Blankshield

Hunh. Whaddya know, life really can be like a musical:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/koaloha/29646.html

For those uninclined to follow links, it's a livejournal entry from a fellow who apparantly drove bible thumping zealots from the subway by singing show tunes.

My first thought was "bible thumbers on the subway? What the heck?" But apparantly that sort of thing does happen in places like New York. Freaks. I'm glad that I live somewhere fairly civilized, where our proselytizers stick to fairly infrequent door-to-door pamphlet handers and the exceedingly rare street crazy.

My second thought was indeed "Wow. Life really can be like a musical. People do sing for good effect."

My third thought was "Hmm. This feels a bit like a hoax." Why yes, I am a sceptical bastard, why do you ask?

I mean, yes, it's a firsthand account which does give place/time/date, which generally is absent from urban legendry. But there are a few things in there that raise alarm bells.

Things like:

"The entire car starts laughing"
Really? The entire car? Not a single frown in the place?
This is probably just hyperbole, but still.

"There are now 3 or 4 gay men on the train"
Now how is he supposed to know that? Were they wearing co-ordinating pink outfits? Did they get on the train and announce: "I'm gay. Just thought you all should know." Perhaps they were carrying signs.

"Several straphangers whisper, Happy New Year to me in Hebrew"

This one really got me. I mean, yes, New York is one of those places with a large Jewish community, but it's also a honkin' big town. Is the Jewish population of NY really so high that a random subway car holds enough of them who are outspoken enough to address a stranger in Hebrew? And why are they whispering? Were they only straphangers near him, or did a couple work their way down the car so he can hear them whisper? Are their no Jews lucky enough to have gotten a seat, or is there a bylaw that requires them to be straphangers?

Is the subway preacher problem really so overwhelming that people riding a subway car at 9 in the morning will really applaud (what is to many, equally offensive) someone singing jazzy show tunes? I'm much more a show tunes that a street preacher kind of guy myself, but I do know people who would find this guy more offensive.

Or maybe I'm just a sceptical bastard.

James

Sigh. I need to debase myself.

(No, no, let me explain!)

My wife, some time back, got a tour of Bioware as a perk from knowing about half the staff, and, well, asking. As part of this tour, she scooped a bunch of goodies and giveaways, one of which was a travel mug.

I LOVE that travel mug. It's a short one, which means it doesn't fall out of my cupholders. It's a wide base one, so it doesn't fall out of my cupholders. It has a handle that fits my hand well, with a little thumb nubbin to help grip it. The lid is a pop-off, not a screwtop. It has a little steam hole. It says "BioWare" on the side, which appropriately demonstrates my higher placing in the geek food chain in a company full of 20-something computer geeks who all slaver over the latest computer games like the good little drones they are. Well, that and sports cars. WTF??? What kind of a self-respecting geek cares about sports cars? Do they not see how inane it is to chitter like the prototypical japanese school girls over blow-off valves and stupidly-expensive fancy hubcaps?

Ahem. I digress. For all of these reasons, this is the perfect travel mug for me. There's only one problem.

It's Raven's mug. You see, she loves it too, for many reasons that I have to admit, would probably seem almost as valid as my own to a neutral third party.

And so, I find myself in a position of needing a BioWare travel mug of my very own. One that I can love and hug and call George, and prominantly display at work to the envy of lesser geeks. And so, an open question to the people I know at Bioware: What must I do to earn one of these magnificent gems?

James

"Holy Lollyblogging, Batman!"

"That's right Robin, it's been more than a week since the last post."

The Train show is over and done with, and life is returning to some semblance of normalcy. I even gamed Tuesday for the first time in hrmfrm weeks.

This Friday is gaming at my house again, although probably not gaming-gaming, just people-at-my-house gaming. Maybe we'll play some of the stuff we brought back from Gencon. I'd like to try Mystery at the Abbey, or we could break out my shiney new Hunta. Next week will be no gaming due to immenent wedding, and I'm not sure how long we're shy Davyd and Myrna after that. I'm assuming at least a week.

Yeah, that's all I got right now. I'm out of the blogging swing of things. Boom tomorrow. Always boom tomorrow. Speaking of which: Pixie, the other seasons of B5 are back on my shelf if you want to borrow them.

James

The waterpark was a total blast. Thanks to all those who came out and celebrated my new eyes... we'll have to do that again sometime. Jody's party was a good deal of fun, too. Saw a lot of people that I haven't seen for years, and did a lot of catching up.

This week I'm working my tail off in panic mode getting ready for the train show Saturday/Sunday... I'm not entirely pleased by how much work I have to do, since I'd said that I didn't have time to put in much for this show, but no one else was doing it. For a change, my last minute panic isn't caused by my own procrastination, but by other people's committing to having something done without committing to do it themselves. Grr.

Anyway, come see the train show this weeking (18/19) at the Mayfield Inn in Edmonton: a 20+ foot long scale replica of the High Level Bridge and LRT bridge, and a 15+ foot long suspension bridge are the two biggies, but there's also the Enbridge tower, a working Bascule bridge, a functioning rotary coal dumper and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Validate my hobby.

James

Waterpark Update:

This Saturday, as in four days from now; I want to be at the Waterpark for about noon; if you need a ride, or can offer a ride, contact me.

IMPORTANT! If your name is not on the following list, I have not heard a definate yes from you. I need to know by the end of the day tomorrow (before I go to work on Thursday) to get the passes. Remember folks, if you let me know you're coming, it's my treat, you get in free. If not, you're still welcome to come, but it's full Mall rates: $30 at the door.

People getting in free so far:
Raven
Myrna
Steph
Gorra
Anna
Walrus

--
James

Having bought it and read it at Gencon, and having since read reviews and Actual Play that bear out how I think the game plays, I can say without the slightest reservation:

Holy shit, I want to play this game.

I don't think I have ever wanted to play a specific game so badly since my teenage fanboy days of drooling over Marvel Superheros. I bought Dogs on the strength of "It's a Lumpley game" and the ad copy in the forge flyer this year, which had, at the end of a long Kill Puppies for Satan stream-of-consciousness play report, a little codicil 'We also have Dogs in the Vineyard, the exact opposite game.' which intrigued the hell out of me. It also helped that I'd earmarked a whole bunch of money for spending at the forge booth this year.

My socks, they are blown off. This is the kind of hard-edged, no-good-answers kind of roleplaying I've been craving, and getting, haphazardly, via Riddle and Heresy playtest. The difference is that, unlike Riddle where we're injecting the roleplay ourselves, through pure drama, and unlike Heresy where we're primarily testing the system (and running into scheduling issues, which complicates), Dogs is focused on the hard question and there is literally nothing in the game that is not an arrow pointing to the player saying "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Dogs kicks you out of the nest and says "fly or fall."

Damn, I want to play that game.

James