My Catholic friends and I have been discussing this recently: is the “traditional” norm that the bride’s family pays for weddings?
I’d also be interested in hearing how all you guys paid for weddings; I’m very scared about proposing (still months away FWIW) because I don’t really understand how to afford it. I don’t have $15k-$30k lying around.
I’ve had a few interviews for teaching jobs (Catholic and charter schools), all went extremely well. I’m inclined to think I’ll have a few job offers…
EXCEPT: some of the schools (maybe all of them, in due time?) have asked for my transcripts. I wasn’t expecting this, and my undergrad GPA is admittedly bad; 2.77. I did go to grad school, I had a 3.67 at one school BUT I only took two classes there, and then I went to another grad school and (long story short) got two As, and a B, and dropped out to take a really awesome job (leaving some “Fs” because I couldn’t withdraw).
I know my interviews went extremely well, I definitely came off as (and am) very competent in my fields. My references are great. But: will submitting transcripts fumble my chances?
I’d like to submit a theory of mine: I may be misinterpreting GRRM drastically, but I think that while Aerys was probably clinically insane, he also was a product of his particular situation and was actually more right than wrong.
To explain: I’m an institutional economist and something I’ve thought of for a while was “if there was no King of Westeros before Aegon, that’s probably because it wasn’t efficient to rule so much in a monarchy (it’d be too costly) unless the monarch had exclusive access to ahem advanced military technology.”
Of course, hint hint, the advanced military technology is dragons, analogous to William the Conqueror’s success largely due to his heavy cavalry formations which England didn’t sport at the time.
The Targaryens were smart to keep dragons in the family, but once the dragons died out, the 7-kingdom-monarchy suddenly becomes just as inefficient as it would’ve been before the dragon conquest of Aegon (before which there was 10,000 years of stable regional governance).
We see the cracks of a dragon-less monarchy in a lot of ways; the defiance of duskendale, the Laughing Storm rebellion, and all (5?) Blackfyre rebellions. None of these would’ve happened if dragons were around.
And so, was Aerys really “crazy” for thinking the regional lord paramounts were plotting against him? Do we really think Tywin Lannister WASN’T wanting the crown?
Sure, Aerys created many enemies by dishing extremely harsh punishments, but his craziness and paranoia was a consequence of the fragmented power of his house to dominate the 7 kingdoms, and all of his (tactically bad) crazy actions really just exacerbated the existing troubles of his dynasty. Let’s not also forget that wildfire is, at least, some tactical substitute for dragons.
My most important evidence—and my conclusion—we know Aegon V died in a botched dragon hatching, which he pursued because he knew dragons were necessary for his house’s power. But Aegon V was a good king who cared for his people; he wasn’t even doing this for selfish reasons, he just wanted to hold the realm together safely again.
In some sense, Aegon V foresaw Robert’s Rebellion and the war of the 5 kings.
I just discovered Upwork, spent some money for “connects,” but nobody even opens my proposals. I always propose wages below the average, but, is the scheme here that I basically have to get paid pennies on the dollar until I have enough reviews, or something?
For context, I have even offered the damn near lowest wages, and I can’t get anything. I feel like I’m just wasting money on connects.
To expound: armor classes seem entirely… unbalanced, and I don’t understand how normal people play this way.
For instance, a hexblade warlock with 19 AC (not even insane armor, just normal starter armor) and it’s like, unless I cheese the rolls, most enemies just cannot hit him. Even for other characters with 16/17 AC, it seems like combat lasts forever (and is entirely anticlimactic) because all the enemies seem like bumbling buffoons who can’t land attacks, and my party seems like expert fighters because they land so many attacks.
Is there a fix for this aside from just fudging enemy attack rolls? I’ve tried bringing it up to the party (some of them have never lost half health before) and they seemed to think I was being crazy; like it just makes sense combat should last so long because they can’t ever get hit.
I’ve been incredibly depressed for the past few months, and I simply cannot motivate myself anymore. Unemployment has been getting the better of me; even simple tasks, ones that I HAVE to do, I nonetheless can’t bring myself to do.
I try bribing myself, like “I’ll get a good breakfast first, that’ll get me out of bed.” But then I just sit there. My body feels weak at the suggestion of doing anything.
I type this as I’m sitting in my car, not wanting to go into my apartment because I know I have stuff I need to do. I couldn’t gotten it done any time in the last two days, and I just would rather sit in my car and do nothing.
My fantasy is often that I get to just… go out on my porch and just sit there until I die. Don’t need to eat, work, maybe I’ll bring a pillow just to sleep sometimes. Ugh.
I’m a fairly new DM, I only got into it because (1) none of my friends have DM’d before either, and (2) I really wanted to eventually create my own homebrew.
I started a campaign with them 5 months ago, typical Forgotten Realms setting (didn’t want to reinvent the wheel while I learned the ropes). But now I have some player turnover because of summer stuff, which is convenient for starting a new campaign (putting the last one on pause).
I’d really love any advice anybody may generally have for homebrewing. I’ve been developing a very detailed world, and (frankly) the most difficult part so far has been creating enough classes (with a level up system) to allow for enough choice.
Narratively I think I have a great world; it’s unique and truly original, but it’d be aptly summarized as “space-punk Witcher.”
My problem is that none of the players are building chemistry with eachother; there’s hardly any dialogue unless I force it with circumstances.
I’m coming to think, maybe I need to offer smaller opportunities for purposeful dialogue? Is this something any of you think about?
Or more generally, how do you guys get characters to interact without it being necessary for like, a puzzle or something?