So on June 1st, at about 6am, Nikki, Kim, and I piled into Kim's car and drove from Austin to KC. We were going for a great multitude of reasons, not the least of which being Jacobe's wedding and to hopefully see some family and friends. But also, it was important we remind ourselves of just how much nothing is on that long expanse in the middle of the country. It is in fact a great deal of nothing, with construction, truck stops, and porn shops. But mostly nothing.
<a href="http://s1075.photobucket.com/albums/w440/sethpmason/?action=view&current=2012-06-02_16-38-30_860.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w440/sethpmason/2012-06-02_16-38-30_860.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The trip itself wasn't too bad, as we got in about five or so at Lawrence. I've never actually stayed in Lawrence with the exception of a few overnight trips that got me there under cover of night and ended in harsh, let's-forget-about-this daylight as I rocketed out of the town. So I didn't know Lawrence was more than just the KU campus and a few streets around some apartment complexes. Color me shocked. I was, unfortunately, exhausted. Having barely slept the previous few nights and clocked about 4 hours prior to the trip, I made it through the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and getting back to the room. It was cool to sit with Jake and bullshit for a bit about work and all that jazz. I was worried it'd be awkward or forced since we hadn't really seen each other much since I moved, but it was fine. I've always been the sort of person who can remain friends (or consider myself one) with folks I don't speak with or see often anymore, but that hasn't always been a two way street. Which is understandable.
Kim wanted to head into KC to meet with some folks, but I was seriously just too wiped to go. Nikki was gung-ho to do something, and I felt bad leaving her to her own devices... but I could barely complete the task of tying my shoes at this point.
When I got up Saturday, it was about 6am, so I went upstairs to get some writing done. We were being put up at a nice bed and breakfast right next to the campus, so after a little while, the staff came in to start the second B of B&B. I talked with the manager for a bit about our trip and the history of the house and business. She served some delicious mofukkin muffins that she said were just out of the box but neither Kim nor I believed that crap. We are on to you, muffin woman, and your invented bullshit stories.
I was meeting Mom, Alex, Matt, and Marlena in town for breakfast, which was pretty much my only window of opportunity to see the family on this trip. Dad and Sandy couldn't make it, neither could sis, and I only really told Mom and Dad I was coming so Ian was not aware. He would express his extreme displeasure at this after I got back.
Having gotten my fill of second breakfast, eggs, and subtle racism, we meandered the streets a bit and saw there was a nice farmer's market, a street fair because the Queen of England had reached Level 60 or something, and some ok street shops. We killed about an hour before it was time to head back and get changed for the big to do.
I don't have much to say about the wedding itself. It was decidedly short for a Catholic service, but everything went smoothly. I wasn't aware Jacobe's fiance (Brynn) was the daughter of a two star general. If you would ever like to feel well and truly judged, have a uniformed general inspect you as a groomsman at his daughter's wedding. I don't recommend it, though.
Brynn is not a total unknown to me, but I got to deal with her some before we had to depart. At the reception dinner, she and I trounced Kim and Jake at spades, and her speech and dance at the dinner made it pretty clear Jake had chosen... wisely. The dinner was pretty solid, and we waited for it sitting outside in the blessedly mild summer evening weather, sipping bourbon cocktails. I wondered idly why I didn't spend more time on my OWN porch sipping booze and reading or just reflecting on life... and then I remembered I live in fucking Texas. Where I do love the heat, but it doesn't lend itself well to sitting out and marinating.
From the reception to the B&B, I was already feeling a little tired. Kim picked up chocolate covered espresso beans for me to keep me going, as I offered to drive so they could drink at the inevitable Kotei party she and Nikki wanted to hit. We ended up staying out till about 3am at Adam Carey's, where I was literally falling asleep on the couch (getting dog hair on my suit) and also literally had to drag Nikki out by her ear at the end of the night.
The trip back was... not great. We were all pretty tired, and it was a bit annoying to go from the mild midwest heat to the "oh you just opened an oven on yourself" blast furnace of south Oklahoma on our first stop. It wasn't really that bad, but since we were all pretty well wiped and fried, it was horrid.
