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Posts Tagged '13th Age'
Hearts of Stone 30: Beer Elemental
Posted: 22 November 2017 in Hearts of Stone
Tags: 13th Age, Savage Worlds
Only Soreth and the Fox turned up to this session; that sort of thing happens sometimes in a drop-in game.
At the end of episode 29, when all players were teleported home, Soreth found herself in her cave, north of Drakkenhall, while the Fox woke up in his old bedroom at Castle Stormwatcher, just outside Glitterhaegen. In the intervening period, Soreth's magic sword Spiterazor advanced the theory that [a] it was created to slay dark elves; [b] it its experience, you find dark elves fighting dwarves; [c] there are lots of dwarves in Anvil; and therefore [d] they should go to Anvil, kill dark elves, and take their stuff. Since neither of them has the brains God gave a rabbit, off they go.
Meanwhile, the Fox's henchwoman, Ladra, had learned that a dwarven goldsmith in Anvil was making a golden statue of a fox spirit, went to investigate, and was imprisoned for trying to steal it – so the Fox makes his way north to get her out of jail.
On meeting up at Anvil, the group learns that the local dwarven clans pride themselves on the quality of their beer. Making good beer requires a plentiful source of pure water, and by sifting through ancient records, one dwarf brewmaster has learned of the existence and approximate location of a spring of surpassing purity. The musty tomes tell him that the spring has been corrupted, and must be cleansed using a barrel of an unspecified but powerful potion.
Clearly, the brewmaster thinks, this must be a reference to Brimison's 8X Winter Ale. The party are hired to convey a barrel of this most puissant beer to the spring, dispose of any unwanted tenants, and empty the barrel into the spring.
We gloss over the trek to the caves wherein lies the spring, with Soreth carrying a barrel of 8X Winter Ale. Inside, they find an unwholesome mixture of goblins, orcs, ogres and dire wolves, but between Soreth's breath weapon and the Fox's flashing swords, these don't last long even though Soreth is distracted by fossicking through their quarters for loot, and only two cowardly goblins escape with their lives.
Locating the spring, they meet a water elemental who had taken up residence in the spring for its purity, only to find herself trapped there for generations while the orcs dumped – well, best not to think about it really – into the pool. When they dump the Winter Ale into said pool, its power purifies the spring and creates the first beer elemental in history – like a water elemental, but permanently tipsy.
Luckily for them, the beer elemental is a friendly drunk, and professes undying love for the Fox. This is unlikely to have a permanent effect as she will forget him at midnight. The Fox lets her down gently, and he and Soreth return to Anvil to collect their reward.
GM Notes
Hearts of Stone has now morphed into a series of picaresque one-sheet adventures with the overall story arc set to one side for the foreseeable future.
I had planned to use Gold & Glory to generate a dungeon for this session, but work and domestic affairs meant no time to do that, so I grabbed one of the old Crooked Staff freebie dungeon complexes, a bunch of monsters from the SW core book which are stated to cooperate, and a mission plot from Warhammer Quest. Took about an hour to set up, and most of that was spent choosing a map.
Hearts of Stone 28: The Fallen
Posted: 18 October 2017 in Hearts of Stone
Anvil Road, 8th June 216. Boris, The Fox, Hug-Hug, Pascal, Silmaria, X7-09.
Almost all our heroes are somewhere in the mines now, and gather by the campfire between the lift shafts and the spiral staircase. While the others lick their wounds and roast – well, best not to think about it, really – over the fire, Boris, the Fox, Silmaria, Pascal and X7-09 descend by the northern lift shaft (now repaired by X7-09) to the lower level.
Some short-range exploration allows them to tie up their rough maps of the upper and lower levels, and to deduce correctly that the only thing they haven't investigated on the upper level is the mysterious moaning noise behind one of the walls. Leaving that for another day, they follow one of only two unexplored corridors they know of, which twists and turns and at length leads them to a circular chamber with a high ceiling, which X7-09 notes is covered with holes. On the middle of the floor lies a body in chainmail, stretching its hand out towards a large gem. The Fox attempts to shield-surf down a short flight of stairs into the chamber, fails miserably, and walks the rest of the way to the gem, intending to liberate it. Two things happen immediately; large spikes slide out of the holes, and gravity in the chamber reverses, hurling the helpless Fox onto the spikes. Through swift reactions, adroit use of the shield, and (to be honest) miraculous luck, the Fox survives the spikes; then gravity returns to normal and he falls 20 feet to the floor, suffering severe contusions.
The rest of the party had cautiously retreated outside the chamber during this performance, and so survived. Pascal scampers into the chamber, again reaching for the gem; this triggers the trap again, and while Pascal's extraordinary wall-crawling abilities protect him, the Fox is again slammed into the ceiling spikes, and then back onto the floor again. He begins to look somewhat the worse for wear and there is some doubt whether he can leave the chamber under his own power, so Boris casts entangle in his unique manner – extending his luxuriant armpit hairs to a length of some 15 feet and projecting them for the Fox to grab onto. Given where this impromptu rope has been, the Fox is reluctant to grab it – until it triggers the trap again, when clutching on to it allows him to avoid the spikes, but not the bonecrushing slam into the floor afterwards. X7-09 and Boris reel him in like a fish and he is partially healed. Pascal gathers up the loot and after a short argument, the Fox gets the chainmail for his pains – and puts it on before anything else can stab him.
Pascal determines to his disappointment that the gem is an illusion, and more productively, that if he walks round the edge of the chamber he can cross the chamber without setting off the trap. The party cross to the other side and open the opposite door, at which point they are blasted by a lightning bolt of uncommon puissance. Fortunately, X7-09 is in the van, and as he becomes more experienced and better-equipped, he is getting increasingly difficult to hurt. Smoking slightly, he leads them through, and they discover the bottom end of the staircase where the others are camped. Not wanting to risk the chamber again, they troop upstairs, across to the lift, and back down again, before taking the only route they haven't explored yet, another passage.
At length, this passageway ends at a door, with an apparent gargoyle statue in an alcove nearby. Remembering that "the gargoyle knows the command word", they ask for this and receive it. It's at this point they begin to wonder what the command word does, but Silmaria is inspired by the word and begins scribbling notes about an awesome song using the word as its title.
X7-09 marches up to the door and tries to open it, receiving a very large spring-propelled spear in the guts for his pains. However, his shield slows it down enough that it does no actual harm, and he twists it sideways intending to smash its wielder into the wall beyond. He discovers that the door is false and the spear part of a trap, but while he is finding this out, Boris runs a long nail down the gargoyle's cheek and says "My, aren't you a handsome fellow," while at the same time the Fox barrel rolls away from the skewered X7-09, expecting further attacks – straight into the gargoyle.
The gargoyle interprets this combination as an attack – wouldn't you? – and leaps from its alcove to rend the party into toothsome chunks. Boris immediately invokes his magical bodyguard (a medusa).
"Stanley, my love," says the medusa. "It's been so long!"
"Gorgon – kill!" instructs Boris.
"Anyone in particular, or just all of them?" asks the medusa.
"Not me!" shouts the Fox.
"Just the statue today, my dear," explains Boris.
"How dare you cheat on me!" roars the medusa. "You thought I'd forgotten after all this time!"
While Silmaria taunts the gargoyle from the rear, the others lay into it with a will. Everyone hits it and hurts it, except X7-09 who is preoccupied with the door; but perhaps predictably, it dies when Boris kicks it somewhere tender with a viciousness not normally seen in elven wizards.
After some discussion, the party declaims the command word, thus opening a secret door. Following the corridor beyond leads them to an altar room, with an unbound corpse nailed to the altar by a dagger. The errant Hug-Hug is hiding behind the altar.
"Fanatics!" hisses X7-09, deducing in a flash that a sacrifice of some sort is needed to proceed. While the rest of the party gazes on, mouths open in shock, Pascal casts stun on Hug-Hug, X7-09 grabs him and slams him on the altar, and Pascal rams the dagger into his chest, killing him instantly. A section of wall slides back, revealing a passage deeper into the mines.
"Poor Hug-Hug," says Boris, intoning a request to his patron Icon under his breath.
"Yes, Master?" moans Hug-Hug, as he struggles to rise from the altar.
"You have done well, my friend," says Boris. "The King has given you a second chance."
The Fox cries out: "THE NECROMANCER!" and leaps forward, longsword swinging for the goblin's exposed neck. Hug-Hug's head flies from his shoulders to roll across the floor, while Boris gleefully skips off to join the rest of the party, as they venture into the newly-revealed passageway…
The Fox is currently going by the name of Sir Balthazar Rook, but I find it easier to think of him as the Fox. He never takes off his closed helm, as we have established that while everyone forgets his face at midnight, they do remember that their party contains an Imperial knight (who for some reason never opens his faceplate).
X7-09's player (also Pascal's player, though in this session X7-09 was the Wild Card and Pascal the Extra sidekick) is proving remarkably good at figuring out puzzles with next to no clues, which is gratifying.
Boris continues to be a deeply unsettling individual. The player does Chaotic Neutral very well.
Pressure is mounting to explore Babe Island (drawn on the map by Boris about 15 sessions back), so I have agreed to take them there once they've finished in the mines, which will probably be next week. I've been meaning for a while to switch over to some homebrew adventures, and this is a good chance to do so. Who knows what they'll find there? Not me, but the dice will soon tell me…
Hearts of Stone 27: It's a Trap!
Anvil Road, 8th June 216. The Fox, Hug-Hug, Pascal, Soreth, X7-09.
Party members shimmer in and out of existence on the far side of the dwarf-faced door, and when this has finished we find the party consists of The Fox, Hug-Hug, Pascal, Soreth and X7-09. Shrugging, they move on and find themselves on a stairway, which they ascend, noting with interest the hammer in a glass-fronted niche with a notice in dwarven: "In case of berserk golem, break glass." Pursuing the stairs leads them to a door, beyond which lies a corridor.
Pascal sends X7-09 forward to investigate the mouldering bodies at the corridor's midpoint, finding a dead elf with a bow and arrows, and a dead dwarf in scale mail with a battleaxe. Pascal joins his robot servant, as does the Fox, and on reading the elf's diary they discern hints of a trap. When they try to leave, they discover the corridor magically extends, so that whatever they try they never get any closer to the doors at either end. Soreth and Hug-Hug have stayed on the stairs, with Soreth musing out loud about eating the goblin, and on learning of the trap, Soreth asks how much it's worth to help the others escape. The Fox offers 40 gold pieces, and despite X7-09 refusing to admit to having any treasure, Soreth agrees and claws the door at her end to pieces.
Hug-Hug senses this is a good time to leave and sneaks away. At length, Soreth notices he is gone, and shouts into the darkness that she will track him down and kill him if he doesn't come back. Given that this is what he expects to happen if he does come back, he keeps on sneaking.
Destroying the door doesn't help, but X7-09 hits on the idea of walking backwards to the other door, and thus escapes. The secret of the trap now revealed, everyone tramps out through the second door, to find themselves in the large square chamber where they previously fought skeletons. A spirited debate ensues as to whether Soreth is owed any money, as X7-09 figured out the trap, but in the end the Fox pays her 28 gold, having noticed during negotiations that counting is not her strong suit.
