Last Friday was travel day.. I got home right before 6 and spent the night relaxing and catching up on the TV.. South Park has been great the last few episodes, saw the Facebook one and the two part 200th episode and all three were very funny! If you don't normally watch it I recommend grabbing those on Hulu.
We also caught on the Daily Show and his reaction to South Park was perfect, it's a good thing he is a "comedy show" and can get away with what he does under that guise..
Saturday we went to Armsby Abby and then to the Heavy Metal Festival in Worcester to see Eluviette, they only played for about 30 mins but it was worth it. It was amazing to see how many people were actually there just to see them, we arrived while they were setting up the stage and all the people around us had done the same. When we were leaving so were others and they were also only there to see them.. I think it's time for a Folk Metal Festival in Worcester!
The night was far from over, we went over to Lynz and John's house for Cheese Fire and hung out for a while.. It was a very good time, I expected it to be fun but was actually surprised at how much so.. :D
...
Sunday, rainy Sunday... Went to the Mets game for a bit on Sunday before driving down to Mclean. It was cold and rainy and I didn't stay very long, the game got suspended shortly after I left and finally cancelled because of the rain. The entire ride to Mclean was massive rain, so much so that I had to use my wipers on full blast..
Got in around 1:30 and stayed up chatting with dad for a bit while he drove home from NY.
Monday night I was in the mood for Buffalo Chicken so I went to local sports bar here called Chicks n' Wings, the service was so slow I almost left before ordering. I'm glad I stayed because the food was actually very good once I got. Found out that the manager only scheduled one girl to work, normally Mondays are slow, but not during the hockey playoffs.. Way to plan...
I've decided the last few days have been almost Groundhog Day-ish.. Get up, grab some Dunkin Donuts on the way to work, teach, find a sports bar with the Mets game on, eat some dinner, watch the game and go to bed...
Tuesday night I went to the Hub which is right by work, they have a free buffet from 5pm-7pm provided you buy at least one beer and their beer is $2 for a draft from 5pm-7pm! How about a $6 dinner? The Mets/Cubs game was on WGN so I was able to watch it there and hang out with some cool people in the process.
Wednesday night I went to the Hub to find out they don't get the MLB Extra Innings so I could not watch the game there, it was CSN or SNY or MLB Extra Innings. Still ate there, because of above mentioned buffet with beer. Tuesday night it was pork tenderloin with a corn salsa, Wednesday night it was fettuccine with mushrooms in a brown gravy. Both nights also had Ceaser Salad and both nights were very tasty. Left there in search of Mets game, went to Twin Peaks which is a sluttier version of Hooters, they didn't have the game either. From there I went to Champs which did have the game and hung out with a few beers and watched the Mets get smoked.
Tonight? Going to Stadium Cafe which is right by the hotel and according to their website gets the MLB Extra Innings and has a free dinner buffet from 5pm-7pm with the purchase of a beer!
Class went well and ended real early because the students didn't need some of the information in the class so I breezed through it.
...
Other news... I changed over the Bella's site to a new design, check it out if you haven't already. www.bellasbistromarket.com.. I also moved it to a new server because my old one didn't support PHP and my cousin was giving me shit about writing everything in generic HTML. It is much easier to do broad changes in PHP so it will be much better this way when I need to make changes.
Heading home tomorrow for two nights! Friday I have "relax at home" on the schedule, Saturday I have the Heavy Metal Festival in Worcester and then Lynz' Cheese Fire. Sunday I leave for McLean VA..
I told my co-worker how I was flying home from Seattle and going to a concert Saturday night in Maine and then leaving Sunday for Dallas, fly home from Dallas and go to a concert again on Saturday before leaving on Sunday for Mclean. His response was "man, you're really burning that candle at both ends", both ends you say? I think I found a few spots in the middle that burn too.. :)
...
Last day in Seattle
I got out of class and headed back into Seattle to go back to the Science Fiction Museum, I'm glad I did.. In my hurry to look around the first time I missed the Red Dwarf model, they had one of the original Red Dwarf models used in the show, unfortunately they keep all the displays dark so I was not able to get a good picture. One of the big interactive screens I walked by the first time was a space dock that had bunches of ships dock and then fly away again, under the big screen they had little screens which you could interact with each ship that shows up on the big one. They listed the speed, maneuverability, fire power, distance, size and crew capacity for each ship as well a little blurb about who made the ship and why. It was really neat to look at and compare the different ships from the different sci-fi stories.
