The Professional Gamer - November 2, 2015

I can't believe that we are already in November.  Thanksgiving will be here before we know it.  But lets not look too far ahead.  What have I been doing this week?  More of the usual, I have to say.

Watching:  I may have mentioned this earlier, but America's Test Kitchen is one of my favorite PBS programs.  I recently found out that last year's season of ATK is available on Netflix, and have been watching through that.  Netflix recommendations being what they are, I also discovered The Poisoner's Handbook, which is a wonderful documentary about the birth of forensic science.  I love seeing the evolution of science, especially in it practical application.  In this case, we get to see the development of methods used to detect poisons (or the metabolites of poisons) in the human body.  They also discuss the presentation of scientific evidence in court, and the challenge of convincing judges and juries about the degree of certainty in the evidence.

Playing: This week has again been a very limited gaming.  Just a small amount of Guild Wars again.

Reading: I haven't ended up with much time for reading this week, and have opted to read news and opinion articles, rather than fiction.  If you're interested in looking through my reading list, go ahead and follow me on Twitter or Tumblr.

That's all for this week.

The Professional Gamer - October 26, 2015

Hi everyone! I hope you all have had a great week and enjoyed your weekend. We're getting close to Halloween, which of course leads to this:

This week has been a lot of fun, watching some fun TV series and reading some great comics.  

Playing: In terms of gaming this week, all that I've done is playing a few hours of Guild Wars 2.

Watching: This week I spent time watching through the Green Lantern: The Animated Series that was produced recently.  It's very much a kid series, but is still a lot of fun.  As hinted above, I also re-watched the entirety of Over the Garden Wall this last week, and it is still an amazing series.

Reading: This week, I read the first volume of Mystery Babylon, which I purchased at Denver Comic Con due to a strong resemblance to The Slayers.  The series so far is a lot of fun, but I feel like I need to read some more to develop a more informed opinion of it.  I've also started reading The Thrilling Adventure of Lovelave and Babbage, a mostly factual comic of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, the world's first computer scientists.  This book is dense, with lots of historical references and footnotes.  I've not even made it through one chapter yet, because I've had to spend so much time reading through all the notes.  But, I'm loving every minute of it.

The Professional Gamer - October 19, 2015

Hello readers! I've had a fun and challenging week.  The boss was away this week, leaving me in charge of the design group.  And, things went pretty well.  I've got another week of responsibility, then I go back to my normal position.  But, it has been fun to be in charge, if only for a little bit.  Anyways, what have I been doing this week?  I'm glad you asked!

Playing: Opening session of my revived tabletop RPG (formerly D&D 4.0, now Pathfinder), went quite well.  My players all seem to be fairly excited about the story that I've teased out for them.  And, the rules are familiar enough to me that the adjustment in running the game was not hard at all.  Crystal and I are planning to trade weeks of running games, so look for more updates in two weeks time.

Reading: My attempt to read through Pretty Guardian: Sailor Moon has failed.  Well, its delayed at least.  I'm two chapters from the end, and Sailor Moon is about to face off against Sailor Galaxia.  Alas, the books were due back to the library and I had no more renewals left.  I will get the last volume back as soon as possible.  In the meantime, I read two short graphic novels: The Ring of Saturn and Casting Bones.  In both cases, I'm still collecting my thoughts, but will have full reviews for both in the next few weeks.

Watching: I feel like most of the serials that I've been regularly watching are leaving me in an awkward position this week.  I have one episode left to watch of My Love Story, but it hasn't posted to Hulu yet.  And Steven Universe is now on hiatus (reportedly until 2016).  I did catch Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor's (brief) appearence on The Late Show this week (the Welcome to Night Vale creators come in at the last 5 minutes).  It's cool to see some guys who are making something that is, at least to my mind, incredibly geeky, get some mainstream press for it.

That's all I've got for this week.  I'm off to put together some plans for D&D next week.  Have a great week, and game on!

