Monday, November 30, 2009

Readthrough dinner

I am back in Massachusetts now after a pleasant, if significantly more time-committed than I expected, visit home. It's good to be back. My day at work was shockingly full-- it doesn't rain but it pours here. The next thing on my agenda is preparing for the first readthrough of To Think of Nothing, which will happen this Wednesday night. I have my list of things to go over with the cast, and since we'll be meeting at Elsinore, I've decided I'd like to make them dinner. It's been a while since I made a big dinner, so it'll be fun for me to not only get to hear my new cast read my play, I'll get to feed them a delicious meal. Feeding them seems like a good way to ensure actor loyalty, eh? I am hoping to enlist Steph, who is also one of my actors, to help me with the cooking, and to contribute a lovely dessert. I should probably send out an e-mail reminding everyone, and check if anyone has any particular eating restrictions.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Wha?

I just saw a gas station attendant wearing Dolce and Gabbana. This confuses me on several levels.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Incomprehensible skin

God, my skin makes no sense to me. It seems to have become rather clear lately, despite the fact that I haven't been diligent with my acne wash recently. It could be that stuff just isn't good for me, but it seems like my skin gets better or worse randomly, regardless of the treatment or lack thereof it is recieving. I kind of want to just go to a dermetologist and say "What does my skin need to get clear?" and then actually know what the problem is the and the right way to deal with it. The trouble is that the insurance I'm on is kind of in flux lately, and I don't really have the extra cash to cover a visit on my own. Still, it might be worth looking into to see if I can actually do it.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Inherited domesticity

One thing that I'm grateful that I absorbed from my parents is my notion of the proper quality of domestic life. Every time I come back to my parents house I am reminded of just how pleasant, comfortable, and tasteful a home they always made for us. Even though I grew up there, I never quite appreciated how nice the home I grew up in was. But when I come back after not being around for a long time, I always marvel at how beautiful the decor is and how wonderfully clean it all is. And it still manages to avoid that uncomfortable, sterile feel that homes with elegant decor and extreme cleanliness sometimes have, instead keeping it inviting and totally liveable. That's all my mom's doing; she designed most of it herself. Also, cooking is their special hobby, so they taught me how great it was to eat well. Both my parents are excellent cooks, my mom in particular. Just looking around the place shows how big a part good cookery is of their lives. They have bunches of herbs hanging in the garage, drying after being picked straight from the garden in the backyard. There's a stack of cedar planks bundled in the pantry for grilling fish. Gorgeous copper pots hang from a beautiful rack above the stove.

I trace this as the source of my special love for the things that make a home beautiful and comfortable; tablecloths, nice furniture, curtains, china, baskets, all sorts of things of that nature. My desire to learn how to cook well comes from this as well. I don't think I ever realized how lucky I was. It has deeply influenced my own preferences, and I hope to one day be able to keep my own home with the same comfort and taste as my mom and dad do.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Had a lovely Thanksgiving Day with my family today, spent cooking, watching The Closer marathon, and hanging out my parents and brother. Dinner was especially delicious this year, since we got a brined turkey this time around, and it came out juicier than it ever has before. And I don't care what Alton says, stuffing is fantastic, and ours came out wonderful. I'm still digesting after all that food, but I'd like to be able to have just one piece of pie before the night is over.

For some reason I found my thoughts wandering to if I hosted my own Thanksgiving, having my parents come up to Waltham and inviting all my friends. I'm not sure what makes me think of this, since I really enjoy the way my family puts on the holiday-- the food is delicious, the low-key family-only company is great, and generally things are happy and pleasant. Maybe I love it so much that I want to share it with my chosen family as well, but still, with the food and things the way I like them. :-) I would have to figure out a way to make it kosher, though; we use so much butter in the making of the meal, more than I ever realized before I took kosher concerns into considerations.

I want pie now. I'm still too stuffed, but I want pie.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Home for Thanksgiving

Got home to Pennsylvania today to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Rode six hours in the car with my brother and his girlfriend, then arrived home in the afternoon. Casey drove Sarah to her place while I helped my parents get dinner ready.

