The Long of it, Weekend-Wise
Saturday morning was for the Old Masters; if one of them hadn't sent out a reminder Friday, I would have missed the game, which would have been, like, bad, mm'kay? As it was, the Saturday bus schedule works much better than Sunday's, and using the BART to Millbrae trick means I don't have to schlep around on my bike in the rain to do this- not that it rained anyways. The weather was gorgous tho.
I do confess to a certian jealousy I carry over all the gamers in my LJ list who have these rawking RPG games going on all the time; game-wise, the Masters are too widely scattered and too laid back to really get into a tightly run campaign or heavy continuity. My last such group was broken up when two of the players signed up to be cooks on a tramp steamer to Indonesia. Still, they can have their moments; the home team pulled a full out, spells and swords blazing assault on the bad guys which led to a near complete rout (and the death of all of the civilian hostages, but that's another kettle of fish). But when the baddies sent forth their own big guns back in response, the Masters turned tail and ran- not from cowardice, but because they were getting their tails carved off in bite sized chunks and served back to them in a light hollendaise sauce. It's a good combat, to my eye, when the survivers come away with hit point counts dragged to single digits in five rounds...
Ah, but it's a bigger hinge too, as events have been set in motion now, and old continuity threads delicately laid down over years and years of play are converging at long last. A five thousand year old empire stirs from within it's moribund sleep, a Goddess prophecies the end of all things, a terrible, implacable assasin lays waiting in the darkness of every shadow, their strongest character has been trapped in a bottle and spirited away (by her own doing too; how delicious, that...), they have in their possesion a weapon that kills anything it touches (including the wielder- oopsie), and their best chance of finding out what's going on is a vampire who slums around as a bartender down by the docks; - lucky for the party, he likes them, and has invited them to come over for brunch the next day...
I might even get my undead paladin rescued (finally), but that's probably a bit of stretch. That one is a real morbid bastard anways. Like, if I can't have substance, well, I'll give them style, je?
We all agreed that it was a very good game. Coming home happy and high on the buzz of it all was the probable reason why I decided to go out and get a good rain coat, but I really had to get going quick as it was allready late, so I completed my checklist just as the door slammed shut- last thing I looked for were my keys- oops.
My upstairs neighbor holds a spare set of my keys for times like this, but there was no answer when I rang her up on my cell. Well, well, well... Nothing to do but go shopping, je? I went to the C&W shop down near Pier 39, which is always a surreal trip- hard to belive it's the same city, really. They didn't have exactly what I was looking for, but I found one quite good enough; I got a nice oilskin duster. I was feeling happy and butch stalking through the tourista crowds- I really, really shouldnt have shaved so severely tho. From there, I went back to SOMA to hang out for a while at the Eagle, but the time grew longer and longer with no call and no reply when I called- Spiraleena is an early to bed kind of gal, and by nine it was clear that she wasn't at home...
Here I was, trapped outside on a rainy Saturday night in a new trenchcoat and a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac T shirt (i'd worn it for the game, but given the image on it, let's just say it's not the best bar cruising gear, je?) I did have options, of sorts. I thumbed through my cell's address book, and noted again a curious thing, in that for the most part, my close freinds are all outside of the city, and a fair number of those are out of state. Yeah, there were some local people I felt that I could call, but I found myself loathe to ask- this hinges back to what I was writing a few days earlier here, about me and the view I tend to take of friends and such. I have a brand new landlord who's number I'd not loaded into my phone yet, and hiring a locksmith would run into three figures. Urgh.
I took my chances at the Lone Star to see what I could arrange; I ran into a number of friends there and had a pretty good time, and I also got a few offers for accomodations of various sorts. In the end, I took up the offer an aquaintance from the 'Hugs gave for his couch (he said he was light sleeper), tho he cautioned me that his roomie was a serious Disneyphilia collector- 'I'll warn you now that my living room is not the place to take an acid trip...' Ah, I was just happy to have a safe port in the storm...
