Four Days: Absinthe, Stilton, Dogs, and Toro
Fuller details on the DunDraCon experience in the next "Out of the Box," but I can reveal that Darren Watts remains one of the finest men on two legs, despite (or perhaps because of) his taking me for four or five bucks in dime-quarter poker Friday night.
Thursday was Fields, already discussed in this space, and dinner at Absinthe, an intriguing "haute Americaine" brasserie where I had the entirely unexpected thrill of eating an oyster (precise provenance unremembered by me, sadly) with a swig of excellent Oregon pinot noir chasing it. Two great tastes I never would have thought to try together, but their strange fusion was the highlight of my gustatory night.
Saturday was a spot of RuneQuest talk with Greg Stafford, who had heard that I was developing the latest Mongoose draft of that classic, and lunch with xomec at our usual stand, the Whole Foods in the adjacent shopping center, where once more we procured and devoured a fifth-pound wedge of Stilton. I also chatted with a very nice fan named Andy who, having come to a few of my seminars, decided I was the guy to tell him about his upcoming San Francisco-based Unknown Armies game. In the course of our discussion, it emerged that Andy hadn't yet read Fritz Leiber's wonderful urban dark fantasy Our Lady of Darkness, so we wandered over to Borders to see if they had it in stock. Sadly, they didn't, but he got The Crying of Lot 49 so the day wasn't wasted, and in an access of Pynchonian madness no doubt, Andy offered to buy me a book. I picked up the coda to Harry Turtledove's Worldwar/Colonization series, Homeward Bound, which aptly recapitulates all the Campbellian strengths and windy weaknesses of said series. Then, his other plan having fallen through, xomec and I went off in quest of Indian food. In short, a day that could only have been improved if xomec's boyfriend Christopher could have joined us.
Sunday's highlight was a ripping game of Dogs in the Vineyard helmed by that true child of the King of Life, Carl Rigney; my brethren were Hero-ites Steve Long, Jason Walters, and the enigmatic 'Bulldozer,' who out-sociopathed us all in a stirring evocation of eyebeams' heretical theory of the Western. I was gratified to see that my review of Dogs is entirely accurate; the game is brilliant, and I fully grok the mechanics now to boot.
Monday, luagha and I tried fruitlessly to communicate with stjeromes and wound up going to see Hoodwinked (fun stuff), eating at a Korean tofu house, and hitting a used bookstore in Palo Alto. We completed the day with absolutely flawless toro nigiri at Fuki-Sushi, and off I scampered to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
I had forgotten that BART trains announce their arrival with the first two notes of "Tainted Love."
Thursday was Fields, already discussed in this space, and dinner at Absinthe, an intriguing "haute Americaine" brasserie where I had the entirely unexpected thrill of eating an oyster (precise provenance unremembered by me, sadly) with a swig of excellent Oregon pinot noir chasing it. Two great tastes I never would have thought to try together, but their strange fusion was the highlight of my gustatory night.
Saturday was a spot of RuneQuest talk with Greg Stafford, who had heard that I was developing the latest Mongoose draft of that classic, and lunch with xomec at our usual stand, the Whole Foods in the adjacent shopping center, where once more we procured and devoured a fifth-pound wedge of Stilton. I also chatted with a very nice fan named Andy who, having come to a few of my seminars, decided I was the guy to tell him about his upcoming San Francisco-based Unknown Armies game. In the course of our discussion, it emerged that Andy hadn't yet read Fritz Leiber's wonderful urban dark fantasy Our Lady of Darkness, so we wandered over to Borders to see if they had it in stock. Sadly, they didn't, but he got The Crying of Lot 49 so the day wasn't wasted, and in an access of Pynchonian madness no doubt, Andy offered to buy me a book. I picked up the coda to Harry Turtledove's Worldwar/Colonization series, Homeward Bound, which aptly recapitulates all the Campbellian strengths and windy weaknesses of said series. Then, his other plan having fallen through, xomec and I went off in quest of Indian food. In short, a day that could only have been improved if xomec's boyfriend Christopher could have joined us.
Sunday's highlight was a ripping game of Dogs in the Vineyard helmed by that true child of the King of Life, Carl Rigney; my brethren were Hero-ites Steve Long, Jason Walters, and the enigmatic 'Bulldozer,' who out-sociopathed us all in a stirring evocation of eyebeams' heretical theory of the Western. I was gratified to see that my review of Dogs is entirely accurate; the game is brilliant, and I fully grok the mechanics now to boot.
Monday, luagha and I tried fruitlessly to communicate with stjeromes and wound up going to see Hoodwinked (fun stuff), eating at a Korean tofu house, and hitting a used bookstore in Palo Alto. We completed the day with absolutely flawless toro nigiri at Fuki-Sushi, and off I scampered to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
I had forgotten that BART trains announce their arrival with the first two notes of "Tainted Love."