Highmoon's Ponderings

It rocked, plain and simple. My wife did an awesome job of putting together this little 80′s-themed shindig and though I bitched and moaned every time she asked me to move this, or arrange that, or whatever, I profusely thank her for what I think was the best birthday party ever (barring my Venice-themed 30th b-day).

There were about 15 people here, including the in-laws, who left early as expected, and a bunch of friends. Now that I think about it, though, except for two (my buddy and his in-the-process-of-becoming-ex-wife — yeah, that was fun there for a moment) they were all friends of my wife. I guess I need to get more friends. But it was neat, and among the invited was a dude (Carlos Hernan, who is an awesome pianist) who had a class with my wife back in college and who now lives in, get this, Paris. Yes, Paris, as in France. Needless to say I was a tad jealous and I put him through 20 Questions about the move and living in the most awesome city in the world.

Anyway, the party was great, and we danced and lipsynched and played Trivia Pursuit: Totally 80′s and watched classic 80′s flicks like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. We also ate, had amazing guava & cheese cupcakes (courtesy of Caramelo Cupcakes), and had lots of yummy Belgian and Dutch beers. I made out pretty good in the gift dept, and aside from the Borders card, which will be promptly spent today, all the others will be put towards the one material thing I want most now: a Wii. 

Here are some pics of the party, and you can see more on Flickr: My 80′s Birthday Party!

The Benelux Alcohol Brigade

Jersey Girl & New Wave Boy

The Birthday (Cup)Cake Tower

Slinky Attack!

Guitar Hero

Rock on! (That’s I-live-in-Paris dude to the left)

I’m da man

Lipsynching “Faith”

The morning after.

Good times. 

Oct. 12 is the coolest day of the year. Why?

HAPPY 33rd BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HAPPY 4th ANNIVERSARY TO HIGHMOON MEDIA PRODUCTIONS!

See, the coolest day. 

Four years ago, on Oct. 12, 2003, Highmoon Media Productions entered the gaming scene, dedicated to publishing quality supplements for the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game using the d20 System. Over the years we expanded our product lines, began supporting Modern games, found a unique niche to fill with our Ancient World products, and even ventured into other media fields by starting two successful podcasts. It’s been a great 4 years, and it’s only going to get better from here on. To celebrate our 4th anniversary, we have placed our entire catalog on sale — 40% off! — at RPGnow.com and DriveThruRPG.com. We have also placed our very first product, Liber Sodalitas: The Blind Path, absolutely free! These offers will last until Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. In addition, over the day, we will be scattering free download codes for a number of our products over at various online hangouts of HMP, such as the HMP Website, the HMP News mailing list, the HMP forums, the HMP MySpace profile and the HMP Facebook group. The codes will not be the same in each place, so be sure to check everywhere! To redeem a code, click on the product link provided, add it to your cart and enter the code when you are ready to checkout - that’s it! Be warned, each code will only work once, so it’s first-come, first served. Each code is valid until Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. Good luck getting the swag. Thank you very much to all the customers who have supported us, especially to those that have become fans and friends, and to all the publishers who have helped us, in whatever way, to become the company we are today. Now, let’s the party started with a couple free download codes!

• DaVinci Labs: UDR-4 Arrowhead - c10fddeab7
• No Other Gods - An Adventure for Testament - 6694015f4d
• MonkeyGod Presents: The Jade Magi Sewer Crawl  - 871c2843b5

This Friday, Oct 12, will be HMP’s 4th anniversary (as well as my own 33rd birthday), and I will be holding a sale at RPGnow/DTRPG. In addition, I will be sending out free download links to various of our products: some will go out to the HMP News mailing list, some will be on the HMP forums and/or website, and some will go out via the HMP MySpace profile and HMP Facebook group. So if you want to have a chance at scoring some free swag, be sure to check all the above locations and Friend HMP up on the social networks. Ah, and new products coming soon as well.

I just wanted to drop a note to say I am indeed alive and well. It’s been super busy for most of September with all the High Holy Days, and the time in between has been spent catching up with house chores or preparing for the next holiday. I also went to Puerto Rico for 4 days to see Mom after her surgery. I was pleased to find her in good spirits and recovering nicely. Hopefully in a couple of weeks this will all be done with and she can go back to normal life. And yes, the results showed that the hysterectomy took care of all the cancer and nothing was found outside the affected area, which is awesome.

I had a job interview yesterday that I thought went pretty well, so we’ll see what happens with that. My birthday is also next week, and my wife is planning an 80′s Retro Party, though I think it’s more for her than for me; my birthday just happens to be the perfect excuse. 

Ok, so Sukkot is now almost over and man, it’s been a wet season! I haven’t been able to use my sukkah much, though today the sun is shinning a bit, so maybe later on I can hang out there for a while.

I have gotten 4 episodes of The Digital Front Podcast out now, and I am liking that show a lot! I have a new episode of The Gamer Traveler Podcast almost ready to go, but whether it comes out this week or next I don’t know yet. I still have a lot of things to do here in the house, so I better get to that and get it over with.

I have so much stuff I still want to write about, stuff even from Gen Con, like how to have a Kosher Gen Con experience (hey, I found out I am not the only Orthodox gamer around! Hi, David!), and about the games I played back then, and about what I am planning to do with my life as I turn 33 and begin the new (Jewish) year.

Later; now: dishes.

This is why I don’t go to Party City much…