Highmoon's Ponderings

…can be real pain in the ass!

I swear I’ve had an easier time finding accomodations half a world away in Europe than elsewhere in the state of Florida.

I broke down and finally got Spirit of the Century; I ordered the book/PDF combo from Indie Press Revolution, and I am already anxious to get my book. I’ve been hearing nothing but great things about Spirit of the Century for the past few months, especially in various of the gaming podcasts, and I have been drooling over the FATE System which powers SotC, amazed at its conceptual simplicity yet robust ability, and wondering how can I use it to power new products for Highmoon Media. Even cooler, there’s at least two new FATE-powered games in development out there–Houses of the Blooded by John Wick and Far West by Gareth-Michael Skarka–that promise to take FATE in new directions and have super cool concepts to look forward to.

At least I have the PDF to nibble on before the main course that is the 420-page (!) book arrives.

I feel anxious today; not because of anything in particular, mind you, just a general feeling. It’s annoying.

I’m getting a little tired of my projects not taking off as they should, especially when they are sound ones (or at least as much as I can tell). It’s not that they are failing (well, Destination: Earth failed the first time around, but I think this time it has a better chance), it’s just that they aren’t developing as strongly as I’d like them. And yes, I realize this is my own impatience talking, and that the timing of things is dictated by G-d and not me, but I can’t help look at everything I have on my plate and think, “Come on! I want to see these things work out!”

Exasperated sigh.

This happens, once in a while. I’m a patient man, but sometimes I lose it, at least long enough to get like this before I regain my composure.

I did have good news this weekend: I lost at least 2.5 pounds (two scales, conflicting reports; the truth lies somewhere in the middle)! That means that tracking my calorie intake via TheDailyPlate.com is actually working. I mean, I’m still fat, but at least now I know how fat I am and that I am 2.5 pounds less fat than last week. I take my victories where I can.

Lastly, though it is not my custom to use a public blog to broadcast highly personal issues, I’ve decided to move the line a little bit and possible make some posts that are less general in nature and may hint at some deeper thoughts in the chaos of my mind. Those, however, will come with a password protection. If you are a semi-regular reader of this blog and you’d like to have that password, you need to let me know, either in the comments section of this post or via email, and I’ll decide if I send it your way or not. Don’t take it personal if I don’t; I intend to be very selective.

Why am I doing this? Because there are sometimes some thoughts that are not quite safe for general public consumption that nonetheless I’d like to get off my chest, and I am a freakin’ lazy bastard when it comes to writing in my paper journal (though truly personal thoughts go only in there). It’s a test; we’ll see how it goes.

Why does Batman get to have all the fun?

I saw this yesterday at the parking lot of Best Buy in Hialeah, Florida. The photo doesn’t capture the full geekish glory of the Mustang Spider, let me tell you. It has a 12″ plastic Spiderman as a “hood ornament,” and the hubcaps feature the red circle with the white eyes of Spidey’s mask, much like any Spiderman-themed toy vehicle does. On the back windshield, we even get a quick plug from Spiderman:

Sony and Ford need to get this guy on their payroll.

I wanted to come here today and write a sort of general update on a bunch of stuff. That is not to be, however, at least not today. As usual on a Friday, I’m rushing about so it will have to wait till the weekend or next week.

All is well, however, if just super busy. To not make this a complete waste of bandwidth, here’s a pic of the sun taken a couple of days back, when Miami was covered by a blanket of smoke from the various Everglades brushfires.

I have more; I’ll put them in a set and link them later on.

Today is Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the omer, the yartzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar.

Though it is technically a minor holiday, Lag B’Omer is actually quite loved by most Jews, especially Israelis, who travel all the way to the north, to Meron, to the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to celebrate with bonfires, music and dancing, baking potatoes and onions in the fiery coals. In the morning, the mountain becomes giant prayer field, and upsherin ceremony (the first hair cutting of a 3 year old boy) is performed on all who qualify. Those who have been there have described the experience to me as mystical.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai declared that people should rejoice on his yartzeit, which is why we have these celebrations. The fires are a symbol of the Zohar, the primary book in Kabbalah, the study of the esoteric secrets of the Torah, a book composed by Bar Yochai after 13 years of hiding in a cave, escaping from the Roman authorities, meditating and communing with the Ein Sof (Divine infinite).

We had a party last night at our shul (click on the pic above to see the set) where we had a BBQ (yum!), music and dancing, and where we lit torches in honor of 12 tzadikim and one in honor of all Jewish People. It was fun.