He was right, in that there was even an authentic Country Bears painting over the fireplace, but the couch was comfy digs, and I took my host to breakfast the next day in thanks- he was good company, too. Back at my house, there was still no answer from upstairs, tho my next door neighbor was able to let me through to the back end of the house. I can now safely say that my place is pretty secure against a discreet asault- you hafta break a window to get in, tho such was cold comfort at the time. I also got our new landlord's number, but found that they handle everything but lockouts as emergencies. From another neighbor, I even got Spiraleena's house key and word that she would be back Sunday evening, but after some thought decides that I wasn't about to dig through her place indiscriminately. I took off again, scoped some movie times out, and considered shopping some more- but where would I put the crap? Well, I did go get a phone charger at Best Buy, as my cell was near dead (I hadn't juiced it since Thursday), and I picked up the Matrix II DVD on a lark, as I didn't see it in the theatre- it fit in my cargo pant's pocket, too. I went to Eagle again, where they let me plug my phone in behind the bar. And after that, well, all I could do was wait...
For all of about 7 hours, all told; I was very judicous in drinking, but I also ran into a fair number of freinds and good folks- I ended up having a solid chat with my next door neighbor for once, and I hung out with a number of visitors from out of town that I knew, and good people like sinnabor. But it was still a long, long day, and by the end of it, when J called and asked if I would go dancing, I was starting to fade. We hiked over to Cherry, but arrived 20 minutes early for the bear dance there, and the place was locked up tight. We made it back to the Stud and Planet Big, but by then my feet were falling off; I sat and watched as J and many other big boys and freinds danced, but I left when the music went trip hoppy. One last, desperate call, and bing! my nieghbor was home at last- she'd had a wonderful weekend at some fey event over in East Bay. Sure, she could let me in...
Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Feed the cat, order dinner in, shower ahhhhhhh sit and IM for a bit- some very nice chats with a few good folks; everything is right and proper in the world again. Aside from being tired, I would say that I had a very good weekend; the game was faboo, many people helped make my enforced exile as good of a time as it could be, given the circumstances, and no one commented on the fact that my new coat has lapels on the wrong side in a women's cut (one friend to whom I bemoaned this point to after I finally noticed it said, 'Don't worry honey, just tell 'em it's European style...') The whole weekend was sprinkled with experiences that gave many lessons into the nature of friendships both near and far, too. Much of that I still find hard to articulate tho, and the proof that any of it stuck will be in the practice. Internalizing my self esteem is perhaps the biggest thing that I can do to unbend my life... well, also putting a door key in my wallet would be a good idea too.
Heh. from here it's up and out.
I do confess to a certian jealousy I carry over all the gamers in my LJ list who have these rawking RPG games going on all the time; game-wise, the Masters are too widely scattered and too laid back to really get into a tightly run campaign or heavy continuity. My last such group was broken up when two of the players signed up to be cooks on a tramp steamer to Indonesia. Still, they can have their moments; the home team pulled a full out, spells and swords blazing assault on the bad guys which led to a near complete rout (and the death of all of the civilian hostages, but that's another kettle of fish). But when the baddies sent forth their own big guns back in response, the Masters turned tail and ran- not from cowardice, but because they were getting their tails carved off in bite sized chunks and served back to them in a light hollendaise sauce. It's a good combat, to my eye, when the survivers come away with hit point counts dragged to single digits in five rounds...
Ah, but it's a bigger hinge too, as events have been set in motion now, and old continuity threads delicately laid down over years and years of play are converging at long last. A five thousand year old empire stirs from within it's moribund sleep, a Goddess prophecies the end of all things, a terrible, implacable assasin lays waiting in the darkness of every shadow, their strongest character has been trapped in a bottle and spirited away (by her own doing too; how delicious, that...), they have in their possesion a weapon that kills anything it touches (including the wielder- oopsie), and their best chance of finding out what's going on is a vampire who slums around as a bartender down by the docks; - lucky for the party, he likes them, and has invited them to come over for brunch the next day...
I might even get my undead paladin rescued (finally), but that's probably a bit of stretch. That one is a real morbid bastard anways. Like, if I can't have substance, well, I'll give them style, je?
We all agreed that it was a very good game. Coming home happy and high on the buzz of it all was the probable reason why I decided to go out and get a good rain coat, but I really had to get going quick as it was allready late, so I completed my checklist just as the door slammed shut- last thing I looked for were my keys- oops.
