?

What substance with atomic number 82 was used to manufacture tinsel until its use was discontinued in the 1970s due to health hazards?

The version of "Pennies From Heaven" featured in the movie Elf  is by what singer also known for voicing King Louie in The Jungle Book (1967)?

What ancient Lycian port city (located in modern Turkey) was the birthplace of Saint Nicholas?

Eowyn, a shieldmaiden of Rohan,
Pining for the king without a crown...
Who can kill the Witch King?
He'll say "No man".
But she can do the job when he is down.

Later on, things are dire.
Frodo stands by the fire.
His friends are betrayed,
But Gollum's repaid
Falling with the One Ring in his hand.

• BALTHVS, Harvest / Khruangbin, A LA SALA: these are very similar; loungey, funky, chill, mostly instrumental rock, two dudes on guitar and drums, and a gal on bass and vocals.
• Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham, Cunningham Bird: a complete cover of the legendary (and unpublished since its 1973 release) Buckingham Nicks, which put them on Mick Fleetwood's radar, whose band they would then join and the rest is history.  Buckingham and Nicks had made sporadic noises over the years about reissuing it, and it does not seem coincidence that they finally did so a year after this stellar cover, which in many ways improves upon the original.
• Andrew Bird Trio, Sunday Morning Put-On: Bird puts together a trio to cover some of his favorite jazz standards (coincidentally including "Django", which was on Buckingham Nicks and thus on Cunningham Bird).
• Nelson Echandia, Tu Creación: the bassist for the progressive joropo (my label) group Compasses puts out his first solo album.
• Garbage, Lie to Me (EP): three good new songs plus a remix from their worst album Bleed Like Me. Add the album they released this year and it seems that every fourth album of theirs is a stinker.
• David Gilmour, Luck and Strange: definite case of old man voice, but he collaborates with his youngest daughter on a couple of tracks to good effect, and his guitar is still amazing.
• Tony Levin, Bringing It Down to the Bass: the master of the bass guitar shows some range in this solo effort.
• Loreena McKennitt, The Road Back Home: a live album where she plays some of her favorite Celtic classics from her busking days.
• Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice: more socially conscious desert rock, Moctar agitates for his people and culture.
• Christian McBride & Edgar Meyer, But Who's Gonna Play the Melody?: two double bassists trade leads and share compositions.
  
• My Brightest Diamond, Fight the Real Terror: the title (and title track) are an homage to Sinéad O'Connor.  More of a solo affair, the instrumentation is a bit sparse, but the songs are good.
• St. Vincent, All Born Screaming: a return to form after the self-indulgent Daddy's Home, although it is probably her second-worst album.  She also made an extremely ill-advised companion album with the lyrics translated to Spanish that is best avoided.
• Tragic Lovers, VALENTINE (EP): post-punk from Portland, their compositions are really starting to gel.
• veg., DETONATION (EP): San José's own instrumental metal band.  The songs show more dynamics and breadth from their debut EP.

The winning team had 9 players in flagrant violation of the rules, but we're not going to file a formal protest over a free appetizer, right?

What 2014 film directed by Damien Chazelle tells the story of Andrew Neiman, who attends the fictional Shaffer Conservatory?

What vocal group was formed by the 1961 merger of two friendly rival groups, Otis Williams & The Distants, and The Primes?

What Confederate city was captured after the decisive battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip?

What are the two non-Ivy "Colonial colleges"?  [10 other schools have historical roots predating the American Revolution and are excluded from the list on bogus technicalities​​​​​​​ because they were not formally chartered as colleges with degree-granting powers, but we're not going to complain about that, either.]

So I recently posted about the idea of creating a TTRPG. I'm still plugging away at it in between art tasks. Not making a ton of progress or anything, but having fun thinking about things, and what I need to include v what I need to keep out.

Tonight, for fun, I sat with my nephew and we created a character for him. He didn't break the creativity bank, but in fairness to him, he's never played an RPG before, so he didn't have a whole lot of experience to draw from. He started with 'like Indiana Jones' and moved into both pirate and ninja genres as we worked through character creation.

Mostly, he was responsive to things I suggested and his own flights of fancy.

My intent is to have him make up a couple more characters and I'll take him through a small 'adventure' (a couple of scenes) with all of them so he can learn about keeping separate characters in his head and go from there.

So far, the system is heavily influenced by the OSR, Knave 1.0, and several others like Shadowdark. KISS is my starting point, but it already feels like I'm making it too complicated, so I will probably do several rounds of cuts after I get the rough draft completed.

ETA: Our December Kickstarter is up and funded! Check it out to see the finished cover! (below is an early version)

Working on this month's Kickstarter book cover. Gone Sleighin' will be a cozy side quest / one shot where your party can take part in a sleigh race with different kinds of animals pulling for fun and prizes.

ETA: Related question - what do you guys think - with snow (light blue) or without?

I don't watch or draw anime. Like, ever.

So, of course, that's the only kind of drawings my nephews seem to want. 😂

This one is, as you might have guessed from the subject, a character called Kokushibo Demon Slayer. I've never seen the show or movie, and I willfully took some liberties when drawing my version, but... what the hell. 

If you're an 'anime person', feel free to tell me all the ways I'm wrong!

And for those who like process videos...

Hmm, looks like i missed a couple of years.

Andrew Bird, Outside Problems: the companion album to 2022's Inside Problems.  Instrumental improvisation, collected and curated.

Depeche Mode, Memento Mori: the twist here is band member Andrew Fletcher dying before its release.

Peter Gabriel, i/o: he couln't decide on the final mix so he released two versions, his first album since 2002.

Garbage, Witness to Your Love (EP): four tracks, including the title track which was first released in 2008 on a fundraising compilaton, and a Siouxsie and the Banshees cover.

Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer feat. Rakesh Chaurasia, As We Speak: Banjo, tabla, double bass, and bansuri. More genre-busting stuff from Fleck and Meyer.

Rodrigo y Gabriela, In Between Thoughts... A New World: the arrangements continue to become more elaborate as they grow in their craft. 

Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper, Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper: Gripper is known for playing kora tunes on guitar.  Here he pairs with a kora player and the result is magic. We somewhat randomly saw them live and it was so good.

Sphinx Virtuosi, Songs for Our Times: The Sphinx Organization is a group that supports underrepresented classical musicians and composers, and their Virtuosi is their top echelon.

Takénobu, Sushi Tapes Vol. 1, 2, 3: a collection of his YouTube cello improvisations.

3rd Secret, The 2nd 3rd Secret: Krist Novoselic's band added Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron halfway through the previous album. This one's better and more even, mellow rock with female vocalists.

Katie Wighton, The End: a quick pop album from one of the members of All Our Exes Live in Texas.