Time is like cash in your wallet, it flies!

Wow... it has been since last August that I updated this thing. I am not sure I this has been because I have been to busy, uninterested in sharing my life or just blown away by life. Probably all three.

Lots of stuff to talk about... so I will just start off with the big news first.

A lot of people probably know that I have been in a relationship with a wonderful woman named Sarah. Two very different worlds coming together in this desert land to begin the steps of what will hopefully be a lifelong journey.

The big news about this, is that I am going to be a father again. Little Isabelle is due August 1^st. The day after my birthday (Yes Chana, I still remember that is your birthday as well!). Mom is back in the Philippines as Dubai does not let unmarried couples have children over here (Its a Visa thing). We have started discussing what we are going to do in the future.

This is going to be big news to a lot of people (some of my family included), but those of you that know me, I play things pretty close to my chest and do not communicate very well! The baby is doing well, mom is discovering all the wonderful things about pregnancy (cravings, back pain and endless bathroom breaks). I have never seen a woman more excited to welcome a baby into the world, and that is saying a great deal. I know many phenomenal mothers out there (Anglia, that means you!), and those little bundles of joy are the greatest and most profound things that can happen to anyone.

My biggest reservation (you know there was going to be one!) about this entire situation is that Sarah and her family are pretty fervent Catholics, as most kabayans are. I am about as non-religious as you can get without being a straight out atheist. I just want to be sure that our daughter has the choice to believe whatever she wants to be, and she won't be brainwashed as I have seen people become by the church.

Ok, now that the big one is out of the way, on to the other stuff.

Work has been progressing pretty quickly. My last blog talks about the opening to my new store. Well that is long done and I am proud to say my team are animals when it comes to delivering the Message. Our management team has shuffled over the last six months, with Christine moving on to (hopefully) greener passengers, the addition of Mark, Arianne and fellow stateside Changster Liz. Morad, our GM is transitioning (or as he calls it, transaction...) the store to Maan our new GM. Maan is an old hand from MOE, and is coming over to DM with a new promotion. I had kinda hoped it was going to be me, but I am going to have to hold off a bit longer.

Speaking of promotions, I have been going to a Alshaya (my franchiser) courses on Store Management. These really aren't necessary for the brand per se, but will help me in understanding the labyrinth that is Alshaya business practices. Courses on Loss Prevention, Human Resources, Leadership and managing time. Most of these are centered on the predominately retail aspect of Alshaya, but some of it is relevant to the business of running a restaurant.

My book has stalled... again. It is all up in my head, from beginning to end, but the main mindset I had for the book has long since passed. The tragic love story of Gaise and Tendra was mostly fueled by the heartbreak I felt when Jess left me a lifetime ago. I just have a hard time channeling the level of feeling when I write the characters now, and when I do they feel hollow, and full of cliches. While I am not Stephen King, I do not want to be stuck in the same vein as Stephanie Meyers... I want to be able to put out more than just juvenile fiction.

That is not to say that I am not still writing... “Sellsword” is still being worked on slowly as well as “The Ascension War: Operation Godhammer”, my science fiction short. Mostly I have been working on a conversion of Shadowrun 4^th edition for a Mass Effect RPG. I had originally intended to use the Saga Edition rules, but SR4 seemed like a good fit, especially with in place rules for wireless hacking. I have also been working on a new edition of “The Therandul Campaign Setting”, which is using my own combination of D20 rules to form a Dark Mid-fantasy campaign. I am shooting for a combination of A Song of Fire and Ice, Conan and David Gemmel's Draenei series. Tales of politics and deadly alliances, with magicians essentially slaves to royal houses, men and women with skill at arms and diplomacy shaping the destiny of the great nation of Therandul.

A friend of mine suggested I should write a biography. In my head I wanted to call it, “The Last Laugh: Life of a cynical optimist”, but I am far to young to write a biography when I am only 33 years old. Perhaps after I get famous. It is weird to think that when I look back over my life, and can realize that I have lived a pretty remarkably varied life. There is so much I want to still do and experience, and it only serves to remind me that life is a ongoing journey and adventure.

My creative energy has been up, with no ability to game over here. My schedule does not match up with the one gaming group I have found in Dubai, and even if I did have an opportunity to play, they are doing D&D 4^th edition, and are a group of predominately wargamers. I have found another group in Abu Dhabi, but suffer the same situation, but with the additional two hour travel time with no car to get there. So I spend my time coming up with more story thoughts, plot hooks and basic campaigns that I dream of running again when I get back to the States. In reality I should be taking all of these adventure hooks and turning them into workable stories to actually put into a book. Maybe a collection of short stories perhaps?

I have been doing a lot of Video Gaming (more than normal). With Sarah back in the Philippines and me not having a lot of friends outside of work I have a hour or two to kill on a daily basis, so I have been playing on my Xbox and PS3. My PC recently tanked on me (trying to get it up and running now), but I will probably have to replace it. Sadly, ordering parts and building it seems to be a no-go here, so I will probably have to pay an ridiculous amount to by a new gaming rig. So for right now its console gaming for me.

I will save individual reviews for a different time and blog post. Have some things to say about the Mass Effect Saga, an old review of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and my recent guilty pleasure, the Witcher 2.

Well, I have been rambling on enough again... so I suppose I should call it a night. I really need to post on my blog more often so I can get this word stew out in a more sensible and focused form.