Building the Dream

February 26, 2026 Leave a comment

Two men share a dream.
To escape the air stream.
Together they start to build.
Gathering parts to be milled.

With a screwdriver, hammer, and wrench.
Building each part on the bench.
On to the carts to be wheeled.
Strung along the field.

Looking over their notes.
They assemble it with screws and bolts.
Connecting it all to the hull.
With each problem rolling around in their skulls.

Fusion reactor and Ion engines are in.
Then they attach the fins.
Wiring the controls in the cockpit.
They make everything fit.

Once a pile of junk.
Now something to get them out of their funk.
Seeing before their eyes.
The craft that will reach beyond the skies.

Strapped in their seats.
A new adventure they will meet.
When they started people would scoff.
But now it’s the countdown to blastoff.

Higher and higher they go.
Leaving behind them their woes.
Everything feels right.
Forward into the eternal night.

Filed under Odd Thoughts Tagged with , , , , ,

Sci-Fi Sports

February 24, 2026 Leave a comment

I do a lot sci-fi world building and have a few sports created for it. The first game was called Floatball. It is a game played in zero-gee. It has rules are a combination of water polo and team handball. It takes place in a large room that is totally enclosed. Beginning of each period and after each goal is a face-off/jump ball where one player is on the ceiling and the other on the floor. The ball is between them and would push off and try to tip the ball to one of your teammates. There is also bars players can grab to stop or change directions.

The other other sport I have is called Scapela and is played by one of my alien races called the Elvari. There is a scoop similar to Jai Alia strapped to one hand. The ball is hard like a lacrosse ball. Played on a hard court with a goal that is on a pole that can be scored at in 360 degree. There are also rebound broads in key spots on the side lines.

The last game is called Hover Hockey. Instead of ice it is replaced with cris crossing mag rails. Players have special shoes that let them “skate”. The puck also hovers as well. Not sure if I am going to have goalies or not.

Filed under Odd Thoughts Tagged with , , ,

Cosmic Lounge at Montreal World Con

February 24, 2026 Leave a comment

I have been doing party room at Sci-Fi conventions for a few years now. I would have karaoke with non-alcoholic drinks and snacks. I don’t have alcohol because I can’t check IDs and run karaoke at the same time. I am planning getting a suite for the party room at Montreal World Con in 2027.

Filed under News/Updates Tagged with , , ,

Hot as Ice

February 23, 2026 Leave a comment

By Bill Horst-Kotter

Grab my stick and hit the ice.

My skates are sharp and it feels nice.

Passed the blue line and grabbed the puck.

Toward the goal with some luck.

Deke the goalie because he’s a rookie.

And flick the puck where mama hides the cookies.

For the kids on the streets to the stars on the ice.

Hockey is the game that I like.

Howe, Orr, and Gretsky make the game great.

It all started when I saw my first game when I was eight. 

To all the hot shots that rush the net.

Today is the day your match has been met.

I love it when you scorers try to get close.

Because I am the guy that makes your shots a joke.

I will use my body to be a wall

So the goal light won’t answer your call.

I make opposing teams’ stars look like guacamole.

Because I am the guy they call the goalie.

For the kids in the streets to the stars on the ice.

Hockey is the game that I like.

Hasek, Roy, and Plante made the game great.

Me loving this game was a matter of fate.

I am the guy that makes the stars shine.

Because I protect him when it’s game time.

Check him into the boards hard.

And I am the one that will make you see stars.

Drop the gloves and fist fly like lightning.

Then the linesmen gave me five minutes for fighting.

In the box, hanging my head in shame.

But I’m the goon so I get all the blame.

For the kids on the streets to the stars on the ice.

Hockey is the game that I like.

Probert, Ray, and McSorley made the game great.

So head to your local arena before it’s too late.

This was my attempt to make a rap song about ice hockey.

Filed under Odd Thoughts Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Back from the dead and the battle of the bulge

February 22, 2026 Leave a comment

Hi everyone. I see my last post was back in 2019 before we even knew what COVID was. I am not dead and ghost can’t type on the keys. I am looking to get back on blogging and doing cool things and reporting about it.

