Today, and yesterday

Last night's Warhammer Fantasy RPG session with wggthegnoll, ruiskafleck and velvetpage went quite well! Beastmen and jaded salons, vivisection, and Witch Hunters! Good, clean, old fashioned fun.

I took the car round to a couple of places today to get a repair estimate. I went with the place with the lowest estimate and the promise to start work immediately. I picked up a Toyota Matrix as a rental. I think I'm too used to driving cars that have seats like armchairs. To whit, Large American cars. Since 1996, I've owned a Cutlass Ciera, a Cutlass Calais, a Chrysler Intrepid, and now the Crown Vic. And, of course the chain of tiny Horizons and Omnis and Chevettes the family owned when I lived at home had very different ergonomics than the current crop of compacts.

Anytime I have a rental, I feel like I'm strapping into the cockpit of a very small and fragile airplane.

Have some photos from my new cell phone!


The scene of the accident, snapped a few moments after I'd moved the car off the road. The physics are difficult to explain. I believe the rear tire track was made by the front passanger side tire as the car zipped backwards and sideways into the wall. The track at the front of the photo was me driving out.


This is a photo of a superfluously worded sign at a Wendy's Restaurant, where I retreated after the accident for a reviving soda with commanderteddog. Please do not use your loud nonverbal voice!


This is a photo of me, seconds after Elizabeth hit me in the chin with a snowball.

"None of the locals are buying any second-hand Imperial dreams..."

Note: This entry is a follow up to this one.

2. Angeline Church
Ex-navy Lieutenant Commander 118894 Age 34 4 terms Cr2,000
Gunnery-1 , Computer-2, Engineering-1 , Pistol-2

Angeline Church was a career officer in the Imperial Navy. She was born to a servant-class family on a feudal world. For Angeline, naval enlistment represented a chance at a better life. She started as a shipboard tech aboard a vast battle Rider in the Jewell subsector, part of a force intended to intimidate the Zhodani. Her first tour of duty was very quiet, and she concentrated on her studies and completing her cadet cruise.

During her second tour, a flareup in border tensions around the Sword Worlds had her reassigned to the Elders of Lunion, a colonial cruiser. Her ship was mostly involved in anti-smuggling actions, and she received training in naval gunnery. The gun crew were expected to double as marines in boarding actions, and she became a fair shot with a pistol.

Angeline stayed aboard the Elders of Lunion for two more tours, eventually becoming first officer. Her promotion to command of a missile corvette was approved. Naturally, in her final month of service aboard the Lunion, everything went wrong. A routine interdiction turned into a running battle with a well-armed pirate cruiser. Angeline's spine was shattered when the Lunion's inertial fields and grav plates failed. She spent days in coldsleep while the ship limped back to port.

Weeks of nerve regneration and surgery have given her some control over her limbs, but she's as weak as a kitten and clumsy. The navy invalided her out when it was clear that she'd never fully recover. After a few months of recuperation planetside, Angeline discovered that what she missed most about life in the fleet was constant round of duties and the regulation of her waking hours. She didn't like staying in one place, with nothing to do.

Angeline bumped into Captain Ajeet Mittal at the local downport, when she went looking for work. He recognized her smarts and skills, and offered her a job aboard his Free Trader. Despite her intial reservations about the state of his ship, Angeline recognized Captain Mittal as a dependable, disciplined spacer. She's not crazy about working for profit, but she's glad to be back in space.

While she can walk, she typically makes use of a motorized walking frame when in full gravity. Aboard ship, she cranks the grav plates in her quarters down to 1/4 G and gets around all right.

***

This pre-gen character has a 1 in Strength AND a 1 in Dexterity, which means she's so feeble and uncoordinated as to be practically confined to bed. I'm envisioning someone tough and smart, but now rather physically vulnerable. My mental image flips between that of someone who was physically large and imposing, now mostly immobile (Miranda Hart in a wheelchair, or something), or someone very petite and birdlike who is now so weak she can hardly move.