Bryan Pow

My brother likes to think of himself as the only perpetually single person he knows. While this may be true, that doesn't prevent the rest of us from visiting his realm, as I find myself again in the world of bacehlordom. For those who knew of this relationship and have questions, I'll simply say that things got difficult and she decided to give up rather than continue. We were very much in love, even as she broke up with me, but apparently that isn't enough anymore.
Now of course comes the ubiquitous mourning period, highs, lows and desperation. Oh yay for me!
I'm not going to claim it is end of me and/or the world, as we are both made of hardier stuff. Though losing love this way is a new experience, I have been through enough break-ups to be inured to it. Life goes on, yadda yadda, and for every problem that I can't handle, my friends (and beer) will be there.
So I guess this is more of announcement than a commiseration. I am single again.

Ouch ouch ouch! Major headache! Knew I shouldn't have waited so long for my coffee. Well here is the fourth installment of this monthly thing. Honestly I don't know how the rest of you come up with things to say.

How do you decide what to put in and what to leave out?

Ah well, things seem to be going moderately well for me at the moment. A relationship with a lovely lady is going well, but work is both boring and uninspiring. Our weekly game of criminals shooting people in the face for Fun and Profit (and other things that SHadowrun involves) continues (and gathers quotes; "Gel rounds don't kill people!" - a pouting 16 year-old girl after killing a man with gel rounds)and has grown to 6 players, with a guy from germany joining in while on holiday (I still have no idea how he even found out about us).

On the note of Germans and Roleplaying, Sebastian (the German Guy) wowed us with stories of german roleplaying conventions, with thousands of participants, people waking up under a Battlech game being played, and of course Shadowrun, since Germans love the game (Yet another reason why Germans are cool).

Giffy's wedding is coming up, which should be interesting(yes I know there are two people, but I don't remember his online-name-thingy), though to be honest, I have never warmed to the idea of refering to her as Giffy.

Lots of people will be coming, some I havn't seen in a while, and others I could do without, but then it at least it will be interesting. This will make it a Hat-Trick of weddings I've been to, and I'm looking forward to the ceremony since I'm a big softy for those movie-like romantic moments (Warm-hearted voyeurism I guess).

Enough babble for yah?

Hmmm, well only one more in a month and I will have done my quota. Things are a bit more positive than last time, though there is still a need for change above and beyond the events that caused my foul mood. As is my way I can never stay angsty for too long before the man in the mirror flips me the bird and says "Shit, or get off!" (you can thank my flatmate Bree for that lovely line).
Still, at least it was interesting.
So in the Life of Bryan,
work is still work
I am now going out with a girl I asked out almost five years ago
I have a new flatmate (Nick G)
I have a new laptop (Yay, Dawn of War!)
I went to a Halloween party as my favorite comic character (Rorschach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_%28comics%29)
and I only have three months to make good on any New Years Resolutions.

Post number two in the second month.
I honestly feel like someone has reached inside and pulled out everything that makes a person a thing of action. Two nights without sleep and events that have simply left me emotionally drained have added together to put me in a sour mood.
There, second one done <^>(*-*)<^> .

Well, according to a tall blonde guy, i need to post once a month for four months. Four posts aint hard, but four months? we'll just have to see if the Apathy is strong with this one.

Oh and I promised a bwa ha ha..... so there it is.

Get Sloganized

Greed:	Low
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	High
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Medium

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

Not Surprised really.

You can outrun the Devil, if you try
But you can't outrun the hands of time

The hands of time have turned again and we find ourselves at the start of another year. 2006 opens before me with a little less promise than the last year, but much more solidarity. I have a job that uses my degree that will see me through at least another year before I start looking to other things, and a holiday to Germany for the Soccer World Cup planned for june/july.
Lots of friends and friends of friends are married, getting married, or may as well be married, and I am now an uncle to a boy named Jonathan. Old and Young. I feel lod in that all the people my age are settleing down and being all grown up, but I feel very young since I know this is not something I see myself doing for a decade at least.
I guess it's small town fever. When you come from a small town like Geraldine, you get a feeling of "leave this place or you will be stuck here forever". Even Dunedin had that feeling before I left. Great place for university, but I would never want to be stuck there. How long until Wellington gets the same feeling? Will I ever find a place that feels like I should stay there?
I fear the answers are "not that long" and "probably not".
But we shall see, in time.

Well labs are over fot the year so it is time for the big tidy up, and preparing to help the academics with their various research interests.
Grants D&D 2nd ed game continues apace, with the Holy Temple of Tyr which has been desecrated by a priest of Bane being recently sacked for its holy treasures.
Shadowrun also continues with the players continuing to remember that they are in no way "nice" and double crossing a "good" group of people for cold, nuyen.