One thing that isn’t cool is my weight. I ballooned to 276 lbs, the heaviest I’ve been in my life. I live alone so their is no body here to tell me to stop. I tried over the years and it would be start and stop. No momentum as before. Then my doctor wants to put me on a weight loss drug, only problem before they prescribe it to me I need to show that I have been taking a weight loss program for 6 months. (i.e. Weight Watchers or Noom) The problem is if I do the program and lose weight wouldn’t that defeat the need of a weight loss drug?

This is what I am going to do, I am going to lose weight at the way I did before. I am back on MyFitnessPal app to record my calorie intake and what I have burned working out. I went back to Planet Fitness and going start working out. So the bottom line is spite is a good motivator.

Filed under News/Updates Tagged with , ,

New Idea for a Show on Twitch.

May 17, 2019

With my friends at The Mighty Monkey Corporation (http://www.fc3roc.com) talked about doing more with their Twitch.tv channel. I had an idea of a show for them. It is called The One Shots. A bunch of games will play a different table top RPG every episode and then tell us what they think about the game setting and rules. Even if they don’t pick it up I will try and produce it on my own. The trick is getting the space, equipment, cast, and crew. Hopefully this will work.

Filed under News/Updates, Video Tagged with , , , , ,

Changing Fortunes – Updated

March 17, 2019

Updatede my one page RPG changing fortunes.  Removed the charm start and made smarts fill in for it.  Click the link below to downloaded it.

changing_fortune_rules_v1.1

changing_fortune_cards_front

changing_fortune_cards_backs

Filed under News/Updates Tagged with ,

Changing Fortunes RPG

January 10, 2019

On New Year’s Eve, I was on a friend’s livestream and we played this one page RPG call The Witch is Dead.  The players play a witch’s familiar and now she is dead.  The players have to find the witch hunters eyes and put them in the witch’s corpse to resurrect her.  I played a Toad, with a dog, a fox, 2 owls, a magpie, and a rabbit.  We had fun.

This gave me an idea to try and make my own.  This game doesn’t use dice but cards.  It was inspired by an article on how inmates played D&D in prison.  It is called Changing Fortunes and it is designed to be an open action-adventure setting.  The unique feature of the game is the Fortune stat that is divided into 2 types: good and bad.  Good the player can spend on an advantage, but Bad the GM can spend against the player.

Changing Fortunes Rules

Changing Fortunes Card Face

Changing Fortunes Card Back

Filed under News/Updates

Perspective on Immigration.

October 27, 2018

Back in 1869, my great-great grandparents immigrated to the US from the North German Confederation. They were from the region known as Westphalia.  It is located in Western Germany and shares a border with France.  In 1870 the 2nd French Empire invaded starting the Franco-Prussian War into regions that included Westphalia.  My Great-Great Grandfather would have been conscripted into the military and the region would be ravaged by war hurting the local communities and the economy.  They left just in time to the US and settle in an area south of Syracuse, NY.

Let’s look at the caravan of people from Honduras that are making there way to the US.  According to Human Rights Watch, the nation’s government is corrupt with police abuse and repression of basic freedoms of speech, press, and assembly.  Also, women and other marginalized groups live in fear and many other abuses.  If you want to read more about it here is a link giving you a complete picture: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/honduras.  So the next time you complain about immigrants should go back to their country they came from please remember that more likely your ancestors came here from a time where that country had similar conditions that the ones current immigrants are coming from now.

Filed under News/Updates

The Elephant in the Democratic Party?

June 9, 2018

What platform should the Democratic Party run on?  Should they run on impeaching President Trump?  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is yes, but…..

I feel the impeachment is a good platform, but it is only good in the short term.  Say there is a victory and Trump is impeached, then what’s next?  There is a split in the Democratic Party between the Establishment Dems (Clinton, Boxer, Feinstein) and the Progressive/Grassroots Dems (Warren).  This is the issue facing the party.  If they stay with the Establishment then GOP will still have a moderately strong foothold in Congress and it will be more policies supporting the 1% and low voter turn out.

Now if they try and balance a platform and incorporate more progressive policies something like with the New Deal.  Then maybe they will have what happened in the 1912 election when Dems embraced a progressive platform that helped Woodrow Wilson with the presidency.  Only time will tell but if we support more progressive candidates we may have the turnout like Bernie Sanders had in 2016.

Filed under News/Updates Tagged with , , , , ,

← Older posts