Gonzai Gallery

Just got home from Day 1 of Euroquest. Won an in-person Stone Age game for the first time, won plenty of other games early when they didn't count, but got creamed as the night went on so I passed on the Dominion tournament. Somehow was placed on a team with two people I barely know, but we finished the night in first place with two wins and a second. We'll see how we do as time goes on.

Oh, continued 'Ornament Quest' before going to the tourney and found the jackpot - found a store with gazillions of the ornaments in stock. Bought as many as I could get in the shopping cart. I should be good for the rest of the year. Phew.

Lesson learned for the day: check the cell phone for messages before I go anywhere. Went to drop off the commision portrait I just finished, and discovered after waiting at the meet point for a while that the buyer had left a message that she couldn't make it. Oops. Besides that, I also went to the gym and the pharmacy, took Mom food shopping and had my car's front brakes replaced. Then took Mom out for her birthday dinner at the Woodfire Grill - she loves their salads, and she loves lamb anytime, and they have that too. And the blueberry coconut cake was awesome. Swung by Barnes & Noble to search their clearance bin for games, they have some good ones at 75% off IF you can find them. I found Qwirkle Cubes for $6.25. Score! Now home for the winddown.

Finishing a long day of gaming, both watching and playing.

Watched the World Cup for the first time this morning, seeing most of the Germany/Argentina white-washing. Most of the game was simply wondering if Argentina would show up at all...they didn't. Bummed about Muller getting the boot for the next game though, 'cause he's kinda gorgeous. If all soccer players looked like that I'd be watching fulltime...but I digress. Also tried, once again, to teach Mom to play Ticket to Ride online. Failed again, too, and lost every game in the process.

Then to the final GCOM session in Hillendale. The hosts have determined their house is just too small and hectic to continue as hosts, so this was the last gaming session there. Learned a few new games, including 'Aquaretto', which was notable because I learned the expansion game when I've never played the original. Then to more the usual games, including more Ticket, which I won.

And now home once more.

The gaming was back in my neighborhood today, so Dave and I both gave it out best shot despite both of us having colds and not much sleep. We didn't do too well. Dave won the the grand debut of my new Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries and after that we descended rapidly. Tried a game called '3 Commandments' which was awful (Jamie doesn't think it was worth the $1 she paid for it), got our backsides handed to us at the kids' version of 'Wits & Wagers', then Dave played (and lost) to a six year old at a couple games and I was badly beaten at ''Esalund' or whatever that was called. We decided to call it a night early. Ah well. We got out of the house for a while.

Anyone else wasting a ton of time playing Pac-Man on Google? Childhood flashback time...

It started with my dentist appointment being cancelled - for the third time, none by me. Snow, the dentist's father died, and now the dentist has pinkeye. And because I get evening appointments, it's a month before I can reschedule each time. My early February appointment is now Memorial Day weekend.

Then, because I was home after all, Mom wanted to go shopping. This is very out of character for both of us, shopping on a weeknight. But off to Home Depot we went. And she didn't bring her shopping list *head desk*. Then we discovered just what Bill Maher meant when he said finding true love is like finding a Home Depot employee - if you're really lucky, you'll find it once or twice in your life. There was one employee manning six departments and 11 people waiting for him. An hour later...

Now I really wanted to sit down with NCIS and play Settlers online. And once again - crazy, obnoxious people playing Settlers. I wound up staying up later than planned just because I finally found two normal people to play against, after suffering through more rude jerks.

Now I'm sleepy from staying up. But at least work is quiet...

After a hellish time trying to get out of the house (which included smashing my head into a kitchen cabinet), I managed to go to the wrong hotel. Then I discovered, after I was there, that there were no concessions at said hotel. You bring you own (which I hadn't) or go to Chili's. Not a big Chili's fan. But at least I got a big, caffeine laden soda out of it.

Also failed to play much, with most folks opting for the 3+ hour mega games and/or preoccupied with the silent auction. I had a list of things I wanted to bid on; 2 didn't make it to the auction, and all but one of the others were also targeted by BSFS, so I didn't want to bid against them. Since I play their game sets at Alphabet Soup, it is to an extent bidding against myself. And I was sniped on the one non-Hal Haag game, a Star Wars game I thought the nephews would love. Final tally? Qwirkle. That was it. Did snag some GCOM swag, pretty purple dice and assorted accessories, and I'm picking up the original Settlers of Cataan tomorrow, but in the end I didn't spend nearly what I expected and my hands are much emptier than I thought.

Did at least get to wrap up the evening by finally playing some games I like (Ticket to Ride & Stone Age) with people I knew. I think that one day of Game Days may well be plenty for me, but we'll see how I feel next year.

I managed to dig through everything far enough to get to the home computer and watch 'Lost' on it. I don't like watching TV on my computer. And half the time it doesn't work anyway (took a couple programs to find one that would play Lost for me, VLC did the job.) But without anything to sit on and no fridge/stove/tv/etc, there's not much to do but play games online and go to bed.

BTW, is it just me, or does Settlers of Cataan have a disproportionate number of crazy online players? I rarely run into problems online beyond the occasional quitter, but when I play Settlers on Brettspielwelt, I wonder if there's a full moon. Half the players are crazy, rude or both. But only that game. What gives?

Whew. After managing to squeeze both a memorial service and a gaming session into yesterday afternoon, today was another errand marathon. I was late to the doctor's appointment due to Balmorons getting extra stupid when it rains, but as it turned out several people cancelled so I was able to go straight in. Next appointment was on the same hospital campus, and I didn't feel like trying to move the car so I walked there. This test required me to not eat OR drink, anything, at all, so naturally the appointment was at 10:30. But the 9:30 & 10 both no-showed, so they took me straight in. I was out again by 10, and beelining to a 7-11 caffeine & food. Home for a bit, then took Mom to the bank to have me added to her account. The good: turns out with her present account, she was entitled to a free safe deposit box. So we signed her up. The bad: Friday, Mike and I were in agreement about me being added to the account. Naturally, when I called him, he suddenly didn't agree with me about anything.  I was added to the account but Mike is talking like he wants to take me right back off and put himself on instead. Between him rarely being in town and we pretty much only hear from him when he wants free babysitting, I'm rather galled he wants to take over looking after Mom and is trying to keep me out of it. Gack. So this is going to get ugly sooner rather than later. Dammit. Then we went to Home Depot and bought a new sink for the bathroom, and had that loaded into the van despite it being the pouring rain. Who knows how long that will sit in the van. Then CJ went to the vet for shots, tests, and as a result of neadods and her kitty, I had her microchipped. The vaccines were half price, and it still came to over $200. Yikes. She was mostly well-behaved, but she slipped her collar in the parking lot, which gave me a coronary. So now I'm home and trying to settle back in. Not following TV stuff very well at the moment.