They leave by the one door in this room that they haven't tried, and after avoiding falling into two mineshafts bridged by decrepit planks, they replace the planks and march on, shortly reaching a corridor spiralling upwards with evidence that something large and heavy has rolled down it. Regardless, they press on, and in due course trigger the obligatory rolling boulder trap. A round boulder in a square passage must necessarily leave gaps at the corners, and Pascal and the Fox have the agility and the presence of mind to use these to get behind it. Soreth shows a commendable turn of speed and outruns the boulder, as it is still picking up speed – at least until it slams into X7-09 and tries to smear him along the floor. Now, X7-09 is too big to squeeze into the corners, but also too tough for the boulder to do him any real damage. Guessing from the screeching noise what has happened, Pascal invokes his patron icon, and succeeds in getting the boulder turned into strawberry jelly.
Shortly, the party reforms at the boulder's launching point. X7-09 is entirely covered in strawberry jelly, which Pascal is licking off him slowly. Soreth has trudged through about 30 feet of knee-deep jelly and is partially covered.
Realising where they must be, X7-09 breaks through a wall (this turns out to be some sort of amoebic ooze disguised as a wall, which he kills with a single punch) and recovers Hug-Hug's mine cart, which they load up with their gear and loot to save carrying it. The Fox climbs in to save walking, explaining that as a nobleman he clearly cannot push it, as requested.
Their route takes them past two aged mineshafts with potentially workable lifts, and thence to a spiral staircase with a statue of a jolly dwarf at the top, which they get to reveal three pieces of information: A gargoyle has the command word, watch out for the green dragon, and don't go near the golem unless you have the hammer or the pickaxe.
The party decides to rest up for a while, and retreats to camp near the mineshafts. X7-09 begins repairing one of the lifts, intent on descending once he is convinced it is safe.
Again the party membership got mixed up, and again I offered a benny for the best explanation, which was (and I quote): "This is the mines of madness, who says they are actually here, it could all be in our minds." True dat.
It was clever of them to work out that a spherical boulder rolling down a square corridor must leave gaps at the corners, and use those to dodge it; next time I must make the boulder cylindrical.
They have pretty much cleaned out the first level now, and partially explored the second; I reckon they are about halfway through the adventure after three sessions. I think this is too big, and I should aim for something they can complete in a single session; based on their progress to date, a five-room dungeon would be about right. Party membership is also very fluid at the moment, suggesting a shift to smaller one-shot adventures is in order. I shall consider options and propose a change.
Meanwhile, a typo in between-session chat has resulted in the term Deep Tigers, which sound so cool they have to be used…
Hearts of Stone 26: Zombie Spiders
Posted: 20 September 2017 in Hearts of Stone
6th June 216, Marblehall. Soreth, X7-09, Kowalski.
Inside the living dungeon now known to be the Stone Thief, a much reduced party is searching for answers, loot, and missing nobles. Soreth loses her footing at the top of the shaft they have just climbed up, but fortunately the traps are still jammed, and she slides back into the pool of sewage, terrifying the filth hydra even more than before.
Kowalski disappears with a clap of thunder, but moments later blinks back into existence near the ceiling, and falls upside down onto the corridor floor. The party will later work out this is due to him having been summoned to defend the graves of his clan ancestors near the Anvil Road, meanwhile they take it in their stride.
Pascal, X7-09 and Kowalski look at the approaching undead spiders, then at each other.
"We can take them," says X7-09. The others agree, and they form up against the opposite wall, X7-09 to the fore as he is the best fighter. The spiders swarm him, but are unable to cause any serious damage. Pascal tries repeatedly to disable them with his stun power, but to no avail.
Everyone is so focussed on the spiders that they barely notice one of the statues of dwarven gods hop down from its pedestal, walk up behind Kowalski, and smack him into the ground. Hard. It giggles maniacally as it does so.
A seriously wounded Kowalski and a frantically parrying X7-09 hold off the spiders until they notice Pascal, and several peel off to bite his head off. For a moment it looks like they have succeeded, but X7-09 calls on his icon patron and an unexpected near miss flips Pascal onto the statue's shoulder, where it fails to squash him. He scuttles around and hides behind another statue, making good use of his colour-changing ability.
The zombie spiders continue to harass X7-09, and do him some serious injury thanks to a couple of lucky blows. With five spiders and a giant stone golem surrounding them, Team Robot reassesses its opinion that it can take them, breaks free, and runs off down the corridor the way they came from, only to be halted by 50 feet of missing floor which recently fell into the sewage pool. Fortunately, both the zombie spiders and the stone golem retreat to their lairs for unknown reasons.
Soreth, drenched in sewage and fuming to an unhealthy degree, has meanwhile managed to haul herself up the chute and stands on an outcrop of rock across from the corridor.
Pascal, left alone in the statue's chamber, takes careful note of the riddle inscribed on the central pillar, the nature and position of the other statues, and the strange item concealed in their golem assailant's plinth, before sneaking out along the ceiling to rejoin his companions.
Kowalski heals himself fully, and X7-09 partially repairs himself. They agree that discretion is the better part of not being smashed into a paste by living statues or squashed like bugs when the Stone Thief inevitably submerges again, and in the absence of any better ideas, run back to the shaft mouth, descend the shaft at speed before the spiders can get them, swim across the sewage pool, and crawl back up the chute using the trail blazed by Soreth.
They exit the Stone Thief without further incident, and find themselves back in the ruins of Marblehall.
It's about three years now since Eyes of the Stone Thief was published, so I'm loosening up a bit about spoilers.
This level of the Stone Thief is vicious. Even reduced in numbers, Team Robot still has a combat monster, a couple of spellcasters supporting him with buffs, and icon connections, and they still barely escaped with their lives. In fact, had I pressed the attack this could have been a Total Party Kill; but where's the fun in that? The last couple of weeks have reinforced in both teams a healthy respect for the monsters, because eventually those exploding dice are going to get them.
Hearts of Stone 25: Cleanse the Undead!
Anvil Road, 8th June 216. Boris, Dave, the Fox, Hug-Hug, Kowalski, Ladra, Silmaria, Valore.
We left Team Angel exploring an abandoned dwarven mine, in which they had just encountered a group of skeletal miners. Valore, who has strong and intolerant views on the subject of undead, immediately charged them, yelling "Cleanse the undead!"
The leader of the skeletons invokes an Icon, asking for intercession by the descendants of his clan, which results in Kowalski blinking into existence above the melee, and falling head-first onto the ground nearby. Valore takes advantage of this distraction to cleave the skeleton leader in twain. The Fox makes a dramatic entrance, enhanced by his Sword of Stunning, and the majority of the skeletons pause, taken aback; the Fox disposes of the one closest to him while they are recovering, while Dave shoots at one with her bow, shaking it.
The remaining skeletons surround Valore and the Fox, and belabour them with miners' picks; one gets lucky and incapacitates Valore, who falls with a through-and-through pickaxe wound to the abdomen. The Fox manages to stave off his attackers by parrying furiously. The skeletons ignore the dwarf dropped into their midst – there are several possible explanations for this, but Kowalski will later point out that these are his clan ancestors and suggest their blood ties explain it.
Meanwhile, Hug-Hug (the lone survivor of the goblin expedition to recover a magical artefact from the mine) sidles off into the darkness. Before charging, the Fox tossed his torch to Ladra, who with the dexterity one might expect, catches it. Silmaria (who is afraid of the dark) steps closer to her. Boris (who by default closes range with any females of marriageable age) steps closer to both of them. Ladra sees no reason to engage in melee, as anything that can get past Valore, Kowalski and the Fox is not going to be inconvenienced by her.
Kowalski yells at the combatants to put down their weapons. The skeletons obey, the Fox also obliges, and Valore is drifting in and out of consciousness and bleeding out. Kowalski next asks the skeletons to line up against the far wall, and they obligingly troop past in column to do so. A bolt of light explodes from Valore's gaping abdominal wound, incinerating several, although most manage to jump out of the way, alerted by some sixth sense.
"Sorry," says Valore, although her tone of voice suggests she isn't, really. "That always happens when I get incapacitated." Since the party hasn't seen her be incapacitated before, they have no basis on which to dispute this assertion.
Boris now explains that he can heal Valore by the laying on of hands, but first it will be necessary to remove her clothing.
"I'd rather die," mutters Valore. Fortunately, Kowalski also has healing powers, and restores her to no more than light injuries, after which mundane first aid suffices to return her to the fray.
It is the work of moments to relieve the skeleton leader of the diamond tip on his pickaxe and a parchment clutched in his left hand. Assessing the situation, the party notes a pit full of quicklime and lizard bones to the north, and three doors to the south, one of which is blocked by an iron spike. The Fox and Ladra use pickaxes to lever out the spike, while Kowalski interrogates the surviving skeletons. These tell him that the west door leads to other mineshafts, the middle door leads to a corridor which was never finished, and they don't know what's behind the east door as they were told never to go in there.
The Fox first sticks his head into the alcove behind the middle door, then throws a rock into it. He is rewarded with a small thunderclap and the disappearance of the rock. After some discussion, Kowalski orders a skeleton to go through the suspected teleporter and return. It goes through all right, but doesn't come back. Kowalski sends another one through with the same result. Dave runs up behind the Fox and pretends to push him through. Encouraged by this, he steps through, and finds himself in total blackness, either elsewhere in the same mine or in another one, with two skeletons just standing there – this is because they have no idea where they are, and thus don't know which way to go to get back to Kowalski.
Ladra calls that she is going to find the Fox, and vanishes with a torch and several exceedingly valuable cockatrice eggs; she will later claim these dropped and smashed on the way out, and her new jewelry is a gift from an admirer. An Icon is implored to help her escape alive, and in a few days it will turn out that she did. Everyone else sighs and follows the Fox through the teleporter.
On the far side, they find themselves near an intersection centred on a lift, whose ropes they could use to ascend. Before they can decide what to do next, a pair of creatures the likes of which they have never seen leap at them and have to be stabbed. They go down easily enough, but their bodily fluids begin to dissolve the blades used to stab them, leading to a short argument over whose clothing should be used to clean them. That settled, the group proceeds, taking a side passage to the east which leads them down a spiralling and descending corridor, and at length to a rough plank spanning a shaft roughly 80′ deep. A voice calls for help, and Silmaria and Kowalski engage it in conversation, but it seems unable to keep its story straight, and when Boris extends his armpit hairs to sufficient length for it to grab hold and be hauled up, it ignores this offer. Mind you, nobody else would willingly hold Boris' armpit hairs, so this proves nothing. The party decide this is some sort of trap trying to entice them into the shaft, and walk on.
