Some people say, "Now I've seen everything!"  Here's something new for them to make such a silly claim. 

 

So I traded my Monday off for Saturday to go to An & Tina's wedding.  Saturday morning I tried to rush to PV Mall to get their present, but I had a few bike difficulties.  Eventually, I made it (passing walkers on the Walk for the Cure along the way), used my Westcor gift certificate I've had since Christmas, and jetted back home (but not before running into a couple of RPGA kids).  I wrapped their gift and my mother's birthday gift (purchased last holiday season), showered, and was barely ready by the time my mom arrived.

 

So, we went to Laveen Baptist Church for the wedding.  It was beautiful.  (They wrote the whole ceremony themselves because they both find traditional weddings too long and boring for attendees.)  Afterwards, we went to Hampton Inn in Goodyear for the reception.  The food was excellent:  roast beef, chicken, honey glazed baby carrots, fiesta-style corn, wild rice, cornbread stuffing, red potatoes, German chocolate for the groom's cake, and the most awesome spice cake bottom, lemon meringue center, nut cake top, and cream frosting bridal cake.  The dances and speaches were beautiful, but the night was cut short when the groom's mother dislocated her hip on the dance floor and had to be rushed to the hospital.  After that, I went with my mom to her house so I could spend her birthday with her without her driving to my side of town too many times in the same weekend.  That's when I made yesterday's entry. 

 

So today we went to mass at the mission in Maricopa she attends.  Father Pete (who comes from the parish in Casa Grande) presided his last mass before transfering to Yuma.  The mass was part English and part Spanish, and the microphones seemed to work only some of the time.  Afterwards they had posole and white cake for Father. 

 

Then Mom and I went back to her place for a game of Disney Trivia (she won for a change) while I baked her an anglefood birthday cake with Halloween chocolate chips.  We had burritos for lunch, watched The Three Doctors while eating her cake, and then had to call it a day. 

 

So here I am, home, and stuck going to work early tomorrow.  Have a great week everyone!

 

Currently Watching The Power of Goodbye By Madonna see related

Secretive and wise, the Mekhet are masters of all things hidden. They hunt from the shadows, preying secretly on victims and unlocking secrets that no one should know. The only common thread linking Mekhet is an affinity for the night itself or some metaphorical darkness, such as a pained soul or a thirst for knowledge. Mekhet are tutored intensely by their sires so that they understand the nature of the clan and its duties. Some prefer to let their progeny discover the Kindred world on their own, but not even these sires stray so far that they cant watch a protgs progress.

What Vampire: the Requiem Vampire clan are you?
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The Ordo Dracul. The Ordo Dracul claims to follow the teachings of Vlad Tepes, Dracula himself. Dracula claimed to have no sire, struck by God with undeath for his abuse of faith. The Dragons, as they are known, comprise one of the youngest major factions of the society of the Damned. Their supposed founder has not been seen in over a century, and his absence further brings the Ordo Dracul into question with some Kindred. The Order teaches that nothing is permanent, that even vampirism can be overcome. The Dragons have developed a number of supernatural paths that lessen the effects of the Curse, paths they call the Coils of the Dragon. Although there is no evidence of any Kindred fully escaping the Requiem through the Dragons' rites, the Order's beliefs still attract Kindred of all types and ages into its ranks. All are welcome, so that their knowledge and experiences of the vampiric condition can be shared. This growing pool of knowledge is one of the Dragons' goals the more they know of the Curse, the better they can act against it.

What Vampire: the Requiem Vampire Covenant are you?
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Humans 1288, Dead 2912, Zombies 0.  It's an interesting idea, and I bet with practice I could get better.  Thanks to Chris for showing me the original Romero-style zombie infection simulation.  Talk about scarey! 

 

Anyway, one of the benefits of having a corner lot with a fire hydrant is that I can be woken up at any time by crews that need to use it.  Like this morning, when at 03:30 hours I could hear the engine of a huge truck running outside my window, people running through my yard saying, "Go!  Go!  Go!" and being able to smell that wet smoke aroma by about 05:30 hours.  Before I left for work I circled around the neighborhood to see how severe the damage was and didn't see any, so my guess is that it was an internal structure fire which never breached the outer walls.  Hopefully, everyone is alright. 

 

The TFLAS meeting was canceled today.  I don't know when the next one is.  That's probably a good thing as I'm already tired thanks to this morning's antics followed by riding against strong winds the whole way home this evening.  See ya around!

 

 

So I finally saw Spider-Man II today at the Silver Cinemas.  What a great movie.  So, of course, I miss the call from Merlevic I had been expecting all week while I was in the theatre.  By the time I called back all I was able to do was phone tag her back.  Someday we'll both be available at the same time, hopefully.

 

After the movie I got to thinking about several things including speculations on Spider-Man III villains and subplots, storybook romances, social responsibility, and how I want more of the later two in my own life. 

 

I thought I had more to say on that last point, but I guess that really sums it up.  Hmmm....what else can I post in this entry so it doesn't seem too short?

 

OK, here's my belated Hexacon XIV report.  Tony DiGerolamo was a pretty cool GoH, hanging out in gaming space most of the con.  I wasn't interested in his Complete Mafia for d20, but Monte played it and enjoyed the game immensely. 

 

Thursday I ran into Shane.  This was the first time we ran into each other in some years.  He was there to run the anime room.  We traded E-mails and said we'd be in touch.  I also ran into Sean, Matt, Ivan, the usual CASFS con staff members, and the others I usually only see at cons and had various conversations with them. 

