PLOG 10: Chaos

I wasn’t planning to blog every single day, but here we go with PLOG 10 - in the midst of the pandemic and protests, crisis and chaos – here are my thoughts and reflections…

Last night was another night of me being unable to stop watching CNN and checking Twitter for updates. The following image is typical of the coverage (a split screen with looting in Los Angeles on the left and an historic hotel building burning down in Washington, DC on the right):

As I watched the chaos unfold in Minneapolis, St. Paul, NYC, LA, Philadelphia, Miami, Las Vegas, Washington DC, etc. I realized they weren't covering Dallas. I went to Twitter and typed in "Downtown Dallas" and looked at the latest tweets. I immediately regretted it because I saw a video of a man being beaten to death (though I later read that he was picked up by an ambulance and was potentially going to survive).

Some people on Twitter were bragging about the crimes they were committing. Other people were warning about the chaos and reporting that shooters were running around in Dallas. Back on CNN, reports arrived that cops in Indianapolis had started using live ammunition and had shot 3 protesters; 1 of whom had died.

Our society has crossed the tipping point of chaos. I'm concerned on so many levels. My brain is also thinking about the "Breaking Bad" concept that once someone "breaks bad" it's almost impossible for that person to stop being a criminal. Thousands of people have engaged in lawless chaos in our major cities. Are they going to be able to easily revert back to being responsible citizens? I hope so, but now I have my doubts. The National Guard has been activated in many of these major cities, but means we may be looking at martial law for the immediate future.

Another concern I felt was that even though I was seeing all of this, I know in my heart that there are some people who don't watch the news and don't follow current events; there are some people who have no idea this is going on. My thoughts were backed up by getting a phone call today from an old friend who is like a brother to me. He had no idea this was going on.

It's so dangerous to me to think that someone wouldn't realize they should be avoiding major cities. It's so easy to just get on the highway and drive to Dallas, but they could get caught up in the traffic and protests. Not that my friend was going to leave his place; he's staying home because of the pandemic.

I've got the TV on and CNN is currently reporting that the protests in major cities are mostly peaceful right now. But it isn't dark yet. Once the sun goes down, that's when people start more fires and looting. They just reported that, outside the White House, people have brought rocks to throw at the police; there are thousands of peaceful protestors, but all it takes is a few violent people to turn it into an angry mob.

I need to eat. I was hoping my PLOG would mostly be about me bettering myself and my cooking skills and such during the pandemic. I had no idea this type of chaos would takeover our society, even though I suppose I should have known because the "preppers" and "conspiracy theorists" on YouTube and Reddit predicted this exact situation. They predicted the virus, the food shortages/rise in prices for groceries, the race riots, and I even remember one of them saying that by the time people realized they needed to get out of the urban areas it would be too late.

Is it too late? Should I have prepared a "bug out" bag? Should I be calling my father and seeing about going to live out in the country with him? I don't want to leave my home, but there's a part of me that realized I'm just a few minutes down the highway from downtown Dallas and there are a lot of shops and restaurants around me. I'll stay home and hope for the best.

Stay safe out there!

UPDATE:
Cities are falling into chaos again today. Chicago is burning. In Minneapolis, the police were trying to clear the highways and protesters started fighting each other, as well as the police.

It's scary to me that now the Los Angelos protests have spilled into Santa Monica - the beach town. This is just insane. In Minneapolis, they have started just arresting people. I think that's good and justifiable at this point.

I also just heard that Dallas has put in a curfew. That should help them justify more arrests. I want justice, but burning down buildings and looting is not the answer. These protests have turned violent and thus need to be shut down.

Stay safe out there!

HeroForge Color

I was one of the people who paid money as part of the HeroForge Color Kickstarter, to add color printing to HeroForge.com's printed miniature options. I think the menu options are wonderful. They have preprogrammed "racial" color options and "theme" options. They also allow for color customization for everything. Items and such have preselected colors, but can also be modified. HeroForge.com has come a long way and I love it. Now I just need to decide which miniature I am going to have them print and mail to me.

