Whispers in the Windstorm

...getting back into routine. Origins and GenCon and anything else will come piecemeal, but I need to reseat my groove here.

( Another Weekend, Another Wedding )

This coming week in review:

( Summery Summary )

Eat Snacky Smores - now in a combo pack with Mighty Mints.

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.

What is she trying to do - kill me from gaming exhaustion?

She bought me a GAMECUBE. A freaking GameCube. She must be trying to kill me.

God bless her. :)

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, the weekend. The glorious, glorious, wonderful weekend. (Except for the leg/back/calf/hip hurting thing. That sucked.)

Yesterday was quite the delicious and wonderful day! (Except for the part where my hips were killing me, and it was really cold out in the evening. That sucked.)

Got up a little late (so enjoyed a little more sleep, woooo!). Packed up my 7th Sea stuff, but couldn't find my actual decks, so I had to leave everything at home and get it after work anyway.

Work was pretty productive - I really caught up with all prior work-work, I posted to the prelude threads for Laughing Boy, I finally started Flashback Number Three for him, I posted to all the threads of the Home on the Ranch thread in Blood Loyalties, and carried on a few quite powerful and wonderful conversations at the same time. And, I did an additional bit of writing which was quite rewarding. So all in all, work was a wonderful time.

Drove home, making excellent time, and changed clothes, found my Doomtown and 7th Sea decks, packed up Fluxx Version 1.0 for Brian (who gave away his copy before realizing that GP was out of stock), and dropped back into the car. Had a wonderful conversation with my brother, who is hip-deep in Dance Dance Revolution - sorta. (Whoda thunk it?) He also told me not to leave voicemail any more - which I won't. I'll just call until he answers. Nyahh. :)

Got to Games Plus, saw </a></b></a>matt for the first time in ages (except for a lunch last week - thanks, man). We also saw the LOTR Click-tech version of the Balrog. Whooo, is that thing big! I mentioned to Brian that I'd finally remembered to bring my old copy of Fluxx. He pulled out the shrinkwrapped copy he'd bought not twenty minutes ago - GP had restocked. Sigh - it was funny, anyway. I went out shopping while Brian and Matt played 7th Sea, and </a></b></a>rich and </a></b></a>noel arrived. We got back in and organized two games. Matt wanted to play Doomtown, Rich didn't want to play 7th Sea, and I had a lot of 7th Sea work to do (not that I got it done while we played), but we played a three-player game of Doomtown. Brian and Noel played 7th Sea. Their games went pretty well.

I started as Maze Rats, Matt as Agency, Rich as Blackjacks. Matt played a strike early, and I had a nice gun and went to take it. Net result - I lose two guys, Matt loses one. THEN, Rich plays Stoker Versus Knicknevin on Matt (after having played Blackjack Experienced). Net result - both shooters die. THEN Rich brings out Rachel Sumner, and tries to take on Johnny Quaid. Net result - Rachel dies. Nobody has very many dudes, and New Town is in play. I can chase away most anybody at New Town, as I have a Soul Blast Cannon with a Claw attached. But Rich puts out a number of Control point strikes and Matt and I are depleted, he takes it.

Ernie showed up in all of this! WOWWW! He's working from 2PM to 10PM, and managed to get his way in. It was good to see him, even if he didn't play. We talked for a good long time - hope he's free this new year.

Then, we talk for a bit while I sort cards, and Rich and Noel both help me - bless their hearts. Then, Noel insists that I actually play 7th Sea - after I went home and got my decks and everything, to imagine I'd be playing? Oh, the nerve. (Al actually showed up with no decks, late, and in pain - but mad props to him for saying hello. He's too cool - even for a Star Wars player.) I played my S&M Love Boat deck, and Noel played broken-a$$ Pepin again. You know, it's not bad ENOUGH that most of the Montaigne are relatively undercosted. It's not bad ENOUGH that they're the most Influence-heavy people in the game, so their people usually flow like water. But then they give them the only person in the game that's just a straight-up "untack someone"? And Noel wonders why we cherish memories of Syrneth Guardians like days of milk and honey. :) Anyway, I get a few surprises out, but she wins. We sort more, we get kicked out, and I give everyone their Christmas presents. Matt got some extras (for which I got a hug), Ernie got my Fluxx 1.0 as he knows a lot of family who'd get a kick out of it, and Rich'n'Noel got some wrapping paper they needed. :) Brian - well, he gets an uncomplaining player of Say What. Yes yes no no yes yes no no sit sit sit. There.

Drove home and chatted with my new friend </a></b></a>melisa for a bit, and then nodded off. Sleeep good.

Today's largely sucked, as a few rushes got dropped into my lap - and I know half the reason they're such rushes is that the consultants and administrators want to LEAVE at noon. Oh, the heartbreak of having to stay until 2PM. My heart bleeds for them. :P

But not even a sucky day will spoil my afternoon and evening - and thus a friendly wave to my one and only Myra, with whom I celebrate our one-year anniversary this Sunday. First of many, I believe quite fervently. So a relaxing weekend (and we might see the Incredibles together - woooo!).

Eat Snacky Smores - and give a few to a friend.

( LOTR Standard Deck, Post-Shadows: Middle-Age Man )

Or at least, it's certainly making me suffer for my enjoyment.

Let's reverse this entry and talk backwards. First, this morning.

Got up at 8:16. AGAIN. Icky. Threw on my stuff, put White Rain on my hair as a totally inadequate substitute for shampooing, and rushed to the car. The section of Dundee immediately adjacent to my work is still closed, so I'm taking Palatine to work. (I could take Route 22, but it's got many more bottlenecks.) Went a lot less smooth than yesterday - I think I left two minutes later than yesterday, and arrived about 20 minutes later. Half a lunch for me. Got to work, had a bagel and an apple and found out that Outlook was down. Said "Unable to display the selected folder or item. The attempt to log on to the Microsoft Exchange Server computer has failed." In addition, the scanner continues to not like us. We had a guy from the copier company come out to look at the scanner. He managed to figure out that it was more than likely a result of our server thinking that it's maxed out on hard drive space. So we await the tender attentions of the good people at Sterling to look at our hard drive, our virus protection, AND our email system. Oh, the joy they will have.

After putting that in motion, I started in on today's workload, and since they can't scan things (yayyyy!), I have a respite from counting. So it's all good. :)

(Mid-write update - we can no longer back up files. The server is so full that the catalog for a backup tape can't be stored anywhere. The whole server is going to Heck in a handbasket, and Sterling appears to have given a 'whenever we get there' response. Wonderful people.)