Shortly, they come to a door in the form of a dwarven face, with innocent inscriptions and a hole through it where the mouth should be. Naturally this arouses deep suspicions, and they stand off at a (hopefully) safe distance while Boris uses his luxurious armpit hair to open it. Apart from discovering it is spring-loaded and closes automatically, they are unharmed, and hurry through before it slams shut.
Kowalski's player was available to join this session, so I offered a Benny for the best explanation of why his character had skipped forward two days in time and several hundred miles north; the icon invocation was the best one.
It was all fun and games until a skeleton aced multiple times on both its attack and damage rolls, inflicting nine wounds on Valore. Soaking really doesn't help in that situation, because as I understand it you have to soak all of them, although once you have taken three wounds, the fourth one knocks you into Incapacitated and the others are wasted. Fortunately, as you can see, she was saved by the rest of the party; had she been alone, or had there been no healers present, things might have gone differently; it's very hard to kill a PC in Savage Worlds, but it is possible.
As you may recall, and at least one player has now worked out, we are working our way through the Mines of Madness for D&D Next. That dwarf-faced door can really mess you up if you're not careful, but they were, and failed to trigger any of the traps.
The limitations of Silmaria's character build are becoming apparent now, as she is basically useless if there are no NPCs around to persuade. Her player is also growing restless as everyone else in the party is either a spellcaster or has a cool magic item; so I shall have to sort her out with something interesting as well, perhaps a musical instrument of some kind.
I tend to forget that skeletons are mindless automata. However, everyone is having fun, so it's probably OK. Maybe these ones were just smarter than average.
I decided up front that I would just let them wander wherever they wanted to go at their own pace, rather than trying to hurry them along a particular path, and that worked pretty well. I think the best way to satisfy this group is an old-fashioned dungeon crawl, and those are easy enough to come by.
Hearts of Stone 24: Angry Medusa Chickens
Posted: 10 May 2017 in Hearts of Stone
Tags: 13th Age, D&D, Savage Worlds
Anvil Road, 8th June 216
Trusting their colleagues in Team Dragon to take care of the giant living dungeon, Team Angel (Boris, Silmaria, Ssh'ta, The Fox and Valore plus henchmen) take stock of their other options: Follow up on the cloud giant observing them earlier, pursue the bounty offered them by Gutstabber (which will mean a trip to Glitterhaegen), go back to the dwarven tower on Anvil Road and find out what's underneath, or follow up on the flying building they noticed several months ago.
By a majority of three in favour of the dwarven tower to two not-that-bothered, they head north, arriving at the actual tower a couple of days later. They first scout the tower's environs, then the tower itself, finding only unburied orc bodies somewhat the worse for nibbling by the local wildlife since the party killed them just over two weeks ago. Valore rightly deduces that nobody has been to check up on them or bury them, and the group removes the lift shaft lid. Ssh'ta is designated lookout and climbs to the roof with Caliban in case the party are disturbed by rude strangers while exploring.
Valore drops a torch down the shaft; it can be seen burning on the floor of a corridor some 30 feet below. Valore and Dave descend and find themselves in a corridor leading to a four-way intersection. Someone has made a half-hearted attempt to bury four goblin spearmen in the loose rock of the corridor sides between some pit props; they appear to have been bludgeoned to death. Valore draws her sword (which then appears to burst into flames, thus providing a light source) and with the others following at a safe distance, she and Dave head up to the intersection and explore a short way down each arm. To the east they find a small chamber containing cots, chicken coops, and a hole in the wall labelled 'Slide' in dwarven, as well as a curving corridor sloping down. To the south is another curving corridor sloping down. To the west is a third curving, sloping corridor and a chamber, containing three statues of goblin spearmen and four large chickens pecking at something concealed under an overturned mine cart.
The chickens, soon to be dubbed 'angry medusa chickens' by Valore, prove to be cockatrices and assault the recon element. Valore finds herself being petrified, but thinking quickly, sheathes her sword, plunging the place into darkness, and flies up to the ceiling. Silmaria, who has galloping scotophobia, freaks out, but now only Boris and Dave can see, and Dave quickly skewers two of the cockatrices with arrows. Boris steps into the chamber and engages a third while Dave shoots the last of the four, which is running off into the darkness in some confusion. Once stabbed, cockatrice number three turns on Boris and starts pecking and petrifying him; he flees back towards Silmaria and the others while Dave and The Fox attack the surviving cockatrice, sending it to oblivion; but Dave is incapacitated by its dying death gaze.
The party rallies and heals its wounds; fortunately, Dave's apparently fatal petrification responds well to Boris' ministrations. Lifting the overturned mine cart, they discover a single goblin spearman who thanks them for saving his life and gives Valore 'treasure' as a reward, namely a single copper piece. Under gentle questioning he reveals that he and his companions were sent by the Goblin Chief to retrieve the Forever Stone, a valuable item buried here after dwarves and evil wizards fought over it. Silmaria, meanwhile, has found a mineshaft in the corner of the Cockatrice Room and explains that in line with dwarven practice, it has been named after an ancient dwarven king.
Adding Hug-Hug (for such is the goblin's name) to the party, they explore several looping, sloping corridors with the result that they wind up more or less back where they were. Shrugging, they return to the room of chicken coops. Boris assumes the shape of a bat and flies down the slide, finding at the bottom a large pit full of powdered lime and lizard bones, with glimpses of a large chamber above. Boris decides he wants nothing to with this and returns.
Trying another sloping, curvy corridor, the group descends into another chamber with two exits and a perch containing what turn out to be cockatrice eggs. Ladra, who is the group's best climber, retrieves them, but refuses to smash them as the others suggest, pointing out that they are worth money to a certain sort of person. They use one of the exits and descend again, finding themselves in the large chamber Boris found earlier. Now that they have a better view of it, the party can clearly see a dozen or so dwarven skeletons hard at work, apparently mining.
While the rest pause to assess the new situation, Valore (who has firm views on this topic) screams "CLEANSE THE UNDEAD!" and launches herself at them.
GM'S NOTES
I am letting go of a lot of my ingrained habits and prejudices with this campaign, possibly because the sessions are so close together. Normally, I guard the character sheets jealously and update them all myself; for my other campaigns, where sessions average some three months apart and party size is 2-6, this is not a problem; but for a party of nine meeting weekly it just doesn't work, and I have delegated that responsibility to players for the first time since the 1970s.
Likewise, I am gradually reverting to sandbox play, letting the party wander where it likes at its own pace. Yes, there is a story arc – the Eyes of the Stone Thief – but what does it matter if we don't follow it, so long as we're all having fun? In this instance, they decided to go back to a dungeon they knew of but had previously ignored, so I hauled out the Mines of Madness from D&D Next, as it was known in 2013, and off we went.
There was a bittersweet note though: As we waited for the full set of players to log in to the VTT, one waxed lyrical about the Mongoose Traveller campaign they intend to play with my son (who will be the GM) during the summer vacation. I'm delighted they're playing Traveller, but oh man, I wish I could join in, rather than just handing on the baton… the training wheels are well and truly off now, and away he goes down his own road, which is right and proper; but surely it was only last weekend the two of us and his sisters were playing D&D with Lego minifigures?
Where did the time go?
Hearts of Stone 23: Filth Hydra
Posted: 3 May 2017 in Hearts of Stone
Marblehall, 6th June 216
Comes the dawn, and while the bulk of the party are sorting out the mess on the estate, Kowalski, Pascal and Soreth investigate the hill where the giant figure was standing last night, using its astrolabe and taking notes. Examining the footprints leads Kowalski and Pascal to the conclusions that the giant was 30 feet tall, and took a running jump into the air. Squinting along the path he would have taken by doing this, Pascal's detect arcana shows him a magical cloud some miles away. Pascal is keen to get up there and talk to the studious and erudite cloud giants, but in the absence of a way to do that, they decide to return to the dungeon, which has surfaced again and is now sunning itself in the sinkhole where Marblehall used to be, snoring.
It's the work of moments to retrace their steps to the stairs down to the second level, and as they have previously befriended the monster guarding the stairs by playing on its loneliness and curiosity, it lets them pass easily after an exchange of pleasantries, and they descend to the second level. Now, the Stone Thief can reconfigure its levels, and the configuration I'm currently using provides a second level which is full of traps. The party encountered a chute, a collapsing corridor, something that re-creates the trash compactor scene from Star Wars with a submarine fire-breathing regenerating hydra, giant circular saw blades, and swarms of spiders – and that's just in the first two encounter areas. Judicious use of breath weapons, fear spells and icon invocation have kept them alive so far, but they have a long way to go yet. As they are currently trapped, I decided not to submerge the dungeon – a Total Party Kill with no way to avoid it is poor form and no fun for any of us – and so they are currently drawing breath, dripping with sewage, and awaiting the onslaught of the spider swarms.
This was the session in which Pascal's true nature emerged: Pascal is a sentient chamaeleon archaeologist, essentially a mecha pilot for the roughly human-sized X7-09. The precedent we have established is that it is OK for the player to switch from the main PC to one of his allies or hirelings, but the ones he isn't playing are all Extras, and only the active PC benefits from bennies or the Wild Die. Pascal spent the session crawling up walls and poking his nose where it wasn't wanted, while X7-09 carried the torch and supplies, lumbering along behind him.
The session was quite slow-moving as they spent half an hour working out what had happened to the cloud giant, the same amount of time in discussion with the stairway guardian, and the rest of it lurching from trap to trap. Had I been more familiar with the group before we started playing, I would have given them a D&D megadungeon; they are quite happy killing monsters, evading traps and looting treasure, with little sign of interest so far in the story arc they said they wanted. Luckily, in the version of Eyes of the Stone Thief I've chosen (for there are several possible campaigns in there), the story arc is the dungeon, more or less. Still, we're all having fun, so we're doing it right; as I've said before, the setting is for the GM, what the players see is a sequence of encounters.
Never having used them before, I was surprised how generous the Savage Worlds drowning rules are – it looks to me as if all characters can swim to some extent, and Swimming skill is what you use under extreme stress, much like Riding – everyone can sit on a horse and travel, but steeplechasing under fire requires skill rolls.