Walked around downtown a bit more before spending way too much time in the airport..
Hung around the airport and met a girl who was flying home from Hawaii, she grew up in Florida and moved to Hawaii because her husband got stationed there with the Army. She was telling me about how great the health care is there.. Is anyone surprised? You mean government provided heath care for all is a good thing?! Who knew... Oh wait, I (and probably all of you reading this) did...
....
Landed later than I thought but I did get a bit of sleep on the plane, on the flight from Atlanta to Hartford I had an empty row so I was able to lay down. Me and Jessie hung out at the house for a bit while I did laundry and then we headed up to Maine. We got to the concert venue a bit before 6 and got a chance to walk around before the show, the highlight was a used toy/comic store which had tons of awesome stuff from the past. We ate at a local pub and got to the concert just in time to get front row seats. The concert was awesome! Jessie was concerned because when she saw it in Cambridge they had guest singers for each part and here they only had Anais singing. I have heard the CD before but never really realized how much she looks and sounds like Alyssa Jones from Chasing Amy, it was so close I actually looked up on IMDB to see if they were the same person or at least related. They are not..
When we first got to the venue there was a guy holding the door open for the musicians to bring in instruments. I asked him what time the doors opened and he went and found out, while he was gone Jessie informed me that he was the bass player... doh...
....
Got up early and came down to Dallas via Cincinnati.. Went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and watched the Mets lose on ESPN.
Monday lunch was great, work provided because we have customers in the class and they brought in Chicken Marsala with a tray of grilled veggies and roasted potatoes. It was so good I went back for seconds. Speaking of good, dinner was great too.. I went to Magic Time Machine which is a theme restaurant over by the hotel. All the waiters are dressed as different characters, my waiter was Jack Sparrow and he did a great job of the part. They also had Dr Evil, Mr Incredible, Cinderella, the Mad Hatter and others. One of the funniest things was the bathroom calls, if you made the mistake of being seen going to the bathroom they would yell things at you.. One example was Cinderella asking a guy "Are you going to the potty?! Try not to pee on the floor again!", and don't make the mistake of asking anyone where the bathroom is because then they walk you all around the restaurant announcing that "this guy has to pee". Dr Evil had a guy following him as he asked each table if he could borrow their cups because this guy had to pee! He walked the guy around the restaurant like three times before he finally showed him to the bathrooms.. The food was just as good as the entertainment, I had a blackened stuffed prime rib which was two 5 oz prime ribs with crab meat and scallops between them, take that and put on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes and some asparagus. So good! I was going to just get a Rib Eye but Jack Sparrow recommended the stuffed prime rib, I just have to say thank you Capt Sparrow..
Got back to the hotel and watched the Mets game, which was once again on ESPN. After the game I went down to the hot tub to find they closed it early?!
....
I slept good, but I must have slept odd because my back is killing me today, hopefully I can get to the hot tub before they close it today. I'm feeling something healthy for dinner, maybe sushi? Lunch today was mexican and just ok..
I left my co-instructor to watch the labs and headed out into Seattle yesterday afternoon. I parked over by Pike's Place which was crazy expensive ($5.00 per hour or $35 for all day), I figured this was ok since it was a city and I did expect parking to be high, but more on that later..
I had .50 cents in my pocket from the my purchase at Fred Meyer and I knew exactly where that money was going, or at least half of it. Seattle has a very old peep-show strip club called the Lusty Lady, remember Madonna's Open Your Heart video? This place is kinda like that but a bit, umm dirtier.. Anyway, I was told that this was a Seattle staple and that it was closing in the next few months so I figured I would check it out. You go in and there a bunch of booths around a glass enclosed stage, you go in and for a quarter you get a minute view of the stage. There were probably 6-8 girls standing around naked on the stage and when they saw your window open they would go over and rub against it. I guess it's ok to "take care of business" in the booths because they have tissues and a garbage pail in each booth. I spent my quarter and now I can officially say "been there, done that"... Went from there to a real strip club for a few songs and then over to Pike's Place Market.
The Market was really nice, it is the kind of place I would certainly shop if I lived in the area. They had lots of fresh fish, produce and artwork. The back end of the market was overlooking the ocean and most of the restaurants had outdoor seating, I didn't eat there because it was too early and I was not hungry yet. I spent some time in the park at the end of the market and then walked over to the Space Needle. The Space Needle is in a big park complex which has a kiddie amusement park and a few museums. Parking across the street, $7 all day!!! I went up the Needle and walked around the outside and hung out a bit inside before coming back down.