After I got home from Mike's house last night, I told myself that now was a good time to clean off my bed, bring my laundry downstairs, and tidy for an hour. I then proceeded to play Ratchet and Clank 3 until 3:30AM. In some respects, it's nastier than Diablo in the addictiveness angle. While Diablo encourages you to continue to play through loot drops and leveling, it can be a very sedate game at times. Excluding the time spent loading levels, RC3 is rather adrenaline-filled. You're moving, running, shooting and (cooool Splitter Rifle) sniping the whole time. Plus, there's no 'lives' concept - you just play and play and play. You never have to reload a saved game - you play until you stop, you save and quit, you load and play again. Sheesh, this thing's got a moray eel's teeth.

But I've gotten to Qwark's Secret Hideout, I've bought the third level of armor (I think), I have only one weapon to buy right now (the Kwak-a-lyzer, I think), and my hit points are at least above 60 if not above 80. I have 5 skill points and have found at least 10 platinum bolts, plus the trophies for the Plumber and Dr. Nefarious. Oh yeah, and I only got 4 hours sleep - but who needs that? Silly silly.

Sebastian missed us at Mike's house, so Ernie, Mike and myself played War of the Ring. Quite a neat game, I thought. There are many Shadow side cards that allow you to kill your own guys to give the remainder combat bonuses. Quite reminiscent of Operation Human Shield from South Park: BLAU. I played Saruman, Mike played Sauron, and Ernie played the Free Peoples. (I thought Mike should have played Free Peoples, myself. But the dice do not lie.) Saruman juiced up his forces, but only attacked after Sauron had moved. The Southrons, on the other hand, rallied beneath Pelargir, and in addition...sacked Erebor. Yeah, that was a march. :) We slew all the defenders - including Gandalf the WHITE. The Witch-king invaded Minas Tirith, which went down to a strong siege. Rohan only went to war late and never mustered any troops. The Fellowship was in Mirkwood when the Fords of Isen fell to Saruman's attack. With little to defend Helm's Deep and the only substantial force of Gondor holed up in Dol Amroth, Frodo and Aragorn decided that the world was unsavable. They walked up to the nearest Orc and handed him the Ring. (Translation - Ernie was getting irritated and I offered to call the game, which he accepted.) On an unrelated note, EQ is probably done for the year more or less, as Ernie has accepted a nighttime hours post for $0.90 more per hour. Can't blame him, but I suspect Sebastian might become a little erratic as well. We shall see.

Yesterday at work was pretty reasonable. I spent the morning training Mary how to use Corbel to generate a retirement plan document. I went into the situation somewhat unsettled - it's not an easy thing taking your essential skills in your position and making sure someone else knows them. But as the morning drew on, I came to a different conclusion. To wit, the situations she was encountering were rather lame from my jaded perspective, and yet I was still asked a lot of questions about Word interface and Windows file manipulation. So even if I pass on how to USE Corbel, I'm still quite the passed master at it - which restores some of the sense of security I was feeling erode away before this. After lunch, I worked on the problem of our server a little, did some regular work, and otherwise felt busy and valuable for the rest of the day. It felt pretty good, actually. Stopped off at Randhurst Mall to look for stuff, then went to the Pretzel Bakery. Two large pretzels and a large pop, only $3 and change. Not too shabby in this day and age.

Monday's driving, despite the construction on Dundee, was really quite nice. Palatine was mostly quiet and fast, and there were only a few minutes of congestion near Waukegan. Shame, really - it was pretty comfortable. I'd no idea how annoying the same route would be that evening or the next morning. (And yes, I'm taking it tonight, too. There's just no good way north, and it's the closest reasonable east-west route south of here. Actually, I -could- take 94 - I think there's a northbound exit east of here on Dundee. I'll research it.)

(Interruption of the present - walked to Starbucks for a sandwich and brownie lunch, and when I had returned the network was back up and running. So back to work I went. Icky. :) And Decipher's announced that they are rotating Fellowship block out of their tournaments. Which means they'll be designing cards they don't really intend to be used with Fellowship block cards - which our group has no intention of abandoning. Ooooh, joy. Decipher's just gone crazy.

Once again, spent a LONNNG time Sunday night/Monday morning playing RC3. I'm thinking about going back to RC1 after I finish 3 - just because I feel funny having won 2 and 3 but not 1. Just a completionist. I've also been playing Deus Ex from time to time - played the opening mission about six times. I've mellowed from a few years ago - I'm much more relaxed about stunning the terrorists as opposed to taking head shots on them. But I'm snagging passwords for all of my co-counter-terrorists, so I've become more devious. Neato-keano. I'm trying to remember what else happened on Sunday - drawing a blank right now. Aargh. Stupid swiss-cheese head.

Tonight's LOTR promises interest. Rob is absent for a second week, having gone to Disneyworld despite having only a part-time job and 2.5 kids to feed. He can't spend $6.25 for a starter for LOTR, but he can throw airfare and vacation money around. Weird. His life, his choice. I might tune some existing decks to go to Shadows format - I won't have to lug my cards outside this time. :)

And a question for the madding crowd of fans. What do you normally do for New Year's? I'll answer it first. I'm a holiday grinch, more or less - I'll eat a meal on Thanksgiving, hide from idiots on Halloween, and give and receive on Christmas. I might say "Happy New Year's" to the world if I'm outside at the moment. Otherwise, most holidays are either annoying (because I have to work but I get no mail) or the rare occasion of comfort (because I get to sleep in - but still no mail). So what will I do for New Year's?

"What do we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."

Eat Snacky Smores.

A lazy morning, and gloriously so. We woke up around 1PM and went to IHOP. Apparently, they've screwed up Myra's order the last two times, but this time they got it spot on. It might have been that she picked up a comment card on the way in. Perhaps.

We went to HyVee's (a local grocery store chain) and loaded up on ingredients for her taco soup and my mom's fiber muffins. They don't have those little bags of baking raisins - quite disappointing. They had the mixed varieties of Rice Krispies Treats that included the chocolate ones - but they aren't worth my while. Can anybody still find boxes that only contain the chocolate variety? I'd pay a bounty. :) We checked out and went to Wal-Mart to buy a decent mixing bowl. I suggested she get containers for dry goods (flour and sugar), but she got a new muffin tin instead. And now a somewhat-closed half-full flour bag is in her cupboard. Siiiiigh. I dragged her over to the PS2 section, but nothing appealed to her.