text:
'use strict';

const path = require('path');

module.exports = {
  getProjectRoots() {
    return this._getRoots();
  },

  getAssetRoots() {
    return this._getRoots();
  },

  getAssetExts() {
    return ["obj", "mtl", "JPG", "vrx", "hdr", "gltf", "glb", "bin", "arobject"];
  },

  _getRoots() {
    // match on either path separator
    if (__dirname.match(/node_modules[\/\\]react-native[\/\\]packager$/)) {
      // packager is running from node_modules of another project
      return [path.resolve(__dirname, '../../..')];
    } else if (__dirname.match(/Pods\/React\/packager$/)) {
      // packager is running from node_modules of another project
      return [path.resolve(__dirname, '../../..')];
    } else {
      return [path.resolve(__dirname, '.')];
    }
  },

};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Social Welfare Lawyers in the Centre of Birmingham
Duty Possession Scheme
Complaints Information
The Administrative Team
Campaigns and Consultations
Housing Cases
Gypsy and Traveller Cases
Boat Cases
Traveller homelessness
Traveller other
Traveller planning
Traveller rented site eviction
Traveller unauthorised encampment eviction
Other Legal Cases
No Mad Laws Campaign
Our Leading Cases
TAT News
Travellers' Times
Daniel Anderson - Solicitor
Daniel worked for a number of Legal Aid firms and has spent his entire legal career specialising in social welfare law, predominately in housing law and welfare benefits. Daniel is a member of the Young Legal Aid Lawyers Group and Child Poverty Action Group.
Ranjit Bains - Solicitor-Advocate
Ranjit joined CLP in February 2015. He has worked in general civil litigation undertaking advocacy in the County Court around the country. He developed an interest in the law of Landlord & Tenant. On joining CLP he initially assisted with the Duty Possession Scheme at Birmingham County Court. During his training contract he trained in Housing, Public, and Social Security law (including work in the Social Security Tribunal). Ranjit was the instructed caseworker on Birmingham City Council v Mondhlani [2015] EW MISC B41. He qualified as a Solicitor on 15 September 2017. Ranjit is a Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Civil and Criminal Proceedings).
Sharon Baxter - Solicitor
Sharon graduated with joint honours in Law and Politics at Birmingham University. She qualified as a solicitor in 1993, while working at McGrath & Co. Solicitors. Having gained experience in Housing, Family and Personal Injury law, she then specialised in Housing law, joining CLP in 2001. Sharon works in the Travellers Advice Team, advising on accommodation issues including evictions, planning matters, and homelessness. Sharon was the Instructing Solicitor on Buckland v UK (2013) 56 EHRR 16.
Shaheen Bi - Solicitor
Shaheen qualified as a solicitor in 2005, specialising in Housing Law. She joined CLP in 2007 and now her main area of responsibility is to support the Birmingham County Court Duty Possession Scheme on behalf of the firm, where she offers advice, representation and advocacy to all those facing eviction.
Joanne Child - Solicitor
Jo qualified as a Solicitor in November 1993 after training with Tyndallwoods Solicitors. She worked in their Housing Law department until 2003 as an Assistant Solicitor and later as a Partner. She subsequently worked as a costs draftsperson preparing bills in legally aided housing cases until joining the Community Law Partnership in October 2017.
Simon Foster - Solicitor-Advocate
Simon Foster qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and has specialised in Housing Law since then. He worked in a Law Centre until 1989. Simon was a Partner and Head of the Housing Team at Tyndallwoods from 1989 to 2012. He joined the Community Law Partnership in October 2012. Simon has had extensive experience of and has specialised in a variety of different areas of Housing Law throughout his career. Simon is a Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Civil Proceedings).
Sean Gilmore - Solicitor
Sean has practised housing law for 20 years, and during that time he has been nominated for a number of awards. He was a partner heading the housing team at Evans Derry before joining CLP in Sept 2015. Sean has run ground breaking cases in the United Kingdom Supreme Court including BCC v Frisby [2011] UKSC 8 (a tenant's human rights); Solihull MBC v Hickin [2012] UKSC 39 (children's rights to succeed to their parent's tenancy); and Solihull MBC v Johnson [2015] UKSC 30 (vulnerable homeless adults). In Sept 2016 he successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal against a possession order made in the County Court, preventing a very vulnerable tenant from being evicted; BCC v Stephenson B2/2016/2501.
Carol Harfield - Senior Housing Adviser
After a successful career in commerce, Carol joined the Citizens' Advice Bureau as a volunteer, progressing to deputy manager of the mobile unit working out of Kingstanding Bureau. She then joined McGrath & Co. solicitors, where she worked for several years, before joining CLP in January 2000.
Fiona McGilvray - Solicitor
Fiona joined the Community Law Partnership in January 2014 as a Solicitor specialising in housing law. Fiona's previous experience includes family law and mental health law representing clients detained under the Mental Health Act. Before training as a solicitor Fiona worked for the YMCA and the Youth Offending Service in various roles focused on rehabilitating young offenders.
Rose Pritchard - Senior Solicitor
Rose qualified as a solicitor in 1986, initially specialising in family law (primarily victims of domestic violence) and crime. She then moved to be senior solicitor at Dudley Law Centre and later to McGrath & Co. solicitors, specialising in Housing Law, before joining CLP in 2000. Rose was one of the instructing solicitors in Ali & others -v- BCC [2010] 2 WLR 471 SC.
Khalida Qureshi - Solicitor
Khalida studied Humanities at the University of Birmingham and went on to complete her GDL and LPC from Birmingham City University. After this, she has worked at the Birmingham Citizens Advice Bureau as a Welfare Benefits Caseworker helping the most vulnerable in society. Khalida joined CLP as a Trainee Solicitor in June 2014. Khalida qualified as a Solicitor on 3 January 2017.
Syma Rushd - Solicitor
Syma qualified as a Solicitor in September 2007 and specialises in all areas of Housing Law. Syma joined Community Law Partnership in November 2015, having previously worked as a Housing Solicitor at firms in London and Birmingham.
Parminder Sanghera - Solicitor
Parminder completed her LPC at the University of Central England in 2002. She qualified as a Solicitor in 2005 and joined the Travellers' Advice Team. Parminder specialises in advising on accommodation issues including evictions, planning appeals, injunctions and homelessness. Parminder also takes on a number of Judicial Review cases against Local Authorities and other public bodies. She was the instructing Solicitor in Charmaine Moore -v- SSCLG and London Borough of Bromley [2013] EWCA Civ 1194 and in the case of Moore & Coates -v- SSCLG and Others [2015] EWHC 44 (Admin). Parminder was also shortlisted for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards 2015 in the Housing category and is the firm's Public Law Supervisor.
Jenny Stokes - Solicitor
Following the Legal Practitioners Course, Jenny worked at Derbyshire Housing Aid as a caseworker on the Community Legal Services Advice Line. She then completed her training contract at Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre before joining CLP in February 2011. Jenny qualified as a solicitor in April 2011 and works in the Housing Team. Jenny left CLP in October 2013 due to relocation and returned to work for the firm in July 2016 when she moved back to the area.
Alastair Wallace - Solicitor
Alastair Wallace qualified as a solicitor in 1993. He was a founding partner of nationally rated Public Law Solicitors and headed up Irwin Mitchell's Birmingham Public Law and Human Rights Team before joining Community Law Partnership in October 2018. Alastair specialises in Community Care law and wider public law challenges on behalf of individuals and community groups. He has considerable experience in planning judicial reviews brought by residents and campaigners against inappropriate development. He is a leading practitioner of village green law. Alastair has conducted cases at all levels of the Court system, including the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and House of Lords. He speaks and writes about public law and is listed as a ranked lawyer in Chambers Legal Directory.
