Negrek

Oh, wow, that sounds so cool! I'd really love to go visit someplace during a huge celebration, like China during New Year's or Rio during Carnivale or something. Being surrounded by all those cool traditions and events and festivities would make having to deal with the crowds worth it, I think, haha. Glad to hear you had such a good time! (Did the durian snacks actually taste good? More importantly, how did they smell? :P)

Yeah, I did finally manage to land an actual job—just part-time for right now, but on the plus side it's remote so I can work from home. All the jobs I had to ignore because I don't have a car, smh. (Not that I could've really done much even if I wasn't terrified of driving, haha... too many other people who need them at conflicting times of day, and also we have had... A Time... with cars lately.) But yeah, it's technical support for this premium WordPress plugin for selling online courses, which is not a product I knew anything about or expected to be working with but hey, I'm getting paid and the bosses/coworkers have been super nice so far, so I'm content.

Hey so guess who totally knows what day your birthday is but somehow managed to not realize that yesterday was actually that day? Happy slightly belated birthday, anyway! Where did you spend it (are you in Japan yet?), and did you treat yourself to anything cool?

Happy birthday! :)

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday Negrek!! :D I hope it's an awesome day!

Hey so the other part of the package came yesterday, and thanks! The mini box was especially cool—the big one was a big fancy otyugh I might actually have a use for, and I got a dude with nice shiny armor, a winged sorcerer and a genuinely slightly upsetting lemure. The paint job on these is really quite nice! Certainly better than the last pre-painted single I bought, haha. Thank you so much!

OKAY! Finally responding omg haha. Sorry for the late reply to all of this!

That's awesome about the Wizards designer search! That would be really cool to at least try - making card games/board games/etc has always seemed so interesting, but challenging. Did you find out anything more about it and if you made it on?

Thanks for adding me to the ref list! Now I am OFFICIAL, huzzah! Also also I wanted you to know I picked the name Rica because it's as in "AfRICA" or "Costa RICA" so your new Aron friend is a traveler too! I'm not sure if you went to/have ever been to either of those places, but the name worked. :P And okay, I'll start a meta thread for the Safari Zone idea!... eventually...

So, job update. I got a job!!! The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur of sudden interviews and calls with recruiters and stuff, and I think I really lucked out - I got hired for a contract-to-hire design engineer position, and overall it seems like a great culture there (they actually went out of their way to mention their positive views on things like diversity and sustainability - I love both of those things but haven't asked about them in so long because it feels so farfetched sometimes - either the company does and talks about it regularly, or doesn't and it'd be awkward bringing it up? At least that's what I've told myself! I'm going to be rethinking that logic now).

You know, I feel like the whole "getting a job without any experience in it" is totally about confidence, too. (And... maybe the hiring/selection process's internal biases...) Like, if you honestly believe you can do it! I know sometimes I'm my own worst enemy by selectively remembering the times that, say, I tried to learn something new and gave up or couldn't do it or something haha. But, I think now that I will have a little stability again, I'll feel more comfortable planning to achieve other things (like freelance, art projects, etc.) because I won't feel so guilty for not applying to jobs. Hopefully I'll still have energy, but I think this location is going to make me feel way different - there's going to be so much more energizing opportunities! Like groups to join and places to go and things to do! (Of course, I say I'm excited about all that, but the possibilities of me just spending all my time inside alone are... strong :P)

Hey, that's good not to have a lot of horror stories, haha! And not actually planning/researching/organizing could also be a selling point - like, you are naturally capable of handling yourself in unfamiliar situations, perhaps? Also while it's certainly stressful in the moment, I somewhat enjoy those "I have a half hour to make the next connection" flights - it's kind of exciting in a way! You're like an explorer, or a spy, or something!

Good god, snakes in toilets?! That sounds absolutely terrifying!! That's actually a really cool story with the water monitor though! I enjoyed the storytelling. Are those guys poisonous? And is that your picture? You got super close to him! He looks cute and friendly (maybe it's an illusion).

I totally understand the instinct of "get closer to take a look at the dangerous thing." When I made a trip out west to the Black Hills, a sign at a rest stop said something like, "Beware - Venomous Snakes In Grass," and my first instinct was, "woah, I want to walk into the grass and see if I can see a snake!" It was winter, so it was unlikely, but yes, I understand hehe.

I hope the rest of your travel and job things go well! :D Now that I can foresee some income, I'm tempted to make a last-ditch effort to go somewhere - maybe to Indiana to see a friend I haven't seen in a while? Or I might just enjoy the last days of hanging around all day, lollygagging around the internet :D

Ah, no, don't worry about it! Gimme aaaaaall the DM goodies. Really, thanks!

Hey, (part of?) the gift and the postcard arrived today! I do actually already have a laminated mat, but it's just the one and it's probably only a matter of time before we start getting into multiple-map dungeons and whatnot, so I've been meaning to get myself another—this is perfect! Thank you! I (er, Mom, I guess) will keep an eye out for the other half.

Aaah, thank you! Also why are you sending multiple things stop doing that I don't need multiple things >|