We got home, stored all the perishables, and broke out the PS2. We started with Katamari Damacy - the highly enjoyable yet sustainedly gay game. She never said as much, but I think she agrees with my assessment. She played through the tutorial and the first level, and then we played four games of the multiplayer variant. I did...rather well, let's say. (In case she reads this, that is.) Then we broke out Trivial Pursuit, and played the freaky-weird Unhinged variety. Has teleports, spaces where you can refuse a question and get another, spaces where you get extra bonus points, and spaces that ask you a random question. My first turn got me three wedges - I was quite surprised. And despite my history of starting strong and finishing dead-last in a two-player game, I came out on top! And of course, it was due to my intimate knowledge of NHL trivia. Eric McSore-something hit someone on the head with a hockey stick - of course I knew that. I was at the game!

We then went to the cooking. It wasn't a taco soup, more of a taco chili - but it was quite hearty and delicious. We watched tape one of The Crusades (a Beeb documentary with Terry Jones narrating), which didn't seem to hold her interest too well. Rats. Then I made the muffin mix, and she helpfully put away ingredients and washed some of the dishes, and loaded the dishwasher. Then we put the batter in the fridge. I set her up with Katamari Damacy, and she's been doing well. I suspect I'd better practice when I can. (Smirk.) I've been updating Amber, Cthulhu, and I also updated her AIM. After I post this, I'll launch the MTGO updater and rejoin her in the living room.

All in all, a rather domestically-inclined, no-pressure day.

Ain't life just grahnd?

More backdated entries later - when I return to the more drab world of my normal existence.

Eat Snacky Smores.

First, I'm in a Champions of Kamigawa release event online right now. My rares are:

He Who Hungers (foil)
Iname, Death ASpect
Takena, Samurai General
Imi Status
Moonring Mirror

Blah.

So where I left off was Wednesday afternoon. Sheesh, that's a long time ago. (Won my first round against a W/B player.) Last you heard, I was working and getting ready to go home for dinner and Scrabble. Dinner was GREAT. The three of us went out to Fritzl's, a very nice German restaurant. I went out on a limb and had the Jaeger Schnitzel - basically breaded veal with a wild mushroom sauce. Excellent. I also got to order schnitzel with the spaezel. Very phlegmy. But we also had a quite enjoyable conversation as well. I felt pretty mature, even if I was talking to the parents I live with.

Home and two excellent games of Scrabble with my dearest - who was unfortunately distracted by the fact that her hometown Cardinals were beaten 4-0 by the Red Sox. While I, as a Cubs fan, do like the Red Sox, as they are equally cursed, I was sympathetic for the Cards, too. Awww. So we chatted for a while, and then I actually don't remember what I did after that. Possibly KOTOR, as I'm trying to drive to the finish line in Dark side before KOTOR 2 comes out. Sleep briefly.

Thursday was acceptably uneventful. I had a totally fun lunch where I ate the second half of the schnitzel and read the next section of Gilgalen's background. Very good stuff! It's kind of a shame that he can't get introduced quite yet - but just means more time to bake until he's fully toasted. Oh, and I gotta say that Subway subs are okay toasted. I never thought Quizno's was so special for toasting things, but now they're even LESS special. :)

Thursday night gaming. Brian, Ernie, and Dennis (who plays a lot of the mini games I don't play, so it's a rarity for us to play a game together). But first, I bought some packs of Reflections for LOTR. I don't have the order down any more - I sorted them, sorry - but here's what I found in ONE pack of Reflections. Oddly enough, there were NO Reflections cards in it - but I don't care one bit.

Egclaf, Courageous Farmer - FOIL
You're a Liar and a Thief - FOIL
Don't Follow the Lights - FOIL
Isengard Tinker - FOIL
Legolas' Sword - FOIL
Balglin, Elven Warrior - FOIL
Horn of Helm - FOIL
Ulaire Nertea, WInged Hunter - FOIL
Forearmed - FOIL
Easterling Polearm - FOIL
Durin's Tower - RARE FOIL
Held - RARE FOIL
Winged and Ominous - RARE FOIL
Master Broke His Promise - RARE FOIL
Break the Charge (AI) - RARE FOIL
Desert Stalker - RARE FOIL
Foul Gorde (AI) - RARE FOIL
Army of Haradrim (AI) - RARE FOIL

And the Foul Horde looks pretty awesome. My first-ever god pack, and it was quite a moment. Whoo-hoooo! Anyway, we introduced Dennis to German games with the classic - Settlers of Catan. He won it, but I'm thinking it was more because 6 came up a heck of a lot more than 8. Hmph.

(Oops - Round 2 is starting. Back soon.)

Crap. Lost it to a green critter who needs multiple blockers - and my guys were black "can't block" guys. Oh well. 1-1 is not a bad record.

Then we played Apples to Apples after Dennis left. It was a good time (as Apples to Apples always is), and we talked for a while and then ditched. I recall having to go to the bathroom as I was driving home, and I took my mind off it by calling Chris and talking to him for 45 minutes. What a trooper! After I got home, I sat down with Sony's Sound Forge for a project I've been thinking about for a month now. It was surprisingly easy to get the basic form together - I'll probably do it again when I'm more certian how I want it to sound. But here's the preliminary form. I was really happy with it, and I pestered my local Matt (as opposed to GM Matt, who didn't even SHOW UP at 3AM - the nerve) to listen to it, even though he really has no interest in the game. Thanks, man. :) Then I waited a little longer, and Karen showed up. That was cool. Then I went to bed somewhere around 5AM. I'm like that.

Friday was an unusual day, good and bad. Work was pure nothing. Bits and pieces of page counting, but that got out of the way fairly soon. During lunch, I drove down to Glenview for a bit, but midway there, my car's engine light came on. It ran out of coolant about 8 months ago, and the car started smoking. So I was relatively confident that it was a sloooooow coolant leak, and that I could handle it at a gas station. So I called Dad to confirm the problem, and he insisted I put water in it right away - a good idea. So I filled up a Snapple bottle and a Pepsi bottle at the water fountain in the building, and I put about 3ish quarts in. That got me back to work.