My dad has recently decided he'd like to try homebrewing, so he and I took a ride to the local restaurant supply store to pick up some equipment. I've always wanted to go to one of those, and it certainly did not disappoint. Alton Brown recommends them for cooking supplies because you can get professional-quality items at price far beneath what you'd find at retail. Pretty much any kind of cooking implement or serving vessel you could need can be found there, and I was delighted to look at all the neat, reduced-price kitchen things. My dad got, among other things, the twenty-quart stainless steel pot he needed for beer-making for fifty dollars-- an item you normally see at between three and four hundred. Score! I also got a giant stainless mixing bowl to take back to Massachusetts with me. I really want to go back when I have more time to browse, and a better idea of what my kitchen needs. I wonder if there's one in Waltham that I'd love to make a pilgrimage to with anyone who'd like to come. I think I'll do a little searching.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Housing grumbling

It occurs to me that I should have included one additional category on my outline of what's going on in my life right now that has an effect on my wellbeing and happiness, and that category is "housing."

I currently live at Elsinore, a house on South Street very close to Brandeis with four other people. There's a lot I like about the place. I like the setup of living in a house. My room is nice and big because I have the master bedroom. The location is incredibly convenient, within walking distance of a number of important things. I have space to entertain with dinners and parties. I have really appreciated these features of my living situation over the last year and a half I've lived there.

But still, living at Elsinore involves roommates. My dearest dream at the moment is to live alone, without having other people in my space with their irritating habits. In general, they're not bad; I have no real problem at all with one of them, though the other three tend to get on my nerves. But I really hate having to deal with the habits and mess of other people, and frankly I feel chased out of my own space a lot of the time. I'd really love to have a place that was just to myself. I worry though about the feasibility of finding a place I could afford by myself, and what I'd be sacrificing to have it. Probably wouldn't have space to entertain, which I do love. Would lose the lovely big bedroom. And the convenient proximity to important things would be a pain in the tail. Would I be giving up too many of the things that make me happy just to live by myself? I'm not sure, but it's something I'll have to think about as May comes around.

Still, I don't live well with other people, and when I'm at home I generally prefer to be alone. And I feel like a lot of problems stem from having to deal with other people to handle your problems. Here's an example. When zapf* and witticaster* moved out, one of my other roommates took over handling the household bills. By and large that's worked out, because we're all on the same bill for things like utiltiies, but I have never loved just having to trust someone else to handle my financial matters. But recently we got a big water bill from our landlord that put my monthly expenses up to an unreasonable level. I pointed out to my roommate who handles the bills that I was fairly certain when we first moved in we were told we would not pay for water; that would be encompassed by the rent. Basically he doesn't acknowledge me, just goes ahead with calculating what we all owe. I keep on with it, and finally get him to say he doesn't remember whether or not we ever paid for water before because he wasn't handling the bills back then. I am aghast; was he just handing over money without knowing what it was for? Does he expect me to do the same? So finally I call zapf* and ask him what the deal was; he confirms that at least when the initial group moved in a year and a half ago that was the agreement. I pass this on, and finally my roommate agrees to talk to the landlord about it.

I just couldn't believe my current roommate was so unaware of the situation, and was so hard to get to listen to me about this. Is he cool with just handing over that much extra money? I hate living with people! I just want to have to worry about myself.

Anyway, the one other issue of living at Elsinore is that when the lease for the first year ran out and people moved in and out for the new year, we were never given a new lease. Our landlord isn't exactly a bad landlord, but he doesn't get back to you about anything and everything he does so is on an enormous time delay. But I guess technically none of us are on the lease, due to no fault of our own, and I worry what would happen if we protest this water bill. I'm pretty sure that was the old agreement, but we don't have an agreement right now. Hell, I guess if he wanted to he could tell us to leave right now and we'd have no way to stop him. But that water bill pushes my monthly expenses beyond what I can easily handle, so I don't think I can just leave this be.

So, the one other aspect of my life affecting my life is this. Though not terrible and not without its advantages, is a source of stress, one that I am still trying to figure out how to deal with.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Rooms booked

I just booked Intercon hotel rooms for the merry intrepid congoers from Brandeis. We have only six people so far and room for two more, so if anyone wants to share with us, just let me know.

Just out of curiosity, a dumb question-- when do people typically book their hotel rooms for Intercon? Is around this time early or late? Because I did it in January last time, and I remember somebody remarking that I was cutting it unsually close. People do seem to be talking about it a lot earlier this year, which is what prompted me to take care of it. What is everyone else's experience?

