Pirates!

Oh, Yeah! I watched my first game of pirates last night between Drew and Dustin. It's not a difficult game at all and a whole lot of fun to watch. If I hadn't been so wiped out from the previous evening, I would have played myself.

As you can see from the photo, we have the good camera back at home. No more blurry 2002 technology!

In other news, Merle encountered a bulldog puppy the other day (his first puppy actually). Here was his reaction:

Note the puffy tail and the flexed back of the dread Halloween Cat. Puppies beware!

I have also been working making picture frames from machine parts. I have two now that I can confidently say are done. Observe:

The Many Faces of Ian Flesher

The next one takes some explaining. First of all, yes that is me in 1988. Second, yes, I am oh so Goth. And Third, I am a terrible pack rat of sentimental items. The beads, Welsh griffin and crystal are all part of a necklace I was wearing the very day the picture was taken. Why keep toting that embarrassing stuff around in boxes when you can memorialize it for the amusement of your friends?

I just realized that this could double as a stylized abacus.
We'll call it Abacus of the Damned. Think I can get a motion sensor that will play "Alone Again Or" every time someone walks past it?

Calling on all South-American-Dictator-Wanna-Bes

Dustin and I have a hankerin' to play Junta. We would like to play in the next two weeks. Would anyone be up for a game this weekend or next weekend?

If you have never played Junta and you like to cheat, this is the game for you. Cheating is allowed. Our house rule for this game is if you get caught in the act of cheating, you must take it back. If you get away with it, more power to you.

There is alot of opportunity for role playing in this game and trying to stay in character. It does tend to piss more sensitive people off, so if you have delicate baby feelings, stay away from this game....but if you are just a sore loser, remember...

Spoiled sports are especially welcome. They are fun to torment.

Have a Beautiful Weekend...

Happy Birthday, Nanci

I almost forgot. It's Nanci's birthday! Happy Birthday, Nanci!

Ah, the Weekend and Toilet Christenings....

It was an amazing weekend. Sun, a little work, alot of goofing around....

It was girly movie night Saturday night. I was the humble host. We had great food, cosmos, wine and I had too many Jack and gingers...

First we watched a short animation called "Lily and Jim" If you've never seen this, check it out.
You'll never think about condiments the same way again.

Then we watched Cinema Paradiso which was very touching and sweet. And there was alot of kissing, but the old fashioned type (not much Frenching, much to Jana's disappointment). Thanks again to Sue for bringing us together and making it possible.

It was a fabo evening and this morning I found out that my new friend Jenny is a Pisces and a Water Rat just like Dustin and I. And not only does she know about Cowboy Bebop, she's watched it. And she liked it. All these commonalities combined are so statistically improbable, I had to check to make sure I hadn't been abducted by The Heart of Gold.

In other news...

Ian's toilet arrives this week. This is a seminal event for the FFC Annex. As some of you know, Ian has been without a bathroom for a good two years. Of course, we are just as thrilled as he is to be getting "facilities" since he has used our bathroom all that time. He is planning a Toilet Christening party once the toilet is operational. So build up your biggest poop ever and come on over.

I spent more time making picture frames and less time on the blog this weekend. I will have pics up at some point of my OEM inspired frames.

ciao

I'm really serious...

I really am going to add more to the blog as soon as I turn my grades in to the University. Really. Look for some new changes this weekend.

I'm going to try to convince Ian that we need a "This Old House" type of feature, focusing on the trials and tribulations of the remodeling of his home. (This will actually be much more entertaining than it sounds.) We just need a catchy title.

Ok. I'm going to go and make my students lives a living hell for the last time. Cheers!

Game Night on June 7th

The next game night is June 7th at 5:00pm (please note the time change). We will be dedicating the first two hours (5:oo - 7:00) to children's games. So far on the agenda for kids we have:
Pirates
Cadoo
Pokeman
Weather permitting, we will have hopscotch and four square outside.

If there is anything else you would like to add to the children's game agenda, post your ideas below.

Since gas prices are high and the economy basically sucks, many of us will not be vacationing anywhere exotic this summer. Therefore, the theme for the night will be Travel! (thanks for this idea, Pam.) This will have less to do with the games we play and more to do with food and beverages. Weather permitting we will set up the carport as an place to eat (much like the South American party last year). Here's the deal:

1) Please bring food or beverage that reminds you of your best travel experience.
2) If you have any travel oriented games, bring them.
3) If you have any music that reminds you of vacations past, bring that too.
4) Please post a list of games you would like to play that night.
5) If you are attending, please post a comment and let me know how many are in your party. This will be our new RSVP system.

We will try to have the bar set up in the backyard.

As far as the Deadwood game night on July 26th, we have decided to make that adults only. With the themes of gambling and drinking, it only seems appropriate that kids are not involved...

However, we would be willing to host a kiddie western themed game event earlier the same day. Also, Julie and Howard have offered to host a kids game camp up at the Catamount Institute this summer with Dustin as the officiating game master. If there are any young people interested in this, please let us know.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

I Suck as a Zombie Master.

So Trish, Klayton, Dustin and I played Last Night on Earth. Let me first say that despite my failure as a Zombie Master, this game is great fun. I think Trish has more Zombie Master potential, but we both learned a few important lessons:

1) Zombies are stupid. Really. The strategy is less in the cards you get and more in how you place your zombies.

2) Don't spawn your zombies in a gun shop. Especially if there are a bunch of heroes in there using up the inventory.

3) If you are losing, stay as far from the Heroes as possible. You are not scary enough to rattle the heroes with your gross appearance.

4) If you earn the chance to spawn more Zombies, don't forget to do this at the end of your turn. Sorry about that. Won't happen again.

and this one goes for every game...

5) Always check the rules to make sure Dustin isn't cheating. I don't think he cheated last night, but there were some nuances in his rule explanations that did warrant investigation. Lucky for him they all checked out.

So the Heroes won the day. They did it in 11 turns; 4 less than the turn limit.

We played the basic scenario. There are more advanced scenarios. I actually think this is an appropriate game night game. The rules are not too complicated. We finished in about three hours, which wasn't bad for a first run through. I would think that once the rules are well known, a Basic game can be completed in 2 hours.

The game comes with a soundtrack BTW. We quickly scrapped it because quite frankly, it was neither scary nor mood setting.

We finished the evening by toking on that metaphorical hookah known as Carcassonne.

Throwing down the Gauntlet (or the plank)

I'm looking forward to the next game night on June 7th. I want to play Pirates, and I have a Spanish fleet that will wreak havoc upon the shipping lanes of the world (There will be no replay of the Spanish Armada). So, if you'd like to step up and get slapped down by the greatest flotilla known to mankind, then be at 318 Nichols Court on June 7.