So anyway, after that I've had a week off. This coming week is the Austin Kotei. Next weekend after that we drive to Saint Louis. Because I hate myself, apparently.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Weekend at Shiro Shitshow
So this weekend, Kim, Nikki, and myself packed up the Jeep and headed to Fort Worth to stay with some L5R folks and play in the Kotei there. I hadn't really played seriously since GenCon, but this year I was resolved to hit a few Kotei and get in fighting shape beforehand. The plan was originally Ft. Worth, Kansas City, and the Austin tournaments, but KC has been pre-empted by Jake's wedding that exact same day. So this ended up being one of the two Kotei I'd be able to attend, maybe the two only tournaments I'd get to play in.
I've spent months getting Nikki, Stephen, Kim, Monica, Brian, and Scott all ready to play this season, but most of them couldn't come for one reason or another. I tried to get a Kalani's Landing deck together (Mantis Mags is something I've wanted to play since EE was fleshed out), but there's just such a stack of rares I'm missing and I didn't really give myself enough time to slap them together. I tried to force together a Torch enlightenment deck, but the same issue got in the way. I thought I had some cards I didn't and suddenly it was two days before time to go.
So I picked up a Koshin Keep deck I slapped together. I was pretty hopeful, because I think people overall underestimate Koshin, but I didn't realize the deck was full of substitutions because I had lent out many cards to folks I thought would be coming. Hurr hurr. Nikki had barely played, so we were trying to finish out a quick Crane deck for her. Kim was really the only person rolling with a tested, tournament ready deck. Thankfully, Jacobson was good enough to lend Nikki his deck once we arrived in Arlington to stay with Leann and her crew.
Leann's house is now officially Shiro Shitshow in my head. The place is huge - I think there was something like fifteen of us staying there. We got in a little late Friday, just as the crew was getting ready to head out for dinner. I got to grab some steaks with some of the San Antonio folks and THE BRISCOE, who I hadn't seen since GenCon last year. Was good times all around, but when we headed back to the house, the real horrors began. These are gaming folk, and true to form, in crowds away from prying eyes, they got hammered and did retarded shit. I think in the two nights I stayed there, I saw more games of gay chicken than I care to count. Kim brought a stack of brownies and goodies she slaved over making but unfortunate got lost in the shuffle. I think people may have been concerned they were for someone else, because these folks were not exactly health nuts.
Saturday was the tournament, and I got hit pretty hard. I was tired, the sun got in my eyes, I slept on my hand, etc etc etc. The short of it was I didn't test enough and I haven't been really playing enough to do well in a Kotei, and it showed. I made some pretty dumb mistakes but also ran into my fair share of "oh look you drew certain cards, you win!" moments. In short, I went 2-5. Strength of the Tsunami is dumb.
Saturday night was probably the best part of the weekend, though I did enjoy the tourney. Heading back a little early, cleaning up, heading out for some of the best duck ever for Nikki's birthday, and then coming back to sit for a bit and drink whiskey while bullshitting with Her Nikkiness was a nice mellow counterpoint to what was to follow. We stayed up till 2 or 3, drinking, watching the OKC/LA game, and talking with folks I had never met, or had met and never really got to know.
Notes:
I've spent months getting Nikki, Stephen, Kim, Monica, Brian, and Scott all ready to play this season, but most of them couldn't come for one reason or another. I tried to get a Kalani's Landing deck together (Mantis Mags is something I've wanted to play since EE was fleshed out), but there's just such a stack of rares I'm missing and I didn't really give myself enough time to slap them together. I tried to force together a Torch enlightenment deck, but the same issue got in the way. I thought I had some cards I didn't and suddenly it was two days before time to go.
So I picked up a Koshin Keep deck I slapped together. I was pretty hopeful, because I think people overall underestimate Koshin, but I didn't realize the deck was full of substitutions because I had lent out many cards to folks I thought would be coming. Hurr hurr. Nikki had barely played, so we were trying to finish out a quick Crane deck for her. Kim was really the only person rolling with a tested, tournament ready deck. Thankfully, Jacobson was good enough to lend Nikki his deck once we arrived in Arlington to stay with Leann and her crew.