Taking stock

Now that I've reached a sort of resting point, I thought I'd take stock of where I am right now and see where things stands.

Health and Body:
Not bad, probably could be feeling better. Just getting over a cold involving hacking and body aches and a general feeling of exhaustion brought on by being so busy. Haven't been eating as well as I should be, as I've mostly just been grabbing things as I go, and I haven't had time for my regular exercise routine in some time. Don't think there have been any weight effects yet, but I'm concerned. Mostly just feel a little bit off.

Relationships:
I love deeply and passionately, and so I am loved in return. Things brings me great joy and all the accompanying responsibilities and complications. :-) Jared and I are doing well, though it isn't always easy to balance how busy we are with spending quality time together. It occurs to me that we have been together for nearly three years now. :-) I have a great deal of good friends whose company I enjoy and look forward to enjoying more of. I fear I may have recently lost a friendship, which I am sad about, but honestly if that's the way it must be I can handle it. I am on good terms with my parents, as I pretty much always have been, though I worry for them for various troubles they're facing. Other significant relationships I manage as best and as honorably as I can.


Work and Finances:
I am currently employed at the educational non-profit Educational Development Center in Newton. It's not my ideal position, but it's nice for my first out-of-college job to be contributing to a worthy cause like improving education rather than something pointless. The pay is decent but I don't get many hours as I am still only part-time. I also have a lot of downtime to work on my own projects, which I confess I enjoy. :-)

Also, for the first time I am truly financially independent of my parents. This is a point of pride for me, since they've always been generous with their support and since I'm really not making much money. Things are a bit tight, and I'm still new to this worrying about money thing, so sometimes the stress really gets to me. I'm still working on figuring out how to keep things within reason without stressing constantly over it. Still, I seem to be managing.

Education:
Not currently attending school but I am considering going to grad school in the near future. Not exactly sure for what, or where, but for something related to English certainly. I just took the GRE and did pretty well, which is quite a load off my mind. I am currently doing research and trying to figure out what it is I want.

Vanity:
Looking pretty good lately, though I have my concerns. I've been making an effort lately to dress stylishly at all times lately, including coordinating my accessories (scarf and gloves, belt and shoes, jewelry, etc) and trying to have lots of nice basics like boots and coats, avoiding anything that looks schlubby. Mentioned I'm afraid my lousy diet may lead to weight gain, but hasn't yet. Really should try to work out again when I'm home for Thanksgiving. Oddly enough, despite the stress and the falling off my acne treatment routine, my skin is clearer than it's been in ages, which pleases me. Maybe that stuff I've been using just isn't good for me. Also, in pretty dire need of getting my hair done since it's gotten so long, but not sure it's in the budget at the moment.

Art and Creative Pursuits:
Feeling pretty fulfilled here. Just had some excellent runs of the games I've written, which made me very proud. Am currently working on The Labor Wars with AE Games and considering which of my own larp writing projects to focus on next. Torn between the Clue idea and trying to develop the Peter Pan idea. Also, I have just cast my one-act play To Think of Nothing, which I will be co-directing for Hold Thy Peace. This is very exciting, and I have all of winter break to prepare for it.

The Verdict:
Things are pretty good right now and I have a lot to be thankful for. There remain certain stressors that I don't want to get into detail about that unfortunately have a tendency to drag me down regardless of how I'm feeling about everything else. But it's good to know that I've got a lot going for me, and that not everything is a struggle.

Sweet freedom

After all the madness of the last several weeks, I think I am finally past the crunch and now have some freedom from commitments and responsibilities. Making my to do list now, it seems remarkably light compared to how much I've needed to get done for recent events. I will be going home for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, which means packing my work week a little more tightly, but otherwise I am relatively unburdened, and God knows once I'm home I will not have a ton to do. I think I need it; the recharge time has been too long in coming.

I think I will work now on planning for my play, developing some ideas for a new probably Peter Pan-based larp, making a character for the FantasyCraft game I'm in, and other miscellaneous writing and gaming projects. I'm at work unusually late today and there doesn't seem to be much to do, so I should have plenty of time.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

PSA

I don't have to like your friends. I don't care if that makes your life tougher sometimes. I don't care if it makes you sad.

I don't care if you like them. I don't get to pick your friends. But you don't get to pick mine either. If I respect your choice that they're worth your time because I respect you, show me enough respect to accept that I have valid reasons. And our disagreement on this matter is fine.

