Whispers in the Windstorm

Events in recent history that have been up to now undocumented because I've been freaking busy at work (and my hips and legs have been plaguing me like the devil himself):

( Kinsey. )

( My one-year anniversary with Myra. )

( Christmas. )

There's more Christmas presents to talk about, and more that happened (Kat hit me with a shopping cart!), but I gotta get ready for work. Watch this space.

Eat Snacky Smores - this new Year.

Friday was pretty peaceful here at work. Not too many people here, but enough to do to chase away the day. Arrgh. Then, the fun began. I drove home and Mom and I left relatively quickly after I transferred my stuff from brown to red. We stopped for Wendy's and I had a Wild Mountain Chicken sandwich. The wildness went all over my shirt, and looked like spicy mayo. Sigh.

The drive out was unremarkable UNTIL we got to nearing the end of 290 where it joins 294. There, in the middle of a one-lane on-ramp, a semi truck was totally stopped and not moving any time soon - as were the many, many, MANY cars behind it. So that wasn't too great, and we were significantly delayed getting out of Chicago. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Joe and Kathy took a wrong turn or two on the way to my brother's house, so it wasn't so lopsided a situation. I got into my brother's house probably somewhere close to 11PM local time, and the others didn't arrive for another twenty or so minutes. I said hello to Chris and prepped my stuff for departure. Kathy and Joe pulled up, I loaded my voluminous Bag 'O Noel-Holding into their slightly-smaller-than-last-time trunk, and we were off. We talked for an hour, and I fell asleep for an hour. Ah, blissful sleep. We pulled into the hotel around 2AM local time and checked in - albeit slowly. We drove over to the rooms, and I slipped into mine. I took a shower, trimmed my beard, brushed my hair, clipped my toenails (been a long time since I found the appropriate implement for that) and set alarms on my phone, my watch and my Palm and went to sleep.

Eat Snacky Smores.

Friday evening, after work, I stopped at Barnes and Noble. For once, a relatively painless transaction! I went in, stated the problem, a clerk pulled a duplicate from stock, it was opened and examined to confirm all ten tapes where there, and it was released to me! Ain't no thang. :)

But a blemish. Approximately twenty minutes after I left work, I realized that I'd left the phones on forward, not on night mode. Having done that last week, there was no way I could let it go again. So after I got home, the family went to Walker's (where we picked up a spare order of Forty-Niners that we gave to Chris later), then we went home and packed. Took me a bit to get everything I wanted, but the Bag O' Doom was not challenged. (The trunk was, however.) We loaded the car, got gas, drove out to work, and then picked up I-94 for the trip out. (Turns out that two calls had gone in before this, so I started today in a little trouble - but I wayyy outbalanced that by having come in from Lake Zurich that night to fix it. Yayyy!) By this time, it was after 9PM, so traffic was relatively non-existent, except for one stretch in (hah-hah-hah) the express lanes. I started my new book on tape over again, so that Dad could listen - but he fell asleep rather rapidly. So, I listened to it all again. I like doing that with the early tapes in a book - sets the central concepts in mind so that you can find your way better when things get complex and fast.

We got into Chris' place somewhere around 1AM. He showed me some Final Fantasy X-2 scenes he'd taped to VHS, and I checked email and chatted briefly. Then I went to bed, sleeping on his couch.

Saturday we got up around noon, and went to IHOP for breakfast. Lovely IHOP. Had their multi-grain pancakes and got to torment Chris a little while he tried to play Bejeweled for Palm at the table. The nerve of it! It's no better than reading at the table. I was highly offended.

(Wanders away for three minute laughing jag, returns.)

Very offended. After that, we went back to Chris', and I played 3 in Three while we waited for his friend Brian to join us. We drove out to what is probably the best comic/game shop in Michigan - Fanfare Comics in Kalamazoo. Anyone in the area is highly encouraged to visit. Comics, graphic novels, magazines, RPG books, board games, CCGs, CMGs, video games, DVDs (including Doctor Who, Lori), and most supplies that those hobbies entail. It doesn't compete with Games Plus as a game store, but it has more for someone interested in the many subparts of the geek/gamer spectrum of interests. We hung out there looking around for an hour. I got myself:

1 pack Rebel Storm
4 packs Champions of Kamigawa
1 RPG book
2 books of Fastner and Larson art (both of which were amusingly covered with little blue button tabs)
1 surprisingly found DVD
2 3-lane shoeboxes

Money spent - probably too much, but it was all good.

We went back home after that, and then Brian and his wife Chris met Dad, Chris (my brother) and myself at Hong Kong Kitchen for a perfectly wonderful dinner. I had the General Tso's Chicken, as always - and it was very good. (Though oddly enough, even though I first found Green Garden's General Tso's Chicken weird, I think I like it more now - it's spicier.) We went back home and watched Murder on the Orient Express. I had forgotten a line from near the beginning that tickled my fancy. Poirot is discussing the murder with the doctor and the line director near his first interview, with the murdered man's assistant.

