Whispers in the Windstorm

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.

Middle-Aged Man Rocks!

Work was thankfully slow Tuesday afternoon. I managed to get some plowing in done on my Amber games, and this morning I posted fresh to the Demon game. So, with the sad demise of the Cthulhu game, I am mostly caught up. This afternoon, if time permits, I'll do an audit of Flashback status, and I might cogitate on whether the experiment is working. I'm also hoping to write another VTES deck for tomorrow.

(Speaking of Thursdays, letting R'n'N (and hopefully Matt) know right now that I'm not available for next Thursday, but that Brian is amenable to making the 16th a 7th Sea day. (I will be occupied by entertaining a very special company of guests.) I hope it works out with Matt's schedule.

Anyways, back to Tuesday. Got home, did some light chatting while pulling cards for LOTR. It was actually somewhat nastily snowing all the drive home and the drive out to Brian's. However, I turned up the heat as soon as I got into the car from work, and had on work clothes and my parka. By the time I got home, I was a little...stuffy. So I put on shorts and a T-shirt, and wore that to Brian's. Except for ten minutes in the car after I left Brian's, it worked out fine.

Got to Brian's around 8PM, and Charlie, Brian and Rob were about to start a three-player game. I asked them to do so, as I had two decks to assemble and sleeve. Their game went fine, and I managed to get all the decks assembled, one old deck taken apart, and my spares sorted by block for filing. A job well done indeed!

Game 1 was against Brian, and was my Rohan/Gondor/Easterlings deck against his Elves/Nazgul deck. Black Riders are a little annoying (but not in an unfair-to-own way, just in a non-unique Nazgul kind of way). But having a 13-strength unwoundable damage +3! Easterling was not altogether too shabby. I think I'll pull out the Thundering Hosts and replace them with City of Men, and the Rohan guy who gets sites (but is screwed by the Shadows site rules) is coming out for someone else. Eventually Frodo got to meet an enduring Nazgul and died horribly.

Game 2 was against Rob, and was my Middle-Aged Man deck against Elves (sigh)/Sauron. This time, my Gandalf just ROCKED! That is, until I realized that he couldn't swap in for Frodo's skirmish, and wounds started landing on him like cream cheese on a bagel. (Oooh, forgot - new Foamy. Go check it out.) My Orcs were more powerful than expected - but a last-minute double-play by Rob spared him having to assign Frodo to a skirmish, so he ran all the way. Gotta get me a fourth Persistent Orc - those guys just rock for a swarm. (Kept calling the Orc Orcs Moria Orcs. Go figure.)

Both games were good, but suggested improvements in their decks - which is also good. If it wasn't the case that I'm building VTES today and building MTG either Friday or Saturday, I'd rebuild then. Perhaps Monday night (sigh).

After the games, we talked for a good long time - about Journey, Gen-Con So-Cal, LOTR Click-tech, and general stuff. I left Brian's at a rather shocking 1:25. The car was covered with snow that I had no real interest in dealing with, so I dove into the car, started it, and let the heater clear the snow. It sort of worked - after TWENTY minutes, I might add. Wish I'd brought my Palmpilot - Bookworm would have flown by. :) I got home around 2AM, and pretty much went to bed immediately.

Woke up this morning at the delightful time of 8:19. Ugh. Still feel grungy. But the morning's work is a slow project with a lot of down time - printing presentation booklets for Gary. So I can get stuff like this done. Yayyyy!

Eat Snacky Smores.

Time! I have TIME!

Once again, I return to these hallowed pages. And again, I'll optimistically delude myself into thinking I'll catch up with previous days as well. Aggh.

Yesterday was quite counting-intensive. And I finally finished that PDF I've been promising. Enjoy a peek at how horrible it really is to be me sometimes.

Last night was actually quite fun! I came home, took the lid off the crock pot for five seconds (which accidentally added ten minutes to the cooking time, darn it) and went upstairs to pull cards for my two LOTR decks. I managed to remember to bring in my deck lists, so I didn't need to log on and get them again (although I could have needed to, </a></b></a>). I had a wonderful chicken stew dinner, and Brian arrived and we drove out to Ken's place.

