Ravings of a Textual Deviant

Even a good trip to the gynecologist is still a trip to the gynecologist.

After three months of hard working out, I had a fitness assessment again today. The results: 5% body fat gone; VO2 up 75%, strength increasing, flexibility more or less the same, resting metabolic rate up. Unfortunately, not nearly enough weight lost. Still, I’ve spent the last three months getting into a position from which I can lose the weight, and that’s certainly something.

I’ve had the same pair of glasses for at least four years, and the same pair of contacts for longer than that. (The only reason the contacts lasted as long as they did is that I never wore them more than a handful of times in any given year–and mostly just long enough to find my glasses–because my eyes tend to itch when my allergies act up, and that has been occurring mroe frequently as time goes by.) When I went to make an appointment with my opthamologist, I discovered he’d retired over three years ago. The very nice people in his office got me in on very short notice, and yesterday, I picked up new glasses and new contacts. Even though my prescription hadn’t changed very much, it was worth it just for the anti-glare coating on the lenses (let’s hear it for eyestrain reduction!) and the smaller, lighter frames and lenses. We’ll see how the new contacts work out; the technology has changed a lot since my last pair.

Fishing for ideas this week…

Recommend three non-RPG games for RPGers. Why do you recommend these three?

1. You can’t go wrong with Cheapass Games. Various cousins of mine are crazy for Unexploded Cow, Lord of the Fries, Captain Park’s Imaginary Polar Expedition, the Devil Bunny games, and Witch Hunt. (Note: Attorneys should only play Witch Hunt with other attorneys, while everyone else sits around and watches.) Anyone with a sick or twisted sense of humor should enjoy all of these. High comedy factor!

2. Munchkin is a good compromise game for the mixed gamer/non-gamer group. Cheating is encouraged (it says so in the rules), it’s easy to learn, and a good gateway game for those you wish to convert to gaming. Puns are sufficiently bad that you don’t need to explain the in-jokes.

3. Fluxx appeals to my inner absurdist. The entire point of the game is that the rules change. Also, you only need two players, which is nice for the happily child-free.

Honorable mention #1 goes to Settlers of Catan and its many expansion packs. My aunt’s non-gaming family is wild about this one. Personally, since the KODT “I have wood for sheep” strip, I can’t think of this one without laughing, but it does seem to be quite the crowd pleaser.

Honorable mention #2 goes to Magnetic Poetry. There are a couple of suggestions listed in the package insert, or invent your own. (There’s a Japanese game played with haiku–the name escapes me–in which the players write a chain of related poems. I seem to remember it’s mentioned in The Tale of Genji, but I could be wrong.)

Ginger asks

Have you ever played in or GMed a game with more than one GM? What was your experience with it? What were the strengths and weaknesses of having multiple GMs? Was it positive or negative? Would you do it again? If you?ve never tried it as a GM or player, would you like to? Why or why not?

I have neither played nor co-GMed a game, so everything I say is pure speculation.

I’d probably try it as a player, if I knew that the GMs in question worked well together. I haven’t got a lot of patience for people who argue a lot (especially when it isn’t relevant at the moment) during a game. As for doing it…there’s trust for you! I like having someone to bounce ideas off, but I also tend to like to do things my way. I suppose if I found someone I could work with, I’d give it a go, but that possibility seems awfully remote.

If I have seen both 6:00s in a day, I prefer not to see both 12:00s as well. This week has been something of a disappointment in that regard.

One of the things I like about my current job is that I spend enough time in the home office to get to know the people here–all of whom are very good to work with. They’re a fairly social lot, and there are occasional group lunches and such. Today was a combination baby shower/going away party for one of the women who works in the home office full time. It was a potluck lunch (with really good food!), with baby shower games. Word games and puzzles go over well in a crowd of technical writers, so overall, it wasn’t bad as baby showers go.

The first game, however, was bad. Now, there are some bad baby shower games out there–guessing the expectant mother’s current waistline, the infamous “toilet paper baby,” and identifying (presumably by the inclusions and/or smell) various candy bars that have been melted and poured into diapers. Nevertheless, the baby-food tasting contest is the bottom of the barrel, in my opinion. That’s right; five unmarked jars of bland, earth-toned, odd-smelling, pureed stuff, which the participants try to identify by taste. Nobody was very enthusiastic about that game, even after it was announced that there was a prize for the winner. (Whatever the prize is, it’s not worth it, I whispered to the person sitting next to me. She agreed. And second prize is two weeks in New Jersey.) I didn’t even bother to taste; I guessed by smell and color, and that was bad enough. (Apparently, old ketchup, algae, and lumpy paste are not actual baby food flavors. Go figure.) It’s not hard to understand why babies spit that stuff out when you try to feed it to them.

Today I got an unpleasant reminder of why I prefer not to drive to work between 7:30 and 8:30 AM. If people would just follow a few simple rules, such as…

1. When it’s heavily overcast and pouring rain, turn on your effing headlights…especially if you drive a black or gray car and like to speed.

2. Do not park your massive Mack truck in a traffic lane immediately after an intersection.

3. When the sign says “Lane Ends,” it means it. Plan ahead.

4. If you missed the left turn lane, do not back up half a block into oncoming traffic to correct your navigational mistake.

5. Do not turn left from the right hand lane. And vice versa.

6. Put the cell phone down.

7. Turn signals are not for keeping time to the music.

8. If multiple people are honking at you, you are probably doing something wrong.

My kingdom for a good mass transit system!

Update: #9 - Anyone who drives 25 mph in a 45 mph zone and 45 mph in a 25 mph zone gets what they deserve.

Now that my new health insurance has kicked in, I’m putting it to the test. Ed and I both have dentist appointments today. Tomorrow, I have a flu shot, and on Wednesday, the opthamologist. I haven’t had new glasses in about four years, and I am well past overdue. Might even go back to contacts, if there are any that don’t irritate my eyes during allergy season.

Ed and I went to From Dark Pages at the Morris-Butler House last night…partly because it’s a pretty cool little show, but mostly because my mother plays Queen Victoria. The only real problem with the show is that there are a lot of people to fit into close quarters at some point (and we were in what I’m told is one of the less crowded shows.) All of the actors did a very good job, but I have to say that the woman who played the maid is absolutely fabulous. Go, have a good time, and don’t touch anything.