Roadside Picnic

Relevant to the previous entry's overdose discussion, Thursday afternoon, I saw a LFD engine and two LMPD cruisers roll onto Gray Street and stop in front of LMPHW. The engine crew dismounted, no turnout gear, and to my shame, I thought, "Just an OD case, then, no big deal." This is now normal, I guess. And this is not right.

Wednesday was my 45th birthday. Nothing exciting, really. Had a short meeting at Shawnee Academy for one of my classes.

Friday, time at LMPHW, planning for ICS instruction in May, then a couple hours in the Cave to close out the day. A staffer in OEP is retiring in a couple of weeks, and my mentor suggested I apply for her position. I'm applying for a position with CHE, too, so hopefully things will start moving on that front. After practicum time, I went to Crescent Springs for Erin's birthday dinner. Met her boyfriend (who is a heck of a good guy) and other folks. Pretty good evening.

Including last night's round trip, I think I can count the number of times I've driven I-71 between I-265 and the I-75 merger on two hands. I've never had much need to travel that way, and that stretch of Interstate is strange to me. Lots of grades and curves, and there are markers for the Carrollton bus crash way back when. It's a little bit spooky. And I'll be making the drive again a couple of weeks, when I head to CincyCon.

Going out with Mom&Dad in a little while, and probably with some friends tonight. And if they bail, I can just as easily go to a movie on my own. Have to schedule my Corellian Conflict game sometime. Prep for SYR and my regular SW game. Do homework, research, search for jobs. Keeping moving.

81 days.

It's Halloween!

I went to Lexington's Halloween celebration last night, mostly to see Space Madness on the Planet of the Apes by the March Madness Marching Band - and yes, they did "Rock Me, Doctor Zaius." Lots of people there, some good costumes, and the parade was a joy to behold.

I'd planned on driving to Florida this evening to see Space Shuttle Discovery's final launch, but that's pushed back until Wednesday afternoon, and I can't make that and be back in time for my flight to Las Vegas for NeonCon. I'll settle for CNN coverage, I guess. Only three missions left, and then the US is reduced to hitching rides on somebody else's spacecraft until at least 2015.

I'm looking forward to NeonCon, for the most part. The flight's going to be a hassle, what with all the TSA circus acts, but I can deal. The Fantasycraft adventure I'm scheduled to run (twice) is ... well, I really really don't like it. The Spycraft mission is a good one, though, and it looks like there will be a lot of opportunity for pickup games. And, well, I'll be in Las Vegas.

I'm reading Jacqueline Carey's Naamah's Kiss at present. Liking it rather a lot, unsurprisingly. Looking forward to Amexica, sometime after I get back.

Pulling for the Texas Rangers to win the World Series. Pleasantly surprised that the Oakland Raiders are 4-4. And stunned at the disintegration of the Dallas Cowboys.

So, I went to Florida last week. The original plan for the time off was to go to Diecon again, but my enthusiasm completely evaporated in early May, so I extended my time off from work and decided to head somewhere.

I left Lexington around 4:30 Wednesday morning. Made an impulse side trip to Savannah, Georgia, and Tybee Island, both of which were utterly beautiful, but in totally different ways. Spent a few hours at each place, then pressed on to Daytona Beach and spent the night.

Saw Daytona International Speedway, walked around the beach a bit, then headed south to Kennedy Space Center. Holy ground for a space geek like me. Saw Endeavour out on 39-A. Nice long tour of KSC. The astronaut memorial is beautiful. Drove to West Palm Beach and spent the night.

The Shell convenience store where I refuelled in West Palm Beach had a good-sized wine rack, about 20 varieties on hand, with a recommended pairings list. Man, it's a whole other planet sometimes.

Friday was Key West. Got there around noon. Saw the Hemingway House, the end of US1, and met some fun folks from Maryland. Left Key West around 8 p.m., and decided to try driving straight home. Took 22 hours, but I did it. Stops every four hours or so for fuel and drinks, and one real meal along the way.

Lots and lots of time to think while driving. Made some decisions; now to see if I can stick with them.

Short version:  GenCon was a terrific time.

Long version?  Well, since you asked...

I left Lexington around noon on Wednesday.  I tried a different route to Indianapolis this time around, and I'm sold on it.  I-75 to I-275 to I-74.  Avoids any poorly-designed interchanges completely.  Got to the hotel around 3:15 or so, unloaded, met with the first of the suitemates, goofed around.  Went to airport to pick up Pat and Alex (two of the Crafty Games partners).  Met with rest of the Crafty demo team at our hotel (Embassy Suites, in case you were wondering) at 10:30, divided up game lines, got to know each other, split up for the night.