Ken's dog is annoying. I'm just sayin'.

We played a long three-player game before Charlie arrived. I was Elves/Men, Brian was Knights/Uruks, and Ken was Gandalf/Hobbits/Men Men. Nobody double-moved eveeeer, so it was rather painstaking. Ken and I were using Muster Frodo and I was using a non-unique Elf with muster, so near the end of the game, both Ken and I had nearly depleted libraries. Ken showed me the value of Lathspell (which isn't spoiled as a picture yet, sorry), and I learned how having 2-vitality Men Men ain't so grand. (But Leggie's Bow kicks some major butt.)

Charlie arrived and we played two 2-player games. Ken rolled high and played Charlie. Brian and I faced off. I played Dwarves/Nazgul/Gollum, and he played Dead Wizards' Society and Nazgul. I still can't believe I ran out of discarded Nazgul. That just blew. But I got a taste of how Hatred Stirred and Incited could get REALLY nasty, especially with 'win to play' response events like Nasty, Foul Hobbitses and You're A Liar And A Thief and even In The Ringwraith's Wake. But that deck is just rude. (Well, as Brian says, mayyyyybe for Rob.)

We left around 11:30, and Brian dropped me off at home a little after midnight. (And who knew a Mickey D's could get so dark?) I ran in, grabbed a shopping list, and darted out to Dominick's for a half hour. Shop shop shop - many pears were bought. ($0.69/pound ain't nothing to sneeze at.) I got home and unloaded, went upstairs and checked mail. I talked to </a></b></a>matt for a while, and might be seeing him this Saturday. Happy birthday, man! Then I finally got tired and went to bed.

This morning, I realized that my TV had not been adjusted for Daylight Savings Time, so I got up at 6:30 instead of 7:30. I managed to control my hour-long nap afterwards, however, and showered and dressed and got to work on time. Car's going beautifully, thank you. This morning has been the laziest in quite some time, as I channeled over 5,000 pages yesterday. I actually managed to wedge paper sideways at the back of the trashcan, and then keep going up, and keep wedging behind. I think if I'd tried, I might have gotten the paper on top of the can to be taller than the can itself. Recreation through masochism, baby.

Anyway, I'm going to be teaching Mary how to use Corbel today. Oh joy. Stop my heart from a-pitter-pattering.

Tip for the day - Change is frightening. But sometimes, not changing can be worse.

Eat Snacky Smores.

Tuesday was pretty nice. I started the day with five to six hours' sleep after pulling an all-nighter Sunday night. Dad and I were voting together, and he was kind enough to drive me over. Voting was quick and painless - but I was somewhat perplexed that there were no resolutions, initiatives, millages, or anything that wasn't 'pick a name'. Dad thought there was going to be some sort of rural firefighter initiative - but apparently our district isn't being asked to pay for it. Hmmmm. And there were two judgeships (which I'm really not sure we should be voting on) in which the Republican was running unopposed. Sheesh. Anyway, Dad and I had a vigorous political discussion all morning. Mom hates what I refer to as "animated discussions" and what she calls "just shouting" (but it isn't, really - she just doesn't like raised voices), and she was just as happy to see us leave. :) After voting, Dad drove me up the street to Starbucks' - peppermint latte and a orange-cranberry muffin. Nummy. Then he dropped me off at home and I drove to work - getting there early in I don't know HOW long. Gotta try to do that more often.

