Just in case humanity couldn’t disappoint you any further:  German Politician Proposes Seven Year-long Marriages

When Mike passed on, I took it upon myself to keep Shadowfist demos and tournements running at some of the local conventions while Travis took it upon himself to keep the Shadowfist Arizona Proving Ground running.  The first convention I ran Shadowfist at was CopperCon XXV, where the Shadowfist events were more popular than the official WotC demos (including Hecatomb and Robo Rally).  However, a co-worker beat me to the PTO the past two years.  CopperCon XXVI was in Tempe, so it wasn’t even worth riding there after work on Saturday.  I had family and parish obligations on Sunday, and it wasn’t worth riding over there after the evening mass on Sunday.  So I showed up on Monday and played some Shadowfist with Ken. 

OK, that’s enough backstory to my tale of CopperCon XXVII.  This year Bob, the convention chair, asked me to run Gaming.  I had to turn him down, what with my inability to get the whole weekend off.  I don’t know who ended up running Gaming.  When I showed up Saturday evening after work I discovered that they had Arcade Gaming in Salon E and Console Gaming in Room 2005.  They didn’t have any place set aside for pickup card or board games.  Program scheduled a Great Dalmuti game in Lower Pre-Convene on Saturday afternoon, so when I showed up the Shadowfist crew wanted to play there.  When I arrived there was a Vampire:  The Masquerade LARP running outside and a Masquerade Fashion Show running in Suite ABCD.  First I chatted with a few of the convention regulars in the lobby during happy hour, then played several games of Shadowfist in Lower Pre-Convene, including a seven player game.

Sunday I went to mass before arriving at the hotel.  There were several good things on Program for the day, but I knew that I would have to miss them.  We took over a small part of Lower Pre-Convene and played more games of Shadowfist.  Rockets for Kids was also scheduled down there, so we eventually left for lunch at Chino Bandito.  We returned, played more games, and eventually called it a night late in the evening.  Somewhere in there we also played High School Drama and Torches and Pitchforks, plus possibly some other games I no longer recall, visited the Dealer’s Room, perused the Art Show, and raided ConSuite (hospitality suite).

In the dealer’s room I ran into Shane again.  He’s become a major player in CASFS, WesternSFA, and AniZona since we last met (at the Frys’ D&D campaign).  He began simply enough staffing the Anime Room at CopperCons with the various anime fan clubs he’s been a member of for years.  His whole demenor smacked of someone who actually wanted to become a SMoF, the way he bragged about his fannish accomplishments and badmouthed his fellow committee members from various conventions. 

At one point (or possibly twice?) I visited the ConSuite.  There I was accused of being the Program director for CopperCon XXVIII.  I quickly denied such a thing.  Several times throughout the con I ran into Catherine, who was definately pressuring me to agree to Program both CopperCon XXVIII and CopperCon XXIX so she could back out of her commitments.  I certainly couldn’t blame her.  No one should have to Program that many years in a row.  She’s already done two years in a row (something insane that I promised myself I would never do again), that would make five conventions in four years if she kept those commitments, plus her commitment to FiestaCon.  I have agreed to be her staff for FiestaCon, but I’m not really interested in being the committee member again.  It’s too much work, even with the friendships and aquaintances I’ve made because of it. 

Kyla also approached me in person about her continuing offer to join the committee forming for a new convention.  She allayed my fears about inappropriate content, so I agreed to be banker/treasurer.  I’m just not interested in assisting anything which isn’t fully family friendly, and luckily she is of a similar mind.  Kyla’s been successful with AniZona (which she has been asking me to help with for years), so this should be an interesting process I’ve never been a part of before:  starting from the ground up.

So, over all, despite attending the convention only from late evening Saturday until late evening Sunday, I enjoyed myself.  I was able to get in as much gaming, visits to the ConSuite, touring of the Art Show, and browsing of the Dealer’s Room as I usually get at a CopperCon or LepreCon, about a third as much socializing as I usually get at such conventions, and completely missed out on my usual amounts of Filk and Program.  At least I was able to keep the Shadowfist faithful appeased, rather than letting the momentum falter.  That makes the sacrifice worthwhile. 

Thanks to hai-kah-uhk for the quiz:
Here is the personalDNA map that uniquely represents my personality. Mouse over any part of the box or strip to learn more about the traits that the colors represent.

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”  ~ E. E. Cummings

Batman’s arrival ruffles HK politicians.

And we continue from our twice-interrupted narrative…

We were going to join Troy for brunch, but Steve decided to skip. This is when Steve and Troy did the Guardian 6 trade off, although it ticked off Steve later when he found out that Troy just used his slot rather than buying his own.  So we went to the Johnny Rockets in Circle Centre Mall.  Troy needed to stop by the Playroom Entertainment booth, where we played a sample of Portobello Market.  It was a game I’d play again, but not one I’d buy for myself.  He ended up picking up a copy of Mother Sheep for his family after chatting with his friends at the booth.  We also ran into Chris while in the Exhibitors’ Hall.  I had thought that he wasn’t coming, but I guess he was able to do so at the last minute, although without Michelle.  I ended up accidentally giving him the wrong directions to the Paradigm Concepts booth, as I hadn’t yet made my way there. 

