Super Bowl XLV weekend
I had a fantastic weekend. Friday evening, Sarah and I watched a couple of season 4 (I think) episodes of Big Love on Netflix DVD. That show is very engrossing, but it has a lot of characters to keep up with, and so much seems to happen in every scene that it throws me off balance. I'm like, give me a minute to process Nicki arguing with her daughter and then pulling out a gun in a D.C. hotel lobby before you cut to Barb and Sarah hitting a Blackfoot girl in Utah with their SUV and then promising to get her a job even though she's later alleged to be a meth addict. Deep breath...exhale. It seems like huge amounts happen in every scene, and the excellent acting means the dialogue can be very nuanced. So it frequently happens that one character will say something, and the other will reply verbally in a way that contradicts her body language (sometimes subtly, sometimes obviously), and that's tough to deal with because I'm trying to interpret everything, said and unsaid, all at once in my head, even as the scene keeps unfolding. It's a fun and interesting show, though!
Saturday: D&D! We played at waywalker's house, because he was playing an NPC for me. The party is all level 17 or 18 now, so as might be imagined, there was some major stuff flying as an NPC he was playing fought the party almost to a standstill. I still believe that he terminated the combat (teleported out) for the metagame reason that it was nearly 6 PM (our standard quitting time) and not because he had been defeated or driven away. However, if I look at it based solely on what happened in game, there is no other reasonable explanation. So, I might reverse my ruling that the Players don't get any XP for "defeating" him. I'm still considering it. (Feel free to click Comment and lobby me!) Anyway, it was a fantastic combat, very fun and challenging for everyone.
On Sunday morning, Sarah & I went bowling. She is a very good bowler. Even though I have my own ball and my own shoes, and even though she uses a house ball and shoes, she plays me competitively every single game, and beats me almost as often as not. We always have fun. In our third game, I bowled a turkey (three strikes in a row) at one point, which is a pretty good accomplishment. In the fifth frame, my score was 102, on track for the ridiculously elusive (for me) 200 game, but alas, I did not do as well in the last 5 frames as the first 5. After bowling, we picked up Hannah from where she had been staying with her friend Christina, and took her home.
Also Sunday, we watched an excellent movie off Netflix instant: Timer. The premise: it is a world exactly like our own, except there exists a device called a Timer that you can purchase and have surgically attached to your wrist. This Timer will tell you exactly how long it will be until, and the instant that you do, meet your One, the person who is exactly right for you. Sometimes, these alternate reality scenario movies are not well thought out, the "rules" not clearly planned, but this one was an exception. The way the characters behaved was all very believable within the premise, from the main character's constant worry, almost obsession, about her blank Timer (meaning her One had not yet bought a Timer), to her sister's promiscuity in the face of her own Timer counting down the 15 years until she's going to meet hers. The men they meet, and how their lives evolve, make for an engaging and intellectually stimulating watch (no pun intended). I give it a B+, which is high praise by my standards. And I always know I've watched a really good movie when Sarah and I can spend an hour having an interesting discussion about it afterwards.
Finally, of course, we all watched Super Bowl XLV. I made my awesome 7 layer dip, Sarah made her excellent buffalo chicken dip, and we also feasted on shrimp cocktail, mozzarella sticks, veggies with dip, and pizza rolls. The girls both decided to root for the Steelers, vs. their parents, who were rooting for the Packers, so we had mixed cheering and moaning on every big play. It was also fun laughing at the excellent and creative new commercials. And the game was actually good - hard fought to the final couple of minutes. I honestly believe that the difference was that Pittsburgh simply committed more turnovers than they could overcome (not that the Packers didn't have anything to do with that!).
Saturday: D&D! We played at waywalker's house, because he was playing an NPC for me. The party is all level 17 or 18 now, so as might be imagined, there was some major stuff flying as an NPC he was playing fought the party almost to a standstill. I still believe that he terminated the combat (teleported out) for the metagame reason that it was nearly 6 PM (our standard quitting time) and not because he had been defeated or driven away. However, if I look at it based solely on what happened in game, there is no other reasonable explanation. So, I might reverse my ruling that the Players don't get any XP for "defeating" him. I'm still considering it. (Feel free to click Comment and lobby me!) Anyway, it was a fantastic combat, very fun and challenging for everyone.
On Sunday morning, Sarah & I went bowling. She is a very good bowler. Even though I have my own ball and my own shoes, and even though she uses a house ball and shoes, she plays me competitively every single game, and beats me almost as often as not. We always have fun. In our third game, I bowled a turkey (three strikes in a row) at one point, which is a pretty good accomplishment. In the fifth frame, my score was 102, on track for the ridiculously elusive (for me) 200 game, but alas, I did not do as well in the last 5 frames as the first 5. After bowling, we picked up Hannah from where she had been staying with her friend Christina, and took her home.
Also Sunday, we watched an excellent movie off Netflix instant: Timer. The premise: it is a world exactly like our own, except there exists a device called a Timer that you can purchase and have surgically attached to your wrist. This Timer will tell you exactly how long it will be until, and the instant that you do, meet your One, the person who is exactly right for you. Sometimes, these alternate reality scenario movies are not well thought out, the "rules" not clearly planned, but this one was an exception. The way the characters behaved was all very believable within the premise, from the main character's constant worry, almost obsession, about her blank Timer (meaning her One had not yet bought a Timer), to her sister's promiscuity in the face of her own Timer counting down the 15 years until she's going to meet hers. The men they meet, and how their lives evolve, make for an engaging and intellectually stimulating watch (no pun intended). I give it a B+, which is high praise by my standards. And I always know I've watched a really good movie when Sarah and I can spend an hour having an interesting discussion about it afterwards.
Finally, of course, we all watched Super Bowl XLV. I made my awesome 7 layer dip, Sarah made her excellent buffalo chicken dip, and we also feasted on shrimp cocktail, mozzarella sticks, veggies with dip, and pizza rolls. The girls both decided to root for the Steelers, vs. their parents, who were rooting for the Packers, so we had mixed cheering and moaning on every big play. It was also fun laughing at the excellent and creative new commercials. And the game was actually good - hard fought to the final couple of minutes. I honestly believe that the difference was that Pittsburgh simply committed more turnovers than they could overcome (not that the Packers didn't have anything to do with that!).