Work was somewhat energized, even if it was only page-counting, really. I took some pictures of my workload, and I plan to create a photo album showing exactly what kind of workload it is, and how much of an endless river it'll be. (Sigh - I'm alternating between writing this and counting pages right now.) But I let the trash can pile up higher than I've ever done before, just to be silly. I also got absolute CRAP done in terms of sorting my LOTR Shadows stuff, or deckbuilding with it. So I piled it into the car again and drove home as soon as I could. I finished A Bad Place - pretty good, actually, even if a somewhat sedentary epilogue. I got home, sat down in front of my PC, talked to Myra and chatted with Matt a bit, and then pulled up my LOTR database to get cracking on deckbuilding. And it was only then that I realized that my LOTR database still has around 100+ holes in it, as I'm typing information only as the cards get posted on Decipher, so that I can keep my records current as to the weblink of the picture. So - no Shadows deckbuilding for me. :( I decided that I still had some time, so I booted up Deus Ex again (and a shout out to Al Schaefer who reminded me how good it was), and I played the training level. Unfortunately, the last exercise was to get by a patrol bot and through to a door. I decided to simply throw a crate of TNT at the bot, which did two things. A) it blew my legs off, so I couldn't run or jump any more, and B) I only found out later that it set off an alarm that locked the door. So I spent around a half hour, slowly walking around, only to give up. I hate that. I grabbed my Shadows, my decks, my site box, and a spare two-lane box, and drove out to Rob's place.

LOTR was a little annoying, but all right. Rob is a rather rabid Bush supporter (which even now I still don't even comprehend, really - but that's probably part of the fabric of the cloak that's being draped over Kerry's campaign even as we speak), so it was disconcerting to hear him cheer things I was inclined to boo. But I decided to spend my time getting Shadows in order, as I could give commons to Brian, Charlie and Rob and some uncommons to Brian. (Along with the four uncommon sites.) I actually finished sorting, winnowing and filing JUST as the evening was drawing to a close (so no actual GAMES), and we sat and watched news for a few minutes. It amazes me to some extent that most networks were displaying the totals of the states they'd called already - and then displaying the individual states on a scroll bar at the bottom of the screen; even the one's they'd already called. I mean - if I'm watching the news, and it's 200-200, do I really need to know that Kansas was already decided? I think the most useful information would simply be reporting the current margins in undecided states, and races that haven't been resolved. (Perhaps breaking in once every ten minutes to report won senatorial and gubernatorial races would be reasonable.) But we left Rob's, and Brian said that he was more into LOTR now that Ken is expressing greater interest - always a good thing. Brian was considering not playing next week, but given that Ken's interested in playing, and Rob's on vacation - it made for a winning combo, apparently. Yayyy! So I drove home, getting home around 12:30AM, and decided to play through the intro to Deus Ex again.

This time, I ran by the bot, crept up to the bridge and keyed in the activation code, and slipped through. (It also took me precisely one try to run the stealth test, as opposed to ten or so the first time. I wish they'd give you a zapper for that one, though - so much easier. :) I then decided to play the main game. I got caught up in it, and I was almost halfway down the Statue of Liberty when I died - without saving. SIGH. I'm gonna see if I can afford Master Sniper next time I start - the middle ranking just isn't cutting it. I have to get too close to snipe - I'm still a little agog that at some points, it was sensible to switch from the sniper rifle to the zapper - a melee weapon. That's not right. I finally decided to get some sleep, after chatting a little bit with Karen. (Hope you feel better! Drink citrus tea and play KOTOR!)

Oh, and I got a sticker when I voted. It says "Proud to Vote", and I put it on my wallet.

Eat Snacky Smores.

Suffice it to say that I want the God Pack next to me when I write what happened between Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening. Tease tease.

(Oh, and happy, Rich? This one's short.)

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.

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.

I have just reviewed ALL of Dragonbane's LJ entries. Not read them all totally comprehensively - but every single one was up on my screen for at least two seconds. And in that time, I found TWO - I say again *ahem* TWOOOOO entries that actually mention me specifically. One is a purely random occurrence in a quiz he was doing:

@ 2002-02-14 13:46:00
Dragonbane (dragonbane) wrote,
More than you ever wanted to know. :)

51. Who is the last person you got E-mail from before this? Jeff Bailey

And one, bless his heart, is a reaction to my hospital trip:

@ 2002-05-28 18:05:00
Dragonbane (dragonbane) wrote,
Memorial Day. Very.

