As promised, here are some pictures of my recent acquisition. As you can see, he towers over my regular size miniatures, dwarfing his offspring the small black dragon at his feet and grabbing a wild elf in his hands.

He even has inches over my next largest creature.

He is a nice addition to my growing family of dragons.

Here There Be Dragons

On a fair number of days I am the first of my family out of bed. On these days I usually find myself sitting in the dark at the computer, working on various tasks that need done. As I sit and recall the different tasks I open a new tab. I have no specific order I go about the work. Whichever task I see that I haven't dealt with comes next.

Yesterday I had several tabs opened on my computer when I happened to hear the odd slump of something at the front door. Expecting a package, but not thinking it to arrive so early I clicked on one of my open tabs: the tracking of that package. Indeed, the information said that it was "Out for Delivery." Given this I grabbed my crutches and hobbled to the front door. Looking out through the peep whole I could indeed see what appeared to be a small package sitting on my doorstep. I opened the door and brought the package inside.

I pushed the package along so that I could sit and work at the computer while I opened it. Not the most efficient form of multitasking but it was the way I worked. I opened the package to find a miniature of a black dragon. Do not be mistaken by the term miniature. The dragon is labeled as a gargantuan black dragon, and while it is quite small most of my other miniatures are dwarfed in comparison. As I was pulling this dragon from it's box I happened to click on another of my tabs to find this webcomic. Truly it was a morning of strange coincidences.

Pictures to follow.

All children, except one...

I have a fantasy world. Most of us do. As we age we find ourselves spending more time in the world created for us by society and less time in our fantasy world. Most of us. I, however, still have a healthy addiction to my fantasy world and visit it frequently. I cannot escape. I do not try. I have no desire to. This holiday season allowed me more time to visit, and expand, my fantasy world. This brought little complaint from those who live with me until my fantasy world spilled over into five boxes crammed next to my bedside. Needless to say, the unsightly expansion of my realm caused some distress from Trina. She suggested a storage case to keep my fantasy in, as opposed to the five misused boxes. Of course, my mind quickly started working overtime as I imagined myself sitting with these overrunning pieces of imagination, sorting them, classifying them, and distributing them into a neatly organized case. I explained my desire to my wife, and while my vision was much grander than her original idea, I think the idea of me gently separating the pieces of my family touched some part of heart.

Of course, the first step to this organization would be to find the perfect storage device. I was loathe to shop before my incident and find myself, predictably, even less eager to go peruse the overcrowded aisles of the local stores since I have had my accident. Nevertheless, I had a vision in mind and as much as I try, Trina never allows me to send her as an errand girl to fulfill my visions, fearing that she will fail me. After a few failed attempts at find a compatible storage device I stumbled on the idea of going to our local home improvement store. We had been planning a trip anyway, given the need for a new car key. Granted, this need has become less pressing since I have lost the ability to drive, but it was still an errand to be taken care of. The trip was a success. We obtained the replacement key and an acceptable storage facility to store my make-believe in.

The day after obtaining this storage device I set to the task of sorting my fantasy. Of course, this was not a simple task. Do I divide my fantasy by race? By class? By good and evil? If I divide the orcs into Post Optionsone group and the undead into another group, where does my Orc Zombie belong? Of course that was one of the easier questions to answer. Upon looking closely at the O.Z. it is clear that it belongs in the undead category.

I don't know how long it took me. It was a labor of love. Here you can see the end results of my work as my soldiers are divided before me. Could anyone be happier for their fantasy?

My leg

I do not know if it dismayed Trina, my wife, but I have put a moratorium on my leg outside of this blog. That means she is not able to post pictures or talk about my leg unless the story is directly important to her. While some might argue any story about my foot is important to her, I do not care. It is my leg and the telling of it's tale belongs to me. Her only question was, "Are you going to write about it and put up pictures?" Indeed I am.

