My stomach is still upset from this weekend. My next month is basically booked back-to-back & solid with plays & parties. To which I've been told to shut up, because apparently having to go to nice social gatherings-- having that as your problem-- is a nice trouble to have. Well anyhow, my guts are in knots from living off beer & champagne & vodka only. The only vitamins or nutrients I had all week! A liquor fast. & no gym; that is right, I didn't go to the gym once. Lazy. Lazzzzy!
Freyja's day was a long day of Dungeons & Dragons. Summer hours at work seem to fit together with
fordmadoxfraud's schedule & skycornerless & toughlad's day off, which means afternoon blitz of adventure! David was running-- part one was my tiefling warlock, James' human bard & Emily's changeling ranger versus some jumping spiders ("Oh I forgot to mention; they are the size of horses") & a web golem. The web golem is awesome-- awesome-- & inside of it was a phylactery. Which my warlock insisted on hanging on to. Then there was some fast-talking a bunch of kobolds ("No! Don't give him...the Cosmic Silver Piece!") which led to us avoiding the fight & getting a bunch of gryphons or hyppogryphs or one of the two. Skyhorse & Dirtybird, we named them. Lovely. Then on to the town & meeting up with elladorian's eladrin wizard & Erica's vampire shifter druid; then us talking to some stupid scribe & getting tricked by some half-elf trickster! Which should have resulted in us getting ambushed by something like thirty kobolds & goblins-- but we are sneakier than any sneak! Instead thanks to Erica & Emily's character's ability to shapeshift, the goblin leader got shived & then the goblins & kobolds tricked into fighting each other-- problem averted! There was like, evil water? Which we tried to guard, only to later find out there was a second site. Drat. Things finished up with a huge brawl against zombies, skeletons, a four-armed skeleton, & that treacherous half-elf. Once OPERA & Gren (the bard) closed the circle that was animating the dead, it was all clean-up. Loot? +2 dwarven chainmail-- I've been full of greed for new armor. & I'm totally taking mounted combat next left.On Saturn's day, there was some mix-up with David maybe wanting to brunch & gym, but that didn't happen-- between that & the rain I ended up electing to blow off working out & watch cartoons. I watched the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, which was...weird. I'd say watch it if you car about the cartoon but be aware that it is...weird. Like-- the doppelganger of Fuhrer King Bradley is...Fritz Lang? & it ends with Hitler being arrested-- which I thought might be the prevention of WWII but I think is also maybe just him going to write Mein Kampf. Anyhow, other than all the Fritz Lang montages, the best parts were super-scary Gluttony & Ray Mustang blowing everything up. I kept calling James at work to give him the blow-by-blow, since nobody else cares about FMA, right? Basically, I think it worked on a lot of levels to explore the rise of the Nazis in the same sort of way that a lot of Japanese animation deals with the rise of Japanese nationalism. With alchemists blowing stuff up along the way.
Then I met up with Jenny-love at work to go to Queens! Brian (of Brian & Jocelyn) was having a birthday celebration that started out at the new beer garden in Astoria. During which, it poured rain. Everyone in Metropolis is talking non-stop about the rain with the fervor usually reserved for talking about real estate. Seriously though, this weather is effing ridiculous; it hasn't stopped raining in...it just hasn't stopped raining, okay? So we huddled under an umbrella drinking liters of beer, getting wet & drunk all at once. Here is the verdict on the beer garden: what the hell? I don't get it. It is basically...a big backyard? It wasn't all-you-can-drink; it was the opposite. It was thirteen bucks for a liter of beer & eight dollars for a hamburger. That isn't a deal! I could just go to a bar & sit on the patio. I'm not complaining-- I had fun! Rather, rendering judgment. Thumbs down! Gladiator kills beer garden! Katie & Toy were there, & now since I've met them like, enough times, I decided they have moved into acquaintance-ville. There were other folks to enjoy talking to-- J. Matthew was pretty funny, & the gentleman who writes headlines for the New York Post (who took the above picture of me & Jocelyn) had a Edgar Rice book in his bag. Also ended up going crazy about how he bought Budweiser & someone told him it was low class.
That was after we left the beer garden, which we did with no-small Keystone Coppering. We followed people to clown cars, lost people, rejoined them, stayed behind, got lost, got found, took a train, all kinds of such. Then to the liquor store where everyone bought a bottle of Prosecco. I mean, there was a lot of it! Then to Brian & Jocelyn's apartment, which is a Gene Wolfe locale; a hallway at the end of which are infinite bedrooms. Seriously, there were...lets say at least twelve, & every time you'd open or close the door, there would be a different bedroom behind it! Which is good, because there were hundreds of people in attendance. I ruined my sobriety with cunning & stick-to-it-ness, & a good time was had. Songs were sung! Jokes were laughed at! Then the hellish train ride home; from Queens! It wasn't too bad, not really. There was a chance of going to Victoria's birthday then, but I am an old fuddy duddy, man! I had to crawl into bed.
Sunday was Jenny & me trying to hang out with each other. Played some MarioKart (I'm now gold on everything except the last two levels of 150cc Mirror) & then watched a lot of Angel. Ate diner food (Eggs, spinach, potatos, sauce) & some of the Tony Awards, since Tony is in it & NPH was hosting. Lunch was burritos, & then off off off to play practice. Things are pulling tighter together; having Greg tell me what things are & aren't working for my character is assuaging some of my nervousness. Then afterward, Maggie & I went to Macri Park for more drinks. The downside? the terrifying bathrooms aren't terrifying anymore; they have just boring regular sinks now. The upside? There was free barbecue! Yeah, some burgers & hot dogs & corn! So Maggie & I hung out talking about work & about roleplaying, & then we came home; my timing meeting up with Jenny's, too, coming home from Carla's. Now here I am working, waiting for the replies to my emails.