After we succeeded in retrieving SANDMAN and returning it in the biocontainment chamber to G6HQ, I parted company with my G6 comrades and headed to the Shadowfist Dueling World Finals.  On the way I ran into Ivan, who asked if I was going to the 4dventure panel that evening.  When I said that I wasn’t he mentioned that he had to go clear out the RPGA and their tables, set up the room for the presentation, keep the RPGA folks organized as their were likely to be the same attendees for the panel, et cetera.  (He’s the night manager for GenCon Indy.)  He hinted that their might be a correlation between the title and the room they chose to hold it in, but I told him not to worry.  It couldn’t be 4e as WotC had promised that all future D&D announcements would no longer happen at GenCon, but at D&D Experience.  (That was supposed to be the whole reason they renamed the convention, previously named Winter Fantasy.  Of course I didn’t believe that.  Hasbro has never proven to be that trustworthy.  Sure enough, later in the convention I heard that they had announced 4e at the event.)

At the dueling finals I played my Dragon Dojo deck, and did very poorly.  People were amazed that I had a Capoera Master in my deck, citing that it isn’t cost effect for a ramp character.  Maybe I should submit a new version of the card in the next set of submissions.  Between beat downs,  I organized the backpack full of Power for Promos I had brought, stacking boosters into 38 piles of 48 points each.  Allen didn’t bother to count them all, and let me submit a list of Promos he would get to me before the end of the convention. 

Friday night was also our True Dungeon Hardcore Puzzle night.  We survived, of course, earning not only a Hardcore Survivor pin but a special treasure token.  When we got back to the hotel room, something strange happened:  Troy decided that he wasn’t going to play our True Dungeon Hardcore Combat run the next night because Bill had invited Troy and Steve to join him and the other KFGers in a Hardcore Combat run Thursday night.  Once Troy bowed out, Steve, Bill, and Brian did too.  So, if I wanted to play I would have to assemble my own group or Steve was going to get a refund on our batch of tickets.  Even pointing out that the Hardcore survivor exclusive tokens might be valuable for trading would not deter them from their decision.

Saturday I had had enough of skipping breakfast.  I enjoyed the hotel’s full buffet breakfast, which was very good.  I chose to play Guardian 6′s Operation Deep Six rather than play the Shadowfist Multiplayer World Finals.  I had to pass by the Shadowfist room while on my way to pick up the identity of Component Alpha, and I saw a large group of players.  I did really want to play, but I was committed to trying this new G6 game, and I had no team mates for Saturday (as much as I tried to get Troy to join me).  I couldn’t risk not finishing in time.  I learned later that Ken had hoped to run into me at the event, and was surprised to see that I never showed.  However, I can play Shadowfist later.  I can even play in the world finals next year.  I cannot play G6 later, nor can I play Operation Deep Six next year.  So, it was a no brainer.

Plus, I was still trying to get a team together for a True Dungeon Combat run.  I contacted Kristin, Dan, and Eric as they had expressed interest in a Combat run.  The only tickets they were able to purchase were Puzzle, which had left them disappointed.  However, when I called with the offer they expressed a scheduling conflict.  I checked with some of the Shadowfist crew who had also expressed an interest during one of the earlier Shadowfist tournaments, but they, too, declined.  Ken wasn’t interested in spending that kind of money for an event.  I tried some of the G6 folks who had expressed earlier interest to no avail, and so I eventually had to give Steve the OK to get his refund.

Ken and I ran into each other wandering the Exhibitor Hall, and ended up sample playing ShaZamm! at the Z-Man Games booth.  It was fun enough to play again, but I probably wouldn’t buy it.  It was intuitive enough that Ken and I didn’t need much help from the demonstrator.   We stopped by a few other booths before and after, but then I ran into some G6 friends and I lost Ken. 

Near the end of my G6 run Troy gave me a call and he ended up joining me anyway.  I think he was enjoying G6, and after finishing the mission we went to the True Dungeon Tavern.  He was looking to do some token trading, and I chatted it up with Kristin, Dan, and Eric for a bit.  After they left for their game (the previously mentioned scheduling conflict) I tried my hand at the Rogue’s Game.  I failed miserably, and I was pressed into service as Nightshade’s token collection caddy.  After my service, Troy and I went to the G6 Safehouse.  There we cashed in our paychecks to play some poker.  I, once again, proved my inferior poker skills, having to be bailed out several times by Troy or others just to keep me in the game. 

