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Mathew Westhorpe.net

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Gaming, Healthcare, Parenting, Politics, Nonsense

Lifestyle

Michael’s Guide to Unplugged Gaming, Coping with Isolation, and the Zombie Apocalypse

Michael was my nephew. He was 15 when he died last year after six years of illness, treatment, and isolation. So when it comes to coping strategies for medical incarceration, he was a pro. Even before he was ill, we Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 3 years20/03/2020 ago
Lifestyle

Death, Life, & Video Games: A Documentary, a Podcast, and the Conversation to Come

When my nephew died last year, a few weeks after his fifteenth birthday, the resulting emotional storm of torment, frustration and regret was impossible to process.  Oddly, like a storm, there was a strange peace to be found at the Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 3 years09/02/2020 ago
Lifestyle

Random Rant: The School (Trench) Run

I’d like to think that I’m not a coward, but the school run fills me with dread. Perhaps I’m overstating my reaction, sometimes it’s just mild trepidation with a smattering of frustration. Or general indifference with a dash of bemusement. Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 3 years16/01/2020 ago
Entertainment

The Blogging Paradox (or Why I Stopped Blogging and Why I’m Starting Again)

Internet culture is a fascinating, terrifying, distorted reflection of human behaviour. Social media is a House of Mirrors which warps context, subverts emphasis and provokes opinion. I’ve learned from experience that emotionally investing in online interactions is a hazardous pastime Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 3 years13/01/2020 ago
Broken Paramedic

Guilt Keeps Me in the NHS

My compulsion to stay working within the NHS is largely driven by guilt. As a healthcare professional, nothing I have experienced in the last decade under a Conservative government gives me much hope that things are going to improve in Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 3 years17/12/2019 ago
Computer and Video Games

An Open Letter to Frontier and Friends

Dear all, As any of you who followed my teenage nephew’s brief, tragic foray into the Elite Dangerous community starlight likely already know, Michael (aka CMDR Michael Holyland) died on 22nd May 2019.  His funeral service and cremation was on Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 4 years01/07/2019 ago
Parenting

Coping

I thought being a paramedic would help me cope with my parents’ deaths. Or even prevent them. I was wrong. Allow me to explain. When I first applied to Beds & Herts Ambulance & Paramedic Service in 2000, it was Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 4 years29/04/2019 ago
Roleplaying, Tabletop and Card Games

Sheetpicking: D&D Beyond Versus Roll20’s Charactermancer

How many Players Handbooks does it take to change a lightbulb? To be honest, I couldn’t tell you; I’ve got three 5th edition PHB versions and no lightbulbs have yet changed. Let me explain… Over the last year or so, Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 4 years28/01/2019 ago
Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeon Master’s Folly: Campaign Debut (Out of the Abyss)

Returning to Dungeons & Dragons after a quarter-century absence was always going to be a challenge. But I may have underestimated just how much. Mistakes were made. Pick a World, Any World I have vague recollections of being a reasonably Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 5 years01/04/2018 ago
Dungeons and Dragons

The Eighties Called, They Want Their Dungeon Master Back

Over a quarter of a century ago, I was a Dungeon Master. Then life happened; career, mortgage, marriage, kids. The funny-shaped dice gathered dust. Yet over the passing decades, the impact of those teenage roleplaying game sessions has resonated through Read more…

By Mathew James Westhorpe, 5 years ago

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