Now what do we talk about?

It’s time to move on and get back to work, while attempting to navigate the volatile atmosphere lingering in the wake of last week’s U.S. election results.  Between controversial staff appointments, a rise in hate crimes, ongoing protests, and the continuing rhetoric of “us versus them” (both at home and abroad), it can feel like an awkward time to talk about heavy metal, comic books, video games, and other trivial distractions.  But given that most people I know on either side of the political spectrum have been bombarded by internet thinkpieces and online outrage, I’m going to try some levity anyway.  Maybe this will fall flat, maybe it will provide some relief in the face of this nonstop hostility.  Let’s try it and see what happens:

The Kickstarter campaign to turn STAR POWER & THE MYSTERY OF THE ZEL GUX DYNASTY into a book has been a tremendous success, but we’re not done yet!  With our initial funding goal reached in the first week (thank you all so much for that) we’ve begun rolling out several Stretch Goals!  We will be revealing all of our bonus milestones this week, including extra pages of content in both The Mystery of the Zel Gux Dynasty and Tales from Zicuri Ro, physical postcards from the planets of the Kioleth system, and a top-secret Stretch Goal that may or may not be revealed.  We have a lot more to offer and we hope you can pledge your support.

I picked up the Skyrim Special Edition for my XBox One recently, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Skyrim may be my favorite video game ever made.  When it was originally released I played Skyrim for well over one hundred hours of accumulated playtime, across five different characters trying different factions, testing out different play styles, and different ways of completing quests.  I downloaded all the bonus content and, after completing all they had to offer, thought I was done with my adventures in Skyrim.  Turns out I wanted to do it all over again, and dammit I am having fun all over again.  It may not have the intense story and unforgettable characters of the Mass Effect trilogy or the Dragon Age games, but there’s something about Skyrim that makes me want to play it over and over again, trying new things, inventing new stories for myself, and setting new challenges that are only meant for me (I’m only wearing Imperial Armor this time around because I’m a loyal Legionnaire).

My son is a bright light in a dark year, but as he nears his second birthday he’s acting more and more like a 2-year-old.  2017 is going to be interesting.

My wife and I are proud pro-wrestling fans, and we’re super excited to be seeing our second NXT event later this week.  Our first NXT event had an insane and unexpected main event finish (the NXT title changed hands at a house show!), but we’re not expecting a repeat of what happened earlier this year.  It did, however, keep with a trend that I’d been experiencing at pro-wrestling shows since I started attending them back in 2014: a major title changed hands at every show I attended.  At CHIKARA’S “You Only Live Twice,” Icarus beat Eddie Kingston for the Chikara Grand Championship.  At CHIKARA’S “The World Is Not Enough,” The Throwbacks beat Pieces of Hate for the tag team championship.  At the NXT event in Lowell, MA, Samoa Joe beat Finn Balor for the NXT Championship.  This personal trend was only broken last month, at CHIKARA’S “Judgment Day,” where Heidi Lovelace did not defeat Hallowicked for the Chikara Grand Championship.  Oh well.  It was a cool trend while it lasted.

I hope these trivial distractions made you smile even for a moment.  We all need some smiles nowadays.