Weekly Update

Okay, so I haven't updated in a while. Here's what's happened since Friday:

11/21: My 30th birthday. After receiving tons of birthday greetings on Facebook, I went out with Megan to Fitzpatrick's, where a few of the fifteen or so friends I invited would probably show up. We didn't make reservations for a group as we only had two people RSVP that they were coming. At about 7pm we had 13 people total show up, and I had a grand time talking, playing the jester, and mucking about. Thankfully Pher had his camera there. I received a few thoughtful gifts (card games, a candle set) and some even more thoughtful cash, which will go in the leather fund. At 9:30 we left as Megan and the Mandys wanted to see Twilight and we had bought tickets earlier for the 10:00pm showing. The showing was sold out, so those of us without previously purchased tickets had to wait until the 10:30 showing. The movie was okay, better than I thought it would be. I'm not overly familiar with the source material, but you could tell it was carefully crafted.

11/22: Went to visit my parents. My mom made a nice chicken dinner and pineapple cake for my birthday and gave me a card with some cash. More for the leather fund! After that, I drove home. Megan and Josh arrived soon and I hopped in the car to go to Evil Mandy's to have dinner and play boardgames. We played a game of Chez Geek (one of my birthday games), ate Megan's baked spaghetti, and then played Settlers of Catan, and Lord of the Rings Movie Edition Trivial Pursuit. It was a good time other than Josh being pretty cranky that the games weren't for him to play.

11/23: I met up with Megan after church and we spent some time in the mall. I needed to replace the great shaving cream I was given from a mall store a year ago, but of course they didn't have it anymore. We had lunch at the Japanese Hibachi fast food place in the food court, and then we had several hours to kill before the Trans-Siberia Orchestra concert. We went window-shopping at Ashley Furniture, CostCo, and Jason's Oak Furniture. We killed the last half hour or so by driving through some of the really nice houses on McDaniel Avenue near downtown.

The concert itself was fun, but not as awe-inspiring as I was expecting. I didn't care much for the Christmas story narration, and for every song I really enjoyed there were two I found kind of mediocre. The second show after the Christmas narration was more to my taste, being more symphonic rock.

11/24: Went to help an old friend from church hook up his audio/video system after work. I was repaid for my efforts with a nice dinner at Saffron Indian restaurant. Win/Win.

11/25: After work I met Fr. Nikolay at Spill the Beans for conversation and coffee. We talked about my getting back into communion at the church and also about my relationship and various other things. This was the first time I'd ever had a chance to talk with him for more than a couple of minutes, and it was very nice. He is only a year or two older than I, but is turning into an excellent priest. I'm looking forward to another talk sometime in the coming weeks.

Well, that brings us up to date. Tonight after work I'm going to my friend Jeremy's house for some Rock Band and tomorrow will be Thanksgiving at Megan's family. Friday, I'm planning to drive down to Columbia to visit Tandy Leather Factory and get my initial investment of leatherworking tools and materials. Hopefully all will go well.

Song List Meme

1. Put your iPod/iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. If a question doesn't apply, just do it anyway for amusement's sake.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Comfortable - John Mayer

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
The Last Dragon Slayer - Dragonheart Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
The Man in Me - Bob Dylan

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Fantastic Voyage - Coolio

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Beautiful Day - U2

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Dream Academy

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Love - The Smashing Pumpkins

WHAT IS 2+2?
Yourself for the Day - Gattaca Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Old Sod - Spirit of the West

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
We are Nowhere and it's Now - Bright Eyes

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY
Viva La Persistence - Kimya Dawson

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Wonderful - Everclear

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The Boss - James Brown

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Pretty Angry - Blues Traveler

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Imagine - John Lennon

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Ring Goes South - The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Jakey's Gin - Great Big Sea

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
The Mob - Gladiator Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Cry Baby Cry - The Beatles

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Narcolepsy - Third Eye Blind

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Days Go By - Dirty Vegas

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - Blues Traveler

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Momentum - Vienna Teng

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
The Slave Who Became a Gladiator - Gladiator Soundtrack

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
The Last Day of Our Acquantence - Sinead O'Connor

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Good Life - Francis Dunnery

WHAT WILL YOU TITLE THIS?
The Last Word - Voltaire

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Yarmouth Town - Great Big Sea

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables - Les Miserables Original Cast Recording

Hit with a MACE!

