day two
our second day at the city of origins, here in the bowels of the columbus arcology.
i was tempted today to create a seperate blog for all the stuff i’ll be writing about - my fear being that it would ‘take up too much room’, and/or seem out of place. but then i realized/remembered that the secret city is about the city in and around me… wherever i may find myself, whoever i may be.
onward. the day began early, as john, dave and chris needed to get over to the gaming hall sooner rather than later; their games take quite a lot of time. one of john’s crewmates kindly snapped a pic of us.
i spent about an hour trying to connect to a wifi point i discovered in the game hall, to no avail; it was peer-to-peer rather than a straight access point, however, and i later realized it was being operated by the very SFB (starfleet battles) folk that i was hanging with. perhaps i’ll get the courage to ask them about their router at some point; overall, however, they’re a somewhat paranoid tribe. one of them came up to me as i was hammering away on my deck, and (jokingly?) said he just wanted to make sure i wasn’t one of ‘osama’s boys’. heh. the game hall itself (it’s one of three great halls here) is enormous, and warranted a wander, so chris and i did just that.
the detail that goes into all the cities and armies for the miniature combat games is amazing; it reminds me somewhat of the obsessive nature of guys who are into model trains, or maybe fishing. cons like this are so obviously the high points of their year, and for good reason; whatever ridicule their friends or family may give them for their time/money consuming hobby, when they’re at a con, all they get is well-deserved praise.
i briefly flirted with the idea of signing up for some games myself, but the seemingly inevitable line from hell soured me on that. this has to happen to them every year - maybe they just never have enough people able to work the con. so instead i decided to explore the arcology as i waited for the dealer hall to open; thankfully, these two fellows made sure no unauthorized personnel got in until that time.
in the process, i ended up in the looney labs, and met some cool folk - they’re all about creative games, recycling, and the legalization of marijuana. i signed up to help them with said recycling, and later played a few rounds of ‘giant ice towers’, a delightful game involving colored four sided pyramids of various sizes; tomorrow i plan to try out ‘giant martian chess’.
at one point, i ran across a detailed list lying on the floor, entitled ‘rules for medieval combat involving foam weaponary’, which struck me as ridiculously funny for some reason.
i periodically went by the SFB/federation & empire HQ to check on john and dave, who as they predicted were in exactly the same spots each time as the hours drifted by. such dedication!
i also visited the rogue cthulhu folks, who overall have the coolest ‘environment’ of the origins tribes. in the half-light i could hear whisperings and laughter and the high piping of unseen flutes; forbidden tomes and images of blasphemous creatures filled my sight. i even spied the elder yield sign before i fled back into the daylight.
i happily spent the rest of the afternoon in the dealer room after it opened to the public… wow! this definately puts shore leave to shame in this regard - EVERYBODY is here with wares to sell. i picked up a few knick knacks for myself and a certain girl, but for the most part i endulged in some serious wandershopping.
there were some games going on in the dealer room (including the aforementioned ice towers). life-size chess was one, which could be heard all the way across the hall; apparently, screaming incoherent nonsense is an important feature to chess when you play it in this way.
when i grew hungry, i sought out one of the nearby vegan-friendly establishments that i had researched before we left; the benevolence cafe was closed for the day, but peeking through the window revealed some promising vegan goodness for tomorrow. i ended up instead at betty’s, which was ok. the area surrounding th convention hall seems to be undergoing the same sort of renaissance that the old downtowns of so many cities are these days, even though the result is often a dozen or so shops selling weird clothing and furniture that no one can afford.
afterward i returned to the game hall to find chris involved in one of the LOTR battle renactments with miniatures; specifically, the one between the elves led by legolas’ father against a goblin horde. i was once again impressed by the months of enormous effort that goes into such a game, one that will last a few hours at most. chris’ side (the elves, as he so gleefully points out below) ultimately won the day.
naptime in the hotel room, then awaking to rain, and then here in the bar again, in the one spot of the hotel that i can seem to get a clear signal. chris logged into his email account for the sole purpose of deleting several tons of spam; john and dave came down later, their happy labours as starship captains over for the day. dave and i talked about the shiva campaign for a time, but at the time of my current blogging, everyone else has retired for the evening.
i feel like i’ve been here for weeks now; i’m totally immersed, though i do miss my sweetie. turning in for the night; until tomorrow…
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