The Community Law Partnership is the trading name of The Community Law Partnership Limited, a Limited Company registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 07956828, Registered Office: 4th Floor, Ruskin Chambers, 191 Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6RP. The Directors shall be known as and referred to as Partners. Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, registration number: 567240. In the event of any dispute arising as a result of the content of the website, the law of England and Wales applies
© The Community Law Partnership 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
College of Arts and Sciences Accolades
2019 CAS Accolades
2019 New Faculty
Faculty Service Awards
CAS Distinguished Research Award (CASDRA) Dean's Award for Advising Excellence Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence Dunavant Faculty Professorship Award Michael K. Harless Faculty Excellence Award Catherine and Charles Freeburg University Professorships Early Career Research Award PDA Assignments Travel Enrichment W. Russell Smith Teaching Excellence
University Awards
Alumni Association Research Award (Sciences)Alumni Association Research Award (Social Sciences)Alumni Association Research Award (Humanities)Alumni Association Teaching AwardsWillard R. Sparks Eminent Faculty Award
Faculty Research Grants
First Time PI
Research Instrumentation Program
Other Grants & Funding
2019 Creative Works
E-Files Newsletter
Archives of Awards
Home Accolades 2019 CAS Accolades Michael Harless Professorship
2019 Michael K. Harless Faculty Excellence Award
Nathan DeYonker, Chemistry
Nathan DeYonker is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Memphis. He graduated from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor with a B. Sc. in Chemistry and a minor in Astrophysics. He earned his Ph. D. at the University of Georgia under the direction of Prof. Henry F. Schaefer III in 2005. After postdoctoral work at The University of North Texas, co-advised by Profs. Angela Wilson and Tom Cundari, he joined the University of Memphis Department of Chemistry in 2009 as a staff Research Scientist. In 2016, he was rehired at University of Memphis as a tenure-track faculty member. He is currently the Director of the Computational Research on Materials Institute at the University of Memphis (CROMIUM), and the faculty advisor for the Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS).
Research in the DeYonker laboratory at the University of Memphis is generally focused on two fronts of computational chemistry. We use quantum chemistry to model spectroscopy of molecules that are proposed to exist in space but have not yet been isolated or characterized on Earth. Studying these new molecules improves our knowledge of stellar formation and proto-biological reactions. On a rather different molecular size scale, research in the field of computational enzymology has provided answers to "grand challenge" questions in biology and biochemistry. However, arbitrary decision-making processes at many points along the research pipeline, from model creation to interpreting simulation results, have created a hodge-podge of research practices throughout the community. Dr. DeYonker has recently been awarded a prestigious NSF Early Faculty CAREER award through the Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research program to develop an automated, rules-based software toolkit for the computational study of enzymes at the atom-level using reproducible and rationally-created models.
Last Updated: 12/9/20


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American elections for president just aren't what they used to be, so says Larry Sabato, a leading elections guru and professor of politics at the University of Virginia Center for Politics who publishes a weekly, closely followed politics newsletter called Crystal Ball.
President Barack Obama went Thursday to the Anacostia Library in Washington, D.C., where he discussed new efforts to strengthen learning opportunities by improving access to digital content and to public libraries. He announced two new efforts to strengthen learning opportunities by improving access to digital content and to public libraries: new eBooks commitments and the ConnectED Library Challenge.


text:
namespace gpu {
namespace gles2 {

static const unsigned int kProcessInterval = 16;
static TraceOutputter* g_outputter_thread = NULL;

TraceMarker::TraceMarker(const std::string& category, const std::string& name)
    : category_(category),
      name_(name),
      trace_(NULL) {
}

TraceMarker::~TraceMarker() {
}

scoped_refptr<TraceOutputter> TraceOutputter::Create(const std::string& name) {
  if (!g_outputter_thread) {
    g_outputter_thread = new TraceOutputter(name);
  }
  return g_outputter_thread;
}

TraceOutputter::TraceOutputter(const std::string& name)
    : named_thread_(name.c_str()), local_trace_id_(0) {
  named_thread_.Start();
  named_thread_.Stop();
}

TraceOutputter::~TraceOutputter() { g_outputter_thread = NULL; }

void TraceOutputter::TraceDevice(const std::string& category,
                                 const std::string& name,
                                 int64 start_time,
                                 int64 end_time) {
  TRACE_EVENT_COPY_BEGIN_WITH_ID_TID_AND_TIMESTAMP1(
      TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.device"),
      name.c_str(),
      local_trace_id_,
      named_thread_.thread_id(),
      start_time,
      "gl_category",
      category.c_str());
  TRACE_EVENT_COPY_END_WITH_ID_TID_AND_TIMESTAMP1(
      TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.device"),
      name.c_str(),
      local_trace_id_,
      named_thread_.thread_id(),
      end_time,
      "gl_category",
      category.c_str());
  ++local_trace_id_;
}

void TraceOutputter::TraceServiceBegin(const std::string& category,
                                       const std::string& name) {
  TRACE_EVENT_COPY_BEGIN1(TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.service"),
                          name.c_str(), "gl_category", category.c_str());
}

void TraceOutputter::TraceServiceEnd(const std::string& category,
                                     const std::string& name) {
  TRACE_EVENT_COPY_END1(TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.service"),
                        name.c_str(), "gl_category", category.c_str());
}

GPUTrace::GPUTrace(scoped_refptr<Outputter> outputter,
                   gfx::GPUTimingClient* gpu_timing_client,
                   const std::string& category,
                   const std::string& name,
                   const bool enabled)
    : category_(category),
      name_(name),
      outputter_(outputter),
      enabled_(enabled) {
  if (gpu_timing_client->IsAvailable() &&
      gpu_timing_client->IsTimerOffsetAvailable()) {
    gpu_timer_ = gpu_timing_client->CreateGPUTimer();
  }
}

GPUTrace::~GPUTrace() {
}

void GPUTrace::Start(bool trace_service) {
  if (trace_service) {
    outputter_->TraceServiceBegin(category_, name_);
  }
  if (gpu_timer_.get()) {
    gpu_timer_->Start();
  }
}

void GPUTrace::End(bool tracing_service) {
  if (gpu_timer_.get()) {
    gpu_timer_->End();
  }
  if (tracing_service) {
    outputter_->TraceServiceEnd(category_, name_);
  }
}

bool GPUTrace::IsAvailable() {
  return !gpu_timer_.get() || gpu_timer_->IsAvailable();
}

void GPUTrace::Process() {
  if (gpu_timer_.get()) {
    DCHECK(IsAvailable());

    int64 start = 0;
    int64 end = 0;
    gpu_timer_->GetStartEndTimestamps(&start, &end);
    outputter_->TraceDevice(category_, name_, start, end);
  }
}

GPUTracer::GPUTracer(gles2::GLES2Decoder* decoder)
    : gpu_trace_srv_category(TRACE_EVENT_API_GET_CATEGORY_GROUP_ENABLED(
          TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.service"))),
      gpu_trace_dev_category(TRACE_EVENT_API_GET_CATEGORY_GROUP_ENABLED(
          TRACE_DISABLED_BY_DEFAULT("gpu.device"))),
      decoder_(decoder),
      gpu_executing_(false),
      process_posted_(false) {
  DCHECK(decoder_);
  gfx::GLContext* context = decoder_->GetGLContext();
  if (context) {
    gpu_timing_client_ = context->CreateGPUTimingClient();
  } else {
    gpu_timing_client_ = new gfx::GPUTimingClient();
  }
}