Eventually, I bowed out and went back to TD to try my luck as a walk-on for a combat run.  I succeeded and played the new Druid character option through a Standard Combat run (with only seven players despite two walk-ons).  Woah, the monsters were so cool!  The TD crew took the time to have actual costumes for a wraith, rock golem, and medusa, plus a full-sized beholder on a track!  Way, way awesome stuff!  After that, we came out of the dungeon into the chaos of them tearing down.  Apparently they tear down the game room by room as the last group leave it and goes into the next.  It kind of acts as a buzzkill, especially as some in my group didn’t ever get to experience the tavern (which had been the first to be torn down, despite the fact that you’re supposed to get a free tavern visit after the TD run.  They felt that was really unfair, and the organizers countered with the fact that they wanted some sleep before the next event was scheduled in that room in the morning.  TD should give a free GenCon event ticket for the Tavern for each GenCon event ticket purchased for the TD.  That way you could go before the Tavern closes if you have one of the later TD runs.  That’s just my opinion. 

Afterward I returned to the G6 Safehouse, where I played some more poker, then hung out with Steve and some of his National Security Decision Making Game friends.  Eventually, because I was starting to fall asleep, I walked Bill, who was already asleep in the Safehouse, back to the hotel.

Sunday I got up, had the hotel breakfast buffet again, then rushed to mass.  Fr. Noah gave an excellent homily, asking that we be on fire.  It was very inspirational, and just what I needed to hear.  As his summation said, “Let us be caught on fire by His love, and let us become the fire of the Gospel in the moments and times of our lives.” 

After mass I went back to the hotel and grabbed my stuff for the day.  I hadn’t had time before mass to do so.  Then I went to the other Whirlpool of Blood tournament.  This time we drafted from Six Guns and Shurikens, Critical Shift, and Red Wedding.  I started drafting Purists, but discovered that someone else must have been so I switched to what I was getting a lot of:  Shadow Syndicate.  As the draft continued, I found myself with enough cards to make a Morphic Spirit deck anyway, so I did.  My final factions were Ascended, Eaters of the Lotus, Purists, and Shadow Syndicate.  The four player final saw me nearly win, as the other three banded together for a twenty-minute discussion on how to stop me.  By the time it was my turn, I was so anxious to do something I went off half-cocked and forgot half of my strategy.  Lesson:  I need more patience as I more than likely had enough to win that turn if I had played it right.  The game swung Braz’s way next.  Later, it swung away from both Braz and I and towards Daniel and Josh.  I started reascending, but not in time to stop Daniel from winning.  At least I won second place, much better than I’ve done previously at GenCon!  In addition to winning the second place set of promo cards, Daniel let me have the wrappers (and hence their Power for Promos points) as he had witnessed my previous usage Friday evening.  After saying my goodbyes, I headed to the Exhibitor’s Hall to see what kind of last minute discounts were being offered.

I ran into Kristin, Dan, and Eric at the Exile Games Studio booth.  They had asked me to check the booth out several times during the show, and mention that I knew them.  So that was kind of serendipitous.  I took pictures of the booth staff with the three of them for Kristin, before saying my goodbyes to them. 

I met the GM Syndicate folks after only knowing them from the Dundjinni boards.  They had some cool stuff, both current and pending.  I suggested that making animals as Objects was fairly useless to me, but that animals as Tokens would be something I’d buy.  I think they’re going to take my suggestion to heart, and offer the same images both as Objects and Tokens on the same product.  Once they do, I’ll be sure to buy it as promised. 

The folks at Paradigm Concepts had their new hardback copy of Psionics Unbound, which was supposed to only be available at the big three conventions:  Origins, GenCon, and DragonCon.  However, the folks at the booth told me that the hardcover was going to be available in game stores by October.  Huh?  I thought game stores were only going to get softcover.  No, apparently not.  Well, fine then.  I saved my money and didn’t buy it there. 

I have yet again run into the limit on the number of tags I can put into this blog.  Oh well, I’ll just split the week one more time and complete this week in history with the next entry.

Thanks to strangehermit for the quiz:
You are Apocalypse

Apocalypse 50% Magneto 48% The Joker 44% Green Goblin 44% Dr. Doom 43% Poison Ivy 41% Dark Phoenix 40% Riddler 40% Lex Luthor 37% Mr. Freeze 33% Mystique 32% Two-Face 32% Venom 30% Juggernaut 28% Catwoman 21% Kingpin 20%

You believe in survival of the fittest and you believe that you are the fittest.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

“A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.” ~  English Proverb

Here is a clever parody that mixes the Lord of the Rings movies with The Princess Bride:  Is This A Kissing Book?