If you insist on talking me to about these friends, you had better either be prepared to let my side of the conversation remain monosyllabic and solicit no matter of my opinion, or be okay with the fact that I don't have positive things to say. Either be content with my embracing Thumper's philosophy, or just don't ask. Don't expect me to pretend, or say things I don't feel.

I don't care if you don't like my friends. That's why they're my friends, as opposed to yours. Show me the same courtesy.

Because sometimes, for reasons that make complete and total sense to me, I will hate your fucking friends. And that is my right.

Friday, November 20, 2009

To Think of Nothing cast

After much pondering, struggle, and debate, I finally cast To Think of Nothing and sent the list out today. Though I'm very pleased with my final decision, I'm still hating myself for who I had to cut. I am not just trying to be nice when I say that every single person I saw deserved a part in this show, and I would have loved to have them in it.

Anyway, here is my final decision:

Cassander - Jared Hite
Andromeda - Frances Kimpel
Thalia - Stephanie Karol
Euphrosyne - Caitlin Patridge
Aglaea - Liz Baessler
Damon - Jonathan Plesser
Selene - Charlotte Oswald
Palamon - Jonathan Kindness

An excellent lot right there. Though I had to exclude some who where also excellent, unfortunately. It tears me that I couldn't find a place for Brenda. Lenny was fantastic, and is an amazing actress, and I have always wanted to direct her. But she's going to be directing the mainstage HTP show Julius Caesar next semester. Not only is she going to have a ton of responsibilites for that, scheduling her would probably have been a bitch. And likely my timeframe will be kind of tight. I hope they all understand. :-( Because I really do feel bad. Maybe people will be willing to understudy.

I need to focus on the fact that I have a really great cast right there. Heh. I've never been so happy and so sad right after giving out roles before. A new experience. I printed up scripts today as well, and packaged them in little envelopes with the recipient's name and role on them. I shall have them messengered (read: chase people down and hand them over myself) soon, and then we'll try and find a time for the readthrough.

Signup lists?

Just throwing this out to all you programmery-types out there who build and maintain larp web sites (which may just be natbudin, but to any possible others there may be):

Is there any particular reason why players aren't allowed to see the lists of everyone who's signed up for each game? I know I'm always interested to see who else will be playing in the games I'm in, and it might even help me decide which one to choose if I know lots of fun people will be in one but not another. Players shouldn't have access to GM-only functions relating to sign up lists, like changing role gender or anything like that, but I don't think it would hurt if they could at least SEE who's in. I know I would like that. Is that possible to do?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Too many good actors!

The last two nights were the auditions for To Think of Nothing, and boy, was I surprised. Not only did I get a pretty decent number of people to come out, all of them were actually good actors! That's not something I'm used to. But I liked and would be interested in working with every single one of the people I saw. It's great from the show standpoint, as I know I'll be able to have a solid cast no matter what, but it sure makes choosing that cast a lot harder. I hate that I have only eight parts to give them, because I'd love to be able to use them all. That's a funny predicament to be in. I'm going feel so bad about the people I can't cast-- it certainly won't be because they weren't good enough. Maybe I'll ask them if they're willing to be understudies.

I have until Friday to make my decision. Casting is one of my favorite parts of the process, but I'll need to do some serious thinking on this one.

Intercon schedule

Friday night: Waitlisted for Shadows Over Babylon. I think I'm second. Hope I get in. I hate not having a Friday game, but none of the others really grab me.

Saturday morning: Waitlisted for Supervillain Academy. I'm first, so I should probably get in. And if I don't, not the end of the world to not have to get up for a 9AM game.

Saturday afternoon: Running Oz. For a pretty awesome list of players. Still, hope bronzite* and Margaret get in.

Saturday evening: The Last Seder. Got in handily, and this was the game I want to play in more than any others.

Sunday morning: Nothing. Will probably watch GM Space run. Can't get over how much I like watching this game.

So I'm waitlisted for more things than I would like, but I'll probably get in at least one of them. Not sure which I'd prefer. Jared and other fun people are in Shadows, and I would really like something to do on Friday night. But Supervillain is supposed to be awesome too, and it's run by Chicago people whose games I rarely get the opportunity to play in.