Here are color updates for some of my characters, in no particular order:

Peace!

PLOG 9: Brave Reporters

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues during the pandemic and protests...

I was glued to my TV last night watching the protests and riots in major cities around the US. CNN was covering Minneapolis, St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, etc.

I was so impressed by the courageousness of the reporters on the streets, surrounded by protesters. They were there in the midst of the violence - with the flash bangs, the tear gas, the pepper spray, the fires, the looting, etc.


In Minneapolis Sara Sidner has been a combat reporter, but even still, her calm was amazing. That's a fire behind her. She had already followed the protesters for miles at that point. She kept going. In the studio, Chris Cuomo was encouraging her and the others to be safe, but you could tell she was holding together just fine.


At the CNN building in Atlanta, Nick Valencia was right behind the front line of police protecting the building from looters. It got really intense as the protestors kept throwing rocks and such at the police. Nick and the crew were hit with BB gun bullets and debris. Luckily, the police eventually got the crowd back outside and the building was "safe" again.


Outside of the White House in Washington, DC I was afraid the crowd was going to get past the barricade and fence. We would have seen serious violence if they got onto the lawn of the White House. The Secret Service was there with the police, protecting the President. The crowd kept taking the barricades and then getting in the face of the authorities. Some protestors had to calm down other protesters. For a while, reporter Brian Todd was trapped in the middle of that angry mob.


Dallas received very little coverage, which made me hopeful that things would remain peaceful near me; I live in the suburbs outside of Dallas. Eventually things got tense. Ed Lavandera, the reporter in Dallas, ended up getting tear gassed along with the crowd and had to flee for a while. I went onto Twitter, since CNN wasn't covering much in Dallas, and saw videos of Dallas stores being looted. Apparently construction crews had left bricks out in piles and the protestors were using them.

Here's a report from one man who lives in Downtown Dallas, breaking down the timeline of violence from his point of view:
https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2020/05/a-timeline-of-downtown-dallas-plunging-into-chaos/

It's sad and scary to see all of the violence breaking out in major cities in our country. The news is already showing confrontations in Chicago with protestors and the police; I saw the police using their batons to beat back protestors after the police cars were vandalized. Philadelphia, New York City, Los Angeles, and Newark are already looking packed with protestors in the streets. I'm afraid it's going to get even worse tonight. Hopefully it'll end after this weekend, but I feel like the authorities can only be patient for so long.

I was surprised to see that police prefer to retreat and abandon areas than to use lethal force. They use nonlethal weapons to corral and try to control the movements of the protestors, but in many places they were just outnumbered too much and let the protestors have the streets; that's when some of the looting happened. Minneapolis looks like a war zone with lots of buildings burned down. Eventually though, the authorities will be forced to use lethal force to defend themselves or residential areas. And that's when all out chaos could erupt.

Supposedly there will be more National Guard out to help the police. I'm not sure what that will accomplish. We need leadership in this nation. We need swift action taken. The police officers who were involved in killing George Floyd need to all be arrested and charged.

Stay safe out there!

Edit: 
It's only about 5:20 pm in Texas, which is about 3:20 in California and it looks like a war zone in LA:

Police were beating back protestors with batons and firing their rubber bullets. Reporter Paul Vercammen was in a boxed in area between police, holding and/or pushing back people until the police cars were set on fire and started exploding. Then the protestors fled back from the dangerous smoke. It's going to be a long, long weekend and now I fear this is going to continue into next week.

I guess I won't be heading into downtown areas anytime soon.

Again, stay safe out there!

PLOG 8: Protests

My Personal Log (PLOG) continues...

Other than reading, I spent most of the day watching the news as the protests continued today. The protests were mostly nonviolent; the thousands of people out there are mostly wearing face masks, but it's shocking to see so many people out during the pandemic. People are risking their lives in the protests. It's a little after 7:00 pm Texas time, but it's started getting violent again in some of the major cities in the US.