I had a long post I had written about MACE last weekend, but somehow the interweb ate it, so I'll just sum up.

MACE stands for Mid-Atlantic Convention Expo, and is a fancy acronym for a gaming con. This was the 12th MACE, which seems to be held every year in High Point, NC which is just before Greensboro on I-85. Megan and I left my office at 5pm and due to a brief food stop and two wrong turns (one was my fault, the other was the directions we were using) we did not arrive until 9pm. At that point I was already an hour late for my first gaming session so I left Megan in our room to relax and I quickly went downstairs to see if I could lull anyone into three hours of open Eurogames.

Fate was with me, and I introduced a nice couple to Pandemic, along with a guy who just watched. We saved the world from the four diseases, so my count with the game is now 7 wins out 16 or so plays. (I went with the easy difficulty of only 4 epidemic cards) After that, I started a game of Agricola with a father and son as well a guy who had played the game before. To save time (Agricola is roughly one half hour per player) and to make it easier for the boy I chose to teach them the family version without occupation or minor improvement cards. Right after the first two turns there was a fire alarm at the hotel and we all had to evacuate for a half hour or so. I couldn't reach Megan on her cell phone, but found her outside after 10 minutes. Afterward we went back inside, she went back to bed, and I finished the game. I used a completely different strategy than my normal field/grain/bread strategy and I ended up in second place a few points behind the guy who had played before. Being that I was teaching the game, I intentionally went with a few suboptimal choices as I didn't want to be "that guy" who must win a game as they're teaching it.

The next morning I didn't have a game to run until 1:30pm so Megan and I slept in late and ordered breakfast from room service which was $33 for the two of us with tip! She had french toast, I had an omelet, and we both had OJ. Waaay overpriced, but it was nice to eat breakfast in the room in my pajamas. We then went downstairs, she got her badge, and we went to the very mediocre dealer room. After that I taught her to play Ticket to Ride, which she enjoyed, and we grabbed some food at the MACE cafe before I went off to run a D&D game.

At the table next to where I was running a D&D game was another lvl 1 game that was designed as an intro to 4th edition. We only had five players total show up for both games, so I decided to play in his game which was good as I've DMed 4th edition much more than I've had a chance to play. My (female!) Eladrin Wizard nearly killed the Warlord, but other than that her spells helped drop a lot of bad guys.

Following the D&D game was the annual MACE auction. All of the proceeds went to building a polar bear enclosure for a zoo in Charlotte. Megan won an auction for two hardcover books (Neil Stephenson's Anathema and some vampire chick-lit I can't remember) and I won an auction for miscellaneous 4th ed D&D supplements. We both did well as she won $45 worth of books for $25 and I won $75 worth of stuff for $20. I had planned on bidding on a limited edition of Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries but they bundled that game with three others I had no interest in. I'll just have to make it a priority to get that game before all the copies on the internet dry up.

The auction ran late, and I discovered that I had a full table of 8 players for my Arkham Horror game, none of which had played the game before. I usually like to setup AH at least a half hour before people arrive as there is a lot to set up (especially with the expansion I was using), but in this case I had to try and explain the game while people were picking characters and make myself heard over the crowd, which was a bit frustrating. As such in the first hour we only went through two game rounds. Things sped up significantly after that, but we ran out of time and I had to cut to endgame: I woke up Cthulhu early and the players had to try to fend him off. Normally, this is almost impossible, and if I hadn't woken him up early I think he would have handily eaten the world, but since he was only a bit over half strength the players eventually whittled him down. All in all it was a gratifying but exhausting five hours after which I went to bed and collapsed.

The next morning we had nothing really to do so we went downstairs to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant. ($22 for both of us for the buffet vs $33 for the same thing via roomservice) After that, we went back to the dealer room and Megan bought a cute claddagh pendant and we chatted up the interesting guy who owned the booth. I said goodbye to Jeff and Ron, the organizers, with the hope that we can get a mini-mace in Greenville sometime soon and we hit got on the road at noon.

The drive back was pleasant, with not much traffic and beautiful weather. We arrived in Greenville at 3pm or so and rode the trolley around, went to Mast General Store, and had pizza at Mellow Mushroom.