My upstairs neighbor holds a spare set of my keys for times like this, but there was no answer when I rang her up on my cell. Well, well, well... Nothing to do but go shopping, je? I went to the C&W shop down near Pier 39, which is always a surreal trip- hard to belive it's the same city, really. They didn't have exactly what I was looking for, but I found one quite good enough; I got a nice oilskin duster. I was feeling happy and butch stalking through the tourista crowds- I really, really shouldnt have shaved so severely tho. From there, I went back to SOMA to hang out for a while at the Eagle, but the time grew longer and longer with no call and no reply when I called- Spiraleena is an early to bed kind of gal, and by nine it was clear that she wasn't at home...
Here I was, trapped outside on a rainy Saturday night in a new trenchcoat and a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac T shirt (i'd worn it for the game, but given the image on it, let's just say it's not the best bar cruising gear, je?) I did have options, of sorts. I thumbed through my cell's address book, and noted again a curious thing, in that for the most part, my close freinds are all outside of the city, and a fair number of those are out of state. Yeah, there were some local people I felt that I could call, but I found myself loathe to ask- this hinges back to what I was writing a few days earlier here, about me and the view I tend to take of friends and such. I have a brand new landlord who's number I'd not loaded into my phone yet, and hiring a locksmith would run into three figures. Urgh.
I took my chances at the Lone Star to see what I could arrange; I ran into a number of friends there and had a pretty good time, and I also got a few offers for accomodations of various sorts. In the end, I took up the offer an aquaintance from the 'Hugs gave for his couch (he said he was light sleeper), tho he cautioned me that his roomie was a serious Disneyphilia collector- 'I'll warn you now that my living room is not the place to take an acid trip...' Ah, I was just happy to have a safe port in the storm...
He was right, in that there was even an authentic Country Bears painting over the fireplace, but the couch was comfy digs, and I took my host to breakfast the next day in thanks- he was good company, too. Back at my house, there was still no answer from upstairs, tho my next door neighbor was able to let me through to the back end of the house. I can now safely say that my place is pretty secure against a discreet asault- you hafta break a window to get in, tho such was cold comfort at the time. I also got our new landlord's number, but found that they handle everything but lockouts as emergencies. From another neighbor, I even got Spiraleena's house key and word that she would be back Sunday evening, but after some thought decides that I wasn't about to dig through her place indiscriminately. I took off again, scoped some movie times out, and considered shopping some more- but where would I put the crap? Well, I did go get a phone charger at Best Buy, as my cell was near dead (I hadn't juiced it since Thursday), and I picked up the Matrix II DVD on a lark, as I didn't see it in the theatre- it fit in my cargo pant's pocket, too. I went to Eagle again, where they let me plug my phone in behind the bar. And after that, well, all I could do was wait...
For all of about 7 hours, all told; I was very judicous in drinking, but I also ran into a fair number of freinds and good folks- I ended up having a solid chat with my next door neighbor for once, and I hung out with a number of visitors from out of town that I knew, and good people like sinnabor. But it was still a long, long day, and by the end of it, when J called and asked if I would go dancing, I was starting to fade. We hiked over to Cherry, but arrived 20 minutes early for the bear dance there, and the place was locked up tight. We made it back to the Stud and Planet Big, but by then my feet were falling off; I sat and watched as J and many other big boys and freinds danced, but I left when the music went trip hoppy. One last, desperate call, and bing! my nieghbor was home at last- she'd had a wonderful weekend at some fey event over in East Bay. Sure, she could let me in...
Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Feed the cat, order dinner in, shower ahhhhhhh sit and IM for a bit- some very nice chats with a few good folks; everything is right and proper in the world again. Aside from being tired, I would say that I had a very good weekend; the game was faboo, many people helped make my enforced exile as good of a time as it could be, given the circumstances, and no one commented on the fact that my new coat has lapels on the wrong side in a women's cut (one friend to whom I bemoaned this point to after I finally noticed it said, 'Don't worry honey, just tell 'em it's European style...') The whole weekend was sprinkled with experiences that gave many lessons into the nature of friendships both near and far, too. Much of that I still find hard to articulate tho, and the proof that any of it stuck will be in the practice. Internalizing my self esteem is perhaps the biggest thing that I can do to unbend my life... well, also putting a door key in my wallet would be a good idea too.
Heh. from here it's up and out.