Other people

Yesterday and today I went ahead and did some things. Not that I hadn't been doing anything before. The contact, for example, is definitely a thing. What I mean is that I've taken some steps that involve other people. As many of you know, other people and I do not always get along, and initiating contact with other people almost always makes me incredibly nervous. This is often what holds me back at the 90% mark.

I am agreeably sore today because last night I visited the College Park Judo Club, which I had been meaning to do since I got here. It's a big club, but I got a good impression of the sensei I met and the other new guy I worked with. I swallowed my pride (because the number of years I've studied and the number of things I know more belie my skill level than attest to it) and went through the beginner paces (which I was herded into when the class started, everyone scattered to do different things, and I ended up slightly bewildered). I think I'm discovering that wherever you go to train, its a good idea to go through the beginner lesson, because everywhere has a slightly different take on the fundamentals. I didn't need to be shown how to fall, inasmuch as I definitely knew enough not to break my neck, but I got in more falling practice than I've ever done at a stretch, maybe (but likely not) excepting my first day at Fudoshin Dojo as a 12-year-old white belt. I got some pointers I hadn't heard before, so I'm glad I did it. Same with grappling and throws, when we got to those. Actually, about half the beginner batch of judo throws are new to me, or ones I could never get the hang of.

Anyway, that was last night. Today I prodded an editor or two at Cracked, because my got lost in the shuffle. (I'm not being kind to myself there. There actually was a shuffle--a huge batch of posts got moved above it on the submission forum all at once. I expect the article to get turned down,* but it looks like so far it just got missed.)

I also finally submitted my first pitch for a Pathfinder adventure to Paizo. So, we'll see how that turns out, too.

One thing that's neat about these two venues is that the operate on internet time. I actually expect feedback this or early next week on both pitches. I think the days of articles sitting on editors' desks for 60+ days are coming to an end.

Oh, I almost forgot. This will probably be the post up when I hit my 1,000th pageview. I think I've already commented on how that's cool, but also a very small number on the internet. Oh well. It can only go up.

*I rewrote that phrase after I looked at it. It originally read, "I expect to get turned down." It occurred to me that I should remember that it's my pitches, not me, getting judged.