And we continue from our interrupted narrative…

Wednesday, Steve, Troy, and I had brunch in the Circle Centre Mall food court (I went for Chick-fil-A).  They we went to the convention center to buy events tickets, pick up a program book, and pick up our freebie bag.  Bill was busy with the Forum Stink, but he met up with Steve and Troy as I left them to attend mass for the Assumption.  When I got back to the hotel Brian and some of his HeroClix friends were there, too.  We all went to dinner at Battery Park.  Our waitress was a cute twentysomething who, as we left, Troy asked about late night opportunities in downtown.  We had noticed that most things were closed by 17:00-18:00.  She said that she and a coworker always go to a bar on Wednesday nights to play Trivia, but that the two of them never have a chance to win because they’re competing against teams of six and seven.  So, when we got back to the hotel I suggested that we go join her team of two.  As gamers, we’d likely be of some great help.  None of the others were willing to go fourteen blocks.  This caused Steve to be concerned for Troy, a theme that lasted until we left him at Sky Harbor on Monday.  I wasn’t willing to walk alone fourteen blocks at night in a strange town, so I was stuck doing a whole lot of nothing with the others.

Thursday, I ignored my wakeup call.  By the time I got up and showered I ended up skipping breakfast to rush over to the convention.  I showed up too late to play an 08:00 game in the Mayfair area, as had been my tradition.  So I wandered on down to the Guardian 6 area, despite the fact that the game didn’t start until 09:00.  There was already one woman there.  We worked out the GenCon Puzzle Hunt for Tiamat before others came, including my friends from a few years ago, Kristin and Dan.  They had Dan’s brother Eric in tow, and they expressed how they had missed me last year.  Well, once it was 09:00 we started pulling out our tickets when I discovered I had left my event tickets in the hotel room!  So, I said my goodbyes and headed back.  The others were finally getting up, showering, and headed to breakfast (to which I was invited).  I just grabbed my tickets and headed back.  By the time I got back, the Guardian 6 folks had just arrived!  So everyone told me to get back in line (luckily, as it was very long by this point) and I was still second to sign in.  They didn’t have their dossiers yet, so we created a second line after signing in as we awaited the dossiers.  Eventually Mike Selinker came with the dossiers, and we began Operation Firefly.

Troy decided to join me that day, so I met him on the steps of the capitol.  The first puzzle we chose to tackle was set inside.  After we finished that puzzle we moved onto the only unfun puzzle of the entire G6 event:  the phone tag in the exhibition hall.  At least it gave me a chance to stop by the Fiery Dragon and Flying Buffalo booths.  We also ran into Mike, who Troy gave a hard time for having such a small picture and text in the program book (a mere quarter page).  Aparently Steve had just recently gave him a hard time for the same reason.  Other than the phone tag mission, we had a lot of fun doing the G6 event until Troy had to go to the World Series of Poker Tournament.  I finished what I could by myself before I had to go to the Comrades in Arms Tournament.  I passed on what I could to Troy when he was done, and the two of us rushed to the G6 booth to both get credit for finishing.  Then I rushed back to the Whirlpool of Blood Tournament.

During the Comrades in Arms I used my Jammers Ape City deck while Ken used my Ascended Monkey King deck.  Ken had a horrible time with the deck, which is one of Monte’s favorite decks to borrow.  I did OK with my deck, often fooling players into using the designator “Monkey” with their Discos then playing “Simian”s out the wazzoo.  Neither of us made it to the finals. 

Ken couldn’t stay for the Whirlpool of Blood, as his ride to the hotel wouldn’t wait until midnight.  The Flying Buffalo crew was staying at a low budget hotel miles from downtown, and he wasn’t willing to spend that kind of cab fare just to play another game.  It was the first draft I’ve played with pods.  We drafted Six Guns and Shurikens, Critical Shift, and Dark Future.  I ended up taking two Shadow Syndicate pods, and built my first Syndicate deck.  It worked fairly well, but my unfamiliarity with the 6G&S and CS cards worked against me.

Friday saw Steve choosing to join me for Guardian 6 and Operation Pandora, but Troy bowing out.  Steve got very frustrated with the first mission at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.  He gave up on the game, chewed out the G6 staff at HQ, and Troy took over his slot.  Friday’s G6 “failure” was that people couldn’t operate a simple eTrex unit during one particular mission, so by the time I went to do the mission they skipped out on giving me a unit.  I was kind of disappointed, as folks at work call me a “GPS guru.”  (I really hate the term guru, but that’s another blog entry all together.)  However, there’s nothing cooler than meeting a contact in a back alley and being driven around downtown with a black hood over your head.  That’s immersion storytelling at its finest. 

I have apparently run into the limit on the number of tags I can put in my blog yet again.  Oh well, I’ll just split the week yet again and continue further in the next entry.

Thanks to otaku-d for this quiz:

“A book is like a garden carried in the pocket” ~  Chinese Proverb

ayca introduces Featured Question.

