Accomplishing Escapism

Brilliant idea posted over at my alt account, flights_of_fancy .  It boils down to: gaming companies that make awesome games do not always write awesome stories.  I can write awesome stories.  Maybe if I send one some writing samples, they'll let me do freelance prose work on their next army book.

Gen Con Indy was SUPER SUPER awesome.  Billy and I got there early Saturday morning, so we had plenty of time during the day to walk around, check out demos, spend way too much money, and hang out with cool people (Like Sohmer and Lar from LICD!  Billy brought them Red Bull and they were very charming).  I was satisfied at the end, but next year I would like to go for the whole weekend and take advantage of the things we didn't have the downtime to do.  For instance, they had a room with hunderds of board game titles that you could check out like a library and play with people, and this room was open 24 hours a day.  I have a theory that Tsuro, played for hours on end, will eventually result in achieving Nirvana, so obviously I have to test this theory.  It would have been interesting to attend some panels and speakers as well, and I definitely would want to get more demos in. 

Cool things I did at the con:

- Bought the new Privateer Press faction book for the Retribution army.  Couldn't buy the heavy warjack kit because they sold out on, like, the first day.  Poo.
- Demoed and purchased Malifaux, a skirmish based war game in a western/horror/steampunk/gothic setting.  I liked it a whole bunch, and the guys were really nice, and they're the company I want to write for.  One of their characters wears a white furry top hat and stripped stockings.  HOW CAN I SAY NO.
- Bought my own set of gaming dice.  They're pretty and blue.
- Tried orange root beer, and decided it tasted too medicinal.
- Saw some fairly phenominal costumes, including some very classy WarMachine casters and an awesome Eldar farseer robe.
- Took pride in the fact that my nerdy tattoo is cooler than a lot of peoples' nerdy tattoos.
- Hung out with webcomic artists
- Played Tsuro, a brilliantly simply board game wherein you move your token along a path and try to run other peoples' tokens off the board.  Plans to buy it are in the works.
- Watched Billy play Arcane Legions.  Unsure about how impressed I am with it.  The Chinese get dragons and stone lions, and the Romans get armored bears, which is pretty badass.  Not convinced about gameplay yet, though.
- Watched Wizards of the Coast fail at running a Magic 2010 tournament, which is sad when you think about it; they really should have more practice at that.

It was a fun time.

 I'm in California visiting with my lovely friend Gina, and we spent today shopping.  Only apparently California malls don't actually contain real stores - they have all been replaced with designer stores that charge more for a dress than I make in a month.

How is it that we, as a people (because God knows I do this too), have decided that it's not only acceptable but desirable to spend ludicrous amounts of money on clothing, simply because of the name on the label?  It's appalling that, on waltzing into, say, the Armani Exchange, one can find a shirt on sale for $200, and call it a great deal.  $200 for a shirt is not a great deal.  It is highway robbery, only worse because we submit to it with our eyes open our wallets at the ready.  And I don't want to hear about how designer clothes are so much more with the quality than, oh, a shirt I'd get at Old Navy.  A ribbed tank top is a ribbed tank top, whether you're paying $7 for it at Old Navy or $50 for it at Abercrombie & Fitch.

I don't know why this bugs me so much.  I'm tired of looking at beautiful things I can't afford just because someone, somewhere is loose enough with their money that they decided $1500 was a fair price for a babydoll dress.  If enough people decided enough was enough, that we would no longer shell out God knows how much money for clothes, maybe the hierarchy of labels would even out.  Or maybe not.  I dunno.

I did score some pretty awesome underwear at the Victoria's Secret sale.  Used my Angel card for the first time, too.  Wasn't a bad day, all in all.

I was going to post a big long thing here about a horrifying nightmare I had last night, and a mini-rant about how some of the rules animal shelters have set up are ridiculous, but then DW totally ate my entire post.  So, to sum up:

1. Had a nightmare last night of trying to save Dan (my friend who's been causing all the drama) from a shark attack, not being able to, and finding him drowned and dead.  Have determined that this means my brains want me to talk to him, even though I don't think it's in my best interest.  It's apparently causing me anxiety, so I have to try and do SOMETHING about it.

2. Went downtown today with my friend Ed and his Bitchface Girlfriend (for anyone who heard this story, that's the girl who accused me of being a homewrecker last summer.  Today we apparently decided we were going to ignore that incident).  It was fun except for Bitchface, who has an annoying tendency to try and lecture me about things I already know about (yes, I DO know that it is best to buy surgical steel body jewelry, CAN YOU COUNT THE PIERCINGS IN MY HEAD, WOMAN).  We stopped at the Chicago Humane Society, who told me I couldn't adopt a particular dog (this dog, to be precise) because she was considered "high risk," and I'd never owned a dog by myself before.  Never mind that I have EXTENSIVE experience with rescue dogs, or that I worked in a bording center for three years with dogs ranging from mild to monster, or that I currently share space with a 50 pound hound that's a bundle of neuroses.  Also never mind the fact that the rules don't appear to apply once you get to the interview phase of adopting, since they call references and quiz you deeply about your background.  They wouldn't even let me PLAY with this dog.  I was kinda peeved.

3. Had a lovely evening in with my boyfriend, in which we ate tasty pastas, watched Rome, and I got some painting done.  I'll tell you about the hobby stuffs later, when I'm not so desperate for sleeeeeeps.

Turns out that by "we have a job opening" what the company I interviewed with REALLY meant was "we hire independent contractors."  An independent contractor is someone not actually working for a company - they get paid purely on the clients that they see, on a totally freelance basis.  Since I am a college graduate so green I'm pretty much grass, this is not helpful to me; no matter what the eloquent man at the presentation yesterday says, I am NOT looking for a way out of the job market and into the world of self-employment, I am looking for stability.  With a regular paycheck and health benefits, preferably.  So I'm glad I spent a $50 bus ticket to be able to go to that interview.

Wasn't a totally lost weekend, though, last night was pretty rockin'.  My boyfriend has been having Monday night boardgame fun, which I actually got to go to last night, and that was fun.  We ordered mass quantities of Chinese food and played Settlers: Cities and Knights edition, which seems to basically be Settlers on steroids.  I'm not a huge fan of Settlers to begin with (granted, I've only played a handful of times) but this wasn't so bad.  Mostly I just liked doing something social, as I have a tendency to be fairly hermetic if given the opportunity.

Today I get to ride a bus for seven hours in order to return to IC, pack up all my shit, and come home AGAIN Saturday morning.  I would very much like to see people before I depart; I intend to return at least twice this summer, perhaps more in the coming year, but I may as well get the hangouts in while I'm still local.  

I really hate moving...there's just something about heavy lifting and driving in that horrifying UHaul truck that's downright unpleasant.  Plus I have to see my entire life reduced to what will fit into a handfull of cardboard boxes, and see the room that I've occupied so happily for the last year reduced to an empty wood floor and a bizarre faux fireplace.  I'll have to say goodbye to the little cat who's adopted me, who will undoubtedly go on to find someone else's window to yell into.  I might not get to watch the baby robins fledge and fly for the first time, even though they're getting GINORMOUS and will probably do so in the next week.  I have a lo of good reasons to move now instead of August, but even so, it's going to be sad when I do.