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Fri May 29 10:00:01 UTC 2026
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Slept somewhat fitfully from midnight to eight.
Woke a couple times in the night.
Sunny.
Highs around 80.
West winds up to 10 mph.
# Work
* 11:00 AM GrowHub v1.25.0 release prep
# Home
* [ ] walk
* [ ] hack on Secret Base
* [ ] play with solo Shadowdark Ars Magia stuff
* [x] study something
* [ ] D&D Lament game prep... What does the plane saucer need?
* [ ] maybe the giant robot (and its parts) _are_ the MacGuffin of Vecna?
* [ ] instead of written instructions, maybe the Void Entity explains stuff (insufferably)
* [ ] Clear instructions saying "This is a ship that can navigate the planes and here's how to operate it."
* [ ] A way to find descriptions and directions to interesting locations on the planes. (Or maybe that's on the beholder's ship?)
* [ ] read The Count of Monte Cristo
Finished reading The Lighthouse Witches.
Competent writing and the plot is somewhat more interesting by the end than it seems from the first half of the book.
Not very interesting characters, though.
Washed laundry.
I've been watching The Gilded Age on HBO.
What makes the characters so enjoyable?
It's the same element seen in The Wire and The Sopranos — even when the characters are bad, you can enjoy them.
What makes a character run to watch, even if they're unlikable?
Like, the fun of character moments is watching them keep a lid mostly on their fundamental nature or else letting rip.
When defining a character, maybe think in terms of their most extreme version with all restraints removed.
How would they act then, when they're really reveling in their unrestrained impulses?
The flipside to that: what fears or personal ties restrain the character from following their purest natural impulses all the time?
I suppose all this hinges on the writer giving characters opportunities and situations to show their colors.
1. What's the purest, most unfiltered version of the character?
2. What restrains them from being that maximum version of themselves all the time?
3. Give the audience many opportunities to see the character unfiltered or buckling under their restraints.
What about minor characters that have less dynamic range?
Like Bridget, the maid who survived family abuse.
The audience knows little about her, and her relationship with the Jack, the footman, is like a minor theme in a piece of classical music.
Maybe the character and the relationship between Bridget and Jack isn't intended to be interesting on its own.
It operates at a foil for other relationships — contrasting relationships with other couples (potential pairings) that are older or of a different socioeconomic class.
Of course, characters are creatures of their setting.
Their enthusiasms and irritants tie into the rules and arrangement of their milieu.
Sonny Rollins died Monday.
While trying to remember the Mae West quote "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better," I came across this one: "She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong."
😆
Servings: grains 1/4, vegetables+fruit 2/5, dairy+meat 4/4, nuts+beans 0/0.5
Brunch: gyro, coffee
Lunch: apple, cheese
Afternoon snack: coffee, orange
Dinner:
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