Leann's house is now officially Shiro Shitshow in my head. The place is huge - I think there was something like fifteen of us staying there. We got in a little late Friday, just as the crew was getting ready to head out for dinner. I got to grab some steaks with some of the San Antonio folks and THE BRISCOE, who I hadn't seen since GenCon last year. Was good times all around, but when we headed back to the house, the real horrors began. These are gaming folk, and true to form, in crowds away from prying eyes, they got hammered and did retarded shit. I think in the two nights I stayed there, I saw more games of gay chicken than I care to count. Kim brought a stack of brownies and goodies she slaved over making but unfortunate got lost in the shuffle. I think people may have been concerned they were for someone else, because these folks were not exactly health nuts.
Saturday was the tournament, and I got hit pretty hard. I was tired, the sun got in my eyes, I slept on my hand, etc etc etc. The short of it was I didn't test enough and I haven't been really playing enough to do well in a Kotei, and it showed. I made some pretty dumb mistakes but also ran into my fair share of "oh look you drew certain cards, you win!" moments. In short, I went 2-5. Strength of the Tsunami is dumb.
Saturday night was probably the best part of the weekend, though I did enjoy the tourney. Heading back a little early, cleaning up, heading out for some of the best duck ever for Nikki's birthday, and then coming back to sit for a bit and drink whiskey while bullshitting with Her Nikkiness was a nice mellow counterpoint to what was to follow. We stayed up till 2 or 3, drinking, watching the OKC/LA game, and talking with folks I had never met, or had met and never really got to know.
Notes:
- Strength of the Tsunami is dumb.
- My deck can handle a few token followers. It apparently cannot handle "Grateful, topdeck a Nakanu, play another Grateful, topdeck a Nakanu."
- Merholtz is the Angel of Death.
- Leann's house might need to be named Shiro Shitshow. And that woman has the patience of a saint.
- Discussing feminism at 4am after drinking for six solid hours is not the best plan.
- No one wins gay chicken.
- I give better advice and make better decks than what I do and play.
- When your free packs give you a playset of the most worthless rare in a set, God is telling you to pack it the f up.
- If you would please say out loud that you have 2 x Strength of the Tsunami, 2 x Near Miss, and 1 x Skipping in your first seven cards, it will save us both some time and trouble.
- People apparently still get surprised by Sniping even out of Koshin Keep. I do not understand it.
- I was told by the same person I sleep like a vampire and look like David Tenant.
Monday, March 19, 2012
A Quick Lap Around The Block
I decided to throw myself headlong into SXSW this year. It's something that I've avoided previously mostly because it was just such an immense undertaking to really "do" correctly, I thought. I spend about seven or eight months in advance of GenCon getting everything handled and lined up to carry that off in August each year. With SXSW, it was just constantly something that seemed to sneak up on me and get fully into the way of my awareness only a month before. By that time, it just seemed too close to prepare for correctly. So I didn't bother. And I would tell myself it was just for hipster jackasses who want to go someplace and pose so that they can later talk about how they went and very blatantly hope everyone took that to mean they were enviable.
But I went, because I love free shows, I love seeing new bands, and I really think that I've spent a few years just turning my nose up at too many things. So I got some info from Brenna and Katie about some week-long lounge type parties that we would need to register for, stand in line for access badges, then stand in line to enter at any given point over the week. I sweated, standing in line (alone, then eventually with Kim, Brian, and Woodrow) to get these damn badges and never use them. Not once did I visit the Fairly Land Hooch House Presented By Kicktoes Super Funk Sneakers and Animal Cyclefuck Music... or whatever they were called. So, lesson learned there.