 

Friday I played Mastermind, 20 Questions, and Shadowfist with Ken.  Then I assisted Wayne in running Pokemon Live Action Four.  That's where the picture of me in the lab coat is from on the Hexacon Web site and earlier in this journal.  Weirsch agreed to play Wild Pokemon for us, and he marveled at how much fun PLA really is.  Its funny how people automatically assume that if the material is geared for kids that they as adults won't be able to enjoy it.  At midnight I played in my first Living Arcanis module which was quite fun.  Chris Sanders really is a good DM, as he makes a scripted module actually seem like the player characters are central and can have an effect on the universe.  (Unlike other RPG judges who we won't name.) 

 

Saturday I assisted Wayne in running Diagon Alley Live.  It was a very different experience from Hogwarts Live Action, but I think everyone had fun.  Weirsch was our villain, and he did a good job of appearing to be heroic in the beginning and only leaking out clues as needed as the game progressed.  He even converted a Hogwarts student to his side until they were caught by the authorities.  Then they ratted on each other and made sure that they both fell rather than just one or the other.  Afterward I played a bit of Risk 2210AD before having to give up my spot at the end of round two to go play in another midnight Living Arcanis session run by Chris.  It was a session in which the characters were having dreamtime nightmares were prevalent, so there was an actual soundtrack to the module which was played to ad to the mood of the piece.  Very well done.

 

Sunday we finished off Pokemon Live Action Four.  Afterward I played some Beer Money and Shadowfist.  Postcon I attended the deaddog/Ivan's birthday/Phoenix Con Games official announcement party.  Plenty of good snacks and conversations abounded until I had to leave to meet An and Tina at Harkins Centrepoint where we saw Napoleon Dynomite.  What an awesome movie!  The 1980s style teen angst brought tears to my eyes.  The characters were quirky enough to remind me of people I knew from my own childhood, the kind where the truth is often blamed as being stranger than fiction.  I don't think I could rave about this movie enough. 

 

Well, its late.  I think I'll call it a night.  I had planned a more thorough account of Hexacon, but its been too long for me to remember most of what I wanted to record.  Night!

 

With Tempe about to house the last of the presidential non-debates, I thought I'd share this little article from earlier in the campaign that I recently found. Of course, with my work schedule I missed the VP non-debate and only heard part of the most recent presidential non-debate.  The part I heard was pretty interesting.  I noticed how they ignored questions to respond to previous things the other said on several occasions.  Why both to make such rigid set of rules to prevent debate if both sides are just going to break those rules when it suits them?

 

So, let's see where we left off.  Nine days ago we played Nautilus at Papago Park.  The mosquitos were so bad the gang actually lathered themselves in OFF! instead of just spraying it on themselves.  I opted to pull out my windbreaker and drop my hair instead.  Once again, the backpack came through for me.  People may tease me, but it's nice to be prepared.  I did end up with some bites on my hands, but my summer biking gloves have exposed fingers. 

 

Eight days ago Steve's game was canceled, so Wayne invited me over to show me some mail merge stuff for LepreCon XXXI.  After that I came home and watched SG1, Buffy, and Angel at their new times. 

 

Seven days ago I went to mass, biked over to Wayne's for the Paladium game, and came home to watch Enterprise, Buffy, and Angel.  The ride from church to Wayne's was interesting as the people along the way were actually friendly, unlike the whole summer.  It's always facinating how people let the summer heat make them grumpy. 

 

Six days ago I mowed the lawn, returned the drill my father lent me, and went to Bill's for hamburgers, Star Wars Life:  A Jedi's Path, Star Wars Epic Duels, and D&D Scourge of Worlds. 

 

Three days ago I had swapped work schedules so that I could attend lector training.  They changed EM and lector procedures effective immediately, so we had to attend Thursday or Saturday training periods. 

 

Two days ago I hosted another session of Nautilus for the gang plus Steve.  Yesterday Steve hosted a game night, but only Monte and I showed.  We ended up playing Settlers of Catan and Munchin basic editions. 

 

This morning I attended mass, had a slew of phone calls, went to the Assassins in Love tournament where Ken & I lost every game we played.  Oh well.  Then I came home, watched some tv, checked email, and posted this here.  I like the new Jack & Bobby show.  Check it out. 

 

Having attended morning mass several times recently, I can't wait to attend my normal evening mass again next week.  The assembly in the morning is bearly audible in its spoken and sung participation, and Father drags out the pauses in his homilies much too long compared to when he does evening mass.  I'm not sure if that's because he's tired, he's trying to reach a tired audience, some combination, or something else entirely. 

 

Anyway, I'm getting tired.  So I'm going to sleep.  Night.

 

Girls Just Want to Be Swapped. 

 

Well, last night we (DeAnna, Wayne, and I) had a very productive HLA2/DAL2 meeting.  We acomplished enough that if we keep on this track, we might have as much as we do in a year done in half the time.  Don't worry, this site will stay Spoiler Free.  For those that want more information, join us at TFLAS. 

 

Tonight I had a flat on the way home.  The screw was in so tight that despite the fact the tire went flat in less than a minute, it took almost five to get the screw out.  Suffice it to say, it was unpatchable.  Lucky me. 

 

That also means that I missed out on the US presidential candidate debate, which I forgot to try to tape.  Wayne tells me that both candidates came across as failures.  That wouldn't surprise me, its not like either of them is that great of a choice. 

 

Well, I was hoping to do more recap than this, but its already late thanks to the flat I had.  Have a good night, world!