Cash 'n Guns

Nice to see there are so many other reading addicts out there!

Had fun gaming last night with Jeff and the guys, and ended up playing two games for the first time: Gloria Mundi and Cash 'n Guns.



Above: John ponders during his turn in El Grande.

Gloria Mundi is a game set during the fall of Rome. As the Visigoth moves toward Rome, destroying land along the way (unless you can bribe him), you're fleeing while also attempting to build your career as a Roman statesman at the same time.

Amazing how scary a tiny piece of red plastic (the Goth) can look. I ended up winning the game, woohoo!



My favourite game of the evening, though, was Cash 'n Guns. The premise: you're a gangster about to split your loot with your fellow criminals, and Things Turn Bad.

Each player is given 8 "bullet" cards which consist of five "click click click" cards (e.g. you don't shoot), 2 "BANG!" cards (you shoot someone), and 1 "BANG! BANG! BANG!" card (you start shooting first). Each turn, on the count of three, everyone points their gun at someone else with one of their cards face-down in front of them.

For some reason, my friend Andy and I kept pointing our guns at each other. I guess we both have unresolved issues leftover from our university days. :-)

After the guns are pointed, you have the option to duck (can't be shot at). If you duck, however, you have to take a Shame Card, which is deducted from loot at the end. After players are given the opportunity to duck, everyone turns over their card to indicate whether their guns were firing bullets or not.

Surviving/remaining gangsters divvy up the loot after each round, if the loot can be divvied. If you're shot three times, you're out of the game. The surviving gangster with the most loot wins.



Anyway, I ended up winning this game too! Andy and I had a spectacular final shootout after each having being shot twice before. I won because I started shooting first (using my one "BANG!BANG!BANG!" card while Andy only used a "BANG!" card). Jeff would have won, except I shot him the previous round. Heh.

If you're looking for a quick, fun party game and don't mind the concept, then I recommend this game.




Photo above: Walter and Vartan play Armor while Scott tries out a remote-controlled mini-helicopter.

Any photos with me in them were taken by Walter.



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Reading addict

So 'fess up...how many of you out there identify with the cartoon above?

I go a bit nuts if I don't have something to read, wherever I am. I usually carry a magazine or paperback with me, but if I've been so negligent as to forget Real reading material, I'll grab whatever I can get: advertising flyers, phone books...yes, even milk cartons and cereal boxes.

I am SO lusting after The Kindle right now, but I think I'm going to wait until the next iteration so that some of the bugs have been ironed out.

Speaking of reading, my recent reads:

- The entire Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I read this ages ago but it was time for a re-read, particularly since we now own the big hardcover mega-compilations.

- East by Edith Pattou. LOVED this book and would recommend it for any young person who enjoys fantasy.

- A Gathering Of Gargoyles (Vol. 2) and The Pearl Of The Soul Of The World (Vol 3) of the Darkangel trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce.

B5 Virgin updates

SPOILER WARNING: The blog posts below focuses on my reports while watching Babylon Five for the first time. An LJ feed is also available. If you haven't seen B5 yet and don't want spoilers, please DO NOT click the links below.

Season 2, Episode 2: Revelations
Season 2, Episode 3: The Geometry Of Shadows
Season 2, Episode 4: A Distant Star.



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"I didn't have time..."

I took the today's photos while Jeff and I were out on a walk yesterday. I'd love to know the story behind the single silver shoe we saw in the snow by the sidewalk on one street corner. And Jeff made me take the second photo because a couple of our friends worked on VideoWave a while back.

Busy weekend. I spent most of it figuring out Movable Type 4, which is surprisingly different from Movable Type 3; I'm going to be moving my Blatherings to a different server soon.

The current Blathering design (what you're looking at today) is pure hand-coded HTML, but I figure that it's about time I switch to using CSS.

I've been gradually teaching myself CSS, but my main challenge is finding time. There are so many things I want to learn and do outside of my regular work hours, and only so much time to do it. Lately I've been devoting more time to practice and songwriting for Urban Tapestry, for example.

As I get older, time has become more and more precious to me. No, I'm not talking "I'm going to die soon" (I've already mentioned that I plan to live until I'm 102, after all) but rather that I've become more aware of time.

Even in how the word is used in language. Whenever I say "I didn't have time for that," for instance, the truth is that I'm actually saying "I didn't make time for that." Of course I had time; I just chose to do something else instead.

The subtext: "I didn't have time to do X but I had time to watch my favourite show YY on television instead, or time to catch up on my LJ friends' list instead etc."

But of course saying this OUT LOUD carries negative connotations, so most people (including me) opt for the safe "I didn't have time, sorry."



There's nothing wrong in choosing fun over not-fun, of course. What's important, I've learned, is being honest with yourself about HOW you're choosing to use your time. I'd go nuts and turn into a rampaging bitchy trollqueen if I always opted for work over fun, so I'll purposely choose to spend time engaged in totally frivolous activities that don't earn me money but are good for my soul.

The difference is the awareness of choice. I'm going to enjoy an hour with a good book or taking a nap far more if I'm doing it purposefully than if I'm guiltily sneaking in the reading/snooze time when I think I should be doing something else.

Or if I'm just letting life happen to me rather than taking control of it. Like suddenly noticing it's the end of the day and that I let all those hours slip away without realizing it -- hours I will never EVER get back-- and getting no enjoyment or satisfaction out of any of them.

Speaking of time, I can't wait for spring. This is the time of year when I'm tired of embracing the beauty of new-fallen snow and the joys of winter, and am yearning for sunshine and being able to run on the sidewalks again without worrying about falling flat on my face.

And seeing our garden again! I want to plant more thyme. One of my garden dreams is to eventually have a big plot of different types of thyme...at least then I'll feel as if I have thyme to do everything I want to do, even at the cost of a bad pun.

:-)



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