I spent the week dipping downtown during the weekdays and trying to just figure out the experience of finding interesting shit to do and see. I was not disappointed, though I think in the future I may go with the "less is more" attitude when wandering aimlessly. I got to see Semi-Precious Weapons (twice!) with a handful of people, which went off well. But when it came to just poking around trying to find something to see, having a train of 4-7 people with me seemed to annoy everyone involved. Next year I think I'll just pack a bike on to my Jeep every day and bike down from work.
It was good, though, to just not give a fuck. I decided I was heading downtown and I was going to enjoy myself. I did not give a fuck if anyone else did. I was not running a raid, herding people, or otherwise making myself responsible for other people's good time. "I am going to see that," I would declare (either seconds or days in advance of going to see it) and if people followed, great. If not, great, they had their own shit to do. I had beers down at Ginger Man listening to Onward Soldiers and then I got a few rum+cokes at Rusty Spur listening to Outernational. And other bands. And I got a hat. A little newsboy thing that, coupled with my vests, makes me one bad accent and a walking stick away from a living, breathing stereotype.
I get the sense as the year goes on that I just am shedding layers and layers of self-imposed, needless restraint and concern. It's a good feeling.
But I went, because I love free shows, I love seeing new bands, and I really think that I've spent a few years just turning my nose up at too many things. So I got some info from Brenna and Katie about some week-long lounge type parties that we would need to register for, stand in line for access badges, then stand in line to enter at any given point over the week. I sweated, standing in line (alone, then eventually with Kim, Brian, and Woodrow) to get these damn badges and never use them. Not once did I visit the Fairly Land Hooch House Presented By Kicktoes Super Funk Sneakers and Animal Cyclefuck Music... or whatever they were called. So, lesson learned there.
I spent the week dipping downtown during the weekdays and trying to just figure out the experience of finding interesting shit to do and see. I was not disappointed, though I think in the future I may go with the "less is more" attitude when wandering aimlessly. I got to see Semi-Precious Weapons (twice!) with a handful of people, which went off well. But when it came to just poking around trying to find something to see, having a train of 4-7 people with me seemed to annoy everyone involved. Next year I think I'll just pack a bike on to my Jeep every day and bike down from work.
It was good, though, to just not give a fuck. I decided I was heading downtown and I was going to enjoy myself. I did not give a fuck if anyone else did. I was not running a raid, herding people, or otherwise making myself responsible for other people's good time. "I am going to see that," I would declare (either seconds or days in advance of going to see it) and if people followed, great. If not, great, they had their own shit to do. I had beers down at Ginger Man listening to Onward Soldiers and then I got a few rum+cokes at Rusty Spur listening to Outernational. And other bands. And I got a hat. A little newsboy thing that, coupled with my vests, makes me one bad accent and a walking stick away from a living, breathing stereotype.
I get the sense as the year goes on that I just am shedding layers and layers of self-imposed, needless restraint and concern. It's a good feeling.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Long Walks.
I took some time driving around Lee's Summit after visiting Dan, Jon and Dennis. I was pretty tired, but so much in the town had changed that I had to go looking at some of the places I used to haunt. Naturally, I passed near where my old collections job was and I had to go see. Did the place get leveled? Was it still there and open? I drove up and there was a corporate sign for another company there, but the building was just how I left.
I had forgotten certain parts of it, which I started recalling in vivid detail - things on the inside I remembered as I looked on the outside. I couldn't stay very long, I started to get a cross of anger and low level fear just being there. I just couldn't be there without thinking how much going through that job affected me even today. I feel like I was abused by it and forever changed, and I wanted to do something permanent and destructive.
So I left. I guess I may never settle things with that particular demon.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Arguing at Reflections
I am in Kansas City, and I am cold.
I'm here for a sort of "make up" visit, having missed going back to the Midwest and see my family over Christmas. The weekend after my birthday seemed like a good time, and the tickets by plane were cheaper than driving. I always forget that it's not really the cold of places with a real winter that gets to me, it's the constant cold. I can spend a couple hours out in zero windchill with minimal problems, but the uninterrupted cold toes I had when I lived around here were just godawful. The cold just permeates everything and while you're not freezing, it's just relentless.
