Tired Monday

Con Report: I missed the bus that I needed, so I got a 20-minute late start. That, plus the extra long time waiting in line to get gas & get food, made it a near run thing. I got to the con right before the game slot. I barely had enough time for a pit stop before I had to find the table.

It was a double-rounder Living Greyhawk so I played that the rest of the evening. We found Alisa, or she found us, and we caravaned to the LaQuinta.

It was up early on Saturday (I woke up before the alarm clock, no surprise there) and we created a dwarf fighter for Alisa to play in Living Kalamar. She decided to play the second round of Saturday with us, too. She really seemed to enjoy her fighter. She even got the perfect crit to finish off the big bad (not bad for a 1st level character at an ATL 3 table).

Saturday night was the BI & we played at the 12 Advanced Table. We had the central fight and it was a near thing. Reed used most of her spells for healing alone. Funny thing, she never even lost the temporary hit points from the Hero's Feast but at least two of the other characters went down to single digit hit points a couple times. Thanks to a couple of well-place disintegrate spells, the last combat was quick (maybe 3 rounds) and we finished up a little early.

Ironclaw: Sunday morning I drove to the con hotel so I would have my Ironclaw stuff. I had a full table, including at least one person who had never even heard of the game. I think everyone had fun and there was some very well-done roleplaying. Everyone chose pre-gens and two people, luckily seated next to each other, chose the siblings Argent & Sable; their interaction was great! Diane was there again and although this game was not particularly focused on her character she had some absolutely wonderful moments (the joy of a well-chosen use of flaws). It was good to see her again. She's gotten so tall.

I need to work on Unexpected Inheritance, though. It runs long. With inexperienced players, we finished the first fight at 3 hours plus. I called it rather than let it keep going. I pretty much hand-waved the other fight. They did enjoy the suspenseful ending, or indicated that they did.

Someone else was there running a Jadeclaw game & a Usagi Yojimbo game. I got a picture of him running the latter and a couple pictures of my players in the IC game. If I could just remember his name. Bill got a picture of me with his camera phone.

The Sunday afternoon LG game was an investigation mod, not the best choice for the last round of the con but we had fun. We were playing APL 4 & my 2nd level fighter, Brenna, is finally 3rd. We managed to finish on time; I had expected to run late.

I called Teresa to let her know & we sat down to eat at about 6:30. She was pulling in just after I arrived to I gave her the tins immediately. We had a nice dine & chat.

It was still just after 8 before I headed home. I had a sugar free Red Bull to drink (nasty tasting stuff) so I was fairly confident of my ability to stay awake. There were still some troubling moments but some pit stops and a stop to get gas helped.

When I got home, I didn't fully unload my car. I just pulled out the stuff I needed most & the stuff that shouldn't sit in it all day today (the heat would warp the map for example).

I saw Cherie at the con & Alisa got a chance to talk to C J Henderson. I didn't really see any of the guests but I did find a book of People's Names for 1/2 off. That was my only purchase, other than food & a con t-shirt. Good thing, too.

I was relying on the gas card that Mom gave me for the gas home. Too bad the place was having card reader problems & I couldn't use it. After that, I only have about $5 left of my con money. That's just a little close for comfort.

I played my wake-up song list from my iPod. It takes about 50 songs to get to Charlotte, by the way.

sights: From Thursday - cute quasi-kimono style blouse in a black print on white with the 'inner kimonos' in black & pink but with jeans cuffed up to capri length with 3-4" cuffs & stilleto heels.

books: I'm still reading Dragon of Despair; obviously I didn't have much reading time this weekend.

tatting: I started another one-shuttle edging from the Jones book, in size 12 ecru this time. I think I like this one & I plan on edging my c. 1810 apron. Finally. I have enough done to either more than edge the very front or to make a decent start on edging from back, over shoulder & around the neck to the other side.

clothes: Saturday I wore my flower fairy t-shirt, blue jeans, white tennis shoes, the new earrings, dragon pendant, Celtic knot ring & fem-power ring; plus I had my hair up in a ponytail/bun with silver bells on it.