I figured I'd pass the time online, check my email. Maybe give my friend Jeff a call, see what he's doing this evening since he wasn't at gaming last week like he usually is. So, there's an email from Brian, passing on some information. Jeff has been in the hospital, getting surgery for an abcess, it turns out. After surgery, his blood sugar is way too high, and it is determined that he has developed diabetes, probably within the last year or so. So, they're keeping him another night for observation.

I guess I'll still give him a call... just not at his house. If only I had some good news for him to cheer him up.

So what do I gotta do to get Part III? Die? Sheesh.

Well, I can sort of appreciate that the people he mentions in Journal are, more often than not, people who have journals of their own. Fine - quid pro quo and all that. But I'm here now, dammit.

Greetings, harsh and uncaring world.

Yesterday was quite normal and pleasant. Over lunch, I went to Breast Buy and bought the new Leisure Suit Larry title and the special edition of the Untouchables. "Did it sound anything like that?" However, for the second time in three weeks, I went to BB, bought stuff, and neglected to pull out my $5 gift certificate. Sheesh. Still, I think I might have something I want to get this weekend. (And no, I'm not telling - yet.) The afternoon was light work and attempting a project you'll see here later today. (Not that you'll care, but you'll see it if you look.) And then a quick drive home, with a call right at the end that somewhat degenerated but was otherwise quite pleasant.

I'm developing a liking for Progresso Chicken Noodle. It's just a reasonably good soup, but U of M cafeterias got me hooked on soups, so it's pretty neat. I once again fell to the temptation to suck up and bought Mom a Suzy-Q. Oh well, at least it's not a freaking box. I took a LOTR deck design I put together that afternoon and pulled cards for it. Rob was 10 minutes late (gasp) and so I actually had time to finish it. Not that it won, but it almost did something really cool.

LOTR was surprisingly pleasant. Rob and I played two or three games (which I think he won), and then Charlie arrived. I let him play a game with Rob, and then we played a three-player game. It might actually be that Rob won every game yesterday, but it didn't have the sting it sometimes had. Maybe it's because someone who gets all tense, irritable and angry wasn't there last night. But then again, it really would have been more pleasant with him. I think. But Charlie got a little fatigued towards the end. He's officially called for an in-group banning of Rallying Call (of all things), and before Rob and I talked him down (thank you, Relentless Charge), he was talking about dropping if Greenleaf isn't banned. I can't say I blame him, as Greenleaf is so boringly powerful as to be nauseating. Rob can't really afford to get into Shadows, so he's semi-making noises about asking to freeze our group pre-Shadows. Of course, he's also not looking forward to losing Bill Ferny - something like the EIGHTH card Decipher has taken away from him. I don't agree with a LOT of the decisions Decipher makes, but sometimes they score a hit. Banning all cards with "Bill" in the name has been one of their good ones. The problem with all this is that we're down the one tournament player who might have a little more perspective on this, and we're also down one of our casual players who will be going forward with Shadows as I am. So it's hard to get discussions going that aren't really one-sided.

After that, I picked up, watched a little CSI with Mom, and then went upstairs. I dropped online and noticed that I got into Garvey's game! Whoo-hoo! Let's hear it for people who write 15,000 words of background! So that's all good. And then I loaded up Leisure Suit Larry. It's good - it's way more adult than most of the previous titles, and that's saying something. But it's also looking to be more of a series of mini-games and has a vague MMO influence on it. So good and the bad. I got a souvenir from one fine young woman and put it away. I'd been itching to hit iTunes for a few songs, and picked out around ten. I bought them and went to bed.

This morning, stupid computer trick:

A) Burn CD with iTunes containing purchased songs in weird-ass proprietary format
B) Rip from CD to make MP3s
C) Take songs and put them on MP3 player, something Apple appears to not want you to do without owning a freaking $200 iPod

And the drive to work was made pleasant and happy, if a little late due to the delay. Mom's muffins rock.

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.