This was definitely my most random holiday experience.
Tuesday evening 9pm I was sitting at home minding my own business when my friend Joffre (the proprietor of Silver Chair Books in Greer) called me asking if I'd like to be interviewed for their arts & culture podcast on the topic of board gaming. I never say no to local geek promotion, so an hour later I was at the Silver Chair with coffee and pipe in hand and had a nice talk with Joffre and Andy about board games and gaming in general. I didn't give the best answer to every question, but I've never really been interviewed in-depth before, and I was a bit nervous.
Here is a link to the podcast.
There is a brief poem read before I am brought on (you can skip to 3:54 if you like) and I ramble a lot about various board games and give a few shout outs to Upstate Boardgamers and Upstate Geeks.
It was an interesting experience and a lesson to me that in meeting lots of interesting people sometimes roads cross in ways I would have never imagined. It was a lot of fun.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Books for December
I recently read the following two books:
The Sunrise Lands by S.M. Stirling - This is the second trilogy in Stirling's Emberverse, a fantastical version of our world where an event in 1998 fundamentally changed the laws of physics so that electronics or explosive chemical reactions no longer work. Cars are useless as are guns, and the survivors of the dark times are coalescing into various neo-feudal societies.
The first trilogy was about the struggles for survival in the Wilamette Valley in Oregon. That being settled for now, Stirling takes us ten years into the future and explores the children of the protagonists (and antagonists) as they head east to follow a mysterious message to seek out Nantucket, MA, supposedly the epicenter of the event.
As usual Stirling writes action well and does a good job of describing gritty heroes. I really liked one of the new characters introduced here (Fr. Ignatius) and the children of the first trilogy are starting to come into their own now. I'm looking forward to the next book of the series.
World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler - This novel takes place in the upstate NY town of Union Grove a decade or so after everything went downhill. It never lays specific blame on one element, but peak oil, a jihad in Jerusalem, race-riots, and economic depressions are all mentioned as elements of this framework of disaster. But, this book is centered on how the residents of this small town make a go of life and the challenges they face from without and within. Kunstler is author of several books talking about Peak Oil and the demise of our way of living so technically this book is a polemic, but it is not badly-written and isn't as in your face as you'd expect a polemic to be. It is a pleasant read that you might want to place on your list should you ever worry about shortages of oil, water, or civil government.
The Sunrise Lands by S.M. Stirling - This is the second trilogy in Stirling's Emberverse, a fantastical version of our world where an event in 1998 fundamentally changed the laws of physics so that electronics or explosive chemical reactions no longer work. Cars are useless as are guns, and the survivors of the dark times are coalescing into various neo-feudal societies.
The first trilogy was about the struggles for survival in the Wilamette Valley in Oregon. That being settled for now, Stirling takes us ten years into the future and explores the children of the protagonists (and antagonists) as they head east to follow a mysterious message to seek out Nantucket, MA, supposedly the epicenter of the event.
As usual Stirling writes action well and does a good job of describing gritty heroes. I really liked one of the new characters introduced here (Fr. Ignatius) and the children of the first trilogy are starting to come into their own now. I'm looking forward to the next book of the series.
World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler - This novel takes place in the upstate NY town of Union Grove a decade or so after everything went downhill. It never lays specific blame on one element, but peak oil, a jihad in Jerusalem, race-riots, and economic depressions are all mentioned as elements of this framework of disaster. But, this book is centered on how the residents of this small town make a go of life and the challenges they face from without and within. Kunstler is author of several books talking about Peak Oil and the demise of our way of living so technically this book is a polemic, but it is not badly-written and isn't as in your face as you'd expect a polemic to be. It is a pleasant read that you might want to place on your list should you ever worry about shortages of oil, water, or civil government.
Monday, December 15, 2008
December Part One
Maybe I should abandon the every day mini-update format. I'm getting pretty far behind. We'll continue for the moment, however, and just ignore the days I don't remember.
Tue Dec 2: Good Mandy sent me an email and asked if I wanted to meet her at the downtown Hyatt to meet with the people there to talk about hosting our big Firefly event there. The meeting went very well, and hopefully we'll be able to pull an event off at the Hyatt.