The party of monsters in my Shadowrun game went on a Metaplanar quest to one the most unpleasant planes imaginable (some would argue it is THE most unpleasant). To stop one of its unhappy inhabitants from escaping (through events they caused) they were forced to journey through Hell. As a Metaplanar Quest there is always a certain level of "forgotten truths revealed" especially given the plane, and the fact they are not nice people.
End results:
Tiger Shapeshifter has learned the consequence of taking on human aspects (Act as a human and be judged as a human)
Ghoul Elf has learned more of his hidden past, that he was once a Knight of Tir Taingire
Vampire has learned that something more evil than him may be pulling his strings.
Cyberzombie has revealed that he struck a deal with the Lord of Hell to regain his honor.
Bug City Veteran faced his personal demons, and knows that Ares was using Bug Spirits in their research
and lastly, the elven girl learned that the person who killed her sister (a death she has been trying to avenge) was herself.

None of the characters left feeling happy, which is the way it should be when one visits that place of judgement and punishment.

Just incase any one want to know what Mr Pow is up to (Man that felt wierd writing Mr Pow... ew did it again).
Well I saw Serenity a week or two ago. COOL!! While I like the works of Mr Wheddon I would not comsider myself a fanatic (I am still yet to see the last episode of Buffy) but Firefly has to be one of my favourite shows, and this movie had everything I loved about the show and more.

I am running a Shadowrun game again after over a year without (I can quit whenever I want, Honest) andf it is going well. To all those who have played in my games before: All those games are the background for this one, bad things you did now haunt these guys (feel guilty?).
The mix of characters is the wierdest I've had (Vampire, Ghoul, Cyberzombie, Weretiger, Bug City Veteran) but is going well.

Work is going fine. The School of Biological Sciences is definitely different to anything at Otago, since it has all the Biological Sciences in a department that is smaller than the Biochem dept at Otago.

Feel free to ask questions. Preferably silly questions (then you'll get a silly answer).

Do people read this? Bah, doubt it!
What matters is that Nexus1 is getting his keys stroked.
Naming a computer is wierd, but it's a name that has been in my Shadowrun games for a while.
Was tempted to call it Dunkelheim, but that was my last computer, which was brutalised by my older brother.
Thought about changing that picture-in-the-corner thing (avatar) but Harlequin will always rule.

Ah, much typing upon Nexus1, let us hope he behaves.

For those that care, I am going to be in wellington from 5pm tommorrow and will be there until the 4th.
To contact me, Email me at Bryan_pow@hotmail.com or ring me on my new phone at 021 136 9116.

...
In a box you cannot see
Between two people you cannot be
...

Just something that popped into my head while emailing a friend in a bad place.

Roleplaying roleplayers.........

http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=20031202

...and they even seem to make it work as the story goes on.

Trying to finish off a two page spread to go in a year book of university societies. Its already really late and I started yesterday. Comming up with things to write is actually quite hard. Do I cater for roleplayers, try to attract new people or do something in the middle. I guess I'll just have to try and get soemthing down and send it off. If later complain abotu what I wrote, well they had the chance to help, but no-one stepped up. Hmmmm complete creative freedom........
So tempted to put the Shadowrun logo big and central with only shadowrun pictures all through is. Hm, I guess OURS could stand for Otago University Righteous Shadowrunners.......

This has got to be one of my favourite online comics

http://www.choppingblock.org/

Serial killers are people too.

Let me tell you a little about the role-playing game I am running on sundays.
The initial idea came from thinking about how knowledge of planetary systems in games involving space travel usually require the players to be told what they know. Either that or they need to read a book on every system they should know about. So I thought of a way for the players to know all they need to know about their home system. Basically, the players would create their home system themselves.
The central system I have made myself, and those who played in my tournament game will recognize the stranglehold of PTMC (Post Terran Mining Corporation) and the acts they are capable of. The players have come up with an interesting array of near-humans who have been recently rediscovered after two millenia of separation from the rest of humanity.
We have a society with an enlightened caste system and a massive understanding of nanotechnology.
We have the paired desert and water planets whose inhabitants constantly raid each other for resources, while avoiding the third dead world whose inhabitants annihilated each other.
There is what I call the mecha-dwarves, a stunted race obsessed with technology, cybertechnology and mining.
We have a system where the rich, arrogant nobles and the poor, overworked peasantry have become distinct sub-species.
And finally a planet where a strange virus all but wiped out all of the human inhabitants, except for those who became symbiots with an indigenous life-form. Of course they still carry the deadly virus in their blood, but they don't tell the rest of humanity that.
Its a great example of the diversity you can get if you give the players all but free reign over a part of the universe they will play in. This gives me the great challenge and opportunity of trying to fit it all together, something I very much enjoy as a GM.
The monkeys have banged on their typewriters, and now it is time to send it to the editor.

Well apparently it is considered slack to not write in your Journal within a few days of getting it, so I have decided to simply write a small thing to placate the masses.
I went to Bruce and Corolies wedding yesterday. At first I was dubious, as I am not that big on weddings, but I am glad I went. I will fully admit that I almost cried when they read their vows to each other as they were very sweet and touching. The day was pretty wet and awful, but as soon as the bride came out, so did the sun. They also had the naming ceremony for their son, and the choosing of a godmother. That was also an emotional moment as the godmother did not know she had been chosen until that point, and seemed humbled by the gesture. I'm very glad that I went as it was a very special and magical moment, especially since it was the first wedding I have ever been to.