So, there I was:  I had one week to go before GenCon and I got nothing done (other than finish HP7).  Thus, the Sunday before was busy:  doing laundry, packing for the trip, building a deck for my first Ritual of the Unnameable tournament, attending mass, buying chocolate for my catsitter, checking for last minute updates on Guardian 6, and packing for work the next day; all the while trying to make time for my cat before I left.  At mass Fr. Gene announced that a new associate pastor, Fr. Bob would be introduced at all of the masses.  I’m sure he was happy to get a replacement for Fr. Joy.

Monday morning Bob was kind enough to give me a ride to work.  Midmorning I realized I had left my badge, event tickets, and my hand written schedule at home.  Luckily, my mom was kind enough to stop by my house on her way home from work and drop them off at my work.  After work, Doug was kind enough to give me a ride to Troy’s place.  It was the first time I’d met his third child.  His daughter showed me their baby scrapbooks (again), while his older son showed me the Over the Hedge console game.  Ken called and asked if I could bring some extra Shadowfist decks for him to borrow, as he was having trouble finding any of his built decks and didn’t have time to build new ones.  Then we all watched the first few episodes of Jack of All Trades, which turned out to be an awesome television show!  We interrupted an episode for dinner, but never returned to it as we adults chose to watch Star Wars:  Fool’s Errand instead (as Troy’ brother-in-law has a small part) while the children went to bed.  As we needed an a/v cable to watch it, Troy and I did a quick trip to his bank and Wal*Mart.  After the film we all called it a night.

Tuesday morning Troy and I headed to Sky Harbor.  We met up with Steve and had a overpriced, overly heatlamped breakfast at the terminal’s Burger King.  After a short delay, we boarded.  Steve busted out Settlers of Catan to pass the time.  The flight was mostly uneventful, though we had to wait through some very light turbulence for the storm to calm down at Indy before we could land.  Bill came and picked us up, and we went to check-in at the hotel.  It turned out that the hotel was having a Guest Appreciation Evening in their 120 West Market.  They had cocktail tables set up throughout the restaurant, some delish fruits, breads, and cheeses; sushi and sashimi; gourmet pizzas (including an awesome salmon pizza); and the piece de resistance:  a mashed potato bar!  For dessert they had various cakes and tarts, plus a chocolate fondu fountain with pretzels, cake cubes, and fruits.  The mashed potato bar was too incredible.  The server would take an ice cream scooper and scoop either mashed sweet potato, mashed yukon gold potato, or mashed garlic potato into a large martini glass.  She’d hand the glass over to you, and you could load it up with over a dozen different topping choices.  I could have ate that every day for the whole week, but the hotel didn’t offer the mashed potato bar ever again, even for a fee.  We settled into our hotel room while Bill went to run some Cthulu for KFG at the Ram.  I called up Mary to confirm that she and Ivan would be joining us for True Dungeon on Friday night.  Steve and I played a couple of hands of Shadowfist.  That’s when I discovered that I had somehow packed several decks, but not the Ritual of the Unnameable deck I had built on Sunday.  That was very frustrating.  Meanwhile, Troy had an online game to run, the name of which escapes me.

How lame, apparently there is a limit on the number of tags I can put in my blog.  Oh well, I’ll just split the week here and continue further in the next entry.

	My Flixster

“Continuous effort is the key to unlocking our potential.” ~ Black Elk, Indigenous North American

The Shoemaker and the Brownies is probably what inspired Hermione to create S.P.E.W.

Our parish always sends us little gift booklets at the start of each Advent and Lent.  This Lent we recieved Lent 2007: A Time for Mending: Daily Scripture Meditations and Prayers.  The entry from Thursday After Ash Wednesday reads, “Imagine a life where we can peel away our many disguises and let the world see us as we truly are:  vulnerable, valuable, hurting, hoping, dreaming, believing, yearning for love and acceptance.  Finally, we can be honest about our shortcomings, transparent in our motives, and genuine in our love.”  That totally sums up why I switched from a hard drive journal to a web journal. 

Then the entry for Sunday of the First Week reads, “When you’re in the midst of troublesome times, write down your wake-up calls in a journal.  What truths are they telling you about yourself?  How are they renewing and reviving your spirit?”  Awesome blogging material to be sure.  Hopefully I have done and will continue to do as such.

---

Friday I had an inspiration while riding past a KFC.  They have these commericals about a Fish Snacker.  So I turn in, lock up my bicycle, go inside, and wait in line.  I asked the lady in the line if they stocked fish snackers, as they had nothing about fish anywhere inside the restaurant.  She confirmed the hidden menu selection.  So I asked if I could order a fish-based KFC bowl.  No.  So I left.

If they have the fish in stock, why not offer it as a fish bowl?  Because KFC doesn’t want my money, that’s why.  Silly KFC.  Why turn down good $US?

