Autumn's Grace

Today is the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a time of balance between day and night, when Summer fades and we begin the slow slide toward the long, dark months of Winter. The modern Pagan Wheel of the Year calls today Mabon. It is the second of three harvest festivals that celebrate the bounty of the Earth Mother and the imminent death of the Sun God on Samhain (Oct. 31st). He is reborn on Yule (the Winter Solstice) when the Wheel turns and the days start growing longer again. As the leaves fall from the trees and the night air grows chill, I hope that everyone is able to enjoy this harvest season with warmth, comfort and good fellowship. Happy Mabon!

Weekend of Woe

Holiday weekends are supposed to be fun and relaxing, right? This past one was anything but. Friday night consisted of everyone being in such a foul mood that we cancelled our plans to play cards. I'd been looking forward to trying out the new Magic variant, Planechase, but it was simply not to be. I was understandably disappointed.

On Saturday, we went to an SCA event and I wound up fighting worse than I have in a while. My heart just wasn't in it. Got hit in the same spot where I cracked a rib last Spring and also ended up straining a muscle above my left knee. Both still hurt more than they should right now. Thanks to my weakened leg, I learned an important lesson in balance and tempo when I tried to shift the weight off of it just as my opponent was launching a shot. With all my weight going forward onto my front leg, I couldn't back up to avoid the hit. It was nice to see everyone at the event, but by the time we went home I was not in the best of shape.

Sunday we did manage to sleep in a bit and get some rest. To be honest the first half of the day is kind of a blur. I know I finished off the book I've been reading (Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson), which was good. In the evening we finally got to play the new Planechase set. Played two games, lost two games. It was a preview of how Monday was going to go.

Monday (Labor Day) morning around 4:30am, my pager went off. There was an issue at work and since I was the on-call person until 7am that morning, I got to try and deal with it. Well, it turned out to be something I couldn't fix, but that didn't stop me from trying. For three hours. By the time 7:30 rolled around, I was at the end of my rope. I left messages for my bosses, telling them I had done everything I could and it was the next guy's turn. Then I went back to bed and dozed fitfully until about noon. Not exactly restful sleep. Then I got up and we got started putting together the step-son's new basketball goal. Little did I know that these new goals require a mechanical engineering degree to assemble. It took us close to four hours of sweating, cursing and the occasional bit of improvisation to get the stupid thing done. Then I had to run to the store for light bulbs, break out the ladder and replace all the bulbs in our stairwell ceiling fan. This generally requires leaning out over a long drop to get to all of them. Did I mention that tall ladders give me serious vertigo? I was shaking and sweating even more by the time that was done. But, no rest for the wicked! I barely had time to shower before we had to head out for Shakespeare in the Park. They were doing "The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged". It was funny, I will admit. Under better circumstances, I might have enjoyed it more. As it was, it took me a while to relax and appreciate the humor.

This morning, I get to work and find out that the problem that had plagued me the previous morning had taken three people until 9pm last night to fix. The client had been down all day and was not happy. I kind of feel like it's my fault somehow, even though I know it's not. So much for being refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the week after a holiday weekend. And it doesn't look like things are going to calm down for the next several days.

Across the Multiverse!

I don't know about you, but I find this grimy, unforgiving world we live in to be just a tad on the oppressive side sometimes. It is, therefore, a good thing when an opportunity comes along to escape it for a while. Books and movies are, of course, the primary vehicle for such a journey these days, but they aren't the only ones. Games, too, have become a way for us to explore the realms of the imagination and, unlike the other media, which allow us only to observe, games can let us interact with these worlds in a more satisfying way. Case in point, Magic the Gathering (what, you thought I was talking about World of Warcraft?). This card game has taken me on quite a wild ride over the years. I started playing about a year after the game's inception and it has been an on again, off again companion ever since. Recently, the gaming wizards responsible for producing Magic have come up with a unique new idea for us to enjoy. You see, the gist of the game's concept is that each player is a "Planeswalker", a being who is born with a special 'spark' that allows them to navigate between different realities, gathering magical power as he/she/it goes. This is represented by the collection of cards one gathers over time. New sets with new abilities come out every so often to keep the game fresh. However, the worlds themselves, the "planes" of reality where this all takes place have never been integrated into the gameplay as actual cards. Now they have. As a variant to the basic game, you can now buy "planes cards" that you can use to "planeswalk" during the course of the game. Each world has an effect on the game rules, but to me that's secondary. What is primary is that you actually feel like you are battling a rival "planeswalker" across a Multiverse of unique worlds during the course of the game. And that is just Fantasy Gamer Nerd Heaven! :)

I don't mean to sound like an advertisement for the game maker, but the new cards come out today and I'm fairly excited about getting to play with them tonight. I know what you are thinking. I'm too old to be into this kind of thing, right? Well, maybe. But maybe imagination isn't something that should only be the province of youth. I'll take my "weird" hobbies over boring mundanity any day.

Desperately Seeking Inspiration

So, I'm trying to come up with an entry for a monthly "Flash Fiction" contest on one of the SciFi/Fantasy sites that I frequent. The theme this month is "Super Powers" and I have to admit, this one has me stumped. It's going to be a real challenge to come up with something original in a genre that has been done to death. I have one idea that sounds good in theory, but the execution is proving to be a bit tricky. If I'm not careful, I'll have another flop on my hands. I tend to either do really well or completely flub it. There's rarely an in between with my stories. Well, nothing for it but to try and crank something out in the next little while, I suppose. Maybe if I just go with my gut and then polish it from there, it won't turn out too badly. Wish me luck!

Tourney of the Foxes Videos!

First Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ETpObwLv5A

Second Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KStEN--7SMA

Third Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNia8f9lLY

Fourth Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxcSNOr6ALQ

Fifth Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbAV31YRPZs

Sixth Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y1tLLZALdk

Seventh Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob_aekHUXB0

Eighth Round:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQrtXl1lpa8

Unfortunately, the batteries died before the final round, but it went well and we ended up going undefeated. The hardest fight we had was against Captain Thomas O'Toole, Pepper and Baron Thorgrimm of Atlantia in round eight.

P.S. Special thanks to my step-son, Daniel, for running the camera for us.

Return of the Living Blog

Ok, I admit it. I haven't updated my blog in like forever. But I didn't mean to neglect this medium of self-expression. I was seduced by the Facebook side of the Force. It's so easy to lose yourself in the bells and whistles of social networking and forget about the basics. So, I'm going to try and make better use of this outlet of information. Starting with some links to videos of us fighting at Tourney of the Foxes, which I'll put in a new post as soon as time allows. Enjoy!

The Principles of Aquisition

As a follow up to my musings regarding the power of material possessions, I just wanted to share some of the items that have mysteriously (not really) appeared in our home lately. Since my last post we have managed to purchase, through various means, a new sectional sofa complete with two recliners and a hide-a-bed, a 42" flat screen HDTV, a new entertainment center, an Xbox 360 (courtesy of my step-son), new landscaping for a problematic patio in front of the house and various and sundry smaller items such as new dvd's and games. We've also managed to pay off one of our more vexing credit cards. When life starts going this well, I get nervous. Surely something is going to go horribly wrong and put us even farther in debt than we've ever been before. Nothing comes without cost and I'm not just talking about money. I'm waiting for the bomb to drop and wipe out all of our gains. Paranoid? Maybe. But I've seen it happen too often to trust in fate. In the meantime, though, I'm more than happy to kick back in my recliner and play new video games in high definition on my new big screen tv. Oh, yeah, baby!!