Minneapolis has implemented an 8:00 pm curfew in hopes of getting people off the streets, but that could backfire. The reporters there are outside the buildings that were burned down yesterday. One man was interviewed; he had 2 buildings in the area and his employees put up "Black Owned" signs on one of the buildings and it was spared destruction.

The four police officers in the video from George Floyd's detainment/death were fired, but only one of them has been arrested for murder (3rd degree) and manslaughter charges. Why haven't the other former officers been arrested?

NYC right now:


Police are throwing tear gas and trying to get the people to disperse. They are arresting people and putting out literal fires that people are starting.

Washington DC, outside the White House:


CNN is reporting that the Secret Service had to intervene and arrest people and send the crowd away from the park there by the White House. People were trying to take down the barricades and get onto the White House lawn. The authorities were successful, but now the protestors are moving across the city.

Atlanta:


Protestors are throwing projectiles and setting cars on fire - including police cars. They had to send fire trucks to put out the fires. The police are now able to disperse the crowds. The cameras panned over to the CNN building, where graffiti is all over it.

My goodness! I fear it will get worse tonight, but I wanted to go ahead and type up my blog. If need be, I will update more later tonight or tomorrow.

Be safe out there!

Edit: Dr. Cornel West went on CNN and decried America as a failed social experiment. He pointed out that it's good that protestors are out in the streets because too often people fail to respond to these atrocities in our society. He called Trump a "neofascist gangster" in the White House.

PLOG 7: Violence

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 7
Pandemic Emergency Day: 77

Last night violence broke out in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Riots. Fires. Destruction of buildings and stores (especially a local Target there). As far as I know, only 1 person died during the riots. But this was all the result of some cops using unnecessary force and killing a black man in custody. Does that make it a race issue? An anti-cops issue? Since the cops were white, it certainly seems to be both. If nothing else, what people need to understand, especially in the emergency pandemic mode we find out society in, is that stuff can hit the fan and people can break out into violence really easily. The stability of our society is on the edge of a knife right now.

And yet here I am, in my home, eating my sausage and shrimp jambalaya that I cooked. I'm hanging out with my spouse and my cats and just trying to stay safe and relax (as much as one can relax during such traumatic times).

Zatarain's jambalaya, boxed mix, is going to cost about $1.25 to $2.50 depending on whether you get the regular size or family size (or maybe use 2 boxes of the regular size mix). The sausage is usually about $2.50 per pound so if you use a pound of meat with the box(es), the meal could be just $3.75 to $5.00. The shrimp though, the shrimp costs $5 for a pound. That means adding shrimp effectively doubles the cost of the meal. It's delicious though and I highly recommend it. Cajun food is great for stress eating. And, in these strange times, stress eating is best done with home-cooked meals rather than going out for fast food, take-out, or even ordering delivery.

Note: After I wrote this blog, I turned on the TV and saw that the situation had gotten worse. The protesters are now burning down the police station and the fire has spread to the buildings across the street. The US National Guard has been called in. CNN is saying that hopefully 500 soldiers will be enough to help calm things down, but I'm not sure how they will calm this situation down; I'm not sure how the protestors will react to authority, especially since the local police have decided to do nothing in hopes the protests and violence will end.

Meanwhile, protests are spreading. In Louisville, Kentucky protestors are throwing tear gas back at the police. The fear is that the protests will continue to spread into more cities. It's crazy.

Try to stay safe everyone!

PLOG 6: 100,000

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 6
Pandemic Emergency Day: 76

Today the US death count surpassed 100,000.

That is all for today.

Peace!

PLOG 5: Chili

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 5
Pandemic Emergency Day: 75

My guilty pleasure is eating some canned chili when I don't feel like spending 30 minutes cooking a meal on the stove. I used to think that my taste preference was chili with no beans, but - thanks to the pandemic - I've realized that I also love chili with beans. Back when SHTF (stuff hit the fan) back in the middle of March, I added canned chili and Fritos to my emergency grocery orders.