Sunday I started out wearing my Ironclaw t- with blue jeans & white tennis shoes. It was raining (Yay!) so I wore a flannel shirt over it until I got inside. I kept my hair loose and wore my dragon necklace, lapis earrings, Celtic knot ring & fem-power ring, plus silver cobra bracelet. Eventually, I wore my new con t-shirt over my IC shirt. It was cool enough, until I was almost home, that I didn't find it too warm at all.

Today: navy loafers, navy/black/white print gauze skirt, burgundy knit blouse, silver wire & blue bead bracelet, fem-power ring, Celtic knot ring & other new earrings (which are heavier than I expected). I'm also wearing my dragon pendant & my hair is loose because I just don't want to deal with it.

This pair of earrings are pewter finish pierced, teardrop shaped. They are almost but not quite floral & pierced on both sides. They are not fine enough to call filigree.

Packing for the Con! I packed my RPGA stuff on Tuesday & then spent Wednesday night looking for my Living Kalamar character. I had hidden it really well; understandable since I haven't played her since 2005. Then I had to unpack my crate enough to pull out the character that I'm playing tonight, plus things like dice, the figure, etc so that I can be ready to play her when I get to the con. Of course, it's Reed, one of the larger notebooks.

Chris reminded me that we were playing Mutants & Masterminds last night so I packed my clothes yesterday morning. That just left my Ironclaw stuff to pack.

I tried to do that when I got home last night but all I managed to do was gather the books that I needed before I had to go to bed to get some sleep.

I woke up an hour early this morning to get the Ironclaw materials actually packed. I opened up a bunch of the miniatures that I'd bought for Ironclaw & put them in the case that Chris gave me for Christmas. They don't quite fill the top layer. I made certain that I have blank character sheets, pregenerated characters, and other supplies; plus the adventure, the map & the map stamps (thank you Green Dragon Studio). The only thing I forgot was the spray bottle (of water) to clean the map).

Gaming: Chris still had mandatory overtime so he wasn't at the Mutants & Masterminds game last night. I got a ride, there & back again, with Diana. We finally talked to Lady Lunar enough to get her stop attacking, for 5 days anyway. We promised to do what we could to get rid of the duplicate leaders of Far Side City (moon city) & to find the culprit(s). It was an enjoyable little series of fights first, to get to her. Even after all this time, I have trouble figuring out how Totem's regeneration works. I made a couple notes in the margin of my character sheet that may help me next session.

I didn't have my laptop, so I wrote the notes in my spiral notebook instead of typing them as we played. That will be fun. I'm behind already (by 5 sessions now). We ended the session by being captured due to being knocked out by a massive psychic blast. A round of Hero Points for everybody.

books: read Spirited Away & started to read The Dragon of Despair. I've also released one book into the wild, registered on BookCrossing. I plan to release another one today and a couple others this weekend at ConCarolinas.

clothes: Yesterday I wore the lilac Ren Fest shirt because I didn't want to bother changing the purple elastic on my braid. How sad is that? I also wore black slacks, belt (with silver buckle), 'slippers', fem power ring, 3 ages of women pendant, hematite ring, & forgot to put in earrings.

Today it's black (repaired) loafers, socks & jeans with dark green Geoff polo, moss agate bead bracelet, black stone ring, hematite ring, fem power ring, green amber ring, necklace & earrings, other green glass bead bracelet (3 strands; one small green spheres, one 2 green cubes to ever single sphere & one larger green spheres bracketed by small green ~pony beads & separated by opaque green octagonal beads) & braided hair (w/ olive elastic at the end).

Well, I think that I've finally recovered from Origins. I think.

I spent too much money (big surprise) but I had a lot of fun. It was great seeing Sean again. Chris had fun most of the time but 2 of his games didn't make & he was more than a little peeved with those particular companies.

Tonight I go play a round zero of Living Kalamar in Cary. I need to leave on the dot of 5pm so I can pick up supper & reach Earl's house by 6:30 pm.

