Musings, Ramblings and More Ramblings.

The past few months have been slow game months 'round these parts. A fellow I work with got activated with his Army Reserve unit, so I fell on my sword and agreed to cover his shift until they can find a full time replacement, so far no one has even applied. Prior to that I was working 3 jobs. Two of those jobs allowed me a very flexible schedule and I could usually play a game on a moment's notice.

Given my druthers, I'd rather be driving a cab as my primary job. Cab drivers just have better stories. Admittedly, I get pretty good stories from working as a nurse, but as a nurse I'll never slam on the brakes at 80 miles an hour, sending a drunk into the dashboard just so I can get his attention.

"If you would just shut your pie-hole I wouldn't have had to do that. Now, shut your trap and put out the cigarette."

"My nose is bleeding."

"I said, shut your pie-hole."

"You bastard."

The thing is, if he hadn't called me a faggot and complained about the service non-stop since he got into the cab, I would have let him smoke. If he wouldn't have called me a bastard after hitting the dashboard the first time I wouldn't have had to do it a second time. I still see the guy from time to time and he acts like my best friend, go figure.

Some of the best nursing stories are rendered moot because I have to keep a certain level of confidentiality. For example, I've seen a jackass making a scene in the store and have had to bite my tongue. The story about the time I gave him a suppository would be hilarious at that particular moment, but not so funny if I were to tell it later without the context of him throwing a fit in the Electronics Department.

Sometimes the two jobs collide. I can't very well say, "Hey buddy, that gal you're going home with sure is cute, but do the initials "chronic-yeast-infection" mean anything to you?" I at least get to tell those stories to other nurses, so they don't entirely go to waste.

It is odd that both professions frequently have funny stories that revolve around puke, but until a nurse can say, "What, you're out of money? Don't worry about it. We'll just call it even. Oh no, it's not a problem at all. I'll just keep the six cases of beer you put in the trunk and we'll be square," the cab stories will always be better, and will almost never involve suppositories.

But that's not what I'm writing about today. I'm writing about a topic I have almost no experience with; game conventions.

This general lack of gaming I mentioned in the first paragraph got me thinking about BGG.con and how I now wish I could attend. I priced airline tickets the other day, and it was significantly cheaper to fly from Alaska to Dallas than from Alaska to Seattle. Who'd a thunk? Now I'm kicking myself for not going.

Dame Coldfoot and myself have only been to one convention. BRIMFROST. It is the only game convention in the state. It is a smallish affair hosted by the Anchorage Miniature Game Club. Not surprisingly it's tilted heavily toward miniature games. There was an Advanced Squad Leader tournament, and a Circus Maximus game that featured a huge, home-made board that drew a multitude of players and observers (self included). The wife and I were able to play several board games, none of which were planned, but all of which were fun. We had a lot of fun. Both of us are looking forward to more game conventions, but if we want to go to the big ones we will have to pick one each year and plan well in advance.

I think the missus and myself will be attending BGG.con next year, assuming there is one. I would have liked to attend this year, but we had already planned to spend 3 weeks with our families over Christmas. One trip in November and another in December would have just been too expensive, and would have taken too much vacation time. Dame Coldfoot would have to get a part-time job to finance both trips, and possibly two.

Oddly enough, Dame Coldfoot is lobbying for the Essen trip. So far I have managed to keep her away from Chris Brooks' website. He's posted a number of nice pictures of castles and scenery from his Essen trip. If she were to look at those I would be doomed to make the trip. I would rather be locked in room with Potterama and nothing but Knizia games to play, than spend 20+ hours on planes and in airports, both ways. No thank you. The thing that kills me most about the Essen trip is that there is a non-stop flight from Fairbanks to Frankfurt in the summer months. Takes less than 8 hours to make the trip by flying over the Pole. If it was a year-round flight I would never miss the Essen Game Fair, it would take significantly less time to fly to Germany than to GenCon, or to BGG.con.

For the time being we will have to content ourselves with BRIMFROST in March. Dame Coldfoot is enthused, possibly more so than I am. She has been watching the price of airfares to Anchorage for a couple months. Word on the street is that Advanced Civilization and TI3 games are planned. The convention will feature more organized boardgaming than in previous years. I have volunteered to run any boardgame they might need help with. We'll see.

Have fun at BGG.con. Keep the rest of us unfortunate, home-bound folks posted, and maybe we will see you next year.

Good gaming,
Coldfoot