After the panic buying seemed to be wearing down, the deliver services for Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon Fresh were still lacking most canned chili varieties, but I discovered Target offered a shipping option; Target was willing to ship things they had trouble keeping in stock in-store. That's when I ordered a bunch of canned chili. Side note: my new favorite chili is Hormel with Angus beef.

For a while I felt like a master of online grocery delivery options. I spent a couple of weeks obsessing over what groceries were and were not available from the different stores. I watched closely. I got frustrated that Wal-Mart would either cancel orders or only deliver half of what was put in the cart. Amazon Fresh, similarly to Wal-Mart, was out of delivery options for a couple of weeks. I eventually figured out that going online right at or after midnight was the best was to get delivery options. I spread the word.

Target's same-day delivery service was my favorite. They delivered, every time. And they mostly got you the items they said were in stock. They won me over, but I am still willing to use whichever one has the products that I want. Blind loyalty to a brand or store would be silly in an emergency situation. One of my friends, who is very brave, goes out in person and shops at places like Costco and tells me that food is mostly in stock now; but many of the options he has found are still not popping up for delivery from the other stores. And meat is still either unavailable or really expensive.

By the way, Wal-Mart's "Great Value" brand corn chips taste just like Frito's to me and make a great addition to some chili and shredded cheese as "Frito Pie" (even if it is "Great Value Corn Chips Pie" instead).

Peace!

PLOG 4: Cooking XP

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 4
Pandemic Emergency Day: 74

As with anything skills-based in life, I now look at cooking as something I gain "gain XP" in (as in "experience points" from an RPG or video game perspective) and "level up" as I get more experience. Basically, the more I cook, the better I get at it. It makes sense.

Thus when I went to make my sausage jambalaya, I decided at the last moment to make it chicken and sausage jambalaya. And it was amazing! I had cooked chicken and sausage gumbo and chicken and sausage red beans and rice, but I hadn't tried the combination of meets in jambalaya. I was glad I did.

Meanwhile, it's Memorial Day weekend and I can't believe what I'm seeing on the news. Tons of people have gone out to beaches without social distancing and without face masks on. They are just throwing caution to the wind. I watched interviews on CNN with people at the beach saying things like "we are all going to die eventually" and "if Trump isn't going to wear a mask, I don't need to either." They have become relaxed in the time of the pandemic. But I don't think they should be that relaxed. Those vacationers are going to return to their home towns and they could be bringing the deadly virus with them.

Peace!

PLOG 3: Exercise

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 3
Pandemic Emergency Day: 73

Today was a nice, lazy part of Memorial Day weekend in which I kept eying my exercise machine - the gliding cardio machine that I moved out to the living room to be more "accessible" to me. I've kept the thing in my bedroom for the last several years and not really used it, but a few days ago I figured I needed to exercise. After all, one of the results of this pandemic is that we tend to just sit around all day since we are supposed to be staying home to stay safe.

Using the machine was good, but it left my legs and arms feeling sore for a couple of days. It's time to get back on it and pretend I'm out walking around in the world. I also have a treadmill desk, in the large walk-in closet, but I don't like it as much as my old treadmill (which is down in the garage collecting dust and holding up some boxes).

Foodwise, today was a chili and snacking day. I'm about to cook something, probably some sausage jambalaya. Most of the day was spent reading, playing Minecraft, or napping. It's nice to be on summer vacation, even if I'm stuck at home; I know in Texas I'm allowed to go out places, but I don't think it's a good idea because too many people are crowding together and not wearing masks. I'm going to keep following the CDC guidlines.

Peace!

PLOG 2: Emerald Empire

Personal Log (PLOG)
Summer Vacation: Day 2
Pandemic Emergency Day: 72 

For day 2 of my summer vacation I was feeling a bit restless (because I've been working at home for a long time). After some reading, napping, and wasting time on YouTube and Reddit, I finally decided to get back to playing Minecraft. I have a Realms server that we call the...

EMERALD EMPIRE!