I forgot to update my character last night so I had to do it at lunch. I finally decided on a feat, took me a while. & I just remembered that I need to check what's required for the gladiator school. Ta for now.


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Last night was the 4th night in a row that I went to bed late. I really need to get to bed earlier tonight. I'm so tired today that I bought a 20 oz diet pepsi, even without vanilla, to help me get started this morning. The game, a Living Kalamar playtest, went pretty well. Today I'm, off & on, working on reading through it to make helpful suggestions, etc.

Today's outfit: grey Carolina Ren Festival 2002 polo, black & white cotton gauze skirt (it's a broomskirt really, like all my cotton gauze skirts), black loafers, onyx & silver earrings (from Fair Trade), onyx ring, silver 2-strand braid band, a simple silver chain & my hair is loose. I had it up earlier & didn't like it.

My left should still hurts a little. The books I carried yesterday for last night's game were very heavy (3 hardback game books plus 1 paperback game book plus assorted papers & dice). I think I strained something, or at least stressed it. It's feeling better than it did yesterday, at least.

Joe paid for supper last night. We went to Italian Pie in Cary. It's not far from Earl's & since that was the game location, that was important. They have excellent lasagna. Joe & I both had to box half our meal. It's near the crossroads of Harrison & Maynard, across from the new Staples. I have another reason for wanting to remember that; a used bookstore is near that Staple's: Mr. Mike's Used Books. *chortle*



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So, I just took a half-day off yesterday. I went home as soon as my lunch relief had arrived, after I'd briefed him on what needed doing. I thought about stopping for Chinese food but ended up eating leftovers. I played Beyond Good & Evil for hours. I really like that game. When Chris came home I played a little longer, then let him have a turn. I'd accidentally overwritten his saved game, so it was only right.

Yesterday's outfit: light cotton gauze skirt, dark blue knit shirt, hair sticks holding a half-bun, & the usual jewelry plus my new loafers. Today's outfit: different light cotton gauze skirt, pale blue ~spaghetti strap tank, turquoise open hole knit 3/4 length sleeve shirt, same loafers, rainbow moonstone cabochon (like it's ever any other cut) pendant & earrings, moonstone ring, spoon ring & ~turquoise-colored hairsticks holding a half-bun in my hair. For an outfit put together because I have no clean bras, it works very well (the pale blue tank has a built-in bra).

I'm trying to update my Living Kalamar character. It's not being easy. I can't find a good conversion document & I thought I had the character creation doc, but I can't find it.

Mental note: never 'read just one more chapter' of a good book before going to bed. I read until 1 am. The book was Pyramid Scheme by Flint & Freer (?). Since I'm gaming tonight until about 10 or 11pm, this was not the brightest thing to have done. I started the day with 8 oz of soda & had 16 more at lunch. I indulged myself & ate sushi again for lunch.

Tonight I play a zero round of Living Kalamar. They need a 4th person & I didn't have plans for tonight. I'll be able to run it for Chris, Rosemary & maybe Richard & Kathy at a later date. I'm meeting Joe Jungers after work, we'll buy supper on the way. I have no idea who else is playing or who is running the game. Wheee!

I've never worked with powerpoint very much. Now I'm trying to develop an organizational chart in it. ARGH! I came very close to deleting it & starting over today. But I haven't reached that point. Yet.

Last night's gaming went pretty well. We (Rosemary's character Brianna) finished cleansing the 2nd portal, apparently it's linked to fire again/now. Then we found the 3rd portal. It's the same set up. An old Nature-based church in ruins with the portal in a secret room underneath. Problem: this church's valley had filled with water. A 250 foot, cold, lake/pond that had murky water is what it was. Luckily my character had heard of porpoises, wildshaped into one and was able to investigate. Kelis, my character, found the undead & we avoided them. We reached the front door & Chris stopped there. We expect some sort of combat inside the church. Question is: with what? We'll find out in 2 weeks.