After that I went into the Science Fiction museum and the Rock and Roll Museum, the SciFi one was really cool, I didn't have much time there but they stamped my receipt so I can go back today if I get out of class early enough. Some of the highlights, they had a bunch of original Star Trek props including uniforms. They had a droid exhibit which had Tweeky, the robotic dog from BattleStar Galactica, R2D2, Robbie from Lost in Space and the robots from Black Hole. The exhibits were very dark so I didn't get many pictures that came out well enough to post on Flickr. They also had an original ET used in the movie, the Deathstar model, a Blade Runner exhibit, a Planet of the Apes exhibit, etc, etc, etc... If you're ever in Seattle I recommend it.. The Rock and Roll museum was probably as lame as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but I did see an awesome banjo/horn combination instrument from the 1920s.
In case you were wondering about how stupid I felt about parking... There is apparently a monorail in Seattle, it has two stops.. 1: the Space Needle, 2: Pike's Place Market! Grrr, could have saved a bunch of money if I had known where to park... Oh well, took the monorail back and found some live folk music in a park.. Yay?! No! It was a Fox News anti-Obama rally!!! Left there and found the best homeless guy ever, he had a sign saying that is father turned to the darkside and he needed money for an x-wing! I gave him money and took a picture of him and his sign. I'm not sure he was homeless, I think he was just out of work..
Left Seattle shortly after that and went back to Bellevue.. Ate dinner at Jack in the Box! You knew I had to one day... Got my Bacon Ultimate Burger on Sourdough! Just the 2000+ calories I needed...
Class is just wrapping up, some students still working on labs and then I think I'm off back to Seattle before going to the airport. I unfortunately have a 10:25pm flight so I will have lots of time to kill...
Long time ago Dianne (Jessie's bff) was dating a guy Kieth, he moved out to the Seattle area for work shortly after they stopped dating. Last night I hung out and caught up with him.. I picked him up from work and we went to 3 Pigs BBQ for dinner, they had a $15 special for all you can eat ribs with 2 sides. The Ribs were very tender and the sauce was good, could have been a bit spicier but I did order the medium grade. After dinner we went to Fred Meyer because as a Glen Phillips fan I had to see where he would be living after the apocalypse.. (Above link is to song, not store) We wandered around the store for a bit and then went to the Mustard Seed to play pool. We got one game in before we were told that they had a Pool Tournament and we had to move on. No worries because there was another bar about 2 miles away that also had pool tables. Hung out there for a few games before heading back to the hotel.
Today/tonight I'm planning on going back into Seattle to see the Space Needle, Pike's Place Market and walk along the pier.
I uploaded new pics to Flickr but am waiting on getting my "standing in front of Fred Meyer picture" from Kieth.
Hoyle sent me an article on the evils of Cilantro, here is a quote from it..
In a television interview in 2002, Larry King asked Julia Child which foods she hated. She responded: “Cilantro and arugula I don’t like at all. They’re both green herbs, they have kind of a dead taste to me.”
“So you would never order it?” Mr. King asked.
“Never,” she responded. “I would pick it out if I saw it and throw it on the floor.”
---Diversion of the Day
Also from something Hoyle sent me about a shirt.. The shirt is ok, but the poem with it was awesome..
We’re so sorry
Uncle Ackbert
We’re so sorry if your flippers are restrained
We’re so sorry
Uncle Ackbert
But we’re going up against the Empire
And the fleet’s not gone away
We’re so sorry but intelligence was wrong, today
We’re so sorry
Uncle Ackbert
But at least you’ve got that hot ship
Just fly in closer and engage
drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt
drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt drrtdrtt
We’re so sorry
Uncle Ackbert
But the Emperor’s already on his way
We’re so sorry
Uncle Ackbert
But the Empire’s fully armored
And the shield won’t go away
Nieeeeen numb
Ooo ooo oo oo oo oo ooo
Nieeeeen numb
Oooo ooo ooo oo oo oo oo
Oooo oo oo ooo ooo ooo ooooooo
Whoooooo's inside the bunker?
Bunker
Whoooooo's broken inside?
Whoooooo's inside the bunker?
Bunker
Whoooooo's broken inside?
Admiral Ackbert notified me
We’d all just been trapped by Imperial fleets
Our only hope was to just take down the shield
And then we could fly
Rebels, looks alive!