It's just a few of us, but we are playing on a great seed. We have a main spawn area and then each person also has a HQ out in the world somewhere. I made a "Central Station" underground at the spawn area (aka Central City), but it's the Nether Hub that really connects everything together. We decided to take it slow with this Minecraft build up and thus we haven't even gone to The End and killed the dragon yet, despite the fact that the server has been running for 2 months now.

That's right. It's basically a pandemic server. I made it once I realized that really, truly, we were in lockdown in our homes. I figured it would be a great time to play some Minecraft.

My buddy, username Sprincessa, recently built an iron farm on the server and that thing is pumping out some iron for us. My main project today was figuring out where it was and connecting the Nether tunnels/portals to its collection room without it messing up her Nether portal for her base, which is very close to the iron farm. She also has a great collection of trading villagers hidden underground. That's the best strategy with Illagers in the game, trying to raid places.

I also spent some of the day out at the Mesa mining more terracotta blocks to use for building. For now, I figure it's easier to use those than to bother making concrete. Eventually I will want concrete colors though since they are so bright. I tend to build more modern buildings so those bright colors and glass look really nice together.

Well, I guess that's it for today other than to say I finished off the leftover Cheesy Chicken Helper I had cooked 2 days ago and cooked some new shrimp and chicken gumbo. Great food. I'm proud of my advancements as a chef.

Peace!

FOE3 Log 21-23

I just looked through my notes and realized I needed to post the last three adventure session logs from before the PANDEMIC began...

The Federation of Explorers Generation 3 (FOE3) continues with...
Althar Ovinson the yuan-ti cleric-wizard;
Zeraf the tiefling rogue-ranger; and
A'Beezel the tiefling bard!

Session 21
In the mountains:Althar, Zeraf, A'Bezeel, and Dax went down into a "drow hole" and found a cavern full of evil mushrooms. They had a huge battle with the mushrooms; A'Beezel and Dax were infected with spores, but Dax cured them. After resting, the team went deeper underground. A roper surprise attacked the group and almost killed them, but they defeated it in battle.

After finding paths with a purple haze, the team turned around and found an alternate route down. This led them to fighting a neolithid that killed Althar's familiar and Dax with its acid breath. The group rested after the battle, with the dead Dax and his automaton in the group portable hole.

Session 22
In the mountain caverns:Althar, Zeraf, and A'Bezeel traveled another 10 days before finally finding a dark elf city: Dinzarn. They paid Velgarn the drow merchant to sneak them into a safe house and help them plan how to rescue the captured slaves (A'Bezeel's villager friends who had been captured, including the barmaid Rosy). The drow fighter Qalore (pronounced "Kaylor") also helped the team.

Drow insurrectionists put magical illusions on the team so they would look like drow. The team infiltrated the slave prison and rescued the slave with minimal conflict/combat until fleeing out of the city; the team used diguises, distractions, and explosives to get the slaves out to safety.

The group eventually made it back to Deepwood Fort with the rescued slaves. They gave the gnome tinkerer the automaton and scraps. One of the rescued villagers was a wizard's apprentice; they were mostly humans. Rosy was very happy with A'Bezeel.

Session 23
At Deepwood Fort:Althar, Zeraf, and A'Bezeel had to deal with Steve's shenanigans; Steve threw a fit and exiled himself; the team had the local bard magically message Bagi in Deepwater and warn her Steve was coming. She said she would kill him if he went there.

The team spent 4 months of downtime setting up expansions in Deepwood, including farms and new buildings - along with a set political structure with a council to rule when the adventuring party is out of town or unavailable.

They found out the dark elves killed Steve (though it's possible he gave them valuable intel about the villages and such before dying). The party went to help Deepwater fend off a drow assault, leaving the council in charge of Deepwood.

Deepwater had expanded as well, with large statues honoring Ludo, Zeraf, and Althar; they replaced the town hall with a market (apparently abandoning the commune style of living for some form of capitalism?) and built a "war council" (Bagi, cleric of Mask, and the wizard) two-story town hall.

A drow army led by a wizard and priestess invaded Deepwater...

[Battle next time - though unsure when next time will be?]