GPUTracer::~GPUTracer() {
}

bool GPUTracer::BeginDecoding() {
  if (gpu_executing_)
    return false;

  if (!outputter_) {
    outputter_ = CreateOutputter(gpu_timing_client_->GetTimerTypeName());
  }

  if (*gpu_trace_dev_category == '\0') {
    // If GPU device category is off, invalidate timing sync.
    gpu_timing_client_->InvalidateTimerOffset();
  }

  gpu_executing_ = true;
  if (IsTracing()) {
    gpu_timing_client_->CheckAndResetTimerErrors();
    // Begin a Trace for all active markers
    for (int n = 0; n < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES; n++) {
      for (size_t i = 0; i < markers_[n].size(); i++) {
        TraceMarker& trace_marker = markers_[n][i];
        trace_marker.trace_ =
            new GPUTrace(outputter_, gpu_timing_client_.get(),
                         trace_marker.category_, trace_marker.name_,
                         *gpu_trace_dev_category != 0);
        trace_marker.trace_->Start(*gpu_trace_srv_category != 0);
      }
    }
  }
  return true;
}

bool GPUTracer::EndDecoding() {
  if (!gpu_executing_)
    return false;

  // End Trace for all active markers
  if (IsTracing()) {
    for (int n = 0; n < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES; n++) {
      for (size_t i = 0; i < markers_[n].size(); i++) {
        TraceMarker& marker = markers_[n][i];
        if (marker.trace_.get()) {
          marker.trace_->End(*gpu_trace_srv_category != 0);
          if (marker.trace_->IsEnabled())
            traces_.push_back(marker.trace_);

          markers_[n][i].trace_ = 0;
        }
      }
    }
    IssueProcessTask();
  }

  gpu_executing_ = false;

  // NOTE(vmiura): glFlush() here can help give better trace results,
  // but it distorts the normal device behavior.
  return true;
}

bool GPUTracer::Begin(const std::string& category, const std::string& name,
                      GpuTracerSource source) {
  if (!gpu_executing_)
    return false;

  DCHECK(source >= 0 && source < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES);

  // Push new marker from given 'source'
  markers_[source].push_back(TraceMarker(category, name));

  // Create trace
  if (IsTracing()) {
    scoped_refptr<GPUTrace> trace = new GPUTrace(
        outputter_, gpu_timing_client_.get(), category, name,
        *gpu_trace_dev_category != 0);
    trace->Start(*gpu_trace_srv_category != 0);
    markers_[source].back().trace_ = trace;
  }

  return true;
}

bool GPUTracer::End(GpuTracerSource source) {
  if (!gpu_executing_)
    return false;

  DCHECK(source >= 0 && source < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES);

  // Pop last marker with matching 'source'
  if (!markers_[source].empty()) {
    if (IsTracing()) {
      scoped_refptr<GPUTrace> trace = markers_[source].back().trace_;
      if (trace.get()) {
        trace->End(*gpu_trace_srv_category != 0);
        if (trace->IsEnabled())
          traces_.push_back(trace);
        IssueProcessTask();
      }
    }

    markers_[source].pop_back();
    return true;
  }
  return false;
}

bool GPUTracer::IsTracing() {
  return (*gpu_trace_srv_category != 0) || (*gpu_trace_dev_category != 0);
}

const std::string& GPUTracer::CurrentCategory(GpuTracerSource source) const {
  if (source >= 0 &&
      source < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES &&
      !markers_[source].empty()) {
    return markers_[source].back().category_;
  }
  return base::EmptyString();
}

const std::string& GPUTracer::CurrentName(GpuTracerSource source) const {
  if (source >= 0 &&
      source < NUM_TRACER_SOURCES &&
      !markers_[source].empty()) {
    return markers_[source].back().name_;
  }
  return base::EmptyString();
}

scoped_refptr<Outputter> GPUTracer::CreateOutputter(const std::string& name) {
  return TraceOutputter::Create(name);
}

void GPUTracer::PostTask() {
  base::MessageLoop::current()->PostDelayedTask(
      FROM_HERE,
      base::Bind(&GPUTracer::Process, base::AsWeakPtr(this)),
      base::TimeDelta::FromMilliseconds(kProcessInterval));
}

void GPUTracer::Process() {
  process_posted_ = false;
  ProcessTraces();
  IssueProcessTask();
}

void GPUTracer::ProcessTraces() {
  if (!gpu_timing_client_->IsAvailable()) {
    traces_.clear();
    return;
  }

  TRACE_EVENT0("gpu", "GPUTracer::ProcessTraces");

  // Make owning decoder's GL context current
  if (!decoder_->MakeCurrent()) {
    // Skip subsequent GL calls if MakeCurrent fails
    traces_.clear();
    return;
  }

  // Check if timers are still valid (e.g: a disjoint operation
  // might have occurred.)
  if (gpu_timing_client_->CheckAndResetTimerErrors())
    traces_.clear();

  while (!traces_.empty() && traces_.front()->IsAvailable()) {
    traces_.front()->Process();
    traces_.pop_front();
  }

  // Clear pending traces if there were are any errors
  GLenum err = glGetError();
  if (err != GL_NO_ERROR)
    traces_.clear();
}

void GPUTracer::IssueProcessTask() {
  if (traces_.empty() || process_posted_)
    return;