Right now I'm breaking a little bit from getting writing done to reflect about my birthday and whatnot. I turned 32 this year, and so much has happened in the past couple years with my life that I think I should probably get another tattoo. That's a leap of logic that makes sense to me, I think: tattoo = important milestone. I didn't do much in Austin for the birthday except a dinner at Treehouse with potentially too many people. You just can't speak with everyone at a 14 person dinner like you could if you had everyone over at your house lounging around. I got a bunch of various alcohols from my friends (and a model gun), and Kim sprang to help pay for the tickets to get me to KC. Not a bad haul overall. After bringing home the bottles and subsequently getting a few more on Thursday when people came over for the tabletop, I realized none of them were the shitty, nameless "please get me drunk quickly" sort of things I used to drink. And hey, the bottles themselves just look neat sitting on the shelf.
So I think, with that revelation, I realized I do actually see myself as an adult now. Not in all respects, but for a long time during my twenties, it was very hard for me to grasp how other people could possibly see me as one. I didn't feel very adult, and when people looked at me, I got the sense that they agreed with that. I don't think the past couple of years have really changed me a great deal, and the fact I dress a little nice isn't really the catalyst for this. I think it's just a slow, steady change - the kind you don't really notice until something makes you.
It's the sort of thing that makes me realize now is really the time I should be getting things I want in life done. I always felt previously not that I'm bad at things, but more like I wasn't somehow ready to do things like actually publish a novel or try to do a million other things. I just didn't feel like I was on the kind of "level" one should be to get these things done. It wasn't an age thing so much as the fact I know I'm intelligent and talented in a myriad of ways, I just always felt like there were so many people more intelligent, more prepared, and more practiced at things and I wasn't ready to contend with them. But the more I get through life, the more I realize that it's not true in a lot of situations. People are seen to have authority, experience, and merit because ... well, they throw their hat in the ring, and little else. I talk to people about politics and they have no real grasp on a lot of ideas but others see them as very learned on the subject. I used to reconcile that by thinking that I simply didn't have the whole story, but more and more I'm willing to believe that I do. And that story is sad. SO sad.
This is the year, I think. Not magically "my year" by some weird appointment, but just the year I'm ready to recognize that I did make it into adulthood, and now it's time to do something with that. Working with AEG again for the past year has really helped with this, I think. Getting back in the regular habit of writing and being relentlessly confronted with the fact that folks with much less talent, care, and maturity than myself get very, very far in all of this.
I dunno what tatt I'm gonna get, but it's on the list. The same list that says "Seth you have gone to the gym about seven times in the past couple of weeks, get the fuck back to it." The holidays and work load were fucked up enough to knock me off my routine, getting sick made it worse, and traveling isn't helping, but I definitely feel the difference. Time to get back to it, all of it, it seems.
I'm here for a sort of "make up" visit, having missed going back to the Midwest and see my family over Christmas. The weekend after my birthday seemed like a good time, and the tickets by plane were cheaper than driving. I always forget that it's not really the cold of places with a real winter that gets to me, it's the constant cold. I can spend a couple hours out in zero windchill with minimal problems, but the uninterrupted cold toes I had when I lived around here were just godawful. The cold just permeates everything and while you're not freezing, it's just relentless.
Right now I'm breaking a little bit from getting writing done to reflect about my birthday and whatnot. I turned 32 this year, and so much has happened in the past couple years with my life that I think I should probably get another tattoo. That's a leap of logic that makes sense to me, I think: tattoo = important milestone. I didn't do much in Austin for the birthday except a dinner at Treehouse with potentially too many people. You just can't speak with everyone at a 14 person dinner like you could if you had everyone over at your house lounging around. I got a bunch of various alcohols from my friends (and a model gun), and Kim sprang to help pay for the tickets to get me to KC. Not a bad haul overall. After bringing home the bottles and subsequently getting a few more on Thursday when people came over for the tabletop, I realized none of them were the shitty, nameless "please get me drunk quickly" sort of things I used to drink. And hey, the bottles themselves just look neat sitting on the shelf.