Still. Whatever way it goes, it should be a good con.

Monday, November 16, 2009

RPI next weekend

So hard on the heels of SLAW comes the larp weekend at RPI. I'm a little bit apprehensive about it, to be honest. I'm only playing in things, so I have significantly less prep work, thank God, but I still have to put two costumes together for To Kill a Vampire and Mystery at Hart Manor. I think I'm good for TKAV, though I seem to be missing my black shawl, but I'm not sure about MaHM. I should probably be wearing a red cocktail-type dress but I don't have one, nor do I really have time to look. I don't suppose anyone has anything like that in a size 0 that I could borrow? Probably not, huh? I guess I could just wear my black one, but I've been using that one in larps a lot lately. Ah, well, I guess as long as I look right it doesn't matter.

The circumstances of the journey itself trouble me most. It's a three-hour drive to get up there. My poor car Constantine is going to have a hell of a lot of miles put on him. I will be traveling, fortunately, with rigel and look forward to her company and the chance to chat with her. The length of the drive up to Troy, New York makes me wince, though. I have been advised to take a break, or multiple breaks if necessary, but if the driving to WPI this past Saturday took a toll on me physically, I'm sure going all the way to Troy will be even worse. I'll just have to be very careful. I also tend not to sleep very well anywhere besides my own bed; I vastly prefer my own space to crashing in someone else's. I know I'll just have to put up with that, but I'm a little concerned I'll have so many things to put up with that I won't enjoy things enough to have made it worth going.

Home from WPI

I ran Oz with Jared, Bernie, and Joe sticking around as an AGM. I wouldn't have thought so much help would have been strictly necessary from previous runs, as I've run it with just one other GM in the past, but I was incredibly glad to have them all for this one. I suppose it had slipped my mind that WPI and RPI larpers tend to be a lot more intensely goal-oriented than those of us at Brandeis, but I was definitely reminded by this run. Personally I prefer a bit more balance between plot advancement and character development, but I guess that's a matter of taste. I was very pleased to see that my measures to fix Ryan's character (also played by simplewordsmith*and Kevin Munn) so that he wasn't too brokenly able to tip the scales of the game actually did work. Also improved the workings of the character previously played by beholdsa*, usernamenumber*, and most recently ultimatepsi*. I think pretty much everyone had fun, which is the true measure of how well the game went.

Saturday I rose early to take Ryan and Tegan to their morning game, then immediately turned around to hit Somerville to collect in_water_writ*. I was happy to help her out and get to spend that extra time with her, but the extra driving was tough on me physically. I'm not used to driving for long stretches of time, and my back and tailbone were killing me by the end of it. Still, we got there in plenty of time for her to buy me a nice lunch (thanks so much, love!) and we got to our first game of the day, Bard of Avalon.

I really enjoyed Bard, and I was especially glad since I'd been looking forward to it for so long. It was really a well-written game, so props to yunafonfabre*, and something really funny happened. The game is inspired by the characters of Shakespeare, and I found myself stalking around reverting to my Hamlet persona. And I was like, "Why am I doing this? This character is not Hamlet. I should be capable of doing something other than Hamlet!" And then I found out at the end of game, I actually was Hamlet and my instincts were right! It just wasn't directed at my own family, if that makes any sense. Oh, I love being the Hamlet character. :-) Though it wasn't really part of any of my goals, I ended up becoming the lord of two duchies and the king of the realm, so heh. I made out like a bandit! But I had to be married to Goneril, so maybe those things didn't balance out. And, incidentally, my character was technically an amalgamation of Hamlet and Tybalt, so I was actually playing, well, Frances. :-D That delights me.

Saturday evening was Chateau Ennui, a game that I am still pondering my feelings about. The premise is brilliant, and I had a character that was both interesting and very well suited to me. But there were some real structural issues that needed to be sorted out, and I'm trying to put my finger on exactly how that should be done. I'm thinking the trouble is that so many plots depended on pursuing mysteries, and while plots can still function if the mystery is not solved, it needs to be possible in game to access the information necessary to make any progress on that front. Mysteries are hard to write in games, because it isn't always easy to leave truly useful clues in game, but I think if some real effort is put into including real accessible helpful clues, that would go along way toward helping plots move. So I had fun during the game, but I think it needs some real fixing.