Saturday night after work I stopped by Metrocenter to pick up some February and March cards from The Card Shoppe.  Afterwards, I dropped by Game Nightz to find out why they never called me back last year.  The owner’s lame excuse:  he wasn’t able to find a distributor which carries Shadowfist, so he had no reason to call me back.  Lame.  He couldn’t be bothered to call and tell me even that?  He obviously doesn’t want my business.  He and the people at KFC must have gone to the same school for bad buisness. 

So, I told him that Shadowfist Games sells direct, but that if he needed a distributor that he should try Potomac.  He was so obviously disinterested, he didn’t even bother to write anything down.  I’ve offered to run demos in his store, but he claims that there’s no room in his schedule.  That night there was no one in the gaming area, but he still turned down Shadowfist demos in his store.  I bought Shadowfist from him when he was still an employee of Game Daze.  I just don’t see his current resistance.

---

Ugh.  I’m tired.  Time to go to bed.

What Your Bathroom Habits Say About You

You are a very considerate person, but that doesn’t mean you let people walk all over you. Your idea of fashion is jeans and a t-shirt. Clean, if you’re lucky. You are a little shy and easily embarrassed. You often wonder if you are normal. In relationships, you are practical and realistic. You have a romantic side, but you only let it out when it’s appropriate.

 

“There is plenty of room at the top, but no place to sit down.” ~Unknown

Currently Listening
Doctor Who 29:  The Chimes of Midnight (8th Doctor & Charlie Pollard)
By Robert Shearman
see related

 

Thief Sins at Holiday Mass

I’ve copied the Shadowfist events from the DarkCon web site to my own Events section.  It’s been awhile since I’ve used it.  I wish the Photos, Videos, Audios, and Profile portions of Xanga followed my skin like the Weblog, Reviews, and Events portions do.  Heck, I wish I could hide the Videos and Audios portions of my Xanga as I have no current intention to post any.  They automatically hide Reviews and Events, which I had to unhide.  Why doesn’t Xanga make each category optional by radio button or check box?  That’d be the most logical thing to do.  Then maybe it’d fix the situation where the Photos, Videos, Audios, and Profile don’t show up when looking at Reviews or Events and where Reviews and Events don’t show up when looking at Photos, Videos, Audios, or Profile. 

“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” ~William Feather

Where did fortune cookies come from and are they really Chinese?

similar_stranger said, “Somehow your quote makes me feel guilty. Oh well, small mind… at least it works–no?”  I certainly never meant anyone to feel guilty.  After all, journals (including weblogs like mine) are naturally about discussing people.  This here ‘blog is a discussion of me.  Does that mean we all have small minds?  No, my interpretation of the quote is that people that only discuss people are small minded;  those which discuss people and events are average minded;  and those which discuss people, events, and ideas are capable of being great minded.  It’s the natural progression of social development in people, IMO. 

I’ve been catching up on my lj blogs, but not my Xanga blogs.  Normally I do the opposite.  I need more time,  It’s had to believe that Advent starts next week.  My mother pointed out to me that I hadn’t put away my Christmas videos from last year when I pulled them out and placed them atop my television set.  (Why do we call it a set, when it’s a single unit anyway?)  There’s a lot of things I don’t make time for in my life.  I obviously need to reprioritize, something I seem to always be saying but not doing.   

Speaking of bad priorities, check out the most recent Onna Chance for another great gaming moment.  How could you not laugh? 

A week ago Sunday our hiking group resumed, doing the short basic trail between 40th Street and Tatum Boulevard and back.  Afterwards we went to 5 & Diner for breakfast, which was fun.  Then I went home for a nap before mass.  Father Joy read the gospel which inspired one of the best sequences in The Last Battle.  His homily focused on the Communion of Saints, a theme throughout all three readings.

Monday Bill and I went to Chuy’s before finally seeing the new Pirates movie at the discount theatre.  Can you believe that it’s $3 to see a discount movie now?!  The discount prices keep creeping up and up.  (I must be getting old.)  It was OK, but it was like The Empire Strikes Back or Back to the Future Part II in that it was obviously the dark second act of a three act story.  You knew early on in watching the film that it would end unended.  And amazingly, it did so fairly predictably.  That didn’t make it unfun, just not as entertaining as I had hoped.  That may also be part of the long period of anticipation preceding my chance to finally see it. 

Thursday saw a day off from work, so I went with my mother and grandparents to Thanksgiving Day diner at Cracker Barrel (yes, just like last year).  Afterwards we headed back to their place to celebrate my grandfather’s concurrent birthday, where my stepfather joined us.  He received a Marines ball cap from my grandmother, cash from my parents, and The Railroaders (from Bookman’s) from me. 