The Professional Gamer - October 12, 2015

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Professional Gamer.  This week I've been on the giving and the receiving end of media sharing.  But have also found myself a bit preoccupied during most of the evenings.  I managed to find some time to enjoy myself, so read on to find out what I did.

Watching: This week I only was home for one evening where I could watch some television.  And that time was spent sharing Steven Universe with some friends.  I have to say, I miss getting to watch something new to me at times, but I also really love the feeling of sharing something new with a friend.  

Playing: This was another week where almost all of my video gaming time was spent on Guild Wars 2.  However, I am now also working to get a tabletop RPG ready for my friends.  I ran a long term game using the D&D 4th Edition rules.  My group (and me) got a little tired of how long combat tended to take in that system, and have opted to try continuing the story using the Pathfinder rules.  But, I haven't run a game in that system yet, so I'll be learning the rules a bit as we go along.

Reading: I spent my reading time this week with Volume 11 of Pretty Guardian: Sailor Moon, and have now started into the "Stars" arc.  After the fun and uplifting story of the "Dark Moon" arc, this one has been rather tough.  Warning: spoilers on a 10 year old series ahead.  Momoro's death in the first chapter is really rough.  Especially the way that Usagi blocks it out.  If she had confronted this event dead on, I feel like things would seem less tragic.  But, now it just feels like a scab that can't be left alone.  I've got to hurry my way through the rest of the story though.  All of the library books are due back next week and I have run out of renewals!

That's all I've got for this week.  I'm very close to releasing some new podcast episodes featuring our interviews from Nan Desu Kan 2015.  Look for those to start appearing this week.  Have a great week and game on!

The Professional Gamer - October 5, 2015

Many weeks, I sit down to write this article feeling that I have precious little to talk about with you.  I've had to stay long at work, or been busy with garden chores, or run into another of the myriad distractions that can suck away my fun times.  But, in spite of some cat issues, I had a whole lot of fun this past week.  Read on to see what's been happening in my life.

Reading: I'm currently in the taper prior to my half-marathon run (which is on Sunday, but since I'm composing this on Friday, I won't be able to tell you about my results.  Spoilers, yo!)  But, with less time required for running, I've had more time to read.  I've nearly finished another volume of Pretty Guardian: Sailor Moon.  But, I've left off in the middle of the climatic battle with Nehelenia, Queen of the Dark Moon.  Soon, I'll be into the ultimate story arc, and then finished.  And, my local library has Lumberjanes available for digital loan.  Which led me to reading two more issues last night when I should have been going to bed.

Playing: My gaming this week was again limited to a few minutes of Guild Wars 2, but that's probably not really worth reporting on.

Watching:  First, lets discuss the TV that I've been watching.  I decided to start watching through Doctor Who from the beginning.

No, not that beginning.  This beginning:

Original Doctor Who is somewhat of a mixed bag.  The writing is reflective of its time (i.e. strong white man is basically the hero, while the women are basically left to scream about things).  Sometimes the plots are a bit clunky , and could have been better paced.  However, there is some gold in there.  As silly as they are, the Daleks are still frightening enemies.  And the Doctor is still a mad man with a box.  So far I've watched the first two serials "The Unearthly Child" and "The Daleks", and much prefer these two to "The Aztecs", which I watched last year when it was released on Netflix.  I do wish that the writers had written Susan and Barbara as a bit more clever and brave, but that, maybe, is simply my expectation as a modern viewer looking back on an older work.  I'm going to keep working my way through as many episodes as I can, and we'll discuss them here.

Lastly, I had an opportunity on Wednesday to attend a lecture by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  His talk was entitled "Cosmic Bizarre" and focused on all the weird things that existing in our galaxy, from tardigrades to black holes to dark energy/matter.

That's all I've got for this week.  I hope you all have some geeky fun.  Have a great week and game on!

The Professional Gamer - September 28, 2015

Hello, fellow geeks and other interested parties.  I've finally got that tough project done and am enjoying my reduced workload.  I may still be using most of my lunch time for running (and hence not getting in my usual reading time) but I'm still having a lot of fun with my other activities.  Read on to see what I've been doing.