Sunday then was our second run of Paranoia. I must say, our GMing team worked our asses off editing this thing, and I am immensively proud of what we produced. The first run went really well and players had a lot of fun, but it needed tightening and fleshing out in a lot of places. The game as it stands right now is incredibly well-rounded, and the job we did during actual runtime was excellent. We quantified the NPCs and cast them-- Bernie as Friend Computer, Joe as the wandering janitor bot, Matt as the mech bay bot, Mac as the doc bot, and myself as the vending machine, plus stellar performances from Jared as both the High Programmer Acc-U-Men and HK-47 and 1/2, the warbot brain stuck in the storage bay computer, and Ryan as the poor frightened Friendly Luggage Bot. Also, none of the players seemed bored at any point during the game, which pleased me immensely. There may still be some minor kinks to work out, but overall the thing is extremely solid, and good fun to players whether you're a Paranoia fan or not. Also interestingly of note-- I think we had eight drops over the course of signups for this game, and we still ran with a full complement. Yay for us!

We all went back to my place afterward and had a really nice, low-key chat that included Jared, Bernie, Joe, Matt, and myself. I enjoyed this until I fell asleep. Now that weekend, the preparing for which has dominated my life lately, is passed. Physically, I feel okay but off in small ways. I got a good night's sleep last night, which helps. Body is still a little stiff from the unusual amount of driving I had to do on Saturday-- knees feel tight, lower back is still a bit tender. Also woke up with a slightly sore throat, which worries me I'm going to get sick. Don't really have time for that right now, so God, I hope not.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

To Think of Nothing

I realized I never formally announced this on LJ, so here I go. Next semester I will be directing my own litle show, To Think of Nothing, as a side project for Hold Thy Peace. This is something I'd wanted to do for a while, and at the moment Hold Thy Peace has both the money and the interest to do it. It's an unusual little piece modeled after the Shakespearean style of speaking, taking place inside the thoughts of a playwright who is struggling with the problem that his current play has no point. I wrote it my freshman year for my brother's competitive theater troupe, any they won an award with it. Though it was amazing to see it put up, I always wanted to direct it myself and see what I could do with my own work. It will be going up alongside the mainstage show Julius Caesar, directed by Lenny Somervell and Jenna Schlags.

Auditions will be held on Tuesday the 17th and Thursday the 18th of November from 7-9PM. It's really flattering how many people are enthusiastic for the project. I'm hoping to get it cast by the end of that week, and then assign people to memorize their lines over winter break. We should be going up in the end of February, hopefully in the Merrick Black Box Theater in Spingold, if we can afford it.

I'm really excited, this is really a dream come true. :-)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Gaming status update

Had the day off today, but still, very busy. Today included running errands for Jared, getting the last costume piece I needed for the weekend, finalizing Oz, and working on the last major task left for Paranoia.

Almost ready for SFS Live Action Weekend. Costumes are chosen, only must be packed. Oz is pretty much finished. Paranoia is extremely close; only a few more editing jobs remain, and the game has become so much tighter and more polished for it. The ride situation has been organized, though it was no easy task. Just have to get my stuff in order, and then I will be ready to go.

On another gaming note, Oz filled for Intercon J, huzzah! I'm among impressive company too, seeing how few other games are full at this early point. I even got lovely people from Chicago in, including the wonderful David Cave and Marc Blumberg. The only thing I'm sorry about is that bronzite* is on the waitlist. I really want him to play. But he's number one, and the first person almost always gets into the game eventually. I myself used my signup this time to be first on the waitlist for Supervillain Academy, the work of Marc Blumberg that Jared says is fantastic. I'll probably get in, and if I have no morning game, that's not the end of the world.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Two questions

The push function on my iPhone hasn't been working as well as it used to lately. It doesn't update my e-mail as immediately and perfectly as it was. I'm a bit miffed; now I can't use it as easily. Does anyone else with an iPhone have that problem?

I just found out the package I was expecting was supposedly delivered five days ago, and I never saw it. I don't know what the hell happened. Could it have been stolen? What should I do about this?

Ahhh...

