Space opera and spy thriller collide in the Ziva Payvan series 💫🪐✨. Find the full saga wherever you get your ebooks, audiobooks, and print. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Expansive, exciting sci-fi action-adventure" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Assassins, space battles, conspiracies, and much, much more"

Signed up to help tear down and clean up after the fall fest/trunk-or-treat event at church today. Got there at 5 PM on the dot. Was getting in the car to leave by 6:20. That might be a new record. I was picturing not getting home til like 8.

I've had my phone on silent for so long I barely remember what my actual ringtones are. Not sure how it got OFF silent this morning, but it was very startling to get a text and have Kelly Chambers holler, "COMMANDER, YOU'VE RECEIVED A NEW MESSAGE AT YOUR PRIVATE TERMINAL."

I’ve been on another Parks and Rec run and decided a new cross-stitch template was in order. Here’s a sneak peek. IYKYK.

You know how yesterday I said I sensory-associate a LOT of things? 🎶Vigil🎶 is one of those things.

Obvs this will remain firmly affixed to my rear window for eternity

Story time. If you've followed me for a while, chances are you've seen me mention I never had any sort of gaming console growing up, and I had a crappy PC running Windows 98 and dial-up internet until finally upgrading to the actual 21st century in 2010. The extent of my gaming was the occasional Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart or Lego Star Wars at friends' houses. At some point in probably late 2009, I remember seeing a trailer on TV for some sort of sci-fi story featuring a hero and his alien companions fighting monsters—turned out this was the cinematic trailer for Mass Effect 2, and once I realized it was a video game, I pretty much quit paying attention because I'd all but written off being able to play any cool games with my current setup (or lack thereof). Fast forward about a year and I found myself playing KotOR and KotOR II for the first time on the refurbished laptop I'd gotten for graduation. Absolutely loved them of course, and that was my introduction to BioWare and story-based RPGs in general. Played through both games multiple times in a pretty short time span. I found myself thinking back to that trailer I'd seen and couldn't remember the name of the game. Was pretty sure it was two words and started with M. I literally had to find a Wiki that listed all video games in alphabetical order and scrolled through the Ms until something looked familiar: Mass Effect. Started reading up on it a little and oh look, it's from BioWare, the same company that made KotOR. Wanted to play so bad but my laptop's specs weren't good enough. Fast forward another couple of years when the novelty of the new family computer finally wore off and I wasn't having to constantly fight people for use of it. I was like wow, I've actually got an opportunity to try some games with higher system requirements. I'd been following ME3's development and release and was thrilled to discover that all three games would run on the desktop. Started playing ME1 in the summer of 2012 and was having an absolute blast. I've never talked about this on here, and I won't go into too much detail now, but that summer ended up very quickly turning into the single worst time period of my life. Some stuff happened that absolutely ripped my family apart, and we ended up losing our house later that fall. I was just in survival mode for a few months, and Mass Effect was the one thing I had to look forward to. When I say Mass Effect saved my life that summer, I mean it. Maybe not QUITE literally—I wasn't su*cidal or anything—but that sentiment is still there. Having this story about courage and hope and friendship to fall back on absolutely meant the world. I've played and enjoyed the trilogy many times since then, and every time, there's some little detail or sound byte that sends my brain back to that summer (I tend to sensory-associate a LOT). But rather than freak me out, that detail/sound byte always brings me comfort. Anyway. I'm sad (and even shocked because I admittedly haven't followed the news too closely as of late) to see BioWare go. But I have to thank them for what they gave me when I needed it most.

Back listening to this playlist with a vengeance now that the alumni game is confirmed. It's a compilation of (most of) the songs we had on our warmup playlists from all the way back when I was in HS to when I stopped coaching in 2018. It's the strangest mix of Christian rock/hip-hop, arena rock, 80s rock, random European EDM, and Fall Out Boy 😂

In other news, I jumped rope yesterday for the first time in literal years and my calves have yet to stop cramping 😩

I run a daily report at work that I submit to a third party who uses Cerberus FTP for file transfers, and it sparked a memory today. The very first year I worked here, there was a group of guys from the same program I graduated in that came here to do a project, and I ended up being more or less in charge of them for the duration. I at least semi-knew most of them from school—all cool dudes, nerdy but not nearly as awkward as some of the actual software engineering majors. The first day they met with me, I noticed on their project paperwork that they were calling themselves Team Cerberus. Me: "Why Cerberus?" Them: "Because Mass Effect." Me: 😀 Them: "Yeah we thought you'd like that."

November is turning into a volleyball month! Headed up to Eugene to watch @HuskerVB play @OregonVB (*whispers* GBR). Gotta rush home the following morning for an alumni game, then I’m playing in a co-ed tournament the following weekend.

Just skated out of a 1.5-hour meeting. Turned into a 3-minute conversation.

I keep coming back to stare at this graphic. The original plan was to do the whole thing in red, but then I added the lens flare behind the title and paused a moment before tweaking the object color, stricken by the contrast created by the blue. Rolled with it 😎

I need to stop opening PSA and Cabela's emails

V glad last week’s crud turned out to be a simple cold and not another full blown sinus infection. I’m sure it was good for me to spend a whole week taking it easy and working on simple mobility and ROM, but it’s good to be backkkk 🏋🏽‍♀️

Out soaking up a little more vitamin D before the weather turns crappy this week. Pup is pleased. Someone is grilling and it smells delightful.

Need to get back to posting more bookish things 📚

Find excerpts from each book, links to all retailers, concept art, and series resources like a glossary and galaxy map at ejfisch.com

Suddenly realized today that I never pinned a new post after my annual sale ended. In May. 🙈 Started a fresh graphic and everything and then slacked off. So, new pinned post incoming.