Later that evening, Andy and Scott came over and we played an impromptu game of D&D with Andy DMing. I played a Feypact Warlock and Scott played my brother a Rogue. It was a lot of fun.
Wed 12/3: I met Megan for lunch at her office. We had yummy PB&J's, pretzels, and a banana. I always love these frugal lunches where we can spend time together.
Sat 12/6: At noon I picked up Patrick at his apartment and we had lunch at India Palace. We then checked out an interesting used bookstore in Greer called The Silver Chair which specializes in theology and having a smoking room. I'll definitely be back. After that, we watched Serenity (his first time) and we went to Browncoat Karaoke. Karaoke was okay; We got there late and were seated next to an annoying young girl Tim brought along as a pseudodate. All the songs I sang I had never practiced, so they came out very mediocre. Oh well. We later had dessert at Stax's Omega and called it a night.
Mon 12/8: I drove with Good to Laura and Warren's house to meet with a small group of people and discuss the upcoming shindig. Long-story-short we decided to go for a one day event this year and plan for a three day event next year. Hopefully it will go well, it should be a lot of fun.
Thu 12/11: At Boardgame night Tom taught me to play Dominion and now I am utterly hooked. I played six games online last night, and I'm trying to budget a physical copy($45) into my next paycheck. Curse you Tom! ;)
Fri 12/12: After work, I picked up Patrick, we had a great dinner at the Pita House, then went to my place where we smoked pipes, watched The Boondock Saints (his first time), and practiced a bit of swordplay outside with two of his wasters. Lots of fun.
Sat 12/13: I arrived at The Command Post for UBG's monthly Game Day and ended up playing Race for the Galaxy twice, Dominion twice, and Yetisburg once. After that I met Megan and drove to Dozo's in Easley where had our Browncoat Holiday party. The food was great, but expensive, and the company was just as good. After dinner, Megan, Good, and I went to a different Patrick's house and played a 20 year old version of Trivial Pursuit and ate pecan cake while drinking eggnog. That was fun as well, but I ended up not getting home until nearly 2am.
Sun 12/14: I slept through church and Megan dropped by, woke me up, and we went out for lunch and to discuss upcoming plans. We then went window shopping in a couple of places and hung out for most of the day. After she left, I played xis games of Dominion online.
Well, that brings us up-to-date.
Tue Dec 2: Good Mandy sent me an email and asked if I wanted to meet her at the downtown Hyatt to meet with the people there to talk about hosting our big Firefly event there. The meeting went very well, and hopefully we'll be able to pull an event off at the Hyatt.
Later that evening, Andy and Scott came over and we played an impromptu game of D&D with Andy DMing. I played a Feypact Warlock and Scott played my brother a Rogue. It was a lot of fun.
Wed 12/3: I met Megan for lunch at her office. We had yummy PB&J's, pretzels, and a banana. I always love these frugal lunches where we can spend time together.
Sat 12/6: At noon I picked up Patrick at his apartment and we had lunch at India Palace. We then checked out an interesting used bookstore in Greer called The Silver Chair which specializes in theology and having a smoking room. I'll definitely be back. After that, we watched Serenity (his first time) and we went to Browncoat Karaoke. Karaoke was okay; We got there late and were seated next to an annoying young girl Tim brought along as a pseudodate. All the songs I sang I had never practiced, so they came out very mediocre. Oh well. We later had dessert at Stax's Omega and called it a night.
Mon 12/8: I drove with Good to Laura and Warren's house to meet with a small group of people and discuss the upcoming shindig. Long-story-short we decided to go for a one day event this year and plan for a three day event next year. Hopefully it will go well, it should be a lot of fun.
Thu 12/11: At Boardgame night Tom taught me to play Dominion and now I am utterly hooked. I played six games online last night, and I'm trying to budget a physical copy($45) into my next paycheck. Curse you Tom! ;)
Fri 12/12: After work, I picked up Patrick, we had a great dinner at the Pita House, then went to my place where we smoked pipes, watched The Boondock Saints (his first time), and practiced a bit of swordplay outside with two of his wasters. Lots of fun.
