This reminds me of the extremely-low-budget-and-really-dated-but-still-hilarious film, ‘The Gamers’. One of the players can’t make it to the session, and so in all of the live-action scenes, you see this character just standing still and staring off into space while the rest of the group is fighting, etc. =)

This makes sense to me. I like the idea of playing the absent player’s character by committee. I don’t usually run the kinds of games where just anyone can hop in or hop out of the game (I always have story arcs), so having the group take over an absent player’s character seems like a logical method to mitigate their absence. Thanks so much for sharing!

It doesn’t help that our culture - especially internet culture - loooooooves self-deprecating ‘humor’. We even put ourselves down for putting ourselves down! I’ve had a lot of success with trying to focus more on my triumphs than my failures. It’s all about the language I use with myself, I’ve found. When I have a victory (even a small one), I say “Good job! You nailed it!”. When I fail, I say “Well, that sucked…but you’ll get it next time. Keep trying!”. Most of us don’t have our own personal cheerleaders, so we have to become our own. :)

Emulate honorable people instead of popular people.

Never use ‘telling the truth’ as an excuse to speak without thought or compassion.

You are 100% responsible for what you say and what you do. Own your shit.

If someone is trying, but struggling - encourage them. If someone is struggling, but not really trying - encourage them.

Don’t waste your time trying to ‘be a leader’ or climb any corporate ladders. Just do your job and be kind, generous, truthful and compassionate. What is meant for you will be for you.

Read. A lot. From actual books. As many as you can get your hands on.

Stop putting yourself down. Seriously, it’s not fucking helping you. AT ALL.

Cooties.

When you reveal yourself to be a bigoted, hateful person, most evolved and compassionate people tend to dislike you.

‘Christmas Shoes’. Google it.

I will stay my Hammer of Vengeance just this once…and agree that he is a very accomplished and talented actor…who just happens to be Gandalf, not Ian McKellan. ;)

While he did a decent job with Magneto, I would say that his Gandalf is far more recognized.

True, but I would argue that none are as widely recognized as Gandalf.

Why do you think the fascists try so hard to keep them divided and fighting each other?

Screaming into my boss’ face during a heated and un-warranted argument that my co-worker initiated. In all honesty, my boss was in the right in this particular instance. Co-worker never did apologize, to my knowledge. All I can say is my boss has a lot of patience…

Ian McKellan is Gandalf, and I will fight anyone to the death who disagrees.

Exactly. Not encouraging violence, encouraging ACTIVISM. I fucking love it!

Read what she said. She’s not telling anyone to get violent. She’s saying they should be joining the peaceful resistance movement. But of course, the ones we’re peacefully resisting are going to spin it as encouraging violence - while they kidnap, assault and abuse innocent civilians.

I don’t have a problem with women writing fantasy books. I just wish the fantasy market wasn’t glutted with ‘romantasy’ novels. I really, really dislike those.

Christianity is incredibly easy to fake. Anyone can call themselves a Christian with little, if any, blowback. It’s the whole ‘sinner saved by grace’ schtick - which is, essentially, “Yup, I’m a Christian but I don’t really have to act like one.”

Mostly just that I value their opinions on current events, and I admire their work. :)

Coming to a ‘Concentration Camp Overseer’ position near you.

George Takei (of Star Trek fame) - @georgetakei@universeodon.com

Cory Doctorow (speculative fiction writer) - @doctorow@mamot.fr

Mark Ruffalo (actor) - @MarkRuffalo@mastodon.social