Everyone form on me, and into this shaft we’ll dive
Whoooooo's inside the bunker?
Bunker
Whoooooo's broken inside?
Whoooooo's inside the bunker?
Bunker
Whoooooo's broken inside?
Hey there, mister, you’ve a sister, she’s been found
she’s been found
Guess we don’t need you around
With my saber I will pound
No, you heavy breather, I will take her all around
All around
I have earned my knightly crown
Now I’ll knock you to the ground
Parrrrrrty near the bunker
Bunker
Little fuuuurry things are inside
Hey reeeeeeeeeebels, light a pyre
Pyre
Fiiiiireworks in the skyyyyyy
ooo oo ooo oooo ooo ooo oooo ooo
ooo oo ooo oooo ooo ooo oooo ooo
ooo oo oooooooo ooo ooo oooo ooo
ooo oo oooooooo ooo ooo oooo ooo
Wear this shirt: when you’re returning!
Don’t wear this shirt: if you want revenge.
This shirt tells the world: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
I'm here in Bellevue WA watching my students do their labs. On the way here I was bumped to 1st class, oh no the horror.. The nice thing about first class is they feed you for free, your luggage is free and you get free drinks. The seats being bigger is not a draw for me, it was actually the opposite in fact because they were slightly higher off the ground which made me not be able to put my feet comfortably on the ground plus with the wider leg room I couldn't put my feet on my bad which was under the seat in front of me. I know, bitch bitch bitch...
On the flight from Hartford to Minnesota I got a turkey sammich with mozzarella with a bowl of fruit and a really good cookie. I wish I had my phone/camera readily available because on the way down I got a real nice view of the city with the Metrodome on the left and Target Field on the right. By the time I got my camera out it was already past. Quick layover and onto the next flight. This time I was in row 1 which sounds cool but there was no pocket in front of me which means I had to put everything overhead including iPod for takeoff and landing. On the flight I met a guy who works as a psychiatric evaluator for the Twins, he travels from ballpark to ballpark talking to the players, coaches and managers. The food was even better on this flight, I had a grilled chicken sammich with cheddar cheese and feta, it came with a bowl of fruit again and a caramel brownie.
My rental car is anything but first class, I have a Hyundai Accent which has roll up windows, non-automatic locks and manual mirrors. It does however have a aux input for my iPod but there is a nasty whine while it's playing. The hotel is very nice, there are lots of trees, stairs and curves in the middle of all the buildings, there are two hot tubs but I have not used them yet. I did let a lady into the pool area when I got back to the hotel last night and ended up chatting with her while she sat in the hot tub, it was too cold for me to go in I think. She was a nice older lady, I figured she was a bit older and was surprised to hear her kids were between 29 and 25. I would honestly say she looked to be in her low 40s but apparently not..
Anyway, so, back to Monday night.. I checked in and got a card for Pumphouse which is a local bar with lots of beers on tap, also on the map of local restaurants was I Love Sushi which was right next door to Pumphouse. I was so not hungry after eating massive meals on the plane so I went to the bar for a bit. I had a few beers: Pyramid's Summer called Curve Ball, Mack and Jack's Amber, and Lazy Boy Amber. I started with the Curve Ball which was nice and refreshing, sorta like the old Rally Cap Ale but maybe a bit brighter if that makes sense. The next I tried was the Mack and Jack which is a local favorite, I don't know if I would put it in the "Amber" category because it was a bit spicy, not like hot spicy but spicy like it had a bite. After that I went over to I Love Sushi and had a very quick dinner, I was probably gone from the bar for 30 mins and that included sitting, ordering, eating soup and a sushi entrée which had 8 pieces of sushi and 1 tuna maki roll. The first thing that impressed me was no spoon was given with soup, then the sushi came and was expertly cut and prepared. I want to go back there I think because they had a bunch of other cool looking rolls (some with jalapeños) and I was just not hungry enough to experiment. Back to the bar where I had the Lazy Boy Amber before heading back to the hotel. The Lazy Boy was a true Amber and was one of the better ones I've had, it's not as good as James Squire but it was in the top tier anyway.
Last night I was hanging out at the hotel watching the Mets get crushed by Colorado and trying to figure out dinner when I started chatting with a girl on OKC. We chatted for a bit and decided to go get some food, I headed into Seattle. I figured the traffic would be bad but it was not, I was on her street in about 10-12 minutes but it took me a long time to get over the smegging train tracks! There was a freight train going back and forth as it dropped off cars, finally it moved enough so I was able to cross the street and park. She lives right across the street from Safeco Field which is great except for right before and right after games when the traffic is out of control. We went to a Greek place close by and I got Portabella ravioli in Alfredo sauce which was great. I had never had Greek Alfredo sauce and I really enjoyed it, it tastes like they added cucumber and or lemon to it which made it very different from Italian Alfredo sauce.