Sat 12/13: I arrived at The Command Post for UBG's monthly Game Day and ended up playing Race for the Galaxy twice, Dominion twice, and Yetisburg once. After that I met Megan and drove to Dozo's in Easley where had our Browncoat Holiday party. The food was great, but expensive, and the company was just as good. After dinner, Megan, Good, and I went to a different Patrick's house and played a 20 year old version of Trivial Pursuit and ate pecan cake while drinking eggnog. That was fun as well, but I ended up not getting home until nearly 2am.
Sun 12/14: I slept through church and Megan dropped by, woke me up, and we went out for lunch and to discuss upcoming plans. We then went window shopping in a couple of places and hung out for most of the day. After she left, I played xis games of Dominion online.
Well, that brings us up-to-date.
Monday, December 08, 2008
The rest of November
Okay...so, again, I'm not so great at Updating regularly. Here we go:
11/26: Day before Thanksgiving. I got out of work an hour early and then went to my friend Jeremy's house to play Rock Band with him and his brother who is visiting from Charleston. It's nice to play with two other expert-level players. It was a blast and we're hoping to do this again around New Year's.
11/27: Thanksgiving. Turkey-Day. Tryptophan bomb. I went to Megan's parents house at noon and we ate at 1pm. We had turkey, "diseased" stuffing(cooked inside the bird), green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls. For dessert we had pumpkin pie and a wonderful pumpkin cake with a pecan crust. After that Megan and I fell asleep on the couch watching football and then played a game of Scrabble Junior with Josh. By that time it was 4pm, so I left to go visit my parents. I called Adam on the way and caught up with him on the hour drive and then at my parents I had the missing Thanksgiving element that I had craved; baked macaroni and cheese casserole. Yum! I guess from now on I will have make this my contribution to the Compton family thanksgiving table. After a couple of hours there I met Megan and Evil Mandy at Cherrydale and we saw Quantum of Solace and then went over to Good Mandy's house for conversation and pie. All in all, it was probably the best Thanksgiving I can remember because there was no family stress for me. Sure, I don't know Megan's parents well yet, but they were friendly, so that wasn't too big of a deal.
11/28: Black Friday. I went shopping on Black Friday, but not your normal electronics and clothing maelstrom of commerce; instead I drove down to a leather shop in Columbia and spent $200 bucks on $320 worth of tools, dyes, kits, and leather. I've long wanted a hobby where I create something and with my lack of workshop space decided that leatherwork was the way to go. So far I haven't had much time to work on it, but I have a coaster with a carved rose that I'm now working on tooling, and I hope to have a couple of gifts by Christmas time.
11/29: Megan and I went to see The Duncan Estate, one of the sites we're looking at for the wedding. It was very pretty and we both really liked it. My only gripe is that it's in Spartanburg, but that's not really that big of a deal. We then drove back to Greenville, had lunch at Stax's Omega, and went by the Rock Quarry Garden downtown, another popular wedding site. We then went to my place and watched a movie then our friend Good Mandy showed up and we discussed plans for the SouthEast Shindig, which I will reveal more when the time is right.
11/30: I went to Megan's megachurch for the first time. We parked, went inside and dropped Josh off at his classroom after checking him into the kid's area, and after a brief walk-around went inside and found a seat in the main auditorium. There were two large projection screens with video ads for upcoming programs, but before the service started these images were replaced with a video of a strange Japanese game show where the contestants had to apparently say the right answer or were hit in the crotch with a mallet. Someone had changed the subtitles into inside jokes for the church. After that, there was a live rock band on stage that played three songs and everyone sang along as the lyrics were projected on the screen. Then there was an okay sermon from a young pastor of another megachurch in Charlotte. He seemed to be a bit too concerned adding humor into a sermon, but otherwise it was not bad. Afterward were another three songs and then it was over.
I can't ever imagine myself going to this type of church of my own will, but I'm sure she probably will say the same thing about my church once she experiences a full service. To my mind, these megachurches with their bad rock music, watered-down messages, and do-anything-to-get-thousands-of-people-inside mentality is most of what is I consider to be wrong with modern Christianity.