It was a great weekend and while I love Dragon*Con, small cons such as MACE are much more relaxing as a vacation destination. Cheaper too; The hotel was $150+taxes for two nights, my badge was free as I was a GM, hers was $25, food, and the tank of gas to get there were the only expenses. I'll definitely try to go next year if possible.

Family Night

This is a busy week, but I wanted to try and find a night to hang out with Megan. She does not have a babysitter available on Wednesday evenings, so we decided that I would come over to her house and hang out with her and Josh.

Her parents were leaving as I arrived, and both of them only had enough time to say hello. Then, Megan and I ate the Chinese food she picked up (Beef and Broccoli) while I "played" Battleship with Josh. He's not quite ready for the full game yet.

We then went into the living room and talked while he watched a few cartoons: Max and (Erma?), Spiderman, and something else. At various times, he came over and sat on the couch with Megan and I and often wanted to climb on my lap. Megan also showed me her scrapbook of her high school trip to France.

Josh is a really sweet kid and I had a wonderful quiet night. I look forward to many more in the future.

(kinda) Happy Halloween

Well, Halloween was kind of uneventful this year. We (Greenville Browncoats/UG/etc) had a Halloween party the previous Saturday and on All Hallow's Eve Megan went out trick-or-treating with her son Josh. That meant I didn't have much to do until midnight where I would meet up with Megan, Good, Evil, etc. to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) in it's last Easley showing/performance.

I would have liked to have gone trick-or-treating with Megan and Josh, but since our relationship is so new and Josh has only met me once, I didn't want to push into his world before he's ready to deal with me. It's okay though; there will be several more Halloweens to take him door-to-door for candy.

When I was at The Command Post the night before Halloween for Boardgaming, I asked Kevin (the owner) if he minded if I ran a game of Arkham Horror the next day. I like to ask and not assume he has room because Fridays are normally pretty busy there and AH takes up a *lot* of space. He was down with the idea, so I posted it on the usual boards and had a few people show interest. Since it was less than 24 hours before Halloween, most people had other plans. I ended up with Sandy, Tom, Chase, and Jon in addition to myself. I get along with all of them fine, but I find Chase and Jon to be pretty annoying. Fortunately, I have a high tolerance level for annoying people so it didn't get in the way of me enjoying the game. The game took roughly three hours, and it ended with Nyarlothotep rising from his slumber to eat the town of Arkham, but we were able to fight him off after a long battle. Here is my review of Arkham Horror in case you're not familiar with the game.

After that it was time to meet the ladies at the theater for RHPS. Jon and Sandy went along as well as they both live in Pickens county and it was on the way home. As expected, the crowd that showed up for RHPS was loud and costumed, almost like a small slice of a con.



For those of you not familiar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is probably the biggest cult movie of all time. It has become popular to not only show the movie, but to have a group of people dress up as the principal cast and act out the scenes above. Also people memorize various lines to yell at the screen in response to lines or action onscreen. Kind of like MST3K if you replaced the witty banter of MST3K with middle-school level bathroom and sex jokes. There were a few clever canned responses, but most of them were pretty bad. Throughout various points in the movie, people throw rice, shoot water toward the ceiling to simulate rain, and throw toast(!) and toilet paper around the theater. Also, at the beginning before the show started there was a ceremony to induct all of the Rocky "virgins" into the family through public humiliation, followed by a costume contest for everyone there. Some of the costumes were pretty good, but being a Dragon*Con veteran I've seen thousands of great costumes.

I can see the merit of a bunch of repressed kids and former kids wanting to get together and revel in this harmlessly odd tale of being strange and having sexual tastes outside of the norm. There are a lot of kids who want to explore options outside of what their parents offer to them and most of those are repressed severely, so situations to gather with other people who can understand them, sing with them, and scream obscenities at the screen together is a very ritualistic way for them to express solidarity in their individuality. Kind of like a erotic goth church service, but not nearly as interesting as you would think that would be. The movie itself contains no nudity or curses that can't be shown on television, but the fact that half the cast(on screen and in person) are in their underwear through half the movie seemed to give the room a bit of energy as the scenes themselves often revolved around sexual tension.

All-in-all it's pretty harmless fun for the people involved, who walk out hyped up by the energy of the group dynamic. They've had their sacraments, and they're fulfilled until the next service, er showing. I get it, but I really didn't enjoy it. But the geeks and the outcasts are my people, so I felt it was important to experience one of the major geek events, which I've now checked off my bucket list.