After work, I stopped at a gas station and got coolant. I'd never SEEN coolant before so up close, so I called Dad to confirm that it should be a gooey green. Dad confirmed this, but then told me I shouldn't be putting coolant in, as I could have a monster leak and could just be pouring coolant on the ground. I was trying to get to Be A Gamer before 7PM, though - sort of in a hurry. So I kind of blew that off, even though I did have a logical reason for being more trusting in the car. He was a little piqued at that. Wahh. So I started driving. Immediately, I took the wrong turn, which cost me a swing around Dundee and Pfingsten. I-294 was a little crowded, and I-90 was okayyyyy. I talked to Dad again. He said Mom was miffed at my rather flagrant use of the car for personal reasons when it wasn't doing so hot. I thought more clearly about this this time, and responded that the car had ABSOLUTELY no coolant put in for at least three months, if not longer. So the only circumstance that might dictate cuation was a tremendous acceleration in the leak, which I believed unlikely. And as it happens, I was right. He was only okay about it - he's very sensitive about following his advice. You really can't disagree with him (in his mind) without him thinking you don't care about him as a person. Sighhhh. So that went blag. Then I called Myra, as she was on the road to St. Louis for the weekend. She was doing well for a long drive, and we talked for the rest of the trip to BaG. I got there at 7:04, but they were still wide open, despite Ken's email saying "DON'T GO TO BE A GAMER - THEY'RE CLOSED". (Caps were used.) So anyway, Charlie shows up in a minute or two, and Ken soon after. Siighhhh. Silly people. I picked up the EQ RPG main book, the Exalted books for Aspect of Air and Aspect of Fire, the card game Modern Art, a booster of LOTR click-tech, a starter for Spycraft (which I still haven't played), and Fluxx 3.0, which has some cool new cards.

We went over to Ken's house after that. And drove through quite possibly one of the nastiest cloudbursts I've ever driven through. I've seen one as hard, but it didn't last nearly as long. And Charlie and I don't know the way to Ken's house, so we had to follow Ken's tail lights. My windshield has some interior misting problems, so oncoming headlights SUCK in rain that bad. It was quite disturbing. But it was late and not many people were as foolish as we were to be on the road, so we got there in safety. Yayyy! Then we opened stuff we'd bought and I showed them Foamy strips. Ken showed me how CoH plays (kind of cool, but I'm still not getting involved), and we left. Got home and played some KOTOR, watched bits of Prince of Tides with Mom, and traded songs with Talen. Went to sleep somewhere around 5AM, and for once woke up after 1PM. I -never- get to do that. :)

So today, I've been playing a Kamigawa release event online, and I suspect I'm going to Walker's with Mom afterwards. Coooool. Then I might go to Mike Selk's house. Tomorrow I gotta figure out how to get out of the house between 2PM and 9PM.

Hooligans.

Rats. Lost the match. But now I get to go to Walker's. Yayyyyy!

Eat Snacky Smores.

Got home, talked to Myra on the phone for a bit while unpacking and packing up stuff, and drove out to Brian's. Apparently Rob had been there for an hour, and Brian had been hiding upstairs for half that time, "looking" for Star Wars cards Rob wanted. (By the way, if anyone reading this has a foil See-Threepio from Endor, we have a buyer.) But anyway, they were in a game, and Rob is apparently pulling out decks based on opponents now, as he has played a hand choke deck (Smeagol and Faramir wandering around one site at a time) 2-for-2 against Brian, and his Gollum/Easterling corruption deck 2-for-2 against me, and then pulled out a reliable archery/archery deck for the multiplayer. He's got five decks built right now, and one is a Tower block deck. So that's one for me, one for Charlie, one for Brian and one for multiplayer. I really wonder sometimes if that's what he's doing. Sigh.

Well, anyway, as soon as Brian lost his game, we played a three-player game. Rob was (as described above) playing Elf archery and Shadow-side El Cheapo Archery. Brian was playing Gondor knights and Uruks. I was doing Elves with Eomer and Sauron site control (go-go Gothmoggggggggg). Rob and I were constantly double-moving - I don't think Brian double-moved the whole game. I'm not sure if it was always a dangerous proposition, or if he was trying to anchor down the bottom sites so that they couldn't be stolen. Anyway, I got to site 8, and Rob moved past me. If we'd had one or two more minions, it might have worked out - but once again, Legolas Greenleaf saved his bacon. (If anyone reading this can explain why Decipher hasn't put Greenie on the X-List, I wanna know. At this point, especially with Shadow cultures taking the hit they're taking in Shadows, I'm surprised that they're leaving Fellowship cultures all their old uber-toys. Rob wins, Jeff second, Brian third. Charlie arrived somewhere in the middle of this, and we played two 2-player games. Rob and I danced as usual - but I held him off until site 8 this time. I actually don't know how Brian and Charlie did - but I have a strong feeling that both of them enjoyed their game. Good for them.

We then talked about Shadows. I'd made a decision last week to get into Shadows, just because I'll see cards I want to fool around with, and I'll feel frustrated if I can't get them. (Besides, I'm just as likely to invest in Shadows heavily over time anyway - at least this way, I save money.) Brian has any number of reasons not to get involved - but the one I'll respect is that he's feeling financial and time pressure to spend more time away from us silly gamers. The others (he's not enjoying the game as much, he's enjoying click-tech games more, he's annoyed with Decipher over the shadow culture reset, and especially the song of sadness he kicked out last night about the Tengwar Anduril and how it's going to be a tournament promo. Funny enough, Brian hasn't been chasing all the pre-release and LOTR Online promos, but this one - this one gets to him. Suuuuuuure. I think his displeasure with Rob's play style has just saturated to the point where he feels it's the game's fault. But anyway, he's not buying Shadows, and he's more seriously talking about pulling back attendance. Apparently, he's not too concerned about the fact that any session he doesn't attend (unless Ken suddenly revives) is gonna be a non-session, as it will turn pretty solidly into an inability to play a game without Rob. But anyway. Rob can't afford to get into Shadows at all - but he'll probably do the paper sites thing like Brian is. Charlie's getting a few boxes. I haven't heard from Ken, Matt or Ernie yet - but I'm not all that confident. So I think my LOTR group is rather teetering on the edge of annihilation. Couple that with the fact that Brian made a big point last week of saying that he didn't feel a great pressure to play Doomtown this Thursday, and the fact that we only play Magic (the only game Brian's expressed a commitment to keep that we share), and the fact that I have no interest in playing any of the click-tech games he's fleeing Rob to play, and Brian and I might wind up getting pretty scarce. Kind of feels like an end of an era. Siiiiigh.

So after we hashed out a lot of Shadows stuff, I drove home, listening to The Bad Place. I sat in the driveway and listened to it for a while, but with zippo comprehension, as I had to rewind the tape again this morning.