So I think, with that revelation, I realized I do actually see myself as an adult now. Not in all respects, but for a long time during my twenties, it was very hard for me to grasp how other people could possibly see me as one. I didn't feel very adult, and when people looked at me, I got the sense that they agreed with that. I don't think the past couple of years have really changed me a great deal, and the fact I dress a little nice isn't really the catalyst for this. I think it's just a slow, steady change - the kind you don't really notice until something makes you.
It's the sort of thing that makes me realize now is really the time I should be getting things I want in life done. I always felt previously not that I'm bad at things, but more like I wasn't somehow ready to do things like actually publish a novel or try to do a million other things. I just didn't feel like I was on the kind of "level" one should be to get these things done. It wasn't an age thing so much as the fact I know I'm intelligent and talented in a myriad of ways, I just always felt like there were so many people more intelligent, more prepared, and more practiced at things and I wasn't ready to contend with them. But the more I get through life, the more I realize that it's not true in a lot of situations. People are seen to have authority, experience, and merit because ... well, they throw their hat in the ring, and little else. I talk to people about politics and they have no real grasp on a lot of ideas but others see them as very learned on the subject. I used to reconcile that by thinking that I simply didn't have the whole story, but more and more I'm willing to believe that I do. And that story is sad. SO sad.
This is the year, I think. Not magically "my year" by some weird appointment, but just the year I'm ready to recognize that I did make it into adulthood, and now it's time to do something with that. Working with AEG again for the past year has really helped with this, I think. Getting back in the regular habit of writing and being relentlessly confronted with the fact that folks with much less talent, care, and maturity than myself get very, very far in all of this.
I dunno what tatt I'm gonna get, but it's on the list. The same list that says "Seth you have gone to the gym about seven times in the past couple of weeks, get the fuck back to it." The holidays and work load were fucked up enough to knock me off my routine, getting sick made it worse, and traveling isn't helping, but I definitely feel the difference. Time to get back to it, all of it, it seems.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
52 Weeks In Review
2012 was not the worst year, but it's definitely a contender. I lost family pretty much right off, and it seemed like a lot of my friends were stricken with the same plague of misfortune and loss. Because my birthday is so close to the start of the year, I thought what while year 30 was about finally getting on my own feet as an adult, year 31 would be furthering that and taking on things that meant really shaping my own life. But because the years of our lives are not compact television series seasons, things from before still kept screwing with me, too.
Medical bills (which I still have to cope with) made a bad year worse. I've had to sink a few thousand dollars into the house and Jeep (each) to keep things going. There's more to come with that, as it'll be the new thing I drag into the new year. My back/shoulder/head thing I think is progressing in the medical sense, not the positive one. Things with Kim remain difficult. I didn't finish the book, yet again.
But, I met some new friends. I got back to freelance writing. I did start pushing my life the way I want it to go in some meaningful ways. I think year 32 is going to be more of that, and even if it isn't, I'm ready for the fight.
I don't have a lot else to say right now because I went to bed at 4 and woke up about 8, so my head's still a little fuzzy, but I wanted to put something down while I was thinking about it. Went to the Side Bar and did the "downtown New Year's" thing for the first time in Austin. Not too bad, give or take your typical "people drink too much on noes" stuff. Stories for the kids, I guess. Hopefully I'll put it all down so it doesn't evaporate forever.
Medical bills (which I still have to cope with) made a bad year worse. I've had to sink a few thousand dollars into the house and Jeep (each) to keep things going. There's more to come with that, as it'll be the new thing I drag into the new year. My back/shoulder/head thing I think is progressing in the medical sense, not the positive one. Things with Kim remain difficult. I didn't finish the book, yet again.
But, I met some new friends. I got back to freelance writing. I did start pushing my life the way I want it to go in some meaningful ways. I think year 32 is going to be more of that, and even if it isn't, I'm ready for the fight.
