day three
i started the day off by picking up the latest tome from the shadowrun folks, who assured me that tomorrow they’ll be dressing up; apparently, today’s outfits (seen above) are pretty much how these young cyberpunks normally dress. i also discovered the source of yesterday’s ‘rules for medieval combat with foam weapons’ - essentially SCA folk who want to ensure they don’t kill any con attendees. chris later spotted a finely rendered model of the reichtag in ruins, much to his apparent alarm.
john and dave continue to play federation and empire, endlessly and forever. they warned me that this was all they’d be doing the entire run of the con, but i guess i thought they were exaggerating. amazing! unfortuntely, by this point chris has already lost too many SFB games to compete in the finals, but apparently he’s learned a lot. he had hoped that today would be a better day for him, since (according to him) he’s wearing an entirely different outfit than yesterday. oh well…
meanwhile, i played my first round of martian chess. it’s a fascinating game which will probably take me some time to master; the goal is to get rid of all your pieces, while simulataneously capturing as many of the other players’ pieces as you can manage. like ice towers, it’s played with little pyramids of different sizes. and like all looney lab games, it has quirky rules; for instance, the player with the reddest hair goes first. anyway, i lost the game, but like chris says, i like to think i learned something from the experience.
ate brunch at the benevolence cafe and bakery, which doubles as a bookshop. nothing makes me happier when i’m hungry than a sign that says something to the effect of ‘we speak vegan’. from there, i visited a sattelite of their shop in the nearby north market, though which they sell vegan dessert items. still another shop (which promotes soy products) sold me a tofutti cutie, and directed me to the ‘ConFest’ nearby. what’s this? a greenie hippie community festival right nextdoor to a geek ground zero? now, THIS is some strange sychronicity… though upon reflection, it goes deeper than that. more on that later.
after some further wandering around, i played another round of ice towers - missed winning by a single point! from there, i did my recycling duties for the day with the looney labs lady, and then bought some lunch at the north market; the soy lady from earlier gave me a free bag of soynuts.
played my first miniatures game, with chris! we were the mongols, who were surrounding a dwarven/human encampment in a reinactment from a forgotten realms tale. it was really cool - you determine your movement and firing range with a tape measure, and all the miniatures were painted with excellent detail. the game ran for about 4 hours, and the mongols emerged victorious, thanks to chris’ strategy and my die-rolling mojo. i hope to play at least one more before the end of the con; we’ll see…
in the bar again. there are a few pirates mixed in with the usual crowd. i’m running on coffee; without it, tonight’s entry ain’t happening. the boys joined me a little while ago, and we toasted to friendship and shameless nerdyness. it’s so cool knowing these guys after so many years, especially with us still able to do the things we love together, despite the many ways we’ve all changed and grown.
i called my sweet joriel earlier today. it was so good to hear her voice - now i’m missing her in that desperate, wonderful way that makes my skin tingle.
tomorrow is the last full day of the con. i almost feel as if i’ve lived here for ages - this is the same sort of wonky timesense that i got at yellowstone. but then, i adapt very quickly to new places, with few exceptions. once i’ve found my groove, i’m solid. remembering this is exciting, given our plans to move to points west next year.
signing off for the evening. sleep is a such a good friend after a long day.
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