Got off to a late start again - siiigh. I'm gonna work through lunch today just to remind myself that late ain't great, even though Mary is letting it slide. I'm teaching her Corbel again this afternoon, and then home for dinner and Scrabble with my dearest. (So all of my RPG buddies, wait until after 10:30 to see me.) We'll see what I have energy left to do tonight.

Siiiiiiiiiigh...

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.

Ah, sweet all-nighters. Twice in the past three months, I have made the enormously wise choice not to go to sleep. I'm just too busy - or too lazy - sometimes to turn everything off and go to bed. But let us review Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday morning.

And by the way, I want to clarify that I am not getting tired of my journal or anything, just because I've only made serious entries on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for this week. I just got busy at work and Tuesday and Thursday evenings aren't terribly accessible to me. So I was forced to save 'em up for when I had time.

After work (which I stayed at until 6:30), I went home and talked with Myra, playing two games of Scrabble (1-1, with an awfully close second game). We watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees (Whooo-hooo!) and we talked for a while, then she went to bed. I'm not sure I remember when </a></b></a>lori came online, but we had QUITE the interesting and varied conversation, as she herself will tell you. I think I'm just rather good at offering a somewhat non-judgmental point of view sometimes, which is one of the best ways to elicit openness and communication. I think that, if I were any less opposed to alcohol, I'd be a pretty darn good bartender. Heck, maybe I actually would be - it's not like I would swipe any product or anything. :) But we traded a few good songs, a few good stories, and I concluded the conversation by cowing her into meek acceptance. ;P (Oh, and I wish to issue an official correction on behalf of my brother - his Doctor Who collection is flawlessly organized and stored. Pity I can't find what I need anyway - must be my ever-errant vision or something. Key to something, something Key... what was that again? Hmmm.)

Anyway, that particular conversation concluded around 3:30AM. After that, I played some MTGO, installed Lord of the Rings Online and looked at the spoilers for Shadows, and cleaned up my room a bit. But I checked the board at 4:30, literally just as I was considering taking a slight nap - and I see Garvey online! I soon am chatting away with him as well, providing welcome relief to his busy evening/morning working on school projects. His wife had sensibly gone to bed several hours ago, and while I'm not surprised she allowed him to remain awake to finish his work, I am surprised that she would permit such fancies as AIM to be left on during this vital crunch time. Go Gaja! (Even though your web page still refers to Matt as your fiance.) I'm still looking forward to the first pictures from your photography class. But Matt welcomed the relief I provided, and we spoke briefly. After that, I watched Galaxy Quest and began harvesting cards from my VTES collection for a deck design I wanted to put together for that evening's festivities. It's a nice anti-Toreador affair, but I'm missing a vampire for it. Rats. But I got out of the door reasonably on time. The drive to work and Thursday morning were a bit nerve-wracking, as I was actually suddenly quite tired. But as I got closer to lunch (which I had originally intended to nap through), I found myself gaining energy. And so when lunch got around, it felt natural to just go out and have Baja Fresh and read from Fanfare for the Area Man. (I'd get Democracy Inaction, but it's kind of pricey. Dunno.) After I came back - sigh - I got tired again for a while, but nothing too bad. Then, work is done! Yayyy! I drive down to Games Plus, saying hi along the way. Brian and Ernie are there, and </a></b></a>rich and </a></b></a>noel show up soon afterwards. The breakdown of the game:

A) Brian, playing Tremere. Go figure. This one is a standard Talaq-plays-Burst-of-Sunlight thing.
B) Rich, playing Brujah/Anti-Brujah extra strikes stuff. At least it's not extra strikes/AGG.
C) Noel, playing a vote deck. Yayyyyy. (Sigh.)
D) Ernie, playing Tzimisce. Not sure what he was doing - Noel is funny about not letting her prey do anything like what they were intending to do. They tend not to sit down to a game as to a short yet painful death.
E) Myself, playing anti-Ventrue and Salubri. I saw a Salubri hit the table, and it was cool doing stuff like Anesthetic Touch and Sight Beyond Sight and Repulsion. But it didn't go far enough. I think the next one I'll try for the scarce clans is True Brujah.

Only casualty was Ernie - between votes and bleeds, he didn't stand much of a chance. But after that, most of us had our stuff together enough to prevent more lawnmowing. I'm still somewhat surprised every time Noel thinks she's got the ENTIRE TABLE - three players' layouts, deck types, and hands - in her head, makes a big move, and gets surprised by ONE detail which screws it all up. I really don't think, when a game turns into a 3-on-1 situation (as a vote deck running the table is wont to do), that one person can really hope to take on three players and be successful. Perhaps as a straight bleed deck (though don't get me started on stealth/bleed) might be able to - but if you throw politics in the mix as well, not sure what can be done. And she gets SOOOOO mad about it, too. It really puts a damper on in-game chatter, which is quite a pity.

Anyway, afterwards, we went outside and watched Jon Stewart beat up the Crossfire hosts on Brian's laptop. (No, I'm not linking it. Just go Google "Jon Stewart Crossfire" and you'll find it.) Kind of funny - but then again, it was just more of the same. People have this weird feeling that the august Mr. Stewart 'destroyed' the hosts. But what kind of TV is Crossfire, anyway? All they want is argumentation and controversy. All they did in having Mr. Stewart there is temporarily appeal to a larger audience. They didn't learn anything from that - except maybe that getting themselves hit attracts ratings as much as having the guests get hit. Me, I just ignore the whole 'news' thing for the most part. NPR and the front pages of the Chicago papers is about it. And even NPR ain't perfect.

Drove home, chatted with Selyna again, though not nearly so long and wonderfully - as I was getting tired at long last. I cleaned off the bed (or at least the right side) and went to sleep. Luxuriant that it was, but brief.

Today's been pretty reasonable. Filled up two trash cans with page counting stuff, and I've got an hour to write material for Blood Loyalties and post to the Private Threads. I've been a little focused on ACD at the expense of my own game. Sorry, folks. Riding/driving with Dad tonight to Chris' place. Yayyy, Chris! (Even if you are an old fogy.)

Oh, and A) I caught up with page counting today, and B) I found the receipt for the book-on-tape I've been listening to! Woohoooo! I'm stopping at Barnes & Noble tonight to get a new one.

Eat Snacky Smores.

[Links Gone Wild!]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemennnnnnnnnn! I did not come here tonight to make you laugh, I came here to sell you something. The Master Tool Corporation, a division of Fly-By-Night Industries, has empowered who? - me - to show who? - -you - the handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool ya ever saw, and don'tcha wanna know how it works?