After I got back to the hotel I added her on facebook and found out she is friends with another of my friends who moved here a long time ago which just proves the small world theory. I'm actually hanging out with him tonight for dinner but more on that later..
Firstly, I take no credit for rhyming automobiles with Bonemeals, the Internets had a list of words that rhymed with Automobile and Bonemeal was in there and it does make sense in the narrative..
...
Rains:
What more do I really have to say but that single word "rain" to make those in the New England area shudder. We have gotten hit with so much rain up here that we set new March rainfall records for MA, CT and RI. With massive rain comes massive flooding. Tuesday I was hanging and work minding my own business when people start texting and emailing me telling me of their massive flooding problems, now I had already ran into lots of road flooding on the way to work (Rte 193 by the Thompson Speed Way) so I was pretty concerned with the status of our house. Got permission to leave early and my concerns were realized when I got home to find about 3 inches of water in the basement and the river out back up to the driveway.
Went to get a wetvac and found everyone out so I borrowed my friend Mikes. The poor little thing really didn't have a chance with it's little 4 gallon tub. It was quite literally pump for 10-15 seconds and take the thing apart to dump it. While I was working on that Mike was calling around and found us a pump at the Auburn Home Depot. We drove up there and got the last one off the shelf, Home Depot in Auburn has 4 self checkout stations 3 of the 4 had people buying the same item.
After Home Depot we went to Tuesday dinner for a little sanity and some amazing food, Badger and Marie were both at the top of their game. Hung out for a little while and headed back to the basement.
We used our existing garden hose and had little success, the hose was too long and too thin to really get effective pumping. Decided to stay home the next day and go back to work, before starting I went and got a real size hose which made the process much more effective. I had it down to puddles by the time I went to lunch, I was gone for about 30-40 minutes and when I came back it was back up to about 1.5 inches! Pumped some more and with Amber's help I moved some stuff around to vacuum up the dirt, the pump does NOT like all the dust and dirt that was on the floor so getting that up made the pumping much easier.
Jessie came home early and we went out to Providence to see TSO with Kevin and Erin. It was the first time I was at Kevin's apartment and I have to say it's a pretty nice looking place. The concert was great, I personally loved the change of pace of having a new (non-christmas) story. The story was Beethoven's Last Night in which the devil tries to trick him into handing over his music for his soul, he can't figure out how the devil owns his soul in the first place and so Fate brings him back over his life choices. In the end he finds out that the devil lied to him and does not actually own his soul. What I didn't love about the show was missing some of our normal "east coast" TSO members but the good out weighed the bad and the show was very worth it.
I got up way too early the next day to head up to Anime Boston, when I got up I noticed the basement had water almost back up to the original amount. I had no choice but to leave it to Jessie. She has now pumped a few more times and last I heard the water was still coming in but it did at least slow down.
....
Sprains:
Major League Baseball opens tonight with the Red Sox playing the Yankees in Boston at 8pm. Luckily I will be leaving the city via train so I won't have to deal with that traffic. The Mets open tomorrow in NY. Another year, another hope right? Or is that another year, another injury? The Mets were crippled with injuries last year and that's the thing that really can't happen two years in a row right? Apparently it can, or so it seems early on.. Carlos Beltran is recovering from knee surgery and will hopefully be back around May, Jose Reyes has just started his spring training and they have no time table for his return, and now Daniel Murphy sprained his knee and is expected to miss 2-6 weeks! That makes 3 of our starting 8 players already on the DL. The annoying thing to me is that we don't even have our best available players on the field to start the season, apparently Gary Matthews Jr got the CF job over Fernando Martinez, who is starting the season in the minors.
...
Bonemeals:
Ok, so that one's a stretch, not only is it a bad rhyme for automobiles but it's kinda misleading too. I went with that word for this title because UMass Memorial Laboratories is signing up people for Bone Marrow donation at Anime Boston and their booth is located right next to me.