Finally it is Tuesday, the day I've been looking forward to for over a week as "the day I have no commitments or obligations to anyone," and things feel good. I had a Labor Wars GM meeting last night, which was fun and productive as always, but by the end of it I had just run out of steam. So I got myself home, went to say hello to all the lovely friends in the game room having their campaign, and shortly after fell asleep in the beanbag. Jared very sweetly helped me up to my room and tucked me into my proper bed, where I got a rejuvenating eight and three-quarter hours of sleep. So I feel enormously better today, and plan to use the much-needed alone time this afternoon and evening to very best advantage.

The plan for today. I believe the priority is that I finish printing Oz. The only things remaining are the cards, and then I must make reaction packets. Oh, and puzzles. I think I may still have a bunch left from the last run. That shouldn't be too hard. I'm out of white three-by-fives, but Jared said he still has some I can use. I also am in charge of organizing the carpool for the group going to WPI from Waltham, and I'm very nearly finished, except that I still need to talk to one person about what they need. But if I can just get them on the phone that'll be settled easily enough.

Knowing that my time is my own today makes me feel more relaxed than I have in a long time.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Bah, cold

I am so tired of being cold all the time.

Art imitates life

My cousin totally did this to my aunt.

Weary-head

The weariness is now setting in. The last week and a half has been a mile a minute, and I'm sure you all know by now how much I hate it when I don't have time to myself due to the packed nature of my schedule.

Bernie has this theory that "recharge time," as he calls it, is different for you depending on whether or not you're an introvert or an extrovert. Extroverts recharge by hanging out with people; the socialization relaxes them and makes them feel better about things. Introverts recharge by being alone; they relax by not having the outside stimulation of other people. I am very much the latter, and I know that when I don't get my alone time for a while, I just start to wear down. It's been days since I had any time to myself, or time when I wasn't committed to something. Don't get me wrong, most of my commitments were voluntary and many of them were a lot of fun, it's just that after a while I get so burnt out on socialization and scheduling that I just want to crawl into my room and hide in the quiet for a while.

It's not over yet. I've conquered a large chunk of it, but there's still miles to go before I sleep. My current to do list is no longer relevant, so it's time for a new one. The most pressing thing on the table is getting ready for SFS Live Action Weekend. Oz is almost completely ready, just requires some printing and packing yet. Paranoia we finished editing the sheets for last night, so they should be going out this morning. There are only a few more writing tasks left in that game, but we can probably start printing before that's finished. Once those are ready, that's a big burden off my shoulders. Of course, I still have to costume for the two games I'm playing, Bard of Avalon and Chateau Ennui. I think I've got everything I need for Chateau, but I'm cross-cast in Bard and the theme is Elizabethan-fairy, so I'll probably have to raid the Hold Thy Peace storeroom for period guy clothes.

One thing at a time, I tell myself. And the next free evening I have I think will be spent locked away in my room, recharging with some much-needed alone time.

Friday, November 6, 2009

MINI PIE PLATES

My mom just sent me MINI PIE PLATES. MINI PIE PLATES, I TELL YOU. I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

Because it's my wonderful mother, the package contained, in addition to the MINI PIE PLATES, chewable immune supplements, a mini-DV of her riding her horse Braveheart, a couple of chocolate kisses, and a humorous short story parodying Lovecraft fandom entitled "The Eldritch Pastiche from Beyond the Shadow of Horror."

I love packages from my mom.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Things that tick me off

Because I haven't worked myself into a good lather yet today, here's a list of some of my biggest pet peeves. And by pet peeves, I mean things that make me want to kill.

Lateness. It's just disrespectful. I swear, it feels like I spend half my life waiting around for people to show up when they said they would. It's doubly annoying when it's somebody important to me, as it usually is lately, somebody who I would wait ages for. Seriously, if you know I'd put myself to any inconvenience, discomfort, or disadvantage for you, why would you make me do it?

Geeks who can't turn it off. More on this in another post, I think, but as much of a geek as I am and am proud to be, I hate it when my fellows just can't manage themselves to behave appropropriately for the situation and make the rest of us look like maladjusted freaks who can't read social cues.

Bad hygiene. Seriously. Just shower. Yes, you do need to-- and wash your hair, brush your teeth, and use deordorant. If you don't, you're gross. There are certain bad smells I am extremely sensitive to, and unwashed human tops the list. CANNOT TAKE IT.

People in my private business. I've ranted about this before. Not everybody likes other people knowing what trouble is going on with them. The corollary to this being people giving me advice that I'd have to be a moron if it didn't already occur to me.

