The story must go on !

And so we continue,

The planning stages and character development on my project are progressing nicely, we are learning a great deal at this point about most of the characters who are thus far named. Also interesting is the social stratification in their world and how information is managed and censored by the authorities.

     I need to work on names for everyone, but some of their working title names are kind of silly and amusing for now. The geography of their home city is starting to come together and it is quickly apparent to me that this city is MUCH older and more diverse in it's origins than we had previously believed it to be. The people who live beyond the walls of the city are also starting to form up more clear and well defined roles as well as characteristics that help make them key parts of the world and country where they live. Even though all involved would claim that "those beyond civilizing are not our own but simply what was cast off or cast out before the new society could close it's doors to unwanted".
    Another thing which is more and more interconnected is their national / regional politics and I am becoming really invested in how a society can run when half the people are secular and half are deeply steeped in their people's traditional religion. Some of the other factors which seem to push them a part are their views on personal vs. societal rights and responsibilities, international trade and political dealings. Expatriation seems to be something no one wants to talk about right now but it's clearly important to their national security and social welfare leaders ( for reasons I don't yet understand ). 

    The roles of the characters are starting to come more in line with some of their stated aims and beliefs which is handy since that's going to be a key part of the story. How they all fit together is a bit foggy to me in certain aspects but we have lots of space to work it all out and make everyone feel like they belong. 

    I am forming a mental map, but seeing as how maps are one of the really important things to the story and word of mouth seems to be very much a core of their social traditions I am withholding it for now from anyone's gaze. 

I am posting some photos and bits about my story process and project for the upcoming NANO 2015 season on the instagram: patricklohkamp which you can follow if you're so moved.

This week has been insane for so many reasons.

    Pipe sales have been really hit or miss with mostly missed connections due to people not being there when we drop in and wanted to show off the stuff we'd made but all of our reviews were amazingly and gratifyingly positive. Sometimes store employees would buy one just because they liked what they saw so much.

   I've had a lot of call backs, come in at the beginning of the month ( or next month ) too which for blind interviews isn't unexpected or bad. I have high hopes for the coming months to be really positive for us.

    I am almost setting into my new digs completely and normally now. I think that I and my two friends who I am renting from are finding the equilibrium of it all and will have a good run together as cohabitants.

I have designed my room, redesigned the space a couple of times. I have built a computer desk which is in my mind less than half way done but is pretty cool so far, soon to be even more awesome! I have some ideas about "free standing-interconnected wall shelves" which I will pursue in the coming week or so. And hopefully I'll get some job apps out and hear back from a few places soon.

 My steampunk is being offset by Karen's Regency costuming and that's all fine with me because I like to make cool stuff and she has a great eye for projects.

    I have some other projects for here around my place which will be a lot of fun and nearly entirely recycled goods to look forward to.

World of Warships is AMAZING.
I have a Cleveland class Cruiser which is almost finished with exp climb to the next ship, I have no interests in getting another just yet though.
I have the New York class Battle Ship, and several others for kicks.
Playing a lot with a couple of buddies in the evenings.

I am thinking about ways I can make my bed cooler, that's a long project though at this point.

Did I mention my bed is 3ft tall?
"Why?!" You ask...
Because:

One, I had failed to account for the height of some of my boards when I assembled it,

 Two because I wanted to be able to have my feet dangling from it when I sit up.

Three I want to put cargo under it ( most likely my huge tent will live down there ) and I also have that awesome foot locker which keeps my Steampunk costume supplies in down there and I wanted to be able to open the lid and get into stuff without hauling it all out into my rather limited bedroom anytime the mood took me to investigate stuff.
     And lastly "Because I can."

It's a bit silly to "hop up into bed" as a grownup but contrary to the opinions of several people, this bed is 3ft wide and 5' 10" long. So it was designed with a really personal set of specs; namely my own and since I've never had a companion to soak up a lot of space the idea of wasting room on something I didn't want initially has become something of an intense joke among my friends.
Thus, the bed is really more of a raised platform where I store myself for several hours a night and really exists to help me store stuff I have semi-regular use of but cannot realistically keep anywhere else. 

There will be photos of my genius at some point in the future I promise.
But for now it is bed time.

Work to do tomorrow and my friends are getting married finally!!