  process_posted_ = true;
  PostTask();
}

}  // namespace gles2
}  // namespace gpu


text:
Unilag Students Develop App to improve Communication & Security
Daily we tend to see new technology devices or a way technology can improve today, recently some sets of students of the University of Lagos has developed an app known as "Lagmobile" and a campus life website, in a bid to improve communication and security within the university community.
The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe said at the launch of the app on Friday in Lagos that a student of French Language was in the group.
"We threw up this challenge open to all of the students cutting across all the departments and faculties when we thought about improving communication as well the level of security on our campus."I am very proud to let you know that what we are launching here today was developed by students of this institution.
"This app was designed in such a way that if, for instance, there is a case of rape, kidnap, cultism, all the person affected needs to do is to click a button on his or her telephone.
"Once this is done, probably accompanied by a short message, wherever such the person is, the signal will be sent to the right quarters for urgent intervention.
"Again, the beauty about this app is that if any student is having any academic problem, such a student can reach the appropriate quarters through this same app, and information concerning it will be conveyed equally,'' he said.
✓ Also Read: TikTok Parent ByteDance To Set-Up Data Centre in India (See News)
Ogundipe said that the students of the institution were also set to develop another app that would serve as a map within the university. He said that the app would be launched in two week's time.
"The essence is to direct or inform visitors and students how to reach whoever they want to see at various locations within the university without necessarily asking questions around."He said that the android for the app had already been done and the IOS almost completed.
"We are migrating to a situation whereby we will have things all over the campus to make life easy for our students as well as visitors to the university.
"This development is going to push up the visibility of the university because students are directly involved.
"These students are bloggers, and the university is encouraging them in this regard as well as supporting them as much as possible.
"We want to develop students who will not say they are thinking outside the box. We want students who will say there is no box in the first place, that is, there is no limitation – those who will just soar like the eagle in achieving their dreams."
Ogundipe said that the university would continue to strive in exposing its students to artificial intelligence, data processing, large data processing and others, in order to make them globally competitive.
✓ Also Read: Google Pay Now Sends SMS Alerts To Help Users Transact Securely
The Acting Director of the university's Centre for Information Technology and System, Dr Victor Odumuyiwa, said that the internet should not be a problem to anyone within the university community because it was a major communication tool that should be there at all times in the digital age.
According to him, efforts are in place to fully realize this any moment from now.
"We have been able to network several places that we have over 60km of fiber cable laid around the campus.
"We are seriously working on this and pushing for more support. We are looking forward to partnering with people who have passion in developing education to come forward and support us by donating more access points,'' he said.
Odumuyiwa, also Senior Lecturer in the university's Department of Computer Science, also said that another major goal of the centre was to create services and be mobile ready.
"The present and future are mobile," he said.
He said that creating a smart way of rendering mobile services for students informed the development of Lagmobile.
"The Lagmobile app that we just launched is basically for students to view information, send complaints as well as see events happening on campus. It is highly interactive.
"They can as well use the app to see their results as well as see the programme they registered for."This device is a panic app for the purpose of reporting incidents such as fire, abduction and others instantaneously.
✓ Also Read: Google and Dell Partners To Make Chromebook Enterprise Laptops
"The campus life website was developed by students to share experiences on campus as well as connect and communicate among themselves,'' he said.
The don added that the university through the centre was working hard to become a technology hub.
According to him, the university intends to train students on emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity,
He said that there was an ongoing week- long training of about 100 students by a center known as Data Science Boot camp in collaboration with a university from the Benin Republic.
"The idea is to see how we can assist them by working on and developing their ideas, as well as see how we can incubate these ideas. All we are doing is to develop and encourage their competence in technology.
lagmobileunilag
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Parks & Recreation/
To integrate the inside with the outside, the Lewisburg Parks & Recreation Center maintains 4 swimming pools. The natatorium consists of a 120,000 gallon 6 lane lap pool, 20,000 gallon therapy pool, and a 2,000 gallon spa. These are open year around. Beginning Memorial Day, our outside pool (300,000 gallons), opens for the summer. Both indoor and outdoor pools are ADA accessible.
6 a.m. - 11 a.m. / 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Saturday
1 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Sunday
Pool Rental
Download the Outdoor/Indoor Pool Rental Forms
Outdoor Pool Rules & Policies
POOL CLOSED WHEN LIFEGUARDS ARE NOT ON DUTY
No Running.
No abusive language or gestures
No GLASS in pool areas
No Tobacco or Vapor products inside pool area
No fighting or horseplay of any kind will be tolerated
No diving, except in designated areas
No PDA (Public Display of Affection)
No jumping over the fence for any reason
Everyone must exit pool during safety breaks
Only children over 10, and able to swim can be to be left unaccompanied
ALL children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult at all times
Children not toilet trained Must Wear swim diapers (see lifeguards)
Respect will be given to all LRC Lifeguards and Patrons alike!!
Extended breaks will be taken for inclement weather
One bounce
Dive only from front of board NOT side
Wait for previous diver to clear area
Swim immediately to nearest ladder
Must be 48" tall or able to pass swim test to ride slide
One rider at a time. NO double riders
No floaties, lifejackets or similar items.
Must ride lying on back, feet first.
Must exit to the ladder to the right.
See General Policies for additional policies.
History of the Outdoor Pool
The Lewisburg Recreation Center Outdoor Pool is quite literally the "Crown Jewel" of Lewisburg. Since its beginning in 1952, the Rec Center Pool has been a place for families to gather and have fun. This recreation center has been a part of this community for 6 generations. Originally opened in May 1952, the Recreation Center Pool has hosted not only family picnics and fun, but Red Cross Swim Lessons and the Miss Marshall County Beauty Pageant.
In 1953, Thomas Hale Hawkins with the help of Mrs. Preston Hopkins began the Red Cross Learn to Swim Program. Although this program has a small beginning, it has been very successful. The Red Cross Learn to Swim Program is still going strong. Year round children and adults alike can learn to swim. Lifeguarding is also taught annually. Currently the Recreation Center Pool is the home of two swim teams, the Marshall County High School and the Marshall County Marlins Summer Recreation League.
In 1954, the first Miss Marshall County Beauty Pageant was held here at the Recreation Center. The outdoor pool became a place of glistening beauty as the contestants gracefully walked around the pool. 61 beautiful young women have worn the tiara of Miss Marshall County and if those, 60 of them have been crowned here at our pool. In 2014, the pool was closed due to repairs and the pageant was not able to be held poolside.
In November 2001, the city council approved the plans to build the new recreation center. The new center would have 3 indoor pools (lap pool, therapy pool, and hot tub), fitness room, aerobic room, large banquet room, 2 full court basketball gymnasium and an indoor walking track, all of this would be an addition to the then existing Sports Complex which has a small banquet room and 2 racquetball courts.
In 2014, sadly the outdoor pool was unable to open for the first time in its 62 year existence due to damage (after a very harsh winter) to the pool loner which caused the pool to be unable to hold water. After a major renovation the Lewisburg Recreation Center has her "Crown Jewel" back and on May 25, 2015 she was back in action with her newly acquired attractions. Our new lady features a 16 foot swirly waterslide, a mushroom water feature for the little ones, fountains, and a zero entry entrance that is handicapped and wheel chair accessible. A new variable spring diving board has been added as well. The filtration system was updated to a bather friendly salt system. One final feature as those contestants promenade around the new pool are the dusk activated under water pool lights that will provide the perfect ambiance for those stunning beauties as they carry on the tradition of poise and grace that has been such a wonderful part of Lewisburg History.
Parks & Recreation Contact Information
Cary Whitesell
Director of Parks & Recreation
Ira Thompson
(931) 359-2482 • Main Lobby
(931) 359-1593 • Sports Complex
(931) 359-9299 • Fax
parks.recreation@lewisburgtn.gov
Large Meeting Room Contract
Small Meeting Room Contract
Pool Rental Forms
Outdoor Pool Guidelines
Ewell Butler Golf Course Information


It's a centuries-old game that originated in China but is played around the world. Last summer, a New Mexico State University sociology professor watched as the game known as "rock, paper, scissors" helped her 7-year-old son to navigate culture and language barriers when he visited a school in China.
NMSU associate professor Sandra Way will share observations of her son's interaction with other students at a school in Nanjing, China in the next talk for the College of Arts and Sciences "Global Connections" lecture series.
Way will present "The Universal Language of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Reflections on a Chinese Elementary School Exchange" from 5-6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the College of Health and Social Services Annex Auditorium, room 101A.
Way's research is focused on the effects of school organization and climate on student outcomes. She specializes in the sociology of education and stratification, particularly race or ethnicity and gender.
In addition to sharing observations of her son's interactions at school, she also will speak about her own experiences and the differences between the two cultures.
While her son was in class, she spent her time discovering different parts of Nanjing. The program also planned trips where they visited various sites around Nanjing and larger cities such as Xian, Beijing and Shanghai.
While Way was able to see and do different things around the country, she enjoyed most getting to see her son absorb the culture.
The "Global Connections" series features faculty members' exotic trips around the world. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for members of the campus and surrounding community to listen and ask questions of NMSU professors about the kind of global first-hand experiences they might never otherwise encounter.
The "Global Connections" series will offer talks by faculty members each month through April. The lectures are free and open to the public.


text:
The Memory Songbook - contemporary, magical realism fiction
free @ Amazon Oct 9 & 10
http://www.amazon.com/The-Memory-Songbook-ebook/dp/B0065R3ND8
Memory Songbook
Music takes me back. It always has. I hear one great song and I'm 12 or 17 or -- I believe we all share this ability to time travel. But it came as a big surprise to the central character of my novel. It never dawned on him that he might save a life by helping an elder remember his favorite songs.
The pages of the manuscript flip-flop in my hand, a pale rectangular fish with thin blue horizontal lines. I'm tempted to fling the bulk across the room into a waste bin. But when I glance at the title page —
My head begins to throb.
I feel faint.
The room begins to spin.
Behind me I hear my mother Lo say, "Should I call an ambulance?"
I laugh, trying to hide my disorientation. Suddenly the second-story floor feels warped and the slanted attic ceiling is threatening to crush me.
"What, what?"
Lo sounds concerned.
I drop down on the narrow bed as a cyclone of music envelops me. Styles and various tempos fight for my attention. I hear myself try to sing along. Lo complains.
"Why are you shouting?"
And then it all stops. I clear my head and take another look at the title page.
The Memory Songbook
Lo sits down beside me.
"Frank?"
"When did you find this?"
"I think it was last week. No, yesterday. Or — "
"You shouldn't be climbing the stairs."
"I was putting away the Christmas decorations."
"Last week?"
"Well, no, maybe it was — "
"Mom, you haven't had a Christmas tree in twenty years."


The Glendale News-Press collected one first-place and three second-place awards Saturday in the California Newspaper Publishers Assn.'s annual Better Newspaper Contest. The awards, presented in San Jose during a meeting of the nonprofit trade association, were among 16 collected on behalf of Times Community North by Editor Dan Evans.
Former staff writer Melanie Hicken captured first place for her 2011 coverage of local government. Hicken reported on a tie between renovations at then-City Councilman John Drayman's condominium and Advanced Development & Investment, Inc., at a time when the firm was alleged to have bilked the city out of millions of tax dollars.
A photograph of a mallard taking off in flight, shot by News-Press photographer and part-time birder Raul Roa, won second place in the art/nature category of the newspaper contest.
Among the awards Evans brought home was a second place for Best Columns for his "Stop the Presses" column. In it, Evans wrote about questionable bonuses given to Burbank city employees and the reluctance of City Hall to provide the newspaper the names of those who received bonuses and the amounts they were given.
Staff writer Megan O'Neil was awarded second place for her feature story on a Beverly Hills woman struggling to make ends meet. In hopes of improving her financial situation, Austeene Cooper was disputing a family trust set up for descendants of one Glendale's founding fathers.