I had lots of fun at Anime Boston this weekend but it was also lots of work. I got there way too early on Thursday morning after fighting with traffic and the T. I got checked in and met Christian and Mara in the empty dealer room. We watched them put it together and around noon we unloaded the Anime Boston truck and started setup. The vendors started rolling in at 2 and we worked till about 11pm setting stuff up and making sure the vendors had everything they needed.
Friday morning I got down to the dealer room around 8:30 and once again made sure the vendors had everything they needed before opening to the public at noon. Being in the front of the vendor room made for lots of great scenery, unfortunately most of the really sexy outfits were being worn by people far to young to really enjoy them. Nothing to major happened Friday during the day, one vendor was caught selling bootleg bags and I found out that Alex and Alyson were there selling chain mail jewelry. I got Dominion Intrigue for cheap and a really amazing steampunk leather book cover for me to use as Laal in Future Imperfect. Speaking of Laal, I was called Laal by no fewer than four people over the course of the weekend. I guess I have not played FI long enough for people to know my real name. Also, while on the topic of FI, it's nice to know the president of the con.. I got permission for FI flyers to be randomly left around the con and some of the players did exactly that, hopefully we can get some new players out of it.
During the day I went to a Steampunk/Cyberpunk panel expecting to see some cool outfits and stuff to get ideas for FI, instead it was just a rant about how different movies showcase and/or influence the genre. After we closed Friday night I went and got some food and then went to the Cos-Play dating game which was really cheesy, it was an 18+ show where everyone played their character in a dating game. It might have been better if I had known the characters better but I've been so out of the Anime scene that I probably only knew like 15% of the characters. I went to the rave after but only stayed there for a few minutes before checking out the gaming room which was pretty dead. After that I went to the bar across the street and ended up hanging out with some of the vendors. The bar across the street, Bukowski's Tavern, had a lot of really good beers including Maudite on tap! I had a really good beer from Troegs called Hopback Amber, we only recently found that brewery and they are really good.
Back to the dealer floor Saturday morning at 8am. The dealer room opened at 10am and we spent MOST of the day handing out tickets for the Masquerade that started at 6pm. The Masquerade was more or less a cosplay talent show, I went and checked it out after we closed the dealer room at 7 and only stayed for 1 skit which was a dance off between characters I didn't know. Saturday saw some really amazing costumes just like Friday but this time there were a lot more adults.. :)
I took a bunch of pictures and will post them to Flickr later today. One kid "dressed" as a guy from Avatar, I say dressed in quotes because what he did was paint his entire body with latex paint. When I say his entire body I mean it, he had a loin cloth on which apparently shifted while he was in the food court to show his blue privates. He got removed from the con. If you think that was ballsy (pun intended) there was a lady dressed as Leia from Return of the Jedi. Her clothes were made of chain mail and she was wearing nothing underneath but a loin cloth, even at a quick glance you could see her nipples sticking out between the links.
Back to the dealer room, during the day on Saturday a vendor came up with a kid to inform us that the kid had just bought a bootleg toy, we investigated the booth he got it at and found that everything in the booth was a bootleg. I learned a lot from Christian on how to spot bootlegs and we ended up kicking the vendor out which meant we had to hang in the room after it closed to make sure he left peacefully which he did.
After he left I went up to the Artist Alley and spent a bunch of time looking at wonderful artwork. I got an amazing cat magnet, I will put up a link to her site later because I left her card at home.
After visiting the Masquerade and the Artist Gallery I ended up going to an Irish pub for dinner and then to the Formal Dance where I hung out with Christian and Mara's friend Kate. It was awesome to see how much effort people went into to make formal gowns for their cosplay characters. After that I went back to the game room and was uninspired to hang out there because it was really dead again. Went to the rave again for a few minutes and then went to a panel on how to make fan dubbed anime, that was a pretty interesting show actually. The security guard there had nails that made Holly's nails look small..
Found out that Saturday night was more exciting for the security team which ended up having to deal with an overly drunk under age girl and her friends.
Sunday, 8am, dealer room... Spent almost all of Sunday taking pre-regs for the 2011 Anime Boston con which will be April 22-24. After the room closed we took apart everything and I left around 5pm.
You know, when I wrote this I could have just used Trains as one of my points... When I left I found out that the Hynes Convention Center T Station was having construction and the outbound platform was closed, "For outbound go inbound one station"... Went inbound and got off at Copley to find that due to flooding you couldn't go from the inbound platform to the outbound platform... "For outbound go inbound one station".. Went in again and finally got on an outbound train, with all the Red Sox game traffic which means I had to stand with my bags in a cramped train for a few stops before they all got off for the game.