That said, I will be happy to go once a month or so without complaint because I love Megan and I don't want to encourage her to leave her church any more than I'm sure she would not encourage me to leave mine. This issue does seem to be one of our only stumbling blocks, but I'm sure we'll get through it in time. Right now our plan is to go to her church once a month, my church once a month, and then go to our own churches for the other two weeks. We will need a better solution later, but this will work for the next few months while we plan the rest of our lives together.
11/26: Day before Thanksgiving. I got out of work an hour early and then went to my friend Jeremy's house to play Rock Band with him and his brother who is visiting from Charleston. It's nice to play with two other expert-level players. It was a blast and we're hoping to do this again around New Year's.
11/27: Thanksgiving. Turkey-Day. Tryptophan bomb. I went to Megan's parents house at noon and we ate at 1pm. We had turkey, "diseased" stuffing(cooked inside the bird), green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls. For dessert we had pumpkin pie and a wonderful pumpkin cake with a pecan crust. After that Megan and I fell asleep on the couch watching football and then played a game of Scrabble Junior with Josh. By that time it was 4pm, so I left to go visit my parents. I called Adam on the way and caught up with him on the hour drive and then at my parents I had the missing Thanksgiving element that I had craved; baked macaroni and cheese casserole. Yum! I guess from now on I will have make this my contribution to the Compton family thanksgiving table. After a couple of hours there I met Megan and Evil Mandy at Cherrydale and we saw Quantum of Solace and then went over to Good Mandy's house for conversation and pie. All in all, it was probably the best Thanksgiving I can remember because there was no family stress for me. Sure, I don't know Megan's parents well yet, but they were friendly, so that wasn't too big of a deal.
11/28: Black Friday. I went shopping on Black Friday, but not your normal electronics and clothing maelstrom of commerce; instead I drove down to a leather shop in Columbia and spent $200 bucks on $320 worth of tools, dyes, kits, and leather. I've long wanted a hobby where I create something and with my lack of workshop space decided that leatherwork was the way to go. So far I haven't had much time to work on it, but I have a coaster with a carved rose that I'm now working on tooling, and I hope to have a couple of gifts by Christmas time.
11/29: Megan and I went to see The Duncan Estate, one of the sites we're looking at for the wedding. It was very pretty and we both really liked it. My only gripe is that it's in Spartanburg, but that's not really that big of a deal. We then drove back to Greenville, had lunch at Stax's Omega, and went by the Rock Quarry Garden downtown, another popular wedding site. We then went to my place and watched a movie then our friend Good Mandy showed up and we discussed plans for the SouthEast Shindig, which I will reveal more when the time is right.
11/30: I went to Megan's megachurch for the first time. We parked, went inside and dropped Josh off at his classroom after checking him into the kid's area, and after a brief walk-around went inside and found a seat in the main auditorium. There were two large projection screens with video ads for upcoming programs, but before the service started these images were replaced with a video of a strange Japanese game show where the contestants had to apparently say the right answer or were hit in the crotch with a mallet. Someone had changed the subtitles into inside jokes for the church. After that, there was a live rock band on stage that played three songs and everyone sang along as the lyrics were projected on the screen. Then there was an okay sermon from a young pastor of another megachurch in Charlotte. He seemed to be a bit too concerned adding humor into a sermon, but otherwise it was not bad. Afterward were another three songs and then it was over.
I can't ever imagine myself going to this type of church of my own will, but I'm sure she probably will say the same thing about my church once she experiences a full service. To my mind, these megachurches with their bad rock music, watered-down messages, and do-anything-to-get-thousands-of-people-inside mentality is most of what is I consider to be wrong with modern Christianity.
That said, I will be happy to go once a month or so without complaint because I love Megan and I don't want to encourage her to leave her church any more than I'm sure she would not encourage me to leave mine. This issue does seem to be one of our only stumbling blocks, but I'm sure we'll get through it in time. Right now our plan is to go to her church once a month, my church once a month, and then go to our own churches for the other two weeks. We will need a better solution later, but this will work for the next few months while we plan the rest of our lives together.
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