Gathers no moss. As you can see, this site has been sitting dormant for a while. You might think I’ve had nothing going on worth talking about, but that’s not the case. I’ve been so busy I haven’t really been able to stop and write. Anyhow, I’ve got a lot to talk about since Thanksgiving; work, parties, friends, The Two Towers and other movies, holiday gift shopping, and best of all, something I’ll save for the read more link, so read more….
Where to start? Chronologically, or by category? Hmm. Maybe I’ll wander back and forth between them.
The first week after Thanksgiving was rough at work. Not only was I really busy, but my brain still wasn’t back in work mode. But it wasn’t all bad. Wednesday I went to a little gathering for members of the Early Music Ensemble. It was a lot of fun; we sight-read through some great music, and we all filled out a get well banner for Jill, a community member who’d been playing viol with the ensemble since before I’d joined. She’d been away from the ensemble all semester, hospitalized much of the time.
That friday I received an e-mail informing me that Jill had passed on. She’d gotten our banner and listened to the recording of our concert, and she seemed to go peacefully. I’d also found out that my Grandmother had gone back to the hospital herself, but it was minor and there was nothing there to be concerned with.
That brings me to the first topic: Parties
That Friday night I went out to a party. I’d done a little procurement ahead of time, at the request of the host. I didn’t expect to stay long, but I did. Had a good time, watching LordAmeth get giddy and drunk. At less than 120lbs. and an empty stomach it didn’t take him long. But we were watching out for him, and we were being responsible. We all played card games, and some video games. And I met Spach, which I first heard and thought ‘Spock’ ? Anyhow, more on that subject later. 🙂
Saturday I went to a party too. A very different sort of party. Much less a bunch of friends hanging out, and much more of a party. It had some really cool points though. I got stuff from Amihkru to make a stuffed Sauron. I will get to that, and soon, promise. I also got to hear NB42 playing the cello, which was very, very cool. We will get him to join the Early Music Ensemble next semester, this I vow! *grin* And I got to see a bunch of other friends, most of who weren’t at Friday’s party. There was a gift exchange, and I ended up with a copy of Cosmic Coasters, a game I didn’t yet have, so it’s almost like someone was thinking of me. It was all cool. I left before they started playing strip dreidle though. The chance to see some people with less clothing was not worth the risk of seeing others with less clothing. And I’m not comfortable wearing too little clothing under close scrutiny. Yeah, I know, I was involved in RHPS, but trust me, it’s different. I think. Anyhow, as you can see, in the past 2 weeks I’ve had a very full social calendar.
Later that same weekend I had a meeting of the Intercon Committee. It was poorly attended, but most people had sent their reports in, so it was ok. Let’s just say that this is shaping up to be the best con I’ve attended, and possibly the best one to date. You should all go! http://www.interactiveliterature.com/C/
Over the next week I spent most of my evenings with Spach. On Tuesday night I went to a holiday party tossed by my boss for her division. She gave all the women tree ornaments and all the guys Brandeis ties. Whee! Thursday night we had an unofficial BSCF meeting, which was small, low key, and fun. Friday Spach went home for break, and a bunch of people came over to watch Babylon 5.
Sunday we went out and saw Start Trek: Nemesis. Actually, over the past 2 weeks I’ve seen the new James Bond film and the new Lord of The Rings movie too. So now I’ll spin off into a discussion of:
Movies.
James Bond: Good movie. John Cleese, it’s good to see you again. Desmon Llewllyn, we miss you. Halle Berry, be glad you got a good Bond Girl role, instead of that sad one Denise Richards got. As for the plot? Well, they stretched some things, and used a horribly unbelievable plot device to make a person of one nationality appear like someone completely different.
Star Trek Nemesis: I liked it. Well, most of it. The villain was flat, and the Data plot was contrived. I also feel there was a lot that probably fell on the cutting room floor, particularly from the beginning.
Lord of The Rings – The Two Towers: Loved it. Last Tuesday night I packed up a bag of games and a bunch of us set out to the theater. The General Manager was really, really cool, and let us out of the hallway and into the theater around 7:30. I was probably one of the first three people in to see the movie on the whole east coast, and that’s only because 2 of the others (there were 10 of us in our group) might have gotten ahead of me in the line, I can’t remember. So we sat in under the big screen and played cards and stuff for 4 hours, heading out to dinner in shifts so we didn’t lose our great seats. As for the movie itself, I loved it. It was very, very different from the first one, but that’s because the main themes were very different. There was much less of the small party aspect that inspired generations of tabletop gamers, and more of the large scale battles that inspired generations of fantasy wargamers. The battle scenes were absolutely amazing. On the other side of the equation was the Gollum story. Gollum was magnificent. They did such a superb job. It was three hours long, but even still I am greatly anticipating the extended DVD in 11 months, even more than I was anticipating the first extended DVD set. I’m not sure how to compare this one with The Fellowship. The first movies set a large precedent in accuracy, scenery, character portrayal, and super intelligent adaptation of the books to movie. This second one kept up all that promise, but again, because it’s got large battle scenes, you don’t get the inherent coolness of the individual characters quite as strongly. Regardless, you should all see it at least once.
A small note about packages. Between me and my housemate we’ve received a package on our front stoop every day this week. The difference being that my packages are gifts for others. I am admittedly curious though.
And to wrap this all up, I wanted to talk a little bit more about Spach. Some of you may know her, some of you don’t. Anyhow, I met her at the Friday night party (there was actually a previous almost meeting at one point) and we hit it off pretty well. Spent much of the next week hanging out with her and going out. It’s really good. I’m happy, and that’s a good thing. Don’t know where it’s all going, but I look forward to the journey. Yes, I’m being my usual closemouthed self on the subject of my personal relationships.
Whew! I think that’s most of the stuff I was going to update you all on, but I’ll probably dribble a bit more out here and there over the next few days.
-Laurion