Thursday morning started with the hotel's pretty good free breakfast.  Important lesson learned, and this worked really well for this disgusting morning person who's set to Eastern Time, is to get there as early as possible, before the ravening hordes of gamers arrive.  Over to the ICC to get our badges and swag bags.  Goodies this year were a little sparse - most of mine went directly into the recycling bins, but I kept the dice, of course.  Once crowds died down, I braved the Exhibitors Hall and beelined for the Play Collective booth.  Got copies of Cold City and Hot War, and spent a few minutes talking to Malcolm Craig, the writer of said games.  This was the first of our encounters over the weekend, as he was staying on the same hotel floor as me.  Very nice guy, and an imaginative designer.  Check out his stuff at Contested Ground Studios.  Then, it was time for my first game - a World on Fire mission.  It went well.  The six players got into the game quickly, and the mission went off quite well.  Grabbed some food, and headed for the live-action game meeting.  I can't reveal too terribly much about it, since it was a preview of an upcoming setting book for Mastercraft (Spycraft's descendant), but the slogan is pretty cool - "Black Ops versus the Black Arts."

Friday started with a minor scheduling question, but it was quickly hashed out.  Today's game was not quite as successful, as there were only four players and two were kids - I'd guess one maybe 9 and the other 12 or so.  Not bad, but it required a lot of shifting of mental gears for me.  Afterwards, off to the RAM for lunch (not bad, but nothing remarkable, either) and back to buyin' stuff.  Hunter: the Vigil looks quite good, and Legend of the Burning Sands does as well.  The credits of LBS established that I'm clearly Old.  One of the writers is a kid I taught to play the 7th Sea card game back during the Red Rock Big-Ass Game Night time.  Crafty seminar that evening, then off to the Weber Grill for dinner.  Dear friends, a 24oz. Porterhouse cut pork chop is humongous.  And delicious.  As we weren't done with the talking when we left there at about midnight, it was off to Steak 'n' Shake for dessert.  Back to the hotel around 2 a.m.

Saturday looked to be the busiest of days - two sessions scheduled, the first from 2-6 p.m., the second from 8 p.m. to midnight.  The 2 p.m. session was awesome.  Eight players, split between four experienced Spycraft players who had played this mission at a previous convention, and four enthusiastic newcomers to Spycraft.  The former group and I wound up conniving a bit - they were great at keeping their player knowledge separate from character knowledge, and each one managed to team up with a new guy and really make it a great time for them.  This game was a blast, and a reminder of why it is that I'm a gamer.  Got lucky for the later session, too - one of the "backup" team members came by and asked if I would mind if he ran the game.  I didn't at all.  Bailed out for the Steampunk Dance, ogled, danced, split for another party.  This was the RPG.net meet-and-greet, conveniently held in my hotel.  Met a lot of folks, was made an honorary Mod for bringing in three cases of drinks, watched a little Monsterpocalypse (check it out at Privateer Press), had a ball.  Bedtime was ... sometime.  Did not go to White Wolf party.

Sunday, packing up and prepping to go home.  Pat's plane was an early departure, Alex's less so.  We got Suitemate D checked out, and Alex, Suitemate M, and I decided to kill the rest of the afternoon at the Exhibitors Hall, since nothing else was really going on.  We happened to be near the Titan Games booth when they announced that everything there was going to be selling for $2 each.  The wave of gamers was spectacular.  Alex loaded himself up.  We roamed more.  I bought shirts (Robin and Alan Scott Green Lantern t-shirts from Stylin' Online and a truly bitchin' work shirt from ... somebody), and found Arc Dream's booth, where I got the Delta Green Eyes Only collection.  WotC still hadn't sufficiently restocked the Knights of the Old Republic book, so I struck out there.  Hit the White Wolf area again, but stayed my hand.  Got Alex out to the airport around 6, and turned Hephaestus towards home.  Returned to Lexington at nine, dispensed the items I'd purchased for other folks, went home and unpacked, and slept in my own bed.

For those of you I got to meet face-to-face, it was a real pleasure.  You folks helped make this a great great vacation.

Important things learned:  Matt Howes and I have a disturbingly similar sense of humor.  Seriously.  tegyrius, he could be the missing brother-from-another.  Gamers who talk the most often have the least to actually say - and two in particular need to learn the lesson of not crapping in the place where they eat.  Mongoose's booth guys are pretty darn cool (happily exchanged my bad-binding copy of World on Fire for a new one).  The Crowne Plaza at Union Station is gorgeous, and that ballroom and attached bar are The Sex.  Indy likes having us there.

Barring catastrophe, I'll be back next year.  The demo game plan may change radically - instead of full-length games out in the con hotels, I may be running quick scenes at the Mongoose booth throughout the show.  Besides Spycraft 2.0 and World on Fire, there will be two more books to play with.

I needed this trip.  Like last year, I'm recharged.

For today, though, no gaming.  I'm going to rest up, read a lot, maybe write a little bit, and just have a day to myself.