Doctor - "He did it."
Bianchi - "He could have. He had constant access to Ratchett."
Poirot - "And the dagger he might have obtained from working in concert with the chef."
Bianchi - "You believe so?"
Poirot - "Of course. And he stealthily crept to Monsieur Ratchet's beside, pulled back the covers, and plunged the dagger repeatedly and without motive into the body of his suitably surprised victim!"

It's pretty cool. After the movie, I played more 3 in Three, chatted online, and went to bed somewhere around 3. (3 in Three, done at three. Oooooooo.)

Sunday was another wonderful breakfast at IHOP, then gaming with Jeff Boes and his son Adam. We played a game I have been itching to try for some time - Alhambra. I haven't bought it yet because I found out there is a significant error in the English printing of the rules, and so I was happy to try it out. It's a neat game, having some resemblance to Carcassonne. Apparently, it started design as a stock market game, but a tile-playing structure was added, and it (at least in the game I played Sunday) was the determining factor in who won (me - yayyyy. I might pick it up sometime soon - especially if I crack open a copy at Games Plus and find it fixed.

After that, we broke for Magic trading. I traded a bunch of my Mirrodin-block stuff and a few Kamigawa rares for cards Jeff and Adam had. I'm edging closer to building my War Elemental/Ion Storm deck - but I'm saddened to discover Jeff had built it already. Oh well. Mine will rock, however - in many ways totally different from the way in which Mr. Boes' deck rocked. So nyahh.

We tried to play Goldbrau, but Chris was asleep at this point, and Adam had to go to work. So it was more of a demo. Then Jeff broke out a game still in the shrinkwrap, and we played Clippers, which was pretty good. (Of course, I might be saying that because I won - but I like games I win. :) ) It could be improved by making the port markers larger and/or more distinguishable, but otherwise it's a neat game with lots of "but I wanna do BOTH" - always a good factor for a game to have. Chris seemed to like it, too - but the end has a whole lotta math. (I'm still amazed how many people seem to have endless trouble with math. Not fractions and exponents and calculus (which looked so useless I never even touched it - but basic adding/subtracting! I frequently produce totals which, had I waited, would have cost someone two or three more extra seconds of thought. I dunno - 67 plus 48 is 115, and it looks pretty obvious to me. Oh well.

After that, we went back home to pick up Dad, who had fixed Chris' toilet, and then to El Rodeo for dinner. It was good, but I think Dad was pretty achy at this point. We went back to Chris' place, loaded up the car, and Dad drove home. Uneventful - but I slept from the Michigan state line to the first toll booth. Got home, yanked the Bag O'Doom upstairs, and talked to Myra for a while. She's doing well, but her beloved Cards are not, and she's losing hope. But the Series moves to St. Louis for three days, where they won all their games in the League Championship. So there's hope yet, I would wager. After that, I chatted with </a></b></a>matt and </a></b></a>lori for a while. Matt is still vaguely bummed out at college - but he's found a twice-a-week Heroclix group, so he's better. Lori is helping </a></b></a> deal with an impending tragedy, and her loyalty and deep concern for him reveal her noble nature. But even a Knight of the Cross needs a break once in a while, and I am pleased to spin a tale of happiness and joy (that might occasionally contain a nugget of wisdom or two) as comic relief. She'll return to the emotional meat grinder unhappily soon enough, I wager. About the only advice I might offer to him at this moment goes something like, "Friends of convenience will always show up to a party. Friends for life are the ones who gather around you in times of unique crisis." Not the best phraseology, but you get the point - if you're reading this, that is. You got my support, man - there but for the grace of God...

Anyway, after that, I was about to log out, when I noticed Karen logging into MSN Messenger. A brief ping to say hi...resulted in her logging off! How wude! (But what I suspect happened was that someone else with access to her computer accidentally launched it. But if he happens to read this (hint, hint), I would welcome an opportunity to talk with HIM, actually. I understand he might not be interested/able, given his busy schedule of the moment, but we are actually playing a game together, hmm? (She just now issued a formal denial, saying her PC was just acting up on its own - but what would he have told her to say if it happened the way I describe? Hmmmmm?)

Regardless. After that, I set up Katamari Damacy and played through the demo level and the first level of that. It's neat, and pretty hard. But it's one of the only games I've seen where the intro made me think, and I am certain would make most people think, "Dang! This game is SO gay!" But that's just the intro, and the game play was fine. It's certainly no Big Gay Monkey.

Sleep at last. Today's been nice - I'm moving along in both Amber games, the Cthulhu game, and I finished this rather extensive entry. Tonight's Everquest RPG, ideally. In fact, a brief rundown of this week's schedule:

Monday night - Everquest RPG, with Ernie, Mike and Sebastian
Tuesday night - LOTR CCG, with Brian, Charlie, Ken and Rob
Wednesday night - Scrabble most fair
Thursday night - Random boardgaming, with Brian, Ernie, </a></b></a>noel and </a></b></a>rich
Friday night - LOTR CCG with Ken and Charlie, conversation with Noel and Rich
Saturday night - Possible spectating at Mike's house
Sunday - dunno yet; recuperation?

Eat Snacky Smores.