I returned from GenCon Sunday night. It was a BLAST, as was expected. On Thursday, I played in the Legacy World Championship(not as prestigious as it sounds, only about 180 people) and made top 8, losing in the quarterfinals to one of the most respected magic players in the world, Zvi Mowshowitz. It took all day, unfortunately, and I vowed to spend the rest of the Con in the exhibit hall maxing out on free things. Let me tell you, it payed off. Almost as well as last year (you may recall I came back with three free board games and about 7 free shirts). This year I got about 10 free shirts. Only 2 different kinds though, so i gave 4 away. I will probably give away more yet. I played board games with Darth and some of his friends on Friday and Saturday night, and that was really cool. I can’t state enough how much fun I have at GenCon. One night, I was wandering the halls, and some people were playing this werewolf game, which is fairly easy to describe, but I won’t here. Suffice it to say it is a game of politics and strategy with absolutely no materials besides people required. I had a great time just watching the back and forth of the people and knew I would like to play. I was the first one out. It’s actually kind of a funny story, ask me about it sometime. Vroman was riding back with Flux, so I had Robert Shelli’s unique brand of conversation all to myself, but I slept most of the way home anyway. Total Pit Spawns gained on the trip: 13, bringing our grand total to 327! I like that number, though I will of course strive for more. Plenty more can be said on the subject of GenCon 2005, but I will save it for some other time.
I called Christine Sunday night, since I got back before nine, but there was no answer. Not totally unexpected, this happens all the time. She is home fairly rarely.
Monday morning was – YEAH! – first day back at school. Class at 9am was not too bad. I am taking Chem and Am. History II. Neither class should prove difficult. After I got home, a call to Christine’s house revealed that she would be home at 8:30, so I paced and played guitar and distracted myself until then. I wound up calling her at about 8:45, and she was hard at work trying to restore her family’s internet access, I asked her if I could come over, after getting the go-ahead from her and securing Vroman’s car for the evening, I made tracks to Ballwin.
I’m sure I’ve said it before, if not in so many words, but I thrive on time spent with that girl. I did what I could to help her finish getting the ‘net working, and after that we pretty much settled in to the couch and she exposed me to my first taste of the show Freaks and Geeks, which she had on DVD. There are no words for my extreme weakness for watching tv and holding her. To be fair, it’s much more the latter that I’m partial to. Later, her friend Tina showed up with a movie Christine really wanted me to see called An Insomniac’s Nightmare. She wanted me to watch it because she believes everyone should see it at least once. It is one of the worst movies of all time, but features Dominic Monaghan of Lord Of The Rings fame in a starring role. Around 1:30, I glanced at my watch and casually made mention that my birthday had begun. Christine was non-plussed that I didn’t tell her sooner. I didn’t expect anyone to do anything for me on my birthday, and I genuinely think that making causal mention of it, during the fact, and getting an “oh really, happy birthday” from my friends is more than enough, but she was still slightly miffed. After Insomniac’s Nightmare we watched a few more episodes of F&G until her mother pointed out that it was nearly 4am. So we said our goodbyes, and I went off. I left with an invincible smile warming my cheeks. I truly adore hanging out with Christine.
I type this when it is barely half over, but I’m sure the best part of the 23rd anniversary of my birth will prove to be seeing Christine. I can’t get enough of her. I really think i was starting to experience withdrawal before Monday night.
Oh, by the way, I can solve the cube pretty consistently under a minute now, as long as I don’t screw up at any point, which happens at most 10% of the time and only adds about 10-15 seconds.
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