Friday my mother and I hit the Black Friday sales before I had to go into work.  We hit eight stores in two hours, plus eating breakfast from Jack in the Box while waiting between the stores we had already hit and the stores which hadn’t opened yet.  If you plan your sales out right the night before you can usually get everything you need quickly and without a lot of fuss.  Unfortunately, my mom know what I bought them and I know what she bought me, but that’s the price we pay for shopping when the best bargains are.  Of course, once I was at work it was relatively dead, as we don’t offer any Black Friday sales.  Thus, our holiday customers will hit the time-sensitive sales first and hit us when convenient.  Saturday was kind of slow, too, as usual. 

Saturday after work I also ran the first installment of Chapter Three in Chaos Out of Order, my continuing Dark Sun campaign set 300 years after the normal timeline.  They get some of the mystery so right, but then they get some of it so wrong.  It’s fun watching them slowly solve it, especially when one or the other has the right idea and the others disagree.  I think they’ve all been right at one time or another while the others disagreed.  As long as they’re having fun I’ll continue.

Yesterday I went to BJ’s birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza before my mother picked me up to go to mass.  It was fun, and BJ seemed happy with all of his many gifts.  I can’t recall them all, so I won’t bother trying to list them.  I gave him some Throne War, Netherworld 2, and Two-Fisted Tales boosters, a rule book from 10,000 Bullets, and a box of Deck Protector Sleeves so he finally has enough cards to hopefully build a deck and use the box.  Between the boosters I gave out for demos and those that he purchased at Hexacon, he didn’t have enough yet to build anything remotely playable.  I also had a chance to play Lisa in air hockey, which was enjoyable.  The time went too fast.  Despite my mother being antisocial, she did seem to enjoy talking with Kim and Lisa.  Maybe someday she can get the ladies to see what’s enjoyable about Doctor Who. 

At mass I was supposed to be the first lector, but ended up being the only lector.  Christ the King is a fun mass to attend every year, because before the main procession of the gospel book, altar servers, and priest we have several eucharistic ministers process forward with candles as the music minister announces sacramental and ministerial statistics for the past liturgical year (one stat with each candle that processes forward).  Of all of the parishes I’ve attended on Christ the King, St. Paul is the only one to do this. 

Father Gene noted before mass in the sacristy that one of the altar servers was now sporting an ear ring, and seemed surprised that his grade school allowed such a thing.  He didn’t make the server take it out, just as he never asks me to hide my long hair.  He did mention once again about his desire to retire in the next year.  I wonder if Father Joy would become pastor or if they’d assign us someone else.  In his homily Father Gene discussed kings and kingship, and how Christ is a holy king rather than a material king.

Before and after mass I was part of the team maintaining the Christmas Angels on the trees in the vestibule.  My mother volunteered to help, which was nice of her.  The Christmas Angels are clothing items (green angels), clothing sets (blue angels), or something nice–such as a toy for children–(blue angels) for the poor of El Mirage.  When I first was involved in our parish’s El Mirage Christmas Angels Project, El Mirage was a poor hispanic community in the rural area outside the metropolitan area.  Now El Mirage is mostly composed of upper middle class anglo families and retirees in various cookie cutter developments.  The poor of the community are now disenfranchised by their own city, which is now considered to be part of the metropolitan area.   The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Or something like that. 

Hey, I found my missing Feng Shui sourcebooks Back for Seconds, Thorns of the Lotus, and Blood of the Valiant today while looking for something else completely.  They had been filed with my outdated calendar collection.  Yes, I keep everything.  But, I was actually looking for some stuff I knew I had somewhere that I will be getting rid of after years of storing for absolutely no good reason.  Don’t ask me why the books were hidden with the calendars.  I have no idea.  And, no, I won’t be getting rid of my calendars.  They’re a journal of sorts with various events scribbled in them.  Future generations might want that history. 

Then I submitted some corrections to the RPG Wiki of RPGnet for the Feng Shui entries.  I’ll have to scan some covers sometime to complete their Feng Shui data for the Daedalus Entertainment (and Ronin Publishing) era.  Then I’ll work on inputting all of the Dark Sun data that they’re missing.  Remind me if I forget.  Thanks.

Well, Heroes:  The Best Show on Television will be on soon, so I’m gonna jet. 

Thanks to the_chaos_opera for the quiz:

Horus Sparkling personality, intense will, intelligent, understanding, impatient to exert influence. Colors: male: red carmine, female: gold Compatible Signs: Bastet, Geb Dates: Apr 20 – May 7, Aug 12 – Aug 19 Role:God of the pharaoh Appearance: Form of a falcon-headed man, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Sacred Animal: falcon What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock’s Quizzles and Quandaries

“If an idea’s worth having once, it’s worth having twice.” ~Tom Stoppard

D&D in Nissan?

So, I’ve (obviously) been ultra busy these past few weeks.  I posted a mini-recap as a comment-reply in my last entry.  I just posted some pics from Hexacon XVI on my lj.  I still haven’t successfully attended choir practice more than once, so I’m going to just give up on that.  Supernatural Thursdays and Doctor Who Fridays are still a fun chance to hang out with my friends, and we’ve played a couple more sessions of Chaos Out of Order on Saturdays. 

