Contrariwise the Wizardly

Those Drawn With a Very Fine Camel's Hair Brush

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個人サイト管理人に50の質問

50 Questions for Personal Site Administrators

Shamelessly borrowed from bikobatanari.art/posts/202… who also provides context on where this trend originated.
  • Please tell us your name and its origin.

A couple of years ago I was trying to come up with a username. The kind someone else might have created in high school and stuck with for the next 20 years. I was looking for something that could represent me, wasn’t already taken everywhere, and wasn’t directly associated with my day job or anything I’ve done previously on the internet. Not entirely sure how I stumbled on the word, but “Contrariwise” was an instant hit among friends.

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I back a lot of things on Kickstarter. Like. A lot of things. Especially during the annual ZineQuest, where indie TTRPG creators are encouraged to take a chance on the small, wild ideas that sometimes grow up to be Something Big.

At PAX Unplugged I had the chance to speak briefly with one such creator, and they asked me what I looked for when I was deciding to back a project, so this post is written to them. Well. Also you, you’re reading it. Hi! But mostly to them, and anyone else who might at some point want to try to publish a TTRPG supplement.

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Back at home safely ensconced in my office, wearing the slanket, and it’s time to talk about Hawaii. This is going to be something of a journal post, while also exploring some thought processes out loud. Apologies in advance if that’s not your thing!

How Did You End Up Going to Hawaii Anyway?

Medium story short, it was originally a work trip. Having never been to Hawaii, or indeed to any “tropical” or “island” destination, I tacked on a short mini-vacation the weekend before the work portion. Then the work part got cancelled, and my “mini” vacation was non-refundable. So, okay. I guess I’m going on a short trip to Hawaii. No plans, no friends. Just me and the island.

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A couple days belated, but last week was primarily about the run-up to Christmas. My routine for the last several weeks has been to wrap up dinner then settle on the couch with my Steam Deck, play something, and have a movie on in the background. I think as a result I’ve seen more movies in December than the preceding decade.

In alphabetical order:

  • 8-Bit Christmas (2021)
  • A Christmas Story (1983)
  • Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
  • Frosty the Snowman (1969)
  • Groundhog Day (1993)
  • Home Alone (1990)
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
  • Klaus (2019)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
  • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
  • The Santa Clause (1994)
  • Scrooged (1988)
  • Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
  • Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
  • A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
  • White Christmas (1954)

I have thoughts about most of them, but I think I can summarize and say that the only one I for sure wouldn’t watch a second time is the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, and that’s because the first 30-45 minutes of Part 2 are a direct re-telling of the original. That was a fun back-to-back watch one night.

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