...
Got home to find more water fun.. The fridge has started leaking water from the freezer into the fridge and ruining food. Searched the Internets and found it to most likely be a problem with something frozen inside the fridge so we took everything out and loaded up the downstairs fridge and freezer before heading to bed...
...
The other week I went to Mythical Journeys: Future Imperfect, it was a great weekend.. One thing that they do that I think is great is that they ask for a Post Event Letter so that the guys who run the game can see what everyone is up to. I think this is a great idea for LARPs to do but I wouldn't want to be the guy responsible for reading them all.. Anyway, here is my weekend...
Friday night could possibly be one of the unluckiest nights ever.. It was certainly the first time I've ever had to res twice in one night. Did a few rounds with Rooster so he could show me the boundaries of our jurisdiction, got into a few fights along the way with Brigands. We found some resources on them and ended up giving a Petroleum and noble metal to Grinner so he could make his Medical unit. I was standing with Rooster while he was talking to someone else and I noticed three people sitting by the water. I went to investigate and as soon as I got close enough I got three quick bullets to the chest from our little Num friends. They picked me up and walked me out past low town to meet up with their scientist. One hysterical DNA extraction later (see favorite cast) my Karma kicked in, I noticed four things, a - my neck was killing me, b - I saw a white lab coat to my right, c - I saw a black trench coat to the left and, d - I saw a clear path ahead. Instinct kicked in and I ran for it. I almost got a full message to Rooster on the radio before a bunch of nums who were waiting around the corner unloaded into my chest again. Not taking chances this time they granted me a quick death and I took the long slow walk to the res bed..
After getting back up I had Grinner check out my neck, he told me that they got my DNA and that he knew how to destroy it if we could get the bottle back. I radioed Rooster and found him in a firefight in low town so I ran to assist with Dink and a few others. After the fight we headed back to where I remember waking up, I saw the white coat and a bunch of other hostiles. We didn't engage, instead we went back to town for re-enforcements. We got re-enforcements including Pulse and headed back up to the area. By the time we got back they were all gone but I did find my shot gun.
We had a few skirmishes with some nums but none of them had any vials. On the way back into town we found some people on the path, we were attacked by the brigands when Rooster identified himself as Marshall. Dropped them and went back to the commissary.
Spoke with Pulse about his still while setting up our camp. We didn't get a chance to put straps on his armor (before the event) so we quickly attached it to him using duct tape. After setting up camp and getting him armored we started wheeling and dealing our resources for the ones he needed. Got most of what we thought we needed and headed to the auto-forge to see he had in storage. We were ambushed in the science center by another group of nums and they dragged everyone out but me. I was bandaged up and we went up to high town to get Pulse and the others back. We stormed a cabin and defeated the nums, I was bandaging Pulse when the nums got back up and we dispatched them a second time. After the interruption I went back to bandaging him up, Frost asked me if it would take a while and I said yes. Just Pulse was coming awake I got shot in the arm, I turned just in time to see the next bullet hit my chest and Frost nowhere to be found. Pulse was shot after trying to radio for help and we both laid there and bled out. We got out of the res bed minutes before the game was called for the night.
...
Saturday morning started with me and Pulse cooking breakfast for everyone, Pulse cut up the boar and I cooked it along with potatoes, beans and french toast. Breakfast ended about 10 and we headed up to the commissary for the gathering so that Rooster and Pulse could officially announce their candidacy. After the meeting we went back to the auto-forge to drop of more resources towards his still and found we only needed one more patroleaum.
Came back to the commissary to find the science meeting already in progress so I quietly joined. Spoke with Mabin after about Amps and she said if I provided her the resources she would make me some amps so we headed to the science center.
On the way we ran into a new thaw who was cowering from everyone, she seemed to have something mentally wrong with her (she kept smelling a hospital smell) so Mabin tried to cure psych procedures which only made her more upset. I got her to calm down and walk with me to the rec center. I tried to see if the smell was physical so we had her remove her hat, clothes etc to see if something had the smell on it. We had her sit by the lake to see if the nice smell would help overpower it. After not having any success there I called Rooster over for his opinion and he had little to add. Convinced her to come to the commissary so she could get something to eat and drink to see if that would help. Kept her away of people who obviously looked like doctors or scientists to try and keep her calm so she could remember some of her past. She could not remember as long as the smell was there so I tried to distract her smell with alcohol which apparently was a bit strong because it knocked her down (1 damage from the drink). Got her bandaged and back up, when she came to she saw the bandage and ripped it off causing her to fall back down. Carried her over to Grinner's healing machine and healed her using that.
