Sigh

What a crappy weekend. A last minute emergency supply issue (I work for a product manufacturer) had me spending much of my weekend with my work phone on hand, making calls, having meetings, texting all over the place, etc. I'm not going to say that it necessarily took tons and tons of time; it was a few hours, but it meant that I never really "turned off" all weekend, and I'm starting the week already exhausted and frustrated rather than rested and refreshed. Luckily, it's the week of Thanksgiving. It's already slow here in the office today. I've got a few big meetings to attend to, but there won't be a ton going on after today, or a ton of people around to interact with anyway. I'll probably come in to the office tomorrow morning, probably leave around lunch and log in back at home, and probably not even come in at all on Wednesday; just log in at home, and then get an early start on my long drive that I have to make in the evening as soon as I reasonably can.

Luckily, I have meetings falling off my schedule left and right so I think I can recover from being uptight and frustrated most of the last two weeks.

So, I read some stuff, but I didn't have any mental energy to do much more than that, and honestly, I felt like my mind was wandering even while reading. I finished: 1) "Spires of Xin-Shalast" and therefore the entire Rise of the Runelords campaign, in it's originally published version. 2) Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, finishing something that I started six months ago in reading the Paizo and the Green Ronin fiend books. Technically, I'm not "done" until I also read Fiendish Codex II: Tyranny of the Nine Hells or whatever exactly that title is, but I don't like that one as much, and won't prioritize doing that anytime too soon. I've got too many other things I would rather read first, so it's on the list... but not soon. I also read the next Bleeding Edge module, "Temple of the Death Goddess". And I read most of my physical copy of Classic Horrors Revisited. So, started inadvertently on my Pathfinder Setting/Chronicles trawl too. Given that I've finished another Adventure Path and while shortly finish the Bleeding Edge mini-series, I'll have wrap-ups on those. I may have a fiendish wrap-up too; like I said, I'm not going to wait on the final book before I do that.

I didn't even pick up my last Arkham Horror novel at all. But I'll probably finish that this week. I'll take it with me to Thanksgiving, at least. I'll definitely finish Classic Horrors Revisited today, and then read either Undead Revisited or Mythical Monsters Revisited, both of which are in my backpack. I grabbed all three of those, kind of on a whim, before going to El Paso a couple of weeks ago, so now I feel committed to reading them before I pick anything else up in physical game books. I also have Monster Manual II (3rd edition) picked out that way too. Once I read all three of those books in my backpack, I'll pick up Races of Eberron in hardback and Into the Darklands and Darklands Revisited in Paizo slimmer softback. Once I finish the last novel of the Arkham Horror run, I'll re-read the first two books of the James Silke Horned Helmet series, and then read (for the first time) the last two. And I also have a new (to me, anyway) copy of the Timothy Zahn original post Jedi trilogy to read for the first time in ~30 years. Oh, and the Von Carstein trilogy, which I have in omnibus, and the Solomon Kane collection by Del Rey that I've been meaning to read for years. 

And, of course, in pdf, I need to start Curse of the Crimson Throne, but before I do, I want to read some other pdf books, so I'll probably read The Rise of Tiamat, the second half of the originally as published Tyranny of Dragons book (it was initially published as two books), the 4e Underdark book. the next book in my Forgotten Realms 3e trawl, and the next two installments of my Freeport Trawl, which will finish the subsection on Bleeding Edge adventures.

I've also been asked to step in as a substitute DM for a campaign. I don't think I can pick up the same campaign, since I'm not even a player, and I don't know all of the people playing in it very well. But there are two back to back weeks that they're considering; I could potentially run a 2-shot, if they are amenable to meeting both nights, while the regular DM is out, and we'll see how that goes. If I do, I'll  probably run a modified version of the first Freeport module, including borrowing the Kastor Lieberung concept from Enemy Within, although he'll be a body found on a ship, not on the road, as the PCs approach town. 

It's a relatively slim module, so I think I can do it in two evenings of play, plus I leave them with a little bit of open-endedness that may leave them hungry for more. I'm not trying to poach them away from their current DM, but I wouldn't mind leaving them a little bit hungry for more of me when they can get it. We don't play in our current campaign enough to fill my time—especially while my wife's out of town, but even when she isn't—so I could easily work another campaign in parallel in. Maybe the same is true for some of them.

UPDATE: This stupid work emergency isn't over. I've got a quick touchpoint call this evening after work, and I'll have calls on Thanksgiving and Black Friday both. What a PITA.