Friday afternoon at work was darn-near dead. Lots o' people left early, and I recall being one of TWO people here at T-minus 30 minutes. It was kind of weird, but I think people get so annoyed with dealing with stalling clients and accountants leading up to October 15th that they just flow through the walls at the point they can no longer be expected to process anything receivable by the IRS before the deadline.

Quick drive home, but packing was annoying. Spent 15 minutes looking for Trivial Pursuit for PS2 (had fallen behind my bed), spent 20 minutes looking for my travel toiletries kit (left it downstairs on the couch, which was only searched after the upstairs was exhausted). My new big-a$$ bag is larger than my old bag, which is nice - but it also doesn't go around corners and stairs nearly as well as the old one - and that's saying something. I managed to gather all items requested minus one, and got out the door around 7:15. Add another half hour at Barnes & Noble getting a book on tape and an appropriate present, another ten minutes getting gas and dinner (would you believe that the Blight of Lake County has NO baked chips?), and finally got on the road around 8:00PM. It was pretty smooth sailing, the book was good, and I didn't end up on Route 26 for 35 minutes. Plus I only passed up the apartment complex by 30 seconds, not three minutes. Got in and talked a while - the new arrangement of stuff looks quite nice, although she's not terribly happy with it yet. (I think it's just being fidgety.) Both of us were pretty tired, as she gets up at 5 AM and I don't usually go to bed before 2AM, so consciousness did not last long.

Fade to black, five seconds, fade to cheery afternoon - take THAT, Mr. Annoyingly-long-to-load-video-effect </a></b></a>tsara. :)

Saturday started at about 1PM. We had a light breakfast, checked email and the RPG Board, I hooked up the DVD/VCR unit, and then we settled in to watch Game 3 of the National League Championship Series - Cardinals at Houston, series record 2-0 in favor of the Cards. Played two games of Scrabble while we watched - first game lost by 60ish points, well within expectations. Second game...

WON! WONNNN!!! WOONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

(I'm not going to mention that it was a 5-point victory, and that it was partially based on playing opry and not being challenged. I even took a picture of the final board - twice to make sure I got it right. I'll be putting a picture of that up on my website sometime next weekend. And I'll be celebrating it biweekly until I get darn tired of it - or until I become the King of Scrabble Online.

(Just kidding, dear - I do thank you for offering such a strong game that it has taken this long for me to catch up. Let us improve each other hand over hand, as each strives to outdo the other.)

But the Cardinals were not as favored as I. First inning was a 3-run lead that never really went away. Cards lose, series 2-1. She was depressed, and we went out to Applebee's for consolation. (We initially tried to find the Filling Station, but that proved a little elusive.) They brought me a full order of riblets instead of a small order, and the salad I ordered had WAYYY too much fat-drenched dressing on it. I held myself to half the salad (primarily the meat parts), ate the riblets (as I was hungry) and also ate the coleslaw and baked beans. We got back to the apartment after dinner, watched CSI and some random TV, and called it a day.

Sunday I ensured started earlier - as I was leaving at 7, I wanted to max out on conscious time. So I gently indicated that 9:30 might be a good time to seize the day, which eventually turned into 11AM. Close enough. We went out to IHOP for breakfast (and I am no longer having my calls routed through there - I find their telephone services no longer meet my needs), and then to Breast Buy. I hemmed and hawed between Scrabble Online and Scrabble Complete - but finally sided with the title that seemed more designed to me to compete with her (you'll notice I didn't say play with her - that's a rather different matter). I picked up replacement headphones for both my PC (previous pair cracked their metal binding wire) and my MP3 player (previous pair pretty much turned into bolas). I also picked up Pink's third album and had a sneaking suspicion that she might want Missundaztood. We went back to the apartment, and picked up Game 4 of the NLCS. While she watched, we played a full game of Tally Ho. I once again remain undefeated! But she is, of course, getting sharper - it's only a matter of time before she ownz me just like she occasionally does in Lost Cities - the game we played next. The first two rounds were fairly good for me - I think the first round total was my 40 to her negative-something. But second round, she pulls off an 8-card tripled expedition - and moves into triple digits. I think I won the third round, but not by nearly enough to compensate.

Afterwards, I recovered my leet gamer self-image by installing Scrabble Online on her system. I didn't trust the documentation's discussion of Internet play, so I installed Gamespy as well, which coordinates the multiplayer. That is actually one nice-looking service! Looks pretty robust and helpful - albeit advertisement-ridden as an incentive to pay them. Sales is rape, I'll say it again. But the game is also pretty cool - I look forward to running through their trainer and getting more familiar with the two-letter list. Let any Scrabble (or Literati) player know that the two-letter list is absolutely key to winning. It's the only way you can snuggle up two words so close to each other that one play scores you four words. I demonstrated how to log on - but we can't try the full deal until Wednesday.

We finished watching the game somewhere around 6:30PM - and then had quite the enjoyable dinner at Subway before I headed out. I miss her already. :(

The drive home was absolutely golden! No traffic, didn't get lost, and the book is quite good. (Though I'm a little annoyed at the choices made in swapping narrators - and I'm a little tired of books where folk like Candy are storytelling centers.) Chris and I are firmly scheduled for a get-together next weekend. I hadn't realized what day it was, but I'm happy to be with him then (or any time, for that matter).

The evening was spent putting things back together, installing Scrabble Online, Gamespy and FarCry. I'm getting ready to start staring at the RPG Boards - time to get my head back in the games.

This morning was a relaxing drive - and a really excellent Penny Arcade.

(And to anticipate my closing line, if someone ever finds a graphic from the movie that clearly shows the Snacky Smores logo, I'd be interested.)

Eat Snacky Smores.

World good.

Lemme see. Yesterday afternoon was all right, if not remarkable. Subway did not in fact have an advertised twofer, but the walk was bracing in the chilly autumn air. The afternoon had more rushes - about five or six clients apparently decided that October 14th was a good day to submit data we needed to give THEM a report that has to be in the IRS' grubby little hands on October 15th. Wonderful people, wealthy people are. So willing to chip in for their share of society's obligations. (And in the vein of ranting against money, I used to say that sales is mind control. I have since amended that thought. Sales is rape. Take that.)