She was a bit calmer now that she was drunk and the smell seemed to only come back when I asked her anything about her past so I tried to just sit with her for a bit to see if we could help, as the drink started to wear off the smell came back strong so we got her some chocolate which seemed to help for a very short time. I called Grinner over to get his opinion and he suggested his laughing gas, she would not do it unless I did first so we both sat there laughing for the next 5 minutes. After the gas wore off she seemed to be pretty calm but when I asked her about her past the smell came back but this time it didn't seem as strong, she stayed calm but just said she could smell it. Thinking the only thing that will return her past is time I asked her if she wanted to stay with me and Pulse. She agreed, I had someone lend her some new clothes so she didn't have to keep wearing her hospital gown and walked her down to our camp. On the way to the camp we agreed that I would call her Kim until such time as she remembered her past.
Afterwards I came back to the commissary and put in my vote for the election and started walking with Mabin once again to the science center and we met up with the two scientists who were looking for research assistants, I declined but ended up getting the last patroleaum that Pulse needed from them. Mabin went to talk to them and I went to find Pulse. I spoke with Rooster and he told me of Dink's death, then I grabbed Pulse and we went to the science center to build his still. He transfered the resources to the device account but ended up not having the paper he needed to bring the still into game.
Pulse, Carptenter and myself went off site to dinner..
After dinner I went over to the movie, I enjoyed it but didn't stay long as the freeborn were going to meet at our camp. We got the fire going and were updated with specifics for the nights raids against the exile complex and specifics about the exodus list. We broke into groups and I was assigned to Rooster's group which didn't end up going, instead I spent most of the night monitoring the radio, patrolling the area around the commissary and keeping people informed when to expect the refugees so they wouldn't be surprised by strange people walking down the path. During this time I finally got resources to Mabin and she made me some amps, I also got Pulse's back plate attached to his armor so he would be better protected if we were needed in battle. I was playing cards with Pulse, Carpenter and Vos when they called for Rooster because George was coming. I left the card game and went with him to meet George.
A little while later we got the radio call that Buckles had been captured and that Grinner needed help going after him. Frost told us to go so I grabbed Pulse, Vos, Carpenter and Orion and headed up to Aleph Complex. We went up the back way and apparently Grinner came down the other way so when we got there we found nobody waiting. I was getting spotty reception on the radio but after moving about up there I got enough signal to get in touch with Rooster who told us to come back to the commissary, as soon as we got back we found Grinner getting ready to leave so we walked back up with him. We went inside the complex and through the long tunnel to the room with Buckles and lots of hostiles. I was doing good shooting people over Pulse in the tunnel until Pulse finally ran in and I moved up. I only got one more shot in after I moved up before getting shot in the head. Grinner got me up and we finished off the hostiles. Back through the tunnels to the elevator to find we were above max capacity for it. Grinner said he would stay behind and I jumped out as the doors were closing to stay with him. While we waited one of the bodies came in trying to find it's res bed. The elevator came back and we jumped in, the body was trying to get in but Grinner got the door closed just in time to hear it banging itself against the doors. We got back to town and spent the rest of the night around the firepit. People were hungry for late night snacks so we made beans over the fire and put them into shot glasses to invent a "shot of beans".
...
Sunday morning was lots more cooking but this time it was far less crowded so I even had a chance to eat before it was all gone. We came up with the "freeborn sandwich" which was a piece of french toast with beans and ham folded up, it was messy and very good. After breakfast we went up to the commissary and heard the happy results of the election. When they started calling names for the exodus I went to the bathroom, when I came out Pulse looked at me with an odd look and pointed across the room where I saw Vos Walker standing in the line. Before I could react Grinner came up and asked what was going on with him and then called for him to come to us. His name was on the list and he didn't know about the refugees taking the place of anyone not wanting to go. We sat him down and sent someone in his place. After everyone left I was talking to Vos about it and was going to hit him with a knockdown from my shotgun when he pushed the barrel at the last second and I ended up hitting Jacobi instead. I got hit with a knockdown punch from behind and went down, after I got up I went over to apoligize and took another knockdown punch from Shlea too.
...
Now back to our regularly scheduled big ass-blog... I'm going to end this here because it's getting WAY to long.. Make sure you check out this diversion, it's a 10 part review of Phantom Menace..