On Tuesday, after my family left town I was able to go see my doctor about having a splint removed that I have worn in the two weeks since surgery. Some x-rays taken at that appointment revealed that I now have two screws in my lower foot, Buttons flanking either side of my leg bones (complete with wires between them to hold my bones in place), and a plate attached with screws to my fibula. Overall the doctor said the prognosis was good. I left the appointment with a simple brace to wear when I am up and about. This was my decision. The doctor was perfectly happy to let me walk (hobble) out of their with nothing more than my crutches and a warning to be careful. His instructions are simple: start stretching it, I'll see you in 6 weeks.

As you can see from the pictures provided my foot look pretty damaged and ugly. There are plenty of marks where a shaving job went bad. There are yellow stains from the antiseptic. On either side of my foot you can see the taped incisions. And, of course, the foot is horribly swollen. This affects how the foot feels. It feels not right. However, it does feel better than it has in days and I enjoy the chance to move it. I also enjoyed the chance to wash it. It looks slightly better now. If not less swollen, it definitely looks cleaner.

Expectations

I have learned from the webcomics. I have also learned from their authors. One, Howard Tayler I have learned from face to face. Another, Rich Burlew, I have learned by reading his comic and facing disappointment. There is another who I only mention in passing, but has still taught me. What they have taught me is this: you must set expectations for when your work will be seen. Howard started his webcomic with the decision to post daily, and never miss a post. He hasn't for 8 years. Rich updates his webcomic when he can, and so far I have seen no detectable pattern to the when and how. The third artist has settled into a comfortable routine of Mondays and Thursdays, with an occasional bonus post. How does this help? It allows me to know that on certain days I can check those webcomics and find new material, except in the case of the second where I find myself obsessively checking the website every morning hoping for a new comic to entertain me. As a side note, I would recommend reading both of these webcomics if you are interested in things sci-fi or fantasy.

Anyway, on to the point. What should you expect for this blog? I will not follow Howard's example and update it daily because I know I will not succeed. I believe that I shall settle into a routine of updates twice a week: Sunday and Thursday. So there you go. There will be new information guaranteed on those days. Bonus posts to come as they are needed.

EDIT: To avoid confusion and frequent checking expect updates late on the day on Sunday, earlier in the day on Thursdays.

A Word on Names

A blog must start somewhere. Having no better place to start, I shall begin my blog with a little word on names. In particular, the name of this blog: Raven's Writings. The name Raven is often associated with a female personage. I, however, am male. It was a name I chose for myself when the internet was still a new creature. Free e-mail servers were beginning to abound. Several search engines vied for your patronage, and users argued over which was better. The noise has since died down. Still, many things were created in that day. One of them was screen names. I chose for myself the screen name Ravensbane. Given the 6 billion people in the world it was inevitable that I was not the first, and chances are that I am not the only one. The reasons for choosing it are lost to the memories of time, but I have held onto it for a decade now. It has become a fond part of my identity. Indeed, you'll find in my home a Raven tie and a Ravensbane stamp set made for me by my loving wife, as well as a few Ravensbane t-shirts. No one else understands, no one else needs to.

It was sometime after choosing my new moniker that I discovered that my given name, Brendan, had several translations. While the accuracy of these origins can be debated, I found listed the words: Sword, Flame, Beacon, and Raven. I also found the unflattering 'smelly hair.' I did the sensible thing upon finding that one and ignored it. But there it was. My name meant Raven. By choosing the name Ravensbane or Raven's Bane, I had declared in my mind that I was my own enemy. It seemed so deep and revealing at the time. Now it just seems like an illusion of deepness. Indeed, I rarely consider myself to be my own enemy anymore. In fact, while I often bemoaned and hated life as a teenager, I find it has a certain amount of joy in it now. I have found myself to be quite an enjoyable travel companion along the way. This hasn't been a change of life or a change of self, but a change of perspective.

Now I allow you to enjoy myself with me. I hope you do.