The trip out to the doctor's was uneventful - but you'd figure if you'd asked how my doctor's appointment went early in the day, and THEN were told that the doctor's appointment wasn't until after work, you might wait to talk again until...oh, I don't know...AFTER the appointment? Huh? Hmph. Anyway, bad news was not so bad - I basically am back to where I was mid-August. Down a few, up a few. But I'm glad for the development, as it's given me new juice to get going on my food documentation, which is what is really needed to get specific about things I should do. But I continue to hold near 20% weight lost from my pre-operative weight, so it's still fantastic. More miles to go, many many miles to go - but at least I can't see where I started from any more. But it was weird - as I was driving out to the doctor's, I was tired and actually yawning quite frequently. But as he kept me in his waiting room for 30 minutes, and then into a fake office for another 30 minutes, I became MORE energized. I think I was psyching myself up for the conversation. BIG mistake, it turns out - we spent an hour or so talking. :) Tack does get a little carried away. But we found lots of things to talk about. Did you know, fr'instance, that exercise has been found to have little to do with weight loss, but much to do with weight maintenance? Weird. Of course, as we quickly clarified, "there are PLENTY of other reasons to exercise." But it was odd. Anyway, he upped my appetite suppressant dosage - a little - to explore what effect it is actually producing. I worry a little that I'll have a hard time staying awake after I come off it - but for now, I have priorities.

Left Tack's office around 8PM, got gas, talked to my brother. "Um, I didn't quite hear that. It sounded like you said you just left the doctor's office." "Yeah, that's right." "JEFF, it's 8PM your time!" "Yeah, I was in two waiting rooms." "Oh, okay." Smile. Drove down to GP, but it started raining midway through. Got there, assuming that (since I hadn't heard from anyone) people had come and gone. Turned out Brian and Ernie had gotten there fairly quickly, but </a></b></a>rich, </a></b></a>noel and I showed up roughly simultaneously. I even saw Jason Catena! After all these years. And Noel didn't punch him. I thought it admirable restraint, given their wonderful history.

Gaming was quite fun. We played Citadels and it was good. Noel kind of got mugged and murdered a lot - not actually sure why, even though one was pretty much a deliberate setup on my part. (Giggle.) Brian won, I came in last, Noel only a little ahead of me. Rich and Ernie fought for second, but we were being chased out of GP at that point, so we kind of hurriedly packed up.

Talked for a bit outside GP - but the rain tended to cut that short a little. Rich mentioned that he'd mentioned me online - whoooo! For a private and shy person, I'm quite happy to air out my laundry in public - only as long as I'm not actually directly experiencing another person. I've paid over $10 for someone else to call for pizza, and I'm happy to have done it. Anyway, finally got Brian's Kamigawa cards to him, and he seems to be doing well with Fright Fest this year. However, I think being a grown-up is finally catching up to him - we shall see. I drove home, kind of said hi to the folks, and went upstairs. Used PC for ten minutes, turned out lights - a relative rarity to me. But I was just really tired.

And I got my good deed of the day out of the way at 8:30 this morning! (Never mind that I'm supposed to leave for work at 8:20, this was important.) If recipient of said good deed wishes to acknowledge gratitude, I'd remind the recipient that replies to these entries can be posted anonymously - and even more anonymously if you don't sign your name.

Driving out to see my girlfriend this weekend. Do you hear that, world? Jeff isn't entirely hopeless!

Yet, anyway.

Eat Snacky Smores.

Well, bad news this morning. I put on some weight - more than I thought I had, and more than I thought I could in a month. And I think I've been fitting into some of my clothes better at the same time, too. I've been walking around an hour a week, I didn't change much from my LAST doctor's visit, so I'm not sure what's up. I need to give Tack more information now, so I have to put together the diaries and twice-a-week weigh-ins he asked for. Icky icky.

But to yesterday. I am (as you might be able to tell) really digging the idea of posting decks and making the card names active links! I developed an Access query that pretty much spits it out as you see it, except for the divisions between categories. I posted a separate question about Magic card linking (once again, thanks, Matt), and I also looked at VTES. There are no images online, but there is a reference page for each card. Unfortunately, they're indexed not by name, but by number. And it looks like they started numbering just before Sabbat War came out. So the initial batch of 600 or so is roughly alphabetical - but is charming enough to skip a few numbers and duplicate others! - and then I figure each set will be numbered by name. So I can do it, but it'll be quite the headache. Not sure how I'm going to handle the whole "%20" thing in the link name - might get a query to strip them out. I have a way to force it, but it's tedious.

Work was obviously quite slow. Still weird, but it won't hold a candle to today. I'm not altogether sure what I spent the bulk of the day doing, aside from the whole link-building project. I talked to Chris on the way home, and confirmed that he's available the week of the 22nd-24th for a visit. He's been asking for me to come over, and he sounds all wonewy about it. Awww. So he gets a visit, and we'll try out Kathmari Damacy (if that's how it is spelled). It's a bizarre PS2 title we found out about from Penny Arcade and liked the idea. Got home, made some chili for dinner, and went upstairs.

Hey, Garvey! Haven't seen you in a while!
Hey, Matt! Talk to me about my deck!
Hey, Myra (Yes, your name finally appears in lights)! Let's play Literati!
Hey, Kathy! LOOONG time no see. But I'm in game now.
Hey, Rich! Long time no chat. But I'm in game now.
Hey, Lori! I'm in game now.

Maybe it was just that this happens every day, and I'm not home to see it - but it felt kind of barrage-y.

But I finally redeemed last week's miserable failure with a 60-point win, an 8-point win, and a 10-point loss. Oh, and the Cards won! Good news by me. Anyway, after she toddled off to bed, I talked with Lori, the only holdout who stayed up with me. And she introduced me to Foamy the Squirrel. You owe it to yourself to go there right now, RIGHT NOW, and watch Five More Minutes. Beware the Squirrelly Wrath (tm)!

We talked more, and I enlightened her as to the function of polyester in a partner-rich environment. (Grotesque Gulp, anyone?) Then I played it for a while (like an hour), and then just as I was about to retire...

Hey, Karen! Long time no chat.

And so we talked. She works three days a week, but has apparently decided that today she needs to maintain her activity level. I don't remember them, but she listed six to eight things she was doing today. Going to the gym, shopping, writing, relieving world hunger - I lost track. I do recall the word 'coffee' coming up, though - a good thing.

I slept, woke up a little late, but still had to shower for Tack. I'm also wearing a bright red shirt underneath my green-white work shirt. Must look a little odd with the red showing through at the neck.

