Accomplishing Escapism

Ikea was predictably awesome.  I procured a very nice glass shelving unit, to properly display my miniatures (and in doing so, hopefully get some more painting done on them), and also a duvet cover, pillow cases, and comforter for my bed.  I have always wanted one of the sets that stores have on display - the made bed with the eight hundred matching pillows and color-coordinated sheets - because they always look so PRETTY to me.  Well, now I have the beginnings of one, and if Ikea had had sheets with better thread counts I'd have matching sheets already as well.  But this is why God invented Target.

I'm playing in a War Machine tournament in two weeks, and my goal was to have all 500 points that I'm playing with painted by then.  I'm starting to doubt my ability to do this, because when it comes to painting figures I am SLOW.  I spent two hours or so on my caster and he's only up to about half done, and I'm not even sure I like how he's coming out.  If I really hate him when I finish I'll strip him after the tourney, but right now I've got enough to do.  I've got several pirates to finish, as well as one of my character solos and (I'm sure) there are bits of my jacks that need paint.  At least Billy is letting me borrow one unit, so I not only don't have to paint them but I didn't have to buy them yet.

/nerdery

Weirdly enough, the hanging-out dreams with ZQ continue.  Last night I think we were, like, sitting on a sofa reading with the t.v. on.  It's like my brain needs faux-relaxing time, and has decided it needs it with hot dudes.

(I'm totally ok with this)

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 feel like I've been assimilated into some kind of yuppie collective... I get up at 7 to go to work, wear polo shirts, and have taken to reading the Wall Street Journal on the train and at lunch. Good thing this job is only temporary, or I might actually lose my mind.

Speaking of jobs, I got called in for an interview with the cafe at the Borders in my hometown, and it went pretty much brilliantly. It's a two-interview process, and Laura, the cafe manager I interviewed with yesterday, said she would definitely be calling me about setting up the second interview on either Friday or Monday. She said she was really impressed with my experience, and how I answered her hypothetical "WHAT IF THIS HAPPENS" questions, and I think that the fact that the hospital Java House serves more people in two hours than the Borders does all day convinced her I could handle shifts by myself, early morning, weekends, whatever. So I'm pleased about that; if I can do this full time, it'd pretty much be exactly what I wanted for the next couple of years or so.

Until then, I am sitting at a desk in my dad's law office, sorting employee documents so an immigration expert can go through them later and figure out who's an illegal immigrant and who's not. Honestly, it's not that bad; I'm putting it in an Excel document, so I have unrestricted access to the internet, everyone who works here is really nice, and as long as I make progress I can come and go as I please. And sometimes my dad buys me lunch. :3

( Wargaming nerdery )

Today I have to have my wisdom teeth checked out by my dentist, and HOPEFULLY he will tell me I can have them pulled, like, tomorrow. They hurt and it's making me whiney...