Hello. I’m alive.

I have started writing this update post a number of times but I’ve lost the count. That’s because the last three weeks things have changed numerous times. This is an update on me regarding the topics mentioned in the title. Let’s see.

The border crisis in Greece

As you may know, I’ve been a soldier since October. I’m doing my military service because in Greece it is mandatory for all men. Things have been relatively calm until about a month ago when Turkey made a decision I find inhumane.

Turkey was actively driving migrants to the northeastern border of Greece, telling them they can go through the country and move to the rest of Europe. The majority of these people don’t have any legal papers and have not made any legal effort to request neither asylum nor entry to Greece.

They have been lied to and misguided by the Turkish government in an attempt to use them as a pawn in some political game.

The Greek government has mobilized both the police force as well as the army, moving significant amounts of personnel to the border. One of the areas that have sent reinforcements is the one I’m currently stationed at.

There was a lot of stress about whether I would be transferred to the border as well. Thankfully, I may have avoided it but nobody can be sure. While the situation seems to be calming down, you never know.

Due to the mass transfer of personnel, my workload has increased exponentially. I was the only fully trained person for my position until Wednesday, when one of my friends returned. I had to train others to help manage the workload. This is the reason I disappeared from the internet.

When things seemed to get better, the newly trained soldiers were told to prepare to leave for the border as well. So the only people left were just the other soldier and I. We can’t leave the base because there always have to be two people to man the positions.

This story started at the end of March. Now it’s the 22nd of March and a new player has entered the game.

The coronavirus situation in Greece

While I was busy with the situation mentioned above, the coronavirus pandemic slowly came to Greece as well.

The Greek government has been monitoring the situation and slowly out bans on various things. First, the celebration of the carnival was cancelled, though people didn’t really care and went out on the streets anyway. Personally, I found this very irresponsible at the least.

Then, theaters, cinemas and other entertainment places were closed down. After that came gyms and coffee places. You get it.

Today a full traffic ban has been enacted. People won’t be leaving their homes unless they have a serious reason. They will have to carry with then their IDs as well as a form stating who they are, where they live, and where they’re going. If you ask me, I think it should have been enforced sooner. The Greek people can be very stubborn. This can be good and bad, depending on the case. In this one it’s bad because people still went out for no reason, even though they were asked to stay inside.

Combo

Now let me combine the two issues and see how they affect me. I’ve been inside the base almost since the beginning of March. And now, it has been decided that soldiers are not allowed to go out anymore and the leave we would get for Easter is only but a dream at this point.

It seems I’ll be staying in the base at least until the ban has been lifted. The target date is the 6th of April. I’m not sure if the ban will be lifted then, however, since I don’t know how the situation will develop.

What about the blog and everything else?

My position is one that causes both physical and mental stress. Add the extra stress of having to be on duty multiple days in a row (keep in mind that, theoretically, on the third day you legally are given a few hours to leave the base but we don’t get that) and you have a very tired Chris.

I should be sleeping write now instead of writing this because tomorrow I’ll be having another difficult day(I’m writing this on Monday. I’m adding this note here because I don’t know when I’ll finish this but I won’t rewriting this again). But I really wanted to make an update because I know there are people in the community that must have been worried about me.

Just know that things will be extremely slow on the blog and everywhere else. I can’t do much on my very limited internet connection and my mental bandwidth is overcharged anyway. I will try to be a bit more active on Twitter so that you know I’m fine.

Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. At least I won’t be living in a place with a lot of other soldiers. And since I can’t go home, I don’t have to worry about my parents getting a virus through me. My father, especially, who had a heart attack two years ago, needs to be extremely careful.

To the people contacting me

I have seen some emails piling up, as well as messages on social media, from people messaging me to cover their products or Kickstarter projects. Currently, I don’t know if I can do anything about these requests. I will discuss with Anastasios to see what we can do but can’t promise anything.

Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount

I found this a bit funny among all the bleakness so I’ll tell you the story. The day before the last nonessential stores closed, the owner of the LGS told me the book had arrived along with the dice. He told be that it was okay if I couldn’t get them that day and we could arrange a meeting to get them some other time.

I found the message very weird. See, I wasn’t aware the stores were about to close down. But then, the universe decided I should get the book before it was too late. The commanding officer came into the office and told me the stores are closing down. I immediately ask him to leave the base for a few minutes so I can get the book. He was very understanding and he let me go get it. And that’s the story of how I got the book. Too bad I left it at home when I was granted a one day leave.

As you can see, this is quite a difficult time for me, and I would deeply appreciate any support you can offer.

You can support me directly on Patreon or KoFi, or by taking a look at some of my products on the DM’s Guild. Alternatively, simply sharing my work – blog, YouTube channel, podcast, products – would be more than welcome.