Father Milt asked me a couple of Sundays ago whether or not the Psalm we were practicing for mass was the same as the week before, and I couldn’t even recall.  Which made me question,  does going to 8am mass even count if I can’t even recall it a week later?  I guess the intent was good, but they say the road to hell is paved with such as those.  So what do I do the next week?  Go to 9:30am mass, which I can barely recall a week later.  Perhaps it’s just a sign of being too busy, but I suspect it’s because I chose to do mass when I have to get up early.  So what do I do to fix the situation, lose more sleep and blog it or quit going to morning masses?  I mean, obviously I can’t control when my cousin visits Arizona, but I could choose to leave a convention (such as Hexacon XVI) early instead of allowing myself time for events to go over their timeblocks.  I’ve done that so I don’t have to accidentally show up late for mass or disrupt people by leaving an event running over.  I dunno, it’s obviously something that needs rethinking. 

Mondays I’ve been still watching Heroes, the best show on television.  Even the other week when I had to work on Monday, Monte was kind enough to let me stop by his place on the way home from work so I wouldn’t miss the episode.  He watches it, too, so it wasn’t too much of an inposition.  He even cooked up a good chicken-pork mix for our dinner.  Last Monday was also Parish Time before Heroes.  I baked anise cookies (using leaf and acorn cookie cutters) with caramel sprinkles for the occassion.    We discussed Wisdom, Work, and Worship and what elements of Catholicism fall under each category.

My mother and I went to Chuy’s for her birthday last month.  She enjoyed her card (which referenced angel food cake, her preferred birthday cake) and a mini-deck of cards I’d purchased for her during our last visit to Disneyland.  She had recently retired her last well-used mini-deck of cards, so it was perfect timing. 

My cousin was in town from Wilkes-Barre on business, but my grandparents held a picnic for him with my parents, niece, and I in attendance.  My cousin from Tucson was disappointed that she couldn’t make it, but the rest of us had a great time.  We all had to miss his wedding in Syracuse the other year, so we pestered him with various questions which he was gracious enough to answer.

For Halloween Jay ran the new Expedition to Castle Ravenloft adventure.  Bill made a 9th level elven fighter, Da made a 9th level dwarven cleric of Temmanon, and I made a 9th level monk.  It was quite fun, and it was great to do a Halloween game again. 

Elections kept me busy, too.  We had a four page ballot, with lots of candidates and propositions.  As soon as Hexacon was over I went into overdrive learning all I could, reading every candidate statement, researching every write-in candidate, reading every proposition, et cetera.  Of course, as happens in a democracy, only some of the people and propositions went my way. 

 

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an… Economic Liberal (11% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

 

“Great minds discuss ideas, Average minds discuss events, Small minds discuss people.” ~Unknown

It’s one of those all day rains where it rains hard, then soft, then hard, then soft, then over cast but no rain, then hard, et cetera.  It should make returning from church tonight interesting, to say the least.  My headlight is on the fritz, people in Phoenix drive poorly on rainy streets, and Moon Valley is not the most well lit of neighborhoods.  I certainly don’t want to have to wait for a bus home if the headlight goes out.

It seems as if half of Xanga is sick these days. I wish them all well.  Monday the county reported a 1000% increase in pollen count between Sunday and Monday readings.  So that would explain the increase sicknesses and severe allergy attacks locally.  Its one of the drawbacks to a rainy season.  High fire dangers in the summer is the other major drawback.  But I’d rather have these problems then another year worsening our drought.

No Friday D&D recap, as I missed the session to attend jinnetics surprise birthday party at Chuy’s Metro Marketplace.  Thanks to the folks there who let us hide a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake in their beer cooler while we ate.  I miss hanging out with tha group of pals.

I heard that nothing really happened other than the kids all snuck out of the castle and saw an approaching army headed towards them.  I guess it was another night where everyone gathered late and left early.  I think the group is too big, and its about to fall apart.  I just hope it manages to do so without hurt feelings.  We’ll see.

Saturday we didn’t even have Earthdawn.  Kitty had some jobs to do in Flagstaff, Rusty had a RenFest party to attend, and everyone else decided not to play without them.  So it was another Mike, Mike, and Paul Shadowfist night.  We’ll see what happens to this group after the RenFest is over.  It’ll either come back together or fully fall apart.  It’s coming to a critical mass where it can’t last like this much longer, even here in disfunctional America.

Well, it’s time for me to head to mass followed by Saint Paul’s Cafe.  It’s Filipino food tonight.  I wonder how the LunarLumiere‘s family is doing these days.  I need to get back in touch with her one of these days.  Her parents made the best Filipino food.