text:
Richard Jackson is the author of 15 books of poems including Where the Wind Comes From (Kelsay, 2020), Broken Horizons (Press 53, 2018), Traversings with VCFA faculty Bob Vivian (Anchor and Plume, 2016), Take Five (prose poems with other poets, 2018), Retrievals (C&R Press, 2014), Out of Place (Ashland, 2010), Half Lives: Petrarchan Poems (Autumn House, 2004), Unauthorized Autobiography: New and Selected Poems (Ashland, 2003), and Heartwall (UMass, Juniper Prize 2000), as well as four chapbook adaptations from Pavese and other Italian poets and Those Shadowy Reflections: Prose Poems (Foundlings Press Chapbook).
The Heart as Framed: New and Select Poems will appear in 2022 from Press 53, as well as a book of prose poems, Fragile Light (Wet Cement).
He has translated a book of poems by Alexsander Persolja (Potvanje Sonca/Journey of the Sun) (Kulturno Drustvo Vilenica: Slovenia, 2007) and co-translated Last Voyage, a book of translations of the early-20th-century Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (Red Hen, 2010). In addition, he has edited the Selected Poems of Iztok Osojnik, Slovene poet, and Tomaž Šalamun's When the Shadow Breaks / Kdo vdre senca (Slovene Writers Association, 2010). His own poems have been translated into 17 languages, including Worlds Apart: Selected Poems in Slovene (Slovene Writers' Association, 1999) and Resonica (Barcelona:Kriller 71 ediciones, 2014) in Catalan. He has edited two anthologies of Slovene poetry and Poetry Miscellany, a journal.
He is the author of Dismantling Time in Contemporary American Poetry (Agee Prize), and Acts of Mind: Interviews with Contemporary American Poets (Choice Award). He was awarded the Order of Freedom Medal for literary and humanitarian work in the Balkans by the President of Slovenia for his work with the Slovene-based Peace and Sarajevo Committees of PEN International, and his editing of the journal mala revija as well as his Slovene Poetry Chapbook series. He has received Guggenheim, NEA, NEH, and two Witter-Bynner fellowships, a Prairie Schooner Reader's Choice Award, and the Crazyhorse prize, and he is the winner of five Pushcart Prizes and has appeared in Best American Poems '97, as well as many other anthologies.
Recently he edited The Heart's Many Doors featuring 41 American poets responding to Slovene artist Metka Krašovec's sketches based on Emily Dickinson lines (Wings Press, 2017). He is currently co-editing an anthology of Slovene poetry and interviews, A Bridge of Voices.
Originator of VCFA's Slovenia Program, he was a Fulbright Exchange poet to former Yugoslavia and returns to Europe each year with various groups of students. He has been teaching at the River Pretty Writers' Conference, The Prague Summer Workshops, and regularly at UT-Chattanooga (since 1976) where he directs the Meacham Writers' Conference. He has taught at VCFA since 1987. He has won teaching awards at UT-Chattanooga where over 20 of his former undergrads have gone on to publish over 50 books, and at VCFA. In 2009 he won the AWP George Garret Award for teaching, writing, and arts promotion, and in 2019 the Barnett Prize for Distinguished Author.
PhD | Yale University
MA – English | Middlebury College
BA – English | Merrimack College
Michael Croley
Faculty, MFA in Writing [fiction]
Brian Leung
Connie May Fowler
Faculty Chair, MFA in Writing [fiction/CNF]; Director, Novel Retreat
Hasanthika Sirisena
Faculty, MFA in Writing [fiction/CNF]
Tarfia Faizullah
Tomás Q. Morín


Homefree Mortgages: Finance, mortgage and loan brokers servicing the Eastern and South-Eastern suburbs.
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Homefree has access to hundreds of products via our panel of more than 30 residential and 14 commercial lenders.
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A house is one of the biggest investments you'll ever make. Make sure you are in the know when it comes to buying or selling a property.
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At Homefree Mortgages, we have helped hundreds of first home buyers achieve their goal of purchasing their first home. Could you be next?
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Visit SCAN.NEUTROGENA.CO.UK on any mobile device as NEUTROGENA® VISIBLY CLEAR® Light Therapy Acne Mask users can access free mindfulness sessions and track their skin's progress through the selfie functionality.
For best results, use your Visibly Clear® Light Therapy Acne Mask every day.
Purchase a new Activator when the 30 treatment sessions run out.
WARNINGS: Do not use Light Therapy Acne Mask if you are pregnant, may be pregnant or nursing as the risks are unknown and have not been established. This product is not recommended for severe acne.
This definitely provides skin improvement and reduces redness in affected areas. However, having to replace the activator unit after the given 30day limit would become quite an expensive routine.
This gadget requires you to invest time every day to completing the daily treatment. My daughter has good skin anyway but thought it could be better. If she had needed it, she probably would have done it every day. Should you complete a programme, you then need to buy a replacement part to reuse the equipment.
Don't buy this expecting an overnight miracle - it needs to be used consistently and regularly as an investment in your skin. It's a great, chemical-free way to treat problem skin.
I gave this to a friend to try out. His skin hasnt seen any massive improvements and like other reviewers, he said that the light was extremely bright and he suffered with sore eyes and headaches. I was sent this to review but personally wouldn't buy it. The price seems very high but I suppose if you compare it to thr price of one facial at a salon it is reasonable - perhaps others will have better results.


text:
Hulk Meets Hanna at NY Comic Con
Don't geek out on us, comic fans, but it turns out that until last week, Aussie heartthrob Eric Bana had never attended a comic book convention before, despite his starring role in the first (and in my opinion far better) Hulk movie. At least, that's what he told Glam.com this past weekend following his appearance at the New York Comic Con, where Bana was promoting his upcoming film Hanna, a hybrid action thriller/fairy tale about a teenage girl (The Lovely Bones' Saorise Ronan) who is raised by her father to become an assassin.
Here's what else Eric had to say:
ON HIS CHARACTER IN THE FILM:
I play the father of Hanna, who's an ex CIA-operative who's gone AWOL and who's hiding deep in the forest, training his daughter to survive and eventually how to kill.
ON THE FILM'S SCENIC BACKDROPS:
We started in Finland and then we went to Germany, and then [some of us] went to Morocco. I didn't go to Morocco, but yes, it was all over the place. The exciting thing for us was it was all location. I think there was only three days in the studio,. The rest of it was all on location, which is so much more fun.
ON HOW HANNA COMPARES TO HIS PREVIOUS ACTION FILMS:
It was a little different because this was purely hand-to-hand action for me. So I think I didn't hold a gun once…I haven't done a lot of [hand-to-hand combat] in film, so it was good fun, a new challenge.
ON HIS COMIC CON EXPERIENCE:
Well the thing that stood out to me was everyone looked like they were having a great time. The absolute standout thing for me was, wow, these people are having a frickin' great time. It was so awesome. I wish the press junkets were full of that crowd the whole time. It's great to see because it just helps remind you there are people out there that feel very passionately about genres and properties and characters and movies and comics. It's great to see.
MORE ON THE CONVENTION:
I think it's the ratio of people in costumes that to me was the great thing. It wasn't like, oh look someone's dressed up as Planet of the Apes or someone's dressed as Darth Vader. It [was the] high percentage of people getting involved in the whole idea, which was to me unique and exciting, so I'm glad I saw it. I haven't been to a Comic Con before.
Hanna opens in theatres April 8.
comicon nyglamhannaeric banaglam mediathe hulk


Well, I did it. I am officially done with college (if my grades go through). It's been a busy day.
First, I ran around doing errands. I braved icy roads as the snowy mix of sleet fell. I took a full box of groceries and cans to a food pantry on Graphos' behalf. I had never dropped them off before, so I relied on the GPS to guide me to where I needed to adventure. The pantry was further downtown than I anticipated, but well worth the trip.
After the box was dropped off, I drove to the otherside of town to the West De Pere Elementary School. After being buzzed into the school, I gave the school secretaries a bag full of the knitted hats and scarves we created in Knitting Knights.
Selfie sent to family and friends to let them know I made it back to my townhouse safe after my excursions.
Once I was back on campus, I made a quick lunch of ramen before focusing on my senior portfolio. I just had to proof and finalize everything, but I wanted to spend as much time as I could on it to make sure it was as great as it could be. After I finished, I emailed a link to my professor. With the email sent, I turned on Netflix, finished watching the series The Haunting of Hill House, and began furiously packing up all of my lingering stuff.
At 2, I worked my last dish shift ever. Everyone kept asking me how finals were going (I was officially done at that point, just needing to pack), and double-checking when I graduated. Then they asked me my plans for the future. My plans revolve working as a full time manager at Culver's while working part time for the publishing company 13th and Joan as I poke at other job opportunities. I'm pretty open to what I want to do.
As my shift winded down, everyone wished me the best of luck. I received a lot of hugs and other well wishes. It was nice to see that I would be missed. I've been working at the school cafeteria since the second day I was on campus. Three years.
Last day wearing the cafeteria shirt. It's been real Ruth's Marketplace. Thanks for everything.
I snagged some boxes from the cafeteria to pack up more of my stuff. On the way back to my townhouse, I dropped off my mail key. I checked my mailbox one last time and discovered someone sent me a sweet message. Unfortunately, I cannot read the handwriting on the signature, so I cannot thank the person properly. I poked around my friends to see who wrote it, but no one has claimed to be the author.
With my new letter claimed, it was time to turn in my key. The funny part about that, however, was that after I handed the mail person my key, they dropped it and couldn't find it. Really? But they let me go and wrote that I turned it in. How ironic that I never lost it during my schooling, but the mail people lose it when I turn it in.
My last moments at school were consumed by packing. Most of my roommates left by that point, so it wasn't even a somber good-bye. I just packed, cleaned, and left. I did wait for my dad to reach campus so he could help move me out. We filled both my car and his truck with all of my luggage, kitchen products, and bathroom stuff, as well as my fun board games, stuffed animals, and clothes.
When the time finally came for a RA to check me out, it was very anticlimatic. He was nice and kept the visit short. He poked his head in the room, but did not check over anything. He collected my key, wished me best of luck in the future, and left. My dad and I followed not long after. I closed the townhouse door behind me, making sure the door was locked. Then I got into my car.
It didn't feel real. It still doesn't feel real. Just another normal day–nothing special.
The clean and de-personalized room.
After a brief detour to campus safety to drop off my parking permit so I could claim some money back, we went to the McDonalds by school. My dad said I could have whatever I wanted.
I wanted a happy meal.
Well, it was a satisfying meal to me. And I received a spiderman toy out of it. Win-win.