I don't have a lot else to say right now because I went to bed at 4 and woke up about 8, so my head's still a little fuzzy, but I wanted to put something down while I was thinking about it. Went to the Side Bar and did the "downtown New Year's" thing for the first time in Austin. Not too bad, give or take your typical "people drink too much on noes" stuff. Stories for the kids, I guess. Hopefully I'll put it all down so it doesn't evaporate forever.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Half Measures Are For Weenies
I may have decided to challenge myself to finish my book at the same time that my current writing gig with AEG hit me with a new assignment. And I decided to take on a simultaneous, new project with AEG as well. Also I still have a full time day job, so it's not like I suddenly sprang free time. I'm not too sure, in retrospect, what drove me to do all of this without thinking about it all together. But there it is. For someone who was previously upset that he couldn't find a decent part time job, you could possibly say I have gained what is called the embarrassment of riches. But the first AEG job pays not so great, and sparsely, and the new one doesn't pay at all. I took it mostly because the time investment seemed low and I wanted to see about putting my name on another project that has a possibility of taking off. The book, of course, isn't paid either.
So really, no riches. Just embarrassment, I suppose.
Thanksgiving this year went off pretty well. Kim and I put together a pretty impressive dinner that had started off as a plan for six no-local-family Austin refugees (including ourselves). In the end, it was a dozen folks that we managed to accommodate without skimping on place settings or food. We watched UT beat A&M in the last game that both colleges would be in the same conference. I write this and still wonder why I even gave a fuck at the time. I think Austin's weird fixation with football is finally seeping in to my skin. It's taken six years to get this minor hold on me, but I expect like most diseases, the rate of diffusion through the victim will be exponential.
This weekend was then just Kim and I sitting, eating leftovers, and playing through the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO stress test. It was... a lot of playing. I don't see myself really playing for literally 12-14 hours a day once the game is actually released, but I'm trying to save money both for my previous bills and forthcoming Christmas stuff, so it seemed like a good idea to just stay in all weekend. I had been in a previous Beta weekend, and Republic Trooper is still my favorite. I'm a little torn on a few things, such as what side to play and what class, but there will be a Trooper in there for certain.
We went with Nikki to a few Black Friday sales, notably the Round Rock outlets and Half Price Books. It was nice getting ridiculously underpriced clothes to replace some things that needed replacing, and seeing some books to give as gifts. It was especially nice to do this at 2pm when all the murderous, rampaging hordes of folks shopping for deals much like tribes shopped for land had passed.
I'll be heading back to KC for Christmas. I'm not sure if it'll be odd going alone or not yet. Probably.
So really, no riches. Just embarrassment, I suppose.
Thanksgiving this year went off pretty well. Kim and I put together a pretty impressive dinner that had started off as a plan for six no-local-family Austin refugees (including ourselves). In the end, it was a dozen folks that we managed to accommodate without skimping on place settings or food. We watched UT beat A&M in the last game that both colleges would be in the same conference. I write this and still wonder why I even gave a fuck at the time. I think Austin's weird fixation with football is finally seeping in to my skin. It's taken six years to get this minor hold on me, but I expect like most diseases, the rate of diffusion through the victim will be exponential.
This weekend was then just Kim and I sitting, eating leftovers, and playing through the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO stress test. It was... a lot of playing. I don't see myself really playing for literally 12-14 hours a day once the game is actually released, but I'm trying to save money both for my previous bills and forthcoming Christmas stuff, so it seemed like a good idea to just stay in all weekend. I had been in a previous Beta weekend, and Republic Trooper is still my favorite. I'm a little torn on a few things, such as what side to play and what class, but there will be a Trooper in there for certain.
We went with Nikki to a few Black Friday sales, notably the Round Rock outlets and Half Price Books. It was nice getting ridiculously underpriced clothes to replace some things that needed replacing, and seeing some books to give as gifts. It was especially nice to do this at 2pm when all the murderous, rampaging hordes of folks shopping for deals much like tribes shopped for land had passed.
I'll be heading back to KC for Christmas. I'm not sure if it'll be odd going alone or not yet. Probably.
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