Playing: I haven't had a huge amount of free time for video games this week, but I did spend some time playing Guild Wars 2 after I'd had enough with work last weekend.  Sometimes, I feel like GW2 is the methadone to the heroin that is World of Warcraft.  At least I'm avoiding an expensive habit.

Watching: I've nearly finished watching the Good Eats episodes that are available on Netflix.  All that remains is Pumpkin Pie! But, I also found out that the latest Doctor Who Christmas special is now available, so I will be watching that very soon.  And, I watched the latest episode of Steven Universe: "Catch and Release".  I have a lot of feeling about this episode.  I feel like this is our first chance to see Peridot as more than a threat/annoyance; and that's a really good thing.  I'm also glad that Steven's constant kindness to her seems to have paid off in some degree of trust.  Also, sounds like there is some spooky stuff going on with Earth, and some sort of experimental gem  thing may blow the whole planet up.  We can only hope that the Crystal Gems will be able to avert disaster.

That's all I have for this week.  Come back next week, and I should have a bit more for you to read.  If you haven't already, have a listen to our conversation with Laurissa and Crystal about their experience at Nan Desu Kan 2015.  Have a great week, and game on!

The Professional Gamer - September 21, 2015

After 60+ hours of work this week, I haven't had a lot of time to myself.  I did manage to get out for my lunch time running on Monday - Thursday.  As of Friday night while I'm writing this, the only other thing that it feels like I've done this week is watch a few more episodes of Good Eats.  I will be heading over to the Denver Small Press Fest tomorrow, and will report back what I find later.  Hopefully, I can find some more time next week to have fun.  Check back here again next week.

Don't forget, Small Press Fest Denver is tomorrow.  Go check it out and support your local artists/authors/creatives.

The Professional Gamer - September 14, 2015

I'm back now from NDK, and, as you may have read here, I had a great time.  That being sad, what did I find to do with the time that I had for the remainder of the week.  I did manage to spend Labor Day at home, and therefore, got to enjoy my free time a lot.

Reading: In the whole week, I read about 5 pages of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.  I only have a few weeks left of my intense running program (training for a half-marathon), and then I should have my lunch time free for reading again.

Playing: Almost all of my video game time this week was spent going through my StreetPass on Nintendo 3DS.  Nan Desu Kan is a great place to meet people because there is a huge crossover between anime fans and Nintendo fans.

Watching: On Monday, I binge watched all of the episodes of My Love Story!! that were available on Hulu (which is a few weeks behind the CrunchyRoll release schedule).  I love the show so much, primarily because Takeo and Yamato are such huge dorks and don't know what to do with themselves.  This is another case of "not your typical shoujo" and I strongly recommend it.  I also found out the Food Network changed out the collection of Good Eats episodes that area available on Netflix streaming, and have been watching those too.

That's all that I've got for this week

The Professional Gamer - September 7, 2015

This weekend, I am attending Nan Desu Kan.  Some of the coverage should have already hit the front page at this point.  However, I'm writing this at a point when the convention has only just begun.  That being the case, let's talk about my week so far.

Reading:  After many weeks of not finding the time, I finally finished another volume of Pretty Guardian: Sailor Moon.  That leaves me with only 3 volumes left in the entire series.  And, as I've previously discussed, I think the Dark Moon arc marks the point where the story finally has some good pacing and character development.

Watching: My lovely wife Crystal has convinced me to sit down and watch a few episodes of My Love Story, and now I'm hooked.  I suppose that this is only fair since I've hooked her into Welcome to Night Vale.  But, My Love Story is a great, unconventional shojou romance.  I've only watched a few episodes so far, and will therefore withhold my complete review for now.  For now, it is a fun romance, and definitely on my A-list for this year.

Playing: Unfortunately, the busy convention schedule this week did not leave me any time for games.  And, I will likely spend most of Labor Day catching up on my chores that I am neglecting this weekend.  Such is life.

That's all I have for this week.  If you haven't already, check out our coverage of Nan Desu Kan.  Have a great week, and game on!