And today, on the day BEFORE the deadline for reports, our report clerk called in sick, AND had locked out his machine, so we had to reset his password. That means I have to do non-401(k) reports today as well as the 401(k) ones. Greeaaaaat. "And I am already weary."

Let's see if Subway still does twofers.

Eat Snacky Smores.

And all is right with the world - or at least, not badly screwed up, anyway.

Talked on the way home - everything's cool. My livejournal/blog continues to impress unnecessarily. :) Stopped in at Walgreens, and got tempted by the Uh-Oh Oreos (specifically, the inverse-video ones, golden cookie with chocolate creme). Picked those up as well as the classic Pringles for Gamers pack. I wish the Oreos had been more popular - I didn't want to eat so many.

Vampire went pretty well, and the smaller crowd meant not only did we finish one game, but actually TWO! Of course, Noel helped pretty well at bringing the first game to a speedy and orderly conclusion. Weenie stealth, never denied in its' claims of power, proved itself as lethal as you'd think it would be anyway. Ernie's first deck was Tzimisce, Rich played...ummm...his second was Gangrel...umm...crap...well, anyway, he was less of a factor than he might have wanted to be. I played a anti-Ventrue/Salubri deck - and drew NO Salubri and no Stranger Among Us cards. If I dropped in duplicate Salubris and Effective Managements, that -might- help. But I think I want to see one in action before I get all torqued out about getting them into play. So we'll see. Noel burned through Ernie relatively quickly, and got Rich after two turns more. I got the honor of bowing out, my two minions to Noel's 5-6.

The second game, Noel played Ravnos smacky, Ernie played Malkavian, Rich played Gangrel stealth AND intercept, and I was Nosferatu/Samedi. I got my Samedi and Improvised Blowtorches (nyahh, nyahh) out relatively quickly. Noel got to her stakes. Ernie - well, he bled. And bled. Rich once again got to play a combat deck that didn't get to block much. I burned one of Noel's vamps - whoo-hooo! - and Ernie got out a Pulse of the Canaille while Rich was tapped out. (I vaguely suspect Ernie -might- have had a stealth behind it, though.) Noel played Sensory Deprivation, an incredibly annoying card, -twice- on Ernie - and then found herself arguing against being targeted by a Malkavian Game by someone who felt completely pinned down by cards she played. Live fast, die hard. And incredibly, thanks to three ties and a Paper-Beats-Rock, Ernie took Noel out of the game - handing ME six blood and a victory point. Noel thought it was silly and random; Rich thought it was awesome. I more side with Rich, if only because I very rarely see a Malk Game -kill- someone. In the middle of all this, Ernie had killed Rich with the Pulse, and so it became him and me - and I had zippo intercept in the deck. It apparently was a design decision to run on directed attacks. While this was unsuccessful, I find myself wondering if:

4x Ambush
4x Bum's Rush
4x Cry Wolf
4x Games of Instinct
4x Harass
4x Haven Uncovered
4x Monomancy
4x Purity of the Beast
4x Status Perfectus, The
4x Wendell Delburton (Hunter)
4x Nose of the Hound
4x Muddled Vampire Hunter

and then 4x Madness Network would work. Just wait until your predator is done, and then beat the absolute crap of out their vampires, then draw-go. I'm finding that most combat decks that rely on BLOCKING to get into combat aren't getting the job done.

Anyway, after the games, Ernie left (as he's now working at 5AM) and Rich, Noel and I enjoyed one of our wonderful talk-till-1AM jaw sessions. We covered game design, tournament play, game company business strategies, and mainly focused on Star Wars and L5R. I got Rich to admit I had made "a strong argument" for the in-game cohesion of Masque of Judas - which is as much as I'm going to get out of him on the road to "I'm wrong and you're right". But then again, when have *I* offered that without hesitation? I also mostly talked Noel down from a position that the 4-card limit was particularly overpowering fast-bleed - fast-bleed is powerful REGARDLESS of card limit. (Though it does vaguely suggest trying VTES Highlander.) Anyway, they left, and I watched the end of Backdraft with Mom. Good movie - but I remember watching a making-of documentary and I know real barrels don't blast up like rockets. So it ruins it a little. Then I went upstairs, played Battlefront for an hour or so, and then showered and went to sleep. Unfortunately, I A) left my watch in the bathroom, so I had no idea what time it was this morning, and B) went to bed at around 3:30. So again, I was a little late today. Lucky me the place is a morgue - surprisingly enough for October.

Tonight I have to either honor a rather hastily-made commitment to go down to Be A Gamer in West Dundee and play LOTR, or inventory my RPG book collection for reference during tomorrow's auction. We shall see, we shall see.

Eat Snacky Smores.

Well, I found out my doctor's appointment is next Thursday. Whooo! (I have no idea if I'll do anything meaningful in that time, but it feels like a release anyway.) So I'm playing Vampire tonight at 7PM, not 8.

I felt a little guilty driving over to the auction, as I had the music up way loud and my phone off. I drive faster and more aggressively with tunes on, and I wanted to get to the auction ASAP. (Not to mention talking to the kitchen sink.) But I wrote an email later that night asking how the evening had gone. It's probably enough - but it shouldn't be. Siiiigh.

The auction was pretty fun, if slim pickings. Ernie, Mike and I hung out for most of the time - and Mike and I kept trying to get the other to buy stuff. Mike actually BID on Star Trek cards, so that he could give them to Sebastian, so that Sebastian could give them to *me*. I'll get to those stupid cards someday, just to laugh at and with Sebastian as I hand him his $5 check. But in the end, all I got were some Vampire cards - and mostly bulk commons at that. But many of them are Camarilla Edition, which had a mess of reprints with dramatically reworded texts.

Got the two things on my desk out of the way in fifteen minutes, so I'm a little idle at work now. I'll dive into GilGalen's notes, I hope. I also have to update a few of the private threads, and maybe update my new character's history to account for discussions with Garvey.

Oh, and paranoid me can no longer tell if Brian's lying or not. He stormed off last Tuesday (squealing his tires, no less) and then canceled Thursday, next Tuesday, next Thursday, and the following Tuesday. On the other hand, he IS working at Fright Fest at Six Flags. I know this takes up almost all of his October. On the other hand, I'm not sure I recall his absences being so -complete- last year. Anyway, I still have his Champions of Kamigawa, and he's welcome to pick them up or have them delivered whenever. If he'd been at the auction last night or stopped by on Tuesday anyway, I might have given him crap. Now, I can hardly care less. He wants to palpitate his heart, fine.

And now, on with the show.