Just to fill in some of you of what I have been doing for the 3 years I have been gone. I will give a short synopsis of each year.
July 2012 thru Dec 2013 - I worked on a title for Slitherine Ltd - Battle Academy: Fortress Metz. Several guys helped on the project that you know but in particular: Paco Palomo - huge help with correct weapons/vehicles that were used as well as other historical info - also tested the missions (14 - 10 solo and 4 head to head). Warren Bajan - historical help. Warren's pc was too old to load the game so he was there more for moral support.
During the end of Jan 2013 my mom grew ill (heart problems) and after 2 mos. passed away. I held a small graveside service with one of our asst. Pastors from my church in Boise.
During this time I also enrolled in the VA (thanks again to Warren Bajan for this). They determined I had prostate problems. I used a product that I found online to help diminish the effects (multiple bathroom trips) I was having.
The VA helped me battle my Sciatica problems. I started in on a program of exercises and within a few months my pain had subsided greatly. It now only comes back if I have to move from place to place or stand too long.
From April 2013 to Jan 2014 I battled to keep my apartment. Without mom the finances were a mess. I got a job at the local locomotive plant but was way out of my league. Not only was it a dark place to work in but the goggles they insist on my wearing mess up my vision. I had to leave the job. I could not get another job before I faced eviction in January. I moved to a room at a house in Boise. The folks there smoked like chimneys. Even blocking off the vents in my room didn't help. Most everything I owned smelled like cigarettes (except thankfully my books .... which Scott Ludwig and Mark Jones bought up a goodly number).
In February 2014 (end of month) I had a decision to make - deliver all of my mom's things to my sister ... or put all of mine in the truck too and move to LA... I decided to move to LA. Perhaps in hindsight I should have stored all of my stuff and just flown back to Boise but oh well. Life moves on.
I landed in LA in late Feb, dropped off my mom's things where my sister is living (with her son) and drove the 30 miles down into the LA area to stay with a friend. I stored the remainder of my things in storage.
What I thought would be a 2 week stay in order to find work and get a job and find my own room to rent turned into a 3 mo. stay. Eventually at the end of May 2014 I moved to my friend's condo. I condo sat for them for almost 7 weeks. It was nice to have the place to myself. They were in India. I helped coordinate construction fixes to their condo and also another problem came up with the kitchen sink which I helped get corrected. From March to May I put in over 500 job applications and got ONE (1) interview. Yes, going from computer security to game design was one factor ... I do not have a security clearance any more so getting a job in DoD work is out for now.
During my stay at the condo I got in with CR England truck driving school. When I left the condo I went to the school out in Fontana, CA (where the NASCAR race his held every year for those of you that follow racing). The school was too fast paced for me - they were shoving people through at a quick pace and my anxiety and prostate issues as well as Sciatica (long periods of standing) all caused me to cave in and (literally) walk away from the school.
Back in the San Fernando Valley again - July 2014 - I stayed with some friends for a month at their townhome, went back to live with my friend again I had stayed with in March when I arrived in LA.
My health was a mess, I was terribly depressed ... it is hard for me to keep on getting jobs only to have to give them up because of my health. This happened in Boise several times.
The VA - I enrolled in the VA here in LA during August. They told me about housing for homeless Vets ... Great I thought. In September they were having their big drive to get Vets off the streets. Well basically they consider me NOT homeless because people are housing me. I dont make enough to really have my own room either ... Vet housing is very affordable ... I could get a 1 bed/1 bath apt. for something like $250/mo.
So I was turned down for that. I did get on the state food program during October. By November I had found a new job (telemarketing) which I thought might work out. I also found a room for rent. My friend was being evicted so I had to move.
On Thanksgiving Day of last year I moved into my own room and also had a nice dinner with a family from my church. It was a great day. Finally, my own room.
The job lasted for 2.5 weeks. The demands they made on their telemarketers was ridiculous. The turnover was phenomenal. They blame it on the employees. Actually its the lack of training time .... I wont go into all the details ...
So back to the room to work full time on game design.
I launched into my current project I am working on for John Tiller from Jan 2015 to the end of Mar 2015 and really knocked out a ton of work (Paco and several NWC members are on the team). My spreadsheet to do list for the scenarios really got finished off. I am down to something like 3-4 items I need to do other than the usual playtesting and corrections of the work I had done.
I have another new game series I am working on with another programmer. This is a really fun undertaking. I have written a planning document (spreadsheet) that lays out all of the details of the game. It is still in development. We hope to release it with Slitherine next year. It is a brigade level game meaning that we can play entire battles and not have to micromanage the units. I cant go into any great detail but each unit will have many values. Morale, experience, training, etc. Strength will be secondary.
HQ units will provide command control. Command points will be alloted to each HQ and then each HQ will spend the CPs for the command to do things.
There are orders, brigade level formations. The combat system is very involved for such a scale but I felt that it was important to allow for the complexity of the period. Its not the old Avalon Hill combat chart. There are also something called Coordinated Assaults so that if more than one attacking units attacks a defender from more than one location there is a chance that the attack is "Uncoordinated" and thus each brigade attacks on its own.
The time scale is roughly 30 mins. I am avoiding being tied down to that as battles were more about "events" than about time.
While I attempt to land work in the meantime I am being aided by John Tiller and several folks from the wargaming community as well as friends at my church. I am not asking for a handout but I am posting a support link under my signature here. I will not belabor this. If you want to help that is up to you. I get by on whatever I get each month. Sometimes last year I did go without a meal. Well good! Its always a good thing to go without sometimes. Helps you keep perspective.
I had a good life in Boise, Idaho for the first 5 years out of 9 that I spent there. I was able to always provide a place for my mom to live and we enjoyed our time there greatly. I really want to go back too.
My goal: get back to Boise, buy a vehicle there, get a place to live, get a job, not necessarily in that order.
While last year was a great setback to my game design work I continued to ride my bike and stay in shape and keep my weight down. I had my "red" bike stolen when I first moved to Boise and a fellow gamer was kind to send me funds to get a newer one. I actually got a free bike but had to repair it.
Bills is are still out there for me to pay. I am hopeful that I can turn the corner this Summer and get back into the swing of things. Until then I continue to hunt for work and do the game design work.
Its great to see the club still here ... I believe that 2018 is our 20th anniversary. I hope to be here when we celebrate that!
Thanks to all of you that kept kind thoughts for me while I was having a difficult time of it over the last few years. I sure hope I never have to do all of that again.
and if you want to make a good impression tel, them that you improved your driving skill by watching "The Fast and the Furious" 
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