People inviting themselves places. If you have no been expressly invited, assume you are not wanted so you don't force yourself on someone. Do not say, "Hey, can I come too?" 'Cause there's no polite way for them to get out of that. And if they wanted to just have the experience of being with particular people, now you've taken that away.

People who dress inappropriately for their shape. You do not have to be built like an anorexic living-coathanger runway model. But if you're not, don't dress in ways that negatively emphasize all the ways that you're not. Low necklines flatter people with actual cleavage-- girls like me aren't kidding anyone like that. Just dress for your body, already.

People who never get the hint. Know when you're making someone uncomfortable. Know when you've hit a sore spot. Know when you've done the wrong thing. Know when to leave.

There's probably more than that. But those are some pretty damn big ones.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Obligatory Intercon sign up plan

Friday night - Shadows Over Babylon. Originally nothing spoke very deeply to me; there was one game that sounded interesting, but the writer's style I don't particularly like. I was planning on nothing in that case, but I hate not having a Friday game. Then Shadows Over Babylon got bid, which I've heard great things about, and I know Jared wants to play it. It would be nice to have at least one game that weekend with him.

Saturday morning - Super Villain Academy. Not only did Jared love this game at Intercon I last year, it's the brainchild of the amazing Marc Blumberg, and run by him, Kelly O'Donoghue, and David Simkins, some awesome players from the Chicago run of Alice.

Saturday afternoon - Running Oz with Jared. When I bid Alice at Intercon, it filled up very slowly because it was so big. I'd be interested to see if Oz goes faster this time, being only fifteen characters. I'm sorry Survivors of the Naronic is in the same slot; I love Brit games so.

Saturday night - Last Seder. I've wanted to play this game forever, but it was always full or in conflict with another commitment. I'm so excited to find out what it's like. Since it's my priority and the smallest game I'm interested in, this will be my first sign up for the con tonight.

Sunday morning - Probably nothing; maybe I'll go watch GM Space. I've never enjoyed watching a game so much.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Larp prep crackdown

Okay, play's over, Halloween's over, we're now into November. That means time to crack down on all the larp work for the upcoming events.

I basically have Oz cast, but I wanted to consult my co-GMs in the spirit of cooperation before I sent them out. This might be a little tough, given the constraints on everyone's time. But I'll give it one more try, and if it seems like they won't be able to put in their two cents within a reasonable time frame, I will apologize and just send out the castings I did myself.

Paranoia is undergoing editing right now, but we should at least cast and send out costuming hints. Not like costuming is hard. The trouble is we've only gotten seventeen out of twenty-two questionnaires back, which is a pain. Paranoia is such that character is as important or unimportant as you want it to be, so it probably won't be too big a deal, but still. We don't know a number of people in the game, so it might be tough to get things right in places.

Also, I have an idea for a side project to propose for Hold Thy Peace. It would be a small, easy one-act that would go up alongside the mainstage show. Got to write up my proposal so I have it in in time for the meeting.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

A Team Fortress 2 Halloween

Halloween yesterday was wonderful, surrounded by friends in excellent costumes. Best evening I've had in a long time. Perhaps the most notable part of the evening were the five members of Team Fortress 2 that got together a fantastic group costume that yielded some great pictures. It was actually initially Jared's idea a month or so ago; he's recently gotten very into the game and thought it would be a fun and funny idea for a big group to do together. Several people expressed interest, but I think Jared and Bernie kind of didn't think anybody else would actually do it, so kind of felt like it couldn't happen. It took Matt actually getting together costume pieces to get things going; when I saw he was into it I started getting after Bernie and Jared, who got back into it when they thought there would be a real group. Jared was the Sniper, Bernie was the Engineer, and Matt was the Scout, all of which were remarkably well-cast in my opinion. Ryan and Kindness were pulled in at the last minute as the Spy and the Medic respectively, which worked out pretty well too! We took some fantastic pictures, which will soon be on Facebook. In the meantime, here's a sampling:



The Medic, the Spy, the Sniper, the Engineer, and the Scout.



I think this was supposed to be a RED Team versus BLU Team picture, but it looks more like everybody wants to get the Blue Spy.



This fantastic picture is of the team playing poker for the Intelligence Case. It's now the background on my phone. Cute details include the Spy cheating and the Sniper reaching for his mug but probably heading for his pee jar.
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